Yamanouchi
Ron Stoppable sat in a lounge chair atop of a mesa in the Arizona desert in his boxers and a pair of sunglasses, with his black GJ uniform piled to one side and a military canteen with a tiny purple umbrella sticking out of it. Beside the canteen sat his radio that he was listening to. For the last few weeks, Kim's dad had been picking up communications chatter from someone fighting Drakken's synthodrones in the area. The problem was that there was no record of any resistance fighters here. Whoever was managing to fight Drakken was doing it exceptionally well.
After putting some more sun screen on his nose, Ron sat back in his lounge chair and smiled, narrowing his eyes against the sun. The sky still looked normal here, where cities had been farther apart than in most other regions of the world, leaving wider areas between the Diablo's rampage. As Ron smiled up at a naco shaped cloud that rolled by, his radio sputtered to life. Synthodrones began coming into range, issuing orders and Ron raised his sunglasses, glaring at the radio that had just interrupted his marinating.
Hirotaka and Kioki were laying flat in the red gravel surrounding a dirty oasis in the American desert, watching as two dozen synthodrones escorted two DoomVees and a hovering tank in search of the bait that the Yamanouchi students had set for them. Rumors of a small, unarmed community of nomads was enough to send a small contingent of synthodrones, but not enough to draw attention from more deadly adversaries.
"Now?" Kioki asked. The young ninja was far too young to be in this battle, in Hirotaka's opinion.
"You watch too many American cartoons." he often told her, irritated himself at how the western culture portrayed the ninja. But Sensei believed that there were individuals everywhere, and in every culture that deserved respect, and Hirotaka respected Sensei. "Remember the Mantis, Kioki." Hirotaka whispered. "We wait until our prey comes into our grasp, not the other way around."
Kioki waited, nearly ready to leap out of her ninja shozoku that made her look like nothing more than a shadow amongst the rock. "Now?"
The hovering tank slowly slid across the pool of water that fed the oasis, passing over a patch of reeds that wavered slightly in the wind. Hirotaka smiled and nodded, flipping a piece of gum into his mouth and pulling his mask down. "Now."
In a shower of shrapnel and sparks, flames erupted from the hovering tank and it began to list sideways, sliding into the water as a group of four ninja rose from the pool of reddish water, discarding their breathing reeds and cutting through surprised synthodrones with their katana.
Hirotaka and Kioki leapt from their positions in unison with several other pairs of ninja, unleashing a midflight flurry of shuriken that quickly swept through half of the synthodrone infantry, draining their synthogoo onto the sandy ground. Hirotaka landed and rolled, throwing two spikes at a group of three synthodrones and catching the outermost two as he climbed to his feet in one swift motion. Dodging a series of energy blasts, his katana swept through the middle synthodrone's rifle, then punctured its husk through the back as Hirotaka spun and thrust the weapon behind him.
Kioki crouched, then sprung to the roof of one of the DoomVees, plunging her katana into the synthetic driver in the cab. As she tried to pull it free for another attack however, the blade refused to draw back. Kioki knew that the Yamanouchi students couldn't afford to lose any of their bladed weapons, and she knelt down, pulling on the hilt of the sword in a desperate attempt to free it.
The synthodrone on the passenger side of the DoomVee readied its rifle as it exited the vehicle, and took aim at the Japanese girl crouched on top. Kioki continued to pull on the katana, sliding it up inch by inch, until her eye caught sight of Hirotaka hurling a shuriken at her. She titled her head slightly, feeling the thin sheet of metal sever a lock of her hair before striking its target behind her. The synthodrone's rifle shot into the air as it fell back and Kioki pulled her blade from the roof of the DoomVee and smiled at Hirotaka through her mask.
Kim sat in her command chair on board the Kepler as Joss flew the hypersonic craft low over the surface of the Arizona desert. At cruising speed, the ship was nearly silent and more than once, they had moved above synthetic patrols and almost scraped the tops of buildings, and remained unnoticed. They were both in their Global Justice uniforms, conserving their battle suits in case they were forced into combat.
"Wade, Rufus, and I can all see it, Kim. Why can't ya?" Joss asked from her pilot seat.
Kim had been trying to pay attention to her scanners, more to ignore her little cousin's insistence that she and Ron should hook up, than any interest in the vast wasteland of the desert. "Just because Ron is pretty much the only available guy left on the planet, doesn't mean he's the right one." Kim replied.
Joss turned in her seat to look back at Kim, who diverted her attention to a map of the area with known locations of Drakken's bases. "Then who is the right guy, Kim? I'll bet if the whole Drakken thing never happened, you'd be a piece by now!"
"And we'd probably be fighting aliens too... mind watching where we're flying?" Kim asked calmly, pointing toward the forward viewport.
Joss turned forward again, banking sharply as the Kepler nearly struck a mesa, knocking a lounge chair off the top of the formation in the ship's wake. Joss sighed, whispering under her breath. "Well, ya could sure use a good hum..."
"Kim?" came Ron's voice from the comm.
"What's the sitch, Ron?" Kim asked, glaring at her cousin.
"Someone's definitely hiding out here, Kim. They're pretty good at it, too." Ron said. The sound of a distant explosion echoed through the comm and Kim immediately focused her attention on Ron's voice.
"Ron, you okay?!" she shouted.
"Something just went kablooey nearby. I'm gonna check it out." Ron said.
"Lock onto his position, Joss!" Kim ordered, running her fingers across her scanners for any hostile units along their path.
Joss gave a chuckle. "You are so into him."
"Am not!" Kim insisted with a growl.
Hirotaka and Kioki gathered with the other ninjas as they collected supplies and weaponry. Both DoomVees were fortunately still operable, with only smashed windows and small puncture holes that could be easily patched up. "Remember," Hirotaka instructed. "We must leave no trace that we were..."
