Chapter 7: Across the Causeway

"WE WILL WE WILL ROCK YOU! ROCK YOU Ow! ROCK YOU Ow!" Singapore chanted with his country's fans.

"OLEH OLEH OLEH OLEH~" Malaysia chanted back with his fans. Nearby, the rest of the ASEAN countries looked on.

"You think they'll be alright?" Myanmar asked worriedly. It looked strangely similar to a scene at the England-France football tournament he had seen. And it was not pretty.

"Course they will, the most damage they could do is yell their hearts out. They've been rivals for an awfully long time ana~." Thailand watched the scene through his binoculars. Vietnam was placing bets for the whole group.

"Indonesia?" Cambodia asked the nation, "They are your brothers, right?"

"Mine too," Brunei interjected, "But Singapore is still in denial. He even takes up a Chinese name!"

"Well, when two third of your population is Chinese, you will have to take an ethnic name suited to that." Philippines retorted, "Oh, Singapore's team seems to be struggling."

"They had a 4-1 lead in the first half, it's no wonder Malaysia's team is trying their hardest." Laos replied.

"Hang on, when did their rivalry start?" Vietnam asked as she set the tickets down. Both Brunei and Indonesia smirked.

"Oh, it was a long time ago."

"Temasek! Temasek!" Temasek sang as he collected the fish from the market. Oh they smelt so good. He was going to soak them in oil and sambal and lots of chilli and invite big brother East Indies and Malaya and even the Sultanate of Brunei over.

Wait, what was that smoke from? Temasek turned to see Malaya happily burning the market he was just in, together with a blonde with a scar on his forehead.

"Wait, stop!" Temasek was a small child back then and even at his top speed, he could not reach the market in time. It burnt before his very eyes, and ashes floated in the air.

"There you are," Temasek paled. Malaya was holding a kris in his hand.

"Do you want to live?" Temasek nodded, crawling away from the teenager.

"Then live like a fisherman! Live in this squalor! Muahahaha!" Malaysia scratched Temasek's face and laughed like a maniac. Temasek cried as the Malayan warrior sailed away, together with the Dutchman.

What he had not known was that Malaya had been forced to do this by Netherlands, who felt that Temasek was a threat. With no Singapore, the convenient trading port in the Straits of Malacca would be in their taxed ports. It was wonderful!

"Eh!" Cambodia asked. "Does Singapore knows this?"

"Well, Singapore was still young, back then he didn't understand. He eventually forgot this. In fact, I only learnt of this through Malaysia, when he was upset." Indonesia said knowledgably.

"Malaysia does regret it right?" Vietnam asked suspiciously, "Now I understand why Singapore always tries to be ASEAN's Number one. He probably didn't want to get hurt like that.

Year 1824

Raffles and England looked at each other.

"You brought this on yourself." England sipped his tea.

"Well, Singapore and Malaya have to rely on each other. One does not have the convenient resources, and the other, the convenient place!" Raffles shook his head in disappointment. Nearby, Malaya and Singapore were fighting tooth and nail.

"Singapore! Malaya! Stop that at once!" England yelled. The two Malay countries looked at the foreigner.

"You think that you should stop fighting? After all, you two do rely on each other!" Raffles told them. Malaya scratched his head.

"Well, I don't like his puny little face. You should have gone home and took care of Bencoolen! The East Indies were handed over to the Dutch! Don't you know that Netherlands is a weird maniac?" Malaya replied.

"I agree with the Northern neighbour. You fight with France, don't you?" Singapore noted before throwing a punch at Malaya's face. The two resumed their fighting.

"Hang on, why didn't Malaysia come under France? It would be a perfect match, ana~!" Thailand clasped his hands together. Vietnam agreed.

"They are so like England and France. One wonders if Malaysia was France in disguise." Phillippines snorted. Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam looked at her in shock.

"You're right! France does act like Malaysia!"

It was World War II. Japan was returning home at last.

