I do not own nor have rights to any of the characters contained within this story.
AN: had to re-write this chapter about five times. Just couldn't get it to seem right. Still not real happy with it but I think the point I was trying to make comes across. Sorry if the writing is a little … ah weird. Please R&R as I reserve the right to re-write it again. Ideas would be welcome.
Chapter 13 - The Sighting
- - - Kim - - -
Kim awoke early the following morning. As she lay there in that twilight realm between sleep and wakefulness she had a dim recollection of the dreams she had the previous night. By the time she was fully awake those recollections were fading away and by the time she had completed her shower and dressed casually for the day in blue jeans and her favorite green crop top any memories of the dreams were gone entirely. But her strange dreams had left behind a weird feeling. As she was staring into her mirror arranging her long red hair into its usual flip she noticed a strange unshakeable smile that had seemed to paste itself to her lips.
As she padded down the stairs in her bare feet toward the enticing smell of morning coffee she was still trying to recall what she had dreamt about last night. But by the time she entered the kitchen she had given up trying. She saw her Mother sitting at the kitchen table sipping a cup of coffee and browsing through the morning paper. After a quick "Hi Mom" she had poured herself a mug of coffee and sat down across from her mother. She was having a little bit of trouble drinking her coffee because of the small smile that was still infused to her face.
Anna Possible looked lovingly at her daughter over top of the paper. She recalled how worried she had been a few short weeks ago when Kim had gone through that dramatic change. But recalled that Kim had returned from the long walk she had gone on still happy but very subdued, almost normal. Kim had even mentioned Ron a few times over last few weeks and had not gone into a funk. As Anna looked at her daughter who was absently looking out the window while sipping her coffee a smile crossed her lips. "Kimmie was definitely getting better" she thought "I think maybe it's time I gave her back the things I've been holding for her"
Anna folded the paper and set it down on the table. The action caused Kim to absently return her look to her Mother. As their eyes locked across the table Anna stood and said "Kimmie, I've been holding something of yours that I think you may want back" Kim looked back at her Mother with a questioning look in her eyes and said "Uh.. Okay, sure" and returned to sipping her coffee. "It's in the back of the closet upstairs, the one with all the winter coats and things" Anna continued. Kim looked up from her coffee and simply said "Okay Mom, I'll look for it next time I go upstairs okay?" and then watched her mother leave the room to finish getting ready to leave for the hospital.
After finishing her coffee Kim rinsed out the mug and placed it in the sink then started upstairs to get a pair of socks and her shoes. As she passed the upstairs closet her mother had mentioned she paused and opened the door. There in the back of the closet was a large trash bag that Kim recognized immediately. As Kim pulled the bag from its hiding place in the closet she remembered all of the pictures, scrapbooks and other memories that it contained, even her Panda-Roo. With a soft smile on her face Kim thought "Thanks Mom. You rock. I should have known I could count on you not to let me do stupid things."
Returning to her room she paused for a moment and then placed the unopened bag into her own closet. "Someday I'll be able to look at this stuff again" she thought "But not just yet" when she closed the closet door on her bag of memories she grabbed her socks that she had laid out on the bed, picked up her shoes and hurried back down the stairs to catch her mother before she left and give her a big hug and a thank you.
- - - Wade - - -
Wade was sitting in the chair in his room alternating between sipping a large diet soda through a straw and munching on a bag of potato chips. He had been sitting there so long that the soda was now warm but he hardly noticed. Playing out on the large monitor in front of him were the recordings he had made of the last several missions. Specifically the recordings he had made of Ron's movements during those missions.
After the first shocking look he had gotten from the Senior Island mission Wade had enhanced the recording program. It now recorded Ron's vital statistics and any energy signatures as well as Ron's movements. The more he studied the recordings the more confused he had become. Ron's vital statistics hardly ever changed during a mission, it was as if he wasn't exerting himself at all. The only exception to this was when the small pink dot that represented Kim came in close proximity to Ron's own red dot. When this had happened Ron's heartbeat sped up his blood pressure rose slightly.
As strange as this was it was not the part of the recording that Wade studied and analyzed most. The strangest part of all of Wade's recordings was the strange energy signatures that Wade had currently displayed on the screen in front of him. At first Wade had been convinced that Ron was using some type of mechanical enhancements but the energy signatures had fit no known type of mechanical or electrical device that Wade's expansive search had yet discovered.
