Chapter 3
How Things Begin to Unfold
"Yea, you know something? I don't really feel like it" Kim looked up, not really suprised. Just as Shego lunged at her.
Kim moved to the side, narrowly avoiding the attack. Shego, unfazed, turned and lunged again. Kim blocked and countered Shego's move with a single move of her own. This suprised the green villianess and took her off balance. She moved back and fired a couple of plasma blasts at Kim. All but one of the blasts missed. The other one struck Kim in the leg and she fell down to the floor. Shego let out a laugh.
As Kim and Shego went at it, Ron made his way up to the control platform where Drakken was.
"Soon the world will be at my mercy! HAHAHAHAHA" he gloated to himself
"Hey, Drakken" Ron said. Drakken turned around
"YOU?" he was going to ask hgow Ron got here, but before he could, Ron threw a punch that sent the villian flying across the room.
Stepping over to the controls, Ron looked over the panel, deciding which buttons to press first. He never got a chance. Just as he was about to, Drakken tackled him away
"LEAVE THOSE ALONE!" he ordered, Ron lifted his knee really fast, right into Drakken's stomach. The villian retreated, clutching his stomach. Ron quickly got up and went back to the panel
"NOO!" Drakken yelled as Ron started pressing buttons.
Ron had no idea what he was doing, as usual, but after he pressed one button, a computer voice came on
"Core seperation in progress. Reactor ejection in five seconds"
"NOO!" Drakken screamed, running to the panel and pressing buttons, trying to correct the problem.
"Core ejection unsuccessful. Reactor has been compromised. Reverting to auto destruct sequence" the computer said
"YOU BUFFOON!" Drakken yelled. Before Ron could reply, the opening between where Ron and Drakken were and where Kim and Shego were slammed shut and the whole craft began to shake. The control area shuddered and was thrown away from the craft. It took every ounce of Ron's strength to hold onto the wall that was now where the corridor leading to where was. Pulling himself over to the window, despite the extreme G-forces, he could see the remaining part of the craft was thrown towards an island with a large mountain on it.
Kim was thrown off her feet and landed hard on the floor. Shego landed equally as hard. The last thing Kim saw before she lost conciousness from the force of so many G's, was an explosion behind Shego.
The first thing she felt upon awakening was a sense of relief, followed very quickly by a sharp pain in her leg. She opened her eyes and looked around. No one was there. She tried to get up, but she couldn't muster the strength. A closer look at her leg showed her that it was in a brace, which had spots of blood on it. A small fire was going and the sky was dark. She managed to sit up and take a better look at her surroundings. She was on a beach that went on for awhile. Palm trees decorated the line between the sand and the rest of the area on one side, while on the other, nothing but water. The air was cool, fresh. A pleasant breeze was blowing.
Kim heard a small crack behind her and whirled around as best as she could Something is coming. Now she wasn't like Ron, she didn't have a ton of fears. She could handle giant monsters or whatever normally. But this was far from normal, with her leg in a brace, she would be an easy target for whatever came out. So she braced herself. But no giant, scary monster came out, just Shego.
"Oh, you're awake" Shego said as she lay some more wood by the fire
"Whats... What's going on?" Kim asked, her ability to speak not fully regained
"Drakken's stupid craft blew up"
"THE DEVICE!" Kim scrambled, forgetting momentarily that her leg was bad. The pain struck her hard and she cringed, grasping at her leg
"Calm down. I woke up just before the crash. The device is at the top" she pointed towards the mountain behind them
"So what happened to me?" Kim asked. Shego chuckled
"You landed hard, Princess. You landed in a tree, luckily enough, but you fell out and a root went right through. I'm no doctor, but I did what I could" she nodded towards the brace.
"Yeah, thanks" Kim said
"You should get some rest" Shego said and lay down, not facing Kim of course.
"Shego?" Shego sighed
"What?"
"Back on the cliffs, when I fell, why did you save me?" Kim finally got a chance to ask the question that had burned up her mind since the event happened. Shego gave her the same answer she had given Drakken
"I have my reasons, okay? Just go to sleep" She rolled over again and closed her eyes.
xxxx xxxx
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T KNOW?" Ron was in a near rage while talking to Wade after he had his feet back on the ground. His first stop had been Wade's house.
