Disclaimer: Disney owns, I don't. Kim doesn't understand why I write about her exploits. Especially since I don't get paid for it.

Chapter 19 Rome And Then?

Francesca and Kim circled the gym, throwing and parrying punches and kicks. "You're pretty good," Kim said as she deflected a round-house kick aimed at her head.

Fran grunted. "I don't know how you can say that. I haven't landed one blow yet." She threw a straight right fist followed quickly by a leg sweep. Kim blocked and jumped to avoid the shots.

"You're better than all of the regular Kung Fu fighters I know." Kim threw a flat hand strike at Fran's throat. It stopped inches from the intended target as Fran froze in her tracks.

"Oops!" Fran squawked. "I must be tired if I let myself open for that."

Kim glanced up at the clock. "We have been going at it for a half hour now."

Fran plopped into a cross leg sitting position on the floor. "A half hour," she panted. "That's longer than my normal training." Fran wiped her brow on the sleeve of her gi. "'You were on defense the whole time, except for that last shot. I left myself open three of four times and you never took advantage."

Kim took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Actually, I saw eighteen times when I could of gotten in a shot. I was just studying your style. If you want me to shred your defenses I can do that. How about we go at it a couple more minutes and I'll show you where your weak points are."

The two girls stood and had at it. Kim would parry a few blows then attack, stopping short and giving advice as to what Fran was not doing to protect herself.

Ron sat on the bench, grinning as he watched the two women battle. He noticed Giovanni off to the side watching him watch the girls. He turned to the big man and waved, "Giovanni, come on over." Giovanni walked over and sat beside him. Ron resumed watching the fight and said, "Are you O.K.? I didn't do any damage, did I?"

Giovanni chuckled and rubbed his gut, "Just to my ego." He paused and watched the girls. "You two are the best I've ever seen. How come we've never met at any of the tournaments?"

"We don't do that sort of thing," Ron said nonchalantly. "Kim used to, but she was way better than the competition so she stopped going. That was about the same time we started going on missions." Ron turned to the man next to him. "Kim found fighting henchmen and Super Villains more of a challenge, more exhilarating as she put it."

They sat in silence as the two women traded blows again. After a minute Giovanni turned to Ron. "Did I hear you say you pulled your punch?"

Ron grinned. "Yep."

"And you missed where you were aiming?"

Ron scratched the back of his head and titter. "Yeah, sorry. I though you would jump back, not up."

"What?" Giovanni said, perplexed.

Ron saw the two girls were finished sparring and were walking towards the bench. "One minute and I'll explain." He grabbed a couple of water bottles and two towels and serviced Kim and Fran. The three walked to the bench.

Ron said to the the girls, "I was just about to explain why I missed my punch on Giovanni here. Would you help me with my demonstration?"

Ron motioned Giovanni to join them and then turned to the girls. "Hold one of the towels between you at shoulder height." He positioned the big man in front of the towel. "Get in a fighting stance." Giovanni complied. "Now, if I come at you, and you want to move back from the attack, what do you do?" Ron lunged at Giovanni. Giovanni leaped up and back through the towel held by the girls, landing five feet behind them.

Ron grinned. "You move like a cat when on the defensive. You jumped up and back. That's why I hit your gut instead of your ribs, like I was aiming for."

Fran looked puzzled. "But shouldn't he move like he did?"

Ron shook his head. "I think he should fight more like a dog. A dog stays low, both on offense and defense. Keeping low to the ground also leaves less for your opponent to aim for. If your center of gravity is low you have more options too. You can go on the offensive quicker." Ron picked up the towel and placed it between the ladies at shoulder height like before. He stood back and chuckled, then lowered the towel to stomach height. He moved Giovanni into the attack position and took his place in front of the towel. Ron got into a fighting stance and motion the big guy to attack. Giovanni lunged. Ron slid back mere centimeters off the floor, stopping a foot behind the girls. He leaning forward slightly and lunged back at Giovanni wrapping his arms around the big man.

Fran dropped her arms. "That looked like it was one continuous move."

Kim smiled. "You also didn't jump back as far as Giovanni did."

"Right," Ron smiled. "That's so my counterattack could come faster, taking him off guard." Ron got back in his stance and repeated the move in slow motion, explaining as he went. He jumped back, "At this point, with my center of gravity low, I can continue back if he presses me, or lean forward into a lunge to counterattack." Ron stood up. "Of course you need to read your opponent and understand what he's capable of."

"You said you pulled your punch. How hard did you hit me? Percentage-wise." Giovanni asked.

