"Nice day, huh?" said Ron, sidling up next to Coach Rakket.
Rakket was still staring in despair at his cell phone. He blinked in confusion at being addressed. "Wha- what? Nice day? There's nothing nice about it!"
Ron narrowed his eyes and said to Rakket, "Oh, I think you think it's a nice day. A nice day… for evil!" He suddenly whipped his hand around and pointed an accusatory finger in Rakket's face.
"I… No," was all that Rakket could sputter, looking confused.
"Don't play dumb with me. I heard you on the phone, talking with Dr. Drakken. You're one of his henchman, aren't you? Well, not a professional HenchCo henchman, obviously," said Ron, taking in Rakket's scrawny form as he said this last. "But definitely in that line of work!"
"I do not work for Dr. Drakken," protested Rakket. He drew himself up to his full height in an attempt to tower over Ron, only to realize that he was slightly shorter than Stoppable.
"Do so, do so, do so. What's the evil plan? Attack Kim while she's distracted? It's exploding tennis balls, isn't it. Oh, I bet that's it. It's always the exploding athletic equipment with you villain types. Duff Killigan is going to go all whacko on you when he finds out you're stealing his exploding balls trick. Totally whacko." As he said this, Ron danced around Rakket, jabbing his finger into the man's face from many different angles.
Coach Rakket reached forward and shoved Ron away, causing Stoppable to stumble back and fall on the ground. "I don't know anything about exploding tennis balls. And if anyone's a henchman here, it's you. Ball boy? Please, it's obvious that you're Steve Barkin's henchman."
Ron gasped. "You take that back! Mr. Barkin and I have a relationship based on misunderstanding, dislike, and distrust, and I am not his henchman. He's had it in for me ever since I gave him a funny look."
"Listen kid, Barkin is my mortal enemy. I think if anyone can recognize a Barkin henchman, it's me," said Rakket.
"I'm telling you, Barkin hates me! The man yells at me whenever I screw up, and he always makes me see what I did wrong. He'll give me chances to do stuff with his teams or help him out, but he's always on my case about doing things the right way. And he's always giving me advice on how to be a man," said Ron, climbing back to his feet. As he spoke, the tenor of his voice gradually changed from certainty to uncertainty.
Coach Rakket smirked at him.
Ron opened and closed his mouth, thinking. "Okay, so maybe Barkin doesn't completely hate me," he said. "But that still doesn't make me his henchman. I mean, I'm Kim Possible's sidekick. A sidekick is a step above henchman on the social ladder."
Rakket frowned. "Kim Possible? Wait a minute, that redhead out there on Barkin's team…. Is that Kim Possible?"
"The one and only," said Ron smoothly. "Don't pretend you didn't know who your boss was sending the exploding tennis balls after."
Rakket began vibrating with anger. "I don't believe it. Barkin brought in a ringer! That no-good jerk, he cheated first! He got Kim Possible on his team. Oh, how he must have laughed. He'll pay. Maybe not this year, but there's always next year, and then he'll pay. No wonder Dr. Drakken's racquets aren't working. Everybody knows that Possible always beats Drakken."
"So you admit it. You are working for Drakken!" said Ron, starting to point the accusatory finger of doom at Rakket a second time.
"If anything, Drakken is working for me," said Rakket, irritated and still a bit distracted by thoughts of Barkin. "Well, was working for me. I bought some technology from him on eBay, but he's not interested in helping me out now that it's started to go wonky."
"Exploding tennis ball type technology?" said Ron, never quite willing to let go of an idea once he had gotten it into his head.
"No. No, no, no. I bought some hypnotic tennis racquets. Year after year in Upperton, I've coached teams of slackers who barely put in any effort and then had the nerve to call me a lousy coach. Me! As if it was my fault how bad they were. This year was going to me different, though. The mind control racquets I bought from Drakken should have made the team into an unstoppable juggernaut, intent on nothing but victory. It did make them intent only on victory!"
Rakket paused, hands stretched out into the air in supplication. Then he collapsed to his knees and began crying. "But they're losing! This year was supposed to be different, and it's all the same. One minute they're out to conquer the world, the next moment they can't even conquer the court. It's just so not fair."
