The Dark Ocean

Title: The Dark Ocean - The Storm (20/20)
Author: Rann Aridorn
Notes: So, here we go. The end of "season one". Prepare for another one of those cliffhangers! Sorry, guys, it's a season finale. You know there had to be one.
Hopefully soon I'll be ready to post part one of the next season, The Twilight Shore. It, too, will be twenty parts, to be finished off by a third season which will hopefully wrap things up for this particular stretch of our heroes' lives. Which isn't to say I'll be done with the Dark Ocean setting. I've already had interest from several other writers in doing collaborations, and other ideas about adventures, mostly focusing on Shego.
Why am I telling all of you this, when the work is only one-third done? Well, this is the longest work of fanfiction I've ever completed. My previous best effort was only about half of Dark Ocean's size, and was left hanging. (Which some people never let me forget.) With this, Dark Ocean has become my longest and most complete work to date... even should the unthinkable (or unforgivable) happen, and it end on this cliffhanger... well, it's still an ending of a sort. From here on in, people could still make their own decisions on what happened.
Anyway, lemme just get this posted so that I can get to work on the next twenty parts of this damn thing.
Legalish notes: All characters having appeared in Disney's Kim Possible are the property of Disney, and are used here without permission, but with no intent for profit. All other characters are original and the property of Rann Aridorn.

Shego pushed herself up to her feet, wiping a hand across her bloody mouth as she glared at Punk. Punk stared back at her, a tiny, grim smile playing across her lips. She glanced down as a roar sounded from below, and the building shook lightly.
"Sounds like your friends are mixing it up with Ice Princess," she said calmly, raising her head to look at Shego again.
"That's my -pack- you're talking about," Shego snarled back.
"... Fair enough." Punk rolled her shoulders a bit. "So. Kid." The smile faded, expression turning utterly serious, eyes boring into Shego's. "Can you call that animal up any time you want?"
Shego shifted in place, surprised at the question. But almost instantly she felt an answering throb from somewhere down inside her... like a heartbeat that reverberated through her entire body. "Why?" she asked, voice coming out choked.
"Don't you ever get tired of fighting like an animal on a leash?" Punk's voice was so calm, so soft. And somehow it still carried over the crashes and roaring from below, the building shuddering on its foundations and causing small rains of dust from the ceiling. "You'll never beat me like this. Not on your own, with what you know now. I'll batter you down before you ever start to make a dent in my healing factor. You wanna have a chance of getting your pack out of this? Let's take the human gloves off. Let's -fight-."
|FIGHT.|
Shego narrowed her eyes, feeling something pressing in from around the corners of her vision, like going unconscious but... not. Her breathing was shifting, coming harder not from exertion but in quick, hard pants.
"You know what you're asking?" Shego said, her voice coming out with a bit of a rumble to it. "I could kill you."
"And I could kill you." Punk's eyes narrowed. "So let's see just how much of us is animal and how much is person."
Shego stared at her for a moment more, then gave a tiny, grim nod. She closed her eyes, letting herself sink down, letting that pressing feeling pour in around her, close around her like a skin.
|Fight.|
|Yes.|
She touched something inside her, like living electricity, and was drawn inside.
Punk gritted her teeth and lowered her head, dredging up everything that had ever made her angry, every time she'd come close to losing control, every frustration and every bit of rage, piling it all together like wood for a bonfire. And then threw on the memory of a single scream, the worst scream of pain she'd ever heard in her life. The mental bonfire less burst into flames than exploded into an inferno.
Shego's head snapped up, eyes open, the yellow bright and intense around green that almost glowed, mouth opening in a roar of challenge that had very little human left in it. Punk answered with a scream of furious defiance that sounded like it should have torn her throat on the way out, her eyes practically glinting red in the dim light coming in through the windows.
They rushed at each other, Shego's claws drawn back for the slash, Punk's fists raised for the strike.

Ron threw himself backwards as one of the heads dived in and snapped at him, planting a foot on its nose and launching himself into the air. The giant ice-creature twisted just enough for one of the other heads to snap its jaws at him, but he kicked off one of its teeth and into a backflip, landing and skidding on the slippery surface of its back.
The third head had snapped at Yori, but she threw a disk while launching herself into a backflip. A small explosion took out part of the muzzle and most of its teeth, sending shards of ice flying outwards. Yori crouched to duck under them, then leapt up to join Ron on its back, using the slippery surface to turn herself and face forward like him.
"Any ideas?" Ron asked, shifting his weight and bending closer to the surface of the ice-cerberus' back as it slammed itself against a side wall, trying to shake them off.
"It is your honor to run out and buy a shitload of antifreeze."
The head Yori had already blasted was almost entirely re-formed by now, thrashing and twisting like the others. The huge creature shoved up onto its back feet, making the two ninja quickly scrabble for purchase, only to almost be thrown as it dropped heavily back to its front feet, shaking them both hard and sending them sliding forward, between two of the necks to drop to the floor.
"I think it's time to call for backup!" Ron shouted as they quickly regained their feet, leaping in opposite directions and barely dodging snaps from the two heads on the outside. They converged towards the center, leaping upwards as the Cerberus charged, and in perfect synch each brought a leg up, putting their feet together and pushing off, launching each other in different directions and allowing the icy jaws to crash together on empty air.
Ron landed and skidded a bit, splayed fingers touching the floor for a bit of added purchase, then coming up as he swung his watch hand around, pressing several of the buttons in sequence.

