A Charity Yooyuball

     With the half-time interval gradually drawing to a close, the last of the spectators who had left their seats to stretch their legs began to filter back to their varying vantage points. On the field of play, Team Meridell and Team Darigan Citadel were busy switching ends in preparation for the resumption of play with the Meridellians leading 1-0 going into the second half. Neither of the squads' player-coaches planned any tactical changes - with Lisha opting to stick to her fluid 2+2 and Master Vex similarly deciding that his 3+1 was the way to go - nor did they plan on making any substitutions. Although not allowed by the traditional rules of Yooyuball followed by the Altador Cup, the modern version of the game did allow one substitution per match. Which would've been great... if either side had had the foresight to bring any extra players.

     After a few more moments that seemed to fly by with the sound of horns and the sight of the occasional Moltaran Wave doing a lap of honour amongst the gathered fans, the Colosseum was packed to capacity once more. With both teams now in their respective formations on the arena's sandy terrain, the Red Scorchio Referee signalled for the platform to be raised that contained the normal Yooyu. As the Petpet slowly revealed itself to the ebullient crowds, the Official synced his wind up pocket watch to the clockwork timer built into the stadium's otherwise traditional scoreboard. Satisfied that his faithful timepiece was working appropriately, the black and white uniformed Referee blew his silver whistle to begin the second half.

     With a spring in his step stemming from the Citadel's somewhat unorthodox half-time pep talk, General Galgarroth broke for the Yooyu first and scooped it up into his red and black sling before his Meridellian counterpart had time to react. Pretty much all Sir Jeran could do was dart out of the way as the crimson Grarrl did his utmost to barge past the dark blue Lupe. Before the Knight had even landed on his hind paws, both Jhudora the Dark Faerie and Commander Haskol broke forwards - causing the rest of the Meridell team to quickly backtrack in an attempt to protect their player-coach's goal. Lisha barked out instructions to her faltering defenders but they had been caught completely off guard. A one-two between Galgarroth and Haskol led to an inevitable equaliser, with Lord Darigan's second-in-command being the one to send the crowd crazy with a powerful volley past the Yellow Aisha.

     In the Royal Box, the sight of his team celebrating their first goal of what would hopefully be many in front of a roaring crowd caused a small but thoroughly satisfying smile to appear on the old Korbat's face. Clearly the citizens of Altador at the very least bore no malice towards his land, something that Lord Darigan could take heart from when it came to any future dealings with their Monarch. His counterpart had far less subtle musings he wished to communicate, however. "Lucky shot!" bellowed King Skarl in disgust, flinging his arms out wide and sending a once fancily arranged cheese platter flying in Lady Psellia's direction. The Air Faerie instinctively caught it before it made contact with his rival's outstretched wing.

     After the Scorchio Referee had restarted the game, it was once again Galgarroth who reached the Yooyu first. This act led to an extended period of play firmly rooted within Team Meridell's half of the field, with the Darigan Citadel launching attack after attack onto the young Spellcaster's goal. Although her team was clearly the more weary of the two, Lisha was able to coordinate her three defenders more precisely than during her opponent's first wave of attacks and they managed to just about fend them off. Under such sustained pressure, their formation risked becoming a permanent 1+3 with Jeran having been left stranded in the opposition's half and unable to link up with his teammates for some time. This, though, had had some benefits, with the dark blue Lupe seeming to have caught a second wind.

     Sir Tormund had noticed. And gesturing to Lisha, he had a plan to break the siege on their goal. The duo had noted that Jhudora dawdled on the Yooyu more than her teammates in a misguided attempt to taunt the rival team. With her doing just that yet again, it was time to capitalise on it. Signalling to both Kayla on his left and Illusen on his right, the Knight led a charge at the purple haired forward. It was the dark red Zafara that managed to rob the Dark Faerie of the ball, the Elixirist quickly passing it to Tormund who then passed it onto the brunette. Catching Team Darigan Citadel off guard, the Earth Faerie proceeded to dance around the out-of-position Galgarroth before slinging the ball to her Captain.

     Master Vex panicked. It was about to be two on one. Unless he acted. Shouting at Haskol to do something as he was the closest to Jeran, the forward was all too happy to oblige. Before the dark blue Lupe was able to collect the Yooyu in his red and blue striped Sling, he was scythed to the ground with a tackle from behind. Sections of the crowd gasped. The Yooyu bounced once on the sandy pitch of the Colosseum before it was scooped up by the dark purple Skeith and flung towards his Dark Faerie colleague. With Team Meridell's defence left stranded by their breakaway forwards, it was simple for Jhudora to rush in and score to put the Citadel 2-1 up. The crowd cheered. Mostly. Lisha hadn't even bothered to dive, her eyes fixed on her older brother who remained on the ground.

