Kim Possible and all related characters are the property of Disney.

Doctor Who and all related characters are the property of the BBC.

This chapter features the Twelfth Doctor.

Review Responses:

Mizugami18: the only story I've put in "Crossover" was my KP/Buckaroo Banzai story. I prefer to keep everything in the same place. Besides, I see this as more of a fusion than a crossover, but that's just me.

CajunBear73: Yamanouchi is going to be a brief stop, as you'll see in this chapter. We won't see too many people, but we'll get a good update on some of our favorites.

Daccu65: I heard that same saying, and about people in my own circle, unfortunately. What's been happening with Ron will be explored in multiple chapters. The man has had a lot going on, and an info dump isn't going to do it justice.

MrDrP: We'll find out the genesis of Ron's writing career as we go along. As for the Doctor, this is Peter Capaldi. This will be blasphemous to some Whovians, but he's my favorite of the modern Doctors, and not just because he was in a punk band with Craig Ferguson and I'm a fan of punk rock. He brought more of an outsider feel to the character. The Doctor wasn't trying to be liked or to be more human. He let himself be alien, and that was interesting to me.

The wheezing groan came to a stop when the central time rotor ceased moving. "That was quick," Kim said, clearly unimpressed.

"We only hopped to Japan," the Doctor said dismissively. "No time travel involved. The closest we came to that was crossing your international dateline."

"Right," Kim said, not caring for the Doctor's attitude.

"Right then," Clara said, walking towards the door. "Let's go."

"You're not going," the Doctor told her. "This place is veiled in secrecy, and I'm not permitted to pull that veil aside and share those secrets with you. I'm afraid you'll have to stay here."

Kim gave Clara a sympathetic look. "I'll stay here with you. There are probably more than a few people here who don't like me all that much anymore."

"Not probably," Ron said. "Yori didn't have a lot of nice things to say about you last time I was here."

"I figured," Kim said with a sigh. "What did she say?" Kim both did and did not want to know.

"The words baka and furin-sha were used," Ron replied.

"I know the first one means 'idiot.' Do I want to know what the other word means?"

"No, you really don't," Ron answered.

Kim nodded. Then her curiosity got the better of her. "Tell me anyway."

"Adulterer, cheater, you get the picture," Ron said as gently as he could.

"I kind of figured." Kim sighed. "How long ago were you here?" she asked, changing the subject.

"Last year," Ron replied. "I visit pretty regularly. Last year was special, though. She and Hirotaka had just had their second child. Their new daughter is absolutely adorbs! So's their son."

Kim's eyebrows went up. "Yori and Hiro? I half expected her to make a play for you."

"You can gossip later!" The Doctor didn't try to hide his exasperation. "Right now we have more important things to do! Come on, Ron."

Ron smiled as he stepped through the TARDIS door and onto the Yamanouchi courtyard. He never got tired of seeing the school. Not having to make the long trek up the mountain was a bonus for him. The sky was cloudless, and the full moon shone brightly. Ron thought it was the most beautiful place in the universe.

"I honestly didn't think I'd be back here after last time," the Doctor said. He looked over at Ron. "That was, what, ten years ago for you?" Ron nodded. "It's been over thirteen hundred for me."

"Is that why you never paid me a visit?" Ron asked. "Why you never came back to see folks like Sarah Jane?"

The Doctor gave Ron a sympathetic look. "You all had lives to get back to. Lives that didn't need my interference. Now come on. We need to see Sensei and make sure our Zygon friend didn't make his way here first." He looked around. The place looked as serene as ever but seemed empty. "It's a little too quiet here."

They headed towards the school's main building. Ron's eyes were glowing blue as he started to tap into the mystical monkey power. He put his senses on full, making sure there were no surprises waiting. He caught a slight movement and pulled the Doctor out of the way before an arrow could bury itself in his head.

A blue, monkey shaped aura exploded around Ron, and the air was filled with the sound of shrieking monkeys, but Ron did not move.

"Hold!" a voice shouted. A figure in black vaulted out of nowhere and landed in front of the Monkey Master. She removed her mask, revealing the face of an old friend. She smiled. "Ron-kun. It is good to see you." She scowled when she saw the Doctor. "However, you have brought an outsider to our secret school!"

