Tag Archives: Uncategorized

Champions of Battle: AD7 – Awakening #13

Did I just dodge a missile?  Adrianne thought to herself.  She had little time to reason it all out.  Whatever shot at her would shoot again.  As much as she wanted to see what it was, stopping to look would be fatal.  She had best run now and figure things out later.

Tree bark and branches fell where she had just been.  She picked up the debris on her scanner.  Just then she realized she was moving in a straight line away from something that was going to shoot at her soon.  It had only been for a split second but that’s all it takes to aim.  She activated Silent Blur’s wings and their rockets to sharply change direction.

As Adrianne was committing to the maneuver, her instincts kicked in again as she activated her Kin-Po and Aura talents.  She was wearing a gravity suit similar to what the racers wore, but her maneuvers were just a little more intense and desperate than the suit was designed to handle.  With her life on the line, even getting a little disoriented could be the end of her.

Blaster bolts followed her as she swerved behind a tree.  Thankfully, the attacker could not keep up with her acceleration.  The blaster fire trailed her hitting the tree a few times before it stopped.

Using Silent Blur’s wings again, she quickly whipped the ship around to a position fit for climbing.  Metal claws dug deep into the tree as she scrambled up.  It was a long shot, but just maybe she could shake it off her trail.

It almost worked.  The attacker moved very quickly around the tree to get a good angle for a shot and found her.  Adrianne saw something move and began to corkscrew up the tree to avoid the blaster bolts.  It fired mindlessly as it tried to keep up with her climbing around the tree.  Adrianne stayed ahead of it, but it was not easy.  She was going fast enough to launch the ship off the tree.  She had to use Silent Blur’s wing rockets to press Silent Blur against the tree as she climbed.

At this point, the attacker was having a hard time keeping up while shooting.  It also showed little intelligence.  It kept following the shortest path behind her instead of cutting her off.  It had to be a machine.

The machine continuously fired and it continuously missed.  At this point, she was surprised that the woods were not catching on fire.  She was thinking of a way to end this impasse without getting shot down but couldn’t think of a solution.  Her confusion increased when the continuous rain of bolt fire suddenly stopped.

She thought it was a trick at first.  Then her short range motion tracker caught a parachute opening.  Her motion sensors found the device in her data bank.  Even without the data bank the device looked familiar to her.

It was a hover hunter, a small droid designed to search and hunt for a designated target.  She knew them very well.  She modified her defensive droids from them.  They had exactly one missile and a short battery life.  They had a cloak but the device was small enough that it avoided most scans.  They were invisible unless you looked for their particular frequency.

They could be reused.  Once the droid was retrieved, the missile could be reloaded and the battery recharged.  Each droid had a camera and a tracking device so the gankers probably knew exactly where she was.  They could surround her before she saw them.

Hunter hovers were very expensive to say the least.  These gankers were very well funded.  She had to be very careful to get back to Rubin’s Trail alive.  Now that she knew the weapon of choice for her enemy.  She searched for the frequency to allow her to pick up the little deadly drones.

She wasted no time stuck in the tree waiting for the blips to appear.  She knew they had found her.  She knew they would overtake her in the air.  The best she could do is to run along the ground hoping to escape the danger.

And so, she jumped out of the tree towards the ground and let Silent Blur’s wings soften the fall.  Heading west, she hoped to avoid any hover hunters they may have released from their ships to track her since the first one had failed.

The frequency scan was short.  When the scan was over, she was in no way pleased with what she saw.  Five cloaked hunter hovers in her vicinity and two cloaked ships circling directly above her.

#1 – Awakening #12 – Awakening #14

Champions of Battle: The Very Best – Opportunity #12

South Coast:

In the bustling trade city of South Coast, the beach was met with rows of towering buildings.  It was night time, but it made little difference on the city streets.  The streets were crowded with entertainment seekers of all ages and desires.  The bright neon lights competed for their attention trying to lure customers to eat, drink, or dance the night away.

The buildings soared, easily doubling the height of distant trees.  Their lit windows only added to the atmosphere of the night life.  Someone always did something in South Coast.

One building in particular competed with the tallest buildings of the city center.  This one bore the logo of a blue circular handheld with two sharpened red pencils forming an ‘X’ in front of it.  This one stood out as Champion’s Chronicle Headquarters.

At the top of headquarters Humberto Meng, the company president, sat at his office desk.  The large chisho was so much a part of this company that he owned an apartment at the very top of headquarters.  He needed to sleep at some time.  He also needed to be there at a moment’s notice, awake and able to respond to any issue arround the globe.

Such an issue just occurred.  Brisa Gan had just called to report on her progress, or lack thereof.  She was scared and at the end of her wits, following a story that she would not be able to cover well in the least.  She was at Bome Castle following the BigBad Crew to West Drop.  The locator at the bottom of her message told him that much.

He almost hated sending Brisa on such a high level mission.  Jaquan hated reporters and she was so inexperienced.  She reminded Humberto so much of himself when he started in the business.  All hopes, big dreams, and no experience.  He went from the bottom floor to the top of the company.  With any luck, she’ll do the same.

It’s a shame her story will never be published.  He’d have to make up some excuse for the reporters not to be there of course, and something encuraging to get her to take the next step.  Eventually, she’d be so into following leads and creating a story that she’d want to finish it herself.

