Disclaimer:Kim Possible and all related characters are owned by Disney.
Shikabane Hime originally owned by Gagan Comics, anime by Feel and Gainax.
No profit (and definite loss of time) accrued.
1
Ron had the same sullen expression on his face for the past few hours.
A wet but estatic SeƱor Senior Sr. recounted his fall from the heavens over and over again. Yori took it upon herself to humor the old man, replying with demure acknowledgements whenever the conversation required. Ron flew the Sloth in silence all the way back to the Senior's island to drop him off. Yori was the one that assured their asset that he would remain on the 'hunt'.
Even now, Ron looked straight ahead. Yori kept her gaze to the windshield or her passenger side window. Only her hand on his showed that she was ready to listen anytime he wanted to talk.
"I was telling the truth, you know.", Ron eventually started.
Yori nodded. "Of course, Ron-kun. Your child's heart is one of your greatest qualities."
The boy resettled himself. "I meant...that I'm sick of the death.
"I'm sorry. I know it's to get you to heaven, and if I can't save you then at least I can do this. I know these are monsters and this needs doing. It's just...it's tiring, is all."
"I think you mean 'taxing' or 'wearing'.", Yori told him.
He looked directly at her for the first time in this flight.
Yori continued. "Lay persons tend to say that the first time one kills is when one is sickened by it. That is generally true only when it is planned, like the inevitable execution or planned murder. Yours was in passion, and your enemy so (if you will excuse the term) 'alien' that you never meditated on the subject. Now, you have not committed the act again but you walk the same path as I...or at least, my corpse. It is that choice to walk the path that comes to your soul now.
"What is important to remember is your own self, and your goals. Fortunately for you, you are a better person than other people. Your goals are your ideals and your ideals are your self. Lesser men who have walked this path try to keep one foot off the battlefield, whether by letters home or pornography or songs and in not being whole, lose themselves. You put your whole face on your actions. And your self is reflected in your deeds: did you not spare the assassins who assaulted you, though they gave no reason for such mercy?
"I believe this is what you refer to as your 'Ronshine'."
Ron nodded, then turned back to the skies in front of the Sloth. He smiled grimly and accepted the affectionate squeeze of his hand that Yori gave him.
Yori changed the subject. "Besides, did you not tell that this next destination is the last task before returning to your home? You will be able to return to Kim's arms again."
Ron agreed. "Yeah, that'll be nice."
Ron and Yori both allowed their heads to tilt to the left identically as a warmer smile spread on both of their faces. Ron allowed his love of Kim to fill him. Yori allowed his love of the other woman to filter over her bond with him.
2
Ron and Yori stalked quietly down the halls of Castle Fiske.
Ron held his arms together in his monk's robe. Yori stayed exactly a pace to his right in her typical black combat gi.
Both looked to every shadow of the darkened hallway. Outside it was noon. Inside it was the Dark Ages, literally. The only thing that could even be called 'bright' was the occasional gleam of a suit of armor. The place had a most peculiar double imperial, Japanese/British fusion. Suits of armor were more often of samurai origin than Camelot. Tapestries were woven of wool then embroidered with silk. Every emblem had a distinct theme no matter what it adorned: monkey. Even that monkey looked alive. At until its head exploded.
Ron blinked as hard as he could.
The memories of the last fraction of a second played in his mind. Yori reached for the other side of her gi, which was really weird considering that her chain was in the accessible left flap and her fan was up her right sleeve. Then again, if an object was small enough it could be drawn from her right shoulder. With the way traditional Japanese collars worked, it would be even easier to draw if one was wearing a garment off the shoulders. She had pointed the object at something Ron now knew was a monkey ninja. Then the monkey ninja's head exploded.
The object was a pistol. Yori had found Monkey Fist's servants and chose to shoot them in the face.
As his eyes opened, Ron was treated to another muzzle flash. A samurai helmet was blown free of its armor and the monkey wearing it flew along with it. The shikabane put a hole in one of the hanging tapestries and another monkey fell out into the hallway. She seemed perfectly intent on killing every last one of Fiske's servants.
Ron's eyes widened. "NO!", he yelled. The boy threw himself onto Yori's back and pulled her with him as his back hit the ground.
A shruiken flew over them from behind. Ron felt Yori send a single bullet in retaliation and then heard the thump on the stone floor.
