KP and the lair just vanished. Like that! Or, maybe we were still inside the lair?
Shadow was gone. He just kinda left me here and disappeared again. In trying to figure out how to get out of here, I slammed my face into the hard sides of a box. All 4 times. My nose really hurts.
I pounded the walls of the glass box in frustration. KP needed me, and I was stuck here, doing nothing. Nice.
Think, Ron, I told myself, glancing around, what would Kim do? I chuckled. She'd probably kick it and break it. Suddenly, I snapped my fingers at an idea. Sitting down on the floor, I concentrated, meditating. After what felt like hours, I felt it. The spark. I harnessed it, like I had once before.
It took so little effort. With a single soft punch, the glass box shattered to dust.
"Simple enough," I muttered to myself, shaking my hand out from the slight tingling. "Rufus!" I called, cupping my hands around my mouth. No answer. I'd have to go look for him and Kim myself. Hopefully, I was still inside the lair.
The door opened automatically as I approached it cautiously. There wasn't any sound beyond the door, so I followed the corridor to—guess what! —another door! It slid open automatically, and I peered inside.
It was another of Draken's laboratories! Good thing I was still in the lair. I don't know what I'd do if I wasn't. The glowing chaos emerald on the table across the room just beckoned to me. Glancing around again for anyone, I crept toward it, careful not to touch anything. Staring at it for a full 5 seconds, the glow seemed to get brighter by a degree.
Suddenly, the door I came through, which had shut after I walked in, opened again. I ducked out of sight, but, in that moment, I heard an echoing whisper in the back of my mind.
"Take me with you!"
So confused, I almost forgot to get out of sight. I was too slow.
"You!" Draken yelled angrily, pointing an accusing finger at me. "Wait." He gave a blank expression. "What's your name again?"
"Dude!" I retorted, throwing my hands up in equal frustration. "Every time! Every single time! It's Ron—Ron Stoppable!"
Draken waved a careless hand in the air. "Whatever. Shego!"
Shego appeared at his side. Her clawed fists glowed green. I backed away with a nervous laugh. "Hey, hey, you have to go easy on me," I said, backing into the wall next to the chaos emerald.
"After what you did to me last time?" she said, advancing toward me. "I don't think so."
About last time, my hidden power called Tai Shing Pek Kwar helped me kick her butt. She hasn't forgiven me yet. I used that hidden power to break out of the box. I might have to use it again to get out of this mess. The chaos emerald caught my eye, and I heard the whisper again. "Don't leave me here!"
Draken caught me looking at it. "Don't touch my chaos emerald!" he yelled hysterically, running forward to get it. Shego took that moment to strike, too.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" I started, putting up my hands. Shego didn't stop. Her glowing fist came straight for my face. But, I automatically dodged and swept her feet from under her, seamlessly, in one fluid motion. Then, I ran away, screaming…my norm. Not proud of it but can't change it.
"Wait!" called the same whispery voice as before.
I hardly paid attention, but it freaked me out that I was hearing voices. It's not the first time, but it doesn't make it any better! "I'm sorry, whoever is calling me! I'll come back later!" I yelled behind me without looking back. I came to another door in the corridor and ran inside, shutting the door behind me. It was…a broom closet? In Draken's lair?
I think I'll hide in here and wait for KP to save me, I thought, taking a seat behind a mopping bucket.
It may have been closer to an hour before I heard skittering in the ventilation system over my head. And, frustrated chittering.
"Rufus!" I whisper-called into the closest shaft to me in the closet. The skittering stopped momentarily, then got louder. I had to pull with all my might to get off the grating—so hard that I fell back onto the floor with a loud clang as I knocked several brooms over. I grimaced at the noise and side-glanced the door fearfully. Rufus jumped down from the shafting onto my face and immediately starting chittering. I had a knack for understanding what he was saying.
I blinked in confusion this time, though. "Chaos emerald? Whaddaya want with one of those?"
The mission! I translated from him.
"But, we can't go out there! Shego and Draken are out there! And, Shadow could be out there, too!" I protested, watching the door.
He crossed his tiny arms and tapped his foot on my open palm impatiently. Kim's not here, Ron! I translated. You've got to do this yourself.
That didn't make me feel better. I can't deal with Shego! That's Kim's thing! It always has been! When I didn't answer, Rufus squeaked loudly to get my attention. He told me to say Chaos Control when I touched one of the chaos emeralds. And, he said to get all the ones that Draken had if I could.
