I do not own any Disney characters named herein and am only borrowing them to tell a nonprofit tale meant for entertainment purposes only.
Kim Possible: Quest
By LJ58
3
The passage Scarlet followed finally leveled off and ended with a small, simple wooden door that was locked before her.
She tried the lever, but it wouldn't give.
There was no apparent keyhole to pick. There was nothing to indicate how the door was hinged in the living rock.
The door was just there.
Thick, unyielding wood that barred her way.
Then she shook her head and shrugged.
"Why not," she suggested to herself and raised her free hand to knock.
Her knuckles had barely touched the wood the third time when it simply opened on its own, and she found herself staring into a huge, underground chamber that was filled with a massive, round table lined with high-backed chairs.
A single, lit candelabra was set in the middle of the table, but there was nothing else in the room: just the table, and the chairs.
She walked into the room and felt a rush of surprisingly cool air flow all around her as she heard a rushing sound like a faint breeze, and then she blinked as she realized the breeze had flowed directly toward the table.
As it had, the candles had not so much as fluttered, but almost every chair was now filled with a glowing body.
She gaped as she stared at the pale blue, mostly translucent men and women who sat regally before her but ignored her.
She looked around again but saw only smooth, rock walls around her.
She also noticed one chair was empty.
She walked to the side of the chair but scowled.
The chair was there as if awaiting the next spirit if these beings were ghosts of the past leaders.
Given that much, it would be disrespectful to take that chair. Or so it felt that way to her as she looked to the spirits again, and realized all of them were now watching her.
"I'm…..Scarlet," she told them. "I am here for the crown. Uhm, not because I want power, but because I really need it to get home, and apparently….need it to manage some kind of quest."
"You babble," a sonorous tone cut her off, and she turned to see a final spirit gliding toward her, carrying a polished box it set before the empty chair.
"Sorry. I'm just nervous, and thought I'd try to explain. This is all…..new to me, and….."
"We already know of you, Otherworlder. And we know your quest. The question," the newly arrived spirit asked, "Is do you know yourself? Or your place?"
"I thought I did," she told him, frowning again, and instinctively clutching the sword. "Now, I'm not so sure."
"An honest answer," one of the female spirits murmured in a surprisingly deep, but somber tone.
"Heed me, Otherworlder," the standing spirit growled. "I will offer you the crown, and the power it grants, do you answer a single query. To forfeit gives you safe passage to the surface. You may live out your life as you see fit, but you will never again see your own lands."
"This is where I get the 'or else.' Am I right?"
The spirit only seemed to stare through her for a moment.
"Do you choose to play our game, your correct answer will give you all you desire of us. To fail, however, will cost you your mind, and heart. Your mind will be emptied, as surely as you emptied your cup of shia'arz before you came to us."
Kim stared hard at that.
Shalagon had said the one she knew that had tried this trial had died mad.
Mad, or simply….emptied?
"Ask me your question," she said as she clutched the hilt of the sword that she didn't notice was starting to faintly glow again.
"She carries the blade. The Sword of Destiny. The true Sword of Prophecy," another whispered even as Kim took hold of it.
"She is not the first," the standing spirit retorted. "It means nothing if she has not mastered it, or herself. So, then, I will ask you this, Otherworlder. Think well ere you answer. Did the sword bring you here, or did you bring the sword?"
Kim frowned at that.
She clutched the sword, and she recalled Drakken. His name. His rant. His mad quests for power.
"No," he had howled as she had lunged for the sword he had somehow tracked down from old journals, and notes, and had been coincidently displayed in the Smithsonian just that very week.
Even as she had grabbed it, there seemed to be a burst of electric energy all around them, and Shego, the green woman, had called out, "Doc, look out," even as Kim felt herself falling back, her right hand securely wrapped around the hilt of the sword as Drakken fell back the other direction, carrying the glowing scabbard with him.
"Mine! The power was supposed to be mine," she remembered him ranting.
She had a split second to recall her earlier mockery of Drakken's latest scheme. Finding some ancient sword that legend claimed was the true Excalibur itself, and the key to fantastic power and wealth if one were chosen to hold the blade. Drakken, naturally, decided he had to have it for himself.
