Training Session

Standing at attention, a pair of Second-Class SOLDIERs waited for their superior to finish with a magazine he was reading. Alalonn's boots crunched against the hard-packed sand as he paced, glancing through an article on motor-cycles before calmly shutting it. "Alright, cadets-"

"SOLDIERs, sir." Lioke was quick to correct him; it was a mistake he often made in the early morning. To the Second-Classers under his command, it seemed like ages since they'd been cadets. To Alalonn, it seemed like yesterday thanks to his older age, and grander perspective shortening the distance of time.

Though Alken loudly and desperately cleared his throat, Lioke finished her point. "We haven't been cadets for years." The pale skinned youth glared up at her towering superior. "I'm just saying, sir. Stop living in the past."

Alalonn's eyebrows quirked up at the insubordinate talk. Alken shuffled away from her in fear, his glowing eyes hot with terror. She'd pissed him off before a training exercise. "Sir, Lioke's beliefs don't represen-"

"My mistake, SOLDIER." It had already begun. Alalonn spoke with that eerie, terrifying calm that indicated a painful lesson was coming. "Since you're feeling confident, we'll reverse today's training exercises. Alken will be given a basic reflex test I came up with for Lioke earlier in the month, and Lioke will undergo a striking procedure that I tailored to Alken. It'll be rather straightforward, since our training equipment is back in Midgar."

Lioke shrugged her shoulders. "Suits me. Anything he can do, I can do better."

Alken furrowed his brow. What is her problem today? Keeping his lips stoically sealed, he waited for Alalonn to begin the exercise. The sun had barely peaked over the horizon; Alalonn often trained them in pairs, and the odd one out simply ran laps or did basic strength or magic training. So far out in enemy territory, the young SOLDIERs wondered what Alalonn's training would be like.

Now, Alken knew for certain that today would be hellish. "Alright, Alken. Turn around and put your wrists behind your back."

"...I'd prefer not to." Alken answered as honestly as possible. Though he rarely argued with a superior, he was drawing a line in the sand here.

"Alright, put 'em on yourself. I don't care as long as it gets done." Alalonn held out a pair of handcuffs. Alken, not the least bit reassured, took them and set about the difficult task of handcuffing himself.

"Here. I'll do it." Lioke reached out a hand, but Alken all but leaped away from her.

"Absolutely not." The dark skinned SOLDIER knew damn well that Lioke would make them too tight. He did it himself after a few attempts. "Alright, what's next?"

"Dodge my attacks for thirty seconds." Alalonn clenched his fists, knuckles popping. They sounded like rocks in a tumbler. Now that Alken knew what the challenge was, he was a bit reasssured; it seemed like a fair test.

Until Alalonn started attacking. Alken slipped right as a fist passed his ear like a bullet. Ducking back, he barely moved out of the range of a left cross. Each missed strike left what felt like a vacuum of air. Alken ducked and weaved. Alright, COUNTERPUNCH.

Alken turned his hips to throw a strike in retaliation, but his arm was snagged by the cuffs. For a moment he forgot that he wasn't allowed to fight back; he could only evade.

Ducking under a haymaker, Alken scrambled back to his feet. He never realized how much his fighting style desperately required offense. In a normal sparring match, he'd be interrupting Alalonn's rhythm.

A blur of strikes tore through the air. To his credit, the First-Class colossus of a SOLDIER hadn't thrown a single kick, and Alken knew it; it would have been too easy to simply tear the off-balance, desperately evading youth in half with a well timed roundhouse.

It's been six fucking seconds. I am going to die.

Alken's heart-rate spiked as Alalonn pursued. He turned to outright run and gain distance, but before he could distance himself, the bearded warrior closed the distance, stepped forward, and cut through the air with a downwards elbow. Alken yanked himself out of the way, avoiding what would have been a game-ending strike.

NO! I'm not done yet!

Summoning all the brute strength he could muster, Alken surged forward. Alalonn, startled, thrust his knee, but the smaller fighter stepped off of the attack, using Alalonn's solid structure to his advantage. Swinging around, he locked his legs around Alalonn's upper chest. Leaning forward, the Second-Class SOLDIER bit the back of Alalonn's high collar, clinging to the man like a beetle on a log.

For a moment, Alalonn seemed genuinely befuddled. "Alken, this is genuinely the most creative solution to any problem I've ever seen." With a completely straight face, the warrior conceded the point with total honesty. "I mean...the logic is sound. I assume you thought I couldn't reach you back there?"

"Thank you, sir." Still biting onto Alalonn's uniform and clinging as tightly as possible, Alken prayed that the warrior wasn't flexible enough to reach him as he spoke through muffled, clenched teeth. "I'm honestly hoping to run out the clock."

