[Mkguild] The Harvest Festival (6a/20)

[Hallan Mirayas]

-------

 =


   The crowd roared
while the little mouse-morph made his way onto the field. In his paws he he=
ld
an interesting looking object.  If a ball
could have all its round edges cleaved off, or a gambler's dice given many,
many more sides, this was it.  And each
side was decorated with magical runes=85

 =


   The two teams, each
made up of around thirty people, did stretching exercises in preparation. E=
ach
team member had either an armband or a bandana with their team's color, red=
 or
blue.  Of course, that meant nothing to
the many color blind Metamorians=85

"Now remember, when you get the ball, just run!  Run as fast as you bloody =
well can!" the
cheetah told the nearby gazelle and girl. =

Like him, they had blue arm bands. Rugger the dragon morph was neither
with them nor on the other team nor playing in any of the other Festival ga=
mes
due to his wings; like a bad back they continue to cause him trouble. They
never fully healed.

 =


   "You don't
need to tell us." Fell pointed out, amused by the big cat. The gazelle,
unlike his team mates, wasn't all that ambitious; he was just there to have
fun.

 =


   "Just so long
as you remember and don't waste time showing off," Stealth reminded. He
watched intently as the small rodent worked on the spell to activate the
multisided die-like ball.

 =


   "I think we'll
just leave the running to you and work on keeping the hordes off your back,"
Alex offered.

 =


   "Whatever
works for you." 'Come on mouse guy, what's the hold up?' he thought as a
deer morph obstructed his view.

 =


   The deer's bandanna
wrapped around his head just under the antlers. =

Those too were wrapped up, like fragile heirlooms wrapped for storage. "Oka=
y!
Listen up!" he shouted.  "We
don't have much time for this so pay attention.  We'll get a bunch of big g=
uys under the ball
and one of them will throw up a little guy to get the ball.  The little guy=
 will throw the ball as close
to the goal as possible, then a not so big and not so little guy will take =
it
and run like hell. And remember, the ball actually has to make contact with=
 the
ground while you're still holding it, you got that?" The deer-man must
have been one of the few who seemed to have a proper grasp of the rules and
strategies for the game.

 =


   There were a few
mumbles of acknowledgment from the team members but after the deer's cold h=
ard
glare he managed to get a roar out of them.

 =


   It was finally
time; the ball levitated just over five meters in the air. Somehow they had=
 to
get it down, and then get it to the other end of the field past lots of huge
psyched up Keepers.

 =


   "Alright!"
shouted Jack DeMule, "In this, the first game of an age old tradition we've
revived, we have here assembled the 'Red=85 Rhinos'!" The crowd roared. "Ve=
rsus
the group who will be known as the 'Blue Bagels'!" The crowd roared again,
this time with laughter.

 =


   The cheetah slapped
his palm to his face. "Brenner, you dumb arse, why the hell did you tell
them that!? We're supposed to be the 'Blue Bear's!'"

 =


   The tabby cat
shrunk, feeling a thousand eye's on him. "I-  I-  But
I didn't mean that!  I was talking about
something else!"

 =


   "Hey!" an
anonymous voice shouted out.

 =


   Brenner's ears went
flat as he cowered.

 =


   "Hey! You
stupid mule!" the voice continued.

 =


   The tabby opened
his eyes and looked over to the crowd, feeling surprise and relief.

"They're the Bears! The 'Blue Bears!!!" a crippled
dragon shouted from the stands over the noise. Brenner let out a sigh of
relief.

 =


   DeMule glared at
the draconian lout, yet conceded. "So be it, the Bagels have been transform=
ed
into Bears!" And with that, he walked off the field.

 =


   Alex let out a
barking laugh and patted the tabby cat on the back. "For the record, has
anyone tried one of Brenner's bagels? If they don't poison you, then they're
hard enough to throw and kill someone."

 =


   "Hey! I
thought you liked my pastries!" Brenner protested. "I see you buying
the muffins I make."

