I Want To Be A Turk!
Chapter 25 – Club Duel
16 March 0001
"Club Duel…" Meia stood outside the den, glancing at the faded sign above the doorway. "This is the place, huh?" Taking a deep breath, she marched in.
She looked around the area, her eyes picking up every detail in the hall that could help her in her current mission. The floor is not tiled but merely mud and pebbles compressed to become dirt floor. Dim lamps hung overhead and on the walls, making the hall look dark and dingy. Meia cringed at the shady environment.
She walked along the two lines of bouncers, ignoring the weird stares at her uniform and her age. In the distance she heard yelling, cheering and jeering all at the same time.
"Go King!"
"Don't let him get you!"
"Mess him up good!"
Peeping through the inner doorway to the arena, she watched a man in a maroon crew-necked t-shirt deliver a powerful front kick at his opponent. The opponent staggered back clumsily, and fell onto the floor with a loud thud.
"King! King! King!" The crowd chanted.
The man whom they called King spoke in a loud and arrogant voice. "Come on! Isn't there anyone here that's tough enough to beat me?"
That's him! What a powerful kick! Her eyes widened in shock. Oh Gaia… What have I gotten myself into? She pulled at her pigtails anxiously. Her mind flitted back to the moment when Tseng talked to her a few days ago…
Tseng approached her in the pantry room. She was still in her pajamas (because she missed breakfast AND self-training session… thanks to a late night talk with Reno. "Brother Tseng!" She hastily stood up and tried to explain herself. "I er… I overslept so my uniform…" She gestured frantically but noticed that all Tseng did was pull a thin smile. "I'm sorry?" She ended with a hopeful note.
"I shall close one eye today." He frowned. "Please remember that you should be in your uniform at all times during working hours. That means… from 7 A.M to 7 P.M…. or longer depending on your mission."
"I understand!" Meia answered.
"This is not what I'm here for. I'm here to tell you informally that you've been released from your probation."
Meia's eyes widened. "You mean…"
"You will be able to do outfield missions with the rest of the Turks now." Tseng nodded. "After your interrogation with Apollo and the trip to Banora with Haato without permission," He said, emphasizing on 'without permission'. "Veld has decided that you've been training hard enough. Alana is satisfied with your competence in the handgun, and you seem to have fully controlled using multiple Materia." Meia tried not to flinch under his gaze. She was thankful enough that Tseng never brought up the Banora incident at all.
She suddenly gasped and grabbed Tseng's arm. "Brother Veld knows about me going out of Banora?" She exclaimed.
Gently shrugging her hand off his arm, he replied. "… No, he doesn't know about it." Meia gave him a grateful look which he chose not to acknowledge. "There will be a meeting with Veld on Floor 66 in half an hour, just so you know." With that, he strode out of the door elegantly.
All the Turks were present in the conference room. Veld first started off by congratulating Rod again for his superb performance while patrolling Sector 8. Rod smiled as politely and said nothing arrogant, leaving Cassie almost suffocating dramatically from the breath that she has been holding in.
"Also, Meia." Veld said.
Meia stood up. "Yes sir?" She asked.
"I'm sure you've heard from Tseng but you've now been officially released from probation. You are now free to join them for outfield missions. I do regret restricting your missions for more than a year but…" He emphasized, narrowing his eyes at her. "It's not time for you to relax. Do your best to show yourself worthy to the Turks, and make sure you do not screw up."
"Yes sir!" She said happily among the applause from the other Turks.
"Back to business." He cleared his throat as Meia sat down again. "All of you have received it on your PHS, but I'm going to say it again. 1st Class SOLDIER Angeal Hewley and Genesis Rhapsodos are killed in action, together with the other SOLDIERs who disappeared with them." Meia held her tongue. She has learnt over the past year that many things that are official may not be true (At that moment, she tried hard not to think of Shelke again). However, it was not her business to interfere with the politics involved.
The Turks nodded at Veld's words, their own thoughts were masked in their serious faces. Veld continued. "These are your orders. The President has decided to bring in SOLDIER to deal with AVALANCHE. We're short on manpower, so you're going to recruit SOLDIER candidates. Reno, Rude. I'm leaving this mission in your hands."
