ueI do not own any Disney characters named herein, and am only borrowing them to tell a nonprofit tale meant for entertainment purposes only.
Kim Possible: Impossible Journey
By LJ58
9
"I'm getting a reading again," Jim told his father excitedly as the probe now floated on the once again calm sea after a long, roiling storm that had them tossed violently even under the surface. It was as if the entire body of water were being agitated by whatever forces had conjured that storm, but true to his word, Dr. Possible's space probe turned mole had been more than capable of riding out the chaotic forces.
"Which direction," James Possible asked, still focused on the instruments before him, making sure nothing had been shaken lose during their rough ride.
"This makes no sense," Jim frowned. "I get a reading thirty degrees port. It's like they only skimmed to the left of the beach rather than trying to cross the main body."
"I doubt they could manage if they faced a storm like we did," Bonnie pointed out. "Maybe they had to turn to the side?"
"Maybe," Ron murmured.
"What are you thinking?"
"Maybe they were herded. Like those guys in the book. While they took the direction as being natural forces, what if there is someone down here, and they don't want us going in certain directions?"
"Actually, that could be possible," James Possible murmured. "Still, we're not down here for any alleged madmen, or…whatever. We're here for Kimmie-Cub. So I'm turning port. Keep your eyes open, boys. I want us on a direct course as soon as possible. I don't want to miss them now that we're getting close."
"I've got a land mass rising in…..roughly thirty kilometers," Tim pointed out on the navigation console. "And that is the same direction as the genetic track. They must have beached there."
"Full ahead," Dr. Possible smiled grimly, and the engines hummed loudly as the converted space probe powered through the still waters toward their destination.
"Piece of cake," Jim and Tim grinned.
"Just as long as we don't see any more of those oversized….things," Bonnie shuddered.
"Hey, the electric charge we sent through the skin sent them packing. No big," Jim told her. "And they were probably a genus of plesiosaurus based on…."
"I don't care," Bonnie hissed. "I'd rather not see one again."
"I'm with her," Ron told them.
"Lightweights," Tim muttered.
"Let's focus, boys. Remember why we're here," their father cut them off.
"I wonder how far ahead of us they are now," Ron asked.
No one had an answer.
KP
Kim stopped to wipe the sweat from her brow and looked around.
"What's up," Shego asked, looking, and sounding more like herself of late.
"Just taking a breather."
Shego eyed the redhead that had abruptly stopped and glanced around. "Tell me another one. What did you see?"
"You don't want to know," Kim sighed as she put her monocular away.
"Kim," Shego hissed.
"We…probably should turn around now. Hopefully, we don't attract their attention."
Shego snatched her monocular as Kim kept backing toward the thicker stand of trees, and turned to lift the device. She gasped, and immediately joined Kim as she hissed, "What the hell are those?"
"Exactly what they look like," Kim said grimly. "Apparently, the next line of…. Shego, run," she hissed, and turned and bolted even as the loud humming of monstrous bees filled their ears.
"The hell with that. We run, and they chase us down. But let's see how well they fly without wings," she spat, and turned, and tossed Kim her monocular even as she flung a ball of searing, green energy at the nearest arriving bee that looked like a cross between a honeybee and a yellow jacket. Both on steroids.
Kim risked activating her battle suit and raised her force field even as more of the bees swarmed them, and without asking, encompassed Shego before she could be swarmed by the creatures that targeted her now as four of their number had been grounded, but only to stomp toward them on massive legs, and sounding all the angrier.
"What now, Kimberly, because I'm not seeing a way out of this one," Shego grimaced as she dropped her glowing hands, letting her energy plasma fade since she wasn't doing much good beyond putting those monsters on ground level with them. "Those things are as armored as the lizards, which doesn't give me much of a target beyond their wings….. Oh, that is not fair," she complained as they both watched the four grounded bees seem to grow their wings back in eerie slow motion that had them jumping, hopping, and then flying back up to help surround them as Kim frowned at the bees that seemed determined to hammer her force field as if intending to wear it down, and break it.
Which, she had to admit, might just be possible.
