Ronshine Chapter 5, a kim possible fanfic

Chapter 5

As usual, Disney owns Kim Possible and all related characters. Any original characters seen here are figments of my imagination.

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"Is it ready?" Big Mike asked a servant that was hitching a horse to a wagon.

"Yes sir, I'm finishing up now."

"Great! I'll go see if Ron is ready to go." The giant said as he turned from the wagon towards the castle to find the youngest Stoppable. Fortunately, he did not have to go far, because he saw Ron and his brothers exiting the castle.

"Hey Big Mike, we're ready to go now." Ron said as he neared the giant.

"Great, well I had my servants ready a horse and cart for you. They just finished loading it and the horses are ready to go."

"Loading it? With what?" Ron was confused. He did not see why they needed a cart.

Big Mike grinned and led the blond teen over to the cart. He lifted the cover and showed Ron why he needed a cart. The teen's eyes bulged out, his jaw dropped and he started stammering. The back of the cart was filled to the brim will gold, sliver, and jewels! Ron nearly fainted from shock. Jake and Will saw this behavior and wondered why he was geeking out more than usual. They peered around their brother to see what he was looking at, and…they had the same reaction as the blond teen when they saw what was in the cart.

"Wwww—WHAT IS THIS!" Ron blurted out when his mind started working again. "I wasn't expecting all this. I thought it would be a few handfuls and that would be it!"

"There are a few handfuls in there...if you have hands my size." The giant smirked at his joke.

"Hehe." Ron laughed nervously. He was still trying to recover from his shock. "I don't know what to say, other than, 'thank you!'"

"You're welcome. I just wanted you to know how thankful I am that you helped me, even though you didn't have to."

Ron nodded and smiled with a big goofy grin. He had to fight back tears. He was so happy, that he felt like he was going to bust at the seams. Then, after a few minutes of pleasantries and small talk, it was time to go. The three brothers made sure the cover on the cart was tied tight so its contents could not be seen. Ron thanked Big Mike again for his generosity and the trio left for Middleton.

-()-()-()-()-()-()-

The trip home was a tedious one as Ron insisted on taking things slow, despite the fact that he wanted to get home to his mother and Kim. It was almost as if they were walking instead of riding in a horse drawn cart. He was afraid to go too fast incase he tired the horses or spilled any of the cart's contents. He was sure that it was so full that any little jumble or bump in the road would spill some of the money or jewels out of the cart.

It was just getting dark as the three brothers approached the outskirts of Lowerton. Ron figured that they were about five miles from the town. "What do you two want to do? Spend the night in Lowerton or try to make it home tonight?" He was willing to go straight through, but it had been a long day, and he thought that his brothers might want to call it a night early.

"I'm up for whatever. I want to get home, but I'm kind of tired and I'm hungry." Jake said in response.

"Yeah, I don't care; either way is fine with me." Will added.

"Well, if we go home tonight, we can get a few things around the house done before we pick Mom up from Kim's house tomorrow. It'll be too late to bring her home when we get back." Ron said, thinking aloud.

"Sure." Both Will and Jake said quietly. The were quiet for most of the trip, except for asking Ron a few questions about their mother and how he found them, but other than that, they kept to themselves.

Ron nodded and concentrated on the road. He tried to make nice and have a few conversations with his brothers throughout the trip, but they were not interested in talking. He figured that they had a lot on their minds; today had been crazy for all of them. Ron decided to leave them to their thoughts so he could get back to his own. He knew that a lot of good could come of this money, not only for his family and Kim's, but also for Middleton. If the weather ever got better, maybe they could buy more land, hire some workers, plant a variety of crops, and give them away to those in need, instead of selling the crops to them. Also, he thought about donating money to the town's people to help them get back on their feet. These thoughts put a smile on Ron's face. He liked helping people, and now he was in a position where he could help them.

