As June watched with her heart thudding with anticipation, the bludger flew closer and closer to Erika and... missed her. June felt herself deflate, literally flying lower as her hopes were crushed by a thrown bat. "I couldn't be lucky this time?" she muttered to herself as she pulled her wand out for another Locus bludger spell.

"HEY!" a magnified voice shouted. June jumped and spun around as a referee pointed at her and gestured. "WAND AWAY!"

"Okay, okay," June shouted back, putting her wand away and rolling her eyes. It was then that she noticed that her robes were gone, replaced by a heavier kimono that almost instantly got tangled in her hanging legs, though it felt wonderfully silky against her skin. The kimono had a light blue background with the OKNA ninja turtle mascot as its focal point. The hem, sleeves, and neckline were embroidered in silver thread and June stretched her neck, taking in the large bow tied at her back. All in all the kimono was breathtakingly beautiful, but the opposite of practical.

Inside her sleeve, June found a place where she could slip her wand, and the referee nodded once the wand was away. Muttering something about how the referees ought to lighten up - they were in Japan, for heaven's sake - June gripped her bat and scanned the pitch. She sighed as her enlarged bludger was deflated by a referee and flew towards it. Though the referee had returned the ball to normal, at least he had held it in place for enough time for June to get closer to it.

June watched as the bludger began to fly away from her and she pushed her broom, gaining more speed. AFter a few more moments of straining and following the bludger as it flew first in one direction and then another, June finally managed to get close enough to hit it. She saw Erika above her and narrowed her eyes. If June was one thing, it was persistent. Erika had escaped her bludgers twice already and though it might seem unreasonable, June would keep aiming towards her until one of the black balls hit her already.

Looking back at the bludger ahead of her, June prepared to execute the Upside Down Beater. The move was exactly what it sounded like: June would roll so that she was facing up, her broom above her, in an action similar to the Sloth Grip Roll. Then, she would hit her bat upwards, hitting the bludger up at the target. Clutching her broom tightly between her legs and crossing them, June rolled smoothly until she hit the appropriate upside down position. Looking upwards at the bludger and at Erika, June realized that aiming would be a problem. Not only was the sun very bright, but her kimono was flapping around her legs, occasionally obscuring her view.

"Oh, honestly," June said forcefully as she fought with her kimono. Finally, the end of the garment was tucked between her legs and June was able to see. Using her legs to cast a shadow in order to better see the bludger and her target, June raised her bat and slammed it upward, propelling the bludger towards Erika. Grabbing her broom with both hands now, June swung herself upright and looked off at the bludger. She smiled as she saw that despite the kimono and the sunlight, her bludger was right on course for Erika, flying up exactly below her.

I'm extending this round accordingly:


1st - 3rd- Mexico: The goal posts are made of cactus material. This means it will be more difficult to get the quaffle in with all those thorns, also Keeper watch out don't fly too close!

4th- 7th - India: No bludgers allowed! Instead Beater shall use flutes and enchant snakes to strike the players!

8th - 11th - California: Relax, with all the sun the Referee might be a little more distracted to some more 'less honorable' plays.

12th - 15th - Japan: All players must wear kimonos! This might difficult your movements...

16th - 19th - New York: The field is now around the Statue of Liberty! Goal posts are the eyes and and mouth of the statue for both teams! Keepers side to side!

"It's been so nice here, I don't want to go home!", Cris had told her drawing camp friends on the last day of camp, clinging to a tree in a very silly and childish manner. However, they were fast to observe that she had already missed so much at home - for example, her very first quidditch match with her new team. She had had to admit, sadly, that she felt like being a bit of a let down, but there was no way to help it - she couldn't have skipped camp.

However, she was surprised to discover, a few days after returning from yet another trip, that the current games had been prolonged - and she was already late for the second session! Running frantically from the castle, she dashed through the locker room, grabbed her shiny new broom - specially enhanced for extra speed - and sprinted onto the pitch, mounting her broom as she ran.

