World Baseball Classic 32 - Everything Thread

[Patistan]

Group F
Crystal Empire           2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2  5
Communist Eurasians      1 0 0 3 0 0 2 0 X  6

Naval Monte              0 2 0 0 2 3 1 0 0  8
Hicana                   1 0 0 0 3 3 0 0 0  7

England-Ireland          1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  1
Jeckland                 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 X  2

                          Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Jeckland                  5    4   1    18    9   +9     4
2 England-Ireland           5    3   2    15   16   −1     3
3 Naval Monte               5    3   2    27   31   −4     3
4 Hicana                    5    2   3    20   20    0     2
5 Communist Eurasians       5    2   3    18   18    0     2
6 Crystal Empire            5    1   4    19   23   −4     1

Group G
Cosumar                  1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0  2
Thebear                  0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0  1

Icrum                    0 0 1 5 1 0 0 0 0 0  7
Gregoryisgodistan        0 1 2 4 0 0 0 0 0 5 12

Greater Weselton         1 0 2 0 0 0 2 0 0  5
The Fair Republic        2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  2

                          Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Gregoryisgodistan         5    4   1    37   23  +14     4
2 Cosumar                   5    4   1    16   14   +2     4
3 Greater Weselton          5    3   2    25   14  +11     3
4 Icrum                     5    2   3    16   24   −8     2
5 Thebear                   5    2   3    15   23   −8     2
6 The Fair Republic         5    0   5    10   21  −11     0

Group H
Estenia                  0 4 1 0 0 0 0 1 0  6
Arana                    0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0  2

New Matawan              0 2 0 0 0 0 1 2 1  6
San Jose Guayabal        0 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0  4

UNITED WE STAND123       0 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 0  3
Equestrian States        2 0 0 2 1 0 0 3 X  8

                          Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Equestrian States         5    4   1    29   11  +18     4
2 New Matawan               5    4   1    30   18  +12     4
3 San Jose Guayabal         5    4   1    21   16   +5     4
4 UNITED WE STAND123        5    2   3    21   27   −6     2
5 Estenia                   5    1   4    13   26  −13     1
6 Arana                     5    0   5    11   27  −16     0

[The Vjaal-Hakifao Northern Union]

Group D
Wolfbenz                0 0 0 0 0 3 3 0 0  6
Joshulia                0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1  2

New North Aqmuland      0 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 0  3
Milchama                2 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 X  5

Williamstad             0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0  3
Patistan                0 2 0 0 0 0 3 0 X  5

Group D                 Pld    W   D   L    RF   RA   RD    
1 Milchama                5    4   0   1    24   16   +8
2 Patistan                5   4   0   1    20   17    +3    
3 Williamstad             5    3   0   2    25    15   +10   
4 New North Aqmuland      5    2   0   3    15   21   −6
5 Joshulia                5    1   0   4     13    22   −9   
6 Wolfbenz                5    1   0   4    20   26   −6

Group E
Maklohi Vai             0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 4  6
Elykyellek              0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  2

Walamzia                0 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 0  3
Britonisea              0 1 0 0 1 3 0 0 X  5

Coconut Isle            1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0  3
Ko-oren                 0 0 0 0 0 3 2 1 X  6

Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD  
1 Britonisea              5    5   0    31   16  +15     
2 Maklohi Vai             5    4   1    25   15   +10  
3 Ko-oren                5    2   3    21   24   −3     
4 Coconut Isle            5    2   3    22   27   −5     
5 Walamzia                5    1   4    18   24   −6        
6 Elykyellek              5    1   4    14   25   −11

[Jeckland]

Happy New Cutoff!

[Greater Weselton]

Are we still in the tournament?

[Jeckland]

Group A
Abanhfleft                       1 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 0  5
Teague                           0 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 0  3

The Qocaekian Isles              0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  0
The Royal Kingdom of Quebec      1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 X  2

Star United States               0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 8 10
Super-Llamaland                  1 0 0 0 1 2 1 2 0  7


  Group A                         Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 The Royal Kingdom of Quebec       5    3   2    21   16   +5     3
2 The Qocaekian Isles               5    3   2    18   13   +5     3
3 Star United States                5    3   2    29   27   +2     3
4 Abanhfleft                        5    3   2    20   20    0     3
5 Super-Llamaland                   5    2   3    32   29   +3     2
6 Teague                            5    1   4    18   33  −15     1

Group B
Paymina                          0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0  1
ViZion                           0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 X  4

Pacificana Islands               0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 2  3
Diegstra                         0 0 2 0 1 0 0 3 X  6

Southern Democratic States       0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  0
Estope                           0 1 0 2 1 0 0 0 X  4


  Group B                         Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Estope                            5    5   0    37   23  +14     5
2 Diegstra                          5    3   2    25   22   +3     3
3 Southern Democratic States        5    3   2    11   17   −6     3
4 Pacificana Islands                5    2   3    22   24   −2     2
5 Paymina                           5    1   4    20   22   −2     1
6 ViZion                            5    1   4    19   26   −7     1

Group C
Imota                            0 1 0 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 1  7
Val Halla                        0 0 0 0 0 1 5 0 0 0 0  6

