I had a lot of trouble writing this chapter. It was really wierd though. I wrote about one page, then couldn't write anything else for maybe two weeks. And then I wrote a short Code Lyoko fic and I wrote the rest of the chapter shortly after that. I guess writing something else really can help with a temporary loss of ideas.

This chapter is much more serious then the rest have been(You'll know what I mean when you get there), and I've never really written that type of scene before. So I'd especially like seem feedback on that specific bit if you do review. I do like the direction I took with Polly's fear of Clockwork Yooyu's, I had been hung up on that for a while.

June 5th

The Meridell team had no idea what they were going to do about Pollonaire's fear of Clockwork Yooyus. They had convinced him to stay in the pitch and watch them handle the Yooyus. He saw them be caught in the explosions dozens of times and be perfectly alright. But when it came time to actually get Pollonaire handle one, he would bolt again.

It was rather like trying to convince a child that a shot from a doctor doesn't hurt. Except that shots damn well do hurt, but that's besides the point.

Eventually, the team had grown tired of trying, and had decided to let Pollonaire work it out for himself. They were sure that when push came to shove, Pollonaire would draw on some untapped source of courage. The game with Tyrannia had proved otherwise.

The team sat in the common room, except for Pollonaire. As soon as the game had ended, he had locked himself in his room. Although he hadn't cost his team the game, he had cost them their pride and honor, something that was even more valuable to him due to his upbringing as a noble.

Windelle was annoyed; all of the tension in the air was really getting to him. "What's the deal with everyone?" he asked. "You guys are acting like someone died! We didn't even lose the game, what's the big deal?"

Meridell had in fact beaten Tyrannia 16 to 12. Of course, it really should have been 16 to 11. In the final seconds of the game, Evrem Guilako, right forward for Tyrannia, had been rapidly approaching Meridell's goal with a Clockwork Yooyu in hand. Ilsa Ellits had ran towards him to block the attempt, and managed to get a hand on the Yooyu as he threw it.

It had still been moving towards the goal, but slowly enough that a toddler could have probably blocked it. An easy save for any goalie, especially Sir Pollonaire Freidl, people had assumed that the game was over with the catch.

Pollonaire had screamed shrilly, and jumped away from the Clockwork Yooyu, which sailed slowly into the goal. The buzzer that signified the end of the game was drowned out by gasps, followed by a roar of laughter from the entire crowd.

Fiorina shook her head. "We won against Tyrannia! That team hasn't been in sync with each other for years! What happens when we play a good team?"

Ilsa nodded, agreeing with Fiorina. "We got lucky today. We can't count on it happening again."

For once, Gregorgio sat deep in thought. Finally, he looked up and said, "Fiorina, you need to go talk with him."

"What the hell will that do Greg?" asked Windelle angrily. "We've all tried to talk with him, it didn't work then, why should it now!"

"It has to be Fiorina, and just her," said Gregorgio. "She's got that… feminine touch." He looked each of his teammates in the eye to see what they thought of his plan. He flinched when he met Ilsa'a glare.

"Of course," he added quickly. "I in no way meant to imply that Ilsa is any less feminine or compassionate or anything else than Fiorina, I just meant-"

"I know what you meant Gregorgio," answered Ilsa curtly. "And the only reason that I don't stop you into the ground is because you are right."

Ilsa turned to Fiorina, "You need to go talk with him; Pollonaire will open up to you."

Fiorina hesitated, and then nodded. "You're right. I'll go try now. The sooner the better."

Fiorina knocked softly on the door to Pollonaire's room. "Pollonaire? Are you in there?"

A pause, and then, "Yes."

"Can I come in?"

Fiorina heard Pollonaire getting off of his bed, and walking over to the door. He unlocked it and flung the door open.

Fiorina gasped. Even though he had only been in the room a few hours, both he and the room looked awful. It was obvious that he had gone into at least one rage during his self-imposed exile: most of the furniture was in tatters. Pollonaire himself seemed okay, but his eyes carried a dark, haunted look.

Without realizing it, Fiorina took a step back. This was a side of Pollonaire that no one on the team had ever seen, and it scared her.

"P- Pollonaire," she stammered. "Are you okay?"

He looked at her for a moment, then nodded.

Fiorina had no idea what to say next. She was afraid that if she said the wrong thing that Pollonaire would slam the door in her face.

"I know I'm being a coward," said Pollonaire softly.

Fiorina nodded slowly, but didn't say anything, instead allowing him to continue on his own.

