The episode started out looking down the main strip of Henderson, Nevada. All down the entire street, a massive throng of people of all shapes, sizes, and forms were cheering, anxiously awaiting the season’s grand finale. As the camera flew down the street, the crowd seemed to only get more and more congested, until people are packed practically cheek-to-cheek in front of Hotel Weiss. After arriving in front of the hotel, the camera slowly begins to climb up the building, floating around it in a spiral pattern, revealing that across each face of the building, a large digital screen had been set up displaying the stage on the rooftop stage in perfect clarity. From what little could be seen of the neighboring buildings, it appeared as though the congestion appearing on the streets was also occurring on the rooftops, small scuffles breaking out so that people could get the best view.
As the camera continued it’s long spiral ascent, it backed away from the building, as the golden building suddenly gave way to jutting scaffolding. The scaffolding was bent back at an angle that should have been impossible for the amount of it that was actually anchored to the building, and yet it seemed to be holding just well. As the camera just barely passed the lip of the scaffolding, it finally got a good look at the Rooftop Theater in all of its glory.
It looked almost as though someone had taken an outdoor stadium, and attached it to the top of a skyscraper. The scaffolding revealed to be long rows of golden velvet seats, all of which were presently occupied by famous magic users from all walks of life. It looked as though Howard had actually expanded the theater, to no avail unfortunately, as the theater was still completely booked.
With it being so close to showtime, the audience actually managed to remain rather calm, considering the absolute frenzy all around them. Of course, as soon as Drake walked out from behind the golden curtain of the stage, the eye of the storm activated, becoming just as loud and as excited as the crowd of people shouting to the heavens below them.
“Ladies and Gentlemen!” Drake did his best to shout out over the din, failing miserably, as the noise only grew louder from the delayed experience of the audiences on the ground. Drake smiled, seeming really pleased with himself as he flipped a switch on his microphone, his voice suddenly finding the extra volume to be heard over the crowd, “I’m sorry, I said Ladies and Gentlemen!”
If it was even possible, the audience grew even louder to meet the challenge pushed forwards by Drake, hitting volume levels that could potentially damage someone’s hearing. And it truly didn’t seem to be going down any time soon, Drake visibly laughing at the support being thrown their way. Eventually though, Drake had had enough, doing a sweeping motion with his hand.
The rooftop stage suddenly got eerily quiet. The audience members were still giving it their all, but they soon realized that whatever sound they were making was being magically cancelled out. This didn’t stop all the noise from bleeding through, the cheers from the crowd outside of the theater still plainly audible, however the dozen odd stories and bowl like design of the Outdoor theater did assist in lessening their sound slightly.
Drake grinned, “Ah. That’s much better,” He grinned, before continuing on with his introduction, “Good evening, everyone, and welcome to the season finale for America’s Next Great Assistant: World Tour!” The noise from outside got slightly louder, as Drake smiled, continuing on, “With the end right upon us, now would be a good time to go back and reflect on the journey that brought us here. After all, it’s the journey, not the destination that truly matters,”
Drake paused, closing his eyes in a moment of reflection, before opening them and laughing, “Of course though, since the ride here was so bumpy, how about we just focus on the road ahead of us.”
More cheers, and Drake moved on with the ceremony, “Last week we gave our two finalists complete control over the tricks they wanted to design. It could be anything they wanted, all in an effort to show you, the viewing public, that they’ve learned something over this six week long epic. The only people who know what will be happening tonight are our magician, and our two amazing finalists: Paxton Brooks and Kacie Kondo!” More loud cheering, although there was a clear gap in between them.
“Tonight, they’ll be competing for ANGA’s grand prize: A one year long, extendable contract with the soon-to-be World-Class magician, Martin Horn. And a one million dollar cash prize!” More echoes of cheers managed to enter the outdoors theater.
“Well, There’s no sense in delaying it any further. Ladies and Gentlemen, please remain seated, and we hope you enjoy the show!” As Drake walked offstage, whatever spell had been silencing wore off, allowing for their cheers to once again be heard. As the curtain rose however, the silencing magic was reactivated once more, officially starting the last performance of the show.
~~~
Paxton’s Performance
Much like with last week, the stage was completely bare, save for Martin and Paxton, who stood center stage, Martin was in his normal performance outfit, his blue blazer buttoned up nicely and his gray slacks freshly pressed. Paxton, meanwhile, was in less formal wear, a gray rather plain gray blouse.
The two took a bow, before Martin flashed his trademark smile at Paxton, “Alright Paxton, the show’s all yours. Why don’t you set the scene for us?”
“With pleasure,” Paxton smiled back, pulling out a sketchbook from thin air. She blushed slightly, as she held it up to the audience, slowly flipping through the pages, the sketchbook filled with various visions of spots visited on the show thus far. The Sydney Opera House, the Headquarters for the EMU, the London Eye, The White House, each sketch was beautifully rendered, a little signature at the bottom corner dating each drawing and labeling Paxton as the artist. The drawings then began to shift towards other scenes, a fortune teller’s table, an art exhibit, a field filled with fireflies, a messy attic, a plain theater stage, eventually though, the drawing landed on one that appeared to be a small cafe.
