Author's Note:
Wow, you decided to come to instalment number two? Good on you! It gets more into the story and I like it better than the first, which is really just a set-up instalment;
I really enjoyed writing Drakken and Shego together, now I know how much fun it must be for the writer's of the show! I hope you enjoy this one --TTFN!
-A.KiNG!
Instalment 02 »» Wishes Developing Reality
If I can be with you forever on this long road
Staying neither too close nor too far away…
-Masami Okui, 'Ano Hi no Gogo'
»» A couple of days earlier…
"Ugh! Shego!" Dr Drakken bawled, wavering back and forth as he scuttled out of his room and into the sitting room in his blue pyjamas and night cap.
Shego, Drakken's hired hench-woman, was up early in the morning in a plush seat and a cup of herbal tea on the stand beside her. When she heard the familiar yell, she turned around, her long black hair swirling around, but not before rolling her deep-green eyes. She wore her usual green and black tight-fitting jump-suit, which matched perfectly with her pale green skin and black hair.
A bit earlier than usual, but here we go again anyway, Shego thought bitterly. Drakken was always rambling on about something, three guesses as to what it was about this time…
"Shego!" Drakken called out again, running up to his desk and slamming a fist down. "I've just had the best dream ever!"
His assistant stared at him with unusually round eyes. "Wait a minute," she snapped, the black lipstick gleaming in the light. "You're upset about having a good dream? Something's… not quite right here."
"Word!" Drakked wailed, slumping down in his seat.
Overly dramatic as usual, Shego sighed out-loud, Sometimes I wonder if the pay is good enough for all this…
Silence. Drakken and Shego looked at each other.
"Aren't you going to ask what my dream was about?!"
Shego closed one eye, put down her Villainess magazine and waved a bored hand, "Huh, no. Because then you'll carry on and on with run-on sentences, eventually coming to a point that is just plain stupid, pointless or just non-existant. And oh-" She brought her hands up to her face in mock glee, "Maybe we'll get a stupid take-over-the-world scheme out of it!"
Drakken sat up in a bolt and shouted excitedly. Shego groaned. "That's it, Shego!"
"Oh great, me and my big mouth…"
"Last night…"
"I thought I said I don't want to hear you speak."
"Too bad, I need to hear myself talk. And it's in the contract." Drakken retorted.
"Since when?!"
"Check the fine print next time," Drakken smirked. He folded his tiny gloved hands together, hunching himself over the desk, a smile stretching from ear to the other plastered across his face.
That look totally creeps me out… Shego winced.
Drakken raised his hands over his head, more over-dramatics and bellowed, "Last night I dreamt I had taken over the world!! Bwahahahahaha!"
"…"
Double blinking, Drakken was taken aback, "What?"
"So what?" Shego replied, "You have that dream every night, what's the big deal this time? Why so upset anyway?"
"Because," Drakken elaborated. "I do have that dream every night, and when I wake up," he sniffled, "I'm oh-so depressed to wake and find that it was nothing but a dream! Oh, my heart…" Drakken clutched his heart and wept.
"Ugh, grow up." Shego pulled away, eyeing Drakken warily, about to lift up her magazine.
"But THIS time, it's all going to change!" He pushed himself out of the chair, stretching his arms wide and bounded towards a white erase-board that he usually drafted his designs on.
"How so..?"
Drakken picked up a blue felt-pen and began to doodle on the board. Shego swaggered over, her hands on her hips; she leaned over Drakken's shoulder trying to spy what he was drawing out so frantically.
They were schematics of some kind for…
"Another ray-gun?" Shego tossed her hair again, her interest waning. "How many times have we done one of those? Kim Possible and her buffoon always blow it up in the end; you've got to stop installing a self-destruct button, seriously, you're just digging your own grave."
Drakken squinted at Shego over his hunched shoulders, "It's a union thing."
Shego sighed, "But it's still a ray-gun, Doctor D, it's not going to work. Why don't you just let me knock Kim Possible off while she's in bed and be done with things? Then we'll do something about taking over the world, ok?"
"Not this time, Shego, because if this ray works…" He giggled to himself maliciously, "Kim Possible really won't be an issue because all my dreams will come true, HAHAHAHAHA!!!"
If only I'd known what I signed up for…Shego shook her head as Drakken cackled away.
—–
After changing, not into her school clothes, but her mission clothes, Kim decided to hang by her locker to wait for Ron. She had checked her watch and judged that he wouldn't be long, so while she waited for his arrival, she decided to pack up her bag. She stuffed her cheerleading duffle bag into her backpack, something told her they'd be coming home late from this mission; the school would be closed for the weekend by time they came back.
This time she was sure to lock her textbooks and notebooks into a water-proof ziplock bag. How many times had she been forced to buy new textbooks from the school because they were destroyed on missions? She was lucky she wasn't on the school supplies blacklist by now…
Cramming in her textbooks and notebooks, Kim checked the time on her watch, Ron should be back any time. She hoped Ron hadn't done anything to earn himself extra time in detention. If he had, she was going to have to pull him out somehow.
Footsteps padding closer alerted Kim, looking up, she saw, not Ron, but Tara walking up to her. She too had changed out of her cheerleading uniform. She walked up to Kim, smiling.
"Hey, Tara," Kim greeted, "What's the sitch?"
"Nothing much," Tara shrugged. She looked around herself as if looking for something that wasn't there.
Kim evaluated Tara in her gaze, what was up with this girl lately? To Kim, it felt like Tara wanted to say something, but was holding back. Maybe it has to do with the cheer squad. Ugh, I hope she doesn't want to persist on the routine…
"Sure there isn't anything I can help you with..?"
"What's your plan for the weekend?"
"Why?" Kim cautioned. She didn't really want to brag about her date with Josh in case Bonnie caught wind and decided to do something about it. Kim would rather have Bonnie find out on her own (or not at all).
