Thanks everyone for reviewing.

Disclaimer: Kim Possible and related are the property of Disney which, contrary to common belief, I do not own.

Special thanks to Slipgate for beta-reading.

Chapter 2: The Wait

"You look tired," Kim remarked as Ron nearly dipped his forehead into his breakfast for the second time in as many minutes.. "Haven't slept too well?"

"I don't think I have slept at all," Ron said; as per usual over the weekend, he had come over to the Possibles for his second breakfast, but he didn't seem awake enough to actually eat it. "At least I'm done with the task… for now."

"So, can you tell me what it was?" Kim asked.

Ron shrugged. "I guess so. Sensei told me to find a trustworthy and suitable person to take over my Mystical Monkey Powers for a month… and it couldn't have been someone I shared a bond with." He quickly added after a frown from his girlfriend.

"So that's what your questions were about," Kim said. "But what if they don't want to give the power back?"

Ron gulped. "Then they turn out like Monkey Fist."

"WHAT?" Kim demanded. "What, does Sensei think, that he can just…"

"KP!" Ron interrupted Kim's rant. "It's something all monkey masters before me had to do as well. And they always made the right choice. No one ever turned into a statue from this task."

Kim settled down again, but it was clear she wasn't happy. "So, who did you give it to?"

"I'm sorry KP, I can't tell you," Ron tried to explain. "If they don't give the power back voluntarily, it doesn't work. So the fewer know about it, the better."

Kim sighed. "Fine." Then she decided to change the subject a bit. "Are you feeling any different now, without the MMP?"

"Not really," Ron said. "I wasn't that much in touch with it. I just hope that…" he caught himself just in time. "Whoever I gave the power will use it responsibly."

"Lord Monkey Fist," The Yono called, mocking his newest servant.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," the spirit form of Monkey Fist responded with a sigh. "What do you want now?"

The monkey-like creature grinned; he really enjoyed torturing his followers. Practically all of them had been unaware that following the path of The Yono consisted of a lot of menial work… if one could even call it that for a spirit. "Are you saying you are not satisfied with the current job I've given you? You can always return to cleaning the temple."

Monkey Fist groaned, his latest 'promotion' – creating a gust with his corporeal form by running around to cool his master – wasn't that great, but trying to pick up dust that slowly fell through your hands as you moved it was horrible; the dust almost settled faster in the Temple of The Yono than Monkey Fist had been able to clean.

"No master, I chose to follow your path."

"Good." Having had his fun, The Yono turned more serious. "The Monkey Master has taken the next step in his ascent to true mastery of the Monkey Powers. He has transferred his power to a willing carrier."

Monkey Fist perked up, in his free time he had read about this in the books in the temple of The Yono – those books were among the few things that did respond to his touch – and he knew that both the Monkey Master and the power were weak now.

"You have until the end of the month to grab the power," The Yono continued. "If you succeed, you will become a true student. You will have your real body back for the time being."

The Yono formed a portal and Monkey Fist eagerly jumped through. As his servant disappeared, the dark creature grinned. "But all those before you failed horribly."

Chuckling to himself, The Yono summoned a translucent orb so he could follow his apprentice's exploits. "This is always very entertaining… at least more so than the junk they sell for television these days."

"Who is it now?" Dr. Drakken, the former villain and current co-savior of the planet, asked after another knock on the door of his lair.

He opened the door to see DNAmy, and she looked very distressed.

"Amy? What are you doing here?" the blue-skinned man asked.

"It's Monkey Fist," the heavyset woman said. "He got up and left. You were the only one I could think of going to."

"I told you she'd lose it someday," Shego remarked from behind Drakken.

Amy glared at the green-skinned ex-villainess. "I know he was a statue, thank you very much. This morning he returned to his old self and walked out, muttering something about taking the monkey powers… I hadn't even gotten the chance to kiss him goodbye."

Shego shuddered and actually felt pity for the monkey-crazed villain; Monkey Fist just couldn't get a break. "So, what do you want from us?"

DNAmy frowned. "I hadn't yet thought of that… I just need some comfort, can I come in?"

