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"5... 4... 3... 2... 1... The voting is officially closed!"

"I hope they voted for me..."

"Please, please, please, please.."

"I need those bonus votes.. I think I'm going to be eliminated otherwise..."

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\\ Sunday, 18th August 2019; Recording of the live stages //

\\ Finally, there is only one song left. The first two groups are already back on their seats backstage, some trainees were smiling, some had a somewhat disappointed expression on their faces. //

[ D ] Choi Soojeong (SM): "The two teams must be so nervous.. Icy really isn't an easy song..."

"Team Icy 1 on standby please!"

[ F ] Seol Inah (Stone): "It's going to be fine.... I hope."

[ B ] Song Lami (Jellyfish): "I'm sure everything's going to work out. Let's just do our best!"

Lee Jongsuk (MC): "The last two teams of the evening are finally going to perform now, are you ready?"

As if on command, the audience screamed.
Backstage, the trainees were wondering how the audience was able to keep up such a consistent power in their cheering and screaming, they have been up on their feet for a few hours, too, after all.

Lee Jongsuk (MC): "Here come the members of Team Icy 1! Kang Iseul, Lee Siyeon, Song Lami, Seol Inah and Jang Soohyuk!"

Lee Jongsuk (MC): "How does it feel to, finally, stand on this stage in front of the live audience, Soohyuk?"

[ D ] Jang Soohyuk (Cre.Ker): "It feels amazing! I think I immediately lost some of my anxiousness, and gained confidence in return."

Lee Jongsuk (MC): "I'm glad! Now, Iseul, from what I've seen on TV, you and Yebin have become quite good friends, right?"

Iseul nodded.

Lee Jongsuk (MC): "Are you sad that you can't perform together and, instead, are direct competitors?"

[ A ] Kang Iseul (Woollim): "Sure, I would have loved to perform this song with her.. But this whole show is a competition, and the chance that we'd perform in the same team for the whole time was really slim to begin with. So... I just hope that our performance will go well, and I wish her group all the luck as well!"

▀▄▀▄▀▄ [ A PART OF TEAM ICY 1's JOURNEY ] ▀▄▀▄▀▄

Kim Hyoyeon (DANCE): "Wow, that was good!"

The five girls were still huffing and puffing, but still bowed to their senior.

Kim Hyoyeon (DANCE): "This is honestly such a hard dance to pull off, especially for trainees - I'd say this song looks way easier than it is, which people can also see by how heavy you're breathing."

The other Icy team was in the same room, only able to look at Team 1 wide eyed. 
There were only two and a half days left until the performance, and with every day that passed, the mentors' expectations grew. You needed to be really good for them to praise you.

Heo Solji (VOCAL): "Your vocals were also fine, overall. Though I need Siyeon to put a bit more power into her lines. Your team chose you as the main vocal, prove it to them, and to everyone out there watching you, that you deserve that position."

[ C ] Lee Siyeon (Fantagio): "I'll practice a lot! Thanks for the advice!"

Lee Yeji (RAP): "Iseul? Why don't you try rapping your lines in a deeper tone? Like- you aren't supposed to growl them, just make your lines a bit more sassy."

[ A ] Kang Iseul (Woollim): "Will do!"

Kim Hyoyeon (DANCE): "In general, the only thing your team is lacking at the moment is the sassiness. Put more oomph into your moves, into your singing and into your rap and you're good to go!"

The three mentors smiled at their mentees. 

Grinning, the five trainees walked back into their practice room. They were all so proud of what they had accomplished so far.

[ B ] Song Lami (Jellyfish): "Whoo! Let's celebrate with.. eh... damn.. we don't have any snacks to celebrate with, do we?"

[ F ] Seol Inah (Stone): "Not really.. I mean, I think we can get some fruit from the cafeteria?"

[ D ] Jang Soohyuk (Cre.Ker): "Oh! I think I still have two protein bars left from that surprise box the mentors gave us a while ago, we can share those!"

Iseul, the team leader, shook her head at her members, slightly smiling.

[ A ] Kang Iseul (Woollim): "We haven't won anything, yet, so we shouldn't celebrate right now. Instead, we should work on our sassiness, like the mentors suggested!"

And so the five got back to work.... after they fetched a few apples from the cafeteria.

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[ INTERVIEW WITH SEOL INAH ]

"How does it feel being praised to highly by the trainers?"

