This next chapter will be confusing as heck if you don't understand the floor layout. Starting on the southwest side of the room is the main entrance to the room. On the southeast side is a platform elevator, not the kind you see at malls. Seperating the two is a wall ending about five feet into the room. The west side is where the area of the floor ends, where the guard rails/ handle bars are. The east side is just a wall, and the main computer is on the northwest.
Yeah, the chapter is dauntingly long, and all it is is a long, long brutal fight. Might want to pick out a loud song (preferably instrumental and long) to read with.
Chapter 5: The Dance of Illusions
Drakken and Shego were paying close attention to the large monitor in the room, the first time in years. Both were awkwardly silent as they watched the events unfold. Normally, Drakken would have boasted about his genius in creating the fly camera, even though Shego knew full well it wasn't his idea and would have pointed it out just to knock him off his pedestal. Profiling…
Instead, they paid attention to the screen almost if their lives depended on it. They had their focus on Kim as always, but this time they were much, much more interested in Ryan. Yes, he was a part of Drakken's plan, whatever that was, but neither Drakken nor Shego ever saw him engage in combat other than videos from old archives. Valia didn't choose to fight Kim when he was involved in the Circle of Blood or his search for the relics. For someone who was considered a much higher threat than every one of Kim's usual opponents, they were curious why this was. Shego wanted to know why her name was taken off the arch-rival list of Kim's GJ online profile, and Drakken was no less surprised, even though he was still listed as Kim's arch-foe.
For now, they and every henchman in the building were watching a fight that would be long and brutal.
When Kim said that this was going to be the final fight, she usually meant it.
The two had charged at each other with full force yelling to their heart's content.
Val was the first to make his move. It appeared at first that he was going to strike with his glowing green whip, but instead let out a left hook, far too early to hit Kim. She ran right past the mechanical hand, mocking him as their noses lined up.
"You missed."
"Have I?"
Not even realizing it, Kim found herself flying in the air. Had she paid more attention to the ground, she would have seen that Val stopped, went low and let out his left leg right after the punch. It was more than obvious now that it was meant to distract her, and it did. Kim's running momentum had sent her flying into the dark corner of the room. The area was pure in darkness, though the sounds of debris or metallic objects could be heard upon her impact. Val couldn't tell what it was even with the glow of his whip, but he kept his guard, expecting Kim to charge out of there.
Something came out of the darkness, but it wasn't Kim. Instead, it was three rapidly approaching and body-sized pipes thrown at an angle parallel to the floor. One was aimed at the head, another at the neck, and the last at the waist. Val leapt in the air and also turned his body parallel to the floor and spun himself like a screwdriver. Still armed with his whip, he used his spinning momentum in his favor and struck at Kim with impending speed. The entire corner turned green, giving him a clear visual of Kim leaping out of the way. He didn't take a second to observe any of the damage that was done.
Val was extremely agile in his defense, and his offense was no different. As Kim was flying in the air towards the wall, he spun himself and made an attempt to strike Kim again, only to miss her foot by centimeters. The powerful blow of the wall was enough to knock Kim off, but she used it in her favor to send herself onto the pole that separated the entrance from the elevator. Unfortunately, the second she landed Val had already struck the same pole just above her head. Again, it knocked Kim off and this time she wasn't able to use it to boost any kind of jump. It knocked her straight to the floor, but fortunately her battle suit absorbed all the damage. She quickly got onto her feet as if nothing had happened.
"You're going to have to do better than th-!"
Kim stopped talking when she realized Val wouldn't stop for her to talk. Again, he struck at her feet and missed. More whipping ensued, and even though Kim was able to evade the entire time, she couldn't believe how quick he was with this weapon. Leaping from wall to wall, and even at one point to the ceiling, she couldn't stay in one place for a second before getting attacked. It wasn't as if Val was off on his aim, either. The whip wouldn't strike its intended target immediately, and even so Kim was barely able to get out of the way.
And again, when she was running on the wall, she was knocked off by a nearby blow. Before Val could take advantage of the situation and strike as she was down, she rolled backward and did a handspring just as the whip cracked. As she landed near the entrance, she was glad she did. Val destroyed the portion of the floor even further.
He shook his head. "Having a hard time keeping up?"
Kim didn't answer.
Instead of replying with words, Val crossed his arms and bent his knees, almost as if he was ready to charge. This gave Kim a clear signal that this was exactly what he was about to do, and before she even knew it, he was spinning at her like a torpedo at full speed with whip in hand, spinning like a helicopter blade. It didn't give her any time to think, and that was more than enough to develop an escape plan. Not even knowing how to react, Kim turned around, ran up onto the door, and somersaulted herself backward over Val and the whip. Just barely. Chills ran up her spine as she felt the heat from the green weapon near her back.
Her troubles didn't end there. She landed right on her feet, only to see that Val was looking straight at her with both his feet planted into the wall. He let out a malicious laughter as he thrusted himself off the wall and dove at Kim like a helicopter blade from hell. She dove out of the way, only to do the same again and again without even thinking. Val didn't give her any space and intended to keep it that way, until he finally hit Kim. However, he didn't hit her with the whip, but instead dove at her and head-butted her abs, knocking her right on her back like a bag of bricks.
Even though Kim was starting to lose her grasp of what was going on, she knew she would feel this one in the morning. Again, the battle suit absorbed the blow, but it still hurt a lot. If she didn't know better, she would have sworn that someone broke the record for the fastest baseball pitch and hit her straight in the gut.
Val also took some pain and rescinded his onslaught, observing his opponent as she tried to pick herself off the ground.
He didn't bother to rub his head. "What's wrong, K? Break a nail?"
Kim did a handspring to get herself back on her feet and continue the fight. What she saw in front of her made her wish she stayed on the ground.
