A/N: Disclaimer: This story is a work of fiction. Kim Possible, Ron Stoppable and the rest of the cast of the series belong to the Disney Corporation and not myself. So there. Also, I don't make a dime off this. The hobby just keeps my mind and hands busy so that I don't fill my face as often.
I want to thank CajunBear73 for his mad beta skills and humor while I was writing this. The idea had been bouncing around in my head in one form or another for about four years. Much of the setting is in the Rocky Mountain National Park. Places like Mount Meeker, Longs Peak, Battle Mountain and Lamb's Slide are real places. It's a great place to visit and hike. I know the place fairly well since my wife and I honeymooned there years ago. I'd say how long, but she may read this and I don't need the thrashing she would give me.
The events take place in Kim and Ron's Junior year in high school. Before the modulator and StD. For those who have read 'Once Again' this is part of that series.
Winter Adventure
Chapter 4
Longs Peak:
Still laughing at the phone call, Ron was brought to his senses as he fully became a toy for the wind again. He realized he was in for the worst beating of his young life as he hung on for dear life, while he was repeatedly slammed into the wall until his body screamed in agony.
'I actually paid somebody to get beat like this? I know I must be out of my mind.', he mused as his humor came back to him. Finally after quite a few minutes the wind backed off enough for Ron to climb higher. After what seemed like another eternity, Ron made the top of the slide. He knelt down and took another drink, Ron felt at this point he could use something a little stronger than water though.
---
Summit:
Charlie peeked out of his tent. The weather people were put away and were warm and comfortable, even that ignorant blond who started the whole mess. It took several hours before he finally conivinced her that the only way someone would carry her out was if she was a corpse. No one was volunteering to carry her on their back. So she decided to keep quiet. She was unhappy the intern got to go down. Charlie came up and told her that Wendy would probably be very happy to trade her places considering how close to death she had been.
-
Summer Gale didn't think that the girl was that looked at the canopy of the tent that she tried to sleep in. 'Those dogs. I should have been the one carried down, how dare they pick her instead of me?', she fumed as her teeth chattered while she laid in the donated sleeping bag.
-
Charlie was worried. Ron should have been back by now. Even knowing that the storm was even worse than he feared, he felt that the teenager should have had enough time unless he got got caught in a bad place at the wrong time.
'I should have taken that girl down myself, Ron was just too young to handle the responsibility.', he thought. He looked out again there was a dimly flashing light in the snow filled sky. Charlie buckled into his harness and ran to the side where the light was coming from. He yelled for a help knowing Ron might be in a bad way. Getting close, Charlie clipped himself to an anchor and looked over the side. Below and climbing steadily towards him was the teenager. A few minutes later Ron emerged. They pulled him into a group embrace.
-
"Where the hell you been Ron? You had me worried to death.", Charlie asked, "And how's that cute girl?"
-
"Wendy's gonna be fine, me I'm beat and beat up. Heck I might as well take up football now. That wind threw me around like a rag doll for who knows how long, all I could do was go along for the ride. If I was drinking age I could go for a beer right now.", he laughed and groaned as someone slapped him on the back. They headed for a tent because the storm though, lightening up a little, was still raging. As Ron looked for it, he realized that he left his sleeping bag on Wendy. 'Oh that lucky bag. If I ever get it back I may never wash it again.', he mused with a slight smile.
-
Looking around Charlie tossed him another sleeping bag, Ron quickly grabbed a bite to eat and went to sleep. Tonight he dreamed of two lovely faces: one with auburn hair, he had known it and memorized it's features all his life, the other with blond hair, he would like to know better since he knew he was never going to be good enough for the love of his best friend.
---
The storm raged for three days. Supplies were beginning to run low. They called down for the weather update and got the news that there would be about an hour-long window of good weather in a few hours and to expect a lift out. The bad part of the news was that might be the last chance for a while. Charlie told his guys to start packing up; that a helicopter would be giving them a ride down to Estes Park. Two hours later they were notified that the chopper was on the way. They took the tents down in preparation for leaving the summit and taking all their equipment and trash with them.
---
Ron looked up at the shape as it rose over the top of Longs with a thunderous roar. 'Dang that HAS to be the biggest helicopter that I have EVER seen.', he mused, getting back to work putting things away for the flight off the mountain. After a few minutes they were loading in the chopper with the television crew. Then came the gear and the rescue team. The helicopter revved back up trying to get off the mountain top. Charlie could see the clouds beginning to whip by faster. "We're too heavy!", he yelled, just as the flight crew came to that realization as well.
