Decided to try a hand at KP fanfiction after going on a slight binge over on Disney+ this past month. I have no confidence in the endeavor, but I did my best to sound as in character as I could for our heroes, and eventually, villains too. Definitely an AU story. Some season 3 episodes like Emotion Sickness and Bad Boy have taken place, but not So The Drama. I don't know if it'll lead to romance in this story or not, but thanks for stopping by!

Ah, another day of cheer practice was in the books. Only slightly sweaty from jumping and flipping around for the last hour, Kim smiled as she faced her team. She could see the glow radiating off of them providing her with the tell that they knew they so succeeded at nailing that performance. "Great job girls. I think we can confidently wrap up here. If we bring that sort of energy every game, our football team will rock hard."

"So you think, K," Bonnie said, stepping forward, brushing her brown hair behind her shoulder. She placed a hand on her hip and smirked. "There's always room for improvement where it concerns you."

"Not likely, B," Kim said, gritting her teeth and narrowing her eyes at her incessant thorn in her side. "We did great. 'Nuff said." Why Bonnie Rockwaller chose to nitpick even when things worked out swimmingly, she didn't know. Either way, Kim had to hurry to get changed to meet Ron outside of the school so they could stop at Bueno Nacho. He had gotten detention, but he should have been let out at the same time cheer practice ended, so hopefully she could time running into him properly. She so didn't have the time to verbal spar with Bonnie right now.

"Oh, we did," Bonnie motioned to the girls who knew well enough not to engage when a K and B war was in progress. "But you? You could stand to practice a little more," She smiled as she scrolled by Kim. "I can't leave my Brick house waiting. Tah."

Kim frowned, but nonetheless quickly grabbed her gym bag to get ready to change. She hadn't crossed the entirety of the gym yet when Beep. Beep. Be-beep! could be heard coming from inside of it. Her Kimmunicator was going off. She unzipped the bag, and reached in pulling out the blue device. Turning the screen on, Wade appeared before her immediately as he naturally always did when he called.

"Hey, Wade. What's the sitch?" She asked, as the rest of the team dispersed out of the gym around her.

"Hey, Kim. There's something I've been meaning to share with you. Something…concerning." He replied, sounding uneasy. Kim took in Wade's furrow brow and braced herself for the worse. Getting mission ready in her mind. Her eyes narrowed.

"Lay it on me," Had Drakken and Shego made a move? They were like the top villains to make a move more so than any of their other ones, but Wade never looked concerned in regards to the steady reliable duo. Was it someone new? No matter what, she'd be ready as soon as she could inform Ron about the latest sitch.

"Do you remember when Rufus became a temporary genius?"

"Um, yeah. That was so bizarre." Kim said, frowning. Not what she had expected him to bring up. "Why? Did you find out something majorly off about it?"

"Maybe not in the way you'd think, but…here, check this out," In place of Wade on the screen was a video of Ron in class, with Rufus in his shirt sleeve standing in front of a chalkboard. She watched as the problem was efficiently solved by the mole rat literally in hand, just unseen to the naked (ha!) eye.

Kim grew puzzled. "Yeah, seen this vid before. Ron's a dirty liar. So?"

The video restarted, and Wade's voice came through just the same as it normally would. "No, I mean really watch Ron's hand movements."

Kim squinted and watched his hand as closely as she could. She felt confused. "He's just leading Rufus around the board."

"Funny, I thought that same thing, but if you really look at it…" Wade's face reemerged on the screen. Fear was laced in his features, and Kim could feel her heart beginning to thunder in her chest. She rarely saw Wade make that kind of face, and it was so bizarre he was doing it based off the convo they were having. "It's obvious that while Rufus is doing the actual writing on the board, Ron's hands are forming the right movements for the answer. As in, he may not be writing the actual work on the board, but he's still naturally mimicking the answer!"

"Wait…" She paused, gathering her thoughts. "Are you implying that Ron was actually able to-"

"Solve each and every last one of the problems….himself?" Wade disappeared, and the video of Ron popped back up, this time with red lines tracing along with his hand movements, matching what was being written on the chalkboard pretty darn fluently. "Yeah. It's why nobody could even tell that he wasn't the one writing the answers in the first place. It's literally a perfect match."

Kim hesitated. There had to be some actual logical conclusion. Like...well, anything would be more logical. "Maybe Rufus was able to guide-"

Wade returned, shaking his head quickly. "I know what you're getting at Kim and all I can say is…impossible." He brought up a still of Rufus from the moment, holding the chalk with both paws. "His hands, er, paws, were full at the time. Which means—"

"Ron's hand movements…" She could barely get herself to finish the statement, much less believe it to be true. "Were his own?"

"Bingo." Wade nodded solemnly. "I know getting to the bottom of this is going to be difficult. Probably more difficult than any mission."

"W-what do you mean?" Kim was deep in thought. It wasn't lost on her that it was more believable to think that Rufus had been doing everything, genius or not, than it was to believe that all along Ron really had been able to solve all of those equations, but her eyes saw for themselves what Wade was trying to now get her to fully grasp.

"Well, it's Ron, Kim. He went along with it, sure, but he went along with it knowing that it wasn't he himself doing the work…if that makes sense."

"…Yeah…" She could kinda get the Ronnish-ness of what he was getting at. Ron thought nothing of it because to him, Rufus was doing all the work. No big.