Before Drakken or Shego could say anything, Amy made her way past them and slumped down on the couch. "Thank you Dr. Drakken. At least I know that I have one place to seek comfort."

Shego glowered at the heavyset woman who started distractedly eating some of the snacks Shego and Drakken had been about to enjoy, then the green-skinned woman's gaze moved to Drakken, who shrank down under her glare.

"Uhm, Amy…" the Doctor began. "There's something you might need to know about me and Shego."

"And you are sure you saw Monkey Fist?" Kim asked the museum curator; Team Possible had received a call from the New Jersey Museum of Simian Art – a place Ron still dreaded to go – saying that several monkey ninjas had broken in.

"Absolutely certain," the man said. "I've seen him before and I will always recognize a figure like that."

"Only thing is, last time we checked, Monkey Fist was a statue," Ron objected.

"Maybe no more," Kim responded as she picked up some monkey hairs and showed them to her boyfriend.

Rufus jumped out of Ron's pocket and briefly sniffed the hairs. "Uh-uh. Monkey Fist."

"Maybe it had something to do with me giving away my power," Ron pondered, but before they could think more on that the lights went off.

Immediately, Kim took a defensive position.

"You would be quite right," A shadow in front of the window remarked. "And without your monkey powers, you are defenseless against me."

"As if," Kim sneered. "We beat you many times before, monkey powers or not."

Monkey Fist just responded in his usual way. "Monkey ninjas, attack!"

The few monkey ninjas that the simian villain had managed to find since his return quickly attacked the teens. But the animals were very much out of shape while Kim and Ron had kept up their training.

A very brief, one-sided fight later all monkeys ran out of the museum, leaving their master to fight Team Possible alone.

Monkey Fist frowned. "I guess I will have to take care of you later… after I take the Monkey Power. Ta."

Before they could react, the former English lord drove the last nail out of a long carpet that Kim and Ron were standing on, causing the stiff material to roll up, enveloping the surprised teens.

Kim and Ron could only watch as Monkey Fist walked away while they struggled to get out of the carpet.

"Careful," the curator urged as he helped push the fabric back to its rolled-out state. "This carpet is very expensive and possibly the only one of its kind."

"Great," Kim muttered after they finally got free; Monkey Fist was already long gone.

Ron had different worries though. "Oh no, he's going after Justine…"

Maybe it was because he was following the path of The Yono, or maybe it had another reason, but Monkey Fist knew exactly where the Monkey Power resided. And after arriving in Middleton, it took him only a moment to locate the correct house.

"Well Mr. or Mrs.," he looked at the nameplate at the front door, "Flanner. It seems you will meet an untimely end."

With that, he passed the door and broke in through one of the windows.

"You gave the Monkey Power to Justine?" Kim asked, dumbfounded, as the teens hurried back to Middleton.

"She was my last shot," Ron tried to explain. "Besides, she's least likely to want to hold on to it, right? I mean, after that portal thingy you two did for a science project turned out to work, she pretty much abandoned it in search of new inventions."

"I guess," Kim muttered. "But she's, like, deep into science. What does she even think about the MMP?"

Ron shrugged. "I guess that once there was evidence that it worked, there was no reason not to believe in the MMP."

"Fair point," Kim admitted. "But we really have to catch Monkey Fist before he attacks her. Justine is no fighter, and who knows what he will do to her."

It was easy for Monkey Fist to figure out where the carrier of the Monkey Power was holding out as there was only one light on in the house.

The villain was almost disappointed when he saw the thin young woman who was working on her computer. He had at least expected Stoppable to find a somewhat more proper person to guard the power.

"Oh well, this will only make things easier." The semi-simian thought as he entered the room.

Sensing someone else in the room besides her, Justine turned around. "Who are you?"

"Your worst nightmare," Monkey Fist replied with a grin.

The blond woman frowned, clearly unimpressed. "The one where I have to return all my scientific awards?"

Monkey Fist was taken aback a little; he had grown quite used to Ron's usual panic about anything monkey-related. "You have the Monkey Powers, and I'm intending on taking them."