Seol Inah - "Ahh... I really didn't expect them to like our performance so much! As the main dancer.. I just felt validated in what I was doing. I could have never dreamed of THE Kim Hyoyeon to see AND like my performance - especially after having received rank F two times."

"Your two label mates both have an A as their rank. Do you feel bad being at the opposite ending of the spectrum?"

Seol Inah - "Hm.. At first I felt really bad about it, yes. Jinae was able to maintain her high rating, and Hyemin even climbed up one rank - I just stayed in F Class. I think there were a lot of people disappointed in me, including, and particularly, me. However - and my team members helped me realize that - I'm not a bad performer, I'm not unskilled. Maybe the evaluation days just weren't my lucky ones. I'm ready to show everyone what I got! They shouldn't underestimate me just because I'm in F Class!"

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🔮 ICY TEAM 1 🔮

https://youtu.be/L4tVWg_IZAE

[ i had to choose a different performance since the one you gave me had a full on intro performance and i didn't realize that until now! ]

LEADER 🔮Iseul as Ryujin (red top, black and white shorts, pink hair)

CENTER 🔮 Soohyuk as Yuna (black long-sleeved top, blonde hair in a ponytail)

🔮 Lami as Chaeryeong (colorful dress-thing, long, brown hair)

🔮 Siyeon as Lia (ponytail, red top, white shorts, knee-high socks)

🔮 Inah as Yeji (braided "pig tails", long, red pants, white top)

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Lee Jongsuk (MC): "That was a very nice performance! ITZY would be proud of you girls! Please use the next few seconds to advertise yourself and your team. Iseul, please start."

[ A ] Kang Iseul (Woollim): "Hiya my lovers ! Please vote for your amazing Iseul!"

[ F ] Seol Inah (Stone): "Heyy! It's your pretty girl, Inah! Please vote for me! I promise I will not disappoint you!"

[ C ] Lee Siyeon (Fantagio): "Hi everyone! Thank you for your support! Make sure you vote for us cause we're icy, but we're on fire~"

[ D ] Jang Soohyuk (Cre.Ker): "Hi hello~ Please vote for your graceful beauty Soohyuk! I love you all!"

Lee Jongsuk (MC): "Let's quickly go on to the last performance of the evening since the last five trainees, to go on stage, are probably veeery nervous already! Jung Yebin, Min Jihye, Zhao Mulan, Xu Xieun and Kim Hyunji - please join me on stage!"

Lee Jongsuk (MC): "Are you impressed by the other team's performance?"

[ B ] Min Jihye (Jellyfish): "Impressed? Yes. Intimidated? No way! I'm sure we'll be able to beat them!"

Lee Jongsuk (MC): "And, Mulan, how did the last week of practicing go for your team?"

[ B ] Zhao Mulan (WM): "I mean, I'd say pretty good? We had our difficulties, but we always resolved them fairly quickly!"

▀▄▀▄▀▄ [ A PART OF TEAM ICY 2's JOURNEY ] ▀▄▀▄▀▄

"Team Icy 2, it's your time for the dry rehearsal!"

You could hear quick and quiet steps as the girls hurried up the stairs of the stage.

They got into position and Yeji, who sat in front of the stage next to Hyoyeon and Solji, gave a signal to the sound guy.

The song had hardly even begun, the girls had only sung the first verse, when Hyoyeon got up from her seat and yelled "Stop!".

Shocked by the sudden turn of events, the trainees speedily stood in a line next to each other, already expecting to get scolded.

Kim Hyoyeon (DANCE): "I hate being the bad cop and the strict mentor all the time, but.. oh my god, seriously guys. You look like you've already given up. The moves aren't sharp, some of you even dare to skip some steps of the choreography. Why is that? Don't you want to perform anymore? I don't have a problem with cancelling your performance!"

Even Hyoyeon's two colleagues were shocked at her choice of words, but they had to agree with her anyway - she wasn't wrong.

Yebin burst into tears.

Lee Yeji (RAP): "You weren't this bad during the second evaluation, what changed?"

[ C ] Xu Xieun (Pledis): "... I think we just got so demotivated after seeing the other team."

Heo Solji (VOCAL): "If I had gotten demotivated every time I thought someone was better than me, I certainly wouldn't be where I am today. Be confident in what you're doing! Try your best! If you don't even try, you certainly won't succeed."

