Allenamento. Parte I:
Fiamme, energia e volontà.
(Training. Part I:
Flames, energy and will)
Vongola was born powerful, many people say. Its first action was so great and impressive that it made several people join without hesitation.
Vongola was born with flames, many people say. Its members always had impressive skills. Vongola Primo was strong even as a teenager.
Giotto preferred to smile nervously and change the subject whenever it was mentioned. To him, it sounded too grandiloquent.
The first 'mission' he had done together with his friends did end up being one that drew too much attention, and indeed, he had used the flames on it. But unlike what people said, Giotto hadn't been strong or skilled from the start; after all, he'd had to train (that never stopped, not even when his whole family was finally reunited). And before that first mission, he had to spend six months training every day and trying to understand how the flames worked.
Six months in which, it must be said, his body was quite sore.
Italy, 1864
"Training with G?"
"He'll teach you the basics of defense, after that, it's up to you to continue," Giotto said. "Although I'm afraid you'll have to talk to him to schedule that as well. G is going to be quite busy... more than me, actually," he admitted with a half-smile. "He'll be doing his own training as well. And he'll be helping other person too."
"Is there anyone else besides the three of us?"
"There is someone else," Giotto confirmed. "Only that you'll forgive me for not telling you who them are, they asked me not to reveal their identity. They are in a... complicated situation."
Threats, Cozzato understood. Surely someone had this person under surveillance, and if the mafia found out they were helping...
He shook his head. The situation was genuinely lurid.
When Giotto finished stretching and took a deep breath, Cozzato returned to reality and looked at him curiously. It was still very early, and the fact that he had met Giotto at that time in the morning had been chiefly coincidence since Cozzato didn't even usually get up early, but he had felt somehow desperate that he hadn't been able to sleep at all and had decided to go for a walk.
"Would you like to join me?" Giotto asked. "G should go to the waterfall in the afternoon. There you can get started on your training."
"Hey, Giotto, what are you supposed to do early in the morning?"
"I just run over there," he commented. Well, that sounded somehow normal. For a few moments, Cozzato thought his friend did wilder things. "And then I climb."
Cozzato blinked.
"What?"
"Or try to," he corrected himself. "There are a few nearby cliffs. Although it's also difficult. Yesterday I fell, but luckily it was at a low altitude!"
He had fallen from where?
"After that, I try to understand how to control the flame. I've found that the one I have it's a lot like real fire. The other time I concentrated and tried to make it hotter, and it seemed to me that-"
"Giotto," Cozzato repeated. "How... No, no. Why..."
"That state I told you about," understanding Cozzato's doubts, Giotto tried to explain. "The few times I've used it, I always end up incredibly sore; barely being able to move." No matter how useful that mode was, he couldn't afford to use it if he always ended up hurt; that's why Giotto had tried to think of some option to be able to use it without a problem. "So, if I want to be able to use it, I need-"
"Strength," Cozzato understood. "You want your body to endure. No, that's the wrong thing to say. You want it to be natural for you to be in that state."
Giotto smiled at him.
"Exactly. It doesn't sound so bad, does it?"
"But..." Cozzato cleared his throat. "Is it necessary to run towards a mountain every day, then climb it, and after that even use more energy playing with flames?"
"To extreme states, extreme measures," Giotto mentioned.
G let out a small scream as he dropped the now shattered pistol. Frustrated, he sighed. It wasn't going to be that easy; he was aware of it. If he wanted to use his guns and his flame, he would need to modify them. He would need to make them resistant. The problem was, he didn't know how.
"I suppose you must have more than one, don't you? It looks to me like that one won't be operational now."
G turned back and arched an eyebrow at the pair of books in his companion's hands.
"Physics?" He cocked his head. "Where did you get physics books?"
"Long story," Elena answered. "Let's just say that pretending to run an errand for my older brother in a bookstore worked."
"Smart move," G commented. "Do you think we can find some answers with them? It's a pity there are no books about magic-colored flames that come out based on people's will."
"It's worth a try," she said with amusement.