"Understood." Turning to Reno, he smirked behind his glasses. "… Hmph. So I'm working with you again."
Reno smirked as well, leaning back on his own chair. "What are you saying, Rude? Admit it, you're happy you get to work with me."
As they continued squabbling, Meia smiled to herself. The two of them, who initially started off as partners who were forced to work together, have actually begun to enjoy working with each other. Things, feelings and emotions do change, even in a monster company like Shinra. She smiled to herself.
"Meia, you're coming too."
What? "For real?" She asked excitedly, momentarily forgetting about her manners. She beamed at the news. "Yes Brother Rude!" She grinned.
And so… here I am. She thought to herself, ignoring the anxiety gnawing at her heart.
In her mind came the image of Vincent Valentine, a faceless man in a Turk uniform. Meia has always known Vincent Valentine as an outstanding Turk and since she became a Turk herself, she read many articles and reports made by him. She was impressed by his objectiveness and excellence in his job. However, she noted that there were no pictures of the Turk. In fact, after 1977 there were no records of his deeds. His last mission was to Nibelheim. Meia concluded that he died, though there wasn't anyone around, not even Veld, who could confirm this.
Oh Mr. Vincent Valentine… What will you do on your very first outfield mission? She thought to herself, eventually taking a deep breath. I suppose you're dead so… please help me from the Lifestream… Here we go.
She walked into the arena confidently. Suddenly the room quietened and all eyes were on her. She felt her heart pounding. If she were to die here…
Whatever her mind was thinking about, it was interrupted as one of the men standing by the corner walked towards her. "Hey little girl," He said with a sneer. "You lost your mommy?"
Meia felt her face burn as hoots and laughter were heard from the back. She plucked her courage and replied him, staring straight into his brown eyes. "No, I have work to do, so please… Out of my way." Meia took a step and swung her right leg into his face. The man was taken by surprise and was knocked flat onto the dirt floor.
The room was almost silent by her roundhouse kick. Even Meia herself was a little surprised at her own strength. That weak? She frowned to herself. She was very aware that her lack of strength is her weakness but if that's how people outside Shinra fight then…
Murmurs rose among the crowd at the sight of the sprawled man.
"No way!"
"Did she just knock Eddie out with a kick?"
"She's just a girl!"
"A little girl!"
Stereotypes. She frowned to herself.
King roared with laughter. "Looks like I've finally got an interesting challenge!"
"Are you Mr. King?" Meia asked, not allowing her fear affect her countenance. The hall burst into laughter at her formalities.
Even King laughed. "I'm King, NOT Mr. King." Ignoring the laughter that continued after his comment, King stood upright and stared her down. "The strongest person in this club is called that, and I've been called that for a very long time now. Who are you?"
Meia gave a sheepish grin. "I'm afraid I can't tell you that."
King frowned at the girl, trying to figure her childish behaviour and the powerful kick that she gave Eddie just now. "What do you want?" He asked roughly. Somehow the girl was not to be trifled with, despite her petite figure and childish countenance.
Meia tried to stand a little straighter to look taller and more intimidating. "Everyone in this club. You're all going to be SOLDIER candidates.
The hall erupted into a buzz.
"She's from Shinra!"
"A Turk?"
"A little girl becoming a TURK?"
Meia rolled her eyes at the comments. King walked towards her slowly, not afraid to take his time to build up his intimidating posture. He leant forward at her face. "And if I refuse?"
Trying hard not to flinch, she pulled out her handgun. "I was hoping you won't do that, Mr. King." She said with a little sigh. "If you refuse, I'll take all of you away by force."
Her words are met with even more hoots and laughter. A bouncer walked from behind her and yelled something incomprehensible, his fist going straight at her face before his words do. She dodged to the side and pulled trigger of her handgun, hitting him on the arm. With a yell, he fell onto the floor.
Gosh… He just attacked like that! This place has no rules! She stared at the bouncer, horrified.
King only laughed at this scene. "You get it now, little girl? The strongest in the arena, the King, will decide all the rules. If you can't handle the strongest of us, go home and cry to your mommy." The arena snickered along with King.
I have no choice… do I? Meia pouted a little. "Alright then. I shall be the new King."
"Are you outta ya mind?" Someone from the side shouted at her.
