It was mid-morning, but the Upperton Public Tennis Courts were still in shadow. This was due to the high-rise buildings on all sides blocking out the sun. The courts were typical of Upperton, dark and cramped, and not a lot of tennis got played there considering how many people lived in the area.
This latter fact was, in a round-about way, the source of Coach Thomas Rakket's current frustration.
"So I take it that everyone else is… on their way?" he suggested with the air of a man who knows he's doomed to disappointment.
Facing Coach Rakket were ten teenage girls. Ten to fill a team of… a team of ten, in fact. About half of them looked distinctly unenthusiastic about being there, though he spotted a short blonde and a slightly chubby brunette who looked at least interested in what was going on. Three of them weren't even carrying tennis racquets.
Not that Coach Rakket cut a particularly impressive figure in the eyes of the girls. He was a slight man, only a few inches over five feet and with a scarecrow-like build that left his blue track jacket hanging off his shoulders in a rather sad fashion. He had a few wispy red-brown strands of hair coming out of his chin in what seemed to be some attempt at a beard, though the hair on top of his head was reasonably thick. Robin, for this was the name of the short blonde teenager, thought he looked to be in his late thirties.
"Um, I don't think so sir," said Robin after a moment, when she realized no one else was going to speak up. "It's ten minutes after the hour, and I don't see anyone else in the parking lot."
Rakket seemed to glower angrily at the girls for a moment, but he quickly turned his face away and forced a smile. "That's all right," he told Robin. "We need ten girls for the team and there are ten of you, so I think everything's going to work out just fine."
Pacing back and forth for a moment, Racquet addressed his potential team as a whole. "For those of you who don't know- and I don't see any returning team members here, I am Coach Thomas Rakket. I've coached the Upperton Teen Girls Tennis Team for the past three years. For the past three years Middleton has beaten us, but I want you to know that this year will be different!"
He followed this statement up with an evil little chuckle that threatened to turn into a full-blown villainous laugh. To cut it off, he deliberately turned it into a cough.
"I have a very special training regimen planned that will- yes?" Rakket interrupted himself in response to the brunette raising her hand.
"I'm just here to see Robin try out. I wasn't actually interested in playing," she replied.
"What! That will ruin- I mean, are you sure you wouldn't like to try it just for today? You can always go home if you don't like it." Rakket forced another smile.
The brunette gave a sort of noncommittal shrug that Rakket chose to interpret as assent.
"Well then… I suppose all of you automatically make the team. Now I want all of you to drink the water I brought. It's important to stay hydrated when you're out on the courts. While you're doing that, I'm going to get out our very special new team racquets, which are being provided at no cost to you." Coach Rakket pointed towards a box holding bottles of water that was sitting against one of the back walls, indicating the girls should grab their water from there.
Coach Rakket walked out to the parking lot and opened the trunk of his car. With two grunts of effort, he first pulled out a small wagon and then a medium-sized crate to set on the wagon so that he could easily move it about.
The crate appeared to be unopened. There was a small address label on one side and a large stylized "D" on the top, but otherwise there was no indication of its contents. Pulling out a crowbar, Rakket tugged on one side until it came loose, revealing the interior. Inside were ten tennis racquets, neatly displayed in a metal frame holder that offered their handles for easy access. Rakket reached in as if to grab one, then seemed to realize what he was doing and quickly pulled his hand away.
Tugging the wagon behind him, Coach Rakket walked back into the courts where the Upperton team awaited him. "Everyone line up and take one racquet each. Don't worry, they're all the same," he told the girls.
One by one, the racquets were removed from their crate for examination by their new owners. There was something sophisticated and high-tech looking about the racquets. The metal of the frames was shimmering and reflective, like something that should be on a rocket ship, and there were strange bumps and protrusions all along the rim. Each racquet was already strung with golden-colored string that seemed to pulse and vibrate as though containing some unknown power.
The court grew completely silent as each member of the team grasped her racquet in her hands and stared at the strings, mesmerized. Coach Rakket watched this, rubbing his hands together in glee. After checking his watch every few seconds as if waiting some prearranged amount of time, he finally spoke.
