World Cup 77 - Roleplay Thread

[Boring Paradise]

We made Ethane lose points

You read that right, we made Ethane to lose points this weekend with a draw, a result we were not expecting at all as were at King Edward IV Stadium in Ethane. We already knew that we were knocked out of the with Electrum drawing their match and Damukuni winning theirs so therefore it is impossible to get 2nd with only 2 matches remaining. If only we won those three games instead of losing them then this would have been a much better battle for 2nd place in our group. Ethane has already granted first place after being too far off 2nd. But hopefully this remaining matches will grant us a better run of form going into the next Campionato Esportiva or maybe the Cup of Harmony as well but that is probably not going to happen since we are bad when it comes to reporting on social media.

In other news we have a new range of football kits but those will be announced later on and unveiled alongside the next national squad line up whenever that is during CE or CoH. Rumours have it that Grzegorz Wasiliewski might get fired from his job as manager of the Paradisians if the team fails to perform in the remaining two matches of qualifying if it is does occur then either Agostinho De Mequites will take the job or will be caretaker until we get another manager that suits the style of paradisia and that actually survive not being bored in Boring Paradise, since foreigners find it boring here and don't like it and it makes them depressed, so that is why our suicide rate is higher with foreigners than the actual populous of Boring Paradise.

Main goalkeeper Osama Homewood said his future is still in the air as he considers retiring from international football and stick with domestic football for a further period of time. Jamie de Longi might take the number 1 shirt if that does happen as far as we know until we have another goalkeeper putting their gloves forward into the international scene. The rest of team are looking to continue their remaining years at Paradisia North Park and are looking to win trophies, a thing Boring Paradise haven't gotten before we came close to winning before but lose in the last 4 most of the time and the rare occasion where we finished runners up in the seventh edition of the U-15 World Cup a tournament that happened a long time ago.

[Darmen]

The Ultimate Guide to the 2036 Darmeni General Elections

What's at stake?
The 32 counties and four municipalities of Darmen will all head to the polls on Tuesday, December 30th, to elect the first Parliament of a reunified Darmen, with all citizens (excepting those having committed a felony in the previous ten years) over the age of sixteen eligible to vote. The counties and municipalities, different in name only, will elect a Member of Parliament for every fifty-thousand citizens residing within their borders via proportional representation, namely the d'Hondt method. There are 158 total parliamentary seats in the geographical constituencies, ranging from the 55 seats of Scott City to the single seats of the Counties of Menomonie, Tilden and Valladar. In addition to the geographical constituencies, there are four functional constituencies, each representing a different national organization that elects a single Member of Parliament. These organizations are the:

• Darmen Labor Alliance - All labor union's in Darmen are required by law to be part of the Labor Alliance. All individual union members will be entitled to vote.
• Darmeni Chamber of Commerce - A voluntary organization representing various owners of large and mid sized businesses. All individual business owners will be entitled to vote.
• Darmeni Ministry of Magic - The non-governmental body which oversees the Wizarding community in Darmen. All witches and wizards will be entitled to vote.
• The Students' Union - A voluntary organization whose membership includes college students, non-College students in Years 11-13 who are older than sixteen, and college graduates who received their degree in the previous 54 months. All members are entitled to vote.

The functional constituencies have drawn a fair amount of criticism from those accusing the main parties of conspiring to create seats which will likely never change hands between the party (i.e. the Coalition of the Left dominating the seat of the Labor Alliance and the NCLDU dominating the Students' Union). Others have complained that it is simply unfair that some citizens are allowed two votes while others have only the vote in their geographical constituency.

In total there are 162 seats in Parliament. Those elected to the Parliament will meet on Thursday, January 1st, to elect the Speaker of Parliament, likely to be the second most important governing post behind the President. Parliament will then open for a short session beginning on Thursday, January 15th. Confirming the President's Executive Cabinet will likely dominate much of the session's business.

In addition to the Parliamentary seats, seats in the various Local Governing Authorities will also be contested. Each LGA is made up of five seats for every fifty-thousand citizens residing within their borders, with the exception of the Scott City Municipal Council, which has only two seats for every fifty-thousand citizens. The seats will once again be apportioned via the d'Hondt method. The largest LGA is the aforementioned Scott City Municipal Council, with 110 seats, while the smallest LGA's have only five seats. Each LGA will elect a Mayor or County Administrator, depending on the type of the LGA. There are 36 total LGA's, with a combined total of 625 seats among them.

Finally, and possibly most important, is that the results of the election will provide a clear indication of who is likely to become Darmen's first President. The President is elected by an Electoral College using the exhaustive ballot method. The Electoral College is made up of the 162 Members of Parliament and the 625 Members of Local Governing Authorities, with the vote of an MP counting as five and the vote of an MLGA counting as two. Thus there are 2,060 total votes in the Electoral College, with the winning candidate needing 1,031 to be elected. However, since no member of the Electoral College can split their vote up among multiple candidates, the least amount of votes a winning candidate could receive would be 1,032. Additionally, all members of the Electoral College must vote, no abstentions are allowed, and a proxy voter must be appointed in case of an absence. The Electoral College will meet on Friday, January 2nd, to conduct its election.

The Major Parties & Coalitions
Widely regarded as the coalition most likely to win the elections, the center-right Movement for a New Darmen (MND) is a coalition of three parties led by Tor Tong Lee. Lee's christian democratic Christian Democratic Party plays the largest role in the coalition, and is joined by the Liberal Conservative Party and Darmen First! The Liberal Conservatives are, as you might have guessed, a party espousing the liberal conservative ideology, while Darmen First! is made up largely of civic nationalists.

Following closely behind the MND is the Coalition of the Left. Like the MND, the Coalition of the Left is formed by three parties, the communist United Left, democratic socialist People's Democratic Socialist Alliance and the environmentalist Green Party. The Coalition is led by Yoram Nash and will most likely form the bulk of opposition to the MND. Despite this, in some cases, the socially conservative attitude held by many in the United Left may lead them to form coalition's with the MND in LGA's in opposition to the socially progressive NCLDU.

The NCLDU, of the National Civic Liberal Democratic Union is the strongest of the single parties. Led by Rowland McNab, it was forced to support Tor Tong Lee during the elections for Provisional President based on economic considerations, with both groups being opposed to the Coalition of the Left's communist/socialist economic ideology. The NCLDU is generally seen as being a socially liberal party committed to capitalism, although there is a small group of socially conservative members as well.

Finally there is the far-right nationalist Coalition for Darmen, led by León McReynolds. A coalition of four parties, it is generally seen as having a chance to make for several ugly arrangements of governing coalitions in LGA's, especially when paired with the Royalist Party. The former militant anti-Valladar National People's Front forms the backbone of the coalition, and is joined by the anti-immigrant Darmen National Purity League, imperialist Infinite Power Party and fascist Darmeni Nationalist Workers Party.

The Minor Parties
The Royalist Party, having failed to retain the monarchy, will likely fail to win many seats in the Parliament. They will however prove to be a worthwhile force in various LGA's, as they find themselves occupying the space in the political spectrum between both the MND and the Coalition for Darmen. This may create some awkward situations for the republican MND, as they may rely on the Royalists in the formation of LGA governing coalitions.

The Frente de la Libertad Valladar, representing the interests of the ethnic Valladar's living thoughout the southeast of the country, and the People's Party, which jointly represents the Acquan, Cotdelapomais and Tamarindian population of the Municipality of New Darmen, are the two main ethnic minority parties in Darmen. The formerly militant FLV was the first to lay down its arms and abandon its violent strategies in the deadly competition between it and the National People's Front over control of what was formerly Country Rogerton. County Rogerton has now been broken up into three LGA's, the Counties of Kalenda and Valladar, and the Municipality of Rogerton. The FLV is expected to do well in those LGA's, while in the Municipality of New Darmen the People's Party is expected to have a near monopoly of control over the Municipal Council.

The Second Communist Group, a shattered remnant of its former self, will look to lay the foundations of a return to prominence in this election. While many of its former members have left for either the Christian Democratic Party or the United Left depending on their particular ideological leaning, a few so called "hardliners" remain loyal to the former ruling party. Despite its membership mainly consisting of these so called "hardliners", the Second Communist Group continues to lack any true identity. The SCG has been written off by many as a party guilty of "Ostalgie."

Finally among the minor parties exists the Pan-Rushmori Party. Boosted by talks to form a Rushmori Union, the Pan-Rushmori's are sure to begin a massive campaign of reintegrating Darmen into Rushmore in a more prominent role. However, they are sure to suffer from the fact that most citizens are solely focused on rebuilding Darmen's economic and political structures, and that integration into any regional union will be seen only as a distraction from more important domestic issues for years to come.

Parties with no chance
The Islamic Union, Alban Nationalist Party, Darmen Libertarian Party, Death to the State, Pragmatic Radical Party and Underground Element are all considered to be parties with no chance of securing representation either in Parliament or in LGA's. While the Islamic Union may come close to securing some LGA seats in the center of the country, and the Alban Nationalist Party will be very vocal in the campaign throughout the former Republic of Alba, the remaining parties have near zero chance of coming close to securing an LGA seat, let alone receiving more than a thousand votes.

Important People
Tor Tong Lee and Yoram Nash are the most likely candidates for President of the Republic, though Nash will only assume the Presidency if the Coalition of the Left can win a majority in Parliament and enough LGA seats as well. In all likelihood, Tor Tong Lee will win the election, although the question remains of how much support he will need from non-MND members of the Electoral College to assume the position. In any case, the winning candidate will likely need multiple ballots to receive enough votes to win the election.

Donald O'Donahaue, former Director of the Free State of Liverpool, is likely to become Speaker of Parliament if the MND can secure a seat in County Liverpool, although recent polls have suggested that the MND may be resoundingly defeated in the County following O'Donahaue's rather dismal handling of the fishing strike in the area. Alex Quinn of Western Chuckio County will likely be the backup candidate if O'Donahaue fails to earn a place in Parliament. If O'Donahaue does indeed fail to earn a seat in Parliament, he will most certainly be included in Tor Tong Lee's Executive Cabinet seeing as though the two are good friends.

---

Polling will open at 7am, with most churches and schools being utilized as polling station's. The Polls will close at 9pm, with those in line at that time being guaranteed access to a ballot. Counting will begin immediately following the collection of the final ballot, although Returning Officers are likely to not have final results until early on New Years Eve. Interested voters may view information on how to register to vote and can review Party lists on the Election Commission's website: www.darelecom.dar/2036-election

[Anglatia]

To Kill A Rooster

Chapter Five

The sun was down, it was close to midnight, and the city of Alery was lit up by fire. The rebellion was out in force, much bigger than anyone had expected it to be. There weren’t thousands, but tens of thousands of rioters, accompanied by hundreds of professional fighters who were trained in guerilla combat and the like. The rioters were providing the main force of the rebellion, occupying the gendarmes and the police forces while the soldiers worked on more damaging attacks, that were targeting occupation locations such as police stations and military targets. Their plan was to strike quickly and take the city before help could arrive to put the rebellion down, and then they would have a base to spread south in the weeks before the Imperial Army could mobilize. Even though Imperial Intelligence had infiltrated the rebels heavily and had known what was coming, they and their Corsair friends never could have predicted that there would be this many rioters, and it was looking like they might be overwhelmed without support.

The Corsairs were here to put down the rebellion because they’d struck a deal with Imperial Intelligence that the gang could keep the streets of the Patierrean cities as their turf if they suppressed any rebellion and dissent within that territory, but they were being overwhelmed in some places too. Particularly, they were being overwhelmed on Borde Street. Borde Street was where the city headquarters of the Gendarmerie was located, and some of the Corsairs had been assigned to protect the Borde Street Station from the Eastern Brotherhood insurgents that were planning to attack it. Those three Corsairs were Scout Jonsdottir, the head of the Corsairs female wing, along with Jessi Mariano, the adopted daughter of the gang’s top leader, and Princess, one of the most trusted fighters in the ranks of Scout’s group, but things hadn’t gone as planned for them. The Brotherhood didn’t attack how they were expecting, and instead of rolling in with guns and armored vans and trying to fight their way into the station to capture it, they instead detonated explosives that had been placed earlier by an inside man.

As a result, the headquarters of the Alery Gendarmerie had been destroyed completely, killing everyone inside the complex and taking out one of the biggest strategic targets in the entire city. The Corsairs had been on the outside, but they weren’t completely unaffected. Scout, Jessi, and Princess were thrown from their bikes by the shockwave, and the impact had knocked Princess unconscious. The intel gathered earlier by the Corsairs revealed that hundreds of rioters would soon descend onto the area and take out the nearby substations, and the three Corsairs would be directly in their paths. With Princes knocked out, there was no way for them to ride away, and Jessi had refused to leave their fellow rider to die at the hands of the mob that was approaching.

They would have to stand and fight, and Scout couldn’t stop wondering if she had made the right choice, as that mob came into view. They were descending upon the area from two different streets, meaning they couldn’t just pick up Princess and run, and they were accompanied by a number of Imperial Intelligence agents who had also been outside the complex when the place blew. They’d have to fight their way out if they wanted to escape, unless they could find a way into one of the other buildings on the street, that were all locked up because it was the middle of the night. There were some shops, and a few houses, but at this hour and with all the commotion that was going on outside, none of them would be open or in the mood to let anyone in.

As the crowd approached, Scout could see what they were up against. The extremely strict gun control in Patierre had limited the amount of real weapons that could be used by the mob, but they still had their makeshift guns and they still had their bladed weapons, clubs, and makeshift melee weapons. If the mob got close to them, there would be certain death. They were the ones that were set up to fight in a melee battle, while Scout had an assault rifle and Jessi had an SMG. The Imperial Intelligence agents didn’t have melee weapons either, and instead carried military assault rifles that were the latest Imperial models to be developed. Despite their intimidating looks, with all black fatigues and matching black combat vests and helmets, they were overmatched.

They just had to hope that the crowd didn’t see that. The crowd’s leader, a Gold Hands member wearing a green wristband to denote his rank, was shouting at them through a megaphone and trying to get them to ignore the intimidation of the enemy and charge: “They have the better weapons, but we have the numbers! The only way that we lose this battle is if we run!” he shouted, before turning back towards the spot where the Intelligence agents were forming their battle lines in each direction to prepare for the inevitable attack. “Form your lines, do not be intimidated, and charge! We will not be defeated!”

The mob formed a tight line, and everyone including Scout was surprised at how many of them there were. Even after they had received the updated intel about the size of the crowds. Hearing about how there were tens of thousands of rioters was one thing; seeing a massive crowd approaching and looking for blood was another thing entirely, and one thing was more terrifying than the other. The Intelligence agents formed their own tighter formation, raising their assault rifles. Their Captain was warning the mob to back off, giving them one more chance to run, and the Corsairs were standing in between the two lines, with Princess in the middle. She was still unconscious, unfortunately, meaning that they couldn’t just ride off and leave this to be Intelligence’s problem.

Scout raised her own assault rifle as the agents did, and her heart was pounding out of her chest as the rebel leader screamed something back and the crowd started their charge, running at almost full speed down the street towards the agents, even though they had their guns up. She looked over at Jessi, who was surprisingly calm as she trained her SMG on the mob and stared through the small scope. And then, as the crowd grew closer, the open firing began. The Intelligence agents realized that there was no talking the rioters out of this, and so they opened up with fully automatic fire and started emptying their magazines into the charging crowd. It was almost like an old time line battle, with one line trying to gun down the other before they arrived to start a melee battle, and the real fight was one of morale. If the crowd kept charging and didn’t get discouraged by the dozens of their allies that were falling dead on the front line, they would win the battle without question. If they broke ranks, however, they’d be giving their enemies a chance.

Scout emptied her own magazine before reloading, but she didn’t fire off any more shots. This wasn’t going to work. She knew that, and she took a step back from the front line and grabbed Jessi by the arm, pulling her out of the Imperial ranks and dragging her towards the spot where their motorcycles were downed. There was firing going on from the opposite side, too, but there was still a chance to ride down the other end of the connecting street before the rioters closed in and made that impossible. “Come on. We’re leaving. I know you don’t want to leave, but Princess wouldn’t want all of us to die because of her,” she commanded, dragging Jessi even though the young girl was pulling back.