Again, Val was already on the move. Just as before, he was spinning his body like a torpedo and extended the whip out, flying at her. However, he was moving much more slowly. The diameter of the whip's movement was somehow greatly extended, allowing Kim absolutely no room to evade, unless she wanted to jump over the rail. It hit the wall, it hit the rail, the floor and the ceiling. Even worse, each crack of the whip somehow kept Val suspended in mid-air, allowing an endless movement on his part. Kim was like the oblivious insect in the yard, and Val was the lawnmower slowly coming her way.
She tried not to panic, but she did. If only Ron was here then he could think of something, right? Well, perhaps not, but he'd provide enough distraction for Kim to think.
Suddenly, it hit her. Staying on the defense would only get her killed, but she realized that she should take the offense. The whip was still approaching and leaving her without a place to move, putting her back again against the sealed entrance. But the whip wasn't important, but the one who wielded it. Val was completely vulnerable, getting a complete rush out of spinning so much. Normally one would have been amazed that he managed to keep his focus, but Kim knew better. She could tell by closely looking at Val that he had his eyes closed. It was an attempt for his vision not to get blurry or dizzy. It was perfect.
Because he was high in mid-air, Kim again had to resort to running on the door and leaping off of it. But this time she was going in for the attack with a flying punch aimed straight for Val's nose.
However, he clearly heard Kim's grunt as she leapt off the door and stopped his attack. Seeing that Kim was coming at him in mid-air, he used whatever momentum was left in him to attack Kim again with his weapon.
"You are so screwed," he said with a smile.
Not quite. He narrowly missed her, and just when it looked like Kim's fist was going to pound him, he shifted his head like a thousand times before, and again Kim's fist hit nothing but thin air. But it turned out that she didn't intend to punch him. She grabbed his shoulder, using it as leverage to slam her knee straight into his face, push him behind her, and jump off his head with both feet. Of course, she kicked as hard as she could with the last blow, sending her onto the other side of the room. Val on the other hand was sent a few feet below, eating nothing but dirty and old metal.
All done in mid-air.
But it was far from over and Kim knew it. She got into a defensive stance as Val slowly picked himself up, spitting out a mist of blood and what appeared to be a screw without a sharp tip.
A sly smile made its way onto Kim's face. "So not."
Her smile quickly went away as Val turned towards her. And he was laughing. He almost lost his balance too. Kim thought it was because of the blow, but it was the fact that he was a bit dizzy from the move earlier.
"Hah!" He pointed to Kim with the whip. "I suppose there's still a bit of fight in you! What a pleasant surprise, just when I was beginning to wonder if your technique consisted only of 'rolling out of the way'!"
After he was done laughing, he again went on the offensive, attempting to hit Kim with the whip over and over again. But the two remained in their positions. The range of Val's whip had gotten much greater, but at the cost of speed. But it wasn't enough for Kim to attempt to get into close range and knock the weapon from his hand. It still gave Kim the advantage, leaping over it, ducking under it, and sometimes turning her side. It wasn't long before Val realized this and changed his aim.
A loud crack echoed the entire place shortly after, and if not for the Core, the place would have been dead silent.
Val appeared somewhat distraught, while Kim had a smirk on her face. She had actually managed to catch the tip of the glowing whip just as it was about to hit her shoulder. No doubt the suit absorbed the pain. But there was more to it.
"Not bad, Val, but can you make this weapon any more obvious to see in the dark?" Kim taunted. She would have had a much harder time avoiding it if she wasn't able to see it. In this light an ordinary whip might have been able to take her down for the count.
Her opponent didn't immediately respond; trying to observe what was going on. It didn't take Val long to come to a realization, which he acknowledged as a smile slowly curved its way onto his lips. "So your battle suit is clearly immune to the whip's effects. I should've known."
"Duh."
He quickly pulled the whip back, and because Kim had a firm grip on it, she was almost taken along for the ride. She let it go just as she lost her balance, able to avoid falling flat on her face. The weapon stopped glowing as Val rolled it all up and put it back somewhere deep in his coat. He stood casually as if nothing happened, not even with a sweat on his face.
"Good. You've overcome your fear. Now for the next phase."
Kim rolled her eyes as she got into a fighting stance. "Just what is with you acting like you're some kind of mentor?"
Val only continued to stand casually, again not needing a fighting stance. He lent his hand outward, instructing her to bring it on. "Come on, Kimberly Ann… You know you want me."
That was his way of a welcome invitation, and Kim gladly accepted.
"Wow."
"Wow? Is that all you can say, Shego? I haven't seen anything like it since, ever!"
"Shut up, this is getting good."
"Popcorn?"
"Definitely…"
The two were soon disappointed with what they saw next.
Kim had charged at Val at full force, but just when she was within a certain distance, she stopped. No attacks, no devices, nothing. One thing she never forgot about her adversary was that for him, the deadliest weapon was himself. He was mostly defensive but his offensive would usually come in the form of a counterattack, and one blow would be more than enough to take out anyone. Anyone who knew Kim wouldn't be surprised or fazed because they knew she was also capable of this, but Val was on a much higher level, another league but Kim refused to believe it. Of course, she knew from her own experience, and from minutes ago, not to rush into a fight with him.
Val smirked as he noticed Kim was in thought. "Careful. I wouldn't want you to hurt yourself," he said as he pointed to his own head.
"I'm not the one who's going to get hurt."
"Then put up or shut up."
Finally, Kim made her move. She knew that to keep herself from getting hurt in close range combat with him, she had to mix up her styles. Instead of going in with a punch or kick, she leapt in the air and did a cartwheel right at Val. Easily seeing that her both of her feet were aimed at him, he ran under Kim and shot one of his legs upward. Still in the air, Kim grabbed Val's foot, which almost took him off balance, and used the momentum from her cartwheel in an attempt to kick him in the face. Instead, Val twisted his body. Kim, still in the air and holding his foot, realized that if she held on any longer she would have been slammed to the floor. So she let go, and both teens were soon on their backs. They both did a handspring to get on their feet.
"You've gotten rusty, Val," Kim said as she got into a kick-boxing stance.
Val patted the dirt from his shoulders. "Speak for yourself."
