Authors Note: I'm glad that everyone is enjoying this story. Thanks for reading and reviewing.
Disclaimer: I don't own Kim Possible.
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Ron could hardly believe it. He had made the team.
A few weeks had gone by since Ron had successfully tried out. It was something completely new to him. For the first time in his life, Ron Stoppable was a part of something. Sure, he had been a part of the cheer squad back in Middleton, but he was pretty much unwanted there. In fact only one person had wanted him there.
And now even she didn't matter to him.
It had all gone by so fast. When he was with the team for practice they decided to see how fast he could run. All those missions had finally paid off as far as Ron was concerned. He truly did have 'mad running away skills'. He was the fastest guy there, much to the delight of the coaches. They were sure he could run, but what they wanted to know now is if he could actually get past defenders. He didn't disappoint.
Ron never knew he had such strength or grace within him. When trying to get past defenders, he always managed to take a few precious extra steps as he pressed the linemen back before finally being tackled by more. He was also able to dodge and avoid the defenders whenever a hole opened up for him in the line. Another benefit of constantly being chased by henchmen and laser beams on missions.
Never in his wildest dreams would Ron had thought he would be a jock. Still though, he didn't even consider himself to be a jock. As far as he was concerned he was just Ron. A Ron who played football. When he thought more about it, he didn't even like football much. The only other time he had ever cared about it was when he tried out for every sport at Middleton High… and failed miserably. Even then he only did it so he could try to get the attention of the ladies. Maybe this time he would actually succeed in doing so.
He thought about these things as he was in the weight room. Normally the only exercises Ron did involved his thumbs on a game controller. But the coaches thought that he would definitely benefit from spending some time lifting a few days a week. It still amazed them that a person with such a small frame could be so tenacious on the field when it came to plowing through the defensive linemen. They told him that if he worked hard and added some muscle mass to his body he could be a dominant force. And Ron liked the sound of that.
"So she thinks I'm not good enough," Ron grunted as he continued to lift. "I'll show them. I'll show all of them what I can become."
He was the only person in the room at the moment. All of the other players had long since left. Ron had never willingly stayed after school this long. But he was determined to do something great. He was determined to be something that Kim thought he could never be. He would show her how wrong she was to dump him.
So focused was Ron that he didn't hear someone enter the room. His back was facing the door as well, so he was completely oblivious to the man who was coming up behind him.
"Stoppable!" a familiar voice shouted.
"No… it's not possible!" Ron thought to himself.
But there he was. Standing behind Ron was the large frame of Steve Barkin.
"Mr. Barkin…" Ron said uneasily as he put down the weights. "What are you doing here?"
"Hasn't anyone ever told you to never lift when you don't have a spotter?"
"I-"
"What are you doing in here anyway Stoppable? Self-improvement doesn't exactly seem like your thing."
"I-"
"Don't answer that. Something tells me I don't want to know."
"Okay…"
"Anyway, you're lucky you moved. I never did get around to filing that suspension for you. Let's just hope you don't start acting like a punk here too. I hear the principal is a strict man."
"Oh, yeah. Very strict Mr. B," Ron lied. "So what exactly are you doing here?"
"Glad you asked that," Mr. Barkin said brimming with pride. "It just so happens Coach Roberts and I are friends, and we like to mess with each other before our teams play next week."
"You don't seem like the messing type sir."
Mr. Barkin brought his face close to Ron's. His face was a mask of seriousness.
"Trust me Stoppable. I can be very fun when I choose to."
"No arguments here sir," Ron gulped.
Ron knew he didn't need to fear Mr. Barkin anymore. He had no authority at this school. But old habits die hard.
"Anyway, I think it's time you headed home considering you're the only one left. You may not be my student anymore, but I'm not about to have a little guy like you be in the weight room unsupervised. Even I wouldn't want to see you getting hurt."
"Yeah. I probably should be headed home."
As Ron moved toward the exit he was stopped when Mr. Barkin placed his hand on his shoulder. Ron turned and looked to see Barkin have his hand extended.
"It's good to see you again. Things aren't the same without you."
Ron was a bit surprised, but shook his hand none the less.
"Yeah… lots of things have changed since the last time we talked."
If only Barkin had any idea of what he really meant by that.
"Anyway, I'm going to get going too. Take care of yourself."
"You too Mr. B."
Ron began his journey home when suddenly it hit him. What was it that Barkin had said? That their teams would be meeting? In a week? Ron felt a shiver run down his spine as he realized what that meant. He would be seeing a lot of familiar faces. Faces he thought he would never have to see again.