Ron's thoughts then turned to what his brothers said to him in the cell. He knew they did not like working on the farm, and they both wanted to get out on their own. He wanted his brothers to be happy, so he planned on giving them some money so they could start their own lives. He just hoped that they did not waste it.

As the three brothers neared Lowertown, they saw someone sitting by the side of the road. When they got closer, they noticed that it was a woman. She had her head down, and she was crying. "Excuse me Miss, do you need some help?" Ron said to the woman when he stopped the cart next to her. She never looked up at them, so Jake and Will went to help her up.

"Can we take yo—uunh," Ron groaned, as he was hit on the head from behind and fell forward off the cart onto the ground. His vision was blurred from the hit, but even with his impairment, he saw two men with masks come around the cart and attack his brothers. Will and Jake fought to protect themselves, but after a few well-placed hits, it was clear that they were losing to the bigger men. Then, one of the men punched Will in his stomach, pushing him into Jake. The two brothers stumbled from the force and fell to the ground in front of the wagon, out of the reach of their attackers. They looked at each other for a split second, and then they took off running towards town, leaving Ron behind.

Ron tried to stand, but he was having a hard time maintaining his balance. He was on his hands and knees when he looked up and made eye contact with the woman that lured them into this trap. She looked familiar to him, but he was not sure why. "What-" was all he said before he was hit on the head again, and everything went black.

-()-()-()-()-()-()-

"I'm not sure that this is a good idea, Joe?" A large man asked as he tied an unconscious Ron to a chair in a dimly lit barn. "We've never taken anyone before. We've always just roughed them up a bit, robbed them, and left them by the road."

"I don't know, Sam. Camille said that she saw this guy in town the other day, so there's a chance he recognized her."

"Well, I still don't like it. What about the other two, won't they come looking for him and all that money?"

"They could, but they don't know what we look like, and they never saw her face."

"Ok, but what are we going to do with this one. We can't keep him, and if we let him go, he could tell the magistrate about her. Dad will have a hard time trying to explain this."

"He won't have to. Look, the whole town thinks the family is rich. There's enough money in this cart that we won't have to rob travelers again. All we have to do is get rid of this guy, and no one will be the wiser."

"I guess you're right."

"Of course I am. Now, let's go talk to Dad and figure out the best way to do it."

Sam nodded in response and double-checked the ropes that tied Ron's hands and feet to the chair before he followed his brother out of the barn. Joe made sure that the barn was locked, because they had nowhere to put their large amount of 'new found' money, so they left it in the cart for the time being.

When it was quiet, and he was sure that they were alone, Rufus scurried out of Ron's pocket and looked up at his unconscious friend. He climbed up to Ron's shoulder and started a desperate chatter in his ear. He had heard everything that was said between the robbers, so he made sure to stay out of sight so they would not know he was there. The naked mole rat knew he had to wake his friend up before they came back or things could get really bad for them.

-()-()-()-()-()-()-

"Do…you…think…we're…safe…now?" Will sputtered as he bent over and put his hands on his knees so he could catch his breath. Despite the fact that it was cold outside, the sweat was pouring off him.

Jake was propped against a tree hoping that it would help him feel better. He had ran so hard and fast, that he wanted to throw up. "I…think…so." He responded. He figured that if their attackers wanted to chase after them, they would have caught up with them by now, but he had a feeling that once they saw what was in the back of the cart, they would forget about them.

The two brothers stayed where they were for a few more minutes until their breathing returned to normal. They could see Lowerton in the distance and they wanted to get there as quickly as they could without drawing attention to themselves. They thought that if they stayed the night at the tavern, they would be safe and they could make it to Middleton by early afternoon.

"Ok, how much money do you have?" Will asked as they approached the tavern.

Jake balked at his brother's question, "What makes you think I have any money? Mike took everything from us when he put us in that cell."

"I know you took a few coins and put them in your pocket when we were tying the cover on the cart." Will was not buying his brothers mock innocence.

