Can I Be Your Sidekick?

Chapter 7

"Her Crimson Brilliance the Elder"

Time Stream Journal

Entry #07/1998i9

I arrived at my corporate office this morning and discovered someone had managed to bypass security to leave a wooden box on my desk. Before Jonesy could suffer a stroke over the apparent breach in security I managed to examine the box and assure him the sender was legit. It appeared Loremaster Chen made good on his promise to provide me with a record of my time stream travels. I was looking at a plain, yet finely crafted wooden box with an intricately painted likeness of the Tempus Simia, flanked by the monkey symbol of Monkey Kung Fu on one side and a rampant, green Chinese dragon on the other. Inside the box was a silk bag within which was stored a traditional Chinese hand scroll. I'd seen these kinds of scrolls before – actually I'd stolen a few back in the day - and knew to open it horizontally to about shoulder width to examine the first drawing. The artwork was beautifully done in a traditional Chinese style on silk instead of paper. All the more impressive when one realizes that silk is much less absorbent to ink and thus that much more difficult to draw on. The first thing I noticed about the first drawing was that it featured me right in the centre…okay Chen, you have my attention….

Entry#07/1998i11

I realized the night terrors have stopped since I blasted Simi Yan through that wall.

My glow has changed: it no longer has those black bubbles floating in it.

Entry#07/1998i15

My mind is officially blown. That scroll not only followed my actions from the very first time I activated the Time Monkey on my own behalf, but I seemed to relive the emotions as well.

As I suspected: Simi Yan is new, Cambodia never happened, and my high schools were fine. Has the time stream been changed by someone else? Simi Yan?

I still think she's hot, but it's not a crush. Ann seems to be my new 'Janet Takata', her presence much like a sanity break…the comfort in my comfort zone, so to speak.

WHAT THE FUCK? What is that girl pulling out of my head? It looks like some sort of black worm. I can feel the sense of relief…It actually felt like my brain had been suffocating and was able to breathe again…she looks like the old Kimmie, judging by her mission clothes, but…that girl looks more like a young Anne…looks like this happened just before I started this time stream. What was that…some sort of mind control?

Entry#07/1998i18

I'm staring at the piles of reports, plans, and other files on my desk and an epiphany hits me…I'm no longer plotting to dominate the world…I'm planning to save it!

"…"

BLEH!

Past: Mid-summer 1997, during Ron's summer at Wannaweep

Despite a very long stint in surgery, an exhausted yet exuberant Dr. Ann Possible sat in her office at the Middleton Medical Centre with a Cheshire Cat-like grin on her face. Her new surgical procedure, the Cranial Bypass, was a resounding success in accessing almost any area of the cerebrum; especially useful when dealing with brain frost. She was quite confident now she was on the fast track to becoming Chief of Neurosurgery inside of five years.

Ann glanced at the papers strewn atop her desk and grimly recalled how far behind she was with her paperwork; two peer reviews, a submission for the AMA journal and tentative ideas for the neurosurgeon's potluck next month. With a sigh she decided to lay her head down and rest a bit till her best friend, Monica Rockwaller, arrived to give her a ride home. The surgeon closed her eyes as she pillowed her head on her crossed arms….

It felt to Ann that she had just closed her eyes when she heard what sounded like a deep whooshing noise followed by the office door clicking open. Looking up blearily, she realized it was not Monica but what looked like a teenage girl, wearing a white lab coat and carrying an arm load of files and an old well-used spiral notebook. The girl had a willowy physique, bright red hair hanging straight down to her waist, fair skin with a light splash of freckles across her nose and cheeks, bright blue eyes and an engaging smile. Ann had a suspicion she ought to know this girl, the familiarity nagged at her. She sat up straight when the girl chirped in a soft Scandinavian accent.

"Good day, Dr. Possible. I am Anna and I'd like to offer my congratulations on the success of your new procedure."

With a grin Anna presented what appeared to be a hand tooled leather folio with the image of a monkey and the words Monkey Temple of the West Winds etched on the front. She gushed with pride and enthusiasm, "This is your diploma in Psychobiology: you graduated Summa Cum Lauda in your class. You blew them away not only in psychometabolism but in metacreativity, telepathy and displayed strong morale fiber. Simply put, you are beyond qualified to be a Healer."

She pulled out a rolled up sheet of what appeared to be rice paper and handed it to the surgeon, "Read this certificate to confirm and activate your status."

"What am I, a credit card?" Ann muttered to herself then sat up and exclaimed, "Wait, I never took a psychobiology course and what the hell is that anyway?"

Anna responded, "Actually, it wasn't a course so much as that weekend seminar on alternative medicine you attended late in tenth grade. You were especially interested in the psychic healing; not that you believed in it at the time. Then you filled out a pop quiz at the end, just for laughs."

As the teen spoke, Ann unrolled the paper and immediately felt the same pins-and-needles sensation she experienced whenever she got too close to James' containment bubble in the workshop at home, "…that thing's gotta go in the attic." The page was dominated by an intricately drawn image of a monkey idol holding the traditional tools of a pharmacist, a mortar and pestle. Around the image swirled a montage of lines, shapes and pictographs. "I've seen these… they're on that Starportal sci-fi movie James always likes to watch…."

The neurosurgeon's eyes were drawn by the flow of the strange writing to settle on a most incongruous font, a blocky style reminiscent of ancient Rome with two words written in Latin…CURATIO SIMIA…Healing Monkey.