Ignoring his comment, Meia nodded at King. "Mr. King, I challenge you to a duel. Fight me!"
"In your wildest dreams!" Another voice spoke. As she turned, a man with a brown crew-cut hairstyle ran into the combat area. "You'll have to fight the four strongest guys first before you reach King!"
Meia shrugged. "Fine with me" She looked at her gun briefly. Then, Meia stared at King. "I'll fight you later then, Mr. King." She smiled.
"Stop being so cocky, little girl!" The man yelled at her blatant lack of seriousness in their fight. He ran towards her, his fist rearing back for a punch.
With succession, Meia defeated the four fighters in Club Duel. Relying on her agility and aim of her handgun, she took down the thugs easily. The crowd was growing more excited with every victory she claimed. Each step she took was one step closer to fulfilling her objective.
"I've defeated the best four fighters in the arena." She said smoothly, looking at King straight. She suffered a few bruises and aches on her stomach from the occasion punches earlier on. It hurt a lot, but she wasn't going to show it. "Mr. King, please fight me!"
"You're really strong for a little girl," King admitted, rising from a chair. "I must say I am impressed, but this is where your luck ends."
"That wasn't luck." She narrowed her eyes at him. "Just how strong can you be, I wonder?" She smiled as she prepared herself in a fighting stance.
"Well, you'll see for yourself. Let's get going." He cracked his knuckled with delight. "Entertain me!"
Meia stilled her heart and steadied her aim to shoot, but King was much quicker than that. He ran towards her, his fist right in front of him. She dodged to the left but immediately King responded by swinging his right fist into her face. She fell onto the floor.
"Ow! That hurts!" She glared at King.
"Of course it hurts! No more games, little girl!" King punched his fists together and went straight for the kill.
Meia did a quick backward roll to regain composure and balance. She swiftly cart-wheeled across the arena, her cheek still stinging from the pain. Avoid his attacks… as much as possible! She thought to herself.
However, King's attacks were not only powerful, they were fast too. Meia barely had enough time to dodge his offense. Stay focused! She told herself. Don't be distracted! Stay in the fight long enough to find his flaw!
And so she did. The battle lasted for 5 whole minutes, with King being on the offense and Meia narrowly missing every attack. The crowd was chanting, "King! King! King!" when Meia finally realized what his flaw was. She smiled.
"Still able to smile, little girl?" He sneered at her. Despite the full-frontal attacks the past 5 minutes, King barely looked tired. "Not for long, I'm afraid!" With that, he stepped up on his strength, each swing looking dangerously more powerful than the next. To his surprise, Meia started dodging each of his attacks gracefully and easily.
How is that possible? He frowned to himself. Wasn't she struggling to avoid my attacks earlier on?
In his slight distraction, Meia saw the golden opportunity. Doing another roll to the side, she steadied her body with her hands on the ground, bent her legs and kicked King's shin.
King yowled in pain, toppling over as he fell. The crowd went berserk at King's stumble. Meia slowly got up from her lying position, thankful that her plan worked. If King successfully blocked her attack, she wouldn't have much time to recover on her feet, giving King ample time to defeat her.
King was speaking as she pulled herself out of her thoughts. "How… How did you do that?" He looked up at her. "Dodging my attacks flawlessly?"
"The crowd brought you down." She smiled sweetly. "With their chanting to cheer you on, you subconsciously rhythmised your attacks according to the crowd's chants."
King stared at the floor, reflecting on what happened seconds earlier. "You're… you're right." He mumbled with wonder. "But this is not over!" He hastily got up and Meia braced herself for his attack. "I hardly use this on anyone but since you're such a brat…" King sneered. "Take this!" He held out his hand. "Fire!"
The crowd gasped in surprise as flames erupted from his hand.
"Materia!"
"King is resorting to Materia!"
Meia rolled to the side, missing the fire. "Surprise element?" She cocked her head at him.
"Always works." King sneered. "You'll never win me!" He stretched out his palm again. "Fira!"
A larger flame burst out of his hands, travelling towards her like a tornado. She had no choice but to deliver her surprise element as well.
"Ice!" She yelled. A wall of bluish-water materialized and solidified, blocking the fire from harming her. As soon as she recovered, she braced herself and said. "Aero."
