Another Path Part 34 : That rescued the octopus
Here's the new chapter. A bit late, but I think I'm getting better at following my schedule, no?
… No?
Anyway, 999 reviews? You guys are doing this on purpose, aren't you?
The Carcassa must have privileged stealth over fire-power, because the half a dozen mafiosi ready to abduct Ienobu were easily dispatched with only Tsuna, Hayato and Mukuro. Takeshi stayed obediently behind with Skull (who was trying his best not to freak out), and Ienobu never even realized what happened.
They called the DC to help them transport the unconscious criminals to the Hibari mansion to be interrogated. Tsuna tried to send Takeshi on his way then, but the taller boy was unyielding.
"I told you I'd stay until everything was dealt with, so I'm sticking with you. I can stalk you if you try to avoid me."
It was delivered with such a sunny smile and merry tone that Tsuna was left agape. He couldn't even tell if it was a threat or a warning, only that Takeshi would follow through; the determination in his eyes made that abundantly clear.
At least Takeshi hadn't asked about the multicolored Flames that had flared during the short-lived fight, despite looking very interested. That was likely not a discussion Tsuna could keep postponing forever.
Kyoya and Chrome had the 'interrogation room' ready when they arrived – the Carcassa leader must have been sent to the police. Probably. Hopefully. In any case, he was no longer there.
Once more, the two Mists locked themselves in with the bound mafiosi while everyone waited outside the – soundproof, huh? – room, but not before Kyoya noticed Takeshi and sent Mukuro a flat, unamused look. The illusionist replied by rolling his eyes before they looked at Tsuna in tandem with long-suffering annoyance.
He had no idea what the hell that was about, but he was innocent! And since when did those two get along so well?!
As if he didn't have enough problems right now, no sooner had the door to the interrogation room been locked that Kyoko-chan, Haru, Ryohei-nii and the personification of all things ornery and onerous barged in.
… Maybe Tsuna was being harsh, but Kurokawa sported an expression that didn't bode well and had been tap-dancing on his nerves for too long. He didn't feel like being generous with her; he had warned her twice already, he didn't want another confrontation.
"Did you find them?" She asked, as brisk as ever. It sounded like Tsuna's previous admonition had had no effect in the long-run. Shit.
"Yes." He replied through gritted teeth. "We'll soon have the location of the last headquarters, and we'll be out of your hair as soon as it's dealt with."
"I want to come."
Oh hell no. "It will be dangerou-"
"I can help deal with the villains to the EXTREME!" Cut in Ryohei-nii in what was probably meant to be a helpful offer but in reality only worsened the situation.
"If we can be of any help, we'd like to contribute." Added his sister with earnest eyes, while Haru nodded emphatically. "You've taken such good care of us so far, it's time for us to repay you."
The three of them were kind, but those were definitely not Kurokawa's intentions. "As I was trying to say, this will be very dangerous." Stressed Tsuna in an effort to deter them. Just like Takeshi had threatened, they could follow them with or without Tsuna's assent. "The people we're about to face are probably the best fighters they have. You can't come if you're not useful in battle."
"I know how to fight!" Bellowed Ryohei-nii, pumping a hand in the air. "I can be EXTREMELY useful!"
"And what is he doing here?" Demanded Kurokawa with a dismissive nod in Takeshi's direction. "Don't tell me you're going to let him follow you; unless you're about to enter a baseball tournament, that monkey's useless."
Takeshi tilted his head, eyes sharp as a knife but mouth still smiling – when was it not? "Wow, that's harsh! Do we know each other for you to say that?"
That caught Kurokawa by surprise, for all the time it took her to grow angry. "We're in the same class you brainless monkey!"
If the boy was upset by Kurokawa, he didn't show it. Takeshi chuckled infuriatingly, tapping the tube holding his baseball bat (wasn't it a bit too long, though?) on his shoulder. "Oh, if you say so. I guess you're not interesting enough for me to remember you."
Kurokawa looked like she was about to tear open his throat with her blunt nails; it only made the provocative smirk on Takeshi's face spread. Tsuna heard Hayato and Kyoya sigh behind him, despite the imminent threat of violence.
"Let's not fight here!" Haru stepped in physically between the two. "We need to keep all our aggression for those terrible criminals who deserve it!"
Haru's words prompted Kyoko-chan to take Kurokawa's arm and voice her approval, while Ryohei-nii seemed even more motivated to help get rid of the Carcassa.
Tsuna was beginning to realize that he wouldn't be able to keep anyone here away from the battlefield when the two illusionist got out of the sound-proof room.
The Sky blinked. "That was fast."
"Well, my dear Chrome has learned a lot since her first interrogation." Announced Mukuro like a proud father – Chrome beamed behind him. Then the older Mist seemed to catch the mood of the room. "Did we miss something?"
The effort it took Tsuna to hold back a sigh could have moved mountains. "Everyone wants to follow us to the Carcassa base." He revealed, resigned. "Did you get its location?"
"Of course." Scoffed Mukuro, who hadn't seemed surprised in the least to learn of all their future tagalongs. "Do you know of a place called Kokuyo Land?"
