A/N: this chapter gets a tad darker than the previous ones. And by that I mean that someone dies in it. It won't be a very dark fic, really, but this won't be the last character death to happen in it. Just thought I'd warn beforehand.

"Is this all they could think of? How pathetic. I was under the impression they thought higher of my skills," Monkey Fist said somewhat disapprovingly as he observed the scene from a distance, perched on the highest branch of a tree – at least a dozen hooded Yamanouchi ninjas were standing around the temple, guarding it. Monkey Fist could spot Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable as well, setting up a fire now that night was drawing closer. Talking to them was the Yamanouchi student he had already confronted more than once, but whose name he didn't bother to remember – she was of no importance to him after all.

He was more interested on the detail that would grant him success – the hoods that most Yamanouchi ninjas were wearing. It was a rather fortunate thing that so many of them followed the old tradition of keeping their faces concealed while out on missions, even those that didn't involve secrecy – otherwise, his plan would have been impossible to put in action. Monkey Fist allowed himself to smirk one last time before he quickly climbed down the three to join his monkey ninjas below.

"They're here already, as I expected. You know the plan," he glanced at two monkey ninjas in particular, who were carrying what looked like two bundles of cloth on their backs "I expect you to handle those items with the utmost care. Failures won't be tolerated. Do you understand?" he said sternly.

The monkey ninjas immediately nodded. "Very well," was all Monkey Fist said before he began walking through the jungle, followed by his monkeys. Just as he had estimated, they reached the temple by nightfall; the fire was lit – judging by the scent in the air, someone was using it to make some supper – but Monkey Fist didn't think for a second that more than a few Yamanouchi ninjas would be just sitting around the fire: most of them had to be guarding the temple. They wouldn't be distracted from their tasks so easily: that was more likely something Ron Stoppable would do. The monkey man grimaced, as always when he thought of that boy, then he gestured for his monkey ninjas to scatter around.

They obeyed, stealthy as always, and Monkey Fist could only hope they'd succeed to stay hidden without being spotted until the right moment. The Yamanouchi ninjas were well trained, but so were his monkeys… and aside from the ones carrying the two parts of the Tempus Simia with them, none of them was wearing a gi: even if someone spotted one of them, they'd most likely think they were just wild monkeys, whose number certainly wasn't small in that area.

They will serve their purpose when the moment will come, as they always do. But now it is your turn to make your move, and you cannot allow yourself any kind of mistake.

No, no mistakes. Not this time.

Monkey Fist shut his eyes and drew in a few deep breaths before his eyes snapped open again and he only focused on the task at hand, forgetting about anything else as he began moving closer to the temple, careful to not make the slightest sound, all his senses alert, ready to his should he hear anyone getting close. Passing unnoticed close to a ninjas was one of the hardest tasks he could think of, let alone sneaking upon them, but he was a trained ninja himself and he had a great advantage: not only he knew where his foes were while they had no idea he was there already, but they also did not expect him to try taking any kind of action that soon since they knew that the only moment he could put the idol back together to have its magic working would be precisely at noon, not one moment before or after.

In a way, they were right: he would not take any kind of action yet… but he would set the scene for the moment he would. A smirk curled his lips for a moment, but it immediately froze as he head a faint sound, so faint that no untrained ear would have heard it. He immediately leapt backwards and behind some bushes before quickly climbing on a nearby tree. He crouched on a branch and looked down to see a Yamanouchi ninja walking on the spot he had been standing only moments before; he was wearing a hood – Monkey Fist assumed he was a man by the height – and while he was moving as silently and secretively as all ninjas, it wasn't hard to tell he wasn't really nervous, nor he expected an attack. He probably didn't think Monkey Fist would be so rash to attack him so close to the others, and not so much sooner than the moment he's have his only chance to successfully putting the idol back together; he had to assume he wouldn't act until the last moment, in an attempt to catch them by surprise. All in all, that reasoning did make sense.

But it was also dead wrong.

Monkey Fist shifted his weight, ready to leap off the branch and onto the ninja the moment he was right beneath him. He knew he could make no mistakes: if he failed to stun him right away, if he managed to fight him, if he shouted, his plan would fail before it even started. He was going to have to be more careful, more efficient than he had never been. All of Monkey Fist's muscles tensed as the ninja took another step forward. Just another step, he thought, just another…

Now.