Thibaut                          0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1  3
Nassau-Hessen                    0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 2  4

United States of Devonta         2 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2  7
Nova Anglicana                   0 0 0 0 0 1 3 0 1 1  6


  Group C                         Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Imota                             5    4   1    26   13  +13     4
2 United States of Devonta          5    4   1    22   16   +6     4
3 Val Halla                         5    3   2    26   20   +6     3
4 Nassau-Hessen                     5    2   3    16   18   −2     2
5 Nova Anglicana                    5    1   4    25   29   −4     1
6 Thibaut                           5    1   4    17   36  −19     1

[Maklohi Vai]

Lumako Kurukapai provides a recap of the first half

[Britonisea]

The Ball Supremacy

The plane ride was horrible. They were in the bottom where luggage were kept. There were no air conditioning which meant that the air was hot. It wasn't a good plane journey. Suddenly, the plane struck a runway. The runway was a bit wider. The black ball said "Here we are. This is Patistan". At the moment they were still in the bagging area in the plane as baseball replied "Um, well if this is Patistan, let us go home" The black ball gave Baseball a horrible look. "Kid, we haven't even got off yet. Give the plane a chance." Suddenly, the large door opened as the warm air nearly blowed Baseball away. "This is nice"he exclaimed. They moved on to a moving truck where they were loades on to a spinning conveyor belt. "Kid" started the Black ball "When we see the open, stick behind the suitcase but as soon as we're about to go back in to the unseen bit, jump off and role straight in to that drain" and so they did... Patient, scared and tired: the Baseball waited for the Black Ball in the drain. He came. With a friend. "Hello" be said with a strong Britonish accent. "I am Tennis Ball. I was used a few days ago in The ATP World Tour Finals you know."
"And you're here because?" Questioned Baseball.
"Because I am here to help you" replied Tennis Ball
"How. We are not of the same kin."
"Yes we are not, but I have some information"
"Tell me"
"You're are being chased by squash balls, shuttlecocks and tennis balls."
"Aren't you a te-"
"A good one"
"So why?"
"Why what?"
"Are raquet balls chasing me?"
"Your father robbed them of their most prized possession. The magic racquet."
"You what? Racquets?"
"Yes. You apparently are apart of The Racquet theif Organisation. You just can't remember."
"I am innocent. I was just a ball flying in the air and look now"
"No. You're not a normal born Jason Ball."
"NO. I am not having this"
He starts to roll away back to the airport.
"Another roll and you'll have to go rouge"
Badeball kept on rolling.
"Thanks for you help Sergeant" said Tennis Ball to Black ball.
"I should follow him"
The black ball caught up to Baseball. "Wait, where you going?" Said BB and Baseball replied "Jeckland". Thry boarded the plane, the announcer said "Northern Union" and they couldn't get off...the plane was in the air.
"Look. We are on the wrong plane" said Baseball
"Whilst we are in Northern Union, we'll find out more about you past and maybe we can clear your name, okay?" Asked Black Ball. Baseball grumbles and smiles.

[Patistan]

"So how were your holidays?"

"They were-"

"I don't care!. Just look at the MD6 cutoff"

[Patistan]

Group F
Communist Eurasians      0 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 0  3
Jeckland                 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 X  5

England-Ireland          0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  1
Hicana                   0 0 0 0 6 0 3 0 X  9

Naval Monte              0 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 1  5
Crystal Empire           0 0 3 0 0 1 1 1 X  6

                          Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts
1 Jeckland                  6    5   1    23   12  +11     5
2 Hicana                    6    3   3    29   21   +8     3
3 Naval Monte               6    3   3    32   37   −5     3
4 England-Ireland           6    3   3    16   25   −9     3
5 Communist Eurasians       6    2   4    21   23   −2     2
6 Crystal Empire            6    2   4    25   28   −3     2

Group G
Thebear                  0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 0  3
The Fair Republic        0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 1  4

Greater Weselton         0 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 1  4
Gregoryisgodistan        0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  3

Icrum                    0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1  2
Cosumar                  0 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 X  3

                          Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Cosumar                   6    5   1    19   16   +3     5
2 Gregoryisgodistan         6    4   2    40   27  +13     4
3 Greater Weselton          6    4   2    29   17  +12     4
4 Thebear                   6    2   4    18   27   −9     2
5 Icrum                     6    2   4    18   27   −9     2
6 The Fair Republic         6    1   5    14   24  −10     1

Group H
Arana                    0 0 2 0 1 0 5 0 0  8
Equestrian States        0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  0

UNITED WE STAND123       0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0  1
San Jose Guayabal        0 0 1 0 2 3 0 0 X  6

New Matawan              0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0  3
Estenia                  0 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 X  4

                          Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 San Jose Guayabal         6    5   1    27   17  +10     5
2 New Matawan               6    4   2    33   22  +11     4
3 Equestrian States         6    4   2    29   19  +10     4
4 UNITED WE STAND123        6    2   4    22   33  −11     2
5 Estenia                   6    2   4    17   29  −12     2
6 Arana                     6    1   5    19   27   −8     1

[Jeckland]

Into the second half with another cutoff.

