Our Place in the Food Chain: Part XXI
"Okay, I'm confused here." Gene Stoppable said, scratching his head as his son and his girlfriend sat across from them at the kitchen table. "If the exchange program is about expanding horizons, why are they sending you again? Doesn't that sort of defeat the purpose?"
"That's what's so cool, it's not like the last time, this is for a whole month!"
"A whole month, yippee." Kim muttered, resting her chin on her palm.
Ron went on like he didn't notice. "Plus I'm not taking the regular exchange slot, I'm a special case. They're so impressed with the progress I've made at school, they want me back for a special follow-up program."
"I'm so proud of my little boy. I knew Kimberly would be so good for you." Jean Stoppable positively beamed.
Both teens glanced at the woman for a second, remembering her singing quite a different song about Kim back in the summer. Still, she had admitted to both of them that she was wrong and had apologized, so her joy should have been genuine.
"What about your school work, Son? You had such a hard time catching back up the last time you went to this Yamanuchi place and didn't you mention the course of study there was rather intense?"
"It was and I'll bet it is again, but this time I know going in what to expect."
"Unless they throw him for a loop." Kim said, still not as happy about the whole prospect of being without Ron for a whole month. She was surprised that afternoon when she finally had a chance to talk to him about it when a certain phrase came out of her mouth and not his.
"It'll be like Wannaweep all over again." Kim thought she was mature, that she could handle him being away. After all, if he couldn't get into the program at MC, it was highly likely he would have to go to college somewhere else, then it would be months at a time they would be apart…
…but not now. It was so ferociously unfair that they were going to be separated right here in the middle of time they thought they had all to themselves. She knew feeling that way was selfish, immature and smacked of insecurity about their relationship. It was especially selfish considering how amped Ron was about going. He was virtually bouncing off the walls, busting at the seams wanting to tell somebody besides Kim and Wade what actually went on there, why they really wanted him back.
Yamanuchi wasn't a town in Japan with Middleton High School's sister school. It was instead a secret school that had been training young men and women in the art of Ninjitsu for over sixteen hundred years. The original week-long exchange during their Sophomore year had actually been staged specifically to bring Ron to the school so that Sensei, the ancient seeming master of the school, could observe and evaluate his ability to use Tai Xing Pek Kwar, or Monkey Kung Fu. Months before Ron deliberately let himself be exposed to the Mystical Monkey Power in order to defeat and escape from Lord Monkey Fist. He thought at first the powers were lost when the four jade idols were destroyed but it was revealed to him on his first trip the power was now within him.
The nature of that power was finally revealed when he used it to defeat Monkey Fist's minion and traitor to the school, Fukishima. It actually scared him quite a bit, and that was likely why he often couldn't call upon the power.
One of the biggest frustrations for Ron, though, was being sworn to secrecy when he left after a week. It was a secret he even kept from her, at least until she got involved in a mission to rescue Sensei from the clutches of Gorilla Fist.
It bothered her for a while that he would keep a secret like that from her but over time began to respect the reason he had done so, especially considering the fact his success there was the sort of thing he naturally liked to brag about. That he could keep such a solemn oath said volumes about his real character.
As happy as he was to be going back, she was actually quite scared for him. Cool factor aside, the art of Ninjitsu served a very dark purpose. It wasn't all about sword play and kung fu. Ninjas were first and foremost assassins. In the modern world they were also employed quite often for purposes of espionage and found work with many government agencies around the world.
It still meant that gentle Ron Stoppable, who would only fight when necessary and even then would only use just enough, was going to be trained as a killer. That went against so much of what she…no, they stood for. They would use violence when it was called for, but only to subdue, never to kill.
"I still haven't told you all about the best part." He was literally bouncing up and down in his seat. It was like two years of growth and newfound maturity had been washed away. At least it was with joy. That was something she could never deny him.
"See, after the first three weeks they want another student to join me. It's going to be so cool! Barkin's going to be announcing who it's going to be at an assembly tomorrow."
"So when exactly are you leaving?" His father asked.
"Monday. They've already got me booked on a flight. It's going to be so badical. First class baby! Japan hurricane rocks!"
