Author's jubilant greeting: Howdy all! Welcome back to UNION! Man, it's good to be writing again. Everything with the move and all went terrific and I've been trying to get back into the swing of this story again. No doubt after reading this chapter you may have many questions like "What's the deal with Kim's wound?" Feel free to ask your questions, as always, but rest assured I did not write certain things in this story that will be left hanging. I just hate loose ends, but I do love a bit of suspense and intrigue. All explanations will be forthcoming. But again, feel free to ask the questions you might have anyway, it helps me make sure I don't overlook anything…
Many thanks to all who are reading.
Many extra special thanks to those who took the time to review (extra super special thanks to those who left a review for each chapter): Tuscon Coyote, Jezrianna2.0, Visigoth29527, Spooks-a-lot, Zaratan, JPMod, the Incredible Werekitty, MrDrP, aimtbj, Lydia King, Dreammergurl2007, Sestren NK, Porphyria-Kris, Ramafan, Chold Chaos, Kemiztri, Razzle Jazzle, Megan, Widowshark, kpultimatefan, Sand Lord, qtpie235, demon-sword, Pseudojuliet, Texasdad, Nightthreshold, Sean Salazar, Jasminevr, Angle of the Flames.
I would like to take time to thank some really talented artists for drawing some fan art of Ronin, and REUNION. First to Porphyria-Kris who drew my first ever piece of fan art; a really cool depiction of Ronin, then went on to create a cool pic of Kim and a poster for RENUION. Next to Minnesota Mutt (known hereabouts as Nyberger13) who drew a way cool pic of Ronin during a moment of anguish. And finally to Hermit Homeboy, who drew a fantastic pic of Ronin in traditional ninja garb. If you want to see these works for yourself, I left links to them in my profile. Just scroll down and check 'em out, they're well worth the time.
Awright, let's get this party re-started.
With my apologies to Mike Meyers…
XVII
The pre-dawn breeze wafted up the shallow valley, fluttering out all the flags, both large and small. The movement of the air did little to relieve the heated tension that seemed thick enough to cut with a spoon. Even the horses could sense it. They stamped nervously or chomped at their bits, eager to begin the impending battle.
Or perhaps eager to just get it over with.
But while the horses moved and twitched nervously, every soldier on this side of the valley stood stock still, staring across the gulf between them and the vast numbers of their enemy. Not just the numbers, of course, they also stared at the strange stone figures that moved about as if alive, or the gigantic stone gorilla, or the flying monkey dragons who moved back and forth over the enemy lines, waiting for the call into battle.
Since the battle in the Buzen province, the monkey dragons had been fitted with bamboo armor so as not to be as vulnerable to arrows. Though it seemed to make flying more difficult, they were now nearly indestructible by any known weapons. They had done their fair share of laying waste to enemy troops.
The combined armies of Ishigawa and Monkey Fist stood on the far side of the Idzumo Valley near the capitol of Mutsu province. They had ravaged their way through the rest of Japan on their way here, learning at last where the Ohana Blades had been taken. Only the comparatively tiny army of the Lord Hidesato stood in the way of Ishigawa's total rule of Japan. The emperor was dead, and his son was only sixteen years old; a whelp next to the awesome might of Ishigawa. Soon, Ishigawa would declare himself Shogun - the military ruler of Japan - and then would be in a position to remove the son of the emperor from the throne and claim it for himself. Already, the people of Japan were well aware of what a harsh master Ishigawa would be once he took the power he so desperately craved.
You may be wondering why Ishigawa would bother with such a minor province. Why not simply take the throne and later conquer Mutsu at his leisure? Ishigawa knew better than to leave any seed of potential rebellion uncrushed. As long as Mutsu was perceived as a free province with a lord loyal to the emperor, Ishigawa's rule would always be subject to the constant threat of revolution. Under him, the Mutsu province would be better controlled, especially once its lord was dead and his head on a spike in front of Mutsu castle for all to see and take heed of the warning.
Ishigawa sat astride his horse, gazing out across the valley at the pitiful little army that stood in defiance of his might. Already he was savoring his impending victory, and was impatient to return to Osaka Castle and declare himself Shogun. He turned his horse and rode over to a nearby wagon. The wagon was bare except for a single wooden pole mounted to the center of it. Chained to that pole was an old man. It was clear he had been deprived of food and sleep for some time, and was probably near death.
"Perhaps today will be the last day of your life, eh Sensei?" Ishigawa asked his captive with complete nonchalance, "Today will be a day long remembered. It will see the death of the legendary warrior known as 'Sensei', and it will see the end of old Japan."
"I do not know," replied the old man weakly. "I was never in the habit of tallying my victories until I had achieved them."
Ishigawa laughed with contempt, "What do you know of victory? Or of achievement for that matter? You're just a crazy old man who sat up on his mountaintop and taught children to hit each other. I have real power, and I will sweep aside Hidesato and his army as I would sweep aside spilled rice from a table top. And when that is done, I will come and take your life from you."