[Jeckland]

Group A
Teague                           0 3 2 2 0 0 0 0 1  8
Super-Llamaland                  1 0 0 0 3 0 0 1 1  6

Star United States               1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  1
The Royal Kingdom of Quebec      0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 X  3

The Qocaekian Isles              3 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0  4
Abanhfleft                       0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0  2


  Group A                         Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 The Royal Kingdom of Quebec       6    4   2    24   17   +7     4
2 The Qocaekian Isles               6    4   2    22   15   +7     4
3 Star United States                6    3   3    30   30    0     3
4 Abanhfleft                        6    3   3    22   24   −2     3
5 Super-Llamaland                   6    2   4    38   37   +1     2
6 Teague                            6    2   4    26   39  −13     2

Group B
ViZion                           1 0 2 3 0 0 0 0 0  6
Estope                           1 0 3 1 0 0 0 0 0  5

Southern Democratic States       1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0  2
Diegstra                         0 1 1 0 1 0 2 0 X  5

Pacificana Islands               0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 0  3
Paymina                          0 3 0 1 0 0 1 0 X  5


  Group B                         Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Estope                            6    5   1    42   29  +13     5
2 Diegstra                          6    4   2    30   24   +6     4
3 Southern Democratic States        6    3   3    13   22   −9     3
4 Paymina                           6    2   4    25   25    0     2
5 Pacificana Islands                6    2   4    25   29   −4     2
6 ViZion                            6    2   4    25   31   −6     2

Group C
Val Halla                        0 0 1 0 0 3 1 1 1 0  7
Nova Anglicana                   1 1 0 0 2 0 0 3 0 2  9

United States of Devonta         1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  1
Nassau-Hessen                    0 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 X  3

Thibaut                          4 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 2  8
Imota                            0 1 0 0 1 0 2 1 0  5


  Group C                         Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Imota                             6    4   2    31   21  +10     4
2 United States of Devonta          6    4   2    23   19   +4     4
3 Val Halla                         6    3   3    33   29   +4     3
4 Nassau-Hessen                     6    3   3    19   19    0     3
5 Nova Anglicana                    6    2   4    34   36   −2     2
6 Thibaut                           6    2   4    25   41  −16     2

[Abanhfleft]

Truth is the Savior, Part Two

Releinthi North Cemetery
Releinthi, Abanhfleft
October 1, 2008

It had been one of the hardest decisions that she had ever made, but Helen Ignacio was sure that she had done the right thing.

At just the young age of twelve, Maria Helena Josefina Ignacio had been cursed with bearing the Ignacio name. At such a young age, she had been forced to begin training in the many criminal arts of the Yasenev-Kellerman-Ignacio syndicate. At thirteen years old, she had committed her first extortion. By the time she was fourteen, she had performed her first gangland execution, on a teen just a year older than her whom the syndicate suspected of being a police informant. At sixteen, her rap sheet was as long as many of her fellow sons and daughters of the families, but it was decidedly much shorter than her older sister Kate's had been when she was the same age. By the time the Holy Catholic Revolution had rolled around, their father Cirilo Ignacio had recognized that Kate was growing to be the better criminal, and therefore he devoted more and more time to helping Kate realizing her potential as part of the next generation of criminals of YKI. Helen was all right with that, for it was by this time that she had realized that she had no stomach for living a life of crime. She had already settled for finding a way to get away from the criminal life as soon as she could, and she thought that an opportunity had presented itself when the Holy Catholic Revolution had come knocking on Releinthi. But then YKI had gotten out of town just before it was besieged by Cardinal Gulloti's forces, and Helen had lost her chance to slip away from the families by using the fog of war to cover her tracks.

With the end of the Revolution, Helen had almost lost all hope of getting away from YKI. However, as YKI began to slowly return to its base of operations in Releinthi, the syndicate soon discovered that in their absence, the Huesca Cartel, led by the mysterious Guillermo Huesca, had taken advantage of their absence and also set themselves up in the city. This launched the rivalry between YKI and Huesca, and soon gangsters from both groups were dying left and right, adding to the massive post-war death toll in Abanhfleft.

But then things beyond her control had conspired once again to give her another way out. Big Johnny, Cool Kid, and Killer Mark had bullied a poor kid in their university so much that the guy eventually snapped and shot them to death, along with maybe three or four others. Helen knew that gangland funerals were prime targets for all kinds of gang rivalry trouble, even with the police protection. And so, Helen then committed one of the biggest taboos of the ganglands: she went over to the Huesca Cartel and offered to give them a chance to make trouble during the funerals of Big Johnny, Cool Kid, and Killer Mark. Of course, the Cartel didn't take her offer at face value; at first, they suspected that she was some kind of undercover agent, either for the police or YKI. They had spent time, wasted it in Helen's opinion, in establishing her bonafides. But the inaction in the Huescas' part was mostly because of Helen's condition for her information: instead of asking for some kind of payment in exchange for her info or something like that, Helen had only wanted to get the cartel's help in faking her death so that she could finally get away from the syndicate. It was such a non-consequential request that it was what had set off all kinds of alarm bells with the cartel in the first place. No one who came to them asked for something as cheap or easy as that from them. But Helen had been adamant: she would give them an opening into YKI, and in exchange they would help her fake her death. And the funerals of Big Johnny, Cool Kid, and Killer Mark would provide them all with such an opening.

