Here we go again. Chapter 5: The New Sitch. Enjoy!
Do-do-di-do. Kim smiled. It had been a while since she had heard the chime of her Kimmunicator. The one thing she didn't understand was why it was going off while Wade was three feet in front of her jumping around in his purple clown costume. Then, Kim gasped.
Kim jerked awake, torn from her fascinatingly strange dream and reached out to her nightstand, her hand landing on the necklace Ron had given her the night before. Her hand lingered there, tracing over the heart-shaped gold and the brilliant emerald. She thought to herself, remembering how Ron had fumbled with the clasp and the touching - if not out of character - speech that he had delivered while giving it to her.
Do-do-di-do. Kim reeled. She reached her hand out again, grabbing her wrist Kimmunicator and switching it on.
"What's the sitch?" Kim asked instinctively.
"Wow, that's actually really nice to hear." Wade's picture came through the screen. "Got a hit on the site. Break-In. Last night at the Tri-City Museum. I couldn't get a hold of Ron."
"It's ok, he's probably asleep. We were out pretty late last night." Kim rolled off her bed.
"Oh… Oh! Anything exciting happen?"
"Not really. Just amazingly romantic." Kim picked up the necklace and showed it to Wade.
"Wow. Ron gave that to you? That's surprising."
"Yeah, that's my Ron. Full of surprises. I'll call you when I get him." Kim turned her Kimmunicator off and placed the necklace around her neck. She dug through her closet, searching for her mission uniform. She hadn't worn it in so long; she had almost forgotten where she kept it. The purple shirt and accompanying black pants looked exactly as they had the last time she wore them. After putting the uniform on, Kim grabbed her Kimmunicator and ran downstairs and out the front door before her parents could even say good morning.
The car screeched down the road and parked in front of Ron's house. Kim hit her Kimmunicator's cell phone function and waited for Ron to answer.
"KP? Wha-" Ron yawned. "What's up?"
"Trouble. Mission trouble." Kim said.
"Oh, finally! I'll be right down." In less than thirty seconds, Ron was buckling his seatbelt.
"What, did you like sleep in gear?" Kim asked, marveling at how quickly Ron was able to suit up.
"No, I just keep it handy, right in the front of my closet. Easy access." Ron leaned his head back and closed his eyes. Rufus hopped out of his pocket and sat in his lap.
When they arrived at the museum, they noticed the police had already been called. They walked inside and were immediately ushered to a large room full of odd-shaped and ancient looking objects.
"Ah, Ms. Possible." A man in a suit walked up to Kim and shook her hand. "I am the curator of this museum, Dr. Lewis."
"Hello, doctor. What happened?" Kim turned to look at what everyone else was: an empty glass case with a large hole melted through the top.
"When the morning security guards came in, they found the case empty and our night security guard, Randy, unconscious on the floor." The curator explained. "The stolen object was known as the Tablet of the Apocalypse."
"Oooh, sound's scary." Ron said, touching the glass where it had melted.
"It's more of a pet name really. We don't actually know what it's for or who made it. Here, here's a picture from archives that was taken when we took the piece in." The man handed Kim a photograph. The tablet was a silver slab, about as big as a textbook. On the surface were an array of symbols carved into the surface. In the middle of the tablet were four indents the size of coins, each with another symbol etched in them. "The four indents reminded the archaeologists of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Also, when the tablet was unearthed in Rome, there were words written in blood on it. 'Terminus orbis terrarum.' The end of the world."
"Hence apocalypse." Kim turned to the case and examined it. "Does this look familiar to you, Ron?"
"It kinda looks like a plasma burn – booya a dollar!" Ron bent over and picked up a gold coin from under the case.
"Exactly." Kim switched the Kimmunicator on. "Hey Wade, I need you to research the Tablet of the Apocalypse. And I need directions."
"Where to?"
"The Marigold Company."
