Chapter 3 - A Change Will Do Some Good
(...the campfire circle...several hours later...)
The moon shines brightly over the enclosure. Owls hoot, crickets chirp and other creatures contribute to the soundtrack of the woods, with nary a missed note.
At the bottom of a deep hole, the creature known as Gill gazes at the sky. He has never been more angry, but then, suffering defeat at the hands of a bumbling former campmate would put anyone in a sour mood.
He had spent the last day trying to climb out, minus the hours-long nap brought about by the exhaustion of...well, trying to climb out.
Gill sits on a clump of dirt that somewhat resembles a footstool. There's no way out. He's gonna be down here for... He slaps his forehead and looks up.
He stands up and closes his eyes. He takes a breath. A long, high rumbling noise emanates from his throat. He fires at the wall of sod. A giant crater has developed before him. He walks inside the dirt tunnel and fires off another loogie. More and more gobs of muck are fired. After a few shots, Gill fires his volley upward. He climbs through to the surface.
With one more loogie, he breaks through the pristine ground. His head pops out and he unleashes a primal scream. He sticks his arms out and, placing his clawed hands firmly on the ground, lifts himself up.
He stands to his feet, letting loose one more inhuman scream. The one who trapped him...the one who defeated him...he will pay.
(...Tara's house...Friday morning...)
Ron's eyes pop open. He sits up in bed. He looks around. He thinks to himself, 'This is not my beautiful room.'
He can hear water running. "Rufus, where are you?" The next sound to greet Ron's big ears is that of snoring. He glances to the floor and finds his naked mole rat, resting on a pile of his clothes. He couldn't very well sleep on the bed. In fact, given the activities of last night...
"Ron?"
...it's obvious that very little sleeping took place in the bed.
Tara walks out of the bathroom, wearing a robe. "Wonderful. You're awake."
Ron looks around once again. "Did we...?"
Tara dries her hair with a towel. "You were amazing."
"Uh, thanks. So were you." The first such experience in Ron's life and he only half-remembers it. Typical.
"It was everything I dreamed it would be." She drops the towel and takes a seat next to Ron.
"That's me; I aim to please."
As Tara walks to her vanity mirror, Ron stands up. "I can't believe this could ever have happened." In other circumstances, they certainly wouldn't have allowed that to happen.
"Neither could I. I mean, I like to think I know what girls want. I'm still not sure if I do."
"Trust me...you knew what I wanted."
Ron arches an eyebrow out of sudden realization. "Oh, man!"
"What's wrong?"
"I need to get home. Mom and Dad will be more than a little curious about a date that lasts the whole night."
Ron gathers his clothes and rushes for the door. "Wait..."
He stops and turns to Tara. "What is it?"
"Don't you want to get dressed first?"
He looks down at himself. "Yeah, that would help, wouldn't it?" He chuckles a bit.
(...Middleton High...a couple of hours later...)
Class has let out a few minutes ago. By now, everyone had made it to their next courses. Kim, however, has the incredible luck to have class on the other side of school. She wanders through the deserted hallway.
She passes by a drinking fountain. Some water sounds good right about now. Kim bends over to quench her thirst.
A shadow casts over her. She looks to her side. It's Josh. No problem. Kim's eyes grow wide as saucers. As it turns out, it is a problem.
"Josh!"
"Hey, Kim." He takes a closer look. "That is you in there, isn't it?"
She sighs deeply. "Yes."
"What happened to you?"
She looks up. "Wait, you didn't already know?"
"I was sick yesterday."
"Well, the night before last, this mutant trapped us at camp 'cause he had a grudge against Ron, who was kind of responsible for what happened to him." Kim doesn't so much deliver the information as she does allow it to spill out hurriedly. "Ron tried to stop the freak, but the muck he held us with turned us into mutants and everyone hates or fears us." She takes a breath.
"That is something."
"And you probably hate me, too."
"Kim, I don't hate you."
"Well, I'm sure you fear me."
"If I was afraid of you, wouldn't I have run away the moment I saw you? And I'm still here."
"True", she said cautiously. Kim would've never imagined that she'd end up as a mutant, even less that she'd be talking with Josh Mankey, the guy of her dreams, in said state...and less still that he wouldn't be repulsed.
