IX

Rocket collecting dust
Hidden from all memory
Bathed in outrage and rust
Waiting for you and me
To own it
Watch you as you douse the ceiling
Light up all the evil dreams
Till they ignite screaming into the night
And we run away clean

I wish I was half electronic
The last shreds of skin are in the sweet sunlight
And I've turned into this smiling, snarling monster
As I watch the walls descend
As I watch the walls descend like stars

"Ug," said Shego, stirring awake on her hospital bed, "what is that?" She was referring to the song Rocket Collecting by Milla, which she obviously did not like.

"Shego!" cried Kim excitedly. "Welcome back!" She wanted Shego to recover because they could use her help, but she couldn't deny the joy she felt as she heard her speak again. I guess her being like me, in more ways than one, helps me to deal.

"Is that dirge any kind of welcome?" Shego shook her head. "Turn it off! Where am I, anyway?"

"Kyoto," answered Kim, as she turned the radio beside her off. "A clinic that's run by alumni of the Yamanouchi School."

"I was shot."

"Yeah, about that." She took in a breath. "I'm not up on all the particulars, but Mom said it was a beam that superheated water into steam that spread outward within your body's…"

"Can you make sense please?"

"You were shot, it expanded inside you. Luckily, the nanites took to repairing the damage. All we had to do was stabilize you." When Shego stared at her inscrutably, she asked, "What?"

Shego shook her head. "It's ok. You owed me for saving you from Warmanga. Honor debt paid."

"What?" asked Kim, "I thought you said you did that for your own purposes." Then she smiled as Shego looked uncomfortable. "So you DO like me." She tried stopping it, but her smile got bigger as she realized Shego did.

"Oi," replied Shego. "Remind me to bitch slap you again when I have the strength for it."

"Why wait?" asked Kim. Smiling teasingly, she came forward and leaned down.

"You play a dangerous game, Princess." Shego brought a hand to her head as if to rub it and then slapped out.

Kim caught it deftly. "Nice try. But no green glow?"

Shego shook her head. "Kimmie, I'm warning you…"

"Yeah, fine," said Kim, back to normal. "But you have to admit, we make a good team."

"I'm not your sidekick, Kimmie."

"I never said you were."

Shego blinked at Kim thoughtfully. She had to admit that Kim and she had both achieved their own skills and strengths individually, and if they could truly be combined…she thought suddenly of back when she was Ms. Goody Two Shoes. She'd been very happy as a friend to Kim. Kim treated her as a full equal and proved herself worthy of trust. She was a fun and endearing friend, too. She felt awkward in how glad she was to see Kimmie the moment she woke up, and glad to see that Kim was happy to see her, too.

It's just…Shego knew that love and friendship lead to pain. Over and over again, those she'd liked had turned away from her because she was a freak. And they were scared of her, too, even back when she was one of the good guys. Her brothers loved her in a way, but it was a shallow love that held little appreciation for all that she did. She was the one who kept the team together and made it work, and yet they always talked down to her condescendingly, and no matter how much she yelled or chastised them--or did for them--they wouldn't take her seriously.

She sighed. It was one reason to BE a sidekick: no having to work for something that can't be achieved. And one reason not to desire a bond with anyone: no pain of disappointment. As the Buddhists like to say, desire is why life is a veil of tears. To cling to joy is to bring pain onto one's self. It's why she preferred to ultimately be alone. Joy was rare that way, but so was pain. Except maybe the pain of loneliness. Shego shook that thought off with annoyance.

"A penny for your thoughts, Shego?" said Kim cheerily.

Shego shook her head again and put these feelings away until she was alone. Time to focus on what was important. "How much time has passed?"

"I made it here about 12 hours ago. So I'd say a little less than 24 hours."

"Did you sleep?"

"On the plane, and a little here." When Shego rolled her eyes, she added, "I couldn't let you die, Shego. I couldn't even leave you alone when I knew you were going to be ok."

"Because you need to test yourself against me as much as I have to test myself against you?"

"It's more than that. And I think you know what I mean. In a manner of speaking as it confuses me, too!"

The door was now open, and Kim's mom stood in the room with them. "I think I can explain that."

"Mom!" shouted Kim happily as she ran toward her. "Glad to see you!" She hugged Dr. Possible. "How's Dad? And the tweebs?"

"Oh, fine, Kimmie," answered Dr. Possible. "Your brothers are making themselves useful, and your dad's background in nanobiotechnology and cybertronics is a perfect match to my skill in neurosurgery. These nanites infect the central nervous system and spread into the cerebrospinal fluid…"

"Mom," interrupted Kim, more serious, "English, please."

