Awkwardness doesn't go away over night.

Kim came to this conclusion during her walk to school, the day after defeating Drakken in Montana. Ron had shown up at her house, but not early enough to have breakfast with the Possible Family. Instead, he showed up at roughly the time Kim was going to leave and walked with her. No words were exchanged. A couple of times, Kim either slowed or sped up just a bit. Ron matched his pace to hers, but made no comments. Finally, as they were about to step onto official, Middleton High School grounds, Kim broke the silence.

"Ron," she caught his attention. "I guess that you're feeling that you've been getting a pretty raw deal with the missions. Okay, you probably feel that you're getting a pretty raw deal from life. I haven't been appreciating the help you've given me and that's wrong. The squad...okay, none of the squads...showed any gratitude for helping to stop Gil..."

"Gill," Ron corrected.

"And nobody apologized for calling you a loser," she continued. "That was also wrong. But did you have to quit the squad?"

"It was the best thing to do," Ron grumbled.

"Okay, Bonnie might have harshed on you some," she admitted. At his steady stare, she continued. "Okay, she harshed on you almost constantly. But the rest of the squad liked having you with us."

He continued to stare at her.

"Fine," she threw her hands up. "Most of them came to realize that you helped us score higher at competitions, you helped entertain the crowds and your routines gave us a break during games. They may not have exactly liked you but they accepted that you had become an asset."

"Just not enough of an asset to say anything positive," he added, his voice almost a growl. "On the track team, it doesn't matter. I'm the fastest one out there, so it doesn't matter if the rest of the team hates me or not. I win on my own."

"Look, you're not the only one who has some tough times!" Kim grabbed his shoulder and spun him to look her in the eye. "I sure don't recall you asking me if I was alright after the mission last night!"

"I didn't have to," he told her, his scowl firmly back on his face again. "There were three reporters there, and every one of them asked you how you were feeling after thwarting still another evil plot. Of course, nobody could expect them to ask if someone had tried to help you, much less ask if he was hurt."

Ron spun on his heel again and stalked into the building. Kim, who was getting tired of seeing his backside walking away while she had nothing to say, followed after a moment.

Rather than hanging around her locker, Ron stalked off to his own to get his books. Faced with the unfamiliar feeling of being alone in front of her locker in the morning, Kim was very happy when Monique showed up.

"Alright girl," Monique challenged her. "What's with all the fliers on the walls calling for a new mad dog mascot?"

"Ron decided to join the track team," Kim told her, closing the locker door.

"Did he decide to join the track team?" Monique asked. "Or did he decide to quit the cheer squad?"

Kim gave her friend an arch look, which prompted Monique to show a satisfied smile.

"I knew Bonnie was giving him an awful lot of grief," Monique commented, falling into step beside the redhead. "And I knew that you had just gotten tired of telling her off all the time while the rest of the squad didn't seem to care what went on. It's about time he said enough."

"Monique!" Kim protested. "Now we have to find a new mascot and we have regionals coming up!"

"All the more reason to come together as a team," she countered. "Not to harsh on each other. Did something happen that really set the boy off?"

Considering the short time before the first class, Kim gave Monique a quick rundown of the squads harshing on Ron when he tried to warn them at Gottagrin...something that they hadn't told her while at Bueno Nacho.

"Wow!" Monique answered. "That was nasty! I gotta run to class. See you later but I can't blame Ron for getting fed up with the whole thing."

Kim offered her friend a weak wave and found her way to her desk. Ron was already seated, staring at the marker board on the front wall. Kim sighed again; she hadn't realized how much she liked to chatter with Ron before he dropped into his current funk.

By that evening, her mood wasn't any better. Not only had Bonnie been in rare form...even for Bonnie...but cheer practice hadn't gone all that well. In addition to being a mascot, Ron had spotted for the squad when they formed towers. Without a spotter, it wasn't safe to practice some aspects of the routines. In addition, after the proper practice, they had gone over the half-dozen applicants for the mascot position. The squad had agreed to close the entries on Thursday morning, to review the applicants on Thursday afternoon, and to have auditions on Friday. Her mother noticed her bad mood that night.

"Something wrong?" The older redhead asked her daughter, walking into her room after seeing her husband and sons off to the garage for some sort of robot-building male bonding.

