I do not own any Disney characters named herein and am only borrowing them to tell a nonprofit tale meant for entertainment purposes only.

Kim Possible: Gifted

By LJ58

47

When Kim walked into the homeroom class, she saw Ron Stoppable already there and looking around as if seeking something. Or someone.

"Hey, Ron," she smiled at him as she took her seat. "We've missed you."

"Speak for yourself," someone behind her muttered as the girl walked on to her own seat.

"KP," Ron smiled. "Great. This is great. You see, I really need to talk to you about…. Something. Only later. Okay? Not now. Because it's not a thing I can talk about now. Only later. When I can talk."

"That makes sense," Jessica remarked as the blonde cheerleader remarked, "Coming from him."

"Well, yeah," Ron agreed as Monique only rolled her eyes.

"So, you ready for this afternoon, Kimberly," the blonde asked.

"I think so. Hopefully, we got all the moves down, and everything will go well," Kim smiled as the girl sat near her.

"Moves," Ron asked.

"You haven't been here, so you don't know. Kim is our new cheer coordinator. She has been coming up with some really awesome moves for us," Jessica told him.

"You….joined….the cheer squad," Ron choked. "You?"

"Something wrong with that," Monique asked him.

"It's just….that was my dream," he moaned.

Jessica and Denise looked horrorstruck.

Kim just giggled as Monique rolled her eyes.

"You wanted to be a cheerleader," Monique asked Ron.

"Well, maybe a mascot. Who does not wear a dress. Because I am a man. 100%, ladies. Still, school spirit, and lifting the morale of the home team. Definitely a thing for the Ron-Man. Who is a man. Not a girl," he declared firmly.

Jessica wasn't the only one who rolled her eyes now.

"Weirdo," came from several of the students around them.

"Maybe you should talk to Coach Henderson," Kim told Ron. "She might have some ideas about how you can fit in as a mascot."

"Don't encourage him, Kim. You don't want to know what he did to the debate club one year."

"The debate….?"

"You don't want to know," Jessica hissed as the instructor came in, and glared all around before declaring with a booming voice, "Silence, people," making Ron groan.

"The first day back, man, my luck tanks," he complained.

"I said silence, Stoppable. That's detention," Steve Barkin declared smugly.

"Man," Ron groaned again.

Steve Barkin just glared at him, and then shifted his gaze to Kim who just smiled blandly at him. His lip seemed to curl a bit, half a grimace more than not, and he tore his gaze from her to eye the class.

"All right, regrettably, your homeroom teacher had a slight incident with food poisoning after trying the mystery meat yesterday to settle a bet. Until she's back, I'm replacing her, and you will maintain strict order and discipline. Now, listen up while I call the roll. You will answer with present, or you will be considered absent. So, Abel Alston," he called out despite looking right at him.

"Yo, Mr. B," the burly teen waved.

"Right. Absent," Steve marked.

"He said he was here," Ron sputtered.

"Stoppable, did I not say silence? That's two days detention. That should give you time to make up all those pop tests you missed while you were….vacationing."

Ron moaned as if in pain.

Kim only glowered now.

"Mr. Barkin, that's not exactly fair," Kim spoke up.

"Right. Possible. That's detention for you, too."

"So, you want me in detention? With my brothers. In the same room," Kim asked with a bland smile. "Before, or after Shego comes looking for me," she asked.

Barkin's face twisted even more, and he spat, "Just behave, Possible. I don't have time for your weird antics. And no more of that growing to monstrous size. No bringing your extracurricular work to the school either. The school's insurance isn't that good," he admitted.

Some of the class sniggered at that, but Kim asked, "So, do I have detention, or not," she asked sweetly.

"Not," the brawny man grit out. "No detentions….this time."

"Good. So Ron can join us for cheer practice this afternoon," Kim declared.

"I didn't say….." Barkin's left eye twitched. "Stoppable? At cheer practice?"