Monkey Fist leapt, as silent as the shadows surrounding him, but he could not keep the branch for creaking ever so slightly as he did. It was a faint, faint sound, but it was enough for the ninja to tense and shift to his side. The blow that had been meant to his the base of his neck only hit the point where it met the shoulder, and while it was violent enough to leave the ninja breathless and unable to make a sound that would only last for a few instants, and Monkey Fist knew it. Before his opponent had any time to even breathe, the monkey man reached to grab his neck. It was his intention to apply the right pressure to the right point to make him pass out, only a moment would have been enough, but the ninja tried to jerk away from his grasp and began to counter attack, and Monkey Fist acted out by instinct.

Maybe it wouldn't have been necessary acting as he did; his simian hands had slipped just a fraction on the ninja's neck, and it would have probably been possible making him pass out before he could fight back and alert anyone… but the moment he felt his grip slipping was enough for the blackest terror to invade him, to make him fear his best chance would be spoiled, and then he didn't stop to think and a fraction of second was all it took. His hands went to grab the each side of the ninja's face, and twisted.

There was a faint cracking sound, easily covered by the jungle's nightly sounds, as the man's neck snapped like a twig. He stilled for an instant, then his body went limp, and Monkey Fist leant it down slowly to not make any unnecessary sound before drawing in a long breath, shutting his eyes. Everything had happened in just a few instants, almost too quickly for Monkey Fist's mind to catch up. He drew in a deep breath and opened his eyes, staring down at the lifeless body on the ground.

It wouldn't have been necessary to kill him.

I had no choice. I could not take risks.

You know what this means, don't you?

Monkey Fist clenched his jaw. Yes, he knew what that meant: from that moment on, there would be no turning back.

"Was everything alright, Hirotaka?" the voice – a woman's – reached his ears the moment he stepped in the small clearing in front of the temple. He turned to see that the Yamanouchi ninja who was standing right in front of the entrance of the temple was looking straight at him. That she had to be a woman was clear by her slim frame, but he could not see her face, for she was wearing a hood… just as the one he had taken from the ninja he had just killed, together with the gi. He was young, Monkey Fist had been almost horrified to notice, so young; he didn't look one day past his twenties at most. And his name, he now knew, must have been Hirotaka.

He was just a nuisance to be dealt with. Once I've reshaped time to fit my wishes, his death will have never happened.

The thought helped him to chase the thought of those blank eyes staring up at him without seeing anything only minutes before. Of course, he would have been delighted had it been Stoppable in his place, but… oh, what was wrong with him? He had been ready to physically destroy whoever tried to stand on his way more than once, and he had known for a long time that some casualties could happen on his quest to become the Ultimate Monkey Master. What had happened had been unfortunate, yes, but it had been necessary.

"Yes. There was nothing out of the ordinary," he finally replied, taking great care to not let his accent show as it usually did when he spoke in Japanese. He was inwardly thankful of how the cloth on his face muffled his voice, just as much as he was grateful that the darkness would mostly hide his eyes from sight. They were the only part of him that he could not conceal, and they could give him away dreadfully easily: they had nothing resembling Eastern features in neither colour nor shape.

"Good," the other ninja seemed relieved before glancing to her left. Monkey Fist followed her gaze to see she was glancing at the fire around which a few Yamanouchi ninjas were eating along with Team Possible as their companions kept guarding the temple. Once again, it didn't surprise Monkey Fist too much that they weren't all focused on guarding the temple's entrance: in their mind, he had no reason to act before noon. All the better for him. "Have you already eaten?" the other ninja was asking.

Monkey Fist couldn't even remember when he had eaten the last time, focused on his quest as he was, and now that he thought about it he was quite hungry – but to eat he would have to take off his hood, and that was most certainly not an option. He wouldn't even take the risk of approaching the fire around which Team Possible and that annoying young ninja were: the risk they could somehow recognize him was too great, and he would be darned if he let his best chance be ruined because he could not endure a little hunger. "Yes, I have," he replied.

"Would you mind guarding the entrance in my behalf while I eat, then? It won't take more than a few minutes, and I'm not sure I can be as sharp as I'd like through the night if I don't."