When the black car had drove up to the gates of Releinthi North Cemetery on the day of the three's internment, Helen had immediately ducked down to the ground to avoid the coming gunfire. And come the gunfire did. In the brief glimpses that Helen got, she saw that the Huesca gunmen had brought down Robert Yasenev's two bodyguards, and one of Terrence Yasenev's buddies, some dude whose name she couldn't immediately recall. Then, when the gunfire ended, one of the car's doors opened and tossed out the body of a woman whose head and hands appeared to have disintegrated by heavy volumes of gunfire. This had been the most difficult part of the plan, finding a dead girl who was at least physically similar to Helen. She didn't have to look like Helen; they were gonna shoot her face into a pulp anyway. Finally, the cartel had found a suitable girl, a girl who had become a police informant, and someone whom the cartel needed to get rid of anyway. After that, it was just a matter of putting her corpse in the same clothes that Helen would be wearing for the funeral, and the switch would then be made.

As soon as the body flew out of the open door, Helen jumped into the car, and the gunmen then made their exit. As Helen gave one last look at what was rapidly becoming her former life, she saw that her sister Kate had immediately run out to the street and was cradling the body of what she thought to be her now-dead younger sister Helen. Helen couldn't help but feel a pang in her heart when she saw Kate cradling "her" body, but she knew that if she stuck around with YKI for just a little while longer, she would end up just like her cousin Big Johnny and the informant girl, meaning dead.

The cartel car took her to Cabron Admiral Avenue, neutral territory for both YKI and Huesca. It served the same purpose as the DMZ between North and South Korea, being the site where both sides could negotiate knowing fully well that it was no one's turf. The driver stopped the car in front of a fast food joint, some place claiming to serve fresh rabbit burgers or something. The driver turned to face Helen and said, "All right, kid, the deal's done. We've made it look like we killed you so that you can finally escape."

"You almost killed Robert Yasenev," was all Helen could manage to say.

"And while it sucks that we didn't, we almost got him, and Guillermo Huesca thanks you for it," the driver replied. "Now get out of here, kid, before I change my mind and throw you out."

And so Helen Ignacio had stepped out of the car and into the cold Releinthi night. She went into the rabbit burger joint and bought one with what little money she had on her. When she tasted it, she noticed nothing unusual. If it was really rabbit meat in that burger, then it tasted very much like chicken. After that, Helen had left the place, and began walking aimlessly around the city. She ended up sleeping on a park bench in Volga Volta Park, hoping to finally have a plan when she woke up, but when she sun rose and she opened her eyes to see the new day, she still had nothing. Eventually she just settled on going back to the cemetery one last time. She didn't know why, just that it was a course of action that she had decided upon herself.

The southern entrance into the cemetery was still cordoned off by yellow police tape because it was a crime scene, and therefore Helen avoided going there. Instead, she entered the cemetery by climbing over the wall from the east side. Her plan had been to give a final farewell to Big Johnny, who was her cousin, and Cool Kid, with whom she had had a crush before all this death and killing happened. However, as she dropped down from the wall, she saw a lone figure lying down on his side in front of a tombstone. As Helen crept closer to him, she could see that he was holding some sort of letter in one hand, and a nickel-plated revolver in the other. Soon she could see the inscription on the tombstone: CATHERINE LUCAS, 10 FEBRUARY 1992 - 23 SEPTEMBER 2008. Whoever this Lucas girl was, Helen thought, she must have been close to this guy lying down on the ground in front of her grave.

The guy stirred as Helen stepped closer, and then he suddenly stood up and pointed his revolver at her. Helen instinctively raised up her arms, and she kept them up in the air even as she saw that all the gun held were empty casings. "Motherfucker, stay away from me!" he shouted.

Helen squinted her eyes as a light rain began to fall down on them. "Tim?" she asked him.

"How the fuck you know my name, bitch!?" the man asked her.

"It's me, Tim! I'm Helen!"

Recognition finally dawned on his face. "Oh, you," he muttered. "Helen fucking Ignacio." A deranged grin slowly began forming on his face. "How'd you like my early Halloween present for your fucking family? Did they like it? Did they like their fucking bully kid Big Johnny in a pine box?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down there now, big guy," Helen said. "I know my cousin has been a very big bully to you, but you don't have to mix me up with what he and his pals did! I didn't bully you! So don't mix me up with those bastards!"

Timothy Lane slowly let the deranged grin drop from his face, but the rage in his eyes still burned fiercely, and he kept his revolver pointed at Helen. "No, you're right, you didn't bully me. But I wonder what would happen to your folks if I killed you too. They took everything I had and more; Johnny, Marvic, and Mark did. I believe this calls for some biblical justice. Eye for an eye and all that."

