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Champions of Battle: The Very Best – Opportunity #19

Brisa spent most of the hour in the shuttle’s various shops looking at other items.  She had no idea there was so many amazing things there; bags, parachutes, weapons, and armor.  There were tons of shops filled with whatever a traveler would want.

The fear of discovery had faded completely.  She had just spent a few hours with Catlin without any hint of being discovered by Jaquan or his entourage.  The chances that she would have to worry about the BigBad Crew were small as long as she stayed in crowds.

She saw her past mistake clearly now.  On the platform, she was quite suspicious.  She was standing behind a pillar peeking at Jaquan’s crew and taking notes.  If she were a passerby she wouldn’t trust someone behaving that way.  Someone in BigBad must have seen her at some point.  In the shops minding her own business, she should be safe from discovery.

Thanks to Catlin, she had the confidence to truly enjoy the flight.  She really was on a grand adventure.  She had met an incredibly clever and helpful traveler.  She was going to experience a completely different culture.  Who knows where this road will take her?  If she gets too uptight during the journey, she may miss something truly important.

Brisa headed to the food court were Catlin was waiting with a cart full of weapons and armor.  She seemed slightly, different.  Her eyes were slightly wilder than before.  She had a huge grin on her face and was bouncing slightly in her seat.  She smiled even more seeing Brisa and waved her over to the seat.  “Sit, sit, sit you’re gonna love this,” Catlin started.

Brisa didn’t know exactly what to think.  Catlin seemed a little strange suddenly but she was a fan.  Perhaps fans act like that?  Maybe?  Catlin had genuinely helped her a lot in the last few hours and for free.  Maybe she was just excited to show Brisa how helpful she could be.

“I put a strength enchant on your maul,” Catlin continued, “It should be a lot easier to lift now.  Also,” she added without taking a breath, “it won’t look suspicious because everyone with big heavy weapons adds strength to them.”

Brisa lifted her maul.  It was indeed much lighter but, everything else was too.  She lifted a plate from the table.  It seemed weightless!

“That’s right,” Catlin noted, “It works on anything.  As long as you have the maul with you, you benefit from the enchantment.”  Catlin pointed at a spot on the maul.  Brisa turned the maul around and looked at that point.  There was a Hanja there that she had not seen before.  It was possibly responsible for the strength enchant.

“I changed the color of your armor,” Catlin said as Brisa admired the Hanja, “It’s more of the same color but it still doesn’t match completely so you still won’t stand out too much.  I added a few special things too,” Catlin was talking a little faster than before.  Brisa began wondering how she kept breathing out for so long.  That didn’t stop Catlin from talking though, “Put it on later and I can help you practice with it.”

“This is what I wanted to show you.”  Catlin was singing now and talking much slower.  She was obviously very excited as she shoved Brisa’s sheathed daggers into Brisa’s face.

Brisa sat down her maul and took them.  The first thing she noticed was that they were much, much heavier than before.  Catlin was grinning again, obviously excited that Brisa noticed the difference.  Brisa sat one of them on the table.  Catlin’s eyes widened as Brisa began to draw out the dagger.

Even after the dagger was clearly out of the sheath, it felt as though it was stuck inside somehow.  Brisa kept drawing until the hilt was a full two centimeters away from the sheath.  The weight of the dagger disagreed with her eyes.  She had to test the illusion by poking beyond the blade with her finger.  Sure enough, her finger hit an invisible blade.

Catlin just kept grinning.

The blade didn’t stay invisible for long.  Black “smoke” seemed to radiate from the visible dagger blade filling the invisible blade.  Before long, Brisa noticed she was holding a two centimeter pitch black machete.  No, it was darker than pitch black.  No light that went into the area of the blade escaped, no reflections, no designs, nothing, just a blade of no light.  Then she realized that her other “dagger” was still on the table.  She had two of them!

“They’re better than enchanted blades,” Catlin sang, “They’re blades of enchantment.  Do you like them?”

Brisa’s look of amazement was all the answer she could give for a few seconds.  She finally muttered a positive response.

“Great, go put on your gear.  I’ll order some food.  My friends should be here soon.”

Brisa stuck the tip of the machete into the sheath and pushed.  The enchantment blade obeyed and disappeared as she sheathed her “dagger.”  Still amazed, she took the gear and went to her cabin.

