Chapter 6: Progress and Completion
"Please explain what you are attempting to accomplish," due to the flat nature of the synthesized voice, it was difficult for Amy to determine if the statement was a demand or a request.
"Of course," Amy had been expecting this meeting for weeks. "First, how much do you know about genetics?"
"Little more than a high school student," the man admitted. "You will need to use layman's terms to explain what you are doing."
"I can do this," Amy agreed. In fact, she knew very well that her employer wasn't a technical genius in any cutting-edge scientific field. She had asked the question to determine if he had some delusions about understanding her cutting-edge work. She didn't need to worry, he had made his staggering fortune by finding commercial applications for scientists' cutting edge work. He also had a well-earned reputation for compensating and recognizing these scientists for their work.
"My ultimate goal is, of course, to provide you with a perfectly healthy, functional, permanent body," she continued. "In order to do this, I must perfect a technique I call gene prompting. I will find your genetic ideal; actually I have already done that, then I will add some…repair genes to your body and prompt these genes to correct the imperfections."
"Question…haven't you already perfected genetic manipulation…question."
"I have already managed to mix two, living creatures, genetically, into a single being. However, when I do this, the resulting creature is unstable. First, the creature has a limited life span and secondly, the creature tends to be highly aggressive. We are not trying to create a random hybrid here, we're altering your living body to what it should have been."
"Question…what are repair genes…question."
"Repair genes my be an incorrect term…restructuring genes is a better descriptor. I make use of butterfly and moth genetics for this. You understand why these insects spin cocoons, don't you?"
"It has something to do with maturing from their caterpillar to their adult forms."
"Exactly, they completely restructure their bodies. Your cure will take four steps: The first step, finding your genetic ideal, is finished. Secondly, I will take cell samples from your body and alter their DNA to match this ideal. Third, I will return these cells to your body and inject behavioral hormones so that these cells replace your existing cells. Finally, I will place you in what I call an artificial womb, inject these restructuring cells into you body, and activate them. Your body will restructure itself to match your cells' new genetic configuration, which will be your genetic ideal."
"Question…what progress have you made at this time…question."
"I'll show you," Amy offered, leading him to a series of pens. "My first step is complete. Here you see where I have mixed added desirable genetics traits from one creature onto an existing creature." She gestured to her hybrid animals. "Here, I have injected specific DNA traits from one animal into another."
DNAmy's employer saw three pens, each of which held four creatures he had never seen before.
"Badgealope, Wolfaroo Rat, and Bearairie Dog," Amy explained. "I derived the first species by splicing certain badger traits into an antelope, the second by adding kangaroo rat aspects to a wolf and the third by adding prairie dog traits to a black bear. I accomplished all of this by using the technique I explained earlier."
"Question…are you ready for me at this time…question."
"No," Amy shook her head. "It took me two tries to perfect the technique to get the results you see. The results of the failed tests were…unpleasant and nauseating. I won't proceed with you until I've perfected the technique for your, unique application."
"Question…how will you know you have perfected the technique…question."
"My testing will go as follows," Amy replied. "I am moving to primates, for the genetic similarity. First, I shall cut off a monkey's arm and use this technique to re-grow the severed appendage. Secondly, I shall use this technique to cure a monkey suffering from Multiple Sclerosis. Finally, I shall convert a spider monkey into a howler monkey. When I can perform these tasks consistently, I will know that I'm ready to fulfill my obligation to you. Please be patient."
"Patience is not difficult," the man's face twitched into what might have been an attempt at a grin. "You have an actual plan and have made more progress in four weeks than the rest of my experts have in years. It is fortunate that I established this laboratory in Belize, where monkeys are plentiful and the officials more…forgiving. I will now return to my corporate offices in the States. Continue your work. Keep me updated as to your progress and let me know if you require anything."
"You question my judgement, child?" Sensei's voice was gentle, his statement truly a question and not a challenge. He and Yori watched the dwindling figures of Kim and Ron, descending the mountain on their way back to their home.
"Never, Master," Yori protested.
"You will never speak so," the old man smiled at his pupil. "But you still question in your mind. Speak these questions now! Seeking my reasons is part of your education."
"Very well, Master. Why did you not inform Possible-san about the Lotus Blade, and why did you not tell her that Stoppable-san is the keeper of the blade?"
"I do this to safeguard our school, young one. Possible-san is very aggressive and driven to succeed. If she knew of the weapon under Stoppable-san's command, she would be tempted to utilize it in the course of her life. Stoppable-san is devoted to her and would not hold back if she requested he make use of the blade. I do not wish Yamanouchi to be exposed so that Team Possible can hinder a trivial crime."
"This makes sense to me, master, but what about Stoppable-san? Did you inform him of the full extent his…influence…over primates could attain?"