"Ah." Justine still showed none of the fear that Monkey Fist had hoped to inspire in the girl. "And what process are you proposing will accomplish that?"

The villain's grin returned. "That will be easy. Once there is no carrier for the Monkey Power anymore, it will return back to its rightful owner."

"And that will be Stoppable, correct?" Justine said as she gestured at her computer screen, which showed a good amount of research that had been performed on the MMP.

"We'll see about that," Monkey Fist growled as he attacked.

"Hurry up!" Kim urged as she and Ron sprinted through Middleton. Just moments ago they had parachuted down, but they knew Monkey Fist was still slightly ahead as they had seen his plane when they passed over the Middleton airport.

"I'm trying," Ron gasped as he fumbled with his parachute straps; ever since they had landed he had been unable to make the parachute let him go, and the big piece of cloth was dragging him down a lot.

Kim turned around and quickly helped Ron out of his parachute. "Come on, we have to stop Monkey Fist."

But when they arrived at Justine's home, they immediately noticed the broken window. "Oh no…"

"Justine?" Kim called, fearing the worst.

Right then, Monkey Fist came flying out of the open second floor window, enveloped in what appeared to be a huge fist made out of bluish light. And with a neat arc he landed in a couple of bushes.

Moments later, Justine peered out of the window. "So it does work… Interesting." Then she noticed the people in the front yard. "Hey Kim," she greeted the redhead with a quick wave. "Stoppable," she added with a curt nod at Ron.

"Hey Justine," Kim replied. "Are you okay?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Justine asked. Then she looked at Monkey Fist, who had managed to untangle himself from the bushes and quickly ran off. "Oh, that… More of a nuisance than a threat actually."

"So… you… already have control of the Monkey Power?" Ron asked wide-eyed. "It took me more than a year just to get a tiny spark out of it."

Justine smirked arrogantly, bringing Kim back to their first days of cooperating in their science project. Of course, the young genius' pride was completely backed up by her abilities, but it still stung a bit.

"Shouldn't we chase Monkey Fist?" The redhead asked to change the subject.

Justine shrugged. "I doubt he will try this again. Oh, Kim, could you come up? I'd like to ask you a favor."

"What did she want? You didn't tell her anything about the effect of keeping the power, right? Do you think she's better at handling the Monkey Power than I am?"

Kim chuckled at her boyfriend's near panic. "Relax Ron. Justine is doing some research on the MMP, studying stuff is just part of what she does. And don't worry, I told you I can keep a secret." She then grinned at Ron. "As for the last part, she is a lot more focused than you are, that might play a huge role."

Ron seemed at least a bit reassured. "Okay then… Wait, what did she ask from you?"

Kim frowned thoughtfully. "Well…"

"Kim, you are one of the smartest people I know," Justine began after Kim had entered her room.

Kim smiled proudly. "Thanks, but I'm not nearly as smart as you."

Justine shrugged. "Obviously." Ignoring Kim's somewhat offended cry "Hey!" she continued. "But I have also read your parents' publications, and I even heard your brothers are trying to get some of their work published. And I get the feeling people might start to think that you are not really carrying the Possible legacy."

Kim worked her jaw a moment, unable to come up with a reply. "Yeah, but…"

The blond girl smiled slightly as she reeled Kim in. "And didn't you want to go for a study in the biological area?"

"I-I do," Kim stammered, "but…"

"If you really want to make it there, you should have some publications of your own," Justine said. "So, are you willing to help me on this study into bio-magical applications?"

"Well, I…"

"Kim, you are one of the very few people who understood my work on the Kinematic Continuum Disruptor, and you managed to figure it out in under a week," Justine pressed. "We don't have much time to work out the Mystical Monkey Power, as your boyfriend calls it. So I can really use the backup. We'll publish it as a co-authorship. I don't want to brag, but my name in there will certainly give you a boost, even though my expertise is more in energy research."

"But why not ask Ron?" Kim asked. "He is the local expert on Monkey Power."