Ann's eyes had no sooner settled on those two words than a bright blue light flashed from the page. Its intensity stung her eyes and made them water. The pins-and-needles sensation surged, numbing her hands and travelling up to her shoulders. The stinging in her eyes migrated into her head instilling a sense of vertigo, as if her brain were falling out.

As Ann slowly regained focus she looked up to see the girl in front of her desk offering a small vial. "Here, this will help with the nausea."

As her stomach settled after swallowing the elixir, the surgeon spoke quietly, her eyes taking on a slightly manic gleam,

"It's so easy…a child could do it…all those years in med school were a complete waste…my Cranial Bypass…what a farce…I couldn't have been more invasive with a chainsaw…but I can fix that now…I can make better medicine than the pharmaceutical industry, those pompous asses…yes…no more stitches for Kimmie…a little Kimmie-glue instead that would speed up healing…."

Ann's countenance darkened suddenly as she stared blankly at the teen girl in front of her, her voice more forceful as she muttered angrily to herself, "Tumours, cancers…they're not random biological mutations of cells…they're sentient, intelligent and malevolent creatures…no wonder they're so hard to get rid of…they know how to hide…masses left behind to divert treatment …patient looks cured…they sneak back…."

The surgeon searched the top of her desk and picked up the laser scalpel sitting by the phone and stared at it for a few minutes. In a strained voice Ann continued, "Mom died of a stroke caused by a brain tumour…was she murdered…."

After a few minutes, Ann was able to collect herself and looked sternly with suspicion at the visitor standing in front of her and growled, "What are you trying to pull? What's with the cheap acid trip?"

Still clutching the old notebook and files to her chest, Anna answered slowly, "Um…the certificate was like a defibrillator. It…um…kind of…jump-started your psionic talent."

After several moments of staring at the teenager in front of her, Dr. Possible deadpanned, "You've been hanging around my nephew Larry, haven't you?"

"I do not know this Larry of whom you speak. But, I can explain to you about cognitive energy redoubling and biomolecular computing."

Dr. Possible quirked an eyebrow as she continued her skepticism, "Oh, do tell." Strangely enough, she did want the teenager to tell: she found her voice strangely comfortable to listen to yet it projected well despite its apparent softness.

Anna began, "Do you remember seeming stronger than your peers? Suffering injuries that should have been worse than they were…always a straight A student…sharper intuition…an appetite that rivalled a football player's…by the way, do you still put mayonnaise on your ham, double cheese and hot pepper pizza, when no one's looking? Then there were going days without eating because you were too 'busy', with no ill effects…never getting drunk no matter how much you drank."

She smirked knowingly at Ann, "A barely controllable libido? You lost your virginity in ninth grade, to celebrate your fifteenth birthday, to that cute foreign exchange student with the nice hair: you were never at a loss for a boyfriend."

Ann blushed as she asked, "How do you know about that? Only my best friend knew and that only because we were fighting over him."

Anna averted her eyes sheepishly, "Because I peeked?"

"Oh?" asked Dr. Possible sceptically, quirking an eyebrow.

The teen inhaled deeply and, obviously embarrassed, recounted in double-quick time a play by play description of Ann Boyington's deflowering: Anna blushed furiously has she gasped air back into her lungs.

Dr. Possible sat wide-eyed and stunned, "I never gave even Monnie that much detail. Okay, even if this gives off the air of strange and sinister, you've got my attention. Where are we going with all this?"

Anna began, "A while back, an ancient temple in northern China was stumbled upon. It was referred to as the Monkey Temple of the North Winds; its discovery led the explorers to the location of three other related temples; south, west and east. Although they had been ransacked, remnants of ancient texts and scrolls were found; between the four of them we were able to put together something useful. What was immediately apparent about these ancient writings was the unusual mix of materials and languages within them."

"For the most part, the remnants of these scrolls, tomes and folios were made of wood, bone, vellum and crude rice paper which carbon-dated to about seven thousand years ago with the inks used contemporary to the period. However, there were some very strange anomalies within that collection. These included a handful of damaged modern spiral notebooks written in the same ancient ink and, several of the folios contained modern paper as well as vellum pages written in modern ink. We found small piles of what turned out to be some kind of computer memory sticks that appear to have almost a million times the capacity of the five and a quarter floppies just coming out back home: unfortunately, they all seem to have been erased. However, the really weird thing was how the contents of the tomes were written."

Anna paused a moment with an expression that invited any questions.

Dr. Possible merely looked at the teen and sighed, "Okay, as Kimmie would say, weird me."

"The apparent general narrative was written in either an ancient Chinese dialect or modern Japanese. It referred to a small company of companions attempting to evade a great evil; to a time in the past when it was still imprisoned in its temple. It was felt that if the five companions who actually fought it had been stronger, they might have actually destroyed it. As it was they were dealing with banks of toxic clouds, destructive energy bolts, ground tremors that split the earth and collapsed buildings and rays that petrified flesh to stone. So, it was decided that some way to augment them, and by extension their descendants, was in order."

"The apparent journal was written in Latin. But it referred only to what was to be done and the results of the procedure, yet nothing of the procedure itself. That information may be contained in those tomes written in the same script your activation scroll was written in. Unfortunately, we are unable to decipher those."

