KitsuneFreak: Death Mountain, is that what it was called? I'm pretty sure. In response to Nemesis Jedi (I would have PM'd but I couldn't find a formal account), the translation "my beloved G" is incorrect. Upon checking back the raw manga, the word that was mixed up was 'aibou' which means pal/ accomplice. They took it as 'aibo' which means cherished/beloved. If you want a more in depth Japanese 101, check out my Oct 3rd Livejournal entry. Link is always in the same place under web on my profile.
GAH, my friends are taunting me with the manga. I'm one of those oddballs who prefer to watch the anime before reading – mostly because 1) I don't expect the ending 2) it's cool to see what the author will do post-writing and 3) less chances for disappointment. Now that word's flying around about Gen X in the Spring, I'm waiting for it before reading the manga. Still, I force myself to pick out the parts that only have 1st Gen because it's a bad idea to write COMPLETELY OOC despite personal preferences. As of this moment, I don't know much, but I did see a really cute chibi-Spanner, is that really him from 10yrs ago?
Speaking of which, I breezed over (note: I did not read it!) the latest 12 or so chapters of the manga to find more 1st gen insight and I saw a decked-out Lambo. Now, is it a good or bad thing that I think he eerily looks a LOT like Genkishi? Even from skimming, I noticed that KHR gives flashback a whole new meaning… (snicker) And someone mentioned something about a creepier looking Byakuran? On a scale of 1 to 10, what is it?
Remind me again, as of right now, there are only 4 pages in the inheritance arc in relation to the first generation, right? I'm saving on my computer so I don't need to go online to reference as I don't want to miss out on delectable personality points.
Disclaimer: … because honestly, that was the longest rant I have ever made in a single fic. You want to read it like NOW, therefore I will zip it. You've waited long enough.
{Badger, Badger, Badger, Badger, Mushroom, Mushroom….}
"With all due respect Giotto, as both your right hand man and best friend, I am very curious as to why we're all stripped down to our pants – with of course the exception of Alaude who had the most foresight – while you're trying to scale that cliff."
"The sun can get very hot in the afternoon?"
"I think that we both know that wasn't my point."
"Less air resistance if I fall?"
"Giotto…" G called up to his boss in a dangerously annoyed voice. The others, then again, were wondering whether they should point out the fact that 'more' air resistance would be better.
"So what if I climb a mountain every week or so?"
The group below him heaved a collective sigh of exasperation.
"Yes, but was it absolutely necessary to drag us along while you're at it this time?" Lampo whined, slowly edging closer to the knapsack that held all their clothing.
"But it's family bonding time! Weren't you looking forward to it?"
"Hardly," came the Mist Guardian's reply.
"It may have been a little better if you told us beforehand," Asari offered.
"I don't mind all that much," Knuckle mused.
"I could have spent this day doing something else," Alaude muttered, stuffing his hands into his pockets. He relished the feeling because pockets had recently become a rarity highly desired.
Seeing that he was getting nowhere with his fellow Guardians, Giotto nimbly slid down the short distance to the ground. Leaning his back on the rock wall, he tried to come up with an acceptable reason for family bonding time. At least acceptable enough that his guardians wouldn't decide to suddenly get up and leave.
"It's a specially designed training program."
The Guardians before him cast wary glances back and forth between each other but did not lose the feeling that their boss was just buying another round of time and excuses.
"But Giotto-san," Asari ventured first, "we all already have our own methods of training, remember? I have the place that looks like a Japanese-style dojo, G and Knuckle have their target-strength practice thing, and well… "
The man looked at the other three who stood aloof. "I'm not sure what the others do, but I'm sure they practice!"
"Exactly," Lampo ended with a satisfied nod. Then he looked quite perturbed as the words registered in his mind. "Wait a second—"
"—which is why I am offering my special training program for Alaude, Lampo, and, of course, Daemon," Giotto cut it neatly.
"I don't recall asking for help," Alaude asked, irritated.
"I must second that," Daemon nodded.
