The Legend of Yooyuball

But the legend of the Yooyus and Yooyuball is a most interesting one. The city of Altador always wanted a sport of its own, like how many of the other flourishing lands around them had, like Mynci Beach Volleyball on Mystery Island, or Faerie Cloud Racing in Faerieland. Even Snow Wars is famous in Terror Mountain! Altador wanted something to call its own, and the Yooyus were just that.

The Yooyus were timid creatures at the beginning of Altador's founding. They watched the building from the forests of Altador, until a Yurble found one lying by a tree. She picked it up, but it fluttered away on its oversized wings. She dashed after it, her eyes sparkling as she watched the pink and blue creature.

The Yurble, also known as Allinia, eventually lost sight of the creature, but saw a grove filled with hundreds of the creatures. They were small, but were fit, and jumped and flew around the grove, playing and enjoying themselves. Allinia stared in wonder until a snowy creature pointed. The tiny mini-stars whirled around and colors of white, red, pink, blue, green, and black dotted the sky as they flew away in fright. Fascinated by what she saw, Allinia ran back to the construction and told everyone of what she saw.

Many Neopets followed her the next day back to the grove, and Allinia walked into the grove where all the little star creatures played. They began to fly away in fright, but Allinia smiled, and an ugly looking creature flew back down. Allinia told the Yooyu that she didn't want to hurt it, and it talked in a language that consisted of many U-sounds. The star creatures were from then on called "Yooyus" because of the sound they made.

Altador and the other 11 founders of Altador watched over the Yooyus and watched how they behaved. The Yooyus loved showing off their athletic ability, and zoomed around the council chamber. Some were fast, some were slow, and some moved all around. But most of them seemed fit and strong, and it interested all of the founders how they got so strong. The Yooyus never spoke much in front of them, only to each other, and quietly, as if everything was a secret. But that was the way of the Yooyu, and no one could really understand why.

One bright, sunny day in Altador, two children, who were Shoyrus, were flying around near the forest. They explored around trees like the brave founders of Altador. One of them tripped over a small, hollow log. Its hole was large enough to slip over the Shoyru's arm, and he could catch things in it, about the size of a small creature. He ran around, trying to catch tiny leaves. The second Shoyru, a girl, became jealous and went to find her own log.

After stumbling through the woods for quite some time, she found a second log, but resting in it was a tiny Yooyu, tiny wings fluttering as it slumbered. The Shoyru, not wanting to scare the Yooyu, lifted it out of the log and began to put it on her arm when it flew back in it. Instead of taking it out again, she walked back to where her friend was. Seeing the second log, the Faerie Yooyu fluttered back and forth between the logs, until it was so confused that it flew faster and faster. The Shoyrus had to catch it in the logs, and they tossed it back and forth. This was the beginnings of Yooyuball.

Eventually, the Yooyu was left sleeping again in the logs. They left, only to return the next day and play until dinner. But it was boring playing by themselves. They wanted to play with others, so they invited their most trusted friends to come into the forest with them, each Shoyru brining 4 friends. They other 8 found their own logs, and they would toss them back and forth. But it was still boring to play like that.

One morning, an Elephante who was playing with them noticed something. "There are trees behind us, and this would be enough for a playing field... why don't we make this a team game?"

Everyone agreed, and they split into two teams of 5 each. They passed the Yooyu between the logs and would try and score between the trees. It was easy to score, and the other team always got mad. As a result, one player would be a goalie. It was harder to score, and made the game more fun.

One day, one of the Shoyrus' parents found them playing in the woods. Instead of forbidding them, they showed the founders what they had created. Altador and his companions were fascinated, and created Yooyu holders to replace logs. The forest was used to play Yooyuball, with 5 on a team still. Everyone began to like Yooyuball, and any open space became a playing field.

They created teams, and did annual Yooyuball tournaments, with the 10 original creators as judges. They created rules, and had a lot of fun watching the games.

Eventually, other worlds wanted to know about this sport. Neopets from all over came to the annual tournament to watch. They brought back the thrill of the game to their world, and teams in other lands formed.

The Yooyus themselves worked since they could walk. Many Yooyus became as strong as possible to become part of the sport. The Yooyus, the most famous part of the game, were highly respected and were treated finely. Still, many of the strongest Yooyus were household pets, and would play in smaller Yooyuball games until they became strong enough to be in major Yooyuball games.

The first Yooyu to be a major part of the game was a Fire Yooyu called Ashen. He trained for years, and was stronger than any other Yooyu. He was the pet of the two Shoyrus, and they would often let him take turns with the Faerie Yooyu when they played. Everyone, even the Yooyus, enjoyed playing the game.

Often, worlds would challenge each other and meet at an Altador Yooyuball field. It took a lot of practice and skill to become part of the world's team. They were honored all around.

Eventually, all the worlds that played Yooyuball wanted something more, like Altador's annual tournament. The tournament developed into a world-wide annual cup, otherwise and more commonly known as the Altador Cup.

For many years, until the history of Altador disappeared, the 16 different worlds would compete for the honor of the Altador Cup Champion title. They all loved the sport, and Altador finally had something to call its own.

All thanks to the Yooyus and the two young Shoyrus and their friends, we now have a sport that everyone from Terror Mountain to the Lost Desert to Maraqua loves. Yooyuball is something that Altador has that special, and everyone around Neopia loves the little Yooyus who made the game famous.

If you're reading this, I've gotten yet another piece into the Neopian Times! Neomail me any comments!