Chapter 10 - In a Word

That morning, Kim woke up with a single thought echoing through her mind.

UNDO! UNDO! UNDO!

She jumped out of bed, still dressed in the same clothes she had on the day before, ran barefoot outside, across the courtyard, and threw open a door in the boy's dormitory.

It was empty. Ron's backpack was gone.

She ran back over, nearly kicked her door in, grabbed her Kimmunicator that had fallen out of her pocket, ran back outside amid Shego's yells, and checked the Kimmunicator. Not even a cellular signal. She silently cursed the Lowardians for destroying all the geosynchronous satellites.

That was when Kim glanced up and realized that the skies decided it was to be a rare, sunny day… and it was already past noon.

She ran again. She didn't even try to open the front gates and instead, bounced between the walls in a corner until she could grab the roof, flip over, and down the other side. She barely felt the rocks under her feet or saw the shrubs she jumped over. It wasn't until 20 minutes later that she arrived at the cusp of a hill and saw the road, the blue car with a dark yellow strip around it, and Ron crawling into it.

"RON!" She bellowed.

He jerked back, then gave her a little wave before crawling back in and closing the door. The taxi pulled away.

Kim ran down the hill and up another one, but by the time she reached the peak, it was too late.

Ron was gone.

Kim fell to her knees. The Kimmunicator pinged that it had a signal, but Kim didn't feel like calling anymore; Ron had left without even saying good-bye.

Something crunched behind her, but Kim didn't look up.

"Hey," Shego said.

"Go away," Kim said.

Instead of listening to this excellent and altogether reasonable order, however, Shego knelt beside her. She was dressed in the same white tank top and loose fitting pants as Kim's. The white looked odd on her green skin.

"This talk thing is beginning to be habit forming," Kim said listlessly.

"It's an addiction," Shego said. "Er…" She coughed into her fist. "So why are getting cold feet about the boy toy now?"

"Is this how it's going to be?" Kim said. "Are you my new councilor now?"

Kim waited. She watched the little blue and yellow cab get further and further away until it followed a bend and finally popped out of sight.

"You're not going to leave until I answer, are you?" Kim said.

"Probably not," Shego said.

Kim didn't take her eyes off the spot where the cab had disappeared. "Why can't you just leave me alone?"

"Because if you're not on the top of your game," Shego said, "I might lose my chance to get some payback."

Kim tried to laugh but it came out more like a trembling puff.

"You know," Shego said, "if you actually took the time to look around, you might have done something different." Before she could explain further, Shego got up and walked back towards the school. "You know," she said, pausing, "one of the students saw my idiot brothers in Beijing yesterday. You probably shouldn't stay out here for long or you might be seen."

Kim didn't move to watch her go. She still stared at that bit of road disappearing into the hillside. Finally, however, she got ready to leave, and noticed something new. Sitting on the ground were a pair of black shoes. On top of the shoes laid a letter with her name written in Ron's hand.

Kim picked it up in a tremulous hand and unfolded it.

-o0O0o-

KP,

Sorry about this. Did I ever mention I always thought it really kinda silly when girls would write letters to people they could just talk to in high school? Well, now I get it. Although, I may have to ask you to burn this before it falls into the wrong hands and is used as blackmail or gossip fuel. I couldn't figure out how to get a letter to self-destruct. Remind me to ask Joe the Janitor later.

Anyway. I wanted to say that I do love you. And I know you love me like a best friend should. But I also know this really wasn't working out for you. You'd probably never let me get the words out if I tried to tell you this, but I'm not the -guy- person for you. You were never really that into me. I -was- -am- was wild about you, Kim. Or I thought I was. I don't know. It always felt… weird. I don't know why you stayed with me. Maybe you just wanted to keep from hurting my feelings. Maybe you don't even know why yourself.

But you'll see. In a few days, we'll be back together and doing our thing! Boo-yah! The unbeatable Possible/Stoppable team is back in action! And… whatever you decide with… whatever, I'm behind you 110% and so is Rufus.

Always there for each other,

Ron

PS - Sorry about not waking you up to say good-bye, but I figured you needed the rest if you were sleeping in, and I'd see you again soon anyway. Don't be mad at me?

