World Cup 69 RP Thread

[Sargossa]

Continued from here

They were loud. They were many. And they were angry. The main street that led past New Ithaca’s lone government building was packed with a seething mass of citizenry that were kept back from the building by an iron fence and an increasingly nervous and pitifully small cordon of security personnel. What little police that remained to enforce order had already abandoned their positions outside the compound and withdrawn behind the relative safety of the stockade.

Barraca, while keeping a carefully crafted look of concern on his face, had to admit that Patrice had done his business well. There were more people here than he’d expected. Clearly the twin blows of harsher rationing and widespread power loss had taken their toll on the Angri Island’s beleaguered populace.

“Find me a microphone, a loud speaker, something!” Albert Remus, the islands’ nominal leader, had come out onto the balcony to see the commotion for himself. He hadn’t quite expected this sight. “I have to talk to them.”

“You really think you can calm this?” Barraca too had been surprised by the mob, pleasantly. There had clearly been some merit in not shooting Patrice in the face and leaving his body for the crabs.

“I have to try.” Remus hissed. Faced by the baying crowd, the old man’s resolve was starting to crack. But he stepped to the edge of the balcony and raised his hands in a vain attempt to appeal for silence so he could speak.

The answer to his appeal was a hail of detritus that rained down onto the balcony. Rocks, bottles, anything that could be thrown was hurled at Angri’s remaining leadership. Barraca swayed back just in time to avoid receiving a bottle right between the eyes. It smashed on the ground behind him and he could clearly see the label marking it out as a brand of Sargossan rum. The irony was not lost on him. An assistant was trying to usher Remus out of harm’s way but the old man was stubbornly refusing to back away. Barraca moved his finger to his right temple and right on cue a figure in black, ensconced in a window of the building to his left, pulled a trigger.

A bang rang out, clearly audible above the hubbub in the street, and a man at the front of the mob pitched backwards, a scarlet spray erupting into the air. There was a sudden stunned silence. Then, “Murderers!”, the cry went up, instigated by Patrice’s associates seeded among the crowd. They surged forward, throwing themselves at the iron gates. More missiles smacked against the building. Faced by the sudden shift from angry to murderous the pathetically small number of security personnel were already withdrawing into the building at a pace.

From his vantage point above Remus looked at the scene aghast. “Where did that shot come from?” His voice had suddenly become very small.

“I think that might be a question for another time.” Barraca grabbed one of the aides by the arm. “Tell me there’s another way out of here.”

“Er . . .yes.” The young man looked truly terrified. “There’s a service entrance around the back.”

“Then grab him and let’s get the hell out of here.”

They ushered Remus off the balcony and into the building. Quickly they made their way down the ornate staircase. At the bottom the small group stopped for a moment to get their breath, outside the noise was growing even louder.

“Carlos?”

Barraca turned to face Remus, a steely determination had returned to the older man’s eyes.

“Make the call.”

Barraca smiled. “Of course.”

[Yttribia]

[OOC: Context]

The day Jo was dispatched was an extremely bittersweet day for both him and his father. Jo became the first of his small town of Fontaubella, hidden away within the sand dunes of Penedès, to travel outside of the town. What was usually an extremely arid town almost every day of the year, today was the day rain poured from the clouds above the town. Seemingly fitting. Depressing weather for a depressing moment in Jo's life. Just as the rickety-old bus drove into the small town square, Jo stood in front of the door, as he saw poor and rich, blonde-haired and black-haired, Telino supports on the same bus as Gremalsco supporters, just an entire combination of people from different backgrounds, different walks of life, all grouped together on one bus. The doors to the bus propped open, as Jo looked around, before looking back at his father. He gave his father a grand hug, and was on the verge of breaking out. "P-papa...I'm going to miss you...please write to me...please." Jo's father patted his back, as he was getting ready for tears to wet his shirt. "You'll come back home...son. Suddenly you know that the war will be no more, and you will finally be able to return home. I believe in you." Jo looked up at his dad and nodded. He stepped back, as he hopped onto the bus, finding an empty window seat in the bus. He sat down, and felt the bus drive off, as Jo waved at his father, who became nothing more than a figure in the distance.

The bus ride to boot camp was extremely long. Quite possibly, Jo felt that the bus driver was driving around just for the heck of it, but eventually, all must come to an end. And so the bus ride did come to an end, as the countless new recruits were loaded off of the bus, and each handed a bag full of uniforms, and an weapon, just like that. And with that, boot camp was officially in high gear. For one week, eighteen hours a day, Jo was forced to exercise his mind, body, and spirit to breaking points, and then some, just so he could be considered ready for the call of battle. Deprived, and with a diminished soul, Jo was officially ready to begin his trek into the wild, and unknown world that was before him.

Private Jo's troop, were one day, called upon by some of the higher associates of the Unitarian Forces to investigate a town just to the east of Telino, known as Estaras. Considered one of the major hotbeds for control between The Liberation and the Unitarian Forces, Jo and his troop were ordered to go into Estaras to investigate any, if all, resistance to the "UNFs," as they were affectionately called by supporters and opponents, who were currently in control of the town. "We get ready to drive out at 0600 hours, lads. Sleep well, and get ready for your first taste of war." The general's cracky voice spoke to the three dozen or so privates inside base camp, as he stormed out in the furious manner the general always does. After a couple of laughs from the soldiers, everyone calmed down, as lights went out, and people slowly begin to drift off into a short, but much needed slumber. Jo, on the other hand, did not get the sleep that he needed. He had tormented, twisted, turbulent thoughts about breaking the promise he had made to his father. Coming home safely.

After around five hours of this state of paranoia, and just as Jo was finally about to doze off into much needed sleep, the blaring sound of a bugle snapped him out of the dozing state he was about to enter. Rapidly, he began to get dressed, and gear up with grenades, smoke bombs, and ammunition for his gun, a modified version of the L2A1. The agonizing screams from Jo's general sure got him to speed up the dressing process, as some of the other soldiers were frantically putting on their camouflage-patterned uniforms. Within five minutes, which had seemed like five years in the mind of Jo, the thirty-nine men from across the region were bound for Estaras, hoping that everything was going well, and nothing irregular was occurring at best, yet expecting an ambush from The Liberationists at any moment through out the ride at worst. "This is it," Jo thought, "I face my enemy, death. I dance with fear, yet I'll come out alive."

After two hours of driving at extremely low, tedious speeds, Jo and his troop finally arrived in Estaras to see if the Unitarian Allies were doing an excellent job holding their fort. Soldiers hopped out of the all-terrain vehicles, and began to make the journey by foot throughout the entire town. They look around, and begin to walk into town nonchalantly, expecting the Unitarian Allies to greet them with open arms. Several paces in, and gunshots could be heard fired off in the general direction of Jo's troop. They looked around, noticing somebody in sight. That somebody turned out to be one-hundred and four Liberationists, who had begun to ambush the Unitarian Forces, from all around. North, south, east, and west; bullets were being fired almost instantaneously, and without hesitation. The thirty-nine ambushees got a taste of how war felt. They aimed all around, trying to take out any and all of the Liberationists that were in their way. And so they began.

Shots fired, Liberationists and Unitarians killed in the line of duty, the Liberationists were down to four, and the Unitarians were down to eleven. Jo was one of them. One by one, the eleven Unitarians began to search for those final four. One inside the abandoned pub. Shot and killed, three left. One hiding inside Town Hall was killed in an execution styled manner, bringing the Liberationists, who were three-times stronger than the Unitarian troop, down to just two. Jo, was assigned with the task of finding a needle in a hay-stack. The sound of gunshots could be heard across town, and cheers from the UNFs were heard as well. Now, Jo was tasked with finding the last one. He searched several buildings, looked through several alleys, and found no sign of life, until he heard the shivering coming from one alley. Jo took his L2A1, and got ready to fire as he moved into the dark alley, expecting a surprise. However, human sympathy got the best of him.

He saw an extremely young man, maybe sixteen years of age, Jo didn't really know, crying. That boy was slowly crying, hoping his mother would come and comfort him, help him escape from the terrible situation he was stuck in. Knowing he would have been in the same place the boy soldier was if he were the last man alive, he sat down beside him, and tried to comfort him. The young boy really didn't expect this would happen to him, thinking he was going to be the hero, written in history books for generations, but he did not expect it to end like this. The young boy was a runaway. He was extremely angry at the world, extremely angry with his mother, and wanted to man up, and join the Liberationists, which all of his friends were doing. So, he too, lied about his age, and enlisted. However, this was a huge mistake for the young boy, realising he wasn't ready for war. He still wanted a nice warm meal on the table, and love from his mother. The boy believed that if it weren't Jo who came and noticed, his mother would lose the only thing keeping her together. While Jo did want to do as he was told by his now deceased superior, he did have total sympathy for the young boy. After carefully deliberating inside his head on the consequences, Jo eventually devised a plan to help him escape. Jo told the young boy to stand behind him, as he began to fire off several shots, at the same time the young boy ran away as far as possible. And so the young boy ran.

Over the course of four decades, Jo changed. His ideology, once believing in a united Yttribia, now acknowledged and supported regional autonomy for the five regions. Once on the extreme right, his views shifted to the center-left, although he never made that public, for he would be blacklisted by the current Government. And four decades later, Jo now contemplates on whether that was the right thing to do. The reason was that Jo had let free the future father of the man he hated the most, with an ardent passion. He let Porter Augustin's father free, and run off. Although what happened at the time was reasonable, the now General Jo had no idea if he should have let him go. It was the most difficult decision of his time until now.

General Jo was now facing the decision between invading San José Guayabal, or keeping the people there free for now, as a huge scrap of metal was waiting final confirmation from Jo for landing in San José Guayabal. He loved the people, but he would be killed if he didn't order an invasion. The four cities, El Roblar, Melendez, Rodriguez, and Fasista Vigilante, were all of the cities Porter Augustin ordered Jo to invade. But now he wasn't sure. It was either his dignity, or his life on the line with this decision. Jo had contemplated on what to do in this scenario for a good minute. Despite his hesitation, Jo sounded calm and reserved when he announced his decision. "Let's take the country by storm." The ship embarked at full speed on route to Melendez, the first stop of the Yttribian Conquest that Augustin had always wanted.

Touch down made at 0345 hrs.

The soldiers marched off the boat, and began to show the world what Yttribia was made of.

[Kinitaria]

"Come on! I want to see some fight out there! You've got to show that you want this! The time for heroic failure and brave performances is over, we've got to f*cking start winning the big games or we're never going to amount to anything, and that includes each and every one of you! You want to make something out of your careers, then do something about it and show these that you're perfectly capable of matching them on their own terms!"

Milo Serinev was not a happy man. The Kinitar assistant manager, very much the communicator amongst the coaching staff, had been asked to say a few words by Melody Pond in the hope of reviving Kinitaria's flagging World Cup challenge in Torisakia. Thing is, he was not a man of few words. He felt that the Kinitar team was, without a doubt, amongst the world's top 32 teams, and he was frustrated that they didn't seem to be showing their talents on the pitch.

2-1 down at half time to the reigning world champions is nothing to be ashamed of, true. Kovra Mircič claimed his first ever goal for his country to put them in front, courtesy of a bullet header from a Malen Elkinič corner with barely five minutes on the clock. As expected, the holders came roaring back at them, and Kiroki Mitaroka had pulled the visitors level, before an awkward bobble had seen the inexperienced Tondro Shildir inadvertently divert the ball into his own net. They hadn't performed badly, and had taken the game to Vilita when possible, but they were still staring at a third defeat of the qualifying campaign - completely unacceptable if they were to advance.

"David, that number 21's going to rip you to shreds if you keep standing off him like that." Serinev's bellowing voice filled the void once more, turning its attentions upon the centre-back, David Topol. He didn't have to shout to make himself heard and respected by everything in the room, it was just something he did anyway. "Niko, if that flash bastard tries to jink past you again, break his leg. You should all be showing a lot more passion, because we're sinking without a trace here!"

Melody tactfully chose this moment to cut off her number two in mid-rant. Despite her lengthy reign at the helm of the Kinitar side - she had recently became their longest-serving manager - she wasn't always able to successfully walk amongst her players. Milo had that. He understood them, and he understood the Kinitar game a lot better than Melody, whose attempts to introduce a more elegant attacking style had largely met with frustration in the face of heavy tackles and long balls. He did lack an effective control on his temperament, and so could hardly be allowed free rein on the team.

She tried to impart her tactical plan into the players, but they ran out for the second half - in a largely deserted Torisakian stadium with more away fans in it than 'home' ones - with the words of their compatriot, rather than their manager, ringing in their ears. It turned out to be a disaster. Eskiiy added a third for the champions, before Moliaudo completed the rout from the penalty spot late on. There was still time for Niko Alcič to see a straight red card for a professional foul, and soon after, the final whistle blew, possibly on Kinitaria's World Cup ambitions. They were fourth, and five points off the running - thankfully the Icemark had finally lost, otherwise they'd be all but done for. Not only were they looking at dismal failure to make it anywhere near the finals, but potentially their worst attempt at qualification in history.

The impact of the result was felt straight away on the Kinitar team. Navra Kulisev could be found slumped on the turf after full time, finding no solace in whatever captain Samuel Costica was saying to him. The new captain wasn't sure if he believed any of it himself. It was just his job, even if he barely thought himself captain-worthy material. He was no Vacarestič or Lupei. The greats of the past had gone, and here he was, standing in their shoes which were three sizes too big for him.

Melody barely had to say anything as the disconsolate Kinitar team sat in silence in the dressing room. They knew that a massive chance had escaped them, and while they weren't technically out of the hunt, it would take a massive effort to claw their way back. But she still wouldn't let them go without getting her point across. Making one finals appearance and then dropping off the radar, she told them, was not acceptable. She vowed that she wouldn't let this team be cast into the wilderness. But the captivating spell that she had held her charges under not four years ago was fading. The household names of the past had disappeared along with it, and there seemed to be no replacing them. Not that it helped, but they were also stuck in a different country while their own was ripped apart. This did nothing for morale. As could be expected, it was a fairly dejected Kinitar squad that made their way back to the hotel that they had been assigned for the duration of qualification.

"Highlights from the World Cup now. Torisakia's national side drew 1-1 away to..."

Vilo Mulkanov swore at the TV from the sanctuary of his hotel room, flicking to a different channel. Football highlights were among the last things he wanted to see at that point, not six hours after the humbling by the world champions. He'd struggled with form for the past half-decade, ever since being called up to the national team, and was surprised as anyone that he still kept getting chances. He wanted to make the most of them, but was powerless to stop Mitaroka's side strolling past on this occasion. It frustrated him badly, and he was left without an outlet for his frustration. This had led to an unhealthy rise in his temper, and he'd narrowly escaped a red card for a frustrated kick at a Vilitan ankle at 1-4.

Some sort of nature documentary. Click. Swedish? Possibly. He didn't speak it. Click. Rosa Lisineva- what was she doing on Torisakian television? Turns out that it was a news bulletin about the latest developments back home.

