Disclaimer: I do not, repeat, DO NOT, own Ryuusei no Rockman or any elements of other anime included in this story.
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PREVIOUSLY…
Ox Fire began screaming at the top of his lungs, as the force of the attack cancelled the Denpa-Henkan and knocked both boy and alien-Wizard thing unconscious, Gonta barely breathing.
"Now to finish this. Say your prayers, fatty.", He said as he pulled the sword that was previously impaled in the warrior off the ground and readied both blades above his head.
To everyone's shock and horror as no one could make it in time, all seemed lost.
"GONTA –KUUUUUUN!!" Rockman, Harp Note and Luna yelled, off screen, as in slow motion, the blades inched closer to the fallen boy.
Wolf Forest, Cygnus Wing, and most importantly, Acid Ace looked horrified. Acid Ace, even though he couldn't do a thing, ran towards the scene, yelling, "FUBUKIIIIII!!!"
And suddenly, when all hope was lost…
"GETSUGA TENSHOU!!"
A lone, cleave-shaped cyan blast of energy came speeding towards Fubuki, who blocked it almost effortlessly, but warped away about 40 feet from Gonta's body from the attack's force.
Rockman, Harp Note, Acid Ace, Wolf Forest and Cygnus Wing, and Luna separately, stood amazed at the sight before them.
A tall, male figure with short, spiky orange hair wearing a black kimono pants with a white stripe at the neck and fold appeared, clutching a strange black cleaver wrapped with white bandages at the supposed handle of the blade, which was indented.
The male figure had serious chocolate-brown eyes, and a slight scowl. He was staring Fubuki down, his sword-holding hand tensing.
"Hey, you. What's going on here?"
He turned his head slightly, towards the group behind him. "So… I take it you guys can see me, huh? I'll explain later."
Suddenly, War-Rock, Harp, Acid, Wolf and Cygnus materialized beside their partners. "Who is this joker?" War-Rock muttered.
Fubuki looked less than pleased. "Orange hair…"
The way he stated the last statement caused the robed man to squint and raise a brow. "Come again?"
"Large Zanpakuto…"
The Project-TC members looked confused. "Zanpaku…to?" Subaru repeated to himself.
"And the unmistakable stench of a powerful Hollow..." This caused to figure to tense in surprise, his eyes visibly shrunk slightly. "What… did you just say?"
Fubuki cracked a small grin. "There's no mistake. You're him. You're…", he began as he readied his blades.
And the screen turned black.
"…The Substitute Shinigami, Ichigo Kurosaki."
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Chapter 2: Hunters Are the Hunted, Second Verse
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The air around the entrance area to WAZA lay silent, the only momentary sound being the moderate breeze blowing by.
"W-wait a minute. The hell is going on here?" Ichigo Kurosaki, the robed figure, spat.
Fubuki's unchanging facial expression raised a slight brow. "Oh?"
"You know about me, but I don't know squat about you." He then raised the large sword in his hand at a surprising speed for a sword that large. "So start talking. Who the hell are you?"
Fubuki sighed. "You know, saying 'hell' with emphasis twice in 30 seconds won't get you very far with me. Nor will raising a weapon to my person. You may want to try again, punk.", Fubuki glared with the last comment.
"Don't give me that crap! I asked you a question! So unless you want my blade through your chest, start talking."
"You, threaten me? Please. You have just as much sway over me as those pathetic Satella Police watchdogs.", he said coolly. "Oh, and by the way, you, a Shinigami who's only prowess in the subject is a Bankai – a sorry excuse of one at that – are in the same class as them; merely insects before my power."
"Shinigami?? Bankai?? ARGH! What are these guys talking about?!" Warrock shouted through clenched teeth, rubbing his temples.
"Ha. If you're really that interested, you can all ask him. In Hell, that is." Fubuki spat.
Ichigo then noticed the swords he was carrying. A small smile was painted on his face. "So… it's starting to make sense."
Fubuki's expression showed slight uneasiness, his visible eye leering. "And that means, dare I ask?"
"The swords only added to your words, and your use of Shunpo." Fubuki's expression showed that of angered shock. 'Crap!'
"Those swords, Shunpo, and your knowledge of Shinigami… Let me guess; you are one! You're a Shinigami!"
Subaru and those who were still conscious were very confused. "So that's guy's… Fubuki's… like the orange-haired kid?", The Juro side of Wolf Forest spoke. "I guess…", Wolf replied.
Fubuki's expression changed to a small malevolent smirk. "Close, but no cigar."
Ichigo was taken aback by the comment. "What are you saying?! Those Zanpakuto are--! …!! Hey,… you're not wearing a shihakusho!"
