A/N: The poll on which world the Omega could land on will be closing next week (Feb. 18th), so if you've been putting off voting, please do so now.
Tournament
Once the issue with Rufus was resolved, Lady Shinra turned to scan the Turks and noted a blond head which didn't belong, so called, "Edward, are you able to offer us advice? I assume that's why you're here when you're neither a SOLDIER nor a Turk."
"Then how's he supposed to help us?" one of the SOLDIERs sneered, which roused a few agreements to the query.
She watched as Edward drew in a breath and let go of Kariya's arm to step up beside Genesis, who was almost right in front of Lady Shinra. When the red haired man rested a comforting hand on his shoulder (Elicia was on the blond's opposite shoulder), he said, "So everyone knows this, there's only a hand-full of Deepground members who are sane, so Lady Shinra's right and you'll all have to clean up this mess, sooner rather than later. I also already know your abilities exceed theirs because of their psychotic insanity and brainwashing, so anyone who fights will have to work to make a loss look good. If a 'ring out' is a defeat option, that's actually the best one to go for, since the President still counts it as a win, despite that normally being luck or deliberate. Most importantly, it excuses you not showing your skills or having to surrender or let yourselves be defeated."
"In other words, it makes the loss easier to swallow," Sephiroth put in. "So who are the other five who should fight?"
"Also, if we have the option of choosing who will fight whom, we should have an idea of those matches," Lady Shinra added.
"That...sort of depends on if he's aiming to hit you hard right off, or if he's planning to lull you into a sense of security before tearing you apart," Edward answered cautiously, and Lady Shinra leaned back in her seat to gaze at him thoughtfully as she pondered the question.
It was true, she realized. Marius had two ways to work the tournament, and both would lead to his power. If he was arranging literal teams, rather than a basic order regardless of 'which side' the winner was on, that would also affect how the tournament played out, as well as the order she'd want to send her people in. If she could pick and choose opponents because he'd reveal his combatant before making her choose hers, that would be ideal, but if she had to decide on an order up front, before knowing all but the first combatant, she had to be ready. If he first sent a weak combatant, she probably wanted to send a strong one—he'd be lulling them—but if he sent a strong combatant first, she'd want to send a weak one.
"Isn't he going to expect us to send our strongest, period?" Anki asked blandly, cutting into the older woman's thoughts.
"In the Turks, how would you choose 'the strongest'?" Lady Shinra asked curiously.
"Besides our new recruits, all the Turks are plenty strong, but Verdot, Vincent, and Percia are actually the strongest," Anki replied. "Since Percia was trained by Sephiroth, that's not surprising in a pure combat test."
"And I would actually say Tseng is stronger than I am," Verdot put in. "He can also use any weapon put into his hands, and is one of the most adaptable fighters I've ever seen. I'm fairly certain very few people realize his actual skills or strength."
"And he has to fight Argento," Edward threw in, making everyone look at him in surprise. "And Genesis has to fight Nero."
"Why is that, in both cases?" Vincent asked cautiously, not liking where things were going.
"Argento will lose on purpose, and the Restrictors would have accounted for that in their calculations," Edward explained, and Lady Shinra tipped her head to the side thoughtfully as she recalled their discussions about the woman. "That means he's going to move on to round two, and he'll have a high survival rate if he meets one of the Tsviets then—which is likely. Similarly, Nero loses control of himself shockingly often, and he wasn't wearing restraint chains to keep his void power from activating. If he goes off the deep end while fighting, Genesis is the only one with the skills and sheer magical power to counter that void ability."
"I am?" Genesis asked in shock.
"None of the battles against the Tsviets are based on your win ratios or overall ability, they're based on how your particular skillset matches up to theirs. While Sephiroth could beat either Rosso or Azul, he can't beat Nero, would only beat Argento if she let him, and would draw with Weiss at best, if he holds back. Angeal can actually only defeat Azul, but he can stalemate Argento legitimately. Genesis can't beat Azul, but can beat Rosso and Nero with his knowledge of the arrays, and stalemates with Weiss and Argento, though he's more likely to actually be able to find a way to beat them in a free-for-all. This isn't a free-for-all, though," the blond young man explained, causing a thoughtful silence.
"Will any of them use specialized skills in these matches?" Lady Shinra asked curiously.
