Chapter 27: Rebound Week
Ron started 'Rebound Week', as Monique called it, in fine form. The only change he made to his schedule was at lunchtime. Instead of sitting at a booth he took to sitting at a table with Oscar, Cindy, Felix, Monique and Kim. Cindy had seemed a little nervous around him at first but he quickly assured her that he had no intention of holding a grudge against Sue, much less against her. He had come a long way since the beginning of the school year and he had no intention of allowing himself to wallow in useless depression.
It wasn't as if he had much time to do so. In addition to his academics and his Tai Sheng Pek Kwar exercises every morning, wrestling practice had become even more intense. It was the final week of the season. Coach Winters had kept eight boys, beyond the four wrestlers going to State, active on the team. The eight non-contenders had a single job; drill the four remaining wrestlers relentlessly. They took to the job with frightening enthusiasm.
Lunchtime on Wednesday found Ron sitting with his usual bunch, while he and Kim took turns relating their search and rescue efforts in Lowerton.
"By this time all three of us were pretty much worn out," Kim was saying. "I mean, we've been at it for two hours by this time. Whenever we found a culvert that we could fit through, we crawled through it end-to-end. Then we would mark the time and date on both ends with this bright red paint and head on to the next one. Whenever we found a culvert that was too small for us but large enough for a child, we tied off Rufus and sent him through. The worst were the ones where several joined up, underground. I nearly got lost but then Ron came up with the idea of 'follow the right hand wall.' It worked great."
"Video game experience," Ron replied modesty. "And nobody thought that my mastery of Zombie Mayhem, the Endless Labyrinth would ever do us any good."
"Bottom line up front," Kim continued. "We were all cold, cranky and exhausted when we got to that last one and it was big. The three of us head in, the culvert's big enough that we can actually stand up and the water is about knee deep. We know that we're within a few feet of the end when we run into this huge mass of debris. Well, we know that the child just might be in this debris pile even though we really don't want to find her, if you know what I mean."
The rest of the teens nodded.
"Rufus jumped into the pile and started searching inside while Ron and I started to dig through what we could reach. That was a dumb move on our part. We shifted some of the rubbish and the current pushed it back into the pile, but in such a way that it plugged the culvert. Next thing we know the water is rising around us. So now we're trying to break through the pile to either find Rufus or to let out the water, the water is up to our necks and I'm telling Ron that we have to leave but he won't because Rufus hasn't returned."
Kim took a sip of water then continued. "What we didn't know was that Rufus had wriggled all the way through the pile and had reached the other end of the culvert. His cord was tangled up in the pile, he could hear us screaming and he thought that we were trapped. Then he saw that the entire mass was being held in place by a single branch. He bit off as much of his cord as he could, tied off to that branch, got out of the culvert and to the side and yanked."
Ron took up the story from this point. "Rufus isn't very big but he was able to shift the branch and all that water took care of the rest. The pile, with us right behind it, shot out of the culvert like a water cannon. The worst part is that someone, at sometime, had lost a fairly life-like doll in the storm-sewer system and it had wound up inside that pile. We were searching the debris when I came across it. I immediately forgot that it was way too small to be the two-year old we were searching for. I thought it was a dead infant. So I yelled out something to the effect of 'eyahaha odisisitiseeababyomygosh.' Now Kim has been with me in enough rough situations that she translated my Ronspeak into something like 'I see something that's very important to this mission but I'm gonna faint if I get anywhere near it.' She ran over, saw the doll and her eyes flew open to the size of hubcaps. She tosses me her Kimmunicator, runs up to the doll and starts performing CPR"
Kim chuckled and continued. "Of course, with all of the adrenaline in my system I didn't throw the Kimmunicator to Ron, I threw it a good two feet over his head. So there we are; Ron and Rufus are trying to find the Kimmunicator in a swampy debris field while I'm trying to revive a toy. It only took a couple of minutes but it sure felt like forever. Then three things happened at once: I realized that I was resuscitating a piece of plastic, Ron found the Kimmunicator, and the call came in to call off the search."
Ron concluded the tale. "It turns out the little girl had fallen asleep in the National Guard truck when her family was evacuated. Her parent's had made sure she was on the truck, but the stress, fatigue and the fact that they had two other kids caught up with them when they reached the shelter. They didn't get her off. A couple of minutes later her parents realized she was missing and everyone started to yell for her. She woke up, assumed she was in trouble, and hid under a blanket." Ron shook his head. "It's so easy for me to see me doing that at her age."
Kim and Ron shook their heads in mild embarrassment while the other four teens offered sympathetic chuckles.
"How bad were you injured?" Oscar asked. "I remember you saying that you went to-"
Oscar 's voice trailed off when he noticed someone approaching the table. Everyone looked up. They saw a graceful, beautiful, Asian girl wearing a rather short skirt. Ron stood up.
"Yori?" He said, "It's good to see you, but what are you doing here?"
"Stoppable-san," she replied with a slight bow to the table. "I do not wish to be rude to your companions but may I speak to you in private? I must discuss a matter of extreme importance to the two of us."
"Sure..uh, if everyone will excuse me?" The other five American teens nodded.