"A shi-what now?" Warrock questioned. "Ergh… all this talk about Shinigami is starting to hurt my head… eeeerrgh…"
Shidou was still paying close attention. "Fubuki's… a Shinigami…? A… god of death?", he asked himself weakly.
Cygnus Wing caught wind of his quote. Utagai started to freak. "Wh-whoa! A god of death?! Isn't that a little extreme??" "Calm down!" Cygnus barked lowly. "This isn't the time!" "S-sorry… Cygnus…"
Fubuki sighed. "You see, you're only half right, Substitute Shinigami. I have a Zanpakuto, the symbol of the Shinigami. But in case you haven't realized, I'm still very much alive."
Ichigo was seriously taken aback by the comment, stepping back twice. "W-wait a second! Are you saying that…?"
"I'm saying that you and I are more alike than you envisioned. But unlike you, I don't need to remove my soul from my body to assume my powers. Which reminds me…"
His face turned into a dark smile. "I wonder what will happen if I destroyed your human body…? It must be close by. Perhaps on the roof or the surrounding cliff?", he slyly grinned.
The Shinigami expression literally read him saying the F-Bomb several times. He then furrowed his brow in an attempt to make a poker face.
"You really want to risk turning your back to me looking for it?"
"It won't matter. You're on my list anyway." "List?", Ichigo questioned cautiously, raising his sword. "What list?"
"What else?", Fubuki retorted before disappearing and reappearing behind Ichigo. "My "To-Kill" list, dumbass."
Ichigo instinctively blocked the two smaller Zanpakuto with his large cleaver and turned to face him. "Ha! It'll take more than that to get rid of me!"
"I thought as much." Fubuki muttered dryly. He instantly warped away again, this time above Ichigo, much to his surprise. "!!"
"Hadou 4! Byakurai!" (Lit. "White Lightning") Fubuki fired a bolt of white lightning from the tip of his blade. Ichigo warped away from the bolt in time, only for him to be struck in the shoulder by a second bolt and stammered from the shock. "!!"
"Got you!", Fubuki shouted, charging from the sky from where he was floating.
Rockman and the others shared a collective shocked expression from the sudden action of hopping on thin air.
Ichigo warped again, narrowly escaping a blade through the neck, causing Fubuki to crash into the ground, forming a small crater in the ground. Fubuki's feet pushed against the impact. "You won't escape!"
Ichigo's eyes shrunk as he saw the enemy figure closing in on him fast. Fubuki's blades inched from the orange-haired Shinigami before a strange blasting noise was heard and a pained look was on Fubuki's face.
Fubuki, grunting, turned to see Rockman had fired a shot at him.
"I don't know what's going on, but you won't get away with whatever you're planning!", Rockman yelled.
"You little shit… you have no idea who you're messing with…", Fubuki gritted menacingly.
Suddenly he darted from Rockman, who was shocked at his instantaneous speed. He was warping slightly from side to side to keep the boy-alien combo guessing, the said warrior's eyes darting from left to right.
The warrior yelled "BattleCard! Break Saber!!" as a precaution and assumed a pink and magenta electromagnetic sword on his left hand and wrist.
Fubuki smirked slightly and reappeared behind the unsuspecting warrior, swords raised high. Rockman's eyes shrunk to the size of dimes as he turned as realized he couldn't block in time.
Before the blow could be struck, however, Ichigo reappeared between sword and target and blocked with his giant sword. Small sparks flew from the clashing blades. "!!", Fubuki's expression read.
"Rockman, was it? Thanks for the save earlier. Call this payback.", Ichigo spoke.
"…It's Subaru.", Rockman smiled slightly. "Subaru Hoshikawa."
Ichigo smiled, even though Subaru ultimately only heard a 'heh'-like noise. "Ichigo Kurosaki."
" If you're quite finished…", Fubuki spat poisonously. Fubuki began to apply more pressure to his swords, causing Ichigo to start faltering.
"Damn it… this guy's crazy strong…!" Ichigo gritted.
Fubuki's expression did not change. "Looks like this is the end of the strawberry.", he said flatly.
Acid Ace and the other conscious TC members were in total awe. Shidou's mouth, still visible on Acid Ace, looked like he was making an unnerved face.
"This guy… he's not like the Fubuki I knew… what happened to him…?", he thought to himself.
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Luna Shirogane, still behind the bulletproof glass doors of the front entrance, looked with a grim face.
Gonta was down for the count. Tsukasa was down and was in possibly very bad shape after Gemini Spark Black – Tsukasa – suffered a stab to the chest.
