World Cup 77 - Roleplay Thread

by **Turori** » Wed Feb 22, 2017 6:30 pm

Turori in the News

Eels Park, Eelandii, Turori :: Despite still sitting in fourth place in a hyper-competitive Group 6 of World Cup 77 Qualifying, there is still a glimmer of hope for the Eels as they press on with four matchdays to go in the campaign.

Turori now find themselves just 2 points off the top and a win over leaders Eastfield Lodge would put the Eels back in the driver seat in control of their own qualification destiny.

With so many teams involved and so few points separating them, however, each minute of each match will most certainly be crucially important, long and drawn out.

With spots in the World Cup 77 finals already being wrapped up in many groups, the eyes of the multiverse are starting to focus in on Eastfield Lodge, Anglatia, Brenecia and Turori and the Octopus of Uncertainty that brews in Group 6.

Naturally the press in Anglatia are providing heavy cover of Group 6 events and became particularly confident in their nations chances after Anglatia defeated Turori 1-0 on Matchday 11. The match itself seemed headed for a goalless draw and nearly boiled over late in the match when Anglatian player Zahara Santana put her cleat straight into the chest of Turorian defender Tarek Edgeli. Despite the detriment in numbers, however, Anglatia pulled through in extra time to steal three points from the Eels. The Anglatia game winner came from Jace Votto and completely changed the face of the Group 6 table. Propelling Anglatia well into contention and relegation the Eels to 4th in the standings.

In Eastfield Lodge they are also celebrating the Eels struggles of late but are still weary of the fact that the Turori National Team, now 4th in the battle, will be as hungry as ever when the two teams face each other knowing that anything less than a victory for Turori could make the mountain too tall to climb over the final matchdays.

Turori and Eastfield Lodge will clash on Matchday 15. If one team should emerge victorious they will certainly have to like their chances of booking a ticket to San José Guayabal and the Royal Kingdom of Quebec. For a team that loses, nothing short of three victories to close out qualification, in addition to help from their rivals, could salvage their campaign at that point.

Cednia Beach Center, Cednia, Turori :: Cednia Beach AFC and Turori National Team Associate Assistant of Player Analysis and Oversight Ha'asontii Whalera'a has reportedly applied for the Assistant Manager position at the Imperial Anglatian Football Federation. Whalera'a, an accredited Psychologist was able to basically invent his own position at the club that has been in the Whalera'a family for generations. After the successes in applying the 'specialty sciences' in domestic competition, Ha'asontii Whalera'a began traveling with the Turori National Team to provide similar guidance for his nations players. During the World Cup 75 campaign, Whalera'a also began analysis of opposition teams and his contributions, while not acknowledged publicly, are believe to have been crucial in the Turori National Teams perfect unbeaten record leading up to the Cup of Harmony championship.

Whalera'a believes he is uniquely qualified for the position in Anglatia due to his experience analyzing the nations players in the 65th Cup of Harmony and throughout the World Cup 77 Qualifying Campaign. Additionally, as the Turori National Team have already contested all of their matches against Anglatia for this cycle, Whalera'a believes there would be no conflict of interest for either side. While Whalera'a will still always be committed to bettering his families domestic interests at Cednia Beach AFC, he is also quoted as saying he didn't want to "Live his whole life in Turori, and woulend't mind spending some time outside of Atlantian Oceania.

by **Amnarei-asud** » Wed Feb 22, 2017 6:31 pm

It was something of an apology, really.

All along, practically from the first moment he'd been told about Saab's rant on the eve of the Baptism final, Al-Tanaka had told The Hood that he should go to the museum. The Hood had, of course, argued back, and fairly so in many respects; for why should a man who had come to realise that nobody in this country had any memory that dated back beyond eight or nine years expect a museum to hold any answers? Artefacts were nothing without explanation, after all, and who would be doing the explaining? Unless it was a well-informed foreigner, forbidden in the country and probably impossible by the President Sheikh's logic and opinion of the world beyond the island's shores, The Hood was likely to be out of luck. In fact, for most sensible reasoning, the idea of pursuing the two men in this country who seemed to acknowledge the existence of the wider world or a history beyond a decade was a decent idea.

It was just The Hood's misfortune that the two men in question happened to be a fraud in the first instance, and a dangerous and powerful paranoid narcissist who had locked up Al-Tanaka in the second. Neither appeared to have any more memory than anyone else. Rarely had there been a more apt national motto than Amnarei-asud's The Land of No Memory, pondered The Hood to himself as he walked down the formal Central Boulevard.

With the flashiest and most symbolic of the Presidential palaces at one end, and the National Senate building at the other, most of the embassy and governmental offices of note lined this route through the centre of Ain Salah's business district. The Old Town lay off to the west, and to the east lay the cliffs that housed The Rock, the national stadium that The Hood had seen Sato's Fennecs - his Fennecs - outperform their wildest expectations time and time again already.

Central Boulevard was designed with the aim of parading missile launchers down it, and it was wide and drenched in sunlight. At this time of day, there was precious little shade, and The Hood had realised quickly that skittering from portico to portico as he walked down the street wasn't going to be dignified, and indeed would probably draw more attention to him. Instead, he'd worn an extra large robe that day and kept the hood low and hanging freely. Moving at a steady pace, he headed towards his destination.

In one pocket was the tatty piece of paper on which he'd written Saab's rant was nestling, well-worn and read over and over again. In the other pocket was a much crisper piece of paper, one that had arrived that morning by way of return express mail from the headquarters of the WCC in Audioslavia.

"To whom it may concern,

Thank you for your letter concerning the allegations made towards the whereabouts of the Chairman of the FAAa, one Kerim Al-Tanaka.

Unfortunately, the WCC does not recognise the position he currently holds as head of fitness aboard a military training craft as one of imprisonment. Even if that were the case, the WCC would not consider adopting a position of criticising foreign governments for prosecuting their criminals according to their own legal procedures.

It is the opinion of the WCC that the Amnarei-asud administration has not interefered with the FAAa's dealings in the ongoing World Cup Qualification cycle, and we now consider the matter closed.

Kind Regards,
Official WCC Spokesperson
ENDS."

It had been a long shot, and one that The Hood had attempted almost out of shame than hope. With the rejection had come not just the realisation that his main ally was going to continue his incarceration by proxy, but that it had been mostly The Hood's fault for being so headstrong and ill-prepared during that attempt on the President Sheikh's suite.

It had been his fault, by and large, and The Hood was fast realising that running like a coward from the truth within the corners of his own mind wasn't helping anyone. He needed to bite the bullet and accept that he'd done this. He may not have created the situation, but he'd affected it by his actions.

And so it was that he'd decided that day to take the plunge and try what it was that Al-Tanaka had suggested. He'd debriefed Sato and the side on the tactics for their next match, and left them to it. He was confident they'd make a good job of it, but he wouldn't be there.

Instead, he was here.

Reaching his destination, The Hood turned in the heat of the day and looked up at the sign outside the building he'd come to shake down for answers, or a point in the right direction at the very least.

The Amnarei-asud Museum of Antiquities.

And then, in red spray paint underneath, some witty graffiti artist had scrawled the addition, "...we think."

The Hood shrugged, too weary to appreciate the humour. It would have to do. It was his last resort. He clutched the tatty piece of paper on which he'd written Saab's rant, and entered the building more out of hope than expectation.

No, not hope; atonement.

by **Valanora** » Wed Feb 22, 2017 7:21 pm

OOC: Responding to this.

Dear Juan Tzimisces,

I am glad to be considered an ally and to have had such an established amount of the Imperial Court's attention with my latest correspondence, it is among the highest of honors that you can bestow upon me. I can understand the respect that one might have for precedent and the traditions of the Court, but I do not like I am remiss in saying that this passage of time and the events transpiring are without a precedent in of itself. While tradition and precedent do have their uses and should be respected when the time calls for it, I believe you and the Imperial Court have made the right decision in moving on in face of the precedents that have been set before you. It is a boon to all realities that this decision has been made such that it has been.

I have indeed found the attached coordinates from your latest letter and have read of your description of this planet as well as its inhabitants. It does seem an easy task to undertake, one in which I will have to proceed blind and against all the odds against me. It would seem that all the forces that the universe can send against me shall be standing between me and my objective. This is acceptable, for if not such high stakes or the elevation of our obstacles, then this would not be a fair engagement in the least, for the divine do not so easily be felled by the likes of mere mortals or mundies as I believe I have seen you made mention of those of the "ordinary reality" as you put it.

This is likely to be the last correspondence between us for the foreseeable future, for upon the ending of this letter I am set to take upon the task that you have provided. I wish you continued success in your ongoing efforts of protection against these forces of darkness, that our reality may yet survive and not succumb to the darkness. My blades shall soon pierce the shroud and illuminate these places in the void of blackness that this world and they shall know pain if what you say is true. They shall rue the day that they colluded with the forces that dared to set their sights against the protected worlds of a deity of protection and the hunt. May the light of the Lady Gladerial be upon you should we not speak again.

Sincerely In the Eternal Servitude of the Light,
Elune

by **Chromatika** » Wed Feb 22, 2017 7:29 pm

Match 14: Krytenia 1-2 Chromatika

Lineup @ Krytenia: Thorben; Morningstar - Stef - Aart - Ellen (Damjana '66); Montague - Liam; Rien (Niro '71) - Sybill - Antonio (C) (Dragana '87); Andisori.

Goalscorers: Montague '66 (assisted by Andisori), Dragana '90+1 (assisted by Montague)

A late killer from Dragana was the difference in Emberton as the Chromatiks defeated the Dragons by a score of two to one. Valrauncion once again struck first, getting through the Chromatik defense like a hot knife through butter, leaving Nikolai dumbfounded with a spectacular overhead kick that made the highlight reel of any football channel. The Chromatiks didn't even blink, though, and settled down. After the halftime whistle, Silian Parker worked his magic, and after Aysu Damjana was subbed in in the sixty-sixth, Keira Andisori found Alyss Montague lurking about the one-third line on the Krytenian side, and the resounding volley from her tied the game. The Krytenians after that buckled down, trying to salvage the point; Jazmin Dragana, though, came off the bench in the eighty-seventh, and finding herself in a soft spot around the penalty box, buried a shot deep in the first minute of stoppage time that completed the Chromatik revenge of the finals of the AOCAF and put the team in a marvelous position to qualify.

Lineup vs. HUElavia: Ria; Ilya - Sorendai - Aart - Damjana; Montague - Lucas; Rien - Sybill - Dragana; Victoriane (C).

Heading into this day of matches, most eyes will be on the Red Blackiland - Krytenia match, as if Red Blackiland wins that one and the Chromatiks take care of business against HUElavia, the Chromatiks will qualify. Otherwise, a win will nonetheless make it an eight point gap with nine points to go, and there is also the fact that HUElavia was the nation that took the first points off of the Chromatiks. Interesting enough, Parker has decided to start both Luuk Aart and Alyss Montague, along with Trenn Rien; Hellion's ankle injury means Sybill will continue to fill in. Rachel is recovering faster than expected, but they aren't rushing things. The fact that Alyss Montague and Kaytlyne Victoriane will be on the pitch at the same time is an instant draw, as they are both exciting players for the future of the Chromatik squad. Parker would love to have the Qualification wrapped up before the game against Taeshan so that he could continue to rest his starters, but in order for that to happen, business must be taken care of against HUElavia. Expect the Chromatiks to continue to play hard, and grab the win.

Disclaimer: I am writing this with Northern Sunrise Islands's blessing. All credits of the PokéCards and whatnot go to him.

As Yeso approached the town of Sportsville the morning after, she gave a grimace. It was not her favorite place, despite all the sneaking she did to keep an eye on Sunrise and his gang. There were too many people, too many memories, and the place was too loud. That being said, finding her Glaceon that was from PIS was important enough to brave it all, just like keeping an eye on Sunrise had been important enough. It didn't help that she had already called attention to herself around the town by going to the hospital to get some blood previously. Mostly, she wandered once she stopped competing in Pokémon matches, not bothering to stop in one place for too long; fate had decreed that she would not be able to do that now.

In the outskirts of town, not too far from the hospital where she had gotten blood from, she found the precinct's Police Station. It wasn't big - it was near the edge of the forest, after all - but it was thankfully open very early in the morning. The sun was beginning to peek its head over the horizon, and the glare made Yeso wince. It would be best if she got this over with and retreated to some shadowy building. As much as she had tried, the sunlight was still a bit harsh to her.

She went up to the counter of the police station, relieved to note that a female officer was on duty. She noticed the approaching girl and stopped typing at her computer.

"How can I help you, Miss?" the officer said politely, a bit surprised by Yeso's appearance and white hair, "Lost someone?"

Thankful that she didn't look like a little girl who had lost her parents, forever stuck at the age of twenty, Yeso replied, "I'd like to report a missing Pokémon. She's a Glaceon, with a distinctive blue and white neckerchief around her neck. I lost her near the edge of the forest, there was a big commotion and in the midst of it I think she got lost, we were all running away. I'd like you to put out a bulletin for her, that I am looking for her. Can you help me?"

The officer's eyes narrowed, and she stated, "What kind of commotion? It's not easy to lose a Glaceon... They're smart, they're fast, and they're loyal. What happened out there that you got separated from such a Pokémon like that?"

Yeso sighed, resigned to her fate, before lying, rather convincingly, "I'm not sure. There was a herd of Pokémon running by, causing almost a stampede. I think it originated from a building that I saw come down to the ground. She's a rather important Glaceon, could you help me find her, please? There was a big group of Pokémon escaping the building, and we got separated..."

Well, she wasn't exactly lying. She'd made sure before they rested for the night that there would be enough tracks and such of Pokémon moving that if the officer double-checked her story, she would be inclined to believe. Yveltal stomping with Gliscor carrying around various shaped rocks that Yeso had previously made helped make that happen. Rock carving was a very useful hobby sometimes.

By this time, the officer was convinced enough. "All right, Miss," she acquiesced, "I'll help you put these up around town. A female Glaceon, with a blue and white handkerchief tied around her neck. Should I tell them to bring her here, or somewhere else?"

"Here will be fine," Yeso said, bowing and leaving quickly. The officer didn't even notice until she had typed up the information.

"What a strange girl," she said, printing out a lot of the fiyers.

And so, fliers about the Glaceon started to circulate around Sportsville...

And Yeso went off to the forest to rest and to pray to Zaiden that the Glaceon was all right. She had no idea it was being pampered out of love by Sunrise's family...

by **Pasarga** » Wed Feb 22, 2017 7:37 pm

"Do you think that we perhaps have done the wrong thing in throwing our lot in with the Eurans? The conflict that they have with Sameba as well as some of their other international politics have been quite concerning, regardless of the help that they have provided in getting our infrastructure, economy, and armed forces more up to date with the rest of the world."

"Well it is not like we can back out of it now, we're nine years in into a twenty year arrangement of political and military support for them in exchange for their modernization assistance. While I do trust King Jakub's judgement, as he was merely following through on an idea for stronger regional ties that Queen Julia had, I do wonder if the costs of being locked in with the Eurans is worth the benefits. While the economy has slowly but steadily improved over the last six years, once the Eurans helped with new roads, rail, and even port procedures and dockyards, it is still hard to tell if it is all worth the while. No Pasargan troops have been sent in in support of Eura during their conflict, though even if they had been I am not sure how much good they would have done, but the fact that Eura could call upon us at any moment and we would be expected to respond with our men and women putting their lives on the line in conflicts that are perhaps not even remotely justified is quite concerning."

"Who would we turn to though? Sargossa is as mad in the military as the Eurans but do not show the same restraint as our allies. Valladares? That is the sort of domestic mess that was even worse than our own when the Queen and her Consort died due to the plague, that saw the Euran upon the throne for a small time before he to fell ill and died. Electrum? They lack the spine to stand up against any challenge that they are not completely confident that they can overcome. No, as much as a risk as it might be to be allies and dependent upon the Eurans, they were the only logical choice for our nation as we attempt to modernize, any other choice would have been madness and likely not on as good as terms as we got."

"I suppose you have a point, though that then raises the question of what will happen when the agreement does come to an end in eleven years. Will we still be allies, will the Eurans still be subsidizing our modernization efforts, will we still be providing the food that keeps Eura's population from going hungry through the cold winters?"

"All good questions but they are questions we can not possibly know the answer to right now, for there are too many variables still left in play to have even the slightest of clues as to how it might play out over the next decade. Suffice to say that we are in a good but not great position currently and so long as the balance is still equal, then we shall have no need to fear for our commitments or theirs to us."

by **Flardania** » Wed Feb 22, 2017 7:47 pm

Opening Theme

Bonjour et Ohayōgozaimasu Kirishima. Welcome back to the World Cup 77 Qualifiers edition of the Kitsune Report, brought to you by the Nagatomo Sports Network (NSN), sponsored by Air Pacifica An experience that exceeds the skies of time, and Pocari Surge Feel the Surge. Here at the Kitsune Report, it's all about Kirishinan sports but right now the main focus lies on world cup football and the namesake of the report, the Kitsunes. With Matchday fourteen completed, it's time to see how the Kitsunes did and get grooving once more to some world cup football!

The Mercenary Islands 0-2 Kirishima Review:

In the previous match, the Kitsunes returned home for a match at the Aincrad against Brigantii. The Kitsunes were returning home with a three-game win streak with their win against Mriin and sought to make it four straight against Brigantii another team they drew against in a previous match. The matchup was not only a marquee match because of the tight positioning but because of the politics involved. The situation was following Brigantii's match against Mriin (after facing Kirishima) Brigantiian Football Association announced they would only be playing competitive matches against teams of professional, all-male, humans. On top of that, the Brigantii Against Freaks movement appeared within the nation, harassing teams and fans that did not fit their vision. Understandably when the Stags visited Zipangu Island, (an island that those have a non-human population) and faced the Kitsunes which is a co-ed team, Kirishima had a chip on their shoulder.

The Kitsunes played aggressively and locked up a 3-1 win with the first goal being scored by Renée Guidice who went on to have a provocative goal celebration with her female counterparts as a statement towards the opposition Football Association. After the match the opposition manager Norman Atkins had this to say:

“I think it shows disrespect to our players and our fans. We have come here to play a game of football and have been treated crassly by our hosts.”

Before the game with the Mercenary Islands, Midfielder Akiho Ubukata had this to say:
"What Guidice did was a regular goal celebration at home. I'm sorry that Atkins got his feelings hurt but I hope his football association knows that their position hurts people like me, a female and part non-human [half-Succubus] much more. If that was treating them crassly, then they are doing something much worse."

The Kitsunes did not allow themselves to look lost despite not knowing where they were, in fact, the game was non-televised due to the ominous secrecy of their opponents. While knowing nothing about their opponents were a weakness the last time the two played, this time the Kitsunes were much more prepared. The Kitsunes played cautiously as they wanted to get a feel of their opponents capabilities. The team had shot attempts in the 7' 21' and 33' which were all unsuccessful. Unfortunately, we have no data on who and when the opposition had attempted. The Kitsunes would strike in the second half, in the 60' with a free kick good for a goal by Ako Izumi and in the 74' by Sayo Matsuoka from the penalty area after a pass from Yabuta. Final score The Mercenary Islands 0 and Kirishima 2. Kitsunes have nearly won every game they had drew previously but now the hardest one of those ties and the team in second Sameba sits in wait. This will be an important game for both teams.

Following the match, a focused Seong Mi-Soo had this to say once arriving back in Kirishima. "This was a strange and difficult match. We did not know where we were, who we were playing and whether something would happen to us should we win. I'm glad we got the win and that we are back home safe. Our next match is quite possibly the main event. Our opponents, Sameba are a point ahead of us and we would both like to get a win before either of us faces Valanora. We will be counting on our fans in Imgeum so that they can give us an edge."