-o0O0o-

Kim hugged the letter to her chest and cried. It was getting easier to cry lately. The tears flowed easily and each carried a little of her pain. A little of her loss. Some splashed onto the letter and she held it away from her.

The spot where the car had disappeared didn't seem quite as bad.

Kim sniffled and felt a smile tugging at her lips. Her stomach growled. Then she kicked her feet out; brushed off the bits of rock, dirt, and plant matter that were stuck to them; and pulled on the shoes.

About an hour walk later, she was back in the compound. There was an odd thumping noise she couldn't place. The students were practicing in the courtyard, however, unalarmed, so she decided to ignore it and, instead, made a beeline for her dorm. Shego wasn't there. She walked to her backpack and started to fish out one of the energy bars that Ron always packed for them on missions… when she noticed the plate sitting on her nightstand. A stir fry of pork and vegetables over a bed of white rice. It was almost completely cold but still better than an energy bar. She sat on the edge of her bed and scarfed it down.

Her plate clean, she took it to the common room that was used as a dining hall. A couple students dressed in colored tee-shirts were washing the day's dishes from lunch. They took her plate with a respectful nod.

But that thumping from earlier was louder than ever. In fact…

Kim left the common room, wheeled around from the two large double doors, and went to Sifu's room.

As soon as she opened the door, she was blasted with music with the bass turned up far too high.

"I can't believe you have MC Honey's entire discography on vinyl!" Shego was saying. Or shouting.

"These beats from MC Honey are truly phat." That… that was Sifu.

"Right?! Check this one out. It's her single from her upcoming album. Not released yet, but I managed to snag it while I was in their studio."

The music cut out and Kim took another jittery step into the room.

"Oh hey Miss Perfect," Shego said as she plugged an audio jack into her MP3 player. "Your sifu and I were just sharing our mutual love for hip-hop. Isn't that right, Ding-man?"

"Word."

"I mean, look at these!" She strode over to the shelf with all the music records as the song from her MP3 player began to play on Sifu's oversized speakers. "MC Honey, Half-Pence, Kay-X, Lil Jane, N&N… for an old hermit living in the mountains, you have a kickin' vinyl collection."

"Delivery service is the shit," Sifu said.

Kim made a small choking noise.

"If you're going to need the Heimlich," Shego said, "you're gonna need to step outside where one of the students can find you because I'm not doing it."

Kim opened her eyes so wide it almost hurt. She made jerky movements over to Sifu, like a windup toy soldier, raised her hands, and started groping his face.

He smiled pleasantly under her fingers. She dropped her hands.

"You're actually Sifu, Sifu?" Kim said.

"I would appear be, yes," Supposedly Sifu said.

"So… you two are… bonding?"

"Please," Shego said.

"Just chillax, shorty," Impostor Sifu said.

"Uh, yeah, don't overdo it out, pops," Shego said.

"I think I need to sit down," Kim said. She felt very lightheaded all of a sudden and promptly collapsed into the couch.

"I believe she is, ah, broken," Sifu said.

"We totally broke her!" Shego said. They bumped fists.

"Just stop," Kim whined.

Both Sifu and Shego laughed.

"You are bonding!" Kim said in her whiniest of voices.

Sifu handed her a cup in apology. "Tea?"

Kim took the tea and drank while Shego went through his record collection. They finished the pot of tea and Sifu made another while MC Honey played. Unfortunately for Kim, Sifu didn't seem to be a pop fan. They were halfway through the second pot of tea when Sifu had to teach, leaving Kim and Shego laying on the couch and floor respectively. The light conversation that had seasoned their impromptu hangout session fell silent.

Kim took a tiny gulp of tea to try and ease the tension, but it only served to make it worse.

Shego had repositioned herself so her back was resting against the foot of the couch and her head lolled backwards, resting on the seat. Her eyes were closed.

The seconds ticked by.

"This is silly!" Kim said. "We've talked lots of times in the past."

Shego blinked away the light. "What are you talking about?"

"T-the silence," Kim said. "The… awkward silence?"

Shego shrugged. "I was just resting my eyes. It's not like I have anything to talk about." She leaned back again and closed her eyes. "Sounds like someone does, though."

Kim recovered quickly for once. "Again with the councilor thing."

"Technically, I did take psychology for my degree, you know," Shego said. "Of course, I don't remember any of it." She peaked a glance back to the door. "So he taught you everything you know, huh?"

