Chapter 5

Backstage:

Slipgate glanced at his friend who was primping in the mirror once again. "You want me to wear what?"

whitem adjusted the black cape across his shoulders and repeated to his cohost, "the sombrero and the ammo bandolier. It will be a signal to the fans we are full supporters in co-plays as well."

The more serious of the pair rolled his eyes. "You mean Cosplays, short for costume play. I think I'll hold off on that, thank you very much."

whitem had caught something in what Slipgate had said. "Hmm, seems you know where the word comes from."

"That is a completely different interest of mine from Kim Possible!" Slipgate replied too quickly.

whitem smiled. "You'll have to teach me more ani-may terms some day."

"Anime, and it's… oh never mind." Slipgate sulked and whitem grinned. "Let me help you with your mask and hat….And what's with that toy sword?"

"Rapier. You don't even realize who I am portraying do you?"

"It doesn't mean anything if we don't get out there you know, we're almost late… again."

whitem frowned, "I knew you were going to be a spoilsport about this." Sighing, "Let's go," he turned to the stage.

"Yeah that acoustic number by Junior is up after this next presentation and since he is sure to fall on his face we'd better make up for it in advance." Slipgate warned.

The conniving cape-wearing host agreed with his friend's logic as, once again, the ever timely stagehand appeared out of nowhere and counted down their immediate return to the stage…. "Hummmmm I wonder if we can pin this one on someone else….Who's the biggest sucker out there?"

Slipgate looked over his shoulder as he removed the special ears from the pocket of his fashionable slacks and gave them to the stagehand; the look he got from Kim foremost on his mind, "Huh, what was that? Come on whitem…"

Still in contemplation, whitem followed his buddy out onto the stage as the cameras came back on….

XX

Meanwhile, at a table on the main floor, in a dark corner across the room from Kim's and Ron's table:

"Hey Suzie, how come Wanda is behaving herself tonight?", the more handsome half of the infamous writing team inquired as he checked to make sure his kilt was properly positioned. He didn't want a clothing mishap to happen this early in the evening.

The shorter of the two female Shinobi replied, "CajunBear and she got into another bottle of slivovitz and she's feeling it at the moment."

CB chuckled, "It came around too fast and caught her by surprise, but she'll get the hang of it…after about ten more bottles."

ST chuckled as well, quite aware what that liquid refreshment could do to people before he glanced over his shoulder to check behind him to see what was going on at the stage. Seeing both of the hosts staring at him with their hands on their hips he leaned over to CB, "I wonder what our bosses want? They don't look real happy right now."

The gator chaser snorted, "We'd better find out," before cocking an eyebrow at the kilted pipefitter, "You didn't do anything did you?"

Sent shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know, let's just go see what we did wrong now."

As they rose CB replied, "We?"

A little nervous, ST decided to keep comments to himself as they made their way to the stage. Within hearing range, he asked whitem and Slipgate, "Hey boss what, errrr, bosses… what do you…" he paused as he took in what whitem was wearing, "Uh hey, which one of you guys is Baba Looey?"

Catching on, Slipgate turned and sped over to the stand holding Junior's acoustic guitar, and quickly returned. Extending the guitar to his partner, and in a bad Mexican accent, "Queeks Draw….I mean El Kabong I have found your kabonger so you can fight evil tonight after the show."

whitem wasn't quite as quick on the uptake and stood there with a confused look on his face as he tried to remember where he had heard those names from before.

CB snorted, "I guess that answers that question,." to Sentinel. Turning to the hosts he asked, "So what do you need? I mean we made our cameo appearance like we said we would."

A slightly perplexed whitem handed Sentinel the envelopes as he informed the two troublemakers, "Your turn, guys," before waving lightly to them, "Have fun. Oh, and watch out for the exploding golf balls." as they walked off.

Then to his cohost, "Come on Slipgate, let's mingle back over at Kim and Ron's table, that blond goof has got to be on something with all the moves he's showing tonight."

Stunned, the kilted writer and part time site-malcontent stood there as CB laughed, "Oh this is going to be good, you're the one who gets stage fright,." and steered him to the podium.

"Yeah, yeah right now I hate me," a very ashen ST said as he looked at the first envelope. Looking up to the audience, "Hello all, sorry for the delay there, but CB and I were just reminded of our agreement to take part in this year's Fannies." A weak grin was met with chuckles from the audience.

"So without further delay, for the best Kim/Ron…" He handed the other envelopes to his buddy then took his small knife again out of his sock and made quick work of the flap.