“We can’t just leave her to die!” Jessi shouted, pulling back as the crowds closed in further and the sounds of the battlefield grew louder and louder. “She still might wake up, we should stay until there’s absolutely no other option than to leave-”

“There’s no option right now! Can’t you see, Jessi? There’s no getting out if we don’t leave right now, and we’re still cutting it close. It’s either leave her behind or die here with her,” Scout snapped, and she let go of Jessi and climbed onto her motorcycle, revving the engine. “I’m not going to tell you what to do, but I am going to remind you that Jose is going to have my head if you don’t come back safely. I don’t want to see you die here too, Jess. Just come on-”

“Fine,” Jessi said, though her face was visibly upset and her voice was unsteady. She climbed onto her own bike and as Scout pulled off, she followed behind her and added the sound of roaring engines to the already loud sound of assault rifle fire and shouts from the crowd. As the two rode away, Jessi accelerated so she was side by side with Scout, and kept the conversation going between them. “I can’t believe you’re that quick to leave one of our own behind. We’re Corsairs, we don’t run, you know that as well as anyone. We could have waited for her to wake up-”

“We don’t even know when she was going to wake up! I did what I had to do to keep fighting another day, and you know that Jose isn’t going to want you to die in a botched operation!” Scout said in reply. “We’ll talk about this later, when we’re in safety. Right now, let’s focus on getting out of the woods and getting back to somewhere where we can regroup with the others. Let’s just say for now that I wouldn’t do this if it wasn’t the only way to survive… I don’t like leaving my friend behind any better than you like it.”

=====

Back at the heart of the rebellion, the Alery University, there was a stalemate. The gendarmes had been initially overwhelmed but were now camping out in certain sections of the university that the rebels hadn’t gotten to yet. The main library was the central headquarters of the rebellion, but a mile or two away from that, there was a dorm building that the gendarmes had retreated to, after getting back in their armored vans and changing their location up to something more defensible. They were supposed to hide out there and wait for the reinforcements to show up. The Imperial Army was scrambling to mobilize, and forces from Syhaux had started the trip northwest as soon as the intel made it clear that the rebellion had bigger numbers than anyone had planned. They were bringing planes, tanks, helicopters, artillery, and they were ready to take the city back by force and give aid to the regional authorities that were struggling.

But they were taking too long to get here, and the gendarmes were stuck wondering if they were going to die before that happened. The crowds weren’t content to let them hole up in another part of campus and wait for the support to come. They were moving towards the dorms now, and they wanted to make sure that they were the only ones who ran this campus. Not the authorities, who were scrambling to form a defensive line against the crowd that was coming. Everyone was tired by now. They’d all been in combat and some of them had picked up injuries in the battle, and now, they were expected to go out and fight again.

It wasn’t like they had another option, though. There weren’t many options at all for them, because if they didn’t fight, they knew that they’d die. Xavier Desroches was one of the ones who was volunteering to go back into the fight, as the commanding officers walked through the ranks of the force and tried to see who was too exhausted to be useful and who was too injured. Some of the combat had been in a melee, meaning that some of the gendarmes had stab and slash wounds, and there were others that had been shot by the makeshift guns that the rebels were using. They’d never expected it to be easy here. This place, this campus, was the one area that the rebels would defend down to the last man, that they wouldn’t concede. If they lost this place, they lost the heart of their rebellion, and they knew that fact very well.

“When did they say help was coming, again?” asked Amanda Jerrett, who was also healthy enough to keep fighting. That didn’t mean that she was in the mood to head back into battle, though, especially after nearly being shot a couple of times during the night. “I say we turn this dorm into a bunker and wait for the support to get here. We can hold out long enough, that’s not the problem… It’s less risky than coming out and getting into another pitched battle when everyone is already tired and when we’re outnumbered.”

“Yeah? Well we still outgun them, and that has to count for something,” said Xavier, pointing to the assault rifle that he was holding. “For now, anyway. God forbid we run out of ammo and get stuck having to charge the enemy with clubs, like they’re trying to do to us. We’ll be fine up until that point, though, and by then, the reinforcements from Syhaux will be here.”

“I fucking hope that you’re right,” Amanda sighed, as the two of them followed the directions of the Captain and got into the second line that was blocking the road from the rebels that would soon be coming down it. They had cut their numbers down from tens of thousands to just a few thousand, but that was more because the crowd had dispersed on their own to head to different locations and not because of the actions of the gendarmes. They had been overwhelmed thoroughly, and they were mostly happy to just be alive after resisting wave after wave of attack and bringing more reinforcements in with little results.

After wave after wave of being pounded by enemies who were experts in melee, they had retreated to this spot, but now it was all about to start again. There was another large crowd marching towards them at a slow pace, and once again, the gendarmes had their guns up and they were waiting for them to come within shooting range. While rioters wouldn’t normally be shot, Patierre had been under martial law since the occupation began. Protest and rioting were treason, and the riots had evolved into something of a real war. Both sides were out to kill each other, and while the gendarmes were the ones with the assault rifles, it couldn’t be denied that the rioters had the upper hand in this war. Once again, Xavier and Amanda were right in the middle of things, even though they were away from the front lines this time.

“Ready…” shouted the Captain, holding a hand up as the enemy crowd grew closer and closer. It looked like they’d be taking these dorms, regardless of how good of a volley they could send in the direction of the enemy. Everyone had their guns up, but they were waiting for the enemy to get into the optimal range so they didn’t waste their bullets on a volley that wouldn’t hit. This was the most tense part… The part where everyone knew that the bullets would be flying soon, but not yet. “Fire!” the Captain said, and as soon as the words left his mouth, the air was filled with the sounds of gunfire.

It sounded like a real war zone, as the mob charged and the gendarmes fired back, and by the time they had to reload, the crowd was almost on them. These were some of the most determined rebels that there were, and they would die for this cause. They wouldn’t run, because they knew that defeat wasn’t an option. If they lost here, they’d rather die than live with the results of their defeat. As they grew closer, Xavier and the others strapped their rifles to their waists and reached to their backs to unstrap their riot shields, and they reached to the other side of their waists for their clubs. At the same time that they lowered the shields, the crowd hit them with force and pushed them back at least four or five steps, knocking some of them flat onto their backs. Falling onto your back in a melee like this was a death sentence, and it meant that you’d either get finished off by someone with a melee weapon or just trampled by both the enemy and friendly forces that were trying to push forward, and Xavier had a hard time but managed to stay on his feet despite getting knocked back with the others.

He wasn’t even in the front line, but the man in front of him had been knocked down and trampled over, and bodies flooded through the gap and swung bats and clubs at the gendarmes. Xavier held onto his shield as much as he could with one hand, and tried to push back, but they were losing ground quickly because of being outnumbered and because they were using lightweight portable shields. “Drop back!” the Captain shouted, ordering them to run back and start a new line. At the same time, Xavier noticed that Amanda had fallen, and he put his club back at his waist and grabbed her hand to help her up before she’d get trampled by the retreating allies.

Everyone fell back, and they formed another line, but there were still gaps. Those gaps were quickly filled, and the rioters pushed them back even further by rushing into the abandoned space and attacking with all of the ferocity that they could muster. Things weren’t looking good, but something made the battle stop for a moment. Everyone could hear something, and both sides looked to the skies as they wondered if the noise was what they thought it was. It was, indeed, what they thought. When they looked up, they saw Imperial jets swooping low and preparing to give air support to another part of the campus if needed. Their backup from Syhaux was here, and every single gendarme involved in the battle couldn’t be happier about it. The tide of the battle had changed, and now, there was hope.

There was still hope of preserving an empire.

[Damukuni]

Important Notice for
Damukunian Television Owners
by the
Damukunian Association for
Spectral and Television Arts
(DASTA)

At 12:00 AM Damukuni Time on Wednesday, 30 June 2021, stations nationwide will cease broadcasting in standard and enhanced definition (commonly known as 4:3 screen ratio, 480i/480p, or 576i/576p television signals). At that time, all remaining stations using those defined signals have been ordered to cease use of the digital channels used to broadcast those signals and broadcast only at screen resolutions of at least 720p (a 16:9 screen ratio, used on widescreen television sets). Stations that broadcast using the 1650 x 1080 format (16:10 screen ratio) will still be permitted to broadcast in that ratio. This transition is from SDTV (standard [and enhanced] definition television) to HDTV (high-definition television).

Why the switch?
In 2011, South Otselic (including the territory that is now the U.S. of Damukuni) made the transition from a hybrid system consisting of analogue and digital signals, to a digital-only format. The reason for this transition was to begin the evolution of cellular data from the HSPA+ and EV-DO (commonly known as 3G Enhanced) standard into the DTRA-LTE (commonly known as 4G or LTE) standard of transmission and reception. To do this, the radio frequencies from many analogue channels needed to be occupied by the projected LTE frequencies.
Now, our switch to only high-definition television enables your television service provider to focus on high-quality signal improvement, so you can watch your favourite TV programmes in crystal-clear resolution.

How does the switch affect me?
See the table below.

If my broadcast service is...	... and my TV is ...	... what do I need to do?
A cable or digital satellite provider (ResNet, DTV, Spectron, HiroNet, PrimeStar, Nextet, etc.)	Standard definition (4:3 ratio, "square" screen) or high-definition (16:9 ratio, rectangular)	Nothing! Your TV is ready. (See Note 1 below.)
Received over-the-air via VHF/UHF antenna and a TV with a built-in digital tuner (most widescreen TVs manufactured after 2013)	Standard definition (4:3 ratio, "square" screen) or high-definition (16:9 ratio, rectangular)	Nothing! Your TV is ready. (See Note 2 below.)
Received over-the-air via VHF/UHF antenna and a TV with an HDTV (marked with the DHD logo) converter box	Standard definition (4:3 ratio, "square" screen) or high-definition (16:9 ratio, rectangular)	Nothing! Your TV is ready. (See Note 2 below.)
Received over-the-air via VHF/UHF antenna and a TV with an SDTV (not marked with the DHD logo) converter box	Standard definition (4:3 ratio, "square" screen) or high-definition (16:9 ratio, rectangular)	You will lose signal on 30 June 2021. Most TV dealers are required to replace your converter box with a DHD certified converter box for a charge not exceeding more than Ð12.50. If you are charged more than this amount, please call 1-801-45-DASTA (1-801-453-2782) toll-free immediately.
Received via a Web service	Standard definition (4:3 ratio, "square" screen)	You will lose signal on 30 June 2021. You will need to buy a high-definition (widescreen) television to continue watching your Web-enabled television service.
Received via a Web service	High-definition (16:9 ratio, rectangular)	Nothing! Your TV is ready.

Why are standard-definition Web-enabled television services disappearing? They're not connected to over-the-air television stations!
While Web-enabled television services are not regulated the same way DASTA regulates broadcast television, most standard-definition Web-enabled television programming is simply a backported signal from the high-definition service. DASTA recommended these companies change to high-definition only to reduce the workload on their digital delivery equipment.

Special Notes:

1. Your cable or satellite provider, not the broadcast station, will automatically render the high-definition signal on a standard definition television as best as possible. You may experience a blurry picture on your standard-definition television as a result. Consult your dealer regarding these issues, if they persist more than one (1) week after the HD-only switchover.
2. Digital antenna users are encouraged to re-scan their digital tuners after midnight on 30 June 2022. While most should have the correct channels by noon, some may have to wait until 9 PM. If you are missing channels, please contact the individual station you are missing. Additionally, standard-definition television users may experience the problems detailed in Special Note 1 above; adjust your converter box's picture settings if you receive a blurry picture.

Questions? Comments? Need help? Call Toll-Free
1-801-45-DASTA (1-801-453-2782)
24 Hours a Day, 7 Days a Week

[Valanora]

Valanora Times
Until Perfection Sets

While the Marauders have been comfortably qualified for the last few games now, they have not simply meandered their way through the last set of games with nothing to prove, as some might have speculated that they would have though we here at the Times certainly knew better than to think such was possible. No, the Marauders have played these last three games as if that qualification into the World Cup Proper itself had not occurred at all, that they were still striving for the qualification despite having already clinched it. It is an admirable approach but it is not the sole motivating factor at play, replicating the perfect qualifying cycle has been on the mind of the players and the staff, as well as the fans of the squad. Not only that, but the eyes of those passionate about the game as well as its records have been cast upon the Marauders as with each game they have inched ever closer to that monumental goal of having another perfect qualifying cycle under their belt, with a small dream of completing a perfect cycle from start to finish starting to be woven. What a way it would be to claim the record breaking World Cup than to do it in a cycle where they drop no points.

The push for perfection is not one that comes solely from the backroom staff though, for the manager and the assistants are a small measure of what makes the Marauders move as a team. It is also coming straight from both the heart of the team in Faeron Soldarian and the captain, the legendary Laborious Hawk. The latter is a natural force for the strive for perfection, as his own seeking of that elusive goal is what has made him one of the best if not the best player that has played in the World Cup. It is the former that is surprising, as Soldarian has always played more of a second fiddle to Hawk and even in a small way to va Drake, as the latter was a nobody from the outskirts of Raynor City who rose from that nothingness to be one of the best players that Valanora has ever produced in the game. No, Soldarian has never garnered the same sort of attention as Hawk nor has been as beloved as va Drake, coming from the Soldar family and being groomed for greatness from a young age. However, that elite grooming and training cultivated a person who could relate with both the aristocracy and the more common of people, speaking to each with their preferred methods of communication, and in so doing became the heart of the team. Perhaps that is why he is pushing as well, for it is that aristocratic background that has him looking for his own bit of glory to call his own, to make his house proud.

However not all those in the footballing world would like to see the Marauders find their way to perfection, to have another feather to notch in their already impressive cap. Feats and records are something of a commonplace for Vanorians, for better or for worse, as they have dominated in multiple sports across several decades, and in doing so have developed quite a reputation as well as rivals who would like to see them brought low. It has happened in fact, the loss of the qualifying record in the World Cup, as well as some odd stumbles in the World Cup of Hockey, just to name a few instances. However it is names like Valanora, Starblaydia, and The Holy Empire that resonate with fans of the game across the entire world and across multiple generations, as these teams and their feats are well known throughout the community that we have. Though some might disagree, I do believe that our sport is better when the traditional powers in it are not only good but are also competing for a real chance of winning the Trophy, and that looks quite possible for ourselves as well as the Empire in this cycle.

Though in the more pressing matter, the most dangerous tasks of this campaign are now upon the Marauders if they wish to hold on to this perfection, that being a trip to Flardania to take on the Kitsunes, before coming home to round out the campaign against a Mriin side who has played well above their station. For the Kitsunes, it is not only a matter of ruining our bid for perfection, but also in trying to keep their own hopes of making Quebec-San Jose Guayabal alive heading into the final matchday of qualifying. Their entire qualification campaign comes down to this international weekend and they need a result against our side if they wish to have any chance of making it to the Finals. Thusly they are quite expected to put up a heavy resistance for this is not an if scenario but an actual scenario where all rests upon the result of a single match. With Hawk leading our line, can the legendary captain see out the task that has been part of his mantra for decades or shall the Kitsunes live to see another day?

[Natanians and Nosts]

The Placeholder


Chapter ⅠⅠ

My commisioner said one thing that his superiors didn't want me to know:I shouldn't be here.I cannot get any higher than chief-inspector.They just authorized my promotion,because there was no-one else and it would take so much time to do that it was better to have someone with OCD isntead,but he guaranteed me I would not lose my promotion.I went back to my office and saw inspector Mihaliescu.
"Hi Ionescu" he said."Hi inspector Mihailescu.What do you want?" I answered,"I just want a favour...". He asked for me to stay at a line and buy some kind of ticket to a show.But what I still cannot understand is why would someone take such a small child,in the way back to the station,I remembered I had to go out with some friends.I just htink that it is weird,a child disappears in less than one minute,and no-one witnesses it!It's just basically...unbelieveable.I need to interrogate some people tomorrow.
"Hey people!" said I to my best friend,his girlfriend and my ex girlfriend."Hi Gheorghe,Mihai was already complaining" said Emilia his girlfriend","Relax Gheorghe,I'd never do that when thou just got promoved!".And she was silent,I know it was akward for her too,Brenda was silent,not even a "Congratulations Gheorghe!I know how important it is to you!",'Thank you,Brenda." to wich she replied "I'm sorry if it doesn't look like I'm intersted,it is just that my job...","I know how hard and important your job is Brenda,and I know your boss is not the kindest!" and she smiled to me!After dinning,Brenda took a taxi and I went with Mihai leave his girlfriend at home."Gheorghe,go to my home.There's some time you don't go there.","Mihai,your father is cool and your mother is very nice,also your siblings are funny,but it's getting too late,lah!","Gheorghe,okay,but I'm really sorry for you and Brenda.You were a nice couple,but sometimes,things just happen" and I answered "I know,good bye,Mihai" and he said "Good bye Gheorghe!".

