“Rise and Shine, girls!” Howard cheerily announced, “Come on down to the main lobby, where Drake wishes to reveal the first contestant eliminated from the competition!”

~~~

Lobby

     The girls lined up anxiously on their spots, as Howard sat in the laid back in one of the recliners. Drake had a large video screen, that was slowly counting down to 0, and once it finally hit zero, he finally addressed the girls. “Good morning girls! The polls have just closed, and the results have been calculated. I’m afraid to announce that the contestant going home is… Patricia!”

     The African American girl’s face fell, as the other girls gave a small sigh of relief. “Now, as in years prior, we will be holding the proper send-off later tonight, to make sure you girls all have enough time to say your goodbyes. And, in a change from last year, right afterwards, our next celebrity guest will be announcing this week’s competition, which should be very exciting!”

~~~

Patricia’s Room

     Sinopia knocked politely on the door to Patricia’s room, to which the lanky girl responded, “Come in! The door’s open!”

     Sinopia walked in to Patricia’s room. The room looked more or less the same as she had seen it only a few days previous: Completely organized and with Patricia hard at work tapping away on the tablet she had created. “Hey Patricia, just wanted to come in and apologize.”

     “Apologize?” Patricia turned around, confused, “What are you apologizing about?”

     “Well… It was a partner competition after all. And if it weren’t for the fact that you got teamed up with such a lousy partner-“ Sobs brought a premature ending to her sentence, and before too long, Sinopia was actively weeping.

     “Hey now. Don’t say that!” Patricia stood up, towering over her former partner as she walked over, consoling the girl and giving her a hug.

     “But it’s true! You said it yourself! I’m the weakest of the competitors, and it would just be best if I dropped out instead! That way you could-“ Sinopia didn’t get to complete that thought, as Patricia slapped her hard in the face.

     Sinopia looked on in shock, rubbing the patch of skin where Patricia had struck. “You need to snap out of the pity party right now, Sinopia,” Patricia commanded, “Do you remember what you told me the very first day that we got together to rehearse as a team?”

     “N-no,” Sinopia said nervously, not wanting to be hit again.

     “You told me that you would do whatever it takes! That you were in it to win it! You’re not going to get that far if every time somebody doesn’t like your performance or you feel like you’re not good enough, you break down in tears and give up. That’s not the Sinopia I know, and I won’t let you act like you don’t deserve to be here like everyone else! You’ve got talent, maybe not ability, but one of the most famous assistants in the world didn’t have any ability until she got the chance to let her talent shine. So promise me right now, that you’re not going to let yourself hold yourself back any longer!”

     Sinopia’s eyes began to fill with tears once more, this time tears of happiness as opposed to sadness, “Patricia, I-“

     “Promise me!” Patricia said, looking intently into Sinopia’s eyes.

