Sophie versus the Altador Cup

Saturday

     Sophie the Swamp Witch was having a relaxing weekend. Of course, to the Ixi every day she could do as she pleased, but she always found herself the most tranquil. Her floppy hat covered her eyes and her messy hair tumbled over the back of her rocking chair. Her patched up robe may not have been appropriate for the weather anywhere else in the world, but in the Haunted Woods it was always a good idea to dress warmly. At her feet was a purring Meowclops and all around her she could the sounds of the forest. Sophie was perfectly content until she heard a familiar voice.

     "Uh, um hello, Sophie," came a tentative voice.

     It was not someone who was intimidated by Sophie; he simply knew that he would have to be cautious around her. The short red Lutari had had two encounters with the grumpy Ixi and both of them had ended badly for him.

     "Well, well, if it isn't Mr. Peterson, the writer who nearly destroyed my reputation and convinced people that Jelly World was real," sneered Sophie. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't turn you into something with four legs and one eye."

     "Because I have a proposition for you," said Mr. Peterson quickly.

     "Ha, what could I possibly want to do with you?" scoffed Sophie.

     "Let me explain," started the Lutari. "As I'm sure you remember, my last... incident result in me being forbidden from writing for the Neopian Times. However, I have made an agreement with Judge Hog. If I can something nice for you, I will be given the liberty of writing once more."

     Sophie immediately burst into laughter; once she had stopped, she declared, "There is nothing that you can do to impress me."

     A grin appeared on Mr. Peterson's face as he inquired, "Not even a front row seat at the Altador Cup?"

     "Absolutely not," declined Sophie. "Yooyuball is one of the most boring sports in the history of Neopia. What's-his-face passes the yooyu to Whoever, Whoever shoots for the goal and is stopped by So-and-so; it's too predictable. Maybe when it first arrived there was a thrill to it, but after four years I don't really care anymore."

     Mr. Peterson gasped; his ace in the hole had been useless.

     "Now get off of my property," she shouted as she slammed the door behind her.

      ***

     Monday

     Sophie was awakened abruptly from her sleep by a knocking at the door. She groaned as she worked herself out of her bed. Whatever the time was, it was much too early for Sophie to wake up. She drowsily made her way to the front door and opened it.

     She demanded angrily, "Who do you think-"

     She stopped when she saw the same red Lutari on her porch.

     "Sorry for the rude awakening," apologized Mr. Peterson with no feeling, "but I don't think I made myself clear yesterday. Writing is my life; it's how I live. I need the money for my wife and son, and you can easily give that back to me. Just come to the Altador Cup with me and cheer on your team. I'm guessing it's Haunted Woods. You'll be at the front of the action, able to see every movement. What do you say?"

     Sophie stared at him blankly for a few seconds, then responded, "The Neopian Times doesn't pay its authors; you're lying."

     "Okay, so my wife has a job too," confessed the Lutari, "but that doesn't change the fact that I love to put pen to paper."

     "If you love it so much then you wouldn't have jeopardized it by lying to the public," pointed out Sophie. "The only reason that I'm not going to zap you is because you're too pathetic to deserve it. Now leave!"

     Once again she slammed the door behind her back, leaving the Lutari alone.

      ***

     Tuesday

     "Just a few more drops of Slorg mucus and this potion will be complete," declared Sophie happily as she finished off her latest concoction.

     She was interrupted from her work by a quick but firm knock on her door.

     "Oh, I wonder who that could be," pondered Sophie sarcastically.

     She opened the door and her jaw dropped at the site of a gigantic Yooyu. To be more exact, it was someone in a gigantic Yooyu costume tap dancing.

     "If you come to the Altador Cup

     You will be shaken up

      It will be a big surprise

     To see who wins the prize

     So quit stalling

     and get Yooyu balling!" sang the Yooyu in an out of tune voice.

     "This is just sad, Peterson," sighed Sophie as she slammed the door for the third time that week.

      ***

     Wednesday

     Yet again Sophie heard the familiar tap on her door in the morning.

