“You sure they’ll win?” Mim asked Doctor Director. She was referring to her niece and Shego. She had the utmost faith in her niece, but after watching a week’s worth of film on the evil twins, she knew that the victory would not be easy.
“I can’t say I’m sure. I mean, Shin and Trin while goofy and insane are masters of their talents. Despite their demeanor too, they take most things pretty seriously, especially fighting. Lastly, they hate to lose because they don’t want to have to deal with their father,” Doctor Director answered.
“Their father?” Mim echoed in a puzzled tone.
“One of the top ninja of the branch in Japan. He taught them personally. His training style was a little unorthodox, but it worked best for them. Losing to them, it’s not even an option I’ve been told, which is why they succeed on all of the missions no matter what the danger.”
“Now if only they didn’t seem to be misfits, they’d be the perfect agents,” Mim remarked with a laugh.
“Well, if anything, I’ve noticed that anyone with the potential to be perfect, has at least one major flaw.”
“You shouldn’t let Shego get to you so much,” the redhead commented, knowing that was who the boss was referring to.
“You’ve had to deal with her for a few hours at a time.”
“Well, she can be trying,” Mim admitted with a laugh. Dealing with Shego sometimes took a lot of patience. There were even times when she wondered how her little niece could stand being “roommates” with the fire-starter.
“Let’s see how she comes out of this,” Doctor Director commented. She understood that Shin and Trin were supposed to come out of the exercise feeling punished and hopefully learning a lesson of some kind, but she wanted Shego to come out of it with something too. She would like Shego to be a little humbled by the experience.
Most of all, both of them wanted to see how Kim responded. She had come a long way in controlling her powers thanks to Mim, but they had not had the chance to see how she would react and use her powers in a proper battle. The most they saw was when Kim sparred with Shego and even then, Kim seemed to hold back. They wanted to see what Kim really could do.
Trin figured that she should take Shego out quickly. If she got everything done in a matter of seconds, she could get on the phone with Tatsu and pled with her to understand her circumstances. Okay, that decided it then. She was going to take Shego down as rapidly as she could.
The plasma-wielder charged Trin, even though she was quite aware that she would be playing into an ice elemental’s hands by attacking. Trin did not appear affected in any way by the sight of a flaming, clawed hand coming toward her. She shifted her foot forward slightly and a thin line of ice that Shego did not see coming shot toward the charging female. As soon as the line touched Shego, her feet were in cased in ice. Before Shego even had the chance to look down, her whole body was covered in thick, white ice. She was literally frozen in place.
“Now to get my phone back,” Trin muttered to herself with some annoyance in her voice because she was going to have butt in on Shin’s fight and pick his pocket to achieve her new objective.
“That was faster than I expected for Shego to get trapped,” Doctor Director commented. She almost sounded like she wanted to laugh just because she knew that Shego’s arrogance was going to lead to her getting caught by the most basic trap of an ice-user.
“I saw that one coming before Shego even moved,” Mim remarked while shaking her head.
“Now, Trin only did that a dozen times on the tapes we watched. Why would she attack head on like that?” the brown-haired leader wondered out loud more than anything else.
“Arrogance mostly,” Mim replied with a giggle.
Doctor Director could not argue that one. Trin turned her attention from the Shego-berg that she just made and was scanning the area for her irksome brother. She turned back to her piece of work as she just sensed her ice melting. She watched for only a couple of seconds before Shego burst free with a full-body plasma charge. Trin frowned; she supposed that she should have packed the ice tighter than she had.
“I hope that’s not all you got,” Shego remarked with a cocky smirk.
“This might take a little longer than I thought, but I’ll make time for idiot-boy to keep having fun,” Trin commented dryly.
Shego chuckled a bit while flaring her hands. Trin ran her right hand over her left forearm, covering it in ice that extended past her hand and came into a sharp point. Shego figured that her plasma would go through that weapon just as easily as it went through the iceberg that she had been inside, so she was not worried. She charged Trin with reckless abandon yet again. Trin stood her ground.
“You’re a fast little thing,” Shin commented with a good-natured grin on his face as he continued chasing Kim, but she was outrunning him, which was a surprise to him.
“You’re a lot stronger than you look,” Kim replied because he had already punched through several rocks trying to get to her. She figured that as long as she could outrun him things would be fine and she would not have to hurt him.
“I’m trying to find out if it’s the same with you. So, how about you stop running and face me, sweetheart,” Shin remarked, smirking almost as if he was flirting with her.
