Chapter 4

Kim Possible took a sip of her drink from a corner table. "Rock and Roll aint Noise Pollution" had been playing, and the screen up front had been playing a light show. Standing up from his chair next to her, Ron was dancing some Oh Boyz moves next to their table.

Kim reached out her other hand and lifted the program in front of her between her thumb and forefinger.

"Best Crossover/Fusion is the next category…" she said to herself. "Then Best Alternate Pairing. And we just had Best AU before this intermission."

She didn't take too much note when Ron plopped back into his chair next to her.

But she reacted with surprise when another shadow appeared and asked, "How's it going?"

She looked up to see Slipgate. He still had his pointed ears on, and her eyes flattened a little. He noticed, reached up a hand and felt what she saw, and removed them.

"Are you enjoying the show so far?" he asked.

"Yeah, it's good." she said, nodding her head as she did.

"You kind of seem to be staring a hole in that program. And I kind of noticed this corner got a little quieter when we got to the last category."

"Well, it's just, Best AU, Best Crossover/Fusion, Best Alternate Pairing… these are the big what-if categories." she said.

"Right?" Slipgate said, waiting for her to go on.

"What if we were dealing with mutations like the X-Men deal with? What if it was me, Ron, Drakken, Shego, Mom, Dad, the Tweebs, Nana, Barkin, any of us… in ancient Rome? Or lost in space?"

"What if you got to interact with Phineas and Ferb, other than the Kim Possible attraction going P&B but keeping the Bebes?" Slipgate added, with a wan smile.

"What if Bonnie's sisters were all in a relationship with Ron?" she said, pointing to a particular nominee on the program.

"So these are the what-ifs." Slipgate repeated, hoping for Kim to say what she was thinking.

"I don't know, I guess I just kind of am thinking about what-ifs in general. What if I hadn't started crime fighting? What if I hadn't met Ron or Monique or Wade? What if Mom and Dad had met and fallen in love with different people? These are the stories that get to explore things like that. They may not necessarily be novel-sized or be long series, but they do a lot to play around with ideas in our universe."

At Slipgate's look, she went on. "It's just that this ceremony is coming at the end of a long week for me. I'm just watching and witnessing. Don't really feel like the spotlight just now, just tucked away in the corner here feels good. And I guess when you're just watching from the corner the what-ifs seem pretty interesting."

Suddenly whitem was there, and even Sentinel103 and CajunBear73. "There you are, Slipgate!" whitem whispered urgently. "I was having trouble spotting you. The intermission's ended and people are staring at you all! That's how I finally found you."

"Sorry for the spotlight," Slipgate said to Kim as he was led away by whitem urgently. "Thanks for talking."

Back on the stage, whitem addressed the audience.

"Sorry everybody for the delay in getting things started again. We hosts are, after all, fans of Kim Possible, and we can get sidetracked."

whitem was about to launch into prepared remarks about the next category when Slipgate suddenly grabbed the microphone with a look toward him for approval. whitem widened his eyes but shrugged and stepped back.

"Our next two categories are all about what-if situations," Slipgate said. "What if Kim Possible was happening in a universe where there was a planet Krypton? What if Rufus was fighting Doofenshmirtz? What if Monique started dating Ned?"

At this last, there was a sound of someone clearing their throat. The person in question was wearing her hair long in waves and a stunning red dress.

whitem took the microphone back from the now-satisfied Slipgate.

"Our next category is Best Crossover/Fusion. CajunBear73 here has the envelope for me, since Slipgate was away at the time. CajunBear, if you would please?"

CajunBear opened the envelope, looked at the slip inside, smiled, and handed it to whitem.

"And the winner of the Best Crossover/Fusion Fannie is Sharper the Writer for 'A New Redheaded Cheerleader'!"

Sharper rose from his table with a grin on his face. He walked around the table and made for the stairs up on the left-hand side of the stage. He climbed the steps and was handed a golden Rufus statue by Sentinel103. He shook hands with Sentinel, CajunBear, and Slipgate before coming to stand next to whitem, holding his statue happily.

whitem surrendered the microphone to him, and he began.

"I would like to thank all the friends I have made here in the Kimmunity for all the support and love for my very first Fannie award win for the first book of 'A New Redheaded Cheerleader!' Secondly, I would like to also thank the Phineas and Ferb community as well for fostering my interest in the show, from merely watching the show to tweeting new episodes and our discussions on social networking sites. This fueled my ideas that go into this story. If it weren't for the events that made me convert into the Phineas and Ferb fandom, I wouldn't be on this stage on this very evening."

The hosts looked at him oddly since he seemed to be on the stage. Undaunted, he continued.

"Also, I would like to thank the people who read 'ANRC' and enjoyed the characters, both KP and Phineas and Ferb and the OCs, the plots with never-ending twists and turns, and the unique concept of the story itself. It is indeed one rollercoaster of a ride. And as Phineas would say so himself, 'Carpe Diem!' Thank you!"