Ron grimaced. "I'd say it was seventy percent. Mind you I thought you'd jump back taking a thirty or forty percent blow. I thought you'd be a lot better, the way you were ripping up the speed bag." He chuckled, "My bad."

"At least you didn't underestimate him," Kim chimed in.

"I learned that lesson a long time ago." Fran beamed. "Never underestimate your opponent. If you do, you've already lost the battle."

Giovanni shook Ron's hand. "Thanks for the lesson, you old dog, you."

Ron shook his head. "Nope, I'm a Mad Dawg." He grinned. "get it?"

Fran and Giovanni looked confused. Kim chimed in, "Our high school's nickname is the Mad Dawgs."

Giovanni laughed as he walked away. "Take care you two," he yelled over his shoulder.

"That was some workout." Fran rubbed her arm. "I'm going to be sore the rest of the day."

"Maybe Ron could work out some of the kinks," Kim said, wrapping her arms around his waist and giving him a peck on the lips.

"Oh no," Ron said, shaking his head. "My massage skills are only for you." He put his arms around her neck and returned the kiss. "I could give Freddy a few pointers, though." He turned to Fran. "Is he any good with his hands?"

Fran giggled. "Yeah, he's fairly good with the buttons."

"Hey!" Ron yelled and stepped out of Kim's embrace. "Have you two been talking about the... about our...?"

Kim laughed. "We had to talk about something while we were fighting."

Fran threw up her hands in defense. "I think I'll leave you two alone to talk about this. I'll be in the showers." She spun quickly and raced to the locker room.

"I don't remember how the conversation started," Kim said, "but she mentioned she and Freddy were getting intimate and I told her about our list of buttons. You know, just girl talk."

"Ah, Kim," Ron started. "I'm not a girl so I don't know what you girls talk about." He frowned. "And I'm not sure if I want to know. First you talk to Monique and Bon Bon about our wedding night, and now you're telling Fran about our list of buttons? Us guys don't talk about those kinda things. It's too awk-weird."

Kim giggled. "Well that's what girls talk about, all the time. We trade information on what works and what doesn't work so well." She wrapped her arms around his waist. "We're more open to that sort of talk than guys are, that's all."

Ron thought for a second. "Well, I guess I can live with that. There's not much else I can do." He kissed her then backed out of the hug. "I'm hungry. You up for some breakfast?"

"I'm famished," Kim said.

They gathered their stuff and headed towards the locker rooms. "So Ron. Center of gravity?" Kim asked. "You must have been awake during some of Science class."

"Is that where that came from?" Ron said, his goofy grin beaming.

The three teens entered the Vatican City dining room after showering at the gym then going back to the suite. Kim was dressed in white bell-bottom jeans and one of Ron's long sleeved dress shirts. The green one that matched her eyes. Ron wore jeans and a dark blue dress shirt, open at the collar. Francesca wore jeans and a polo shirt with the Vatican logo, both black to match her raven hued locks.

"Freddy said he'd meet us here," Fran said as she scanned the room. "But we were in the gym longer than I thought. I hope..." Her face brightened. "There he is." She waved then grabbed Ron and Kim's hands to lead them to her boyfriend.

Freddy stood as the three approached. Fran ran to Freddy and, looking both ways, gave him a very quick hug.

Ron looked perplexed. "What? Is that all he gets for saving us a table?"

Freddy looked around the room before he sat down. "They're kinda strict about Public Displays of Affection."

"PDA rules here, too?" Kim said in astonishment. "They haven't said anything to us about it, and we've been pretty open about our PDA."

"Kim," Fran chided, "You've been getting away with it since you're celebrities here, but this is the Vatican. You know, The Conscious of the World. My first grade teacher once caught us kissing and I had to write, 'I will not kiss a boy on Vatican grounds' one thousand times. "

"Harsh," Ron sighed. "We would only get a lecture or an hour in detention at school."

Fran giggled and blushed. "It was worth it at the time. We had just started dating and it was our first kiss."

"Memorable on so many levels," Ron chuckled. The three others joined in.

A waitress came and took their order. When she left, Fran filled Freddy in on the developments for Kim and Ron.

"So you two have the rest of the summer free to do whatever you want? Fab!" Freddy chimed. "Where are you going to go?"

Kim pulled the pad and paper from her backpack. "That's what we were going to talk about during breakfast." She handed Ron's single page to him and tore off her page from the pad. She slid the blank pad of paper and a pen to Fran. "Could you keep track of the ones we agree on? Please and thank you."

"How did you list them?" Ron asked Kim. "I went mostly by Continent but I added some individual cities."

