Wednesday, January 27, 2010

The Syracuse Valley Vs. The Horsemen of Apokolips

The Syracuse Valley is Knuckles, Xenomorph #95 & 96, Giant Hammer Bros. #1, Hammer Bros. #3 & 4, Moritani Soldier #1, & Little Goomba #6.
The Horsemen of Apokolips are Elrond, Dementor #17, Dark Jedi Master #1, Amazon #11, Droideka #9, Astro-Droid #11, Smurf #10, & Miss Piggy.
 
I woke up at 4:30 AM on Friday. I completed what I could of the mass amount of food that I have decided to bring with me and I then headed North by car. I left my home in Chicago, with my mother and 2 daughters and stopped in Livonia, Mi to see a few of my sisters and drop off my mom. I then headed up North to Roscommon, Mi which is another 3 hours. I spent the night in Roscommon so I could then get back in my vehicle the next morning and head back to Livonia. It is now Sunday morning and let me tell you, between hanging out at my sister’s house yesterday, a stop at George Murphy’s, and a late night talk with my other sister who is up from Kentucky in our Hotel room last night……. Well let’s just say that it was a long night. So here I am driving down to “The Old Neighborhood” with enough Kielbasa to feed an army, enough stuffed cabbage to feed the family’s of those armies and about twelve deserts that would easily earn praise in any pastry contest from here to Paris: My name is Christine Anschuetz, and I am going to “The Hall”. As I walk in, things are as they have always been. Over a hundred people moving, talking, & carrying-on. Most people would look at this setting and think: “I’ll never be able to get a word in edgewise”, but I’m not worried, after all I’m a pro. As I walk thru the door out of the kitchen, my two daughters, Natalie and Emma both run off and I think that I may not see them again until it is time to leave, not much different than I was at that age. I walk past the bar, but I’m not really interested in that right now. I’ll have a drink at my sister Patti’s later or Sandy’s, or wherever else we end up; but for some reason I never drink at the hall. My sister Margaret walks up to me and says: “Chris, you’re girls are so weird. They are running around telling everybody that they keep seeing a red blur being chased by a rolling robot”. “I don’t know where they get this stuff Margaret”. I reply. In the coatroom Emma turns to Natalie and asks: “Do you hear all the noise upstairs? We should go check it out”. Natalie replies: “O.K., lets go. NO WAIT. We should bring Nick & Josh with us”. “Good idea” Emma says. Emma & Natalie head back into “The Hall “Proper”” and stop to talk with their Uncle Scott & Aunt Margaret. After the usual Merry Christmas exchange Natalie asks: “Have you guys seen Nick & Josh, we want them to go upstairs with us”. Aunt Margaret replies with: “Natalie….. I think Nick & Josh are little old to still be playing upstairs”. “I’m not so sure about that” Uncle Scott adds under his breath. Aunt Margaret keeps the conversation going by saying “Well, either way girls; I haven’t seen them”. “Call me crazy, but I’d check the bar” Uncle Scott says sarcastically. Natalie & Emma head over to the bar and they see Nick & Josh about three feet away from it (shocker). On the way over to the bar, Natalie & Emma overhear their cousins Johnny & Bobby talking about the wreckage of metal that they found in the Men’s bathroom (it looked as if a person with knowledge of shield technology knew to be quick on defense, but slow on attack. Maybe he snuck in under the shield and destroyed it). Natalie, Emma, Nick, & Josh all start heading upstairs (after Nick & Josh grab a couple refills that is). Before they even get all the way up the stairs Nick & Josh hear the same old woman that they have been running from their entire lives yelling at somebody who isn’t supposed to be there. Maybe she was yelling at one of the Hejka cousins, they