     “Alright!” Sinopia said, laughing, “I promise you I won’t blame myself!”

~~~

Rooftop Stage

     The rooftop stage looked different from the way it had the night before. While the stage itself looked basically the same, the gravity-defying rows of seating had almost completely disappeared, with only a single layer of plain black seats lining each of the three unoccupied sides of the roof.

     The girls who had not been eliminated this round took some of the seats directly facing the stage, and waited patiently for the elimination ceremony to begin. The curtains rose up, and on stage was Howard Weiss and Patricia. Howard cleared his throat before speaking, “It is with a heavy heart that we must say goodbye to the first of our wonderful contestants, and unfortunately it is my duty to remove them from the competition. I would like it to be quite clear that I do not enjoy doing this, it is simply a requirement of this type of program, and as such I will try to make the process as smooth and painless as possible.

     So, my dear Patricia, as consolation, and as thanks for your being on the show, I thought it would be appropriate to give you this.” From his coat pocket, Howard pulled out an impossibly large, cardboard check. The amount made out on it was one hundred thousand dollars, paid out to Patricia for the purpose of magical research. “It is a research grant in order to continue researching the transformation between wi-fi waves and brainwaves. I unfortunately cannot give you a larger amount without the studio getting upset with me, However if you call this number,” he pulled out a much more standard sheet of paper, “this will put you in direct contact with my old pal, Oswald Chargoff. He runs one of the leading magical sciences labs in the world, and I’m certain he would be absolutely delighted to have such a brilliant and talented mind on his team.” He handed her the piece of paper, grinning as he said, “Just make sure to try and run your pitch through some of your friends before you give him a product demo.”

     For the first time all competition, some emotion finally broke through Patricia’s hard outer facade of apathy, as tears of joy managed to break their way out of her tough outer shell. She walked over to Howard, shocking the man by giving him a long, drawn-out hug, thanking him so much for everything that he’s done, and that his gifts were really too kind.

     After Patricia had finally calmed down, her emotional barricades finally returning to normal, she waited patiently as two stagehands wheeled out a large cabinet, a big green 3 prominently displayed on the door. As Patricia stepped into the cabinet, Howard began his explanation of what was about to occur, pulling out what appeared to be a plain black stick. He held it up as he explained, “In mathematics, there is the concept of the dimension of the space, essentially indicating along how many axes in which an object exists in. For instance, this line represents one dimensional space,” He ran his finger along it eventually pinching the middle of the stick, “If we were to grab a point of this axis and pull,” He pulled up from the point where he was pinching, the line suddenly stretching upwards, as it revealed it was actually a square. The middle of the square was filled with a wooden material, and a blue 2 was written on it.

     “Of course, we know that we can do a similar thing, to this two dimensional object, in order to help bring it into our third dimension,” He grabbed the blue 2, pulling on it and causing the shape to change once again, stretching outwards and forming a green cube that looked awfully similar to the cube that Patricia was currently standing in. Howard grinned, as he tossed the box to the side, pondering, “of course, it’s simple to visualize those transformations in our plain, old, three dimensional world. But what if we went one step forwards?

     Well… Ladies, I’m proud to present, the world’s first fourth dimensional magic trick!” Howard reached up, grabbing the green three on the box and pulling forwards. At least it seemed like he was pulling it forwards, as the box didn’t really seem to move, and besides Howard’s hand disappearing occasionally, it didn’t really seem like much happened until the box suddenly turned red, a red four appearing on the front facing side.

     The girls watched transfixed as the door that Patricia had originally walked in through didn’t so much open, as slowly disappear from left to right. As Patricia stepped out, her body seemed weird, as certain parts seemed to enlarge or shrink, some disappearing outright, her body clearly still standing up, as they could only comprehend the pieces of her that existed in the same three dimensional space as they did. “So Patricia,” Howard said, “Why don’t you try describing what you see?”

     “Well,” the disembodied voice of Patricia said, “It’s sort of… indescribable? I guess the closest I could get is that, it’s like I’m looking at a three dimensional photo of all of you, but also of an infinite amount of similar, but slightly different pictures all at once? This is absolutely incredible though!”

     “Glad to here it, but now onto the magic trick part. This isn’t going to be as impressive for you ladies, but hey, it’s what Patricia wanted.” From his pocket, he began to unfold out a rather ordinary looking, white handkerchief, but as it got larger and larger, it was clear that the object was also fourth dimensional, as there were unexplainable holes where it fell out of sync with their three dimensional slice. He held it upwards, saying, “Patrica. I want you to wrap yourself up in this! Make sure that you wrap yourself tightly in several layers so that the trick will work, and don’t forget to cover your head with it. I will be holding onto this corner in order to make sure I don’t lose track of you.”

     The blanket seemed to begin moving on its own, and slowly the parts of Patricia that were visible began to be covered in the white material. When the part of the handkerchief that Howard held stopped twitching, he knew that she was ready, “All right everyone, I present to you, the world’s first fourth-dimensional disappearance act!” Howard pulled hard on the handkerchief, the few visible parts of Patricia wrapped up completely disappearing, along with the handkerchief itself.

     Howard waited around for several minutes, before shrugging and saying, “Well. There you go. Either Patricia’s safely been transported home and restored, or I just accidentally lost one of the brightest magical minds to the fourth dimension. I’m certain we’ll find out by tomorrow.” The curtain dropped unceremoniously, the other assistants looking at the stage in horror at this announcement.

