Just a note of thanks to all who have read and reviewed so far, and especially to Shockwave 88 for his quick beta work. And props to Eddy13 for being the first to guess that 'Here Comes The Bride' would end up being 'There Goes The Groom...'

Kim groggily pushed herself up from the debris-covered floor, gently nursing a badly bruised arm. It had cushioned the impact of the rest of her body somewhat when she had fallen after being hit by Warmonga's Neurotomic Disabler. Some of the cheer squad were sadly even worse off than she was. A few of them had fallen nearly ten feet out of the air after attempting to build a human pyramid to assist Kim in gaining access to Warmonga's ship.

Ignoring her own injury, Kim stumbled over to her friends. Bonnie was gently cradling Tara in her arms.

Nearly in tears, Bonnie frantically sobbed, "Tara, are you okay? Please, please wake up!"

Tara was still unresponsive. Anne Possible was still suffering from the effects of the Lorwardian pacification weapon herself, but she had quickly moved to Tara's side in order to check her over.

"It looks like a head injury, Bonnie, and possibly a concussion." Sirens could be heard approaching. "But it sounds like help is on the way."

"Kim-chan! Are you all right?"

Yori had quickly made her way through the groaning crowd of the slowly recovering wedding guests. With a look of concern on her face, she immediately knelt by Kim's side.

Kim gave her a weak smile in return. "I've been better. How about you? Are you okay?"

Yori nodded. "Yes, I appear to be uninjured."

Anne then looked Kim over. "That arm doesn't look too good, Kimmie. Here, let me take a look."

Kim shrugged it off. "I'll be okay, Mom, really." She glanced around her. "But, where's Ron? He was right here when ..."

Kim's eyes widened as she frantically looked around the devastated sanctuary. When she couldn't spot Ron among the groaning wedding guests, she nearly panicked. Close to tears, she cried out, "Oh my God, Mom! Is he ...?"

"Dead? I don't think so."

Shego had just forced her way through the crowd. She growled, "It looks like he's gone, along with Dr. D." She angrily slammed one fist into her other hand. "That green bitch must have grabbed them while we were unconscious. But on the other hand, if she really had wanted us dead, none of us would be here talking about it."

A white-hot rage began to erupt from within Kim. She furiously yelled, "You mean they've been kidnapped!" Her thoughts immediately went back to their graduation ceremony so many months ago, recalling something that Ron had said.

"Kim, you're headed for the stars, and I'm stuck on Earth."

Now their positions had been reversed. She frowned at the irony, but was greatly relieved by the thought and the hope that came with it, that they were probably both still alive. Kim gazed up at the open sky through the gaping hole in the ceiling that had been left by Warmonga's attack. With absolute determination in her voice, she declared, "Don't worry, Ron. We're coming to rescue you, no matter what it takes!"

However, she was still perplexed by the actual reason behind the abduction. "But, I don't get it ... why them and not us? Warmonga has as much desire for payback toward us as she does to them. So, what's the sitch?"

Wade stumbled up beside them with deep concern etched on his face. "Uh, people, I think I know why. Listen to this." He played back the recording that he'd been making of the wedding service. Immediately after the Neurotomic Disabler had knocked them all out, Warmonga's voice could be clearly heard as the green force beams dragged Ron and Drakken into the bowels of her ship, along with Rufus who had been accidentally taken along for the ride as well. Kim gasped as she saw the naked mole rat just sticking out of Ron's cummerbund.

"Ah, the miracles of Lorwardian technology. All too easy. Revenge is a dish best served very cold, blue ones. Would that Warmonga had been given the authority to destroy you all at this very moment, but this will have to suffice."

They all looked at each other with a mutually perplexed look. Kim asked, "Blue ones? And authority to kidnap them but not kill them, or us? But from who?"

Shego shrugged. "Well, Warmonga thought Drakken was the Great Blue, but decided that he was an impostor. But when Ron killed Warhok, and Drakken wrecked their warbots ..."

Yori added, "And since Stoppable-sama turns blue when he activates his Mystical Monkey Power ..."

"They must still be trying to figure out who's the Great Blue!" Shego concluded.

