The Beast Within


Chapter 2


An average day

by
StarvingLunatic


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TITLE: An average day

AUTHOR: StarvingLunatic

DISCLAIMER: I don’t own these characters. I also don’t own Fruit Loops.

SUMMARY: AU. Middleton is a town where everyone has special powers. Well, not everyone. Kim is the only normal one. How does she cope?

TYPE: Unknown

RATING: US: R / DE: 16

Words: 4083


Kim practically punched her alarm clock through her nightstand as it went off to wake her up. She could not believe how awful that alarm sounded, but at least she got to sleep an hour later than usual. Typically, she would have worked out for the extra hour that she had in her day, but she understood that every now and then she had to give her body proper rest or it would fail her one day. The last thing that she needed was her body cutting out on her since she did not have any fancy powers like everyone else in the whole place.

She sat up and stretched. She yawned and hopped out of bed. She went into her morning routine. She did a thousand sit-ups, a hundred one-handed pushups on each hand, and a hundred squats.

Once Kim was done with her light morning exercises, she went to the bathroom to take her shower. She brushed her teeth once she was done and got dressed. She went back to her room and heard the phone going off. She glanced down at the caller id to see if it was for her and saw that it was.

“Hey,” Kim answered the phone.

“Hey, KP, I’m going to school today. What about you?” Ron inquired.

“Yeah,” she confirmed.

“Cool. You wanna walk together?”

“Sounds slamming. You’re gonna come here or am I gonna have to pick you up?” Kim asked.

“You might wanna pick me up. Rufus is trying to sleep in and giving me a hard time. Not to mention, I’m on my own with breakfast this morning, so I need some extra time to screw it up,” the blonde answered.

“Of course. I’ll be by you in a half-hour. Do you think Monique is going to school today?”

“I don’t know.”

“I’ll give her a call. See you later.”

“Yeah, later, KP.”

Kim ended the call and then dialed up her dear friend Monique. Kim met Monique in junior school. The wavy-haired girl had gone to a different elementary school, so she only knew Kim as the golden child that Doctor Director had taken under her wing rather then the powerless target of abuse like others knew her as. It was only after they became friends did Monique find out about Kim’s “condition.” Monique really could care less than nothing about who Kim was apprenticed to or what she could or could not do. The girl had good taste in clothes and could shop with the best of them, which were the only two qualities that Monique looked for in a friend after the major ones like kindness, understanding, and selflessness.

“Hey, girl, what’s up?” Monique answered her phone.

“Nothing. Look, Ron and I are going to school today. What about you?” Kim inquired.

“Well, I had been working on some new stuff, but I guess I could go to school today. I don’t think I’ve been there for the whole month. Boy, I’m going to fail,” Monique realized.

“That you are,” Kim concurred.

High school was a little different from the lower levels of school for the citizens of Middleton. High school was a test of how much the teens could handle by making it more like regular high school. It was shorter than regular high school, only four hours a day, but students were expected to show up regularly for classes. It was not a rule that Kim and her friends could really get a handle on; that was a problem for most of the teens.

Kim went to school the most out of her friends. Monique used to be good for close to as many days as Kim, unless she started working on a project. Her mentor usually did not get on her case about school things, which was probably due to Monique being able to pull good grades despite how often she went to school. Ron, since he did not have to really go often, he tried not to go to school. His mentor was a little senile, so Ron was able to get away with it.

Kim could have gone to school everyday and Betty would have liked her to do that, but Kim tended to get bored in school. Classes moved much too slowly for her. She was not smart enough to be in the advanced classes, but she was beyond what the regular classes were offering. So, she cut school a lot, preferring to be in her special training room and trying not to get killed in there.

“All right, I’ll go to school today. I’ll see you there. Wait, do we have a class together?” Monique asked Kim.

The redhead scratched her head. “That’s a good question. Do we have foreign language together?”

“Not likely. I’ve got French now.”

“Okay, I’m taking Russian. Maybe math. Calculus?”

“That sounds promising.”

The two friends bid each other farewell because Monique had to get ready now that she was going to school. Kim had breakfast to eat and then she had to get to Ron. She tried to think of the hardest route to his house from her house because to her, everything should be training in someway. Every time that she thought that she had a tough way, it turned out that she could navigate it in her sleep, which was why Doctor Director started suggesting that she do it blindfolded. That did help add to the difficulty level, but she still made it to Ron in tact and early to boot.

“Mom, are you making breakfast or are the tweebs burning things already?” Kim inquired as she descended the stairs and smelled smoke. It was not uncommon for her mother to burn a meal due to putting it on and then getting turned away from it by an emergency communication over some medical issue.

“Neither,” Mrs. Possible answered.

“Dad’s burning stuff?” Kim asked curiously as she poked her head into the kitchen to see her father fanning the toaster.