[url=Chapter Ⅰ]https://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=401094&p=31166260#p31166260[/url]

[Pasarga]

Torgos Tribune ~ Taking the Edge Off

After a pair of one to nil victories against sides that many thought that the Wanderers perhaps would have defeated by larger scorelines, the Wanderers came back to Torgos with a fire in their hearts as they knew that any faltering in their continued pursuit of wins would see them fall to second. Despite having secured the passage into the Finals the game before, there was a certain feeling in the Wanderers camp that the game against Kaumann had to be a more convincing show from the one time World Cup champion. However few would have predicted that the Wanderers would set upon Kaumann as if they were Bettia or Farfadillis rather than their more moderate approach to the game than the aforementioned sides. It was not the young Zozi striker though that looked the most hungry for a high powered victory however, it was his elder partner who seemed up for the night, as Ceballos seemed a man set out on a mission to send a statement not just to the Wanderer faithful but to their opponents as well.

With a brace and an assist on the night, the Cathair striker sent a very loud message in the Wanderers' five to one win over Kaumann as Stade de Torgos seemed to shake in excitement with every goal that was netted in by the home side. Auðbjörnsson was the benefactor of that assist, with the Zozi striker getting his goal in the twenty-third minute after Ceballos sent in a lob over the Kaumann backline that he was able to run onto and strike past the keeper, this coming after Ceballos opened the scoring in the seventh minute when he slotted home a half volley from an inswinger from Sigurjónsdóttir. The latter was getting her first senior international start and showed the sort of promise that had her named in the Cosumar media as one of the best players of the last season, further signs that the talent pool in Pasarga is quite deep. Kaumann would hit back before the half time whistle on an incisive counter attack that took some of the wind out of the crowd, however Roland Lebrun hit back for the Wanderers to restore their two goal cushion on the last kick of the first half.

In a sign of utter dominance, Ceballos would score just twenty-seconds after the second half kicked off with a very optimistic strike from forty yards out, however his shot had caught the keeper out of position and the shot fell into the net just a second before the keeper did himself. The utter cheek in the goal showed the sort of mood that Ceballos was in and he came quite close to securing his hattrick on the hour mark but his shot was palmed over the crossbar by a defiant Kaumann keeper who was looking to try and regain his dignity after the cheeky chip goal. The fifth and final goal would come from Seymour Labonté, who put his head into the mixer from a Lebrun free kick and managed to come out the victor, as it sailed into the upper ninety and settled into the back of the net. With a final of five goals to one, the Wanderers and the fans could feel good about the team and how they were faring now that they finally had a dominant showing in the cycle.

However the stadium was able to erupt once more when news came in from The Isle of Avon that the home side had held Super-Llamaland to a draw, giving the Wanderers a four point cushion at the top of the group. That also means that now the Wanderers need to but win one of their last two games or to draw both of them in order to win the group, which is a huge relief and edge off of the stress of the side. It is all looking quite good for the Wanderers now, who can play more of their pool in these last two matches and get a better grasp of whom the final twenty-three players they will take into the Finals will be, as the roster will have to be trimmed for next summer's competition. For now, the Wanderers have two very important games ahead of them where but a single result secures the very thing that they set out to do, which was win the group, and if they do get these victories, then they will have had quite the impressive record to boot. For a side that has been on the downswing of late and was fretting about their qualification chances just a few weeks ago, the perception has changed tremendously with just a few good results. Amazing how even the smallest of victories can have such great effects.

[Chromatika]

Matchday 16: Lanzo 1-0 Chromatika

Lineup @ Lanzo: Ria; Cameron - Shipp - Lia - Lorenzo; Etienne - Buric; Baumgartner - Harbin - Chesser; Victoriane (C).

When the result came out the day before the match that Lymantatia had defeated Taeshan, thus sending the Chromatks through, Silian Parker pulled an audible and pulled out all the starters and the bench players except Mia Ria. The Deep Reserves tried to take on Lanzo, but the referee had no idea how to handle a game between humans and squids, and allowed a lot more of Lanzo's players' legs holding the Chromatiks in place, which didn't help on the offensive end. Ria was able to stop most of the shots, but a burst of ink from an offensive squid blinded her enough for the decisive goal to be scored, and Chromatika ended up dropping the three points. Parker was livid during the game, not even using his substitutions because he believed it wouldn't matter. After the match, he said that the safety of the starters was key; a formal complaint will be sent to the WCC about the behavior of Lanzo in the days to come.

Lineup vs. The Serbian Empire: Ria; Cameron - Shipp - Lia - Lorenzo; Etienne - Buric; Baumgartner - Harbin - Chesser; Victoriane (C).

Chromatika returns home for the last home match of the qualifying cycle, and it's exciting because supposedly, Keira Andisori's younger sister will be attending and the two will be meeting afterwards. They'll try to wash the taste of losing to Lanzo out of their mouth, knowing that they are only one point ahead of Red Blackiland for the group lead. As the top two are through, and Chromatika has assured qualification, Parker is deeming the health of the starters to be more important than finishing first, despite the fact that there is a block of time between qualifying and the proper. There are fans who would like to see the starters play, especially with the hundredth cap of Gabriella Antonio coming up, but the spirited play of the deep reserves has given them the right to be played. Hopefully, if the race for the top finisher does remain close, he'll start the starters in the last game, and Antonio will get her one hundredth in Taeshan.

---

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

After the information had been given out to the police, Yeso left Evergreen Forest into the surrounding hills to rest. A lot had happened in the past few days, and she wanted some time to think for herself. From rescuing Chrom to giving him the Azurill egg to receiving a letter from Wight to raiding the lair of the Cultists and losing Shadow, her Glaceon, life had been such a blur. Every time she neared society, things tended to flow that way - it was probably because she was a Vampire who didn't do well with sticking to the shadows like most of her kin in the wild.

She had let her Pokémon out to be free - they liked to go off for a while, always within shouting distance, and stretch their legs. Dusclops was obsessed with digging lately, which was pretty hard due to the fact that he was a Ghost Pokémon; Gliscor liked to rest upside down in the air, floating blissfully. Yveltal and Electrode, however, were practicing their tandem attack of Electrode being in a very conductive state while Yveltal dropped him on a target. It wasn't easy to aim a full-grown Electrode, but they were getting the timing down. Woe be to the one that was going to have to handle the two of them together some day.

Yeso's mind kept returning to Shadow. She was perhaps the one that fit the least with their group, along with the Electrode; the rest were Dark or Ghost Pokémon and shared a special bond with Yeso. That being said, as Shadow was the only Pokémon that had been a gift, albeit a begrudging one that she had won off of PIS, Yeso had taken special attention to her and given her the name of Shadow. She had actually successfully convinced Shadow when she was an Eevee that a Glaceon would be the appropriate Eevolution to become. The two of them understood each other at a deep level despite the fact that Shadow was not a Dark or Ghost Pokémon. She hoped Shadow was all right.

As the sun set, Yeso stretched her legs and decided that it would be best if she went to check in at the Police Station. Sure, getting more exposure to the public wasn't a good thing, but this concerned Shadow, after all.

She sent Yveltal out to scout, gathered the rest of her Pokémon into their Pokéballs, and started to head toward town again when Yveltal circled around and started to come back to her. With a fell swoop, he landed gently beside her and told her in a few sentences that he had seen a group of five people near the forest, as well as a small shape that could've been Shadow not far from them.

"Are you sure, buddy?" Yeso asked. He nodded, and she knew that he meant it.

"Get back out there and cover me, only come by if I call for you or if it seems I'm in trouble," she instructed. He gave another nod and took to the air once more, disappearing into the night sky.

As she started to head toward where Yveltal had said that he had seen the small being, she heard the familiar cry of a Glaceon in pain. It wasn't far, she could tell, but it wasn't close either. Being able to hear something didn't meant that it was close when you were a Vampire in the darkness. However, there was no doubt in her mind that it was Shadow; it pained her greatly to hear the distress in Shadow's voice. She picked up her pace, moving swiftly through the threes when something surprised her: the cries stopped.

Her heart leaped to her throat, afraid for Shadow's life. Yeso started to almost sprint, stealth and whatnot be damned. She wouldn't be able to forgive herself if any lasting harm came to Shadow. All kinds of thoughts and emotions crowded her mind until...

She saw five people into the distance, in a clearing. One she knew was Chrom - there was no mistaking that hairstyle and the neatly pressed clothes. There was a little girl on the ground in a blue and red dress, which had to be Qasden. Above her was a young woman in a green top - probably Kitsunia from the times that she had watched over them. The man in the gray long coat standing by her had to be Sunrise, and then there was a new addition near them that she had never seen before, someone who looked stiff and armed, like a warrior. As they didn't seem alarmed or saddened, Yeso slowed down and breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that they had found Shadow, and that Shadow was going to be fine. There would be no reason for her to rush into them now.

As she got closer to them, she heard laughter after Chrom said something, with the stranger replying.

Then, Sunrise said, "I found one of my posters laying around for some reason."

His posters? Huh? She had a poster, in her pocket...

Yeso reached into her pocket for a copy of the flier that the police had given her, but realized that she must've dropped it on her way back to the hills. How peculiar it was that he would refer to it as his own...

"You'd think people would at least try to keep things clean, you know... Who would throw paper on the forest?"

Relieved and yet curious, Yeso decided it was time that she met them for real. Not just Chrom, all of them. She approached Sunrise from the back, and said,

""I'm sorry. Fell out of my pockets."

[Eura]

Agriculture has been the underlying bedrock of most civilisations as they develop. From the first tools to mechanisation, the organised production of sustenance for human beings has played a crucial role in making us who we are. Endemian civilisations have been no different, and Electrum is one country that particular prides itself on its agricultural heritage. The sweeping mega-fields of its large and thinly populated northern frontier are a sight to behold. For a long time they were uninhabited, and then picked up by various tribes, kingdoms and other groups over time - the whole area was an archaeological goldmine. However in the past few centuries they often spent time as part of one of the Euran regional states before unification, before eventually becoming part of the newly founded Electrum. This change brought with it a new place in the world for the breadbasket of the Holden delta, as a chief source of interaction and mingling between Euran and Electrumite society. The border had been virtually open in most places for many years despite the Electrumite government operating theoretically draconian immigration laws, with moderate numbers of Euran's crossing over to find living space, and Electrumite's going the other way in search of fortune in the regions biggest economy. By all accounts this openness and interaction had now become a source of tension, with tens of thousands of Euran's at a bear minimum pouring over the border, and hundreds of thousands more waiting over the other side. It was true that the war with Sameba had created a lot of refugees, and the Euran government had few other options to deal with them. Nevertheless, Euran overpopulation was essentially an issue that had been well known for many years beforehand, and for a long time the Euran state had deliberately looked for reasons to relieve it. The Population Density Act a couple of years ago had simply been the final straw.

There was supposed to be a regional meeting for the Friends of Eura group in Hamilton, bastion of the Electrumite north. It had been a couple of months since Sameba declared war on Eura and the FoE had been struggling to work out how to react to the situation. This civic group had hundreds of thousands of members, mostly of a Euran ethnic persuasion but also Electrumites, who had used it as a forum for many years for discussing Eura-related issues in Electrum. They had peacefully protested anti-immigrant rhetoric, and disassociated themselves from the more extreme annexationist political parties. War makes people desperate, and quite suddenly this well meaning project found itself to be irrelevant. Half of the membership had deserted, apparently a mass resignation in protest at the FoE's inability to lobby politicians in Centralis successfully regarding the border wall. At the meeting the elected board kept it brief and essentially agreed that the FoE's main role during the current crisis would be to support Euran refugees and migrants, but in reality everyone there knew the momentum was now with the annexationist political parties, leaving the FoE as bystanders. A political front for the organisation, the Euran Citizens Alliance, had tanked electorally. In local opinion polls, moderate parties representing Euran citizens interests had been swept away, while several of the smaller Euran nationalist parties had faded. Eura's main centre-right party, the Capital Party led by the drastically unpopular Chris Ashdown, was now propping up financially an assertive annexationist party within Electrum, one that had swept all opposition in its path bar one. Martin Aygmer's Euran Unity Party (rebranded from Euran National Party to avoid confusion with the Electrum National Party) was at 12% in the polls on average, a substantial amount of the Euran minority in the north. Their only rival was the Euran Peoples Front, a very left wing annexationist party that was hitting 4% but was still falling away.

The failure of the FoE and ECA had now left the Euran minority in Electrum with a binary choice between accepting increasing discrimination, and voting for Aygmer's broad coalition of the previously irrelevant annexationists, ranging from centre left human rights activists to right wing libertarians. Only the far right had been squeezed out, with the far left sticking with the dying EPF. The EUP had a very simple manifesto, calling for a review of human rights legislation, cancellation of the construction of the wall and a referendum on the sovereignty of a small number of northeastern districts. Despite being quite a liberal city previously Hamilton was now swinging heavily towards nationalist parties, making the Euran counterreaction even more stubborn, making compromise on any of those pledges tantamount to political suicide. Despite all of this, there was no prospect of any electoral challenge to the system soon, meaning that this pressure would continue to boil up without being relieved. Incidents of violent harassment of ethnic Euran's were occurring, to which Euran's responded in kind. In the border towns of Albo and Newman, the proportion of Eurans to Electrumites was much higher than elsewhere, sometimes coming close to 50-50. It was no longer sustainable for Centralis to ignore these large Euran minority populations just because they were concentrated in one part of the country, yet they were doing it anyway.

Meanwhile the Euran government was doing nothing, instead becoming completely preoccupied with the war to the north and leaving the minimal border security on the northern side to fend for themselves. After two months of titanic struggle in the federation, an appeal against the wall vote faltered. Now it was happening for sure. The EUP took advantage of course, immediately calling for a referendum within a year and urging Euran citizens of Electrum to resist discrimination with a euphemism, "by any means proportionally necessary". Considering that there were now daily civil disturbances throughout the affected northern regions, and that thousands of Eurans were crossing the border daily, a showdown was inevitable. That is why the Eurans had discreetly sent officials to meet Electrum's Prime Minister Cynthia Suarez. What had been agreed upon remained to be seen, but Suarez now couldn't pretend she wasn't informed of the facts. A titanic battle was imminent in the Euran megacity of Oakstone, and the Euran government expected the most part of a million people to move south as a result. They were not willing to do anything about it, and simply warned Suarez that while they could understand the need for increased restrictions, they would have to strongly consider whether or not to tolerate the wall.

[San Jose Guayabal]

Everything is valid to win, victory is YOURS!

Matchday Seventeen Cutoff

[Sulsuland]

It happened. Our entire team sneezed. It looked as if we would lose yet another game, but by some miracle, we sneezed and gained omnipotence.

Unfortunately I am the only one left. The others have sneezed and reverted back to their primitive forms, but I know what I must do. We can't continue in the World Cup, but we will go into the Cup of Harmony, one way or another. If roleplaying on Nationstates is what gives us fish, then we will roleplay no matter what.

*sneeze*

OH woW ThAt bIG snEeZe. SUlSu reALly wAnt FiSh NOw...


