All in the Family

XX

Ron got on his scooter and tried to wrestle the engine to life, his first few attempts failing miserably. He was about to begin a very eventful afternoon. Not only was it the day of the wrestling match in Upperton, but it was the first day of his new job. Ron Stoppable: baker. And coffee connoisseur, if Drakken and Hank expected him to handle the coffee there as well. He waved to his father as the scooter's engine finally began to sputter in complaint at being woken up for yet another arduous ride.

Dean stood in his front doorway and waved back at his son.

"Enjoy the afternoon, Ronald!"

"You know I will!"

Rufus, who was sitting in the basket of Ron's scooter, waved at Dean as well.

"See ya!" he squeaked.

Ron drove his increasingly wobbly scooter out of the driveway, wondering how long it would take before the thing fell apart underneath him in the middle of the road. He had saved up enough money from his former Smarty Mart managerial job to afford a cheap car, but Ron wanted to be more responsible with his finances than he had been in the past.

He was trying to act more mature, more responsible in general, after some of the comments people had made to him around that fateful weekend mission with Kim. Not to mention he was a little hesitant about throwing down big money after the way he had squandered his Naco royalty fortune while he was in high school. Ron Stoppable did learn from his mistakes, sometimes. And so, he would be very careful about making a choice when he did finally buy a car for himself. Maybe his parents would even chip in a little bit. It was just too bad he had no idea how to get a hovercraft like the one Shego flew around.

Of course, he could just ask her where she got hers.

It was a little over a week since he and Kim had gone on their mission to the Mediterranean in order to find Drakken's cupcake thieves, and it had been a strange week indeed. Despite Shego's insistence that there was nothing between them, she had showed up in Ron's bedroom a second time, after that first surprising night on the yacht. For a 'booty call', Ron supposed – a phrase he remembered Monique using in jest several years ago.

Not only that, but Shego had actually gotten him to tag along with her in downtown Middleton the other day. Ron had been under the impression they were shopping, but after Shego suddenly made a mad dash out of a department store and dragged him behind her, he realized they were, in fact, shoplifting.

The fact that Shego was staying in town instead of going elsewhere seemed to imply there was something between them. Something that was just beginning to blossom, at least. But Ron could not begin to figure out what that something might be. A relationship? Friends with benefits? Shego using him as an amusing human toy to play with and discard once she got bored?

Whatever it was, Ron was surprised to find himself both concerned and thrilled by it. It was different, new, even a little bit dangerous, and it gave Ron a bit of that feeling he had gotten when he decided to play up the bad boy image for a little while in high school. Hopefully he wouldn't turn into Zorpox again, though. Ron smiled. He'd have to keep an eye on Shego in case she unexpectedly pulled out an Attitudinator helmet.

"Eek! Rrr, here!"

Ron looked down at Rufus as he clambered onto the scooter's handlebars and waved his hands to get Ron's attention, precariously balanced on his hind legs. His thoughts broken, Ron looked up and noticed that he had just passed the Possible residence. He backed the scooter up for a few moments and stopped, balancing the scooter with one foot on the ground, as he stared at the house.

"Ready for some fun, Rufus?"

Ron's pet naked mole rat nodded enthusiastically. Ron had been amazed at how quickly the mole rat had become friendly with Kim again, seeing as Rufus had been estranged from Kim for as long as Ron had been, choosing to side with him after the nasty breakup. In retrospect, Ron realized Rufus didn't have to do that, but he supposed the break from Kim had been as awkward for Rufus as it had been for him. Fortunately, it appeared that a trip or two to Bueno Nacho and a few hours around Kim were enough to win Rufus over again. He was easy to please.

For Ron, however, things had remained a little awkward ever since he had come to Kim and Monique's apartment last week and agreed to try to be friends with the two of them again. Of course, Ron didn't expect things to change in an instant. He knew it took time. After that night at the apartment, a couple of days had passed before anyone called each other, and finally Ron had given Kim and Monique a call to eat lunch with him at Bueno Nacho. Rufus had joined them. Apparently, neither Kim nor Ron when it was appropriate to start calling each other casually again. The Bueno Nacho lunch, although pleasant, had been a little on the quiet side, but that first call had broken the ice a little more, and the three of them – four, counting Rufus - had hung out twice since then.

Now, however, it was time for Ron to reunite with Kim's family.

He had been estranged from them about as long as he had been apart from Kim, even though it hadn't been as intentional on his part, and going to see Monique's new fashions at the wrestling match between Steel Toe and Pain King was the first good opportunity to try to break the ice with them as well. He took a deep breath and told himself they would be happy to see him. Rufus scampered up onto his shoulder as he parked the scooter in their driveway and approached the front door.

