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Ladies I am still single…joke joke joke.
Where was I? Oh yeah that's right on to…
CHAPTER THREE"Sorry Ron, Kim already left with Josh this morning." Dr. Andrea Possible said as she was heading out for work. "I thought…she had said she called you."
"It's okay Dr. P I must have forgotten." Ron lied.
Andrea knew he was lying. She could see it on his face how hurt he was. Not to mention he didn't look her in the face when he had said it. She decided not to press the matter though.
"If you want Ron, I can give you a ride." She offered.
"No, you don't need to. I'll just walk…you know…gotta keep in…shape." Ron said as he started off.
"You sure? It's really no trouble." She said
"No, I'm good." He said
"All right. Tell your folks I said hi." She said as she climbed in her car.
"Oh yeah, definitely. Talk to you later Mrs. P." Ron waved as her car pulled into the street and drove off.
Sighing he set himself for the walk alone to the school. He had barely made it out of the neighborhood when a black BMW convertible coup pulled up on the road next to him and honked it's horn. Ron looked over as the driver side window came down to reveal…Yushuv!
"Hey Ron! Need a ride to school?" Yushuv asked as he stopped the car.
"Whoa, Yushuv! You have a car?" Ron asked flabbergasted (a/n: I love that word)
"Uh yeah, I thought I told you that?" Yushuv smiled.
"No, you neglected to mention that fact." Ron said. "I didn't even know you were old enough to drive."
I've been old enough to drive since Caesar was in diapers. Yushuv thought.
"Yeah, whatever. You want a ride or not man?" Yushuv asked grinning.
"Sure!" With that Ron jumped into the car and they were off at breakneck speed.
Suddenly Yushuv hit the breaks hard and brought the car to a complete stop.
"WHOA!" Ron yelled, "What was that for?"
"I almost forgot…the music!" Yushuv chuckled as he popped in a CD.
Fuel by Mettallica (A/N Please tell me that I did not just have a brain fart I think it's Metallica…my god I think I lose my head for a few seconds) began to blare from every direction.
"Now that's more like it!" Yushuv hollered as he pealed off again.
They got to the school in record time and were just pulling into the parking lot when they saw Kim and Josh getting out of the latter's car. Ron made an audible, deep growl in the back of his throat. Picking up on this, Yushuv decided to have a little fun with Josh for three reasons. Number one: Because Yushuv was bored. Number two: Because it would earn him some major cool points with Ron to embarrass the hell outta the guy in front of most of the school, and finally reason three: Because he just plain didn't like the guy. Him possibly being a terrestrial probably had something to do with that. So revving up the engine, Yushuv burned out and headed straight for Josh, as he was stepping out of his car, at sixty miles an hour. Needless to say, when Yushuv stopped the car on a dime right before taking off the monkey's legs at the knees, Josh was terrified. Ron had closed his eyes right before he knew impact was imminent, now as he opened them, he saw Josh's face with that dear-in-the –headlights look. Which wasn't as far from what actually happened as it seemed. Josh had just stood there the whole time and screamed like a girl.
Yushuv was overwhelmed by the humor of it all and was laughing like a madman, as Kim stared at the car in disbelief. She saw Ron siting there next to this crazed lunatic who had damn near ran over her boyfriend. So naturally she though he was some new crazy who had either kidnapped or brainwashed Ron in order to get to her again.
"Ron! Get out of that car right now!" She screamed
Ron started to comply when Yushuv put a hand over his chest. Ron looked over at Yushuv who was shaking his head.
"I haven't put the car into park yet." He said with an evil grin.
Ron laughed as Yushuv pushed the gearshift to P and applied the parking break. Then they slowly unbuckled their seat belts and stepped out of the vehicle. Yushuv walked over to Josh, who was fuming as the other students in the parking lot laughed at him.
"Hey man, I'm sorry. I didn't see you there." Yushuv said trying to stifle his laughter but failing for the most part.
"Why you little…" Josh started but flinched when Yushuv took a quick step towards him.
"I'd not say another word if I were you Monkey." He said in a deep and very threatening voice "You might not live to regret it."