Rufus squealed as the computer monitor flashed red and the speakers blared a claxon, the number four flashing on the screen repeatedly. He quickly scrambled up the specially-built ramp to the Ratjet. A set of loaders had already removed the standard compliment of smokebombs and replaced them with boxes marked by red lines. A large metal plate was cranked to one side, and the Ratjet launched forward, clearing the opening and banking through the alley. The jaguar raised its head and watched all this, then flopped back down to go back to sleep.
The tiniest member of the Pack pushed the engines of his tiny craft harder, coaxing all the speed out of them he could. If Ron had set off this particular alert, it was very bad indeed.

Shego and Punk slammed together. There was no better word for it, they crashed into each other like oncoming trains, or like the hordes of warring armies reduced down to a single fighter on each side. Shego came out the worse for it, almost knocked staggering. But a hand grabbed Punk's arm, dug claws into flesh, and Shego's fist smashed across the other woman's jaw once, twice, three times. Punk's feet stayed planted, but her head snapped to the side each time, whipping so hard that it almost seemed like her neck should snap.
Punk's fist came up and impacted Shego's ribs with a dull thud that seemed thunderous. Shego's claws loosened just enough for the pink-haired mutant to rip her arm free, trailing spatters of blood and skin, both hands coming up to grab the sides of Shego's head. Shego grabbed Punk's wrists, but not in time to get enough of a grip as she was whipped and hurled through the air, crashing into a brick column with enough force to smash some of the bricks and sent them scattering to the floor in pieces.
Shego thumped to the floor, but immediately shoved herself up to her feet. No quip, no wince, not even acknowledging the feeling of ribs already beginning to slowly knit under her skin. She just launched herself right back at Punk, the other woman already coming at her like a charging bull.
Shego's punch across Punk's head sounded like thunder, and in that single instant of Punk being staggered, the green-skinned woman was on her like a hungry predator. Her other palm smashed across the side of Punk's head, tilting her, before Shego grabbed the back of her neck and yanked her down, bending her over and slamming a knee into her chest. She started to bring her knee back up, only to have Punk shove forward and knock her to the ground.
Punk's fist pounded into Shego's nose, raised to deliver a second punch, only to have claws rake across her face and force her to roll away, scrabbling and blind, finding a column by touch and turning, putting her back to it and working up to her feet.
Standing slowly, Shego turned to face Punk. Blood had streamed down and covered almost her entire lower face, but her crumpled nose was already steadily taking on its normal shape, the blood flow stopping.
The wide rips across Punk's face were similarly knitting together, the blood clearing out of her eyes with every blink of her restored eyelids. She glared at Shego as the green-skinned fighter stalked to one side, moving into position for another rush, another attack. But she was just as eager to mix it back up, driven by the relentless need to fight, to crush, to win.
Punk threw herself away from the column and met the rush Shego started at the same time. Her fist launched out, whizzing inches from Shego's own, the loud cracks of fists striking cheekbones overlapping almost perfectly. Shego's head twisted to the side, Punk's further back, both continuing to move forward for a moment, press the fists further against one another's faces. Then they staggered back and away from each other, barely separating.
But after only moments, eyes locked and teeth bared. They began to circle, two predators not yet done with their fight for territory.

"We need to mark the spot!" Ron called, scuttling under a swipe from one of the construct's huge paws.
"Understood!"
Yori leapt up and pushed off the wall, propelling herself through the air over the ice cerberus' back. She threw another explosive disk at the point where she recalled Ice Princess having curled up to form the construct, then concentrated on her landing, keeping in motion and curving around at a run as she landed. The explosion carved a shallow crater out of the ice, which quickly began filling in.
Ron slapped a hand against one of the construct's heads as it snapped at him, propelling himself up and on top of it, and from there leaping into the air to throw a disk of his own into the shallow depression, another burst of fire and wet spray marking its impact.
Ducking and weaving, straining against the ever-healing ice, Ron and Yori blasted the construct's back until a faint outline of the person curled up at its heart could be seen, faintly visible frozen at its center like a grape inside of a jello cube. The icy beast turned, growling, the deep pock-mark on its back steadily closing.
"C'mon, buddy, where ARE you?" Ron hissed.