Before he could finish, the back of the lead DoomVee unfolded, revealing a death ray being operated by a synthodrone that stood behind an armored plate. The bright green beam of rippling energy tore across the ground at the ninja's feet, sending them scattering for cover. Shuriken and throwing spikes bounced off of the shield that protected the synthodrone and it continued to cut a swathe of destruction with the continuous beam.
As Hirotaka raised his head slightly over the crest of the dune he chose as cover, his eyes caught sight of a brilliant blue glow that seemed to arc in the sky, and drop into the center of the attacking DoomVee. The impact caused a fiery explosion to erupt, sending fragments of metal and synthogoo in all directions and resulting in a visual shockwave that rippled the sand and gravel for several feet around. Kioki looked sideways at Hirotaka. "What was that? Sensei?"
"I fear it may be something far worse." Hirotaka said with a frown. He had heard stories of the synthomech called Erik, though he had never seen the creature. Many other resistance cells that they had spied on to gather information described him as some kind of merciless machine in blue and black armor that would often destroy his own synthodrones in pursuit of his objective. Using hand signals, Hirotaka ordered his fellow ninja to attack, in hopes of either destroying this Erik creature, or leave no witnesses of their being here.
The blue glowing figure began stepping out of the crater he had created and hadn't even left the cloud of dust and smoke before Hirotaka lead the attack. The figure dodged three volleys of shuriken, moving from side to side, then leaping extraordinarily high over Hirotaka's katana swipe. The figure thrust his leg out to the side, knocking the ninja to the ground. Kioki attempted to thrust her katana into the figure's chest, but he side stepped, gripping the hilt of the weapon and letting Kioki continue forward with her momentum, losing her blade and stumbling to a roll. The figure spun and touched the tip of Kioki's katana to Hirotaka's chest as the ninja struggled to stand.
Ron looked around at the ninja that surrounded him. Seeing the black masked warriors in combat was definitely something he thought he would never see again. Out of the corner of his eye, the young Japanese girl began to move and Ron poked the ninja at the tip of the katana in the chest again. "Look, I'm tired; I'm hungry, and I have to go to the bathroom. This uniform is riding up and I'm getting sick and tired of being attacked by people I'm trying to help."
Without warning, another katana touched Ron's throat and he swallowed nervously, feeling his adams apple brush against the edge of the blade. The ninja at Ron's sword tip seemed to chuckle behind his mask. "Perhaps you should complain to our Sensei instead, though I doubt she will show you as much mercy as any of us." he said, gesturing to the wielder of the katana.
Ron slowly turned to look at his attacker and noticed the Japanese woman's eyes widen in surprise. She pointed her katana at the ground and pulled her hooded mask from her face. "Yori?!" Ron exclaimed. Immediately, Ron's aura faded into light blue wisps that trailed off into the air like smoke, and he dropped Kioki's katana, embracing Yori in a tight hug.
Hirotaka and Kioki looked at each other in confusion as they picked themselves up out of the sand.
Wade and Rufus stood in their full battle suits, watching from a nearby mountain crevice as synthodrones patrolled around one of Drakken's Buenos Nachos bases. The taco sign transmitter seemed to have been abandoned as it tilted at an odd angle, undoubtedly too far away from civilization to be of any more use. Which only begged the question... why was the base still being guarded?
"Wade to Kim." he said, activating his suit's communication system. For now, Wade was using his holographic disguise to blend in with the surrounding rock, taking on a speckled red tone to his armor.
"Kim here. What's the sitch, Wade?"
"Rufus and I found one of Drakken's bases out here, and it's being used for something other than Diablo control. You might want to have a look." Wade explained, zooming in his heads up display on the old, now heavily armored Buenos Nachos building.
"Can't, Wade. We lost contact with Ron. Sit tight, and we'll be there as soon as we can." Kim replied.
"Sure thing, Kim." Wade said, cutting the connection. "What do you think Ron's gotten himself into this time?" Wade asked Rufus.
The faceplate of the bulky, heavily armored robotic body folded back, exposing the naked mole rat in his pilot seat. He chittered a string of squeaks and chirps, which the vocabulator in the suit translated in a deep, obviously electronic voice. "Probably losing his pants again."
"Lord Drakken..." came the haunting voice of Hephaestus, echoing through the dimly lit throne room.
Drakken turned his attention from the human cadet that had delivered a verbal report on his New World Order project. While machines were loyal to a fault, and efficient in any task they were programmed for, they did tend to lack creativity and intuition, which is something he would need to crush the meager rebellion that continued to thumb their noses at him as 'Lord'. The teenage girl that was dressed in a red and black leather jumpsuit, signifying her as a technical advisor in the Styx phase of his New Order project, quieted mid sentence when Hephaestus spoke. "Yes?" Drakken answered into the air.
"Intruders have been detected in Sector Eight One Gee. They have been identified as Captain Possible's team." replied the disembodied voice.
A grin played at the left corner of Drakken's mouth. "Show me..." He gestured for the cadet to leave and she bowed, exiting through the sliding, triple layered blast door of his throne room. While human subjects were necessary to think in ways that simple synthodrones could not, Drakken had learned his lessons about loyalty from Shego's wisecracking and general disinterest in his plots, and every human henchperson was implanted with a compliance chip, granting him complete control over a subject, should they ever choose to turn away from his plans.
He climbed the few steps to his command chair, his mechanical legs hissing as the actuators pumped and his feet clanged against the steel grating that made up the dais. His blue lined, silky cape billowed around as he sat, and a holographic image of an old, now heavily modified Buenos Nachos base materialized before him. A tiny square was highlighted and the image zoomed in and enhanced. To the human eye, there was still nothing out of the ordinary to see. But as Drakken leaned forward, his right mechanical eye began to focus, the red gleam turned vaguely purple, and tiny electronic chirps began to sound as the prosthetic adjusted, cutting away the background of the image and revealing two armored figures.
"Sensors indicate that Captain Possible is not present." Hephaestus informed him.