The Mercenary Islands 0 - 2 Kirishima 
                                A. Izumi(60')
                                S. Matsuoka(74')

Kirishima v Sameba Preview:

The Kitsunes have been off to a terrific second half of qualifiers by winning every single game confirming a return to form. If there ever was a legitimate threat and roadblock to the Kitsunes qualification hopes, it is this one, not the one against Valanora. The Kitsunes are a point below Sameba so this match means a lot and the Kitsunes can't afford to draw again or worse yet lose. The Kitsunes have winnable games against Ancharmunn and Tomikosan but also has the challenge of undefeated Valanora on the calendar. Sameba also still has Valanora on the calendar and Brigantii is still in pursuit. Fans are certainly taking heart medicine wishing that the team did not put itself in this position but what is done is done. The Kitsunes return home to play at the Dayangseong stadium in Imgeum and will seek to take advantage of playing at home. The Kitsunes need to stay focus but still remember the passion and fun of the game that made them good and whose rediscovery has helped them so far. Until next time, Lets Go Kitsunes!

Post by: Keita Woo

by **San Jose Guayabal** » Wed Feb 22, 2017 8:14 pm

It's your day to kill the King!

Matchday Fifteen Cutoff

by **Damukuni** » Wed Feb 22, 2017 8:28 pm

"NXT" secret headquarters, location undisclosed. 24 hours after the kidnapping of the NBC Damukuni anchors.

"Yorick!" A tall, bearded man summoned one of his most trusted operatives to his side.

"Yes, Commander Furon?" Yorick, small for his age (twenty-nine years) yet agile and dependable, saluted his superior.

"Bring me our detainees at once."

"Yes, sir."

The "detainees" were roused from their slumber, made to dress in orange coveralls, and marched to Commander Furon's office, where they were shackled to chairs.

Furon eyed his captives with a pensive look on his face. After maybe fifteen seconds, he turned to Yorick. "Release their restraints, but stay in the room in case they try anything funny."

Yorick complied, but retired to the doorway with an uneasy look on his face.

Furon did not look back at his young protégé, but looked rather at the faces of the frightened man and woman seated in front of him. Choosing a rather alternate route for these two, instead of just the usual reaction of dragging a finger across his throat, he opened his mouth and addressed them directly.

"Miss Knowlton, Mr. Noboyuki," he started. Neither responded to him. Whether it was out of fear or unfamiliarity, he could not discern. Fine, he thought. I'll let them play this out on their own.

"You're probably wondering how we know who you are," he said. Still no response.

A look of anger was beginning to cross itself onto Furon's face, but he managed to restrain himself.

"Are your tongues tied up, too?" Furon finally asked. Yorick thought it was out of an attempt to lighten the mood, rather than from the angry look that continued to manifest itself.

Noboyuki finally managed to muster out a "Sir..."

"Yes...?" Furon questioningly glanced at the man.

Noboyuki didn't respond. Knowlton opened her mouth, trying to be brave. "He means to ask what you want with us."

Furon immediately snapped back at her: "Did I ask you?!"

Knowlton blinked back tears. Furon thought about his crass reaction for a moment, and replied, "I'm sorry. I meant to hear from your colleague."

He continued: "My name is Commander Furon, of the National Exposition for Totalitarianism. In your news careers, you may have heard of or referred to us as NXT." He paused to let that sink into the minds of his captives.

Noboyuki finally found his voice. Trying to hide his desperation, he asked: "What are you going to do with us?"

Furon thought for a moment, and said, "That remains solely your decision."

Neither spoke. Furon continued: "Our mission is to create a righteous and communal state for all in the protectorate of South Dre. You may have noticed that we have planted our ideologies in several cities along the southern coast of the territory."

It was Knowlton's turn to ask: "You said that in 72 hours something was going to happen to us."

Furon looked at her. "I did?"

"Yes..."

"That must have been an awful mistake by one of my newer hires. Yorick, send in the hire on the tape reel."

The "hire," whom the captives recognised from the newsroom, was presently escorted into the room, chained to two guards.

"Yorick, please show our captives what happens to them if they refuse to accompany us on our launch to the planet Sonnel."

Yorick immediately barked an order to force the new hire to his knees, which the guards executed with little protest. He then proceeded to draw a Class II proto-calibrated plasma pistol, place the barrel next to the new hire's head, and pulled the trigger. The new hire twitched twice and then collapsed to the floor, dead.

"Dispose of the body accordingly," Furon ordered the guards.

As soon as they were gone, Furon turned back to his captives. "So, with that said, will you or will you not be accompanying us to Sonnel to take up the roles of our special media czars there?"

by **Drawkland** » Wed Feb 22, 2017 8:43 pm

KICK CORPS PLAYER BIOGRAPHIES
It's come to our attention that many people don't know a lot about Kick Corps players outside of what they've seen on the international stage. We feel that this is unfair to the players and thus, we want to showcase them a little of our players' history, personality, personal life, and of course, playing style. Maybe this will help future opponents or scouts understand our players more and lead to a brighter and better future for Drawkland in soccer.

Pft, nahh. Anyway, we'll be progressing along through the lineup, starting with the Starters and then going into the Reserves. Once we finish the current lineup this series will obviously cease, but we'll release a new installment every time new players are called up to the team.

Part 5: Jackie Crawford, Cam Cross

JACKIE CRAWFORD
Age: 21 Position: Left Forward Corps Number: 8

Jackie Crawford was born to Clark Crawford and Sandy North Crawford in the small city of Zarinon. Being a small town, it obviously didn't have the best facilities for sporting or really, for anything, but Sandy, being a semi-pro soccer player in her younger days, and Clark, a sports trainer for the local high school, both ensured that Jackie would grow up to be a fantastic player. Playing since her young youth, Jackie instantly picked up striking and utterly dominated the competition in gym class and in the weekend park soccer games. When she grew a bit older and went on to high school (Gerry Hatt High School, the same one at which her dad worked), she continued to be an insanely good force in the game. Word traveled fast, and when she led her team to a district championship twice and to two consecutive Territorial Tournament appearances, she gained a lot of attention. Especially from a tiny town in the Katrasong District of Iarocavet which was obviously underfunded, this was a huge deal. She was a favorite for advancing into the upper echelons of the DLK almost immediately, but shockingly, instead accepted an offer from Eastern Stars of the Isles of Avon, for what was quoted as "personal reasons." We assume it was a want to see the world or some malarkey, but we can't say it didn't pay off. After a couple seasons there, she's now been recently transferred to the Matthew Mets of the prestigious Northern Sunrise Islands.

Despite how she made huge waves around the northern areas of Drawkland during her high school tenure, Jackie isn't actually a very flashy player, or at least that's how it seems. She's merely a really solid and reliable player who remains consistently cool under pressure and doesn't try to showboat herself into the spotlight, instead preferring to highlight herself by making simple and deadly effective plays. Hell, she was the first (and to date, only) Drawkian player to score in an international penalty shootout. Her finishing ability is unmatched and she has a way with easily worming through defenders without super abrasive maneuvers. Discipline on the pitch is also what she prides, as she holds a record for least cards shown on average, and seems to be keen on keeping it. She is, at heart, a strategist, and would make a really good captain for a team if she wasn't overshadowed by simply higher-level players (highlighted in her comparison to Ellzidan and such). Her background in being trained not only in skill but in mental field dexterity is the likely contributor to this, and it looks like she won't stop anytime soon. Even though she's only 21, she gives off the vibe of experience outranking players a decade older than her. A bright future for her is what we see.

Jackie is not exactly excessively impressive in any physiological category, as she's more of a midway force. She is slightly taller and heavier than the average player, but this is mainly reflected in her field presence than actual physio. She has long black hair, a bit dull rather than shiny. It's generally straight though, not curly, and she wears it in a loose ponytail both on and off the field, sometimes a braid on special occasions. She's more of a quiet authoritative figure, and talks generally only when talked to or when she has something very important to say. In addition to that, details of her personal life at the moment are hard to come by, but she is assumed to still be living at her parent's home in Zarinon. After all, she is still a young player. She hasn't gone to college, preferring to pursue her sports career unfettered, but she said in a interview directly after signing for the Stars cycles ago that she intended to continue her education once her career was over.

CAM CROSS
Age: 20 Position: Right Forward Corps Number: 22

Cam Cross, the youngest player currently on the Drawkian national team, was born to Jerry Cross and Jade Ernst Cross in none other than Drawk City itself in Iarocavet's Metro District. The huge and hectic cultural capital of Drawkland and perhaps even Sonnel was hard to gain attention in, but Cam still did it. It's odd, really: her father Jerry is a non-physical accountant and Jade actually disliked sports until she met Jerry and he talked her into at least watching important matches with him. However, after a day at a Youth Camp in the summer in which they played some casual soccer, Cam became obsessed and nagged her parents to let her play it more once she was back home. And under this she thrived, eventually playing for her high school (Old Mountain High School, up close to Old Mountain University on the north side of Drawk City) and getting better and better each day. She started as rather mediocre, being benched half the time on the freshman team, but she worked day and night for all 5 years of high school to improve herself until she was the star starter of the varsity. With help from the fellow strikers on the Old Mountain team, the team won the City championship (sometimes described as the Unofficial National Final due to the nature and skill of Drawk City school sides), although they choked in the regional tournament. However, in their first match of the regional tournament which they won, Jaffro Storm agents were in attendance, and seeing the potential and already-budding skill of Cam, decided to send her an offer literally the day she graduated. She accepted, and ascended to the league at the very young age of 20.

It was no mistake that she was called up to the national team for the Independents Cup and Baptism of Fire. Michael Starre himself observed her during an early DLK match of Lights vs Storm, and he knew she would be a great fit for the Kick Corps. She, unlike Jackie, is very fond of the flashy and impressive plays, quickly becoming a connoisseur of trick kicks and physical moves to fake out defenders. She also has a natural, generally unspoken-of talent of reading goalkeepers excessively well, and it's mainly from this she's gained a starting position and already many goals for the Corps. She's not really good at defending as we can tell, which really explains why she's a striker and not a midfielder or some such. We can't speak for her discipline and endurance as she hasn't actually played in that many matches on the professional stage, but we're sure she'll continue to be a consistent force day in and day out.

Cam has raven black hair which she wears short, not necessarily in a bob but too short to really do anything else with. She's also shorter, not due to age we think, just her natural height, but the lower center of gravity still allow her to move quite quickly around the pitch. She's also not a knockout by any means but is definitely a more attractive face on the Corps lineup. She's clearly a humorous figure, and a bit of a more immature yet endearing persona among the players and press. As far as personal life, she's still quite young and thus she doesn't have any much information on her. She still obviously lives at her childhood home, and we're not positive but we think she's still with her boyfriend that she dated in high school. Not that we have any solid information of course. We asked around Old Mountain High when we couldn't ask Cam directly.

by **Mercedini** » Thu Feb 23, 2017 3:28 am

Newsdesk: 23/02/17
@ Collatis National Stadium - Collatia, Collatis

Hello and Welcome to today's edition of Newsdesk, where we give you all the developing stories around the multiverse, broadcasting in Mercedini and across the multiverse. Today, our producers have allowed us a couple of days out of the office as we're now in Collatis where their match against Mercedini have just ended. Plenty of interesting developing news stories for today, so we will immediately kick off the news with something that is dominating the headlines, Mercedini's World Cup Qualification campaign.

World Cup Qualification: Goals Galore Leave Mercedini On The Brink

FINAL SCORE
WCQ | MD13
S&WR 2
MERCEDINI 5
Uber'am Ruhntuhnkuhn,
S&WR

Mercedini entered the final stretch of matches with an emphatic 5-2 victory in Schutzenphalia & West Ruhntuhnkuhnland which gave them plenty of confidence as they entered their juggernaut match against Vilita. Goals from Chillotov, Billic and Nymark gave the visitors a 3-1 lead in the national stadium of S&WR, giving the visiting fans plenty to cheer about as both teams entered the tunnel for half-time. With Bjarnasson managing the national team since the team's inception, it seems to everyone involved with the Mercedinian national team has clicked which has lead to the Golden Eagles pushing for their first appearance ever at a World Cup, after participating in the Cup of Harmony in their two previous cycles. Last time against S&WR, Mercedini put 5 past the team who they are playing today so there was plenty of anticipation of a goal-fest here today. At half-time, it certainly looked that way. When the teams came out for the second half, Mercedini looked up for the match once again and looked to secure another three points after their first half performance gave them plenty of confidence. Further goals from Crasic and a second from Chilltov meant Mercedini put five past S&WR again, and giving the impression that it was going to be a carbon copy of the reverse fixture. A consolation goal from one of the Schutzenphalians gave the home fans something to shout about but the match was long since over. The referee blew his whistle for the end of the match, Mercedini had picked up yet another win with a comprehensive 5-2 reverse victory over a team who were already eliminated from proceedings.

FINAL SCORE
WCQ | MD14
MERCEDINI 4
VILITA 5
Zoloroni, Mercedini

Mercedini couldn't do to Vilita what Vilita did to Mercedini as the visiting team took three points from the Sports City Stadium in a 5-4 victory which saw goal rain down for both teams. Both nations knew that this would likely define where the teams would place in the group and with the chasing pack only five points behind, at least one of these teams would be under pressure from the chasing pack at the conclusion of the match. Bjarnasson elected to field his ever-so reliable team with Billic and Chillotov upfront, keen to avenge their rather embarrassing 5-1 defeat in the reverse fixture against these teams. Goals rained down in the first half with both teams scoring three times in the opening half to give a rather ridiculous half-time score line of 3-3. The half-time scores from around the multiverse in Group 12 gave both teams a bit of rest bite as they calculated that the chasing pack were all dropping points, meaning the pressure was off for now. The second half came upon us with the Mercedinians and Vilitans hoping for a second half which mirrored the first. Three more goals were scored in the second half with Vilita scoring two early goals in the second half giving the visitors a 5-3 lead before Billic completed his hattrick to give the hosts a fourth goal but it was too little too late for Mercedini as they recorded their second loss of the campaign and ensured Vilita did the double over Mercedini. A disappointing loss for the Golden Eagles but they took solace in the fact that pretty much all of their immediate rivals beneath them dropped points as well, meaning Mercedini were let off the hook once again.

FINAL SCORE
WCQ | MD15
COLLATIS 0
MERCEDINI 1
Collatia, Collatis

So, we come to today with Mercedini within touching distance of the World Cup after their narrow 1-0 victory in Collatia, Collatis. The lone goal of the match was scored very early on by Chilltov in the 9th minute. A low cross from Presic was flicked on by the Hoventon & Corlington Town man before rolling into the net, time went in slow motion as the ball went through many players before beating the despairing dive of the of the Collatian goalkeeper and nestling in the bottom corner of the net. The atmosphere was significantly lower than previous matches due to many of the home sets not being filled while a decent turnout from the Mercedinian fans ensured that the chanting was evenly matched between the two teams. Chances came and chances went, but ultimately Mercedini clung onto their one goal lead in what was a particularly drab match between a serious challenger and another team which was already eliminated from the World Cup. At the end of the match, it finished Collatis 0, Mercedini 1. Other results mean that Mercedini only need one point to guarantee their spot at the most prestigious footballing tournament in the multiverse!

   Group 12                                  Pld    W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts     H     A 
 1 Vilita                                     15   11   4   0    38   16  +22    37    4-5   1-5
 2 Mercedini                                  15   10   3   2    34   21  +13    33
 3 Savalen                                    15    7   4   4    41   31  +10    25    4-3   1-0
 4 West Angola                                15    7   4   4    30   22   +8    25     -    0-0
 5 Gadirya                                    15    7   3   5    22   18   +4    24    0-0   2-1
 6 Prusy Krolewskie                           15    5   5   5    25   21   +4    20     -    1-0
 7 Kitsunia-Deesse                            15    4   5   6    28   30   −2    17    2-0   3-2
 8 Schutzenphalia and West Ruhntuhnkuhnland   15    4   1  10    13   34  −21    13    5-1   5-2
 9 Kernovi                                    15    1   6   8    15   31  −16     9    3-0    -
10 Collatis                                   15    0   3  12    14   36  −22     3    2-2   1-0

MSL Champion's League Spots To Be Decided Via Exhibition League

With the Hockey Champion's League deadline in a couple of weeks, it poses a large dilemma for the head honchoes running the Mercedinian Super League. With the transfer window still wide open and with teams still deliberating over players and coaches. It seems that the MSL will miss out on the four lucrative Champion's League spots on offer for teams in the MSL. It has come to our attention that the MSL will put through emergency resolutions in the shape of an Exhibition League to ensure the league in completed and the correct admin papers are sent out in time for the next Champion's League. Predictions have already been placed and it's anticipated that the Zoloroni City Icers and HK Dynamo Shebchetsik will be the ones to claim the CL spots but there is still two spots up for grabs and absolutely no one knows who they will go to. The Champion's League will provide lucrative funding for what is already a rich league in Hockey terms. The Exhibition League is set to begin today with results and CL spots to be decided in a couple of days time. It should be a close race, so watch this space!

That's all from us after what has been a crazy couple of days for Mercedinian sport. We hope you all have you fingers and toes crossed for their next match against West Angola, where Mercedini could wrap up their Qualification campaign and secure their first ever appearance at a World Cup, it could be a momentous occasion. So we hope you can join us then! From Collatis, goodnight!

by **Jeruselem** » Thu Feb 23, 2017 4:29 am

Prince Ellis and Chloe Dallas after Jeruselem drew with Witty Penguins at home 1-1

Ellis: Hey babe, how are things
Chloe: I'm fine, but you got yourself sent off
Ellis: I did but it wasn't my fault
Chloe: What you mean it wasn't your fault
Ellis: People misunderstand me
Chloe: Yeah, calling a referee a pedo isn't exactly something you do every day

Ellis: He misheard me
Chloe: How many times have you been sent off in the Jeruselem Premier League for Jeru FC?
Ellis: Err, I lost count of those.
Chloe: Don't you have any self control
Ellis: It's mum's fault, she gave me her temper ya know
Chloe: It is not, your sister has the same problem but she never gets sent off

Ellis: That's because she's scary when she's not happy
Chloe: You got sent off and we nearly lost the game because of you
Ellis: I was doing alright
Chloe: I dunno, you were missing scoring shots.
Ellis: We didn't lose
Chloe: We should have fucking won the fucking game ya twat, we needed to win this one

Ellis: Yeah I know
Chloe: How?
Ellis: Oh Mum kinda told me, well she wasn't very happy.
Chloe: You don't want to get her pissed off
Ellis: Yeah I know, I do it all time anyway yeah
Chloe: What about your sister?

Ellis: Oh yes, she wasn't terribly happy either.
Chloe: Well, we're leading 1-0 and you get sent off. And we end up drawing 1-1 because we're one person short.
Ellis: Oh yes I was a yellow last game
Chloe: We knew that
Ellis: Hey, we're still in 2nd spot
Chloe: By one point

Ellis: But we're still 2nd
Chloe: There's like three games left, 1 point is nothing as a buffer.
Ellis: I see why we needed those 2 extra points
Chloe: We pretty much need like all points we can get
Ellis: Never mind
Chloe: The trouble is Drawkland, Bonesea and Barunia won their games

Ellis: I guess I can't play next game
Chloe: I see why your own mother didn't put you in the previous World Cups
Ellis: I have improved my record, I get sent off less these days
Chloe: Still you still do
Ellis: Gee, you're in cranky mood too
Chloe: Well, I watched and we would have fucking won if you didn't get sent off

Ellis: I guess you're right
Chloe: Say, do you always call referees pedos?
Ellis: Nah, most of the time I get sent off for just being a bit too rough or careless
Chloe: So what happened today?
Ellis: I dunno, I didn't mention something about him playing too much with little kids
Chloe: So you did call him a pedo

Ellis: Oh. now that makes sense.
Chloe: What are we going to with you
Ellis: I can make amends, I'll score lots of goals
Chloe: If you get picked that is, we don't want a repeat of this game.
Ellis: Good thing our opponent wasn't one of our rivals
Chloe: They would have kicked our butt if we were down to 10 players

Ellis: You're putting on weight
Chloe: Yes, it's hard to hide when you don't wear clothes.
Ellis: Pregnant?
Chloe: Yes
Ellis: I live in a family where everyone knows when you are having baby.
Chloe: I guess I'm part of your family too. Just not I'm not royal.

by **Red Blackiland** » Thu Feb 23, 2017 5:40 am

Red Blackiland Sports and Off-topic Chronicles

The Attendant

Thousands of flares to receive RB team against Krytenia

Author : Mathias Gërdorffen

One meter and twenty by one and thirty. A crappy space. Noisy than he was. Is slow. And stinky.
- Fourth floor.
- Third.
- Second.
- Fifth.
The fat man disguises me so I can not see that he's keeping an eye on the brunette's ass.
The doctor's secretary says she does not know me, and she writes on her nail painted purple.
This fourth-floor closet is ashamed of everything and only knows how to keep its head down.
- Second floor.
The fat man comes down and takes one last look at the brunette.
- Third floor.
She leaves the secretary and does not look back because she pretends she does not know me.
- Fourth floor.
There goes the low-head cap made foolish, and is capable of tripping ... and stumbled.
- Fifth floor.
She parades alone the blonde who does not open her mouth and just moves her ass.
And I'm going after her because the hallway is empty and I know she charges for a little fucking.
Wow! Now it's on the automatic!

