A/N: Ahoy there, mateys!
Sorry for being a little late in posting this chapter up you guys, the internet in my school was down, so I had to wait a long time before it got back on to post this chapter. Heh...
My, my, look at how time flies. The first-term school holidays have ended in Malaysia and I'm now back in school… though I miss being in school, meeting my friends, chatting and all.
Took my Grade 6 music theory exams during the holidays, hoping to get a good score out of it, unlike some other subjects in school…
I was away from the computer for quite a while because I got a lot of stuff to do during the holidays, had to make up for lost time with my studies. Hopefully I would have more time to type out my stories now.
Alright, enough of me ranting, let's get this show on the road.
Disclaimer: I do not own Team Fortress 2 as they are owned by Valve (any pun here?). I do own Chris Wong, Yuriko Nakamura, Master Akira and any other characters that are going to be listed in the story though I would only post the names of any other new characters at the end of my story chapters.
Chapter 6: The First Test
The next morning, the RED team had been called up for a meeting in the conference room at the crack of dawn.
Well…. not exactly.
The meeting was supposed to be at 8 o'clock in the morning, but the soldier, being the military man that he is, had sounded the morning call a few hours early by violently barging into the rooms of the mercenaries and invading whatever privacy or sleep they had.
"Sniper! Permission to enter, NOT NEEDED!" the Soldier cried as he crashed through the door by using his body to slam it open.
The Sniper jumped in his bed, half-asleep as he could almost feel himself having a heart attack from what the Soldier did.
"Whoa there mate," the Sniper spoke in a semi-drowsy state. "Don't just charge in hear without asking. It's only," the Sniper briefly took a look as his alarm clock, "5.30 mate! We know when the meetin's gonna be so let me get a little more sleep before I wake up."
"Unfortunately for you Mister Crack-shooter, I plan on making sure that everyone is ready by the time we depart for the meeting, now get your sorry ass UP!" the soldier accentuated the last syllable.
This was an occurrence that the original mercenaries were still getting used to. The Soldier would barge into their rooms' right before dawn when there was a meeting in the morning. The mercenaries still had no clue why the Soldier does this but he wouldn't give a valid reason to answer the question.
Soon, the Soldier began to crash through the doors of the other mercenaries, including the new recruits, in which he still held a grudge against.
Of course, this wake up call was something the new recruits did not expect at all. Though Chris may have expected a little that the Soldier would do morning calls the first day he got here, he did not expect that he would tear down the doors of their rooms if he couldn't immediately open them. Clad in a grey T-shirt and long black plants, the male ninja wordlessly and quickly got up before he made the military man's rage was released full force.
Yuriko took it worse than the other mercenaries as the Soldier's mindset of weak working women still persisted and she took on a louder wake-up call from the Soldier. She screamed at the top of her voice when the Soldier barged in. A scream so loud, the whole building would have rattled in its foundations. She was also wearing a red nightdress and silk shorts when he woke her up which really riled her up.
After the initial groans of frustration and shock by the mercenaries from waking up, everyone quickly brushed up, washed up and filled up with breakfast. All the mercenaries began to converge to the meeting room fifteen minutes to 8. The last ones to reach the meeting room were the two ninjas, followed by the medic and finally, the soldier with just a minute to spare. When Chris asked why the Soldier was the last one to enter, the Sniper told him that he always double-checks the building for any suspicious activity. Why or what kind of suspicious activity, no one doesn't really have a clue.
At exactly 8 o'clock that morning, the projection screen was rolled up to reveal several monitors joining together to form one giant monitor. When all the screens were turned on, save for a faulty one on the bottom left side, the picture formed was just a jumbled mess of static. The static soon disappeared seconds later and the picture was replaced with the face of the Administrator in black and white.
"Good morning RED mercenaries," she began with her usual tone of discontent.
All the mercenaries quickly acknowledged the greeting except the two ninjas who didn't really know who she is. The Administrator looked at the new mercenaries through her own screen, making it seem as if the giant head of the Administrator on the other end of the screens was staring directly at Chris and Yuriko in person.