"Oh, come on, Yori!" the Doctor exclaimed. "You saw us come out of a blue box! What, do I need to offer you jelly babies like I did when you were a child?"

Yori's jaw dropped. "Doctor?"

The Doctor smiled. "Don't let the new face fool you. Now, where is Sensei?"

"I am here, old friend." Sensei walked out of the shadows. "You have, again, regenerated." He turned to Ron. "Stoppable-san. You have returned earlier than expected."

"We needed to make sure you were all okay," Ron said, finally relaxing. The blue aura faded. "Why are you all on high alert?"

"Three nights ago," Sensei began, "a bright light came out of the sky, delivering a red being with a face most cruel. He was looking for my ancestor, and for you and the Doctor, Stoppable-san."

"The students all banded together," Yori said, sounding like the proud teacher she was. "We fought the demon off."

"And he went back to his ship and flew it to the United States," the Doctor surmised. "We just faced off against the same demon at Ron's book signing." He looked over at Sensei. "I came to warn you, but I was too late. For that I am sorry."

"It is all right, my friend," Sensei told him. "Are there others in your machine?"

"My friend Clara Oswald and Kim Possible."

A low growl came from Yori. "Tell me you and that traitorous witch are not back together, Ron-kun!"

Ron couldn't help but laugh. "No, we're not. Kim showed up out of the blue at my book signing."

"I am not convinced," Yori snarled. "She did not honor you and she did not respect you!"

Ron sighed. "This is an old argument, Yori. It's been ten years! I let it go, why can't you?"

Yori's expression softened. "Have you really let it go? I still see the pain in your eyes, Ron-kun. I see the way your face contorts when you say her name."

Ron shoved his hands in his pockets. "It's not her I'm mad at, Yori."

Kim was leaning against one of the control panels surrounding the console room with her arms crossed. She wasn't happy with being left behind, but she also wasn't looking forward to possibly getting chewed out by Yori.

"So," Clara finally said. "You and Ron Stoppable."

"Don't sound so surprised, Clara. He and I were best friends for twelve years before we got together."

"He's never mentioned you in any interviews when he's been asked about his past. The only reason your names are put together is because of that rumor."

"I'm not surprised. We didn't part on good terms." Kim let out a sigh. She knew there was no getting around telling this story. "I went to university in London, and Ron stayed home. He came to London for a mission."

"Mission? Like, those world saving missions you used to do?" Clara was quiet for a moment. "Why was he be there for a mission? Did he replace the blond guy with you who was constantly losing his trousers?" Clara's eyes grew wide with realization. "No! That was Ron?"

"That was Ron," was Kim's reply. "Please don't mention that to him. Those wardrobe malfunctions are the only thing about Ron anyone remembers. Anyway, we finished the mission. It was a quick one. Just some international jewel thieves. The whole thing took ten minutes from when Ron arrived to when the police carried the crooks off. Then UNIT came and recruited me. Out of the blue they were there with a job offer!" Kim let her head hang. "I didn't realize Ron wasn't there for a few hours. When I called him, the hypersonic transport was already halfway over the Atlantic."

"Ouch," Clara said. "That had to hurt."

"I got worse. I got so much worse. I met a guy named Reed Place."

Clara nodded. "And he Reed Placed Ron."

"Pretty much."

"How did he find out? Ron, I mean."

"I told him," Kim said. "And made pretty much every excuse in the cheater's handbook. That was when he wound up going off with the Doctor on an adventure. To me, he was gone for a couple of hours, but for Ron it was about a year. He was gone long enough to figure out that he wasn't going to accept my excuses, and that he was going to move on without me."

"I'm sorry," Clara said. "Are you and this Place guy still together?"

"He cheated on me and left me for someone else two years ago," Kim said wryly. "I got what was coming to me, I guess."

"No one deserves heartbreak, Kim."

Kim was about to respond when the door opened. "Come on out, ladies," Ron said. "Clara, the Doctor vouched for you, so Sensei's gonna trust you to keep the secrets of this place. I'll introduce you so he can give you the lowdown."

