140This is part three of the three-part ending.
STD 2018 Feels Epilogue
Derrick was yanked aside barely in time as a burst of armor piercing rounds ripped through the space he had been occupying while looking around the corner of the building. The black-garbed Ninja gripping his jacket rolled its eyes and handed him a mirror on a stick.
Taking the tool with an embarrassed nod of thanks, he used it to peer around the corner. Watching for a moment, he suddenly stepped around the corner and fired two rounds from his grenade launcher. The bureaucrat had no talent for pistol or long gun, but he was a born grenadier. Told his team it was like a combination of badminton and billiards. (He claimed he was on his College Badminton team and paid a good bit of his college tuition shooting pool.) Once he figured out the timed detonation/air burst setting, no enemy was safe hiding behind concrete or earthen walls. He had discovered by accident that there was a fist-sized gap in the body of the Lowardian's mechanized combat walkers that, if you dropped a grenade into it, that was the end of that walker. Derrick had come across a sheet of little gold sticky stars and his grenade launcher had eleven on its stock. He had run out of walkers before he ran out of stars.
It wouldn't be verified for two days, but that was the last shot fired in the Great Lowardian Raider Defense.
STD 2018 Feels Epilogue
The USS Colorado (SSN-788) slowly made its way through the dirty waters of what their GPS database claimed was downtown Tokyo. They had started their search to the south over what used to be Nagasaki. It followed a pair of inflatable boats it carried for special ops work. The small boats were watching for floating debris that might damage the hull of the fast attack submarine. The stunned crew wasn't finding any wreckage except dust and ash. The small depth finders they carried had only spotted water shallow enough for the sub to have to detour around twice in the 48 hours that they had been searching. No sign of the vibrant civilization with millions of people, just dust and ash.
Unbelievably, they had picked up three survivors and one of them was the other reason that the sub was traveling so slowly on the surface instead of speeding deep under the waves like a silent, black barracuda.
Satellite surface scanning radar had detected a single large metallic object slowly moving west. It was the only things spotted in an otherwise now empty part of the ocean. A giant cockroach, sparkling in the dim light from the overcast sky, was pulled from the ocean. Its unique rainbow coloring was from a thin vapor deposited coating of iridium. Carefully strapped to the deck, it was being cared for by a team of Navy Medics delivered by helicopter from the Carrier USS Ronald Reagan which had fortunately been patrolling the South, East, and Philippine seas and not at its home port of Yokosuka.
The other two survivors, a naked mole rat and an adult Eastern Indigo snake, were already back at the carrier. As they had carefully approached the large insect in the water, it opened part of its shell exposing its precious cargo. A crewman recognized Rufus, the second most famous member of Team Possible. The presence of Rufus was the deciding factor in rescuing the slowly paddling roach. As far as anyone was able to tell, the snake was just a snake. Non-poisonous and docile, just an ordinary snake that seemed to like to be held.
STD 2018 Feels Epilogue
The cherry blossoms were in full bloom with a full moon illuminating the Courtyard in front of the Temple at Yamanouchi as students, dressed in Yukatas of all colors straggled back to the dorms from a festival held in a nearby village. Spotting two senior students, a blond with a small pink animal riding on his shoulder wearing a blue Lotus pattern and the other wearing a red dragon pattern that matched her gorgeous mane of red hair. The couple was laughing and walking arm in arm to their dorm, Katsumi, lost it, bursting into massive sobs and burying her face in the shoulder of her partner, certainly her partner in computer hacking and slowly becoming her partner in other areas.
Wade, throat choked with tears himself, managed to command the house A.I, "Bishop! Change holo-program to a boardwalk."
The grounds of Yamanouchi vanished and the bench they were sitting on was now next to a seaside boardwalk, light jazz drifting from a bar down the way,
"That is how I want to remember them, Wade-san," the tear-choked voice said, "laughing, in love, and together. Not as a star that burned out too quickly."
