DISCLAIMER: NEOPETS, characters, logos, names and all related indicia
are trademarks of Neopets, Inc., © 1999-2006.

(Author's Note: I am a Darigan team member, but I have tried my best to have this story show no traces of bias. To quote Neopets: "Darigan's defenders relentlessly pounded their counterparts from Terror Mountain, breaking their spirit early in the match and making them look unusually disorganized (even by Terror Mountain standards) the rest of the way. It didn't take long for this match to turn into a rout, and once it did, it was obvious that Terror Mountain's players had given up and were simply "mailing this one in."" Sounds like they got pwned to me, so.)

(Another author's note: You know what makes me happy? Reviews, either good or bad. So, if you're reading this and you haven't reviewed, I would really like it if you did so. I want to know that people are actually reading this.)

Round 1

Terror Mountain fans had groaned when they learned their team would be up against the Darigan Citadel in the first round. When the two teams had a friendly match earlier in the year, Darigan had clobbered them 5-1, on Terror Mountain's home stadium, no less. So when the Neopian Times first announced the round matchings, even the biggest of Terror Mountain teams were hesitant to buy tickets just to see their team be clobbered. Even when NTV interviewed players lined up to buy tickets, several Darigan players commented on how they were going to have an "easy win". Terror Mountain fans retaliated by selling buttons, t-shirts, and other merchandise bashing Darigan and supporting Terror Mountain, and donating the proceeds to the Terror Mountain team. These were shut down after repeated organized attacks by Darigan fans, and also the Chia Police finding they didn't have a peddling permit.

The pregame hype had mostly ended by the day of the match, although Chia Police were stationed in many parts of the stands, just in case a riot broke out. Pamphlets were handed out explaining the team line-up, mentioning that Tico Tems had a bad case of NeoPox, and was being replaced by Vaydo Pohz. The two teams began their huddle, then, after exactly one minute, broke apart. Both teams had decided to play 3-1. The Yooyu proudly waited to reveal itself as the suspense grew to its peak, then blasted itself into the air, grinning at the audience, showing off its proud Fire colour. It then rolled itself into a ball, and was grabbed by Terror Mountain's Prytariel, who was instantly tackled by Darigan's Kep Bonnefie. The ball flew into the air, and was caught by Darigan's Tandrak Shaye. Shaye ran for the net, but was blocked by Rinok Fetel. Tandrak looked at him for a moment, and then ran past him. Rinok swore, and vowed to find a way to combine tactics with his natural skill. Selwick Phoss stood between Fetel and the goalnet. Fetel rolled his eyes, and stepped over Selwick. Selwick thought quickly, and jumped up, slamming the ball back to the Darigan side, where Layton Vickles caught it, dodged Fitel, then Pohz, then Phoss, then Prytariel, until all the Terror Mountain members were chasing after him but the goalkeeper. Vickles passed to Shaye, who slammed the ball into the net. The 275-pound goalkeeper hobbled after it, getting nowhere near the ball before it had rested neatly inside the net.

Terror Mountain groaned, and, along with Darigan, returned back to the start. The next ball was Faerie, and zoomed around the arena for ten seconds before Vaydo Pohz jumped up and caught it. She ran past Kep Bonnefie, but was blocked by Tormo Frein. Pohz attempted to pass to Prytariel, who was in position, but Frein intercepted the pass, and passed to Vickles, who slid past Phoss, and passed to Shaye, who attempted to score, but, being Faerie, the ball flew off-course, and into the hands of Rinok Fitel. Rinok was being blocked by Frein, so threw the ball over Frein's head. Frein caught it, and passed to Shaye, who threw the ball into the goal net, the bumbling Chia again failing to catch it.

Prytariel sighed. "You know, I think we just lost any chance we might have had of winning." She whispered to Pohz. Pohz nodded, and they slowly returned back to 3-1.

The next ball was Fire, and was caught by Shaye, who threw the ball at a wall. It bounced off and into Terror Mountain's goal-net. "Are we even trying anymore?" Phoss whispered to Fitel. "I don't think so." Fitel replied.

To make a long story short, Darigan won, 13-0. Terror Mountain did not even bother to go outside and sign autographs, instead, they went home, and spent the next twenty-four hours practicing nonstop. Darigan, instead, was rejoicing, as they had scored their highest scores yet, although the world record was held by the Kiko Lake team, who, when against Tyrannia in a friendly match, won 17-1. Darigan partied long into the night, spending several thousand dubloons on grog at the Golden Dubloon.