——-

Returning from her cabin, Brisa looks much more the warrior: she walked easier; her armor was properly enchanted and colored; and her many dangerous weapons are properly equipped.  The youthful inexperienced face was gone, hidden under the frightening veil.

As she reaches the table, Catlin says teasing, “I wouldn’t want to meet you in a dark alley.”

“Yep,” Brisa responds while taking her seat, “I know I can’t fight worth anything but I do feel pretty tough in this.”

“Oh, my friends are here too,” Catlin says while looking behind Brisa.

Brisa turns around to see Jaquan and his crew standing right behind her.  The fear hit her immediately but there was nowhere she could go.  She was caught.  Whatever punishment they had for her, she would have to accept.

Before she can say anything Jaquan speaks up, “So Catlin, is this my new body guard?”

#1 – Opportunity #18 – Opportunity #20

Sons of Sword: Tales of Glory – Lost and Found #15

After what seems like a few minutes, Metcalf started getting slightly impatient.  From her screen she sees that Lance is steadily filling out the contest criteria on his platform.  It’s just taking a lot of time.  Watching them from across the thirty foot squared pit she sees that each selection is met with a great deal of discussion mostly among Lance’s companions.

Most of the time, Lance was staring at the computer as though it would fill itself out.  He would turn to ask a question from time to time.  His friends would respond.  Perhaps telling what they knew about the point trade system.  Lance only submitted information when his face showed some hint of confidence.  He was a guy that wanted to know exactly what he was getting into.

Every now and then Lance would point down into the pit at the river stone.  They were too far away for Metcalf to know what they were talking about.  However, his pointing into the pit never got a positive response from his friends.

For all she knew it was Lance’s first drill, ever.  It made sense that it would take him more time to understand what to enter into the system.  Though it was trying, Metcalf tried her best to be patient.

After about a decade, filling out the drill criteria was second nature for her she finished in a few seconds.  She remembered back when she first started gambling Academy Points.  Naoh and Koh filled out the criteria for her to “make things faster.”  The criteria they set didn’t always benefit her.  So, she understood Lance’s desire to know everything about everything.  This was taking a bit of a long time though.

After another few minutes, Lance was finally ready.  His face didn’t beam confidence she was used to seeing but his light was green.  That was good enough for Metcalf.  She had waited long enough, quite long enough to strategize.

After checking the competitors one last time, the drill guard sounds the bell.  It was time to put her strategy into play.  Gripping the railing tightly she stares at the stone from her platform.  The air in the Training Center slowly stills, replaced by the grinding screech of the river stone sliding on the pit’s cement floor.

Metcalf traded the motion in the air flow to move the stone.  Not to push it back or forth but to twist it so that more of the large imperfectly shaped stone would be in Lance’s territory.  Then it was time to counter Lance’s attempt to twist the stone back.

After just seven seconds, Metcalf started sweating and got a minor head ache.  Lance had to be struggling too; she knew better than check.  She had to keep her focus on the stone if she wanted to win.  The stone was steadily moving the way she wanted it to.  As in any contest, it was a struggle.

This push drill felt very different than the others.  She seemed to have more ambient motion to work with.  She was using all that she could.  The air was borderline stagnant.  Even with the extra resources, the stone was barely moving.

Her plan was worked; to a point.  The twist was too much for him to counter and now more of the stone was in his area.  She didn’t have to get the whole stone into his zone.  Just end the time with more of the stone on his side.  Granted, she gets more points if the stone is further in his territory.  She had no time to think of that now though.  She only needed to push harder.

With twenty of the thirty seconds gone, her head was beginning to pound.  Her focus was weakening.  Her temperature was rising; she’ll be sweating a while after this contest.  All the effort she was putting in and almost nothing was happening.  She started to wonder if she was doing anything at all; then the stone started to crack a little from the pressure.

At twenty-five seconds, the time for strategy was ending.  Fancy tactics at this point only caused trouble.  This was where champions thrive.  It was time to refocus her strength and push as hard as she could.  Again, the stone moved oh so slightly but it stayed Lance’s area.  Good enough for Metcalf.

At the final bell she had won.  The large stone almost moved three centimeters into Lance’s area.  Her prize was about three hundred of his Academy Points; plenty of points to end the day.  After the hardest thirty seconds of her life she needed a rest.

Resting by the platform she sees Lance talking to his friends from across the pit.  He wasn’t very upset; then again they were definitely disagreeing.  It doesn’t seem like they come to an agreement but Lance sends a message to Metcalf’s platform.

