Authors/Notes: No, not dead or gone quite yet. I just had to wait until the Fannies were finished so I could avoid being nominated for yet another year. Grin

This story (Part III) has remained T-rated for now but you should set your story filters to "M" or "All Ratings" if you wish to continue reading in the near future.

NOW, as to REVIEWS: This Chapter is still unfinished and a work in progress so if you'd like to provide the author with feedback, PM me and wait to do a final review when the chapter is finished. (I can't believe I'm trying to talk readers out of reviews!)

On the other hand, I think it's possible that, by reposting this chapter, I make it possible for you to review again…but why take the chance?

Required Disclaimer: Is anyone making money off of Kim Possible anymore? I mean aside from those actors who dress up and walk around Disney's Theme Parks…

Chapter 4 – The Watch – Part II

As Ron Stoppable nodded off to sleep, Z-Ron awoke in the same body, in the same chair, next to Electronique's bed.

It wasn't like "Z" was actually asleep while the full version of Ron was awake—just acting as more of a background observer while the "core" Ron was back in his flesh and fully awake.

But it had been an extremely taxing day—it would have been for anyone and for the version of Ron, just newly returned after an extended repose with the spirit of his late wife to the midst of battle with zombies and the loss of friends, it had been overwhelming and exhausting homecoming. He had quickly fallen into a deep and dreamless sleep despite his best intentions to watch over the dying, blue girl in the bed.

For Z-Ron, it was like stepping back into a heightened reality: the colors deepened, sounds became less remote, sensations seeped into every part of his awareness.

What surprised him the most, however, were the emotions that seeped in with them.

He had always prided himself on being the ruthlessly logical part of the overall gestalt, leaving the emotional aspects of Ron's overall…Ronness…to full version of Ron Stoppable. Z-Ron though of himself as generally repressed and therefore submerged beneath the troublesome distractions that emotions appeared to bring.

That was why he could consider the others—especially the women—around him as "assets" to Ron Prime and could strategize on just how to hold and exploit their loyalties while Ron Prime would be shocked at such deliberate manipulations.

But "Z" had been evolving more and more, morphing from the selfish "Zorpox" persona of old, to a more integrated and mature aspect of Ron Stoppable's higher brain functions. He had held true (largely) to the values that the greater Ron seemed to place on each of the others. And now, he was beginning to feel "things" for them, as well.

Take the former villainess whose small, blue hand lay limply in his grasp.

He knew pity for her plight: he knew what it was like to be isolated by the fears of those around you. To be judged and punished by the misunderstandings of others. To be alone…

Which he suddenly realized was not the case for him right now.

A woman was in the room with them.

She stood across from him on the other side of the bed.

An Asian woman dressed in a pure white kimono, trimmed in gold, her narrow waist wrapped in a blood-red obi. She was tall and lithe yet possessed with the breasts and hips of a mature woman. Her face, in contrast, was ageless: her fierce golden eyes seemed ancient but her delicate features and clear skin suggested a maiden who had yet to see twenty summers.

"Konbanwa, Ron-san," she greeted him. Her voice was soft and polite yet there was nothing suggesting shyness about her.

"Uh, hello…" he answered uncertainly. She looked at him with an easy familiarity but he could not for the lives of him figure out where they might know her from.

She smiled and her face was as radiant as the sun. "Come now, tomodachi; do you not know me? You have held me many times."

Z-Ron felt himself near gobsmacked—a sensation that he was not used to at all. "Um, I believe I would remember you from across a crowded room whether there was any holding or not but…lady…you have me at a complete disadvantage!"

She laughed merrily yet softly so as not to disturb the dying girl in the bed between them.

"My name is Marishi-Ten," she told him.

That tickled a tiny corner at the back of his mind: it seemed as if her name should mean something to him.

"No?" she queried, seeing the confusion still present in his eyes. "Perhaps it will be less confusing if I say that I am the soul of that which you call the Lotus Blade."

RSVP

Once again, Ron Prime found himself wandering in that place between Life and Death.

His surroundings were vague and indistinct but he was less confused by his state, now. His time in limbo with his comatose wife and his subsequent memories of meditation techniques under the tutelage of Master Sensei had taught him that his mind could influence his surroundings as they had no form or organization otherwise.

He focused his mind even now to attune his senses for any anomalies in the grey fog that seemed to extend in every direction.

It took him only moments to pick up on the sound of moaning in the distance.

He set off running toward the disturbance, unaware that his eyes were glowing a fierce cobalt blue and nimbi of teal-colored electrical arcs limned his clenched fists.

RSVP

Three Ron Stoppables crawled through the air ducts of the Global Justice dorms—now revealed to be a GJ detention facility. They moved quietly yet efficiently thanks to their years of experience with Kim Possible in the field. And each marveled at the fact that the criminal justice organization with so many case files on Team Possible's ability to infiltrate the most secure villainous lairs had failed to learn from these missions and secure their own ductwork.

A short time later all three arrived at their mutual destination: the quarters of the fourth Ron-clone. Silently, each dropped down from the open duct that he had unscreened and pushed his bunk beneath.

"Dude! Don't take this wrong but…"

"Your butt!"

"Exactly! Am I right?"

"I mean, after years of crawling through miles of ductwork for mission after mission after mission…"

"It was always Kim's ass…"

"Bottom…"

"Heinie…"

"Heart-shaped posterior…"

"That made the crawl worthwhile!"

"But your—our—butt just doesn't…"

"Inspire the same sort of…"

"Motivation?"

"Incentive?"

"Inspiration to squeeze through miles of ductwork and crawl towards danger!"

"And it would be wrongsick if we found our own posterior so irresistible!"

"Ewwwww!"

"Speaking of wrongsick, is everybody up to date on what's going on here?"

Everyone had been briefed about Camille Leon's transformations into Kim and Bonnie and Monique and Betty Director—though, to be honest, not everyone was as forthcoming about the details of how the shapeshifter had tried to "distract" him.

The more pressing question was: what to do about it?

"Dudes!" Clones One and Three exclaimed, "Us and Kim have broken into so many supervillains' lairs that we've lost count!"

"How hard can it be," they all asked, "for us to break out of a Global Justice Base?"

"Jinx!" cried a fifth Ron, sticking his head out of the room's open vent; "somebodies owes me a soda!"

RSVP

A/N 2: Once again, this is only a partial chapter and remains unfinished but I thought I should throw another log on the fire for you as I have so many other writing commitments right now. I'm not dead yet! (Though I had a near miss yesterday afternoon...) R~13

A/N 3: 11/26/16 - I'm not dead and RSVP is not abandoned (yet). But I am still distracted by another big project. And it's been so long since I've visited this project that I'm going to have to start over and work my way through from the beginning of this trilogy. Stay tuned... (If there's anybody still out there). R~13