One in particular.
Ron had no trouble working it all out in his head. Kim was still the head cheerleader. Cheerleaders cheer for football players. And Ron was now a football player. That meant…
She would be at the game. He couldn't avoid her. Somehow, someway, he would have to face this new found fear of his. At that instant he knew he had to talk to his new friends about this. They had made it so clear to him about what Kim truly was. He didn't want to admit it at first, but they were right. So now he would need their help for this situation too. He could only hope they would provide the sage advice that he required.
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"What am I going to do?"
Ron was nervously pacing back and forth in Sean's room. The four boys had gathered there in the afternoon to hang out, as well as show Ron Sean's computer system. Though he had never been in Wade's room, Ron imagined that this is what it would probably look like.
Multiple monitors and other hardware lined one of the walls. Wires were haphazardly scattered all behind the main desk where Sean would sit at. It was utter chaos. They had been right though. Ron could only imagine how many thousands of dollars had been put into this system. He wondered how much it could do if put to an important task like missions.
"I don't get why it's such a bad thing Ron," Sean answered.
Ron stopped and looked at Sean as if he had just grown a second head.
"You don't understand? This is Kim here! I'm going to be going back to Middleton! I never wanted to go back there. I never wanted to see those people again! How am I supposed to handle this?"
"Uh, go out there and play?" Mike suggested.
"I can't play with her there! What if she sees me?"
"Then she sees you. It's not like she can hurt you or anything. At least not anymore than she already has."
Ron resumed his pacing.
"You don't get it. We haven't even talked to each other since our breakup. Can you imagine how smug she will be about it? She knows I'm nothing now without her."
"You're not nothing man," Nick assured him. "You're the guy who can eat more nacos than the three of us combined."
"But it's like I'm the enemy now! I play for Upperton. And she's on the other team. Maybe I'm just being paranoid, but doesn't that count for something?"
"Woo yeah!" Mike screamed. "Upperton is going to the state finals! Go team!"
"Dude you don't even like football," Nick said.
"No shit Nick. I was being sarcastic," Mike bit back.
It was about time Ron asked a question that had been on his mind for a while now.
"You guys really like to swear a lot. Why is that?"
Sean was the first to speak up.
"Well shucks Ron! I'm so sorry!" he said sarcastically. "This is the real world after all, not some little kiddie cartoon. You need to open up, express your anger. Let it out, it feels good."
"Okay okay I get it. Now can we get back to the problem at hand?"
"I still don't understand what the problem is," Mike sighed.
"The problem is… I don't know. It's just going to be weird I guess. The game isn't for another few days and I'm totally nervous."
"Nervous, eh?"
"I haven't felt this way since the Bueno Nacho headquarters thing. I'm totally freaking out."
"I may just have a way to solve that problem."
"Time to introduce him to the sweet caress of our green lover?" Nick asked.
A brief period of silence filled the room. Mike was the first to speak up.
"Nick… that was seriously fucked up. What are you on?"
"You know what I'm on."
"Oh yeah good point."
"What are you guys talking about?" Ron asked, genuinely confused. "I got the most twisted image of Shego in my mind when he said that."
"Ron my man," Mike began. "I have a way to make all your nervousness disappear. Do you have an open mind?"
"My motto is 'never be normal'. So I guess that answers that."
At that point Sean went over to his bed and looked under it. After a few seconds of searching he produced a silver tin box. Ron still had no idea what was going on, Nick and Mike were just grinning.
"We'll start him off with just the basics," Sean explained. "Time to find out if this really is a gateway drug like those losers hype it up to be."
"Huh?" Ron said.
Sean opened the box and produced a fairly large bag filled with a green substance, something which Ron did not immediately recognize. Ron was a chef at heart, and had never been introduced to the world that his three friends lived in. Middleton had left him fairly sheltered. There was almost zero crime there, zero gangs, drugs, and so forth. And although Upperton was a good clean town as well, it was much larger than Middleton. And cities of its size were not immune to the temptations and vices that Ron was about to come into contact with.
Finally it clicked for Ron. It all made sense. He wasn't stupid after all. Just naïve.
Painfully naïve.
Ron loved to cook. He was very good at it. So when he saw the bag he knew what his friends had planned for him. It was oregano! Cooking always helped Ron relieve his stress, and it would be a great honor to cook something along side his new friends.
"So what are we going to be cooking?" he asked.
"Cooking?" Sean said. "I never heard anyone describe it like that. Although we are going to get pretty baked. So I guess that makes sense."
"Ron? What do you think this is?" Mike asked.