*A black and red banner hangs over the wall, a tall female player is cleaning up after a game. Sulsu appears from under a desk and whacks her in the head with a bone. Two watermelons sit on a desk in the room*

[Northern Sunrise Islands]

The five stared at the vampire, to different reactions.
Kitsunia bolted to stand in front of Sunrise, Qasden chose to hid behind her custody brother and Kirisaki stood neutral.
Chrom smiled.
"...Excuse me. I listened to the cries of my little Shadow. Would you mind if I have her back?"
"Hey... You're the one from the other day!"
"Indeed. Did you follow my advice?"
"Y-Yeah, I've been trying that out!"
Yeso walked towards Sunrise, Kitsunia remaining fiercely between the two.
"You'll not hurt him!"
"...I believe you're confusing myself with evil people."
"Yeah, Kitsunia... She saved me, remember?"
Kitsunia did a double take.
"How can I know you're not scheming to backstab us?"
Yeso sighed, crossing her arms.
"Your name is Kitsunia, you're from Saint Futurnian, lived with Sunrise since you were a little child up until the point your cousin moved to Sportsville. You like music and healing Pokémon and you hate cooking."
The foxy girl got noticeably angrier.
"How do you know all that and how does that make you less suspicious?"
"Calm down, Kitsunia."
Sunrise walked to the side, leaving her protection.
"This lady helped me out during a party and I told her a lot about you, that's all."
"Ah! Sunrise, you grew up a bit, didn't you? Even have a little family as well."
"Well... a bit. I don't live with Apox anymore, kind of had to grow up."
"Was Apox that friend of yours that kept complaining about you talking with me instead of working the tables?"
"Yeah! The guy who kept saying 'bloke' and 'mate' all the time."
The two shared a laugh, much to Kitsunia's chagrin.
"Anyway, who do I have to thank for finding Shadow?"
Qasden rose her hand, disappointed.
"And who are you?"
"Q-Qasden..."
"..."
She looked at the girl, before taking a look at her adoptive parents, noticing a discrepance.
"...You look too old."
"...Eh?"
"When I met your father a while ago, he didn't have kids. And you look old enough to have been given birth back then."
The vampire stared at Kitsunia.
"Did you have her early? Who's the father?"
Kitsunia rose an eyebrow.
"I-I'm adopted, missus..."
"Yeso. Nice to meet you, little Qasden. I hope Shadow didn't give you trouble."
"S-Sunday comp-"
"Sunday?"
"It's the name my little girl picked for your runaway Pokémon."
She looked at the girl, sighing.
"...Don't give up on your regular job, girl."
"...What?"

Kitsunia remained rather suspicious over the vampire.
Her fox ears remaining perked seemed like a proper note to that.
Yeso seemed to be having the time of her life telling stories to Qasden, Chrom and Kirisaki.
Sunrise paid attention, but he clearly was busier trying to keep Kitsunia from lunging at Yeso on an instant.
They were all on one of the later trains downtown and thankfully their wagon was empty.
"Well, of course I would feed on blood but I won't attack any of you."
She smiled, patting the little girl on the head.
"I worked a way around it and it's been pretty successful for the last three decades or so."
"Were you around during the days of Empress Mikoto?"
"Sunrise used to tell us of those days from his book."
"I did meet them but... I was doing other things at the time."
She sighed.
"Anyway, did you want to know how I got Shadow?"
Yeso had a brief laugh.
"...or rather, Sunday the Glaceon?"
"Yeah!"
"Sounds interesting."
"As long as it is good."
All the while, Kitsunia remained staring at the vampire's head, behind her.
"I don't trust her, Sunrise. Not a single bit."
"Eh. She saved Chrom, she's getting around well with the kids... Don't think she's evil or anything of the like."
"She's not... you know... human."
"Kitsunia."
He held her hands, smiling.
"You're not a regular human either, yet here we are, engaged."
She looked to the side, embarrassed.
"Look at me."
Kitsunia gulped, looking at him again, her face already rather red.
"I think we're all humans to the best extent we can be. And if I can be with you as long as I can, I'm pretty sure a vampire can live well in our society, don't you think?"
The two heard a laugh.
"Couldn't agree more."

The family got dragged to a shadowy looking restaurant. Inside, it had a rather nice, welcoming feel as the few lights gave any visitor enough to be able to see where they'd be stepping.
They got a table near the window, Yeso smiling all the way.
"I've heard they make quite the finest dishes. You'll probably enjoy."
"You didn't need to buy us dinner, you know."
"Please. You found my prized Glaceon, I don't think there's enough of a reward I can give you."
"...I still don't get why you gave me that egg."
"Clearly, it's for my breakfast tomorrow."
"Do you always think about food, girl?"
"...When Sunrise cooks, at least."
"Heh."
"Then you'll love the food here, I promise."
They quieted down after that, only for Yeso to bring things up again.
"So... Kitsunia."
"...What is it?"
"Why are you so... scared?"
"You... You drink blood."
"I won't hurt you."
Kitsunia put her arm in front of Sunrise.
"I-I don't fear for myself."
"You shouldn't fear for him as well. He's not going anywhere."
She stared at Sunrise, who had a fair smile towards his lover.
Kitsunia slowly lowered her arm.
"...Is that true?"
"I think I waited you for quite a while. No point in leaving."
Kitsunia hugs him, eased.
"...so, where's the food?"
The two stare her down.
"Neeevermind."

[Juvencus]

Martell brace saves the day!
Juvencus XI:
GK:Naldo Zappa
CB:Dudu Madeiros
CB:Valerio Scarpa
CB:Artur Bernat
CDM:Filipe Rodrigues
CDM:Gian Landi
RM:Hugo Grec
LM:Angelino Alberighi
LF:Joaquim Martell
RF:Oriol Vives
CF:Rodolfo Gallo

Kaisaru XI:
GK:Yin Ka-Hułi
CB:Samiki Ił-łl
CB:Chibi Sa-kla
RB:Ivan Shen Zinstag
LB:Ushi Ko-So
CM:Hîja So-Çua
CM:Totrek Zo-San
RM:Wasini Mo-Kwo
LM:Ixonas Rwi-Jy
CF:Vasuri Fy-Za
CF:My Ki-Ko

Juvencus used La Torona against Kaisaru

Deadly Juvencus offence celebrating victory

Juvencus was able to snatch off the three points last night against Kaisaru, a Kaisaru side with an extremely good defensive showcase against Juven players. But a late brace by common scorer Joaquim Martell saved the day for Juvencus, who see themselves 3 points ahead of Tobiasia, at 6th place.

The first half was quite a slow paced one. A lot of possessive play by both chances, pretty much no chances during the first 20 minutes and the boring play of both sides made fans from both sides boo the play. Juvencus' offensive machine turned on at the 27th minute, when a throughball by Alberighi saw Vives on an one on one situation with the Kaisarian goalkeeper, but Vives sent it up and wide. A few more chances followed, by Gallo and Alberighi, with the latter using his light speed to get through the Kaisarian defence but Yin Ka-Huli was able to catch the ball before he was able to shoot it. Gallo's chance was an exceptionally strong shot that hit the crossbar, literally shaking the whole goal for the next few seconds. The last chance of the first half was made by Alberighi once more but it was saved by Ka-Huli.

The second half saw Kaisaru trying to find their pace with a Ki-Ko chance being saved by Zappa, but that was all that Kaisaru had to offer in the entire game. Juvencus went on the counter immediately but Vives' shot hit one of the Kaisarian defenders before being easily saved by the keeper. For the next few minutes, the pointless first half possession play was taking place once more, with neither side actually finding space to go forwards. The moment of redemption came at the 80th minute, Martell was fouled by Ko-So and proceeded to take the foul kick which ended on the Kaisarian net after it hit the ground and changed trajectory making it 1-0 for the Juvencus side. 5 minutes later, Alberighi was able to get through the Kaisarian defence and pass it to Martell, with the latter turning his back before scoring his second goal, making it 2-0 for Juvencus.

Match mistakes:
Juvencus:The usual 'you need to look where you're shooting at' is a tip that needs to be made to Juven players. A good goalscoring ability going down the drain, sadly. At least this match they had a higher goal per shots ratio.
Kaisaru:Only one chance the whole game. Low morale at the end of the game meant they went 2-0 down.

Ticket sales:
The upcoming match against Brenecia away will see us selling tickets for about 70 pesos.
While food and drinks are about to be 2-10 pesos, depending on the brand.

Top scorers this cycle's WCQ:
Joaquim Martell: 11 goals
Rodolfo Gallo: 6 goals
Angelino Alberighi: 2 goals
Oriol Vives: 1 goal

Top assistmakers this cycle's WCQ:
Oriol Vives: 5 assists
Angelino Alberighi: 5 assists
Joaquim Martell: 1 assist
Aleix Costa: 1 assist
Gian Landi: 1 assist

[Bonesea]

.

[Jeruselem]

Bonesea, Princess Laura and her daughter Princess Elsa after the Princesses lost to the hosts 4-3

Elsa: I''m so frustrated, we could have won here today
Laura: Well, we've beaten then once but beating Bonesea at home is another thing
Elsa: At least we didn't get thrashed
Laura: We're being hanging on to 2nd spot for ages, you'd think those other two would have got it by now
Elsa: The equation is pretty simple now
Laura: Admittedly we didn't expect to win here. That recent draw and two other losses are why we're on the edge right now.

Elsa: The plus side is we are still scoring lots of goals, even if we lose
Laura: That's what's saving us from losing some games, we leak a few goals but score enough
Elsa: We have to win next game, we can't do anything else
Laura: Yes, those other two teams have been winning but they have dropped points luckily for us
Elsa: We've been so close like ... last three cups
Laura: Yes, losing in playoffs or that last game. It's not like we never had a chance, we're almost there but can't get across the line

Elsa: It's like that now, the line is there but someone else can steal it from us.
Laura: We can't hold back now. We have to go all out next game
Elsa: That loss to Garfifunya threw us off track
Laura: Yes, that one game might be the difference between us making it or not. And those draws that should have been wins.
Elsa: I don't know if I'm up for playing. I've been training but I don't think I can play 90 minutes.
Laura: That injury was a lot worse than we thought

Elsa: I don't want to make it worse
Laura: If you're not able to take heavy knocks, it might not be good to play. We're going all out to win this last game.
Elsa: That's fine for Ellis, that's how he likes to play. He's tougher than me.
Laura: We might need more surgery so you still have a playing career.
Elsa: Gee Mum I don't want two reconstructed knees.
Laura: Hey, look at me. I think it's inevitable anyway even if you don't want to keep playing.

Elsa: I guess it's better than being stuck in a wheel chair
Laura: We don't want that
Elsa: Maybe I should just go into coaching, if I can't take the abuse playing football deals out.
Laura: There's always a point where you realise you have to move on
Elsa: I guess so
Laura: We might to to Quebec for a holiday after the cup

Elsa: Preferably delay that if we qualify.
Laura: Yes, but that's not certain.
Elsa: I know
Laura: The good news is Ellis seems to have learnt his lesson today. We didn't win but he's scoring goals. And didn't get sent off.
Elsa: Yes more focussed on football and not distracted by other things.
Laura: He's easily distracted especially by ... you know

Elsa: I don't want to leave qualifying for the cup to young Chloe, when she grows up
Laura: We''ve had enough failures as it is already
Chloe: Hey, I know why everyone is so glum today.
Laura: Well, I wasn't expecting a win. A draw would have been nice.
Chloe: Sorry I wasn't around. Feeling a bit weird today.
Elsa: That's OK, when your pregnant you have bad days. We know all about it.

Chloe: I might not be at the finals if we make it
Laura: Just hang in there, you're not due so don't worry.
Elsa: Not that Dallas children born overseas is abnormal
Chloe: Oh yes, I'm one of those too.
Elsa: Nothing to be ashamed of
Laura: We're a mix of all sorts of foreign DNA anyway, we've never claimed to be pure

Elsa: Purity isn't our thing anyway.
Chloe: I ain't no Virgin Mary
Laura: Join the club
Elsa: The mother's club that is
Chloe: I'll be asking for advice, just wait
Laura: Just call if you need help.

[Spaam]

The Lament of Brother Alea

OOC: To the music of, and shamelessly inspired by, Gethsemane from Jesus Christ, Superstar.

I only want to say
If there is a way
Take the World Cup away from me
For we drew against West Saintland
We both scored three,
Now Queen Oruzaadov
Will have me murdered

Then I was inspired
Now I'm sad and tired
Listen surely I've exceeded
Expectations
Tried for three months
Seems like thirty
Could you ask as much
From any other fan?

But if I die
See qualifying through
And do the things you ask of me
Instead of watching Kian Rose
Miss a penalty

I'd want to know
I'd want to know Margaret
I'd want to know
I'd want to know Margaret
I'd want to see
I'd want to see Margaret
I'd want to see
I'd want to see Margaret

Why roll the die
Would our team win more games
Than we ever did before?
Would there be a miracle and see
Veldgouwen draw?

I'd have to know
I'd have to know Margaret
I'd have to know
I'd have to know Margaret
I'd have to see
I'd have to see Margaret
I'd have to see
I'd have to see Margaret

If I die then will we get second?
If I die then will we get second?
I'd have to know
I'd have to know Margaret
I'd have to know
I'd have to know Margaret

Why, won’t you roll the die?
Oh, why roll the die?
Can you show me now
That we would win our final game?
Show us just a little
Of your vengeful master plan

Show me there's a reason
For your improbable die
You're far too keen on odds and chance
But not probability
Please roll the die!
Just roll your die!
See how, I roll the die!
Oh, please roll the die!

Then I was inspired
Now this is a satire
After all I've tried for three months
Seems like ninety
Why then am I scared
To finish what we started
What you started
I didn't start it

Margaret’s will is hard
But you gave me a red card
I will drink the World Cup of poison
Give us a draw three goals to three
Us three, them three
Just three, not a fourth
So we may qualify

[Abristan]

Darren put down the heavy drill he had been lugging around and wiping his dusty hands on the front of his overalls leaned back, stretching the stiff muscles that were the side affect of 6 hours of working on a construction site. He was a member of work crew 17, working on the Mayflower 2017 Stadium, being built for Annafield Harriers, who had been promoted last season at the expense of Port Fenton FC, 5 time former winners of the Super League, and Annafield's arch rivals.

As an Annafield fan he was delighted his side would be competing in top flight football, but couldn't help but feel a sense of melancholy that a former giant of Abristani football could have been demoted to the Championship. Port Fenton had had to release quite a few of their players after being demoted and Annafield had snapped up a few of the big ones, including young midfielder and Abristan U21 captain Coleman Rydson, who was expected to soon make the transition into top tier international football, and the infamous Ismel Al Faucher, recently disgraced for getting into a fight outside a hotel during world cup qualification. The former international star would be a good signing, and hopefully with him up front they could avoid the disgrace of being relegated the season after promotion.

Most of the other members of the work crew were Annafield supporters, apart from Denny and Mikal, the twins from the northern outback, who both predictably supported Northern Territories FC, a solid but unexceptional top flight side, who were led by Abristani right-back Seri Ngundo. Talking of the twins, out of the corner of his eye, Darren spotted Mikal making his way over to him across the rubble and mess of the site. Mikal, who was a bit of a slacker, had managed to sneak off early and was already changed into his casual home-clothes, a red lumberjack shirt, and khaki trousers. Darren laughed as Mikal tripped and stumbled of a cable that someone had forgotten to wind away, and watched as Mikal, hearing him laugh, jokingly gave him the finger and began to wind up the cable. Darren carefully made his way over to Mikal just as he finished wrapping up the electronic cable, which Darren guiltily spotted was the cable of the drill he had left out.

Darren waved amicably as he approached, and Mikal smiled his laid back smile before speaking.

"You alright there Darren? Still working hard I see. When you can find a second or two to get off work me and the lads were going round the pub later, watch the footy maybe. Northern Territories are gonna be playing. We'll have some drinks, it'll be great I promise."

"You do remember I support Annafield right Mikal you daft sod. Thats kinda why I applied to work on this site in the first place. Northern Territories are dreadful anyway. You don't stand a chance against the Elephants. It'll be a massacre. If Carthage don't score at least three before the half-time whistle I'll be shocked", Darren replied, provoking a response.

"Alright mate if you are so sure we can bet on it. Just come down the pub and have a few drinks with us first to get you in the mood, you know. Anyway you never come down the pub anymore. We miss you mate, sometimes. Well, its pretty rare actually..."

"Shut up Mikal. Alright I'll come down with you. But if I'm right about the Elephants you do my shift on Thursday alright?

Mikal grinned. "Game on, buddy".

1 hour later...

Mikal and Denny both groaned as Nick Henman easily tapped the ball past Delroy Franks in the Northern Territories goal to put three up on the board for the Carthage Elephants, in the 45th minute of the game. Darren, Tyler and Ahmed all laughed and Darren leaned over to Mikal to remind him of their bet.

"Tough luck mate. Tough luck", Darren said smugly.

"See, this is why we don't really miss you", Denny said jokingly. "Your predictions are always bloody right! Every time. It's like you know something we don't."

"Im just psychic Denny".

"What, did you get that from your witch of a mother", Tyler cut in and the rest of the group laughed as if it was the funniest thing they had ever heard. "I'm gonna get another round boys, anyone want anything special?"

As Tyler went over to the bar, the commentator on the battered old TV screen in the corner of the pub started to talk about the World Cup.

Meanwhile in the 77th World Cup qualification stage, the Abristani side has beaten Huri de Wintre 5-2 on Matchday 17 to leap frog The Sarian in Group 13

Ahmed looked up angrily. "Whats the fricking point in telling us this now. We're eliminated aren't we, Just like Dar predicted we would be. No need to rub in the fact that we suck".