That was when Wade had decided to look back on previous missions that Ron had been involved in prior to his leaving Middleton. Wade had hardly ever looked at these recordings. He only had them to expand his database of the devices that the villains were using so he could one day track a villain based on the type of weapon he used. To Wade's surprise the weird signature had been there for quite some time. To a much weaker degree sure, and only when Ron had been sure that Kim was in danger, but there they were. This had convinced Wade that the energy was not being generated by any artificial device but by Ron himself and surprisingly, and to a lesser degree, Rufus had showed signs of the energy too.
If Wade was confused before, now he was befuddled. As he sipped his warm soda and munched on his stale potato chips Wade continued to stare at the screen trying desperately to assign a scientific explanation for what he was seeing. He was failing miserably.
- - - Felix and Monique - - -
Felix was feeling a little uneasy lately. At least since his relationship with Monique had taken its recent turn toward romance. He had been brought up believing that a true romantic relationship was based on trust and complete truthfulness. He knew for a fact that his mother and father had not only believed in but had lived that type of relationship before he had lost his father to the accident. Yet here he was, he knew the truth of Ron's disappearance but had not confided that truth to Monique.
He realized that all of the details of his life did not have to be confessed, but he also knew that the things that a partner felt most deeply about should at least be discussed. Monique obviously cared deeply about Kim, after all, she told him about almost everything. She had talked about her feelings for Kim and the problems that Kim was having dealing with Ron's disappearance. He knew about the talk in the park and what Kim had been feeling just prior to that. This had made him so uncomfortable around Monique that it was putting their relationship in jeopardy.
Felix had tried to talk to Ron about this during the last three weekly phone calls. But he just couldn't come right out and tell Ron that he felt he had to tell Monique, I mean he did pinky swear didn't he. But Felix knew that it wouldn't be long before he broke down and told Monique everything he knew (as well as a few things he only suspected.)
What Felix failed to do was consider Monique. He knew all the facts but just didn't seem to be able to put them together. He knew Monique was beautiful and well dressed. He also knew that Monique was smart, maybe he failed to realize how smart. Monique had known for some time, even before their relationship had deepened, that Felix knew something he wasn't sharing and she also knew that the something concerned Ron. She had just waited. She knew that eventually Felix would spill the beans. She saw how it was eating away at Felix but she was a patient girl and figured she could wait. Just how long she could wait she was about to find out.
- - - The Sighting ---
BEEP-BEEP-DA-BEEP
Kim had just finished dinner with her family when she heard the Kimmunicator calling her from the other room. After a quick swallow and a "Scuse me" she left the table and hurried to the living room to answer the call.
Kim: "Yea Wade what have we got"
Wade was still disappointed every time Kim answered without her old "What's the sitch" but he still had hopes that he would hear her use the phrase again.
Wade: "You'll never guess Kim. The plans for the LaserTech Laser have gone missing again. This is a little different though. They were last seen about a week ago. The scientist a Uh . Dr. Johnston got the flu and has been at home recovering since last Tuesday. When he got back to the lab this morning he noticed that the plans were missing and assumed they had been removed and placed back into the security vault. They haden't"
Kim: "Any clues on where they might have gone Wade?"
Wade: "Well I started searching the security tapes and I came up with a mysterious blank in the tapes last Wednesday morning. I'm trying to enhance the images just before and after the blank spot right now. I just wanted to give you a heads up for now. I'll let you know if anything shows up"
Kim: "Thanks Wade. I think I'll get ready to go anyway. If I know you you'll come up with something. Worst case, I may have to go to LaserTech and look around for myself"
Wade: "Okay Kim. I'll get back to you as soon as something shows up. Talk to ya later"
As soon as Wade cut the connection to Kim he was immediately typing the commands that would connect him to Ron.
BOOP-BOOP-BOOP-BOOP
About six seconds later the image of Ron showed on Wade's screen with Ron's usual "Hey Wade, What the sitch." Wade smiled a little as he thought "At least I still hear it from one of the team. Ya know I don't think I'll ever get used to the brown hair. It's kinda weird seeing Ron look like that" and then proceeded to give Ron the same update that he had just delivered to Kim. After completing his 'heads up' Ron interrupted him.