"Well," Tara started, leaning against one of the lockers, her hands held behind her back, "I was thinking, why don't some of us hang out on the weekend and practice some of the moves? You said to practice on the weekend, right?"
Kim was taken aback but quickly brightened to this idea. "That's a great idea, Tara! Good thinking. Instead of us practicing individually, some of us could meet at my place to practice."
"Excellent!" Tara clapped her hands together like an innocent young school-girl (which she was!). "How about Marcella and Sarah?"
"Fine by me, just not Bonnie."
Tara giggled, cupping her hands over her mouth as she did so. "Don't worry, Kim, I won't call Bonnie."
"Have you talked to Sarah and Marcella yet?" Kim inquired, slinging her back-pack over her shoulder and tugging down the bottom of her black mission sweater.
"N-no, but I can call them now on my cell if you want."
"If you want," Kim shrugged, "But it can wait until you get home. I can't stick around long, I have a mission to go on; I'm just hanging around for Ron."
Tara nodded slowly, allowing a few moments of silence to slide. "What day did you want to get together on? To-morrow?"
Kim shook her head, "Can't. I have a date, how about-"
"Y-you do? With who?" Tara leaned forward with her arms folded, her bright, round blue eyes blinked at Kim with intense curiosity.
"Uh, with Josh Mankey…" Kim replied warily. "Don't blab to Bonnie, ok?"
"O. Ok!" For some reason Kim could not explain, Tara looked relieved. "How about Saturday then, sound ok?"
"Saturday's great! You and the girls can swing by around noon, and bring your cheer-outfits too." Kim smiled, leaning against the locker also.
Tara smiled back at her with her eyes. "Um, is Ron going to be there?"
Kim laughed, reminiscing at the joke he had said earlier that day. "Probably, he does spend, what was it? About ninety-percent of his time at my place?" Kim laughed again.
"Actually, I think what I said was eighty percent." Kim leaned forward to look past Tara viewing Ron, who was ambling down the halls with his hands in his pockets.
"Hey, Ron, how'd D-Hall go?"
"Fair enough," Ron shrugged as he approached. "Junior was chewing on an eraser and started to choke. You should have seen it KP! Mr Barkin was totally doing the up-chuck manoeuvre!"
"You mean the Heimlich manoeuvre?" Kim raised an eyebrow.
Ron shrugged again indifferently, "Same thing." Then eyeing her outfit, he said, "What's going down? Where are we going now?"
"Save the world stuff as usual, I was talking to Tara before I thought I'd better haul you out of D-Hall."
"Wouldn't need it," Ron wiped his knuckles on his sleeve trying to look suave. Rufus wiggled his eyebrows on his shoulder. "Rufus and I have our 'ways'."
Kim gave him another look of estranged scepticism, "I'm sure you do." To Tara, she spoke: "So you'll phone Marcella and Sarah, ok?"
The light-blonde haired girl nodded slowly, she didn't appear too keen on talking all of a sudden.
Kim put a finger to her chin thoughtfully, "Maybe you should phone me to-night, so I know if Marcella and Sarah can come."
Tara nodded again.
"Hey-hey," Ron interrupted irritably, "What's all this? Something going down that I don't know about?"
"We're thinking of getting together on Saturday with some of the girls for cheerleading practice," Kim replied.
"Alright!" Ron exclaimed exhilaration, "The Mad Dog needs a little weekend romp!"
Tara giggled in cupped hands while Kim tsked, tossing her head to the side.
"Ron! I don't want you causing any trouble! If the Mad Dog comes, he has to be leashed, alright? We need practice if we want to win the upcoming competition, your antics will not help."
Ron swaggered his arms, "Calm down, Kimila, I'll be on my best behaviour; I always am."
"So not," The corner of Kim's mouth twitched, half between a smirk and a scowl. "Alright, enough chit-chat," Kim tossed Ron's back-pack at him that she had taken out of his locker (she knew his combination) which he aptly caught with a curious expression on his face. "Suit up in the boy's room, Ron, we need to hustle. The ride Wade has should be here soon, we've wasted enough time."
"Alright, alright, I'm a-hustling!" Ron tucked the back-pack under his arm, trotting off to the nearest guy's room.
Kim watched him go down the hall and swerve down another hall. When he was out of sight, she turned back to Tara who, for some reason, was still standing there. "Anything else?"
Tara blinked, at a moment's loss. "O! No, that's it I guess, I'll phone you to-night, Kim; see you on Saturday!"
"Bye!"
Tara scooted herself away from the lockers and back the way she came, probably in the direction of her own locker.
With no-one to talk to, Kim went back to leaning against the locker, blowing a few strands of red-hair from her face.
—–
Ron swung the door open and made haste into the wheel-chair stall where he'd have the ample room to change in. Hurriedly, he unzipped his backpack, locating his mission clothes in the back, he didn't want to make Kim wait if their ride if it had arrived.
Just as he was hitching his belt clasp together, after changing into his mission clothes, he heard noises coming from outside the stall.
The sounds of the bath-room door swinging open and then, "I'll be right back, give me some time to clean up!" Someone speaking from outside the washroom, Ron couldn't hear what he was saying, then laughter and: "Yea, ok!"
Ron stood very still, he recognised the voice. Silently, he and Rufus leaned against the stall door, peering through the crack on the side.
Josh Mankey.
He and Rufus exchanged looks.
Scooping up his back-pack and slinging it over his back, he casually waltzed out of the stall. "Hey, dude," Ron addressed Josh as Rufus scuttled down his arm and legs to reside in his pocket.
Josh looked over his shoulder, "Hey!"
Walking up to the sink, Ron watched Josh clean paint off a number of brushes. To the side on the counter was a stack plastic palettes, also covered in paint, all various colours. Josh's hands too were covered in paint, a red-ish colour mostly.
"Just cleaning some art supplies," Josh stated obviously. I'm not that dumb, Ron grumbled. "We were doing some free-paint to-day, the real stuff is next week, after the long weekend, that's when we get the big term-end projects going."
