“The Supreme One took power with cruel swiftness. No one knows what happened. We believe that time-travel was the key. Somehow the Supreme One tampered with your past,” the hyper-evolved Naked-Mole-Rat Rufus 3000 told Kim Possible.
“Time Travel…” Kim said speculatively. “…The Time Monkey!”
“Exactly. Tempus… Simia.”
“But what can I do?”
“History tells us that you were the only one to defeat the Supreme One in the Pre- Tempus Simia Era.”
“But if the Supreme One has the Time Monkey in the future… or the past…. Or… wow… Ah! Brain pain!”
“Time Travel does that,” Rufus 3000 agreed.
“All I know is I’m stuck in the now, and I’m fresh out of Time Monkey.”
Rufus 3000 pulled out a bracelet with a large blue half-sphere on it, and slapped it on Kim’s wrist. “This is a Chronal Manipulator.”
Kim asked, “Big enough?”
“Beats strapin’ a monkey to your wrist.”
“True.”
Second Childhood
A Kim Possible Fanfiction by Chronos the Cat
with scenes adapted from the “Kim Possible” TV Movie, “A Sitch in Time”.
Based on a challenge by W. C. Reaf at the KP Slash Haven message board.
Introduction:
She called herself “The Supreme One”, and from her capitol city of Shegoton, she ruled the world.
All empires fall eventually, but the Supreme One felt her empire could be different. The only person who had ever bested her in battle was dead, and between her powers and the advanced science at her disposal, she had no need to fear growing older than she wished to.
The one thing she worried about was that someone would discover a secret that few other than herself knew – that it was possible to travel into the past and change history. To stop the rebels from taking advantage of this fact, she used an ancient relic, the Tempus Simia, to travel into the past and created a time-loop wherein the events of past and future reinforced themselves, making the course of events leading up to her enthronement nearly inevitable.
As she finished her project, the rebels constructed a time-travel device of their own, and detecting the changes the Supreme One was making, attempting to stop her. Instead, their excursions into the past were merely incorporated into the loop, creating a nearly-paradoxical tangle of cause-and-effect.
Fearing the effects of disturbing the damaged time-stream further, the rebels abandoned their attempt to change history, and instead focused on fighting the Supreme One.
However neither side considered that free will and random chance can exert itself at any point the universe considers “the present”, and by it’s very nature the time loop held a fragment of “the present” within it. “A Sitch in Time” chronicles how after fighting Duff Killagain, Monkey Fist, and Doctor Drakken in what she considered “the past”, Kim Possible decided to travel to “the future” to battle the Supreme One.
This tale will chronicle the results of a very different change…
In Doctor Drakken’s Island Lair…
“We need a plan. A smart plan.” Drakken said, parroting what Shego had just said a moment ago. He was pacing around the room, while Shego leaned over the table the Tempus Simia was on, and Monkey Fist and Duff Killagain stood nearby.
Monkey Fist said, “We’re listening.”
Drakken grabbed a computer printout, and said, “I have run a computer analysis of Kim Possible’s life, and have calculated the exact day when she will be most vulnerable.”
“Sounds smart!” Shego said, sounding impressed.
Drakken continued, “We must go under-cover… using this Juvinator!”
Drakken pulled out a device composed of several colored rings around a white rod – much like a toddler’s toy.
Shego asked, “Juvinator? What’s a Juinvi—“
Drakken pushed a button on the top of the device, and with a flash of green light, transformed into a kid. His scar had vanished, but unlike his original childhood incarnation, his skin was still blue. Furthermore, his clothes had changed to black pants and a shirt with a skull design on it, made for his new size.
Chibi-Drakken exclaimed, “Cool!”
Shego commented, “Okay. Just got dumb.”
Drakken now turned the device on the others, turning Monkey Fist, Duff Killagain, and Shego into children as well. Fist retained his monkey hands and feet, and Shego the pale greenish tint to her skin, while the clothes of the three shrank to fit their new bodies.
Chibi-Killagain commented, “I’m a wee laddie!”
Chibi-Shego slapped her forehead. “Why do I put up with you, Doctor D?”