Ron: "Ya know Wade, I Uh… Ummm…could run over to LaserTech myself and take a look around. Ya never know what might turn up"
Ron had to catch himself quickly. He had almost said that since LaserTech was right here in Go City he could just drive over and take a quick look around. Fortunately he had caught himself in time, he hoped.
Wade: "I may take you up on that later Ron but I don't want you going out of your way till I've had time to finish up on the security footage"
Ron: "Okay Wade. I'll sit tight for now but get back to me if you need anything okay."
Wade: "You got it Ron. You'll be the first to know."
After Wade signed off Ron started pacing. He was a nervous wreck today. A painting he had commissioned weeks ago had been delivered today and now hung in the entry hall of the house. It was positioned so it would be the first thing anyone saw when they walked in the front door. Very happy with the way the painting had turned out Ron had spent the entire afternoon just staring at it. He finally decided that with or without Wade's approval he would go to LaserTech and look around so he went upstairs to change and within five minutes had left the house.
Ron had decided to take the jet rather than drive. He wanted to be ready in case Wade called him. He arrived at LaserTech Industries about three minutes later. Since he was no longer an official part of Team Possible he had engaged the stealth systems of the jet and landed just behind a line of trees to the north of the complex.
He had asked enough questions during Wade's 'heads up' so he knew that Dr. Johnson's lab was in the North wing. As soon as he landed and gotten out of the cockpit he noticed that the Band on his wrist had started glowing softly. Taking this as a sign he cleared his mind and let the Band lead him. Surprisingly it did not lead him toward the complex of buildings but instead he was being pulled to his right and parallel to the tree line.
After about fifty feet he stopped. "There must be something right around here." He thought as he started searching the area around him. While Ron was looking around Rufus had jumped out of his pocket and after a moment headed for the trees a short distance away. Two minutes later Ron heard Rufus chattering "Comon, comon" and after looking around for a moment spotted him at the edge of the woods frantically jumping up and down and waving his small arms. He very clearly wanted Ron to come to that spot. When Ron arrived a few seconds later he saw immediately what had excite his small friend. There were footprints in the soft soil leading toward the complex. Ron picked Rufus up and placed him on his shoulder petting him and saying "All right Rufus, way to go." Then started following the prints into the woods. He soon came to a small tree that had been knocked down out of the footprints path.
The splintered and burned edges of the break told the story. "Shego" Ron thought as he pulled the Kimmunicator from his pocket and pressed the button that would connect him with Wade. As soon as Wades image appeared in the small screen Ron hesitated a moment. "Oh Oh. It's only been about ten minutes since Wade told me about this stuff. I just know that he's going to ask how I got here so quickly and if I know Wade he'll put two and two together and figure out that I'm somewhere near Go City. Well, its to late now I guess I'll just have to trust him." Wade had noticed the short silence from Ron but instead of commenting on it just waited for Ron to tell him what was up.
When Ron focused back onto the image of Wade he just said;
Ron: "Wade, there's something I want you to see."
As Ron pointer the sensor of the Kimmunicator toward the broken tree he continued talking;
Ron: "Check out this tree Wade. Pay particular attention to the area of the break and please tell me that it's not what I think it is."
A wide green light shot from the end of the Kimmunicator and slowly played across the tree finally stopping for a few moments at the broken stump sticking out of the ground before blinking out. Ron could hear the sound of Wade typing as he turned the Kimmunicator up so he could see the screen again. After a second Wade stopped typing and was looking at another of the many monitors scattered around his desk. When he at last turned back to so he was looking out of the screen at Ron he said;
Wade: "Good find Ron. The broken edges of the tree show a definite residue of plasma, so if you were waiting for me to tell you it wasn't Shego then I'm afraid I have to disappoint you. It most definitely was Shego. And using the decay rate from the residue left behind It looks like somewhere around last Wednesday morning.
Ron: "How about the security tapes Wade, been able to get anything from them?"
Wade: "Nothing at all Ron. They're simply blank for about fifteen minutes. Nothing shows on either side of the blank spot. But I think we can now assume that it was Drakken and Shego. The time frame fits exactly"
Ron: "Yea, that's what I was afraid of. Got any leads on where they might be right now?"
