This is part one of the three-part ending.
updated 8 Jan 2019 - added the "put a ring on it" comment from Ron
STD 2018- (Yamanouchi - Crack of Dawn)
The GJ hoverjet landed on the far side of the chasm and the rope bridge leading to the main gates of the Ninja school. The back clamshell door open and the ramp extended. Master Sensei followed four Ninja carrying a stretcher.
Will Du met the old headmaster, looking at the young unconscious woman in the stretcher. Dr. Director had rerouted his trip back from Japan for this stop and told him to 'extend all courtesies, even if he needs a body buried somewhere.' Will had, of course, thought she was jesting, but now, he wasn't sure.
"Greetings, Master Sensei, How may Global Justice be of service?"
"Top Agent Du," the old man replied, "I need this woman in Middleton as soon as possible. Take the utmost care of her, she is one of my best Ninja."
"Does she require medical care?"
"No, she will awaken in about four to five hours. May I recommend restraints?"
"Is she dangerous?" Courtesy was one thing, but this was looking bad.
"Of course, Top Agent. She is a Ninja. Let us say that I have need of her in Middleton, but her loyalty tells her to remain here instead."
"Why don't you just order her to go to Middleton?"
"She's disobeyed that order once, only a fool gives a command that he knows will be ignored."
STD 2018- (Somewhere at the far edge of the Kuiper Belt)
Dumb with astonishment and amazement which bordered on stupefaction [1], the young Earthers stood staring at the dead ringer for a TSA security screening area. The area was empty when full at least a couple hundred humans could have waited in line. The two Lowardians grabbed their bags, stepped off the lander, and started walking back and forth through the roped lanes. Looking closely at the scanning area, Kim noticed a set of large full-body scanners.
"Ronnie, they are going to scan us!" Kim whispered frantically, "What do I say when they ask me about the bump?"
"Tell them it's a baby, these people haven't seen a pregnant human, just bullshit them." Ron carefully placed the equivalent of two Grande Deluxe Tour of Mexico Platters wrapped 'To Go' on the wheeled cart with his groceries.
"I can't do that, I'm no good at lying! Remember Halloween?"
"Then just tell them the truth!" Ron chortled, "They won't believe you and best of all, you don't have to remember your lies." Getting control of his mirth, he shouldered his backpack and grabbed the handle of the wheeled cart loaded with his foodstuffs. Starting to wind his way down the serpentine lanes, he said,
"No worries, just remember that you are KFP, that is, Kim Freakin' Possible! Mother of the baby that will make Armageddon seem like hot dogs at the Fair!"
Shouldering her mission pack, she grabbed her overnight bag and followed, chanting in her mind, 'I am Kim Freaking Possible. I can do anything.'
"Any weapons?" a bored security tech asked Ron looking at the packages and their strange contents.
"Hmm," The blond looked thoughtful before declaring, "I suppose anything can be a weapon if you know how to use it. Hold this please," he handed the takeout containers to Warhok to hold. "For example," he reached into a bag, pulling out a small handful of corn flour and letting the fine powder fall back into the bag, "this is food, but given the correct conditions, its dust can explode."
Ignoring the crunching sound of Warhok eating crispy tortillas dipped in queso, he continued. Reaching into another bag, he displayed an oblong object that was red at one end transitioning to green along its length.
"This is also food, but under intense heat, it produces a gas that irritates the lungs."
Warmonga plucked the pepper from his fingers, dipped it in Warhok's queso, and happily ate it in three bites.
Another Security Tech was trying to focus on scanning the redhead, but the smell coming from the open takeout container was heavenly for someone who had been on ship's rations for weeks.
"Are you a cyborg or are you carrying a parasite?" he asked her.
Walking around so she could see his screen, she pointed to the white line in the picture of her mouth, "That is a retaining wire. It keeps my teeth in alignment."
"No, I was asking about this mass down…"
"Hey KP," Ron interrupted, "Corporal Worrywart over here is afraid that we are smuggling in Toxic Tiny Tacos. Eat a couple to help prove that they are NOT instant death in a delicious, crispy corn shell."
