Opening Author's Notes
What's up, guys? Hoping everyone had a Merry Christmas to everyone! While passing this story around Wattpad and continuing to write bonus content, I got the idea to do this. I've had the great fortune to have two amazing authors on Wattpad review this story and give me a lot of their time and more kudos than I frankly deserve, so I wanted to pay tribute to them and also show something that you didn't see in the last regular chapter and also give a peek into the first bonus chapters that I'm writing. They are the two authors who this chapter is dedicated to – the subjects of this, the first Fan Spotlight chapter (who also contributed to this chapter):

Mikki110797 – Hard for me to list everything that makes her cool! Not only is she a very good writer (I highly recommend her Seventeen stories – a one-shot collection and Wo Ai Ni), but she's also an honor student and linguist in the making.

Kurai_Sen – Another great author who also has a graphics shop and makes some pretty cool covers! Among those was an alternate cover that you've been seeing as a chapter image (below) – which was started without me saying a word! Sneaky even got a kick out of it when I passed it to him via stream donation (Proof: https://clips.Twitch.tv/C9Sneaky/SmoggyBaboonStoneLightning) I've had plenty of invigorating conversations with this author via Wattpad on Brioso and on her ongoing EXO / A Pink story (starring Suho and Eunji), What If, which now also has yet another great chapter that also guest-stars Taeyeon.

One story I haven't yet talked about is one that started during our charity stream from and benefiting the Stanford Packard Children's Hospital.

While we were visiting a burn victim during my leg – which meant I was the one streaming with my back to the patient's bed so people could see what was going on over my shoulder – a donation came across my screen that caught my attention – and not just because of the dollar amount or the fact that Text-To-Speech was reading it.

Mikki110797 donated $20!
"Hello, C9 and SNSD!!! I admire what you are doing greatly and would just like to take this moment to thank you all. You've all gotten me through rather rough times, especially you, Sunny unnie! Keep being awesome for all of us!!!! Saranghaeyo, oppas and unnies~!! Could you please play Run Devil Run and VIXX's Error?"

"Wow, thanks a lot, Mikki!" I said with a smile. "I know we're all glad and honored to have you as a fan. I've got that for you – I can cue those up right after this one finishes playing! Actually, let me talk to Z and let's see if we can't do something..."

In keeping with my DJ act while streaming, I referred to Z – a friend who is herself a Cloud 9 and K-Pop fan – as my producer. I counted on her to make sure I didn't miss important donations or song requests and to help me keep the trolls and spammers in check, and made sure she had plenty of Cloud 9, K-Pop and Twitch swag to show for it.

I was going into a Twisted Treeline Pro vs. Caster game – me, Dyrus and Aphromoo against Kobe, Jatt and Phreak, but I was still on the loading screen and quickly typed in a Twitch whisper (private chat) to Z,

C9|Carlo: Is there a way we can get Mikki on Skype?

Helloooo_Im_Z: It's a long shot, but it's definitely worth a try.

C9|Carlo: You're the best!

"Whoo! You guys were awesome – thanks so much for not just the game but lending your support tonight." I said wholeheartedly after we'd managed to win. It might have been for fun and for charity, but I never liked losing.

"No problem, man!" Kobe said, and I heard Jatt, Phreak, Dyrus and Aphro all agreeing. I was about to talk more with them before Z indicated she had something for me and I told them, "Hang on, my producer wants to talk to me."

I then opened the Skype call I had with Z and said, "Hi, Z! What's up?"

"You'll like this, Carlo – I've got Mikki!" She replied.

"Holy crap, that's amazing!" I said with a big smile. "Thanks a lot – you've done it again!"

"Oh, you're welcome!" Z replied. "Ready for her to call you? She's waiting for me to give the okay."

"Yes. Thanks a lot once again!" I said.

"My pleasure! I know she'll love it!" She told me, before she sent me a new message via our Twitch whisper:

Helloooo_Im_Z: Here's a little bit on Mikki from while she and I were talking during that last game: She's a 13-year-old Puerto Rican with some  Italian heritage living in Florida. She mains Nami while being an honor  roll student.

C9|Carlo: Wow, interesting! Thanks a lot for the heads-up.

I then saw and heard Mikki's call coming in, answered and asked, "Hi, Mikki! Can you hear me?"

"Yeah, I can hear you!!!!" She replied brightly, clearly excited, and I could see her on my screen but didn't put her video feed on the stream for privacy (which was my regular practice.) "Can you hear me? Ahhh, this is so cool!!"