Paxton smiled, as she slowly walked around the stage, touching her drawing at various point, the items on the page springing outwards, slowly growing and gaining definition based on their focus. A long, brown marble counter top, several coffee machines behind it were put in the back corner. Two large, comfy looking green couches were placed in the middle of the stage, a coffee table with a little jug for creamer and a little bowl for sugar appearing on top of it in between them. Paxton then walked up to the back wall, the plain curtain being replaced by a sudden brick wall with a variety of coffee inspired posters, a few tables lined up against it. All of the stuff she conjured had a barely noticeable striping effect on them, as though they were colored in by colored pencils.
“Alright,” Paxton grinned, she hardly even seemed winded performing what would have taken out significant amounts of her energy just a few weeks ago. She took a step back, admiring her work, “You know… It looks, nice, but I don’t think a coffee shop would ever be this empty?” She looked to Martin, winking, as she flipped through her sketchbook some more. Satisfied with the page she landed on, she began making her rounds across the stage once more.
Behind the counter, she conjured up a barista, a woman with long blond hair and freckles, wearing what looked like an off-brand Starbucks apron and baseball hat. She stood frozen in place, looking forwards as Paxton continued her journey around the coffee shop. This time, she focused on conjuring up a few patrons: A large burly man wearing headphones and looking at his laptop sitting at one of the empty tables, a petite harpy with asian features and black wings like a crow looking at her phone on one of the green couches, and sitting next to her an Asian girl with similar facial features.
She then proceeded to produce three more customers set up to wait in line: A redhead with similarly colored furry legs, the hooves at her feet a dark crimson; A blue skinned girl with long black hair, a black forked tail poking up from the hem of her pants, and a pair of black horns poking up from the side of her head, and a brunette bearded man with a slight paunch.
Thanks to her usage of focuses, Paxton had managed to completely transform the stage from its empty form, to a fully decked out coffee shop, with only a small sheen of sweat to show for it. “*Phew*” she exhales, “Alright, that should be good enough for the scene. You know what to do, right?” She smiles.
“Of course,” Martin smiled, taking a slight bow before walking offstage.
Paxton took her position at the front of the coffee shop line, a slight tremble visibly passing through her body, as the still patrons suddenly gained life, moving around on their own. In short order, Paxton had ordered a latte from the barista, the coffee being prepared in seconds as she took her seat on the unoccupied green couch. She took the lid off her coffee, looking over to the table, where the sugar bowl she had placed earlier was sitting forlornly.
She picked it up, commenting, “Wow, looks like I’ve got the last one,” she smiled, plucking the single sugar cube out of the bowl, and dropping it into her coffee. Suddenly, from the sugar bowl in her hand, gray smoke began to billow out, coating the immediate area around Paxton in a dry ice like effect. None of the patrons seemed to heed any mind, as slowly a figure began to rise out of the sugar bowl.
This figure turned out to be none other than Martin. He was wearing a gray shirt which was covered by a green apron with the logo of the coffee shop on it, had in some gold earrings, and had a plume of gray smoke instead of his legs. He stretched his back, a cracking sound being heard as he said, “Thank you so much! You would not believe how few people around here actually put sugar in their coffee…”
Paxton raised a skeptical eyebrow, “Okay… So… Genie of the Sugar Bowl?”
Martin nodded his head, “Not my choice mind you.” Paxton’s continued raised eyebrow forced him to elaborate, “Let’s just say, particularly nasty ex, and an equally nasty coffee I gave her.”
Paxton continued to look skeptical, but slowly slid back down on the couch, bringing her coffee to her lips and taking a sip. “Wait, so you were transformed into a genie as punishment?”
Martin shrugs, grinning slightly, “I guess she was slightly more powerful than I thought… Anyways! Standard genie rules apply, although since I’m not a natural genie, I’m afraid you’re also stuck with stuff as powerful as my magic reserves hold out.”
“Alright,” Paxton grinned, “I wish that you were freed from your genie prison and kept any additional power you may have gotten from becoming a genie, but that you still owed me my remaining wishes.”
Martin smiled, “Smart call,” Martin waved his hand, and in a puff of confetti, his tail gradually began to phase away. He managed to maneuver his upper half over the couch, as his legs slowly phased into existence at the end of his waist, his floating effect disappearing as he flopped down onto the couch with an, “*oof* Thanks, most people usually wait until they’ve wasted their second wish and then have to waste the wish they’d use to fix me on fixing everything else.”
Paxton smiled, giving Martin a hug, “Well, that hardly seems fair.”
Martin nods, “Completely agree, and they only restock the sugar bowl every two months! But anyways, you’ve still got two wishes, and I’ll even be kind enough to throw in an extra wish, just in case you waste them.”
“Don’t worry, I don’t plan on wasting them,” Paxton smiled mischievously as she took a sip from her coffee.
