standard disclaimer still applies... second edit, though cajunbear, kudos in seeing my eventual plans.
Chapter 4: Is it better to silently suffer the slings and arrows?
Getting out of the gym as fast as they could, both girls were looking for their wayward friend. Finally exiting the school, Kim and Monique's shock at the admittadly awesome display of martial arts prowess that Ron pulled out of nowhere. They were looking around for Ron, replaying the fight, each in their own minds. Kim, splitting her attention scanning for Ron, walking toward her house by way of Ron's, and remembering the fight, got severely tweaked when Mr. Barkin's little monologue replayed in her head.
"How dare he say that about Ron and myself! I mean Ron helps me as a partner, not a sidekick. Who does he think he is?" she mumbled angrily to herself.
"The more inportant question is where did Ron get the muscles? One summer is nowhere near the amount to have muscles like that. Oooh to have muscles wrapped around me like that..." Monique slightly drooled at the memory. Kim looked in subdued shock, eyes widening and mouth opening slightly. Monique saw this out of the corner of her eye, mentally shook her self out of the self-imposed stupor, and gave Kim an appraising look.
"Girl, you can't honestly tell me that seeing kick Barkin's butt from here to the weekend, all the while shirtless didn't get you all HUTC for your man-friend. I refuse to call him a boy from now on! Woof" Monique said, with alot of emphatic hand gestures and a little bit of a glazed look about her.
"HUTC? What, hot under the collar?" Kim questioned.
"Exactly!" Monique triumphly pointed a finger into the air. "I'm starting to be understood, finally," she mumbled soon after.
"Monique, c'mon even if Ron did happen to turn more fit over the summer, he probably got a hold of a HenchCo muscle ring... right?" Kim asked, thinking that Ron couldn't hide being that cut from her for any length of time, could he?
"I saw no ring on his hands, plus he was wearing the sparring gloves. You can't fit anything else inside them. What about those moves? either those Spruce Leigh films actually taught him something or some doohickey from one of your missions got attached to his brain." Monique pointed out, being pragmatic about Ron's new attributes and prowess.
"Hmm," Kim pulled out the kimmunicator, and keyed Wade. Seeing her friend Kim began to speak, " Wade, two things. Tell Mrs. Renton we can do the consultation on the next sunday after the competition. Two, was there any readings that indicated Ron was not in control of his body in the last 30 minutes?" Wade typed in search parameters into his personal database. "No, it was all him. The only thing I have is a spike in activity across the board but then it tapered off."
"Can you track Ron down for me? Please and thank you." Kim said, ending the call. This brought a myriad of thoughts to the forefront of her mind. where did he learn those moves? When did he have time to train? When did he get smokin?
SMOKIN? Where did that come from?
"So it was 100 percent Ron, huh? well me likey!" Monique chirped from Kim's side, overhearing the conversation. Kim shot her a glaring look, silently telling her to shut up. Seeing this, Monique continued undaunted. " C'mon, you mean to tell me that seeing Ron in half his glory, fighting Mr.B and having won, didn't give you a reaction?"
Kim glared at her friend again. 'Of course it caused a reaction, that's why you are holding your school binder in front of you' a voice in Kim's head whispered, tantlizingly promising secret pleasures. 'You finally got to see what Ron was secretly like, and the fact that a "reaction" happened is a pleasant side effect. Face it Kimmie, Ron grew up, and you like what you see...'
Kim shook her head violently to dispell those thoughts, thoughts that she thought were bottled up deep in her psyche as a recourse to dealing with the Middleton Days fiasco and numerous touching "incidents" throughout her missions with Ron. Kim was not big on introspective but she had to admit, her inner voice was onto something.
Kim's kimmunicator beeped and flashed a text message on screen, stating that Ron was at his house. Thankful that Ron hadn't gone off and done something bigheaded, Kim and Monique walked on. Kim enjoying the silence of the walk, Monique getting ideas turning in her head.
Ron opened the front door to his house. Catching his breath from sprinting all the way from school to his house, Ron gulped in a few breaths of air. "Mom, Dad, Rufus? Anybody home?" The house was dark with no lights on except for Ron's room.
Of course Rufus was home, he was laying up in bed, enjoying his soaps. Upon hearing his human's call, Rufus scampered down the trellis that connected his bed/enterainment area to the ground, and ran full bore down the stairs and climbed up Ron's clothing, perching himself on Ron's shoulder. Sniffing the air a couple of times, Rufus scrunched up his face. "Ewwww, stinky."