Blinking in surprise, she turned away from the security tech and took a perfectly formed bite-sized taco off of the plate he held out. Well, for her, it was two neat bites of spicy, cheesy, Tex-Mex goodness. Ron or Rufus would have eaten it in one easy bite.
"Wow Ronnie, all the taste of the Naco, but without dripping melted cheese all over the place. You get a royalty on these?" she noticed out of the corner of her eye that her security tech wiped his mouth, the Lowardian was literally drooling.
Ron held up his hand, fingers spread, "Gonna have to put a ring on it if you want to see the financial stuff, babe."
"You have a ring of truth?" asked the confused security tech.
"No, he means a marriage ring," replied Kim, "It's like a public declaration of battlemates, maybe. He gets recurring payments for the foods he invented. He's saying that he won't tell me how much he gets paid for his recipes until I ask him to be my forever battlemate."
"Food recipes are worth money?" This was obviously an alien concept to the security tech.
"Oh, yeah. Some are kept secret in secure vaults. On my world, information can be worth a lot of money."
Warmonga walked over, taking the plate from the blond. Popping two into her mouth, she held it out to the Tech, "Try one, they're good. Really, would a new mother risk eating anything poisonous?"
"New Mother?" The scanner tech turned back to his display. "This is a baby human?" He fiddled with the controls.
Ron walked around so he could see the screen, "Yeah, they all look like blobs at this stage of development." He put his arm around the redhead and moved her around the scanner to the exit of the scanner. She felt him slide something into the back of her cargo pants and felt him put something in one of her pockets.
"Wait right there, human!" The scanner tech ordered, grabbing Ron by a shoulder. "We still have to search you."
Kim tried not to touch the Walther PPK that Ron had slipped into her pants or the magazines he had placed in one of her pockets while Ron was poked and prodded. Not gently, but the Tex-Mex samples seemed to have helped sooth the security techs.
[1] Rick Wakeman, "Journey to the Centre of the Earth". Best Lyric Ever
STD 2018- (Middleton, approximately 2 pm)
Derrick was undecided whether to throw up and collapse, or just collapse. After a briefing of the alien threat as understood by the Yamanouchi Ninja Teams, they had quickly evaluated him for combat and stealth skills. Finding that he had none, at least according to a young woman named Wanda, they had all gone out on a "short run before lunch". That was two hours ago and right now, they were crossing a park with the Possible house in sight. His initial goal of not embarrassing himself in front of these high-school-aged(?) students was abandoned long ago and now he just wanted to make it back to the Possible house without being carried.
Jogging up the driveway, he would have faceplanted on the pavement had Hirotaka and Suzie not grabbed his arms and supported him. A quart of electrolyte enhanced drink, a hot shower, and change of fresh clothes later and he was almost human, although perhaps a little wobbly. On his way down to find Team Cobra for lunch, he tried to think of how he could actually help and decided that the best he could do was try to stay out of the way with a radio and coordinate actions with the other groups.
"Duhei-san," Suzie met him as he stepped out onto the back porch, "we want you to try this." She handed him a strange looking long gun with a fat barrel, "This is an experimental grenade launcher that was eventually rejected by the United States Military. It works fine, they thought it was a waste of firepower to replace a 'real' rifle with it."
"I don't know, Suzie," he gingerly took the weapon, "I'm not a good shot."
"Not a problem," the Ninja grinned, "the grenades will not explode near one of us with an IFF (Identify Friend or Foe) token, so while you might hit us by mistake, you can't seriously injure one of us. Come, let me introduce you to Inshuru-san, he can show you how it works and has a computer software training program for you to use." The pair walked past the grill where people were working on burgers and kabobs to a picnic table where she introduced him to the Ninja sitting there.
Wanda watched as the Team Orange Ninja started demonstrating the computer-based sighting system to their liaison to the other special operations elements.
"I don't know about this, Hiro," she said accepting an American-style ham and pineapple kabob from him.
