Kim burst through the water's surface, carrying an unconscious Ms. Clawthorne that had returned to her usual, pointed-eared self. She gently laid the woman down on the sandy beach, putting her CPR training that she had gained from babysitting to work until Eda began to cough and sputter. Then, rolling her over on her side, Kim began looking around for Ron.

"Ron!" Kim called, climbing to her feet while Ms. Clawthorne continued to cough out water. "Ron?!"

"Present!" Ron struggled to call back, raising an arm from the sand while Rufus gave him tiny slaps across the face to keep him conscious.

Kim ran to him and slid on her knees in the wet sand to embrace him. "I'm so glad you're okay!"

"I'm glad I'm okay too!" Ron replied, embracing her back. "I mean, but for you."

Kim laughed lightly. "I get it. But what happened?" she asked, checking her wrist Kimmunicator. "No reception. That's never happened before."

"Where are we?" Ron asked, spotting a wooden sign a short distance away, sticking out of the beach.

"You find out. I'm going to check on Ms. Clawthorne."

Kim moved away, and Ron stood, approaching the sign. "Lake Lacuna?" he asked aloud. "Never heard of it."

"You folk alright?!" a drawling voice shouted from some distance at the lake's edge. They were dressed like a rancher with purple skin, horns protruding from under their cap, and three sets of red eyes shining in the moonlight. Spiders the size of cattle, with black and white patterns and full, pink udders, were skittering around them, drinking from the lake. Ron lifted his view to the full moon above them, and rather than the pock-marked surface that he was familiar with, this one appeared to be a menacing skull on its surface.

"Kim?!" he called back. "I don't think we're at Camp Wannaweep anymore!" he said before hesitating as a smile grew on his face. "We're not at Camp Wannaweep anymore! Wait, did we die? Did camp finally do me in?!" he wailed.

"Ron! Get a grip." Kim replied, helping Ms. Clawthorne over to where Ron was standing. "We're not dead, we're… what are those?" she interrupted at spotting the giant spiders.

"Arachnocows, obviously." Eda replied. She felt like she had the worst Appleblood hangover of her life, and dealing with these human's reactions was getting to be too much for her right now. "You're not dead. Yet, anyway. But if I don't get an elixir and some sleep, the Owl Beast is going to come back."

Kim nodded, swallowed, and focused, pushing herself to approach the rancher. "Excuse… me…" she paused, covering her mouth and trying to avert her eyes from the arachnocow's drooling mandibles.

Ron put a hand on Kim's shoulder and stepped forward. "Let me handle this, KP. I won't let my time speaking bug with Roachie be in vain."

Kim stepped back, paler than usual at the sight of the cattle-sized arachnids as Ron stepped into the swarm with a grin, clicking his teeth and chirping, attracting the arachocow's attention.

"Are you sure your friend isn't from around here? He seems to have a real knack for Beast Keeping magic." Eda said, supporting herself on her staff that had come out of nowhere. "Although it's really more the rancher's help we need."

"Ron is… special. I'll give you that." Kim said, cringing at Ron interacting with the swarm as the spiders began nuzzling him. "We had these giant cockroaches invade the city once and Ron learned he could speak to one of them. I, on the other hand, froze. It was a complete role reversal!"

"Alright, alright. I didn't ask for your whole backstory. I'll catch it on the reruns, I'm sure. Right now, we need a place to lay low." Eda said, waving for the rancher to come closer. "Hey, overalls! C'mere!"

"Does being that rude usually work?" Kim asked with a harsh glance.

"Look, Red, you're in my world now, alright? Let me handle this." Eda said to the side before flashing an exhausted smile at the rancher, pointing at themselves and approaching them. "Yeah, you! What'll it take to borrow a place to stay for the night?"

The rancher gave her a confused look, approaching cautiously. Kim stepped forward with a friendly smile, showing them that her hands were empty. "What my, uh, friend is trying to say, is that we've had a hard night, and would appreciate any hospitality you'd be willing to offer."

The rancher's mouth wriggled back and forth in thought, and while he was mainly focused on Kim's face as she spoke, one pair of eyes were glancing just to the side of her eyes. Eda glanced up and grimaced, spinning her finger in a tiny circle to magically adjust Kim's hair to hide her human ears. "Sure. Hospitality. Whatever."