However, the moment she landed on her broom, she felt it give in an inch or two. She stopped in mid-air and reflected - after all, this was a brand new broom, it couldn't be broken already?! Looking down, it dawned on her that she was wearing a kimono - a real, silky, heavy one.

"What the -", she thought, and slapped herself on the cheeks. She was definitely not dreaming, but whose crazy idea had it been to dress her in a kimono for a Quidditch match? It was hardly to be called "sportsgear". Squinting to see the other players far up above her, she realised everyone was wearing kimonos! This is definitely still a game of Quidditch, yes?, she wondered. The situation slightly reminded her of an anime where one of the main characters had been a Kabuki actor and had played beautiful women in stunning kimonos - but even he wore more practical clothes when he boarded his fighterplane to kill space monsters ...

Returning to the locker room, Cris found a notice she had obviously overseen in her haste, that explained everything. After reading it through, she started to befriend herself with the idea - after all, a challenge was a challenge and was therefore to be mastered, no matter what. She looked in the mirror. It was the first time she was ever wearing a kimono but, seen as she was a fan of all things Japanese, she had always dreamed of trying one on and it even fitted quite well. No, it was more - it was stunningly beautiful, with fine embroidery in her team's colours. "Kireii!" (jap. beautiful), she thought excitedly, smiled to her own reflection in the mirror and decided it was now definitely the time to take the game on.

Back in the air, she joined her teammates. "Konnichiwa! Sumimaseeeeeen for being so late, guys!", she shouted, waving to them. "Ganbatte kudasai!"(jap. good luck), she added and zoomed off, in serach of the Snitch - she was already late, and there was no time to be wasted. Japanese efficiency, she thought smiling to herself, let's do this!

The wind in her hair felt so good, after such a long break from Quidditch! She enjoyed flying leisurely for the moment, to get warmed up, but couldn't help but notice that the long kimono was turning out to be a real hindrance. For instance, when she tried flying close curves, the hanging attire fluttering in the wind was throwing her broom out of balance - she made a mental note to avoid close curves as much as possible.

Moreover, when she tried varying her height, she noticed the undesirable effect of gravity on a broom that's been loaded more than it is meant to - it got difficult to rise, but much faster to go down. She frowned and concluded that, in any case, it was good to test the her broom's response to the new conditions. As a last test, and starting her real hunt for the Snitch, she accelerated around the pitch. Not remembering exactly what her last maximum speed had been, she could not tell if she had been slowed down a lot, and anyhow, she was also flying a different broom, but she had a slight hunch that somehow, this was not all her broom could give, had she been lighter and more aerodynamic ...

Cris was flying across the pitch, her head metaphorically, but also almost literally, in the clouds. She had really missed the rush flying gave her and she wanted to enjoy it to the fullest. It was probably not the wise thing to do while flying at high speed, but Cris closed her eyes just for a second to inhale the fresh air and -

"Look out look out look out look out Cris! Bludger at seven o'clock!", Cris heard her teammate Elana shout. Her senses suddenly kicked in and with a glance over her shoulder, she realised a bludger was indeed on its way. She quickly decided that she did, after all, not miss the getting-smashed-in-the-face-by-a-bludger-part of the game, so she lay flat on her broom, holding tight with her arms and legs - a move she had called simply Turbo Rocket -, thanks to which her broom gained extra speed. However, maybe her memory was playing tricks on her, but her broom was still slower than it had normally been with this move - probably due to the heavy kimono and the fact that parts of heavy cloth from the kimono were still fluttering underneath her. It was not a great slowdown, but, not having performed the move in a long time, she had also wasted time on slowing down in order to get into the right position. In any case, it was enough for the bludger to have almost reached the end of her broom when she looked again.