Red Blackiland 2-2 Krytenia

n an open game in Redinxson, Red Blackiland and Krytenia were in the 2 to 2, in the last Wednesday, in game valid for the fifteenth round of the Qualifiers. Valrauncion twice made it to Krytenia, while Eberhard and Shacker scored for Red Blackiland. Striker Sammels was even sent off in the second half while Ferreth missed a penalty in extra time.
A lot of movement and chances created. The first time in Redinxson was like this. Red Blackiland tried to impose the pressure by the fact to be the principal and soon gave to work for Williams, in position put of Bazsta. But it was Krytenia who did it. In a deadly counterattack, Ortega fired Valrauncion, who played with a category on the goalkeeper's exit.
Only shortly afterwards Red Blackiland matched. Shacker entered the area and hit the cross. Williams scrambled, the ball left for Eberhard to shoot the ball into the goal. From then on, Williams reappeared. The archer made great defenses in kicks of Defour, Schwartz and Carmona. Krytenia arrived less, but was also dangerous in Fournier's header, which remained in the net from the outside.
The game continued to move in the complementary stage, and in the 5 minutes of the second half, Valrauncion, head, put Krytenia ahead. Red Blackiland was quick to react and left everything the same with Shacker after Peri's cross. The match was even hotter when Sammers was sent off on complaint. Red Blackiland went up, hit the crossbar, stopped at Williams and, in additions, had a chance to get a winner in a penalty suffered by Ferreth who had entered Beckenstander's place. He himself taked the penalty for the defense of goalkeeper Williams and the score had two different flavors: slightly bitter for Red Blackiland and a bit sweet for Krytenia.
But it was not so bitter for Red Blackiland, who still has a five-point advantage, for third-placed Taeshan, with three remaining rounds, with the possibility of confirming the classification in the next two games, or if the results help , Already in the next round.

The Justified Means - Storyline and Guide

The Justified Means - Be a little warrior fighting against a titan!

Mission 46 - Secrets for the People (Mission for Aljaysh Dakersh Almawy)

Himil el-Emami, having familiarized himself with Federico, has decided to give him a testing first assignment. Aljaysh wish to break into and take control of a large research facility called the Majd Ghrwb facility, which the government uses to test out jet and rocket fuel at extremely cold temperatures. Himil el-Emami believes that the secrets that this facility holds are better served in the hands of the Dakershian people and so a hostile takeover is necessary. This base will become extremely useful if you start completing military bases in the mountain ranges.

Secrets for the People - Get inside the facility

You will arrive from the helicopter just outside the facility with the Aljaysh soldiers and the technician. After killing some Dakersh Air Force, you will encounter a gate entrance. After opening it from inside, you will reach an open area with a anti-aircraft cannon, after it you'll face a hostile GG-125, so it will be necessary to use the cannon. You can also take out some of the visible targets as well, as there is some explosive barrils, depots, cars, radars. Keep in mind to protect the technician and follow by his side. When your team infiltrates the base, you will soon reach a pit with a machine gun and some soldiers within it. Take it out and continue moving towards the main terminal. You will continue moving in the pit where also three gas sphere tanks can be found. You can take them out while passing through, but keep in mind that the explosions is quite powerful, and the technician and the other companions will either be forced down or killed if they are too close.
You will soon get out from the pit via ladders. It is possible that you will encounter some bush fighters when up. Soon you will reach the terminal with another machine gun and a group of soldiers. Kill them and protect the technician when he's hacking the terminal. It's recommended to use the machine gun, by the number of enemy soldiers. Some infantry reinforcements will arrive, one DK-30, and the Majd Ghrwb commander in a GG-125 helicopter, take down the DK-30 and specially the helicopter, to sucessfully end the mission and conquer the center.

Mission 47 - Breaking the Supply (Mission for Aljaysh Dakersh Almawy)

Again, the Aljaysh decided to take over in a new Dakersh military basement. The base is at a military supply depot, in the hills of the Hansar Alshibara, located in the north-west of Dakersh, which is is heavily guarded, so make sure you enter the fight with good weapons. Expect slightly more aggressive guards, as by now, you have certainly sputted Taamir's box.
Himil el-Emami does not seem to be totally convinced of Federico's loyalty to the revolutionary cause and so decides to give him another test of loyalty. As stated in the Aljaysh data, the faction attracts new followers daily, people who wish to shake off the oppressive regime, laid down by Taamir, take up arms and fight for a better government. The only difficulty is, that there aren't many weapons for them to raise up with. And so, Himil asks Federico to guide a team of Aljaysh members into Kuru-Alshibara Supply Base, and seize it, which will not only give the Aljaysh all the guns they need, but will also strike a serious blow to the Dakersh government's weapon arsenal.

Breaking the Supply - Fight the Soldiers

Like you already experienced, Federico and the team of faction soldiers, are dropped near the territory entrance by a helicopter. Be sure to use the large rocks for cover, while approaching the gate. After you've killed all the soldiers guarding the gate, use your grappling hook the way over the wall and open the gate from the inside. You'll have to fight your way through soldiers, on your way to the other side of the base. Once you've taken control of that location, the Dakersh Army reinforcements will arrive, with a Dakkaran U20. Hold your ground, until the Aljaysh technician has finished his work at the mobile radar.

Mission 48 - Nature responds with guns (Mission for Aljaysh Dakersh Almawy)

Himil el-Emami feels you trustworthy enough to send on this final base control mission. You are to infiltrate the Umani Rakkara chemical facility and take control of it to stop the pumping of chemicals into the nearby river. The facility is used by the government to create chemical weapons. The mission is normal. Approaching the main gates, take out the two rocket launcher soldiers, before worrying about the others, then use the grappling hook over the main gate. Take out a few more, then open the gate.
In the right you'll find a machine gun, grab the gun if your own gun is inadequate and move along, opening up on any Dakersh Army soldiers who turn up. Shooting far ahead will yield a nice explosion or few. But, be attent and careful as the technician will frequently cross your line of fire. At one point you will encounter a officer from a demolition team, stay away from him as he'll throws C4s against you.
There are three machine guns on your way to the chemical center terminal. The first one will have to be taken head on, but the second can be approached from the side by going around the containers on the left. Once you take the gunner out, open up on the remaining troops, then get into the fortified position they once held. Soon, two military vehicles DK-30 and DK-29 will tear around the corners, quickly take them out with the machine gun before a GG-125 appears with the base commander on your parade. Shooting him down or throwing him to his death via hijacking his helicopter ends the missions, and the center is finally conquered.

by **Boring Paradise** » Thu Feb 23, 2017 5:48 am

What a load of rubbish

With three games to go we are more of less out, and even worse is that we are at risk of finishing 6th place, as a Pot 4 team. We are seven points off qualification with Damukuni and Electrum tied in 2nd with Damukuni ahead of tiebreakers which makes this situation of qualifying less possible.
To begin the second half of the qualifying group, we won 2-1 against Rebuild the Wall with Hishaam Ali Jr getting both goals in the first off while Henry Warner scored the first goal in the first half. The performance from the team in the second half was much better than the first half as we had many more chances to get goals. We kept out contentions to qualify into the next match against Electrum away which ended in a tie which would prove to be useful as we were expecting to lose but as we glance back it now, we really needed that win, but that one goal from Raiyaan Malik Jr did save us that point as we continued to play on, not realizing what was coming up.

Matchday 12 was a start of a gloomy run with a very poor performance from the Paradisians throughout the game. It may have just been that the Catheque team knew our weaknesses and exploited them very well but however that was not the case. The poor form was unnatural and a load of rubbish for the Paradisians as they lost 1-0 at home to a team they should have easily beaten. This lose made us 4 points behind when it could have been 1 point since Electrum meanwhile drew to Ethane, which had stopped their 11 win streak in the group. Matchday 13 saw some hope as we already knew that Electrum had lost to Damukuni which means we still had a chance to qualify for the World Cup. We went to the Andromeda Archipelago for the next match. Another poor performance from the Paradisians as we conceded two goals to the home team and couldn't connect any of our attempts on goal which meant we were still 4 points behind but with Damukuni in 3rd now with two points behind Electrum. This did not bode well for us, Matchday 14 was no different we went to Paradisia North Park desperate for another win to keep us challenging hoping either Damukuni or Electrum would mess up but it didn't happen this week. We went against Tinhampton and had lost 2-0 again, a gloomy presence was surrounding the team now, maybe we were cursed to not qualify, since we have been though ten world cups without qualification since our last one was in World Cup 67. We were now 7 points off qualification with 12 points to play for. a bad place to be in since Damukuni was still there 2 points behind. Matchday 15 came along as were facing New Gazi with the gloomy presence still there at Paradisia North Park, earlier on we saw Electrum drop 2 points against Rebuild the Wall and Damukuni won their match against The Andromeda Archipelago which meant both teams are on 31 points while we still had 23 points with a game in hand. We need to win this match or it is more or less game over for us with this porr string of games. Sameer Jaklim Junior scored the opening goal very early on which had created a spur in motivation in the team. New Gazi scored two goals, one after the other early on in the second half, a thought we didn't want. Simon Ado scored his first international goal for Boring Paradise as he equalized in stoppage time to take a point away to make it 24 points

We now need to win the remaining three games against Ethane away, Damukuni at home and Korizland away. A very small chance but still a chance.

Matchday 16
Ethane - Boring Paradise
Damukuni - Tinhampton
New Gazi - Electrum

In the next game week we see Damukuni playing against Tinhampton and New Gazi playing against Electrum. The likelyhood of either teams losing these matches are very slim and we can officially say that we are knocked out unless a miracle occurs in which case we will probably drop points against Ethane since, it is Ethane.

by **Spaam** » Thu Feb 23, 2017 6:09 am

Interlude

“Hello, and welcome to Kit Sports, and this is Football Friday Fiesta. I’m your host, Elmo Smith, and this is my co-host, Mela Donas.”

“Thanks, Elmo, and greetings to all our football fans out there this evening!”

“We have a great show coming up, with national coach Hewelan Faaberos coming in for an interview, and all the highlights from the National League and Second Division.”

“It’s going to be a great show, but first, we have a full rundown of the qualifying action for the World Cup in San José Guayabal and Québec.”

“And let’s kick it off with the highlights from Monday’s match in Kandorith…”

“Kandorith are playing very aggressive football here, as they fight to stay in the running for qualifying.”
“This is no less a vital match for the Spaamanians either, as a loss will make it almost impossible to keep up with Veldgouwen either.”
“Of course, and we see the Red Dragon captain Shan Xiaobo pushing the ball up, managing to outrun Gibelar Ralora and go deep down the left flank.”
“His opposite number Farlinar Reyen is there and he’s not going to let him go easily. Xiaobo tries to cross into the center…”
“Madato Xien-kan manages to complete the pass, Norsianna Ilirith goes for the tackle but he jumps over her, he still has the ball and…”
“GOAL! GOAL! Kandorith have drawn first blood as Xien-kan gets the ball up into that top-left corner and Oridul Inasys just couldn’t get a finger on it.”
“That was a spectacular goal there from the Red Dragon striker and you can hear that home crowd go wild as Kandorith now have a one goal to nil lead.”

“The Spaamanians are dominating this midfield play and trying to control the tempo of the game.”
“Well, this strategy has worked well for them in their last game against Kandorith, when the Red Dragons were quite comprehensively starved of the ball.”
“And they certainly haven’t lacked goals as we see them probing for gaps, as the ball goes between Ralora, that’s Briddara, and Fenzana, and Rose has broken through…”
“Spaam smells blood as they look for an opening, they’ve still got the ball…”
“Sehelin intercepts with a header and GOAL! Merlara Sehelin has intercepted her own team’s aerial pass with her head and it has just gone past a bewildered Jianjun Tuan.”
“That was very inventive play from the young striker, and she racks up her twelfth qualifying goal with that effort. Absolutely spectacular.”

“The Red Dragons seem to be tiring quite badly here, as they look to break the deadlock.”
“Xiaobo trying to get past Gibelar Ralora and he gets the ball and there’s a breakaway!”
“Ralora passes down to Orinos Elzeros and is he on-side? There’s no whistle so he’s fine, he crosses to Rose but he’s blocked by Lung Mara but Elzeros is free and… GOAL! GOAL! GOOOOAL!”
“Beautiful work from Elzeros and the assist from Rose, but that is Spaam in the lead and crowd is certainly not happy.”
“No, they wanted that offside before, but it wasn’t given and it was probably a fifty-fifty call anyway.”
“Can Spaam hold on for the win?”

“That was a great game, wasn’t it, Mela?”

“Look, the Spaamanians have been playing absolutely magical football during the entire qualifying campaign, and they have really shown how much they want this second spot with their never-say-die attitude.”

“As we look to the final score, that was Kandorith one, Spaam two.”

KANDORITH 1-2 SPAAM
    (Xien-kan 35’)          (Sehelin 42’ Elzeros 80’)

“And as we heard, that was goal number twelve from Merlara Sehelin, who has become an absolute star over the past couple of years.”

“Yes, she is by far Spaam’s leading scorer, I think Elzeros would be second with five goals to his name, and she won the Golden Boot by almost leading Nilmenas City to the National League championship.”

“And to think, she’s still only eighteen, so she has a very long career ahead of her.”

“It’s exciting! And talking about exciting, Elmo, let’s have a look at the race to San José Guayabal and Québec in Group 4!”

   Group 4                             Pld    W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts 
 1 Eura                                 15   10   4   1    43   27  +16    34
 2 Spaam                                15    9   4   2    24   14  +10    31
 3 Veldgouwen                           15    9   2   4    24   18   +6    29
 4 West Saintland                       15    8   3   4    28   19   +9    27
 5 Kaboomlandia                         15    6   5   4    16   15   +1    23 N
 6 Kandorith                            15    4   5   6    12   15   −3    17 E
 7 North Carcossia and the Hesperides   15    3   5   7    15   19   −4    14 E
 8 Hirvania                             15    3   3   9    13   20   −7    12 E
 9 Nagore                               15    3   2  10    20   32  −12    11 E
10 Socialist Northern Islands           15    1   5   9    10   26  −16     8 E

“Oh, Mela, this is looking very promising indeed. Eura is still top of the table of course, but they had that shock loss to Nagore on the weekend to record their only blemish of the season.”

“Yes, Nagore is ranked 240th in the world, but they’ve been pushing a lot of good teams recently. Of course their was that amazing three goals to four result against us, and they barely went down to Kaboomlandia in their previous game three-two. And you have to admit, Eura has looked quite vulnerable of late.”

“Indeed, we almost managed to pull out a win ourselves when we met them in our previous match as well, so the result against Nagore is not as surprising as it might be on paper.”

“Absolutely. They’re now only three points ahead of us, but you’d have to say even that is enough to ensure they top the table.”

“Possibly not! They have games against Kaboomlandia and Kandorith coming up, and if they can’t win those matches, anything can happen. But I do agree, they are still outright favourites, and it would be a miracle for them not to qualify.”

“If they take at least one point from their next two matches, which you assume they would, and again assuming they beat North Carcossia and the Hesperides, then yes, they will most certainly qualify.”

“And then Spaam! We’re in second place, we’re two points ahead of Veldgouwen, you’d think we have a great chance, right, Mela?”

“I wish I could share your optimism, Elmo, but as I’ve said all year, it’s still going to be almost impossible for us to scrape through. Our problem is this: Veldgouwen have Socialist Northern Islands, Kaboomlandia and Hirvania to go. They have only lost to the top two seeds, Eura and West Saintland, including that loss last night that saw them slip down to third. Their only draws have been against us and Kaboomlandia, and they were both away games. At home, and against anyone but the top two seeds, we have to assume that they will get the three points.”

“So that puts them up to 38 points.”

“That’s right. And because they have the winning record against us, that means we need to get to 39 points to qualify, unless Eura magically loses their next two games. That’s eight points.”

“And eight points of course means we have to win our remaining three matches.”

“Agreed. And I’m sorry, Elmo, but I just don’t see that happening! We’ve got home games against North Carcossia and the Hesperides and the Socialist Northern Islands, which we are favourites to win, but between them we face West Saintland away. They’re the second seeds, they’re on a four match winning streak, I think our best case scenario is a draw, which just won’t be enough.”

“So the West Saintland game next month is going to be key then.”

“That’s right, and unless we can pull of the upset, we shouldn’t get our hopes up, Elmo.”

“Fair enough, Mela. Let’s have a quick look at the remaining teams. West Saintland is still in the mix, and they’re only four points behind us.”

“They are, but I don’t see them overtaking Veldgouwen who has the better run home, so they’re going to be long odds. If Veldgouwen doesn’t take home the maximum points in any of those games, however, and West Saintland can make sure to continue their winning streak, then they could take second pot.”

“Also assuming we don’t win our home games.”

“Absolutely. And finally we have Kaboomlandia, who are still a mathematical chance, but it would take a literal miracle to see them overtake three in-form teams.”

“So it is an exciting four-horse race towards the World Cup. We’ll take a break now, and afterwards we’ll look at the other groups, and Hewelan Faaberos will be in the studio, so make sure you stick around!”

by **Northern Sunrise Islands** » Thu Feb 23, 2017 6:28 am

Crawford, Cosumar

A young girl ran through the streets. She carried a backpack and was dressed on a Pikachu hoodie, a black skirt and white sandals. Behind her were a couple, clearly trying to catch up to her.
It took them a while but finally the three found the building they came to.

Hannah Alcouin's apartment

The footballer opened her apartment's door.
"Lassie? Mom? Pops?" She looked at them, a bit surprised. "How did you-"
"Find that you were taking a break? We got the news that they were sending a Pokémon team to play The Holy Empire." Her father said, giving a kiss to her forehead.
She was then greeted by her mother with a hug.
"We had to come here and check how you were doing." Her mother said, nodding before looking around the hallway. "...Do the neighbors know of our condition?"
Hannah laughed. "Mom, just because we're not at Neuville, doesn't mean people are familiar with our status!"
Lassie shrugged. "Can we enter?"
"Sure, come in."