"As for biomolecular computers: imagine a 'mainframe' of DNA molecules, inserted into your brain, with a potential memory capacity of over five hundred trillion megabytes of data and with such a massive amount of parallelism in computation that data transfer speeds are over thirty times faster than the best computers twenty years from now. Most of the memory was used up to store the required genetic codes for augmentation as well as the programming to apply, monitor, maintain and even improve the enhancements over time. You can mentally access this computer like you would your home computer: you'll get an output that is better thought out, as it were; however, the output is slow, on the order of minutes, hours or even days so it's not exactly practical for on-the-spot decision making. For those you'll just have to make do with your standard brain package."

"The major changes were with the brain. In general, the neocortex was enlarged to accommodate the anticipated demands on the memory; the resultant increase in the neocortex ratio allows for a wider capacity for remembering people and their relationship to you, a necessary requirement for keeping track of friends and foes. Extra cortical columns have been superset alongside the regular ones to act somewhat as emitters for manifesting your talents. Neuroplasticity has been enhanced to allow for your brain to more easily adapt to the radically new and demanding stimuli it will be subjected to."

"As a result, the basal metabolism devoted to the brain has increased on the order of up to 15-20% beyond the human average. This required augmentation to the body to strengthen it; hence the greater stamina, improved health, healing ability, strength, agility, etcetera."

"All of this is to support the increased generation of electrical impulses in the brain. This was necessary to manifest cognitive energy redoubling, a process by which cerebral pulses and thought waves are exponentially intensified to form energy which can be projected from the mind."

"These genetic enhancements were planned with a seven thousand year time frame for development. You are at 97%, Kim's generation is at 100% which means the anticipated arrival of the Yono is nigh."

"Wasn't she the one who married that famous singer in the late sixties and was blamed for the breakup of his group?" asked Anne, emulating a very Ron-like non-sequiter.

"Umm, no, more like a supernatural monkey demon whose sole existence is to destroy all of existence; he's due to show up in about five years or so." Anna answered hesitantly then continued in a more confident tone. "Anyway, part of the programming was to boost the libido to encourage breeding so the bloodlines would survive during the expected timeframe: they kind of erred on the side of caution and might have overdone the boosting. On the plus side, that part of the programming was a resounding success; you'd be surprised on how many doppelgangers of you exist, each at a different level of evolution. On the minus side, the sex drive starts up with a vengeance as soon as the hormones appear but settles to a...umm…somewhat more manageable intensity sometime around mid-adolescence as maturity helps to control it. Although, there are many external factors that may affect the influence of the stronger libido either to suppress its effects or aggravate them. Once you give birth, the libido settles down to a normal level: if a man is aware he impregnated a woman, the same happens. You might want to keep an eye on your daughter: we can't afford for her to become a teen mother."

"I think we'll be okay on that. I'm pretty sure James has that angle covered pretty closely already," Dr. Possible replied blandly as she noted the curious expression on Anna's face.

Anna placed the old notebook on the desk, "This is your operator's manual, if you will. Within it are the mental exercises to access you biomolecular computer which will have the necessary information you'll need as your mind gets more accustomed to its talent and the ability to manifest. There'll also be different chapters on the different studies you can choose to focus on."

"For example, my talents tend towards psychometabolism, psychoportation and clairsentience; so I found myself drawn to the chapters on life, dimensional and time travel, and knowledge. As you decipher the script in the notebook, you'll start realizing which studies you're most suited to: I suspect you will have a special affinity to the chapter on life studies…."

As Anna spoke, Dr. Possible was glancing through the notebook. "This stuff could pass for trigonometry, algebra and differential calculus all mashed together with a bit of geometry and statistical math thrown in for good measure…I can read Latin do a degree but it seems to be written in a convoluted manner...must be deciphering involved…."

Ann looked back up at the teen, "So where do you fit in this grand scheme?"

"Um, I'm you, from the past."

Dr. Possible stared at Anna for several moments before she spoke, "Isn't there some sort of time travel paradox preventing the same person from occupying the same moment in time?"

The teen huffed, "That is just the stuff of sci-fi. For each dimension there is one, and only one, time stream. Although one can refer to different time streams, it is a misrepresentation to infer these are actually separate timelines. What is actually being referred to, are the modifications to history within different sections of the time stream. That is, what is modified in the past has absolutely no effect on the future and what will happen in your future can be avoided by changing things in your present."

"Imagine yourself in a river representing time. You are heading downstream, that is, time is moving forward: the trees, bushes and rocks on the bank represent specific events in time. There is a series of younger versions of you upstream behind you in your history, living in their version of the present. You can only look forward, although you can't see the future: you can't look back but you can remember your past. Now imagine someone from the future goes back and drops a tree into the river. You have no idea because you can't know what happens 'behind' you. However, a past-you is witnessing this event in their 'present'. From that point on, those past-you's will always remember that fallen tree; but the-you from even an instant of time in the future of that event will never know their past has been changed."

"For example: When you were born, mother was trying to run away from her emotionally controlling boyfriend…I'm not sure, I've come across references to two men…Eric and Josh…who was trying to drag her back to some beatnik commune. In any case, mother was able to run and draw him away from you: at that point she disappeared and you spent your formative years in foster care."

"In my case, someone from the future was able to deter or redirect this boyfriend. Mother, still afraid this boyfriend would find her, took me and made her way to disappear in an out-of-the-way village in northern Norway where she met and married a game warden. I've had a very nurturing childhood and a couple of good family friends taught me my psionics. Come with me."