"Yeah, loud and clear! Now let me see..." I said, looking behind and smiling as I saw Sunny was free. I called, "Sunny noona! Someone sent in a donation I think you'll want to look at."

"Really? What was it?" She asked, hurrying over.

"Take a look at this. My producer Z tells me this is a fan of ours named Mikki from Florida. This is what she attached with her $20 donation..." I said, finishing by pulling up the Twitch donation log. I then put my video feed full screen on the stream.

Sunny leaned closer and read, " 'Hello, C9 and SNSD!!! I admire what you are doing greatly and would just like to take this moment to thank you all. You've all gotten me through rather rough times, especially you, Sunny unnie! Keep being awesome for all of us!!!! Saranghaeyo, oppas and unnies~!! Could you please play Run Devil Run and VIXX's Error?' Ahh, that makes me so happy!"

"Hey, you deserve every bit of it, ma'am." I said with a big smile. I then revealed, "Z actually connected her to us on Skype – would you like to say hello?"

"I certainly would!" Sunny exclaimed. I handed her the spare headset we had been carrying – I was using my own, and we'd plugged both into a splitter so we both could talk. She smiled and waved to Mikki, saying, "Yoboseyo, Mikki!"

"Yoboseyo, Sunny unnie!!!" Mikki replied, thunderstruck, smiling and waving at us. "Oh gosh, I can't believe I'm actually talking to you all!!!! This is amazing!!!

"It was amazing what you said!" Sunny replied. Then she asked, "I saw you say that we'd helped you get through some tough times...what were those, if you feel comfortable talking about them?"

"Aw, thank you!!" Mikki replied. She then narrated,

"Yeah...well, not too long ago, a close friend of mine lost their battle with cancer. I remembered how they used to try to get me into League and decided that I should try it out for their sake." Her face had fallen by now, but she began to brighten up again as she added, "I found C9 and their jokes always put me in a good mood. I then started to research the music they played because it sounded really interesting and I found SNSD. You were my bias immediately, Sunny unnie. You were always so cheerful and happy...you never failed to make my day." She managed to laugh a little here, finishing, "It's a bit sappy, I know."

"Oh, my God..." I managed to say, taken aback.

Sunny, who was clearly as thunderstruck and moved as I was, said, "Aigoo... (Aww...) I'm really glad we could help with all that!"

"Yeah, seriously!" I agreed, even more weight and energy coming back to my voice. "I really wish you'd discovered the game in better circumstances, but we're thrilled to have you and really glad we could help."

"We really are, Mikki." Sunny concurred.

"Z tells me you're a Nami main...I'm going to have to talk to Aurora to see if she'd be interested in giving you some tips, but knowing her, I know she'll be all too happy to." I said with a smile.

"And don't worry, you're not being sappy at all. It's really sweet, actually." Sunny said. She laughed and finished, "This is me being sappy: being glad you wouldn't punch me like Yuri or kick me like Fany if I did aegyo."

"Oh goodness, you guys are so sweet!! Thank you for even considering doing that, Carlo oppa!!!" Mikki told me. Then she shook her head reassuringly at Sunny and added, "And I would never kick you for doing aegyo, unnie!!! It's so cute and adorable and – ahhh!!!"

"Hey, it's the least we could do!" I said, unable to keep a huge smile off my face at seeing how happy Mikki was to talk to us. "And also, knowing Aurora, if she ever found out and I didn't say anything, she'd be the one asking me how to get ahold of you."

"She would." Sunny told me with a knowing smile that I had also worn when talking about Aurora. She then turned back to Mikki and told her, "It's really good to hear from you tonight and see you donating, Mikki, because this is obviously something that means a lot to you."

"Absolutely." I agreed. I then turned to Sunny and asked, "I know you haven't done aegyo in public in a while, Sunny noona, but did you want to hit her with one?"

"It's just me trying to make sure I'm known for more than just that, Carlo, but don't worry, I'd never forget how to do aegyo." Sunny said reassuringly. She then asked, "Mikki, do you have a preference for which one or which scenario?"

"I never really had a preference – I always loved them all!" Mikki replied.

"Well, in that case..." Sunny said, and she mimed a phone with her hand and put on her aegyo voice. "Mikki-yah, it's me, Sunny! What are you doing?"

Mikki was squeaking and laughing in no time flat as she squealed, "Ahhhh, Sunny unnie!!! You're too adorable!!!"

