And now onto basically the "real meat"—(no pun intended, fellow MK fans)—of the story. I'll be doing something a little different than I have with the previous two installments. With that said, I hope you still find enjoyment in reading what I have so far. :)
CHAPTER 1
At a Special Forces base, all were in attendance in one of the hangars. Ron Stoppable was standing in front of a company of soldiers. All had saluted as Kim Possible entered, with the Lin Kuei's part-time member Raimundo Pedrosa alongside her.
The SF leader acknowledged their salute. "As you were. For years now, the Special Forces have been Earthrealm's sword and shield. We've pushed back Aku. Defeated Pitch. Yet none of our victories have come without cost. Recently, Commander Boog was honorably discharged. His wounds, both physical and psychological, left him no longer fit to serve. We honor Julie Bruin's father, and we honor his sacrifice, by doing what he would do—tirelessly defend Earthrealm." Kim then looked to her daughter, to which Raimundo stepped to the side for what was about to come next. "Sergeant Possible, step forward. Your leadership and war-fighting ability have earned you promotion to Commander. But there are no family favors here. By Special Forces tradition, you have to pass one last test."
Sara smirked all too knowingly. "I need to kick the CO's can, ma'am. Your can, ma'am.
"All right then, Sergeant. Let's see if you can take me."
They fought. Despite having years of training under her belt, Kim was no match for her daughter, as Sara fought tirelessly and with determination, before literally sweeping her mother off her feet, ending the fight.
After helping her mother back up on her feet, Sara saluted with an eager yet still vigilant smile. "Commander Possible, reporting for duty."
Smirking back, but almost with a twinge of respect and pride, Kim returned the salute. "Congratulations, Commander."
Behind her, Sara's fellow soldiers applauded her, with Jimmy Neutron, Randy Cunningham, and Julie being the loudest. Even Raimundo slowly applauded as he gave her a raised eyebrow, an approved smirk, and a single nod to the head.
Ron soon approached and hugged his daughter, as she returned the hug back.
Amongst the soldiers (up front), Julie looked happy for her friend and nearly gushed at the closeness of her family, while Jimmy tried stifling a snicker with Randy looking at him with a squinted eye.
"C'mon Dad. You really have to go?" asked Sara as she, Kim, Ron, and Raimundo approached a helicopter waiting for them outside the base.
Ron shrugged nonchalantly. "You've got your duty, 'Commander.' I've got mine."
Smirking, Kim raised an eyebrow, her arms folded across her chest. "Starring in yet another Ninja Mime sequel isn't what I'd call duty."
Smirking back, in a playful yet suave manner, the movie star wrapped his wife with one arm. "I need to provide for you in the manner to which you've become accustomed."
Ron then swept Kim in a Clark Gable sort of way (much to her pleasant surprise) before they shared a kiss.
Sara frowned in response. "Geez, guys—I'm right here."
Raimundo snickered as he approached the newly appointed commander. "Come now—the family that defends Earthrealm together, stays together."
"I respect you and all, Raimundo, but what does that have to do with my folks making out?"
With his arms folded across his chest, Raimundo shrugged his shoulders while still smirking. "Nothing necessarily—I just wanted to say that." He then saluted her in his own Lin Kuei style. "Grandmaster Foghorn would be proud of you today."
Sara proudly returned the Lin Kuei salute to the yellow-and-black-clad warrior.
Suddenly, in a bolt of red lightning, dark Samurai Jack appeared before them, much to the surprise of all.
"What is Samurai Jack doing here?" Raimundo whispered almost to himself.
The thunder god approached them. "General Possible. Sara Possible."
"What is it, Samurai Jack?" queried Sara.
"The NetherRealm."
All five went over the situation over in headquarters.
Sara suggested, "We should open a dialogue. Maybe there's an explanation. Omi and Kimiko were friends once."
Samurai Jack then reminded her. "They are irreparably polluted by Pitch's evil. They are no longer the champions we once knew. We must strike them preemptively."
"It's about time we brought the fight to them. What's the target?" Kim asked.