"Whoa, whoa," said Ron, who had a finely tuned ear for certain turns of phrase. "What was that about conquering the world? Because that sounds like we're back into villain territory."
Rakket shrugged. "As a side effect of the hypno-racquets that dominated their minds, they wanted to go conquer the world or something after they won the tournament. I was a little worried for a while, but Drakken said that once they were beaten in tennis, it would break the programming. After they lose. We're… we're going to be losers again."
Ron tried to say something, but Rakket's sobbing had gotten much louder and he was slinking off to behind the bleachers to cry to himself some more. After a moment's hesitation, Ron decided not to follow.
Instead he turned to search the area for Kim. He spotted her walking out onto the courts, just about to start another match. "Kim! Hey Kim, wait till you hear what I have to-"
Ron's voice strangled to a stop in his throat as Kim gestured to him from a fair distance away. In her hand she was holding what Ron recognized as one of the hypno-racquets. She took a step towards him.
He frantically waved her off. "Nothing important!" he shouted. "Just go back to your game. Not interfering in any way."
Kim stopped her advance. She was just far enough away that he couldn't quite make out the expression on her face. Then she turned and headed back to face off against her opponent.
Ron fled towards the only source of help available.
"Wade, I need help," Ron whispered at the Kimmunicator as he snuck up next to it.
"A little busy now, Ron. Can it wait?" said Wade. Ron wasn't positioned so that he could see the screen, but the sound of a keyboard being rapidly typed on accompanied Wade's voice.
"Sure, if mind-controlled Kim taking over the world isn't a problem for you," whispered Ron.
On the court, Monique suddenly missed a shot. "A little attention here, Wade," she said.
"Sorry Monique, but you're going to have to finish this on your own. Something's come up," said Wade. His voice from both the Kimmunicator and the plug in Monique's ear.
"Wade?" said Ron, confused.
"Mind-controlled Kim, right," answered Wade. "Ron, I don't get to say this a lot, but what's the sitch?"
They both ignored the distant sound of Monique shouting, "Oh no you didn't!"
Ron spoke in a hushed tone. "Long story short, the psycho Upperton coach bought some mind-control racquets from Drakken to help his team win. Now Kim's playing with one of the racquets, so she's under the mind-mojo too. Crazy coach says that if she wins this tennis tournament, the programming is going to make her try to conquer the world."
"Ron?" whispered Wade.
"Yes?" said Ron, putting his lips close to the Kimmunicator's receiver.
"Why are we whispering?" boomed Wade's voice at twice normal volume.
"Because I didn't want Kim to…." Ron trailed off lamely.
"Kim is all the way over there; she can't hear us," said Wade.
"All right, sorry," said Ron. He turned the Kimmunicator so that Wade faced him. "You don't have to get on my case about it."
Wade looked apologetic. "Sorry. It's just… I get a little freaked when Kim's in trouble."
"Oh, I am way more freaked than you, my friend," said Ron.
"It's not a competition, Ron. It's- Okay, the story about the hypnotic racquets has got to be true. It explains these weird readings I've been getting, as well as why the Upperton team is acting so strangely. So what do we do now?"
"Well, crazy coach said that if the player gets beaten at tennis, the hypnosis gets broken. So we just have to make sure Kim doesn't win the tournament," said Ron.
"But if one of the Upperton team beats her, then they'll still be hypnotized. And the only one on the Middleton team with a chance would be- Monique!"
The Kimmunicator turned on its own power, just in time to see Monique miss another shot. Wade began frantically reading off tennis instructions from his computer, and gradually he was able to talk her back to winning the match.
Afterwards, Monique walked up to the two of them, looking angry. "What exactly did you think you were doing flaking out on me?" she demanded.
Wade and Ron looked at her uncomfortably, then began to explain.
Kim paced back and forth in front of the area where the Upperton team members were sitting. She had just won her match with their last remaining player. "You have been defeated," she said, slapping her racquet into the palm of her hand. "You are imperfect and you were destroyed. Middleton will rule!"
One of the defeated players bowed her head. "Yes, we are imperfect." Another defeated player continued, "We are not worthy to rule." Still another added, "Win the tournament and prove your superiority."
"Okay, I believe it now," said Monique to Ron as they watched from what Ron considered a safe distance. "Seriously freaky things are going on with that girl."
