Beep-beep-de-deep! Kim awoke with a start. She grabbed at her Kimmunicator, but, in the dark, she missed and ended up knocking it across the room. It continued to chirp away merrily as she felt around for the light and flipped the switch. She had to blink a few times at the sudden influx of light, then spotted the device laying on the floor and she dove after it.

"What's the sitch, Wade?" His face was worn; it seemed he had been pulling an all-nighter, but he gave a weary half-smile. "Do you have a location?!"

"Sorry, Kim. I haven't been able to pinpoint an energy frequency to track the phoenix with. Actually, the tremors and other readings have decreased. There is the possibility that we are dealing with a phantom... just aftereffects of the phoenix's powers." Kim sighed and gave a small smile.

"So all this worrying may have been for nothing?" Wade shrugged.

"I guess so. We still need to be alert, but we can probably relax a bit, get on with our daily lives..." he got a mischievous look in his eye and added, "Don't you have a dance to go to tonight?" Kim looked at her clock and moaned.

"Wade, that would be tonight...as in, like, 20 HOURS from now! Did you HAVE to wake me up at two A.M. to tell me to fade to yellow alert?"

"Sorry," though he didn't sound incredibly remorseful. She shrugged and signed off. She put the Kimmunicator back on her dresser and turned off the light. Rufus hadn't moved at all...in fact, he had slept through the whole thing.

"Good thing I'm not relying on you to wake me up." Kim muttered, fondly annoyed. She sank back onto her bed and was soon asleep.

It was the warmth of the morning sun on her face that woke her a few hours later... the sun, and the fact that the tweebs were running around downstairs making all kinds of...

CRASH!! ...noise. Kim groaned. She had forgotten that her parents were going to a company picnic for the space center today, which meant she was in charge of the twins until they got back! Another crash sounded, followed by two voices in unison proclaiming it "coooool!" Kim struggled out of bed and glared at the door, as if that could control them. When all the noise suddenly ceased she blinked, then jumped into action, running down the stairs, desperate to stop whatever destruction they were planning now. She found them outside, setting up a launch pad, and preparing to fire off another of their home-made rockets. Unfortunately Rufus was sitting in a make-shift cockpit.

"Stop this instant!" Kim lunged at the twins, narrowly missing Tim as he jumped out of the way and tossed the control to Jim. Kim stood with her hands on her hips and glared at them. "You two are SO busted!" She stalked over to the rocket and retrieved Rufus, ignoring his squeak of protest. Then she flipped over the tweebs and snatched the control away from Jim, catching him by surprise.

"Aww, man!"

"You're no fun!" Kim gave them a satisfied smirk.

"That's right. I'm no fun. Now scram!" They glanced at each other, then got a wicked gleam in their eyes.

"Hickabickaboo?"

"Hoo-shaw!" They scrambled back into the house and Kim sighed. Rufus had pulled himself out of her grip and jumped to the ground. He chittered at her, scoldingly, and shook his fist.

"Sorry Rufus. But you don't know that it wasn't going to blow up!" He pouted and she knelt down to try and see him face to face. "Come on, you can't stay mad at me forever!!" He looked like he planned to do just that, so she added, "Ok, if that's the way you want it. I WAS going to go to Bueno Nacho, but..." He grinned and leapt at her, catching hold of her shirt and climbing up to her shoulder.

"I take it that you forgive me?" Kim asked wryly.

"Mmm-hmmm! Lessgo!" Kim looked back at the house, remembering the Tweebs. She sighed, knowing that she would have to take them with her. She entered the house cautiously, sure that they had set out a booby-trap of some sort, but was surprised to find everything quiet. She did a methodical search of the entire house, but found no sign of them.

"Oh no." Kim grabbed her Kimmunicator and switched it on. Wade's picture appeared, though he was obviously startled.

"Kim! What's wrong?" Kim rolled her eyes. She hadn't meant to look so panicked, but then again...

"The tweebs escaped."

"I beg your pardon?" Wade blinked. Kim had to stifle a giggle. He was confused...good. Served him right for waking her up in the middle of the night.

"The twins. I was babysitting and they escaped and are even now, I'm sure, set to wreak havoc on the entire tri-city area!" Wade relaxed and shook his head.

"Kim, I hardly think they could..." Kim raised an eyebrow and he stopped short. "Ok, I meant I don't think they WOULD..." he again broke off as Kim shook her head in a pitying manner. He huffed, annoyed. "FINE! They could and would wreak havoc, ok?" Kim just smiled sweetly.

"Do you know where they are?" Wade thought to give her a little of her own back...