"When did you go and get all brave?" I muttered sulkily, dropping him in my pocket carefully. "And, what do you know that I don't know?" I asked suspiciously. "What are you hiding?"
He looked away and then down, as though deciding if he should tell me. Shadow wants all the chaos emeralds, so he must have gone to find Sonic for his emeralds. We have to get to home! he squeaked to me. Let's go! With that, he disappeared into my pocket, leaving me wondering what I was even doing. What happened to Rufus to make him so brave?! It was literally an overnight change! He definitely knew something I didn't. What was the whole thing with Chaos Control, too?
I cracked open the door and peered up and down the hallway. It was quiet at both ends. With a glance over my shoulder at the safety of the broom closet, I headed in the direction I'd come from.
There wasn't anything to hear except my own harsh breathing and footsteps…until I heard an explosion. I almost ran in the opposite direction, screaming again, but something kept me moving forward to the sound. It didn't really feel like curiosity. Shouting broke out as I got closer.
The door slid open, and I peeked around the corner into the same lab I'd escaped from. Several smoking craters littered the floor. Shego stood with her back to me, fists raised and glowing at 2 people fist-fighting faster than I could see. It was so much different from KP fighting Shego. They don't move nearly as fast as these 2 did! I couldn't even see most of the clashes they had!
It looked like…Sonic and Shadow?! Suddenly, Shego jumped into the fray against Sonic. He was having a hard time keeping up and dodging. I didn't pay too much attention since there wasn't anything I could do to help. Instead, I caught sight of Draken hiding underneath one of his lab tables, the glowing gem in hand, watching the battle.
Ducking behind the equipment to stay out of sight, I made my way slowly toward Draken.
"Chaos Surge!" Shadow yelled.
I didn't have time to think as blasts of yellow light rocked the room, ripping apart the walls and ceiling, blowing over anything in its path. The steel support bar I hid behind started tipping as I jumped away, barely avoiding getting hit by it when it fell.
Worst part: the floor started to fall out from underneath us. Sonic, Shadow, and Shego were caught in the fallout. I scrambled away as the crater grew to the outer edges of the room. When it stopped, I was left with 6 inches of a ledge, just enough to cling to without falling.
Breathing a quick sigh of relief, I spotted the soft glow of the chaos emerald beneath me, half-buried by the rubble that had fallen through. There was no sign of Draken or Shego anywhere. Except for the occasional cascading pebble, it was quiet. Which scared me. A lot. Surprise attacks are something to be feared. I would have liked to do nothing better than sit there and wait for KP, but 2 things were wrong with that decision. First, I couldn't sit there for long because the ledge was crumbling under me. I could feel it slowly starting to disintegrate. Second, what if KP never came? I can't wait there forever.
"Rufus, help me out here," I muttered to him, not daring to move at the moment for fear of falling. He chittered something that sounded like "Do a Kim" from deep inside my pocket. "Real helpful, buddy, thanks."
The ledge going towards the door hadn't fallen away completely, so I started edging that way. There had to be another way down, right? Sadly, my luck was not with me…again. The floor started crumbling under my feet at the third step. Stopping my movement didn't stop it, either. My stomach turned over as the ledge fell through, gravity taking hold.
Although my luck might hate my guts, I still kept some of it. The way down wasn't a straight shot fall. It was sloped, thankfully. Buuut, that doesn't mean it didn't hurt. I would definitely be sore in the morning. A lot. At least, I didn't lose my pants.
The bottom rocks were blunt at the edges, so I didn't impale myself, but it was still a pretty stupid move to slide 50 feet onto rocks at the bottom with no way to slow myself down. But, I ended up right next to the chaos emerald, so I guess that's a bonus.
"Rufus, get out here and tell me what I'm supposed to do with this!" I snapped, rubbing my back and staggering up on the uneven ground.
Rufus fell out of my pocket onto the rocks and grabbed the gem, pushing it towards me frantically. "Say Chaos Control and think of Kim!" he chittered just as frantically.
I took the gem in my hand, feeling its warmth flow into me. Rufus quickly climbed back into my pocket, peeking his head out to watch. Staring at it, I thought about Kim, worried that something might have happened to her.