"Is it that obvious?" Kim asked. Anne only looked at her.

"I'm having some trouble with the squad," Kim admitted. "Ron quit the squad to join the track team and we need a new mascot."

"So Ronald finally walked away," Anne commented.

"Am I the only one that didn't see this coming?" Kim demanded. "Even Monique wasn't surprised that he did!"

"Bonnie constantly gave him a hard time," Anne pointed out. "While the rest of the girls pretty much ignored him. A person isn't really wired to put in effort and never receive any appreciation. If that goes on for too long, he'll look for someplace that he is appreciated."

"He acted a little odd during the last mission," Kim confided. "He wasn't happy that I didn't listen to him and that I didn't check that he was okay after Drakken ran off. Well, I didn't ask him but I made sure that he was up and moving."

"But he didn't know that you actually cared if he was hurt or not," Anne told her. "He just saw you go on with what you were doing, so it seemed the same thing to him. Most of the villains you face don't even remember his name, simply insulting him. Most of the reporters and law enforcement officials never bother talking to him after they've had a word with you."

"Just like the squad," Kim's eyes flew wide. "Could he quit our team...I mean, us?"

"I don't think so," Anne tapped her chin while thinking. "That would mean watching you go off into danger on your own, so I don't think he's willing to go that far. However, he's probably letting you know that he isn't satisfied with the current situation."

Kim was quickly in deep thought about the last statement, so Anne Possible left her to her thoughts.

The next morning, Kim was waiting for her best friend when he arrived at her house. Soon, they were walking to school. Kim thought it was as good a time as any to try to repair their...sort of...damaged friendship.

"So how's it going on the track team?" She asked.

For a moment, Ron looked at her suspiciously and it tore at her to think that her best friend would ever think she had some ulterior motive for speaking to him.

"Good," he finally said. "I'm doing well."

"Details," she prompted.

"Okay, I'm probably going to compete in four events," he told her. "Sprinting, hurdles, the half-mile and I'm on the two-mile relay." He paused a moment. "How have things been going on the squad?"

"Well, Bonnie is Bonnie," her grimace brought a pained smile to his face. "I guess I never knew how much work being a mascot could be. We'll have auditions on Friday. In the meantime, I have some of the JV girls acting as spotters." She gave him a sidelong glance. "I never realized how much time it took to be a good spotter."

He actually smiled wide when she said it.

"I..." he hesitated. "I never knew how much you helped me on my schoolwork," he admitted. "Now that I'm really trying...it's hard."

"Care to catch a study session tonight after practice and workout?" She asked him.

"That would be great," he told her.

And with that, a great deal of the tension went away. They were friends again, even if they both realized that becoming the absolute best friends that they had been might take a little more time. They tarried and talked at her locker, listening to Wade present his suspicions about what he thought Drakken was doing now. During this conversation, Ron got a cunning look on his face. While Kim was a little disturbed by this, she was heartened by the fact that he was taking an interest in a potential mission. When they left for home room, Ron was talking about the latest Pain King/Steel Toe match, which brought Monique over to voice her opinions. As much as their arguments used to irritate her, they now warmed Kim's heart.

For two days, the new/old routine continued to ease her tensions away. Her best friend was fully behind her again, and that made it easier to face Bonnie and the headaches of being the head cheerleader. The routine was coming along nicely, although the mascot sitch had her nervous. Still, the regional competition was a couple of weeks away. While the new mascot wouldn't be as integrated into the routine as Ron had been, he or she would be able to at least have a little preparation. The good feeling only got better on Thursday, when Wade called at noon.

"We've got Drakken again!" Wade declared. "He and Shego have been collecting precision optics and telemetry equipment for the last week or so. Earlier today, Shego stole an experimental super-laser while Drakken stole some high tech cooling equipment. I've tracked them to a location high up in the Rockies."

"When's the ride get here?" Kim asked.

"Fifteen minutes," Wade informed her. "I've got a possible motive for him, but it sounds kind of far fetched."

"This is Drakken we're talking about," Kim reminded him.

"Okay, the laser has incredible power output, only for short bursts," Wade told the two. "It won't be able to drill deep into anything, but it can vaporize wide areas so an observer can see the effects from several thousand miles away. Also, the optics and telemetry equipment means that he'll have extreme control over it, but he won't be able to track a target that isn't moving in a predictable path."