Ron watched as Yushuv handled the larger boy with ease and started to strut off.
"Ron! What was that about!" Kim asked angrily " Who is that guy and why did you make him do that?"
Ron grew a bit upset at that last statement and answered Kim's questions with ones of his own. "What do you think it was about? Why do you care? And what makes you think it was my idea? Just because you like the monkey boy doesn't mean that I and everyone else in the world do to." Ron said as he stalked off without looking back.
"Ron, don't you dare walk away from me!"
Without even turning his head Ron responded "And what're you gonna do if I do dare?"
When he had caught up to Yushuv who was waiting by the entrance for him, Yushuv gave him a high five.
"I like that…don't look back…smooth." Yushuv said
"What can I say, I'm pretty cool when I'm pissed." Ron said with a smile
"Well you need to be pissed all the time then."
Laughing with each other the two made their way to first period.
"Good boy Yushuv." Said the beautiful killer as she sat atop the edge of the roof of Middleton High. "Mark the target and earn cool points with the kid at the same time. You're getting better."
"Yeah, well I had a couple of good teachers and about four thousand years of experience." Yushuv replied "I gotta go Ron's on the move."
"Later Yushuv." Jade responded.
"Happy hunting." Yushuv said as he cut the comm. connection.
Jade watched as the angry boy stomped towards the school while the pretty little redhead tried to run after him. It was a rather funny display and a perfect way to establish that Yushuv was not one to be trifled with. Which is rule number one of undercover ops in a situation such as this. After the school bell had rang announcing first period and all of the stragglers had left the parking lot, Jade jumped down from the roof and landed silently and gently. Only part of that perfect landing due to her powers, most from just pure skill and training. After making it down, she made her way to the Mankey boy's car and planted a small tracking device on it. Now all she had to do was follow him all day. Which wouldn't be hard, at least not once she went invisible. Calling upon the essence within her, she transferred the energy to her clothes and skin clouding her from everyone's vision. Even most heat sensors couldn't pick her up when she went into stealth mode. Just another one of the perks of being a solar exalted of the night caste. With that done she slipped inside and made her way to Josh Mankey's first class of the day…gym class.
Being in a shower with a man could sometimes be overrated. Then again sometimes it could be a downright religiously erotic experience. Jade had seen both sides of the fence on this issue and had to say that beyond the shadow of a doubt this time it was certainly overrated. Which probably had something to do with the fact that she was in a High School boys locker room shower. And not the personal one on one shower time she had experienced with that nice gentleman she had met in Spain a few years back. She really needed to find herself a steady guy friend one of these days and settle down again like she had done that one time about six hundred years ago. Yushuv hadn't even made fun of her when She had gotten married to Robert. In fact he had toasted her for finally giving up the 'trampish' lifestyle that she'd been living up until then. She couldn't help but grin when she remembered those days. She had been pretty happy with her wonderful husband and her two children and the ratty old dog. Yes, she was happy until it all started to fall apart. Which she knew it would. Not everyone was eternally youthful like Celestial exalts. She knew that Robert would die. She knew that she would have to watch him do so. Weather from some disease or just the slow decay of time. She also knew that her children would die. She had watched that happen to. Yet the grandchildren…Those were her precious babies and she just couldn't stand to watch death come and claim them to. That was when she had decided to kill herself. To go and join Robert and her children. That was when Dace had decided to show up. Just as she was about to plunge the knife into her still vibrant, healthy heart. It was Dace who convinced her to continue on. For if she didn't some other unfortunate soul would be cursed with her power, her eternal youth, and her memories. She owed Dace so much for that day, which was why she had joined his mercenary group Sol Unlimited and why she followed him to this day some five hundred and fifty some odd years later.
