DISCLAIMER: The entire Kim Possible gang belongs to Disney. This story is written for the pleasure of the reader.
AND SO…
Chapter 7: The Lotus ClawsAfter Kim and Ron had finished cleaning up the broken China, they changed into their mission cloths, and called Wade.
"Got a ride set up, Wade?" Kim asked him.
Wade grinned. "Even better. The teleporter's set up for Japan, so all you have to do is…"
Ron cut him off. "Dude, 'teleporter' is so last season, we got a think of a better name for that thing."
Kim and Wade blinked.
"Yeah, we should call it something cool, like, I donno, the 'X-Five,' or something." He continued.
Kims eyebrow rose. "X-Five?"
"What?" Ron shrugged. "It sounds cool." Suddenly, Rufus jumped up from Rons pocket enthusiastically.
"Cheese!" He squeaked.
"That's it!" Ron snapped his fingers. "We'll call it… The Cheese Machine!"
Silence.
"X-Five it is, then." Kim rolled her eyes. "Anyway, Wade, what were you saying?"
"Yeah, the location of the Claws, or whatever you guys call them, are in a city along the north-eastern coast of Japan, called 'Aomori,' and since I've got the telepo-'
"X-Five."
"The X-Five up and running, you guys can teleport there now, if you want." The thirteen year old finished.
"Alright. Got the coordinates?" Kim asked.
"Yep. But before you guys go, can you tell me what's really going on here?" He asked her desperately.
"All in time, Wade." She sighed. "All in time…"
The super genius sighed. "Fine. The coordinates are: Japan, north, sixty-seven degrees, east, fifty-nine degrees."
The couple memorized the numbers, and without hesitation, Wade activated the, 'X-Five,' and watched as his two friends vanished into the Teleportation Grid.
Assured that the two were on their way, Wade sighed in frustration. No matter how hard he tried, Kim wouldn't spill the sitchuation to him, and, even more surprising, Ron wouldn't either.
This is what made him so worried.
Whatever they were doing, it was something big, and whatever it was, Wade wasn't a part of it yet. This made him feel slightly depressed; He had always been a crucial part of Team Possible, and now, well…
He was feeling down-right left out.
Xxx
Kim and Ron materialized out of thin air, approximately twenty metres from the gaping monkey entrance of yet another temple.
Ron shook his head and was about to make a remark about how the teleporter made him dizzy, when Rufus suddenly jumped out of his pocket, and leaped on top of his head, standing stiffly, gazing at the temple before him.
"Rufus? Buddy?" Ron whispered to his pal, slightly worried.
"Power." The mole rat whispered, still starring at the temple.
"He must feel the power of the Claws." Kim spoke suddenly.
"Say what?" Her boyfriend asked.
"He feeling the same power I felt when we went to the last temple."
Ron blinked, and Kim read his mind.
"I just decided not to show it." The auburn shrugged, and moved onward, as the others followed.
A couple minutes later, after walking through the long halls of the temple, all three felt something, as they entered a large, circular room. Kim and Ron drew their weapons, and Rufus, still having no weapon, did what he could, and got his rock hard teeth ready.
They heard it before it even came.
Ron pushed Kim and Rufus out of the way, and changed the Lotus Blade into that ever faithful shield. He then ducked, and with all his strength, not to mention the combined strength of the Lotus Blade, was able to stop the giant pillar from crashing down on him. The big stone, however, was far heavier than one would have suspected, and Rons strength was declining rapidly.
Kim knew what she had to do.
Quickly, she raised the Mace above her head, and struck the large slab of rock with all the power she had. A light cracking noise could be heard, and, quite suddenly…
The rock exploded into dust.
Small pieces of debris fell on top of Ron, as he got up. Spitting some crushed rock out of his mouth, he started to complain.
"Aw, man! Do you know how long it's gonna take to get all this dust off my shirt?" He whined.
"Wow, this is terrible!" Kim said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "It probably would have been better if you were just crushed to death, huh?"
Ron turned slightly red, and gave her a sheepish look. "Well, I guess I do owe the girl who saved my life a favor."
"We'll talk about that later." She smiled, and pulled him forward, with Rufus tangling along.
Moments later, they came to another room, but this one was different. It was a triangular shaped room, and seemed ordinary enough, but Kims instincts told her else wise.
They stopped, and, after studying floor of the room for a while, Kim finally came to a conclusion.
"Flame geysers." She announced.
"How do you know?" The blonde beside her asked.
"Well, if you look at the holes placed all around the room carefully, you can see the flames inside of them."
Ron looked closely, and saw that she was right. "You see, I could have never figured that out myself."
Both Kim and the mole rat rolled their eyes.
"So what's the plan?" He asked.
"The geysers are lined up in two rows, and if we come near them…" She tossed a small rock over one of the geysers, and watched it get incinerated. "Then they shoot the flame."
Ron raised an eyebrow. "You could've just saved a lot of time by just saying that you need the Lotus Blade."
She shrugged. "I like to explain."
A smile tugged at the corner of Rons mouth as he transformed the Blade into a shield again and walked towards the geysers. He turned his head back to her as he reached them.