Sensei simply ignored this and gazed out over the valley to the vastly outnumbered army on the opposite ridge. Something was there. Something he could not put into words, but rather felt with a certainty as one feels the blowing of the wind. The Lotus Blade was there, as were the other Ohana Blades. But there was more than that. The Blade was being wielded by someone who knew its power, someone who might even be its master.
Some weeks before, when Ishigawa and his armies had come once again to the gates of Yamanuchi, Sensei had ordered a defense of the school as though they were defending the Blades themselves. If it appeared to Ishigawa that the Blades were within the school, then precious time could be purchased for the Blades to get further and further away. But even to Sensei's surprise, Ishigawa had overwhelmed the school at Yamanuchi with an army of both humans and beings who resembled monkeys. When the discovery was made that the Blades had been taken elsewhere, Ishigawa flew into a rage, killed all within the school except Sensei and took his old master prisoner, intending to learn the secrets of the Blades' powers by any means necessary.
Sensei spent a lot of time enduring a lot of pain.
Further down the enemy lines, a very frightened Fukushima stood next to Monkey Fist who was once again muttering to himself. He did that a lot these days. Over the course of the campaign to conquer Japan, Monkey Fist's behavior had become more and more erratic. Fukushima initially suspected Monkey Fist of losing his sanity. But Fist's behavior was often just as much lucid as it was crazy. He never let anyone else touch the Tempus Simia, never even let the idol leave his grasp. He clutched it at all times, even slept with it firmly clamped between his paws.
Whenever he talked to anyone (other than Fukushima, of course) he seemed perfectly normal and rational. But whenever he was left alone – something Ishigawa did more and more as the war progressed – he would mutter to himself, or lash out at Fukushima at odd moments. One second he'd be quietly sitting in his tent, the next he'd be throwing objects in random directions. Even the monkey ninjas took his abuse at times, but mostly it was directed at Fukushima, for reasons the Yamanuchi outcast did not comprehend.
But Monkey Fist kept his sanity during times of battle and that was all Ishigawa cared about. He was becoming more and more proficient at directing his monkey army in situations that called for a change in tactics. Both Monkey Fist and Ishigawa had agreed to combine their armies for this one last battle. Better to overwhelm the enemy and end the battle quickly, making the search for the Ohana Blades that much easier. Monkey Fist was eager to return to his own time and begin conquering the modern world. After seeing the ease with which he and Ishigawa had conquered Japan, he knew he could subjugate the entire globe to his dominion with his monkey army and this Ohana Wraith, if its rumored powers truly did exist.
At Mutsu Castle, meanwhile, Kim stood with Veronica and Shego atop the wall facing the ridge roughly a mile away up a relatively gentle slope. All Kim could see were the tiny, distant backs of soldiers. Somewhere up there were her husband, son, and daughter-in-law, as well as Yori and even Drakken who – despite his severe wounds - had gone out to observe the battle.
Kim glanced with regret down at her bandaged arm. The deep gash on it still ached and throbbed. Even though Ron had given her a very affectionate goodbye before heading out with the assembled army, she could still feel a remnant of his anger burning toward her. Their goodbye was the first either of them had spoken to each other in days. Kim suddenly felt a rush of dread and remorse. She had apologized for what she'd done, but at the time didn't really mean it, and knew Ron could tell she wasn't being sincere. Now all she wanted to do was run out of the castle, up the slope to the ridge and tell Ron how sorry she was, how much she loved him, and how much she wanted him to be safe.
In fact, the first words he had spoken to her in the last few days was when he came to inform her that he, TJ and Kimono would be marching out with Hidesato's army.
"What?" She yelped, incredulous and afraid, "I thought you said we weren't here to fight this war!"
"We aren't. We're hoping the battle will be a large enough diversion for us to get close enough to Monkey Fist."
"But if you're killed-"
"Then I'm killed." He said firmly. "It's not about fixing the timeline anymore, it's about restoring it. Everyone we know and love is gone along with billions of others. The important thing now is getting to the Tempus Simia by any means necessary."
Silence for a time as Kim considered the ramifications of what Ron had just told her. Tears began to well up.
"Is this where it all ends?" She asked, choking back tears.
Ron stepped to her and took her in his arms, "You and I will never end, KP. As to this whole situation… I don't know. We've never had a mission like this one. I hope this won't be an ending for us… but if it is, I'd rather have my eight months of marriage to you than live a long life without you."
"Then let me go and fight with you," she said with conviction.
Ron shook his head and pointed at her arm, "I would, but you're injured, and it would very likely hold us back. Kimono's going in your place."
"So you've come to say goodbye?"
"Yeah." Ron said quietly. They hadn't even shared a room in the last few days, "I didn't want the last time we saw each other to be a time of anger."