“You’d think one of these days he’d figure out that the numbers on the side of the toaster isn’t for making toast faster, but darker,” Mrs. Possible commented in a bit of an amused tone as she sipped her morning coffee.

“Sometimes, I’m really happy that genius thing decided to skip me,” Kim remarked. “I guess I’ll be having cereal since he’s holding up the toaster.”

“I’m shocked you’re allowed to eat cereal with the diet Betty has you on,” the older redhead said.

“Shh,” Kim replied, holding her finger to her lip. She was implying that she actually was not supposed to have cereal.

“You’re actually being bad. I never would have thought my little Kimmie was trying to be a bad girl,” the surgeon said.

“It’s all right. I just have to make sure I have a good lunch.”

“So, you’re going to school today?” her mother inquired.

“I need to. Doctor Director expects nothing but A’s just like you guys. I have three people in my life that can make my life miserable if I don’t produce what they want,” the teen remarked with an amused smile.

“Stop acting like you don’t want the A’s too.”

Kim only smiled more. Okay, fine, she liked trying to be perfect. Something inside of her drove her to want to be the best at everything that she touched and she had to work hard to do that. She was prepared for the work and that was why she believed that she could do anything.

“Fruit Loops, breakfast of champions,” Kim remarked as she sat down with her cereal.

“I think you have that confused with another cereal,” her mother commented with her own amused smile.

“Don’t spoil the dream, Mom. I haven’t had Fruits Loops in like ten years. Let me believe it’s the breakfast of champions,” the teen playfully begged.

“I suppose since you’re eating it, it does, by default, become the breakfast of champions,” her mother said.

“You’re just saying that.”

Mrs. Possible did not reply. She did watch her daughter for a moment, hoping that Kim did not notice, but of course Kim did. The teen glanced at her mother, which caused the older redhead to turn away.

Kim often caught her mother or father watching her through out her life in an odd manner. It was odd in her opinion because they always turned away or played it off. They looked at her as if they were expecting something. She was not sure why, but it seemed like they were expecting something bad and were relieved that it did not happen. She usually shrugged it off because they never explained why they eyed her in such a manner.

Once she was done with her “breakfast of champions,” Kim grabbed her book bag and took off for Ron’s house. She decided on going the long way, which involved going through a junkyard that had some rather big dogs; she suspected that they were genetically engineered. Well, it would explain why they had two heads at the very least.

She still got to Ron before he was ready to go. He hated that she claimed that she was going to be somewhere at a certain and then showed up early every single time. It made him feel like he was always running late; he was always running late. But, that was not the point. The point was that Kim needed to stop being early and it would not seem like he was running even later than usual.

“Ron, come on, we’re gonna be late,” Kim said as she stood by the door in the blonde boy’s house.

“Rufus, c’mon!” Ron called up the stairs.

“Don’t try to blame it on the bald rodent,” Kim remarked because she knew that Ron was trying to make it seem like his partner-in-crime was the reason that they were late. It was hard for things to be Rufus’ fault when Ron was wandering the house in his underwear still.

Kim waited patiently as Mister Stoppable got his act together. She thought about when her mentor met her best friend. Betty did not really like the fact that Kim hung out with Ron. She thought that Ron was a bad influence because of his personality. She thought that Kim would pick up his bad habits and laidback work ethic. But, she rarely said anything because she knew how hard it was for Kim to make real friends.

Kim had gone from serious outcast to the greatest thing in the city to her peers after Doctor Director took her on as a pupil. It was then that Kim learned that people would pretend to be her friend just because they wanted to meet her tutor. Ron not only did not care who Kim’s tutor was, but he did not know that the woman was in charge of their whole freaking city at first. When he did find out, all he wanted to do after that was go get some nacos and since Betty Director was not the one buying the food, he could care less who she was.

Ron finally came to the door, but by that time, they were supposed to be at school already. Ron Stoppable was the current holder of mystical monkey powers and trying to be a master of Tai Shing Pek Kwar…well, he claimed that he was trying anyway. Ron was not known for putting forth an effort on anything outside of stuffing his face and playing video games.

Ron did not see anything wrong with what he did, which was why he did things that way. He knew that it was evitable that one day he would have to be a field agent for GJ, but he just figured he could half-ass his way through that too. For that was the way of the Ron.

“So, what made you decide to go to school today? Need a break from your real work?” Ron asked as they walked to school. They took a normal route because Ron was not as into nearly dying to get some place.

“Doctor Director told me and, I quote, ‘take your ass to school tomorrow.’ She said she didn’t want to catch me training by the lake again,” Kim replied.

“You got it tough. Most of the time, Mister North just likes reliving the past and all I have to do is pretend to listen,” the blonde commented with a laugh.

