The largest camera was on Eddie when the red light turned on, indicating that the P-Factor was finally on air. The young lady behind the camera flashed Eddie a thumbs-up and he gave the viewers his million Chocolate Coin smile.
"Hello, everyone, and welcome to the very first televised P-Factor round ever!" Eddie was onstage at the moment, the contestants behind him out of the spotlight, clutching their piñatas in anticipation. "The P-Factor has a long history, it's been run for over thirty years by my family in the humble little Village near Piñata Central, and it's finally going to be shown to the rest of the Island!" Eddie threw his arms in the air and the audience applauded thunderously. "It's a fantastic show that will display the best piñatas and gardeners our Village has to offer, so I hope all of you enjoy!" With a wink, Eddie hopped off the stage and headed to his place at the judges' table, sitting down in the very middle, between Sparcticus and Maxime. Eddie folded his hands and grinned in anticipation as he waited for the first contestant to come forward.
Patch pointed to himself and mouthed "Me?" to Eddie, and Eddie nodded, motioning for Patch to hurry. The blonde doctor blushed and brought his pink Chewnicorn forward.
Somewhere in the audience, Dastardos was trying really hard not to burst out laughing. Could Doc Patch have picked a more emasculating piñata?!
"That's an impressive piñata!" Jardiniero commented, adjusting his glasses and leaning forward. "However did you obtain him? You're no gardener…"
"Wuh-well…" Patch's voice cracked and he cleared his throat, his cheeks still bright red. "I got her as a gift. From Gretchen, for my last birthday."
Maxime loudly Mallowolf-whistled and Leafos glared at her.
Patch waved his hands around frantically. "I-it's not like that at all!" he struggled to be heard over the audience's laughter. "Sh-she's a big help…my Chewnicorn, that is!" Patch knew he was totally blowing it, but he couldn't give up now. His Chewnicorn gave him a reassuring nudge with her head. "Suh-sometimes if I can't get to a garden, I send Cammie here to heal the piñata for me… sh-she even brings me the right payment back! She's smart!" Patch smiled and nodded, taking great care to not look into one of the black, unforgiving camera eyes. If he did that, he'd probably faint.
"Can she do any tricks?" Sparcticus intoned, folding his arms and raising a brow.
"Oh, yeah! Cammie, do your suh-stuff!" Patch took a step back to give his Chewnicorn some room.
Cammie threw her head back and a dazzling prism of colors burst from her horn. Cammie bounced the ball of light all over her body, even balancing herself on her front hooves and rolling it around on her fluffy tail. The prism left a trail of all the colors of the rainbow as it moved, and the crowd gasped in awe.
Once Cammie was done with her trick, she bowed, and Patch followed her example, nearly losing his balance in the process. It was terribly hard to bow with such a bulky helmet on…
Leena quietly gulped in nervousness from her place with the other contestants. It would be hard for tiny little Crispy to top a flashy trick like that…
Eddie jumped to his feet and gave Doc Patchingo and his piñata a standing ovation. No one else joined him in standing up, but the audience and most of the other judges joined Eddie in his loud applause.
Patch positively glowed. Things were going better than expected!
The judges were quiet for a few moments before beginning to share their thoughts.
"She's beautiful, Patch!" Leafos gave Patch a thumbs-up. "I usually prefer lower-level piñatas, but I can't help but be impressed by a Chewnicorn! Especially one that can do a trick that amazing!" After she was done commenting, Leafos turned her attention to her score card and quickly began to write.
Patch couldn't help blushing at her compliments. No one knew piñatas like Leafos and her family did, so a great comment coming from one of them was as good as gold!
Lottie sighed and folded her hands under her chin. "Yeah…she's flashy and everything, but you're overselling her to the audience! Bringing a rare piñata to the P-Factor when everyone else has more common ones is just a cheap way to win!"
"That means she's jealous because she doesn't have a piñata that valuable," Maxime mock-whispered into her microphone.
Maxime hit the nail right on the head and Lottie roared. She jumped from her seat in hopes of tearing the tiny Maxime in two, but Leafos quickly wrapped her arms around Lottie's stomach, stopping her from invoking her wrath.
Once Lottie calmed down, it was Sparcticus' turn to speak.
