Taradise

Taradise is the het ship between Ron Stoppable and Tara the cheerleader from Disney Channel’s Kim Possible.

Canon
Initially, Ron Stoppable and Tara had little interaction with each other. Though both were students and classmates at Middleton High School, they did not talk much and kept to themselves. This started to change after Ron joined the school’s cheer-team, which Tara was a cheerleader in, becoming the team’s mascot. Unlike the rest of the cheerleaders excluding Kim, Ron’s best friend and the main character/namesake of the series, Tara accepted Ron. This stemmed from her sweet and gentle personality, unlike most of the other cheerleaders who were stuck-up and disliked Ron because of his lack of popularity and social standing in school. Also, unlike most of the others, particularly Bonnie Rockwaller, Tara was not at all annoyed by Ron’s clumsiness, silliness, and awkward personality. Instead she found him to be funny and his antics to be cute. Eventually, her fondness for Ron developed into a crush, one which Ron was largely unaware of due to his partly clueless personality.

One day, the squad departed Middleton in order to take part in a cheerleading competition outside of town. Though they did not sit together on the bus, Tara sat on a seat close to Ron’s, who was sitting all the way in the back away from the cheerleaders. While Ron’s antics, such as his mad-dog mascot mask that releases foam, annoyed and angered the other girls, Tara, though bothered, refused to ridicule Ron and instead merely made gentle smiles for when he did it. Later, when Ron realized and panicked that they were on the road to Camp Wannaweep, the summer camp where he endured traumatic suffering as a child, Tara showed concern for him. Suddenly, the bus they were riding on blew its front tires flat nearly causing it to crash. When none of the girls’ cellphones were able to get a signal, Mr. Barkin, the bus driver and principal, ordered Ron to lead the way to the camp’s pay phone. Excited about being able to call the shots for once, Ron excitedly informed everyone of the dangers of the camp and that everyone should follow his lead. Though Tara was placed a bit off by his statements, she did not argue and agreed to follow him. After he led the squad to the phone, which was out of order, Tara started becoming creeped out by the eerie setting of the camp and slightly panicked. She started gossiping how they were in a horror movie scenario in which a monster stalks them and picks them off one by one. Though the other cheerleaders dismiss these claims, Ron supports Tara in her assessment, due to the drama he suffered at the camp. When Ron explains about how much he was bullied by the other campers, Tara was instantly shocked at their cruelty and displayed great sympathy for Ron. With the phone not working and no way to leave the camp, the squad decides to reluctantly make the best of the night and stay at the camp. Ron then leads the nervous cheer-squad to fire area to rest.

Once the squad sets the fire and gathers around it Ron starts telling campfire stories. Unfortunately, all of them are about his miserable experiences at the camp, which annoy all the others. Tara however, is the only interested in his stories and pays close attention to them with excitement. She also starts to believe Ron’s claims about the camp being possibly cursed, and shivering at the thought of it. Seeking comfort, Tara decides sit next to Ron on one of the seating logs. In order forget the creepiness of the camp, she asks Ron to tell her more of his time at the camp. Being close to Ron and hearing of his experiences causes Tara to lighten up and she returns to her usual peppy personality. After Kim and Barkin leave to find more firewood, Tara attempts to lighten Ron up as well.

Now more calm and no longer bothered by the camps eerie setting, she tells Ron that she finds Camp Wannaweep to rather nice. Though Ron is stunned and somewhat irked by this, he listens as Tara goes on about her fondness for the nature around them. She also points out how peaceful Lake Wannaweep looks. When Ron begins to tell the story of the lake and his old camp bully Gil Mos, the other girls whale in misery over having to listen to another story. This leaves Tara baffled, as she is quite interested in hearing what he has to say, further showing how she, unlike her squad-mates, doesn’t find Ron to be annoying. Soon after Kim returns but without Barkin. When Kim reveals that he disappeared after she heard some strange noises in the woods, Tara starts to panick. The situation gets worse when two of the cheerleaders, Liz and Marcella, who went together to the porta potties together suddenly start screaming. When Kim and Ron go to help them, they find the girls missing and a mysterious footprint that is clearly not human. Ron then takes the remaining cheerleaders to his old cabin, Cabin 13, which he would often use to escape his tormentors at the camp. Once inside, it is clear that Tara sees Ron as a source of comfort; his leadership and confidence makes her feel safe, thus causing her crush on him to grow. When Tara tells Ron that she is hungry, Ron shows the squad his old secret stash of chips that he hid under the cabin’s floorboards. While Kim rightly points out that the chips are ancient and thus expired Tara still tries one. Though it is clear she finds its taste disgusting, she attempts to be nice to Ron by saying “it’s not so bad; it’s definitely food material”. This shows that she does not want to offend Ron in any way and how she attempts to make the best of any situation.