"Buried deep beneath Omi and Kimiko's castle is the Cathedral of Pitch, the seat of their power. Destroy it and their undead army will fall, removing its threat to Earthrealm."
"Aren't your powers weaker in the NetherRealm?" Sara queried.
"Yes," Samurai Jack answered, "but I will have sufficient strength to occupy the undead army."
Kim nodded in understanding. "That'll buy us enough time to infiltrate the Cathedral. Destroy it from the inside."
"We get pinned down in there," pointed out the newly appointed SF commander, "there's no way out."
"To ensure Earthrealm's survival," said the thunder god, "we must all be willing to sacrifice."
"Y'know it's been two years too much of your grim and gritty makeover," Ron groaned, "droning on about sacrifice. You don't have a family to lose."
The corrupted thunder god leaned a little closer, his face stern-looking. ". . . I know loss, Ron Stoppable."
"Guys," Raimundo said, trying to break the tension, "I'm sensing a little bit of animosity between you, what with loss and whatnot—but can I make a suggestion? Let's direct that at the enemy."
Kim understood. "Samurai Jack's right, Ron. We're not ready for another war. We've got to take out NetherRealm's army now, before Omi can bring it here."
Ron was beside himself, shaking his head as the others prepared.
After Samurai Jack teleported them, Sara, Kim, Raimundo, and their army found themselves in the NetherRealm. After pausing a moment, Sara joined up with her team and looked up at the Cathedral of Pitch, before looking down at the army of demons.
Moving to a stealthy crawl with her compatriots, the newly appointed SF commander pulled out her GPS. "We're in position. Hope Samurai Jack's planned one heck of a diversion."
Samurai Jack walked up to the demon army. "Withdraw! Or feel the wrath of Earthrealm's Protector!"
Using Pitch's amulet, the thunder god destroyed several of the creatures, turning them into dissipating dust.
Meanwhile, resurrected Omi and Kimiko were watching the battle from a tower nearby. They sent reinforcements.
After waiting for the demons to pass by through the gate, Sara and her squadron ran inside.
They snuck down the staircase and into the hallway through a pair of matching doors leading into the next room. Inside the room was where Omi and Kimiko kept the still-living severed head of Pitch. However, before they could do anything, more demons entered the room and forced them to hide behind the doors. Leading these demons were none other than the revenants of Razor and Mary Melody.
"Should Samurai Jack get thus far," said Mary to Razor, "eliminate him."
The revenants bowed to Pitch's severed head.
"That burn victim's Razor?" Sara whispered to her mother. "Wasn't he Yosemite Sam's goon back in the day?"
Raimundo whispered back. "Don't let the scars fool you. He's fast."
Kim then ordered, "Take out him and Mary. I'll go downstairs and set the C4."
Sara nodded once in response. "Roger that."
They began a massive attack on the tower. The SF soldiers used battle formation and tactics. Sara found herself facing Razor, while Julie went up against Mary and Raimundo fighting off the demons alongside half of the soldiers.
"Move! Charges on every column!" Kim commanded the other soldiers. They all did so.
Up top, Julie was still busy fighting Mary, and Raimundo with his buzz saws and detonators dispatched the demons into dust.
During their fight, Sara and Razor were in a deadlock—both equal in strength. With his swords, Razor slashed Sara's machine gun in two.
The young commander was stunned before readying herself into a fistfight.
Razor chuckled snidely. "You're a dead ringer for your mother."
Sara narrowed her eyes in anger. "I'll kick your butt on her behalf, Razor."
The fight was on. Despite having experience under his belt (during his mortal years), and having the powers of a revenant, Razor was no match for the young commander. Sara finished him off with a low sweep, knocking him off his feet.
Sara smirked in satisfaction. "You lose as fast as you run."
Soon Julie and Raimundo joined up with her, after the skirmish was finally over.
"Julie, where's Mary?" asked Sara.
Julie panted for a second. "She bailed."
Raimundo growled in annoyance. "Getting help, I'm sure."
Sara used her communicator to contact her mother. "General, how we doing?"
Kim just finished activating one of the C4s. "Need ten minutes. The support columns are further apart than expected."
"You need help?" asked the young SF commander.