 =


   Alex looked up and
scratched her head. "Oh, yeah, well, um=85"

 =


   "It's time!"
the cheetah shouted, interrupting the two. Off to the side, DeMule held up =
a whistle
to his muzzle and blew.  Like two waves
bursting through opposing flood walls, the two teams rushed at each other. =
Blue
and red kicked up a considerable amount of dust as they crammed into the ce=
ntre
of the field.  Both teams seemed to have
picked a similar strategy, and strange looking pyramids of people began to
build up as, collapsing as their builders lost their balance, just to get b=
ack
up and try again.

 =


   "Whoa!" a
hamster shouted as he was thrown up into the sky. The small rodent reached =
out frantically
for something to grab onto before his fall was broken by a pile of hands and
paws. He was soon back on the ground, where he stayed.

 =


   Eventually someone
managed to reach the ball, only to have it brush off their hand and float j=
ust
off to the side=85 Padraic had a go next: he tried to grab the ball and wou=
ld
have caught it, but it moved out of the way! The ball floated to one of the
boundaries and rebounded off an invisible wall back into the field, much li=
ke a
billiard ball would in a game of pool.

 =


   The piles quickly
crumbled and moved off after it. Another player jumped to get the ball, a
feline of some sort, making use of his form to get the height required after
leaping from a giraffe's head. Yet even though he got the right direction a=
nd
height to pounce it, the ball just dodged lower and zigzagged out of the wa=
y.

 =


   The field became
quiet and the dust began to settle. The cheer and excitement had been repla=
ced
with frustration and disbelief as both teams just stood there and stared at=
 it
with slack-jawed-muzzles.

 =


   "Well that was
fun," Fell commented.

 =


   "Let's go get
drunk now," Michael added.

 =


   "Come on! Get
the ball, you sods! Don't just gawk at it!!!" DeMule shouted.

Up in the stands, a young mouse pointed a finger in thin
air, making slow movements with it. Kindle smirked in satisfaction. 'My mas=
ter
would be proud!'

 =


   Up in the sky,
revolving slowly, each rune-covered side shone in the autumn sun and dipped
into the shade again as the ball turned like a pointy moon. There it stayed,
directed by Kindle, teasingly mocking the players.  Cope looked around his =
surroundings. His teammates
were huge like him, but it made no difference now. What is a reptile to do?=
  A small hedgehog nearby adjusted his blue
bandanna and some of the wrapping covering his quills. He stretched and loo=
ked
up at Cope. The lizard looked back at him and smiled as an idea formed.

 =


   "Yaaaaaaaaaaa!"  A blue ball of rolled-up hedgehog flew up and
knocked the game ball from its orbit.  The
spell broken, the ball dropped without any further trouble and oth sides, as
well as the crowd, roared back to life. The game had finally, truly begun.

 =


   Cope felt very
satisfied, even though he hadn't been the one to take the ball.  That honou=
r went to Goldmark; the little rat
somehow rose above all the confusion of the massive dust cloud to grab the =
ball
long before it hit the ground. "Yoink!" he'd said as he plucked it
from the sky, just as quickly disappearing into that cloud, probably already
winding his way past all the hooves, boots, and paws.

 =


   But it didn't
matter to the great lizard. 'This is a lot like pool, we can't lose!' he
thought and tried to remove the dust from his eyes.

 =


   'Yeah! Goldmark is
unstoppable! He's invincible! He's powe-' "Omph!" '=85caught.'  With a sing=
le mammoth paw, a black bear-morph
had pinned the rodent to the ground.  With
the other paw, she claimed the ball and then tossed it some distance to a t=
eammate
in a far less congested part of the field.

 =


   Lance saluted a hoof-like
hand to the panda and took off. The moose soon found himself trapped between
two TG's in front and his fellow lumberjack, the beaver, closing in from
behind. He threw the ball to his left, at the ground.  It rebounded underne=
ath an opposing team player
and landed in the waiting hands of a Red TG.