"Cool." Ron nodded, trying to sound interested but wasn't and was also in a bit of a hurry.
"Hey, you're a close friend of Kim's right?" Josh asked.
Ron felt himself bristle and puff up, instinctively of course. "Duh, I've known Kim since Pre-K," he felt compulsory to state.
"That's great," Josh smiled.
Now Ron felt himself deflate, "Is it?" He'd been trying to sound intimidating and all 'back off-ish!' and certainly not to give an answer Josh wanted to hear.
"Yea, so you'd know her favourite colours then, right?"
"Yea."
Josh shook his head, still smiling as he thumbed the hairs on the brush apart to allow the water to flow and clean the hairs. "So, what are they?"
This was when Ron had a most devious idea, he was glad Rufus wasn't on his shoulder to act as a conscience. "You going to paint her something then?"
"I was thinking that. I thought it would be really nice to do something for her. As my class project. Think she'd like it?"
"I guuuess," Ron trailed off.
"Pardon?"
"Well," Ron shrugged, watching the paint swirl down the drain, "Kim's not a huge art fan, you know? I drew her a picture back in Grade Four for V-day and it was in the trash by the following week. But no hard feelings, right?"
This was a complete lie. Ron had given Kim a package of jelly-worms for the Grade Four Valentine's Day. They hadn't ended up in the trash; no, they'd ended up in Ron's stomach. But Josh didn't need to know that.
Ron watched, inwardly pleased, as Josh looked dismayed. "O, I- I thought she liked art. She said she liked my mural in the park…"
"Duh," Ron acted casual, and faked a yawn, "She probably didn't want to seem rude. You're an artist, can't you tell when someone really digs your art or not?"
"Well, I thought I had…"
"But dude, don't sweat it, she recognises hard work, even if it lurks in her least favourite places."
Josh didn't look all that relieved.
"I'll tell you her favourite colours anyway just in case you still decide to paint her something."
"Thanks…"
"She likes navy blue, black and dark green. And lots of browns"
"…" Josh stared blankly back at Ron, "Are you serious? I thought she liked pink… pink and light green. She wears it a lot…"
Ron shook his head, this was becoming much too easy. "Because it's in style, she'll always wear what's in style, even if it's a colour she despises, like pink. Ya, I mean, I know it's, eh, somewhat shallow, but that's Kim for ya."
"O, well, thanks…"
"No big, I gotta jet. Kim and I are going on another mission; I think she said something about Cancun..? Again. She's really popular there too, now that I think hard on it, but she really does like going there. With me. A lot." Ron made sure to look at Josh right then and hold his gaze, as if to direct a subliminal message across. The message was successful. This was becoming too easy to pull off, Ron almost burst out laughing right then, but he had to hold it in.
He pushed himself away from the sink, "Nice talking with you; catch you later then, Mankey!"
Somewhat dishevelled, Josh inclined his head, "See ya later, Ron."
"And be sure to get those colours exactly right, she has a short fuse," Ron rubbed his arm as if he had an injury.
Josh's eyes widened, "Ok… then."
Ron left the washroom with a contented grin curling all across his face.
—–
"What took you so long?!" Kim exploded, immediately catching hold of Ron's sweater and dragging him all the way out of the front doors of Middleton High and towards an immensely grand aircraft. "They've been waiting for, like, five minutes!"
"Sorry, KP. But when you gotta go-"
"Ugh, save it for later Ron. No, save it for the never. Let's just go."
—–
High above the rich blue ocean, with waves crashing white against the jagged rocks, on top of a rocky cliff was a darkened, leviathan building. None of the lights were on, making it appear as if it were another part of the rock formation. Only the moon's beams gave away the windows as they hit and created a glowing glare across the gleaming glass. Foreboding was the only way to describe the building. The 'Haunted' signs in dripping, dried paint helped maintain the apprehensive theme.
Kim and Ron both stood at the bottom of the impressively enormous sight, gazing with heads tilted up, both of them speechless at the towering rocky escarpment that stretched into the night sky. A tall tower attached to the lair pierced the mystical full moon.
"Well," Kim stated, breaking the intense silence, "Better get to it, huh?" She strode forwards to the base of the mountain. Ron stood still for a few minutes, watching her before he jogged to catch up; the sight was so captivating, so nerve-racking too.
"How are we gonna get up there?" Ron asked, eyeing the rock doubtfully.
"Shoot, you're right!"
"Huh?"
Kim turned to Ron, speaking in distress, "I don't have our suction-climbers to climb up the mountain!" Kim groaned and turned back to the rock, sighing, "I left them at home… I've got to keep an extra pair for the both of us at school."
"So where does that leave us?"
Kim tossed her hair, irritated at her own folly, "What else? We'll have to climb it freestyle."
"Fuuuun," Ron replied sarcastically. He walked up to the rock to and gripped the rock in his two hands. "Even if we did have the suction-climbers, I doubt they'd be of any good to us."
Taking a closer look at the rock, Kim nodded her agreement. "You're right, the surface is too bumpy and uneven, they could never find a place to stick."
"Ew… and the rocks are slimy…"
Kim wiped her finger on the rock. "No, just wet; must have been raining here earlier."
Ron lifted his heads to the sky, "And it seems it will again." He pointed to the mass of darkened clouds in the sky.
Rufus chattered nervously on his shoulder, "Water, yuck!"
"Then we better get up there before it starts to rain again."
With a firm grip on the rock, Kim hauled herself up with upper body strength then placed her feet in two crevices. Looking up, she reached for another small precipice to grasp and eventually began to work her way up. She could feel the rubber on the bottom of her shoe sliding dangerously on the wet rock but she tried hard to overcome it. The material of her gloves began to slip on the rock too. Perhaps this wasn't a good idea after all.