Summer Gale had a headset on and was imploring the flight crew to get the machine into the air and down to safety. "We have to go now before the weather traps us again.", she yelled in fear.
The co-pilot yelled back, "We're too heavy we have to dump equipment! Start unloading."
Charlie looked at Ron and nodded. Being nearest to the door Ron jumped out and they began to hand him bags to unload the aircraft. All the winter equipment from the rescue crew was soon back on the snow. Ron was sweating. Still the chopper wasn't light enough.
The began off loading the television equipment as well.
"NO! NOT that. We NEED that equipment!", she screamed, "Some of you climber people get off."
Charlie ignored her as he kept passing the heavy equipment out to Ron. She grabbed at the veteran climber. He pushed her back down and began to finish. Abruptly the helicopter both rose and was caught in a gust of wind at the same time. Ron was reaching back for another load when the wind driven chopper suddenly rose and caught him. It pushed him over against a very large rock and pinned him with a sickening crunch.
Ron felt it and tried to roll out of the way, but there was no room to move. He felt things give inside him as he crumpled in a heap when the chopper rose again.
"Get out of here now, we're light enough.", Summer Gale ordered the pilot.
Charlie looked down at his friend laying in the snow , he could clearly see blood coming from the student's mouth as he lay there unmoving. Charlie yelled, "We have to go back, Ron's down, the landing skid hit him in the chest." There was no answer. Then he looked and saw the weatherwoman with the cord that had been attached to his headset in her hand. She was smiling evilly at him as the helicopter descended.
"Take us all the way down to Loveland.", she told the pilot keeping the cord away from the climber.
"You'll kill that kid lady!", he screamed at her.
"That's his problem, he could have helped me down on the first night instead of Wendy.", she countered.
"She was dying.", Charlie shot back.
"Sure she was. I don't believe it at all.", she cursed as she kept the cord from the climber. A member of her staff held Charlie away from Miss Gale.
Finally as they passed over Estes Park Charlie got the cord back and plugged it in. "We left the kid back on the mountain. After we land we have to go back and get him. He looked injured.", he informed the pilot.
"Oh crap.", the pilot called back, "The lady here told us to go down to Loveland. What kid is back on the mountain?"
"The one that was on the ground helping to offload this piece of junk.", Charlie informed him, "When we got some air the landing skid pinned him against a rock. He wasn't moving when we left."
"Lady did you know the kid was hurt?", the pilot asked over the intercom.
"Who cares about that kid, we're almost down. So let us off, then you can go back and get him and the equipment.", she told him coldly.
"I'm responsible for that kid now!", he yelled at Summer Gale.
Soon they landed. Charlie was anxious to get back up on the mountain to retrieve the former student. He could see the clouds reforming over the mountaintop as the weather crew got out. 'Damn this is not going to be good.', he sat there cursing to himself.
As the chopper began to spin up again something happened; they immediately shut down. "What is it?", Charlie nervously asked.
"Ten minute fix, hang on.", the co-pilot informed the mountaineer.
Finally, they took off again. Charlie was fuming. 'This is not going to end well, I know it. Damn.', he grimaced hoping that Ron was still alive.
Sure enough the they were beginning to gain altitude after the maintenance problem. While this was happening Charlie noted that Park Rangers had met with Summer and her crew. They were being escorted away. The climbers just smiled and waved at the demanding witch who's purse was going to be quite a bit lighter in the next few days, if she was lucky. They continued to gain altitude as the winds began to pick up. By the time they reached eleven thousand feet all on board could tell that landing on the mountain top was now out of the question.
Still, Charlie had to know the fate of the solo climber. Charlie picked up his cell phone and called the number that the young man had given to him only a couple weeks earlier. Finally, after a few minutes a gasping voice said, "Hello."
"Ron are you OK? The witch of Middleton got the pilot to leave before I knew it. I'm sorry. The weather's too bad to land. You have to get under cover right away.", he told the teen over the sound of the flying machine.
"I'll try, but there's something wrong, I'm hacking up blood.", Ron coughed.