Chibi-Fist demanded, “Drakken, why on Earth are we toddlers?!”
Drakken answered maniacally, “Because our target is Kim Possible’s first day of preschool! Ha ha ha!”
In a parking-lot across the street from the Middleton ABC Pre-School, sometime in the late Eighties / early Nineties…
Chibi-Shego sat on the hood of a car, watching the events in the pre-school through binoculars.
“Oh! How long can it take to crush the spirit of a four-year-old?!” she complained.
Just then, a blue portal appeared, and the teen Kim Possible stepped out.
“This is low, even for you, Shego!”
Shego turned and stared at her, answering in a voice meant to be reproving but ending up more fearful, “N-not my idea! Do you think I’d choose to be turned into a kid?”
“I suppose not. Why don’t you surrender now? I don’t like to hurt kids.”
“You don’t, do you? Well, that’s fine with me - I love having an unfair advantage! Tell you what – I’ll hurt you enough for both of us!” She lit up her hands, and launched herself off the car at Kim.
Kim easily dodged to the side, and Chibi-Shego landed roughly on the ground a bit beyond where she’d planned. Shego picked herself up, turned and blasted at Kim with her glow.
Kim flipped over the blast, then lunged at Shego. Shego froze for an instant, her eyes widening as she realized just how big Kim was to her now. Recovering in time, she jumped back, and threw a few more blasts at Kim. As Kim dodged again, Shego mentally adapted the moves she wanted to use for her new body, then launched herself at Kim, punching and kicking in the air.
Kim blocked the blows as best she could with her arms. Shego seemed faster than before, and managed to get a few blows in, but they didn’t hurt as much as they normally would have. Reflexively, Kim lashed out, sending Shego flying over a yard. Shego scraped and bounced against the pavement at the same time, then tumbled a ways further.
Shego moaned as she slowly lifted herself up. Her suit and face was dirt-stained, and a little blood trickled down from a scrape on her forehead.
Kim stared in shock. “Oh my…!” Having difficulty thinking of Chibi-Shego as an adult, she found herself asking, “Shego, are you all right?”
Shego looked over at Kim and put her hand to her head. She whined over-dramatically, “No, I’m hurt bad! Can you kiss it and make it better?”
Kim scowled. “Right… I don’t think so.” Clicking back into battle mode, she charged at Shego.
Shego blasted at Kim, forcing Kim to dodge, and giving Shego time to get up. Shego sent a few more plasma blasts Kim’s way, then leaped at her, her right fist extended and blazing. Kim was hit in the chest, knocking her back a few paces and knocking the wind out of her. Shego was unable to take advantage of Kim’s momentary incapacitation, however, as landing from her leap proved trickier than expected.
Backing away from each other, the two assumed battle stances, each watching the other carefully, prepared to attack or defend at a moments notice.
Kim lunged at Shego again, even as Shego once again jumped at her, Shego’s punches blazing with green plasma.
Kim dodged the first few strikes, then before Shego had even returned to the ground, slipped around her and grabbed her from behind.
Shego found herself held in the air in Kim’s embrace, her arms pinned to her sides. “What the…?” She struggled and squirmed, and beat her fists and feet against Kim. Shego didn’t have the leverage to really hurt Kim, but she did find herself loosing her grip.
In a single fluid movement, Kim shifted her hold on Shego, grabbed hold of her arms and twisted them behind Shego’s back, even as she knelt down, wrapping one leg around Shego in the process.
Before Shego knew what had happened, she found herself even more helpless, her legs pinned between Kim’s, and her arms crossed behind her back with one of Kim’s hands holding them in position. With her free hand, Kim pulled out a rope, and wrapped it around Shego’s wrists, letting go with her other hand only when it was time to tie the knot. Kim then pulled out another rope, shoved Shego to the ground, and tied her feet together as well.
As Kim stood up to survey her handiwork, Shego rolled over and looked up at her in awe. “And I thought I knew how to tie people up!”
“Actually, you don’t – or have you forgotten that I always escape?”
“Only because of that hairless rodent!”
Kim shrugged. “Well, he has saved me and Ron more than a few times… but I’ve escaped without his help before, too.”