"Ok, Kimmie. They affect the brain more than the body. Your senses are improved more because of how your brain's connection to the sense organs are increased, rather than due to any significant change to the organs themselves. They also enable biofeedback means which can allow for even greater enhancement, healing, and development. Unfortunately, through the brain, the eyes and ears are also geared to certain wavelengths and frequencies that drive right to the central part of the brain."

Shego asked, her impatience for what she perceived as gobbledygook showing, "Meaning?"

"Meaning that when the powers that be broadcast through this frequency, visually or audibly, the brain believes that it must obey or it will die. Obedience becomes survival. It's a bit more complicated than that, and uses a sophisticated technology like the moodulators."

Kim and Shego both groaned.

"Don't worry, we're making a lot of progress in understanding the technology. And DNAmy is being surprisingly helpful."

Both Shego and Kim asked in synch, stunned, "DNAmy?"

Dr. Possible laughed. "Yeah, the ninjas managed to find her easily thanks to 'mystically communing' with someone called Monkey Fist." She missed the look Shego and Kim gave each other at the mention of that name. "And the ninjas somehow got the last Cuddle Buddy that she needed for her collection. They give it to her if she succeeds."

"The last Cuddle Buddy?" asked Shego in a tone of voice that asked, Do I even want to know what that is?

Kim muttered, "Ninjas really can do amazing things."

Dr. Possible added in an uncertain tone, "She is, however, eccentric."

"Do tell," said Shego in a tone that suggested that Dr. Possible understated DNAmy, and maybe that Dr. Possible didn't have room to talk.

Kim asked, "So why aren't we, you know, pod people?"

"We're still working on that. But it looks like that part of the process is that you've got to be exposed to the audio and visual frequencies when infected, or it doesn't work. Since Shego destroyed the Tomorrow Project which broadcast the frequencies you were to be attuned to, not to mention Will Du before he could get you back to Global Justice, you weren't properly conditioned to the controlling frequencies."

"We were attuned to frequencies?" asked Shego.

"You both WERE conditioned. You simply couldn't be otherwise. But as you were separated from the Tomorrow Project and Will Du, you were conditioned to EACH OTHER."

Kim and Shego both asked, again in synch, "What?"

"Your vocal cords, they were also affected, one of the few true physiological changes in the body. It allows you to speak in the frequencies that the other 'evolved' persons can recognize. This appears to be part of the programming designed to keep society working in an 'orderly' fashion. They're individual, but very similar to the overriding frequencies. You two have been acclimating to each other's audio and visual frequencies instead of the High Command or whatever they call themselves. That's why I trust you with my daughter, Shego, I don't think you COULD hurt my little Kimmie, or even allow anyone else to harm her."

Shego's brought her hands up and clenched them into glowing green fists. Leaning forward in bed, she swung at Kim. Kim didn't move and Shego stopped just before hitting her. Then she fell back, her hands normal, and one over her eyes, going, "Oh, no! I'm Kimmie's slave!"

Dr. Possible laughed. With a cheer both Shego and Kim found annoying, she said, "I wouldn't go that far. And Kimmie is just as bonded to your frequency. Anyway, don't worry about it. Just be glad you can work together instead of being 'pod people' in service to the invading world. And Shego, at the rate your body is healing, you should be ready to leave in 3-4 hours. The peptides these nanites release in the brain and utilize are incredible! Not even Felix's wheelchair can come close to this. I hope we can use this technology for benevolent purposes once we get rid of these invaders. Anyway, back to work so I can find a cure, and then after we get this problem taken care of, you can both go back to trying to kill each other."

Kim and Shego stared at Dr. Possible stunned and speechless as she left. They stared at the closed door she left behind her before turning and staring speechless at each other.

--xx

Ron was in a funk. "She KICKED me! Am I not her sidekick? As opposed to, you know, someone she kicks."

"She was worried," answered Yori, "and you did put yourself in grave danger. Remember, Stoppable-san, Kim Possible carries what is a deadly contagion to anyone not already infected. One tear drop, one drop of blood, one clumsy kiss, and her nanites could be in your body and not realize it, replicating itself to fight off the pathogens. The pathogens being you, Ron Stoppable."

"Hey, I'm her sidekick, and her boyfriend, not a disease!"

"The nanites are the disease. For now, Kim is sick, and while she lives, her bodily fluids are a mortal threat to you, and anyone else not infected."

Ron sighed. "Yeah, I know. I hate it. Wade should've already analyzed this and taken care of it, or gotten Kim to take care of it. I can't believe she's bonded with…Shego." His eyes narrowed. Yori and Ron had already been briefed by Dr. Possible on why Kim and Shego were still themselves neurologically. But Ron considered Kim and Shego being allies as just wrongo sick.