Ron smiled. Rufus pulled no punches when it came to the truth. Sighing, Ron plucked Rufus off of his shoulder and carried him back up the stairs, dropping his backpack at the bottom of the steps. "Where's Mom and Dad?" Ron asked, already knowing the answer. "Hnk, Hnk. jetplane." The naked mole rat answered. 'Figures,' Ron thought already scowling, 'probably gone off to some actuary confrence or to one of mom's top level meetings.' Ron got to the top of the stairs and walked to the bathroom. When he got in, Ron stripped off his matted clothing, depositing them in the hamper, and started running a shower. Getting in, Ron reviewed the extraordinary events that happened today.
'Today just wasn't my day. First, it was Mike and Eddie. (I wonder if that kid made it all right to wherever he went to) Then to Barkin's class where I made an ass of myself and got the whole school talking about it, sideswiping Kim with the "I don't care about cheerleading" that was a SMOOTH move there, and finally giving Barkin what he wanted. Man I wish that Kim and Monique weren't there. Now it'll be impossible to keep this a secret.
Seeing the distress on Ron's face, Rufus got up on the edge of the bathtub, trying to console his lifelong friend and provider. Ron shut off the showerhead and began to fill the bathtub, so that he could take a bath. Relishing the heat from the water caressing his feet and the water level getting higher, Ron stopped the water half way up his calves. Slowly immersing himself, Ron hissed, oohhed, and ahhed, until he was well settled and relaxed. Head tilted back, He began to wonder if it was worth it. The constant jabs at his appearance, Bonnie crowing at him at how much of a loser he was, Kim never seeing him more that just her best friend. That thought tensed him. Barkin touched a raw nerve with that uncalled for comment. Ron turned to Rufus, seeing the confusion and worry in his friend's face. Ron sighed and began to recount his tale...
Kim and Monique, after walking for about 20 minutes, arrived at Kim's house. Waving goodbye to her friend, Kim opened the door, dropped her school books, and walked into the kitchen. Waiting for her was her mom, sitting at the nook, sipping some tea.
"How was school today honey?" Anne Possible asked, setting down a report she was reading.
"Eh, same old." Kim didn't want to tip her hand to her mother just yet about Ron and the weirdness that was displayed.
"Same old, huh? I wish I could say the same. I got a brainscan of an unknown person sent to me anonamously, that frankly has me stumped. The Alpha waves and Beta waves are some what above normal, but really threw me off was the Theta waves. We've only seen these levels in a state of intense meditation or of intense arousal. Either this person was 'turned on' as you kids say it now a days, or was so aware that this borders on precognition..."
Kim didn't hear the second part of her mom's explaination. 'Turned on?! I guess Ron left something in the dark when he came back from summer break' Kim's annoying voice said, with a hint of jelousy thrown in for good measure. 'Some unknown girl got to him and probably did "stuff" the entire summer. That's why he's mentally gone! IT happened...' Kim was starting to turn red from both anger and hurt. Her mind was going into scenarios where Ron was with other women and the only one that came to mind was that ninja, Yori. Still seething, Kim's mind started to work on a plan, ignoring the rest of her family that were coming in from the day...
"... and then I got home." Ron said ending his tale. Rufus sat in rapt attention, eating some cheese that he got when Ron paused through his recollection. He started chattering mole rat speak, Ron following every word, getting the jist of what Rufus was saying.
" No, I can't hide this from her, she was there with Monique." Ron sighed, "Man, this tanks. I want to show off, but, I promised sensei only to use my moves for defense. I know it isn't honorable to show off, but I just did that with Barkin!" Ron sat up, sloshing water over the tub, soaking Rufus. He started to chatter angrily, running to a hand towel and drying off form his impromptu bath. "Sorry, buddy. Just got a lot on my mind right now." Getting out of the shower, Ron went to his room with Rufus scampering on his right, and rummaged through his closet for the bo staff that was sent to him from Yamanuchi, as a reminder of how he saved the school from Fukushima and Monkeyfist, and to never underestimate ones self. Finding the staff, Ron rummaged some more for a pair of shorts and and a loose shirt. "Rufus, I'm going to the basement to relax. Get me if anyone calls, kay?" Ron asked as he was putting on his clothes. Walking out with the bo stick across his back, Ron collided with the doorjam and fell backwards. Groaning about the abysmal luck that he had today, Ron got back up and finally got through the door.