"What are you getting at, Wade?" Kim asked.

"I think he's going to try to mark the moon," Wade shook his head. "I've checked, and he'll have a clear shot starting about ten minutes after you get to the area."

"So we better move fast," Kim commented.

"Uh, Wade," Ron rubbed the back of his neck. "This lair of his, is it on public land?"

"Yep," Wade nodded. "I'm working on the plan you brought up earlier."

"What plan is this?" Kim looked at her friend.

"Well, a good backup, in case things don't go well," Ron assured her.

Kim gave him a suspicious look, but decided not to question. She passed off the squad's workout plan to Bonnie, in case they didn't get back from the mission in time, and rushed out the front door to jump in a sports car for a quick ride to the airport. From there, a crop-duster took the two northwest into the high mountains. They parachuted onto a slope, keeping the bulk of the mountain between them and Drakken's current location. Thirty minutes of hard jogging through the forest put them in sight of their current quarry...in this case a large, circus tent.

"That's a change from his usual operation," Ron commented.

"It's either idiocy or genius," Kim agreed. "With Drakken, they're not mutually exclusive. Let's sneak in closer and see if we can learn anything more."

The teens approached the tent and slipped under one of the side walls. They found themselves among heavy crates and unfamiliar equipment. Low hums and rumbles sounded from many of the crates, and heavy cables emerged from most, interconnecting and leading towards the center of the tent. As they crept through the strange appliances, Ron borrowed the Kimmunicator and sent video of their surroundings to Wade. After several minutes, they located large tanks of odd looking liquids, with tubes that led both out of the front of the tent and towards the center. Eventually, the teens found themselves crouched behind another crate, now observing Drakken and Shego.

"This time, my plan is truly foolproof," the blue man crowed, fondly patting what appeared to be a large beam emitter. The tubes and cables led to this device.

"Oh really?" Shego seemed just as bored as she usually did. "And, pray tell, how is this time different?"

"Because this time, I'm not counting on world, regional, or even river-valley domination," he chuckled in return. "This time, I'm making a great deal of money through marketing!"

"Eh?" The green-hued woman seemed equal parts annoyed and curious.

"This laser is capable of scorching large swathes of the moon's surface," he gloated. "Blasting the dust away and discoloring the stone, making it darker."

"Not seeing where that's valuable to anyone," she admitted.

"In a few minutes, my programmed commands to the laser's guidance system will initiate, causing this baby to etch a specific pattern into the surface of the moon!"

"And that pattern will be..." she prompted, although Kim was pretty sure Shego didn't really want to know.

"The logo for the largest burger chain...and second largest fast-food chain in the world," he declared. "When teenagers around this planet get peckish and look into the sky after their late-night sparking sessions, they won't be thinking of visiting Bueno Nacho, will they?"

For several, long minutes, only the sound of the machinery could be heard.

"You have got to be kidding me!" Shego growled at him. "Of all the things you could have done with all this stuff...even just selling it to Dementor or someone...you come up with a lame-brained plan like this!?"

"The corporation is going to pay a great deal, once they see the logo on the face of the moon!" Drakken protested, holding out a notepad.

"That is a lot of zeroes," Shego admitted, after her eyes bugged out at whatever was written on the paper. "So why are we doing this during the day?"

"The logo won't be visible during daylight," Drakken informed her. "Too much ambient light! Doing this during daylight allows me to perform the entire operation before anyone knows what's happening! That's why I had to rush the operation along, the moon won't be up during daylight for a couple more weeks. I didn't have time to establish a proper lair."

"So you had me steal a circus tent," she drawled. "Doc, I hate to admit it, but you actually thought this one through."

"Except for one thing!" Kim growled, emerging from the hiding space. "We're here to stop you!"

"KP!" Ron hissed. "We didn't need to..."

"Kim Possible!" Drakken gasped. "How did you find me!"

"How does she always find you?" Shego shook her head and took up a fighting stance. "Her nerdlinger figured you out and tracked you down. Now the buffoon is probably sneaking around getting ready to blow up your precious machine."

