Ruby Gloom 1. Chapter 1

**_Ruby Gloom: Fashion Without Passion_**

**_Author's Note and Summary: _****This is my first story ever. Please review and tell me how I can improve! :D**

**I do not own Ruby Gloom. There, simple and neat, no more words to describe the terrible fact I have no control over the aforementioned awesome show.**

**In order to help Misery, Ruby has to model for an upcoming fashion show and win it but is the happiest girl in the world comfortable to be the happiest girl on the runway?**

* * *

The transformation from scattered, old, abandoned items on Ruby's table into something that people could actually hold and exclaim the beauty of it all was something she loved to do. One of the basic things about being human— even if you were the only human in Gloomsville— was to use hands. The first thing she learnt was to grasp and tug onto her father's long beard. The perky redhead later discovered that she loved the acute sense of satisfaction that came with creating simple things out of scrap objects and forgotten things lying about. Out of the tissue paper that wrapped cut flowers, she could make paper flowers bound in floral wire— a small echo of the living things it once nestled in its arms for Misery so she could admire the beauty of the flora without her allergies kicking in (though the unlucky girl often got a paper cut just by touching them). Out of armfuls of tulle and leftover Yam Ween lights, she could make a night lamp for Scaredy Bat to greet the Boogeyman at night. In a way, she was rewriting— or rewiring— the stories and histories of the unique items she made. However, the perky goth knew that you should go changing only when you want to change. She learnt that particular lesson after a particular incident.

* * *

In the centre of Weeper's Gulch, the largest vale in Gloomsville, quite some distance away, was a wizened oak tree. Its gnarled and hoary girth laid under a tangled old man's beard of leaf and bough while the serrated Morose Mountains loomed in the -legged sheep gamboled and frolicked with each other in feigned merry innocence as the happiest girl in the world worked on her latest project. One of her favorite things to do was to bind books, to make notebooks out of sheaves of loose paper, some recycled cardboard, a little thread, a little glue. The texture of the fresh paper in her hands, the repetitive, consuming movement of the thread weaving in and out of the pierced holes; the choice of color and pattern for the cover and the binding; the way she could customize each book she made by deciding what kind and weight of paper she used. Currently, she was conjuring up a zebra-print fabric notebook for a certain adrenaline junkie of a cyclops who wanted a special place to keep the photos she took in Africa, particularly taming the vicious beast dubbed as 'laundry'.

"Ah what a perfect day." She sighed to herself, marveling the autumn landscape.

Suddenly, the sky was as dark as the devil's soul, the clouds were onyx-black and glared down balefully at Gloomsville. Like a tightening noose, the sky seemed to be coiling in on itself, purring with a suppressed rage. A distant rumbling, much like the sound of an avalanche, echoed in the air. The world became cellar-dark and the buckling, heaving sky looked fit to collapse down on top of Ruby though she doubted it would do so. Then there was an explosion like a sonic boom and the rain came. It was not the nectar-of-the-gods type rain beloved of all those wandering adventurers lost in the desert. It was icy, stinging nails of rain that seemed to strip the skin and shrink the soul. Then the hailstones came. They were bone-white and as big as baseballs, bombarding everything with their spite and Ruby quickly whistled with two fingers and herded the sheep back to their farmhouse.

"What do you know? Thunder and rain! This is such a great day!" Ruby giggled to herself, briefly assisting a spider to its web.

A clanking sound was then heard from the sky. It was if a huge anvil was being dragged across the vault of heaven against its will. Branched lightning lit up the Stygian sky. They were like liquid, golden ore streaks that were being moulded and forged into forks above the redhead. Buzzing and hissing, they trembled with the anger of being shackled to the sky since time began. A single vein of lightning, large and fearsome, blazed out in the sky. Writhing and wriggling with the pain of its existence, it flashed once, glossy and polished, like a cold, gold prong of the Apocalypse.

Then it hit something or more like someone. There was nothing friendly about the terrawatts of violence it unleashed but she and a particular banshee considered it to be Nature's megawatt smile. Apparently, Mother Nature flashed the aforementioned smile at Misery as lightning struck her square on the head. As if to make things worse, while Ruby rushed towards her in a vain attempt to minimize the damage, Misery was startled by the perky goth's sudden appearance and tripped over the most diminutive rock in the world, which was clearly labeled, rolled down north to Blue Fond Canyon, the lowest point in Gloomsville with a lot of scorpions who were not fond of Misery's blue dress.

"Er Ruby, can you order the lasagna at the hospital whlie Dr Dredrick performs his hundredth operation on me? You know, to mark the special occasion."

Needless to say, Misery had a lot of needles pieced through her once Ruby brought her to the hospital. The nurses simply gawked as Misery told them another one of her unfortunate tale _(then again, the fact aloe vera was good enough to heal her wounds naturally and at inhumane speed to point she could be discharged within an hour for an unlucky girl could have also thrown them off)._

By the time they savored the lasagna and Ruby had filled out Misery's particulars for her, she found Misery's shoes and pants were soaking wet with soda. Apparently, the vending machine didn't drop a paper cup into the slot. Yet, getting a drink was the furthest thing away from Misery's mind apparently as she murmured into the phone speaker from a nearby phone booth.

"Yes. You still don't need to worry about the bills again, I won a free toaster that was worth a thousand pounds... yes, I have not gained weight.."

Misery apparently reassured a relative while her shoulder bag got tangled in the phone cord, pulling the phone down with a clunk.

"What was that?"

Ruby strained her ears and brain but failed to link a face with the high-pitched, rather nasal voice asking the question from the other line.

"It was just the phone falling."

What Misery did not explain was that when she stooped to pick up the phone, her veil fell off and when she reached for it, she tripped over the cord and was now sitting in a tangled heap on a cushion Ruby had quickly produced to soften the fall.

"Er, well, bye now... Mum.." Misery sighed as she tossed away the phone that just unluckily bounced off the glass panes of the booth and landed on her head. With that last sentence, Ruby was instantly taken aback. Images of her departed loved one began to flow throughout her mind, even as she gently massaged Misery's skull and helped the unfortunate lady get up.

After a minute of awkward silence, Ruby shuffled her feet on the floor, teetering with the temptation to ask hee friend about her conversation. All of a sudden, Ruby's will sunk deep down into her stomach, prompting her to question Misery.

"So…didn't mean to eavesdrop," The plucky teen lied. "But I heard things getting loud even from way over here. Everything cool with you?"

Misery sighed in disgust, "Oh, _that_. It's nothing to worry about, Ruby. It's just my mom being a royal pain. As usual…"

Unbeknownst to Misery, her words had accidentally touched a sensitive nerve within the redhead. "Really?" Ruby pressed on. "How so?"

"By automatically linking me with disaster."

At that, Ruby felt sympathetic and her earlier discomfort with the topic lessened. She knew every single member in Misery's family tree had terrible luck, Misery being no exception to that trait. Fortunately, her friends were all kindhearted enough to take that in stride as she spent most of the time in a state of detached apathy and with ever-present trails of tears running from her eyes but they all knew her frown was smile upside down.

Lately however, she seemed to be annoyed with the fact she was constantly associated with misfortune. Not only was Misfortune her least favorite aunt, but almost everyone in Gloomsville just dubbed her as the unlucky one. They always turned to her whenever some disaster occurred. She had always loved her bad luck as it was a part of who she was but it was not her only aspect either. Sometimes, it felt as though someone had tied a rubber band around her scarred chest and an anchor to her broken heart. She stumbled through life with a weight on her shoulders, dreading the day she would be forgotten. Once, Ruby had witnessed her weeping uncontrollably in the kitchen after merely spilling a glass of milk, no doubt the result of her recently frazzled nerves. As Misery bent over to pick up the pieces of shattered glass, Ruby placed her hands on her shoulders and steered Misery to her bed of nails. "Don't cry over spilt milk. Have a friend to clean it up."