Kim questioned, "But how did she find us? How did she know where we'd all be?"

Shego tried hard not to reply with her usual sarcastic and snarky tone. "I don't think there's any way she couldn't have known, Kimmie. Your wedding plans have been announced to over half the planet for months now, and you know how Warmonga likes to monitor TV broadcasts."

Yori interjected, "But, there are other possibilities as well Kim-chan."

Irritated by being interrupted a second time, Shego turned to Yori and flatly asked, "And just who are you?"

Yori bowed her head slightly and politely responded, "I am Yori, friend of Ron Stoppable and Kim Possible."

Yori had recognized Shego immediately. In spite of Shego's rude question, she had tried to give an even-handed response, but could not help but feel an immediate aversion to Kim's erstwhile enemy. Shego could almost feel a wave of iciness emanate from her, especially as Yori remembered something that she had learned during Ron's training. "The green woman with no honor, who kisses only for her own pleasure ..."

Shego sneered, "Well, Yori, 'friend-of-Ron-Stoppable-and-Kim-Possible', I'm Shego, friend of Dr. Drakken, who's also been kidnapped, if you hadn't noticed. And I'm in no mood for snippy teens right now, so if you'll excuse me ..."

Shego tried to move past Yori, but the young ninja held her ground.

What little patience Shego had left at the moment was nearly gone. Snarling dangerously at Yori, she warned the lithe young girl, "Uh, do you know exactly who I am? Step aside before I rearrange that pretty little face of yours."

Upon hearing that direct threat, Yori immediately assumed a defensive crouch with one arm out in front of the other. Her face was an intense mask of control and her body instantly prepared itself for battle. A small smile began to play at the sides of her mouth, as the fingers of one hand curled up quickly in an obvious gesture of 'come and get me, if you dare'.

An evil grin appeared on Shego's face as she fired up her plasma. "Okay, have it your way then ..."

Kim yelled out a moment too late, "Shego, no!"

With a yell, Shego launched into the attack, her plasma-wreathed hands swooshing through the air. It had been many months since she'd had a good knock-down drag-out fight, and this was a good release for her pent-up frustrations and anger. But Shego quickly realized that this was no ordinary girl: Yori was deftly avoiding every one of her blows almost effortlessly.

Shego raised her eyebrows. "Well, you've got some nice moves there, kiddo."

Yori nodded slightly. "Domo. But fighting you is pointless. I desire only to spare you a most embarrassing failure."

And with one well-placed kick to the abdomen, Yori sent Shego crashing into the wall behind her with enough force to leave a cracked imprint of her body upon it.

Shego immediately recovered and then launched into a brutal close-quarters attack, now holding nothing back. Yori was now only barely able to deflect the blows, but she was still holding her own against Shego's vicious and heated assault.

In a tone of voice usually reserved only for her mischievous brothers, Kim suddenly yelled out, "Both of you, stop this instant!"

They both halted in mid-swing as Kim grabbed each of them by their collars and then pulled them close together.

Kim growled just loud enough for the two adversaries to hear her. "Shego, meet Yori, the ninja who just helped Ron complete his training as a Mystical Monkey Master. Yori, meet Shego, my ally in defeating the Lorwardians, and my cousin."

Their jaws dropped simultaneously as they each looked at one another with surprise.

"Ninja?"

"Cousin?"

Yori put her hands together and then bowed her head towards Shego. "My apologies, Shego-chan. I was not aware of your kinship with Kim-chan, otherwise I would not have challenged you so."

Shego just shrugged and then replied, "That's okay. That workout felt kinda good after going so long without one. And you fight at least as well as Kimmie here, and she's definitely no slouch." She smiled as she continued, "So, you helped complete Stoppable's training? I thought I recognized your style."

Shego and Yori continued to talk shop about various martial arts styles, while Kim and Wade just looked at each other with puzzled expressions on their faces regarding Shego and Yori's sudden about face.

By now, most of the wedding guests had already been helped out of the wrecked church. With a heroic grunt, Hego had begun to quickly clear away the remaining rubble while the Wego twins rapidly multiplied themselves in order to assist everyone outside as quickly as possible. Mego merely rolled his eyes and then grumbled petulantly to no one in particular. He had soon shrunk himself down enough in size in order to enter the walls to try and restore the lights.