Eda stole the rancher's attention with her words, and their eyes locked on her. "Ain't you the Owl Lady? Dell and Gwendolyn's youngest?"

Eda looked away angrily for a moment before nodding. "Yeah, so? You want a prize?"

The rancher let out a chuckle. "No ma'am. Just been a long time customer of your father's. At least until his accident. Carved me my palisman when he was just starting. Never a finer carver." they continued, looking them both over. "Well, c'mon then, before you catch the mold. Ya'll can help milk the herd as payment."

Kim wrapped an arm around Eda's waist and helped support her as they followed the rancher.

Ron and Rufus had thankfully done most of the spider milking while Eda insisted on finding a bed of straw to fall asleep in. Kim had managed to conquer her fear of giant, mutated bugs long enough to lend a hand with the spiders as well. Finally, sufficiently exhausted, Ron and Rufus had fallen asleep on a spare cot that the rancher had set up for him. They and their spouse, a surprisingly human-looking being with pointed ears similar to Eda but with dark skin and a well-muscled physique, had a son who had been very shy of Kim before he had helped her learn to milk the spiders.

Now, she sat beside a fireplace with a blanket over her shoulders, drying her mission gear while Beithir, the rancher, and Randi, their spouse, sat across from her in matching rocking chairs. "We don't get a lot of humans around here." Beithir said, breaking the silence between them. "I don't suppose you know how you got here?"

"It's complicated." Kim replied. "We were trying to help Ms. Clawthorne get home but we wound up coming through the lake ourselves. So I'm not really sure of the details."

"That Clawthorne lass has had a hard life since she was younger than you." Randi said. "Some say she was cursed by the Emperor for not battling her sister during the Coven tryouts near a decade passed. Her parents haven't heard from her since."

Kim contemplated the information for a few minutes, not understanding how nonchalant these people could be about such a development. "Did you happen to have any of the medicine she needed?"

"Randi here is a part of the Healing Coven, and whipped her up something that'll do temporarily." Beithir said.

"But she should take it easy. No magic use until she's able to get her regular elixir." Randi continued.

Kim nodded, hearing familiar words, even if they didn't make much sense. In her travels throughout the world, she'd been exposed to hundreds of different cultures and beliefs, and as odd as this one might be, she knew it wasn't her place to judge. "You haven't happened to see a few other humans around have you? A tall blue man and a shorter woman in green?"

"Y'know, I did see a bunch of fellers up on the hill a few hours ago, by the old Clawthorne tower. Charlotte ran off again and I had to bring the herd with me to chase her down. I didn't notice if they were human or not, though. Just figured they were a pair of demons looking at the old house. Ever since that house demon moved in, everyone's been careful to steer clear of it. They had a crowd of abominations with them too."

"Abomin-?" Kim asked before realization set in. "Synthodrones. That's definitely them. The tall blue guy, he didn't happen to rant about what he was planning to do, did he?"

"Well, he seemed awfully excited about seeing the boiling sea from the cliffside."

"It is a lovely view!" Randi noted.

"That it is."

Kim narrowed her eyes. "I'm going to need to know where that house is. Those two don't have the best intentions for your world."

Beithir frowned. "If they're up to something, we should probably let the Coven Scouts know."

The local law enforcement, Kim guessed. "With all due respect, Ron and I are kinda experts in dealing with these two. Anyone else just tends to get in the way."

"Well, if you're sure." Randi said, moving to stand. "I'll wake your friends."

Kim gestured for them to remain. "Let Ms. Clawthorne rest and I'll grab Ron. We've got this."

"But can you even do magic?" The ranchers asked in unison as Kim turned to leave. She turned on her way out the door and smiled. "I'm a Possible. I can do anything."

"Wait! She can do anything?" Luz asked, clearly skeptical. "I thought there hadn't been any humans here before me!"

"Humans are rare here, not non-existent. Where do you think the inspiration for our human-centric programs come from?" Eda asked. "Besides, no one saw these two but me, the ranchers, and Hooty anyway."

"I'll take my secrets to my grave!" Hooty shouted.

