IR Day 17 - Fight it out

The second half is nasty. Lara can see exactly what’s happening, and it’s possible that she’s sympathetic to you, but she’s not about to lose this game.

Up to this point she’s hesitated to get too aggressive with Yellow Team because of the number of tough girls on it, but she stops hesitating. You understand, but it’s a mistake. Karin is all too happy to fight back, and these girls like Azu are shockingly scrappy. Pink Team isn’t ready for the backlash that Lara brings on them. Karin throws herself into it, and it bugs you that it’s working. She’s grandstanding so ruthlessly that there’s no room for you to do anything, but that’s not what bothers you. What bothers you is that she’s getting away with it. It’s like, really? She’s been a mediocre captain for all this time, and now she feels threatened and she’s lashing out and that’s leading to success? It just pisses you off.

Then things get rough. Lara takes down Ela hard. In doing so, she stops Yellow Team from scoring another goal, at least for a moment. But she also reminds you of something, albeit inadvertently: if there’s one person on Pink Team that you don’t have to coddle, it’s her.

That opens the door for you, but your chance just won’t come. Lara’s always far away, and Karin is making sure that if she doesn’t have the ball, Red has it. Red doesn’t care about your agenda, so she’s not about to look at you as a passing option without a good reason. You have to get up there, but you can’t throw the game.

It’s tied up again, and everyone is ****. Karin for her own reasons and you for yours, but mostly both teams because they’re all worried. Pink Team is worried about Viti being able to hold up through a shootout, and Yellow Team is worried about winning a shootout against Aki, who has scored on something like eighty percent of her shots so far in FUTA, and that’s just in games. She’s never missed a penalty kick. Even Cheryl is sweating about the thought of that; at least now she can count on Azu to try to keep Aki away.

It happens suddenly. Lara gets caught up and strays too close to your territory. She never even sees you coming. You take her down hard, but Sun’s there to interfere. You’re **** to give up the ball, but you’ve disrupted them. You can pass to Karin or Red. Karin’s more open, but it’s now or never. You pass to Red, who’s surrounded, and tear up the field to follow the ball.

You don’t have as much muscle as Karin, but you’re faster. You get into position for Red before Karin can, and having no other choice, Red passes to you, but you are not alone.

Lara’s back, and she’s not happy.