"That won't work this time!" Drakken crowed. "There is no self-destruct mechanism!"

"Ron, kill the power to that thing!" Kim commanded, rushing forward to fight Shego.

"That won't work either!" Drakken told her. "If the power is disconnected, certain volatile chemicals will be allowed to mix. The resulting reaction will spray flaming liquids over a half-mile in every direction, causing a forest fire of apocalyptic proportions! Not only that, the resulting toxic byproducts will kill every living thing in the county!"

Kim and Shego stopped fighting and looked at each other. After a moment of thought, they played a quick round of rock/paper/scissors. Shego won, as paper covered rock, and earned the right to explain the obvious flaw to the mad scientist.

"Drakken," she pointed out. "Do you realize that you are standing fifteen feet away from the center of this theoretical, yet very likely, explosion?"

"Meh!" He waved his arms. "Possible and her buffoon aren't about to take that kind of a risk! Blowing up a lair is one thing, but putting that many innocent people in danger? I don't think so!"

"Whoa!" Shego looked impressed. "You actually thought this through and were ruthless about it! My little blue employer has graduated into the big leagues!"

"You really think so?" Drakken sported a huge, enthusiastic grin. "You're not just saying that, right?"

"Once Hench gets word of this, you're a shoe-in for the cover of Maniacal Villains Monthly."

"Ron, you have to figure out a way to shut it down without causing an explosion!" Kim yelled at her companion.

"That's not happening!" Shego snarled. "He'll kill us all!"

"Game on?" The teen asked.

"Oh, is it ever!"

Soon, the two women were engaged in their usual, furious exchange of punches, kicks, blocks and dodges. Kim was able to risk a quick glance and note that Ron was running towards one of the laser's supports, rather than towards the control panel.

"Ron, you don't have time to mess around with the laser itself!" Kim shouted, now paying full attention to Shego again. "You have to shut it down!"

"Hey, what are you doing?" Drakken protested. "That's a precision piece of equipment! Get your hands off of he leveling adjustment!"

Moments later, a series of grunts and curses told Kim that Drakken had tangled with her friend. From outside the tent, more shouts and chatter sounded.

"Move fast Ron!" Kim shouted. "The henchmen are on their way!"

"Henchmen?" Shego asked. "We didn't have time to bring in any henchmen!"

"Then who's..." Kim started to ask. Her question was interrupted when two uniformed men burst into the tent.

"Everyone halt!" One of them shouted, pointing a pistol into the air. "National Park Service Police! Whoever put up this tent is in violation of the proper use of public lands."

"Cops?" Shego glared at Kim. "That's low, princess." The thief fired a plasma burst at the two men, forcing them to dive for cover. "Time to leave, Drakken!" She shouted, and fired another burst into the air.

Kim was forced to dive and tumble to avoid the section of the tent's ceiling than fell onto the spot where she had been standing. By the time she regained her feet, Shego was in one of Drakken's hoverjets, lifting off of the ground. Another man burst into the tent and shot some sort of energy beam at the craft's engine, causing it to shut down and drop back to the ground.

"Federal Aviation Administration!" The man identified himself. "That was an unauthorized flight in an unregistered vehicle! Thank goodness Kim Possible's technical support kid was able to give me a means of disabling the engine!"

Shego fired plasma at the newcomer while Kim rushed forward, determined to keep her from injuring any civilians, when two more men burst into the tent.

"Internal Revenue Service," one identified them. "Dr. Drakken, you recently received payment for advertising and you did not report the income! You're in big trouble!"

Rolling her eyes slightly, Kim jumped onto the hovercraft as Shego jumped out of the pilot's seat. She dodged a plasma burst and dropped to the ground, ready for round two. She risked a quick glance behind her and noted that the two IRS agents were moving towards Drakken, telling her than Ron would have enough help to handle him. The two park rangers were taking cover and pointing their pistols at Shego.

"Give it up!" Kim urged her rival. "If this turns into a shoot-out, the cooling systems might get damaged. You heard Drakken, we'll all be killed in the explosion!"

"That might be better than..." Shego grumbled, only to be interrupted when yet another man burst into the tent.

"Here we go again," Shego muttered.

"National Aeronautics and Space Administration," he identified himself. "That laser is endangering satellites and even personnel in orbit. It must be shut down immediately!"