"So you can beat her, right?" asked Ron anxiously. "I mean, you've been beating the Upperton players when nobody else on the team except Kim could."
Monique smiled uncertainly. "I'm better than the rest of the Middleton squad… but not that much better. I can only beat Upperton because Wade's helping me, and that's not going to work against Kim. Even hypnotized, she still has her moves."
"Not sounding like a yes, Monique," said Ron. He sounded and looked worried.
Wade spoke from the Kimmunicator. "Maybe Monique can't outplay Kim on her own, but the three of us working together can make sure Kim loses."
"Breaking out the cheating to save Kim. I like. Now if we could just do that for my homework once in a while," said Ron.
"I agreed to doing whatever we have to, but how come I'm facing off with Kim in about half a minute, and I'm still not the wiser on the plan your twisted and youthful mind has conceived?" said Monique.
There was a significant pause. "I've been too busy trying to arrange- Olay, you're on. Don't worry, I'll explain things via your earpiece as we go."
"Terrific," muttered Monique. She walked to take her place across the net from Kim.
Kim gave Monique a salute with her racquet, which Monique returned. Neither of them said anything.
Wade spoke in Monique's ear. "Don't have all my assets in place yet, but the transmissions I've been getting indicate that Drakken reused his Bebe-bot technology to build these things. I'm going to try jamming their wireless network. Each racquet might have its own brain, but maybe stopping them from talking to each other will help Kim snap out of it."
"That's a lot of maybes and might, genius boy," said Monique as she threw a ball up and down a few times, delaying the serve for a few seconds.
"Okay, I've pitched the disruption signal above human hearing. Go now, while she's confused," ordered Wade.
Monique let loose with her best serve. Kim calmly and smoothly moved out to meet it, returning a volley that Monique couldn't manage to stop.
"Fifteen, love," announced a referee.
"Ah, heh-heh. I guess they don't need to talk to each other to keep control," said Wade.
"Oh, you noticed," replied Monique as she braced herself for Kim's serve.
Meanwhile, Ron was making his way out the gate. More accurately, Ron was trying to make his way out of the gate.
"Abandoning your post, Stoppable," said Mr. Barkin. "While your best friend is playing for the top spot, too. So typical." The big man was blocking Ron's exit.
"It's not like that, Mr. Barkin," protested Ron. "I'm just taking a break." He hopped from one foot to another, trying to find a way past Barkin.
Barkin raised an eyebrow.
"You know… a restroom break. It could happen to anyone," said Ron.
"But you're the one it did happen to, Stoppable." Barkin lowered his head in exasperation and waved a hand to stop Ron from saying anything else. "Go on, I've got a match to watch." He stepped aside.
"Thanks Mr. B," said Ron.
Once through the gate, however, Ron headed to the parking lot rather than the restrooms. He quickly found his scooter and fumbled through the backpack he had left hanging from its handlebars. Eventually he pulled out a make-up compact. "It probably says something about my life that this was here," he reflected to himself.
Gripping the make-up compact tightly, Ron ran back into the tennis courts. He was just in time to see Kim win the first game of the match.
"Hey, go Kim!" shouted Ron as he walked up to the sidelines where he had left the Kimmunicator. His enthusiastic cheer counter-pointed the mechanical-sounding cheers of the Upperton team on the other side of the court.
"Ron!" complained Wade from the Kimmunicator's screen.
"Look, eventually she's going to be unhypnotized, and I don't want her remembering me not cheering for her," Ron explained.
"Did you get the knock-out gas?" asked Wade.
"I got it. Of course, I could have gotten it five minutes ago if you'd told me we needed it," said Ron.
"I would have told you we needed it if you had told me you left it out in the parking lot," replied Wade.
"Oh, this sounds helpful," interrupted Monique as she walked up for what was supposedly her one minute water break.
Ron and Wade both looked embarrassed.
"It's one game for Kim, zero for Monique. May I suggest we have a better plan for game number two?" suggested Monique.
"Don't worry, Ron is on the job," Ron told her. "As ball boy, I'm responsible for handing out the balls. I'm going to make sure Kim gets one coated in sleepy time gunk from the compact. It'll make her too woozy to play well."
"At last, an actual plan," said Monique, her face brightening. "Ooops, they're calling me back. Ron… don't screw this up."