"I mean, I don't know where Kim ended up" Wade answered
"You can't tell what happened to her?" Ron asked again. Wade turned back to his computer. Ron had come straight over to Wade's house after landing.
"I can't tell. Thermal satellites picked up two humans just before impact, but from the force of the crash, I can't be certain that they are alive"
"And why not"
"Because that device of Drakken's is creating an EM field. I can't scan inside it"
"A what?"
"An electro-magnetic field. Disrupts any and all electronic devices"
"There has to be a way to get in"
"I see what I can whip up"
"I'll go SCUBA. Go in and get her" Ron suggested
"Lots of sharks in those waters. Be a bad idea"
"Then what can we do? Fire a message out of cannon?" Before Wade could say "We'll hold that option in reserve" his computer beeped
"What is that?" Ron asked, hopeful
"That means that the pictures I took have been filtered. These are the last images of the island before the field was created" Both looked at the screen intently. After a few minutes of searching the photo at near maximum magnifcation, Ron spots what he hoped he would spot
"LOOK! THERE SHE IS!" he yells. It is Kim, lying on a tree top.
"Look, I'll see what I can do. Maybe I can whip up something to cut through the field"
"I know! I could parachute in. No electronics at all"
"True. But I can barely tell how far out the field extends. No telling how high it extends"
"Good point" Ron thinks for a moment "Rowboat?" he suggests. Wade looks at him
"You are joking, right?"
"Yea. haha" Ron says sarcasticlly
"Ron, go home. Rest. I'll try and whip something up. I promise. I want to get her back as much as you do" On that, Ron knew that Wade was totally honest. So he shrugged and said
"Alright. Thanks man" and walked.
xxxx xxxx
Kim awoke the next morning feeling slightly better. She sat up and looked around. Not suprisingly, Shego was nowhere to be found. She tried to stand up, and after much pain and agony, she was up. But fell down quickly.
Shego came back later with what looked like fruit in her arms and two half coconuts that were filled with water
"There is a spring further in. The water is good enough" Shego said. Kim took the makshift cup but stared at the fruit.
"You expect me to eat that?" Kim asks "We have no idea what it is"
"So? We will need strength to survive. Stop being spoiled"
"That is true. Wait, MY KIMMUNICATOR!" Kim reached into her pocket for the small device, but couldn't find it anywere
"Oh, I found it near where you were lying" Shego reached down and threw the small device to her.
After several tries to call Wade, She gives up.
"It won't work. Must've been damaged" Kim says.
"Just put that thing down and relax. Rescue will be here soon" Shego says and closed her eyes.
"How do you know that?"
"GPS. I carry a signal that Drakken can trace to find me. I activated it as soon as I woke up after the crash. Doctor D will be here probably before nightfall"
"If you say so" Kim said, cautiously.
xxxx
A little while later, the question that Kim has been meaning to ask Shego pops back into Kim's head
"Shego?"
"What?" she answers, sounding annoyed
"Why did you save me back on the cliffs?" Kim asks
"I told you, I have my reasons"
"Riiiiight" Kim replied
"What do you want me to say?"
"Just give me an honest answer!" Kim says with a bit of force in her voice
"Alright then. You want an honest answer? FINE!" Shego gulps and begins "I saved you because I like a challenge every now and then and you give me what I need. Alright? There I said it. Happy?" Kim didn't get a chance to answer before Shego had gotten up and walked away. There has to be more to it than that Kim thought.
xxxx
Kim's leg kept her down for the most part of the next few days, most of that time she spent jumping between her thoughts of Ron and Shego. Shego spent the time isolated from Kim, other than bringing her some of the fruit she had found, in the middle of the night when she assumed the redhead was sleeping.
xxxx xxxx
On the third day, Kim decided that she's waited around long enough and gets up. A walk into the jungle of the island to see if she can find Shego sounded good to her.
Grimicing in pain, she twisted her torso and planted her hands firmly on the ground and pushed herself up slowly and tried to stand on her leg. A nerve flared and she fell over in pain.
Trying again, she managed to keep herself upright, until she succumbed to the pain and fell over, luckily managing to stabilize herself on a nearby tree.
