A few days later, Melissa heard about an opening in the sales department for the Mason City Foxes (the same IFL team that her father worked for).  She thought that they would surely remember her father working for them and that it might be easier to convince them to hire her.  When she went to the executive office building that day, many of the staff members remembered her from when she was younger (and when her father was still alive).  When she went into the interview room, she heard pretty much the same thing that she heard from the day care centers.  They told her that they only hired "people"* with college education in the sales department (even though they admitted that her high GPA in high school made it difficult to go with common procedures).  However, they did have openings in the ticket office level in the phone room, and since her father spent so much time with the franchise and they even had his picture on the "Wall of Fame" on the main level.  The H.R. director wouldn't feel right about not giving the daughter of one of the most respected employees in franchise history (at least those not having a last name of Mason), so she offered Melissa the job in the phone room.  Although it wasn't exactly what she was hoping, she thought that if her father were around to see her, he would be delighted to know that Melissa was working for the same franchise that he worked at.  Melissa decided to take the job on a one season "trial" basis, afterwards she would have the option of staying with the franchise at a salary or finding work elsewhere.

 

Eight months later, after Mason City brought home another IFL championship title, the fourth one when Mike was with Mason City.  It would soon be time for Melissa to make a decision.  One day in early February 2997, as she was driving home, Melissa passed the "Mouse Hole" club as she did several times before going to and from work.  However, this time would be different, while waiting for a red light to change, she saw that the club was having a $100,000 open competition for all mousettes age 18-35 who were willing to perform at the club on that particular day.  Out of all the participants, 3 would be chosen to perform there permanently and receive a LARGE signing bonus in the process.  At first she didn't want to resort to that option, but then saw that the competition was on a day where she didn't have to work, she decided to stop in and ask about the contest.  She learned that the three winners would receive a 3 year/$250,000 per year contract (w/tips) in addition for a signing bonus of up to $50,000.  It was at that point that she decided to give it a try.  She had always been a very attractive mousette and figured that she had a realistic chance at winning the contest.

 

A few days later, Melissa returned to the club, ready to perform for the audience.  She knew that this was a strip club and she would have to perform in the nude.  However, her mother used to do this for a living before getting married, and she had told Melissa about that portion of her life before she was killed.  She explained to her daughter that she didn't want Melissa to do what she did unless she wanted to.  However, Melissa had several days to think about it and decided to go ahead with it anyway.  In addition to this, Melissa's strong maternal urges were starting to show signs of affecting her yiff drive.  The night before the contest, she dreamed that she had experienced the same thing that her mother when she worked at a strip club (I.E.: Meeting her future mate there).  At that time, Melissa had never been yiffed by a male and was eager to try it.  She also thought that maybe if she worked there, she could eventually find her mate.

 

Prior to the beginning of the contest, Melissa and the 14 other mousettes got to know each other backstage.  Every single one of the other mousettes had heard of what happened to Melissa and her family on the news and were supportive to her.  They all thought that she was doing this for her little sister at home, but they didn't know that she was doing it more for herself than for Abigail (although Melissa had planned on using the income from this job to help care for her sister).  Three of the other mousettes felt so bad for her that they dropped out of the contest before it even started.  However, Melissa didn't want to win that way (besides, it wasn't the way that her "boyfriend" win four championships for Mason City).  But even with her encouragement, the three mousettes still dropped out.  The other 11 mousettes, although they felt bad for Melissa, were also eager to get the job.  A couple of the mousettes were actually desperate for work and figured that this would be their best chance to get a high-paying job.  A few minutes later, the co-owner of the club (another mousette) brought in a fish bowl with twelve pieces of paper inside.  Each mousette was to take one piece of paper with a number from 1 to 12 on it.  The number on the piece of paper would determine who would go on at what time.  The co-owner brought the bowl to each of the participants based on the contestant's age (rather to have all the mousettes pick numbers at the same time, like last time**).  Since Melissa was the youngest of all the mousettes, she got to pick first.  She closed her eyes and stuck her hand into the fish bowl.  A few seconds later she pulled out a piece of paper and looked at it.  The paper had the number "3" on it (which meant that Melissa would go on third).  After all 12 mousettes had gotten their numbers, the co-owner explained how the contest would go.  Each mousette would go on stage and perform for three songs (approximately 10 minutes each).  During the time they would take off their bra after the first song and then the panties after the second, they would also collect tips from all the males in the audience (which would determine the outcome of the first round).  Then the six mousettes who collected the most in tips during their performances would go onto the finals later that evening.  Shortly after this, the club opened its doors and it was just about time for the contest to begin.  10 minutes later, a white mousette who had drawn the paper with "1" on it went out on the stage, while the other mousettes (and Melissa) waited for their turn.  When the first mousette came back to the backstage area with a panties filled with dollar bills and in a few cases $5 and $10 bills.  At that time, Melissa knew that it would be a tough competition.  While the next mousette in line went out on stage Melissa thought about what she would do when it was her turn.  This particular club was frequented by foxes and humans, which meant that if she wanted their attention she would have to do a lot of tricks with her tail to attract the foxes (male foxes like to feel the tail of a mousette around their tail while they are tied to a mousette).  As for the humans, she would have to use her natural agility to show off in positions that would be nearly impossible for a human female to duplicate to get their attention.  Within a few minutes, the second mousette returned with a somewhat less cash than the first mousette, but it was still intimidating for Melissa to see that.  However, she did have an advantage over the last mousette, she was a field mousette (with honey-colored fur), and the other mousette was a normal gray mousette.  Field mousettes are the second most preferred type among foxes, and the most preferred among humans.  Moments later, it was time for her to go out onto the stage and try her luck.