Subaru was fighting for his life and the only thing between the boy she liked and death was a savior in black garbs and a large sword, who he himself wasn't looking like he could fare much longer.
"Hoshikawa-kun…"
"So he's Subaru Hoshikawa… the legendary Rockman."
This caught Luna's attention, as she saw two figures to the left side of her vision.
One was a boy about Subaru's height, wearing a orange and cream-white hoodie sweatshirt with the hood down and black pants. The downed hood revealed the boy to have upside-down pinecone-shaped brown hair. He also appeared to be wearing weird white mittens with two red stripes and a blocky red '27' on both mittens.
The second figure was barely a foot tall, foot-and-a-half tall. He was clad in a black suit with his upper head masked by a black fedora with an orange stripe across where the hat meets its rim. He seemed to have black hair, with unmistakably weird curly sideburns. He was holding a green pistol-like gun at gunpoint of Fubuki.
"Should we help him…?", the boy asked cautiously. "You're the to-be Boss of the Vongola Family and you're asking a stupid question like that?", the baby-like figure retorted, his eyes shaded by the rim of his fedora.
"…Right.", the boy nodded as he fetched from a strange blue pearl-shaped pill from his pocket and popped it into his mouth.
"What's going on?" Luna asked, not sure if they heard her.
"Don't worry. We've got it covered.", the boy said in a slightly calmer tone.
This, along with what appeared to be a vibrant orange flame from his forehead, caught Luna off guard.
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Ichigo's arms were stating to weaken, his muscles tiring. 'Damn it! How strong is this guy?!' The ground under Ichigo's feet began to crumble. Fubuki's swords were pressing harder on the opposing cleaver.
"I'm going to finish you off, you carrot-topped lo--…!!!"
Instinctively, Fubuki placed his feet on Ichigo's cleaver and jumped off, narrowly escaping a small pillar of flame aimed directly at him. Fubuki instinctively swung around swiped at the figure behind him, revealing it to be the boy from earlier. His mittens were replaced with black leather gloves with metal knuckles, joints and fingers encompassing his hands. The back of the gloves sported large blue circular half-orbs rim-studded with the word "Vongola" in capital metal letters.
The flame on his forehead was in full flicker, sporting a mélange of shades of orange and yellow. His eyes were a strange pattern of dark orange rimmed by brighter oranges and yellow outline; it was almost like he was wearing strange contacts.
"You will stop.", the boy said calmly. His eyes screamed determination. Fubuki's eyes, however, displayed annoyance.
"Great.", Fubuki spat sardonically. "It's weird enough that the Shinigami shows up in Kodoma, and now the freaking Vongola show up? What is this, a faction convention to you or something?"
"Excuse me?", the newcomer asked, his eyebrow raised.
"Not that you'd care, but seriously; what the hell? First, I deal with WAZA. Then, this carrot-topped Shinigami shows up, and now, you, the 10th Boss of the Vongola Mafia Family. What is this to you, a freaking game? Get lost!", the white haired young man prattled.
"Big words from a thief, you pompous bastard.", the baby in the back said flatly. "You think you can say that after stealing from the Vongola and injuring our men without a trace? You've got guts for a dead man.", he said, cocking his green handgun dangerously.
"Oh, please! Like an Acrobaleno like yourself can actually lay a dent on me. And besides, even if you could, I could cleave you and this shrimp-boat pupil of yours down to size so much even your precious Guardians couldn't find you!"
"Wait a freaking minute! You're Mafioso?! Let alone the Boss?!", Ichigo stammered in disbelief.
"Is that good?" Warrock asked out loud to no one in particular. Rockman sweatdropped.
"Trust me; the Mafia is not something you want to mess with…" Subaru whimpered. Wolf Forest and Cygnus Wing shuddered at the thought.
"We Vongola aren't ruthless; in fact we're quite charitable.", the baby said with a matter-of-factly smile.
"Alright, this is becoming ridiculous!", Fubuki roared, his blades knocking Ichigo down when he let his guard down. "You claim that I stole from the Vongola, when in fact is you Vongola that stole from me!"
Many of the people around him looked surprised. The boy's orange eyes shrunk slightly, while the baby's eyes were shadowed by his fedora.
"Oh, but it's true. You stole from an associate of mine, so I returned the favor. You're not the only ones who can utilize Dying Will Flames, you know!"
That lines caused the calm boy to take a step back, while the baby's head shot up instantly, as if that term struck a chord. Fubuki's expression changed to a small devious smirk.
"Dying what now?!", Harp asked, baffled. As soon as she said that, Fubuki's right hand clenched slightly, and a red and pink flame appeared on the largest joint of his middle finger. The flame slowly grew and enveloped the Zanpakuto in his right hand.