As how she envisioned it to be, the wind picked her up and lifted her. Her mind was still concentrating till she found the perfect wind strength. The crowd roared at the sight.
"She can fly?"
"No! That's Aero!"
"You mean we can use Materia like that?"
"This is the end, Mr. King." She shouted from the air. "There's no way you can reach me up here."
"Come back down!" King roared, his hand readying for another spell.
Meia shook her head. "Silence." She said.
King choked and glared at her. Meia lowered herself down onto the floor, wet with melted ice.
"She silenced him!"
"She can equip so many Materia?"
King raced towards her and they fell into another bout of melee attacks, but this time, due to the impatience and fury in King, he wasn't able to focus properly. Taking advantage of his lack of control, she swiftly knocked him down.
The crowd turned silent, murmurs started around the arena again.
"King… He lost."
"She doesn't look injured at all!"
"She's… our new King?"
"Or Princess?"
"… Anymore challengers?" Meia asked tentatively. Her heart was pounding and she was taking long, deep breaths to stabilise her heart rate. The arena was deathly quiet. King still lay flat onto the floor. "No one else? Well then, shall we make a move?" She asked cheerfully. "The truck waiting outside will bring us to our destination. Please carry Mr. King along as well."
When Meia emerged from the bottom of the ship, she spotted Reno and Rude standing around. Rude spotted her first and she walked over towards them. "Good job." He said. "You've brought more candidates than expected."
Reno turned around and grinned. "Not as many as we have." Meia rolled her eyes at him. "Erm… They… they didn't treat you badly, did they?" He asked, cocking his head towards the doorway leading to the electrified pen where the men were captured.
Meia shook her head. "They were pretty nice people once you get through them." She smiled. "They were talking and joking with me on the way to the cargo ship. Mr. Vincent Valentine must've been protecting me from the Lifestream!"
Yawning, Reno nodded. Hearing about Vincent Valentine from Meia was not a new thing to him at all. "Sounds great. Okay you folks, I'm going to take a nap. Don't wake me till you've reached Midgar, yo?" He walked towards the staircase leading down and disappeared.
Meia and Rude looked at each other for a moment. To Meia's surprise, Rude broke the silence by asking "How did it go?"
"I… expected it to be a lot more difficult, actually." She commented sheepishly.
Rude smirked behind his dark glasses. "We don't give missions that the Turks cannot do… not when they're rookies, at least." Meia nodded with understanding. "That being said, Shinra's training has produced very fine SOLDIERs and Turks, improving year by year. The weakest member in the fighting force is easily stronger than most civilians."
"I see." She nodded. "And… Brother Rude?" Rude looked at her, prompting her to continue. "I never knew that we have to force them. I've always thought entry into SOLDIER is voluntary."
"We have to resort to violence sometimes. It's not something we can do anything about."
"Why?" She frowned, her brain working out the details again. "Wait a minute… You've scouted for SOLDIER candidates before right? Why is it that there is still a lack of SOLDIERs after all that we've hauled?"
Rude stared at her for a while. "… Not all SOLDIER candidates become SOLDIERS. If they fail to meet the basic combat expectations, they will either become infantrymen or… released." Meia thought that his tone wavered ever so slightly at the last word and thought back on how the Turks once wanted to 'dispose' her when she couldn't meet the expectations of being a Turk.
"Hey y'all," Rod appeared behind them and gave Meia a little slap on the back. "Whatcha all up to?"
Before she could reply, a shout from below the decks interrupted their conversation. "What was that?" Meia asked, spinning around.
"Trivial fights." Rude answered.
Rod shrugged as well. "Things real men do." He declared with a feral grin. Meia frowned but said nothing.
The rough scuffle of feet and the shouts and cries of pain told Meia that the fight wasn't trivial at all. "It sounds pretty bad actually." She removed the gun from the holster. "I better go check it out."
"Meia," Rude called out. "Go wake Reno up. Rod, you check it out. I'll stay here and take care of things."
"I'm on it." Rod said, disappearing into the shadowy staircase leading to the electric pen.
"Guess I'll go find Brother Reno then." She nodded at Rude. She walked down the same staircase but instead of going further down to where the electric pen was, she took a right turn at the first landing into one of the cabins. From the small round window, she saw Reno sleeping inside, on the sofa-bed.