Miraculously, there had only been a few actual injuries, Kim being one of the minor ones. An ambulance had arrived for Tara, who had regained consciousness in the meantime. Anne Possible had checked her over and was fairly sure that she'd be okay, but she went along with her to the hospital just in case, leaving James to watch over their twin sons. Jim and Tim had watched the battle royal between Shego and Yori with rapt attention until Kim had broken it up, after which they had quickly lost interest.

"Dad, can we go home now? I'll bet we have some cool shots of Warmonga's spaceship!"

Dr. Possible sternly replied, "Need I remind you kids that your new brother-in-law is on that spaceship, headed off to who knows where?"

Jim responded, "Sorry, Dad. But we might just find out which way they were headed by analyzing all the data."

"And as soon as we get home, we'd be happy to share that with you!" Tim taunted.

Dr. P chuckled as he ruffled their hair. "That's my boys!" But he quickly frowned again, deeply worried about Ron's fate and that of Drew Lipski's. He sighed, "Well, that's one wedding for the record books."

Rabbi Katz overheard him. "James, I'm sorry for your loss, but we weren't able to complete the ceremony. Technically, Kim and Ron aren't quite married yet."

Kim gasped as she quickly ran over to them. "What? So after all this, I'm not even married? And my fiancé has just been kidnapped?!" Her face began to darken, and a fierce look of total rage came over her: a look that James had rarely seen on his daughter's face even under the most trying of circumstances.

"Dad, we've got to get Ron and Drakken back, no matter what the cost. No matter if I have to move heaven and earth, I'm going after them! I want my fiancé back, and I don't care if I have to go halfway across the stars to do it!"

She fixed her father with a glare filled with such resolve that it could have melted reinforced titanium. Her tone of voice darkened into a hiss as she spat out threateningly, "And make sure that Warmonga can never do this to us again!"

Dr. P raised his hands in fear of what Kim might do next. "Whoa, Kimmie. I feel the same way, but what can we really do right now? First, we'd need to know exactly where they're headed and how to track them. Next we'd need a spacecraft capable not only of interplanetary travel, but of interstellar travel, not to mention the need for interstellar navigational capability. And what about communications? It would take years for radio waves to even reach the nearest star, let alone Lorwardia, wherever that is!"

He sighed as he continued his litany of gloom. "And how would you retrieve them even if you could find them? And how do you actually expect to fight the Lorwardians on their own planet, and what weapons could you possibly use against them? Remember that they nearly took over our entire planet a few months ago, and now we don't even have Ronald and Dr. Drakken to help us!"

Dr. P simply shook his head in dismay at the list of apparently insurmountable difficulties. "Kim, you may be able to do anything, but you simply can't do the impossible!"

Kim fixed her father with an icy stare. "Dad, you're forgetting that this is Ron we're talking about, and Drakken. And if you haven't noticed, I have a habit of making the impossible possible."

After years of trading barbs with Shego, she was finding it hard to keep the sarcasm out of her voice, even with her own father. "And, by the way, the fate of the world is hanging in the balance, if you hadn't noticed. You're a scientist, Dad. Scientists discover how things work and then invent the things they need to get the job done. And this is SO the drama. So just try and think: if the Lorwardians were able to get here in the first place, we just have to figure out how to get from here to Lorwardia. And we can do it just as long as we don't give up."

Dr. P nodded, resigning himself to his daughter's steely determination. "Ok, Kim. What do you suggest?"

Kim was now in full mission mode. She turned to everyone else and said, "Ok, first problem. How do we track Warmonga's ship?" She thought hard, and then had an idea. She turned to Wade. "I know I've asked this before, Wade, but do you still have Ron chipped?"

Wade looked shocked. "Kim, we've already discussed the legal and moral ramifications of that!"

She grinned slyly back at him. "But you still do, right?"

Wade shrugged in resignation. "Yeah, but its range is limited: a few thousand miles at most. If they're already beyond Earth's orbit, the signal would already be too weak."

Kim's spark of hope began to fade. For one brief moment, she wavered before the enormity of the challenge.

