Title: When Rude Met Reno
Authoress: Vitalini
Rating: T
Summary: Its not easy being a Turk, but what does it take to become one? While Rude is discovering what it really means to be a Turk, Tseng finally thinks he's found a way to calm a certain redheaded devil causing havoc in the Turk department. Join Rude and many new faces as they come to face the reality that is ShinRa.
Warning: Violence and language if there is anything else I'll warn you about when it comes.
Disclaimer: I only own any original characters and the fic- obviously, apart from that I own naught
Author's note: This is a very slow chapter, its sole purpose is to introduce the characters. I'm sorry I'm a slow updater. I hope this is written better than the last chapter. After all its all a writing experience so feel free to tell me what works and what doesn't.
The remaining fourteen trainees waited expectantly in the small room. As soon as they had finished their final exam, they were ordered to follow their examiner. They quickly realised they were being lead into the ShinRa's main building. The academy was set slightly apart, and trainees were not to step foot in there until given permission. It had finally been granted.
They didn't see much. After being lead through what appeared to be a narrow plain corridor, they were directed to a room and then left there until further notice. At last the door opened; only it wasn't the door they'd come through, but one behind them.
"Ahem."
They all jumped at the sound of this new voice. They spun round to face the speaker, recognising their examiner standing silently beside her. She was a short woman; her suit was in pristine condition and her dark eyes were sharp. Her long hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail; Rude estimated she was in her early thirties.
"Ma'am!" They chorused, saluting their superiors. She rolled her hark-like eyes, showing she was too experienced in this line of work and tired of the typical trainee responses.
"Whatever. You know you are one of two trainee units to make it to this level." She did not expect an answer so she swiftly carried on, despite the fact that it was clear they had no idea there was another group. "The two groups will be split into four. Each group shall be assigned a simple mission. A Turk will accompany you in case there are complications. However, you are expected to conduct the mission yourselves, and since it is a real mission there is a chance that you maybe injured or killed. Any questions?"
Silence. However, some were looking less at ease now. They knew they would be entering life and death situations, but it still seemed too soon.
"Good, please follow me where you will be assigned your group and your first mission." With that, she promptly turned around and stalked out the same way she had entered, only this time with a herd of soon-to-be rookies at her heels.
Rude was at the back. It suddenly struck him how much bigger he was compared to everyone else. Sure, he towered over just about anyone he met, but he was definitely built bigger and was far muscular then anybody else. Thinking back to a comment Jim had made, he really did stick out like a sore thumb.
They stopped. With a clear view over everyone's head, Rude watched the woman pull out a clipboard from seemingly nowhere. She took a moment to view the piece of paper attached.
"Jim, Marko and Rude, stay. Everyone else proceed with Mr Surph." She tilted her head to their examiner. "I will join you shortly."
Rude glanced at Jim, who flashed him a confused expression. They watched their comrades being lead away and Rude couldn't prevent the anxiety building up inside of him. What was going on?
"This way please." The woman gestured to the door she had just opened indicating that they were to go through. It led to yet another plain corridor. Thankfully, it was smaller and they soon arrived at the metal door at the end. The Turk worked her way to the front in order to face them. "Go through here. You will meet the rest of your team who you must work with on your mission. Use this time to get acquainted; the second in command will join you shortly and go through your profiles. Now I must get back to the others; excuse me."
They saluted her as she passed. Once she was out of earshot, Marko glared at them, his stony eyes drilling into them.
"Leave the talking to me." His words were directed at Jim, since it was long established that Rude was the voluntary mute.
They nodded since a dispute was certainly more hassle then it was worth, though neither were overjoyed by the man's immediate take over.
Marko opened the door and led the way inside, the others trailing behind him. Rude squinted as his eyes adjusted to the slight change in light from the shadowy corridor to the well-illuminated room. He rubbed his exposed eyes, wishing for his eyes drops.
The sight that greeted him when he opened his eyes was quite surprising – but then again, he hadn't known what to expect. The other members of their team had obviously been there a while, for they were well settled in the chairs provided. Whatever talk they had been involved in had stopped instantly when the new trainees arrived.
They looked each other down - three against three. Rude noticed the woman first as she was sitting between the two guys. She was tall and slender, with long wavy dark blonde highlighted hair. Unlike Tabby, who was overly shy, this woman had a sense of certainty and strength about her. The way she confidently held their gaze told him she was no push over and liked a challenge. He concluded it would be an interesting change.
Not half as interesting as the other trainee on her right though. This guy was huge. Rude knew he was built big. But he questioned whether his head would reach the man's shoulder. He was also fairly certain two of him could fit comfortable inside the giant with room to spare.
"Hey." Rude's attention was brought to the last new face. He was average built, but shorter then the rest, with a more rounded face and reddish brown mop of hair on his head. It was a nervous greeting, but a greeting none the less.
