I'm back, everyone! We are now officially at the halfway point of the story (not including the commentary chapters). I've decided once again to do something a little different here—I just hope it (still) doesn't detract from the story in any way major.
CHAPTER 6
Sara was showing young Kim, along with young Tarzan and young Chance "T-Bone" Furlong how to work one of the S-F headquarters' computers. "Here's how you access incoming reports. Swipe here to crosscheck them with past reports. The software can suss out the deltas."
Young Kim wore a thin smile, impressed with the technology. "Now that's progress."
Young T-Bone chuckled. "You said it."
As Sara left the three to their own devices, young Kim moved her chair closer to the computer.
Elsewhere in the room, Ron and young Ron stared at young Kim, thin smiles on both their faces.
After catching a glimpse, young Kim flashed the same thin smile back at them before she and her other two younger allies went back to the computer.
"So I marry Lieutenant Princess over there?" young Ron asked. "I thought I always had a thing for blondes. Ever since Suzie . . ."
Both he and his older self then said in unison, "Donardo. Junior year."
"Take it from me," Ron smirked to his younger self with a light chuckle, "you didn't miss much. That young lady over there? She's the real deal."
Young Ron tilted his shades a little to get a "better look" at young Kim. "Oh, I got eyes, brother. As Younger You, I solemnly swear to smooch her at the earliest opportunity."
On that note, everyone looked at young Ron—mostly with dirty looks, awkward looks, or (in Raimundo's case) a shake of the head in disapproval.
"Can I throttle him now?" young T-Bone whispered to the shaman.
Young Tarzan groaned quietly back. "Please don't."
"What? It's our destiny!" shrugged young Ron to everyone.
Getting up, Ron grabbed his younger self by the ear, anger in his voice. "Out!"
The movie star walked his younger self out, still by the ear.
Young Kim had a look of disbelief, speaking directly at Sara. "How the heck do I ever hook up with that guy? Who's your father. I can't believe I just said that."
"Look," sighed Sara, walking up to the younger version of her mother, "my dad isn't the Ron you know. He . . . grew up. I like to think you rubbed off on him. As a kid, I looked up to both of you."
"My dad—your grandfather—was my hero. Called me 'Private Pun'kin.'"
"Huh. That's what you called me. . . . We should get back to work."
As Sara left, young Kim went back to the computer, typing something in.
The computer did a face recognition on her. "Biometric verification required. ID verified— General Kim Possible."
"General Possible?" young Kim smiled. "Dad would be proud."
She, young Tarzan, and young T-Bone looked over to see Sara conversing with a couple soldiers before turning to the computer again, looking at Kim's profile.
"Think I should read up on it?" young Kim queried.
Young Tarzan rubbed his chin briefly. "I'm not sure if that would be wise."
"Why not?" young Chance shrugged. "Gives ya something to look forward to in the future."
"I just think it might be unsafe."
"Relax, Tarzan," smirked young Kim, "I'm sure it won't hurt at all."
Outside of the base, Ron took his younger self to some hangar.
Young Ron smirked it off. "Untwist your trousers, Older Me. I'm a star."
Ron forced his younger self to look him in the eye. "What we have going on now is a military operation, not a movie set."
"I'm only the best fighter here." The younger movie star than glared. "But your daughter's got me sitting at the kids' table."
Ron then slapped her upside the head. "OUR daughter is C.O. A little humility might earn her respect."
There was a pause from young Ron. "Dad always said, 'Hungry people eat lunch, humble people serve it.'"
"Dad was a jerk." He then took his younger self's shades off. "Hollywood made us an even bigger one." On that note, Ron stomped on the shades.
Young Ron's response was a glare, before whipping out a new set of shades and putting them on and standing ready for a brawl.
They fought. Despite being older, Ron had way more experience and exercised more caution than his younger self, making it easy to win the fight before knocking young Ron off his feet.
The movie star placed a foot on top of the younger actor's chest. "An older man just kicked your butt."
After his older self let him up, young Ron walked off and mumbled. "You got lucky."