“Watch yourself, buddy. I don’t flow that way and my roommate is the jealous type,” Kim said quite seriously. Shego already disliked him, but if she found out that he was hitting on Kim, she would not leave enough of him around for him to even be a memory.
Shin laughed. “Don’t worry, kitten. I don’t think either of you have to worry about me considering the only way I’ll touch a girl is if she’s my sister and I’m punching her in the mouth.”
“I’m sure she loves having you around,” Kim commented sarcastically.
“She loves me. Now, how about you stop running and we face off. I gotta prove that an ifrit can beat a dragon any day of the week. Although first races such as ourselves should stick together,” he remarked, tickling himself it would seem because he chuckled. If all else failed, Shin certainly could and would entertain himself.
“Fine, come get me,” Kim teased as her wings shot out of her back and she immediately took to the air.
Shin smirked, liking her playful side it would seem. He leaped into the air after her, surprising her by reaching her height without the aid of wings. She could not help noticing how amused he appeared, like a kid in a candy store. He wanted to fight and suddenly, she did too. She wanted to see what he was all about, what an ifrit was all about.
Kim smirked and unleashed her orange, flame-like projectile. Shin made a face that was something out of a cartoon, but more exaggerated than anything else. He waved to Kim and turned a flip in the air to begin his descent to avoid getting hit by her flames. The dragon-user was pretty sure that her opponent was a nut and she dived down after him continue the battle.
“Yeah, come and get me, cutie pie!” Shin cheered as he fell with his back to the ground.
“You’re insane!” Kim called down to him.
“Tell me about it!” he boasted with a grin.
Kim could not help chuckling as she unleashed another column of flames toward the descending young man since she felt he would not be able to dodge. Her attack hit him as he crashed into the ground. A cloud of dust roared up from the impacts. Kim had to shield her face from the particles flying her way at high speed; she remained in the air.
“I hope he’s not too hurt,” Kim thought. She understood that it was just a training exercise and even though she had been told to treat it like a true battle, she still did not want to harm a fellow agent.
“Whoa! You do pack an awesome punch for a little thing!” Shin declared, revealed to be standing as the dust cleared. “But, fire doesn’t really bother me. I am of fire, after all,” he informed her while brushing debris from his hair.
“This might be harder than I thought,” Kim muttered and that did not bother her. She liked a challenge after all. She was not about to lose to him either.
Shego was striking at Trin with her hands charged, only to be stopped by ice each time that she thought that she would connect. Trin was not standing by passively as the attacks continued on either. The blonde was as active in the battle as Shego. Each time that Shego struck a shield, Trin lashed out and the raven-haired female had to retreat, but that never lasted long. Shego would just charge back in. It was getting monotonous for both of them.
“Let’s change the rhythm of the dance,” Trin remarked while throwing her hand out and flinging ice shards at Shego’s head.
The plasma-user dodged the attack by flipping out of the way and was surprise to see that Trin was on her when she settled into her new position. The blonde was coming in for a powerful punch; her fist and forearm incased in tightly-packed, white ice. Shego dodged just in time to avoid having on killer headache. She countered, striking out at Trin with a flaming roundhouse kick that the blonde did not bother dodging. Trin put an ice shield rapidly to catch the force from the kick.
Shego was stunned with the way Trin’s ice did not completely melt on contact with her plasma-charged leg, but she did not have time to remain that way. Trin came in with her own kick, backing Shego up again after coming extremely close to taking the raven-haired woman’s head off with the sharp blow. Shego threw a plasma blast more out of habit than anything else. Trin formed a shield on instinct, the plasma almost breaking through her pride and joy.
“How the hell can she stop me with just ice?” Shego wondered to herself.
“I knew this woman would be tough, but she’s nearly getting through my barriers. What the hell?” Trin asked herself. She had studied up quite well on Shego and swore that if they ever met in battle that she would easily be able to take down the fire-starter. After all, her ice was not any regular ice. If given the chance, she could make ice strong enough to put diamonds to shame.
Shego decided to up her flare, charging her arms with her powers. Trin did not appear shaken, but she did secretly begin to cover her body in her own ice. It would act as a buffer in case Shego managed to land a blow. It would also keep the heat of the plasma off of her. The two then ran at each other.
Shin was lying on his back in disbelief, but he was grinning big time. He flipped up onto his feet just as Kim was coming on another mighty kick. He put his hands up because he knew that she was going to be on him before he had a chance to right himself completely; he was right.