Shego raised an eyebrow at that skeptically, then looked down and struggled against her bonds for a few moments. Kim knew that it was futile – while Kim would never do something like this when babysitting someone outside the family, she had used this trick to keep her brothers out of trouble many times. (It worked almost as good as the mind-control chips she’d used on them that one time, and was far more practical.) And even Shego’s plasma wouldn’t help – her hands were tied in such a way that she couldn’t even touch the rope with her hands, let alone the knot.
Wondering what to do with Shego now, Kim glanced around. What she saw in the playground banished all thoughts of Shego from her mind, though – her four-year-old self was fighting against Chibi-Drakken, Chibi-Monkey Fist, and Chibi-Killagain to protect the four-year-old Ron!
Teen-Kim ran towards the playground to help out. However, by time she neared the fence, young-Kim had sent the bad boys running.
The villains burst out of the gate and began to run towards where they’d left Shego, only to stop in their tracks when they saw teen-Kim standing there.
Chibi-Drakken stared, wide eyed, and started to back up. “Kim Possible! B-big Kim Possible!”
With a smile, teen-Kim said to the villains, “Guess what? Free-swim in the time-stream is over.”
Drakken turned to Monkey Fist and said in a terrified voice, “Get us out of here!”
Monkey Fist pulled out the Tempus Simia, and a red vortex opened up just behind him, Drakken, and Killagain.
“Drop it!” Kim ordered, even as she ran at them.
Not listening to her, the three jumped through the portal, which a second later began to close.
Without a thought, Kim leaped after them head first, her feet barely making it through the portal before it closed.
Moments later (or years, depending on your point of view), Kim landed on her stomach on the floor of Drakken’s lair. As she got up, Chibi-Fist told Chibi-Drakken, “Quickly! De-juvinate me!”
“Aye, me too!” Killagain said.
Drakken pulled out the Juvinator, and with the push of a button and a flash of light, the three villains were back to their adult forms.
Kim took up a fighting stance, even as Monkey Fist did the same, and Killagain pulled out one of his golf-clubs.
Kim told them, “Give it up, guys. We all know how this is going to end.”
Drakken smiled. “We do, don’t we? Or have you forgotten that without your sidekick, you have yet to be able to beat the three of us when we’re working together?”
“That’s not what I just saw on the playground.”
“Ya canna count that!” Killagain complained.
“Indeed,” Monkey Fist agreed. “Our fighting skills were impaired by the fact that we were unfamiliar with our Juvinated bodies.”
Drakken’s eyes widened. “Ooh! But this time –“ He aimed the Juvinator at Kim, and pressed the button. Kim’s attention had been on Monkey Fist and Killagain, and she only realized what Drakken was up to at the last second. She tried to dodge the green light that shot out of the Juvinator, but wasn’t fast enough. “—you’ll be the one in an unfamiliar body!”
Kim felt a slight burning sensation throughout her body, as well as the feeling of falling, as everything and everyone else in the room seemed to almost triple in size. She felt dizzy for a moment, then everything returned to normal – except the sizes of things. She glanced down at her body to see the proportions of a toddler and a distinctive lack of a bust. Her mission-clothes had shrunk with her, but the shirt was now longer compared to her body than it had been, covering her mid-riff.
“Oh boy,” Kim said in a troubled voice.
The three villains grinned, and Killagain said, “Now this is the kin’ of fight I like.”
Not knowing how she was going to handle this, Kim started to back away, keeping up her battle stance.
Monkey Fist leaped at her, and kicked. She jumped back out of the way, but misjudged her landing slightly, stumbling a few steps in an attempt to avoid falling down. Monkey Fist landed in a crouch and leaped forward, low to the ground, his fist extended her way. She crossed her arms in front of her face in a desperate block. The impact still pushed her back a few feet and knocked her down.
As Kim pulled herself to her feet as quickly as she could manage, she briefly wondered why Fist hadn’t pursued his advantage further – until she spotted a golf ball roll to rest next to her. She leaped away, but it wasn’t fast enough, and she got caught in the edge of the explosion. Painful heat engulfed her body as she was flung through the air into some equipment. She tried to protect her head, but hit a console too hard, causing her to black out for a moment.