Her eyes find him once again. He seems to be staring at her.
"What? What is it?"
He takes her hand. "Come with me. I want to show you something."
(...a classroom...twenty minutes later...)
The door of the room opens and closes. A very out-of-breath Ron collapses against the door. He tried not to be too late, but Tara living so far away from his place plus his parents wanting to know why he was gone all night (a very uncomfortable - but not too revealing - conversation, to be sure) plus not having any wheels equals...a very big problem.
"Mr. Stoppable, how nice of you to join us here."
And wasn't it just Ron's luck that class was already in session?
"Sorry 'bout that, Mr. Adams." More panting emanates from the blonde boy. "Swarm of...locusts...out to get me." Ron continues to breathe heavily.
"'Swarm of locusts'? Given that we are so very far from farm land, I highly doubt that."
"Well...maybe it wasn't locusts, but those fire ants are no laughing matter."
From the sounds of his classmates, it seems that they disagree.
"Yeah. Too bad this isn't California." The educator is losing his patience. "'Fire ants'. I don't believe that!"
Ron catches his breath. "Would you believe killer ladybugs?"
The angry look on the educator's face provided the young man with the answer. In all of this, he wondered about Mr. Barkin. Where could he be?
(...Middleton Park...moments later...)
Even this early in the day, the place was beset by joggers. Two of them pass by a bush, which starts to rumble. One of them - a pretty brunette - looks back and sees the shaking shrubbery. She grabs her partner, who looks behind him...and sees nothing unusual.
The female runner points at the plant. "But it was shaking."
The male is running in place. "Did y'ever consider that you're running too much?" He shakes his head and takes off down the path. She soon joins him.
The bush next to the mobile one starts to shake. A green blur flies towards a tree. There is a phone not a few feet from it.
The creature from the bushes looks around. The glory of a clear coast. Leaving a trail of muck, the entity runs to the phone.
A clawed finger pokes into the coin return slot. It's empty. Out of frustration, he punches the phone. Several quarters spill out. He picks up two of them (50 cent phone calls; inconceivable!) and puts them into the slot. The muscular creature dials a number. It's ringing.
"Middleton High. How may I help you?" A female voice answers.
"Yes, this is Steve Barkin. I'm afraid I won't be making it in today. I really thought I'd beaten this bug, but...it struck back with a vengeance."
"Oh, how terrible. Well, you take care. Get well soon."
"Thank you. I will...I hope."
He hangs up the phone. It's not like he was ashamed of what's happened to him; one wrong word and the offender would be in deep trouble. It's just that...he enjoyed the vacation time. To him, time spent away from the troublemaking students meant time to relax.
Barkin ducks behind bushes; his military time enabled him to think and move stealthily. He rushes back to the lake and dives in.
This was the life.
(...an art studio...ten minutes later...)
"Josh, this feels kind of weird."
Kim lies on a couch, posing with her arms behind her back. The room is desolate but for a young man in a smock standing at a canvas. The palette in his hand contains several colors: blue, purple, orange, green and pink. The latter two were utilized most of all.
"Don't worry so much." Josh is as unfazed as ever as he applies some strokes. "You'll live longer."
"I look like this. That doesn't seem like much to live for."
"Oh, you don't mean that. Besides, I've seen way weirder stuff. My sister, she's studying films at Upperton University. She had to write a term paper on Troma Films and she got me to do research." Josh exhales a bit. "After that, everything's Christmas."
"I didn't know you were an artist."
Josh lets out a chuckle. "There's a lot you don't know about me."
"When did you start?"
"Well, when I was about...four, my dad got me a paint set and I painted a sunset. After my mom cleaned off the walls, I tried again on some paper."
Kim shifts a little. "How much longer is this? My arms are cramping."
The artist applies a few more strokes. "Just about...now. Wanna see?"
The redheaded mutant leaps from the couch and runs over to Josh. She gazes at the painting. It's a stylized portrait of her lying on her side. She's essentially a creature in the picture, but her humanity shows through in her warm expression.
"So, what do you think?"
"It's...incredible."
