Hello, again everyone! Welcome to the third chapter! I'd like to offer a nice round of review thank yous to David Falkayn, Data Seeker, Sharper the Writer, and Wolvernstrom (as well as the ones I received from guests)! We also have some new followers as well, and I just want to say thank you to you all for jumping aboard! The weekends are brutal for me, so while I don't expect this fic to be really long in general, weekends are probably going to be lock out days for updates, since I'm always doing something and just don't have the time to focus on my writing endeavors, but anyway, I'll step aside and allow you guys to enjoy the next chapter!
Kim pulled her hair into a ponytail, as she crouched on the roof of a building. The darkened sky cast her frame in silhouette. She was dressed in a black mock-neck sweater and matching pants from Club Banana. Her focus was at an all time high, and with agile grace, she flipped backwards, gripping the gutter frame and swung herself to the window. Using her laser lipstick, she created a small hole in the window, that allowed her to push the lever into the 'open' position. Once done, the window moved up with ease. Spankin, she was in. With practiced precision, Kim maneuvered around various items in the room until she came upon a door, her eyes slowly becoming accustomed to the darkness. Opening it quietly, Kim peeked out. The hallway it led out into was dark. No lights were on and all was blissfully quiet. Perfect. Just what she was hoping for. She closed the door again and turned around. She was already where she needed to be. The storage room.
Taking it all in, the room was relatively about the size of Ron's, just surprisingly with more boxes and things taking up a good bulk of space. Kim frowned when she took in the amount of boxes, stacked high and tall, there were. This could take a while. Grabbing one, Kim opened a box gently. Inside were various papers, but not the sort she was keeping an eye out for. Casting it aside, she did the same with another box. Finding nothing of note once again, she continued on in that way, hoping she would find what she was looking for without too much hassle.
She continued on in that way for another few minutes. Each box she opened left her hopes dashed. Great. Then something she hoped wouldn't happen, did. The door was opened by a closed eyed Ron, being led with two paws around his index finger by Rufus. They stepped into the room thanks to Rufus tugging Ron forward, obviously leading the charge. Ron was wearing red pajamas with the heads of the Fearless Ferret and Wonder Weasel on them. Her heart crashed against her chest, nerves high. She didn't have time to hide. Rufus, for his part, just seemed very confused as he chattered to get his owner to notice their unexpected intruder.
Nodding his head, Ron stepped forward a few feet. "Yeah, mmhm, I know, Rufus," His sleep laced voice supplied, while he reached out and moved his arm as if he expected to feel something in front of him. "Getting cheese now."
Rufus looked shocked for a moment, they weren't near the kitchen, before he scurried over Ron's feet and tugged hard on the edge of his pajama pants. Ron did his best to open his eyes. He blinked slowly, staring right at her. Kim could feel a sweat bead above her eyebrow. She was so busted. Surprisingly however, to both Kim and Rufus, Ron smiled.
"Wow, so Kim's in my dream," he sounded a little whimsical. "That is such a badical outfit she has on."
She cleared her throat, a slight blush heating her cheeks. "No, Ron. It's...it's really me."
"KP?" He began wailing. "Oh, man! I musta been sleep walking again if I'm at the Possibles."
She couldn't help smiling a little. Leave it to him to come up with an idea that wasn't correct. "You're not at my house, Ron."
"'Kay," he frowned. "Wait, if I'm not at your house then that means…oh, no! Kim has been sleepwalking to my house!" He was practically wide awake now, panic in his eyes. "Hey, Rufus? Do you remember the steps to waking a sleepwalker, 'cause I forgot."
Kim rolled her eyes, fond and annoyed at the same time. "Nobody's been sleepwalking!"
"It's okay, KP. I hear the denial talking, and I get it. The first ten times you'll feel all confused," he wiggled his fingers as Rufus climbed up to his shoulder. "But after that you'll be a pro in no time! You just gotta own and embrace it."