"She's alright—I'll take you to her," whispered the same mysterious voice he'd heard twice before.
"O-okay, chaos control!" Ron said loudly, squeezing the emerald slightly. It glowed a brilliant yellow and in a spilt second, he was standing next to Kim.
"Ron?!" she half-screamed in fright at his sudden appearance beside her. After a few seconds to recover herself, she threw her arms around him, relieved to see he was alright. "What—where—?" She noticed the pulsating gem in his hand when she pulled away. "A chaos emerald!"
Ron was still looking around, confused. It was the Middleton football field, 50-yard line. The school was in front of him. What was left of it. Half of the second floor had collapsed onto the first, leaving a massive pile of rubble and exposed electrical conduit and wiring. "What happened, KP?! What is going on?!" Queue the hysterics. "Magic is real, KP! I just teleported here from Draken's lair after it caved in for some reason, and, suddenly, I'm the only one around! And, then, I'm hearing voices from this rock and—and—AND…" He ran out of breath and words.
"Ron, calm down," Kim soothed. "Slower English."
Ron stared at her, but soon saw just how panicky she was inside. It honestly made him feel more relaxed to know he wasn't alone…but, that didn't make the situation better.
A loud, booming crash exploded in the sky above, flashing a streak of gold.
"Lightning?" Kim wondered aloud. "No clouds."
The gem pulsed in his hand, giving him a deep notion of needing to move out of the way. It almost came too fast, but he saw it in slow motion and his mouth moved automatically. "Chaos Control!"
Time seemed to slow to a crawl when he declared the words. An orb of gold light was coming towards him and Kim, but it wasn't moving very fast. He glanced over at Kim to see her still staring up at the sky. But, suddenly, the light started coming faster toward them. He grabbed Kim by the arm and dragged her with him out of its path. The moment both of the them were safe, time sped up to normal and the yellow flash collided with the ground a few feet away, forming a 3-foot crater.
"Ron! Kim!" shouted someone from above.
An explosion rocked the ground, sending the teenagers to their knees. Sonic hit the ground on a knee grappling for dominance with Shadow. Sonic glanced over worriedly, then in a surprised way. But, Shadow took advantage of the distraction and swept his feet out from under him. The blue-haired teen collapsed, the other boy stomping a foot down on his chest.
"Say goodbye, Sonic," Shadow declared, raising a glowing hand.
Ron's mouth moved again. "Chaos Spear!" Several bolts of yellow light flashed forward, taking Shadow's attention.
"Chaos Spear!" Shadow shouted, countering the strike. The gold lights exploded, momentarily blinding everyone.
Sonic kicked Shadow off of him and tackled him. He lost his grip, and both vanished in colored blurs.
"Ron, what's going on? What did you—?" Kim began before more explosions sounded, throwing them back to the ground.
Both teenagers threw themselves at each other, blocking, countering, attacking. Neither appeared to be pulling his punches. Shadow looked to be losing his gained ground to Sonic's speed and agility.
Ron grabbed Kim by the wrist and ran down the field away from the fight. But, he only got a few yards before the chaos emerald's energy pulsed in his hand. It felt like…a warning. Ron spun around, and his horrified, fearful eyes found a certain Bonnie Rockwaller standing at the edge of the field, watching the chaos unfold. It was too late to react, though.
The fighting duo crashed to the ground for the umpteenth time, sending tremors across Middleton. Shadow had thrown a punch, heavy by the look of it, and Sonic blocked it with arms crossed over his face in front of himself. Suddenly, Shadow smirked and threw his leg out, catching Sonic with a crushing roundhouse kick. The hit knocked the teen back several steps as he staggered to regain his balance. He grit his teeth to keep from crying out at feeling a couple ribs crack under the pressure. When he glanced back up again, Shadow had his arms crossed over his face, his glinting red eyes glowing angrily.
"Chaos…"
"SHADOW, NO!"
"BLAST!"
In his precious split second, Sonic's gaze found Ron's across the field, then Bonnie's. His expression twisted into shock as he bolted in her direction. She wouldn't be able to move in time. She could be killed! Just as the blast reached her, he appeared in front of her, taking the hit for her.
Ron's mouth moved automatically again. "Chaos Barrier!" Just before the light made contact with the school, a red dome appeared over it and him and Kim. All he hoped was that, by the time the light hit them, they would be totally protected…