"For the Best Kim/Ron, the Fannie goes to…CaptainKodak1 for his tale The Fox and the Sloth!"

From somewhere a stagehand brought out the golden rodent and handed it to the shorter of the two presenters. In an aside to CajunBear, the hand whispered, "Tell the other guy he doesn't look so good in this light."

CB smirked, "That's all right, he doesn't look good in any light." The gator chaser took the trophy to the mic as the well-known author of many things Kim and Ron approached the stage.

CaptainKodak1 walked up as the entire audience could see the eyes of the new hosts. Both were almost star-struck, and for a second whitem actually thought they might drop to their knees and start chanting 'We're not worthy! We're not worthy!' Thankfully this didn't occur and the well-known author began his speech.

"I would like to first thank all my fans and those who have supported me all these years. It was several years ago when the original author of the story posted a request that he needed help with the story. I contacted him and he asked be to collaborate with him on the story. We posted a few chapters together and then we lost contact.

"I kept trying over the years to get in contact with him but never could. I let the story lie for awhile then restarted it. I had been thinking on it while it lay with no new posts. Then when I really thought I had a handle on the story I restarted it.

"I had to think hard and remember the notes we had shared and the angle the original author had in mind. I then continued the story at that point. The story really was a great idea taking Kim and Ron beyond their original personas, yet still keeping their personalities. I have really had a great time with it. I hope that everyone has enjoyed the story as much as I enjoyed writing it. Thank you again."

"As always, I accept this award as a challenge to be a better writer and continue the heritage of the Kim Possible world."

Returning to the podium as CaptainKodak1 returned to his seat, Sentinel said, "Not many people know that Cap gave me my first shot at posting…. If it hadn't been for him I might not have had the confidence to ever put anything out." Sentinel beamed to his friend. "Now many of you might be thinking that you'd like to see a lot less of my stuff…."

CB laughed, cutting in, "And he's still kicking himself about that too." Shrugging, "Well, I'll bet he's hoping you'll take a long vacation away from the plot bunny patch."

"Thanks a lot buddy, annnndd moving on…" ST snatched the next envelope and read aloud, "The Fannie for the Best Comedy goes to…" He again used his trusty knife to make quick work of the envelope, "The Fannie for Best Comedy goes to… Imyoshi for Coloring Inside the Lines!"

There was a cheer from the back. "I made it!" The young author almost tripped over his feet as he jogged to the stage.

CB picked up the waiting Golden Rufus and handed it to the young author as he walked across the stage toward the podium.

After quickly adjusting the microphone, Imyoshi started his speech. "Now to my other winning category - Coloring Outside the Lines! A comedy section? I won a comedy nominee? Not the guy from across, but me? Hell yea! You know what this means? I truly am funny. All that negative feedback my therapist gave me can screw him to hell! I won. He lost. It's done."

With a smile on his face the young writer happily shook the hands of his co-presenters, each having reviewed many of his offerings on the site.

Holding the Golden Rufus above his head Imyoshi took one more bow and left the stage to applause.

As he watched the young writer fade into the crowd CB with tears of mirth in his eyes said, "He sure is happy isn't he Sent?" The applause continued as Imyoshi made his way to his table.

"Yeah," the Scotsman replied, "it reminds me of when I got out of Miss Krutz's English class in middle school for the last time, never to see her again."

"What happened, did she retire?"

Sentinel offered a sidelong look of 'innocence', then said "In a way she did."

He knew better, but CB felt that he had to ask, "What happened? Did she get sick?"

"Saint Francis Hospital in the town I grew up in had a special section where people could recover from stress," the kilt wearer hinted.

Hesitatingly, CB asked, "Uh who was the cause of this 'stress'?" He suspected the answer.

Smirking, "Welllll I don't like to brag, but I figure some shrinks were able to take some vacations because of me…"

CajunBear rolled his eyes. "Coming from you I can believe it." He glanced around the crowded room, "Slipgate and whitem are back over at Kim and Ron's table, and they're probably apologizing for bringing you into the show Sent."

Shrugging, "It was nice of them, sure I get to write about Kim and Ron a little but it was nice to get my picture with them for a change… They were too nice to just disappear on me… this time."

CajunBear was reminded of certain plot scenarios Sentinel had written in the past. "Yeah without Ron in bandages and Kim in some sort of psychosis or something." he shot back before leaning into the microphone, the applause for Imyoshi having died down.

"And our next to last presentation for this segment, one of my favorites, 'Best Romance,'" CB announced after the crowd fell silent.

