UPDATE: Corrected a the story part of Ann and James where they talked Kim and Ron's elementary school days during Kim's birthday party and clarified a few things in this new episode here as well for even more consistency with the show. The latter one did not cause plot holes but I think it is nicer that way.

Nighty-Night

"Hey Fred, look at what incredible luck we have tonight!" a man with a base cap said. "Delivery boy messed up so he had to give us the two large-sized pizzas!"

"That's great! Swing your butt over here and hand me a slice, Dave!" Fred said, sitting on a couch, watching a baseball game.

"Game's really good tonight, almost too good," Fred said.

"Yeah, can't believe the team's playing this great after their mess up last game," his buddy said.

"You just said it, man," Fred answered, taking a bite off his first slice, "that defeat must have really heated them up. You know what I can't believe? How good this pizza is!"

Watching the game they had no idea what happened beyond their knowing.

The screeching sound of heavy machines being pushed around as well as some of them being rolled away was not heard by them. None of them saw multiple people disguised fully in black swiftly weaseling their way out of the building. Same people only saw Fred and Dave sleeping in the security room.

"This is insane, isn't it? The doctor's really on a roll with her experiments," one of the henchmen said. "Apparently she's been working on this for years by now", his female partner in crime said.

"I know but controlling peoples' sleep?" the male one wondered. "I mean, I don't have any idea about what she did but from what I heard it was more than anyone ever had done before when it comes to that!"

"Well, you know her," his companion said. "She's quite the eccentric one. Doesn't seem the big shocker to me that she can do these crazy things."

"Hey you!" a rough female voice with a thick Russian accent reached them. "You are the last ones, so hurry!"

"Sure! As you say, Professor!" they responded nervously and went outside.

With a chuckle the scientist that ordered them around went into the Security Room. She patted Fred and Dave on their heads.

"You, my darlings, sleep tight, while I install the program to delete the last thirty minutes of your recordings. Enjoy your little baseball-pizza party or whatever."

"And," she said, starting a countdown,"That's it. In 3 minutes it all will be gone. Thank you for your cooperation," she taunted them with her voice being higher pitched now. Giving them a smooch on their cheeks she left the room.

Whilst walking towards one of the trucks waiting for her, her voice now became more menacingly.

"I have waited so long for this moment. The final phase of my experiment will soon be a full success. And none of you will be able to stop me. Not you, Global Justice, not you, Theodore Lipsky," she said begrudingly, " ... and certainly not you ... Kimberly Possible."

She entered the truck, commanding everyone to leave with her.

When Dave and Fred finally woke up again, the last second ran out, only closing the countdown's window they had no idea what it was for.

At least not right then.

One month later ...

"I'm telling you, that's how it is, Monique," Kim told her best friend while folding some shirts at Club Banana and laying them on a stack nice and clean.

"Come on, he can't really be doing this? Not even calling you?" Monique then answered with a risen brow.

"You bet it is true," Kim replied, "since we've been back from Japan Ron barely even came out of his room! I was so glad he was off work for a week but we only went on a date the day after we came back, then he plastered himself in front of his game!"

"A game? Are you serious?" Monique wanted to know.

"I am," Kim said, "he's been playing it for three days straight and hasn't even slept since then! It's crazy!"

"He hasn't even - wouw," Monique stopped with her eyes opened wide in shock. Still she could not resist to ask "And which game keeps him up all night?"

"Well NOT that it matters," Kim said harsh as that was not what she expected, "but it seems to be the newest Z-Boy. You know, the videogame based on that cutesy mascot we once saved a factory. Started out first as a graphics system or whatever. It hasn't even been released over here! He said he had no idea where it was from but I bet Yori snuck it in his bag when I wasn't looking as some kind of present ..."

"Well, that could be," Monique replied. She barely knew Yori. But the first time she saw the ninja girl with Ron she had to witness her best friend jealous over same ninja girl. When she was looking at Kim right now she couldn't recognize same jealousy but nevertheless Kim was displeased. More because of Ron's behaviour though.

"What about you? Have you tried to contact him?"

"Tuh! More than once!" Kim answered. "And it's not like I haven't tried to see him. I also came over to him."

"And? Spill it, girl! Don't stop in the middle!" Monique demanded.