"Negative. Just watch our back."
"Ten more minutes?" Julie asked. "Like, we needed to be tail-lights in five."
"Maybe I'm just tired of virtually fighting our friends, or just tired of fighting period," Raimundo said while briefly pinching the bridge of his nose, "but please use real words now. I'm not in the mood for slang."
They heard a demon's scream coming from somewhere above.
"Well we're in trouble now. We have extra C4, yeah?" Sara asked.
"Yeah. Why?" Julie inquired back.
"Let's buy ourselves time."
Raimundo chuckled briefly. "Interesting."
Meanwhile, Samurai Jack was battling hordes of demons outside.
Mary walked up to the resurrected Kimiko and Omi.
"Emperor! Empress! Earthrealmers have captured the Bone Temple!" Mary announced.
Kimiko blinked for a moment. "But Samurai Jack—"
"He's the diversion!" Omi exclaimed.
Sara just finished setting up the C4, of which included what appeared to be a trip wire, before pounding knuckles with Raimundo and Julie, each one proud of their work. "Lock and load."
The three of them ran back to the rest of their fellow soldiers, now all weapons at the ready. Hearing a rumble, they looked up and watched the demons from above them running to whatever they were about to attack the next floor up.
After a tense moment, the three Kombatants and their fellow SF soldiers faced the open booby-trapped door. The demons from earlier charged at them before hitting the trip wire and setting off the C4.
Still, some demons charged onward despite the deaths of their fellow compatriots. Sara and her entire group started shooting up the oncoming horde (or at least what was left of it). As the demons were shot, they dissipated into black dust clouds, fading away.
Down below, Kim and her fellow soldiers were holding onto the support beams due to the rumbling. "What's going on up there?!" Kim called out.
Through the communicator, Sara responded. "Watching your back, General."
Still, the demons kept on coming, and Sara's group kept on firing. It was getting to the point that more demons were coming at them through the other door!
After one of the nightmarish creatures tried to jump her, Julie shot it while it was still in the air before confronting the others head-on and using her special gauntlets.
Julie paused in surprise when she saw the revenant Omi launch a fire skull at her. She, Raimundo, and Sara dodged it in time as it hit a wall—fortunately with no casualties from the Earthrealmers' side.
Suddenly Kimiko ambushed the three. Sara locked metaphorical horns with the former Edenian princess, and the two were ready to fight.
Sara narrowed her eyes in anger. "Kimiko. 'Empress' of the dead."
Kimiko narrowed her eyes as well. "I've not forgotten our last encounter at the Sky Temple."
"How are your scars healing?"
The actor's daughter and the revenant princess went toe-to-toe in a fight. Despite her expertise in the use of her fans in battle, Kimiko was no match for Sara as she gave her quite a beat-down before knocking her off her feet, incapacitating her.
"Move!" cried out Kim through the communicator.
"Move, move, move!" Kim commanded her group, trying to lead her soldiers.
As he fought Julie and Raimundo simultaneously, Omi used his magic and punched them—sending them a few feet away from them as they were left equally sprawled out as they were knocked out.
The former Mortal Kombat champion had a sly smirk on his face.
Kim and her fellow SF team were close to reuniting the Sara's group. However, Omi got in the way by destroying the passage. Kim and her soldiers were buried under the rubble!
"General? General!" Sara exclaimed, trying to contact her mother as she heard the falling rubble in her earpiece.
Omi faced the SF commander, his face twisted into a scowl indicating his readiness for a fight. "She's trapped, Sara Possible."
Sara returned the glare, standing ready to fight back. "How 'The Chosen One' has fallen. Samurai Jack's right. Whatever Pitch did to you, you're a lost cause."
The fight was on. Despite all his training during his living years and Pitch's darkness that corrupted him, Omi tangled with the wrong Kombatant, as Sara too fought as furiously as he did, but with way more determination.
Sara then swept Omi off his feet and knocked him out, ending the skirmish between them. "Stay. Down." However, her greater concern was for her mother, as she approached the rubble blocking the doorway and tried contacting her. "General, can you hear me?! General? Mom?"