"What kind of hell did you and the nerdlinger dream up!" Shego demanded of Kim. "What's next, the.."

"Colorado State Patrol!" Four more men burst into the tent. "We're following a report that a great deal of valuable, industrial equipment, plus one circus tent, was stolen and brought to this location!"

"That's it, I give up!" Shego raised her hands to the sky. "Just please, get me in a paddy wagon before any more agencies show up!"

Kim was more than happy to see the police officers put Shego in handcuffs. By that time, the Park Service Police, with Ron's help, had hauled off Drakken, as well. With the criminals out of the way, several more people, carrying more equipment, strode into the tent. One of the State Police Officers returned and seemed to take overall charge of the situation. While the latest arrivals went to work on the laser and its controller, the police officer asked the FAA representative to route flights away from the area. Once he was finished with this conversation, he approached Kim.

"Your assistant contacted us, as well as several other agencies, and warned about a possible criminal act taking place here," he told her. "Once he sent us video of Mr. Lipsky announcing his intent, plus the footage showing the stolen items, we had the cause we needed to intervene."

"Who are those folks?" Kim asked, indicating the men and women currently poking around at the laser's systems and controller.

"Experts in the use of industrial lasers, as well as an astronomer," the policeman replied. "They volunteered to come out and shut down the laser, with a minimum of danger and damage."

"We're going to disconnect the laser's power while rigging a shunt to maintain the cooling systems," one of the women explained. "It should take us about an hour."

"In the meantime, how much of that logo is going to get etched on the moon's surface?" Kim asked.

"Actually, none," a man, who Kim guessed to be the astronomer, answered. "Your sidekick wasn't able to shut down the laser, but he was able to adjust the leveling mechanism. By knocking the projector off of its aiming point by four degrees, he made the laser miss the moon entirely. The laser is shooting off into space."

"We have things under control," the policeman assured her. "Why don't the two of you head back home?"

"Well, okay," she agreed. Her temper was starting to flare, but she remained calm while she called Wade. The Park Rangers gave the two a ride to a highway, where an elderly couple picked them up in a RV. With the couple at the front and unable to overhear quiet conversations, Kim addressed something that was bothering her.

"Ron," she asked. "Why did you call in all those other people?"

"They are law enforcement officials who have jurisdiction over the laws that Drakken was breaking," he shrugged. "The laser experts were able to shut down the machine without any big explosions."

"But they could have been hurt!" Kim pointed out. "They're not equipped or trained to go up against Shego!"

"And we are?" Ron asked.

Both teens went quiet when the elderly couple paused their conversation, glancing towards the back of the vehicle.

"You know what I mean!" She whispered after a moment. "We've faced her before so we know what to expect!"

"Yeah," he managed to snort while whispering. "We've both taken beatings and bruises from her and the henchmen! What's so wrong about bringing in professional law enforcement agents to do their job?"

"Some of them brought guns!" Kim hissed at him.

Ron could only stare at her, not understanding how an honor student couldn't see the obvious.

"So Shego gets to throw plasma at us?" He finally managed to ask. "The henchmen get to use shock staffs and clubs; heck, even Drakken gets to shoot at us with all sorts of outlandish ray-beam thingies, and we can't even bring in professionals with the training to use their weapons?"

"It's not how we do things!" She insisted, with a guilty look at the couple driving them.

"So why not?" He demanded, also glancing to the front of the vehicle. He ticked off points on his fingers. "Let's see, no big explosion, no lair collapsing on top of us, all of the stolen stuff was returned unharmed...except for a hole in the tent, and this time, the police are actually there to collect evidence. I'm not seeing the bad!"

"What ever happened to the two of us, with Wade's help, helping people?" She asked. "Look at all the people who wound up involved in this one!"

"And it got results," Ron pointed out. "Do you really think that those people minded being able to do their jobs?"

Kim simply crossed her arms and stared resolutely forward.

"Look, if it's helping to tag endangered birds or find lost pets, we can do it on our own," Ron offered. "But when..."

"I don't want to talk about it," Kim snapped at him, letting him know that all conversations were over for the foreseeable future. Sighing, he got himself as comfortable as he could and tried to nap, knowing that things were back to being rough between the two of them.