Metcalf answers the page and hears, “Could we go again?”

#1 – Lost and Found #14 – Lost and Found #16

Champions of Battle: AD7 – Awakening #19

AD7 stared at the waiter in disbelief.  “It blew up?” she asked.  His words were clear as day.  There was no chance that she misheard him.  Still, AD7 had to ask just to be certain she wasn’t hallucinating.  Things don’t just blow up spontaneously.  And if something, anything were to blow up, why the best restaurant she had ever visited?

“Well it was blown up,” the waiter said correcting himself, “before the Mech War started heating up.  Madam Ge rebuilt it here.  She wanted to keep the restaurant local but the old lot was too small for her vision.  Still, she cleaned and preserved the lot to honor her uncle who died in the explosion.”  At that the waiter paused awkwardly, remembering his job “Is there anything else you’ll be needing sir.”

Oyintsa thought about his surroundings and remembered that the young Crisho probably had other tables to work, “No, thanks.”  At this, the waiter left rushing off to help the next table.

“That explains the empty lot,” Royal encouraged AD7, “Seems like you’re perfectly sane.”

Yeah right.  I’m sane and completely out of touch.  AD7 was usually in good spirits even in these odd times.  However, this recent embarrassment proved that there was a great deal that she had to catch up on.

For all she knew, she had caused the war and was sitting with her enemies.  She didn’t even understand the today’s fashion.  She had a whole half century of history to learn before she could live something of a normal life.

Even in her day, the handhelds were very useful.  Perhaps these days they were even more advanced.  She turns to Royal and asks, “Is there something I could read that tells me about recent history?”  After a little bit of thought, Royal activates her handheld and hands it to AD7.  While they were discussing its new features, Oyintsa’s handheld starts ringing.

Instead of answering it immediately, Oyintsa set it in the center of the table.  This way, all of their faces could be seen by the caller.  Pressing a button, he received the call and a small image of a worried Tirzah appeared.

The image of Tirzah showed her talking into her hand.  She was concerned but not to a stressful degree.  “Where’d you guys go?”

AD7 and Royal both heard the question but were a bit preoccupied to respond.  Oyintsa on the other hand responded immediately, “AD7 lead us to a smashing restaurant.  You have to come see.”

“Love to,” Tirzah said, almost cheering, “but we’re done here.  Get something for the rest of us though, eh?  I’ll hit you back.”  She was in one of her rare good moods.  Cyd must have finally joined them.  “Meet you at the ship.”

“See you,” Oyintsa said as he ended the connection.  At the next opportunity, he gets the attention of another waiter, “I’d like to add quadruple to our order.”

AD7 was occupied trying to understand Royal’s handheld.  Still, the large amount of sandwich orders got her attention.  Sure Royal was hungry.  It was impossible for her to be that hungry, “Why so many?”

“There’s twelve of us,” Royal said.

“The rest are in the ship,” Oyintsa said finishing her thought, “Got an extra in case someone,” he emphasized looking at Royal, “was still hungry.”

Royal was looking the other way but she knew she was being teased.  As a response she looked at Oyintsa and stuck out her tongue.

As they waited, AD7 read more of the city’s history from a page on Royals handheld.  Most of the details were left out.  AD7 read between the lines thinking of Eighty-Seven’s responses to each event: the small conflict’s escalation; the steady transformation of the Mech Wall into a fortress; the peace agreement between Bosstown and Rubin’s Trail; the continued aggression from the Mech Fortress with its superior technology and fire power; the calling of Champions to aid Rubin’s Trail’s fight against the Mech Armies; the slow and steady defeat of the Mech Fortress; and ‘AD7’s’ imprisonment at Rubin’s Trail Science Facilities.

Each progression was horrifying for AD7.  Things went from bad to worse to utter disaster; each step breaking AD7’s heart.  She had no idea that things would turn this way.  But Eighty-Seven always followed her instructions perfectly.  She wanted something.  Something she could never have.  Argh… what was it?!  AD7 instinctively kept her calm face while reading but the puzzle was driving her crazy.

They were always together, so very close together.  Rubin’s Trail would have easily mistaken Eighty-Seven for her.  Now, Eighty-Seven must be scared out of her analytical mind.  There has to be a way to get to Rubin’s Trail and free her.

#1 – Awakening #18 – Awakening #20