"I see that you all have met the new recruits," she began, "I shall make introductions brief to the both of you shall I? You two can call me the Administrator or the Announcer if you wish. I will be the one to check on your battle progress when you're in combat and announce certain situations on the battlefield that are happening in real-time. I can be easily disappointed or easily content. I hope that you two choose the latter." Chris looked at the Administrator with a straight face whereas Yuriko gulped nervously in response.
"I object this nonsense!"
All the mercenaries and the Administrator suddenly turned their attention to the Soldier who stood up and shouted at the screens.
"I beg your pardon?" the Administrator asked with a hint of surprise in her voice.
"You have just made a big mistake! You invited this… this girl into our team when our team has suffered so many severe defeats in battle. I think she's weak and this will be the downfall of the team," the Soldier retorted, much to the shock of everyone else in the room, especially Yuriko.
"Well, if this is the case, then let me ask you something Mister Jane Doe," the Administrator calmly replied. "How does Miss Yuriko fight? Surely you must have seen her in training?"
"Um, well, uh… she fights like a girl and she looks wimpy and… well…"
"Then let me ask you another question," the Administrator cut in, "do you also think that I am weak?"
"Well, I uh, yes, I mean no, I mean, I don't, uh…" the Soldier stammered, his mind firing blanks with nothing to counter the comment. A few of the mercenaries began to snicker at the soldier's inability to respond and his embarrassing position in which he had gotten himself into.
"Well then, I suggest you sit down and let me continue," the Administrator concluded.
"Y-yes ma'am," he replied sheepishly and proceeded to sit down, grumbling softly to himself as some of the mercenaries continued with their snickering.
"You know what Yuriko, I like the way she thinks," Chris told the female ninja who had relaxed a little after the situation settled slightly. The soldier gave the snickering mercenaries a mean look which made them stop their snickering and instead looked away with innocent looks on their faces.
"As I was saying," the Administrator quickly continued, "I have a few things to announce, one of which includes a new mission for you all."
Some of the mercenaries groaned at the mention of a new mission. Only the two ninjas, the Medic, the Sniper, the Engineer and the Spy remained neutral about it. The Administrator sighed but quickly continued.
"First of all, I would like to gladly announce that weapon supplies for the new recruits have arrived."
The announcement quickly caught the attention of the ninjas. Chris was beaming while Yuriko had a small smile on her face. They can finally train properly with throwing weapons.
"The supplies are already in the base. Feel free to examine and use them if you have the time. The supplies have also been shipped to where your next mission will start. That aside, we shall move on to the mission itself," she continued. Everyone listened intently.
"It seems that Builders League United is attempting to recapture Badlands. It is crucial that you all retake the area. A train will come to escort you all to your destination. It is important that you finally win something today, please do not disappoint me again, that is all," the Administrator concluded and the screen returned to images of static.
A moment later, the Engineer rolled down the projection screen and quickly played a brief introduction on the layout of Badlands. Although most of the mercenaries have seen the intro video before, the intro was played because Chris and Yuriko were new in the team and the video was used to familiarize them with the layout of the area and how the area would be captured. A short battle was depicted in the video, it did not stir much of a reaction from Chris as he had experience in fighting but it made Yuriko a little nervous as she hadn't been in a real fight before.
After the short video was played, the RED team quickly moved towards the train station near RED headquarters where a train was waiting for them. The team loaded some of their weapons that they brought along in the cargo compartment of the train and proceeded to board the passenger car. Once everyone was inside, the train whistle rang out and the doors closed shut.
The train soon began to move, slowly picking up speed as the train began chugging on the tracks. A short announcement by the train engineer was made over the intercom as the train reached its cruising speed. It would take about 2 hours to reach Badlands. Some of the mercenaries decided to use this opportunity to talk to each other or ponder on personal strategies. The mercenaries weren't discussing strategies in which they can use together.
Chris and Yuriko sat in the same seat. Chris was looking out the window whereas Yuriko was left to her own thoughts. Yuriko, who was feeling uneasy about her first battle, turned to Chris for some help.