Kim let out a grunt as she tried to heave herself upwards again, fighting against the wet rock which was becoming more persistent against her climb. Finally, Kim misjudged her foot's steadiness and when she lifted her hand for some rock, her foot skidded and although she scrambled to stop her fall, it was too late.
She let out a little wail as she fell. She crashed into something behind her that made a grunted 'oof!' sound, her and the something continued to fall until they both hit the sandy ground which, thankfully, wasn't that far down.
Kim sat up, blinking away the shock to her system. She didn't feel like she was sitting on the sand. "Ron," she blinked again, still stunned, "Something broke my fall..."
"Yea, I know."
Suddenly Kim was pushed forwards and landed on the sand on her hands and knees. Turning her head around, she saw Ron on his back trying to push himself up.
"You could have told me you were going to fall," Ron sniffed, checking his pocket for Rufus' condition.
"O, yes, silly me," Kim smiled venomously, "Next time I'm about to fall, I'll politely tell you, then I'll resume my crash."
"Very funny," Ron snorted. "Now my butt's all wet."
"You deserved it," Kim retorted.
"For breaking your fall?"
"… Whatever."
"Heh," Ron smirked, he knew that was Kim's way of admitting she was sorry for the retort and her thanks for his happening to be right behind her at the time to cushion her fall.
He watched as she pushed herself up again and approach the rock once more. Kim placed her hands again on the rock and tested the surface.
"You know," Kim said when Ron was beside her. "I think we're not only going to have to do this freestyle, but free of shoes and gloves."
"You're kidding me."
"So not! You think I want to touch this… slimy…"
"So you admit it's slimy."
"Ron!" Kim declared, "Focus! We've got to get to the top before it rains, so stop complaining." She was already pulling off her shoves and gloves, leaving them on the sandy ground. Ron sighed knowing there was no way around this and did the same.
Soon enough they were climbing the mountain with much more ease than before. Well, eased up on the slippery, but not so easy on their hands and feet which were constantly being scratched and poked at by the rock.
"Ow!" Ron scowled again, looking at a new cut to add to his collection on his hand. Rufus now on his shoulder looked at the cut too and shook his little head. "You know, Kim, my hands are so going to love you in the morning."
A sharp intake of breath from above, Kim stopped climbing, Ron being right underneath was at a roadblock.
"What?" He called, "C'mon, I'm running out of strength, move it!"
Kim's sobbing voice sounded down, "I-I think my nails are going to love me too…"
Ron clicked his tongue, "Wait, don't tell me-"
"I broke my nail…"
"Well isn't that news worthy. I can see it now—'Kim Possible Couldn't Save World Because of Broken Nail'."
Rufus snickered.
Kim's voice changed from a sob to a scowl, "Ron, I don't care about it being broken. Have you ever broken a nail? It hurts like hell!" She sniffed again, inspecting her nail. "I think it's bleeding… Can you see if it's bleeding?"
Ron sighed and looked up. He could see nothing other than… "Kim, I can't see your nail at all. As lovely as your butt is, could you please move it? I'm getting tired of hanging on to the rock and…" For the first time, Ron looked down and gulped with fear. They sure where high up now… "And it's a long way down!"
"Ok-ok, I'm going…" Kim struggled to drag herself up again, making little noises from time to time which was either the feel of the rock or her broken (and perhaps bloody) nail.
If we could use the suction grips to climb up, Ron afterthought, I wouldn't mind at all if she decided to take a small breather. He could always look up now; she was still ahead of him.
—–
"Isn't it marvellous, Shego?" Drakken sighed dreamily as he unveiled his latest creation.
The ray-gun Drakken had doodled on the drawing board was now life-sized and complete. It wasn't all that large as Shego thought it might have been, in fact, it was smaller than the shrink ray they had made some time ago. This new ray-gun was barely taller than Shego, it wasn't all that impressive and certainly not looking like what the usual blow-up-the-world ray-gun should look-like.
"So what's it going to do?" Shego asked while walking around the new ray, inspecting it closely. "Looks pretty small compared to your other toys."
"It's not a toy!!" Drakken snapped. He walked over to a desk, pulling on a pair of goggles. "With this machine, all my dreams will come true! I'm such a genius, there'll be no-way for Kim Possible to stop me this time, all I need to do is press this switch on my remote…"
Shego stood to the side looking as bored as ever, she'd heard these prep talks before and every time something went wrong. If it wasn't Kim Possible, it was a manufacture error, not that Kim ever knew about those. Since Kim wasn't around this time, it had to be a manufacture error, and guess who the manufacturer was?
"So, press it already." Shego covered a yawn.
"It's gone!"
"What is?"
"My remote! It's gone," Drakken bellowed, shaking his fists in the air in frustration. "I left it here on the table and now it's not. What did you do with it?"
"Me?!" Shego cried out defensively, "Why would I have your stupid-ass remote?!"
"I dunno, you tell me!"
"Well, I don't. You must have misplaced it. It wouldn't be the first time!"
Drakken glared at Shego, pointing a sharp finger at her, "None of that sass! The remote couldn't have just grown legs and waltzed away, it's around here somewhere."
"Maaaybe… here?"
Both Shego and Drakken snapped to attention, their heads swirling to the voice that spoke behind them. There, leaning against the wall, remote control in hand, was Kim Possible, with her faithful sidekick, Ron Stoppable standing beside her, and little naked mole-rat Rufus on his shoulder.
"Kim Possible!" Shego snarled, leaning forward.
"That's my remote!" Drakken wailed, pointing at the remote in Kim's hands, his spikey black hair flopping around. "That's my remote and I want it back! Shego!"
"No need to elaborate!" Shego smirked with pleasure. Bounding forwards, she flicked her wrists, igniting her lethal plasma-flames that radiated and pulsated a vibrant neon green surrounding her clawed hands.
As soon as Shego had taken flight, Kim was ready, leaping out of the way in an instant, the remote still in hand ready to play keep-away.