This didn't sound like Ron. It was him – his voice, his speech, his mannerisms – but since he'd arrived and retaken possession of the Lotus Blade, a change had come over him. He seemed to talk in philosophical terms, and seemed less like his old goofball self. Kim supposed that she had probably undergone some inner changes as well. The bottom line was, though, she did not love him any less than she ever did, and she knew the same was true for him.
He held her tighter and she melted against him.
There were tears for a time. Then he picked her up and carried her to the bed and they bonded for what might be the last time, never wanting to be apart again.
That had been the night before. Now, somewhere on the other side of the ridge was a vast army who would likely kill them all at some point. Kim wanted to take her husband by the hand and run away to some remote part of Japan and live out their days together. But somehow she knew Ron would refuse, and deep down she knew she would be ashamed that she had turned her back and fled when her heroism was needed most.
But it just wasn't fair! Why should she and her family be the ones who were supposed to try and save the universe? Why not someone else? But she knew the answer before she even finished the thought in her head. Yes, perhaps some Force, some Entity or Being - or whatever label you wanted to use – had chosen them as the ones who should suffer much in the quest to save the timeline. But she had chosen this for herself as well. She had chosen the life of a hero, and she had volunteered to go after Monkey Fist long before she realized it would be Sensei who sent her, and not Wade and his technology.
Whatever power Fate or Destiny had over the lives of humans, people still had to choose their own paths. Kim remembered Hego once telling her the origins of Team Go, how "Lady Fate came knocking, …and she knocked hard!" But regardless of the summons Fate had issued to Team Go, they still had to choose to follow the path of the hero. And ultimately it turned out that one of their number, their sister, preferred a life of evil, and used her powers for it. Destiny was a powerful force, but it could not overcome Free Will. Kim, and her family, were here by choice, because they had chosen to give their lives as soldiers in the war against evil.
And now they were literally on the front lines.
Again, an aching throb drew Kim's attention back to her arm. Despite the fact that the Magnolia Blades currently slung to her back helped enhance her perception and knowledge of the world around her, they couldn't help her make wise decisions, especially when she rushed headlong into foolish ones. The decision that resulted in the gash on her arm was definitely a foolish one, and she finally felt real remorse over having made it.
Kim closed her eyes, trying to swallow the fear and dread that welled up within her, and said a silent prayer for the safety of her husband, her son, and her daughter-in-law.
Ron stood on the ridge gazing down at the castle just over a mile away. He couldn't tell which of the people standing on the wall was Kim, but he knew she was among the many who stood anxiously awaiting the outcome of the battle.
Ron turned his attention back across the valley and again felt his breath catch in his throat. It wasn't just the vastness of Ishigawa's forces that threatened to overwhelm his senses, it was also the relatively small number of Hidesato's soldiers that stood as the only obstacle to Ishigawa's total rule of Japan, and perhaps Monkey Fist's causing the timeline to completely collapse. Hidesato's army had swelled from thirty to fifty thousand men in the last two weeks. Many refugees and stragglers from other provincial armies already defeated had made their way northward, preferring to fight for Hidesato and the rightful emperor. The hopes of Mutsu Province's people began to rise as they heard tales of the growing numbers of their lord's army. But those hopes were just as quickly dashed when some of the peasants in the southern parts of Mutsu fled north, bringing with them reports of a vast army of men fighting alongside terrible monkey-demons.
And as it turned out, the reports of the size of Ishigawa's army were largely underestimated.
Ron looked across the valley at an army of two hundred and fifty thousand warriors; a sea of warriors that seemed to stretch from horizon to horizon. Ishigawa's flag colors were red with gold lettering, the same color scheme usually reserved for the emperor's personal army. Each soldier had a small flag attached to a bamboo pole slung to the soldier's back. This was the Japanese equivalent of a military uniform, each warrior designated as belonging to either one army or the other. Hidesato's colors were black, with crimson lettering.
The lettering on the flags designated a specific unit and a weapon type. Thus the Daimyo – or 'Chief General' – could order a specific unit with a specific weapon to anywhere on the battlefield when needed. If Hidesato needed the sixth unit of Naginata warriors to relocate to a specific part of the battlefield, a vassal would wave a large flag with large lettering printed on it indicating the specific unit. Then a second and third flag would be waved indicating a place on the battlefield that unit needed to be moved to. Thus, for instance, the first flag would say "sixth unit, Naginata", the second flag might say "one hundred paces" and the third flag might say "West". It was an imprecise system, and often the enemy might catch sight of the signals and relay word back that opposing forces were being shifted on the battlefield, or the unit that needed to be moved would be attacked and too occupied by battle to relocate, but such was the nature of war in the ancient world.
Just about everyone already knew what the outcome of the battle would be. Hidesato's army would be wiped out and Mutsu province would be captured and subjected to Ishigawa's rule.
Ron looked over at his son and his son's wife. They were beginning to become comfortable wielding their Blades. Though he was worried for their safety, he was glad they were here, fighting at his side. Ron had seen TJ do battle with life-sized zombies. He was confident his son and daughter-in-law could handle themselves.