She decided to come clean. She really should have done so earlier in the first place. "I'm here to snoop."
"Snoop? As in, spy?" Ron frowned. She nodded, guilty as charged. He groaned at her answer. "Kim, that's like a seriously messed up breach of friendship."
She hung her head. He so had a point. "Yeah, I know. I'm sorry."
"But…why? Maybe it's obvious, but I don't get it." Ron scratched his head, adorably confused. Rufus just shrugged. He had been wondering what Kim was up to for a while himself.
"Earlier today, Wade came up with a theory that you...well, you might be a genius," Kim quickly told him.
Ron and Rufus stared at each other for a long moment, and then the both of them began to laugh. Ron wiped his eyes. "Okay, its comedy hour. Thanks for that, but, um, why are you in my house again?"
She sighed. Even the guy himself found the whole thing far fetched. "I was looking for your report cards."
Ron studied her. It was a 'note serious face' moment, and she had one on. "My report cards? Wait…so you weren't just saying that? You seriously think I'm a genius?"
"No, not me," Kim said, shaking her head. "I just told you that Wade is the one who thinks that you might be."
"The fact that Wade is supposedly the one to say that is making my head hurt," he actually looked dizzy, and Rufus patted the shoulder he was sitting on, worried for his owner and friend.
"Mine has been hurting all day," Kim agreed. The relief of Ron knowing what she was withholding from him made her feel twenty times lighter. "It's kind of like trying to believe that pigs can really fly."
"Um, ouch, KP," Ron frowned, glaring at her.
"Ah, sorry," She grew sheepish. "I'm not saying you don't have that potential, but it's not something I'm used to with you. At least, not outside of things involving food."
Ron bowed his head. "There was no offense taken. I mean I get it. Harsh, but yeah. I am what I is."
She stepped closer to him. Hesitated. "I'm only looking into it because I believe you have something more to you as well. I mean I watched as the makeshift doomsday device you created actually worked, and it was made out of a vacuum cleaner."
Ron rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. "Yeah, I was shocked that it really, really worked. It was so sick! Got us out of a major jam."
"You habitually do amazing things under intense pressure," Kim said, a bit of awe and pride in her voice.
Ron looked away. It was too dark to really tell, even with eyes adjusted, but it seemed he was blushing. "I mean, yeah, sometimes. I'm not sure how my head works, really. Sometimes things happen, sometimes they don't."
"Do you know where your report cards are kept?" She had broke in, she had entered, and she didn't want to leave the mission unfinished. She still had her own curiosity to sate.
"Not really. I typically run and hide when my parents look at 'em."
"That bad, huh?"
"Gentleman's C, KP. I get by, but I always get scared of what the 'rents will do."
"Ah, that makes sense," She didn't know his parents super well, but they never seemed the type to harsh on Ron. After all, they allowed him to accompany her on missions, no problem. Not too many parents would be alright with that, but they seemed pretty chill if the frequency of how often they needed to go out on the field was any indication. She needed Ron, and they allowed him to go with her every time. They were gravy in her book.
"I would guesstimate," he said, index finger pointing up. "That they are in a box."
"Gee, that sure does narrow it down," She stole another glance around the room, and the stack of a myriad boxes loomed over her still.
"But I'm willing to help…as long as you promise not to break into my house again," he said, glancing at her.
"Done deal." Kim agreed. It was an easy enough promise to make.
The two teens combed through boxes in the dark. There were a lot of them related to math in some way, and Ron shivered every time he got a full box of mathematical equations.
"A lot of this stuff must be my dad's," he pointed out, pushing a box away from him with a toe as if it would explode.
"Yeah, it looks like it. Thinking about it, I'm surprised you aren't better at math considering you have the perfect person to tutor from."
Ron full body shivered. "Math is evil!"
"Uh, huh," Kim said, shooting him a doubtful look. "So you've told me before."
"Can't say it enough…oh, hey, Kim! I think I just scored big!" Ron happily voiced.
