Forget me not!
AN: Kim and Ron go on a mission, only one of them ends up with amnesia! What will the other do? What CAN the other do? Also, I'd like to credit Angilina Diggle for willing to be my first Beta Reader, ever! So, let's all give her a big hand of applause! Oh, and on that note… I didn't want to give up my "Says and Thinks" so they're still there. At least not quite yet.
Chapter 9: Trouble Lane
(The Really, Really Cool and Well Hidden Drakken's Lair)
Ian is still researching the memory-erasing device when Shego storms in and says, "Just how long were you going to leave me on the bed before checking up on me?"
Ian looks up and sees that Shego was still in her hospital gown before he thinks, "Well, at least she hasn't ignited her hands. That's a good sign I suppose."
Ian says, "I'm sorry. I got caught up in something. I won't happen again."
Shego lowers her hands and says, "It better not! You know I hate that!" She then spins and starts to walk away, leaving her green bubble butt exposed to the doctor. He'd seen it before and while he had to admit that she was an amazing woman physically from both her body and powers standpoint, he had always liked seeing her sexy tush the most.
Ian continues to watch her walk with the gown flapping about her rear before he looks away when she stops walking as she realizes her backside was exposed. Shego looks quickly behind her to see that the doctor had returned to the screen. She still blushes before she pulls the gown closed tightly behind her. The still blushing Shego walks back to her room where she changes into her normal outfit that she liked to normally wear. She then tosses the gown up into the air and fires a plasma blast that totally incinerates it, leaving nothing more than a tiny pile of ashes on the floor.
Ian sighs as he hears the plasma blast from his station at the computer and thinks, "We lose more robes that way…" A small robot that senses dirt on the ground comes out of the wall and sweeps the floor twice, the first to sweep up the dirt and the second to disinfect it with a beam, the little robot quickly disappears back into the wall.
Ian was glad he didn't have to mess around with calling cleaning services even if they were pretty quick to show up as he had better things to do: such as the mystery of the young man who had been hit by the device.
Ian thinks, "This just doesn't make any sense! According to the research, there should be nothing like this happening in the boy's head and yet I have evidence to the contrary." He taps his nose in thought before he says, "Maybe the powers that the boy has somehow shielded him in some way?"
Walking away from the computer for a few moments, Ian looks at a pile of printouts. He always felt like his brain worked a little differently when he was reading something on paper versus reading something on a screen and he hoped that he could get some idea as to what could be happening.
Ian paces the room while reading over the paper and mouthing the stuff he was reading before he suddenly stops and reads a section again. He thinks, "I don't believe it!"
He says aloud, "I don't believe it!"
Drakken hears the doctor's exclaim just as he walks up to the door and says, "Am I interrupting something, Doctor Ian?" He had given the guy freedom to research anything he wanted, even Shego as long as he didn't let her find out or they would have both been in for a lot of pain.
Ian turns to face Drakken, startled since he hadn't noticed the approach. He says, "Huh? Oh, just starting to figure some things out with my research."
Drakken says, "That's good, but what about Shego? Is she supposed to be up and about?"
Ian blinks and puts down his papers before walking over to the computer where he pulls up the most recent chart information about her. He nods and says, "Yes, she's fit for doing anything you want her to do. It seems that whatever happened to her had no lasting effects."
Drakken smiles and says, "Good! Now I can have Shego go 'retrieve' something else that is essential to my plans!"
Ian wonders why Drakken even bothered to say it that way when he knew that the blue man clearly meant for her to steal something once again. He knew how to cure Drakken of his blue skin's appearance but he had grown quite fond of the way he looked, thinking that it helped him look more scary like that scar under his eye. The scar was another thing that the doctor could fix so that it would barely be noticeable unless they looked closely but again, Drakken didn't want to lose it because it went with his 'evil' image.
Drakken says, "Let me know how your research is going Doctor, and just what evil purpose it serves when you're done."
Ian thinks, "Not exactly 'evil' but it could be twisted into that I suppose." He nods and says, "I'll let you know about my findings when I am finished."
Drakken nods, as he is satisfied with the answer before he leaves.
Ian thinks, "I've got to be more careful about what I say aloud. If he learns that I'm working towards the cure for the young man's condition, he might force me to stop."
He pauses to mull this over before he thinks, "Unless he thinks that being able to control amnesia can be used for some twisted evil and given the designs of the device in my research so far… I would say that someone had that exact same thought. The question is, why? Or how can erasing memories be beneficial to some evil plan? I guess that's why I'm a doctor and not an evil megalomaniac bent on ruling the world. I just can't think of things like they do."
(Meanwhile)
Ron Stoppable, a young man with a special talent, a best friend who was also his girlfriend, and most importantly was one who was lost because he didn't know his past, barely knew his present and only thought he knew his future destination.
This young man was also at war as much as with others as himself, in quite the most literal of terms. With every step he took from the tree house, the further he got but not even the two Ron's knew exactly where he was going… just that he was moving forward one step at a time.