Anna opened a portal and dragged Dr. Possible through with her to end up just outside the kitchen window of the Possible's abode.

"We are at the line between your past and my present: it is eight days after our fifteenth birthday. You can see your adoptive parents listening to you about something exciting that had happened today."

"I remember this…Monica and I had just made up from fighting over that guy I mentioned earlier," explained Anne as she idly scratched her neck lightly.

"Yes, this is now the tail end of your history: you can check with every school you attended and every foster family and they will remember you." Anna opened the time portal again and the two of them walked through to the same place they had left.

"We are now only seven days after our fifteenth birthday and we are in my present. As you can see, your adoptive parents still adopted a daughter: it just wasn't you. And none of your old schools or foster families will recognize you/me because I grew up in Norway. Let's go to your future."

The travelling procedure was repeated and Ann stood looking into her kitchen at a very pregnant teenaged Kim pulling food out of the fridge for a snack. Anna explained,

"We are now in that part of the time stream, your future, in the process of being modified by a soon to be world dictator who goes by the title, The Supreme One."

Dr. Possible, somewhat distracted by her itchy arms, was pulled hurriedly into the bushes beside the garage. She followed Anna's gaze and spotted the Stoppable's house, only it appeared unoccupied and there was a tired looking for sale sign that seemed to have been posted there for quite a while.

Anna explained, "Before Kim and Ron could meet in pre-K, Mrs. Stoppable was transferred to a new bank branch in Oslo, Norway. This had been arranged by The Supreme One as she prepared her resources for dominating the world. It seemed she had made it an important part of her plans to ensure Kim and Ron would not grow up together."

Dr. Possible stared at Anna in confusion, "Why?"

"Because, before the time stream was even modified the first time by The Supreme One, Kim and Ron were a world-saving, crime fighting team of heroes. Something that Kim started as just helping people out sort of blossomed: of course Ron was there right beside her. They were the only viable threat to The Supreme One's world domination scheme. By splitting them up she eliminated the threat and took over the world."

With a puzzled look, Anne looked back at the house, "Is that why Kimmie got pregnant, because Ron wasn't here?"

"Ron's absence has nothing to do with that. You have to remember, she doesn't even know Ron exists at all. She got pregnant because of her father."

Dr. Possible's head snapped sharply to stare at Anna in shock, "Are you saying James got Kimmie pregnant?!"

Anna gasped, "Oh my no! It isn't anything like that. It's his particular obsession that drove her to become pregnant. James is obsessed with Kim staying little and not growing up. By the time Kim reached puberty, James realized that she would want to start dating and dating was a major step to growing up."

"So, he wouldn't allow Kim to associate with boys, especially in any unsupervised arrangement. She was driven to and picked up from school so she wouldn't walk with boys. School dances and parties were out of the question. Kim had to convince her father that no boys would be present if she wanted to go out with her female friends. If she was at a friend's for a sleepover, James would show up late in the evening on some pretext to ensure no boys were snuck in: that, of course, would annoy the parents and anger and humiliate Kim. You can imagine how many more invites Kim lost out on because of that. There were some at school who speculated Kim was actually lesbian for always turning down dates from boys with the father excuse. Needless to say, boys stopped asking after a while."

Anne looked aghast at her younger self, "There's no way James can be that bad. I know he's a little overprotective but he's not so bad as to not want to see Kimberly grow up."

Anna looked somberly at her future self, "He is, and you'll see it within a year or so. This Kim so resented him for it she got pregnant on purpose to force him to acknowledge her growing up. She was very meticulous and calculating with her actions as well as very choosy of her partner. She knows exactly who the father is, has told her father so yet refuses to tell him who it is. And she very pointedly told him that she really hated him calling her Kimmiecub."

"And where am I in all this?"

"You keep kicking yourself for not having put your foot down earlier with James' behaviour. You're giving Kim all the support you can muster and she's holding up well. You've given James an ultimatum: participate in good faith with family counseling or expect divorce papers."

"You seem to be very sure of yourself with regards to all this detail," stated Dr. Possible.

Anna looked sternly at her future self, "I've been developing my psionic talents since I was four. Among these talents I am clairsentient: I see into the truth of things and I am very good at it. I'm showing you this to give you a context for the rest of the information I am going to give you. Let's return to your office."

As the two stepped into her office, Dr. Possible stopped suddenly and began to scratch herself furiously, "My god! Why am I so damned itchy?!"

Anna commiserated, "Sorry, I should have warned you about the time cooties."

Dr. Possible looked at the teen incredulously as she continued scratching, "Time cooties?"

"Yes, time cooties. If one manifests the time portal personally, like I do, or by using the Tempus Simia, it isn't an issue. Otherwise, they interact with the body's electromagnetic field to cause the itching. You're lucky: if the time portal had been activated by artificial means, such as with a chronomanipulator, the itching would've been fiercer by several orders of magnitude."

As the itching eased, Ann's brow furrowed in thought, "Who is the father of Kimmie's baby?"

"Walter Nelson: he and Kim had a mutual crush in middle school. For obvious reasons it wasn't allowed go anywhere. His family moved to Go City: he doesn't know that he is a father. Kim tested positive two weeks after he moved away. But, enough of the drama."