Letting herself slide to the ground, she grabbed a nearby stick and, after covering the top part with ripped parts of her shirt, she began to use it as a crutch and limp through the jungle.
xxxx
Shego, in the meantime, was on the other side of the island trying to work off some stress by plasma blasting some trees. Her frustration level was through the roof. Between Drakken's device trapping her on this island (and him not rescuing her) and Kim's questions, she needed to work off some serious steam.
She whirled around and fired a blast right through the truck of one tree then rolled to avoid it falling on her. Blasting another two in quick succession, her breathing becomes heavy. She stops shortly afterwards, nearly exhausted. Taking a look down at her torso, she noticed that several of her wounds were reopening.
"I may as well go check on her" she sighed. Like it or not (and at the moment, she really didn't) Kim, her rival was her best hope for getting off this rock and she may as well help the teen hero survive. It was in her best interests that Kim lived.
xxxx
The walk back to where she had left Kim was not enirely unpleasant. Shego did enjoy walking through the jungle, it had a sense of relaxation to it, if not for the fact that they were trapped on an island in the middle of the ocean. She let out several deep breaths along the way, taking in as much of the fresh air as she could.
When she reached the beach, Kim was not where she had left her. Shego, trying not to panic, quickly spotted the tracks that led into the jungle and ran after them. Trying to ingore the pain coming from her sides, she followed the tracks. How could she have gotten this far? she asked herself as the tracks just seemed to go on and on.
Coming into a clearing, Shego looked up at the mountain and spotted something. She couldn't tell what it was but it looked to be moving, so she assumed it was Kim. Kimmie, what are you doing? Shego thought. Heading towards the cliff face at a dead run, Shego hoped that Kim wouldn't fall. After all, if anything were to happen to Kim, Shego would be blamed and then she'd never get off this island.
She reached the cliff face and began to climb without haste. She was beginning to question why she was risking her neck for someone who would throw her in jail at the first opportunity. Why she had saved Kim's life as the redhead had fallen off the cliff, patched up Kim's leg when she had been wounded in the crash. Bring her food because she couldn't get up to get her own. Climbing up a cliff to try and help her She wondered what was compeling her to do all this, other than her own interests of a challenge. If she really needed a challenge, she could try breaking into a high security facility, but that was a lot of danger and a chance that she could be killed. But Kim provided the challenge without too much danger. Just enough that she could handle and still have some fun at the same time. Kim was safe, she realized.
She kept climbing.
When she got further up, to the spot where she swore she had seen Kim, she stopped and looked around. Nothing. Just jungle and beach below, rock to the front. Up a bit higher was what looked like a small plateau. Going under the assumption that it's were Kim ended up, she kept going.
She reached it quickly. One thing that hadn't occurred to her was how she was going to get Kim down from here. When she climbed up, she saw no sign of Kim, but she did see a large crater in the rock. She looked in and spotted something she hadn't expected to... Drakken's device? It's still intact? As she got closer, she could feel her hair beginning to stand up on end and though she wouldn't admit it, it scared her. It's still active? After a crash like that? She made the worst mistake of her life right there. She tried to touch the device. A large shock was sent through her body and she was sent flying backwards, right over the edge and down towards the jungle below.
xxxx
Kim was wandering about, trying to find Shego and not having much luck. She had been wandering around for what seemed like forever trying to find the villaness. Hearing a noise, she looked up. She saw what looked like a body being thrown off the cliff and down to the jungle. Her mind jumping to the idea that Shego had been killed, she moved towards the landing spot as fast as she could.
xxxx xxxx
When Kim arrived, it was a mess, to say the least. Shego had landed on a thick layer of trees, so her fall had been slowed considerably, but she had still fallen to the ground and her side had been torn by a rock. It wasn't a major open wound, but it was a large gash at least. She was unconcious, but when Kim put her fingers against Shego's neck to check her pulse, Kim found that her heart was still beating and felt somewhat relieved. She quickly thought back to all the times she had gotten a large cut and her mother had treated it First, stop the bleeding She thought. Seeing no alternative, she torn off the lower parts of Shego's jumpsuit and rolled her enemy over. Kim moved quickly to the other side and began to treat the wound. Her hands were soon covered in blood, which she noticed had a slight greenish tinge to it.
