AUTHOR'S NOTE – Thanks a lot to all the people who read and reviewed Chapter Six: Michael Howard, CajunBear73, screaming phoenix, ZoeyChase08, diana & Kwebs! I'm glad you liked it, because it was my personal favorite chapter. :) But the next chapters are gonna be spankin', too! Thanks again to Michael Howard for helping me improve my translation! Well now, folks, enjoy Chapter Seven! ;)

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Chapter Seven: Bad Awakening

The muffled beeping sound of the kimmunicator from inside the nightstand drawer penetrated Kim's subconscious and woke her up from her dreams. Normally, she would have jumped up to accept the call immediately, but that morning, the first thought on Kim's mind was that she did not want to get up for anything in this world now. For the first time, ever since she had made it her business to save the world from maniacal villains, she found the beeping of her kimmunicator a nuisance. She felt indescribably good in this bed… and when she slowly opened her eyes a little at the next beep, she immediately knew why. Right next to her, Ron was lying, still fast asleep, with a very contented grin on his lips. That sight brought a happy smile to Kim's face as well. She could have looked at him like that for hours…

But then, another low beeping tune sounded from her kimmunicator. Kim did not know how many times it had been beeping already, but she realized that she should have reacted to it a long time ago already. Reluctantly, she turned around to her other side underneath the blanket and, lying on her stomach, reached out for the nightstand with her right hand. She missed it twice, before she finally got the drawer open, took out her kimmunicator wristband and activated it with the push of a button. Sleepily, she asked: "What's the sitch, Wade?"

"Kim, I've been beeping you for more than a minute now…" he remarked in a slightly mad tone. "Say, are you still sleeping?"

Kim's eyes had closed again soon after her question, but she opened them half-way again with a start and replied: "No, no, I'm awake…" However, she was not able to stifle a faint yawning at that moment. To be spared from further comments, she then asked right away: "So, is the car ready?"

"Um, yeah…" Wade answered hesitantly. "But those are not all the news. Something big happened tonight…"

A smile appeared on Kim's face at the thought of that night, and she uttered a dreamy: "Uh-huh, yeah…" But less than a second later, she snapped out of it again: "Uh, I mean… yeah, what?" she inquired, without showing her feelings.

Wade gave her a brief surprised look, before he explained: "Well, after I just couldn't get through to the headquarters of Global Justice, I noticed their whole system had crashed, so I went there as fast as I could. I could hardly believe it myself, but someone broke into the HQ, shut down their system from the inside and overpowered the whole team – and that someone was Drakken!"

"What?!" At once, Kim was considerably more awake than before. "How did he do that?"

"You can see that in the last recording of a surveillance camera…" Wade said and typed something on his keyboard. Now, a video appeared on the display: Within about two seconds, it showed Drakken grinning eerily into the camera, which was destroyed by a green plasma ray at that – and that ray definitely emerged from Drakken's hand!

In her shock, Kim would have almost dropped the kimmunicator wristband. "Drakken stole Shego's abilities?! No way!" she said in an appalled tone. "Why didn't I think of that? Guess it was too obvious…"

"And now, he also got the abilities of the GJ team – of everyone who was present at the HQ at that time, including Dr. Director!" Wade added. "They were all completely helpless when I arrived there…"

Kim sat up, careful to keep herself covered with the blanket, and told Wade: "You can tell me the rest later in the car, Wade. I think I have an idea where Drakken could strike next…" With that, she abruptly disconnected and looked over at the clock on the nightstand first: It was 7:30. How much lead might Drakken already have by now? Then, she turned to look at Ron. Apparently, he still had not woken up and kept smiling in his sleep.

"Ron?" No reaction – except for Ron's grin getting bigger.

"Ron!" She slightly shook his arm, but he still would not wake up.

"Ronnie, wake up!" Even that did not work.