To Ron, Kim and Shego had been a blur whizzing past him, not only did he catch the breeze as they whizzed past but Kim's words of, "Ron!"
"I'm on it, KP!" No-need for an explanation, Ron already knew what to do.
Quickly, Ron dashed to the side of the wall and weaved his way over to Drakken's latest ray gun. He kept a wary eye out for Drakken's henchmen sitting on some tables in a corner and chatting amongst themselves and Drakken himself who was watching Shego and Kim intently. Shego was much too busy concentrating on ripping Kim's innards out and painting them all over the walls than to concern herself with the buffoon.
When he reached the ray-gun, he stooped down low, careful to stay out of sight. If Ron was able to make a mess of this machine, there'd be no need for the remote control Kim was dancing around with.
"Rufus," Ron whispered to his pet, "Help me open this grate."
There was a grate bolted onto the base of the ray-gun where Ron could see the wires. There, Rufus began to gnaw away at the grate shielding the wires for the new ray. Once Rufus successfully chewed his way through the metal with his sharp front teeth, he scuttled back onto Ron's shoulder to help evaluate their job.
"Y'see, Rufus?" Ron waved at all the different coloured wires inside the grate Rufus had opened. "This is why I hate ray-guns. They almost never have self-destruct buttons! It'd be a whole lot easier for me if there was one."
"A huh, a huh," Rufus nodded in his agreement. He turned his little head, whiskers grazing Ron's cheek, to keep an eye on the surrounding activities in case anyone threatened their mission.
Ron stroked his chin in thought. "Ok, so – is it 'green you're keen'..? Or… 'green it'll be obscene'..? Gasoline… kerosene… machine? Vaseline? O great…" Ron frowned, struggling to remember the poem that explained which wires to cut and more importantly, which not to pull. " 'Red you're dead' … Fred… What do you think, Rufus?"
"Not me."
"Ugh, maybe I should yank the blue one," Ron poked at the blue wirer. "I can't think of any doom incorporated word that rhymes with blue."
"Say 'Adieu'?" Rufus offered.
Ron groaned, "Thanks for that." A sudden loud noise from beyond distracted him, it was Kim continuing to battle Shego thus distracting her and Drakken as well, whose attention was anxiously awaiting the retrieval of his remote. Ron continued to watch worried for Kim.
Kim dodged a lethal kick from Shego's leg, Kim was only a blur; Ron could only marvel at how alert Kim was in avoiding Shego's attacks. Ron could never hope to fight like that, he sighed wistfully. Suddenly Kim lashed a thrusting leg which connected with Shego's stomach, knocking her backwards then fleeing in another direction with the remote.
The only way Ron could help Kim now was if he rendered Drakken's ray-gun useless. This urgent need to help Kim reminded Ron of his duty so he once again turned his attention to the wires within the ray. It was miraculous Ron had gone unnoticed this long, he had no intention on pushing his luck.
He reached out for the green wire, contemplating on pulling it out. Ron reached for the wire, wrapped his fingers around it and began to pull…
When, unexpectedly, Ron received a wretched, utterly painful shock that Ron could even see the light flash inside the grate. With only a slight high-pitched squeal in the back of his throat, he quickly retracted his bare hand, cradling it close to his chest in a tight fist. Once some of the pain subsided, he opened his hand to view his injury, half expecting a charred hand.
How… peculiar… Is it just me, or does it seem to… glow… Ron brought his shocked hand close to his fist for a closer investigation. The tips of his fingers did look as if they were glowing, but before Ron could make sure it really was glowing and it wasn't dots in his eyes left over from the flash, whatever it was vanished.
Ron gritted his teeth wondering what to do next. He had to reach in again and pull another wire, but he certainly didn't want to receive another shock; he wished he had his gloves with him.
What to do?!
"Where's the buffoon?!" came an enraged yell. Ron froze in terror.
Maybe if I close my eyes, he won't see me…
"THERE! He… he's going to blow up my dream machine!" Drakken bellowed pointing an accusing, tightly gloved finger at Ron. "GET HIM!"
Five of Drakken's henchmen heeded their employer's call at the other end of the room and turned their heads to face Ron. He gulped. Picking up their deadly electrical staffs, they trotted directly towards him, their mouths grim.
With his heart now pounding in his throat, Ron swivelled his head back to the mass of wires.
Just PICK one! He thought, hitting his head. There!
A yellow wire previously hidden from the rest! Ron paused in a moments hesitation to wring his hands and double-think his actions, but the crackling sounds of Drakken's buff henchmen's power-staffs nearing made up Ron's mind.
Quick as a flash, Ron divided his hand into the grate and plucked the entire yellow wire right out of the machine…
… Along with the red wire.
"Uh-oh."
Ron looked down at the yellow and red wires in his bare hands; already the ray began to make a silent hum that began to steadily increase. Rumbles followed soon after, along with small popping noises.
"Uh, KP!" Ron cupped his mouth and called across the room. The henchmen could now hear the noises and see the wire in Ron's hand. They stopped stock-still.
On the other side of the room, Shego was sprinting after Kim, clawing at the air where Kim was who performed a series of back flips to evade the flaming hands.
"What's that, Ron?" she hollered back while tumbling.
"You can give them back the remote," Ron replied. "It's not exactly necessary anymore."
"How's that?" Kim stopped moving; remarkably, Shego halted as well, listening to their conversation.
Before Ron was able to give an explanation, a loud explosion erupted from a nearby console just behind Ron.
"Now how does that happen?!" Ron exclaimed, standing up and turning to stare at the explosion. "I busted the ray not the console!"
"Because the ray is hooked up to the console, duh," Drakken explained, pointing to the various wires connecting the ray to the panels of consoles. Drakken had to pause a moment to bend over and cover his ears as a bush of flame shot overhead, narrowly missing his spiky hair. "What wires did you pull out?"
"Yellow and red."
More explosions billowed from their surroundings as everyone groaned except for Ron and Rufus.