Most of Hannah's things were already in place, but there were boxes all over the place as well.
"So, what do you think of Cosumar?" The mother smiled, sitting at a white couch, taking a peek over a large window.
"Haven't gone out a lot here to tell you." The national team player returned from the kitchen, handing her mother a glass of water. "The team is fun, though."
"Didn't they almost get relegated last season?" Her father yelled, looking around the rooms.
"Yeah! That's the fun part!" She answered, laughing. "Greatest challenge ever!"
Lassie wandered into her sister room, returning with Hannah's shirt instead of her Pikachu hoodie.
Hannah laughed. "You probably need to finish your studies before joining me, don't you think?"
Lassie made a face. "I don't want to join, I'll stay in Unified Sunrise!"
The older sister shrugged, patting her on the head. "Do whatever you wish, dear."
"And what about that good boy Stabb?" Her mother asked, taking a sip of the glass of water.
"He's a rival here." She said, raising her finger up. "It's weird but I like the opportunity."
Her mother coughed. "I referred... ahem... You're still single, right?"
"MOM!"
Mrs. Alcouin laughed a bit. "You know your sister is seeing a boy at high school, right?
Lassie was the one to complain now. "MOOOOM!"
"You kids can grow all you want, you'll still be my little girls." She replied, finishing her glass. "But I want grandchildren, seriously."
"MOOOOOM!"

Qasden held the Pokémon Translator on her hands, smiling.
"Soooo... if I want, I can use this to talk to Sunday, right?"
"I... wouldn't suggest doing so, darling."
"Pleeease! I promise I won't break it..."
She kept her large smile, looking at Sunrise.
Upper Sunrise decided to intervene.
"U-uh... I kind of need to report on this successful invention to the academics."
Qasden quickly looked at the scientist, showing her best puppy eyes.
Upper Sunrise sighed.
"...Nevermind."
"Absolutely not!"
Kitsunia stood with her arms crossed.
"I'm not letting my little girl in harms' way."
"But mommy..."
"I don't want you to get hurt, my little flower!"
"...Yeah, it's not quite safe."
"But it didn't hurt you."
Kitsunia stared at him with a very mean look.
"U-uh... I agree with what they said."
"B-but... custardy brother!"
"Custody-"
A very saddened Qasden stopped his line of thought.
"Y-y-you know, we could get her a little helmet."
"Yay!"
Qasden dashed off to her room. Kitsunia facepalmed.

The girl had once again a large smile, a black bicycle helmet under the Pokémon Translator.
Sunday wasn't paying a lot of attention, the creature staring at the outside.
"OK. Turned it on."
A green light on the translator headset started to flash.
"Ah! So Sunday can speak to me now?"
Sunday quickly got a mischievous look on her face, turning to the little girl.
"Well, hello, young Qasden."
"Ooooh! Sunday! Is that you?"
"My name is Shadow."
"...You're not Sunday?"
"You call me Sunday, but my name is Shadow. It's a perfect name for a quick and talented Glaceon like myself."
"B-but... That sounds mean..."
"Huh. And here you thought you had it in you to be my Trainer, didn't you?"
"E-eh?"
"Face it. You're too unwise to use me to my full potential."
"W-why are you soo... mean to me?"
"I wish to be with my trainer, Yeso. And never... ever put make-up on my face again."
The Glaceon turned her back on the little girl, but it didn't matter, for Qasden left running back to her room, crying loudly.

Two hours later?
Qasden was still crying, her face buried on her pillow.
Sunrise was trying to calm her, passing his hand over her head.
"Qasden... I told you not to use it."
"W-w-why she hates me? I... I wanted to be a good... good girl..."
"She's not used to it and... well, she still remembers her old owner."
"B-but... why didn't you tell me before?"
"I... didn't know how to put it but..."
He patted her on the head.
"Remember when Chrom got lost?"
"Y-yeah..."
"S-so... Sunday-"
"Shadow."
"Shadow?"
"I-It's her name..."
"...So Shadow belongs to the woman that saved Chrom."
"S-she belongs to Yeso."
He nodded.
"Seems like that's her name."
"Sunrise!"
Kirisaki burst into the room.
"The Glaceon!"
"Shadow..."
"Shadow?"
"It's the Glaceon's name."
"I thought you were calling her Sunday."
"It's a long story. So, what happened?"
"...She fled!"
"Oh, Arceus' sake... We need to find her before she falls on the wrong hands or anything of the sort!"
Qasden lifted up her head a little bit after hearing it.
"...L-Let's find..."
Her eyes seemed filled of determination for the first time in her life.
"...Shadow."

works? · by **Abanhfleft** » Thu Feb 23, 2017 8:02 am

Lex Talionis, Part Thirty-seven

Barangay San Marcelino
Riuwiee, Abanhfleft
Three weeks ago

On the gangland map of the city of Riuwiee, the capital city of Abanhfleft, there was a large chunk of blank spaces in the western part of the city where the territory held by the Corsairs used to be. The appearance of that blank space had come about as a result of the very sudden departure of the Corsairs following the failure of their campaign to make the city theirs and usurp the other motorcycle gang which also claimed (and had a pretty good claim to it anyway) Riuwiee as their city and theirs only. The Huns had allied with the Huesca Cartel in response to an attack on a high-ranking Huesca boss and they administered their own brand of justice to their rivals. Despite their reputation for fighting to the bitter end, it appeared as if the Corsairs had been convinced by their Crow allies that discretion was the better part of valor and they skedaddled out of Riuwiee to regroup back in Anglatia.

But just because the Corsairs were gone didn’t mean that their presence was no longer being felt in the western part of Riuwiee. Two of the Corsairs’ affiliate gangs, the Dark Storm and the Sea Monsters Motorcycle Club, were still hanging on tenaciously to what little patches of territory in Riuwiee they still had. Before, they had the cover and security of the larger Corsairs to protect them from their enemies, but now that the Corsairs had pulled out, it seemed as if it was just a matter of time before the Huns moved in to destroy every last remnant of Corsair presence and influence in what they were confidently calling “their city” once again.

The Sea Monsters were originally a motorcycle club from Markovsky, a city in the far-flung and oftentimes rebellious Fleftic province of Mezaladbyi, before they had tried to muscle their way into Riuwiee in the immediate aftermath of the Holy Catholic Revolution. It was a bold move for a club formed by a group of disgruntled bikers who had failed to make the grade with the Huns but the club felt that they had made enough gains in the coastal regions of provinces like Mezaladbyi, Bytuch Wyk, Ddallakk, and such to be able to mount a challenge to the Huns in their home turf. Strangely enough, it worked. The Sea Monsters were able to stake a claim in Riuwiee, specifically Barangay San Marcelino over in the western part of the city, and they were able to hold on to that part of Riuwiee for quite a long time, and for some reason the Huns didn’t know or didn’t care that a gang which could be considered their offshoot had carved out a slice of their city right under their noses.

Then the Corsairs came along. With the Sea Monsters’ abysmally small chunk of territory and small membership in the city, the result of the fight was inevitable. But once the dust had settled, the Sea Monsters were surprised to see a metaphorical open hand extended to them instead of the cold steel of a gun barrel. The Corsairs were extending an offer of friendship and alliance to the Sea Monsters in exchange for letting their keep their lives, their territory, and basically their whole identity. The only concession they had had to make was that they had to display the flag and colors of the Corsairs alongside theirs as a mark of their “special relationship.”

But apparently this special relationship extended only as far as what the gangs did in Riuwiee. Nobody bothered to tell the Sea Monsters that the Corsairs were planning to retreat back to Anglatia with their Crow friends after their campaign against the Huescas and the Huns ended in disaster. One moment the Sea Monsters were cocooned within Corsair territory and the next, they were stuck in a middle of an expanse of nothing where they were now ripe for the picking by their enemies. It was, quite frankly, a situation which the Sea Monsters were only beginning to experience ever since they had made the decision to go into Riuwiee and challenge the bikers who had claimed that they were not “man enough” to make it into the Huns.

The Sea Monsters occupied a very small chunk of territory in gangland Riuwiee. Barangay San Marcelino was a small barangay (the smallest local government unit within Abanhfleft) within a cluster of small barangays in the western part of Riuwiee so it was not entirely surprising that the Sea Monsters felt themselves well and truly vulnerable now that their Corsair friends had gone and left the fight for Riuwiee to them, so to speak. Their clubhouse in the barangay was correspondingly small, even though their membership in the city had increased tenfold after the alliance with the Corsairs. Most of these new members had made the smart decision to go back to Markovsky, but the diehard members were preparing for a last stand against the combined forces of the Huns and the Huescas when they came. It was no longer a question of if but when. They were just preparing for the inevitable campaign against them. They had some weapons given to them by the Crows by way of the Corsairs, but they simply didn’t have the manpower to mount a decent defense.

Any attempts to expand their tiny turf (by way of offense being the best defense) would also be met with stiff and unyielding resistance. The Sea Monsters had to hold still if they wanted to keep hold of their little chunk of Riuwiee. And yet, despite what the Huns harped as a betrayal of the Sea Monsters on the Corsairs’ part, the Sea Monsters still kept flying the flag of the Corsairs in the admittedly dim hope that they would come back from their self-imposed exile in Anglatia and come back to reclaim the city and overthrow the ruling Huns.

The leader of the Sea Monsters was Che Alexiou. He looked like the average Fleftic but also had Greek blood and features mixed in by virtue of his surname. He was, like the founder of the Corsairs Jose Sorondo, a reject of the Huns and had set up the Sea Monsters as his way of showing he did have what it takes to become a biker. They had considered themselves part of the one percent, at least until the Corsairs came along and had them strip themselves of such status. Being a former Hun himself, Alexiou had stuck true to the club’s maxim of keeping only stock unmodified bikes, a somewhat contentious point of concern by the Corsairs when they took over the club and made it an affiliate chapter, but they had allowed the other clubs to retain their individual identities so they had no choice but to allow them to ride uncustomized bikes.

Alexiou had just come from a draining session with his fellow Sea Monsters planning their defense of Barangay San Marcelino against the Huns and the Huescas. Everyone knew that they were fighting for a cause long lost, but there was no honor to be gained by meekly fading away like the proverbial old soldier. They were also not planning to go as the Hand of Riuwiee had gone and culled themselves of supporters of the Corsairs which eventually resulted in the Hand becoming basically an affiliate of the Huns after the latter helped them cleanse their gang of Corsair supporters. They were going to fight to death like the Corsairs, dammit, and while they knew they were going to lose without reinforcements from the Dark Storm and their Markovsky-based chapters, they were going to bring as many Huns and Huescas as they could to hell with them.

Alexiou walked into the clubhouse which served as the de facto headquarters of the Sea Monsters in Riuwiee. He wanted, needed a drink, but he didn’t want the weak-ass drinks being served at the clubhouse bar. He had a stash of really strong stuff in the clubhouse office, a case of twenty-year-old Ixanian rock wine, and he wanted to drink it alone. As he walked into the office, he closed the door behind him. Suddenly, the lock clicked of its own accord and a painfully familiar voice said, “How’s it hanging, Chesapeake?”

Not only did Alexiou recognize the owner of the voice, but he also knew that that person was the only one who preferred calling him by his full Christian name. Nevertheless, even as this man was now locked in the same office as he was, Alexiou fought to keep the nervous fear from creeping into his voice. “Attila?” he asked.

“In the flesh, Chesapeake,” Attila said as he stepped out of the shadows in which he had managed to blend in by virtue of his all-black apparel. The fact that such a high-ranking member of the Huns had managed to penetrate the security of the Sea Monsters was more a sign of the pathetic state of the gang rather than any skill on Attila’s part. He flashed the leader of the Sea Monsters a shit-eating grin and said, “I’m surprised to find that you’re still here, Chesapeake. If you had more sense in your brain than air then you and your frat boys would have already high-tailed it out of here and back to Markovsky. Or maybe you should have gone to the Fhulghamous where all the other Greeks like you have gone.” The Fhulghamous Peninsula was Abanhfleft’s most recently established colony and had a sizable part of its population being of Greek descent, including its controversial governor Petrarchos Kulbano, who had been perpetually accused of treating the Fhulghamous like his personal kingdom ever since he took it upon himself to establish a national football team for the colony.

“What are you doing here, Attila?” Alexiou asked, the fear finally getting in his voice. “Are you here to kill me?”

“Oh, don’t flatter yourself, Chesapeake,” Attila snorted. “If I wanted to kill you then you’d be dead already, and the Seaweeds won’t even have a chapter in Riuwiee anymore.” Seaweed was the Huns’ derogatory nickname for any member of the Sea Monsters. “And don’t think about shouting for help, my good Chesapeake. That’s one of the disadvantages of a soundproof office, isn’t it? No one can hear you making deals but at the same time no one can hear you screaming for help now that you’re trapped with a Hun in your office. But I’m not here to kill you, not if you cooperate. I’m here for information, actually. Specifically, I want to know the present whereabouts of this girl.” Attila laid down a glossy photograph on the table in Alexiou’s office and jabbed a stubby finger at it. “Jog your memory, Chesapeake. Try to remember.”

“What do you want to know, Attila?” Alexiou asked. “She’s our newest member. Well, she’s the newest member of the Riuwiee chapter, but that’s splitting hairs at the moment, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, yeah, I know all about that,” Attila waved away. “My guys don’t even have a dossier, let alone a single file on her ever since she popped up on our radar a couple of months ago. Who is she, Chesapeake? What’s she doing being the newest member of your pathetic excuse of a motorcycle club? What happened to the cardinal rule about not recruiting underage members? She’s barely sixteen or seventeen, for God’s sake! Why’d you take her on when you knew that she’s underage?”

“What’s it to you?” Alexiou demanded, trying to regain a little control of the situation.

With surprising speed, Alexiou found himself pinned against the wall by Attila. “What’s it to me is of no concern to you, Chesapeake,” the Hun said, all humor now gone from his voice. “I’m not going to ask you again, man. If you make me ask you again I will force wooden splinters into your nails. Why did you bring in an underage girl into your club?”

“Don’t blame me for this, man!” Alexiou practically shouted. “I never wanted her to join the Sea Monsters either, you know! I was just forced into it!”

“Right,” Attila nodded, not believing a word that the Seaweed said. “You were forced into it,” he repeated. “Who did the forcing, if I may ask?”

“Sorondo!” Alexiou said. “Jose Sorondo made me do it! Who else, man? He told me that his adoptive daughter wanted to fight with the Corsairs in the war with you Huns so she can avenge her Conam parents who got ambushed by your guys! Sorondo told me to take her in because he thinks that even the female wing of the Corsairs is too tough for someone like her. Sorondo wanted me to set her up with a decent bike so she could roll with the Corsairs immediately.”

“What’s her name?” Attila asked, positively shaking Alexiou until it sounded like he was rattling the Sea Monster leader’s brain around. “Sorondo’s daughter, what’s her name?”

“Why do you wanna know?”

“Are you going to answer me or am I going to have to make you answer?”

“No, no, don’t do that, please!” Alexiou moaned. “All right, I’ll tell you! Her name is Jessi Mariano! She’s the missing goalkeeper of Amelia Pena’s team, United of Riuwiee. Although recently she’s already starting to call herself Jessi Sorondo even though the adoption papers have become stuck in red tape. You know how the bureaucracy in this city is.”

“All right, that’s good, we’re making progress,” Attila nodded. “Now where the hell are the Corsairs?”

“Wait, what?” Alexiou asked.

“I said where the hell are the Corsairs now!” Attila demanded. “They sure as hell aren’t in Anglatia, not after they helped the Crows burn out the Huescas’ affiliates over in Jugoskania.”

“I don’t know, man! That’s the truth!” Alexiou blubbered. “They didn’t tell me anything before they left this place! Heck, they didn’t even tell me they were leaving this place!”

But Attila didn’t look like he believed that. So he decided to marshal Alexiou to the table and pushed his head right down to the wood. He then took out a wicked-looking knife from a sheath hanging on his thigh and stabbed in into the wood right in front of Alexiou’s eyes. “You better start telling the truth, Chesapeake, or else this knife will find itself in places you never thought was possible,” he whispered into Alexiou’s ear.

“Wait! Don’t do it!” Alexiou screamed in a state of near panic. “All right, all right, I’ll tell you, man! Sorondo said something about them being invited to stay with the Crows in Anglatia, Jugoskania to be specific, so they could clean up their homeland of any Huesca presence before they make their next move.”

“And what would that next move be?”

“Sorondo said something about going to a place called Patierre. All I know about the place is that it used to be this independent kingdom that got taken over by Anglatia because the Anglatians thought that there were a tad too many communists in the Patierrean government for their liking, and that it’s the place where that new midfielder on the national team, Vincelot or something like it, is from before he got Fleftic citizenship. I also heard some hearsay about the Corsairs striking a deal with Anglatia’s Imperial Intelligence to help bring down some kind of insurgency going on over there. You know, Patierre’s kind of like what Mezaladbyi used to be back before 1984 and the nuking of the old capital over there by the Colonel. Or if you want something a little closer, Patierre’s like Verbergerkinnh back in 2000 and so. It’s that kind of crazy over there, but it’s not really turned into all-out revolution yet, but you can feel that it’s simmering under the surface. I don’t know why they would want to go there, but I think that’s where they’re going.”

Attila finally let go of Alexiou, who leaned back on his chair gratefully. “Well, isn’t that something, Chesapeake?” Attila asked him. “You cooperated with us, for once. Now let me tell you a little something which you should know. You want to know why I told you you’re not fit to become a Hun? It’s because you caved in too quickly. You didn’t even try to fight back or deny that you’re lying. A real Hun would have had his fingers, arms, and legs broken and his spleen busted before he would even reveal a fraction of what you’ve told me, and that’s just with the girl. You’re too soft, Chesapeake Alexiou. That’s why you didn’t become a Hun and will never be one.”

Attila then punched Alexiou right in the jaw, knocking the leader of the Sea Monsters out cold. “Consider yourself lucky, Chesapeake,” he said to Alexiou’s unconscious form. “Today, because you’ve been so cooperative, you and your Seaweed friends live to fight another day. But next time we meet, you won’t be so lucky, and I won’t be so friendly and forgiving with you. Consider this a professional courtesy from one biker to a wannabe biker.”

Attila went out of the Sea Monsters clubhouse without being seen, the same way that he had managed to get in. As he got onto his bike and fitted his cuts back onto his clothes, he was bombarded with lots of thoughts and questions. So the Wannabes really were headed for Patierre, and they had struck a deal with Anglatia’s equivalent of the Republican Bureau of Investigation to take care of the simmering insurgency in that reluctant colony of theirs. And Jessi was going to become part of all that, and she had also now taken on the name of that bastard Jose Sorondo. He really should have shot Sorondo when he had the chance and brought Jessi to the light. Now Jessi, his own flesh and blood, might just well die in a foreign country because she wanted to become part of a war which she had no business being in. It was just as well that the Huns were going to be taking the fighting over to Patierre where there were no rules to hold both sides back. There he might just have a chance of saving her from a terrible fate.

Because, Attila thought as he rode away from Barangay San Marcelino in a cloud of dust and smoke, that’s what fathers do, don’t they? Keep their children away from harm. He was almost ready to risk the wrath of his fellow Huns if ever they found out he was working to save the life of one particular Wannabe. Almost. That was the operative word. Attila knew that even though he was now one of the highest-ranking members of the Huns, any sign of potential betrayal (and protecting a Sea Monster counted as betrayal in the club’s eyes) would be dealt with quickly, with a bullet right between the eyes. But surely his daughter’s life was well worth his own, right? Right?

CRESCENT NEWS NETWORK
SPORTS CHANNEL - OFFICIAL WEBSITE
ABANHFLEFT • PRIDNESTROVIA • OONTAZ DERT LI NG • COPPER CUPRUM • TRENDSTART • FHULGHAMOUS PENINSULA

WORLD CUP 77 QUALIFIERS: ABANHFLEFT VS REPUBLIC OF KABOOMLANDIA
By Malik Qazizadah

Abanhfleft's Kareem Dagen celebrates his second goal against the Republic of Kaboomlandia. (Courtesy of Crescent News Network Sports Channel/Andros Tasasa)

RELEINTHI - A calm and collected performance from Abanhfleft aided by a brace from Kareem Dagen ensured that the Revolutionaries were triumphant over the Republic of Kaboomlandia once again.

Vitaly Zima continued on his impressive scoring run for Abanhfleft as he netted within seven minutes to swing the advantage completely in Abanhfleft's favor before Dagen doubled the advantage barely ten minutes later.