The battle raged on, but there was no victor. Kim sometimes went on an offensive, only to be countered by Val, and she would attempt to counter his counter, and both would escape from it. When Val decided to go on the offensive, Kim strictly played defensive.
There was good reason, too. Like Kim, he also chose to avoid simple punches and kicks. His agility allowed him to dash across the room in less than a second. Mix the momentum with a spinning punch, elbow, knee or kick and you were talking pain if you were on the receiving end. He ran across the room with a punch, in which Kim leapt out of the way, and would move in her direction again, just for the same to happen. Kim even tried to jump on the rail bars and jump onto the catwalk where she snuck in, but Val even followed her up there. After leaping off of it, she was ambushed by this tedious move over and over. Three more times and she finally developed a plan, and she didn't know how it didn't hit her sooner. Like his spinning whip attacks, he was completely vulnerable. Just avoid whatever limb he lunged at her with and strike him. As he did to her, she could use his own momentum against him.
Val was already charging at Kim as she realized this, so as he dove in with a swipe that would have struck her abs if she stood still, Kim merely leapt in the air with her knee out.
It made contact, but not as she expected.
Valia wasn't blind. Because Kim readied herself too early, he saw the attack right in front of him, literally. So even though Kim made contact, he defended himself by pressing crossed arms against her knee. He pushed them down as hard as he could, sending Kim crashing into the floor. Well, almost. Anticipating this, Kim did a handspring before she even hit the floor but leapt to the side.
Out of habit, however, Kim went in with a spinning low sweep. In the past, she would always attack just as she got up.
In this case, it was a bad idea. A very bad idea.
Just as the foot was about to hit him, Val practically stomped on the foot, if not for the battle suit's protection this would show Kim a new level of hurt, trapping her in place. The next thing Kim knew, he kicked her straight in the face with his other foot. But it didn't end there. He had her trapped and she was like a slingshot, flying back from the kick but came right back only to be kicked again and again. And most of the time Kim's head would hit the ground after being knocked back. Finally, after ten successive kicks, Val shot his body upward and let out a kick with each leg, both in a circular motion, one followed by the other. One knocked Kim in the air, and another hit her just as her feet left the ground. The second blow was enough to send Kim toward the elevator platform.
"Sucks to be on the receiving end of your own technique, isn't it, Kimberly Ann?"
One of the ways Kim was able to beat Val before - or at least land several blows on his face - was to step on his foot, put all of her weight on it to trap him, and bombard him with a fury of punches straight to the head. Each blow would force him to stagger, just allowing for another one. Unfortunately, it was the only weakness she knew of.
Kim took her time with getting on her feet, since her head was the only area of her body the battle suit didn't protect. She knew it, her opponent knew it. But she still got onto her feet and got onto a stance.
"I told you, I'm not losing this fight." She refused to give up.
"In the position you're in?"
Kim wasn't exactly aware of it, but she was in a bad place, perhaps the worst. She was trapped in the southeast corner of the room where the elevator was, and there was a wall that split the south area of the room in two, a divider between the main door and the elevator that blocked her left side. So really, she had little to no room on her sides to move in, and taking the elevator down wasn't exactly going to help her in the fight, and Val was already blocking the way out. Kim didn't have much time to think, and her head was already hurting a lot as it was. The walls of the entire area weren't exactly solid. What she didn't know was that the wall to her right was actually a massive, massive supercomputer, but with several crevices with light shining through, as well as other mechanical details. The work of a designer, really, but it blended all too well with the floor, the wires hanging from the ceiling, and everything else. However, Kim noticed something different when she took a closer look at the wall. Part of it was sticking out, two long, long poles that had several other perpendicular poles in-between.
Someone actually hung a ladder on the wall, and the timing couldn't be more convenient. It only took her a second to realize all of this after Val asked his question.
"Oh, definitely."
Kim started to dart towards him, and just when it looked like she was about to let out her fist or leg, she instead turned her body parallel to the floor, grabbed the steps of the ladder just like monkey bars, and tried to shove her foot into Val's mouth. Noticing that her eyes shifted focus from him to the wall, he caught on. But she didn't just attack him with one kick; Kim pretty much used the ladder like monkey bars, moving from 'step' to 'step' with her hands, spinning herself with each one and trying to kick Val with every twist and turn. She was extremely fast, to the point where Val had to resort to constant back somersaults on his part. It wasn't long before they reached the opposite end of the room, back in the northeast corner where Val had knocked Kim into the pipes.
Realizing that Kim wasn't going to stop, Val kicked up a pipe from the floor and caught it, and attempted to strike her with it. She wasn't blind, either. Even though she was spinning like a top, she kept focused on her opponent, and caught the pipe between her feet. She pulled it away, and that was one thing she was always good at even when fighting Val; she could knock the weapons out of her enemy's hands. Kim landed on her feet, releasing the pipe from them before landing on the ground, and caught it in her hand. By this time, Val had already gotten himself one as well, and the two engaged in a pipe duel.
When it came to weapons, Val was usually on the offensive, and this was no exception. He swung it around in many directions like a staff, spinning it in his fingers at the same time. It was a guessing game, but every time he delivered a hard swing or strike, Kim blocked Val's pipe with hers. Fortunately for her, she knew how to handle staff-like weapons. Her defense with these weapons were just as good as his offense, although he handled it with much more grace. Kim tried to take advantage of that, since grace, while pleasing to the eye, would often leave someone open and vulnerable, something she learned from an ally of hers some time back. Again, it wouldn't work on him.
It wasn't long before it got old, so the two decided just to go at it at full force. Kim would attack, Val would defend. He would attack, she would defend. Eventually, they both tried to strike each other at the same time, and actually knocked their pipes out of each other's hands.
Not even taking a second to think about what just happened, Val flew at Kim with his knee. She blocked it the same way he did earlier, crossing her arms and using them as a shield, but she couldn't push downward and send him flying to the floor, because he still had one foot on it. Unlike her, he didn't allow his entire body to go airborne. Val noticed that Kim had stopped to think and decided to take advantage of the situation. He spun his body, confusing Kim, and let out a fierce spinning kick. Kim still had her arms up as he performed the move, but it was enough to send her skidding against the floor into the southwest corner between the rails and the main door.