Yori suddenly gasped as she felt a familiar mind trying to reach her. A tiny naked mole rat mind, receding from her at an incredible speed. It was a simple, short message.

"Follow the ring: seventy-four megahertz ..."

Kim looked at the sudden surprise on Yori's face. "Yori! What's wrong?"

The look of amazement on her face began to fade. "It was Rufus-san! I felt his mind, and he was desperately trying to communicate something of great importance to me. He said, 'Follow the ring: seventy-four megahertz' ... but what could it mean?"

Wade smiled. "I think I might have an idea, Yori." He turned to Dr. Possible.

"Dr. P, you know that the galaxy is filled with a dilute hydrogen plasma within which are localized higher density regions. Density fluctuations within these plasmas act to distort the phase of a propagating radio wave at particular frequencies, and these plasmas can distort the amplitude of the propagating wave."

Dr. Possible nodded in understanding. "Yes, I see what you're getting at, but have you accounted for time-invariant factors such as delay dispersion and scattering?"

"Sure thing, Dr. P. I've also adjusted for non-stationary factors such as Doppler time warping, turbulence, and multi-path fading."

Kim and Yori looked at them both like deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming car.

Shego just threw up her hands and exclaimed, "Whoa, whoa! Time out! Sorry to interrupt your little geek fest, Nerdlinger, but can you give us an explanation in English, please?"

Wade smiled with the self assurance borne of his superior intellect and insight. In other words, he knew the exact reason and wasn't afraid to rub it in a little. "Sure, Shego. The best frequency for an interstellar homing device would be seventy-four megahertz. That particular low-band frequency would cut through any other natural radio interference and at the interstellar distances required. But, what I don't get is how Rufus would know that? And what did he mean by a ring, and how could he communicate that to Yori?"

Yori smiled innocently, obviously knowing much more than she was willing to let on. "There are things in this universe that even your science cannot explain, honorable Wade-san. I ask only that you accept it as the truth."

Kim flatly stated, "Well, I'm certainly not one to look a gift horse in the mouth." She thought quickly, trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together. "Ring. Ring bearer." She snapped her fingers in understanding. "Could Rufus have known what was about to happen and done something to Ron's ring? And not only that, but somehow also give us a clue on how to track Ron and Drakken?"

Yori smiled even wider. "Your insight is most impressive, Kim-chan."

Kim turned to her father. "Well, Dad, that solves how to track them. But without the ability to triangulate that signal, it still may be too general from a great distance to get a specific directional fix on them until we get a lot closer. Wade, how about a general direction to start? Any news from the Middleton Observatory regarding Pluto?"

Wade brightened up. "Yes, actually. I've kept in touch with Professors Ramesh and Chen, and they've been able to extrapolate the general motion of Pluto's debris field. There's a definite direction indicated. And would you like me to check with General Sims to see what he's found out from his, uh, sources?" Wade's half-smile hinted at his knowledge of what those sources really were.

"Please and thank, you Wade." Kim smiled. "Ok, that's two down. Now, Dad, weren't you telling me just this morning that the test of the Lorwardian singularity drive was successful?"

James hesitated. "Well, yes, but ..."

Kim continued to push. "And you had planned on attaching the Kepler III on top as some kind of a command module?"

"Uh, yes, but that's still only experimental ..."

Shego grinned as she fixed James with hooded eyes. "Well, Dr. P, your first rocket worked pretty well, and I had no problem flying it. Why should this time be any different?"

Kim grinned back. "Thanks, Shego. That's three. Now, how about weapons? During last week's joint planning session, didn't you report that we've cracked the battery problem? And that we can now operate the Lorwardian plasma weapons with them?"

She smiled wickedly. "Giving them a taste of their own medicine would be such a sweet sitch ..."

Dr. P shrugged. "Well, that's true, but even now the power is limited. We would still need a power source strong enough to enable continuous recharging of the plasma capacitors."

Kim persisted. "But, it's possible?"

Dr. P couldn't help but grin at his daughter's tenacity.

"Yes, it's possible, but only just. Unless ..." He thought for a moment. "Wade, do you think that the Lorwardian singularity drive could provide enough juice to do the trick?"

