Cannoneer and the Altador Cup

      I, da_number_1_Neopian, live in Neopia Central, with my 3 Bori and Lab Rat, Cannoneer_ (his nickname is Cannoneer, so we'll call him that), a Pirate Bori, Armin923 (his nickname is Armin, so again, we'll just him call that), a Christmas Bori, Daarrk, a Blue Bori and Wolvae, a Lab Rat (currently a Tuskaninny). Cannoneer is very mischievous most of the time, which is why I previously mentioned that his grin wasn't his usual evil grin.

      "Really." I read the news paper aloud. "Krawk Island beat Altador in landslide victory by 300,502 points, advancing Krawk Island to Round 2, where they'll face Mystery Island today at 3:00 pm, for the right to move to the third round of the Altador Cup."

      "Cool!" Cannoneer shouted, "Can we go see the game?"

      "I don't see why not, I have to be in Altador today anyway," I said.

      "Why do you like Krawk Island so much?" Wolvae politely asked Cannoneer.

      "Duh! It's my home team, plus they've got Garven Hale, the best goalkeeper in the league!" Cannoneer explained.

      "Well, if we're going, we'd better go now; it's a long way to Altador," I said.

      "Oh, duh, I totally forgot, it's 2 'o clock right now!" Cannoneer said, looking at the clock on the wall.

      So we all headed out the door in a hurry.

      ***

      "Wow! We're actually here!" Cannoneer shouted happily as we arrived at the Colosseum. It was clear who the Yooyuball nut in the family was.

      We looked around for a minute, and then got in line for the ticket stand.

      It didn't take long for Cannoneer to notice that Garven Hale and the rest of the Krawk Island team was arriving.

      "Look, look! It's Garven Hale!" Cannoneer said, tugging at my shirt.

      I spun around to see a very large and muscular Pirate Bori walking up to the Colosseum, accompanied by his band of buccaneers: A Pirate Krawk ("Dasher" Soley), Moehog (Nitri Cassale), Yurble (Hoke Lemtry) and Quiggle (Elayn Hawshanks). Garven saw us too; he looked very shocked for a second, and then he beckoned for us to follow him.

      "Wow! Garven Hale!" Cannoneer said, rushing up to the Bori and entering a large room with him.

      Daarrk, Armin, Wolvae and I followed. I looked around: the room had a Yooyuball net in it, and several Yooyus; this was the Krawk Island training room.

      "Um... excuse my rudeness, but what do you want?" I asked Garven Hale, turning around to face him.

      "I just wanted to talk to you, ya know, it's not that often ya see a fellow Pirate Bori, especially in Altador! Say, would you guys like to watch us practice?" Garven replied.

      "Um... actually, we still have to get our tickets," I said to him.

      "That's okay, I've got three right here," he said handing them to me.

      "Three?" Cannoneer asked, confused.

      "Yeah, three, you're going to sit on the fieldside bench, aren't you?

      "Really!?" Cannoneer shouted.

      "Yup, really, just as soon as we finish warming up, you can take a seat over there wile you wait," Garven said pointing to a few chairs on the other side of the room.

      We all took a seat on the chairs Garven had shown us, and watched the show: Elayn, "Dasher" and Nitri were passing a Faerie Yooyu around, while Hoke prepared to help Garven warm up.

      Hoke picked up a Yooyu, a MUTANT Yooyu. "Nooo!" all four players shouted. But it was too late; the Yooyu was already in the air, rushing toward Garven.

      CRAACK!

      The Mutant Yooyu hit Garven in the leg, knocking him off his feet. Nobody had to ask what happened, the sound gave it away, Garven's leg was broken.

      "No! Now we'll have to forfeit!" Dasher shouted, helping Garven into a chair.

      "Maybe not," Cannoneer said, thinking.

      "We can't play without a Goalkeeper, kid," Nitri said.

      "Are you all blind? I'm a Pirate Bori!" Cannoneer said. "I can take his place!"