"Fine." Jake signed as he reached into his pocket to see how much he had. He soon realized that he had dropped a few coins either during the fight or during their mad dash to safety. "I only have a pound coin left. What about you?"

"Ha, you're right I took some too, but whatever I had in my pocket fell out during the fight."

"Well, we have enough to get us through the night anyways."

"Yeah, I'm hungry!"

They walked into the tavern and saw a few people eating in there, but for the most part, it was quiet. They noticed that the table that they used during their first visit was open so they went and sat down. About a minute later, Amy came to take their order.

"Look who we have here!" The plump woman squealed when she saw them. "It's the two cutie pies again!" The brothers cringed from the over dose of energy and pep, but they endured it and just sat there.

"Hi." Jake and Will said flatly. They were in no mood for the woman, but they could not be rude or mean to her since they wanted a safe place to sleep later.

"Oh, my! What happened to you two?" Amy asked when she got a better look at them. Their faces showed heavy bruising and swelling from the beating that they had taken earlier, and Jake had a small cut on his left eyebrow.

"It's nothing. We got into an argument on our way here and you know, boys will be boys and fight with each other." Will lied to the woman. They did not know what their attackers looked like so there was a chance that they could be attacked again if someone over heard them talking about it. It was just safer to keep their mouths shut, so he made up a story so she would drop the subject

"Oh, ok." Amy chirped. She was satisfied with the answer and she actually believed it. "You know…your other brother was here the other day looking for you, did he ever find you?"

The two stiffened when Amy mentioned Ron. They knew it was wrong of them to run off and leave him lying on the ground with their attackers, but they were in survival mode at the time and it was every man for himself. "Yeah, we saw him, but he had something come up tonight so we said that we would meet up with him later." Jake hoped the woman bought the lie, because he was not going to explain the situation to her.

"Oh. Well, I'm sure you're hungry, two specials, and two ales?"

"Yes, please." Jake answered. Amy nodded and then left to get their food.

After the woman was out of hearing distance, Will had to ask the question that had been on his mind. "What are we going to do about Ron?"

"I don't know." Jake said and paused to think about the situation. "I bet he's ok. Those guys were just looking to rob us. When they see how much money is in that cart, they'll be in such a hurry to get it out of sight that they'll forget all about Ron."

"You think?"

"Yeah, he might show up here tonight. We'll tell Amy that if he shows up, to send him to our room and if he isn't here by morning, we'll just ask her to tell him that we went home. He has to come through here to get to Middleton, and you know he'll ask about us."

Will nodded and let the subject drop. He hoped that Ron showed up, because if he was not with them by morning, he had no idea what he was going to tell his mother.

-(?)-

Ron woke up from his unconscious state, and groaned in pain as the memories of the attack flooded into his mind. His head throbbed, his neck was stiff, and his legs and arms where bound behind his back, restraining him to a chair. He struggled to free himself, but was unable to loosen the ropes enough for him to escape. He looked around at his surroundings; it was dark, but he could tell that it was a barn from the light of a small lantern.

Rufus, who was asleep in Ron's lap, was awaken by the teen's desperate struggle to free himself. The little mole rat was so happy to see that his friend was awake, that he jumped up in excitement and chattered to get Ron's attention.

"Hey little buddy, what's going on?" Usually Ron could understand Rufus, but this time he was unable to understand the frantic mole rat. "Whoa! Whoa! Slow down. My head is still a little fuzzy from those two hits. Now tell me, where are we?"

Rufus tried to calm his nerves so he would be able to tell Ron what kind of trouble he was in, but he found it hard to do so. He took a few deep breaths and sat down hoping it would help. Unfortunately, before he was able to calm down enough so he could be understood, the door to the barn opened. Ron looked up at the door and saw five people entering the barn, three men, and two women, and they were carrying travel cases. Rufus saw the group of people enter the barn as well and scurried into Ron's pocket. He knew that they were unaware of his presence, so he figured he should hide, just incase he could help later on.