Wade scratched his head. "Well, yeah, but that would require a thermodynamic medium capable of transmitting the plasma's tremendous energy flow, and probably redundant systems to compensate for the variable power flux. I could jury-rig some of the extra warbot parts for the systems, but to design and produce the necessary conductive medium would take a lot longer than we have at the moment."

Shego looked slyly at Wade. "Hey, Nerdlinger, would this do the trick?"

She removed one of her formal gloves and handed it to him.

Wade flipped a switch on the Kimmunicator, and a blue light began to scan Shego's glove. His eyes shot up in amazement.

"Whoa! Shego! According to my calculations, this material is perfect! What's it made of?"

Shego shrugged her shoulders. "I don't really know, but I've got plenty of it. It's the stuff I use to make my bodysuits and gloves out of. Regular fabric doesn't last too well when I fire up my plasma, ya know. And I've got several bolts of the fabric in storage back at the lair."

Wade continued, "All we would need to do is reweave that fabric into a cable long enough to connect the singularity drive to the plasma weapons."

Kim volunteered, "Leave that to me, Wade. I'm sure Coco Banana would be happy to do us a favor. And he's got a fabric weaving plant right here in Middleton, so no big!" She turned to Shego with a big smile. "And Shego, I never thought I'd ever say this, but you totally rock!"

Shego cheerfully smirked, "Of course I do. But thanks for noticing."

Kim felt that they were now really on a roll. "That's four."

But as sympathetic as Dr. P was to their collective plight, his training as a scientist forced him to consider all of the challenges, no matter how distasteful. "But how would we be able to communicate with you? A one-way message just to Pluto would take over five hours! And once you're beyond our Solar System, two-way radio communications would take days, and at interstellar distances, even years! Even I can't change the laws of physics, Kimmie-cub!"

As Dr. P was speaking, a ghostly image started to appear before them.

A wizened voice began to speak. "Perhaps I might offer a solution, Dr. Possible-san?"

Yori gasped, "Sensei!"

His form continued to float before them as he benignly continued. "Yori has the ability to communicate with me via the astral planes, and this kind of thought is beyond the bounds of space and time. I can function as liaison between her and our humble planet. There will be no problem with communicating instantly, I assure you."

Kim beamed, "And Sensei makes five. Bingo!"

Sensei smiled and then looked directly at Yori. His eyes burned brightly, as if he were peering into her very soul. With the utmost gravity, he spoke. "This is your destiny, Yori. You have the skills to play a critical part in perhaps the most important mission our world has ever known. But I warn you: the dangers are equally great. Are you ready to accept this challenge?"

Yori fell to one knee and bowed her head before Sensei.

She replied with absolute certainty, "It will be my honor, Master Sensei."

Shego simply waved her hand dismissively. "Yada, yada. I just want Drakken back. And now that I've finally figured out what I really want, I'm not letting some green-skinned alien bitch get in my way!"

She calmed down a bit as she turned to Kim, her angry outburst quickly softening as she gently murmured, "Besides, this is a family matter now."

Dr. P looked confused and he glanced questioningly his daughter. "Uh, family matter? Exactly what does she mean by that, Kimmie?"

Kim blushed slightly and smiled apologetically. "Uh, well, heh-heh. Can I just explain that later, Dad?"

He cocked an eyebrow at her. "Hmm. Well, I'll look forward to that."

Kim turned back to everyone else. "All right then. We have a plan, and we have the means. Are we all together in this?"

Kim placed her hand out. "For love."

Yori joined her hand to Kim's. "For honor."

With one clenched fist pulsating with green energy, Shego placed her other hand atop theirs. "For revenge."

A new Team Possible had now been forged. The die was now cast.

Meanwhile, General Sims had placed Area 51 on high alert. Upon sighting the Lorwardian armada, he had immediately telephoned the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Washington. He then quickly contacted NORAD and spoke to the officer in charge of operations.

"Yes, this is a Code 50 Slash Omega 1 scenario, an all-out attack by alien spacecraft bent on Earth's total subjugation. We are now at DEFCON 1. All ABM and Patriot missile defenses are now on full alert. I've been directly in touch with Washington, and they've informed me that all other major world powers are in the process of being contacted. An emergency session of the UN will be starting within the hour."