"One day," Kim said, "you're going to have to tell me how you got that degree."

"How else does one get a degree?" Shego said.

"I remain unconvinced you didn't steal it."

"Avoiding," Shego singsonged.

Kim groaned and shook her head. "He didn't teach me everything. He did teach me about 16 different styles of kung fu, though."

Shego made a low whistle. "He's a grandmaster in all that?"

"Oh no." Kim laughed. "He's barely a master in any style, actually."

"… you're kidding."

"Nope," Kim said. "He doesn't believe in learning anything to the point where he has to dedicate his life to it; he knows about 50 different Chinese martial arts and wushu styles, though, even some older styles that are supposedly extinct. He's like walking martial arts museum."

"Keep talking," Shego said. "I might actually start to like him."

"You have to had learned from someone similar," Kim said. "You know lots of martial arts. Did Hego hire a trainer for you?"

Shego laughed without humor. "Like Hego would ever. He said that that powers were enough to keep any superhero safe by themselves and we didn't need to reply on such 'primitive'," she made air quotes, "forms of fighting. No, I mostly learned from MMA fighters. Drakken paid for 'em." She rolled her head to look at Kim. "But back to you, Miss Perfect; if Wei Ding over here didn't teach you everything you know, who else taught you?"

"I traveled around every summer and winter break to learn styles from all over the world," Kim said. "I learned Krav Maga from some military guys in Israel who owed me a favor. I went to Japan last summer with Ron and learned a few different ones, including even a little Kendo and Kyūdō." She looked up at the ceiling and began ticking off items on her fingers. "Savate in France, Kalaripayattu in India, Taekwondo in Korea, Sambo in Russia —"

Shego held up her hand. "Stop! Stop." She rubbed her temples. "What's with your family? A rocket scientist, brain surgeon — those doppelgangers are who knows what — and you're… what, the martial scientist? And you know you don't have to go to the origin country to learn, don't you?"

"Yeah, but there's nothing like learning in the culture that made it," Kim, said. "Like in Brazil. Actually taking part in a Brazilian roda is nothing like anywhere else."

Shego held up her hand again and gave Kim a look of disbelief. "You know capoeira."

"Well, yeah," Kim said. "What's wrong with that?"

"It looks stupid," Shego said.

Kim gave her a sideways glance, then stood, took Shego's hand, and pulled. "Come on."

"What am I, your dog now?" Shego said, but she got up and followed her outside.

Kim walked to the center of the courtyard. Most of the students were still practicing in the far corners while Sifu went over to each group and corrected their forms or gave advice. Kim let go of Shego's hand, pulled out her Kimmunicator, and made a quick call to Wade. Luckily there was a satellite signal. He was slightly puzzled at the request but got her something that would work. The speaker on the device blared to life louder than Sifu's stereo… and Kim's heart skipped.

It was one of the most popular songs sung at her school during rodas. It told the story of two capoeiristas that had been on opposite sides of a war. The villages were separated by a tiny valley of sheer cliffs and the two were fighting over the rights to a river. The two people of the story found each other in the valley and decided to create a dance to prove that the two villages could create something beautiful. In the process, the two fell in love. When the war came to a head and both villages met in the valley of what would have been a bloody battle, the pair had danced together in the center of the valley and defeated both villages without bloodshed or leaving a small circle of land they used as their stage. And thus the first roda was born. For the first time, Kim realized that the two capoeiristas were never given genders.

"Uh, Princess?" Shego said. She waved. "Hel-lo?"

Kim shook her head. "Well what are you waiting for, then?" Kim grinned and tossed the Kimmunicator to the side. She noticed several of the students watching her now, but she ignored them.

"Uh, what are you doing?" Shego said.

Kim gave her a sly smile and dropped into a ginga; she hunched over and waded back and forth while her her arms waved in front of her.

"You look ridiculous," Shego said over the music.

A few more students had stopped their practice sessions. Some were laughing.

"Good," Kim said, not stopping, "because you're about to look ridiculous with me."

"I never said I knew capoeira myself," Shego said.

"Yeah you did," Kim said without stopping. "You knew what a roda was. Plus I've seen it; you move like a capoeirista too much to not have been taught. So you're either going to get down here and join me or I'm going to start kicking."