“You are a little spitfire!” Shin commented with a smile, downplaying his worry of fighting with the petite redhead. He had never met someone that was stronger and faster than he was, but Kim was both of those things. To make matters worse, she could read his movements thanks to her dragon eyes, which he knew she was not even using full force because her eyes were not totally golden.
“You talk a lot for a guy that wants to fight me,” Kim replied, feeling all sorts of energy running through her. She wanted him to do something now that he had gotten her started, but all he was doing was taking hits.
“I talk a lot point blank,” he seemed to boast.
“Show me what you got. I know you’ve got more than this,” she stated while throwing all sorts of assault combinations on the young man. She knew from the videos that he had way more than what he was showing.
“I think I might have to,” he conceded. If he did not step it up, he was certain that he would be felled by the little redhead. Trin would never let him hear the end of that one and he just could not give that harpy any ammunition against him.
Shin leaped away from Kim, hoping to get a little bit of space for what he needed to do. Kim kept coming, though. In the end, he decided to just do what he had to with her right in his face. He put his hands up to block punches from her that were being amplified by the fact that she had her flame-like powers twirling around her fists. The hits seemed to drain him rather than burn him as some might have thought. Kim had already seen that fire had no affect on him. He claimed it was because he was “of the fire,” so she had merely switched the effect her flames.
A thick column of red and black flames suddenly blazed around Shin, which caused Kim to stop her attack and back up because the fire did hurt her a bit. She looked down at her stinging hands, which were smoking and sporting slight burns, while Shin was swallowed up by the crimson and onyx inferno. She then locked her eyes on the column, knowing what was coming, but still quite on guard about everything.
“That is a catchy entrance he makes,” Mim remarked, speaking to Doctor Director.
“It’s over-the-top, just like him,” the brunette quipped. It seemed like everything about Shin, even things that he was born with, fit his insane personality just right considering the powers that he had been born with.
From the dark scarlet and ebony pillar charged a beast that was Shin. There were quite a few things different about the young man, but his favorite was that he came out much taller; it annoyed him to know end that his sister was taller than he was. Other than height, he gained short black fur all over his body. It was a good thing that his clothes were loose or he would have lost those and that probably would have defeated Kim quite easily. Kim would have blushed herself into a coma if Shin had emerged nude.
Shin appeared like the demon many people thought that he was. His face was now canine-like with a short muzzle and he was sporting a long pair of horns, like a goat. His horns looked extremely dangerous with a pair of spikes jutting out of the front of the new appendages, a couple of inches long while the horns were over a foot long. His hands were huge, even with his seven foot frame now. His giant paws sported some inch-long, onyx claws and in his mouth were two rows of glinting, sharp canine teeth. There were small spikes poking out from his knuckles. His eyes glowed a bright orange and he breathed out a small amount of fire from his nose.
“Let’s see how great the dragon is now,” Shin said in a confident tone and even with the change in his face, it was easy to see that he was smirking.
“So, an ifrit is a dog?” Kim asked curiously. She looked just as puzzled as she sounded. She had wanted to ask that since she saw him transform in the video, but she thought that it might be seen as a stupid question. Right now, she could not stop it from escaping her mouth.
“No, I’m not a dog anymore than you’re a lizard,” Shin pointed out, slightly irritated by that question. He hated it when people thought it was a dog. What dog came out of fire anyway?
“Well, I don’t turn into a dragon like that,” Kim argued.
“You get a whole giant dragon surrounding you for crying out loud,” he countered.
“But, I don’t turn into the dragon.”
“So, you have your shtick and I have mine. Now, lemme show you what a fire ifrit can do.” Shin grinned, showing off his pearly white, razor sharp teeth.
Shin then moved so quickly that even Kim’s keen eyes could not detect his movement. He was on her before she could even put her hands up. He punched Kim in the gut with a power that she had never experienced before and a fire ring came from his knuckles on impact followed by what seemed to be an explosion from his fire. Spit and drops of blood flew from Kim’s mouth as she was now on an unscheduled flight that took her through several boulders before skidding on her back and doing several rolls.
“Ouch,” Doctor Director muttered. She knew that Shin packed a punch, but she never guessed it would be enough to make Kim bleed.
“My poor little niece. This guy certainly isn’t a gentleman,” Mim commented.
“Shin certainly isn’t a gentleman. This guy punches his own sister in the face regularly…although I have to admit she does ask for it sometimes,” Doctor Director replied.
