My girl’s an annoying creature. She doesn’t do what I say. So, what do I keep her around for? She can be entertaining as hell if given the chance.
Kim was in a bit of a bind. Her mistress wanted her to fight with Team Impossible. Normally, the redhead would never consider going up against people that were on the right side of the law, even if they were arrogant, giant jerks that chased her on three separate occasions and the first time they had left her abandoned in a box while she was beaten up and unconscious thanks to them drugging her. But, she could not disobey her master.
There was also the fact that Kim had dessert riding on her listening to Shego’s orders or doing what she typically did when faced with Team Impossible. Now, she understood that Shego had reason for making her go against the pricks after her; Shego actually had two reasons, it would be entertaining to see her pet fighting and the girl needed to face up to those muscle-heads to show them that they were the ones that were lucky that she usually ran when she saw them. Kim believed that it was wrong to do battle with good guys, but she was not about to miss out on dessert for them. After all, what if it was pie? She was not going to be denied freshly baked, hot-out-of-the-oven pie for three guys that wanted nothing more than to hurt her for no reason at all.
“All right, guys, I guess you got me,” Kim conceded as she stepped from behind her mistress.
The green-skinned woman smirked when her pet moved. She wanted to see the girl in action. She had researched the redhead beyond her website for a while after she had set Kim free. She wanted to see if Kim was more legend than for real. She also wanted to better understand her pet and see if the girl might be something that she could actually be proud of.
Shego fought the temptation to order her girl to attack; to her, it showed that she had some self-control because it took a lot of effort to not say “sic’ ‘em.” She hoped that Kim did well in the battle or else she would be annoyed with her creature and make sure that Kim spent the next few days cowering underneath her box. She was aware of how odd her thinking was because she used to think that her pet was such a helpless, pathetic being, but now she knew that truth. She would be irked if her pet fell short of her hype.
Kim stood before Team Impossible. She crouched into her fighting stance, hands up and ready to go. Shego nodded in approval just from that; the redhead’s stance was strong with no openings. And then the little hero got to work, springing into action like a coiled viper.
“My mother would love this brat,” Shego muttered as she watched Kim go at Team Impossible, who seemed to be stunned that she was moving the way that she was. Shego guessed that they thought she was all hype since she had run every time that she came face to face with them.
Burn was the first one to catch it from Kim. She hit the brawny redhead with a three hit combination that he did not even see coming it would seem because he did not even put his hands up to block. She ended the assault by kicking him on the chin, causing him to stumble back and collapse.
Shego nearly applauded, but she decided against doing that. She was glad to see those egomaniacs get caught for once because they got on her nerves just because they thought that they were so hot. Part of her liked seeing Team Impossible get beaten up just because they reminded her of her older brother. She bet that idiot would fit right in with the haughty trio.
Crash tried to get Kim from behind right after she finished off Burn. She knew he was coming and flipped him over her shoulder as soon as he was close enough for her to grab. He grunted on impact with the dirt while Kim stepped back. The girl gave her opponent a chance to get up; Shego would have dug into his ribs with her foot while he was on the ground just to teach him a lesson. The brunette male was on his feet within seconds and put his hands up to show that he was ready to seriously go at it.
“That was lucky,” Crash declared.
“You think?” Kim asked.
Crash went at the little heroine to show that he truly believed that she lucked out on throwing him. She avoided his punches with ease. She slipped by him and seemed to taunt him by not attacking back.
Shego arched an eyebrow; her mother would definitely love her pet. Kim was like rough waters while fighting. She moved fluidly, but they were still powerful motions and that was just while she was dodging. She thought that her girl would have been more like a dancer while fighting, as in her movements would seem more like a cloud or a mist, just something less violent. The pale woman, of course, liked the rough waters to the cloud or mist.
Kim went at Crash’s torso once she was through dipping all of his attacks. She punched him in the chest; Shego thought it was strange for some reason. She would have thought that her pet was more into palm strikes, but it seemed that she was wrong again. She wondered how long the girl had trained and refined her style because she looked, well, good. Shego thought that Kim might even offer her a bit of a challenge and she had never thought that about someone if she was seven years their senior, which was the case with Kim.
The redhead floored Crash and then turned her attention to the big man in charge, Dash. The bald man did not look affected by the fact that his two partners were just dropped by a girl, a skinny girl at that.
