Sorry for taking so long to update. Anyways...

Nino: Hehe... these are some interesting judges we have here...

There are two old, returning judges, and two new ones! Please don't get mad if you don't like the judges - I chose them based on who you reviewers liked or didn't like, and also who you recommended, so it's not like I put random names in a hat like Sain did... Okay, let's begin!

Chapter Two

In the girls' rooms, there was complete and utter chaos.

It isn't easy to fit nine females and all of their clothes into three rooms (with the exception of Louise, who just stole Pent's room) but somehow they had managed to do it.

Room number one was currently occupied by Nino, Rebecca, Serra, and Priscilla. Nino was curling Rebecca's hair while Rebecca did her own make-up.

"Um, could you please stop moving around so much?" Nino asked. "It's kind of hard to do this while you're turning your head."

"Nino!" cried Rebecca. "You made me get eyeliner on my nose!"

Serra and Priscilla were going through all of their clothes and shoes and taking turns modeling for each other. First, Priscilla came out wearing a purplish pink dress that greatly resembled Serra's usual attire.

Serra snorted. "THAT only looks good on me. Try something else."

Priscilla looked a bit put down, but went to change out of the dress. Moments later, Serra had changed into Priscilla's usual green and white outfit.

Priscilla wrinkled her nose. "It's a bit... tight on you."

"Are you calling me fat???" cried Serra, putting her hands on her hips.

"N-no! I just... think you would look better in something else," Priscilla stuttered.

"No way!!" yelled Serra. "You were calling me fat! And I saw you flirting with Erk yesterday! You'll pay for this!!"

"What does THAT have to do with anything?" asked Priscilla. "And besides, it's a free country - I'm allowed to talk to Erk if I want to!"

"Oh, yeah?"

Before it could be prevented, a catfight had broken out between the two healers.

The next room over was a great contrast to this one. It was the room shared by the three Pegasus Sisters. Farina, usually the loudest of the three, had gone into town. She had claimed she needed a professional to make her look good enough to win the competition. She'd stolen Hector's credit card and hitched a ride to the main town of Ostia where all of the shops were. Fiora and Florina had the room to themselves.

Fiora was attempting to brush Florina's out-of-control curly hair while Florina shook uncontrollably.

"I-I'm so nervous!!" she cried. "Fiora, w-why do I have to do this?"

"Well, YOU signed up for it," Fiora pointed out. "You didn't have to."

"O-oh... th-that's right..." Florina remembered.

"Don't worry, it will be fun," her elder sister assured her. "You look very pretty. You may even have a chance at winning."

"B-but what about the others? Th-their ten times prettier than me!" cried Florina.

"Are you serious?" asked an appalled Fiora. "Look, I'm not much for judging others, but I don't think most of them are all that pretty. Serra, for one, wears so much makeup that she looks like she's trying too hard. And Nino's cute, but she's just too young to be considered beautiful."

"F-fiora?" Florina asked tentatively. "Um, is something wrong?"

"Oh no!" she cried. "I'm starting to sound like Farina! What's gotten into me? I'm sorry, Florina... I shouldn't have said those things."

This just succeeded in making Florina more nervous. If this competition could bring out the worst in Fiora, of all people, then it could bring out the worst sides of everyone.

Lyn went over to Louise's room and knocked on the door. She needed to ask for some hairspray, because she couldn't find any in her room. Usually, Nino shared a room with her, but the younger girl had been enlisted by Rebecca for help, so Lyn was alone. When Louise didn't answer the door, Lyn knocked again.

"Louse?? If you're in there, could you please open up?" demanded Lyn, growing impatient. There wasn't much time before the competition began.

Finally, Louise came to the door, wearing only a towel, rollers in her hair, and a face mask.

Lyn's mouth dropped open. "Uh..."

"Oh, hello, dear!" she greeted the blade lord. "I was in the bathroom, so I didn't hear you at first. Do you need something?"

"Hair...spray..." Lyn muttered, feeling embarrassed.

"Oh, of course!" cried Louise.

She ran off and came back a moment later with then different containers of hairspray.

"Here, take them all!" she said, handing them all to Lyn, who almost dropped them. "I hope one of them works for you."

"Thanks..." mumbled Lyn.

"You're welcome!" called Louise as Lyn ran off.

Lyn shook her head. "If a married woman is so into looking good for this thing, then I don't think I have ANY chance of winning..."


Finally, it was time. Sain was so excited he could barely contain himself. He scanned the ballroom, which, in his opinion, looked amazing. There were streamers and balloons everywhere, and hundreds of chairs full of the spectators. Sain had called a few TV stations, like St. Elimine Television and the Black Fang Network regarding the event, and it looked like they had all shown up. The Miss Elibe Beauty Pageant would be aired on national TV!

Sain had Canas working the sound and music, and Dorcas doing lights and special effects. Hawkeye was going to play bodyguard in case some crazy person broke in and tried to hurt one of the contestants (in the most extreme case). And there were four empty chairs in front of a long table on the stage, waiting to be filled by the four judges.

Then it was finally time to begin. Sain checked himself in the mirror, and the turned to Canas.