"I can see that!" Drakken said plainly. With only a twitch of thought, he mentally scanned the near limitless database within Hephaestus, cross referencing all of the information he had on Kim Possible's team of sidekicks. "Display schematics..." Immediately, the image of the two high tech resistance fighters was pushed aside and a cut away view of vital statistics of Wade Load and Rufus were shown. "So, it's the tech guru and the rodent." he said with an evil smile. "Well now, we can't have a party without the guest of honor, now can we?" A wave of his hand deactivated the hologram and he stood again, touching his gloved hand to his mechanical jaw line. "Erik?"
Erik was in flight, narrowing in on a civilian outpost that had yet to be digitized. His thrusters were flared with his afterburners engaged, causing a thick exhaust trail to be left behind him. "I'm here, Father." he replied, targeting the building that his infrared sensors were detecting the organic life. He extended his arms out in front of him, preparing for an alpha strike.
"Report to Sector Eight One Gee immediately and order the base there to be abandoned." Drakken said, the grin on the human side of his face getting gradually larger.
Erik frowned as he began rocketing through the streets of the city, tossing aside bits of garbage and rubble in his wake. "Understood." Erik turned ninety degrees on the street next to his target, aborting his weapons fire. The single window that remained to protect the inhabitants from the elements shattered with the sonic boom of Erik accelerating away toward his new destination. He looked back in irritation. "Next time..."
"This is all that is left of the Yamanouchi School, Stoppable-san." Yori said, gesturing to the two dozen ninja as she lead Ron, Hirotaka and Kioki through the temporary base in the rocky caves of a mountain. Most of the ninja in the base were young, and Ron could recall seeing a few of the faces that had been only children the last time he had been to the school, trying to rescue Sensei from DNAmy.
The memory brought a frown to Ron's face and he began searching for the short statured elder. "Yori... why did Rambo here call you Sensei?"
"Rambo?" Yori asked in confusion.
Without taking offence, Hirotaka spoke up to explain. "The Sensei that you knew gave his life to allow the students of the Yamanouchi School to escape." he said, clapping his gloved hands together in a slight bow. "He named Yori to take his place."
Ron's legs felt suddenly very weak and he steadied himself against the rocky wall. "Sensei's gone?" he choked out. "How?"
Yori sat Ron down in a nearby chair, placing a hand on his. "Even as the Oni covered the skies, the Yamanouchi School remained hidden. It was not until Monkey Fist returned with a man that was as sturdy as metal, yet moved and healed like flesh that Sensei had to fight."
"Erik." Ron said, feeling as though he was about to vomit. "But what about his funky ninja powers? And the Lotus Blade?!"
Yori took her hand away from Ron and folded them in her lap, looking down at the dirt floor. "The night the Oni appeared, Master Sensei said his power left him. He had said it had not yet been time, but that there was a new Master. I never understood what it was he meant until now." she continued, then looked back into Ron's eyes. "Master Sensei fought with honor to allow us to escape, but it was the last any of us saw of him."
"But why come here, then? Are you..." Ron began, looking from Yori, to Hirotaka, and back again. "Are you looking for revenge against Drakken?"
Yori gave a slight smile. "Stoppable-san, your American-style misunderstanding of ninja is refreshing. No. Before the Yamanouchi students escaped, Master Sensei charged me with leading them to Shangri-La."
"Shangri-La?" Ron asked in confusion. "Is that a word I should know? Because I never technically got the chance to graduate."
"You may know it as Eden Two." Hirotaka said.
Ron couldn't help but laugh in his high pitched giggle. When he noticed that Yori and the rest of the ninja were staring at him, he stopped. "You do know that Eden Two isn't real, right?"
"Master Sensei believed it was real." Yori stated.
"Sensei!" shouted a ninja that seemed to leap from the shadows in the base, diverting Yori's attention and causing Ron to scream with a feminine squeal. "There is a craft approaching at high speed, yet it makes no sound!"
"Drakken?!" Hirotaka asked in alarm.
"Some sort of trick!" Kioki said in surprise.
"Nope!" Ron grinned, leading the three ninja out of the base to see the Kepler fly in low over the cave's entrance. As the powerful maneuvering jets tilted for vertical landing, the Kepler settled down in the red soil on its landing struts. The Yamanouchi students surrounded Ron and Yori, brandishing their weapons, even though Ron continued to grin like a fool and Yori stood beside him patiently. "It's Kim Possible!"
Kim and Joss Possible descended the entry ramp of the Kepler in full battle armor and weapons charged, if holstered. "Ron?" Kim called to him. "Are you okay?"
"We are sure to be discovered with that vessel on our doorstep." Hirotaka whispered to Yori in Japanese.
Kim's targeting reticle automatically scanned the movements of Hirotaka's mouth, matching the words to her suit's language database and scrolling the text across her heads up display in English. "Joss? We don't want to wear out our welcome." As her cousin touched a control on her wrist, causing a holographic mask to form over the Kepler and making it resemble another rocky outcropping, Kim approached Ron and the group of ninja. "I see you made some friends." Kim said, a near imperceptible glare being focused on Yori.
"Kim, you remember Yori." Ron smiled, gesturing to the ninja beside him.
"Oh yes. I remember." Kim smiled politely.
Although Ron seemed oblivious to the tension between the two women, Joss caught on instantly. "Uh, maybe we should get inside before Drakken sends some troops to find out where his convoy went?" she whispered to herself.
Yori placed her palms together and nodded. "Young Joss Possible speaks wisdom. Come."
As the group entered the cave, Joss slid up next to Kim, whispering, "Who's the guy with the cool hair?" she asked, nodding to Hirotaka, who walked between Yori and Ron. Kim rolled her eyes and shook her head, giving Joss a 'Don't bother' look that Joss narrowed her eyes at. Yori lead them into a section of cave that had a table set up with what looked like a geological survey monitor with a topographic radar image overlaid. Joss let out a whistle. "That's some high tech gear ya got."