“Baldy, maybe you should just give up,” Shego suggested, not just to make fun of the guy either. It just seemed like the smarter thing to do at that point and she doubted that someone from Team Impossible would even think of the smart thing to do.
“Hey, she’s just a kid,” Dash argued.
“Actually, she’s a little monster,” Shego replied.
“Whatever,” he scoffed.
“Fine, go get him, little monster,” the raven-haired woman commanded in an amused tone.
The redhead obliged her mistress and went right at the bald man. Kim changed her movements it seemed when going at Dash; Shego even recognized the exact style of martial arts her pet was using against the man. Dash seemed to identify the moves too, so he smiled condescendingly as he dodged her strikes. And then she suddenly changed again and caught him by surprise with a flip kick to his dome. He staggered back a bit, but he remained on his feet.
“We do that move in cheerleading mostly,” Kim informed the man while trying to ignore a part of her brain pointing out how wrong it was for her to be fighting with a good guy. She thought that she might be taking the “obedient pet” thing too far if it meant that she was going to have to fight with people that were on the side of justice.
Despite her thoughts, the hero continued to go at the large man. He was not much of a challenge. He was better than his two partners, but that was not saying much. His partners were like five-year-olds and he was like a ten-year-old, a huge different to children, but nothing to her.
Kim moved around and ended the combat swiftly with a couple of combinations that Dash saw coming, but he could not do anything to stop them. She ended up putting him on his back in the dirt just like his two friends. She turned to grin at her master, even though she did not feel so proud of herself.
“I guess that’ll teach them,” Shego commented while looking down at Team Impossible. She had to admit that her pet was something else to have taken those idiots out without any trouble. Despite what they showed in the park, they were really elite fighters and she knew that. Well, she now knew that her little monster was somewhere above elite when it came to combat.
“Shego, I don’t think this was right,” Kim replied while looking around at her handiwork. She was feeling worse by the second.
“Of course it was. Jackasses like these bastards deserve everything that they dish out. Just because they bring in criminals, that doesn’t make them good guys. It just makes them businessmen. Would you ever do what they did to you to someone else?” the pale woman inquired.
“Well, no,” Kim answered.
“Because you’re good. You’re not in the grey area of good and bad like these assholes. You’re pretty much completely good. You’re a good girl. In fact, you deserve some pizza.”
“Yeah?” the girl asked. Pizza counted as pasta to her and pasta equal heaven to her stomach.
Her mistress’ words made sense to her, Kim mentally conceded. She knew that the world was not cut straight into good guys and bad guys, but sometimes that was how she thought and she knew that was naïve on her part. Maybe she would learn differently living with her master again; living with Shego was a learning experience after all.
The redhead could not think too long on the words because Shego attached the leash back to her collar. Shego tugged her pet off for some pizza. Kim yelped a little because of the surprise pull.
(New day)
Kim felt pretty good about herself thanks to the day that she just had and she had not even saved anyone or something. She did not stop any insane plot to take over the world. She had not recovered any stolen good. She had not even rescued a kitten out of a tree. What did she do? She met with a graduate advisor of the biology department in Go University.
She decided that she was definitely going to Go University. Its biology department was respected worldwide and there were a lot of options for someone like her, who had no idea what she wanted to focus on exactly. The professors that she met were nice and easy to talk to. She was definitely going to go there. Besides, the graduate advisor had sat with her for well over an hour and had not even glanced at her collar. So, yes, it definitely was a good day.
She decided to take a short cut home because she wanted to get back there as soon as possible and tell Shego about the meeting; it did not even register to her glee-filled brain that Shego was still at work and would not be home for another couple of hours. She hopped a wire fence and landed in an alleyway. She strolled through the narrow, filthy passageway like it was nothing, even though she was more than aware of how dangerous Go City could be. She heard a noise behind her and turned around on her guard. There was nothing behind her.
“Maybe I’m just bugging out,” Kim considered.
The hero dropped her hands and continued on her way about three steps before she heard the noise a second time. She turned around rapidly, hands up, and ready to throw down again. She remained on guard for a few seconds and then relaxed when nothing happened. She laughed at herself, thinking that she was just getting paranoid. She just shook it off.
“I’m probably hallucinating,” the young woman told herself.