"Now team, tell me how you feel about getting in some tennis practice," Coach Rakket commanded.
"We will become unbeatable!" said the brunette in a strange monotone.
"Nothing will stop us," added Robin the same blank tone.
"Together we will crush Middleton," said the whole team in unison. "Victory at all costs!"
Coach Rakket clapped his hands together in glee and let off a full-fledged villainous laugh.
"Major crowd," Kim said to Ron.
"You said it. There's got to be sixty girls here trying out, and that's not counting parents," Ron replied.
The two of them had just arrived at the Middleton courts. Kim was wearing a Club Banana tennis outfit and carrying her new racquet in one hand.
Kim looked around. "Ron, do you see any kind of registration table? Ron? Ron!" She thwacked her friend in his right arm, disrupting his fixation on a statuesque blonde in a particularly short tennis dress.
"Ow! Hey-" Ron wilted before Kim's glare. "Sorry, but there's a whole new crowd of girls here who've never met the Ronster. I just have to figure out how to let them know what they're missing."
"Got to admire your optimism, Ron," muttered Kim. "Oh, there it is."
Spotting a small sign labeled 'sign-up' with a clipboard underneath it, Kim walked over and picked up the clipboard. Using the attached pen, Kim wrote her name on the sign-in sheet. She was just wondering where to go next when a familiar voice sounded from behind her.
"Kim Possible? You're trying out for the team?" It was Mr. Barkin.
Before Kim could respond, Ron spoke up. "Absolutely, Mr. B. Kim here is going to bring home the gold for Middleton Tennis."
"Well, I'm going to try my best," said Kim with a modest head-flip. "What are you doing here, Mr. Barkin?"
"I'm the one coaching this team," Barkin replied.
"You!" said Kim and Ron simultaneously.
"Since when do you coach tennis?" asked Kim.
"I'm doing it as a community service. Part of my mandatory community service. I- Look, I don't want to go into it. Possible, we'll see if you're any good. As for you Stoppable-" Barkin glared at Ron. "You do realize that this try-out is for a girls' team?"
"I'm just here to give Kim moral support and watch the show," Ron assured Barkin.
"Fine." Barkin reached out and took the clipboard from Kim. He then walked out onto the courts and called for all the applicants to line up in rows on the serving line. Kim found a place in the second row, while Ron moved off to the sidelines with the other well-wishers.
Just before Barkin began to speak, Monique slipped into place beside Kim and gave her friend a nod.
"All right, just in case anyone is in the wrong place, these try-outs are for the Middleton Teen Girls Tennis Team, and I am Coach Steve Barkin. It's an annual tradition to send Middleton's ten best players up against Upperton's ten best. It's also a tradition for Middleton to take home the trophy. Today I'm going to put you through a series of drills to determine who the best players to uphold these traditions are. Now-"
As Barkin droned on, Monique whispered to Kim. "So you showed up after all?"
"I said I would, didn't I? Why would you think I wouldn't?" Kim snapped back.
"Cool down, girl. No reason to get excited. I hope we do both make the team."
Monique's calmness diffused Kim's temper a little. "You're right. So who do you think our biggest competition is?"
"Last year, I was on the team with-"
Barkin's voice, now much closer, suddenly cut across what Monique was saying. "Since the two of you aren't interested in what I have to say to the group, I guess that means you're volunteering for spots number 1 and 2 in the drills."
He had noticed the two talking and walked over to their position in the line. Barkin pointed at Monique when he said 'number 1' and Kim when he said 'number 2'. Caught, they couldn't do anything but nod and agree.
The first exercise was simple. Serve three balls to the opposite side of the court. Monique went first, and proved to be every bit as good as she had claimed to Kim. She even had a special serving technique involving spinning her body as she jumped up to meet the ball so that she could make it tough for her opponent on the receiving end to tell which way the ball would spin.
Coming up immediately after, Kim had only a second to decide how to handle the serve. With Monique's example fresh in her mind, she settled on duplicating what Monique had done precisely, including the other girl's signature spin. A snort of indignation from Monique's direction greeted this performance, though everyone else seemed impressed.