"It's been sixteen seconds. This has bought you ten seconds of time. Congratulations." Alalonn lifted his arm, and thrust it backwards, striking the Second-Classer's ribcage. The blow echoed throughout the sandy plains of Wutai. Alken dropped to the ground, stunned. "You failed. Solid effort, though."

Alken gasped out a sour curse as he clutched his injury. "Don't be a baby," Alalonn muttered. Pulling magic from a Healing Materia that he kept specifically for training, Alalonn sent a brief wave of potent green light that nearly blinded Alken before it healed him. The Second-Class SOLDIER shot to his feet. "Alright Lioke. It's your turn."

---

A short piece while I consider the next step with SOLDIER. Part II coming soon.

Lioke walked over to the newly restored and standing Alken, uncuffing him. Her superior raised his eyebrow. "Did you pick the lock?"

"No, sir. I stole the key." Lioke smiled, tossing the cuffs and their key back to Alalonn. "So, what was Alken's test?" The wind howled for a moment, tossing the hair of Alalonn's beard, and the locks of Lioke's messy bob. Alken stepped out of the way as the First-Class instructor prepared to administer his test.

Alalonn dipped into a wide legged, low stance. He calmly folded his arms, standing in an unwavering horse-stance. "Using your hands and feet, try to move me back as far as you can." Alalonn grinned. "I will not fight back."

"WHAT?! How come she doesn't get hurt? She instigated this wh-"

"Calm yourself, Alken. I believe this will suffice as punishment for her protestations. Besides, this was my fault from the beginning." Alalonn grinned. "I forgot you had grown up. Time to stop being so soft on you little bastards." Bracing himself, he readied for Lioke's attack. "You have thirty seconds. Your quota is two feet; that's the kind of hand-to-hand progress I expected from Alken today."

Alken's eyes widened with interest. Holy hell. He only expected me to move him two feet? Despite her colleague's cautious interest, Lioke remained confident. Brushing aside a stray lock of off-black hair, she bounced on her toes, raising her fists.

In the blink of an eye, she'd closed the distance. Lioke smirked maliciously as she swung her fist, catching Alalonn across the jaw with a left cross. "HAH!" Half a primal shout and half a laugh, the sound punctuated the impact.

Lioke stepped back, her fingers trembling. "...Motherfucker," the young woman gasped, stepping back and grasping her wrist.

Her hand wasn't broken, but she felt like she hadn't even punched a human. "What are you?! My hand feels like I punched a bank vault!" Lioke seethed.

"Twenty-two seconds left. You've moved me one inch." Alalonn kept his arms folded, a bruise forming where Lioke had stricken him. "Best get to wo-"

Before he could finish his sentence, Lioke moved in and showered the First-Classer with blows. Having learned the hard way that punching was a poor idea, she tightened her hands, chopping Alalonn directly in the throat. He swayed back slightly, his breathing undisturbed. Moving in front of him, she stepped back and thrust a side-kick into his chest. She felt a small amount of give; she was damaging him on the shallowest level, but she didn't have the strength to do much else; Alalonn's physique shunned her blows.

Worst still, her limbs ached after only a few strikes.

"You've moved me six inches. Fourteen seconds left."

The corner of Lioke's mouth twitched downwards for a moment. "...It's not fair," she muttered.

"Do you submit?" Alalonn raised his eyebrow, standing upright, loosening his legs; the ultimate bait. He expected Lioke to move in and exploit his lowered guard. Instead, she nursed her hand. Lioke nodded calmly, submitting to a failing grade. Alalonn strode forward, stretching and popping his back. "I hope this lesson has illuminated your weaknesses."

Alken nodded crisply. "Indeed they have, sir." Lioke turned and shot him a scathing look. "I meant for me. He expected you to last the full thirty seconds. I barely made it halfway in before I hit a wall."

Alalonn quickly healed Lioke's damaged fist. She clenched it, thinking. "So I'm not as physically strong as him? Is that it?"

"Not quite. Alken doesn't lack for physical strength, but he also possesses a natural talent for offensive forms; especially barehanded ones. He's progressed beyond you in those areas, whereas your speed and perception eclipses his. It's only natural that if I reversed your tests, you would fail. The choice you must make is whether or not you have the will to improve in those areas."

Lioke nodded. "I'm in. I'll take Alken's training until I can at least drive you back a few feet."

"I suppose learning to fight more defensively wouldn't hurt. I'll take Lioke's reflex training for as long as it takes to outlast an opponent."

