Chapter 4: Found Her!
(Kim's home)
Shortly after Kim had yelled, she jumped to her feet and ran out of the kitchen, up the stairs and stopped when she saw that Ron's body had not moved at all from its location.
Coming up behind Kim had been her mother, who was very puzzled as to what could have made Kim jump up so suddenly. She says, "Kimmie, what's wrong? Is there something wrong with Ron?" even as she circles around to look at Kim's face.
Since she didn't get an answer walked over to where Ron was laying on the bed and checked his vitals to which all checked out fine for someone asleep. She turns around and sits on the foot of the bed and says, "Kimmie, I know you're very worried about Ron right now since he's in the hands of Atheus but scaring your mother and running up here isn't going to do anyone any good.
Kim's eyes were watery as she says, "I felt him Mother… I felt Ron's spirit diminish as if he was hurt or unconscious…or…" Her lower lip was trembling as she tried to contain her feelings before she continued, "If anything happens to him, I'll never be able to forgive myself…"
Her mother stands up and wraps her arms around her, drawing her close into a hug and the two just stand there while Kim's tears fall and soak her mother's shirt in a small spot. Neither one of them knew what to do while they stood there just hugging each other. But her mother prayed to whatever gods were listening for Atheus not to hurt Ron or he'd learn just what an angry mother could do for her daughter the hard way.
Kim's mother softly says as she gently lets go of her daughter after a while of just standing there and letting Kim cry, "Kim, I don't think Atheus will hurt Ron. It is his only bargaining chip to force you into marrying him right? So just have faith that Ron will be ok until you go back ok?"
Kim nods and softly says, "Thanks Mom…" before she turns to leave the room, she looks at Ron's body, thinking about how he looks like is just sleeping but she knows better. They walk down the stair side by side with her mother holding her by the shoulder comfortingly.
They both walk into the kitchen and Kim's mother says, "Why don't you go back and finish your meal and then we'll call Wade to see if he's got any news about his search for Jerri ok?"
Kim agrees half-heartedly and plops herself down back in her seat. She didn't want to tell her mother but on some level, she could still feel Ron and was now certain that his spirit was unconscious. Kim fidgets in her seat a little as she picks at her food with her fork, still worrying even as a part wonders why she could sense Ron, and wonders still more if all this was a part of Atheus's plan to torture her until she gave in and married him.
Kim shivered at the thought of marrying such a bastard such as Atheus but in her heart she knew that she would do anything for Ron. Even marrying Atheus because of their friendship, and everything that they'd both been through together. The most important reason was because of how Ron meant everything to her and she couldn't stand the thought of him being hurt because of something she failed to do.
Sure on missions against the freaks, there had always been danger but somehow on some level she knew that there was nothing that they couldn't face together. Nothing that they couldn't overcome if they just looked out for each other because together they had made a nearly unstoppable team since their first meeting in Pre-K.
The memories of the two of them overcoming bullies, babysitters, tough homework, mean teachers, and other various things as they'd grown up all went through her mind. All of which made her even more depressed, even if some of them comforted her and helped her feel more secure in that somehow… the two of them would become a team again.
Kim's mother watches her daughter pick at her food and wishes that there was something that she could do for her daughter. She knew from the way Kim had eaten that even though she was very hungry, it just wasn't what she needed to fill her, not with mind so completely on Ron.
Just then the Kimmunicator starts to do its familiar tune and Kim dropped her fork, reached into her pocket and whipped it out before it even had a chance to finish with her thumb hitting the button to activate it just as it finished and says quickly, "Hi Wade, what's the sitch?"
Wade seemed surprised at Kim's response time, as her image appeared on his screen just as soon as he'd contacted her Kimmunicator. He was very tired, as he had pushed himself hard, ignoring even his mother to get some rest to find some clue as to Jerri's whereabouts.
It hadn't been easy for Wade to locate anything as Jerri had practically vanished after being ridiculed by her peers for her controversial ideas. Jerri had moved out of her home and seemingly vanished after that with no forwarding address left behind.
It was only through a very obscure and local only newspaper that Wade had found his first big clue as to Jerri's whereabouts. In the newspaper, there was a black and white picture of a village that had been nearly wiped out by a flood and in the background of the picture, holding a small child that she'd been obviously rescuing was Jerri!
Wade says, "Hey Kim… I think I've found her, or at least her location as of last week." He smiles a little, hoping the news was good enough. "Also, I've already set up a ride for you to go there through Global Justice to arrive in the next twenty-five minutes so you can get there as fast as you can because I know we're on a time limit here."