Softly opening the door, she spoke. "Brother Reno?" There was no response. She entered the room and approached the sleeping figure. "Brother Reno?" She watched the sleeping Turk with mild interest. Despite his informal and aloof attitude, Reno's sleeping countenance made him look less… vulgar.
She hastily looked away, blushing. Ever since the weird talk with KK last year, she found herself more and more conscious about Reno's presence. She found herself blushing more, she felt her heart pump faster when he looked at her… She shook her head to herself. It can't be that I really…
Suddenly, a loud crash from below woke the redhead up. In his shock, he whipped out his EMR and struck straight at Meia's face. With a yell, she scrambled back, narrowly missing the charged EMR. Reno stumbled back onto the bed too.
"Meia!" He exclaimed. "I was that close to stunning you!" He stared at her. "What are you doing here? What was that noise?"
"I don't know, Brother Reno." Meia stammered, her heart was still palpitating from the shock earlier. "It sounded like it came from the electric pen downstairs. Rude told me to wake you up."
"Ah, ruffians creating havoc in the pen. Forget it then. Rude can handle it. I'm going back to sleep." He laid back onto the bed, covering himself with a blanket. "Close the door when you leave."
"Reno!" She said crossly. "Things really look pretty bad down there! Get up and help them!" She flung the blanket away, but failed to dodge Reno's charged EMR in time. She choked and fell onto the floor, unconscious from the bolt.
Reno got up from the bed and gave a sigh of relief. Thank goodness Meia was one of the nosy people who will ensure that we don't skive. He thought to himself. Sorry Meia, but you've done your job to round up SOLDIER candidates, leave the rest to us.
He placed her gently on the bed, thanking Rude inwardly for working together with him. Earlier on, he spoke to Rude about not allowing Meia to be involved with the escorting of the SOLDIER candidates back to Midgar. The best way to keep her out of harm's way is to render her unconscious till they are safely back in Midgar. Reno has promised Veld and Tseng not to hinder her missions, but he is still keeping to his word by not putting her through more dangerous, ad-hoc missions. Rude was, at the very least, cooperative with Reno's concerns. With Meia out of the way, he can focus properly. He sighed to himself. Since when has he allowed himself to be so heavily affected by someone?
Reno let out a yawn. "I suppose I could go back to sleep now that…" He frowned at Meia, now sleeping on his comfy bed. "Another room, perhaps." He muttered, his face a little hot at the earlier thought of returning to the bed. Another crash, this one louder than the one earlier on, stopped him at the door. "Ah hell," He swore. "Nobody can sleep in this kind of racket anyway. What the hell is Rude up to?" With that, he went out, closing the door behind him.
(A/N: August)
To those who are still not aware of the last part when Meia found Reno in the cabin. It is like this. It was already planned out by Reno and Rude that Rude will send Meia to Reno, who will knock her out till they reach Midgar. However, the commotion below (the fight between Azul and the player Turk) coincided with their plans anyway, so when Reno appeared he really was clueless about what's happening (thus settling the story discrepancy in BC and my story). Of course, the player Turk that runs all around Costa del Sol rounding up the escaped SOLDIER candidates will be Rod and not Meia.
I will do explanations like this… for the people who have no clue what Before Crisis is all about… and also to explain any discrepancies to those who knows BC. Of course there will be a slight mis-tally. After all, I added an additional Turk inside!
(A/N: Recently)
Oh and uh… I guess I made myself superfluous (if that's appropriate) by creating a blog. Honestly, it has been in my mind to find somewhere to pen my thoughts but I guess I finally did something about it. I'll post my true-er feelings about writing and other bonus author notes in there. This is also kinda to free up the authors' notes here (I tend to talk a lot, huh?)
That being said, I HOPE my authors' notes will decrease here =P if you're interested (will you?) in reading my thoughts and actions related to writing… you may check out aichioluv (dot) blogspot (dot) com. Of course reading my blog is not compulsory. I'm doing it more for myself.
Disclaimer: Most scenes are taken directly or adapted from the website Gunshot Romance and YT user Hcloudxiii. Thereafter disclaimers will not be repeated :)