"Well, I came to the conclusion for three very valid reasons." Giotto cleared his throat has he began listing them off on his fingers. "First of all, Daemon, your natural strength is ridiculously low compared to the rest of us."
"May I point out that it is due to the fact that I am an illusionist whose skills of the mind are most highly prized?"
"Second," the boss continued, completely ignoring his Mist Guardian's protestations, "Alaude's choice in weapon, handcuffs, is not what I'd call useless but is still relatively questionable."
His Cloud Guardian's response was only an unsuccessfully contained twitch of the eye.
"And third, Lampo…" Giotto eyed the yawning man, "you really need a better way to spend your afternoons. I don't think lazing around is healthy."
"It's called training. Very intense, I assure you."
"I somehow doubt that."
G clapped his hands in the air to the left side of his head to attract his peers' attention, "Um, guys? Back to the main problem? We're still cold here."
"Well, that was a necessary precaution."
"And may I ask why?"
"Trekking through rough terrain for at least a day will result in tears. I realized this the first time I came here. It also gets really warm in the afternoon."
"Wait, back up," Lampo started slowly, "you mean to say that we're going to be spending the entire day with you on this mountain?"
"Seems like it," Asari grinned.
"May the Lord bless us on our journey."
"No, stop the blessings!" Daemon swung his scepter meaningfully at the priest.
"Is there something wrong, Daemon?" Giotto asked innocently.
"Yes, many things – most of which involve us on this uncharted mountain terrain and trekking together when I could be doing something better. One such example would be securing legions of allies who would listen to my every command unflinchingly. "
"Are you afraid?" G asked suddenly, smirking.
Now, to be certain, G was normally a logical man. This meant that he did not particularly look forward to fanatical training sessions on dangerous uncharted mountainsides. However, he was also a man who disliked the Vongola Mist Guardian with a passion. In other words, G would take each and every opportunity if it meant being able to one-up the accursed Daemon Spade while defying such normal conventions of logic.
"Of course not, who would be? I just have little time to waste."
"Well, you ought to be considerate. After all, our devoted boss especially designed this course to build up your strength and stamina." G paused to let the message sink in.
"Correction," Daemon chided back, "Alaude and the brat are also on the list."
"Don't group me with your pathetic weakness of strength," Alaude said glaring at Daemon.
"Hey, Daemon's the weak one here, not me!" Lampo cut into the fray as well.
The Storm and Mist Guardian continued to bicker back and forth with occasional commentary offered by the Lightning and the Cloud Guardians. Surprisingly, Giotto did nothing to stop the conflict at hand; rather he was very amused and settled himself comfortably on a nearby boulder to watch the show. A little further away, Asari leaned forward towards Knuckle to converse in secretive whispers.
"Am I not the only one in thinking that Giotto-san just came up with that as an excuse to get us all to come out and spend time with each other?"
"Amen my friend. It doesn't surprise me that Giotto has come up with another family bonding scheme," Knuckle whispered back grinning.
Inevitably, the hubbub caused by the bickering Guardians slowly died down because of the lack of words and insults to hurl at each other. Giotto took this as his cue to stand up once again and exude an authoritative aura that commanded immeasurable respect and obedience. For lack of better things to do (i.e. continuing to insult and/or glare at each other) all the Guardians gave their undivided attention.
"Now, here is the first task of the training course. Climb this side of the cliff with nothing but your bare hands."
"You can't be serious," Lampo complained.
"No," Giotto nodded his head knowingly, "I'm dead serious."
"You will be when I'm through," Daemon said through gritted teeth. He did not like the workout that loomed ahead of him one bit.
Slowly each of the Guardians made their way to the rocky wall. Those who opposed the entire notion of family bonding-training time grumbled much more in comparison to the ones who were okay with it.
"Hey Mist Guardian!" G called down. "Make sure you don't fall, it would be a terrible loss."
"I have a name too you know."
"Hey Daemon?—"
"It's Mist Guardian to you, brat!"
Lampo rolled his eyes at the man's fickle choice in names. He really never understood the double standards that seemed to apply to him. "Anyway, can you stop kicking pebbles down? They're getting in the way of me climbing."