Anna picked up one of her files from Dr. Possible's desk, "First off, Dr. Possible, I have the file for the patient I'm transferring to you for her next phase of treatment. Her name is Jhessa Josephine Ravens also known professionally as Shego. She and her four brothers are a team of superheroes known as Team Go: they fight crime in Go City. Sometime during high school, during what I call 'Time Stream Prime', before she started modifying events, Jhessa's soul had been infested with a soul worm after her psyche had been attacked by a red phantom monkey shortly after losing two close friends to gang violence. You'll learn about them when you can access the memory of your biomolecular computer."

Anna pulled out what appeared to be a magnetic resonance image, "The soul co-exists with the brain but in the ethereal dimension instead of the material one, consisting of nodes held together by an ethernet; the whole rotating in place in a random matter. Although a soul can be corrupted in any one of many possible ways, the soul worm is a weapon deliberately created to destroy souls by severing the strands of the ethernet and corrupting the nodes. As the worm works its way around the soul, the increasing corruption causes the individual to become more amoral. Once the strands are severed the soul is destroyed and the victim becomes irredeemably evil."

"I was able to remove the worm a little while ago which, of course, stopped the corruption from spreading although, unfortunately, there was some permanent damage. If left to its own devices the soul will eventually purge the contamination; however that process can be helped along with some positive reinforcement."

Anna smirked, "Since you happen to be of 'good, strong moral fiber', you can provide those positive influences, like being a big sister. Jhessa can still be a 'bad' girl, but at least she won't be evil. For that matter, Kim could make a pretty good little sister." With that she handed Jhessa's file over and opened another file folder.

"Wait a minute," said Dr. Possible. "Helping this person is nice and all, but wouldn't she be better off with a professional counselor?"

"Jhessa aka Shego is also known as The Supreme One. As her soul was corrupted she became a supervillain who ended up taking over the world with the use of a time travelling monkey idol. She's done it successfully six times already using the same basic strategy each time; keeping Kim and Ron apart. The problem has been hanging on to it. Each time, some sort of event causes her to lose control and she returns in time to start over. She is even now moving well along with a seventh, with two important differences; not only is she free of the soul worm, Kim and Ron are still together. We're concerned Shego has something else in mind for Kim and Ron and you are in best position to deal with it, and perhaps become a positive influence on The Supreme One." Anna brought forward the second file,

"Now this case is also of some concern, especially since the trauma is being inflicted as we speak. The source of the malady is again phantom monkeys; fortunately they were only the blue breed and no soul worms were involved. However, at this moment Ron Stoppable's mind is being subjected to multiple attacks by several of them during these last few weeks at Camp Wannaweep. It appears the camp mascot is acting as a portal drawing the phantom monkeys to its location."

Dr. Possible nearly growled, "The Stoppables pulled Ron out of school two weeks before summer break to send him to that camp. Kimmie was rather put out to lose her best friend so abruptly: needless to say Ron wasn't impressed either at the lack of notice. As his father put it, "this is our way of telling you". What a bunch of crock. I was able to console Kim somewhat that she had her martial arts camp after school ends and she would be back when Ron returns. It would also explain Ron's frantic calls lately to his mother to let him come home. He's even called here. Ron didn't even know he was staying for a second four week session until one of the counselors assigned him to a new cabin."

"This feels too organized…are the blue phantom monkeys simply taking advantage of the situation…are Ron's parents complicit in these events or are they hapless dupes." Anna thought to herself then continued, "Unfortunately, these attacks appear to have a purpose. Already, a deep seated phobia of monkeys has set into his psyche; along with a string of other phobias and paranoiac issues. This is obviously a ploy to discourage Ron from accepting the Mystical Monkey Power in the future as he is destined to do: by the way, that bit of info is a secret which must be kept until you're given leave to reveal it. We don't know what will happen when the Power interacts with the phobia. We'll have need of a specialist on this one and I think I can reach one in Japan, but they are very secretive and it might take a few years to set up an appointment."

Dr. Possible looked sternly at Anna, "Why aren't you, or at least someone, there helping? Didn't you mention something about getting a soul worm? Can't you help him?"

"Because there isn't anything I can do. I can only deal with these things in a hands on sort of way. The soul worm in Jhessa was pretty well immobilized within her soul and easy for me to catch. Phantom monkeys fly in from the ethereal plane. It takes someone with the talent to project destructive energies at range to affect them; which, by the way, was the original intent of cognitive energy redoubling. You are the only potential manifester at this point: with your affinity for telepathy and the study of the chapter on mental power, you can learn this talent."

Anna pulled out two MRI's, "These are images of Ron's and Kim's souls. Note how the nodes and most of the ethernet strands match perfectly. These two are soul mates. They are meant to be there for each other, one could almost say twin-like. They will always have an emotionally difficult time if they were to be separated, more so if it is unexpected and they are young. As they get older, although they will dislike being separated, they become better able to cope.

"That might explain Kimmie's strange behaviour since returning from her camp, once she discovered Ron was going to be away for another month," postulated Dr. Possible. "It's not helping that most of her girl friends are themselves away on vacation; but, it's been more than just not having someone to do stuff with. Kim has been experiencing short but severe bouts of depression and the occasional night terrors concerning Ron that is starting to worry me."

Dr. Possible suddenly paused in thought for a moment then resumed, "Although, I'm reminded of something I was told which brings to mind another thought. Kimmie always feels better when she can help someone in need, so I asked one of the Sunshine Spreaders on the paediatric floor to take her under her wing and let her help with the sick kids there. That distraction seemed to have lifted her spirits lately as she's not displaying the depressive episodes. I was told she spent almost all of her time practically doting on a boy her age who was in for an appendectomy."