"It will give him something to worry about, keep him back from the battle and maybe we will be lucky and he might hit something useful."
STD 2018- (GJ Middleton Branch, approximately 4 pm)
Yori had quickly bounced back from her surprise at waking up in a supersonic GJ hoverjet. Actually, her surprise was on a couple of levels. First, her last memory was sneezing on a cloud of sweet-smelling dust and hearing Master Sensei say, "Forgive me, Yori-san, but I have need of you in Middleton" as the room where she had gone to report her efforts in getting the caves ready for refugees grew dark and she collapsed.
The second level of surprise was looking up at giant insect eyes. Well, large insect eyes, she had seen bigger ones. Recently.
"Ohayou gozaimasu, Roachie-chan," she said, "I'm thirsty, should I get us something to drink?"
Antennae waved happily.
After slipping out of her restraints, (she was a Ninja), she went forward to greet Top Agent Du and ensure that no violence would be required or offered. Soon she had made tea and a quart of the fruit flavored non-dairy creamer infused drink for Roachie and sat in the back having a pleasant discussion with Du exchanging all the information they knew about the Lowardians. In rendering her unconscious and shipping her off with GJ, Master Sensei had effectively made her an independent agent, there could be no shame in her leaving Japan for the supposedly safer America and she had Carte Blanche to exchange information with anyone where that exchange would be useful to Yamanouchi.
After landing and a ride through the transport tubes that many roller coaster fans would pay good money for, she found herself in a transfer station standing in front of Dr. Director.
"Welcome to GJ Middleton, Yori. I would like to have you talk to our analysts about how we can help defend Japan or how Yamanouchi can help us defend other places. Since we don't have a clear picture of the threat, we must be able to respond quickly."
"Your request honors me greatly, Dr. Director-sama. However, for me to be effective, I need to first check in with my team and rest for a few hours."
"I believe your team can be found at the Possible's house. Tube 7 will take you to within one block," handing her a wallet-sized card embossed with the letters PV, she continued, "To return, walk over the tube opening and press the center of this card. Show the card to anyone and tell them that you wish to speak to me and they will take you to me."
"Thank you very much. I will return in the morning at the latest."
"Anytime you are ready, I expect to be here 24/7 for the foreseeable future."
As she stepped into the tube and disappeared, Will asked his boss,
"A Privileged Visitor badge? The 'no escort required for anywhere in the base, but expected as a show of respect'?"
"Will, I believe she is expected to be a senior Sensei at Yamanouchi in the years to come. I really want closer ties to the Mountain."
STD 2018- (Somewhere at the far edge of the Kuiper Belt)
"Well, as far as lockups go, this one is pretty nice, don't ya think KP?"
The room had a table with four chairs, a bed, and a door that locked from the outside. Ron lay on the bed while Kim paced back and forth. On her hands. The gravity on the ship seemed to be about three-quarters of Earth normal and Ron had suggested that if she needed to pace, do it in a way that would make any observers wonder about her. The room wasn't big enough for cartwheels, but a handstand was easy and with the lighter gravity, walking on hands wasn't too hard.
"It beats being chained to the wall, but it's pretty boring."
"Let's go take a walk. I'm got the munchies. Got your Club Banana discount card on you?"
"Never leave home without it," Kim rolled to her feet, pulled out her wallet and extracted a thin, gold-colored plastic card.
Standing next to the door, she slid the card in the crack of the doorjamb as Ron selected foodstuffs and transferred them to a mission pack. Ron looked up to see the redhead, eyes closed, her tongue sticking out a teeny bit as she concentrated in probing for the doorlatch. There was a click, and eyes shining in triumph, she held the door open, saying, "Age before beauty…"
Ron stepped out the door and let his inner sense of direction point him to his favorite destination: The kitchen. Walking down the wide corridor (the Lowardians were, after all, wide people) he felt a warm hand grasp his. He found the situation and his feelings unsettling. If he concentrated, he could still see the slight blue haze in his field of vision. Searching his feelings like some Mystical Knight from 'a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away', he could still feel the arrogance and aggressiveness that came with pulling the blue, but it was being tempered with something… softer? He recalled thinking how adorable she had looked in opening the door. That was a bad sign. He needed to remain ice cold, focused, alert. He had to steer the aliens away from looting the planet and for that, he and Kim had to appear to be valuable enough to convince these aliens not to mess with their home. 'Or,' he thought, 'we could just kill them all, but we should make sure they don't have friends that will come seeking vengeance before we go that route.'
