Thank you to Boris Yeltsin, airauralintensity, Eddy13, Jimmy1201, Mahler Avatar, CajunBear73, F86Sabre53, Quathis, campy, PossibleLover, and BobTrumpet for reviewing.
I'd also like to express my gratitude to those of you who have opted to "favorite" and/or follow this or some of my other stories. Your support and interest mean a lot to this author.
My thanks to the estimable campy for looking over this chapter.
KP © Disney; Original Characters © the Author
New and Kimproved
I.
"Ow, ow! Why the uncomfortable pinchiness?" Ron whined as he ran, or more accurately, stumbled and hopped, and tried to maintain his balance. He was trying to keep up with Kim, Rufus, Scamper and Bitey. "When will it stop?"
"Head in the game, Ron," the auburn-haired hero snapped.
"I know, but …"
Kim rolled her eyes. Ron was her best friend. Her boyfriend. She loved him warts and all. But there were times when his kvetching was really not helpful and this was one of those moments.
She swung around to give him a sharp reminder about time and place, but instead found herself staring, her mouth formed into a perfect 'O' reflecting her shock at what she saw. Quickly, she composed herself and asked, "When did your clothes shrink?"
"Huh? My clothes are …" Ron said, his riposte tapering off as he held up his hands and he realized his sleeves were short and then, looking down at his feet, his pants legs were even shorter. And his shoes were tight.
Kim, with a curious look on her face, walked up to Ron, giving him the proverbial once-over. Finally, she said, "You've grown."
"I've what?"
"Uh huh. Grown!" Rufus squeaked as he nodded.
"Aiieyee! It's Project Titan all over again and I didn't even get to eat any Bueno Nacho!" Ron wailed. "Why? Why?"
Kim snorted. "Dial down the drama, you're not turning into a Henchmonster," she said confidently before she muttered, "I hope."
She looked at him closely again, noting that most of his growth was in his legs, and that there was nothing freakish about it. Ron just seemed like a slightly older, more physically mature version of himself: in short, no longer the boy she had long known, but a young man — though one with big ears, a cowlick, and a goofy smile.
She reached up and touched his cheek, which had a bit more stubble than in the past, and smiled as she saw he was still freckled. It was then she realized she was looking up into his eyes. For most of their lives the two were about the same height. Now, Ron had a good three inches on her.
"I'd say no big … " Kim quipped. "But it is. Or you are."
"Is that okay?" he asked nervously.
Realizing that with the height differential she could now easily rest her head on his shoulder, she hugged him and purred. "This most def works for me."
As was his wont, Ron was still lost, but then he got Kim's joke and what she was talking about. "You know, you, uh, look a little different."
"Oh?"
Ron wasn't sure of how to express himself but just as Kim had noticed changes in him, he had seen some in her. He was tempted to blurt out that she brought hotness to a new level, but there was something else: Kim was no longer a teenager but a young adult. While she was still possessed of girl-next-door looks, there was no question she was definitely a woman.
"Uh, you're well, uh, c-curvier," he stammered as he made clumsy but telling hand gestures. "Not that I don't like it! You look b-badical!"
"Really?" Kim asked, looking down at herself and noticing what Ron said seemed to be true. The difference was subtle but real. "We so need to find a mirror."
"If it helps, you're still the height of beautilocity, KP, but even more babelicious than before," Ron said.
"You give me the weirdest compliments," she said, then added warmly, "just another reason I keep you around."
Kim and Ron took a moment to revel in one another's presence then her expression changed and he knew she was in mission mode. "We need to find the others and then we can figure out what the sitch is with us."
Much to his surprise, she then leaned in and bussed him on the cheek. Ron, while pleased, looked surprised. Kim grinned. "No reason I can't have my cake and eat it too. I'm still the girl who can do anything, after all."
It was at that moment the alarms began blaring and lights flashing.
"That's not a good thing, is it?" Ron asked.
Kim didn't even bother giving him an answer, her facial expression leaving no doubt in her boyfriend's mind as to what she was thinking.
"Yeah, that's what I thought," he sighed.
II.
Shego, Yori, and Will were in the midst of a full-blown knockdown, drag-out melee with the surprisingly capable base security staff. Fern, meanwhile, tried to stay out of the way and looked for a way to be of assistance to the others.
Both Yori and Shego thought the soldiers were better trained than the standard-issue henchmen they usually encountered either as allies or foes and, more tellingly, they had superior numbers which were beginning to prove to be too much for the not inconsiderable combined combat talents of a former-superhero-turned-super villain, secret ninja school alumna, and Top Agent of a leading international security agency.
"Where's Princess?" Shego snarled as she fired off two plasma shots at a guard, who wisely retreated.
"She will be here with Stoppable-san soon, Shego-san," Yori said. "Of that I am sure." Then she grabbed an attacker by the arm and using his momentum, threw him over her shoulder.
Will then chimed in as he fended off a guard. "Perhaps I gave Ms. Possible too much credit earlier. I would have expected better—"
He was cut off when the door blew open, debris and smoke filling the room. Kim, Ron, Rufus, Scampy and Bitey entered.
"Hola!" Ron called out while offering a jaunty wave, which Rufus mimicked.
Kim arched an eyebrow as she looked at her boyfriend, then surveyed the scene. Smirking, she said, "I hope we're not too late to join the party."
"Your assistance would be most welcome, Kim Possible," Yori replied, bowing before delivering a timely blow to one of her attackers.