Once Future Wade had explained to him that the timeline was collapsing, Ron asked if there would be any harm in bringing them with him. Wade explained that under normal circumstances he might have a problem with Ron's suggestion. But, since the collapsing of the timeline was not a normal circumstance, Wade didn't see how additional harm could be done. Ron could probably use the help of two top GJ agents like TJ and Kimono. All they had to do was capture the Tempus Simia and use its time traveling capabilities to undo everything Monkey Fist had done. Then it would be as if none of it had ever happened; the timeline would revert back to its proper self.
Ron, TJ and Kimono weren't on the battlefield to try and help win the war – or even the battle - for Hidesato. Their purpose was to attempt to fight their way through the enemy ranks in the hopes of reaching Monkey Fist and the Tempus Simia. Yori and Kintaro, meanwhile, were already miles away to the north, carefully making their way around the battlefield to a position on the far side of Ishigawa's forces. They would attempt to sneak in behind the enemy and reach Monkey Fist in case he decided to hang back during the battle.
If neither of these tactics was successful, then it would be up to Kim, Shego and Veronica to go after the Tempus Simia once Mutsu Castle was captured. As prisoners, they would very likely be closer to the Tempus Simia than the others if they were unsuccessful. Even Shego realized their lives were expendable when it came to reversing the destruction of the timeline.
Ron and his family hadn't intended to fight in the battle at all, but when reports came back to the castle that Monkey Fist would be engaging his army along with Ishigawa's, it was decided to go after Monkey Fist from two positions, one from the front line of the battle, the other from a flank. All of this, of course was for one single purpose:
Destroy the Tempus Simia.
At first, it had been thought they could capture the Tempus Simia and use it to travel to the time period where Monkey Fist had come back to Japan and prevent him from doing so. But Drakken had explained to them one morning that this would be an impossibility. That was the morning he'd crashed his hovercraft into the lake…
There are a few things the mind is willing to accept. Other things, not so much:
Timeline is collapsing?
Sure.
Universe may be destroyed soon?
Yeah.
Kim and Ron have traveled back in time and are here too?
OK.
Ron first traveled forward in time and brought his grown son and daughter-in-law to help out?
Maybe.
The person helping you out of the water who keeps calling you 'mother' is your grown daughter and she's married to Kim's son thus making you all related?
No.
No way.
Shego dog-paddled until she found her footing on the lake bed and hauled herself dripping out of the chilly water, casting strange sideways glances at the mirror-like image of the woman who seemed oblivious to her stares. A bleary-eyed Kim Stoppable had crawled out of her tent and made her way down to the water's edge, still in disbelief at who had just arrived.
"Shego?" her tone was unabashedly incredulous. Kimono finally quieted down.
"Hello, Princess," Shego mocked, "You're looking…feral."
Kim's eyelids lowered, "They don't have showers or razors in this time period. Besides, I've been a little too busy trying to save the universe to shave my legs."
"Oh, so we've graduated from merely saving the world, now?" Shego responded, "Does your ego know no bounds?"
Kim's eyes narrowed menacingly, "Any time you want to-"
"Time out, ladies" Ron said holding up his hands in a 'T' formation, "Let's save the cat fight for later, yeah?"
Two pairs of green eyes glared hotly at him.
Ron was unmoved, "Go on, Shego, you and Dr. D can go warm yourselves by the fire. We'll get your story in a little while. KP, would you help Yori explain to Kintaro who the new arrivals are? Thanks, baby!"
Without waiting for a reaction, Ron turned and looked back out over the lake. The hovercraft was long gone, and even the bubbles from its descent to the bottom were almost finished churning their way to the surface.
"Dude", TJ's voice came from near his shoulder, "This has got to be the weirdest family reunion ever."
Ron chuckled, "Let's see… I'm here with my daughter who's actually four years older than me, and my son who's only two years younger, and my daughter-in-law who's actually the daughter of my wife's arch nemesis. We're trying to protect the Ohana Blades which Monkey Fist wants while trying to get to the Tempus Simia, which Monkey Fist has – which makes this all one huge, deadly game of capture-the-flag – and hopefully keep the universe from destroying itself including the Earth and everything on it. Yep, I think you're right. Although I don't think 'reunion' is quite the right term, since some of us are seeing each other for the first time ever. And you guys have never seen your parents at this age…"
"Good point," TJ agreed, "I guess it's more of a family union."
"Union," Ron repeated, "Heh… Well, let's go get some breakfast."
Kintaro couldn't help staring. Neither could Yori to some degree, she'd only seen pictures of Drakken on TV and television didn't quite do him justice.
Or injustice as it were.
But Kintaro looked as though his brain were going to overload. The dark-haired woman with turquoise skin was odd enough, as were these light-haired oddities from another world. But this other woman had greenish skin, and the man she was with had blue skin, and a wild look in his eye. Yori had already assured him they were human, but he was having his doubts.