It was exactly the same thing that happened to him all those years ago.  It was as if he just finished talking to a version of his younger self.  He gave the same type of advice that he remembered getting.  He felt his thaw just a little but he still had an empire to run.

The Champions Chronicle wasn’t run on sentiment.  It ran on hard facts and hard work.  She was assigned to assist Duard because he was their top reporter.  He was fearless and she needed to become fearless.  She needed to learn all the qualities of a reporter if she wanted to become an ace herself.  However, all she became good at was getting tea and cakes.

This was her big shot.  If Brisa hoped to become anything more than an eye-candy errand girl, she’d eventually have to get her hands in the mud.  She needed to be tested at some point; this was as good a time as any.  In spite of her failure Humberto still saw something of himself in Brisa.  If she proved to be like him, she’ll come out on top.  If not, there are many tea and cake shops around town.

Well on to more important matters.  Humberto pressed the com switch for one of his assistants.  They had their sorting to do but they also waited on his every word. “Chael!”

“Yes, sir,” a nervous voice replied.

“Get me a sandwich,” Humberto ordered.  He knew that the assistant knew exactly what to get.

“Yes, sir.”

#1 – Opportunity #11 – Opportunity #13

Sons of Sword: Tales of Glory – Lost and Found #8

Plum Blossom Tavern, Apple Mint Hills:

In a booth of the noisy crowded tavern sat two male Crishi sharing a meal.  They were in their mid twenties and spoke a cryptically.  Everything else about them was completely different.

“Keep playing in that club and you’ll end up hurt, at best.  That game is too dangerous.”  Manna Han, the shorter of the two looked at his best friend with a serious glare.  At five and a half centimeters, he was slightly less than average height and the shorter of the two.  His pigment made him stand out, bright orange with light blue and brown spots.  Standing out was particularly bad for his profession.  Since it was impossible to hide he took the welcoming image of a man of peace in bright white robes.  He ate a simple peanut butter sandwich with fresh carrot and celery slices as a side.

“The game is dangerous, but think of the points,” Guy Xing retorted in his pressed formal black suit.  He was much taller at a little more than six and a tenth centimeters.  He was green with stripes of yellow and many shades of brown.  His meal was a toasted spiced beef sandwich covered in melted cheese.  The sides were mashed corn and potatoes.  “They really need me in the lineup.  I can put in a word for you if you want in.”

“Count me out,” Manna said without a bit of hesitation, “points aren’t worth it if you’re put out of the game.”

Guy paused for a bit.  He was seriously thinking about what Manna said.  Also his mouth was completely full.  “Okay,” he said resigning.  Manna’s response was expected.  It had been the same for the last few months.  Even when they were children, Manna played it safer than most.  He didn’t want to join the gang even before they started doing the dangerous jobs.  He had a great talent though.  Talent wasted lifting purses and knocking over parking meters around town.

They really needed Manna in the gang.  He was so good at his work.  Once or twice, Guy had thought about forcing Manna into the gang.  He decided against it.  All their lives, Manna had been stubborn.  He also used absolutist, heavy handed methods to solve problems when he felt pushed.  Guy decided against pushing the issue hard enough to become a problem.

They had recently recruited a very skilled magnetism master but something told Guy that it would not be enough.  Manna’s particular magnetism mastery could be very useful this time around.  An inconvenience?  Yes.  However, Guy was prepared to take risks, unlike some.  “We’re playing out of town for a few months.  Don’t bother looking me up for a while.”

“Big game?” Manna said then took a drink of milk.  Peanut butter was good and cheap but always stuck to the roof of his mouth.

“If there ever was one,” Guy said proudly.

Manna had heard that many times before.  It usually meant that Guy and his crew were doing something even dumber or crazier than before.  Many times he wondered if Guy’s gang had made any powerful enemies.  Someone might come looking for them at anytime to send a message.

Guy continued, “We have a huge play lined up.  This one will get us on the map.  Even The Chef will take notice.”

Manna looked at Guy like he was crazy because he had to be.  “The Chef” was their code word for Cookie, the most dangerous and efficient organized crime boss ever known.  It was rumored that he was a Founder.  Because of Cookie, all organized crime revolved around Dead Lake, all of it.  For the smaller gangs, like Guy’s, to get his attention was never good.

“Don’t look at me like that.”

“You’re not in that league Guy,” Manna said with an air of warning.

“We will be soon.  Hey, you think it’s any safer for you with the Pro Stadium being in the neighborhood.”

“Pro Stadium” meant Glory City.  All the Protectors came from there.  These Superhero/World Policemen types were insanely trained by the greatest.  Nearly unbeatable and impossible to bribe, they liked to wander the country when off duty.  Even though Thousand Flowers was huge, it included Apple Mint Hills.  If they ever caught Manna, pain and prison awaited him.

“Better to be suspended than out.  And I never have to worry about any sudden trades.”

Manna was right.  Betrayal often plagued his line of work.  Newcomers wanted to get ahead no matter who they had to step on.  Still, if Guy was anything he was smart and a good judge of character, and character changes.  It made him the big shot he was, so far.  With any luck, he would be a bigger shot when he came back.  Hopefully, he could keep from getting shot in the process.

They eat in silence for a while then Guy’s handheld sounds.  Guy read the message and realized, “I have to go.”

“See you later?”

“Of course,” Guy said with certainty.  But to be honest, he could never be sure.

#1 – Lost and Found #7 – Lost and Found #9