"Huh, well, you see ..." Kim sighed while the whole scene re-built itself in her mind. Grinding her teeth together in displeasure a little she began to tell Monique, while she herself felt like set back to the past.

She found herself in the corridor of Ron's parent's house. Ron had already barely talked to her the last time she visited him. Now she approached his room door which was only open by a slight margin.

"Ron, I'm back!" Kim said when she opened the door. He was still sitting before his TV.

"Ron? You're still playing?"

Ron had heavy rings around his eyes.

"Oh, heya, KP," he said while his pupils did not even peak away from the screen to look at his girlfriend. "I have unlocked another run when I was done. Gotta play that, too."

She was a bit upset but more concerned. It was the third day he played this game and before he already told her that he only sat in front of the game. At least he goes to the bathroom, I hope ..., she thought first. But this time she had a seat next to him.

"Ron," she tried to get attention. "You don't look good. You should really sleep."

As she sat next to him, she also leaned away from Ron, whilst saying, "Yuck, and get a bath."

"Will do, Kim," he said. "Just need to finish this run."

"This ain't good, Ron!", she complained, "You really need to sleep! I can't even believe that you haven't fallen asleep by yourself already!"

But that was no actual wonder to her as she saw a big pile of empty cans and the likes of them, all formerly containing caffeine-heavy drinks, sugar and such.

"We're past the age where I have to tell you that what you are doing right now is really stupid! And no, I am not talking about video games in general!"

Ron was more or less unfazed. All the focus that he could invest after such a long time was what happened on the screen. He did not even see that his girlfriend looked really upset, with her eyebrows diagonally risen.

"Besides," she tried to talk about another thing that bothered them, "we haven't really done anything for a few days now."

"When you were here yesterday I let you play, didn't I?", he responded which only made Kim roll her eyes.

"Uh!" she sighed in a long breath as she stood up."You're kiddin', right? I wanted to know what's so great about it and of course I would try something out if it was the only way to get to spend some time with you!"

So much was going on in her mind at that moment. She was worried about Ron, upset that he did not care about himself the way she thought she should and then also how she did not get the attention she wanted.

Ron paused the game.

"I promise you, KP," he now looked at her with eyes that clearly fought a battle of caffeine-induced wakeness and natural fatigue, "when I'm done and I have recovered we get to spend a lot of time together. I still have a few days off."

Kim did still look very upset but then a slight smile of relief that he finally responded in a way she wanted came over her lips. She just wished he turned off the game already.

"Thanks, Ron," she said. Then she left after a smooch for which she had to endure Ron's "eau de have-been-awake-for-three-days-straight."

"And that was just a few hours ago?" Monique answered and picked up Kim from memory lane.

"Yeah, it was," the redhead answered. "I mean, I am really happy that he has something he likes and even more happy that he listened to me but I really think he should stop already."

"Because of his health or to spend time with you?" her friend answered with a grin.

"Well, both of course," Kim said honest, "But of course his health comes first! Three days, Monique! I barely ever went through a whole night! Rarely, you know that. I know Ron did that occasionally before but this is no longer normal. Being this addicted, staying up for so long and then that much caffeine is really gonna backfire!"

Monique looked at her saying, "It sure is."

"So what are you planning to do?"

"I know he told me he would stop once he finished it," Kim replied, "but who knows how long that's gonna take? If he keeps on doing this for much longer ..."

"Then what?" Monique asked.

"I don't know? Should I pull the power cord?", Kim asked.

"You think that's gonna stop him? What if you argue and he goes back to playing?"

Kim ruffled her hair, moaning desperately, "Oh~ I don't know what to do, Monique!"

"What do his parents think about him doing that?"

"They don't even know!", Kim said. "They went on a trip with Hana the day we came back from Japan!"

"That stinks about as much as he does right now," Monique replied. "They could have really helped you."

"Wait," she then continued, "what about Rufus? What's Ron doing with him all the time?"

"I took Rufus with me yesterday," Kim said with him leaping out of her pants' pocket and crawling on her shoulder.

"Hi!" he squeaked, waving at Monique.

"Couldn't keep him there with Ron being a zombie right now."

"Uh, zombie!" Rufus squeaked, mimicking a Ron that with wide opened eyes was holding an imaginary controller.