With a puzzled look on his face, he listened to the reply from the NORAD officer. General Sims flared, "What do you mean, they're just sitting there? They've got a hundred ships orbiting our planet, probably with enough firepower to blow us all back into the Stone Age! What do they think this is, a galactic pleasure cruise? What in the hell are they waiting for?"

The NORAD officer calmly informed him of what had just happened in Middleton.

General Sims paled at the news. "You mean to tell me that a Lorwardian has abducted Ron Stoppable and Dr. Drakken? They were the linchpins to our defensive strategy! We may be able to hold off their first wave of battle droids, but without them, it's only a matter of time ..."

With a look of despair, General Sims grumbled a quick thanks to the officer and then hung up. He then dialed a new number. "Get me the President. Priority One."

But before that call could be completed, every type of major communication outlet worldwide was suddenly overridden by a powerful signal emanating from the command ship of the Lorwardian fleet. TV, radio, even cell phones and texting Blackberries were all broadcasting the same dire message.

"People of the Earth. This is Warfalkon of the Lorwardian Expeditionary Force. You have dared to defend yourselves against the might of the Lorwardian Star Empire. We are taking your two champions back to our home planet to determine which of them is the Great Blue and our ultimate leader, after which the final disposition of the Earth will be decided. You are ordered to stand down any and all defenses until this matter can be resolved. Any attempt at counterattack will be met with your swift and total destruction."

Back at the Middleton Space Center, both Kim's and Wade's Kimmunicators were picking up the same broadcast.

Shego griped, "Well, that just cuts it, doesn't it?"

Wade sadly agreed. "Well Kim, that confirms all of our suspicions."

Kim surmised, "I guess that they must not consider anything we can do to them now any kind of threat, now that they have Ron and Drakken."

Yori reminded her, "Underestimating one's enemies is the first step on the road to defeat, Kim-chan."

Shego nodded. "I couldn't agree more, Ninja Girl. And overconfidence would naturally be their next reaction, which gives us an advantage. So, Dr. P, how soon before you can strap the Kepler III on top of that Lorwardian bucket of bolts back at the Science Center so we can get this show on the road?"

Dr. P finally felt like he had something to smile about. "That's actually already in progress, Shego. How does tomorrow morning sound to you?"

Shego smile slyly. "Works for me." An idea started to form in her devious mind. "And tell me, how much cargo space does the Kepler III have?"

Dr. P stroked his chin in thought. "Well, enough for quite a few science experiments, actually. And then there's the cargo bay, which is nearly as big as the one on NASA's Space Shuttle. What did you have in mind?"

Shego suggested, "How about as much of Dr. D's plant mutagen as the Kepler III can carry?" A wicked smile formed as she thought of yet another possibility. "And maybe a few cases of ... well, one of Dr. D's botched take-over-the-world schemes, just for a little insurance, that's all," she finished cryptically.

She turned to Kim and continued, "I'll grab all the bolts of my outfit material and get it over to your house as soon as possible, then I'll go back and collect all of Dr. D's remaining plant mutagen and get it over to the Space Center."

Kim had a better idea. "Shego, how about I arrange for some military trucks to meet you at the timeshare lair to transport both your cloth and the plant mutagen? That would save us some time, and time is one thing we don't have much of."

Shego nodded. "Sounds good to me, I'll jet to the lair right now and start getting everything ready."

Kim smiled. "We'll meet you there as soon as possible. My car is right out back. Yori, do you mind giving us a hand?"

Yori bowed her head. "It would be my honor, Kim-chan."

Wade turned to Dr. P and said, "In the meantime, I'll head back to the Space Center and get started on configuring some power flux compensators."

Dr. P responded, "And I'll take the twins home first and have a look at their satellite recording. Hopefully that will provide some clues on the direction of Warmonga's ship. Then we'll meet you back at the Center and begin installing those plasma weapons."

Jim gushed, "You mean you're going to let us help, Dad?"

Dr. P nodded. "Yes, I have a feeling we're going to need everyone's help if we expect to pull this off."