Despite the mess, Kim was soon finished as best as she could. She had used her own shirt to make the final wrapping, so she now sat with only her undershirt (she thanked her stars for forgetting to take off her other shirt when she had put on her mission clothes) and pants on (though one pant leg was torn off for the most part). Hoping that Shego would stay out a while longer, Kim set out to the spring and the fruit trees as she couldn't carry the woman herself.
xxxx
Shego awoke with a start, feeling nothing at first and then a sharp pain in her side. She groaned and looked down. A dark purple shirt was wrapped around her stomach What the...? She asked herself. Kim had just returned. Shego instinctivly tried to take a defensive posture.
"Take it easy. You hit the ground hard" Kim said, placing her hands over the wound, trying to keep it closed. Her tone was one of caring and consideration, not one she had used with Shego before. Shego could feel the warmth from Kim's hands and blushed. Because of her pale skin, it was that much more obivous to Kim.
Shego wanted to speak, to ask what had really happened to her. But Kim got up and stood over her
"You should lay back and rest" Kim stopped and looked up "I'm going to get a fire going" She said and limped away, back into the jungle. Shego lay back and looked up at the sky. It was startng to get dark, suggesting that she had been out for several hours. Shego gritted her teeth. The pain in her side was incredible, but when she touched it, no fresh blood came off, suggesting that Kim had been able to stop the bleeding, but even Shego knew when she needed help and this was one time. I'm never going to be able to live this down Shego thought to herself. Though she wouldn't admit it now, she was incredibly grateful to Kim. In her book, they were square, she figured that Kim wouldn't see it that way, but she would. Besides, what could Kim do to make up for it?
xxxx xxxx
A few hours later, both women were laying back on the ground. The hard ground of the jungle floor wasn't as comfy as the sandy beach, but Kim didn't want to risk moving Shego, not yet. So she made do. She had managed to gather up a lot of leaves and make a couple makeshift beds for the two and a fire would keep them warm. Kim had tried to light it, but was unsuccesful, so Shego had lit it for her during a brief moment of conciousness, despite Kim's objection and determination that she could make it burn. It took awhile for Kim to work up the courage, but she eventually decied to try some conversation.
"Hey Shego?" Kim asks
"What now?" Shego replied in her usual tone.
"Why did you turn evil?" Shego sighed, I'm stuck here. May as well answer she thought to herself
"Things happen and you know Hego. I couldn't stand being around them anymore. It was just too annoying. So I left. Simple as that"
"That's it?"
"Well, I felt restrained, limited. I couldn't do all I wanted" Shego added. Kim sat up and looked over at her and Shego could tell without looking. She could feel Kim's gaze on her and it began to freak her out "What?" Kim lay back down
"Nothing" WHAT AM I DOING? Kim screamed at herself as she let her gaze be lost in the vast amount of stars.
xxxx xxxx
Daylight came far earlier than Kim had both expected and hoped for. She could see that Shego was awake already and had dragged herself up against a nearby tree and was carving something on a rock with her lit finger.
"Morning" Kim said. Shego just nodded, but didn't look up. "So what were you doing up on the cliff yesterday?" Kim asked, realizing that she had meant to ask that last night, but it had slipped her mind. Shego stopped and looked up and right into Kim's eyes
"I thought I saw you up there" Shego replied. Kim blushed
"So you came after me?" Kim smiled
"Look, it's in my best interests that you survived, okay? I went up there because I thought that you had been stupid enough to climb up. If anything happens to you..."
"What?"
"Then I'M going to be blamed for it and never get off this rock. Okay? Just drop it" Shego snapped
"You were concerned for me" Kim blushed slightly at those words
"At that moment, I was concerned for you because I was concerned about me. Besides, look what it got me. When I touched that device, it..." her voice trailed off and she looked up
"What is it?" Kim asked, confused
"GIve me your Kimmunicator"
"Why?" Kim looked at her,
"Give it, please" Shego sighed and held out her hand. Kim tossed her the small device "Drakken's device is still active. I wonder if..." Shego tried to activate the small device, but got no signal. Just static.
"What is it? It's not working. I have to get Wade to fix it"
"No, I think it is working"
"And that means what?" Shego leans back and tries to get up
"Woah, were do you think that you are going?"
