Final Fantasy VII The Kids Are Alright: A Turks Side Story

Final Fantasy VII The Kids Are Alright: A Turks Side Story, originally published in Japan as Final Fantasy VII Lateral Biography Turks -The Kids Are Alright-, is a novel taking place shortly before the events of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, written by Kazushige Nojima and illustrated by Sho-u Tajima. It was released in Japan on December 15, 2011. The book was officially released in English by Yen Press on January 22, 2019.
The novel primarily follows Evan Townshend, a private detective living in Edge, and his interactions with the Turks and other employees of the Shinra Electric Power Company, leading to a confrontation with Kadaj.
The "Lateral Biography" in the original title employs synonyms of the English words "side" and "story".
==Characters==
*Evan Townshend - an up-and-coming private detective and the founder of Mireille's Investigative Services, unaware that he has deep ties to Shinra
*Kyrie Canaan - a former con-artist and thief now working with Evan as his partner investigator
*Leslie Kyle - an ex-criminal formerly in Don Corneo's employ who now works with Evan and Kyrie
*Turks - a group of specialized individuals that acts as the intelligence agency of the Shinra Company
**Tseng
**Elena
**Reno
**Rude
*Fabio Braun - an associate of Evan, Kyrie, and Leslie, and the guardian of Bits
*Bits Braun - Fabio's Geostigma-afflicted kid brother
*Rufus Shinra - the former Shinra president
==Story==
===Part One: See Me, Feel Me===
Evan Townshend, founder of Mireille's Investigative Services, grew up in Midgar on the Sector 6 Plate, raised by his mother Annette after his father died in the Wutai War. His mother left Midgar with a man named Nick Foley on the day that the Sector 7 plate collapsed, leaving him only a large sum of money and a note saying she'd get in touch with him after they arrived at their destination. Rather than use that money, he got a job and lived on his own until Meteorfall destroys the city.
Two years later, a man named Fabio Braun and his friend, Thropp, steal Geostigma medication from Rufus Shinra's lodge in Healen, with Thropp getting captured in the process. Reno and Rude attempt to track down Fabio, but mistakenly ransack Evan's home instead, leaving Elena to track down the real culprit.
After meeting Fabio's Geostigma-afflicted younger brother, Bits Braun, Evan travels to 7th Heaven to visit with his partner, Kyrie Canaan, and their friend, Leslie Kyle, then heads to the Midgar Slums with Kyrie to meet a new client, a man named Tyran Aarde. Aerde asks them to find his son, Goulde Aarde, a 2nd Class SOLDIER who went missing sometime before the destruction of Midgar, and gives them a photograph.
Evan returns to his ransacked home and begins to clean it when Bits turns up suffering from a bout of pain. Taking him back home, Evan finds that Fabio has been severely beaten by Elena. After discussing the events with his friends at Johnny's Heaven, and having spent two days without sleep, the exhausted Evan ends up collapsing outside of his office. When Kyrie tries to enlist the Turks for help, Reno and Rude instead capture her and Evan to take them somewhere in Evan's truck.
During the drive, Kyrie reveals that she was acquainted with Aerith Gainsborough and was familiar with how she had been kidnapped by the Turks. Reno explains that their abduction involves Evan's mother Annette and that they're being taken to Healen. The Turks also inform the pair that the photograph of Goulde was taken at Nibelheim.
At Healen, Rufus and Tseng explain that Annette had once been President Shinra's secretary and mistress, and that Evan was actually one of Shinra's illegitimate sons. Their conversation is interrupted when Fabio and two of his partners-in-crime, Keough and Doyle, attack the lodge in an attempt to rescue Thropp. Evan bargains with the Turks for the thieves' freedom, and after threatening Rufus, the criminals are let go.
On the way home, Evan is injured and taken to Dr. Drake's office to be checked up. He then visits Doyle and the other thieves to see if they're okay, lying about his meeting with Rufus by claiming that they wanted to use him as Rufus's body double, and telling that he would be leaving Edge.
Needing fuel for his truck, Evan calls Strife Delivery Service from the phone in Dr. Drake's office and talks briefly with Denzel to arrange a meeting with Cloud Strife. While waiting, Dr. Drake discusses a book he's reading, which details the experiments conducted on Jenova by the Shinra Science Department.
When Cloud arrives, he informs Evan that if he wants to buy fuel, there are three sources: the remnants of the Shinra Company, the World Regenesis Organization, and Don Corneo of Wall Market. Evan explains that he's going to travel to Nibelheim to find a missing SOLDIER, and Cloud tells him to ask about the village at 7th Heaven. There he speaks to Tifa Lockhart, who reluctantly tells him the route to Nibelheim. Evan explains that he's looking for his mother, and it's revealed that she was also pictured in the photograph of Goulde and that the man who gave the photo to Tyran Aarde was actually Nick Foley.