The twins responded gleefully in their typical fashion.

"Hicka bicka boo?"

"Hoosha!"

Kim let out a breath of relief. "Sounds like we're all clear then. Good luck everybody!"

And with that, they each hurriedly left to complete their respective tasks.

High above them, the Lorwardian cruisers hung like malevolent fireflies in the late afternoon sky, as Comet Ramesh-Chen suddenly made a right angle turn. It had acquired its final target, and was now headed directly toward Earth.

Shego used her air sled to quickly jet to the timeshare lair. Once she arrived, she found the lair empty since Dr. Drakken had given his henchman the day off so that he could attend the wedding. She quickly gathered up several bolts of her outfit material and placed them next to the door.

Shego then passed by Dr. D's desk, and noticed some framed photos adorning his workspace. They were pictures of them both, taken at that photo booth when she had been under the Moodulator's influence that very first time. She was touched that he had kept them. For obvious sentimental reasons, he had framed them and placed them on his desk as a reminder of her.

As she picked the pictures up, Shego then did something that she rarely did. She began to cry, a few tears trickling down her face as she realized that she no longer needed any Moodulator to alter her feelings. She now knew beyond any doubt how she really felt about him. She had finally admitted to herself that she truly loved him now. Unfortunately, he was gone, whisked away to some god-forsaken planet to be forced in taking part in some bizarre alien scheme to take over the galaxy.

In anger, she slammed the picture back down on the desk and fired off a few plasma bolts at the wall for good measure. Just as the bolts reached their intended target, Kim and Yori walked in and barely avoided being hit by the result of Shego's tempestuous outburst.

Quickly regaining her cool, she apologized to them, "Oops, sorry! Just a little moody at the moment ..."

Several hours later, Wade had completed the power flux compensators while Dr. P oversaw the installation of the Lorwardian plasma cannon into the nose of the Kepler III. Coco Banana had been more than happy to assist in the reweaving of Shego's glove material into several strong thick cords of the necessary length, and within a matter of hours the space technicians were in the process of hooking everything together into the alien ship's singularity drive.

Wade then turned his attention to reconfiguring a mobile radar unit into a seventy-four megahertz tracking device.

"Ok, people. Let's see if we can pick up Ron's signal."

He flipped a switch, and a chart of the Solar System appeared. But instead of the expected sole signal, two red lights were blinking. One was receding quickly from them and heading in the direction of the remnants of Pluto, but the other was glowing brightly over the blue dot representing Earth.

"That's strange. I'm picking up two signals, and the stronger one is still here on the surface of the planet."

He flipped another switch, zooming in on the signal. The red dot continued to blink, now appearing in the middle of the North American continent. Wade's curiosity increased as he adjusted another dial, zooming in even closer.

"Whoa! That signal's coming from right here in Middleton!"

Kim began to feel a slight warmth on her ring finger. She looked down and noticed that her ring had begun to glow softly.

With concern tinging her voice, she asked, "Uh, Wade, what's going on?"

With a final adjustment of the fine tuning dial, Wade's eyes quickly widened. "Kim! The signal is coming from ... your ring!"

Wade's Kimmunicator suddenly began to beep. It was Professor Chen, sounding absolutely frantic. "Wade! The comet has changed course and is now headed directly toward Earth! I don't know how, but there's now a one hundred percent chance of a direct impact, which will occur in less than twenty minutes! The strike will hit ..." He did some quick calculations.

"Oh, my God ... the strike will hit right here in Middleton!"

Suddenly the line went dead. Kim quickly tried her Kimmunicator, but it also had lost its signal. Dr. P tried the office phone with the same result. Civil Defense sirens began to wail in the distance.

Kim's voice trembled in fear of the impending disaster. "Wade, this is SO the drama! Could the Lorwardians have affected the comet's trajectory somehow as part of an attack against us?"

Wade shook his head. "It's possible, but why would they go to all that trouble? They have enough firepower to take out the entire planet as it is!"

Shego interjected, "Uh, people, that's going to be moot point in a just a few minutes when that comet hits us. So how about we get the hell outta here! Now!"