As they gained altitude he could see that Ron was right, He was crawling to the place where Ben and Ron had made a snow cave only a week or so before. He was dragging a bag behind him. Charlie could also see a crimson trail too. Finally, he saw Ron reach the area where the cave was at and began to pull out a stove and light it. He shoved the lit stove inside the cave opening. For a few minutes he was out of sight then reappeared. He then saw the teenager pull his ice axes and ski poles off his pack and stuck them into the top of the cave. 'Smart kid', he mused. 'He's going to heat up the cave then let is freeze to form an impenetrable wall of ice to block the winds that are rising. I wonder where he learned that?'
He then noticed that Ron struggled his way back to the equipment that he had unloaded a short time before. He also drug much of that over to the cave entrance. The chopper kept circling for over half an hour when he noticed that Ron had opened up the door on the cave and moved the poles and axes around making sure the ventilation holes were open. He had dragged almost everything of use back to the cave while it quickly froze up as the temperature plummeted. Charlie helplessly could see Ron still coughing up blood as he raced against time and the monster storm that would soon be upon them all.
Charlie called again, finally Ron opened his phone, "Ron that should be good enough, get inside before the real bad stuff gets there. We have to get down ourselves or we might be joining you.", he insisted to the young man.
"Do me a favor, don't tell KP and don't let her come up after me. I'm not worth it. If she says anything tell her I said so. Thanks Charlie, see ya.", as Ron ended the call. He disappeared inside pulling the last bag in after him. They watched in silence as the cave entrance closed up.
"Let's get down before the storm kills us too.", he told the others.
A few minutes later Charlie and the rest hopped off the chopper at the medical center's landing pad and headed into the hospital. They walked around looking for Ben. They found him standing at the bed of the person that had been removed the first night. "Hey Ben, how are you doing?", Charlie asked.
"Not bad, just checking on Wendy here. Uh, where's everybody else. This young lady would like to see a certain young man. So where is Ron, did he already head back to Middleton?", Ben asked.
"We sorta had an accident during the pick up. Ron got hurt when we was offloading equipment because the chopper couldn't generate enough lift to get off. Anyway Ron was pinned between the helicopter and a big rock. Before we could shut down and haul him back in Miss Gale ordered the pilot to take off. Which he did.", Charlie explained.
Impatiently Ben asked, "So which room is Ron in? That must have hurt a lot."
"Well, he's not here. He's still up on the mountain.", Charlie continued.
"Who's with him?", Ben asked angrily.
"No one. He's coughing up blood too. We'd better notify his parents.", Charlie responded.
"I want a rescue team ready to go five minutes ago. We can't leave him like this.", Ben yelled.
"He knew the risks, he signed the waiver and his dad did too.", Charlie replied.
"He's a minor and he's Kim Possible's partner, I will not give up on him like this.", Ben told him.
"I know, I know. Last thing he told me before he entered that snow cave you guys made a few weeks ago was NOT to tell her. He's afraid of her getting hurt or upset.", Charlie reported.
Ben made a phone call to round up a rescue crew while Charlie called the Stoppable residence.
-
"Stoppable's, may I help you?", a woman's voice answered.
"Mrs. Stoppable? This is Charlie Oats from the climbing school, is your husband around?", he asked.
"One moment please.....Dean Stoppable.", was the answer.
"Sir, there was a problem getting the rescue crew from the mountain today. I'm afraid I have to say that Ron is still up there and he got injured. We are attempting to put another team together to bring him down, but the weather isn't cooperating with us.", he told Ron's father.
After a minute or two of silence voice of Dean Stoppable came back on. "What are his chances Charlie?", the elder Stoppable asked calmly as he began to worry about his only child and think how to break the news to everyone else.
"I'm not sure sir. We'll do our best.", Charlie replied.
"Thanks son, I know you will, but don't risk anyone else until it's safe. Ronald is tougher than most people give him credit for.", he cautioned the climber.
Ben was making his call as well, "Mr. Superintendent, we have a problem. One of my students was left on Longs at the summit and he is injured. I would like to put an attempt to get him down before he dies up there... Which one? The young man who brought that girl down in the storm.", he told the park official, "yes, I'll wait for you to call back.", he responded.
Nearly a half hour later Ben's phone rang, "Owens...yes sir. But he got that girl off...he's a minor too...but we have to try. No sir... I understand no attempts until the weather lets up....damn.", he muttered.
Ben looked at his climbing partner, "Charlie, somebody's gotta call Ron's parents and give them the news. You did it the last time, Ron was my student. I guess I'd better do this, I wonder how long it's gonna take for the vultures to line up. Nothing like a tragedy to a celebrity to bring them out.", he said bitterly.