That was just perfect! It was more luck than Monkey Fist could have possibly hoped for – fate was finally smiling upon him at long last! It took him some effort not to laugh in triumph. Instead, he just bowed slightly. "It will be my honour," he just said, barely able to contain his excitement. Aside from the minor setback with the young man in the jungle, this was turning out to be easier than expected. Now he only had to make sure his monkey ninjas would do their part without messing up, and be careful to not get any kind of attention on himself that could result with someone noticing his eyes were certainly not the eyes of a Japanese man.

He did, however, allow himself to smile faintly as he watched the ninja stepping towards the fire and leaving him to guard the entrance of the temple before he forced himself to not lower his guard too soon or make the mistake of assuming everything would be easy: on the contrary, the hard part had just started and now he would need to be extremely careful. Starting from now.

Monkey Fist knew he had very little time before the ninja came back to guard the entrance, so he had to act quickly: he might not get another chance. After quickly glancing around to make sure nobody was observing him – no, no one was, and why should they after all? – he crossed his arms over his chest and tapped his foot three times on the ground. He paused for a few seconds, then he tapped it on the ground twice more. That was the signal: now he could only hope that the monkey ninjas carrying the two parts of the Tempus Simia had seen him from the jungle and would manage to get past any ninja who could be in their way.

He didn't have to wait too much: after only a few minutes – the longest, most unnerving minutes of his life during which he feared more than once that they wouldn't make it in to get there before the Yamanouchi ninja who had been guarding the entrance would finish eating and come back – he was immensely relieved to hear the faintest rustle behind him, followed by a tug at the gi he was wearing. He glanced around to make sure nobody had noticed anything, not turning to his monkeys to not give them away, then he slowly took a step to his left to allow the two monkeys inside the temple while keeping them shielded from sight. The small creatures quickly scurried in with the priceless items they were carrying, and a wide grin appeared Monkey Fist's concealed face, a delighted chortle threatening to leave him.

Now that his monkey ninjas were inside, they would stay hidden there with the two pieces of the Tempus Simia until the next day, until he could seize the right moment to rush inside before any of those fools could stop him and put together the two parts of the idol precisely at noon; they would expect him to attack from the outside, and none of them would suspect he could be among them already… not if he played well his part, that was it. From that moment on, everything depended on his ability to fool them until the very last instant. It was vital to his plan, and he refused to even take into consideration the idea he could fail, that they could see through him before he could put his plan in motion. No, he would succeed, he was certain of it; nothing and no one could deny him his destiny any longer.

"If he doesn't show before dawn," Yori was saying to Kim and Ron as they sat around the fire "we'll hide any evidence of our presence here and wait for him hidden in the jungle surrounding the temple. As soon as he tried to approach, we'll attack."

"And what if he doesn't show up at all tomorrow?" Kim asked.

"In that case we'll just keep guarding the temple while you and Stoppable-san try to track him down. He must not be allowed to succeed," Yori clenched her jaw "if he does, everything would be lost."

"Hey, don't worry – we won't even let him get close to the temple. Right, KP?"

"Right," Kim nodded before turning to Yori "you don't have to worry, we'll be ready for him."

As he stood against a tree only a few feet from them, pretending to be guarding the southern side of the clearing where the temple was, Monkey Fist smirked to himself. Those fools! They didn't even suspect how close he was, and thus they would be completely caught by surprise when he took action… and then, the power of time itself would be his to use. The fact they would hide on the borders of the clearing at dawn fit perfectly in his plan: that way he wouldn't have to be too close to any of them, which lessened the chances any of them could notice by taking a look at his eyes or observing his movements too closely – he had been careful to learn the stances and patterns Yamanouchi ninjas used, just in case, but one could never be too sure – that he was not Hirotaka.

Maybe he wouldn't have been able to keep his masquerade going for long had anyone decided to share more than just a few words with him, but nobody had so far. Focused as they were on their task none of them apparently felt like talking, and that worked just perfectly for Monkey Fist. For a moment he wondered whether he had hidden the body well enough, for it would be a disaster if someone found it before noon, but he didn't think they could find it so easily… not unless they went looking for it, and they wouldn't as long as they believed he was still among them. And for his plan to work, he needed them to believe it.