"You don't have any secrets!" King retorted.

"You don't know me!"

"Maybe tomorrow we could track down those ranchers to confirm Eda's story?" Amity asked.

"This all happened years ago. Not sure you're going to find a couple of back woods bumpkins after all this time." Eda replied.

"It's worth a shot." Luz exclaimed. "Maybe you can show me Lake Lacuna too!"

"Anyway, where was I?" Eda asked. "Right, those kids had just wandered off without me…"

"Ron! Quiet!" Kim whispered as the pair crouched in the bushes outside of an old house with a stone tower standing behind it. Both appeared to be in disrepair, and she spotted several puddles of dried, yellow-green syntho-goo around the door with a decorative bird ornament hanging on its upper center. A glowing blue light emanated off the top of the tower, but there was no sign of Dr. Drakken or Shego. "Drakken could be ready to go any moment. Ron?" she asked, looking back for her boyfriend.

Ron staggered through the brush to stand beside her, his shirt and pants now having several tears. "Sorry, Kim. This little flying, fairy person thing was totally copping a 'tude with me!"

"Ron! Sneaky time!" Kim hissed, pulling him down into the bush. "Beithir mentioned a house demon had moved in here too."

"You think it's helping Drakken?"

"Don't know." Kim said, adjusting her wrist Kimmunicator.

"Skip the house, go up the tower?" Ron asked.

Kim grinned. "You know it."

The pair moved swiftly and quietly from the tree line toward the house with years of practice infiltrating villain's lairs, reaching the side of the tower and putting their backs to the stone wall. "Y'know, I'm used to more security." Ron noted. "Where are the laser fences, and the turrets, and the…"

"Do not say 'Spinning Tops of Doom'." Kim replied, holding up a finger to silence him. "You're right though. This seems too easy." she said, wrapping an arm around Ron's waist as he held on tightly to her shoulders. She pointed an arm at the top of the tower and activated the grappling hook in her wrist Kimmunicator. With a quiet burst of air, the tiny claw zipped upward, lodged itself in the stonework, and immediately began winding itself in, dragging Kim and Ron with it.

Kim used the momentum to throw herself over the tower's edge to land on her feet while Ron struggled to climb over the battlement. "Stop the machine, Drakken!" Kim ordered, spotting Drakken and Shego beside a small, glowing machine.

"Kim Possible!? How did you..? Nevermind! You and whatsisname won't stop me this time! I've already made allies in this world." he announced, snapping his fingers. "Door! If you would?"

Kim could feel a presence creep up behind her, and she turned and gasped. A long, feathered tentacle-like creature had slithered its way up the side of the tower and looked down at the pair of teens hungrily with glowing yellow eyes. It's beaked mouth opened impossibly wide with a groan, and Kim barely had time to shout before she and Ron were swallowed whole.

Eda woke with a start, gagging at the fowl taste in her mouth. She was lying on a bed of straw with a stranger sitting beside her and holding a nearly empty potion bottle filled with a familiar, glowing gold fluid. "What?! Who are you?!" she wheezed, wiping the awful-tasting elixir from her lips.

"I'm Randi, and this is my partner, Beithir." The Witch said before forcing the open end of the bottle back into Eda's mouth to finish it. "You've been out for quite some time. We sent our son Morton into town and purchased one of these here elixirs that the local potion master had handy. I tried healin' ya, but it just wasn't taking."

Eda watched as the leftover feathers of her transformation disappeared. "Hey, this works better than my usual stuff." she coughed, taking the potion bottle from Randi. She smiled, tossing it to the child hiding by the door of the stables. "Figure out how to make this, and I imagine you'll have my business for life. Now, where are those other two kids?" she asked, standing.

"Those humans and their palisman took off in a mighty hurry to the old Clawthorne tower up on the cliffside. Said somethin' about our world being in danger. I guess human kids are as imaginative as our own." Beithir said with a chuckle. "If you're lookin' at chasin 'em down, the tower is…"

Eda held up a hand. "Yeah, I know where it is. "I'd better get moving."

"It's mighty heroic of ya to go after 'em."