Rufus guided the Ratjet above the city, skimming over the rooftops of the four- and five-story buildings. As he approached the homing signal, he squinted forward, at lumpy forms settled near the edge of one rooftop.
He squeaked in surprise as he drew close enough for the lumps to resolve into prone humans with rifles. Yanking back on the stick, he forced the Ratjet to climb higher, trying to push its rather pathetic ceiling of operation to the limit. He heard one of the prone figures behind him yelp in surprise as he flew barely a foot over the man's head, before dipping into a dive, letting himself build momentum as he headed for his destination.
Rufus heard a pair of muted cracks behind him, and let out a shriek of fright as he felt as much as heard or saw bullets whiz past the Ratjet. He banked slightly, trying to hug the side of a building, fearing more attempts at shooting him down. What was going on?!
Whatever it was, he couldn't dwell on it. Ron had sent him a priority alert, it meant the payload of bombs he carried had to be delivered, and -now-. He spotted the building that must be the source of the signal, and steered the Ratjet in through the smashed front window.
He almost lost control of his craft, and his bladder, as he saw the enormous ice monster looming in front of Ron and Yori. But urgency lent him clarity, and when he saw the crater on the thing's back with something dark below it, he knew that must be his target.
Rufus yanked on the stick, pulling the Ratjet into a hard turn, and hit the release button. The panels on the sides of the small aircraft's containers opened, the momentum and angle of the plane's turn sending them tumbling downward towards the construct. They hit, and fire and smoke blossomed forth, obscuring everything but the roaring, shrieking heads of the beast as it arched and twisted in apparent pain.

Punk's fist glanced off of Shego's cheek, and then her world wobbled and shifted perspective wildly as Shego's hands grabbed at her, yanked her, slammed her to the floor on her back. Her hands came up, making a grab of their own, but Shego's palm slammed down, fingers curled, claws slicing through flesh and glancing off ribs, the impact feeling like it went all the way through her and into the floorboards.
The floor beneath them creaked, then gave way. Both startled women fell and struck back down on the second floor where they'd begun fighting previously, Shego's legs giving way at the impact and dropping her to her knees. Punk recovered first, backhanding the green-skinned girl hard and knocking her sprawling.
Punk shoved herself up to her feet, swaying unsteadily, every breath coming with a fine spray of blood across her lips. Before the nicks Shego had inflicted to her lungs had quite begun to heal, she flung herself forward.
Shego was getting to her feet as Punk scooped her up and slammed her back against one of the brick columns. Punk's head came forward, forehead striking against one of Shego's eyes, then against her nose. As Punk drew her head back for another strike, Shego's own head blurred forward with the speed of a striking snake, glowing fangs sinking into the side of her opponent's neck.
Punk screamed, throwing herself backwards with such vehemence that Shego's fangs raked through her flesh until they popped out, the green-skinned girl slumping against the column as she tried to recover. Punk staggered backwards, twitching and jerking, blood pouring down her front from the twin gashes torn in her flesh by Shego's fangs.
She slumped, spasming a few more times, her head drooping, seeming to stay on her feet simply because she was balanced that way more than anything else. Blood dripped to the floor in small spatters, while her shirt actually began to soak into her pants, unable to retain any more of the bright crimson fluid.
Then, slowly, ever-so-slowly, her head raised back up, eyes fixing on Shego as the valleys of blood and muscle torn in her flesh began to close.
"That... hurt," she rasped angrily.
Shego's eyes had taken on something like human emotion again, at first watching Punk with near-horror, then surprise. At that statement, however, her eyes narrowed, lip curling upward in a snarl again.
"So'll this," she growled, shoving off from the column.