"No offense, but Stoppable is a bit of a slacker," Justine replied. "You should know that. You worked with him on science projects."

Seeing that Kim was still not completely convinced, Justine decided to play her final card. "Well, if you feel you're not up for it…"

"I didn't say that," Kim quickly objected. "But, uhm… what exactly are you expecting from me?"

Justine grinned inwardly; she knew she had Kim now. "You're an amazing data cruncher; you got my research down within a week, and there is quite a pile to work through here. Maybe you can ask your friend Wade to find even more information. I just need the data ordered so we can make a proper study."

Kim sighed; she knew when she was beaten. And besides, she was actually getting interested. And getting a publication in before her brothers did sound appealing. "Will the journals accept studies of magic though? The respectable journals, I mean."

Justine shrugged. "People used to think that electricity was magic. The MMP is a form of telekinetic energy with great potential once we figure out how to draw on it properly. If we defend that well, we can get into any journal."

"She called me a slacker?" Ron asked. "Well, that's just… just… well, I guess it's pretty just. So, you are actually going to do this?"

"Yeah, I mean, mission-wise it's been pretty slow since the invasion and with the vacation and all I kinda miss working toward a goal," Kim admitted.

"In other words, you are starting to miss the work pressure of school?" Ron asked, stupefied. "And people say I'm the weird one."

"Hey! I'd just like to be able to do something," Kim objected. "There's nothing wrong with that."

"It is during the vacation," Ron pointed out. "Where's your sense of marination?"

Kim smirked. "You relax your way, I relax mine. Come on, let's go home, we might have time for some mutual enjoyment."

"Booyah!"

Monkey Fist and his monkey ninjas hid in a more shadowy part of Middleton Park. This time they would beat that annoying girl and take the power from her. At least Kim Possible wasn't joining her at the moment.

With a feral cry, the group jumped out of the shadows and ambushed Justine. Only to bounce back on an energy shield that surrounded the teen.

"I wish you would stop doing that," Justine said, "I can't report any human studies without an Independent Ethics Committee approval and I can't get that on such a short notice."

Then she looked at the monkeys, who were still dazed from hitting the barrier. "Besides, the ASPCA might not be too happy about this either."

As she walked away, Justine took out her cell phone and called Kim. "Could you tell Wade that he was right? No, I'm okay… yeah, he bounced right off… yes, I'm concerned about the human study issues as well… well, he attacked me… just call it test objects hitting the barrier, that should be fine."

Monkey Fist felt that he had never been insulted more. And the worst part was that he couldn't do a thing about it, not as long as Justine kept that shield up.

"KP, are you ready to watch the 'Bricks of Fury' DVD?" Ron asked as he entered Kim's room. "It has an entire section of deleted bricks."

"Ron, we had agreed to watch that movie yesterday," Kim replied. "But you suddenly had to postpone to play 'Bricks of Fury, the game' against Rufus. The whole night."

"Yeah, but I couldn't let Rufus win," Ron defended himself, "or I had to serve him cheese snacks for the entire week."

Kim rolled her eyes. "And it only resulted in you losing by a greater margin. Anyway, Justine and I are hitting some major breakthroughs, and I really want to work this out tonight."

Ron sighed. "Fine, but can I watch it, our TV broke."

Kim smirked. "So that's the reason. It's fine with me; mom, dad and the tweebs are out anyway. Just keep the volume to reasonable levels, okay?" Then she shot her boyfriend an amorous smile. "And writing out this stuff shouldn't take me too long…"

Ron grinned back. "Gotcha." And with a soft 'Booyah!' he made his way downstairs.

However, Ron quickly grew bored; he already knew the movie pretty well, and the deleted scenes were nice, but not worth re-watching. And there wasn't much on television either.

So he decided to play a little game on Kim. But since he knew that she wouldn't take kindly to his jokes while she was trying to do some work, he first prepared a peace offering.

After he finished with that, Ron walked to the base of the stairs and took a deep breath.

"KP!" he called in a frightened voice.

Moments later, Kim came running down the stairs. "What's the sitch?"

