I'd tell you guys that I got lost in the woods for a couple of days to
meditate after the USA took a pounding on Friday morning, but I don't
think anyone would believe me. :)

Anyways, the weekend schedule of fics hasn't played exactly to form
(actually, it hasn't played at all), so I am ditching the remaining list
of fics for the round of sixteen and will pick up the pen again when the
quarterfinals begin this next Friday.  This leaves me with three or four
days (if you think of this as baseball, it's called short rest) to recover
from what I think is a hard-hitting case of burnout - and to do some home
improvement for a bit, too.  I'm not sure what the next fic will be on,
but I'll have a couple of days to figure that out.

In the meantime, four pages of silliness that I hope resembles the kind
you expect from Fujishima-san's SD series.  C&C please, as I've had not
much sleep, agonizing over USA-Mexico, chances are good that I've gone off
the deep end for one last time.  Later!
---
Caught in the Sun
A 2002 World Cup / Anime Fanfic Series
By Roehl Sybing (indef@infinitedeferral.com)

Special Episode: Sam's Army
Round of Sixteen: Mexico v United States @ Jeonju, Korea Republic
An Adventures of the Mini-Goddesses Fanfic

It wasn't pretty, it wasn't stylish, but no matter the result, the team
supported by the thousands of members of Sam's Army was definitely in the
round of sixteen.  They would get to cheer on their team for at least one
more match.  Their dreams had come true and their trip all the way to Asia
was worthwhile.  Sam's Army would not be going home early and they would
not be going home with their heads down.  In the meantime, it was time to
celebrate.  And they knew just the place in all the land to party for the
next few days.

Gan-chan's place.
---
The usual members of Belldandy's morning tea heard the rumbling of the
ground from afar.  A dust cloud in the horizon kicked up and grew larger,
drawing closer to the temple.  From among the crowd of storming rats were
red shirts and tri-colored flags, becoming more profound as they began to
overtake the temple grounds.

"Time to party!  Time to party!" said one rat, flying past Gan-chan and
the others.

Urd and Skuld looked at each other, and then at Gan-chan, just before they
were swept away by the rushing crowds heading inside, leaving Belldandy to
watch them all pour into the temple.

"I guess I should make more tea," she said.
---
Every rat with a travel guide on Japan knew that Gan-chan had the largest
pile of leftovers in the entire Pacific region.  It was definitely good
for at least two weeks of festivities, and there was just enough of the
tournament left if their team happened to sneak into the final match.  And
since the human that lived in Gan-chan's temple had a really nice
television set...

Picnic blankets were draped all across the floor of Skuld's room.  Urd's
room was occupied by buffet-style serving lines of rats waiting for
half-eaten apples, unwrapped candy bars and aged sandwich morsels.

"What is going on?" Urd said, flying over all the chaos.

"They're all over my room!" Skuld cried, "And they turned Banpei-kun into
a drink dispenser!"

"Urd!" Gan-chan said from below, "Down here!"

They both landed next to Gan-chan, searching for answers. "Where did they
all come from?"

"From the game yesterday, they are!  They found my leftovers, they did!"

A confused Urd looked to Skuld, "What is he saying?"

"Language jokes don't translate into English very well."

"Oh."

"What do we do?" Gan-chan pleaded, "They'll eat me out of the house, they
will!"

"Don't panic," Urd insisted, "We just have to--incoming!"

Two of them ducked at the sight of a sailing soccer ball, but Gan-chan
didn't, making contact with it squarely in the head, thanks to a pair of
small rats playing on the hardwood floor.  The children laughed and
teased, running circles around poor Gan-chan before dashing away with the
ball.

"That might sting later," Skuld said, pointing at the red spot on the
rat's head.
---
The two miniature goddesses walked among the festive crowds, the largest
of them in the temple-turned-party hall a huge mountain of rats climbing
one over the other to reach the power button on the television set.  To
their delight, highlights of their team's match were on the screen,
causing all of them to burst into chanting and singing.

"This is getting ridiculous," Urd said, just as the large pile of
soccer-crazed rats, all face-painted and adorned in bright-colored shirts,
finally collapsed into a mix that formed a red, white and blue mosaic on
the floor.

Skuld pondered out loud, "Maybe they're not as bad.  I guess it just takes
some getting used to..."

"Hey," said one rat, approaching the two of them with a piece of a
week-old banana, "You want some?"

"Get away from me!" she said, shrieking.

It was then that Belldandy walked in, witnessing all the mayhem standing
in front of her two sisters. "Is everyone having fun?" she asked
innocently.

"We have to put a stop this!" the two of them said.

"Hmm," Belldandy said, putting her head in her hand and getting lost in
thought.

"Any ideas, sister?" Skuld asked.

"Hmm," she replied, "I know!"

"Yes?"

"What is it?"

"I'll go make dinner!" she said, "I wouldn't want them all to leave
hungry!"

Urd and Skuld dropped to the floor, watching Belldandy happily walk away
to tend to her unexpected guests.
---
"What if we just wait them out?" Urd asked Skuld, "This episode should end
in about four or five minutes anyways..."

"But this is a fanfic!" Skuld cried, "They could stay here forever if they
wanted!"

"Oh."

