A sharp pain in her skull brought Kim back to consciousness. She blinked a few times, trying to clear her head. What was...? She reached towards the part of her head that ached and encountered a soft, warm body.

"Blaze! Stop pulling my hair!" Kim managed to get the little Kirrnan to let go, and she grabbed hold of him. "What?!" he was chittering frantically, and too quickly for her to understand. She glanced around, noticing that the fury of the storm had abated somewhat. She was huddled behind a fallen tree...the same tree that she had sought shelter in earlier. Now why was she... oh. Right. The past few minutes returned with a crushing clarity. She had lost the talisman. The magical one that would have trapped the evil energy spirit in it forever. She remembered feeling desolate, and she had given up. But she had rallied quickly. She remembered telling herself to pull it together and get back to work. That's the last thing she could recall. Her head still throbbed, though Blaze was no where near it, and she supposed she must have been struck down by flying debris.

"Ok, so...we need a plan B." Blaze nodded, but then frowned and pointed. Kim's heart sank as she recognized the motionless form lying crumpled in the mud. "And Shego's been taken out." Kim looked around for a tool, a weapon... anything that would help. Then she smacked a hand to her forehead.

"Duh! Wade!" She dug out the Kimmunicator, pressing the button to connect to Wade. She hadn't spoken to him since they began, not having time for distractions.

"What up, Kim? How are things going?" Wade's worried face appeared in the viewscreen and Kim gave a slight sigh of relief. At least she wasn't completely out of options yet.

"Wade, give me some good news!" Wade looked puzzled, so she continued. "The magic talisman that the Kirrnans developed to trap this evil....thing....got vaporized! Shego's been knocked cold, or dead, for all I know, and the other one, Shioa, I guess, isn't faring too well." Wade grimaced.

"I don't know what to tell you, Kim. I've been analyzing the Earth's tectonic activity, and if you don't stop that thing in the next half-hour or so, we're all toast!" Kim groaned.

"Is that all you can say? Don't you have some kind of gadget for this?"

"Sorry, Kim. I deal with science and facts, not magic."

"Well this magic IS fact!!" Kim dodged as a rock flew over her head.

"Sorry." Kim pounded her fist on the ground in frustration. She couldn't see any solution either. "Actually," she looked back at Wade, "you COULD use the Kimmunicator, but it's risky, and I'm not sure it would do any good, anyway."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you know I updated the Kimmunicator a few months ago..."

"Yeah?!" Kim started to get excited. Maybe Wade had put something in there that would save the day!

"Well, the power cell is a trilithium core, which is actually somewhat unstable. It's a VERY powerful energy source, but if exposed to intense heat it could cause an explosion as powerful as a nuclear blast... but without the radioactive fallout."

"And you've had me carrying this around in my pocket!?!?!" he winced at her tone

"It has to be an EXTREME temperature... over 1000 degrees Fahrenheit... so you'd probably be dead before it exploded anyway. But if you remove it, and can get it into the phoenix and hit it with, say, a LASER..." Kim's eyes widened.

"Shego! But, she's..."

"She's not dead. I scanned her vitals. You gotta wake her up."

"Ok. Wait...if it's as powerful as a nuclear blast..." Wade couldn't meet her eyes.

"Yeah... um, there's a good chance that you might not make it. You could!" he hastened to explain, "because though the intensity is nuclear-level, it has a very small radius." Kim thought for a moment.

"I don't really have much of a choice, do I?" Wade looked at her sadly. "If I don't, the world will end and everyone will die, including me. This way at least I'm the only one." She looked around her. "Well, me, Shego...Ron." She glanced at the two phoenixes. She knew Ron was in there somewhere, though it had been easier to just think of it as a godlike being...Shioa. Now, in the final moments, she didn't know if she could just sacrifice him like that. She, at least, had a small chance due to distance, but with the two energy creatures locked in their struggle, both would be destroyed by the blast. The ground rumbled beneath her, reminding her of the time. She looked back at Shioa...Ron. Both entities were present. Of course, she wasn't even sure if Ron was lost to her now. Even if the talisman had worked, would Ron have been returned safely? She tightened her lips, making her decision. Wade noticed her determination and swallowed hard.