The fourth member was Elena. In a way, she was already part of the group from the moment she decided to help get information.
G admired her courage. Doing what she was doing in her situation was not an easy thing to do. As someone who had been under the yoke of the mafia from the beginning, G understood the fear one felt. Giotto did too.
But she was like them. She had a will stronger than fear.
«"What?"
Giotto looked worried and angry at the same time. G looked at her with surprise and indignation.
"They really have too much ego to threaten you in your own house..." G commented with a frown.
"And yet you're here," Giotto said, "And yet you're here."
It wasn't a reproach; it was more like saying out loud a fact. Giotto looked at her, smiled slightly, and continued.
"You have made a decision, haven't you?"
Elena nodded.
"I don't want to keep quiet anymore. I don't want to pretend that everything is all right anymore," Elena said. She inhaled and gathered the courage to tell the following words. They still hurt a little. "You know something? I hadn't really realized how bad everything was until the accident. I was really starting to believe the others' words that I was the one who didn't understand, I was starting to act like them and follow their behavior. And I..." she shook his head, clenched her fists. "I don't want that. Not anymore." »
Elena would be one of Vongola's cornerstones. She would be their guide—one of its original members.
And she wouldn't mind saying she was a good spy.
Giotto felt his hand tremble. With that, the grip on his legs also lessened. He bit his lip as he tried to gather his strength and keep moving forward.
Although it seemed to work at first, the moisture permeating the rock due to the waterfall to the side caused him to slip, and he fell before he could get a grip again. Luckily, the water below him lessened the blow and ensured that, although it hurt, he had no serious injuries.
Giotto stuck his head out for air. He coughed a couple of times and looked back at the challenge he had set himself: climb that place, get to the top, and do it more than once.
He needed to resist that state. He needed it to be second nature. And he couldn't think of a better way to condition his body for it.
"I'm sure that hurt," he heard Cozzato call out to him as, from the shore, he extended his arm to help him out. Giotto took his hand. "The impact against the water can be just as painful as with land."
Not wanting to waste time, Cozzato had also tried to practice. At first, he wasn't even able to use his power, but after crashing his head a couple of times against a tree, it occurred to him to try to do the same as when he was a child:
Concentrate. Wasn't that how he had thrown that apple?
The bad part was that he had concentrated in the wrong place, and instead of increasing gravity where he wanted it, Cozzato ended up raising it on himself. He fell straight to the ground in a resounding thud that made Giotto turn to look at him with concern.
"Why are you both with red marks in the face?" Giotto and Cozzato turned to their right, meeting a confused G looking at them.
"A blow in the water hurts a lot," Giotto mentioned.
"One on land too," Cozzato added.
"Don't tell me," G said. Then, he looked at Cozzato with an arched eyebrow. "I hope you're not tired yet considering we're just starting your training."
Cozzato smiled. Although he was nervous, he was also excited.
"I have all the energy I need!" he exclaimed. "How do we start? Should I try to attack you first or should you-?"
"Stop right there," G interrupted. "I won't let you start like that. Your body needs to be prepared for what's coming, or you might get hurt. There's a reason Giotto stretches before he starts his crazy routine."
"Thanks for the adjective towards my routine. I put effort into it."
Cozzato blinked but nodded, and G instructed him what to do: little jumps, stretching, moving. Finally, he asked him to jog around a bit. And though Cozzato looked desperate to get started, he followed the instructions.
As Cozzato ran off, Giotto spoke to G for a moment.
"You look tired. Things didn't go the way you wanted?"
"I broke a gun. And I have no idea where to start to understand my flame," G sighed heavily. Seconds later, however, he smiled slightly. "It's lucky Elena is there. It seems to me that she has a better idea of how understand them."
"That sounds like something I need to know too," Giotto commented. "Did she mention when she was coming back?"
Giotto was aware of the situation. He couldn't ask her to show up at Piero's house every day. If any of those guys found out that Elena was seeing them regularly, she and her family members could get hurt. It was a considerable risk, and Giotto appreciated that Elena was so determined to help with this crazy vigilante group idea despite this.