When she came to, Val was already in front of her, and she simply went on the offensive. She threw punches and kicks, but all were avoided with swift but simple movements on Val's part; an evasive move Kim was all too familiar with, since this was what put Val in the dangerous category the first time they fought. He was incredibly agile in swiftly moving side to side and simply moving an arm out of the way. But instead of grabbing her hands and placing her in a bad position, he actually didn't attack. Instead, he simply left Kim to exhaust herself. She caught on and stopped.
Val didn't seem too amused, but he chuckled. "Kimberly Ann, my dear! Haven't you learned anything in this fight?"
Kim didn't understand what he was getting at. "What do you mean?"
"Mind your surroundings!"
Kim didn't realize that Val had slowly crept his foot under hers, and swept her off balance just as she noticed. She was knocked against the rail, which fell back like a door, leaving nothing separating Kim from below. She managed to keep from falling back, but she couldn't regain her balance, going back and forth on one foot. Looking down, she realized that it wasn't a long drop behind her. Instead, there was a series of stairs that led below. She didn't understand how she missed it before, even though her mind should have been in other places. Even though she wasn't going to fall to her death, she could still break her neck on the stairs.
She tried to put one hand on the wall, but it was too slippery. Actually, it was her suit. She tried to grab onto the rail nearby, but Val managed to slap it aside. He was already right in front of her, and just like in the movies, his finger was nearing her. A slight push would send her tumbling, and before long, he pressed his finger against the bottom of Kim's neck, and she was sent falling backward.
But she didn't go alone. Just as she fell back, Kim managed to grab the collar of Val's shirt and took him along for the ride. It was a series of only ten steps, as it was designed zig-zag style for each flight. Both teens came down tumbling the first set of stairs, but Kim wrapped her arms around her head to protect that and her neck. Val on the other hand was without protection and hit his head quite a lot on the way down, and let out a painful cry as his spine collided with the guard rail. When he came to, he saw a fast oncoming foot headed his way. Almost as if nothing had happened, he grabbed Kim's foot, used it as leverage to push himself upward, and kicked Kim straight in the head as he held her foot. It only caused her to stagger, and Val used the time to get into a better position by running up the guard rail of the stairs. He was back in the upper area before long, but was breathing heavily, holding his head.
Kim saw this as the opening she needed, and without a moment to think she also jumped and ran on the guard rail up to the upper level. It appeared as if she was going to punch Val in the face, which he was ready to grab and counter, but instead Kim grabbed the collar of his shirt again and kept running. She not only slammed the back of his skull into the wall between the main door and elevator, but into the wall right after that. She didn't let go. She turned around and ran as fast as she could, slamming her rival's spine into the rails. But it was too much force and Val went flying over.
This time, Kim let go, but only to grab his hand.
It took Val some time to realize what was going on. When he came to the first thing he saw was the long drop below, then noticed Kim was holding his hand. He seemed somewhat surprised. "Saving my life again? You truly are a doll, K."
Kim narrowed her eyes. "Oh, I'm not done with you yet."
Kim's choice of words was enough to appall him. She quickly yanked Val up back on her level, jammed her available elbow straight into his gut, and then threw him across the room. He tumbled on the floor like a tire out of a car crash, his spine again taking the blow to the wall. This time he had a hard time getting onto his feet.
The light of the core gave his opponent a rather creepy silhouette as she slowly approached him.
"When I told you that I came here to take you down, I wasn't kidding," Kim quietly said. "I've been waiting six months for this moment, Valia Ryan. I've been waiting six months to finally take you down once and for all. I don't care what it takes; I'm going to hurt you so bad that you'll never want to see me ever again." Kim finally stopped when she was close to Val and grabbed him by the neck and stared into his glowing blue eyes.
He wasn't the least bit intimidated. He only shook his head in disappointment. "Not that you've ever been a delicate flower in the past, but, my… you've changed."
"Last time I checked, doing the usual thing didn't work on you."
Kim was referring to her usual method of taking down bad guys. Her cheerleading aerobics, using equipment and weapons, and using any and everything in the room; while she hardly ever lost in her many years of saving the world from the likes of Monkey Fist, Shego, Killigan and Drakken, it was hard to do this against someone who she thought was more or less equally skilled as she was. The only way she knew to take Val down - when he didn't take her on in a vehicle or with weapons - was strictly with brute force in hand-to-hand combat, and she had to wait for an opening. Every other move he would easily evade and/ or counter. She couldn't fight him like everyone else.
"And it's like you said," she continued. "Nothing lasts forever." Kim originally meant this as using his words against him, but anyone else – Val included - would have taken it as something else.
Val shook his head. "So you're only motivated when you thirst for blood, now?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Even I know this isn't like you. But then again, this is anything but the first time I've seen this side of you. You're not doing this because it's the right thing to do. I haven't done you wrong-"
"You haven't done me wrong? Hello! Is anyone in there?" Kim started shaking him violently, banging his head against the wall repeatedly. "You helped ruin my relationship with Ron,…"
"Didn't have-anything to-do with the-separation…" he weakly moaned as his head was repeatedly slammed against the steel wall.
"… I couldn't do any of the things I did in high school…"
"No one-cares…"
"…, I'm in this mess because of you…"
"Already said-it wasn't my-intention…"
"WHY CAN'T YOU JUST GO AWAY?"
Kim finally finished it by slamming her palm into Val's face, embedding his head into the wall. It wasn't long before he lifelessly fell onto his face and blood was dripping to the floor below. When Kim noticed the same blood was all over her hands, she gasped. He was right; this wasn't like her at all. She wouldn't have done anything like this before. But the truth was, she did whenever Ron's life was on the ropes, almost all which involved Ryan. But there was another time, shortly before she met him.
