All posts by ShinJae

Champions of Battle: AD7 – Awakening #20

The wait was surprisingly brief.  Ge’s Noodles and Subs knew how to treat their high rollers.  Oyintsa was sure to thank them with a generous tip, with a little extra for the cook.  He grabbed the bags and they were out the door.

The trip out of Bosstown was a lot quicker than the trip to the restaurant.  For one, Oyintsa and Royal used a directional system to know exactly where to go.  They also had purpose enough to get there quickly.

Even though she held no equipment or bags, AD7 lagged behind.  The thoughts of her closest companion stuck deep in her mind.  The war was finished but Eighty-Seven would not consider that possible until AD7 told her directly.  So, as far as Eighty-Seven was concerned, she was deep behind enemy lines.  AD7 could only guess what Eighty-Seven would do to get out.

—–

Rubin’s Trail: Main Research Lab

Adrianne was still a little shaken by the Gankers’ attack.  They were probably bandits trying their luck; testing the strength of Rubin’s Trail’s defense.  She couldn’t begin to guess where they came from but they were very well funded.  Cloaking devices and hover-hunters were not easy to come by.

However, those thoughts were for another day.  She was back in her element now.  Sitting in her laboratory office, she listened as best she could to Chaeri’s reports on AD7’s treatment and responses.  The researchers had waited as long as they could for Dr. Yu to return.  After too long a time they had to take some actions.  She wanted to know as much as she could about this mechanical chisho before they met.

Chaeri explained that after AD7 woke up, she had shown near crisho responses to almost all stimuli.  She was thus deemed near crisho and moved from the research facility to one of the observation apartments in the lab.  It would be rude to treat a crisho in any other way, even an enemy.  A semi-prison, there was no way out of those apartments.  An electromagnetic field and other precautions prevented any contact with the outside world.

AD7 didn’t seem to need any sustenance, possibly the result of her mechanical state.  She also seemed to have an involved interest in the mechanical devices as she touched and stared at them often.  That was all they decided to do without Dr. Yu’s approval.

Dr. Yu was interested in everything AD7 did.  It was her childhood dream to meet such an iconic former Champion.  She had given pause to the greatest nations in the area.  Her Mech Fortress was strong enough to cause them to negotiate peace, combine their forces, and even ask for worldwide aid from Champions.

She started as a simple builder who wanted to defend a city.  Now she sits in their lab.  What was she now, a prisoner, a project, an example, a secret weapon?  All that would depend on her reaction to questioning.

Adrianne stood at her desk, “I would like to meet her,” an understatement.  She almost bolted out of the room with excitement before she remembered her status.

Chaeri stood and bowed trying to ignore her leader’s excitement, “I will take you to her.”

#1 – Awakening #19 – Awakening #21

Champions of Battle: The Very Best – Opportunity #19

Brisa spent most of the hour in the shuttle’s various shops looking at other items.  She had no idea there was so many amazing things there; bags, parachutes, weapons, and armor.  There were tons of shops filled with whatever a traveler would want.

The fear of discovery had faded completely.  She had just spent a few hours with Catlin without any hint of being discovered by Jaquan or his entourage.  The chances that she would have to worry about the BigBad Crew were small as long as she stayed in crowds.

She saw her past mistake clearly now.  On the platform, she was quite suspicious.  She was standing behind a pillar peeking at Jaquan’s crew and taking notes.  If she were a passerby she wouldn’t trust someone behaving that way.  Someone in BigBad must have seen her at some point.  In the shops minding her own business, she should be safe from discovery.

Thanks to Catlin, she had the confidence to truly enjoy the flight.  She really was on a grand adventure.  She had met an incredibly clever and helpful traveler.  She was going to experience a completely different culture.  Who knows where this road will take her?  If she gets too uptight during the journey, she may miss something truly important.