"...while Torisakian concerns have grown about the potential for unrest in the areas around the Secocia Sea. The standing government of Kinitaria found itself increasingly under siege as it was forced to admit that it does not have effective control of large areas of the country. Forces hostile to Ms. Lisineva's government were able to march unopposed into..."

Mulkanov cursed again and turned the infernal machine off. There was no substance to that. As a professional athlete, he'd long been shielded from the worst excesses of the regime, but no-one seriously pretended that it didn't happen. It wasn't the done thing to even talk about it, because you never quite knew who your friends were. But he'd seen the worst, growing up in the city of Damaciu, which was best described as "half-industrialised".

It cast him back to his childhood, when he'd kick a ball around on the streets with other kids of his age. He wouldn't have said that he was any better than the others, he just loved to play the game. While his family weren't exactly poor, some of the others were, and yet they took exactly the same enjoyment from a patchy ball and a couple of traffic cones. Then, he'd played for his school, he'd played for Litora in the Premier Division, and then he'd played for Kinitaria. Not two decades from those beginnings, and he was playing in the World Cup finals, back in 67. He could easily have said that football was his ticket out of the working-class district of Damaciu where he'd grown up, but he'd also never really left...

He had a long night, and a lot of thinking, ahead of him.

[The Archregimancy]

Press Conference

Holy Monastery of Iviron

"Welcome. I'm Metropolitan Mark of the Greatest Lavra, senior hierarch of the Holy Synod of the Archregimancy. On my left is Fr. David the Water-Drinker, former Archregimancy national team international and manager. On my right is Fr. Seraphim the Occasionally Dangerously Free-Thinking Theologian. We're here today to make some announcements about the future direction of the Monastic Football Association, and the status of the body which until recently called itself by the same name, but which now calls itself the 'SITH.'

First of all, the former MFA - now SITH - no longer has any jurisdiction over the national football programme of the Archregimancy. Their Imperial chrysobull has been revoked. This decision is to be enforced by the Archregimancy's new office for the Jurisdictional Elimination of Damnable Ingrates, or JEDI.

Secondly, Fr. David is tasked with forming a new Monastic Football Association that shall be granted the same jurisdictional powers as the previous body, and shall be legally considered the continuation of the former body.

Thirdly, all anathemas pronounced by the former MFA - now SITH - are confirmed as wholly invalid statements of a non-canonical council with no force or power within any canonically recognised Orthodox church. Fr. Seraphim is happy to confirm the theological issues behind this part of the statement.

Fourthly, the former MFA - now SITH - are no longer legally recognised by either the religious or secular authorities of the Archregimancy as having any valid legal or jurisdictional authority within the Archregimancy, and no longer have the right to represent the Archregimancy outside the Holy Monastic Republic.

Are there any questions?"

"Yes - Your Holiness... this seems to be a fairly comprehensive statement; are there any plans to arrest the members of the MFA; sorry, the SITH?"

"The JEDI will require the SITH to vacate the HQ of the MFA; there are no current plans to arrest the members of SITH, and this will not be necessary if they obey their canonical superiors and stand down."

"But what if they refuse to recognise your authority? What if they resist?"

"We will take all necessary measures."

"Including arresting them?"

"You talk in hypotheticals, my son. God will provide."

"How will Fr. David fulfill his duties if SITH refuse to vacate MFA headquarters?"

"I can answer that. The national football team - and might I add that they're having a surprisingly successful campaign, despite the turmoil - have already announced that they will recognise the jurisdictional and theological authority of my reconstituted MFA; there will therefore be no further disruption to the team's progress, even if minor disputes continue over my organisation's physical headquarters. God will no doubt provide if we need to temporarily set ourselves up here at Iviron."

"And the Monastic Football League..."

"Also recognises my organisation's authority."

"Can you guarantee the safety and security of visiting supporters?"

"This is a priority of the Holy Synod, Fr. David's reconstituted MFA, and indeed of the JEDI office. The SITH are under constant surveillance to make sure that they cannot disrupt the matches. Even if they somehow break through the surveillance, trained representatives of the JEDI office will be there to offer peace of mind to all visiting heretics and heathens; yes, even the visiting atheists."

"And will the JEDI use lightsabres?"

"Sorry?"

"Will the JEDI use lightsabres to fight the SITH. The SITH have made prominent use of lightsabres so far, so it's only reasonable to ask if the JEDI officials will defend themselves in kind."

"Again, a hypothetical."

"What about the theological background for your statements today?"

"I'll defer to Fr. Seraphim there."

"Ah, yes, well... since you're all no doubt familiar with the relevant findings of the Fifth Ecumenical Council, in particular the discussion in Session VII over the Three Chapters...

<120 minute long lecture redacted>

[Alasdair I Frosticus]

RP cut-off

As forewarned in the WCDT, I've fortunately been able to meet the usual cut-off time after all.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Scores

"I say, old chap, what is this delightful concoction?"

"I believe it's called Pimm's Number One Cup"

"Pimm's Number One Cup, you say?"

"Oh yes... mixed with some lemonade."

"I must say, old chap... these slices of cucumber raise it to the level of divine ambrosia."

"Quite, old chap... but just you wait until I add some strawberries."

"Strawberries, you say... And which reality did you find this miracle in?"

"State secret, old chap; but it's surely on its way to being the co-official drink of WC 69, alongside a good old G&T."

[Paradystopia]

Denouement

---

Parte, Awlzoe, awlzoe th'Sevenethes
Parte, th'Sevenethes
Parte, th'Siksth, Parte, th'Shuduv-probbablie-gon-beefore-th'Siksth
Parte, th'Fyvthe
Parte, th'Foorth
Parte, th'Thirdde, Parte, th'Thirdde-nd-abyt, Parte, th'Thirdde-nd-abytmoor, Parte, th'Not-quyt-th'foorth-yet
Parte, th'Seckond
Parte, th'Fyrst

---

What miniscule hairs existed upon the back of Lucifer Fluffy; the short-haired self-proclaimed autocrat of Mousebane Islet, jumped to attention and held themselves aloft. His inbuilt sixth sense was telling him something wasn't right and stood before the great metal door to the meeting room Psi had arranged to stage this conference in, he hissed softly to himself and paused. Inside, he could see the others, awaiting the arrival of Psi but he couldn't smell them. For a Mousebaneska, such clear discrepancies between the senses was tantamount to a large klaxon yelling 'danger!' at full volume.

What was that Communadi bastard playing at ... ?

[Semarland]

VAN 2 - 3 SEM

Semarland showed great play in a clash against Vanersholm, a team that hated Semarland after the Semars knocked them out in the Baptism of Fire. It was Vanersholm's Mark Mikaelsson who opened the scoring on 14 minutes, after a slip up from Nicolas Janzaard. But Janzaard made up, passing the ball to Marko Halck, who ran down the field, passing it to Ture Skøjerhavn who slotted home. Both Skøjerhavn and Olsen had chances to score, and so did Marc Lygaard, and eventually Mads Olsen put the Semars 2-1 up on 38 minutes.

After the break, Martin Kristiansen came on for injured goalscorer Mads Olsen, and Steve Matsen became Marko Halck's new midfield partner. On 60 minutes, the prolific Mikaelsson scored again, equalising it for Vanersholm. Martin Kristiansen's constant running down the wing in response to the Vanersholm goal created many chances for Lygaard & Cisse. Finally, on 88 minutes, Ture Skøjerhavn scored his second goal with an outstanding volley into the top corner of Vanersholm net, winning the game from Semarland. Semarland 3, Vanersholm 2.

[Jeruselem]

In Gustavpolis, where the Princesses won 4-1 to eliminate the home team ... Princess Amy and the coach Jayden Bella

Bella: You alright, you're looking a bit flat
Amy: I guess I am, but I'm alright. I could be flying home in a coffin
Bella: How is the foot?
Amy: Oh that, I can still feel the bites. Nothing like it was before though
Bella: I guess we should all be thankful you're still here
Amy: Not for myself, imagine how upset Mum and my daughter would be!

Bella: Nexxus Drako seem to be on a roll, 6-2 win over Azrea.
Amy: The team we beat 1-0?
Bella: Yes, that team.
Amy: We still have to face them don't we
Bella: Yes
Amy: I guess we need to beat them, they need to beat us

Bella: New Montreal States are slipping, only a draw against Nova Anglicana at home
Amy: Yes, you can't afford to give away points this time of the qualifiers
Bella: NMS have slipped into a rut, loss then a draw
Amy: And then Nexxus Drako kicking into gear to take 2nd
Bella: Westfield House beat Vietnam 2-1 and are just a few points off 2nd in 4th
Amy: Just proves we can't afford to be complacent

Bella: Nexxus Drako are going for it, NMS slipping and Westfield House and Nova Anglicana hanging in there
Amy: I guess having a 7 point buffer is handy as we need to face our biggest threats
Bella: A lot can happen in five games
Amy: Poor old Jeru FC lost 3-2 to the bears
Bella: I think they are finished
Amy: Yes, with Paradystopia winning as well.
Bella: I think there's lke 9 points between 3rd and 2nd in Group 14
Amy: Jeru FC are still 4th

Bella: New North Aqmuland lost to Cata Larga 4-1 so Jeru FC can take 3rd place
Amy: I hope they can at least do that
Bella: I don't think Jeru FC have much a chance, even if they do win the last 5 games
Amy: I can't see the top 2 changing in Group 14
Bella: Your bear friends are back, undefeated and well, pink cuppers doing well
Amy: Sad to lose the other two still

Bella: Two great female teams aren't returning
Amy: We're here, even if we're actually a mixed team
Bella: We do have more females than males
Amy: Yes, in the cup for chaps ...
Bella: Chapettes?
Amy: That just sounds stupid to me

Bella: This cup is a bit weird, I mean ... lots happening and most of it not very good. Civil strife, warring monks, murders.
Amy: Yes, definitely a bit TOO exciting for my taste
Bella: Hear about Kintaria?
Amy: Well, we had enough civil unrest last cup. It's a lot worse now
Bella: Yes, it seems to be affecting their once mighty team
Amy: You can't replace great players quickly. It takes time for people to learn to get used to the cup.

Bella: Yes, a lot tougher than club comps
Amy: You're playing the best of each country, you can't take winning for granted
Bella: I guess we can't complain
Amy: Our kids are doing great, but we need old heads turn to when things are tough
Bella: I don't want to do worse than your Mum. We need to qualify
Amy: Yes, I'm here to win.

[The United Kingdoms of Zackalantis]

UKZ vs FNATICKA (2-1)

The teams marched onto the field, The zach team in their blood red jerseys but with a difference. they were wearing black bands on their arms in respect and in memory of the footballers from Darvale who passed away less than 24 hours back. The zach team had on their backs pasted the names of the deceased,Cassandra Summers, Victoria Speares, Amy Lopez, lisa Barnes, loius Turner and Lena Parker. They say they are playing for them and their families today.

A minute's silence was observed, only the fluterring of flags and banners could be heard.
Then they began the national anthems, the zach players and supporters proudly sang their anthem, 'God Abideth in Me' After the 2:30 second anthem was finished the the players shook hands and went to their respective sides.

The zach team huddeled close together, and Keith spoke, "Listen team, we still have a chance at qualification, but we need to win every match henceforth, That is extremley important also we are playing for those poor women who were the victims of sexism from Darvale and we are also playing for every women who has been a victim of sexism"
The shouted, "Long Live The Queen!" and broke up.

The whistle sounded and the match began. Jashanpreet got the ball in her control first and passed it on to Meghna Nair, who was knocked in the head by the opposing team's player. She lost possesion of the ball but she was back on her feet again.
Then the ball began to approach the zach goal, the Fnatican captain kicked the ball but it was intercepted by Malaika who chest bumped the ball to her team mate Keith and who kicked it high up towards the Fnatican goal. Malaika and Keith gave each other a high-five.

The match proceeded, with both teams continuing their onslaght on each others goals but with neither team coming up with gold.

The hooter blew and HALF TIME!

The team went back to their dug out, exhausted and exhilerated all at the same time.They were all sitting and having their refreshments when Soham said, "well that's the most fun i've ever had in a match". All his team mates nodded in agreement. Jashan said, " I like the Fnaticans, they sure play well and we have so much fun while playing, gee i hope we get to play them again some time soon"

The Coach interupted," Okay you bunch of panisies, break up the kitty party. Here's what you need to focus on if you want to get a goal by the end of this match and win..." the entire team was engrossed into what the coach had to say except for Abigail, who stared at the sky whith her mouth open, and droll trickling out.
A fantican player approached the zach dug out to wish their team good luck, but when he passed abigail, blocking her view she barked at him. she growled and snarled and her saliva frothed in her mouth like a rabid dog. she would have bit him if it were not for Satyajit who quickly tossed a raw steak on the floor which distracted abigail and caused her too pounce on the floor and rip and the steak. Teh Fnatican player was baffeled and was in shock, the other team mates apoligised and wished his team best of luck and instructed him to go back to his dugout before abgail finished her steak, he ran to his dugout.

The refree blew his whistle and the second half of the match began, (UKZ-0;Fnaticka-0). Abigail caught sight of her prey, she licked her lips, got down on all fours and chased the same Fantcan player around the field with dog like agility. He somehow managed to evade her for 14 minutes, but then he could stop becuase now she was distracted again,a butterfly had sat on a blade of grass in front of the Fantican goal, and abigail crouched and began observing that butterfly.
Malaika was dribbling the ball towards the Fnatican goal post and she kicked the ball hard, it bounced of abigail's head, past the Fnatican goal keeper and into the goal post. The stadium erputed in cheers and everyone was happy except abigail who chased the ball into the goal, the goal keeper ran and abigail bit the ball, it burst. *Silence*
Just then the final buzzer blew and the stadium erputed in cheers again and so did Abigail.

Abigail was escorted back into the dressing room by animal control.

Flag bearers brought the zach and Fnatican flags on the pitch followed by the flags of the two host nations of the WC 69 and the flag of the World Cup Athority.
Awards were announced.
Best Player: Abigail

there were loud shrieks and she ran out snatched the silver trophy and ate the boquet of flowers. She joined her team mates.

The announcer announced the award that is sponsored by Her Majesty The Queen, Janice Munrow of UKZ; 'The Queen's Gold Medal' this is awarded to the winning team in any match against the UKZ.
"The Queen's Gold Medal goes to the winning team, The United Kingdoms of Zackalantis"
Keith, the team captain received the award and abigail began drooling with excitment.

Tommorrow: UKZ vs Osarius

Follow the UKZ on twitter @Zackalantis

[West Angola]

Part One: Little Anna and Father Patrick
Part Two: The Prime Minister and the Reluctant King
Part Three: The Apostate and the Assassin
Part Four: The Old Coach and the Architect
Part Five: Two Dead Heroes
Part Six: The Warning Shot
Part Seven: The Plan Takes Shape
Part Eight: Sworn to Silence
Part Nine: Endgame Maneuvers

Part Ten: Pulling Together and Falling Apart
As Blevit, with help from Q, returned to Anna’s chamber to resume “assisting” Parrish and the rest of the group, August approached the entrance and sharply rapped three times. After only a moment, the door cracked open and a thin, wiry figure peered through the small space between the door and the frame. August watched with amusement as his eyes widened in shock, and the door flew open to reveal his expression, which mixed awe and surprise in equally enormous parts. The man, who looked old enough to remember August’s reign, backed away to allow August space to enter, “Please, your Majesty, come in, come in.” Enjoying his confusion and relishing the adoration, August snarled, “Bow.” His delight at seeing the man struggle to the floor and grovel almost cracked his façade, but he maintained his shroud of anger as he stalked past the huddled figure, making sure to step on his fingers as he did so and reveling in the muffled shriek that issued forth as a result.