“Alright, wish number one,” Paxton grinned, placing her coffee on the table in front of her and cracking her knuckles. “You see those two over there?” She asked, pointing across the way at the Harpy and her seatmate, “Those are Echo and Sara. Sara and I are in the same polyscience course, and she’s been complaining to me all week about how she’s molting right now because she’s so stressed out, and wishes that she could be human like her sister.” They watched, as Sara scratched her arms, some black feathers pulling away. Noticing the feathers, she sighed, pulling out a gallon sandwich bag from her backpack that was about halfway full, dropping them in with the rest.
“So, I wish that she and I could trade states,” Paxton smiled, “I’ll become a harpy, and she can become a human just like her sister.”
“Alright,” Martin grinned, “Any particular method you want to use to do it?”
“Surprise me,” Paxton grins back. Martin obliges, standing up and off the couch, walking over to where the specials for the day were written on a large blackboard.
As he walked by her, the barista looked over, “Oh! Hey Martin! Is the sugar bowl empty?”
“Yep!” Martin reached up, removing the blackboard off the wall easily, nobody reacting to him completely erasing the specials board, not even the barista. “By the way, I’m afraid I’m not going to be able to remind you to restock them anymore.”
“Oh no!” She seemed more upset by that news, than the fact that Martin was now dragging the clean chalkboard back with him to the sofas. “Well, thanks for the head up.”
Paxton, sitting on the couch, observed this interaction, asking, “By the way, why does everyone see so nonchalantly? I’m pretty sure I would have said something by now.”
Martin set the chalkboard up so that it was facing the audience, “Part of the curse. Basically, myself and anyone who summoned me get a free pass to act however they want, and everyone will think its normal.” He walked over to the sisters sitting on the opposite couch, asking Sara the crow-based harpy, “Excuse me Sara. Would you mind helping me out with a favor for a friend of mine?”
“Sure thing!” She grinned at her sister, raising her eyebrows playfully, her sister just rolling her eyes and going back to looking at her phone.
Martin had Paxton stand to the right of Sara, both of them crouching on the coffee table so that just their heads were visible above the lip of the chalkboard. From his back pocket, Martin produced a piece of white chalk, very quickly sketching out (rather poorly it should be noted) a harpy body underneath Sara’s head, and a normal body underneath Paxton. “Alright,” he grinned, giving the blackboard an impossibly quick spin, Paxton grinning as Sara gave out a little squeal.
Martin grabbed the chalkboard, revealing the backside, which looked exactly the same as the front, but didn’t have his drawings on them. He grinned, looking over to Echo. “Echo, my dear, could you get up on the table and hold your sister and Paxton’s hair for just a second?”
Echo looked up from her phone, “Sure thing!” she got up on the table, giggling as she clearly saw something the audience didn’t see, holding onto Paxton and Sara’s hair, as Martin lowered the chalkboard.
He revealed that their bodies were completely missing, the only thing keeping their heads in place being Sara’s darling sister. Paxton looked down, a big smile on her face, as Sara did her best to wiggle her neck stump, chirping out an appreciative, “Oh~ This is so weird, Sis~ You’ve got to try this!”
Martin smiled, raising the board back up. “Now Echo, would you mind swapping their heads for me?”
Echo nodded, lifting Sarah’s head up as though it were sitting on a shelf, rather than supposedly floating in mid-air, effortlessly swapping the two heads, before sitting back down, her phone discarded as she watched Martin’s act.
Martin span the board once more, this time when he stopped it, Paxton’s head was over the Harpy’s body, while Sara’s head was over the human body. Sara chirped appreciatively, as Martin lowered the screen, revealing the results.
Sara now had a human body underneath her head. It was wearing an identical outfit to what she had been wearing as a Harpy, although instead of talons her feet were wearing black combat boots.
Paxton, meanwhile, had her body transformed into a Harpy’s her arms replaced with long silver wings, and her feet and legs with those of a falcon’s, her feet opening up into three pronged talons. “Oh wow!” Paxton said, getting adjusted to her new center of gravity and her unnatural new feet.
“That was a good trick!” Sara smiled, climbing down and sitting back down with her sister, who could not stop giggling.
As Paxton hobbled over to her seat, Martin assisting her the best he can, he said, “So, that’s one wish down. Next wish?”
Paxton laughed, “Give me a minute! We just finished the first one!” She tried to grab her coffee cup with her new talons failing miserably. Martin thankfully, was a kind enough guy to help grab her coffee for her, allowing her to sip as much as she wanted before putting it back down on the table. “Thanks,” she blushed.
“Don’t mention it,” Martin smiled. Paxton nose itched, and despite how much she was moving her face, it clearly wasn’t going away. She reached her right wing to rub it, but only managed to make herself sneeze from tickling her nose. Martin, seeing her plight, scratched her nose for her.
“Alright,” Paxton sighed, ”I think I’ve got my second wish… And it’s going to be a boring one.”
“Turn back to normal?” Martin asked.
“Yep! But make it interesting!” She grinned, “No just swapping my head with someone.”
“Okay,” Martin grinned, "I think I’ve got something."