The Denpa-Henkaners were in shock and awe. "It's pretty…" Misora, as Harp Note, murmured.
The baby's eyes furrowed. "It's as I feared."
"Dying Will Flames…", the boy furrowed his brows. "What's worse…"
"Storm flames; the flames of destruction.", Fubuki finished, smirking. As he said that he once again disappeared and reappeared behind the newcomer boy.
"Behind you!", Subaru yelled.
Instinctively, the boy turned around and grabbed the incoming flame-coated fist with his gloved hands. He failed however to block a foot to the face, narrowly dodging a broken nose.
The conflict slowly erupted into Fubuki increasing his speed and amount of blows which the boy kept struggling to dodge and/or block.
At the point where the boy made a strong block, Fubuki warped again and struck him in the back of the head with the hilt of his sword and span to roundhouse kick him at the spinal cord.
The boy was flung towards the entrance of WAZA, with Luna in total shock. "AAAAAAAAAAH!!"
"Tsuna!", the baby yelled. "Stop holding back!", the baby rose his voice.
"Did I just hear that right??", Wolf Forest asked out loud.
At the point, Tsuna made a sharp 90 degree turn by firing the same Dying Will Flames from his gloves out of the palms of his hands. He was literally floating in midair.
"S-Suge!", Ichigo gawked. "He's levitating!"
"Well, we shouldn't let him have all the fun! Let's go Subaru!" War-Rock roared.
"Right!", Subaru replied. "Sounds good to me!", Ichigo yelled as the new supposed allies charged forward, Ichigo taking Fubuki's right, and Rockman Fubuki's left.
"!!", was all Fubuki could express while Tsuna came flying back towards him with a flurry of punches.
"Getsugaaaa…!", Ichigo began rearing back his giant cleaver, a white flame-like aura seeping on the blade.
"Charge…!!" Rockman began and his left arm's device turned into the Rock Buster.
"TENSHOU!! / SHOT!!"
Both attacks hit dead on, while Tsuna backed off by firing flames from his hands to propel him away in time.
"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!", Fubuki roared as he emerge from the dust cloud, his "NICE VIBE" shirt partially tattered and his hair and skin covered in soot and dust.
"You… bastard children…! I'm now officially pissed!", he roared as a dark crimson aura engulfed him. The aura was so thick that the ground beneath him began to crackle and disintegrate, causing a large gaping hole in the ground.
"Uh oh, I think we made him mad…!" Cygnus Wing exasperated with an "OH SHI--!" face.
Acid Ace grit his teeth. "Fubuki!!", he roared, standing up and appearing in front of Rockman, Ichigo and Tsuna.
"Fubuki, you have to stop! Don't you even recognize me?!" "Shidou…" Acid whispered in surprise of his partner.
"Recognize? Oh, I recognize you, all right. I recognize you as the PRICK who left me for dead all those years ago!! You! The guy I considered my best friend! And how could I forget?! Tia and Jack were there! YOU THREE BETRAYED MY TRSUT!!!", Fubuki roared, his visible aura increasing violently to the point where the underground wiring connected to WAZA became severely damaged as electricity and Denpa waves began to go haywire inside the building. The lights were going out via exploding light bulbs. Luna screamed and ducked in cover, along with everyone inside.
The thought of Cancer Bubble and Goat Kung-Fu, still inside injured and in cryogenic healing chambers, sparked inside the white-clad warrior's minds. "At this rate, you're going to kill someone! Have lost your mind?!"
"The only thing 'lost' around here is your right to exist, you traitorous bastard!"
"We couldn't find you back then! We really tried! But the place was on fire, and it was on an abandoned island! We were only children, we couldn't do anything in that fire!!"
"I DON'T WANT TO HEAR EXCUSES!!", Fubuki roared, the mere force of his scream causing Shidou to lose his footing and collapse from the sheer reiatsu spill. 'Can't… breathe…!'
"I'm going to wipe you all of the face of the Earth! Solemnly Decimate!!"
Then he had a strange expression on his face, as if a lightning bolt passed through him. His demeanor calmed dramatically. "Well, now…"
This worried the group. Suddenly, he started walking away.
"I'm done with this crap. See ya." He then started warping away.
This left the Denpa-Henkan-ers in confusion, even more so now that they realized that Acid Ace was gone.
"Wasn't there a guy in white armor with you?" Tsuna asked, his voice still low and calm, a brow raised.
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Acid Ace entered the Wave Road, running at fast speeds. His teeth were heavily grit. The same thought kept racing threw his mind. 'Fubuki… what on earth HAPPENED to you…?!'