Wade: "Nothing yet Ron. But since the plans have been missing for about a week I've started a search program that's looking for thefts or purchases of any of the parts that would be needed to build the laser. I should have something any…." Wade suddenly turned away and looked at another of the monitors and after scanning the information looked back at Ron "Okay. I think I've got something. There have been several of the right kinds of thefts within a 50 mile radius of Phoenix Arizona. Just let me get a satellite in position so I can look for recent traffic in and out of the area and I think I can put you on the spot"
Ron: "You rock Wade, I'll get in the air and head that way now and you can feed me better coordinates when you have them. You better let Kim know so she can get started"
Wade: "already on it Ron. Go ahead and plug the Kimmunicator into the nav system on the jet and I can feed the stuff directly rather than having to bother you."
Ron: "Okay Wade. I'm on my way"
Within minutes Ron was in the air and racing toward northern Arizona and Rufus was snoring quietly in Ron's lap.
BEEP-BEEP-DA-BEEP
Kim answered the Kimmunicator so quickly that Wade thought she must have had her finger on the button when he sent the call signal out. (She did)
Kim: "I'm here Wade, what have you got"
Wade: "Arizona Kim. Somewhere near Phoenix. I should have the exact location by the time you're in the area. Your ride will be there in 5"
Kim: "O-Kay Wade, I now know where. But what I don't know is who."
Wade: "Oh yea. It's Dr. Drakken and Shego."
Kim: "Great. The dynamic duo. Did they show up on the tape you were analyzing?"
Wade: "No the tape was just blank there was Uh.. Well… Other evidence that convinced me it was them."
Kim: "What kind of evidence Wade? Are you sure it them?"
Wade: "Oh it's them alright. What convinced me was the … Ah.. Hey look Kim your rides almost there. You better get moving. I've still gotta trace the exact location. I'll call you when I get it Okay, gotta go, bye."
When the screen went blank Kim headed downstairs to let her 'rents know where she was going and catch her ride. "Weird" she thought "Wade usually likes to brag a little bit when he finds something that everyone else had missed. It's just not like him to avoid the subject like that."
BOOP-BOOP-BOOP-BOOP
Ron reached over to the Kimmunicator and pressed the connect button and Wade appeared instantly on the screen.
Wade: "Hey Ron, I was able to locate what looks like the right place. Ya know they don't even seem to be trying to hide this time. Anyway, at an old abandon missile site about thirty-five miles outside of Phoenix there has been a lot of activity lately when I was checking it out with a feed from one of the GJ satellites I kinda borrowed I spotted Drakkens hover-car fly right into the picture and down one of the old silo's. The coordinates are already fed into your nav system so just put in on automatic and you'll be there in 15"
Ron: "Thanks Wade." Ron flipped the ship into auto-pilot "I knew you'd find them I'm just a little concerned that it took you so long, especially since you said they didn't appear to be hiding"
Wade: "That's just it Ron, the place is so obvious I passed over it a couple of times before I was able to convince myself that they were dumb enough to use the place. The worst part of it is that Kim is only about six or seven minutes behind you. I can try and stall a little but I get the feeling that she thinks I'm trying to hide something so I can't do anything obvious"
Ron: "That's okay Wade. No big. Drakken never did have the best henchmen so I should be okay on time. The only thing I'm worried about is Shego. I can't take her on myself without Kim finding out that there's someone else knocking down the opposition a little. Kim won't have any problem with her but she always surrounds herself with the best guy's in the bunch."
Wade: "I understand Ron, but there's not much we can do about it right now. We'll just have to play it by ear."
Ron: "Yea I guess you're right, well no sense worrying about that now. I'll let you know when I'm close. I've gotta land this thing myself so I can hide it."
Twelve minutes later Ron had landed the plane near a rock overhang and by maneuvering as close as he could get the rock wall he was pretty sure it would not be noticed unless you happened to be standing right on top of it. As he quickly made his way to the old installation he drew a mask over his face. "Just in case Shego or Drakken catch sight of me" he thought.
When he got to the entrance and started bypassing the security systems and alarms Ron noticed that they were far from state of the art. "Funny" he thought "Drakken usually had the best systems out there. He must be getting cheap" As he slipped through the alarms (most of which he didn't even have to shut down to get through) he started noticing the way the henchmen were patrolling the inner corridors. They all seemed to be in the outer area's leaving a clear path to the only area large enough to house the laser if it was as large as the specifications said it was.
