Robots Heat Up Under Pressure

[Midtime]

Greetings, viewers! It's a pleasure to welcome you all to today's report from the peace and quiet of the newsroom. Oh, excuse me - this is Midtime, reporting for TDN. Ahem. It's been an especially exciting day in the history-in-making of this sport, and we are positively bursting to bring you the latest results.

[Midtime adjusts the piece of cardboard strapped to his face. It has a picture of Matt taped to the front of it, and two holes in it to see through.]

If you are wondering why Matt, our main anchorman, isn't here, he approached me earlier, mentioning something about bait. He was willing to trade places with me if I wore this. I have no idea what he's thinking, going fishing at this busy time - but then, we are in Neopia's finest port city. And I'm not one to refuse a chance at a calmer reporting day.

[A crewperson taps him on the shoulder.]

And the Waterfish are apparently quite sparkling this - yes? You'll have to speak up; after all that time outside I can't seem to hear a word anyone says around here. It's actually somewhat strange. I wonder if I'm - Hm?

[The crewperson points at his head, somewhat irritably.]

I am perfectly fluent in that sign language, and there's no need to call me a - oh! Oh, my earmuffs are still on. Ah.

[A moment later...]

We will begin, as always, with the Alabriss Bracket.

Terror Mountain were in for a bit of a surprise today; the season's most unassuming team, having proven themselves contenders at last, once again showed their refusal to submit to their current track record. Faerieland's accomplishments yesterday seem to have given them new strength, and with a score in the main game (and slushie service in the terraces) to match their opponents', it seems they just might get off the ground at last. The Chillers have - What? Why are you looking at me like that?

The Chillers have something to prove as well, however, and with the weight of the last two side games, they tipped the balance and won the match. Both teams have something to celebrate tonight, and though some may fear it's a little too late for them to recover fully, this match and the ones ahead are bound to be remembered.

The Mystery Island Natives, in the meantime, have breezed straight past their loss against Moltara to do the Pirates an equal favour. The Natives have had a successful season thus far, and this being their fourth sweep, the fans are bound to be excited by this accomplishment. I'd love to have gotten a word from the captain's mouth, but as I can't leave the studio for to-day, I suppose there's nothing I can do. Krawk Island have been struggling to stay afloat these past two rounds, and though their supporters look forward to the next match as much as ever, their excitement seems tempered with trepidation; the former champions will now need every victory they can get, if they want to make it back into the upper leagues.

Yooyuball has been the Lost Desert's strongest suit this season, and after a punishing third round the Mummies have once again proven their resilience, dusting themselves off and going on to score a spectacular victory in their game with the Knights. Meridell, on the other hand, took the opportunity to display their superiority in the other aspects of the match, having the better service, the finer plays, and the noisier - er, the more enthusiastic audience.

Now it is going to be a chore going through the Minitheus Bracket, because all eyes are on one particular match, but I will persevere.

Now there is a saying that 'the sun never shines on the Haunted Woods', which is only taken as true in a perfectly literal sense - there is always at least a thick fog about during the day - but if it were a proverb, I presume it would make a suitable one to misuse here. Altador's fine display of success through perseverance was unfortunately but predictably put on hold while the Zombies stomped them into the ground. The Suns' most determined plays were deflected and demolished by the Zombies' oppressive tactics, as many have been over the course of this Cup, and there was simply no comparing their ratings in the side games; as always, the Zombies set to it with vigour, blotted out the scoreboards, and seized complete victory. Whatever the Haunted Woods have been trying to improve their game, it seems to have worked.

The outcome for the Kreludor-Tyrannia match is a little surprising, to say the least. Many would have said that the Moons were at least nearly the Fossils' equal, or if not that, that they would make it a close match, and Yooyuball especially hard-won. Instead, Tyrannia simply swept - an extraordinary result for two teams supposedly neck-and-neck in performance. While minds both keen and dull are puzzling over the outcome, shocked Kreludor fans fear that their team, which has performed consistently well over the course of the Cup, may lose their chance to beat last year's record. Tyrannia themselves have only been improving recently, to go by score, and may well stand a chance even against the powerhouses of the year.

Now, at last, on to the - did you hear that? No? It sounded like hovertext, to me. Ahem. Onto the highlight of the day - the somewhat climactic match between Virtupets and Moltara. The Magmas have come a long way since the dismal performances of earlier years, and today they did their very best to show it. The game was a definite spectacle - but Virtupets' Yooyuball performance has always been superior, and here it seems they've finally had a chance to prove their worth. The Robots fought fiercely, taking the shootouts as well and drawing the Magmas in Slushie Slinger - but Moltara was not without redemption; their fans have always known how to cheer them on. After the match, under the eyes of a stadium full of people, team captains Aldric Beign and Keetra Deile shook hands and declared it a good game.

[The video feed cuts to black - then to Matt in the Colosseum, holding a microphone. Audio still comes from the studio.]

Oh! Matt. That was a short fishing trip. I mean - that's all for the Minitheus Bracket. Why don't we go over to Matt, who is surprisingly in the field, to round up with Vaeolus?