Ann looked pointedly at her younger self, "That boy is Walter Nelson: I believe he was discharged yesterday."

Anna nodded at that bit of information, "Hmm, interesting. Well, anyway, I feel I need to finish here quickly since your friend will be arriving soon."

"I consulted with two friends who are versed in this area. It is believed Yono the Destroyer is trying to manipulate events now from his position in future. We believe he is using proxies to travel back in time and make the necessary changes. You remember my mentioning you having doppelgangers from multiple bloodlines. His minions need to find the most viable descendant of a companion then neutralize them in some way."

"You mean by killing them," asked Dr. Possible.

"No, that would actually be counterproductive. If the most promising candidate dies, somehow the biomolecular computers of all the descendants are aware and the next most evolved candidate is brought forward. This means the agents of the Yono would have to start searching all over again to find a new branch of that bloodline. However, if that descendant can be neutralized in a fashion which isn't lethal, the parameters for enacting the replacement protocols won't be met. In your case, once your branch of Kim's bloodline was found, you were buried within the state foster care system so that even if you did have a child, she wouldn't grow up to become a hero and a friend and protector to Ron."

"Ron was identified and the plan is to make him lack the confidence to help Kim and be averse to taking on the mantle of the Mystical Monkey Master, I'm not kidding," Anna said as she noted the doctor's look of scepticism. "He needs to be able to acquire the weapon that will be used against Yono. The Yono's agents haven't targeted Kim yet, but it's only a matter of time. You've got to keep an eye out."

"But no pressure," Dr. Possible muttered blandly.

With mock sternness, Anna pointed at the notebook on the desk, "Study…you'll learn what you need to know and just so you're aware, Kim is about six years ahead of you in her studies. And remember, boys notwithstanding, James loves Kim dearly and is very proud of her: he'll support her in whatever she tries. She has a good heart, let her follow it. Now put your head down, you've got a bit of time to rest before Monica arrives. Bye."

Ann lifted her head from her desk at the sound of a loud whoosh then the sound of her office door clicking open. She watched, confused, as Monica entered. She looked down at her uncharacteristically and impeccably tidy desk upon which were neatly placed an old notebook, two manila file folders, leather bound folio and a blank sheet of rice paper.

Astral construct…primary building material…priberium, tadrium, polytri…dodecahedral intrinsic interconnectivity with double helix…artificial contrast interference…perceivable display upon manifestation…decagonal dimensional phase shifting…invertible disdamper reinforces cortical columns for nucleonic electromagnetic force transmission...

James Possible lay in bed beside his sleeping wife, listening to her whispers; episodes that had begun when she began studying that strange old notebook. Ann had not made any secret of it and she did not object to his looking through it, but she was rather reticent with the details of this new hobby. She merely referred to them as mental exercises. He had, of course, examined said notebook: Ann never objected. He was fascinated with the apparently sophisticated mathematical equations: he was always quite proud of his wife's intellect. However, the more he looked at them, the more he realized this was next-level stuff. He was able to follow them to a degree; however, even his intellect was challenged with some of the equations. All he could gather was that the equations referred to some sort of force projection. Yet, just when he would get to a series of numbers that led to a potential solution, it ended with some sort of Latin cipher that he could not crack…of course, it would help if he knew Latin in the first place.

However, tonight's whispers raised some concerns in his mind. The words, 'primary building material' associated with the words, 'priberium and tadrium'. It was only yesterday that the viability of two materials vital to his 'living metal' project had been confirmed. They were labelled, priberium and tadrium, two names Ann should never have heard in the first place, never mind their being associated as a building component to an experimental process kept only in his head….

At first Ann thought her eyes were playing tricks on her and her ears were beginning to suffer from tinnitus. Sometimes she would see people and even animals surrounded by a purple aura of various intensities and each time it would be accompanied by a soft chime, which to her concern, was audible enough to bystanders if the surroundings were quiet enough. Fortunately, with the multitude of cell phone ringtones these days, most people paid it no mind.

It took a while; however, she finally began understanding how this new ability worked. The aura centered on an ailment, overlaying it much like a highlighter would a piece of text in a book: the more intense the purple colouration, the more serious the condition. Much to her disappointment, the phenomenon only indicated location: she still had to use good old fashioned doctoring to determine the actual malady….

"I swear Jimmy, you are one hard core klutz," Ann huffed at her husband. "I mean really, the boys cause explosions when they come down here to the lab and have never even gotten a scratch. Yet here I am again fixing another one of your hurts."

She examined the chemical burn afflicting her husband's left forearm seeing the collection of small blisters along with the reddened skin as she asked her husband, "Dear, how did you manage to do this? I thought you were just coming down here to check the circuit board schematics I drew up for you."

"I did hon'," replied James, "All I did was spill my coffee."

"You were scalded?"

"No, the coffee was cold."

"So, how does that cause first and second degree burns?"

"The only variable I can come up with is the fact Kimmiecub made the coffee for me."

As Ann tended her husband's injury she stopped and stared blankly at her ministrations. "Huh," was all she could think to say.