Eda rolled her eyes. "It's not heroism. I just don't want a bunch of humans making a mess of the place. Besides, as the most powerful Witch in two realms, I'm pretty sure I'm the only one that could clean it up."

"Oh, that reminds me, dear!" Randi said. "Be careful not to use your magic, or that elixir will run right through you!"

Eda looked at them for a moment before letting out a snort. "No magic. Right!" she laughed. She clasped her hands together and then spread them apart, a long wooden staff materializing between them. Owlbert awoke on the end of it, and Eda grinned. "Let's go be big heroes, Owlbert!"

"Now just hold on!" Beithir shouted. "The weather's done changed across Bonesborough!"

Eda opened the door and stared outside at the growing haze and steam coming off of the Boiling Sea as a massive rain cloud roiled its way toward the coastline. Blades of ice were piercing through trees, shredding them of their branches. "Yeah, well if someone doesn't kick that Drakken back to his own world, we're going to have gorenadoes rip up the Titan in no time." Eda reluctantly replied, mounting her staff. "Gun it, Owlbert!"

The thrust from the palisman was enough to knock Beithir back and away from Eda, blowing open the shutters in the room. She weaved and twirled through the shards of ice, holding on to her staff with one hand while tracing a line in the sky with the other until a translucent, glowing bubble formed around her. She leaned into her acceleration until the bubble around her became conical, spearing its way through the scalding rain and jagged knives of ice.

It wasn't long before the ragged tower of her father Dell's old Bonesborough residence appeared on the cliffside that overlooked the town. It had been so long since she had been there, or even seen her father, that tears began to form in her eyes. She told herself it was from the storm that threatened to swallow her, but she clenched her teeth and pushed forward.

The machine Drakken had ranted about was on the tower's top level, and lightning struck nearby, blowing apart one of the rampart walls. A fork-like protrusion extended from the top of the machine, slowly spinning as a funnel of dark clouds wrapped around it. Drakken and his attractive henchwoman Shego were nowhere to be seen, likely having taken shelter from the horrible storm they had conjured.

Eda circled, taking a good look at the surroundings of the house. It hadn't seen much care in the last few years. Windows were broken, vines crawled up the walls and over the balcony, and it looked like a house demon had also taken up residence. She shivered at the thought of such a pest invading her father's old workshop and dived low to line up with the front door. A new addition to the old house was a tan and brown, owl-like fixture in the upper center that opened its eyes in surprise, and she charged forward.

The owl face began speaking, then narrowed its eyes, challenging Eda to continue on her game of chicken against an immovable structure. Eda matched its gaze and picked up speed, clearly unfazed, lifting her lip over her snaggletooth as she grinned.

Mere moments before she struck the door, it swung open, and Eda let out a surprised yelp as she crashed into the living room of the house, tossing collected junk about the space.

"The Owl Lady?!" Drakken shouted out in surprise.

"So what?" Shego asked as Eda climbed to her feet, brushing the clutter off her shoulders. "It's not like it's Kimmie. Besides," she added as green flames enveloped her hands. "I've got magic of my own."

Eda rolled her eyes and twirled her staff before levelling it at the pair. Shego had just stood up from a red upholstered couch with eye motifs, furniture Eda recognized from her earliest years, and Drakken had spun around from his position at the window where he had presumably been surveying his handiwork going on outside. "Oh, please! Don't come at me with that knock off meteor magic. You need to shut down that machine of yours or it'll tear up this entire island!"

"Oh, so you're a hero now?" Shego asked. "You know that there's more money to be made being evil, right?"

Eda took a breath and looked to the side for a moment. She hated what had happened to her growing up, but it was still her home. She shook her head. "I'm not a hero, but this is my house, and I'm pretty sure I can get by without a bunch of frail humans."

"Frail?!" Shego replied angrily. "I mean, Dr. D, maybe."

"Can we can it with the employer deprecation and get to the magic duel, already?" Drakken shouted. "This Emperor is probably on his way right now to hand over this world to me!"

Shego grinned and leaped forward in a flying arc across the living room that Eda had never seen anyone do without magic. She raised her staff to erect a glowing shield that held back her adversary's green, glowing claws, straining against the woman's physical strength. She could already hear the rasping of her curse as it threatened to absorb her magic. "Y'know, it's been awhile since I've had a good work out like this. Maybe you should stick around. We could have something special." she breathed.

