"Gnyaarrrgh"

The thin reedy shriek echoed thought the cavern, startling the blind cave crickets and the millipedes that preyed on them alike. Briefly outlined against the phosphorescent backglow was an indeterminate shadowy shape, practically invisible in the gloom. Ignoring the physical presence it was evincing, Adauchi raged at the knowledge that once more, it's careful plans were being placed in jeopardy.

It's own vulnerabilities were highlighted when it swung a shadowy arm, scattering a pile of rubble across the already littered floor, or that was the intention. Instead, the limb passed through the solid matter briefly distorting as if it were made of smoke.

Fury raged supreme in it's mind, as it realised the precarious position it was now in. With a physical presence, however tenuous, it had lost the ability to tap into the darker dimensions. The ability to animate the dead was now lost forever. Instead it gained a more powerful capability in it's control over the living, but the current subject was proving hard to control.

A strong psyche was usually preferable, as long as there was time to work on a gradual infiltration into the mind of the subject. It meant the resulting tool would be more resourceful than a weak willed puppet, but there was no longer any time to work on subtleties. Adauchi had to work with what was available, which meant that it had to accept the subject's own forceful insistance that the mortal known as Kim Possible would have to be neutralised before the Monkey Master could be destroyed.

Frustration clawed at Adauchi's mind, just as fearful doubt had begun to gnaw at it's soul. If the Monkey Master had managed to survive the test, the final prophecy would be revealed. It's own safety was now at stake and time was of the essence. Glancing over at the suspended Lotus Blade, crimson streaks now evident throughout the previously pristine azure aura, Adauchi reckoned on the process taking at least ten more days to be complete.

Reaching out with it's mind, Adauchi gave it's servant the push it had been waiting for. Time for team Possible to meet it's doom.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Kim was not having a restful end to her college vacation. The totally unexpected panic attack she had experienced while in Bhutan had shaken her confidence. What if it should happen again?

Ever since she had heard the news reports of the death of Drakken's henchman, she had not been herself, the consequences of her actions playing constantly on her mind. Then, while climing the cliff face, she had looked down to check on Yori when suddenly her vision began to blur, and her head to spin. Clutching desperately at the rope for dear life, she had shut her eyes to block out the sudden vertigo attack, and had been unable to open them until Yori had come up to help her.

That was something else that preyed on her mind. She had never really trusted Yori, always suspicious that the young ninja had her own agenda, and would be ruthless in pursuing it. She had seen another side to the young woman that day. Compassionate and sympathetic, she had coaxed and cajoled Kim until she felt able to begin to climb once more. By positioning herself in a supporting role, Yori had given her the confidence to at least reach the top of the cliff. To cap it all, she had then given Ron a contrived excuse for her not to enter the cave when she obviously had the jitters. It was an unexpected revelation that in other circumstances would have led to deep introspection of her own motivations, as she was wont to do when others broke out of the mould in which she had placed them. This time, however, it was other thoughts that filled her mind.

The subsequent catastrophe with Rufus had driven all other considerations out of everybody's mind for a while, but once back on the plane, Kim's fears had returned, and she was having trouble dealing with them.

It was still bothering her two days after their return. Her parents were at work, while the tweebs were off on some science camp, leaving her alone in the house for hours at a time. She had just finished preparing dinner when the front door rang. Still preoccupied with her own thoughts, she absent mindedly swung the door open only to be blinded by a bright white light shining into her eyes.

Blinking away the after images burned on her retina, she flung an arm up over her eyes, only to find a microphone shoved into her face, and a woman in a sharp business suit pushed her way into the doorway.

"Kim Possible? Middleton News. I would like to talk to you about the incident at the old McKinley factory. Can I come in?"

Normally, Kim wouldn't have any problem with letting someone into her house, even when she was alone, but something about this woman's tone made her hesitate.

Seeing that she wasn't going to gain access to the young woman's house quite so easily, the reporter stopped trying to ingratiate herself and instead went for the jugular.

"Kim Possible, how does it feel to have caused an innocent man's death?"

The harsh voice stunned Kim with its accusation. In surprised shock, she couldn't think for a moment. The light was disorientating her and she was caught totally off guard. Her jaw moved wordlessly as her brain struggled to come to terms with the situation, and the reporter, seeing hesitation, pressed with her attack.

"You've courted fame for years with your vigilante exploits, what words do you have for a six year old girl who has lost her father?"

"What the hell?"

To say that she was stunned was an understatement. The nerve of this woman to accuse her of such a thing on her own doorstep. Her first instinct was to block out the blinding light that was still disorienting her. She reached out her left arm to cover the glare of the arclight, but in the confusion she felt her fingers wrap around the camera lens instead.

At the same time, she heard the voice of the reporter.

