Isaac
Isaac was waiting with Ashley for their cue to go on.
"Okay, our order was the bike, a car, the fountain and the notebook computer. No last mnute amendments?"
Ash
"Nah, nah man..." Ashley shook his head nervously, rubbing his hands together.
He was almost shaking with nervousness.
"Just remember to ket me keep the translucent string attached, otherwise you're going to stuff me up. And don't type too fast or anything. And don't forget to talk me through the bike and the car because I just know I'm going to stuff something up. And remember that I can't hear you when I'm shifting, so you have to wait until I'm finished. Did you bring that CD for background music I told you to? Where's everyone else? Oh man, i'm letting my mind wander..." he shook his head.
Isaac
"Ash, Ash, calm down," Isaac said. "You're gonna kick butt out there. Don't worry so much. If you turn around, you'll see where the other contestants are. Except for Lydia and Monique - they're up first, so they're already on the stange infront of the judges and the audience. Now, do yourself a favour and breathe!"
Ash
Ashley stopped, closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He heard the crowd give a low 'oooooh!' as the first two contestants produced their second shape.
"Oh man," he groaned.
He looked around, but everyone had their eyes fixed on the two (one and a half?) contestants.
"The bike, the car, the fountain, the comp. The bike, the foun-no! Damn. The bike, the car, the fountain, the comp. The bike, the car, the fountain, the comp..." he chanted.
Isaac
"Y'know, I'm the one who has the remember the order," Isaac grinned. "Not to mention the itty-bitty-nitty-gritty details. Calm down man."
Isaac sighed. They went through this every year. Ashley was obviously not cut out for show biz.
Ash
"Did you bring the book to do one last check? Let me see it!" Ashley begged, trying hard not to jump and waste energy.
He neglected to realize that all the energy he was building up from being nervous made him shift even faster than normal.
"Was Katie disqualified or what? I haven't heard anything," he crossed his fingers hopefully.
The crowd cheered as the first contestants stepped down, and the second pair made their way up to the stage.
Isaac
"Yeah, here it is," Isaac said.
He pulled the book out of his bag and gave it to Ashley.
"I haven't heard anything about Katie," Isaac said. "I can't see her though, but there are a few people here."
Ash
Ashley grabbed the book from him, found the bike, and closely began to inspect all the gadgets and labels and everything featurued.
The crowd cheered as the second contestants went about their sculpturing/shifting. Ashley refused to watch.
"If that little wench is competing I'll have to bloody... Oh my God," he began as he heard their names called.
He dropped the book and picked it up again and handed it to Ike.
"Ready?" he asked nervously.
Isaac
"Ready," Isaac said.
He followed Ash out onto the stage. As they waited for the judges signal, Isaac looked into thr crowd. He smiled as he saw Miette... but who was that sitting next to her... it wasn't Mindy was it?
Isaac turned his head quickly. He hoped Ash wouldn't see. There was no way to know how he's react.
They got the nod from the judges and Isaac turned to Ash.
"Y'know Ash," he said calmly. "I'm in the mood for a motorcycle ride. I'm thinking... a Harley Davidson XL 883R Sportster."
Ashley
Ashley turned to Ike and grinned. He'd immediately sent an unnoticeable string from his left foot out to create a jump.
"You're on," he winked, before he turned chrome and seemed to 'melt'.
As it began, rock music came on in the background. Ashley knew that if he stayed focused on Ike and only Ike, he'd have a good chance at keeping concentration.
The audienced watched in awe as Ashley began to build the bike slowly, layer by layer from the ground up. It was like putting together one of those vertical puzzles. But unlike one of those puzzles, this took a maximum six seconds to complete. Ashley turned the headlights on and revved the motor, waiting for his rider.
Meanwhile, people had begun to notice the jump forming about ten feet away, which was now about four feet high.
Isaac
Isaac grinned and took his place on the seat.
"Whoo hoo!" he yelled triumphantly as they drove towards the jump.
Just as they were going up, Isaac gave his next instruction:
"Forget the bike, Cyclops's car from X2 rocked!"
Ash
If Ashley could have held his breath, he would have then.
He sent out two quick strings to form a quick frame, then made the car form from the roof down as if liquid was running over it. All mid- air. And all around Isaac.
The string he'd kept attached to the jump pulled him into the landing safely, and the car bounced a little before the jump disappeared.
He skidded to a halt, screeching the tyres, flashed the headlights, and just appeared to show off.
Isaac
"Oooh, nice interior," Isaac said softly so that only Ash would hear.
Then 'he' wound down the window, and peered out.
"Of course, after all this excitement, it's nice to settle down for a bit," he said. "Maybe at a large fountain, with statuettes of mythical creatures and tall jets of water."