Katsumi and Wade had come out of the basement along with all the other Ninja Teams to say goodbye to fallen friends. Radio telescopes had detected Kim and Ron giving the verbal commands for Shiva to "destroy the fleet now." Astronomers using orbital telescopes detected what might have been the creation of a black hole. They were unsure because it was soon replaced by a tiny star, burning way too brightly for the estimated fuel it could have pulled in. Then, as predicted by astrophysicists from the Science Center, it suddenly grew in size ten diameters and disappeared after a blue flash. The astrophysicists were still trying to explain the blue flash. Heartsick, the pair had gone down to the holo-room in the basement to remember a happier Kim and Ron.
"That is a good way to remember them, Kat," Wade replied, holding her tight.
"Wade-san?"
"Yes?"
"This is a memory I want to have in the future," raising her voice, she called out to the house A.I, "Bishop-san, change holo to Yamanouchi Courtyard Plus Four."
The bench was again in the courtyard in front of the temple. But the temple was different, a little more modern perhaps? And the mountain was gone, the temple was on a hill surrounded by grasslands. Again, students were returning from some celebration. Towering over the other students was a large young black man, with what some might call an Asian mullet and a small neatly trimmed goatee. He was laughing with joy and happiness reflected in his eyes. At his side was an oriental woman, reddish highlights shining in her hair. They walked arm in arm like it was their natural way of going anywhere.
"Is that us?" Wade softly said, eyes wide with wonder.
"Yes. Bishop processed your image based on your family's history of males and their growth spurts. My image shows my natural hair color. My last name is Cullen and I color it dark so not to stand out in school."
"Why?"
"We have a saying, 'The nail that sticks up gets hammered down'."
"Not around me it won't," Wade said fiercely.
Katsumi raised her face and closed her eyes. Wade, with his heart about to beat out of his chest, bent down so their lips met. Given their level of experience, it wasn't the greatest kiss, but it was pure, loving and tender. The kind that only gets better with practice. And there was no better time to practice.
STD 2018 Feels Epilogue
Suzie put her arms around her friend who had just shivered as if a cold wind blew on her soul, "Is it done?"
"It is done. The killers of our people are dead. But my heart screams for more vengeance," Wanda held the Lotus Blade. It had left their world with Ronald but had returned shortly after their star winked out of existence, officially signifying that his part of the prophecy was finished and now it was her turn. Wade and Katsumi were working to locate former students and students who had been overseas when disaster struck. Trying to locate them and invite them to Middleton. Because they had work to do.
"The time for vengeance has passed, it is time to rebuild, Toshimiru Wanda-Sensei."
"Do not call me that!" the taller Ninja cried in anguish, tears streaming down her face, "I am not worthy of that title, I never wanted it! I never wanted any of this! I just wanted to be a good Ninja soldier..."
"A Ninja does what she must to take care of her people. I will be at your side, always," said Suzie, throwing her arms around her friend in a tight embrace.
"Team Cobra will be yours forever, Wanda-Sensei," said Yori. She had, as a very young Ninja, dreamed of being the Chosen One and then becoming Toshimiru Yori-Sensei. That phase had passed long before Ronald became the Chosen One and like Wanda, he really didn't want that honor either, but eventually accepted it and started to do the best he could. She wondered what her beloved Master Sensei dreamed of as a boy? Was becoming the headmaster of Yamanouchi the honor of a dream come true or the responsibility that honor demanded that he accept?
"As will Team Indigo, Master Sensei," Katsumi pledged, "At least go look at Mount Middleton."
Sighing in defeat, Wanda held up a glowing blue sword. It changed into a war fan which she folded and put in a hidden pocket.
"OK, it couldn't hurt to look."
STD 2018 Feels Epilogue
Wanda and Suzie approached a promising site near the peak for the new temple. As they approached, Wanda snapped open a blue glowing war-fan while Suzie produced a long dagger and shuriken.