"I'm completely out of Kimshine," Ron said innocently. "I made snacks!" he quickly added after a less than amused glare from his girlfriend.

Kim accepted the snacks, but her frown remained. "Look Ron, I'm almost done. But I really want to finish this."

"I'm sorry KP," Ron meekly replied. "I just got really bored."

"You could always help me," Kim suggested.

"Okay, not that bored."

Kim chuckled. "Just hold out a little longer, okay?" She gave Ron a quick peck on his cheek and then she turned around and walked upstairs again, taking the plate of snacks with her.

"Aw man, I'd meant for us to share those…"

Waiting without anything to do turned out to appear very long, and Ron wasn't the most patient person in the world. "I wish there was something I could do."

"Bored, huh?"

Ron nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard Shego's voice right behind him. He jumped away and landed in something resembling a defensive position while he faced the villainess. His panicked mind wondered, "Villainess? Ex-villainess? Did they announce they quit villainy?"

"Watch it Shego, you don't want to mess with the Monkey Master." he threatened the grinning woman.

Just then, Kim called downstairs. "Ron, when you handed over the MMP, was that instantly or more like a flow?"

Shego's grin widened as Ron's pose crumbled.

"K-KP, help!"

"Ron, I'm still working. If you'd stop playing these games I could have been ready by now."

"Cried wolf one too many times?" Shego asked as she approached Ron, making sure that he couldn't run up the stairs to get backup from Kim.

"W-what do you want Shego?" Ron asked; the green-skinned woman didn't look too happy, despite her predatory grin.

"Come with me, before Possible starts to suspect something and comes downstairs, forcing me to hurt you."

"Who says you won't hurt me now?" Ron asked nervously.

"I will hurt you if you don't come with me," Shego snapped and lit her hands with green fire. "What will it be?"

"Where are we going?" Ron asked as he and Shego appeared to fly in circles above Middleton in one of Drakken's hovercars.

"Nowhere," Shego replied. "We just need to talk."

"We could have done that on the ground, you know," Ron objected.

"On the ground, Kimmie would have tried to save you," the green-skinned woman pointed out. "And it's pretty hard to reason while fighting for your life, despite how much I like kicking her butt."

Ron decided against pointing out that on average, Kim came out as the winner. At least, on the fights that weren't interrupted by exploding lairs or interventions by escape vehicles. He was on his own in a hovercraft with Shego after all, and he wanted to come out of this one alive.

"So, what's on your mind?"

"DNAmy has taken over our lair… and our lives," Shego growled after a moment. "Apparently, Monkey Fist is on the loose again and he has abandoned her. And now she is in our lair, crying about her little drama and making our lives miserable."

"Well, it wouldn't be too hard to chase her out, would it?" Ron asked.

Shego sighed. "She came back after the first two shots, and then Dr. D took pity on her and forbade me to do that again."

Ron was surprised that Shego let Drakken tell her what and what not to do. Maybe their little display during the ceremony after stopping the alien invasion had meant something after all.

"So, how did you get out?"

"I'm supposed to buy snacks," Shego replied sheepishly. "If you tell anyone, I'll make you into one."

"Your secret is safe with me," Ron hastened to say. "So, what do you want me for?"

"You know more about Monkey Fist than we do," the former villainess said. "Just catch him or whatever and hand him over to DNAmy… in flesh or in stone, I don't care. Just to get her out of our hair."

"I hope the wait wasn't too long," Kim said.

Since Ron had been dropped off by Shego mere moments ago he didn't feel like disagreeing. "Nah, I managed to keep it together. I mean, there was a reward in it."

Kim grinned. "True that. And it will still be some time before mom and dad come home…"

"This data looks great," Justine said as she looked through the draft version she and Kim had been writing.

"It does," Kim agreed. "By the way, Ron made a great suggestion yesterday, right after… well, he made a great suggestion yesterday."

"Tell me," Justine asked, ignoring Kim's near slip of the tongue.

"You know that somehow, Monkey Fist always manages to locate you, right? Well, Ron said we should look at Monkey Fist's ability to locate the MMP, or maybe his attraction to it."