"We definitely don't 'suck' as you say", Darren replied, "this was our first World Cup, and we were rank outsiders. We've got, what 5 wins now, in the group. I think thats pretty good going for our first time. Another win and we'll overtake Verceola as well, and we'll be 6th in the group, a pretty decent result for a team ranked 183rd in the world. We got one of the toughest groups as well. I mean we had Ceni, Schottia, The Sarian and Starblaydia all in one group, and they are all experienced global football teams. And we beat The Sarian didn't we, and their ranked 52nd in the world."

The 5 - 2 victory was achieved in part thanks to a hat-trick from striker Saabiq El Abassi, who continues his attempt to pick up Abristani player of the tournament. The other goals came from a Szweda free kick and an easy tap-in from captain Jason Welshire.

"Of course it was Saabiq. The guys a legend", said Tyler as he returned from the bar with a round of pints, "He's been playing out of his skin this tournament. I won't want to see how well Magdalen do when he returns from international duty. We've gone them up next in the cup as well, in the semi-final. I reckon this could be our year in the cup. Promotion and the Super Cup, what a double. It we could win that then people would know Annafield meant business."

Manager Matthew Harris is here with us in the studio to discuss the teams recent up and down form...

Ahmed sighed. "Oi, Sammy, turn the TV off will you. I can't bear to here that guy speak again. Its just one bloody cliche after another. Actually change to channel 7, lets see the news, improve our minds, as my old high-school teacher might say".

[Abanhfleft]

Apologies if I don't have a story to accompany the match report this time. I am just too pooped to bother making up one. Normal service will resume when they resume.

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

WORLD CUP 77 QUALIFIERS: ABANHFLEFT VS NEPHARA
By Malik Qazizadah


Abanhfleft national team players in tears after the loss to Nephara at home. (Courtesy of Crescent News Network Sports Channel/Andros Tasasa)

RIUWIEE - Goals from Estrella Hawke and Raquel Naeher scored in both halves to ensure a Nepharim victory over Abanhfleft in the May 26 Revolution Memorial Stadium and that the Cormorants will head into the 77th World Cup most likely at the top of Group 14.

It looked to be a repeat of the heartstopping goalfest which was the reverse fixture back in Sabrefell even as Nephara went into this match-up with a slightly changed lineup deemed to be their strongest in preparation for their World Cup campaign and Abanhfleft had to make some changes of their own forced upon them by injuries.

Kareem Dagen had a golden opportunity to open the scoring when a sloppy back-pass by Gareth Westmead landed kindly for the Rosenpfelblatz City striker but, as had been often the case when Dagen was offered good chances on a silver platter, he conspired to send this one past the wrong side of the goalposts.

Vitaly Zima also had a good headed goal resulting from a Fleftic counter-attack denied by the crossbar before young Estrella Hawke slalomed her way past Kenneth Owobowale and Luke Edwards and slammed the ball into the top of the goal.

Rory Edwards had a good chance to score the equalizer for the hosts but had to contend with Nepharim goalie Gideon Fletcher saving the younger Edwards' free kick with barely a sweat.

Raquel Naeher, who had been almost nonexistent in the reverse fixture, then showed up when it mattered most to the visitors, and it was she who turned in Adnan Szalai's cross from across the box to secure all three points for the Cormorants.

Kevin Kelvin made his first appearance since the hamstring injury he sustained in the league, replacing the largely silent Vitaly Zima and immediately made an impact, and he could very well have scored a consolation goal had the linesman raised his flag and called for offside when further reviews revealed that Kelvin was behind the last defender and the goal should have stood. Kelvin went into the referee's notebook due to his complaints about the disallowed goal.


Abanhfleft manager Ranulph Bustamante: At least we've already qualified by this point

Abanhfleft manager Ranulph Bustamante: "It's another heartbreaking loss. You'd think by this point we've gotten used to being beaten by the best the multiverse has to offer, but more often than not the defeat still stings even though it's against one of the best. And Nephara definitely counts as one of the best."

"At least we've already qualified for the World Cup at this rate. We wanted to win to cement first place in the group but, as it turned out, wanting to top the group is not good enough motivation to actually get it. But we're all young guys with a couple games' experience under our belts. We now know better and that's what matters, in the end."

Abanhfleft will head to Eshan for the final game of World Cup 77 qualification.

ABANHFLEFT 0 - 2 NEPHARA
                 HAWKE (21')
                 NAEHER (53')

NEPHARA
GK: 20 Fletcher █
RB: 2 Westmead (Vyntra - 73')
RCB: 22 Konoval
LCB: 6 Scharner
LB: 3 Lohengrin
RM: 7 Szalai
RCM: 4 Rainsford
LCM: 14 Tarashaj (Gosforth - 80')
LM: 16 Naeher
CF: 17 Hawke
CF: 21 Amokachi

ABANHFLEFT
GK: 1 Varamoninov
RB: 2 Afolayan
RCB: 4 L. Edwards
LCB: 5 Owobowale
LB: 3 Ogigayatsu (Bergkamp - 79')
RM: 20 Okamoto █
CM: 7 Zolnerov
LM: 6 Marilungo
CAM: 10 R. Edwards (El Salah - 53')
RS: 21 V. Zima (Kelvin █ - 70')
LS: 11 Dagen

MATCH STATISTICS
Possession
Abanhfleft: 51%
Nephara: 49%
Shots
Abanhfleft: 13 (5 on target)
Nephara: 19 (8 on target)
Corners
Abanhfleft: 5
Nephara: 7
Fouls
Abanhfleft: 20
Nephara: 14

[Anglatia]

To Kill A Rooster

Chapter Five

The woman woke up to find that she was still alive, at least for now. There was a sack pulled over her head to keep her from being able to see, and she found that her hands were tied together, but she was still alive. The last thing she remembered was the Borde Street Station, the central headquarters of the Alery Gendarmerie, going up in flames. She remembered being thrown from her motorcycle by the shock wave from the explosions, and she remembered hitting her head on the asphalt and being knocked out cold. She couldn’t remember anything after blacking out then and there, but now that she had awoken, she had a good idea of what had happened. Instead of being killed by the incoming mob that was expected to trample over her, she had been captured. They probably wanted to get information from her about the Corsairs, and she couldn’t talk to them if she was dead.

The woman, who was known by both her friends and her enemies as Princess, took a deep breath and focused on her surroundings, and she could hear talking. Arguing, even. There were a bunch of voices speaking in Patierrean, and they were speaking harshly and noisily. They didn’t sound like they were focused on her, even though that was impossible to tell because she couldn’t actually see them. As far as she was concerned, they hadn’t even realized that she had awoken. Princess took another deep breath, and prepared to escape these ropes that bound her. If she got out quick enough, she could take her enemies by surprise while they were arguing. From her knowledge of the local language, it seemed that they were arguing over how they should proceed now that the military had arrived and now that some of the Eastern Brotherhood attacks had been stifled by the Corsairs, and now that the riots had met the same fate in some places.

They also sounded like they were accusing each other of being Imperial spies, and they were trying to understand how there had been resistance to their forces in every place that they were planning to attack. The only answer, they thought, was that one of them was a traitor, and they seemed to be desperate to figure out who it was. Princess realized that this was her chance to get away, because nobody would be focused on her. She was their real enemy, but they all thought that the enemy was one of them. That worked to her advantage. As the argument continued, she started to move her hands back and forth, loosening the ropes that bound them. She wasn’t actually tied to the chair that she was in, but she still wasn’t in any position to go anywhere because her hands were tied. However, the person who had tied her hands hadn’t tied them nearly as tightly as they needed to, for keeping someone like her from getting out of the ropes.

She had done this before, and even though it had been hard the first few times, she was more of an expert at it now. She kept moving her hands from side to side, and even though the friction was starting to hurt her wrists, the ropes were getting looser. Eventually, she pulled back with one hand and pushed forward with the other, and that was enough to make her right hand come free, making the ropes fall off of her left hand and onto the ground. Perfect, she thought, as she sat very still and avoided making any noise. Her captors were so engrossed in their argument that they didn’t even notice that she was free, and she took another deep but silent breath before reaching up very slowly and pulling the sack off of her head.

The light stung her eyes for the first few moments after she could see again, and the light also reminded her that she still had a headache from hitting her head so hard when she was knocked out, but it only took a few seconds for her eyes to adjust to the fluorescent lights that were illuminating the room. And now, she could see her foes clearly. There were about ten of them or so in the room, and they looked like they were from both the New Democratic Forces of Patierre and from the Gold Hands. One group was a militia fighting for reform, and the other one was an anarchist collective that wanted to crash the system entirely and do away with the state. Their alliance had been one of necessity and not mutual like for one another, but now that they had run into trouble, it was rapidly crumbling as both of the sides called each other traitors and accused them of being Imperial spies. Of course, there was only one actual Imperial spy in the room, and Princess recognized him as the one who was speaking the loudest and throwing around the most accusations towards the NDFP.

She didn’t know if she could survive a fight with all of them, but she did realize that this provided a prime opportunity. The Gold Hands were nothing without support from the Democratic Forces, who had experience in both war and insurgency and were the ones who had real guns instead of the makeshift weapons that the Hands had scraped together, and there was a chance that Princess could end things right here for the NDFP by taking out their leader, Clovis Decuir. She was familiar with him… She knew that he was an ex soldier in the first Democratic Forces, who had given up a comfortable life here at Alery University to join yet another insurgency, this time as a leader. Now, he was distracted by the arguments that were going on and hadn’t even noticed that their prisoner in the back of the conference room was free.

That was where they were. A conference room, with maps and papers and battle plans spread across the table, and a TV playing in the background that was showing the news. The news channel was displaying the current scene from Alery University, and they seemed to be using it to get intel from the fronts where their Captains and Lieutenants weren’t reporting in. These riots were turning out to be harder than they had expected, because the resistance had meant that some of their leading officers had died and left them without links to the field. And while these riots were designed for maximum chaos, they would never work without coordination and careful planning to maximize their effectiveness and minimize casualties. When they started losing leaders and when communications broke down, especially on the University front, they started losing the war entirely.

Princess examined the room carefully and plotted her attack on Clovis. There were two others that she would have to take out to get to him, because they were standing closeby. Or she could go straight for him and sacrifice her own life to end his. She wasn’t completely opposed to that, because there was little chance of getting out of here alive anyway. While still controlling her breathing to a slow pace, she reached to her waist to check to see what weapons she had. These idiots hadn’t taken any of them from her, except for her assault rifle. She still had her knives, she still had a pistol that had a full clip, and she had a pair of smaller throwing knives that she could maybe use to take out a few of her enemies from across the room.

There was a clear path for her, she decided. She would take a running start, and while everyone would be confused for a few moments before they realized what had happened, she would jump onto the table and use that to launch a leaping attack on Clovis and the NDFP leaders that were standing around him. If she could take anyone else out before they got to her, that would be an added bonus, and if she could get to the door on the east side of the room after that and escape, that would be even better. But the main goal was getting to Clovis, and as she blinked a couple of times to regain her focus and started planning her run, that was the only thing she was thinking about.

One chance. That was all she had to end this rebellion right here. There wouldn’t be do overs. She was outnumbered ten to one, and if she screwed any part of this up, it would mean the death of her. There was no more time for waiting, however, and no matter how risky this was, it was important that she did it now. As the argument continued and more insults and accusations flew around the room, Princess leapt out of her chair and started her charge towards the NDFP leaders. She jumped halfway across the table and took a running start off of the end of it, like she had been planning, and as she was making her run, she reached to her waist and grabbed one of her throwing knives. Nobody even knew what was happening yet, but she flung the knife towards the first leader with a quick flick of her wrist and it went into his neck, dropping him to the ground immediately. The others shouted in confusion and looked over, and just before she jumped from the table to the ground again, Princess went back to her waist.

She unsheathed one of her long knives and after jumping to the ground, she stabbed it right into the chest of the other guy that was standing next to Clovis, and then shoved him away while the knife was still in his chest and pulled Clovis in front of her. By now, the guns were being raised, and the rebels had began firing at her with pistols and other small arms. Bad decision. She had moved quickly enough to push Clovis in front of her before the bullets started flying, and none of them ended up hitting her. Instead, they hit him, although she imagined that some of the rebels didn’t quite mind taking out the leader of the NDFP. After all, the Democratic Forces had been outnumbered by the Hands in this meeting, seven to three. There was more shouting now, as they realized what they had done wrong and stopped shooting for a moment. Too late.

Princess dropped Clovis’ body to the ground after reaching for her own pistol, and she decided to test out her own quick shooting skills. She was better with a bladed weapon, but like all Corsairs, she wasn’t terrible with a pistol in her hand either. Their combat training had served her well, and she angled her body towards her attackers and sprayed four quick shots towards them. The first shot hit one of the Hands leaders in the forehead and killed him before he could take another shot at her. The second hit a Gold Hands member in the heart and was enough to make him drop his own pistol. As someone tried to creep around the table and flank her from the other side, she reached for her last throwing knife and threw it straight into the man’s abdomen, pinning him to the wall and making him drop his gun.

She hadn’t taken out everyone, but she’d come as close as she was going to. It was time to run now. She used the rest of her bullets as cover fire as she started to back out of the room, but she wasn’t safe just yet. The one Hands leader that was left fired a shotgun at her, and even though she wasn’t hit directly, she was still in the line of fire. And she still felt some of the shotgun projectiles entering her abdomen, causing her to cry out in pain as she backed towards the door. She fired off her last bullet and forced her attacker to duck, as she reached out with her other hand and opened the door just enough to slip out and to run into the hallway.

The pain from getting shot was increasing in waves, but the adrenaline rush of the moment was helping to drown it out just enough for her to keep running. That was the only thing on her mind. Not the pain, but running and getting away from this and getting to safety. Now that she was in the hall, she realized that she was in the campus library that was being used as the headquarters for the rebels. Shit. That meant that there would be plenty of other enemies around. As she ran, she reloaded her pistol and started towards the elevator. Now, the pain was increasing even more. She reached down and touched her abdomen, only to pull her hand back up and find that there was blood all over it. This wasn’t good.

By the time the elevator arrived on her floor, she had to keel over momentarily because of the pain, and it made her eyes water and her hands shake. Was she dying? Was this what the first stage of death felt like? Some said that death was peaceful, but she was anything but peaceful right now. As Princess stepped into the elevator and managed to push the button to go to the ground floor, she felt the opposite of peaceful. The pain was becoming unimaginable, and she couldn’t stop her whole body from shaking and she couldn’t focus through it. The elevator arrived at its destination, and she stumbled out and tried to make her way through the lobby and outside.

The one thing that could distract her from the pain was the scene outside. No longer was this area a bastion for the rebels, that was completely held by them. There was a huge battle going on, between them and the Imperial Army. She saw warplanes streaking through the sky and filling the area with the roaring sound of their engines, and she saw soldiers making tactical advances behind the lumbering metal masses of Imperial IFVs and tanks. The full force of the Empire had arrived, and this idea of the rebels having a lightning war was over. Now that the military had arrived, it looked like the rebellion was crumbling faster than it had began. It was utter chaos. There were fires blazing, buildings collapsing, buildings that had been hit by airstrikes… There were helicopters circling and firing at targets on the ground with machine guns, and there were armored vans that were setting themselves up as cover for both sides. There was screaming from both sides. There were officers barking orders, and soldiers shouting battle cries. Every so often, there would be an explosion that would drown out the noise of the jet engines and the diesel fueled sound of the tanks.

Princess couldn’t take her eyes off of the scene, even as she stepped outside of the library and she collapsed to the ground. The concrete sidewalk below her started to turn red as she continued to bleed, and the pain was still there. But it was less in the forefront of her mind and more in the background. So maybe this was what death was like. Maybe it was like lying here with no energy to get up, feeling pulled towards sleep. That was all she wanted to do, sleep, and she couldn’t resist the temptation to close her eyes. She drifted off right there, in the middle of the battle, and there was finally peace for her. Even in the middle of the bloodiest night in this region’s history.

=====

When the sun rose, it was all over. That was what the Corsairs and the group of Imperial Intelligence agents realized as they walked through the destroyed wreckage of Alery University. They had thought that this wouldn’t be the end, that there would be another insurgency and another war for independence, but they knew now that the war had taken too much out of the enemy. They had lost enough that they were in no position to rise again any time soon, if ever. Tens of thousands lay dead in the street, with the casualty count rising dramatically when the military rolled in to enforce the martial laws that had been set out as soon as the occupation began. The University, which had been the hub of the rebellion since the start, was completely destroyed, mostly by airstrikes and by the fires that the rioters had set to certain buildings.

