Bonus points if you caught the reference in the summary.
I'm not dead, hurray! It has been around a month since I have updated, and I several excuses for that. I've been playing a lot of Warcraft, which I did anyway. But, school has also started. My writing process for short stories is pretty much have a basic idea for a chapter, toy around with that for a while, have a sudden flash of inspiration, and belt out the whole thing in one sitting. I have to be at my computer for this to work, and school seriously cuts into my computer time, so yeah. I wrote down most of the chapter of paper (I need something to do during class), but this actually tends to slow down my writing, since I have to retype it on the comp. Just go with it.
And I have quite a few other things going on, but this is Fanfiction not MySpace so I won't be whining and complaining about how much life sucks. No one wants to hear that.
So I won't make you wait any longer, story time!
May 26th
Once a week, Elon Hughlis abandoned his constant ritual of eating, practicing, and admiring himself to restock his large supply of various grooming products. The store he went too was close by, so he would normally just walk the short distance. However, even though it was well out of his way, Elon would still somehow end up at the Altador Stadium every week.
The Cup wouldn't be starting for a couple of weeks, but the Stadium still hosted weekly exhibition games. By an amazing coincidence, Elon's trips were always on the same day as games at the Stadium. Also, by an equally amazing coincidence, he always happened to have a few pens and photos of himself handy.
Elon was on his weekly trip at the moment. To be more precise, he was signing autographs for some of his many fans who had mobbed him when he had entered the Stadium. Elon sighed; greatness demanded such a high price! However, his labor was almost over, there were only a few fans remaining.
"OI! Hughlis!"
Elon turned, searching for whoever had called for him in such a rude manor. He eventually saw a Meerca at a table, waving him over. After a moment, Elon recognized him.
Elon walked towards him. "You're Meridell's new forward, aren't you?" asked Elon. He sat down at the chair opposite the Meerca. "What was your name again?"
"Gregorgio," replied the Meerca. "No need to ask yours, your fame precedes you Hughlis."
Elon found himself warming to Gregorgio. While an objective observer might have noticed the betraying smirk Gregorgio had let slipped during the praise, it had sailed right over Elon's head. Gregorgio wasn't quite sure why he was playing up to Elon, but he decided to see where the decision would take him.
They made small talk, and Gregorgio actually had to reform his opinion of Elon. He was an egotistical prick; there was no question of that. But aside from that, he was almost… likeable.
Well, maybe that was a stretch.
"So what do you think about the new Yooyus they're adding this year?" said Gregorgio, who was shocked to discover that he actually cared about Elon's thoughts on the matter.
"Well, I'm sure they'll add something new, and hopefully exciting, to the game," said Elon. "I don't really like that none of the teams get to practice with them before the Cup."
"You aren't worried that they might be too tough to handle, are you?"
"Bite your tongue!" cried Elon, half serious and half in jest. "I just mean that I wouldn't mind at least one practice session with them."
"Well, too bad there's no way we could get our hands on some of them," contemplated Gregorgio. "We don't even know where they are being held."
Just then, two Skeiths walked by the pair carrying a large crate. Their brown uniforms identified them as workers for the Altador Stadium.
"So dis is 'da last shipment of da new Yooyus for da Cup, eh?" asked one.
"Yeah Frank," said the other. "We'll set them with all the others."
The pair walked out of earshot, and went through one of the doors marked with an "Employees Only" sign.
Elon and Gregorgio glanced at each other, and then ran quickly to the door the two Skieths had gone through. They hurriedly opened it and ran inside, slamming it behind them. The room was simply one big hallway with several numbered doors. Obviously, the two Skieths had gone through one of them, but they had been too late to see which one.
"Any idea which door we should try?" asked Gregorgio. "I've never been in here before."
"Do you think I have?" responded Elon. "Players aren't allowed in here!"
"What happens if we get caught then?"
Elon thought for a moment, and said, "Well… our teams will probably be fined."
"Probably?"
"Worst case scenario… we may be suspended."
"WHAT?"
"Quiet!" Elon hissed.
Gregorgio tried to calm down, and failed. He tried again, with no better result. He settled for lowering his voice. "What the hell is wrong with you! Why didn't you tell me we might get suspended, I never would have done this otherwise!"