“Times certainly have changed,” Mim mumbled. She understood sibling rivalry and things, but from what she could tell with Trin and Shin, they were not so much rivals as maniacs with their seemingly serious death threats on the daily basis and the fact that she had witnessed them hit each other like true enemies from the week that they had been in Middleton, she did not know what to make of them.
“How the hell is your ice withstanding this?” Shego inquired with a growl as she and Trin pressed their forearms together in a struggle to overpower the other. They were both using their powers full force against each other and it seemed like they were at a stalemate, much to their chagrin.
“Because it’s the strongest substance known to mankind,” Trin answered arrogantly. She had yet to be something that could stand against her ice.
“It’s only ice,” Shego argued. Ice that she should be able to go through with ease considering her plasma could get so hot.
“It’s your downfall.”
Shego growled as she felt her legs stuck in place. She glanced down to see that Trin had trapped her. She shouted in fury and was about strike at Trin with her free hand, but the blonde was there first. The raven-haired female was knocked on the face with a sledge hammer of ice from the feel of things. She fell back as best she could while her feet were bound to the ground, but she stayed up, which was good. She recovered just in time to throw a high-power plasma blast right in Trin’s face.
“Damn it,” they both cursed.
Shego had to free her legs while Trin shook off taking plasma to her face; she was lucky that her ice was protecting her face. They both were ready to go at the same time and hit each other at the same time. They backed off of each other, only to charge in again for the same thing to happen. After a couple more times, they were both bleeding and breathing quite hard. They did not look too pleased; after all, they both saw themselves fighting to a draw with someone they reviewed as inferior.
“To hell with this,” both ladies silently decided. They were about to go all out. Shego was preparing to go full glow, plasma charging her whole body.
Kim picked herself up off of the ground from Shin’s initial blow. She licked her lip, noting a small trickle of blood; he had cut her. She was amazed, not being able to remember a time that someone had caused her to bleed. She had no idea that someone on the planet could hit so hard and hurt her so much from a single punch. She was not going to let him get away with that again.
Shin was coming at her by the time that Kim got up, his hands covered by red and black flames. He slashed at her, but came against her dragon aura, which flared around her instantly. Her instincts worked in bringing the shield around her to protect her from another devastating blow. He seemed a bit shocked that he was not able to tear through the barrier.
Shin took a moment to gaze upon the dragon in person and found himself in awe for the first time in a long time by a peer’s talents. The dragon was larger than he was and fierce looking despite the rather adorable female that controlled it. Gazing in the creature’s eyes was something like looking into Shin’s when he changed; there was a sense of grandeur while entering the gates of Hell. And then he looked into Kim’s eyes, completely golden now and he got the sense that she could see infinity, which was well beyond his sight. Things were about to get fun, he thought; it never entered his mind that he might have met his match.
Shin came in with a direct punch, aimed at Kim’s face, but she was protected by her shield. His fist clashed against the scarlet aura and it absorbed not just his blow, but the fire and explosive percussion that came along with the punch. He let out a low growl.
“I think the dragon might come out on top in this one,” Kim remarked before batting Shin away with the arm of her dragon aura.
Shin braced himself for the swing, but it still sent him flying clean across the arena. He attempted to right him or slow his flight, but he could not get control over his body. She really was something, he thought before slamming into a very angry pale woman and it was not the pale woman he typically would hit. Shin had crashed into Shego.
Shego grunted as the young man collided with her and they continued on Shin’s flight path. Trin could not believe her eyes as her brother sailed past her at an incredible speed and she could only wonder if the dragon-user had done that. If she had, then Trin wanted to fight with the redhead immediately; Shin could have Shego since he already built up a cute, little “friendship” with her.
“To slay a dragon, one should step in properly equipped,” Trin remarked to herself as she formed a double-fisted broad sword in her hand while walking toward Kim.
“Looks like the evil twins are changing dance partners,” Mim commented. She wondered how Trin would fair against her niece after fighting with Shego to a standstill. After all, Shego every now and then could fight Kim to a draw. Would Trin be able to do the same?
“Too bad. I wanted to see more of Kim against Shin. The dragon does seem to come out on top of the ifrit, though,” Doctor Director said considering the fact that Shin could not break through Kim’s aegis and was easily sent soaring through one hit from her.
“You expected otherwise?” the redhead asked curiously.
“Not really. I’m a bit surprised that he could so obviously hurt her, though.”
