Sheryaya's Article: Committee and the Players

First of all, I am going to introduce myself – my name is Sheryaya Verrico; I’m a yellow Xweetok who is nearing nine-hundred days old, which isn’t something to celebrate. My owner, Ryan, has allowed me to cross the corners of the globe in search for my article to be a surprising tale of what you readers didn’t know. I travelled to Kreludor, the moon which is grey to Neopia but white to Darigan Citadel. I don’t know how it works, but I believe the Grundos have something to do with it. Kreludor is an amazing land, full of eerie atmospheres and metal which makes evil robots – at least our heroes won’t be out of a job then!

If you cast your mind back to last year when the tournament was in full swing, Kreludor made an official announcement of why they didn’t participate. They blamed their problem on a ‘mechanical failure’ of the gravity. Apparently the players, who had worked with so much determination, were crestfallen to hear that the conditions which they had been tirelessly practicing on were different to Neopia. I question this by stating if Kreludor’s conditions weren’t the same, then it is possible that Faerieland, Maraqua and the Virtupets’ Stations’ conditions would have suffered too, what do you reckon? Before I even interview certain players, I’ve come to Altador to find out about conditions for the upcoming tournament. I’m meeting my three prestigious and highly important guests in the Hall of Heroes.

I walk to the magnificent building, taking in the sunshine and the meticulous patterns on each structure. As I push open the door, standing in front of my very eyes are the three (not the three who have embodiments of greed and so on), but the three who make the Cup special and are as important to the championship like the trophy is to the winning team. They are the committee.

Me: Hello there!

The Aisha: Hello, Sheryaya. My name is Fayeanne Damiz, the Skeith is Rodrox Binch and the Draik is called Kesko Lei-Swing.

Me: Well, I won’t be long, but I’m here to ask a serious question, I know your decisions are made in the best interests for the game but all over Neopia, the absence of Kreludor from the second Cup has been controversial, and I believe what they said about conditions was a lie. What can you tell me?

Rodrox: Well, we were contacted by Kreludor and we asked them to visit Neopia so we could watch them play. It was hopeless; they didn’t score once and they kept floating due to their zero gravity lifestyle. In our interests of Yooyuball, we asked King Altador about the final outcome and in the safety and fairness of the tournament, they couldn’t play.

Me: That is something I didn’t know; but you say about conditions, it is evident that we live in a world where population is everywhere. We have islands and land; we also have a land in the sky and a land underneath the surface. If the conditions in Kreludor weren’t right, it could be said that for Maraqua, Faerieland and Virtupet’s Station, the conditions weren’t right either. What do you say to that?

Fayeanne: I visited Faerieland to see about the density and conditions of their practices and I found no faults. As for Maraqua, they don’t practice in Maraqua as they don’t have a place to do it; they had to come to Altador and practice inside the Colosseum.

Kesko: As for the station, I actually visited and found that they were hungry for the prize of winning. I found that everything was fine and they were able to participate in the tournament. I believe Kreludor has a different atmosphere that the station – it is a lot dirtier in Kreludor.

Me: Thank you for clearing those points up. The initial reason for talking to you was about the forthcoming event; is everything going OK?

Kesko: Yes and no. We’ve had many injuries, but the hunger for the Cup and the improvement on many weaker teams has been shown. We can’t wait for the opening ceremony as we know there will be a lot of surprises in store for many fans.

Rodrox: We were close to eliminating a team who have been very successful throughout the previous tournaments, but thankfully we didn’t.

Me: Before I leave you, is there any chance you can tell me something, will Kreludor be participating this year?

Fayeanne: EXCUSE ME! Giving information away is prohibited and against the Cup legislation. I will tell you that all teams participating are working really hard and we’ve underestimated the skills that these teams do possess. Anyway, we have a meeting with the chairman as he’s been giving out too many Darigan paintbrushes and we believe it may jeopardise the chances of a different team winning.

After my brief talk with the three members, I headed for the door. Obviously the Altador Cup is a very taboo subject from the committee’s point of view as every day they deal with confidential things. This has provoked my mind to visit Kreludor, like I said I did, and get better answers while I’m there.