never could hide upstairs as well as us Zacharskis could or maybe she was yelling at Giant Hammer Bros. #1 for stomping Astro-Droid #11 to pieces: Who knows? As the quartet of cousins reaches the top of the stairs, and realizes that the coast is clear, the noise that they were hearing in the coatroom has become quite a bit louder, but still rather faint. Emma swears that she sees a large animal-like creature running across the ceiling, and Nick admits that he hasn’t been this scared since that random blonde chick locked Kristopher in that cage behind the stage when we were kids. The four inquisitive companions then work up enough courage to move past where the 2 large alien-looking things were moving and head toward the spot of the big crash. When they arrive in the upstairs men’s bathroom they find several pieces of what appears to of once been an astro-droid, but no sign of what destroyed it. This is do to the fact that shortly after the battle Dementor #17 took the soul of Giant Hammer Bros. #1 (and evidently the Watchers must be cleaning up bodies even faster than usual in this tournament). It is at this point that the fear-loving foursome exit the men’s bathroom to catch a glimpse of the 2 aliens (or whatever they are) scamper across the wall and run into the women’s bathroom. The door slams shut as the 2 Xenomorphs enter, which prompts Natalie to say: “we have got to go in there and check it out”. “Good idea, go ahead and open the door Nick” Josh replies. So Nick hands Emma his beer and walks over to the door. He slowly opens it up and peaks his head inside and then looks back at his cousins and yells “RUN”! If he would have preempted the word run with the word “zoinks” you would have thought that his body was taken over by the ghost of Shaggy from Scooby-Doo, but it wasn‘t. After Nick is done turning completely white the four of them head for the stairs as fast as possible. The omnipresent old woman who works at the K of C yells “Hey you kids don’t belong up here” which the running Nick replies to with: “Like, you don’t have to tell us twice”. They wrap around the second set of stairs without breaking stride when Nick turns back to his trio of companions and says “Is it just the fear talking or was I the only one who just saw a Little Goomba eating a smurf & being squashed by Miss Piggy“? “I saw it too, keep running says Emma”. The four of them do not stop running until they hit the bar all the way down on the first floor where Nick and Josh slam 2 warm Bud Lights as fast as humanly possible before ordering another one. Nick explains to his cousins and a crowd of random relatives around the bar that when he opened up the door he witnessed the 2 aliens that they had seen before locked in Mortal Combat (yes, combat not Kombat) with some six and a half foot tall leotard wearing chick and some evil looking alien with a lightsaber, “ya know, a lasersword” Nick adds for the puzzled looking old dude serving flat beer behind the bar. When people go up stairs later to see if what Nick said was true, there is no evidence of this said battle except for a slice thru the blue chair, a broken stall door, and a chipped toilet (The Amazon and The Dark Jedi managed to kill the 2 Xenomorphs but between the wounds they suffered during the fight and the spray of concentrated acid that took place during the death of the aliens they perished as well). Some of the Hejkas were weaving tales about that red blur eventually being caught by a black blur and about an elf decapitating a couple of Hammer Bros. and a gun wielding well dressed weirdo (which could be anybody in this family) in the coat room. When Natalie and Emma came back to me, they began telling me about what had happened upstairs and it cracked me up. I don’t know where they get this stuff. Only at The Hall.
THE HORSEMEN OF APOKOLIPS ARE VICTORIOUS!