"Now, Kim, I'm sure I could try to locate them, but it might take awhi..." Kim just looked at him calmly. He sighed. It could be really frustrating having someone know you so well.

"Ok! Ok! They're at Middleton Mall." He refused to outright admit that they were microchipped, but he knew Kim knew anyway.

"Thanks, Wade! You rock!" Kim grabbed her bag, Rufus clinging to the strap and trying desperately to get inside so he wouldn't be left behind, and ran out the door. It only took a few minutes to reach the mall, and she pulled out the Kimmunicator to check the map once they arrived. She followed the signal to the electronics store, where Jim and Tim were blowing their combined allowances...for the past two years... on some impressive looking equipment. Kim leaned against the doorframe and waited.

"Thanks! Come on Ti...Oops!" Jim stumbled to a stop, causing his twin to run into him from behind.

"Hey! What're you...oh. Uh-oh." Kim just smiled at them as they realized they'd been caught. She straightened and moved towards them.

"Uh-oh is right.... You guys are s...."

"SOOO BUSTED!" The twins finished for her. "Yeah, yeah, we know." She just raised an eyebrow. She had been all ready to let them have it, but the dejected slump of their shoulders stopped her. She found herself studying them. She loved her family, including her brothers, but she usually spent more time avoiding them or yelling at them than anything else. They WERE tweebs, she reminded herself, but, she realized, they were also people. A brief image flitted through her mind of two large, grown-up twins saving the world. She blinked, wondering where that had come from. She smiled wryly.

"Well," she let the word hang in the air, enjoying watching them tense up. She loved them, but she wasn't about to stop tormenting them...any more than they were about to stop annoying her. But Ron's death had made her realize how important it was to let people know how she felt about them. She shook herself mentally, chasing away the depressing thoughts. She turned and walked a few steps out of the shop. She turned and grinned at the confused expressions on the twins' faces.

"So you guys coming or not?" The boys glanced at each other, messages passing unspoken between them.

"Um, aren't you gonna..."

"...chew us out or something?" Kim shrugged.

"Nah. I forget sometimes that I used to be ten. I was heading over to Bueno Nacho, wanna come?" The twins exchanged looks again, then grinned.

"Sure."

"...so then we thought that we could put the stabilizer on the SRB, but..."

"...that wouldn't work because it comes off, so we..."

"...put it on the body of the craft, but the attitude was off, and it crashed."

"Yeah, but we figured out that it was the wrong pitch and adjusted for it, and so..."

"...we needed the parts to rebuild and test it." Kim just shook her head in amusement. She and the twins sat in a booth at Bueno Nacho as the two boys enthusiastically explained their latest project. For her part, Kim didn't have a clue as to what they were talking about, but it was nice not to be fighting with them for once. Rufus, to give his input to the scientific discussion, was downing another tray of nachos at close to the speed of light.

"Hey, Kim! Can we..."

"...get some more nachos? Rufus ate them all!" Kim forked over a few bills and the twins raced each other to the counter.

"You really should save some for everyone else." She murmured to Rufus. He looked up at her and grinned, not remorseful in the least. She was about to admonish him some more when her Kimmunicator beeped. "Hey Wade, what's up?" She couldn't quite keep the concern out of her voice.

"Don't worry. It's nothing important...not related to the you-know-what." Kim relaxed and glanced over to where the twins were trying to build something out of straws. "I just wanted to let you know that all the tremors and strange readings have stopped. I think it really must have been some kind of aftershock."

"Weird for it to be so isolated, though, isn't it?" He nodded.

"Yeah, but who can explain magical phenomena? I certainly try to avoid it!" She laughed and signed off. Glancing at the clock she realized that her parents should be home soon. It was time to go, anyway. The twins were now really starting to make a mess and she didn't want to get in trouble. Besides, she needed to get ready for Prom. Monique was going to meet her at her house around five and they were going over to the school together. The work crews had cleaned up all the damage, and the decorating committee had redecorated the gym.

"Come on, tweebs!" they groaned and complained, but good naturedly. As they made their way home, Kim reflected that it was turning out to be a pretty good day. It wasn't, of course, to last.

When she got home she discovered that her dress had a flaw...one of the seams hadn't been sewn properly, and was beginning to come apart. She managed to sew it back together, but it took time out of her schedule; time she really couldn't afford. Monique arrived right at five, but Kim still hadn't gotten her hair fixed or her makeup on. The tweebs, deciding that they had behave too well that morning took it upon themselves to torment her while she prepared, thus unraveling her already frayed nerves.

