Chapter 25 – Best Friendship and Best Action/Adventure Awards
Shego watched Drakken throughout the intermission as he stared ahead into space, facemask hanging off one ear to reveal his frown. He seemed to have become more tense with each passing award, barely focusing on the show at all excepting when they had to present. She reached the short distance between them and took his hand, and when he looked at her with a raised brow she quirked a smile, her own mask already in her lap.
"What's eating you? It's about to be the best night of your life," she said encouragingly.
His expression softened and he gripped her hand. "Second-best. The first was—"
"Saving the world from aliens and having your genius recognized internationally?"
"Marrying you."
Shego's smile broadened into a smirk. "You're right. But seriously, what's bugging you?"
Drakken grimaced and his brow twisted in worry. "Are you sure all of these… 'distractions' are necessary?"
Shego blinked. "Adding a little color to the night was your idea to begin with. You changed your mind?"
"Well now it just feels tacky…"
"You wanted more recognition. And besides, Dr. Director said it will give those jewel thieves something else to worry about while she gets her Operation: whatever-it's-called set up."
"I don't want it to look like I'm making it all about me. I want recognition of my genius to come naturally," Drakken explained, releasing her hand to gesture broadly in his frustration. "No one even remembers that I saved the world anymore."
"I think they'll remember after tonight," Shego said, taking his hand again and drawing him back into his seat from where he'd leaned forward. "And I can think of other ways to get your name in the press if it doesn't happen naturally."
Drakken sobered then and shifted in his seat to face his wife. "Shego… What if…what if it doesn't work?"
Shego looked into the depths of his dark eyes before setting her other hand on his cheek and drawing him close to her as the lights dimmed and the music faded, the KP logo appearing back on the big screens.
"It will," she said in murmur as her lips met his in a long kiss that would certainly draw attention were the lights still up.
"And welcome back to the show!" BCB said when the song finally concluded. "Presenting our next award are two legendary writers and a legendary KP artist. Please welcome Whitem, Jimmy1201, and Hotrod2001!"
Whitem, Jimmy, and Hotrod all stepped onto the stage, the former standing out between the other two clad in black tuxedos in his Bermuda shorts and parka. When Sharper handed the winning envelope to Whitem, he looked around nervously for any portals that may appear. BCB poked him in the ribs as she handed the Golden Rufus to Hotrod.
"Everything's gonna be fine!" she hissed in his ear, though she was starting to wonder herself.
"Ahem…" Jimmy said, and the two hosts backed off to the wings. "Friendship exists in many forms, such as playing Everlot together, having a birthday sleepover..."
"Going out to the local Bueno Nacho," Whitem added.
"And in Kim and Ron's case, fighting crime!" Hotrod continued. "Tonight's nominees exemplify friendship in the creative ways our talented authors have come up with."
"And except for one story, it's a Drakgo sweep for nominations!" Jimmy looked up at the big screen. "Tonight's nominees for Best Friendship are..."
They Sing Your Heart's Desire by bcbdrums
It was enough to both help her regain her breath and a bit of energy, and also eased the burden on Drakken. He kept one arm hooked on one of hers and half-dragged her as he swam them back in the direction of the very small rock. After a minute, Shego started helping by kicking gently to propel her forward. She listened to Drakken's labored breaths with a mixture of gratitude and worry, grateful he was alive but worried that he himself may run out of energy trying to save them both.
"Almost there," Drakken gasped.
Shego gathered her strength and turned over to find they were about ten yards from the sun-lit black rock. She let go of Drakken and tried to swim on her own again. It proved to be a mistake as after only a few strokes she found herself struggling to keep her head above the water. She rolled back over as she spat saltwater out of her mouth and tried to get into another float. She felt Drakken's arm around her chest again and she helped by kicking as he pulled her the remainder of the distance to the rock.
"Climb up," he said as he found one of her hands and then placed it on the jagged surface.
She held on tightly, but her body felt like lead as she tried to push herself up out of the water onto the steep surface. She rested her cheek on the rough rock and focused only on breathing.
"Shego."