Ron noticed Rufus' behavior and wondered why his friend was acting like that, but he did not question it, he had more pressing questions on his mind. "Where am I, and how long have I been here?" He asked the group with a pained expression.

"It doesn't matter where you are, but if you must know, you've been here for about a day and a half." A man that looked like he was his father's age answered with an irritated tone.

"Ok, can you tell me why I'm here?"

The man let out a long sigh and glared at his children before he answered, "You're here because my daughter wasn't careful and let you see her face. Had you not see her face, you would have been left by the road, but since you did, we had to keep you out of sight until we decided on what we were going to do with you."

Ron looked at the younger woman and at first, he could not remember where he recognized her from, but then he noticed the blue gloves that where on her hands and it all came back to him. She was the same girl that he saw in the general store when he was asking about his brothers.

"I don't even know who she is, if you let me go, I won't tell anyone!" Ron pleaded with the group.

"That doesn't matter. You saw me and now you've seen them, so we can't take the chance and let you go. There's too much at stake." Camille said exasperated.

"What's at stake? The money? Take it, I don't care, just let me go!"

"Dude, you aren't listening!" Joe shouted as he stalked over to Ron and raised his fist, as if he was going to punch him in the face. "We can't let you go. Now, shut up about it. I'm sick of your whining already!"

"That's enough!" Mr. Leon said in a loud, but calm voice. "Joe, Sam, get the horses and our carriage ready. Camille, take these sacks and fill them with money from the cart. Once you get that taken care of, we'll gag him and put him in a trunk on the back so he can't be seen."

"Wh-Where are we going?" Ron asked. He did not like what he was hearing and he was scared of what was going to happen to him.

"London!" Camille squealed with excitement. She loved going to London, and now they had an excuse to go. She and her mother were going to have a great time shopping with their new money.

"Why?"

"Because, we're going to make it look like we're going away for a holiday, but in reality, we're putting you on a ship bound for an Australian penal colony so-" Mrs. Leon did not finish her sentence due to Ron's outburst.

"WHAT?" He screeched when he heard that. "I HAVE A SICK MOTHER TO TAKE CARE OF AND I'M GETTING MARRIED! I CAN'T BE SENT TO AUSTRAILIA! TAKE THE MONEY AND LET ME GO, PLEASE! Ron had tears in his eyes and he was trembling. He hoped that his sad and almost desperate pleas would change their minds.

"GRR! What did I say about your whining?" Joe growled as he ran over to where Ron was to hit him.

"Stop it!" Mr. Leon said as he grabbed his son's wrist. "We don't have time for this! Now go do what you were told." Joe huffed as he pulled his wrist from his father's grip and returned to the horses. Mr. Leon turned and looked at the trembling teen and he actually felt sorry for him, but he could not take the chance and let him go. There was no way that someone who had as much money as this kid did, would just give it up without trying to get it back. He really thought that sending Ron to a penal colony was better than the alternative. There was nowhere in England that they could take him that he could not find his way back to Lowerton, and he did not have the heart to kill the poor boy, so sending him to Australia was the best choice, because once he was there, there was little to no chance that he would ever return to England.

Ron sat in utter shock as and thought of his mother and Kim. "This CAN'T be happening! Not now! Mom needs me, it would break her heart, and Kim's if I just disappeared and never returned. God there has to be a way out of this!" The blond teen looked around the barn looking for anything that would help him get away. He saw a few garden and farming tools lying around, unfortunately, he could not get to them with his hands and legs tied to a chair. Ron sighed and dropped his head in frustration. "There has to be a way out of here! Come on, think Ron!" He closed his eye tightly hoping that it might him help him come up with a plan.