Team Possible was lucky that Dr. Drakken had decided to place the headquarters for his forest conservation project – slash – garden center only a few minutes outside of Middleton. When they arrived, they noticed the entire complex was dark. Kim and Ron snuck into a small side door. Once inside, they noticed nothing really out of the ordinary. Rows of flowers – normal flowers – and plants spread out all over the room. Kim noticed, however, that the plants all looked very dry and wilted. It seemed like Drakken didn't have such a green thumb after all.
"Split up. Stay on guard." Kim said, moving towards a closed door on the other side of the room. Through the door, Kim saw a large lobby. This was probably the Marigold Company's corporate
area. They had entered through one of Drakken's greenhouses. Kim took a quick scan of the area. No one there. She kept moving. As she approached a staircase that seemed to ascend to Drakken's offices, Kim heard a crash. Whipping around, she found Ron standing next to a pile of fallen garden tools. Kim shook her head and turned around. As she did, Kim noticed a green glow a few feet in front of her.
"Who's there?" Came a voice.
"Shego?" Kim jumped forward, tackling Shego to the ground
"What the-" Shego fell and kicked out, sending Kim flying into a wall.
"Hold on KP, I'm on my way." Ron ran through the door and stopped as Shego held a green hand in his face.
"Kim?" Shego stopped and looked at Kim. "What are you guys doing here?"
"We've got questions." Kim stood back up. "What are you doing here?"
"I work here. Drakken's company, you know? 'Gardening Solutions for the Environmentally Conscious'?"
"So, wait. This whole thing is serious?" Ron sat down in a chair in the lobby.
"Uh, yeah? What? Don't believe me?" Shego walked back to where the two teens were. She was wearing a black business skirt and a lime green blouse.
"Where's Drakken?" Kim asked.
"Should still be in his office. He was on a conference call the last time I saw him. Listen, we've got some problems to deal with here, so we gotta make this quick."
"What kind of problems?" Ron asked.
"Half of our plant stock just died. Like, overnight. So, we've got to figure out a way to rebuild half our inventory without going bankrupt. So, if you could get to the point."
"There was a break-in last night at the Tri-City Museum. The case was melted. We thought-"
"Thought what? That I did it? Hey, maybe I'm not exactly feeling the whole goodie-goodie thing all the time, but I'm done with crime. Ever since that Warhok thing, we turned over a new leaf. Ask the man himself." Shego walked back to the desk, pressed a button, and talked into a microphone. "Drew? Some old friends came by to say hi."
"Drew?" Ron looked to Kim who shrugged her shoulders.
In a few minutes, Dr. Drakken came down the staircase. He was wearing a blue business suit. Kim noticed he had foregone his mutant flower pedals that had consistently grown back every time he had torn them off. "Kim Possible! Ron Stoppable! How's college?"
"Uh, it's fine." Kim turned to Ron and whispered "this is so weird."
"What's weird is he remembered my name." Ron whispered back.
"Come here, walk with me, talk with me." Drakken pulled Kim aside.
Shego and Ron were left alone in the lobby as Drakken took Kim up to his office. "So… You two still together? Or…"
"Yes. We are." Ron felt very uncomfortable being so close to someone who had a history of inflicting a lot of pain on him.
"Really? So you guys made the whole long distance thing work, then? That's impressive. What's it been a year now?" Shego sat down in one of the chairs.
"Year and a half. What about you? You and Drakken together yet?"
"Wha-What? How many times do I have to tell you people, there's nothing going on between Dr. D. and me?" Shego's usually stark pale face was slowly growing red.
"Oh yeah? And you want us to believe that you turned all good just because you felt like it?"
"Uh, wow. Cornered by the sidekick. Ok, ok. Maybe, MAYBE there's something. But what business of yours is it?"
"Nothing. Just making conversation." Ron looked at Rufus who had peeked out of his pants pocket. The naked mole rat looked at Shego and stuck his tongue out, disgusted by the aspect of her and Dr. Drakken together.
In fifteen minutes, Kim and Dr. Drakken returned. "So, yes. I've been a lot more successful with legitimate business practices than I have been trying to take over the world."
"Yeah, well we don't exactly have to worry about teenage superheroes stopping us from planting trees." Shego said and Drakken laughed. Kim looked at Ron who was obviously uncomfortable. The idea that their greatest enemies were now honest business people was a very strange feeling.
