Tag Archives: Humberto Meng

Champions of Battle: The Very Best – Opportunity #035

The Bome City Shuttle Port was relatively far from the hospital, but Duard’s constant irritations led the cab driver through the fastest possible routes.  Duard had no interest in seeing the sights or even the locals.  Only the shuttle port mattered.  Consequently, it took much less time to reach than usual.  Of course, his next destination was still a mystery but he was definitely leaving this land.  

Being a booming city, Bome’s port was always busy.  There were more shuttles parked than one would care to count.  Every space was full.  A few shuttles were preparing to launch while others hovered and spun in the sky preparing to land in the soon to be empty spots.

Each shuttle had a graphic noting their next stop.  After leaving the cab, Duard leaned on a pillar to think and make a call.  The shuttles’ graphics animations were slightly entertaining.  Duard watched as the graphics described their next destination while writing out the city’s name.

The call was to Champion’s Chronicle Headquarters.  If Duard was to make any impact on events, he had to be informed.  A lot may have changed in a day.  

It was just after hour seventeen so in Bome City it was well into evening.  However in South Coast, it was a very uncomfortable hour of morning .  Understandably, it took more than a few rings for Humberto to answer, but he was there.  The Chief was always there.  As expected, Chief Meng was a little grumpy this time of day; or night.  However, he knew about all the important stories at the Chronicle.  He seemed unusually glad that Duard was up and about and shared the story freely.

The tale of Juquan and the BigBad Crew moved quickly as Humberto only spoke in important facts.  Apparently they partied and cheated the casino.  After that, the story took a few unexpected turns.  The strangest turn was the reporter Humberto used to follow them.  Duard’s keen memory often kept him from asking for the same information twice, but Chief Meng’s selection was simply inconceivable.

“There has to be a mistake,” Duard corrected with unhideable disbelief, “Brisa?  My Brisa?”  Duard had to stop and lean the communicator to his ear.  There was no way he had heard that part right.

“Yeah Brisa Gan, your errand girl,” the Chief said with certainty, “She hasn’t called in for a while though.  She’s either doing fine or she’s dead.”

“What do you mean dead?”  He asked the question without thinking.  This whole situation seemed like a road trip horror story, “Where did they go?”

“West Drop.”

“West Drop!”  Duard knew for certain that his errand girl hoped to be as good a decent reporter.  However, following the BigBad Crew was too much for her as was going to West Drop.  The two facts together made absolutely no sense.   “Why not throw her to the bear-frogs while you’re at it!”

“She was there, and she could walk,” Humberto shouted back reminding Duard that he could not at the time, “If you want to catch up on the rest of the story, I suggest you go there and talk with her.”  Those were the Chief’s words before ending the connection.

Things were going terribly.  Sadly, things were probably much worse than Duard believed.  His plan to destroy Jaquan hung on a thread.  How could he find evidence to damage Jaquan if he couldn’t find Jaquan.  However, he was glad to have called.  He would look a fool if he had walked into this with the information he had only yesterday.  

Duard rushed to his private craft.  There was no time to lose. He should be there in a few hours.  

He scoffed at the idea of Brisa doing fine on anything.  All she’s fine for is getting my tea and sandwiches.  If she went to West Drop, chances are that she’s already robbed and stranded.  I’ll have to clean up whatever mess she’s found herself in.

#1 – Opportunity #34 – Opportunity #36

Champions of Battle: The Very Best – Opportunity #22

On its final approach to West Drop, the shuttle spins as it lands.  This slow and impressive looking maneuver signaled the passengers to finish their exiting preparations.  It would soon be time to get off of the shuttle.  The Trans World Shuttle Corporation had an unforgiving time table.  If passengers lingered, they would be trapped on the shuttle as it leaves again.  If a passenger missed a shuttle, they would have to wait for the next one.  Also, anything passengers left behind would most likely never be seen again.

With its box-shape, it was hard to distinguish the back of the shuttle from the front.  Only the many levels of docking bay doors gave it away.  In the pit, powerful guards and dock workers waited for the precious goods that made the town livable.  The city also had goods to send.  Even a city like West Drop needed commerce.

The landing gear touched the enormous docking pit with surprising silence.  However, the landing gear hissed loudly as the air pressure escaped the brakes.  Traded goods were moved around underground in the docking pit while the passengers exited from the right side of the shuttle.

The Trans World Shuttle Corporation has always been a trading company at heart.  However, the company couldn’t ignore the profit of shipping travelers as well; guaranteed gold for each traveler and the additional gold they may spend on amenities.  They may even be willing to pay more for some of the shipped goods than the original buyers, more profit.

The BigBad Crew exits the shuttle with Justice leading them.  Jaquan pauses briefly as he sees the headlines of the latest news feed.  It was a picture of Orien Quan with a disappointed look on his face.  The caption read: “A fighter is supposed to have more respect than that.”

This didn’t surprise Jaquan at all.  Quan was always pulling media stunts like this.  That, and Jaquan opened the door for these events.  That didn’t mean that he had to like it.  Still, he was curious about what they had to say.  He pressed a few buttons on his handheld.  In doing so, he downloaded and paid for the story.  In a few seconds it would be saved on his handheld to read later.

A few minutes later, Brisa disembarks the shuttle.  She had only one small bag of luggage; the trip was completely unexpected for her.  She only wished there were shops and hotels to provide what she needed in town.

She wore her combat gear perfectly fitting the look of a fierce warrior.  She did her best to walk the way Catlin had demonstrated earlier.  With all the powerful enchants increasing her strength, balance, and a host of many other things, it was quite easy.

Leaving the shuttle behind, she looked around for any sign of trouble before she continued to the port.  There appeared to be none, but she needed to be safe.  She was in a new place, a dangerous place.  She needed to keep her wits for a good while longer.  She checked her handheld for local restaurants; she was getting hungry and was going to be here a while.

The call to Mr. Meng in South Coast didn’t go at all the way she wanted.  There were delays for all the other stories Champion’s Chronical was following.  No one else was able to make it to West Drop or Bear Gate.  Since she was still the only one that had access to BigBad, Meng needed her to tail them just a while longer.

She didn’t have the tools to track them.  Of course, she didn’t need to track them.  She knew where they were going.  They told her when they were going; they wanted her to follow them.  She just had to be ready to leave with the tournament party at hour seventeen.  Hopefully, they would have an escort of some kind.  One or more people with them would make her feel much better.  She couldn’t trust them.

Exiting the shuttle port Brisa was approached by a frantic looking woman.  With pain and fear in her eyes, the lady pulled at Brisa’s glove.  “Help us,” she said, “They’re going to kill them!  I need your help please!”

#1 – Opportunity #21 – Opportunity #23

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