The next few tests were much the same, with Kim perfectly mirroring what Monique had done only moments before. As the day wore on, however, and Barkin started eliminating girls, Kim grew more comfortable with the basic moves and began branching out more, making use of her acrobatic abilities to jump aggressively for the ball. It became clear to everyone that Monique and Kim were the two best players on the court, and most of the other players assumed that Kim and Monique had been practicing together a long time, given how similar their playing styles were.
Monique, of course, knew differently.
"You have some nerve asking me which side of the court I want, after you've been stealing my moves all day!" she said to Kim. Barkin had ordered Kim and Monique to play doubles together so that the remaining girls could take turns playing in pairs against them, and Kim had just asked which side of the court Monique wanted.
"I haven't watched a lot of tennis, so I watched you to figure out what to do. What's wrong with that?" answered Kim.
"What's wrong is that I worked a year on that spin serve, and then you go and upstage me like it was nothing," said Monique, her usual cool gone. "I'll take the left side of the field and you take the right, and let's just not get in each others' way."
The opposing pair managed to return Monique's first serve. It landed in the right side, just inside the doubles line. Kim just stood there, allowing it to bounce away.
"Kim!" Monique yelled. "Why did you let that go?"
A blush began to appear on Kim's face. "Wait, was that in? It didn't count as in before."
"We weren't playing doubles before." Monique sighed and added, "I guess you really haven't played much. Come on, we can do this."
Together the two of them easily defeated the pair they were facing and then the next pair. On the third game, something happened to break their rhythm. Moving to return a tricky volley, Monique overextended herself and ended up sprawled on the ground. Even though she had managed the return, she wasn't going to be able to get up in time if the other team managed a volley.
Seeing the situation, Kim moved in from the other side of the court even as the other team sent a high lob to the far corner from her. She might have been able to make it on a sprint, but Monique (who was getting to her feet) was directly in Kim's path. Instead, Kim opted for a back flip over Monique, intercepting the ball in mid-air and smashing it over the net to score the game-winning point. She landed neatly on her feet.
Everyone watching erupted into spontaneous applause. Except for Monique.
Monique and Kim stood a few feet apart, their backs to each other as Coach Barkin made the official team roster announcement. The coolness in the air was most definitely not due to the season. Suddenly, Ron popped up behind them, reaching out with his arms to pull both of them into a hug.
"Can you believe it? The three amigos all made the team! The next few weeks are going to be great. We'll be heading to Bueno Nacho after every practice for celebratory nacos."
Ron's enthusiasm was infectious, but after a moment Kim processed what he had just said. With a quizzical look on her face, she asked, "Ron… How exactly did you make a girls' tennis team? Considering, and I have to stress this, that you are not a girl and you didn't try out."
Ron pointed both thumbs at himself. "You are looking at the new official team ball boy. After seeing what a great job Rufus and I did keeping the court clean during try-outs, Mr. Barkin said he'd be happy to have me keeping up the good work."
By way of demonstration, Rufus skittered up Ron's body clutching a tennis ball. He handed it to Ron, who tossed the ball in a nearby collection bin. Ron and Rufus gave each other the high-five.
Monique spoke up. "I'll have to take a rain check on Bueno Nacho today, Ron. We'll catch it next time."
She walked away, moving past Kim with only a cold, "Kim," as an acknowledgement.
Kim returned an equally cold, "Monique."
Ron watched her walk away and turned to his best friend. "Uh, Kim?"
"So not the drama, Ron."
"…got it. So are your parents going to pick us up? I'm a little surprised they aren't here, what with your big debut. I guess they have pretty busy schedules, though."
"Yeah, they couldn't make it. I'm just going to walk back," said Kim, not quite looking Ron in the eyes.
"That's okay; I don't mind exercising my legs a little more today. I can be the one to tell your Mom and Dad how much butt you kicked, so it doesn't seem too braggy."
Ron, I-"
Ron was smiling innocently.