After a brief moment of thinking, Kim concluded there were only two sure-fire methods to wake up Ron. As she did not have any nacos nearby – and she was glad about that –, she just gave him a very long kiss on the cheek. And indeed: As soon as Kim's lips withdrew from his face, Ron turned his head to the side with a low moan and ever so slowly opened his eyes half-way. He beamed at her and sighed in a sleepy, but happy voice: "Huh… KP, I had a wonderful dream…"

Kim smiled and answered carefully: "Uh, well, you know, Ron, I've got some good news for you on that…" And in a whisper, she said: "That wonderful thing was not a dream."

One second later, Ron's eyes went wide in awe, he blinked twice and looked at her in a surprised way. But soon, he was beaming again and uttered a low: "Booya…"

Kim grinned for a moment, but soon she continued with a serious expression: "The bad news is: We've got to get going right now!"

Disillusionment definitely woke Ron up, and his dreamy smile gave way to a disappointed expression. "Aw man…" he moaned.

Kim had jumped out of the bed by now, picked up the hotel bathrobe off the floor and put it on and was now burrowing through her small suitcase for their mission outfits. Ron sat up very slowly, rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and asked: "And what about bed and breakfast?"

At that, Kim threw his clothes over at him, saying: "No time for that!" Then, she ran for the bathroom, carrying her mission outfit under her arm. "And don't forget your beard, Mr. Brinestoop! Remember, we still have to check out," she stopped to remind him, before she disappeared into the bathroom.

While Ron was still trying to compose himself, the door to the bathroom opened a crack again, and he heard Kim shout, slightly startled: "Ah! Get out, Rufus!"

Soon after that, the naked mole rat slowly padded out of the bathroom on two tiny legs. His belly was a little larger than normally, and some peanut crumbs were stuck all around his mouth. When Kim slammed the door again, Rufus started uttering squeaking sounds that almost seemed like a giggle. Ron looked at him questioningly, and Rufus simply gave him a cheeky wink.

-xXOXx-

While Kim had had the presence of mind to put on the black wig again for checking out, Ron had successfully refused to wear the fake beard. His argument, that he could have shaved that morning, did not entirely convince Kim, but she finally accepted it. Fortunately, a different clerk was standing at the reception desk than the evening before. She did cast a few slightly confused glances at the two of them, but asked no further questions. As soon as they had left the hotel, Kim took off the wig again, and she and Ron were on their way to Wheeley's garage on the next street without further ado. On the way, Kim just filled Ron in with what Wade had told her. As soon as she had finished, they had arrived at the repair shop.

A short time later, Kim's car was dashing over the asphalt again on four new tires. Kim drove at a speed that allowed her to make headway fast, but at the same time did not require too much attention and concentration from her, as she immediately contacted Wade through the built-in kimmunicator system. Wade was the first to speak: "Good thing you're mobile again! I hope Mr. Wheeley did use the extra solid tires I had delivered to him this morning."

"Yeah, he did," Kim confirmed. "Thanks again, Wade."

"But he didn't quite make the list of our friendliest helpers ever," Ron spoke up indignantly. "He complained that he normally never opens his shop at 7 a.m. on a Sunday, and he wants to charge the repair to Kim's account!"

"I'm sure it will be paid by Global Justice," Wade soothed them and added hesitantly: "Well, as soon as they have their abilities and the ability transferator back, I think."

"Talking about Global Justice, did Drakken steal anything else from the HQ, apart from the abilities of the whole team?" Kim asked.

"He didn't," Wade answered. "But when I had gotten the system to work again, I discovered that another outpost of GJ was having a system crash. Apparently, Drakken broke in there right after his attack on the HQ. I used the communication system to send a warning to all outposts then."

"Successfully?"

"Apparently not," Wade said to his regret. "I could only watch as they were shut down one by one. Drakken must've attacked just about every outpost of GJ in the United States within the last few hours! In any case, I guess he had a pretty busy night."

At that, Ron looked in Kim's direction and suddenly started laughing embarrassedly, pulling at his shirt collar and clearing his throat exaggeratedly. Kim turned her head a little to the right and gave him a brief surprised look. Then she reacted – unlike Ron expected – with a slightly embarrassed smile as well.

"Uh, guys?" Wade interrupted in a confused tone. "What's up? Did I say something funny?"