Shego was still grinning as she slowly raked her fingers down Eda's magical shield, leaving gaping lines in the barrier. "Stay in this mud pit? I don't think so. Besides, the humidity is hard on the hair."

"Ain't that the truth!" Eda replied, spinning her staff and conjuring a blast of golden energy that tossed Shego across the room and into Drakken. She dropped to one knee to take a quick breath before drawing a thick circle that caused a bushel of yellow-flowered vines to erupt from the wooden floor and wrap around the pair to hold them in place. "What did you do with those kids?!"

Shego lifted her hands, flexing against the magical vines until they burst from the fire enveloping her hands. "The house ate them, surprisingly. I would have preferred doing Kimmie in myself, but you have no idea how much of a headache those two were." she grinned, throwing herself at Eda again.

"Shego! I'm still bound here!" Drakken shouted as he rolled back and forth in place.

"Great! It'll keep you out of the way!" she replied, earning an irritated growl from her employer.

"Door! Help Shego dispense with this intruder!" Drakken ordered, and the owl-faced knocker on the door extended from its place.

"Hoot!" cried the house demon in a deep moan as it reared up and opened its beak, revealing rows of jagged teeth within its esophagus. "I'm the protector of this house, and none shall come within its walls without my consent! Hoot!"

Eda rolled out of the way of Shego's next lunge and stood, batting the house demon on the top of its head with the end of her staff. "This is my house, and if that thing on the tower isn't taken out, it's going to drop this whole cliffside into the Boiling Sea!"

The owl-faced house demon frowned, looking about the room. "But these are my friends!" it said, wrapping its tubular form around Shego as she jumped to her feet, still ready for a fight. The expression on its face was one of extreme naivety and appreciation, the opposite of what showed on Shego's face.

"Get… off of me!" Shego exclaimed, raking her claws along the house demon's coiled-up body.

"Ow! Hey!" it cried, the green fire leaving severe gashes. "Oof! That… that really hurt!" it gagged. It retreated from Shego, its feathers ruffling as it reared up and began to dry heave.

Shego grimaced in disgust as the house demon's mouth widened, and a large, foul-smelling pod was vomited up. "Aw, that's… that's nasty!"

The pellet struck the floor and cracked open, ejecting Kim and Ron to be splayed on top of a surprised Shego. "That would have been so cool, if he hadn't just ate us." Ron gasped, catching a breath.

"Shego? Ms. Clawthorne?!" Kim asked, taking in her surroundings. "What's going on?"

Eda turned, drawing a small spell circle and taking the small brass portal key from around Drakken's collar. "You two need to get rid of that thing on the tower!" she replied, pressing the decorative, slit pupil eye on the key after grasping it. The similarly adorned briefcase rose into the air and unfolded next to her. "I'll handle these two."

"No! I can rule this world!" Drakken shouted, trying to crawl away while still bound by magical vines. "I'm sure your Emperor is on his way to pay my ransom!"

"No thanks." Eda said, magically lifting and tossing him through the now-open portal. "Now as for you, you may be hot, but you're no Raine Whispers."

Ron and, reluctantly, Kim ran out the door while keeping their distance from the house demon, and Shego rose to her feet. At first, she was ready to run after Kim, but Eda's words grabbed her attention. "I'm not entirely sure what that means here on your crazy corpse island, but I can certainly respect a woman that can take me on." she said with a grin, crouching into a fighting stance.

Eda could feel her magic slipping and hear the rattle of her curse, struggling to break free. "I get that. Your boss is back in your world though, and as great a team as we'd make, I don't think we'd make it. Go."

Shego squinted at her for a moment before relaxing. "Wait. Just like that?"

"Just like that." Eda confirmed, stepping aside to give her opponent an easy route through the portal. "There's no teens to get in the way. No heroics. That's not my deal. Do one thing for me though."

Shego stepped toward the portal and stopped, turning back to her. "What's that?"

"Steal something for me, would ya?" Eda smiled.

"I'll make sure someone thinks it was you." Shego laughed before vanishing through the portal.