Further "how do you do's" were interrupted as the door opened again. This time it admitted a familiar figure. The second in command of the Turks; Tseng.
The man's silky raven hair was pulled back in his characteristic short ponytail - one indicator of his Wutai heritage. Other signs were the symbolic tilak in the middle of his forehead, and the standard features custom only to his race. Indeed, there was no mistaking him.
"Sir!"
Silently, Tseng stepped into the room, a smile on his face as he nodded for them to stand at ease. Whenever the man had visited the academy, he never smiled – well, none of the trainees had seen him smile anyway. Not that it mattered; his presence in the building had often stirred a thrill. The sight of their superior now inspired the same feeling.
Rude squeezed his fist, drawing himself away from the overflow of thoughts and observations, concentrating on the task at hand.
Tseng pulled out a thick file from behind his back. As he flicked through the huge wad of papers, the deafening silence stretched on. Was he trying to draw out the tension? Rude wondered, realising how he was suddenly unexplainably anxious, and the long drawn out silence was straining on his nerves. Time ticked by. The scent of sweat increased in the stuffy room. The trainees began stealing swift glances at each other, their bodies tense and eyes alert. Tseng remained as he had been, flicking continuously back and forth though the file, his smile still in place. Rude wanted to scream, something he hardly ever considered, but the stuffy room was weighing down on him and the ticking echoed in his ears. No one dared to fidget.
"Ah." Tseng finally exclaimed, removing a collection of different coloured paper from the immense file. He flashed them a quick smirk. It was enough to confirm their suspicions that their superior had been so agonisingly slow on purpose. Rude noted how different the Wutai commander was acting to how he was normally known to. Was this just part of the initiation?
Tseng put the cumbersome file down before straightening to his typical imposing stance. The smile was gone.
"I will go through your profiles. This is based mainly on your performance during internship and the recent examinations you have taken. From these, you should have a clear view of the people you are going to work with, their skills and preferences. This information will be vital when you consider on how best to carry out your final mission as a Trainee, especially since you will be depending on each other. Shall we begin?"
The six other occupants nodded, and Tseng brought the collection of red notes to the front.
"Let's see…Robin Banks. Interesting name."
The short man with the mop hair quickly rose and saluted, his boyish face solemn. Rude noted Lithia's lip twitch up, and there was a slight fondness in her eyes as she viewed him. What this meant, he couldn't tell, and considered it immaterial for the time being.
"Ranked fourth in your group. Exceptional tracking and hunting skills. Preferences for using the shotgun, though comfortable were using any firearm with notable accuracy. Unfortunately, you have only managed to master the use of fire materia, as it appears from your internship you had difficulty with all others. Still, good progress so far."
Tseng nodded to the now slightly blushing man, who returned to his seat.
"Next…Jim. No other name?"
"No, sir."
"…I see. Ranked eleventh in your class. You are skilled with handling handguns. Reasonable accuracy, though improving all the time, I believe."
Tseng gave Jim an encouraging nod. Rude knew that Jim was slightly nervous, and the less than perfect results in the exams were only because, like himself, Jim chose to support his comrades and thus missed some of his own targets. Tseng most probably knew this as well. No doubt, his skill would improve with his confidence.
"Capable with any materia though well acquainted with the restorative kind. Overall very promising…Lithia Ackart."
Rude watched as she stood; she wasn't as tall as he had first thought - most likely around the same height as Marko, but still she was an impressive sight.
"Ranked 3rd in your class, weapon of choice Sansetsukon though an accomplished martial artists, ice elemental, excellent."
She sat down, and Robin gave her a less subtle smile then she had offered him. Tseng appeared to note the interaction as well before carrying on.
"Marko Rioz, you have a brother who's also partaking this exam?"
Tseng glanced over to the young man standing. He was one of those good-looking guys, tall and muscular with a rugged complexion. John always claimed how his brother had taken all the best genes before he was born. True, Marko was in some ways handsomer than his younger brother, but Rude would much rather be in the company of the plainer sibling any day.
"Top of your class…" Rude shut off as the report continued to praise Marko. The exceptional student couldn't stand straighter if he tried, and Rude wondered how much more smugger the man could look. Jim rolled his eyes. Thankfully, the report was as short as the others, so there wasn't too much to endure.
Rude found himself once again looking round - there wasn't much of interest or anything distinctly notable that hadn't already been noted. He found himself examining the field commander again. It was well known that Tseng was young considering his position, but there was wisdom in his steely eyes that many far older than himself would never possess. His suit was spotless; in fact, Rude dared to believe him to be flawless. He cut a fine figure.
"Rude, yet another with no surname." Tseng offered him a slight smile. Rude shifted uncomfortably under the watchful gaze of everyone else. He was never one to enjoy the limelight.