Martin led Paxton behind the counter, the barista giving a bit of a questioning look, but not actually stopping either of them. At the actual coffee machine, Martin, opened the top of the machine, revealing a large empty cavity inside. Paxton laughed, “I’m pretty sure that’s not how a coffee machine works…”
“Shoosh you,” Martin grinned, placing his hand like a step to help Paxton up into the compartment. She shrugged, flapping her wings and hovering up in the air slightly, sticking her tongue out at Martin as she squeezed her way into the tiny space. Martin just laughed shutting the lid.
Instinctively, he grabbed a coffee mug from the rack next to the machine, before looking down at it as he pressed on the tap, throwing the cup away.
From the tap, something blackish slows began to ooze out, when it had made it a few inches past the edge of the machine, that something slowly grew outwards rapidly, a pair of stockinged feed not sticking out from the end of the coffee machine’s nozzle. They wiggle playfully, the skin beyond their ankles becoming impossibly thin in order to feed through the nozzle, which had to be less than a centimeter wide.
Martin continued to hold down on the tap, more of Paxton’s body slowly being fed out, growing back to scale as it was stuffed through a much too small hole. As more and more of her was fed out of the machine, it became clear that her costume had changed too, her blouse being transformed into shimmering silver dress.
As her feet made contact with the ground, they recoiled slightly, the cold tile clearly affecting her shoeless feet. As soon as her arms were fed out of the machine, she blindly reached around, finding Martin’s body with some ease and giving him a hug, which Martin happily returned with his free arm.
Finally, the last of her head came out of the machine, producing a *pop!* sound effect. She looked up at Martin, a huge grin on her face. “You know, where did quick change come into the equation of restoration?”
Martin grinned, “Well, magic’s finicky that way.”
Paxton nodded, “Sure it is,” she bit her bottom lip nervously, “By the way… I know what I want for my last wish to be.”
“Oh?” Martin smiled his award winning smile, “And what would it be?”
“Could…” She paused, “C-Could you teach me? Magic? Just enough so that I could become a great magician’s assistant?” Martin looked her over, before laughing, Paxton looking confused, “W-What? Why are you laughing?”
“Well, it’s just funny to me Paxton,” Martin laughs, “After all, a sorceress of your power? I’d hardly be able to make you any better at magic than you already are.”
“S-Sorceress?” Paxton looks confused.
“Yea silly,” Martin grins, Paxton still looks confused, “D-Don’t you remember? You’re basically all powerful here. Don’t believe me? Try something on that Demon over there.” He pointed at the blue skinned woman with horns, who had gotten her coffee and had migrated to one of the tables against the back wall.
Paxton unconvinced, walked up, the woman not even looking up, as she grabbed both of her horns, effortlessly removing her head. Paxton visibly balked, “W-What?!… B-But t-this should be impossible…”
The demon’s heads eyes looked up, in an almost deadpan voice saying, “It is impossible. You’re just sleeping.”
With the sound of a bubble popping, the entire set transformed in an instant. Literally everything of the coffee shop set disappeared, including Paxton and Martin. In their place, directly sitting in center stage, was a large four poster bed.
Paxton sat up in the bed in a cold sweat, breathing heavily in her gray pajamas. She reached over to her phone, the text messages on it being displayed to the audience thanks to a conjuration by Paxton. The texts were from Martin, telling her to remember to get excited for their big show tomorrow. Paxton send a text back saying, “Can’t wait! I’m sure it’s going to be great!” before turning her phone off, climbing further under her gray covers.
As the curtains fell, whatever spell that had been holding back the sounds of the audience disappeared, allowing everyone to cheer excitedly at the impressive display of conjuration that had just occurred.
~~~
Kacie’s Performance
The curtain opened up, the stage radically transformed from Paxton’s act.
On the left half of the stage, the stage was once again set up almost like one of Tetra’s various concerts, the back curtain having been replaced with large black wall, several strobe lights flashing around, and a large crowd of ravers dancing around. In the back left corner, Tetra was set up at her DJ station once more, in her standard concert gear.
On the right half of the stage, the scene was almost completely different. It looked sort of like a park, the back curtain having a design of a sunset against it, a cardboard tree set on the end, and a grassy pattern painted on the ground. In between the two sides, a large dividing wall, with an empty wooden doorway set at about center stage.
It was from this grassy half of the stage that Martin walked out. He was wearing a blue polo and khaki shorts, and was wearing a pair of glasses. Back on her side of the stage, Kacie excitedly announced, “Who’s ready for the final show of the season!” Eliciting some cheers from her ‘audience’ of extras (and she would have gotten some from her real audience, were the silencing effect still not in place). Tetra grinned, pressing down on a large red button, the music starting up just as Martin entered the concert half of the stage
“Work it.
Make it.
Do it.
Makes us.”
Another cheer from the audience, as the music proper kicked in. Martin visibly scanning the stage, before spotting Tetra and heading towards her, shouting out, “Kacie!"
“Harder
Better
Faster
Stronger.”