Kim had snapped out of it soon and quickly cleared her throat: "Ahem, no, not really. Uh, listen, Wade, I did say I had a suspicion what Drakken could be up to now…"

"Okay…?" Confusion still had not entirely disappeared from Wade's voice. "What is it?"

"The explosion in Drakken's lair, the attacks on Global Justice… It seems like Drakken wants to take out the good guys. And he has Shego's abilities – including her Team Go powers!"

"So, you think he could have it in for Team Go?" Wade deduced.

"That'd be my guess," Kim confirmed. "That way, he could gain more superpowers to abuse them for evil and put a team of superheroes out of action at the same time."

Wade nodded: "Right. Since he already stole Shego's superpowers and her evil ways of thinking, I can imagine that, too. I'll send a warning to the Go Tower and keep an eye on the surroundings."

"And we'll jet to Go City!" Kim answered.

"But please be careful!" Wade warned them. "Drakken has never been more dangerous!" With that, he disconnected.

Kim was just about to push a button to activate the rocket propulsion of the car, but stopped, when Ron asked hesitantly: "Um, you think, Wade …uh …you know, …noticed something?"

She gave him a brief questioning look, while she lay her right hand, that had wanted to push the button before, back on the steering wheel and replied: "Well, I hope he'll call back as soon as he does."

Now, Ron was the one to look confused. A moment later, he shook his head and stuttered: "No, I mean… well, if he, uh… noticed, I mean… uh, like… could tell… before, uh… that we …you know?"

"Oh, that…" Kim said with a knowing grin, then replied in a serious voice: "Well, first: I don't think so. Second: That's so none of his business! And third: What Wade thinks of us should be the least of our worries at the moment…"

Ron's eyes went wide for a moment, and he said, almost shocked: "Please don't tell me you really totally switched to sitch again already?!"

Kim shrugged in an apologetic way and answered: "Okay, then I won't…"

Ron folded his arms, shook his head in disbelief and sighed: "Aw man! And I still don't know where you got that switch! Maybe I just didn't look closely enough…" At that last sentence, he grinned at her, waggling his eyebrows.

"Ron!" Kim said, slightly annoyed. "For the last time! I don't have a switch anywhere!" In a considerably calmer voice, she added: "It all happens up here." With that, she shortly pointed at her forehead.

Ron leaned to the left in his seat, looked closely at Kim's forehead and asked in an amazed voice: "Up there? I don't see a switch there, either…"

"Ro-on…!" Her warning tone and look did not exactly match the stifled grin on her lips.

"Okay, okay, I got it!" Ron exclaimed, while he fell back into his seat, quickly waving his arms in front of him in defence. Then, he dropped his shoulders and sighed: "Somehow, I can't help but wish I had a switch like that…"

At that, Kim pushed the button she had meant to use before, and the car literally went off like a rocket.

-xXOXx-

The black-and-green striped jet landed elegantly in front of the huge Go Tower. Seated in the cockpit were none less than Dr. Drakken and Shego. However, Drakken was sitting at the controls and not Shego, who normally was the only one able to fly that jet. At the moment, though, she was only in a position to be tensed up in a seat in the rear part of the cockpit, that was actually intended for prisoners. Drakken, on the other hand, had just made the most successful predatory attack of his life. It did take the whole night – and now the whole morning, too – but with that, Drakken had achieved his first goal: He had traced all outposts of Global Justice in North America – no matter how small they were –, shut them down, and took away the abilities of all those present there. While doing so, he had proceeded in an obscure order across the continent to always have the element of surprise on his side. As a result, the nations that chased and hunted for him the most – the USA and Canada – were now helpless. And until GJ reinforcements from other countries would arrive or even be ordered first, he would already be celebrating another triumph – and be as powerful as never before.

Having ended his attacks on GJ, Drakken quickly went back to his new lair once more in order to take Shego with him. There were two reasons for that: Firstly, she was supposed to see his triumph with her own eyes, naturally. And secondly, he had still needed one or the other piece of information from her, that he had not acquired during the ability transference. "So, the blue one is super strong, the purple one can shrink, and the twins can clone themselves, right?" Drakken asked over his shoulder with a grin.