Instead of scowling, Shego raised an eyebrow and the opposite edge of her lips. Then she hunched over like Kim and started to match her movements.

Back and forth, they stepped. Shego quickly got in sync with Kim. Then their eyes locked. They flipped to their left, then back to the right. The ginga kept going for a minute longer… then the game began.

Kim moved first and sent a swirling kick to Shego. Shego just ducked and swept her own legs under Kim, trying to knock her supporting arm down. Kim used her momentum to twist and planted a new hand right behind Shego's sweeping leg while, at the same time, sending her other leg over for another sweeping kick, lower this time. Shego, to Kim's surprise, launched herself into the air off one hand and spun end-over-end once while bringing her foot down in a flawless counter.

On and on it went, each of their moves flowing into the next, triple kicks of increasing speed, and occasional grapples that they both tried to use to their own advantage. Their feet began to plant themselves inside each other's, each new kick drawing closer, each trying to test just how close they could get without hurting the other. Kim rolled under Shego's jumps, and Shego constantly tried to keep Kim off balance. The music grew faster and their movements flowed to match. And the entire time, their eyes were locked on the other's, each trusting the other in their game.

Eventually, Kim's muscles failed and she actually collapsed backwards and pulled Shego with her onto the stone floor of the courtyard with her.

The music stopped. Their eyes were still locked as they panted and let the sweat run off their faces.

Shego grasped Kim's hands and pulled her upright. Kim tilted then found her balance; their hands were still clasped in each other's in a light squeeze. While she had held many capoeiristas hands at the beginning or end of a roda, the fact that it was Shego caused her to blush.

Then the clapping started.

The pair let go of each other and turned to find that every single student in the courtyard turned to face them. Sifu ambled up towards them, his hands clapping along with his students.

"That, túdì, was an excellent display," he said.

Kim bowed and her blush deepened. "Thank you, Sifu."

"But tell me, is it just… mm, showy?" Sifu said.

"It's actually useful," Kim said.

Sifu looked dubious, but Kim rattled off capoeira's strengths and weaknesses until Sifu finally waved her off.

"Alright, alright," Sifu said. "Perhaps you will teach me or my students what you have learned, hm?"

"Sifu," Kim said chidingly.

Sifu flashed a grin. "Can't blame an old man for trying." He hobbled off and tried to get his students to stop practicing spinning kicks and go back to conditioning training.

"What was that about?" Shego said.

"Oh! Um…" Kim avoided looking at Shego's eyes. "He wants me to inherit the school eventually, but… he knows I can't."

Dinner came shortly afterward, which both Kim and Shego were thankful for. They ate communally with the students but took an entire table to themselves — or at least they did when no one else could manage to get their chopsticks to grasp any of the food before the two women ate it. The two left full of pork, vegetables, fruit, and rice.

Kim checked in with Wade once the satellite signal came back; still no solid leads. He had several rumors, but none could be followed up on yet. Apparently a genius hacker with backdoors into nearly every government and private system in the world was significantly less useful when most of those doors lead to nowhere or were outright destroyed. Kim told him it wasn't that bad and she knew he was doing his very best, but Wade still seemed a little bummed about it when they cut off. Truthfully, Kim was too; she could only do so much waiting around.

Shego had decided to change in the bedroom, though with her back turned; Kim found herself wondering if she should be happy about that or not, then berated herself. Was she really —

"What's your problem?" Shego said. "You look like someone's trying to tear your arm off."

Mentally ordered her face to relax. "It's stupid."

"You wanted to talk earlier," Shego said.

"… why are you doing this?"

"Is that what you wanted to —"

"No," Kim said, "but I do want to know; you've been unusually chatty lately. Like a big sister." Kim bit her tongue too late.

Shego's eye twitched. "Yeah, well, I wouldn't go that far," she said in a grumble.

"Yeah, well," Kim said, "the question stands." Kim leaned back into her bed and glared.

Shego stared at her, impassive. "Fine," she said. "I —"

"And don't say it's because you want me to be at the top of my game!" Kim said.

Shego closed her mouth, then, "what do you want me to say, then?"

"I don't know," Kim said. "The truth?" She sighed. "Shego, I don't want this."