"Don't push me, the public have a right to know!"

Backing off, Kim retreated in confusion. She felt the safe confines of her own doorway on her back, and she stepped back through into her home and quickly shut the door behind her.

Leaning against the back of the door, her heart hammering and her retinas still imprinted with the bright glare of the camera light, she could just about hear the voice of the reporter outside.

"This is Angela Reed reporting from the home of Kim Possible. Back to you in the studio."

Kim closed her eyes, as she heard the reporter and her cameraman leave. Her heart was hammering in her chest, and a thin sheen of sweat prickled her brow.

Suddenly, her eyes snapped open as a terrible thought struck her. Tentatively she walked into the living room, picking up the remote control from the coffee table as she passed. Raising up her arm, she noticed her hand was trembling as it pointed the control at the TV. Pressing the standby button, the set clicked on, and she selected the local news channel.

"... here in the studio." The anchor woman flickered into view. "So Mrs Brinkley. Do you have anything you would like to say having seen that report?"

The camera swung onto a woman in her mid thirties, her face looked hard and unforgiving. Sitting on her lap, looking bewildered, was a young girl of about five, her eyes wide open as she tried to understand what was going on.

"Well I think she should be ashamed." the woman's voice was as hard as her appearance. "My two girls have lost a father, and all she can do is shut the door in our face!"

The remote dropped from nerveless fingers as Kim's knees gave way and she dropped onto the sofa. Her mind numb, she simply sat and watched as the woman launched into a tirade of recrimination, ending with a demand of how she was supposed to bring up two children now that the family breadwinner was gone. She was still there twenty minutes later when Ron and Yori found her, having seen the exact same report.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Yori rubbed her eyes in weariness, the past hour having been an emotional rollercoaster. The past couple of days had introduced her to a new side of Kim Possible she had never realised existed until now. Previously, she had only seen the public persona, brash and confident, and maybe a little egotistical. Now, however, she was seeing the insecure and sensative side that only Ron and Monique had previously been aware of.

Between herself and Ron, they had managed to drag Kim away from the TV and given her cup of hot tea for the shock. Under Yori's direction, they had taken her upstairs to her room and tried to reassure her that everything was going to be alright. Yori had serious doubts about how effective they had been with that. Finally, she had left the two friends to have some together time, glad to be away from the emotional strain of bolstering up a fragile ego.

Ron was feeling pretty useless in the face of Kim's misery. Even the fate of Rufus was failing to break through the walls she seemed to be building around herself. The naked mole rat tried his best, showing off his new headgear, crawling onto her leg and even scampering up her arm to sit on her shoulder, but all she did was to scratch his head and say how sorry she was.

It took a while, but Ron finally got the message. His pet was in trouble, and Kim wasn't able to help.

"Look Ron, I'd be more of a hinderance right now. I mean, look what happened to me in Bhutan."

"Yeah. You're probably right KP." Ron's voice was subdued as he finally accepted that he was going to have to solve this problem without her help.

The two of them lapsed into an uneasy silence. Neither of them comfortable with each others company, but Ron certainly wasn't going to leave Kim on her own at a time like this.

Finally, he heard the front door open, and Mrs Dr Possible's voice, swiftly followed by Yori's answer. Scooting off the bed, Ron took the opportunity to leave. Heading for the exit, Kim's voice caused him to hesitate.

"Are we still friends Ron?" The voice was small and nervous.

"Sure KP. We'll always be friends."

Ron left the room, wondering in his heart if that from now on, that's all they were.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Shego was restless. She had sought refuge in her quarters, anything to get away from Drakken's constant moaning about stupid periodic tables and atomic weights. Which bit of "You're a Physicist not a Chemist" didn't he understand?

She had been kept busy for the past few days, initially raiding prominent laboratories to steal research, and then various book stores and libraries to get chemistry manuals once Drakken realised he couldn't understand the professors work. OK, so maybe leaving a copy of "Chemistry for Dummies" on his desk hadn't been one of her better ideas, she thought it was funny at the time, but three hours of ranting had changed her mind.

Now, however, everything seemed to have calmed down and she risked stepping out of her room. The corridors seemed especially quiet, the henchmen were never ones for rigorous patrolling but there was usually one or two bumbling about somewhere.

Standing in the hallway, Shego finally came to a decision.

"If the mountain won't come to Mohammed..." she muttered under her breath. With a purposefulness that had been missing for many days, she turned and strode off towards the lair's vehicle bay.

It was just her luck, however, to bump into Drakken just as she cut through the main control centre. She didn't notice the coloured streamers and glittery tinsel at first, all her attention being focussed on her destination, but the sight of the blue dork in a pointy hat was enough to bring her to a grinding halt.

