A\N HI! UPDATE!
HOORAY!I finally finished this chapter! Took me awhile ain't it? ) Actually, it was written very gradually along whole this time since the last one. Before you read it, a little heads up: the speech that in the square brackets like […] is technically spoken by characters in non-English, but presented to the reader IN English. You'll understand when you see it. Also, BIG thank you for all your reviews and support. I'm gonna work on a chapter for "Partners" next, so you might wait awhile again for next Wicked Bonds update, but who knows, maybe i'll get my writing groove back and you won't wait for an eternity again)
And, as always…
READ AND REVIEW.
Disclaimer: I don't own Kim Possible.
Chapter 21
Eastern connection
"Finally!" Ron whined, holding two plastic bags filled with different bottled and canned sugary drinks. "Come on, open the door so i can feel my arms again."
"Man up." Bonnie stepped on her porch and snickered, pretending that she can't find keys in her pocket, just out of spite.
"Says the one who's holding air." he commented head-pointing at the plastic bag she had in her other hand, filled to the brim with different potato chips packs.
"Alright, alright." she pulled the door wide open. "Get those to the kitchen's table. You know the way."
Before his hands would give up on him, Ron took wide steps to Rockwaller's kitchen, placing two heavy loads on top of the wooden table. Soon enough, snack-filled bags joined them. Bonnie pulled couple bottles of sugary drink and put them in the fridge.
"Pass me the cans." she asked Ron from behind the fridge door while pushing food on the shelves to make some space.
"Here you go." he pulled a couple of them from the bag and passed it towards her, repeating the process until the fridge was filled.
"Fits perfectly!" Bonnie closed the white door, with a satisfying look on her face.
"My arms feel like cooked noodles now." Ron whined, wobbling both arms.
"Oh poor you." she cooed, giving him a mocking tap on a shoulder. "Look like noodles as well."
"Now that was uncalled for." he gave her a side eye.
"You've been whining all the way down. I'm pretty sure it is called for."
"Not all the way…" Ron muttered embarrassingly.
"Maybe you should add some meat to your noodles?" Bonnie searched through a kitchen cabinet for a big plastic bowl. "You know, so you don't have a reason to complain next time?"
"I'm starting to regret watching that show with you. Not every boy can build a perfect bod with six pack abs, you know? And i'm pretty sure actors on there are several years older than their characters…"
"Come on, don't say you yourself won't like to have a six pack?"
"Well i….wait a second...you are messing with me again, right?"
"Maybe." she answered coyly.
"Aw come on! You know i'm slow for this stuff."
"That what makes it fun." she giggled, pouring a mix of potato chips into the bowl.
"Not so fun for me…"
"I'm sorry. How about you shame me for something? Come on." Bonnie moved away from a table, giving him a full view of herself. "What are my flaws?"
Ron's gaze went from the top of her head down to her feet while going around Bonnie several times. Young witch felt the heat rising in her cheeks. The looming silence only added to the uncomfortable feel of the situation.
"I give up. I'm totally drawing a blank here." Ron's shoulders slumped in defeat.
"W-what?" Bonnie asked, all flustered.
"Can't find anything wrong right now." he answered.
"Flatterer." smile appeared on her lips, as she shoved a bowl of chips at him. "Get this upstairs, i'll bring drinks."
"Yes, mam." Ron grabbed a second chips-filled bowl from the counter and went towards the stairs.
Bonnie meanwhile was getting two hard plastic cups from a cupboard, thinking about a certain conversation with her father couple days prior.
"Dad, can i ask you something?" she asked meekly.
"What is it, BonBon?"
"You see, i got this tv show on DVD and, i want to watch it with Ron."
"So you are asking me if it is ok with me that he'll be alone with you in your room?" Ryan understood where she was leading rather quickly, due to the experience he gained when her older sisters were still alive.
"Yes?" she answered hopefully.
"Ok, but with several rules and one condition." his tone turned serious, to ensure she'd listen to him. "The condition is simple. You are going to talk to him about his new abilities and invite him to your next spell training."
"F-fine." she agreed reluctantly. "I will ASK him about it."
