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Effect 01 :: Star Angel ::    Angel is now aboard the SDF-1, and in her costume shop, with the upstairs converted into an apartment. These last few months have been perilous for the citizens of Macross City, but with the appearance of Lynn Minmei singing the morale has stayed relatively high. We begin our tale on one "summer" day in Macross City, where Angel is dreaming of her contest days at the anime conventions on Earth.    "Ladies and Gentleman" a male speaker begins, "I am proud to announce to you that the judges have reached a decision!" The crowd screams and yells with delight. This is the highlight of the afternoon. Finally after all day of walking around seeing all the interesting booths and new shows, and of course the others costumes, it was time to see who won. "Will the four finalists please line up next to the stage?" The man continued, "Ladies and gentleman, ladies and gentleman, the first runner up-"    The dramatic pause was killing Angel. She had been working for two months on this costume, she knew it was good, and she knew she could win this. Still there were a few others that were quite well made too. Eithr way it would be close. But this was the big show, this was broadcast all over the place. If she won this there’d be pictures of her and her trophy on the internet for months! No one had ever won three in a row before- I just have to win this Angel thought to herself    "Rachel Anderson, and her costume of San from Princess Mononoke." A young girl walked up to the stage and the crowd applauded. Her coustume was a near perfect rendition of San, down to the face paint she wore, a good effort. "Third place," the man proceeded while the crowd began to applaud a little less, "Marie Calir with her costume of Yohko." The crowd again applauded and cheered. "And our second place winner is..." the man halted just enough to freeze all the finalists in their tracks. Now it was just Angel and Julie. Julie was an ill-tempered girl, and Angel didn’t like her. At first she tried to be nice, Julie ignored her, she tried to be polite, Julie was dismissive and rude. Angel even went as far to wish her luck, Julie simply denied her arrogantly. Angel couldn’t help but wonder how a girl who never won a major contest like this could be so arrogant and pompous, but then again Angel had also been spoiled in skill determination. Julie had a team of people that made her costumes, and with her father’s money could buy almost anything on a whim. Julie resented that Angel could win, and make it look so easy when she had to work for her costumes, and sew them herself! What good was money, what good was being rich if she couldn’t be the best? Well it’s simply not true. Julie decided that she’d have to prove it. So she set out to take this contest from the reigning princess of Cosplay.    The air was thick with tension. Angel was so nervous, could she win three times in a row? No one had won twice until she did, and she certainly won the other smaller contests to get her here easily enough. Easily? Yeah right. Someone would have to someday explain to her how that was easy...    Angel could remember all the hard work in her sewing shop making all these costumes after her business hours had closed, and all the weeks spent looking for just the right fabrics and materials... It was a hard work, but one that Angel enjoyed. She smiled softly, resigning herself to the fact that even second place was a great accomplishment with all these great costumes she saw here today. Angel was so wrapped up in though that it took the roaring of the crowd to pull her into reality again. She looked up at the stage blankly to see the announcer holding his hand out, she looked around and saw Julie behind her crying. Had she won? Angel pointed at herself, "Me?" She said.    "Yes Angel! You won!" He yelled over the crowd, though she could barely hear him. He took her hand and helped her on stage. The crowd erupted into a second, more rambunctious roar this time. The announcer handed her a large bouqet of flowers, roses, and put a small tiara on her forehead, and handed her the trophy into her other arm. "Ladies and gentlemen!" He began loudly in the microphone, "Angel..."    Angel smiled, thrilled at her win... "Angel" she could hear the crowd, or was it someone in particular? "Angel?" Suddenly she woke up in her shop. It was late evening and it was the quiet time of night. There in front of her was a young girl, Julie?! "Julie?!" Angel said starlted. "Yes, um... how do you know me?" Julie said a little surprised. "I, um..." Angel began, but paused trying to think of what to say. "Whatever." Julie stated sarcastically. "I need 10 yards of that fabric in the window. Can I have it ready in the morning?"     "Sure." Angel replied pleasantly, though she knew for sure this was the girl that she had a strong dislike for in her dream...    "Fine, I’ll send someone for it tomorrow." Julie said rudely and walked out.    Angel got up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. What a dream she had. Could I really win three? she thought as she headed to the door to lock up for the night. Well, there is only one way to find out. With that Angel headed towards the upstairs, to continue work on her latest costume. After all, there are only seven weeks until the competition, and she still has a long way to go until her special costume is finished. Angel took a quick around her room, seeing posters and clippings of magazines and newspaper articles... "Angel, Cosplay Princess can’t lose" caught her eye... The Macross Herald. A reputable paper. It’s hard to live up to that sort of pressure, but Angel only smiled at the thought of the challenge - Three has such a nice ring to it. [End of Effect 01]