She knew she hadn’t been out long because as the world came back into focus Monkey Fist was just tying her up in a similar manner to how she had tied Shego.
“This won’t hold me for long!” Kim said as Monkey Fist walked over to Drakken and Killagain.
“It doesn’t need to, my dear. By time you’re free, we’ll be long gone – in more ways than one!” He gave a monkey laugh.
Drakken held out his hand. “The Tempus Simia, if you will?”
Killagain asked, “Why d’ you get to be th’ one t’ use it?”
“Because, I have the plan!” Drakken said, as Monkey Fist handed the Time Monkey to him. Drakken concentrated a moment, and a red portal opened up. The three walked through it, and it closed behind them.
Kim scowled and grit her teeth. “They got away!” She struggled against her bonds trying to get free. As she did, she began to be aware of her muscles aching, as well as the fact that spots on her skin still hurt as if burned, presumably from where burning pieces of golf-ball had struck her.
Realizing that Monkey Fist had tied too good a knot, she turned to plan “B”, pulling out her “lipstick-laser” and using it to cut her bonds.
Slowly, she got to her feet, noticing new aches and pains as she did so, including a pounding in her head.
“I think I need to rest up before confronting them again. It might be worth recruiting Ron, too, even if we are out of sync… But first I need to get back to my proper age.“ Suddenly, her eyes widened. “Oh no! Drakken took the Juvinator with him!”
She looked down at herself, at her child-body, now covered in soot, burns, and bruises. With a sigh, she thought, “Unless Wade or Rufus 3000 can help me, I guess I’m stuck like this until I go after Drakken and the others.”
Suddenly, she realized that she’d left Shego tied up in the past. “Well, at least there’s one loose end I can take care of right now.” She raised her wrist to activate the Chronal Manipulator, but gasped when she saw it. Not only was it battered and soot-stained, but there was a large crack running across it. Desperately, she tapped at it, trying to get it to turn on, but nothing happened.
Sourly, she thought, “I guess I’ll need to wait for Rufus 3000 to get back before I can get Shego and go after Drakken, Monkey Fist, and Killagain.”
She reached into her mini-cargo pants and pulled out her Kimmunicator. It had shrunk with her, and now had a “Hello Kitty” sticker on it. She flipped it on. “Hey, Wade, I need a ride.”
“Sure thing, …Kim?!”
“I got struck by Drakken’s Juvinator ray, and got turned into a kid,” she explained to the shocked cyber-guru. “Any chance you can reverse the affect?”
“Do you have the device he used?”
“No, he got away, and took it with him.”
“Hmm. I’ll have to study the effect.” The Kimmunicator scanned her, then Wade started typing away as he divided his attention between several screens.
Looking up in surprise, he asked, “According to the beacon in your Kimmunicator, you’re at Drakken’s island lair!”
“Yeah,” Kim said, looking around. “That’s what I figured.”
“Well, since you’re there, why don’t you hook the Kimmunicator into his computer system – maybe he left some notes behind.”
“Can’t you just hack in there?”
“His computer isn’t online.”
“Oh.” Kim went over to a computer console, and hooked the Kimmunicator up.
“So,” Wade said as he typed, “How’d you end up in Drakken’s lair?”
“I hitched a ride with Drakken when he, Monkey Fist, and Duff Killagain fled the past using the Tempus Simia.”
Wade’s eyes widened. “When they fled the…? But Kim, you, Ron, and Shego stopped them from getting the Tempus Simia! And what were you doing in the past?”
Kim stared at the Kimmunicator screen. “Shego…?!”
“Yeah, what about her?”
“Why would she help us?!”
“Why wouldn’t she? She is part of Team Possible, after all.”
Kim shook her head silently. Trying to regain the ability to speak, she stuttered, “Wha- bu- I- …Since when?”
“Since the very beginning. Kim, are you all right? Did you hit your head or something?”
“Well, yes, but that’s not it…” Kim protested. Growing thoughtful, she said, “They changed history, like Rufus 3000 warned us they would! I need to go back and stop them! Wade, can you repair this Chronal Manipulator?” She held up the device to the Kimmunicator.