Random Tales of Drakgo by Gothicthundra (excerpt from Ch 101)
"Hmm," Drakken zoned back into the conversation. "Oh, not much. It was late and she wanted to go home."
"I don't think she liked it then," smirked Shego., "Better be careful, Sweets might think you have feelings for me or something... You'll end up poisoned and drugged."
Drakken had a moment of panic at Shego's words for a series of reasons he couldn't pinpoint to exactness. Shego was looking at him intently. He rolled his eyes.
"Her and I have talked about that," stated Drakken.
There was silence.
"I heard," said Shego. "Just because you told her there's nothing going on between us...doesn't mean she believes it... I just don't want a repeat of her trying to bond with me or worse...trying to get rid of me or something."
Drakken stiffened and glanced at Shego. She was looking at the tree and Drakken thought of another concern and decided to voice it...but cautiously.
"Yes, well...she knows you are my partner and valued friend," said Drakken. He watched Shego shift and nod. "And that you're not going anywhere."
She nodded again.
The SheGhost in My Lair by sammisue (excerpt from Ch 2)
Drakken lifted his head from the pile of chicken scratch. He peered over the mini-diorama of his-quote, unquote-"latest AND greatest invention yet" as a thin piece of blue paper detached from the oils of his forehead and delicately landed in his lap.
Under normal circumstances, the abrasive clamor would have alarmed him-would have forced him out of the comfort of his chair to save the airborne devices from settling into their new home on the hardened floor of his lair. But these weren't, what he'd consider, "normal circumstances"-not since that she-ghost. . . thing decided to follow him home.
"Must you always destroy my toys?"
A brief pause, a period of quiet tranquility, was far too brief-interrupted by a piercing scratch of metal-on-metal, followed by a familiar BANG as the mini-model of his hand-held laser scattered to pieces on the floor.
Her soft chuckle found its mischievous way to his ears, carried by the faint breeze that passed him.
Sick Day by split-n-splice
"More?" Shego rasped, and his eyes darted back to her holding out the empty bowl with a hopeful puppydog pout. Drakken complied, a small smile brought to his lips at her mousey, "Love you."
"Now you're just being a kiss-up," he said with a withering frown that didn't last long.
Between bites and slurps from her second helping, Shego paused to stare at her spoon, as if something had only now occurred to her. Her eyes flicked up to Drakken. He could see it in the reflection of the vanity mirror as he stood before her dresser inspecting the scarce few family photographs she'd yet to destroy.
"Just like Mom used to make," she muttered. "How'd you know?" Her eyes were suspicious now as they met his through the reflection.
"Lucky guess," Drakken dismissed. She was liable to fly off the handle if he admitted he'd called her mother for suggestion. He was about to take his leave when Shego held the bowl out toward him.
What's In A Name by shthar
Shego waved her other hand in Kim's face. "Here, here, HERE! No fingers crossed, no kings-X! Happy!?"
"Ecstatic." Kim replied, and broke the pinky-swear, momentarily placated.
They both slumped back on the sofa, mentally and emotionally exhausted. Shego closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. I used to laugh at the doofus when he talked about 'The Kimness'. I gotta start listening to that guy.
The Kimness means always having the last word. "At least I know SOME of the names it's not."
"No you don't."
"You said!"
"And like YOU said earlier, 'That doesn't count, we hadn't agreed'."
"FINE. Sheila, Sheridan, Shannon, Shane, Shirley!" She spat the five names like bullets from a gun.
"No, no, no, no and don't call me Shirley." Shego licked her finger and made a mark on an invisible scoreboard.
"This isn't over." Kim muttered.
"It is for today." Smiling, Shego booped Kim's nose with the licked finger. "Shirley."
Friends by gofordrakgo
He froze mid-sentence. "Wha– What?"
"I… I don't know." She shook her head, already wishing she hadn't spoken at all. What the hell did she think she was doing?
"No, wait, Shego! What do you mean?"
