Thanks to everyone who has been reading this. If you're not a shout-out lover skip ahead to the story.
CelestialTime: You are too nice! Thank you.
Riverfox: The G is from the word Great. It is the first word of the riddle and so the first letter is capitalized. "Great capitals" is where they realized it had to do with the letter G, which is a capital in the sentence. Sorry, I'm not a very good explainer.
Kimberly Ann: (Or should I say Lydia?) Thanks for the compliments! Yes, I'm a good hider. You should see what's hiding under my bed:-)
Everybody else, thanks again!
Team Possible raced to the harbor of New Byzantium. It wasn't hard to find Princess Lela or Nattie. The older girl was trying her best to get to her sister in the murky water. It was easier said than done when there were killer jellyfish to avoid. Despite her careful efforts, Lee felt the painful sting from the sea animals more than once. She knew it was almost a lost cause- if she even reached her sister, both of them would be unlikely to survive anyway. If only Kim Possible would come help them in time…
"KP, over here!" Ron called out, panting from the brisk run to the edge of the island. "How are we going to get past the jellyfishes, I mean, the jellyfish- is it fish or fishes?"
"Stop fooling around, Ron! I'll handle them. You make sure the princesses are all right."
The teen hero dove into the sea fearlessly. Jellyfish were child's play compared to some of the stuff she had been up against. She just hoped it wasn't too late to rescue the royals.
'Well, I got what I wanted,' Lee thought unhappily.
'Adventure. And independence. Nobody can help us now.' The irony hurt almost as badly as the jellyfish stings. Just when she thought all hope was lost, she felt a hand brush against her. It was Natalia. She was unconscious and tumbling freely below the water's surface. Lee used her last ounce of strength to hold on tightly to the girl who had always been her friend. Two royals lost at once; in the Kingdom, this would be a day of mourning. Their other sisters would be expected to wear black at all times for at least a year. And the Queen…well, that was something she did not want to think about.
Suddenly, she saw a blur of brown hair. That was the end.
Somehow Kim managed to pull both girls through the water and to safe, dry shore. She obviously could not swim in a ball gown, so she had torn off the first nine layers of clothing, leaving a lightweight white petticoat that was not like her mission clothes or battle suit, but functional.
Ron helped drag the princesses onto the white sand. Both were unconscious.
"Check to see if Lee is breathing," Kim ordered as she did the same for Natalia.
The look-a-like princess had the faintest heartbeat she had ever heard. Quickly she went through the cardiopulmonary resuscitation procedure (CPR in plain English), becoming more concerned with each step. Right then the princess looked anything but imperial. Her face had been drained of color. Still Kim could see the slight differences between their features that Lee had also noticed when she was undercover. Nattie wore a petticoat similar to the one Kim wore. Probably with her full uniform, she would sink straight to the bottom of the sea. Lipsky would prefer it be slow and painful, so she must have taken the rest of her clothes away. It was maddening how the poor girls had to wear petticoats in the 21st century! Kim's lifestyle was relatively normal in comparison.
"How's Lela?" she asked Ron after Nattie stared taking shallow breaths again but remained unconscious.
At the mention of her name, the other princess awoke. Earsplitting pain screamed through her head, though she saw the familiar beach surrounding her once again.
"Fine, Kim," she said weakly. It may have been a lie. "Nattie?"
"She's…not so well," Ron admitted.
"But she'll be okay, promise." Kim and Ron said this in unison without meaning to. Of course, this was no time for jinxing and soda.
Lee attempted the realest smile she could conjure up, but it increased the headache she was trying to hide.
"Riddle," she spoke in broken segments. "Solve riddle…please."
"Don't worry about the riddle," the blonde boy insisted. "We took care of Mrs. Lipsky. It's over now."
But in a way Kim understood. Who knew if Natalia would even recover? The treasure was the reason all this happened. If this is how it had to end, Lee wanted them to win this thing completely.
"Do you have the Kimmunicator?" she asked her friend. She had left it with him before going on her underwater rescue mission.
"Of course. I haven't lost it for, like, a whole three weeks!"
She took the custom-designed device and pushed a button to contact Wade.
The 12-year-old boy had not been expecting this.
"Uh, what's the sitch Kim?" he asked, while thinking 'That felt weird!'
"Wade, do you have any luck with unscrambling words?"
"In my sleep."
"Well, for all we know this could be in Latin. Ready?"
He sipped his soda relaxedly and nodded.
"A, A, S, I, M, L, N." She said each letter slowly.
Wade typed furiously for a moment. He read his results:
"Mail san, sail man, am snail, main sal…" Most of the possibilities did not make sense.
"Wait, I think this is it!"