"Not the red!" Shego growled, retracting her flames.
" 'Red you're dead', this whole place is going to go up in fames!" Drakken wailed, throwing up his arms. A fire burst into existence on the ray. "Alright, is going up in flames!" he corrected himself.
"I didn't pull the red on purpose!" Ron had to shout now to be heard over the constant stream of explosions.
"Great! You not only killed my latest plot, but now my lair too!" Drakken sighed, hunching over, not noticing another burst of flame that would have torched his head if he had still been standing straight. "At least I insured the place this time…"
More fiery combustions and fizzing electricity crackled from both the ray and the console. A particularly large explosion blew up an entire console on the other side of the room.
"Come, Shego!" Drakken yelled to his assistant after another booming sound scared away his henchmen.
"Told you so," Shego grumbled to Drakken as they retreated.
Kim ran over to Ron as Drakken and Shego dashed by for escape in the other direction.
"Come on, Ron!" Kim cried; she dashed past Ron in a flurry, clasping his hand and pulling him along. Ron didn't need telling twice, as soon as Kim's hand had impacted his, he clasped his hand around hers tightly, running fast to catch up with Kim; he almost tripped over his own feet.
The adrenaline was coursing through his body as he ran, already feeling the heat on his back from the surrounding explosions.
As they ran, Ron couldn't help but look down at the hand he was holding. How many more missions would they have if things carried on between Kim and Josh? Could there be a possibility of Josh taking his place? The role of the sidekick? He couldn't really see Josh doing all the things he did, risking his neck every time, and those precious artist hands of his (recalling the Bulgarian Death Squad incident yesterday…).
I just need to enjoy it while it lasts, I suppose… He looked down at her hand again hard in thought, I wish we could be like this always, he thought wistfully, now completely oblivious to the booming noises of electrical equipment spontaneously combusting, the heat warming his back and the airborne debris and just basically the direness of their situation. Wish I could always hold your hand… forever.
BOOM!!!
"Holy Crap!!" Was the last thing he heard Kim shout before a billow of heat, debris and who knew what else exploded in the most violent of ways, tossing them off their feet and shoving them off the cliff of Drakken's Lair. Something hit him in the back of his head, causing his vision to swim in and out of focus, just barely could he see a wave of Kim's red hair.
The explosion propelled them right off the cliff, a couple of feet through the air then… then down they went, streaming rain drops splattered them as they free fell from a perilous height. The air whipped past them, sounding like thirty or so roaring lions as they dropped. The fall seemed to take forever and yet it also felt like it only lasted a second.
But altogether, they slammed the ocean water, a billow of water flying thick and high into the air, causing white horses to gallop and then splash back into the ocean where it merged with the falling rain.
—–
Water. It was everywhere and all consuming. Bubbles. Bubbles floating by. Darkness, barely anything could be seen, except for the silver moonlight casting a glow, cutting through the ocean water.
Breath. Running out of breath. With eyes wide open under the water, Kim swam towards the moon, the only way she was able to tell which way was up.
She pierced through the water in a shot, the silver moonlight glittering the water droplets she sprayed about with her hair. Kim gasped for breath, she felt as though her lungs were going to cave in on her. Already, they felt like they were rattling, close to concaving with each deep gasp she made for more air.
For a moment, she treaded water, in shock from being thrown off the cliff like a rag-doll. Her eyes were as wide as the full moon and her mouth was agape, greedy for a constant stream of air. Nothing really floated through her mind, for once, her mind was completely blank until… until one thought struck her mind.
Ron.
Frantically, she began looking around herself for him, maybe he was treading water too. But she couldn't find him, so it came to her conclusion that he must still be under water.
Oh my goodness. Kim thought, how long have I wasted? Spontaneously, she dove under the water in search of Ron. He could be anywhere! I don't know where I last saw him, everything was a rapid blur…
But she found him quicker than she anticipated. He was directly under her, of all the miraculous places to be. She groped for him under the water, anything of his she could clasp and pull would be good enough for her; she had to get him to the surface.
She already had his hand—that must have been from when she was propping around under the water for him. So she yanked on his hand until she could grasp him around his middle with her other arm and haul up to the surface. Kicking her legs with much strenuous effort, she managed to break the surface again and pull Ron's head out as well.
Instantly, he came to, reacting the same way she had with deep breaths, trying to grab all the air at once and pour it into his lungs. Kim treaded water as she tried to hold Ron up, who wasn't yet supporting himself.
"Ron." Kim gasped, trying to form words was much harder than she thought it would be. "Ron," she repeated, "We need to…" she looked around herself, and remembered she still had her backpack strapped to her back. "I need you to help me take my backpack off."
Ron didn't respond immediately, he continued to choke on the water. She pulled on Ron's hand, bringing him closer to her, continuing to hold his hand as to help support him.
"Ron…" Kim gasped through more mouthfuls of salty sea water. Ron fell back under again, so she hooked her other arm around his waist. "Listen to me, Ron. Can you hear me?" Kim wasn't sure if Ron's action was a nod or if he was merely trying to keep his head above the water. She repeated, "I need you to help pull off my backpack… I can turn it into a raft… but take my text and note books out… they should still be in the water-proof bag…"
Ron must have been listening after all, for she felt the kick as Ron propelled himself with his legs; she continued to feel his legs slightly bumping her own as he treaded water behind her back so he could remove her bag. Struggling to slip the backpack off, Ron didn't have to do much after the straps just snapped in two, breaking right off Kim's back.
"Just toss it front of me," Kim watched him over her shoulder, continuing to tread water.
With a splash and the salt water spraying into Kim's eyes (which she was having a difficult time keeping open regardless), the backpack floated in front of her, tumbling in the waves. Reaching out with her right hand, she tugged on a piece of string hanging onto the bag. Instantly, the bag exploded, pushing both Kim and Ron backwards with a wave to become a decent-sized rubber raft.