When Misery crept back to the kitchen, she saw Ruby on her hands and knees, clearing up her mess. Finally, after multiple cuts to her delicate hands, Ruby gripped the counter and groaned as she hauled herself up. It was a good thing Skull Boy had decided he was related to a long line of doctors that day and forsook an early medical scholarship from Havard just to attend to her but when he enquired about the cause of her injuries, Ruby actually successfully fibbed to her crush and best male friend that she just stumbled into a patch of broken glass. While Skull Boy did raise an eyebrow, the only form of hair he had, he did not prod further and she never mentioned that day again. Such uncomplaining love could only come from a friend and Misery knew for a fact that living away from them would make her feel hollow and incomplete. That was the thing however.

What else could she be other than a symbol of pure, rotten bad luck?

She found herself pondering on that huge question as they boarded the trolley home.

* * *

Ruby was still comforting and handing tissue paper to a sniffling Misery once they arrived at the manor when further down the hallway they were in, there was a yell, although it was something more of a muffled squeak, followed by a light thump.

And a bang.

And a crash.

Rolling from the closet door that had a now-missing handle was a ball of fur, decorated with a pair of wings and a scarf. Two twitchy eyes could barely be seen from under the quaking wing membranes. Those eyes grew larger when they saw that Misery was about to sneeze, while the rest of the body simultaneously tried to become as small as possible. "Oh dear, oh dear, of dear!" Scaredy Bat shivered.

There was a bracing for impact, but thankfully, it never came. What came instead was a distinct whoosh of air from Ruby quickly covering Misery's mouth with a handkerchief and a shadow that passed over the head of the poor creature on the floor. The ball of fur and fear dared to take a peek in the girls' direction, and relaxed only slightly upon seeing the optimist and the melancholiac. "Ruby and ...Misery? Oh thank goodness. Are you two, ah, alright?"

"I'm fine but Misery just came back from the hospital."

"Oh, that means you must have had your hundredth surgery with Dr Dredrick. Congratulations Misery!"

Instead of gazing upon the young child who was singing her 'praises', the blue Misery saw red. Literarily and figuratively considering she had a very bad case of Nightis Fever. At least it was better than much worse Nightis Fever.

"Is that what everyone thinks of me to be? Just another walking disaster? At least you are known for not being scared of everything but also being sweet and cute!"

As Scaredy dived under the carpets at the fearful sight of an angry Misery, Iris just had to walk in with fuel to fire.. literarily.

"Hey Misery, are you on fire because I need a huge fire pit to jump over!" She whooped, waving the huge bundle of logs that finally came apart and stubbed all of Misery's toes, while catching fire at the same time. While Misery was singing a monotonous chorus of 'Ow's, Skull Boy then entered the room, with cameras and microphones everywhere to the point they might be able to capture anyone's nose hairs and in his best news reporter voice that actually nearly made Ruby swoon, looked directly at an imaginary audience.

"And here live, we have the great Misery whose relatives caused the great Ice Age!"

"NO THEY DID NOT! YOU HAVE NO EVIDENCE!" Misery shrieked before flatly declaring, "besides, sculpted glaciers look pretty."

"Er.. guys... now is not a good time to...!" Ruby attempted to explain the entire flummoxing mess until Poe flapped his feathers into the scene.

"Misery, my feathers are in an absolute mess. Why, I do not suppose you would be willing to drink this entire bottle filled with the Elixir of Hiccuping to hiccup a tornado to get them just right?" Poe requested, aiming his favorite hand-mirror to capture the right amount of candlelight and get his best angle.

As Misery scrunched up her face, Ruby winced,

"Brace yourselves...!"

Then, the dams broke as the banshee wailed her lungs out. Ruby was so caught by surprise that the champion swimmer found herself floundering in a sea of divine-blue quicklime and there was no escape. She screamed, but a burst of bubbles was the only result. Finally, she gave up, sinking. The last thing she felt before she passed out was a strong pair of bony arms, lifting her to the light.

The next thing she remembered was her eyes snapping open, as she coughed the tears out of her lungs. She barely had enough time to take a few wheezing breaths before she was enveloped in a warm, relieved hug from her silent rescuer. He had somehow managed to swim despite his bones pulling him to the depths and losing a couple in the process of hauling her and himself on the floating cameras he had cobbled together which coming loose.

"Oh thank goodness you're ok, Ruby."

Ruby could feel herself turning as red as her hair before quietly thanking him with a small, affectionate smile and holding his hand in appreciation.

"Hang on, what are we? Chopped liver?" Poe rolled his eyes as he, Iris and Scaredy managed to board the 'Skull Cruise' while Scaredy's eyes became dilated with horror,

"CHOPPED?!"

"Poor choice of words, Poe." Iris sighed.

Ruby scanned the area, before noticing Iris still had her foldable spring shoes.

"Great!" She cheered before instructing the cyclops quickly, "Iris, I need you to bounce up and down as fast as you can to create a hole in the hallway!"

"Gee, that sounds dangerous..." Iris hesitated before proceeding to follow the instructions (for once) with a spring in her step and loud exclamations of joy coming from her mouth even as gravity was defied or defied her until a huge hole was created, draining all of the tears. By then, Misery had also stopped bawling her eyes out until a flyer landed on her face and despite the weird proximity, Misery somehow managed to read it;

**_Miss Gloomsville Contest!_**

**_Do you think you have what it takes to WIN the title? Girls, sign up now!_**

**_The Prize: A good reason to feel good about yourself and a cruise to the Scaribean Sea for models and for the mentors of model, a chance to show you can do something right and a free toaster!_**

**_(Only FIVE will be able to compete)_**

And suddenly, a tiny lamp appeared above her head, burning a small portion of the paper.

* * *

"Let me get this straight... you're going to model?" Frank cocked an eyebrow. Even when the rockers were busy tuning their guitars, their music was strangely not loud enough to drown out the wailing and after some time, they finally got a coherent retelling from Poe but admittedly dull compared to Iris' exaggerated tale.

"Oh hex, no! I'm allergic to make-up and certain fabrics. Besides, I want to be the fearless mentor who will not tolerate anything and I strive for the best as I helps the most beautiful girl in Gloomsville be known as the most beautiful MODEL in Gloomsville!"

By then, with Misery's megawatt smile, all of the lamps had shattered but one— a huge white spotlight and she aimed directly at Ruby who was snapping one of Skull Boy's metatarsals back into place in one of his windows while he fixed Iris' springs. It took the aforementioned metatarsal poking her to make Ruby realize Misery's idea.

Within two years, Ruby had grown from an awkward prepubescent child into a graceful and mature young woman, with a twine-thin sculpted figure and a tapered waist. A pair of arched eyebrows looked down on sweeping eyelashes while her delicate seashell ears framed a button nose. Her hair was as emollient as eiderdown and was like a loom of molten-lava. It swooped past her ethereal neck, framing her flawless face, save for the few freckles that were splashed across but somehow made her two jet stones slumbering in milky pools alive. They were a-smolder with joy and had a hypnotic quality to them, gleaming with an unearthly quality above her concave cheekbones and they shone with the faraway look of a star gazer. Her smile glowed with not only her fluorescent, archangel-white teeth but also the pure happiness she often radiated. All the boys went crazy to be with her and all the girls went crazy to be her. It was no surprise that Misery wanted her but Ruby had always been oblivious to the attention she attracted evident when she said,

"Misery, I'm super flattered that you actually think of me as a model but the thing is, I'm not a model. I don't really have lot of admirers of my looks." Ruby, not even batting an eye at the werewolf who wolf-whistled at the gorgeous girl until Skull Boy threw an axe at him, narrowly missing the target by a fur strand.

"Huh, guess I'm not related to a long line of Vikings after all." The skeleton murmured, disappointed that he had failed once again in finding his genealogy. The animal yelped and gave a pitiful whine before Iris barked at him,

"For the love of... look Luke and other boys behind him...," The cyclops paused to gawk at the sheer number of males lined up just to witness the sight of Ruby, "she is NOT interested!"