Kim felt bad about the whole cutting-off-the-power thought. Still, she knew she should and would not wait any longer. Maybe I have another option, she thought, grining fiendishly while looking at a rack of dresses that gave her an idea. Monique then only gave off a "Huh?" not knowing any of Kim's thoughts.

Meanwhile at Drakken's ...

Since he had just recently done his youngest job at Global Justice the scientist returned with Shego to their lair. Only that by now it no longer looked like a villain lair. It still was his personal laboratory but there was a lot more comfort in it than before. Almost like a big apartment. Just for crazy people.

"It's been a while since we've heard something from Possible," Shego said when she approached the Doctor. She wasn't even wearing her Go-outfit. A light-green blouse with a black skirt and green heels made her look as casual as could be and gave an even more normal life style-vibe off. If only there wasn't Drakken wearing his lab coat standing in a circle of mad machinery clashing with that picture.

"Ah, Shego! You're back!", Drakken said with his back turned to her.

"Dr. D., I thought leaving the Global Justice headquarters would distract you from work. Haven't you done so much lately?"

"For Global Justice, Shego!" her boss replied. "This one's purely for my own academic interest!"

"Oh really?" she asked. Any other person would have approached him to check what he was doing. Not her though. Shego didn't care in the slightest which crazy invention was sitting before the doctor. Instead she placed the stuff she brought with her on the next table.

Hearing the sounds of machines and the motivated humming a slight impulse of interest did actually overcome her. Since she developed these for her truly confusing feelings for Drakken her interest in his work at least slightly increased. Not so much though to actually break with her traditions. Just when she thought for a mere second how she could go to him, asking, "And what is it you're doing?" she already shook the idea out of her head.

Am I a stupid schoolgirl or what? Get your act together, Shego! she thought. She knew approaching him did not suit her. And she would not allow her feelings to make her change in such a, as she thought, silly way. She already had trouble with the fact that she got a lot more nervous around him occasionally so being a nervous schoolgirl was too much. After all the interest was not even supposed to be for those inventions but Drakken himself so it would also have made a false impression.

As Shego realized that she already was thinking way too long for her own taste about those things while looking at him, she said, "I'll be in my room."

"Alright, Shego!"

Then she left with her stuff.

Am I thinking more about this than he is? she thought. It really seemed so odd to her that not even after a few months Drakken spoke with her about it. She very well remembered how they looked at each other during the ceremony. But now she began to wonder if she misinterpreted his gaze and that it meant something completely different than her own.

If only she had known that Drakken was thinking about it as well.

All the time.

When Ron was finally done with what he explained his girlfriend he took a breather. Taking another look at at the screen then he saw another message popping up:

Secret Stage unlocked!

"Well," Ron hesitated, "Kim's not here. Maybe I can get it finished before she arrives."

Little did he know it was his Kim that would get ready at home. Putting on a certain dress that Ron already was familiar with she wanted to speed up Ron's departure from his console. She did now know how long it would take Ron and neither did she know he deliberately chose this new secret mode but she was just too impatient to wait for him to keep his word.

As she had a key to his house she used it just like the last times she had to do. This is definitely gonna work, she thought. It was the same black dress that made Ron speechless once before but back then she was not even the master of her own feelings. Occasionally she wore it when they went out after that but she knew standing like that before him could still do the trick. Slowly she approached his door then only to not find him there.

"Huh? But where?" she asked herself. Then she heard some noise coming out of the kitchen.

"Huh, odd. Didn't even hear him in there."

When she was on her way to him they crossed paths. Ron was holding his next rations for the next few hours in his hands.

"KP?" he asked.

"Hey, Ron," she said with one arm on her hips and in a pose that would put more emphasis on the seductive, totally un-kimmish tone. Nothing but pure femininity and pheromones were at work. "What's the sitch?"

Ron looked at Kim. "I, uh ..." he responded after a loss of words, losing half of the rations by suddenly sacrificing them to the great floor, captivated by the sight of his girlfriend and now standing there with his mouth open just lengthening the 'uh' as if he was malfunctioning. Kim had an almost once again fiendish grin on her face now that she saw her plan come to fruition. Yeah, that's right, Ron, she thought.