Dagen then scored his fifth goal in two games after he applied the finishing touch to Valery Zolnerov's free kick even as Andrea Marilungo dinked in his second international goal from a corner just four minutes after.

Tor Akelund was able to slalom away from Daisuke Ogigayatsu to score his second goal against the Revolutionaries but it was in the end as much a consolation goal for the Kaboomlandian Republicans as Raymond Lundstrom's 90th minute strike.

Abanhfleft manager Ranulph Bustamante: We are cruising to the World Cup at this rate

Abanhfleft manager Ranulph Bustamante: "I don't want to jinx us once again by saying this, but I really feel like we're now cruising to the World Cup at this rate, simply because we've built up good momentum and we've got a string of wins on our backs so that can only be a good thing for us."

"But just because we've qualified doesn't mean that we can now relax. And we still can't drop points at this stage of the competition. Every point is worth its weight in gold. Points is life now. If we slip up, other teams are sure to take advantage. I'd really love it if we were able to keep top spot but since we're already qualified some of the guys might slacken up. We're working on that on the training ground. We must remember that there is no rest for the weary, even the winning weary."

Abanhfleft will aim to keep hold of the top spot in Group 14 of the World Cup 77 qualifiers when they go away to Acronius for what is expected to be a tough test for the Revolutionaries. After that, Abanhfleft will host Nephara at the May 26 Revolution Memorial Stadium in Riuwiee before ending their campaign on the road to Eshan.

      ABANHFLEFT 4 - 2 REPUBLIC OF KABOOMLANDIA
    V. ZIMA (7')       AKELUND (70')
DAGEN (17', 54')       LUNDSTROM (90+1')
 MARILUNGO (58')

REPUBLIC OF KABOOMLANDIA
GK: 1 Marnaren
RB: 2 Seller
CB: 3 Grayberg
LB: 5 Alberts
RM: 6 Salomon
RCM: 7 Hansen
LCM: 8 Ahlgren (Nemychev - 69')
LM: 4 Selten
RW: 11 Lundstrom
CF: 10 Akelund (Krychov - 83')
LW: 9 Backstrom

ABANHFLEFT
GK: 1 Varamoninov
RB: 2 Afolayan
RCB: 4 L. Edwards
LCB: 5 Owobowale
LB: 3 Ogigayatsu
RM: 20 Okamoto (Behrendt - 55')
CM: 7 Zolnerov
LM: 6 Marilungo
CAM: 10 R. Edwards (El Salah - 78')
RS: 21 V. Zima
LS: 11 Dagen (Lee - 68')

MATCH STATISTICS
Possession
Abanhfleft: 59%
Republic of Kaboomlandia: 41%
Shots
Abanhfleft: 19 (10 on target)
Republic of Kaboomlandia: 13 (6 on target)
Corners
Abanhfleft: 7
Republic of Kaboomlandia: 4
Fouls
Abanhfleft: 18
Republic of Kaboomlanda: 27

by **Electrum** » Thu Feb 23, 2017 8:19 am

Centralis Herald - News Section - Frank Liszt

Wall appeal fails High Court hearing

In a unanimous 11-0 majority, the High Court had no other choice but to hand-wave through the cabinet order to build the border wall on Electrum's border with Eura. The case, which was referred to the court by Labor Prime Minister Cynthia Suarez, confusingly had government lawyers argue for both sides of the case. The ruling brought an end to the farcical situation of the Attorney General's lawyers on behalf of the Prime Minister attacking the wall-building order, and the Solicitor-General's lawyers, arguing on behalf of the cabinet's decision, insisting that it was legal.

The case revolved around whether the defection of some cabinet members to vote for the building of the wall was legal -- as they had resigned from their party positions, it was alleged that their votes didn't count at all in the cabinet. The High Court ruled that it was legal in fact as well as legal in law that the cabinet decision was executed correctly, even though some members had defected, it was after the vote had occurred. The cabinet members themselves were chosen as people, not as representatives of parties, ergo the wall-building bill was legal.

What this means is that through other mechanisms in the government, the wall will start to be built tomorrow. The government bodies and plans were already been drawn up before the trial intervened, and now that its over, construction will begin in earnest, despite the government leaders not consenting to the project. The governor-general will sign the bill tonight, making it official, after it was delayed through the court process. It's an unhappy consequence of our political system, but one we must deal with. After the hearing, Prime Minister Cynthia Suarez was spotted in high-level governmental talks with unnamed Euran leaders, and didn't say another word to the press pack which gathered outside the courtroom.

One person who didn't stay silent was Nationalist Party leader, and instigator of the border wall was Alan Rickuss. In a press conference just outside of the courtroom, he said that, "The judges made the right decision by the people and by the law, and I am very happy that we did things lawfully. The liberals are trying to do the undemocratic thing in throwing out the wall which was lawfully voted on, it's despicable and it's disgusting. We cannot let those Eurans harm our border guards or our nation's future anymore. We cannot give ammunition to those Euran nationalists on our side of the border to secede from us. This is for a stronger, united Electrum."

Even in the streets of Hamilton, once a Conservative stronghold, was bedecked in a sea of black and dark blue -- the colours of the Nationalists. Hamiltonians, allegedly, had the most to lose if the wall wasn't built. As the largest major city closest to the border, the Conservative stronghold was gripped by the vice of populism, and is projected in the next federal election to swing strongly towards the Nationalists. Even vox populi, conducted by the major television networks and even this very publication, could not find one single Hamiltonian who was against the wall -- whether left-wing or right-wing, they were for the wall.

Their reasoning for supporting the wall was of course different. The left-leaning supporters, although sympathetic to the conflict, were concerned that Electrumite employers would exploit these new refugees, and would hire Eurans as a way to crush unions. Right-leaning supporters were less sympathetic, and simply did not want any new citizens to join the country.

As a result, there is a lot of uncertainty going around. There are inadequate resources on the ground - the increase in border force has not fully taken effect yet, and is estimated to take an entire year until the 15,000 members are all vetted and employed. Already, reports are filtering through that thousands upon thousands of Eurans are overwhelming the currently stationed border guards because of the judgment, fearful of the opportunity slipping away from their fingers to escape into Electrum. The border guards can't really do much either, as they do not have the authority to use lethal force and other provisions until the bill is signed by the governor-general.

Many naysayers said it couldn't happen -- but what seemed like a fanciful delusion just a few years ago is becoming reality tomorrow.

by **Savojarna** » Thu Feb 23, 2017 9:00 am

RevNews Commentary: The Juven Threat

Tonight, a unique opportunity arises to show the world our superiority to the nation of Juvencus yet again. In the World Cup Qualification, the Juvens come to Sjoedrhavn to showcase their (limited) abilities on the pitch. The air will burn in the otherwise cold stadium, which will greet Juvencus with a frosty -4° C and light snowfall according to the Savojarna Meteorogical Service. Several clashes of the fan groups have already happened in central Sjoedrhavn over the last few days, with the visiting Juvencus fans displaying an ugly, aggressive, imperialistic behaviour of waving flags and provoking Savojar people unconnected to football. Yesterday, on Revolution Square, a group of Juven fans have assembled in cafes to chant nationalist songs of their country after some heavy drinking and, upon being asked politely by the staff to leave the cafe due to their obvious drunkenness, have started a riot in the cafe. Juvencus fans also have sprayed countless windows and walls in the inner city and have been a general problem in town. Fredrik Nyhavn who works at the Andersson's, a bakery and cafe in the old town of Sjoedrhavn, complained about the hordes of fans attacking his shop: "With most home games of the NT, things had generally been fun and good for us - fans would gather for a coffee break, and we'd have nice exchanges with them. Surely, some would banter about the game, but it was all in good mood. With the Juvens though, its as if they only came here to fuck us up. I have never insulted or attacked any of them, but they keep stickering the shop, spray our windows and treat me and my fellow workers extremely rude".

Juvencus fans have been notoriously behaving bad in their home game already, when they had harassed the Savojar players in a very unfair way. Savojarna had been a prime example of hospitality in that regard, when there were large masses of fans gathered at the airport as well, but the police had held them back and made sure Juvencus' players could pass through the airport as quick and problemless as possible. Their accomodation had been well secured by police and SFFB-provided security. We have done our best to make the stay of the players here as fair and good as possible, because we wish to shine on the pitch against the best Juvencus has to offer (it still won't be enough to beat our boys). Likewise, the Juven fans have behaved very badly in Savojarna. While a repetition of the events at the away game was impossible thanks to the security ring around our team's accomodation and training grounds that the SFFB had drawn up after the incidents, the fans attempted to trash the city of Savojarna. Now, of course, Savojars are always able to stand up to an enemy looking for a fight. However, the way Juvencus does it has no connection to the fair duel that fighting is supposed to be. Their attacks on random unsuspecting people for wearing a Savojarna jersey have nothing to do with courage, skill, strength or fairness; and they were always quickly subdued by the strong Savojar Antifascist and Ultra squads that have taken the task of defending our soil upon themselves. An estimate of 60 Savojar people have been hurt in street fights since the invasion of Juven fans since last weekend, and around 35 of them had to go to the hospital. An additional number of Juven hooligans were hurt as well in actions of defence of their supposed victims when those fought back. At this point, when we witness such systematic and unprecedented violence in our streets, the question has to be asked whether this is really just the normal scope of action before a highly contentious football match or a measure of Juvencus' imperialist foreign policy.

The Juvens have shown in the past to be an authoritarian imperial nation with an unhealthy national pride that is set out to subdue the free nations of the world and put them under the spell of Juvencus' capitalist oppression. Multiple observers have suggested that the peaceful attitude of the Juvens is mostly due to their lack of international power to achieve their imperial goals by force. Meanwhile, the nation exports their views through what they call "spreading the Italian language and culture", a term that sounds like fuzzy exchange and open-mindedness when it is in fact a scheme of spreading their propaganda. Their sponsoring of learning Italian around the world often features Juvencus-based study material glorifying the violent and oppressive history this nation has. Since the government of Juvencus never admitted this fact, they don't only try to spread their cultural imperialism through the world but are also dilettantic liars who are not even owning up to their own propaganda. Juvencus is a nation that brutally subdues dissenting political opinion and keeps its people in an eternal cycle of exploitation through a sustained feeling of patriotism, nationalism and chauvinism to the point that it distracts them so much from their true oppression through their own states that the Juven people readily accept this imperialism and pose a true danger to the world, and especially nations like Savojarna that pose a different example and could potentially disrupt the "peace" in their oppressive system.

It would only make sense for Juvencus, a country too poor and too uninfluential to pursue true militaristic imperialism, to continue their attempts at cultural subversion by discrediting nations more progressive which potentially disturb the nationalist screen they have laid over their oppressive politics through violence. Painting Savojarna as an unsafe, violent nation where nothing works seems like something that would benefit the agenda of Juvencus, even if it is very obviously wrong and a development that was entirely fuelled by Juven aggression from the start. But in a country whose people are fed their imperial propaganda from the very beginning of their lives, the government may very well be able to disguise that fact for their purposes. Our police has kept up very well with the squadrons of suspiciously well trained fighters that have been roaming Sjoedrhavn's streets so far and we can hope only for the best at tonight's game, that there will be no further aggression. If Juvencus wants to have this battle, Savojarna will never turn down a fair and honest fight. But we urge the Juvens to fight in a true man's way, honest and fair against a willing opponent rather than a passer-by wearing the jersey of our national team. There shall not be any injuries among people who do not wish to fight, which is unfortunately what Juvencus' fans have caused so far. The Savojars need to stand together and show Juvencus that any attempt at discrediting us on a global stage, or to bring us apart through their violent behaviour, is ultimately destined to fail. There is no way that this nation can be disrupted by a bunch of state-backed hooligans in the name of an imperialist program aimed at subjugating the proud and free Savojar people again. We will not give up the achievements of 1909 to Juvencus, nor to anybody! Tonight, we will show Juvencus on the pitch who is the true master of this nation! LONG LIVE THE REVOLUTION! LONG LIVE SAVOJARNA!

by **Veldgouwen** » Thu Feb 23, 2017 9:01 am

Slightly lacklustre, Derk Breydels strolled into the building of the national Football Association, a fairly anonymous building in the more historic part of Piershaven. The interior matched the surrounding streets, in that the style was in equal part boring and reminiscent of better times, quite a paradox considering the fact that nationally organised Veldgouwer football hardly was old enough to drive a car. The woman, who seemed to be a case study in a university study for bore-out, was the complete opposite, in that one could wonder whether it was still sensible to let her out on the road with a motorised vehicle. As Derk walked up to the counter to announce his presence, she made him spell his name as if he was a Vanor just casually dropping by and not one of the most renowned sportsmen of the country.

It all didn’t give much of a positive drive to the mood of Derk Breydels who had accepted the invitation to the hearing from the manager with more than annoyance. An official statement of his ban term, following the infamous fight during the Eura match, so far had not been announced but had been hanging over him as the sword of Damocles. He compared it with a dentist visit, knowing that he would feel relieved and probably slightly numb afterwards but currently Derk had to drag himself to the building, only not kicking and screaming because that wouldn’t do much good either to his case. His case. It sounded to him as if he had killed someone but apart from his own career, Derk struggled to spot an actual victim in all this.

Matching the hesitance of the Vlierdrecht defender quite well, the lady guided him through the building with the enthusiasm of a window cleaner standing in front of his fifth skyscraper of the week. The elevator still had those metal see-through frames which had turned in a sick-snot-like hue of green, allowing one to see how the different floors passed by terribly slow if he weren’t too repulsed by the colour of the gates to look out. Subsequently, she guided him through a small labyrinth of hallways before eventually stopping before, with a sigh and a puff, leading him to an anonymous metal door.

”Mister Valkeniers will be with you anytime soon, please make yourself at home,” she said, not without a certain hint of irony.

If Derk would not have known better, he’ld imagine to have walked into the interrogation room. Apart from a large mirror, the walls were stripped from anything that could be connected to the concept of decoration, the grey table had been bolted to the floor and the chairs seemed to be stolen, along with the rest of the set, from a mediocre police soap. Nonetheless, it wasn’t the meagre contents of the room that caught his attention, but seeing Yassin Tarki seated there, the arms folded and seemingly one-upping him when it came to being annoyed. Without some sort of introduction, Derk Breydels picked the chair furthest from the man with which he had battled on-pitch and copied his pose. Nonetheless, a duo of grown men can only sit across one another like punished toddlers for a certain period of time and Yassin mumbled something along the lines of,

”So, they seem to mean it with this hearing thing.”

Derk agreed, still feeling slightly confused. What were they supposed to do here? Wait for Valkeniers? Start a staring contest? Or make some good use of that table and arm-wrestle one another for a return to the national squad? A lack of other available antagonists for conversation but the man who was, according to the press, his nemesis, made him voice his doubts out loud.

”So, here we are.”
”Jup.”

Well, not really that out loud. But one thing had been bugging Derk for a while now.

”Bit of a strange timing for it, no?”
”So late after our, … ehm…” Yassin attempted to find an appropriate moniker.
”Not just that. In about,” Derk watched his cell phone, which seemed to have zero reception, ”fifty-five minutes Veldgouwen kicks off against the Socialist Northern Islands. I first believed that Valkeniers wanted to get it over and done with very quickly, you know, shake hands and promise you’ll never do it again but considering the drive it is to the Ship and with this traffic… I’ld be surprised if he even shows up.”

Yassin halted for a second.

”And, would you?” Yassin grinned.
”What,” Derk asked.
”Never do it again,”
”I guess I should ask that to the guy who landed the first blow,” Derk replied deadpan, theatrically rubbing the cheek on which Yassin had planted his fist on that unholy day.

As every conversation once again was usurped from the room, Yassin stood up and ogled the large mirror.

”You see anything good?” Derk asked, letting his nerve for awkward silences getting the better of him.
Yassin turned around, took up Derk head-to-toe and smirked ”Not yet” but then clicked a button at the bottom of the mirror.

Indeed, the Socialist Northern Islands have little left to fight for being dead last at the moment but with six of their points won on the road, they do have quite a reputation for themselves there. Especially their spectacular win on West Saintland, a nation that got the better of us last week, should ensure that the troops of Valkeniers don’t take this duel at the light side and…

Due to the lack of any sort of acoustic material, the sound was as loud and metallic as it was pure, but it seemed as if they had caught a livestream for the game that was about to start in little over fifty minutes.

”I think,” Yassin concluded, ”that we won’t see anything of Valkeniers today, except on telly. We’re just invited to watch the game and see how our right wing handles themselves without us.”

Although Derk agreed with the undertone of that remark, pointing towards the lack of dash from that side of the pitch displayed across the last three games, it was a bit too soon to exchange compliments.

”If we’re just here to catch the game, he should’ve told,” he grunted, ”would’ve brought myself a bag of cheese-o’s.”

In the adjacent room, Johan folded his hands behind his back, solely because he had seen that in his favourite police series. Silently admiring the guy who had merged the noble inventions of mirror glass and flat screen television, he walked out. Three quarters of an hour left before kick-off, it would be a tight catch but Ronny should have everything under control in the squad.

If they haven’t killed eachother by now, they won’t, he believed, and they certainly not by the time they found the cheese-o’s taped under the table.

by **Schottia** » Thu Feb 23, 2017 11:54 am

The Art of Sneaking

Part fifteen.

Getting back to business

Gary had almost forgotten about the patients' files since he had returned to the valley. Tucked away under his mattress, they had gone to the bottom of the pile, so to speak, in terms of priorities. It was one of those things in life, the fewer things you had to do, the more you found ways to fill the time. Had the man have still been here, then, he no doubt would have reminded Gary at some point. He'd perhaps had something in the way of a plan, but that - like apparition - was now long gone.

The rain was beating down hard on his windowpane; the wind blowing the grasses of the valley floor this way and that. On days like this Gary would pull up a ringside seat and watch the weather unfold. He was done with training for the day, and he thanked god that he had got back before the conditions had set in. With most of the leaves now fallen from the trees, he could see over towards the newcomers' village. The number of structures had already begun to wane, as the 'fair-weather residents' packed up and headed back to their civilisation for the winter. All that remained were the diehards, and those with nowhere to go.

There had been some drama two days ago, as the wind had caught the edge of Yogic Dave's tent, blowing several pegs loose. Gary had fortunately made himself a tea with ginger just before it happened, and was able to throw an extra log on the fire and watch him wrestle tent apron in the wind and rain from the comfort of his trusty chair. Gary could watch the retired yoga instructor suffer all day long without feeling a modicum of pity. There was something about watching arrogance taken down a peg or two, which had his veins coursing with endorphins.

At the moment however, everything was quite over there. The campfire was dead, and other than a light in the window of the kitchen hut, you could have been forgiven for thinking the place was abandoned. Gary gave the fire in his stove a good, hard poke, before taking a sip from his camomile infusion. It was grey and dull outside, but it was a nice grey and dull - like being tucked up under a blanket. He turned on his battery light, and placed it on the table in front of him, before laying the patient files out flat, and turning over the first page. Gary had been through them earlier, and underlined all the places where he had seen his name mentioned. For some reason he could justify this course of action to himself, but reading them in their entirety would have felt a little like prying.

The first one was Barry Gorman's conversation with Dr Durí, form eight years ago. It was in the form of a transcript:

<Me:> Okay Barry. Just talk it through, take your time. There is a glass of water there if you need.

<BG:> Thank you. It's just that bloody [...] Can I use profanities here?

<Me:> Yes, if you like. These records are entirely confidential.

<BG:> Right, well, it's that bloody, fucking bastard Corsie.

<Me:> Gary Corsie? The footballer?

<BG:> Footballer is one way to describe him, I can think of several others.

<Me:> Just talk it through, in your own words.

<BG:> I don't have words to describe him. I honestly don't know where to begin. I'm not a violent person - you can ask anyone who knows me - but every time he sets foot in the room, I just want to wrap my hands around his neck and squeeze him until the life leaves his body. There is always something with him, nothing is ever easy. But it's subtle, it's never in your face - well rarely - it's just the little things he does, or doesn't do.