"Yeah, let it go!" Frank huffed before realization dawned upon him as his brother's eyes suddenly became dilated with giddiness and a renewed vigor only one song in the world could have triggered. And the blue lead guitarist had just said the name in front of the green lead guitarist.

"LET IT GO, LET IT GO!" While it was difficult sharing the same body, especially with Len's cluelessness to major details, two heads were better than one and Frank and LEN made a perfect team so Frank eventually couldn't resist joining in after a chuckle at LEN pretending to be shooting snowflakes,

"I'm one with the wind and sky!"

"Exactly, I won't be the girl just known to have just stubbed her toe in the kitchen, or rescued from an ice-flow or the one sleeping in a bed of nails anymore."

"Misery, while I'm glad you're trying out something new... but nobody has ever thought of you that way. You are a true friend and an important part of our world, I've never anyone so loyal."

As Ruby was adding her two cents' worth however, Misery pulled up the site on her eekPhone, went to the Special Events page, clicked on Miss Gloomsville, and signed her up. After a few seconds, it beeped. The screen read:

_Sign-up successful. Contestant #1: RUBY GLOOM_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Fashion but no Passion Chapter 2**_

Ruby woke up the next morning feeling dazed and confused until Misery knocked on her skull, decked in her favorite jeans and a comfortable tee shirt with a huge haversack strapped on her shoulders. She was raring to go... well, as much as she could show happiness without breaking a mirror... and were those magazines she was swinging in her hands? Ruby barely had time to throw on her clothes before she heard an incessant honking outside and had to fly out of the house with Iris' hang glider for fear that the impatient taxi driver would rouse the rest of the neighborhood. Frank and Len luckily had some iced latte and while it was not as soothing as her morning tea, it did give her a good sugar rush. It also unfortunately did the same thing to Iris as they headed to Gloomsville's most popular building. It was a shame that Doom Kitty was off to a fish convention and could not witness the hilarious sight of a bug-eyed Iris bidding her bug goodbye.

The mall, the abode that many a trinket, tchotchke, and heirloom could be found by the unsuspecting patron the moment they got out from their cars or in the group's case, a fishmonger's truck that still emitted a fishy that brought back fond memories for RIP... and brought back their omelette lunches to their mouths. It was their only mode of transportation however that would not fly off just because he saw Albert the mouse.

People were pouring into the two main entrances whose doors have long been left wide open. Heated air from the thermostats gushed out, an inviting signal for those freezing outside to what was awaiting within the massive shopping centre with its colossal structures.

While they had been to the place many times, they never could take it upon themselves to memorize the positions of each individual store, especially since most seemed to change location upon every other visit. Thus, as they walked up the hallway, the walls of which were lined by various different stores, they had one destination in mind... the map, and the respite of the 'You Are Here' sign. The map was a large plastic plaque facing the southern entrance; on it was labeled every store in the entire building, numbered, named, and color coded respectively. Having never been to the mall to shop for clothes as they often went to the flea market instead, everyone began to examine the map for their unfamiliar destinations. While the others tried to locate the proper stores on the map, Scaredy Bat sat down on the edge of the fountain and looked into the water. Leaving the map reading to the others, Ruby decided to sit next to him.

As the tiny bat looked at the water, cautious but curious, Scaredy noticed a multitude of coins beneath the surface, shimmering copper and silver in the sunlight. Hearing a nearby splash, he saw someone finish tossing a coin into the water. Curiosity piqued, he turned to Ruby, "Ruby, may I know why they are throwing away their money?"

"People sometimes throw coins into wells or fountains for luck, or to make wishes." She explained.

Scaredy Bat smiled and displayed his baby fang, "We make many wishes, yes?" He inquired, thinking about how many other ways there could be to go about making a wish.

"I guess sometimes... they feel like they need it... y'know, a little extra hope." Ruby clarified, realizing she could use a few good wishes. Noticing something shimmering in the corner of her vision, the perky goth looked to see a coin sitting right next to her.

Giggling as an idea came to her, she picked it up and turned to Scaredy, "Shall we make a wish?" She asked sweetly, holding the coin between his wing and hers.

Scaredy eagerly nodded in response before Ruby positioned their hands (or wings in his case) securely between them and began to swing their arms back and forth to create a good throwing motion, without realizing that she was also swinging the rather light Scaredy until he felt queasy.

"Okay. One, two... three." At that, she released her grip and watched in wonder as the coin flew out toward the water. Then, she watched in horror as Scaredy was flung along with the coin. Splashing in the water, he and the coin landed very near to the center display.

"Oh my gosh, Scaredy, are you ok? I'm so sorry!" Ruby asked before going into the fountain, and grabbing him before his tiny frame disappeared. Coughing, he replied,

"Oh yes, that was rather refreshing. Thank you Ruby though. I think that means our wishes will most certainly come true…"

Reminded of one of her blush-inducing wishes to have a moment with Skull Boy and make everyone happy by throwing them a pillow-smashing pillow fight party, she only gave him a terse nod before unwrapping her scarf and drying Scaredy with it as a towel before the others rushed towards them,

"Hey, what happened? We thought we heard some splash that was way too huge to be a tiny coin." Frank commented and Scaredy took great offense at that statement, the fur on his neck standing out of annoyance rather than anxiety,

"Well, a thousands apologies that my waist has gotten bigger. I have been eating a lot lately, I am not as small as people think."

"THAT'S GREAT!" Misery squealed. Almost everyone took a simultaneous step back except for Frank and Len who were delayed by Len's slow processing of the situation. The last time she was that hyperactive, it was when she had some sugar. They were wondering if she was the reason why all the chocolate chip cookies mysteriously disappeared at night as she excitedly pointed at Ruby's sodden shoes.

"A good reason to go to the Glass Slipper! Those shoes would not go with... err... anything."

At that comment, Iris and Skull Boy glared at the banshee, considering they were the ones who had painstakingly crafted those shoes for Ruby's birthday. Iris was desperate for help in creating a gift while Skull Boy was desperate for help in an idea. At that time, he had considered himself to be a shoemaker but had no idea what was the perfect design for Ruby. Eventually, they teamed up to conjure up a great pair of shoes. Their effort was worth it when Ruby's smile actually became wider and she began wearing the pair almost religiously.

Ruby obviously felt slightly miffed as she defended the cherished birthday gifts, "Misery, I really respect your advice as my mentor but those are my favorite and Iris and Skull Boy both went through a lot just to create them. Besides, they are waterproof and would most likely dry by the time the competition starts!"

"Ok, we'll save it for last then. For now, new shoes. And don't worry, they are going to be waterproof too. Hey, why not flame retardant...? And anti-spiders... no, cobwebs are cute..." Misery commanded, dragging her and the rest along to the aforementioned shop.

Colorfully decorated signboards shouted out the products that were on sale. It was clear that prices were the main draw as a unique palette of colors was used to emphasize product cost. There was a suffocating blend of smells emanating from the scents of perfumes to aromatherapy oils and even leather goods, with the last making Scaredy pale considerably. Customers were oblivious to the smells as they strolled along the path, browsing at well-packaged items on display and fingering delicate objects that seemed an unnecessary expense.

Ruby looked at the heels, her smile slightly crooked. All of them were at least three inches in height and Ruby was at the most, a two inch girl. Still, the designs were at least interesting so she grabbed a few pairs in different colors, then grabbed a pair of wedges and some flip flops. The purses were all sparkly, looking more like club purses than something she would walk down the street in. Thus, she only picked up two.

She turned and headed back to Misery but stopped when she laid eyes on the banshee who already had a pile of clothes in her hands, so big that she wondered if Misery could see over them.

She ran up to her. "Misery, that's way too much for me. You ought to put some of it back and…I am not wearing that shirt!" She stared in horror at a shirt she had just picked up, white and looked like a snug fit, the neckline plunging so low it would just cover everything that needed to be covered.

"Relax, you'll look great in it." Misery placed the clothes on the front counter by the register, the girl behind it staring in shock at the amount of clothes she had put down. Misery glanced around the store. "Do you need any jewelry or anything?"

