Tag Archives: Orien Quan

Champions of Battle: The Very Best – Opportunity #10

Brisa Gan hung in the air about a centimeter and a half away from Catlin and a half centimeter off the ground.  She was a little less than five centimeters tall.  Her skin was fairly well kept, sky blue with large red patches.  She wore the nearly formal attired of a news reporter but looked somewhat out of place in them; she was way too young.

Faint hints of black flame escaped from Catlin’s red in black eyes as she stared at the very scared young lady.  Brisa had no intention of being this close to them, especially like this.  She was completely at a loss.  Realizing this, Catlin’s demeanor changed from the angry killer to a falsely sympathetic inquisitor.

A faint smile crossed her lips.  She noticed Brisa’s bowtie was not correctly tied.  Maybe it went out of place during the unexpected, split-second trip.  Either that or she didn’t know how to tie one.

Catlin spoke slowly and calmly as she started.  “So, Brisa Gan from the Champion’s Chronicle,” her voice was distorted.  It sounded darker almost beast-like, a side effect of her Unholy Talent use.  She reached out correcting Brisa’s tie, “What do you hope to accomplish by spying on us.”  Catlin’s hands, still aflame, left scorch marks on the fabric.

Brisa tried to think of some way to correct her situation but nothing was coming to mind.  Held within Catlin’s motion grip, she couldn’t move… anything.  Every member of her body seemed to be trapped in steel.  She was forced to stare back into those burning red in black eyes or seem like an obvious liar.  “I…I was doing a report on the shuttle port.”  She tried to sound as confident as she could.  “There was an attack here the other day.”

“That’s not what this says,” Liana spoke happily as she read from Brisa’s handheld.  Though she had let go of it in her surprise, it had hung in the air a millimeter away from her hand until Liana grabbed it.  “You have been keeping close tabs on us since last night.”

Brisa knew she was busted, “Sorry,” Brisa’s voice went up an octave.  The flames from Catlin’s hands seeped deep into her chest.  She must not like being lied to.  “We were interested in where Jaquan was going.”  The flames started to hurt more.

“Why,” Catlin looked up at her as she asked calmly.  She had finished correcting the bowtie.  It looked perfect apart from the scorched fabric.

The flames left Catlin’s hands.  Instead, an intense chill came upon her.   Catlin’s hands, now covered in frost, froze the bowtie in place.  Now Brisa’s chest was almost freezing, but she continued, “He’s scheduled to fight Orien Chuan in a month but decides to leave instead of training.  We were curious.”  Even after Catlin’s hands left the bowtie, the chill stung into her chest.  It penetrated much deeper than the heat it had replaced.

“What I do and where I go is my business,” Jaquan countered.  He walked between her and Catlin making sure she saw what he was saying, “I don’t need no reporter commenting on everything I do.”  He was utterly disgusted.  He worked hard for a living, endured pain both in training and in the arenas.  After all he did, this kid wanted to take his life and use it to get a story.  “Get lost,” he added waving her off.

Catlin released her grip and Brisa fell to the ground, strait on her butt.  Neely’s empowerment aura fell as well.  Liana gave Brisa’s handheld back and they started walking away from her one by one.  Brisa had only just been giving this assignment.  Even with her limited knowledge on reporting, she knew that she was not getting any more information from them.

Neely was the last to leave.  He stood there with her and spoke as her helped her up, “If I was you, I wouldn’t follow us.”  He was a stark contrast to Catlin; peaceful, calming, and sincere.  This made his words stick even more.  “You should write about safer places.”  Brisa agreed, and he walked off to join his group.

She was left alone at the shuttle port holding her handheld in complete defeat.  There was no chance she was going to get any of them to talk to her again.  That was a short assignment.

#1 – Opportunity #9 – Opportunity #11

Champions of Battle: The Very Best – Opportunity #7

After the after party, The BigBad Crew went to a cafe in another corner of the hotel to relax and recover.  Of all of them, Neely was the one that needed to recover the most.  He loved fruit drinks especially the sweet ones.  He had no idea what the clear liquid was they added, but it gave the drink an extra kick.  After more kicks than he remembered, he was quite finished.

He sat in the booth with them.  However, the way that he stared passed Liana on the other side of the booth, they were uncertain he was with them at the moment.  He had a large black coffee in one hand and an empty plastic bag in the other, just in case.

They each had a coffee of their own.  Most of them were infused with chocolate.  Liana and Catlin, wealthier from their casino exploit, happily paid for the drinks.  As they sit Jaquan tells them about the visit from Justice.  Justice had offered him a chance to fight better warriors.  In turn, Jaquan could become better than he ever was.  It was very tempting, but he had time to think since then.

After an hour, the thought of throwing away everything for a chance at a possibility sat very wrong with him.  This was a life changing decision.  Something like this required the honest opinion of the people he trusted the most.  “So, what do you think?”

After a brief period of silence Catlin was the first to speak up.  “The fans won’t like it,” she said seriously, “They’ll think you’re running from Chuan and forget about you,” she said looking at him knowingly.  “They’ll be hard to win back,” she sung pointing at him knowing she was right.  Though he ignored most of the public and treated news crews like garbage, he did enjoy being famous.  “Chuan will use this as a platform to claim you’re scared to fight him too.”