"I don't know if he realized the full extent of what he was doing." Wade looked anguished, and for her part, Kim probably looked no better. Could Ron really have hid something so…so big from her…for years? "Rather or not he even consciously understood what the implications were, or if it was an unconscious act in the heat of the moment. He could rely on Rufus to take the heat, but he—"

"Showed his true potential…by accident?" Kim whispered. If that were the case, then it wasn't that he was deliberately hiding it from her, but rather…no, it would be an inconclusive hunch, and it was so the drama. "Wade!"

"Yeah, I know," She watched him type a mile a minute. "But we may have a bit of insight into his actual IQ levels, which, well, would prove that this hypothesis may actually be the case."

"What do you mean?" Kim was practically squeezing the Kimmunicator in her grasp, as if it would get Wade to give her what she needed to hear faster.

"The Zorpox incident." Was Wade's short reply. A picture of bad boy Ron in his leather jacket, flashlight in one hand, pencil in the other, with paper equations surrounding him appeared on screen. She could barely decipher what he had written, not because it was illegible, but because she just really didn't understand the jumble of equations that filled the sheets before him. She felt chilled to the core. Her eyes growing round as she replayed the events of that moment.

"Nooo! Are you saying what Ron was able to do wasn't a side effect of the Attitudinator?" The look Ron gave the equations wasn't unsteady in the slightest. No. He knew exactly what he was doing. He was confident as he furiously wrote his equations out before him. Those equations led to actual working machines out of things found within his garage, like his beat up old tricycle. In less than a day, he had successfully created something intricate in that small space of time than Drakken had the ability for. Shego kidnapped him because he was able to brilliantly create something—and with a speed that would blow most scientists out of the water at that. That…that was all naturally Ron?

Wade shook his head in reply to her question. "According to my findings…no," He typed frantically. "The device only supplies the wearer with total good or total bad energy. It doesn't increase or decrease intelligence. Which is why I started investigating this in the first place. I couldn't help my curiosity."

She really needed to lean against something, but she was still in the now empty gym. She was learning way too much way too fast, so the whiplash, and it could all be over speculation on Wade's part. It had to be. "This is so wrong sick."

"Yeah, which is why I couldn't hold my tongue against my findings anymore. I figured you may have more of a chance of getting to the bottom of all of this than I would."

"Me?" Kim was surprised by that to say the least. "But he—"

Wade gave her his most serious face. "Kim. Ron would just freak out, say it tanks, or come up with a million and one excuses. I won't be able to get him to do anything let alone test his IQ seriously. He's your best friend. Maybe you can find out the truth. Perhaps in something that happened in the past you may have forgotten, or talking to him now. There has to be some reason he chooses to, or has unknowingly locked away, his, er, knowledge abilities."

"You really believe my R-um, I mean, our Ron," She smiled sheepishly, a slight rosy tinge appearing in her cheeks. "Is a genius?" The same Ron who didn't always know the meaning to certain words, and labeled them 'school words'? That Ron? Inconceivable.

"I may have to hand it to him," Wade said, fear evident in his voice again. "He might literally be smarter than me. It's just…no matter how much I analyze it, and believe me, I have more times than I care to admit. I just can't understand why he won't consciously acknowledge it."

Kim found she didn't have a reply for that one herself either. If what Wade was suggesting was true, and he had provided evidence to back it up, she wanted to get to the bottom of it too. If only because it just didn't make any sense. Why would her best friend in the whole world lock away that he was smart? She couldn't see the angle, but she worried there had to be one.

"Hey, KP!" Ron exclaimed, smiling as he barreled into the gym at top speed making her jump guiltily from her musings. "Ready to go to Bueno Nacho?" He came to an abrupt stop in front of her, Rufus scurrying up his shoulder, as he took in the Kimmunicator in her hands. The smile immediately fell as Ron put on his own mission face. "Oh, hey Wade. Is it mission time?" He then groaned, upset. "Aww! Why can't the villains wait until we've eaten cheesy goodness first before they launch into world domination?"

Rufus rubbed his tummy, licking his lips. "Mmmhmm, cheese."

"Ah, Ron!" Kim said a little too loudly, wanting to hide her Kimmunicator, but realizing there was no reason to do so. Wade had already logged off it seemed in between her skittishness. Gee, thanks for ditching Wade! "I, um, was just asking Wade if there was any, um, sitch's we needed to check out." She said, putting the device in her bag again for the time being.

"Kim!" Ron exclaimed off a gasp, looking seriously betrayed, adding on to Kim's budding guilt for lying. "How could you? We already planned to go to Bueno Nacho. At least let me and Rufus eat first. Dying of hunger here!" Rufus wilted and looked sad. "Mmm, dying." The naked mole rat, chimed in agreement.

"Um, well, good news. Nothing going just yet!" She plastered a smile on her face as she shuffled around him to get to the gym's doors. "Just...let me get changed, and I can keep my promise. Deal?"

"Booya!" Ron exclaimed, happily energetic again as he hi-fingered his little pink buddy. "We'll wait for you outside, Kim."

"Awesome," Kim said, as she walked out, resolved to get to the bottom of this no matter what.

I can't promise frequent updates. The KP fandom seems a little dry, so as far as I know I'll be mostly writing for myself, which is fine. It's pretty much the reason for me writing this piece anyway since I couldn't ignore the itch to jot it down any longer. However, reviews, follows, and the like would help immensely towards me updating consistently since I would know there are interested parties out there towards this particular plot point. Thanks for reading and until next time!