 =


   She quickly passed
the ball further to the left where a leopard caught it. He made haste like =
the
ball was his kill and hustled to keep it out of the greedy grasp of scaveng=
ers.
The feline easily closed in on the goal line, but if he had not been so foc=
used
on that goal he would have heard the stomping hooves from behind. Two arms
wrapped around his chest, and the tackling 'Blue Bear' shifted his weight to
the side and dropped to the ground, taking the Red player with him.

 =


   With a thud, the
two morphs hit the ground and the ball rolled well away from the big cat's =
paws.  It was snatched up by Kershaw, who booted it
far off to the other end of the field, a safe distance from the Blue goal l=
ine.
Fell and his teammates had stopped the Red Rhinos from scoring. And a leopa=
rd
had been brought down by a gazelle=85

 =


   Somewhere down at the
other end, the ball hit the ground. With most people now closer to the Blue
line, it took a moment or two for someone to scamper back and snatch up the
multi-sided ball. The AR who did passed to Chief Tathom who passed to someo=
ne
else along the line and the ball continued its journey this way on a moving
diamond shaped course until it found its way back to Tathom.

 =


   The bull weaved and
twisted through the mass of blue and red, evading every attempted tackle.
However, if they couldn't stop him they could slow him down; out of nowhere,
Sir Saulius appeared and latched on to the Red player, soon joined by Ellio=
t,
Hector, Julian, and of course Goldmark. It looked like some sort of horror
scene; The Chief was being swarmed by rats! They eventually brought him dow=
n.

 =


   Sir Saulius, like
the noble knight that he is, rescuing a fair maiden, retrieved the game ball
from the large bovine. But, like the rat that he also is, stealing some che=
ese,
he scurried away with his fellow rats before getting stomped.

 =


   Meredith stretched
out his massive ursine arms and charged forward, knocking down any foolish
enough to stand in his way. The mischief of rats followed close in his wake,
passing the ball between them as they moved. However it soon became obvious
they couldn't continue that way for much longer; with resistance pilling up
around the small advancing force, Hector made the decision to roll the ball
under the enemy horde and hope for the best.

 =


   Kershaw came to the
rescue again; he took the ball and threw it forcibly to a nearby tabby. Bre=
nnar
already stood on the line, surrounded by anxious Rhinos; the feline leaped
toward the goal but was caught in midair. The tabby leaned directly above t=
he
goal line; his upper body being held up by the other team. He reached his a=
rm
out and strained to touch the ball to the ground, even going as far as to l=
ift
his legs off the ground and rely on gravity, but he was just out of reach.

 =


   The other team
adjusted their grip, lifted him a bit and threw him back. Meredith let out a
roar and began pulling people away from his team mate. Brennar landed on his
tail.  Dimly aware of the bear, dazed and
pained and frustrated, he still wouldn't give in; he shielded the ball and
passed it on the ground to a cream paw wrapped in blue cloth. Michael threw=
 it
into the air, and despite all the paws and hands reaching out, it still fel=
l to
the ground. Over the momentary confusion that followed, everyone heard the
whistle blow.

 =


   The crowd dispersed
a bit, enough for people to have some room. As the dust cleared, a brown,
lop-eared bunny emerged holding the large die-ball.

 =


   As Kindle returned
to the field, DeMule emerged to make things official, "The score!" he
shouted, "Bears, one! Rhinos, nil!"

 =


   Some in the stands
cheered, others grumbled.

 =


   "Both teams
will now return to their sides!" the Castellan ordered.

 =


   'Oh, great.' Cope
thought, 'they're not gonna fall for that again.' He looked around at his t=
eammates,
trying to think up a plan. When he saw the giraffe, his smile returned.  "H=
ey, you, yeah, you! Over here!" the
lizard shouted. The very tall Keeper craned his neck down a bit to give Cope
his attention.  "Now I'm guessing
you've never tried what I'm about to describe so you'd better be a quick
learner=85" The reptile detailed the rest of his plan in a whisper into the
giraffe-man's ear.