Just for a little while longer.

"Still no sign of him," Kim said a little impatiently, hidden behind some bushes. While she was used to fight, staying crouched for hours wasn't exactly something her body took so well, apparently. She had been crouched like them since five in the morning or so, and she didn't even want to count the hours that had passed – at least Ron was taking it better than her, she thought with a smirk as she turned to see him sleeping soundly by her side.

"Patience," came Yori's voice, so low that she could barely hear it "it's almost noon now, there are only minutes left. If he wants to make his attempt today, he could show up any moment."

"If he doesn't show up to be a good villain be defeated, he had better start running," Kim muttered, shifting slightly on her aching knees.

Not very far from them, from the top of a tree whose branches shielded him from view but allowed him to see the temple, Monkey Fist was counting the seconds that still separated him from what he knew would be the turning point, the greatest moment of his whole life. His patience was wearing thin, much like Kim's, but he had also a much more valid reason to be restless and anxious – where were his monkey ninjas? Why weren't they showing up yet? He had given them very clear instructions, telling them to attack a few minutes before noon. It still was not too late, but he was starting to get worried. Could it be that something had happened, that they had been caught by some Yamanouchi ninja somewhere in the forest and couldn't make it in time?

The mere idea made him scowl, but he forced himself to stay calm. The two parts of the Tempus Simia were in the temple already, with two of his monkeys; even without his other monkeys ninjas attacking to distract his enemies, he might still be able to get inside the temple and do what needed to be done if he acted fast. Of course it wouldn't be easy, for all the Yamanouchi ninjas would be after him at once the second he left his position and they realized what he was trying to do. But no matter – he was a master of Tai Shing Pek Kwar, so he could-

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a loud screech that caused him to wince, his heart jumping in his throat as he realized that his monkey ninjas were finally there, ready to act as a distraction. The final act of the plan was finally in motion.

Monkey Fist immediately leapt off the three, barely able to remind himself he was going to have to use his enemies' moves and stances as he made his way closer to the temple during the battle while he pretended to be helping fighting off his own monkey ninjas and rushed in the clearing where the battle had already begun. If his monkey ninjas had recognized him – if they hadn't, Monkey Fist could be proud of how accurate his little act was – they didn't let it show and behaved just the way he had instructed them: the monkey man had just one second to take a look at the battle and smirk to himself as he heard Ron Stoppable shrieking before one of the monkeys attacked him. It was an attack he could easily block, and he did, staring straight in the monkey's eyes as he did.

He saw recognition in his minion's eyes, and he nodded ever so slightly. The rest was going to be easier, he thought as he kept pretending to be battling the monkey ninja, both of them getting closer and closer to the entrance of the temple with each move while Monkey Fist kept glancing at the sun – it was almost in the right position, and in a minute he would be close enough to the entrance to run inside before anyone could stop him. That was just perfect.

On the other side of the clearing, Kim was back flipping to avoid a blow before delivering a swift kick that sent the monkey ninja tumbling on the ground, giving her a moment to catch her breath. She took advantage of it to take a quick look at the battle going on in front of the temple: each Yamanouchi ninja was battling at least one or two monkey ninjas, Yori handling three of them not too far from her while Ron was apparently trying to keep any monkey away from him by threateningly waving a branch in the air. She frowned.

"Where is Monkey Fist?" she asked aloud, stepping aside to avoid the monkey ninja Yori's kick had just sent flying in her direction "he should be the first in line here!"

Yori opened her mouth to say something, maybe to suggest he was waiting for a chance to sneak in the temple in hopes his monkeys would be enough to keep them from stopping him, but before a word left her a loud, triumphant laugh reached everyone's ears, causing all the ninjas to turn to the temple. Yori immediately caught sight of what looked just like a black cloth – the hood they traditionally used to conceal their face during missions, she realized – and she suddenly knew how Monkey Fist had fooled them all.

"No!" she cried out, immediately dashing for the temple's entrance, as did all the other Yamanouchi ninjas. The monkey ninjas seemed to have a different plan, though, for they immediately stood in front of the entrance to keep them outside for a few more instants. And a few instants was all they lasted – having comprehended what was going on, the neither the Yamanouchi ninjas nor Kim held back one bit, knowing that sparing their strength was no longer an option: they had to get through them, and they had to get through them now. The sun would be in the right position in only a few instants, Kim notice with pang of something that was too much like panic for her tastes.