Ruby shook her head with a small grin at the thought of her favorite necklaces and rings and added her shoes and purses to the pile. "I have a ton of jewelry at my house."

She left the store in a hurry, before her mentor could see anything else she wanted to buy. Soon, they decided to split up as Ruby needed to prim herself up.

True to their competitive nature, Iris, Frank and Len immediately made their way to the massive arcade upon entering, where they would waste countless quarters defending their high scores.

Misery needed to stock up her first-aid kits and headed towards the nearest pharmacist that was a floor below though considering how she fell from the escalator, the bandages from her new box would probably run out as well.

Skull Boy, Poe and Scaredy Bat, on the other hand, retreated to the opposite end of the spectrum, the book store; here they planned to spend the entire time, using it as a library. Poe and Skull Boy were nice enough to take her bags so she strolled down the mall feeling light and happy. Ruby was opposed to it earlier but she suddenly felt great about it. She had missed the feeling of excitement and anxiousness shopping brought along, walking into a nail salon and was ordered to take a seat. After a few minutes of enjoying a mani-curse and pedi-curse, she swiped her credit card, giving them an extra five dollars as a tip, and left to go get her hair done, standing at the front desk timidly.

"What can I do for you, honey?" A lady asked, walking up to her with a brush and scissors in her hand.

Ruby stood silent for a few moments before she replied, "Um, I, uh, honestly have no idea. I've never gotten my hair done before so, uh, I don't really know." She fumbled with the hem of her shirt. "I just entered the model show," She muttered.

The lady smiled and laughed. "When I'm done with you, you'll walk out with a first place ribbon on a gorgeous dress." She led Ruby over to a chair and sat her down.

Ruby watched her while she worked, brushing the curls out and straightened her hair. "Thank you for this. I'd honestly be lost without you."

"Don't thank me, honey. I do this for a living. Now, close your eyes and let me work my magic."

Ruby nodded her head and did as she was told. "Okay, as long as you don't cut it Miss...?"

"Jade."

Ruby smiled at the pretty name, relaxing as she felt Jade's fingers work through her hair. It was quite nice. She'd always liked her hair being played with. Her mother used to do it all the time. She would brush her hair for a whole thirty minutes before Ruby went to bed, and she remembered how calm and relaxed it would make her. She would be half asleep by the time she was walking up the steps to her bedroom. It used to be hard to think of her mom, but now she could not help but smile. Her mother was above her watching her, and Ruby strived to make her proud.

"All done," Jade squeaked.

Ruby opened her eyes and gasped. A beautiful young woman stared back at her. She had no idea how much hair made a difference. Jade had layered her hair…a lot. She had a lot of layers now, and she had even styled her hair. It was wavy and cascaded down her back and over her shoulder. She was not cocky, but glum yums did she look drop dead gorgeous. Her usual innocent look had been flipped and something about her look radiated confidence and allure.

She smiled. "Wow, you're a miracle worker!"

Jade grinned. "Everyone will love it. Get out of here," She playfully commanded.

Ruby was confused. "Where do I pay?"

The woman laughed at her and shook her head. "Consider it a gift, free of charge. Now go!"

"Please, at least let me give you a tip."

"Your money isn't welcome here." She laughed. "Run along. Besides, ain't it lunch?"

The hawker center, of course, was on the polar opposite end of the mall, making for a long trip. At the notice of her own hunger, Ruby placed a hand over her stomachs, attempting to quell the rumblings. Thanking her profusely, she dashed off.

Several seconds later, Ruby was at the hawker center. Unlike many others who seemed to have an innate preference for processed food, she found herself gravitating towards hawker fare whenever there was a need to satiate her hunger and talk with her friends while enjoying some noodles or even the local cuisine.

Before she could decide whether she should have fish ball soup or good old French Eyes, she heard a familiar muttering. Well, honestly, his sudden posh, British accent was not familiar but the slight clicking of his teeth grinding together in an effort to determine how comfortable he was in his new persona was certainly a neon signboard that it was Skull Boy mumbling as he sniffed his beverage, in a rather good-looking tuxedo that made her blush slightly.

"Strong hints of South-African Blue-Mountain coffee beans, I think it's Classic Javanese Tribal beans," He then took a long sip of the bitter drink with an unreadable expression like a judge would have in order not to mislead anyone, "very lovely after taste. The sweetness of the beans coupled with the robust bitterness lingers, like a beautiful maiden strolling in cool breeze."

"Does that mean I should beat the guy to get more instant coffee?" A rather burly man with tattoos all over his body grunted at the skeleton who unflinchingly replied,

"If you are a man, do it." The skeleton was beside himself with pride when he heard the screams of pain.

Ruby quickly tossed a frisbee at the harassing werewolf of a gangster to distract him and let the canine run right into the handcuffs of the security guard and allow the poor shop owner to flee. Rather pleased with herself and that Skull Boy remained oblivious to her presence, she could not resist the urge to put her hands in front of his eyes. She cleared her throat, trying to make her voice as deep and as seductive as possible when she said,

"Guess who?"

"Ummm, Ruby?" He did not sound so sure, unused to Ruby's weird change in her usually sweet, soft voice.

She giggled and moved her head so her mouth was right beside his ear.

"Guess again."

Where was this confidence coming from? She felt like a new woman! She felt beautiful, so much that it seemed to be radiating from her. Maybe the makeover thing would actually give herself a boost of confidence even though she went the minimalist way.

He turned around. "RUBY?" His mouth flew open and he looked her up and down, making her blush. As if to make his earlier illustration of the coffee come true, he saw a spotlight behind her figure, and she was reduced to a glowing silhouette, her hair glistening crimson red with the light of the lamp a clumsy technician had dropped. Then her figure faded, to meld with the light. She stepped backwards to give him space, a golden figure in the all-consuming rays.

"You look like you've seen a goddess." She remarked and Skull Boy could not help but smile.

"Maybe I have."

Unfortunately, that was when Iris, Frank and Len came moping towards them with the boys on one side and girls on another.

"Hey, I thought you guys were gonna spend the entire time at the arcade..." Ruby giggled nervously until her eyebrows furrowed in concern when Len said glumly,

"They kicked us out."

"Yeah, they said we were 'taking the games too seriously' or something like that." Frank added, quoting the mall security guard's words.

"I swear, break one little machine and everyone's against you." Iris finished, leaving both human and skeleton wide-eyed and wondering what in the world they had done, and whatever it was, at least Skull Boy thought, would they be paying for it? Ignoring the last thought however, Ruby cheered them up,

"Look on the bright side, it means you guys will go down in history for having epic scores that a machine couldn't handle!"

At that, they all lit up like the screens of their favorite arcade machines, particularly Frank and Len,

"Hey, I wonder if Poe keeps that book of records still. Maybe we can actually set a new record!" Iris exclaimed.

"And you will get angry and Ruby and we all try to bring you guys back together which only works during a precarious situation."

"Hey, Frank, Len, will you go and sneak into the arcade? I forgot to get my purse earlier."

"But Iris…we…" She stuck out her bottom lip and batted her eye. "Oh, alright," They left the table and Skull Boy gave her a skeptical look while maintaining his new accent, "Do they even know what your purse looks like? If you have one?"

"Oh, good point. Skully…" She stuck out her lip again.

"That is not going to work on me."

"I'll give you five bucks."

"Nope."

"Heard they need someone to sample their French Eyes."

"Frank, Len, wait up!"

She turned to face Ruby.

"Alright, spill: what happened just now?"

Ruby spluttered and tried to come up with a good excuse. "Happened? To what are you referring?"

Knowing her, Iris would blow it all out of proportion and make a big deal out of nothing. But logic was not her best friend right now as the grateful store owner from earlier gave her a huge stash of instant coffee that Ruby was using a cache right then, stirring hot water inside the free kettle that came along with each packet.

"Mmm hmm," Iris smiled as Ruby recounted the story, glancing behind her every few minutes to make sure the guys were not within earshot. "Called it."