Even as she pondered a way out, she gasped as crackling, electric blasts of pure energy shot out of the trees, and all but cored several of the giant insects. The insects immediately pulled back, and gave Kim and Shego an opening, but they both waiting, looking around in confusion even as a squat, boxy vehicle the size of two child's wagons clapped together came rolling out of the trees on long tracks common to some tanks.
Only they were wagons crammed with electronic gear, with a small, but powerful bore in the front and back, and crowned by obviously powerful laser turrets.
"The Tweebs," she grinned as the small vehicle kept blasting, and drove the insects away until they just hovered near the cliffs, and seemed to be studying them, and the newcomer. "That has to be their work."
"Okay, kudos for the destructo twins," Shego said, gaping at the device. "Any idea if that thing can actually help us get out of here now?"
Which was when the nearby sound of a familiar roar sounded, and the heavy thud of powerful feet sounded.
"Remember what I said about my Kimmunicator," she asked.
"Right. So, we got rescued only to lure in the next bunch of monsters," Shego grimaced.
"I'm switching off my suit, and we'll go high, and try to pull the…..drill up after us with my grapple. For now, I get the feeling it's likely going to do better than we would against….."
She grabbed Shego in one arm, fired her grapple, and carried them both up into the nearest tree even as she looked down, and saw not one, but two of the huge reptiles.
"That," she grimaced as both of the creatures seemed to focus solely on the small vehicle below that had backed up against the very tree they now occupied.
"You know that theory of yours about watchdogs is starting to sound way too possible, and very disturbing just now," Shego pointed out as she tried to aim her grapple at the device below them.
Even as she tried to figure out an angle, the device below fired at one of the creatures, hitting it in one leg, and forcing it to fall sideways with a bellow of rage and pain. Before it, or the other creature could react, four spiked arms shot out of the sides, and the vehicle began to actually ascend the tree after them.
"What the hell did those two build," she exclaimed as Shego just gaped at the impossible device that rolled up the tree toward them.
"I don't know, but let's grab it, shut it down, and hope that will encourage those things to go away," Kim replied as she watched the oversized device rolling closer and closer right up the side of the high, thick tree.
When it was near enough to grab, Kim wrapped a coil from her rope around it, and tied it off even as she studied the now waiting device that seemed to just stop when it reached her position.
"They must be using some kind of bio-tracking program," she mused as she studied the sides, and finally found an inset power switch where only a finger could reach to power it off, or on. She pressed the button, and the entire vehicle folded into a simple, boxy shape without any indication of what was hidden inside. Below, the creatures still roared and looked around, but now seemed to be glancing around in confusion.
"Definitely keying in on tech somehow," Kim said as the pair wandered off after the first regained its footing, even if it did still limp.
"So, again, what good does that do us? Because we're not getting near those cliffs from the look of the bee monsters," Shego complained.
"I was wondering myself. I thought they were caves, but those holes must be some kind of hive. I get the feeling it might be the way out, and our mystery defender may have put in the new guards to keep anyone from getting out too easily."
"Yeah," Shego grumbled at hearing that, "Because everything has just been a piece of damn cake so far," she complained as Kim finally found, and opened a small storage compartment. She pulled out a small Kimmunicator like the first she once carried and risked switching it on.
She saw her brothers staring out of the screen, and couldn't help but smile.
"If you are seeing this, you're not dead," one of them declared.
"Which we have to question anyway, because, after all, you are a Possible. No way did that blue freak put you down. We'll take care of him later, though. Anyway, we sent this down to find out, and if you activate this recording, it will give us a beacon to find you, and come and get you."
"Just give us time," the other, Tim, she knew now, declared. "Until then, stay alive, if you still are, and we will get there."
"Just remember you will be owing us a ferociously huge favor. Meanwhile, our mini rover will keep you safe from just about anything after it finds you," Jim grinned, and the device went blank.
"Are they saying?"
"I get the feeling they plan on coming down here after us," Kim grinned as she slid the new Kimmunicator into her equipment belt just to hold on to it.
"You, at least," Shego murmured, eyeing the redhead who looked more cheerful than ever. Which seemed ridiculous to her considering they had just had their only route out of her cut off, but good.
"So, what now," she asked as Shego noted that Kim was studying the forest below again with careful scrutiny.