Not bothering to knock on the inner door, August burst in with the same attitude that had guided his actions fifty years earlier and again relished the stunned expressions on the faces of the occupants. While he did not recognize any of the three men seated at the table, one was obviously a Bantu, and one or both of the others was a devotee of his, a member of the Old Guard Party that had elevated him to deity status in the intervening years between his death. Rather than remember August’s efforts to destroy both the Old Guard and their opposition in Parliament and seize absolute power for himself, the Old Guard had made August a martyr of the Parrish/Sien/Anna line of monarchs, who had instituted many liberal reforms and dramatically curtailed the power of West Angola’s corporate elite. Instead of the power-hungry dictator he’d found his legacy to be in most of the nation, the Old Guard remembered him as a tireless crusader for economic and corporate freedom whose life had been cut short by a liberal conspiracy to crush the liberty of the populace.

Seating himself across from the trio with a flourish, August gripped the arms of the chair, just as he used to do on his throne, and said, “I believe there is no need for an introduction from me, but as I don’t know your names and can only guess at your motivations, might I have the pleasure of making your acquaintances?”

The man in the middle, who seemed to speak for all three of them, swallowed uncomfortably and glanced at his compatriots, “Well, sir…Your Highness, I am Scott Harrison, a humble servant of you, my king, and an unceasing devotee to the cause of economic freedom. My associates are Thomas Prell, the leader of the Communist Party in this nation, and Arel, a freedom fighter for the Bantu people in the western part of this nation. While our goals may seem mutually exclusive, we are united in our opposition to the authoritarian liberal imperialists that comprise the current government.”

He seemed about to go on, but August waved a hand dismissively to stop him, “Yes, yes, good, good. You’re mine now.”

“Your majesty? I’m afraid I don’t understand.”

“Your movement, I’m co-opting it. I know you’ve just received some information that will allow you to supplant the current government, which means that we can help each other. I want to be King again, and you want Anna’s people out of power. You have information that will dramatically elevate your cause, and I have a face that you can put on the front of the movement that will give it legitimacy and facilitate the transition after your coup is completed.”

The differing goals of the trio were evident in their reactions. Harrison, who had idolized the until-recently-deceased despot since infancy, was clearly delighted at the idea after he got over his initial surprise. The other two were less enthusiastic; Prel looked as though he’d awakened from a nightmare about his pillow becoming a boa constrictor to find his appliances had staged a mutiny, and Arel’s expression was unreadable, as seemed to be the norm in the few minutes August had been there. Harrison spoke up, “We would be honored, your highness, for you to lead our humble movement to glory!”

Prell’s hand shot to Harrison’s shoulder, “Wait a minute, Scott. We need to talk about this! You cannot unilaterally-”

August stopped him with a raised hand, “It is not up for discussion. I am now in charge, and you will subordinate yourselves to me. If you disagree, I will kill you and find others who will follow. The choice is yours, but I must have your answer now.”

Arel spoke for the first time, his voice low and foreboding, “What stops us from deciding to kill you now and be rid of you?”

August had said the matter was not up for discussion, but he preferred to not have to find another radical Bantu who would follow him after he had killed their leader, “You can try, but I assure you I have come prepared for such an eventuality, and unless my skills have badly lagged, you have not.” It was a potentially lethal bluff, but the alternative was slinking away in defeat, which was unacceptable.

Arel leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers in front of his face, “Very well, King August, I accept your proposal.” Prell looked from him to August in shock, frightened to find himself alone all of a sudden. August watched him with interest, wondering if the Communist had the intelligence to fold when the deck was stacked against him, or would foolishly attempt to stand alone against him and his erstwhile allies. Finally, he spoke, red in the face and looking extremely reluctant, “Fine. I’ll submit my followers to you.”

August smiled, “Excellent. Congratulations on your flash of intelligence, Mr. Prell. Gentlemen, today begins a new era for both West Angola and for all of us. By the end of the week, the people will bow to new rulers, and they will cheer us on as we replace the corrupted government of old with a new one that respects their freedoms.”

Prell tried to rally, "Respects whose rights, your highness? Your family's rule was an era more supportive of Mr. Harrison's views than my own. The proletariat of West Angola has not forgotten the crushing blows visited on them by the capitalists of the last century, and it is our right to take our revenge upon them. Will you allow us to do so?"

August sighed, "Mr. Prell, you were doing so well just a few seconds ago. Why must your type always make things difficult? I'm sure you've already worked out a system among yourselves for a division of power once you've taken control, so whatever that is will be sufficient."

Harrison and Prell exchanged uneasy looks, then Harrison spoke to August, "We'd agreed not to discuss the subject until power was secured, at the risk of destabilizing our alliance and ruining our chances with ideological disputes."

August sighed again, he could tell he'd be doing it a lot with this pack of fools, "You're more stupid than I thought. Your gag order essentially guarantees that any power you gain will be squandered by internal bickering." He steepled his fingers and leaned forward, "Very well, here is how it will work: once I am secure in my rightful place, Mr. Harrison will submit to me a list of five corporations he wishes to survive. Those five will have their competition nationalized and dismantled to allow them to take full control of their respective industries. The rest of the nation's industry and business will come under the direct state control of Mr. Prell to do with as he pleases. Arel, you and your compatriots will be designated the official leaders of the Bantu Tribe in the eyes of the Crown, and the new government of West Angola will have no further dealings with the spineless cowards that currently usher your tribe to ruin."

Harrison and Arel looked pleased, but as was to be expected Prell did not, "I am not sure about the merits of leaving the workers of five major industries at the mercy of a monopoly. They will either abandon their jobs in favor of state businesses, or they will be ground to pieces in the capitalist money mill."

"Mr. Harrison will accept limited regulation on his businesses to ensure that workers do not leave and will be allowed a fair minimum wage. Yes, Mr. Harrison, you will." Harrison had risen from his chair and seemed about to utter his first objection, but verbally slapped down by his hero, he retreated back into his shell and nodded dumbly. Seeing at least grudging agreement all around, August clapped his hands, "Excellent. Now begins the future."

[The Sarian]

OOC: Yet again, sorry this is a limited RP. On mobile and only had an hour to do it. (This hotels internet is hideously expensive)

A brace by teenage striker, Jacobo Yap helped an impressive Sarian side to an important win against New South Aqmuland in the latest World Cup 69 match day.

Yap showed cool composure to slot home past the Aqmuland keeper with just three minutes on the clock to give the bustards an early lead, before doubling the lead in the thirty sixth minute.

New South Aqmuland were unlucky not to claw one back on the stroke of half time, prompting a fantastic save from in-form keeper, Brigham Huddlestone before Turin Janssen pounced on a loose back pass to finish the game within an hour.

The Sarians dominant performance was perhaps their best so far of the campaign, keeping the 51,000 capacity crowd of Poseidon's Palace on their feet for the entirety of the match.

Manager, Jack Parker went into the match knowing that a win would be necessary to keep the bustards qualifying hopes alive following a shock draw to a now eliminated Czarch side.

But The Sarian went out exerting authority and confidence, which lead to Methuselah Meeuwessen gifting Jacobo Yap the first goal of the match, from the first attack.

Jordan Lee was unlucky not to double The Sarians lead within five minutes, but he could not knock Aaron Clarkes piercing pass far enough away from the NSA goalkeeper.

A second goal seemed to elude the impressive Sarian side, Yap coming close to a second while a Meeuwessen free kick grazed the cross bar.

The Aqmuland team also came close, but Huddlestone managed to safely come to The Sarians salvation after a defensive miscommunication between Oliver Scarrow and Mat MacCoughlan.

A Turin Janssen header went just the wrong side of the post, while Huddlestone once again proved why he is Sarian number one with a low save to the right to prevent a NSA equaliser in a frantic twenty minutes.

However, The Sarian remained the dominant side with slick passing and clever movement which left New South Aqmuland unable to cope.

It was this slick passing which put Yap through on goal for his, and The Sarians second, Meeuwessen once again providing the crucial touch giving Yap the easiest goal he will score in a Sarian shirt.

The precise passing of Meeuwessen was impressive throughout the match for The Sarian, but they were given two early scares either side of the interval.

An angled shot forced Huddlestones best save of the match while the NSA number nine missed a sitter that would have given Aqmuland a way back into the match.

Turin Janssen latched on to a loose back pass by a NSA midfielder to score his first of the qualifying campaign and snuff out any chance of an Aqmuland comeback, although a free kick almost snuck into Huddlestones bottom corner in the closing minutes.

But a resurgent Sarian professionally closed out the match, as Parkers young side showed maturity and mettle.

[Buyan]

A story of Endings and Beginnings

A pass to Zermin. One to Naess. Back to Zermin. The Buyan game was so horizontal today, one could build a wall to it. A wall that prevented any goals against, as the Hedgehogs had truly lived up to their nickname so far, but the result was as dynamic as a brick construction as a consequence. The crowd became heavily displeased and the inevitable fate of every manager, one Sirius Hope had avoided for nearly ninety games, came in effect. With an enraged crowd chanting for his departure, the national team searched their way for the tunnel at half-time, hardly having admitted an opportunity to a solid Kernansquillec but with little action on their own account.

The dressing room had the same party atmosphere as a churchyard on a dreary Thursday afternoon, with eleven men silently eating their slice of orange whilst trying to keep their heads low. Whilst his assistant Krupa was scribbling down all kinds of runes in record tempo, Sirius calmly faced each and every one of his lads. Acceptance. If this group struggled with one thing, it was without any doubt the lack of feeling to spit on the ground, chestbump the guy next to them and fight back.

“Ok, guys, let’s go over the first fifty-five min...”

Behind his relaxed voice, a machine of thoughts went full-speed. One side of him wanted to kick back live in this side, yet he felt that a goal by the Kerns would indicate the indefinite end of the Buyanese route. And if he would replace, he could take off anyone. Two, maybe three had lived up to the expectations. Sverre Devold was the only one to crackle this opponent, but of course the team in green had prevented him from doing anything with guards up close to the Barbury Town star. And Quinten Zermin was quite possibly in his best form up to date, but couldn’t find someone to express it with. Giertych was good as well, but if this youngster would have to push them forth, Buyan was far from a breakthrough.

“So,” he slightly hesitated, “we continue like this. Try more to give that ball through, there are holes in their wall, we’re just not yet making use of it.”

The clock displayed the same lack of mercy as the press. Just like them, he had forgotten the marvellous point against Audioslavia, the successes in the Beltane Cup and Baptism of Fire. At the rhythm of its chilling ticks, the usually quite civilised Buyanese crowd engaged in one endless ‘boo’, a sound that - if even more of that had been possible - seemed to smack lead in the feet of the eleven shuffling around the pitch. The second half had been as unentertaining as the display before the break, with the best opportunity even being for Lilac, whose shot licked the post.

Almost with tears in his eyes, Alowysz tore on Sirius’ sleeve. The manager hadn’t left his seat yet, keeping his focus on the action with his head resting on one hand.

“Sirius,” Krupa begged, “we’ve got to do something.”

Hope didn’t even look left or right, he just continued to stare into the void.

“One goal,” he murmured, “one in the net and they’ll fall on their knees for me again.”
“But... We’re not even getting to...”
“Patience.”

Krupa hesitated for a second. He knew and respected Hope enough that he would always respectfully listen to his assistant, but make his own mind up in the end.

“There’s only fifteen minutes left...”

Hope waited for a second, ogled his bench and after some deliberation, searching for an unfound solution.

“Tell Rettinger and Dziuba to get ready,” he eventually sighed.
“Getting to a 4-1-3-2, are we,” Krupa grinned broadly, “excellent choice I must...”
“Instead of Dalmshelf and Zemaitis. We’re sticking to it.”

At that moment, Alowysz Krupa knew what time it was.

It had been a trend during the previous campaign, but these qualifiers the press conferences had everything of a volcano. Emotions running high, a wild and striking appearance, unidentified noises and black clouds circling around, ... It was hard to leave one without a deep impression. There were quite a few things Sirius Hope wouldn’t miss, but this undoubtedly was the one he hated the most. Ignoring the press attaché, he walked up to his chair, fell in it and with a flat voice announced that questions could be asked. It seemed unreal that for once, the bubbling discord in the audience had been replaced by a serene silence.

“Anyone?”

Eventually, who else but Johan Gredholm initiated the process.

“If our sources are correct, mister Hope, this is your last moment as national manager of Buyan. What was the cause, you feel, of this story coming to an end.”

Sirius didn’t even attempt to mask his answers.

“The results. Next.”

A gasp, a hesitation. Often sharp, Sirius Hope had always remained a gentleman even to those journalists who filled their articles with nothing but vitriol about him. It wasn’t bon ton to say so, but it had given him a positive stance amongst the press grunts.

“Do you feel let down by the team?”
“We’ve written,” Hope spoke within an instant, possibly having foreseen this question, “a marvellous story together. Over the course of the last two and a half campaigns, we’ve lifted one another to a higher level. We started with nothing, being just another newcomer on the stage and build ourselves a reputation. How can I possibly feel disappointed by them? They have created more than anyone would’ve dreamed when we first set foot at the international pitch and I’m and always will be proud of them.”

After such an honest, deep-cutting answer, it was hard for anyone to break the silence. Hope’s expression was indeed not disappointment, but rather the face of a man who had been driven to the edge.

“Do you agree with the sentiment that different decisions could’ve altered our World Cup chances?”

Hope waited for an instant before answering with a question.

“Why do you follow this sport?”

The journalist, a slim junior with glasses and the remnants of a cocky attitude stuttered some words.

“I... ehm... like football and it’s... ehm...”
“Tension,” Hope answered for him, “the gap between victory and defeat cannot be calculated in advance, cannot be predicted. One would say that that counts for any sport worthy of that name, but there are few sports where so many details determine the final count. Even a poor game can keep you clustered to the screen. Could I myself have altered our chances... Possibly. But as well as I have not won the Beltane Cup, I have not wrecked the qualification. We’ve not taken the chances, but we did that as a collective.”

While the slim one tried to remain as invisible as possible, a colleague took over.

“What do you see as the future for this squad?”
“They’ve got interesting capacities. They’ve grown from a nobody to an underdog to a second seed, a side that people know. Step by step, and now they’re at a new frontier to take. Become more than good, consolidate their spot as a good subtop side that can harm the greatest ones on a good day.”
“A step that could not be taken with you?”
“Not according to those who decide upon that,” was the curt answer.