"What?" The three questioned eagerly.
"A Latin name. Salina. It means-"
"Next to the salt water," Lee said. The headache was fading away as her strength returned.
"Exactly. Your Majesty, it looks like you've been stung by-"
"Deadly jellyfish." She cringed at the words.
Wade knew there was something wrong. If the jellyfish were deadly, you'd have to be unexplainably lucky- like Kim and Ron often were- to survive.
"I need to examine those jellyfish, guys."
Kim turned the Kimmunicator's screen towards the water. Wade zoomed in to get a closer look.
They waited for a moment. "Well?"
"Just as I suspected. The jellyfish are not deadly!"
Everyone rejoiced at that news.
"Actually, most jellyfish stings are." He continued. "But these are a harmless species that are bred and sold for rock-bottom prices…by our old friend Jack Hench."
Thank goodness for Mama Lipsky's stinginess! She had obviously chosen the generic brand.
"So Nattie's going to be okay?" Lee felt elated, almost back to normal.
Wade smiled. "Expect a full recovery in 48 hours."
They returned to figuring out the riddle.
"Salina," Ron thought aloud. "That accounts for Saara, Alana, Lee, Isadora, Natalia, and Adriana." He said the last name in a disgusted voice. "What about Lee's twin, Maria?"
"Merisa," Lela corrected. "I doubt that M is part of the coded word. Maybe the letter M has a special meaning here."
"Ron, how did we figure out that thing with the G and number seven again?" Kim asked.
"That's easy. I counted the letters of the alphabet until I got to G. It was the seventh letter." He demonstrated by holding up his index finger for A, two fingers for B, and so on.
"Maybe it works the same way for M."
Ron continued counting with his hand, only to find he ran out of fingers.
Kim beat him to it by using her head. "Okay, so M is the 13th letter of the modern alphabet. And the 12th letter of the Latin alphabet, right Lee?"
"Yeah. Now we have to make a connection between Salina- meaning by the salt water- and the number 12."
Ron started babbling everything he knew about the number 12. (Twelve months in a year, twelve days his English paper was overdue….)
"Salt water- the sea. We're already at the sea, so it has got to be somewhere around here," Kim reasoned.
"It could be anywhere along the coast, which is surrounding the whole island! They've got dozens of shipping docks. Unless…" Lee trailed off.
"Unless what?" the best friends asked.
Wade looked like he already knew exactly what she was going to say.
"Unless it means the 12th dock at the harbor!" They were so close to solving the mystery; the princess felt her spirits lifting higher than they had since before the royal kidnapping.
Wade smiled. "I've got the coordinates mapped out. It's about a five minute walking distance from where you are."
Before Kim could give her usual praise, "You rock Wade!", a familiar icy voice interrupted.
"Thank you very much, Kim Possible and team. Now I know exactly where to look." It was, unfortunately, the evil Queen Edessa. "And to think, my Lela is on your side. How could you betray your own mother like this?" Her tone of voice made their skin crawl, even the super genius who was far away in his room.
Lee gritted her teeth. "You mean nothing to me!"
"How did you come back?" Kim was astonished. "I- I thought you -"
"Oh please, Kimberly. You thought one little blow would knock me out cold? I expected you to know better than that. And how did I escape your little time traveler? Same way you did: out the window and across with a vine.Now if you will be so kind as to get out of my way."
"Not without a fight!" Kim braced herself in a kung fu position. She whispered to Lee to get herself and Nattie away from there.
The battle began. The Queen stepped back in her own Judo position and made the first move. To avoid the woman's swinging arm, Kim ducked. She quickly got back up and assaulted the villain with a spin kick. The Queen fell down but recovered swiftly. This time she went after unprepared Ron instead. Kim dove in and got him out of the way just in time. The villain hit the ground hard; once again she sprang back up.
"This villain know what she's doing," Ron commented.
Kim, who was now engaged in full frontal combat, could not believe he was complimenting the traitor queen.
"She's a superfreak and she admits it," he finished.Now that was more like it.
Queen Edessa did not take this well. "Silence, fool! When I am ruler of the world, the first thing I shall do is banish you impertinent teenagers to the frozen depths of Antarctica!" She added an afterthought: "The second thing will be to abolish cheesy Americanized Mexican fast food. I loathe that stuff!"
"What?" Suddenly Ron was dead serious.
"I absolutely detest fake Mexican food! They've been trying to build a Bueno Nacho in this country for years, but I prevented that from happening."
There was a fire in the boy's eyes. "You are the reason I haven't had a real naco in four days! You- you're a BUENO NACHO HATER!"
Ron started charging at full speed towards the villain.
