Your jnAccount: ACXIX JN Staff Tourney - The Story
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AC XIX Coverage
As Kat awoke at the usual time, from her usual bunk in the Staff Dormitory, for her usual day of NeoQuesting for the betterment of Neopia, something felt... off. Maybe it was just the gloomy skies outside as she trudged through the colonnade to HQ. Maybe it was the fact that Neopia was getting greyer by the week.
Or maybe it was the fact that the jelly under her feet seemed more... flat than usual. Less gleaming, less bouncy, less orange.
No, this definitely wasn't right. Kat bent down and gingerly prodded the jelly pavement beneath her feet. It didn't jiggle like a fresh jelly. It didn't bounce back the instant she lifted her hand. Instead, her finger sank a divet into the jelly as if it were foam, begrudgingly lifting back to mostly its normal shape after several seconds.
It couldn't be.
Kat leapt up and sprinted for the Staff Lounge.
Her urgency was met with the sighs of those who have accepted the inevitable.
"They're not even responding to each other," Kat thought, mouth agape. Reluctantly, she accepted the Suzukaberry Punch from Jenny and sank into an Orange Jelly Couch. She took a sip of the soda. It was as tasteless as advertised.
Aurora took another sip of the third 5-Hour Rosie sitting next to her.
Easily faster than any of her drooping colleagues, Kat snatched the sodas away, one by one. Satisfied, she whirled to face the room, only to find a staffer already walking to the soda machine for another.
Several heads turned to the shelf of staff trophies from events and tournaments passed. Every one was grey and collapsing slowly.
Jessica trudged to the tournament portal and stepped through the door. A Grey Usul appeared on the other side.
A Grey Kougra slid down from the Item Database loft.
Four more grey heads peeked out from behind couches and filing cabinets.
Kat glanced in horror around the room. How on earth was she going to fix all this?
She made her way to the portal and gingerly peered through the doorway. The air warped and waved in the open space, dividing the yellow-orange jelly floors of HQ from the regulation grass of the staff Yooyuball fields.
It was normally transparent, the warping effect. But the longer she gazed at it, but more Kat began to notice a deep, dark purple haze beginning to flicker in and out of the portal at the doorframes. There was little time left.
Then Kat noticed the box. Just beyond the portal, a simple cardboard box with Yooyuball team caps. A knowing smirk crossed her face, and without hesitation, she jumped through the portal.
On the other side, a Grey Acara dove headfirst into the hat box. After a few seconds, a paw reached upwards, triumphantly holding a Meridell cap above the pile. The Acara climbed from the box and fitted the cap meticulously upon her head.
The moment it touched her fur, the air around her rippled for a moment with that same portal energy. The air cleared to leave a Grey Acara, fully outfitted in a regulation Team Meridell uniform and the best Yooyuball gear Neopoints could buy.
Kat smiled again.