"Bleh! Bye bye, stupid Japs!" Singapore waved at them with a large British Flag. Malaya was joining in the celebration by lighting firecrackers along with some of Singapore's people. Next to them, England winced. Hong Kong had spread the firecracker disease to them as well. He really had to find the source of those firecrackers.

"Oi! Xiang Gang!" China passed the firecrackers to Hong Kong, who examined them with glee. "Light them up whenever he gets cranky. He really gets pissed!"

It appears that questioning Hong Kong would be one of the next few actions of the day. However, he was just content to see Singapore recovering. 123 years gone to waste, Singapore must really be suffering!

Just then, he caught side of a Chinese Rally. They were petitioning to have independence. He stood up. That will have to be dealt with. However...

"Merdaka! Merdaka!" Malaya chanted with his citizens. They wanted independence. England could feel another headache coming.

"And there was this really freaky episode as well as England tried to stop the spread of communism, ana~!"Thailand exclaimed, only to be stared at with menance by Vietnam.

"Alright, no communist jokes! I got the point, ana~!" Thailand held up his hands with mock despair. Vietnam huffed before removing her boot away from his shoulder. Laos handed Thailand a towel, to wipe away all the sweat he was perspiring. Funny, why was it cold?

"No," Brunei disagreed as he looked at Thailand, "The freakiest thing in the twentieth century is,"

"WHAT!" That was the collective reply of both Malaysia and Singapore. Both of their bosses tried to explain why they were merging.

Singapore was having the hardest time coping. He railed and yelled at his boss, shouting, "It's not fair! England doesn't have any right to decide how we should obtain independence! And we specially," he pointed at Malaysia, "Don't have to merge with him of all people. Why can't we merge with Brunei! Brunei is the best person to merge with! He's got oil, he's got a port..."

"He is definitely not under colonial rule and further more, he is more than a thousand kilometres from you! Be reasonable Singapore!" Singapore's boss was losing patience with the irritated nation.

The tunku was having a slightly different response.

"We're going to be overrun by the communists from Singapore! And they'll totally change the face of me with their talk of 'equality for all races,' there might be even more Chinese than Malay! We won't be Malaya anymore!" Malaya was in the midst of a panic attack. It was worsened by the fact that Singapore was his brother.

"Well, the results have came in. Singapore votes for merger!" Lee Kuan Yew announced over the protesting voices of Singapore and Malaysia.

"Of course it didn't last long afterwards. Indonesia helped in convincing the two leaders that the two cannot mix." Brunei snorted. Indonesia looked pleased with himself. The others stared at him.

"You bombed MacDonald's. Anything for you to say for yourself?" America suddenly appeared, holding a burger.

"I was under influence by the communist party." Indonesia pushed America out of the stadium.

"What was that guy doing here?" Vietnam had already loaded her rifle.

"Relax, Viet. That guy still helps us with the Spratly dispute, remember? He gave a pledge." Philippines reminded her.

"That guy has a habit of breaking pledges. Remember the Vietnam war?" It was Vietnam's turn to remind Philippines.

"Anyway, long story short, Singapore declared independence and strove on his own to create a name for him." Indonesia concluded the story. Just then, Singapore entered the spectator's stand. Malaysia was following behind, hanging his head in shame.

"5-3! Take that, Malaysia!"

"It's only the first round, little bastard! Wait till you see our home stadium, our ultras would beat your fans hands down!" Malaysia rebutted back.

"You're just saying that because you're a sore loser! Remember, I'm ASEAN's Number one!" Singapore started cheering.

"He's not just ASEAN's number one, he's also one of the four Asia tigers as well." Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea appeared. They dragged Singapore over for a celebration, East Asia style.

"You idiots, that's a Malay country you're celebrating with!" Brunei protested, only to be stopped by Malaysia.

"Let them go, Brunei." Malaysia snorted, "When we reach my stadium instead of this wimpy Jalan Besar, I'll like to see them in tears the next time." He strode away angrily.

A/N: Oleh! Today is the second fight against the Malaysians. Hope they win!

Temasek is the old name for Singapore. It means sea town