I was already leaning sideways and laughing at the force of that aegyo, but I managed to say, "No kidding! You're supposed to reply, though – preferably in your own aegyo!"

"Mianheyo, oppa!" Mikki said, and she put her own aegyo voice on and replied, "I'm coloring a picture, Sunny unnie!"

"That's all right!" I said with a big grin.

"Jinja? (Really?) What are you coloring?" Sunny asked.

Mikki held up the piece of paper she had been working on. "It's a Christmas tree!"

"Ooh! Are you getting everything you want for Christmas?" Sunny asked, as we saw the tree with lights strung around it, ornaments hanging from the branches and presents under it.

"I honestly don't want anything for Christmas...I don't like it when people spend money on me."

"You don't?!" Sunny asked. She suddenly sounded devastated, and she mimed crying and made sobbing and crying sounds.

I was taken aback both at Mikki's answer and at Sunny's response, which I wasn't totally sure was an act because she and I both felt – as we all did – that no good soul should want nothing for Christmas. I implored, "I get wanting to be independent and not wanting to be a drag, Mikki, but could you at least let yourself be treated?"

"Aw no, unnie, don't cry!!!" Mikki told Sunny consolingly. Seeing her stop, she turned back to me and said, "Don't get me wrong, I appreciate it when people buy things for me, but asking people to buy things for me just doesn't sit right. It's probably really weird..." She laughed nervously as she finished.

"Here's the thing, though...we wouldn't be buying anything because it's something we already have. I'm going to talk to Jack and see if we can't get it to you somehow. A little hint – it's something we're all wearing tomorrow." I said, now wearing a big smile again.

"Mikki-yah! We're so glad you made it!" Sunny cheered, giving Mikki a big hug.

It was the following August, and all of us – both Girls' Generation and Cloud 9 – were back at KCON. This time, though, we were at the Prudential Center in Newark, and Mikki was meeting us backstage a good amount of time before the first of two shows on consecutive days.

"Sunny unnie!!!!" Mikki said ecstatically, hugging her back. "I'm so happy to be here, I can't believe this!!! This is so surreal!!! I got the shirt..." Sure enough, she was wearing the dress uniform shirt we had sent her for Christmas, which had her name next to the Puerto Rican flag, the Cloud 9 and GG Crown logos and our sponsor patches.

"It looks great on you!" I said, grinning at the scene.

"Hey, did you get the photo as well?" Balls asked. "We wanted to make sure that got through too."

"Yeah!! It's currently framed on my wall. Thank you all so much!!!!" Mikki replied brightly.

"Our pleasure!" I said, grinning. Then I lowered my voice and asked her with a small but sincere smile, "Did you want to tell Sunny and Balls what you were telling me via Discord about them?"

"A-ah...sure..." Mikki said a bit nervously. She turned to the two of them and asked, "Sunny unnie? Balls oppa?"

"Nae? (Yes?)" Sunny asked.

"Yes, Mikki?" Balls asked.

Mikki had a small smile as she said quietly but audibly, "U-um...I think you two are cute together..."

Sunny, predictably enough, blushed but had a small smile as she said, "Omo... (Oh my...)"

Balls was turning red too, but he also laughed and smiled as he asked, "Really?"

"Hey, I can't argue with that!" I said earnestly.

Mikki nodded and smiled as she revealed, "Yeah...some fans and I actually came up with the ship name 'Bunny'."

Sunny smiled at that and said, "Aigoo...your friends and I know the girls call me 'Sunny Bunny' sometimes already, right? I imagine if Balls and I started dating, they'd never let me hear the end of it!"

"Not to mention that there is a Bunny FuFuu in the LCS – the support for Gravity. I'm guessing you've seen him." Balls said, also smiling.

"Yeah, I've seen him. But that's what makes it even better!! You already had affiliations with the name Bunny already!" Mikki said, laughing and nodding. In a quieter voice, she added, "I think it makes it even cuter, honestly."

"I have to agree." I said. Then, both to spare Balls and Sunny and because I wanted to inquire about something else, I asked Sunny, "By the way, I passed by Seohyun and Jensen and it looked like she was calming his nerves. How's he doing?"

"Don't worry, he'll be just fine especially if Seo is doing what I think she's doing." Sunny said with a smile. Then she turned to Mikki and revealed, "Say, Mikki-yah, we have another surprise for you. It's a little sneak peek that not every C9 SONE is getting before showtime. Ready?"