"Ok, I'm gonna do it." Anything was possible, for a Possible, right? She would save the world and come back unscathed. She hoped.

"Well you better do it soon!" Wade pointed out. Kim glanced at her watch. Only 25 minutes to go!

"Right! Ok. Here goes nothing. Catch ya on the flip side." Wade saluted her, grinning sadly. Kim pulled the power cell out of the Kimmunicator and the screen went blank. She dropped the Kimmunicator on the ground and ran over to Shego, ducking the flying debris as they came her way. Reaching her one-time enemy's side, she shook her roughly.

"Shego? Shego wake UP!" The other girl groaned and blinked her eyes open. "Come on! I need you to shoot your lasers at this power cell when I throw it into the Phoenix."

"Wha...?" Kim shook her again.

"Shego! We don't have any time! The world is going to tear itself apart in less than 20 minutes! I'm going to throw this and when it gets near the phoenix you have to shoot your lasers so that it will explode and destroy him!"

"What happened to your talisman thing?" Shego sneered.

"It got destroyed. This is our only option!" Shego sighed and sat up, gingerly rubbing her head. Kim decided it would be better not to inform Shego of the magnitude of the explosion they were about to produce. They struggled to their feet and separated, Kim getting into a position where she could get the best aim, and Shego moving in the opposite direction so she could catch the power cell in a crossbeam.

"Please let this work!" Kim whispered. She pulled her arm back, made eye contact with Shego, making sure she was ready, then let the battery fly.

It was as if time stood still. In the midst of chaos everything hung suspended. Kim held her breath as the power cell drifted through the air. It was out of her hands, now, only Shego could destroy the creature. Kim blinked and glanced at Shego, just in time to see the evil Phoenix's wing lash out and knock her to the ground.

"NO!!" All time rushed back to its proper speed. The power cell began it's descent towards the Phoenix, and Shego lay motionless on the ground. Blaze stuck his head out of Kim's pocket and then covered his eyes, ducking back down. Kim had the fleeting thought that Shego's head injury had probably been too much for her to withstand the blow from the Phoenix. The tiny battery was nearing the ground, when movement caught Kim's eye. A shiny disk swooped in and blasted the power cell with it's guns. Without hesitating the craft zoomed on, catching Kim and Shego in some kind of tractor beam and puling them to safety as the trilithium core exploded in a fiery ball.

A few minutes later, as Kim stood on shaking legs, looking back towards the scene of the explosion, a sound behind her made her turn. The disk, which looked like the ship she and Ron had taken, was opening, and a mole rat was scampering out. Blaze, who had climbed out of Kim's pocket, let out a squeal and raced towards the newcomer. They chittered at each other for a moment, then the second one also squealed and they hugged. Kim shrugged, not understanding Kirrnan culture, and turned back... searching desperately for some sign that Ron had survived the carnage. She felt something tug at her leg and looked down.

"Oh, hey, Blaze." She thought he wanted to introduce her, but she didn't feel up to it. Then he tugged harder and the other mole rat chittered.

"Uh-uh!" She looked over at him.

"Blaze?" He wasn't the one pulling on her pants. The other one scrambled up her leg, up her side, and onto her shoulder.

"Hi!"

"R-RUFUS!?!" Kim couldn't believe it. They had believed that the ship had blown up, killing Rufus. But here he was, chattering on about not understanding the controls and sorry it took so long... it was hard to understand him. For some reason, the chairman had seemed to be the only Kirrnan who was able to talk very well. Kim hugged him, but her voice was caught in her throat. Rufus had returned to her alive, but her best friend may not have. Other Kirrnans were beginning to emerge and the councilman hurried over to her.

"It seems you are victorious, Kim Possible. The evil one has been destroyed... our scientists have confirmed it. The human, Monkey Fist, was protected from most of the blast by the being's energy field. He has been taken to our doctors for treatment."

"Monkey Fist is ALIVE?! That means...is Ron...?!" Kim could hardly dare to hope. The councilman looked away, and all her hope died.

