Chapter 2

AN: Just a little more of the pathetic self-pity party, then the fun starts.

Ron was the member of Team Possible who the world deemed to be expendable. They saw his thin weak frame, his clownish behavior and the fact that he couldn't even wear pants without them falling off as signs that he was useless. The only thing that Ron could be used for was as a distraction. He couldn't fight, he didn't have super strength, and he wasn't a technological genius. The only thing he had going for him, was his ability to run away. This is the way the world saw Ron. The reality was that none of those perceptions were true, save one. Ron Stoppable was great at running.

As Ron ran towards the Possible home he planned out his actions, he would grab his mission gear from Kim's room, grab her backup Kimmunicator and call Wade. He'd have Wade track down her Kimmunicator and get a ride to the place she was being held. He wasn't sure how he'd get her free from Drakken's clutches, but he knew that he'd think of something. He'd do anything needed to save his friend. As he rounded the corner he expected to see something going on at the Possible home, a police cordon, news reporters, something. They must not realize that she has been taken, thought Ron frantically as he approached the home. I'll have to have Wade explain it to them, there's no time to waste.

Ron glanced through the kitchen window on his way to the front door and froze.

There was Kim sitting with the rest of her family at brunch. And sitting next to her was Josh Mankey, her Kimmunicator was sitting on the table next to her.

Drakken is really evil, he must have replaced Kim with a synthodrone when he took her, Ron thought angrily. He slowly moved out the line of sight of the window and considered his options, how could he take out the synthodrone without Drakken knowing? As he pondered, he heard a yelp come from the kitchen, peeking from the corner of the window he saw Kim holding a finger in her mouth as the other hand held a knife. There was a half cut croissant on the table in front of her.

"Here honey, let me take a look at that," said Mrs. Dr. P.

Kim pulled her finger out of her mouth to show a small cut oozing blood.

"Well, it doesn't look like it needs stiches, but you should let me bandage it for you," said Mrs. Possible as she looked at the finger closely.

"It's no big mom, I'll be fine," said Kim.

Ron let out a gasp as he fell backwards landing on his rear.

Blood….but synthodrones don't bleed. They shrivel up or melt when popped or cut…but that means….it's really Kim.

Getting up Ron wasn't able to understand what he had seen, unable to deal with reality Ron turned and started sprinting towards his home thinking, I guess I really am a loser.

Kim thought she heard something outside but when she went to the window she didn't see anything. Turning around she returned to the table.

Josh turned to Mr. Possible, "Thanks for inviting me to brunch this morning Dr. Possible," he said with a smile.

"Well if you're going to date my Kimmicub, then I want to get to know what kind of man you are. Plus I needed to see you so I could build a large enough rocket to deep space you if needed." said Mr. Possible.

"Dad!" groaned Kim, "layoff the scary Dad act."

"Don't pay him any mind," said Mrs. Possible, "this is something our family does every week as a tradition, speaking of family where is Ron?"

Kim frowned as she thought, where was the last place I saw him, then she glanced at Josh and turned away blushing her train of thought forgotten. "I'm not sure," Kim said, "he probably is spending time with Hana."

"Oh, well tell him he was missed," said Mr. Possible.

What is going on? Ron thought as he ran towards his home. Why would she forget about me? If she was there with Josh…does that mean my dream is coming true? Have I already been replaced? Why wouldn't Kim talk to me? Unless she was scared to, she probably didn't want to hurt my feelings. God, I guess Bonnie is right, I'm just a loser, thought Ron sadly.

He slowed as he got near his home, everything was dark and a newspaper was on the doorstep.

Home sweet home thought Ron as he walked up the steps breathing heavily. He didn't really see this as his home, his home was at the Possible's, this was just the empty house he came home to at night to sleep.

Ron loved his parents, but with all of the meetings and vacations and trips his parents went on, Ron was lucky to sit down to a meal with his family once a month. That was part of what made his time with the Possible's so special.

Sometimes Ron thought that Kim didn't fully appreciate what she had, even with a Rocket Scientist and Neurosurgeon as parents Kim's family still made time in their schedules to spend on family activities. Ron had hoped that with the adoption of Hana his parents would have slowed down and been home more often; instead they just started taking her with them.

Somehow knowing he had a little sister but then having her gone was worse than being an only child. Now Ron knew he had a sibling, he just didn't get to spend enough time with her. As Ron walked into Hana's nursery to feel closer to her; Rufus, stretching, climbed out of his pocket and ran towards the kitchen to get something to eat. Ron picked up a tiny stuffed bear of Hana's and looked down at it feeling depressed. As he looked down he realized that he still held the Lotus Blade in his right hand and it was starting to pulse with light. Ron put the sword on the ground and slowly backed away only to see a light start to shine from behind him. Turning Ron saw a shadowy form starting to grow. Eventually the figure became clear and Ron saw Master Sensei floating next to him.

"Ah young Stoppable-san, I come to you with an important quest. The Lotus Blade has dis…"Master Sensei paused as he noticed the sword sitting on the ground in front of him. "Oh, never mind,"said Master Sensei, I see that you already have it. Though if you don't mind, could you send it back home?"

"Ah, to be honest I'm not even sure how I got it in the first place," Ron said sheepishly while rubbing the back of his head. His problems temporarily forgotten as he thought about this new mystery.

"I see," said Master Sensei, "Well, then it is a good thing that I sent a team of ninja to Middleton three hours ago. I originally thought that they could recruit you as the Lotus Blade's Master to find the sword, but now I can have them pick up both you and the blade for retrieval back to Japan. They "borrowed" a Concord MII jet capable of mach 2 and should arrive in about four hours."