"Yeah!!!" Mikki responded excitedly. "What is it?"

"It's about just who's performing and their outfits. Let me just check..." Sunny replied.

She went through a nearby door and into a dressing room. Shortly after, we heard her asking, "Sica! Aurora! Are you ready?"

"There's an early clue. What do you think?" Balls asked.

Mikki hummed in thought and answered, "Um....Is it a special performance of some sort?"

"How about two?" I asked in response, my smile growing.

"Yep, just that!" Sunny said, re-emerging. "They're ready, all right – would you like to follow me?"

"Really??!" Mikki responded, looking at all of us. She then grinned, nodded and said, "Okay!!!"

"I'm thinking you'll love this..." Sunny said, smiling as we all were as we led Mikki into the dressing room that she had just come out of.

"I think she will!" Balls said.

"I'm sure I will!!" Mikki replied, eye smiling at all of us.

"And here we are!" I said, stepping aside so that Mikki could see Jessica, Aurora and what they would be wearing onstage.

Author's Note – I won't reveal their outfits to you guys until the bonus chapter goes up, but I did tell Mikki so she could react properly!

Mikki gasped and her hands flew to . When she found her voice again after a few seconds and lowered her hands, she exclaimed, "Oh...my God...!!! This is amazing!!!"

"Thank you, Mikki!" Jessica replied warmly. "So what do you think we'll be doing? Genie is on the program, but we've now added something else too."

"And you can guess as well what this means for the Genie performance." Aurora said, smiling alongside Jessica.

Mikki smiled sheepishly as she answered, "I have honestly no idea what you guys are going to do...but this is just...this is so cool!"

"Yeah, imagine our faces when Jessica noona showed her outfit to us before we came here!" Balls said.

"You can imagine how happy I was when they asked me to come back for Genie." Jessica said, smiling, before she revealed, "They asked us quickly after we made Top 4, which guaranteed that we'd be coming here."

We had gone through some roster changes since IEM San Jose, but we had made it to Finals Weekend yet again – which, this time, was at Madison Square Garden, which had enabled another Girls' Generation / Cloud 9 cooperative effort.

"Second one is – and I think this goes without saying, but don't tell anybody about that or this – a little something in English in cooperation with Riot. It involves Tiffany, Jessica, Aurora, Meteos, Hai and me...and we've recorded it as part of our practice but no one else has heard it yet." I told Mikki with a grin.

"Ah, that's awesome!!!! I can't wait to hear it!!!" Mikki said, her eyes lighting up even more. "This is so exciting...I can't believe this is happening!!!"

"We can't wait for you guys to see it as well, Mikki!" Taeyeon said, having seen us and come over.

Hai, who had done so as well, nodded, smiled and said, "Now here's where you and the others come in. So many SONEs were giving us their energy and support in Korea during Worlds even though they barely knew us at the time. Today's a chance to pay them back. I want you to help make sure you guys are at least as loud and energetic for them as you'd be for us. Passion and creativity will be needed. Can you do that, Mikki?"

Mikki's head was spinning at Hai and Taeyeon being there too and talking to her before Hai gave her that request, but she nodded and replied wholeheartedly, "Of course!!! I'll do my best!!!"

"That's the spirit – Mikki fighting!" Sunny cheered. "Do you have any ideas? We have time, but I'm wondering if you have any off the top of your head."

"Fighting!!" Mikki replied, before she shook her head and replied, "Not off the top of my head, no. I might need a bit of time to think about it."

"How about we put our heads together for a short while?" Sunny offered. "I've got some time."

"Mmm...'kay!" Mikki replied, nodding. "Do you have any ideas at all?"

Balls accompanied them as they went off to brainstorm.

"Hey, look who else came in!" Sneaky said, leading another girl over to us.

"Oh, is this Kurai?" I asked, looking at the new arrival. Kurai had also recently donated on stream and showed us some cool graphics that she had done for Girls' Generation and Cloud 9 together, and after we'd found out that she would be able to travel from India to attend KCON New York/New Jersey, we had been hoping to meet her too.

"That's me!" She said. She kindly and happily shook hands with all of us who were right there, doing her best to stifle any butterflies, but we noticed that when she turned to Taeyeon, who she had saved for last, she was unable to stop himself from trembling with nervous excitement.

"Hello, Kurai!" Taeyeon said kindly, seeing this and reaching out her hand.