"Ah Shego, you're just in time for the decorating of the tree..." His voice trailed away as her piercing green eyes bored into him.

"What the hell is this? It's two weeks till Christmas."

"Yes, well... we thought we might start early this year, not having any world domination plans to complete. I thought it would do everyone good to have some fun."

Shego's gaze rested on him for a second before she just stepped around him and continued on her way. Something was driving her to get out into the fresh air, and she wasn't going to let this idiot hold her up for another minute.

"Well be back by six. They're showing Snowman Hank on cable." Drakken's voice faded into the distance as she stepped out into another corridor and let the door swing shut behind her.

"I've got people to see." she muttered to herself as she headed off towards the exit.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Ron had found the past few days increasingly difficult. Every day he visited Kim, and each day she seemed more and more withdrawn. She obviously wasn't sleeping well, her eyes were sunken and her face drawn, but she wouldn't talk about it. In fact she barely spoke at all.

One surprising development was her acceptance of Yori in these home visits. The young ninja had insisted on accompanying Ron, but he got the feeling that this wasn't just to keep an eye on him, she seemed to have an increasing interest in Kim's wellbeing. At first Ron was pleased to see the two women getting on, but he was slowly coming to the conclusion that Kim had given up caring.

What he didn't know, was that Yori had her own reasons for trying to bring Kim back from the despair that seemed to be engulfing her. She had been getting some worrying news out of Yamanouchi sent by Makoto. The last message had had to be smuggled out encased in a bamboo tube. It appeared that the council of Elders had declared her Teki or enemy. They were even discussing whether to place a contract out on her. With the death of Sensei, the school was in danger of tearing itself apart. Factions were starting to form with teachers and students banding together in specific groups and Makoto warned that it could even erupt into violence if something wasn't done soon.

With that in mind, Yori looked to find allies anywhere she could, and Kim Possible would be a potent force in her struggle to ensure that Sensei's vision lived on after his death. Therefore, she worked with Ron to coax the redhead out of her catatonia any way she could.

It was Ron's idea to take a trip to Bueno Nacho. Looking to jolt Kim's appetite for life, an outing to their favourite restaurant would hopefully remind her of better times. It also had the added benefit of getting her out of the house. Kim had been showing worrying signs of becoming house bound and Ron figured that fresh air could only be a good thing.

To be honest, he thought Yori could do with the break too. She had been working hard with Rufus for the past few days, trying to extract the vision he had seen on the mountain. Trying to get a naked Mole Rat to explain complex concepts, however was proving an impossible task. Especially as he only had a vocabulary of about twenty words, half of which had to do with cheese. Yori was quietly being driven insane with frustration. Yeah, a break would do them all good.

The three friends decided to walk, or at least Ron did, Kim not showing any interest either way. Even her clothes showed the distracted state of her mind, seemingly picked at random rather than her usual careful selection. Only her footwear showed any signs of fashion, Ron had never seen them before but they looked expensive even to his untutored eye. Yori took her to one side, and tried to make her look more presentable. She did her best, but Kim was still far below her best when they finally left the house.

Ron carried the conversation as he normally did, the only thing missing was Kim's contribution. She trailed behind, escorted by Yori while Ron yammered on about nothing in particular. Even to his own ears, the conversation sounded forced.

"Man" he thought "Could this situation get any worse?"

"Well if it isn't the doofus and his girl wonder." The sarcastic drawl made the hairs on his neck prickle. There was something about that voice that made his skin crawl. Probably the blazing hot plasma bursts that accompanied it his mind reasoned.

"Shego?" Kim's voice quivered slightly as her head came up, and for the first time in days her gaze was raised above her own feet.

"That's right Princess, I missed you." The evil grin on the older woman's face belied the lie. "You never write, you never call. I'm beginning to think you don't want to see me any more."

Kim's head dropped once she realised what Shego was here for. Her hair flopped over her face, hiding the expiring light of hope that had flared briefly in her eyes.

Foregoing her trademark green flame, Shego slipped into a loose stance, but her planned leap into the fray was checked as the young man hurled himself between her and her target.

"B B Back off Shego, this isn't the time."

Ron's voice betrayed his nervousness, causing Shego's initial confusion to turn into frustrated amusement as she stood up, plainly not seeing any threat in the young man facing her.

"Oh please, like you're gonna do anything about it!"

A green clad arm swung out, seeking to brush aside the inconsequential youth, only to find it blocked hard by the woman who had been walking with Kim.

Initially dismissed as irrelevant, the force of the block quickly caused Shego to reassess the threat level from this new adversary. Definitely more of a problem than the Stoppable buffoon.

Switching focus from the highly relieved boy to her new enemy, Shego sought to end this confrontation quickly so as to move onto the main attraction. Not even waiting to fire up her comet powers, she launched herself into an attack on the oriental woman.

