A Charity Yooyuball

     As the golden orb that lit up the skies of the Kingdom of Altador made its all too familiar transit across the bright blue expanse that stretched out overhead, so too did the thousands of Yooyuball aficionados make their very own journey during the midafternoon. In the stone-clad tunnel that led out onto the Colosseum's sandy field of play, the members of both Meridell and the Darigan Citadel's Charity Yooyuball Teams could hear the thundering of hundreds of feet as they led their owners to their vantage points for the day. If that sound wasn't intimidating enough, worse was to follow. Blowing his whistle, the Red Scorchio Referee led out the sides into a wall of pure sound.

     Sir Jeran wrinkled his nose. Looking over to his counterparts from the gothic realm, Master Vex and his teammates were surprisingly in their element with the raucous atmosphere. The Citadel could get loud at times, after all. The rural quiet of his land, however, was poor preparation for such an occasion. Cheese Rolling was never this noisy. To his left, Sir Tormund had a wry smile on his face. His good friend, Princess Roberta of Brightvale, had warned him to prepare himself for such a reception if he ever stepped on Altadorian soil again. Standing behind both Lupes, Lisha and Kayla were just trying to find their bearings in the din when Illusen snuck up behind them. "Isn't this great!" she enthused cheerfully as trepidation set in amongst her fellows.

     Upon both sets of amateur players taking to the field of play, the attention of many spectators promptly switched. Whilst some became preoccupied by the food vendors who began making their way up and down the aisles with tasty treats for hungry mouths, the majority turn their gaze towards the Royal Box. Surrounded by guards from both camps, the balcony contained three Thrones for the three dignitaries that were due to preside over the match. A roar erupted from the stands when Lady Psellia, Lord Darigan and King Skarl were seen to be taking their seats in the enclosure. Sitting between the rival rulers, the tense atmosphere that the Air Faerie suddenly felt descend made her realise just why her King Altador had decided to stay away from the game.

     As the Green Techo announcer read out the names of both sets of players, huge cheers reverberated throughout the arena. With the Yellow Lupe waving sheepishly at the crowd, the largest had been saved for Sir Tormund. The embarrassed Knight knew that he was going to get some ribbing upon his return to Meridell Castle's barracks. With the announcer finished, Lady Psellia rose from her seat and placed a microphone to her lips to read out a small speech that she had prepared. "Friends and subjects, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for attending this Charity Yooyuball Match between the realms of Meridell and the Darigan Citadel. All money raised from this afternoon will be spent helping the neediest citizens of Neopia. So please, enjoy yourself and let the festivities begin!"

     During the Air Faerie's speech, Team Darigan Citadel had been busy discussing tactics. Although both sets of players had had some practice within the confines of the arena before the fans had begun to filter in, neither side had managed much training beforehand. They all had proper jobs after all. Having given his team talk, Master Vex could tell that his teammates weren't overly convinced. So much for his reputation going before him. With Jhudora crossing her arms in displeasure, General Galgarroth spoke gruffly for the team, "You'd better be spot on with your game plan, Vex... the last thing we want is to look like a bunch of jesters." The Purple Mynci frowned. His plan consisted of a 3+1 formation, seeing as they posed more of a physical presence on the field. Advisor Hadrak was in goal (mainly as he didn't really want to be there at all) with Master Vex the sole defender. Team Captain Galgarroth would be leading the attack, with Jhudora on his right and Commander Haskol on his left.

     His opposition number, Lisha, had an equally well thought out game plan that she had managed to explain during Team Meridell's brief training session earlier on. They would be going for a fluid 2+2 formation, which would change to a 3+1 or 1+3 given the situation to take advantage of their team's higher agility. She would be in goal, with Kayla on the left of defence and Tormund on the right but pushing forward when the side went on the attack. Jeran would be leading the attack on the right, with Illusen up front on the left but falling back when need be. The Scorchio Referee approached the Yellow Aisha, asking her who her Captain was as he needed to do the coin toss. When Lisha stated that it was to be Jeran, the dark blue Lupe interjected. "It would be an honour," he argued, bowing grandly, "to be led by our Lady, Illusen." The Earth Faerie giggled as Tormund and Kayla pushed him towards the Official. The Knight reluctantly accepted that he had been out voted.