“Imagine her surprise,” Mim remarked with a laugh. She doubted that her little niece even remembered that a power could inflict pain on her. She would like to see Shin go back at Kim to get an understanding of his powers since he had an ability to harm Kim. But, she would also like to see what Trin planned do with such a mediocre talent, but obviously gifted with them, against Kim and her dragon.
Trin had yet to meet an opponent that she could not defeat, but then again, Kim was the same way. Kim locked her golden eyes on Trin as she approached with a methodic nature in her step; her stride was like she expected mountains to bow to her. Kim could practically see the ice that ran through Trin’s blood. The one coming now was not like Shin, but was actually just like him. Kim’s mind concluded that Trin was a danger and she should take her out as quickly as she did with Shin before there were any surprises.
Kim turned to Trin and unleashed her projectile on the blonde, engulfing her in red-orange flames. When the power dispelled, Kim was a bit surprised that Trin was still coming toward her. Had her shield protected her against the power? Was she that good with just ice? Amazing.
“Let’s take this directly, in a manner my stupid brother never seems to consider,” Trin commented and the next thing Kim knew there was an ice spike that was as thick as a telephone pole shot toward her from the ground.
The ice smashed against Kim’s aura as expected, but it kept pushing against the shield, the force and speed increasing with every moment. Kim was about to just bat Trin away like she had done with Shin, but suddenly ice spikes came at her from the back, right, and left. The dragon roared as the new pikes smashed against it like forceful battering rams. Trin was not trying to give up any ground.
There was a slight difference between Trin and Shin, Kim realized and it made Trin the more dangerous of the pair. Trin understood that her powers were not outstanding on their own; it took will and strength to make them worthwhile. Shin took being an ifrit for granted, feeling that he could just overpower his opponent because of his talent. Grit went into Trin’s attacks. Fortitude pushed the blonde forward.
“You know, this is pretty cool. I never knew a person that used ice could just make spikes on a surface that her skin wasn’t touching,” Kim said.
“You have no idea how much work went into pulling something like this off,” Trin replied.
“I’m pretty sure I do,” Kim stated.
Trin appeared slightly skeptical, but Kim knew why. A person with menial powers like Trin probably got made fun of through out her life, which was true. While for Kim, most of her life, everyone, including herself, was led to believe that she did not have any powers at all. People treated Kim like a freak while Trin was treated as if she was useless. If Trin was not totally antisocial, she probably would have liked finding out that she had something in common with someone else, even if it was tragic.
“What the hell!” Shego complained as she and Shin finally hit the ground. He, unfortunately, landed on top of her and he was not light considering the fact that he was now seven feet tall and built like a football player with a thick, muscular body.
“That kid has some power on her. I can’t wait to get back over there!” Shin cheered with a grin. Oh, he was going to take it to her, he thought. He had to repay her in kind for the fact that he was close to seeing stars from that hit.
“You!” Shego roared when she saw who it was that had smashed into her. “Get the hell off of me!” she ordered while shoving his furry hide off of her.
“Oh, you remind me of an ice bitch I know,” Shin remarked with a smile as he climbed to his feet.
“I’ll show you bitch!” Shego hollered as she stood up and flared her whole body with her plasma because of the fury that she had directed toward him and his smartass mouth. Her powers sparked off of her hair like emerald fire all the way down her body.
“Yeah, just like the ice bitch,” Shin commented with a laugh. He knew that wrath all too well thanks to another pale woman that seemed to hate his guts.
“I’m so going to fry you!” Shego declared.
Shin chuckled; it would seem that he did not believe her. She took a flaming swipe at him that backed him up. Wow, she was throwing some serious heat, he realized. If he was not a fire ifrit, he was pretty sure that he would be begging for mercy already. Instead, he countered, blowing near-red fire out of his mouth at her. Shego just took it and it did not harm her at all. Fire had never been a high on her “problem” list, especially when she was covered in her plasma.
“It would seem that Shego and Shin would be soulmates if they didn’t hate each other so much,” Mim remarked because Shin’s fire had no affect on Shego and her plasma had no affect on him.
“In another time, all of these guys might have gotten along,” Doctor Director commented since she knew them all pretty well. They probably could have been some very dysfunctional friends.
Kim decided to take to the air to escape all of Trin’s ice pikes because she disliked the amount of pressure they were putting on her shield from all directions; it reminded her of when Shego hit her full force with a plasma stream. Trin was not put off by that and actually surprised Kim by being able to follow. Trin was acting on adrenaline, though.
