Chapter 26

The sun hung high in the mid-day sky over the thick jungles of Central Africa. It was the type of summer day in which everything appeared in a haze, shimmering the way a desert mirage would, just before turning back into a sand dune. The sky was bright blue, without a cloud in sight, as if the clouds themselves wanted nothing to do with the heat.

The floor of the jungle wasn't any cooler, despite the shade provided by the various trees and vines. The air was thick with humidity, and strangely enough, electricity. A small clearing suddenly crackled and popped with electrical energy, sending monkeys scurrying away, screeching as they fled. A glowing white ball of energy appeared roughly two meters off the ground, before rapidly expanding with a loud pop. Just before the energy ball vanished it unceremoniously dropped one Green Lantern down to the ground.

"Yeah, ouch." Lantern muttered rubbing the back of his head. He opened his eyes and sat up, staring straight at a medium sized howler monkey. Lantern smiled, "are you John Connor?"

The monkey's response was an ear-piercing howl as he began to jump up and down in place. The monkey then turned away from the Green Lantern and bounded away, up a tree, howling the whole time.

"Hmm, maybe he is John Connor." Lantern chuckled as he stood up and began to dust himself off, before dubbing the efforts futile. His uniform was torn in several places and blood stained in several more. A little jungle dirt was the least of his concerns.

'Looks like I'm in the right where, I just need to figure out when I am.' Lantern thought as he floated off the ground, heading towards the canopy of treetops above him. He navigated his way through the thick branches and vines. He gave a wave to John Connor and several other hooting monkeys as he passed them.

Lantern burst through the trees and into the sky. Sweat immediately began to bead on his brow as he surveyed the jungle in all directions. He didn't have exact coordinates to give Wally, just a general location and a time period, which meant he could be miles away from where he wanted to be.

"A ridge." Lantern muttered, thinking back to the last time he was in this jungle. He began to fly in a circular pattern, moving outward from his current location. In a way Lantern found it strange, drawing on memories that he didn't have four days ago. On the other hand, strange was starting to become run of the mill ever since he slid that ring onto his finger. "And speaking of strange…"

Lanterns search came to a satisfying conclusion as he spotted the large stone monkey head staring out over the jungle from its perch. He floated down towards the clearing, making sure to stay out of sight near the treetops. Once he found a nice vantage point Lantern began surveying the area. He wanted to wait until the villains showed up, so he could destroy every piece of the Tempus Simia. Through the lenses of construct binoculars he spotted a small aircraft parked at the edge of the clearing, near the temple. He was about to move towards the temple when the sound of breaking branches behind him captured his attention.

"Ron?" The voice drifted up to Green Lantern soon after he heard a loud thud.

"Sorry I'm late, this elephant totally copped a 'tude with me!"

'Yeah, this…this takes the strange cake right here.' Lantern thought to himself as he watched a younger version of himself brushing dirt from his clothes and apologizing to Kim.

"Ron, it's cool. You're right on time."

"Wow."

"The Tempus Simia Temple is just over that ridge." Kim said, pointing in the direction of the temple.

Kim took the lead, clearing a path with her machete. Ron, as he always did, fell in a step behind her. The two talked softly to each other the entire way, gabbing about school, tests, cheerleading, and Ron's hatred of all things Norwegian. Their banter suggested a lighthearted nature hike, not a mission to save the free world.

Lantern smiled as he floated above and behind them. He felt a longing for the good old days, back before magic rings, awesome responsibility, and deadlier villains. His longing faded into full on sadness as he watched Rufus scramble out of young Ron's pocket and onto his shoulder.

Lantern maintained his distance as he followed young Team Possible through the jungle and to the entrance of the monkey temple. Kim and Ron briefly discussed a game plan before they crept through the dark entrance. This left Green Lantern in a bit of a predicament. He had to destroy the idol, but he also had to stop Degaton.

If he destroyed the idol first, Degaton could just show up, then go back in time and get it before Lantern. But if he stopped Degaton, and Shego still got away with the idol, wouldn't the time stream be polluted? But hadn't she already used it to send his younger self to Norway?

"Holy crap." Lantern moaned, massaging his temples. "Man, I just want to go home. This time travel stuff is for the birds."