Her hands were a blur as she flicked one attack after another at her opponent, none expected to connect at first, simply trying to overwhelm any defence by pure speed.

All these thoughts were rushing through the green thief's mind in the few seconds that had passed since she had launched her attack. The intervention from Ron was brushed aside with barely a check in her own assault on Yori. Once more the young man had tried to tap the Mystical Monkey Power deep within his soul, but although he felt a flicker this time, there was nothing like the flood he had experienced at Graduation, or even the much lower levels he had grown used to in the preceding years. It was as if he were separated from his power by a viscous curtain that he could not quite penetrate.

He launched his attack anyway, but with a twist of her body, and a flick of the wrist, he was lifted off his feet and flung into a nearby wall where he hit with an audible grunt and slowly sank to the ground dizzy and concussed.

Shego knew she was leaving herself open with this move, but only for a second or two, and it would take a highly trained specialist to be able to see the opening, let alone take advantage of it. "Anyway" she thought to herself, "its just for a second. Good job there aren't any ninj..."

The counter from Yori was electric in its execution. Flicking her self into a lateral spin, first one foot then the other snapped out. The first was just to align the bodyweight, while the second powered towards the suddenly exposed ribs of the older woman whose arm had shifted slightly out of position as she threw Ron into the wall.

Only Shego's incredible reflexes saved her from a potentially crippling blow. Faster than the eye could follow, her elbow shot back, just managing to deflect the incoming strike. Both antagonists stumbled, Yori from a totally unexpected block while Shego snarled as pain shot up her arm when the other girl's foot connected with the joint in her arm.

"You are ninja!" Yori's accusing tone laced with surprise as she rolled into a defensive position.

"You too Peaches." Shego circled warily as she rubbed the pain from her elbow, all the while keeping her eyes on this unexpected adversary. "I guess there must be a lot of it going around."

Ron shook his head to clear it from the woozy sensations he was experiencing. "You were trained at Yamanouchi?" His voice incredulous as he pondered the implications if this were true.

"There are other ninja schools Stoppable San." Shego's eyebrows raised slightly at the respectful tone in the young ninja's voice although she said nothing.

"Togakure would be my guess, based on the aggressive nature of the style." Yori drew herself up to face this unexpected foe, although her bodyweight rested on the balls of her feet, ready to explode into action if required.

Shego shrugged, not really wanting to get into a deep analysis of her training techniques, and shifted once more into an agressive posture, when another feminine voice cut through the air.

"Yori, Shego stop this right now."

Yori glanced back at her new friend and nodded imperceptably. Taking a step back to allow Kim to face Shego directly. She didn't take her eyes off Shego for more than a moment, however, poised ready to intervene if the circumstances required it.

Shego's first good look at Kim did not impress her. The young teenager looked exhausted despite the makeup cleverly applied by Yori prior to them leaving the house. She could see by the bags under the eyes, and the sunken cheeks as well as the general posture that Kim was not in a good way.

The boots caught her eye, and she couldn't suppress a brief smirk at Kimmie wearing her gift, before she reminded herself that this wasn't why she was here.

"What do you want Shego?" Even Kim's voice seemed lifeless, causing a crease to appear on the green woman's brow. Kim had never been lethargic in her dealings with the thief before.

"Why you Pumpkin, what else would I be doing here?"

Shego dropped into a defensive stance, her hands flaring into green flame as she prepared for the fight she had come for. There was a muffled curse as Yori switched into combat mode, drawing her fans from a hidden pocket in her jacket, snapping them open in one well practised move.

Kim, however, didn't move. She just stood there listlessly. Shego hesitated while Yori moved up ready to fight to defend her friends. Even Ron edged his way into her peripheral vision. He had tried again to tap into the Mystical Monkey Power he had started to take for granted, but still it eluded him like it had done ever since Yori had told him about the death of Sensei and the stealing of the Lotus Blade. Still, he wasn't going to stand by while his two friends fought.

"I'm not going to fight you Shego." Kim sighed at the sight of her two friends and her most persistant enemy facing up against one another.

"Of course you are Kimmie." Shego's voice reflected the grin on her face. She was positively tingling at the thought of testing herself against an equal. "It's what we do."

"Not any more." The deadpan statement wiped the smirk of Shego's face in an instant. If there was any emotion in Kim's voice it was despair. "I don't do that any more."

Shego's jaw dropped at that bombshell. Even Ron and Yori did a double take as Kim's words registered in their mind.

"Wha..?" the older woman's brain froze as it tried to assimilate this completely unexpected turn up. "You can't." She sounded almost petulant at the thought.

"You heard me Shego. I quit."