Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX or Mulan
Chapter 8
The Camp
There were tents set up all around, some made for living purposes and some for training purposes. There were voices coming from all around the camp and it was very noisy. All around the grassy camp walked men, carrying weapons or wood and materials, talking in groups or mock training. Their actual training didn't begin until later that day. There were, all around, proud flags flying, promoting the idea of victory for China. The men in the camp didn't look professional, but by the end of their training, they would each be a soldier. By force, they were going to become soldiers, whether they liked it or not.
Jaden peeked into the camp from the entrance, trying to hide behind the fence. Now, she had no more time to practice - she was going in! It didn't look very frightening but the men didn't exactly look friendly, either.
"Okay, this is it!" Atticus whispered to Jaden, sitting on her shoulder. "Time to show them your man walk! Shoulders back, chest high, feet apart, head up!" Atticus instructed, Jaden doing as he said. "And, strut!"
Jaden marched into the camp, feet wide apart and arms waving all over the place, looking like an idiot as Atticus encouraged her that she was doing the right thing.
"Two, three, and work it, two three …" the dragon hissed in her ear.
Jaden walked into a random open tent and saw two filthy men, one with his finger up his nose and the other using chopsticks to trim his toenails.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" Atticus muttered.
"They're disgusting!" Jaden whined.
"No, they're men" the dragon corrected. "And you're gonna have to act just like them, so pay attention!"
He grabbed Jaden's chin and turned the girl's head towards a group of three men, one of whom was unbuttoning and opening the front of his shirt. It revealed a tattoo of a red dragon in the standard Chinese style.
"Look!" he bragged, smiling smugly. "This tattoo will protect me from harm!"
The other two men looked at each other slyly and grinned evilly. One had silver hair and bright blue eyes, the other had black hair and black eyes with very pale skin. The black haired one punched the third man in the gut, right on his tattoo. The man went flying, and the silver haired man burst out laughing.
"I hope you can get your money back!" he laughed, clapping the black haired man on the shoulder, who looked pleased with himself.
"I don't think I can do this" Jaden whimpered, truly doubtful.
Atticus shook his head at her.
"It's all attitude" he told her wisely. "Be tough, like this guy here!"
He pointed to the black haired man who'd thrown the punch. The black haired man spat and then glared at Jaden, who was looking at him disapprovingly.
"What are you looking at?" he growled.
"Punch him - it's how men say hello" Atticus whispered.
Jaden, smiling, punched the black haired man fiercely on the arm. He flew into the chest of another, much taller man, who wore a hat and had a bandage over one eye. This teal-eyed man smiled and picked up the black haired man.
"Hey, Chazz, you made a friend!" he grinned, setting Chazz down.
"Good. Now slap 'em on the behind, they like that" Atticus instructed from inside Jaden's collar.
Jaden obliged and slapped the black haired man's behind. Chazz growled and turned around, grabbing Jaden's collar.
"I'm gonna hit you so hard, it'll make your ancestors dizzy!" he growled.
The bandaged man saved Jaden by once again picking Chazz up.
"Chazz, relax - and chant with me."
Chazz growled and his face turned bright red with anger as the man holding him sang a slow, calming tune. Jaden and Atticus stared at them in astonishment. The man stopped singing and grinned at the black haired man, who reluctantly muttered some nonsense that sounded nothing like what the other had said.
"Feel better?" the bandaged man said.
Chazz muttered an unenthusiastic agreement, and was set down. He glared at Jaden.
"Ah, you ain't worth my time" he muttered, starting to walk away. "Chicken boy."
"CHICKEN BOY?!" Atticus shrieked, jumping up. "Say that to my face, you limp noodle!"
Believing that Jaden had been the one to insult him, Chazz growled and grabbed ahold of Jaden, drawing his fist back. But as he shot his fist forward, Jaden ducked and Chazz hit the silver haired man who stood behind Jaden. The silver haired man ended up with a black eye and his teeth shattering. He fell to the ground.
"Oh, sorry, Aster" Chazz simpered, his hands clasped together in a girly fashion.
He then spotted Jaden trying to crawl away.
"Hey!" he yelled, grabbing the girl's - he thought she was a man, but that was necessary - ankle.
