::Both Gwendolyn Katsche from The Fearless Four and Belladonna from "An All Dogs Christmas Carol" enter the stage in Radio City Hall, as light effects are spread out everywhere in the hall::
::"Egil Saga" by Faun is playing in the background, and Gwendolyn comes to the podium as the magic dies down::
Gwendolyn: Good evening
Belladonna: Both Pagan, Battle and Folk Metal might had inspired our writers for this category!
Gwendolyn: And the category is Best Mystery/Thriller!
Belladonna: Let us get down to business. The nominees are:
Diamonds in the Desert by Midnight Man
PensacolaRanger's Rangerbirds are GO!
The Rangerillion by Mr. Spumoni
Knight Rangers by RR-Crusader
The Pivotal Divide by Mayhem
The
Rangers of the Lost Car-park by Stainless Steel Rat
Foxglove's Magic Show by Stainless Steel Rat
Belladonna: Lots of wonderful writing. And the winner is...
::Gwendolyn opens the envelope::
Gwendolyn: Wonderful, two winners! We have RangerReady for "The Caribbean Cutlass" and Stainless Steel Rat for "Rangers of the Lost Car Park"!
::Doffing his fedora to the audience, RangerReady slowly makes his way to the podium, trying valiantly to hide behind the collar of his uniform::
RangerReady: Well this was a surprise...that's
for sure! I guess mixing Jack Sparrow and 1930's
::Taking off his hat, he smiles, accepting the Golden Acorn with his free hand::
RangerReady: Thanks so much, everybody...not just for the award, but for continuing to read, even when I feel like some burned out hack, trying to pound it out a day at a time. Having an audience is one of the writer's best comforts, at his or her low points. Here's to another year of great tales and fantastic times at the Cafe!
::As RangerReady
leaves the stage, a tall grey rat runs down an aisle in four-paw drive leading
to the stage. He wears a purple cloak that billows out behind him, and his
right arm and leg are clearly mechanical, made of shiny silver metal. It doesn't
seem to slow him down. After a second, the audience can see why he's running—a
giant stone ball (that nonetheless seems to fit the aisle) is rolling after
him. The orchestra is quick to pick up on this and start to play the final part
of 'In The Idol's
::Unexpected bamboo spikes poke up from the aisle carpeting and he bounds over them even as they rise up rat high. They are smashed a few seconds later as the ball rolls over them. Just shy of the stage, a pit hinges open in the floor, and he jumps again, barely reaching the edge of the stage with his forepaws and hauling himself up, just as the ball reaches the pit and drops down it. As he stands up on stage, the pit closing behind him as the band finishes on a flourish that was almost certainly not in the original version::
::He strides up to the podium, taking his place beside Gwendolyn_Katsche. In the audience, Indy leans over toward Chip::
Indy: He was just lucky the Hovitos didn't make it through customs. Or at least I assume they didn't…
SSR: Good evening everyone, and thank you for awarding 'Rangers of the Lost Car park' the award for best Mystery/Thriller! It was initially started because I'd already written two other Chip-centric fan fics which parodied a certain set of action movies, and I felt I needed to finish the job. It was going to be another short, but as I got writing, it started to grow and the focus changed. While I kept in the nods of the head to a certain other film, it went from being a simple parody to an adventure story in its own right, and part of my own continuity, the modestly named Stainless-verse.
::The rat grins, scaring small children::
SSR: While the focus was still on Chip, Zipper got a starring role and the other Rangers also had larger parts than I originally envisaged. It also became an attempt to show an intermediate stage in the character development of the Rangers from the way they were in canon to the way they were in 'Donutters'. This was especially true of Chip, who has to be my favourite male character.
::Stainless smiles at that thought and continues::
SSR: I'm very pleased so many people enjoyed it and I hope to provide you all with more crunchy action and mystery in future stories!
::He takes the award from Gwendolyn_Katsche, and shakes their paw::
SSR: And now I have to fly...
::Just then, a group of Hovitos appears from stage left::
Indy (from the audience): Oh dear, they cleared customs….
::The Rangerwing X zooms across the upper part of the stage, on fans and trailing a rope ladder. He grabs the lowest rung, avoiding the Hovitos' blowgun darts as he goes past and ends up being pulled up as he waves the award in one paw::
::The band plays him out with the final few phrases of the Raider's march as he calls out, "Have fun everybody!" and the Hovitos shake their fists and then bow toward the audience as they disappear stage left::