"Alright, we're on in ten seconds! Get ready!" he said.

Canas nodded and hit a button. The loud, fast-paced theme music blared out of speakers around the room, and almost deafened every person in the room. They all began yelling and holding there ears. Canas quickly lowered the volume.

"Woops," he said, looking sheepish. "I was sure that was the right setting..."

Sain had barely noticed that anything had happened, and ran out onto the stage.

"Hi everyone!" he said. "Welcome to the first ever Miss Elibe Beauty Pageant!"

Cheers erupted from the crowd.

"And I am your handsome host, Sain!" he continued, and paused for more cheers.

There was a moment of silence. Then someone yelled, "Get off of the stage! We want the girls!!"

"Yeah!!" agreed everyone else.

There was another pause.

"I think this is the part where they start throwing tomatoes at him," Matthew whispered to Hector.

"Yeah...but we don't have any tomatoes," Hector replied. "I guess we'll just have to skip that part."

"Um, anyways," Sain continued, regaining his composure after being slightly humiliated, "welcome to the competition! In a few moments, we will be bringing out our lovely contestants, but first... we must pick the judges!"

Everyone leaned forward eagerly and expectantly.

Sain cleared his throat. "Judge number one is... Erk!"

Everyone clapped politely. Erk sunk in his chair, an expression of horror on his face.

"Come on," Pent said, nudging Erk. "Get up there!"

"B-but Master... this is a juvenile, idiotic competition... and... people might get angry at me if I give them a bad score!" he cried.

"Oh, you're afraid of one of those catfights between Priscilla and Serra happening again!" Pent recalled. "Eh, I'm sure Hawkeye will deal with those... now get up there, or I'll never get to see Louise!"

Pent clutched his digital camera. Erk wondered exactly how many pictures of Louise he was planning on taking...

Once Erk was finally on the stage in the first seat, Sain announced the second judge.

"Judge number two is... Jaffar!"

"..." said Jaffar.

"What was that?" asked Legault.

"..." repeated Jaffar.

"Whatever," Legault said. "I'll never understand you Angels of Death."

"...There is more than one of me?" Jaffar asked, raising his eyebrows.

Legault looked surprised. "So NOW you're talking?"

"Stop wasting time!" someone said from behind.

Sain continued. "Judge number three is... Wil!"

"YAY!!" cried Wil, practically bouncing out of his seat.

Dart, who had been sitting next to Wil, slapped his forehead. "And this is the guy who claims to have been my best friend... what was I THINKING???"

"And the last judge..." Sain began, and inserted a dramatic pause, "...is Hector!"

"Cool!" commented Hector. "Now I'll be close enough to tell if Serra's eyelashes are fake or not!"

"They are," Matthew said with a nod. "They definitely are."

Hector shrugged. "I'll tell you if you're right when I get back."

When all four judges were seated on the stage, Sain said, "We will now have a 15 minute commercial break! When we return, the contestants will be introduced!"

"Fifteen whole minutes??" the crowd complained.

Sain disappeared behind the stage before he could be mobbed by angry fans - not his fans, of course, but the girls'.

A blond reporter from St. Elimine TV went up to the judges table.

"Hi!" she cried energetically. "My name's Sally, and I'm here to ask you a question that our viewers would like answered! Who do you think will win?"

"I know! I know!" cried Wil, raising his hand. "Rebecca will! Because... Rebecca's cool!"

"Alright..." said Sally, becoming a bit bewildered. "Anyone else?"

"..." said Jaffar.

"What was that?" asked a confused Sally.

"I think he said Dino," said Wil, "but I'm not sure."

"There is no one in this competition named Dino," Hector corrected him. "He probably said Nino. He's obsessed with her. But I say no way. Nino's just a kid. She'll probably win because Jaffar gives her good scores."

Jaffar gave Hector an Evil Glare of Doom.

Hector returned the favor.

"Um, let's stay friendly, now," Sally said nervously. "So, uh, who do YOU think will win, sir?"

"Me? I'm rooting for Lyn," Hector replied.

"And you?" Sally asked, turning to Erk.

"I don't even care who wins," he said grumpily. "I just want this to be over."

"Oh, uh, well then..." said Sally, turning to the camera. "Stay tuned for several minutes, when we return to Castle Ostia for the first viewing of the contestants in the pageant!"

She and her cameraman scurried off of the stage.

"These people are crazy!" she muttered. "How can we show this on national television??"

"Um, we were airing live, ma'am," the cameraman answered.

"Oh no!" she cried. "I don't think it can't get much worse than this..."

Sally didn't know how wrong she was.


Don't worry, Sally's not going to be a main character or anything. I just needed to stick an annoying news reporter in there somewhere and none of the FE characters really fit the bill, so... yeah.

Nino: Tune in next time for the introduction of the contestants and the first elimination!

And remember - NO VOTING. If you vote, the story could be deleted AGAIN, and I don't think I'd want to start this over a 3rd time. Contestants will be eliminated based on their in-game relationships (from dialogue and supports) with the judges and the polls from the last version of this story. This doesn't mean that everyone will be eliminated in the same order as last time, though.

Nino: Enough ranting! Please review!