"Hi, Taeyeon unnie." Kurai said shyly, though she sincerely shook her hand.

"I wouldn't be your favorite, would I?" She asked with a grin.

Kurai nodded as the rest of us beamed at the two of them.

"Oh, thank you!" She said, glowing. "I've seen some of your graphics and they certainly look great! Thank you for doing that for us!"

Kurai blushed but smiled and bowed her head in thanks.

"Sorry if this is a bad question, Kurai, but how did Tae become your bias?" Jessica asked.

"Don't worry, Sica unnie." Kurai responded reassuringly, finding her voice. Turning back to Taeyeon, she replied, "I has been my jam for a really long time."

"Thank you! That means a lot. I hope you'll continue to support us – not just me." Taeyeon said, indicating the rest of us.

"I will!" Kurai replied. Then she said, so breathlessly that it was almost imploring but most importantly with reverence, "But please, Taeyeon unnie...let me thank you too for all you've done as a leader, not just as a performer. Girls' Generation is that much stronger and has come that much further because of you."

"She's right, you know. I've even seen how Cloud 9 responds to you, including as a leader – and I'm no exception." Hai said. Sneaky, Aurora, Jessica and I all nodded in response.

Taeyeon looked around at all of us gratefully and told us, "Thank you all...moments are these are when I know I'll continue to do my best as a leader, idol and person." Her eyes returned to Kurai as she finished, "Say, Kurai, would you like to come to my station? Hai and I would like to give you something."

Kurai smiled at her and Hai as they brought her over to where Taeyeon had been getting ready. As they did so, Sunny, Mikki and Balls returned.

"We're back!" Sunny told us brightly. Then she turned to Mikki and asked, "Mikki, would you like to tell them what you came up with?"

Mikki nodded and told us, "Okay, so I was thinking that we would separate the section into nine groups of rows, and then assign each group of rows an SNSD member. During the fanchant, whenever you would say a members name, the section assigned to that member would say it together. So, say a section has Yuri unnie – that section would say her name during the fanchant." She laughed a bit here and finished, "I hope that made sense."

"So you're essentially splitting the fanchant into rows so the whole group doesn't have to memorize the whole thing and thus do it as a unit?" I asked, putting my hand to my mouth in thought.

"A-ah...I suppose...I thought it would make it a bit more energetic..." Mikki said nervously. She was evidently worried I didn't like the idea, and I felt a bit guilty because that wasn't the case – I was just trying to figure out what she meant.

"I certainly see how it could help you guys save some energy." Jessica said, nodding.

"Yeah, that too." Aurora said, seeing what she was talking about.

"How many of the people in that Cloud 9 section are here right now? Do you know?" Jessica asked Mikki.

"I don't know, I'd have to check. Last time I saw, it was about halfway full." Mikki responded.

"I wonder if you guys could find a way to practice that idea without the other fans knowing." Sneaky said. Then he asked us, "Anyone know how we could do that?"

"I didn't see that many other fans out there the last time I checked because it's early." Sunny said. "If that's true, maybe we could bring them back here and work that out. How does that sound, Mikki? I like your idea, but I wouldn't want you to give it to the others and have it go off poorly since they hadn't practiced."

"That's a good idea." Mikki responded, and her eyes lit up again. "This'll be fun!"

"Sounds like it will!" Balls said. "Hey, Mikki, you go ahead and take me, Sneaky and Carlo back out there since we aren't made up yet and we'll tell them the manager wants to see them because she needs their help. How's that?"

"Okie-dokie!" Mikki agreed, nodding and grinning.

"Hang on, one thing first..." I said, holding up my hand as a thought occurred to me. "Do we also practice that song we're joining in for so they can work a chant out for that too?"

Jessica thought for a second but then smiled and said, "Well, let's try this...Mikki, if we gave you and the others a sneak peek, would you work something out and help get the whole crowd going?"

"Yeah, that could work!!" Mikki replied, nodding vigorously.

"Oh, s**t just got real. You guys might be about to get this place lit as hell with this." Sneaky said with a big grin directed at Mikki.

"Yo, I don't always say it out loud, but SourPls!" I said excitedly. Sneaky, Aurora and Balls had the biggest smiles here as they recognized the Twitch reference.

Closing Author's Notes
What do you guys think? I hope this is a fitting salute to these two great authors – I highly encourage you to check them out! I also hope this gets you more excited for the bonus content. Most importantly of all, hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and wishing everyone an early Happy New Year!