"Yes, damn it!" Shego spluttered out uncontrollably. "Oh man, why did I just tell you all that?! And what am I supposed to be doing here, anyway?"

Drakken only grinned even broader, while he had a good grip on the ability transferator and held forth: "Then let's pay a visit to your dear brothers…"

-xXOXx-

Inside the Go Tower, only one of the five seats around the big table was taken at that time. On the purple-colored chair, the bored looking Mego was sitting, supporting his head with his one hand, drumming the fingers of his other hand on the table, while overdramatically lamenting to himself: "That's a real great job, alright: I can sit around here and have some 12-year-old super genius give me stupid orders! It's all like: 'Watch out, Mego, there's some wacked blue villain running around with some totally dangerous device!' As if I didn't have better things to do! I bet Hego would be totally thrilled. But naturally, he has more important things to do than taking care of the Go Tower! Bueno Nacho branch manager seminar week, duh! Well, at least I'm in charge around here for once!"

He had not noticed that during his last sentence, the huge steel door of the Go Tower had opened – only when he heard a more or less threatening voice coming from there: "Wrong! I am in charge around here now!"

Of course, it was Drakken, who was holding up the ability transferator ostentatiously in his one hand, and had pulled Shego close with his other hand. While Drakken marched towards him with a diabolical grin, Mego looked up in surprise and then replied unenthusiastically: "Oh, super. I told Hego a thousand times to finally do something about our super evil sister still getting access to the Go Tower with her great green glow! Well, how nice of you, sis, to introduce that crazy guy to me now, the one you left us for years ago."

When Drakken now faced him from the other side of the table together with Shego, she naturally could not suppress her reaction: "Mego, you complete idiot! He has… mmmph…"

At that moment, Drakken held his hand over her mouth and first said in a slightly disappointed manner: "Huh, the one with the lamest of all superpowers…"

"Hey!" Mego exclaimed in a huff, now rising from his seat with his arms akimbo. "Shrinking is actually the best of all superpowers!"

"If you say so, sonny. But now you better tell me where the rest of your bunch is, or else I might have to hurt your little sis!" Drakken threatened, though he would never even dream of doing anything to Shego – apart from the fact that he had stolen her abilities and they seemed like his own to him in the meantime.

Shego, who now had the opportunity to talk again, did seize it – however, because of her acute lack of self-control, not quite in the wisest of ways: "Argh, Dr. D, you're just so incredibly stupid! This is Mego, who doesn't care if you do anything to me, as long as you don't harm him!"

"Who says I won't harm him?" Drakken asked with a grin and pulled the trigger of the ability transferator, which he had aimed at Mego. But before the ray could hit him, Mego had activated his purple Team Go power – and had immediately shrunk down to the size of a mouse. Drakken crouched a little, looking under the table with a dumbfounded expression.

One second later, Mego grew back to his normal size, folded his arms and said with a content smile: "Oh yeah, shrinking is super!"

But that was a mistake! For now, Drakken shot up again – simply dropping Shego under the table while doing so – and fired at Mego with the ability transferator for a second time. He had not been prepared for that and was now surrounded by the energy ray. Weakened, Mego sank to the ground, while Drakken took up his abilities in his brain through the energy ray, laughing diabolically. After the transference, Drakken immediately tested his new superpower: Surrounded by the purple Team Go glow, he let himself shrink, easily wandered through under the table and grew back to his normal size as soon as he stood in front of the dazed Mego. Then, Drakken grabbed the now incapable superhero by the collar, pulled him up to face him and said in a studied friendly tone: "And now you'll certainly tell me where I can find your brothers…"

Mego already opened his mouth to answer – and he certainly would have told Drakken what he wanted to know, as he could not help it any longer. But just in time, he was interrupted…

"Don't answer, Mego! I think Drakken has more than enough abilities already!" Kim shouted, now standing in the open entrance door of the Go Tower together with Ron.

"Ah, Kim Possible!" Drakken grinned, while dropping Mego again and turning around. "And her sidekick! Back from Vancouver already? I do hope you enjoyed yourselves! Too bad I couldn't come to the Innovation Party, but I had a sudden change of plan – and I didn't think you would make it to the party!"