"Wow, that is one angry Possible!" Drakken cried. He didn't know whether to be pleased or scared. He was probably both.
Shego wasn't amused at what she saw one bit, looking at her reflection on the monitor. The huge scar running down her left cheek didn't come out of nowhere.
Had she really changed so much?
Kim's thoughts were interrupted when something that felt like a train slammed into her face. It knocked her clear across the room, both her skull and spine letting out a sickening thud as she struck the guard rails. When she raised her head, she noticed that Val was on a knee with the palm of his metal hand extended out.
He was no longer smiling as he got up onto his feet. A small trail of blood was coming out of his lips, which got bigger as he got up. Instead of letting it come out as he talked, he swallowed the whole thing, his expression firm. "I would ask if you feel better now, but physically that's another story," he said as if nothing had happened.
Kim would have preferred it if he had stayed down. "Why would I feel better?"
He appeared to be in thought. "It all makes sense now. You've bottled up every ounce of anger throughout these last several months, and it's completely consumed you. Again, you learned nothing from our encounter at Bay City. And you've had no outlet whatsoever, not even your Judo classes could help you vent your anger. Every bad guy you still tried to fight after your separation got away before you could get your hands on them. If not for their own idiocy they'd be ruling the world."
Drakken glared at Shego. "Don't… say… anything."
Shego fluttered her eyes innocently. "What ever are you talking about?"
"Don't think I'm buying any of that, Shego."
"Everyone's refused a fight against you because they know you can't win. Yet I accept your challenge and you take all of your frustrations out on me. I'm flattered…" The last remark from Val was clearly sarcasm. "I'm glad I'm not Shego, there's no telling how many scars you'd give her."
Shego was glaring at Drakken. "Don't… say it."
Drakken had a smug look written all over his face. "What? It might actually look good on you. It just spells evil."
"Okay, if someone like Ryan gave it to me, since he might be a worthy opponent, sure. I don't mind losing to a worthy opponent. But Kimmie?"
"Don't remind me, you whined like a schoolgirl for a week…" Drakken quietly muttered, reminiscing on the first week of prison after the Diablo scare.
"What was that?"
"Don't remind me, you took your frustrations out on me for a week?" he quickly and nervously answered.
"I thought it was two," Shego calmly replied.
Drakken let out a long relieved sigh. "I dunno, Shego. That scar you have on your face right now is haaawwwwt."
Shego's chair practically fell apart on her. It wasn't long before Drakken had his chair stolen from him, leaving him on the floor.
Words couldn't describe the look on Shego's face. "Did you… did you just… Was that a hit? Are you actually hitting on me?" She didn't know how to feel, but she was morbidly disturbed.
"No way," Drakken snapped, trying to take the chair back from her. "I read it on some internet forum. Thought it might make you feel better!"
"So some no-life internet geeks think the scar is hot?" she asked quietly, then yelled in Drakken's ear, "Thanks for the useless information!"
"But you have to admit, it makes you look phat!"
Shego's eyes widened in shock. "Oh, that's it. You're dead."
So much for watching the rest of the fight. Shego lunged her fiery fists at Drakken, who was barely able to avoid becoming Roast Drew. He ran for his life.
"Shego, you know what I meant! P-H-A-T!"
"I know!"
Drakken blinked a few times before it hit him. "Wait, if you know, then why are you trying to kill me?"
"Don't think I didn't hear what you said the first time! I did NOT whine like a schoolgirl for a week!"
He was screwed now. "Oh, snap."
Back at the Tri-City electric plant, Kim was still trying to get on her feet. "I wish I could say this whole thing has been relieving, but it's not."
"Too bad. This might have been a much more enjoyable fight."
"This isn't a dance, you know."
"Even if you told me that five minutes ago, I wouldn't see the difference."
After taking her time, Kim finally got onto her feet and resumed her stance. It was apparent she was growing exhausted.
Val sighed. "I forgot that you're not the type who knows when to give up."
"It's called determination," Kim retorted.
"It's called desperation," he countered.
Kim then made her move. She shot her grappling hook from her right glove and swung her arm to her left side at the same time. It started low and curved upward, forcing Val to simply move aside. It latched onto the third floor platform, hidden high in the darkness, and Kim pulled on it as hard as she could. Not only did the entire catwalk come crashing down, but there were also several steel barrels on it that came along for the ride. Seeing that it was about to fall on him, Val quickly took three steps forward to avoid the platform, but he still had two barrels about to fall on him.
Instead of having his attention upward, he looked at Kim with a finger up on his metal hand. It moved back in forth, in a 'nuh uh' fashion. Without missing a beat he pulled out his whip with his left hand, wrapped it around both of the barrels, released the whip, grabbed it with his right hand, and pulled on it, hurling both barrels them at Kim. She simply stepped aside as they flew past her, twirling herself in the process, showing off no less than her enemy. Because her back was exposed, Val sprinted across the floor and attempted to slam his knee into her, but Kim felt the wind and ducked low.
Val actually tripped over Kim and flew right over her, past the rails in the same fashion the barrels did, but Kim did not even attempt to save him. But she did look over after she got up. She didn't see that Val grabbed one of the supporting poles from his whip, using it like a rubber band. By the time Kim's eyes lingered over the rail, he shot himself upward with a ferocious elbow that knocked Kim straight across the room.
The same time he landed, she got onto her feet. She absolutely refused to throw in the towel.
"What do you hope to accomplish, Kim? You're worn out."
Kim was starting to grow exhausted. "Speak for yourself. It's over, Val."
Val seemed amused as Kim's comment, chuckling to himself. "I see we've come to an agreement. That was quite a warm up, but I'm tired of holding back and going easy on you."
Kim's eyes widened. "You did not just say 'warm up'."
"Do I need to say it again? Come on, did you really think that was all I had to offer? I thought you knew me better than that."
Kim only grunted, unsure what to think of it. She was already battered enough as it was, and Val was standing in front of her with only two drops of sweat on his face. He was bleeding from at least two areas on his head, but they were actually more minor than Kim was led to believe. As always, he handled it as if they weren't there at all.
