The Ratchet and Kim Possible Chronicles: The Polaris Epidemic - Chapter 16

Chapter 16-True Friends and Coping

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They made the long flight back to Igliak. They didn't stay silent for very long during the flight as Ratchet began to show a slight emotional look on his face. Kim took notice of this. Kim: "Ratchet? Are you OK?" Ratchet: "You know, I have been thinking about Lilo. I've heard that she had been…very difficult to understand by other humans."

Kim also began to show some emotion. Kim: "Yeah, I've known that, too. Ever since she was younger, she's had a very difficult time making friends because she's so eccentric. She doesn't seem fazed about traveling through space and meeting alien species, that's for sure." Clank: "But, of course. She seems quite happy with being amongst a lot of them, not to mention that she has made plenty of friends with the many of them. That as well as other humans who are different, much like you, Miss Possible." Kim: "Oh, absolutely. And she most certainly deserved a lot better than Myrtle and her evil posse of shallow and vain brats." Clank: "Oh, I could not agree more, Miss Possible. Those girls are just terrible." Ratchet: "Heh, tell me about it. They flew all the way to Middleton from Hawaii just to insult and ridicule Kimberly about being romantically involved with me. Good thing their parents got involved and gave them the worst scolding that they had, could have and will ever receive in their lives. They pretty much asked for it." Kim: "Oh, for sure." Clank: "Yes; it is a shame that it did very little to change their attitudes or behavior." Ratchet: "I know; if anything, it made them worse. They started hating Kimberly and Lilo more than ever. Just when I thought they couldn't possibly be any worse when they were so apathetic towards Lilo about her losing her parents, which their parents scolded them about, too."

Ratchet dropped his head and sulked as he sighed. Ratchet: "She really does deserve better." Clank: "It is hard to imagine how Miss Lilo could ever call those girls her friends. Most troublesome, indeed." Kim: "Hm…I was thinking, maybe we should convince the plumber to hire those girls as his assistants; so they could have something to teach them some discipline and respect, plus it would be a very fitting punishment for them." Clank: "Are you certain of that? I do not wish to inflict any more annoyances on him." Ratchet: "I wouldn't worry about that; if that guy can handle Bonnie, then I'm sure he can put up with a few more spoiled and snobbish brats." Kim: "Well, perhaps we can look into it once they get a little older." Ratchet: "Nah, why wait a few years; I'm pretty sure that they're old enough to work and I would think that their parents will agree to this." Kim: "Well…OK, I'll need to talk to him and see if he would be interested in making that arrangement. I don't know how he would feel about it, but it is worth a shot."

Ratchet had a sly smile on his face over the thought of it.

They arrived back in Meridian City. They reunited with their friends back within mission control. Talwyn soon noticed their arrival. Talwyn: "Oh! Back already?" Ratchet: "Yeah, we are. You just got back, too?" Talwyn: "Uh, yeah, we did, but…there's someone here who wanted to see you guys again."

She looked towards the direction in front of Kim and Ratchet as they looked out a little further. They then spotted Monique standing nearby. Both Kim and Ratchet were startled to see her. Kim: "Monique!"

She ran over to her as did Ratchet. Monique: "Hey, girl! What's happening?" Kim: "I can't believe it! What are you doing all the way out here in Polaris?" Monique: "I just wanted to stop by and say hello."

Soon enough, she looked over towards Ratchet. Monique: "Hey! Ratchet! How's it going? I haven't seen you in a while!" Ratchet: "It's good to see you again, Monique."

She then grabbed on to Ratchet and held him real close to her. Monique: "Oh! You're just as cute as I remembered you to be!" Ratchet: "Uh! Great…to see…that you still…are so…" Kim: "Alright, break it up, you 2."

Kim went over and pulled Ratchet away from Monique. Monique: "Oh, sorry, Kim, but I just can't help it; he's just too adorable for me to keep my hands off of him."

A somewhat distinctive smile appeared on Ratchet's face. Monique looked over towards Clank afterwards. Monique: "Oh! Clank! Someone else that I wanted to see."