"I mean, we don't like any of the same things! I hate karaoke, you love it. I love horror movies, you get all freaked every time we watch one. I want to go to the Bahamas or Hawaii for vacation, and your idea of a good time is baking cookies or building a robot. You're a scientist and I–"
Shego stopped herself before she could say that she was stupid. She knew she wasn't, she'd graduated college after all, but she still sometimes felt intimidated by how smart he actually was. She didn't bother learning how most of his inventions worked, because he seemed to always be moving onto something new before she'd wrapped her head around the last project. He had trouble with words sometimes, but she'd figured out after less than a week of working with him that it was a matter of his brain moving faster than even he could keep up with, rather than actual stupidity.
"And the award for Best Friendship goes to..." Hotrod said before ripping open the envelope. "…Random Tales of Drakgo by Gothicthundra!"
GT stood and hurried forward, both beaming and blushing, excited and slightly embarrassed that she'd just won her seventh Golden Rufus for the evening. Onstage she received a congratulatory hug from Whitem before accepting the statuette and holding it high.
"Okay, honestly the fact this story won Best Friendship warms my heart. Because though this is a Drakgo canon-compliant romance, the most important part was their friendship, partnership, and connection over everything. I strive so much to convey their friendship development and their bonding amid this slow burn, that winning Best Friendship just makes me so happy! Thank you!"
As GT left the stage, BCB caught her arm and whispered in her ear, "Perhaps you should just stay here."
"Oh come on, I can't possibly win the next one too!" GT said, her voice bubbly with excitement.
BCB shrugged, a smile in her eyes, and GT returned to her seat where she busied herself arranging her newest Golden Rufus among the other six statuettes. Her fellow Drakgo writers, masked of course, briefly broke the social-distancing protocol to come congratulate her.
"Presenting the award for Best Action/Adventure," Sharper continued onstage, "please welcome Felix and Zita Flores, and Neo the Saiyan Angel!
Felix hovered up to the stage wearing a black tuxedo and one of James Possible's specially engineered facemasks. His wife Zita walked by his side and was wearing a purple ballgown accented with purple diamond earrings. Neo stood out next to them in a red halter top and nice black slacks.
"The pulse-pounding, heart-stopping action of Kim Possible is both a thrill and a rush at the same time," Neo began from the left podium.
"Dodging laser beams, escaping traps of doom..." Zita added.
"And the suspense of not knowing what's next for hero, villain, and civilian alike!" Felix read from the prompter.
"And for that, we honor the Best Action/Adventure nominees!" Neo said. "They are..."
Random Tales of Drakgo by Gothicthundra (excerpt from Ch 126)
He hated his thoughts but it was the only thing that seemed logical...plants and location beside the point. He felt the tug again and a cold strange feeling before noticing the flower and vine had drifted away from him. Until Possible spoke.
"Spanking!" She sounded delighted and it did nothing to un-sour his mood.
"Uhg, teen slang," he grumbled. This was not the conversation he wanted to have before his demise.
"Drakken!" huffed Possible. "Your flower."
Drakken felt rage fizzle through him at the fact he wasn't even allowed to wallow in peace... He was stuck with Possible...and now she was calling the abomination growing on him his flower. He snarled towards her.
"Just because it grew on me, doesn't make it my flower! It's not like I can say," Drakken's rant turned to a mocking tone, "Flower! Attack Kim Possible and—"
The vines wrapped around her at lightning speed and he watched them constrict as she was yanked off the platform and into the air. Drakken blinked before his eyes shot open in understanding.
They listen to me?
"Oh..." His words were cut off as a whirring sound began and the laser device soared to life.
The next few minutes were a blur of emotion and action that he would never be able to recall if someone asked him. The shock of possibly defeating his foe by accident...to being fired at as the young woman ran around causing the laser cannon thing to keep blasting...his arms and legs being freed because of her skillful actions...to being tossed into a corner, was a lot to take in. He grinned in accomplishment as he ordered the flower to destroy the canon...and he let out a low chuckle when the vine retreated down his spine.
Mad Angry, Mad Crazy by bcbdrums (excerpt from Ch 1)
"Shego? Are you all right?" he asked, focusing again on his side-kick.
She finally, with painful slowness turned her face up toward his. Her lips parted as if she was going to speak, but then her eyes rolled back in her head.
"Shego!?" he cried.
"Dr. Drakken!"