"That fine by me," Kim smiled. "What do you have for Australia?"

Ron checked his list. "I got three things there. I'd like to camp at Ayre's Rock to see the sunrise and sunset." He turned to Fran, "They're suppose to be marvelous."

Kim spoke up. "You mean Uluru. That's the aboriginal name for it. I have that too. Plus I'd like to spend a couple of days camping on one of the little islands in the Great Barrier Reef so we could scuba and snorkel. Lastly, I'd like to do the bridge climb in Sydney Harbor."

Ron beamed. "Check and check. Three for three." He looked at his list. "How about, say, Munich?"

Kim smiled. "I don't have much there. I want to see the Glockenspiel again and bike around the old town. How about Washington D.C.?"

Ron didn't even look. "It ain't on the list. We've been in Washington so many times, I know it like the back of my hand."

Kim beamed. "I was trying to pull a fast one."

She showed her list to Freddy. "Washington is written and crossed off on her list," he declared. Freddy reached over and Ron handed him his list.

Freddy studied the two pages. After ten seconds he said to Fran, "Put the pen down, their lists are identical." He gave Ron's list to Kim.

Kim scanned the page. "You have home as your number one destination."

Freddy gave Kim's list to Ron. "So do you, KP," Ron said in amazement.

"I really miss our parents and the tweebs," Kim said shyly.

"And our friends and Rufus," Ron added. He thought for a moment. "We can see all the other places later. Maybe even after we retire from the Saving the World business."

"But right now," Kim continued his thought, "home seems like the place I want to see most."

Fran threw the pen and pad to the middle of the table. "So what say we eat first, see the rest of Rome, then send you two packing?"

"I like a lady with a plan!" Ron said happily.

The waitress seemed to magically appeared and served the four teens their repast.

The gang of four spent the rest of the morning talking and laughing while exploring the sights. Around 2 P.M., just as they got back to Vatican City, the familiar four tones of the Kimmunicator were heard. "Hey Wade," Kim said answering it. "Talk to me."

"Hi Kim," Wade said as he took a sip of his ever present soda. "Have you two decided on an itinerary yet?"

Kim smiled her wicked little smile. "We have, and guess what?"

Wade put his cup down. "What Kim?"

Kim looked at Ron. He nodded knowingly. "We're not gonna tell you!"

Fran, Freddy and Wade all chimed, "What?"

Ron walked over to Kim and nestled into a one-armed embrace so he could be seen by Wade. "We love the trip you set up for us," he said with his patented goofy grin beaming so all could see it. After a brief moment it turned to a scowl. "But Wade, you played us. You played us good. Now we're gonna play you for a while."

Wade started to raise his soda cup to his mouth but stopped half way. "What are you talking about?"

"We know how to temporarily deactivate the microchips you use to track us." Kim's wick grin was practically glowing. "We're going to do it, take the batteries out of the Kimmunicator and disappear for a few days."

"But Kim, Ron, what if something comes up?" Wade said in a partial panic.

"You told us our foes are all tucked away or won't bother us," Ron started.

"So we're good on that front," Kim continued.

"If anything new arises," Ron added.

"Call Global Justice," Kim concluded.

Wades hovering hand slammed the soda cup on the desk splashing the liquid everywhere. The Kimmunicator screen wavered for a second, then Kim and Ron could see that the soda was running down the camera lens focused on Wade. They watched as four little spheroids rolled into view and split apart, sprouting legs and arms from the interior. The mini mechanical maids wiped up the mess, compressed back into spheres and rolled away.

"Wade, are you O.K.?" Ron said, genuinely concerned. "We're only going to be out of touch for a couple of days. A week at most."

"A week!" Wade squeaked. "But what if there's a fire or quake or, or..."

"Wade, Chill!" Kim said firmly. "The motherboard in your brain is smoking."

"But, but, but.." Wade stuttered.

Kim and Ron looked at each other and smiled. "Shall we?" Kim asked.

"We better," Ron said."Before he goes into total meltdown."

"Psych!" They yelled together and laughed.

"What?" Wade uttered as he reached for his soda cup and missed.

"We were just playing you," Kim giggled.

"Just a little revenge for what you put us through," Ron added.

"So you're not...?" Wade said in total confusion.

"No we're not," Ron stated, matter of fact-like.

"We have only one place we'd like to see right now," Kim sighed.

Ron hugged Kim and they sang in unison, "Home!"

A/N: I was going to take them to a few more cities before Wade's secret is revealed, but I ran out of steam. That, and Kim somehow caught on way to quickly so I think I'll end it here. Hope you liked it. Read and Review, please and thank you.