Oh. My. Goodness. It's AMAZING!!!!!!!! Thank you so much!!!!!!! It's just how I imagined it!!!!!

First I will give you points (taking off for different things) and the two teams with the lowest points are eliminated. These are in the order that they were submitted. BTW, I am judging y'all very difficultly. So don't be let down. You guys are so amazing!!! 

September/Cho: September, the story was amazing! You built up the tension very well, variated your sentences excellently, and kept my heart pounding until the very end. The one thing that bothered me is that you have a "sweltering" summer night, and then you talk about the "ice thawing away." I know the latter is meant to be metaphorical, but it seemed to contradict the story. I think it would have flowed better if you started with a cold, fall night (b/c of Halloween and all). Story Rating: 9.5/10

Cho, your picture captured the scene excellently. I loved how only Michaela was colored in. Almost everything looked realistic except...at the end of the line, there appears to be two characers together, although they are a bit undefined and they seem to blend together in a confuzzling way. Also, I am having trouble making out the second characters body. It should show up where the first chatacter isn't blocking her. If this turns out to just be a photography mistake, just let me know and I shall give you back tho points! Art Rating: 8/10 

Overall team rating: 17.5/20

Inktail/Little Reader: Wow Inktail! Your story was so sweet and touching . Instead of making a typicial toy story, you added in "The Fixers" (Beth's parents), to make it more interesting. However, I felt like the story and sentence pattern could have been a teensy bit more creative. Story Rating: 8/10

Little Reader, you picutre is amazing! The posiition of "The Fixer's" hand seems to capture all the love and care eminating from her in the story. The blurry outlines (whether purposeful or not) around the picture really add a lot to the scene, in my opinion. Art Rating: 10/10

Overall team rating: 18/20

Daisy/Bluebird: Daisy, Wow. Your story was amazing; the soft, beautiful language, and the flowing details worked together to create an amazing peice of art. I loved how you started out with Summer and what she heard and felt, and then in what was happening around her. I really connected with Summer, even though I knew nothing about her at the beginning. Her feelings were so realistic! Story Rating: 10/10

Bluebird, your art has me awestruck. Your touch of fantasical surrealism was perfectly juxtaposed by your choice of bold colors. Even my mom was amazed! Art Rating: 10/10

Overall Team Rating: 20/20

(At this point in my judging I paused to watch the 2nd half of Revenge of the Sith w/ my Star Wars loving brother, so that's why it took so long for me to post it)

Autumn Leaves/Clouded: Autumn, I loved how yours was what I call a "Just-So Story." However, the pattern didn't flow very well and the sentences weren't that variated (variagation helps with tension. For instance, a long sentence like this one. Then a shorter one. And then shorter.) Story Rating: 7/10 

Clouded Leopard, your artwork was colorful and mystical! I loved the trees! It just didn't seem to have much emotion to me. Art Rating: 8.5/10

Overall Team Rating: 15.5/20

Leafpool/Scylla: Leafpool, I really enjoyed the idea of an animal Cinderella story. When I was younger, one of my hobies was to find Cinderella stories from all over the world and read them! However, it seemed like you were "telling the story." I have heard from many sources (and I heartily agree) to show, not tell. On the other hand, I just loved all your characters' names! Especially Cinzel. I loved the middle of the story. I thought like I finally got to see Cinzel's character. Story Rating: 7.5/10

Scylla, I know you had some trouble with drawing animals, but sheesh, either you have very high standards with yourself or you underestimated your talents. However, you did not post your final art before the deadline, so even though I really loved your sketch, I have to take off a couple of points. Art Rating: 8.5/10

Overall Team Rating: 16/20

Booksy Owly/Kate-the-Great: Booksy, your story was beautiful! The wording and detail was fantabulishious! However, I was a bit confuzzled as to who 9 and 8 were. At first I thought that they were the numbers on a clock, saying goodbye to each other as the clock ticket towards moonlight, and then I thought that they were the numbers of the New Year (like 2008 going to 2009). Story Rating: 9/10

Kate, your artwork was amazing (I like past tense. I don't know why)! I loved the bed especially. It looked really realistic. But something bothered me about the character's hair. It just looked more like colored-pencil lines than strands of hair. But I liked everything else! Art Rating: 8/10

Overall Team Rating: 17/20

Abigail/Kaleidescope Gryphon: Wow Abi. What can I say? Your story was so touching and amazing. Absolutely beautiful. In fact, I liked it even better than your most recent Stone Soup story, and trust me, I liked that one A LOT. Except for the part about Ivy being a typical teenager (as a teen, I love stereotype-breakers like myself).

Sam: Rabbit trail... 

Oh yeah, right! As I was saying...Story Rating: 10/10

Kaleidescope, your artwork was so whimsical and amazing. The blurryness actually made the real-life dragon seem like it was stepping right out of the boy's imagination. I loved that. However, the stuffed animal just...didn't seem to come together quite right. Art Rating: 9/10

Overall Team Rating: 19/20

Applejaguar/The Artist: Apple, your story was so creative. I feel like white rats aren't appreciated enough now that I've read this :) However, the way it was written could have been a bit more creative.  Story Rating: 8/10

The Artist, since you never posted your drawing, I can't judge it. I'm so sorry! If you post it in the next few days, I will still judge it! Artwork Rating: 0/10

Overall Team Rating: 8/20

So, Autumn Leaves/Clouded Leopard and Applejaguar/The Artist are now eliminated. If The Artist submits a drawing within the next couple of days, I will change the scores, however. Note: Leafpool's story and Autumn's story originally had the same score, but that would have resulted in a tie. It was really hard for me to choose, since I liked both almost exactly the same! The only reason I chose Leafpool's is because I saw some of Cinzel's character developement in that sassy conversation with the hare. The next contest is where the artist will draw something and the writer will tell a story about it! If your writer/artist for this next round is unable to compete/doesn't compete, then one of the eliminated writers/artists can fill in their spot(s). I will make another thread for the upcoming contest very soon! 

Yay! Great job Bluebird! Thanks rosebud! Congrats everyone for jobs well done!

@Kalidescope:

I just saw the picture you drew, it's beautiful! I really love how you did the dragon. ^^ Bret is so cute in it too. We got into the second round! Yay!

@Rose bud:

Ahhh I'm really glad you liked my story in Stone Soup. <3

*Wipes forehead* Phew! I was pretty nervous there that we wouldn't make it. But we did, Scylla! Yay! 

I can't wait for the next contest. 

Please, if you post now the scores might change. It's not too late! Just don't forget about this thread.