Today however, she really did not want to be under his command. The boys in the shower room were just that, boys. Immature and incredibly dim witted. They told dirty jokes that weren't funny and horsed around like a bunch of sissies at a slumber party. Yet she couldn't blame them…They were after all just kids. The only example she had of kids was Yushuv who was really just a kid to them seeing as he was the youngest. However, he was more mature than probably anyone in this school save herself. She made a note to herself to treat Yushuv with a bit more of the respect he deserved. Right now as she listened in on their conversation she could her Josh talking to his buddies about some Kim girl. She figured that he must have been referring to the redhead that was with him earlier by the comments he was making about 'carpet matching the overhead.' It was funny to Jade that in almost all her years, she hardly ever heard that phrased used in reference to anyone but a redhead. I guess there really isn't anything new under the sun She chuckled inwardly at her own bad joke. She would have stayed and listened to more but Josh was getting extremely lude in his comments about the Kim girl. She wondered if this Kim had any idea of the rumors that this boy was spreading about her. Even after all these years of joke insults, and insults he had really meant at the time…Yushuv had never even come close to calling her those things and knowing him, he never would. The more time she spent here the more she appreciated Yushuv's maturity. Maybe she'd give him a go…there was a thought.
The rest of Mankey's day was uneventful and downright boring. He had all of the most boring classes, which Jade couldn't stand to sleep through even if she was cloaked and no one would bother her rest. So she decided to do some recon on how things were progressing with Yushuv and Ron. Things were progressing fantastically on that front. Ron actually trusted Yushuv and from the looks of things Yushuv actually trusted Ron right back. That would definitely make it easier for him to tell him about the exaltation when the time came. As well as make it easier for Ron to swallow the whole thing…considering how outrageous the whole mess always sounded whenever they had to tell a new exalt. There was one small negative factor though, the Kim girl. She did not trust Yushuv at all and from what he had told Jade about her, she and Ron had been very close friends for a great deal of time, well from a normal human's standpoint anyway. She might try to convince Ron to distance himself from Yushuv. However that scene earlier this morning indicated that Ron might not be that inclined to listen to the little git right now. This was working out just fine. She hoped that Yushuv was wrong about Josh being a Terrestrial. It would certainly complicate matters. Since Dragon-Blooded never strayed far from family. If there was one here, then there were probably others. Which meant that if they found out that She and the others were here, they could have a Wyld Hunt on their hands. Which was not fun no matter what time period you got caught up in one. They just didn't stop until they were all dead or the just couldn't find you no matter what they did to ferret you out. Which was scary, because they had a great deal of ways that they tried. She still had nightmares about the last Hunt. They had all barely escaped with their lives that time. Hell she still remembered her first Wyld Hunt. She'd almost died at least eight times that day. Eventually the end of the day arrived and it was time for the students to either head home or to their after school activities. Josh went to basketball practice and then headed home, without the redhead in tow she noticed. She was wondering about what had happened to Kim when she saw her talking to Ron with some other girl with dark skin. Jade found herself lingering on the dark skinned girl for a moment. For some reason she reminded Jade of her daughter Monica. Shaking her head she figured she'd let Yushuv handle extracting Ron from the ladies and focus her attention on following Josh Mankey via the tracking device she'd planted on his car earlier.
"Ron I don't trust this new kid." Kim said "He could be some scheme from Drakken or someone to split us up like they almost did that one time. Or are you forgetting the time travel sitch."
Ron sighed "Kim, I doubt very much that Yushuv is a spy from Drakken."
"Well, how do you know. I asked Wade to run a search on him and he found nothing." Kim said
"So, what's that supposed to mean?"
"Ron, if Wade didn't find anything, it can't be good. He couldn't even pull up so much as a birthday on the guy."
"And this matters to me…why?" Ron said
"Look he could be dangerous Ron, just stay away from him until we get enough info."
"No."
"It'll probably take a few…did you just say 'No'."
Ron nodded.
"Ron, Look. Wade…you know Wade right, super genius ten years old makes cool gadgets for our missions. He couldn't find anything on this guy!"
"Kim, you're not listening."
"No, Ron you aren't listening. Yushuv is dangerous, I know it!"