"It's practice. Learn to avoid them, dodging is a good start. Then again, the world is better off if it were rid of one more powerless individual."
Lampo could only sigh. It seemed that the day was getting longer despite the continual passage of time. Giotto on the other hand bit back a smile. He brought up the rear (he had to make sure that nobody avoided the so-called training session) and therefore was able to hear every snippet of conversation quite clearly.
"I told you those could have killed me!"
"Guys, this really isn't the best time"
"Children, do I have to come down and instill the wrath of God?"
"Not my God."
"Daemon…"
"Hey who threw that?"
"Wasn't me."
"G, when I come up there you'll regret ever knowing me"
"Too late."
In the course of two-plus hours, the Guardians taxingly heaved themselves over the side of the rocky precipice. Thankfully, no number of slippery rocks, dangerously (and strangely accurate) falling boulders, attempted murders, and insults could stop these men from their goal of reaching the top.
"So, Giotto-san, what's next on the list?" Asari asked, curious. He seemed unaware of three pairs of eyes glaring at the back of his head, willing him to keel over, dead.
"We should all take a break!"
"And?" G motioned his hands in a cyclical motion to facilitate the coming of more tasks to complete but was met with…
"Well, I haven't planned that part yet."
Cue the face palm from G, the wide eyes from Lampo and Daemon, the glare from Alaude, and the smiles from Asari and Knuckle.
"You haven't…" G took a deep breath in an attempt to prevent himself from yelling at the man whom he considered his best friend – scratch that – make that his youngest brother.
Willing his face into one of solemn skepticism, he continued, "You mean to say that you had us climb this mountain first—"
"That's right"
"—and when we finally reached the top—"
"Yes?"
"—you say you have no idea what the next step is?"
"Exactly!"
"Oh dear," G buried his face in his hands for the fifth time that day (the first four were made during the trek to the uncharted mountain). Sometimes he really wondered what enabled the Vongola to function properly. Oh right. Him – the only beacon of sanity… or so he thought.
"Well," Asari started, "considering that we're already up here, we might as well keep going."
"Indeed," Knuckle agreed, "it's already past noon and we should at least head towards the more forested part over there to get some shade from the sun."
"Besides," Giotto took this as his moment to reassert his sensibility, "the trek down to the mountain – if we go the way we came – takes at least three times the time it took us to get up here."
All eyes turned towards Giotto as he finished his comment. The Vongola boss shifted the weight of the knapsack from one shoulder to the next uneasily.
"Really?" Alaude ventured, seemingly unfazed.
"Yeah."
"That's illogical."
"Unless you want to jump, but I don't recommend that."
"Wise choice."
"Why thank you."
'I was being sarcastic…' Alaude thought to himself. The taciturn young man irritably realized that his boss was one who took things only at face value. Well, surely he wasn't going to be the first one to complain out loud.
Bored with the conversation at hand, Lampo began to stroll at a leisurely pace towards the forest.
"While you lose you minds in the sun, I'm going for shade."
"Guess we should at least start looking for things like firewood if we're going to be settling here for a while," Asari added.
"I call the job of watching over the fire after it's made," Lampo called back. A hand darted out the grab Lampo's cranium very securely and turned the green haired man to face the rest of them.
"Oh, hi Daemon."
"You're not going to be watching any fire. Get firewood like the rest of us."
"Then let's split up into groups," Giotto called out. "Daemon, you go with Lampo. Alaude can be with G… Asari and I will be with Knuckle. Let's meet back here later. It goes without saying that if you find food or something, you should bring it back."
"Can I switch partners?" Lampo complained while raising his right hand high – his left was trying in vain to pry his head from Daemon's firm grip. Seeing that he was being ignored, the green haired man frowned and sulked after Daemon. Each group parted ways to complete their second daunting task.
After walking for several minutes and gathering quite a few small branches, Lampo's boredom-induced thought process struck a jackpot long abandoned.
"Hey Daemon?"
"Hmm?"