Desperate situations require desperate measures, she thought grinding her teeth. She shifted her body closer towards the end of the broom, aware that she was actually getting closer to the bludger, but it was the preparation for one of the moves she had thought about in a moment of reminiscences about Quidditch. She had never tried it out, but hoped it would work - especially as she happened to wear the right kind of outfit for this move to be helpful. Her heart was beating fast and her hands were getting sweaty - it was a matter of either succeeding or receiving a painful bludger blast and crashing from what looked like it was the 5th or 6th floor. She cringed.

But time was running out. "NOW!", she shouted, gathered all her courage and pulled the handle of her broom up, braking violently, and at the same time turning the broom around. "I give you - The Sneaky Turn!", she cried, and at that moment, the hanging part of her kimono hit the bludger. What Cris had counted on was that the speed and the weight of the kimono would be enough to sort of, well, ... slap the Bludger away.

For a moment, she thought it might have actually worked but - what a naive thought. Instead of flying away, the bludger just got entangled in her kimono and started viciously hitting at her leg. "OWWWWWWW!", she cried in sheer pain. Again sitting on her broom, Cris tried disentagling the bludger. It was not easy, seen as it was hard to even get a hold of it. Finally, she managed to hold it in her hands, with great effort, and pulled it out of her kimono. The Bludger then did what was to be expected - it flew away, then stopped and returned to get her properly.

"OH NO, YOU DON'T!", she shouted and drew herself up, standing with both feet on her broom. Because her kimono incommodated her movements somehow, she almost slipped, but she managed to catch herself. Then, when the Bludger was getting close, she jumped off her broom, firmly holding it with her hands, and turned it while she was in free-fall to hit the bludger - The Fake Bat, the move was called. For a moment, her breath stopped - it was a move impossible to do using one's reason; here, the only things that helped were pure fear and adrenaline.

There was a loud crash when the bludger hit her broom, which Cris feared had probably been damaged, and the move was also far from perfectly executed: the best players can actually aim the Bludger into any direction they want at such a move, whereas Cris has just barely managed to kick the Bludger away, and it had almost scraped her.

But all seemed fine now, Cris thought, as she hung from her broom, all her powers drained out by the encounter with the bludger. "Just let me hang here," she said to the world at large. "And I'd like some hot chocolate, please. And I swear, I'm not payed enough to do this." Then she remembered she was not payed at all. "Never mind."[center]

"Stupid stupid stupid!" June groaned as she shook herself and positioned herself properly on her broom. It had been so stupid of her to just sit there, mesmerized by the swirling colors and changes around her, that it had never clicked in her mind that different sets of cheering fans + stops in Mexico, India, California, and now Japan + the game continuing after it was supposed to have ended = an extended game = June should be playing = not sitting on her butt staring at the spectators. "Oh for the sake of all things Magical..." She shook her head once more and decided that she would continue berating herself at a later time... Now, she needed to make up for her lack of activity for the past very long time.

She spun around on her broom towards the Pitch and away from the spectators and - oohhhh shinyyy... No! "Snap out of it!" she told herself through gritted teeth. She began flying towards the center of the Pitch where all things chaotic were going on. As a player in OKNA robes whizzed past her, June turned her broom to follow, planning to ask her what was going on. As June got closer, she grinned. "Hey Cris!" she called, elated to see her sister, but at that moment, Cris made a sharp turn. June quickly slowed down, narrowing her eyes and trying to figure out what was going on.

"Woah!" June shouted as she heard the familiar whoosh sound of a bludger as said Identified Flying Object flew right beneath her, heading for Cris. That must have been what the Seeker had been flying from... June watched as Cris continued through her manouvre and winced as she shrieked in pain. She watched helplessly as her friend decided to follow through with the Fake Bat. Though she wanted to help and Merlin knows it was her job, June couldn't risk accidentally hitting Cris or colliding with her since she and the bludger were so close to each other. June got her chance to finally do something when Cris hit the bludger away from her.