Kim could not help laughing too. “You got the perfect mentor for you.”

“Pure luck. I’d be dead by now if I got someone looking to actually work with me. Imagine them actually showing me monkeys,” he said and then he shuddered at the thought. Monkeys had to be agents of the devil and he had to be cursed with powers from them.

Kim laughed again. By the time they got to school, they were late. Now, they had the trick of getting into school without being busted and getting detention. First off, the guy that ran the school was borderline psycho, even for their town. Secondly, if Kim got detention, she would never hear the end of it from her parents and from Doctor Director. Her training would become harsh even by her standards and she would be grounded in her room without an electronic device or her favorite books for a whole month.

“Okay, so how are we gonna get in?” Ron asked Kim as she surveyed the school grounds.

“He catches people no matter where they come from, almost all of the time. Oh, I got it. There’s a window in the girls’ bathroom. We’ll go in through there,” Kim answered.

“You want me to go in through the girls’ bathroom?”

“Would you rather get detention?” the redhead countered.

“I’d rather detention than someone seeing me come out of the girls’ bathroom. I’m already at the bottom of the freaking social ladder. Do you know what would happen to my status if people saw me coming out of the girls’ bathroom?” Ron inquired.

“You mean you’ll hit bottom, which is where you are?” Kim deadpanned.

“I’ll risk detention. Mister North doesn’t even know what it is…although I don’t really want to face…him.” The “him” that Ron referred to was the man that ran the school. He swore that the guy hated him with a passion and the blonde hated when they ran into each other.

“Well, look, you can find your own way in. I’m going in through the bathroom.”

“Okay, see you inside.”

The friends parted ways to get into school their own ways. Kim had to scale a tree and slink into the small window that led into the girls’ bathroom. If she was not so flexible, even someone as slim as she was, she would have gotten stuck in the little portal; it was designed to discourage students from using it to sneak in and out. Many of the thinner, more agile students were not deterred in the slightest, though.

Kim easily got in and strolled out of the bathroom as if she had been in there since school started. She now had to get to class before it was discovered that she did not have a hall-pass and that too was an offense punishable by detention. She eased into class without much trouble and after class, she hooked up with her usual band of miscreants, at least that was what they were affectionately known as.

“So, how’d you make out, Ron?” Kim asked.

“I got detention,” Ron sighed and then pepped up. “But, on a plus note, my social status remains in tact.”

“At the bottom,” Monique pointed out.

Monique did not have special powers. She was more in the genius category when it came to people in Middleton. Her genius lay in designing useful clothing for assignments. She was already commissioned by several agents for different types of battle gear, even though she was still apprenticed. She was just good at what she did. She was also trained in wrestling moves, but that was more due to her older brother than her tutor. In fact, her tutor thought all of the wrestling would rot her brilliant mind, but Monique was very into it, as was Ron.

“Hey, there are worse places to be,” the blonde insisted.

“Then the bottom?” the wavy-haired teen inquired with a craned eyebrow. Ron did not get the chance to retort, though.

“Possible!”

The trio turned, even though they knew who it was that was calling Kim. Every day that they went to school the same thing happened. Hell, it even happened sometime when they were on the street. They would be minding their business and then there she would be, Bonnie. Yeah, that was Bonnie hollering like a maniac.

“Do we have to go through this again?” Monique sighed.

“At least you only have to watch,” Kim commented as Bonnie marched over to her.

Bonnie put a rather pointed finger in Kim’s face before starting her usual triad. The redhead used all of her self-control to avoid rolling her eyes because that would only make things worse. It was already annoying, so she did not need things to get any worse than they were.

“You, me, gym now,” Bonnie growled like an angry panther.

“Bonnie, do we really have to go through this?” Kim inquired with a sigh.

“Now, unless you’re scared.”

“Lead the way,” Kim sighed.

Bonnie practically snorted as she headed for the gym. Kim walked behind the tanned female as if she was burdened down by a thousand weights. Ron and Monique followed; they looked just as tired as Kim did. Any students that noticed the group followed because they knew what was coming.

Bonnie and Kim went to the gym while everyone else stood around to watch or went to the bleachers. Bonnie and Kim faced each other, as they did everyday that they were in school at the same time. The redhead waited, as she always did, which a few of the students never understood. Most people always figured that if they faced someone with Bonnie’s talents, they would just rush the person. It would be easier.

Bonnie Rockwaller, special powers: transformation. Kim always gave her the time to change, which Bonnie began doing. It did not take more than a few seconds. Bonnie growled as smoke rose from her body and her nails grew longer into inch and a half long claws. Her tan skin was covered by short brown fur. A pair of triangular-shaped ears sprouted from the top of her head. Her teeth became pointed; her canine teeth grew to almost an inch. A long tail sprang from her back; it was a good thing she was wearing a skirt. Bonnie’s transformed state made her a cat-girl; even when she was not transformed, she kept some cat-like characteristics.