Shivering, Shego, Drakken, TJ and Kimono got as close to the fire as they dared without burning themselves outright. Ron asked Kintaro through Yori if he felt they could spare an hour or two to get themselves situated and begin making plans. Without taking his eyes off Drakken, Kintaro nodded.
They all divided up the cooked fish, which didn't go as far as anyone would have preferred, and ate in relative silence. Shego kept looking at her daughter, refusing to believe her own offspring would betray her and marry the son of Kim Possible. In addition, she ignored Kimono's attempts to engage her in conversation and finally told her to just go away.
"I don't know who you are, but there is no way you're my child. No child of mine would ever marry a Stoppable." Shego said hotly.
Sulking, Kimono got up and went and sat by her husband. Drakken just stared at the entire proceeding, confused. Kim was about to say something to Shego about her rudeness when she caught a glance from Ron.
Let them work it out, his eyes told her.
After a few minutes munching on fish, they all returned to the water's edge to wash their hands and then moved back to sit around the fire once more.
"I suppose we should all share our information with each other, so we all know exactly what's going on," Ron said nervously. Suddenly he felt like he was speaking in front of a large audience.
"OK," Kim began, "I guess I should start by-"
"Whoa!" Shego interrupted, "Who says you get to go first?"
"I just thought I should-" Kim began
"Boss the rest of us around as always?" Shego mocked.
"Mother!" Kimono protested, "We should at least-"
"Don't call me that," Shego snapped, pointing a finger at her daughter, "I don't know you, and frankly it's a little creepy. For all I know you could be some sort of clone."
Kimono looked as though she'd been slapped in the face, "But-"
"No," Shego cut her off, "Just don't call me that. And stay away from me, I don't want you to-"
Shego was cut off by a low mutter from Drakken. She turned angry, smoldering eyes in his direction, "What did you say?"
"I said 'shut up'," Drakken said in a more forceful tone.
Shego couldn't recall a time when he'd ever spoken to her like that. Sure, he'd issued orders to her that she mostly ignored, and he whined at her, or snapped at her or talked to her in all manner of abruptness, but never like this, not with such quiet authority. She was surprised, and angry at his attitude… and deep down she secretly liked it; not his attitude necessarily, but the fact that he was standing up to her in a way he never had before.
"Excuse me," Shego began, "But-"
"Shut up." he cut her off.
"Hey-!"
"Shut it!" he interrupted lightly.
"You can't-"
"Shut!" he held up a commanding finger. "It!"
"Listen, Drew-!"
Drakken held up his hand to the side of his face in the shape of a phone, "Incoming transmission for Shego: 'Shut it!'"
"You-!"
"Ssssshhhhhhut it!"
"Don't-!"
"R-E-S-P-E-C-T!" Drakken sang, "Find to what it means to… shut it!"
"Bu-!"
"Shut!"
"Yo-!"
"It!"
The others all watched in fascination.
Shego finally gave up in frustration and lapsed into a sulking silence.
"Go ahead, Kimberly," Drakken said calmly, never taking his eyes off Shego. For her part, she returned his gaze unblinking.
Kim picked up a stick and traced a few rectangles in the dirt, then launched into an explanation of the collapsing timeline using Wade's train analogy. The others listened closely, especially Drakken, who seemed keenly interested in the timeline analogy. Yori translated it all to Kintaro as best she could using the analogy of hitched wagons instead of train cars, and for his part Kintaro seemed to understand a great deal of what Kim was talking about. At the very least he grasped the fact that these were humans from another time as opposed to another world, and though science wasn't something he understood, evil certainly was, and Yori decided to simply tell Kintaro that time travel, Monkey Fist's DNA alterations and so forth were simply a sort of magic. After all, there wasn't really a scientific explanation for the power of the Tempus Simia over the stone apes and chimp archers, etc. Some things simply happened, and you had to accept the fact that they did whether you believed it or not.
Kintaro accepted it, and believed that these people were here to stop the half man/half monkey who had joined forces with Ishigawa. Thus they must be warriors fighting against evil, and he would help them in any way he could.
Meanwhile, something in Kim's explanation caught Drakken's attention.
"Explain how this room up on the cliff works," he said to Kim.
She told him she didn't know exactly how it worked, but described to him in detail what She and Yori experienced in Sensei's secret chamber.
"Interesting", Drakken said, nodding his head when Kim finished her story.
"What?" Kim prodded. She had known her arch foe long enough to see that he was thinking about something serious and was about to share it with the rest of them.
Drakken held out his hand to Kim. She handed the stick she'd been drawing with to him. Drakken leaned over and erased all the train cars except one, then drew a straight line out from that one across the area where the other cars used to be.
"I am fairly confident," he began, "That all the other segments of the timeline have collapsed, and that we exist in a sort of 'island in time' if you will. Or to use Kimberly's analogy, we're the last remaining railway car on the track."