Kim could see the bags under Wade's eyes and the red in them, showing that Wade had forgone sleep in order to search for Ron. A part of her understood how Wade had done it for her, for their friendship and her heart felt a little better for it and with the news of Jerri being found, her heart soared in happiness.
Kim smiles and says, "Thanks Wade, you rock big time." She sees Wade give a thumbs up before she says, "You've earned your rest Wade. Go and get some sleep. I'll let you know if I find out anything from Jerri ok?
Wade nods and says, "Thanks Kim… Oh, and by the way… be careful, from the way the newspaper talked about Jerri's involvement in saving the village, I think they might be a bit protective of her."
Kim nods and a new firm resolution to find Jerri and save Ron is born within her. It shows in her face and her eyes show a firmness that usually came from her being in mission mode. She says, "Thanks again Wade, I'll be careful." And then closes the connection so she can go get ready before GJ shows up to give her a ride.
Kim runs out of the kitchen as she says, "Gotta go mom! I have to go save Ron!" and disappears through the door with her mother walking out of the kitchen after her to see Kim practically fly up the stairs by jumping and doing a flip that only a cheerleader could do to cover the last few steps to the second floor.
Kim's mother follows her up the stairs and goes into her bedroom to change. So when Kim comes out all set in her mission clothes, she finds her mother wearing identical clothes.
Kim says, "Mom! What are you doing? I'm about to go on a mission!" She sees her mother walk up to her and put a hand on her shoulder before she says, "Exactly and it is far too dangerous for you to go alone, do you understand? That's why I'm coming with you."
Kim looks like she was about to tell her mother to stay but then something inside seems to change her mind. She says, "Ok, welcome aboard Mom. Now lets go catch our ride ok?"
Kim's mother smiles and says, "You've got it." Before they both run out the front door to see the GJ hover-jet landing in the street in front of their house. The two of them climb aboard and with the neighbors used to Kim rushing off at all odd hours to save the world, no one even noticed that Kim's mother, not Ron was with her.
(Just outside a recovering village)
Kim and her mother had landed safely after jumping out of the GJ hoverjet even though the pilot had offered to land in a clearing near the village. Kim had refused as she liked to leap from a plane while her mother had her reservations about doing it at first. After landing, her mother wanted to get her father to try it and Kim had done the only thing she could do at that, which was to roll her eyes.
Kim slowly approaches the edge of the village with her mother just behind her and whispers, "Be quiet Ron, we're almost there..." She then catches what she just said and embarrassingly says, "Um, I mean you of course Mom..." Her mother just smiles at her tenderly and says, "I know hon, don't worry about it. We'll get Ron back to you soon enough, I promise."
They continue to make their way forward until Kim parts the last bunch of branches out of her way to gasp softly at the sight before her. Her mother followed suit as they saw what once might have been a beautiful village with some modern conviences, now lay in ruin.
Both Kim and her mother walk into sight and saw men, women and children struggling to clear the huge amounts of mud that had come from the flood as well as the existing pockets of water with old, wooden buckets.
Kim heard her mother say softly, "Oh my... I knew that there had been a flood but I never thought it'd still be this bad for them." Kim nods and says, "This far out from any big cities, I'm not surprised that it has taken this long for any help to arrive." She wasn't any happier than her mother about this and made a silent promise to come back to do whatever she could to help these people but at the moment her goal was on finding Jerri.
A child who couldn't be more than 10 years of age collapses with a bucket that held the water to the brim and it spills all over the still slightly muddy road that once used to be part of their village. The child cries and both Kim and her mother instinctively move towards the child to help at the same time.
Kim says, "Can I help you?" as her mother helps the child to his feet and runs her hand over the head. Kim picks up the bucket and hands it back to the child as he stops crying with the tenderness of her mother.
The child looks at the two of them and in a sniffly voice, he says, "You two... you're not from around her... are you like Jerri?"
Kim goes into a little shock at the mention of the name even as her mother soothingly says, "Yes... we are. We heard about the flooding and came to do what we can to help." Kim notices what her mother is doing and says as nicely as she can, "Yes, but now that you've mentioned her, can you please tell us where to find her? We'd like to thank her for helping before we get started."
The child looks back and forth at Kim and her mother before he points at her mother and says, "Are you her older sister? You look just like her." This gets a big smile from her mother while Kim just rolls her eyes and crosses her arms.
