jasminevr: Sorry, no direct Ron in this chapter but I promise his involvement will pick up in the final few. richie: Not Joss or Tweebs. That would make an interesting story though so I suggest you write that down and save it.

CelestialTime93: Thank you!

Riverfox: That's funny, I did seperate the good guys/bad guys shots. Wonder why it didn't show up correctly...

Everybody else: Can't get to you right now. Thanks for all of the nice reviews though!

"Margarite, I wanted mint green raw silk and this is- this is olive! Do you really expect me to look my best at the ball wearing an olive gown?" Ana stormed.

"Really meticulous, isn't she?" Kim whispered to Saara.
"Yeah, but she knows what she wants. Gotta give her points for decisiveness."

The ladies were getting a final fitting for their Maytide Celebration clothes.

Nattie's gown had fit Kim perfectly. They were so much alike it was almost scary. The redhead hoped GJ would get the princess back soon; there was to be a very important announcement during tomorrow's ball, and Nattie would miss it.

Ana was acting every bit annoying as Ron had described. She was constantly holding his hand and, well, you get the picture. Kim wasn't irked a whole lot. It was so not the drama, strictly business…right?

"Princess, I have been told to deliver a message to you from a certain someone," Margarite, the tailor, said.

"Ooh, Nattie's got a secret admirer!" Merisa teased.

"Don't be silly," Kim said quickly. "Its from the, uh…zookeeper."

"Zookeeper?"

"Yes. At the royal menagerie. He, er, got me a giraffe." It came out sounding more like a question.

"Another giraffe? First Alfie, then Jessie. You certainly are fond of tall animals."

That turned out much smoother than anticipated.

"Miss Natalia, the 'zookeeper'," Margarite winked. "Asked me to tell you that 'the road leads to triple S, dead end' ."

Next the teen hero gave a long explanation to the others of how that applied to her new giraffe.

'Senor Senior Sr!' she thought to herself. 'What could he have wanted with Natalia?'

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Effortlessly she dragged the girl into the damp, dark basement. 'Always underestimated my own strength,' she remarked. And her full potential. She had never dreamed that evil could be so exhilarating. Way better than those stupid jazzercise classes at the health club! Sure it was wrong, but everyone else was doing it. It was time she joined in the fun.

"You'll never get away with this!" Nattie exclaimed, feeling a bit like she was in a bad drama movie.

The other smiled twistedly. "Of course I will. In fact, I just might let you live until the grand finale. I've got a surprise waiting for you, little Princess." She pulled out something cold and hard.

Nattie fell silent as the knockout gas filled her lungs.

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Kim and Lela stood side by side on the balcony overlooking the sea.
"I think its out there somewhere," Lee said after a long while.
"Constantine's Code, I mean," she added.
"I hope it is," the teen hero agreed. "For the good of this country"
"Yeah, for-for Byantium," the princess said solemnly.
Kim started thinking about home, and how Middleton was so much better than having a royal life.
"And not just for that!" Lee burst suddenly.
"Excuse me?" Kim was pulled out of her trance.
"Not just for the empire!" There was no stopping now. "I'm tired of having my life plannedout for me!I'm tired of being forced to put the whole island before ourselves! I don't want to do this anymore, Kim. I just wish that for once I could be a normal person."

Kim tried to think of something comforting to say.

"Look, there's your friend," Lee went back to normal as suddenly as she changed. She pointed to Ron, who was on the beach with a group of other ambassadors pretending to understand what they were talking about.

"You two are pretty close, aren't you?"
"We've known each other since forever," Kim blushed.
"I bet you've got a really great family, too. And lots of friends. Sometimes I doubt anyone in this palace cares about anybody but themselves."
"So why don't you get out of the palace?"
"What?"
"Leave the palace, it's that simple."

This was the beginning of a great change.

Not the most interesting chapter, was it? Never fear, next one will be called 'Maytide Disaster' so you can only imagine what could happen there.