Rufus was really worried now. Ron only practiced to clear his head, which amounted to exhausting himself out with Kata's and practice on what Rufus called the target machine. Nestling back into his spot, Rufus continued his watching of soaps, keeping an ear out for anything out of the ordinary.
Opening up the door to the basement, Ron turned on the lights and walked downstairs. The few lights that were down there illuminated a washing machine, dryer, and heating unit on one side of the room. The other side was totally different. Using the somewhat large amount of money he managed to save from the Naco royalties, Ron bought a close quarter trainer for blocking and close in punching, a multiple engagement machine which looked like three pillars up to chest height placed at each apex of an equilateral triangle, intersparsed with white plastic rings on each pillar, connected to a LCD screen, and a mat to practice katas on. Ron went to the multiple engagement machine and stood in the center of the three pillars. hitting a pressure activated switch, the LCD screen lit up with time elapsed and targets hit. Centering himself, Ron waited for the tone to begin. Maybe he could excersise his worries out of himself.
Kim's mind was made up. After hearing her mom talk about Ron's scan like that, there were words to be exchanged with Ron. Getting into some comfortable sweatbottoms, sweatshirt, and putting her hair into a ponytail, Kim was on her way out the door. "I'm going to Ron's!" she yelled out, to nobody in particular. Walking out the door and down the street, she made it to Ron's in no time. Seeing no other lights on in the house, Kim walked around the perimeter. Seeing Ron's bedroom light on, she leaped up onto the tree that was near there and onto the roof below. Bounding and leaping up to the window, Kim saw Rufus sound asleep in his nest with the tv on. She rapped on the window, waking Rufus from his reverie. Head darting left then right, Rufus saw Kim at the window and scampered over to it, unlocking it for her.
"Thanks Rufus." Kim said, rubbing the small rat's head. "How is Ron doing? No parents home?"
"Hnh, really sad. parents jetplane." Kim could just make out above the squeaking. So Ron was alone, except for Rufus of course. "Can you take me to him? I'll get you smoked cheddar..." Kim knew that this was low bribing a rat, but she really needed to talk to Ron. Thinking about it for a second, Rufus agreed to the deal and scampered downstairs.
'Playing videogames at this time of night? C'mon Ron, you know better than that.' Expecting Ron to be vegging out in front of the TV playing one of his zombie mayhem games, Kim was mildly suprised that the downstairs was darkened, with no sounds of video games going on. Following Rufus, Kim arrived at the basement door. Kim was going to ask Rufus what was going on, when he heard the sound of hard wood impacting on something. Starting to go for the door, Rufus started chattering almost incoherantly and gesturing wildly. Kim got the gist that while Rufus did take her to Ron, she did not ask to be next to him. 'to be outsmarted by a rat, wow,' Kim thought to herself. She ignored Rufus' continued warnings and opened the door. Hearing the telltale impacts of wood against plastic, Kim crept down to the source of the sounds, keeping to the shadows.
What she saw next was put into the realm of the kind of display that Ron had given to Barkin. Ron had a staff in his hand and was furiously moving to the targets that Kim saw lighting up in random formations. Furiously connecting the bo staff with eack target, Ron was progressively striking faster and faster, until two targets showed up at the same time. Ron threw his staff one direction to hit the target, and a side kick to connect with the other one. He continued until the complexity of the targets caused him to miss the final target and end his session. Falling to his knees panting, Ron hung his head, gulping in the cooling air into his lungs and strained body.
Kim was speechless. She looked to the LCD screen that was attached to the machine and saw that Ron had connected sucessfully 89 out of 90 times, with a multiple of 16 at the end of it. 'I wonder what that means' Kim asked herself. Kim slowly walked down the stairs, careful not to disturb Ron.
"I know you're there Kim. You don't need to skulk around." Ron said, looking up into Kim's green eyes, hers staring into his chocolate brown ones. Knowing that she was made, she crept down and walked into the light, sitting next to him.
"What is this stuff?" Kim asked looking around the impromptu dojo that was set up in the basement.
"Training aides that I bought on Sensei's request." Ron answered. In truth, Sensei discreetly ordered these for Ron, with the young ninja footing the bill.