Cue the hunt and the fight. Then they had both lunged for the blade displayed in the museum, and Kim ended up somehow jerking the sword free even as she fell…through time and space, only to end up here.
In an alien world.
With the Sword of Prophecy, as Shalagon had called it.
"Your answer, Otherworlder," the spirit growled as if impatient.
Kim Possible considered all she had experienced. All she had learned from the young elf, who was a power in her own right for all her apparent age.
"I think…..we brought each other," she said as she finally looked back up at the shade of a man who was well over six foot, and looked like he would have been a very intimidating man when he lived.
The spirit stared hard at her. His bluish eyes glowed as he slowly nodded.
"Your reply is acceptable. I ask one other query without penalty. Why do you seek our power, Otherworlder? Why would you risk all to claim Meadow-Song's legacy?"
"If you do know me, then you already know that. All I want to do is get back home. To my world. If I have to help people here first, then I will. It is, after all, what I do. Help people," Kim smiled now. "Where I am doesn't change that or me," she declared firmly.
"Queen," a shade to her left said.
"Queen," the next said, and the next.
The word echoed all around the table, and then the standing spirit bowed and opened the box.
"Queen," he intoned and lifted the glittering, silver band with a single, blue stone on the raised spike that gave it the look of a modest tiara. "May you ever be the champion our Nine Lands need in their hour of need, Lady Scarlet," he now called her.
She felt a rush of energy unlike any she had ever felt when the tiara was set upon her head and felt the pulse of something akin to electricity rush through her as the spirit stepped back, bowed again, and then faded away.
Even as she looked, she realized the table was now empty, and all the others were gone, too. Kim glanced around and clutched the lantern in her free hand as the candelabra began to flicker now, and then went dark. Even as it did, she sensed the cavern was suddenly empty. Just empty.
She lifted the lantern but didn't even see the table before her now.
Just bare rock walls, and a stony floor.
"Weird," she murmured and turned to head for the exit.
The wooden door creaked closed behind her after she walked through, and then she had but one way to go.
Yet she was now conscious of a faint glow coming from around her, illuminating the darkness more than her lantern had managed earlier, and discovered she could more easily see this time as she kept heading up the passage toward the way out.
In less time than she had expected, she found herself standing before that heavy steel door and eyed the hard panel blocking her path.
She put out a hand and pushed.
The door slammed open as if hit by a truck.
Men standing around on the other side gaped incredulously as she walked out of the passage, and looked around at them.
"My Queen Scarlet," Shalagon was the first to curtsy, keeping her head bowed before her.
Every man there belatedly went to his knees.
The redhead gestured, and Shalagon rose and walked over to stand before her.
"You are proving to be all we dared hope," the young elf smiled up at her.
"So, what's the next trial," Kim asked as she nodded to her, ignoring the gaping men now bowing around her.
"You will know when it presents itself, My Lady Scarlet," Shalagon told her. "Until then, you must show yourself a true queen, and lead your people, your majesty," the elf smiled. "And I shall be honored to guide you so long as you require my service."
Kim Possible smiled back and nodded to her.
"I'm glad you are here, Shalagon. I would also like to consider you a friend. I certainly would be lost without you."
The young elf smiled back and curtsied again.
"You honor me, Queen Scarlet. I am here to serve."
Kim nodded again and followed the young Elf out of the dungeons.
It seemed the entire palace had been waiting as she climbed the steps up from the dungeon, and was led not to her chambers this time, but to the open balcony beyond the throne room itself. She walked out alone after Shalagon simply gestured, and Kim, now truly Queen Scarlet stepped out to see what seemed most of the city gathered below her.
They cheered all the more when the sun gleamed off the blue stone on her tiara, and the crowd now chanted 'Hail, Queen Scarlet,' as a mantra, their volume growing until it seemed the air all but shook.
Even as she looked down at the people gathered before her, she noted a line of people on horses coming up the main lane, and at their head, a tall, wiry man in gleaming armor, carrying a huge axe in one hand. The man's other hand easily managed the big warhorse he rode, and behind him came twenty more men in similar armor.