"You know, I actually have to agree with Lottie on that one," Sparcticus swallowed a yawn. He had spent a good portion of the previous night awake, wallowing in his misery. He was so tired now that he didn't even care; he just wanted to get through this P-Factor round. "She's pretty, sure, but it really does feel like you're going a cheap route for the win."
"Buh-but she's the only piñata I have!" Patch protested, tears pricking the corners of his eyes. No, Patch, don't let tears fall! You're on TV, man!
Sparcticus shrugged, but said nothing else, turning his attention to his scorecard.
"Oh, don't listen to him; he's a stick in the mud!" Eddie shoved his hulking friend on the shoulder, which made Sparcticus fumble with his pen and make a huge black line across his scorecard. Sparcticus gave Eddie a cold, flat look, but Eddie was too caught up in his spiel to notice. "Cammie is absolutely gorgeous, her trick was phenomenal, unlike anything I've ever seen in the P-Factor before, and hoo boy, have I seen a lot!" Eddie's violet eyes were glimmering almost as brightly as the prism of light Cammie used in her trick. "Congratulations on raising such a wonderful piñata! You're the man, Patch!" Eddie winked at the doctor and Patch blushed again, his looming tears subsiding.
"I'm not usually one for obnoxiously showy presentations…" Maxime gave an aside glance to Eddie. "…but your Chewnicorn is the biggest piñata here, so that'll net you some extra points with me." She smiled at Patch, moving a lock of her dark hair out of her face.
"That's your criteria, little girl?" Jardiniero looked at Maxime in disbelief. "And you call yourself worthy of sitting at this judges' table?" Jardiniero folded his arms, squinting behind his thick glasses. Seedos rolled his eyes ridiculously hard.
"Aw, shut up, old man, I don't tell you how to run your life," Maxime growled, glaring at the once great gardener.
"Sh-sh-shut up?!" Jardiniero spluttered like popcorn in hot oil, his face turning bright red beneath his beard. "How dare you speak to your elders that way! What kind of parents raised you?!"
"I don't think someone like you should question anyone else's parenting skills," Maxime took a sip from her bottle of water, not even bothering to look at Jardiniero. The audience gasped, Leafos looked ready to cry, and Seedos cheered in agreement. He shut up with Jardiniero, Leafos, and Storkos all glared at him, though.
Somewhere in the audience, Dastardos was trying really damn hard not to burst into loud laughter at Maxime's comment. He was starting to like that girl; she had some serious bite!
"Please don't fight!" Eddie placed his hand on Maxime's shoulder and she eyed it with disdain. "We're judging the piñatas, not each other!"
"Fine," Maxime lifted Eddie's hand off of her shoulder, wrinkling her nose a bit. Jardiniero grunted in agreement.
"Okay, now that that's settled…" Eddie breathed a sigh of relief. "Go ahead, Jardiniero."
Jardiniero begun a large spiel about the time he first attracted a Chewnicorn, how everyone was amazed by its splendor and how he had the honor of being the first person in the whole world to get a Chewnicorn to reside in his garden. He also threw in a few subtle digs at Patch, about how someone who didn't truly attract a Chewnicorn to their garden barely deserved a Chewnicorn at all. The rant made Patch feel pretty damn bad about himself and bored the audience to near tears. Seedos actually put his head down, his eyes half-closed, barely clinging to consciousness. Once Jardiniero was finally done, he began writing on his scorecard, despite the fact he barely even commented on the state of Patch's piñata.
"Th-thanks for that, Jardiniero," Eddie gave the ex-gardener an extraordinarily fake grin. "Seedos? Are you still with us? It's your turn!" Eddie leaned over to look at the dozing seed merchant and Seedos barely responded.
Storkos smacked Seedos on the head and he sprung back to reality, straightening in his chair and looking around shiftily, the beige cheeks of his mask coloring when he realized he fell asleep on live TV.
"She reminds me of a gem tree seed," Seedos nodded sagely. "Shiny, gorgeous, and full of potential! You have yourself a great piñata there, Doctor!" Seedos gave Patch an enormous grin and the doctor glowed.