"Tell me something, Kim. Did you honestly hope that pissing me off with that shallow comment of yours… did you really think it would give you the upper hand in combat?"
"Yeah, I actually did. No one knows how many times you've told me that mood affects how you fight."
"Fool. You only use emotions your opponent is neither familiar nor comfortable with!" Valia embraced his anger and hate in order to overcome them and not be consumed by them, but it was arguable whether or not he succeeded. Needless to say, it didn't affect his performance for the worse. "I hope I won't need to remind you again, but this is who I am…"
Kim didn't even blink before Val ran up to her and slammed his fist into her gut, knocking all of the wind out of her. It wasn't the first time he managed to do this to her, and even then she was armed with the suit. Soon after that he tried to grab her collar, but accidentally pulled the zipper of the suit, and it didn't go in its intended direction. He meant to pull Kim back, but instead he pulled the zipper downward. He instantly let go when he realized this, right before it was showing anything questionable. He had his thoughts on Kim's appearance and curves just like any other boy would, but he was by no means sick, at least in a perverted way. Almost as if Kim didn't get hit by his fierce blow earlier, she pulled up the zipper and attempted to slap Val. Had she not, he would have said that he was sorry. But without missing a beat, he went right back to fight mode, grabbed her hand and pulled her his way. He pulled her so hard that she wound up running into him and flew back right onto the floor, as if running straight into a wall.
Val forced Kim onto her feet by grabbing her elbows and picking her up. Not allowing herself to become vulnerable, she grabbed Val's arms and shoved them aside, allowing for a clear opening. But just as she was going to attempt to shove her knee into his gut, an attempt to also knock the wind out of him, he did a reverse somersault kick on her. But that wasn't all. Kim's head was still flying back when he did another one, only this time his body went completely airborne. Because Val's foot struck Kim's chin, it sent her flying upward. But before her body started falling, he performed another one, but this time pulled out his extendable staff for some leverage. So Kim was struck three times with three back somersault kicks before her body hit the ground. The last kick sent her into the center wall.
Kim slowly got onto her knees, only to be struck in the gut by one of Val's, knocking her into the stairs. She only flew down the first set, but Val leapt onto the handlebars and kicked Kim in her face over and over until there were no more stairs. There were four sets of stairs in all. Kim found herself underneath the main floor above her, but Val didn't even let her attempt to get up. He quickly grabbed one of Kim's arms and started spinning, swinging her in circles. As soon as he was starting to grow dizzy, he released her, but instead of flying into the wall, Kim was sent flying upward back to the metal grated floor above. The floor had already been severely weakened by his numerous whip acrobatics earlier in the fight, not to mention the big blow prior.
Because the floor was already weak as it was, Kim crashed straight through it and struck the wall nearby. Val used his whip like a grappling hook on the guardrails of the floor and shot himself back up to where most of the fight took place. Only this time, he didn't land near her. He landed on her, digging his boots onto Kim's spine, popping it all over the place.
Inadvertently and unknownst to him, thanks to the suit absorbing the damage, he gave Kim a well-needed spine realignment. But the comfort was only temporary.
After that he walked off, curved his foot upward, catching Kim's neck in it and forcing her back on her feet, only to kick her with the same foot.
But Kim didn't stagger for long. She flew at Val faking a punch, and he bought it, moving behind her. Now his back was towards the wall in the middle of the room. Kim had a plan. As fast as she could, she tried to punch him repeatedly with everything at full swing. One of the advantages of the battle suit was that it would allow Kim to deliver extremely fast punches without affecting her muscle tissue and without her stamina affecting the rate at which she threw a punch. Of course, she could do this as long as she didn't take the suit off immediately or she'd suffer some wild cramps. This was one of the things she learned when she first tried it out, back when Wade warned her it was experimental (and still was today). Out of her own emotional rage in a fight against Shego on the night she got together with Ron, she let out a fury of punches, then completely let loose and unleashed an almost superhuman barrage of punches, one which sent her rival flying high into a wall when she first tried the suit on.
Kim had completely forgotten about this move, and she was going to attempt to try it again. But unlike Shego, Val didn't move side to side to avoid these swift punches. Instead, he slapped them aside, but it didn't throw off Kim's focus. She wouldn't stop. Then finally, she went into a berserker rage mode and fists were everywhere.
A loud crack was heard, and Kim couldn't believe it.
He caught it.
He actually managed to grab one of her fists with his left hand. The second he caught it, he pulled downward on it, twisting Kim's wrist, hard enough that the suit couldn't protect against the pain. Kim let out a painful cry, and Val took advantage of the moment and slammed Kim into the wall behind him, continuing to twist her arm. His lips came close to the back of her neck as he let out a disappointed frown on his lips.
"You've grown weak on me, Kimberly Ann!"
Kim continued to grunt and moan in pain, but it soon turned into grunts of frustration. Fortunately, her training in her Judo classes taught her to escape binds like this, so she twisted her arm in a peculiar way and managed to turn around to face Val. She managed to slam her head into his, slightly knocking him back. He didn't seem impressed. She was cornered in a bad place and without time to develop a plan, again she tried to go on the offensive.
But no matter what Kim threw at Val, he always countered it and sent the back of her head into the wall behind her. Two loud cracks with each of his blows. Kim would throw a punch, he would grab her fist and deliver a palm smash. She would throw a kick, he would grab her leg, charge at her and slam her into the wall. Knees had the same treatment, if she tried to strike at him with an elbow, he would strike her with one of his own. In fact, most of Val's counters would come strictly as elbow blows and shoulder slams. He would simply grab whatever limb Kim sent his way, and he would use all the strength he had in his body to deliver excruciating blows.
More often than not he would just grab the oncoming fist or foot and slam Kim into the floor. It was an embarrassing sight on Kim's behalf.