"Ron Stoppable!" exclaimed James, who had opened the door a split second after Ron knocked. "It's about time!"

"Hey Mr. Dr. P. Long time no see, huh?"

"Come on in! Kim and Monique are already here."

Ron had barely stepped into the house when Jim and Tim thundered around a corner and leaped on him like wolves after prey. As they were getting quite a bit bigger than they were when Ron last saw them, their enthusiastic hugs were enough to knock Ron over, but he miraculously managed to keep on his feet as he stumbled back.

"Where have you been, Ron?" asked Tim.

Jim punched him on the arm. "Yeah, you missed so much! All the time, I was like 'hey Tim, let's go tie up Ron and try this new blaster on him', and then we realized you hadn't stopped by in months. What's the deal?"

"Sorry," said Ron. "It's kind of hard to explain."

Jim and Tim rolled their eyes simultaneously. "Relationship drama."

"Haha – yeah, basically. But hey, I'm here now."

"Yeah," said Jim, "but we don't want to freak you out now that you're back. So don't worry, we're gonna be well behaved. No surprises today."

Tim pulled his brother away as the two of them raced back from wherever they had come, trying and failing to restrain themselves from laughing in an extremely ominous way. Ron sighed; the twins were definitely looking a little bigger now, but clearly they had not changed very much since he last saw them. He entered the kitchen to find Kim and Monique chatting with Anne Possible as they looked at a brochure for the upcoming wrestling tournament. A plate of appetizers was set in the middle of the table.

"Pretty festive," said Ron as he looked at the appetizers. Before he could grab one, he found himself crushed yet again by an unexpected hug, this time from Kim's mother.

"Ronald Dean Stoppable, look at you!"

Anne looked over Ron.

"Well, I suppose you look the same, but it feels like it's been forever since I last saw you. And please, help yourself," she added as she noticed Ron looking at the appetizers.

"Mm!" squeaked Rufus as he took the liberty of interpreting Anne's invitation as being directed at himself. He leaped down onto the kitchen table and about a third of the appetizers disappeared before anyone knew quite what had happened.

"Nice to see you again too, Rufus," said Anne.

Ron helped himself to a cracker topped with garden-dill flavored spread and some sliced carrot ribbons. "I guess I'll have a few," he said, feeling his resolve crumbling even after eating just one, "but I should try to restrain myself. I mean, half the fun in going to a wrestling match at that Upperton Arena is all the cheap food they have set up in those stands, right?"

"You know your stuff," said Monique. "Been there before, I guess?"

Ron winked. "What kind of a wrestling fan would I be if I hadn't?"

"Well, you ain't seen nothin' until you come this afternoon!" said Monique. "We got some big changes going on, me and Ned and Steve and Paul. We've been working pretty hard on trying to shake up the show a little bit."

Ron was looking forward to seeing what Monique had been doing with her passion for wrestling and fashion, but even more than that, he was looking forward to seeing Steel Toe and Pain King in person again. It would be exciting, no doubt about it.

"So Ronald," said James as he sat down at the table and grabbed his own appetizer, "what have you been up to lately? I hear you have a new job?"

"Sure do! I'll be starting tonight. I haven't been up to much besides that."

"Been dating any lucky ladies lately?"

Anne gave her husband a light cuff on the head, causing a couple of crumbs to spray from his mouth and out onto the table.

"No," said Ron, "I've just been taking it easy on the romance front lately."

Ron did not mind the question, but he felt a little awkward about not telling the truth. Maybe it wasn't a complete lie, to be honest – he wasn't really sure whether he was dating Shego or not, when it came right down to it. Either way, Ron wasn't ready to let the cat out of the bag when it came to his interactions with her. He wasn't sure how Kim would react, but he could imagine it making the reconciliation between them harder than it had to be, and while he intended to tell her eventually, he didn't want to break the news just yet. It would be easier to talk about when Ron himself had some idea of what was going on with Shego, after all.

"Are you and Kim planning on more missions together?"

"It's up to Kim," said Ron. "But I think so."

Kim smiled and nodded. "As long as they aren't cupcake-related."

"Well," said James, "so much for my daughter focusing on her studies and staying out of death-defying battles with supervillains."

Kim shrugged sheepishly, but James gave his daughter a good-natured pat on the back. He was never completely comfortable with the idea of his Kimmie-cub putting herself in harm's way, but it had been such an ingrained part of her personality, her life, that he had expected her to return to it sooner or later. And he felt more comfortable with her doing it when Ron Stoppable was by her side.