Friday did nothing to improve Kim's mood. While Ron showed up for the walk to school, she simply left the house and headed to school, not acknowledging him in the slightest. He quickly took the hint and didn't tarry at her locker. Monique joined her and Kim exchanged a few words, enough to let the other girl know that Kim had a severe case of the irritateds. Monique was temporarily satisfied with a promise to meet at Bueno Nacho after practice, allowing Kim to face the school day. It wasn't much fun.

Struggling to make up for the time lost on the mission seemed much more irritating than it used to. Before, she had the satisfaction of knowing she had made a difference to keep her motivated while playing academic catch-up. Today, she had the knowledge that she had merely been a cog in a machine, that she hadn't done anything extraordinary while falling behind in her classwork. Ron was scarce at lunch time, so she sat with Monique and explained the details of the mission.

"That doesn't seem all that bad to me," Monique admitted. "Why do you have such a mad-on at the boy?"

There wasn't enough time to explain why she was upset, especially since Kim was struggling to understand it herself. They had completed the mission, nobody had been hurt, the valuable equipment had been recovered, undamaged, and the bad guys had gone to jail. Shouldn't she be happy about it?

She should, but she wasn't. Something seemed off...somehow, the action seemed so...not Kim Possible.

Cheer practice that night didn't help her mood. The day previous, Bonnie had winnowed through the mascot wannabees and pared them down to three. These three consisted of a JV cheerleader, and a boy and girl from the respective gymnastics teams. After a short practice, Kim had the squad watch each of the contestants perform a simple routine. The results weren't terrible, but weren't promising either. In the end, the squad was deadlocked between the boy gymnast and the JV cheerleader. Kim had the deciding vote and chose the gymnast, reasoning that it would be better to keep the cheerleader out of the mad dog head, in case she had to substitute for one of the varsity girls.

Still, the new mascot had a lot of work to do.

"I didn't realize it was that tough doing the routines while wearing the mad dog head," Bonnie commented. "I never knew how much Ron had worked at it."

Kim was shocked at Bonnie's admission, and heartened when the rest of the girls agreed. She felt warm when they reached a consensus to treat the new mascot better than they had treated the old one.

After practice, she and Monique had a light snack at Bueno Nacho, during which Kim described the entire mission. Monique started probing her for answers, trying to determine why she was upset with Ron. Under her friend's guidance, she started to examine her feelings and finally realized why she was upset with Ron.

"I'm all about helping people outside of regular channels," she concluded out loud. "I like the feeling when I help someone or save the world. Somehow, calling in the professionals didn't feel the same, because it wasn't me who saved the day. I want to be the one saving the day, not the one who calls someone else in to do it."

Monique gave her a curious look, but it was getting time for her late shift at Club Banana. The two said goodbye for the evening and Kim made a mental note to have a talk with Ron the next day.

The next morning, Kim was shocked to receive an invitation from the Stoppables to have lunch with them. She of course accepted, hoping that it would be a good opportunity to patch up her friendship with Ron. Of course, they had been doing more of that than usual lately, ever since the cheer camp competition. She considered this as she walked the familiar route a little before noon. To her surprise, Mr. Stoppable ushered her, and Ron, into his den to speak before their meal. He sat the teens on his couch while he sat on a chair, facing them.

"The two of you have been friends for most of your lives," he observed. "Speaking to Ronald, the two of you seem to be having a bit of a rough patch, am I correct?"

"Well...sort of," Kim admitted.

"Kimberly, I'd like you to tell me your side of events when you learned that Ronald had quit the cheerleading squad, your mission in Montana, and the recent mission here in Colorado."

Not understanding, but believing that the man had both of their best interests in mind, Kim did so, telling about how confused and hurt she was that Ron insisted on changing a very successful team dynamic.

"Very well," he nodded. "I've already spoken to Ronald about this, which of course prompted us to invite you over for lunch and to talk. I think that both of you need to learn a little about the others point of view. I'll start with Ronald."

