Our Place in the Food Chain: Part XXXIII

It didn't matter if he had to fly coach, have his parents wire him some money, hop on a tramp steamer (did those still exist?) or actually start swimming once he reached the coast, Ron was going home. He had it up to a point some ten inches above his head (that's where his hand stopped when he said so) and he wasn't going to put up with it any more. Maybe he could figure out how to call Wade on his watch. So far, if it really had a full-function Kimmunicator in it, he couldn't for the life of him figure out how to work it. Somehow he started getting the impression it was an emergency device, though how that would do any good if he had to call out for help, he had not clue.

He was seriously thinking of smashing it with a rock so at least the emergency damage function would alert Wade. If he could squeeze that into such a small device. Of course he could, he managed to put one inside a class ring/miniature laser before, certainly he could do it with a clunky old watch.

Nooni was nowhere to be seen when he returned to the dojo. Somehow he half expected that. He also suspected that if questioned about it she would deny that any of this had even happened.

He was plainly furious. It was plain to him that Sensei must have known about Nooni's abilities. In all likelihood that stone had been his all along. The old man had withheld that and if the cook had not taken pity on him there's no telling what may have happened to Kim.

He stomped up to the doors of Sensei's private chambers, his way blocked by a rather unassuming boy he had come to know as Hayata.

"Master Sensei cannot see you now, Outsider." He said, holding his hand up, palm out.

"What did you just call me?" Ron hissed. He could feel his rage growing, along with something else tickling the back of his mind.

"My apologies, Stoppable-san. I did not wish to offend you. It is only that you are not a regular part of this school."

"Somebody else liked calling me that. Kind of makes me wonder just how everybody sees me here. Now get out of my way." Ron growled, his eyes narrowing at the slightly younger boy.

"I cannot allow you to enter like this." Hayata said, stepping in front of him again, his palm up.

Ron grabbed the boy by the wrist, his hand like a clamp of iron. With a jerk he pulled the young student ninja out of his way, sending him sprawling across the corridor. Then he almost tore the paper screens as he shoved the twin panels aside.

Yori was kneeling in front of Sensei, looking quite sad and forlorn.

"Stoppable-san, what is the meaning…"

"I'll tell you what the meaning of this is! Kim could have been killed or worse, all because you wouldn't lift a finger to do anything about it. What's more, I've been here two weeks and all you've done is fed me a line of garbage about how much you're doing for me, how much you're developing my power. So far all you've done is play games with her heart," He pointed at Yori. "and mine, for that matter. I'm her friend and I don't like my friends being treated that way."

"Stoppable-san." Yori interrupted quietly.

"What?" He said, scowling.

"Sensei has just explained to me what he did and why he was forced to do it. While it makes me sad, I understand it now. You must put your trust in him."

"Yori, I can't believe this. You're a human being and nobody deserves to be treated like this!"

"Stoppable-san!" Sensei barked, anger evident in his voice. "I will keep council of how I treat with my students, including you."

"Well, you know what? I'm sick to death of how you 'treat' with me! For all I care, you can take all this monkey crap and stuff it. I'm going back home to Kim and to people who love and respect me, instead of seeing me as just some kind of monkey powered lab rat."

"You may not leave." Sensei said quietly, his calm seemingly restored.

"I don't know if you've checked, but I'm an American citizen, I can come and go as I please." Ron said angrily. "So don't give me any more of this 'if I leave I undo so much' garbage. You've got no idea what I'm going through being here, and now if it hadn't been for somebody else's help, Kim might have gotten killed or even something worse happen to her, all because of your mysterious preoccupation with some ancient power I was forced to accept."

"You may be an American, but this is not America. This is the Yamanuchi school and here I am master. I will say it again. You will not leave."

"What are you going to do? Sic your Ninja boys on me? Prove once and for all what all this is really about? Don't give me any more bull about the purity of Ninjas and all that. You're all still trained to be assassins." Tears of anguish and rage started spilling from his eyes, along with rippling bits of blue light, light sparks of electrical current.

"You will take your crown as the Supreme Monkey Master." Sensei said, his voice booming, filling the room as he rose from his seat. "You will rule over all that is simian and you will set the world to right but you will never leave this school!"

"I'm leaving and I'm leaving right now!" Ron raged. The air around the crackled with blue light, the energy ripping through both of them. He held out his hand without quite knowing why then called out with his mind.

Somehow he half expected the Lotus Blade to come ripping through a wall to meet his hand. Instead it simply appeared there.

Sensei gaped. If it had not been obscured by his mustache and beard, they would have seen his mouth hanging open. He stared at the sword in Ron's hand. For just a moment it changed. It was still a sword yet somehow it was different. Then in a twinkling it was back to being the plain but perfect Lotus Blade though this time the transformation was not accompanied by the slight poof sound it normally made when changing.