Even though her suit prevented her from taking the pain throughout her body, for the most part, it had one fatal weak spot: her head, as it was uncovered. Kim knew it, Val knew it. But the fight hadn't changed. No matter what Kim threw at him, she found herself either slammed back into the wall, or on the floor. And most of the time, she was either struck in the head or landed on it.
She even tried the stealth camouflage feature built in, but since her head didn't become invisible, it was useless.
There had been times in the past where Val had knocked out Kim just with one move, but like most fighters, he wasn't interested in simply winning the fight. He wanted a duel that was long and brutal – the ultimate dream of those who have fought all their lives. But Kim wasn't interested in such a thing.
Kim's own past regarding martial arts was a mystery, even to one who claimed to know everything in and out about her. People usually heard the same four stories: Story One was that she trained with some of the best fighters after saving or helping them in a time of need. Story Two was that she sparred with Ron after they got together and his own fighting skills were improving, clearly the work of his powers. Story Three was that Kim practiced martial arts as a kid to keep her busy during the summer. Story Four was that she made up her own moves based on what she saw in the movies or real life, and her cheerleading aerobics made things so much easier to learn. The truth was, all of them were true.
She knew how to fight and fight against some of the best, but she didn't consider herself a martial artist or a devoted practitioner, at least in comparison to those who dedicated their whole lives to it. Unlike her opponent she didn't exactly go through brutal exercises or methods to clear your mind. Meditation and all that; she didn't think she needed it. She kept her calm for the most part, and it wasn't needed to take on ninjas with flaming swords. Back then she thought it was all drama and theatrics.
In this case, it was becoming more and more obvious that she had the moves but not the mind. All this time later, Kim still had a hard time picturing Val in a ninja tunic, since she had only seen him with a gothic appearance, sans his Upperton HS yearbook pictures.
(Kim had Wade dig them up after Val had tricked her and Ron numerous times with disguises. In fact, contrary to what he told Kim on the Tower of Bay City, he didn't receive his scar in his days as a teen agent. The scar was nowhere to be seen in the photos. They could see with uber-advanced photo manipulation that he did use contacts to change the color of his eyes from blue to brown, but there was no use of makeup of any kind near his eye whatsoever.)
But Valia had the speed, even with a jacket that was full of weapons. He didn't exactly jump around everywhere in circles, at least in his fights with her, but everywhere else he was like a frog that had been dumped in a can of Pepsi and drank it all up. However, unlike a true ninja, Val did let his own feelings and emotions interfere with his life and get the best of him. Most ninjas wouldn't consider a fight in a plant to be really fun, either.
Of course, one had to keep in mind that most of Ryan's teachings as a ninja disappeared when he erased his mind. From there, the drama of high school consumed him, and even when he got his memory back, it didn't mean much except for the desire for vengeance. He wasn't a ninja who had the hatred of a teenager, he was a teenager with the knowledge and skills of a heavily-trained ninja.
It wasn't that Kim was completely inexperienced, but in the last year she didn't fight a lot. Shego would take orders from Drakken not to fight or kill for some odd reason, and Ron had usually dealt with Monkey Fist and his ninjas. Rufus even took on the so-called master of Tai Shing Pek Kwar and his monkey ninjas, usually giving Kim a break at the time.
Even though it didn't hit her, Monkey Fist too disappeared the same time Ron and Val did. As for her opponent, his life was fighting.
If Shego and Drakken had been watching, they would have seen it as well. And if Shego had her way, she would have taken Kim out by any means necessary, and she could actually do it, too. But Drakken claimed he had some brilliant plan for the destruction of Kim Possible that would be more worth it than taking advantage of her college Ronless depression.
Kim finally slumped on her body after being struck in the head repeatedly by Val. She suffered several elbows, knees, punches and kicks to her head, and she couldn't take it much more. She tried to pick herself up again, but collapsed on her face.
Val let out a sigh. "Check… mate…" He turned around and made his way toward the main computer in the room, only to hear weak moans behind him.
Kim still managed to get onto her feet, and again took on a stance, but she was hardly conscious. Blood was coming out of her nose and mouth thanks to falling on her face, and she could hardly see straight. Yet, she continued to persevere.
"I'm… not… done… wit-"
"Save your energy." He didn't turn around to face her. "The battle has been decided."
But Kim wouldn't listen, and with every ounce of remaining strength charged at her enemy.
She lunged at him with a left hook. He grabbed her wrist and charged his elbow straight into her gut. It knocked her back, but not off her feet.
She came back with a roundhouse kick. He grabbed her foot and swept his foot against Kim's idle one. She fell right on her back, but she got up. Barely.
She tried to shove her knee in his face, but he stepped aside and clothes-lined her. She spun in the air and landed on her face.
From the floor she tried to kick Val, even if it meant a low blow. He grabbed her foot and threw her past him to the other side of the room.
She got up and darted toward him, but instead of flying at him with a knee or with a torpedo kick, she performed a reverse somersault kick. Val scooted back, and when Kim's body was upside down, he charged his shoulder into her spine, slammed and pinned her against the wall in the middle of the room.
"Give up!" he demanded with a fierce look on his face, before releasing her and allowing her to fall on her head again.
But Kim got up and continued to fight.
Val was becoming frustrated. "You just don't get it, do you?"
Kim tried another left hook but Val came in with his own.
"Look at you. You can't win a fist fight in desperation!"
Kim tried another right hook but Val grabbed it and slammed his shoulder into her.
"You think of nothing but retribution again!"
Kim went in for a flying kick, but Val ran under and behind her, shooting his leg upward and kicking Kim straight in her back again.
"You don't remember what you stand for!"
Kim got up again and went in for a kick straight for the neck, but Val blocked it with his wrist. He soon pushed it aside and went in for his own spinning kick, knocking her back.
"You've lost focus on who you are!"
Kim let out an enraged yell as she tried a cartwheel kick. Val stepped aside and shoved his foot on her chin as her body was upside down, as if grabbing it, and sent her head into the grated floor.
"You still let your insecurities get the best of you!"
