Disclaimer: The You know…did you know what, to you know who…let just keep that between me and you…I don't own Kim Possible or Exalted or SuperRobotMonkeyTeamHyperForceGO! Or Jesus Christ Superstar or Lethal Weapon XXVII Lethal Geezers. Or Pokemon…why would I want to? Or the Art of War. Which just pisses me off to no end.

Darkness is falling in this chapter so be prepared

One of my reviewers brought up a point that exalts don't live as long as I am claiming them to. Well to that I say… "They do in my little world!"

Chapter Five

Yushuv sat silently on a bench outside of the High School wondering just how he was going to go through with this whole thing. He had done this before, telling an exalt of their new power. They called it 'Dropping the Bomb.' But it was never easy, and it didn't get any more so with practice. Sure it became easier to explain the actual 'mechanics' of the deal, but getting someone to understand and accept it were two different things. He wondered how Ron would take this knowledge. He wondered if Ron would even believe him at all. Yushuv had to trust that Ron might already suspect something because of the dreams. It was going to be really difficult. Before, when the plan was to bring Ron in slowly, Yushuv could have dropped hints and let Ron gradually come to the realization that he was different and then Yushuv would tell him. It would be easy for Ron to accept under those circumstances, he would have already started to exhibit signs and his powers and awareness would have already begun to start kicking in. Under those ideal circumstances, Ron would accept the knowledge of his exaltation as a revelation that explained everything and gave him peace of mind. Yushuv, however, was not dealing with the ideal circumstances.

In all likelihood the Dragon-Blooded were already on their way to Middleton to begin the Wyld Hunt. If that happened, it was only a matter of time before they found Ron and hunted him down. There was only one place that he would be safe, and that was with Dace and Sol Unlimited. So, there really was no choice except to bring him into the loop and teach Ron to defend himself. The latter, being the easier of the two…but not by much. Soon enough he saw Ron. He was walking with Kim and they were…laughing? Well, it looks like they've patched things up. Yushuv thought to himself. That was good. He was hoping that they would get a chance to talk when he had asked them to hang with Ron last night at the movies. The Blonde looked happier than Yushuv had seen him since he had gotten here. Which wasn't all together a good thing, At least not for Yushuv. Ron really wouldn't see any reason to put his old life aside and take up the life of being one of the most powerful beings in the universe/hunted as anathema. If he had been given a choice like that, Yushuv would have remained a simple urchin in Qut Toloc. Life as an exalt was not a pleasure cruise. However, Ron's life was not likely to last long if Yushuv didn't make his move. So, standing to his feet as the pair of best friends approached him Yushuv cleared his throat, put on his best smile and called out a greeting.

"Hey Ron, what's up man!"

Ron turned his attention from Kim to Yushuv.

"Hey Yushuv my man, not much, you?" Ron said

"Uh pretty much the same. Hi Kim, how are you?" Yushuv said turning his smile to Kim.

"I'm…a lot better." She said with a grin. "I'm guessing that that was your plan."

"Not originally," Yushuv said "but I figured that you were probably there to straighten things out with Ron here and I didn't wanna get in the way." He half lied.

"Thanks either way, Yushuv. I guess I misjudged you. I'm sorry if I offended you at all." Kim apologized.

"It's quite all right Kim." Yushuv said

He hesitated for a moment, wondering just how he was going to bring this up. He couldn't do it with Kim there though. So he had to get Ron by himself. He could wait until class, but Yushuv figured it wouldn't do to have Ron trying to focus on class and exaltation at the same time. He also wanted to do this outside for some reason. Maybe so the Unconquered Sun can give me strength. He thought to himself with a laugh.

"Uh Ron, can…uh I talk to you for a minute?" Yushuv asked.

"Sure shoot." Ron said

"Actually, uh…I meant alone?" Yushuv said

"Hey whatever you wanna say to me you can say with Kim here." Ron said with a smile "She's my best friend."

"Well, actually, it's a guy thing." Yushuv lied.

"OH, all right. Kim if you'll excuse us guys. We gotta go talk…uh guy stuff." Ron said.

Kim grinned and let them go. "See you at lunch later Ron."

Ron waved and walked with Yushuv towards the courtyard.

"Ok man, what's this guy stuff that you gotta tell me about?" Ron asked.

"Well actually Ron, I lied. It's not guy stuff. I just needed to get you away from Kim before I told you about this."

Ron shrugged. "What's so secret about this that you can't tell Kim?"

Yushuv sighed "I know Ron. She's your best friend and that's great and it's wonderful. But what I'm about to tell you is pretty sensitive information. When I'm done explaining this all, you'll understand why."

