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Champions of Battle: The Very Best – Opportunity #15

Brisa and Catlin talked for well over thirty minutes.  Catlin was very entertaining, nice, and clever.  She was apparently a world traveler.  She had gone everywhere, at least to every major city.  Traveling was one of Brisa’s dreams.  Catlin had apparently done it for a long time.

Brisa named city after city, Catlin told her about one after another.  With Catlin’s storytelling, Brisa was captivated learning about those exotic places.  The stories never got boring.  Catlin described the peoples, buildings, and food in such detail.  Brisa felt that she had there.  One day she would go, but that was for another day.

“Why are you going to West Drop?” Catlin asked.  She then stared at Brisa waiting for the answer.  The question broke into the flow of conversation.  If Catlin’s voice wasn’t so cheerful and high pitched, she would have seemed suddenly aggressive.  However, up to this point, they only talked about Catlin’s travels.  It was only fair they talk about Brisa for a while.

“I’m on assignment,” Brisa said.  She was honest but slightly hesitant to tell everything to someone she had just met.

“Assignment,” Catlin asked intrigued.  She paused slightly then continued as though she may have stumbled onto some secret plot, “what kind?”  Having already been told about Brisa being a reporter, she came up with the best answer before Brisa could say anything, “You’re following Jaquan aren’t you?”

“Well, not anymore exactly,” Brisa said in a defeated tone, “they’ve caught me.  It was horrible!”  Then Brisa told Catlin about the tragic event.  Afterwards she said, “They told me to get lost and I’m going to do just that.”

“I’m sorry,” Catlin said genuine sadness.

“It’s alright, there’s nothing you could do.  It took some ‘encouragement’ from my boss to get me on this shuttle.”  Brisa felt relieved being able to share her worries with someone, even a stranger.  It was nice to have someone concerned about her wellbeing.  “After the next reporter comes from headquarters I can go home.  It shouldn’t take that long.”

“Are you sure you want to stay in West Drop,” Catlin asked concerned again.  “If you’re going to hang around a place like that for any amount of time, you don’t want to stand out at all,” she said reading Brisa’s confusion, “Locals in a lawless town can get a bit restless.  They won’t want to be seen by someone that looks out of place.”

Brisa remembered what she read about West Drop.  The city would have strong warriors.  Warriors that would stay there probably have committed dishonorable acts other places.  They would commit crimes anywhere they could get away with it, even West Drop.  With her inability to fight, she would be unable to stop them in the slightest.

Catlin took a long look at Brisa.  The look of youth and inexperience was apparent on Brisa’s face.  That alone would make her a brilliant target.  “You’ll need a hood,” Catlin said.  “You’ll need some clothes too.  We can get those from the shuttle shop.”

Brisa was relieved to get the help she just realized she needed but there was another problem, “If I leave the cabin, one of Jaquan’s crew will see me.”

“Don’t worry about BigBad,” Catlin said waving off Brisa’s worries, “I’ve learned about Jaquan.  He’s the type to relax in the front to avoid unwanted attention.  Besides, this shuttle is huge.  There’s no chance you’ll be found.”

“Really?”

“Well, almost no chance.”

#1 – Opportunity #14

Sons of Sword: Tales of Glory – Lost and Found #11

Manna entered the bakery.  He welcomed the warm building as much as the warm welcome.  “Manna,” a few people shouted as he entered.  The regulars knew him by name.  The others learned his name quickly with all the shouting.  He had worked there for what seemed the longest time.

The cashier, Milad Zhe usually had a smile on his face.  It was yellowish green on the left and light brown on the right, the color splitting his face slightly left of the middle.  He wore the plain white uniform of the Apple Mint Bakery.  Their symbol a green outline of their famed cinnamon fold “growing” on a branch took a small portion of his left collar.  It took the entirety of the back.

Milad’s cheerfulness was in the perfect amount, stopping just before it became annoying.  His temperament made him quite a good cashier.  Some people may have come just as often to talk to him as to buy their bread.

A few people stood in line choosing their breads.  Others sat waiting anxiously to get the first fruits of the fresh warm batch.  It was worth waiting for.  Manna’s return was the first hint that the wait was ending.

Milad glanced at the clock, “You’re just in time.”

As Manna walked back to the kitchen, his robes adjusted themselves to a more suitable appearance.  Thin metal chains woven into the fabric of his robe granted him control of his clothing.  His flowing sleeves wrapped more tightly around his arms.  The rest of his robe adjusted around his body as well.  By the time he reached the apron rack, his robe had altered into a long shirt.  Granted, the folds remained but now he didn’t have to worry about anything dragging into the flower.

The Apple Mint Bakery team was all doing their separate tasks as the break time was ended.  The Chef Thetis Xian sat with Assistant Chef Pilar Wu talking about business.  The two ladies usually sorted out all the formal stuff.  It was all above Manna’s head.  All he knew was to mix, knead, roll, and cut.

