Buried
by Fabius Maximus is a Kim Possible Dark Deconstruction Fic, showing what would happen if Kim went up against a Pragmatic Villain who wouldn't hesitate to hurt a child — especially if said child is an A-class world-famous crime-fighting hero.
Kim is swiftly defeated, and locked up in a coffin that is then buried in a cemetery.
However, Dr Drakken and Shego take issue with said villain's actions, and split up to help Kim — with Drakken going directly to the cemetery to dig up her coffin, while Shego alerts Kim's family and the authorities.
Even though Kim is freed just in time, the trauma she went through haunts her for a long time afterwards... with disastrous results.
Buried is the first part of a completed trilogy.
The second story is The Chrusanthemum and the Sword, and the final part of the trilogy is Fire and Darkness.
Warning for spoilers below, just in case anyone wants to read the stories without having the big, dramatic moments spoiled for them.
Tropes:
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Buried
- Adaptational Badass: In this story, Ron is all but said to be Kim's equal in combat when the situation calls for it. It's just too bad that when he's forced to face a psychotic Kim in combat, the combat drugs she has taken also drastically increases her body's physical strength...
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Given that the story was written before Season 4, the less savoury aspects of Ron's parents (never consulting or alerting him on life-changing decisions at all, along with their Parental Obliviousness and tendency to treat him as an afterthought) are non-existent in the trilogy.
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Kim screams and tearfully begs her assailant to release her from the coffin. She's entirely within her rights to do so — dying by being locked up in a coffin and Buried Alive is not a pleasant way to go.
- Bittersweet Ending: Ron prevents Kim from either being locked up in jail or detained in a psychiatric ward indefinitely, but they are both now fugitives who are on the run from the law — and Kim's mental state is at an all-time low.
- Break the Cutie: Buried is one long, painful ordeal for poor Kim.
- Bullying a Dragon: The Jerk Jocks at the school taunt Ron over Kim's condition, failing to take into account that he has accompanied Kim on all of her missions up to that point, and fought henchmen and supervillains and often came out on top. Ron promptly and deservedly hands them their asses.
- Buried Alive: Kim in the very first chapter. It takes a complete toll on her mental health.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Just because Ron Stoppable is the goofy sidekick to Kim Possible does not at all mean that he should not be taken seriously. Months of going on world-saving missions has honed him into a fighter on par with Kim — it's just that Ron's too much of a Mellow Fellow to apply his martial skills until after Kim has been completely and utterly traumatized.
- Dark Fic: Buried deconstructs the usual Harmless Villain trope that is prevalent among the show's villains, and pits Kim up against someone who is perfectly willing to use horribly cruel methods to kill a world-famous teen superhero. The brutal and humiliating defeat takes a significant toll on Kim's psyche and she turns to drugs to try and cure her problem. Meanwhile, Ron's own psyche is strained by the school bullies taunting him over Kim's condition, and it's then made very clear that partaking in extreme missions around the world with Kim has made Ron into his own caliber of badass, and he very nearly kills the school bullies out of anger.
- Deconstruction Fic: This fic deconstructs several aspects of the show.
- The first one is the Harmless Villain. The fic starts out with an up and coming supervillain trapping Kim in a coffin and burying her, cutting a deal with Drakken over it. Drakken and Shego are both shown to be appalled at this and save Kim before she dies, considering how for how much they try to take over the world the two have never been shown as willing to subject their archenemies to such a horrible way to die.
- The Kid Hero trope is deconstructed. The kinds of dangers and perils that Kim and Ron face on a daily basis are shown to not do any wonders for their mental states. Things only get worse for Kim when she starts taking combat drugs to try and stifle her nightmares.
- Ron's status as a Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass. Before the whole ordeal, Ron was just entirely content with being a Mellow Fellow, even if he was treated like an outcast by most of society. But the distress he feels when Kim gets traumatized is pushed over the edge by the school bullies, and it's quickly shown that all the time spent crime-fighting with Kim has honed him into a considerable fighting machine of his own — and he nearly kills said bullies with the brutality of his pent-up rage.