Three people walked towards them. One was an elderly gray-haired woman, her face obscured by a scarf to ward off the cool breeze. The second was a short, skinny person wearing a dark blue hoody emblazoned with the phrase, "Trust No One". Its hood and dark glasses obscured its face. The third person had provoked the reaction from Wanda and Suzie. She was a muscular woman roughly six-feet, six-inches in height, with the red on yellow eyes they had seen before. Her features were soft as if she was a youth not fully grown.
"You don't need those weapons, dears," the elderly woman pulled her scarf down, "My name is Amanda Possible, I believe you have met my granddaughter, Kimberly. May I introduce my colleagues Gray and Warbyrd. I have an RV parked at the scenic turnout spot. Perhaps we could go there for some hot tea and talk out of this chilly breeze?
STD 2019 Preview: Finite Middletons (Future Middleton)
The RV was comfortable enough for the five people. Suzie and Wanda sat at a small table nearest the door. Amanda sat across from them while Warbyrd sat in the driver's seat which swiveled around so she could join the conversation. While Gray heated water for tea, Warbyrd started by saying:
"My guess is that the timestream was first corrupted by a set of villains named Drakken and Shego with help from a few colleagues. They used an ancient artifact called the Time Monkey. Time has a memory, a 'default' where that it wants to flow. For example, go back in time and kill a murdering despot before he comes into power and someone else will appear to take his place. Kill a hero when she is a child and another will show up. Probably."
Nodding at Gray who slid a mug of hot tea over to her and put a plate of cookies on the table, the Lowardian continued,
"The Time Monkey had the power to alter the default path. The first use of the Time Monkey was to try to defeat Kim Possible. More importantly, during the period where Shego was taking over the world, Shego killed the Lowardian known as Warmonga. The Time Monkey was destroyed for all future times, causing the Time Stream to partially reset and we have destroyed the artifact for past times. The attempt before this one to put the timestream back on track ended with an angry, disillusioned Warmonga along with her battlemate Warhok battling Shego, along with Drakken, Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable. The result was again, her death. This last cycle, Kim Possible was encouraged to kill Drakken and Shego with the idea that with those two out of the way, Warmonga would befriend Kim and Ron and not die too soon."
Warbyrd sighed and took a sip of tea. "But this time, she had picked up Raiders for transport and in the battle to protect this planet, she was killed."
Suzie took advantage of the pause to ask, "What is so important about this one woman? And didn't you say that killing an important person causes a replacement to step up?"
"We don't know for sure," Warbyrd admitted. "I am from the future on a research assignment and cannot go home because the home I came from no longer exists. My research was on the influence of Middleton on future fashion trends in this part of the galaxy. I don't have any records concerning Warmonga or even Ron and Kim in my personal database. The closest I have is the name of a classmate of theirs, Monique."
"Wait, if your future doesn't exist, how can you be here?" asked Wanda.
"You can't think about it too hard, time travel's a cornucopia of disturbing concepts. To make sense of it we need to go up about two levels on the evolutionary scale. Which our ancestors will do together unless Warmonga dies too soon in which case they won't."
"Lowardia and Earth are allies?" Suzie asked.
"I've heard a saying in this time that 'friends help you move furniture; best friends help you bury the bodies of your foes.' In the time I am from, Earth and Lowardia are best friends. My great-grandfather was human. That's where I get my petite size."
"Humans and Lowardians can interbreed?" Wanda looked doubtful.
"With mechanical assistance and a little DNA editing, it's not a problem."
"So, what can we do? You sound like you want us to go back in time and change something?" Suzie asked.
"Gray can take you back in time to a point where you can influence Kim and Ron," Amanda Possible said, "We have attempted to insert too many changes close to this point in time, the time stream is getting brittle here. You will have to start at a point earlier in time."
"But what do we do?" asked Suzie?