She ran over to Clank while Kim and Ratchet watched. Kim then looked at Ratchet in a discontent manner. He looked towards her; his smiled faded a little. Ratchet: "What? It's not my fault that other girls think I'm cute."

She rolled her eyes and shook her head, almost as though she was about to crack up. She walked up towards Monique with Ratchet as she stood near Clank. Monique: "How's it going? How has our favorite robot been doing?" Clank: "I am well, Monique. I am also glad to see you in such high spirits as always." Monique: "But of course; with so many awesome people around, I could I not be? So, Kim, you and your adorable alien beau are on another mission?" Kim: "Yeah, we are. You could say that we've been…very busy." Monique: "Hm, ain't that the truth? By the way, I heard that there is this new trendy outlet mall within downtown Meridian City that just opened up a while back. Maybe you guys would like to tag along as I head over there?" Ratchet: "Uh, thanks for the offer, Monique, but I don't think we should…" Talwyn: "You guys can accompany her to that mall."

Kim, Ratchet and Clank looked at Talwyn, they seemed a bit startled. Ratchet: "Huh? Are you sure about that, Tal?" Talwyn: "Absolutely. You guys had been through a lot, so you've earned a break." Ratchet: "But…but what about…the mission? What about Kimberly's other foes that are still out there messing around on other planets?" Talwyn: "Wade told me during my return to the city that he just found out something and he needed some time to look it to confirm what he was speculating." Ratchet: "I don't know…" Talwyn: "We'll call you as soon as he finds out anything. Don't worry about it."

Ratchet stood by with the others for a bit as he thought for that brief moment. Ratchet: "Well…alright. I guess we can…go back to that mall. I've been wanting to revisit that Grummelnet storefront, anyway. Kimberly? Clank? Are you OK with this?" Kim: "Um…sure, it's been a while since I've spent some time with Monique." Clank: "Ah, yes, perhaps this would be a good time to catch up with your friend considering that you both have been very busy with your jobs." Monique: "Alright! Let's go!"

She walked out, Kim, Ratchet and Clank walked out with her.

Soon enough, they arrived back at the mall, this time with Monique. They stood alongside each other. Ratchet: "Alright, you girls go check out the clothing stores; I'll head over the Grummelnet storefront to…remodify my weapons."

Ratchet walked off. Clank: "I will be going, too; my sprockets could use some lubing."

Clank walked off as well. Kim and Monique stood by for a bit. Monique: "Eh…what does that mean? Is that a form of disturbing their...private parts?" Kim: "It's a robot thing and no, it's not."

They walked off together and made their way to one of the clothing stores.

As soon as they arrived, they looked around. As Monique was looking as a lot of the different clothes, she had a mild scowl on her face. Kim looked at her and took notice of this. Kim: "Monique? You OK? Are you not seeing what you like around here?" Monique: "Hm? Oh! Um, no, everything around here looks great; amazing even. As a matter of fact, I don't even think I'll be able to walk out of here without a boat load of clothes that I want to get. It's just…I've been doing a lot of thinking and…"

She let out a gloomy sigh before continuing. Monique: "I've decided that I'm going to walk out on Club Banana."

Kim was somewhat surprised to hear this. Kim: "What? But…you…you've known so much about that store! In fact, a lot more than I do! I was cut off of so much that you know! You've been building a career in that company!" Monique: "I know that, the thing is…things have not been going well lately with the job and I have not been happy about them. Club Banana's CEO, Coco Banana, had been coming up with questionable and senseless means of keeping the company alive. But…he…he's just as…he's just as unreasonable as his "brilliant" methods. Not only that, but a lot of the higher ups have been going along with it. I'm the only one who's been objective of them, but…no one wants to listen to me. I feel that he's dragging down the company with these methods despite all of the warning signs that are right in front of us. I'm not going down with them, so, I need to get out of there before I end up in that hole with them."