Ash
Ashley tried to remember what the fountain looked like.
Almost immediately, the seat Ike sat in became one of those fold-up chairs from the beach. The car melted around him, then he began to shift over to where the jumps used to be and began to make the concrete base.
The fountain formed a lot like the bike, in layers moving upward. He just formed the concrete base, the statues and other featues, before forming the spout about 15 feet high.
As soon as the spout was formed, Ashley filled the base with 'water', and then sent out a sort of translucent flim from the top with small water drops embedded inside. This gave the illusion of the water falling in a perfect circle. The fountain was soon going full throttle.
It felt weird, but being a fountain sort of made Ashley relax onstage. He waited for Ike's next line.
Isaac
Isaac's eyes flickered over to Miette and Mindy briefly. If Ash had noticed Mindy, he sure was doing a good job of not giving it away.
"But something that's just as nice," Isaac said, kicking back, "is being about to use the computer on the run. Say a Compaq Evo N1020v, with fifteen inch screen."
Ash
Immediately, the fountain began to be 'unravelled' like a piece of wool from the ground up - unnoticeably held up by two thin stands. The water slowed, but still fell.
Eventually, as the demolishing of the fountain reached the top of the spout, one noticeable drop of water left the opening before it disappeared, and made it's way down to Isaac's lap.
The puddle of water on the floor cleared as the water drop became a glass base to rest the computer on (which was now forming).
Ashley opened a program on the small computer which acted as a web cam, showing his face grinning.
Isaac
Isaac smiled and then - so that everyone could see - 'opened' a word processor and typed in some words. Then he turned Ash around so that the judge could see the words: "THE END".
Ashley
As the two left the stage after recieving a loud applause, Ashley looked around for Katie. Nowhere in sight. He couldn't help but grin. She had been disqualified.
She might not have been there, but her partner Rebecca was. And boy was she pissed.
Deciding to ignore her, Ashley looked around for anyone else. He guessed Ike was looking for Miette.
Isaac and Miette
Isaac headed over to Miette and Mindy. Miette smiled up at him as she moved her things so he could sit down.
"Hey, you guys were awesome," she said.
"Thank you. But Ash was the one who did all the work," Isaac replied.
This remark caused Mindy to look in Ashley's direction.
Ash
Ashley froze. It was Mindy.
Mindy.
Mindy Mindy, not a shape shifter in her place or anything.
"Ah..." he stuttered, realizing he was shaking slightly, "umm... hi... Mindy."
He smiled nervously, before realizing he'd better sit down.
He hurriedly wiped the seat net to her clean and sat beside her. Scratching his head vigourously, he tried to think of what to say.
"Umm... so, did Miette bring you here?"
Miette and Mindy
"Yes, she did. Well, that is to say, she invited me," Mindy replied.
"She wanted to know more about you," Miette put in. "But I'm not exactly the best person to ask these kinds of questions. Mindy is actually the reason I finally decided to come down."
"We decided to learn more about this alien stuff together."
Ash
"You... you did?" Ashley raised his eyebrows.
"Ah... cool. I just... Forgive, it's a bit of a shock," he chuckled.
The next contestants were ready to begin.
"So um... anything I can help you with?" he asked nervously.
Mindy and Miette
"Mmm, I'll let you know," Mindy replied with a smile.
"I think we have to be quiet now," Miette said, gesturing to the stage.
Rachel and Jessica
Jess and Rachel were really excited about this. This was the first year either of them had been invited to the tournament, and this was Rachel's first comp, as well as Jess's first, if not only, chance to show up her big brother. Rachel and Jess had spent the last few days going over the list of DNA Rachel had aquired, and practicing combining different animals to ake an interesting sculpture. ANd they had a pretty good one planned out, but Rachel had given Jess permission to say whatever she wanted, unlike Ike & Ashley who in Rachel's opinion, weren't playing fair, but taking all the spontaneity of it, and where was the fun in that? Finally, they began.
"Well," Jess began, "I think it would be cool if you looked like Cassie, since she can't be here herself." Almost instantly, Rachel became her other best friend.
"I also think Sphynxes are pretty cool," Jess continued, as Rachel morphed her body to that of her lion morph, keeping Cassie's face intact. Once she was a prpoer Spynx, she followed Jess's commands as she shrunk down to a housecat, and then back to a lion, changed her tail, and her hind legs. FInally, the sculpture was complete. In front of the judges stood a creature with the tail of an Andalite, the hind legs of a bear, the body of a lion, and the head of a young girl, except for the eyes, which were thaqt of an eagle, and the ears which resembled a Hork-Bajir. After circling around a few times to everybody could see, Rachel demorphed, and stood up in all of her blonde, gymnast glory.