"Whoa, shit, just fucking wait, Tim!" Helen shouted. But even as she said it, Tim pulled the trigger of his revolver. However, the hammer just struck the empty casing, and Tim looked at his weapon and sighed. "I guess you get to live a little longer, you little bitch," he said. "Fuck!" he shouted. "I forgot I didn't have any ammo left."

Helen chose this moment to drop her hands. "So you did kill Johnny, Marvic, and Mark," she said, but in an understanding and not accusing tone.

"Why?" Tim taunted. "Whatcha gonna do 'bout it?"

Helen shook her head. "Look, that's all in the past," she said. "But what did you say again before? They took everything you had and more?"

Tim snorted. "Figures someone like you wouldn't know," he muttered. "You seriously don't know?" When Helen shook her head, Tim continued, "Johnny, Marvic, and Mark crashed into my parents' car, took my money and bag, beat me up, and fucking gang-raped me! That's what they did to me!"

"No," Helen could only breathe out.

"Oh, yes, they did," Tim countered. "They crashed my ride, they took my dough and things, and they beat me up and raped me! And you know what's worse than that, Helen? You wanna know what's worse? After I killed those bastards, my girlfriend broke up with me, and then she killed herself. But that's not even the fucking fun part yet! When Cathy offed herself, she left behind a letter for me. You know what it says, Helen? It says that she never loved me after all! The guy she really loved was Marvic fucking Yasenev, and she wanted the two of them to be together even in death! That's what I mean when I said that they took everything that I had, and more! I hope the two of you burn in hell, you ungrateful bitch!" Tim threw his revolver at the gravestone, which chipped some stone but it remained undamaged otherwise. Tim crumpled up his girlfriend's suicide note in his fury, and the tears then began to flow on his face, eventually mixing with the falling rain.

Helen was at a loss at what to say, so instead she just went closer to Tim and held his shoulder. "There, there," she said, like a doting parent to a weeping child. "Just let it all out. Let it flow."

After a minute or two of sobbing, Tim finally wiped his face dry and said, "Thank you for that, Helen." He stood up, and Helen followed. "I certainly wasn't expecting this kind of treatment when I came here. Especially from someone like you, one of the enemy."

"Oh, shut up, Tim," Helen said. "I'm no longer part of their family. All right, Tim, let me tell you something that no one else aside from the families knows. Johnny, Marvic, and Mark? They're all members of the Yasenev-Kellerman-Ignacio syndicate."

Tim suddenly looked up at Helen. "You don't mean... those mafia-like mobsters from Nebelwerfer District?"

"One and the same, Tim," Hele replied. "And I used to be part of the same group, but then I left."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa now," Tim said. "What do you mean, you left? How does someone do something like that? Aren't you supposed to be dead if your dons and capos find out that you want to leave your group?"

"If they knew that I wanted to leave," Helen replied. "Which they didn't. And we don't do it that way anymore. Usually if someone wants to walk away we let them. But there was no way they were gonna let me walk away, what with me being a part of the family and all. So I... faked my death."

"How did you even manage to do that?"

"I struck a deal with the Huesca Cartel. They would help me fake my death, in exchange for letting them do a drive-by on my brothers and sisters in arms."

"Oh, my God," Tim muttered, holding his head in his arms. "What about my sisters? Kandi? Olivia? Oh, God, your guys are gonna kill them, aren't they? Mom and Dad too?"

"Look, Tim, if it helps," Helen said, "our guys last saw Candace and Olivia converting to Islam and marrying Raffy Durant. Our families have a mutual understanding with Raffy's clan: they don't go after ours, we don't go after theirs."

"Thank God for that," Tim muttered once again. "Oh, man, Kandi and Olivia are getting married already. At just sixteen years old! And they even converted to Islam just so they could marry Raffy. They both really loved that guy. I wonder how my folks reacted to that."

"Look, your family's now under the protections of the Durants," Helen said. "But you're not. And any protection I might have had when I used to be part of... them, is now gone too. We have to get out of town, and soon. Otherwise, who knows what will happen to the two of us?"

"Shit," Tim said. "I haven't even thought about getting out of town. I've just been sticking to the alleys and all that jazz. And I'm also a wanted killer, Helen. Fuck, the crocs probably have orders to shoot me on sight."

"Look, Tim, I don't give a damn about what you did," Helen told him. "We're both fugitives now; outlaws, because of what we've done. We need to stick together. That's the only way we can keep each other safe."

"All right," Tim said. "You're the expert. What do you say we do?"

"What we need to do is get as far away from Releinthi as possible," Helen replied. "Tell you what, Tim. We're going to the colonies, like Trendstart and Fhulghamous, and we're gonna stay there until the day we die. Sounds good to you?"

"It sounds like a plan," Tim agreed. "Let's do it."

"All right. But before we go, go get your gun. I have a feeling we're gonna need it sometime soon."