"Good." Ryan smiled. "Now, about the rules…"
Bonnie cringed remembering the list of rules of do and don't for teenagers under his roof. As awkward it was to hear his lecture, it was still worth it. With a big bottle of carbonized liquid sugar in one hand and cups in the other, she went upstairs. She had half a season to finish, and a question to drop.
~(*A*)~
"Ain't that the scaredly wimp Ro…ie!"
"Me and you …nie, the two of us will be unstoppable."
At the Brigsby's Home For Wayward Youth, one young boy was sleeping uncomfortably at the lower bunk bed.
"R…! What the hell? Why did you shove me?"
"…You are nothing but a lying squeeb are you?!"
He was tossing slightly side to side, sweating, mumbling.
"Mask, my power…no… i…"
"…i'm not a squeeb…"
Boy hastily opened his eyes, releasing himself from this recurring dream. His heart was pounding hard, and his throat felt dry as desert. He stood up and slowly walked his way to the door. It was past noon already, and most residents were up, though he couldn't care less for anyone around at the moment. Gil made his way to the washroom and opened the faucet. He gathered some water at his palms and drank it in in two gulps. His heart was beating a bit steadier now, and his sweat felt cold. He gathered some more water and smashed filled palm at his face. However, his fingers touched something cold and gooey instead. Confused, he looked in the mirror above the sink, making him release a short terrified shout. A reflection showed a slimy mask forming around his eyes, slowly spreading over his face. Frightened to the core, his began splashing water on his face, attempting to scrape the stuff off at the same time. When Gil couldn't feel the slime anymore, he looked back to the mirror, seeing that it is gone without a trace, even sink was clean, with no slime in it.
"What the hell…" Gil breathed out, contemplating if he got mad or not.
~(*A*)~
"She is so ANNOYING!" Bonnie growled in total aggravation, lying on her tummy on the bed.
"No arguments here." Ron agreed with her, sitting on the floor right before her, back resting on the bedside. "Melisa would be a much better female lead, she's a total badass, but nope, we have Ella, who's still alive only because Ben Dover had a crush on her grand-grand-grand-mother. And it is major creepy by the way."
"I know, right? Is this what girls my age find romantic? Walking abs, who creepily stare, can't get over his ex, and in love with an indecisive screeching bland brat. This was totally done so their female demographic could self-insert themselves into the story instead." she said, as her hand hit the bottom of the chip bowl. "Ron, your turn on snack refills."
"Yes, mam!" he took her bowl, along with the one he used and went downstairs.
"And bring cherry pop too, please! The big one!" she asked loudly.
"Ok!"
While Ron was refilling their junk food, Bonnie was mentally preparing herself. She did promise that she would do it today, the question she must ask him. She hated feeling this way, anxious, unsure, and scared. That wasn't the Rockwaller way. Her mother was headstrong, stubborn, and determined. Her dad loved telling about how many time her no-nonsense attitude put them in the weirdest situations, and helped him through their lives. And she was her daughter, through and through. Bonnie pumped her spirit up with those thoughts. Whatever happens, happens. She'll do whatever she needs to do to persuade him.
"Special delivery! Paprika potato chips and cherry pop." Ron entered her room, hugging two bowls if chips with one hand, and holding a big bottle of cold fizzy beverage in the other.
"Dad wanted to see you tomorrow to talk about the box thing from that day." she said in rapid succession, slurring some words in a process.
"Uhm… about what?" Ron asked, trying to comprehend what she said.
"About that time in Mr. Craft's shop." she said, keeping her breathing as even as she could, while her heart was beating in a rhythm of Irish stomp dances. "Dad wanted to talk to you about what happened to you and stuff. He said he found some info about the alchemy."
"Cool." Ron answered her with a smile.
"Cool?" Bonnie cocked her head in confusion, not expecting this kind of answer at all. "You're cool with that?"
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"
"My Dad treated you like a test subject or prisoner up until now. I assumed you'd freak out about anything magic related at this point." her shoulders slumped, as her eyes drifted down.
'Even me.' she added silently in her head.
"Are you kidding? Magic is awesome!"
"Huh?" her gaze went up to the smiling blond. "Awesome?"
"It's magic! REAL magic! Of course it is!" he sounded almost offended to her this point. "And yeah, some things your dad did wasn't that pleasant. But it's not like he did this to intentionally hurt me or something. At least I think he didn't… Also, how cool it would be if I get some superpowers after this?"