"I come to see the one who vanquished Barack of the Southlands, and find a mere girl pretending to be a power," the big man shouted up at her. "Come down, little girl. Come down, and bow to me, because I doubt you're the sort to face a man in combat. More likely, you bested that rude, witless brute on your knees….."
"Be still," Shalagon shouted, suddenly beside her, her voice carrying like thunder.
It surprised Kim, who had gotten used to the quiet, soft-spoken elf girl who seemed to barely whisper at times.
"You are the one that should bow, Darvos of Ventaalo. Lady Scarlet wears the true crown, having faced the spirits of the Elders in the Chamber of Rulers this very morning. Could you do the same? No, I think not, else you would have come sooner," the elf challenged him.
"You think me a superstitious peasant, sand-baby," the big man growled, raising his great axe to shake before him. "More likely, you two sluts conjured some game to feign….."
"Silence," Queen Scarlet shouted herself now, her anger rising as she glared at the man, and understood all too well what he was saying.
She had faced the same accusations from people in her world who didn't like the idea that a basic, average girl could defeat what some feared to even consider facing.
Even she was astonished when the mere force of her command drove the man back off his horse and left him sprawled on his back, the head of his great axe shattered as if it were made of rotted kindling when it hit the paving stones.
The same axe that boisterous man had shaken so ominously at her a moment ago.
"The very gods speak in her words," someone murmured from behind her. "It is the true crown. The Ancient Line is restored!"
"Hail, Queen Scarlet," the people chanted all the more, and the newcomers couldn't climb down off their horses fast enough to bow before her.
The insulting warrior just lay there where he had fallen, and it would only be later that Kim would hear that the big man had broken his back when he fell. He would be lying in his bed for many years to come after he had challenged her so openly, and the people supported her all the more after that story spread.
Kim/Scarlet, however, wasn't so sure that was the way she wanted to rule.
Or face people.
Only when she considered taking off the tiara, she found it didn't want to come off.
"Only the Ancients can remove what the Ancients have given," Shalagon told her when she asked the elf about it later.
She found herself sighing again and wondered just how much more complicated this whole sitch was going to get before she got home. She had the unnerving feeling that she was going to find out, because she increasingly had the feeling, too, that getting home was not only not going to be easy, it wasn't going to be anytime soon.
KP
Somewhere Far Away:
"How did you get here," the tall, stocky black teen spat, fumbling for a weapon.
"Save it. I need your help," Shego said as she came in the window after finally getting through more security than even the Pentagon could boast.
"My help," Wade Lode asked, eyeing the oblong package that Shego carried.
"Well, Kimmie needs your help. Or am I mistaken that the harpy has been blowing you off lately about what happened on Kimmie's last mission?"
"You….?"
"I was just hanging around Drew for a lark these days. Kimmie knew that. I even tipped her off on Blueboy's latest scheme to try to repair his tarnished image. Only….something screwball happened. I mean seriously off the wall, Nerdlinger. That's why I'm here. Because you haven't figured it out yet, or Kimmie would be back by now."
"You…. You're not…. I thought….?"
"Look, it's an adult world, Nerdlinger. Adults don't always make sense. Get over it. The point is, Kimmie needs your help, because something seriously wonky went wrong last week, and I can't begin to guess how to fix it. I'm here hoping you can."
"O….kay," Wade murmured. "Tell me everything. I can't even get a debriefing from GJ lately."
"Because they're covering things up again. Like usual," Shego sniffed and carefully lay the package she carried on a desk near his primary workstation.
Wade eyed the oilskin-wrapped object and frowned.
"And this is…?"
"What do they think Drewbie absconded with? Dr. Dimwit is still catatonic in his lair lately since he just touched this thing. Meanwhile, Kimmie just….vanished when she touched it. Literally vanished. Only I can't find her anywhere since she popped like a freakin' soap bubble," Shego complained.
"Popped….?"
