Disclaimer: I do not own Kim Possible. She is owned by Disney and Mark McCorkle and Bob Schooley. Any original characters shown or mentioned belong to me and cannot be used without permission. Got it?
Maternal Instinct: Spotlight
Chapter 19: Shin Possible IV-Smells Like Team Spirit
Sweat poured down Shin's face as her breaths came in ragged gasps. She tried to tune out the roar of the crowd as she took in the situation. The girls' basketball team was taking on their heated rivals from Upperton High in the most highly anticipated game of the year. Her friends and family were all watching and cheering her on as loudly as they could. There score was tied and there was less than a minute on the clock.
Basically she was living the last scene of every cliched sports movie ever made. The only difference was the fact that her bitchy girl rival whom she hoped to defeat was actually on her team so that meant she actually had to help her. It was a fact that made her sick to her stomach but one she had learned to deal with at the start of the session. Sadly, the glory hound that was Asuka Langley Soryu never quite caught onto the concept of "team work" and therefore was trying to win the game herself. Even though Shin had a clear shot at the hoop and was left unguarded.
She let out a low growl as she watched the redhead dodge back and fourth between the other team's players to try to line up her shot. She tried to make a few discrete motions to Asuka to indicate that she was open without drawing attention from the rival players but she either didn't see them or flat out ignored them. Most likely the latter. The thought of it just made Shin even angrier to the point where she didn't care about being stealthy anymore.
"Asuka you idiot pass the ball to me, I'm open!" she screamed across the court.
"Bite me you freak! I don't need your help! I can do this all by myself!" Asuka shouted back as she dodged another of the opposing team's players.
"Asuka just toss the ball to Shin, she's got a clear shot!" one of their other teammates shouted.
"Shut! Up!" the redhead snapped as she tossed the ball towards the hoop.
For cryin' out loud! Shin thought angrily.
As soon as she saw Asuka ready to throw the ball she knew what was going to happen. There was no way it would be able to get past all the other team's players without a little help. So, using all the speed and agility she had learned from her parents and practice she sprinted across the crowded court. When she was a close as she could get she leapt into the air and past just under the arrant ball which gave a helpful smack. The added force helped it sail over the sea of greedy hands and right towards the hoop. Everything seemed to slow down as Shin barely made out the ball bouncing off the rim before falling towards the inside of the hoop. Sadly she didn't get to actually see it go in as her vision was soon filled with the bodies of all the other players as she crashed to the hard wooden floors of the gym. She let out a yelp of pain that was drown out by the buzzer and loud cheers of her teammates and all the parents and students on their side of the gym.
"Middleton wins! Middleton wins!" screamed the announcer.
A tired smirk crossed her face as she slowly picked herself up to see the cheerleaders living up to their title by leading the hometown crowd in a graceful victory cheer while the other team's players and parents slowly made their way out of the gym. She was never really sure why they needed cheerleaders for the basketball team as that always seemed like more of a football thing to her but they worked. Besides the way the school shoved them in every sporting event she wouldn't be surprised if they ended up cheering on the chess team at some point.
Her musings were cut off by a hand landing roughly on her shoulder and spinning her around to come face to face with a rather peeved looking Asuka.
"What was that?!" she demanded with a stomp of her foot.
"That," Shin started as she jerked her thumb back towards the hoop, "was my actually winning us the game after you almost blew it!"
Asuka let out a shocked gasp. "I did not! I knew exactly what I was doing!"
"Yeah being an egotistical bitch and trying to do everything on your own! Again! Which means we would have lost!"
Asuka was about to offer another protest but she was stopped by the coach's surprisingly firm voice.
"Ladies, hit the showers with the rest of the team!" she instructed them.
"Yes coach!" they both replied then slowly made their way towards the locker room.
Despite the fantasies of every teenage boy, there was really nothing erotic or sexual about the girls' shower. It was a mostly embarrassing practice of washing off sweat and grim while feeling incredibly tired and sore. Each girl kept their eyes to themselves to prevent any rumors from getting started about their sexuality. Of course they hadn't stopped them from staring at Shin's uniquely colored body in their first post practice shower together. Nor did it stop Asuka from pointing out to everyone that the red streak in her hair was in fact natural. That set off a round of rather embarrassing questions that she had to answer for weeks on end. Thankfully everyone was over it now and so the shower returned to what passed for normal in that situation.