"Now don't get all excited, it's not like it was a date we had there, Iris. It was not even a moment under the Skullby section. I still have no idea how you came up with that ship name."

"Sure it's not." Iris and surprisingly Misery said at the same time before Iris cheered,

"Jinx! You owe me a soda! Particularly the grape-flavored one." Sighing, Misery gave up her remaining five dollars to a gleeful cyclops who quickly rushed out of the mall to find a vending machine.

"She does realize the nearest vending machine from here is five kilometers away right?" Misery asked flatly.

"Maybe, better try helping her," Ruby chuckled and tried to call a Iris but the one-eyed girl had switched her mobile phone off.

"Guess it's just you and me until the boys come back with Iris' purse."

Misery only pondered on the peculiar possibility of the adventuress owning such a feminine item for a second before turning to face Ruby, and attempting a shaky smile, only resulting in a broken glass and making the blue lips form an upside crescent moon instead before they parted to release a sigh and her broken hands gave Ruby a beautiful gift... one Ruby wished she could understand as she stared at a misshapen lump of clay though the sock-cladded lass figured that it was the beginnings of Misery's new sugar bowl to replace the one she broke a couple of nights before. Ruby smiled and said encouragingly, "Wow Misery, thank you so much for the new bowl. You really showed the spirit. If at first you don't succeed, try, try 362 more times."

Misery actually giggled slightly before shaking her head, "No, it's a special kind of clay. Think about something you really like."

Raising a slight eyebrow, Ruby allowed her mind to drift away as she looked through happy memories of hang gliding with Iris, playing leap frog with Doom Kitty, doing a rain dance with Misery, being the dance partner of the handsome descendant of hip-hop musicians, inviting bogeyman for tea and letting Scaredy befriend him, hosting many concerts and parties that boosted RIP's popularity, helping Boo Boo scare anyone other than Scaredy Bat, and singing many odes about the moon with Poe by the swamp.

Much to her amazement, she felt the clay's shape shifting until it produced exact replicas of the wondrous days she spent with her friends.

"Oh my goodness! That is something certainly special! Thank you Misery, that's very nice of you." Ruby gasped in amazement.

"Actually, I think it may save your life if you are somehow trapped somewhere. But you're welcome." Misery concluded before Ruby offered her a hand,

"Best friends?"

Without hesitation, the banshee gripped the human's hand tightly,

"Forever even with the disasters along the way."

* * *

Ruby spent most of the day laughing at Iris' adventure of 'wisdom in gaining a delicious beverage' and handing her towels before being drilled by Misery on how to properly answer interview questions even while the redhead had a seaweed mud mask on her face and her hair, soaked with deep conditioner, up in a shower cap at the backstage just before Luna made her appearance, in her tiny dressing room.

"Try to restate the question in the answer. And for everyone's sake, try to make the answers pleasant. No saying stuff like 'If I could go anywhere, I'd go to Botswana and help decontaminate the water." No one wants to think about parasites even though I would. Luckily, you're not me. It's all about keeping it upbeat and happy. And undamaged systems in body."

It went on for hours. She had tried a pair of the new high heels and practiced walking around the dressing room in them since they were the earliest by 7 hours (What would posses someone to want to wear those things on a daily basis?). After a while however, she got used to it, and came to like the feeling of power that came with clicking around and being a few inches taller.

Five girls each had their own dressing room, complete with personal shower stalls. Their wardrobes, which the girls had selected before entering the dressing room, were separated into different displays. Most of the girls were either stick-thin or possessed impressive curves, while a majority of the boys who accompanied them as either relatives or love interests looked undeniably athletic. It was evident they were all products of undoubtedly good genes: great bone structure, silky hair, flawless skin, and straight, pearly-white teeth. Ruby wondered why they were all staring at her, even the hologram vision of another pretty face that belonged to the group. Shrugging her shoulders, she smiled at them. Most of the boys winked back flirtatiously until their respective girlfriends slapped them and promptly ignored her. One lady however, had an eye on her.

Unsurprisingly enough, the girl had sparkling blue eyes and enviously long, natural blonde hair that flowed down her model-thin body. Judging from her hard facial expression, Ruby had the distinct feeling that Blondie was sizing her up. All Ruby remembered about her was Misery looking rather annoyed at her pressence. What could she possibly have to say to Ruby?

Deciding it was better to have new friends, Ruby offered her hand to the strange girl, "Hello, my name is Ruby. It's great to meet you. May I know who you are?"

The weird girl first sprayed not only her own hands but Ruby's hands too with disinfectant before putting on a glove and briefly shaking Ruby's hands,

"Denise Demise. Top model. Heard you were joining and for once, I do have some competition."

Behind her, a devil girl with heterochromic eyes just looked at the ceiling, utterly bored out of her mind and trying to find amusement in her charm bracelet that spelt 'Samice'. Another girl, whom Ruby recognized as Fiona Flee, the latest model in the entire fashion industry who had posed with many bags Ruby had been eyeing, was apparently doing another photoshoot as she hugged a Puur-daa bag tightly as if it was her life, her cyan-blue locks draping over it like strangling vines. The hologram waved slightly, whether it was because the girl in another spiritual plane was attempting to greet her or the connection was faulty, she had no idea. All she could read on the projector was that her name was Sarah Yale.

"I guess I am. It will be fun trying!"

Denise glared at her slightly before smirking, "May the better model win."

* * *

Almost everyone, save for Frank and Len who literally breathed crowds after many performances by them or other talented music artists, was taken aback by the multitude of creatures that greeted them. The purple grass was almost invisible beneath the colored mats that had been spread out over most of the field that was near the stage. They walked over bodies spread-eagled on the ground, dead or alive. They tried not to trip over tottering children or couples deep in conversation as they made their way to an empty spot in the centre of the activity. They gladly opened their mat, nonchalant about those around who clearly had to squeeze closer to one another to make room for the group.

Once settled, Skull Boy stared in awe at the looming black structure that was supposed to be a stage. Already, colored light bulbs in their aluminum casings adorned the top and bottom of the stage, ready to burst into action once the show started. For now, Poe was strangely up on stage as the emcee, being the only one who could talk or hours in Gloomsville. At that moment, he was fondly reminiscing about his time as a roadie in the Gloomapalooza to the point the audience nearly fell asleep as Poe droned on and on until,

"The first competition today will be the Truth Contest," Poe announced to renewed cheers. "A lady deserving the title of Miss Gloomsville should possess beauty, honesty, kindness, loyalty, talent, poise, and good taste. Those wishing to get past the first round must show all three. Contestants will appear on stage one by one wearing a dress of their choosing, not too casual and not too formal where they shall be judged on their fashion sense, how they hold themselves, and their natural beauty. So! Now we begin!"

Everybody cheered.

"...By waiting for a while, as the contestants prepare themselves in the dressing room backstage."

Everybody groaned.

After the long waiting period that involved Iris throwing fireballs just for the heck of it, he sang into the microphone, "Here they are, the ladies of horror. Only one can make the bogeyman go bogga! And, entering first, Samice Dábel!"

Samice stepped onto the stage in a shimmery, flame-like lavender dress, her violet locks glittering in a messy bun. Her leathery, retractable wings were shown off as a result of her spook-tacular hairdo and the backless dress which ended right below the knees. Samice's midnight blue heels made a rapid staccato on the runway that would have been heard were it not for the audience cheering their lungs out. The corners of her unusual heterochromic eyes crinkled slightly as she smiled with glossy lips when she sat down and drank the small portion of truth potion given to her.

"Next, we have Denise Demise!"

Some people applauded tepidly as Denise strutted in, her canary-blond hair in an impeccable side-bun as she showed off a sequined, blue-black dress that poofed out at the waist and was faux-fur-lined, like her sequined, black heels. Soon, the crowd roared as her fans began screaming at the top of their lungs. She daintily got herself comfortable on the plushest, velvet sofa and took it all for herself as she stretched out her long, delicate limbs, downing the concoction in one gulp but dabbing her lips to prevent it from smudging her orange lipstick.