"Typhoon." Kim deadpanned.
"Huh?"
"They havetyphoons in Japan."
"Whatever, it still rocks hard."
"Son, you realize you're going to miss Halloween and Thanksgiving, don't you?"
"Yeah, that kind of sucks but I wasn't really planning on doing Halloween until Monique tried to bamboozle us back into it. Thanksgiving's the worst, I'll be eating sushi instead of two big turkey dinners." Ron always managed to be right on time at both his house and the Possibles.
"This time maybe you'll pick up some of the language." His mother said, finally sitting down after milling around them for the whole conversation.
"You know, that's the funny thing. It seems like everyone there speaks fluent English. I think they teach it in the schools or something. They one guy I've met who used a translator turned out to speak our language, he just liked whispering to his pretty translator all the time."
"That sounds kind of strange." His father said.
"I guess if you're a billionaire toy manufacturer, you're entitled to be a little wacky that way. Besides, you should see his translator." He wagged his eyebrows for effect.
"Yeah, who you tried hitting on right after Brittina shot you down." Kim muttered.
"You asked Brittina out?" His father gave them a puzzled look.
"Ron asked every girl between fourteen and twenty, plus a couple even older, that he met that week." Kim laughed. At the time she thought it had been painful to watch, but that was more because of the constant rejection instead of immediate embarrassment. Later she came to realize he wasn't so much worried about the rejection while at the same time she couldn't work up the courage to ask Josh to the dance. Now it made her just a touch sad that of all the people he did ask, he hadn't once asked her other than to mention they always went to that sort of thing as friends before. That line of thinking at first made her happy that now she was the one going to dances with him and finally sad thinking he would now be away for the first two of the five big holidays of the winter months.
"Yeah, the three of us…"
"Hrk HEY!" Rufus squeaked from his position on top of Ron's head.
"Okay, the four of us were sipping mock-tails on her private plane on the way to Japan to foil Blue-boy and I just non-chal, uh, casually asked her to the Spirit Week Dance."
"At least by the time you met Nicky-Nick they'd broken up and you didn't get stuffed into a trash can." Kim laughed.
"So not. He'd have had his bodyguard do it." After meeting the Oh Boyz, he had discovered they were nothing more than pampered posers who could look pretty singing canned music. At least he still liked to listen to them.
"True." She said.
After dinner the two of them went up to his room to watch a movie on his computer (which was assembled by Wade and had a nice, up-to-date DVD player, a device his father still thought was a fad.) Kim snuggled in close to him, holding both his hands as he encircled her waist with his arms.
"I wish you didn't have to go, Honey." Kim said, only half paying attention to the monitor across the room.
"It could have been worse. Think what would have happened if they'd called me back during the summer."
"You think it's any different now? Ron, I get lonely for you when you go home at night. We're talking about a whole month apart and you know they won't let you bring your Ronnunicator."
He curled his nose a little. He simply called his alternately a Kimmunicator or just a communicator. Her name for it, while sweet, just kind of sounded funny and made him a tad uncomfortable and literally gave him a bad taste in his mouth, something like overcooked cabbage. "No, but I think of it this way. In just over four weeks I'll be back and I'll be a badical super-monkey-power ninja."
"Ron, the other students there have probably been training since their early childhood. You're just going to be there for a month, I don't think that's long enough to become a master."
"Dunno, KP, maybe if they can teach me to harness the MMP I won't need all that training. Maybe I'm an insta-ninja. Just take my essential Ron-ness and add Monkey Power, whamo!"
She reached up and touched his cheek, glancing up at him as she realized he actually had a five-o'clock-shadow. His face had change ever so slightly. He was now two inches taller than her and seemed to be growing more every day. Somewhere there was a dictionary with a picture of him beside 'late bloomer.'
"Ronnie, I'm going to say something and I know it's going to sound selfish and shallow…please don't go."
"I've got to KP. What if there are things I don't know about this power. What if I'm more dangerous to you without being able to control it. What if we're in a fight for our lives and I can't use it…or worse, what if, you know, when we do start doing things something bad happens. The last thing in the world I want is for you to get hurt and it'd be ten times worse if I'm the cause." He kissed the top of her head.
