An eruption of excited cheers and shouts of encouragement roared through the crowd. Between the pandemonium of the audience and the fervent request of the host, the prince found that he had little choice but to concede. Slowly, he ascended the wooden staircase to the stage and gracefully strode across its shiny, polished planks. When he reached the judge’s table, a panelist leapt from their seat and offered it to the hairless, blue tom. He nodded his thanks to the departing judge and sat down. Having reached the extent of his understanding of the procedural decorum, he looked up at the bright-eyed queen and awaited further instruction.

“Alright!” Star shouted. “The next team up are the girls of the Sweet Shoppe!”

A round of applause, cheers, and whistles erupted from the crowd, as the girls entered onto the stage. Immediately, Tange skipped to the forward left of the stage while Sugar went to the right. The girls exchanged glances and nodded their agreed readiness to begin. Tange raised a flute to her lips and began to play. After she played a few notes, Sugar raised her bell-like voice and sang. The two began to create a beautiful melody of joviality, spirit, and festivity, when Candy leapt onto the center stage.

The pretty pink girl flipped and jumped around, displaying energetic, yet graceful feats of athleticism for the crowd. From hands-free cartwheels to summersaults and backflips, the assembly of onlookers were thoroughly entertained. They cheered and applauded at her dynamic and somewhat dangerous acts. Finally, she brought her routine to a close-by returning to center stage and gesturing to the backstage where Mint emerged from the shadows, dancing sensually onto the main stage.

She captured and captivated the audience into a speechless stupor. Translucent ribbon veils twirled and swirled around her as she spun and swayed like a leaf on the wind as she performed her exotic, entrancing, hypnotic belly dance. She was one with her fluttering veils. They moved like billowy extensions of her lovely body. Together, they looked like sweet-smelling smoke streaming from a scented incense burner. Except for Sugar’s singing and Tange’s playing, the arena was completely silent. The audience was hypnotized by the beauteous, foreign dancer.

As she usually did when she danced, she kept her eyes closed, for the most part, adding to her allure. She only opened her eyes briefly, here and there, to make sure she was positioned away from either edge of the stage. She opened her eyes during one such check and happened to glance at the judge’s table. A sharp gasp left her as she beheld the panel of judges and momentarily lost her focus. She tripped on one of her veils and hit the ground, hard.

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