"Why would you think I'd screw up?" asked Ron peevishly.
Monique wrapped an arm around Ron and quickly pulled him close. "Because… Right now you're here. And for this plan to work, you're going to need to be over there, handing the ball to Kim. In about ten seconds." She smiled sweetly.
"Good point," said Ron. He grabbed the make-up compact and ran for his position.
Monique took as much time as she felt she could getting into her spot. She waited for Kim's serve.
On the other side of the court, Ron took a deep breath and opened the compact. Hunched over to hide what he was doing, he popped the bottom slightly to expose the gunk at the bottom that produced the knock-out gas, and then rubbed a tennis ball into the stuff as quickly as he could. Still on the same breath, Ron straightened up and walked to hand the ball to Kim.
Kim took the ball without comment, tossed it in her gloved hand a couple of times, and then begin her serve. However, the nearness of the gas was already beginning to take effect and the serve, though still legal, proved to be much slower than the one Kim had been attempting to do. Monique was able to take advantage of this and returned the serve with a low shot skimming right over the net. To her credit, Kim still moved quickly enough to volley the ball, but her reflexes were unsteady enough that she knocked it into the net.
"Fifteen, love," called the referee.
"Don't feel bad Kim, you've got it going on! Yeah, just a set-back," called Ron, waving his arms wildly. Behind him, the Upperton players cheered too, though their cheers seemed a bit fainter, as if their mind-controlled hearts were no longer entirely in it.
It was Monique's serve now, so Ron couldn't slip Kim another drugged ball. Monique rushed her serve, though, and was able to slip another point in while the last of Kim's grogginess was still fading.
Having lost a second point, Kim took a moment to stare at the strings of her racquet in concentration. Then she carefully slapped herself across the face twice, using the pain to completely shake off the knock-out gas.
Ron crouched down next to Rufus. "Okay, it's time for Ron to be the distraction once more. I just never thought I'd be distracting Kim. You ready, Rufus?"
The naked mole rat nodded vigorously, then scrambled across the court. Meanwhile, Ron took his place and readied himself.
Once more, Kim tried to return Monique's serve. Just as she stepped forward to swing a near-perfect forehand, Ron began shouting, "Kim, your racquet's on fire! It's burning, it's all aflame."
It was only for an instant, but Kim's head jerked around to look at her racquet. This caused her to miss the stroke, allowing Monique to score yet again.
Kim took a moment to turn and raise her racquet meaningfully toward Ron. "On fire, like doing really well. Good. Keep up the playing," said Ron by way of explanation. He took a couple of quick steps back from Kim, looking nervous.
Monique was already winding up for her next serve, though, leaving Kim no time to chase after Ron if that had been her intent. Instead, Kim seemed to be focusing all her attention on her opponent, obviously determined not to lose this last point and the second game of the match along with it.
Just as Monique served, two sounds filled the air. One was an enormous screech of static from the Kimmunicator, still on Monique's side of the court. The other was a scream of pain from the referee, who had just been bitten in the leg by Rufus. The watching crowd all looked instinctively at the Kimmunicator. The referee looked down at his pained leg. Only Monique, who had been expecting this, and Kim, who refused to be distracted by anything, kept their mind on the game.
Monique made her serve…. The ball landed well outside the lines that would have marked it as in. Kim declined to go after it, confident Monique had just faulted on her serve. Unfortunately for Kim's game, neither the referee or the crowd had seen what happened. There was one apparent witness, though.
"In," shouted Ron. "Saw the whole thing, that ball was in. Monique's point, she takes the game. Sorry, KP."
The referee looked at Ron as he rubbed his sore leg. Rufus had already made himself scarce. "Well, you've been cheering for your friend there, so if you say you saw it go in…. Yes, you're right. I saw it go in as well. Point and game," said the referee.
"That ball was not in." protested Kim loudly.
"I'm sorry; I've made my ruling," said the referee.
Kim just shook her head. She coldly walked back to the Upperton players during the break between games, rather than retrieve her water bottle from the Middleton benches.
Meanwhile, Ron raced around the court to get the Kimmunicator.
"Monique just has to win one more game and she wins the match," Wade told him from the screen.