     "Nice fall, Jeran," Haskol taunted the Knight, walking off as the dark blue Lupe gingerly sat up.

     The Scorchio Referee was not amused.

     Blowing his whistle twice as Team Darigan Citadel celebrated in front of the masses once more, he signalled to the Green Techo on scoreboard-duty to put up the 'Time Out' tile next to the ones indicating the score. He wasn't the only one who was less than impressed. "TREASON!" roared King Skarl at the top of his mighty lungs, his golden armour-clad Personal Guards readying their weapons just in case things turned ugly. "THAT was an attempt on the life of my Kingdom's Champion, Darigan! THAT is a declaration of WAR!!" Psellia jumped to her feet, trying to reassure her infamously grumpy guest that it was merely a foul - nothing more. A pointed look from the Air Faerie to her other guest though made it clear that that had better have been the case.

     A frown clouded over the Korbat's expression as his own bodyguards refused to flinch under the tense situation. With his counterpart slowly being placated by their host's soothing words, Lord Darigan turned his attention back to the events unfolding on the field of play. Before narrowing his yellow eyes in displeasure. He had not come all the way from the Citadel to watch the pup roll his ankle under a supposed challenge by one of his Commanders. Having limped his way to Team Meridell's bench, the Knight's eyes widened as Kayla approached with a bag of items that didn't look like bandages. Opening its clasp, all manner of bottles could be seen poking out.

     "What happened to the no magic rule?" Jeran remarked, wryly.

     "It's not magic," the Elixirist responded, bluntly, "it's medicine."

     He wasn't in the mood to argue the point further.

     With the two teams huddled around their respective benches in a less than harmonious atmosphere, the Scorchio Referee called forward the player-coaches of both sides - but made sure that his words were loud enough so that all could hear him clearly. "This is both Teams' final warning," he declared unequivocally, "any more challenges like that and I will send players off. I don't care if this is a Charity Match. Frankly as this IS a Charity Match, I am not going to allow young Neopians to be witness to such unsporting behaviour. It ends now." And with a shake of his head, the black and white uniformed Official flew over to have a chat with the PPL Advisor to make sure that no Yooyus had so far been harmed in the making of this event.

     There was a truce.

     A brief one.

     "It's not our fault Meridellians are as soft as a wheel of rotten cheese," chortled Haskol.

     "How dare you compare the citizens of my Kingdom to soured dairy produce!" growled Tormund.

     Jhudora smirked. "It is unfair. The stench of your land is far more... overpowering."

     "No, Sister," retorted Illusen, "that would be the smell of your revolting Gruslens!"

     Lisha pointed at Vex. "How could you let tha-that monster do that to my brother?! I respected you!"

     The Purple Mynci flinched.

     Galgarroth did not. "Why don't you call me a monster to my face, Necromancer!"

     Advisor Hadrak just laughed, "How... quaint. Somepet actually respected you, Vex."

     The arguments only worsened as Team Meridell's self-appointed physiotherapist continued to mix her unstable brews on the team bench, much to the Knight's concern. Eventually, Kayla smiled fairly confidently as her mixture turned a rather fetching shade of purple. Jeran wasn't convinced. "Alright... this should completely heal your sore ankle... hopefully." Jeran still wasn't convinced. But he let her pour the concoction over his left foot anyway. When his hind paw subsequently turned a matching shade of purple, Jeran definitely wasn't convinced. "Err... yeah..." was the response he received after glaring at the Elixirist, "...that'll go away... in about a week." The dark blue Lupe sighed before cautiously standing up. At least he could play again.

     As long as everypet stopped arguing. The Knight winced at some of the insults that were flying before snapping at his fellow players. "ENOUGH!" Jeran roared in a tone that his master would have approved of. Everypet froze, except for Tormund who instinctively stood to attention. "Is this what it has come to? Our two great lands scoring petty points against each other in what is supposed to be a charitable endeavour? Lady Psellia invited us all here to show how unified we have become. How we have been able to put all of the conflict and misery aside and forge something that is worth more than that. To show everypet what is achievable when we work together. To help Neopians who are less fortunate than ourselves. Not to pick fights in front of a bunch of watching children!" The members of Team Meridell shuffled on the spot. "We are better than that!!"