“Today, you go down, Possible. And then you’ll have to resign from the place that you don’t deserve,” Bonnie stated.

“Bonnie, the woman chose me. Get over it,” Kim said.

“Because she felt sorry for you, but once she sees how weak you really are, you have to resign,” Bonnie declared.

“Let’s just get this over with,” Kim sighed.

They were about to have a duel…again. It was like every freaking time that Bonnie saw Kim, they had to have a duel. Kim had long ago lost count of how many encounters that they had had, but Ron had estimated it at about a thousand. If they wanted precise numbers, they bet that they could ask Wade since he seemed to know everything about anything going on anywhere.

Kim took her fighting stance and waited for Bonnie, who studied her opponent for a moment. Bonnie’s powers made her a certain type of fighter. She was a cat, so she had to be offensive, which Kim knew. It actually made Bonnie a rather poor candidate to fight with the redhead since Kim had the most solid defense anyone had ever seen outside of their leader.

Bonnie charged Kim, just like a cat had to do. She did not attack, though. She leaped over Kim, hoping to catch the redhead by surprise, just like a cat would try to do with its prey. Kim saw the move coming and flipped out of harm’s way, easily avoiding having a gash cut into her arm.

Bonnie was not put off and charged Kim at a rapid pace that most people would have had trouble seeing, so dodging would have been out of the question. Kim managed to slip by all of the slash attacks that Bonnie came at her with. Bonnie snarled in anger. She hated that she could not touch Kim. It seemed utterly impossible to her that someone without any powers at all was able to avoid her lightning fast strikes.

“You know, Bonnie, I figure if you throw some kick moves into your style, you might actually do something one day,” Kim commented.

“I don’t need to take advice from a powerless loser like you, Possible,” Bonnie growled.

Kim did not point out how she had yet to lose a fight to Bonnie, even though she was powerless. As far as she could tell, those coveted powers everyone was so hot about were not doing Bonnie any good fighting her. Most things were no good against her.

Kim leaped out of the way again as Bonnie came at her with another slash move. As soon as Kim landed, she went into a counterattack, pushing herself into the air and coming down on Bonnie with a masterful kick. Bonnie grunted as the blow landed and throw a wild strike with the hope of hitting her opponent. Kim avoided the slash with the slightest amount of movement and then continued to work Bonnie out.

The cat-girl’s reflexes, which were as sharp as her claws, never seemed to be enough against Kim. It was like she just was not fast enough to get away from hits. Sometimes, she even considered that it was like Kim could read her mind, but she knew better than that. Kim did not have any powers, after all, which made things a little more embarrassing, even though Kim could handle almost everyone the way that she handled Bonnie.

The cat-girl snarled as she hit the deck for the first time after Kim’s thorough assault. Kim dropped back into her stance while Bonnie started to pick herself up, a growl making her lip twitch in anger. The tanned girl put her hands up in her fighting stance.

“I’m going to make you quit, Possible,” Bonnie said.

“Why does it even matter to you, Bonnie?” Kim inquired, even though she knew the answer to that.

“A weakling shouldn’t get the best teacher because she’s weak.”

Kim shrugged; she saw that answer coming. Bonnie was not alone in her sentiments. Most of Kim’s so-called peers believed that she only had the teacher that she did because Doctor Director felt sorry for her because she was normal.

Bonnie charged Kim again. The redhead dodged everything that Bonnie came at her with. There were certain disadvantages to being a cat-girl that Kim often took advantage of when Bonnie wanted to fight her. Sure, Bonnie had the strength of a tiger, the agility of a puma, the flexibility of a wildcat, and every other great cat thing a person could think of, but there was a serious downfall in all of those wonderful abilities. Bonnie also had the stamina of a cat and she got tired very easily.

So, all Kim needed to do was dodge Bonnie for a couple of minutes and the cat-girl wore herself out. The audience watched on with morbid anticipation; they wanted to see Kim lose her intestines to Bonnie. Not because they wanted Kim to die, but it would make for an interesting sight.

Suddenly, Bonnie stopped her attack. Kim almost immediately halted her movements too. Bonnie’s ears shifted and pointed toward the front of the gym. Uh-oh, someone was coming and the punishment for using the gym in an unauthorized manner could be any number of things that none of the students liked, from more training to less training to detention to they-did-not-even-want-to-guess.

“Everybody clear out!” one of the students hollered and everyone tried to make a hasty exit.

“Next time, Possible,” Bonnie promised Kim, who ignored the tanned girl.


Next time: how many students are about to get busted? Also, see Kim take on Will Du.


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