She and Yori were the first ones to dash inside the temple, only to be greeted by Monkey Fist's high, insane laughter. "You're too late, you pieces of refuse, too late!"

Kim had barely enough time to see him – he was standing above them with the head of the Tempus Simia in his hands, the idol's body sitting on some kind of stone altar on which the only sunlight of the room fell – before he put the idol's head on its body, and next thing she knew was that… something had hit her, like the shock wave following an explosion. Both her and Yori were sent crashing against a wall, while most of the Yamanouchi ninjas who were just now gaining entrance were pushed back outside along with the monkey ninjas they were still fighting. Kim groaned and glanced up again to see that something had appeared in mid air behind Monkey Fist, some kind of black swirl that looked like a… a hole in reality itself.

"I bid you farewell – we shall not meet again, for in my future there is no room for your existence!" Monkey Fist exclaimed, raising the idol over his head in triumph.

"NO!" the scream that left her was so loud that Yori's throat almost hurt, but she didn't even take notice – all she could think was that if she didn't stop him now, everything would be lost. Monkey Fist merely laughed at her attempt and leapt in the swirling portal. Yori almost made it to jump in it right after him, almost – but the portal sealed and disappeared barely an instant too early, and she simply fell on the ground. She did not try to soften her fall, nor she made any move to get up after she hit the ground – she simply lay there, her forehead resting on the cold stone floor, her eyes squeezed shut as if seeing nothing and nobody could somehow soothe that horrible sense of failure, the knowledge that… as long as they kept existing, she could not look in anyone's eyes without feeling like she had failed them.

It was over. It was all over. They had failed – she had failed. Failed to protect the Tempus Simia, failed to guard the temple, failed to keep Monkey Fist from gaining the power of time. And now there was nothing they could do to change that.

"KP?" Ron's voice didn't reach Yori's ears, but it did snap Kim from her numbness – much like the Yamanouchi ninjas, all she could do now was staring either at Yori or at the altar where Monkey Fist had been standing only seconds before, too stunned by the realization of what had just happened to actually think of what they could do now… as long as there would be a now.

"Kim?" Ron insisted, shaking her gently – he hadn't managed to get anywhere near the entrance before that moment, and thus he had no idea of what had just happened in there… though he already knew it could only be bad news "what happened?"

"We…" Kim found it difficult to say, so difficult, as if saying it would shatter the reassuring thought that it could have been just a dream, that it was not true. "We… lost."

"I've won! At long last, I've won!"

Monkey Fist's laughter greeted the monkey ninjas as they – following their master's instructions – reached the hideout he had told them to get into once they got away from the temple. The monkeys probably should have been glad that their master was happy, still there was something in his laughter that made them all uncomfortable. They uneasily glanced at each other while Monkey Fist kept rambling to himself, still holding the Tempus Simia to his chest, only to abruptly stop as he noticed them.

"Here you are, finally! Look!" he laughed again as he shoved the idol under the closest monkey's nose "isn't it magnificent?"

The monkey ninjas couldn't exactly see what in that small stone object that certainly didn't look like any of them could be considered as such, but they had long since learned not to wrong their master, so they just nodded. Their nods were a little too hurried to be really believable, but Monkey Fist didn't even take notice: he was far too busy observing the item with a huge, insane grin on his face.

"Of course, intelligent as you may be, what I can accomplish with this goes far beyond your comprehension," he said "I could shape history to fit my will, learn the art of Tai Shin Pek Kwar from the greatest masters-" he trailed of for an instant, then he chuckled as if he had just realized he had said something foolish. "No, there would be no point in that – what is there they could teach me that I don't know already?" he asked aloud "nothing! None of them but Toshimiru possessed Mystical Monkey Power as I do, and not even he would be anything but a pale shade of a warrior in front of the Ultimate Monkey Master!"

He let out another excited laugh before he cleared his throat and forced himself to calm down. "Do make me some tea," he finally said, turning to his monkey ninjas. Now that the Tempus Simia was in his hands, he needed to clear his mind and carefully ponder his next move. He was no fool, and he knew all too well how a simple mistake could alter history in exactly the opposite way he hoped. He carefully put the Tempus Simia on the ground and sat cross-legged in front of it, a thoughtful frown on his face.