Brisa headed to the food court were Catlin was waiting with a cart full of weapons and armor.  She seemed slightly, different.  Her eyes were slightly wilder than before.  She had a huge grin on her face and was bouncing slightly in her seat.  She smiled even more seeing Brisa and waved her over to the seat.  “Sit, sit, sit you’re gonna love this,” Catlin started.

Brisa didn’t know exactly what to think.  Catlin seemed a little strange suddenly but she was a fan.  Perhaps fans act like that?  Maybe?  Catlin had genuinely helped her a lot in the last few hours and for free.  Maybe she was just excited to show Brisa how helpful she could be.

“I put a strength enchant on your maul,” Catlin continued, “It should be a lot easier to lift now.  Also,” she added without taking a breath, “it won’t look suspicious because everyone with big heavy weapons adds strength to them.”

Brisa lifted her maul.  It was indeed much lighter but, everything else was too.  She lifted a plate from the table.  It seemed weightless!

“That’s right,” Catlin noted, “It works on anything.  As long as you have the maul with you, you benefit from the enchantment.”  Catlin pointed at a spot on the maul.  Brisa turned the maul around and looked at that point.  There was a Hanja there that she had not seen before.  It was possibly responsible for the strength enchant.

“I changed the color of your armor,” Catlin said as Brisa admired the Hanja, “It’s more of the same color but it still doesn’t match completely so you still won’t stand out too much.  I added a few special things too,” Catlin was talking a little faster than before.  Brisa began wondering how she kept breathing out for so long.  That didn’t stop Catlin from talking though, “Put it on later and I can help you practice with it.”

“This is what I wanted to show you.”  Catlin was singing now and talking much slower.  She was obviously very excited as she shoved Brisa’s sheathed daggers into Brisa’s face.

Brisa sat down her maul and took them.  The first thing she noticed was that they were much, much heavier than before.  Catlin was grinning again, obviously excited that Brisa noticed the difference.  Brisa sat one of them on the table.  Catlin’s eyes widened as Brisa began to draw out the dagger.

Even after the dagger was clearly out of the sheath, it felt as though it was stuck inside somehow.  Brisa kept drawing until the hilt was a full two centimeters away from the sheath.  The weight of the dagger disagreed with her eyes.  She had to test the illusion by poking beyond the blade with her finger.  Sure enough, her finger hit an invisible blade.

Catlin just kept grinning.

The blade didn’t stay invisible for long.  Black “smoke” seemed to radiate from the visible dagger blade filling the invisible blade.  Before long, Brisa noticed she was holding a two centimeter pitch black machete.  No, it was darker than pitch black.  No light that went into the area of the blade escaped, no reflections, no designs, nothing, just a blade of no light.  Then she realized that her other “dagger” was still on the table.  She had two of them!

“They’re better than enchanted blades,” Catlin sang, “They’re blades of enchantment.  Do you like them?”

Brisa’s look of amazement was all the answer she could give for a few seconds.  She finally muttered a positive response.

“Great, go put on your gear.  I’ll order some food.  My friends should be here soon.”

Brisa stuck the tip of the machete into the sheath and pushed.  The enchantment blade obeyed and disappeared as she sheathed her “dagger.”  Still amazed, she took the gear and went to her cabin.

——-

Returning from her cabin, Brisa looks much more the warrior: she walked easier; her armor was properly enchanted and colored; and her many dangerous weapons are properly equipped.  The youthful inexperienced face was gone, hidden under the frightening veil.

As she reaches the table, Catlin says teasing, “I wouldn’t want to meet you in a dark alley.”

“Yep,” Brisa responds while taking her seat, “I know I can’t fight worth anything but I do feel pretty tough in this.”

“Oh, my friends are here too,” Catlin says while looking behind Brisa.

Brisa turns around to see Jaquan and his crew standing right behind her.  The fear hit her immediately but there was nowhere she could go.  She was caught.  Whatever punishment they had for her, she would have to accept.