Everything looked the same, what didn't seemed to blur into the background as Ron walked or rather at times, stumbled forward to wherever he was headed. All the outer Ron knew was that he had to find some way to communicate and at least, that on some level, the inner Ron also agreed but for entirely different reasons and purposes.
As Ron walked, he would get stares from the occasional people who wondered why he walked so strangely or appear to be arguing with himself, even stranger still as he seemed to talk back to himself. All of this earned him a wide path, even by those who knew him and exactly how strange he was to begin with.
Ron walks past the Middleton High School quickly as for some reason that Ron couldn't figure out, gave him the chills and major headaches. Especially as the blue, inner Ron seemed to struggle against him, trying to get him to stay.
Ron growls at the inner Ron, "There's no reason to stay! That is just a school! They can't have any way of contacting my girlfriend!"
Sudden a sneering voice says from behind says, "Hey, I see you're back! Looking for your girlfriend? Why not just go to the locker? Isn't that what you'd do anyway?"
Ron turns around quickly, getting into a martial arts stance, as the voice had sounded unfriendly enough by tone alone. He stops as he sees a girl with short brown hair and haughty eyes that reminded him eerily of his girlfriend Shego.
Ron says, "Who are you? Why would I go to any locker here?" He looks to the direction of the school and says, "It looks like a loser's school and besides, I think I'm too old to still be going to school."
When Ron looks back at the girl he is goes back into his martial arts stance because the girl had the most scary look on her face! He says, "What is it girl?"
Bonnie glares at Ron at him, furious at what he had said! As a cheerleader, she had both school pride and school pride! She had both her hands balled up into fists and worse yet, he was acting as if the she wasn't worth even calling by her name! She knew that he knew very well who she was just as much as he knew what she had meant by that locker bit. She was infuriated by Ron's attitude and she felt a strong urge to put him in his place!
Bonnie points at Ron as she shouts, "Ron Stoppable! You are even a BIGGER loser than I thought if you are acting like you've forgotten all about this school! You know very well that I am at the top of the food chain here and you are at the lowest rung!"
Ron growls at Bonnie and shouts back at her, surprising her a lot as he says, "Look you little bitch! I don't know who you are or anythingabout this school!" He grabs her stuck out hand and does a judo toss that slams Bonnie onto the ground!
Ron looks down at Bonnie and growls, "You do better to remember than to point your twisted little finger at someone like me! Or my girlfriend Shego and I might come back here and teach you some manners!"
Ron looks away from her and mutters, "That is if I can even find her in this ugly, smelly little town… whatever it is called." He doesn't even so much as give her another glance before he storms off down the way he'd been headed, leaving a very twice-stunned Bonnie laying there.
(Elsewhere at that moment)
Kim was walking by the tree house as she thought about all the memories that the two of them had shared. A lifetime of memorable moments… gone in a moment… in a literal flick of a switch. While it wasn't like he was actually dead or anything like that, it was just as painful because he treated her like a stranger… no, worse than that because he saw her as some enemy that he felt he had to destroy.
Kim sighs as she leans against the steps that lead to the tree house and looks down at her feet, as she just didn't know what to do. So far, at the last time she had checked, Wade still had not been able to get any further in finding out where Ron had disappeared to or the latest location of Drakken's lair.
Kim softly whispers, "Ron… please come back to me." Even as she wraps her arms around herself, wishing that they were the arms of her best friend and boyfriend as he told her that everything was ok.
She cared little about saving the world anymore and it wasn't like that the offers still didn't come in at the website but she just couldn't face doing any of that while she knew that Ron was still out there and he needed her. As far as Kim was concerned, he was more important than stopping any villain unless it was Drakken because then at least… maybe… she'd be able to see Ron again.
A breeze starts to stir, causing Kim to shiver just slightly before she says, "Oh, Ron… I wish I knew where you were…" before she starts to walk off. Since her head was still down, she notices something shiny in the glass that was covered in red.
This got Kim's attention, as she couldn't figure out what something shiny with red on it was doing next to her tree house. She leans over and picks it up to discover that it was glass! That's when Kim notices that there were more shards of glass all over the grass, sparkling in a wide pattern to suggest that someone had used great force on it but where did the glass come from?
Sudden inspiration hits Kim and she whirls as looks upwards to see that the window, which had been painted once before the Junior Prom with the very words, "No Girls Allowed!" was no longer there!
Kim couldn't believe it! She doesn't say a word as she drops the glass and starts to climb up the stairs quickly as her heart beat within her chest until her eyes came to rest within an empty room.
Rufus sticks his head out since he was in her pocket and looks around. He recognizes the place and hops out of the pocket to the ground where he spots the picture under the couch.
Kim looks around a couple of times as she says, "Could Ron have been here? No one else but us has even ever been up here." Before she thinks, "How could I have missed it! My Ron, the one inside him must be trying to remember… and I failed him."
Kim hears a sound and looks down to see Rufus with something in his tiny paws. She leans down and picks him up before Rufus turns over the photo to show Kim the one old picture with the two of them in it.