Storkos pursed her lips as she thought. "Hmm…she's missing something…I just don't know what. She certainly has stage presence, that's for sure, so she's not a complete loss. Keep training her, Patch, I'm sure her skills will take flight eventually!" Storkos shrugged at Patch and he nodded at her. He only got Cammie recently, after all.
"Next!" Eddie called out. The next competitor in line was Fannie and her Pudgeon, a ridiculously chubby little bird named Petey. He was wearing a sparkly blue beret to match the one Fannie had on. Fannie was looking quite showy, in a light blue dress patterned with an iridescent fabric. It had a long slit up the side which showed off Fannie's skinny legs. If not for her freakish mask, the audience probably would have found her stunning.
Yoto smiled as Fannie went forward with her Pudgeon, reaching in his pocket and caressing the ring box. At the end of his judging session, he would call Storkos onstage and propose to her, no doubt making this a P-Factor round to go down in history! Yoto wondered if Eddie would cry… or explode in a fit of sheer rage. Eddie once told Yoto that he thought Storkos didn't deserve someone like him. Well, Eddie could shove that comment up his ass for all Yoto cared. He'd vow all of his love in this proposal, letting the whole Island know just how much he cares for the people's gorgeous heroine, and hopefully even moving the stony heart of The Great Jardiniero himself! Yoto didn't want his life to end by getting run over by a maniac in a wheelchair… at least it would make for an interesting obituary.
Meanwhile, in the audience, Gretchen was barely paying attention to Fannie's Pudgeon attempting to chirp-sing along with some popular mainland song. Gretchen's eyes were on Yoto instead, and she caught a fleeting glimpse of him pulling the ring box out of his pocket and smiling. Her eyes widened and she jostled the dozing Bart's shoulder.
"Whazzat?" Bart yawned hugely, rubbing his eyes. "Did Jardiniero finally stop talking?"
"Are you aware of what your nephew has in his pocket?" Gretchen whispered into Bart's ear. Bart thought for a fleeting moment that only Gretchen's voice could make a sentence like that sexy.
"No? Please don't tell me it's a bomb," Bart's eyes widened at the idea and grabbed his discarded hat off of his lap to hug it to his chest. "It would be just like my nephew to wreak mayhem by taking down this whole auditorium in an explosion!"
"No, shhh, do you want to start a panic?!" Gretchen chastised her lover, pinching him on the shoulder. "I only caught a little glimpse, but I think it's a ring box…! I didn't know Yoto had a girlfriend…did you know that?"
Bart's eyes grew even wider. "Wait…so you're telling me he's planning to propose tonight?"
"I suppose so…" Gretchen shrugged. "Geez, I hope Eddie doesn't cry his eyes out. That boy can't keep his emotions in check…"
"WAH-HOO!" Bart yelled at the top of his lungs, not even caring that the whole auditorium could hear him. Luckily, he yelled that just as soon as Fannie's Pudgeon finished his song, and the audience began to applaud loudly after Bart's exclamation of joy.
"He'll finally vacate my abode…!" Bart kicked his legs like an excited child. "That is, if that girl of his says 'yes.' Which she won't if she has any shred of sanity."
"Who is his girl, anyway?" Gretchen asked. Bart figured it couldn't hurt to tell her…
Back onstage, the judges were having a lukewarm reaction to Fannie's Pudgeon. The only one who seemed to enjoy the song was Storkos, but it was mainly because the bird pulled quite a few impressive flips in the air while it was singing, despite all of its extra weight. Fannie looked about ready to burst into tears when the judges were finished giving their verdicts.
"Okay, Yoto's up ne-" Eddie began, but he was interrupted by a loud voice in the audience yelling "WAAAAAAIT!"
"Huh?" Eddie's head turned towards the source of the voice.
"Who the fuck…?" Maxime followed suit, raising a brow and parting her lips in disbelief.
"Flavius!" Fannie exclaimed, folding her hands under her chin, no longer looking like she was ready to cry.
The spotlight and the cameras went on a short man who was standing up in the audience, a look of determination on his obscenely shiny full-face mask. "Permission to come onstage? I have a very important question I must ask Fannie Franker!"
Eddie couldn't say no to resolve like that… He gestured at the young man and he instantly came running down from the crowd.