All felt that this had gone on for quite enough time.

“Any last words,” one journalist proposed, with little regards for the moment.
“To the group, I wish the very best. I hope you can nonetheless qualify.”

With those words, Sirius rose and as many a journalist were jotting down words like ‘the exit of a broken man’, he returned, took of his jacket and picked up the mic.

“I’ve got one last message to say, it’s one I couldn’t say in clothes wearing the Buyanese badge. But I had to play this campaign missing one particular player. It seems as if he has been ignored by all of you, as a spelling mistake you’ve backspaced and deleted. But if you hear me, Karsta Lupeikis, recall that you’re not forgotten, not by far.

Captain Maciulis was displeased. He is one of those men who often seems displeased, but seldom was. However, once that sentiment had taken over, it could be considered a very deplorable plan to clash with him. Both the name and title he used to the outside world were placed upon him quite some time after his birth and hid his influence amongst the lesser known parts of the Buyanese state. But he as well had commands to follow and a scrap of paper carrying one of those was clamped between his fingers.

“Any orders,” corporal Herzo Jachowski asked, his subordinate with the dreary eyes, “we should follow?”

As no response followed, he knew his superior well enough that this hadn’t been the expected message. Against his better knowledge, he continued.

“Should I prepare all for the ex...”

The smash of Maciulis’ fist on the aluminium table, making the cup of coffee upon it reverberate. He rose, ogling Jachowski as if he was about to smack him in the face. Then he paced up and down the dim-lit room trying to make the most of it. Finally, he had made his mind up.

“Ok, friend Jachowski,” he used the official terms as good patriot of the Portnii regime, “I want another interrogation of Lupeikis. You can do it, I don’t have time for it.”
“But... I really don’t think he knows more, he’s...”
“I know that, you goddamn imbecil,” Maciulis used the less official term, “that piece of shit is either dumb or knows nothing. We should get rid of him as fast as possible, but apparently got some backing somewhere.”
“As in...” Jachowski tried his luck.
“As in the former national manager.”
“Hope? But he’s sacked... What can he do about it?”
“Apparently, the cat is out of the bag. We’ve been tricked to believe that we’ve done an excellent job on Bartkus, as he hasn’t even whispered to the press boys, but they’re afraid Hope knows more about it. And for some reason, he’s one of the few idiots around here who will not shut up.”

Maciulis slowly lit another cigarette, trying to decide upon next steps.

“This... Thing says we’ve got to keep Lupeikis alive. But if forbids no new steps.”

Bronius Bartkus opened the fridge and allowed his eyes to wander over the yoghurt. Cherry, ideal. Having made his choice, he closed it and as he turned away to grab a spoon, a realisation hit him. He opened it again, trying to focus where the light came from exactly. A few sad led lamps did illuminate the whole thing. It was a simile that hit him at once, knowing that closing that door and leaving it behind did not solve anything. Before starting his healthy snack, he picked up the phone. It took quite some time and the connection was poor, but the voice at the other side was crystal clear.

“Yes?”
“Sirius? Bronius here... I think I’ve got some things to tell you...”

“All right, fellows, I think no one feels like having a long and boring psychotherapeutic talk. We’ll have our talks, trust me, but in half an hour you guys must hit the pitch. I believe that Erica and Alowysz,” he nodded to his assistants, “have gone over the basics of the system with you all. Now I’m going to tell you what will make the difference between you and those guys with names from an online tong twister generator.”

With wide gestures, Reinhard Shale attempted to bring some life in this group. Having done everything possible in the Nepharim domestic competition, both making Maximum Rovers a respected side and bringing in a title for AFC Treason, he felt ready for a new challenge. The silent, doubting group in front of him presented one.

“So, them Vaians are just going to park the bus, as they often do. But if we win the battle in midfield, we’ll hit them hard enough. For that, I want a solid defence and responsible wings. I know you’ve never done 4-4-2, but as it is the way football is meant to be, it won’t be hard.”

It would be slightly preposterous to say that the Nine had exploded with delight, nonetheless the support for the Hedgehogs had been genuine and when Andrey Rettinger pinched one past Numatoa Makai, the pile of players had been excited. Shale, knowing a moment when he saw one, hadn’t hesitated to embrace the goal scorer, making a magnificent opening page for tomorrow’s papers. As dead as the last press conference in the Nine had been, as joyful this one opened up.

“So, nice spot you guys got for yourself,” Shale grinned to the journalists while someone hooked up his mic, “calm, there, no need to strangle me as we’ve only won with the smallest difference!”

The laughter in the -admittedly- easy crowd said it all. This was going to run smooth.

“Mister Shale,” someone opened the debates, “what was your first impression of the Buyanese group.”
“Reinhard, mister Shale is my dad,” the gaffer laughed, “I feel there is a lot of talent in that dressing room and I feel we can make big things. But those take time. We’ve taken a good start, but one game is nothing’s worth. I mean, I expect you all to be on my back when we lose one, right!”

When the chuckling had died down, Johan Gredholm decided to get past the fun-time questions.

“So, does Buyan stand a chance to qualify?”
“For the Cup of Harmony, well...” Shale winked, “no, let’s cut the crap. Can we make it Apox and the Holy Empire? The maths say it is still possible - but that never was my favourite subject anyway - but I think we’ve got just one task. Win every game we’re in and we’ll just say where we end up. Once again, we are going to do this one game at a time.”

It was as if Shale had ordered a round of ‘agreeing nodding’ on the house.

“And that next game is against United Eastedge. Any previews?”
“Well, them Navies are in prime form, sitting on top of the world. Time to knock them of their cloud, right? I’ve heard they see us a dull, unattractive has-been and themselves as the new hip thing on the block, but I think we’ll see the truth upon that soon. They forgot one thing about hedgehogs... They’re prickly!”

Line-up for the game in United Eastedge

Ulle Seber
Ignas Smetona - Rafal Giertych - Sigurd Tufte - Kazimieras Zemaitis
Espen Knutsen - Quinten Zermin - Sverre Devold - Frederik Wallenberg
Duco Dalmshelf - Andrey Rettinger

Bench: Schmidt - Saldlund - Dziuba - Mamontovas - Justs - Kluszak - Plovnarov - Halmiini - Naess - Hostmann - Ptak - Havelund

With a new man at the wheel, things are going to change. Manuel Schmidt loses his spot, despite only four goals against, to the less spectacular but very reliable Ulle Seber. The Garbarnia keeper starts his eighteenth game for Buyan. Remarkably enough, Shale also opted to add Saldlund instead of Erhardt as third goalie. The defence remains largely the same, especially as Bartkus remains injured. One change is the removal of Gabriel Refshauge from the group. The loyal soldier was passed in favour of Justs and Smetona. Surprisingly, Ignas Smetona returns to the XI after a long hiatus. Back then, he was a rowdy Viztourzys man, now he is a reliable defender who earned positive critics in San José Guayabal.

Major changes in midfield, which now works as a genuine four in a row, although the central duo Sverre Devold and Quinten Zermin obviously have different offensive obligations. By opting away of five man on midfield, Naess has to hit the bench but the same goes for Halmiini, who sees Espen Knutsen pick up his spot. Some point to the fact that Shale knows him from the Nephara competition, but Knutsen has grown in style and radius and therefore simply deserves his spot. The left side remains a question, Plovnarov had a difficult run against Maklohi Vai and sees Wallenberg return to the team.

In the attack, Duco Dalmshelf gets Andrey Rettinger by his side. Both come out of a very good season, the former becoming national top scorer for the first time in his career, the latter having caught the attention after finding the net often for Goodfeather, another Nephara side. It seems that Elmo Havelund sees his last chances disappear with this system as pure sole attacker and there is no return of Edvald Mattisson - after all a man with fifteen goals for the Hedgehogs - to the group, the young Viztourzys duo Ptak and Hostmann gets a chance.

Important: please change the style modifier of Buyan to 0. Many thanks in advance.

[Eastfield Lodge]

Secret Room in the Agency of Chaos Head Quarters

"You summoned me, Master?"

A hooded figure was kneeling in front of a futuristic-looking arch, whose circuits were beginning to glow as the space between the arch seemed to crackle and mould itself into emptiness. A disembodied voice emanated from the emptiness, deep and echoing, but booming at the same time; "Yes, I did." "What is it that you require my Lord?" replied the figure. "This world I find myself in. It ... it is not ideal for my existence." The figure looked up, an expression of surprise and confusion etched across its face; "But how? Surely there is nowhere that you cannot manifest?" "The state of the continuum is unstable, yet its collapse is not happening. Something material is keeping it stable, but also keeping me from using my powers," the entity replied. "It must be your primary goal. To find and eliminate whatever it is that stops me feeding and forming. If you do not, all our work will then be for nothing. Do I make myself clear?"

"I understand perfectly, Master, but how can we find this ... this object you say is doing this?" "I do not know. But what I can say is this. Whatever it is, it would be drawing large amounts of power to be able to carry out its function. Or generating its own significant power, although that I highly doubt." And with that, the connection closed, and the emptiness collapsed with a loud electrical bang, leaving the hooded figure to ponder over what to do next. A few minutes of silence later, it got up, and went over to the wall where it pressed its hand against a indistinguishable panel, revealing a hidden door (from the perspective of the bunker on the opposite side) in the mosaic on the other side of the wall.

The figure went over to the office, and logging onto the computer, sent a message calling all the members in for an unscheduled meeting. Having done that, it sat down, staring thoughtfully into the dying fire which was whispering away. An object that could draw huge amounts of power, enough to stabilise a collapsing void but also powerful enough to keep the Trickster from operating; well, there was only one place that could be. Unless somebody was operating their own experiment elsewhere but nearby, and the figure had enough of a rudimentary knowledge about space-time mechanics to highly doubt such a possibility, then the object would be located somewhere in the complexes that maintained the pure existence of Eastfield Lodge. Whilst the Agency was dedicated to causing chaos, this was too much. If they could even shut down the portal control, the resulting consequences would probably be too horrible to imagine. The entire commonwealth would be devastated, certainly. And the destruction would also affect the other side of the void in an equal way. And doing it temporarily wouldn't work either, it needed to be permanent for The Trickster to thrive.

This was going to be a tricky one.

[Free Republics]

Somewhere in Hutt River

The match between Hutt River and the Free Republics had been a defensive struggle for the first 75 minutes. While both sides had their chances to score, neither had done so. Then, Rule Theriault decided to make an especially risky substitution, after Kyle Bolton took a relatively minor knock. Connie Chase, the 14-year-old girl, captain of the U-15 side, came in for Bolton. When she gave the ball away with an ill-advised pass on her first touch, the move looked like an absolute disaster.

10 minutes later, it was a different story. After Miroslav Bozek stole the ball away from Yann Greenberg, he passed to Ayub Sandstrom on the wing. Sandstrom ran the length of the field and placed a cross into the scoring area. This cross landed at the feet of Connie Chase and the 14-year-old immediately took her shot at Jack Stafford's goal. The shot hit off of the left post, but Chase ran forward, beat the defenders to the ball and placed it into the net. The Free Republics had a goal, which would be enough to leave Hutt River with a victory. After San Jose Guayabal's draw, the FFR was now a point ahead of their next opponent, in second place in the group. With a win in Nejax, they could go take a 4 point advantage over SJG with 4 matches to go.

After the match, as Rule Theriault went to congratulate the surprise heroine of the match, she was prepared to make a request that she had wanted to make for a long time.

Rule Theriault - Excellent work out there, especially your effort on that goal Connie. That was just spectacular.

Connie Chase - Mr. Theriault, isn't that how we're supposed to play? You never know when the ball's going to hit the post, so you always need to be in position to take a second shot if it does.

Rule Theriault - Did Mr. Abdullahi teach you that?

Rule Theriault was impressed with the girl. She seemed to have a great mind for the game, in addition to her athletic gifts that were obvious to all. Connie had come up with that herself, but she felt that it wouldn't be right to take the credit and show up her coaches.

Connie Chase - Yes, he did.

Massimiliano Abdullahi - Thank you for the credit, Connie, but I didn't actually teach you that.

Abdullahi wasn't interested in receiving credit for something that he didn't do.

Rule Theriault - This is surprising. Connie, you've got a bright future with the National Team.

Connie Chase - Actually, Mr. Theriault, there's something that I've been meaning to ask you about.

Rule Theriault - What might that be?

Connie Chase - You know how you announced the posting system a while back? I want you to post me.

Rule Theriault - What? You really want to play abroad at such a young age?

Connie Chase - I can handle it. Besides, I can just transfer to an online school to finish my education.

Rule Theriault - I'll have to talk with your parents about that.

Theriault had heard the rumors about some team in Quebec that was willing to pay a ridiculous fee to bring her in, which was money that he could invest toward his planned launch of the RNSA, Theriault's proposed single-entity domestic league.

Connie Chase - Thank you, Mr. Theriault.

What followed was player after player going up to Theriault and asking to be posted. While Bolton, Theodore and Pozenel had no desire to play elsewhere, a number of players including Levai Imre, Joseph Poole, Zrina Martinovic and Kieran Hancock also asked to be posted. Soon, Theriault found that he had a dozen players all desiring to play abroad. Theriault agreed that he would post those players, but only one player would be posted at a time to drive up demand. Connie Chase would be the first Republican National Team player to be made available, so long as her parents agreed...

---

Falkamore, Nejax

It was the day before the Free Republics were scheduled to host San Jose Guayabal at Olden Stadium and Sheriff Akram was in his office, thinking up ways to live up to his reputation as Republica's Toughest Sheriff. Sheriff Akram took pride in the fact that his office had been repeatedly sued by those no-good "civil liberties" organizations for violating the "Constitutional rights" of criminals. As far as the Sheriff was concerned, criminals had no Constitutional rights, other than the right to a jail cell, preferably one as uncomfortable for them as possible. While he couldn't get away with saying that openly, that was how he actually felt. The people of Nejax didn't much care about all the times their Sheriff had been found by Federation courts to have violated the Constitution. They kept re-electing him because he was "tough on crime" and kept the county one of the safest places in the entire FFR year after year.

Suddenly, his secretary informed him that an unexpected visitor had arrived, a Mr. Rule Theriault. Rule Theriault and Sheriff Akram went way back. Akram had been the most trusted subordinate of Theriault's father during their time in the Navy. Theriault had met Akram Sheriff Akram insisted that his secretary allow Mr. Theriault into his office, immediately.

Sheriff Akram - Rule Theriault, if I don't say, its been a long time.

Rule Theriault - Yes, it has, Commander Akram.

Sheriff Akram - I hear that you're involved with some kind of soccer team, now?

Rule Theriault - I am.

Sheriff Akram - Given how much you seem to play here, couldn't you have paid me a visit in the past?

Rule Theriault - Yes, I probably should have, but I wasn't sure if you were the same Commander Ingeleiv Akram. I never really saw you becoming Republica's Toughest Sheriff.

Sheriff Akram - You know, Rule, people change. I would not have expected a military brat like yourself to become a soccer coach who has no respect for his foreign opposition. You were always respectful of everybody when you were growing up.