Still weighing his options, Lantern decided to position himself near the temple entrance. That way, he figured, he could keep an eye on the battle inside, and watch for Degaton outside.

Then, for the first time in what seemed like years, Green Lantern found luck on his side. Below him, heading towards the temple entrance, floating on his discs, was Degaton. The time traveling villain was clad in his black trench coat, and looked pleased with himself. This wasn't the power mad tyrant Lantern had just fought, but he would be if Lantern didn't stop him now.

The image of Courtney, bloodied, her arm broken, being held by Degaton filled Lanterns mind. It was time to end this all, before it could begin.

"Surprise asshole." Lantern said to himself as he reached back and sent a large construct star hurtling towards Degaton.

-GL-

Inside the temple Kim and Ron had decided against the stealth approach, opting instead to boldly walk in and declare their intentions. This had, of course, led to a fight. The twist to this particular fight was the game of keep away involving the upper half of the Tempus Simia.

"Booyah!" Ron cried as he caught the stone monkey head, sent his way by a kick from Kim. He took off running towards the sunlight entrance, only to have his path blocked by the sneering forms of Shego and Dr. Drakken.

Ron's eyes widened as he skidded to a halt. He gave a glance over his shoulder and tossed the monkey head to where he knew Kim would be.

"Nice toss!" Kim hollered as she snatched the piece from the air. She had seen Drakken and Shego moving to intercept Ron, and relocated herself as well. Monkey Fist was only a step behind however, as he leapt down in front of Kim.

With a grunt Kim heaved the idol back to Ron, who was now covered by Duff Killigan. The pass was on target and Ron caught it one handed, went behind his back in one motion, and sent the idol back to Kim.

The pass sailed over Monkey Fist and right into Kim's waiting hands. Just as she caught it, she sent it back in the air. Monkey Fist and Duff Killigan both dashed to the idols likely landing spot. They both arrived before the idol, and like a pair of unskilled outfielders chasing down a fly ball they crashed into each other.

With a grin Ron caught the idol, rolling it down one outstretched arm, behind his neck, and down the other arm. Still grinning, he rolled it back up to his top arm, only to find Drakken standing in front of him, arms crossed with a disapproving look on his face.

Ron's grin only widened as he tossed the idol over his head and kicked it right back over his head and over a surprised Drakken. This time it was Rufus who caught the piece, and now it was his turn to show off. The mole rat spun the idol on his head before dropping to his back and kicking the idol through the legs of Drakken and back to Ron.

The dysfunction of the loose band of villains was apparent. Moments before Team Possible had crashed the party, the villains had been arguing over who should have the honor of holding the Tempus Simia together as the right time came and its magic powers were unleashed.

Now, despite their numbers, they were being beaten in a game of keep away by a duo that exuded teamwork. Kim and Ron dashed about the temple with the fluidity of a well-oiled machine. They displayed the type of chemistry only found in a relationship like theirs. A friendship built from the playground up, and strengthened in the halls of middle school and high school. In the places where gossip, cliques, and relationships tear many friendships asunder, theirs only grew. It was a friendship that was solidified as life long when they began saving the world on a regular basis

-GL-

The construct star caught Degaton off guard, and square in the back. It knocked him off his flying discs, and sent him face first into the jungle floor.

"You?" Degaton yelled as he rolled over to face his attacker. "What are you doing here?"

"Stopping you from getting that time monkey." Lantern answered as he floated over, dropping construct anvils on the floating discs, destroying them.

"How could you know about the Tempus Simia?" Degaton demanded, narrowing his eyes at GL. "No matter, I suppose…"

Degaton quickly jammed his hand into the folds of his tunic and produced a red and black pistol. He opened fire on Green Lantern, who created a construct shield. The shield was circular and featured a design like a no smoking sign, but with Degaton's face in place of the cigarette.

Lantern angled the shield so the energy blasts from Degatons' pistol ricochet away to the right. The blasts were powerful enough to shatter rocks and splinter trees, but Lantern was having no trouble blocking them.

"I've been to the future Degaton." Lantern growled as he began to angle his shield so that the deflected blasts were getting closer to Degaton. "I'll be perfectly honest, I really didn't like what you did with the place."