"Ok, well, if you hear anything about the Tablet of the Apocalypse, let us know, ok?" Kim stood and turned to leave.
Shego nodded. "Will do. Oh and Kimmy?" Kim turned back around. "You're getting rusty."
"Well, uh… Thanks Shego." Kim and Ron left the building and returned to the car.
"So, do you believe them?" Ron asked as they drove away.
"Actually, I do. The fact that Shego didn't try to kill us and that Drakken kept his maniacal laughing to a minimum is pretty much all the proof I need." Kim turned on her Kimmunicator. "Dead end, Wade. Drakken and Shego are clean. Any ideas?"
"Well, no actually. Everyone else is still in prison." Wade was typing furiously on his keyboard.
"Great. That means we've got a new villain to worry about."
"Yeah. But maybe this will help. I was able to find some information on the tablet. The museum had it partially right. According to some old Roman texts, the tablet's real name is 'Traba Infinus Nex.' Loosely translated it means 'Tablet of Infinite Death'."
"So much better than Tablet of the Apocalypse. Heh. Not nearly as scary now." Ron laughed nervously.
"The tablet was mentioned in a lesser known story in Greek mythology as well. It was made by the god Ares as a gift to the warrior king of Sparta. He used the tablet to control an army of demons against the gods."
"Oh, wow. Demons. Not like we haven't dealt with those before, right?" Ron's smile faded.
"Uh… yeah. Sure. Thanks, Wade." Kim said.
"But that's not all. What's even weirder is that even though the tablet is mentioned in Roman and Greek mythology, it's actually much older. The carbon dating the museum did when they got the tablet makes it around 15,000 years old."
"Wow, that's ancient." Ron said, stating the obvious.
"Yeah. Like, pre-civilization old. Anyway, I'll keep you guys posted on the villain front. If I find anything, I'll let you know."
"Please and thank you." Kim switched off the monitor.
"So, KP. We've still got a few hours of today left. Any ideas?" Ron looked at his girlfriend who was strangely distant. "KP?"
"I'm sorry Ron, I'm just thinking about this mission thing. It's kind of weird. Like, we aren't dealing with a completely unknown criminal. This guy might actually be serious. And if what Wade says is true, that artifact is going to be some serious trouble."
"Kim, come on. Demon army? The Apocalypse? No big, just a myth. A very cliché one at that." Ron placed a hand on Kim's shoulder.
"Yeah, but that's what we thought about the Yono, remember?" Ron did. The Yono, the dark destroyer, was fought and defeated by Ron's infant sister, who Ron had just figured out was a ninja baby given to his family in secret. The Yono had been an extremely powerful monkey spirit that was destined to fight Hana. He had nearly killed Kim, turning her into stone. It had been a miracle that they were able to stop him. There was no way whatever this was could be worse than that.
"Don't worry, KP. We can handle it. You're Kim Possible, as in 'anything is…'. When Wade figures out where the tablet is, we'll go get it, catch the guy who stole it, and throw him in jail like the rest of the idiots out there."
"Sure, I guess. I just hope that this whole thing about demons isn't true." Kim parked the car in front of her house. "Want to come in for pizza and a movie?"
"Booya! Pepperoni and extra cheese, please!" Ron followed Kim out of the car and into her house, a great sense of accomplishment filling his body. After over three months without a mission to go on, Team Possible was back. Even if they were dealing with ancient god-like enemies, they could win. Sure, Ron wasn't looking forward to actually fighting the aforementioned ancient god-like enemies, but he could step up when he needed to. He also had Kim, and together they could beat anything and anyone. They were Team Possible. And for them, anything was.
There you have it. Reviews are always appreciated. The next chapter, "The Last Night" is actually done, I'm just doing some editing. It'll probably be done later today, but I don't want to overburden you guys with chapters, so it'll be up by Wednesday. Oh, and warning now: it's full of emotion, fluff, Nacos, and a few reasons why I rated this fic Teen.