"Earth to Ro-on" he lifted his head, blinking confusedly.
"Hey, you ok?"
"Kim? Ki...KP!!!" Ron leapt to his feet and grabbed Kim in a crushing hug. He couldn't believe it was really her. "How...what...where?!" he stuttered incoherently, happily clinging to his best friend.
"Umm..Ron..can't breathe." He loosened his grip, stepping back slightly to look at her, assuring himself that she was really, truly there. Then hugged her tightly again.
"You're alive!"
"Uh, yeah. What's gotten into you?" Kim gave him a funny look, not quite sure why he was acting so...odd. He blushed, even turning the tips of his ears pink.
"Yeah, um... well, see...you got hit by that light thingy and you weren't moving and the storm was getting worse and the mole rats came out and they wouldn't let me go and they dragged you into the ground and you still weren't moving and when I got underground too I didn't know where they took you and I thought...and...I " he ground to a stop, but only because Kim had covered his mouth to shut him up.
"Ron! Chill. I'm ok, see? I was just knocked unconscious... it's happened before, you know." Ron blinked. He was silent, considering her words, then kind of hung his head a little.
"Yeah...but this time was different..." Kim hugged him gently, knowing how hard it was for him to have lost Rufus. No wonder he had panicked...having already lost one best friend that day, and to think that he had lost the other. She decided to get his mind off things.
"You are not going to believe what all I've seen down here! I mean, we always thought Rufus was special, right? Like a lab rat or something? But they're ALL like that, all of the mole rats! I don't know HOW all the scientists in the world have never discovered them, but they have and entire civilization down here! They have languages, one of their own and a few 'surface' languages like English and Spanish and probably some of the local African languages, though I wouldn't recognize them even if they do speak them. They have technology that is SO far advanced! I mean, my dad's a rocket scientist, I should know, right? It's amazing!" She stopped, catching her breath. Before she could continue, one of the many mole rats ran up to them. He was dressed in a black jumpsuit with silver markings that they didn't recognize. He scrambled up Ron's leg, gripping the fabric with his sharp claws. Ron quickly reached down and let him jump onto his hand. He then lifted him to eye level.
"Blaze?" The mole rat nodded enthusiastically. "I guess you probably already have your own name, seeing as you guys have a whole civilization down here, huh?" Blaze shook his head, making a slightly irritated face.
"Uh-uh, uh-uh, nope!" he grinned and pointed to the back of his jumpsuit where, when seen up close, could be recognized.
"One-nine-three-two-two" Kim read. "You have numbers instead of names?" Blaze nodded again then scurried up Ron's arm to rest on his shoulder, gripping Ron's ear.
"So should we call you 1-9-3-2-2, or 19-32-2, or 1-93-22, or...um...what?" Ron rolled his eyes to the side, trying to see the tiny being attached to his ear.
"Uh-uh!" Blaze said indignantly, "Blaze...Me like!" Kim grinned at Ron.
"Looks like you've corrupted him." He smiled back. Blaze tugged on Ron's ear to get his attention, then pointed towards the opposite end of the chamber.
"Come on come on!" Kim's eyes followed the direction he was pointing and then gave a little jump, like she was startled.
"Oh yeah! I totally forgot. When I came over to find you, I was supposed to bring you back to the council." Ron blinked at her, confused.
"Huh?"
"You know, their government, or whatever. They called themselves a council, so that's what I guess they are. The leader is the 'Chairman', and I think he's like the president or something, but I could be wrong. They didn't tell me much, just that they needed to talk to us...BOTH of us." Ron frowned a little at this; no one ever paid any attention to Ron Stoppable...he was just the sidekick. Usually they only cared about Kim. He didn't mind, not really...well, not too often, anyways. Blaze slid down his arm and leapt to the floor, beckoning them after him.
"Lead on, oh mighty trail blazer!" Ron joked. They made their way to through a maze of tiny computers, wires, and working mole rats, being very careful not to step on anything. Blaze led them around the perimeter of the suspended ship to where a small alcove was sunk into the cavern's wall. Ducking down, Kim and Ron followed closely as Blaze led them inside. The ceiling was low enough here to force them down onto their hands and knees, but not so low as to be really uncomfortable. At the far end of the chamber what looked like a miniature juror's box held fifteen mole rats of varying age, size, and appearance. All were well dressed in tiny, yet still flowing, robes in a rainbow of colors.