"Change is a part of life and leads to growth, wisdom, and happiness."

"Yeah, change is good," said Ron uncertainly, "so why do I hate it?"

"In all things there is balance: pleasure and pain, harmony and disharmony. What matters is which you focus on while not blinding yourself to the other aspects. I have found that by remembering the bad while focusing on the good makes the good that much sweeter."

"Yeah, but I thought, I don't know, that Kim and I were destined to be together or something."

"You were, or it would not have happened," said Yori. "But destiny has many paths and flavors. That you were destined to always be there for each other for all time I have no doubt. That you would always be as you are now…how is it that Kim put it, 'off the market'? That is something I'm not so sure of. You two had much to teach each other, and I think you have. So maybe now your destiny is to return to your former harmony, both greater for the experience together. And destiny becomes much more malleable to each person as that person becomes more self-aware. With enlightenment, you come to navigate your own destiny rather than being a leaf in the wind."

"So it is our destiny, or was, but isn't anymore? I don't quite get what you're saying, Yori."

"This is shugyo, a test, an opportunity for growth," replied Yori. "All life is, really. You and Kim have spent time together as friends, and as more than friends. This is good, for you have much to give to each other, and you have both tempered the other. She has helped you to achieve greater personal warmth, stability, dependability, and if I may say so, dignity."

"Dignity?" asked Ron.

"Kim Possible has a feline grace. Not sedate, but a dignified poise. It is quite the contrast to your humorous buffoonery. Your buffoonery, while frowned on by most, is most refreshing and relieves tension. I am always glad when I am partnered with you. You freely admit to personal flaws and failures without denial or hypocrisy, and you have an easy going resilience that I not only find refreshing, but Kim also has learned from you, just as you have learned from her."

"Yeah, Kim has always been competitive, I mean really bad. Especially with Bon-Bon. I'm amazed it doesn't sabotage our missions more. But I think she's finally starting to relax, getting comfortable with herself and not having to always prove herself so much." He smiled and leaned back.

With more seriousness, she added, "Perhaps you have achieved what you needed from each other so that you don't need each other for that harmony you both instinctually seek anymore. This is not to say your relationship with her must end, only that the nature of the relationship may very well change, based on both your changing needs. And now, you should let Kim Possible and Shego learn from one another."

"What could Kim learn from Shego?" The very thought stunned Ron.

"Shego has learned to deal with life's pains and disappointments much better than Kim, and has learned to live without the adoration of others, even if she enjoys the infamy. Kim can remind Shego that life becomes more valuable when shared with others that you trust and love. And both of them can stand to learn that while self-reliance is good, working together, without becoming dependent, is even better. They can accomplish so much more together; the joys of their victories are greater shared, while the disappointments of their defeats are more bearable than when alone. They are Yin and Yang that fight each other, but the only way for Yin and Yang to truly reach harmony is to understand that the Other is just what the Self lacks, and needs."

"I don't know about Shego, but Kim does have a lot of needs," said Ron. "But she's not as hypersensitive, competitive, or vain as she used to be, thanks to me. Ok, maybe still a bit on the vain and competitive side, but not as much."

Yori laughed. "Like you are still a little on the buffoonish side!" Shaking her head with a smile, she added, "Stoppable-san, I enjoy your frankness!"

Ron pointed at her saying, "Right back at you, Yori!" He smiled as she laughed happily again. Then he frowned. "But you know what Shego and KP tight together means don't you? Either Gotterdammerung, or a thousand years of peace. Hope it's the latter," he said leaning back. When Yori laughed again, he laughed a little himself. Then he looked around. "Have you seen Rufus?"

"I believe he is sitting with Hana, Stoppable-san."

"Hana, yeah. Hey, how about you and I take Rufus and Hana to sample some of the local cuisine? Like say Bueno Nacho?"

Yori giggled. "There is a Bueno Nacho in Kyoto, but it's hardly local cuisine."

"Hey, if it's here, it's local. At least as local as it is in Middleton. You like?"

"I like. We might as well eat before we go back to Drakken's South Pacific lair."

"Yeah," said Ron frowning, "Drakken has lousy tastes. But good cupcakes!" He shook his head. "But I don't want to think about that now. Let's eat, just me and you, Rufus and Hana! Think of it as a double date." He suddenly looked guilty. "I mean, a date of Rufus and me, you and Hana."

Yori giggled again. "As you wish, Stoppable-san. Let us remind ourselves why the world is worth saving."