"I'm Flavius Pendragonache, by the way, nice to meet you all!" He said into Leafos' microphone as he passed it.
In the audience, Avalon slammed a palm into her forehead and loudly groaned.
Flavius ascended the stairs and stopped in front of Fannie, smiling up at her. "Darling, you looked absolutely splendid up there. I don't care what the judges said; your performance was absolutely impeccable!"
"Oh, stop it, you flatterer," Fannie waved Flavius off, but it was very clear that she was enjoying the attention.
"Who is that guy?" Lottie leaned over to whisper to Leafos. "Look at how he's dressed; he looks like he's made of money!"
"If you're thinking of divorcing Willy and going after him, that's a bad idea," Leafos whispered back, narrowing her eyes at Lottie. "I have no idea who he is, but it seems like he likes Fannie…! Weird, I didn't even know she had any guys going after her…" Leafos chewed on one of her gloved fingertips.
"Like I said earlier…" Flavius kissed Fannie's hand before he continued talking. "…I came up here to ask you a very important question, my love."
"Ooh, what is it? It must be big, since you came up here and all…" Fannie put her hands behind her back and rocked back and forth on her feet.
Beaming brighter than the full moon, Flavius dropped down onto one knee and reached into his pocket, pulling out a ring box.
Fannie squealed so loud she nearly broke the auditorium's entire sound system.
Yoto's jaw dropped down to the floor. No…this couldn't be happening!
"Fannie Franker…" Flavius opened the ring box, revealing a ridiculously extravagant ring that made the audience gasp. Lottie practically started salivating at the sight of it. "Will you marry me?"
"Oh my gosh, YES!" Fannie took the ring out of the box and slipped it onto one of her skinny fingers. Flavius rose to his feet and the two of them shared a masked kiss right in front of everyone.
Most of the audience burst into loud applause, tears pouring from Eddie's eyes like crazy. He rose from his chair to give the two of them a standing ovation.
"Look at how cute they are together!" Eddie sniffled, rubbing his now reddened eyes. "Let's all congratulate them, shall we?" With that comment, the applause grew even louder.
"'Cute' isn't the word I'd use…" Maxime grumbled, resting her hand against her cheek.
"BLAST IT!" Bart exclaimed from the audience, barely resisting the urge to tear his hat in two. After that, there was no way in hell his nephew would be proposing tonight!
"Oh… no," Avalon looked at the stage with an expression of sheer terror.
"What?" Dastardos asked her, curiously raising a brow.
"See 'im?" Avalon pointed at Flavius, who was still affectionately embracing Fannie.
"Hard to miss him; he looks like a flamer," Dastardos wrinkled up his nose in disgust. He silently wondered if this Flavius guy was only marrying Fannie just to make him look less like a giant homo.
"'E's my cousin," Avalon looked at Dastardos with a look of grave seriousness on her face.
Dastardos stared back at Avalon for what felt like ages before bursting into loud laughter which, thankfully, was drowned out by the crowd's still thunderous applause.
"It's not funny!" Avalon protested, glaring daggers at Dastardos.
"YES IT IS!" Dastardos actually snorted with laughter. He couldn't believe that Avalon was going to be related to FANNIE, of all people! Ahh, this was golden!
Back onstage, Yoto was none the wiser about Avalon's new family ties. Even if he did know, he was far too upset to laugh.
Yoto swallowed a lump in his throat and pushed the ring box down in his pocket as far as it would go, looking at his feet in shame. He had dug his own grave; he tinkered that ring for Flavius, after all…how the hell was he supposed to know he'd use it to propose to Fannie, of all people? Looks like today wouldn't be the day after all…
Potato attempted to cheer up Yoto by nuzzling his cheek, but Yoto gently pushed his bird away, folding his arms and frowning intensely. So much for this being the best P-Factor round ever…
Once everyone was done freaking out over Fannie and Flavius, it was Yoto's turn to go up. His heart wasn't in it, and he couldn't even remember the joint impression act he had devised for him and Potato to do the previous night. Yoto half-heartedly asked Potato to do a headstand, which Potato only managed to hold for a few milliseconds before flopping over and landing on his back, squawking in defeat. Yoto sighed and waited for the judges to deliver their verdict.
