All posts by ShinJae

Sons of Sword: Tales of Glory – Lost and Found #8

Plum Blossom Tavern, Apple Mint Hills:

In a booth of the noisy crowded tavern sat two male Crishi sharing a meal.  They were in their mid twenties and spoke a cryptically.  Everything else about them was completely different.

“Keep playing in that club and you’ll end up hurt, at best.  That game is too dangerous.”  Manna Han, the shorter of the two looked at his best friend with a serious glare.  At five and a half centimeters, he was slightly less than average height and the shorter of the two.  His pigment made him stand out, bright orange with light blue and brown spots.  Standing out was particularly bad for his profession.  Since it was impossible to hide he took the welcoming image of a man of peace in bright white robes.  He ate a simple peanut butter sandwich with fresh carrot and celery slices as a side.

“The game is dangerous, but think of the points,” Guy Xing retorted in his pressed formal black suit.  He was much taller at a little more than six and a tenth centimeters.  He was green with stripes of yellow and many shades of brown.  His meal was a toasted spiced beef sandwich covered in melted cheese.  The sides were mashed corn and potatoes.  “They really need me in the lineup.  I can put in a word for you if you want in.”

“Count me out,” Manna said without a bit of hesitation, “points aren’t worth it if you’re put out of the game.”

Guy paused for a bit.  He was seriously thinking about what Manna said.  Also his mouth was completely full.  “Okay,” he said resigning.  Manna’s response was expected.  It had been the same for the last few months.  Even when they were children, Manna played it safer than most.  He didn’t want to join the gang even before they started doing the dangerous jobs.  He had a great talent though.  Talent wasted lifting purses and knocking over parking meters around town.

They really needed Manna in the gang.  He was so good at his work.  Once or twice, Guy had thought about forcing Manna into the gang.  He decided against it.  All their lives, Manna had been stubborn.  He also used absolutist, heavy handed methods to solve problems when he felt pushed.  Guy decided against pushing the issue hard enough to become a problem.

They had recently recruited a very skilled magnetism master but something told Guy that it would not be enough.  Manna’s particular magnetism mastery could be very useful this time around.  An inconvenience?  Yes.  However, Guy was prepared to take risks, unlike some.  “We’re playing out of town for a few months.  Don’t bother looking me up for a while.”

“Big game?” Manna said then took a drink of milk.  Peanut butter was good and cheap but always stuck to the roof of his mouth.

“If there ever was one,” Guy said proudly.

Manna had heard that many times before.  It usually meant that Guy and his crew were doing something even dumber or crazier than before.  Many times he wondered if Guy’s gang had made any powerful enemies.  Someone might come looking for them at anytime to send a message.

Guy continued, “We have a huge play lined up.  This one will get us on the map.  Even The Chef will take notice.”

Manna looked at Guy like he was crazy because he had to be.  “The Chef” was their code word for Cookie, the most dangerous and efficient organized crime boss ever known.  It was rumored that he was a Founder.  Because of Cookie, all organized crime revolved around Dead Lake, all of it.  For the smaller gangs, like Guy’s, to get his attention was never good.

“Don’t look at me like that.”

“You’re not in that league Guy,” Manna said with an air of warning.

“We will be soon.  Hey, you think it’s any safer for you with the Pro Stadium being in the neighborhood.”

“Pro Stadium” meant Glory City.  All the Protectors came from there.  These Superhero/World Policemen types were insanely trained by the greatest.  Nearly unbeatable and impossible to bribe, they liked to wander the country when off duty.  Even though Thousand Flowers was huge, it included Apple Mint Hills.  If they ever caught Manna, pain and prison awaited him.

“Better to be suspended than out.  And I never have to worry about any sudden trades.”

Manna was right.  Betrayal often plagued his line of work.  Newcomers wanted to get ahead no matter who they had to step on.  Still, if Guy was anything he was smart and a good judge of character, and character changes.  It made him the big shot he was, so far.  With any luck, he would be a bigger shot when he came back.  Hopefully, he could keep from getting shot in the process.

They eat in silence for a while then Guy’s handheld sounds.  Guy read the message and realized, “I have to go.”

“See you later?”

“Of course,” Guy said with certainty.  But to be honest, he could never be sure.

#1 – Lost and Found #7 – Lost and Found #9

Champions of Battle: AD7 – Awakening #12

Rubin’s Trail Research Lab:

It had been about an hour since Chaeri Wu had someone call for Adrianne to return to the lab.  It was simple enough to get others to do what she wanted.  She knew why the young males around the lab looked her over so often.  Her position also gave her at least a small amount of power.  All she had to do was ask and whatever she wanted would be done.  She saw the intern dart for the office phone when she asked him to call Doctor Yu.