[In the seconds before audio switches over as well, Midtime can be heard asking, 'By the way, does any one know how to get the taste of cardboard out of -']

"Thanks, Midtime! Lookin' good, I must say. The Vaeolus Bracket was full of surprises today! No single match was one-sided, and we saw a lot of diverse results. Let's get straight into it.

"The Kikos are currently first in the Vaeolus Bracket with the Minions close behind them, so the match between these two was definitely an interesting one to watch! As the clock ran down on the Yooyuball fields, the Kikos were leading Yooyuball by a single goal. Just when it looked like they were going to run away with the victory, Darigan Citadel team captain Layton Vickles snatched the ball out of "Poke" Cellers' hands and made a miraculous score to draw the game at 5-5. The Kikos, not satisfied with the outcome on the Yooyuball field, took their anger out on the jelly Chia, taking a victory in Shootout Showdown. The Minions retaliated with a win in Slushie Slinger, inspiring fans to cheer at new levels, resulting in an astonishing score of 7 recorded for the Minions. It was certainly a tough day for both teams, but in the end, the Minions narrowly came out as the victors of the match.

"In an overwhelming display of power, the Mermaids successfully drowned the Ninjas' chances at snagging a Yooyuball victory from them today. But with all their attention focused on Yooyuball, Maraqua left themselves vulnerable on the side game front. The Ninjas used their finely honed skills in the arts of slushie-making to delight their fans, who cheered uproariously at the Shootout Showdown field, resulting in a side sweep for Shenkuu. Maraqua is content with their Yooyuball victory right now, but they know they need to pick up the pace. With only a few days to do so, we'll see if it'll happen for the Mermaids. It certainly is possible, however - Team Lost Desert moved up a rank this late in the game, reminding us that anything can happen during the Cup!

"For our last match of the Vaeolus Bracket, the Rooligans and Wizards faced off. The Rooligans had no time for petty magic tricks today, as they were fully occupied with taking down the Wizards, and that's exactly what they did. The Yooyuball win propelled fans to cheer their hardest, netting them the win in Make Some Noise. The Rooligans also slung slushies at an incredible pace today, rounding out their success. But the Wizards were able to pull off a hat trick and take Shootout Showdown from Roo Island.

"After a grueling day against the Moltaran Magmas, the Robots are out of the frying pan and into the fire as they square up against Team Haunted Woods. It seems like the Robots get no rest, as this is the second day in the row they'll be facing a strong contender for the Cup. We'll see how their morale holds up in the upcoming matches. Keep an eye out today for Tyrannia and Moltara as well! Tyrannia is coming off of an easy sweep, while Moltara had a tough day against Virtupets, and the Fossils should be an easier opponent for the Magmas unless they fight hard. For our last interesting match of the day, Faerieland and Krawk Island will go up against each other. The Pirates were just swept by Mystery Island, while the Faeries managed to draw in Yooyuball and Slushie Slinger against the Chillers! Look out for the famous Faerieland upset!

"That's it for today's report! Make sure to stick with us for all the latest information on the developments occurring in the Altador Cup and here at TDN as the Cup winds down to a close! This is Matt, on behalf of the rest of the TDN staff, signing off."

Obligatory disclaimer: This news report was written to inform you all of the latest Altador Cup results in as entertaining a manner as possible. The rest of its content is largely fictional, composed from various fan comments and the whims of our imagination in an attempt to inspire a sense of realism through our reporting. While we do our best to keep things reasonably neutral, this report is in no way intended to be a completely bias-free listing of the day's results, nor does it claim to provide critical analysis of past and potential outcomes from qualified Altador Cup experts. Please note that the opinions formulated in this report are from a full team of different reporters, and in no way represent the views of only a single faction. If you're looking for 100% unbiased performance data, take a look at our standings page. If professional analysis tickles your fancy, you want our predictions pages (global/daily).

[siniri]

I am so, so, so proud of my team! We really busted our butts yesterday, and it paid off. Now we need to do it all again. Congrats to the Magmas on a tough match.

 

And good luck to all the teams today.

[afam123]

We passed one of the tough teams now we face another today. I feel glad to see another Virtupets support team beside me on here

[siniri]

Yep, it's our toughest challenge yet today. I created a Virtupets Supporters thread in the AC Chat subforum, but since no one else has posted to it, and I can't double post, it's just been languishing. Guess there are only two of us.

[Deltacow]

AY!I'm here too!But sadly we lost today's match(a near complete sweep)

[siniri]

But we're the first team to even draw against HW since the cheaters got their bots working (and we were pretty close in some of the other games), so that's awesome -- though I'm really disappointed TNT's "later in the Cup" anti-cheating mechanisms haven't kicked in. Since we're playing Altador today, it looks like we won't get a rematch against HW this bracket.

 

The bracket system could actually knock us down to third if we get in HW's bracket again and Moltara is in a different bracket, which would absolutely stink. So let's really hope that doesn't happen... Anyway, we can't slack today; Altador will be looking for weakness since they know we're coming off two back-to-back insane days, and everybody wants a piece of us.

 

P.S. We should really continue this discussion in the Virtupets Support thread -- I can't be the one to move it or I'd be in violation of the double-posting rule.