After visiting both the Turks and Tifa, Kyrie learns of Evan's plans to travel to Nibelheim and waits for him by his car. Meanwhile, Evan travels to the slums to ask Leslie (a former employee of Corneo) how to get to Don Corneo's, and there meets Leslie's pregnant wife Merle. At Corneo's mansion, Corneo, now wheelchair-bound and aging poorly, agrees to deliver the fuel to Edge. Among the various lewd photographs on Corneo's walls are pictures of Tifa (with Cloud and Aerith) and Merle, which Evan takes and destroys. Returning to Leslie's, he apologizes for any consequences that might come from destroying the picture, but Leslie tells him not to worry, explaining that Evan had been responsible for turning his life around, as well as Fabio's and Kyrie's. After returning to Edge to also apologize to Tifa, she lets him know that she told Kyrie about his plans to travel to Nibelheim.
Elsewhere, Doyle, Thropp, and Keogh arrive at the site of the Meteor Monument, still under construction, to help build it to repay for the damage they dealt to Healin. Rude and Reno also travel to Midgar to meet Tseng and Elena so they can recover and repair a helicopter. Once there, Tseng explains that they've been assigned to recover the remains of Jenova. When Reno notices someone spying on the conversation, Elena is sent to capture them.
Evan returns to his truck and finds Kyrie there, who is dead set on going with him to Nibelheim. After spending the night together, Leslie arrives with their fuel, as well as various weapons. Leslie explains that he burned down Corneo's mansion and stole the fuel and weapons, though Corneo survived. Evan and Kyrie set out for Nibelheim.
===Part Two: Who Are You?===
Having departed for Nibelheim, the pair are traveling to Under Junon. On the way, Evan reflects on those he has met, and on the origins of his detective business, named after Kyrie's grandmother, Mireille Dudley. The pair also meet a young girl on a chocobo who is looking for medicine to treat her Geostigma.
Later, they stop for a rest near a pond in the wastelands, where they encounter a talking red beast. Evan attempts to drive it off, accidentally destroying his own truck with one of their weapons, and Kyrie begins to sink into the water, which appears to be turning black.
Elsewhere, after learning from Doyle that Shinra seemed to be up to no good, Keogh and Fabio attack Rude in an attempt to steal their helicopter, but are killed. Reno learns that it had been Doyle who was listening in on the Turks' conversation and that Fabio though he could use the helicopter to help Evan. They set out in their helicopter to try and track down Evan.
At a beach house in Under Junon, Tseng and Elena hear a commotion outside; a young girl has been brought into town by a red beast, which Tseng recognizes as Red XIII. At the office of the town doctor, Dr. Eugene, he sees the girl, Kyrie, talking to a young man with silver hair with the same eyes as Sephiroth, who introduces himself as Kadaj. When he shakes Tseng's hand, Tseng and Kyrie pass out. After awakening, Tseng learns that Kyrie saw him as a friend of hers who had died in a fire; Tseng tells her not to trust him if she meets him again.
Reno and Rude then find Evan, bringing him back to Junon, where Tseng decides that they'll use the pair in their search for Jenova. Believing that the Turks had something to do with Fabio's death, Evan and Kyrie attempt to flee, but Elena shoots Evan in the shoulder. While under surgery, he dreams of Fabio touching his wound; upon awakening, he learns that he may never regain full use of his arm, though he feels no pain or discomfort.
As Evan gives up hope on ever finding his mother, Reno and Rude suggest that they can quickly get him to Nibelheim in their helicopter, and Tseng and Elena agree to take him while Reno and Rude await contact from their former colleagues. Though Evan no longer cares, Kyrie still wants to find Goulde. In Nibelheim, they meet suspicious villagers and a bearded man who turns out to be Goulde. He says that his father died during the war and that Tyran is only his step-father, and that he has no desire to reunite with him. He also explains that Annette's relationship with Nick Foley had lasted only briefly, and that her job in the town involved tending to the test subjects living in the town, and that she had stayed there for only a week. Goulde gives them a letter Annette sent Foley, which was sent from Icicle Inn, so they head north.
At Icicle Inn, Evan reads the letter and learns that the money she had left behind was for a surgery Evan would eventually need; she'd taken employment at Nibelheim, knowing that disclosing details of the experiments conducted there could lead to the death penalty, to earn the money for him. The inn's owner, Wendy, explains to Evan that his mother had visited Icicle in an attempt to recover the strange people in black, and had gone north of the Village to look for them and never returned. However, it's too dangerous to go searching in the snowfields because, when the Lifestream erupted from the ground, it opened up several dangerous crevasses. Because the letters make mention of a Dr. Dimitri in Junon, Kyrie suggests that they return to Junon. Tseng, listening in via a bug, recognizes it as Dr. Eugene's surname.