With that, Sharper suddenly blipped out. Slipgate managed to dive for and rescue the Fannie. There was a note on it, which he shakily read, "This was a hologram based on Wade's newest technology since I couldn't attend in person at the moment. Please deliver to…"

Slipgate didn't read the rest of the address aloud and put it aside after conferring with whitem in whispers.

"OK… I guess that's the new version of coming at us from a screen? Suffice to say, Sharper, if you're hearing this, your Fannie is yours. It'll get delivered and we accept for the moment on your behalf, physically at least."

whitem quickly put the Fannie in a courier package and beckoned someone. A Yamanouchi ninja suddenly appeared, bowed, and disappeared with the package.

"Now then… our next category is Best Alternate Pairing! And our winner in this category is…"

He looked to whitem, who grabbed up and opened an envelope, widened his eyes and shut it again while shutting his eyes, then opened up a DIFFERENT envelope after checking its label carefully.

Slipgate's own eyes widened, and there was a murmur in the audience. Now people knew whitem knew one of the other winners. But which one?

whitem went on like nothing happened, though, grinning tightly and handing the answer to Slipgate for the Best Alternate Pairing category.

Slipgate looked down at the slip, and then announced, "The winner is levi2000a1 and his story '600 - Something Old, Something New, Nothing Stoppable, Everything Possible' with Tara and Ned. Huh, that's not exactly the main pairing of that fic…"

"Ahh…" whitem said, "But it IS a pairing, and definitely an alternate one at that."

Slipgate shrugged. "I suppose so! Congratulations levi, and come on down!"

Levi did just that, running onto the stage and coming to the microphone first of all. "I saw a movie not too long ago that had a saying in it that I liked, and yes, I will work it into a story at some point. 'Overkill is highly underrated.' In my story, 'Something Old, Something New, Nothing Stoppable and Everything Possible,' I wanted to throw out a few random and different combinations that I could come back to later. Five different ones to be precise.

"Yori and Cousin Larry simply because Yori had a thing for Ron which has been used a lot, but since this was Ron and Kim's wedding that ruled him out. So I combined her with the person that had a lot of Ron's traits plus he knew a lot about Monkey Kung Fu.

"Nana and Señor Senior, Senior. Can't let just the young folks have all the fun. :)

"Joss Possible and an OC Samuel. Had to bring Joss into the story and I hope to have her back later in the series if not a story more about her…

"Tara and Ned. Okay, here we go. I started out with the Tara and Josh pairing in my mind at the beginning of 'Broken Heart, Broken Mind,' but since I never liked Josh (way too perfect) it was easy for me to work in a darker side to him. Something to shake the wedding up a little bit but not too much. He liked to beat his wife from time to time. In my book, that put him down around the level of child abusers. The lowest of the low. Tara is going to get out of it with a little help from her friends, but in the mean time I figured she'd want a safe relationship, one opposite of the volatile one she wanted out of. Enter Ned. Good at what he does or else he wouldn't still have a job. Friend to both Ron and Kim and helpful when needed.

"Tara's story, 'Mistakes Were Made,' will conclude just as soon as I finish the two dramas I'm working on now. The first chapter is already written, just waiting before posting it.

"Anyhoo, once again, thank you all."

Levi now shook each host's hand, gently took his Fannie, and jogged off the stage.

whitem went next. "Our last category before we take a break again is Best KiGo Story! It's been 12 years since the show started, and if you dig back far enough you'll find that people were imagining Kim and Shego were an interesting match even as early as the first season of the show. Whether or not that's to the personal taste of anyone else, there have been many, many, many…"

"Many, many, many, MANY," Slipgate added in.

"Many!" CajunBear and Sentinel added with little smirks as whitem's eyebrows began to twitch at his co-hosts.

"Ahem, many KiGo fics over the years. In fact, I… uhh… wrote a couple myself. This site currently estimates 1.9 thousand, so I think it's safe to say 'thousands' here since there are stories not even published here."

"And that's worth recognizing." Slipgate said, more seriously. "And with that we'd like to congratulate…"

He opened the envelope he had picked up, and after looking inside, announced "Cwesthawk! You win the Fannie for Best KiGo Story for 'Storms Over Colorado'! Come on up!"

There was silence. Dead silence.

Eventually whitem coughed.

"It seems cwesthawk was unable to make it at the last minute. We accept this award on his behalf and will make sure it gets sent to him."

Slipgate meanwhile was already talking quietly to a Yamanouchi Air ninja and handing over the Fannie statue.

"OK," Slipgate said, returning to his microphone. "It's time to take another break. Back soon, and our co-hosts CajunBear and Sentinel will be taking lead duties next time for us while we'll be on the assist end. Please make yourselves comfortable folks, and don't forget that if you need anything your JARVIS link can provide it."

With that, the hosts dispersed as the beats of "Eye of the Tiger" started playing.

To be Continued…