Not to be outdone, Shego threw an opponent into one of his compatriots and snarked, "It's about time you showed up, Cupcake."
"Pfft," Kim rolled her eyes and waved a hand. "I thought you'd appreciate not being shown up," she said as she waded into the fight, very quickly dispatching two of the security personnel and eliciting a growl from Shego.
Ron, meanwhile, made his way over to Fern, who fixed her gaze on him and his changed countenance.
"You okay?" he asked.
She looked from him to Kim and then back again. She shook her head. "You guys take the cake." Seeing Ron was confused, she added, "I'm fine. Really, think we should help?"
Ron pursed his lips, "Well, we can always unplug or break something. That usually works."
"You're on!" Fern said as she got to her feet.
"Yeah!" Rufus chimed in from the comfort of his human's open palm.
Then they got to work.
III.
"Well, can we do it?" Martin Smarty asked. He had considered his options and had decided he needed to be bold if he was going to get what he wanted: Ron Stoppable to return to the Smarty Mart payroll.
"Sir, it's all a matter of money," his aide answered.
"That's never been an issue for me before," the big-box store mogul laughed. "Okay, boys, let's do this."
IV.
All eyes in the Senate hearing room were focused on one man, a figure who was quite pleased with the attention he was receiving. Troy Bell, Senior, had never worked in marketing but he long believed the old maxim that there was no such thing as bad publicity. People either knew about you or they did not. The former was always preferable to the latter.
"Mister Chair," he drawled. "I would like to address something."
The chair looked warily at Bell. They might have been members of the same political party, but he knew that Bell's highest allegiance was to himself and his own interests. Still, he knew he had little choice but to let his colleague speak.
"I recognize the honorable gentlemen," the chair said wearily.
"Thank you," Bell replied graciously, not giving voice to his belief that his Senatorial colleague was a twerp. "Many of you know that my boy, a fine, upstanding young man of great promise, one who represents the future of this great country is—"
He was cut off by another of his peers, a man from the opposing party, who interjected with a bit of gleeful malice, "Cooling his heels in the pen."
Rather than be goaded, Bell nodded gravely. "That's right. My son is in the pen. Because he was set up by a publicity seeking, grandstanding, party girl who thinks the rules are for others: Kim Possible!"
As Bell expected, the hearing room exploded and all attention had been refocused from his son to the about-to-be trashed hero.
V.
Ever since the serenity chime had sounded, Tim Morel had been trying to calm himself and get himself comfortable in the lotus position. The unfamiliar pose and the hard, flagstone floor were making that difficult. He found himself wondering how Monkey Fist and his minions had so effortlessly fallen into their states of Zen calm. One moment they were engaged in kung fu exercises, balls of energy flying all over the great hall of the mad Englishman's castle; the next, they were stillness personified, the ninjas seated in orderly rows before their leader. If Tim weren't frightened, he would have laughed at the bizarre scene.
Long minutes passed before the chime again rang: 'Quiet Time' as Tim dismissively thought of it was over. He popped an eye open and saw Fiske languidly rise to his feet (paws?) and stretch. Then, as he feared but knew he should anticipate, his master strode up to him.
"Get up, Boy," he commanded.
"Yes, sir," Tim answered, hiding his annoyance at the villain's haughty and dismissive tone, before he asked, "What's next?"
"We continue to marshal our forces," Monkey Fist replied, "Then we will defeat my arch-foe." He threw back his head and began to cackle with abandon.
"Kim Possible?" he asked hopefully. Seeing his fellow Llenrock student at the mercy of his tormentor would be the one saving grace of his current degrading predicament.
The crazed laughter that had been accompanied by the hoots and screeches of monkey ninjas came to a sudden stop.
A puzzled Monkey Fist looked to his unwilling manservant. "The cheerleader? Heavens no, the pretender."
"Who?" a confused Tim asked.
With a malicious sneer, Monkey Fist explained. "That monkey-phobic poser, Ron Stoppable. With the power of the Yono and my mastery of Tai Ching Pek War, I will defeat him. Then he will bow before me!"
The full-throated manic laugher resumed. Tim looked around at the obviously pleased monkey man and his monkey ninjas, shrugged his shoulders, and began to laugh, too.
VI.
Located in two facilities separated by an entire continent, Hedda Lyne in New York and Lynn Accurate in Los Angeles nonetheless were thinking the same thing as technicians prepared to launch their latest forays into Alternative Facts and Fake News into the collective consciousness of the American people: Kim Possible was going down, which meant that ratings would be going up. Unfortunately, they didn't know that their respective stories were about to get some competition.
Hedda and Lynn weren't the only purveyors of rumors, gossip, and other titillating pieces of news, some of which might have had a passing semblance to reality. At that moment, Andy Luss, a computer nerd and GJ contractor who had never had much luck with women, or to be honest, anything, had seen the recordings of Ron Stoppable taking out Warhok and Warmonga, and decided that he was going to strike a blow for sidekicks everywhere and share this piece of news with the world…
To Be Continued …
A/N: With this chapter, What's The Alma Mater passes the 100,000-word mark. When I began this story I was envisioning something about the length of Fly Me To The Moon. I'm obviously not very good at estimating the prospective length of what I write. There's a bit more of this story to come, but as I noted in an earlier chapter, I have plotted out what I'd like to happen and I do know how I'd like this to end. The question is whether my muse is listening and agrees …