As the smoke began to clear, the damage to the ice construct was revealed. Much of its back was gone, and Ice Princess was left kneeling in the deep crater. The Cerberus staggered, trying to keep its legs working when most of the sturdy part of its body was gone.
Yori sprinted forward, hands diving for her belt, and emerging with a flourish, her bladed fans snapping open. Running right between the damaged construct's front legs, she whirled about, the metal fans flashing and darting as if she were dancing. Ron dashed in from the side as the layer of ice below the construct's creator gave way, grabbing her and twisting, throwing her towards the wall.
Ice Princess yelped as she hit the ground and rolled, the ice around her legs breaking as she sprawled. The ice Cerberus, bereft of its controller, began to crack and crumble, going to pieces like a wedding ice sculpture left out in the summer heat.
"That's... not bad," Ice Princess said slowly as she got to her feet, staring at Ron and Yori as they walked forward and took a position out of the way of falling ice. "But I'll just make another. I can make ice from nowhere, but you'll run out of bombs. You'll be worn down, and eventually you'll be put in a cage."
Before Ron or Yori could reply, there was a sound like a thunderclap from above. A rain of dust and debris fell directly between the two sides of combatants, something falling amidst the obscuring cloud with a loud thump. A female voice coughed repeatedly, then spoke, the tightness of pain coloring the firm tone.
"That's my best friend and little sister you're talking about, bitch."
"Shego!" Ron cried.
"Oneesan!"
A silhouette stood up amidst the dust cloud, which slowly began to dissipate, revealing a bloody and bruised Shego standing above Punk's unconscious form. The green of her eyes seemed to glow amidst the yellow around them, breathing coming hard between gritted teeth, fangs bared between bloodied lips.
Ice Princess stared at Shego, then darted her gaze down to the out-cold Punk. "... Shit."
"You ain't kiddin'," Shego snarled.
/If you can hear me, try to disengage and meet back up in the flower shop across the street, we're surrounded and can't stay in the open!/ Kim's voice suddenly rang in Ron and Yori's ears.
Before either of them could reply, Shego slumped forward, starting to fall, and the two rushed forward, catching her arms. Ice Princess let out a relieved snort of laughter.
/Acknowledge!/
"Ha! I knew you were-!"
The Ratjet dropped on her head from a few feet above, knocking her to the ground like an animated rabbit with a potted plant dropped on his head. Rufus sprang out of the vehicle and bounded across the floor, scrambling up Ron's side and making concerned-sounded chitters at Shego.
"-bluffing," Ice Princess murmured, muffled by the floor.
"Shego, are you okay?!"
"Tired," Shego gasped, head hanging forward. "Can barely move. Shouldn't be so tired..."
"Kim's calling, we need to get across the street," Ron murmured, glancing around, then pointing out a good spot for a landing to Yori.
"Surrounded!" Rufus squeaked.
"Yeah, that too."
"A perfectly good night of beating the shit out of people, shot all to hell," Shego rasped.

Practically carrying Shego, Ron and Yori darted across the street, the door opening just ahead of them. Kim closed and locked it behind them, her annoyance at not being answered disappearing as she saw Shego's condition. "Oh God, are you okay?"
"Just been havin' too much fun," Shego replied, grinning broadly despite looking like she could barely lift her head.
Kim stepped close, unable to keep from smiling a little as she ran a hand tenderly over Shego's cheek. "Figures you're off having fun while I'm having to deal with a four-armed Irishwoman."
"You knew I was selfish when you hooked up with me."
"Kim, are we truly surrounded?" Yori interjected, trying to get the couple back on topic. They could drift into trading quips at the worst times...
"Yeah, looks like snipers on the rooftops. Global Justice probably has the streets and alleys blockaded by now, too." Kim frowned. "I knocked out Mesh, but the snipers are another matter."
The top of the connecting door suddenly flew inward and clattered to the floor, followed by the safe in front of it shrieking across the floor as it was shoved hard. Ron, Yori, and Shego all turned their heads and stared a bit as Mesh came through the door, cracking her knuckles. All four sets.
"Let's be gettin' back ta tha' first matter, lass."
Barely a second later, the front door swung in hard, slamming into the wall and jolting on its hinges. Punk walked through, her bruises and cuts healing much more slowly than before, a slightly woozy-looking Ice Princess following after her.
"You haven't finished dealing with the first line of defense, Red. Don't brush us off so early."
Kim dropped into a combat stance, and Shego forced herself to hold her own weight, raising her hands to the ready as Ron and Yori settled in at her sides.
All three of the Global Justice fighters took a step forward, then paused as static crackled in their ears.
/Punk! We've got incoming!/ The sound of gunfire and shouting overlaid the broadcast briefly, before the panicked-sounding agent continued. /It's Subject One, he's here!/
"What?!" Punk's hand flew to her ear, head raising. "Agent, repeat!"
/Subj*kshh*ne closing on your pos*shhhh*/
Punk whirled around to face towards the front of the shop just in time for it to blow up in her face. She and Ice Princess were lifted off the floor and launched through the air a short distance, slamming to the ground amidst a shower of stone and glass debris. Mesh, too, was close enough to the front of the shop to be knocked sprawling, while Kim's team were simply staggered, the dust causing a few coughing fits.
"KIM POSSIBLE!" A voice boomed from amidst the obscuring cloud, a broad-shouldered figure stepping into silhouette.
Kim squinted into the dust. That voice...
"You think you're all that..."
"No -way-," Ron gasped, his eyes widening.
"That is," Yori whispered, glancing towards Kim.
"It... but that's impossible," Kim murmured, the lenses of her mask wide with her own expression of shock.
Shego simply stared, wordlessly, her body feeling slack, numb, not knowing how she was still on her face. Her ears, she knew what she was hearing, but Kim was right, it was impossible, it couldn't be.
"But you're not," came the smug conclusion as the familiar, smirking form of Dr. Drakken stepped from the dust of the explosion.

-End of Dark Ocean