     "That had better not be Mr. Peterson," grumbled Sophie as she opened the door.

     However, as she expected the Lutari was at the doorway. He was on his knees in a defeated, desperate, position.

     He started his long, well prepared speech with, "Sophie, I-"

     The Swamp Witch interrupted, "How long do you plan on bothering me?"

     "Until the Altador Cup ends, which in case you didn't know, is at the end of summer," answered Mr. Peterson.

     "Fine, if it'll give me a summer free of you, I'll go to the Altador Cup," conceded Sophie, "on the condition that you never write something that will anger me again."

     "Of course," agreed the Lutari with his fingers secretly crossed behind his back. "I've learned my lesson. I'll take you down to Altador tomorrow morning."

     "Great," sighed Sophie. "Another early morning wakeup for me. I'd better not regret this."

      ***

     Thursday

     Sophie was uncomfortable to say the least. The hard, rock seat was incredibly painful and the harsh blare of the sun caused her to boil inside of her thick cloak. The constant cheering of the crowd of giving her a migraine that was increased by the relentless shaking of the stadium. To top off this irritating day she was sitting next to who she now considered her #1 enemy.

     Just as she had said, she found the game excruciatingly banal. Her eyes flicked back and forth without interest as the yooyu was passed to Mirsha Grelinek and then stolen by Zo Junior.

     "How long do these games last?" she inquired to Mr. Peterson.

     "What?" shouted the Lutari. "I can't hear you; you're sitting next to the Techo Super Fan."

     Sophie turned to face that blue, raging Techo and demanded, "Pipe down! I can barely hear myself think."

     The fanatic either didn't hear her or simply ignored her. Sophie returned her gaze to the game as Foltaggio nearly scored. It felt as if the whole stadium held their breath as the Mynci prepared to shoot... and was cut off by Krell Vitor. Sophie couldn't take any more of the trivial game.

     "What is the matter with you players?" she cried over the roar of the crowd, "Can't one of you hurry up and win so I can go home?"

     As soon as she had finished venting her anger, she heard one of the announcers observe, "It would seem as though some fan is doing a great job at encouraging the players; they've really picked up the pace."

     "Hey, no one does a better job at encouraging than me!!!" shouted the Techo Super Fan as he shoved her in the shoulder.

     "Nobody... touches... me," growled Sophie.

     The Swamp Witch pulled out her staff and jabbed it at the Techo. The fan grabbed the staff and used it to toss Sophie to the ground. The Ixi quickly recovered and tackled her attacker. She was knocked back by and kick which caused her to lose her balance and tumble backwards. Suddenly she was plummeting down a stairway in a chaotic spin.

     With a painful landing she reached the bottom of the stairs. Once Sophie had got up and stopped feeling dizzy, she examined her vicinity. It was a dimly lit basement with crates and bags of supplies. She turned around and saw that what she had crashed into was a cage. She approached the cage and suddenly was blinded by a blast of colour. The Ixi swatted with her staff at whatever was attacking her. Once the initial shock had disappeared, she realized that they were Yooyus.

     The Fire Yooyu was darting around the storage room with flames trailing behind him. The Ice Yooyu was joyously rolling into crates. The Faerie Yooyu was playing with Sophie's hair, the Darigan one was gnawing on her staff, the Robotic one was eyeing her leg, and the mutant one was chewing on her hat.

     "Get off of me, you little pests!" snarled Sophie as she tried to shake them off.

     "Hey, who's down there?" shouted a gruff voice.

     Sophie felt it would be better for her if she didn't get caught. The voice had come from the stairs so she dashed for the back of the room. However, she tripped on the Ice Yooyu and collided with a pile of crates. With a loud BOOM! the crates toppled down. covering Sophie in banners and empty slushie cups. She held her breath as a disgruntled brown Yurble with a mop and bucket marched into the basement furiously.

     "You let the Yooyus out!" he pointed out as if she couldn't possibly have figured it out, "Do you know how hard it is to get them back into their cages?"

