Tag Archives: Keyanna Bo

Champions of Battle: AD7 – Awakening #038

Sanity – Training and Equipment District

With the help of Sanity’s training facility, AD7 relearned some of her old skills quickly- really quickly.  The whole ordeal was quite different than she had expected.  Back in her day, both a physical and mental strain was needed to relearn techniques after so long.  However, the “training” she’d received up to this point had been more like unlocking old consciousness with a computer.  

The change made sense to AD7 given the new technology of the day.  She had quite literally been brought back to life from a burn corpse.  So a little memory reconstruction was more than plausible.  Unfortunately, the machine and its magic couldn’t do everything.  Although she knew how to do some of her more basic moves, only brief portions of her past came to light.

Instead, AD7 was reminded of more changes due to the past.  Her old pride and joy, the Engineering Talent Set, was no more.  Instead of building odd machines, there was a Mech Talent Set that used mechanical suits.  She could make and alter another suit.  However, she already knew that her friend Eighty-Seven would get very jealous.

Currently, AD7 was taking a break from the whole training ordeal.  Her pulsing head had long since told her it was time to stop.  She had followed Keyanna’s excited suggestion to look at weapons and walked with her to their next location.

Keyanna seemed to know more about AD7 than she knew about herself.  That in itself was disturbing, but Keyanna only got more and more excited about sharing what she knew as they talked.  She even knew everything about AD7’s old weapon, more than what was comfortable.

As they talked, AD7 tried to be polite and maintain a bit of normalcy, but Keyanna made this very difficult.  Instead of walking beside her and talking normally, she hopped sideways while facing AD7.  AD7 could see the excitement in her eyes with a single glance but tried to look foreward.  Honestly, Keyanna was so giddy that AD7 was surprised she hadn’t already been tackled by a screaming fan.

“Past videos had shown you using weapons like this,” Keyanna smiled and almost screamed like a fangirl.  

AD7 managed a look at Keyanna.  She looked down to see that Keyanna had a large weight in each hand that she was quite proud of.

“It’s strange,” Keyanna started again. “They’re very famous but very difficult to duplicate and are very, very hard to use,” she paused to take a breath, “but we managed it.”

AD7 took what was a replication of this famous icon.  This “weapon” was nothing more than, two large and very heavy spherical weights connected by a chain that had to be at least more than a decimeter long.  One of the weights had an enchant on it that looked fiery and explosive, slightly slippery and warm to the touch.  The other weight seemed a little heavier and was much colder.  

The chain was very thin- thinner than it should be.  She measured out a centimeter of chain and decided to give it a test swing.  One swing was all it took for her to judge the weapon.  She was certain that if forced to use this thing as a weapon, she and many others around her would really need a healer.

“I don’t think I can use this,” AD7 said simultaneously disappointed and frustrated.

  “What’s wrong with it?”

“I… I can’t use this.”  AD7 was on the verge of tears.  She had relearned her talents.  She knew this weapon was used with her talents.  It felt familiar but incredibly unwieldy.  Why couldn’t she use it!?

“We’ll have to try something else then.”

“No,” AD7 sternly corrected, “the weapon is fine.  I’ll just have to learn to use it again.”

#1 – Awakening #37 – Awakening #39

Champions of Battle: AD7 – Awakening #033

Keyanna stopped walking and thought for a bit to correct herself, “Well, Building is a thing.  It’s just not an official Talent Set, more of a side skill.”

AD7 stopped just as she reached Keyanna trying to think of a good reason her favorite Talent Set would disband.  None came to mind.  Building was never the strongest of Talent Sets.  It was mostly used to surprise opponents with tricky gadgets or aid those that lacked fighting skill.  AD7 enjoyed planning her machines and seeing what she could do with the gadgets.

She only used what she built to create wonderful cities and tower style defenses.  Of course, the only real limit was what the Builder knew how to build.  With eyes wide and mouth open she couldn’t believe what she had just learned.  Her Talent Set, what she used to define herself for all her life was no more, “But… Why?”

Keyanna stood at the entrance to the Talent Square and scratched her head awkwardly looking at the mossy ground.  She wanted to think of a good answer other than the obvious reason AD7 was famous, or infamous.  She finally gave up and spoke her way around the issue, “I’m not really sure exactly what happened.  I wasn’t around.  I do remember something about it causing problems.”

AD7 listened intently and thought.  Unsafe?  That was possible if someone abused machines, it would cause problems.  Regardless of what she thought of her favorite Talent Set, it was gone now.  She had to choose another one or come up with something close to it.

“All the old designs were destroyed,” Keyanna continued, “only a few plans have survived.”  She glanced at AD7 and started walking.

AD7 followed Keyanna suddenly realizing why she was so important to Pure in Sanity.  She was the only one that still had plans for the old style machines.  Granted, they were buried somewhere in her mind, but she used them before they were never really forgetten.