The music picked up, the audience cheering as Tetra began to play a mash-up of some of Daft Punk’s greatest hits. As she did so, the crowd around Martin began to morph and shift, the various neon colors of their raver outfits shifting from just brightly colored paints or clothes, to fully lit LCDs. What visible skin there was began to take on a glossy sheen, as some members of the audience had their bodies shifted into more obviously robotic shapes. One guy Martin walked by had his head become a glowing red cube, another girl had her hands replaced with two prong metal grabbers.
Martin seemed to be the only one unaffected, continuing to wade through the transforming crowd on stage, all the while shouting out, “Kacie! Kacie! We need to talk!” Tetra looks up from her DJ equipment, a little confused, until she spots Martin wading through the crowd.
“Martin!” She shouts back, lifting Tetra up off her body, placing her down on an amp, looking visibly annoyed as she does so. Kacie then reaches under her station, pulling out her human head. She attaches it to her body, and slowly walks around her DJ equipment, making her own way through the crowd to try and reach Martin.
The meet up about half way between the door and her station, Kacie giving Martin a hug, shouting out, barely audible over her own music, “Thanks for coming Martin! What’s up!”
“We’ve got a show in an hour!” Martin shouted out, from her perch on the speakers, Tetra’s head flashed red for a second, her look of annoyance becoming one of anger, as the music briefly spiked in volume in time with the event. “Come on! I’ve got the limo waiting outside!” Martin grabbed Kacie’s hand, pulling her through the crowd and towards the door.
“O-Okay?” Kacie said, clearly confused how such a scheduling conflict could have happened, but siding with her magician, as she followed close behind. Tetra, seeing her former body abandoning her, sighed, her face becoming determined, as the music began to subtly shift, a distinctive riff of bleeps and bloops begin to weave its way above the current remix. “Oh no,” Kacie groaned.
“Oh no, what?” Martin asked, looking back.
“I can’t believe she’d play this,” Kacie looked back, where Tetra was sticking out her tongue at them. The rhythm began to swell, as the first lyric made it clear what song it was going to be next
“Shout to all my lost boys.”
Martin paled, the two doubling their efforts towards the door, but it was far too late. As soon as the Chorus to Bangarang was reached, the club went absolutely bananas. A few of the nearby robotic extras seemed to begin short-circuiting, smoke visibly coming off from their body. A few moments later, their various limbs shot off from their torso in a miniature bright explosions, the limbs shooting outwards and hitting other robotic ravers.
Other ravers featured other strange magical body effects on them. Some of them had their limbs shoot outwards, attached via spring loaded mechanisms to their bodies a-la Rock’em Sock’em robots. Others had their joints go spinning at weird and impossible angles. The end results of all these changes were that the concert side of the stage had quickly became a madhouse, Martin and Kacie now having to deal with transforming ravers all around them in their struggle to get to the door.
However, it wasn’t enough to fully stop their progress, and as the song entered the second calmer section, Tetra saw that they had nearly reached the doorway. Looking heavily saddened, the tip of her pyramid opened up, and from the top, concentrated light the exact same blue as Tetra flew outwards.
The light began to shift, taking the form of a massive hand, and flinging itself out towards Kacie, managing to grab her foot just as Martin helped her out the door.
“Eep!” Kacie said, Martin’s arm nearly being ripped out of it’s socket, as Kacie was lifted up into the air, pulled back towards the rave. Luckily though, Martin’s grip held true, as he turned around to see what was going on.
He grabbed onto Kacie’s other arm, adjusting his grip, as the two of them were dragged back into the rave. When he found his footing, he found that he was able to successfully pull Kacie back out of the dance hall, her feet barely making it past the doorway before another tight pull sent them reeling back indoors. Thankfully though, Martin was able to get his footing quicker this time around, and soon enough Kacie was being suspended across the doorway, her hips perfectly bisected by the entry point when looking straight on.
Kacie looked concerned as Martin continued to pull with all of his might, his face turning red slightly, Tetra’s normal blue color taking on a red tone as well as she struggled against the magician’s strength. She looked down nervously at something the audience couldn’t see, and before either of them could really react, a loud *Pop!* Sound effect was heart, her body perfectly splitting in half along the waist, sending Martin flying with her upper half, while the hand reeled back with her lower half.
The music cut off suddenly, the ravers freezing in place, as Tetra looked concerned at the pair of hips held in her ghostly, energy hand. “Kacie!” She shouted out, placing the pair of legs on the floor, hovering her head on top of them as she ran through the crowd into the outdoor area, where Kacie’s upper half remained unconscious being held in Martin’s arms.
Tetra seemed to be on the verge of tears, her synthesized voice blubbering as she said, “No… Kacie… I- I didn’t want to hurt you…” Unlike previous times when the animated screen had cried, this time, real droplets began to form, leaving a strange warping effect on her LCD screen as they slid down. “I-I just didn’t want to see you leave me…”
Tetra looked shocked, as Kacie moved a little bit, coughing as she sat up against her waist stump, looking a little bleary-eyed at Tetra. “Tetra…” She chocked out, hand walking over to her SWB DJ self. She placed her hand against the corner of Tetra’s face, using rolling down the sleeve of her free hand in order to wipe away the tears on her sad LCD face. “I could never leave you Tetra.”