“I’m sure you already know all of this, but for anyone that doesn’t, let’s go over the outcome,” said Agent Ashton Doolan, of Imperial Intelligence. “The Gold Hands were shattered completely by losing their main leader and more than seventy five percent of their leading officers. Their officers died in battle, with some of them being taken out by your guys, and with some of them falling after refusing to retreat when the military arrived. They were the most fanatic fighters out of everyone involved, because they weren’t willing to live with the reality of a loss. They kept fighting down to the last man, and that meant that very few of their full time members survived the battle. While the normal rioters broke and routed, the Hands refused to rout and many of them died here or in the city center. Their main leader, Eshe Al-Hatem, was found dead via stab wound in the library when we searched for bodies. Their other leader, James Vodenicharov, is missing in action, and it’s believed that he’s fled to the seaside to lay low.”

“Why do you believe that Al-Hatem was stabbed?” asked Jose Sorondo, curious and wondering about the circumstances behind the death of the Hands leader that he had been told so much about through intel. “Was it by one of your men, or someone else? I know you wanted to retrieve the leaders for interrogation and to uncover their connections.”

“The situation is unclear, but according to the team that was sent to retrieve her, she was found that way. Our agent claims that she was likely betrayed by an ally, because she was attempting to flee and leave her group behind when the battle started going badly for her and her men,” explained Ashton. “When she died, she was wearing street clothes instead of her rebel outfit, leading us to believe that she really was planning on running from the battle. We also recovered her phone and found messages between her and an Eastern Brotherhood contact in East Kisote. Apparently, she intended on fleeing there and laying low until her reputation died down. However, we also found messages between her and a girlfriend, who she promised to return to. I think you might be interested in knowing that her girlfriend is a football player in your country. Alisandra Vacek… She’s from the Empire of Anglatia, and that’s apparently where she met Eshe. We couldn’t determine if Eshe really intended to return to Vacek, or if she was going to hide with the Eastern Brotherhood in their turf.”

“Our intel has led us to believe that Al-Hatem could be quite the snake at times. I wouldn’t be surprised if she was prepared to abandon Vacek and start a new life with the Brotherhood. After all, they’re nearly blood to her,” remarked Benton Singer, referring to how Eshe’s parents had been members of the Eastern Brotherhood. “Anyway, what happened to the rest of the rebels? The Hands were destroyed completely, but did any of the other groups come out intact?”

“I believe the only group that still has a strong presence is the Goths,” said Ashton, pausing to think for a moment. “They’ve never been soldiers, but simply street thugs. When things got bad and when the military arrived, they made a collective decision to disperse and leave this to be the problem of the real rebels. They know that we’re still a threat to wipe them out, but they knew that they would get wiped out in this city anyway if they kept fighting and they decided to live to fight another day. The other main groups involved were the New Democratic Forces of Patierre and the Eatsern Brotherhood, and the former was destroyed almost completely. Their forces held up well, and very well against the gendarmes that were deployed across the city, but they suffered from poor communication when their field officers started dropping in battle. Their leaders were also found dead by us. Some of them had been shot and others had been stabbed or hit with throwing knives. It actually looked like one of your men had done this, since I know you Corsairs have an affinity for blades.”

Jose raised an eyebrow. “We didn’t deploy anyone to campus except for Mark Gaudin, a scout who, if I recall correctly, also helped your agent with finding Eshe. He fed us information, but I don’t think that he took down any leaders. Even though he’s one of our affiliates, he’s not quite one of us. He doesn’t have our combat skills, he’s more of a brains over brawn type of guy.”

As they continued walking through the campus, towards the library, Ashton shrugged. “Well, it wasn’t any of our men that killed all of those rebel leaders. Our guys don’t even carry knives, except for some special units that use them in close quarters. We wouldn’t have throwing knives, either, and we wouldn’t know how to use them if we did. Whoever used them was an expert, and they also killed the leader of the NDFP, Clovis Decuir. The Eastern Brotherhood got luckier. They traveled in small numbers and that made it easier for them to slip away when things got bad. Their men were under direct control of two of their Warrant Officers, who both changed the orders and had them retreat when it wasn’t in the script that the Gold Hands wrote for all of the involved groups. They did, however, take out Borde Street Station, and I have to admit that they did it in impressive fashion.”

They arrived in the square outside the library, where the bodies were still being cleaned up by the local police forces. A lot of them were being loaded into trucks, while some others were still covered by white sheets, and others were uncovered while officers tried to identify them as important members of the rebellion. There were also some burned out IFVs and armored vans, and plenty of burned out buildings surrounding the library that was still standing. “So what’s going to happen to the country now? We’re going to keep enforcing the authority of the Empire in the streets, but what’s happening up top? Martial law wasn’t enough to prevent this. What’s going to change to keep this from happening in Saint Rainier in six or so months when this is in the back of everyone’s memory?”

Ashton took a long pause, because even he wasn’t sure, even though he was the head of the Patierre branch of Imperial Intelligence. “To be honest, I don’t know. I would like to say I had an answer, but if I knew how to fix this country and its rebellion issues, I would in a political office much higher than Regional Director in Imperial Intelligence. I think the ruling family is going to really tighten up on security and start some mass surveillance. Believe it or not, we in Intelligence didn’t get to set up that much on the island before this happened. Now, after this, we can see why it’s so important that we do our jobs and put out these fires before they happen. If we’d made some early arrests and taken this down in the planning stage, tens of thousands of people would still be alive. Of course, sometimes you need something like this to prove a point. There aren’t going to be any idiots claiming that Intelligence should have its budget cut now, after our work kept this minor uprising from turning into a country wide revolt that would have fucked the economy up through the entire Empire. You guys helped us too, but what we did was still based largely on the intel that we gathered... And we would have had far more intel if we had more bodies on this island.”

“I have to admit, I have a new respect for you and your work,” said Benton Singer. “Unlike Jose here, I grew up in Anglatia. So I’ve known you guys forever, but I never thought that I would see the day when our Corsairs and your Intelligence agents are fighting side by side, but I suppose a common enemy unites all. There’s been some talk that we’d be at odds in the future, but I don’t think so, as long as the Emperor still needs someone to dominate the streets here.”

As Ashton was going to speak again, they could hear two motorcycles approaching, and they stopped and watched as two more riders arrived in the square, wearing Corsairs jackets and no helmets. Or rather, one of the female riders was wearing a Corsairs jacket and the other wore a Sea Monsters jacket. This was Scout Jonsdottir and Jessi Mariano, who were finally regrouping after laying low in the suburbs during the battle. As soon as Jessi climbed off of her bike, she ran over to Jose to hug her adoptive father, and she’d never been happier to see him. “Okay, I know what you said now when you said that riding with the Corsairs is rough,” she said. “I’m so happy to be back, somewhere safe…”

Scout climbed off of her bike and approached the group too, but her face was more somber. It was obvious to anyone that looked at her that she wasn’t comfortable with what had just went down on Borde Street, and she looked like she was second guessing her decisions. “I apologize for arriving late. Long story short, it was hell on Borde Street and we had to make a diversion and head to the suburbs. The cell coverage was down, too, so there was no way for us to contact you. I think the rebels took out a cell tower by accident when they started a big fire that spread from the buildings.”

“That’s fine. I’m just glad that you and Jessi are unharmed. I was informed about what happened at Borde Street, and all of us were worried when we didn’t get any contact with you,” asked Jose, before pausing and seeing that there were only two of the three riders that had been sent to protect the station. “Where is Princess…?”

“No idea, but I think she’s dead. She got thrown off of her bike and knocked out by the shock wave, and we couldn’t afford to wait for her to wake up. We tried to wait for her before riding away, but she wasn’t waking up, and I think the mob of rioters got to her,” sighed Scout, looking away and not meeting Jose’s eye. “We really did wait as long as we could, but… They were coming fast and the battle was starting and there was no chance of all of us surviving if we waited any longer to run. I’m sorry. I know Corsairs don’t run, and I never wanted it to happen this way.”

“This Princess of yours, she was one of your riders?” asked Ashton. “You can tell me what she looked like and I can see if that description matches up with any of the Corsair bodies that my men recovered. I’ve looked through their reports and it seems that only a few of your group died. It shouldn’t be hard to identify someone. Did she have any identifying marks that would be visible, or anything in her outfit that would tell her apart?”

“She had long brown hair, green eyes, pale skin, and she wore makeup all of the time… Even in battle. That’s why we called her Princess. She would have been wearing a black biking jacket like mine, and the back of it would have the Corsairs laughing skull logo. But because she was part of the female wing, she would have had a pink skull patch on her right sleeve. She also wore an Imperial flag patch on her jacket, directly below that. I think she was carrying a bunch of knives on her too, if that helps-” started Scout.

Ashton held up a hand and snapped his fingers. “I know who you’re talking about. Let me take you to the spot where we found her,” he said, waving the group towards the library. He started in that direction, and then stopped on the sidewalk right outside the library entrance, where there was a body covered in a white sheet. “This is actually one of the people that my men think may have killed the NDFP leaders. She’s the only Corsair that we found on the campus, and she left a trail of blood leading into the library, which we know was being used as the rebel headquarters. She was wearing a jacket just like the one that you described, and you say that she was carrying knives. Well, the attacker who killed Clovis Decuir and some of the other rebel leaders used throwing knives and at least one dagger. I believe that it may have been this woman.”

“Show me the body,” Scout said, trying to keep her voice from getting emotional. Jessi didn’t realize it at first, but Scout had lost a long time friend last night. The closeness between the two had only become apparent after Princess’ death. Jessi moved behind Scout, and put a hand on her shoulder as she peeked around her and at the white sheet.

“Are you sure you want to look at the actual body? We basically know by now that it’s her… I’m not sure you want to see this,” Jessi said, but Scout shifted her shoulders to push her away before reaching down and pulling the sheet off. As soon as she did, they knew that this was indeed the third member of their group. Scout recognized Princess immediately, and she dropped to her knees and held her head in her hands. Jessi just looked away, hugging Jose again and staring in the other direction.

“This is my fault… This is all my fault…” Scout muttered under her breath, before reaching for Princess’ dagger and holding it in her hands. She stared at it briefly before putting it in her own empty sheath, and she couldn’t hold back the tears. She couldn’t believe that because of her, the only thing that she had left of her friend was a dagger. She unzipped Princess’ jacket, too, and reached around her neck to remove the dog tag that had hung around her neck under her jacket, suspended by a silver chain.

“Is this a Corsair thing?” asked Ashton, in a low voice. Jessi forced herself to look back at Sout, and nodded.

“Removing the weapons of the dead. When one of our own dies, we take their weapons and some of their other things and split them among the person’s closest friends,” explained Jessi. “Since Scout and Princess were close, she’s taking all of her weapons for herself. She’s probably going to put the dagger on her mantle… Above the trophies that she’s won from opponents through the years.”

They were all silent, and the only noise was that of Scout’s sobs as she went through her friend’s clothes to remove more and more weapons. She pulled a pair of brass knuckles out of a jacket pocket, taken the pistol that was holstered at Princess’ waist, and found a pair of tiny knives within an inside jacket pocket. She pocketed all of her findings, and then lowered her head in defeat and mumbled something in a Valerian dialect. “Kveðja, minn besti vinur… Getur þú fundið örugga leið inn í næsta ríki,” she started, and then she resisted the urge to break down completely into tears. Her voice was trembling, and she had to force herself to continue. “Og megum við hittast í dauðanum.”

“That was a pagan prayer,” Jessi whispered to Ashton, in a low enough tone that Scout couldn’t hear. “She thinks that Princess had a good death, which is going to help her in the afterlife. I know it sounds silly to you as a native of Anglatia, which is mostly Christian, but don’t say anything to her about it. It’s how she’s coping with it.”

“I won’t say a word,” promised Ashton, as the other members of the group waited for Scout to get up. After two or three more minutes on the ground, she stood up and faced the others again, with no tears on her face. Just like that, she was back to normal. At least, on the surface she was. It wasn’t possible to tell what she was feeling on the inside, but she was able to suppress her feelings enough to keep herself coherent and calm, at least. That was one of the reasons why she was a major high ranking member of the gang. No matter what happened, Scout was still going to act like her composed self.

And so, with that, it was over, at least for the Corsairs crew. This rebellion wouldn’t turn into a full blown war, and while they didn’t know it fully at the time, it was because of the sacrifice of one of their own. And that, Scout thought, was what Princess would have wanted.

=====

Days after the battle for the north of Patierre ended, the hooded woman was far away from that island. She was across an ocean in Ross, the capital of this Empire that had just defeated the Patierrean Independence movement on the field of battle in Alery, and she was inside the biggest seat of power for that Empire, the Ross palace. More specifically, she was inside the throne room, as a visitor of the Emperor, and as soon as she stepped inside, she took five or six steps forward and then kneeled before removing her hood.

Her thick black hair expanded as soon as the hood was removed, and she looked up and directed her piercing eyes towards the young man on the throne, Emperor Colden. It was by his insistence that she had been brought here, instead of returning to her native Nordskania. However, she had no intention of going through with what he wanted. She had her own plans, and those plans clashed heavily with his plans for her. He wanted to make her into something that she wasn’t, and she was here to explain why that wouldn't work. “Rise, Darya,” the Emperor commanded, and she rose from her kneel and walked further forward towards the throne.

She took a deep breath, and started to deliver the message that she had come here to say. “I came all the way from Alery to tell you personally that I’m not interested in entering politics again. I know that you think I would be the perfect compliment to your brother in the new Patierrean government, but that just isn’t going to work for a variety of reasons. I experienced politics as the head of a small state and as the head of government in that state, the one who made the important decisions, and I found that bureaucracy isn’t for me. While I appreciate the offer to join the government in a position of power, and while I want to thank you for putting enough trust in me to offer me this position, I have to reject. All of the red tape in politics isn’t ideal for me, and I’d prefer to do things my own way going forward.”

“And what are you going to do now if you don’t join the occupation government in Patierre?” asked Emperor Colden, genuine curiosity in his voice. “You were a leader in the State of Nordskania. In Patierre, you can work in the background and bring about change and make important decisions while not taking the heat for them, or dealing with the bureaucracy directly. It’s the perfect position for you, and not near as dangerous as your last line of work.”

“I’m a contra at heart, Colden. That’s what I’ve always been and what I always will be. I don’t want to be in the spotlight as the leader of a country, even in the background. I don’t want to follow the rules set out by lawmakers and politicians, either. I’m a pragmatist, and they get in the way of that. I’m going to disappear now that I did you this favor and took down the Gold Hands, with a few of my other allies… But I promise that this isn’t the last time we’ll see each other,” said Darya, pausing and taking another deep breath. “I follow the winds of change, and when things change too far to the left, you will find me pushing them back to the right. I care about making a difference in the world, I really do. But the truth is, I think I make a bigger difference as a contra and a counterrevolutionary than I do as a politico. I hope you respect that.”

“Of course, Darya. It’s your life, your career, and your choice,” Colden replied, though he sounded a bit disappointed. “Do what you want with it. I’m sure that you’re right when you say that we’ll see each other again… Let’s just hope that you’re fighting for the same factions that we are.”

Darya bowed slightly, and a smile crossed her face. “Perfect. Now, like I said, I’m going to disappear. You won’t hear from me for awhile, and I’m not going to say where I’m going because I don’t want anyone to follow me, no matter how close they are to me. All I can say is that when we see each other again, there’s a high chance that it’s in the desert.”

[Schottia]

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SBCNEWS Online...
Football special - The Road to San Jose Guayabal and Quebec... One game to go.

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With just one round of fixtures remaining, the curtain is about to come down on what has been a very successful qualification campaign from a Schottic point of view. There are plenty of positives to be drawn from this, as for the first time in six year, we really got our act together and put in some consistent performances. With seventeen matches already played, Schottia, like many of the sides in the tournament, can afford to relax. Our 5-1 win over The Sarian in Esportiva made it mathematically impossible for Starblaydia catch us, despite the five-times world champions putting up a spirited fight. All that remains to play for are the coveted bragging rights, should we go on to top the group ahead of our fellow left-leaning islanders, Ceni.