"What does some old mystical fighting power have to do with that?" She asked, deep sadness still tainting her voice.
"I don't know. Maybe nothing. See, we don't know. I don't know and that scares me a little. Those people are the only ones on Earth who really know what's happened to me."
Kim rolled halfway onto her side, just far enough so she could reach his lips. It was a long, warm kiss, not like the wilder, more passionate ones they shared when they were making out. There was more about love and deep connection in it.
"I love you, KP." He said as she turned her attention back to the movie.
"I know." She glanced up at him. He was smiling back at her. "I love you too, Ronnie. I know you need to go and you really want to go, so I don't have the right to hold you back. Like I said, it was a selfish thing to ask."
"Like you always say, KP, no big. You had to ask as much as I have to go."
She touched his cheek again. "Well, let's make the most of these last few days. I want to do something special tomorrow night and Saturday night. If you're not too busy getting ready to go I want to spend some time with you Sunday too."
"Sure thing, KP. Where do you want to go?"
"I'll leave that up to you. I, uh, want to ask one other thing."
"What's that?"
"Do you want to do something really special? I mean really, really special?" She glanced up at him.
"I'd like that, but it's only going to be a month. We've got our whole lives ahead of us."
"'Kay." She closed her eyes and snuggled in closer to him.
"Think of it this way. I'm going to be thinking about you every minute I'm there and I'll be dreaming about you at night."
"I like our dreams." She said, entwining her fingers with his.
Margaret On looked like an older, female version of her son. She was the type of woman who got what she wanted, when she wanted and that included getting her only child away from her Ex-husband, much as it displeased the boy. She didn't know why he adored the man so much. He was in and out of prison regularly and why he wasn't there at the moment puzzled her deeply.
The last thing she wanted was for her son to end up like him.
The divorce had been final for over a year now, but the legal wrangling went on, seemingly forever. The worst of it had to do with Cary himself. It didn't help that he wanted to live with his father, but with the man being a convicted criminal it wasn't hard to get a judge's order giving her sole custody.
It made her bitterly sad that, in a few weeks, he would turn eighteen and all of it would be for naught. He would probably be on the first bus back to Go City, leaving a promising future and a fantastic education at one of the best school systems in the Midwest behind. The only solace she took was that he might not want to leave his girlfriend behind again. She liked Zita Flores, though she found it surprising her son would go for the tiny Puerto Rican. That famous redhead he went to school with seemed so much more his type.
She was already late for a meeting when the phone rang. She didn't even have to bother looking at the caller ID. She knew who it would be. "I'll get him." She said in an icy voice.
Cary was sitting on the floor, his back against the couch reading a textbook, making notes from time to time. "Here, it's the Freak for you." She said, handing him the receiver.
"He's my father, I'd appreciate it if you didn't call him that." He said, his voice rivaling hers for its chill.
He took the cordless handset and went into the next room. "Hey Dad…no, that didn't work. Remember that little blonde guy she was with? Yeah, well, he's not so much a little skinny weakling any more…well, no, but she's all wrapped up in him now. I've got to try another tactic…yes, Dad, you'll have your revenge. Don't worry. No…Zita's just a bonus, especially since she used to date that little guy.
"Here's the cool part. I just heard they're sending him to Japan for a whole month. Once he's out of the picture I'll have a clear shot at her…no, there's no reason for you to come here. When I make my move she won't know what hit her and he'll be clear across the globe snacking on sushi and geisha girls. By the time he's back she won't even remember him…cool. Hey, Dad, maybe you'd better call me on my cell from now on. Mom's kinda pissed about you calling…oh, yeah, well I guess you like it when she's that way now. Hey, I'll see you soon. Love you too, bye Dad."
He turned off the handset and pulled his cell out of his pocket. He dialed a number from memory, not wanting to commit it to the internal memory.
"Konnichiwa…hai!...wakarimas…arigato!" He closed the phone and returned it to its place.
The smile that crossed his lips would have done any supervillain on Earth proud.
Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney