I feel guilty. I haven't written in over a month. Way over a month. *sigh* I blame it all on Christmas vacation, Animal Crossing, Inu-Yasha, Escaflowne, and two weeks of reading and outlining a Louis L'amour book. Westerns.. Ugh.. (no offense to anyone who likes them! ^_^;)

So, after over four weeks of nothing, here is the fifth chapter to One Year. It's good to be back!

I'll try not to make this confusing. ^_^;

Chapter Five

It was a little over an hour before either of the two best friends regained consciousness, and Kim happened to be the first. She groaned as she sat up. The room was spinning and her head was pounding furiously. She put a hand to her head and blinked a few times, trying to straighten out her vision. "Ugh.." she moaned. She was feeling very lightheaded. She laid back down against the cold wooden floor and closed her eyes for a few moments until her mind seemed back in proper working order. She opened her eyes again, and was happy to find that the room had stopped spinning.

As that momentary confusion disappeared, the thin line that was Kim's temper broke. She fully remembered the pain she'd experienced due to Amethyst's 'spell', and she was angry. Of course, being Kim, her first instinct was to jump up, find the crazy cat-girl, and demand an explanation. Unfortunately, as she found out a second later, her legs didn't seem to want to cooperate with her. She was up for about a second before her knees gave in and she fell on her rear. She cursed out loud, and then abruptly stopped breathing. Her voice hadn't sounded right. It didn't sound like her at all. In fact, it sounded a whole lot like Ron.

Kim tried once again. "Hello?" she said uncertainly. There it was again! That was definitely not her voice.

Now she was worried. She looked down at herself. Familiar clothes, but not her clothes. They were Ron's. Kim closed her eyes again and tried to regulate her breathing. 'Okay, let's see here. Ron's voice, Ron's clothes. I am not freaking out. I am not freaking out.' Kim opened her eyes again, and looked herself over once more. 'This can't be happening!' She pinched herself and winced. It wasn't a dream. 'This can't be happening!'

Rufus, who'd been cowering in 'Ron's' pocket while this was happening, felt the movement and popped his head out of his hiding place. He sighed in relief to see that 'Ron' had woken up. The little naked molerat crawled out of the pocket and up 'Ron's' shirt, and hugged him. "Rooon!" he cried happily.

Kim snapped. "Nooo! Noo way! This is NOT happening!" she screamed. She stood up very fast, causing Rufus to lose his balance and fall. The little pink rodent sat up and blinked as his best friend screamed hysterically. The naked molerat sighed and slumped down against the floor. The whole world was going insane.

~*~*~*~

Amethyst, who'd curled up on the chair in her living room and was now diligently studying her spell book, felt her pointed ears prick up at the loud scream that rang through her house. "It's about time," she growled to herself. She closed the spell book abruptly and hopped out of her chair. She could tell from the scream that the spell had worked. She reached out to enter the room and hesitated. She knew that Kim was the one screaming, and she could tell that it wasn't a very happy Kim. She silently prayed that every part of her spell had worked, and that Kim would be without her usual abilities. She grimaced and turned the handle.

Kim stopped screaming as she heard the door open. Amethyst poked her head in and smiled innocently. "Hi, Kimmy," she said.

Kim's now brown eyes narrowed. "You!" she said. "You! You.. You.. I'm going to.." Kim's anger got the best of her and she started towards Amethyst.

And tripped.

Kim fell to the floor, and Amethyst inched the rest of her body in, thanking God for her luck. She kneeled down beside the fallen Kim. "Might wanna get your temper under control," she said. "You can't do that kinda stuff as long as you're Ron."

Kim sat up, and glared daggers at the cat-girl. She then proceeded to grumble every vulgarity she knew, with ninety-nine percent of them directed at Amethyst. Amethyst hissed at her, and Kim shut up, suddenly feeling very vulnerable. Amethyst smiled. "If you'll just stay like that for a minute, I'll wake up Ron and we can discuss the terms."

"Terms?" Kim questioned, her eyes narrowing a bit more.

"Yes," Amethyst said. "I've got to make sure you two don't ever get it into your heads to tell those scientists where I am."

"We weren't going to anyways!" Kim protested.

"How do I know that I can believe you?" Amethyst asked. "I can't take any chances with anyone. I won't go back there." She grinned. "It's not like I turned you into a frog."

Kim didn't say anything, but her angry expression didn't lessen any, either. Amethyst sighed and stood up, then walked over to the true Ron's side. She was baffled at how he could've slept through all that screaming, and she hoped that he would be a little better about this than Kim was. She shook him lightly, and he groaned. "Five more minutes," he said, rolling over.

"Get up!" Amethyst snapped, shaking him harder.

Ron opened one of Kim's green eyes, rolled over, and looked at Amethyst. "Amy? What're you doing here?" he asked sleepily. He blinked. "Why are you spinning around like that?"

Rufus stood off to the side of all this, confused out of his mind. Amethyst had called Kim Ron, right? Did that mean that Ron was Kim? That would certainly explain the episode earlier.

Ron sat up and rubbed his eyes groggily. "Woah.." he said, falling back over from dizziness. He remembered where he was as he peered around the room. "What did you do to me?" he asked. "'Cause that really hurt."

Amethyst turned to the wall, and made a 'come' motion at a small mirror hanging there. It disappeared from its spot and reappeared in her hands. "Cool!" Ron said as she handed it to him. "You really gotta teach me how to do that stuff, it's awesome!" Amethyst motioned for him to look in the mirror. He did so.