A column of ice shot up from the ground underneath Trin’s feet and she went up after Kim. The dragon-user continued to climb higher, but Trin was gaining on her. In a split second, both ladies made drastic decisions. Kim decided to fire one of her projectiles and Trin decided to glance down. Trin’s heart practically stopped beating and her whole body shut down for a very vital second. Kim’s projectile connected and Trin was headed for a freefall.
Kim waited for a moment and thanks to her dragon eyes came to two very quick conclusions about Trin; one being that if she hit the ground, she was not going to bounce back up like Shin. Two being that Trin was not reacting in a manner to catch herself from hitting the ground. Kim dived down after Trin only to find that the blonde had passed out. Kim caught Trin before she hit the ground.
“Did she just faint?” Mim asked curiously. She was a bit surprised that an elite agent that seemed so fearless would faint.
“Probably. According to Trin’s file, she suffers from acrophobia. She denies it and often fights through any problems that it might cause on a mission, but I don’t think she’s ever been that high before and actually looked down,” Doctor Director replied.
“It’s a good thing Kimmie caught her. I don’t think her director wanted her killed on this operation,” Mim remarked.
“Oh, we’d have all sorts of problems if Trin died while here,” Doctor Director assured the redhead.
Shin and Shego were locked in a battle that they knew was going to be decided by martial arts and not powers considering the fact that they canceled each other out for the most part. At the moment, they were dancing around each other, trying to claw the other, but they were not getting an opening.
“I guess you’re not all smoke and mirrors,” Shego said to the transformed young man.
“You’re not bad yourself,” Shin commented. For once, he was being sincere and not malicious in any way. He was pretty sure that when everything was said and done, he could actually like Kim and Shego.
“But your breath smells as bad as you look in that form,” the pale woman added with an amused smirk.
“I’ve used it to frizz hair,” he boasted and purposely breathed a horrible sulfur puff of smoke in her face.
Shego coughed and gagged at the terrible stench. Shin took that moment to swat her away with his giant hand. Shego skidded several yards, but was thankful for it. She was glad to get out of that foul air. Damn, his breath was funky enough to choke a buzzard.
Before Shego could completely get herself together, Shin was coming at her with a burning open claw. She could hardly block the attack, still coughing from getting a whiff of his breath. Shin was laughing because of his surprise attack with his killer breath; it was something that he typically used to annoying the hell out of his sister and their mother if the time called for it.
“Bastard!” Shego snorted while taking a slashing uppercut at him. Her blow was also charged with her plasma. They were using their powers mostly out of instinct now.
Shin backed up a little bit, but Shego had caught him enough for him to lose some fur off of his chin. He countered and they got right back into their little dance. Neither could believe that the other was lasting so long, although they were both wearing each other out.
Trin regained consciousness as soon as Kim put her down on the ground. She was alert too, flipping onto her feet and resuming a fighting stance. It was almost as if she had not fainted at all.
“You okay?” Kim asked curiously.
Trin did not respond. She would rather pretend what she knew just happened had not actually occurred. Her nerves denied her that, though. They were still a bit shaky, her lungs still straining ever-so slightly to breathe, and her heart still beating just a little too fast. Still, she stood as if she was all right and was so good at that pretense that it almost fooled Kim’s dragon eyes.
“Let’s just finish this,” Trin stated coldly.
Kim nodded and her dragon aura snorted out a shot of fire directed at nothing. Trin formed a lance of ice in her hands and covered herself once again in a thin shield of ice. Kim could see what her opponent was doing quite clearly, which was why she knew to jump back as a dozen ice spikes came out of the ground. She was also not surprised to see Trin rocketing toward her on a sheet of ice with her lance pointed right at Kim. The dragon roared and Kim let loose a large column of her projectile, not just from her hands, but also from the dragon mouth.
Trin was not able to dodge the powerful attack in time and was blown back completely. She sailed through rocks like they were made of paper; Kim had actually never hit a single person with such an attack before, but she needed to stop Trin from colliding with her with that weapon in her hand. The blonde ended up almost hitting her brother, but Shin ducked just in time. He and Shego both stopped fighting to watch her hit the ground and roll on her back like a tumble weed in the desert. They watched her crash through more rocks and just keep going.
“Is she gonna be okay?” Shego wondered aloud, not that she cared of course.
