Thank you for the review, phasmidfan. The animals in Honevray, Celedron and Aquatos are based on real towns. They're based on my two WW and CF games.
Chapter 1- The Team is Chosen
"Yo, Pierce!" Bud exclaimed, before throwing a ball skilfully through the air, "Catch!"
Bud and Pierce were stood opposite each other on a long stretch of grass, playing a simple game of catch. Bud was a lion, with dark brown fur and a lighter orange mane. He wore red sunglasses and a blue patterned t-shirt. He bore a confident smile on his face as he ran backwards, awaiting the ball to be thrown back to him.
Pierce was a blue and white eagle, with a blue back and wings, but a white face and body. He had bright yellow eyes and beak, and wore a bright red t-shirt. He ran backwards quickly, eyes concentrating on the incoming ball. He extended his right wing, and caught it skilfully.
"Nice try, Bud, but you'll have to do better than that to beat this eagle!" Pierce called, before throwing it high up into the air, high enough that he had to bend his head back as far as possible to see.
A group of animals and one human stood nearby, watching. These included Josh the human, who had a mixture of brown and blonde hair and wore a light blue T-shirt, Avery the dark eagle, Bella the black and white mouse and Kabuki the white cat with red streaks.
"This is amazingly boring." Kabuki commented, almost monotonously, "Why do they find throwing a ball into the air entertaining?" Kabuki was lying on his side, head resting on his left paw.
"You know what would be funny?" Bella asked, giggling slightly, "If one of them tripped over Tortimer. Look, he's standing over there glaring at us... Oh... That can't be good." Bella was lying on her front, head resting on both paws and legs waving up and down behind her.
Bud ran backwards to meet where the ball was going to land, and just as Bella had commented, tripped over the angry looking Tortimer. "Wuaaaagh!" Bud exclaimed as he landed with a thump on his back.
Tortimer turned, unimpressed and still standing, to face Bud. He pointed his cane at the lion, and snapped, "This isn't the time to be playing games! The UTSE is here!" All the animals gasped and began murmuring. "Yes, that's right! It is seven days from now! We will be facing, as usual, Celedron, Aquatos and... Endavcra!"
"What is the UTSE?" Josh asked. Josh had recently moved into the town, and as the UTSE was an annual event, hadn't been here for the previous one.
"The worst town event in history." Avery, who was stood with folded wings, muttered in response, "It's just a bunch of running. It's completely boring."
"Quite the opposite!" Tortimer exclaimed, and began to pace in front of the group, whom Bud and Pierce had now joined. He continued to say, "In fact, it is the most fun and most important event. This is the event that our town is remembered for! We won the first ever UTSE! But, we haven't won since then, but that is going to change!"
"Oh here we go..." Kabuki muttered, rolling his eyes and moving to lie on his back and stare at the sky, "Another of the old tortoise's rants..."
Tortimer either didn't hear or ignored the cat, but continued, "This year, we are going to win the trophy! And the six of you are competing!" There was silence from the crowd for a few seconds, before they all suddenly started talking at once.
"What?" Bella cried.
"You can't be serious!" Avery exclaimed in disbelief.
"Get real." Kabuki muttered.
"That sounds cool." Pierce commented.
"Awesome!" Bud shouted.
"I still don't know what the UTSE is!" Josh called out, trying to be heard.
"Shut up and let me speak!" Tortimer snapped in interruption, "The UTSE contains five events, the 100m, 200m, 300m, 500m and 1000m run! The team consists of five members, and the option of two subs. The winner of each race wins the town three points, second place earns two and third one. Fourth place, which will not happen, gets the town zero points. Anyway, we win a trophy made of pure gold if we win. I need to choose who will be a substitute now, but I will not let Pierce or Bud be it, they are the fastest."
"That's fine, Torty." Bud commented lazily, stretching, "I'm up for running, I haven't raced anyone for a while. Are your brothers still mayors?"
Tortimer's face darkened and he pulled his hat down to cast his eyes in shadow, before responding, "Yes they are. Hortimer, my older brother, is mayor of the most beautiful town, Celedron. Then there's my younger brother, Portimer, who is mayor of the seaside resort, Aquatos. Then there is my biggest rival and worst enemy, Mortimer, mayor of the richest town, Endavcra. Then there's me, second youngest, mayor of the friendliest town, Honevray."
Josh frowned and stepped forward, before saying, "I will be the sub. Not only do I suck at running, but I don't like the sound of this competition. It doesn't sound like the fun event it is meant to be, but rather, a competition between the mayors. Sorry, Mayor Tortimer, that's just my opinion."
Tortimer glared at Josh, before snapping, "Well for that comment, I'm making you the sub anyway! As a punishment! Because if someone is injured, the sub must fill in for them, no matter which race it is. You may even end up doing the 1000m run!"
"What a shame, that'll mean we lose." Josh responded sarcastically, folding his arms. Tortimer's mouth dropped open, and he bowed his head in disappointment.
"Ugh." Tortimer scowled, standing upright again, "Doesn't matter! No-one will be injured! Okay, so our team is Bella, Kabuki, Avery, Pierce and Bud. Great. Feel free to carry on with your childish ball game, at least its sport. You need to be in good shape so I, um, we can beat Endavcra!" He then walked away rather quickly for his age, leaving the five animals and human to glance at each other in worry.