Rule Theriault - Yes, Commander Akram, Sir.

Sheriff Akram - That's unnecessary under these circumstances. Besides, I'm a Sheriff now, not Captain Theriault's subordinate.

Rule Theriault - And my father was later promoted to Commodore.

Sheriff Akram - That must have been after I retired from the Navy. How's he doing, these days?

Rule Theriault - He was killed around 10 years ago by some pirates. His men chased the pirates for over three thousand knots before they finally captured them.

Sheriff Akram - I'm sorry to hear that.

Rule Theriault - He died in the line of duty. That's nothing to be ashamed of.

Sheriff Akram - Indeed, it isn't.

Rule Theriault - Well, actually, I came here to make a request of you.

Sheriff Akram - I'll do it.

Rule Theriault - So, you're willing to help me intimidate the official for my team's upcoming match into making the right calls?

Sheriff Akram - What? You're asking me to intimidate a referee into rigging a soccer match? You mean to tell me that you can't even beat the likes of San Jose Guayabal on your own?

Rule Theriault - That's not it, at all. I'm just concerned that they might beat me again and I don't want to take the risk of that happening.

Sheriff Akram - Well, I'll do it, but you're going to need to put up some money for the ref.

Rule Theriault - What do you mean?

Sheriff Akram - I'm going to drag the ref into my office, where I'll inform him that he'll be paid a substantial sum if your team wins. In the event of a loss or draw, well, let's just say that he'll face charges for taking a bribe from San Jose Guayabal. I have my ways of producing fraudulent evidence, when I need to do so.

Rule Theriault - Fraudulent evidence? You mean to tell me that your department actually fabricates evidence?

Sheriff Akram - We've done it before and, by golly, we'll do it again in the future if we need to do so, to put a bad guy behind bars where he belongs. Plus, if we can get 'em on the right charges, we can take 'way their votin' privileges. That helps to keep the Republic in the hands of the right sort of people.

Rule Theriault - Anything that can keep the riff-raff from voting in the Progressives is fine by me.

Sheriff Akram - I'll make sure that there zebra knows what's in his best interests, if ya know what I mean.

Rule Theraiult - Thank you.

Sheriff Akram - One last thing, could you say hi to your mother for me and send her my condolences for what happened to your father? She's a fine lady and I hope it hasn't been too hard on 'er.

Rule Theriault - I'll do that. She knows that he died a hero's death.

After Rule Theriault left, Sheriff Akram sent his men to the hotel where the official assigned to the match by the World Cup Committee was staying, to request nicely that the official come to speak with the Sheriff. If he refused, their orders were to arrest him for "disorderly conduct" and haul him into the sheriff's office. Fortunately, the referee agreed to speak with the sheriff, when he realized that he had no other options. Sheriff Akram made the offer clear to him and also informed him that he was under surveillance. Should he ever tell anybody about the offer made to him by Sheriff Akram, the Sheriff made it clear to him that he would wind up in jail for a very long time on fabricated charges of some sort and the Sheriff promised him that he would see to it that his stay in a Republican jail was as unpleasant as possible. Sheriff Akram was confident that he had gotten through to the official, but was prepared to follow through on his threats, if he hadn't...

[Saintland]

Gem of the Oceans Stadium, Republica, Free Republics

While the Saintland-Gregoryisgodistan match was held in the capitol of the Free Republics, it still felt like a home match for Saintland. From the Sanctii National Anthem being sung by Iulietta Perquitienus of Cantus Virginum to the crowd being filled with Church of Saintland members, the atmosphere was not favorable in the slightest for the visitors.

Coming into the match, both teams had emphasized different goals. The Gregoryisgodistani emphasized their desire to make the match extremely physical. The Sanctii, however, emphasized doing whatever it took to leave with the 3 points, maintaining their spotless (so far) record in World Cup 69 qualifying. This would play a key role in the direction of the match.

Gregoryisgodistan scored an early goal on a careless mistake by Lucas Aufidius. Aufidius attempted to launch a long ball downfield for Stephanus Vagionius, but kicked it a little too low, allowing Guy Who Cleans Up Behind The Elephant at the Circus P0120AZNNAU to head the ball to Soccer Captain Laredo Potato. The Gregoryisgodistani captain found an opening in the Sanctii defense and put the visitors on top early.

For the first 20 minutes of the match, Gregoryisgodistan seemed to be in control. Then, Josephus Flaccus found Prince Andreas just inside of the scoring area. Secret Police Agent Dominic Button came after the Prince of Saintland with a reckless challenge in plain sight of an official. For that, rather massive, error in judgment, Button was awarded a red card and the Sanctii were awarded a penalty kick. Although Herakles Karoki was no longer injured and was being used in a substitute role, he had yet to come into the match at that point. Therefore, Philippus Vagionius, the better penalty shooter of the Vagionius brothers, got the opportunity. He put it right down the middle, which was the last place Prune Farmer 3818F expected the shot to be placed. Saintland had equalized and Gregoryisgodistan was down a man.

However, Lucas Aufidius would gift the Gregoryisgodistanis a second goal on a silver platter just a few minutes later. Aufidius made a reckless challenge against Pervert Chaser 867530PNC, just outside of the penalty area. The Pervert Chaser struggled to get back up and Hacker Fred'); DROP TABLE Rosters;-- would replace him in the match. Aufidius would be awarded a red card and Gregoryisgodistan had a free kick. Soccer Captain Laredo Potato used the free kick to take a shot at the goal and Seius was unable to stop it. Gregoryisgodistan had retaken the lead.

Surprisingly, the Sanctii did not make a substitution to add another center back. Instead, Andreas Inventius dropped back, following instructions from Petrus Fadius. Toward the end of the first half, Government Advisor Lordborn Godsam fouled Josephus Flaccus, conceding a free kick. Godsam, however, was only awarded a yellow card for the foul. Flaccus took the free kick quickly before the Gregoryisgodistani defense could set up a wall. He found Prince Andreas and the Prince of Saintland equalized. The score at half was 2 goals apiece.

The halftime show was a long, drawn-out spectacle glorifying the Church of Saintland. Cantus Virginum opened and closed the show, but in-between the crowd was subjected to performances by several Church of Saintland-affliated groups from the Free Republics whose songs were mostly low-quality knockoffs of popular (secular) music. Bizarrely, at least to non-members of the Church of Saintland watching the match on television throughout the Free Republics, the crowd actually seemed to like this music.

After the match resumed, it would not be long before a Gregoryisgodistani player managed to earn a red card. Grammar Enforcement Officer ZZNNKUMBYA came on at halftime for the, previously yellow-carded, Government Advisor Lordborn Godsam and Josephus Flaccus decided to instigate trouble with the Grammar Enforcement Officer, as soon as he had possession of the ball inside of the scoring area. Flaccus, who played his domestic soccer in Nephara, took the opportunity to tell the Grammar Enforcement Officer that "A Loser is You" as Flaccus prepared to take a shot at goal. Unsurprisingly, the Grammar Enforcement Officer responded in a hostile fashion to that intentional use of bad grammar, earning a red card and giving the Sanctii their second penalty kick of the match. Stephanus Vagionius took this penalty and his shot managed to hit the post at the perfect angle, allowing it to ricochet into the net for a 3 goals to 2 Sanctii advantage. After Vagionius scored, Flaccus took the opportunity to celebrate in an obnoxious manner, one almost reminiscent of the Republican National Team. His ruse had worked.

Around the hour mark, Soccer Jester CLOWNPIREPIE became the third Gregoryisgodistani player to be red-carded on the day. The Soccer Jester was red carded for an overly rough challenge on Philippus Vagionius. This resulted in a third Sanctii penalty of the day. Prince Andreas took this one and put his team up 4 goals to 2. Playing with 10 men on the pitch to Gregoryisgodistan's 8, the Sanctii remained on the offensive, hoping to humiliate Gregoryisgodistan and "prove" once and for all that Gregory was not God. After Prince Andreas forced a corner, he delivered it into the scoring area, where Ioannes Poenius put it into the net for the 5th Sanctii goal of the match. Later, in added time, Herakles Karoki (who came on as a substitute for Prince Andreas in the 81st minute, a decision by the Tactical Assistant, designed to protect the Prince from further attacks at the hands of Gregoryisgodistani players) added a 6th Sanctii goal.

However, not everything had gone well for the Sanctii. Josephus Flaccus, angered by something Executioner 98481 said to him, threw a boxing-style haymaker, knocking the Gregoryisgodistani executioner out cold. For that momentary lapse in judgment, Flaccus was awarded the 5th red card of the match. Now, Saintland would have to visit West Carpathia without Josephus Flaccus or Lucas Aufidius in the lineup. But, they had beaten Gregoryisgodistan and that was all that really mattered to them, at this point in time...

---

Saintland's Lineup @ West Carpathia (due to red cards against Gregoryisgodistan)

GK - #1 Alessandro Seius
RB: #2 Ioannes Poenius
CB - #19 Paulus Plinius
LB: #6 Nicolaus Poenius
CDM: #15 Andreas Inventius
RCM: #7 Silvester Flaccus
LCM: #9 Paulus Flaccus
CAM: #10 Prince Andreas
ST: #25 Philippus Vagionius
ST: #11 Stephanus Vagionius
ST: #99 Herakles Karoki

[Gregoryisgodistan]

OOC: I leave it at Saintland's discretion to decide whether Lord Almighty Gregory's allegations of official corruption and bounties placed on Gregoryisgodistani players are true or baseless.

Lord Almighty Gregory's Speech to the people

"Good afternoon, ladies, gentlemen, and slaves. I speak to you this afternoon about unfortunate events that occurred in the Free Republics earlier today. During a Gregoryisgodistan World Cup Qualifying match against the wicked heathens from Saintland, who moved the game rather than let our hero players into their horrible country, several Sanctii players performed atrocious acts against our team.

"First of all, I have reason to believe that Prince Andreas, the captain of the Saintland national team, along with his brother, the wicked King Petrus, placed bounties on our players during the match. Any Sanctii player who injured an opponent would receive a large sum of money. As a result, Pervert Chaser 867530PNC will likely miss the rest of qualifying with a sprained ankle, thanks to a deliberate tackle by Lucas Aufidius with the intent to injure him. As a result, I have placed a warrant for the arrest of Mr. Aufidius, and should he ever set foot in my glorious nation, he will be executed via slow slicing by the Brownie Cutter of Death. It will be very painful. He must pay for all his misdeeds. Additionally, Josephus Flaccus, that hideous heathen who claims to worship the false god Iesus and claims Iesus is really God, decided to punch out Executioner 98481, giving the poor player a concussion. It is unclear if he will miss the next game. I call upon the World Cup Committee to ban Flaccus for life for this offense. It is simply unacceptable to sucker punch an opponent. Executioner 98481 could have been killed. Furthermore, should Flaccus ever set foot in this nation, he too will be executed by the Brownie Cutter of Death.

"Furthermore, I have reason to believe Saintland deliberately bribed the officials. Three red cards were given to Foot Slaves today, all resulting in penalty kicks. If the ref had not awarded those, it would have been a very different game. According to reports from our spies, King Petrus offered the game officials a sum of 1 million NS$ if he made deliberately bad calls to ensure a huge Saintland win. Conversely, if Saintland managed a draw or loss, the ref would be kidnapped and hanged from the neck until dead in the town square. Josephus Flaccus and Prince Andreas would apparently be responsible for subduing the referee if necessary. Such conduct by a national team and head of state is entirely unprofessional. I call for Prince Andreas to be banned for life and the Saintland national team to forfeit the game. Failure by the World Cup Committee to comply with these demands may result in us dropping solar powered bombs on Saintland and killing everyone. Their actions are beyond unacceptable - they are clearly cheating and they must be removed from all future World Cup tournaments plus this one.

"Death to Saintland! May they all die as the heathens they are. Heathens never learn. They must burn. Burn burn burn. Set Saintland on fire. Death to Saintland!"

[Super-Llamaland]

Three months later

"Private First Class Bryan Ferguson!"

"Yes, sir!" Ferguson stood up. It was his first day at the new base in Vjaalsbürg. He hadn't seen much action in the southern coast at Magnusson Bay, but he'd shot a few Vjaals and earned a promotion to a new base - Eriksburg. Fifteen miles from the edge of Llamanean-occupied Vjaalsbürg and into the frozen forests of the north.

"Occupation before draft!"

"Football player, sir!"

This made the officer stop. "Really now. What team were you on?"

"FC New Llama, sir."

"Position?"

"Halfback, sir."

The officer stopped and pondered a little.

"How good were you in the league?"

"I was alright, sir. I scored ten goals in the seventy-five season, sir."

The officer smiled. "We've booked ourselves a little match against the Vjaals in two days, Ferguson. I want you to start for us. How does that sound?"

Ferguson smiled. "That would be great!"

And instantly he was on the ground and his knee was on fire.

"Sir."

"Yes, sir. I'll be there, sir," Ferguson said warily.

"Good. Don't disappoint me," the officer said, all pretense of welcome abandoned, "again."

---

The match, despite Ferguson's reserves, was in fact very fair. The referees were Hakifao and Arendellenske, and they had even managed to get into a small stadium that had been used for college play before the Llamanean occupation. Some of the players got into the PA booth and read out starting lineups. First came the Vjaals, and then...

"Here are your Llamanean Army FC players, playing an aggressive 2-4-4 formation! At keeper, Lieutenant Dennis Adrian! The defenders: left back, Private Jeremy Dalton and right back, Private First Class Charlie Pierce! The midfield! At left, Lieutenant Bennett Nickelsby! At center, Private Alec Jimenez! Attacking midfielder, Second Lieutenant Jeff Hart Jr.! At right, Private First Class Bryan Ferguson! The strikers are...Private Lucas Zhou, Private Alexandre Peters, Private First Class Mike Ryan, aaaaand Third Lieutenant Adrian McKenzie!"

They took the pitch to scattered cheers. The spectators were mostly curious locals and army fans, and the whistles blew on the Vjaal-Army match, with the soldiers in the PA box announcing bawdily at the top of their lungs.

"Oi, and the whistle blown on Hart! Dreadful tackle there. There's going to be a Vjaal free kick, here's who appears to be the local favorite, Oscar Valdevic, backs up, takes the kick, flyyiiiinnnngggg high into the sky over the wall and GOAL! Dennis Adrian can't handle the Valdevic and it's one-nil Vjaals in the...erm...one sec while we check the official PA wristwatch...thirteenth minute! One-nil!"

"Pass intercepted by Ryan and crossed, who's there? It's Bryan Ferguson to get to it, winds back, slams one off the crossbar and in! GOOOOOOAAAAL! Private Fergie equalizes here in the twenty-ninth! One-all!"

"And there's the whistle and an exciting one-all game after forty-five!"

---

"Nice playing, Private Ferguson," the captain, jovial again, called out.

"Thank you, sir!"

There was some grumbling in the locker room about how Ferguson ran in front of three strikers to score, but he casually dismissed it. The defense was holding up and the offense was pushing out a decent attack, controlling possession.