~~~

Challenge Delivery

     “Well now, with that out of the way, we can finally get to the moment you’ve all been waiting for,” Drake said, as he walked out from behind the curtain. “The announcement on what this week’s challenge will be, and which celebrity guest will be introducing it!”

    “Known far and wide for her cosplaying and general costuming abilities, this member of the International Shared Assistant’s Guild is known as the go-to choice for any and all halloween or themed events. She recently launched her own brand of assistant’s uniforms, which has been turning head all along the fashion circuits. Contestants, I would like you to put your hands together, for the amazing Kairi!” The curtains rose, Elise once again squealing in delight at the opportunity to meet one of magic’s assistant elites.

     Kairi stood alone in the center of the stage, waving out towards the various assistants, a huge smile on her face. Her dark crimson hair contrasted heavily with the white, flowery dress she was wearing, a pair of white heels on her feet. The dress helped in accentuating her curves, emphasizing her natural pear shape and helping make her relatively small breasts appear larger. She continued to smile, her shiny white teeth only a few shades brighter than her extremely pale skin, as she said, “Hello girls! I hope that we can have some fun performances this week!”

     From off-stage, Howard Weiss walked on stage once more in the same old-fashioned suit that he normally wore. He shook Kairi’s hand before handing her a sealed envelope similar to the one he had delivered to Penny and Jean and taking a step into the background. Kairi opened it up and read off the letter, announcing, “This week’s task is going to put your pop-culture knowledge to the test!

     While Howard Weiss used to be a trendsetter in pushing the boundaries of stage magic, the truth is his twenty-year long retirement has left him out of the loop of some of the major trends. Your task this week is to design a trick based around pop-culture. This can range from anything to a specific example, or entire genres of media. In any case, you better be ready to bring it, because the deadline for this performance is this Saturday!” She looked up from reading the notes, looking over the contestants as though she were already imagining what sort of costumes would look best for them, before returning the note card to Howard.

     “Ah yes. I’m afraid when you’re retired and simply moping around your home, unable to muster the energy necessary to turn on the TV, you tend to lose track of what’s big in the public consciousness at the moment,” Howard waxed, “Why. The last really big blockbuster movie I can remember seeing was- Well, Kairi would you care to help me? Maybe show off the big costume everyone remembers from it?”

     “Sure,” Kairi said naively, unaware of what exactly Howard had in mind.

     Howard pulled out from his pocket, a large wooden stick, not too dissimilar from the stick he had pulled out earlier in the evening. He tapped the top of the stick, and a black curtain cascaded to the floor. Holding the stick in front of Kairi, he counted the number of times he lifted it over her head and returned to around her knees, “One… Two… Three!” He whisked away the curtain, revealing Kairi’s new costume.

     Standing on stage, and looking rather cold in the cool Nevada night breeze, was Kairi in a costume from a certain cult-classic sci-fi movie. Her normally smooth, dark crimson colored hair had been quick-dyed into a much brighter red, orange. Her nice, billowy, white dress had been completely replaced by a series of straps of white bandages that seemed to cover her body in a strange pattern, with one long central stripe with several loops that covered her neck, chest, midriff, and hips, with several smaller stripes to the side that circled around her leg at roughly half way down her thigh and at her knees. To the more nerdy fans of the audience, this outfit was immediately recognizable as Leeloo from the Fifth Element in her ‘hospital gown’. To the less nerdy individuals, in was an interestingly weird and revealing outfit.

     Kairi looked down at her cosplay, complaining, “Hey! I thought we were going to go with-“ But Howard cut her off at the past, holding a finger to her mouth as he walked around her.

     “My dear Kairi, I must say, you look absolutely stunning in this outfit. I was worried that my costume designer wouldn’t be able to match the outfit well with only your measurement, but she’s seemed to have delivered perfectly. The only things is… It seems a little loose on you.”

     “What?” Kairi asked, turning her body to try and see where the outfit looked baggy on her. After all, the outfit was skintight, it couldn’t really go any tighter.