"In a few days. She wants to try something, and for that she needs to get the material."
In the future, no one would know that Vongola managed to understand how the flames worked thanks to the research of a single person. One whose discoveries made Alaude smile, for, after all, he had been beaten fair and square in the field of information and understanding of the flames (even if he had the advantage due to his involvement with his former organization). A person who managed to make Sepira herself look surprised at all the theory performed and laugh with joy.
The first person to understand that they were more than just rings and colored flames were Elena.
G blinked and looked at the ring curiously.
"Are you sure having this won't cause you trouble?"
"I exchanged it for another similar one I found among the jewelry my mom doesn't wear. As long as its owner doesn't go on a mission, there shouldn't be a problem," Elena answered. "And just yesterday they went out on one, following their pattern, they shouldn't go out on another for about a week. Plenty of time to be able to test something."
"Understood," G put on the ring, just as she had asked. "So, I just have to try to get a flame out?"
"Just like you do with yours, indeed," Elena nodded.
G followed the instructions. He did the same as he usually did when he used that ring that was now his.
"This one... it's supposed to work, isn't it?"
"It does," Elena answered. "Are you trying?"
The ring was static. Not a single flame was coming out of it.
"I do, but-"
"Interesting... Now G, put yours on too. And repeat the procedure. Don't take off the other ring, please."
G looked at her curiously, and following what was said, he put on his ring, right next to the other one, and repeated the action.
This time, his ring sprouted his red flame. The other remained as usual.
"There's more behind," Elena looked with sparkling eyes at the flame and the rings. "There's much more."
"May I ask what is going on?"
"What is happening, dear G," Elena answered, "That ring works, but the times I've seen it work, the wearer used green flames."
The books didn't contain the answers but served as a guide. The most important were those that mentioned the word 'energy'. Although the concept has evolved since then, the basics of that time served.
Energy is needed to make, transform or move something. There are different kinds of energy: mechanical, motion, etc. This simple concept was enough for Elena to start experimenting.
If energy was necessary for something to be possible, then the rings also needed energy to function and draw a flame. But what kind of energy? Was there anything that could be equated to 'will' to understand them?
And even more, why did one used to feel so tired after using flames for a while? Why was it that there were different types of flames? Why did some rings work and others didn't?
Based on these questions, she tried to come up with answers. She tried a whole series of reactions to create energy: with chemicals, with fire, with her friends' flames, who followed her instructions. On one of those days, she almost burned the room she was in (in fact, part of her dress ended up somewhat scorched). After that, her uncle Piero provided her with better material: clothes that didn't have so much unnecessary fabric and something to cover her eyes and hands. She had at first refused, saying that she didn't want him to spend because of her. Piero had smiled at her and told her not to worry; that was the only way he could help them.
While he was afraid that something terrible would happen to them, he couldn't refuse them help (and he was sure, Giotto, G, and she would end up doing so. Better to help them and know what they were up to rather than hear grim news with any of the three that perhaps could have been avoided if he had given them support). Piero understood, too, that there seemed to be no other way to try to stop what was happening. Who could they go to- The police? They wouldn't believe them, or they would already be in cahoots. The authorities? Same thing.
And he, too, wanted to stop it all. He was still feeling guilty about what he had done in the past.
Giotto had hugged him and thanked him. Piero just smiled and told them not to neglect their other duties either. And to please, no matter what, return safely.
Elena found it curious that Giotto's flame always seemed to cause a reaction, no matter how small: the rings could get hotter or put out what she called a sparkle. Giotto would end up looking at the ring as if he feared it would explode, and Elena with a particular fascination.
Giotto's flame was even more special than the others, she understood. The fact that no ring she brought seemed to react at all with it was another proof. Elena called that orange flame a key: it served to trigger something, but it could not reveal its full potential in the wrong lock.
Understanding that was what allowed her to continue. If Giotto's flame was like a master key, the others were specific keys, needing specific locks.