Tempting as it was getting very far back in time to reshape history itself, he realized that changing the world's order too soon could backfire on him. He could recall someone mentioning to him how his grandfather's older brother and his sons had died in one of the London bombings sometime in 1940: had it never happened, Maurice Fiske would have never had the title and family castle and Monkey Fist's own father probably would have never met his future wife years later. And Monkey Fist knew that, going further back in time, there had to be more of such coincidences in his family line. For all he knew, changing history too much could result with him never being born – all that was needed was that any of his ancestors died beforehand or never met the person they'd marry. If that happened he would fade into non-existence, and he certainly wasn't going to take that risk, no matter how slim such chances might be.

"I can't go too far back in time without risks," Monkey Fist murmured to no one in particular, his eyes narrowing a little in thought as he kept staring at the idol. That being the case, he reasoned, the most sensible thing to do would be getting back to a time when he was born already and change the past so that he could claim the title of Ultimate Monkey Master, so that Team Possible could never stand in his way. Yes, that was it – he would go back to the day when Ron Stoppable had stolen part of the power rightfully belonging to him, and he would help his past self to kill him. Or maybe he would get further back to kill Stoppable before he ever had anything to do with him, he and that rodent: that way he wouldn't be in his way anymore, nor he would later be in Yamanouchi to stop him from taking the Lotus Blade.

The memory of the Lotus Blade falling down that chasm, forever lost to him after he could hold it for only a few hours, made his anger flare up. Hadn't the boy and that annoying Yamanouchi ninja been there, he would have long since taken over the world, he would have long since claimed his rightful title as the Monkey Master! Stoppable couldn't wrap his mind around the misplaced honour that Mystical Monkey power was to someone like him! And then they had kept him from fulfilling the prophecy that would have made him unstoppable! Monkey Fist gritted his teeth in fury.

"Those imbeciles, constantly trying to get in my way!" he bellowed to the empty room "I'll erase them from history, the annoying pests they are! Had I known what a nuisance they would turn out to be-" he abruptly trailed off, his eyes widening at the sudden thought.

"Had I known…" he repeated almost hesitantly, then he smiled – an insane smile that would have made anyone take a step back hadn't he been alone in the room "yes! Yes, this is it!" he exclaimed. How could he not think that before? It was so simple! After all, hadn't he asked for Team Possible's help to retrieve the fourth jade monkey, they would have never even met, and Ron Stoppable wouldn't have been there to steal Mystical Monkey Power and destroy the four statues, nor he could have stopped him from taking the Lotus Blade, or from following Frederick to the stars, or… or… hadn't it been for them, he would have become the Ultimate Monkey Master years before! That was he had to change!

He would go back in the past and warn his younger self not to contact Team Possible, ever. He would tell him where the four jade monkeys were so that he would spare time, tell him everything he had learned until that moment… and while he was at it, he would probably warn him to seek a genetist that was not DNAmy to mutate his hands and feet. With that knowledge at his disposal and knowing what mistakes he had to avoid, Monkey Fist was sure nothing would stop him from fulfilling his destiny. Once he was done in the past and went back to the present, he was certain he would find himself being the Ultimate Monkey Master, having already used his powers to shape the world to fit his view.

And neither Team Possible nor the Yamanouchi ninjas were going to be part of that world.

The thought made him laugh in delight as he got on his feet again and grabbed the Tempus Simia, holding it in front of his eyes with a twisted grin, barely turning to glance at the monkey ninja that was getting back in the room, holding a tray with a cup of tea on it. "The tea will have to wait – I have so much more in my hands now," he said. He allowed himself to smirk once more in anticipation of the present he was going to return into shortly after – could he even think that fallacious concepts such as 'before' and 'after' had any reason to be for him now? – before he shut his eyes and held up the idol, focusing with all his might on the time and place where he wanted to be.

The monkey ninja, who had put the tray on the floor, gave a surprised squeal and took a nervous step back as a swirl of darkness just appeared in front of its master. The small animal couldn't even begin to realize what was going on, for just an instant later his master had stepped into the swirl, which closed and disappeared with him, leaving the room empty aside from the monkey and the smoking cup of tea on the floor.