Teal Bing, the oven master, sat across the room on his handheld playing Champions of Battle.  It seemed that his champion was following or chasing another champion.  Occasionally, a gunshot was heard or a fireball would fill the holographic image, pretty dangerous stuff.  Seeing Manna enter the kitchen he looked at the clock.  Touching his ear he said, “Gotta go, work.”  At that he set the handheld down and went outside to the wood shed to get the fires ready.

Manna walked to the center of the counter and stopped.  His work before him had become quite the attention taker.  The dough left rising on the wooden counter had reached its maximum size.  Almost filling the counter, it had become quite the monster in those forty minutes.  It was time to tame it again.

When Manna started working at the bakery, he was nervous around dough.  Now, it was second nature.  Pilar and Chef Thetis taught him all that he needed to know about kneading techniques.  Flour below, flour above, flour around, press, fold, and press; Manna felt like an expert.

Before long the mighty monster was tamed and separated into three almost equal sized balls.  Each ball had its unique purpose.  Manna knew exactly what the bosses would want made first.

#1 – Lost and Found #10 – Lost and Found #12

Champions of Battle: AD7 – Awakening #15

Bosstown Rejuvenation Center:

Team GarDNAnge1 waited with AD7 for Cyd to finish his shift.  It was very true that he hated his job but he had enough respect to at least finish his final shift.  However, the Blue Stone Reanimation Corporation could do without their three week notice.  It was only fair.  He had worked there for six years without any notice of a promotion or pay raise.

The five of them sat on a few large and very soft black couches in a side lobby.  As they talked, AD7 occasionally glanced at the counter.  It was busy.  Customers came and left with their revived allies.  The revived often limped or looked uncomfortable as they moved.

Occasionally, someone would enter with an unfortunate person; or a box.  So many hurt, dying, and dead people; was this new world so violent.  Was it just as violent in the old world too?  Maybe?  Possibly?  AD7 was still drawing blanks.

The bunch of them looked awkward staying in the lobby, a bit like loiterers.  They got a few strange looks but no one dared to say anything to the fearsome cloaked warriors and their slim orange and yellow companion.

AD7 had long since changed into more reasonable attire.  A plain t-shirt and a pair of pants complements of the Rejuvenation Center.  Light brown seemed to match her skin the best, slightly lighter pants and white shoes completed her outfit.

She guzzled water as fast as her body would absorb it while the members of GarDNAnge1 told her about the world.  They had removed their hoods and introduced themselves some time ago.  They seemed nice, granted she had only known them for a short while.

A great amount of the world had changed.  The city she loved had fallen on “hard times.”  Rubin’s Trail had gained a “presence” in the area.  New and mysterious combat schools were discovered including the Holy Talent Set that Hachiro used.  Of course, with all the things they were telling her, she couldn’t help but wonder what they were leaving out.

Most of the technical information they gave her it was over her head.  All she understood was that they needed her to build things.  She kept thinking the question.  If they were so powerful, why did they need help?

“What do you need built,” she asked the next time she had a chance to enter the conversation.  They looked at her confused which surprised her a bit.  It was like she gave a very wrong answer in a classroom.  “Did I say something wrong?”

Tirzah looked at her companions a bit longer then turned to AD7.  How much of the last two hours did AD7 comprehend?  Tirzah cleared her throat, “Let’s start again.  We are the lead portion of team Guardian Angel,” Tirzah said with pride.  They had earned that pride.  GarDNAnge1 was the lead team of what could be argued as one of the greatest clans in the entire world.  As such, everyone in the world knew their team name.  However, AD7’s eyes showed nothing resembling recognition.

“From Pure Order,” Tirzah continued with a little bit of hope.  If anything she knew their faction name.  The rivalry between Pure Order and Pure Wealth was legendary.  Again, AD7 responded with a blank gaze.  “We come from the city of Sanity,” Tirzah said almost frustrated.  Everyone in the world wanted to find the secret city of Sanity.  Not only did it hold a world famous clan, it held secret Hanja and enchantments that no other place could duplicate or disenchant.

It seemed that AD7 recognized that the three statements were supposed to mean something.  What they meant was beyond her.  Hachiro came up with the answer, “She’s too old to know about us Tirzah.”

AD7 flinched at his words.  She did not like being referred to as “too old.”  No matter how long she had been in storage, she looked just as old as they did.

It made sense to Tirzah though.  She began a new explanation, “We mostly battle on trails.  We don’t need you to build one thing.  The structures we need are buildings that build, train, and upgrade machines.  We use these machines and our skills to attack opponents while they attack us trying to force a surrender or retreat.”

AD7 had no idea how to respond.  She agreed to help these people as thanks for reviving her but it was all overwhelming.  “I’ve never done that before,” she said.  At least she had no memory of doing anything like that.  She remembered a wall that was about it.

“Don’t worry,” Tirzah said comforting.  She seemed very sure of AD7’s abilities.  She took a sip of water “compared to what you’ve already done, it should be easy.”

#1 – Awakening #14 – Awakening #16