The two ladies looked into the Talent Square and its restless activity as they passed.  There were a few targets made of wood in the center of the square.  Most were broken, burning or otherwise destroyed.  Champions continued to strike at their remains though.  Other Champions sparred in the open field.

There were two sparring Champions that seemed out of place.  While lacking none of the fighter’s spirit, they were far less talented than others.  Their clumsy attacks and awkward movements made AD7 giggle a bit.  She could only imagine herself as one of them when she started training.

“I’m sorry if I interrupted you before,” Keyanna said beginning to meander towards the equipment sellers, “We really are happy that the two of you decided to help us.  But we’ll have to act fast to get your friend out of Rubin’s Trail.”

AD7 followed Keyanna taking the hint of their next destination.  The two of us, she thought.  AD7’s mind went back to the hanger entrance.  Was she talking about that guy?  He was kind enough but something about the way he looked at her was just plain creepy.  “No.  It’s perfectly fine.”  The way AD7 spoke said more than her words could have.  She was quite happy to be away from Cyd.

“I thought so,” Keyanna smiled as she spoke.  Looking at AD7’s clothes and the fact that she had no possessions, Keyanna decided to start with the basics, “We’ll need some good equipment for you.”

AD7 followed Keyanna’s gaze to her clothes.  She was still wearing the simple brown shirt and pants from the Rejuvenation Center.  She picked that particular shirt for the fitting dark humorous message.  The words “I Live Again” were printed in bold letters on the front while “Why is everyone older” was printed on the back.

The clothes did their job well enough, but she’d need a bit more if she was going to survive an adventure, “Sure, where are we going?”

#1 – Awakening #32 – Awakening #34

Champions of Battle: AD7 – Awakening #032

As the two walked the smooth stone path, it became clear to AD7 how much the citizens trusted and respected Pure in Sanity members.  The message wasn’t posted on propaganda posters or giant statues of Tirzah, the ultimate leader of the clan.  Not one street or park was named after a person or a team in the clan.  The message was on the faces of the guards and common folks they passed.  AD7 smiled at being recognized with a member of such a respected clan.

She and Keyanna continued briskly along the path.  About a decimeter above street level, people on hovering vehicles sped around on their own business.  AD7 continued to be more and more impressed with the city.  Its unique structures were all well-kept, only a few stories tall, and easily climbable.  ‘Climbable?’

AD7 had to look closer at the buildings to make sure she was seeing things correctly.  She was not mistaken.  Every building had small hand and foot grips built into their walls.  A few buildings had several places along a wall that a person could climb.  Obviously they wanted to ensure any building could be climbed at any time.  AD7 turned to Keyanna and had to ask, “Footholds?  Why?”

Keyanna following her gaze to the concrete walls and simply answered, “Parking.”

Parking?  That made a little sense.  Having been a Builder and had planned out an entire city, she understood that unorthodox provisions were often used to prevent a reoccurring problem.  Simple but effective, these provisions would often seem bizarre to a newcomer.

The climbable architecture took nothing away from the city.  With more time to look, AD7 saw what had to be the distant boundaries of the city.  A large wall of thick hedges occasionally came into view when the zooming lamp droids flew near enough to it.

AD7 gazed into the cloud of lamps that lit the city.  As she wondered just how many of those little there were, four of them separated themselves from the cloud.  In an instant the droids stopped directly in front of her blocking her path.

They were no larger than her hand.  However, their lights were too bright for her to see what they looked like.  A half second later, two more appeared behind her warming her with their light.  After circling around her a few times, they flew back into the cloud of light carrying droids.

AD7 looked at Keyanna and had to ask, “What just happened?”

“Oh,” Keyanna gasped just now remembering.  Apparently this was something she had meant to say but had forgotten, “When the light droids spot something unusual, say a new person in the city, they alert the guards and try to identify it.”

“Do those droids do that a lot?”

“Only for new people and odd situations.  The light droids continuously send messages to the guards; very helpful if you get hurt or stuck somewhere in the city.”

AD7 looked back up at the cloud of lights as she walked along the streets with her guardian.  The two ladies turned a few corners but AD7 couldn’t stop thinking about the droids, “Shouldn’t they have recognized me.  I was on the posters all over town.”

“Well, yeah.  But a photo isn’t the same as a full body portrait.”

AD7 nodded and thought it best to change the subject, “What kind of training am I going to get?”

“The absolute best.  We’ll start with your Talents,” Keyanna said pointing at the entrance to the Talent square they had just now reached, “What Talent Sets do you remember using?”

“I was a Builder,” AD7 said with pride.  She had built an entire city and also a wall to defend it from a continuously attacking force.  She liked the Building Talents.  There was little she could think to do other than that.

“Hmm,” Keyanna grunted and thought, “Building isn’t a thing anymore.  Think we could try something else?”

#1 – Awakening #31 – Awakening #33