"It's not the only thing in here that's incredible." Kim is drawn from the picture by Josh's words. She turns to find him looking at her.
He moves his face closer to hers. Her eyes widen; she has an idea of what's going to happen.
"Josh, wait..."
"Don't worry. I've had all my shots."
Her eyes close as his lips find her cheek. He breaks away from her.
She rubs the spot where she was kissed. "Wow."
(...the hallway...ten minutes later...)
Ron stands at his locker and takes out some books. He closes the door and right there is Kim. Her expression is one of slight shock.
"Oh, hey."
"Hey."
"What's wrong, KP?"
"I had perhaps the weirdest experience of my life."
"Weirder than Wednesday night?"
"Okay, so maybe not 'the weirdest', but it's definitely top-five. Josh painted a picture of me."
"So, he's an artist. That's not so weird."
"And after he showed me the painting, he kissed me."
"Hmmm. Nah, still not getting the weirdness."
"Ron...!" Whoa. Exasperated much?
"Come on, Kim. You've been mooning over Josh for who knows how long, and now, you're making progress."
"Progress would be so much nicer if I was the right species."
"If you're gonna complain about inhumanity whenever a guy hits on you, then prepare for a lifetime of loneliness."
Kim figures that she may as well change the subject, in spite of the truth in Ron's words. "And just how did things go for you last night?"
Ron cracks his hands. "They went...well; spent a nice night in Taradise, if you get my meaning."
Kim thinks a bit about Ron's words. Her face distorts into a grimace. "Oh! I did not need to hear that."
"Hey. Best friends tell each other this stuff."
"Then maybe we need to have a conversation about the rules of what should and shouldn't be revealed." Kim takes a closer look at Ron.
"What? Something in my teeth?"
"Ron, why is one of your eyes blue?"
She hands him a contact and he opens it. His right eye is brown, but his left is blue...just like Tara's eyes. "Now, that is peculiar."
The Kimmunicator beeps.
"What up, Wade?" The redhead sounds exhausted.
"Drakken's been spotted on Mt. McKinley. The energy signature is off the charts."
"Sounds serious. I'd better get going."
"Are you sure you're up to it? I mean--"
"If I'm not there to stop them, who will be?"
"That's the spirit, KP."
"Let's get going, Ron."
The young man rubs the back of his head. "Actually, I can't. Detention. Apparently, lame excuses in addition to being late can push a teacher over the edge."
Kim sighs deeply. "I'm sure I can handle it by myself."
"...and the chaos I cause with this machine..."
(...Mount McKinley...about an hour later...)
"...will be my finest masterpiece!" The cackling echoes within the homemade lair. Mt. McKinley, though the tallest mountain in the United States, wasn't really made for habitation.
Dr. Drakken caresses the giant weapon on his side, while Shego sits with a bored expression on her face.
"Shego!"
"What!"
"Pick a spot in the country. Any spot and it'll be vaporized in mere moments."
"I don't know. Uh, Buffalo, New York?"
"Come now, Shego. Pick someplace lively."
"Hackensack, New Jersey."
The doctor gleefully types on a keyboard.
Shego glares at her employer. "By the way, why in the world are you wearing a suit?"
"Nothing but positive thinking. If you look, think and act successful, then you're bound to succeed in whatever you do."
"Well, one out of three is more than nothing."
"You know..."
A voice in the darkness attracts the attention of the evil-doers.
"...my mother used to live in Hackensack. I don't think she'd appreciate that."
"Kim Possible!"
She still resides in the shadows. "The one and only."
Without a word, Shego leaps into action, hands blazing. "Come on out, Kimmie. I'm itchin' to have some fun."
Kim obliges, allowing her new self to be seen. Shego regards herself as a collected person...but even she couldn't stifle the 'WTF?' look that distorted her face.
The young mutant jumps from the rock and meets her opponent.
Shego shakes her head and finds her voice. "Nice look. Let me guess: Sea World is hiring, right?"
"Is that the best you can do?"
"No..." With a running start, the surly hench-wench charges Kim. "...this is!"