They both pondered the possibility, as they watched a large flag of stars
and stripes unfurl above the door in the foyer, leading to yet more chants
and other sorts of jubilant rowdiness once the rats had successfully
marked their territory.

"Even Gan-chan is getting into it!  Look!"

Sure enough, they looked, and there was Gan-chan, joining in the fun by
diving head-first into an impromptu pool made out of a serving bowl and a
large, overturned bottle of Urd's most expensive sake.

Her hair stood on end. "How did that rat get into my stash!?" she cried,
rushing over to put a dent into him.  Her fist rushed away the other rats,
taking a piece out of the ceramic bowl and landing firmly on the host's
head.

"What?  What do you want?" Gan-chan said between hiccups.

"What are you doing?" Urd said furiously, "They've taken over the house!"

"But we're having so much fun!" he said, grinning.

"I said get out of there!" she said, knocking him about once more.
Gan-chan splashed out of the bowl, hitting the floor face-first.  He
remained motionless except only to hiccup.
---
The study room had been converted into a miniature pitch for a bit of
soccer among the rodents of Sam's Army, the bookshelves turned into stands
of festive crowds, the human's books as supports for concession stands,
its pages sticky with Gan-chan's leftovers.  By nightfall, all of the rats
in the group gathered here for some friendly competition.

"Alright, you weaklings!" Urd said with a ball in her hands, at the front
of a group of her clones ready for action, "I'll show you rats who's the
master of this house!"

And so, the challenge was met and the match began.  On the wooden floor,
it was Urd versus the rats, who quickly had their way with the copies of
the goddess - especially the keeper, the copy of the ninth, unsteady and
unstable copy, who was easily off her game.  In the first few minutes,
Sam's Army had navigated the ball into the goal, a square cake pan that
made a satisfying clang that caused the crowds to erupt in cheering,
leaving Urd to resort to complaining.

"Wait!  Stop!  No!  That's a foul!"

Urd had her own small cheering section, made up of Gan-chan and Skuld,
easily drowned out by the rest of the field.  The two of them had no
colors or no particular chant, and actually just faded into the audience
of rats who barely noticed them.

Finally, the miniature Urd caught a break, once the rats became distracted
and confused with the sight of other soccer balls in the crowds.  One copy
after another, Urd's side furiously passed the ball forward, until the
striker was able to settle the pass down and bury the shot into the back
of the goal.  The ten copies and one original took to celebrating, jumping
up and down having tied up the match.

"Offsides!" Belldandy said, blowing the whistle.

"What?" Urd shouted, storming towards the makeshift referee, "Whose side
are you on anyways?"

"Well, Urd, I have to be fair," she replied, whistling again, "Isn't this
fun?"

"Come on!" Urd said, "This is crazy!"

Belldandy, smiling, whistled again. "Yellow card!" she ruled.

The crowd laughed and jeered at their opponents, comically dejected on
their home turf.  The cake pan behind the keeper Urd clanged against the
soccer ball again.
---
By daybreak, every creature of Sam's Army were left hunched over some
piece of furniture or lying flat on the cold floor.  Urd, Skuld and
Gan-chan were all among the chaos that had littered the house, sleeping in
quite uncomfortable positions, but sleeping nonetheless having been worn
out all the way into the late hours of the night.

The alarm on the desk went off once the clock struck eight in the morning.
Skuld rose up first but the others slowly followed, waking up to the
nauseating sound of the ringing alarm.

"It's already morning!" they heard one rat say, "We're going to miss the
trip back!"

One by one, the rats jumped to their feet, packed up their things, and
began to make the long trip out to the next match.  Those who didn't
follow suit - like Skuld and Urd - were quickly caught in the trampling.
In the end, the temple eventually emptied out, leaving a large mess in
very empty and very quiet rooms.

"Was all this a dream?" Skuld said, still jumbled up on the floor.

"I don't think a dream should hurt this much," Gan-chan mumbled.

The three of them finally sat upright to examine the damage about them.
What they saw was an unsightly disaster.  Food crumbs, deflated soccer
balls, and remnants of various artifacts taken to matches for cheering all
stuck to nearly every inch of the study room.  The same could be said of
the bedrooms, where any items that could be damaged were more valuable, as
they belonged to the miniature goddesses.

"No," Urd said while gritting her teeth, "I don't think this was a dream."

To their relief, Belldandy walked in. "Good morning!" she said before
witnessing the aftermath, "Oh my, what a mess!"

"We'd better clean this up and quick," Skuld said.

"Yes, I--"

Just then, they heard some rumbling from outside.  But, instead of the
sound of rats from afar, it was rather the sound of the motorcycle engine.

"Ah!" Belldandy cried before rushing away, "Keiichi's home!"

The three of them were then left to themselves, still standing atop the
utter wreckage that used to be a tidy and quiet home.  The sheer task that
faced them only made the temple from inside look much larger than it
really was.

"I'm gonna be sick."

"This'll take forever!"

"And my leftovers!"

END.
---
Roehl Sybing
"The past is gone but something might be found to take its place" - Gin
Blossoms, Hey Jealousy

Infinite Deferral - http://www.infinitedeferral.com/
 - stories, fanfic, politics, j-pop, and some curling
every-now-and-then-when-it's-in-season


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