Degaton saw what Lantern was doing and ceased his firing. He scrambled to his feet and charged GL, regretting the maneuver immediately. Lantern dropped his shield and met Degatons' charge head on. He grabbed Degaton by the front of his tunic and went flying forward. There were roughly fifteen feet of space in between where the pair started and the entrance to the temple. Lantern covered the space in the blink of an eye, forcefully slamming his foe into the front wall of the temple, right next to the entrance.

Degaton yelped in agony as he crashed into the wall with enough force to crack the ancient stone. He opened his eyes to find Green Lanterns face inches from his own.

"You killed a lot of my friends." GL hissed. "What you did to the girl I love…tell me why I shouldn't kill you and leave you in this temple for the archaeologists."

"Because none of that happened you idiot." Degaton wheezed through the pain. "But it will!"

Degaton began to laugh, an action that was quickly stopped as Lantern delivered a hard right cross to his jaw. Degaton spit blood on the front of Green Lanterns uniform and smiled.

"So you've stopped me today. I'll just come back another time and get the idol. We both know you aren't going to kill me. But you'll wish you had someday. Someday when I make my way back here, and make all of time mine to manipulate. When I make you watch all the unspeakable things I'll do to Courtney…"

"Don't you dare speak her name!" Lantern yelled, punching Degaton again.

It took Degaton a moment longer, but he began to laugh again.

"We'll have a party. You and Pat Dugan, and all those ageless buffoons that treat her like a daughter. I'll invite Dr. Light. Not many people know what he's really capable of. But…"

"You son of a bitch!" Lantern growled. He cocked his fist back to deliver another blow to Degatons' face, when something from just inside the temple caught his attention.

"Ya know in this light, you're kinda cute."

It was his younger counterpart speaking to Shego, who had him pinned to the temple floor. Even though this particular mission happened a few years back, the memory of it was only a little more than a day old. Which meant Lantern knew exactly what was coming next.

Lantern turned back to Degaton, who was fighting to stay conscious.

"I'll be back for you." Lantern said as he brought several rocks floating over to him with his ring. He smashed the rocks into Degatons' wrists and ankles. He then used his ring to fuse the rocks to the temple wall. "I think that will hold you, but just to be safe…goodnight."

Lantern delivered one final haymaker, sending a couple of Degatons' teeth flying, as well as sending Degaton himself to dream land.

Lantern zipped into the temple, ready to put an end to his time traveling days.

"'Scuse me Duff." Lantern said as flew past the portly putter, who had just knocked the head of the Tempus Simia idol out of the air before Kim could catch it.

"Woah, what?" Kim Possible muttered as she watched the Green Lantern fly overhead. She had just broken into a slide to avoid being decapitated by Duff's golf swing. She rolled over and sprang to her feet, standing next to an equally confused Duff.

Monkey Fist stood atop a raised portion of the temple, where the body of the Tempus Simia sat. He raised his hands and caught the head, which had been perfectly delivered off the club of Duff Killigan.

Duff had delivered the head just in time for Monkey Fist to place the it on the body. The two parts had to be connected exactly at noon. Now, as the sun shone brightly down on him from an opening in the ceiling, Monkey Fist lowered the head and placed it on…a glowing green pillow.

"What! No!" Monkey Fist cried as the villainous smile faded from his face. He frantically pawed at the pillow, but it wouldn't budge.

"Sorry ugly, but I'm breaking up this reunion." Lantern said as he snatched the head out of Monkey Fists hands with a giant pair of construct tweezers.

"It can't be! I was so close! We had beaten Kim Possible!" Monkey Fist yelled as he looked up from the statue to the new hero who had crashed their party. "Who the…"

Fist's question was never finished, as the pillow on the idol body turned into a boxing glove on a spring. The glove shot upwards, connecting with Monkey Fists' jaw, knocking him off the platform, and onto the floor in an unconscious heap.

Kim looked on wide eyed as the Green Lantern stopped Monkey Fist from connecting the idol, then knocked the villain out, without moving from the spot he had floated since he burst in.