Shego padded over to her own bed and sat down. "When you want to start making sense," she said, "just let me know. …and why do I get the feeling I've said that to someone just as annoying as you are?"

"I'm not annoying!"

"Kimmie, you are like every single annoying thing in the world wrapped into one tiny, cute package."

"… 'cute'?"

Shego shrugged. She turned her head to let her hair block her face, but Kim could see the flushed gray on her cheeks. And that was when Kim realized something very dangerous.

She could fluster Shego.

Kim jotted this down in her mental notebook for future reference.

"Look," she said, "I'm just… I'm not weird. I'm normal. Basic. Average. I don't want to be —" but she had to stop as Shego was once again laughing without holding back. "What's so funny?"

"You," Shego said, wiping a tear. "'I'm normal!' Pfft. Please."

"I am!"

"So normal that you save the world as an after-school project," Shego said. "Yeah, I can totally see how that's average."

Kim threw herself onto her bed and buried her face into her pillow.

"What's the big deal?" Shego said. A bit of anger had slipped into her voice. "There's nothing abnormal about being gay."

"Why do you seem to care so much?" Kim said, sneering a little. "It's not like you have to deal with it."

Instead of a witty comeback, Shego just glared and pouted a little.

Kim sat up. "Oh. I — you — oh."

"It's nothing to 'deal with'," Shego said. "It just is."

Shego sat like that, glaring, while Kim stared at her knees and fiddled with her thumbs.

"I'm sorry," Kim said. "You can't say it's normal, though."

"It's completely normal!" Shego said. "I'll allow 'uncommon', but it's normal. Don't make me repeat the entire conversation with Hego I had after I got a girlfriend."

"You've… had a girlfriend?"

Shego groaned, then exhaled. "Once," she said. "We broke up after I plasma'ed her hair. And don't laugh; it's not funny."

Kim snorted. "It kinda really is."

"It wasn't her head."

Kim blinked, then she winced. "Oh."

"Yeah." Shego's mouth twitched, like she was trying to suppress a smile. She lost. "Okay, it is kind of funny in hindsight, yeah."

Kim suppressed a giggle. "What's funnier is that you're arguing that any part of you is normal. You're usually so… proud to be different."

"I am proud," Shego said. "Average means 'sheep', Kimmie-pie, and I'm not a sheep."

Kim's retort died on her tongue. Instead, she flushed. "It's 'Kimmie-pie', now?"

Shego waved her off. "Don't look too much into it."

"I'll try to contain myself," Kim said through her teeth, though she was smiling. Then, "do you… really think it's okay? It's not… bad or weird?"

"Weird depends on who you ask, Princess, and you're really asking the wrong person about what's 'bad'. But… no."

"So… you're… into women, too?" Kim said.

"Not 'too'," Shego said.

It took Kim a second to process that. "But… you've flirted with guys!" she said. "You even talk about them!"

"I told you; I use them," Shego said. "It's not my fault they're putty in my hands. I use what I got, Cupcake, and what I got is sexy."

"Do you really have to keep using that nickname?" Kim said, trying very hard to ignore that last comment. "I've filled out a little you know."

"I've noticed." Then, quickly, "come back to me when you outgrow a training bra and we'll talk."

Kim glowered.

"Hey, I just call 'em as I see 'em."

"Doing an awful lot of 'seeing' lately," Kim grumbled.

"What's that?"

"Nothing," Kim singsonged.

Night came too fast and Kim tucked into the covers. Despite being awake for only 8 hours, she was exhausted. She flipped over and stared at the gentle curves in the bed next to her. Thoughts flit through her mind, but in the background, behind a haze of exhaustion.

The next day was relatively uneventful. Shego had disappeared somewhere, and Kim decided against trying to find her. Instead, she roamed the hillsides, taking in the view, and keeping the weight off her knee with a walking stick, despite feeling like it was healed. Sifu talked with her more and even did some light sparring with her to polish her form. She actually did end up teaching the basics of the roda and capoeira to the students, after much badgering on their part.

Wade checked every hour or so. The satellite system was getting sketchy; more and more went offline due to lack of power or outright mechanical failure. The skies at night had been filled with shooting stars all over the world. He gave her a few weak leads to follow up on in case the communications went out before he found anything.