Ron bit his lip in thought. "Okay, I know I'm not totally up on tennis, but I'm pretty sure that we were playing seven games in a match, not three."
"Special tournament rules. They only do a three game match-up for first and second place, probably because they figure the players will be pretty tired by then," Wade told Ron.
"Don't worry, I've got the perfect distraction to start us off with," said Ron. "It's hitting a little low, but desperate times, desperate measures. Kim will thank me later."
"Okay… good," said Wade. "I just need a little more time. Almost got my spybot in place, and from then on it's easy."
"How is Monique doing?" asked Ron, looking over toward the Middleton benches. Monique was making the most of her break, sitting in a slumped posture as though she were exhausted.
"She's a trooper," said Wade.
The break was soon over, and everyone got back into position. Ron dropped the Kimmunicator into his belt pouch, where Rufus usually rode. Once again, Monique was up for the serve.
"Kim, your parents are getting a divorce!" called Ron as Kim went in for the return.
Kim showed no evident reaction, easily returning Monique's serve. Monique managed to volley once, but couldn't beat Kim's second return. It was the third game, and Kim was up by a point.
"Nothing?" said Ron. "That's cold. That hypno-racquet must have her pretty far under."
The lens on the Kimmunicator hummed as Wade focused it to scan Kim. "That, and the earplugs she's wearing. I guess she figured something was up and decided not to have any more distractions. She's smart!"
"Awwww," said Ron.
The Kimmunicator clicked again as Wade looked at something past Kim. "Well, if it's any comfort, you got some reaction," said Wade.
Ron looked up to see Mrs. Dr. Possible glowering at him from her seat on the sidelines. He gulped and said, "I guess I'm going to have some explaining to do later."
While Ron was chatting with Wade, Kim went and fetched several tennis balls for her anticipated serves, denying Ron another opportunity to gas her with a drugged ball. Ron realized this just as she returned to the serving line and slapped himself in the forehead.
"Don't worry, I've got it covered," said Wade, sounding extremely confident.
Kim wound up for a serve and dropped a ball onto Monique's side of the court. To the surprise of the crowd, though, it landed outside Monique's service court. Kim had faulted. Kim looked just as surprised as anyone, but quickly made another attempt. She faulted again, giving Monique the point.
"Okay, what's going on Wade?" asked Ron.
"Simple. I finally managed to get my spy drone flown out here. It has a projecting hologram system equipped. It doesn't matter where Kim hits the ball from here on, I can always make it look like she missed the shot."
Ron looked up and was just able to make out the drone hovering high overhead. "Wicked, Wade. Very wicked."
"I know," said Wade in a self-satisfied voice.
Monique was up to serve. She dropped it neatly in Kim's serving court. Kim laid out a fast volley across the net. A fast volley that was apparently too fast, as everyone could see it shoot across the court and land well outside the back line.
"What happens to the real ball?" said Ron.
"Complimentary cloak field," replied Wade, sounding more smug by the moment.
"Hey, what's she doing?" said Ron, as Kim took a strange position to wait for Monique's next serve. Kim was holding her racquet low and parallel to the ground.
"It doesn't matter," said Wade. "There's nothing that she can-"
As Wade spoke, Kim returned Monique's serve. Instead of trying to make a fair return, however, she rocketed it up into the sky, putting enough force into it that there was an audible 'twang' from the strings of her racquet. Up and up it went, smashing into Wade's spybot. There was a puff of smoke, and the machine fell out of the sky.
"She is smart," said Ron, sounding rather impressed.
"Too smart! Monique only needs one more point to win, but I'm out of ideas," said Wade, sounding panicky.
"Then let the distraction buy you a little time," replied Ron. He ran out onto the court and pitched himself onto the ground. "Cramp, cramp! Ball boy on the court, here. Need somebody to help me out. Can't walk on my own, so I'm just going to lie here, delaying the game."
Wade took the opportunity to speak to Monique through her earpiece. "Okay, new plan. I've been recording Kim's playing style in my computer. It's a lot more complicated than the Upperton players, but if Ron can buy us a few more minutes, then maybe I can-"
"I can do it," interrupted Monique. "I only need one more lousy point to win. I can do it without any tricks."
"That's not what my probability analysis says- I mean, I'm sure you can, but a little help never hurt."
