A/N: Well, this is exciting! I've started many stories but never found the interest to finish them... so hopefully I'll be able to finish this one. And I apologize in advance for the long introductions of people. I don't know if I'm going to use them yet. Also, does anyone actually know the genders of the Neopets? It's hard to tell, for me, at least. Hmm. Enjoy!

Moltara. The word on everybody's lips. Several team captains were already getting antsy, including newly appointed captain Garven Hale, more commonly known as Hale. After last year's win against Shenkuu in the final, Hale had felt confident in his very stable team Then Dasher had to retire. He just had to. His replacement mysteriously got injured, resulting in Dasher having to come back, which was alright, though Hale had suspicions that Nitri Cassale, or Cassie, had something to do with that injury. With Dasher back, Hale felt a little better. But the running curse of having first place teams immediately fall after their win lingered over his head like a cloud on a sunny day.

And, with the addition of Moltara, which featured a dangerous, fiery looking crew, Hale had good reason to be concerned. As his first year as captain, Hale wanted everything to go absolutely perfect.

All the teams had moved into their respective dorms, and practices were being very intensely scheduled. Even Altador and Faerieland, debatably the worst teams participating, were stepping it up. Hale blamed this sudden interest in preparation on Moltara. Their captain, Aldric Beign, was a fiery Kougra with an attitude to match. In fact, he figured he might as well blame everything on Moltara. Stupid newcomers...

Moltara Room:

"Some Neopet dumped a slushie on my head today," Vere Polnicek complained. "Seriously, couldn't it be something less sticky? It takes FOREVER to wash this out of my hair!"

Zax Bannet sighed. "Is that really all you care about? Your hair?"

Scowling, Vere shook her head. "It's not that! We haven't even done anything yet, and they can't stop picking on us! What gives? I thought Altador was a nice place."

Tulah Kisner laughed. "They're probably just jellin' over the fact that we're gonna whoop their backsides and give them a good fiery lickin'."

Their goalkeeper, Mor Gollog, grunted.

"Shut up! We have more important things to worry about!" Aldric said. "IF you haven't noticed, we can't find a time slot to practice. I don't know what it is, but for whatever reason, nobody is relinquishing their slots for us."

Tulah heaved his backside up off the couch. "I can do that in a jiffy. Come on Zax, Vere. Let's go get ourselves some practice time!"

Mor grunted.

Lounge:

The lounge quickly fell silent as the Moltarans walked in. Zax squirmed uneasily behind Tulah, not feeling that confident. Vere nudged him. "Go find someone to talk to. If they say no, find someone else."

Zax nodded and strolled over to a couch where three Neopets sat. The first was an enormous Kyrii, sporting an orange and black striped shirt. He was biting impatiently on what appeared to be a bone. The next was a Techo who was covered with strips of white paper, like a mummy, or a house that had been toilet papered. And finally, a small Korbat sat, with wings painted in a fire pattern.

"Um, excuse me? I'm Zax Bannet from-"

"We know who you are, Moltaran. What do you want?" the inflection of the Kyrii's voice indicated that he really didn't like Zax.

"Well, we don't have any practice time, so we were wondering if we could share yours."

The Techo started laughing. "Did ya hear that Vitor? They wanna use ours?" He continued to laugh until Vitor, the Kyrii slapped him upside the head.

"Shut up, Dirx!" Vitor turned to the Scorchio. "Hmm... maybe. My name's Krell Vitor, Captain of Haunted Woods. I might be willing to make a deal with you. Tell your captain to show up at the Captain Meeting at 2 and we'll discuss there. Haunted Woods, ya hear?" Krell bared his pointy teeth as Zax hurriedly walked away.

On the other side of the room, Vere approached some girls sitting in a circle on the ground. From their different colored shirts, Vere knew that she would have to try and ask all those teams individually. At least it meant she had a higher chance of finding a cooperative team.

The giggles grew louder as she approached. The speaker was a purple Zafara, with blue wings to boot. Next to her sat a pink Lupe, wearing Altadorian colors. A purple Xweetok lay on her back on the other side of the Zafara, as well as a snowy Aisha. A green, tropical looking Kougra joined them, and two Eyries in the corner did as well.

Vere sat down tentatively. Finally, the Zafara noticed her. "Girls, we have a visitor! Care to introduce yourself?"

