Maternal Instinct

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
Main Arc:
Maternal Instinct
Seeing Double
The Pathetic Tale of Bonnie Rockwaller
The Cat Came Back
The Unknown Adventure of Ann Possible
Sidekick, No More

Side Stories:
The Difference Between You and Me
That Other Girl
Shego's Ballad
The Burden of Leadership
Sweet Revenge
Maternal Instinct: Spotlight

Another Possibility:
Another Possibility
Life Goes On

Maternal Instinct is the beginning of an entire universe of stories, and one of the most widely celebrated Kim Possible fanfics out there. Written by Blackbird, writer of growing popularity among the Kim Possible and The Batman fandoms, who also borrows a few elements from popular writer NoDrogs. The stories are imaginative, the dialogue is always a treat to read, and the series is all around well-written and consistently entertaining.

The story begins, as many do, with one of Drakken's plans going awry. While trying to impregnate Kim Possible with a retrovirus fired from a special gun, he misses and hits Shego instead. This leads to Shego becoming pregnant, which turns her against her employer and causes her to seek out the "father:" Kim Possible.

Like many Comic Books, the series features multiple continuities. There's a second branch of stories, called "Another Possibility", that follows right after a different ending for the first story.

The series is also notable for its many, many OCs, all of whom feel fully developed and fit right into the universe that the author has created. There are also more cameos that you can shake a stick at, which ventures into Crossover territory at times. The author has taken a break from the series at the moment, but it's far from over.

Tropes used in Maternal Instinct include:
  • Abusive Parents: Shego's parents weren't downright abusive, but certainly close minded and offering little to no comprehension.
  • Action Girl: The series is pretty much overloaded with them, to an even more ridiculous degree than the show.
  • Action Mom: Kim. Shego too, but mainly Kim.
  • A Day in the Limelight: First there's "The Unknown Adventure of Ann Possible", where the title should tell you enough. After that, "Spotlight" is basically just a large collection of one-shots, each one focused on specific characters, so it's practically made of this trope.
  • A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Queen Bebe.
  • Alpha Bitch: "The Pathetic Tale of Bonnie Rockwaller" showcases what happens to this kind of character after high school. Asuka is this for Shin.
  • And This Is For:
    • Kim starts using this trope against the Queen Bebe in their final battle.
    • The lighthearted variant appears at the end of "Sidekick, No More," in which Bonnie slaps Ron for leaving, then kisses him for coming back.
  • Belligerent Sexual Tension: Between Catgirl and Will Du, if Stonehenge is to be believed anyway.
  • Big Damn Heroes: All over the series.
  • But I Can't Be Pregnant
  • Butt Monkey: Shin can sometimes feel like this.

Shin: "Why does my life always have to suck!?"

  • Break the Haughty: What happens to Bonnie after high school. Her father got arrested for tax evasion, all her nice stuff got taken away, and she has to work at Smarty Mart just to stay in a crappy apartment. Fortunately, rather than laugh about it, Kim comes and rescues her.
  • The Cameo: So many. Let's go down the list:
    • Pretty much the entire cast of Scrubs, most famously Dr. Perry Cox.
    • Sideburn and Prowl from Transformers.
    • The Monarch was Drakken's cellmate, while Brock Samson gives Shin a ride to Wade's apartment.
    • Jeff Dunham makes a televised appearance with Peanut.
    • Earl and Randy from My Name Is Earl.
    • Shaun from Shaun of the Dead and Ash Williams from Evil Dead both work for Smarty Mart and like to eat lunch together.
    • Bonnie has to stay late at work because Al Bundy was absent from the shoe department.
    • Asuka Langley Soryuu from Neon Genesis Evangelion appears as Shin's high school rival, as does Asuka's guardian, Misato Katsuragi.
    • Brian Fellows, a paranoid zookeeper from an SNL skit.
    • The doctors from Nip Tuck.
    • Felix introduces Ron to The Angry Video Game Nerd while the latter is in the hospital.
  • Can't Catch Up: After her pregnancy, Shego is still struggling to get back in shape.
  • Cloning Blues: "Seeing Double" is built around this trope.
  • Crossover: "The Unknown Adventure of Ann Possible" is this with Doctor Who.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Shego, natch.
  • Death by Childbirth: Perhaps assisted by poison, but this happens to Shego in "Another Possibility".
  • Deliver Us From Evil: Guess who?
  • Delivery Guy: Ron and Dr. McCoy for Shego.
  • Don't Tell Mama: Shin's been there, never succesfully.
  • Expy: The entire Justice Squad:
    • White Knight is a pretty clear Superman Shout-Out, with a little bit of Bishop thrown in.
    • Spyder is modeled after Spider-Man.
    • Longbow has shades of Huntress.
    • Catgirl is a playful allusion to Catwoman, right down to her secret identity: Felicia Kyle.
    • Stonehenge is obviously based on The Thing.
    • Also, during "Sidekick, No More", Ron becomes one for Snake Eyes.
  • Give Her a Normal Life: What Kim and Shego seem to want for Shin. The daughter doesn't agree.
  • Good Girls Avoid Abortion: Basically the first indication of Shego not being truly evil.
  • Has Two Mommies: Like other writers, Blackbird borrowed NoDrogs plot about Homosexual Reproduction, but with the twist of having Shego being the one who ends up pregnant with Kim's child.
  • Humiliation Conga: Not only did Bonnie lose everything after her father got busted for tax evasion, but most of her days at Smarty Mart tend to follow this pattern. The final nail in the coffin before she decides to turn to Kim for help is when her apartment caves in.
  • Instant Birth, Just Add Water: Perhaps justified due to Shego having been infected with something to accelerate her delivery.
  • Law of Inverse Fertility: Shego was infertile.
  • Les Yay: Kim and Shego, of course. Would be Foe Yay but for the fact that they're technically on the same side for most of the story. There are other examples as well around the series.
  • Loads and Loads of Characters: Between the author's veritable army of OCs and all the cameos he keeps bringing in, there's got to be at least two dozen recurring characters at this point, if not more.
  • Mama Didn't Raise No Criminal: Shego's mother feels this way.
  • Most Common Superpower: Shin's friend Kieran is the most obvious case of this, though it applies to a large number of the female characters. For some reason.
  • Eucatastrophe: Queen Bebe comes closer to defeating Kim than perhaps any villain she's faced before.
  • Pregnant Hostage: Twice.
  • Pursuing Parental Perils: Not like Kim or Shego ever died, but Shin still tries to follow on their footsteps. Arguably, It Runs in The Family. Played more straight with Alexandra, who - as fanarts of the character shows - takes upon her dead mother's suit in order to feel closer to the mother she never knew.
  • Running Gag: Close to it, several characters tend to fall asleep together on a couch. The author himself said after the third time it happened, "I think the best thing to do about it at this point is to make it a bit of a running gag."
  • Someone To Remember Her By: To an extent, Alexandra may be this for Shego in "Another Possibility".
  • Tempting Fate: Bonnie remarks that the only thing that could get her to move out of her apartment would be if the floor caved in. Within a few scenes, that's exactly what happens.
  • Unlucky Childhood Friend: Ron. Unlike a lot of Kigo stories, he and Kim didn't break up on the best of terms. They remain friends, but it takes a long time before they can truly move past it. Kim falling for Shego doesn't help matters.