Kim sighed. "Sure, that's fine."
They walked back together, engaging in their usual banter. As they came to Kim's driveway, however, Kim stopped to pull out her Kimmunicator out of her bag.
"Wade," she said, pressing the transmit button.
There was a flicker, and the young genius's image appeared on the small screen. "Kim, congrats on making the tennis team."
"Does everybody know?" said Kim, voice a little quivery.
"I keep track of what's going on with you, Kim," said Wade in a self-satisfied tone. "So what's up?"
"I was just wondering if there were any hits on the website. You know, typhoon, floods, fires, supervillains. Anything that needs to be taken care of like- right now?"
On the screen, Wade frowned. "Kim, you know I always tell you when something comes up, when you need to know it. I thought we'd got past the days of you checking up on me a long time ago."
"Wade, that's not what I-"
Wade tapped his keyboard a bit. "Actually, there's a couple of things that might turn into missions, but neither of them are going to pan out for at least 24 hours. Did you want me to give you an update?"
"No Wade, that's all right. I need to get going now."
"Okay, Kim. Congrats again on making the team." Wade's image disappeared.
Kim shrugged to Ron and walked up the drive to her house, Ron just a few steps behind her.
Inside, Kim's mother was sitting on the couch working on her laptop. She looked up as Kim and Ron entered. "Hi kids, what have you been up to?"
"Just playing a little tennis, Mom," said Kim with a false casualness.
"Don't listen to K.P. trying to be modest, Mrs. Dr. Possible," crowed Ron. "She totally made the tennis team. She and Monique were the best players on the court, and everybody knew it."
Kim's mother looked surprised for just a moment, then she narrowed her gaze and looked directly at her daughter. Kim met her mother's gaze, and for a long moment they had a staredown. Finally, Mrs. Possible said, "So you're playing competitively now, Kim. You didn't mention this before."
In a carefully controlled voice, Kim answered, "I didn't want to say anything until I found out if I made the team."
"Now Kimmie, I don't think there was much doubt about that once you decided to try."
Kim broke the stare-off, tossing her arms out to the side. "Mom, it's no big. It's just a stupid city team. We're only going to play one tournament, against Upperton. It's a Middleton tradition. Just something to keep me in shape until Cheer Squad starts up again."
Mrs. Possible continued looking at her daughter for a moment, then sighed and closed her laptop. "Well, that's your decision, honey. Let me just go find your father, and-"
"That's right, it's my decision!" interrupted Kim, in a voice that said she was prepared for a fight. "Now if you don't mind, I'm going to go up to my room and change."
With that, Kim stormed past her mother and up the stairs to her room. Her mother just stood watching her calmly. Once Kim completely left the room, Mrs. Possible turned her gaze to Ron and seemed about to say something.
Ron could sometimes be unperceptive, but he wasn't that unperceptive. He quickly spoke. "You know what, Mrs. Dr. P, I need to get going. Uhh… Rufus is, uh, Rufus isn't feeling well."
On Ron's shoulder, Rufus quickly took his cue and began lolling around and moaning.
"Of course, Ron. I hope he's feeling better," said Mrs. Possible, with a slight smile on her face that said she wasn't fooled in the slightest.
Ron turned to go. Before he had taken two steps, however, Mrs. Possible's voice called out from behind him.
"Ron?"
He half turned.
"Did Kim- Did she have fun, Ron?"
Ron looked to Rufus for guidance. The naked mole rat nodded vigorously and said, "Yayayaya."
Ron nodded to Kim's mother. "Yeah, she had a great time, Mrs. Dr. Possible."
"Good."
Kim's mother didn't say anything else as Ron walked out and carefully closed the door behind him. He drew one hand across his brow and wiped off a scattering of sweat drops.
"Whew, what was all that about?" he asked Rufus.
The mole rat just shrugged in response.
"We need to talk to Kim." Moving in exaggerated sneaking motions, Ron walked around the side of the Possible house until he was looking up at Kim's window. He put one hand on the siding to start climbing, then pulled it back.
'I'm going to go up to my room and change,' Kim had said.