14 pairs of eyes looked at her. "Erm, I'm Vere Polnicek, of Moltara, and I just had a question for you guys concerning practice."

The Zafara smiled, or maybe she smirked. It was hard to tell. "We can get to that later! Now you need to know our names! I'm Delma Harrence, of Faerieland. This pink Lupe is Timu of Altador, the Xweetok is Sela Protore of Virtupets, the Aisha is Prytariel of Terror Mountain, and the Kougra is Bertie Shurtz, of Mystery Island!"

Bertie smiled weakly at Vere. Timu said timidly, "You forgot Fiorina. And Jair."

At the name Jair, Vere slowly turned to look at one of the finest scorers in the Altador Cup. She sat on a pillow, gracefully watching the several birds outside the window. Up until the mention of Jair Tollet (Roo Island), Vere had been convinced she was in the presence of pansies, except for maybe Bertie.

Jair looked up as Vere met her eyes. She seemed to say, "Hmmm," before looking back out the window.

Prytariel tapped Vere. "Did you say you had a question?"

"Oh yes! I was wondering if some of your teams wouldn't mind sharing a practice space with us. We can't find a time slot to train."

There was an awkward silence. "Well," Sela began, before getting cut off.

"It might be doable, but I guess it's really up to the captains. Try the Captains' Meeting, at 2. Maybe you can discuss something in a civilized manner there," Jair said.

Vere smiled a real smile. "Thank you! I'll see you guys later!" She got up and looked for more people.

"I like her!" Bertie announced, to a bunch of eye-rolling.

Tulah sat down at a table full of a bunch of people.

The first person he talked to was a tiny, tiny, Nimmo, who looked about ½ of Tulah's age. "Hey. Can I use some of your practice space?" Reb Weemelott, the Nimmo from Brightvale, shrugged. "Ask Squeaky at the Captains' Meeting."

The answer was the same for all the Neopets. The Captains' Meeting. Tulah figured it wasn't worth trying to ask any of the other teams (Darigan Citadel, Kreludor, Krawk Island, Shenkuu, Lost Desert, Tyrannia, and Kiko Lake) until the Captains Meeting.

Captains' Meeting:

Aldric sat impatiently on his chair. It was 1:50, and not a single other Captain had shown up yet. Finally, the door opened, and small, pink Bruce walked in. When the Bruce looked up, he jumped, slightly frightened by the sight of the Moltaran Captain. Aldric noticed that the Bruce took a seat far away from him.

However, that was the only captain so far. At 1:59, the door flung open and all the rest of the captains trooped in, laughing and joking. They all took their seats, and the meeting began.

At the head of the table sat a green Poogle, who led the meeting. "Greetings, all, to the 5th Altador Cup! Before we begin, we should introduce ourselves as we seem to have some new competitors this year..." Aldric felt many stares on his head. His flames burned a bit brighter, and many turned away.

The Poogle continued. "I am Trapper Remis, Altador's Captain."

"And a pansy," someone muttered nearby Aldric.

A red Lupe stood and said in a deep, booming voice, "Squeaky Tressif, Brightvale."

"Welcome back, Squeaky!" "Hey, nice to see you again." "Ready to get your behind whooped?" And other encouraging phrases like that were heard around the room. Aldric found it slightly ironic that his name was Squeaky, but decided not to mention it.

The snake like Hissi next to Squeaky hissed, "Of Darigan Citadel, Layton Vickles." Aldric looked at Layton, who had long since been one of the greatest scorers ever. I can take him, he thought.

The Bruce he first saw piped, "Kakoni Worrill, Faerieland!" Aldric, along with many others, snorted.

Another enormous figure announced, "For the Haunted Woods, Krell Vitor."

An obnoxious, stuck-up looking Gnorbu flipped her orange hair impatiently. "I represent Kreludor, and my name, though you should already know it (here she gave Aldric a look), is Deryln Fonnet." Lots of eye-rolling at that one.

The next captain didn't stand up. He just raised his head and looked at Aldric as if to say, "I think you know who I am." Then he turned to look at the next captain.

"Aw, c'mon Hale, you gotta say something," Trapper said. Hale glared at Trapper, his scar and earring both glinting in the sunlight. "Or, you know, don't..." Trapper said nervously. Aldric, of course, knew who Garven Hale was. The greatest goalkeeper in all of Neopia.