The Brotherhood of Evil Midgets Vs. Pop-Superstar Hannah Montana & President Barack Obama's "Best of Both Worlds" Touring Battalion of Commandos

The Brotherhood of Evil Midgets (Team 1) is Asajj Ventress, Jedi Master #33A & 34A, Fremen #52 & 53, Hammer Bros. #11, Hobbit #1, & Mokey.
Pop-Superstar Hannah Montana & President Barack Obama’s “Best of Both Worlds” Touring Battalion of Commandos (Team 1) is Buffy Summers, Jedi Master #21 & 22, Gungan #1, & 5-7, & The Map.
 
Everything is set today, thanks to me. Most of the rabble that is my extended family has no idea what work goes in to this day that they all take for granted. Ever since my sister Annie died so many years ago, it has been I who have been the unequivocal leader of The Hejka family. It is I who set it up, it is my membership that is used to get the hall, and it is me who the family looks to for leadership. As I drive to the event I take solace knowing that everything is ready from the food to the bar. Some of my younger relatives like to show off by having more bottles of liquor behind the bar than anybody could ever drink. This is my year, and let me tell you if beer and high balls aren’t good enough for you, than you can just stay home. I won’t be partaking in any of this anyway, because like every year, I am sure I will spend most of my day chasing the brat children of my distant relatives. I put my reputation on the line every single year for this family and they repay me by allowing their children to run around like animals in areas that are clearly OFF-LIMITS! Year after year I address this problem and people blow me off as if my opinion doesn’t matter. Am I not the patriarch of this family? Have I not earned the respect of my relatives? I do not know why kids these days insist on traveling out of our designated rented area, but this year it will not be tolerated. My name is Leonard Hejka, and I’m going to “The Hall”. Asajj Ventress is an amazingly skilled fighter and can be near invisible if she wishes, but she is not much of a leader, in fact she is more of a loner. From the onset, Ventress disappears into the darkness of the upper level of the hall, which leads her strike force to separate as well. The Brotherhoods Jedi Masters, stay stealth and head downstairs while the 2 Fremen stick to the empty upstairs hall that is unrented per usual. Hammer Bros. #11 & Hobbit #1 follow Mokey’s lead and hide in the elevator. I hear something going on upstairs almost as soon as I get to The Hall. Per usual, I confront the known parents in the family downstairs, but like always they duck responsibility and deny that it could possibly be their child. I may not be as young as I used to be, but I have eyes like a hawk and ears like a fox; and I know when somebody is upstairs that doesn’t belong. I head upstairs, and I admit to myself that these kids are getting a little better at hiding than they once were, but I’m not worried, I’ll find them. Buffy has taken a different plan of action with her own team for round 2. She has ordered her entire squad to dress in plain clothes, and since not one person at the hall party knows everybody, they fit in just fine (you may think that 4 Gungans dressed in human clothes would never be able to pass as humans; but if you are thinking that, than you have obviously never seen the people that go to this Christmas party). Gungan #5 is in charge of holding The Map, which not only lays out every nook and cranny of the Hall, but also shows the