"It's oregano. I mean, we are going to be making something like pasta… aren't we?"
Sean and Mike just looked at each other. They were sort of at a loss for words.
"This isn't oregano Ron. This is some of the finest bud I've ever smoked," Sean explained.
"Bud?"
"You know… grass? Weed?"
Ron still looked confused.
"Marijuana?"
Now it really hit him.
"Oh. Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh! Oh…"
"Wow that's… Ron have you ever done anything remotely wrong in your life?" Mike asked.
"Well not really. I always had Kim sort of looking out for me."
"Never fear Ron!" Nick bombastically shouted. "Now we're the ones looking out for you. And you know we would never lead you astray, right?"
"Uh…"
"The correct answer is, 'No Nick. You guys are super cool and I know that you only have my best interests in mind'."
Ron wouldn't admit it, but he was just the slightest bit nervous. Okay, that was an understatement. He was utterly terrified. He had said he had an open mind, but this was something completely foreign to him. He was about to do something illegal. He was about to do something that for his whole life he had been taught was wrong. But then he thought, who were the people teaching him that in the first place? A bunch of adults who he didn't know. Why should he trust or believe them? Since when did they have his personal interests at heart?
Mike, Sean, and Nick on the other hands were his friends. They wouldn't hurt him. Even though he had only known them for a couple of weeks they were already proving to be some of the best friends he had ever had. Outside of Felix and the old Kim, that is. And they weren't around anymore, now were they?
"Yeah, so, um, what now?" Ron asked.
"Now we wait for Sean to roll a couple joints," Mike said. "Then it's time to show you what fun really is."
"Are you sure it's like, safe and stuff?"
"Ron Ron Ron… we've been doing this for years now. And does it look like its hurt us at all?"
"Not really."
Rufus on the other hand was not convinced. He poked his head worryingly out of Ron's pocket and looked around. He knew that something very wrong was going on here, even if his human did not. But for the moment he had no where to go. He had no one he could go to for help. He would have to endure whatever was about to occur. But his worrying did not go unnoticed by Ron.
"Don't worry little buddy. Everything's gonna be okay," he said reassuringly. Then he lowered his voice to almost a whisper, so only he himself could hear it. "I hope so at least…"
After he was finished, Sean brought out a lighter and the four sat around on the floor preparing for something completely normal to three of them, and something totally new to Ron. After taking a hit from the crudely wrapped joint, Mike passed it on to Ron.
"Okay Ron, some people say you don't get high on your first time. Your results may vary. Just remember. When you inhale it, suck it down into your lungs and hold it there for as long as you can before you have to exhale. We wouldn't want to waste the stuff, now would we?"
"I guess not."
Ron put the joint to his lips and hesitantly sucked in, much to the delight of the other three. Before he knew it Ron began coughing violently. He was totally not used to this.
"It's okay man, try again," Mike said reassuringly.
And so he did. This time, he was met with more success.
"Welcome to our world Ron."
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Deep in the mountains of rural Japan was the Yamanouchi School, a secret ninja training academy. Its existence was known to only a few select individuals, nearly all of them being either current or former students. The fact of the matter was that only a few people in the world needed to know of it, or what it housed.
For the past few weeks there had been an anomaly at the school. The sacred Lotus Blade, with which the school was carved from, was becoming a growing concern to the keepers of the blade. It shuddered and vibrated with almost uncontrollable power as it sensed the time drawing nearer… the time when it would join its master to wreak havoc and destruction upon its enemies.
Yori was one of the keepers of the blade, and looked on with concern as it continued to shake in its glass casing. She was joined by another older gentleman, the master of the Yamanouchi School. As if reading her mind, he spoke of the blade.
"You are concerned, Yori?" Sensei asked.
"Yes Sensei," she answered. "The Lotus Blade has been acting so violently as of late. What is wrong with it?"
"The blade wishes to be with its master. They share a bond as you may remember. The true monkey master will wield the blade against evil."
"Is it true that this warrior will be Stoppable-san?"
"He does indeed possess great power, but it is up to him whether or not it is unlocked. Even when it is, he will still not be ready to use it. He must learn to master it."
"Does that mean he will be rejoining us here at Yamanouchi?"
"That is the only way he will learn to harness and channel the power. Without such instruction he as well as many others may be in grave danger."
Yori thought about the last statement for a few seconds. She didn't exactly know how he would be in danger. She was not privy to the knowledge of the Lotus Blade like Sensei was, and thus there was probably something important she was unaware of. She only hoped that when the time came, Ron would rejoin them and fulfill his destiny.