"If the boss has all our clothes in the knapsack that he's carrying… then why in the world are we running around topless while Alaude gets the benefits of upper-wear?"
Daemon stopped in his tracks. Lampo was not so lucky in pulling the brakes. He ran right into the Mist Guardian, fell backwards and dropped all his hard-earned branches in an unseemly manner.
"Hey! Don't stop so randomly!"
"You're right…" Daemon thought over the matter for moment. "That fool of a boss must've been too terrified to confront Alaude about the subject. Pathetic."
"It still doesn't make it fair, you know."
"We must strip him of his iniquitous privilege!" Daemon declared with a fist pump into the air.
"And how do you suppose we do that?" Lampo twirled the smallest branch around in the air and looked up at the illusionist.
Daemon Spade grinned wickedly.
"I have a plan."
Meanwhile, in another forested location, G and Alaude decided that it would be better if instead of collecting firewood, they searched for food instead. Even though G was the best sharpshooter around, when it came to getting food, he had some minor difficulties.
"So, which of these fruit-berry-things were edible again?" G asked, eyeing the suspiciously white orbs glinting from within the bushes. Not too far from it were grapelike clumps of blue-black berries.
Alaude gave an inaudible sigh, "The orange ones."
"And these are?"
"Poisonous."
"Of course."
The continued gathering the fruits in silence. Unused to the intensity of the quiet, G tried to break the silence.
"So the white and dark ones can really kill you, huh?"
"Would you like to try?"
"No, just curious."
The silence lingered for a little while longer before Alaude obligingly continued the conversation, albeit somewhat grudgingly.
"The black ones are privet berries and the white ones are baneberries."
"How bad are they?"
"Well, privet berries can lead to excessive vomiting. The baneberries result in acute stomach cramps, headaches, vomiting, general delirium and probably death."
"So if worse comes to worst, I can still try the privet berries."
Alaude raised an eyebrow and stared back at the Storm Guardian.
"Pardon me?"
"Nothing, don't mind me."
"Right," Alaude deliberately avoided thinking about what the earlier comment was meant to be about because he honestly didn't care. Really. Still, he made mental notes to check the color of his food that night, just in case. Looking up from his work, he saw G examine a branch of black berries, different from the first set. However, the redhead tossed it aside.
"What are you doing?"
"I thought those were poisonous?"
"Those were elderberries."
"Oh, my mistake," G picked up and dusted off the questionable fruit and held it up to Alaude. "Five second rule?"
Alaude only rolled his eyes and shrugged.
In the meantime, in yet another location of the forest, the final trio made their way through the forest. Luckily for them, one particular member of their group had hiked through the uncharted mountain.
"The pond should be up ahead. We could catch fish up there."
"Good thinking, Giotto-san."
"What about the firewood?" Knuckle asked curiously.
"Odds are, Daemon and Lampo are the only ones actually doing what we asked," Giotto mused.
Asari chuckled, "Despite their noticeable reluctance, it always seems to happen that way, doesn't it?"
"Yes, although I'm getting a strange feeling that they're up to no good and planning again…"
"Is it your hyper intuition?" Knuckle asked worriedly.
"Doesn't really take a genius to know that they're always up to no good," the blond man deadpanned, absentmindedly rubbing his ears.
They reached the pond soon after their conversation quieted down. Luckily for them, Asari brought along his two short swords. Needless to say, it facilitated the retrieval of food. Considering the fact that Giotto had been to the mountain several times, the entire fishing process was relatively uneventful and they surprisingly managed to catch enough so that everyone was able to munch on a scrumptious sea creature. Upon returning to the prearranged spot at the edge of the forest, they saw the dancing flickers of a small fire. The other four had already arrived and sat around the fire, slowly feeding it small branches.
"Took you long enough," Lampo called out lazily.
"I see you started the fire," Knuckle commented, gazing at the flames.
"It would have been easier if Giotto was around though," G added, puffing on a cigarette.
"G," Giotto reprimanded, "Put that out, already."
"I promise not to burn the forest."
"I'm all for it," Daemon smirked. "Please continue smoking, I don't mind really."