- Everyone Has Standards: Bonnie doesn't seek to harass Kim when the latter shows clear signs of PTSD. And when Kim goes on a psychotic rampage due to the effects of the drugs she was taking, Bonnie willingly vouches in Kim's favour.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Drakken and Shego are disgusted at the man who buried Kim alive and kill him as soon as they learn of Kim's location. Afterwards, they alert Kim's family and loved ones of the situation so they can save her.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Played With. Kim's kidnapper assumed that Drakken would be pleased to learn that his Arch-Enemy was locked in a coffin to die a slow and painful death. Instead Drakken has Shego kill him after they learn where Kim is buried and alert her loved ones so they can save her together.
- Exact Words: Drakken assures Kim's kidnapper that he will never have to work again if he tells him Kim's location. After the kidnapper gives the information, Shego kills him.
- Kid Hero: Deconstructed. The kinds of dangers and perils that Kim and Ron face on a daily basis are shown to not do any wonders for their mental states. Things only get worse for Kim when she starts taking combat drugs to try and stifle her nightmares.
- Killed Offscreen: The bastard who buried Kim alive doesn't even last past the first chapter, with Shego and Drakken hunting him down for what he did to Kim. His death isn't shown directly, only indicated by Wade noticing blood on Shego's hands when she and Drakken arrive at his house to inform him of where Kim is.
- Shameful Strip: Though not explicitly detailed, the narrative gives just enough detail to let the audience know that the unnamed mercenary villain who defeated Kim then proceeds to strip her clothes from her and molests her before locking away her naked body in a coffin.
- Tears of Fear: Kim breaks down completely once her coffin is lowered into the ground, tearfully begging for mercy from her attacker, and screaming her voice hoarse for someone, anyone, to help her.
The Chrysanthemum and the Sword
- Adaptational Badass: Monkey Fist is far more dangerous, lethal and cruel than he ever was on the show.
- Fair-Weather Friend: As Shego bitterly notes, a lot of the more high-profile people Kim helped are quick to denounce her following her fugitive status.
- Heel–Face Turn: Most of Kim's regular foes, shaken by what happened to her, have opted not to continue their criminal activities, at least until Kim is well enough to take them on again.
- Oh, Crap, There Are Fanfics of Us!: While recovering at Yamanouchi, Kim and Ron discover that someone had created a Doujinshi manga based on their adventures. Among other things; Ron is depicted as carrying a BFG and rescuing a very well-endowed Kim, while Shego is depicted as a demoness who has fallen in love with Mr. Barken.
- Only in It for the Money: Shego claims that she's only doing things like decommissioning the nukes Monkey Fist stole and busting a major child trafficking ring because it pays well. Ron isn't buying it, pointing out that Shego has helped him and Kim far more than she had any obligation to, all for free. Shego admits he's not completely wrong, but she points out that if you make a habit of playing the hero for free, it makes it easy for people to take advantage of you.
- Relationship Upgrade: By the end of the second book Kim and Ron become lovers. Kim's dad is initially upset to learn this but her mother, knowing that Ron is the reason that Kim is alive and sane after her ordeal, is overjoyed.
- Verbal Tic: And an unwanted one at that. While still recovering from and processing her trauma, Kim unintentionally develops a stutter reflex when she speaks. The more stressed she is, the more convulsive her stuttering gets.
Fire and Darkness
- 10-Minute Retirement: At the start of the story Kim has decided to stop her hero work and turn herself in to the authorities. Once she learns about Monkey Fist's plan, she reluctantly agrees to be a hero one last time to take him on.
- Easily Forgiven: After Kim and Ron save the world from Monkey Fist's schemes, the U.S. Government gives them a full pardon.
- Hate Plague: Whatever Monkey Fist did causes one of these, making all adults act more and more aggressive, paranoid, and irrational as time goes on.
- Killed Off for Real: Monkey Fist.
- Lovecraft Lite: Whatever power Monkey Fist is channeling has elements of this.
- Survival Mantra: In order to ward off the Hate Plague's effects. Ann Possible starts mentally reciting the Hippocratic Oath.
