Ch. 07
Stoppable Residence Middleton
Master Sensei was aware of Rufus' exhaustion but he couldn't convince him to rest. When he noticed the sun rising Monday morning, Master Sensei decided to try a different approach and see if it bore fruit. "Yori, could you go to the kitchen and prepare some sustenance for us. Oh, I believe Rufus would like some as well, right?" Master Sensei asks, hoping that eating something will help Rufus relax enough to sleep.
"Um, cheese." Came Rufus dispirited reply.
"Yes, Master Sensei." Yori replied guessing at his intentions.
It was currently Master Sensei's turn to channel Ki into Ron. Thus, he was acutely aware that as time passed, he was required to channel less and less Ki to Ron, a sign he'd been waiting for as it showed success was near.
When the food came, Master Sensei focused on Rufus, but the little guy barely nibbled his cheese. Sighing, Master Sensei figured only seeing Ron awake, would ease Rufus enough to rest. Coming to that conclusion, he was about to switch places with Rufus so that he could see Ron was doing much better, in a final attempt to get him to rest, when one of the ninjas guarding the house appeared before them.
"Kim Possible approaches." The ninja announced, bowing to Master Sensei and waiting for instructions.
"Hmmm, very well, lock the doors." Master Sensei instructs and after thinking adds. "If she insists on waiting Rufus-san, we will need you to explain that Ron-san is feeling unwell."
"Uh huh." Rufus nods in agreement.
~~~~~
Rufus went downstairs on Yori's hand, figuring it would waste time to stay with Ron, when he might be needed to go convince Kim, that Ron was sick but that it was nothing serious. Once there, he heard Kim knock on the door, wait 30 seconds and do so again. When that did not work she called out to Ron.
"Ron! We'll be late to school!" Kim yelled. She started pulling out her phone, most likely to call Ron. Rufus was about to go out and talk to her, when the device rang. She looked at the screen and her expression lit up. "Hi Josh!" Kim answered, already turning around and walking away, her concern for Ron gone, like it was never there.
That made Rufus angry, it wasn't the first time that Kim's concern for Ron was no better than a strangers. A fact made worse, when you consider the years of friendship and Rufus was nearing his limit on how much he was willing to bear. Ron is his best friend and is extremely loyal to his friends. Rufus couldn't bear seeing his sad expression, when Kim turns to him, when she is in need of a pep talk before talking to other guys and how Ron smiles, hiding his pain, before assuring her everything will workout every time.
Rufus did not realize how angry he'd gotten until Yori spoke out to calm him. "Breath Rufus-san." She said not entirely sure what gotten him so angry. "Her going to school is what we were hoping for." She adds, that is when Rufus notices that his claws were digging into her hand, stopping hastily he hurries to apologize.
"Sorry." Rufus says, looking down guilty with his actions.
"It is okay, Rufus-san, I know you did not mean to harm me." Yori speaks softly before adding. "Let us return upstairs to Stoppable-san." Seeing Rufus nod, Yori moves towards the stairs, Rufus rubbing gently where his claws dug into her skin.
~~~~~
Upon opening his eyes, Ron noticed a couple of things. One, his head hurt, it was the worst headache he'd ever had. Two, he was in his room and he had no idea how he got there. Three, Rufus was so overjoyed to see him awake, that he was in tears and looked extremely exhausted. And finally, they weren't alone, Master Sensei and Yori stood to the side.
"Uh, hey Master Sensei, Yori, guess thanks are in order?" Ron asks sitting up and rubbing the back of his neck. He also grabs Rufus, beginning to massage the little guy, hoping to convey he was okay now and he shouldn't worry.
"It is good to see you awake Stoppable-san." Master Sensei replies and a dazzling smile blooms on Yori's face as she nods. Ron was momentarily stunned upon seeing it, until Master Sensei spoke again. "There are a couple of questions that I hope you would answer Stoppable-san." Says Master Sensei, a smile at Ron's reaction to Yori's smile hidden behind his facial hair.
"Yeah, no problem," Ron replies, then adds "in fact I have a few of my own."
"Very well." Says Master Sensei, taking a moment to organize his thoughts. "How is it that you came to be injured in such a manner?"
"It's a long story." Ron began, thinking back to what started the whole thing. "Kim got her annual subscription for the Villain Expo hosted by Hench CO. and it was decided we were to go undercover..."