Shin let out a heavy sigh as her body slowly began to relax under the hot, soothing water. After a moment of letting it just pour over her, she ran her hands through her long mane of raven locks to get all the grim and sweat out of it. She opened an eye to reach for the provided bar of soap on the caddie but stopped when another hand bumped into hers. She left to her right to see Asuka standing under the spout next to her. They stared at each other for a second before the redhead's face screwed up into an angry scowl.
"Oh what you're gonna steal the soap from me now too?!" she snapped, her shrill voice echoing off the tiled walls.
"I didn't steal anything from you!" Shin protested as she turned to face her accuser.
"Nothing but the spotlight you mean," Asuka growled as she crossed her arms under her exposed chest.
"Oh here we go!" the mint green girl shouted, throwing her arms up in exasperation. "God forbid someone take the spotlight away from the precious Asuka Langley Soryu!"
"Stop saying my name like that you idiot!"
"Oh I'm sorry," Shin replied in mock apology as she clasped her hands together in front of her. "Is the unclean not allowed to speak the name of the glorious one?"
"Like you're one to talk!" Asuka retorted, jamming a finger at Shin.
"What's that supposed to mean?!"
"Please! Does the phrase 'Daughter of The Kim Possible' ring a bell?!"
Shin looked horrified.
"I did not tell them to bill me like that!"
"Oh suuuure you didn't! Just like you didn't tell them to put it on the schedule, the posters, the team's picture in the year book," Asuka rambled, counting each one off on her fingers.
"I didn't," the raven haired girl insisted. "In fact I went out of my way to avoid cashing in on my mom's name!"
"And I'm sure she thought the same thing and never did anything to help you."
Shin narrowed her eyes dangerously at the redhead.
"You better be real careful with your next few words," she warned.
"I was just wondering what kind of 'favor' she had to call into get you those is all," the other girl grinned deviously as she pointed to Shin's chest.
The green girl's eyes widened at the implication of the statement and she let out a horrified gasp.
"I'll have you know that these are all me!" she snapped, as she pulled back her long hair to show off her chest and push it forward toward Asuka a bit. "So read 'em an' weep baby!"
Asuka recoiled in horror. "I don't want to look at those you idiot!"
The rest of team let out various groans and sighs as the all-too-familiar scene. It seemed like after every game, hell every practice, the two girls got into a fight. It was becoming a bit of annoyance and definitely tiring but none of the other girls really wanted to get into the middle of it. Both Shin and Asuka had an...intensity about them that intimidated them.
All except one girl. She had stayed out of it so far out of respect for the other girls, but it was finally getting to be too much.
"Oh that's it I'm taking care of this," the tall brunette muttered.
"Just let them be Lita," the girl next to her advised.
"Nothing doin' Ami, someone's gotta do something about this."
With her mind made up, the leggy girl stomped over to the bickering duo with a determined fire burning in her bright green eyes. She stopped just in front of them and placed her hands on her hips to glare at them for several seconds. They were so caught up in their argument that neither of them seemed to notice her rather imposing figure. Her right eyebrow twitched in annoyance at them and before either of them realized what happened, her hands shot out to grab their ears and tugged on them roughly.
"Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!" they both screamed in pain.
"Alright now listen up!" Lita snarled at them. "We're all sick of hearing you two argue with each other. So you're gonna learn to get along or we're gonna kick you off the team. Right girls?!"
The other girls looked around at each other nervously. They weren't sure who they should be more afraid of; the girl who could throw green and black plasma from her hands, the rather intense and slightly unhinged redhead, or the brunette with the almost Herculean strength. Eventually they decided it would be in the best interest of the team if Shin and Asuka could actually get along.
"YEAH!" they all shouted in unison.
"See?" Lita pressed. "Now you two gonna play nice or are we gonna have to kick you out?"
The two imprisoned girls stared at each other for a moment before they looked around at the other girls, all of whom were glaring at them as they awaited an answer. None more intensely than Lita who continued to pull on their ears as she kept her intimidating gaze on them. They both let out defeated sighs as they looked at each other again.