The others sat in stunned silence. It was a considerably difficult concept to wrap their brains around; the fact that at some point, there would be no tomorrow, and everyone they knew and loved had been wiped from existence.
"Why are we still here?" Ron asked.
"It would be difficult to say precisely. But I believe it may have to do with the energy signatures of those of us who stepped outside of the timeline; those of us who weren't in this mysterious cliff-side chamber Kimberly spoke of." Drakken explained.
"I'm not sure I understand" Ron urged him to explain further, "How could our being in the past collapse the timeline and yet hold this part of it together."
"Well, it's not. At least, not exactly." Drakken went on, "Each of us has our own timeline that never gets interrupted; one we can't travel around in."
"Ourselves." Kim guessed with the help of the Magnolia Blades slung to her back.
"Precisely," Drakken said nodding, "Our own lives always move forward, no matter where we are in the timeline. We grow older, and at some point, we'll all die. This means our own personal energy signatures are as far along as they can be before we continue to age. It is this particular point in our own personal timelines that holds this section of the timeline together. Our energy signatures are the only ones that have stepped outside of the timeline and then back into it. It is because of that fact that this section of the timeline – the one we currently occupy – has not yet collapsed."
"You said 'yet'," Kim noticed.
"Right," Drakken responded, "Because even though we're holding it together, the effect is only temporary. At some point, the timeline will integrate our energy signatures into itself and begin to collapse once more."
"Which is why we have to get to Monkey Fist as soon as we can," Ron stated.
"Monkey Fist?" Drakken asked, incredulous, "He's the cause of all this?"
"Do you know him?" Kim asked.
"I know of him," Drakken said, looking at Shego, who continued to sulk, "But we've never worked together. Although when I think about it… why does it seem like we've worked together? Shego, did we ever conduct any operations with Monkey Fist?"
"No," She said, almost pouting, "But I see what you mean. It does feel like we have, in some weird way. It's almost like déjà vu."
"Yes," Drakken agreed, "That sounds about right. What is this Tempus Simia?"
Kim explained as much as she knew about it. Ron had a few details of his own to add, courtesy of the future version of his friend Wade.
"Wade examined the scan of Monkey Fist you took in the temple, Kim." Ron explained, "And found this sort of 'temporal tether' that keeps the Tempus Simia attached to our time is actually a weird kind of Theta Radiation. He named it but I can't remember what it was called."
"Chronotheta Radiation?" Drakken asked eagerly.
"Yeah!" Ron exclaimed, "That's it. How did you know?"
"I did my doctoral thesis on Temporal Mechanics in college. I'm surprised your father-in-law never told you about it." here he glanced at Kim, "In my thesis, I proposed using a theoretical kind of Theta band radiation that would keep a time traveler tethered to his original time period and thus prevent him from becoming lost in the time stream. I called it 'Chronotheta'. I was given an 'F' by the thesis review board and told to redo my thesis on something less 'based in science fiction' as one professor put it. Looks like I was right… again."
"So how does it work?" Kim asked with genuine interest.
"Theoretically," Drakken went on, "If this Tempus Simia used a Chronotheta tether, it should return Monkey Fist to the precise moment when he left our time."
"Except our time no longer exists," Ron reminded him.
"Right." Drakken agreed. He said nothing for a few seconds and sat, staring at the line he'd drawn straight out from the one remaining rectangle, "But there's something about this mysterious room Kimberly described that intrigues me. Kim, you said it felt like it was some sort of suspended animation, yes?"
"That would probably be the best way to describe it," Kim confirmed.
"But the end result is that you and your friend here never actually stepped outside of the timeline." Drakken insisted.
"Yes," Kim said simply.
"Then I think there is only one solution to all this," Drakken concluded, "This Tempus Simia must be destroyed."
"Can you tell us why?" Ron asked.
Drakken nodded, "If the Chronotheta radiation emanates from this little statue, then smashing it would release the radiation and should cause the tether to become taut. This would trigger a Time Vortex and pull Monkey Fist back into the vicinity of the time we know as our own."
"But-" Ron was about to remind him again of the timeline's collapse.
Drakken held up his hands, "If Kim and her friend did spend the next fifteen hundred years in a sort of stasis chamber, then that tiny part of the timeline remains intact. At least for now."
"You mean the room up on the cliff is still there in other parts of the timeline, even though the rest of the timeline has collapsed?" Kim asked in wonder.
"Right." Drakken confirmed, "And I believe the Chronotheta tether has attached itself to that one remaining bit of the timeline. Thus, if we trigger the tether, Monkey Fist will be pulled back along that remaining bit of the timeline. And since he is the one who caused its collapse, the timeline will very likely begin to re-form around his existence, thus restoring everything as we know it. More or less."
"'More or less'?" Ron queried.
"Cut me some slack," Drakken protested, "I'm basically theorizing here. Granted, the theories are sound…"
"If they're anything like your theories on girl robots, we're all doomed." Shego teased.
"Oh, he is NOT building more Bebes, is he?" Kim asked in semi-horror.