"And like I said, you are not listening. I said I.DO.NOT. CARE. WHAT.YOU.THINK ANYMORE! He's my friend and I am not gonna let you sit hear and down talk him and try to force me to listen. When I try to tell you about Josh, you don't even hear me out! I'm done with this fighting with you. I can't take it anymore. This is the most I have talked to you in the past month. The past MONTH! Do you realize that…no? You know why? Because you're too busy with Josh Mankey to even give your BEST FRIEND SINCE PRE-K the time of day in a clock shop!"
"Ron…I"
"I'm not done yet K.P. cause I've been waiting to get this off my chest for a while. Mankey is a jerk! He really is, just ask some of the guys around school what he's been saying about you behind your back. I'm sure you'll need a pen and pad to keep track of all of the rumors that he's started in the showers during gym class. Hell, I got my ass kicked for trying to defend YOUR honor! Do I even get a 'Thank you Ron,' or 'You're a good friend Ron.' NO! You know what I get. 'Sorry Ron, I can't hang tonight. I gotta date with the jerk who wasn't even man enough to fight you himself but had his six foot enormous friend do it for him because he's such a coward.' So, you'll have to forgive me if I don't care for what you have to say about Yushuv. Someone who has been nothing but a better friend to me since he got here only one week ago then you have been for the past three months since Mankey rolled into your life."
At that point Yushuv walked up
"Hey Ron-man, what's going on?" Yushuv asked
"Just stay outta this you!" Kim growled
"You know what Kim? Back off!" Ron yelled angrily.
"Whoa, hold on a minute!" Yushuv called, "Everybody just chill for a moment. Now, what's this all about?"
"She says that I shouldn't trust you." Ron spoke up
"Really, why not?" Yushuv asked
"She thinks you're a spy for Dr. Drakken or something trying to get to her through me." He said
Yushuv laughed out loud. "Why would I use you to get to her?"
"Because I'm her faithful sidekick." Ron said
"Right. Ok, let's get something straight right now. If I were some spy trying to do that, I would have had to drop Ron way before now and gone after Mankey. 'Cause this is the first time I've even been in the same room as you outside of class, and I do believe this is the first time I've even spoken to you Kim. Nice to meet you by the way." Yushuv stated all this matter-of-factly. "So we still go for that movie. Jade's coming along to if you don't mind Ron…I think she likes you."
"Yeah, right…I'm game." Ron said as he walked off towards the car
"Hey Ron, weren't you gonna invite Kim and Monique." Yushuv called after him as he ran to catch up with him.
"I was but Kim doesn't trust you remember. I doubt that she'd come."
Damn, Yushuv thought. He hadn't meant to totally alienate the kid from his friends. Gods knew that he'd be getting enough of that later on in life. He threw a worried look back towards Kim and Monique. Both of them simply stared back at him and Ron as they walked away. Only upside to this turn of events was that it might be a bit easier for him to cut his ties to friends that he hated right now. But Yushuv didn't like that idea at all…
Kim watched them leave, a painful tugging at her heart as she did so. She never dreamed that Ron, her Ron would ever blow up at her like that. It had hurt so badly that she had felt like she was falling into the deepest hole she could have imagined. Ron was her best friend. For him to say that someone else that he had only just met was being a better friend to him than her was, it was infuriating. She was so angry, but who was she angry with really. Yushuv turned his head to look back as they walked away. She heard him say something about their names but she couldn't tell what he was saying. Who cared, it was all his fault that Ron was becoming this detached. He looked back again, but when he did, instead of some evil malicious grin of victory, which Kim had expected to see. She saw genuine sorrow. He was…sorry that this was happening. But why? Why would he be sorry for ruining Her and Ron's friendship? Then it hit her. Because he never meant to do that in the first place. Maybe, she was being paranoid. But she had seen Wade's report. There was nothing on this guy at all. No info on even where he lived in the city. She had to be right, she had to be. So, why hadn't Ron believed her? Ron was her friend. Speaking of friends, why hadn't Monique backed her up. She turned to look at the young dark skinned girl. Monique was staring off into space. It was almost if she hadn't been listening the past few minutes. She supposed it was her own fault that Monique hadn't backed her up anyway, she'd been neglecting her as a friend too. She was admitting it to herself that she had been neglecting Ron. Which was good, it was the first step to repairing the bridges between them. She just hoped that their was still time. She thought about what Ron had said earlier about Josh having him beaten up. She couldn't imagine it, but Ron was her friend, he had no reason to lie to her, Especially not about something like that. He had never lied to her before. She decided that she had better look into this.