"Superpowers?" she asked, still processing his words.
"Yeah, magic counts as a superpower, ya know? That would be so sweet!"
"OMG!" she fell backward on her bed, covering her face. "I feel so stupid right now!"
"Why?" Ron asked sincerely, while pouring himself a cup of artificially cherry flavored carbonated drink.
"I was over thinking it for a week! And there you are thinking about superpowers!"
"Oi! Having powers is awesome."
"So, I am awesome?" Bonnie asked, hands still on her face, only one eye peeking at him through the fingers.
"Totally!" he said without any doubt.
"God, you are so simple!" she lifted her upper body from the soft bed sheets.
"Again, oi."
"It was a compliment, Doofus!" she let out a muffled giggle. "You can think in the simplest ways possible, while being in this convoluted mess my Dad put you in the day we met. That's what I like about you."
"Ah, th-thank you." Ron felt flustered from her comment.
"Welp, since we are done with awkward little talks, let's get back to the show" she grabbed an empty plastic cup from a nightstand and stretched her hand to him in a demanding manner. "Now, cherry-pop me and push the play button."
~(*A*)~
Big white RV got parked at the edge of the grove at the outskirts of the Lowerton area. Engine was soon turned off, and a man with a light-blue-ish skin stepped out of it. He stood for a bit near the vehicle's entrance, looking carefully at the content of the woven bag he held in his hands. Several smooth palm-size dark-grey rocks, along with the much bigger blue clump of crystals were inside. After assuring himself that everything is in the order, Drakken pulled out a pendulum from the side pocket of his blue coat. Small metallic ball weighted a string down.
"Findan drylic cwylla" his voiced echoed.
The metallic ball flew forward, restrained by the string in Drakken's hand. Using it as a guide, he stepped into the grove. It didn't take long to arrive at where pendulum was attracted. It was a clearing, a perfect circle, surrounded by trees. The string stretched vertically as Drakken stepped in the center of it, and pulled out a phone. After several rings, a lazy female voice answered the call.
"Yeah?" she sounded bored of her skull.
"I found the spot, are you ready?"
"Yeah yeah."
"One affirmation would suffice, Shego!"
"I'm sorry, Master!" a heavy shade of sarcasm falling on her words.
"Great! Now, repeat what you need to do."
"I pull the paper from the pot you gave me, jump about 10 or so steps away, cover my ears and wait for any witch around to take a bait, and distract them until you finish whatever you do."
"Perfect! Now, wait EXACTLY two minute and do as you just said."
"Yeah yeah." she said before swiftly hanging up the phone.
"Argh! That sassy little..."
Grumbling under his nose about ungratefulness and sass, he began placing the content of his bag on the ground, with a clump of crystals in the spot his pendulum was drawn to, with dark-grey rocks surrounding it. Soon, for about two minutes since the call, he could feel slight tremor and traces of magical energy coming about a mile away from his position. It was one of his creations, a special magical bomb (more of a concentrated magical firework, really), meant to distract anyone who could sense ethereal outbursts. Not wasting a single second, Drakken kneeled, slamming both of his palms onto the grassy ground.
"Inseglung drylic clústor"
The ground began to shake even harder, but this time, the source of it was right before him. Once blue clump of crystals now glowed interchangeable bright colors, gathering an incredible amount of natural magical energy. It began hastily spread around, but before it managed to sip far, it hit a clear wall. A see-through dome barrier, formed from surrounding dark-grey rocks, was holding an immeasurable power source in one location.
"Inseglung drylic clústor"
Drakken repeated the spell, draining himself, while concentrating on a particular image in his head. Magical energy drew closer to the cluster again. It held like that for half of a minute, before spreading away again.
"Inseglung drylic clústor"
He continuously pumped his own energy to keep little dome barrier standing, while spending big chunks of it every time he repeated his spell.
"Inseglung drylic clústor"
He could feel himself getting weaker every time he had to repeat those words.
"Inseglung drylic clústor"
Even when Drakken's vision started to get blurry, he kept his mind on the image inside, focusing as much as he could on it.
"Inseglung drylic clústor"
His lungs were making shorter and shorter fills each time.
"Inseglung drylic clústor"
Cold beads of sweat were dropping on his palms and grass below.