As Yoto expected, they weren't impressed, and Jardiniero even had the gall to laugh at just how pathetic Potato's display was. Storkos shot the old man a glare, but Jardiniero didn't notice. Yoto felt his heart sink. There was no way Jardiniero would ever approve of him marrying Storkos… especially now that Jardiniero thought that he was horrible at rearing piñatas. Storkos gave Yoto a glowing review of Potato's plumage and wingspan, which earned her some odd looks from the other judges. It made Yoto feel just a bit better, though. Even if they were just pity points, he was glad to have Storkos approving of him. He didn't even care that he embarrassed himself on live TV. Once the judging was complete, he slunk out of the spotlight. It would take him a long time to get over this one…
Storkos looked after him with concern. It wasn't like Yoto to get into a funk like this… this couldn't possibly be related to Fannie getting proposed to, could it?
Must be a mood swing… Storkos chewed on her thumbnail as she watched Yoto murmur something to Potato. There's absolutely no reason why Yoto would be upset over that proposal. Men are so hard to read…
Next up was Leena, who got a little pale when the spotlight went on her and Crispy. Leena fixed her bugged out eyes on Seedos, who smiled at her and gave her a thumbs up. Suddenly, the spotlight, crowd, and cameras didn't seem so scary. Leena looked right into the center of one of the cameras and gave her most charming smile. It was kind of exhilarating being onstage like this! Leena could tell Crispy was excited; too, she was practically bouncing in Leena's arms.
"This is Crispy!" Leena affectionately rubbed noses with her green Squazzil. "I met her my second day on the island and we've been together ever since! I don't know what I'd do without her!"
A good portion of the crowd "awwwwwed" in response and Leena's felt her cheeks flush hot.
"Sh-she knows a pretty cool trick…" Leena gently placed Crispy down on the stage. "I haven't shown it to anyone, I've been saving it. I think a televised P-Factor round is the perfect time to show it off… right?" Leena shot Eddie a nervous glance.
"Go ahead, Leena," Eddie nodded at her. "Let's see what Crispy can do!"
Leena took a step back and looked down at her Squazzil. "Go on, Crispy, you can do it!" Leena gestured with a sweep of her hand and Crispy raised her head, her pupils dilating.
Suddenly, Crispy launched into the air like a furry green rocket, doing several back flips, squeaking all the way. She landed flawlessly on her front paws, balancing on one of them and looking right at Seedos, giving him a quick wink before jumping into the air again, doing front flips this time. The judges and the audience both stared, their jaws dropped, as Crispy did her routine.
"Hey, Crispy!" Leena called as she grabbed a small hoop that she had hanging off her arm. "Time for the grand finale!"
As Crispy jumped into the air again, Leena threw the hoop up with her. Crispy moved through the hoop flawlessly once both of them reached the highest point. Crispy caught the hoop in her teeth and stuck the landing, raising her paws in the air and grinning, the hoop still in her mouth.
"Good job, girl!" Leena giggled, applauding for her Squazzil. The audience and judges joined in too, Avalon clapping harder than anyone else.
"She's come a long way…" Avalon whispered to Dastardos, even if she knew very well that he didn't care.
Crispy jumped into Leena's arms and Leena smiled goobaaishly at the judges, awaiting their verdict.
"Oh, Leena, she's amazing!" Leafos gushed, beaming at Crispy. "She's proof that even the smallest and simplest of piñatas can shine brightly! Impressive, very impressive!"
Leena didn't expect Crispy to do so well on her trick, so she wasn't expecting such warm judge reception. Leena felt her cheeks grow hot as the crowd clapped in agreement with Leafos' comments.
"Feh, it takes more than a few flips to sell a piñata to me," Lottie snorted, flicking her wrist dismissively at Leena as if she were an annoying Taffly. "Squazzils are worth almost nothing. Fancy tricks or not, I'm just not impressed."
Leena frowned at Lottie's comments. She got angry that Patch's piñata was too valuable, and yet she wasn't impressed with Crispy's low price tag? What did it take to impress that woman?
Sparcticus, who was thinking the same thing, shook his head at Lottie before giving Leena a small smile. "I haven't met many Squazzils in my life, but even I can tell Crispy is a special one. I'm impressed at how far you've come, Leena. The first time you competed, Crispy couldn't even do one flip, let alone that many."