"I keep telling myself that it's no big deal, that nothing will happen, that it will all be okay. But as soon as I see one close up, the rational part of my brain disappears."

There was no need to ask what he was talking about.

"All I can think is 'Get away! Get away! You are going to DIE!' It fills my head, it's all I can think about. And then when I'm 'safe', I wonder what had me so scared in the first place. I think that's what I'm truly afraid of, that a damn Yooyu has so much power over me.

"The fear grows, and creates more fear, which creates more fear on top of that! It's an endless cycle of ever expanding, ever increasing, ever widening, ever devouring, all consuming, unending, fear; fear that feasts on ME!!

"And then eventually they'll be nothing left of me but fear. Fear eating fear then shiting fear that more fear will eat and shit and that is all I will be if I let that damn Yooyu get too close! I have to stay as far from it as possible, to stay alive, so I don't become the fear-"

Fiorina grabbed Pollonaire as tightly as she could, and pulled him into a fierce hug. She didn't know why she did, but Fiorina was compelled to do something. Pollonaire had just poured out his soul, and by doing so had created something between them. It wasn't pity, she knew that was the last thing he wanted. It was closer to understanding; she finally understood, and that meant everything.

One of them was crying. Neither of them knew which it was, and it didn't matter. She understood Pollonaire, and that was the only important thing.

"Guys, this is much more serious then we expected."

Fiorina and Pollonaire had eventually separated, and she knew that he needed more time alone now. She had then gone to tell the rest of the team what she had discovered. Together, they could work out the next step.

"Bullshit!" said Windelle. "He's being a little bitch when it comes to the Clockwork Yooyu, and we just need to prove to him that it isn't that big a deal."

"That won't work!" cried Fiorina. "He knows that it isn't dangerous, of course he knows it! He isn't just scared of being hurt or the explosion or anything like that; he is scared simply by the Clockwork Yooyu itself!"

The room was silent while everyone, even Windelle, pondered the information. "So, it's more of a phobia than a fear?" said Gregorgio, musing.

"Yes, I guess you could say that," said Fiorina. "No matter how we tell him or show him that the Yooyu is harmless, it wont matter. He'll still be utterly terrified by it."

"So how do we fix it?" asked Ilsa.

"We can't push him too hard. If we do, Pollonaire might actually have a nervous breakdown."

"Oh shut the hell up with your psychobabble!" said Windelle. "Once we get him in an explosion, he'll get over it without a problem."

"How many times do I have to tell you, the explosions aren't the problem!" cried Fiorina, shocking the entire team.

Windelle recovered quickly. "Well, at least one more time apparently! How the hell can you just be afraid of a Yooyu? They're harmless!"

"You just don't get it!"

Windelle sneered. "You're right, I don't! The way I see it, you want to piss away our chances of winning the cup because you want to baby Polly!"

"What's more important, Meridell winning the Cup, or Pollonaire's mental health!?"

"You say that like his mental health is an issue in this situation. But even if it was, the Cup is still much more important than anything!"

There was a stunned silence. "How the hell can you say that!" shrieked Fiorina. "Don't you care about anyone on this team!"

Windelle actually laughed. "And what, you do?"

Fiorina flinched as if she had been struck. "Of course I do! How can you say that!"

Windelle's laughter grew louder. "Oh, this is rich! No one on this team cares about the other members! Everyone's head is too far up their asses for that! I don't have teammates, I have people to help me do better in Yooyuball. Ilsa and Pollonaire don't have teammates, they have people to score for them. You don't have any teammates either!"

He sneered again, and it was much worse than the first time. "You just have people you work with to collect a paycheck."

Fiorina and Windelle both glared at each other; a tangible aura of hate between them. Eventually, they both turned away and walked to their respective rooms.

Gregorgio looked at Ilsa nervously. "You're my teammate, right?"

"On the days you are tolerable."

"I'm not picky."

I liked how this chapter turned out, it was really happy and upbeat! Yeah...

Kitayl- Glad you liked the chapter, I'd been messing around with something to bridge the gap between the Maraqua chapter before that and then Maraqua RI game, so it's good to know that it worked.


So, Polly's monlogue. Liked it? Hated it? tl;dr? I want to hear your thoughts. No, not you, the person next to you!

I actually used the newscasters again in the beginning of the chapter, but then I realized I'd been using them way too much. So they got canned temporarily, they shouldn't be in the next chapter as well. The next chapter should be much more lighthearted than this one, so that's nice, I don't want to get too serious...

Thanks for reading!