"Who's your friend lassie?" Duff asked over Kim's right shoulder. Kim responded by snapping her arm backwards. Her fist connected hard with Duffs nose, and with a crunch and a thud, Duff was disposed of.

Hearing the exchange, Lantern glanced over his shoulder at Kim. Lantern gave her a quick smile before turning around and heading towards the idol. Kim furrowed her brow at the strange familiarity of the smile.

"Shego, I think it might be wise if we took our leave now." Dr. Drakken whispered as he eased over to his sidekick.

"For once Dr. D, you are absolutely right." Shego responded, eyeing the Green Lantern suspiciously.

The two began creeping towards the exit, a task made easier by the fact that Kim seemed intently focused on the Green Lantern, who himself was focused on the pieces of the idol. The only thing that could prevent their escape was…

"The buffoon." Drakken moaned as Ron Stoppable placed himself between the villains and the exit. He stood with his hands on his hips, trying to look as heroic as he could.

"Thought you guys could sneak on out of here eh?" Ron asked. "Not while Ron Stoppable is, hey what are you doing? Oh, no…"

Ron could feel his big moment collapsing as Shego grabbed him by the front of the shirt. She pulled him close and gave him a smile before turning to Kim.

"Hey princess! You shouldn't take your eye off this one for too long, he might get hurt!"

"Ron!" Kim yelled as she turned away from the Green Lantern as Shego called out to her. "Let him go Shego!"

"No problem there Kimmie." Shego smiled.

"Whoa, hey, personal space!" Ron yelped as Shego reached down and grabbed Ron by the belt.

"I'll bet it is. Here you go Kimmie!"

With her grip on his belt and shirt, Shego easily lifted Ron into the air over her head. She took a couple of steps towards Kim, who was now charging towards Shego, and let Ron go.

"Ohhhh no! KP, look out!"

Kim skidded to a halt and tried to brace herself to catch Ron. He landed in her arms, but Kim couldn't maintain her balance. The two teens crashed to the floor in a heap as Shego and Drakken ran laughing out into the jungle.

Green Lantern shook his head and smiled. He had turned his head when Kim had called his name out. It was hard to describe the feeling of watching the sheer…Ronness of Drakken and Shego's escape. It felt to GL like watching an embarrassing home video. You know that it's you on the tape, but you barely recognize the person who shares your name and face.

"Hey hero, I appreciate the earlier assist, but maybe you could've, I dunno, stopped the bad guys from escaping?" Kim asked up to GL as she stood up and dusted herself off.

Lantern broke from his reminiscing and looked down at Kim, giving her a shrug.

"It doesn't matter." Lantern responded as he flew over and gathered up the two pieces of the Tempus Simia idol. Holding a piece in each hand, he floated down to the ground, just as Kim reached the basin of the platform.

"Doesn't matter?" Kim asked angrily. "Look, I don't know how you do things in the Justice League or whatever, but here in the real world, we usually try to capture the bad guys."

"What matters is that we got this idol." Lantern responded calmly.

"Ease off KP." Ron said as he came up beside his best friend. "Not only did we get the idol but we got Doof and Monkey Butt. Not bad for a days haul."

"You should listen to your friend." Lantern said, walking away from the pair and placing the pieces of the idol on the ground. "And like I said, it doesn't matter. At least it won't here in a couple of seconds."

"Wait, what are you doing?" Kim asked, glancing from GL to the idol.

"Well I'm going to use my ring here to make a giant hammer." Lantern responded, pointing to his ring. "Then I'm going to use the hammer to smash that idol."

"What! You can't do that! At least half of that belongs in a museum, and I'm sure they would be interested in the other half." Kim placed herself in between the idol and GL, crossing her arms.

"Look Indy, you don't understand. That thing has to be destroyed."

"Heh, Indy." Ron chortled, earning a glare from Kim.

"Kim, that thing has to be destroyed. It's a time traveling device that has already been used to alter the time stream. There are people who will stop at nothing to get it, people far more dangerous than anyone you and Ron have faced yet."

"Time travel? That's what this thing is all about?" Kim asked as she glanced back at the pieces of the idol. "Do you even know what will happen if you destroy this thing?"

"I have a pretty good idea, yeah."