"Wade…. Trust me," said Monique. She followed this up by digging the earpiece out of her ear and tossing it away.
Meanwhile, Mr. Barkin had walked out onto the court and easily hefted Ron over one shoulder. "Don't worry Stoppable, you're not going to be delaying this match any longer."
"Noooo! I mean-" said Ron. Whatever he meant, though, Barkin had already taken him off to the sidelines and play was resuming.
Monique had won the last point, and it was her serve. She bounced her ball a couple of times, looking at Kim. Kim Possible had a serious expression on her face, but she dipped her racquet in Monique's direction in what looked like a sign of respect. No more tricks, she seemed to be saying. Let's play this one fair.
The referee called the score one final time, and then the ball was flying through the air. Monique elected to start off with an easy lob into Kim's serving court, one she expected Kim to return. Kim did just that, launching the ball towards center court. This was just where Monique knew it would go, since she would have done the same thing herself. Volley back to Kim's side.
Just for a moment they appeared to be, finally, evenly matched. It began to seem as though it was merely intimidation and fear that had held Monique back, that she could have matched Kim evenly earlier if only she had believed in herself. That was how it appeared… for a moment.
Then, as casually as if she were yawning, Kim switched to an entirely new tennis stance, one that Monique had never seen before and couldn't predict. Kim used this stance to hit a fast volley just skimming over the net to the far right side of Monique's half of the court.
With a burst of adrenaline, Monique somehow managed to reach the ball in time to strike it with her racquet. It was a lousy return, though. The ball popped up, up, up, at an angle and speed that was sure to take it well behind Kim's back line before it bounced. All Kim had to do was just stand there and watch it go out. Inexplicably, Kim did no such thing. Instead she executed an incredible standing high jump to meet the ball in the middle of its arc and slam it hard towards Monique's side of the court.
In desperation, Monique tried something new. She twisted her body in imitation of one of Kim's cheerleader moves, bouncing off the surface of the court into a flip through the air. Just as Kim had, Monique met the tennis ball while it was still in mid-arc. She hit it with all her strength, slamming it into the far left corner of Kim's half of the court. With one hit, Monique won the game, the match, and the tournament.
Of course, there was still a certain difference between Kim's jump and Monique's jump. Kim landed neatly on her feet. Monique landed hard on her back, sending a blast of pain through the entire length of her body. She lay on the ground, writhing in agony.
"Monique!" shouted Kim in concern. She leaped over the center court net and rushed up to her friend, pulling out her ear plugs at the same time. "Are you okay?"
"Every part of my body hurts… I think I strained my back on that jump even before I hit the ground… but none of the fine bones beneath seem to be fractured," replied Monique in a series of short, gasping breaths.
Kim helped Monique get up and hobble over to the bench. The other Middleton players made room as Ron ran up, the Kimmunicator in hand.
"Kim, you're not hypnotized anymore?" said Ron.
Kim looked carefully at Ron, then Monique, and then Wade. "Not only am I not hypnotized, but I haven't been hypnotized today. Was that what all that cheating was about? Because I'm thinking you three owe me an explanation."
"Ummm," said Ron, looking confused. "The racquet you're using. It's from the Upperton team, right?"
"Right," said Kim. She looked at her racquet, which she had still been holding, and she laid it carefully on the ground, suddenly suspicious. "One of the Upperton team members loaned it to me after busted up mine. Why, is there something wrong with it?"
"Only that it's an evil hypno-racquet! It was made by no less than Dr. Drakken and bought by the crazy Upperton tennis coach. He wanted to use them to mind-control his team into better tennis players, but he said a side effect made them want to take over the world. And… none of this ringing a bell, is it KP?" said Ron.
"Not really. But I'm thinking I can get us some answers." With that, Kim made a fast trot across the court to where Coach Rakket was talking to his very confused and no-longer-hypnotized girls' tennis team. Without waiting to hear what they were discussing, Kim grabbed Rakket by the elbow.
"Excuse me, tournament champion needs to borrow your coach for a minute," said Kim.
Rakket didn't offer much resistance as Kim dragged him back to the bench where Ron and Monique were sitting. He seemed to be still lost in his depression over another loss. Behind them, the dazed Upperton players quietly followed.
"Hypno-racquet, yes or no?" asked Kim, pointing at the racquet she had left laying on the ground.