“But what about becoming Martin’s Assistant?” Tetra sobbed, looking into her human eyes, “If You- You’re- We’re not going to have any time left to spend with each other.”
“Tetra,” Kacie smiled, some tears filling up her own eyes as she gave her hips a hug, “I’d never just abandon you like that. You’re too big a part of my life just to go and throw away,” She gave her a squeeze, “We’ll still be able to have concerts, and make music, and perform together. An assistant schedule may be busy, but I’ll always find time for you. The both of you,” she turns slightly, to look Martin in the eye when she says that.
Tetra eyes became teary again, “P-Promise?”
Kacie smiled, her emotions getting the better of her, as she cried too, “On my honor as a DJ, and an assistant.” That seemed to cheer Tetra up considerably, the two of them embracing once more.
As they did so, the tattoos on Kacie’s body began to spread outwards, enveloping the two of them, and cocooning them in a web of bright blue strands. Soon enough, a bright blue egg like shape was created, the shape slowly gaining definition as a girl in the fetal position.
The shape suddenly split apart though, the girl of light becoming two, one with a more triangle shaped head. The two girls of light hugged, before the bright blue light began to flake off of them, disappearing into the night air like little bits of paper that were set on fire.
Soon enough, standing where there had been two half Kacies were now Kacie and Tetra. Tetra’s performance outfit had been restored, while Kacie now found herself in the same evening dress that she had been wearing at last week’s performance. The two of them held their hug tightly, before breaking apart, smiling at how the other one had turned out.
Tetra blushed. “W-Well… I guess I should get back and finish the set then?”
Kacie nodded, “I guess so… Ooh! But~” She rushed over, whispering into where Tetra would have approximately had an ear, her smile growing brighter, as she nodded along.
“Okay,” Tetra smiled, giving Kacie another hug, “Break a leg you two!”
As Tetra returned to her station, she looked at her set up for a second, before pulling out a vinyl Sleeve. She pulled out a record, and it was a similar shade of blue to her tattoos and head. She smiled, saying, “This next song’s a special request. It’s a little rough around the edges… just like the person who requested it… but I still hope you enjoy it…” She placed the record on the turntable.
The song that began to play was very different from the songs that she had played thus far. For starters, this clearly was an unfinished track, the song lacking an overall degree of polish that made it evidently clear it was written by a first time songwriter. The instrumentation had clearly been done through a MIDI approximation, and the song didn’t really have a dance beat to back it up like one would expect from a song at a rave.
Instead, the song had a much more somber feel to it. It was in the key of D, and the instrumentation seemed to be doing its best to merge an Asian inspired theme with some retro electronic sound. It wasn’t particularly slow, but its tempo was more comparable to a pop song than an EDM one.
As the record came to life, the extras suddenly found that they could move again, their fervent energy quickly replaced with a more laid back one, as they began to pick up the pieces of their scattered bodies, slowly moving around to the music.
Back on the other side of the wall, Kacie went over to Martin, looking a little embarrassed, “Do you mind if we stay for one more song?”
“Of course not,” Martin smiled, offering out his hand so that they could dance. Kacie gladly accepted it, the two slowly waltzing to the music. As the music picked up, Kacie began to sing along to it, the lyrics certainly not a masterpiece by any stretch of the world, but clearly important to Kacie based upon the passion behind her voice.
The roads that we took to get there.
That we could go almost anywhere.”
The two of them began to twirl, Kacie’s dress twirling outwards, as she was spun around, her head remaining focused on Martin, causing a loop to form in her neck. Ever so slowly, the brick wall between the two halves of the stage began to pop outwards, falling to the floor on either side about equally. A short instrumental interlude playing through, as Kacie actually ended up singing the next verse, the music slowing down and taking a slightly more triumphant tone as she sang.
That all that work is forgotten.”
From her position behind the DJ station, Tetra placed her head back on the amplifier before reaching down, grabbing her arm and throwing it into the mostly restored crowd of robots ravers. She continued this with each of her limbs, before managing to send her torso out crowd surfing with a one legged hop.
Oh, Anything we put our mind to.”
The song began to slow down even further, the asian inspired riffs settling into a calm tempo. The wall between the two halves of the stage had completely shattered, the extras slowly spreading out into the fake park, the sunset curtain at some point having been replaced with one of a night sky. Kacie’s head span around the right way, her upper half detaching into Martin’s arms. As Kacie’s upper half cuddled into Martin’s arms, both she and Tetra sang out the last few lines of her song:
The song slowed to a crawl, Kacie managing to hold the note for quite a while. Her eyes sparkled as she stared into Martin’s own, Tetras’s parts slowly found their way back to the stage, as Kacie's legs reattached beneath her. The applause of her fake audience of extras slowly mixing with the real audience’s as the curtain lowered for the final performance that evening.
~~~
Sendoff
Drake came out from behind the curtain, doing his best to keep up his facade of professionalism as he sniffed, looking at the audience and saying, “Can we please another round of applause for our amazing finalists, who have bared their hearts out on the stage for you this evening,” From behind Drake, the curtain rose once again, revealing a very excited looking Paxton and Kacie, who each took a bow. The rooftop stage gave out a deafening round of applause, as whatever magic that had been silencing them disbanded for a brief moment to allow for the girls backstage to get the full brunt of the support they deserved. The girls continued to smile and wave, as the curtain lowered once more, the sound remaining sustained for well after they had disappeared from view.