     Flipping his golden Neopoint coin into the warm summer air, the Scorchio Referee did an admirable job to hear Galgarroth call out heads in the cacophony of horns and cheering. When the coin landed onto the sandy ground of the Colosseum with the regal profile of King Altador facing upwards, Jeran rued letting his counterpart make the call out of diplomatic appeasement. The crimson Grarrl chose the end of the field that allowed his team to play with the sun behind them, knowing that by the time of the second half the golden orb would be below the wall of the arena and out of their eyeline. Both teams took to their formations before the platform from below the arena's floor lifted up to reveal the normal Yooyu they'd be using. (By Psellia's orders, they were all to be normal Yooyus. For fairness.) The black and white striped uniformed official then blew his whistle and the first half began.

     Beating his counterpart to the Yooyu, Jeran scooped up the curled-up Petpet into his red and blue striped sling and made an immediate break towards the Citadel's attacking line with Illusen backing him up. Ducking below the oncoming Galgarroth, the dark blue Lupe looked towards his fellow forward. The Earth Faerie attempted to dodge her purple haired rival on foot only to be unceremoniously hurled to the ground by the Dark Faerie in an obvious foul. The Referee blew up immediately to award Team Meridell a free kick outside of the Citadel's penalty area and, looking on from his position in the Royal Box, Lord Darigan was left to wonder whether or not his last minute decision to allow Jhudora to represent his realm would damage his fragile political ties with Queen Fyora of Faerieland.

     The following passage of play, although much admired by the cheering fans as showing both teams' passion for the occasion, was a scrappy affair. Having cleared the danger from the free kick, Haskol chose to throw his weight around the opposition's defence - quite literally. The ensuing fragmentation of both sides' formations led to a lot of to-ing and fro-ing with neither side retaining possession of the Yooyu for any meaningful period of time. Indeed, the poor Petpet had to be swapped during one of the throw-ins - on the advice of the PPL Advisor who attended all Altador Cup matches - after becoming particularly dizzy from all of the passes.

     Resulting from an argument caused by the dark purple Skeith clattering into his Dark Faerie teammate in a botched attempt on Lisha's goal, Team Meridell managed to regain their formation. Whilst an uneasy Team Darigan Citadel attempted to do the same, Tormund managed to wrestle the Yooyu from Haskol deep within his own half and made a break for Hadrak's goal with Jeran in tow. Passing the Petpet between each other, the Lupes zeroed in on their target. It was now two on two. Running around a vexed Vex, Jeran hurled the ball to his knightly comrade and Tormund blasted it into the back of the net as if the Green Mynci wasn't even there. The crowd went wild and Tormund quickly found himself at the bottom of a pile of his teammates.

     There was pandemonium in the Royal Box. Skarl, cheered more than by any of his Court Jesters, jumped from his Throne in sheer delight. His Personal Guards had never seen the Monarch so happy. ... So the gloating was to be expected. Pointing a drumstick at his counterpart, the Blue Skeith taunted, "HA! Did you see that, Darigan?! That is what MY Knights are capable of! The best in all of Neopia!!" To Psellia's understandable relief, the Korbat just frowned. It was only half way through the first half. On the field, Master Vex was already dissecting what had just happened. If only to cut off Galgarroth from criticising his tactics. His strategy was fine. As long as his teammates bothered to keep their shape. The Purple Mynci knew the war was far from over.