Schottia have been very strong going forward, as things stand, our tally of 54 has us currently third in terms of goals scored. The biggest improvement however has been at the back, where an average of one goal conceded per game, has been a decent improvement for a side who have always had more of an emphasis on attack. Lionel Mah seems to have worked wonders in the way he has turned the defence around, and with it, the team's fortunes. It has been a long, slow progression, and while during the Independents Cup we saw a fighting edge creep its way into the Schottic game, there now seems to be a ruthlessness to go with it. Concentration levels appear to be the key, as well as the fact that Mah has been able to field a more or less unaltered back line throughout the tournament. Stephen Paul and Gareth Souter look to have worked out a good understanding, while Larry Watt and Paul Doig have done everything asked of them in the wingback positions. Moreover, whenever the likes of Mark Ünterhausen, Bella Thompson, and Molly Killanen have been called upon to step up to the plate, they have risen to the task.

Up front, the biggest difference by far has been the way Corrine Martel-Burns seems to have come to the fore as a striker. Since winning her first cap aged sixteen, we had a sneaking suspicion that she was destined for great things, but the difference over the last two years has been her discipline and consistence. While her antics both on and off the park are still a font of material of journalists, Lionel Mah seems to have been able to channel her energy more productively than his predecessor. While missing three games through suspension might seem like a lot by other players' standards, trust me when I say that this is good for her. In addition to the St Johns Arsenal livewire, Eoin Killanen and Chloe Rudden have been as strong as we expected, with Kim Coultan probably the most consistent over the course of the tournament so far. The Crawford City star might have been a little disappointed to have missed out on UICA football with her Cosumarite club, but she has been more than making up for it in the national team.

In the middle of the park, captain Jenny McDonald has shown phenomenal consistency. While we probably shouldn't mock the standard of the league in Port Christopher, there was some concerns as to how the 29-year-old would fair, making the more to Coret Hawks (something the Nepharim media seemed to pick up too). However the extra game time, and more consistent domestic fixture list appears to have stood her in good stead for this elongated WCQs. Alongside her, Johannas Ünterhausen, Evelyn Conjure, and Vera Cummings have all been given game time, as competition for those places has been fierce.

Finally, taking a look at where things currently stand in the other fourteen groups - particularly where there might be some Schottic interest:

Group-One is already sewn up - but personally, I would say the writing has been on the wall there for a while. Other than a surprise defeat to Lanzo, Chromatika have looked very solid once again, as WC-76's fourth place finishers continue to go from strength to strength, justifying their place in the world's top-ten. We expected their main challenge to come form Krytenia, the side that defeated them so convincingly in the AOCAF final. However, it was to be Red Blackiland who pushed Silian Parker's side the hardest, set to finish second, ensuring the Dragons became one of WC77's first high profile casualties.

Group-Two contains many familiar faces, as well as some very recent opponents for Schottic fans. Our opponents from the Cup of Harmony final, Bonesea, have secured top spot, but they certainly didn't have it all their own way. The side from the Boreal Islands, which include Handon United's JK Cottle in their ranks, will need to wait until the final round of fixtures to see which one of three sides joins them. Barunia currently sit in second, but face the nail-biting prospect of facing Drawkland in the final match. The team from Sonnel seem to be much improved from the side Schottia beat 4-0 in the opening match of the Independents Cup, having now adjusted to the pace of WCC football. Depending on how this match goes, Jerusalem could still sneak it though, as they look to end their lengthy wait for a return to the World Cup finals.

Group-Three is also sewn up, with top seeds Valladares and Semarland claiming first and second respectively. Despite a strong challenge from up and coming sides Amnarei-asud, Qasden, and Tumbra, there were to be no big surprises here. The same could also be said for Group-Five, which will see Pasarga finish top ahead of Super Llamaland, with the writing well and truly on the wall there. Group-Four by contrast saw second seeds West Saintland struggle, particularly at the start, with Spaam, and our Independents Cup final opponents, Veldgouwen, proving to be the main challenge to top seeds Eura. There is still everything to play for in this one, with no one entirely out of the woods yet.

Group-Six is shaping up for a grandstand finish, with Anglaita, Eastfield Lodge and Turori all separated by a single point. Top Seeds Brenecia have fallen out of the running however, in what on paper, looked like one of the most even groups. Eastfield Lodge have been hanging in there at the top for a long time, and with Angliata at home in the last match, they at least know that their destiny is in their own hands. Turori will need to make sure that they hold strong though, and get the result they need to snap up whatever is left after the top two inevitably try to take each other out.

Quite unsurprisingly in Group-Seven, Farfadillis have already booked their tickets for either San José Guayabal or Quebec. One draw and one defeat, the same as Schottia, has ensured that they ran out deserved winners, in a group where the other sides seemed to take a lot of points off of one and other. Our little cousins, Port Christopher, currently sit second, and a draw in their final will match most likely be enough to take them to a second World Cup finals. Given the limited recourses at manager Jim Reid's disposal, it would be another remarkable feat, were he able to hold Chiata off.

Group-Eight has already been won, with Ethane looking absolutely unstoppable, going through the first seventeen matches unbeaten. On this kind of form, The Red Kites are going to be one of the sides the top seeds are looking to avoid in the group draw for the finals. With Curtis Steeling's side racing away with it, three into two clearly didn't go, and Electrum and Damukuni are now embroiled in a fierce battle for second. At the moment it's advantage to the Esportivans, so, however things go in the final match, we are set to see another big side miss out.

In Group-Nine, Valanora lost their perfect recorded after a draw with Flardania in the last match, but there is no denying they've had a fantastic run this campaign. Laborious Hawk and Co. have had this one in the bag for a long time, but the real fascinating battle is between second third and fourth. Flardania have done very well to claw their way back into contention for second, but with Brigantii a point ahead of them with a game to go, it will be difficult for them to get their noses back in front.

Similarly to our situation, the remaining groups are all done and dusted as far as qualification is concerned. That said, it is unlikely anyone will want to take their foot of the pedal at this late stage. There have been a couple more SPL players booking their place in the finals too, with Kit Kvanderwyk and Daniel Dostalok progressing with their respective teams. Kvanderwyk seems to have continued on from what was his best ever season with Cornellians, as his nation, Cosumar, are currently sitting a very comfortable second behind Gregoryisgodistan. And Handon United's rising star, Dostalok, became the third player form that club to book his ticket, after the impressive looking Mercedini guaenteed themselves second spot behind Vilita. Also, in Group-Fourteen, former Lammerton loanee, Estrella Hawke, seems to be making an impact in for Nephara. The striker who scored 22 goals as a 19-year-old in the SPL, is clearly building on that success. As for Cornellians' star Jade Irwin, it would be foolish to second guess Reinhard Shale's plans, however we may need to wait and see if she makes it on the plane. A win over Abanfleft in the last game, means that Nephara will most likely top the group.

As for our fellow Tyranians, Kirisaki and Mar de la Plata, they found the going a little tougher than we expected in Group-Ten. Kirisaki, who fielded a team of supernatural being, are currently sitting a very respectably fourth (although I would have expected better from team of gods and goddesses). Meanwhile Mar de la Plata faced a steep learning curve in their first tournament, but they have got ten points on the board so far, and there is definitely hope there for the future. Inevitably heavyweights, Audioslavia and Osarius secured first and second, with the other sides running out of stamina a little towards the end.

Last, but most certainly not least, Group-Fifteen definitely deserves a mention. The Holly Empire currently sit top, on 45 points and - Eighty - Seven - Goals (Yeah, and we thought we were doing well...) They, along with double World Champions, the Unified Sunrise Islands, who sit a point behind in second, have qualified with excellent records.

[Boring Paradise]

Part 1

People have asked what happened to the country of Westfield House, a former state of Boring Paradise that went independent taking over land as well from the grasp of Boring Paradise. Even after the split there were some disputes in Westfield house, there was a group of people who were loyalists towards Boring Paradise had caused trouble from strikes to riots and even breaking laws just to get to the government. Meanwhile in Boring Paradise, there was little change but the everyday lifestyle of the country as a whole remained intact, however in the background, the backalleys deals were being made that had caught the attentions of the Paradisian agencies.

Time went on and the unrest in Westfield House grew further, larger numbers of people started to realize that it wasn't right to split but the government kept it under control, managing to keep sanity on the streets. Back in Boring Paradise, investigation on the mysterious activities occurring on their streets continue as more reports are coming in but with no results coming in. Maybe it was a hoax but they doubt that it was the case as they monitor the situation from the sidelines. It only took another week until they had interfered with a shipment from outside the region to a group of leading mafia groups within the country taking the cargo, whose items have been kept private from public acknowledgement. Does this mean that the items are either of little importance or may create panic within the populous.

The Paradisian docks were on high alert by local authorities and agencies which meant that shipments were highly secured and cargo were protected. However, this led to attacks on the actual cargo ships from a group people are not aware of, there is speculation that it is not even from Boring Paradise and is from some other nation sharing the same waters as us. Further investigation of these stolen shipments are being dealt with the foreign department in Boring Paradise, but they have not been so friendly in releasing details of it to anyone.

[Brigantii]

“Do you know what this is?”

The players shrugged.

“This is the biggest game of your careers to date.”

The top four in group 9 were clashing. Valanora, guaranteed of a top place finish were playing Flardania, who led the Stags by a solitary point, while Brigantii hosted Sameba. Between 2nd and 4th there were two points and wins for any of the three would put them in the driving seat going into the final round of fixtures.

Two games back Brigantii maintained their pursuit of a coveted spot in the World Cup, rolling over Turkmenbasyn in front of a muted home section.

The team who were bottom of Group 9, with 0 wins and 3 draws – 1 of which was against Brigantii earlier in the campaign were gifted few opportunities and were trailing after only 11 minutes. Aaron Ramsbottom, who had been quiet in the previous few games, launched the ball from 40 yards out and the speculative effort caught the visiting keeper unawares and found the back of the net. The Stags doubled their lead with a well taken header in the 39th minute. Making space in the Turkmenbasyn box, Darrel Fry connected with Stephen McNamara's cross and headed beyond the outstretched arm of the away keeper.

A third and decisive goal was scored 2 minutes into injury time in the first half. Rather than clearing the ball into row Z, a travelling defender dawdled in possession and was caught out, eventually giving away a corner. Standing in for Leroy Emmet, Terence Shelby was on hand to scramble the ball in and score his first goal for Brigantii.

After the win over Turkmenbasyn the Stags faced the Mercenary Islands, a team who brought about an 8 goal thriller at the Warbury Stadium. Little is known about the Mercenary Islands, but the Stags didn't let that stop them, adding a third straight win in qualifying to their record. The game was lighter on goals than the previous fixture but the goals that did come came the way of the visitors. Darrel Fry, who scored for the second consecutive game opened the scoring with a deft header, before Rookscroft United forward Zack Wilbraham added a second with a powerful volley from the left hand side of the box.

Now they were up against Sameba, a defeat would surely put the dreams of a World Cup to bed, while a win would keep the possibility wide open, a possibility of qualifying for the World Cup after only three attempts.

“You know the F.A. has turned us into pantomime villains, every time we step out people want to see us get beat. The people don't know that you are good men, thrust into a bad situation. But we need to put that to the back of our heads and concentrate on getting a result. We've already beaten Sameba once. We just need to do that again.”

There was a murmur in the dressing room. Brigantii might have beaten Sameba, but that had surely been a touch of luck and a team riding high on an unbeaten run. Now, it was crunch time, the pressure was on and for the majority of the Stags they had yet to face this kind of pressure. Norman Atkins had felt something like this before. Several years ago, whilst managing Brigantii club Landfell, the now national team coach had led his side to the final of the league cup. Landfell had never been in a cup final in their 130 year history and the fairy tale was set to be written as they faced Brierthorne.

That day his team was beaten 2-0 and he had to brush himself off and get back to work. That day was his lowest point in his managerial career. But, would pale in comparison should Brigantii lose at home and bow out of the qualifying campaign.

It wasn't to be, at least not yet as Brigantii set about putting their fate in their own hands. A 22nd minute opener from top scorer Michael Irwin set the ball rolling. A second for the Real Minanda forward 1 minute into extra time and Atkins dared to dream. The entire country dared to dream. In the 56th minute, captain and Brigantii stalwart Jarred Stevenson lashed the ball in from the edge of the box and the visiting team looked like they were on the ropes as their own qualification run looked to be stuttering. The fourth, a penalty converted by Trevor Winter was the icing on a particularly delicious cake.

On the touchline, the normally composed Atkins raced towards his striker and embraced the goal scorer. Speaking after the game, he said “this is the greatest day of my career” beaming into a television camera. The fans at home, and anybody else watching for that matter, could see the pride in his face.

The win, coupled with Flardania's draw with Valanora catapulted the Stags into second place in the group, with only one game to go.

After the game Norman was back home. He had travelled straight from the stadium, down the motorways and country roads and arrived back to his wife Ellen. She'd watched the match on television, not normally one for football, despite being married to a football fan, she had watched gleefully as her husband and her country took a giant step towards a world cup. She was already in bed when he arrived home and didn't rouse when he crept in beside her. It wasn't until the phone rang that she woke up.

Norman answered the call and she heard his side of the conversation. “Hello” “Yes” “Yes” “Extremely well” “Oh” “Well that's not fair” “What do you mean non-negotiable?” then “bastards” as the phone was hung up.

“Who was that?” Ellen asked her red faced husband.

“The F.A. They've sacked me. Apparently I don't fit the ideology they have in place.”

[Anglatia]

OOC: As you can see, this post has something that's basically me refreshing the Imperial leagues with a new look to get them ready to restart. You'll see more about that eventually.

TheInsiders.an
An inside view of sports in the Empire of Greater Anglatia

Imperial Football Roundup: Distractions abound; IAFF scandal continues as new managers named
Article by James Inchausti

Imperial football leagues to be reorganized

Right now, domestic football is a mess in Anglatia. It's an absolute mess and there's not really any argument otherwise. The IAFF was revealed by anonymous player reports and an IAFF investigation to be incredibly corrupt and to treat its players badly among other crimes, and the result was that Executive Camden Aidan and many other members of the federation's board of executives were arrested by Imperial Intelligence in house raids that occurred the night before the Explorers' win in Brenecia. As a result of the vast corruption of the federation and the match fixing problems that began when lower league teams were integrated into the Imperial Superleague, it has now been announced by interim Executive Rory Abney that the league will be scrapped entirely.

The Imperial Superleague had about fifteen odd seasons and united the various colonies of the Empire under one league. Previously, each colonial league was a top division, and the greatest quality league was the Anglatian one. In the Superleague era, the top colonial teams left their national leagues to join the Superleague, creating a structure that provided many entertaining matches and always had star studded teams, even in the lower part of the table. But the Superleague's expansion saw the league grow very fast and integrate more colonial teams, and these lower ranked teams with very low incomes were ripe for corruption.

Now, because of the dissolution of the current federation staff and because of the corruption situation, the Superleague will be done away with entirely. Imperial football will return to what it was before the Superleague, with each colony having a separate league. The multinational structure has proven to be prone to international corruption, and now, after all of the Imperial national teamers playing domestically, along with a vast amount of other footballers, have been released from their contracts with the suspension and then dissolution of the league, the clock has been turned back by about fifteen years.

Division A will now be the highest level of football in Anglatia, followed by Division B, C, and D. The Valerian First Tier will also return to being the highest Valerian competition, and Underfell FC will return to the competition for the first time since leaving it for the Superleague. The exact clubs in each league haven't been announced yet, and you can stay tuned for that. However, the return of Division A has been confirmed. With the majority of clubs not retaining their rosters through the Superleagues dissolution, though, the old firm of Ross United, Bathgate City, and Lane United will have to come back with an entirely new look. For better or worse, it will be an adventure for Imperial football fans in the coming years...

Managerial appointments arrive; Martins out, Cullen in

In a press conference before the match against Great Caledonia and North Hybernia, Rory Abney announced that the IAFF had found the replacement for Yanick Martins, who unfortunately had to be sacked for being an accessory to the corruption and scandal surrounding the last board of executives in charge of the federation. The search happened and concluded very quickly, and at first, some wondered if the federation was making a panic move and a kneejerk reaction to the recent events. But as it turned out, the managerial candidate that was selected is definitely qualified, and the decision was made so quickly because the federation didn't want to risk missing out by waiting.