Leena cringed at that bad memory, even if Sparcticus' comments were meant to be complimentary.
"You'll get a good amount of points from me!" Sparcticus nodded at her. "Keep up the good work!" With that, he turned his attention to his scorecard.
Next was Eddie, who was positively bursting with excitement. "I totally agree with Sparcticus!" Eddie threw his arms up in the air in his enthusiasm. "Crispy's tricks were amazing, and the shade of green her paper is… just beautiful! You have yourself a spectacular little piñata, Leena!" Eddie gave Leena one of his million chocolate coin smiles and Leena felt her cheeks heat up. Even if Leena only had eyes for Seedos, Eddie smiling at her completely melted her heart.
"That's the thing… she might be spectacular, but she's little," Maxime blew a rebellious lock of hair out of her eyes. "Now, if you showed me a Limeocerous flipping like that, that would be impressive."
"Maxime, I don't think that's…" Eddie chuckled nervously. "…physically possible."
"Says you," Maxime cocked a brow at Eddie, smirking just a little bit. "You're gonna be surprised when you see Killer's routine at the next P-Factor."
"I still can't believe you base your criteria on size alone…" Jardiniero shook his head at Maxime.
"Yeah, that's what he said," Maxime leaned back in her chair, nonchalantly putting her hands behind her head.
Jardiniero ignored her tasteless comment and turned to Leena. "Everyone… well, almost everyone… sitting at this judging table with me is completely in the right. Crispy might be a simple, low-level species, but that doesn't make her abilities any less impressive. I can tell just by how you look at her that you care about her very much. You brought out your piñata's great potential, and your gardening skill increases every single day. I never thought I'd say this, Leena, but I'm very happy my old plot of land is in your hands." Jardiniero gave Leena a smile of approval behind his beard and Leena sucked in an enormous gasp, tears pricking the corners of her eyes. She never expected The Great Jardiniero to say something like that to her!
The crowd applauded again at Jardiniero's comments, and Seedos pressed his mouth into a thin line, trying to push down the urge to join in, but after a while he realized that he wouldn't be applauding for his father. He would be applauding for Leena. And Seedos wasn't going to lie; it was nice to have stubborn old Jardiniero finally admit that Leena was a worthy heir to his plot of land. Seedos began clapping just as loudly as everyone else.
Once the applause died down, it was Seedos' turn to judge. Eddie leaned over so he could look Seedos dead in the eyes and mouthed "No bias." Seedos nodded at Eddie before delivering his verdict.
"I actually have to agree with Jardi-" Seedos paused to clear his throat. "My father on this one. You really have come a long way, both in your gardening skills and in your piñata rearing skills. Crispy's one heck of a piñata and you're one heck of a girl, Leena! I didn't even know Crispy could do a trick like that! You'll be getting my top score for sure." Seedos winked at Leena and Petula and Sahari began to jeer in protest.
"Oh, come on, neither of you are gonna top that," Seedos snickered at them.
Leena barely registered that exchange, her heart thumping in her chest. The words "You're one heck of a girl, Leena!" kept on echoing in her head. This was the best P-Factor round ever…
Leena barely heard Storkos' comment because she was so focused on what Seedos had said, but it seemed like the comment was mostly positive. Leena finally snapped out of her haze when Eddie asked her to step back and let Sahari take her turn.
Blushing, Leena returned to her position in the back. Sahari stepped forward with her S'morepion, beaming confidently at the judges and carefully avoiding meeting Sparcticus' eyes.
Steve did his trick, which paled in comparison to what Crispy had did, but the judges still thought Steve's little outfit was cute.
"He looks like a tiny mariachi player!" Leafos squealed, folding her hands under her chin. "I couldn't have picked better accessories myself!"
After Lottie judged, it was time for the moment of truth. Sahari swallowed and looked out at the audience. She couldn't look Sparcticus in the eye; if he saw even the slightest flicker of sadness, he might try to go after her again. Sahari wasn't ready for that…
Sparcticus nodded curtly at her. "Sahari," he greeted as if she was nothing but an acquaintance.