"First, we head back to the tree…"
"What," Shego complained. "After all this, we backtrack?"
"After we make sure it's safe," Kim nodded.
"But if the cliffs are still the only way out of here….."
"Think, Shego. No way are we going to get past that hive, even I know that now. Still, if the Tweebs are coming, and they're following our trail, they're coming from the same direction we just left. The closer we are to the start, the faster they'll find us," Kim grinned. "It's only a matter of time now."
"Oy," Shego sighed. "I can't deny that makes sense. I was just hoping we could be out of here before they had to show up."
"To be honest, I'm more hopeful than ever now knowing the boys are working on rescuing us. Trust me, they can be downright terrifying when they focus their minds on something these days," the redhead grinned happily.
"So, if they just got our signal, or your signal, how long do you think…?"
Off in the distance, well beyond their current location, they heard another roar, and it sounded just like the same lizards. Only dozens of them.
"Not long," Kim guessed as they heard explosions and more thunderous roars. "Let's go," she said, and punched the rover's power button, and then swung them down out of the tree at the same instant. "Let's make sure our ride home isn't in trouble."
~KP~
"Look at the size of that tree," Bonnie said in awe as she pointed out the cockpit window. "It must be as big as a skyscraper."
"Bigger," Ron admitted.
"Something that might draw the girls, I wager," Dr. Possible declared as he angled the course to avoid a small outcropping of old rock, and tried to stay on what little bit of trail was visible to them.
"Were those….mammoths," Tim asked as they broke into a small clearing, and saw a small herd of furry beasts stampede off in apparent fear.
"Mastodons," James told his son. "The same genus, but of an earlier era, which is quite astonishing. There seems to be a comingling of various historical flora and fauna around us without rhyme or reason. Still, I'm sure there is a logical basis for…."
"Enough science. What are those," Bonnie demanded as the slowing tunneler now stopped, and faced a line of more than a dozen massive lizards.
All snarling, and growling, and some roaring with menace.
"This doesn't seem right. Why would animals act like….that," Ron frowned, eyeing the proverbial line drawn before them?
"They don't seem to want us nearing that tree," James remarked as he tried to angle their path around the lizards, only to have them roar in anger, and actually move to keep their numbers between them and their destination.
"That is….surprisingly intelligent behavior for supposedly prehistoric beasts," Jim remarked as Tim leaned over his shoulder, and eyed the massive lizards.
"We should be able to just power past them."
"But should we," Ron asked, his eyes glittering blue just then. "Something….feels…..wrong here, guys. Let's wait, and see what happens first."
"Ron, what are you thinking," Bonnie asked before anyone else could.
"If they're acting like this," Ron murmured, his glittering eyes on the line of monstrous creatures before them, "Then maybe they have a reason."
"But….if these things are so….protective of this place, how would Kim have survived. Did she survive," Bonnie asked anxiously?
"I'd say yes," Jim and Tim grinned and pointed.
Everyone on the bridge of the tunneler gaped as they saw Kim and Shego burst through the massive roadblock, the mini-rover leading them, and then to their horror, Kim turned and stopped to face the line of monsters as if she were making her own stand.
"What is she doing now," Bonnie groaned even as Jim shouted he would open the hatch.
Outside, Shego skidded to a halt, and the rover stopped, reversed, and came up behind Kim.
Everyone held their collective breath as the creatures seemed to fix on Kim and only Kim.
~KP~
"It's the Tweebs," Kim shouted from her vantage point in a tree as she saw the massive, metal vehicle easily the size of one of her dad's rockets. "They're definitely here."
"I get the feeling those lizards don't like them being here, though," Shego remarked as Kim rejoined her on the ground, and they eased closer, the rover seemingly overlooked as it accompanied them as they moved closer and closer to their apparent rescue.
"I get the feeling they really are some kind of guards," Kim frowned. "Which gives me an idea."
"What? What are you planning now, you loon," Shego asked, still shocked at the risks Kim took as they dumped virtually all their provisions, and just ran for the apparent source of the chaos they had heard.
"Look at them," she said, moving closer to the milling, yet stable line of lizards confronting the new, and massive tunneler before them.