"Chris-san, I feel very uncomfortable about all of this," she told him.
The male ninja looked at her and gave her a warm smile. "Don't worry Yuriko, I already told you, just leave all the messy business to me. I don't expect you to go out there and straight into direct combat with the others, just make sure that you stay out of trouble at all times," Chris replied.
"I don't know Chris-san, I have yet to experience real combat so I'm really scared about this."
"Well, tell you what, all you have to do is warn us of any enemies approaching and help the team out. But you must understand that you must not be afraid to fight back if you are threatened yourself. I know you'll be able to do it Yuriko," the male ninja said to her.
"O-ok then," Yuriko replied nervously.
A couple of seats behind them, the Scout, who was sitting with the Heavy and the Medic was observing Yuriko. He had feelings for Yuriko the moment he saw her, feelings in which he couldn't understand himself. He doesn't know what to make of it and whenever he tries to talk to her, he stammers. Though he has these feelings for the female ninja, what he doesn't know is that Yuriko had secret feelings for another person, though it wasn't the scout.
The ride took the team into a desert area which was hot and dry. The train reached the RED base in Badlands on time and the team got off and took their weapons together with them to the base. The Engineer inspected the base to make sure that everything was working well while everyone else got ready and got their weapons loaded.
As expected by the ninjas, their supplies have indeed arrived in the base. Chris was excited when he saw them and immediately took out the shurikens in the supply cabinet which had a red colored sticker placed around the centre hole of each of them. Yuriko on the other hand took kunais which had a red ribbon trailing at the grip of the throwing-knives.
"Hey, they even supplied your acupuncture needles Yuriko!" Chris told the female ninja as he took one and inspected them.
Yuriko, who was a master at using acupuncture against opponents, took one of the needles and she saw that the needles had a wooden grip at one end of the needles. The grip was also colored red.
"See Yuriko, this means that you don't have to go into direct combat, now you can instead help the team out," Chris said to her as he equipped a few smoke bombs together with his shurikens and his katana. Yuriko then packed up her kunais and acupuncture shots. Quickly, she also took out her pair of fans and placed each in its holster.
"Alright boys," the Engineer entered the preparation room, "everythin's checked out, respawn's good, looks like we're all set!"
Just as he said that, the voice of the announcer called out over the intercom.
Mission begins in 30 seconds.
The Engineer quickly scrambled to get his equipment ready while everyone else stood near the shutter doors, ready to burst and charge out.
"Hey, Yuriko."
"Yes Chris-san?"
"I just want you to remember that whatever happens out there, don't worry about it ok? This is just your first time here, don't worry about letting the team down, I just want you to keep yourself alive at all times, got it?"
"I-I guess."
"But Chris-san, I have to ask you something."
Mission begins in 10 seconds.
"What is it?"
"Will you help to protect me?"
"Of course, Yuriko."
5.
"I am your mentor after all."
4.
"Oh, thank you Chris-san."
3.
"Ready?"
2.
"I suppose."
1.
"Ok then, stay close to me."
To be continued…
End A/N: Well, there you have it folks! Looks like we're about to get into a real fight soon. Sorry for posting this up a little later than usual, as I said, I didn't really have enough computer time for the past few weeks, but I'm back and that's what matters.
As usual, check out the forum thread of my ninja 10th class idea on my profile page. Though Valve has added Japanese weapons to the mix in a recent update, it's sad that they don't want to add another class to the mix, it would be very interesting to see what they can do with another class.
Oh well, thoughts of the game aside, I hope you guys would come back in two weeks time for another chapter of my story. As always, please review. It's getting lonely at the bottom T.T
Thanks and Cheers!
P.S. It was saddening to hear the news of the earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan about a couple of weeks ago. It's good that many people around the world, including Valve want to help out the people of Japan in their time of grief. I would gladly support the cause by buying one of their hats, but I have no dough in my "dollar jail" to spend it on. Pray that Japan would be able to recover quickly.
P.S.S. How useful is the Kunai in the game anyway?