"Sparcticus," Sahari replied, still looking over his head at the crowd.
"…you look beautiful," Sparcticus admitted after a short pause.
Eddie jammed all of his fingers into his mouth and looked at Sahari, just waiting for her to respond to that.
"Look at Steve, not me," Sahari flipped her straightened hair, folding her arms and pointedly looking away from her ex-boyfriend.
"Oh, yeah, I don't usually like desert piñatas, but his trick was nice…" Sparcticus bit his lip, trying to find the right words. "…yeah, that's all I have to say."
"Smooth…" Eddie mumbled to himself, frowning at Sparcticus.
The rest of the judging went through, most of it in favor of Sahari and her little S'morepion, which made her glow with pride. She was starting to feel better. She wasn't going to let a stupid break-up get her down; once she got back to her home Village in the desert, she'd have guys knocking down her door!
That thought alone made Sahari grin enormously as she headed back to her position with the other competitors. Last, but not least, was Petula and her squish-faced Kittyfloss, Angie. Angie showed off her impression of a human's runway walk, complete with pouty facial expression.
Angie didn't get as warm a reception as Patch or Leena, and Lottie marked the Kittyfloss down simply because Petula's shop was a competitor to hers, but Eddie went off on a giant tirade about how Angie was absolutely adorable, which made Petula feel all fluffy inside. Getting praised by such a cute guy on live TV? Hell yeah! She hoped she could find a copy of the P-Factor round on IslandTube later; she'd watch that part over and over! Oh, she really hoped the camera wouldn't add ten pounds to her…
"Now's the time to tally up the scores and announce the winner!" Eddie stood up and announced to the audience. "Seedos just has to do a bit of math, and-"
"I'm done," Seedos announced, straightening the stack of scorecards.
"Oh, so you are!" Eddie leaned towards Seedos and offered him his ear to whisper into. "So… tell me, who's victorious?"
Seedos instead opted to take Eddie's microphone right from his hands and tell the audience: "Patch and Leena tied!"
The other contestants groaned in disappointment, apart from Yoto, who just looked down at his shoes. Patch and Leafos gaped at the audience, then at their piñatas, then at each other.
"A tie? That's never happened in the history of the P-Factor!" Eddie grabbed the microphone right back from Seedos, shooting him a Look that said "Don't you ever take my microphone again." "Hmm… oh!" You could practically see a lightbulb turn on above Eddie's head as he got an idea. "I'll ask a random audience member what they think!"
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Maxime asked, turning around in her chair to squint at Eddie. "What if they're biased?"
"I'll pick someone who isn't from the Village!" Eddie said as if it were the solution to all the problems in the universe. Before anyone could object, he rose from his seat and approached the front row, microphone in tow. "YOU!" he exclaimed, shoving the microphone under the chin of none other than Dastardos. Dastardos' disguise was so flawless that Eddie didn't even recognize him up close.
Avalon had to cover her mouth to keep from saying something. Dastardos looked at the microphone in sheer disbelief.
"Can you help us out?" Eddie asked, giving Dastardos a flawless smile. "Just tell us which of those two contestants should win!" Eddie motioned to the stage, where Patch and Leena were still standing with their jaws on the ground.
"Oh, uh…" Dastardos cleared his throat before launching into his fake British accent. "The doctor seems like a right poof with a piñata like that, I think the girl should win!"
"You heard him, folks!" Eddie turned around and headed for the stage, grinning ear to ear. "Looks like little miss Leena Collins is the winner!" Eddie hopped onto the stage, pulling the shell shocked Leena into a sideways hug.
The crowd burst into loud applause and Leena felt her heart start to pound. She waved at the audience, her chest welling with confidence.
"Leena wins thirty thousand chocolate coins and a lovely medal for her cute Squazzil!" Eddie winked at Leena and added: "You'll be receiving those at the end of the trip. Let's give Leena a hand!" Eddie gestured to the crowd and the clapping grew even louder.
Seedos couldn't take it anymore. He jumped right over the judge's table, leapt onto the stage, and pulled Leena into the most gigantic Fizzlybearhug ever.
"I knew you could do it…!" Seedos whispered in Leena's ear.