Twitching slightly, G gave a sidelong glance at the illusionist before tossing the remainder of his cigarette into the fire.
Daemon gave a dramatic sigh, "Oh, and here I was hoping that I would be entertained with a bonfire tonight."
"In your dreams, freak"
"I may just have to resort to that."
"Now, now guys cut it out," Asari strode over in order to prevent them from lashing out against each other again.
Rolling his eyes at the men squabbling next to him, Alaude directed his attention to his boss.
"With all due respect, Giotto, do you mind telling me how to get off this mountain? It's getting irritably noisy."
Looking back towards the barely setting sun, Giotto replied, "Well, I'll tell you tomorrow, it's close to night and wandering around like that is a bad idea."
"Do you take me for a weakling?"
"Not really."
Alaude blinked before muttering to himself, "Not… Really?"
But before he could command the attention of the Vongola boss again with an awe-inspiring comment, the said man shoved a leaf-wrapped bundle of fish into his arms.
"So, since you're the most able one of us when it comes to the kitchen, do you mind preparing dinner?"
"Actually, I –"
"Good!" Giotto clapped his hands together contentedly. "I knew we could agree on something!"
Alaude contemplated that he could seriously use some of those privet berries right about now. Maybe some in his fish…?
Unbeknownst to the two men, a pair of green eyes watched intently, waiting for the perfect moment to give the signal to his partner in crime to put their diabolical plan in action.
"If I had a knife and running water—"
"Asari can lend you one of his swords. If it helps, there's a brook, a little ways from here."
Alaude stared back at his boss in muted resentment. The man gave him no loopholes to not complete the job and that was frustrating for one who usually had his way.
'A brook and fish cleaning?' Lampo thought to himself. This could work out better than they had planned.
Nudging Daemon's elbow, they passed knowing looks and waited for Alaude to wander off to complete the task of making dinner. However, they needed to excuse themselves in order to attend to the matter,
"Um, we'll be leaving for a moment," Daemon said, standing up beside Lampo.
"Oh?" Knuckle raised an eyebrow, looking amused.
"Yes, we have… very…important things to settle."
"Like what?" Giotto looked up from his work of building up the fire.
"It doesn't matter," Daemon finished curtly.
"But Daemon, you just said it was important," Giotto smiled sweetly, "therefore it does matter."
"Not to you."
"So what are we talking about?" Now Asari's curiosity was piqued too. G didn't even bother looking up from separating the fruits they gathered.
The intensely inquisitive and saccharine gazes of the three most amiable Guardians were intimidating. But Daemon was never going to cave in to such pathetic simple tricks. Oh no. If they wanted the information they would have to beat it out of him. Just who did they think they were? So what if they were Guardians of the Vongola family, it didn't matter because he was one too and there was no way that he would ever even come close to te—
"Alaude needs to be topless like the rest of us so it's fair."
Oh right, he forgot about Lampo.
THWACK.
"Ow! Jeez Daemon, what was that for?" Lampo asked rubbing his throbbing head. He was sure there was going to be a bump from where the scepter hit.
"Blabbing."
"Now that you mention it," Asari mused, "Alaude-san is the only one who still has upper-wear."
"Any reason?" Knuckle queried.
"When it comes to Alaude, he's got an unpredictable temper if it comes to messing with something he might care about. So I try not to push it," Giotto responded, resting his cheek on his palm.
"Weakling," Daemon mocked.
"But… I like where you're going with this. Can we help?"
"Count me out!" G spoke up suddenly and held up his hands defensively in front of him. "I refuse to be subject to an early death brought upon by messing with a sociopath. Besides, think about it. He's the one cooking. Would you really want to mess with him?"
Knuckle and Asari chuckled awkwardly at the thought.
"How about this?" Giotto offered. "We offer you our unconditional support while you carry out the task."
"That's the same as not helping us," Daemon pointed out bluntly.
"Well, at least you know we have your back."
"Theoretically."
"Of course not, that would be unsupportive."