"While we were unable to escape with much more than our blades, our strikes against Drakken's forces have allowed us to procure many supplies, though at great cost." Hirotaka explained.
"Heh... yeah. I mean..." Joss stammered.
"Yori's looking for Eden Two, Kim." Ron interrupted, standing between the two women as the group crowded around the monitor. "Tell her it's suicide."
Kim was looking down at the display, hesitating before Yori spoke up. "It will do no good, Stoppable-san. Master Sensei instructed me to bring the students to Shangri-La, and that is what I will do."
"How do you know Eden Two exists?" Joss asked. "It could even be a trap."
Kim stood silently as her friends and the ninja argued. She could feel Ron staring at her as he waited for her to talk Yori out of looking for a mythical place that somehow existed untouched by the war torn world. "How do you intend to find it, Yori?" Kim asked, still staring down at the monitor.
Ron's mouth gaped open. Kim refused to look at him though, and she listened for Yori's reply. "We have a contact." she said. The answer was vague, as Kim expected. Any rumors they had heard about Eden Two had turned up as dead ends. Neither Wade nor the Tweebs had been able to find anything resembling a concrete lead on its location. Though if they could, she supposed Drakken would have destroyed it already. "We have lost too much to give up hope now, Stoppable-san." Yori said, placing a hand on Ron's shoulder.
"But..." Ron began.
"I guess I don't have to tell you how difficult it's going to be, considering you've made it overseas." Kim said, standing. "But Drakken's taken notice of you now. You're going to need a lot of luck to get out of the sector."
"Kim..." Ron said.
"Then we will need to prepare." Yori said, nodding to her clan of ninja. As she began spouting orders in Japanese, Ron turned to Kim with an angry look in his eye. Before he could speak, the crowd of ninja had vanished and Yori pulled Ron's face to hers, placing a light kiss on his cheek. "We will see each other again after this, Stoppable-san." she said before leaving.
"Come on, Joss." Kim said, turning to leave as well.
Ron grabbed her arm to stop her. "Kim, help me! Why didn't you talk her out of it?!"
Kim looked him in the eye, her reticle automatically measuring his anxiety. "Ron, I learned a long time ago that talking someone out of something that they believe is the right thing to do can be a very bad idea."
"Wade and Rufus found a base that we need to have a look at." Joss said, placing a hand on Ron's arm. "Piece of cake. Stay. Maybe you can talk her out of it. You're the new Monkey Master after all, right?" Joss smiled.
Wade and Rufus ducked as the sound of a rocket flew over head and Erik landed gently in a gust of dirt and exhaust. The guarding synthodrones crowded around, awaiting orders from their warlord. "We're abandoning this base! It's of no further use to my Father's plans." Erik said. "See to it!" As the synthodrones nodded and began seeing to their new instructions, Erik crouched and rocketed into the air again before veering off into the distance.
"Kim?" Wade asked into his comm.
Kim lifted her hand to pause Ron, seeing Wade's face appear in her heads up display. "What's the sitch, Wade?"
"Erik just touched down and ordered the base abandoned. Want us to go have a look before it's cleaned out?" Wade said.
"No. Joss and I are on our way. We'll go in together." Kim said, cutting the connection. "Some things just aren't meant to happen, Ron." she smiled sadly, turning her attention back to him and placing a hand on his shoulder. "Get caught up with Yori. We'll be back for you in the Kepler in a bit." she said, turning toward the exit with Joss following behind.
Kim, Joss, Wade, and Rufus each took aim at a synthodrone that had been left to finish the clean up outside of the base, cutting them down in a shower of energy. "Wade, get the door." Kim ordered as the group raced toward the front entrance with Rufus watching the desert behind them.
"This'll only take a sec." Wade said, running up to the door's control mechanism. Making a fist, a long spike extended from his right bracer that he inserted into the lock. A few moments later, after his suit automatically sifted through the possible combinations, he twisted his arm and the door slid open.
"You continue to rock, Wade." Kim grinned, moving silently into the base. Keeping her pistol steady, she swept the room for any synthetics; first visually, then watching for her reticle to highlight any targets. When nothing presented itself, she waved for the others to enter. "I'm not picking anything up. How about you guys?"
"Nothin', Kim." Joss stated. "Looks like they flew the coop!"
A few minutes of searching the base lead the group to a column in the center of the command room, which had been converted from the Buenos Nachos manager's office in all of the transmission bases. "It's the computer core, Kim. If there's data left to be found here, that's where it'll be."
Kim and Joss skirted to the opposite entrance of the command room, scanning the area for synthodrones. "Can you crack it?"
Wade hooked up his battle suit's computer to the core of the base, through a set of universal cables that he extended from the kit beneath his bracer. "Drakken's really upgraded his systems in the last few years. It'll be tough, but it'll only take time."
"You've got an hour before we blow this place. Joss, set the charge. Rufus and I will see what else we can find."
"You got it, Kim." Joss acknowledged.
Ron was still looking over the monitor that the Yamanouchi students had set up in their makeshift base. The rest of the clan were still all collecting supplies from their latest target, or scouting a route through Drakken's forces to the north. So far, no word had come back from them, or Kim. Yori herself had decided to meditate in the closest thing she had to a room: an offshoot cave separated by a sheet. So far, this had left Ron alone with his scattered thoughts. He wasn't a brilliant tactician, or even a ninja master, despite the title of Ultimate Monkey Master that had been bestowed upon him. Having the skills of all the past masters of Tai Shing Pek Kwar downloaded into his brain by the monkey idols had been no replacement for the wisdom and experience that Master Sensei had. If it was, Drakken wouldn't have taken over. No matter how much Ron tried to convince himself otherwise, he still felt as though he hadn't been ready for the full mystical monkey power when he had rescued Kim on prom night.
"Stoppable-san." called Yori quietly from behind the curtain of her room. "Would you please join me?"
