Monthly Archives: December 2014

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

Sons of Sword: Tales of Glory – Lost and Found #7

A thousand points?!  No way, way too much!  Even though a small win would be outstanding, a wager that large is not even close to being worth the risk.  Metcalf didn’t even try to hide her reluctance.  The amount may have been reasonable for Isabeau.  The top students had many more points to play with.  For Metcalf, a big loss at those stakes would set her down to zero.

“If that’s too much, we can change the amount.”  Isabeau’s expression showed as well.  This made no sense.  Metcalf was wasting her talents here.  She had seen students gambling points in training centers; the competition it created.  Even when students worked together, they never stayed in this arena for as long as Metcalf, Naoh, or Koh.

The students here usually had no other way to get the extra points they desperately needed.  They had to win Academy Points or face expulsion, utter failure, and disgrace.  There were no other options.  Their future, their hopes, the free life of an academy student, the honor of a Protector, everything depended winning.

Most only knew the basics but they used those basics in ways never taught in the classrooms.  They fought hard for those points, the fiercest competition she had ever seen.  At times, more inventive students happened upon variations of advanced strategies and techniques.  Isabeau only hoped to gleam some of the techniques to use as her own.

At the end of the mid-season, the winners and losers were determined.  Losers never came back, expelled after the final.  Winners rarely came back, not wanting to fight in the Training Center again unless it was absolutely necessary.  Metcalf stayed in this environment and thrived.  True, Metcalf was low in the student rankings but only because she wasted her time here playing for tens and twenties.

Isabeau had no doubt that Metcalf would win with the proper incentive.  More points meant a stronger fight, right?  She was pretty much giving Metcalf points for the honor of a challenge.  But, if a thousand points a target was too much, “What about five hundred?”

Well.  Maybe, less than that. Though it was definitely more reasonable, it was quite a lot more than usual.  So much, much more than Metcalf had ever played for before.  Isabeau could be using a negotiating tactic; starting unreasonably high so that a sucker could suggest something unusually high.  Things rarely ended well for the sucker.  Metcalf was having no more of this. “Two fifty,” she spoke with certainty.  It still could be a trap.  The amount was well more than double what she expected to bet, but it was still recoverable if she lost.  However, that was her final offer, no higher.

Two fifty?!  Metcalf is definitely showing her a lot of respect.  But if that’s the way she wants it, “Deal.”  Such a low bet.  She was going to be very upset if she won.

The negotiations finished, they waited for their number to be called.  They sat without speaking for a while.  Sometimes, the wagers were the hardest part of the challenges.  They both wanted their way, and each had to flex their wills to get it.  It was especially tough for the nicer students.  If they became friends later, it would be great.  It was never certain though.  After the awkward silence, Isabeau suggested they eat somewhere after the mid-season.

“Sure,” Metcalf said without hesitation.  She was still a growing young lady of course.  She loved to eat.  Also, she could ask her about a few special techniques.  Such a high ranked student had to know some techniques that only the Quarter Masters taught.

“I’ll give you my contact after this.”

#1 – Lost and Found #6 – Lost and Found #8

Champions of Battle: AD7 – Awakening #11

Entering the canopy, Adrianne stretched her hands forward.  Silent Blur followed suit, obeying her commands perfectly.  In this position, the forward legs acted as a shield to protect the control cab from extensive damage.

While the Silent Blur was in this form, every part of Adrianne’s body was used to control the ship.  Her arms and legs controlled Silent Blur’s legs.  Her wings controlled Silent Blur’s wings if she still needed them for mid-air maneuvering.  Even her waist would twist Silent Blur’s mid-section.  Only the tail was controlled by the computers to correct Silent Blur’s balance.  In many ways, she was Silent Blur at this point.  She would look silly to someone watching in the cockpit.  However, with the split second decisions she was making it was necessary for controlling the ship correctly.

In years past, she had watched the squirrels in action.  They were nearly flawless acrobats, the best in the trees.  She modified Silent Blur so she could imitate them.  She had perfected a landing technique from watching them.  She had never tried it at this speed before but lacked the time for logical decision making.

The sensors gave her all the information they could, but at this speed they had trouble keeping up.  Their information fed into a holographic display that surrounded her.  It showed the woods around Silent Blur set to her scale.  Everything about the woods was there everything down to the shapes of the leaves and vision into the distance.  Usually in life-like detail, the objects were mere string outlines and simple shades at this speed.

She found many branches to help her slow her decent, crashing into one after another.  The frantic search took an agonizing fraction of a second.  She decided that any branch would do and grabbed at one.  It bowed heavily with Silent Blur’s weight, but Silent Blur’s sharp metal claws held fast.

The branch bent hitting another branch, then another.  The branches took a lot of the energy away from her momentum but not enough to satisfy physics.  She had to start moving or risk breaking several branches causing more problems.

The claws sunk deep into the branch shredding it as she and momentum worked around the unpredictable branches.  Soon she regained complete control and ran up to the thicker parts of the branches.  Reaching the trunk, Silent Blur’s claws dug deep into the bark as she ran around it a few times descending the tree.

By the time she reached the lowest strong branches, she was moving at regular speeds.  Much faster than a squirrels, but slow enough for her sensors to pick up the slightest details of the woods around her.

She stopped the ship to think.  Though counter-intuitive to escape, it was the smartest thing for her to do at that point.  She positioned Silent Blur into a position similar to that of a sitting squirrel.  This could fool the gankers temporarily.

No doubt they were finding their own way through the canopy by now.  Without her modifications, they would have to slow their ships and descend very carefully.  They would ping for motion just as she could, but this could work against them.  There was a good chance they knew about where she was, but they would not know exactly.  There were real squirrels in the woods too.  Without seeing her, the gankers could mistake her for one.

She ran a quick check of Silent Blur’s systems to make sure that she would not be unpleasantly surprised at a very bad time.  Everything checked out except her weapons system.  They were still in the weapons test mode she had set while experimenting with the missile.  In her haste to get back to Rubin’s Trail, she neglected to set the weapons back to standard mode.  Those adjustments could only be done from outside the ship?!

With no working weapons she had no way to hide in the woods and shoot them down one at a time, a plan that was just coming to her.  She was way too far to reach the city.  She had to get out of their jamming range to call for help.

She had a feeling the gankers could be near enough to almost her about now.  She had to make sure to stay out of their sight.  Though she moved like a squirrel, she certainly looked nothing like one.  Even a slight glance would blow her cover.  She had to make a quick decision which way to go.

They knew she was headed toward Rubin’s Trail.  Her sensors and Captain Bubbles agreed that the city was straight ahead.  However, only a fool would continue to head for the city at this point.  A tricky person would run left or right to try and approach the city from a different angle; she would have to do that but not now.  The only thing she could do to stay alive was run away from Rubin’s Trail.

#1 – Awakening #10 – Awakening #12