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Round 1

The round between Altador and Krawk Island was one of the most anticipated of the first round. With rabid fans of both teams storming the ticket booths, causing two Kikos to be killed by trampling, the tickets were sold for the highest prices in the auction house, as not only was it the first match to be played, it was also between two very evenly matched teams. With more illegal gambling houses popping up than could be closed, the Altador Cup Committee had their hands full calling for undercover Chia Police operation.

The game began as all did, with the captains shaking hands. "Trapper" Remis smiled at his fellow captain, "Dasher" Soley, who returned it. The captains then returned to their teams, for a one-minute huddle to discuss strategy. And then, the game began.

Krawk Island had chosen the 2-2 formation, whereas Altador went for a 1-3, indicating that, as always, they would be playing heavy defence.

The Altador Marching Band cued the Yooyu to present itself with a drum roll. Proudly, the Yooyu leaped into the air, as the lights turned on, revealing it to be a Fire Yooyu, which flashed a smile at the audience, and curled itself into a ball.

The whistle blew, and two forwards headed for the ball. Ealyn Hawkshanks of Krawk Island got it first, narrowly snatching it away from Altador's Winberto Seliz. Ealyn quickly passed the ball away to Krawk Island's Nitri Cassale. Salayne Ritad, Altador's goalkeeper, yelled that Soley was running across the field, possibly ready for a pass.

In an attempt to prevent this from occurring, Cawley Embith and Timu began to cover Cassale, who faked a run through them, then quickly turned, passing it to Garven Hale, who passed it to Ealyn Hawkshanks, who dodged a block from Winberto, and passed it away to Soley. Soley gritted his teeth, and let the ball loose. Salayne Ritad dived, and caught it in the tip of his fingers. Roaring applause came from the Altador side of the stands, with outrageous shouts from the Krawk Island side.

The teams returned back to their starting positions, as the lights dimmed, and the Yooyu emerged from a trapdoor. As the lights renewed themselves, the Mutant Yooyu revealed itself, flying into the air in a ball, only to be grabbed by Ealyn Hawkshanks, who ran for the Altador side of the arena, Soley following behind.

However, Altador retaliated, sending "Trapper" Remis and Timu, the team's two greatest blockers to cover Soley, making him unable to receive one of Ealyn's famous passes. Ealyn quickly rethought his strategy, and threw the ball at a defender, Hoke Lemtry. Lemtry caught it, but was tackled by Winberto Seliz, who passed the ball to Cawley Embith. Embith passed to Remis, who attempted to pass to Seliz, who had lined himself up against the Krawk goalpost. However, being a mutant, the ball flew out of control, into the hands of Soley, who was promptly tackled by "Trapper" Remis.

Remis faked a shot from the left of the Krawk goal, switched direction, and slammed the ball into the net, as Hale fell to the ground, his jump to catch the ball a failure. The stand erupted in cheers.

The teams again returned to their starting positions, Remis giving a high five to Seliz. The next Yooyu was a bit too hasty, and revealed itself to be Snow before the drum roll had even begun. Altador was taken by surprise by the unexpected start, but Krawk Island had been around longer, and was used to such accidents. Ealyn quickly caught the ball at the beginning, and passed to Dasher. Dasher weaved himself through various Altador members, but was tackled by Seliz. Seliz attempted to move to the Krawk goal net, but was blocked by a triple-team by Krawk Island team members. Changing his course, he pretended to attempt going through the left side of the triple-team, but changed his course, and attempted to dodge through the right side. But Krawk Island was used to feints such as this, and tackled him, Lemtry getting the ball, and running to the Altador net. Surprisingly, he dodged several traps by the opponent, and tried to pass to Hawkshanks for a goal, but his hands had frozen to the snowball. He tried in vain to shake it off, but to no avail, until Seliz gave it a large whack, sending it flying out of Lemtry's hands. Lemtry screamed in pain, and the referee blew her whistle angrily. Seliz had violated Rule #42 in the rulebook, "thou shalt not injure thy opponent by the smacking of the snowball, for it will be an abomination unto thee". Krawk Island was given a foul point for the outrage, and Orlae Raniks, the team's substitute defender, was bought in to replace Lemtry.

Orlae Raniks had been the subject of much controversy in the past, with reports of dark alley duped item dealings; the member was not in the team's regular lineup. However, Orlae was still a good defender, and, although she was only called onto the field once every few matches, she still trained every day, and kept in high physical condition, no matter how little she played.

The teams again moved back from where they started, and the Yooyu proudly flew into the sky, revealing itself to be Fire. And the game was on. Winberto Seliz got the ball first, and passed it to Remis, who passed it to Embith, who passed it to Timu, who passed it back to Seliz. Krawk Island fans groaned, Altador was setting up for their infamous "pass trap", a ploy to take the last remaining seconds off the clock, then either score at the last minute, or force a tie. The crowd turned rowdy, the Krawk side of the crowd yelling out rude comments to the Altador team, the Altador side of the crowd yelling the same to the Krawk side of the crowd.

Soley called Hawkshanks and Raniks over to talk. "I've always been a big fan of the Mystery Island team – you know that move they do – the One-Timer Spike?" The others nodded in agreement. "Good. We're going to do it, but we'll need to send Cassale in to disrupt the trap. We can't have them force a tie; they have to try and score. Then Raniks, you catch the ball, spike it to Hawkshanks, who'll pass to me, and I'll slam it in. We'll lose all our defence, but Hale is the best goalie in the game, he can block anything they try. GO!"

Nitri Cassale ran into the middle of the four Altadors, who were still passing the ball, rendering Cawley Embith unable to pass it to Timu. Instead, Embith flew past the other players, beating her wings ferociously, and throwing the ball at the goal.

Raniks practically flew into the air, pushing her Techo legs as far as they would go. She caught the ball in her fingertips, and slammed it with extreme force into the ground, causing it to bounce up over the head of Timu, and into the hands of Hawkshanks, standing to the goal's left with Dasher. Hawkshanks one-timed, and passed to Dasher, who slammed the ball into the goal.

The stands erupted into cheers. Even a few Altador fans were cheering, impressed at the sheer difficulty of the move.

Barely any time was left on the clock, but Seliz caught the Mutant ball as it presented itself anyway, hoping to possibly adjust the score to a tie, and preserve his team's honour. He dodged all four of his opponents, and threw the ball into the goal with mind-bending force.

Or he would have, if Garven Hale hadn't neatly blocked the scoring attempt, not even needing to dive to block the ball.

And the three minutes of Gameplay were over. Krawk Island's fans rose to their feet in a standing ovation, as flowers, confetti, and marriage proposals flew from the air from delighted fans. Seliz swiped at the air with a claw in anger, but still smiled as his captain, Remis, shook hands with Soley. The teams then journeyed outside, to sign autographs for their joyous fans.