Kim was going to ask what he meant by that, when she read his name written in white marker on the side of the box. Any other color and she might not have been able to read it due to the lack of lighting. She shifted closer to Ron and Rufus, while Ron flipped through the materials within the box. "It looks like it contains my elementary school paperwork and such."
Kim peeked into the box. She could kind of make out Ron's handwriting on a lot of the papers. "Yeah, seems you're right."
He pulled out a paper at random and held it. Neither of them could really read what was on it. "KP? Maybe it's not the right time to ask, but why are we doing this in the dark?" He questioned, bewildered.
"As to not disturb your parents? It also keeps up a mission atmosphere," Kim supplied, a little lost now too. She had nothing better to offer than that.
"Oh, they wear earplugs to bed. They started doing that because I used to bump into the walls a lot getting Rufus some late night snackage. They won't get up until morning, which means a little light right now could go a long way."
Kim stood and once she found the light switch, flicked it on. Everything immediately became illuminated in artificial light and way easier to see. The room was a lot dustier than she had originally thought, but she returned to the current task at hand. "Well?"
Ron passed the paper over to her, his hand shaking. Odd. She grabbed it from him and studied it. The first thing that stood out was the giant A+ written in red. There was slightly smaller red handwriting written underneath that. 'An absolutely wonderful job, Ronald. Bravo.'
A teacher complimenting Ron? The assignment's description was written in bold black lettering. 'Write about an important event in your life', it said. Starting on the bold black lines supplied for writing purposes on the sheet, Ron's handwriting in pencil could be made out. It read as followed:
Time is an amazing concept. We live each day utilizing it to the fullest. My best friend Kim and I have had plenty of great times, and have lived through a lot of amazing events together, like when she helped me learn how to tie my shoes. That's why the event I chose is our fateful meeting in Pre-K. We immediately had a strong connection to each other, and the bond we have holds strong today. Like a fortress, strong and resilient, even when we disagree. Over the years of getting to know her, the good and the bad, I knew that I would want Kim to be my best friend for as long as I lived. I didn't know it then, but that moment is an event that continues to shape my life even now, and it makes me really happy.
"No way." Kim finally said, stunned by the fluidity and raw honesty of what she just read. She could very well feel herself wanting to tear up. That was very well written and what's more...touching. Her heart felt full.
"I don't remember writing that," Ron looked at the paper, spooked. "I did not write that."
"It's your handwriting, just a little more unsure than you currently write, but, yeah, it's yours."
"There is no way I wrote that." He sounded super wigged out. "Maybe I was having people do my work for me back then, but…"
"That doesn't sound right? Does it?" It sure didn't to her. He had wrote about their friendship. He couldn't pay anyone in the world to write sincerely about that.
"No! I mean…but it sounds so eloquent. I'm not eloquent!"
Kim could see finally what he was getting at. "Hmm, yeah..."
"And it's like," Ron released a breath. "Well, trying to think back, I can remember all the fun we had together. I can remember you helping me tie my shoes, for instance, because I loved velcro shoes for the longest time and was a late bloomer there. But…yeah, nothing related to school at all. Not really. I honestly thought I was barely making it by all my life, but it turns out that's not true."
"So wait...you really can't remember being this good in school?" She hadn't really considered that implication at all at first, but that was bizarre.
"No. I can barely remember the fifth grade at all now that I think about it. I can kinda remember sixth grade, but I know I wasn't writing anything that…ah, thinking this hard hurts!"
Kim puzzled that statement. "What did we do that summer before sixth grade?"
Ron shook his head. "That was the year we did nothing together, remember? I had to go to—"
"Camp Wannaweep!" Kim looked at Ron. "You don't remember school before going away to camp?"
"That camp took away my innocence, Kim. I wouldn't be surprised if something more foul induced happened that I can't recall. Worst. Summer. Ever!"