Their return to Mount Yamanouchi was grim. It would have been anything but happy in any case, but the fact they were bringing back with them Hirotaka's body – which they had eventually found without his gi behind a few bushes after realizing that he was missing – made it so much worse than anything else Kim could remember. She could barely believe that Hirotaka was gone: she had barely known him when he had been in Middleton the previous year, but the thought someone she knew had died still stunned her. Nobody had ever died in any mission she had involved with, and now she couldn't help but feel responsible.

Kim clenched her teeth as they walked up the mountain, anger mixing with the sorrow and numbness. She knew that Monkey Fist was dangerous, but she wouldn't have expected him to actually murder someone in cold blood only to steal their clothes and make his plan work. She was sure that was something other villains – Drakken, Shego, Dementor, Killigan, Motor Ed, the Seniors – wouldn't have done, not while there was not even any need to kill him, not while stunning him and tying him up would have been enough. The thought Monkey Fist had stepped so low made her sick, and enraged to herself for not being able to stop that death from happening.

There was a rational part of her that knew she was nowhere close to Hirotaka when Monkey Fist had killed him, that there was nothing she could have done to stop him, but she still felt guilty. Not to mention that now that he had the Tempus Simia, they might fade into non-existence in any moment – hell knew what he was planning to do now that he had the power to travel in time – and there was nothing they could do about it anymore; they had lost any chance they had to stop Monkey Fist beforehand. How could she not realize Monkey Fist had been close to them the whole time? She felt so stupid for not realizing it!

"Kim?" she heard Ron's voice the same moment she felt his hand grabbing hers and squeezing gently "it's not your fault, you know. You did your best."

"My best wasn't good enough," Kim said bitterly. Until hours before she would have never thought it would come the day she's have to say it, but now she couldn't think of any way they could fix their failure. Not only one of them had died, but Monkey Fist had gained a power they had no hope to stand against. How can you stop someone who's travelling through time and is ready to change history? All that was left for them to do was waiting for the world as they knew it to disappear, and them with it.

This time, she could do nothing. Not anymore.

Kim swallowed and looked at Yori; she was speaking to Sensei, her head hanging low, her gaze fixed on the ground. Her hair was shielding her face from their view like a black curtain, and judging by how her usually collected voice seemed to be on the verge of breaking as she had to explain how Monkey Fist had tricked them and gotten away with the idol it wasn't hard for Kim to guess she had to be absolutely mortified… maybe even more than she was.

"KP, you shouldn't speak like that," Ron was trying again to make her feel better "he… got lucky, that's all. I'm sure-" he was cut off by a sudden beeping sound – the Kimmunicator. Kim could feel her heart heaving in her chest as she took it and held it in front of her eyes; she still hadn't had the courage to tell Wade that all was lost. She sighed.

"Wade, I would have called you soon. I don't know how to say this, but-"

"You'll tell me everything later, Kim," Wade said, typing something on his keyboard so quickly that his fingers were a blur "I'm picking up anomalies in the time-space continuum. Monkey Fist must have just used the Tempus Simia."

Kim could feel her insides knotting up; that was it, he was probably up to do something that would forever alter history, and they could do nothing to stop him. "I'm sorry, Wade," she said weakly, not even aware of the fact all the Yamanouchi ninjas, Master Sensei included, were currently staring at her "he tricked us. I-"

"Got it! He's back in the seventies!" Wade exclaimed "and looks like he's in England… in his castle?" he paused to check something "yeah, those are the coordinates. He's probably trying to give his past self some tips for the future or something like that. You've got to hurry up before he manages to do too much damage."

"Uh… Wade?" Ron waved his hand in front of the Kimmunicator's screen "maybe you didn't get what happened, but-"

"I know, I know, Monkey Fist got the Time Monkey," Wade cut him off "but it doesn't mean it's over. The game is still open."

Kim felt her heart beating somewhere in her throat. Could it be that…? "You mean we could still stop him?" she asked, barely daring to hope it could be true. She heard the Yamanouchi ninjas whispering to each other as if from a great distance.

