Animal Crossing: The Series

Episode 2: The Spring Sports Fair (pt3)

Author's Note: This is going to be a long one, so buckle up and kiss your 20/20 vision goodbye. Enjoy the show!

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After an awkward meeting with Rosie, Alfonso, and Yū, James went back to practicing for the team. He was pretty good at the sport, but he made sure not to kick the ball as hard. Soon enough, the Spring Sports fair came upon them. Everyone was excited to participate in what came to be known as the most competitive, yet fun festival in Animal Village. Usually, there were four events that came in every year: Aerobics, the Ball-Toss, the Foot Race, and the Tug-of-War. But due to the many complaints about the Ball Toss being confusing and seemingly pointless, Tortimer decided to replace it with a soccer match.

At 1:00, the old turtle hobbled up onto the stage in front of the Town hall. He tapped the microphone and began his weary announcement. "Ahem! Attention all residents:  It's time for more Sports Fun! Today's third activity will be the brand new soccer match! Two teams of four will duke it out in this high-paced competition. The first team to buy all the properties on the board is the winner!"

"Mayor Tortimer?" Pelly, his assistant, asked the mayor, "Are you sure those are the rules for an official soccer game?" "Of course those are the rules! I looked it up online," he replied, though not in his microphone. Pelly reminded him, "If my memory serves correct, you looked up the official rules of Monopoly." Phyllis, Pelly's sister, grabbed the microphone and corrected, "He meant the team who has scored the most goals by the end of the match is the winner." Both looked at Tortimer in disbelief and amusement, while the embarrassed mayor scratched the back of his head.

There were two teams to participate this year: Cyrano's team, which consisted of Cyrano the anteater, Cesar the ape, Champ the monkey, and Apollo the Eagle. The second, which you've already been introduced to, was Ai's team, the Nooks. Although James was in the team, Kyle and Jay-Jay decided to stay behind and cheer, since Kyle wasn't feeling up to an official match and Jay-Jay...well, she didn't like sports that much.

"Alright guys, this is it," Ai encouraged her team. "I must say that I'm proud of you all for giving it your best. Whether we win or lose, what's important is that we have fun!" "Still," Yū added, "it would be nice to get that spring sports medal." "Agreed," said Ai, almost reluctantly, "but let's focus on having fun, alright?" The whole team put their hands together in a little circle, shouting their team chant before throwing their hands in the air. "Who means business? We do! GOOOOOO NOOKS!"

The rest of the village was in the audience (which was about 10 animals, more or less), cheering wildly as the two teams entered the playing field. Each team captain went up to the center, wished each other good luck, and flipped a coin to see who would start the kick off. The coin was in mid-toss, when everyone heard:

"Wait!"

Everyone became distracted, while the coin hit Ai square on the head. "Ouch."

The originator of the voice, it seemed, came from one of the opposing team's players, Champ. "This can't be right! Ai's team has one too many!" The animals looked and nodded at each other in agreement. Of course, this had not escaped the notice of Mr. Resetti, who always had something to say. Appearing with his signature entrance, he pulled out the rule book and quickly began flipping through it frantically. "Hmm...uh huh...ahem. Apparently, you can more than four players, but only if the rest are bench-warmers."

"But we don't have any benches to warm, and how would we warm benches anyway? With hair dryers?" Cyrano was quick to point out. "Grrr... No no no no no! It just means that they sit out in case a teammate needs to be replaced!" Resetti snapped back. "Oh," Ai said, with an inkling of despondency mingled in her voice, "Then who will sit out?"