He worried on this for a few seconds before his enhanced senses told him in no uncertain terms that this was a trap. But a trap for who? As he was passing a partially open doorway he heard the sounds of conversation coming from the other side of the door ass he stopped to listen he heard;
Henchman 1: "Just like the boss to leave us here minding the store while he and the witch are sunning themselves on a beach in Mexico"
Henchman 2: "Yea I know what you mean. But the boss was so sure that this plan was going to work that he wanted to start celebrating as soon all the tests on that laser thing were done."
Henchman 1: "Well with him and greeny gone we can at least relax a little. You got anything on the radar yet Frank?"
Henchman 2: "Nope not yet. But we'll know when she gets here. The boss has this all planned out, he'll get her this time and that laser thing he build won't leave much left either"
Henchman 1: "Yea, I saw him test it with a bunch of those syntho-drone things. As soon as any of them came into the room it was gone, POOF. Ya don't even have to point the darned thing it just follows the shape of the room and like I said POOF."
Henchman 2: "Yep. He's got her for sure. Then there's nobody to stop him. Pretty soon we'll be working for the leader of the whole darned world and …. Hey, that's gotta be her. A plane just dropped down low enough for someone to parachute out and then bugged out in another direction"
Henchman 1: "Yep. Just like the boss said. I better let him know. I don't want the green witch of his to think I was goofin off on the job. Remember what she did to George?"
Henchman 2: "Yea, I do. Use that phone over there this one here has been acting up a little and we don't wanna take chances now."
Ron heard one of the henchmen dial what sounded like an old rotary dial phone and after a few seconds he said only two words "She's here". Ron had no doubt that they were talking about Kim. This whole thing was a trap to get Kim. From the sounds of it as soon as she entered the room that held the laser she would be vaporized. There was no way Ron was going to allow that to happen. He quickly turned and ran down the corridor toward the large central room and stopped just outside the door. Ron reached behind him and removing the Lotus Blade from its scabbard held it upright in front of him and closed his eyes. Just as Ron had been capable of 'amping down' the effects of the Band and the Blade he had discovered that he also had the capability of amping them up. As Ron felt the power that was surging through him reach a peak he grasped the door handle, twisted it and entered the room.
- - - Kim - - -
As Ron was running through the corridors Kim had entered the complex. She had also found it ridiculously easy to bypass the alarm and security systems. "To easy" she thought to herself and then she noticed the same odd positioning of the guards. Almost as if they were directing me toward the place I wanted to go to anyway. She smelled trap. Looking at the building diagram that Wade had downloaded to her Kimmunicator she noticed that there was ventilator duct just two rooms up from her present location that lead directly to the room that Wade has said was the most likely place for the laser.
A few seconds later Kim had entered the room and removed the grill covering the ventilation duct. She then crawled into the duct and made her way toward her destination. About a minute later, just about the time that Ron was turning the door handle and entering the room Kim reached another grill and peering through it saw the laser sitting in the center of the room just as she was reaching for the grill to remove it the laser started firing.
- - - Ron - - -
As Ron threw the door open and rushed into the room he realized just how much he had 'amped up' the power and it surprised even him. He was halfway to the laser before it even started firing and even though the bright beams of light did indeed seem to bend around the room he found that he was having very little difficult avoiding them. If he could reach the laser itself and remove the power cell that Wade had said would be located behind a panel on the right side Kim would be safe.
Ten seconds later Ron had gotten close enough to the laser that he no longer had to worry about evading the beams of deadly light. When he reached to device he slowed, knelt down and released the latches that held the cover for the power cell. After opening the cover he was about to reach inside and pull the power cell itself when he felt the hair on his neck stand on end. He had the distinct feeling that he was being watched.
He quickly turned and started scanning the room looking for the source of the feeling he was having. As his eyes scanned upward he noticed something that made him stare in wonder. About halfway up the wall was a vent shaft covered by a grill and through the grill he at first noticed a flash of red that was quickly replace by a soft blue glow. The very same glow that was currently being generated both the Lotus Blade and the Band of the Blade. But this glow was coming from inside the vent shaft. Not knowing what to make of it Ron decided that he best make himself scarce. He mentally 'amped up' the power once again, pulled the power source from the Laser and ran. To the normal eye he would have seemed to simply disappear.
- - - Kim - - -
When the laser had started firing Kim had moved back away from the grill slightly. After a second or two she moved forward again and looked out of the grill to the room beyond. She could see that the laser was firing but the only other thing she noticed was a grey ribbon kinda thing that glowed with a soft bluish color. As Kim wondered what this was a man suddenly appeared in the room kneeling beside the laser with his back toward her. He was doing something to the side of the laser. She did notice that he was well built, very well built she thought, and had an unruly shock of brown hair.