<Me:> Such as?

<BG:> Well the latest instalment is this sexual assault allegation he has made against a member of my staff. He has the entire place in an uproar. Obviously it's confidential, but the players know something is going on; not all of them are stupid.

<Me:> And are these baseless allegations, or?

<BG:> I don't know yet. Hanson, Claire Hanson is involved so quite probably there is at least some smoke, if not fire. I mean - [BG placed his head in his hands and screamed. After a minute he was able to continue] Sorry. That's the thing, he just makes molehills into mountains. I can't describe what he is like, you'd have to meet him for yourself. I mean, I don't doubt that there is always been some stuff going on behind closed doors while the players are on tour but. Okay, 'technically speaking' [my emphasis] yes, she [Hanson] probably broke about a hundred rules regarding staff conduct, but he is just trying to get rid of her because he finds the whole situation awkward.

<Me:> So what do you do now?

<BG:> [Shrug of the shoulders] I have to sack her. Arguably the best young sports physio around at the moment, and I've got to send her on her way. Did you know that girl graduated from the University of Handon with an A-3? She has the best grades of anyone who has ever graduated from that course. She just needs to grow up though, you know? Maybe it's a lesson she needs to learn, nothing is going to come of it, if she keeps chasing the footballers she's meant to be helping.

Gary put the paper back down and took a sip from his infusion. One of the logs in his stove had burst into flames, and was casting an orange glow across the room. He was trying to work out how he felt. This hadn't changed anything, not really. However, it was comforting to know that Gorman had been angry with Claire too, not just him. 'Technically' he was in the right - whether it was Dr Durí's emphasis or not, it meant a lot to him. Perhaps that were to be his new epitaph:

Gary Corsie 1994 - 2065
"technically in the right"

There was some movement over by the newcomer's village. Gary grabbed a small pair of opera glasses, holding the handle carefully as he peered across the valley. Joanna was making her was out of Yogic Dave's tent. 'That's been one hell of a long one-to-one yoga session.' He said to himself. Gary laughed out loud as she stood in a puddle, soaking her trouser leg. Satisfied, he placed the glasses back down just under the window ledge and went back to his reading.

Who was next up? There were more entries in Gorman's files, but nothing since he had quit as manager. Gary would get through them, but perhaps that were a task for a later date.

Corinne Martel-Burns. Christ, this was going to make good reading. He could probably change the names, publish it, and it would become a best seller. He almost pitied Dr Durí for having to be subjected to the inner workings of that girl's mind. She must have needed a stiff drink when those sessions were finished. Gary would go through the entire thing at depth, possibly tonight, his main interest was in trying to identify any similarities or differences between the two of them. He felt that his deductions in those regards would tell him a lot; helping him see himself through a new lens. For the time being however, Gary was more interested she what they had to say about him. The first one he came on was a recent entry, possibly even from the last session:

<Me:> Well all I can say is, you're not the first person to voice his or her concerns on this matter. I'm afraid, as you should know, I'm not able to give you any specific details regarding what he or she said about Mr Corsie - I assume that is whom you are referring to?

<CMB:> Yeah. Mr Corsie. Eh, that's right.

<Me:> So tell me what it is that has given you cause for concern.

<CMB:> Oh, no-no. I don't give a fuck about him.

<Me:> Then what's the problem?

<CMB:> I just don't think they guy is well. Talking to himself. Sitting in the bar taking to himself. I just think someone should be helping him, that's all. I know he see's you a couple of times a year. [laughs] I'm not concerned so don't bloody well think I am; I'm just grassing him up really.

<Me:> Okay Corinne. Your [...] comments have been noted.

Gary slid the sheet of notes back into the middle of the table. Actually that wasn't quite enough. He gathered all the notes together and placed them on top of the bookshelf; he needed them out of site. He hadn't quite braced himself for how this would feel. He couldn't read on, because the prospect of Martel-Burns actually feeling sorry for him was too much to bear. Pity was what you felt for people in a worse position that you. If the two of them were embroiled in a race to the madhouse, in her eyes at least, he was winning. He should have realised that the man was invisible sooner - he should have twigged. Now he'd obviously made himself a target of derision.

It was amazing how quickly it got dark up here, at this time of year. There were now a few lights emanating from the newcomers' village as evening broke. There were signs of movement inside, as a few shadowy figures went back and forth. He wondered if Shannon was still there, and if so, what she was doing. He hadn't seen her again, but in fairness, he hadn't really tried to. The man had been right, and he had also been wrong on that issue, so it was probably even-stevens. The man had predicted that Gary wouldn't have been able to get her out of his head, which of course turned out to be true; but he had been wrong about her using him for a roof over her head. If anything she had used him for sex, but importantly, not for shelter; so Gary was claiming that as a small victory.

Gary turned the battery the lamp off, and perched the opera glasses back on the end of his nose. (Years ago, Chole had ridiculed him when he bought the 1930s, mother-of-pearl set, but he was the one laughing now.) He couldn't see Shannon, although it was getting dark and it was hard to make out exactly who was who. Perhaps she had gone home for the winter; he had expected better. Was it wrong of him to hope for a really hard winter? He had a larder full of tinned food, seeds, nuts, dried fruit. Maybe the frost and snow would finally force the lot of them out, then he could go back being by himself.

by **Tinhampton** » Thu Feb 23, 2017 1:45 pm

OOC: Tinhampton is located in not!England. The roast potato controversy is based on - some might say completely ripped from - ~~this~~ this edit 30-Mar-2018: linking straight to the source because MSN's republication of the original article now redirects to their homepage. The EU regulations are substituted with the municipal Quality in Food Act 2016.

Today's Top Stories:
CITY COUNCIL TO RESTAURANTS: COOK YOUR POTATOES GOLDEN, OR FACE FINES

Incumbent Mayor could be tanked by new regulations, as restaurant owners oppose new measures intended to gain support with health executives and liberals

OVER 500 FLAGS BURNED IN CITY CENTRE AFTER GREGORYISGODISTANI QUALIFICATION

Background of people who burned 500 flags unknown; Mayor Anderson set to uphold right to flag-burning in speech later, despite being slammed by establishment for being "unpatriotic"

TINHAMPTON 1-1 ETHANE: THE MICE THAT ROARED

Tinhampton force group winners Ethane to 1-1 draw - only the Red Kites' second draw in qualification - after incredible performance
Tinhampton 1 (al-Khazr 64') -- Ethane 1 (Watts 67')

The Helmet and Axe pub: 5am, 22nd February 2017

Food Standards Officer: OK, you miners... Clear off! I need to have a word with the manager! (after a while) I don't know your name, but I know that the name of this dining establishment is the Helmet and Axe pub, hereinafter "the pub". It has been alleged from various complaints filed to us that the pub has been reportedly serving foodstuffs coloured brown to the point of risk of cancer increase within five years. In accordance with the Quality in Food Act, which started being enforced on Monday, this is an offence which could mean that you are subject to fines of up to $5,000.
Andy Rogers, pub operator: I deny these charges of willingly serving foodstuffs coloured brown to the whatever-the-heck-that-means.
Food Standards Officer: In the past week, we have forcibly cleared out every dining establishment in Tinhampton (except for the Papa Pallocci's Pizza Pagoda inside Tinhampton University's Coastal campus, and we'll probably get there in the next few minutes) to have this conversation. Fewer than 10% are actually going to be prosecuted. The clause in question, you see, is mainly targeted at acrymalide...
Andy Rogers: Can you please tell me what the Friday Afternoon Happy Hour Special acrymalide even is?
Food Standards Officer: A chemical known to cause cancer in mice - none of them from Mousebumples, admittedly, although the files we hold on you suggest that you are one of the more extreme "National Sover..."
Andy Rogers: Down with the WA!
Food Standards Officer: And that's what I'm talking about. Anyway, our guidelines say that: a.) Testing on at least ten mice is enough to guarantee equality with human responses, and b.) You are hereby ordered to reduce your usage of akrytenia or whatever it's called immediately!
Andy Rogers: You see, I like sports as well, but I'm honestly surprised that the man who wants to stop this chemical being overused in food can't even remember its name. How about you don't confuse the last winners of Atlantian Oceania's regional football cup with a supposedly nasty chemical?
Food Standards Officer: That may be a prosecutable charge of mentally assaulting a government official, punishable by...
Andy Rogers: Nothing, because there is no such crime. Why don't you just go away by now?
Food Standards Officer: OK, that's it. Your fine's being maxed out to the whole five-K. Further ignorance if this pub lives on will lead to us throwing you in jail for a year. Pay up in the next month, or we'll close your beloved pub on April Fools' Day. And that, my friend, is no joke.

IC note: Tinhampton is holding elections on the 31st of March. This speech from Lydia Anderson is a speech that was conducted on the campaign trail yesterday.
Outside the Tinhampton Sporting History Museum - Speech by Mayor Lydia Anderson: 3pm, 22nd February 2017

Today, Gregoryisgodistan was the latest outfit to qualify for the 77th World Cup of Football, after beating lowly 95X 1-0 with a strike from the excellently-named Xylocrap Notatypo. As the results fed in at about four o'clock in the morning today, there were two different celebrations. In the pubs and bars of the city, there was both joy and relief, as Tinhampton managed to pull off a shock 2-0 victory over Boring Paradise, the oldest nation in the famed supercontinent of Esportiva.
However, the mood was different elsewhere, particularly a celebration of qualification. At Gregoryisgodistan, the home crowd celebrated their passage to the World Cup by burning the flags of every nation on the country's Enemy List. In the city centre, there was also what I record to be a mass burning of flags - many which the police reported were supposedly from Enemy List nations, others of which were flags of nations that had little connection to Gregoryisgodistan.
Whilst I would like to congratulate the Gregoryisgodistanis - their fans, their players, and the foreign admirers watching on the Red Button in the wee hours of the morning - on their success, the key message here is different. This message is that burning flags is indeed a right of Tinhamptonians - whether to protest, celebrate or to dispose of muddy and decades-old flags.
We must remember the flag-burnings that have helped us throughout our short and yet storied history as a more powerful administration. When our independence movement came into place, flags of our colonisers (and, some reported at the time, of others) were burned in celebration. And in 1941, when the enemy could storm in and declare the Tin City their plaything at any moment, we burned their flags. As it turns out, they never did come. Yes, there was the occasional bombing - indeed, this museum I stand in front of today was built on the site of a grocer's that felt the full impact of the bombs - but there was never a takeover.
Throughout 1958, when we were held under the tyranny of the self-proclaimed "People's Experimental Republic" - a force for Communism in the Tin City - we resisted against their sham of a "democracy" - taking them down not just through protests and force, but through burning their red, brown and yellow flag. And in the era of our second democracy, we have seen people burn many flags - including our own - in the past 60 years, for a diverse variety of reasons. Maybe they didn't like the nation, or maybe they thought they'd get one up over old rivals. I don't necessarily support the act, but I will do what I can to ensure that civil rights can be kept to a decent level.
The dedicated peoples of Gregoryisgodistan are using their ability to do so and showing their opposition to certain nations when they burn the flags of their enemies. This is a practise that is unlikely to die out over there any time soon, but which could soon be extinguished here. If he becomes mayor, Sean Lobachevsky has promised to prohibit the act of burning flags in the Tin City, which will hurt everybody - not just the flag repairers, but also those who wish to exert their rights in this city.
And so I round off, by stating that despite all the claims to the contrary, there is only one party that will protect your rights. There is only one party that will help businesses, large and small, to thrive in the 21st-century world. There is only one party that will improve our health service, rather than leaving it to die or complaining about it. And that party is the United Conservative Party. Thank you.

Tinhampton City FC - manager's office: 6:47am, 23th February 2017

Press Secretary Suzanne Hammond: A one-all draw against Ethane. Not the most convincing of results, considering that they've won the group, but think - we're a bunch of unranked plumbers and surgeons, whilst they're one of the world's better sides!
First-Team Manager Clive Turnwood: I'd beg to differ - they're only 47th in the world. Closer to us than they are to 15th-ranked Electrum. Blown both our chances against the Electrumites, but we'll have a chance against Damukuni tomorrow. The closest we'll have to decent analysis is the newspaper reports on the oppo.
Suzanne Hammond: Which I've somewhat read. We'll keep our eyes out for all danger. After all, hope does spring eternal...
Clive Turnwood: Where did you get that, Suzanne? The World Census report on Anime Daisuki?
Suzanne Hammond: Probably. On a more original note, if 240th-ranked Nagore can defeat powerhouse Eura, then we can defeat Damukuni as well!

by **Natanians and Nosts** » Thu Feb 23, 2017 1:53 pm

-World Cup Qualifiers.Natanians and Nosts defeats Kosovakia,after the humiliating lost for The Holy Empire.
"Natanians and Nosts started poorly,after a significative defeat to The Holy Empire.Kosovakia had a good scoring opportunity well into the second minute,when Bamir Saboc shot above the posts.After a foul commited near to the midfield,Natanians and Nosts managed to get the ball near the Kosovakian goal,but Dimitri Dojlovic sent it to corner,in the following instants Natan Nínnio Gonçalo scored with a strong straight shoot.It was enough to cheer up our team,at the fifteenth minute Gabriel Ápio Silva scored our second goal.After several failures from both sides,Gëzem Sobivic scored for Kosovakia at the fourtieth minute,and Gëzem made the assistance to the goal of Martin Mistov,to tie the game.Our team returned stronger for the scond period,but no-one scored until Ion Cáius Ademélsson put Natanians and Nosts ahead again with a lon distance goal at the thirty-fifth minute.After a penalty commited by Dimitrov Sablikov,Natan Nínnio Gonçalo scored our fourth goal,and at the fourieth minute he scored again.Natanians and Nosts 5,Kosovakia 2!"
-Yes,now we have Gheorghe Márcu Álvares.
-Hi Ion,hi Mihaela!
-Gheorghe,how has our team reacted?
-Well Ion,they are very happy.At an interview our coach said that the boys were not very sactisfied with the great number of draws we had.The first goal seemed to make they happier and was a distinctive factor over this game.
-And what about the game against The Holy Empire?Did they say something?
-Well,they were more open about this now and they said that The Holy Empire is a traditional team and they have already qualified for the World Cup.
-Ok.Thank you Gheorghe!
-Now,universities demand more funds.

by **Anglatia** » Thu Feb 23, 2017 2:02 pm

To Kill A Rooster

Chapter Three

It was sundown in Alery, and the start of a battle that had a chance of lasting days was here. The university was where it was all starting, and as the sun went down, the students came out in force. Most of them were clad in black, in outfits that were identical and that kept them from being easily identified. There were no individuals, no faces, in this crowd. Just one unified block, one that was angry and that wasn't afraid to let anyone know about that. There were no faces, but there were leaders. People with megaphones, who barked out orders and split everyone into groups. There were five or six of them in total, and the only thing that made them look different than the rest of the group was their megaphones and the white wristbands that they wore to denote their position as leaders. They weren't all the same. Some had been born and raised here, and a few others were here from other places because they'd volunteered to fight for the cause.

While they weren't all the same, all of those leaders, and by extension their followers, were here because they wanted a repeat of the December Uprising, when the House of Rubideaux usurped the throne in Patierre and triggered the war for independence, that was won four decades ago by the nationalists. And now, four decades later, the blood feud between the usurpers and the Imperial houses was still going strong, and this time, the usurpers were fighting under the banner of socialism and anarchism instead of nationalism. The first movement had been different. It had been staged by soldiers and politicians and economic elites, who wanted the freedom of having their own independent state. Now, those people had been long defeated by their more powerful Imperial counterparts. This war was different because it was being waged on the streets.

The members of this revolution were students, criminals, professional revolutionaries, and young college graduates with nothing better to do with their adult lives. The people who were fighting in this revolution were the ones that didn't have much to lose, and that was partly what made them dangerous. If they lost, they'd have to live with their defeat for the rest of their lives. That gave them motivation to not collapse like the a Democratic Forces had, during the insurgency against Anglatia. With them were the Eastern Brotherhood, Islamic anti-imperialists who disagreed with everything that the revolution believed in, but helped them out anyway because they knew that if the Empire cracked down on Patierre, they would soon come for the Brotherhood in their own home state. And the Goths, the street gang that was involved in providing manpower for the revolution, knew that they didn't have a future at all if the Imperial side won. They would be quickly wiped out, as a gang that was a bit too big and dangerous for Imperial comfort.

The fact that the members of this movement couldn't simply return to normal lives like many members of the DFP had done was what made them incredibly dangerous, and it was how they had gathered so many here in Alery University, in the hours before they would march. Before then, however, the massive crowd gathered together to be addressed by one of their leaders, who was standing on the balcony of one of the campus libraries. The courtyard outside that building was where the crowd was assembled. Those who were in the know would recognize the woman as Eshe Al-Hatem, despite her face being covered by a black skull balaclava. Those who were newer to the movement might not know her name, but they did know that she had been the one who was seemingly in charge of the entire thing. Now, all eyes were on her.

“People of Free Patierre, tonight is the night when we begin our march and stake our claim. We may fight for different banners, ranging from my own Gold Hands to the street gang known as the Goths, to the Eastern Brotherhood members that have come from far away to support us, but no matter which group you belong to, the truth is that none of us will survive without each other,” Eshe said, her words coming out louder as she said them through her megaphone. “We may not agree on everything, and we may fight when this is all over, but for now, our only chance of victory is if we punch with one fist and strike quickly and decisively. The Imperial Army is far stronger than us when it is mobilized fully, but mobilizing such a large and spread out force is never easy. If we strike here, and act quickly, we can gain a foothold on the country before the Imperials can fully form their forces and put down this revolution. If we use that advantage, we can use tonight as a catalyst to spread across the entire country. And then, we get a second chance at a war for independence.”

There were some murmurs and cheers from the crowd, which Eshe used as her signal to continue. “Our strategy is one of shock and awe. The massive crowds formed by the students and by my people, the Gold Hands, will overwhelm the gendarmes and spread the city police force and the occupation forces to their maximum limits. With them so spread out and overworked, the Eastern Brotherhood teams will carry out a series of tactical attacks on important occupation locations, and I won't go into details about those just yet because they aren't the job of the majority of this crowd. Most of you will be the part of the group that have the role of overwhelming the gendarmes through rioting. Our riots will start here and will spread outwards into the city center, and in all directions. This may not sound as exciting as challenging the occupation, but remember that you are the most important part of the operation. There will also be two classes of leaders to arrange your movements and actions. Captains are the highest ranking, like myself, and we can be identified by our white wristbands. Under us are our Lieutenants, who wear green colored wristbands. If you listen to the orders of these leaders, we will take the university and the city center and the surrounding financial district within hours.”

Now, it was time for the part of the speech where Eshe reminded everyone of the rules. “However, if we are to have success, it is important that everyone sticks to a set of rules that have been laid out by all of the involved leaders. First of all, everyone must wear black at all times and keep their faces concealed. If you remove your mask, or wear something that stands out in our crowd of black, you will be identified by Imperial Intelligence and prosecuted for treason. Second, stick with the group at all times. Our strength is our numbers, and if members of the group break off and go away on their own, the entire group suffers as a result. When being approached by riot police and gendarmes, do not break formation under any circumstance. Stay together, stay close, and look after your fellow revolutionaries. If you break apart and run when the rubber bullets, and the real bullets, start flying, the front will collapse within minutes. If you see someone injured, then help them to safety. Do not leave anybody behind to be captured. And third, if you are captured, do not say anything to the authorities. Remind them that you have the right to not speak, as a citizen of a crown state. The Gold Hands will pay for your legal fees, but only if you do not give up information to the authorities after being captured. Fourth, and finally, listen to the instructions of the Lieutenants and Captains. Every move of these riots has been planned out ahead of time in detail, and deviating from the plan in one spot can result in the failure of the entire operation. If we all work together as a team, however, and stick to the plan, we shall be victorious by the end of the night.”