Hyoyeon sighed as she made her way up onto the stage.

Kim Hyoyeon (DANCE): "I know this mission wasn't so easy for you. You didn't get the song you wanted, you're competing against a very strong team and the song is also quite hard, possibly the most difficult to perform out of the three songs you were given. But - and I need you to listen closely now - giving up is not an option. You need to perform in a way that makes you think 'We did good!' even when you lost this fight against Team 1, okay?"

The trainees nodded, still very much intimidated by their mentor, even though she was smiling at them now.

Kim Hyoyeon (DANCE): "Go backstage for a second, put yourself together, re-apply your make-up and then try again, alright?"

[ A ] Jung Yebin (WM): "Yes.. We'll do better next time, I promise!"

And they really did do better the next time.

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[ INTERVIEW WITH KIM HYUNJI ]

"Had the fact that you couldn't choose your song a big influence on your training process?"

Kim Hyunji - "Yes, it did. We were stuck in a really big slump at the beginning, not being able to warm up to the idea of performing Icy - pun not intended- but after a few hours, we decided to just try our best.... We don't talk what happened at the dry rehearsal."

"You're the main vocal of your group, but you don't really have to sing a high note. Do you like that or do you wish you would be able to sing a high note?"

Kim Hyunji - "Normally, I'd beg for a high note so I could show off my skills, but in this particular case... I'm glad I don't have a high note. This dance is already hard, and we're already out of breath due to the choreography anyway, I wouldn't have the air to sing any really difficult notes..!"

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[ INTERVIEW WITH ZHAO MULAN ]

"Would you have liked to be the Center of your group?"

Zhao Mulan - "Of course I would have liked to be the Center! But Xieun does her job well, and I'm proud of calling her the Center of our performance! My plan is to impress the other trainees so much that they'll choose me as the Center next round!"

"You're talking about the next round as if you're confident in not getting eliminated?"

Zhao Mulan - "Oh no, I'm actually really scared of getting eliminated... I was at a quite safe spot during the last ranking, but a lot of stuff has happened since then.. I'm just trying to stay positive, though! There's no use in moping about, I need to focus on the performance and I'm sure everything will be fine in the end!"

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🎀 ICY TEAM 2 🎀

https://youtu.be/WdFPBrhF3o0

LEADER 🔮Yebin as Ryujin (black shorts, neon green & black top, pink hair)

🔮 Mulan as Yuna (sparkling green top-ish thing, black shorts, blonde hair in ponytail)

🔮 Jihye as Chaeryeong (sparkling gold-ish top, white shorts, brown hair)

🔮 Hyunji as Lia (ponytail, colorful dress)

CENTER 🔮 Xieun as Yeji (long hair, long green pants, black top)

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Lee Jongsuk (MC): "That was it! The last performance of the evening! And now, dear audience, you have to vote for your favorite team and member for the very last time today..! Hyunji? Why don't you start giving a little speech to capture the audience's hearts?"

[ B ] Kim Hyunji (YMC): "Hii! I'm your cutie, Kim Hyunji! Let's make deal shall we? If you vote for me, I promise to do anything you guys want me to do! So please let me keep having some time here with you!"

[ A ] Jung Yebin (WM): *sings to I.P.U, x1_ma, very very very, up and flash, from the produce 101 debut groups*  "Hello, I'm Yebin! I promise you, I will never give up, so if you vote for me very very very much, I will go up with a flash! Yebin has snatched your heart!"

[ B ] Zhao Mulan (WM): "Hey guys, it's Mulan. So... uh.... if you can, can you guys please vote for me? I would be happy if you did, but I would also understand if you didn't, but I would like it if you do anyways. Thanks a lot!"

And with that, the last group also made their way to the voting room.

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The last two performances were a success as well

How will the voting go, though?

Who will be the winning teams?

And which lucky trainees will get the bonus votes?

a/n: FINALLY the last performance chapter!! 

If you haven't seen it already, the Group Battle voting chapter should also be online now (if you're very early: pls wait a few minutes, I'll go over the chapter a last time and then I'll upload it too!). 
Make sure to read the rules and stuff hehe~

Also I hope you liked the chapter!

Stay happy and healthy~

Wash your hands and keep the social distancing up!!

( im sorry for any spelling/grammar mistakes, im quite tired rn ahh)