"That's what happened, kid," Shego said and began to carefully unwrap the object she had brought. "So, whatever you do, don't touch this thing. It's bad news," she said and revealed the jeweled scabbard of a long, narrow sort.
"Was this…?"
"Kimmie grabbed the toothpick end just as Drew grabbed this thing. When it and they parted, Doc was catatonic, and Kimmie was gone. Like a bubble," Shego told him. "No light show, no nothing. Just….gone," Shego said grimly.
"That is….."
"Trust me, I know how it sounds. When Kimmie vapored, I got Doc, and this thing out of there, because I already knew how GJ handled these kinds of things. Usually with deep holes, and lots of denial," Shego said before he could ask.
"What exactly was Drakken after," Wade asked as he only stared at the sheath.
"He got wind of some kind of obscure legend that claimed this might be one of those legendary Excalibur types that could give you ultimate power and wealth if you were chosen and could unlock its secrets. Of course, the old journal he was reading had a lot of the usual 'must be worthy' disclaimers, but you have to know how Dr. Dimwit pays attention to details by now," Shego sighed.
"Yes," Wade murmured, and rolled a chair back to a large counter near his bed, and opened a drawer to pull out a small, black box that looked like a small cell phone. "His lack of foresight has caused a lot of issues over the years…."
"He's a screw-up," Shego growled, eyeing the husky back teen still growing. "Just be honest and admit he's an idiot, Nerdlinger. Now, fix this," she complained.
He switched on the device and began to run it over the jeweled case.
"What's that," the green-skinned woman demanded as the device began to chirp and hum as lights flickered and blazed on a small screen.
"Spectrum analyzer. This….casing is radiating gamma energy and tachyons on a level that makes it remarkably similar to the output of that PDVI you guys once played with," Wade told her.
"Say what? What does that mean?"
"It means," Wade said, putting his device away, "I have to believe something caused Kim to teleport somewhere when she encountered whatever force this artifact unleashed when she and Drakken fought over it."
"Whoa. Okay. Okay. So, how do we get her back?"
Wade eyed her.
"First, I need two things."
"What? Name it, and I'll get it myself," Shego told him bluntly.
Wade just eyed her with a cynical eye.
"I always wondered about you two," he murmured, making Shego growl at him. "Still, what I need is that journal you mentioned that started this mess. And, I need Ron."
"Stoppable? Why him," Shego snorted.
"Because, unlike us, Ronald knows how to handle mystic swords."
"Mystic….swords."
"Trust me on that one. Get me the journal, and I'll call Ron. Get back here as soon as you can. Meanwhile, I'm going to see if I can track the energies radiating from this….device, and see if we find out just where Kim has gone."
Shego nodded.
"Call your buffoon. I'll be back with the book in…..seven hours."
"Which is probably about how long it will take Ron to….get back."
"One thing. I wouldn't let GJ know about this one, kid. Trust me on that," she told him as she headed for the window.
"Shego, I gave up trusting Global Justice the first time they tried to tell Kim that Will Du was the best agent they had."
Shego smirked at that.
"You're smarter than I thought," the green, comet-powered woman smirked before she slipped back out the window into the night.
Wade scowled and walked over to the window, but didn't see a thing. The woman had come and gone without a trace. Yet he would have sworn that his security was unbeatable. No one, he had been sure, should have been able to get inside.
He glanced back at the glittering case that looked surprisingly new for such an old artifact, and he carefully covered it again before he put it into one of his security lockers before he went to call Ron.
It looked like Ron's mystical monkey power might just be his best lead in this case. Because he had to admit that he was obviously out of his depth when it came to mystic objects of any kind. Still, Shego had been pretty adamant, and ironically, Wade trusted her.
He trusted her because, like Kim, he knew Shego would have retired by now if she had not decided to simply follow Drakken for Kim, keeping an eye on him for her in case he went off on another dangerous tangent.
Again.
He realized that none of them expected anything like this to happen, though. Maybe he should study Drakken, too, and see just what the artifact did to him. It couldn't hurt. He'd have to mention that to Shego later. For now, he needed to call Ron.
And find a way to track that very peculiar energy flow he had detected.
To Be Continued…..