"We were...unable...to locate Ron Stoppable. Shioa seems to have taken more of the blast, and we fear that...that is to say..." he broke off as Kim waved him away. Tears poured down her face. It wasn't fair! Monkey Fist had started this and he survived! Ron had tried to save the world! Wasn't he entitled to the same kind of miracle?!

"NO!" Kim lunged towards the chairman, but exhaustion caused her to fall. Holding herself up on her hands and knees by sheer will, she repeated softly, "no...no. She looked up. "I don't believe it! Monkey Fist survived and he was being used by the evil thing! You didn't find a body! He's out there! You're just not looking hard enough!" The Kirrnan leader simply looked at her sadly.

"You cannot possibly understand... the creature, it cared nothing for Monkey Fist. He was a tool, and no longer of any use. What reason, then, would there be to kill him? But Shioa, and hence your friend, was a threat, an enemy. If the evil one was going to die, it wasn't going to let Shioa live on victoriously." Tears poured down Kim's face. She clutched her stomach and shook her head violently as if that could ward off the words she didn't want to hear.

Rufus had listened to the exchange quietly, but now he slid down to the ground. He looked back at the battleground, still smoking. When he had finally managed to get the ship's systems to cooperate he had turned back towards Earth. He had contacted Wade, only to learn that within minutes the world would be destroyed if the phoenix wasn't stopped. Wade had seen Rufus as a chance to save Kim, and had explained what they were about to do. Rufus had sped towards the plains, seen Shego fall, and exploded the device himself, yanking Kim and Shego to safety as he went. But no one had told him that Ron had been in there somewhere.

"You!?" the chairman seemed to pale at the sight of Rufus. Rufus turned his questioning gaze towards him. "You have returned at last!" Rufus didn't understand what this mole rat was talking about. He had met the one with Kim, Blaze, he called himself, who had explained that all the mole rats were actually beings from another planet. But he had been born in captivity and never left Smart Mart until Ron had bought him.

"Huh?" He looked back at Kim, who was sitting with her knees drawn up to her chest, unaware of the world around her.

"You do not know?" the councilman seemed aghast. Rufus rolled his eyes and tried to move towards Kim... comfort of friends, and all that. But the councilman seemed intent on speaking with him. "You are the child of our most revered queen! She was visiting one of our sun-damaged colonies when you were born and you were captured by human scientists. We never gave up hope that you would one day return to lead us... and you have!" Rufus raised an eyebrow. He hated to disappoint the other mole-rat, but he didn't belong here. He belonged with Ron. Ron... who was no longer there...

"Wait until we tell the prince..." the chairman rambled on, but Rufus wasn't listening. He escaped and made his way over to Kim, needing the comfort of a familiar face.

"Hey Rufus." Kim seemed to barely acknowledge him as he climbed into her lap. She wiped away a tear, swallowing her dispair. Rufus put his little arms around her...at least as far around her as they could reach... and buried his face in her stomach. She absently stroked his head, each of them feeling a grief too powerful for words.

The next few hours flew by. The Kirrnans wanted to celebrate, but Kim and Rufus steadfastly refused. Finally the little beings seemed to realize that they would get no cooperation out of the two friends, and they let them go. As Kim boarded the ship that Rufus had driven to save the day, she noticed that a make-shift infirmary had been set up. In the beds lay Shego, Monkey Fist, and Drakken, who had been found unconscious about a mile away from the scene of the fight. It seemed he had been thrown that far when their hovercraft had been destroyed. Kim sat down and gave a half-hearted smile at Blaze, who had volunteered to take them home. Home. She had been gone for two days... yet it seemed like a lifetime. And she was going to have to tell Ron's parents... she pushed the thought away. She couldn't think of him right now. In fact, she didn't want to think at all. Rufua had struck up a quiet conversation with Blaze, and wasn't paying attention. So Kim pulled a sedative out of the infirmary's supply and injected herself with it. She couldn't take the pain anymore, and, as she slipped into a dreamless sleep, she welcomed the oblivion.

To be continued...