"Back to the top. I need to shut down that device" Shego groaned as she tried to get up. Kim pushed her back down
"Uh, no. Not in your condition"
"I'll be fine" Shego protested
"Shego, look at me" Kim said, Shego ignored her "SHEGO!" Shego looked up and into Kim's eyes "You are in no condition to stand, much less climb a mountain" Kim sighed "Why do you have to go up there?"
"Because I would be willing to bet money that that thing is generating an EM field. It would also explain why we haven't been rescued already. They can't get to us as long as that device is active" Shego said quickly. Kim thought for a minute and looked at Shego
"What? You think I never paid any attention to what Drakken was doing? Kimmie, I may not think much of him, but some of the stuff he created would've worked if you hadn't interviened. So I did pay some attention to what he was doing. Now I have to go shut down that device" Shego insisted, but Kim was even more determined
"No. I'll go" she said
"WHAT?"
"Hey, at least I can walk" Kim said with a grin. Shego looked furious and did until Kim put her hand on the green woman's shoulder. Then Shego's look turned to rage with a hint of annoyance. Kim said nothing further, got up and walked away. She stopped short and lowered her head to the side
"Call for help the second the static clears" she said and walked off, dragging her bad leg.
"Kim!" Shego called out. Kim turned her head "Don't touch it. That's what sent me flying down here" she warned the teenager. Kim nodded and walked off
xxxx
When Kim reached the base of the cliff, which was luckily not as steep as some of the other sides, she looked up and gulped. On the one hand, her leg was still bad and this could make it way worse. On the other hand, Shego did need immediate medical attention and the two couldn't survive here for much longer. She took a deep breath, pushed her fear aside and grabbed ahold of the rock face.
The climb was taking a lot out of her and Kim could feel it. Much more than it had since she'd taken climbing lessons in Junior High, shortly after she had started doing her missions. She could feel the brace around her injured leg slowing her down, but she kept going, her determination being the sole source of energy, considering neither of them had had any kind of a decent meal in the last few days.
xxxx
She reached the top faster than she had expected to, but still slower that she could've if she'd been at full strength. As she looked around, she spotted the device at the bottom of the crater. She also spotted the opening where Shego had gone through. She began to hike down the crater wall to see what she could do.
Nearing the bottom, Kim lost her footing and fell the final ten or twenty feet down the remainder of the crater wall. She lay at the bottom for several minutes before she finally managed to lift her torso off the ground with an groan.
Taking a breath, she tried to blow her hair out of the way. It didn't buge. She brought her knees closer to her chest and forced herself to get up. Her leg hurt more than it had before and a quick touch revealed that the wound had opened up again. Crap went through her mind and she limped over to the device. Her hair was already standing on end. She nearly made the same mistake that Shego had, but as she reached out to touch the device, a spark jumped between her hand and the device, so she pulled back and tried to think of a better way to destroy this thing.
Looking around and up at the crater walls, she saw a large boulder that looked like it was being held up by a smaller rock. She placed her hands on her hips and grinned for a second
"Hmm, how convenient" she said and began to move towards it.
As she approached, she wondered how she was going to safely disloge the giant rock. The pain in her leg was increasing, and even though she could bear it for now, she could feel that she was getting weaker and she couldn't forget that Shego was counting on her to succeed.
She grunted, pushing all her weight against the boulder C'mon. MOVE! she thought as she pushed. Kim let out what would be the scream of warrior and pressed with every ounce of strength she had remaining. She let up a bit when she felt the rock move, but then pressed again just as hard. She felt the rock give way and begin to roll down the hill, but as she freed it from the crater wall, she fell over, hit her head on the ground and lost conciousness. As she fell, the boulder ran down the side of the crater and went right through the device Drakken built, smashing it to bits. Her eyes managed to stay open long enough to see the device be crushed.
xxxx
Shego was laying back against the tree, her breathing had become heavy. But just as she was about to pass out, the static on the Kimmunicator dissapeared and "KP" appeared on the screen. She forced out a grin and pressed a couple buttons, not knowing what she was doing.
Wade's face appeared a few seconds later
"SHEGO? Where's Kim?" Shego struggled to speak, she could tell that she was getting weak
"Up, in the mountain. Help" was all she could get out. But that was really all that was needed. Wade could tell that she was weak
"Help is on the way" he said and began typing as Shego passed out.