Author's Note: Sorry for the delay again, folks.

Chapter 24

Kim Possible sat cross-legged on the floor and tried to keep her mind empty of all thought, save for those of her body. She concentrated on picturing that body floating in a formless void. She pictured reaching for it, not physically, but with her very essence. She tried to imagine the welcoming feel of her own supple flesh, the smooth skin, the silky hair, the slender limbs and caressing fingers, the gentle curves pressing against...

Kim opened her eyes and the details of her room came flooding back in. "This isn't working." The fact that her body currently housed her lover was proving a distraction.

"Please keep at it, Possible-san. Your progress has been admirable, and you have both become more adept at reaching the correct state of mind," Yori said from her perch on Kim's bed.

"She's right, Kimmie." Shego, facing her, also opened her eyes. "I thought I felt something for a moment. I think this might actually work."

"You felt something?" Kim had also felt things, but she doubted it meant that Shego was going to enter her body. Not with Yori in the room. "What was it like?"

"I can't really describe it. It was a... is that really important right now?"

"Yes, Shego. I need to know what it feels like, so I'll know if I'm making progress."

"You won't mistake it for anything else, trust me."

"I thought you weren't even sure you felt something?"

"What's with the third degree?" Kim's face frowned at her.

"Are you really going to sabotage our chances to get back to our own bodies just because you find it so hard to talk about your feelings?"

Shego glanced at Yori. "That has nothing to do with anything."

"Just tell me what you felt." They could talk about Shego's intimacy issues at another time.

"Fine. I don't know why you needed to make such a production out of it. It felt like you touched me, but not really. It was a little like how my Glow feels, intangible but there, somehow. It was like... I really don't know how to describe it. I've never felt anything like it." Shego trailed off, looking a little uncertain, and surprisingly vulnerable.

"A gentle touch of the soul." Yori pressed her hands to her cheeks. "It sounds so romantic. You're touching each other's innermost place."

"Kimmie and I do that all the time, no meditation required."

"Shego!" Not that her thoughts hadn't been trending in that direction. "Wait. You felt like I touched you. Not you touching me?"

"It's hard to have one without the other, but yeah. Why?"

"I was just wondering if that means that I got through to you somehow." Perhaps her attempt hadn't been entirely in vain.

"Or maybe you're just trying to take credit for my good work."

"This isn't a—"

"You are trying to establish a connection between the two of you. It cannot be done without the efforts of both of you."

Kim and Shego glared at each for a moment, before Kim looked away and took a deep breath. "Okay. Let's give it another try." She turned to Yori. "Wouldn't it be better to have your sensei here for this?"

"Do you not have confidence in me, Possible-san?" Yori's expression was calm, but she sounded a little hurt to Kim.

"I do," Kim hurried to say. "Of course I do. But he's the expert, and he only, uh, manifested for a few minutes. We only have two days until the regionals."

"Let's focus on the big picture, Kimmie. The goal is to switch back."

"Yes. And unless that happens before then, you'll have to take the stage as me."

Shego turned towards Yori. "Perhaps your sensei knows some tricks to speed this up?"

"You two heard him as well as I did. You are on the right path, but there are no shortcuts to accomplishing your goal. And when it comes to the competition, please, Possible-san, have faith in Shego, also. I'm sure she will rise to the occasion."

"Why are we out in the backyard and not in your room practicing body switching?"

"In case I won't manage to reclaim my body and position in the squad in time, you'll need to be ready."

"I don't understand why I agreed to this," Shego grumbled.

"It can't be helped, if it's for Possible-san," Yori said with a little smile. "Is this the move?"

"Yes, you've got it exactly. You're a natural, Yori."

Yori beamed at Kim's praise.

"And the uniform looks better on you than it did on me. Kimmie."

"I don't know, it did look pretty provocative on your body. But it does fit Yori nicely."

"Thank you so much for letting me wear it. It's like a fantasy come true."

"Oh, the pleasure's all Kimmie's, I'm sure."

Yori smiled and performed the next sequence of the routine as Kim and Shego watched. She looked good.

"Maybe she should go to the regionals rather than me," Shego said.

Kim sized Yori up with a thoughtful look. "We do have a similar build... maybe if you wore a wig and some make-up—"

"That would be dishonorable, Possible-san."

"You're a ninja, what do you care about honor," Shego said. "Isn't it also dishonorable for me to enter in her stead?"

"Naturally, it's different if it's you, Shego-san."

"Because I'm a villain and have no honor?"

"Because you are Possible-san's other half."

"Ah. Uh... anyway, I don't relish the chance of leaping on top of a squad of high school cheerleaders... well... but the pyramid is a bit much. Can't I just be at bottom?"

"You mean base. But what about my reputation? I'm always top."

"Would your reputation be helped if you ended up in a tangle of cheerleaders, on stage?"

"Why did you emphasize 'on stage'?"

"Just answer the question."

"No, I guess not. But that means Bonnie's going to take center spot."

"It doesn't have to be her."

"Yes it does, she's the only one I trust to pull it off. I just hate to give her an opportunity to gloat."