When the vehicle tried to turn, the entire line shifted and moved to continue blocking them.
"That is….weird," Shego frowned.
"Yeah. Definitely atypical behavior for simple reptiles," Kim agreed and stepped out of the trees to start for the very heart of the creatures' line.
"Are you nuts, Kimmie," Shego hissed.
"Don't worry, I have an idea," she told the comet-powered woman. "Just follow me."
"That's what you said before you almost walked us into a giant beehive," Shego complained.
"It still worked out," Kim complained.
"Oy, one day…."
She still followed, speeding her own steps as Kim suddenly bolted for the nearest lizard, dodged its massive feet, and wove her way through the line of reptiles before breaking into a run.
At first, Shego thought they were running for the tunneler, and she even saw a side hatch open, and one of the twins staring their way. Only she heard the mini-rover stop and turned to see Kim had stopped, and was now standing there as if daring those things to attack.
"Kimmie, what are you doing now," she demanded, skidding to a stop, and feeling helpless since she wanted to bolt for safety, but found she didn't want to leave the redheaded idiot that had kept her alive this long.
"Testing another theory," she said and made eye contact with one of the lizards.
"A theory," Shego hissed. "Here's my idea, you nut, we run for the hatch and get out of here now."
"But we might still have a fight getting out of here. I suspect I know why now, too. So let me try it my way."
"Which…..involves what," the green-skinned woman asked anxiously.
"Just give me a second," she said, and now stepped forward.
"Are you nuts," Shego hissed, wanting to scream, but afraid it might cause the wrong reaction as Kim ignored her, and walked right up to within stomping distance of that big lizard, and still eyed it alone.
"I know you've watched us. I can guess you're concerned about us, and our friends. I don't know who you are, but I promise you, we only want to go home. My family is here to take us home," she said, gesturing to the tunneler. "If you let us go, I promise you, no one will know what we saw. No one will hear about what happened here. We just want to go home. Okay?"
The lizard seemed to just glare with a cold, baleful glare, and Shego tensed as the mini-rover hummed with power, obviously keeping its weapons ready.
"We don't want to hurt your….friends. Or whatever. We don't want to do anything but go home. You have a choice. But if you want to fight, you already know we won't be easy to defeat. We don't want to fight, but it is your choice. I'm just asking you trust us, and we can all live in peace. Okay?"
"That's your idea," Shego hissed from beside her. "Play nice?"
"It's always worked before," she smiled at her but kept her gaze on that singular reptile.
Who suddenly blinked, just before a bright, yellow beam of light exploded down at them, and surrounded them both as the jeweled sun seemed to play over them, and them alone for a moment before the beam faded.
"Whoa, okay what was with the light show?"
"I'm guessing it was some kind of test," Kim murmured and noted the lizards were now stretching out, thinning their lines, but staying in place.
Then, the one before her lifted one clawed talon and actually pointed.
"I get the feeling we've been dismissed," Kim said and nodded at the reptile.
"You think," she said, as now every lizard there was pointing the same way.
"Yeah. C'mon," she said, and headed for the tunneler, the rover following them even though its weapons remained at the ready. She glanced back just before she climbed up to the hatch, and shouted back, "Thank you for trusting us, I promise, we will keep our word."
Then she was inside, and everyone was hugging her, and all but crying, even Bonnie, and Shego only broke up the reunion by saying, "Can we go before our hosts get impatient," she asked as the twins brought the rover on board, and shut it down.
"I kind of promised them we'd leave the way we came, and never say a word about what we saw," Kim told her father.
"That is likely for the best," the rocket scientist declared. "Frankly, the questions this misadventure has raised wouldn't do anyone any good anyway," he declared. "Boys, let's turn this thing around, and go home," he said, still remaining hugely as he kept glancing back at his daughter who had settled into a seat and just collapsed.
"Yeah, let's go home," Ron nodded at her. "Ready for a fast trip back, KP?"
"Please, and thank you," she said, and let her eyes drop only then.
"Oy," Shego murmured from beside her, but was just as tired, and dozed off just as fast as the big machine began to move, powering up for its trip back across the underground sea.
To Be Continued…..