Ron could feel the cool grip in his hand. This felt so right, almost like the connection he felt with Kim, though certainly not as deep as that feeling went. He could feel not only the power of the sword but his own power flowing through him and for the first time he truly understood it.

Tai Xing Pek Kwar was about so much more than simple Monkey Kung Fu. It really wasn't so much about monkeys and apes as he had once believed. It was a power tying the mystical side of all living things on Earth together. Human beings were included in that power but since most of them lived in a world where they could not accept such things, that power was shut off from them. That left the next creatures down the evolutionary ladder to come to the fore with the power, namely Apes and Monkeys (he also could perceive how Dolphins and Whales figured in the power, but they wanted no part of it, preferring to swim free in the oceans at peace and not trifle with such things.) Drawing on that power could give him great strength and it gave him control of the Lotus Blade.

It also told him that he was indeed the chosen one, but that his time would come.

Though not today.

The rage washed out of him, leaving him standing there holding the sword. Yet the power was still there. He shut it off, then let it come again, testing it over and over, like having a light switch in his mind he never even knew was there.

He turned and looked to see both Sensei and Yori bowing all the way down to the floor. Slowly the old master rose, Yori following suit afterwards.

"Stoppable-sama." He said quietly "I must now beg your forgiveness. What I have done, what you feel is so evil I have done leading to this moment. You have now succeeded in your mission, as have I."

"I…I don't understand." Ron said, looking at the simple yet perfect blade in his hand.

"Please, be seated." Sensei said, waving his hand at the floor in front of his dais.

Ron warily sat down, placing the sword in front of him on the floor as reverently as he could.

"Stoppable-san. Ron," The old master began. "I have manipulated you and Yori, all for the benefit of reaching this juncture. Am I mistaken that you now know how to access the power at will?"

"I think so." He said, mentally switching it on and off a couple more times. "That is so badical!"

"When you were here before, I witnessed your harnessing of the power against Fukushima. I realized that the only way you could tap into it was through your rage. While it was appropriate at the time, that is not how the power was intended to work. Instead I wanted you to find another way to gain access to it, which you did when you tapped into it to outrun Yori-san. The final step, however, was for you to realize the full potential of your gift and to do that you needed to feel true rage.

"I was fully aware of the danger your beloved Possible-san was in. I am also fully aware of how Nooni-san helped you go to her. I am aware of this because I told her to do so."

Ron's mouth hung open for a second. "Oh, so you were doing a 'good cop/bad cop' thing with me."

"You are correct, Stoppable-san. I needed you to be angry with me on such a fundamental level that you would bring your power completely to the fore. When you did so, you claimed full mastery of the Lotus Blade along with it."

"So, you're telling me you wouldn't have let anything happen to Kim? What, did you have some Ninjas ready to assist her if I couldn't?"

"No. I had complete faith in you to help her. The two of you are two halves of a whole, your connection is much greater than anyone can imagine. That is why I regret having to test that bond by using Yori-san. It is for that more than anything I must humbly ask for forgiveness from both of you."

"I have already given it." Yori said, bowing slightly toward her master. "You were willing to sacrifice your honor and my faith in order to fulfill your large mission. In that your honor is even greater and it is my honor that you had the faith in me and Ron-san we would both do the right thing."

"I never doubted either of you. That still did not mean your bond wouldn't have to be tested. I knew in my heart that Stoppable-san would remain true to his love and I knew in my heart that you would recognize this and finally understand it, Yori-chan. While I still regret having to use you so, I think it is well that you have come to such an understanding with him. You have made a better friend than you ever have before in your life, and that is something for you both to cherish. You do not have his heart romantically, but you know now that such wasn't possible for you."

"You are right, Sensei-sama. You see, Ron-san, why it is that I have forgiven him for his part. Now I ask that, at least for me but more importantly for you that you do so as well." She bowed slightly to Ron with the last.

Ron leaned forward, picking the Lotus Blade up once more. It instantly changed into a bo-staff, then to a pair of nunchuks. He grinned slightly, noting that the 'poof' sound was indeed gone and that it would take the form he willed it to instead of having to randomly scroll through them like he was channel surfing or something. Then he let the sword go back to its normal form.

He got up and walked right up to Sensei. He stood there for a moment, the sword gripped tightly in his hand. Then he kneeled down and reverently held the sword up to Sensei as he had seen heroes do for their liege lords in samurai movies.

"Sensei-sama, it is I, Ron Stoppable, who should be the one asking for forgiveness. I foolishly believed you didn't know what you were doing and now I understand that it was your wisdom that has led me to this point."