Eshe took a pause and a deep breath, and looked around the crowd. They were ready to go, and she could tell that all the way from the balcony. “I see that you tire of listening to this speech. You're ready to fight, I know. Well, I won't keep you here for any longer. The leaders are ready, and you are all ready. The riots will start in fifteen minutes. Before then, please report to the nearest Lieutenant to receive the orders for your subgroup. Eastern Brotherhood members, you will report to the four Warrant Officers who are waiting in the main lobby of this library, and to myself. Anyone who doesn't have a mask or a hoodie can also pick one up from the lobby. Now that all of this is out of the way, let's get down to business. Tonight is the night, everyone. Tonight, the revolution for the independence of Free Patierre begins.”

The crowd cheered and began to disperse as the different parts of the group went to find the nearest leaders to receive their orders, and the crowd also grew livelier as some fires were already lit, mainly for the visual effect at this point. One of the people in the crowd, however, was focused on something different. That person was wearing a black hoodie and mask just like everyone else was, but they were no anarchist. They were working for the opposite side, and they had managed to blend in and listen to the entire speech. That man took his phone out of his pocket and stepped away from the noise and the commotion before making a call to the opposition leader. “You may want to get down here soon… And tell the others to be on high alert and prepare to move out now. It's all kicking off in fifteen minutes, and this crowd is much larger than anyone's predictions,” the man said, before looking back into the mass of black clad people. “If we want to take control of these streets, we’re going to have to defeat tens of thousands of rebels with various degrees of experience. Not hundreds, not thousands, but tens of thousands.”

“I think we’re prepared for that,” said the voice on the other end of the line. “I'll tell Imperial Intelligence to bring their best. But as for us, we've been ready for this since we started to plan. The Hands, the Goths, the Brotherhood, whatever. We can handle them. They have more bodies, we have real weapons. Just do your job and keep watching them.”

“Aye, boss. I hope you're right about having real weapons being enough to handle them. I hope that for your sake more than mine, because I'm starting to think that we didn't bring up near enough to handle them… I'll keep eyes on them, but I'll only be able to follow the largest group. Just make sure the others are all in position, because I've got an extremely bad feeling about what's going down tonight.”

=====

It was never easy to be a cop. The job was underappreciated, often criticized, and it often put the people who worked the job directly into the line of fire and into other dangerous situations. Sometimes, you had to do things that didn't align with your personal moral compass, and other times, you would find yourself being attacked by the public for just doing your job. That was the case for normal police officers, but it was especially the case for the gendarmes of Patierre, who had been given the dirty job of keeping the island’s populace in line. Some of them had come over from Anglatia in exchange for a pay raise, but many of them had grown up here and had families here. Now, they had to keep control of the same neighborhoods that they'd grown up in, and the people that they were policing were sometimes people that they knew. They were often brought into direct conflict with the people of the neighborhoods where they lived, and that made this job much more complicated than a normal police job.

That was what was on the mind of some of the gendarmes, as their armored van rolled towards Alery University and the battleground that was developing there. They weren't the first responders, they were the reinforcements that were arriving to back up the outmanned first wave of officers, and they had been authorized to use lethal force if the need called for it. “You know, when I signed up for this, I didn't realize they'd be asking me to be a soldier and fight against my own country,” said Xavier Desroches, towards the back of the van. “You can't even tell the difference between us and actual soldiers. The only difference is that we have riot padding and they have camo. I didn't think I would be getting sent to the front line with an assault rifle, like a member of the Imperial Army.”

“Don't think of them as your own country, because they don't think of themselves that way. They call themselves Free Patierre, and they aren't your friends any longer. It's actually the other way around… They want you dead, remember that,” said Amanda Jarrett, who was sitting across from him. “They aren't real members of this country, but supporters of the usurpers. You're doing the country a big favor by helping to rid us of them and their movement. You know they want to see the collapse of the government, right? Many of them want anarchy. You can't exactly call an anarchist your countryman.”

“Been listening a bit too much to the occupation propaganda?” asked another one of the grey clad gendarmes in the van. “Most of these rebels were normal college students before this revolution started brewing when the DFP collapsed and the Imperials started shutting down any resistance and criticism. As far as I know, you were neighbors with some of them until they joined the movement. You still are neighbors with some of em.”

“I’m surprised to hear you defending them. You are about to go into combat against them, after all, and they’re going to be after your blood. They don’t care how sympathetic you are. All they care about is that you have the flag of Imperial controlled Patierre on your sleeve and that you’re wearing the grey uniforms of the occupiers. They hate the Empire and by extension they hate you, no matter how much you think they’re just harmless college students,” stated Amanda, as the van slowed and turned onto another street. There were no windows, but they could tell from the way the driver was navigating that they were almost to the central campus.

“I can’t speak for anyone else, but that wasn’t my point, really. I’m just surprised that we’re basically fighting a war and not just policing the occupied areas, like we signed up to do,” said Xavier, with a shrug. “From what I hear, the front at the University practically is a real war. One with real bullets, real combat, and real deaths. I didn’t realize that this occupation would cause us all to start killing each other, the way it did. You get what I’m saying, right?”

“To an extent. But I also think that this is what we signed up for and that you’re being naive if you didn’t think that you’d get sent into battle. What did you expect to happen? Did you think the rebel factions were simply going to disappear and return to normal lives once the initial insurgency lost? They won’t stop until every last one of them is dead,” said Amanda, and as she said that, the van slowed up some more before coming to a complete stop. It would be time to get out soon, and everyone gripped their rifles and prepared to step out of the van and into the battlefield. They could hear shouting outside, from both other officers and from a crowd, and that was how they knew how close they were. It was almost go time, everyone realized, and the adrenaline began to flow for the gendarmes in the van.

After a moment or two after stopping, the driver of the van stepped out and opened the doors at the back. Everyone climbed out, and they saw that their van wasn’t the only one that was parked there. There were four others, and the passengers were emptying from those ones too. As they emptied out of the vans, they were being waved towards the biggest quad on the campus by a pair of higher ranking officers who were standing in front of the vans. “We need everyone to get onto the front immediately,” he told them, waving them forward and showing them their positions. They would be heading to the front line to exchange spots with the tired gendarmes that were already there, running crowd control. They had been charged more than once and there had been exchanges using rubber bullets and objects thrown by the crowds.

Now, they would be using real bullets, because the rioters had been deemed worthy of using lethal force to defeat. The rioters were already spreading into the city from here, but that wasn’t as concerning as the threat of losing the university center to thousands of rioters who wanted to use it as a place to dig in and stage a guerilla campaign from. If they captured this place, it would be very hard to take it back from them. Amanda moved forward with the rest of the group, and as she did, she could see that the scene was much worse than she had expected.

There were bonfires burning, there were hundreds of black clad rebels that she could see, and many of them had makeshift weapons despite the extremely strict gun control that had been put in place since the occupation began. They also carried less restricted weapons, like homemade spears and pikes and some bladed weapons, in addition to their makeshift guns and their clubs, bats, and crowbars. They had captured many of the buildings on campus for themselves, and the gendarmes were here to contain them and keep them from heading any further south, southeast, or southwest to capture more buildings and territory. They’d marched from north to south, but if the gendarmerie had any words to say about it, this would be where their march for independence ended. And if they could stop them here, it would be up to the rest of the force to stop them in the rest of the city, a task that would be made easier if the leftists and anarchists lost their core territory.

“Jesus, this is insane,” said Amanda, upon seeing the scene. The new reinforcements were being sized up by the rebels, who looked like they were going to attempt another charge. She gripped her gun even tighter as she and Xavier moved to the front line, where they were forming a line that blocked off the main pathways out of the quad. “You were right when you said that this was like a war. Just look at the place… I can’t tell if this is a campus or a part of a war zone that was hit with an air strike. What’s the point of starting these fires and burning their own campus?”

“They’re not burning ‘their’ campus, per say,” said Xavier, taking up his place next to her and looking straight ahead, at the crowd. “They’re burning state property, which is one of their goals. This place is state run, which means that it’s now Imperial run since the Imperials control the state. They’re going to take the buildings they want and raze the rest, which also lets them focus on defending those few buildings when they finish taking this place over as their headquarters. It’s something of a slash and burn strategy that I’m sure they learned from the Eastern Brotherhood.”

“Yeah, well, their strategy is making it pretty fucking terrifying to be one of the ones that has to come in and deal with them,” Amanda sighed, and she took another deep breath and checked to make sure the safety was off on her rifle. And that was when she looked up again and saw that the rioters were preparing for another charge. One of their leaders was screaming at them through a megaphone, and they were forming into a tight block and throwing rocks and other objects at the gendarmes as they formed their line. They sensed weakness, sensed that they were reluctant and that they weren’t confident in themselves, and now they were trying to smash the line and see what they could do against these fresh new reinforcements.

“Shit,” Xavier said, raising his rifle. “I don’t know if we’re supposed to shoot yet, but if they get right up on us, I already know what I’m going to do,” he added, his heart pounding just like everyone else’s was, as the crowd started their charge. They were moving in faster than the gendarmes had predicted, and they could only get a few gunshots off before the crowd was almost right on them. As it turned out, angry rioters could cover a lot of ground in a few seconds, and by the time the first volley of bullets had arrived, the rioters were close enough that only some people in the front line fell. The gendarmes fired more, but they were running out of ammunition. And now, they were being surrounded by a mob that was wielding weapons specifically designed for these situations.

They were in a real war indeed, and at the moment, they were losing badly.

=====

While everything kicked off at Alery University, things were calmer on Borde Street, the place where the Gendarmerie headquarters was located. All of the armed police forces in the city used the massive Borde Street Station as their central headquarters, even if they were deployed to other stations. They’d keep their equipment here and their vehicles too, and then move to other stations to do their actual job every day. That was to keep the equipment from getting stolen in rebel raids on smaller stations, and as a result, the big station was a fortress. It was one of the few places in the city that rebels couldn’t touch at all, and that was why it was surprising that it was one of the Eastern Brotherhood’s targets.

But then again, it was a good plan to take out this station, because if Borde Street went down, the Gendarmerie would be severely weakened and that would tie into the plan of the rebels to quickly overwhelm the enemy in a lightning war that would be over in a day or two, leaving the territory of the city open to claiming as a part of their own state of Free Patierre. Borde Street was one of the more defended locations by Imperial Intelligence, who had learned of the plans against it from the Corsairs and their raids on the Brotherhood and the Goths. In addition to the large Imperial Intelligence presence that was in the area, there was also a car where three Corsairs were waiting and looking for a chance to join in the defense of this place against the Brotherhood. After all, they had recently become the experts in fighting them.

Those three were Scout Jonsdottir, Jessi Mariano, and one of the other female members of the gang, who went by the nickname Princess. She had that nickname because she was pretty good looking for a biker, but that didn’t mean that she didn’t have the brutal combat skills that the Corsairs were renowned for. She was just as good with a machete or a club as anyone, and she was one of the ones that Scout trusted more than usual. She’d brought Princess along because she knew that Jose Sorondo would have her head if anything happened to his adopted daughter, and Jessi would be in good hands with both Scout and Princess there to watch out for her. And at Borde Street, Jessi would still be able to feel like she was doing something important.

“What are we even watching for?” sighed Jessi, as more minutes ticked by and they still sat on the curb next to their motorcycles and waited for the Eastern Brotherhood to show up. They were supposed to be here by now, and then a large crowd of rioters was supposed to show up after they had already done their damage. But the only people here were the gendarmes and the black clad Imperial Intelligence agents who wielded advanced looking assault rifles that were likely on the cutting edge of Imperial research and development. They hadn’t yet seen anyone suspicious, or anyone who looked remotely like a Brotherhood member.

“We’re looking for a group of people wearing black masks and hoodies that aren’t with Imperial Intelligence,” stated Scout, looking around one more time to see if she could find anyone fitting that description. She let out a small sigh too, getting frustrated that nobody was showing up. “They might have been delayed by the authorities. Just wait. This is one of the most important locations to protect, because of its role as the headquarters of the Gendarmerie.”

“I want to go to a front where there’s actual fighting,” Jessi said. “I’m sure Princess does, too. We didn’t come all the way to Alery just so we can sit around and watch a police station that’s not even under attack. Can’t you call in and ask if there’s any updates? They might have used an alternate route, or been held up like you said, or-”

As if on cue after Jessi said that, Scout’s phone started ringing. The call was from Mark Gaudin, the Bravos scout that was with the main group of rebels that was being led directly by some of the Gold Hands leaders, and he had been doing his best all night to relay updates about the situation to the other Bravos and the Corsairs leaders, including Jose and Scout. This call had to be related to what was happening now, on Borde Street, and Scout answered on the second ring. “Mark, what’s up?”

“There’s been a change, Scout. You need to get the fuck out of there as fast as you can. There’s no saving Borde Street, it’s already been compromised. The Hands leaders and their Brotherhood friends are bragging about how the whole place is about to go boom because the Brotherhood had a couple of inside men who set the place up to blow. All they have to do is detonate the charges, and they’re going to do that as soon as they send someone into range across the street-”

“Wait, what? You’re telling me that they aren’t going to stage a full attack, like we thought?” asked Scout, surprised and shocked by the sudden revelation. “When are they detonating the charges? I think the guy who’s supposed to detonate the charges is already here, because I saw someone enter the building across the street that might have fit the profile of a Brotherhood recruit. But he wasn’t wearing the same thing that a Brotherhood member would wear, so I wrote him off and didn’t say anything-”

“Scout, get the hell out,” Mark said quickly, cutting her off. She did just that and got up and started walking away, gesturing for the others to come with her. Jessi and Princess followed her, even though they didn’t know the reason why they had to run yet. All they knew was that this man hadn’t called with good news, and that Scout’s voice and her sudden panicking indicated what had to be real danger. “The leaders were bragging because this is basically already done. They have the charges in place, they’re ready to detonate them, and then the area is going to get flooded by rioters who are going to clean up and take out the three substations in the surrounding streets as well as any of the Imperial Intelligence agents that are still around there. You have to leave now, or risk going down with the station.”

“Understood. Thanks for the warning, Mark, we’re getting out of here as I speak. I’ll talk to you later, when all of this finishes,” Scout said, before ending the call. She quickly relayed what she had learned to the others, and they climbed onto their bikes and drove to the end of the street, where they were about to turn and head as fast as they could down the connecting avenue and to safety. But they hadn’t moved quickly enough.

As they were on that corner, about to turn, that was when the bang happened. The explosion happened quicker than the sound registered, but when it did, the noise was deafening. The flames didn’t reach Scout, Jessi, and Princess, but they could still feel the heat warming up their skin and causing sweat to form, and the shockwave was strong enough to run right through the tall barbed wire fence that surrounded the station, and straight into the three bikers. They were thrown from their bikes, and because they hadn’t been able to brace for the shockwave, they were thrown quite awkwardly.

Princess hit her head and fell unconscious after rolling further on the pavement, and Jessi landed on her back after her leathers absorbed most of the friction from being thrown to the ground. Scout was dazed but alright, and she felt like all of her senses were being overwhelmed at once by the smell of a burning building and the smell of smoke. The Brotherhood must have used incendiary explosives to take the station down, and that was obvious from the way the place was burning. The smoke smell was overwhelming, and that was because of the massive plume of smoke that was rising from the central building of the complex. But all of the buildings had went up in flames, causing the Imperial Intelligence agents to run around frantically and try to figure out what had just happened. Scout hadn’t had enough time to send a warning to them, and now they would have to deal with the crowd of rioters that would approach in the coming minutes to destroy the nearby substations and completely remove the police presence from the center city.

It was a plan that was working, Scout had to admit. She just wished that she wasn’t one of the ones who had to deal with this specific part of the plan, as she sat up and looked around and looked to see how her allies were doing. Jessi looked okay. She had hit the ground hard but hadn’t been injured from either the impact or the friction, unless she had an injury that wasn’t really visible. Princess, though, was still unconscious after hitting her head on the pavement. That threw a wrench right into the plans, because they couldn’t just ride off and let this be someone else’s problem. There was no way to carry an unconscious person on a motorcycle while maintaining balance, and that meant that they would be forced to make a hard decision between leaving her behind and getting out of this place while they still could. That wasn’t a decision that Scout ever wanted to have to make, but she knew she would eventually be put in a situation like this if she remained a leader in the Corsairs. Now that situation had arrived, and it was in as high pressure of an environment as anyone could come up with.

“Jessi, do you think you can fight?” Scout asked, trying to figure out how much physical and mental energy the younger girl had left in the tank, now that she had experienced had just happened. Scout wouldn’t blame her if she wanted to run from the mob, after being thrown from her bike in the way that she had been and nearly killed by the explosion. While she wasn’t injured, it wouldn’t be surprising if she was terrified and wanted to leave after that. Especially now that they were down to two for now, with Princess knocked out. “There’s no way to get Princess out of here unless we carry her. The only options are to leave her or to stand and fight until she wakes up.”

“Then we’ll stand and fight and hope that she’s not sleeping for long,” Jessi said, replying quickly and with certainty in her voice. She wasn’t about to leave an ally behind to die, not when they weren’t yet sure about the strength of the enemy. If there was a chance that they could fight and survive and get everyone out safely, Jessi was going to take it and she was going to risk her life to make sure everyone came back home. She picked up the submachine gun that she had dropped, and checked to see how much spare ammo she had. “Remember that we’re the ones with the guns, along with the Imperial agents. We should be able to stand up to them for at least a little bit until Princess wakes up.”

So it was decided. They’d stay and fight, not leaving their friend behind. Now, they’d have to try to make sure that their decision didn’t result in the deaths of all three of them.

=====

“Damn, it feels good to be back on the revolutionary scene…” whispered the hooded and masked woman, walking with Mark Gaudin through the halls of the Alery University library, where they both knew that Eshe Al-Hatem was located. They had both been tracking her all night, and now they were aware that she was planning to slip out through the back door and get away from this movement that she had started but didn’t want to finish. The movement, as it turned out, had been infiltrated enough with Imperial spies that there were armed Intelligence agents waiting on every street that the rioters were targeting, and what should have been a surprise blitz had turned into a gritty war that saw both sides pushing back at each other and not giving up much in terms of advantage.

“I didn’t recall you ever leaving,” Mark replied, raising an eyebrow as they got closer and closer to the spot where they believed that Eshe was going to slip out at. They’d learned of this plan through intercepted communications, and now, they were moving to disrupt Eshe’s plan and bring her to Imperial Intelligence, who wanted to interrogate her and gain every last bit of information that she carried about both the Hands and the Brotherhood. They walked silently after they had exchanged a few remarks, and after a minute or two, they walked past another row of shelves and found who they were looking for.

Eshe was standing at the edge of the building, and she was shedding her black hoodie and balaclava and replacing it with a red sweatjacket and a white hijab, making her look like she was just another college student here. The difference between her in street clothes and her in her rebel uniform was big. She carried herself differently, as Mark could tell from looking at her, and if one hadn’t seen her face before, it would be hard to identify her as the same one who had given a fiery speech on the balcony less than an hour earlier. She finished changing outfits, and then she grabbed her backpack and she looked like she was ready to go. But she would be interrupted.

“Amala!” shouted the woman in the hood, using her real name. She had been born as Amala Al-Nasiri, and had only changed her name when her parents moved to Lane to have a more normal life than the one they’d had in Kisote. As soon as the woman said her real name, she jumped and looked up and looked around, knowing that only a select few knew that name. This woman wasn’t anyone that Eshe knew, however, and that was apparent as she approached. Even without seeing her without her mask, Eshe knew that, because she had a different walk and a different accent than anyone that she knew.

“Who the hell are you?” Eshe asked, starting to reach to her backpack to find a weapon. She stopped, however, and put her hands in the air once Mark Gaudin raised a pistol that had been holstered at his hip, and leveled it towards her chest. “You’re one of those Imperial spies, aren’t you? You’re working with Imperial Intelligence, just like Allie said-”

“Not quite. I’m no spy. Just an Imperial citizen that loves his country and wants to rid it of movements like yours,” stated Mark, speaking in a calm and flat voice and keeping the pistol trained on Eshe as he and the hooded woman approached. “And if you knew there were Imperial spies, you should have fled beforehand. Not after you’ve already started a revolution. It’s too late to go back now, my dear. You’ve made your bed, and you’re going to have to lie in it.”