Kim tried to continue on her way, but then she heard the noise a third time. Now, she was certain that she was not going crazy. She listened for a few seconds and scanned around the alley. There were some garage containers and a lot of trash littering the floor, but that was about all. She did not see anything for a few seconds, but then a bag started moving. She put her hands up, just in case someone came out of the pile of junk. The bag moved again and now Kim was ready to rumble.
Shego came into the house and heard her pet laughing. She wondered what was so funny, so she went to check it out. She went to the living room and frowned at the sight that she saw; Kim was sitting on the floor with a puppy and she was allowing it to tug on a jet black cloth.
“Is that one of my hand towels?” Shego demanded to know as she got a good look at onyx-colored cloth that the little pup was yanking on; Kim was holding onto one end of the towel and the canine had the other end in his mouth.
“Huh? Oh, hi, Shego,” Kim grinned when she noticed her mistress. She was so involved with the dog that it failed to hit her brain that her master did not look happy in the least; in fact, the pale woman was deeply scowling.
“Don’t ‘hi’ me and don’t give me that stupid ass smile. What the fuck is that filthy mutt doing in my house?”
“You mean Leonardo? He’s not filthy anymore. He’s having fun now. Aren’t you, boy?” Kim said while giving the towel a slight tug and the puppy pulled back.
“Get my good towel out of his fucking mouth. Do you have an idea how much that shit cost? Matter of fact, get his nasty ass out of her,” Shego ordered.
“But, he doesn’t have any place to go!” the redhead whined while grabbing up the puppy, which she had named Leonardo because he had white spots at the end of his muzzle that reminded her of an old man’s beard, which led her to thinking of the great renaissance artist.
“So what? What does this look like, the fucking pound?” the emerald-eyed woman countered.
“But, Shego!” Kim wailed.
“Throw him out now or I’ll throw the both of you out,” the super-powered female threatened her obviously airhead pet; well, it was obvious to her anyway.
“But, Shego!”
“What?” the elder woman growled while igniting her hands in sheer fury.
“He’s homeless. Can’t I keep him?” the girl requested with a cute pout.
“Let me get this straight, you’re a pet that wants a pet?” Shego inquired. What even made her little monster think that she was responsible enough to care of a dog? She knew that if she did let the redhead keep the puppy, she would end up taking care of it and she was not about to take care of two monsters.
“Yes.” Kim nodded and smiled.
“No.”
The olive-eyed female pouted, even though she knew that her powers usually did not move her owner. But, that pout was different than her usual one; it was a full force, no-holds-bar, puppy-dog pout, but even that had no affect on her mistress. Shego was not moved by the pitiful expression that her pet was wearing, so Kim added to her tactic.
The redhead figured that she would need to look extra-pathetic in order to change her mistress’ mind. She lifted Leonardo up to her face and held him there. She began whimpering and the puppy copied her, making them a pair of extremely pitiful creatures in the eyes of Shego.
“Damn you, Princess. You can keep for now, but you’d better start looking for a permanent home for that mutt. We’re not keeping him for too long,” Shego declared in a huff.
“Spanking!” Kim cheered and she hugged the little dog. “See, you get the stay, Leo.” The puppy barked in gratitude it seemed.
“No, he gets to stay for a limited amount of time and you get to look for a home for him. You’d better find a home fast.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Kim replied and she saluted while smiling. Shego growled in aggravation and marched to her bedroom to get away from her pet and her pet’s temporary pet.
(New Day)
Kim entered Bueno Nacho, meeting up with her friends to chill and talk about her meeting with the graduate advisor the other day. She had Leonardo with her because Shego did not trust the “little mutt” in her house by himself. Kim had come to understand that her master did not like Leonardo, even though he was a very well behaved puppy. Shego did not seem fond of dogs at all, not just Leonardo.
“Hey, guys,” Kim greeted Ron, Yori, and Monique. She eased into the booth next to Monique.
Now, the friends knew to brace themselves almost whenever Kim sat down last. Kim was the surprising person of their group, which said a lot about her since they were a clique with a ninja and a master of monkey kung-fu, not to mention a hairless rodent. It took a lot of effort on Kim’s part to be the one they all guessed with, they all thought.
Even though they knew about Kim’s ability to make their mouths drop open in disbelief, they still had not been quite as prepared as they liked. They candidly gawked at her as soon as she sat down. She was too busy petting Leonardo to notice their stares; she was glad that Bueno Nacho never thought to post a sign forbidding animals in the place. Rufus frowned at the dog; he was the only four-legged member of the group.