*quickly arrives in Kreludor*

Just like magic, I’m here and it didn’t take that long. Unfortunately, it is really hard to scribble down on this notebook while I am half flying from the zero gravity. Anyway, I need to meet with the players who showed progress during the first Altador Cup. The Kreludan team have been known as the best team and I’m with two players who are going to tell me all about their past year. I’m with Xila Kitae, a pink Grundo who has been a magnificent goalkeeper for the team. Beings from all over Neopia have hailed her a star, saying that she will be an All-Star calibre net-minder if she keeps up her momentum for success and her perseverance to win. My second guest from the Kreludan team is Zenor Kevix, a blue Grundo who rapidly speeds to the goal and scores within seconds of any game. Critics have stated that he hasn’t any power in his shots, but that doesn’t keep the active Grundo from stopping his dream. He tells me he has improved immensely.

Me: Greetings, Grundos!

Zenor: Hello, Sheryaya, how are you?

Xila: Hi!

Me: I’m very well, Zenor. How are you both?

Zenor: We’re fine, thanks; we’ve been practicing really hard.

Me: Wonderful, so can you give me the gossip on what really happened last year?

Xila: The thing was, there was a failure with our gravity issues and muscle and bone density. That is true, just what we did hide was the fact that one of our players suffered many injuries and we couldn’t find a replacement in time.

Zenor: The other fact is that the committee were extremely rude to us, stating that we should have never even participated in the tournament, but they invited us!

Me: Well, that is certainly what I wasn’t expecting. I was thinking you’d tell me something to the effect of you didn’t want to play.

Xila: NO! We were ready, just it was three days before the second tournament and that’s when one of our players got injured. We tried finding a replacement as we'd worked so hard. Zenor is correct that the committee were really nasty with us and they had already promised Shenkuu a place three weeks before the tournament started. They didn’t even tell us!

Zenor: We were shocked and livid; Derlyn Fonnet wanted to leave. However, we succumbed to the withdrawal of our team and we promised we’d be back the year after and a new rule has been said that the committee are only allowed to tell players if they are participating three days before the event starts.

Me: So the outcome could be that you don’t play again?

Xila: That’s exactly right; if that happened, I’d be heartbroken.

Me: Well, you’ve said you’ve all been practicing, so can you tell me of any roster changes or new Yooyus that my enthralled readers would like to hear about?

Zenor: I’ll just say that things are top secret, but be surprised Neopia as many changes are taking place. There is a new Yooyu and many teams have changed their rosters as the determination to win is vital to every team.

Xila: I know Altador has made many changes, swapping different professionals and then adding original team-members. I believe they are highly humiliated due to coming close to the bottom each year.

Me: They are really popular as Yooyuball is Altador’s sport and when I visited Altador, I saw them giving people autographs other than practicing for the forthcoming tournament.

Zenor: Yes, they are quite lazy. Speaking of practicing, I know Brightvale have been practicing the day after they were eliminated last year. If we are chosen to participate, there will be some firm competition there.

Me: All Brightvale do is cheat; they ask for sympathy from the referee and they annoyingly get it.

Xila: I’m really good friends with Kep Bonnefie, the Buzz from the Darigan Citadel team. She told me that Darigan Citadel are better now than they have ever been before. It may look like that they will take the trophy again for the second consecutive year.

Me: Well, time is escaping. I have to go soon; before I depart, though, can I ask you both which logo of the teams do you prefer?

Zenor: I like Kreludor’s design but I have to choose another... erm... I’d go with Altador, I like the shape of it.

Xila: I’ve never really thought about it. I believe Faerieland’s logo is beautiful, but I think whoever designed Darigan Citadel’s logo needs to be in the gallery, as it is very superior and it reflects the actual land which is Darigan Citadel. I believe Kiko Lake’s is the worst as it seems that they only allow Kikos in the team.

Me: Thank you, Xila, thank you, Zenor, for your wonderful comments. It was been amazing talking to the both of you and good luck for this year. I hope to see the trophy in your hands.

So after the interviews, we know certain facts about the next Altador Cup. We know there is a new Yooyu and that each team has been showing determination to win. Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed my company, and make sure you support your team with the utmost dignity and respect.

Author’s Note: Many of the things written in this article are fictitious and used for entertainment only. I don’t know if there is a new Yooyu or if rosters have changed. We’ll find out soon enough...

Special Gratitude: I have to mention that ryuunine7, 222kitti_kat, lotrgirl88888 and everyone at the NTWF have inspired me to write. Thank you all. =D