Before she can say anything Jaquan speaks up, “So Catlin, is this my new body guard?”

#1 – Opportunity #18 – Opportunity #20

Sons of Sword: Tales of Glory – Lost and Found #15

After what seems like a few minutes, Metcalf started getting slightly impatient.  From her screen she sees that Lance is steadily filling out the contest criteria on his platform.  It’s just taking a lot of time.  Watching them from across the thirty foot squared pit she sees that each selection is met with a great deal of discussion mostly among Lance’s companions.

Most of the time, Lance was staring at the computer as though it would fill itself out.  He would turn to ask a question from time to time.  His friends would respond.  Perhaps telling what they knew about the point trade system.  Lance only submitted information when his face showed some hint of confidence.  He was a guy that wanted to know exactly what he was getting into.

Every now and then Lance would point down into the pit at the river stone.  They were too far away for Metcalf to know what they were talking about.  However, his pointing into the pit never got a positive response from his friends.

For all she knew it was Lance’s first drill, ever.  It made sense that it would take him more time to understand what to enter into the system.  Though it was trying, Metcalf tried her best to be patient.

After about a decade, filling out the drill criteria was second nature for her she finished in a few seconds.  She remembered back when she first started gambling Academy Points.  Naoh and Koh filled out the criteria for her to “make things faster.”  The criteria they set didn’t always benefit her.  So, she understood Lance’s desire to know everything about everything.  This was taking a bit of a long time though.

After another few minutes, Lance was finally ready.  His face didn’t beam confidence she was used to seeing but his light was green.  That was good enough for Metcalf.  She had waited long enough, quite long enough to strategize.

After checking the competitors one last time, the drill guard sounds the bell.  It was time to put her strategy into play.  Gripping the railing tightly she stares at the stone from her platform.  The air in the Training Center slowly stills, replaced by the grinding screech of the river stone sliding on the pit’s cement floor.

Metcalf traded the motion in the air flow to move the stone.  Not to push it back or forth but to twist it so that more of the large imperfectly shaped stone would be in Lance’s territory.  Then it was time to counter Lance’s attempt to twist the stone back.

After just seven seconds, Metcalf started sweating and got a minor head ache.  Lance had to be struggling too; she knew better than check.  She had to keep her focus on the stone if she wanted to win.  The stone was steadily moving the way she wanted it to.  As in any contest, it was a struggle.

This push drill felt very different than the others.  She seemed to have more ambient motion to work with.  She was using all that she could.  The air was borderline stagnant.  Even with the extra resources, the stone was barely moving.

Her plan was worked; to a point.  The twist was too much for him to counter and now more of the stone was in his area.  She didn’t have to get the whole stone into his zone.  Just end the time with more of the stone on his side.  Granted, she gets more points if the stone is further in his territory.  She had no time to think of that now though.  She only needed to push harder.

With twenty of the thirty seconds gone, her head was beginning to pound.  Her focus was weakening.  Her temperature was rising; she’ll be sweating a while after this contest.  All the effort she was putting in and almost nothing was happening.  She started to wonder if she was doing anything at all; then the stone started to crack a little from the pressure.

At twenty-five seconds, the time for strategy was ending.  Fancy tactics at this point only caused trouble.  This was where champions thrive.  It was time to refocus her strength and push as hard as she could.  Again, the stone moved oh so slightly but it stayed Lance’s area.  Good enough for Metcalf.

At the final bell she had won.  The large stone almost moved three centimeters into Lance’s area.  Her prize was about three hundred of his Academy Points; plenty of points to end the day.  After the hardest thirty seconds of her life she needed a rest.

Resting by the platform she sees Lance talking to his friends from across the pit.  He wasn’t very upset; then again they were definitely disagreeing.  It doesn’t seem like they come to an agreement but Lance sends a message to Metcalf’s platform.

Metcalf answers the page and hears, “Could we go again?”

#1 – Lost and Found #14 – Lost and Found #16