Ron was contemplating the repercussions of "borrowing" a fifty million dollar jet when he replied, "Sure I can take care of the sword until they get here." A few seconds later the ball dropped and Ron realized what Master Sensei had said, "Wait! What do you mean pick up the sword and me?" His voice cracked at the latter half of the sentence.

"I had hoped to wait to discuss this matter until after you had graduated high school, but it seems that fate had another path in mind." Master Sensei seemed to be genuinely sad about what he was saying as he gave a slight bow of apology towards Ron. "Unfortunately, your summoning of the Lotus Blade is a sign that your Mystical Monkey Powers are starting to mature, and if you don't receive proper training immediately then you will be a danger to everyone around you."

Ron's legs started to give out and he sat down heavily against the wall, not even noticing that he fell on top of one of Hana's toys. His mind seemed to freeze at the thought that he could be dangerous.

"But why do I need to come to Japan?" Ron protested weakly. "I can't just leave Middleton, all my friends are here. Can't you just teach me like this? I mean, I can't just leave Kim on her own, she needs me to help protect her." Even as he was speaking a small part of Ron thought, Does she really? She didn't even notice that you were missing. But Ron shoved the doubt away, his fierce loyalty to his fiend pushing its way to the front of his jumbled mind. "Some of the missions she goes on are dangerous and she needs me to watch her back."

"I am truly sorry young Stoppable-san, but with your powers maturing you need to learn control, otherwise they could lash out during high periods of stress and end up doing damage to the very people you're trying to protect. Even your friend miss Possible."

Ron frowned at this thought and then said, "But I didn't even want these powers, I only got them by accident during a mission against Monkey Fist. Can't you just take them away?"

"No, maybe on the day you were exposed we could have removed the Mystical Monkey Powers, but the statues have been destroyed, and you have already absorbed the powers into your body. Trying to remove them now would end up killing you. Your only option is to receive training and gain complete mastery over your powers. That is the only way to guarantee that you won't lose control or hurt those you care about."

"But why can't I do the training here?" Ron asked persistently. "Then I could be ready in case Kim needs me."

"For a few reasons, first there is still a reminent of the MMP from the time that the Lotus Blade was used to carve Yamanouchi present in the school. Exposure to this will help you gain a feel for your powers, second your training will be handled by several masters, who cannot leave Japan because of their various duties. Finally because we can't keep sending people to retrieve the blade from Middleton as you train in your powers."

Ron desperately tried to think of any way out of his situation. He started to hit his head on the wall behind him, until he hit his head too hard in frustration and his head started to hurt. Dang it, I'm too weak. Ron thought frustrated with himself. His mind went back to what he had heard Bonnie saying the day before and had to agree. I really am a loser, I get picked on by the jocks and not one girl would even agree to go with me to the dance. I bet if I was stronger then I wouldn't have these problems. I'll do it, I'll get training and become stronger, strong enough to not have to put up with this crap anymore. As Ron's head started to clear from the pain he said, "How long will the training take?"

Master Sensei had a small smile on his face now. He knew by Ron's question that he had stopped fighting and given in to the necessity of coming to Japan. "The length of your training will depend on you. It depends on how quickly you learn, but if you're determined then you could most likely finish the training by the end of the school year. Your training will be complete when you master your MMP"

"But it's only the beginning of October," Ron protested. "I can't be gone that long, Kim will definitely have some kind of fight with a super-villain between now and then."

"I understand your worries, and your loyalty to your friend is admirable," said Master Sensei. "Fortunately your concerns can be satisfied by the cover story we will give you. Hirotaka is on the team I sent to Middleton. We will have him come back to Middleton under the cover that the he is there for the exchange program. We'll insert paperwork to show that the weeklong exchange was originally just a trial run for a longer full year program." Master Sensei paused as he finished making his plans. "We can then have you come stay with us without anyone becoming suspicious of your disappearance. While he is stationed in Middleton I'll have Hirotaka keep an eye on Ms. Possible for you. Just so you understand, we can't expose the truth of Yamanouchi, so Hirotaka will have to protect Ms. Possible from the shadows. She won't even know he's there or that he's helping her, but she will be safe while you're gone."

Ron relaxed a little as he heard this, "Okay, but I can't just disappear without saying goodbye to anyone."

"That is fine, we can delay the departure until you say your farewells, but we need to leave by two this afternoon. We have to have the jet back in its hanger by Sunday morning or it will be missed," Master Sensei paused, "This type of communication is draining and I must return to my body soon, do you have any more questions before I go?"

"No," replied Ron "I guess I will see you tomorrow."

Indeed Stoppable-san, I look forward to beginning your training, farewell." as Master Sensei finished speaking he started to fade away until Ron was left in Hana's room alone once more.

Maybe this training won't be such a bad thing, Ron thought. He started to remember all the times that he had blown a mission or the villains had escaped. I mean Kim has already mastered sixteen forms of martial arts and I'm lucky if I can keep my pants on me the entire mission. Ron started to get excited as he thought about finally being able to take a more active role in missions. And maybe, just maybe, Kim might see me as something more than a friend if I end up saving her for once.

Ron jumped up, pausing only to pull a tiny plastic toy from his backside and then hurried downstairs to find Rufus. He didn't have much time and he needed to have everything packed so he could say goodbye to all of his friends.

AN: I know that Ron may seem bi-polar, going from so depressed to so preoccupied about his friends, but it will all be explained in the next chapter.