“Orien Chuan,” Jaquan almost spit out his name with venom.  “Gettin’ tired of him.  Oh and five and still claims he’s better.  Need to shut him up for good.”  Jaquan was stared into his coffee, elbow on the table holding his head in his hand.  How could anyone get through to a fighter so full of himself?

Liana decided to use the pause to step in.  “This… Justice, what do we really know about him?” she said deciding to change the subject, “He just pops in out of nowhere and tells you all this stuff.  How’d he get into the party anyway?”

“He’s always been a tricky,” Jaquan chuckled to himself.

“What if he changed while he was gone?  He could be trying to trick you now,” Liana continued.  “Are you sure we can trust him?”

“If you’re going to shut Orien up for good,” Catlin entered, “we’ll have to train harder than ever.  You’ll have to humiliate him repeatedly for the whole match.”

“We tried that once,” Jaquan said pointing at her to accent his point.  “He stuck me with that lucky shot.”

“What about a quick fight,” Liana suggested, “make everyone think he wasted his time talking to himself.”

Jaquan lifted his head looked at Liana and smiled.  Now there was a good idea.  Shut up his hype by sending him home early.  Everyone would laugh at him the next time he opens his mouth.

“BAMP!” There was a sudden slam against the table.  The sound of the silverware and empty cups bouncing off the table got the attention of everyone in the cafe.  They looked and saw that Neely, though still intoxicated, had heard and understood everything.  “I can’t believe what I’m hearing,” everything about him rung of someone insulted by pure witlessness, “Your friend uses the Holy Talents.  The Holy Talents!”  He paused between the words making sure they understood him.  “How could you doubt him?  Do you doubt me?”  It took a little while for him to continue but they all waited.  “If he says this will help, it will help.”

They listened on knowing that arguing with him was useless at this point.  “You can be the greatest!  The very best!  What you trained for!” Neely was reeling but his argument made real sense.  “Those promoters don’t give two Silicon coins ’bout you.  The crowds would just as well see you broken.  They’ll find someone else.  They always have another fight.

“This is about You.  You can be the greatest, the very Best!  Why you care ‘bout what Orien says?”  He said the name with disdain.  Orien Quan had proven to be a nuisance, but that was all he was.  “Let him talk.  He’s a publicity hog.  He wants to be the champ.  Let’s see how long he can keep it.”  Neely leaned forward holding himself as steady as he could.  With no small amount of concentration he lifted his hand.  Pointing at Jaquan staring at him he said, “You want to be the best, in the world?  You have to travel the world and become the best.”  He leaned back into his seat lowering his hand.  “It sure ain’t coming here.  Now if you excuse me,” Neely said turning to his right, still reeling, “I have to go to the toilet.”

Catlin got up from the booth to let Neely out.  He rose slowly and shambled his way to the toilet; bag in hand, just in case.

#1 – Opportunity #6 – Opportunity #8

Champions of Battle: The Very Best – Opportunity #5

Once the BigBad Crew entered the club, the DJ started playing Jaquan’s theme music.  Jaquan made sure that it played every time he entered an arena to fight.  As it played again, his fans recognized it immediately.  That was all the introduction he needed.  Everyone cheered welcoming him and the real celebration began.  The BigBad Crew entered together with their highly enchanted formal clothes.  Fire themed, they lit up the club quite literally.

The whole team had their hand to play in Jaquan’s victory, but it was Jaquan that performed on the stage.  He rode the high of his most recent victory, the focus of the party.  He led his crew through the club with his head held high.  They danced and ate enchanted food to help Jaquan heal his more stubborn wounds.  It tasted amazing as well.

He talked to his fans and supporters about the fight.  Everyone at the party took their turn congratulating his victory.  He fought a hard battle against the Mech-suited warrior.  It seemed as though she did not prepare enough and relied too much on her blasters for an easy win.  The newer warriors seemed to do things like that.

Orien Quan however was another story.  The upcoming fight with this warrior quickly became the major topic of discussion.  If it was anything like their last fight, it was going to be a real event for the record books.  More and more of the guests asked about the next fight.  It was true that Quan had incredible stealth and almost beat him last year, but the championship victory celebration was still going.  He has secured his title for the next two months and deserved some time to celebrate.

Quan was an unconventional and somewhat underhanded fighter.  His tactics were very hard to predict.  The BigBad Crew was working on strategies to surprise and take advantages of openings they have seen in his recorded fights.  However, Jaquan disliked talking about strategies, even to his fans.  Often enough, they had loose lips.

After a time of tiring questions, Jaquan started refusing them as his crew rested, ate, and had their fun.  He was a little disturbed that questions about Quan bothered him so much.  He thought he was passed the fight.  It was about a year ago.  Though it was the hardest fight he had for a long time, he managed to find a way through it.  That should only prove that he was still the best, the only one worthy of his title.

They had a wonderful time.  The food was truly delicious.  However, the party itself was quite ordinary.  Everyone talking, dancing, lifting toasts, and wishes for future victories.  It had been the same for his many years of victories before.

At one random point in the celebration, Jaquan scanned the faces at the party.  He saw one face that he did not recognize as a fan or a supporter.  However, he did look very familiar.  He decided not to press the issue too much though.  Perhaps it was just a guest of a friend.  Even he did not know everyone.

#1 – Opportunity #4 – Opportunity #6