"Coming up, Sarah Yale!"

The hologram stumbled onto the stage in a simple lavender gown that ended in the middle of her knees. The sleeves were white, as was the lining of her dress. Her lavender heels matched perfectly, as did the strands of lavender fabric in her braid. She had to type in numerous instructions to her computer to teleport the truth potion and drink it.

"Fiona Flee walks in!"

Fiona bounced on stage and waggled her fingers at the audience. Luckily for her, she had chosen to wear the right dress: a cute light blue gown with honey-colored accents. Her blonde locks were bunched into two girlish pigtails, giving her an idol-look that only highlighted her background as a show star. Her fans cheered and snapped pictures of her, and Fiona obliged them by making various model poses even while holding the truth potion and exaggerating how thirst-quenching it was.

"And, we have Ruby Gloom last but she certainly is not the least."

The dress Misery's great, great, great aunt had worn before the Titanic sunk was breathtaking in every way, made of the finest materials imaginable. A silken gown that fell to the floor in rippling ebony with a top that fastened about the neck with a silver circlet that dangled with obsidian jewels. A slit ran clear up to the hip and was covered with a sheer, fishnet-like material. While she was in the changing room, Ruby had had no mirror to check her appearance and was completely unaware as to how stunning she looked. All she noticed was the the form-fitting silk that she constantly tugged at. Unlike the others, she was completely cosmetics-free but nobody seemed to mind as she flashed her luminous, heavenly-white teeth and nervously twirled a scarlet lock from her glorious tumble of magma-red and her nebulous, kohl-dark eyes captured all souls with their 'joie de vivre', appearing like two jet-stones melted onto the snow her impeccable, smooth skin resembled.

Skull Boy watched her form glide down the hall, perfect in her black silk while she received the most outstanding ovation.

'Perfect, but it's not the Ruby I know... and I'm pretty sure same goes for all of the guys... as a group…'

After the crowd calmed down, Poe was about to begin asking questions, "They're more than pretty, each had a brain of a Doom Kitty. Let's see what they know, great questions from beloved Poe! That's me! HAHA!" He briefly cheered until his excited movements caused the stack of cards he was holding to fall. Strangely, Denise rushed to get them and arranged it for him. Thanking her briefly, the crow got down to business, posing a question for her,

"Denise, here's your question, why are you so beautiful… huh? That was not even a question any of the judges came up!" Despite Poe's protests and the judges raising their neatly trimmed eyebrows, Denise answered it rather happily.

"A completely legitimate question. I personally believe it's because I have boys, grace and a symmetrical head."

Almost everybody in the audience had no idea what to make of her narcissistic reply and even Denise cringed at her reply provoked by the truth potion until she looked in the deepest recesses of her apparently existing heart that was still true but only slightly. She only had to reveal a portion of it, not everything. Thus, she hastily added, "Oh, and I believe in world peace!"

Soon, the crowd went wild, obviously pleased with her selfless answer. Slightly nodding hesitantly at the tablet which announced Denise scored a relatively high score of 8, Poe decided to ignore the weirdness of the situation… until he asked Ruby that almost everybody knew was not on the list for the beauty pageant,

"In the world of molecular physics if you take the simplest integer ratio of the chemical elements of Doomcakes you make and create an empirical formula, what would the smallest particle of the chemical substance called?" Poe would have squeaked out the absurdity of the questions written but he actually had to catch his breath and much to his surprise, Ruby actually answered correctly within the seconds he took panting furiously,

"None. Doomcakes are not related to any branch in molecular physics."

The judges actually broke their stoic expressions by cheering loudly along with the rest of the audience. Poe could not help but beam in delight was his warden received a perfect ten according to his tablet.

Fiona struggled with the question on why she wanted to model in the first place and why she was good at posing but the truth potion worked its magic with sparkled and made her mouth to form the words,

"Cuz the photographer is cute and charming."

Likewise, Samice hated to reveal why she liked blue and devil's curry,

"Cus my mum hates it and I hate parents."

Sarah apparently lied numerous times to mask her talent in art by fibbing she liked swimming, hide the embarrassing fact she slept with a stuffed toy baptized as FeeFee when asked about her night routine, and that she hated Terror Quick much to the horror of Quickies who quickly whipped out their iPads, already knowing who they were going to vote out.

The only one who answered the questions honestly without the aid of magic was Ruby. One of answers stood out the most though; when they asked what she thought society needed the most, Ruby only debated for a minute before answering,

"More emphasis on friendship. Nowadays, everybody talks about not having close friends to talk to, and that having a true friend is extremely rare and I cannot blame them. Partnerships and relationships are usually formed out of convenience's sake and true friendships seem to be outside of the norm. However, with the friends I have had from kindergarten to now, you just need a little glue to mend any kinks you have and to have a good friend, you need a good friend."

A lot of people nodded silently, amazed at how sharp she was for the youngest one out of the rest of the older and more experienced models. The judges also seemed somewhat refreshed by her sincere sentence.

Eventually however, Poe had the last question that would prove to be Ruby's downfall. In truth, he did not want to ask her that at all to save her the embarrassment and drama should her secret he revealed but on the other wing, he was a huge shipper. Scanning the faces before him, he faced Ruby Gloom. "Last question of them all: Do you have a crush?"

Ruby's cheeks were set aflame while Skull Boy suddenly leaned in nervously, finally interested in the modeling business and intrigued by what she had to say.

"I don't have a crush." The crowd sighed until she continued when the potion bedazzled her. "I am in love, and I just didn't know it until now." The crowd went wild.

Poe continued down the line of fire. "Who are you in love with? The potion will make you reveal."

Unfortunately (but luckily for the redhead) the timer dinged. That meant that the truth potion ran out of effects much to Ruby's relief. Poe faced the panel of judges, "Have you made a decision on who to eliminate?"

One of the vampires of Vitality stood up and spoke. "Yes, sir, and we choose..."


	3. Chapter 3

**_Fashion but no Passion Chapter 3_**

Every score from the judges started glowing; they floated in the air, united into a single radiating sheet of paper, and zoomed to Poe. He caught the parchment and cleared his throat. "The first who is eliminated from Miss Gloomsville is…"

All the contestants held their breath...

"...Sarah. Mostly because of your dress outfit. The guidelines for this round stated not too dressy, but not casual. We had no choice but to eliminate you."

He threw a regretful backwards glance at Sarah, who was now wringing her hands and looking close to tears. Obviously, she was not used to losing or there was something more drastic at stake for her.

"Oh, ok, thank you for your time."

She wasn't crying yet, but her voice warbled pitifully.

An awkward silence hung throughout the entire period as Sarah disappeared into the distance. Even the judges looked uncomfortable when they gave all of the beautiful violets to the rest of the contestants for making it that far.…

… until Ruby rushed down from her stage upon receiving her prize, even slightly tearing her dress slightly. Desperately, she just tied up the ribbed fabric together into a cute ribbon before rushing towards Sarah and disappearing from everyone else's view. The distraught model stopped when her sensor picked up someone approaching her.

Smiling even though she struggled to catch her breath from her long sprint, Ruby handed Sarah her bouquet of violets by pressing a button on her disc.

"You've made it this far and now, you're just on a new path with new surprises. With friends in unfamiliar territories, everything's going to be ok."

The hologram's face clearly showed the girl's shock before the lady curtsied and walked off, buzzing a bit as the projector got blurry with tears of a girl in another dimension, but now out of happiness.

By the time Ruby came back to the buzz of conversation about her selfless act, Poe was already booming into the microphone, "Yes, yes, the Fitness Contest," Poe repeated, "a glorious test of health, grace, and athletic ability! For this event, the public pool will be temporarily open from one to three o'clock PM, where one of the phases requires contestants to demonstrate their water skills. Three judges from the swimming school faculty will evaluate the contestants' performances, but all spectators are free to join us at the bleachers."