Shego swipes her fiery hands at Kim, who matches her dodge for dodge. The elder woman switches to letting her feet do the talking. She lands a couple of shots to Kim's abdomen. Kim collapses a little on the ground. The girl struggles to regain her breath. Shego fires her weapons up yet again and prepares to strike. Kim rolls back and flips forward, taking both villains by surprise.
Her upright status is short-lived; Shego reaches out and scrapes her back, leaving three nasty marks.
Kim looks back at her injury. She then shoots a devious look at Shego. "My turn."
Just as her nemesis had done, the mutant charges at Shego, claws bared. Shego side-steps the attack, but not quickly enough; she finds that there are three claw marks on her stomach.
Shego gasps as she rushes toward the machine, from which Drakken had been witnessing the tussle. The mad scientist seems paralyzed with shock; he's unable to take his eyes off of his foe.
"Hey, Doc." She gives her employer a shake.
He's snapped out of his trance. "Shego, what...?"
"You wanna vaporize something? Vaporize Possible."
Kim advances slightly on the wrong-doers.
"Are you sure? I don't think it would be very sport--"
"Just do it!" Normally, she'd have agreed with Drakken, but the ramifications of how the scarring might affect her overruled that option.
Kim produces a high rumbling sound from her throat. Given the open area of the lair, the reverberations were quite strong. She spits a giant loogie at the ray.
The villains run away as the muck eats away at the machine. Nothing much is left of it, except its metal base, and that can scarcely be of much help in dominating the world.
Shego stares a little at what was once a (potentially) powerful weapon. Her gaze shifts to Drakken, who seems to be giving himself a wedgie.
"What are you doing?"
With a sharp tug, he rips out what looks like a ripped pair of underwear. "The right thing, trust me." He starts waving it around, like a surrender flag.
As Kim surveyed the damage done, she couldn't help but wonder about something: 'I sure hope those underwear are clean.'
(...a highway...a couple of hours later...)
The road is dry, barren, desolate. In other words, not a very good place for a revenge-seeking mutant creature to be.
Gill knew he had to continue on. After all, there was a former campmate to take care of.
His red eyes shift to a sign at the side of the road. He lets out a long groan as he passes it and keeps going.
The green sign, by the way, reads 'Middleton - 28 miles'.
(...the gym...a few hours later...)
It had been quite some time since the squad members had last conversed. They were united by a love of cheerleading; friendship was a secondary concern. So, of course, it would come as something of a surprise to them...
"No...way!"
...that their little excursion the other night might yield some unusual results.
"So, you can really read people's minds?", Tara inquires.
Crystal looks around a bit. "Um, yeah."
"Well, what am I thinking right now?"
The magenta-haired girl closes her eyes and concentrates. "It's hard to believe that no one's noticed that one of my eyes is brown. Are people really that dense?"
"Well?"
"Not everyone's so dense, Tara. How did you get the brown eye?"
A nervous laugh from the blonde. "Well, it's kind of a long story..."
"What happened with you, Hope?"
She picks up a part of the bleachers with one hand, startling Liz. "Not too much, really. How 'bout you?"
"I aced three tests. My average was a C-minus. How's that for amazing?"
"How's this?" Hope pumps the seating block.
Maggie rushes over to an empty spot. "I could swear I saw someone here." She turns back to her doubles.
Francie steps forward. "So did I."
Joy grabs onto the original Maggie. "Me too."
"Don't worry, Maggie."
The three blondes watch as Marcella fades into view.
"I'm right here. Sorry. I guess I've been having a little too much fun with this." Sure enough, trips to the teacher's lounge and boys' locker room were on her agenda. Her attention turns to Bonnie. She's sitting on a bench by herself, which is odd, since she's often the center of attention.
Marcella walks over. "What's wrong, Bonnie?"
The brown-haired girl's lips are sealed. She turns away.
"Come on. Something happened to the rest of us. Don't tell us you were unaffected."
By now, the whole squad is gathered around her.
"I...I can't..." She's stuck. May as well get this over with. "I can't insult anyone! Everything I say comes out all nice." Bonnie puts her head in her hands and cries.
Tara leans over to Crystal. "It's kind of like Samson without his hair."
No sooner is this comment made than Kim walks through the double doors.
"Oh. I was hoping I'd find you here. You'll never guess what's happening."