Ben summoned up his courage and made the call. "Mr. Stoppable.", he said as the person on the other end answered, "I'm Ben Owens, Ron's instructor, the Park Service will not let us climb on Longs Peak until the weather becomes more reasonable. They have banned any attempt until it is fairly safe. Yes sir, we will go up as soon as they clear us. I already have enough volunteers. Sir, Ron is a very good man, I'm glad to have met him. Please try to keep Miss Possible out of the loop, Ron told me that she is very forceful and the last thing Ron told Charlie was to keep her safe. Thank you sir, it's best that the whole climbing community keeps him in their thoughts."
Charlie called Ron's phone hoping he would answer, "Yes.", he heard the coughing on the other end.
"Ron this is Charlie. Listen we have a problem. The Park Service won't let anyone else climb until the weather moderates. They won't let us come up cause it's too dangerous. When it gets better we have about thirty guys that have volunteered. You have to stay alive man. Now what's wrong, I need to know where it hurts.", he told him.
After the long silence, they talked for a while until Ron reminded him of a couple of things. He told him of the promise he made to Wendy, and he reminded him to keep Kim off the mountain. They hung up.
Wendy watched most of this unfold with tears in her eyes, 'That poor man, after what he's done. Now they can't help him. That was like he was saying good bye.'
---
Sunnyville Retirement Community:
The phone rang twice before Nana picked it picked it up. "Hello.", she said.
"Mrs. Possible may I speak with either Anne or James please.", the voice on the line asked.
"Who may I ask is calling?", she said.
"Ronald's father, Dean. And please don't use my name around Kimberly. I'd like to keep her out of this.", he asked the elderly lady.
"One moment Dean, I will have one of them in here.", she responded quicker than he would have thought.
A minute later Anne came on the phone. "Dean.", she said softly, "Is there something wrong?"
Dean Stoppable calmly explained the situation to the world class surgeon, "You know Anne, we always thought that something like this could happen. It's just hard having to face it for real. Ron always told me to make sure Kimberly stayed safe. That was why he did all this extra stuff. He didn't really want her to know, that's just the way he became after he grew up a little. I don't know when the media is going to get hold of this story, but try to keep it from her.", he told her.
"Do you want us to come back, we could fly and be home tonight.", she stated.
"No, don't do that Anne. You'd have to leave the car and have it shipped back. That's too much hassle. We'll keep up to date on this end and let you know of any developments. You guys try to keep the holiday going. We'll call if anything develops.", he advised.
"OK, but let us know. Ron's part of our family too.", she replied hanging up.
Dr. Anne Possible sat down and began to cry. That's how James found her ten minutes later. He led her to their room to talk. "What happened dear?", he asked softly.
"Ron got hurt and he's still up on that mountain. Now he's by himself and he's in a major storm. If Kimmie hears I'm afraid she's going to rush out there and get hurt too. And...and Ronald's hurt pretty bad.", she told him quietly.
James drew her into his arms and held her while the tears she shed soaked his shirt. "It will be alright Ronald is a strong boy with more lives than a cat. If anyone can get through this, my money would be on Ronald.", he told Anne softly.
---
Longs Peak, 14,255 feet:
He could hear the wind rising just outside. The walls of his refuge had frozen solid making this a much better shelter than a tent. He crawled over to his haul bag and removed the sleeping bag that he had replaced his with and the sleeping pad, searching a few more seconds he found the bivy sack to stuff the bag into. That would keep the bag dry and him a lot warmer. He found the two candle lanterns that he added to the haul bag before he left to come to Estes Park. Noting that he had candles for a few days he slowly set a couple of of ice screws into the wall of his current abode and lit the lanterns. They gave off a little warmth and light that seemed to raise his spirits.
Since the calls earlier he had heard nothing from anyone else. He felt that everyone knew by now and were staying away. 'Who wants to talk to a dead man? Man? I'm not even close to being one.', he thought as he coughed up some more blood.
Ron Stoppable knew he was in a fight for his life now one which he could easily lose. He could feel the sharp pain in his chest as he breathed. It wasn't going away. After the hovel that he and Ben had built earlier began to warm up a little he stripped off his outer clothing and he took off his long john top to inspect the injuries that the helicopter had inflicted on him. He noticed that on one side he had something trying to poke through the skin. 'Well that's different. Must be broken.', he discovered as he touched it and was rewarded by a sharp pain again.