Aster, angered by the wrongful attack, threw his foot at the black haired man's behind and knocked Chazz over. Chazz flew through the air and landed on the bandaged man's chest, both of them landing on the ground. Aster then flew at them, managing to kick Chazz. Jaden took the chance to speed away, her heart thumping. She heard a cry of "you're dead" which sounded like it came from Aster.
Chazz and Aster fought on top of the bandaged man's - whose name, incidentally, was Jim - chest, while Jim slapped his hands at them, trying to avoid getting hit. Aster had a hunk of Chazz's hair in his hand and Chazz was blindly punching the air when Aster saw Jaden making her escape.
"Hey, there he goes!" Aster yelled, pointing at Jaden, who fled.
Jaden ran into the nearest tent, closely followed by Chazz, Aster and Jim, who rushed after her.
One the other side of the tent, Chazz, Aster and Jim ran out. Jaden poked her head out of the tent, mentally thanking herself for her quick thinking in hiding.
The three men who'd been chasing her were heading towards the lunch queue, which led to a giant cauldron of rice. Chazz managed to stop with an inch to spare between him and the man in front. Aster barely managed to stop two millimetres behind Chazz. Then Jim ran up, and he collided with Aster, and the whole line of men fell down like human dominoes. They knocked over the cauldron, spilling the rice and knocking over the fat chef.
Jaden gulped and bit her lip as the angry men all turned towards her, eyes blazing. Atticus had disappeared into her collar to keep himself from being noticed and probably beaten to a pulp.
"Hey, guys" she tried to reason, as the men stalked towards her, Chazz leading them, with his arms raised and fingers ready to seize Jaden and destroy her.
Watching this from a little bit away, Crowler sighed in disapproval. He flung open the front of a tent and walked inside, quickly listening to the conversation going on.
Inside the large, more classy tent, sat two men. One was General Jehu, who sat on one side of a map and model, using a stick to point out different areas of the map to the other man sitting opposite him. The other man was very similar to Jehu. He had the same spiky blue hair and lightly accented muscles on his arms, though he covered them up somewhat more that Jehu did. His skin was a little paler than the General's, and his eyes were far more calm and soothing than Jehu's blazing orange - they were a calm, caring green colour.
"The fiends have struck here, here and here" General Jehu said in a factual manner, indicating areas on the map. "I will take the troops up to the South Eastern pass and stop the Supreme King before he destroys this village."
"Excellent strategy, sir" Crowler said, grinning. "I do love surprises." He laughed.
The two bluenettes looked at him, unimpressed, and he stopped laughing. They turned back to each other, and the General continued.
"You will stay and train the new recruits" he instructed, authority in his voice. "When Crowler believes you are ready, you will join us…," he said, handing a sword to the younger bluenette. "…captain."
The other took the sword and stared at it, disbelievingly.
"Captain?" he whispered.
Crowler gave a short cry of protest.
"This is an enormous responsibility, General" he argued. "Perhaps a solider with more experience…"
"Number one in his class" the General interrupted. "Extensive knowledge of training techniques, and impressive military leader skills. I believe Jesse Andersen will do an excellent job."
"Oh, I will" the bluenette, Jesse, promised eagerly. "I won't let you down. This is, I mean …" He cleared his throat and bowed customarily to the General. "Yes, sir."
"Very well, then" Jehu nodded, standing and heading out of the tent. "We'll toast China's victory at the Imperial City." He turned to Crowler. "I'll expect a full report in three weeks."
Crowler nodded, and as the General walked out, turning to Jesse and glared.
"And I won't leave anything out." He then followed the General.
Jesse stood still, getting the situation together in his head.
"Captain Jesse Andersen. Leader of China's finest troops …" He grinned. "No, the greatest troops of all time."
He laughed quietly to himself and walked out of the tent.
Outside the tent was chaos. The men - the future soldiers, no less - were fighting amongst themselves, bashing heads off the ground and throwing punches and kicks like there was no tomorrow. Aster had a fish in one hand which he was using to slap someone across the face. Chazz was sitting on some poor soul and repeatedly hitting them. Jim was eating rice.
Jehu, Jesse and Crowler stared at them in disbelief.
One soldier who had been thoroughly beaten walked up to them, his eye blackened, and raised his hand to his forehead in a salute. He then collapsed to the ground. Jehu and Jesse looked at each other.
"Most impressive" Crowler remarked sarcastically.