Kim had just decided to make her presence known by removing the grill and jumping down into the room but when she raised her hand to grab the grill she simply stopped and stared. Her hand was glowing; in fact her whole arm was glowing. It wasn't like a Shego glow it was a soft glow and it was blue not green. She looked back toward the stranger in the room to see if maybe he was causing it and noticed that he was looking around almost as if he was searching for something or someone. As he looked up his gaze stopped as it reached the grill. Kim was sure that she could not be seen within the dark shaft but she backed up slightly anyway before she remembered the weird glow.
"Oh no" she thought "He can probably see the glow, why in the heck am I glowing anyway" Kim wasn't thinking to clearly at the moment, glowing can do that to you. Kim looked down to see if she was still being watched and she saw the face that was looking up at her. She couldn't see much, the brown hair the funny colored brown eyes and the mask. Suddenly the stranger started glowing slightly and disappeared, simply disappeared. He was there and then he wasn't.
Kim was shocked at what she had just witnessed and didn't move for about a minute. Then she remembered why she was here and started looking around the room on the other side of the grill. "Yep" she thought "There it was, big and red just like always" she was looking at the self destruct button that Dr. Drakken, for some reason, always placed in the most obvious location. Removing the grill Kim leapt down into the room and rushed over to the panel where the self destruct button was located. After pressing the button she heard an extremely loud claxon and a computerized voice starting to count backward from sixty. Knowing what would happen when the voice reached zero she bolted to the door and ran through the corridors meeting no opposition at all. She continued running till she was out into the bright sunlight. About 100 yard from the building she heard and felt several explosions behind her and was knocked forward to the ground just as she saw several GJ transports come into view.
After receiving some minor first aid Kim talked to the GJ Agent in charge (thankfully not Wil Du) and told him that the laser had been destroyed but the plans had not to be found. She did not mention the strange brown haired man that had been the one to disable the laser. She didn't even know how to start describing what she had witnessed. While the GJ Agents were doing mop up she was able to talk the AIC into a ride back home.
During the ride home Kim had started to call Wade several times but stopped herself when she realized that she just didn't know what to tell him. She had talked to him once while she was receiving first aid but only told him that the laser had been destroyed but the plans had not been recovered. Wade had told her that he would continue his search for Drakken and Shego and then signed off.
The entire ride home Kim thought about what she had seen. She was positive that the stranger wasn't a threat, but she just couldn't put her finger on the exact reason she was so sure of that. Thankfully the strange glow had faded before she had been picked up by the GJ forces that had landed otherwise she was sure that she would have been stuck with them for a while trying to explain it and she was tired.
When Kim had gotten home she immediately climbed the stairs to her room and changed into her PJ's. As she was slipping beneath the sheets her mind was still occupied by the events of the day. Kim knew that she would have a hard time falling asleep no matter how tired she was but forced herself to close her eyes and relax. Her mind instantly focused on a single event of the day. She was focused on those few moments when her eyes had met the eyes of the man kneeling beside the laser. The picture in her mind was crystal clear; she could picture his posture, his clothing, his hair and his eyes. It was the eyes that made her trust him. There was something in the eyes, something almost familiar but she just couldn't figure out exactly what that was.
As she lay there she suddenly noticed that the darkness in the room had changed. Light was defiantly seeping through her closed eyelids. "Mom must have come into the room to check on me and turned on the light" she thought, so she opened her eyes intending to tell her mother that she was alright. Another shock was awaiting her when she opened her eyes, instead of laying in the darkness on her bed she found herself laying on a bed of grass and she could see sunlight filtering down through the leaves of a tall tree.
Kim sat up suddenly still looking skyward into the tree. She thought she knew exactly where she was and when she looked slightly to her left she was sure. There was the tree house, the tree house that she and Ron had played in for years. Still trying to grasp what was happening she got another surprise. Walking out from behind the wide trunk of the tree was an oriental looking old man. It took Kim a moment to recognize him. He was the man that she had helped Ron and Yori save from DNAmy last year the man Ron had called Sensi. As he walked toward Kim he stared to speak.
Sensi: "Ah good. I can see by the look in your eyes that you remember me Possible-san. That will make things a little easier"
Sensi slowly folded his legs and sat in the grass beside Kim moaning slightly.