AD7’s brain activity was off the charts.  This was an incredibly important event for the research lab, even more so for Adrianne.  Doctor Yu should be here.  Is AD7 a threat?  Should they try to help her?  They needed to know what to do.

Chaeri knew Adrianne would have flown strait here as fast as she could as soon as she got the news.  However after all this time, there was no word.  Something was wrong.

Chaeri was Adrianne’s assistant though she simply refused to dress for the part.  Her baggy black blouse and matching pants did not do enough to hide her curvaceous figure.  Her pale yellow skin was covered in large golden yellow patches and a few pink spots.  There was a large golden yellow patch on her face but it only made her look cheery.  She was rarely cheery.

The door flew open and she rushed out to the lab floor.  She walked briskly to the intern that made the call before, startling him.  “Any word from Doctor Yu?” Chaeri spoke in her standard, to the point, tone.

“N… no ma’am,” the intern replied, “Do you want me to call her again?”

“No,” she said pausing for a brief moment, “Call the Sky Guard.”

——

Somewhere in Rubin’s Woods:

Adrianne was moving Silent Blur at average speeds, hopping from tree to tree steadily away from Rubin’s Trail.  Judging from where they were and the average range of jamming signals, she should be at least almost out of range.  She only had to get out of range and call Rubin’s Trail to get the Sky Guard out to help her.  That is, if she needed them.

If the gankers really wanted to find her, she had no hints.  No ship flyby.  No energy signatures on the short range scanners.  No pings for her location.  Now that she thought about it, they didn’t even turn when she dove into the woods.  They kept going towards Rubin’s Trail as though she were invisible.

Maybe she was imagining the whole thing.  She had no real evidence they meant to harm her.  They may not have even cared for her in the first place.  It was out of reflex that she dived into the woods.  She put some pieces together that made sense at the time.  Her reflexes had saved her often enough.  Every now and then, they made her look silly.

She looked on her short-range scanners again.  Nothing was there, only the wild beasts.  The beast usually got spooked when something noisy came near; they were calm.  She had nothing to tell her that there was anything going on, only her nerves.

She looked at Captain Bubbles as if to ask it where she should go.  The little sailboat inside pointed behind her to the city.  However, she decided to play it safe and go the extra twenty meters before calling.  That would put her well outside a radio disruption signal if they were not following her.

She continued a steady pace.  She was about to climb the tree to get a better view and a good signal for the city.  A sudden large energy spike appeared on her scanners; really close, really powerful.  Instead of wondering what it was, she instinctively moved with all her power to change directions.

“BOOOMM” A missile hit exactly where she would have been.  The blast shook the limb she was on, loosening her grip for a moment.

Time to go!

#1 – Awakening #11 – Awakening #13

Champions of Battle: The Very Best – Opportunity #11

Brisa had never expected to follow Jaquan and his crew all the way to Bear Gate.  The city had a very dangerous reputation; surrounded by dense dangerous woods; impossible to reach by air.  Only a relative few people knew how to get there.  Justice seemed to be one of them, but how?

She was surprised the BigBad Crew took the travel plans so well.  They were just going to walk through the woods.  That was crazy, even for a professional fighter.  They were going to that insane city to rest, oddly enough.  The tournament was even deeper in the woods!

Mr. Meng, the chief executive of The Champion’s Chronicle, wanted to do a story on the BigBad Crew for some reason.  He seemed to know that something especially interesting was going to happen.  He wanted to expose all of their secrets or something?  Brisa wasn’t sure.  She did know that to make an authentic story, someone would have to follow them wherever they went.

Not her.

Her job was getting the information to pass to the brave/foolish reporter.  She was supposed to get the information unnoticed, a relatively easy task.  It seemed she failed to do even that.

Of course, it was Duard Ban’s fault getting her trapped in all this mess.  That idiot always thought too much of himself.  Jaquan hated reporters.  Everyone, from the fans to the doorkeepers at the hotel, knew that Jaquan Zu hated reporters.  Still, he leaped at the assignment without thinking of her position in this.  He wasn’t scared of Jaquan.  He will be now.

He was bold enough to stand directly in front of Jaquan Zu, trying to get him to stop.  He got a good rib-crushing stomp in the chest for his troubles.  Now, he’s resting in the hospital.  As Duard’s errand girl, Brisa was the only person from Champion’s Chronicle near the scene.