Giotto let out a little cry, Cozzato made an unconscious wince (although he wasn't the one who was hurt), and G frowned.
"Tell me again what happened," G asked him. "How come you made such an abrupt movement that you ended up hurting your neck and part of your shoulders?!"
"I just jumped out of excitement because I almost made it to the top without falling!" Giotto excused himself. "A-although it seems I did it too fast and maybe with too much force."
"Next time, be more careful," G finished, ending the improvised massage he was giving him to try to undo the knot of muscles he had. G had not been the only one who had taught Giotto something; Giotto had also taught G quite valuable things. "You can go on now."
"Thanks for the help," Giotto sighed. "As I was saying, we can't face..." even the name still gave him the creeps, "We can't face the mafia until we finish with the training, as it would be like running straight to death; but we can use this time to try to get to know them better. Understand better who we are facing."
"What do you have in mind?" Cozzato asked.
"Doing what we always do," Giotto said, and seeing the confused expression of his two friends, he tried to explain. "They already know us all over town, people and the mafia itself already know that we usually walk all over the place to say hello or talk a little. We will continue to do the same, but now we will look for them. What are the signs they leave to each other? How do they delimit which 'territory' belongs to them? How do they introduce themselves to people to go unnoticed, but at the same time intimidate them? If we know all this, perhaps we can better understand how they work."
It was not a bad idea, G and Cozzato thought. Walking all over town was already their routine; no one would find it strange to see them. But to have a better understanding, they should also have eyes where they had them: in the city, with the merchants, with the nobility. It was not an easy thing to do.
"I can help with that," Cozzato commented. "My family knows several people. I can try to talk to merchants or some administrators who helped my aunt get her current house. I'll keep an eye out for anything I see."
"And we have somehow covered the aristocracy as well," G said. Elena deserved the sky and the stars, no doubt about it. Piero also provided them with information and rumors when he heard strange things.
"Then we will proceed like this," Giotto confirmed. "We get all the information we can, and when we are ready..."
"We go into action," G completed.
After saying goodbye to Cozzato and while they were running back home because it was raining heavily, G and Giotto noticed a curious artifact near the entrance that made them stop and walk towards it, no matter if they got wet. It was in an area relatively far away from the trees and seemed to have something around it (some sort of protection so that something wouldn't escape, perhaps). It looked like some sort of small metal tower, which had on top a...
Was that a ring?
"Not that close!"
They were both pulled back, just as thunder rumbled and the light of a flash of lightning came into view.
"Be careful! If the lightning strikes too close to you, you might feel the shock and that is too dangerous." Elena scolded them. At that moment, she didn't seem to mind getting wet.
"Elena, what are you-"
Before Giotto could ask the question, the sound of thunder near them made him scream and hug G. And before G could say anything, another thunder even closer made G jump and return the gesture. Elena looked at them with an amused smile.
"Don't worry, everything is under control. The discharge shouldn't reach here, and in case it does, the wood around it will cut it. The rain will extinguish any fire that may be caused."
"Why do we hear thunder so close?" Giotto asked, visibly nervous, and even squeezed G tighter, who only let out a little pained expression. If G was asked, Giotto was getting stronger, thank you.
"I'm attracting the lightning this way, so that it falls directly into the ring," Elena explained. "As soon as I saw that it started to rain, I placed everything in the hope that it would be a storm. Luckily it was! And just when my parents will be gone for the night, so I don't have to worry about coming back for them to see me. Everything is perfect."
Suddenly, there was a lightning flash too close. The three of them turned. Seconds later, the sound of thunder.
The lightning struck directly into the tower. The energy discharge seemed to stagnate for a few moments in it.
Giotto and G pressed closer to each other in apparent fear while Elena stared at what was happening, hoping to find the reaction she was looking for.
From the ring placed on the small tower, for a few seconds appeared a slight green flash. It was quick, but the three of them managed to see it and recognize it: The flame that looked like lightning; the green flame.
Elena could not help but scream with excitement. The girl waited a few seconds, made sure it was safe and ran to pick up the ring, returning with them as a huge smile creased her face.