Kim stared hard at the Green Lantern for several minutes. GL stood his ground, his gaze locked with her, while Ron glanced nervously between the two.

"You're from the future aren't you?" Kim finally asked.

"Yes."

"No way!" Ron cried, running up to GL. "What's it like? Do we have flying cars? Personal robots?"

"Uh, yeah. Not only that, but personal robots to fly our flying cars."

"Badical!" Ron cried. He reached into his pocket and pulled out Rufus. "Did you hear that little buddy? The future is gonna rock in stereo!"

Lantern looked after the pair sadly as Ron rattled on about the future and Rufus chattered excitedly.

"Look, Kim…" Lantern began as he turned back to Kim, who had picked up on something that bothered her about Green Lantern, but she couldn't place it. "I just want to go home."

"That idol was used by a very sick individual to turn the future into a very…unpleasant place. The only way to make sure that future never happens is by destroying the idol here, before the time steam gets too polluted."

"So by destroying the idol, everything gets put back to normal?" Kim asked, glancing over her shoulder at the idol again.

"Exactly. I get to go back to my time period, and flying car boy over there can stop eating meat cakes, and get back to devouring Bueno Nacho every day."

Kim raised an eyebrow at Green Lanterns statement, and studied him for another moment. Finally, with a small smile, she stepped aside and motioned towards the idol.

"I knew you'd come around." Lantern smiled.

"Well, you've got one of those faces a girl can trust." Kim said knowingly.

Lantern nodded and formed his construct hammer. With one last glance at his younger self and Rufus, he lowered the construct onto the idol, smashing both parts into innumerable pieces.

With a loud pop and the crackle of lighting the temple began to shake as a portal appeared above them.

"Are we going to remember any of this?" Kim shouted above the noise, even as she began to float towards the portal.

"We didn't last time!" Lantern yelled in response.

"Wait, last time?" Kim yelled before she was sucked into the worm hole.

"Later on future dude!" Ron called as he went zipping by. Rufus also chirped a goodbye, accompanied by a wave.

Lantern smiled and waved. He then began to fly up to the portal, anxious to go home. Much to his surprise however, the portal collapsed, pushing him back to the ground. Just as GL hit the ground the portal completely vanished. The air crackled with electricity for a moment afterwards, but Green Lantern had gone nowhere.

"No." Lantern mumbled. "No, this isn't possible! I destroyed the idol, I fixed time!"

Lantern scrambled to his feet and looked to where he had smashed the idol. There was nothing on the ground except for dust. The only sign that he had even broken the idol was a large crack in the floor where the construct hammer had landed. Panicked, Lantern glanced up to the platform. There was nothing there either. A scan of the temple revealed Monkey Fist and Duff Killigan were gone as well.

"I don't understand." Lantern mumbled. "I should be home. With Courtney, and Kim. Not stuck in the past."

"What am I still doing here?" Lantern yelled out, the question bouncing off the walls of the temple.

"That's exactly what I would like to know kid."

Lantern turned around to face whoever had come into the temple. If it were someone looking for a fight, he seriously felt bad for him or her right now. What he saw was one of the very last people he expected to see.

Another Green Lantern floated at the entrance of the temple. He was clad in the uniform that Ron had been given when he first put his ring on. He had short brown hair, which was just starting to show signs of gray at his temples. The Green Lantern lowered himself to the ground and walked towards Ron. He carried himself with an authority that bordered on arrogance, but not so much that he didn't command respect.

"Hal Jordan?" Ron breathed, his eyes wide behind his mask.

-To be continued...

-GL-

Hey everyone. First off, let me apologize for the long delay. Life's been a little turned around the last few months (in a good way), so it's been hard to sit down and write. Second, it means a lot to me all the people that messaged, emailed, or left reviews wondering about the status of this story. It's nice to know this story has a following that's still interested after all this time. I know this chapter is a little short, and I'm pretty sure I promised this would conclude the time travel story arc, but I wanted to get something out there for you all. I've started on the next half of this, but I don't want to keep you waiting any longer. So I hope everyone enjoys, sorry it's short, thanks for sticking with me, and I'll try to be a little quicker next time. Take care

-R