All posts by ShinJae

Champions of Battle: AD7 – Awakening #23

The massive ratcoon ferociously raked and slashed at Oyintsa; and he kept on provoking it.  With its sheer size, its paws were easily as large as Oyintsa’s torso.  Oyintsa had long since fell over.  With one strong swipe from the ratcoon, it flung Oyintsa into the air headed deeper into the weeds.  He rolled into the brush some distance away before he could gain his bearings.

The ratcoon followed him.  It knew he wasn’t dead.  A few seconds, and the beast was on top of him again.  Biting, scratching, pouncing, it did whatever it could to beat Oyintsa.  As a response, Oyintsa put his hands in a practiced defensive posture to absorb the ratcoon’s attacks.

His thick plated armor protected him from the onslaught.  It was enchanted armor.  Over the years, enchanters and armor-smiths perfected methods of making armors like his; Sanity’s armor-smiths and enchanters were the best.  It was metal when he needed it to be and cloth at other times.  It also had a few surprises.

Occasionally, he could predict where the beast’s paw would land.  In those places, he produced small sharp spikes on his armor.  Upon attacking him, the beast would impale itself.  Instead of causing fear, the pain only made the beast angrier.  It tackled him again trying to cause whatever kind of damage it could.

Royal rejoined the battle following the loud blasts of Oyintsa’s combat shotguns.  Even in his odd position, he found ways to target and shoot the beast with the large barrels and unique ammunition.  Instead of metal pellets, Oyintsa used odd shaped scraps and needles as shot.  As a result his powerful blasts caused the beast enough pain to stay focused on him.  The ratcoon tried to finish him while Royal caused quite a bit of damage to its hind legs.

AD7 couldn’t see a thing!  She knew a lot was happening though.  She wanted to join in the battle as well.  She remembered having great advantages and being nearly invincible in combat.  She also remembered having complete knowledge of things in a battle, even things she couldn’t see directly.  These weeds were frustrating!

Instinctively, she started swinging the bags around.  If anything came out of the weeds, she would throw their weight at them.  She paused to think, then face-palmed realizing she was only holding bags of sandwiches.

Before long the beast was trying to crush Oyintsa.  It was putting all of its weight on him and jumping.  It yelped again as it pounced directly onto a barbed spike.

Royal’s jumping Hanja had faded back to black; it was usable again.  She used this perfect opportunity to cause fight ending damage.  She leapt at the ratcoon.  She took as much thermal power out of her frost blade and put it into her flame blade.

She landed on the ratcoon with a downward stab directly into its left hind leg.  The ratcoon howled as her burning blade sunk to the hilt.  She immediately withdrew it with a jump off of the beast.  The fire was extinguished badly burning target.

The fire blade was used.  However, with almost no thermal energy in it, her frost blade was most dangerous now.  Royal used the dash enchant on her other leg to rush the beast while it was still reeling from her first attack.  Less than a second after landing, Royal dashed through the weeds and slashed the inside of the beast’s other leg.

The blade was colder than ice.  As she cut, the beast’s blood froze.  The frozen slash was deep but the frozen wound didn’t bleed right away.  It sure did hurt though.

Still growling and swiping, the large ratcoon still had the will to fight but lacked the ability to move.  It was bleeding quite a bit from the horrible wounds.  It could no longer keep up with them or move without great pain.  Soon it realized that it could no longer fight.  So, it used its front legs as best it could to crawl back to its den.

Royal and Oyintsa seeing the battle was finished decided not to press the attack any further.  On the contrary, Royal performed several of her most powerful delayed heals on the beast as it retreated.  Their goal was not to hunt a ratcoon, only to travel safely.

By the time the travelers would get back to their ship, the damage they caused the ratcoon would be healed.  Unfortunately, this ratcoon would have very defining scars for a lifetime.  It was already showing signs of improved movement as it got up and limped slowly away.

It took a few minutes for them to get back on the path Oyintsa created earlier.  They signaled AD7 to follow and they all headed back to the ship.  “Well,” Oyintsa started.  He sounded normal though he was covered in the beast’s blood, “Now we know why the rats moved to town.”

The ladies nodded in agreement.

“The ship’s not far.  Best get going.”

#1 – Awakening #22 –Awakening #24

Champions of Battle: The Very Best – Opportunity #22

On its final approach to West Drop, the shuttle spins as it lands.  This slow and impressive looking maneuver signaled the passengers to finish their exiting preparations.  It would soon be time to get off of the shuttle.  The Trans World Shuttle Corporation had an unforgiving time table.  If passengers lingered, they would be trapped on the shuttle as it leaves again.  If a passenger missed a shuttle, they would have to wait for the next one.  Also, anything passengers left behind would most likely never be seen again.

With its box-shape, it was hard to distinguish the back of the shuttle from the front.  Only the many levels of docking bay doors gave it away.  In the pit, powerful guards and dock workers waited for the precious goods that made the town livable.  The city also had goods to send.  Even a city like West Drop needed commerce.

The landing gear touched the enormous docking pit with surprising silence.  However, the landing gear hissed loudly as the air pressure escaped the brakes.  Traded goods were moved around underground in the docking pit while the passengers exited from the right side of the shuttle.

The Trans World Shuttle Corporation has always been a trading company at heart.  However, the company couldn’t ignore the profit of shipping travelers as well; guaranteed gold for each traveler and the additional gold they may spend on amenities.  They may even be willing to pay more for some of the shipped goods than the original buyers, more profit.