     Back in the centre circle, the Scorchio Referee blew his whistle to start the match once more. This time, it was Galgarroth's turn to swipe the normal Yooyu in his red and black Sling. He was about to pass the critter to Jhudora on his right... but things didn't quite go to plan. Once again, she tussled with Illusen - but this time it was the Dark Faerie who ended up in a pile on the floor. Exasperated, the Referee stopped the match for a foul - this time awarding the free kick to Darigan Citadel. Although Jeran was quick to plead the Earth Faerie's case with both the Official and frankly anypet else who would listen, Lisha opted to take a different stance. The Yellow Aisha switched her brother from the right to the left and Illusen vice versa - to the relief of probably everypet in the stadium.

     The first half ended as was to be expected, in a scrappy manner. With both teams lagging from lack of match preparedness, mistakes began to set in and passing became predictably sloppy. Although no further goals were to be scored, both teams had a couple of chances between them. Lisha managed to make a good save from a deflected shot from Galgarroth, whilst Hadrak managed to parry a powerful volley from the Earth Faerie. Overall at half-time though, Team Meridell had just edged it on chances created. When the Referee whistled for half-time, both sides dragged themselves off the field and onto their respective benches for a well-deserved break. It was all to play for in the second half. The bellowing crowds had performed arguably better and deserved their half-time Borovan.

     Lisha's half-time team talk pretty much wrote itself. "I can't fault anypet's performance in the first half, we've really showed them what we're made of!" chirped the Yellow Aisha, clearly happy given the physical difference between the two sides, "All we really need to do in the second half is keep at it. I know everypet is really tired but they are too and if we pinch another goal we should hopefully win this game." Her team were appreciative of the Spellcaster's words... but they were too weary to respond properly. Kayla, the self-appointed physiotherapist, was tending to an exhausted Illusen's feet - the Earth Faerie having not ran this much in years. Both the Knights weren't much better but the regular training they received at least meant Jeran and Tormund had some energy left.

     Vex was in a less upbeat mood. "Did any of you listen to a thing I said prior to the match, in the slightest?" he questioned, angrily. Galgarroth growled, not appreciating being lectured by somepet of lesser rank. "We are a bigger, stronger team - so long as we keep our shape and our formation we can dominate them on the field. We do not need to rely on any underpaw tactics." A glare was aimed at Jhudora but the Dark Faerie merely rolled her eyes. "They are playing a narrow, albeit changing, formation. We can crush them with our front line if you stay together. Blazing off by yourself is only asking for trouble." Another glare was thrown at Haskol but the dark purple Skeith stayed silent as he did his best to keep a lid on his temper. "We need to work together," the player-coach finished, "...and that of course includes you, Hadrak." The Green Mynci just grumbled to himself.

     It was at this point that Haskol elbowed his Captain in his ribs. The two of them had been discussing something during an opposition throw-in and the Skeith wanted it aired. Although not by him. Vex was more likely to veto it in that case. "You do realise," Galgarroth muttered carefully, so as not to be heard by anypet other than the bench, "that we will never again get this opportunity to make the Golden Boy of Meridell look like a fool." The Purple Mynci was listening. "And I'm sure that there isn't one of us here who wouldn't appreciate their Champion landing on his tail at some point in this match." Jhudora smirked. She was all for petty fouling. It was the only reason that she had risked her credibility as a Dark Faerie by joining this charitable endeavour. Winding up Illusen was always worthwhile.

     After a moment's quiet thought, player-coach Vex gave his decision. "Very well," he relented, if only to get his teammates back on his side, "I'll give you one foul on Jeran." Haskol grinned to himself. The Chief Jailer spotted this. "But do NOT hurt him. Am I making myself clear? Or you will be heading for an extended trip to my Dungeons." The Skeith's smile faded slightly. "The last thing we need is Sir Borodere injured and this Family Yooyuball Event turning into the third Meridell/Darigan War." The Purple Mynci crossed his arms. He meant it. Their two realms were in relative peace and the last thing he wanted was for that to be jeopardised by some petty points scoring. He just hoped his teammates would actually listen to him this time.

To be continued…