He turned to the contestants. "You will be expected to arrive at the pool by one o'clock dressed in appropriate but fashionable swim wear. All floatation devices, magical or non-magical, as well as any other swimming-aid that does not include your basic swimwear, are strictly prohibited for this event. No flying either for the obstacle course and no strength-enhancing equipment either. You will be judged on different techniques as well as your speed and endurance. I will explain the rules in more detail on the day of the contest, but is this all clear to you for now? Good."

Without waiting to hear the girls' responses, Poe whirled around again to address the audience. "Thank you for attending the first event of Miss Gloomsville! We… er, hope to see you at the next event. But without further ado, the night ends!"

* * *

Ruby was personally acquainted with the school of fish that lived at the Looming Lake's western bay — she had enjoyed digging up worms for them during last year's spring break, back when they were still tiny little hatchlings. It was a shame she lacked the time to check up on them again this year… Ruby always worried about how her freshwater friends would survive the winter, which was coming up soon.

When she finally arrived to the familiar-looking clearing at the west bay, Ruby stooped down and, after checking that no one else was around, gave a series of clicking noises over the water. Within seconds, a mass of swirling silver emerged from underneath the rocks and swarmed before her.

"Hello, you guys!" Ruby grinned, noticing that they had all grown at least an inch since she had last seen them.

Cries of _"Miss Gloom! Miss Gloom!"_ bubbled to the surface. One of the fish piped, _"Where have you been all this time?"_

"I've been really busy this year," She sighed apologetically, dipping her hand into the water and allowing them to swarm between her fingers. "I'm so sorry I haven't been here to see you. Have you all been alright? Do you need me to keep you guys in an aquarium for the winter?"

"_Don't worry, we'll be fine!"_ The largest fish replied. _"Only the top of the lake freezes during winter! It's all nice and cozy down here."_

"_Are you feeling the the likely, likely, likeness for Mr Skull Boy?"_ Another asked, staring up at her with his large eyes.

Ruby laughed nervously. "Yes, I still view him as a... Good Male Friend if that's what you're asking."

The school fish cheered and broke into excited bubbles. _"This ship won't sink!" "OTP." "Will you guys just stop being shippers on deck for a moment?" _(She had never quite picked up their cute fish slang with all their ship-this and ship-that's, but it was certainly amusing to watch them chatter about it.)

"Actually guys, I need to practice for my Fitness challenge and I was wondering if you guys wanted to swim along with me?" Ruby offered.

"Oh, even better, we can practice by imagining that we're swimming instead of actually doing it. It would conserve our energy much better, am I right?"

"Oh! I… never thought about that. It _would_ save our energy, I guess, but would just thinking about it really help us swim better in the contest?"

The fishes nodded earnestly. "It really does. Why, it's common knowledge that you don't actually need to practice to get in some practice! Besides, why do you think we don't blink, we're just imagining how to swim and Tada! We're naturals! That, and our eyes"

She giggled and relented. "Fine, let's do that." Walking all the way to the lake and back for a measly ten-minute swimming session wasn't really the best trade off anyway, she decided. "So, do you just close your eyes and imagine swimming, or…?"

All of them nodded, and she closed eyes, listening to the eldest's advice. "You have to imagine swimming with _intent_. Imagine you're doing everything from the beginning: you're standing at the edge of the pool, then you dive right in and feel the shock of freezing water! Pretend you're moving your arms against the tide and kicking your legs as fast as you can…"

Ruby imagined it: moving her arms, kicking her legs, feeling the cold water against her skin. Her thoughts stayed like that for another five minutes - moving arms, kicking legs, moving arms, kicking legs. It was actually a lot more difficult than she anticipated. Her mind kept straying off focus every minute or so; as it turned out, the task of imagining swimming wasn't an incredibly interesting one.

"Guys, my head hurts," She said after a while.

"Don't give up yet, it hasn't even been ten minutes! We'll have to swim for much longer than that in the contest, you know. It's like a large shark going after a seal, you have to get there!" The youngest added while Ruby tickled his chin, making him laugh and Ruby just enjoyed the serenity. Maybe modelling was not that bad at all...

* * *

The bleachers were completely filled on the day of the swimming event. It was, with little doubt, the most popular competition in Miss Gloomsville; in fact, upon closer inspection, one might notice that the demographics of the crowd had… shifted. While the Truth contest had drawn in those interested in seeing the opening of a beauty pageant, the swimming contest drew in those merely interested in seeing the contestant in their swimsuits. That being said, the audience was decidedly and predominantly male.

Down at the crystal pool, the contestants trickled in one by one and gathered at the foot of the water.

Denise led the line, her blond hair in a ponytail. Her shirt was pure white and her shorts were apple red and red-and-gold sneakers adorned her feet. Samice gained a few mutters due to her blue swim cap. Her shirt was red and her shorts black, her sneakers matched her shorts. Fiona followed in a yellow shirt, blue shorts, blue sneakers, and a high ponytail. Ruby had chosen a black crop-top and a purple athletic skirt, with black-and-purple sneakers. Her hair was let down, as she didn't have so much of it to be tied up. Each girl had goggles around their neck.

The disappointed males in the audience) reserved their judgement on them not showing their swimsuits first. Ruby was off to the side, admiring Samice's new blue swim cap.

"I saw that one in the store during summer - they say it was made without any animal testing," She said as she twirled her own locks a little ruefully. "Getting a swim cap was a good idea. I completely forgot our hair might drag us down."

When everything was finally settled together at the front table, Poe turned around and the whole crowd became silent. He adjusted the speaker around his neck, then began to talk:

"Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the second event of Miss Gloomsville - the Fitness Contest!" His voice reverberated across the grounds amongst renewed cheers. "Thank you. Now, before we begin, allow me to explain the rules of this competition. In a few minutes, the contestants will run through Phases 1, 2, and 3 of the Course, and then reveal their swimsuits. The judges would judge you on sporting abilities and how sassy you are."

"I will be keeping track of your speed," said the Gravedigger, still on his motorcycle, tapping the stopwatch in his hand. "You can't run well and run slow at the same time, or so I say!"

"I'll be watching for your endurance," the Gingerbread Man announced. "If you don't balance your energy you won't be able to make it through all four laps! And if someone's ever trying to eat you, you'd better not lose steam halfway or they'd gobble you right up - "

"And don't forget about your technique," growled the zombies of Zappy Zeniths, cutting right in. "we'll be watching you ve-e-ery closely… and if we catch you slipping up on your stroke, you'll be losing major points from us. Oh, and hope you have cute swimsuits!" They ended happily.

"Yes, thank you," Poe resumed. "As you just heard, the judges will be grading you primarily on your speed, skill, and endurance. Fiona Flee is up first."

Fiona took her starting place and nervously wrung her hands. "Ready... Set... GOOOO!"

Fiona tackled Phase One, running across spinning logs covered in water over smelly goo. She barely made it across. At Phase Two, however, she faltered. Phase Two involved crossing a rope slick with oil, and if you were to fall, you would have landEd in the same smelly goo from Phase One. By then, Frank and Len had written a song about the aforementioned goo, dubbing it as Greeny. As Fiona began to sloth-crawl across the rope, she lost her grip and fell into Greeny's warm, sticky arms. Angrily, she stepped out and stormed to the showers as the crowd laughed.

"Er, Samice is next!"

The devil actually made it to the third Phase. In that one, you would have to cross a five foot wide road filled with fake knights that would attack and push you into Greeny's suffocating embrace, who was on both sides. Samice made it and began to swim, until her time ran out, which was in the middle of her first lap. Poe promised to the eager crowd that they would be able to see the other girls in their swimsuits after the competition. Then Ruby came.

For the first Phase, she leaped a few times to get across. At Phase Two, she hung by her hands and swung across, one hand at a time. At Phase Three, she told herself that all of her beloved friends were in a cage at the other side, and began to cross. At each knight, she would either flip them over by grabbing their shoulders and jumping and pushing, sliding in between their legs, or simply running around them. When Ruby reached the pool, she took off her shirt and shorts and put her purple goggles on so fast, no one had time to see her bikini. Beginning her two hundred, the crowd went wild. In the middle of her last lap, the timer beeped out that she had only 15 seconds left which quickly dwindled to a 14... then a 13...