"Shidou…", Acid stammered. "Who exactly is Fubuki?"
"…"
"Shidou?"
"…" His partner was deep in thought.
"SHIDOU! SNAP OUT OF IT!"
"!! W-what?! What happened??" "Shidou, you're hiding something from me; that's not like you."
"I know. It's just that Fubuki…all those years ago, something… happened. Something I was never proud of."
"You said 'we' several times. Were you referring to Jack and Tia?" "Yeah… we could never forget that day, no matter how hard we tried. Fubuki… he was my best friend, and I let him… I let him… I let him…"
"It's okay, I understand. You let him down and want to make up for it. Right?"
"Badly.", Shidou finished sullenly. His face then changed to that of fierce determination.
He then caught something in the corner of his eye. A small portal was open on a rooftop near him. It was Fubuki.
"Fubuki!!", Shidou yelled as he jumped off the Wave Road and onto the building's rooftop, startling Fubuki, but only for a second.
"Oh great. You. Sorry to disappoint, but I'm in a hurry. As the baby from before says… 'Ciao.'", he said as he stepped into the closing portal.
"Fubuki!!" But it was too late; he vanished. "Fubuki… Oh, wait a minute, that's right!"
Acid Ace warped onto the Wave Road and headed back towards WAZA.
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Acid Ace returned to the scene of the battle a minute later, where everyone was either searching or tending to Gonta's and Tsukasa's wounds. Luna was outside.
"So you're good guys right?", Luna asked both Ichigo and Tsuna.
"Y-yes.", Tsuna replied politely, his demeanor different than before and his eyes now a chocolate brown.
"Yeah." Ichigo asked, now in his human body. He was wearing a white T-Shirt with "HMNL" written on it and wore jeans. He looked slightly taller without his shihakusho on. Perhaps it was the hair.
Rockman, having carried Tsukasa on his back whilst Cygnus Wing and Wolf Forest were carrying the unconscious and obviously very large Gonta to the entrance of the building, where WAZA staff began to put them onto stretchers to head up to the 45th floor.
After exiting Denpa-Henkan, Subaru then looked very carefully at Tsuna's features, while the pinecone-haired boy did the same.
"Whoa. Almost like twins.", Ichigo and War-Rock said at the exact same time. They then looked at each other with a disturbed face and turned away.
"So!", Luna began. "I'm Luna Shirogane, Kodoma Elementary Class President. And you two are?"
"Tsunayoshi Sawada. Just call me Tsuna." "Ichigo Kurosaki."
"Doesn't Ichigo mean 'strawberry'? HA HA HA!! You're a fruit kid!" War-Rock laughed out loud, clutching his head.
"…Don't remind me…" Ichigo replied darkly. War-Rock stopped laughing.
Ac id Ace then returned and exited Denpa-Henkan, a small frown visible on his face.
Everyone still conscious ran up to him, Utagai and Juro having exited Denpa-Henkan.
"Where'd you run off to, Shidou-san?" Misora asked. "I thought I could catch up to Fubuki. But I was too late."
A collective "Oh." was heard. "Yeah."
"So how did you know that guy, anyway?" Wolf asked.
"Well…"
But before he could continue, the alarm was heard. "ALERT! ALERT! ANOMALY IN THE GENERATOR ROOM! ANOMALY IN THE GENERATOR ROOM!"
"The generator room?!" Shidou shrieked as he ran into the building. The others followed suit and ran with him into the elevator that led to the basement level.
When they got there, the room was lit with crackling electricity. "If any of the system get hit, who knows what'll happen!" Shidou exclaimed as he Denpa-Henkan'd into Acid Ace again.
"Gotta… shut… down… system!" He was then hit by a stray bolt of electricity. "ARGH!"
"Shidou-san!" Subaru yelled. Acid Ace signaled him to stay put. "I got this!", he yelled, smashing his hand on a large button, which caused the electricity to slowly die down.
If that wasn't enough, a strange crackling was heard as a small opening in front of the generator began to form. Two figures fell out of the opening facedown and closed.
One was a small boy with silver hair wearing a highly classy green jacket and dark blue shorts. He appeared to have a string wrapped around the back of his head, revealing to be wearing an eyepatch on his right eye.
The other figure was a tall, grown man in a butler uniform his neck-long raven-black hair.
They were both unconscious.
Shidou exited Denpa-Henkan and walked slowly to the unconscious twosome. The others were in just as much surprise as him and the newly materialized Acid.
"What… the… hell?" was all Shidou have to say.
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TO BE CONTINUED…
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Next Time: It Was Beyond The Aspect Of Understanding
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