Not to mention that he knew going on missions and helping others made his daughter happy, which mattered more to him than anything else. If only she had taken up a hobby like stamp collecting. Or sewing, although he didn't like the look of those huge needles.

"Hey Ron, check it out!"

Ron, who had been gorging himself on appetizers before Rufus could eat the rest, looked up just in time to duck as a small rocket flew past him in a blur. The rocket smashed through the kitchen window behind him with a loud shatter as Jim and Tim stood sheepishly at the kitchen entrance, holding a remote controller between them.

'"Jim! Tim!"

The twins quailed under the angry gaze of their father.

"It's not my fault!" said Tim. "I just wanted to show Ron our trash-powered rocket and Jim grabbed the controller!"

"No way," said Jim as he slapped his brother on the head. "You just put the wrong kind of trash in there. We still have to work out a few kinks to make sure it doesn't randomly speed up and go out of control sometimes. Sorry about that, Ron."

"That would have been so cool," Ron had to admit. "If it wasn't about to knock my head off."

Jim fiddled with the remote, trying to bring the rocket back into the house from the yard, but unfortunately he only succeeded in knocking a little more of the glass pane out as it bounced back off the window frame and into the yard again.

"It's getting there," he said. "We're working on how to convert assorted trash into a reliable fuel source-"

"-so we can take all the junk human beings throw away and use it to power vehicles and stuff!" finished Tim. "That way we take care of two problems at once! We're working on a way to use almost anything, and just filter out trash that can't be converted, but right now organic trash works best."

"Food waste disposal that powers cars and encourages less walking around," mused Monique "Is it just me, or is that just gonna make everybody even fatter?"

"Way to look at the glass as half empty," said Jim. "Sheesh!"

"Alright boys," said James. "You'll be in trouble for that window later, but I'm in a good mood at the moment, and we need to get ready for this wrestling match at the Upperton Arena." He checked his watch. "It's getting about that time, and I know Monique wants to take Ron to meet with the wrestlers beforehand."

"I still can't believe you convinced me to come along," said Anne. "I just don't understand the appeal."

James gave his wife a peck on the cheek as she stood up after picking up a few glass shards that had been knocked onto the kitchen floor. "What can I say," he said, "after watching a few matches on television with the boys, it was a little more exciting than I expected. It's no Captain Constellation, but I can see why they like it. Now, is everyone ready to go?"

The twins looked like they were antsy enough to race out of the door and into the Possible family car, and Kim smiled as Monique and Ron got up from the kitchen table and gave each other high fives in anticipation of the upcoming match. James and Anne grabbed jackets and car keys as they headed for the door. Kim, Ron, and Monique would be taking Kim's Sloth to save room.

"Let's get a move on!" said James.

Ron pumped his fist as they left the house.

"Booyah!"

XX

The parking lot at the Upperton Arena was even worse than the parking downtown. Angry pedestrians on their way to the Arena shook their fists at vehicles driving a little too fast in their attempts to snag the last remaining empty spots, and the parking lot was filled to the brim with the sounds of honking, chattering, and the occasional cursing. Kim's parents and the twins had stayed in their car to try to find a spot, after which they would get to the seats they had already bought tickets for.

Monique gave a security guard a smile and a nod as she led Kim and Ron through a side door that led into the Arena's offices and back rooms. Steve Toeller, Paul King, and their manager, Ned, would probably be in the prep room by now, getting ready for the match and going over their routine one last time. Monique wanted to take Ron to say hi to them.

They reached the prep room after a few twists and turns to find Ned talking to the two wrestlers. The room was packed to the brim with set decorations, and Ron noticed several other burly-looking people standing around, as well as a couple of elaborate costumes. He could already tell this would be no ordinary wrestling match. But the room itself was not what caught his attention.

"Steel Toe! Pain King! Dudes, do you guys remember me?"

"Oh yeah," said Steve. "You're Kim Possible's sidekick, right? Ron Stoppable."

"You remembered my name!"

"Why wouldn't we?" said Paul as he adjusted his costume in the crotch area, which forced Ron – despite his great excitement – to temporarily avert his eyes. He noticed Kim grimacing as well, but Monique had no reaction. Maybe she was used to seeing awkwardness like that. "You helped us take down Jackie Oakes when he went super jackal on us."

"True," said Ron. "You guys totally lucked out when I figured out that whole thing."

"Excuse me," said Kim with a cough, "I believe I did most of that?"

Ron grumbled and crossed his arms.