"Yushuv, dude what's this about?" Ron asked.

"Ron, have you ever heard the story of the first age of man?" Yushuv asked simply.

This was how he usually started because the usual response always led him into telling said story.

"No, what's that?"

"It's an old tale that has been passed down throughout the ages."

"What's it about?" Ron asked.

"Well you see, a long time ago before the world was formed there was a war. It was a war between the Celestial gods and their enemies." Yushuv began.

"The Celestial gods, needed soldiers for their war of course and they got them by exalting normal men and women with the power of the gods."

"What?" Ron asked

"What they did was, they gave normal mortals access to their powers and abilities. They made them stronger, faster, smarter, better. Essentially, they turned them into demigods. These, 'Exalts', used their powers to fight against the enemies of the gods and drive them into exile. After the war was over, the gods gave dominion over the earth to their chosen. The most powerful of these were the chosen of the god known as the Unconquered Sun. These solar exalts were given reign over all over all other exalts. With their power they presided over a golden, peaceful age that became known as the First Age of Man."

"Cool story." Ron said.

"It's not over. You see, because like most peaceful empires, the Age of the Solars was doomed to end in bloodshed." Yushuv continued "According to the histories, the Solars went mad and had to be put down before they destroyed all of creation. That wasn't the truth however, the truth was that the Solars very own trusted lieutenants the Terrestrial Exalteds, who traced their lineage back to the Elemental Dragons, betrayed them in collusion with Exalts known as Sidereals. They usurped the Solars power and hunted them all down. Then when they had effectively taken power, they taught the people of the world to hate a fear the Solars. Now, no one even remembers the First Age of Man."

"Yushuv, why are you talking about it like it's some true story?" Ron said "It's just a myth, and why are you telling me this stuff anyway?"

"Ron, it's not just some myth." Yushuv said.

"What are you talking about man?"

"It's true Ron. It's all the truth. It all really happened." Yushuv said seriously

Ron blinked in confusion for a moment and then burst out into laughter. "What!…you're…you're joking right…that's hilarious man!…You really had me going there for a minute."

"Ron!"

"All that stuff, real…hahaha! That's priceless!" Ron laughed hysterically. "C'mon man, we need to get to class."

Yushuv grew upset and just stood there silently.

"Hey Yushuv man, c'mon lets go."

Yushuv sighed and followed Ron to class. He had planned on receiving the response that he did, but it did not make it any less frustrating. The next step was to prove that it was all real beyond the shadow of a doubt without making Ron believe that Yushuv was some sort of freak. That was always the hardest part, because the only way to do that, was to get Ron to use his powers himself. Oh happy fun time for me! Yushuv thought to himself. I just hope I have enough time. For some strange reason he felt that they were running out of time. Granted, the Wyld Hunt would be in Middleton soon and very much so. Yet it would take them at least two weeks to mobilize and move into Middleton in force. So why do I feel like the countdown is already at t-minus 4 and counting.

Dr. Andrea Possible sat stretching on her front lawn. She had just finished her usual morning routine, which consisted of a warm up calisthenics, then a quick three mile run, followed by a set of stretches to cool down. No one could ever say that the good doctor didn't keep in fine shape. But she really exercised more out of habit than out of any desire to keep trim. Old Corps habits died hard and she still found herself awakening at 5:30 in the morning, expecting trumpets sounding revelry. Finishing her final set of stretches, she wiped the sweat from her brow and stood up to enter the house. It was Saturday, which meant that Kim, James, and the boys would be awake by now as it was well past 7:30. Opening the door, Andrea was greeted by the scent of pancakes coming from the kitchen. With a grin she shut the door and made for the source. In their kitchen she found her husband, Dr James Timothy Possible, flipping a pancake with the skillet in one hand and a spatula in the other. He was humming some old tune that Andrea couldn't name, but she constantly found herself humming the same tune from time to time. She entered he kitchen and spoke up with a smile

"Good morning Dr. Possible."

James turned to see his wife of seventeen years sitting at the kitchen table still in her jogging gear looking all together as beautiful as he had ever seen her.

"Good morning to you too Dr. Possible." He said with a smirk as he flipped a pancake onto a platter next to the stove. "I trust your morning routine went well?"

"As well as usual dear." Andrea said brushing a stray strand of scarlet hair away from her face and tucking it behind her ear. "What's for breakfast today?"

"Oh you know, the usual Saturday morning Possible house meal." James said still smiling.

"Kid's up?" Andrea asked

"Tim and Jim are in the den watching cartoons. Kimmie cub is still upstairs getting dressed. She said something about hanging out with Ron and Monique today."

