The closing statements of last night's debate marked the end of the campaign trail. Today is election day in Beach City! With a city this size, the election process should be easy, but no. The machines are outdated. The workers have a tedious check in system. Voters spend hours in line waiting for the machines to be fixed only to groan in frustration when they realize that they're going to miss an entire day of work. The typical election process. But with all this hustle and bustle, what are the candidates up to?

At the Dewey residence, Mayor Dewey is in the kitchen wearing his pajamas. He's cooking breakfast... and lunch... and everything edible really. The pantries are empty, and the counters are loaded. While Mayor Dewey is mixing away at cake batter, Buck is in the kitchen keeping him company. Buck's friend Sour Cream is in the dining room stuffing his face.

"Dad. I know you're nervous, but-" Buck says before Dewey frantically interrupts him.

"Nervous!? Me!?" Dewey rapidly states with nervous jitters. "I'm not nervous! Why would you think I'm nervous!?"

"You're making your third cake." Buck states as he points at one and a half cakes on the counter. "At this rate, we'll drown in food."

"Drowning in food..." Sour Cream says from the dining room. "That's a way to go!"

Dewey pours the cake mix into a pan and sighs.

"I guess I am nervous." Dewey admits as he puts takes cookies out of the oven and puts the cake mix in. "Its been so long since I had an opponent, and I've never been in a campaign this... Exciting..."

Buck smiles. "Look, Dad." Buck says. "Win or lose, you gave it your best. I'm proud of you."

Dewey sniffles, and he starts to tear up. He gives his son the biggest most awkward dad hug he can give.

Meanwhile, at the Temple... Steven, Pearl, Peridot, and Lapis are all sitting in a circle on the floor folding laundry. Every time Peridot 'folds' a shirt, Pearl picks the ball up off the floor and refolds it. She sees that Peridot's trying, so she doesn't make a scene out of it. However, on the other side of Pearl is Lapis Lazuli. Lapis intentionally rolls the shirts into balls and drops them near Pearl. Pearl groans in frustration and refolds those shirts as well. This makes Lapis laugh.

"Lapis. Are you nervous about the election?" Steven asks.

"Yes." Says Lapis. "But after the past couple weeks, this tension is nothing."

"Nicely stated." Pearl says with a smile as she refolds the shirt that Peridot screwed up.

Lapis folds her current shirt into a hat and sets it on Pearl's head.

Pearl groans. "Would you please fold the shirts properly!" Pearl says with frustration.

"And who will make me?" Lapis asks in a cocky tone, egging Pearl on.

"Yeah!" Steven adds on as he takes his shirt he was folding and tosses it into the air.

Pearl groans. "Well at least you're still trying." Pearl says as she glances at Peridot.

Peridot is now wearing one of Steven's shirts and has a second one folded like a hat on her head. "What?" Peridot responds.

"Why do I even bother?" Pearl asks herself in frustration.

"Why don't we all just take a break?" Steven asks as he throws a shirt into the air, and it lands on Pearl's head.

Before Pearl knows whats going on, shirts are being thrown around everywhere and soon bigger objects like pillows and couch cushions. When its all said and done, Pearl and Peridot are buried in a pile of shirts and pillows with Lapis and Steven sitting on top of the pile laughing.

Where's Garnet and Amethyst in all this? They're in line, waiting to vote. They get there in the morning. The first hour goes by pretty smoothly. People get in, cast their ballots, and get out. Its almost like they'll be done quickly. Then the machines start to malfunction. Lines slowly start closing one after another. Soon, every machine is down.

"Oh come on!" Amethyst yells angrily.

Garnet stands calm.

After an hour of waiting, a mechanic arrives. After a half hour of tinkering around, he gets one of the machines fixed and the line can slowly start moving again.

"Took you long enough!" Amethyst yells.

Garnet remains quiet.

Another 15 minutes go by before the machine breaks again.

"What the heck!" Amethyst yells about ready to rage.

Garnet clenches a fist.

After a half hour of failing to fix any of the machines, they switch to paper ballots. Garnet casts her vote. On her way out of the voting box, Amethyst calls out to her.

"Hey Garnet!" Amethyst yells out. "Don't forget Ruby and Sapphire still have to vote!"

Amethyst laughs as she points back to the line... Its now out the door.

Garnet yells in frustration.

((The survey I posted a couple chapters back is still up. As I stated, I plan to keep it up until the day before In Too Deep. Then I will make the epilogue chapter revealing the results of the election and what happens. Meanwhile in this chapter...

I was watching food network... Well a weird local version of Food Network. And this guy who honestly looked like the living incarnate of Mayor Dewey was being interviewed. He was the head chef at an oriental buffet. that got me thinking that Buck needed to get his interest in art somewhere... So why not make Dewey somebody who like to cook? Make fancy things? Also I wrote this while hungry.

Also poor Garnet. I went through a similar process the first time I voted for an election. All the way down to being stuck in line with my brother making comments like Amethyst.

Tune in May 10, 2016 for the final chapter of the Gemchurian Candidate!))