"Okay," said Kim with a smile, "you helped just a little."

Paul took Ron aside and began to chat about the upcoming match and the possibility of Ned surprising them with any ancient talismans and papyrus spells he had found to transform himself into a hulking beast. While they were talking, Steve spoke to Kim and Monique in a whisper. "So I see that you and Ron have made up?" he asked Kim.

"Yeah, we have. I guess Monique's been giving you the TDU's, huh?"

"TDU's?"

"Total Drama Updates."

Monique squeezed her girlfriend's shoulder, proud to see Kim successfully using one of her acronyms.

"Uh, yeah, she has. Hope you don't mind. And the two of you are okay as well?" he said, indicating Kim and Monique with his eyes.

"Yeah, we are," said Kim. "And thanks for talking to Monique over the weekend."

Steve laughed and punched Monique playfully on the arm, which was meant to be light, but ended up nearly sending her sprawling across the floor. "Oops," he said, "Sorry about that. But yeah, it's no problem. Paul and I always enjoy shopping with Monique – I don't know how we'd ever find any great deals without her."

"How did that dress you bought for the wife go down, by the way?" asked Monique. "I hope you haven't spilled a smoothie on that one too?"

"Not yet. She said it didn't match any of her other outfits at all. But that's her way of saying she likes something. I can tell by the eyes."

Monique nodded, glad that her advice had come in handy. And she had chosen the dress that Steve ultimately bought because it would go with almost anything, so she knew that by her restraint, Steve's wife was just making sure she didn't give her husband the wrong idea about it being okay to spill smoothies on perfectly good outfits.

"So, you guys ready for the match?"

Ned appeared in between the two wrestlers and attempted to wrap an arm around each of their shoulders in a sort of gesture of camaraderie. As he barely reached their chests, this proved to be completely futile.

"I believe we have worked out quite an interesting routine," Ned told Monique. "With your help of course. Tonight, we're going to shake things up! I think you will be quite excited about it, Ron Stoppable."

"Bueno Nacho has never been the same without you, dude," said Ron. "You should see the new guy they have as manager over there. The first time I saw him, he didn't even know I made the Naco! It's like working at Club Banana and not knowing who Coco Banana is, right Monique?"

"Absolutely," she agreed.

"That sounds like a serious breach of Bueno Nacho protocol," admitted Ned. "But as I am no longer working there, I cannot help you! I've found a new passion in wrestling management."

"I can understand. I found a job recently myself."

"Perhaps you should stop by the comic shop and play some board games with us," said Ned. "Kim's cousin Larry always said that your knowledge of Crypts and Creatures was sorely lacking compared to his own, but the fact that Larry would mention you at all implies that he thinks you must be highly skilled. And now that he's off with his internet startup, we could use a new player."

"Definitely," said Ron. He was glad to get the invitation, as he had not made a lot of friends in Middleton ever since he had graduated from high school. He was glad to get Kim and Monique's companionship back, and hanging out with Ned and some of his geeky friends – although perhaps awkward at times – sounded like it would be fun too.

"Alright," said Monique. "I think we'd better let these guys get ready for their match. Kim, how about we join your family up in the stands."

"Sounds good to me. Are you ready, Ron?"

"Sure. Nice to meet you guys again!"

Steve and Paul said goodbye to their visitors as they returned to their preparations with Ned and several other prep room occupants who seemed like they would be playing a role in the upcoming match. Ron followed Kim and Monique out into the din and roar of the arena itself, which was already filled nearly to the brim with excited fans. Ron took a look at several of the snack stands set up farther away in the domed arena and licked his lips.

"Hey guys," he said, "I'm gonna go over there and get some snacks for everybody. Make sure nobody steals my seat, okay?"

Kim nodded as she and Monique looked around the rows and rows of seats arching up beyond the roped off ring in the center of the room. There was an endless sea of faces, and it took several moments for them to find where Kim's family had seated themselves, even though they already knew their seat numbers. The two of them picked through the yelling crowds as they made their way slowly up to the row in which they were sitting.

"This is loud," Anne told Monique as she arrived with her daughter.

Monique smiled apologetically. "It's only gonna get louder."

Kim and Monique settled down in their seats as the crowd continued to roar, obviously getting a little impatient for the match to begin. They did not have long to wait; a few moments later, the lights in the arena began to dim, and contrary to Monique's warning, the crowd's roar began to die down as people looked around and chattered to each other in excitement. Something in the air was unusual, different.