Although James had rinsed off his arm at the emergency wash station in the lab, Ann applied a special solution to his injury. With her self-taught knowledge of pharmaceuticals, she had developed for her family an all purpose chemical wash to neutralize most any chemical residue, along with an analgesic to ease any discomfort. As her hand passed over James' arm with a gauze sponge she noticed a faint, pastel pink colour highlighting the injured area. She was astounded as the blisters disappeared. Ann looked up quickly and was relieved to see James apparently engrossed with the computer monitor. Glancing back down, she touched her hand to the injured arm and saw a repeat of the phenomenon only this time the redness on the skin disappeared and the arm appeared completely healed."

This time James noticed and looked to see a completely healed arm. "Outstanding hon'," he exclaimed, "How did you do that?"

She thought quickly, "Umm, I modified the wash solution with some new compounds and changed some mixture ratios."

Ann quickly came to the conclusion that it would raise awkward and unwelcome attention if people were to see her using this talent openly. She did apply this new healing talent discretely during surgery: a quick touch with a finger repaired injuries that would have impaired brain function otherwise; needless to say, her reputation only benefited. After some thought, she came up with an idea to apply her healing abilities without raising unwanted scrutiny.

With her affinity for metacreativity, she developed an ointment, a lotion and a saline spray, and then imbued them with her healing power. Figuring out how to keep the healing component of these mixtures stable and permanent was the tricky part. Curiously, the final outcome came with her 'medicines' taking on a translucent blue effect and not the pastel pink she was expecting. The ointment turned out very effective in closing stitch-worthy cuts…to Ann's amusement she realized she had her Kimmie-glue….

The distraught man was raising a ruckus in the emergency ward of the Middleton Medical Centre, demanding to see his pregnant wife who had been one of the injured in a city bus collision with a truck. They had been separated by the paramedics as she had been treated by one team and him by another. All that registered in his mind at the time was seeing her being put on a stretcher and loaded, apparently unconscious, in an ambulance. His behaviour was frustrating since, in his agitation, Nancy, the triage nurse could not get a name from the man; there being more than one pregnant woman in for treatment. His ranting got worse when he thought he overheard someone mention the sending of one of the injured woman into surgery for treatment. By then the receptionists had called security and they were ready to subdue the man and call for the police.

Then he saw 'her' walk into ER and approach him. The husband stopped and was captivated by the aura of serenity she exuded: her scintillating blue eyes were captivating, her smile engaging, her voice felt like a warm hug on his mind, calming his roiling emotions.

Her words were logical and reassuring. To his relief she tells him that his wife will be fine and will merely be kept overnight for observation. Every time she spoke, his demeanour calmed further, her words resonating more within his mind than heard from without; the sounds of the emergency ward seemingly muffled as if coming from a distance.

The man, now calmer, found the angelic, red haired woman's suggestions to be perfectly reasonable…yes, I'll get the cuts on my face and hands cleaned up and treated right away…my wife will feel better when she wakes up and sees me well...why yes, thank you, a hot chocolate will make everything right...

As the husband was escorted by a Sunshine Spreader to one of the treatment rooms a small, thin middle aged man of nervous disposition strutted up to Dr. Possible, preening himself, "Well, it's a good thing he settled down, I was ready to put a smack-down on the fella. Although, you did pretty good calming him down, you know, for an amateur."

Ann rolled her eyes and smirked, "Gee, thanks Barney. What can I say? I was in the zone."

Another guard, by the name of Andy, approached, smiling at the doctor, "Yeah doc; keep this up and you just might lose your 'Dragon Lady' status. I've never seen you so serene. I mean, you've always handled these things calmly: but this was something else."

Barney interjected, giving the impression he gave his suggestion some serious thought, "How about, 'Her Serenity'."

"Naw, the dragon is still in there I bet: how about, 'Her Serenity, the Dragon Empress'." Andy offered.

Ann chuckled, "I think I like the empress part." She was not offended: they had been friends for years, since they had all been hired at the same time at the Center….

Ann placed the cold pack gingerly on her aching forehead, as she laid her head gently on the comfy pillow, after lowering her stiff body into the comfy chair within her inner sanctum, four stories up in the round-windowed tower atop Possible Manor. She had just finished the equivalent of a psionic running battle within a patient's cerebrum with a carcinogenetic foe. After easily excising the 'decoy' cancerous mass she had noticed a grey haze overlaying another part of the patient's skull. She exposed this new 'growth' much to the surprise of her surgical team since this infestation had not shown up on any of the imagery prior to surgery.

It seemed like hours before Ann was able to corner her foe and manifest a surge of positive life force that overwhelmed the creature's negative substance, causing it to writhe into an inert, pasty residue within the folds of the neocortex. After asking for suction to clean up the mess she looked at the clock on the wall to see that only a little over three minutes had transpired. The energy from the healing touch which had proven anathema to her 'foe' had the side benefit of cleaning up any other physical ailments, allowing for a quick, and clean closure of the entire procedure; greatly facilitated by her improved Cranial Bypass procedure.

Before she fell asleep, Ann decided she needed to get into even better physical shape than even her currently augmented body offered. Three minutes with a diminutive demon had wiped her out; the phantom monkeys, according to her notebook, were much larger, more resilient, stronger, aggressive and smarter.

"I'm so glad it's Rocket Boosters Club day today. At least the house will be quiet until they all get back from Bearymore's this evening," thought Ann as the sedative she imbibed earlier took effect….

"DAD, THERE'S A VERY PRETTY YOUNG WOMAN HERE TO SEE YOU!" the Possibles heard Kim shout.