Kim's mother smiles as she says, "Aren't you the sweetest thing..." ruffling the child's hair on his head which makes him laugh playfully.
Her mother says, "Kim, we should help him dry up the big puddle. Then we'll ask him again about Jerri." This gets a look of frustration out of Kim, but the look on her mother's face told her that she wasn't going to be able to argue out of this one so she says, "Ok, we'll dry the up the puddle"
Kim pulls out her hair dryer from her pocket, which makes the kid look puzzled and says, "We don't have any electricity... that won't work." Kim just smiles and says, "Don't worry, it is cordless." before presses a button on it and it comes to life, blowing out lots of heat from its tip.
The sound of a hair dryer in a village that had not seen the much in the way of electricity in quite some time made more than a couple of people curious and pull away from what they'd been doing. Those who watched as Kim dried up the puddle with her cordless hair dryer as it blew out much more hot air effortlessly than your average hair dryer were amazed.
Some people ran off to tell others of an amazing stranger with a magical hair dryer that was much more powerful than a normal one and didn't use electricity like the normal corded ones. Some of the women who had also witnessed Kim's dryer were begging to use it on their own hair because without power, their own hair dryers didn't work, leaving them with hair that they didn't want.
One of the people who had run off had also run into Jerri who had been working to help the village and upon hearing about the dryer, she knew that it could only have been the work of a person she'd heard about when she still was in the 'civilized' world.
Jerri could only smirk at the thought of how civilized the world could be when it suited them and this village had proved to be much more than the world when she came across it. She walked over to where there was a large crowd now all surrounding the red haired teenager with her hair dryer as she tried to keep her dryer away from the grabby hands.
The moment Jerri says in a loud voice, "Hello strangers to our village, or should I say... the world famous teen-hero, Kim Possible?" The women and everyone else fall silent and turn their heads to see Jerri. Jerri walks forward and the crowd parts slowly, letting her approach Kim and her mother.
Kim turns to face the woman walking towards her even as she puts away her hair dryer into its pouch which some of the women of the village noted as to where she put it for future reference. Kim and her mother stand and wait until Jerri has entered the small opening that surrounds them and the little child that was standing beside her mother since she had protected him from the mob when it all started.
Jerri looks at Kim's mother and takes note of the way both the child and Kim's mother were holding each other before looks at Kim and says, "Are you Kim Possible? I thought your sidekick was a blond guy?"
Kim nods and says, "Yes, I am Kim Possible" as she steps forward and then points at her mother with a gloved hand as she says, "And this is my mother. She is with me because Ron couldn't be here with me. In fact, he is the very reason we are here and I hope that you can help us."
Jerri raises an eyebrow at that last sentence and says, "Very well, but I think this discussion shouldn't be held in the middle of a street. Why don't you two follow me and we'll talk more about why you're here." She turns and walks back through the parted crowd with Kim following . When Kim's mother starts to follow, the little boy who is still clinging to her pants starts to follow as well and he looked so scared that she didn't have the heart to send the boy off so she just lets him cling to her as she follows Kim and Jerri.
(Inside one of the few standing buildings)
Jerri sits down and says, "We don't get many strangers around here, and none of the carry their own cordless hair dryer that is powerful enough to dry a large puddle of water in a minute. So please, take a seat Kim." She indicates a seat at the table just across from where she was sitting and Kim slides into the wooden chair while her mother just stands beside her with the boy still clinging to her.
Kim says, "First things... I want to know, are you Jerri Rastic? The archeologist who knows about Atheus, the bastard godling?"
Jerri visibly flinches at the mention of Atheus before she looks at Kim's mother and says, "He's quite the clingy one isn't he? He was like that too when I rescued him from the flood."
Kim's mother says, "He's a sweet child, but I think he should be heading back to his parents." She runs her hand tenderly over the child's head, ruffling his hair.
Jerri says as she leans back in her chair, "Normally, I would agree with you but we haven't been able to find them since the flood. So, for now we are just assuming that they didn't make it..."
Kim's mother looks surprised at how casual Jerri can talk about such a thing before she looks down at the boy and then looks at Jerri as she says, "What's going to happen to him?"
Jerri says, "For now, he's been staying with me but if you want to take him off my hands then you're more than welcome to."
Kim's mother says, "What is his name?" Jerri says, "His name is Kenny, but that's all I could get out of him. He wouldn't tell me his last name and none of the others seem to know him."
Kim says after running out of patience, "Are you Jerri or not?" slamming her hand down on the table in front of her with her palm open, making a loud noise. Some of her hair falls in front of her face, almost hiding the pain in her eyes, not from her hand but from something deeper.