He grabbed Kim and put her back on her feet before slamming his fist into her face.
"There is reason life has turned against you!"
He again shoved both of his fists into Kim's abdomen, not that there was any more air to thrust out.
"You refuse to accept the fact that losses are only a natural part of life!"
Kim almost fell down from the last blow, only to suffer an uppercut by her adversary.
"You still view your life unrealistically that nothing can ever go wrong, a life without flaw!"
Val grabbed Kim by her collar, pulled her in close, and shoved his foot straight up her chin.
"And just when everything goes wrong, you drown yourself in your sorrows!"
Kim had staggered and tried to keep her balance. The distance allowed Val to charge at her and fly at her with a fast airborne kick and nailed her straight in the abs.
"AND THAT IS WHY YOU HAVE SUFFERED THE LOSSES YOU HAVE AND BECOME THE WAY YOU ARE!"
Still with his foot in Kim's gut, he spun his other leg in a circular motion, smacking Kim's chin. Both kicks knocked her into the wall in the middle of the room again, and she fell like a sack of bricks.
"You can blame life all your want for everything going downhill, but only you can dig yourself out. You can't live your life by holding someone else's hand! That's the problem with you, Kimberly Ann, you have high expectations for everything in your life, but when you don't get the things you want, you drown yourself in your sorrows and depression!" Val spat out with clear disgust…
…only to find out that once again Kim managed to get on her feet. Unlike before, she wasn't breathing heavily, nor did she appear weak. He then remembered; the cybertronic suit allowed for healing, not just of the suit itself, but Kim as well. Still, it would be a few hours until she was back to normal, probably six in the condition she was in.
Kim let out a loud yell as she charged at him for one last time. "I WILL NEVER GIVE UP!"
Val was just as frustrated as she was. As fast as he could, he took out his whip, cracked it so that it was glowing green, and charged at Kim, who was now making a last resort. As she ran towards him, her suit started to glow and create all kinds of electric sparks that shielded her body, taking up the entire suit's energy. It was starting to effect the heat and light around the area, as from Val's POV all of her features started to distort in waves. Light particles started coming off the core and into Kim's battle suit, and every kind of metal started to move violently. Even Val felt his metal arm start to shake, stopping his run.
Suddenly, Kim stopped as a ball of pure blue light was glowing in her fist. It let out some kind of sonic boom as it stopped charging up and gathering energy. A few bits of electricity came out every now and then, but she was completely immune to it.
Aware that this kind of energy could brutally injure somebody that had a hi-tech mechanical limb, Val's expression was solid as stone. "So this is your last resort? An electromagnetic sonic cannon…" This time, however, the tone in his voice was a lot softer.
Kim was panting. "I usually don't like to resort to this kind of thing, but I don't want this whole fiasco to get out of hand. I just want to go back to living a normal life."
Val shook his head. "You can never live a normal life if it was never normal to begin with. Besides, wasn't living a 'normal life' leaving you completely depressed as it was at Upperton?"
"I'm not you. I'm not going to let everything in my life get out of hand."
"You're not responsible for what happens in your life, Kim. Hell, no one can create their own future without everyone else getting in the way. Otherwise none of this would be taking place. I know you've blamed me for just about everything that's gone wrong in your life, but that's what happens when your life is so freaking bubbly perfect. We are never the masters of our destiny, no matter where we were born or what lifestyle we're born into."
"My life was never 'bubbly perfect', Val. I'm not as shallow as you think I am. I know I have things good, but instead of wallowing around and shoving it in everyone else's face, I'm using what I have to help people, not just myself."
"Perhaps that's your problem, then."
Kim shot Val with a confused glare. "What do you mean?" She was more confused at the fact that this was coming from someone who believed the exact same thing.
Even though Kim could have fired the energy whenever she wanted, Val was still solid as before. "You're an odd one, Kim. Sometimes we become so focused on everyone else in our life that we forget about ourselves. You're more focused on everyone else than yourself, and you forget who you are. You know what you are, but not who. On the other hand, I suppose that's where Ron's place was, just to fill that empty void, and nothing's been there to fill it since he left. And to think that you accused him many times of being overconfident and cocky when you were no different."
"You don't know what it's like to have someone be there all your life and just suddenly disappear on you…" Kim's face dropped but kept her aim firm.
"Would it matter? It doesn't take someone who 'understands' anything to see how badly it's affected you. You see, Kim, that's the problem with first love. It lets us become vulnerable to someone, but the same thing winds up destroying us. You become weak and everyone in the world takes advantage of the situation."
"I am so not in the mood for your 'advice', Val. It's not going to help the sitch."
"Which one? The price on your head or Ron?"
"The one where I shoot you with an overpowered electromagnetic sonic blast and put you in the hospital, and when I tell the authorities it's you they want, not me."
Val smirked, challenging Kim with a snarl. "Then finish it!"
And Kim did. Firing the blast like a gun, a demonic sound roared through the air as the ball expanded into a circular arc and covered the entire floor, going the speed no less than a bullet. For some reason, nothing that was hit was damaged – as the weapon was created and modified strictly to harm anything organic.
But she missed.
She completely missed.
She freaking missed.
She fired at point blank and totally missed.
Just as Val told her what to do, the very moment the words left his lips, he quickly ran toward her and went in low under her arm – right under the barrel of the gun as it fired. Just as Kim became aware of it, he had already crossed his arms so that his right hand was over his left shoulder and vice versa.
"NE RAI!"
He immediately swiped both of his hands across Kim's belly as fast as he could. The nails of his mechanical left hand tore through Kim's suit, revealing her belly and some painful-looking scratches, and at the same time, struck her skin with the glowing green whip.
Kim became petrified as her entire body turned green for a split second, and fell to the floor faster than a tree being cut down, but no less hard. A loud thud could be heard even at the entrance of the building.
She tried with all her strength to get up, but something was wrong. Her muscles weren't responding.
'I… I can't move…!'
She wouldn't get up this time.
She lost.