The portal closed, and Eda heaved a sigh before placing the portal key around her neck again. She turned to the house demon, who had retracted back into the door when the pair of human teens left. "I suppose this means you're going to get rid of me now, huh?" it said sadly. "That's what everyone does to house demons."

"Assuming those kids can save the world, what do you say to being a roommate?" Eda asked, approaching to give it a scratch under the beak.

The house demon cooed and smiled.

The wind was howling outside the house, and Kim had to pull her hair out of her face. Shards of ice were being flung in every direction, and nearby trees were uprooted by a twisting tornado of gore from the corpse island swirling nearby. "Ron! We need to get back up that tower!" she shouted.

Ron was holding on to one of the supports for the overhang outside the door, his feet dangling in the air until the wind caught his baggy pants, tearing them off. "Aw, there they go again!" Ron shouted, now dressed in only his boxers and shirt.

Climbing the outside was out of the question, and Kim began skirting the house toward the tower where the old, rickety wooden door was flapping open in the wind, and she had to struggle to reach it from the back of the house. The tower's stonework was beginning to creak and crumble from the onslaught of weather, and Kim took a breath, wondering if she could make it through before the structure collapsed.

She leaped out, grasped the doorknob, and reached back to help Ron into the doorway. As it strained against the weight of the two teens, the door began to pull from its hinges. Ron placed his feet on either side of the door and pulled Kim into the tower before the door flew away in the wind. "That tornado is nearly on top of us. We've gotta get up there fast!" Kim shouted.

"What?!" Ron shouted back. "That tornado is almost on top of us!"

Kim growled at her boyfriend, then brushed passed him as the stone structure shook and began to tilt. She bounced between the walls on her way up the steps until she reached the trapdoor leading to the roof. The wooden panel shook as the storm outside raged, and steaming hot water poured in around its edges. "I really wish I had brought my battlesuit! This is totally going to ruin my mission clothes!" she said aloud.

"What's the plan, KP?" Ron exclaimed as he caught up behind her. Kim frowned but didn't reply. Instead, she surged forward as Ron called after her, grabbing the handle on the trap door and throwing her weight against it, forcing it open and off its hinges.

When she cleared the opening, she launched her wrist Kimmunicator grapple out at Drakken's storm machine and used the door as a shield against the boiling rain and the knife-like shards of steaming ice plummeting to the ground. The wind grabbed the trap door like a kite, tearing it from her grip and threatening to pull her from the tower's roof if not for her grapple line.

The rain burned, and the falling ice sliced gashes into her pants and shirt, drawing blood before she reached the storm machine. "Kim! You're hurt! Ow!" Ron shouted from behind her, carefully exiting the trap door and being buffeted by the weather.

Kim grabbed a handful of glowing cables and tore them off, hoping that would do the trick. Instead, she turned in shock as the machine began to overload, cutting the cable that tied her to it. "Ron! Get back in the…!"

Drakken's machine exploded immediately, throwing Kim back in a shockwave that caused her to collide with Ron and send them off the tower's edge. She had no grappling hook, parachute, or Wade with a last-second save with an eighty-foot drop below them.

She curled her arms around Ron's waist and closed her eyes until a sudden stop surprised her. The jolt caused her to slide until she tightened her grip around Ron's bare ankles, and she risked a glance upward where he was holding onto a floating staff with one hand, with Rufus appearing dormant, resting on one end.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. So the naked molerat was a palisman after all?" Luz asked. "But you said Ron was human, and had never even heard of the Demon Realm!"

"I don't have all the answers, kid. I'm just telling you how it happened."

"Well, what happened to all these people in the last couple… decades. Wow, you are old." Amity asked, blushing slightly at her social faux pa.

Eda yawned, briefly narrowing her eyes at the pink-haired teen before answering. "Well, last I heard, that Drakken fellow wound up saving the world after mutating himself with my magical vines he had escaped with. As for the two teens and their little palisman, I imagine they went back to school or something but I hadn't heard anything about them on all the visits to the Human Realm after. World famous heroes? Hah!"

"Sorry, Eda. I'm not convinced." Luz added with a yawn. "It was a cool story though."