Jerri sits up and says after she takes a slow breath, "Yes, I am Jerri. The one you're seeking. Now tell this old bird what you want from her so you can stop mocking her about the paper she submitted."
Kim looks at Jerri who was not old, she looked to be in her mid 20's to possibly 30's and frowns before she says, "I'm not here to mock you. Do you honestly think that I'd be that kind of person?"
Jerri looks at Kim for a long time before she says, "No, I guess not. Then tell me, just why are you really here."
Kim says, "Not too long ago, Ron and I were chasing a villain named Monkey Fist because he was after a monkey power that the gods of Olympus were supposed to have when we came across this old, over-run temple."
Jerri says, "Yeah, and so? Did you catch him? I still fail to see what any of this has to do with me." She had started to suspect when the Olympus monkey was mentioned but she wanted to hear the whole story before she gave away anything.
Kim says, "We caught him at the temple but we accidentally broke a statue of a guy who we'd come to learn was Atheus, the bastard godling."
As Kim told about this part, the hairs on the back of Jerri's neck starting to tingle and stand up on the end. Jerri knew that if Atheus's statue was broken, then he would become freed from it but until he found himself a wife, he still wouldn't be able to leave the temple because he needed a woman of relation to leave the grounds.
Kim continues her story, "An-anyway... when Atheus came out of the statue and demanded that I... become his wife..." It looked like it was getting harder for Kim to say what was coming next and Jerri sat up in her chair, as her gut told her that whatever was coming next was not going to be nice.
Kim says, "I refused... and he got so angry that he..." She clenches her hands into fists so tightly that the fabric of her gloves seemed to make a soft noise as they stretched in an unnatural way. She looks at Jerri with pained eyes as she says, "He tried to strike me down with... lightning and Ron..." Tears started to flow down Kim's cheeks at this point while Jerri could see that what was coming was painful.
Kim's mother puts her hand on Kim's shoulder and says, "Kim... you don't have to do this..." but Kim shrugs off her mother's hand and says, "Ron jumped in front of it, taking it all for me..." She looks at Jerri again as she says, "Do you have any idea what it is like to watch your best friend since Pre-K and boyfriend, get fried by a godling's lightning bolt before your very eyes?"
Everyone was quiet, even Kim's mother had not known this much and no one had an answer for Kim. So Kim continues and says, "Afterwards... Ron passed away in my arms and Atheus captured Ron's soul into a orb that he told me couldn't be freed by anything other than a god or godling."
Kim shakes her head as she pounds the fists into the table, "Why Ron! Why!" as she cries for a few minutes before she looks a Jerri and says, "I have less than one week to decide if I want to be his wife or Ron will become his to torture for an eternity! I NEED something that I can use to defeat him and you are the ONLY PERSON on earth that I know of who can help me!" She pounds the table again before she says, "Please! Help me!"
Jerri sighs as she says, "Very well Kim. I will help you but it will come at a price." Kim looks at Jerri before she says, "Anything you want, it is a deal but only if we get Ron back."
Jerri looks at Kim hard for a few moments, gauging everything Kim had told her and saw the very real tears along with the intensity and pain within those green eyes of hers before she says, "Help me prove to the community that my paper is real. I lacked hard evidence when I went up before those guys before and to get it, I will have to go with you. My price is that you take me with you and if anything happens to me, you agree to take care of Kenny."
Kim nods, "You help me get Ron's soul back and I promise to do everything I can to help you."
Jerri stands up and says, "Very well then, what are we standing around here for? We've got your friend to rescue!"
Kim stands up as well and doesn't even bother to wipe the tears from her cheeks as she says, "Thank you Jerri, I won't forget this!"
All four of them leave the building as Kim calls up Wade on her Kimmunicator who contacts Global Justice to pick them all up. Once they were all aboard, they leave with the village people wondering what just happened in their wake.
AN: Whoo! What a big chapter huh? This is probably one of my longest chapters. I could have ended this chapter earlier but I didn't want to until Kim got Jerri to go with her. Kim still has MUCH to learn about Atheus than even you readers know. I bet you readers just KNOW what's coming up next. Kim, Mrs. Possible, and Jerri are going to butt heads with a bastard, who do you all think is going to win?
As to my readers, I am a Star Trek fan as well but I had totally missed the reference to Apollo. Oh well... :) I'm also glad that the guy who plagarized me is gone. Thanks for the heads up about him being gone.