Meanwhile, back with young Kim and two of her friends, she listened to the mission report—everything that happened earlier in the story involving her older self playing back. Her green eyes looked confused as she listened, before reading something on the computer screen and whispered, "What?"
Glaring, young Kim got up and walked over to the next computer where Sara and Raimundo were. Left to themselves, young Tarzan shot a dirty look at young T-Bone as the latter shrugged sheepishly.
"You left me behind?" young Kim asked her future daughter, her voice raising a decibel higher.
Sara looked genuinely confused. "Excuse me?"
"My final mission."
"How did you—" She then looked over to the computer next to her and the words "BODY NOT RECOVERED" flashed over Kim's profile in red. "Geez. No. I'm not doing it. Not now. Not with you."
"Blast it, Sara! You abandoned me?"
"To save the company!"
"Err, may I say something?" asked Raimundo.
"NO!" Sara and young Kim shouted back.
The yellow-and-black-clad Lin Kuei folded his arms across his chest and gave a dirty look.
Sara directed her attention back to the younger version of her mother. "That was my order."
"Who the heck gave you that order?!" hissed young Kim.
"You did!"
Young Kim looked shocked. She then directed her attention to Raimundo.
The Lin Kuei gave a single nod. "Yeah."
Sara still glared. "Read the full report, Lieutenant."
Suddenly, an alarm started beeping. All the computers turned red. Alert could be seen on each of them.
"Go to Condition Red!" commanded Sara.
"We're under attack! Repeat, we're under attack!" shouted Sara's voice over the speakers across the base, including the hangar that the movie star and his younger self were in.
With a group of armed soldiers with them, Ron and young Ron equipped themselves.
"Boo-yah, am I right?" asked young Ron with a smirk.
After an eye-roll, Ron then commanded his younger self. "Just follow my lead."
An explosion happened, with the two(?) movie stars losing their footing from the explosion's force. Rattlesnake Jake then slithered into the hanger with his people following—including King Rat.
Switching over to Yosemite Sam and his younger self, they inspected their army of Cyborg clones, shoving a couple to the side in a rude manner. Hannibal then entered, sporting new white-red armor and a laser gun before cutting open a hole leading to the S-F HQ.
Meanwhile, everyone at the Special Forces headquarters prepared to fight back the intruders.
Over at the hangar, the group of soldiers and the two Ron's were under fire.
A bullet grazed young Ron's cheek, leaving behind a faded-looking scar on Ron's cheek.
Ron looked at his younger self in disbelief (and vice-versa) "Oh, that's freaky like Friday."
Young Ron looked ready to snap. "They shot our face, Ron. They shot. Our FACE!" Grabbing a mirror to see, it got shot out of his hand. With a growl, he then picked up a riot shield, went into some kind of berserk mode, and started shooting randomly with a war cry.
Ron groaned before following him. "He's gonna get us killed."
Young Ron took on Rattlesnake Jake's forces and current Ron took on the gunslinger himself.
"Ooh!" taunted Ron. "Funny way of saying 'howdy, partner.'"
Rattlesnake Jake hissed. "I was saying 'goodbye.'"
"Now why's a nice Texas boy like Rattlesnake Jake in bed with the Black Dragon? Older You—and King Rat over there—work for Tork Tiger. He's one of the good guys, kinda."
"When I pick sides, I pick a winner. Every time."
The fight was on. Much like the earlier brawl with his younger self, Ron had no trouble beating down Rattlesnake Jake.
After knocking out the scaly gunslinger, the movie star looked down. "You chose . . . poorly." Having finished the fight, he ran out of the hangar.
Back at the Special Forces HQ, bodies of soldiers and Cyborgs were sprawled on the floor, computers were damaged—everything was a disaster. Only a few remained standing.
"Sara! Kim!" called out Ron as he ran into the room—with Raimundo, Julie, young Boog, young Tarzan, and young T-Bone with him.
There he spotted Sara on the floor. The group of six rushed to her aid.
The movie star helped his daughter up. "Breathe, kiddo."
Sara gasped in pain briefly. "They took Mom—Kim."