"I've figured it out!"
"Have you figured it out?" asked Giotto and G in unison. Elena nodded.
"I've figured out how the flames and the rings work."
Everything was simple: Each person possessed a specific type of energy running through their body; this energy was the one that was expressed every time a flame was used. The rings were a catalyst whose material could react or not to the energy that each person possessed. For a ring to serve to bring out a flame, its material had to be a conductor of the energy emanating from the person.
"I used lightning energy to test with the green flame, and it worked," Elena explained as she finished drying her hair and covered herself with her blanket. Sitting nearby, G and Giotto were also wrapped in blankets. In front of the three of them, on a small table, were placed some small cups of hot tea, which Piero had brought them after he had scolded them for standing in the rain (really, none of them were complaining: they were wet, but in return, they had some of Piero's special tea). "With the red one, I tried to recreate small explosions. The force of rain or a waterfall served for the blue one. They are different types of energy, which need a special type of material to be able to expand more easily. Those are the flames, and that's what the rings are for."
"Are you telling me that the energy inside me is like little explosions?" G asked, "And Lampo's is like lightning?"
"In fact, I think they are even stronger, because you manage to materialize the flame for a longer time. In addition, of course, we also have the will factor. The energy inside you is released based on will," Elena explained, "And that's also why you can end up tired after using them. After all, you are not only using your own energy, but you are materializing it; you are giving it a physical form based on a feeling. We have the mental and the physical together. That's impressive, you know?"
Giotto and G looked at each other and nodded. Then they looked at Elena.
"Elena."
"Yes?"
"Can we hug you?"
Elena blinked. She tilted her head, almost uncomprehending, but nodded. "Of course. You are my friends, after all..."
Moments later, Elena let out an exclamation of surprise as she felt both boys hug her excitedly. They were even laughing with joy.
"You're a genius!" Giotto exclaimed. "A real genius!"
"I-"
"No excuses," this time, it was G who spoke. "You have discovered the whole secret behind it. To say you're amazing is an understatement."
"I still don't know what kind of special energy use that strange mental flame you say exists, nor that of Giotto. Also, I still don't know the components that make the material special, and-"
"Elena," Giotto interrupted her, and smiled. "Give yourself credit, will you? Thanks to you, we now know that everything is based on energy and that there is more than one; they react differently. And I assure you, I don't think we could have pulled something like this off without you."
In the end, the three of them ended up laughing and somehow motivated. Elena had opened a big door for them, through which they could achieve many more things.
While G was discussing with her the possibility of melting a ring (as he remembered, his father had done to create that strange bullet) and generate some component that would allow a gun to withstand the power of a flame, Giotto looked up at the ceiling. The light from the lamp blinded him for a few moments, so he covered it with his hand.
Energy. His energy. That was the flames.
If he were using his energy to fight, then he wouldn't just need strength. He would also need endurance. To be able to use it for an extended time. How could he train for that?
He let out a small sigh, and at that moment, something caught his attention—a sudden idea, but one that would have incredible significance.
The idea from which his most extraordinary technique would emerge.
To his eyes, his hand seemed to be surrounded by light, and the effect reminded him of his flame. Bright and full of his will. But if there was light, there was also darkness.
If flames are made of energy that runs through us whose base is will, what if we change the will to something else?
The following day, Giotto had another big surprise.
When Cozzato had saved him again from falling with his gravity powers, Giotto didn't expect that when he turned to thank him, he would see him with a red flame on his head.
"You can enter into that mode too!" Giotto exclaimed. The mode of increased strength and senses. The state that used your energy to function. How was that possible?
Cozzato looked down.
"I don't like the look on your face right now."
"Well... "Cozzato cleared his throat. "Let's just say I almost ruined everything."
In a moment of desperation for not being able to control his powers as he wanted, Cozzato ended up unleashing them more than he would have liked. Excess of will, he would later say. Somehow, he concentrated too much gravity on a single point, and from one second to the next, he created what for him was a strange black whirlwind that began to sweep everything away.