"Ranked second….hmm, interesting. Fist fighter. Have not had one of those in a while. Preference to fire materia, though good with any type of offensive magic. That's everyone." Tseng returned the papers to his file, "You will be alerted when its time for your final examination. In the mean time, you will remain here and become further acquainted. Good luck."
With a curt nod, he left them. The large Trainee sighed loudly, breaking the silence that had continued. What was his name again? Oh yes, Trent.
"So…" He started, but failed to come up with anything else to say so he let the sentence hang.
There was another long pause until Lithia finally took it upon herself to indicate to the remaining chairs stacked in the corner of the room, "Just sit down, you three, you're making the room look untidy."
Jim smirked at this comment but, like Rude, obediently fetched a seat. They were hard and uncomfortable, but he quickly got used to it. Marko remained standing.
"I think we should use this time to consider what were going to do for the mission."
"One problem, big shot," Trent called over to the said big shot. Marko glared dangerously at the offending man, who continued, "We don't know what the mission is yet."
There was another awkward silence. Rude stole a glance at Marko, whose mind was visibly steaming as he considered what to say next. He was obviously not used to being spoken to like that. Jim nudged him in the ribs and winked. Rude followed where the shorter man was indicating with his thumb; Trent was smirking at them while Lithia and Robin were giving Marko a strange look. Rude concluded he liked the large man already.
"Fine," there was a very audible strain in his voice, possible due to pent up anger but he controlled it, "Maybe we could consider what positions everyone should take."
"Isn't that obvious?" Lithia spoke up flicking a brown wave back behind her ear, "Rude and Trent prefer close range fights, Robin and Jim are best at long range and myself and you could easily adapt to mid range if the occasion called for it. So depending on the situation and set up, we'll just change accordingly."
Robin flashed her a smile, "Way to state the obvious there."
"Well, someone had to tell him."
"I knew that, thanks."
Rude sensed the hostility growing between Marko and the others - much to his delight - but still, it could jeopardise the mission, and that was something none of them could afford to do. Before he even considered what he was going to say, Marko spoke again.
"Right," For some reason his confident smile was back in place, and Rude had a feeling were this was going, "To put it bluntly, every mission needs someone organizing and taking charge - a leader basically. So, who wants to be the leader?"
As if anyone was going to volunteer. Everyone was silent again, looking from one to the other, not sure what to say. Rude felt his eyes well up slightly, the lighting not doing them any good.
"In that case, if everybody is willing, I would gladly take charge of the mission." Marko flashed them a grin.
Jim elaborately rolled his eyes; something Rude imagined everyone else mentally doing. Still, it saved them the trouble of doing it, and since he was Mr. Exceptional Student, it made some kind of sense. Rude mentally thanked any god that was listening that John wasn't around; as entertaining as it would be, Rude thought the smoother things went the better.
"Something wrong with your eyes, baldy?" Trent's deep voice once again cut through the lengthy silence.
Rude stopped rubbing his sore eyes, "They're just a little light sensitive." His reply received a concerned look from the larger Trainee. But as Rude didn't make any further response, he shrugged it off.
Robin, finally having enough of sitting and doing nothing, took out his shotgun and began polishing it. Obviously, he kept it well maintained; you could see his reflection in it. Others began doing the same, pulling out weapons and looking them over. This made sense since they would be depending on them for the mission. Unfortunately, Rude didn't have such a distraction.
Rude glanced down at his hands - his weapon of choice. He knew how weapons could fail people, but being too dependant on an object had never appealed to him, not even when he worked in a weapon store. If anything, that experience only enforced his resolve to master martial arts; something his mentor at the time encouraged. He preferred to depend on himself, though he wasn't above using a firearm if the situation called for it.
Tick by tock, time slowly passed by. Lithia and Robin were chattering away happily together once more, and after some time even permitted Marko to join them. Rude remained sitting were he was, having pulled out his leather gloves he decided he would put them on. Jim, sitting beside him, was anxiously looking at the clock. Considering the cruel little test that Tseng had put them through before, Rude couldn't help wonder if they were being made to wait unnecessarily long on purpose again.
Both were too distracted with their thoughts to hear the large Trainee stroll up to them. However, the slight screech of a chair being pulled up finally alerted them of the visitor.
"Sorry, you two looked a bit left out. Mind if I joined you?"
"You sure you weren't the one feeling lonely?" Jim teased, a smirk on his face.
Trent returned the smirk playfully, "Okay, maybe I was feeling left out, but you two didn't look like you were having much fun either."
Jim smiled genuinely, and Rude decided that this Trent was an acceptable person - not that the others weren't, but they hadn't bothered to come over. Rude sneaked a quick peek at the other three; Robin happened to catch his eye and pulled a face while indicating towards Marko, who was oblivious to the motion. Rude felt a small tug at the side of his mouth and nodded.