Steve's left eye twitched again, and then the man began to laugh. It was an ugly, and far from mirthful laugh.

"I knew there was something odd about you, Stoppable. I knew it. Not much of a man at all, are you?"

"Hey!"

The protest went unheard as the rest of the roll was called.

~KP~

"So," Ron surprised her by sitting with her and a few of the girls at lunch. "What did Barkin mean about your bringing extracurricular activities to school? Because that really didn't make sense."

"Oh, you had to be there," Tara told him with a smile at the boy voted the weirdest boy at school every year since Kindergarten.

What most found peculiar was that Ron didn't seem to care. If he even knew about it.

"Uh, I was in Japan. In, uh, a special school," he adlibbed poorly.

"Right. Had to be special if you were there," a nearby football player chortled.

"That's not nice," Kim huffed at the tall, burly blonde that reminded her of Steve Barkin a bit.

The boy only snorted, and went back to eating as if it were a competition.

"Right, anyway, so what did he mean?"

The girls all looked at Kim.

"Well," the redhead sighed. "I had just come down from orbit….."

"Orbit," Ron gaped. "Is that like some kind of girl slang I've missed?"

"Ron. Let me finish."

"Right. Then you can tell me how you got into orbit after," he nodded sagely.

"That was nothing," she waved dismissively. "My car uses anti-grav tech and rocket engines."

Ron just gaped at her anew.

"Anyway, I was bringing Mr. Barkin's SUV down to show everyone I could be helpful," she said, "And I think Dr. Drakken targeted me with some ferociously wicked robot girls. Well, I guess they were supposed to be girls since they all had wigs."

"I'll say. I thought they really had you for a minute," Tara exclaimed. "You could have knocked me over with a feather when you started making twin Kims, and beating them into confetti."

"Twin….Kims," Ron echoed, frowning at her.

"You really had to be there," Tara told him with a smile.

"Well, hopefully, Drakken won't bother trying that one again, and maybe with Gemini in custody, I can get back to living a normal life," she nodded, pointedly not thinking of all the soldiers at her house.

"Oh, so what about all those soldiers surrounding your house this morning," Ron asked her as more than a few of the girls gaped at her now, not having heard that one even as Kim groaned at the reminder.

"Oh, they just came by to see how I was doing," she said, brushing off the event.

"And the blue Stormtroopers that showed up, too?"

"That was Dr. Director. You remember her?"

"Oh, yeah," Ron nodded sagely. "The one-eyed lady with a lot of weird questions. Say, did you ever find out how she lost that eye? I mean, it had to hurt, and I was wondering…."

"Ron, that's none of our business, so no, I didn't ask."

"Oh. Well, it was probably embarrassing. That's probably why she didn't talk about it," the sandy-blonde teen nodded knowingly.

"So, what did you want to talk about," Kim cut him off before he could go off on another tangent.

"Oh, well, it's….something totally confidential. Can't say until we're in private. Or alone. Whichever comes first," Ron nodded.

"Well, our friends won't say anything," Kim assured him.

"Our friends," Ron echoed with several of the cheerleaders sitting around them.

"Well, if you're going to be the team's mascot…"

"Mascot," Ron murmured and got a peculiar look in his brown eyes. "That's it. I could be the mascot."

"I thought that was what you meant at the start," Kim frowned.

"Don't go there, girl," Tara said. "I've heard Ronnie has….issues."

"Issues? Of what? I mean, sure, I collect some things, but who doesn't," Ron asked.

Every girl with them rolled their eyes.

"So, how would you manage being a mascot," Kim asked to get the boy to focus on what mattered just then.

"I might just have an idea," he grinned.

"That's what we're afraid of," Tara declared, having been learning a lot about Ron of late since her return to school, and finding a lot of the children she had once watched were all but grown.

"Really? Why is that," Ron asked cluelessly.