“Um…K.P, you do know you’re wearing a collar, right?” Ron inquired just to be sure. There was always a chance that someone had sneaked up on her and belled her like a cat; sure, it was a slim chance, but there was still a chance.
“Of course,” Kim answered. How could she not know that she was wearing a collar, she wondered.
“It say’s Princess on it in a little heart. Let me guess, Shego got it for you,” Monique said while trying her best to control herself and not make fun of her good friend. Damn it if Kim did not make it so easy, though.
“Yup. Leo’s wearing my other one,” the redhead replied while rubbing the top of the puppy’s head; it almost looked like he was smiling from the attention.
“Why do you have a dog, Kim?” Yori asked because that was stranger to her than Kim wearing a collar. After all, the redhead was already a pet herself, therefore, she should not have a pet, the Japanese girl reasoned.
“I found him the other day. Isn’t he a cute little guy?” the hero replied.
“That he is,” the ninja concurred.
“I can’t keep him, though,” Kim informed her friends.
“Why not? It’s not like your house has a ‘no pet’ policy,” Monique quipped.
“Shego doesn’t seem to like the little guy at all. She gave me a month to find him a home or she’s just going to throw him out the window she said. Do you guys need a dog? Leonardo’s really great,” Kim advertised the tiny pooch.
“Leonardo? You named your dog after a ninja turtle?” Ron asked in a bit of a bemused voice. He did not see why anyone would name a dog after a cartoon, crime fighting turtle.
“Kim, where the hell did you get this boy from?” Monique teased the blonde boy.
“Ron, he’s not named after the ninja turtle. He’s named after the same guy as the turtle, though, the great artist, inventor, and thinker Leonardo Da Vinci. See, the little white on the side of his nose reminded me of an old man’s beard and I thought about Da Vinci’s self portrait,” the hero explained.
“You think of an old man’s beard and go straight to Da Vinci?” the chocolate-eyed girl asked incredulously.
“Do you really want to go down the path of how my mind works?” the redhead countered.
“I can see your point. That path must be pretty twisted,” Monique countered.
“Anyway, do you guys need a dog? He’s adorable and he’s housebroken already. It didn’t take much to teach him that, so he’s smart too,” Kim said. It did not take him long to get housebroken because of Shego more than likely; she was so tough on the little guy, Kim thought.
“Are you certain that he doesn’t already belong to someone?” Yori asked.
“He didn’t have any tags or anything. I’m guessing that none of you guys need a dog, though,” Kim replied with a pout. She was hoping that someone she knew would take Leonardo and she could continue seeing him that way.
“No, we’re used to naked animals,” Ron remarked while motioning to Rufus, who grinned and nodded.
“It’s all right. We’ll find you a decent home, Leo.” The redhead kissed the top of her pup’s head.
“So, how’d things go on your interview?” Monique inquired.
Kim went into telling her friends how everything went and about how nice the man that she talked to was. The thing that she liked best about him was that he accepted her “I don’t know” answer to plenty of his questions and just pointed out that biology branched off into many fields. She had time to think about what she wanted to do as long as she started out with the basic classes before finding something that she wanted to concentrate on. He invited her back to talk with him anytime that she wanted to help her narrow down what she wanted to do and she liked that.
“That’s really great,” all three friends said simultaneously once Kim was done explaining what went on.
“Yeah, so, I might see you guys around campus,” Kim stated with a smiled.
“As long as you’re in school, that’s good enough for us,” Ron informed his best friends and the ladies agreed wholeheartedly.
The redhead continued to smile because she was glad that not only did she have friends that cared about what she did with her life, but that she was able to make them happy by moving forward in life. Kim appreciated that about her friends, even though it could be a little irksome. It was just that she was aware that many people would not genuinely care about her future like they did.
“Oh, and just to let you know, I will be dragging you to all kinds of parties now,” Ron added.
“You need to hit the books, bright boy. Did you see his GPA last term?” Monique asked the other two girls.
“She is right. Ron-kun, you cannot party this semester,” Yori informed her boyfriend.
“Aw, man!” the boy groaned.
“Shut down,” Rufus squeaked.