"What about me?" Kim asked. "Is Yori out there, waiting to kill me?"

Ron rubbed the back of his neck. "Uh, kill you? No. Give you a piece of her mind? Oh yeah. Look, I'm sorry, Kim, I told her she needs to let it go."

Kim stalked up to him. "Why? You haven't."

Ron scowled. "You don't know what I'm thinking or feeling, Kim," he said. The calmness in his voice surprised her. "And for your information, just because I don't want to talk to you doesn't mean I'm still holding onto my anger. I'm not. I let it go." He turned around but didn't walk out the door. "I let it go with my second book."

Ron was in the dojo running through a series of katas, trying to calm himself. The first time seeing Kim in a decade ended with him almost yelling at her. He came closer to losing his cool than he cared to admit. Ron's concentration was shot, so he fumbled his motions. He stopped. He was just making himself angrier.

"Hey," Kim said softly when she entered the dojo. "Look, Ron, I'm sorry. It's just, you have been so cold to me since the mall."

"Still tweaked that I hugged the TARDIS and not you?"

"Kind of, yeah," she admitted.

Ron sat down on the floor. Kim slid her shoes off and joined him. "I really don't want to talk about this," he said.

"Your second book, huh? I read that one. I've read all of them. Fire from the Abyss was a good one." Kim was quiet. "I knew the relationship issues with your main character were based on us. I mean, I figured that out when I read The Obsidian Scourge. What made you have Derek Hoffs finally forgive Monica for leaving him?"

"It didn't start out that way," Ron said. "The subplot got away from me and started to write itself. By the time I was halfway through, my original outline for it was out the window and I had to plot it out all over again."

"You made Derek forgive Monica," Kim said. "Why can't you forgive me?"

"Kim, you'd be able to answer that if you'd been betrayed like that."

"Oh, but I have been," Kim said. "Reed cheated on me and left me for someone else."

"Have you forgiven him?" Ron asked.

"Not yet," she admitted. "I'm trying to get there."

Ron got up and went to get his shoes. "So am I. Just because I haven't forgiven you doesn't mean I'm still angry at you. I let that go." He closed his eyes. "I had to. It almost destroyed me."

Yori was waiting for Ron outside the dojo. "Leave her alone, Yori."

"I am here for you, not her." She walked beside him. "I was going to ask if you wanted to come and see Takeshi and Mariko."

Ron smiled. He adored Yori's kids. "I'd love to."

Kim went back to the TARDIS but didn't go back inside. Ron was off doing who knows what, and the Doctor and Clara were talking to Sensei. Kim was on her own. She figured she was less likely to run afoul of Yori if she stuck by the TARDIS.

"Kim Possible," a voice said. Kim was surprised to see Sensei.

"I thought you were with Clara and the Doctor."

"They are in the meditation gardens. I thought you would want to talk."

"I'm surprised you're not reading me the riot act."

"Please, come walk with me." Sensei gestured for Kim to join him. "You have to remember that I was young once. My first love is not who I later married and started a family with. Our split was mutual and amicable."

"Unlike mine and Ron's."

"I am not here to judge you, Possible-san," he said. "It is obvious that your actions from ten years ago are causing you pain."

"Ron walked out of my life," Kim said. "That hurt so badly. I really thought that he'd get over being heartbroken, and then we'd get to go back to being best friends. I was so selfish."

"You were young," Sensei told her. "Wisdom comes with time and experience. Unfortunately, it also comes with making mistakes."

"And I made such the big one," Kim said, almost to herself.

"Did you learn from it?" Sensei asked.

"I'd like to think so. I'll never do anything like that to whoever I end up with next. I just wish Ron would talk to me."

Sensei stopped and looked Kim in the eyes. "You cannot force that conversation, Possible-san. That would drive an even bigger wedge between you. These things take time."

"He may never be ready," Kim said.

"This is true, but do not give up all hope. Let things happen at their own pace." Sensei put a hand on her shoulder. "I see in your eyes the love you still feel for him. He is not the same man you once knew, just as you are not the same woman you once were. You have grown. Changed. Let yourself get to know him again. Learn who this Ron Stoppable is."