"Probably not," Edward answered. "That would be revealing too much, too soon. He doesn't want people to think Deepground are literal monsters just now. It will still tell the Restrictors a lot if Genesis has to forcibly stop Nero, but I don't think the President will realize the importance of the by-play of who fought who as long as Deepground ultimately wins. Because it's Deepground, and they're a counterpoint to SOLDIER primarily, you probably only want three Turks to fight. If Tseng fights Argento and Percia fights Weiss in the first round, you only need one more who can win or lose, but who has a very high survival rate. While this isn't a 'to the death' tournament, Deepground members can't always control their own strength."
"Order, then," Rufus suddenly said, and Edward looked at him. "Of the eight who were obviously on stage to fight in the tournament, what order would they fight in?"
"If the President is going for a beat-down up front, Weiss, Nero, Rosso, Azul, Argento, and the three regular members. If he's going for the 'lull first' option, the opposite of that," Edward offered. "Since you want half your people to lose in round one, other than Tseng and Genesis, who have to be paired the way they are, you want the others paired poorly. If Percia fights Weiss in round one, she'll lose, but will probably be unharmed, and that would look to pretty much everyone like foreshadowing of what would happen to Sephiroth if he makes it far enough to fight Weiss, so no one would really be surprised. And I need to talk with Genesis about what to do with Nero if the worst happens while you're setting up the rest of the team."
"Go ahead, then," Lady Shinra agreed, and the blond stepped back with a curious, puzzled Genesis following him. She then faced Vincent and said, "If we're going for a loss ultimately, regardless, I think we don't want you to fight."
"How will you justify me not doing so?" Vincent asked curiously.
"First, that you have a truly unfair advantage, and that you fight exclusively with a gun," she replied dryly, and he blinked and nodded. "Speaking of, though, you'd better get your hands on a good weapon, a close combat type, Tseng."
When her gaze met the Wutain's he said, "I don't—"
Verdot cut him off as he said, "We'll be back shortly with an appropriate weapon. Come with me, Tseng."
As the man turned and walked away, Tseng hurried to follow him as he agreed in surprise, "Yes, Sir."
"...So ranged fighters in the Turks are currently disqualified?" Freyra asked with a pout at the statement.
"They are," Lady Shinra agreed. With a look at a pouting Cissnei, she added, "But hybrid weapons are still acceptable, like your combat star, Cissnei."
"Can I be the combatant, then?" she asked eagerly.
"Only if you're fighting a Tsviet, since you'll win otherwise," Lady Shinra replied dryly.
"Sure thing," she agreed cheerfully. "I'm curious about their skills after the report Ruluf passed on from Sirra, anyway."
Lady Shinra chuckled at the words, but nodded and agreed, "Which means we have our Turks, and only need to choose two more SOLDIERs. Because we do indeed need to choose strong combatants and pair them poorly, those will have to be skilled Firsts." She looked up to meet Lazard's gaze as she asked, "Who are your top picks?"
"Sandon March and Halen Vale (1)," Lazard replied immediately. "And we'll see how things go from there." He heard several complaints, so turned to face the incensed Firsts who hadn't been chosen, saying to them, "Both March and Vale are actors who joined SOLDIER because they wanted something more 'real', and because their acting careers stopped going forward after awhile. They're the most capable of all the skilled Firsts here of making a loss look good without it being noticed, and would be willing to do so in the name of later showing up the same people they're going to fight today. And, they won't take the 'shame' of the loss as badly, either, because that's what acting is all about."
"Too true," the woman agreed, nodding. "That's our eight, then, and we know everyone here will be able to redeem themselves later. Stick to using skills which are public knowledge, but anything you haven't used in front of witnesses or used only once or twice, don't use now."
With their agreement, she arranged their orders in case they needed a pre-set one, then checked the time. They still had a few minutes, so most of the Thirds and Seconds, and most of the Turks, returned to the room next door while the rest talked about strategies with the combatants or offered support. Soon after, Verdot and Tseng returned to join the discussion for a few minutes, and Tseng had a custom-made katana at his side and faintly pink cheeks as Verdot looked fondly amused. It didn't take Lady Shinra long to realize Verdot had intended the sword to be a gift to Tseng for some time, but until right then, he hadn't felt comfortable offering it, and that the young Wutain man was delighted with it.
Finally, Genesis made his way back to her, gaze terse, as Kariya led Edward out of the room, so she called the combatants to her and led them back to the room next door, Lazard, Vincent, and Verdot in the lead with her. Their eight combatants closely followed them, while the last few non-combatants dissolved back into the crowd to watch the matches, Rufus choosing a place near the front but not near either his father's group or his mother's group. His purpose in this case was observation to find patterns, flaws, and weaknesses in the Deepground combat styles.