"Okay, okay." Kim's mind was racing. "We need to slow down."
"Slow down, box it away again, and forget this ever happened. That is more evil than math!" Rufus blew a raspberry toward the box. Ron was starting to spiral. She had to calm him down. She felt like they were def on the right path.
"Ron…look at me," he did so, and she could see the pain in his eyes. "I probably know better than anyone how that summer sucked royally. You went through some freakishly rough times there, and I had to go all summer without seeing you. It felt like the longest summer ever." She placed a hand on his free shoulder. Ron looked at her hand.
"Yeah, it tanked. I wanted to come back so badly, but my mom just wasn't having it."
"I wanted to go too once I realized you were leaving." Kim admitted.
"There was no time by then. 'This is our way of telling you.' Yeah, thanks for doing so the night before!"
His parents had a way of giving him important information that was for sure, but..."Come on, Ron. It's really late. We probably should wrap this up soon. Did you check to see if the reports were mixed in there somewhere."
"Give me one sec, KP."
She watched as he shifted between the papers in the box with his middle and index fingers. "Um, hmm, is this it?" He asked, passing her a paper that was a light blue color, with a white trim along the outside. On it were the subjects and grades she had been searching for most of the night.
"This is definitely it," She said, frowning, as her eyes skimmed the paper. "It's from when we were in the fifth grade. You had all A's."
"Did I?"
"Oh, yeah. Including math."
He snatched the paper from her. "No way. Check this out, KP! I was good at math!"
"And science, and reading, and social studies... Ron, you had all A's."
"Booyah! I didn't realize I ever had A's!"
She startled Ron and Rufus with her next statement. "I wish we also had your sixth grade report card."
"Why?"
"According to you, you remember that better, and it should prove that you dropped academically at that point. This is so obviously your fifth grade box, so every paper in here is clear proof that you were good in school. Great even. At least before middle school started. Which timeline wise, is also before Camp Wannaweep."
"You think maybe a villain took me, and did a brain wipe?" Ron supplied, throwing out ideas.
Rufus gasped. "Nuh, un, brain wipe!" The naked mole rat, said, shivering.
"No, that doesn't make sense. You remember things happening before then. That doesn't scream wiped brain. It's more like you forgot some things."
"Then this means…this means…" His eyes shifted back and forth as he thought. "What does it mean?"
Kim pulled the band from her hair, releasing her ponytail. Her auburn hair fell naturally around her face. "It means this is still going to get more awkweird before it gets better."
"I was afraid you'd say that," Ron said, groaning. Rufus sympathetically patted his shoulder in comfort.
In a newly created lair, surrounded by a rocky moat and torrential ocean water, two devious colored individuals stood in a central control room talking. Henchmen in red and black bodysuits, moved around the lair reorganizing boxes and other items of dangerous proportions. Yes, operations were in full swing, which meant it was time for another go at world domination for a certain blue man in a darker blue coat and pants.
"Now Shego. This plan is a plan of brilliance!" He gloated, merrily.
The green woman in the room with him, gave him a small glance before giving more attention back to filing her gloved covered nails. "Uh huh. Yeah. Suuuure. Just like the other hundreds that came before, right, Dr. D?"
"Neirg, they were all brilliant," Dr. Drakken frowned. "That is until Kim Possible had to butt in," He gritted his teeth and slammed his fisted hands on the table, causing a mug to roll and some papers to flutter to the ground. "Each and every time!"
Shego looked for all the world like she was bored of the conversation as of yesterday. "Assuming she steps in again this time, won't it be another check in the failure box? I think the cobwebs in the winners circle are starting to feel a little lonely."
"Optimism, Shego. Our time at global conquest is nearly upon us! Once the good Professor hands me the coordinates to his inventions, victory will be all but assured!"
"Coordinates?" She scoffed. "We're kidnapping a man for directions?"
"Not just any directions, Shego. We're in search of an invention that will have governments bowing to my whims! However, hurng, there's one snag."