Back in Junon, Reno and Rude are still awaiting contact from the ex-Turks when Doyle and Leslie arrive looking for Evan. They explain that Fabio tried to steal the helicopter because Dr. Drake told him there was something about Evan that needed urgent checking, and he'd refused to just ask for the helicopter because he blamed Shinra for his parent's deaths. Reno and Rude decide to try and find Evan.
In Icicle Inn, Tseng sees a silver-haired youth staring at him through his window, standing in the snow. When he gets to the spot, he finds no trace of Kadaj, not even footprints in the snow. At the same time, Evan witnesses Fabio standing outside of his window. Fabio tells him to come outside, or he'll kill Kyrie.
At a small guard hut, Fabio shows Evan a blood-stained photograph of Jenova, then suddenly takes on the form of Dr. Drake, explaining he had learned from the real Dr. Drake that Jenova was supposed to be in the Shinra Building, but after searching for it, found nothing. As he explains that he'd returned to Dr. Drake feeling disappointed, Evan briefly sees a glimpse of his true form, Kadaj. Kadaj explains that he took away Evan's pain after the surgery, and transforming into Evan's mother, undoes it, leaving Evan in agony. Tseng finds Evan in the hut and is attacked by Kadaj, but Kadaj flees when he realizes Tseng doesn't know where Jenova is.
Elena and Tseng chase after Kadaj, and Evan goes to check in Kyrie, but outside her room hears her talking to Kadaj, in the form of her old friend. However, before he can enter, he hears a gunshot. Inside, Kyrie is standing over Kadaj with a gun, and fires again, but Kadaj conjures forth his sword and threatens to kill them. They flee the room, but Kadaj quickly appears in front of them, blocking their way. Elena and Tseng arrive in their helicopter, but before Evan and Kyrie can get to it, Kadaj jumps aboard and starts fighting the Turks inside as the helicopter travels North. Evan and Kyrie chase after, hoping to defeat Kadaj by luring him over one of the snow-covered crevasses that were mentioned to them at Icicle Inn.
However, as they begin to form their plan, Kadaj appears in front of them and coaxes Kyrie to instead step over a crevasse herself. Evan catches her hand, but Kadaj stabs him in the shoulder and she falls. Above, Tseng orders Elena to fire a missile, but she hesitates due to Evan's proximity. Reno, Rude then arrive with Doyle and Leslie, but are also unwilling to open fire in fear that Evan might be struck; Tseng orders them to fire, while Reno, Rude, and Elena make excuses.
After removing the blade from Evan's shoulder, Evan tries to crawl into the crevasse and the Turks open fire on Kadaj, but the bullets have no effect and he disappears, reappearing on the nose of Reno and Rude's helicopter. Kadaj shatters the windshield with his sword and Rude throws Leslie and Doyle from the aircraft, then begins to climb, but Kadaj again vanishes, appearing behind them inside of the helicopter. Reno and Rude escape, and Tseng fires a missile at the helicopter, destroying it.
The force of the explosion shatters the ice beneath Evan and Kyrie just as he reaches her, and they fall deeper beneath the earth, into a cavern that was carved out by the Lifestream two years earlier and is filled with mako. On the surface, Tseng and Elena head to Under Junon while Rude heads back to Healen to get another helicopter, and Reno, Doyle, and Leslie search for Evan and Kyrie.
Evan and Kyrie reach a dead end in the cavern, filled with several dead bodies all garbed in black robes, and with them the body of Evan's mother, Annette. Checking her body, Evan finds some letters she was carrying, including a letter to Nick Foley regarding the escaped test subjects, a personal letter to Foley, and a letter to Evan. He also notices a small, warm mass wrapped in her handkerchief, which he takes.
Hearing Kadaj approaching from behind, they flee, passing a hole filled with Lifestream. Evan suggests that they jump inside when the handkerchief unravels and a piece of Jenova's flesh falls to the ground. Kadaj tries to grab it and Evan kicks it into the Lifestream, prompting Kadaj to jump in after it. After a few moments, Kadaj is dissolved into the Lifestream. Leslie, Doyle, and Reno find Evan and Kyrie a short while later.
In the novel's epilogue, it reveals that Evan and Kyrie are now living together and caring for Fabio's younger brother, Bits. When the Lifestream spring appears in the Sector 5 slums church, they take Bits there to be cured. After leaving Bits with Leslie, Evan and Kyrie return to the agency, where Kyrie reads a letter of gratitude from Tyran Aarde, informing them that his son Goulde contacted him, that they would see each other again soon, and that he wanted to repay them with a meal tomorrow. Then Kyrie reveals that she called Reno to invite Rufus to a belated birthday get-together for Evan.
==Trivia==
*The book includes several references to the English rock band The Who, including the title - the book is titled after the seventh track on their debut album, My Generation.
==See also==
*On the Way to a Smile
*Hoshi o Meguru Otome
==External links==
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*English translation of the book on TheLifestream.net
Category:Books in the Final Fantasy VII series