Kim enjoyed this moment of victory. As much as she loved her boyfriend for telling her how stunning she looked, she knew she was far from ugly. And putting emphasis on that was what she would have no problem with if it helped her shifting Ron's attention to her. Same Ron could not understand what was going on. He suffered from massive sleep deprivation and the only thing he had in his mind was his game. Until this point at least. Step by step a little Kim in a black dress countered all the Z-Boy moves and crashed all levels to single-handedly invade his mind and claim it hers.

"Wow, Kim", he then said, "That is - wow, you look beautiful. Like, for real."

Kim loved every moment of this. As much as she anticipated it, as much as she hoped for that exact reaction, she just could not help but feel flattered. She was a human being. She needed attention from time to time. And also nice things that were said about her. No matter if she had already heard them before. Especially from Ron.

"Think you're free now?"

Rufus took the opportunity to eat some of the stuff that had fallen out of Ron's hands before Ron would eventually pick it up from the ground and eat himself – the mole rat would not have put that possibility beyond Ron at least, no matter how much sleep he had or how distracted he was by Kim, after all it was still Ron. When Kim asked her last question though and Ron's brain had serious loading issues once more, the mole rat kicked his best friend's leg.

"Ouch!"

Ron looked at Rufus on the ground. His animal friend looked at him with a scolding gaze like he wanted to ask "Seriously, man?" Then the boy looked back at his girlfriend.

"Well?" Kim wanted to know. Her fiendish, joyous grin had yet to disappear.

"Of course!" Ron then replied.

Kim had won. Even if it was just for a brief moment right before she confronted him, no matter the confidence she had, she still had to doubt her femininity would be weaker than Ron's games. But she got her act together and was rewarded for it.

Quickly Ron turned off the console in his room and threw away the waste of days. "Wait, I'll go take a shower," he told his girlfriend. Kim could not have been happier. The moment he disappeared into the bathroom her single smile got accompanied by a silent dance in place.

You still got it, Kim! Good to know this works without the mood chip's influence! she then thought and pranced down the hallway as well as the stairway victoriously to wait for him in the living room.

Back at Drakken's lair

It was late in the afternoon when Shego left her room. Drakken was still working. "Hey, Dr. D.," she tried to talk to him, "you think we should go fetch something to eat?"

Nothing came back from him. Shego got mad. The green energy started enveloping her hands and she was really in the mood to break something with it, especially as that would surely draw away his attention. And alarm went off before she had the chance. "Danger! Danger!" a robotic female voice said "Threat detected! Threat tier: Shego."

Drakken turned to Shego and out aside the stuff he was busy with. The protection glasses he just wore were also laid to rest.

"Threat level She- Doc, what in the world is that nonsense now?!" she asked and rose her head wondering where what voice might come from while not calming her energy once more triggering the alarm.

"Hehe, good, right? I recently installed it. We've never had an intruder alert like this. It scales every potential problem that might occur here and warns from it."

"And I am a threat tier?!" she asked with her voice risen.

"No, you are THE threat tier! Only two people could reach that level: You and Possible. Well, I guess her goofy boyfriend now is on that level, too. I have not actually seen him do what you said as you might remember."

Shego was seemingly confused. On one hand she did not want a threat tier to be named after her. On the other hand she so much wanted a threat tier to be named after her.

"So, do you need something?" Drakken then asked her, now standing right next to her.

"Uhm," she said while her energy flames disappeard, "you want to take a break and mind if we get something to eat?"

The alarm turned itself off now.

"Yeah, sure, it's been quite a while since I had a bite," Drakken responded. This would be a good opportunity in Shego's eyes to maybe get him to talk about the whole thing. "Shall we grab something and eat here or eat somewhere else?" he then asked.

"Somewhere else?" Shego replied muddled.

"Alright then!"

"N-No, that's not what I-" Shego responded while Drakken was about to leave the room. It was not that Shego did not consider talking with him at another place but she did not really want other people around them when talking about something so private. Also the mere thought about eating somewhere in public and engaging in such a personal conversation made her think of it being more of something along the line of an official, real date. Which was the reason why she blushed for good 3 seconds before she shook it off. That was not what she wanted. Not right now and not for a talk that she would be about talking what all that between them even was and if Drakken was even interested in her. Maybe after that she would consider it.

"No, you know what, let's get something and then get back to eat here," she said following him.

Meanwhile in a restaurant ...