“One thing at a time, Kim! Let me finish going through Drakken’s database.”
“I thought you liked to multitask?”
Wade scowled. “Some things require more concentration than others, and even I only have so much to spread around.
“…So, anyway,” he continued, “what were you doing in the past?”
Kim looked confused. “Trying to stop Drakken and his friends from changing history, like Rufus 3000 told me to.”
“Rufus 3000? Who’s that?”
“Genetically enhanced descendant of Rufus from the future? You talked with him over the Kimmunicator just a few hours ago, remember?”
“Sorry, doesn’t ring a bell.”
“But…” Kim puzzled over this, until it occurred to her she might not be when she assumed she was. “Wait, what’s the date?”
Wade rattled off the date, and Kim grew confused again.
“That can’t be right. What’s the time?”
“Twelve fifteen, Middleton time.”
“But… Rufus 3000 should have talked with us just a few hours ago!”
“No… And I just checked – I’m also getting your Kimmunicator’s signal from your bedroom. I also checked that scan I ran on you earlier, and your genetics match my records precisely.”
“What are you saying?”
“Assuming you aren’t some highly sophisticated clone, there are two of you now. The you who traveled back in time and got turned into a kid, and the you who did not travel through time and is asleep in bed.”
“How is that possible?”
Wade shrugged. “Hey, anything’s possible for a Possible, right?”
Kim scowled. “Wade…”
“Sorry, I couldn’t resist,” Wade said apologetically. “Seriously, though… I’m no expert in temporal physics, but my best guess would be that the change in history changed the future so that Rufus 3000 either couldn’t or saw no need to travel back in time and recruit you. Without Rufus 3000, the you in this time-line never went back in time, so now that you’ve returned from your trip to the past, well…”
“There are two of me. …But, if I didn’t travel into the past in the new time-line, why do I still exist? The time-traveling me, I mean.”
“Why not? You’re assuming that causality is both dual-directional and restricted to the linear time-line.”
“I’m what?”
“Look, when time flows the way it’s supposed to, one event leads to another which leads to another, and so-on. Cause-and-effect. Some people believe that this chain must remain intact - all events must have a history leading up to it. If that’s the case, then anyone visiting the past would be unable to change history, as that would disrupt the chain of events leading to their trip through time. …Unless, of course, changing history does not erase the old history, but merely pushes it aside. In that case, the chain-of-events would still be intact, it would just lead to the old history.
“Of course, it’s also possible that events don’t need a history to exist, in which case you can change history as much as you want, so long as you’re willing to live in the new course of history you create,” Wade concluded.
Kim digested this for a moment, then finally said, “So, what you’re saying is there’s two of me now.”
“Er… In a nutshell, yeah. …Oh, and by the way, it looks like this time-line’s Drakken never developed the Juvinator. I’ve found some preliminary research, but he apparently abandoned the concept before he ever got anywhere with the idea.”
“Oh, that’s just great!” Kim exclaimed. “What about you? Can you reverse the effect?”
“I don’t know. Even with my scan of you, and Drakken’s preliminary work, I don’t have a lot to go on. I’ll work on it, but you might have to just wait for the de-aging to wear off…”
“It will wear off?” Kim asked filled with sudden hope.
“Er, not like you’re thinking. I just meant that your body isn’t stuck at your current age – in a year you’ll have a five-year-old’s body, in another you’ll have a six-year-old’s body, and ten years from now, you’ll have a fourteen-year-old body again.”
“You mean, I’ll need to grow up all over again?!”
“If we can’t get our hands on the Juvinator, and I can’t work out how to reverse the effects, then yes…”
“Great. Just great.”
“Anyway, let’s have a look at that Chronal Manipulator.”
Kim held the device up to the Kimmunicator again.
Wade started scanning the device. “Whoa! This is way beyond anything I’ve ever seen before. I think I could get it working again… But it could take a really long time – years, maybe.”
“…But… If Rufus 3000 isn’t coming, and you can’t repair the Chronal Manipulator, how can I go back and restore history? …Wait, if there’s two of me, are there two Time Monkeys now?”