     “Here, let me help adjust it,” Howard grabbed the back of her costume, and seemed to pull on something. Kairi’s costume began to tighten around her body even more, the various loops digging into her skin slightly as he kept pulling at it.

     Despite the fact that she should have been in visible pain with how much the various straps biting into her skin, Kairi seemed unconcerned as she said, “I really don’t know what you’re talking about. The outfit seems fine to me.”

     “Oh no my dear,” Howard said, his face turning red as he continued to pull, the straps somehow digging even deeper into her skin, until all tension seemed to give way, the straps of the costume completely cutting through Kairi and causing the various pieces not covered by her costume to fall to the floor. Howard held up the costume in triumph, now nothing more than a series of straps, “There we go! I think I got it to the right thickness now!”

     Howard bent down, arranging Kairi’s 13 pieces (head, left and right upper chest, left and right midriff, left and right stomach, left and right upper thighs, left and right lower thighs, and left and right legs from the knee down) on the floor to better match what they would have looked like on her original body, resulting in an interesting effect as Kairi rolled her eyes, saying, “If you really wanted to get me in pieces you could have just cut me up.”

     The curtains fell, signaling the end of the act, and the beginning of another long week for the contestants.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

& Question Corner &

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     To Rocky: “You’re a real actor, a star amongst beasts both mundane and magical. I hope Annette gives you plenty of pets, and lots of opportunities to transform her as a treat.” -@@WanderTones

     Rocky looks at the camera inquisitively, it’s tongue sticking out.

     Annette: Oh, don’t worry, he’ll be getting plenty of pets, belly rubs, and transformation opportunities since he’s been such a good boy. Yes he is, Yes he is!

     Annette flips Rocky over, patting rubbing him on his stomach as the beast lets out a growl of affection.

     To Annette: “You’ve had plenty of experience being on stage before this show, but if I wasn't already a guest and avid watcher of the show, I wouldn't have guessed that you had little acting or assistant experience. You're capable, confident, and some of that magic was no doubt yours, so keep practicing and you'll keep on track.” -@@WanderTones

     Thank you so much Penny! I’ve got to give it my all, because how else will Rocky be able to get the chance at stardom he was born to have?

     To Elise: “Your experience replicating magic tricks on YouTube shines bright here. I even see a couple inspirations from your channel, though they certainly held up much like you didn't against Rocky in the act. Keep drawing from that well of experience, and you'll make it far in the industry.” -@@WanderTones

     Thanks! Be on the lookout for a message from Cody about scheduling that transformation session interview! I love you so much and can’t wait to talk you through all my favorite forms!

     To Maya: “Was that eye a glamour effect, or did you just enchant a transformed Sable? I'm happy to see that you've gotten more comfortable with swapping parts with humans, and I just hope that you didn't have another incident like you did during the mid-week challenge.” -@@WanderTones

     That wasn’t just a special effect, that was actually me enchanting Sable! It was all her idea. Patricia told us that the enchanting effect would work on any inanimate object, and she wondered if we could get the effect to go off on a person who was turned into an inanimate object, and lo and behold it actually worked!

     I’m still not really sure how much of the swapping worked easily because she was enchanted, or if it was my body finally learning to adjust, but in either case, just the discovery that I can enchant things easily and have them effect my body is a huge life saver! Now the only question is how I’m going to fit that in to this weeks theme…

    To Sable: “I don't know if it was designed that way, but to an untrained eye it would have looked like you weren't nervous in reality, and that it was just a part of the act. I'm so happy to see that you're managing your stage fright, and treating it as both an obstacle and opportunity for such creative acts.” -@@WanderTones

     Well… I don’t really know anything about managing my stage fright. I was still super nervous the entire time I was on stage. But you were right… It was one of the most exhilarating things I’ve ever done in my whole life! It gave me the same rush as if I’d ridden a roller coaster one hundred times in a row without stopping! I can’t wait to try it again, and who knows? Maybe I’ll try wearing my own face instead of Maya’s!