The sound of his name jolted Ron from his thoughts and he looked over the monitor again. The synthetics hadn't moved, and the northern border of the sector was still blocked. "I really wish you'd reconsider looking for this Shaggy-La place, Yo..." Ron began as he pushed aside the curtain. "...ly Moley." Yori was sitting on a mat on the dirt floor, across from another mat on the other side of a table sheet that had a white, Japanese tea set placed carefully upon it. But Ron's attention was locked on Yori, who was wearing a white, translucent kimono that was decorated with red and gold eastern dragons, yet showed her dark complexion beneath it. She gestured for Ron to sit across from her, then poured tea from the pot into each cup. Ron swallowed nervously, unconsciously keeping his distance as he skirted the cave wall before kneeling on the mat, wringing his hands. "Y-You call... called?" Ron stammered, adjusting his collar.
Yori lifted her cup in both hands, a nervous smile playing at her lips. "I am afraid, Stoppable-san." she admitted, diverting her eyes from Ron to her tea.
"Hmm?" Ron asked, lifting his gaze to Yori's face. "Afraid? You're afraid? I mean... of what?"
"I'm afraid that I am not ready to be a Sensei to the other Yamanouchi students." she said, taking a moment to sip her tea.
"But Sensei said you were ready!" Ron exclaimed.
"No, Stoppable-san." Yori replied, looking him in the eye. "Master Sensei told me I was not ready, but that I must still take this journey."
"But why would he tell you that?" he asked with a frown.
"Because Master Sensei has never told me an untruth."
Ron was about to reply when he realized how Yori had trapped him. "Which is why you trust him on the Eden Two thing..." Ron said with a sigh.
"You learn well, Stoppable-san." Yori smiled, taking another sip of her tea.
"You're a good Sensei." Ron replied with a wink, lifting his own tea cup in his hands as Yori had done.
Yori giggled, covering her mouth with one hand and placing her cup on the table sheet between them with the other. "Stoppable... Ron-san..." she said, looking through her eye lashes at him. "As Sensei, I would like to invite you to join us. You are a previous Yamanouchi student." Yori began, leaning in close to Ron. "You are the Monkey Master." she whispered, drawing in closer.
"But what..." Ron said, his breathing coming more frequent and heavy.
"The Guardian of Yamanouchi and the Lotus Blade." Yori said, closing her eyes.
"About..." Ron continued, letting Yori touch his lips with hers. His eyes rolled back and closed as his hands began sliding up Yori's silk kimono. Memories began flooding through his mind of the last time a woman had kissed him so passionately, and the word escaped his lips in the moment that Yori pulled away for a breath. "...Kim?"
"Sensei!" Hirotaka exclaimed, pushing through the curtain to Yori's room. Ron turned in surprise as Yori pulled away, folding her arms over her chest. Hirotaka lowered his gaze to the floor in an embarrassed bow, placing his palms together. "I am sorry, Sensei. But it seems the synthetics have moved from the northern border, moving East."
"Kim was going East." Ron said, leaping to his feet. Yori stood, sensing more information that Hirotaka had yet to share.
"Kim Possible is trapped." Hirotaka said with a frown.
Ron turned to Yori, his eyes hopeful. "I could use your help."
Yori turned away. "If it was only me, Stoppable-san, I would. But I must think of the Yamanouchi students."
Ron nodded. "I guess I'd do the same..."
"For Kim Possible." Yori agreed with a sad smile. "Fight with honor, Stoppable-san. You will win."
"Thanks, Yori." Ron said with a smile. A quick jog brought Ron outside of the base with Yori and Hirotaka following closely behind. In an instant, Ron blazed with a blue light, flashing brightly as he leaped up the mountain, moving instinctively like a monkey across the rocky terrain.
"He is brave enough, Sensei." Hirotaka said, watching Ron become a blurring light in the distance.
"The ferocity of the ancients is within him, Hirotaka." Yori said, feeling the cooling wind blow her kimono around her arms and legs.
Drakken watched as Kim Possible and her team explored the transmission base. The security cameras were all active and well, following them through the halls as they moved quietly with the belief that they were as yet undiscovered. With a mental command, he contacted the human commander of the synthodrones in Sector Eight One Gee. "Fist!"
The receiver in Monkey Fist's ear squealed with feedback as Drakken yelled, causing him to wince. "Must you always yell?" he asked in a bored tone. He was standing amongst a literal army of synthodrones that were currently shut down to avoid detection by Kim Possible and her little cadre of freedom fighters. Ever since he had willingly joined Drakken during the assault on the League of Villains, Monkey Fist had been regretting the decision. At first, he thought he could be clever enough to manipulate the blue skinned cyborg into using his synthomech crony to finally snatch the Lotus Blade from the Yamanouchi school. Instead, he had been knocked unconscious in the battle with the Master Sensei, and when he awoke, Erik had said that both Master Sensei and the blade had been lost. Not that it mattered, he supposed. Since his mystical monkey powers had been torn away from him on the night that Drakken had begun to take over the world, he couldn't control the Lotus Blade anyway. But it may yet be the key to regaining those powers.
He was convinced that this Hephaestus contraption that Drakken prattled on about held the secret to what happened to both the blade, and the Master Sensei. "Yes, I do, Fist. Otherwise, you don't pay attention, do you?" Drakken asked, interrupting Monkey Fist's thoughts.
He sighed. "Yes, Drakken."
"Yes, what?" Drakken asked.
"Lord Drakken." Monkey Fist corrected in utter humiliation. At least as Montgomery Fiske, he had earned his Lordship title. All Drakken had done was destroy anyone that opposed his own self titling. And if it wasn't for the compliance chip implanted in his head, Monkey Fist would have bid the tyrant farewell too.
"Better." Drakken replied. "Kim Possible and her little group are here. Wipe them out. All of them." Drakken said cooly.
"With these?" Monkey Fist asked, looking around at the synthodrones. "Perhaps if I had my monkey ninjas..."
"Oh, please! Your furry little warriors couldn't fight their way out of a zoo!" Drakken argued. "Now use what you have available!"