Without further ado, as this category was quite popular at the site, the Cajun made short work of opening the envelope. "Annnnddd the Golden Rufus for Best Romance winner is…" he looked at the paper again,, "Over A Cup of Coco Moo by AngelicInkling."

As the crowd applauded, the author stood, but remained rooted in place, a stunned look on her face.

Realizing she wasn't making any moves to the stage, CB coaxed her, "Congratulations AngelicInkling, for a well-conceived and delivered story for our reading enjoyment."

Still the author in question didn't move so he added, "You may approach the stage you know. These statues are a little heavy to be tossing out in the audience… and while there's an insurance issue with doing so, my friend here just might try it."

In a rush AngelicInkling swiftly approached the stage to receive her Rufus.

"Thank you for this award, and thank you to those who have nominated and voted me for this category. Honestly, this win came as a surprise for me as there are a lot of good stories from a lot of very good writers in the KP Community. I thought that with my lack of presence, people would have already forgotten me and my stories. It warms the heart to know that there are still those who remember and support them.

"I know that I have been in-active for more than a year now, with only reviews and reads done every now and then but with this award, I hope and I wish, that my writing and inspiration would revitalized and I'll be able to finish all that I have pending and possibly write more stories that you guys can enjoy.

"It is such a great honor to receive this award, that is why, with all my heart I once again say thanks to all those who have read, reviewed and supported me and my stories. Hats off to you all. More stories to read, more stories to write and may our little community grow bigger and better than ever."

As AngelicInkling walked back to a table, holding the statue above their head, CB couldn't help but whisper to Sentinel, "Kids, they really do enjoy this."

"Yeah like when you won Best Reviewer last year," Sentinel replied to CB's smirk.

Suddenly the next statue was placed in its waiting spot by a ninja in a gray gi. CB was about to comment when the stagehand got his attention motioning for him to hurry up.

Before either could approach the microphone, out in the crowd someone started "The Wave." Sent looked into the crowd and his complexion began to pale.

Looking to his writing partner, CB asked, "What's wrong with you?"

"Motion sickness," he said, holding in a burp. "You're an old Navy guy… here, take over," he started to say.

"Briefly, and I never went out on the water," CB shot back as Sentinel turned away.

"You do the next one!" the now ashen ST insisted over his shoulder as he staggered offstage with his hand over his mouth.

Shrugging his shoulders as his co-host meandered his way off the stage the Cajun took the next envelope. After he scanned the label, he read aloud. "For the 'Best Friendship…' Fannie," and CB paused for effect and then continued as he opened the envelope, "for Best Friendship the Fannie goes to… TempestDash for Promises Kept."

Stunned and (nearly) flabbergasted, TempestDash climbs up onto the stage, bypassing the more convenient stairs in favor of the shoulder of a nearby stagehand, and accepts the award with a flurry of muted gratitude to the presenter before turning toward the audience.

"Thank you so much for this. I'm beyond thankful to everyone who voted for me," he says with a wild grin that won't stop. "You know, I've been writing fanfiction since I first played Zelda II: The Adventure of Link back in the halcyon days of 1989. I didn't call it fanfiction back then, I called it a fun picture book project to do with my Tandy computer back in 2nd Grade. But in all that time, these last eight years of writing Kim Possible fiction has been the most memorable and dear to me. I thank all the great writers that I've read in this fandom from which I've taken a little bit of my current style from, especially Allaine, King in Yellow, and Sobriety, from which I've stolen more than a little."

"Promises Kept was a personal story for me, driven by the need everyone has to occasionally reflect on their life and the choices they made. What are the most important things to a person and who the most important people are in their lives are not easy questions to answer. I tried to show Shego and Kim work through those struggles. I also was driven by a need to have Shego give up less in her reconciliation with Kim. Too often, I see Shego give up her villainy for Kim's companionship, and I wanted to push their relationship into a more stable area where they both make sacrifices in their worldview. I hope this award means I've accomplished that task. Thank you again, so very much."

With clasped hands and a bow, TempestDash departs the stage in a slightly less dramatic way than he arrived: the stairs.

Still clapping, CB called out, "Let's hear it one more time for TempestDash…"

Then looking off-stage opposite his seasick friend and co-author, "And for our listening enjoyment we present Senor Senior, Junior with 'The Ghost of Tom Joad' followed by three songs of his own creation." Then CajunBear rushedbackstage away from the coming musical interlude hoping he remembered where his ear protection was.

To be continued…

XXXX

Disclaimer: Hanna-Barbera owns the rights to Quick Draw McGraw/El Kabong and Baba Looey.