The President called from the arena stage, "It looks like the SOLDIERs and Turks opposing Deepground have been chosen!" When the room quieted and turned their attention to him, he went on, "Before we begin, I'll quickly explain the rules. As this is a team match-up, it's one team against the other, so two members of the same team won't be paired against one another. If there's an odd number of winners versus losers in a round, the team with fewer remaining members can choose one of two options. The first is to have members fight twice or more in the following round, against two or more different opponents. The other is to call in a replacement in the current round to fight one of the other team's winners, chosen by the team calling in the replacement, and the results will be adjusted in the following round.
"Other than that, the rest is fairly simple. The order of the first round can be randomly chosen, but once set, both teams run down the list from first combatant to last until only one is left. We'll have the electronic display board up above showing the tournament chart as it progresses forward so it's easy to keep track. There will be no killing in this tournament, so winning can be achieved in three ways—disabling the opponent, forcing a surrender, or managing a ring-out. Ranged weapons can't be used, only close combat and hybrid weapons used exclusively in their close combat forms. There's no maximum time for a match, and only the team members can't leave this room until the tournament is over. I've arranged snacks for everyone part-way through if it goes longer than the three hours left until five o'clock. Any questions, Janelle?"
"Can a team member who was severely injured be moved to the Hospital Wing, or do our medical staff need to be ready to quickly fetch their equipment?" she asked. He raised a questioning brow, so she reminded him, "The Turks don't have enhancements to rapidly heal from injuries, and depending on the pace of the tournament, even SOLDIER or your new team may not be able to heal so quickly before their next match."
He lifted his shoulders in a shrug and answered, "If they've lost and are out of the tournament regardless, they can go to the Hospital Wing if needed. If they're still in the tournament but are somehow so badly injured, our medical staff can bring their equipment here. Most of our medical staff carry some basic first aid items on them at all times, so it's highly likely they're already prepared to tend minor injuries." The woman nodded, so he asked, "Anything else?"
"No, that was all," she replied.
"First combatants up, then," the President said, stepping off the stage to join the group below as one of the regular Deepground women stepped onto the stage.
Without a word, Sephiroth made his way onto the stage, knowing both he and Angeal were going to win. While most of the Deepground members apparently used guns primarily, there were some—like these three—who also used close combat weapons with great skill, and he wondered just how skilled the regular members were. Now, he would be able to find out.
FoWD
As Rufus watched the first match intently, which was actually nothing impressive beyond the Deepground member's durability, he felt a small presence come up beside him, pulling with it another presence and followed by two more who were distinctly annoyed. A glance showed him the new little Turk—the Princess of Wutai—pulling Ed by the hand and with Kariya and Doriss following. The two senior Turks were the ones who were so annoyed he could feel it without looking. Behind them came two more girls, both just looking puzzled and apprehensive, both in the Academy uniform, but as they'd only just arrived, he hadn't sensed them come up with the others.
"Isn't it strange how that woman can take a blow as hard as that and not even feel it?" Yufi asked suddenly, frowning. "Even SOLDIERs flinch or get forced back a bit by that hard of a hit."
"That would be their brand of experimental enhancements. Also, she can probably hold her ground so well because she's a metamorphose type, and their process for creating shapeshifters causes the 'weight' of the other form to carry over to their human form, even if it's not actively visible. It's like they're using a Gravity Materia on themselves, creating excess weight against attack," Ed explained.
"Can that even work when Demi spells are attack spells and would hurt the one they're used on?" Shelke asked, gaze worried as she watched the match as well.
"I said it's 'like that', but for the record, you can remove the 'damage' aspect from Materia spells if you know how," the younger blond (though Rufus wasn't really sure he should be defining Ed as 'younger' than him—that was superficial based on looks) answered her. "You do it subconsciously when you make your ice flowers."
"Oh," the girl stared, and Yufi grinned as she let out a long, impressed, "Coooool!"
In the meantime, Sephiroth shoved the woman out of the ring so hard she hit one of the support pillars in the room before dropping to the ground. Rufus blinked as he noted the crack in the pillar where she'd hit, making it highly likely she did indeed have extra weight, visible or not. How was that possible? He'd ask Aur—Ed later. In the meantime, the Deepground man and Angeal made their ways onto the stage, and their match progressed much the same way, though Angeal ended up knocking him unconscious. Azul retrieved the fallen man from the stage, then First Vale paired off against the second Deepground woman.