The old master took the sword, then handed it to Yori, who took it carefully with the folds of her gi. She hurriedly departed to return it to its protected shrine.

"Rise, Stoppable-san. You may be forgiven if you forgive me first." He said as the boy rose. For just a moment he could see the boy in the full flower of his adulthood, a couple inches taller still, his body more filled out, his face leaner. Ron would never be 'ripped' as he put it, but he was going to be very impressive in his own right. Then he was back to normal. The boy was actually quite far along the road to that point, but he had just a little more growing to do. "Can you forgive an old man his arrogance?"

"Of course. I…I just don't know what to say."

"You have already said it. Now, we must begin at once training you to control the power. Accessing it and using it wisely are two completely different things."

"So, you want me to train with the sword? Do drills using the power for sparring?"

"No, Stoppable-san. I want you to go down to my stone garden, find a rake and create your own pattern."

"That's all? I don't get it. How is that supposed…?"

He stopped when he realized he was falling back on the same gripe he had before.

As he waited for the bus he smiled thinking about his 'gardening skills.' Whoever had done the garden before used all sorts of random swirly things. It looked pretty, he had to admit, but it just lacked something, a certain oomph.

When he was done he set Yori to giggling and Sensei rolling his eyes. From the wooden bridge overlook they could see the final results of his first attempt at Japanese rock gardens. The first thing that drew the eye was something they both thought was an American raccoon at first, until Yori realized it was actually the Fearless Ferret emblem, having seen it in Ron's home and adorning his scooter.

There was also a pattern that looked messy until you stood back a little and realized it was supposed to be a Naco.

What dominated the whole affair, however, was the large heart he had raked in the center of the garden. Inside the heart were great big letters. K P + R S.

As the small bus pulled up he wondered how long Sensei would leave his garden like that. Not long, he was sure. It was indeed supposed to teach you harmony and all that sort of stuff and he didn't think a giant graffiti heart was too good for the old man's harmony.

What Ron didn't realize was how wrong he was. The garden was left like that for some months to come, until he had the need to use it for teaching purposes once more, when he sadly returned it to the more traditional patterns he was accustomed to. Later, using a digital photograph he had taken (Sensei was much more modern than many gave him credit for being) he returned the garden to an approximation of Ron's pattern.

A little more than a week ago Ron had been ready to meet one of these vehicles to take him away from the school, most likely forever. Now he was looking forward to this last week of training, his desire to complete it starting to outweigh his desire to get home to Kim, though not completely. Yori's stolen smooch aside, he hadn't had a long, satisfying kiss in more than three weeks now and he was feeling deprived. He was even starting to consider giving in to Kim's willingness to take their physical relationship to a new level.

All such thoughts were dashed as he caught sight of the scowling young woman stepping off the bus. She was carrying two standard suitcases which was a far sight less than what Ron had shown up here with the first time, but she was not going to be happy lugging them up the steep trail to Yamanuchi.

Then again, it seemed that Bonnie Rockwaller was already far less than happy.

"Oh, it figures they would send you out to meet me. At least you speak English." She said, looking him up and down with obvious disdain.

"Bon-bon. I thought you wanted to come here so bad." He said, holding out his hand in a gentlemanly fashion to help her down to the ground. She took the proffered hand as if she expected no less.

"That's before I found out this school of yours is out here in the sticks. I thought I was, like, going to be able to pop into Tokyo or something. Some place neat. Instead I just spent three hours on a bus without a single person who speaks a civilized language…"

"I think I'd be a little careful talking about civilized, Bonnie. They had a refined culture while we were still running around the forests of Europe. Oh, and there is the fact most of them do speak English. They're probably having a real good laugh at your expense right now."

She glared at him. "Okay, so where is it? Was it that village we passed a couple miles back? Or is it back in the woods someplace?"

"Actually, it's right there." He pointed to the ridge crest where the school sat. The mists were too thick to actually see it today anyhow, even though he knew what to look for.

"Then why didn't the bus take me there? How are we supposed to get there? Don't tell me they let you borrow Hirotaka's motorcycle. I am so not letting you drive me up that mountain, no matter how much you drive K around on that old wreck of yours."

"Um, no Bonnie. Hiro's bike is actually in a garage back in that village you passed. They don't let him keep it at the school."

"So, how are we getting there?"

Ron picked up her suitcases and started across the road. "It will, of course, be our honor to walk." He said, not quite able to keep the laughter out of his voice.

A pair of dark, almond shaped eyes followed the two teens. Perfect. It was now time to spring his trap.

The fool Outsider wouldn't know what hit him.

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