Careful not to drain too much energy, Beth smiled as she passed the ray over the crowd lightly. While the beam only effected each slightly, and didn't drain nearly as much as it had from the competitors, there were over 100 people milling around the crowd, and soon the Bio-E gague read 75%.

"Huh" thought Beth. "They didn't even notice. I guess I might as well cheat a little!" she said, draining a larger but still unnoticable chunk of smarts from the audience - and soon the gun read 99%.

She could have finished for the day, but noticed a number of males, some of them presumedly the female bodybuilder's boyfriends and husbands in the crowd, as well as a fair chunk of other guys. She shrugged, and passed the muscle drain beam over them as well, and firing light sprays at random passer by's on the beach - the terrain offered a wide view, and noone seemed to notice the tiny ammount of energy she'd drained, but by the time the break was gone, both her guns were fully charged.

She considered shooting herself, but she wasn't sure she wanted that much publicity. Besides that, that much muscle might cause her heart to explode or something - she needed a guinea pig... right then the contest resumed with a quick announcement from the PA.

"All right, were back! And in the final round, our previous years winner, Karen Ashcroft will be competing as well, as she's been seeded into the finals automatically, and trust me, she hasn't been resting on her laurels. In fact, this is likely going to be her last year as an amateur! But we have some tough competition this year, and it's going to be no cakewalk. Lets hear it for.. our finalists!" The finalists walked out in bikinis, oiled bodies rippling in the sun. Now that the drain had struck them and had time to work, they didn't look quite as confident as they did before. Beth's eyes were drawn to one latino girl who looked positively skinny - maybe they'd felt sorry for her? She'd been working out clearly, and there wasn't a trace of flab on her, but she looked more wiry then anything else, and her arms were way to skinny compared to the other competitors out there, particularly when she made a bicep curl and nothing happened. Beth could see the wince concealed in her face as she tried to put up a brave front.

Another figure came out in a robe - she was a freckle faced girl with skin really too fair for tanning - and a friendly girlish smile. "So.. can the best bodies of the beach beat our champion today? Lets find out!" Karen dropped the robe, and someone next to Beth said "No." as it hit the floor.

Beth had to admit, she was impressed. Even without a tan, Karen's muscles outclassed everyone on the stage - the fact she hadn't been in the spectator stands or on stage had accented the fact, but Beth doubted any of the women on the beach could have given her a run for her money. She turned sideways and showed off a bicep that had been larger then Beth's ex-boyfriend's.

There was an apreciative clap from the crowd - the other competitors seemed to disapear off the stage. All eyes were on Karen, about 4 or 5 levels above the remainder of the competition.

Beth smirked. Perfect - now she had her guinea pig. She could always drain her later, or simply take more energy from a wide group of people. The only question was... how much would she give her?