Kim and Ron exchanged a brief look. Those were a few snide remarks too much at a time, and to hear Drakken say them was quite unusual. While Ron was still stuck on the sentence "I do hope you enjoyed yourselves" in his thoughts, Kim had gotten a grip on herself again and took a defensive posture to show that she was ready for a fight. Mentally, however, she had not entirely prepared herself for the situation yet. She tried to imagine that she now had to compete against Shego, Mego and about 200 GJ members of unknown composition, united in one person – namely Drakken. And that was not an easy thing to imagine. Nevertheless, she replied with a challenging grin and a corresponding gesture in a self-confident tone: "Well then, bring it on, Drakken! Show us what you're able to do now!"

What Drakken now presented her was indeed a sight to behold: He leapt on the table, doing a somersault from a standing position, propelled himself a few feet into the air in the blink of an eye and shot a green plasma ray at Kim from the highest point. She immediately took Ron's hand and pulled him and herself out of the line of fire just in time. As soon as Drakken had elegantly landed on the floor, he fired with the green plasma once again. Kim and Ron quickly evaded in opposite directions. While Ron had taken cover behind a filing cabinet, Kim leapt for Drakken with several handsprings, steering clear of him. While she did so, he always missed her only by an inch. What Kim did not realize at first: He did not shoot at her with the green plasma any longer – but with the ability transferator!

When Kim landed on her feet a short distance away from Drakken, he shot at her again. Just in time, Kim ducked from the energy ray. And yet another ray came up to her, Kim quickly did a roll and was now at Drakken's feet. From down there, she tried to kick the ability transferator out of his hand, but he pulled the device up and away from her, parrying her kick with ease. Kim propped up on one hand, whirled around to throw Drakken off his feet with hers. But he leapt to the side just at the right moment, Kim kicked at thin air, the momentum whirling her around her axis once more. Her hand slipped off, and that sent her flying a few feet in the direction of the filing cabinet.

"Kim Possible, you think you're all that…" his voice suddenly sounded in typical Drakken manner, and just when Kim came to a stop – she was hit by the ray of the ability transferator! "…, but soon, you'll be nothing!"

"KIM!" Ron shouted, horrified, when he had to watch how the diabolically laughing Drakken stole the abilities of his girlfriend. After the transference, Kim collapsed on the floor dazed, Drakken was still laughing, louder and louder. Panic struck Ron, but he realized he had to do something this instance. First of all, he had to get Kim into safety! He rushed forward out of his cover, lifted Kim up off the floor and carried her, as best as he could, to the big table. Taking cover again beneath it, he carefully put Kim down on the floor and gently stroke her face with his hand.

"Uh… Ron?" Kim moaned quietly, slowly opening her eyes.

"KP…" Ron could not believe how weakened and helpless she appeared. That sight scared him out of his mind. But there was yet another feeling, gradually growing stronger than this sense of fear: A feeling of rage! In fact, a very specific kind of rage that Ron felt whenever someone or something that was dear to him was threatened. That rage was directed at Drakken, grew with every moment and activated a hidden supernatural power in Ron. Slowly, he got up, clenched his fists and growled at the now surprised looking Drakken, his voice getting louder and louder: "No one… takes… my girlfriend's abilities… away from her!"

End of Chapter Seven

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AUTHOR'S NOTE – Hope you liked this chapter! :) Well, looks like Ron's Mystical Monkey Power's kicking in… Will he be able to stop Drakken? Or will Drakken become even more powerful? Just wait and see to find out… ;)
As for the attacks on GJ… I know, 200 GJ members in North America doesn't sound that much, but I honestly have no idea how many there are, or even how many outposts – it just seems to me like GJ is more of a small, secret organisation. So, maybe I don't make much sense here, but let's just pretend there really aren't more… Or maybe some are out of the country, on another mission perhaps?
Well now, I'm sorry I always let you wait so long for new chapters, but you know, translating such long chapters takes its time. So, please be patient. Take care & see you around! :)