Ron followed Yori out of the Lunchroom, not noticing that the majority of the occupants were staring at the couple. Back at the table, the five remaining teens watched as the two walked out. As soon as they were gone, all five turned to each other.
"Who is she?" They all asked in unison. They all assumed identical, confused expressions.
"Ron went to Japan last semester, maybe he met her there." Monique suggested.
"Whatever, I'm looking into this." Kim stated as she got to her feet.
"Hold on girlfriend," Monique countered, "didn't Ron just agree to a private conversation?"
"Oh, I'll let them have their private conversation but I'll keep an eye on them to make sure she isn't up to something."
"What do you think is going on?" Oscar asked Kim. "You don't suppose they…" he left it hanging.
"So don't know, so don't care." Kim declared, "but anyone who comes across the ocean to see Ron is going to have to deal with me, as well." With that she packed up the last of her lunch, slung her bag over her shoulder and left via the same door Ron and Yori had.
Yori led Ron out of the school building and down the street until they were clear of anyone who could overhear them. "Ron-san," she began, "it truly pains me to meet you under these circumstances. It pains me further to involve you with our, the Yamanouchi School's, problems." Tears suddenly sprang from the usually, poised student's eyes. "But I know of nowhere else to turn." The last statement came out as a series of sobs.
Ron placed his hands, gently, on Yori's shoulders and caught her eyes with his. "Yori, you know that you only need to ask and I'll do anything to help you. What happened?"
The Japanese girl composed herself and explained. "Yesterday morning, we awoke to find the Lotus Blade missing and a note in its place. The note revealed that Lord Fisk had corrupted yet another student, who had given him the blade. The message further called upon Master Sensei to meet with Fisk, alone, some distance from the school. Master Sensei left immediately."
"Why did he do that?" Ron demanded. "He should have known that Fisk can't be trusted!"
"The message stated that if Master Sensei did not come alone and immediately, he would track down and destroy the Chosen One."
Ron was stunned speechless. Sensei had, possibly, sacrificed himself for him.
"When we realized what Sensei had done, several of us immediately banded together and left for the meeting place. When we arrived, we found signs of a very violent struggle and another message." Yori's head dropped. "Ron-san, the message said that Fisk has both Master Sensei and the Lotus Blade. It said that he was holding both of them in a simian research center outside the city of Yuma, Arizona, USA. If we wish to see either again, we must deliver the Chosen One to him." She broke out in tears again. "Oh, Ron-san! I will not turn you over to him but I do not know what to do!" The tears overwhelmed the young woman.
Ron acted without thinking. He simply reached out and hugged his Japanese friend. She immediately buried her face in his chest and clung to him, sobbing uncontrollably. Ron patted her on the back and tried to come up with a course of action. By the time she had composed herself, Ron had the beginnings of a plan. He didn't see a distant set of green eyes go narrow.
"Yori," he asked, "are you willing to trust me?" She stepped back, wiped her eyes and nodded.
"Then I must bring the rest of my team in on this. I know that Yamanouchi must be kept secret but we are dealing with a vicious, clever foe. I'm not being timid, like when we had to retrieve the blade; I'm being realistic. Master Sensei is in trouble and I won't deny myself, or him, any resource at my disposal."
Yori hesitated for a moment then nodded again.
"Now let's go find Kim. Then we can go to my house and call Wade. Then we make our plans."
Yori looked at him for a moment. "Yes, Ron-san. The time for sorrow is past, the time for preparation is now and the time for action is soon. We must make ready."
Ron and Yori returned to the school building. Ron had to inform the office that he was leaving school to take on a mission and he had to tell…
KIM!!!
She was waiting at the door when Ron and Yori walked back in. She was standing with her arms crossed and a hard 'I'm waiting for an explanation' expression on her face. For a long moment, the three just looked at each other.
"So what's the sitch?" Kim's question came out almost as a demand.
Ron chose his words carefully. "Kim, this is Yori from theYamanouchi School in Japan. I met her during my exchange trip. Yori, this is Kim Possible, the leader of Team Possible and my oldest and closest friend."
The Japanese girl bowed slightly. "I am honored to meet you, Possible-san, Ron-san spoke often and highly of you while in Japan."
Kim's stance relaxed, slightly. She nodded to the other girl before responding. "Pleased to meet you, too. What brings you to Middleton High in the middle of a school day?" Her tone was still rather challenging.
Ron stepped in; "Monty has kidnapped the head teacher at Yamanouchi." Kim's eyes widened. "He left a ransom note which says that the teacher is being held in America. Yori looked me up for assistance. I want to make it a Team Possible mission to rescue him."
"Is that all that's going on?" Kim was giving Yori a decidedly hard glare.
"Kim, what else could there be?"
Kim gave Ron a long look, "Fine, where is this teacher at, what does Monty want, how much time to we have?"
"The middle of the high school isn't a good place for a mission briefing. Why don't we inform the office, get our gear, at meet at my place?
"Good idea," she agreed. "We're also going to have to do some damage control."
"Damage control?" Ron looked confused.
Kim rolled her eyes, "we'll deal with it on the way back, let's go rescue a teacher."