Soon though, Barkin’s voice can be heard screaming in the forest. Kim and Ron leave the cabin to help him while Tara, Bonnie, Hope, Crystal, and Jessica stay at the cabin. Right after they leave however, the mysterious creature that has been stalking them breaks into the cabin, brining the captured Liz and Marcella with him. Expunging hug amounts of green slime from its mouth and arms, the creature attacks the cornered cheerleaders. By the time Kim, Ron, and Barkin, who is covered in green slime, arrive back at the cabin, they watch its outer layer destroy by the creature. With the inside now visible, Ron, Kim, and Barkin are horrified to find all the cheerleaders stuck to walls or hanging from the ceiling as they are covered in the monster’s green slime. Before noticing the creature, Ron can be seen briefly looking at Tara as she is bound to the cabin’s walls by the slime, showing that he cares about her and has concern for her safety. It is then revealed that the creature is actually Gil Moss, Ron’s old camp bully who blames him for his mutation after they exchanged each other’s swimming in the polluted lake for arts-and-crafts. After sticking Kim and Barkin to nearby trees, Gill also reveals that so long as his muck makes contact with their skin, they too will turn into mutants like him, much to their horror and discomfort.

When Gill attacks Ron, he makes a brake for it. Using a hidden trap door under the cabin’s floorboards, he makes a clean escape without getting any slime on him. This infuriates the stuck cheerleaders who claim that he is ditching them. Out of all of them, Tara is most angry, bordering on furious. Bound to pole of one of the double-beds with her wrists and midriff completely covered in slime, Tara furiously denounces her crush as “ditcher”. This showing of anger contrasts with Tara’s previous skittish personality, in which she would have panicked and shivered from being in such a terrifying situation. This is because due to being seemingly abandoned by someone she had feelings for, Tara becomes so mad that she sheds any fear she has left, and makes her more strong willed. When Gill returns after failing to catch to Ron, Tara can be seen watching him with a clear look of defiance and anger on her face, no longer skittish like she was before. This shows that how hurt she was by Ron’s supposed betrayal and how her anger caused her to overcome her fears. When it seems that Ron truly is leaving them behind by using a motorboat on the lake, Tara’s look of anger increases as she silently curses Ron for leaving her behind.

Luckily however, Ron manages to defeat Gill when the mutant teen chases after him again. Calling for help after this, Ron is able to get a hazmat team to arrive at the camp where they free the squad from the slime and take Gill away to prison until they can find a cure for his condition. Having been saved from being turned into a mutant, Tara forgives Ron for seemingly abandoning them and her crush on him only intensifies now that he has rescued her. After all the other cheerleaders thank Ron for saving them, seemingly developing crushes on him themselves, Tara arrives to thank him as well. With her feelings for him stronger than ever, Tara gives Ron a gentle and loving kiss on his right cheek before shyly walking away with a smile on her. Happily surprised by her kiss, Ron stares at Tara with a lovesick look on his face as she shyly away. It is implied that they even were taken back home in the same police car together after.

Fanon
Though Ron does end up being with his childhood friend Kim at the end of the series, Tararise is still a popular ship among the series’s fans. Many of whom note the strong chemistry between the two characters.

On AO3, the ship has 17 romantic fanfics and only one gen fic.

Fandom
FANFICTION