"Yeah, of course." As Tim bent down to pick up his gun, he dropped Cathy's letter to the ground. Hours later, when policemen went into this part of the cemetery looking for clues as to whomever stole a vehicle parked in front of this grave, they would find the crumpled letter, and know that Timothy Lane, suspect in the Releinthi State University shooting, was there recently. But apart from that, they had nothing else on either Lane or whoever stole the car, and soon enough, the case against Timothy Lane slowly began to fade from the minds of the people, as it was soon revealed that his victims were actually his bullies. And while public opinion was soon divided on whether he did the right thing or not by killing his bullies, Timothy Lane's name was soon buried under newer, more important news. And no one even bothered to know the fate of Helen Ignacio, except her family, who knew that she was now dead, thanks to an unprovoked attack by YKI's criminal rivals, the Huesca Cartel.

In other words, life in Abanhfleft and Releinthi went on, without regard for those who lived and died.

[Ko-oren]

10 Things to take away from the first half

1) It's still a 'late' team.
The total number of runs scored in the first four innings is 2. No, we did not just let a number out and it was supposed to be 12, 22, or 20, 21, or something. It is 2. The number of runs scored in the last five innings (no extra innings in Dragonflies games so far) is 19. The only team that got the better of the Dragonflies in the late innings is Maklohi Vai, in their MD3 win by scoring three runs in the seventh and eighth innings, but to be honest, Ko-oren was shut out altogether in that game. Being a late team is nothing to be ashamed about: the last inning decides the winner anyway: in fact, it's better to be a late team!

2) No starting pitcher is hitting his/her stride.
This one is closely related to the previous one. Starting pitchers are giving away more runs than relievers or closers. Kimio Uchiyama's collapse versus Britonisea is a great example: giving up 9 runs in the first four innings while the Dragonflies were without a run. The pitchers are coached well, it's just that baseball is decided by tiny details, and those details are not going our way.

3) The relief pitchers are on form.
While the starters are not doing so hot, the relief pitchers are playing lights out almost every single day. They haven't given up more than 5 runs, and that's mainly due to Jellinková, who doesn't just throw the ball where she needs to have it, her BA is also .333 (small sample size). David Cavaco is another good example: while offensively he's not great (BA .185), defensively he's not even allowed three baserunners to run to a base.

4) Hélder Queiros and Mi-Young Han's BA needs to climb above .240.
Queiros and Han were selected because they command their area defensively as left and right fielders, but they stood out in the Ko-orenite season by having BA's of .340 and .321 respectively. In the national team, they are on .238 and .233, which means that a lot of potential runs to be batted home by the later batters Bolorerdene, Asai and Ose are stopped before they've started.

5) We haven't played Eykyellek yet.
Interesting schedule: we haven't played Eykyellek yet, which should be a decent prey for our team.

6) We have played Maklohi Vai twice.
We have played the Lumai twice, both losses, but at least that means we won't have to play them again. So that means that both the Dragonflies and the Lumai have faced their strongest opponent already, and that opens up chances for qualification in the second half of the group stage.

7) Despite all that needs to change, Errors are as good as it gets.
One error committed in five games? Why are we not doing better? One dropped ball for Britonisea to score two runs (in their infamous second inning, scoring 5 runs out of a total of 11 for them that day). In short: the only error came from when the Ko-orenite team had their worst inning in years.

8) Hit coaching needs to improve drastically.
Too much bunting, too little hitting. Too much falling in traps of renowned pitchers that could have been avoided: you don't keep swinging when Rutulotoa pitches, and you don't play conservatively a day later against Lunomai. Whether it's poor research or whether Leon Jansen actually had information on different pitching behaviour... no matter what, the hit coaching was terrible.

9) Base stealing defence is fantastic.
This is partly due to the great relief pitchers, and even the starters are aware, but so far only Maklohi Vai managed to steal bases against our defence. And those resulted in nothing, and both Britonisea and Coconut Isle didn't even try to steal anything.

10) The Furune Earthquakes should be doing great next season.
Taka Kono, Sang-Min Cho, Mimori Asai and Nobusada Ose are four quality players that should be able to carry the team next season. They got to the final four of last season, they kept their momentum when going to the national team, and we predict a fantastic season for the Earthquakes.

[Jeckland]

Joshulia                0 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 1  4
Patistan                0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0  1



Williamstad             0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0  1
Milchama                0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 X  3



New North Aqmuland      0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0  2
Wolfbenz                0 0 4 0 0 0 1 0 X  5



Elykyellek              0 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 0  3
Ko-oren                 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  0



Britonisea              1 0 1 0 0 3 0 0 0  5
Maklohi Vai             0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1  3



Coconut Isle            0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  0
Walamzia                0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 X  1

  Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Milchama                6    5   1    27   17  +10     5
2 Patistan                6    4   2    21   21    0     4
3 Williamstad             6    3   3    26   18   +8     3
4 Wolfbenz                6    2   4    25   28   −3     2
5 Joshulia                6    2   4    17   23   −6     2
6 New North Aqmuland      6    2   4    17   26   −9     2



Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Britonisea              6    6   0    36   19  +17     6
2 Maklohi Vai             6    4   2    28   20   +8     4
3 Walamzia                6    2   4    19   24   −5     2
4 Ko-oren                 6    2   4    21   27   −6     2
5 Coconut Isle            6    2   4    22   28   −6     2
6 Elykyellek              6    2   4    17   25   −8     2

[Elykyellek]

Elykyellek wins a second game! We most likely are not making it to the next round and no one can pronounce our name but we won a second game!