Reaching to the first aid kit he pulled out a couple of elastic wraps and began to bind himself up to protect his chest. After a few gasps he was done while managing not to wet his pants in the process. Ron took his two bottles and put them in the sleeping bag and got out a MRE and climbed into the bag trying not to lay flat. At first it didn't work. He was too afraid of developing pneumonia to attempt to lay down. Pulling another haul bag over he used that to prop himself up. Ron looked around and making sure that he had all the comforts he could get at the moment he drifted off into a fitful sleep. He pulled his balaclava down over his face to help keep his neck and head covered to preserve more warmth while trying to get more comfortable.
-
He opened his eyes again to see the light that had been filtering in become more dim. 'What time is it?', he mused. As he moved he gasped and coughed at the same time. '5 pm I've been out that long?', he thought with a grimace. He heard the phone again, wanting to ignore it, but knowing he shouldn't, he picked it up trying to sound normal. "Hello Stoppable's laundry service.", he announced as he opened the connection.
"Son?", Ron recognized his father's voice.
"Yeah Dad, how's Mom?", he wheezed.
"She's more than a little concerned Ronald. How are you? Charlie and Ben told me what happened. I tried to call earlier, but there was no answer.", he asked worriedly.
"I was out of it, I think something is broken in my chest, maybe a rib it's trying to stick out. I'm hacking up blood, but not as bad as I was for a while. It's hard to breathe too. Sorry Dad, I guess I made a mess of things again.", he confessed wheezing with the effort.
"No Ronald, you did fine. Someone else dropped the ball here. Don't blame yourself. Just stay alive, we'll worry about the rest when they get you down.", Dean told his son.
"Thanks Dad, but I think that this old Mad Dog has finally had his day. I might not be around to watch KP's back anymore. Listen if I don't make it, use the royalty money to help her please. And I love it up here, so I want to be cremated and have my ashes spread up here. It's beautiful, so beautiful it takes your breath away. I think Longs would make a heck of a headstone too." stopping as he coughed again.
"Ronald don't think that way. All the adult Possibles are pulling for you, your friends are too. I asked Anne and James not to tell their children. They won't tell your Kimberly. We're trying to keep this out of the media. I'm going to let you go so you can rest.", Dean tried to reassure his son.
"Thanks Dad, remember what I asked, OK?", he wheezed as he closed his phone.
Ron took out his water bottle for a drink. 'I have to stay hydrated at this altitude or no more Rondo. I hope I don't get the bottles switched in the middle of the night', he mused grimacing at the thought. Then he grabbed the MRE he stashed earlier and tore open the outer bag to see what tasty tidbits were going to slide past his tongue in a few moments. 'Well I guess it's not that bad. What is it? Oh a good one: menu 15; beef enchiladas. Well this might not be so bad after all.', wishing evilly that someone would be with him to enjoy the after effects in a few hours. 'Oh Will Du, where are you tonight? If I just had a way of harnessing the methane.', he chuckled causing another round of coughing.
---
Wade Load's Home:
He looked at the number as the phone rang. "Check his chip again would you please. Ronald's hurt and stranded on that mountain. There may not be anything we can do for him, but we can at least monitor the boy.", James Possible's voice asked.
"Yes sir, Mr. Possible. I can do that." Wade replied.
"One thing Wade, if he starts to go downhill call me immediately. I have to know. Don't tell Kimberly, but there's a good chance her Ron may not come out of this. I just talked to his dad a few minutes ago. I know it will be hard. You don't have to watch it, just patch it through Kim's device. I'll take care of it.", he told the tech guru.
"Sir, Ron at least deserves to have me checking on him if this happens. I knew it could happen when I volunteered for this job. I can see it through too.", he told the space scientist.
"Thanks Wade, you're a good man. We owe you.", James told the genius.
---
Longs Peak, 14,255 feet:
Ron leaned back again after his dinner. This time he burped causing himself to laugh then groan as his chest protested. He began to feel light, he could feel things in his body beginning to slow. Concentrating, he tried to meditate, working hard to become calm as he had been taught. "Master, please help me. I am injured and dying. I have failed in my vow to her. Please forgive my failure. You must find another to protect her.", he pushed his thoughts out in empty agony.
---
Yamanouchi:
The wizened ninja master's eyes snapped open in alarm. Quickly he called in the senior instructors. "The 'Chosen One' is fading, we must take steps to preserve his life until help arrives to save him.", he ordered.
They sat down around him to begin their vigil.