"Make sure all principles live past this point in time," The Lowardian said, "We've tried killing them off in various combinations and it is pretty apparent that simply removing a player or three from the board doesn't work…"
"Maybe we could cause the Possibles and Stoppables to move to Yamanouchi before Ron and Kim start high school…" pondered Wanda, "that would give us more influence."
"Or we could take Yamanouchi to the children…" Suzi thought out loud. We have time to take a college course of two, correct, Gray-san?"
"Of course, there is plenty of time on this side," the pale person whispered, "Or I could take you back earlier and you could study in the past."
STD 2019 Preview: Finite Middletons (Future Middleton, Wade's house)
Wade and Katsumi had a small assembly line going. Not that putting a ball of masa harina dough in a tortilla press, pressing it into a disk and then giving the pressed disk a quick grilling in a skillet to make a corn tortilla required an assembly line, but the pair of tech geniuses were attached at the hip for the last several days. Ever since they found out about the plan to go into the past to change the future.
Because there was one part of the future they were terrified to lose.
Their budding relationship.
Warbyrd had been sitting at the planning meeting where Wanda, Suzie, Wade's mother, and the two operatives, Yori and Hirotaka had been talking strategy. The two very young Ninja named Wade and Katsumi were also there but seemed to be relegated to a 'be seen and not heard' role. And apparently, the lunch cooks. Being the youngest child, and a daughter as well, she was familiar with that treatment.
"Excuse me a moment, I need to talk to someone," she told the others around the table. Getting up, she walked over where the two 'lunch cooks' had just put away the leftovers.
"I would like to see the hologram room please, if it is not considered too secret," she asked.
Down in the holo-room she sat on the bench beside the pair.
"Show me the future," she asked, and when Kim and Ron appeared, she asked, "No show me your future. I have to believe that one of you have used this to create a vision of a common goal, a motivation for what you want for your future.
Soon the courtyard changed and the grown versions of Wade and Katsumi walked across the grass.
"Can you freeze the animation, please," The alien got up and walked around the equally tall Wade-the-older and Katsumi-the-older.
"A very nice future indeed, you make a cute couple," the Lowardian said. Looking back at the bench, she saw that the young woman was blushing, the young man looked the same, it was hard to tell. Walking back across the grass, she sat down, folding her legs underneath her, Japanese style.
"Time travel's a cornucopia of disturbing concepts. There are beings whose job it is to manage the timestream and make sure that it doesn't flood its banks. But they aren't here. Maybe the original screwup here made a future without them. Maybe they evolved into something that is outside the concept of time."
She idly pulled some grass and let it fall from her fingers. The individual holo-blades fell, fluttering a few inches and the disappeared with a twinkle as if turning back to the fairy dust dreams are made of.
"So, are you willing to sacrifice the future of your two friends and the futures of all the people that died in Japan to get it?"
"No! Of course not!" the pair exclaimed.
"What do you think will happen if your teammates Yori and Hiro travel back in time and fix the defect?"
"We may never meet?" the girl was quick to catch on, or maybe her partner just didn't want to say it out loud.
"That's correct, but at least you will be alive in the default timestream. Along with your two friends and millions of humans. Who. Are. Now. Dead. But, there is a way to help make sure your future is closer to this ideal," the alien waved her hand at their frozen holographic image.
"How?"
"Simple, write down notes to each other, make a video, whatever, it just has to be a physical object. Gray is from totally outside this timestream, he will find you and give you the object at about this time. Then, Hiro and Yori will be integrated into the timestream change, they will remember about you two and convince Yamanouchi to send Katsumi to Middleton for an internship. You two won't have the same experiences that you had this time through the stream, but you guys will have a chance, right?"
"Warbyrd," Wade asked, "Why are you doing this?"
"Maybe Lowardians are big, old softies with romantic hearts…"
Her young audience looked unconvinced.
"Maybe I'm afraid that the two of you are smart enough to stop the mission because you are afraid you'll lose any chance of the future behind me."