Pulling Ron through the water (who was holding her books in the bag with his only free hand), Kim swam towards the raft before the increasingly choppy waves towed the raft away from them. Grabbing hold of the side (but not before several attempts as her arm was wet and the raft was slippery), Kim was able to fling an arm around the side, bringing up heap loads of water into the raft. Next, she swung her leg out of the water, creating large amounts of water to fall on Kim and to land in the raft with the rest of the water. It wouldn't be comfortable to sit in. Now that Kim had half of herself in the raft, she threw in the rest of herself.
Without pausing for a breather, she reached with her other hand to grasp Ron's arm (the other was still holding his hand) and heaved him up into the raft with her (bringing in lots more water to boot).
Ron tumbled forwards, the books he carried landing to the side of them, coughing up more water, landing on top of Kim who fell backwards in a moment of weakness after hauling in Ron out of the water. Both of them just lay where they had fallen, not caring where they had landed for they were ever so exhausted with their sore muscles, dizzy from the spur of events and chests heaving for more air to breath. They remained still except for their chests pressed against each other rising and lowering in unison as they struggled for air. Ron was slightly on top of Kim, his head between her head and shoulder, one hand still in hers, the other cast over her and a leg between hers.
Finally, Kim opened her eyes, blinked away some water, and after the brief rest, sat up, knocking Ron off of her; the unforeseen movement caused Ron to sit up also.
"That was exciting," Kim choked, coughing up more of that distasteful ocean water while mentioning the fall from Drakken's Lair.
"Where's Rufus?" Ron asked, rubbing his stinging eyes.
"On your head."
Ron looked up with his eyes, Rufus peered over the top of Ron's head to look down at him, his whiskers clinging together and dripping water. Rufus gave Ron a thumbs up to indicate that he was indeed alright.
Kim stirred again, pushing herself up into a more comfortable sit, her bottom sloshing in the water that had been brought in with them. Not that any of them really cared, they were wet enough already. "Hey, Ron," she said, "You can let go of my hand now."
"I did."
"No you didn't, this so isn't the time for jokes."
"Who's joking?" Ron tried to show Kim by yanking his hand out of hers abruptly when he ended up yanking Kim forwards instead. She fell forwards, head-first onto Ron's lap.
"Hey!" she cried after sitting upright again.
"Why didn't you let go?" Ron asked.
"I did! Or… I tried." Kim tugged on her left hand, but it wouldn't remove itself from Ron's left.
"…" They exchanged looks.
"Ron, we both pull on three-" he nodded. "One… two… three!"
The two pulled as hard as they could in opposite directions until Ron actually fell backwards in the effort landing with a small splash.
"What… in… the… world?!" Kim grunted as she tried with all the strength left within her to break herself free from their hand clasp. She stopped tugging when it became clear something was definitely not right.
"This doesn't make any sense!" she cried. In one swift motion, she whipped the Kimmunicator out from her hip pocket. "Wade, we require some help here."
"What's up, Kim?" Wade asked politely. "Did you blow up the lair again." To Ron, he smirked and shot, "Pull the wrong wire, Ron?"
"Yes, but that's beside the point right now." Kim sat in the middle of the raft and Ron shuffled from where he was sitting so he could sit beside her and look into the Kimmunicator as well. "It so happens that Ron and I can't let go!"
"Let go?" Wade asked puzzled, "Of what? Long ago recollections of a memory long since past?"
"Tchach, not that mystical, Wade. I mean of each other!"
"I'm afraid… I don't quite understand why you're telling me your sudden out burst of feelings towards-"
"Not 'feelings' Wade!!" Kim was now in a furious temper, "I mean physically!"
Wade spat out the soda he had been drinking.
"Ew," Ron commented.
"Our hands!" Kim continued on as if nothing had happened, "I can't take my hand out of his!"
Wade gave Ron a stern look, "What are we, in kindergarten? Ron, let. Go. Of. Kim's. Hand."
"I can't! I tried, she won't let go of me!
"So not!"
"So so!"
"So not!"
"So so!"
"SO NOT."
"SO SO."
"Alight, children! Put a cork in it, we'll figure this out!" Wade cried out , breaking up Kim and Ron's argument. "Now, you guys are holding hands?"
"Yes," Kim nodded, "We tried to let go of each other, and it's not working."
Without warning, the red light above the Kimmunicator's screen sent out a beam of red light and scanned over Kim and Ron's hands. Once Wade received the test results, he began to clack away at another computer to his left; Kim and Ron waited obediently for Wade's diagnose.
"That's interesting,"
"What?" Kim pressed.
"It just reads that your hands are one on top of the other, as if you guys are only holding hands." Wade stroked his chin as he finished reading his information then turned to look back at Kim. "You sure you can't pull apart?"
Kim sighed, "I'm positive."
Suddenly, two robotic arms swivelled out of each side of the Kimmunicator and reached out, one aiming for Ron's hand and the other for Kim's.
"Calm down," Wade chuckled after seeing the expressions on Kim and Ron's faces. "I'm just going to try for myself."
The arms attempted to pull Kim and Ron's hands apart, applying more and more strength when the hands wouldn't pull apart.
"Ow!" Ron cried and Kim winced. "That hurts, Wade; stop it."
The arms retracted back into the Kimmunicator. Wade shook his head, stroking his chin.
"It doesn't look like there's anything I can do, really."
"So, you mean we're stuck?!?" Kim gasped, clinging to the Kimmunicator, her face pleading with Wade for him not to tell her what she already assumed.
"Well…" Wade reached off screen and pulled out a large, hardcover book; he flipped it open and scanned down a page. "You could say 'remaining', 'lingering', 'placed'…"
"I DON'T NEED YOU TO READ ME THE THESAURUS, WADE!" Kim cried, causing Ron to edge further away. "Can't you think of anything? Wade, please?"