"Ronald," he faced his son. "I don't think that you appreciate how much work Kimberly puts into her academics, her cheer-leading, her committees and her missions. Yes, Wade does a lot of research, but Kimberly makes the plans and executes them. She choreographs routines and drills the squad to execute them. She studies hard and makes plans for her various school-related activities, then sees them through to fruition. Because of this intense amount of effort, she cannot understand why someone who doesn't put in such effort should be able to simply change the methods and organizations that she creates. Because she puts in the effort, she is the one who should be directing the team."

"Kimberly," now he faced her. "I don't think that you can grasp how hard it is to perform a difficult task without any compensation."

"But I've never taken payment for my missions!" She interrupted.

"Not in money," he countered. "But you still receive compensation. Your compensation comes in the form of recognition, gratitude, respect and even affection. You are only a junior, but you are already receiving visits from college recruiters. That is a very rare for a junior cheerleader, even one with straight A's like you have. You will undoubtedly receive several offers to attend top-notch universities, with full scholarship. This is due to the fame you have gained. You have earned it, but perhaps you can't see how much you've come to depend on it."

He raised one hand to forestall her protest.

"I believe Ronald told me about a mission went on with an agent named Will Du and that he belittled your efforts," Mr. Stoppable pointed out. "Have you taken the opportunity to work with him again?"

"No," Kim admitted.

"Because working with him, being belittled and overlooked, wasn't pleasant?" Mr. Stoppable prompted.

"Well, yeah," she replied.

"Now you understand why Ronald quit the squad, and why he wants to change your standard operating procedure, so to speak. He puts in effort to assist you, be it on the squad or on missions, but he receives no appreciation, no respect and he puts himself at risk. If you continue to give without some form of compensation, the well eventually runs empty."

"The friendship that the two of you have shared has been wonderful for both of you," he concluded. "But as your lives change, the dynamics of that friendship are going to have to change, as well. I think the two of you are going to need several long talks, but they will be worth it. For now, lunch is ready, why don't we eat?"

While the two elder Stoppables maintained a pleasant conversation during the meal, the teens were quiet and introspective. After the dishes had been cleared, they wandered to a nearby park and found a secluded bench. It took several long minutes before either were ready to talk.

"I didn't understand how much effort you put in," Ron finally said. "At least until I arranged for those agencies to show up last time. You do stuff like that almost every time, planning our actions, what we're going to do, how we have to fight. I never realized how much work it was."

"And I didn't realize how much the praise and attention kept me motivated," she admitted. "Or how soon I would stop doing it if I didn't win or get any thanks."

They sat there for a few more minutes.

"You've picked up some more speed," Kim finally noted. "Care to hear an idea on how we can make use of it during our next mission?"

"Sure," he told her. "But maybe I can help with some of the planning, you know, working with local law enforcement and other agencies so that we can do better."

The two teens wound up talking until well after the sun set.

Epilogue:

High school track meets don't attract a lot of spectators...other than the competitors. Since so much of the competition consists of repeated races or taking turns performing tasks, they tend to become very boring to those not directly involved in them. Thus it was during a Saturday in the State of Colorado, when a blonde-haired boy broke the state record for the half-mile run, there were very few people other than his fellow competitors present to congratulate him for this achievement. One of those few, however, was a red-headed girl.

Cheer competitions also don't attract a lot of spectators other than the competitors. On a Saturday after the one in which the blonde boy set a new record, he attended such a competition and watched as his life-long friend's squad won yet again. It had been a very close thing, as the mascot still had not integrated himself into the routine. After congratulating his friend, he offered to work with the new mascot. He then left, letting the squad celebrate without outside interference. He was no longer one of them.

Kim and Ron continued to perform their missions, but Ron helped more with the planning and Kim took his growing athleticism into account when confronting their villains. She also insisted that he remain with her when she spoke to reporters and the various law-enforcement officials that they now worked harder to coordinate with. Their solid reputation became more fearsome as time went by.

Kim liked the new team dynamic that they had forged and had to admit that it took Ron finally having enough of being overlooked and scorned to change the way they had been doing things. If not for that, they may not have grown into the more capable duo that they had. Even their friendship might have been placed at risk. Instead, their friendship had been damaged but it had healed stronger than it had been before.

Sometimes, you had to face losing something to appreciate how much it meant to you.

A/N:

Thanks for reading this little tale. As always, fond thanks to Joe Stoppinghem for his beta-reading.

Best wishes to all;

daccu65