Sensi: "Oh.. Excuse me Possible-san but I am no longer as young as I once was and the body cannot deny it age like the mind can"
Kim: "You're the one Ron called Sensi aren't you? How did I get here? What am I doing here?"
Sensi: "Yes. I have the honor of being called Sensi. I knew you remembered me. As to your other questions Possible-san I will answer them in a moment. You know where you are do you not?
Kim: "Well yea, I guess I do. I'm at the tree house that I used to play in when I was younger. I haven't been here in a while but it still looks the same"
Sensi: "Not quite Possible-san. You are at the tree house as it is remembered by another. When I felt the disturbance in the power I knew we must speak and thought this the best place for our first discussion. The surrounding make you feel comfortable do they not?"
Kim: "Disturbance in the power? What power? I'm sorry but I have no idea what you're talking about."
Sensi: "It is about that we must speak Possible-san. You had an experience today that left you wanting for answers, am I correct?"
Kim's mind was racing "This is just too weird" she was thinking "I'm home in bed one second then I'm here then I'm talking to someone that I've only met once about something that no one else knows happened"
Sensi realized the turmoil that Kim was going through and reaching toward her placed his hand gently on her shoulder. As soon as Kim felt the touch she relaxed and looked over at the old man suddenly filled with a calm that surprised her. She knew instantly that she could trust him and felt that everything would work out just fine.
Sensi: "Ah.. that is better. Now, the experience you had today Possible-san. I must ask a question that only you can answer for me."
Kim: "Yea, I feel a lot better now. I don't know why but I do. What kind of question do you have to ask me?"
Sensi: "This experience you had today, did it involve a blue glow?"
Kim was shocked for a second and collected her thought before answering.
Kim: "Yes. It did, how did you know?"
Sensi: "I have been expecting it Possible-san. I knew that it would be only a matter of time before the link was forged completely. I am happy that it has happened so soon."
Kim: "Link? What link?"
Sensi: "The link between yourself and the one whose destiny you share Possible-san. It is the first step toward completing the bond of two hearts so they beat as one. It is this bond that will one day keep the world from darkness and bring it forever into the light."
Kim: "All you're doing is making more questions. You're not giving me any answers"
Sensi: "The answers will come Possible-san. For now you must trust in me and trust in yourself. We will speak again when more is made clear to you. Believe in me, the answers may come from unexpected direction but they will come."
Sensi rose from the grass and started walking back around the trunk of the tree as he was walking away he spoke one last time.
Sensi: "It is time for you to take the first step Possible-san. You will realize what that step is only after you have taken it. Now you must return, there is much yet for you to do this night."
Sensi disappeared around the trunk of the tree leaving Kim still sitting on the grass. Kim suddenly realized how tired she was and even with all of the strange things that were happening found it impossible to keep from lying back down on the grass and closing her eyes.
BBBUUUUUZZZZZZ
"Darned alarm clock" Kim thought as she reached one arm out to swat the snooze alarm "It always wakes me up just when I'm getting really comfortable" She rolled over slightly to look at the time and seeing that it was only 6:30 in the morning flopped back down on the bed clutching her Panda-Roo closely to her chest. Her eyes flew open a moment later and as she looked down her eyes opened even wider. There, being clutched tightly to her chest, was Panda-Roo. Kim sat up suddenly wondering if she was still asleep and dreaming. "No" she thought "I'm definitely awake" and she stared back at the clock to see how much time had passed. As she focused on the clock see noticed something else. On her nightstand, sitting directly next to the clock, was a picture of Ron and her on the beach. It was one of her favorite picture and had always stood exactly where it was right now, at least until a few months ago when she had piled it into a large trash bag with all of the other pictures and stuff.
As she looked around the room she noticed that all of the other pictures were back. All hung precisely back where they had been before being stuffed into that bag. Kim stood suddenly and still clutching her Panda-Roo rushed to the door of the room. She wanted to go downstairs and see if the other photos were back. As she pulled the door open and started through it she stopped and there was the sound of a sudden intake of breath. Kim backed up three paces and stared at a photo that was hanging next to the door. It was one of the more recent photos of her and Ron and as she took a step toward it she looked deeply into the chocolate brown eyes of her ex-boyfriend. She tightened her clutch on her Panda-Roo as she thought "The eyes! Those are the eyes!"