Tag Archives: The Very Best

Champions of Battle: The Very Best – Opportunity #23

The lady kept tugging at Brisa’s arm.  Her pleading and crying took Brisa completely off guard.  Brisa had no intention of being drawn directly into a conflict right after getting to town.  She had her own mission, but the panicking woman seemed genuine if not a little pushy.

These people had to be important to this lady.  They obviously needed crucial help.  The lady was filled with such urgency.  She kept pulling and pleading.  Brisa couldn’t help but take a few steps to go with her.  Soon they started walking faster.  Eventually, Brisa was running with her into the city.

Brisa had no idea where they were going.  They kept turning and running through alleys.  It became hard to remember where they had been.  Before long, they had gone deep into the city.

Whoever was causing the problems was going to pay.  Brisa wasn’t really a fighter but she had her weapons.  Thanks to Catlin, she was armed to the teeth.  Brisa had a real chance to be a hero.  All it really took was a few good shots to stop an aggressor.  She checked her gun clips.  They were enchanted with aim.  They would not miss.  She would have to thank Catlin, whenever she decided to talk to Catlin again.

They stopped their sprint as they looked down the final alley.  “Here it is,” the lady said, “they’re right down here,” and she took off running down the alley.

That was all the encouragement Brisa needed to follow.  She started a sprint forward.  After one step she stopped.

A brick wall of thoughts hit while a needle of wisdom pricked her head, as a warning.  Something about this whole situation was very, very wrong.  Brisa couldn’t place what it was, but it was most certainly there.  There was something bad, really bad and hazardous about all of this.

After the lady disappeared down the corner, her mind filled with questions.  Why would this lady call to only her for help?  There had to be more strong fighters leaving the shuttle.  Sure, Brisa looked like a warrior too.  However, there had to be at least one real warrior that left the shuttle before her.

Why didn’t the lady call for the local guards?  This city was a much more peaceful than Brisa imagined.  There had to be some really strong guards to keep the peace in this city full of powerful lawless warriors.

Why didn’t the lady get help from local warriors?  They had passed dozens of scary looking people on the way here.  How many warriors did this lady pass on the way to the shuttle pad?  Surely someone else in this town would like a reward for killing an aggressor; or a sucker.

A sucker?

Brisa drew her guns.  The action was somewhat slow and a little sloppy but she focused as she aimed down the alley.  She listened, there were no struggles down the alley; no fighting; the lady had stopped crying.  There weren’t even any shots fired.  No sounds at all.

Why were these questions only coming to mind now?  The lady had just run down the alley.  The answer hit her immediately.  A charm!  Brisa had been fooled by an enchantment again!  There had to be something about her that made her a target.

Brisa quickly looked around.  She wasn’t going to be a sucker, not again.  With her luck, it could be too late already.  She was already lost in the city.  All Brisa wanted to do was see the sights and maybe learn something about the people here.  Well, she succeeded.  However, getting mugged and possibly harmed in this city was not in any part of her plans.

She holstered her guns and walked briskly away from the alley.  Good, bad, or worse, whatever was happening down that alley had nothing to do with her.  Brisa didn’t mind keeping it that way.

A few blocks down, she passed a series of shops.  In the large clean window, she saw her reflection.  The enchantment on top of her mask was glowing.  She only knew the meanings of a few Hanja.  This one was the Hanja for the perception enchant.  “Perception,” Brisa said to herself, “interesting.”

She would really have to thank Catlin; whenever she decided to talk to Catlin again.

#1 – Opportunity #22 – Opportunity #24

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

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