“Time Monkeys?”
“You know, the Tempus Simia.”
“Oh, right. Sorry, Kim. Shego thought it was too dangerous to leave lying around, so you dropped the head of the statue into an oceanic rift…”
One of Kim’s eyebrows twitched. “Did Shego do that on purpose, to make it so I can’t go back and stop her?” Kim wondered.
“Well,” Wade said, “You should probably head outside – your ride should be there in a few minutes. You still planning on heading back to Middleton?”
Kim sighed. “I guess I might as well. Until I can find a way to follow Drakken and the others back in time, I’m stuck in this mixed up course of history.”
“Mixed up?” Wade asked.
As Chibi-Kim headed outside, she said, “Shego is part of Team Possible,” as if that was enough of an explanation.
“So? What’s wrong with that?”
“She’s a criminal!”
“Yeah, well, so are you, technically.”
Kim’s eyes seemed to bulge out of her head. “Wh-a-a-at?!”
“Hey, just because you and Shego never got caught doesn't mean I couldn't figure out that you have a few clothes and other items in your room that you never actually paid for.”
Her voice a mixture of shock and reproach, Kim said, “Wade, I've never stolen anything in my life!”
“You haven’t? Oh… well, the Kim I know has. Don’t worry though, it’s nothing too serious, mostly just some shoplifting and petty theft from those who could afford it.”
Chibi-Kim closed her eyes, put her hand to her head, and moaned. No doubt about it, she thought, Shego has been a bad influence on the other me…
Hoping to assess the damage, she asked, “Just to be sure, Team Possible does what in this time-line?”
“Catch master criminals, recover stolen property, and generally save the world…”
“Well, at least we're still the good guys.”
“We get paid pretty good for it, too.”
“Paid?!” Kim moaned again. “We charge to help people out?!”
“You mean, in your time-line, you didn’t?”
“No, we don't! If we waited to make sure someone would pay us, the world would never get saved. And what about people who need help but can’t afford to pay for it?”
“Actually, we have a contract with Global Justice and the UN – any world saving that isn’t on a separate contract, they foot the bill for. And in the case of those with limited incomes, we’ll give discounts, or just accept the promise of a favor.”
“Well… I guess that isn’t so bad. I still don’t see why it’s necessary, though…” Kim said as she stepped outside.
Wade shrugged. “That’s been the way it’s been since I joined the team. You’ll have to ask the others how they decided on doing it the way we do.”
“Yeah… me and my other self are going to have to have a long talk…”
Kim sat down on a rock near the shore, and looked up at the stars, waiting for the plane to arrive to take her somewhere that wasn’t quite home anymore.
Twelve years earlier…
Chibi-Shego tried to move her feet near enough to her hands to blast the ropes around her feet, but though her child-body was quite flexible, she wasn’t coordinated enough with it to pull the trick off.
“Damn you, Kim! Why’d you have to tie me up so good?” She wasn’t too worried, despite the fact that she had yet to be able to get free. If it came down to it, she could engulf more of her body in plasma than just her hands, and burn off the rope – however, if she did that, she risked catching her suit and hair on fire, so it wasn’t something she was anxious to try…
“Why hasn’t either Drakken or Kim come back for me?!” she wondered. “They can travel through time – after one won, it should have been simple to come back to just after they left and pick me up! I know Kim wouldn’t leave me in the past if she could help it – too much risk of me messing with history. Drakken wouldn’t leave me behind, either… would he? I mean, he needs me, right? …But he didn’t seem to care about what happened to me when he, Killagain, and Monkey Fist escaped…
“Have I been abandoned…? And if so, how do I get home?
“…I suppose I could try to get the Tempus Simia in this time period… but I don’t know where the statue’s body is at this point… and with a toddler’s body and no resources, how would I get to Australia to get the head, or to the temple in Africa…?”
It began to dawn on her that the only way for her to get back to what she considered the present might be to wait ten years for it to arrive… And she’d have to do it as a child, to boot!
“Someone is going to pay dearly for this mess!” she thought, struggling against the ropes again.
Next: Meetings