A pretty Gnorbu next to Hale smiled and said, "I am Mirsha Grelinek, of Shenkuu." Someone wolf-whistled. Aldric could understand why; her purple eyes were mesmerizing.

"Leera Heggle, Lost Desert," said a fantastically sized Kau, who also had an earring. Aldric sneered. What a Garven Hale wannabe.

The Acara next said, "Elon Hughlis, but you can call me "The Black Hole", I am from Maraqua, under the sea, you know." Jittery little fellow.

After that was Wizard Windelle of Meridell, whose white Techo colored skin looked odd in the mixture of color around him.

Then came another big fellow, a Mynci, whose hair added to his massive form. In between grunts, Aldric understood something like: Volgoth, Mystery Island.

Only five more captains until himself, Aldric noted. He knew the next captain as well, Lilo Blumario, a yellow Roo from Roo Island. A snowy Aisha was Prytariel of Terror Mountain. Loryche was a yellow Chomby from Tyrannia, and Keetra Deile was a cute little Cybunny from Virtupets.

Finally, the last captain before himself stood, er, floated? "Kiko Lake," said the brown Kiko, "Poke Cellers." And then, it was Aldric's turn. It was the moment the rest of the captains were waiting for.

Aldric stood up, the flame on his head growing hot with embarrassment. "Representing Moltara, I am Aldric Beign."

"Right, well, after our introductions, we should start the meeting!" Trapper said.

Krell was the first to speak. "It has come to my attention that Moltara is in need of some practice space. Who here is willing to share? I do not need new spies to take our winning strategies away, so one of you other dunderheads should share."

Immediately, an uproar broke out. "What winning strategies? You guys suck!" yelled out Loryche.

"The only dunderhead I see here is you, you big oaf!" Prytariel spat.

"Make him share!"

"Why does he get an exception?"

"You smell!"

"I like bananas!"

"QUIET!" when the pretty person talks, people are quiet. Such was the case in the meeting. Mirsha glared down at all of them. "Seriously, people. We're all adults; I think we are capable of handling this in a mature manner."

"Except for maybe rat-face over there," Layton hissed. Mirsha shot him a withering glare.

Trapper beamed. "Thanks, Mirsha!" She gave him a look of faint disgust, and sat down.

"Alright! Who would be willing to share their practice time with Aldy here?" Aldric's hair burst into a new round of flames. "Did I... say something?" Trapper asked.

"Aldric. Not Aldy. Aldric." He hissed, eyes slitted in annoyance.

Awkward silence followed. At first it appeared no one was willing to share. But then, someone spoke up. "I wouldn't mind sharing," Mirsha sighed, knowing all too well that her team would kill her for this. "Me neither," said a voice next to Aldric. Mouths dropped, as they discovered Hale speaking.

Soon, other teams offered their time slots in order to not be outdone by the first two captains. A bunch of them wanted to impress Mirsha as well.

"Great!" Trapper said. "You can work with Hale then." Hale cast Trapper a death glare. "I said I wouldn't mind. I wasn't the one who volunteered first."

Trapper's smile faltered. "Oh... right, well I guess Mirsha could, but you know, maybe someone else should-"

Deryln Fonnet snorted. "Really Trapper, it's quite obvious you just don't want Aldric working with her because you like her, though for the life of me I can't see why. So make a decision and stick with it."

Trapper blushed bright red, and let Mirsha show Aldric her practice times. The meeting was over. Most of the captains stuck around to chat some more.

Mirsha smiled at Aldric. "Don't let them worry you; they're just nervous about the new team."

Aldric smiled crookedly back at her. "They really don't have to worry that much. We haven't practiced yet! Which reminds me, thanks for volunteering your space. I promise not to get in your way."

Mirsha's purple eyes danced with mischief. "Oh, I didn't volunteer my practice time so that we'd avoid each other. I figured you may need some practice against real teams. Shenkuu is a favorite to win, you know."

Aldric felt a knot form in his stomach. He was about to respond when the overwhelming smell of perfume joined them. It was Deryln Fonnet.

"Oh, I'm just so excited to see what you're team does this year! I've been so interested in Moltara since it's been discovered you know." She batted her orange eyelashes.

Aldric just looked at her. "Umm..." he turned to Mirsha for help, but she smirked at him. "Yeah, um, I have to go, um, tell my team about practice. Bye." He ran down the hallway, towards the Moltaran room.

A/N: I don't have a plot yet. Suggestions? Thanks for reading!