Kim was sitting in the living room with Leonardo. She had been trying to figure out what kind of dog the puppy was for a while now. He looked like a spaniel of some kind in her non-expert opinion. His coat was getting longer and starting to feather out at the front legs like most spaniels’ coats did. But, there were several problems with that conclusion and the first was that she highly doubted anyone would throw away a perfectly good spaniel of any kind because they made good family pets. It would have been a better idea to sell him if he was a spaniel.
The other problems were that Leonardo had erect ears, which she knew were not the trait of any spaniel. The little whiskers growing off the side of his muzzle that reminded her of a beard was also not a spaniel characteristic. His muzzle also seemed a bit too narrow for him to be a spaniel, but it was all in her non-expert opinion.
He was sporting a coat that was an orange kind of color, also a reddish brown color mixed in, which was something that she thought was a spaniel trait. She decided to cease thinking on it and just take the pup to a vet some day soon. She guessed that after taking him to a vet, she would then find out what kind of dog he was. Yeah, she was going to take the little puppy to the veterinarian and make sure that he was all right. She would not want to give a sick canine to a willing household.
Shego stood in the entrance of the living room. She was watching her pet, who was trying to teach Leonardo to roll over. The pup was looking at Kim with his head tilted to one side, like he was asking what in the hell was Kim doing; she was rolling around on the floor to be an example for the pooch. Leonardo was not going for it, though.
“I guess he’s smarter than her,” the pale woman commented mentally while eyeing her pet and the canine.
“Come on, Leo. Roll over, like this,” Kim implored the dog and she rolled over yet again. He still seemed to be wondering what in the world was wrong with her.
“Should I give you a cookie for this little show?” the raven-haired woman inquired as she stepped into the living room. The redhead sat up to look at her mistress.
“Why’s he not rolling over?” Kim wondered loud with a pout.
“Maybe he’s just having fun watching you make an ass out of yourself. I know I am. No luck finding him a home yet?”
“Nah-uh. Does anybody at your job want a dog? You can tell them that he’s really cute and well trained.”
“Well trained in what? Watching his master make a sheer ass out of herself?” Shego remarked.
“Leo, you’re making me look bad in front of my mistress. Come on, roll over,” Kim begged the pup.
“You’re a sad sight, Princess. You’ve never had a dog before, have you?”
“Well…no, I haven’t. I never had time for pets. I was always too busy doing a bunch of things,” the younger woman answered.
“Yeah, that’s pretty obvious. I still want that little rat out of here by the end of the month, so don’t get it in your head that you’re going to keep him. You’d better find a home for him or find him some wings,” Shego reiterated. She made sure to keep reminding her little monster that they were not going to keep that tiny ball of fluff no matter what. At the end of the month that dog was going to be gone, either through the window or in someone’s arms.
Kim sighed; her owner really seemed to hate Leonardo. She had to continue to search for someone to take him in because she did not want things to boil down to seeing if Shego would seriously fling him out of the window as she continued to threaten to do. The redhead wondered why it seemed like no one in the world wanted a puppy, except for her of course. He was a good dog. Anybody would be lucky to have him, she thought; Shego would disagree.
(New Day)
Shego was attempting to clean the apartment; her pet had gone all out for that bleeding mutt and they both seemed to be ruining the apartment with pet crap. There were dog grooming tools on the floor along with chew toys, balls, and two leashes; one for Kim and one for Leonardo. There was a little pet bed in the corner by Kim’s box, but Leonardo used his bed just as often as Kim used hers. Leonardo tended to sleep in the girl’s bed, curling up next to her. Shego refused to allow a flea-magnet in her bed, not that it seemed to occur to Kim to take Leonardo and try to get into Shego’s bed yet.
The raven-haired woman leaned down to pick up one of the puppy’s pull toys to discover that the tiny beast was awake; he and Kim had been sleeping on the sofa, but it seemed that only the girl was sleeping now. Leonardo went right for the toy and started gnawing at it while Shego was trying to put it away. The super-powered woman scowled.
“I’m not looking to play with you, mutt. Now, let the fucking thing go, so I can put it away,” the apartment owner demanded, but Leonardo did not let go. He continued to yank on the plaything. Shego made a fist in annoyance; she really hated dogs, pups especially.
Next time: Leonardo continues to get on Shego’s last nerve. What will be done with the irksome, yet cute pup? Is he really all that irksome or is it just Shego?