"Yes! I told your sidekick all about it," said Rakket sourly.
Ron stood up. "So when Kim picked one up and started using it, it took her over. Yes or no?" he said in imitation of Kim's gruff questioning.
"No."
"Oh," said Ron. His confidence deflated and he sat back down again.
Coach Rakket explained further. "I had to give my team special drugged drinks before I gave them the racquets, so that they would be suggestible enough for the racquets to take control of their minds. Drakken said it wouldn't work if they weren't dosed first. Apparently 'Mr. Evil Genius' couldn't get it all done in one unit."
"You… drugged us," came the voice of Upperton player Robin from behind them. "You gave us racquets that would take over our minds," added another player. Where before this had been a sign of the synchronization of their racquet AIs, now it was just all of them thinking along the same lines.
Rakket tried to pacify the rapidly growing anger of the crowd of teens. "Girls… team… I just wanted to make you better players. Think of how much your game improved. Why if-"
It was at this point that his survival instincts kicked in and he began running at full speed for the exit gate, pursued by a crowd of extremely angry teenage girls. As he ran, he passed by Coach Barkin. "Better luck next year, Tommy," called Barkin.
"Curse you Steeeeve!" yelled Rakket as he ran.
Kim, Ron, Monique, and Wade (from the Kimmunicator) watched all this in bemusement. None of them seemed to feel much urge to intervene. Kim spoke to her friends.
"So you thought I was hypnotized and you were trying to make sure I didn't take first place in the tournament?"
Ron nodded. "We thought that was the only way to break the racquet's control over you."
"Are you sure you weren't hypnotized even a little?" said Monique. "If my recollection is correct and it is, you were yelling at the Upperton team about how they were imperfect and they had lost and Middleton was going to rule."
Kim blushed. "Not the best sportsmanship, I admit. I just thought they deserved a little trash-talking after everything they kept saying during the games. You know, how they were perfect and Upperton was going to rule? I didn't know they were being mind-controlled, or I would have been nicer about it."
"But then after Monique won the second game, you went over to talk to the Upperton team," said Ron.
"I wanted to tell them to stop cheering for me! I told them that Monique is my friend, and I'd be cool whoever won or lost. That, and their cheering was a little creepy. When you're a cheerleader, bad cheers are like nails across a chalkboard," said Kim.
Ron tugged on his collar uncomfortably.
Kim placed her hand on Ron's arm. "Oh no, Ron. You're good. Lots of enthusiasm, even if you were trying to distract me."
Wade finally spoke. "But Kim, you knew something was up with all the drugged balls and distractions and holograms. Why didn't you say something?"
Kim shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. I guess I saw it as a challenge. I figured you guys must have a good reason, but if you weren't going to come talk to me about it, then I wasn't going to talk to you. That's why I put in those ear plugs after the second game. I was getting into mission mode, and I thought I could beat you no matter what you threw at me."
She tapped her lips, considering. "I guess I was wrong. Congrats on the victory, Monique."
Monique tried to get up to offer her hand, but settled back down in a groan of pain. "That last volley, Kim. When I hit it, it would have gone out for sure if you hadn't jumped up and returned it. Why did you do that?"
Kim looked from side to side and blushed a deeper red then before. "Don't tell anybody this. I just got so excited there that I stopped thinking about the rules of the game and wanted to hit the ball back. I've only been playing a few weeks, okay?"
"Sooo, you're not mad, KP?" asked Ron.
"Nah, it's no big. You guys were just trying to help me. I mean, I am a little annoyed that I can't even play one lousy tennis tournament without having weirdness show up, but that's not your fault. Maybe it's even for the best. Tennis was getting a little boring towards the end there, and the evil racquets spiced things up. So I'm not mad. My Mom on the other hand… what did you say to her, Ron?" said Kim.
Ron turned to see an angry Mrs. Dr. Possible heading towards him. He gulped in fear and moved to hide behind Kim.
Some time later, Kim and Ron sat together in a Bueno Nacho booth, sharing a double-sized nacho plate.
"So Kim, what about all this photographic reflexes stuff?" said Ron, stuffing a cheese-covered chip into his mouth.