"You're a complicated creature, Kimmie. Don't worry, I can handle her."

"Just don't do anything weird."

"Perish the thought."

"Okay, with the three of us we can practice the basics of a pyramid. You two can be the base and I'll be at the top."

"As expected of Possible-san," Yori said with a smile.

Kim found herself once again sitting next to Shego at the family dinner. By now Shego was common enough a sight at the table—as was her body controlled by Shego's mind—that her family paid more attention to the dinner guest squeezed next to Kim.

"Thank you for allowing me to partake in your family dinner, Possible-sensei," Yori said.

"You are very welcome," said Kim's mother from her place at one end of the table. "You are here to help my daughter, after all."

"It is my honor."

"I'm surprised you're not more skeptical about it, mom."

"I said from the start that what happened to you two is scientifically impossible. It's a relief to hear that that I was right."

"I don't really believe in all this psychic stuff, but you do sometimes get yourself mixed up in some pretty weird situations, Kimmie-cub," Kim's father said. "Although, I did participate in some consciousness-expanding, let's call them experiments, in my college days. Why, I remember this one time when Ramesh had gotten hold of some—"

"Dear," Kim's mother said in a very definite tone.

"Uh, quite right."

"No fair," Jim said.

"We wanted to hear more," Tim said.

Dr. Possible glanced at Dr. Possible's narrowed eyes and tugged at his collar. "Tell me, Yori. Do you know kung fu?"

"I have had the honor of receiving instruction in some forms of martial arts, Possible-sensei."

"You know, our Kimmie-cub also has some pretty neat moves." Dr. Possible vaguely waved his knife around. "Perhaps you could trade notes."

"We had an opportunity to take each other's measure on our first meeting, before we proceeded to other activities. For martial artists, it can be a very intimate experience."

"We don't need—"

"Details on that one."

"The other activities were meditation practice. We practiced meditation."

"In my bed."

"Your room has one chair and no carpets."

"How are your meditation exercises going?"

"Both Possible-san and Shego-san have shown remarkable progress."

"Not that I can really tell."

"Cheer up, Possible-san."

"Was that a pun?"

"I have to apologize for Kimmie dragging you into her cheer practice, too. I'm afraid she gets a little obsessive with competitions."

"Oh, no, I was happy I could participate. My school doesn't have a cheerleading squad, and I've always wanted to try it. I'm very grateful to Possible-san for indulging my selfish desires."

"Yeah, Kimmie's great like that," Shego said.

"Would you like to come see the regionals, Yori?"

"Could I?" Kim could swear Yori's eyes were sparkling.

"Sure. Hopefully you'll be in the audience watching me, and not Shego in my body."

Kim Possible sat in the audience and watched as her body prepared to perform in the first round of the regional tournament for high school cheerleaders. Veronica sat next to Kim, with Yori between her and Ron. Kim had been a little worried how Yori would handle it, but she seemed to actually enjoy their antics.

Most of her worry was directed at Shego, however. She looked uncharacteristically nervous, Kim's skin glistening with sweat. She was standing at the back of the group rather than at Kim's accustomed position at the center, supposedly on account of her supposedly injured leg, which would hopefully shield her from keenest scrutiny. Bonnie took Kim's usual spot. She also looked strangely nervous. Kim would have thought she'd relish the opportunity to show her up.

The squad launched into their routine, and Kim's gaze stayed centered on Shego. She was stiff, but she was better synchronized than Kim had feared. She was trying to smile, and Kim wished she wasn't. She really needed practice with it. She hoped the audience wouldn't notice. The judges likely would. This was nowhere near the performance they needed, but it was the best they could do, under the circumstances. Kim knew Shego didn't really care about the competition, and it warmed her heart to know she was going through with this unfamiliar task for her sake.

Kim just wished she was doing a better job of it.

Throughout the performance Kim's eyes were locked on Shego, trying to urge her through the routine. Shego was performing as her, for her, as she was watching. In her mind's eye, her inner Kim was performing the routine in time with the outer Kim with the inner Shego. She had rarely felt such a connection with Shego; in this moment it was almost like they were the same person, two minds and one body bent to one task, the real and imagined movements blending together. Kim's sense of Shego's body faded as her will strained to connect with the other woman and make the notion a reality.

Ron and Veronica's chatter faded away, the crowd faded away, the other cheerleaders Kim usually watched like a hawk faded away, until, for Kim, in this crowded place there was only Shego. The light faded as her perception shrunk to point focused on Shego's eyes. She experienced a sense of weightlessness, then vertigo, as the world started spinning around. After a rushing sense of dislocation Kim felt the sensation of a welcoming embrace, a tender caress that suffused the entirety of her being and left all of her nerves tingling. Her world faded into comforting blackness until suddenly, blindingly, her full senses returned to her with a soundless boom.

Kim found herself looking at the audience, her eyes locked on one member in particular, a sight that was at once so familiar, and yet completely alien. She was looking at Shego's body. She was looking at Shego, who seemed stunned, her expressive eyes and mouth wide. Kim's eyes also widened as the enormity of what had just happened hit her.

Then she was hit by a falling cheerleader.