As her companion spoke, Lioke came to realize something; the look on Alalonn's face. She expected to see pride. His students had learned a valuable lesson, and decided to improve themselves; normally, Alalonn got teary eyed and sentimental.

In that moment, there was a smug, self satisfied grin on his face. "Wait a minute..." Lioke's teeth suddenly bore. Alalonn, realizing he'd blown his cover, stepped back, lifting his hands. "YOU PLANNED THIS! You called us cadets on purpose so I'd correct you!"

Alken visibly deflated, his shoulders slumping with disappointment. "Sir, you're the worst."

"Yeah, I know I am; they pay me to be the worst, you little squirts. Go run some laps; five minutes, then get back here. We'll run two more exercises on our updated training curriculum." Alalonn pointed to both of them, eyes sharp and serious. "And keep your mouths shut about this. Gaeira and Hybria are next on my list. Understood, SOLDIERs?" At the end of the day, even if he was being a jerk, Alalonn was the boss. In truth, he was a brilliant coach.

He just also happened to be a massive troll.

"Sir, yes sir." Saluting and speaking in unison, Alken and Lioke rushed off to run their prerequisite laps. Alalonn picked up his magazine and thumbed it open, sat down on a crate, and went back to reading, satisfied that his SOLDIERs were progressing well.

I loved the interactions between the characters here. Alallon reminds me a lot of my father, who I base a lot of Blaine and my other characters off of, so that was nice to see in itself.

I heard that you had stopped production on SOLDIER; Gaia Wars to change the plot to fit your desires, and so I read it on Fanfiction based off the link you provided. I figured this was the best place to offer feedback on it.

I definitely liked the faster pace of the installment over there, and I'm eager to read the story, especially with the time consuming visits to the Hospital I've been having recently.

Thanks, Morgan! I've really been working on the interpersonal relationships in the group. :P

In addition to doing it the hard way, I'll also be popping out little drabbles like this that are Database Exclusive whenever I feel inspired; mostly out of loyalty, but partially because I like doing little one-shots featuring cast members.

Glad you liked Alalonn; "embarrassing but well meaning dad" was one of my main inspirations for his behavior during zanier character moments.

But, as goofy as dads can be, he can be downright brutal when you fuck with his fam. Sophron's his little brother, Etechnia is her first and most responsible student and Cadet Group Eight are his unruly kids. As much as he uses his authority to fuck with them, most of it makes them stronger by the end of the day.

I wanted to do a thing inspired by Blaine's family, and struggled to find an angle, until I just figured that he had family enough to torment. Lol.

I hope this goes without saying, but the next paragraph is delivered in total honesty and sincerity.

I said this already in the discussion topic, but I hope your family is doing well, and can come home soon after their treatment. Believe me when I say that I know how soul-crushing repeated trips to the hospital can be; God bless you for caring for your people, Morgan.

In a way, isn't that the truest part of Blaine's spirit? :)

Bad John wrote:Thanks, Morgan! I've really been working on the interpersonal relationships in the group.

In addition to doing it the hard way, I'll also be popping out little drabbles like this that are Database Exclusive whenever I feel inspired; mostly out of loyalty, but partially because I like doing little one-shots featuring cast members.

Glad you liked Alalonn; "embarrassing but well meaning dad" was one of my main inspirations for his behavior during zanier character moments.

But, as goofy as dads can be, he can be downright brutal when you fuck with his fam. Sophron's his little brother, Etechnia is her first and most responsible student and Cadet Group Eight are his unruly kids. As much as he uses his authority to fuck with them, most of it makes them stronger by the end of the day.

I wanted to do a thing inspired by Blaine's family, and struggled to find an angle, until I just figured that he had family enough to torment. Lol.

I hope this goes without saying, but the next paragraph is delivered in total honesty and sincerity.

I said this already in the discussion topic, but I hope your family is doing well, and can come home soon after their treatment. Believe me when I say that I know how soul-crushing repeated trips to the hospital can be; God bless you for caring for your people, Morgan.

In a way, isn't that the truest part of Blaine's spirit?

You hit the 'Family oriented' aspect of Blaine's character spot on, but then again, you've generally done a better job of writing him as I envisioned than even I xD.

As for the family member, he had a triple bypass which was scary enough, but I've visited for the past few days and have seen astronomical improvement with each subsequent visit. In truth, this man is the one I based some of my more sassy characters (Morgan to name one) after.

Like I said in the other post, he is doing very well and they believe that he'll be out by Monday. Thanks for your concern, it is hard sitting in Hospitals with that constant worry on your back, so it's nice to be able to get that outside support that isn't just direct family.