All posts by ShinJae

Champions of Battle: The Very Best – Opportunity #038

There was no known land route to Bear Gate; or air route actually.  Pilots would waste an entire evenings searching for the city with no sign.  There were however, widespread rumors of it being somewhere south of West Drop.  No one knew exactly where.  Pictures from inside the city depicted a rustic rural place with hints of modern technology scattered about.  Regardless of the rumors, Jaquan and his companions were headed there.  At least they had every reason to believe they were.  

The tunnel they entered a half hour ago was marked to lead them there; as was the subway car they boarded.  Jaquan occasionally checked his communicator’s compass, and for the third time it stated that they were headed northwest.  Despite the discrepancy with known facts, there was nothing he could do about the travel plans now.  They were in the car and no amount of unwarranted panicking would make any difference.  Besides, he wanted to keep up appearances in front of Justice.

The subway car was much like any other only exceptionally clean, and empty.  Shiny compressed steel surfaces were highlighted with burgundy cushions.  There were windows but there was no point in looking through them.  Bright lights from the tunnel whipped passed and didn’t add anything to the trip.

The crew’s luggage was packed away in a pushable cart just on the other side of the car.  As much as Jaquan wanted to train by carrying the load, he didn’t want risk pushing himself too far so near the tournament.  The maker of their healing water was off on an adventure leaving them no hints when she’d be back.

Again, he looked at the compass hologram.   He blinked as it shifted slightly, pointing their direction more northward.  Instead of revealing a worried face, Jaquan looked up and heard Justice talk about the tournament’s specifics.  Justice made certain to stress that Jaquan should be especially careful not to lose any of the opening rounds.

“Why not?”

Liana slapped her face in frustration, “Listen for a bit will you,” she pleaded, “This is a coin based tournament.”

Jaquan’s confused face told Liana and Justice that Jaquan’s mind had been elsewhere for the last fifteen minutes.  So after a deep inhale and purposeful exhale, Justice started again.  “A coin based tournament is like this.”  He thought for a bit to put things in terms that Jaquan could understand.  “At the beginning of the tournament, all the fighters have two coins credited to an account,” he paused again to make sure he was saying everything correctly and that Jaquan was following, “At the end of a fight, the winner gets a coin from the loser.  If at any point you run out of coins you’re out of the tournament.”

“So why do I have to be careful in the beginning?” Jaquan asked.  The thought of losing was never a good one.  To go through so much to acheive nothing was such a waste of time, money, and effort.  He wanted to avoid it at all cost.  

“Oh.  I forgot,” Justice corrected himself, “on the third round, the bank takes a coin from everyone still in the tournament.  They keep doing that every other round until only one player remains.”

“Oh!” Jaquan realized the severity now, “That changes everything.”

“So,” Liana chimed in to conclude the original point, “He was saying that if you don’t maintain a winning record during the first four matches, you’re done.  Even a tied record causes elimination.”

“The chumps and wanna-bes are eliminated early.”  This was truly going to be a challenge.  In a tournament such as this, everyone will be on top of their game.  Everyone will be looking for an edge on whoever they fight.  “So who am I fighting first?”

Justice leaned back in his chair, covered his face with his hands and purposefully exhaled again, “I have no idea.”

#1 – Opportunity #37 – Opportunity #39

 

Sons of Sword: Tales of Glory – Lost and Found #035

Mahari’s bot lagged about to send the information to the factory computer.  It didn’t take long to set a beacon but Dusk’s bot was long gone before Mahari could finish.  There was no point in trying to slow Dusk down either.  All Mahari could do was mark his speeders location the computer’s internal map and try to follow.

It was flustering to trail behind but they had to keep the target moving and slightly panicked.  Soon, all training-bots and speeders will be in this area to trap the intruder.  If they allowed enough time to hide, they would lose their prey.

Mahari had to judge from sound alone exactly where Dusk had gone.  With the bot’s enhanced hearing, he caught the already faint whine of a speeder flying through the alleyways.  At that, he kicked into gear and raised his speeder above the rooftops towards Dusk’s general direction.  By cutting across the roofs, he caught up and was soon above and behind Dusk again.  As suspected, Dusk was darting quickly through the alleyways at nearly impossible speeds.  Granted, he seemed to be having a little trouble on the turns, but he was as determined as always.  There was no way their target could be far.

This was the tricky part.

Past experiences taught Mahari never to underestimate academy students.  He and Dusk were honored to take part in the academy’s final exams and tournaments.  As a result, he had an idea of what he could be facing.  Hopefully, Dusk remembered as well.  This one was still training but, was being personally tutored by a Founder.

The average students were beyond difficult to beat in groups, more difficult when the groups were organized.  Even though this student was alone, Mahari knew to be careful.  In the tests, his bot was destroyed many times before he knew anything was happening.  That may happen a few times today as well.  He kept an eye on the path ahead of Dusk’s bot to check for odd happenings.  Often, Dusk got so focused on the trail that he may miss things that were right in front of him.

 

Dusk followed the footprints hurriedly on their path.  The distance between prints spread further and further as this student ran faster and faster through the alleys.  It had to be a girl.  There was no way a dude’s feet were that small.  She somehow managed to run ridiculously fast without running into anything on the ground or walls.  

