Tag Archives: Justice He

Champions of Battle: The Very Best – Opportunity #027

Jaquan stared speechless as Catlin and Neely rush off at Catlin’s whim.  He, Liana, and Justice had nothing to say that would help the two or change Catlin’s mind.  Understandably, Catlin felt a great deal of responsibility about Brisa’s situation.  She was going and Neely was going too; just… because he was.

As they watched Catlin and Neely run into the distance, one of Catlin’s abandoned bags fell over.  Neely left his bag as well.  Distracted from the spectacle, Liana grabbed both of Catlin’s larger bags.  It only seemed right since her suit greatly increased her already considerable strength.  This left Justice and Jaquan each of the remaining bags.

“Well, that just happened,” Jaquan said as he watched half of the BigBad Crew run off in frenzy.

Watching them run through the street, Justice couldn’t help but comment, “expected.”  He learned a little about Jaquan’s companions but expected was the best fitting word.

“Ironic,” Liana chimed in.  She added a few mechanical modifications to Neely’s armor during the shuttle trip.  It should help them in their task.  She had also seen Catlin modify Brisa’s armor in a fraction of the time with her enchants.  Catlin’s used immense power and concentration to help Brisa become a “warrior” in a few hours.  She used Neely’s Holy Talent boosted Empowerment Aura through the work and still almost changed into a dreaded Unholy Beast with all her work.  Brisa must have meant a lot to her.

Jaquan paused again watching Catlin and Neely run.  They were almost out of sight still frantically looking for the reporter.  The two that usually got into side adventures were off on another one.  Each adventure made them stronger so it made since to let them be for now.  “They should be fine,” Jaquan added.  Still, he’ll give them a call in a few hours.

The three followed the attendant to their assigned resting area to sit and relax.

—–

Brisa followed the mysterious warrior through the city.  It seemed he knew where he was going.  She learned his name was Kiley Qu and that he’d lived and trained in this city for a few years.  That was good because she was completely lost.  At best, she could find her way back to the Sword Mastery School.

Kiley was from a clan called Sour Grapes.  His clan was powerful though not the strongest.  His clan’s symbol, a black diamond with a bright yellow-orange circle in the center, was displayed proudly on his cape.  He was aware of Brisa’s recent escapade into the city.  Though he knew all the shortcuts, he made sure to stay on the main paths so she felt most comfortable.

As they walked, Brisa noticed that he disappeared from view every now and then.  She’d get distracted by something on the street and he’d be fading back into sight as she looked forward again.  It was a little disturbing.  It happened a few times before she had to stop and ask what was going on.

Kiley looked at her as though she should already know.  “There’s a cloaked tracker droid following you,” he said slightly annoyed.

Brisa looked behind her and all around.  There was nothing.  No evidence of anything, only the wind and traffic.

Kiley’s eyes flashed open with a sudden revelation, “You’re a new Adventurer aren’t you?”

“Well…  Umm…” Brisa was speechless.

She tried to hide it but, it was the only fact that could possibly explain everything.  She had awesome gear including a large powerful weapon that told all would-be attackers to be afraid, very afraid.  If she learned to use the gear, they would have great reason to be very afraid.  However, no part of her gear had been marked or repaired.  Therefore, it was unused.

Sour Grapes usually helped others in need.  Besides, he had nothing better to do today.  “Don’t worry,” Kiley said, “Just don’t charge off around some building at an enemy,” he smiled at Brisa’s confused look, “We should be fine.”

#1 – Opportunity #26 – Opportunity #28

Champions of Battle: The Very Best – Opportunity #25

The BigBad Crew walked through the shade of the towering sunflowers.  The rectangular stone tiles were of varying colors but matched each other perfectly in size.  They were placed in a V-pattern all along the walkways.

The streets were lined with blue flowers about five centimeters tall.  The city had a nice clean look to it, much better than they expected.  The holographic images didn’t do it justice.  Jaquan and Justice took the lead while the others followed.  They each carried their own bags, taking in the sights as they headed for their destination.

During the flight, they had made reservations at the most elegant rest stop in West Drop.  The stop was annexed by a luxurious and secure hotel but they didn’t need to stay the night.  After a few hours, they would be on their way again.

As they walked, Jaquan kept asking Justice about the tournament.  Still convinced that he was the absolute best, he was looking for any oddity that an opponent could use to beat him.  His long championship streak was proof of his superior skill.  Yet, he had never done anything like this before.

The open invitation policy encouraged anyone from the street to join and fight.  How would a person off the street be able to beat me?  I’m a seasoned and trained champion.  Cheesy tactics came to mind.  If they used them well enough they could win.

The fighters in the tournament were one thing.  The basic structure of the brackets also confused Jaquan a little.  “What’s a coin elimination tournament,” he asked Justice.

Justice had to pull his eyes from a lovely walking flower to respond, “It’s simple really.  Everyone gets two coins.  Everyone fights at random, once per round.  Winner takes the coins.  Run out of coins and you’re out.”  He turned back and waved at the lady, but she ignored him.