locations of every member of The Brotherhood and of course the whereabouts of Uncle Leonard himself. It isn’t easy to sneak up on a pair of Jedis but if you need to it is probably best to have a few Jedis of your own, and to be Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Luckily for Buffy, she has in her employ 2 advanced Jedi Masters unlike The Brotherhood who have sent two Jedis who have just recently achieved the rank of Master. Buffy sends the 4 gungans over by the half wall of the coat room as a distraction to the Jedis from The Midgets who move toward them, but before the gungans can get attacked The Commandos Jedis block the lightsabers of their opponents to tie them up while Buffy finishes both of the Jedis off with two quick strikes. Gungan #5 checks the map and The Commandos make their way back to the party before Uncle Leonard gets back downstairs to yell at the culprits. Buffy and her crew take this opportunity to run up the stairs while Uncle Leonard is back on the lower level, but Gungan #7 is not fast enough to stay with the group. As most of the team is already upstairs Gungan #7 is almost spotted stepping on to the first step. The Gungan tries to gain some ground by hopping into the elevator, but once the elevator door closes he is mauled by Mokey, The Hobbit, & The Hammer Bros. All 3 of them work well together but it is a hammer to the head that inevitably kills the gungan. Buffy checks The Map to see that Gungan #7’s is no longer being displayed on the magical exploring tool and that they have no need to wait for him. Buffy and her squad rush into the upper floor hall where they are promptly met by the 2 Fremen. Buffy and the gungans take out Fremen #52 (well mostly Buffy) and the 2 Jedis tag team Fremen #53 in what becomes a quick fight. Gungan #5 shows Capt. Buffy that Asajj Ventress is downstairs but she is moving to fast for The Map to get a lock on her. Uncle Leonard on the other hand is moving not much slower than Ventress and is on his way upstairs. Buffy and the gungans hide in the women’s bathroom while The Big “L” passes them by and she sends the 2 Jedi into the elevator to take out The Midgets “lesser” fighters. Once inside the elevator Mokey and the boys fight valiantly but the Jedis take them out with relative ease. Buffy and the gungans get down to the first floor rather quickly to meet their Jedi teammates as the elevator door opens. The Commandos are using The Map to try and hunt down Asajj, but they can’t manage to find her. The Map is telling them that she is nearby and they begin to doubt The Map until they realize that they are short one Gungan (#6). Buffy orders her crew to the coatroom where she is convinced that Ventress will have to come to them. She is in mid-sentence telling her crew to form a circle when a red lightsaber comes poking thru her mouth. Whether it be out of instinct or ability is unclear but Buffy was able to get a “death grip” on one of Ventresses’ lightsabers which left her with only one to defend herself against the rest of The Commandos, led by Jedi Master #21 who manages to take out The Dark Assassin before she could do any more damage. The Commandos get back into the main hall just in time for dinner and presents from Santa, but Uncle Leonard sure was pissed at the kids who messed up the coat room.
POP-SUPERSTAR HANNAH MONTANA & PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA’S “BEST OF BOTH WORLDS” TOURING BATTALION OF COMMANDOS ARE VICTORIOUS!