"Did we do that in a previous timestream?" Wade looked too defiant, the Lowardian wondered if the safest bet was to kill both of them now. If their Ninja-nannies fixed the timestream in the past, the adorable geek couple here wouldn't be dead and wouldn't remember. 'Damn,' she thought, 'was this something we have already tried?'
STD 2019 Preview: Finite Middletons (Space Center)
James Possible looked at the young man sitting alertly across from his desk.
"Mr. Misutanani, your credentials look very good, especially the ones in First Aid. You have a disturbing lack of references that I can actually talk to. Except, oddly enough, my mother."
"Please, Mr. Possible-sensei, call me Hirotaka. Do you not trust a recommendation from your mother?"
"Of course, Hirotaka. It is just that Mom sometimes gets involved in somewhat strange… Well. at any rate, we certainly need help with the boys. Their current after-school program is not working out and with both Anne and myself being pressured to work extra hours, there is no way we can ask Kimmie-cub to ride herd on them. I fear that Anne is being overworked and we need the help. Does the proposed schedule seem acceptable to you?"
"Of course, I will be at the house and available to assist 24/7 every day except Saturday and Sunday. I agree to be available on Saturday and Sunday with seventy-two hours' notice. The weekend work may be requested up to twice a month."
"Are the list of other duties acceptable?"
The Ninja pretended to look at the list again, he had been there when Amanda-sensei, Wanda, and Mrs. Load had created it a year ago his time.
"Yes, sir, it is," he replied, "Light cleaning, cooking, grocery shopping. Laundry for common items, take special items to dry cleaning. You have house cleaners and a lawn service under contract. I will pick up and deliver children to school and weekday events."
Hirotaka gave a small smile, "and of course, other duties may be requested as desired."
"Is the proposed salary acceptable? I understand that Mom and Anne have already discussed that with you?"
"Yes, the salary is most acceptable."
"How about a sixty-day trial period starting Monday?"
"That would be acceptable. Shall I show up on Saturday to move in and get acquainted with the children?"
James stood up and extended his hand, "Sounds perfect, welcome to the Possible household, Hirotaka."
STD 2019 Preview: Finite Middletons (Stoppable Home)
"Miss Tanaka, your qualifications look excellent and Amanda Possible certainly gave you a glowing reference. Does the proposed schedule and tasks look acceptable?" Gene Stoppable thought that this meeting was a little silly as his wife Jean had already hashed out the details.
"Yes, they do. I have already gone over the details of the agreement with Mrs. Stoppable. It seems a bit odd that I may be asked to provide backup for the nanny of the Possible children," Suzie said this for cover, knowing the older Tweebs or 'Bouyatachi' as they were called by the Yakuza, she knew exactly why this was put in the agreement. In fact, she believed that Hiro would have almost rather taken over the duties of Master Sensei from Wanda instead of caring for the 'spirited' twins. Almost. Wanda, on the other hand, seemed to think that becoming the new Master Sensei in the future version of Yamanouchi was easier than Hiro's assignment.
"Jim and Tim are good boys, but they are a little spirited and can be a handful at times," replied Gene, "Ronald is best friends with Kimberly and gets along fine with Jim and Tim, so you can take him along for support."
Suzi smiled in agreement, then added, "I understand that from time to time I will be running the household for periods of up to a week while you and Mrs. Stoppable are out of town?"
"Ah, yes. I have been asked to team with Jean on a project that requires us to be at another branch office from time to time. We have been trying that with me staying home with Ronald and working remotely, but it would be vastly more efficient if we both could attend these uh, meetings together in person. We hope to be in a position to retire early and then spend all our time at home."
"How about I move in Saturday and we can start to adjust to each other?"
"That sounds perfect to me, welcome to the Stoppable household, Miss Tanaka."
Standing up, the young woman gave a little bow, saying, "Please call me Yori, Mr. Stoppable."