"Check it out! Kryptonians! You know, like in the comic book when Superman's parents sent him to Earth. You know! That's what they're dressed li...oomph" Kim elbowed Ron none to gently in the stomach, effectively cutting off his rambling whispers. The council members seemed to be speaking amongst themselves, some chittering and squeaking, while others could be heard using various human languages. All chatter ceased, though as Blaze led Kim and Ron to the council seats.
"Ah. Kim Possible. We are most honored by your presence." Kim glanced at Ron. Ron glanced at Kim. None of the other mole rats they had come across had ever had such a grasp of English, nor had they had such deep, commanding voices. Kim smiled slightly, preparing to throw out her patented "no big", but reconsidered, feeling the solemnity of the moment.
"I am honored to be here" she replied in kind, though more hesitantly.
"We have summoned you to this chamber on a matter of grave importance. As you know, a great evil is, even as we speak, being unleashed on the world above.
"You're talking about the phoenix attached to Monkey Fist, right?" The other members of the council stirred nervously, conversation breaking out. The chairman was able to quell the noise with just one look, but frowned as he turned back to Kim and Ron.
"Yes...we do not like to speak of it directly. You must forgive us. The... creature, you see, is an ancient enemy of out people. Many millennia ago our entire population fell from the stars to this planet after our own was destroyed by an evil being. It was a golden age for our civilization, with great accomplishments being made in all areas of science and technology. Our religion, based on our even more ancient ancestors' primitive beliefs, were being proven to be myths, the gods, only legends. The priests still had power, though it was failing. Perhaps desperation is what drove that particular priest to do what he did.
You see, our scientists were very important people, well paid, and given powerful positions. Yet always there is someone not content with his life, always wanting more. In this case one of the top scientists was overly ambitious. He wanted to have more power, and he was willing to do anything to get it. He made a deal with a high priest of Shioa, the sun god, to try to use his theories of the time-space continuum to contact the gods and prove once and for all that they exist. Of course the scientist didn't relly care about the gods, but he did need the priest's help in obtaining a rare element that was reserved for religious rites only. No scientist or commoner had any access to it, only the priests. Once he got hold of the Shioate, so named as it was used in sacrifices to Shioa, he was able to complete an invention that he believed would allow him to travel through time. Once he had that power, he planned to alter history, manipulate the very fabric of time, so that he could rule the world."
"Sounds familiar." Ron whispered wryly to Kim. She shushed him as the councilor continued.
"But his theory was flawed, and, instead of opening a time portal, he instead opened a doorway to another dimension. One in which beings of pure energy resided. The gateway was unstable, though, and collapsed only seconds after it was opened, causing a tremendous explosion, destroying the temple, and killing the scientist and the priest, along with many innocents who were in or around the temple. Unfortunately for our planet, those few seconds were all the time it took for two of the energy beings to cross into our world. One of the beings was benevolent, and for a few weeks reigned as a god, as our ancestors believed it to be a physical manifestation of Shioa. The other one, though, was evil. It avoided the people's notice for a few weeks, but had already begun its terrible campaign to destroy our world.
Both beings fed off energy, any energy they could find, including that of our sun and our planetary core. They both quickly discovered that feeding off the planet's core disrupted the natural flow of things and would eventually lead to the complete annihilation of out planet. Therefore Shioa, as the people believed it to be, refrained from draining the heart of the planet. Since nothing was known of the other, though, it was able to do its worst without detection. Once the signs began to show that Kirrn, our planet, was dying, the scientists realized that another, malevolent, being was residing within. Yet it was too late to save the planet. Shioa felt responsible for the destruction wreaked by its counterpart, and so gave itself to the construction of a great starship. Shioa could power the engines until a habitable planet could be found, recharging off the energy of other stars. The ship was built, the people evacuated, and the voyage begun.
It took the equivalent of many Earth years to reach this new planet, and when we reached it, we realized that it was vastly different from our own tropical Kirrn. There were many differing climates, and the planet had its own civilization beginning to develop, which we did not want to influence. And so we abandoned our ship in smaller pods such as the one you saw in the main chamber. To avoid contact with the humans we chose a less hospitable climate in which to reside. Since our own home had been very mild in temperature, never fluctuating more than 15 of your Farenheight degrees in either direction, we were unable to sustain colonies on the surface, where the heat and the arid conditions caused grave health problems in many of our people. We moved below the surface, building tunnels and cities that no human would ever see.
One side effect of the climate on the surface was that some of our ancestors became 'sun-damaged' in the mind. It was not a condition that could be reversed, and was hereditary. We now know that the sun of Earth has differing amounts and types of radiation output than Kirrn did, which caused mutations. But our ancestors could not support so many people who were no longer sentient, as it was hard enough to find the resources to survive here. So a plan was made to help keep our world a secret from the humans, if and when they ever grew intelligent enough to understand us. Groups of about twenty 'sun-damaged' individuals were sent out to start new colonies. A few scientists were assigned to each group to help ensure their survival.