"Auugh!" she threw her hands into the air, startling her mother, who was trying to arrange a nice hairstyle.

"Kimmie!" She groaned at the repremand.

"Come ON, mom! Can't you yell at THEM? They're the ones messing everything up!"

"Now Kimmie, your brothers are just a little hyper, that's all." Kim groaned again, seeing that it was hopeless to expect the twins to get in trouble. It didn't help that Monique laughed at her brothers' antics.

"Come on, girl, chill! It's not like we're going to miss anything!" Kim grumbled at her friend's cheeriness.

"We might."

"Nah, you know these dances don't get started until an hour or so into them anyways." Kim had to accept defeat. She knew Monique was right, she was just antsy for some reason. She didn't know why, but she felt as if the air was charged, as if energy was building up inside her. Something was happen tonight...she could feel it.

"Wade!" she grabbed her Kimmunicator, disrupting her mother's efforts again. "Is there..."

"Kim! Calm down! I don't know what you're so worked up about! There's been no change in my readings...not since last time you called, five minutes ago, or the time before that, or the time before that! No change since early this morning!" Kim smiled wryly.

"Ok, ok. I know. Sorry, Wade."

"No problem. Just don't call again unless it's an emergency, ok? I'll call YOU if there's any change." She nodded reluctantly and finally sat still so her hair could get completed.

"Girl, you look totally fabulous!" Monique gushed an hour later as they finally left the Possible house. It would have taken only half an hour to put on her makeup, had the twins not decided to sabotage her lipstick with purple Kool-aid. It had taken forever to get the stain off and then reapply all her makeup. But she had finally done it and they were on their way.

"Yeah? Well you don't look so bad yourself!" Kim answered cheerfully, her good humor quickly returning. They reached the school to find the dance well under way. Couples were dancing or talking or just hanging out in groups with their friends. There were two tables loaded down with food, and a live DJ so that songs could be requested.

"Hey Monique!" Kim saw Monique's date waving at them and motioned for her friend to go on.

"You sure?" Monique had convinced Todd to let her arrive at the dance with Kim, she was half-afraid Kim would back out at the last minute, but she felt a little guilty abandoning her friend now.

"Yeah, go on. I'm just going to check out the food anyway. I've been so busy I didn't eat dinner!" With a smile and a wave Kim headed towards the refreshment table, leaving Monique free to join Todd and his friends. Kim stood back, apart from the crowd, just watching all the other students. They all looked so happy. She had to laugh when she saw Tara and her date trying to swing dance. And...

"Kim." She turned to face Josh, surprised.

"Hey Josh....um, aren't you here with Bonnie?" She glanced around, positive that Bonnie would be stalking over any minute to reclaim her date.

"Yeah, but someone spilled punch on her and she went home to change." Figured. Kim shook her head wryly of COURSE Bonnie would have an extra dress at home. The only surprise there was that she hadn't brought it with her. She choked on her drink, as the thought hit her and made her laugh.

"You ok?" she coughed a few times, then smiled, still giggling a little.

"Yeah, I just...never mind." They stood there for a minute in awkward silence.

"You...you wanna dance?" Josh hesitantly asked. Kim almost accepted, but the song changed to a slow tune, and she really didn't want to slow dance with Josh. It wasn't just that he had, in a way, dumped her for Bonnie, and it certainly wasn't the fact that if Bonnie found out she'd be furious. In fact, that would be a good reason TO dance with Josh. But something inside her just wasn't up to the task, and she shook her head slowly.

"No thanks. I'm probably not going to dance a lot this evening anyway." She smiled at him to take any sting out of her rejection, and watched him as he nodded and walked away into the crowd. Monique threw her an odd look, but Kim just shrugged at her. She maneuvered over to an empty table and opened her purse to let Rufus out. She knew that he really wasn't technically supposed to be there, but she needed SOMEone to talk to all evening. He grinned up at her, wearing a little black bow tie, and then dug into her food.

She was just starting to relax when her Kimmunicator beeped. Feeling a cold sense of dread wash over her she pulled it out.

"What's up, Wa..." she never finished her question, and Wade didn't bother answering, because it was quite obvious by that point what was "up". The floor to the gym was shaking, another earthquake, it seemed, and the students were panicking. Unfortunately the tremors were forceful enough to ward the door frames, effectively locking all the people inside the gym. The Kimmunicator fell forgotten from Kim's hands as, in the center of the room, an eerie glow had begun to shine, growing larger by the second. A glow that was so unique, it could only come from one source.

The phoenix was back.

To be continued...