"You mean, does it change anything?" said Kim. "I don't know, I've been thinking that maybe if I've got this ability, I should try to do more with it. Try to test its limits and see where I can push it."
"Whatever you do, those special reflexes are pretty rocking," said Ron. "They're… your special edge that gives you the one-up whatever you're doing. Your Kim Factor next to my Ron Factor."
"If it's my special edge, how come I lost that tennis tournament?" said Kim playfully. "I was trying my hardest when I was up against Monique."
"You weren't just up against Monique, though. You were up against Wade's mad skillz and gadgets and Rufus's teeth and my distractions. Not to mention that Monique sprained about twenty different muscles to win because she thought you were in trouble," answered Ron. He thought for a second, then added, "Which means that we're also your edge. But hey, we knew that. Ron Factor."
Kim dipped a nacho in cheese sauce and held it out for a nacho-toast. "To my competitive edge."
"Kimpetivive edge, Kim," said Ron as he knocked his nacho against hers. "Kimpetitive edge," he repeated.
Kim just rolled her eyes, but the corners of her mouth were curling up in a grin she couldn't quite suppress.
"So are you going to play more sports, KP?"
"Maybe. I'm not sure if tennis is my sport, but I'd like to give the whole competition thing another try sometime. I'm pretty busy right now, though, with school, missions, and cheer squad."
Ron nodded, "If you do, I-"
The Kimmunicator went off, cutting off whatever Ron would do.
Kim paused before turning on the screen and spoke to Ron. "Busy, like I said. And missions are way more fun than sports."
She pushed the button and Wade's face appeared on the screen. "What's the sitch?"
The End.
Author's Notes:
Responding to reviews on chapter 4:
Triaxx2 – Ron also thought there would be exploding tennis balls.
DigiSim – Monique is pretty good for a hobbyist tennis player, but she's not professional-level. Wade was helping her take advantage of some holes in the programming of the mind-control racquets. Is Monique's last name Watson? I could never find a last name for her.
Gargoylesama – Kim probably couldn't copy mystical monkey power since it's magic, but there's all sorts of other tricks she could potentially learn to do. I think that both Kim and Ron have a lot of room for growth.
Jezrianna2.0 – I really love writing Drakken and Shego. Their exchanges are just so funny.
And also thanks to campy, Cold-Chaos, AllisterH, Larva Miyu's Servant, and Corencio.
To everyone who named the Taskmaster, thanks but I remembered his name. Comics geek challenge. I know of at least two other comic book characters who have photographic reflexes, one of whom is also a Marvel character and one of whom is not.
I'm sorry that the final chapter took so long to get out. It's been about 10 days. Part of it was that I was away on a trip for a while, but I also had a bit of writer's block. It seems like I ran into a pacing problem where I already used up all my good ideas in the previous chapters and the finale was a fairly obvious wrap-up. I'll take more care in future stories. This may not have been the best chapter, but I hope it wasn't too bad.
I am definitely planning to write more Kim Possible stories, but I am not sure what yet. I have several ideas in mind. Let me know if any of them sound good to you. They are:
A Kim Possible/Venture Brothers crossover. "Are you crazy? Now Drakken's going to send Shego after us, and she's going to go totally sick-house on our (butt)s. Gentlemen, I like my (butt)!"
A character piece on what exactly Shego and Drakken get out of their partnership with each other. (They aren't getting the same thing.)
My attempt to do a big, sprawling, "What happens next" fic with what I consider to be some extremely cool ideas that I haven't seen done before, starring Kim, Ron, Shego, and Drakken in approximately equal roles. I will do this sometime, I'm just not sure if I want to try it next or do another short story first.
"Just Might be a Jerk," looking at Ron's social problems and asking to what extent he causes them himself. As a viewer, I like Ron, but I'm not sure if I'd like him if he were a real person I had to deal with on a daily basis. I'm not sure I actually need to write this one, though. It might be enough to have it outlined for when I write Ron in other fics.
Title only – "Dark Queen Kimberley Can't Lose!"
Anyway….
Overall, thoughts on "The Kimpetitive Edge"? Things I did wrong, things I should have done better? C&C appreciated, because otherwise I'll never learn. I can't help but think that there are a couple of scenes I put in that could really have been cut considerably, but sometimes I just have so much fun writing the characters that they get away from me. Was it too long?