As the noise eventually calmed down, Drake had managed to compose himself, still smiling weakly as he looked towards the audience, “Well everyone… We’re here… The final vote of the show… It’s been long time coming now… I know it certainly snuck up on me. But now, comes the most important poll, of these two contestants lives.”
“Following the link below,” he waved his hand, a little banner appearing with the link to the ANGA voting portal on Channel 17’s website, “You all will be responsible for selecting which of these two contestants has proven that they are good enough to become Martin’s new assistant, and America’s Next Great Assistant. You can choose to base your decision on anything really: Their performance tonight, their performance over the course of the whole show, their personality, any metric really. Just remember to select the one you want to win.”
“We truly hope that you’ve had a great time following the lives of not only our finalists, but all of our contestants over the past couple of weeks. It’s been truly been one hell of a season. We hope that you’ll tune in tomorrow for our special live coverage of the results, followed by selected scenes from what is shaping up to be a truly legendary afterparty.”
“In any case, I’ve been your humble host, Drake Bordignon. Thank you all for watching, and Goodnight Everybody!” Drake waved a melancholic farewell, as the credits quickly began to roll, the banner listing the voting link flashing eagerly at the bottom of the screen with anticipation.
Sorry, Poll is closed. Thank you for reading ANGA!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
& Question Corner &
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The following questions were answered before the performances listed above
To Paxton: “I am so happy you had fun, and good luck tomorrow with your act. Hugs! and I enjoyed the time we spent after your rehearsal.
Hope you win. Love you Paxton, get some rest.” -James Schutter (@@James-MacCloude)
Paxton: Paxton blushes, “Thanks James! It was really great to catch up with you too. I’m sorry I had to cut it so short though. Hopefully we’ll be able to catch up better at the afterparty.
I’m really hoping I win too. I hope you enjoy the show tomorrow!” Paxton blows a kiss to the camera.
To Howard: “Don't worry I promise to keep it under half a billion... HA!!! I'm kidding, it will only be about ten grand or so. Miguel was appreciative, I know centaurs have higher food bills than normal humans. Oh and the suite is gorgeous, I like how you decked it out.
Jenny and I will enjoy the props tonight.
Anyway see you tomorrow for that tour.” -Jacob Schutter (@@James-MacCloude)
Howard: Howard chuckles heartily, “Ha ha! You scared me there for a second, good sir. I’m certain Miguel was very appreciative, he has a yearling back home that’s in need of some dental surgery, so that’s sure to help pay for her braces.”
“I’m glad you enjoy the suite! It’s definitely one of the best we have on offer at the Hotel Weiss. And I thought you might appreciate the props,” Howard winks, “I hope you don’t mind, but those props are freshly bought straight from the manufacturer, so please try your best to not break them too much,” Howard chuckles.
“I’ll send Dudley up to come get you when I’m all ready for our big tour. In the meantime, relax and be merry! After all this is a weekend of celebration!”
To Martin: “I was glad to meet you in the bar this evening after your initial drink with Peter and the others. I was glad to have met you all. I think i was so excited to be meeting you, I let a little power slip, you stiffened when we shook hands. Hope you're alright. Don't worry it won't happen again.” -Jacob Schutter (@@James-MacCloude)
Martin: “It was quite alright Jake,” Martin laughed, “It did give me a bit of a shock though. You’ve got quite the firm grip,” Martin gave a sly wink. “In any case, I hope that you’ll enjoy our show tomorrow. Paxton and Kacie have put in a lot of effort these past few weeks, so hopefully something magical will come out of it.”
To Drake: “Hi Drakie, I'm sorry I hugged you so tight when we arrived I was just so happy to see you. Both my hearts were just a fluttering like you wouldn't believe. I did miss you, and we'll catch up tomorrow when you're hopefully less busy.” -Genie Schutter (@@James-MacCloude)
Drake: Drake smiles dopily, “Oh, not a worry at all Genie. I always love your hugs,” Drake blushes, his face becoming slightly more serious, “ I- I- I mean… As much as I can for a hug anyway,” he silently swears at himself for letting his emotions show, “But yes… It was really nice to see you again… I’ve definitely missed you too. I know I told you yesterday, but don’t forget that we’re still on for lunch today… Anyways… Y-Yeah… Se you at the afterparty~” Drake seems heavily conflicted as he leaves the room.
To Kacie: “I've got my keyboard ready, and we're here for a few days. I know you have to concentrate on your act but after the show we can have that jam session if you like.
Good Luck and God Bless.” -Genie Schutter (@@James-MacCloude)
Kacie: Kacie smiles, “I’m totally down for that jam session!.. But yeah, I think we’re going to have to wait a few days. At least until the afterparty’s over anyways.”