 =


   Once again, the
ball floated up and into place. Jack DeMule blew his whistle and both teams
were off, determined to find a way to bring that thing down again. Just as
before, they managed to get nowhere fast until something odd occurred.  Fro=
m the Red side, a morph rose up. Someone
must have been giving him a boost. but he seemed way too high up.  His legs=
 even became visible and they didn't
look quite right=85 It was soon apparent that no one lifted him up and his
strange looking lower body was attached to something far too big to be a ta=
il.

 =


   The Red team had a
giraffe taur!

 =


   The taur reared up
far above the throng, yet he still hadn't reached full height. His great ne=
ck
swung around and up like a croquet stick. Using his horns, he successfully
knocked the ball from the air and sent it flying toward the Blue Bear's goal
line. After the sudden shock wore off- life in Metamor encouraged quick
reactions- everyone desperately chased after it.

 =


   "Get it out of
here! Get it out of here!" Stealth shouted, along with several other
frantic Blues.

 =


   "I'm trying!
Okay!? I'm trying!" Brennar shouted back.

 =


   Kershaw backed up
the tabby, breathless as he ran. "This=85 game is really hard=85 and weird."

 =


   Fell swept up the
ball from where it landed, and instantaneously found himself swarmed by the
enemy. The gazelle proceeded to bat away those who dared try to take it. As=
 the
crowd gathered, he managed to slip it to one of the rats, quickly enough th=
at it
took a moment for people to realize he no longer possessed it. Fell held up=
 his
hands and wriggled his thick-tipped fingers to mock those grappling him.

 =


   Once again, the
rats were in their element, passing between each other and evading
capture.  This time, however, they lacked
the heavy support from before and were forced to pass it outside their circ=
le
to a cat. Stealth kicked it forward but a Red lioness batted it back toward=
 the
Blue line.  She probably would have held
onto it if the Curse had left her opposable thumbs. Nevertheless, to the Be=
ars
it was like having a spell deflected back at them.

 =


   Spinning to the
ground, the 'die' ended up in the hands of a TG. Alex ran forward but was
caught in a bear hug by an opponent who was, in fact, a polar bear. Yet she
remained determined and continued to move forward=85 one=85 labored=85 step=
=85 at a
time. As people began to gather, either to stop or help her, she finally
stopped moving forward but still wouldn't go down.  The large white bear ra=
ised his eye ridges in
surprise and envy; this lass must have received some of the animal curse or
something, he thought.  Probably not, but
her refusal to budge gave him a sense of pride.

 =


   Alex eventually
buckled under the pressure and fell back allowing another TG on the Red tea=
m to
liberate the ball. The woman quickly passed it to an AR who passed it again=
. It
soon ended up in Lance's hooved-hands. The moose ran as fast as he could and
got knocked down by a raging bear. Before hitting the ground he passed it to
another morph that quickly came along side.

 =


   Chief Tathom
secured it in the crook of his arm and charged! Some weary rats dived out of
the way as the bull crossed the line. The large bovine tilted down to one s=
ide,
he tapped the ball to the ground, sealing his triumph.

 =


   They had no need
for confirmation.  Much like before, some
of the crowd roared and others didn't. Some on the Blue team glared at the =
two
rats that had failed to stop the charging bull, but most had more sense.

 =


   "The score is
now one all!" The castellan cleared his throat after shouting and hoped
his voice wouldn't give out before the game ended.

 =


   Moments later, for
the third time that day, the ball rose again into the air. The whistle
screeched, making morphs with movable ears cringe, and it was on again. This
time the pace slowed: most were tired and knew there was nothing they could=
 do
to dislodge it, and half-expected the unexpected to happen and solve the
dilemma.






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