"I'll get her." He whipped his head around to the others. "Can we find out where they've gone?"
Julie rushed over to a computer that was still in good condition. "Tarmac B."
"On it. Keep her safe."
"Hannibal was here," Raimundo stated, "and since I've defeated him twice, I'm coming along."
They booked down a hall before nearly passing a door. Looking inside, the movie star and the yellow-and-black-clad Lin Kuei exchanged a sly smirk.
Outside were Hannibal and a handful of Cyborgs, two of them holding onto young Kim, the latter struggling and trying to fight back.
Hannibal commanded his two lackeys. "Take her."
By his command, the Cyborgs dragged young Kim off.
BOOM!
A giant hole was formed on the hull of the hangar. Rolling out was a tank!
Inside the indestructible tank were Ron and Raimundo. They rammed Hannibal's lackeys and was going to crush him too, but the red Cyborg teleported out of the way.
Ron laughed triumphantly. "We got him on the run now, dude!"
Raimundo nodded. "Nice change, for once."
Turning the behemoth machinery around, the two heroes started following Hannibal. After the Cyborg approached the cliff, an aircraft flew upward into view.
Gasping in surprise, Ron stopped the tank—nearly causing him and Raimundo to hit the dashboard—after taking a glimpse of the intimidating aircraft.
Flying upward, Hannibal stood on the top of the aircraft before firing its rockets at the two heroes' tank.
Ron tried to turn the tank around but it was too late: He and Raimundo found themselves crawling out of the damaged tank.
As Hannibal started firing on them from the aircraft, the two heroes threw a detonator into the tank before running a good distance away from it.
As the yellow-and-black-clad Lin Kuei activated his retractable armor, the movie star pressed the button on the detonator's remote. "Two can play that game."
BOOM!
Along with the tank, the white-red Cyborg's aircraft was obliterated in the cross-fire. However, Hannibal was able to escape in time.
After landing next to his two henchmen, still having a firm grasp on young Kim, Hannibal turned to them with an order. "Send another extraction vehicle."
"Raimundo," said Ron, "head back with the others."
The Lin Kuei deactivated his retractable armor. "But you don't understand. He's—"
"Relax, I can take him on." As his friend did as he was told and teleported elsewhere, Ron walked over to the villainous Cyborg. "You won't be online long enough for your friends to make it, Tin-Head."
"Ron Stoppable. Raimundo Pedrosa defeated you when you were younger and stronger—before turning his back on the Lin Kuei. As I am his superior, I am yours."
"Even though he beat you twice already?"
Hannibal, in response, stood ready to fight.
Ron did the same. "You're forgetting the time I beat Pitch, mano-a-mano. Oh, wait! You were dead when that happened."
And so the fight between mortal and machine was on. Again. Even though Hannibal had the advantage of cybernetics, Ron had something even greater: true determination. Saving young Kim was on his mind, and he wasn't about to let anything happen to her.
After beating down and defeating the white-red Cyborg, Ron looked down at his fallen enemy. "Go back to whatever decade you're originally from." He then looked up at the two Cyborgs still holding young Kim. "Who's next?"
"I'm next, Hollywood!" snarled young Sam, a gun in his hands.
(ENTER SLOW MOTION)
Ron ran over to young Sam and, after the Black Dragon leader fired but missed him by an inch, the movie star punched him in the gut. Young Sam's one good eye and laser eye (in the form of a red light bulb on a spring) nearly bugged out of his skull in a cartoony fashion.
(EXIT SLOW MOTION)
There was moment of silence as young Sam recovered. Deciding to leave the gun, the ruffian put up his fists.
Ron did the same thing. "Geez. As if Throwback Me wasn't bad enough."
"Oh, it gets a WHOLE heap worse, varmint. Kim and yer lil' girl . . . they's 'r' gonna die. Right in front of yer face!"
Despite young Sam's threats and intimidation tactics, not to mention fighting dirty like he always would, Ron had no intention of his family getting hurt. Compared to his earlier fight with Hannibal, the movie star found young Sam even easier to defeat—somehow even more-so than the first time they fought all those years ago when he and Kim first met. Ron finished the fight by delivering a couple more gut-punches, followed by a kick under the jaw.