STD 2018- (Middleton, approximately midnight)
Wade load was sleeping the sleep of the truly blessed. Earlier that day, Wanda and Suzie had come over and insisted the pair take the evening off and get away from computer screens and keyboards. Having six glorious hours to themselves, Wade had taken Katsumi to Bueno Nacho for dinner where he introduced her to the Chain's very questionable Tex-Mex. They had sat in Ron and Kim's favorite booth talking about little things, anime that they liked, movies they had seen and even chatted about the future.
Wade, having seen Team Possible save the world on several occasions in time to finish homework, and Katsumi, who had personally witnessed the great skills and great hearts of her fellow Ninja, were both optimistic that they would have a future. Wade figured that Ron and Kim were well on their way to the stars and planned on following them there someday. Sure, the current sitch looked grim, but, as he told Katsumi, 'Anything is possible for a Possible when her BFF is right at her side'. His heart swelled with happiness when Katsumi declared that she would like to accompany him wherever he went, even if he never left Middleton.
It was getting late when they left to go home. Walking under the stars and the Moon, Wade held her hand. Distracted, he could be forgiven for not noticing that one of the twinkling stars overhead disappeared for nearly a minute as if something had moved in front of it. After all, no one else on the planet noticed, either.
He wasn't sure who started the physical contact, but her warm, slender hand in his larger mitt sent shivers of excited happiness coursing through his veins. Then it happened again in the baths. She had offered to scrub his back, and he, ignoring Kim's warning, timidly accepted. To his surprise, he didn't burst into flames at her firm, gentle touch. Once she had finished, she had shyly offered him the scrubby and asked him to do hers. After they were clean, their time soaking in the baths together was a blur to him; he was pretty sure more hand holding and a splash or two was involved. He remembered giggling and the smile of an Angel from Heaven as if it were a dream.
He had fallen asleep listening to the hypnotic tapping of her nimble fingers on a keyboard as she took the first shift and was soon dreaming of her soft, smooth skin gliding under his fingers. In his dream, he was uncharacteristically bold and planted a tender kiss on her shoulder and heard her soft, delighted giggle in response.
STD 2018- (Late afternoon, Japanese Inn)
"Honey, what time do we need to be at the airport, tomorrow?" the surgeon asked, looking out over the little hot spring and garden next to their room at the Inn. Truth be told, she did not want to leave.
"Dia Bosu said two of his people would be here at 10 AM to make sure we get to our plane without incident," James replied coming up behind her, rubbing her shoulders and nuzzling her hair.
"Are you sure you want to go back? Wade says that government types are waiting to pick you up at the airport."
The engineer sighed, "Well, I figure Mama can spring me if the Feds get too carried away. You need to be there with your surgery team for Kimmie-cub and Ronald. We have to assume that they will be back." Holding her tightly, he continued, "They have always made it home in the past… I can't help them here, when I get back to the Space Center, I can work on making another power source for the FTL drive."
"This might be our last time sleeping together for a while…" she murmured.
"Then let's make it one to remember…" As hands capable of calibrating the most delicate guidance machinery started undoing the buttons on her blouse.
STD 2018- (Sundown, Tokyo)
"Konbanwa, Jim-san, are you working alone tonight?" Kiri had heard that the Bouyatachi were back at the factory working on their new designs and decided to drop by. She had found the boys funny, caring and cute. She actually missed them. When she got to the factory, she found it empty, just the night watchman watching TV, with Jim hunched over a workbench doing some kind of soldering on tiny circuit boards.
