Chapter 8 - Toonified - Part II
(3 hours later, 8:30am)
Another portal opened up and out came Kim, Ron, Rufus, and Athena as they landed in the grass on the other side of CO-470.
"Everyone all right?" Kim asked of her team-mates.
"Yeah...thankfully, none of my systems got fried," Athena said, standing up.
"I'm all right, KP, and Rufus is fine as well," Ron added.
Rufus waved his hand and gasped. He began to point at his paw.
"What's wrong, li'l buddy?" Ron asked before looking at him. "AHHHH!" he screamed, pointing at Rufus "You're a...a...a..."
"Toon?" Rufus squeaked.
"Yes...th-th-th-that..." Ron stammered before looking at Kim and Athena. Then he noticed something even more peculiar.
"Uhhh...KP? Athena? I think the two of you have mustaches..." Ron said, looking at the girls.
"Ron, that's not exactly a nice thing to say!" Kim replied before looking at Athena.
The two girls gasped at each other.
"O...M...G!"
"See? I told you so!" Ron exclaimed.
"Okay..." Kim stammered. "The weirdness levels went up to eleven on this one! We need to get Wade!"
"How can we? We're in a toonish dimension! We'll never see Wade again!" Ron whined.
"It's worth a shot, Ron!" Kim replied.
The new four-beep tone of the Kimmunicator pendant came on. Kim tapped it.
"Wade...what's the sitch?"
Wade came on-screen, still in the real world.
"Kim?! Thank goodness you came in!" the tech genius exclaimed in relief.
"But how are you able to get a signal?" Ron questioned.
"I used the power of both Athena's wireless signal on her CPU and the microchip I put on Ron," Wade explained.
Ron paused for a moment and said, "Wait...Wade...you had me microchipped?"
"Uhmm...that is not very important right now, Ron," Wade replied, changing the topic.
"So where exactly are we, Wade?" Kim asked.
"According the specifics of the dimension you, Athena, and Kim are in, you are still in 2020," Wade said.
"Aww...man! " Ron complained. "Even when we travel dimensions, we're still stuck in the lousy year of 2020! Stupid virus!"
"Actually, guys, COVID-19 doesn't exist in the dimension you're in," Wade intervened.
"Wait...you mean to say...that virus doesn't exist here?" Kim asked.
"Yes! The top news of the day in that dimension's Middleton is some sort of awards show," Wade replied.
"Then that means...no masks, no social-distancing, no quarantines?" Ron asked with excitement.
"That is correct." Wade confirmed.
"Woo-hoo!" Ron shouted with joy, taking out his mask. "I guess I won't be needing this anymore!"
He was about to fling off his mask into the grass when Kim stopped him.
"Ron! You have to pay attention to the job at hand!" Kim insisted. "Our top priority is to find where Drakken and Shego went...and to find that machine that got us here in the first place!"
"So...you don't wanna experience a world where we are free of the...you-know-what?" Ron asked.
"No, I have family back in the real world...even though the tweebs are a pain in the neck sometimes," Kim replied, "so you may have to keep your mask once we get back to our universe!"
"Aww man! This tanks!" Ron complained.
"Sorry, guys, but it gets worse," Wade replied.
"What is it, Wade?" Athena asked with concern.
"The portal that you three went to transitioned from the real world to the toon world," Wade explained.
"Yeah...I can see that," Kim replied.
"According to my calculations, your bodies are being transformed into toons themselves!" Wade gasped. "If the process is not reversed by midnight tonight, you'll be stuck in the toon world...forever!"
Both Athena and Ron gasped.
"The only way you can turn back into your human selves is to find Drakken's dimension machine and activate it before the deadline," Wade concluded.
"So that would give us less than sixteen hours?" Kim asked.
"Correct," Wade confirmed.
"Then that is going to be our top priority in finding that machine!" Kim decided.
"The good news is that, according to my calculations, the whereabouts of the machine are within a forty-mile radius of your location," Wade added, typing on his computer.
"But what about Drakken and Shego?" Athena wondered about the villainous duo. "Aren't they going to do...you know...something evil since the virus doesn't exist here?"
"Wade, I think we may need to use Athena's GPS and Ron's microchip..."
"I still have issues with that!" Ron whined.
"...As a makeshift signal in finding where those two are...after we find that machine," Kim insisted.
"That'll work," Wade replied. "You shouldn't be too far from this world's Middleton."
"Middleton?!" Kim wondered.
She saw a green sign on the highway and it said that they were two miles from the Middleton city limits.
"No way..." Kim said, speechless.
"According to the specs, this Middleton is kind of similar to that of the real world...and that there is another set of you."
"Wait...you mean to say that there is a toon version of me, Ron, and Athena?" Kim asked.
"Again, you're correct on that, Kim!" Wade said. "According to my specs, your other selves are in their early-thirties and...dare I say the word...married!"
Kim's and Ron's jaws just dropped.
Athena raised her eyebrow in surprise.
Then, Wade gave a stern warning. "You cannot come in contact with your other selves!"
"Is this about the virus thing?" Ron questioned.
Wade said, "No. If you run into your other selves, I foresee two possibilities. One, you may just simply pass out in shock. Or two, it would create a time paradox that would unravel the very fabric of the universe!"
"Okay...find the machine and avoid contact with our other selves!" Ron replied. "Got that!"
"This has to be our only communication," Wade added, taking a deep breath. "I hope everything goes back to normal."
"Me too, Wade...me too..." Kim replied as she tapped her Kimmunicator pendant, ending the transmission.
"So, is there going to be a Bueno Nacho in Middleton? Because I'm starving!" Ron asked, looking at his stomach.
"Ron...you and food sometimes..." Kim chortled with laughter.
"I'm ready for a chimurrito!" Athena agreed.
The three teens headed towards Middleton with the hopes of finding the machine...and not running into their other selves.