In the rubble, trapped, Kim could hear her daughter, as she gasped out in pain. "I'm here, Sara."
"Hang tight. We'll get you guys out."
"They're gone, Sara. And I'm not gonna make it."
"What? I'm not leaving you behind!" Sara's voice was on the verge of tears.
"Get your team home. That's an order. Your duty. Mine's to finish the mission."
"Mom, no! We can save you!"
Kim coughed before pulling out the controller to the C4. "I love you, Sara. Give your dad a kiss for me."
"Mom, no don't—Mom? Mom!"
Kim squeezed the trigger before closing her eyes one last time.
Julie and Raimundo watched helplessly as Sara tried moving the rubble out of the way.
Julie looked down at her remote, a slow steady beeping audible from it. "She's started the detonation sequence!"
Sara stopped, tears running down her face. "Override it, Julie!" She then went back to moving the rubble.
"There is no override! Commander!" Julie tried to stop Sara but the latter brushed her off as she kept digging in vain. There was a brief struggle as Julie tried stopping Sara, before Raimundo intervened and held the SF commander by the shoulders.
"Sara, listen to us," Raimundo pleaded, "our orders are to leave."
As the yellow-and-black-clad Lin Kuei agent let her go, Sara turned away from her friends and fellow soldiers, a soft sobbing coming from her.
Julie and Raimundo stared at each other, sadness on their faces, before looking back at Sara.
The screech of the oncoming demons shook them out of their moment of sadness. As everyone whipped themselves around, they faced the oncoming horde as they fired at them.
"C'mon, move it!" Sara commanded.
The heroes started to run out of the temple. As they did so, while firing away at the demons surrounding them, the C4 blew up the temple. After they reunited with Samurai Jack, the dark thunder god transported himself, Sara, Julie, Raimundo, and the remaining SF soldiers back to Earthrealm.
Sara collapsed on the ground, breathing hard from the running and the turmoil she was feeling. Raimundo and Julie tried to comfort her.
Samurai Jack approached them. "Your mother died a warrior's death. May we all be so fortunate."
Julie and Raimundo looked up at the thunder god with dirty looks.
Julie shook her head in disbelief. "You did not just say that."
"Have you no compassion anymore?" Raimundo asked.
Sara and the others then heard a familiar voice.
"Thank goodness you're back!" Ron called to them before walking up to them. "How did the mission . . ." The actor paused, seeing the sad expressions on Raimundo's and Julie's faces. He then noticed that Kim was nowhere to be seen before seeing his daughter's tear-stained face and hearing her heartfelt sobs. It didn't take long before it hit him like a ton of bricks. "No . . ."
Ron then walked over and knelt down on his knees, looking Sara in the eye, before they hugged.
Raimundo and Julie hung their heads in sorrow and respect.
Meanwhile, back in the NetherRealm, Omi and Kimiko looked at the remnants of Pitch's fallen temple.
"Without the Cathedral's power," stated Omi, "we stand alone. We are vulnerable."
Just then, Eris appeared to them from nowhere.
"Who are you? One of Samurai Jack's Elder Gods, here to taunt us?" scowled Kimiko.
Eris smirked. "No, Kimiko. I am much more. Behold!"
The Elder Goddess then restored the temple to what it was before, leaving Kim's death in vain.
Kimiko gasped. "What sort of power is it!?"
Eris answered. "I am Eris, Keeper of Time."
The two revenants were then transported to Eris' dwellings.
"The Sands of Time guide the destiny of the Realms," explained Eris, "and every soul therein. I have carefully crafted them to keep the Realms in balance. But my work's perfection has been irreversibly tainted by Samurai Jack's actions. The two of you have felt this pain most acutely."
"What can be done?" Omi asked. "The past is the past, is it not?"
"It need not be. I intend to wind time back to its beginning and restart history. But even with my vast power, I cannot create this New Era alone."
"How will the 'New Era' be different?" Kimiko queried.
"In many ways. But most importantly, there will be no Samurai Jack."
There was a moment of silence between Omi and Kimiko, as pleased smirks crossed their faces.
"How do we begin?" Omi inquired.
Eris smirked back them, in a dark manner.