It was obvious early on in the match that she fought very differently from the other two, and Vale was legitimately struggling against her with her super-enhanced speed boosts. "That's odd..." Rufus murmured as he watched how she kept abruptly changing direction as she hit the First, sometimes forcing him back a step and sometimes not.
"She's got enhancements like Rosso's," Ed commented. "Rosso is better at manipulating them—I think she's the only one who can randomly switch out which of several enhancements she uses. The same specs only work for so long, and their only commonality is their movement speed. That might be paired with agility, or strength, or defense, or reflexes—Rosso has all of those options to switch out with. This one can rotate between reflexes and strength—that's how she's keeping her speed up."
"...You're saying Vale might actually lose, legitimately, to a normal member of Deepground?" Rufus asked in surprise.
"No. Her enhancements aren't that good, and he's actually figured out that he can beat her just by not giving her resistance," Ed answered in a dry tone. "He's just going to make his loss look good, as he was told."
Not too long after, Vale was forced off the edge of the arena by his opponent's unrelenting attacks, as though he'd had no ability to do anything but defend because the attacks were too fast. Following them, Argento and Tseng entered the arena, but both circled one another for several minutes before attacking at about the same moment. Having never seen Tseng fight with a sword before, Rufus was surprised to note how the Wutain man was easily holding his own against Argento, and how his skills were a match for Balto, if not superior. Some of his movements were slightly off or delayed, however, showing that he hadn't used one in some time.
"I honestly had no idea Tseng had such skill with a sword, even when he's clearly a little rusty," Rufus commented, sounding impressed.
"The last time he fought with one of our practice katanas, it was when Balto was looking for a new sparring partner within the Turks," Doriss replied. "That wasn't too long after both had joined the Turks, a good two and a half years ago. I don't think they've sparred since—it was unpleasant for them both—and by extension, I don't think Tseng has bothered to use that skill since. I knew it had happened, but the only witness is Sirra."
"The same is true of every weapon, though," Edward put in. "Even Yufi uses only a few types, which she knows well, but Tseng—he went the whole nine yards. Extravagantly. Give him a few weeks of practice with the weapons he's been ignoring since becoming a Turk and he'll qualify as an expert with all of them."
"How does a person become an expert with so many types of weapons?" Rufus asked in surprise.
"By realizing he doesn't have to limit himself to one type in order to perfect it, he just has to want to perfect them all," the long haired blond replied dryly. "It helps that he has a literal natural affinity to weapons, though I'm not sure where in his background that comes from. It's not something passed down in his family through teaching, it's all just—him. That he has good reason to want to be so skilled and adaptable in combat gave him the push to capitalize on it."
It didn't take long of watching the match for Rufus to realize Tseng's 'rusty' skills were improving to 'current' standards very rapidly, but another look at the match also made him wonder if he was reading it right. Somehow, it was almost like they were talking with one another, like they were literally planning something in the middle of the match, even though they weren't talking—or even shouting wordlessly at one another. In fact, they were nearly soundless, the most noise coming from their blades clashing or the impact if one hit the ground harder than anticipated. At the same time, the battle was riveting, gripping, both fighting with an oddly similar style and flare which left everyone anticipating the other's next move. They had truly turned this tournament into a show, a spectator sport.
Yet, Rufus still couldn't shake the feeling that they were talking to one another somehow, and his thought was proven when, after a match lasting nearly an hour, Tseng won by ring-out. Argento, Rufus noted, just looked amused, making him think this had been part of the 'plan' he felt they'd made.
Azul and First March were the next up, and it was clear Azul's primary skill was heavy hitting strength. It actually took very little time for him to force March out of the ring, though part of that was due to the First not trying to remain in it. Rosso and Cissnei were the next up, the two fifteen year old women eying one another warily for a minute before Rosso smirked and attacked. Sure enough, like Vale's opponent, she was keeping her speed up, but Cissnei was largely not giving her resistance to use against her, making Rosso's directional changes much less frequent and much less impressive. It also had the side effect of repeatedly placing Rosso far outside Cissnei's range, and because she was limited to using her combat star for close range combat, she couldn't use it in ranged form to 'close' the distance. Ultimately, Rosso managed to knock Cissnei unconscious.
It was Angeal who retrieved Cissnei from the arena before Nero and Genesis stepped into the ring.
Notes:
(1) These two names are only important for the duration of the Tournament, so they're not a major point to recall, though there might be once or twice where people talking later on refer back to them in the Tournament.