To Howard: “I want to thank you dear for those props, I know Jake and I will be having a very fun filled few days we are here in Vegas. I sometimes tell people when they ask about me and Jake , that I just lost my head over him and have been losing it again and again ever since.” -Jenny Schutter (@@James-MacCloude)
Howard: Howard smiles, “Well, it sounds like Jake is quite the lucky man then,” Howard chuckles, “And don’t worry about the props, dear, they come standard for all of my guests who bring along their significant other.
Enjoy your time in Vegas! Hopefully we should be able to catch up later when things have died down slightly.”
To All the girls past and present, as well as our gracious hosts: “We are very glad to see you made it and hope to meet you all at the afterparty. Jasmine sends her warmest regards, I apologize for her not being able to come, but someone has to run Mageria when I'm not there.
Hugs and handshakes to you all” -The Schutter Family (@@James-MacCloude)
To individually list out all nearly twenty responses would be a tad bit excessive. To summarize though, the entire cast of contestants, magicians, and Drake, greatly appreciated the sentiment shared by the Schutter family, and are extremely happy that they could make it out for the finale.
To Kacie: “I see. That is definitely a very useful skill and one that may be your ticket to victory. Good luck!” -@@Gwiber49
Kacie: Kacie smiles, “Thanks! Hopefully everything’s going to go well tonight. Regardless of if I win or not, I really hope that people have a good time.”
To Drake: “Poor Rei. She only wanted to start her own show and do magician stuff again. Instead, she got robbed … and now has to deal with whatever bad publicity may be coming her way.” -@@Gwiber49
Drake: Drake nods in agreement, “It’s truly dreadfully awful. Again, the hearts and minds of the ANGA team are with her, so hopefully she’ll be able to make some form of recovery in the off season.”
To Paxton: “I see that you’ve begun to dabble in levitation spells. I wonder where you learned that from.” -@@Gwiber49
Paxton: “Martin’s been helping me to try and expand out from just conjuration over the past couple of weeks. Although, I’ve done some levitation stuff before back in Europe. It was slightly easier because I had made myself the size of a fairy back then, but the principles are still the same whether you’re a full body speck or just a head,” Paxton smiles.
To Martin, Paxton and Kacie: “Well, I'm happy to see you again and wish you all the best!
Julia, Dawn and Dahlia are also having a lovely time, since I'm their Magician for the Fall in Europe.
Wish you all the best outcome!” -Andrea (@@Jeaune)
Martin: Martin smiles warmly, “Thank you so much Andrea… And you better look after those three for me. I know you’re always saying that I better watch how I treat my assistants, but those girls mean an awful lot to me, and I’ll be just as swift if I should hear that you are treating them improperly,” Martin grins.
Paxton: “Thank you so much Andrea! For everything! And it’s so cool that you’re going to be helping Julia, Dawn, and Dahlia out! I hope you enjoy the show tonight!"
Kacie: “He he! Hopefully everything goes smoothly tonight Andrea! I want this to be a show you’ll never forget,” Kacie grins, “Thanks so much for all you’ve done for us this season, including helping out those three! Seriously, I’m almost a little jealous that they get to work with you now.”
To Drake: “Drake, sorry you had to see that. I'm one of those people that get depressed when drunk. Yeah I am struggling as of now. You probably saw the news with how I was robbed and had one of my contestants in danger. If anything, use your donations to help Rosa. She needs all the help that she can get after what happened to her. As for me, I been to messes like these before. Just this time, I dragged someone into this for the worse again. I also got a cousin to raise and I'm expecting a scolding from another soon. I admit that I am a bit jealous of what ANGA could achieve and wish I was as successful. I should be glad I got this far at least. Thanks for the invite to the party and for talking with me. I'll get better once I lay off the drinks. Okay, I kind of want to try the pink one before I really stop.” -Rei (@@quad2)
Drake: “Hey Rei, don’t worry about it. I’m sure you’ve seen, just this season alone I’ve had at least three nervous breakdowns. It’s hard to run a show, and the reason you normally try to pitch to the larger networks is because they’ll usually have the people necessary to help fill in the gaps of your skill set. Nobody should have to be superwoman like you.
Again, you did a fine job for what you were working with. And don’t worry, I’m sure David would do anything in his power to help you with rebuilding.
I hope that this weekend will help you clear your head a little bit. See you at the afterparty,” Drake smiles warmly.
To Martin: Congratulations! You made it! -Phian (@@vanishedmagician)
Martin: Martin grins, “Thanks Phian! I’m glad to see that you made it too!” Martin laughs, “I hope you’ll enjoy the show tonight. We should meet up again at the afterparty!”
To Paxton: Congratulations! I barely recognize you. You have shown tremendous strength, and impressed the world!
Paxton: Paxton blushes, “Thanks Phian! I definitely feel different to who I was just a few weeks ago. I’m really so glad to have had the chance to compete on ANGA. I hope that you enjoy my performance tomorrow!”
To Kacie: You've been the coolest person on this show from day 1! Show your heart and blown their minds!
Kacie: Kacie blushes, “Thanks Phian. That’s super nice of you to say! I’ll definitely try my hardest out there tonight!