“Ah, one hit isn’t gonna stop my harpy. Besides, her ice should protect her,” Shin answered flippantly, like he did not care, waving his hand dismissively about his sister’s plight also. After all, Trin used her ice automatically when necessary and the only time it would not protect her was when she unconscious…and even then it sometimes seemed to have a mind of its own, he thought because he recalled when they were younger, he used to try to play pranks on her in her sleep and it did not work very often because of her ice.
Trin was only stopped by the wall of the arena, having flown almost the whole distance of the place. When she crashed into it, her ice, which had been protecting her, cracked along with the wall. Her ice shield shattered like broken glass on impact and she fell to the ground in a shallow puddle of her melted ice. Trin lay there for a moment, ordering her legs to stand up immediately. Her legs did not obey.
“Trin…” Shin said in disbelief when he saw her just lying there. She had to get up, he thought. She had to.
“Move,” Trin silently commanded herself, but her body was not listening.
“Get up, damn you!” Shin screamed at her in anger. He would never forgive his sister if she did not get her lazy ass up right now.
“Move,” Trin said again, that time she spoke in a low tone. “Move.”
“One down, one to go,” Shego remarked with a smirk.
“No way in Hell. No way in Hell does she stay there. You missed your anniversary just to lose!” Shin hollered at his sister. He was more mocking her than trying to motivate her to her feet.
“Move,” Trin growled to herself and she slowly rose to her feet. Shin was the only one that could believe what he was seeing.
“Damn right, harpy,” Shin commented. He would not bear the shame of his sister losing.
Shin and Shego were about to get going again, even though they were both rather exhausted from the physical fighting and unnecessarily using their powers. They put on good fronts of being ready and able to still rumble. They were enjoying themselves and they would rather not be the first one to fall, but they were both ready to pass out into a good sleep if they could.
“That’s enough,” Doctor Director announced over a loud speaker.
“What?” Shego said in disbelief.
“Yeah, I was just getting started,” Shin declared. There were still tricks up his sleeves, but he probably did not have the energy to pull most of them off.
“Yeah, that’s enough all of you,” a voice that Kim and Shego did not recognize, but Shin and Trin knew it all too well. The evil twins did not even think to disobey the orders that had just come in. The siblings stood, nervously, almost rigidly while holding in gulps.
“Hmm…I get the feeling we’re in trouble again,” Shin muttered while shaking his head. That was the only reason that he could figure out for the owner of that voice to be there. He decided to change back into his human form since he knew that he was not going to do anymore fighting, unless ordered otherwise.
The combatants turned their attention to the front of the arena as the boss and Mim entered along with a few other people; one of them hidden behind the group. Trin and Shin did gulp, rather loudly, when they noticed the first two people; one was a short, middle-aged Japanese man. He was about the same size and build of Shin when Shin was in his human form. His hair was jet black and his eyes were chocolate. He was dressed plainly in a white tee-shirt and black shorts with matching flip-flops.
At the Japanese male’s side was a slightly taller woman with caramel skin. She appeared rather young, even though she was in her forties. She had hazel colored eyes and was dressed in a uniform exactly like Doctor Director’s, but hers was black instead of blue. She had neutral expression on her soft-looking face.
“Trin. Shin,” the woman said and the pair were standing in front of her in less than a second.
“He did it,” Trin said while pointing at her brother. He had pretty much done the same thing, except saying that “she did it.”
“What do you mean I did it?” Shin hollered as he realized that his sister just accused him of what he accused her of, not that they had been implicated in anything. He was pointing at himself with his thumb to show his outrage with being accused of something.
“Because you always do it!” Trin replied as if that was the logical answer.
“What? It’s more your fault than it is mine!” Shin argued. Kim and Shego stood back and watched the siblings go, wondering what the hell was wrong with them.
“What’re you two going on about?” the caramel-skinned woman asked curiously.
“Whatever you’re here for,” the siblings answered what they felt was obvious. They had obviously done something wrong; they were not sure what, but they were going to rat the other out to avoid getting into trouble.
“Can’t I just be here to pick you up?” she countered.
“No,” the pair answered honestly. She never showed up to pick them up from a mission. She only appeared before them when they were in trouble when they were not in Japan.
“They’ve got you there,” the Japanese male commented with a laugh.
“Don’t encourage them. You’re the reason they’re like this,” she argued and the Japanese male just grinned, looking like an older version of Shin.
“More clowns,” Shego muttered.
“This has to be Agent Shego,” the caramel-skinned woman commented, looking less than impressed and rather amused.