That sounds simple enough.  Most of the scrubs would be eliminated early.  There was another problem Jaquan saw with this set up. “Won’t it get long at the end when there are only a few fighters left?”

“Oh, I forgot. Every other round, everyone gives up a coin in order to continue.  Be careful.  The coins disappear faster than you’d think.  Some of these fighters know some pretty rare techniques too.”

Jaquan had to admit he had one disadvantage.  There were at least eighty fighters in this tournament so far.  All had free access to his fight videos.  They could prepare for him while he knew nothing about any of them.  He had champion level skills though.  He could find a way to beat anyone.  He always did.

Approaching the rest area, they met the receptionist inside the door.  The rest zone matched the city perfectly.  Beautiful stones covered everything.  Everything was accented with the same small flowers that were found outside.

As they approached the desk, the receptionist asked, “Are you here for the tournament?”

Jaquan answered, “Yes.”

“I’m glad you are safe.  Someone has been attacking the fighters.  Please make sure that you do not wander the city alone.”

At that Catlin drops her bags and rushed ahead to the desk, “What do you mean.  All the fighters?”

“Not all of them.  It seems they are targeting the foreigners that arrived alone,” he replied, “Be very careful.”

In Brisa’s preparations, they made sure that she looked like the most fearsome of warriors.  Their goal was to avoid trouble but Brisa became a target anyway.  She never thought that a cheap fighter would turn to such tactics.  Now Brisa could be in real trouble.  It wasn’t just her fault, though.  She turned to Neely, “We have to make sure that Brisa is ok.”

“If you insist,” was his surrendered reply.

#1 – Opportunity #24 – Opportunity #26

Champions of Battle: The Very Best – Opportunity #16

Jaquan sat with Justice at the bar in his celebrity cabin.  They talked extensively about the upcoming tournament.  From what Justice was saying, these fights were going to be particularly difficult.  As such, Jaquan wanted to know everything.  Every now and again, he even caught himself fidgeting in his stool.  Was he actually nervous about this?

The Great Champion Jaquan Zu had not been nervous about a challenge for the longest time.  Of course, he never thought that he could lose for the longest time either.  If Justice and Neely were correct, these fights had “next level” written all over them.  This tournament would challenge him to become the best, the very best in the entire world.  Any and all of his past experiences could be called on to do well in the next few months.

Liana was in the cabin, but was too busy to pay attention to them.  She had promised Neely mech armor and was across the room building it now.  It was not nearly as advanced as her suit, but it would aid him greatly in combat.

Neely sat with them.  He was listening in though he didn’t say much.  He hardly engaged in small talk with anyone except Catlin.  He was slightly distant from the topic.  He would not do any fighting in the tournament.  However, he would help Jaquan any way that he could.

Catlin was still in the shuttle working on Brisa.  With her talent sets, she found Brisa immediately.  After that, her disguising enchantments and disarmingly cheerful and charming personality would get all the information they needed.  They needed to know the better details of Brisa’s mission.

There was still a great chance that Brisa was unable to help them or simply would not help them.  Brisa may not forgive them for scaring the life out of her.  If there was any chance of her helping them, they needed Catlin to pull through.

Whether or not Jaquan got news coverage on his travels, he needed to know more about his challengers.  “Why would these fighters be any different than the contenders I beat already,” Jaquan asked.  For the longest time he thought his championship was proof that he was already the greatest in the world.  For the last few days, Justice and Neely have suggested a different story.

“These fighters don’t care about money or titles,” Justice said with all certainty, “they just want to be the best they can be.  In your championship fights, a fighter has to be willing to give up a lot of gold for a chance at your title.”

The corrupt gold factory behind the scenes of his championship title was nothing new.  Technically, any fighter with a good enough record was in the queue to face the champion.  However, it always seemed that the ones willing and able to dish out extra gold were moved to the front of the queue.  The promoters, managers, and venues all loved getting paid, the firestorm of angry calls after he left for West Drop told him that much.

Thinking back, Jaquan didn’t want to say anything about the corruption.  He got a small cut and he knew that he would eventually fight all the contenders eventually.  His only objection was that his championship fights became formulaic.  Often times, the fighter with the most money had less than the greatest skill.  After a while, the fights became just plain easy.  Until now, he just thought it meant that he was that good.  This new tournament promised to be full of skilled fighters.  They only wanted to improve and were hungry to be the greatest.  The concept of joining the fray gave him stomach jitters.

Jaquan remembered when he followed the simple path.  Defending the championship became a simple matter of playing against a single fighter’s weakness.  In tournaments like this, that was never enough.  There was no way to prepare for thousands of different possible talent set combinations and the dozens of strategies involved with each one.  Enchants and gear choices added an additional layer of randomness to the fights.

To excel and compete, each fighter had to simply become the best they could.  Studying your next challenge was always advised, but each fighter always had several different styles and at least one trick.

He was excited about this.  The prefight chills told him so.  No doubt, there would be some new and interesting strategies.  The fighters were always looking for a way to take step up the ladder.

Jaquan had a lot of researching to do.

#1 – Opportunity #15 – Opportunity #17