"Really, I'm surprised that she isn't going out with Josh today." Andrea said

"Hmm, now that you mention it…she hasn't even so much as uttered a word about the boy for…how long has it been? It's almost been two weeks now." James said thinking "Wonder what the sitch is on that front?"

"Well, they're kids, kids break up all the time. She's probably just moved on." Andrea said simply.

"You think maybe he dumped her?" James asked

"No, most likely the other way around." Andrea couldn't imagine anyone dumping Kim. Kim wasn't the type of girl to let any situation get out of her control for even a second. Sometimes that was a good thing. But other times…she could come across as a bit of a dragonlady. "Can't say that I'm surprised though. I didn't see things going anywhere special between those two."

"Oh yeah I forgot, you're still pushing for Kim and Ron." James said chuckling.

"True, but I don't think I see that happening either anymore."

"What changed your mind." James asked.

"Nothing in particular, just that something tells me that Kim will never see Ron that way, at least not until it's too late for her to do anything. She's too much like me and I got really lucky."

"Well, maybe or maybe I got lucky." James said

Andrea tilted up her head to meet his lips in a tender kiss.

"Love you Andy." James said pulling away from the kiss.

"Love you too." Andrea said grinning like a loon.

The front doorbell rang.

"I'll get it!" sounded a voice from upstairs as the sound of footsteps came thundering down the stairs.

Kim came bounding down the stairs and over to the front door. It was probably Ron coming over early for their day out with Monique. Opening the door she found her two best friends laughing at a joke Ron was in the middle of.

"…and then he said it was all a true story!" Ron said chuckling.

Monique threw her head back and let out a long laugh. "Really?"

"Really what?" Kim asked as she broke into the conversation.

"Oh Ron's telling me about this prank Yushuv pulled on him. He got him so good!" Monique said still laughing.

"Prank huh?" Kim said

"Yeah remember when he took me off alone yesterday to have that 'guy talk'?" Ron asked knowing she would.

"Yes."

"Well he takes me up to the roof of the school and tells me this long drawn out myth about dragons and wars and what not. Then when I'm getting into the story, he goes and says that it's all true. But the funny part was the look on his face. He was so totally serious that I couldn't even hold in the laughter."

Kim smiled at seeing Ron laugh the way he was. She hadn't seen him do it in a while. "Sounds hilarious."

"It was, but you probably had to be there." Ron said.

"Anyway, you ready to go Kim?" Monique asked her red-headed friend.

"Yup, let's roll!" She said grinning.

"Bye Mom, Bye Dad, I'll be home for dinner."

In the kitchen both Doctors Possible called out a farewell and continued their own conversation.

A few minutes later the doorbell rang out it's chime. Dr. James Possible figured it must be his daughter returning to collect something she had forgotten. Quite possibly it was her key. Hence the ringing doorbell. He strode into the foyer at the front of the house and to the door, unlatching the lock and opening the door.

"Forgot your key huh Kimmie-Cub?" He was saying when suddenly and without warning the door exploded inwards knocking him back into the wall.

A large man stepped into the gaping opening with a wicked smirk upon his gray skinned face.

"You could say that, Daddy dearest." He chuckled.

James tried to get up, as his entire body was tingling and his head was swimming as starbursts exploded before his eyes.

"Don't get up pops, I'll let myself in." Said the gray skinned man as he stepped up to James' prone figure.

"Who…what are you?" James said as he got a good look at the man standing over him.

"Hmm oh me?" Said the gray skinned man as he drew a very large sword from a sheath at his back "I'm the Orken Man. Here to exterminate all the little pests." He brought the sword high over his head ready to bring it down on James' head.

"Oh God no!" James said holding up his hands as if to deflect the blow.

The Gray skinned man brought the large adder-bladed sword down like an axe cleaving James skull. "Ratcatcher will suffice." He said with a grin.

Slightly before Ratcatcher killed their father Jim and Tim had run in from the front room alerted at the sound of a loud commotion that was entirely not their doing for once. They arrived just in time to see their father breathe his last. Now normally when faced with danger, the boys knew how to scramble to safety or even fight back. Normally they would have done either with reaction times that would make a jack rabbit green with envy. However, this was not a normal situation. The boys stood paralyzed with fear, eyes fastened upon the scene before them and screamed bloody murder. Which, given the circumstances, was quite apt.

At this Ratcatcher turned his attentions to the boys. At that, they screamed even louder. Annoyed by the sound Ratcatcher brought his sword to mid level and bellowed.

"Shut up!" He said as he lunged forward and slashed out in an arc that very nearly took of Jim's head and actually did take off Tim's.