"Thanks for encouraging me, Seedos…" Leena whispered back, squeezing her eyes shut as she tightly hugged Seedos back. "If I didn't do this, I wouldn't have won!"
"Thank you, everyone, and goodnight!" Eddie pointed at the crowd before the stage completely blacked out.
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After the majority of the spectators vacated the auditorium, Leena was chatting with Seedos, Avalon, and a very quiet "Niles." Leena was gushing about how happy she was about her victory and hugging Crispy tightly, occasionally thanking Niles for his deciding vote. She never received anything more than a neutral grunt in response, but Leena didn't care, she was on top of the world!
"I knew yew were going places, kiddo," Avalon ruffled Leena's curled hair, smiling broadly. "I'm proud."
Leena absolutely glowed at that comment. "Thank you, Avalon… that means much more than you think…" Leena looked down at her feet and shuffled them, blushing all the while.
"And to think you were scared to go up onstage!" Seedos draped an arm over Leena's shoulders and her head promptly snapped back up, her cheeks becoming even redder. "I knew you could do it!"
Before Leena could reply to that, Eddie came flouncing up to them, looking like he was ready to burst with excitement.
"My father just told me there's going to be an after party! One last hurrah before all of us go home tomorrow morning!" Eddie bounced with joy and Avalon worried he'd launch himself right up into the ceiling. "It's at Colors! He rented out the entire club!" Eddie bit a squeal in two.
"That place is ritzy…" Avalon let out a long, low whistle. "'Oo's coming? Everyone 'oo came to the round?"
Eddie shook his head, his purple bangs bouncing as much as he was a few moments ago. "Nope! Just everyone from the Village! And Fannie's new fiancé, hehe!" Eddie rested a hand against his cheek, his eyes sparkling. "I can't believe love was born on the P-Factor stage! This round will go down in history! The first onstage proposal, the first tie, and little miss Leena's first victory!" Eddie winked at Leena and she felt her knees turn to gelatin.
Seedos frowned a bit, but said nothing.
"That sounds jolly swell, old chap!" Dastardos chimed, shooting Eddie a thumbs up. "Unfortunately, I do not live in that Village whatsoever, so I will not be attending!"
"Yes yew will be," Avalon put her arm around Dastardos and brought him closer to her. "'E's my date. Is that okay?"
"Date!?" It was a miracle Dastardos managed to keep his false British accent.
"Date?" Leena asked.
"DATE?!" Seedos looked ready to bust with joy at the prospect of his brother having a date. He calmed down when Avalon shot him an odd look.
"That's fine with me!" Eddie nodded at Avalon and cast a critical eye over the disguised Dastardos. He always expected Avalon to date taller… "I have to go tell everyone else, okay? Ciao, and congratulations again, Leena!" He leaned over and gave Leena a quick kiss on the cheek before sauntering off.
"This was the best P-Factor round ever…" Leena touched her cheek and smiled at Avalon.
Seedos rolled his eyes so hard his head went with them. Pretty boy…where does he get off smooching girls willy-nilly?
"Glad yew think so," Avalon stretched. "I'm bored from sitting still for so long. Uh, not that your victory was boring! I'm more than ready to unwind with a few drinks." Avalon smiled at Leena and shook a finger at her in mock sternness. "Now, now, no underage drinking, yew two!"
Leena nodded obediently and Seedos looked Avalon dead in the eye.
"That depends," he said with a straight face. "Is my father going to be there?"
It took everything in Dastardos' power to keep from dropping to the floor in convulsive fits of laughter. He disguised his giggling with a coughing fit.
Avalon, not sure how to respond to that, grabbed Dastardos by the arm. "Come on, Niles, let's wear something more casual for the club…"
"Ah, I thought I'd never get out of this Pengum suit…" Dastardos tipped his hat to Seedos as he got dragged away by Avalon. "Tally ho, old chum!"
"Tally ho!" Seedos waved back.
"Are you… really his old chum?" Leena asked, tilting her head curiously, Crispy mimicking the motion.
"Uh, nope!" Seedos shook his head at her. "Never saw him before in my life."
"But-"
"Come on, Leena, we have a party to get ready for!" Seedos tugged on Leena's arm before running towards the exit.
Leena sighed and walked after him. What was it with men and dodging questions…?