[Impromptu] Chapter 1-1: Enter, Amber Lumen

Amber rifled through the newspaper again. Same story as usual, it seemed: one headline in block font yelling "Outsiders Raise Terror Again," with pictures of the carnage to buildings and all that... but nothing about where to start looking for them. Nobody had been able to identify any of these people that were doing this, much less take note of any features beyond body frame. And every time one of these incidents popped up, the actual damage was different; sometimes it was a gas station sliced into pieces, sometimes it was a bank burned to ashes, sometimes it was half-melted skyscraper windows from an explosion... It was if the people Amber were looking for weren't even human to begin with.

​She sighed and tossed the newspaper into the garbage bin. She was starting from empty again, and with how much more frequently this was happening... she kicked a stray soda can on the ground, where it bounced off the brick walls of the alleyway before bouncing to a stop next to a storm drain. "No wonder everyone else didn't want to do anything about this..." she mumbled.

...No, that was wrong. She adjusted the red-and-white scarf around her wrist. "I've got to do it instead," she reminded herself, before taking a step forward. A short burst of flame formed at her heels as she jetted over a wire fence - she had to remind herself to use the Lumen Arts only lightly, or else she'd just end up scorching things around her like the people she was trying to investigate.

She found herself back onto a main street, though it was mostly empty despite it being midday. "Daybreak Square's just a walk away," Amber noted to herself aloud... that was the location mentioned in the newspaper. It would probably be surrounded by police, but it wouldn't hurt to visit the site herself...

Amber continued down the sidewalk, eventually coming across a large beach-side plaza, now completely emptied. Debris was strewn everywhere... upturned metal tables, chunks of concrete from nearby buildings, stray bits of paper. All of it surrounded by caution tape and police vans, but not a person in sight. It was if a hurricane hit the place. But, what kind of person would it take to do just that...? Multiple people? Or maybe it was a weapon or machine...?

Amber scratched her head... jumping to conclusions, as usual. She had to stop doing that, but she wasn't going anywhere with this. Why couldn't she just run into one of these outsiders and fight them until they promised not to do this sort of thing and leave? She knew it was only correct to first know everything she could about this situation, but still, it sucked that that was all she could do right now...

"Are you finally realizing how foolish this is?"

The air seemed to suddenly darken around Amber. Something about that voice... she whirled around, to see a small mote of flame. But unlike the red ones she conjured, this was a bright gold, almost a miniature sun in front of her, seemingly sucking the rest of the light out of the sky. And it was heading for her...!

"Wh- Hold on!" was all Amber could cry out, as she raised her arms in a feeble attempt to ward off the advancing flame...!

Welcome to Crisis Collide: Battle for Aniralia! Crisis Collide is a turn-based fighting game in which you control your fighters and guide them to do battle with your opponent.

Each turn is split into three phases, and for each turn, you'll need to issue a command to your fighter for each phase. A command might look like "move to this particular space," "use this ability," or both. This is how you'll control your fighter

Here are some recommended actions for this turn, just so you can see how things might look. You're not required to follow these, and in fact, you're encouraged to experiment on your own, but if you're just learning how to play now, why not give these a shot?

1. Use White Blade
   
2. Move 2 spaces backward
   
3. Move to 4th space and use White Blade
   

That wasn't so bad, right? You can also specify to move to a space relative to anything on the field, for instance: "3 spaces in front of the opponent." Relative movement commands like these are interpreted immediately prior to movement. Do keep in mind, however, that you're limited in how far you can move per phase! Check your MOVE stat: Amber has -2 : +2, which means that each phase, she can move up to 2 spaces backward (away from the opponent) or up to 2 spaces forward (towards the opponent). If you try to move too far, your fighter will just get as close as possible instead. Keep in mind that you are allowed to move past your opponent too, if you find yourself suddenly boxed in.

Notice that for each phase, movement always happens before all abilities are used, for both fighters at the same time. Abilities themselves happen in order of highest priority stat to lowest, and abilities with the same priority stat happen at the same time. You can check the stats of abilities, such as their priority, their AP Cost, their attack, their range, and so on by looking at the character materials spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lL0VUBL__X5AfNgvLGL0ufGNahRYLnyBfcVBlpYz-Tk/edit?usp=sharing
Why don't you take a look at it and see the abilities that Amber has at her disposal?

Recommended actions (again, just suggestions, feel free to not follow these if you want):

1. Use 32nd Lumen Art: Phoenix Wing
   
2. Move to 3 spaces in front of opponent and use 68th Lumen Art: Rose Circle
   
3. Move 2 spaces forward and use White Blade
   

Remember that your opponent is also trying to move to the best position at the same time as you are; they won't necessarily stay still and let you wail on them! This is the where the real battle tends to be: predicting where your opponent will go and what they will do, and making the right moves to counter that! Keep an eye out for patterns in enemy behavior, or tendencies they tend to have when certain conditions are met...

Attacks have a "range" component in the form of X : Y, where X is the minimum range, and Y is the maximum range. If your opponent is between X and Y spaces away (inclusive) when you use an attack, they'll be hit by it. Manage your movement around ranges, being aware of the limits of each fighter's reach as well as potential blind spots in their offense!

Keep a close eye on your AP! Using abilities costs you your AP, and if you run too low, you'll become unable to use your abilities!

Amber rolled to a stop on the ground, barely able to pull herself onto one knee. The sweat was rolling down the side of her face now... as much as she tried, the flame-covered mysterious man just wouldn't go down, and every time, she just put herself closer and closer to his golden flames...

"Are you finished with this pointless assault?" a roaring voice from the man in flame called. "What you face right now only pales in comparison to what the outsiders infiltrating Aniralia can do."

Amber pulled herself to her feet once more, trying to call another of her flames to her fingertips, but only getting the slightest of embers first. "What... what are you trying to say? It's either this, or..."

"Do you honestly think that with your flames, you would be able to cleanse Aniralia of its problems?" "Your actions are no better than those of the people descending on this country: thoughtless, selfish, and only lending to the suffering of those around them. Reflect on your sins, Amber Lumen."

And before Amber could reply, the flames parted, revealing empty space. She stood there, staring at the spot the man just was, before falling on her back, the scorching injuries over her body quietly become one dull sensation of sapping pain.

...At least the stars were beginning to show as the indigo sky of nightfall rolled in. Nobody to see the mess she was in, nobody to comment on her apparent failure just hours into running from home. Still, she couldn't shake a thought out of her mind.

"...I'm in over my head, aren't I?"

Congrats on completing the first chapter section of Fight for Aniralia! For completing a section, you'll gain XP (used to permanently increase the power of any unlocked fighters) and GP (used to buy single-time enhancements for fighters). You've also unlocked Amber, which means that for chapter sections that allow players to pick which fighters they want to use, any player can select Amber! In addition, XP upgrades for Amber become available!

You don't get enough XP from this fight to purchase any upgrades for Amber, but it's recommended you check the XP Upgrade Shop thread out, just to see what's available. You might also want to consider holding onto that XP for a later characters that players might unlock.

In the meantime, why not continue on with the story? Chapter 1-2 is now available, and you can also try Chapter 1-A at any time if you're really desperate for more XP or GP.