"How about a 2-3-5, guys?" Ferguson called out. The reaction was extremely positive. Ferguson was proving that he knew how to play football. "Alright, Jimenez will move out to play inside left, and if we shift over..."

It looked like Vjaalsbürg wasn't so bad after all.

---

"Unacceptable!"

It was fifteen minutes after the soldiers' six-five loss. Ferguson had put two more in the net, but the defense in a 2-3-5 just hadn't held up.

"What were you thinking, Ferguson?"

"I-I-er..."

"How could you let Ericcson by you? Come to think of it, why were you playing 2-3-5 with a four-two lead?"

"I'm sorry sir, but-"

"Horrid. One more loss and you're off the team and fighting in Nya Vjalholm."

"Wait...one more?" Ferguson felt sick, especially since Nya Vjalholm was where suicidals were sent to fulfill their wish.

"Yes, this is a tournament, a four-way bracket! We play the team tomorrow. Win tomorrow and we'll make it through on away goals, Ferguson. But no more losses."

"I-yes, sir."

[Schiavonia]

"I'm Jenny Jones..."

"...and I'm Kevin Smith..."

"...and welcome to this special edition of World Cup Sloths. With Schiavonia out of the World Cup Qualifying race with plenty of matches still to go, we are taking a look at just what has gone wrong for a Schiavonia team that has not looked anything like the team that played in qualifying four years ago."

"Jenny, first of all, they are not out of it yet! It is still mathematically possible!"

"It's not going to happen, though, is it?"

"We can still dream..."

"Well, you'll have to, because it certainly isn't happening in reality. Anyway, no matter what the possibilities and probabilities, it cannot really be argued that the Sloths have been anything other than utterly hopeless."

"This coming from the president of the Schiavone Football Federation and the Keeper of the Rankings."

"You do know that second job isn't actually mine, but is performed by a secret figure who very few people know the identity of."

"Oh. Who is it, then?"

"I can't tell you. It's a secret."

"Is it Margaret?"

"Margaret?"

"Yes."

"The goddess of random?"

"The very same."

"But the rankings aren't random. They are stable, definite numbers, the outcome of every single match that takes place in WCC-sanctioned competition. There is nothing random about a set collection of numbers."

"But this secret figure... they operate out of the SFF Headquarters?"

"Well, not exactly. The SFF has a new HQ in the King Francesco Stadium, whereas the old HQ in New Kingsbury became vacant. So, when the international rallying cry came up for this mysterious Keeper of the Rankings to find a home, because the rent in Zwangzug had just been put up... well, a trustworthy nation who have a spare bit of space going free that is perfect for the job, and secluded enough for nobody to discover their true identity... they jumped at the chance to come here!"

"But that was before Schiavonia became a tourist destination."

"Well, yes... but then it is only really Craw that is a tourist destination. New Kingsbury has limits on the number of visitors, unless an event is taking place there, such as a football match. It is still pretty secluded."

"Not as much as Valae, though."

"No, but would the Keeper of the Rankings really feel safe in Valae?"

"Fair point."

"Anyway, how did we get onto this avenue of conversation? Ah, yes, because of the Sloths poor performance..."

"...and you criticising them as the Federation President."

"Yes, that. Well, you can't say the criticism is undeserved, but we need to be a little more constructive with it. So let's have a look at the reasons why things might have gone wrong. Starting with 1. The team are not actually that good."

"They made the play-offs in World Cup 68 Qualifying, though, so that seems to be a little harsh."

"Yes, but they made it with one of the lowest points totals out of all seventy-two of the teams that made it. In pretty much any other group, they would not have made it to that stage."

"But does that not signify what a competitive group they were in last time out, and that the team are actually good?"

"You have to remember that Schiavonia were an unranked team going in to that competition. The rankings said that they should have finished as the worst team in the group, but they came in third place. That doesn't strike me as a strong group, where something like that happens."

"I'll not have it! These are not bad players. Indeed, the new players who have come in have only gone to strengthen the team further, on the quality side of things, that is."

"OK, well, what about 2. A change in the ethnic make-up of the team. Because when this was the team of a tiny island of just seven hundred people, it was almost as if the team were a band of brothers."

"And sisters."

"Yes, Kev, brothers and sisters."

"To be fair, some of them are brothers and sisters."

"Well, yes, but that's not the point."

"And..."

"I know what you're going to say next, too. The amount of inbreeding that must go on amongst a population so small must mean that they are almost all family to each other, anyway. But that's not what I meant, either."

"What? Actually, no. I was going to say that you've got a little piece of fluff on your chin."

"What!?! Kev, we're on the radio, just let it be, yes?"

"So you don't want to take it off?"

"Well, is it affecting our broadcast?"

"It's distracting me!"

"It's a piece of fluff, Kev. It's not going to leap of my chin and attack you. Just leave it and carry on. now... the ethnic mix of the team."

"Why would that be a problem? Everyone gets along well, don't they?"

"Well, of course! It wouldn't be very Schiavone if they didn't. But the togetherness that comes with coming from an incredibly close-knit community to one that is made up with some relative outsiders is undoubtedly going to have an effect on team spirit and cohesion."

"And it might take a while for them to come together properly."

"That's cohesion, Kev."

"Oh."

"And that is not to be a slight upon the newcomers. There are some good Cafundélese and Garundi players in the squad and the team. But if you've been part of a select number of families, virtually isolated from the international community for much of the last hundred years, then all of a sudden you have some new groups coming in to join you, it will clearly change the dynamic of the team, as it has the whole nation."

"And they've not quite clicked yet."

"No. These things will take time. It might well take a few campaigns for the team to get back to the standards of the World Cup 68 one. But then, there is another factor in that respect, too."

"Yes?"

"Yes. And that would be 3. Teams know what to expect from Schiavonia. The element of surprise that was there last time around is gone. Teams that expected these unranked chancers to just fall away and be defeated, sometimes even playing weakened teams, would get more than they bargained for, and the Sloths would end up getting results. This time, however, they were rated as the fourth-best team in their group, and have not lived up to expectations at all."

"It's only one place out, and that is to an Yttribia team that has been threatening to put a performance together for a long while."

"Yes, but even though they are fifth, they are closer to the bottom of the table - in terms of points - than they are to fourth place. That's not good. At all."

"OK. I'll take that as a valid point."

"Another one - in five games against the top four teams in the group, the Sloths have so far scored... no points."

"That actually couldn't be any worse, could it?"

"Well, we could have lost by more goals, I guess. But not really, no. And it is these experienced teams who now know how a Schiavone team play. Attacking full-backs, three midfielders with set roles, a quick player, a big man and a poacher up front... That's it, really."

"But that's how Schiavonia have played for over a hundred years."

"And that is, undoubtedly, how we shall continue to play. There is nothing wrong with it, per se. It is simply that, last time around, teams hadn't seen it for sixty years, and so it worked well. This time, they've wised up, they know what we are going to do, and the team have not managed to find answers to it."

"We've scored points against some of the newer teams, though."

"Yes, but not as many as you might expect. Eight points from four games. And remember, during the Baptism of Fire, though this team went unbeaten in their friendlies, they didn't blow any of the teams that they played away, and these were all teams in their first truly multiverse-wide football tournament. Not big names in the game at all."

"So even they had us sussed?"

"I'm sure their coaches will have watched videos of our team playing, and been able to prepare their teams for us. But while the style can remain the same, it is clear that new ideas, new sparks will be needed. This could come from a new generation of players coming through who are an improvement on the current crop, but that will take a few World Cup cycles to really show its worth."

"With all of these ideas, perhaps you should work in football administration, and get all of this planned."

"What do you think I do as SFF President?"

"I thought that was just a thing."

"A thing? What kind of thing?"

"Um..."

"Look, all I can say is that we have some very promising youngsters who were inspired by the World Cup 68 team, and others inspired by the international tournaments we held here in Schiavonia. There is promise for the future, but we will have to be patient."

"Then, President, we shall look forward to that. In the meantime, though, are there any other things that could help us a little sooner?"

"Well, the next thing on the list is 4. The transcriber has been on holiday."

"But it's not as though the transcriber does anything for the team, is it?"

"Well, not on the pitch, he doesn't. But the transcriber does an important job. As you know, because you tried it at the last Cup of Harmony, what the transcriber does is write down things that have happened, be they conversations, broadcasts, press cuttings, letters... all kinds of things, in fact. They then send them off to the hosting committee of the relevant tournament to show how interested a nation is in the competition. While this seems a little odd, nations that do this seem to get more good fortune in games. And, if the interest is there in the nations, then the players will be more interested themselves, more inspired - they will play better."

"And because the transcriber has been on holiday... where has he been?"

"Oh, he's just been staying in a hotel in Craw."

"What? For two months!?!"

"Well, yes."

"How much does he get paid?"

"Well, he gets paid on the performance of the team. And with such a good performance last time out, he got a big bonus. Needless to say, this time he won't be getting that bonus. No holidays for him next time!"

"Definitely not!"

"Also, it is this factor that influences Cup of Harmony invitations. So it definitely has some sort of significance."

"So what if the hosting committee can't see this?"

"Well, then the teams tend not to perform quite so well. And there will be no Cup of Harmony invite. That's the general rule anyway."

"The general rule?"

"Well, yes. Because there is another factor."

"Another factor?"

"Yes. And this is another thing that could have contributed towards Schiavonia's slump."

"And what is that?"

"5. Margaret."

"Ah. So, random."

"Yes, But I don't think we can put it down to that."

"Why not? She usually gets the blame."

"She does, but not for us."

"Why not?"

"Because, actually, we've just been a load of old gubbins."

"Fair enough."

"But the first four reasons have - to some extent - contributed to our slump. And, now that the pressure is off in terms of qualifying, hopefully Kenny Sanderson VI can now begin working to put this right."

"Good thinking!"

"There are five games left. And, considering the transcriber's holiday, a place at the Cup of Harmony is definitely not forthcoming, either. So five games to try and get something together that will carry the Sloths through the AOCAF in two years time and into the next qualifying campaign."

"Onwards!"

"Quite! So, hopefully that will answer the question of the Sloths' underperformance for our fans, both here in Schiavonia and around the multiverse!"

"We have fans around the multiverse?"

"Well, I have no idea. Maybe. Perhaps. I mean, there are thousands of nations around the multiverse. Only between three hundred and four hundred have international football teams in the rankings. So football fans in other nations might be looking for a nation to support. And if they're not looking for a winning team, but a friendly little underdog, then why not us?"

"Well, can I throw in another factor that you haven't mentioned?"

"Another factor? But I have covered them all already."

"No you haven't."

"I have!"

"Well, you have, but one of them, you only brushed upon there."

"I did?"

"Yes."

"And what is that?"

"Well, if I can use the same listings as you, 6. We are a small island nation with a population of seven thousand. We're not supposed to be any good at this. That we're not bottom of every group ever is an amazing feat in itself. Last time out was just ridiculous. We're not bad, we're just overperforming, rather than massively overperforming."

"Kev, we'll make a journalist out of you yet. And that, then, really is the end of this summary of Schiavonia's performance so far in World Cup Qualifying. Until next time, from us both, goodnight."

"Goodnight!"

[Darvale]

---

---

DISAPPOINTING DRAW AGAINST THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE
The Goats draw 2-2 against The Crystal Empire in their second match after mid-qualification
Article by Ramon Goldstein | Sports Category | Posted 2/8/2014 at 11:43 am

---

Darvale Lineup
GK - L. Holmes (Captain)
LB - W. Schultz
CLB - C. Moore
CRB - M. Fowler
RB - O. MacGee
ALW - P. O'Neil
CLM - C. Pearson
ACM - P. Downing
CRM - S. Bennett
ARW - D. Wainwright
CS - D. Burns
Substitutions
('56) O. MacGee
J. Dawson

The Imperial Arena, Crystopolis, THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE - Darvale, 2, The Crystal Empire, 2. That was the final score of Darvale's second World Cup 69 match against The Crystal Empire, with the first match finishing in a 2-1 victory for Darvale. The match was played at The Imperial Arena, located in Crystopolis, The Crystal Empire.

Playing for the first time ever in a 4-2-3-1 formation, the Darvalians had a bit of trouble adapting to their new playstyle, as Philip Downing, a former striker, was playing in the midfield. Because of this, The Crystal Empire was able to find a loophole here and there, creating chaos for the midfield. In the 6th minute, Crystal Pony midfielder Sapphire Rose managed to put a long pass through to Crystal Arrow, who past Darvalian defender Marlon Fowler and fired an on-target shot, although it was blocked by Lyndon Holmes. However, Berry Splash, the second Crystal Pony striker, was somehow at the right place at the right moment, and nicely slotted the ball into the goal.

The Darvalian team, however, didn't give up. Eleven minutes later, in the 17th minute, Darvalian midfielder Cedric Pearson made a magnificent run, passing Ivory, Rose Quartz and Toastie, only to fake a shot and chip the ball to David Wainwright, a new addition to the team, who didn't fail to head the ball into the goal, past Crystal Pony goalkeeper Starshine. A Darvalian equalizer changes the score to 1-1 in the 17th minute.

Then, a mere minute later, Wainwright almost scored again. After an untimely foul on Patrick O'Neil by Amber Waves, a Cedric Pearson free kick hit the post, and, although Wainwright had the rebound, Crystal Pony goalkeeper Starshine somehow managed to block Wainwright's semi-volley, saving The Crystal Empire. There was speculation amongst the Darvalian fans and players that Wainwright's shot past the line, but the match referee denied the goal to the Darvalians.

The next fifteen minutes of the game passed without much action, with both sides seemingly just trying to not concede any more goals. However, suddenly, in the 38th minute, what was supposed to be a Darvalian long pass from Carl Moore to Patrick O'Neil accidentally hit the referee, redirecting the ball straight to Berry Splash, who was unmarked. Berry Spash didn't fail to take complete advantage of the situation, firing the ball past Lyndon Holmes and into the top-right corner of the goal. Protest burst out from the Darvalians, but the referee wasn't paying any attention. The match official, who preferred to remain anonymous, even went as far as booking Darvalian midfielder Steven Bennett, to the utter dismay of the Darvalians. 2-1 in favor of The Crystal Empire in the 38th minute.

The next action came in the 57th minute. After Owen MacGee went off for Under-21 hero Jerome Dawson, a long shot from outside the box from Patrick O'Neil, was blocked by Crystal Pony goalkeeper Starshine, although the ball went out after Starshine's touch, granting Darvale a corner kick. And Darvale didn't fail to hammer the last nail into the coffin. A long chip from David Wainwright landed at the feet of none other that Jerome Dawson, who fired the ball with a majestic curve into the goal, past Starshine. A Darvalian equalizer in the 57th minute.

Surprisingly, after Dawson's goal, literally no more action came out of the game. The game finished somberly enough, with Darvale staying in fourth position in Group 6. Darvale's next match will be against the mysterious side of Lleidia, at The EpiCenter Stadium, Púrtpritov, Vinrovter, Darvale. The last time Darvale faced Lleidia, the Goats won the match by a whopping 0-3, smashing Lledia on the latter's own soil. Because of the lower difficulty for Darvale this match is forecasted to have, The Darvale Football Association has released the previewed Darvalian starting 11 for the match.