Daemon quirked his lips to the side as he looked back at his still smiling boss. Grabbing Lampo by the back of his collar, he turned and dragged the protesting man with him. For some odd reason, everyone looked at G once the pair's retreating figures were no longer visible.
"Don't look at me; I had nothing to do with this."
"Bet you 500 lira that they can't do it," Giotto laughed. (1)
"Bet you 1000 that they succeed only to be chased down pitiably," G responded.
"That's surprising," Knuckle chuckled. "You have an unusually high amount of faith in them."
"No, I just have faith in the fact that Alaude will demolish them regardless of the outcome."
At the brook, Alaude sneezed for the third time. Eyeing the coat that lay next to him he frowned.
'Maybe I shouldn't have taken it off so that I could wash the fish.'
His eyes returned to his work, there were only two more left clean. Noticing that his sleeves were sliding back down, he splashed his hands to clean them somewhat. Rolling the sleeves back up, he brushed some strands of hair away from his eyes. Once again, he proceeded to clean the remaining fish. Halfway through finishing the last fish, he felt the unusual feeling of someone watching him; however, he made no outwards signs to show that he noticed. Placing the last fish in the pile, he rinsed the blade and his hands and shook his hands expertly to rid himself of unnecessary water.
A rustle sounded behind him in the bushes. Alaude glanced back. Two dark figures came at him. He barely had the time to stand as he threw himself to the side. Water sprayed into his face as he looked up to see his attackers and his eyebrow rose, yet again, in mystification.
"Lampo …"
"How're you doing?" the green haired man strained both his laugh and smile.
"…and Daemon?"
"Yo," Daemon raised a hand in greeting, his face impassive.
Compared to Lampo, the illusionist was much luckier. When Alaude had darted to the side, the one thing that the partners-in-crime failed to consider was the fact that they could miss and fail. Since Lampo was the first of the two to charge, he ended up getting the full brunt of the fall and landed face first into the brook. Atop his splayed body, Daemon landed in an undignified manner but redeemed himself by shifting to sit comfortably on the other man's back.
"Is there a reason you charged at me?"
"Nope," Daemon continued. "Just felt like giving a running hug."
"Running hug?"
Alaude shifted his gaze slightly to look at a terrified Lampo who had been for the past few moments trying desperately to blend in with the moving water currents.
"And you?"
"I swear I had nothing to do with it! It was all Daemon's idea!"
"Thanks for bailing, brat."
Alaude shifted his gaze back and forth between the Lightning Guardian and the Mist Guardian. His confusion from earlier had given way to annoyance. Annoying things tended to make him angry. Stooping slightly he wrapped the cleaned fish in a new layer of foliage and the two men behind him took it as their opportunity to stand and get out of the brook.
Pushing the bundle into Lampo's arms, Alaude said disinterestedly, "I'll give you the benefit of the doubt this once. Take this back to the others while I deal with this thing here."
Lampo nodded quickly and scurried away as fast as he could. Alaude on a demon's rage was to be avoided at all costs. Forfeiting a partner in crime was just a mild payment if it meant keeping the sanctity of his own existence. He never stopped running until he saw the flickers of orange-yellow light up ahead. The green haired man noted slightly that it was already getting dark. He had to warn the others of impending Alaude.
"Guys we have a problem! Alaude's going to murder Daemon for trying to push him into the brook," he finished breathlessly.
"Sweet, you owe me 1000 lira."
Lampo eyes widened at the blasé attitude that the others digested the information. Betting was the last thing he expected. The others looked up to him thoughtfully.
"Did your plan work?" Asari asked innocently.
"Not really. We missed and landed in the brook instead. I think Alaude's just venting pent up frustration."
"Nope, you owe me 500 lira."
"But Alaude's still chasing them, so technically I'm still right."
"Tell you what, we pool our money together and split it evenly."
"I'm not falling for that one again. Nice try" G replied.
"Too late you agreed to it"
"Since when?"
"People!" Lampo cried out. "Someone is getting murdered as we speak! Are we not going to do something about it?"
The four men glanced at each other…and shrugged.
"It's Daemon."
"He'll be fine"
"A little workout to the death never killed anyone."