Kim and Ron had found a place to eat by now. It was not the restaurant they ordinarily went to since they could not get a free table so easily and short dated but the young woman was absolutely okay with it since all she really wanted was to spend some time with Ron. A while ago they were brought to one of the tables at the side of a relatively new trattoria they visited for the second time by now. The evening still was a good while away yet the sky was getting slightly dark but the lit candle on their table which was mostly meant for atmosphere would not let them lose sight of each other. Not that they would focus on anything else than their significant other in the first place.

What they had ordered just arrived through a waiter who seemed hardly older than them. Ron now too felt that having Kim around was something he definitely was missing the last days and Yori's present, no matter how much he cherished it would now be taken a long overdue break taken from for the person he cherished the most and that that was exactly how it should be.

"Remember the last time, how we found it?" he asked his girlfriend.

Kim giggled. "Sure," she said, "you were just too curious about Bonnie and Senior."

"Wha- I am pretty sure that curiosity came from you," Ron responded.

"Hm, might be," Kim said teasingly while holding his hand that he placed on the table. A while ago they saw Bonnie and her boyfriend walking down they streets and Kim could not help herself but just had to know what they were doing. When they followed the other couple they had seen them vanish into that trattoria. "What are you doing?" Kim asked Ron back then when he wanted to open the door. All he had to say was a very typical "Uh, I'm hungry." That was when he also entered the restaurant only for Kim to follow him. Bonnie spotted them immediately since the moment the other couple appeared the owner joyously announced "Dios mio, Señorita Kim Possible! How nice of you to visit us!" Both women were not too pleased that day. But they did not speak a word with each other and very sitting very far apart from each other. Now though there was no Bonnie. Only her and Ron.

For a while they talked. It did not matter to them about what, therefore so many topics got sliced. Stories about what Kim and Bonnie, their last trip to Japan and things that happened long ago during their time as high schoolers were re-awoken. This went on for over an hour, then Kim's "by the way, Bonnie and I" was interrupted by a faint beep. It was her Kimmunicator wristwatch. She did not want to have it around her wrist during the date but she had it in a handbag just in case so while looking at the bag, then at Ron and finally back at the bag she took it out with a sad sigh. Ron just gave her a reassuring look.

"What's the sitch, Wade?" she asked.

"Hey, Kim. There has – wait, you look great today. Are you at an event or something?"

Kim looked at Ron, regretfully twisting her mouth. She did not look much different from what she looked like in general when she was out with Ron but they were lucky enough that Wade did not interrupt a date to often. And this time she actually did look a bit more fancy as she wanted to express how she felt about this day. All the more hard for her to get this response from Wade.

"Something like that, yeah," she replied.

"Oh, well, I'm sorry. Global Justice called, they are still on the line. It is urgent."

"Alright, get them through, Wade," Kim told him. Moments later Wade's video transmission was replaced by Betty's. "Miss Possible, how are you doing tonight?" she wanted to know.#

"Great – so far, thanks," Kim said very well knowing that this could change in an instant.

"I'm sorry if its not a good time but we really need your assistance. I want to ask you to come to our headquarters in twenty minutes."

"Okay, we'll be there," Kim said and ended the call after Betty's swift "thank you."

Now Kim and Ron looked at each other. And how much more did they now appreciate the last hour.

They just changed their clothes and drove to the HQ. When they were brought to Betty's office they noticed they were not alone. Drakken and Shego both in their for Kim and Ron too familiar clothes stood there. And while Drakken looked pretty indifferent Shego just grined when she saw Kim.

The door closed behind the couple.

"Welcome, Team Possible," Betty said to the couple.

"Thanks, Dr. Director. So, what's the sitch?" Kim wanted to know. She had no idea what to make of Drakken and Shego being here despite already knowing that they did indeed work together with the NGJ.

"I want to ask the four of you to fly to St. Petersburg, Together."

"What?!" Kim and Ron asked synchronously and absolutely puzzled.

"Dr. Drakken and Miss Go are already informed. Oh, and he will join you, too." she said when the door opened again.

"Who will?" Ron asked. Even Drakken and Shego looked like they had no idea.

"It appears we meet a lot these days," another voice said.

Kim and Ron steps aside to look behind them. Everyone's gaze now focused at the man.

"Let's get this over with, shall we?" Clyde said with his unreadable smile.