General Jehu stepped over the man on the ground and got onto his white Imperial stallion. He turned back to Jesse and grinned.
"Good luck, Captain" he said, before leading his horse out of the camp grounds, a whole line of other professional soldiers following after on their horses.
"Good luck … Father" Jesse murmured.
The General and his troops disappeared from view, more horses and soldiers joining them as they ran to fight the enemy.
Crowler then turned to Jesse and smirked.
"Day one" he smiled smugly.
Jesse growled softly and marched over to the squabbling men.
"Soldiers!" he shouted.
Everyone stilled, Chazz taking the moment to punch the man in his grasp one last time in the face, and then everyone drew back and pointed at the cowering brunette soldier on the ground.
"He started it!" they said simultaneously.
Jesse marched over to the cowering soldier. Seeing him approaching, Atticus dived into Jaden's collar and hid. Jaden noticed him herself and hastily stood up, brushing the dirt off her clothes. Jesse glared at her and put his face very close to hers.
"I don't need anyone causing trouble in my camp" he said firmly.
"Sorry" Jaden said quietly, and then she remembered that she was supposed to be a man and cleared her throat. "Eh, I mean, I'm sorry you had to see that!" she growled in her man's voice, while hitting her chest in what she hoped was a manly fashion. "But you know how it is, when you get one of those … manly urges. And you just gotta kill something!" she hit her own hand and flinched at the pain, shaking her hand. "Fix things … pick fights …"
"What's your name?" Jesse interrupted, irritated.
Jaden started stammering a whole lot of nonsense. Damn it, I didn't even think on a new name, she thought in a panic.
Crowler marched over to her.
"Your commanding officer just asked you a question" he growled.
"Eh … I've got a name. And, it's a boy's name, too" she nodded.
Can Jaden be a boy's name? I don't know. I can't risk it, she thought.
Behind her neck, Atticus grinned.
"Aster, how about Aster?" he suggested.
"His name is Aster" she muttered to the dragon, turning her head to indicate the silver haired man.
"I didn't ask for his name" Jesse said to her. "I asked for yours."
"Eh … uh … Atchoo" Atticus said despairingly.
"Atchoo" Jaden repeatedly.
"Atchoo?" Jesse muttered, unconvinced.
"Gazuntight. Heh, I kill myself" Atticus laughed.
"Atticus" Jaden hissed.
"Atticus?" Jesse said.
"No!" Jaden protested.
"Then what is it?" Jesse shouted at her.
"Yubel!" Atticus whispered. "Yubel was my best friend growing up!"
"It's Yubel!" Jaden said to Jesse.
"Yubel?" Jesse asked, raising one eyebrow.
"Hmm, of course Yubel did steal my …" Atticus contemplated, before Jaden threw her arm back over her head and closed her fist around the dragon's mouth.
"Yes. My name is Yubel" she said.
Jesse sighed in annoyance.
"Let me see your conscription notice" he demanded.
Hastily, Jaden grabbed it and handed it to the bluenette. He scanned it, Crowler reading over his shoulder.
"Hasselberry Yuki …the Hasselberry Yuki?" Jesse muttered.
"I didn't know Hasselberry had a son!" Crowler said in disbelief.
"Eh … he … he doesn't talk about me much" Jaden - or Yubel, as she had named herself - said, and then she tried to spit on the ground as she had seen the men around her doing, but she managed to mess it up, a trail of saliva leading from her lips to the ground.
"I can see why" Crowler whispered to Jesse. "The boy's an absolute lunatic!"
The men around them all laughed.
Jesse sighed and then stood up straight, walking around Jaden.
"Okay, gentlemen" he addressed the crowd. "Thanks to your new friend Yubel, you'll spend tonight picking up every single grain of rice!" Everyone slouched over in disgust as he said that. "And tomorrow," he continued, everyone straightening up again, "the real work begins!"
As Jesse walked off, Crowler following, the men all snarled and glared at Jaden, ready to kill for what she'd brought on them.
Atticus popped up from her collar as she looked terrified at the men surrounding her. He looked at her, unconvinced.
"You know, we're gonna have to work on your people skills."
Note: In the same manner that Mulan is referred to as Ping in the movie (her male name), Jaden will also be referred to as Yubel from here on.
Please R&R