"Then again," Rude turned back to Trent who was also observing the others, "those two don't look too happy with Mr. Leader, do they?" Rude shook his head.
"Not much of a talker, are you?"
"No he isn't, though yesterday he managed an entire question, and I think he starting to get chattier. He said a six word reply today." Jim flashed him a grin, to which Rude just shook his head.
Trent chuckled to himself, eyeing them up. To Rude, it seemed like he was taking in everything about them, and he wondered if the man was comparing them to other people he knew. Well, Rude could honestly say he had never met a person like Trent before.
Returning his gun to his jacket, Jim looked back at the clock. Trent leaned back and ruffled the clump of messy hair on top of his head. Rude wondered if it was meant to be spiky.
"You tense?"
Rude nodded. This was hopefully the final leg before they would officially become Turks - something he had been striving towards for the past three years. Unlike some, he had opted to take it slow; he could have taken the exam last year, but doubted his chances of success. After everything he had been through just to get this far, and the amount of pressure on them, it stood to good reason that anyone would be tense.
If they failed, the least that would happen would be that they'd have to train all over again. That was traumatic enough, especially for a certain someone sitting next to him. The worst that could happen was that they could end up dead.
"Don't worry about it. Even if you mess up you'll get another chance - so long as it wasn't your fault, that is. I'm only going on what I've been told though." Trent carried on, "It wouldn't be too difficult, I hear, just some low level stuff just to test us in a real life situation. Still, they put limitations thingies on it to make it harder, like you can only use your preferred weapons or something. Hope we get a simple in and out one! I hate stalk outs but it looks like we're going out quite late, so I don't know what that means. I don't think I've heard of a Trainee getting a assassination mission first time though, usually its take the target alive sort of thing. Wait; there was one, but that a very special case. Confused my mate totally when he heard about it. It was confidential an' all, but he let it slip, so I guess we could get anything."
Rude stared at him, not sure what to make of all this. He blinked as his damn eyes played up again.
"You should really do something about that." Jim noted, tearing his gaze from the large man and back to Rude.
"Forgot my Eye drops."
"He speaks!" the older Trainee elbowed him in the ribs, trying to get Rude to smile.
Truth was, it took a lot to get a real smile from him; he had not been able to use those muscles in his face for a long time. They most probably did not work anymore.
"So you have a friend that's already a Turk then?" Jim pressed.
Trent thought for a moment before nodding, "Yeah, had to get him really drunk though before I got anything out of him. I had to be careful, mind; he can drink me under the table anytime."
"No way," Jim's mouth dropped open, "Is he bigger than you?"
"Bigger doesn't necessarily mean better. I can hold my liquor better but no, he's a real runt in comparison to me, but that doesn't mean much since most people are." He let out another chuckle, "Nah, he's just a bit taller than me, but nowhere near as muscular. I'd say slimmer than average though, that clearer?"
"Infinitely," Jim tapped his finger on his chin, thinking. "You hang out with him a lot?"
"Erm… no, since it's hard to get a time that fits use both. Turks are on call 24-7 you know. Besides, Trainees and Turks aren't really supposed to mix. We got away with it since he passed last year; I didn't because I was too slow, but we were close so I guess they let us hang out once in a blue moon."
There was something in the way Trent said all this that made Rude wonder if it was true. Not that he didn't trust him, but there was an edge in his tone of voice that sounded as if he wasn't sure about what he was saying.
Trent caught the suspicious looks and offered a weak smile, "Not sure if I should have said all that. I mean, I could get him into trouble." He rubbed the back of his head nervously with a thick hand, beads of sweat on his brow. It was getting hotter.
"So. what do you guys like to do on your evenings of fun?"
A quick topic change, but the question finally sparked a real conversation since Jim was quite passionate about his past times. Rude concentrated, drowning out their loud voices as he focused on the upcoming task. Whatever it was, he was determined to adapt and do his best, that was all he could do – well, apart from pass.
"Unit 2. This is the final portion of your exam. Everybody, go to the rooftop, your transport is waiting. You will be debriefed upon arrival."
Everyone looked up at the small black box in the corner. Once again, silence reigned supreme.
"Great, I get told what to do by a box. C'mon, lets get this over with." Trent yawned. It was six P.M.
Rude felt a slight thrill pass through him, and for one blissful second it replaced the unease in his chest. They had been waiting for hours; now they were finally off.
Please read and review
A/N : Sorry, I've been reading loads of fanfiction and it occurred to me how limited my vocabulary is. I will try to write the next chapter in an improved style, get a real mood going and everything. I have tried to stick with the style of the story I'm basing this off but I don't think it'd hurt to try and do it differently. More action and character interaction in the next chapter and by Chapter number four I think everyone's favourite redhead may make his entrance. Writing as Rude is harder than I thought, especially with no Reno to play off. Did you know I have over 40 chapters planned for this fic? When I will do it is another thing entirely.