"Inseglung drylic clústor"
His arms, numb and shaky, kept pressing on the ground.
"Inseglung drylic clústor"
A flow of magical energy whirled wildly, crumbling clump of crystals into the sparkling dust. It spiraled downwards penetrating the ground until there was nothing inside the barrier. Even in his weakened state, Drakken felt the change and allowed himself to loosen up. Drained almost out of all of his energy, he fell unconscious on a soft ground.
Blue flames. They covered every inch of a big mansion in the middle of the woods. All he could do is watch as it ate everything and everyone inside. An awful, unforgettable burning stench filled the air around him, as desperate primal screech penetrated his ears.
"Drakken? Hey! Drakken!" somebody was poking his cheek. "Hey, wake up! Drakken! Master!"
"Huh?" he opened his eyes, seeing a slightly worried face of his helper.
"Oh, good. You're not dead." she said, reaching her hand to him.
"Can't die yet, Shego." he spat out weakly, taking her hand, and letting himself to get pulled from the ground.
"Come on." she threw his hand over her shoulder and supported him by grabbing his belt with another. "Which way is the car?"
"Ten minutes, that way." he pointed in the direction he came from.
"Should we pick up the stones?"
"No, they should be all burned up by now. Need to buy more and also three more clusters."
"Or steal." she offered, while moving both of them through the grove.
"Better not. I must finish this as fast as possible. It would be problematic with an angry witch on our tail." he rasped, voice still weak. "The time is getting short."
"Fine." she pouted, contemplating why she was stuck with such troublesome master.
~(*A*)~
Sun was about to set down behind mountains of Yamanouchi region, shining a red sunset light upon wooden structures of the school. A girl, in her teens, was walking towards a farther building with a tray on her hands. A small shack-like building was covered in paper talismans and surrounded by burning incense. A heavy aura was gaining pressure upon young girl the closer she got. Her movement and even breathing took extra effort now. But she didn't show that it was bothering her at all, with a kind smile unshaken on her lips.
[Sorry to intrude.] she said before sliding the side-ways door, letting herself in. [I brought you some snacks. Pocky and rice balls.]
[Thank you, Yori-chan.] a frail woman smiled back from the bed she was lying on, with a small toddler cuddling in her arms. [You can leave it near the door.]
[Don't worry Asa-san, I am fine.] she walked up slowly, almost like going through the water. [How is Hana?]
[She's well. Just went to sleep.] woman looked upon her child fondly. [You really shouldn't stay here for long. I know you are strong but…]
[I'll be fine Asa-san, do not worry.] Yori put the plate on top of the stool, it was right at the hand reach for the frail woman, and made her way back.
[Good night, Yori-chan.]
[Good night, Asa-san.] young girl bowed to her, before sliding the door back.
She walked away from the building, her whole body now was shaking. Soon her knees gave up, making her drop down on the ground. Her heart was beating faster, her stomach danced pirouettes, while color left her face. She managed to pull herself into the proper sitting form, breathing as evenly as she could, focusing her own energy. Several minutes passed like that, until she felt a presence behind her. Still a bit pale, she managed to stand up and turn around, seeing an elderly man looking at her with a kind expression.
[I appreciate the lengths you go for Asa-san.] he told her. [However, please, don't overexert yourself.]
[I'll be fine Sensei.] she answered confidently. [However Asa-san, she… She doesn't look that well. She's…]
[She's dying.] he said bluntly, but with a clear tone of sadness. [Hana-chan's aura proved to be too heavy even for her own mother.]
[But Sensei! Can't we do something…]
[We might.] he said, seeing his best student's face brighten.[As you know, I've been meditating constantly as of late, trying to catch a glimpse of fate to come. And this morning, i saw something, or rather someone who might help us.]
[Really?] Yori felt hopeful.
[Yes. However, i also felt an arrival of darkness on that path, also anger and grief.] Sensei said solemnly.[And after giving some thought, I decided to take the risk, for both Asa-san's and Hana-chan's sake. So, we must prepare ourselves for some guests.]
[I understand, Sensei.] Yori nodded, anxious to get started. [Who are we expecting?]
[Well, I'm not sure about the rest, but first and most important one would be…] he paused just a bit for the effect. [a babysitter.]