Over the ages, these alternate colonies grew into animal colonies with one female, a 'queen' would rule over all the others, only breeding with a select few. The queen and breeders are, as you might guess, descended from the scientists who aided the 'sun-damaged' populations. This has provided excellent cover for us, as the human scientists believe they understand 'naked-mole-rats' and we can escape detection."
"Wow." Kim nodded at Ron's awed response.
"So I assume there is a connection with the phoe...I mean being which is now intent on destroying Earth and those that were brought into your world so long ago?"
"Yes indeed. Shioa enjoyed lesser beings. It took pleasure in bringing luck and aid to those in troubled situations."
"Like you guys when you had to get off your planet!" Ron cut in. The chairman nodded.
"Thus was born the human legend of the... phoenix." He waited for the murmurs to die down again. "Unfortunately, what we did not realize, was that the dark reflection of Shioa had accompanied us here as well. Shortly after our arrival, before we had moved beneath the surface, even, this planet began to experience tremendous tectonic upheavals, similar to those on Kirrn. Since we recognized the signs, we knew we must stop the evil one from destroying yet another planet. So, with the help of Shioa, we trapped it into a statue. The statue was an image of the god of the underworld, Hior, from our old religion on Kirrn. It was then placed in a hidden location where it was protected with written warnings and our own patrols.
It was meant to warn other Kirrnans, as humans had not yet begun building their own homes, let alone understanding any type of written language. Yet as your friend...a strange being, that, trying to fall back down the evolutionary ladder to a point that humans had surpassed even before we arrived...discovered..."
"Hey, he's not OUR friend!" Ron was indignant, hating to be linked with a monkey in any way.
"Indeed. But, as he discovered, our warnings and guards were not enough. He believed that the tales of the...creature...were true, but, due to a traveler from long ago, who stumbled across the 'temple' and recorded it to be discovered later, he believed the true being to be part monkey, as Hior did resemble an earth monkey with wings. This 'Monkey Fist' cannot understand the true nature of either Shioa or this twisted relation, as they defy logic. He found tales of burning birds and spirits and all kinds of myths and superstitions. Shioa did appear as a bird when it took a physical form, because it liked the gracefulness of the birds here on Earth. It appeared to burn because its body was pure energy. Because of this man's obsession he managed to locate the idol, and, because the idol was so old and the evil within corrupted its molecular structure, his hands damaged the idol, releasing the creature.
This being is evil, but it is not stupid. It knew we had posted guards on it, and it knows we can possibly defeat it once more. So it took the form of a 'spirit', poisoning its host's mind with misinformation while it fed off the energy of the human body. Now it has regained enough strength that it feels that it can make a stand against us.
Before, we defeated it with Shioa's help, yet also with the assistance of the magic that the Earth itself produces. As time has passed, the Earth's mystical energies have dwindled, some have disappeared altogether. Some of the deterioration was caused by age, some by the depletion of natural resources, which, though sad, is a natural part of the advancement of a civilization. The dwindling resources and energies haven't been a problem up until now, because there have been no 'magical' threats to fight against. Now, though, it is imperative that we restore these energies to the Earth in order to save it."
"O-K-ay" Ron drawled slowly, "and just how are you proposing to do that?" The chairman looked solemnly at the two of them.
"WE aren't. YOU are."
"Come again?" Kim raised her eyebrow at the chairman, frowning. He hastened to clarify.
"Well, not you actually. Rather it is your friend, Ron, is it? who will truly be needed to restore the Earth's energies." Kim looked at Ron dubiously. For his part, Ron didn't seem any more enthusiastic about the idea than she did. His eyes had grown round as saucers and he began slowly backing out of the alcove.
"Uhhmm...heh...yeah... about that. I think I'll pass..." he had nearly reached the entryway when Blaze jumped at him, grabbing his arm and clinging to it for dear life. He looked up at Ron with such a pleading expression, that Ron sighed and halted his retreat.
"Why do you run, Ron Stoppable? What is it you fear?" the chairman seemed genuinely confused. Kim smiled wryly, answering for Ron.
"Oh, you know, EVERYTHING. Just let him play out his drama for a second, then he'll be back to the land of the sentient." She turned to Ron, expecting a big to-do about the dangers and oh! the agony! or something along those lines. Instead she was confronted by a large pair of hurt brown eyes set into a wounded face.