Jim screamed as he suddenly realized he was truly in danger and bolted through the house and ran straight upstairs. In shock thinking only one thing. 'Mommy'.

Doctor Andrea Possible opened the door to her home office to see what the commotion was when she saw Jim running like a bat out of hell up the stairs.

"Jim, what is going on?" She said in her stern mother voice.

Jim screamed as he dove into her office, slammed the door shut then, dove under her desk. Andrea, quite aggravated by the boy's actions grabbed him and forced him to look at her.

"Jim, what's going on? Why are you screaming?"

Calming down only slightly the boy began to cry and buried his head into her chest. Then came the voice.

"Knock knock." Ratcatcher said as he rapped at the door to the office with the hilt of his sword. Then the door burst open breaking it right off of the hinges as it dropped to the floor with a thud.

"So, the little brat ran to his mommy. Of course, I should have known."

"Who are you? What are you doing in my house?" Andrea said as Ratcatcher stepped into the room.

"Oh your husband let me in. Unfortunately enough for him." As he came closer, Andrea could see his face. When she did she recoiled in terror. It was the same face that had haunted her dreams as a small child. The face from the ghost stories Andrea's parents told her and her sisters growing up. The face of what she had always known as the bogey-man. Gray skin, red eyes, and tear tattoos down the left side of his face.

"…Ratcatcher?" She whispered.

"So you've heard of me I see. I wonder how." Ratcatcher looked at her intently for a moment and tried to find out if he recognized her. Her face didn't look familiar, but there was something about her. Something about her eyes that made him remember a long ago agony. He remembered a woman, with a pin in hand standing over him, and a promise of vengence.

"Unforgiven Blossom?" He said as he considered Andrea for a moment. Then he laughed. "OH this is just too rich! Who would have guessed that I'd be sent back to slaughter the offspring of that arrogant cow! Who would have guessed she even had offspring? Oh Dead Gods be praised!" He moved closer to Andrea as she held onto Jim for dear life and backed away.

"Maybe I ought to have a little fun with you before I finish you off. Won't that be fun, huh?"

Andrea grew even more terrified at the thought of his hands on her. But then it hit her, If he enjoyed something like that, then that meant that he was real, alive, tangible. It meant that she could fight back. Which is what she did.

Throwing Jim back behind her she grabbed an antique scalpal from her desk and hurled it at his face, where it found an all too familiar home in his right eye.

The whole thing happened so fast that it took Ratcatcher by surprise. He greabbed at the scapal in his eye and howled.

"You, whore! Arrrrrrrgggggggh! You are going to die such a slow unbearably painful death that will make snails envy your lack of haste."

Andrea the snatched Jim's hand and pulled him with her towards the door. But before she could make it out the door Ratcatcher's hand found her ankle and she tumbled to the floor.

"Just where do you think you're going?"

"Jim, Run go get help!" Andrea said as she kicked at her assailant's face, which drove the scalpel even deeper into his skull. Screaming in increased agony, he let go of her ankle, which allowed Andrea to scramble free.

She crawled on her hands and knees until she got outside the door of her office and then managed to get to her feet. She reached the stairs in time to see Jim bolt out of the front door screaming for help. Good boy She thought as she started down the stairs herself. But then that hand was on her again.

"You are going to pay dearly for that you bitch!" Said Ratcatcher as he picked her up and hurled her into the wall across from the top of the stairs. From there she fell with a sickening crunch straight down to the floor and didn't move.

"Damn, missed one. The Master's are not going to like this one bit. But I can't go after him while he's screaming for all to hear. I need to get out of here for now, I'll deal with the little vermin later." Taking his sword in hand he slashed at the air which created a dark tear in the fabric of reality, a portal to the underworld.

At least I got the rest Ratcatcher thought. Besides, no one will believe him anyway. With that he stepped through to the other side, he had more killing to do today.

A/N: Okay, first of all, I am dreadfully sorry for the ungodly late update. So many problems so little time. First of all, I had this chapter about half finished before I had to move. You see my sister was stationed in Japan at the Navy base in Yokosuka. She's not in the navy but she was a teacher for the dept of defense. So the military ppl packed our stuff and shiped it back to the states. Which is where I am now. But my god did it take them forever to get it to us. I mean we were here for about two months before our stuff got here, and we're still waiting for some of it now almost four months later. But my computer with the files on it for this story was part of what they shipped to the states. So sorry. If I had known it would take so long I would have shipped it myself through the post office. well expect the next chp soon.

Thanks for all the great reviews. Keep em coming, It encourages me to write