     The Yellow Aisha offered her paw to the Purple Mynci, who happily shook it. The feeling was not shared amongst the members of Team Darigan Citadel though. Galgarroth had noted his colleagues rolling their eyes more than once during the dark blue Lupe's words but, as nauseating as they were, the crimson Grarrl did agree with the overall sentiment. They were better than that.

     Before anymore arguments could break out between the assembled players, the Scorchio Referee blew his whistle twice to signify the end of the Time Out period. Much to the crowd's relief, if the number of Moltaran Waves going around the Colosseum was anything to go by. Before the match restarted and noting just how winded Haskol's challenge had left her brother, Lisha rearranged her team by moving Jeran into defence and putting Tormund up front during the 2+2 formation. It meant Illusen would be left stranded during a switch to 1+3 and the dark blue Lupe would be left on his own in a 3+1 with Kayla moving into attack but the bespectacled Spellcaster had no choice.

     Under the supervision of the black and white uniformed Official, both sets of players took up their positions on the arena's sandy field of play once more. Opposite Galgarroth on the edge of the centre circle was a slightly apprehensive Tormund, not having dealt with such a massive beast since the Darkest Faerie's takeover attempt many a year ago. As the normal Yooyu showed its head atop the stadium's playing surface, the Yellow Lupe put that nervous energy to good use by getting the Petpet first. Team Meridell did their best to take advantage by breaking forward but the Citadel astutely fell back to block them off. Having lost momentum in the break of play, the Darigan players too were starting to look weary - but that didn't mean they were suddenly going to become pushovers.

     All around Altador, the shadows were beginning to lengthen as the sun became ever lower in the cloudless sky. Since the resumption of play neither team had had much of the Yooyu through tiredness, with mistakes starting to creep into the game. That just made things more exciting for the crowd however with rival factions cheering on different sides in the hope that there would be another goal or three. Looking up at the clock that was embedded in the scoreboard, both player-coaches could see that there were only a few minutes left in the game. Vex ordered his team to stand firm and not to do anything rash, although by this point he was relatively hoarse thanks to the amount of times he'd been forced to repeat himself. Lisha knew Team Darigan Citadel were flagging - mainly as her side was too. Gesturing at her colleagues, she urged them forwards for one last attack.

     It was all or nothing.

     But it didn't start well.

     Jhudora managed to wrestle the ball from Tormund on the halfway line, releasing built-up pressure and allowing herself and Haskol to break forward - against Vex's wishes. The Dark Faerie attempted to pass the Petpet to her fellow forward but the Yooyu was intercepted by a still Slorggish Jeran. Before the dark purple Skeith could foul him again, the Knight passed the ball to his defensive partner then scampered out of the oncoming Commander's way. Kayla, running down the middle of the field, then led a counterattack towards Team Darigan Citadel's goal. Slinging the ball to Tormund, the Yellow Lupe managed to round Galgarroth before sending the Yooyu to Illusen as he was being chased by Vex. Dodging the tracking-back Haskol, the Earth Faerie volleyed the Petpet to the unmarked dark red Zafara. Who blasted it towards a scrambling Hadrak. Although most there would swear that the equaliser went in off the Green Mynci, official records did not refer to it as an own goal. If only for diplomatic reasons.

     In an instant, Kayla found herself at the bottom of a pile of her teammates as the crowds of Yooyuball fans chanted her name. Hadrak gingerly sat up. He wasn't sure what had just happened. Upon hearing the laughter of his player-coach and team Captain, the Green Mynci quickly realised. "VICTORY!!" was the booming declaration from inside the Royal Box, King Skarl jumping up and down on the spot. His Personal Guards were too scared to tell him that the score was only 2-2... leaving that task to Psellia. "I... I know THAT!" the Blue Skeith retorted enthusiastically, "I meant it was a MORAL victory!" The Air Faerie looked at Lord Darigan with the corner of her eye. The Korbat knew better than to comment. A draw was for the best, after all.

     The Scorchio Referee looked at his trusty wind up pocket watch. No sooner had he whistled for the resumption of play, he then had to whistle three times to signal the end of the match. Final Score in this Charity Yooyuball Match: Team Meridell 2 - 2 Team Darigan Citadel. The masses of fans seemed to have enjoyed themselves, impromptu renditions of both the official Team Meridell ode and Team Darigan Citadel anthem emanating from all parts of the Colosseum. With hostilities finally at some sort of an end, the players from both teams shook each other's hands... or at least, some of the players did. It wasn't compulsory. "I look forward to our upcoming rematch at Cellblock, Lady Lisha," Vex said with a small smirk as he shook his fellow player-coach's paw. The Yellow Aisha just smiled back. The feeling was mutual.

     The End.