Monkey Fist shook his head and sighed. "You honestly expect these automatons to win against Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable?"
"Who?" Drakken asked. The hologram before him showed four of Kim Possible's team, including herself. "Wait, where's the other one?! The buffoon!"
"Scanners indicate that subject Ron Stoppable is en route to Kim Possible's location." Hephaestus said in its deep, haunting voice.
Drakken growled. "Monkey Fist, take care of Kim Possible!"
"As you wish." Monkey Fist sighed as the synthodrones powered up around him.
"Erik!" Drakken shouted into the air.
Erik stood on a mountainside, watching the transmission base to make sure no one escaped. "Yes, Father?"
"The buffoon is coming to save his friends. Make sure that he's... detained." Drakken ordered.
Erik grinned, searching the landscape and finding a bright blue gleam racing through the mountains. "Gladly." he said as he engaged his rockets.
Kim and Rufus moved into a large storage room that had been lined with titanium barrels. The room itself had a sterile smell to it, much like a hospital or laboratory, and the barrels were black with a red symbol imprinted on it that Kim didn't recognize. Even though Rufus' robot body wasn't exactly stealthy, Kim was keeping to the columns and other cover in the base, moving from cover to cover and scanning the area.
"What do you suppose is in these barrels?" Rufus asked through his suit's electronic vocabulator.
"Chaos." Monkey Fist said in his British accent as he stepped out from around a corner on the far side of the room. He was quickly flanked by more than a dozen synthodrones that lowered their rifles at the duo. "And it will soon be your undoing, Kim Possible."
"Monkey Fist?" Kim asked in surprise. "You're working for Drakken? I thought you would have gone your own way after the League of Villains fell apart."
"Oh, I had contemplated that, but as Professor Dementor was being broken down into digital code, I decided to throw my lot in with the winning side. Besides, now I get to finally see my not so teenage foe meet the same fate." Monkey Fist taunted with a pleasant tone.
Kim narrowed her eyes and raised her energy pistol. Before she could pull the trigger though, the air between them shimmered. "Ah, ah, Kim Possible!" Drakken grinned as his holographic image materialized in mid air in the center of the room. "You'd be wise to watch your fire. These barrels are filled with a highly contagious bio weapon the likes of which this world has never seen."
Wade and Joss stopped at the corner behind Kim and Rufus, hearing Drakken's voice. Wade had completed his download, and he and Joss had begun making their way toward Kim's position, their scanners blaring to life with signs of synthetics throughout the base. "Looks like we've got trouble, Joss." he whispered. Joss nodded, drawing both energy pistols and listening to Kim and Drakken's conversation.
"Drakken. You're looking sharp." Kim retorted. It was the first she had seen of him close up since prom night. The right side of his face had been covered by a flexible metal plate, with a bright red monocle covering his right eye. The plate ended at his hairline and stretched across his chin, replacing his jaw completely. His right arm was mechanical, ending in a wicked looking, four fingered grasping claw, while his left arm was sheathed in an armored sleeve that was connected to the life sustaining suit of shiny black and blue armor that covered his torso. From his heavily plated shoulders hung a blue lined, black silky cape that hung down to his knees, and both legs were now replaced by fibrous cables that took the place of musculature in amongst metal supports, bracing, and servos.
"You like?" Drakken asked, flourishing his cape.
"No." Kim said, shaking her head. "I mean you look sharp. With all the metal and blades and spiky stuff." she continued, a sarcastic smile crossing her face.
Drakken growled, reaching out towards Kim with his mechanical hand. "Oh, you laugh, Ms. Possible..."
"It's Captain, now, actually." Kim corrected.
"Gah!" Drakken growled. "You won't look so smug as a corpse! Actually. 'Captain'!" he said, emphasizing her rank. "Destroy them! And do be careful with your weapons, Kim Possible. One stray shot will release the toxins in these barrels, destroying anything organic in the base." he grinned. "Fortunately, my synthodrones don't need to be as careful! Muahahah!" he laughed as his holographic image faded.
Joss dived into the middle of the hallway with both pistols blazing, firing at the ceiling above a shocked Monkey Fist and collapsing pieces of slag and sheet metal onto him and the synthodrones. He seemed surprised that Drakken would put him in such a dangerous situation, and that Kim's team would attack anyway. But Joss's attack was only meant as a distraction for the synthodrones. The moment Drakken vanished, Kim raised her pistol again, taking aim at Monkey Fist before pulling the trigger. Her grapple fired out, zipping past the ninja master's ear and pulling Kim toward the group of synthodrones. Rufus charged forward with an electronic yell, knocking barrels out of Wade and Joss's line of fire.
"I'm guessing..." Kim said to Monkey Fist as she landed on his chest with both feet, knocking him to the floor. She rolled forward, allowing her myonetically enhancing suit to give her the strength to pulverize a synthodrone beside her with a series of strikes. "...that Drakken's given these things..." she continued, spinning in a sweep kick that knocked down several more synthodrones, while narrowly dodging Joss and Wade's energy bolts. "... orders to blow these barrels if we start winning." Kim took a rifle blast to the chest, refusing to flinch at the resulting shower of sparks as she knocked the synthodrone's rifle to the side and followed through with a high kick to it's head, sending it spinning to the floor. "I would suggest you help if you don't want to get caught up in the fallout!"
Monkey Fist leaped to his prehensile feet. "I prefer option B." he grinned, his simian fangs shining. Even in amongst the synthodrones, Monkey Fist settled into a Tai Shing Pek Kwar offensive stance. "I'll destroy you myself, and bring your head to Drakken alone."
Kim sighed. "I guess I should have seen this coming."
How could Ron not have known this was coming? Kim was trapped in one of Drakken's bases with synthodrones out the ying yang, and he had stayed behind, trying to convince Yori to lose hope in something that Master Sensei had entrusted her to do. A smile creased his lips as he ran. The kiss was nice though, not to mention the kimono that Yori had been wearing. It had been the first kiss he had received since the last time she had left a peck on his cheek. So why did he have to mention Kim?