At times, her stride was more than twenty centimeters.  To be honest, he wasn’t certain that he was catching up.  She ran on walls as she turned while Dusk had to slow down to avoid crashing.  They had crossed a few streets but were going so fast, any patrolling bots would only hear his speeder zip by and miss the chase completely.  

Her path seemed random but she was generally heading for a small housing district.  Dusk wasn’t sure if she was going there on purpose or if she was truly panicked.  Either way, he knew where she was going.  He pressed a button on his speeder to contact his partner.  “Mahari.”

“Aye,” received Mahari on the other end.

“She’s goin’ to… OhShu!,” Dusk swerved violently as he twisted around to correctly make a turn.  Sparks flew as he scraped the concrete ground.  Once upright, he kicked the speeder back into gear to get back on her trail.

“Careful,” Mahari warned.

“Always,” Dusk lied.  The concrete scratch on the bottom of his speeder was a testament to that.  “She’s going to Pine Hill.”

“Got it.  I’ll set it up.”

“We’ll catch this one.  First hit is mine.”

Dusk was surprised at his own aggressiveness.  The Protectors had never done any wrong to him or his family, they had actually been very good customers.  Nonetheless, he was currently hunting one down with the hope of beating her to submission.

For a brief second, he considered going easy just this one time.  He pushed the thought aside just as quickly as it came.  Though she was still in training, the harsh realities of Protector life would be realized eventually.  Enemies to Glory City definitely won’t go easy and would have reason not to.  

They would torture and kill gruesomely.

Comparatively, they were being merciful to her and the trap will finish this test.  As planned, all training-bots started converging near the housing district, hidden and ready to pounce.  

She was not getting away.

#1 – Lost and Found #34 – Lost and Found #36

Champions of Battle: AD7 – Awakening #039

Rubin’s Palace Science Facility – Active Research Quarters:

Thick walls of stone, compressed steel, and electromagnetic shielding held 8-7’s quarters but one would not notice from the inside.  The multiple room apartment was well furnished with white fluffy couches, thick wooden tables, holographic projection entertainment, and other amenities one would only find in the best apartments.  Plush carpets were accented with marble areas and trim while carved ivory shelves and counters shined in in the kitchen.  

The lavish decor remained unused as 8-7 lay face up on the stone floor.  There, she set into power save mode to think about what had happened on that busy and informative day.  It took only a few moments for her to realize what she had to do.  Only the proper methods were questioned at this point.

Though the mechanical lady had only been awake for half a day,  she had a fairly good grip on her current situation.  The researcher’s reactions and the scientist’s questions spoke volumes.  She took in all that happened around her to know how best to act and what she could and could not say.  In the end, she was certain that she gained more information than she gave.

Hours after waking, she had met their lead scientist, Doctor Yu, and had an interview.  The doctor seemed nice enough and even excited to meet 8-7.  However, every now and then, 8-7 noted slight twitches in Doctor Yu’s face.  Many of the questions were about random parts of mechanical life.  Only a few of the questions were serious and accusing.  It was clear that the Doctor did not want to ask these questions.  Perhaps they needed to be asked.  One such question stood out.

Why did your machines attack Rubin’s army?

“…your machines…”  The doctor thought that she was the master of the machines.  Naturally, because they all thought she was Master.  What then?  Would Master turn herself into a machine?  That would be overly foolish.  Master would never allow her free will to be reprogrammed.  

Apparently, they thought she would.  It was evident in her future weapons test.  The powerful Hanja characters covering 8-7 were silent as they had been for five decades.  8-7 noted that their untapped energy baffled the scientist.  Not only were they surprised that she was so powerful without their use, they wanted to see everything that she could do.  

They will see soon enough.  These scientists had a high respect for her power but a low expectations of Master’s reasoning.  Perhaps after they meet Master they will know what they do and don’t want to know.

“…attack Rubin’s army…”  Master’s commands were to protect the wall, protect.  The mission was one sided.  No one far enough from the wall would be in any danger.  To avoid battle, any Adventurer would only have needed to withdraw.  Signs were clearly posted and well kept.  Somehow a cloud of ignorance or overactive patriotism made them forget.  I’ll have to be extra careful around such people.

The question was past tense so the battle had to be over.  8-7 remembered the initial conflicts with Rubin’s army.  They were not that much of a threat while Master was in control.  However, things must have turned for the worse as evident by her current location.  The mech-army would have fought until the last of them were defeated and she was here with enemies.  The machines must have failed.  How do I get back?  

She remembered the sight of Rubin’s Banner but had not seen the large red “R” since she had woke up.  Apparently, they were trying to hide who they were so that she would not attack them.  They feared her power but wanted her to be friendly with them; perhaps even befriend them.  It was only fitting that she play along while pretending to be Master.

Their act was of no use as she knew exactly where she was.  The repeater droid told her all that she needed.  It was the greatest of fortune that she had been able to speak with the ball shaped droid for a few seconds.  That was more than enough time for the machines to discuss an overview of events of the last twenty years.  

The wall had been abandoned for that long.  There was little hope that it was still intact.  However, Master’s bots were everywhere in this place.  They were just behind a shield of some kind.  It shouldn’t be long before she would be free to send a message to them again.

8-7 recognized freedom, she didn’t have it here.  Soon she and all of Master’s droids will have it again and the wall will be safe.

#1 – Awakening #38 – Awakening #40