Ruby hastened as her arms threw back water and the water from her kicks suddenly became white and frothy.

11... 10..

That was when she looked over her right shoulder and caught a glimpse of a foreboding shadow slightly behind her that resembled a shark's fin several feet away. She could not believe her eyes and out of sheer adrenaline rush, she swam faster, all the while coming up with possible scenarios as to how it got there. Gloomsville's zoo had plenty of sharks but most of them were friendly. This one, on the other hand, the eyes seemed tundra-cold and merciless, two pools of chilling, cauldron-black.

Ruby touched the wall right as the timer beeped. The crowd went crazy as Ruby went crazy, stepping out of the pool and stumbled, screaming,

"SHARK!"

While everyone else's eyes enlarged extraordinarily in fear, Iris' lone eye gleamed with the challenge of tackling a shark, shouting,

"WAHOO! Hey, weirdo! No one hunts my friend and gets away with it!"

She then attempted to send her fist smashing into the shark's eye but landed on a seal floatie. The shark shot its jaws forward to grab a huge bite and each triangular tooth was rammed into the victim and it drew back after the first bite to allow the poor soul to bleed to death... (**LOL, I hated that character anyway)**

Fortunately, the victim was the seal floatie and Iris had managed to bounce back on land before the shark attacked. Almost everyone was going hysterical and trying to escape. Soon, only the group, judges and contestants were left even as the shark suddenly jumped into the air.

"Wait, Ruby, do have shampoo?" Skull Boy asked all of a sudden.

"Er... yes but I don't see how you want it Skull Boy." Ruby handed him her Organix conditioner **(Only shampoo I know, okay?!)**

Somersaulting from the bleachers, Skull Boy grabbed the hair product which Ruby threw with ease and he squirted out all of its contents at the shark's mouth, inducing prompt, accelerated departure of the beast from the area and stunning it, just enough time for Iris to trap it in a cage, Poe to call the Gloomsville Zoo and zoologists to transport the poor creature away.

"That was amazing, but how did you do it?"

"Oh, that was due to the sodium lauryl sulfate commonly found in this beauty product..."

...

"The shampoo deters sharks."

"Ohhh," Everyone echoed in understanding.

* * *

It took RIP to take off their shirts to attract all fangirls and their jealous boyfriends and Poe's promise of the girls revealing their swimsuits right after Denise effortlessly finished the entire course (although she was much slower than Ruby in the swimming portion as she constantly checked for more sharks) to attract all perverted boys and their jealous girlfriends back to watch the competition until the most anticipated section as Samice stepped out wearing a frilly, mint-green bikini that had a gentle pink swirling around on both pieces. Fiona had gone for second position and a powder-pink one piece that had a V-neck and had diamonds cut into the sides. Denise was devastated that she was third but still walked her stuff as she showed off her tankini, with a white top part lined with black, and the bottom black and lined with white.

"And, uh, last is Ruby."

She smiled her best smile and stood in line with the other girls, being rewarded with an icy glare from Denise. Ruby's hair was flowing about her shoulders in coiling auburn tresses, and the water had plastered her bangs to her forehead in such a way that her eyes just peeked out from under the ruby curtain. Her cheeks were flushed with delight at her progress in the model world and her upturned face soaked in the audience's cheers Nobody had ever seen so much of her milky-toned skin before today, having traded her one-piece pool swimsuit for a flattering little two-piece colored in pale violet. Her long legs were bare; the beads of water that ran down her body were catching the spotlights like little prisms and glittering with a diamond-like sheen.

"A round of applause for our contestants," Poe said, and the crowd erupted like a volcano of cheers. The judges finally set down their pens and clapped as well. After the applause died down, he turned his attention back to the girls. "Yes, well done to all of you. The judges will now take a few minutes to compare their scores and decide the elimination. Until then…" He then stepped aside to reveal a table of refreshments in the distance, which included a tall jug of lemonade and several sandwiches, "...you may help yourselves."

Grateful, the contestants slowly stood up to grab the food. The audience fell into excited chatters. After they had staved off the worst of their hunger, the girls also took turns congratulating each other between sips of lemonade, initiated by Ruby first,

"I dunno about you guys but maybe they might actually skip the entire elimination process because all of us rocked... if I do say so myself."

"If they had winners for each round, you would definitely have this one in the bag," Samice told Ruby, smiling.

She was modest. "Thanks, Sanice! I mean, it's really mostly thanks to adrenaline rush in the end. You did really well yourself." She retained her genuine grin but her eyes shifted in confusion, "I'm still wondering why that shark was there and why it attacked. Contrary to popular belief, only a few sharks are dangerous to people. Out of more than 480 shark species, only three are responsible for two-digit number of fatal unprovoked attacks on us: the great white, tiger and bull. The one we encountered was the blacktip reef shark, which has a timid demeanor and is easily frightened away by swimmers. It's also found in Indian Oceans."

...

"Ya, you lost me... somewhere...?" Samice deadpanned.

Others in the audience kept turning their heads toward the judges' table, but it was difficult to tell what was going on. The Gingerbread Man kept lashing his arms across the desk to grab various papers, The Gravedigger seemed to be trying to reassemble his stopwatch with a stick, and the zombies took each other's limbs to clapped over their faces in a double-facepalm. Poe stood a few paces away from them, looking like he wanted nothing to do with what was going on. Still, the scores were eventually settled and they judges walked over to Poe with the results. Poe skimmed over the paper once, then cleared his throat over the microphone.

"AHEM."

All heads swiveled to the judges' table. One of the girls stopped mid-bite into their sandwich.

"Thank you," Poe's voice boomed through the microphone. "The results are in. The next contestant to be eliminated is…"

One zombie stood up from the Zappy Zeniths and, after flashing a crooked smile to the crowd, he announced. "Sir, we choose to eliminate... Fiona. Mainly because she has only made it through phase 2 and her swimsuit has diamonds. I like all the bling but the fact you want to swim with the best jewels dipped in chlorine says a lot. And pink equals to ew."

"Oh!" Fiona looked surprised and was visibly disappointed, but she remained composed and just smiled sadly. "Well, whatever. I knew my strokes were all wrong from the moves beginning."

The other girls hugged her and mumbled their condolences. The crowd, seeing how well she was taking the loss, started up a good-natured round of applause. Soon Fiona was back in full spirits; after detaching herself from her ex-fellow contestants.

"The next event is the Design Round," Blondie read from the sheet. "Ooh, sounds interesting! On Friday at 6:00 PM, all remaining contestants will report just outside the library for instructions about the event. "There will be three rounds. Each round, contestants will be able to use magic paper and a new magic manikin. The magic paper is enchanted so that any clothing drawn on it will become real. To do hair on the manikin, simply picture what you want it to be and hold your left hand on the manikin's right hand until it beeps. The three judges will write down a score of 1 to 5 for each contestant each round. At the end, all points will be added up, and then you will see who is eliminated. However, you can model your clothes yourself, if you want. There are colored contacts and make up, along with a hair station. Use the hair station by choosing template and coloring it yourself, then get inside the machine. All spectators are asked to go to the Charmitorium, where we'll be recording the proceedings on camera. All of you must be warned that you may not report to the library entrance if you are not a contestant. Anyone who is found sneaking around there at the start of the event will get a five-year jail on the spot!"

Some of the audience members merely shrugged and smirked at that remark, obviously thinking that sentence was not much of a threat. Iris even began rearranging their schedules so she could visit the library at the time of the event and greet Ruby.

"...With sitting still and doing nothing for five hours!" He added, and everyone suddenly closed their schedule books.

"But until then, have a good rest of the afternoon! Contestants, make sure you get ample rest - you'll be needing it! After all, this pageant is only just beginning!"


End file.

Ruby Gloom, Friendship, Romance