Ron was a blue haze; a comet moving across the desert, turning the red sand purple as he passed. He leaped from rocky outcropping to outcropping, instinctively climbing and falling, running and jumping, even moving on all fours as he moved through rock formations. But he still couldn't shake the feeling that if something happened to Kim, it would be because he wasn't there. He dropped off a cliff, slowing his descent before landing and rolling. "You've really messed up this time, Stoppable." he said to himself aloud as he got to his feet. Suddenly, something dark and shiny struck his throat, sending him spinning and sliding in the sand for several feet.
"I couldn't have said it better myself." Erik growled, walking over to Ron, who was doing his best to roll onto his hands and knees, and catch his breath. His blue aura flickered as his concentration waned. He knew that if he allowed his Monkey Powers to fail, Erik wouldn't hesitate to digitize him. He was still choking when Erik grabbed him by the collar and flung him into the rocky wall of a mesa. "Now, you little dweeb, Kim isn't around to save you."
Ron hit the ground again with rubble falling into the sand around him from the rocky formation he had struck. "Ow..." he coughed, spitting out dust as he lifted himself up onto his hands and knees. He could hear Erik's arm cannons charging, and he stood, his aura taking on a deeper hue as he looked at Erik with dark eyes.
Erik's arms rippled with energy as a massive bolt collected and released from each palm, blasting away the rock as Ron moved with lightning speed. With the bone chilling, hungry screams of a thousand monkeys echoing across the countryside, Ron leaped the distance between him and Erik, carrying the rubble from the explosion with him in his wake. Erik held out his arms, firing blasts of energy blindly as he was pelted with rocks and sand. For a moment, Ron had vanished from his visual scans and as the dust cloud surrounded him, a flash of light and thunder struck Erik in the chest, knocking him onto his back and causing him to slide in the sand until striking a rock.
The rubble and sand fell around Ron as he squatted down, performing a Monkey Kung Fu kata and taking a deep breath. With one outstretched hand, he waved for Erik to challenge him. "Bring it, chrome dome." Erik grinned as he spun around onto his feet and crouched, unfolding his rocket thrusters from his back. The ground shook as he skimmed along, the acceleration shockwave rippling the sand into tiny dunes along his path. He caught Ron around the waist before he could move out of the way. Ron knew the rock formation was still behind him and forced his elbow into Erik's shoulder several times in an effort to escape before the synthomech embedded them both into the rock face in an explosion of debris.
After a few moments, as the dust began to settle, Ron crawled out of the rocks and sand in a fit of hacking coughs, shaking and wincing in pain. He was holding his chest with one hand, and dragging Erik's arm with the other as he moved away from the impact crater. His head was pounding, his back and chest were aching, and he was certain one shoulder was dislocated.
He only made it about a dozen feet before the rubble began to shift and tumble away, and Ron struggled to his feet. His aura faded into wisps of blue smoke, leaving him defenseless and on the verge of unconsciousness. Erik's remaining hand clamped down on Ron's dislocated shoulder and he screamed out in agony, swinging Erik's detached arm across the synthodrone's head with a satisfying metal on metal clang. Erik dropped Ron to the ground as Ron let go of the arm and fell, using his legs to push himself away on his back. Calmly, Erik picked his own arm up out of the sand and held it in place. A white welding flash fused the arm to his shoulder socket, and he flexed it, grinning. "Thanks, loser." he said. "I was looking for that."
Ron shielded his eyes against the sun with his good hand, looking up into Erik's face. Lines of white light were forming over his face and chest where he had taken heavy damage, and was now regenerating. "Be gentle. It's my first time." Ron coughed out a laugh as Erik's digitizer ray popped out of his newly attached forearm.
"You wi..." Erik began before his head vanished in a flash of green light. His arms seemed to flail in surprised silence, looking for the lost body part before his body fell backward. Ron looked back as Yori, Hirotaka, and several ninja rushed up to him from the Doom Vee they had procured earlier. The death ray mounted on the back of the vehicle was smoking, a sign of it being overcharged.
"Stoppable-san!" Yori shouted, helping Ron to his feet.
"I'm okay." Ron lied. "Why are you here?" he asked, trying to look at Yori through a swollen eye.
"It would be dishonorable to leave Kim Possible and yourself to fight Drakken alone, after all you have done for the Yamanouchi School." Yori explained. "Master Sensei would not have approved of carrying on without lending our skills. Now, let us go and save your Captain." Yori smiled.
Ron was looking peacefully into her dark eyes and returned the smile, until Hirotaka set his dislocated shoulder.
As Rufus waded through the growing number of synthodrones, taking energy hits to his armored robot body and pulling limbs off of synthetics, Joss and Wade were doing their best from the cover of the hallway to thin out the supply of enemies without risking hitting the barrels. Kim and Monkey Fist continued to parry and strike in the crowd, each taking opportunities to divert the synthodrones rifles away from the deadly toxins that threatened both of them. "We know how to remove the compliance chip, Monkey Fist!" Kim shouted, blocking one of his strikes with one arm, spinning to hit him with an elbow, and kicking a synthodrone's rifle before the bolt went into a pile of barrels.
Monkey Fist blocked her elbow with a forearm, thrust the heel of his palm into Kim's back, and reached out with a prehensile foot before a nearby synthodrone could fire it's rifle, and redirected it toward Kim. "You've already siphoned away my Mystical Monkey Power! At least with Drakken, I get the pleasure of destroying you!" Kim locked arms with a synthodrone and twisted, rolling over its back and allowing it to intercept the shots from the rifle Monkey Fist held in his foot. "Even if it is with these mindless automatons under my command!"