Wade sat in his chair in a few moments of thought after he stored the book away, "The trouble is, we don't even know what the machine did in the first place. Not like the brain-switcher years ago, we knew what it did."
"And may I remind you," Kim replied, voice dripping with venom, "The brain-switcher wasn't blown up."
"What about the Centurion Project?" Ron asked, leaning closer to Kim to look into the tiny view screen of the Kimmunicator at Wade. "How did you guys figure out it reacted to Kim's lying? We didn't know what it did when we snatched it back from Drakken, Shego and Killigan."
Kim looked at Ron curiously as Wade stroked his chin. "It didn't react to 'lying' so much as it did to stress. Luckily, I was there when Kim lied to her Mother about going Trick-or-Treating with you. I saw her become aggrieved as she lied, and then the armour grew. I ran a few quick diagnostics and realised it reacted to her stress level.
"This scenario is entirely different. I wasn't there when you held hands when, whatever it was, kicked in and came into effect. Kim, what happened when you held hands? Ron, what happened when you blew up the machine? The machine had to effect you guys somehow (obviously)."
"That's just it, we were just running," Kim shrugged and looked at Ron for help.
Ron bit his lower lip, "Trying to get away so we wouldn't get blown up, and…"
"And?" Wade prompted.
"And nothing." Kim finished. "I didn't feel anything, I didn't get hit by any debris, did you Ron?"
"Something hit me in the back of the head, but it was just a piece of metal."
Wade shook his own head, but his response was in despair, they were getting no-where. "And what about the machine..?"
Ron tried to recall, "I just had Rufus chew open the grate in the side of the ray-gun and yanked out some wires making the place blow up into smithereens. No big."
"Were you guys hit by anything? Was the machine shot at you?"
"No," came Kim and Ron's reply.
But then Ron shifted in his seat nervously, there was that little electrical shock he had received when fiddling around with the wires, could that have been something? Perhaps… but it was just a little but of electricity, not the actual ray from the machine, right? But then, Ron had seen a number of movies where electrical shocks have started huge fiascos. Super powered shoes, a robot coming to life, a super-hero getting his powers…
It certainly could be a lead, not that he knew how a little shock could contribute to the later timing of them holding hands. And yet… what if… what if it was a possibility that the little shock Ron received was a clue? Wade, being the super-genius he was, could probably figure out what had happened at a fast rate, and then find an antidote… which Ron wasn't to gung-ho about having. No, he concluded, this little clue could wait, if it was one.
Kim flopped back on the rubber raft, her hand that was stuck to Ron, "This is SO not a good time for me. I have a date to-morrow with Josh Mankey! I can't just have Ron along with me, do you know how weird that would look?!"
"At least we have the long weekend to figure this out," Ron shrugged. To him, this permanently holding hands deal, while not so hot in the long-run, but short-term, wasn't that large of a sitch. In fact, the more he thought of it, the more it became appealing… It certainly meant no date with Josh Mankey.
Hallelujah, my prayers have been answered! He could have wept.
Kim opened a closed eye and pointed at Ron with her free hand, "NO. I don't want to have the weekend to figure it out because that means we'll still be stuck during the weekend and I would like to be unstuck, like, now."
Ron blinked, leaning slightly forward in his seat, his expression soft. "Is it really that big of a deal, KP? I mean, it's just gonna be a few days, right? At least you're not stuck to, like, Shego or something."
Sighing heavily, Kim propped herself up in her seat, "That's true, I guess." She picked the Kimmunicator back up from the floor where she had dropped it during her flop. "Wade, give me the down-lo for now. What can we do and what are you going to do to fix this?"
"I'll try to contact the scientists who drafted the original designs, they might be able to tell us what the machine can do for starters."
"I don't get it, you just told me there were weird signals coming form this area… Drakken stole the designs for the ray-gun?"
"Yea, sorry, my bad," Wade smiled evasively. "While you guys were on your way, some scientists beeped in about some drafts that were stolen by a 'babe with fired hands'."
"Shego," Ron scowled.
"Exactly, I'm assuming the stolen drafts are a part of the same scheme."
"And what if the scientists can't help us..?" Kim returned to the matter at hand.
Wade cracked a sly grin, "If they're unwilling to volunteer any information, I could always hack into their site and bring up the designs myself."
Ron almost put in 'or we could just ask Drakken', but decided to keep his mouth shut for the same reasons as the above.
"Great, and for us," Kim looked at Ron, then back at the Kimmunicator, "I suppose we'll just have to deal."
"I suppose so," Wade replied.
"Man, I'm so glad it's a long weekend… how would it look if we're holding hands at school? What would Josh think?!" Kim wailed.
Ron tried to say his next words with as much carelessness as he could muster, "I guess you can't go on the date with Josh now, huh?"
Kim eyed him suspiciously, as if he had caused all this on purpose. "We'll see," she growled. To Wade, she said: "Keep me posted, ok?"
"No problem there," Wade nodded.
"And what about a ride home?" Kim asked.
"Alright," Wade turned to a computer on his right and typed fast on the keyboard. "I can have Gustavo from the flood pick you up at the airport."
"Airport!" Ron cheerfully grinned, Rufus jumped from his head to his shoulder and rubbed his stomach; exactly what Ron had been thinking.
Kim smiled, "We'll see if there's time to eat at the caf there before take off." To Wade, she said, "And just where is this airport?"
"Hang on, let me get the coordinates…"
"Please and thank-you."
Again Wade turned his attention to another computer. "Ok," He beeped Kim the map, "Your street is in red, think you can remember?"
"No big, see ya, Wade!" Kim chirped; Wade smiled and blipped off the screen.
Placing the Kimmunicator back in her pocket, she turned to the back of the boat and adjusted the motor. "I guess we'll be having a sleep-over at my place to-night."
"Just like the good old days," Ron replied, trying not to sound too wistful.
"Whatever," Kim muttered under his breath, causing Ron to frown slightly. "Let's just get this raft to shore and find that airport so we can go home."