"We won't get suspended if we don't get caught!" said Elon, although he still looked nervous. "Besides, if I recall correctly, the security at the Stadium is horribly lax."
To prove his point, Elon went to a random door and flung it open. Both of their faces went pale.
Inside the room there was total darkness, save for one light bulb that hung above a single table. At the table were five Grundos with very large blasters playing cards. No one had seemed to notice them.
Elon slowly closed the door. "Wrong door."
"I suppose they've stepped up security a notch."
Joshua looked haggard. With the Cup about to start, the Altador Cup Committee had their hands full with preparations. One of the most important of these was retrieving the Altador Cup (the physical trophy, not the event) from last year's champions, the Haunted Woods.
Joshua wasn't sure why he had been sent, as opposed to some flunky. He had protested, but Amy had insisted that only someone with his status could be trusted with the safety of the Cup.
Well having status was all well and good, but it might as well have been nonexistent for all the good it had done him. The Haunted Woods team had grudgingly handed over the Cup, but Joshua was sure the only reason they hadn't locked him in a coffin was because everyone would know they did it.
The inhabitants of the Haunted Woods were, if possible, worse. He had had to deal with everything from overzealous sheriffs taking the Cup as evidence to thieves looking to make a quick buck to crazy shotgun wielding grandmothers. And then there was that stick business with Count Von Roo…
But Joshua had gotten past the villains, the crazies, the threatened lawsuits, and had managed to convey the fragile Cup back to the safety of the Altador Stadium. He turned the Cup over in his hands and sighed. It was finally over.
The door slammed open, and Joshua jumped, losing his grip on the Cup. He leaped for it, but it was too far gone. The Cup hit the floor, and smashed into hundreds of pieces.
At the same moment, Elon and Gregorgio walked through the door, each holding a large and wriggling sack.
They all froze, each of them caught in their wrong doing. Finally, Joshua tried to take control of the situation. "What the hell are you guys doing here?"
Gregorgio looked at Elon, who had turned white as a sheet. No help there. "Well…" began Gregorio, trying to come up with a solution. "What the hell are you doing here?"
Joshua rose to his full height and tried to sound intimidating. "I'm a member of the Altador Cup Committee! I can be anywhere in this building if I so choose!"
Gregorgio pretended to be shocked, he had already known this and had been stalling for time. He knew he had a little more time, and started looking around the room for inspiration.
Joshua's eyes moved to the sacks the two players carried. Gregorgio could almost see the logic in his head being formed. "You two were trying to steal the new Yooyus weren't you? According to Rule 572A, that's a two month suspension!"
Joshua had made up the punishment on the spot, and he had no idea what Rule 572A actually was, or what punishment it required. It doesn't really matter, but Rule 572A actually states, "There is to be no eating of Spyders within a 100 yard radius of the Yooyuball field on Tuesdays."
Elon somehow turned whiter than before, and began to stammer incoherent syllables. Gregorgio ignored him; he was too busy looking for inspiration. He saw a glint on the floor, and noticed the shattered pieces of the Cup on the ground. He relaxed, they were saved.
"I wouldn't suspend either of us, if I was you," said Gregorgio.
Worry flashed on Joshua's face, but he quickly covered it up. "Oh? And why not?"
"With one phone call, everyone in Neopia will know that some idiot named Joshua destroyed the Altador Cup with his clumsiness. The crown jewel of the Altador Stadium, the priceless gold trophy, destroyed!"
"No one will believe you!" cried Joshua, not even bothering to try and deny it.
"Oh, sure they will. All you have to do to prove me wrong is show someone the Cup. And I'm afraid," continued Gregorgio, nudging one of the larger pieces with his foot, "That you wont be able to do that, now will you?"
They all stood there for a few moments. Eventually, Joshua gulped and asked, "So, what happens now?"
Gregorgio pretended to think. "Well, how about this? I know a blacksmith who knows how to keep a secret. I'll just take these fragments of the Cup and have him make another one out of them. In return, we walk away from here, and everyone shuts up about this whole thing."
Joshua sighed. "Okay, I guess that's the only thing we can do."