It had to be said that this possibility was not in the books about gravity that he had read.
That strange whirlwind, that peculiar black hole, pulled him in as well. And in those few seconds that for him were hours, Cozzato had felt his heart stop. He was being sucked in and couldn't move. The blackness was swallowing him. He felt his body begin to ache too much, and his breathing quickened.
There, he thought he was going to die. Or maybe he was dying already.
He didn't remember how it happened, only that he screamed and wished with all his might to continue living. That's when it happened:
The energy exposure. As if the chains that guarded his inner strength broke.
"Cozzato!"
"It was an accident!"
"From what you're telling me you almost died!"
"I know!" Cozzato sounded scared for a few seconds, then he sighed and shook his head. "I know... But luckily going into this mode gave me the strength I needed to override that weird hole or whirlpool, I don't know. And when I turned to see myself in the water, I had a flame on my head, just like you!"
"It seems that getting that state is really risky..." Giotto whispered with apprehension. Cozzato felt bad and approached him with a half-smile.
"Don't look so gloomy. At least I can help you more, can't I?"
To be about to die. As if being so close to your end activated a series of reactions inside you that allowed you to release that strange state, to release all your energy at once, that you would scream your last will before you-
Giotto blinked.
They had named the flames as dying will flames because the first time he had used them, it had also been in a situation of death. It seemed that entering that mode followed more the rule of being about to die and saved you by giving you the excess strength you needed to continue living.
Or maybe, it was instead that you were saved because you had excess willpower.
"A note must be made then," Giotto commented, trying to reassure himself. "Entering the hyper dying will mode, is dangerous and no one should attempt it lightly."
Giotto had also been the one who had named that mode. After all, hyper meant excess and that state for him was an excess of will.
Who knew that name would continue to be used in future generations?
"Cozzato," Giotto called him when an idea came to his mind. "Now how much can you control gravity?"
"In this mode? Much more," Cozzato answered with slight doubt. From the sparkle in Giotto's eyes, he knew he had thought of something. "As you could see, I am now able to concentrate gravity on a single point without so much trouble. Although I don't know for how long I could do it."
"So, let's do something," Giotto smiled at him. Cozzato swallowed. "When I climb, you increase the gravity on me. All the way up until I reached the top."
"Eh?!"
The dying will flames were used as weapons throughout that period which in Vongola's history is known as the origin of the mafia. They were something dangerous, something that only caused destruction. That is why Vongola, with the help of his closest allies, tried to stop the mafia from using them for their selfish ends. After all, each of its members had experienced what it was like to suffer for them.
However, it was not until Secondo's reign that the flames were truly brought under control. It was Riccardo who achieved what at first seemed impossible: That the mafia would stop using the flames, that they would not talk about their existence, that they would remain as mere rumors.
After the bloody war that caused Vongola Secondo to be crowned as such and his subsequent hunt for the renegades, the mafia was afraid. They feared that, if any of them used the flames, they would be killed, their families destroyed (as happened to them, those who brought the beginning of the end). Secondo, unlike his predecessor, did not hesitate to eliminate anyone who broke the pact of silence. Anyone who was a threat. Reasons for acting like this, he had plenty of.
Riccardo dominated the mafia to the point that no one dared to act for fear of his wrath, which caused the knowledge they had acquired to be lost, that the flames, once a symbol of the entire mafia, became a symbol of Vongola. (Although other families could also use them, like the Cavallone, but they, allies of Vongola, had that right).
In some strange way, that also caused an unprecedented peace. The mafia could not act freely. Their most destructive power was forbidden. And no one could do anything because, after all, who would dare to challenge Vongola Secondo himself so openly, The Fear of the Underworld?
If you continue, you will also be able to learn about this passage of history. But patience, we have yet to learn much more.
As time went by, the flames became for most of the Mafiosi just a myth, chilling rumors, abilities that only Vongola and a select group could use. Who knows? Maybe one day they will be rediscovered for the whole mafia to use, as they were in the beginning. That, only time will tell.