Shego sighed, irritated. "I'm out."
"Eh?" Drakken deflated at hearing the pronouncement. "Er, don't you want to hear what it is first?"
"Dr. D. I think if you're seriously trying to aim for global conquest, and world domination, you may want to do me one huge favor."
"Eh, what would that be?" He asked, confused.
"Create a plan without snags!" She growled.
"I-it's a very delicate process!" Dr. Drakken looked miffed. "And snags can be ironed out!"
"No, no. You see, snags unravel! So you know what I hear when you say or mention a snag? Your plan has already fallen apart!"
"Not this time! I'll have you know it's not a Possible sort of snag. It's more…hippo mental?"
Some of Shego's anger left after hearing that weird answer. "Come again?"
"That's why I told you that you should let me explain it first!" Dr. Drakken crossed his arms, and turned his head away with closed eyes. "But you just had to get lippy."
Shego rolled her eyes. "Start talking."
"For one day can't you be nicer to me?" Drakken muttered, shaking his head. Good obedient sidekicks were in such short supply lately.
Shego lit her hand, a greenish swirling glow manifesting around it. "Not in my contract. Now talk!"
"Oooh ugh, fine!" Drakken began to pace. "Professor Alex Acgor, is a very smart man. He creates things, amazing world dominating potentially things, and just…shuts them down. It's like a hobby of his or something. Don't know, don't care."
"Following."
"Yes, good. The machine you see here," he pointed at a picture of a mechanical laser like device, kind of blurry and grainy in the photo. "Was created by Professor Acgor. However, I don't know how to operate the darned thing or where he keeps it stored. And currently, neither does Professor Acgor."
Shego was becoming grumpy again. "Not following."
"I'm getting there! Don't interru-ouch! Shego!" He rubbed his newly plasma-singed behind. "Erg, that was uncalled for!"
"Hey, hey. I'll interrupt as I wish. I just thought to offer you a soft reminder."
"Hmph." Drakken still rubbed his backside, plasma cooled, leaving a black singe in his jacket. "Anyway! All of the information he has about the way to work, operate, create, and above all, where he keeps these devious devices is repressed within the memory of his brain. He uses a different machine of his own creation to forget that information. He does it to make sure he can't be tortured yadda, yadda."
"So we're kidnapping the guy again, why? He can't help you if that's the case."
"Oh, but you see he can," Drakken grinned widely. "He has only repressed the memories. It's kind of like not being able to recall what you ate for breakfast this time last year. I just learned, from a very reliable source, that he actually created a different device that allows him to bring back those repressed memories and restore them to him. Apparently this device digs deeply into the forgotten subconscious and pulls back a user's most forgotten memories."
"Seems counterproductive. If you're gonna make something to avoid being tortured, why make a different device that'll help you be tortured?" She shrugged. Geniuses. She just couldn't understand how they operated.
"To him he has created art. Masterpieces. He's insane, but wasn't insane enough to just allow himself to never truly understand his own creative thought processes ever again. Thus, the creation of that device. We're going to get our hands on it, and once we do, we'll pull every bit of devious information back to the forefront. And then! We'll torture him!"
"Okay, it's flawed, buuuut maybe it's workable. Been a while since we've had to torture someone for information," Shego decided, coming around. If only because Drakken was the only employer that offered decent benefits. Too bad Señor Señor, Señor wasn't in the market for a henchwoman. The man paid exceptionally well. "Fine. I'm game. What do you need me to do?"
Drakken rubbed his hands together as his grin grew sinister. "My dearest Shego, I thought you'd never ask."
And we have completely taken off with this fic! This was a jolly hard chapter to write. Making sure that I wrote everything correctly for how I plan to build upon it. Phew! Hopefully, it was well worth the wait! I've noticed that each chapter has been getting longer than the last, which is good for you guys. Thanks again for reading! Until next chapter, I hope you all have a good day!