"No, child," the elder shook his head. "Stoppable san is a very good boy but his devotion to Possible-san's well being could work against him. If he were to know that his influence will eventually grow to include all primates, including humans, he may be tempted to use this influence to assist or defend Possible-san."
"Stoppable-san would never force another to do his bidding!" Yori protested.
"I agree that it is highly unlikely," Sensei agreed. "But if he were put into a situation where he could use this influence to save a life, he would use this influence. I choose to keep such temptation away from him until such time that he is better prepared to confront it." The old man grew more thoughtful than usual. "His past has given him a very strong sense of morality. The influences that his friends, teachers, parents, and religious figures have exerted upon him have made him uniquely acceptable to the Mystical Monkey Power. I wonder if another could be molded in the same manner."
"I do not understand, Master." Yori admitted.
"I am not sure if I do," Sensei smiled at her. "I am merely an old man pondering some possibilities. Stoppable-san's life, his upbringing, has left him in a position to attune himself, very harmoniously, to the Mystical Monkey Power. It would be most beneficial to attune others in the same manner. The question is how to perform this feat."
"Another would need to experience his life," Yori answered. "Wouldn't they?"
"Perhaps child, but a life once lived can never be perfectly duplicated. I wonder how to go about giving Stoppable-san's experiences to another. One would need to be raised as he did, in his household and with the same influences. Yet therein lies a dilemma; having one raised this way, strictly to gain access to the Mystical Monkey Power would be a moral wrong. How could we cause one to be raised in this manner, without crossing that ethical boundary?"
"I do not know, Master," Yori responded.
Master and student thought deeply as they watched the two Americans vanish into the distance.
Kim and Ron strode down the trail from Yamanouchi. While both had some sore muscles, they were happy and content. They had both learned a great deal in the past month and, despite the long days and hard work, had grown closer to each other. Where the trail was wide enough to walk side by side, they held hands.
"So, what did you think about my…third home?" Ron asked.
"Third home?"
"Yeah, my own home is my first home, your house is my second home, so that means that Yamanouchi is my third home."
"Quite the place," Kim giggled. "The food is different, the beds are nice and firm but the exercise program makes strenuous an understatement." She paused, then gave Ron's (very solid) stomach a playful swat. "But I can't argue with the results."
"It does a body good, doesn't it?" Ron grinned back.
"It's been good for both of us," Kim replied, then sighed. "But there are still secrets, aren't there?"
"Yeah, there are," Ron admitted. "But I can accept that."
"Why, Ron?" Kim demanded. "If you're going to become even stronger, shouldn't you know everything?"
"I don't think so," he answered. "Sensei explained his reasons to me. He used your brothers as an example."
"The tweebs? What do they have to do with this?"
"Think of it," Ron explained. "They have incredible knowledge but no restraint. The only thing that keeps them from being even more dangerous is the fact that they don't have the resources to build the things they want to. Hopefully, by the time they're old enough to gain these resources, they'll have the restraint to not do some of the things they want to. With me, I have a lot of growing up to do before I'll be responsible enough to handle the full MMP. Sensei said that I'll grow up best doing what I'm doing right now, helping you help people. He'll arrange for me to come back next summer, as well."
"What about me? Will I be invited?"
"To be honest, KP," he said, flustered about his oversight, "I didn't think to ask."
Kim fumed for a few minutes before realizing that she was living a little bit of Ron's world. She was experiencing being the one who could be overlooked. She wondered at the fact that Ron had put up with it so well, for so long.
"I know I've asked you this before," she broke the silence after a few minutes. "But I'm going to ask again. Are you sure that your Mystical Monkey Power didn't make you a better wrestler, and are you sure that you can keep from using it to be a better football player? I don't think that it wouldn't be fair to the competition, sort of like using steroids or something."
"KP, the MMP has not, and will not, affect something as trivial as high school sports, at least not directly."
"What do you mean, directly?" Kim's tone had taken on a growling aspect, making Ron feel like she had caught him slipping an extra dessert at a buffet.
"The only full-time thing that it does for me is enhance my Tai Sheng Pek Kwar abilities. Because it enhances these abilities, I can practice the art harder than I could without it. This enhanced workout increases my strength, speed, and balance faster than without the MMP. So it sort of enhances my wrestling in a back-door sort of way."
Kim thought this through, trying to find some sort of immorality in the situation. Finally, she had to concede that there wasn't any. After all, he was practicing his martial arts for a worthy cause. It wasn't his fault that this practice made him a better athlete.
"Okay, fair enough," she gave in. "When do you think I can turn my kimmunicator back on? Wade also has our chips disabled, since we didn't want anyone to track us while at Yamanouchi. When can we have him re-enable them?"
"How about once we reach the road and are waiting for the bus," Ron suggested, after a moment's consideration. "It's a public road, so it won't be letting in any secrets if we're tracked to that location."