Hearing Cris's exhausted words, June took a chance and decided that the bludger wasn't going anywhere too far away anytime soon. She drew her wand, making sure to keep it hidden from the referee, and conjured Cris a steaming mug of hot chocolate, encased in a sealed mug that one could hang from one's broom. "Here," said June, quickly handing the drink to Cris, tracking the bludger with her eyes as she did so. "You deserve it." With those last words, June pointed the nose of her broom down towards the bludger, determined to get there before anyone else. She grunted with frustration as her kimono sleeves and hem flapped loudly in the wind. In addition to the added distraction and noise, her unwieldy garment also kept her from accelerating the way she wanted to. It was like wearing a mini-parachute and June didn't have the time to figure out how to get rid of the effect while staying within the rules of the game.

Straining towards the ground, June followed the bludger as it zigged and zagged this way and that, though it kept descending. Not patient enough to get in the right position and execute a manouvre at the moment, June decided a straight-on hit would work as good as any. She chased the bludger, her broom's speed - though not the quickest - was greater than the bludger's and it was only a matter of seconds before June was in hitting distance. Throughout the game, she'd aimed for Erika again and again and again and - well, you get the idea - but she had had no luck. When June had said that she was determined to get in a hit before the end of the game, she had been telling the truth.

Now looking upwards, June found Erika in her distinctive Patomigos kimono and she also saw who she assumed to be Elana giving chase. Keeping the bludger within range, June quickly eyeballed where she'd have to hit the bludger, keeping it just ahead of Erika so the Chaser would run in to it, but not so ahead that the girl would have time for evasive action. Now looking down at the bludger, June gripped her bat with both hands and with a SMACK, she hit the bludger up towards where Erika should be in the next few seconds. June grimaced as she stowed her bat back in her kimono; though her aim looked true, the huge air-catching flappiness of the kimono sleeves had caused her to hit the bludger with less force, dampening its speed. "Just hit her, for Merlin's sake," June muttered as she sighed and began to ascend.

Cris looked up thankfully at her sister and teammate, June, who had just given her a mug of hot chocolate. "Thanks!", Cris said, nodding and smiling at her sister, "Good luck now!". She hung the mug to her broom with one hand, then tried to pull herself up. Unluckily, her arms were still weak, and the sleeve of her kimono kept falling onto her face. Silly thing, she thought, while dangling quite helplessly from her broom. She sighed, pulled all her strength together and swung herself left and right, until she was high enough to throw a leg onto the broom. Just a bit more ... whew, done!

Finally able to rest, she grabbed the hot chocolate her sister had given her. Given the circumstances, it seemed like an early Christmas present. It was steaming hot, and very sweet and chocolate-y, and it even had a healthy layer of whipped cream on top, and chocolate sprinkles and bits of marshmellow! Heaven!, Cris thought teary-eyed while enjoying her chocoloate - she really was the kind of person of whom one could resonably expect an ode to hot chocolate, which was her favourite drink above all.

As the minutes passed, Cris felt how the sweetness was giving her new energy, and, although she now also started feeling the pain again in her leg, she felt like she could slowly but surely get into the game again. After all, there would be plenty of time to relax afterwards. She rolled up the sleeves of her kimono, as a sign that she was meaning business, but most of all, for practicality, ran her fingers through her ruffled hair, and started scanning the view.

Not much later, she spotted something glittering at the end of the pitch - could it be the Snitch, so soon? She did not waste any more time and charged towards it. She noticed her brooom was slightly shaky, but could not understand exactly way. It was nothing major, though, so she did not take it seriously and flew on, hurrying towards the snitch - after all, the sooner she caught it, the sooner the team could all take a break from what had been a very long game and she could also relax properly.

However, on getting close Cris realised what the glimmer had been - simply the back of a kimono in the sun. She hadn't actually expected silk to glitter that much, but it apparently did, especially to her tired, fata-morgana-seeing eyes. Disappointed, she turned her back to that false hope of a win, and started flying around the pitch, in constant search for the Snitch.