"Hey, Kiri," replied Jim sitting up and stretching the kinks out of his back, "Yeah, just me right now, Tim's off with some Ninja who dropped by, batted her eyelashes at him and dragged him off to dinner." He checked his watch, "That was about three hours ago. I guess they got distracted. Everyone else is off doing the team-building bar hopping thing."
The former maid-cafe server gripped his shoulders and massaged the stiff muscles of the young genius, giggling as he nearly slid out of the chair sighing with pleasure.
"Jim-san, turn off your equipment, let's go eat. I know a nice European Jazz Cafe. Good food, nice music, they even do ballroom dance music later in the evening."
She felt him immediately stiffen under her hands.
"Jim-san!" she said, "This is not a date! This is just two friends enjoying each other's company."
"No kissing?"
Looking at the young genius's grin she decided that she would have to watch her heart with this one.
"No guarantee of kissing! But, how much the two friends enjoy each other's company will be determined in real time."
Jim quickly turned his soldering equipment off and grabbed a light jacket to cover his ink.
"I'm ready!"
STD 2018- (Nearly Midnight in Japan; Nearly Noon in Middleton)
'My turn to fix lunch," Wade turned to his partner who was seated behind him in the center of the ring of computer monitors where the pair watched over the world. The part of the world that was wired, that is. Given Wade's skill and the rapidly increasing skills of Katsumi, that was most of the world.
"What are you in the mood for?" he politely asked.
"Fish tacos with fresh corn tortillas, please."
"Really?" Wade's mom had taught him how to make fresh corn tortillas, it was really easy and was pretty quick. But of all the possible fillings, Katsumi was fond of wrapping a couple of fish sticks in the grilled corn goodness along with cheese, tomato chunks, and Diablo sauce.
"Please?" She pleaded with impossibly huge, almost anime eyes.
"Ack! OK! Not the eyes! Fish tacos it is," the tech genius theatrically threw his arms up to shield his eyes.
"Arigato gozaimasu!" her grin at his antics was nearly blinding.
Wade fled to the kitchen where he measured a cup of masa harina into a bowl with a pinch of salt, a small splash of oil and enough water to make a dough that was soft but not sticky. Letting that sit for a bit, he pulled some fish sticks out of the freezer and put them in the toaster oven. Feeling bold, he decided that he had enough time to try to make a batch of Ron's Diablo Queso…
Katsumi, pleased that she had gotten Wade to make her a tasty lunch and gotten him out of the room for at least twenty minutes, went to her comms window to wait for a call from Luki, a friend in the same Ninja class. Time to dish up some gossip for an appetizer…
Right on time, the window flashed, and after a pause where the privacy and encryption settings were verified, Luki appeared on the screen.
"Luki-chan! How was your date?
"Katsumi-chan! It wasn't a date, I went and got Tim-san and we just went to dinner!"
"Dinner and then…?" Katsumi laughed at her friend.
"Dinner and then we went for ice cream and then a long walk in the moonlight."
Katsumi squealed a little, "How romantic!"
Luki grinned, "During the walk, he defended me against a giant snake by throwing his body in front of me!"
"Snake-san?"
"Hai!" Luki giggled as Katsumi struggled not to fall out of her chair laughing, "I think that stupid snake just wanted a warm human to carry her. To be fair, Tim-san had never met Snake-san before and a seven-foot-long snake, shining purple in the moonlight, is very scary when it slips out of the trees and surprises you. But," Luki continued, still looking very impressed, "Tim-san is very smart-brave, not stupid-brave like most boys. Both brothers carry lightning batons they created. He had his baton out, but instead of shocking poor Snake-san, he held it in a defensive position to parry any strike by the snake."
"Did you properly introduce him to Snake-san?"
"Hai! And while he was a little embarrassed, he mostly thought it was funny. He carried it to Nakano-Sensei's cave and then he walked me to the dorm. He is so handsome and brave! It was the perfect night!"
"Did he kiss you, goodnight?" Katsumi slyly asked just as the comms connection disconnected.
This is part one of the three-part ending.
Part two will be posted tomorrow.