The rest of the day went by quickly. Kim was just settling in from dinner as Shego walked in the door.

The Kimmunicator beeped.

Shego gave her a look when Kim hesitated answering. Kim swiped the Kimmunicator and hit the green button on the screen.

"Go, Wade."

"I finally got a bite!" His keyboard clacked loudly. "It's not much of one, but our deadline for communication blackout is closing and it's better than what I gave you. How do you feel about Mon—"

Something exploded. The screen swirled end over end and the speakers squealed. Wade had disappeared from the screen.

"WADE!"

"I'm alright!" Wade said. He righted the camera until it was focused, lopsidedly, on his disarrayed work area. His arm was bleeding. A bit of light streamed into the dark room.

"Wade, what happened?!"

"I don't know!" Wade said. The screen flickered. "The twin's satellite is relaying your connection to me but the satellite trailing in front of it is about to go. I'll get you what info I can —"

"Wade, your arm!"

He glanced down. "I'll get it in a second. It's not as bad as it looks. But the Lowardian tech. It just went… nuts. I was working on a new rocket for your shoes, but it just took off through my roof!" The entire time he talked, he was typing away on a keyboard.

Kim got a sinking feeling in her stomach. "Wade… can you figure out if there's similar occurrences anywhere else in the world?"

"I'll try," Wade said. "Yeah… there are… all the Lowardian tripods have taken off."

"Can you figure out where they're going?"

He nodded.

"… they're all going to Middleton, aren't they?"

A few keyboard strokes. "Actually… they're heading for the middle of the Atlantic."

The knot loosened just a bit… but only a bit. "I don't suppose you can get a visual?"

"Mmmm… actually, yeah!" Wade said. "There's a spy satellite that passed over that area and was taking constant images until it shut down a couple days ago. It might have something. Let me go through the files."

5 minutes later, Wade looked horrified and sent her two images. One was of a large island chain, black as midnight, with some type of complex seated in the center of the largest island. The second…

Kim went limp and collapsed on the bed. "All the invasion drones," she said, "they're still sitting where they crashed when their control ship was destroyed. If most of the world leaders are mind-controlled, they could have ordered they be cordoned off and left alone."

Shego walked around and sat next to her. "Yeah, what's your point, Kimmie?"

Instead of answering, Kim just handed her the Kimmunicator. There, standing in middle of what looked like hundreds of synthodrones, blurry but unmistakable, was Warmonga.

Kim pulled her backpack onto the bed and pulled out her battle suit. As soon as she touched the inside, however, her muscles in her hand twitched uncontrollably. She grasped her hand to stead it.

Her mind whirled, and slowly, more pieces started to fall into place.

"Shego," Kim said, "give me back the Kimmunicator. If Warmonga wants a villain, I'll give her one."

A/N: GAH! The letter from Ron was formatted all pretty-like with strikeouts and as a blockquote, but noooo; can't have that. Anyway. The words like -this- are supposed to be struck out, if it wasn't obvious.

"Do a few chapters in China," I said. "Show just how Kim learned most of her martial arts," I said. Suffice it to say, all the research it took to DO a good story in China ate up my buffer. It's back now, but I did have to make a few corrections in the last chapter. Mostly minor — it should read a lot better now.

For extra pun, read Sifu's name both eastern and western style; I'd like to think that his school is named The Ding Wei School of Martial Arts. You also have no idea how hard it is not to call him "Sifu Hotman". (Side note: SUPER excited for Korra! Korrasami is real, damnit!)

Capoeira is actually very pragmatic and dangerous. People were killing each other in the streets with it with razor blades held in their toes in Brazil back in the day. It's compared to drunken boxing, but that's just showy and has a neat gimmick; it sure paid Jackie Chan's bills, though. I just kinda shudder when someone writes drunken boxing like it's the ultimate martial art ever when it's actually mainly theatrical, so consider this a PSA.

Keeping on the tradition of me ranting about how utterly broken English is: Soldier. It's supposed to be soldjer. There's a J sound in there, not an I! Why, when you separated the "i" and "j" glyphs COULDN'T YOU CHANGE TO THE PROPER GLYPH, ENGLISH? Ugh. This is why English is impossible; even the NATIVE speakers don't get it.

Next chapter, Kim Possible for Villain 2014.