But first, a few words from AngusEcrivain...

You know what? This SmackDown has been absolutely bloody awesome. Everyone competing brought their A-Game every single time, without fail, and whilst that hasn't made judging an easy task it's certainly made for some fantastic competition!

I've enjoyed the format, too. I mean it's not perfect - I'm not sure it ever is - but it's been something different and that's no bad thing. Let me know in the comment's below how you guys have found the format 'cos even though I'm not hosting the next contest - that's right, I'm competing so watch out, y'all - it's always nice to know, for future reference!

Thank you to all of you, each and everyone of you who competed, who judged and who read the fantastic entries. We had some real big hitters in here, even a couple of former SmackDown winners and the fact neither of them made it to the final shows just how tough this contest has been!

Now, about this final round... Both torontojim & jewel1307 brought it, amirite? And there's no doubt in my mind the result here could've easily gone either way. Personally I enjoyed Jules' Instinct more, though that's not to say I didn't enjoy Jim's BETTI 'cos I most certainly did. My suspicion is that had these two been competing against anyone else they would've won. But they weren't competing against anyone else. They were competing against each other.

And so, without further ado, here's what the judges have to say...

Winner: torontojim

His entry got into the action much faster than Jewels. I was intrigued with Betty from the very beginning, wondering what secrets she was holding. I waited for that kind of interest to develop in the other one, but it took too long. Of course, both were light years ahead of many Wattpad stories. They were written fantastically with great narratives, but I can't deny that one had my attention more than the other. At this point in the competition, it's something like that that makes all the difference.

Winner: jewel1307

Jim. Please, please, please don't use Grammarly to check your story. Grammarly is coded with formal language in mind. It's to help students with essays. That means when you check dialogue with Grammarly, it doesn't know what to do. Most of the time, it thinks it is a quotation. That's why it has missed your incorrect use of dialogue tags. I'm usually pretty forgiving towards grammar and typos, but it's clear you rushed. I told you to check back through your story and to use your remaining time wisely. So no mercy for you. It's not just dialogue. There are typos, missing words, incorrect punctuation. You've occasionally got endashes where hyphens should be.

Also, to be honest, your story wasn't really that great, either. It didn't hold my interest like Jewel's did.

Jewel's story had the occasional error, too. A typo here, missing hyphen there -- but she didn't brag about being perfect. I liked her story much more. Sparky was cute, cool, interesting and adorable. And sad. Jewel wins.

Winner: torontojim

This was a difficult pair of stories for me to judge.

BETTI by torontojim

Instinct byjewel1307

Both stories show character arc.

In "Instinct," we saw our castaway we see a woman who was discarded by the man she loved find a new life. First, she reached beyond herself to find a friend in a local animal, a firefox. Stories about pets are sure to strike a sympathetic note with the reader, and this one is no exception. Our heroine's efforts to reach out to the animal are reciprocated, and she finds herself with a partner who helps her survive and she becomes stronger. When crisis comes and her pet dies, she seeks revenge. As a reward for her efforts to honor her pet's memory, she finds and rescues a human companion.

In "BETTI," we saw both how man and machine matured together. BETTI went from annoying friend to evil and controlling. Peter, on the other hand, grew in courage. He only survived the early portion of the story by being a coward. As the story continued, he ultimately found the strength to fight. He display impressive willpower, even if (ultimately) it was not enough. In the end, his ultimate reward was both to see the creature he helped nurture to maturity and to continue his life, free from his inner tyrant. The end was left open, but I think he found the will to survive alone. I like that the evil AI is not pure evil and lets Peter live.

Both were edited quite well. No typos jumped out at me as I read through each tale. From my own writing, I know how hard it is to get to polish the errant words away. When the stories are close and I have trouble making a decision, this is one area where I look to help make the decision. You both foiled me. Kudos.

So how to make my decision? Ultimately, I think "BETTI" is a more cohesive tale, and it is for this story that I cast my vote.

I think "Instinct" could be stronger if the story of the fox and the story of finding and rescuing the stranger could be tied together. They seem to be two stories right now. Ideally, the thread between the two should be related to our heroine's abandonement by her husband. What did she do for the fox that she didn't do for her husband, or perhaps their shared children? What does she gain in the man she discovered that she wasn't worthy of before?

I don't know what fate the Master Tormentor behind "Layeth the Smack Down" has planned for these two, but I think both deserve to be featured in some way.

Winner: torontojim 

Hoo boy what a tough call. Although Jewel's Instinct was a beautiful tale of survival I really loved Jim's twist on the genre and I felt his ending was much stronger, giving the piece a full conclusion where Jewel's felt a bit abrupt and a few elements were never expanded on as i hoped. All in all, both were great stories but I give my point to Torontojim for Betti.

And there you have it. Congratulations torontojim! A hard fought battle and a well deserved victory. You are, indeed, SmackDown champion, Sir. Bragging rights are yours!

And commiserations to jewel1307. You fought valiantly, Milady, but it seems our new champion bested you!