James' confusion became awkward discomfort; his face blushing as he watched his wife cross her arms on her chest and direct a level gaze in his direction. Her cocked right eyebrow clearly stating…'You got some splainin to do!'

Already grumpy from dealing with Barkin over the schoolyard fight between Kim and Arnie Custer that day, Ann curtly nodded her head toward the front of the house, "So dear, aren't you going to see what this pretty young woman wants with you?"

Arriving at the front door the nervously curious father realized his daughter was not exaggerating. The young woman standing demurely at the door could not have been much older than college age. Her well curved, athletic figure was complimented by a light green min-skirt and three-quarter sleeve crop-top, her long raven tresses, pulled into a ponytail, seemed to radiate a delicate green sheen which, combined with a flawless complexion and subtly exotic jade eyes would have most men, and probably some women, classify her as 'easy to look at'. Kim's teeth clacked together as her father pushed her chin up to close her mouth, however that did not stop her from gawking along with Ron and her brothers.

The young woman thrust her hand out, introducing herself with a bright smile and a perky voice, "Hi, my name is Jhessa Ravens, you must be Dr. Possible, I hear you're looking for a sitter."

James' relief was evident as he shook her hand, "Oh yes, please come in, won't you? This is my wife Ann, the other Dr. Possible."

Ann locked eyes with the young woman she recognized immediately as the patient Anna had referred to the previous summer. As they shook hands, she imparted a sense of optimism, calm and a feeling she was safe amongst friends. She realized her telempathic suggestion had succeeded when Jhessa's response was a simple, bashful 'hi'.

Present

Mrs. Dr. Ann Possible was in full dragon mode that evening, courtesy of her husband's diatribe at the dinner table brought on by the presence of a certain Bearibou. James had waxed eloquent about the inappropriateness of expensive gifts given by boys to girls too young to receive such examples of largesse. Despite the thank you note, written by Mrs. Nelson herself, explaining the nature of the gift, James raised questions of Walter's intentions towards his little Kimmiecub.

Ann watched Kim's enthusiasm crash to disappointment then misery at her father's reaction, excusing herself from the table before finishing and leaving the Bearibou behind. She remembered clearly what Anna had showed her of Kim's future and she was determined to prevent that.

After supper Ann went up to her tower sanctum with a plan in mind. She phoned Walter's mother, Harriet Nelson, to invite her and Walter over for supper Friday. Ann began to smirk, "oh really Harriet, your family's from Montana…your dad's ranch is the Special T…oh, just down the road from the Lazy C on the other side of the Crooked D…and you used to play with Slim, James and June …what a small world…."

With an evil smirk growing on her face, Ann followed up quickly with a call to her favourite brother-in-law, "Hi Slim, its Ann. What juicy gossip can you tell me about James and one Harriet Stanton?" He laughed so hard she had to pull the phone from her ear for a moment.

A while later, the kids in the family room were treated to a disquieting laugh they had never heard their mother utter before. James, on the other hand, recognized his wife's evil laugh and felt a chill down his spine. He'd heard that laugh less than a handful of times since they got married; however, whenever he did hear it, it always boded ill for him. And considering the mood she was in after supper, it was especially foreboding...

Señor Senior Sr. looked over the curious collection of reports brought to his attention by his chief of intelligence and ruminated on their significance: "An economic terrorist group called the Yono Consortium collapses after a curiously beneficent Cambodian government obliterates organized crime within its borders…assisted by a dragon? 'Dragon warriors' shooting green fire from their hands…led by a powerful 'dragon woman' launching 'green thunder'…Go City…a vicious gang called 'the Servants of Yono…there's that Yono name again…being cleaned up by private security firm associated with GoCorp…rumours of hand held green energy weapons…dragon warriors again…the area of operations declared an exclusive Team Go theatre of operations…never heard of Team Go…female member wears green and black…capable of producing green energy effect…."

"I think a rousing round of poker is called for," he muttered to himself….

Shego entered the large room containing a contingent of mostly male and some female attendees. She was noticed quickly upon her arrival and a booming voice from somewhere in the large room shouted out, "ALL HAIL THE SUPREME ONE!"

As one the group turned towards the door and seeing Shego they raised their fists in the air and responded, "HAA-ROO!" The group then bowed in her direction.

Shego could not help but smirk in satisfaction as she returned the bow, "Oh yeah; this I like."

Past: 1975, the isolated mountain hamlet of Asgard, Norway

The old man turned back to his meal after Anna left, "Don't know why Ron had a problem with this stuff; meat cakes are awesome…I sure miss Mom's brainloaf though."

Although in his mid-seventies, he still stood tall and was powerfully built; his iron grey hair was messy, 'spikey' had been used to describe it. His blue eyes were still bright and alert and his once fair skin now weathered and ruddy. The only things marring his appearance were the extensive acid burn scars on his forearms and hands. Less than a minute later, the time portal reappeared and Anna walked through. He looked expectantly at her and asked hesitantly, "Hicka-bicka-boo?"

Anna smiled at the old man and gave him a high-five, "Hoosha!"

An African woman shuffled from the kitchen: her posture was stooped; her white hair pulled tight and tied at the back, the remainder billowing loose down her back; her eyes dulled from cataracts; her left forearm was missing and much of any visible skin that could be seen was scarred by acid burns, "How'd it go girl? TME."

AN:
Psionic terms and expressions courtesy of various source books published by "Wizards of the Coast".

At this point, Senior is still a few years from taking on his evil hobby.