"Ki-im! I'm not afraid of EVERYTHING!"
"Sorry, Ron."
"No big." He grinned at her, his hurt already forgiven and forgotten, using her own trademark response against her. He returned to his place beside her and they both turned to the council expectantly. The chairman blinked, not having been able to follow their exchange, and lokoed back and forth between the two of them. Then he shrugged.
"Ahem. As I was saying. Your Monkey Fist believed in some sort of mystical power, correct?"
"Oh-yeah! He was always going on and on and on and on ..."
"Ok, Ron, we get the picture."
"...and on" he stuck his tongue out at Kim, "about the MYSTICAL MONKEY POWER!!" he deepened his voice to imitate some sort of announcer, a creepy one at that, and let out a fake maniacal laugh. "A-Hahahahaha!"
"Ron, cut it out." Kim was turning red, embarrassed that he chose now to act up. He just sat back, pleased that he had managed a little bit of drama after all. Luckily the chairman was smiling at Ron's antics, instead of being offended.
"Yes, a monkey power. This power does, in fact, exist, though not, perhaps, for the reasons he believes. It is a mystical remnant from the time when animals ruled the earth, and the most intelligent species was a monkey. I know your scientists have always wondered about 'missing links' in the evolutionary ladder. Yet the answer to their quandary was right there in front of them... there ARE no links. Each time human ancestors advanced in intelligence and physical attributes, it was the result of the Earth's power giving them a boost. The power of transformation is only one of the many powers that the Earth contained in past millennia, but which have now nearly disappeared. Called a "monkey power" by one ancient race who worshipped monkeys and so believed the power was theirs, it is actually simply one part of the essence of the Earth's life-force."
"Coooool! Like in Star Wars!?" Kim groaned and buried her face in her hands.
"No, Ron Stoppable, it is simply a name to include all the mystical and ancient energies that I have just described; the powers that are all, in some way, connected to the planet itself. You see, Monkey Fist was able to harness some of the power for himself, but only for a short about of time. Believing he was given the gift of power, he did, in fact, only gain a small residue, though one that is, by no means, a small bit of magic. He has used the power to advance himself, to gain access to riches and other ancient monkey artifacts. Our own enemy, trapped though it was, could sense the use of these powers and drew Monkey Fist to it, falsely leading him to believe that he could gain the ultimate Monkey Power if he would but release it. After such a long imprisonment, it needed to recuperate, and so attached itself to Monkey Fist, feeding off the residue he contained. Now, though, it has regained enough strength that it believes it can finish what it started so many eons ago. We stopped it then, but only with the aid of Shioa and the use of the Earth's own magics. To defeat him now, we must... 'recharge' the power of the magic.
You, Ron Stoppable, have also tasted the power that Monkey Fist obtained. Your own intake of this power has given you a great gift, and, because of your pure heart, it has grown in strength, as opposed to the decreasing and slowly rotting away as it has in Monkey Fist."
"Soooo....you're telling us that the fate of the entire world rests in Ron's hands?" Kim bit her lip to stop the words 'we're doomed!' from escaping. Ron looked as if he, too, realized the precariousness of Earth's continued existence. He had paled and glanced at Kim with a look that clearly screamed "I CAN'T DO IT!!!!"
"Hey, no big, right Ron?" She smiled at him, masking her own doubts in order to give him the confidence he needed. He simply stared at her incredulously. "I mean, we save the world every day!"
"Uh, newsflash, Kim! YOU save the world. I tag along as the sidekick and DISTRACTION!"
"Oh, come on, Ron! You've saved the world, too." He raised an eyebrow at her, silently daring her to name one instance. "Well...um...ok, you've save the day, anyways. Like when you defeated Gill, or brought all those kids to Drakken's lair to stop his 'elderly army', or even when you turned me back when I was a monkey!"
"WADE did that, Kim, I just pointed and zapped!"
"Yeah, but you kept Monkey Fist off my back long enough for Wade to come up with the cure." Ron shrugged, not convinced. "The important thing is that I BELIEVE you can do it, Ron!" She placed her hand on his shoulder as he looked down, deep in thought. He faced her again, with a wry smile.
"I guess since the world is doomed anyway, it couldn't hurt for me to try...I mean, it's not like I can screw it up anymore, right?" Kim laughed and hugged him.
"That's my Ron!" She looked back to the council, who had all disappeared. Only the chairman remained, and he had left the podium to approach them.
"Very good. Now, come. We haven't much time."
To be continued...