"Sure, all you have to do is following him in whatever time he is and keep him from doing… whatever he tries to do," Wade explained "I thought that we shouldn't be unprepared in case something went wrong, so I dug back an old project I worked onto with Justine Flanner a while back. Remember her kinomatic continuum disruptor? We made a slightly different one, but then we forgot about it. I modified it so that it could create a passage through time and space instead of just a tear like the old one."

Kim could barely dare to believe her ears. "Are you saying that you got us a time machine?" she muttered.

"Well, more or less. It still has some flaws and I don't think it can carry back and forth in time more than two people at once – two people and a naked mole rat, Rufus, don't worry – but I'm working on it. But for now, it should be enough to follow Monkey Fist and then get back to the present. He leaves a trace of his passage when he travels through time and space, and I can use it to track him down."

"You rock, Wade!" Kim exclaimed, her smile suddenly so wide that her cheeks hurt. She turned to Yori and Sensei. "Did you hear that? It's not over yet! We can get back to yesterday and stop Monkey Fist before he kills Hirotaka and-"

"Uh, Kim?" Wade cut her off, sounding rather unsettled "are you saying that Monkey Fist… killed someone?"

She nodded grimly. "He did. Remember Hirotaka, the one who came in Middleton while Ron was here?"

The boy seemed to pale slightly. "Sure. But how… why…?"

"He killed him so that he could disguise himself as a Yamanouchi ninja. But now that we can't stop before it happens…!"

"You can't," Wade's voice came from the Kimmunicator.

Kim's smile vanished. "What?"

"Hey, why not?" Ron asked "I thought you got us a time machine!"

"I told you, this still needs some work," Wade said "getting you back to the present is easy, but it can't get you back in the time stream unless someone else – in this case, Monkey Fist – travels to that same place and in that same time. Remember what I told you that he leaves a trace when he passes through the time stream?"

"Yeah?"

"That trace is exactly what allows the time machine to work. I'm working on fixing that, but for now you can only follow him wherever and whenever he goes. Unless he gets back to yesterday, and I don't think he will… that's something you can't change. For now," he added quickly "I'll be working on that."

"Oh," Kim bit her lower lip before glancing up at Sensei "I'm sorry…"

Sensei shook his head. "Don't worry, Kim Possible. If your young friend will be able to give us a chance to save Hirotaka, he'll make us happy. If he won't, we'll soothe our sorrow with the knowledge he died as a honourable warrior. But what matters now is stopping Monkey Fist."

Kim nodded. "We will," she said "Wade, when can we go?"

"Any moment," was the reply "I connected the time machine to the Kimmunicator. I'll activate it, and the Kimmunicator will open the passage. To get back, all you have to do is reversing – you'll be back in the present, and in Middleton. I won't be able to contact you in while you're in another time, so… good luck."

"You rock, Wade," Kim smiled "ready to go, Ron? Rufus?"

"Sure!"

"Hu-uh!"

"Wait," Yori – who had followed the whole scene in silence – suddenly spoke up as she turned to Sensei. "Sensei, I ask for the permission to go with Kim Possible and Stoppable-san. Let me put a remedy to my mistake."

Sensei smiled at her a little sadly. "I think you're putting too much blame on yourself, Yori," he said quietly, and she lowered her head "but if you're so inclined…"

"I'm afraid it's not possible," Wade said almost apologetically "I'm not sure there is enough energy to bring three people, plus Rufus, back to our time. There was no time to do a test drive, so… we can't tale the risk. I'll work on that too, I promise."

"It is alright, my young friend. You've already done so much," Sensei said before turning back to Kim and Ron "good luck, to both of you. And thank you."

"We'll stop him, I promise," Kim said, more to Yori than to Sensei, and the young ninja gave her a grateful smile and a nod. Kim held up the Kimmunicator. "Okay, Wade, get us whenever Monkey Fist went."

It was like passing through a door, plain and simple: Monkey Fist didn't feel anything unusual after stepping in the portal. After what felt like just an instant from when he had stepped inside the portal, he was stepping out of it and in a place that certainly was not his hideout in Africa. Monkey Fist smiled as he set foot on a stone bridge that led to the entrance to a very familiar castle. He couldn't be sure he was exactly when he wished to be – but why should he think he was in any other time but the one he had thought of while using the idol? – but he knew perfectly where he was.

He was home.