The new manager, is, of course, Raven Cullen. Officially, Cullen is still the Brenecia manager. For one more match, at least. While the rumor mill has reported her sacking, the Brenecian FA is apparently going to let her finish out the qualifying campaign before making a change. Despite this, the IAFF has already agreed to terms with her. Two years, with a salary of two million per year. The total salary could rise from four million marks to five and a half million depending on if Cullen can reach certain performance clauses. Allegedly, qualifying for the next World Cup after this one will get Cullen a bonus of one million, and the extra five hundred thousand marks are related to other performance clauses.

This is what Rory Abney said when making the appointment: "We are proud to announce that Raven Cullen will become the next manager of the Imperial Anglatian National Team, effective as soon as this qualifying cycle begins. We believe that one bad cycle doesn't make a bad manager, and despite the recent troubles faced by the Brenecian national team, we value the experience that Raven has had with them and we believe that she is the right person to lead us beyond this scandal and into the future. The last cycle has stabilized a team that was trending downwards, and we believe that this appointment will see the team continue to improve and we also think that the transition will be easy because of Raven's preferred style of play. Our team and her Brenecian teams have some similarities tactically, and that should lead to a smooth adjustment for the players. It also ties into creating a team identity, and not dramatically altering our tactics every time that a new manager comes into power..."

Cullen herself hasn't held an introductory press conference yet, mainly because she's still working for Brenecia until the final qualifying match. She will, however, be joining the team immediately after that to begin installing the game plan for the World Cup or Cup of Harmony. However, she isn't the only appointment. Assistant manager Cedric Cress was relieved of his duties for his role in the leaks that came from the locker room, and his replacement has been found after Indah Nystrom and then Eli Shan took over for him in interim roles. That replacement comes not from within the federation or the country, but from San Jose Guayabal.

Daniel Ponce is the one who was selected, and he has great experience for the job after working in roles with Alianza FC for five years, Atletico Las Vueltas for three, and Atletico Nacional most recently. At forty one, he's considered young for a manager from his country, but that doesn't mean he isn't qualified. He took Nacional to the league runner up position and consistently has made them a top five club, in addition to taking them to the Globe Cup quarterfinals once. He fits into the scheme of the national team because of his skill at managing attackers and creating attacking and counter attacking tactics, that match the Imperial style of scoring through the counter. His teams are also typically balanced, which works out well for a team that's more talented in the attack than the defense and that needs some balancing help.

His teams also typically use speed on the wing and have good physical condition and stamina, which describes the Imperial attack to a T. And unlike more traditional Guayabalenese managers, Ponce prefers to make decisions using data and advanced metrics. The Imperial team has moved further into the field of statistics, and many Imperial teams have high tech advanced metrics that they use to scout players for transfers in addition to scouting the opposition. This made Ponce a sensible choice for the federation, who is looking to move the national team further into the realm of the club teams that make heavy use of analytics. Ponce's experience in the Liga Premier also means that he shouldn't have trouble dealing with star players who have big egos and who need to be managed carefully while they're on international duty.

The decision to hire Ponce was announced at the same time as Cullen was announced, and both decisions have been met with overwhelming support from a fanbase that's glad to bring in some foreign experience. Purple Empire, the largest amateur run Explorers fan blog, hosted a poll on their site that said that 60% of Imperial fans were disappointed at the dismissal of Martins, but that 76% were satisfied with the new appointments and that 53% were 'very happy' with the federation's decision. That contrasts with a 43% popularity for the change in the league structure, and a 19% approval rate for the federation as a whole after the recent scandal. We'll see if these new additions to the staff can keep the fans happy and win their trust back, after the Imperial Intelligence investigation forced the team to burn everything down and start over after their best cycle.

[Chromatika]

Matchday 17: Chromatika 3-0 The Serbian Empire

Lineup vs. The Serbian Empire: Ria; Cameron (Ilya '48) - Shipp - Lia - Lorenzo; Etienne (Montague '66) - Buric; Baumgartner (Niro '74) - Harbin - Chesser; Victoriane (C).

Goals: Victoriane '8 (assisted by Baumgartner), Baumgartner '27 (assisted by Buric), Chesser '66 (assisted by Montague)

Lineup @ Taeshan: Ria; Cameron - Shipp - Lia - Lorenzo; Etienne - Buric; Baumgartner - Harbin - Chesser; Victoriane (C).

---

Continued from here

The food came out, steaming bowls of meat and vegetables, noodles, rice, and seafood. Sunrise and his family were a bit surprised by the quality - one could have never guessed that the food would look so good from the outside.
Yeso smiled at them, and beckoned them to eat. Kitsunia looked taken aback for a while, while Kirisaki immediately dove in, surprising nobody.
After noticing Kirisaki was all right, everyone else started to eat as well.
"Excuse me, I want to go check on Shadow. Enjoy the meal, if you need anything, just let the waiters here know."
This Restaurant, The Inn, was one of her old hangout spots, and the owner of the restaurant was one of the few people in the city that knew who she was that wasn't a trainer.
He had allowed her to take her Pokémon out behind the back, where she had placed them before they had gone in for the food.
She headed for there now. She wanted to make sure Shadow was all right.
Nodding to Pierre, the owner, she slipped out behind the back, where all of her Pokémon - Gothorita, Glaceon, Dusclops, Yveltal, Electrode, and Shadow the Glaceon - were animatedly talking.
They stopped as soon as they saw her, and Shadow half-walked, half-limped to Yeso, and gave her a hug.
"You're lucky that you didn't get more hurt, you know that?"
Shadow whimpered, embarrassed.
"I also think you owe Qasden an apology."
Shadow motioned to Dusclops to come over, and Dusclops came, a bit reluctantly. Yeso noted this as strange.
The two of them talked to her for a long time, with Yeso confirming once in a while.
"You're sure about this, then?"
Shadow nodded, determination written over her face.
"All right, then. I'll be back later and leave you guys be."

---

Stepping back toward Sunrise's family and Kirisaki, Yeso was relieved to see that they were all enjoying the food and talking animatedly to each other. Even Kitsunia seemed at ease.
It was little Qasden that talked to her first.
"Missus Yeso? Is Sund... Shadow all right?
Yeso gave her a reassuring smile.
"Yes, Qasden, she is. The leg should heal given enough time. Thank you for taking care of her."
Qasden blushed, hiding behind her bowl of food.
Chrom was trying to tell Kirisaki that she should eat slower.
"It has been scientifically proven that you'll feel more full if you chew your food more!"
"But that'd mean I'd eat less!
"Sunrise?"
"Hmm?"
"I hear you and Chrom both qualified for the Proper?"
"Oh, yeah, we did. Why do you ask?"
Yeso's red eyes flared, and she got dead serious.
"I was wondering if you'd be okay with me taking Chrom for a while. I could teach him a few things."
Chrom stopped his argument with Kirisaki to look at Yeso and Sunrise, surprised.
Kitsunia dropped her spoon, her mouth agape.
"Hm... What do you think, Chrom?"
All eyes turned to Chrom, who blushed a bit.
"Uh... I'd like that. There are so many things I am curious about and want to learn about. Also, she seems like someone who's been through similar things like me..."
"If he wants to, I don't see why that would be a problem."
"Absolutely not!"
Chrom stared at Kitsunia, who was halfway standing up, angry. Kitsunia seemed a bit surprised at herself.
"You're not taking him, you don't even eat real food! Also, he's... He's legally under Sunrise's custody, you can't just take him!"
"Calm down, Kitsunia. It's not like she's taking him forever. It's just during the Proper until he gets knocked out or wins the whole thing."
He and Chrom exchanged looks of understanding.
"Oh, don't worry. Just because I don't eat food doesn't mean I don't know what people eat. I'll make sure he gets fed enough. Perhaps not as good of quality as Sunrise's cooking, but he won't starve."
"But... But..."
Qasden went up to Chrom and sat on his lap.
"You sure you want to go with Missus Yeso, custardy brother?"
"Custody. And yes, Qasden, just for a little while."
"Pwomise you'll come back to me when the tournament is over?"
"Promise."
The two shared a hug.
Kitsunia sat back down, deflated, a bit surprised by her outburst in defense of Chrom.
Sunrise patted her gently.
"He'll be in good hands. And if he isn't in one piece by the time that he returns to you, you can kill me then."
Yeso flashed them one of her toothy grins.
She then excused herself once more so that they could have some family time to talk.
"Does that mean I'll get the food that Chrom would be eating?
Yeso returned after fixing her hair.
"Qasden?"
"Yes, Missus Yeso?"
"Shadow told me all about what you did for her. She wants to apologize. She thinks she can help you become a great trainer someday... We talked about it, and I'd want you to have her."
Qasden looked up at her, tears coming down her face.
"You... You're sure? But I thought she hated me..."
"No, she misjudged you because you're young. But you've proven you have heart, and that is more important than knowledge or experience. Knowledge and experience you can earn over time, heart you're born with."
Qasden rushed at Yeso and gave her a big hug.
Yeso smiled and pulled out a black and yellow handkerchief.
"I usually wear this to tie up my hair, but I want you to have it to give to Shadow as her neckerchief, all right? Turn the blue and white one into a bow. The black and yellow one as a promise that you'll take the best care of her and respect her. The blue and white one as a promise that one day, you'll take her to the ocean, and try to look for PIS, the one who gave me her egg like I told you about. Can you do that?"
Qasden nodded fervently. Yeso noticed that Sunrise gave her a nod from the back as well.
Kitsunia was also mouthing the words, 'Thank you.'
Chrom got up, having finished his food.
"I reckon I'll see you later, then, Sunrise. I'll try to make you proud."
"Trust your heart at times, Chrom. See you later in the tournament."
The two shared an awkward handshake.
Kitsunia reached over and gave Chrom an even more awkward pat on the back, at a loss for words.
Qasden ran into Chrom's arms for a while again.
"Keep them safe, Kirisaki."
"As a warrior of the Shining Moon, I will!"
Kirisaki saluted, and Chrom nodded.
He then walked outside to wait for Yeso, checking his pockets to make sure he had the Azurill egg.
Yeso bowed to all of them, and then said to Sunrise and Kitsunia:
"I give my Azurill to your son, my Glaceon to your daughter, but you, you already have all you need - each other."
"I hope you impact him like you did me at his age."
Yeso laughed.
"I'll try, Sunrise. He has to be as receptive to it as you were, though."
She turned to give Qasden one last look.
"Take care of Sunday well, Qasden."
The little girl nodded, surprised by Yeso calling the Glaceon Sunday.
"Eat as much as you'd like, even take some home. I've the tab covered."
Yeso gave a final nod and left, going back out to the back, where her Pokémon were all gathered around her Glaceon, saying their goodbyes.
They looked sad, but the Glaceon was determined.
She sighed.
"Time to go, guys."
One by one, her Pokémon gave the Glaceon a hug. Gothorita took the longest.
She returned them all to their Pokéballs, and then tied the Glaceon's Pokéball around the blue and white handkerchief.
"Take good care of her when Sunrise and Kitsunia fail to. I hope you meet PIS someday."
The Glaceon snuggled to her.
She put her back down, and walked away.

---

"Where are we going?"
"Home."
Chrom could tell the emotion in her voice, and he fell into a respectful silence, falling in step behind Yeso.
It was a myth that Vampires couldn't cry - for what else could the rivulets falling from Yeso's eyes be?
Yeso and Chrom walked away from a bustling The Inn, kept in company by each other and their thoughts.

---

Kirisaki had eaten all the food, even the leftovers from everyone else.
"Now that was a meal."
"Is food all you can think about?"
Before Kirisaki could reply, a Glaceon limped to their table.
"Sunday!"
Qasden leaped up and grabbed the Glaceon gingerlyl, cradling her gently in her arms.
"I promised Missus Yeso. I'll take good care of you."
The Glaceon nodded, and Qasden began to rock her back and forth.
Sunrise and Kitsunia shared a look.
Perhaps Yeso wasn't that bad after all.

[Veldgouwen]

With the ultimate confrontation of the World Cup qualifiers at stake, football fans across the multiverse can feast again another binge episode of the greatest sports soap of the globe. Once again, no less than seventy-five confrontations will take place and with several apps and website playing into the craving for more information, technology made it possible to follow them all at once. Nonetheless, the collection of clashes will contain an unseen amount of dead rubbers, with no less than 25 tickets to the high mass of football already distributed. As such, only a few distinctive confrontations are about more than the honor and a few ranking points and are, as such, worth an extra glance.

Barunia – Drawkland

Bonesea was not to be held away from the World Cup in group 2 but behind them an exciting clash developed. As the matters stand right now, it is Barunia that has its own faith in hand as they can defend their chances for an eighth appearance in their own Suns Stadium. An exquisite opportunity to celebrate such an amazing success with their own fans, but the task at hand is not to be taken lightly. Drawkland might be new kids on the block, their Drum Corps has delivered solid one solid performance after another and we wouldn’t be surprised if the squad, centered around the magnetic Ellzidan, shatters the dreams of the Suns and gives current number three, Jeruselem, a fighting chance as they visit Quakmybush.

Hirvania – Veldgouwen

Obviously the one to watch for any Veldgouwer, the visit to Hirvania presents a rather tricky task at hand. Being tied with Spaam, who will without any doubt continue their excellent form with another home victory, the squad from Johan Valkeniers is not allowed a single mistake. After the excellent win against the Phoenix and according to the press the best performance of these qualifiers, some reacted quite jubilant yet a victory on the road will not form the walk in the park hoped for. More illustrious names such as West Saintland and even Eura got no further than a meagre draw in the arena of Hirvania, so Veldgouwen will have to give their very best. ”The pressure is huge and so are the stakes,” defender Maes clarified, ”but you can’t make it into the university of football without passing all exams.”

Eastfield Lodge – Anglatia

Quite probably presenting the game with the most possible outcomes, the core attention of the multiverse will be on the Lodger City Memorial Stadium as two sides will go head to head for a golden ticket. One of the up-and-comers of modern football, Anglatia aims to make their debut and might be able to do so with as little as a draw. The Explorers, as they are better known, stunned Brenecia out of contention but are presented with quite a test as they have to grab three point on the road against Eastfield Lodge. The latter is a familiar name in international football but often suffered the always the bridesmaid, never the bride phenomenon. However, with a solid striker in Tia Drenas and an impressive The Doctor, they might get the ring around the finger. In the case of draw, both could even pass on to the big stage, but only if third contender Turori fails to score as much as a point against minnow Kaisaru.

Azrea – Port Christopher

Most of those that already booked their hotels in San Guayabal and Québec are those with vast experience (mainly in football, not necessarily in booking), those on the bubble often are newer names to the scene. Such is a truth as well for Port Christopher as Jim Reid tries to navigate this Esportivan offshoot from Schottia into the final 32. To do so, they need as little as a single point in the stadium of Azrea that has come out of a fairly bleak round of qualifiers. Considering the fact that they’ve managed to make their attacking compartment better than ever, few doubt that Port Christopher will make their second appearance in the World Cup. Most, apart from the Chiatans who make a miracle comeback in the case of a Christopherian loss.

Damukuni – Ethane

In theory, one would say that Damukuni has the situation under control. With a lead of a single point over Electrum and the advantage when it comes to goal difference, they should be able to make their second World Cup in the upcoming home game. A marvelous theory if it weren’t for the guys on the opposite side of the pitch who happen to hail from Ethane. The Red Kites have confirmed their debut appearance in style and the question is how hungry they remain with the qualification confirmed. After an amazing series of eleven victories, they seem to have lost a bit of their focus but remain unbeaten. With that in mind, Damukuni looks at a worse hand than their direct rival Electrum, who receives The Andromeda Archipelago. In theory, being the host to the one-to-last of the table should be an assurance on three points, yet the Electrumite consistency has seen better times – a close call in the making.

Ancharmunn – Brigantii

Last but not least, we have another aspiring debutant in the form of Brigantii, a side only ranked three spots above ours. Contrary to the expectations in advance for the Stags, they receive an incredible chance to qualify for the remaining 32 with a visit to Ancharmunn, a lesser name in the current world of football. In their own Warbury Stadium, Brigantii easily dominated the game but it remains to be seen if they can showcase the same elegance on the road, with all eyes on them especially as every mistake can be punished by Flardania. Relatively experienced at the World Cup, the Kitsunes only chance for glory lies in a victory in Tomikosan and considering their latest streak of 22 points out of a possible 24, we feel confident they will ace that trick. Said knowledge should add an extra shiver down the spine of Brigantii, a feeling all too familiar for the Veldgouwer fan as he tunes in our confrontation against Hirvania.