"Arigato, Ron-kun.", Yori thanked. She pecked him on the cheek.
Then she stood up and Ron was carried along like he weighed nothing. The end of the hallway came to a 'T' shape, and Yori slugged a piece of stone from the inside left corner onto the floor. Another shruiken came flying over it. She stepped into the hallway and kicked the jagged rock and it splattered another monkey ninja's head.
Ron let go of the (still surprisingly) strong corpse that professed to obey his commands. "That's not what I meant!", he continued.
Yori cocked her head in puzzlement. She then looked straight up. An unlit chandelier held two more monkeys, both of which were dropped to the floor with a bullet in their heads.
The shikabane hime reloaded the Whalter PPK. She glared at the hallway, emptied the clip shooting, then reloaded again. Seven fresh monkey ninja bodies revealed themselves with blood sprays.
Monkey Fist came running around a corner to investigate the shots. He did not have time to flinch as the monkey ninja riding his shoulder was shot. The one trailing the man to his left spun to its left and right into the path of an oncoming bullet. The only remaining one caught the bullet fired into his face and flicked it back at Yori. Yori dropped as she was hit in the leg but kept firing. The final monkey ninja's skull was torn apart.
"Where did you even get that?!", Ron demanded.
"Hirotaka returned the weapon to me.", Yori answered without hesitation. "You heard me request it by code word. After all, you know I do not have a red kimono."
Monkey Fist gaped, gasped and fell to his knees. "You just had to do it, didn't you? Didn't you, boy!", he cried out.
The monkey ninja's corpses went...fluid. They weren't some fleshy ooze. They were black but not shadow. But they did flow. The corpses behind the contracted monk and his shikabane hime flowed to the same spot the bodies in front of them did. A blob of pulsating dead joined together in front of Monkey Fist.
The blob then solidified into Montgomery Fiske's late servant, Bates, monocle and all.
Fiske lifted the body into his arms. He started speaking, while gazing onto the dead man...ex-monkey ninja...thing he held.
"All Bates wanted to do was serve his lord.", Monkey Fist began. "When I found Tai Sheng Pek Kwar, the others abandoned me. Bates was my Alfred; following a youth with wealth around the world in his training. No matter what Queen-forsaken jungle I searched, Bates stayed by my side. He was the only one with me when my triumph came, and I was finally marked with the Mystical Monkey Power."
"Then you came. After you defeated me that very first time, Bates fell into a depression. He blamed himself for not being the one that led me to ascension as the Ultimate Monkey Master. He thought himself worth nothing, a failure. While stole myself away in my study to brood, he committed suicide in the bath that very night."
"I suppose, in a way he was too honorable. Too dutiful. Too much of the culture of the imperial island. A mere thing like death could not stop him.
"Perhaps, he felt that it was his human form that failed him, considering the woman I endured to receive my own enhancements. The next morning I stood tall to a troop of monkeys.
"And a troop they became. I personally trained them in the way of the ninja. And that fulfilled another prophecy. The Golden Banana would become active only when the impossible occured: a troop of monkey ninjas could muster before it. I felt the utmost gratitude, a gratitude that humbles oneself. A servant of mine sacrificed not his life, but his death for my dream. And when the declaration that the Ultimate Monkey Master would be unstoppable...it was the second greatest moment of my life, and certainly the most joyous.
"But no. At every turn you vexed me. The Ultimate Monkey Master, foretold in celestial alignment and annointed in the stars was not 'unstoppable' but 'Ron Stoppable' a name that no matter how easy to forget, I never could. I blamed myself for failing Bates' sacrifice. So I threw myself at every short cut to the mystical monkey arts I could find...and as an archeologist that was many. No matter what power I sought, you made me fail Bates again and again.
"And now. You free me of my prison of stone just to destroy him before me. You are cruel, buffoon."
Monkey Fist finally looked up to Ron and Yori. It was the most human Ron ever remembered seeing him.
Yori had her pistol pointed directly at Fiske's forehead. "I will obey your command, Master Stoppable.", he reminded him.
Ron put his hand on top of hers. As the pistol pointed to the floor, Ron told her his intent. "We will let him grieve."
Yori regarded Ron. Then she put the pistol back in her gi. The shikabane hime walked up to Fiske. She sniffed him and really looked at him. "Stay alive.", she advised.
The ninja took Ron's arm and walked him back to his car.