STD 2019 Preview: Finite Middletons (Possible Home)
"Nana, care to tell us what is really going on here? Neither Jean nor I are as gullible as our husbands." Anne Possible sat at the kitchen table along with Amanda Possible, Jean Stoppable, and a youngish Oriental woman, who was introduced as Wanda Wang, principal supervisor of Yamanouchi Child care services.
The elder Possible sipped her coffee, "Dear, what makes you think that something is going on?"
"The references from these people reek of hiding something," Anne replied, "they have no people I can check on except for you that I can call for a reference. Their Medical CPR and First Aid Certs are either foreign or bogus, again, I can't check them!"
"Didn't Hiro and Suzie take the certification tests at Middleton General for medical and first aid?", asked the younger woman, "Dr. Possible-sensei, do you not believe the results?"
"Please don't misunderstand me, Ms. Wang," Anne stood and refreshed coffee all around except for pouring tea for Wanda, "I have interviewed both Hirotaka and Suzie and they seem like very nice, very knowledgeable, highly trained young people. Your services are not cheap, but I suspect that is only to prevent suspicion that they are too good to be true. Even so, I do suspect that they are too good to be true."
"Anne," protested Amanda, "Don't be so suspicious. I know that even though James believes that he is sharing the load with the children, you are the one who is going without sleep and getting frazzled. That is no way for a brain surgeon to be. Similarly, Jean is having problems working with her clients because Gene isn't there in person to help her. By mere happenstance, I have run across a pair of nannies, who are talented, personable and can help out. I think they are certainly worth a try. Jean, you haven't said anything, what do you think?"
"Nana, I'm with my husband Gene on this, when something looks good but unlikely, that means there is still a small chance that it's good and real. He believes that they are an acceptable risk considering the potential high benefit."
"Well then, Ms. Wang," Anne said, "You have our deposits and first month's fees and I believe that James and Gene will ask them to start this weekend. I'm sure that we will be in touch from time to time?"
"Certainly," Wanda replied, "I do tend to be away from my phone but if you leave a message, I should be able to get back to you quickly."
CREDITS
All characters are the property of the Disney Company. This is a work of fan fiction.
If it's a Ninja then it's a safe bet that it was directly copied from or inspired by Sentinel103 and his "Once Again" stories.
Authors Note: Thanks to CajunBear73, Daccu65, and Sentinel103 for basically being beta readers, editors, and plot bunny wranglers.
I will apologize to Mindless Violence Fan for taking his concept, but not really being able to properly go through with it. I started this story with the idea of maybe three chapters of our heroes pushed to the breaking point and self-destructing. But I just couldn't pull that trigger.
I appreciate reviews from people just saying 'hi' with a simple comment. People like kmtdiccion, Joe Stoppinghem, gjagent2013, trood, Arvann S, KnightLawn, pittbuck
Props to JohnnyHandsome who made it to chapter 7 before getting lost down a giant plot hole.
zzzoo99 - oops, I never did have Team Go appear to talk with Kim about their sister.
And a special thanks to Uberscribbler who was quick to remind me about characters that needed more screen time, plot directions I needed to take and practically sponsored Snake-San and Lenard.
ABOUT THE ENDING
OK, the ending wasn't as bad as the old TV show Dallas where season 9 turned out to be a dream, but it was still a little cheesy. When I was discussing with CajunBear, Daccu, and Sentinel about killing off a character at the end, Sentinel's recommendation was "Go Big or Go Home." So I started working on killing everyone off, except for Rufus, Roachie and Lenard who lived because I figured it would make Uberscribbler a little less unhappy with the ending.
Now that everyone is Most Sincerely Dead, I can do a time travel trope and fix it. Then it came to me: I have some of the Cream of the Yamanouchi Ninjas still walking the Earth. They can go back as Nannies and "guide" the young teens Kim and Ron down the path that will lead them to be a stronger team with the romance thing resolved early, etc, etc. Because we all know just how reasonable young teens are to listening to elders and accepting guidance…
This is part three of the three-part ending.
Posted 9 Jan 2019