The loudspeaker and the beating of the helicopter blades was suddenly right in front of him, joined a moment later by the spotlight. He threw up his hands against the blinding light and the driving rain, but it proved to be a grave mistake. Without his steering, the hover-car veered left and skimmed against the side of a tree.
He gasped and jerked the wheel hard away from the scrape of branches against metal, but that only led him directly into another tree.
"No!" he cried as he lost all control of the craft. He hunkered down, shielding Shego with his body as the craft crashed into branch after branch. He felt each impact painfully, but thankfully he'd had the presence of mind to wear his seat belt so he had only to hold tight to Shego and protect her as the branches whipped against his body and head.
The hover-car stopped with a painful abruptness, which Drakken saw had been caused by a tree trunk when he finally dared to open his eyes. Smoke rose from every crack in the craft, and he yanked his seat belt off and pulled Shego out of the ruined vehicle before it could explode. Overhead, he could still hear the menacing beat of the helicopter's blades.
KP Rides Again by hotrod2001 (excerpt from Ch 5)
"Okay, Ron, I'm going to...page Tara...to come down and assist you two to the designated evacuation area, which is at the far side of the south parking lot for patients with non-life-threatening injuries. She'll help you get Kim down the stairs and out to where you need to be. In the meantime, I need to go check on some of my other patients and get them ready to move. Got it?"
Both Kim and Ron nodded in understanding.
"Good, I'll meet back up with you all once the hospital is empty. Be safe and be ready to go as soon as Tara comes," she instructed as she jogged out of the room and down the hallway.
Another wave of rumblings rolled through the hospital, this time breaking the already shattered glass window of the room and dislodging some more ceiling tiles. The two of them huddled together as screams could be heard coming from other hospital rooms down the hallway.
Seconds later Tara rushed into the room, gasping for air as it was obvious from wherever she had been she had traveled full sprint.
"Guys…" she gasped, "...are you alright?"
"Yeah, we're good Sara."
"Tara."
"Tara...When you're recovering from a gunshot wound and severe head trauma, what's a little earthquake on top of it all?"
"You haven't heard?" the blonde replied ominously as Kim and Ron simultaneously noticed the panic strewn across her face.
"Heard what?" Ron replied.
"Mount Hood," she said in between gasps, "it just erupted!"
The Company You Keep by split-n-splice (excerpt from Ch 40)
When she'd first arrived, she'd skulked through his lair half-asleep occasionally, sometimes grumbling about withdrawals late at night amidst her unique issues – issues which were just now proving to be not as benign as he'd thought, if her crispy mattress had anything to say about it. If such a drug did exist, why in the world would she be back on it? Was she relapsing? She couldn't be. She'd been so excited to use her full power when he'd made her the enhancing gloves – why would she self-sabotage herself to turn down the heat? Where would she have even gotten such a drug?
Drakken's mind didn't finish reeling through the possibilities before he blurted, "She doesn't take them anymore—"
The intruder scoffed and reached into a pocket, producing a little orange bottle. She rattled the contents. "And you believed her?" she jeered down at him.
Drakken made a reflexive grab for the bottle but the woman held it out of reach with a wicked snicker before surrendering it without further difficulty. He couldn't believe his eyes. It had to be just a bottle of aspirin, but the label – bearing a bar code and dosage with the instructions Take with food before bed, prescribed to simply Shego – looked legitimate enough, even if it didn't clarify what the drug was. He trusted his accomplice leagues more than this shifty intruder, and he trusted her not to weaken herself – not to mention, if she was taking it, then she would have to be in contact with the supplier, Global Justice, and there was no way—
"I'll let you sleep on it," said Priscilla, interrupting his doubtful train of thought. She smiled again as she backed away up the staircase. "Roofie her if you don't believe me. Only way you'll get to have a little fun with her."
Storm Chaser by BearSent (excerpt from Ch 54)
Storm Chaser One: Over the Caribbean – As the Gang gathers in Middleton:
Colonel Warmarster clicked the intercom, "It's getting rough up here Kaminsky, you really sure you wanna do this?"
Dean clicked on the intercom, "Yeah, last run tonight."