Darvale Lineup
GK - L. Holmes (Captain)
LB - W. Schultz
CLB - C. Moore
CRB - M. Fowler
RB - O. MacGee
ALW - P. O'Neil
CLM - C. Pearson
ACM - P. Downing
CRM - J. Robinson
ARW - A. Hurst
CS - P. Cortez

As you can see, Head Coach Dennis Carter has made a total of three changes, with the attacking midfield and the offense receiving drastic changes. Darvalian star striker Darrell Burns will be starting on the bench, with Pietro Cortez replacing him, Steven Bennett, who received a yellow card during his latest match, will be replaced by Johnny Robinson, and Aaron Hurst will be making his international debut, replacing David Wainwright, who scored the first of the two goals during The Crystal Empire - Darvale match.

Experts believe that the match will end in a 2-0 or a 3-1 victory for the Darvalians, but we'll have a full report about the actual match tomorrow. As for now, goodbye, and good luck to the Goats!

[Red Blackiland]

Red Blackiland vs. Green-Higland

---

Other important game in World Cup Qualifiers,against Green Highland, a match rival that we don't know much about because the lack of information,but we know Red Blackiland losed to Green Highland as away team by 1-0 score in first half of the matchdays.Now,Red Blackiland need a win to go forward with your objective with the fans in your side and all players disponible with no injuries and cards.Peter Valbuena said that is a game to team win and gain more three points with a standard that is considering by the tecnical comitee how a 'great' campaign for a first time,even the much losses.Said that we need take advantage from the home matches and this is important for this begin road of Red Blackiland.And we need calm to don't turn into a 'homely team' , we need to give the homework in away games too,but for now,this is all if we needed.
Green Highland is a very conservative and secret team it's because we don't have much information about it,but sounds like a defensive team using the rest of midfielders to produce counter-attacks when the rival defenses are open.

---

This photo don't like,the fans in this moment,hours before the match kick-off,are crossing one of Red Blackilands Rivals,the Dark Rival to go to the front of Red Glorious Stadium to begin the prepartion for other match and other challenge.The expectation isn't very high,30,500 fans should attend in the game,only 400 fans should be Green Highlands.

The fans passed near of various important artistic and natural locations in the country that is the one of the roads to the stadium this is the road that the away fans always make in games on Blackberry City.

---

The Dark Lions Express say 'hi' to all fans one more time,they will be operating on all hours of the day,before,during and after the match without stops,reducing the time of reach to the stadiums.This only coast R$ 2,00 for all fans and this is disponible for away fans too that came to the stadium by train,only need use the money conversor disponible in all train stations in the country , with antecedence is better,this is facilitate the travel of the fans to the stadium without confusions.that is disponible to Patronaux League games and is one of alternatives of the project elaborated by R.B.A.F in association with the government.

[Star United States]

Sorry for the RP being rather short, I didn't have enough time to write a longer one because of a real life event.

Star United States

---

The World Cup 69 Qualifiers

---

☆★ Match Day Nine ★☆

---

Previous Editions: Roster of Star United States; Here We Come; First Glimpse; One Day Closer;Match Day One Preview;Day One Out and Over; World Cup Qualifiers - Day Two; Diasters Throughout;Fourth Time's A Charm; A Draw & A Problem; Two Ties & A Crisis; One Step Closer; Halfway Through; Another Day

World Cup Qualifier
Star United States 2 : 0 Vunishia
Estadio Estrella, City of Star, Star United States

Star United States hosted Vunishia at the Estadio Estrella. This was the opening debut for this stadium, being the newest stadium located in City of Star, the capital of Star United States. There were only two goals scored during the match, both in favor of Star United States. One goal came utterly early in the match, and another game rather late. The first goal was on minute 2, and the second goal was on the 88th minute.

Minute 2: Star United States took the lead shortly after the match begun. Soarison started with the ball during the kickoff. He quickly passed the ball between the other mid-fielders. However, the mid-fielders stopped right before entering the penalty box. The ball was passed to the Starian forward, Garrison. He managed to kick the ball through the numberless defenders of the visitors. (1 : 0)

The second-half brought one goal, in favor of Star United States. The goal came on minute 88.

Minute 88: Garrison scored once again during tjis minute. He received a pass from Stafford, who managed to get the ball from Soarison. However, he stole the ball from the mid-fielders of Vunishia. They failed to protect the ball, and it quickly fell to the feet of the Stars. (2 : 0)

Today's result was expected for the grand opening of the Estadio Estrella in City of Star.


Overall
Star United States 2–0 Vunishia
Estope 4–2 Barunia
Dawnhaven 2–0 The Blaatschapen
New Wolfopolis 1–0 Zwangzug

As stated above, Vunishia fell upon the Starians. Barunia, highest ranked team of group 15, fell to the hands of Estope, who now is at the top of the table standings. Dawnhaven soared over The Blaatschapen. Surprisingly, Zwangzug failed to win over New Wolfopolis.


Estope holds first place if Group 15, with 18 points. Zwangzug holds second with, also, 18 points. Barunia, with 16 points, holds third place. Dawnhaven is in fourth with 15 points. 14 points is held by Star United States? Who resides on the fifth standing. Nww Wolfopolis is in sixth place, and holds 13 points. Followed by Vunishia, who holds 5 points, in seventh and The Blaatchapen with 3 points in last place.

Tomorrow's Match
Barunia v. Star United States

The Stars will be traveling to Barunia for the next match. Last time these teams met, Star United States lost zero to one against Barunia.

Barunia, however, has not won any of there last two matches. On the other hand, Star United States has lost one and won one of the last two matches.

Will Barunia succeed at winning over Star United States again? Stay tune to find out.

[Zwangzug]

"Hey so do you believe in uhhhh" There were a few too many hhhs on the tail end of the utterance, drifting into the void between them as Percy racked up the nerve to finish the sentence and Connor flinched in place, silently pledging himself not to enter into a metaphysical conversation with Percy "werewolves?"

"What. I." Connor paused, only then processing the sentence. "Werewolves?"

"Uh, yeah."

"Like? Like what do you mean."

"Like humans who turn into wolves under the full moon or so, and every night go to someone's house and eat them, so they have to be executed."

"Executed?"

"In places where they do that, obviously. Not anywhere in Zwangzug."

"The capital punishment thing, is that making you hesitant on believing in werewolves?"

"Well, I mean, I've had some doubts myself, but it's important to keep an open mind, don't you think?"

"Why are you asking me this?"

"I don't know. Maybe you know some things, who can say? Like, do they only eat people under the full moon? Or is it every night? Like, that doesn't add up for me, completely. But maybe the full moon is like a metaphorical way of putting it."

"I mean. The Wolfpack of New Wolfopolis? They were metaphorical, right?"

"They were," said Percy. It had been Sidney Pendleton who scored, after a series of passes from Bob Good and Lucien Pickens. When they substituted Good out for Alex Gould, the fourth official's substitution display got a little more attention than usual, it was so hard to hear that anything had changed at all. As for the Campana Bowl, it was plenty imposing, although Jen had been disappointed that it had nothing to do with one of her cycling heroes.

"But like, there are groups of people, who left to their own devices will periodically terrorize and kill others? Or try to if there's nobody in the way. And if the authorities don't hunt them down?"

"This is, like, the definition of organized crime," Arlo pointed out, and Connor was at last free to skitter off into the distance.

Percy squinted. "Huh. Yeah. Does it matter if they're being investigated by law enforcement, or, like, equally-supernatural sources, though?"

"I don't know. You tell me."

"I just think it's a cause for concern, if there are werewolves running around out there, they should have some equally-powerful adversaries to compensate for that, you know? Because otherwise we're in trouble."

"I think we're doing okay, all things being equal."

"Yeah but what happens somewhere when the police and the state authorities are devoting all their resources and energy to tracking down werewolves, that they can't deal with the more systemic corruption?"

"Is this a concern of yours?"

"In Zwangzug, no, the crime rate is too low. Thankfully. But it just opens the door to all sorts of abuses of authority, the things the government could cover up, if they're focused on wolves."

"Like I said. As far as you should be concerned, I think we're safe."

"Personally, yes, but there are wider issues at stake!"

"And the responsible parties will root them out. Which does not include you."

Percy sighed. "If you say so."

[The Icemark]

Things are looking a lot less comfortable for the Icemark than they were a few games back. At the halfway point of qualifying the press as good as stated that their lead was unattainable and Kinitaria would never have what it takes to catch up. Unfortunately they didn't bring Boring Paradise into the equation.

The Rushmori nation has quietly and unassumingly worked their way up the standings after a poor start. It's ironic that the team that gave them their poor beginning was the same team that allowed them in again. Their 1-0 success against the Icemark narrowed the gap between the two nations to just three points. To be fair the defeat wasn't overly surprising. The Icemark showed their vulnerabilities in their three mid-qualifying friendlies; A narrow defeat at their friendly rivals, Sargossa, followed by a 4-0 hammering to San Jose and a disappointing shut out against Crystal Empires left little to be optimistic about.

As usual the defensive display was strong against Boring Paradise, but going forward left little to be desired. A grand total of one shot, and that one an optimistic 30 yard punt was their only threatening moment. Boring Paradise dominated possession and their tiki-taka performance in the end lulled the Icemark into tiring and making that one fatal mistake.

The Icemark responded well to their second loss of the campaign with a single goal victory of Vettrera. Kol Lindenshield slotted the only goal in from the spot in an eventful match. The Icemark offered a lot more going forward than their previous offensive display and the backline was resilient as ever when under pressure. This was the Icemark's sixth 1-0 success during the campaign so far. Only the ever reliable defensive specialists Taeshan can claim to have an equal record.

Boring Paradise kept up the pressure on the Icemark with victory over Kinitaria, whose hopes are fading with their third consecutive defeat. But the Icemark remain in a very strong position. World Champions Vilita are expected to break away from the pack eventually and claim top spot despite a few tricky tests to come, but the Icemark are still on course for their best ever performance in qualifying. Not since WC68 have they still been in the race for a play-off spot at this stage. Unlike then this time it's in the Icemark's hands rather than them playing catch up.
Next up for the Icemark should be a banker against Melthing, before they host the World Champions for the first time at Odin's Hall. Nothing but victory against Melthing would be acceptable particularly as they are not expected to get anything in the match after.

[German American States]

Chapter 4

The blades of the transport helicopter whirled overhead as Platoon B made its entrance onto the South Pole. Martin could see large expanses of open snow filled plains through one of the doors, complete with mountains and crevasses. The entire landscape was desolate except for a small inlet that ran into the ocean just ahead, where the Kriegsmachen and the FALN had set up a base. The base was the only access point within 40 miles for the Guayabalese scientists to ship off the extracted uranium, and therefore it was heavily guarded.

As the chopper landed, the platoon got their backpacks and helmets on, and disembarked into the frigid weather. Martin held his assault rifle close to his body and shivered. It was just starting to get cold in Ruentenbach, a little shift in his opinion weather wise. He looked at the other members of his platoon. Daniel, a hefty miner from the rural mountains of the Nordbergen Spine had a wide smile on his face; he was used to the cold. Skinny and pale Fritz from a privileged family in Muenchewald was way out of his comfort zone, everything in his kit seeming too big for him, and quaking in his boots. Tanja, a lean gas extractor from Rothau had a grim face set. Once all 15 members of the platoon got out, Sergeant Witz, the leader of Platoon B, lead them to their quarters.

As they walked through the icy alleys of the base(which the Ruentenbachers called Kalthaven), Martin took in the scene. Soldiers from both the Kriegsmachen and FALN shoveled ice, gravel, and whatever else they could dig into large canvas bags to use for fortifications. The Guayabalese and Ruentenbacher flags flew side by side. The entire place had a rather grim but homey feel to it. Everyone seemed bleak, but had a feeling of isolation. No way the Yttribians would attack, no way the base would come under fire.

Just then, a siren sounded. Everyone that was working on the fortifications scrambled to put the shovels away, men rushed to the artillery, people prepped the machine guns. Witz yelled at the platoon "MACHT SCHNELL! GET READY FOR COMBAT!!"

When he saw his platoon's eyes wide with disbelief, he explained. "Our radar has spotted Yttribian forces off the coast. There is no way they don't see this inlet, so we'll have to be combat ready."

Several small drones took off from inside the base and went to investigate the troops. Martin slung his rifle around to the front of his chest and checked his ammo. His platoon couldn't believe they would be in combat already. As they rushed to the walls and got in a prone position, Fritz seemed on verge of a heart attack. His breathing was quick, his eyes were fraught-stricken, and his helmet tipped over his eyes. Martin gave him a motivational nod. Then a bullet rang off of Fritz's helmet, ricocheting into the air.

Daniel grimaced as the Yttribian warships appeared at the mouth of the inlet. "Its go time."

[Electrum]

Part 6 - Day 3 - Trial Day 1, Part 3

Intro|Part 1|Part 2|Part 3|Part 4|Part 5

WINE BOTTLE – A dark green bottle that has been corked. Left on the table by itself. Contains Azai Kanon's fingerprints.
WIG – Resembles Kazuyuki’s hair.
MEMO – Jack Hughes called for Azai Kanon around the time of his death
AUTOPSY - Time of death: 6pm, Death was immediate and was caused by a strangulation.
KNIFE - It was found stuck in the body of Jack Hughes. Bears fingerprints of Kazuyuki. Contains the hotel's logo on it.
BUTTON - Bloodied. Must be Hughes's blood. It was found in a red jumper found on the defendant.
CRIME PHOTO - A dark shadow running across a hall way. Kind of blurry and you can only see shadows. The person running across is wearing heals of some nature.

Courtroom Lobby

Kira Mayuno: Time to strategise...

Justin Themis: Who 'da funk it? Prosecutor Keyes on the ball yet again....

Det. Raynald: Can we barge in??

Justin Themis: Oh! Hey Mark!

Prosecutor Keyes: Me too!

(Andrew Keyes... Just why did he help us?)

Justin Themis: Andrew! You nearly nailed us in there!

Prosecutor Keyes: Well... we had to keep the trial going didn't we? If you want Rachael to survive...

Kira Mayuno: No... You're not suggesting we cooperate to prolong the trial?

Prosecutor Keyes: Think of it as a goodwill gesture.

(We would have never gotten that with Prosecutor Aitkens...)

Kira Mayuno: Justin... he's steering the ship here... should we trust him?

Justin Themis: We have no choice, don't we? Anything to get Rachael back...

*AHEM*

Prosecutor Keyes: Well anyways, Raynald, why don't you leave for just a moment.

Det. Raynald: Yes sir!

Prosecutor Keyes: Okay... Here's the dirt. We uncovered some evidence this morning which you may find very useful.

Justin Themis: What is it?

Prosecutor Keyes: An attempted suicide note... by Azai Kanon.

Kira Mayuno: WHAT???

Prosecutor Keyes: After the pressure which barreled down on her after the details of the Cup of Harmony scandal were revealed, she attempted suicide.