The arena was dark, but another set of overhead floodlights switched on and cast their glow over the ring in the center of the vast room. For a few moments, the crowd waited in anticipation as they watched the ring's bare white floor. Just when it looked like nothing was going to happen, Pain King stepped into the ring.

"Hello, everybody!"

The crowd was a little confused by his direct greeting, but a number of people waved and returned his greeting. Kim stared down at the wrestler, surprised to see that he was dressed in his normal Pain King costume. She had been expecting to see one of Monique's Mexican wrestling-inspired outfits on him instead.

"I'm glad to be here in Upperton after such a long break in my wrestling career. You guys look like quite a crowd tonight!"

The crowd roared its approval, even though the fans in the arena were not used to such a friendly opening monologue.

"I have to admit," said Pain King, "I had a little bit of an existential crisis a while ago. I was tired of losing so many matches to that chump Steel Toe, tired of always coming out in second. If it wasn't for that steel toe of his, he'd have no chance against me! I could crush him like a bug!"

The crowd's roar grew louder in response, a mixture of cheers and boos depending on which fans were responding to Pain King's posturing. Pain King paced around the ring as he continued.

"So I took a trip to the ancient Totanac ruins of Teotihuacan in Mexico, on a sort of spiritual journey. I meditated there, trying to find my purpose in life. I needed to ask myself some important questions: who am I, really? What does it mean to be a Pain King?"

Kim leaned over to Monique. "This is getting pretty philosophical," she said.

"Ned's idea."

"Before long," continued Pain King, "I realized that I had one purpose in life. One calling, which I-"

"YOU!"

Pain King whirled around at the sound of a booming voice coming from the darkness that extended past the floodlights illuminating the ring itself. The crowd, which had been growing a little restless at the wrestler's speech, sat at rapt attention. As they watched, a figure walked out of the shadows. Much larger than Pain King, dressed in an elaborate costume of feathers and sinuous scales, it looked like a cross between a bird and a serpent.

"Who are you?" asked Pain King. "What do you want?"

"I am the ancient feathered serpent god known to the Aztecs as Quetzalcoatl!" shouted the hulking figure. "You have stolen a sacred talisman from one of my places of worship, and I demand that you return it to me IMMEDIATELY!"

Pain King backed away, his expression of shock turning into a look that was grim and resolute. "I can never return it," he said. "I must have its power!"

"Then I have no choice," spoke the beast. "Prepare to be destroyed!"

Kim was just starting to wonder where Ron had gone off to, as he was about to miss some exciting stuff, when she saw his outline appear in the darkness of the arena, trying to make his way through the crowd and balance a heaping armful of snacks without spilling it on his fellow wrestling fans. Kim gritted her teeth as he smacked into her knee on his way to his empty seat.

"Snack time!" he said as he sat down. "Help yourselves."

Jim and Tim managed to beat Rufus in grabbing their own snacks, while Kim helped herself. She watched Ron in the darkness, and as the two figures in the ring grappled each other, she could tell that he was in heaven. She had to admit that the wrestling was more interesting than she remembered. Maybe Monique and Ned really did know how to spice things up a little.

"Haha – did you see that? He got totally body slammered!" she said as she pointed at Pain King.

"It's body slammed, KP."

"My bad."

Ron, who was sitting on her right, leaned over Kim to talk to Monique, who was sitting on her left. "When do we get to see the luchadore costumes and masks?" he asked.

"Soon. Steel Toe is going to appear as an ally of the feathered serpent god, at least at first, and they're going to morph into their Mexican wrestler forms after they sink into some hidden compartments beneath the ring. See the laser light boxes and dry ice machines we've got set up down there to hide them when they do?" she asked, pointing to a few boxes that could barely be seen on the outskirts of the ring of light created by the overhead lighting.

"This is totally badical!" said Ron.

The crowd was cheering louder now, and Kim was having trouble hearing the conversation anymore, but she caught a glimpse of her mother in the darkness. She was sitting on the other side of Ron, and she leaned in close as the match raged on. "I'm glad you're here with us, Ron," she said to him. "We've missed you."

"Thanks Mrs. Dr. P. I missed you guys too."

Kim sat back and munched on a bag of nearly-stale popcorn as she enjoyed the match. The wrestling was good, especially since both Ron and Monique were enjoying it. But being surrounded by the people she cared about the most was even better. The best, really. Ron was back, and her family – her whole family – was together again.

XX

Notes - There is one chapter remaining. I will probably post it tomorrow since this chapter and the next were originally one chapter, but I thought it was long and clearly divided into two separate settings, and the next chapter has one remaining sort-of-twist. Hope you liked this one. :)