"No," Drakken said indignantly, "I promised not to build any more robot girls and I intend to keep that promise."
"Oh that'll be broken soon enough," All eyes turned to Kimono, "You built me a robot nanny when I was four."
"That seems tame enough," Drakken declared.
"It took over Iceland six months later. Mom and Dad… I mean, Ron and Kim had to go in and keep it from invading Norway." Kimono explained with a grin.
Drakken sighed, "I always wanted Iceland. Even my malfunctioning robots are more successful at taking over stuff than I am."
Kimono, initially hurt by her mother's scorn, perked up again and practically skipped over to where her father was sitting. She slipped an arm through his and laid her head on his shoulder.
"Maybe evil just isn't something you're good at," she said with a sigh.
Surprised at first, Drakken then allowed a small smile to play across his face before becoming aware of the other's stares, especially Shego's angry glare. He seemed to think for a second, then shrugged his free shoulder (so as not to disturb his daughter's affection).
"Will I at least be a good father?" he asked quietly, with more emotion in his voice than he intended to let on.
Kimono squeezed his arm and leaned up to kiss his cheek, "You'll be the best, Daddy."
"Then how come you call them 'Mom and Dad'?" Shego pointed an accusatory finger at Ron and Kim.
"We're her in-laws," Kim said hotly, "What else is she supposed to call us? What do you call your in-laws? Oh, right… I forgot, you don't exactly have any."
Shego was visibly stung by the remark. Her fists flared up in emerald fire. Kintaro's eyes went wide. Shego stood up, glared at Kim, then Kimono and then stalked off.
Even Ron thought the remark was a bit much, "Don't you think that was a little rough, KP?"
"Oh, come on." Kim protested, "She's been a wet blanket ever since she got here. She'll get over it. Can we just get back to the business at hand?"
This seemed to remind Ron of something, "Dr. D, I don't know if you are aware of this, but Wade seemed to think this Chronotheta Radiation of yours might have a dangerous psychological effect on a person."
"Quite right, Ronald," Drakken replied. Ron smiled, still digging the fact that Drakken actually remembered his name, "Long term exposure to Chronotheta Radiation could lead to bursts of psychotic behavior, impaired judgment, skewed thought processes or any number of other psychological effects. These effects wouldn't be noticeable at first, but over time, prolonged exposure could lead to increased mental breakdown. Interestingly enough, the effects aren't permanent. They would eventually wear off."
"Are we talking about the possibility that Monkey Fist isn't even in control of his own actions?" Ron asked.
Drakken shook his head emphatically, "It's not quite like that. The effects of Chronotheta Radiation tend to break down certain inhibitors in the brain that allow us to maintain proper composure. I don't know if I'm explaining this correctly or not. Let's say you have this dark fantasy where you kill a bully, or your boss at work, or something like that. Chronotheta Radiation would suppress the inhibitors that prevent you from turning that fantasy into a reality. And by 'suppress' I don't mean 'eliminate'. It would take some effort, but you could still exert some measure of self-control and not go through with killing the bully, or the boss, or whatever. It would just be a matter of whether you really wanted to or not."
"And it's a good bet Monkey Fist's been exposed for more than a month, from what Kintaro's been telling us about rumors that came to the school at Yamanuchi," Kim contributed, "Monkey Fist seems to have been part of this war since its beginning."
Drakken nodded, "There's no way to know for sure. But in his case, Monkey Fist might be prone to fits of anger, and outbursts of rage. He's spent a lifetime as an English Lord; proper, dignified, reserved. He's probably not acting like his usual self, whatever that is."
"AHA AHA AHA HA HA HA HA HA HA!" Came a hauntingly familiar shrieking laugh from above.
Ron looked up to see one of the Monkey Dragons swooping low over the battlefield. Monkey Fist was attempting to strike fear into the hearts of Hidesato's army. He rode the enormous flying monkey-thing back and forth across the valley, swooping low at times and shrieking with laughter.
Ron, TJ and Kimono had their masks on. Certainly it would be seen as odd that three ninjas were fighting in the battle, but Ron wanted to avoid being a target due to his and TJ's hair color. Rumor must have gotten out about the wielders of the Ohana Blades, and thus they would be considered choice kills to any enemy soldier.
His thoughts were interrupted by a deafening, frightening sound that sent fear all through him. A cold, sick dread crept up his spine. The enemy had sent up a roar, a battle cry. Imagine a stadium that holds a hundred thousand filled with men all bellowing to their lungs' capacity. Now double that sound and increase it by half yet again. Then throw in the eerie hoots of the Monkey Dragons, and the stony thumps of the apes beating their stone fists against their stone chests.
The forward line of the enemy, a full one hundred and twenty thousand warriors, began advancing across the valley. The shouting ceased, but seemed to hang in the air long after it was over as it echoed back and forth across the valley.