The BigBad Crew exits the shuttle with Justice leading them.  Jaquan pauses briefly as he sees the headlines of the latest news feed.  It was a picture of Orien Quan with a disappointed look on his face.  The caption read: “A fighter is supposed to have more respect than that.”

This didn’t surprise Jaquan at all.  Quan was always pulling media stunts like this.  That, and Jaquan opened the door for these events.  That didn’t mean that he had to like it.  Still, he was curious about what they had to say.  He pressed a few buttons on his handheld.  In doing so, he downloaded and paid for the story.  In a few seconds it would be saved on his handheld to read later.

A few minutes later, Brisa disembarks the shuttle.  She had only one small bag of luggage; the trip was completely unexpected for her.  She only wished there were shops and hotels to provide what she needed in town.

She wore her combat gear perfectly fitting the look of a fierce warrior.  She did her best to walk the way Catlin had demonstrated earlier.  With all the powerful enchants increasing her strength, balance, and a host of many other things, it was quite easy.

Leaving the shuttle behind, she looked around for any sign of trouble before she continued to the port.  There appeared to be none, but she needed to be safe.  She was in a new place, a dangerous place.  She needed to keep her wits for a good while longer.  She checked her handheld for local restaurants; she was getting hungry and was going to be here a while.

The call to Mr. Meng in South Coast didn’t go at all the way she wanted.  There were delays for all the other stories Champion’s Chronical was following.  No one else was able to make it to West Drop or Bear Gate.  Since she was still the only one that had access to BigBad, Meng needed her to tail them just a while longer.

She didn’t have the tools to track them.  Of course, she didn’t need to track them.  She knew where they were going.  They told her when they were going; they wanted her to follow them.  She just had to be ready to leave with the tournament party at hour seventeen.  Hopefully, they would have an escort of some kind.  One or more people with them would make her feel much better.  She couldn’t trust them.

Exiting the shuttle port Brisa was approached by a frantic looking woman.  With pain and fear in her eyes, the lady pulled at Brisa’s glove.  “Help us,” she said, “They’re going to kill them!  I need your help please!”

#1 – Opportunity #21 – Opportunity #23

Sons of Sword: Tales of Glory – Lost and Found #18

“What?!  Metcalf!  I TOLD you this was going to happen!”  Haruna Huai always had a way with words.  She never sugar coated anything, especially to people she cared about.  She would seem rude to an outsider but the truth people needed to hear was rarely kind.  She had known and cared for Metcalf for so long, they may as well have been sisters.

The two of them were in the dining hall eating fruit and ice cream.   They were not out in the open like during breakfast.  This time, they were in a room set aside for parties.  There were few parties this time of year so they had the whole room pretty much to themselves.

“Let me see it,” she said reaching for Metcalf’s handheld.  Seeing Metcalf’s student rank, her eyes widened in shock.  Then she said calmly, “Yeah, you’ll definitely have to take the final.”

That was all it took for Metcalf to see her situation.  She was in trouble.  She had been at Spear Mint Academy for as long as she remembered.  The people here were her family.  Hardly anyone passes the final.  And if she failed, she may never see her friends again.  “So what can I do,” Metcalf asked herself out loud.

Haruna picked up on the defeated sound in her voice.  She jerked a hand into Metcalf’s face and snapped to get her attention.  “One thing we can’t do is give up,” she said taking command of the situation, “You have six months, and lots of friends.  We’re gonna fight this.”

Haruna then took her own handheld and called up the gang one by one.  They each expressed the predictability of Metcalf’s situation but agreed to help as best they could.  They had a long six months.

—–

“Bye Manna,” Pinar called.

“See you tomorrow,” he called back as he left.  Tired but victorious he walked out into the sunlit chilly street headed home.  Another day business was finished.  The bakery was reasonably busy today.  There were acceptable leftovers.  He even kept some treats for himself to eat at home.

Chef Thetis usually would let him do that when they had enough for the discount morning special.  The day-old pastries would be sold at a discount the next day while the new ones were still being prepared.  It was good business practices.  In storage, the pastries would stay reasonably good overnight.  Also, the scent of the new pastries baking would overwhelm the senses and cause the hungry to buy more than they needed.

“Well, another eighty notes,” Manna said to himself as he walked down the street.  It wasn’t enough to make a large dent in his debt, but he was making some headway.  It was enough to pay down some interest for this month.  He would be free eventually.

Walking down the chilly street, he saw a face he remembered from earlier in the bakery, then another.  They were leaning against walls, sitting in cars, hanging out on corners, trying and failing to look ordinary.  There were about six of them.  They were all people that didn’t recognize him during his grand entrance to the bakery.  Or maybe they did.

Manna didn’t speed up.  He knew they’d follow him no matter where he went.  He turned down an alley a parking area in the back of a warehouse.  He made his way to a wall and waited to see how long it would take them to catch up.  Using his magnetism skills again, he readjusted his robe to give himself more freedom of motion.

Just as he expected, the six of them came around the corner a little while following him.  Thankfully they didn’t have guns, but their bats, canes, and crowbars seemed to have a specific purpose.

Despite this, Manna only smiles and bows, his orange face serene, his motions practiced.  Still smiling he says “Greetings friends.  How may I help you?”

#1 – Lost and Found #17 – Lost and Found #19