"That sounds interesting," Justine admitted. "And since he tries to attack me almost every other day, it shouldn't be too hard to catch him and get some information."

Kim didn't say she had originally objected to capturing Monkey Fist. She had pointed it out to Ron, but he had replied that Monkey Fist still needed to go to prison for breaking into Justine's home, not to mention his series of attacks on her. "Right, so let's set up a plan."

Monkey Fist had once again taken position in the Middleton Park. Even though his monkey ninjas had abandoned him, he was sure that this time he would get the power.

That annoying brainiac wasn't the only one who had done research on the MMP, and Monkey Fist was still years ahead of her.

Justine casually walked through the park on her daily route – one of the things her parents insisted on to make sure she got some daily fresh air – apparently unaware of what was going to happen.

The hunter looked at the prey, this was going to be easier than expected.

Monkey Fist crouched lower, a small amulet clutched between his fingers.

It was a matter of mere moments now.

And then the attack came.

Monkey Fist rolled away just in time to prevent Kim from landing on his back. "Nice try Possible, but it takes more than that to catch me by surprise."

He was hardly finished when Ron shot him with a web gun.

As Monkey Fist struggled against the net that enveloped him, Justine walked over to the trio. She picked up the amulet that Monkey Fist dropped. "A monkey howler? You do know that those only work in combination with the entire ritual, right?"

Ron huffed exaggerated. "Even I knew that."

Monkey Fist only growled in response.

"Anyway, could you quickly figure out how Monkey Fist feels the MMP?" Ron then asked.

Kim frowned. "Why?"

Ron tugged at his collar. "Well, let's say I made a little deal with a certain woman…"

"That's right," Shego said as she deftly landed the hover car next to the group. "Great work Stoppable."

Monkey Fist's eyes grew wide when he saw who else was in the hover car. "Oh no…"

"Monteykins!" Amy cried happily. "I missed you."

"Yono, please take me back," The simian villain whispered, but all he heard in his head was cruel laughter.

Eventually it turned out that DNAmy and Justine got along very well, and their shared interest in science, the borders of physics, and Monkey Fist – although the latter for different reasons – made for a good conversation.

Feeling a bit redundant, both couples left to leave the scientists talking and Monkey Fist struggling to get out of the nearly indestructible net.

"You struck a deal with Shego?" Kim asked after Ron explained everything.

"Well, you weren't helping me," Ron pointed out. "What else could I do?"

Kim smirked. "Not cry wolf too many times?"

"You know, Shego said the same thing," Ron muttered.

"I do get it though," Kim said. "I wouldn't want Amy to ruin our together time either."

"I bet Monkey Fist wouldn't mind his and Amy's together time being disrupted though," Ron joked.

"He actually preferred turning back to stone over Amy," Kim pointed out. "That does say something."

"Well, I do hope Amy and Justine don't hit it off too well," Ron said. "Or Justine will get her into the MMP as well."

"Ron, will you stop fretting about it? Justine will return the MMP to you," Kim said as Ron couldn't stop pacing around and it was freaking her out. "She said she's almost done with the report and there are still several days left."

"Yes! And then?" Ron objected. "There is surely more to research, and Justine isn't one to give up on that. And it will turn her to stone… and it's all my fault."

Kim pulled him next to her on the couch. "Ron, listen: Justine will give you the Monkey Powers back. She knows she was only in for it for a month, in fact she wanted us to work quickly since we only had a month, and she doesn't break promises like that."

However, two days later, Justine arrived at the Possible residence during breakfast. "Great news, the report is under review, and things look good."

"That's great," Kim said with a smile. Then she shot Ron a wink. "And you thought there would be a problem."

"And even better news," Justine continued. "The IEC approved for small-scale human testing. Our next research will really skyrocket."

Ron could only stare in shock at his former classmate.

A/N: Somehow, I really enjoy ending this story in cliffhangers. The last chapter should be up soon. Reviews are always appreciated, and don't forget to read the other stories in Whitem's contest.