"By the way, what happened to that monkey you influenced to not attack you outside the gym?" Kim wondered why that tidbit of curiosity suddenly popped into her head.
"She lived in my tree house for about a week, then Wade arranged for transport to Central America." Ron grinned. "She'd had enough of all the fighting for power and world domination. She just wanted to be a monkey for the rest of her life. I think that makes her smarter than me."
Kim giggled at her boyfriend, conceding his point. "Where did you guys send her?"
"Belize, it's a small country and it's part of a spider monkey's natural range. That gave her the best chance of getting into the forest and finding a group willing to take her in. If they attack her, she does have the ninja training."
The two teens continued their walk, enjoying the solitude, the fact that they weren't being drilled relentlessly, and each other's company. Finally, they reached the road and Kim clicked on her kimmunicator. Wade answered within moments.
"Whoa, dude!" Ron exclaimed. "Don't you ever sleep? What time is it there, anyway?"
"Don't ask," Wade replied. "I was kind of waiting for your call, a lot has happened this last month and I'm ready to fill you in on the major issues. By the way, can I get your chips back on line?"
"Sure Wade," Kim answered. "What do you have for us?"
"First of all, the news media is going berserk requesting interviews," Wade started. The teens could see and hear him working his keyboard as he spoke. "I've been able to hold them off by informing them that the two of you are at this cultural exchange but if they don't get some quotes fairly soon, they're going to start getting aggressive."
"Try to set up a briefing with one of the federal prosecutors," Kim requested. "Have the prosecutor brief us on what we can and can't say, then we'll set up some interviews. Let's make some guidelines right now; any interview is going to be with both Ron and myself, and we won't discuss anything that might interfere with the pending legal cases."
"Got it," Wade agreed. "And I've got your chips back on line. Speaking of prosecutors, Motor Ed and Drakken have both plea-bargained, so there won't be any trial for either one. Fisk has been found mentally incompetent to stand trial, so you won't have to worry about testifying against him, either. Shego's going to be the problem."
"That's supposed to be news?" Kim grumbled.
"It looks like she's going to fight her charges," Wade explained, with a smile at Kim's remark. "Drakken took most of the guilt onto himself when he made his deal, so Shego has a real chance of keeping her time to a minimum. In fact, as Drakken's official head of security, she will probably claim that she was well within her rights to act the way she did at Bueno Nacho."
"What?" Ron didn't understand legal issues very well.
"Shego's job description was to keep intruders out of Bueno Nacho," Wade pointed out. "And the two of you hadn't presented any sort of warrant. That gave her the right to attack the two of you when you showed up."
"Wait a minute," Kim protested. "She was securing a facility, and persons, engaged in an illegal activity. Secondly, she was using lethal force with no authorization and we have Code Seven authorization from Global Justice. This allows us to investigate global conspiracies, if we have reasonable suspicion, and to halt any such activities we discover. We had full justification for our actions!"
"I know," Wade sighed. "Defining who knew what, and when, is going to make for one really nasty trial. Global Justice has been working with Oscar and Cindy, getting them ready for some nasty innuendo. It might be a good idea for the two of you to get ready for some, as well."
"See if you can schedule us in, please and thank you," Kim instructed her technical backup. "Anything else?"
"Yeah, the local, state, and federal agencies let Channel 6 show the footage they took of your fight on Bueno Nacho's roof. They started showing it yesterday. That's why the media want their interviews so bad. The footage has also generated a lot of hits on the site."
"What kind of hits?" Kim obviously dreaded the answer.
"The vast majority are positive," Wade explained. "Stuff like 'is Ron okay', 'you guys are the greatest' and things like that. About one half of one percent are negative, demanding to know why Ron killed such a cute guy."
"WHAT!" Both of Team Possible's field operatives were so stunned that they didn't think of calling the jinx.
"Hey, there's more that 250 million people living in our country alone," Wade clarified. "Not to mention the rest of the world. At least of few of them are bound to be swayed by a pretty face."
"Like I was," Kim muttered.
"We've been over this," Ron had no intention of letting her wallow in self-loathing. "You changed your attitude once you realized what he…er…it was, so don't put yourself in the same boat as them. You made a mistake and you learned from it. Case closed and on to the next issue."
Kim didn't answer verbally. She simply threw her arms around his neck and planted her mouth on his.
"Uh, guys," Wade interrupted. "Could you hold off on that while we have an inter-continental communications channel open?"
"Sorry Wade," Kim apologized. "I just realized, again, that I have the best boyfriend in the world." Ron turned bright red.
"Um, okay. I don't really have much more to say. I'll give you a more detailed briefing when you get in. Enjoy your trip back." The young genius wiggled his eyebrows suggestively before signing off.
Kim and Ron had a good laugh at that, but both were thinking the same thing: Dealing with the media and the court proceedings might make the Yamanouchi training seem easy.
Again, big thanks to my beta; Joe Stoppinghem.