The girls look to each other. "I think we have an idea", proclaims Hope.
"No, tonight. There really is a cheerleading competition."
A collective gasp from the squad.
"Now, if you don't want to participate, you don't have to."
"Wait. This isn't some reverse psychology deal, is it?"
"No. I mean it. Given our situation, I can understand if some of you feel a little--"
Tara's hand shoots up. "I'm in."
Kim gives a shocked glance. "Okay, that's one. Anyone else?"
The hands of the girls slowly go up.
"Wow. Well, I guess we should get practicing."
(...the hallway...that evening...)
There was much preparing to do for that night: take a swim, work on a routine, practice it, another swim and more practice. The girls were quite confident at the prospect of winning the match.
The girls stand in the corridor outside the gym. "Well...", Kim states. "...this is it."
Maggie steps forward. "I'm kind of nervous. What if the people, you know, don't like us."
"I don't think that matters as long as we remember the routine and do our best out there."
The squad cheers in agreement.
(...the gym...)
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to yet another cheerleading competition here in scenic Middleton. I'm Vic Romano and with me, as always, is Kenny Blankenship."
"You know, Vic, I remember this one chick who could do flips and splits and..."
"Ah. So your friend was a cheerleader?"
"Well, she was dressed like one, but I'm not sure..."
"Anyway, let's meet our squads. We have the Tapirs from Upperton High, the Lemurs from Lowerton High and, from right here in Middleton, the Mad Dogs."
The crowd stands to its feet with thunderous applause. With that cue, the girls rush inside. Needless to say, the applause dies down with a good look at the squad.
The sound turns to a mix of laughter and booing.
"Well, this is quite a surprise on the part of the Middleton team. This may affect their performance."
"Yeah, like something from Creature from the Black Lagoon, or the misunderstood remake, Creature in the Ba--"
"Kenny!" Things are getting a bit blue with the commentary. "It looks like the competition is starting. First up, the Lemurs."
As the squad dances on the floor, two of the girls perform cartwheels. Each of them is flipped across by another girl. The 'flippers' act as support as the 'cartwheelers' are boosted up.
The Tapirs, mostly made up of milky-white prep-school types, sit and scoff. They're the type that, afforded the opportunity, would have a cheer consisting of nothing more than 'Upperton. Rah.'
The Mad Dogs, though, have a different take on the performing squad. "That is pretty impressive", observes Bonnie.
"They may be impressive, but they're no match for us!"
The routine ends and the judges converse. "So the Lemurs' scores are: '8.0', '7.5' and '8.0'. Not too bad. Next up, the Tapirs."
The preppy girls flit about the floor with a physicality that betrays their uptight attitudes. Two of them lie on the floor with their legs up and tightly together. They crouch down, allowing two other girls to leap on them. The girls of higher elevation stretch out their arms, allowing a new pair to jump up and balance on their feet.
The Mad Dogs gape at the Tapirs. "A '9.5', a '9.0' and another '9.5'. This will be a tough score to beat for the Mad Dogs."
"Well, let's get going." Kim readies her pom-poms. The squad takes the floor.
The nature of their routine is a sort of line dance, punctuated by flips and handstands. Having finished the handstands, Liz and Maggie leap back onto their feet.
The girls start to form a pyramid. At the base are Hope, Marcella and Crystal. The next highest level consists of Kim, Maggie and Liz and on top of them are Bonnie and Tara. The blonde leaps down and performs a split. Her slight vertigo used to keep her from attempting something like this before.
Tara outstretches her arms and pants breathlessly. The judges again talk amongst themselves.
"And the Middleton team scores a '9.0', a '9.5' and a '10'. That's enough for the Mad Dogs to win!"
The applause which started the competition did not return. It was replaced with the mixture of jeering and booing from earlier.
"So, I guess there's nothing to be gained from first place, huh?"
"This tanks!" Tara, on the other hand, is not very happy. "So what if we look weird? We were the best squad out there. What more do they want from us?"
The doors of the gym fly open. In walks Gill, looking ragged and a lot worse for the wear.
He turns toward the squad. "I'm disappointed. You girls are having a get-together and you didn't even invite me."