Kim tossed the draining husk of the synthodrone in her arms toward Monkey Fist, knocking the rifle out of his grip. "What do you think's going to happen if you do?" Kim asked with a grimace as another troop of synthodrones entered the storage room, pointing six rifles at Kim's head. "You think Drakken's going to let you just walk away? The moment there's no one left to stand against him, he's not going to need anything other than machines." she said, raising her hands in surrender. Her targeting reticle was flashing a red threat assessment that she was trying hard to ignore. She could hear Rufus pivoting his robot body in the thick layer of synthogoo on the floor, his damaged servos grinding, and the smoldering armor plates sizzling.
Monkey Fist pushed the heavy husk of the synthodrone off of himself and closed the gap to Kim, looking down into her face. "Oh, there will always be some hero or other that wants to save the world. But once I find where he's hiding the Lotus Blade and I regain my Mystical Monkey Powers, we will see who rules the world then!" he laughed, reaching an eerie octave usually reserved for more primitive primates.
"You're more insane than Drakken." Kim said, narrowing her eyes.
"It's a villain thing, I suppose." Monkey Fist grinned. "Besides, I'm guessing that once Erik ends your pitiful friend's life outside, I'll be regaining those powers he stole from me!"
"Ron?" Kim said quietly. Through her reticle, an inaudible squeal showed up as a ripple on the outside wall behind Monkey Fist and she dropped into a split. The synthodrone's rifles fired instantly as she fell, catching each other in the crossfire as Kim thrust a fist forward into Monkey Fist's mid-section. The wall behind him exploded inward as he doubled over, falling to his knees.
A cloud of shuriken pierced the smoke and dust of the explosion, tearing through the first line of synthodrones that managed to stay standing, followed by black clad ninja that were swinging katana with perfect precision, spattering synthogoo even further around the room. "Need some help from a warrior hero?" came Ron's voice from a silhouette that stood hazily in the makeshift exit.
"Ron!" Kim cried, running forward and throwing her arms around him.
"Ow!" he replied, wincing in pain. Kim backed off, looking down at Ron's battered body. One arm was in a sling, while the other supported his body on a crutch. One eye was swollen and his face and uniform were cut and torn.
"Sorry..." Kim said, trying to hold herself back from hugging him again anyway. "We'll get Joss to take a look at you as soon as we're home."
"Kim!" Joss shouted, "My counter's almost done. We've got twenty seconds before this place implodes. I hope you're done lookin' around."
"Let's get..." Kim said, looking back. But Monkey Fist was nowhere to be seen, and only the outline in the synthogoo where he had fallen remained. "Nevermind. We need to jet!" she ordered, helping Ron onto the ninja's DoomVee before climbing onto the back herself. Even though the death ray had now been removed, the vehicle barely held all of the occupants and Kim's team had to hold on tightly to keep from falling off as the DoomVee raced across the desert. She looked back, watching as the main supports of the base collapsed, and the building fell in on itself before being consumed in a fireball. She hoped that whatever was in those barrels was the last she'd ever hear of it.
"You're sure there's nothing else we can help you with, Yori?" Kim asked. Her team were out of their synthogoo soaked armor now, moving comfortably in their GJ uniforms. "You just saved all of our lives."
Yori smiled and bowed. As Wade and Joss prepped the Kepler for a return home, Ron stood beside Kim with Rufus sitting on his shoulder, waiting their turn for good byes. "It was our honor, Kim Possible. While Drakken's forces are chasing you, we will make our way across the Northern border."
"Fair trade, I guess." Kim smiled, performing a formal bow that Yori returned.
As Kim turned toward the Kepler, Ron limped into her place. "Yori, I..."
Yori giggled, covering her mouth as she did. "Oh, Stoppable-san. You and your American style protectiveness of women." she smiled, touching her hand to his cheek and letting it trail down to his chin. "We will be fine, and we fill find Shangri-La."
Ron nodded with a sad smile and Rufus waved one paw, while wiping his eyes with the other. Yori stretched up to touch Ron's lips with hers once more. "I'll see your around, Yori."
Yori pulled away and smiled. "No, Stoppable-san. We are ninja. We will see you."
"Little friendly for a ninja, isn't she?" Kim asked, leaning against the Kepler's hull.
"Huh?" Ron asked, turning toward Kim. When he turned back, Yori and the rest of the Yamanouchi students were gone. "Aw..."
"Come on, Warrior Hero. Let's get home before Erik decides to grow a new head." Kim said, helping Ron up the stairs and into the Kepler.
"But once I find where he's hiding the Lotus Blade and I regain my Mystical Monkey Powers, we will see who rules the world then!" Monkey Fist heard his words repeated as he stood in Drakken's throne room. Erik stood beside him, fully regenerated. The synthomech had found him traveling the desert, wounded and dehydrated. The mechanical monster had digitized him for ease of transport back to his master, breaking down his very being into easily compressed information, then used the same process to land him at Drakken's feet. Both processes were excruciatingly agonizing and Monkey Fist was now shaking in both fear and pain.
"So... you're planning a little uprising of your own, Fist?" Drakken asked as he turned his chair toward the genetically modified human. "Erik told me that both the old man and the weapon he wielded vanished without a trace when you led him to the ninja school. I believe it was you who told me all of the students were destroyed. Yet there they were, rescuing Kim Possible!" Drakken yelled. "Not to mention the buffoon!"
Monkey Fist looked haggard, and felt even worse. Even with all of the Mystical Monkey Powers at his disposal, Ron Stoppable was nearly vanquished by Erik. Doubt crept into Monkey Fist's thoughts. Even if he had the Lotus Blade, and all of his training and mystical powers... could he overthrow Drakken? "I..." Monkey Fist said, his teeth still chattering. Suddenly, his legs wobbled and he dropped to his knees. "I am... sorry."
"Do not fail me again, Fist..." Drakken ordered, continuing to rotate in his chair. "Or next time, you won't be coming out."
Another special thank you to Neo the Saiyan Angel, for corrections and development inspirations. In the original Captain Power series, this plot line was titled War Dogs.