Kim stood by, spellbound for a bit. Kim: "Wow, I had no idea that's been happening." Monique: "Of course you didn't; I wasn't allowed to tell anyone about this, not even you, as always; as of the other shady things that the company has done." Kim: "Um…all of that sounds…understandable, still, I can't believe the storefront is in so much trouble; I thought they bounced back from that previous slump." Monique: "Oh, no, it wasn't that easy. He had to pull out several loans to "bounce back" from that. Turned out, he dug himself far deeper in the hole for not paying them back. I tried to warn him that making that decision was a terrible mistake, but he felt desperate to even listen to me. He's pretty much running out of "bright ideas" and now the company is suffering because of it." Kim: "Well, sure, that much isn't so hard to comprehend, but that doesn't mean he should resort to tactics that are open to doubt, or even place the company in even more trouble." Monique: "I told the exact same thing! But Mister know-it-all CEO insisted on believing that this had to be done and it could pull them out of the hole even though decisions like that placed in this position in the first place! So, I told him that I didn't want any part in this anymore. I've made up my mind about this, Kim. I'm done with putting up with any more of his stupid mistakes!"

Kim stood by, she seemed very concerned with everything that she's heard. Kim: "Um…yeah…of course...it's probably better for you if you do walk out on him, but…will you be able to find another job?" Monique: "Oh, don't worry about me, girl. I'm a fighter and survivor; so I'll find another place to work. Besides, I've already been looking into a few other places, so after I write out my letter of resignation to Club Banana, I'll get started on filling out some applications and looking into some of these other places." Kim: "Well, good on you to do that. I'm sure you'll find something out there that will really make you happy. I know Ratchet would be more than overjoyed to hear about this." Monique: "Oh, I know that; he's always complained about the storefront. I wasn't happy about it at first, but after what I've been through, I can understand now why he has." Kim: "Oh, for sure. I can't believe that much of what he said about the company was true. I guess I was just too stubborn to see it." Monique: "Well, he did think that we were the only things about Club Banana that wasn't stupid." Kim: "Oh, yeah, he did say that."

Both girls began laughing. Talwyn: "Kim, we need you and Ratchet back at mission control. Wade just found out something that he would like share with you." Kim: "Oh, that's Talwyn. Sorry, Monique, but we'll need to cut this conversation short." Monique: "No problem, girl. Just go, you and your alien friends still have stuff that you need to have done." Kim: "Yeah, of course. Well, it was great seeing you again." Monique: "Same here. Let's catch up again sometime." Kim: "Certainly. See you later, Monique." Monique: "OK, bye."

Kim walked out of the store. She reunited with Ratchet and Clank then made their way back to mission control. Monique watched as they left. Monique: "Kim, Ratchet, good luck. I'll always support you guys with anything you'll decide on doing with each other and for each other. I wish both of you nothing but the best."

Later on, they arrived back at mission control. There, they stood before an image of Wade on the holo-screen. Kim: "We're here, Wade. What's the sitch?" Wade: "I've been looking into the signals being sent out and received by those mysterious towers. I've just found out that each of them are receiving a transmission from a common source. I believe that this is their main receiver." Kim: "Sounds like it to me." Ratchet: "Any ideas on where that main receiver is coming from?" Wade: "That I couldn't find that. I am able to gather that the towers are picking up a signal from a main access point, but I haven't been able to pinpoint where exactly." Clank: "That main transmitter must be using the same signal disrupter as the towers." Wade: "There is some good news, however. For each tower that we have been able to locate, the signal from that main receiver is becoming more accessible and easier to distinguish." Ratchet: "So, once we're able to locate all of these towers, we can pinpoint the exact location of this main receiver." Wade: "Exactly. On a related note, I was able to confirm readings of human on another planet called Bercota." Talwyn: "Hm…that name sounds familiar for some reason, but I don't know why." Wade: "There's something else. I have also picked up on readings of other life forms from Earth on that planet." Ratchet: "Other life forms from Earth? You mean someone has brought animals that are native to that planet?" Wade: "Not exactly…I've looked into this and found readings of at least 2 species of animal per life form." Kim: "Oh, no." Clank: "Hm…that is odd…do you know of any human that is capable of this phenomenon?" Kim: "Yes. DNAmy." Clank: "DN-Amy?" Kim: "Come on, you guys. Let's head over to that planet now. I'll tell you everything along the way."

They returned to their ship, took off and left the city. Talwyn continued to ponder about the aforementioned planet.



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