[Patistan]

And this is your cutoff

[The Vjaal-Hakifao Northern Union]

Pati had to go so I'll be making scores. Sorry for missing the past few days - illness sucks, but on the bright side I got to lie in bed and listen to TED talks while feeling guilty all day.

[The Vjaal-Hakifao Northern Union]

Group F
Naval Monte              0 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 3  6
Communist Eurasians      0 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 0  3

Crystal Empire           0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  0
England-Ireland          0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 X  1

Hicaña                   1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  2
Jeckland                 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1  3

Group G
Icrum                    0 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 0  3
Thebear                  0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1  4

Cosumar                  0 0 0 0 1 2 0 1 2  6
Greater Weselton         0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0  3

Gregoryisgodistan        0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0  3
The Fair Republic        0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0  2

Group H
New Matawan              1 0 4 2 0 1 0 0 0  8
Arana                    0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0  2

Estenia                  0 0 1 1 0 3 1 2 0  8
UNITED WE STAND123       0 3 0 0 1 0 0 7 X 11

San José Guayabal        0 0 2 1 1 3 0 0 0  7
Equestrian States        0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  0

Tables to come very soon

[Milchama]

"Wait we're 5-1?"

"Yep!"

"How?"

"Well our new approach is working"

"What's that approach?"

"We used a time machine, went to another dimension, asked the best defenders in that dimension if they wanted to play baseball for two weeks and they said yes."

"So our team is made up of the best players from another dimension?"

"Exactly"

"So who exactly is on the team?"

"Oh you want a roster?"

"Well this is the roster post"

"I thought it was our first RP of the tournament"

"I was looking at it as both"

"Nah screw that, let's just make it a RP and do the roster in a different post"

"Ok"

"Either way we're 5-1 which proves my contention the whole time that defense wins championships"

"Wait, what about pitching?"

"Oh no we got the best defenders, which means the best defensive pitchers"

"Can they pitch?"

"Some of them but it was a secondary concern"

"Errr....ok"

"Hey we got a hall of famer and more importantly 5-1"

"True"

"So stop with the complaining"

"Ok"

"Then just let it go and start rooting for the Warriors"

"Done and done"

"Come on you Warriors!"

"Let's Go Milchama!"

[Milchama]

"So this is the roster post"

"It is?"

"Yep"

"Cool where's the roster?"

"Right below you twat"

"Oh thanks"

"You're welcome"

C: Johnny Bench
1B: Hal Chase
2B: Bill Mazeroski
3B: Brooks Robinson
SS: Rabbit Maranville
LF: Tris Speaker
CF: Willie Mays
RF: Andruw Jones

SP1: Greg Maddux
SP2: Jim Kaat
SP3: Mark Buerhle
SP4: John Montgomery Ward - Ward uses a pitcher box and only pitches per the style of his time in the 1870s and 80s. He also will never go less than 12 innings unless he gives up more than 5 runs in one inning or 7 runs over 2 innings.

RP: Nick Altrock
RP: Edd Walsh - Yes he's a reliever damnit!
RP: Rick Reuschel
RP: Wes Ferrell
RP: Bob Lemon

"I've never heard of any of these guys"

"Again it's another dimension. I bet other players have heard of most of them"

"Or they will with a good baseball-reference search"

"Exactly"

"Come on You Warriors!"

"Let's Go Milchama!"

[Nova Anglicana]

Part 1

Conference Room, Nova Anglican Parliament, Londinium

The atmosphere around the table was tense. On one side were gathered the ministers of the current government, including Marilyn Greenfield, Stewardship Party leader and Emily Waterford, leader of the Liberal Secularists. On the other side of the table were gathered the Shadow Cabinet, all People's Party members with the exception of the Shadow Minister of Finance, Libertarian Party leader William Dawson. At the head of the table was the current Prime Minister Allen Mumford.

Michael Ramsey, Shadow Minister of Immigration, and a notorious critic of Mumford, opened the conversation: "So what is it this time, Mumford? More undermining of our great country disguised as 'compromise?'"

David Chadwick, Leader of the Opposition and head of the People's Party, shot him a dirty look and loudly sighed. "Just shut up for one moment, Michael and let the man speak. 'Compromise' is not a dirty word for some of us. Go ahead, Al."

Mumford nodded his head. "Thank you, David. The purpose of this meeting is to discuss potential reforms to the electoral system of Nova Anglicana." There was an immediate outcry, but Mumford held up his hands and silenced the room. "I understand that this is a controversial topic for members of all parties, but I want to show my good faith by involving all of us in making this decision. If we made this a straight government vs. opposition vote, you could stop us in the Senate, but all we'd need would be to flip one Senator or three Deputies, and I'm sure my colleague Mr. Dawson would be more than happy to support reforms that would increase his party's representation."

Dawson brightened as Ramsey and other People's Party members bristled at Mumford's words. He wasn't inclined to political bullying and wanting things exactly his own way, but he could if he wanted to. Notably, some of Mumford's own party members struggled to suppress looks of disgust, though whether for his threatening words or the potential to lose representation in Parliament, it wasn't clear. After a couple of moments, Mumford spoke again.