Ron angrily walked over to the ruffian and placed a foot on his neck. "No one threatens my family."
BANG!
"OH!" shouted the movie star, gripping his leg. "What the—!?"
Current-day Sam appeared, holding young Ron at gunpoint while chuckling evilly. "Well, well, well. Got ourselves a full on generation swap here, partners."
Raimundo, Sara, Julie, and young Boog approached the group, armed and ready.
Glaring, Sam pressed the gun closer to young Ron's face. "Don't thinks so. Between Ninja Mime and Lady Liberty, we've gots all the leverage. We're a-leavin', varmints."
Just then, an aircraft flew up, from which a young Razor walked out with several Cyborgs with him.
Young Razor looked to still be in perfect shape—no mask, no life support system—nothing of that sort.
Upon taking young Ron and young Kim with him, Sam looked at Razor. "Razor. Go get my lesser half."
Young Razor squinted his eyes. "And the base?"
Sam then pressed the button on a detonator. "Taken care of."
The detonator was Hannibal the whole time, as the Cyborg stood rigid while a steady beeping could be heard from him.
Sara and young Boog ran toward Ron's aid, while young Razor helped up young Sam and walked him over to the aircraft.
Inside the aircraft, young Kim glared over at young Razor. "I was told you were on our side."
"Then I guess you burning me in the future was nothing personal, was it?" young Razor glared back.
Sam and his younger self smirked to one another in evil acknowledgement.
After Sam and young Razor took young Ron and young Kim into the aircraft, Sara ran after them.
Julie ran after her friend, calling out, "Sara! Don't!"
Having caught herself in time from slipping off the cliff side, Sara shot a tracking device at the aircraft. After the others caught up with her, she pulled out a tracker. "Let's go get them."
A confused look was on Ron's face. "Anyone else hear that beeping?"
Turning around, the group of heroes found Hannibal short-circuiting as the beeping intensified.
It was at that moment Samurai Jack teleported in front of the heroes. "Have I arrived too late?"
"You're back in the nick of time!" stated the movie star as he pointed at Hannibal getting ready to self-destruct.
The thunder god teleported himself and the others just before Hannibal blew up.
The heroes, thanks to Samurai Jack, now found themselves at Barnyard Dawg's dojo.
Having heard/sensed their presence, Barnyard Dawg got up from his meditation and walked outside to greet them.
Young Boog wiped his brow in relief. "Now that's what I call a miracle."
Sara smiled. "Yeah, Samurai Jack. Thanks."
Samurai Jack approached the yellow-clad Shirai Ryu with a bow. "Grandmaster Barnyard Dawg, I humbly request the Shirai Ryu's hospitality. My Sky Temple has been compromised. There is no safer place for us to gather."
After a moment, Barnyard Dawg returned the bow. "Lord Samurai Jack. Welcome to the Fire Garden."
The five heroes and Samurai Jack joined back up with young Timmy, young Omi, Foghorn, young Tarzan, and young T-Bone.
"The Elder Gods are gone? Pitch is Eris's son?" asked Sara. "No wonder she sent the Black Dragon after me and Dad. We both kicked his tail."
Samurai Jack shook his head. "It is not vengeance that drives Eris. She restarts history to balance light and dark among the Realms."
"What can we do, Lord Samurai Jack?" asked young Omi in concern.
"Gather Earthrealm's forces. But that effort will be for naught if Tork Tiger's armies cannot join us. Valerie Gray informed me that Aku has captured Tork. We must spare no effort to free him."
"Timmy and I will go. We will rendezvous with Princess Kimiko."
"Thank you both. May the Elder Gods protect—" the thunder god paused for a moment, rethinking his statement— "May you return victorious."
And so concludes yet another chapter. Now at the halfway point, I'm going to deviate away from the story for just a chapter with the second commentary. It'll take me a little bit to think of something different, but hopefully not too long. Stay tuned, everyone!