She always wanted to be an ace reporter but never thought her chance would come like the, or be so short lived.  She watched her quarry load onto the shuttle, a large white box of a ship.  None of them wanted to see her again, their glances made sure she knew as much.

She watched each of them file into the shuttle one at a time.  Each of them scared her to death.  For the strangest reason, Neely scared her the most.  Not so much for what he did; but what he said or, how he said it.  His words bore into her consciousness.  Even now, she remembered power behind his words.

Just thinking of his words brought the entire torturous scene back.  The memory was more powerful than the experience.  The fire and frost seeping into her chest while floating helpless in the air.  She was unsure that she would ever forget.  There was no way she was going to follow them.  She wanted to write about safer things.

She was done.  The only thing left was to tell Mr. Meng of her utter failure and probably get fired.  Her hand slowly lifted her handheld to talking position while she carefully dialed the numbers for headquarters.  She wanted to get a good look at her boss perhaps for the last time.

Within moments, she was speaking with Mr. Meng.  A hologram of his torso and face appeared just above her handheld.  She saw a bit of scenery behind him too.  Apparently, he was sitting at his desk.  He was heavy set and sweaty.  His grey suit was quite disorganized with splotches of food condiments.  He had tan skin with thick golden tiger-like stripes all over his face and body.  Never mind his appearance; she knew his reaction to failure.  He yelled at Mr. Ban enough times, and that was for minor errors.  Could she go through with this?

She started slowly trying to sound strong in front of the one Crisho she desperately needed to impress.  She failed miserably.  “Th… they found me.  I don’t know how.  It was… it was horrible.  I thought th… they were going kill me,” Brisa was at the verge of tears by the time she finished.  As she heard herself talk, she realized that she really had no idea how they found her.  She was recording things on her handheld; there was a bright flash; then she was staring into the most frightening pair of eyes she had ever seen.

“Kid, listen to me,” Mr. Meng sounded strangely understanding, “they’re bluffing you.  Don’t fall for it.”  He spoke to her in a calm but firm tone.  “I know these tough guy types.  They put up a good front but when you get to know them, they’re a bunch of softies.”

He spoke like he had been there, but Brisa knew better.  The BigBad Crew was not bluffing, nor were they softies.  They knew who she was.  They knew why she was there.  If they saw her again, they would stop her from doing it.  “B…but.”

“No buts kid,” the chief executive almost started to sound frustrated.  He corrected himself immediately, “Our star reporter is out of commission because of this guy; Zu is hiding something, I know it; and you’re the only one we can tag on his trail right now,” his argument made a small amount of sense. “You want to be a news star, you need a big chance.  This is your big chance.  I’m not asking you to do anything dangerous.  All you have to do is follow him.  I’ll get a reporter to meet you at Bear Gate and you’ll come home.  It’ll be easy.  Just stay out of sight.”

That was easy enough.  All he was asking her to do was follow them.  The shuttle had no windows, there was no way they could see her.  All she had to do was stay out of sight for the shuttle ride to Bear Gate.  Once she was there, the new reporter team would be there, and she was done.  It was an easy job.  “Okay,” it seems a little too easy though, “I’ll do it.” This could be a bad idea.  Despite her doubts, she boarded the shuttle.

—–

The BigBad Crew rested in their private cabin on the shuttle.  They had their own aircraft but Justice insisted they travel like this.  No worries.  Jaquan only had to sign a few autographs for the fans and then ask to be left alone.  The fans knew to give him his space.  Justice filled Jaquan and Liana in on the details of the city and made reservations for their trip.

Catlin sat on a couch right next to Neely and rested on him while he read.  Neely didn’t mind her head on his shoulder.  They had been good friends for a long while now.  Also, with her close to him there was little chance for her to turn wild.  Sometimes it happened while she slept.

Catlin’s Thermal and Motion talents were very active even while she rested.  They were amplified by her Unholy talents.  Each person had a heat signature that moved with them.   Using this skill, she watched all the passengers and crew on the shuttle for a while.  However, she was tired from enchanting the huge jug of healing water for Neely and the activities afterwards on the shuttle pad.

Catlin was on the verge of falling asleep when she noticed a particular heat signature moving towards the back of the shuttle.  This one was altered slightly; it had a unique pulsing signature that only someone using the Thermal and Motion Talents could place.  It also had the shape of a bow-tie.  She spoke just loud enough for Neely to hear, “Brisa Gan from the Champion’s Chronicle is following us.”  She decided to sleep anyway.

“Oh well,” was his simple response.

#1 – Opportunity #10 – Opportunity #12