Justin Themis: Oh... Do you think that... this was revenge for her depression?

Prosecutor Keyes: Make whatever you want with it, but the Prosecution's official view is that Kazuyuki Shirai commited the murder.

Justin Themis: Thanks for the information Andrew. We never would have seen this cooperation anywhere else, save for this inquistorial trial system.

Prosecutor Keyes: I would have cooperated with you regardless. I miss Rachael too....

Justin Themis: Mark Raynald even seems happier that Aitkens is not prosecuting.

Prosecutor Keyes: Don't tell anyone this, but you know that raggedy old coat that he always wears?

Kira Mayuno: What, his detective's trench coat?

Prosecutor Keyes: Yes that. She has a tracker on him, and a scanner so she knows his GPS coordinates at all times.

Kira Mayuno: Jeez, that's a bit harsh. I'm going to tell him now!

Prosecutor Keyes: I advise you don't do that just yet. He's on a high now, don't bring him down to earth. Anyways, just one more piece of information for you before I prepare Azai Kanon for your crossexamination.

Justin Themis: What is it now?

Prosecutor Keyes: As you may or may not know, Hughes had a secret investigation done into Azai Kanon into the conflict. He said that it would blow the whole cover on everything. It's gone missing.

Kira Mayuno: I feel like this is the crux of this whole issue. If we know what this "secret" is, then we can get Kazuyuki off the hook.

Prosecutor Keyes: I know that some things have been said about Azai Kanon and Kazuyuki Shirai... That in fact their relationship is the opposite to what we all think.

Kira Mayuno: What do you mean by that?

Prosecutor Keyes: You'll find out in due course. I best be off to talk to my witness now. You talk to yours. Good day.

Justin Themis: This whole thing seems fishy... What do you think he means by their opposite relationship thing?

Kira Mayuno: I'm not one for riddles... so I don't know. Maybe we should ask Kazuyuki about the attempted suicide?

Justin Themis: Good idea. Information is key here.

---

Holding Cell

Kazuyuki Shirai: No way! Azai Kanon would ever do that!

Justin Themis: Well, it looks that way. She's your boss.. she could easily have done all of those things, including putting the button in your jacket whilst you were sleeping and stabbing the corpse with that knife.

Kazuyuki Shirai: But she just can't!

Justin Themis: She has her own agenda. I'm going to get you acquitted today.

Kazuyuki Shirai: What on earth are you talking about?

Justin Themis: You'll see.

Kira Mayuno: Justin, you think that this whole killing is related to that missing investigation notes, right?

Justin Themis: Yes. Kira... I think Azai Kanon was trying to get close to Jack Hughes, hence the meeting, so
she could get those notes back.

Kira Mayuno: You're right.

Bailiff: Court will be recommencing shortly!

Kira Mayuno: Good luck.

---

Courtroom

Kira and Justin make their way to the counsel bench as they see Kazuyuki staring at them in the corner of the room where they hold the accused. It takes a while, but finally, Prosecutor Keyes walks into the room with a witness in tow. A determined lady walks through the door - and it's the witness, Azai Kanon. She gets onto the witness stand. She looks dazed.. and is absentmindedly playing with a card, twisting and turning it in her hands

Clerk: This court is now back in session for the trial of Kazuyuki Shirai for the murder of Jack Hughes.

Prosecutor Keyes: The prosecution calls Azai Kanon to the stand, the person who discovered the crime!

Judge: For the court's pleasure, I ask that you state your name and occupation

Azai Kanon: I guess that's necessary. Azai Kanon, the representative for the Kazamatsuri FA and the Mizuyuki Figure Skating Federation. My assistant is Kazuyuki Shirai. I have just have one thing to say before we start.

Judge: Yes?

Azai Kanon: Although it's true that Jack Hughes ordered an investigation on me... I am not allowed to discuss the contents of that investigation. This is a private matter between me and him.

(Why would he give the investigation to Azai if it was all about her? She's probably lying here)

Azai Kanon: But... I didn't kill him.

Prosecutor Keyes: No one has accused you of killing anyone?

Azai Kanon: I feel like someone will soon...

Judge: Very well. Please testify to the court on what you discovered on that fateful day.

Azai's Testimony: I found the body
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1. We had a long day, and I told my assistant to take a break in our room while I went out.

2. After that, I went into Jack's room with a wine bottle to talk.

3. Then there it was. His body. 

4. I was so shocked... so I put the bottle down.
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Judge: So... you put the bottle down?

Azai Kanon: Yes.

Prosecutor Keyes: And that's where that bottle and fingerprints came from.

Judge: You may cross examine.

Kira Mayuno: Careful here, she's one tough nut to crack and she's got a cool exterior. Hit her where it hurts.

Justin Themis: Got it Kira. Please back me up.

Justin Themis: So you were shocked?

Azai Kanon: Well, I did see the dead body...

Prosecutor Keyes: Anyone just seeing a dead body would be very shocked.

Azai Kanon: And that's when I put the bottle down too.

Justin Themis: Ah. That wine bottle right?

Azai Kanon: Yes, I brought it in as a present.

Justin Themis: But you didn't drink any of it...

Azai Kanon: ???

Justin Themis: The bottle was uncorked, but it was still full.

Azai Kanon: I wasn't feeling good about it, so I put it back down again.

Justin Themis: Isn't that a bit weird? Why would you just put the bottle down?

(How calculating is she? Thinking into the future like that... So that's where that evidence fits!)

Kira Mayuno: I think that's where it fits.

Justin Themis: It's all clear to me now. Your honour, do you remember when we accused Azai of murder just before?

Judge: Yes, before the recess.

Justin Themis: She put the bottle down. Clearly in shock. But she had the cool nerve to exit the room, pop back to her room and get that wig out which we saw in that blurry photo!

Prosecutor Keyes: Well done, Justin. But there's just one teeny tiny flaw in your reasoning.

Kira Mayuno: ??? Oh....

Justin Themis: Just what is it?

Prosecutor Keyes: Why would she do such a thing? She walked into the room and saw a dead body. Your first thought is not to go back into the room disguised as someone else!

Azai Kanon: I can answer this question. Let me testify about it.

Prosecutor Keyes: ????

Azai Kanon: Please.

Prosecutor Keyes: Fine.

Azai's Testimony: What I did after
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1. When I saw the crime scene, I thought that Kazuyuki was the murderer

2. Jack Hughes was of course, suspicious of both of us

3. He was sleeping during the murder

4. Of course, the button and knife exactly proved what I thought

5. As Kazuyuki was my personal assistant... I did everything to protect him. I can't lose him.
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Justin Themis: Why would you think that he did the murdering?

Azai Kanon: Jack was suspicious of both of us. That's the motive. Opportunity? Right before he slept... he left me for an hour or so by myself preparing for the trial.

Justin Themis: Tell me more abour his sudden disappearance. You told me that he was taking a nap?

Kira Mayuno: Yeah! Was this a lie too?

Azai Kanon: No. When I went to wake him up, he was sleeping. I'm not sure if he was asleep for the whole time whilst I was still in the lobby or doing my errands.

Justin Themis: In any case, you can't just base your entire denial based on the button and knife!

Azai Kanon: Why not?

Justin Themis: For one thing, that knife is smudged everywhere with fingerprints! It's impossible to determine how it was held, or whether or not it was even involved with the murder!

Azai Kanon: That's a bit shaky... but what about the button? The crime scene was in an unkempt state, so there must have been some struggle. During the fight, the button was ripped out and fell into the pocket. And there you have it.

Kira Mayuno: So it's about the button?

Justin Themis: OBJECTION! Your honour, I would like to present the autopsy report.

Judge: What's this?

Justin Themis: The cause of death was strangulation. That means that the stab by the knife happened after he
died.

Judge: What does this mean?

Justin Themis: Looking at the evidence... this button was bloodied. Which would mean that it was ripped off--

Prosecutor Keyes: Ah. After the stabbing, and therefore the actual murder.

Justin Themis: It would have been impossible for the button to be torn off during the struggle, if the death was strangulation! Otherwise, there would have been no blood! This button was pulled off on purpose after the struggle!

Prosecutor Keyes: Whaaaaaat! What is the meaning of this?

Justin Themis: Let me tell you, WHY was the button torn off? What was it used for? Let me tell you. The murderer purposely pulled it off.... why?

Judge: No....

Justin Themis: It was to frame my client! He was set up!

Judge: Then who is the real murderer?

Kira Mayuno: It's time for the real trial to begin.

Justin Themis: The real murderer is... Azai kanon! You are the killer!

Azai Kanon: No! It's not me!

Judge: This is a serious accusation! Where's the evidence?

Justin Themis: All of the evidence points to Azai Kanon!

Prosecutor Keyes: Prove it! Show to this court how all of the evidence fits!

Justin Themis: OK... Try me!

Prosecutor Keyes: The knife!

Justin Themis: The knife was used to frame my client. It came from Azai Kanon's and Kazuyuki's shared room. It could have only been taking from their room, and since my client has a cast, it must mean that Azai Kanon must be the one to take it out of the room!

Prosecutor Keyes: The button!

Justin Themis: We know that the button was removed after Jack Hughes died... so the only person who could have removed it was the person who found the body or the killer! And if Kazuyuki was the killer, then why would he put the button in his jacket to be caught later?

Azai Kanon: Hgnnhnh!

Justin Themis: You were the one who woke him up! This wig! She wore it to appear like Kazuyuki walked across to the other room! The photo! The heels! It all points to you, Azai Kanon!

Azai Kanon: No!

Justin Themis: Don't forget the wine bottle! She purposely left those prints there to look shocked! No one would suspect her! And now here we are... with her as the prosecution's witness!

Prosecutor Keyes: ....!

Justin Themis: Well how about it? Was I right Azai?

Azai Kanon: I refuse.... to testify.

Kira Mayuno: What?

Azai Kanon: I'm not allowed to testify if I self incriminate myself!

Justin Themis: No!

Judge: Yes, that is true. Witnesses cannot testify if they damage themselves.

Prosecutor Keyes: Your honour, everything that the lawyer has said has been meaningless... the evidence is circumstantial, with no definitive proof to accuse Azai Kanon of murder

Judge: Well, that is true. I'll tell you my thoughts. The defense has failed to substantiate their claims, whilst the witness refuses to testify. There is only thing we must do. To declare another recess. We will meet up again tomorrow to discuss more about the developments.

(Tomorrow???! The assassin said we only had one shot to do it today!)

Justin Themis: Your honour, please! Continue this trial!

Prosecutor Keyes: Your client gets to live another day? What's the harm in another day?

Justin Themis: Rachae--

Judge: This court is now--

Prosecutor Keyes: Objection! Your honour, this trial can still continue today.

Judge: ...!

Prosecutor Keyes: We can still make her testify about something else she's not guilty of! Azai Kanon... when you saw the body... you corked the bottle. Why?

Azai Kanon: So?

Prosecutor Keyes: No one in their right mind would uncork a bottle after seeing a dead body. Please testify about it.

Azai's Testimony: When I found the body II
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1. That wine bottle, I corked it for Jack Hughes. 

2. The room was just so messy! I was in a daze...

3. There he was, Jack Hughes on a chair, dead. 

4. The thought that he was dead just didn't come in mind! I thought he had fainted...
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Justin Themis: OBJECTION! So you say that you thought he wasn't dead when you found him?

Azai Kanon: No, not at all. That's why I uncorked the bottle, for him.

Justin Themis: Even though you saw the body?

Azai Kanon: I don't see what's wrong.

Justin Themis: When you found the body... wouldn't the first thing you would notice is this?

Azai Kanon: What the? Oh. The knife..

Justin Themis: There was a knife sticking out of his chest! How could you see that and not say he was dead!

Kira Mayuno: She's lying! This whole testimony is a fake!

Justin Themis: This proves that you are the real killer!

Azai Kanon: NOOOOOO!

Judge: Wow. In one testimony, the defense has managed to uncover the twisted truth.

(Yes. We are nearing the finish line!)

Judge: Kazuyuki, I am now ready to pronounce my verdict!

Azai Kanon: No, wait! You must listen to me! It really was Kazuyuki Shirai!

Justin Themis: You lied to the court. You refused to testify. That's proof enough!

Judge: That's enough you two. You are trying my patience. I shall now give my verdict.

Prosecutor Keyes: OBJECTION! Your honour, the prosecution would like to hold the verdict! The witness isn't telling the truth!

Judge: What are you talking about?

Prosecutor Keyes: Azai, if Kazuyuki gets off the hook, it will be YOU that will be taking his place.

Azai Kanon: No! It can't be! I just can't say it!

Kira Mayuno: Tread carefully now... she's crying.

Prosecutor Keyes: You do of course, don't want your name besmirched by this report right?

Prosecutor Keyes held up a pink piece of paper with Azai's name on it... Justin recognises it as the attempted suicide report.

Azai Kanon: No! Fine! I'll talk!

Prosecutor Keyes: Judge, please let us continue this trial.

Azai's Testimony: The real crime
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1. I really had thought that he had just fainted.

2. I realised he was dead.. so I made a plan

3. I dashed back to my room, put on the wig and jumper and ran back to the other side with the knife

4. And then I stabbed the body with the knife, then ripped off the button

5. That button... I left it in the jacket and I put it off
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Judge: Why would you alter the crime scene?

Azai Kanon: Isn't it obvious? I had to frame Kazuyuki... I know he did it!

Justin Themis: What was this plan that you formulated?

Azai Kanon: I knew that the murderer was Kazuyuki... so I thought I could forge some evidence to help the police pin it on Kazuyuki.

Justin Themis: And that's when you dashed back and fourth from the room.. where that guard took a photo of you

Azai Kanon: That's right.

Justin Themis: I see...

Azai Kanon: I had to wear the wig and jumper because I couldn't count on that old lady seeing me in Jack's room. If she thought it was me, she would have a field day and blame me for the murder.. so you see... I had to disguise as Kazuyuki.

Kira Mayuno: As much as I hate to say it, it look's like she really is telling the truth this time.

Justin Themis: mmm....

Judge: I think that'll be enough today. We've just had another revelation that in fact, the evidence was forged by Azai Kanon. Under those circumstances... we cannot be certain that she is the real killer. There isn't a single piece of evidence which points to her as the murderer.. so this trial will now go for a recess.

Justin Themis: But---

Prosecutor Keyes: I will place her under arrest for questioning.

Judge: Court adjourned!

Proseuctor Keyes: Just before we leave... what is that card?

Azai Kanon: Oh this thing I've been playing with? I don't know... I think I picked it up in Hughes's room on the day of the murder.

Kira Mayuno: Hughes's room?

Prosecutor Keyes: The day of the murder?

Azai Kanon: That card, I remember, it was next to the body. I must have put it in my pocket.

Justin Themis: It looks strange doesn't it? It has an insignia on it as well..

Kira Mayuno: Oh man! I thought we had actually found some more evidence relevant to this case!

Prosecutor Keyes: Witness! Give me this card! Why did you pick it up! Do you have any idea what you have done?

Azai Kanon: No???

(What the... what is this card?)