Kim's ring was now glowing brightly.

She yelled, "No! Everybody stay here. I'm obviously the one being targeted. And if it's locked onto me, I'm the one that has to get as far away as possible. I'll fly the SL Coupe as far from here as I can and try to drop the ring into an uninhabited area north of here."

She quickly hugged her father, a tear falling down her cheek. "Dad, I love you. Please keep preparing for the launch."

Dr. P objected. "But Kimmie ..."

Kim cut him off short. "Sorry, Dad, but there's no time."

She turned to Shego and Yori. "If I ... don't make it back, you'll have to go on the mission without me. The mission is more important than my life now. And Shego, please tell my Dad our little secret?"

Shego locked eyes with Kim, a wave of sadness passing between them in an instant. A moment later, she pulled Kim into a tight hug and whispered, "Good luck, Kim. Please come back, and please don't die." Shego released her from the embrace, giving her the trace of a sardonic smile. "Or I'll just have to kill you."

Kim grinned. "Don't worry, I don't plan on dying. Remember, I can do anything, which I also hope means staying alive."

Yori quickly said, "Gokouun o inorimasu, Kim-chan. May the gods protect you."

"Thanks Yori. May they protect all of us." Kim rushed for the door and in a moment, she was gone.

Dr. P continued to stare at the door for a long moment, wondering if he would ever see his daughter, his little girl now all grown up, alive again. He slowly turned to Shego and quietly asked, "Now, what secret did Kimmie want you to tell me?"

Shego turned to Dr. P and answered with a sheepish smile, "I guess Kim hasn't told you yet that we're, uh, cousins?"

As the sound of the SL Coupe 2.0 was heard rocketing off into the distance, Dr. P's eyes simply rolled up into his head as he passed out into a heap on the floor.

Five minutes later, a collision alarm went off in the command section of the Devastator, the flagship of the Lorwardian invasion fleet orbiting one hundred miles above the Earth.

Warfalkon barked out a command. "Aft view screen, now!"

The huge comet was directly behind them, now only a few scant seconds away. So sudden was the comet's arrival that the Devastator had no time to adjust its orbit in order to avoid it.

"Aft thrusters at maximum! Emergency force shields, now!"

But it was too late. Warfalkon's command ship received a direct hit and was vaporized instantly. The comet barely took notice as it blazed past several other Lorwardian battlecruisers at better than forty miles per second. Two ships were sucked into the comet's wake and pulled into the upper atmosphere, where they immediately lost attitude control. Now simply hurtling projectiles, the ships quickly burned up in the atmosphere, appearing as two bright fireballs in early evening sky.

Kim raced away into the approaching darkness at the SL Coupe's top subsonic speed, heading due north away from Middleton. But at only eighty miles outside of the town, the rockets began to sputter and the SL Coupe began to rapidly lose speed.

"Oh, great. Out of fuel! I wasn't expecting to have to rocket away from the reception. Note to self, always top off the tank."

She quickly tried to spot a soft place to land on the rocky terrain below. Peering into the near darkness, she narrowly avoided several large boulders as the vehicle came hurtling down. She landed hard, blowing out one of the tires in the process.

Friction quickly slowed down the comet as it headed lower into the atmosphere, shedding much of its mass as it began to glow in a fantastic multi-colored display in the evening sky. It continued to make slight course corrections as it tracked its intended target.

Kim huffed in frustration as she discovered the blown tire. She looked up into the sky and saw the rapidly approaching comet, awesome in its deadly beauty.

"No time to change the tire. I've got to find cover."

She began running, the landscape eerily lit by the comet's coruscating glow.

"No cover. Anywhere." Now in a near panic, she tried to remove her now intensely glowing wedding ring, but with no luck. She stood there for another moment as a terrible realization hit her. A strange peace came over her as she understood what was about to happen.

"So this is how it ends."

Resigned to her fate, she looked up at the comet, now only seconds away.

"Farewell, Shego. I'm glad we had a chance to make amends. And good luck to you too, Yori. I hope you can help save them both, and comfort Ron after I'm gone."

Tears began streaming down her face.

"Ron, I love you ..."

She closed her eyes just as the comet hit.