A/N—As always, please review.
This chapter's idea comes completely from Classic Cowboy and his excellent fiction World Warriors, with his permission of course.
"The flow of time is always cruel. Its speed seems different for each person, but no one can change it. One thing that does not change over time is a memory of younger days…"—Sheik (Zelda: Ocarina of Time)
Chapter 6
One Year Later
"It seems I have underestimated you, Ron-san. You have picked up this grueling art faster than I had ever anticipated," said Sensei, as he quietly talked to Ron privately during their afternoon meal. "Perhaps you can even compete in the World Warriors Tournament."
"World Warriors tournament?" Ron asked in awe.
"Yes, if we can complete your training within a year, you can make it back home just in time."
"You mean, the tournament's going to be held in Middleton?"
"Fate is quite ironic is it not?" Ron only nodded silently, before continuing on.
"Sensei, what are the contenders like?"
"This is the first year the tournament will be held. However, I personally know for a fact that the contenders are all vicious martial artists, capable of even giving me a run for my money. It will be a great opportunity to measure your progress Stoppable-san."
---
Oomph! Kim landed hard on the solid ground, watching the thieves escape with a bundle of jewels. Damn it, I can't even stop a common theft anymore. For the past year, Kim had heeded Dr. Director's warnings and stuck to the private cases, which she was failing quite often. Without Ron to distract her enemies, she accumulated failure after failure after failure.
"How could you let them do that!" the woman shrieked. "You're Kim Possible; it says here you can do anything, and you couldn't stop a bunch of lowlifes from ransacking a jewelry store?!" Kim hung her head low, realizing that she let down another one of her clients. Quietly slipping out, she jumped into her own car, unable to find a ride for any of her missions anymore due to her numerous failures. Thus, she was basically limited to small missions located nearby, though she was failing miserably at those too. In fact, the only success she had in the past year was saving a cat from a tree. How could this happen? Ron…
Sighing, she turned on the radio, hoping to hear some cheerful news or any news at all to drown out her sorrow.
"On to our next topic: Kim Possible, hero or menace? Caller #1, you're on."
"Hi, I'm calling from Upperton, and all I can say is that Kim Possible is a menace and nothing more. She hasn't done anything heroic in the past year and has caused far more trouble with her involvement."
"Thank you, caller #2, you're on."
"I would just like to say that Kim Possible is a menace and should be stopped at all costs. Every time she shows up at a crime scene she gets caught and causes a lot more trouble than necessary. I personally—" Kim shut off the radio with a mixture of anger and sadness. Maybe I have become more of a menace instead of an aid. Without Ron, I can never enter stealthily; without him, I can't do anything right. She sighed to herself as she arrived home and ran to her room. Jumping into her computer seat, she stared at her website and broke down in to tears. Ron, I need you; I wasn't happy because of Josh. I was happy because of you. Looking up at her site one last time, she clicked on delete, signifying the end of Team Possible.
As she set her homepage back to her default ISP's, one of the top stories caught her eye.
Middleton to Host the First World Warriors Tournament!
Bigger than every fighting tournament combined, the first annual World Warriors Tournament will be held in a small suburban town by the name of Middleton for an unspecified reason. Millions of fighters across the globe are training just to qualify for this legendary tournament, which is said to be a revival of the ancient games to determine the world's greatest. Starting next week, qualifying tournaments will be held in nearly nine hundred registered cities. Champions of each will earn the opportunity to compete in the preliminaries held next year during a ten day span. Dubbed the biggest sporting event in the history of man, the World Warriors Tournament will determine, officially, who the world's greatest fighter is.
"Kim, Josh is here!" Book marking the page for later reference, Kim turned off her computer and headed downstairs.
---
Ron pushed himself even harder as he struggled to complete his exercise for the day. "One-thousand-two-hundred-and-ten," he breathed heavily, completing another pushup. The pain in his body begged him to stop, but he knew he had to go on. Sucking his breath in, he descended to the ground before exploding up in another fit of pain.
"You can rest now, Stoppable-san," said Sensei. A wave or relief washed over Ron's body as he collapsed to the ground in agony. Sweat continued to trickle down his now very lean body and onto the hard training mat. Through all his physical pain, he felt extremely at peace mentally. With his mind clear, Ron drifted off to sleep still drenched in sweat, as his sensei looked on in admiration and pride.