"Amen, child."
"By the way," Giotto added, "pass us the fish. We might as well cook it while we're waiting for them to come back."
"I can't believe it. And you say I'm the lazy one."
Not too long after all the fish had been skewered and placed enticingly over the flames, a clashing of metal on metal could be heard coupled with the violent cracklings of plant life caught in destructive battle.
"Oh, here they come!"
As if on cue, the two figures burst forth from the darkness of the woods. If the others had not been so alarmed at their appearance, they would have realized the comical quality of the fight. Daemon was defending himself with his scepter against Alaude who was striking repeatedly with a pair of handcuffs. At that moment a second pair was retrieved from his pocket. Alaude clamped the two open loops onto the scepter, and wrenched the defensive weapon from Daemon who fell back from the force.
"Not that I like to be defenseless, but why did it take you this long to think of that?"
"I was biding my time"
"You didn't think of it, did you?"
"Tonight, I kill you."
"Hold up a second!" The two men looked up to see their fellow Guardians standing.
"Why?"
"Isn't killing him very tiring?" Asari tried.
"Not at all."
"I thought you didn't like making messes?" Knuckle added.
"I'll make an exception this time."
"Need help?" G asked holding up Asari's other short sword.
"G!" The others all clamored and worked to sit on him lest he do more damage.
"Alaude," Giotto ventured amiably, "don't kill him on an empty stomach. Let's eat dinner first and then we can consider organized murder."
"Hn."
An Hour or so Afterwards:
"That meal didn't taste so bad after all!"
Alaude frowned slightly, "What were you expecting?"
"Honestly?" Daemon smirked, "I thought you'd poison it."
"Well, I can always arrange that for you."
"You guys can't seem to stop with the death threats, huh?" Asari sighed.
"They're not threats, Asari," G corrected, "they're promises."
"What pity," Knuckle lamented out loud, "It seems as though all my attempts to inspire safe arguing has been clean forgotten."
"Uh Knuckle," Giotto cut in, "I think it caused more damage than you think."
"Really?"
The rest of the gang chose to remain silent at that particular moment. None wanted to answer in full honesty but none wanted to blatantly lie either. It just seemed too cruel. Unanimously, they mentally decided that it would be better to let the priest remain in his happy world a little while longer.
"You know what?" Giotto said suddenly. "In order to commemorate our family's mountain bon—I mean training time, let's name this place."
"Giotto," G started, "you don't just name mountains. People, okay. Pets? Sure. But mountains?"
"Let's call it Death Mountain," Daemon piped up suddenly.
"Oh, not you too!"
"But, it's not really deadly," Lampo mused lazily.
"Sure was to me," Daemon responded, annoyed.
"Daemon, that's not a good thing," Knuckle said, looking quite disturbed.
"Why don't we name it that?" Alaude asked. "That way, I can always remember it as the day I destroyed the illusionist."
"No. You can remember it as the day you almost destroyed the illusionist."
"I just haven't fulfilled my promise yet."
"So…. What you're all saying is that only brave souls will venture in here as a result." Asari pondered aloud. "Those who do come will be able to prove themselves worthy of inheriting the legacy of the mountain, right?"
"What legacy?"
(Badger, Badger, Badger, Badger, Mushroom, Mushroom…)
KitsuneFreak: You cannot believe how happy I was to be able to finish this chapter. The legion of exams was killing me and all my ideas had to be stowed away in the dark recesses of my mind. I was so happy that I made this chapter extra long! Sorry if it was disjointed, I typed in 10minute intervals over the course of many days.
(1) If you didn't know already, the lira had been swapped over for the euro and the exchange rate was hard to find (no surprise there). So in loving admiration of the origin of Hitman Reborn, I set the imaginary exchange rate of lira to be equal to that of Japanese yen. That's roughly 100 yen per dollar and I'm rounding off very generously by the way.
For those who haven't done so already, I recommend story-alerting any of my ongoing stories mostly because I cannot guarantee any predictable posting rhythm.
I hope you enjoyed the chapter~!
R&R!