"Monique," She called to her friend who was still staring off into the distance.
"Uh Huh!" Monique said coming out of her deep thoughts.
"I need to find out something. Can you give me a ride?" Kim asked
"Uh yeah, where to?"
"Josh's house."
"Okay…sure…right." Monique had not taken her eyes from the direction she had been looking.
"Uh, You coming Mon?"
"Yeah, I'm coming girl." She said shaking her head and joining Kim. "So you gonna ask him if what Ron said is true?"
"No, I already know it is. It has to be. I just wanna know weather or not he's man enough to tell me to my face." Kim said her voice full of conviction. "And then I'm gonna go to Ron's and apologize."
"That's my girl!" Monique said throwing one last glance towards the direction the strangely familiar woman had gone.
Jade hadn't even needed the tracker to find Mankey's house. That weird feeling Yushuv was talking about hit her in the face like a car slamming into a brick wall at one hundred and seventy miles an hour. She knew that feeling well, there were Dragon-Blooded nearby and there were a good deal of them. She audibly groaned. This was not good at all. The house Mankey went into was typical of the neighborhood. It was a nice single family home and just about as normal as normal could get. Little lawn gnomes dotted the lawn, the grass was nice and green and properly mowed in a criss-cross pattern. The shutters were nicely painted and the whole property was well kept.
"Somebody's trying to blend in a little too much." Jade said as she parked her car down the street and got out. "Okay old girl, time to do a little recon."
Concentrating, Jade went into stealth mode and started to sneak up the block towards the house. Eventually she made her way to the back fence and climbed over and dropped into the back yard. Piece of cake She thought. Then something smacked into the side of her head and knocked her to the ground. Still reeling from the sudden attack Jade looked up and into the face of a middle-aged blonde woman who was grinning from ear to ear and holding a large battlestaff, the air around her vibrant with green light.
"It's been quite some time since I've seen one of your kind." The woman said staring directly at Jade even though she was cloaked. "So why don't you just come on and dispense with the solar trick and fight me openly."
Jade cursed inwardly, she hadn't even thought to grab anything even remotely weapon like before she had come in here. It didn't matter though. As long as this bitch didn't call any of her little family members to join her, Jade could take her easily enough.
"You asked for it lady." Jade said as she dug her hands into the ground and swung out her legs in a low sweep.
REWIND
"Hey mom, dad, I'm home!" Josh said as he walked into the house.
"Hi honey, how was your day?" His mother asked
"Oh it was about as well as can be expected, until Kim and Ron got into it after school. We were supposed to be going out tonight." Josh complained
"Aww I wouldn't worry about it Son." His father said from the living room couch. "It's probably one of those friend arguments."
"They probably feel neglected that Kim has been spending so much time with you." His mother responded from the kitchen.
"Yeah I guess. So what's for dinner?"
"You'll just have to find out won't you?" His mother joked as he walked in and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
"The guessing game huh?" Josh joked back. "Should be fun."
Suddenly, Mrs Mankey felt something strange. It was a tingling at the back of her neck. Someone was here. Someone with a great power, a power she had not felt since she was in her college years and she was running with the Hunters chasing the anathema in Chicago. It was…a solar.
Without even missing a beat she turned to her son.
"Josh honey, why don't you go and get washed up for dinner. It'll be ready in a few minutes." She said.
"Sure thing Mom." Josh said as he rushed up the stairs.
Mrs. Mankey headed out into the backyard from the sliding window in the dining room and waited in a corner silently for her quarry calling her battlestaff to her by mental command. She only hoped she still knew how to use he thing.