     The janitor dove for the Fire Yooyu and wrapped his hands around it. With an angry toss he put it back in the cage. He then charged at the Ice Yooyu, who was resting obliviously. Once he had returned the Yooyu to the cage, he eyed the disaster of banners and slushie cups suspiciously. He pushed aside some of the mess and jumped back in shock as the Faerie Yooyu burst from a crate blissfully. Sophie had already left the pile of Altador Cup supplies and was rushing for a hallway.

     Once she was out of the Yurble's sight, she wondered, "Why is my foot so heavy?"

     She inspected her foot and easily found her answer; the Robot Yooyu was clinging onto her, ready to explode. She yelped in surprise and kicked the Yooyu into a wall. The Yooyu promptly exploded with noticeable sound. It wouldn't take long for the janitor to realize that she had departed down this route.

     She quickly found a door and entered it. Wherever it let she figured it would be safer than facing the angry janitor. She turned around a herself in another hallway that looked almost identical to the one that she had just left. The Swamp Witch figured that if she waited the Yurble would walk right past the door, then she could return up the stairs.

     "Aha, come here you little rascal," Sophie heard the janitor call to a Yooyu. "What are you pointing at? This door?"

     Sophie cursed to herself as the door began to creak open. She immediately bolted through the hall as the Yurble pursued her. She had the advantage of a head start, but the janitor was fast approaching her. Sophie decided to try and lose the janitor instead of outrun him. She turned for another door, but felt something grab onto her foot. Once she had closed the door behind her, she realized that the Darigan Yooyu was what was attached to her. As she tried to pry it off of her, the Yurble charged into the room. He did not look amused to see Sophie with the Yooyu.

     "I can explain," started Sophie awkwardly, "You see, I was... What's that!?"

     Both the Yooyu and the janitor turned to face where Sophie was pointing, giving her a chance to escape. She found herself in a room full of spinning cogs and pulsating springs. She used the constant movement to her advantage and crept through the mechanisms. She stopped in shock when a bright light blazed down into her eyes.

     "What is going on?" she inquired as she squinted up.

     The Ixi felt a movement in her hat, which she quickly investigated. She saw that the Mutant Yooyu was still inside on top of her head. Suddenly the Yooyu started to levitate into the air, but due to his thorny hide and Sophie's knotted hair the Witch was pulled along with him. Sophie struggled and pulled against the pull, but when she realized how high she was getting, she ceased her actions.

     Once Sophie reached the top, both the light and sound quadrupled. On her right was the Shadow Mynci, Foltaggio, and to her left was the Fire Korbat, Zo Junior. It didn't take her long to realized what had happened. She was in the middle of a Yooyuball match.

     "Heh, heh, accidents happen, right?" she said meekly.

      ***

     Friday

     Sophie was so exhausted from the events of yesterday that she did not even want to get up when she heard the Neopian Times Weewoo drop off the weekly paper. Once the confusion and anger of everyone had subsided, she had been able to exit without question. She suspected that it was because she was well-known and feared, but actually it was because they wanted her to leave as soon as possible.

     After a long overdue rest, Sophie got out of bed and took a seat on her rocking chair. She picked up the muddied issue of the Neopian Times and prepared to start another relaxing weekend. Her fantasy was shattered as soon as she saw the headline, "Sophie ruins the Altador Cup". She angrily read the rest of the article.

     Sophie the Swamp Witch was at yesterday's match of the Altador Cup, but she couldn't resist causing trouble. After starting an unprovoked brawl for a loyal fan, she disappeared into the catacombs of the stadium. Once she was there, she caused pandemonium for a poor employee by releasing the Yooyus. She did everything she could to make the task as difficult as possible for the janitor. At the end of the day, she sabotaged the Yooyuball by interfering with its entrance. This proves that Sophie will stop at nothing to make life miserable for everyone; she is a menace to Neopia.

     -Samuel Peterson

     By the end of the article Sophie had torn the paper to shreds in anger.

     She grabbed her staff purposefully and declared, "You'll pay for this, Peterson!"

The End