"Yeah, maybe we shouldn't surprise her up there," Ron told his mole rat. He patted his pockets. "I think I forgot my cell phone, and I don't have my own Kimmunicator-"
Ron stamped his foot in frustration. "Why don't I have my own Kimmunicator, Rufus? Am I not part of Team Possible? Do I not need to talk to Wade just as much as Kim does?"
"Yayayaya," said Rufus, supporting Ron.
"Okay, not solving the problem." Ron paced back and forth for a second. "I know! I'll throw some pebbles at her window. She'll hear and look out and see me and give me the wave to come up. Go find me some rocks, Rufus."
Ron set Rufus on the ground. The mole rat ran around for a minute, gathering up a collection of rocks for Ron's consideration.
Ron picked up the first one. "A little too small. She's not even going to hear this." He picked up the next one and considered it. "Way too heavy. This might break the window, and that's going nowhere good. I don't think-"
From around the front of the house, there came the sound of the front door opening. Ron froze.
"Dear, we both knew this day would come." It was Mr. Dr. Possible's voice.
"Well, last time Kimmie and I talked about it, I did tell her that she was growing up now and it was her decision. I just didn't expect her to decide to try it, after all this time." It was Mrs. Dr. Possible voice.
They didn't seem to be moving from the front step. Apparently, they had just decided to talk in the open air, possibly to be away from the ears of Kim's brothers. Ron froze, not sure he should be eavesdropping but not wanting to interrupt.
"Well, things are different now," said Mr. Dr. Possible. "The reasons we had keeping Kim out of competitive sports don't really apply as much. There's kids her age who have practiced for years."
"We? You're being kind, James. I know you never really agreed with my reasons."
"Nonsense," said Mr. Dr. Possible, not sounding entirely convincing. "We parent as a team, and I take my full share of responsibility." There was a pause, and then he spoke in a more upbeat tone. "Besides, it's not so bad, is it? Kim's going off to college in a couple of years, and an athletic scholarship-"
"We can afford to send our daughter to college!" snapped Mr. Dr. Possible.
"Of course, I was just trying to look on the bright side." Mr. Dr. Possible hastily backpedaled.
"It's just, she seemed so angry, James. I never realized that it upset her so much. Do you think- Do you think she resents me?"
There was another pause. "Probably a little. What teenage girl doesn't resent her mother a little? But she knows you were only trying to do what was best for her, and she loves you."
"I suppose."
There was a long pause, and finally the sound of the front door opening and closing.
Ron and Rufus sat staring at each other, mouths hung open in astonishment.
Author's Notes:
At this point, things should be fairly obvious. But if like Ron you are still confused, everything will be explained in time. I'm estimating about 5 chapters for this fic.
Thanks to lab1152, Corencio, kemitzri, Triaxx2, Pesterfield, and Jezrianna2.0 for their reviews. This is my first fanfic in a very long time, and knowing that people are reading has been a huge inspiration to continue. Please keep it up, even if it's only a sentence to say you read the latest chapter. In answer to your comments, I have seen the Coach Possible episode and it was a big inspiration for this fic, in more ways than just the obvious. But I'll save a substantial discussion for where this fic came from until a little later on.
Style-wise, I'm trying very hard to give no more and no less information on what the characters are thinking than you would get if they were animated. Sometimes I'll tell you what's going on in a character's head, but that's usually as a substitute for you being able to see their facial expressions and body language. Is it working?
Ron is a lot of fun to write, and Rufus is a handy device for an author. With Rufus, Ron always has someone to talk to, so I don't have to have him do soliloquies to explain what's going on.
The character I'm having the most trouble with is Monique. She obviously has a fairly important part to play, but I'm having trouble capturing the essence of her character, probably because I've seen so few episodes with her in it. E-mailed advice or tips for good Monique stories to read for inspiration would be helpful.
That's all for now. I'll work on the fic during the week, but chapter 3 promises to be a bit tricky, as I have to move all the pieces into place and I'm not quite sure who should be in an important scene. You'll see it by the end of next weekend, at the latest.