PRESENT
Jade and the Dragon-Blooded, which she had determined from her looks and her age, must be Josh's mother Mrs. Mankey, traded blows for a few quick seconds and broke. Neither giving or gaining any ground. Jade lunged in hard and fast aiming high. Mrs. Mankey swung her staff, the green light of her anima dancing along its length, in a high swipe intended to take off the solar's head, but Jade had planned on that and turned her high lunge into a low one aimed for the midriff. She speared Mrs. Mankey right in the gut and into ground. Then using her momentum rolled forward onto her hands and did a front handspring into the air landing upon the top of the fence and easily balancing herself upon it. Mrs. Mankey quickly recovered and jumped up to met Jade on the fence. Mrs. Mankey drove Jade back along the length of the fence by making quick jabs at her. Jade easily dodged the jabs and after one particularly slow and overextended thrust of the staff Jade spun, with carefully timed yet flawlessly and effortlessly preformed precision, behind the effective range of the staff and elbowed the Terrestrial in the face knocking her off of the fence. Mrs. Mankey hit the ground hard and took a moment to get back to her feet. Jade was already on top of her. She had leapt from the fence and come down with her feet into the small of Mrs Mankey's back, driving the woman into the ground even harder. Then in the same movement she flipped off of her back and landed in a crouch on the grass of the back yard.
Jade was about to go in for the kill when she remembered Dace's order when they first arrived in Middleton.
'No unnecessary bloodshed people. We can't afford to get into it with the locals. There really aren't that many places to hide.'
DING DONG
The front doorbell was ringing. Mrs Mankey looked towards the house as she could see her son rushing to the front door. She looked back over to the exalt, but she was already gone. This wasn't good. Solar Exalts were always bad news. That was why the Wyld Hunt existed. To hunt them down and keep order in the universe. It was a never-ending struggle. But for now there was nothing she could do except to call the others. If there was an Anathema here, they would have to put it down fast.
"Dace is not gonna like this a bit!" Jade said as she hopped into her Porsche and started the engine. Then throwing one last glance to the Mankey house she saw the girl again. The one who had been standing with Kim during that little spat after school. She was standing by her car looking towards the door of the Mankey house. Jade looked to the door and saw Kim conversing with the Mankey boy. From the looks of the talk it was not going well for Mankey. The frustration on Kim's face was evident even from here. She was pissed, and pissed at the boy right in front of her. Jade knew what that was like. The desire for physical violence at times like those was damn near overwhelming.
"Serves the little git right! I hope she smacks him!" Jade said chuckling as she drove off.
She had to meet Yushuv and Ron at the movies, Dace wanted her to get to know Ron as well. 'The more he trusts us, the easier it'll be.' He had said. However, this Terrestrial situation could not afford to be put aside for too long. Dace and Lilith had to be informed about how she had royally screwed this up. Panther would laugh his ass off at this one. Jade sighed, at least she knew one thing. The Dragon-Blooded in this area were old and out of practice. They might not be able to mobilize and come after them if they moved fast enough. Which meant that things with Ronnie boy needed to progress at a faster pace. Better leave that decision to Dace. She thought.
TO BE CONTINUED
Thanks to everybody who is reading. You know who you are. Anywho, that's chapter three. First action scene in the whole story. Don't worry though cause it sure ain't the last.
If you guys are wondering about the whole Kim and Josh thing…that's been going on for a while like five, four months in this story. Kim's been spending less and less time with her friends and more and more time with Josh.
Ron's been slipping into detachment from Kim for a while things are just now coming to a head with that. So it's not a rushed thing that Ron confronted Kim like he did in this chapter.
Monique has been up to some things…investigating certain…well I'm not gonna give it away, but one thing I really like doing is trying to explore parents that aren't shown on the series. Anybody ever realize that we don't see anyone besides Kim and Ron's parents. Not to mention that the only teacher we ever see is Barkin. But I guess this stuff gets lost in the action packedness of a thirty minute cartoon. Oh well.
Chapter Four: I'm gonna be working on it as much as possible. Expect it by maybe the end of this week either Thursday, Friday, or Saturday. Soon either way. I'm getting into this story now.