Chaos ensued in the ballroom.
"Wonderful!" Adriana growled sarcastically. "We're trapped in this stupid ballroom just waiting for our itchy deaths while some lunatic is taking my rightful place as the new Queen! And to top it all off: I dated a commoner!"
"Believe me, the displeasure was all mine," Ron retorted.
Saara, Izzy, Ali, and Merisa were all panicking.
"What are we going to do? What are we going to do? What are we going to do?" Ali paced helplessly.
Lee hit her on the back with a little too much force. "Snap out of it! What we're not going to do is act like damsels in distress. Don't you see? This is our one chance to prove ourselves! This is our country and we're not going to let some outsider ruin it!"
"Have you forgotten that there's no way out of here?" Saara interjected negatively.
"Don't worry," said Izzy. "We have Team Possible-Stoppable on our side. I've read all the magazine articles on you, Kim. You two always escape from the villainous traps, don't you?"
"Well, yes. But they've never held this big of a crowd hostage before. I don't know how we can get everyone out in time."
"I knew I shouldn't have left Rufus back in the ambassador's wing!" Ron exclaimed.
"And I shouldn't have left the Kimmunicator! Wade would know what to do."
"That's it!" Izzy cried. "Wade is the 12-year-old super genius, right? He must have you two micro-chipped, so as soon as he gets a GPS lock the Kimmunicator will come to you."
With perfect timing, the Kimmunicator zoomed in (apparently having made it through the locked iron doors) and landed next to Kim.
"Wade, Drakken's mom trapped us in a huge ballroom and we need to get out fast- wait, how did you get the Kimmunicator inside?"
"That's not important. Hey, did you say Drakken's MOM?"
"Fill you in later. Do you know how to get 300 people out of here at once?"
"Of course. I can use GJ's time space continuom gadget to zap them to tomorrow. Just place the Kimmunicator in the center of the room."
Wade typed furiously on his keyboard for a moment.
Before he could do anything, Kim felt a hand on her shoulder.
"Miss Possible, it wouldn't be proper for my guests to leave so soon. We've only just begun."
The person behind her was the Queen, and -to everyone's horror- she wore the same evil smile as Mrs.Lipsky had.
"Mom- I mean, Your Highness, what do you mean?" Lee was as confused as the rest of them.
"Sweet little Lela. You were never afraid to speak your mind. It hurts me to do this to you, but the time has come, child."
"Your Highness, you're scaring us," Saara's voice quaked. "What is going on?"
Kim whirled around to face the Emperess. "With all due respect, it would be nice if you didn't complicate things. Mrs. Lipsky is a dangerous villain and-"
"Oh, I know all about Mrs. Lipsky," Queen Edessa's sinister grin remained. "In fact, we're old friends."
The princesses, Kim, and Ron were shocked.
Suddenly it clicked. "You mean YOU are the acquaintance she was talking about?"
"We tried to stay in touch. College buddies always drift apart. Then one day I discovered the magic of the world wide web. Martha and I started chatting again, so when she turned evil I decided to join her."
"This is just too sick and wrong for words!" Ron exclaimed.
The royals were already backing away, no longer trusting their own mother.
"I must warn you, Kimmie, I may be a little rusty but I used to be rather good at karate."
Kim was both freaked out and angry. How could their own queen do this to them?
"I'm really sorry Your Majesty, but I have to do this," she apologized quickly then jumped and spun in the air, kicking the Empress so hard that she was knocked out cold.
Ana put one hand over her mouth in terror. "You hit my mother! Nobody hurts the Queen!"
"Ana, she just turned stark raving mad!" Lee cried out alarmedly.
"Sorry, you guys. It had to be done," Kim said.
"It's okay.Some of us understand," Saara glanced sharply at Ana.
"Now let's get all of you to the near future. Ron and I have to stay."
"We do?" Ron asked disappointedly.
"Yeah, we need to stop Lipsky."
"I'm coming with you!" Lee insisted.
Kim was thrown off. "What? You can't. It's too dangerous for a princess."
"KP, she has to do this." Ron felt a bit like the female mascot sitch had been reversed.
"Thanks. I'm definitely coming with you."
"Oh, all right." The redhead gave up resignedly.
"But the rest of you need to go with the nobles. Keep them under control and try to think of a logical explanation."
"Gotcha," Izzy said. "We'll tell them they all had too much champagne and dreamed up the whole ball."
KP turned back to the Kimmunicator. "Wade, our best bet-"
"Would be going through a window," he finished. "I'll scan for the best target."
"Please and thank you."
Within moments the roomful of people had been reduced to three.
They escaped from the south-facing window seconds before itching gas was released. Since it was a few stories up, Kim first attached the hook of her grapple gun to a nearby tall tree. Ron used his own blue one because there was an extra person to carry. Effortlessly, the trio swung across and landed smoothly on the ground.
Even Ron's pants falling down unprecedently could not rouse a giggle from Lee.
"I can't believe it," she said softly. "Queen Edessa is a…a traitor. All this time we thought she was on our side." 'Our side' meant the Northern Alliance.
Kim and Ron let her have a moment to herself and glanced at each other uneasily.
Lela had another erratic mood swing. "So what happens now?" She spoke somewhat cheerily.
The teen hero returned to her element. "We go save the world," she answered confidently.