When Kim returned to the TARDIS, Yori was waiting for her. "Kim Possible," she said, "I would speak with you."

Kim's shoulders slumped. You knew this was coming, she said to herself. "Look, Yori, we have a serious life or death sitch going on here. I really don't have time to catch up."

"I have no desire to 'catch up,' as you put it. We have a serious matter to discuss, one of honor and destiny. Besides, the Doctor's miraculous machine can travel in time as well as space. You will arrive where you need, when you need. Now come! We must speak."

Kim knew when she was beaten and followed Yori to the meditation garden. The place really was serene. In the moonlight, the bamboo seemed to almost glow. "This is pretty."

"I bring my children here often," Yori said. "My son Takeshi was quite fussy as a baby. This place would calm him."

"I'm surprised you're still here," Kim said, trying to put this conversation off as long as she could.

"Hirotaka and I are both teachers here now," Yori told her. "We both love Yamanouchi so much that we had no desire to leave. There were times when Ron-kun thought of remaining here, but Sensei convinced him otherwise. I would have enjoyed having him here, but I knew it was not his place."

Yori finally turned to face Kim. "Hatred is a poison that corrupts the soul," she said. "That is why I have gone out of my way to make sure that I never hated you. I have been mostly successful. I have, however, hated what you did with a passion! There were times that I imagined what it would be like to track you down and beat you senseless."

"You can't be angrier at me than I am at myself, Yori," Kim countered.

Yori scowled. "You would be surprised at the depths of my anger. You took a kind heart and ripped it to shreds! You took a bright soul and dimmed its light! You did what no villain, or bully, or alien warlord ever could. You defeated Ron-kun."

Kim closed her eyes. "I know that better than you. You weren't there when I… when I hurt him."

"That is why you still walk," Yori snarled. "It is also why that wretched fool called Rita Booke still draws breath. Did you know she married her former lover on the day she was to marry Ron-kun? At the same venue? All plans for her nuptials to Ron-kun were transferred to the one she abandoned him for."

"I did know that," Kim said. "I wanted to show her what sixteen forms of kung-fu look like up close for that."

"You would have had to wait your turn." Yori took a deep breath to calm the rage threatening to build up in her. "I see your actions as worse than hers, Kim Possible. You had a much longer history, and a much deeper love. I saw that love when first I met you, even if you and he had not fully admitted your feelings to yourselves yet. That was why I told you that Ron-kun was your destiny. I still see that love."

"Sensei told me the same thing."

"Then it seems he and I share a common wisdom in this matter," Yori said. "I warn you, do not harm Ron-kun again. He was on his way to healing when he returned to Yamanouchi following his travels with the Doctor, but he still had a long way to go. I would like to think that I helped. He needed a friend, and I was that friend. He needed someone to listen, and my ear was open. He needed a shoulder to cry on, and mine was offered without hesitation.

"I did have an American style crush on him when we were younger, but we were not to be. I had already grown fond of and close to Hirotaka when Ron-kun returned from his travels. He saw that and encouraged us. He was there when Hiro and I wed, and he has become a beloved uncle to my children. He is family to me now, and I will defend him with my entire being. Even from you. Especially from you."

Everyone was gathered in the TARDIS console room when Kim was finally able to get back from the meditation garden. She could tell by the look on the Doctor's face that he had a plan. "What's the sitch?"

"The sitch," the Doctor said, "is that I need to find out how Tolkran got here. I left him in a Time Lord prison that he should never escaped from. In fact, only one person ever escaped, and that's only because he was never there to begin with. He just made people think he was."

"That sounds like a story," Clara said.

"Later," the Doctor replied. "Come along, you lot, as soon as I find the book, we're going to Shada."

Author's note: the prison planet Shada comes from an uncompleted serial from 1979 also called "Shada." It was written by the late great Douglas Adams, who wrote The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. There's a novelization of it that came out in 2012, an audio drama starring Paul McGann from 2003, and an animated version from 2021. It was never completed and aired due to a strike at the BBC.