     To Patricia: “Watching you coil around your own hips just made me feel the urge to contort myself. So your invention was some sort of magical hypnosis? Or is it more like magical mind control? I might need a little non-presentation explanation of what the device does exactly.” -@@WanderTones

     I would be more willing to classify it under mind control rather than hypnosis. The basic theory behind it is that, with a minimal loss of energy, you can interact with a person’s brains by syncing up wifi-signals to their brain’s unique wavelength using a complex algorithm I won’t try to explain here. Afterwards, you can then send specifics signals along this wifi channel in order to send signals to the brain to do something in the body, such as rewrite a part of a person’s brain, leaving in a trigger like system using some basic coding, or even send a signal to a person’s magic reserves and activate their magic.

     I guess in that regards, it would be more accurate to call it a total-control device, rather than a simple mind control device, but I will have plenty of time to further classify it when I work on outside of the show

     To Sinopia: “Don’t take my question to Patricia as a negative for your presentation. For a couple of moments during your performance, I forgot I was even watching a magic show, and was ready to offer money to invest into the device before Howard came back out and turned you two into a humantaur. If you can create something as compelling as that each week, you'll have proven yourself to be an incredible actor and routine designer.” -@@WanderTones

     Well, I hope I can at least keep the creativity part. I might have to work on the routine part a bit, seeing as how my partner got voted off. Still, great to know I could always try to find work as a demo-girl if I don’t win!

     To everyone: “Did any of that hurt? Just seeing how extreme the stuff you did made me worry for a bit.” -@@quad2

     Howard: Hello sir, I shall answer for my assistants, as I’m certain they would all give you the variations upon the same answer. No. Despite how extreme the magic and things happening to their bodies may have seemed, it was all a part of the act. I guarantee to you, even if I said to the contrary during the performance, that any allusions I or my assistants make to them feeling discomfort or pain is all a part of the act.

     For instance, tonight when I said that Patricia could potentially have become trapped in the fourth dimension. It was really a small joke to rile up the other assistants and make them think that they’re in danger of being accidentally trapped forever. A little morbid? Sure. But the look on their faces? Priceless.

     To Annette and Elise: “Wow, I appreciate the dedication to be converted into art. Speaking from experience, it must have hurt a bit and you got Rocky involved too. I probably should experiment that one day even though I don't do live performances anymore.” -Rei

     Elise: Oh no. It didn’t hurt a bit. Rocky was surprisingly gentle with flattening me.

     Annette: Well that’s because it was really your forcefield that was doing most of the world when flattening you. If Rocky was doing it, you’d probably have a ton of lumps in you.

     Elise: True, although I bet it was a lot more fun for you, getting to be melted down inside of him.

     Annette: Oh yeah. Melting’s super relaxing! I would highly recommend you at least try that out Rei.

     To Sable and Maya: “Wow, love the set up for your act. It even remind the heads in my shop of how they got there. Yeah, they are watching too. Don't mind that, I'm just saying your performance felt so breath taking and kind of realistic.” -Rei

     Sable: Oh wow! *Blushes* Thanks!

     Maya: I imagine there’s quite a few people who’ve had a nasty run in with a witch doctor. It’s great to hear that you’ve managed to save some of them, although I hope that they aren’t still shrunken.

     To Patricia and Sinopia: “Hmm, not that impressed. Now to vote between the two of you. Just kidding, I'm not that cruel to set you girls up like that. But seriously, your act feels weak for some reason and I'll leave it up to you to decide on why.” -Rei

     Sinopia: Oof. Little hurtful there Rei.

     Patricia: But I guess she must be right. What do you think didn’t work well?

     Sinopia: Personally? I think we might have had too much talking, not enough transforming. I also think people might not have really grasped what all the device could do.

     Patricia: I guess, in hindsight, that you’re probably right. But you know I’m not much use in figuring out large, crazy examples on how to do things.

     Sinopia: Yeah, but that’s sort of the problem isn’t it? When you have too much freedom, you get really bogged down in what exactly would be the best possible thing to do.

     Patricia: Very true. It doesn’t really matter now though, does it?

     Sinopia: I suppose not.