"Uh, Ron, what are you doing?" Kim was highly concerned. The woman was a certified blackbelt, after all.
It was too late. Ron had been pushed over the edge and mystical monkey powers had seized him.
Kim covered her eyes so she wouldn't have to watch the villain get her butt kicked. She could hear her friend yelling in what sounded almost Japanese and the whooshing noises whenever he punched or kicked particularly hard. When she looked again, Queen Edessa was crumpled on the floor in intense pain.
She ran to a nearby dock and untied a boat from the Royal Fleet, taking the heavy rope with her. "Ron, catch!"she cried, tossing one end of the rope in his direction. In a matter of seconds, they had bound the villain tightly.
Ron dusted off his hands. "Looks like Her Lowness won't be going anywhere til Global Justice arrives."
"Yeah, thanks to you!" Kim hugged him quickly.
The royal-turned-villain glared fumingly.
"Don't mention it, KP. Now let's go get that treasure!"
A few minutes later…
Kim and Ron made their way to Dock Number 12, where they found Lee and the still unconscious Nattie.
"You guys, look at this!" Lee pointed to a small boulder that the high tide frequently washed over.
"Er, Princess, in America we have rocks all over the place. They're really not that amazing, trust me," Ron said.
"No, look closer!" Lee was exasperated enough.
On the side of the rock facing upward was a small, eroded incription. It resembled a vertical line connected to a zigzag squiggle on the top right side.
"It looks kind of familiar." The blonde boy pondered.
Kim agreed. "Isn't it…"
Lee nodded happily. "Yes. The ancient Latin symbol for the letter M."
"Oh! I guess I shouldn't have slept through 3rd period all semester," Ron slapped his forehead. "So let's see what's underneath!"
Wade had evidently been listening. "That rock looks pretty heavy. Maybe all three of you should try at once."
The trio heaved together. Beneath the boulder lay years of dust and dirt. And something hard.
Lee brushed off dust to reveal a smooth metal surface. "This is it!"
After excitedly digging away, the team excavated a bronze trunk. It had an ancient design and was encrusted with jewels in intricate patterns.
"This is beyond badical!" Ron exclaimed. "Just like the treasure chests in old movies."
The girls were too awestricken to speak.
"How do we unlock it?" Kim finally said. She pointed to the rusty iron lock that kept it shut for so many centuries.
"Great capitals hold the key," Lee whispered solemnly. "We hold the key." She felt her neck for the gold chain she always wore. Then she remembered that she had taken it off to wear something more formal for the ball.
Instead, Lela turned to her sister. Around Natalia's neck was a chain like her own. Two pendants hung from it: one was a heart-shaped locket that opened to reveal a photo of the entire royal family, the other was a gold key engraved with the letter N. Seven keys had been made to celebrate the birth of each Royal Princess.
Kim helped unclasp the necklace because Lee's hands were shaking undeniably. Unlocking the chest, however, was strictly the princess's right.
The key fit perfectly in the lock. Lee was about to turn it when- for what seemed like the millionth time that night- an evil voice rang out unexpectedly.
"I don't know how to thank you enough, Possible. You're always doing the hard work for me." Queen Edessa stood free and unwavering before them.
Lee yanked the key out and buried it deep into her tightly-laced bodice.
"Not you again!" Ron wore the most unpleasant look. "How did you do it this time, lady?"
She chuckled. "I never leave the palace without my laser tiara. It finally came in handy. Now, Lela, my child. Hand over the treasure like a good girl."
Lee gripped the trunk even more fiercely.
The villain was getting frustrated. "AS QUEEN AND SOVEREIGN OF THIS LAND, I COMMAND YOU TO GIVE IT TO ME NOW!"
But Lee was not threatened by this. "Try and make me!"
"Fine then! I did not want to have to resort to this but you leave me no choice." The villain -who evidently also carried things in her gown- placed a ticking bomb on the sand.
They understood why she would want to get rid of them, but why destroy the treasure?
The queen snickered. "I have an empty palace to attend to." She climbed into a motorboat where a henchman waited. Before leaving, she added, "Oh, and don't bother trying to escape. This is no ordinary bomb; it cannot be dismantled. You'll never make it out in time."
"Ha! And she seemed like a smart villain." Ron snorted.
"What did you say?" The boy was already on her last nerve.
"Sure, you're killing us off. But you didn't even take the treasure," he shrugged. "It seems like a waste of a lot of time and effort."
Queen Edessa's grin was wider than ever. "You really have no idea what that treasure is, do you? Well, I'll tell you this much: destroying it is my purpose."
She sped away on the boat with the smirking henchman.
If anything was confusing or misunderstood, please ask. It all made sense in my head so I'll try to make it clearer.