"Why haven't you ever shown these abilities before? I mean it looks like you could wipe the floor with any henchman and maybe even Shego..." Kim went on getting a little aggrivated that Ron would keep this from her.
"Because there has been no need to use it, Kim." Ron said, getting up and putting the staff up against the wall. "I would rather keep the villans that we fight on a fairly normal basis thinking that you have the moves and I just run around screaming my head off and generally being a buffoon, as Drakken likes to call me." Ron scowled, thinking all the times that's happened. "Plus it pisses Monty off when nobody takes him seriously about me. I can use that anger to throw him off his game." Ron explained, wiping his upper body off with a towel. Kim just looked on, mesmorized by the thin sheen on Ron's skin, the tone of his muscles, the color of his eyes as he looks at her...
"You okay Kim? I mean you have been spacing out lately," Ron said snapping Kim out of her reverie.
She shook her head a bit to clear the cobwebs and resumed her train of thought, which was almost derailed. "Why haven't you told me about this? I mean I thought we were partners!" Kim glared, a little hurt that Ron had been keeping this from her.
"We are partners. What about you and Monique under the bleachers when Barkin and I had are impromptu sparring match?" Ron asked quietly. To Kim it was loud as a gunshot. She at least had the decency to blush a little.
"You know about that? How? I thought that we were well hidden. Even Mr. Barkin had some surprise when we helped him." Kim said, mildly suprised that Ron had seen them. Remembering more of the conversation that went between the two fighters, Kim asked another question, "What did he mean that you stare and stare?"
Feeling a mite embarassed that Kim heard that, Ron started to rub the back of his head and blush a bit. "It's a sticking point that I don't like to discuss." Ron said, his tone of voice denoting a finality on that subject. Kim's mind on the other hand shuffled that piece of information into the 'stuff that Ron keeps hidden' part of her mind.
"Fine, but answer me this hotshot, what happened to you? I only heard from you once a week over the summer, and you come back totally ready to rock. So?"
Ron sighed and got up. walking to the pile of clothes on the other side of the room, peeled off the gi bottoms that he was wearing, and rummaging through the pile for some sweats. Kim sat there, mouth agape as Ron's derierre was plainly visible through the black boxer briefs that he wore. She started darting her eyes around the room looking for something to distract her. 'oohhh, look at that! You don't see that every day...' Kim's inner voice whispered. 'Shuuut uuup! Ron is a friend, not a piece of meat that looks... good... AARGHH!!' Kim had to mentally snap out of her self induced stupor by laying down on the mat and looking up at the wooden ceiling.
Ron had just finished putting on his sweats when he turned around, seeing Kim lying on the mat, body language screaming that she was fighting an internal battle. Walking slowly up to her, Ron gently sat down and crossed his legs.
"Kim, I think that you need your sleep. You seem really agitated now." Ron said, attributing her body posture to annoyance of him. Kim huffed and nodded. Saying their goodnights, Ron walked Kim to the door and saw her walk off toward her house. Closing the door, Ron went back to his room, falling asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. Rufus, following him, courteously set the alarm so that Ron wouldn't be late again. He thought that his human couldn't handle the consequences of another late day.
Kim arrived back at her house with a couple minutes to spare before her curfew. Quietly shutting the back door to the kitchen, Kim was in the middle of locking up when the lights snapped on, revealing Mrs. Possible in the doorway, with an annoyed look on her face.
"Do you know what time it is, young lady?" she scolded. "Your father was about to prep a probe and drag you from Ron's. What have you been doing?" Mrs. Possible was tapping her feet expecting an answer.
"Talking about school. That's all, I swear!" Kim said exasperatedly. Mrs. Possible still wasn't convinced, but let the matter drop. Being ushered up to her room, Kim said goodnight to her mom and crawled into bed, after getting changed into her bedclothes. Snuggling up to her pandaroo, her subconcious mind drifted to thoughts of Ron, how much he had changed...
Meanwhile, thousands of miles away in the jungles of the banana republics, a figure cloaked in shadows, sitting in a confortable chair, watched a screen replay over and over. The scene playing could have been straight out of a hong kong action flic, except the setting was a high school hallway, not a gritty warehouse down by the wharf. The cloaked figure was staring intently at the main fighter, taking down the two boys without giving away any telltale signs of the style the fighter was using.
"It seems my esteemed advarsary has moved up in his training... the screeching of monkeys was heard in the background.