Hidesato's army remained where they were. The lord of the Mutsu Province chose to play defense, and keep the high ground. He ordered his ranks into a large wedge shape, with spear weapons at the tip of the wedge, swords near the middle, and the Zuijen Archers remaining up on the ridge. Already, though the enemy was still well out of range, the archers began firing volleys of arrows into the valley. It was more a show of defiance than an actual tactic, meant to bolster the morale of Hidesato's troops.
Ron, TJ and Kimono accompanied the spear warriors to the very forward edge of the line, almost all the way down onto the valley floor itself. Hidesato's intention was to have the forward tip of the wedge collapse back up the slope, compacting his lines as they withdrew, but doing as much damage to the enemy as possible as they advanced. He had no tactics with which to deal with the stone apes and Monkey Dragons and so chose to conduct the battle as though they didn't exist anyway.
Every one of Hidesato's warriors knew this was an exercise in futility. Their fight was more about honor, so that they would be remembered among the honored dead as those who stood in opposition to Ishigawa's treachery. Retreat was never an option. Retreat meant 'seppuku'; forced suicide, but with dishonor.
Ron's heart raced. Suddenly reality took on a stark clarity. He was in a battle. He wasn't fighting it out with some easily vanquished foe, he was standing in the front ranks of a vastly outnumbered army, and he was very likely going to die.
Monkey Fist swooped low over the battlefield once more, shrieking and laughing.
Ron turned to TJ and Kimono.
"Stay here," He ordered in a low voice.
Ron defiantly stepped through the ranks of spear warriors and strode alone out onto the empty portion of the battlefield, changing the Lotus Blade into a small throwing axe. Though the enemy continued to advance, almost three hundred thousand pairs of eyes turned to look at him.
He'd only get one shot.
"Come on, Monty," Ron muttered to himself, "Come get me. Come on!"
Ron held his fist up in the air.
Monkey Fist spotted him and brought the dragon around in a tight circle, heading straight for him.
Ron raised the axe and readied to throw.
Fist shrieked laughter again as he swooped in low.
Ishigawa's army continued to advance, they were only a few hundred yards away.
For an instant, Ron caught a glimpse of the small stone statue of a monkey nestled in Monkey Fist's arm. He reared back and let the axe fly as hard as he could.
The axe sailed end over end through the air. Monkey Fist caught sight of it and ducked, inadvertently pulling on some of the Dragon's neck hair as he did so. The Dragon mistook this as a signal to turn away and raised its head at the last second. The axe smashed through the bamboo armor and buried itself in the Dragon's forehead just above the eyes.
It was dead before it hit the ground.
Ron tried to dive out of the way of the tumbling Dragon but was too late. A lifeless, flailing dragon limb caught him and slammed him to the ground, rolling him over and over. Monkey Fist tumbled off the Dragon and lost his hold on the Tempus Simia when he hit the ground. It tumbled away from him, but remained undamaged.
A shout went up from Hidesato's army at the sight of what they perceived was the first victory of the battle. The Stranger with the Lotus Blade had already felled a Monkey Dragon. This was a sign of good fortune.
But not from Ron's perspective. He struggled to his feet, dazed, but realizing he'd missed the idol and the Tempus Simia was still whole.
His mask had come off.
"Stoppable?… STOPPABLE?" Came a shriek from a few yards away, "NO! IT CAN'T BE YOU!"
Ron weakly raised his hand and called the Lotus Blade to him. With some difficulty, it wrenched itself from the dragon's skull and sailed through the air to his waiting grasp.
"HOW IS IT THAT YOU ARE HERE?" Monkey Fist screamed, then realized he'd lost his precious idol, "Where is it? WHERE IS IT?"
Ron changed the Lotus Blade into a sledge hammer, "It's over, Monty! This ends now!"
Dark fire blazed up in Monkey Fist's eyes. He lunged at Ron and rapid-punched him several times, causing Ron to lose his grip on the Lotus. He dropped, but only for a second.
Ron felt the mystical monkey power coursing through him. He spun, sweeping his leg at Fist's. But Monkey Fist leaped into the air, avoided Ron's sweeping leg, and somersaulted backward, tumbling end over end several times. Ron stood up and sprinted after Fist, but he was a good fifteen feet behind him.
Fist dove to the ground and came up with the Tempus Simia. He tucked it into his arm and made to retreat when an idea seemed to occur to him. He stopped, turned around and held up his hand.
The Lotus Blade sailed through the air and came to rest in Monkey Fist's paw.
Forgetting everything, Ron pulled up short in surprise.
A loud hooting howl came from overhead. Another dragon swooped in low, clutched Monkey Fist in its talons and flew off.
Stunned, Ron held up his hand, but the Blade did not come to him.
Monkey Fist flew off shrieking and laughing, "Farewell, Stoppable! Thanks so much for the parting gift!"
"Dad!", came the distant, alarmed voice of TJ.
Dazed, Ron turned his head toward Hidesato's line, then suddenly back to Ishigawa's warriors.
The enemy was upon him.