"This shield is becoming to come in handy a lot, isn't it?" And without waiting for an answer, he took one step closer.
And almost fainted when the flames shot up just inches away from his face.
"Wow." He croaked.
"Need help, Ron?" He heard Kim call.
He didn't respond, but instead, kept looking at the fire.
"Ron?"
Without a word, Ron boldly thrust the large shield over the flames, and crackling could be heard as the fire pounded the shield. He turned to face Kim, face straining.
"Hurry." He muttered.
Kim grabbed Rufus, and took a running start towards Ron. A meter away from him, she leaped up, and flipped over him,as well as the muffled flames below. She landed with grace on the other side, and saw Ron leap over the shield as well, falling onto the ground, exhausted.
She grabbed his hand, and he stood up with some difficulty, still dazed.
"Please, mom, no more bonfires…" He mumbled, and Kim chuckled slightly.
"Nice work, Ron." She smiled, and lightly placed her lips on his for a brief moment, which was all it took, as he visibly brightened.
"Well, what are we waiting for? We gotta get our little naked mole rat buddy here some Claws!" And he led the way into the last room cheerfully, with Kim following closely behind, smiling slightly to herself.
They entered the room with only the sound of their shoes hitting the floor, and they noticed the room was an exact replica of the one which held the Mace. Ron took a step closer, forgetting that Rufus was in his pocket, and suddenly felt the little guy begin to squirm and shake.
Ron, worried for his little pet, picked him up, a placed him inside his caring hands. All at once, the mole rat suddenly stopped shaking, the strange feeling in his body suddenly gone.
"Rufus?" He asked him worriedly. "You okay, buddy?"
Rufus nodded slowly, and jumped out of Rons hand, crawling slowly towards the pedestal in the center of the room, as Kim and Ron waited. When the mole rat finally reached the stand, he leaped up, and saw…
A pair of tiny Claws, just slightly bigger than Rons finger nail.
However small they were, they were a perfect fit for the small mole rat. Sliently, he slipped them on, and waited for a change.
But the change never came.
Confused, Rufus tilted his head, and turned to run back to his friends to show them.
And suddenly, he was in front of them.
Eyes wide, he starred at the Claws on his hands, and back to his Kim and Ron, who seemed equally surprised.
That's when it hit her.
"Of course!" Kim cried, attracting the attention of both Rufus and Ron. "The Claws' power is speed! That's how Rufus got back here so fast!"
Rufus nodded vigorously, and hurried to test his new abilities.
He quickly found that with the newly acquired speed, he could even run up walls and o the roof, upside down. He also discovered that if he concentrated enough, the mole rat could see his surroundings as though they were traveling at normal speed, while he traveled at surer speed.
All this time, the couple below had no idea where there friend was, which is why they were surprised when he suddenly appeared on top of Rons head.
"Whoa, Rufus!" Ron marveled. "I bet you've never ran that fast before, huh?"
Kim and the naked mole rat exchanged quick glances.
"Well, maybe once." Kim said for him.
"Oh, yeah!" Ron remembered, chuckling at the memory. "I remember now! You missed the Spirit Dance because of those shoes! Really too bad, because Smash Mouth was really good…"
He stopped short when he saw Kims glare.
"Well, maybe not that good…" He scratched the back of his neck nervously. "Hey, wait a minute… Why's Monkey Fist not here?"
Kim shrugged. "His Staff wasn't working a while ago, maybe it still isn't."
"Well, that's good news, at least!" He brightened. "Now lets get outta here… I still owe you that favor."
"That you do." Kim smiled, as Rufus sat in Rons pocket, since he was still unsure how to slow himself down with the Claws still on, and they walked out of the temple together.
Xxx
Monkey Fist through aside the Staff in anger as he entered his hidden temple once again.
This wasn't supposed to happen.
He had to admit, trying to kill the rodent before it got to the Claws had been quite foolhardy indeed, but his Staff…
What had happened?
When the Mace had connected with the Lotus Staff, there must have been some interruption of some sort, and Fists guess was that since the Lotus Weapons weren't supposed to be used against each other in that kind of way, the Lotus Staff had experienced a drain of power, and was therefore not able to be used effectively.
And because of this mistake, Team Possible, or Team Lotus, if you preferred, now was most likely in possession of the three remaining Lotus Weapons.
Cursing himself one last time for his foolishness, Fist placed the Staff inside its place on the large Monkey Statue, allowing it to recharge. After doing this, he sat down again to meditate, and found himself thinking.
'Knowing Stoppable, he will most likely figure out what's going on in the next day or two,' Fists lips curled into an evil smile. 'And when he does, he will most likely come bounding off to save to day, with his retched friends of his. By doing so, he will literally bring me the remaining Lotus Weapons, and then…'
His gaze fixed on the statue before him, waiting for the other three weapons to join the Staff, ready to unleash the power it held inside.
'And then…' Lord Monkey Fist grinned the evilest grin imaginable. 'And then…
'Is when the fun begins.'
There, two chapters in one day, to make up for the weekend. R&R, and happy reading.