"Fine, we'll be good," they both relented.
"Good!" Lita smiled sweetly as she let them go. "Now that wasn't so hard, was it?"
Shin and Asuka turned their glares toward the brunette for a bit before they looked at each other again. They let out a pair of low growls then stuck their heads under the shower streams again.
"Is there a problem in there ladies?!" the coaches voice called out from the doorway.
"No coach!" they all called back..
"Good, then hurry up, the cheerleaders need to use the facilities too."
Almost immediately after the basketball team got out of the showers, the cheerleaders started to pour in. Because of the budget cuts that had hit the school recently, both groups had to share the locker room and in fact most of their lockers were intermingled which lead Shin to have to share one with a cheerleader by the name of Bethany Rivera. She ended up being a pretty cool girl and they got along pretty well so Shin didn't mind too much. The only thing that got to her was that the Latina always got a little...close and that kinda put Shin on edge. Still, since she was one of the few people in the school who didn't seem to mind her minty green complication she let it slide.
Though she was still surprised when the dark skinned girl came up behind her as she dropped her towel onto the nearby bench.
"Great game Shin," Bethany congratulated her.
"AAAAHHHH!!" Shin screamed in surprise as she spun around. "Don't do that!"
"Sorry about that," the other girl chuckled even as she took off her cheer sweater. "Figured you'd be a little more aware of your surroundings given who your parents are."
"Yeah well...I've had other things on my mind," she growled.
Bethany cocked an eyebrow then turned her head in the direction Shin was glaring to see Asuka changing at her locker. She smirked then turned back to Shin as she unclasped her bra.
"Oh don't let her get to you," she advised while she slipped the white piece of fabric off.
She then ducked under Shin's arm to stash the bra in her part of the locker, her eyes pausing just briefly over Shin's nude form. She held her position for only a second before she pulled back to sit on the bench and take off her shoes. Shin seemed oblivious to the action as she slipped on her panties then reached for her own bra.
"I try not to, I really do," she sighed as she pulled on the black piece of lace. "But she's just such a...a..."
"Bitch?" Bethany offered.
"Yes!" Shin sighed as she sat down on the bench next to the cheerleader.
The tanned girl slid a bit closer so she could place a gentle hand on a bare, pale green shoulder.
"Look no matter what she says you're a good person and she's just jealous of that," she said softly. "Not to mention you're a much better ball player than her. I mean look how you saved the game for us."
A satisfied smirk slowly crawled over Shin's face.
"Yeah I am kind of awesome, aren't I?" she remarked.
"Yes, yes you are," Bethany said in a hushed tone.
"Hey thanks for the pep talk!" Shin said cheerfully as she stood up and pulled her pants out of the locker. "You know, you're pretty good at cheering me up like this. Why don't we hang out more often?"
"Umm...well...conflicting schedules and stuff I...guess," the Latina girl mumbled as she turned her head away to hide her blush.
"Well we should change that. I know my group of friends are considered 'the outcasts' and stuff like that, but you should really try to hang out with them too. Like you should stop by our table sometime at lunch."
"Well...I'll...think about it."
"Cool!" she smiled then finished getting dressed. "Well see ya later Bethany!"
She gave a cheerful wave as she strode out of the locker room. Bethany gave a weak wave back as she watched her go then sighed and laid back on the bench in just her uniform skirt and lifted her arms over her head.
"Way to go there chica, just way to go," she chided herself.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Shin hummed cheerfully as she walked across the gym floor to where her mothers and her friends were waiting for her. They all gave her congratulatory smiles as she made her way over to them.
"Hey there's a little champion," Shego greeted happily as she pulled Shin into a headlock and give her a slight noogie.
"Ow! Momma stop it you're embarrassing me!" she protest as she pulled away from her mother's grasp.
"Like they haven't seen me do that before," Shego waved off. "Seriously though, good job out there. That was quite a move."
"I'm more worried about the landing," Kim spoke up in concern. "I mean the gym floor wasn't exactly soft in my day, I can't imagine it's improved over time."