      "I guess it's better than forfeiting," Elayn said.

      "But what if you're no good at the game?" Dasher asked.

      "I've been practicing all summer!" Cannoneer said. "I won't let you down, I promise!"

      The team took Cannoneer into the locker room, while we left to find our seats, and that's it for my narration; maybe Cannoneer remembers what happened after that. Cannoneer?

      After the team took me into the locker room, they began to help me into my padding, at first they were practically falling off me, but then Hoke handed me a Supersize, and I quickly grew into them.

      "This is it, kid," Nitri said to me, "And remember from now on, you ARE Garven Hale. If they find out you're not him, we'll be disqualified."

      ***

      I stepped out onto the field, with the rest of the team, the bright light shining in my eyes. Lucky I wasn't the nervous type; I was just eager to start the game. Until I saw HIM, Volgoth, Mystery Island's Right Forward, an ENORMOUS Island Mynci.

      "I'm going up against THAT?" I asked my team nervously.

      "You'll do fine, just get ready, the game is about to start," Nitri said to me.

      The lights suddenly shut off, and I heard a drumroll; it was time for the Yooyu to appear. A platform slowly rose of from the floor, the shadow of a Yooyu on it. And the lights turned back on, and the Yooyu could now be seen clearly: It was a Fire Yooyu!

      The Yooyu jumped into the air to signal the beginning of the game...

      And Dasher caught it! He then threw it to Elayn who tossed it at the opponent's net, but it was blocked by their Goalkeeper, Yaniq Avaan, and thrown to their Centre Forward, Bertie Shurtz, who began to dash torward my goal. It was my chance to shine, too bad it didn't last for long; their Centre Forward threw it to Volgoth, their Right Forward.

      I shivered, "No way I can take him on, he'll crush me!" I thought.

      I covered my eyes, crouched down and ducked my head, and I felt the ball hit me, so I opened my eyes... and to my surprise, the crowd was cheering! I looked around and saw Dasher holding the ball. I did it! I blocked the ball!

      Dasher ran as fast as he could toward the opponent's goal, plowing down several players on the way. He threw it toward the goal and their Goalkeeper jumped for it, but it made it past anyway. The next Yooyu was a Faerie, which was caught by their Centre Forward and thrown to Volgoth, again. Despite the fact that I was still scared of him, I held my ground, used the same technique as the last time, and blocked... right into the opponent's goal!

      My team gathered around me to congratulate and compliment me on my impressive move. They were all suddenly interrupted by the lights turning off again; it was time to see the next ball, so they all moved back into position to wait for the next Yooyu to reveal itself.

      I was horrified by what I saw when the light came back on. The Yooyu was a Mutant, the same one that broke Garven's leg.

      This time, Mystery Island used a different strategy. The Centre Forward caught the Yooyu, while the other players got into position around her, and they all barrelled down the field at me, then stopped before the goal and began passing the ball around until I couldn't tell who had it anymore, and then I saw it flying torward my right. I had to think fast; I'd seen the Mutant Yooyu shred Garven's pads before, if I tried to block it with my pads, I'd end up just like him!

      I dove at the ball, and turned my shell toward it. I felt its spikes scratch at my shell. I jumped up quick and wrapping my tail around the ball I ran as far as I was allowed from the goal. I jumped onto my forelegs, swinging the back of my body into the air and toward the opposing goal and threw the ball. It flew straight and true and passed their Yurble Goalkeeper. Seconds later, the referee blew his whistle; we won, 3-0.

      "You did it!" Garven yelled at me as I entered the locker room with my fellow team members and my family.

      After we stayed and celebrated for a while, we left for home.

      When we got home, there was a package on our doorstep. We took it inside and opened it up... Inside was a Krawk Island Team Hand, Jersey, Pennant and Water Bottle for each of us, and inside my Krawk Island Team Hand was a One Hundred Dubloon Coin. I didn't even have to ask. I knew it was from Garven Hale.

The End