The Brotherhood of Evil Midgets Vs. TEAM

The Brotherhood of Evil Midgets (Team 3) are G.W. Bridge, Dark Jedi Master #12, & Dark Side Acolyte #1.
TEAM (Team 3) is Depa Billaba, Futar #5 & 6, Valkyrie #10 & 11, Tlielaxlu Master #7 & 8, & Animal.
 
It wasn’t even 90 minutes ago that I was still opening up my presents from Santa. You see, I always sleep in on Christmas. Some kids get up super early, but I like to get my sleep. I’m just as excited as the rest of them when I go to bed on Christmas Eve, but why not get extra sleep when you get the chance? It’s not like the presents are going anywhere. I’m pulling up at a huge building now. It’s probably the biggest building I have ever seen. It may not sound like fun, but I just left behind an entire living room full of presents to come here. Santa brought me and my sister so much stuff that it was unbelievable. It was the best Christmas ever, even though my sister doesn’t really get it yet; but she is kind of like a baby still, I mean she can’t really open the presents by herself and she isn’t even as tall as Bear yet. So I leave the presents to go get all bundled up and head outside. We get in our car and go for a really long drive, but we are finally here. But once we are there, that is when the real fun starts. It will be time for fun and adventure with my cousins, tons of treats, & of course more presents. We get out of the car and I’m excited, but of course it is taking my parents forever to get my little sister out of the backseat. I look over at the front of our car and one of the vent things is missing. I love it that there is only one of them because then I always know which car is ours. Probably… it fell off when we were going really fast because our car is a lot faster than most cars. My Dad says that is because it has a Vee-8 (I think most cars only have a Vee-6 or a Vee-7). Oh, good my family is finally ready to go inside. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, my name is Nick Houslander, and I’m going to “The Hall”. I am six years old, but in two days from now I will be seven. I am sure that will be awesome, but I can’t really think about that right now because so much is going to happen between now and then. I see my cousin Josh right when I walk in, he is already running around in a circle and jumping off the stage. Josh is cool, but I don’t need to play with him that much today. You see, me and Josh get to see each other all the time, but some of my other cousins I don’t get to see that much like Eddie, Kristopher, Danny, Jake, & Mary; now those are the people I can’t wait to see. There are a ton of babies here again this year, and not just Shannon & Julie who I see all the time, but a bunch more too. I think that some of their names are Richard, Alyssa, Katie, & Jackie. It is good that there are a lot of babies because that means we might be able to escape better and play upstairs away from the grown ups. I’ve only been here a few minutes, but I hear that there is already a plan to get upstairs and explore. I heard about it from Eddie who said we have to hurry if we are going to be a part of it. He heard about it from Josh and Kristopher, who probably got told that by Danny & Jake: they are brothers and are kind of like the leaders of all the cousins. All seven of us older cousins sneak into the back coatroom, after we go to the bathroom. Danny then goes back into the hall where are parents are and Jake tells us the plan. Jake says that he heard something upstairs, so we are going to check it out while Danny keeps are parents busy (Danny is really big and almost like a grown-up, so he knows how to talk to the grown-ups really good). Jake says that him & Kristopher will lead the way and that he wants Mary & Josh to come up next on the right and then, me & Eddie after that on the left (whatever that means). Once we get upstairs, we know that if any grown-up sees us that we are totally busted; but we keep going anyway. All of the sudden we see a blur run past us super fast. Way faster than Jason McCoy, and he beat me and Jeremy Jaygus last week in Gym class. Some of us thought that it looked like a Jedi, but Jake & Josh said “No”, they said: “Jedi can’t run super fast, I’ve seen all three movies like a hundred times”. After the blur runs thru the big double doors of the upstairs hall, we all start heading towards the big doors to open them up and check out what is inside. I have never been this far upstairs and have no idea what to expect, but as we open the doors and peak inside we see that the room is completely dark except for the commotion happening on the other side of the room. Some big dude has this huge toy gun, and he is shooting it at this girl who has a lasersword that looks just like the one’s from Star Wars only way brighter. Then all of the sudden, behind the guy with the gun three more laserswords pop out of nowhere. It looks like there are some people standing behind the girl with the blue lasersword but it is hard to tell because it is so dark. The blue lasersword gets closer to the other guys, and the gun and one of the red swords falls to the ground, but then the other two swords sneak around and knock down the blue sword. We hear some girl yell “Nooooo” and then a whole fartload of people jump on the person with the other two red laserswords and knock them down. The same girl that yelled “NO” turns toward the door and says “Who’s over there”. Which prompts Jake to say “RUN”!! We get down the stairs so fast and just barely get by before Aunt Diane, who was walking into the coat room sees that we were upstairs. My Mom walks up to me and says: “Where were you, Santa is going to be here any minute. Don’t you want your other present…… I love adventures. I love Christmas. But I really love The Hall!
TEAM IS VICTORIOUS!