"And we get to keep the Yooyus!" said Elon, finally speaking up now that he saw a way out.
Joshua looked like he was going to protest, but thought better of it. He nodded.
Gregorgio swept up the fragments into the bag containing his Yooyus, and Joshua led them to the back entrance of the Stadium and let them out.
Once they were well on their way back to their respective hotels, Gregorgio started to laugh hysterically.
Elon turned and looked at him, confused. "What's so funny?" he asked. "I mean, I'm happy that we got out of there too, but you sound like you've heard the funniest joke in the world."
Gregorgio eventually stopped laughing and addressed Elon. "Well, my blacksmith friend happens to be myself actually, I know quite a lot about different metals."
"Go on," said Elon, curious.
"Well, when I grabbed the pieces of the Cup, I noticed…"
Joshua headed back to the Committee Chambers, where he knew Drake and Amy would be waiting to hear news of the Cup. He had his story straight, he knew exactly what he would say. There was no way he would reveal his secret under any kind of examination.
He entered the Chambers, and Drake and Amy looked up from their paperwork. "Hello Joshua," said Drake. "How was your-"
"OKAY, OKAY!" screamed Joshua. "You wore me down! It was ME! I destroyed the Cup!!"
Drake and Amy shared a glance. "Joshua," said Amy. "Calm down and tell us what happened."
Joshua told them the whole story, too ashamed to even look at them. When he finally finished, he looked up, expecting them to be furious. In reality, however, both Drake and Amy had been trying to hold in laughter, and at the end of the story, they finally dissolved into fits of hilarity.
Joshua was confused, and a little angry. "What is so funny!"
"Joshua," gasped Amy, still laughing. "You are so idiotic it's unbelievable."
"What are you talking about?"
Drake reached down and unlocked a large drawer underneath his desk. From it, he pulled out…
"The Cup!" cried Joshua. "But how?"
"To ensure the safety of the Cup," began Drake. "We made an exact replica of it. Every year, we give the winning team that replica instead of the real thing. Everyone thinks it's real, so no one ever had a problem with it."
"Why didn't anyone tell me about this?"
"Plausible deniability. Send a letter to this Gregorgio person saying that he doesn't have to bother bringing us another fake, I have about six extras in my basement."
"You mean we aren't going to suspend them?" said Joshua, miffed.
"No, I don't feel like doing the paperwork," said Drake, pointing to his stack. "I already have way too much."
"But could you make sure that you don't blow any major secrets this year Joshua?" asked Amy, returning to her paperwork. "That would be great."
"But wait," said Elon. "What do we tell our teammates about the Yooyus? They are going to want to know how we got them."
Gregorgio chuckled. "Just tell them it's a trade secret."
DigiTayl- Romance is another thing I don't like writing about very much, but I thought it might be worth a shot. Glad you liked it.
AuroraBorealis14- I'm still considering on just making the Maraqua arc a separate story. My plan right now is to finish up with Confessions, and then go back and edit all of the chapters. The Maraqua arc is my favorite, but the only thing I could really add to my plan of how the arc is going to go would be some of Jair's perspective while she is with Roo Island. I do have one chapter planned that way, but I don't really want to do too much more than that. Well, I'll figure it out when I get there.
The ACC hasn't been around in a while, so I thought they needed to come back. They'll pop back in every now and then, but I'm pretty sure they wont get any more full chapters. Of course, I might suddenly think of an idea and write it, but I've got nothing else for them at the moment. I know what I'm doing next chapter, but then I might have to dip into some of the ideas that I couldn't get off the ground.
And I will update this story again. It may take a while, but it will eventually be updated.
Oh yes, I forgot something. That other story I'm working on is going to be a novelization(is that the right word) of the Meridell plots. Now normally I would just post this and surprise everyone, but I have a serious problem.
I can not think of a title.
I don't mean like I couldn't think of a title for this story. I know I can do better than the "Confessions" title, but it works. I can't think of anything for this story. And when I day anything, the only thing I can think of is The Meridell War. And I refuse to call it that.
So once again, I'm going to have to ask people for a title idea for the story. The first chapter is done, and since it isn't a bunch of short stories I may actually decide to hold on to it until it's finished(which might be a long time, BTW).