"Now we in the government and especially I do not want to have to do that. I want us to cooperate and reform our system so that we're more effectively representing the people of our great nation. Now this will probably involve both major parties losing some seats. David, how many of your and our MPs were elected by runoff after getting less than 40% in the initial vote? If we can't muster at least 40% support, then I highly doubt that we are effectively representing our people. The system I'm proposing is a compromise between the proportional representation of many other countries and the current first past the post system we have now. It's used in Germany and in our Commonwealth cousin New Zealand, and it's called mixed-member proportional."

Shadow Minister for Health Dr. Kelly Goodman spoke up. "I've heard good things about that from my cousin in New Zealand. But how do you propose to divide the seats between constituencies and proportional representation?"

Sandra Meyer, Minister of Infrastructure, responded. "That's part of what we want to talk with all of you about. In Germany, it's about half and half, and in New Zealand, about a quarter of MPs are elected via constituency vote. For those of you who don't know how mixed-member proportional works, voters get to cast a vote for a candidate and a party. A lot of times those are the same, but sometimes a voter will vote for the candidate they like the most and has the best chance of winning, even if they're not in the same party. That happens anyway in our current system, so we want to make sure that every voter gets a chance to support their desired party even if their local candidate has no chance of winning. Protest votes are nice, but they're ultimately useless. In a system like this, we eliminate the need for protest votes."

There was some nodding of heads around the table, but about equally as many skeptical looks. Mumford took a deep breath. This was going to be just as hard as he had feared.

[Jeckland]

Cut off

[Jeckland]

Group A
The Qocaekian Isles              1 3 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1  7
Teague                           0 0 4 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  6

Abanhfleft                       0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0  1
Star United States               2 1 1 2 0 0 0 1 X  7

The Royal Kingdom of Quebec      0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0  1
Super-Llamaland                  1 0 0 0 0 4 0 8 X 13


  Group A                         Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 The Qocaekian Isles               7    5   2    29   21   +8     5
2 Star United States                7    4   3    37   31   +6     4
3 The Royal Kingdom of Quebec       7    4   3    25   30   −5     4
4 Super-Llamaland                   7    3   4    51   38  +13     3
5 Abanhfleft                        7    3   4    23   31   −8     3
6 Teague                            7    2   5    32   46  −14     2

Group B
Pacificana Islands               0 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 0  3
ViZion                           0 0 4 3 0 1 0 2 X 10

Paymina                          1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0  2
Southern Democratic States       0 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 X  4

Diegstra                         0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0  3
Estope                           1 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 X  5


  Group B                         Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Estope                            7    6   1    47   32  +15     6
2 Diegstra                          7    4   3    33   29   +4     4
3 Southern Democratic States        7    4   3    17   24   −7     4
4 ViZion                            7    3   4    35   34   +1     3
5 Paymina                           7    2   5    27   29   −2     2
6 Pacificana Islands                7    2   5    28   39  −11     2

Group C
Thibaut                          0 1 2 1 0 0 1 0 0  5
Val Halla                        0 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 0  3

Imota                            1 0 0 0 0 1 2 1 0  5
United States of Devonta         0 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 0  3

Nassau-Hessen                    0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0  2
Nova Anglicana                   3 4 0 0 0 0 1 1 X  9


  Group C                         Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Imota                             7    5   2    36   24  +12     5
2 United States of Devonta          7    4   3    26   24   +2     4
3 Nova Anglicana                    7    3   4    43   38   +5     3
4 Val Halla                         7    3   4    36   34   +2     3
5 Nassau-Hessen                     7    3   4    21   28   −7     3
6 Thibaut                           7    3   4    30   44  −14     3

[The Vjaal-Hakifao Northern Union]

cut.

[The Vjaal-Hakifao Northern Union]

Joshulia                0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0  2
Milchama                0 1 3 0 0 0 1 0 X  5

Patistan                1 0 4 0 1 0 1 0 3 10
Wolfbenz                0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0  2

Williamstad             0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  1
New North Aqmuland      1 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 X  4

  Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Milchama                7    6   1    32   19  +13     6
2 Patistan                7    5   2    31   23    +8     5
3 Williamstad             7    3   4    27   22   +5     3
4 New North Aqmuland      7    3   4    21   27   −6     3
5 Joshulia                7    2   5    19   28   −9     2
6 Wolfbenz                7    2   5    27   38   −11     2

Group E
Walamzia                1 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 0  4
Elykyellek              0 0 0 2 3 0 0 0 X  5

Maklohi Vai             2 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0  6
Coconut Isle            0 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 1  5

Britonisea              0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1  3
Ko-oren                 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0  2

Pld    W   L    RF   RA   RD   Pts 
1 Britonisea              7    7   0    39   21  +18     7
2 Maklohi Vai             7    5   2    34   25   +9     5
3 Elykyellek              7    3   4    22   29   −7     3
4 Walamzia                7    2   5    23   29   −6     2
5 Ko-oren                 7    2   5    23   30   −7     2
6 Coconut Isle            7   2   5    27   34   −7     2