 

During the first song, Melissa mainly just danced around the poles, she didn't accumulate much money from the first song, but that would soon change once the second song started.  She threw her bra down to the ground and started to dance topless.  She started to receive tips at a more accelerated pace, mostly from the humans who wanted to see her breasts.  Then after performing for those who left tips, she went back to dancing around the poles.  After the second song ended, it was really time to go to work.  She had come up with an idea to attract males before she went out on stage when she was dancing totally nude.  As soon as Melissa took off her panties, she wrapped her tail around the center pole and hung from it upside-down showing off to all the males in the audience.  The tips started pouring in, Melissa had a difficult time keeping up with so much money being flashed for her to dance for them.  As she performed for the audience, she collected so much money that she didn't have enough room for all the money in her G-string.  By the end of the 3rd song, she took all of her money backstage.  Melissa had earned so much money that she had to carry it backstage in her arms.  As the judges counted the cash, they saw that the males in the audience gave her lots of $5's and $10's and even a couple of $20's.  At that point in the contest, she had earned the most money by far in the first round.  Over the next 90 minutes the other 9 mousettes went on to perform, then after all 12 had gone out on stage it was time to announce the results of the first round.

 

After 6 of the mousettes were sent home disappointed, the rest of the mousettes (including Melissa) would be going on to the finals.  Then over the next hour or so, the regular dancers went on stage to perform for the audience while the six remaining mousettes prepared for the finals.  This time, each mousette would not only do a dance on stage, but also give a lap dance for someone in the audience for as long as the male that they were dancing for could afford it.  However, the contestants weren't allowed to take any males into the yiff rooms for two reasons...First of all, none of the six mousettes had keys to the yiff rooms, and secondly the owners of the club wanted to make sure that all mousettes that worked there had their tubes tied before taking any males into the yiff rooms.

As she prepared for her second performance, each mousette was notified by the mousette who co-owned the club when they will be going on stage in the finals.  When she came into Melissa's "dressing room", she told her that she had earned the 2nd most in tips from the first round and that she would be going on second.  The co-owner also explained to her (and all the other mousettes) that there were some VIP's from the Mason City Foxes coming in to discuss some important matters and that they would be allowed to ask them for lap dances if they wanted.  At that time she became nervous about dancing in the nude for some of the people that she worked for/with, and she took a peek out in the audience to see who was there.  What she saw surprised (and excited her), the owner, president, and vice-president of the team were all here along with the same fox that she had been infatuated with since she was a teenager.  Apparently, the team was trying to negotiate a new contract with Mike to keep him in Mason City for a long time to come.  Unfortunately, although Mike was single and in the market for a mate, he was a gentlefox and didn't feel comfortable being in a strip club, especially since he was required to have a vixen for a mate (at least for now...more on that later).  However, seeing him in the audience made Melissa feel better and maybe she could dance for him later on.  She went back into the dressing room and made herself as attractive as possible for the finals.

 

End of Act 5