~KP~

"So, what did you need to talk about," Kim asked as she drove Ron home after cheer practice which proved remarkably interesting as he produced an oversized Mad Dog head complete with foaming lips he had created in his art class before showing up to demonstrate said mask.

Ironically, Coach Henderson loved it, and his antics, and suggested that was just what they needed to liven up the crowds, and had Bonnie working with him to familiarize him with some of the routines so he could fit in with some of the sets as Kim continued drilling the squad on her new ideas.

"Well…."

"We can't get more alone than this, Ron. C'mon, talk to me," she smiled.

"Well, it turns out…. Remember that monkey guy? With the monkey ninjas? And the monkey hands? And feet? Eeeewwwww," he paused to shudder.

"Right. Monkey Fist. Dr. Director is looking for him now. Turns out he's a lot of bad news himself," she told him.

"Like I didn't know that," Ron sputtered. "Monkey feet, KP. Monkey feet," he grimaced.

"Right. So, what about him?"

"Well, ah, it turns out I've been drafted."

"You're joining the military," she frowned.

"What? No. I'd look terrible in green. Not that green isn't a good color. But totally not for the Ron-Man. Nope, no green."

"Ron. Focus," she sighed, and he looked at her hand snapping fingers before him, and gasped.

"Kim! The wheel! You have to hold onto the wheel!"

"Oh, ANI is driving. We're fine."

"Annie," Ron frowned, looking around comically. "Who is…."

"I am ANI, Ronald. An autonomous Neural Intelligence that operates this vehicle for Kimberly."

"Your car….talks," Ron frowned.

"Ron. Talk to me. What do you want to know?"

"I was….wondering if you'd like to help me. I mean if…. Or more like when Monkey Feet…. Er, Fist shows up again. Because it turns out he's like ultimate evil, and out to destroy the world. Only someone decided I'm a destined monkey ninja, which is creepier than it sounds, which sounds pretty creepy. Only I'm supposed to help stop this guy from….doing bad stuff. Only I'm not sure I can manage on my own, so…. Want to help again," Ron asked almost timidly.

Kim just stared.

"This is about that short vacation you took, isn't it?"

"Well, see these mysterious ninja people in black…. Ever notice how they all wear black? Anyway, they dragged me to Japan. Ah, I can't say where. Not just because it's a secret, but…. I wasn't sure where we went anyway. Anyway, yeah, I got all these top-secret special lessons, and now I have to stop Monkey Fist and his evil plans, or else….the whole world is doomed. I definitely remembered that part, because….how can you misunderstand doomed? I mean, you're doomed, or you're not. And really, doomed is doomed, so….."

"I'd be glad to help," Kim asked. "And in the meantime, maybe you'd like to join us."

"Uhm…. Us? What us? You mean you and me?"

"No. Shego, and my brothers. See, I had this idea. We keep drawing these weirdos anyway, so I thought, what if we went out and stopped them before they started blowing up our town, or something? I mean, if we know who they are, and what they are about to do, why not go out and fight them before they could show up tearing up schools, or museums, or stuff? See?"

"Coolio," he grinned. "And it would be great practice for facing Monkey Fist," he beamed. "Because how could anything be as hard as Monkey Fist," he declared.

"You did not see those robots," Kim sighed.

"So, do you have a name yet? I was thinking….Team Possible," he declared dramatically, using his hands as if framing the word. I'd say Stoppable, but let's face it, calling yourself Stoppable is likely not a good idea when you're fighting bad guys. Then again, I'm a ninja now, I think, and we are supposed to be sneaky. Hard to be sneaky when people know your name," he declared.

"Well, we haven't gotten to a name, but you're in? You want to help," Kim asked eagerly.

"Hey, you got my back, I got yours," Ron declared. "And the Ron-Man's word is solid," he nodded. "But are you really saying this car can drive into outer space?"

"Want me to show you," Kim smiled.

"Nooooooo," he screamed as the car suddenly just went vertical, and kept going.

To Be Continued…..