"Hang on then."
Dean ordered everyone, "Get a handhold and make sure you're clipped in."
One of the crew noticed something unusual, some water on the deck.
Dean watched the Air Force Staff Sergeant unclip himself and walk to the back of the C-130 and reach down and touch the wet spot. Suddenly, there was a screeching sound of metal tearing as the skin of the aircraft began to open up.
"Sonavabitch!", Dean screamed at the top of his lungs as he unclipped and sprinted to the rear of the plane.
Seemingly teleporting to the man, he reached out, grabbed Sergeant Milstone and threw him towards the front of the plane, yelling, "Clip him in!"
A section of the airplane above him opened up and the suction pulled the PhD out of the Hurricane Hunter Aircraft.
On his way out, Ron Stoppable, aka Dean Kaminsky, hit his helmeted head on the ceiling of the plane. Then, he disappeared.
Another crewmember screamed into the mic, "We have a fuselage breach, sir! Call a Mayday! We are a damaged aircraft!"
Lotus War: The Bloom of War by General Quin (excerpt from Ch 10)
"That is a concept that could be impossible for Possible-san to understand Tano-san," Yori explained. Ever since meeting Kim, Yori had thought of Kim as someone who could never comprehend failing. Kim to her was an idealist, not a realist in that sense.
"Look at it this way Kim. You can't save everybody, every day. You have to accept that at one point you'll fail," Ahsoka explained. Ahsoka herself had failed many times before and often to her own Master's chagrin.
Kim pondered over what Ahsoka and Yori had told her. The war was taking more of a toll on her than she anticipated. She couldn't have gotten this far without their help. As her time had passed in this galaxy, she had come to terms that her greatest strength wasn't that she was a 'Possible', but she was never alone. Before this sitch, Ron had always been by her side. Her family stood behind her. She had Monique. She had the support of friends from all around the world.
Here, however, there was no Ron to have her back. Her parents weren't here to comfort her and give her unappreciated advice. No Monique to listen to her girl troubles. A wad of spit lumped in her throat as the realization hit hard. She had to start over. New friends. New enemies. New worlds. Here she had no anchor.
The war had slowly started to wear at her spirit. The only drive keeping her fight alive was the hope that Ron was out there. But with every battle that she helped fight in this war. With every atrocity she witnessed by the hands of the Separatists, it seemed less and less likely that he was.
Felix stylishly zapped open the envelope with a tiny laser in his hover-chair's arm. Zita removed the envelope.
"And the winner of Best Action/Adventure goes to...once again, Gothicthundra for Random Tales of Drakgo!"
It was a standing ovation from the Drakgo authors and fans in the audience as GT stood up again, barely having sat down after arranging all of her Golden Rufuses. Those few in the crowd who had yet to read RTD were suddenly curious, and there were several smartphones opening up the FFnet app to search for the renowned fanfic as the author stepped up to the stage to accept her eighth award.
Neo handed her the Golden Rufus as she stepped up to the podium, giving her a nod of respect.
"My gosh… I am so excited to win this! While Random Tales of Drakgo is a romance in the long run, I thrive on absolute chaos and action/adventure, so thank you all for voting. I have done my absolute best to have varied story arcs and to include nearly every character in the canon to honor the entire world of KP and KP villains. So thank you, thank you so much!"
BCB caught her friend's arm again as she floated toward the stage steps, her dress reminding everyone (as if they could forget) which ship she sailed in the fandom.
"You really sure you shouldn't just stay up here?" BCB half-teased.
"Shhh!" GT scolded her lightly. "Besides, between all this up and down I haven't even had some peanuts. I'm going to go buy a snack."
When she went back to her seat, surrounded by friends and fans, she reverently set her eighth Golden Rufus next to the others before quietly excusing herself from the auditorium once again.
Another Kimmunicator beep sounded from the speakers, and Sharper approached the podium.
"Congrats to GT...wherever she went...on the double sweep of this segment! We are headed to another commercial break. But when we return, we will reveal the winners of Best Drama and Most Unlikely/Unique Story!"
The song "You Should Be Sad" by Halsey played in the background during the break.