Tag Archives: Brisa Gan

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

Champions of Battle: The Very Best – Opportunity #11

Brisa had never expected to follow Jaquan and his crew all the way to Bear Gate.  The city had a very dangerous reputation; surrounded by dense dangerous woods; impossible to reach by air.  Only a relative few people knew how to get there.  Justice seemed to be one of them, but how?

She was surprised the BigBad Crew took the travel plans so well.  They were just going to walk through the woods.  That was crazy, even for a professional fighter.  They were going to that insane city to rest, oddly enough.  The tournament was even deeper in the woods!

Mr. Meng, the chief executive of The Champion’s Chronicle, wanted to do a story on the BigBad Crew for some reason.  He seemed to know that something especially interesting was going to happen.  He wanted to expose all of their secrets or something?  Brisa wasn’t sure.  She did know that to make an authentic story, someone would have to follow them wherever they went.

Not her.

Her job was getting the information to pass to the brave/foolish reporter.  She was supposed to get the information unnoticed, a relatively easy task.  It seemed she failed to do even that.

Of course, it was Duard Ban’s fault getting her trapped in all this mess.  That idiot always thought too much of himself.  Jaquan hated reporters.  Everyone, from the fans to the doorkeepers at the hotel, knew that Jaquan Zu hated reporters.  Still, he leaped at the assignment without thinking of her position in this.  He wasn’t scared of Jaquan.  He will be now.

He was bold enough to stand directly in front of Jaquan Zu, trying to get him to stop.  He got a good rib-crushing stomp in the chest for his troubles.  Now, he’s resting in the hospital.  As Duard’s errand girl, Brisa was the only person from Champion’s Chronicle near the scene.

She always wanted to be an ace reporter but never thought her chance would come like the, or be so short lived.  She watched her quarry load onto the shuttle, a large white box of a ship.  None of them wanted to see her again, their glances made sure she knew as much.

She watched each of them file into the shuttle one at a time.  Each of them scared her to death.  For the strangest reason, Neely scared her the most.  Not so much for what he did; but what he said or, how he said it.  His words bore into her consciousness.  Even now, she remembered power behind his words.

Just thinking of his words brought the entire torturous scene back.  The memory was more powerful than the experience.  The fire and frost seeping into her chest while floating helpless in the air.  She was unsure that she would ever forget.  There was no way she was going to follow them.  She wanted to write about safer things.

She was done.  The only thing left was to tell Mr. Meng of her utter failure and probably get fired.  Her hand slowly lifted her handheld to talking position while she carefully dialed the numbers for headquarters.  She wanted to get a good look at her boss perhaps for the last time.

Within moments, she was speaking with Mr. Meng.  A hologram of his torso and face appeared just above her handheld.  She saw a bit of scenery behind him too.  Apparently, he was sitting at his desk.  He was heavy set and sweaty.  His grey suit was quite disorganized with splotches of food condiments.  He had tan skin with thick golden tiger-like stripes all over his face and body.  Never mind his appearance; she knew his reaction to failure.  He yelled at Mr. Ban enough times, and that was for minor errors.  Could she go through with this?

She started slowly trying to sound strong in front of the one Crisho she desperately needed to impress.  She failed miserably.  “Th… they found me.  I don’t know how.  It was… it was horrible.  I thought th… they were going kill me,” Brisa was at the verge of tears by the time she finished.  As she heard herself talk, she realized that she really had no idea how they found her.  She was recording things on her handheld; there was a bright flash; then she was staring into the most frightening pair of eyes she had ever seen.

“Kid, listen to me,” Mr. Meng sounded strangely understanding, “they’re bluffing you.  Don’t fall for it.”  He spoke to her in a calm but firm tone.  “I know these tough guy types.  They put up a good front but when you get to know them, they’re a bunch of softies.”

He spoke like he had been there, but Brisa knew better.  The BigBad Crew was not bluffing, nor were they softies.  They knew who she was.  They knew why she was there.  If they saw her again, they would stop her from doing it.  “B…but.”

“No buts kid,” the chief executive almost started to sound frustrated.  He corrected himself immediately, “Our star reporter is out of commission because of this guy; Zu is hiding something, I know it; and you’re the only one we can tag on his trail right now,” his argument made a small amount of sense. “You want to be a news star, you need a big chance.  This is your big chance.  I’m not asking you to do anything dangerous.  All you have to do is follow him.  I’ll get a reporter to meet you at Bear Gate and you’ll come home.  It’ll be easy.  Just stay out of sight.”

That was easy enough.  All he was asking her to do was follow them.  The shuttle had no windows, there was no way they could see her.  All she had to do was stay out of sight for the shuttle ride to Bear Gate.  Once she was there, the new reporter team would be there, and she was done.  It was an easy job.  “Okay,” it seems a little too easy though, “I’ll do it.” This could be a bad idea.  Despite her doubts, she boarded the shuttle.

—–

The BigBad Crew rested in their private cabin on the shuttle.  They had their own aircraft but Justice insisted they travel like this.  No worries.  Jaquan only had to sign a few autographs for the fans and then ask to be left alone.  The fans knew to give him his space.  Justice filled Jaquan and Liana in on the details of the city and made reservations for their trip.

Catlin sat on a couch right next to Neely and rested on him while he read.  Neely didn’t mind her head on his shoulder.  They had been good friends for a long while now.  Also, with her close to him there was little chance for her to turn wild.  Sometimes it happened while she slept.

Catlin’s Thermal and Motion talents were very active even while she rested.  They were amplified by her Unholy talents.  Each person had a heat signature that moved with them.   Using this skill, she watched all the passengers and crew on the shuttle for a while.  However, she was tired from enchanting the huge jug of healing water for Neely and the activities afterwards on the shuttle pad.

Catlin was on the verge of falling asleep when she noticed a particular heat signature moving towards the back of the shuttle.  This one was altered slightly; it had a unique pulsing signature that only someone using the Thermal and Motion Talents could place.  It also had the shape of a bow-tie.  She spoke just loud enough for Neely to hear, “Brisa Gan from the Champion’s Chronicle is following us.”  She decided to sleep anyway.

“Oh well,” was his simple response.

#1 – Opportunity #10 – Opportunity #12

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