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It was about twenty minutes after Ron had taken his first step into a new world. At first he was actually quite nervous and he could feel his heart pounding in his chest. His hands were sweaty. This was after all something completely new to him. He was scared and excited at the same time. Of course he had overheard things in the halls during school and seen things on TV, but he still had little idea what to expect.
The four boys were sitting around in Sean's room waiting for the drug to take effect on them. The three who were experienced just were just chatting amongst themselves while music softly played in the background. Ron on the other hand was looking around, feeling the slightest bit paranoid about the whole situation. He then saw Mike pop a couple of pills in his mouth. He didn't know exactly what they were, but he knew that he wasn't yet ready to try something like that.
"Uh guys?" Ron asked. How will I know if something's happening?"
"Don't worry Ron," Mike said. "You'll know."
"Yeah but what if I don't? What if this is some whole elaborate setup?"
"A setup?"
"Yeah what if this is a whole trick to get me arrested while all of you sit around and laugh at me!"
"Uh…"
Ron whipped his head around suddenly and noticed the room moved weirdly. He shook his head clear and everything went back to normal. That was until he moved his head again. He felt the slightest bit dizzy when he did. Then he noticed his heart again which was beating incredibly fast.
"Guys something's wrong with my heart!" he cried out.
"Relax Ron, it's perfectly normal." Sean said calmly.
"Yeah dude you just need to sit back and relax," Mike agreed. "It's not like you can overdose on this stuff."
The boys resumed their talking as Ron shifted uncomfortably and began to tap his fingers to a rhythm only he could hear inside his head. Eventually it became so loud that it became a distraction.
"Ron are you high yet?" Mike asked.
"Um, probably not. Everything seems perfectly fine here. Better than fine in fact. It's so fine that even something fine would think it was fine."
Mike began laughing, because he was feeling the effects of the marijuana for sure.
"Ron, what are you talking about?"
"Um, what?" Ron asked.
"Huh?"
"Wait what were we just talking about?"
"I don't know, you were just like, doing something or something."
All of the sudden Ron whipped his head around to behind him.
"Did you guys hear that?"
"Hear what?"
"I don't know."
Ron stood up and began pacing around. While the other three boys seemed very mellow and relaxed, Ron was feeling active. In fact, he was just plain hyper. He began to repeatedly run his hands through his hair as the others started laughing at him for no particular reason.
"See this is why I like you guys," Ron said as he began to overemphasize his words with hand gestures. "You don't like, judge me for being me and stuff. I like me and so should everyone else."
"Dude he's totally stoned," Nick pointed out.
"No dude I'm serious! You guys are all like, 'Ron is Ron and that's cool' and stuff. You wouldn't judge me for being me. Wait didn't I already say that?"
"I don't know man, you're talking like gibberish and shit," Sean laughed. "I don't even remember what you were talking about."
Ron couldn't help but start laughing too. He needed to sit down. All the pacing had made him even more dizzy than he already had been. He was losing his balance and couldn't stand up any longer. He collapsed on the bed and continued to laugh for absolutely no reason. Then he felt a rumbling in his stomach.
"Dude I'm hungry," he said in between laughs.
"We should totally go to Bueno Nacho or something," Sean suggested.
"I'm too lazy to walk there though," Nick whined. "Can you guys go there and pick me something up?"
"Uh how about no."
"No what?" Ron asked.
"No to him like getting Bueno Nacho or something," Sean answered.
"Dude no way I want Bueno Nacho too! Let's go!"
"Yeah man I want to go but Nick is saying how he doesn't want any."
"No I want some. I'm just like too lazy to go."
"I'm confused," Ron laughed.
Mike laughed as well.
"Me too."
"Naco naco!" Ron began to sing. "You are tasty you are yummy! I want you in my tummy!"
The others looked at him with confusion and smiles on their faces.
"That's my naco song. I just like, uh, made it up or something."
"It sucks man," Nick said. "You need to like add a refrain and stuff."
"Wait what were we talking about before Ron's awesome song?" Mike asked.
No one really know what to say at this point.
Rufus once more popped his head out of Ron's pocket and was looking very afraid. He had to looks of what was happening to his human. He had never seen Ron act like this before. It was disturbing to say the least.
But for right now there was nothing he could do about it. He was still stuck in Upperton. He was also just a naked mole rat. He couldn't exactly go up to people and ask them for help. And he for sure didn't want Ron's parents, or any other kind of authority figure to find out about this new lifestyle of his. That meant there was only one person he could conceivably talk to if Ron were to get his life back on track.
Even if it was a person who Ron never wanted to speak to again.