“Yeah, so what of it?” Shego countered with some attitude in her voice since the newcomer was not taking her seriously from what she could tell.
“Wow, Betty, it must’ve been great having to deal with her and them for the week,” the caramel-skinned woman remarked sarcastically.
“Oh, I will return the favor, Tashawna. I promise you that,” Doctor Director replied quite seriously.
Her agents were surprised by the familiarity with which the two women spoke, referring to each other by their given names rather than titles. They seemed almost friendly with each other. Kim and Shego had never really seen Doctor Director be really friendly with a person, not without there being some hidden reason for it anyway.
“Well, let me introduce you to my first class agents. Shego and Kim Possible meet Director Tashawna Toriyama of the GJ branch in Japan,” Doctor Director introduced them. Mim had already made their acquaintances back in the observation tower.
“Nice to meet you, sir,” Kim said with a salute while Shego just rolled her eyes before the name really hit her ears.
“Toriyama?” Shego echoed. “You related to these two pests then,” she realized. It almost sounded like she was accusing the director of some heinous crime.
“Related? I’m their mother,” the other director answered quite honestly and rather proudly despite the things her children did. “And from the way you said it, I’m guessing their getting on your nerves like they do everyone else.”
“Well, we do try,” Shin remarked with a bright smile.
“Yeah, nerves,” the Japanese male added.
“We get it from you, Poppa,” Shin said, still smiling, showing all of his teeth as if he had said something fantastic.
“Damn right you do. If I wasn’t annoying, you’d have never been born. How the hell else do you think I can get a woman like this?” the Japanese male replied while pointing his thumb at Tashawna. Shin could not argue that one.
“What is this, a family reunion?” Shego quipped.
“Oh, right. He’s Shinichiro Toriyama, first class loose cannon,” Doctor Director introduced the Japanese male.
“Loose cannon?” Kim echoed in a puzzled tone.
“Well, let’s just say what you did for Shego is something like what Tashawna did for me,” Shinichiro vaguely explained.
“You used to be a bad guy?” Kim asked curiously.
“Well, let’s just say people didn’t like it when I entered a room, not that they usually knew I was in the room,” Shinichiro replied with a bit of a sly smile.
“Looks like you all had a run for you money,” Tashawna commented, looking at all of the agents.
“Ah, Mommy, it wasn’t that hard,” Shin replied with a laugh, trying to play off that it was quite possible that he and his sister had met their matches in Shego and Kim.
“To hell with all of that. Mommy, you gotta get me home quick,” Trin practically pled. “Tatsu’s gonna kill me!” she said in a slightly distressed tone, which would have surprised her parents if only she was not speaking about Tatsu.
“Calm down, Trin,” Tashawna said, even though she knew just how much Tatsu meant to her daughter. She wished that she had not sent Trin and Shin away so close to Trin’s anniversary, but they were driving her out of her mind. She needed to get them out of her hair as soon as possible.
“No, Mommy, you don’t understand,” Trin vehemently argued.
“Yeah, Mommy, Tatsu’s been chewing the harpy up and spitting her out over the phone,” Shin backed his sister up.
“You mean this Tatsu?” Shinichiro inquired as he and Tashawna stepped to the side and there was Trin’s lover, smiling slightly.
The blonde wasted no time practically flying into her love’s arms. Tatsu was almost knocked over when the taller female hit her. She did immediately return Trin’s embrace. Tashawna smiled a bit; sure, she had been the one that sent Trin off, but she was not going to be responsible for her daughter missing her anniversary with the very obvious love of Trin’s life.
“So, am I ever going to be let in on what this was all about?” Betty asked her colleague, referring to the “training exercise.”
“The kids were just letting things go to their heads. I needed them to get grounded again,” Tashawna answered cryptically.
“What did they do, though?” Betty inquired.
“Oh, we don’t have the time to go down that long, rocky list. Besides, if I start going through it, it’s just going to piss me off again and they’re not going to like it. Thanks for this, though,” Tashawna replied.
“Oh, no, I’m seriously going to get you back for this. No way in hell you dump your kids on me for a week and don’t expect consequences coming back to you,” Betty stated. She was definitely going to have her revenge.
The end.
So, that’s it from this universe as far as I’m concerned.
If you like Trin, Shin, and Tatsu, they also appear in: Pariah, Forsaken, Memoirs of the Malcontent, Night Terrors, Cryptic, and Black Hole Philosophy.