"Hey, I look like Kim!" he said. He reached up and ran his fingers through the long red hair that was now on his head. He grinned. "Sweet!"

Kim, from her position on the floor, looked at Ron like he was an idiot. The last thing that was running through her mind at the moment was 'sweet'. Ron began to admire himself in the mirror, and then started investigating the rest of Kim's body to make sure that it wasn't just the face. "I'm Kim all over!" he said, running his hands over his hips and looking down at the new parts that he'd never had before.

"Stop it!" Kim said. Ron looked over at her and blushed.

"Oh! Uh.. Sorry," he said. He tried to recover. "So you're me, eh? How's it feel?"

Kim crossed her new arms over her new chest and said in a very smart-alecky tone, "Do you really wanna know?"

"Nope," Ron said.

Rufus toddled over to Kim's body. "Ron?" he asked plaintively.

Ron nodded. "Yup, it's me, buddy!" he said, scooping the naked molerat up in his palms and cuddling him. Rufus sighed in relief.

"Alright!" Amethyst said, clasping her hands together. "Now that everyone knows who they are, let's go into the living room and discuss the terms!"

~*~*~*~

"Alright," Amethyst said, seating the two 'switchees' down on her couch and taking her own preferred seat in her armchair. "This is what you two are going to do."

"We don't get any say in this?" Kim said.

"No," Amethyst said, smirking as Kim looked about to protest. "I'm the one calling the shots here." Kim shut her mouth, but she was seething with anger, and Amethyst's cat nose could smell it. "Here's what's going to happen," she began again. "Neither of you will tell anyone about me or this spell. That means you've got to act like each other as best you can, and yes, anyone includes Wade and your family." She shot a look at Kim, who said nothing, and continued on. "I suggest you guys get used to being each other pretty quick, too, since I've put the spell on you for a year."

Kim wouldn't keep silent at this one "You've got to be kidding me!" she cried. "A whole year? A year with Ron living my life? Ron going to my cheerleading tryouts in the summer? Ron going on my date with Josh this Saturday? Ron taking my tests and living with my family? Me doing the same thing with Ron's life? No way."

"Would you rather I turned to into a snake or a frog?" Amethyst asked with an acid sweetness in her voice.

"No," Kim said, "I want you to reverse what you did to us right now!"

"I'm just being safe," Amethyst said.

"Safe from WHAT?" Kim asked. "From us? What d'you think we'd do to you? We're your friends, can't you trust us?"

Amethyst sighed. "If you were me, you would understand that I can't fully trust anyone. You've never had to go through life like I have. All I am to those scientists is a lab rat. I've had so many things done to me over the years that I can't even remember what I was before." She leaned forward. "If you're really my friend, then prove it to me and wait out the year."

"We can't do this!" Kim protested.

Amethyst smiled. "I thought Kim Possible could do anything," she purred. "That's what it says on your website."

"But.."

"I'm not sure I'd want to put the world in the hands of a girl who's not even strong enough to last a year in her best friend's body," Amethyst said. "To think that you would turn down a challenge as easy as this one when you've done so many other things that took a lot more strength."

Ron looked at his best friend, who was contemplating Amethyst's words silently. He knew that Amethyst had hit home with those remarks. Kim wouldn't back down so quickly now. "Fine," Kim said. "Fine. Whatever. I'll wait this idiotic thing out."

Amethyst grinned. "I knew you'd see it my way," she said.

~*~*~*~

Amethyst was making lunch for the three of them, and a little bit for Rufus, and Ron and Kim were teaching each other what to do to be each other.

"Don't talk so much like a girl," Ron said. "Try on 'booyah' and 'sweet' and stuff like that. It doesn't sound right when you talk like you do."

"And you talk more like me," Kim countered. "Let's try it."

"Okay," Ron said. "Like, whatever!"

"I'm not a valley girl," Kim said as Ron started giggling. She sighed and smiled. It was hard to keep thinking of the dark side of things while Ron was with you.

Amethyst walked in, carrying plates of sandwiches and potato chips with her. "You guys got the lingo down?" she asked.

"Like, totally!" Ron answered as she handed him a plate. He grabbed the sandwich and inspected it. "Turkey!" he said in satisfaction, taking a big bite out of it.

Kim's eyes widened as she saw him scarf down his lunch. Ron loved food, she knew that. He loved it too much for her slim body. "Ron," she said, "you're going to have to cut back on the 'snackage' until we change back, you know?"

"What? Why?" Ron asked, crunching on a chip.

"You'll make me fat, that's why!" Kim said. "We'll have to talk about your diet later," she said.

"No way am I going on a diet," Ron said.

"You are," Kim said, "because you're not messing up my body."

Ron made Kim's famous puppy-eyes look. "That's not gonna work, not for this," Kim said. "You don't have to cut down too much, we'll just have to set some boundaries."

Ron sighed. "Boundaries. Great."

~*~*~*~

Whee! Finally done! Now I get to go on to the interesting parts.

There're only a few weeks left to vote for where this fic goes. Get 'em in soon.

If you want to vote by e-mail, send it to me at EmeraldStitch627@yahoo.com as opposed to my old e-mail address. If you'd like to vote otherwise, I have an AIM SN, IceDragon645.

Once again, sorry for the delay. Hopefully I'll have the next chapter up faster. ^_^