The Brotherhood of Evil Midgets Vs. Pop-Superstar Hannah Montana & President Barack Obama's "Best of Both Worlds" Touring Battalion of Commandos

The Brotherhood of Evil Midgets (Team 2) are Robert Muldoon, Nightsister Sith Witch #2, New Sisterhood Reverend Mother #1, Evil Dwarf #1, Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother #1, Ewok #41, & Gobo.
Pop-Superstar Hannah Montana & President Barack Obama’s “Best of Both Worlds” Touring Battalion of Commandos (Team 2) are Harry Potter, Jedi Master #24, Sardakaur #13 & 14, Gungan #8-10, & Doozer #13.
 
My Mom says that we can’t go much faster, she says that we are already doing 65 miles per hour down Warren Road (whatever that means). But we have been on the road for a very long time, and I just want to get there. It is already 1:56 and the party starts at 2:00, which means if I don’t get inside in the next 4 minutes that I am away from my post. There is a lot of mischief to be done this year and it can’t happen if I don’t get there on time. I am ten years old, but please don’t let my age fool you. I’ve done more than most of my cousins that have been doing this since before I was born. I’ve earned the respect of my older cousins and I’ve also earned the respect and support of my younger cousins, who look to me for leadership and as a go-between to the really old cousins. That is leadership and training for the young generation that I cannot provide if we don’t get there soon…… Oh wait, this looks familiar. It looks like we are finally here. My Mom parks the car, and I jump out before her or my brother, and start running toward the door. My name is Alyssa Masson, and I’m going to “The Hall”. My Mom comes in behind me, carrying all the food and presents and says to me: “Alyssa, why don’t you calm down. What is your rush”? She doesn’t get it: “I have to find Josh” I reply. I run thru the back doors, and head for the coat room, and sure enough Josh is already there. “Sorry I’m late Captain, it was a long drive from St. Claire Shores”. I say, but Josh replies with: “Don’t worry about it, the hall started like 90 seconds ago”.. I ask: “Hey Josh, did you already move the couch”. He replies with: “No, I was waiting for you, lets go”. As we are heading up the stairs I say to my older cousin and team Captain Josh: “Why were you waiting for me, you always said that moving the couch out of sight was the most important thing, and that it had to be done before anything else. You never wait for my help“? Josh gets the slightest frown on his face and says to me: “Not anymore Alyssa, I’m getting to old for this sort of thing, it’s time for me to retire”. “But who will move the couch? Who will instruct the little kids in the ways of hall mischief? WHO WILL LEAD US”!?!? “You will” he replies. Josh than looks at me and says: “I was even younger than you are now when Jake passed this mantle on to me, and it is time for it to be passed on to the best person for the job. We both know that you are more than capable and that you will do just fine. I can’t tell you how much I’d rather be up here with you than down at the actual hall party, but I’m old enough now that people down there are actually looking for me, and I feel I cannot execute this job the way it should be executed; but you can. Good Luck Alyssa, and don’t worry the cousins will follow you”. For the most part, Josh was right. I don’t know if he put a good word in for me with the other cousins or not, but for the most part they are all following my lead (even some of my cousins who are older than me). For the most part, I have spent most of the day chilling on the couch upstairs (I admit, it feels even better when you move it yourself). It is kind of nice to just sit up here and hold court while the younger kids do what you tell them to. Even Nick came up here a little while ago and gave me props as to how good of a job I am doing. Of course we do have the usual problems with some of The Hejka kids trying to horn in our fun, but it is nothing I can’t handle. There is even this one kid, who I swear I have never seen before but judging by his short stature and goofy haircut, he has got to be a Hejka. He keeps walking around with this stupid toy magic wand and telling all these ludicrous stories about what him and his friends have done since they got here. He says his 3 Gungan friends took out the ewok and the fraggle, but one of the gungans got shot by this crazy hunter. I’ll give the kid some credit he’s got an imagination, but seriously, what the hell is a gungan. I mean I’ve heard of an ewok and a fraggle but if you’re gonna make up something new there has got to be something cooler than gungan. What a dork. He said that his best friend was a Jedi, and that he took out an Evil Dwarf and a Nightsister Sith Witch all by himself. I told him that if he didn’t get off of my turf that I was going to have one of my cousins take a Nightsister Evil Dump on his head. He said that the other team had these 2 girls who were really good fighters and that they killed one of his Sardakaur terror troops, but my cousin Carli said that he just stole that from the book Dune. Then this major geek told this like hour long story about how he flew in on his broomstick and took out the Reverend Mothers with some help from his last remaining Sardakaur and that he put up a shielding spell when the African hunter guy tried to shoot him. He then said something about “smokin that muggle like it ain’t no thing”?? Whatever the hell that means. For the most part this kid was a total tool, but I will admit, that I’m gonna steel some of this material in a couple days on Christmas Eve if we tell ghost stories at Grandma Zacharski’s house again. That dorky kid said that his strike force won, but I told him flat out: Only cause you didn’t go up against mine”.
POP-SUPERSTAR HANNAH MONTANA & PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA’S “BEST OF BOTH WORLDS” TOURING BATTALION OF COMMANDOS ARE VICTORIOUS!

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Season 3 Character Lists

The Season Three Character Lists are up! Check to the right under "Fantasy Fantasy Downloads". There you will find the draft sheets for all the characters coming in this season. Any questions, ask Josh or Ryan.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Optional Tournament: Round 2

Prize: A Jawa Sand Crawler


-The Brotherhood of Evil Midgets (Team 1) Vs. Pop-Superstar Hannah Montana & President Barack Obama's "Best of Both Worlds" Touring Battalion of Commandos (Team 1).
-TEAM (Team 3) Vs. The Brotherhood of Evil Midgets (Team 3).
-The Syracuse Valley (Team 1) Vs. The Horsemen of Apokolips.
-Pop-Superstar Hannah Montana & President Barack Obama's "Best of Both Worlds" Touring Battalion of Commandos (Team 2) Vs. The Brotherhood of Evil Midgets (TEam 2).