Mark stood back while the hooded woman approach, and Eshe stood still but flinched as she saw the woman reaching to her waist for a sheathed knife, one that was long and extremely sharp and shiny looking. “Stand still,” the woman ordered, and she pulled the hijab off of Eshe’s head and roughly pulled her hair up, looking for something to prove that this was really her and not someone else being used as a decoy. But it was her, because she had the tattoo of an eye on the side of her neck that Imperial Intelligence had used in the past to identify her. “She has the eye tattoo. It’s her,” the woman added, and then she let Eshe’s hair drop and placed her hands on her shoulders, with the edge of her knife touching the back of her neck. “You feeling lucky?”

“Look, you can let me go, I’m not a threat anymore. I started this but I never planned on finishing it because I knew about the Imperial spies, and I was going to go back to East Kisote and lay low and retire as leader of the Gold Hands,” Eshe blurted out, desperate to keep living for at least another day. “I don’t even know who you’re working for, but you can tell whoever it is that’s paying you that you don’t have to do this. You don’t need to get rid of me because I’m leaving the country on my own.”

“We’re not here to kill you, we’re here to bring you back to some friends that would like to gather information,” stated Mark, using the same flat tone. “Whether they decide to kill you or not isn’t our decision-”

“You know, I wonder how Imperial Intelligence would react if she were to accidentally die before she reaches them,” the hooded woman said, taking Mark by surprise. This wasn’t in the script at all. They weren’t supposed to kill her, because she was no use to Intelligence if she couldn’t answer their questions and respond to their interrogation. “I think they can find others to interrogate…”

“No, please, I’m not going to cause any more trouble… I know there’s no way to prove it but you have to believe me, I wouldn’t be running if I planned on staying in this game,” said Eshe, rapidly trying to think of things that might save her life. “Please don’t do this, I have a girlfriend waiting for me abroad, and I promised her that I wouldn’t leave and disappear again,” she added. She was stretching the truth a bit when it came to her relationship status, but it wasn’t that far from the truth.

“You fancy girls, eh?”

“Just her, she’s the only person I’ve ever been with for more than a week or two… She’s going to be heartbroken if I never come back-”

“Well, you should have thought of that before you left,” the woman said, her tone sharper. “You call yourself a friend to the Eastern Brotherhood, and yet you have a girlfriend. Fucking hypocrite. You should be glad that I’m ending you right now and not telling your Brotherhood friends, and letting them stone you to death for that,” she added, and with that, she shoved Eshe against the wall and plunged the knife into her stomach. “Fucking syndicalist scum,” muttered the woman, her temper becoming apparent.

“Do you know what you just did?” snapped Mark, frustrated that they would now have to explain to Imperial Intelligence how the person who was supposed to be their prisoner had died from a stab wound to the stomach. “The Imperials are going to have our heads for this-”

“Do I know what I just did? Of course. I just ridded the world of another tinpot revolutionary who was about to ruin another country with her ideology,” the hooded woman snapped back, pulling the knife out and letting Eshe drop to the ground. She sheathed the knife and turned to Mark without another word. “Trust me when I say that I know how dangerous she and her friends are. I’ve lived through the things that her movement would have caused. You haven’t. Until you have, shut up and have some trust in me. If the Imperials complain, I’ll take the full blame for this… As you know, I have considerable pulling power with them.”

(OOC: Who will live? Who will die? Will Scout and Jessi escape Borde Street with their lives? Will the University burn? Who is the woman in the hood, and why does she hate the rebels so much? Find out that and more in the next part, part 2/3 of the explosive finale of the Patierre Uprising storyline!)

by **Bonesea** » Thu Feb 23, 2017 2:02 pm

by **Drawkland** » Thu Feb 23, 2017 4:23 pm

WORLD CUP 77 QUALIFIERS: QUALIFICATION POSSIBLE
Written By: Walker Sun and Ellen Bolabore

GROUP TABLE

   Group 2               Pld    W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts 
 1 Bonesea                15   12   1   2    38   17  +21    37
 2 Jeruselem              15   10   3   2    42   27  +15    33
 3 Barunia                15   10   2   3    27   11  +16    32
 4 Drawkland              15    9   4   2    33   21  +12    31 
 5 Darmen                 15    6   3   6    30   27   +3    21 E
 6 Garifunya              15    5   2   8    24   34  −10    17 E
 7 Witty Penguins         15    4   3   8    13   19   −6    15 E
 8 Quakmybush             15    4   3   8    22   32  −10    15 E
 9 Whovian Tardisia       15    2   1  12    21   38  −17     7 E
10 Willinois              15    1   2  12    10   34  −24     5 E

KICK CORPS FIXTURES:
Willinois 0–4 Drawkland @ Willinois
Drawkland 2–2 Garifunya @ Drawk City Stadium, Drawk City
Whovian Tardisia 2–1 Drawkland @ Whovian Tardisia
Witty Penguins 1–1 Drawkland @ PIC Stadium, Macquire City
Drawkland 2–2 Jeruselem @ Drawk City Stadium, Drawk City
Darmen 1-4 Drawkland @ Wolves Park, Liverpool
Drawkland 1–1 Bonesea @ Drawk City Stadium, Drawk City
Quakmybush 3–4 Drawkland @ Quakmybush
Drawkland 2–1 Barunia @ Drawk City Stadium, Drawk City
Drawkland 3–1 Willinois @ Drawk City Stadium, Drawk City
Garifunya 3–4 Drawkland @ Staad Fyet nan Garifunya, Frederykvil
Drawkland 2–1 Whovian Tardisia @ Drawk City Stadium, Drawk City
Drawkland 2–0 Witty Penguins @ Drawk City Stadium, Drawk City
Jeruselem 3–0 Drawkland @ Dazza Dallas Stadium
Drawkland 1–0 Darmen @ Drawk City Stadium, Drawk City
Bonesea vs Drawkland @ St. Leah's Ground, Spittalsea
Drawkland vs Quakmybush @ Drawk City Stadium, Drawk City
Barunia vs Drawkland @ Suns Stadium

With a semi-rocky first half behind them, Drawkland's Kick Corps set out to do better in the second half, still being in the qualification zone. And boy, did they get into form. A 4-4-1 first half left them with 16 points, not really what one would expect from a team that could qualify. But they proved the doubters and they "it's only their first cycle" people wrong, going undefeated for the first 4 games of the second half, and only a single loss marring their record. 9-4-2 overall now and a 5-0-1 second half proves that the ladies of the Kick Corps have negotiable currency, jewelry, and other valuables in near vicinity to the space in which their eating/breathing holes inhabit.¹ And as you may notice by the table on your right,² Drawkland is not yet eliminated from qualification contention. It may look like it, considering the proximity to the wall of red right below us, but it's not a faraway dream. We're still in the red zone, a loss could break us out of contention permanently unless all the other top 4 lose³ on the same day. Still, it's damn close. How did we get there? What are our chances going into the next games? What even are our next games?

That's out of the scope of an opening paragraph, bud. Keep reading.

vs WILLINOIS
Last time the Corps faced these fellow 64 Classers on Matchday 1, they went into Willinois and pretty much whooped the crap out of the poor team, scoring 4 points and keeping a clean sheet in the Buck's home field. This time, the national team of Willinois went out to the monolithic Drawk City Stadium and kicked around the team for a little bit where they'd be less embarrassed.⁴

The first half of the game honestly had very little action, no scoring in a pretty slow-rolling game. It could be described as casual, both teams appearing like they were meaning to save their energy for something later. Plus, both teams were still getting their feelers on each other, probing and poking to figure out the best way to crack them. Or, at least, that's what Drawkland was doing. There were a record low shots, regardless if they were on-target or not. The only bit of action would be DeMarcus Jackson out of Milwaukee,⁵ a Willinois defender, who was a little too aggressive on a sliding tackle and grazed the toes of Ellzidan, which earned him a yellow card.

After halftime, the Corps finally decided that they knew how to tackle⁶ the Willinois squad and they got to work. Within the first two minutes where the Corps got the ball, Cam Cross received a pass from Katie Madison and shot it in past Robert Franklin to open up the books for the match. The Bucks got the ball after that and mounted a pretty good counterattack, and eventually a shot went out after Jessie Peterson's save and they got a corner kick. The corner kick was taken by Rodrigo Gomez, and Jackson King went to redirect it in, but Peterson saw the move coming and saved it easily. The Corps got the ball back and Ellzidan began to work around the Bucks defense, passing the ball around until she called for the ball and broke free, lasering a shot into the net before Franklin could react. 2-0 Corps, and 10 minutes later, Ellzidan scored on a fast break, almost getting called offsides, but shooting before it could be called, and boosting the score up to 3-0 on a solid brace.

Y'know how the Corps really figure out how to crack the Willinois defense after the first half? We feel like Willinois did the same thing with us, except it took them 85 minutes rather than 45. Very late in the game the Bucks had new life, mounting a superb attack on the Kick Corps goal which caught most of the defense off-guard. With minuscule minutes remaining on the clock, Pete Valicari of Green Bay got a header on a crossing pass from King and it just barely got through the diving arms of Peterson. With only a few minutes left, the Bucks had gotten a late goal, which everyone agreed was pretty deserved. A 3-1 win at home isn't anything to complain about.

WC77 Qualifiers, Drawk City Stadium, Drawkland	Score	Goals	Cards
DRAWKLAND	3	47' Cross, 62' Ellzidan, 72' Ellzidan
WILLINOIS	1	88' Valicari	26' Jackson

vs GARIFUNYA
The second match against Garifunya was expected to be a tough one. The two teams had drawn, 2-2, when Drawkland hosted them in the first half. Now, come the second half, with both teams warmed up more to play and Garifunya enjoying home field advantage, who knows what what would happen? Well, let nobody there say it was a boring match, because holy crap.

The Garifunyans got the ball to start the match, but that didn't really seem to matter. Both teams held up with staunch defenses, plenty of shots on the goal for both sides, yet nothing could seem to break the chalk threshold to truly score points. It wasn't a Drawkian that turned on lights in the scoreboard⁷ in fact, it was Florentijn Takman of Garifunya, wowing the home crowd with a bicycle kick from a pass by Ali Wijkstra to get a point past Savannah Everett. This was in the 28th minute, and immediately after the Kick Corps got the ball back, Joachem van Ness intercepted a routine Mandy Thompson-Rebecca Talla pass to get a fast break so soon after scoring. The Drawkians were caught way off guard, and it was Floris-Jan Klenkman who easily shot a cross shot past Everett to take a 2-0 lead within 2 minutes.

However, this wouldn't be a nail in a coffin for Drawkland at all. Really, all this did was piss off Corrie Archer, who really hates nothing more than giving up points in rapid succession. We don't know what happened, but a switch seemed to flip with her and she became a monster on the field, collaborating with Ellzidan and the rest of the forward line to mount a scarily effective attack on the 'Funyan goal. Archer herself managed to get through in the 35th minute, kicking the ball towards the goal, and having it actually deflect off of Madison's back and back into Archer's feet, where she shot the ball in the opposite direction, totally breaking Arjan Maatman's ankles and easily making the score 2-1. Garifunya made sure not to make the same mistake Drawkland made minutes earlier and kept very solid ball control. However, Drawkland got a lucky break thanks to a wayward shot by Klenkman, and were able to sprint the ball downfield with the seconds ticking off the clock.⁸ Archer did her job, and outran the slower Garifunyan defense until she had a one-on-one shot and fired it in. About 10 seconds later the halftime whistle blew.

At halftime the score stood as it had ended last match, and also how the score was at halftime that match as well. But neither team was going to allow the match to end like it did then, and both teams kicked it way into high gear. Well, after about a half hour of dormancy. See, both teams fell into the "well, somebody will score eventually" trap that had ended in a tie last time, and around the 70th minute they realized what was happening. Takman scored on a low shot that somehow evaded both Sarah Arrowsword and Nicole Warren's feet and slipped past Everett who didn't see it coming until it was too late. But right after getting the ball from a 3-2 scoreline, the Corps went again downfield, and Archer again took the time to shine. A beautiful header from her sent the ball into the goal and tied the game at 3 all. This was especially special because this was only the second time in Kick Corps history that a player has scored 3 goals in one match, and the first time it's been a true hat trick, as Archer scored 3 consecutively.

Action mounted after that, both teams playing their hardest trying to secure the win, but it was the unlikely Mickey Watson who got through in the 85th minute to secure the win. Despite their best efforts, Garifunya couldn't answer before the whistle blew. It ended 3-4 away for the Corps, and what a win it was.

WC77 Qualifiers, Staad Fyet nan Garifunya, Garifunya	Score	Goals	Cards
GARIFUNYA	3	28' Takman, 30' Klenkman, 72' Takman
DRAWKLAND	4	35' Archer, 45' Archer, 75' Archer, 85' Watson

vs WHOVIAN TARDISIA
The only team that had won over Drawkland in regular time this entire cycle, Whovian Tardisia was traveling to Drawkland this time, and this was a match that Drawkland knew they had to win out. And that they did, in a strikingly familiar scoreline.

This one was led for the greater part of the match by Drawkland, with the newer team addition Siv Foss scoring both her first goal on the Kick Corps and the first goal of the match in the 19th minute thanks to great chemistry with Ellzidan.⁹ Anything of interest really ceased after that, both teams seeming to hover around the middle of the field with quick and frequent pass incompletions plaguing both sides. Cynthia Pack got a yellow card in the 34th minute for a tackle gone awry, and a few shots not close to the goal were exchanged in the first half, then it ended. 1-0 Drawkland lead.

Even after that there wasn't a whole lot of action until late in the match, unlike the first time where goals and cards ceased after around the 50 minute mark. Keir Duffy, a substitute who was thrown in for Erik Sappington who fell and harmed his ankle a bit,¹⁰ was actually quite excelling, a fresh face on the forward line causing some problems and adjustment changes for the defenders of Drawkland. He broke through in the 72nd minute to score and tie up the match, making the home crowd suddenly very into the match and following every movement of the ball like hawks. This wouldn't go unanswered. Leea May, in her second score with the Corps, broke the tie in the 79th minute thanks to a drawn opening by Ellzidan across the front. The match ended that way, 2-1 in favor of the home team, just like the last time these two teams played. Although this time, Drawkland was the one getting 3 points on it.

WC77 Qualifiers, Drawk City Stadium, Drawkland	Score	Goals	Cards
DRAWKLAND	2	19' Foss, 79' May	34' Pack
WHOVIAN TARDISIA	1	72' Duffy

vs WITTY PENGUINS
Unlike the last time these two sides played, which was a snowy catastrophe of a draw that almost was a loss, this one would be hosted in Drawkland, and in front of a supportive, loud, and most importantly, not in below freezing conditions, crowd. This was expected by most analysts to be a Drawkian win. And that it decisively was.

With Drawkland in their Red-Blacks and Witty Penguins in their Purple-Whites, the match got set underway with a Drawkian possession. Despite getting 3 corner kicks and many shots on the goal, the Penguinish defense and especially their keeper, Oliver Johnson, kept the Kick Corps at bay until they finally managed to turn the ball over and try an attack of their own. Unfortunately for Drawkland, the initial drive had left them fatigued,¹¹ at least slightly, which caused them to be a bit more defensive rather than the super-attacking style they usually are. This resulted in more methodical and less physical play, which both caused no cards, and also no scores. It was admittedly pretty boring before halftime to the packed house.

Luckily, things picked up after the halftime break. About 7 minutes after the half, Katie Madison broke through coverage singlehandedly and managed to finally fire one out of Johnson's reach and into the goal to make the score 1-0. This also broke her 4-match dry streak¹² without a goal for the Kick Corps since her impressive brace against Quakmybush to seal that win. Witty Penguins tried their hardest and did get very quite close to scoring, but each time they were stopped by Everett or Arrowsword or someone else before they could hit paydirt.¹³ Late in the match, in fact a few seconds before 90 minutes, Jackie Crawford would come through on an arcing fringe goal that barely made it in, thanks to a bit of help from the wind. That made the score 2-0, and that's where it stood, giving the Corps another crucial 3 points.

WC77 Qualifiers, Drawk City Stadium, Drawkland	Score	Goals	Cards
DRAWKLAND	2	52' Madison, 89' Crawford
WITTY PENGUINS	0

vs JERUSELEM
Unfortunately, the 6-game winning streak¹⁴ would snap, and badly too. And not just a loss to the powerful Jeruselem in their own house, but in fact, a clean sheet blowout for the home team. Drawkland got pretty much utterly embarrassed on this one.

You know, it's been 24 games since Drawkland has failed to at least score a single goal in a match? 24 matches. That's an entire tournament, 4 friendlies, and all 13 qualifying matches leading up to this one with Drawkland scoring at least something into the net, regardless of the final result. The last clean sheet by an opposing team was against Flardania, when the Corps was knocked out 1-0 in an expected Independents Cup Round of 16 loss. Before that was the 0-4 loss to Schottia on the opening game of the same Cup, and the match chronologically before that, the 0-2 loss to Free Republics to end off the disappointing Global Cup of Soccer campaign. Only 3 true clean sheets kept against the Corps, 4 if you only count Full Time, since Stella Moore scored an Extra Time winner over Kosovakia in the GCoS Quarterfinal, but the score had been 0-0 at the technical final whistle.

So, yeah. Not only losing, but losing on a clean sheet by 3 goals was super unprecedented considering the form that the Kick Corps had been on since literally the beginning of the cycle, what seems like ages ago now. The atmosphere in Jeruselem and the enormous Dazza Dallas Stadium was simply too much. You can check the table below for the scores and all that. I'm too heated to talk about this match in full.

WC77 Qualifiers, Dazza Dallas Stadium, Jeruselem	Score	Goals	Cards
JERUSELEM	3	43' Finkstein, 53' Ichino, 69' Florentina	22' K. Dallas
DRAWKLAND	0		70' Cross

vs DARMEN
In another 4-goal affair, Drawkland had defeated Darmen in their own stadium for the first leg. So when it came time for Darmen to play Drawkland in Drawkland's house, many were expecting a 7-1 victory or something ridiculous.

Well, as my brother would say,¹⁵ you thoughtified!

It wasn't even a high-octane match either. The first and only score came from Stella Moore¹⁶ early, the 22nd minute to be exact, and both teams shifted into uncharacteristically defensive styles of play. Darmen had just been eliminated a matchday or two prior, and so really we think they were attempting to not cause any tiring trouble and just keep themselves from being embarrassed goalscoring wise, while the Corps just wanted to save energy for Bonesea and eek out a win. And that they did.

WC77 Qualifiers, Drawk City Stadium, Drawkland	Score	Goals	Cards
DRAWKLAND	1	22' Moore
DARMEN	0

THE HOME STRETCH
Okay, great, analysis time. Drawkland currently sits at 4th in the group with 31 points. Barunia has 32, Jeruselem 33, and Bonesea 37. Here's what needs to happen for us to qualify: win.

That's just it. If we win the rest of the games, we'll qualify, considering that steals 3 points from both Bonesea and Barunia in the process. Despite the loss to Jeruselem, if we can get those 9 crucial points, we can make it in. But, if Jeruselem wins the rest of their games, they'll make it in too. So we have to win the rest of ours, and Jeru must lose at least one. Unless these other Big 3 start losing, there's no more room for a loss or a draw.

We didn't expect to qualify, but now that we're here ... why not just go for it, amirite? We won't complain if we don't. Keep expectations low and you won't get disappointed .... but still!¹⁷ On Corps! Take them down!

World Cup 77 - Roleplay Thread

Player Bios 5

WC77Q-MD14 Urrgo 7/8

World Cup 77 Qualifiers: Qualification Possible

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