Tears flow down Kim's cheeks as she softly says, "Thank you Rufus" as she takes the picture from his hand and just stares at it, lost in memory while Rufus scampers up her arm and down to her pocket where the Kimmunicator was.
Rufus pulls out the Kimmunicator, holding it up over his head for her to grab. Upon seeing that Kim wasn't responding to him holding the Kimmunicator, he crawls out of her pocket with it in his mouth and goes to her feet, waving it about in an attempt to get her attention.
Kim was lost in her own little world of childhood memories as two tear drops land upon the photo and she sees the tear at the top which had not been there before. She whispers, "Ron… I am sorry I didn't think to come here sooner."
Seeing that Kim wasn't going to respond to his usual methods, Rufus grumbles and makes a low angry sound before he lowers it down to his level and presses the button that connected directly to Wade.
Wade appears on the screen almost instantly with a soda in his hand. He says, "Hi Rufus, where's Kim?"
Rufus squeaks in naked mole rat language as he tries to tell Wade what had been discovered but only gets a confused look from Wade. He spins the Kimmunicator to reveal the tree house and the broken window before aiming it up at Kim.
Wade recognizes the tree house but he wonders why Rufus was so concerned about the broken window before seeing Kim's face holding what looked like a photograph of something. What put it all together for him was the expression on Kim's face.
Wade shouts through the Kimmunicator, "Kim!" but he fails to get a response out of her so he shouts again, "Kim! It is me, Wade! Come in Kim!"
Kim snaps out of her memories as she hears Wade calling for her. She looks down and finally sees Rufus holding up the Kimmunicator with Wade on the screen.
Kim picks up the Kimmunicator and says, "Wade! I think Ron's been here! Look!" She holds up the photo and says, "It looks like it was almost torn in half but I think my Ron stopped him!"
Wade's fingers fly over the keyboard, causing the Kimmunicator to emit a beam that went over the photo for a moment.
Kim aims the Kimmunicator so that Wade can scan the rest of the tree house, including the broken window before Wade says, "Looks like you're right Kim! There are signs of his fingerprints on it as well as signs that he was there within the last couple of hours."
Kim smiles as she says, "Yes! I knew I was right! This means Ron didn't return straight to Shego! He must still be in Middleton!"
Rufus squeaks happily at this bit of news, hoping that meant that he'd get to see Ron again and soon!
Kim says, "Wade, can you scan for Ron? See if you can locate him?"
Wade's fingers fly over the keyboard at 320 words per minute level before he stops and says, "Sorry Kim… they must have taken out his homing chip. I can't find him."
Kim's heart was beating strongly as she thinks, "No! I've come so close to finding him only to hit this roadblock!"
Kim looks down at Rufus and sees him squeak sadly with curiosity at her before suddenly inspiration hits her.
Kim says, "Wade, what if my Ron is trying to remember who he is to better fight the Ron in charge?"
Wade looks skeptically at Kim before he says, "Well, I suppose that's possible… but even if that was true, where would he go next?"
Kim didn't know where he'd go as she could think of at least a dozen places that meant something to Ron but what was the most important place? Did he even have any idea of what he was trying to remember?
Kim says, "Can you do a scan based on all likely spots Ron might go to with this tree house as a starting point? Someplace that he could reach within the time frame of when he might have been here?"
Wade nods and says, "I'll get right on it Kim!" He begins to type quickly, not only hacking into every security camera within the last mile but also at the places that Ron had liked to go alone or with Kim that he could think of as well begin to hack a spy satellite that was just coming into range of Middleton that he knew he could put into good use.
Kim watches Wade's fingers fly to such a blurring speed that she hoped Wade wasn't pushing himself too hard. She could see small bands of sweat appear on Wade's head and was about to say something when Wade stops suddenly as a light appears in front of him.
Wade frowns for a second before his eyebrows shoot up. He says, "Kim… you'll never believe this. There is a Ron sighting."
Kim pulls the Kimmunicator close up to her face with her fingers gripping it so tightly that her they were becoming white. She says quickly, "Where is Ron? Who saw him? Is he ok?"
Wade says, "That's just it Kim… the person who is calling the site, is Bonnie."
AN: Well my loyal fans, what do you think of this chapter? Anyone surprised that Bonnie contacted Kim through her website? What do you think of Ian's research? What do you think of Shego? Was she in character with the blasting of the gown? Did you like the little robot? Could someone have evil plans for the Strike Force One other than the original intention for the military? What did you think of Ron's reaction to Bonnie? What do you think of what happened to Bonnie? Will she lay into Kim for what Ron did when they talk? Rufus is a rocking mole rat isn't he? Where do you think Ron is headed next as he tries to contact Shego? Will Ron ever rejoin Drakken and Shego? Any guesses? Will Ian ever figure out the cure? What about the mysterious inventor of the ray? Will he ever be revealed? All good questions, and many answers will be coming but only if you continue to read and of course review my story. (Smile)