Ron recounted his experience, how an accident occurred while Drakken tried the Attitudedinator, resulting in Ron absorbing Drakken's evil. After, he explained how with time, Drakken's evil drove him towards insanity and allowed him access to some of his unconsciously suppressed knowledge. How natural it felt remaking his old tricycle into an ATV with a built in weapon, the best comparison being when he was cooking and he knew exactly what he needed to do. From there, he moved on to tell how Shego showed up with Drakken at the wedding and ended up trading him for Ron. Once at Drakken's lair, he modified the annihilator, made a second machine and put to use some of Drakken's tech.
Ron took a moment to calm himself before continuing, ashamed and scared of what he had become. He told of threatening Shego, with feeding her to some sharks if she did not know her place. Of how he was tapping into the MMP while evil and his skin had taken a blue hue. Then, Ron proceeded to explain his rescue, how he destroyed the Attitudedinator and the outfit he had used while evil. Now, Ron moved on to explain the remorse he felt for his actions and his desire to apologize to Shego, leading him to hack Drakken's system to track her down. Using the ATV to travel to her location and soon after arriving, noticing something was wrong, when plasma was being launched but Shego did not respond. Climbing to her room, yelling and shaking her but still not receiving a response and how her plasma covered hands grabbed onto him. Here, Ron explains how he turned to the MMP for help and ended up inside her nightmare, protecting her with his body from the evil version of himself and apologizing until his surroundings disappeared.
"After that, I felt my energy increasing and my MMP healing me." Ron says pausing, embarrassed with what he was going to say next. "Having nothing better to do, I thanked and explained to the MMP about myself. Eventually concluding that I want to improve myself, not for others but for me. I am tired of being seen as a joke, when I know am capable of much more!" He concludes, a bit louder before adding. "And that's pretty much what happened."
Ron looked to Master Sensei and Yori, a bit worried that they would judge him for his actions but saw no such thing from their expressions. Yori had concern and Master Sensei was deep in thought, pulling at his beard.
After a while Master Sensei spoke up, guessing correctly one of Ron's questions. "So, you would like to know how you came to enter and be injured in Shego-san's dreams?" Seeing Ron nod, Master Sensei continued. "The answer to that is not hard to explain but requires incredible amounts of training to achieve. Observe for a moment before I explain."
Saying till there, Master Sensei entered the lotus position and began to meditate. A moment later his astral body separated from his physical one. Focusing on Ron, he began to explain. "As you can see, Stoppable-san, with training, one can separate what is called an astral body from the physical one. In this form, you can enter a persons mind and do other things, but with the example of the mind, there are dangers. Let me ask, what would happen if, for example, you're badly wounded in a fight and your lung was pierced?" Master Sensei asked, hoping Ron would make the connection between damage to the astral body and physical one.
Thinking about it, Ron gave his answer. "If the wounds aren't treated in time, I could drown in my own blood and eventually die. I'm guessing that would equal a physical death and eventual death of my mind. So if my astral body or in essence my mind were to take enough damage, I would die as well, but how did the actions in Shego's nightmare have such an effect?" Ron asked, not fully understanding how it happened.
"Very good, Stoppable-san." Master Sensei complimented, before returning his astral body to his physical one and continuing his explanation. "With training, one can use the mind to defend and attack a persons mind. This being coincidentally, what resulted when you used your astral body to defend Shego-san. The attacks that were created in her dream, affected your astral body like a blade would a physical one. Although I must add, had you restrained and distanced her from the house, once she woke up, her mind would not have suffered the same damage as yours, for to her it was only a bad dream."
"Oh!" Ron replies, rubbing the back of his neck. "I was so concerned with helping her it did not cross my mind at the time."
"Do not take it to heart, Stoppable-san." Master Sensei quickly adds. "Your actions were courageous and should not be seen as a mistake. You were taking responsibility for what had previously happened and were trying to help someone in need." He assured Ron, then added. "Not many would acknowledge their mistakes let alone try and make amends."
Receiving Master Sensei's reassurance and seeing Yori nod on the side, Ron smiled at having his efforts acknowledged. "Thank you, Master Sensei, Yori, that means a lot to me." Saying this and seeing them nod in understanding, Ron moved to ask another question. "Master Sensei, I would like to formally request training in the use of my MMP and martial arts."