Ron knew that he was never very good at coming up with a plan on the fly. Kim was the one that could think quickly when the pressure was on. He on the other hand, had to give the situation some thought before he could come up with a solution. He just hoped that he came up with something before he was put on a ship. "If I had know that we were going to be attacked I would have driven the cart a little faster so we could have reached town before dark; that way we would never have been in any danger of being robbed." Then, just as he finished his thought, his eyes shot open and moved to the bag that was tied to his rope belt. One word in that thought sent his mind into motion…'Danger.' Suddenly he remembered Sensei's words, "If you are ever in a situation where you are in danger, call to the bag, and it will come to your aid." Ron had forgotten all about the bag that Sensei had given him, because he did not see how a bag of flowers could help him, but at this point, he was willing to try anything to get out of his current predicament.

"Okay, Dad we're done. Do you want me to knock him out again before we gag him?" Sam said pointing at Ron.

"Maybe we should, that way he'll be out for most of the trip."

Ron knew that it was now or never, "Uhh…magic bag…I could use a little help here." He whispered. He waited a few seconds and watched in awe as the bag began to shake. It was not a very noticeable, but if you were looking directly at the bag, you would have seen it move. Ron's concentration on the bag was broken when he saw movement from his right side. He turned to see Sam approaching him with a wooden club. The blond teen flinched and turned his head away when the bigger man lifted the club to hit him. Then, he felt the bag jerk and heard two loud cracks. Ron opened his eyes just in time to see Sam fall to the ground unconscious. He turned to the source of the noise and what he saw amazed him.

There was a large stick, about five feet long and an inch and a half thick, floating in the air. The other members of the Leon family gasped in surprise at the sight. Then, as if on cue, their surprise turned to anger. Joe grabbed the closest thing to him, which was a rake and charged the staff. The staff moved forward and engaged its aggressor. When Joe swung his rake at the staff, it dodged his advance and instantly transformed itself into a sword, cutting the rake in half. Then the blade turned back into a staff and jabbed Joe in the stomach. When he doubled over in pain, it hit him in the back of the head, knocking him out.

Mr. Leon did not have as much luck in this situation as his sons did, if you could call it luck. As soon as the staff neutralized Joe, it flipped behind Mr. Leon faster than the middle age man could react and knocked him out in one blow. Then, what happened next, Ron found amusing. The staff turned its attention to the frightened women in the barn and slowly moved toward them. In their efforts to avoid the staff, they started to run around the barn in an erratic fashion. Unfortunately, for them, they were not paying attention to where they were going and ran into each other at full speed. The mother and daughter bounced off each other and lay unconscious on the ground.

When it was clear that nothing else posed a threat to the teen, the staff returned to Ron, shrunk in size, and disappeared into the bag. Ron could hardly believe his eyes. "Rufus." He called in an anxious tone. The little mole rat poked his head out of his pocket, looked up at this friend, and then looked around the room at the five unconscious people. He had heard the commotion earlier, but he stayed hidden in his owners pocket so he would not be noticed.

"How?" Rufus squeaked in confusion.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you. You had to see it." Ron answered. "Hey, can you get me out of these ropes?"

"Uh-huh!" The little mole rat squeaked and gave Ron a little salute. He climbed down Ron's legs and chewed at the ropes that held the teen's legs. Then he climbed up the chair and freed his hands.

"Boo-yah!" Ron cheered and rubbed his wrists. "Thanks, Rufus!"

"Welcome." The naked mole rate squeaked and gave his friend a thumbs-up.

The blond teen then looked in the bag tied to his belt. He was not sure what he was expecting to see, but when he peered into the bag, he saw the same flower blossoms that were in there earlier. "I will NEVER underestimate these flowers again!" He thought to himself. Ron then closed the bag and turned to Rufus, "Hey buddy, lets get the horses hitched to the wagon and get out of here before they wake up." The naked mole rat nodded excitedly and perched himself on the teen's shoulder. "I really want to get home to Mom and Kim. I can't wait to see their faces when they see what's in the back of this cart!"

Next time: Ron returns home and deals with the aftermath of his trip

A/N: Ok, that's another chapter finished! Let me know what you think and thanks for reading!