"Nah I'm fine. Just a little sore is all," Shin reassured her even as she rubbed her left arm.
"Well next time just try to stay on your feet, okay?"
"Kinda ironic coming from you Princess," Shego smirked.
The redhead gave her a widened eye looked. "Shego! Not in front of the kids!"
The older woman rolled her eyes. "I meant all the leaping around you, you perv."
"Oh....well...yeah that's true," Kim muttered with an embarrassed blush.
"Yeah it is," Chris remarked with a dopey grin.
The others just glared at him.
"Yeah, you? You're not allowed to talk while I'm here," Shego told him.
"Awww..."
"Well, anyway," Kieran started, turning to Shin. "You looked amazing out there."
"Yeah you kicked ass!" Chris cheered.
Kieran flashed him a quick annoyed look that seemed to go unnoticed by Shin. Instead she just smiled at her busty best friend.
"Eh it was no big," she smiled at her mom. "The whole team did a great job."
"Except of course for one rather feisty, self centered redhead," Blake retorted.
Shin ground her teeth at the thought of said redhead.
"Yeah, except for her," she growled.
"Don't give another thought luv. You know how redheads can be," the British boy quipped then looked up at Kim. "Present company excluded of course."
"Of course," Kim nodded with forced politeness.
"Uh Blake you do remember you're a redhead too right?" Kieran asked in confusion.
"Oh yeah and I definitely include myself in that," he admitted.
The white haired girl just sighed and shook her head. She then looked towards Shin and gave her a cheerful smile.
"Hey Shin, if it's okay with your parents do you want to sleep over this weekend?" she asked.
The minty green girl looked up at her parents expectantly.
"I don't know, if your mother going to be in town this weekend?" Kim asked.
"Yes she's got a few days off from her latest acting gig," Kieran explained.
Shego scoffed. "What is she now, 'overly bust flight attendant #2'?"
Kieran lowered her single blue eye to the floor in shame.
"Actually..."
Shego's eyes widened a bit in surprise but they quickly closed again as she received a quick jab from Kim in the ribs. When she looked at her wife she saw the redhead giving her an annoyed looked and tilted her head towards Kieran. Shego rolled her eyes again and let out a soft sigh.
"Sorry Kieran I didn't mean that crack about your mom," she said in a rehearsed tone.
"No, no it's not your fault. It's something I've just got to come to terms with," she sighed.
"Hey how about we all head out for a nice celebratory pizza?" Kim suggested hoping to lighten the mood.
"YEAH! Pizza!" Chris cheered.
"I could definitely go for one," Shin said as she rubbed her stomach. "Worked up quite an appetite."
"That definitely seems to be a thing with Possible women when they do...strenuous activities," Shego remarked as she gave her wife a knowing glance.
Kim's face turned about as red as her hair and she ducked her head away from the teens.
"Shego!" she chided. "Now that one was on purpose I know it!"
"It sure was Princess," she smirked as she started towards the door.
The rest of the group followed her with Shin shaking her head just a bit at just how weird her family could be. Still she had good family, good friends and had just played a good game. So all in all life was pretty good for her right now.
She just it lasted through the victory pizza.
The End
Author's Notes: Well as you can see I've not quite given up on the MI verse yet. Like I said in the author's notes at the end of "Sidekick, No More" I plan on still writing some random Spotlight chapters even as I work on other stuff. I still do have some ideas for them that have been on the back burner for a fairly long time but I'm also juggling those ideas with ones that just pop into my head.
Like this one! It just hit me at work the other day as I thought over how I mentioned I had Shin on the basketball team but never really did anything with it in all the stuff I thought out for her. So I figured I'd go ahead and do that. Course not really knowing anything about basketball I went with the last bit of the game and just kinda rolled and this is what I got. I had fun writing it so I hope you guys had fun reading it.
Oh yeah, can anyone guess who the two other anime characters who made their way onto the team are? Go ahead, take a wild guess. I think I made it pretty obvious but then again that just might be my perception of things.
Well while you guys figure that out I'm gonna go work on the epilogue to "Sidekick, No More" and finally get it done. Should be up tomorrow! Be on the look out for it!
Laters!