As it happened, he did. Kokuyo Land was yet another remnant of Namimori's aborted expansion plans. "The old theme park? I thought it was destroyed by a landslide or something years ago?"
"According to our 'informants', many of the structures still hold under the layers of mud and dirt. They set up camp there."
Great. Kokuyo Land was massive, as one would expect of a theme park, and they had no idea how much of it had withstood the landslide. "Do you have any idea how many people to expect there?"
"Between one and two hundreds, depending on how many already returned to Italy, with a majority of Flame-users. But the good news is that they were not sure if the tipoff about Vongola blood in Namimori was accurate, so most of the Famiglia's heavy hitters didn't make the trip to Japan. We only have to deal with underlings and low-ranked leaders – no Boss or important figures. They're more dangerous than the Momokyokai, but not overly so."
Tsuna supposed that he should count his blessings. They had a location, and it was far from the town. They also supposedly wouldn't face too powerful an opponent, although he was worried about their numbers. Two hundred Flame-users were a lot, even more so when they didn't know the land or how far the base extended underground.
They were four experienced fighters. He could probably also count on Chrome, who was new, but seemed to learn fast under Mukuro's wing. But Skull hated violence, Ryohei-nii had never fought in a life-or-death situation, and Kurokawa, Kyoko-chan, Haru and Takeshi had no battle ability what-so-ever. The DC was also out, except for collecting unconscious or injured enemies, because they didn't even know that Flames existed, and Tsuna didn't want to get on the wrong side of Vindice – again.
But he also didn't have a choice. They couldn't let the Carcassa do what they wanted in Namimori.
He looked at the ten people – the ten kids – that would follow him into this mess, whether he wanted them to or not, and hoped that everything would turn out fine.
"Fine, everyone can come, but if you don't know how to fight, you stay at the back and follow instructions. And I can't promise you you'll come out unscathed."
()()()()()()
So far, their punitive expedition was going alright.
They had found an entrance to the Carcassa headquarters in Kokuyo Land rather easily, and dispatched the first few guards they had encountered without raising any alarms. Hayato had been banned from using his explosives underground, but a good old Flame-coated punch did the trick almost as well.
The base was built much like a maze, but Kurokawa's suggestion (more like a order) of splitting up had been rejected – just because the first fights had been relatively easy didn't mean the ensuing ones would be too.
Of course, Kurokawa being the- the annoying girl, to stay polite, that she was, she hadn't taken the rejection of her plan well.
"What do you mean, it's 'safer that way'?!" She had hissed, louder than Tsuna would have liked, but that ship had sailed when he had agreed to bring Ryohei-nii anyway. At least she kept mock-whispering. "You got rid of those weak monkeys easily; I could have taken care of them myself! So it makes sense to make two or three teams to cover more ground!"
It didn't matter that they had used the element of surprise to jump the mafiosi, or that patrolling guards were usually the weakest of the bunch. "It's too risky. We're sticking together." Stated Tsuna in a no-nonsense tone.
"If we do it your way, this could take days! I'm not staying in this creepy place that long!"
"Hana, maybe we should listen-"
"No." Cut off Kurokawa without even looking at Kyoko-chan when she tried to appease her. "This is ridiculous. You want to waste time checking every nook and cranny of this damn place together with your friends like a coward? Fine! But I'm not staying with you; I've got better things to do than wait for you monkeys!" And she made off in the direction Tsuna had planed to explore later, once they would have cleared what was beyond the other corridor.
Kurokawa had been at the back of the group, with all no non-fighters, so Tsuna and his friends didn't manage to reach her before she yanked open the closest door and came face to face with a dozen people playing cards, armed to the teeth and very surprised to see a young girl in their base.
The little group moved fast, but it wasn't enough to stop the man at the back from punching a button on his phone.
An ear-shattering alarm filled the whole headquarters.
Worse, the two mafiosi closest to the door pulled their swords out faster than Tsuna, Hayato, Kyoya, Mukuro, Chrome or even Ryohei-nii could reach a frozen Kurokawa, and were already aiming at her.
The Sky didn't like the girl, but he didn't want her to die either. He saw the swords come down in slow-motion, unable to stop them.
They were a few inches from Kurokawa's neck when a third blade, shimmering with light blue fire, intercepted them both with a loud clang.
Time seemed to stop, and Tsuna's eyes followed the heaven-sent katana until they fell on Takeshi's form.
The tube that he had previously thought to hold a baseball bat laid open on the floor, and Takeshi – who had been at the back since Tsuna didn't know he could fight – stood next to Kurokawa, protecting her.
He was visibly straining against the combined strength of two adults, though, so Tsuna and his friends wasted no time to come to his aid and fend off the mafiosi. They were outnumbered, but they were also stronger and knocked their opponents out quickly, Takeshi taking care of the two swordsman almost on his own.
"You can fight?" Asked Tsuna loud enough to be heard over the deafening alarm that still blared, choosing to tackle the topic of Takeshi's swordsmanship before he rounded on Kurokawa's idiocy. Behind him, his friends bound their fallen opponents in ropes that Hayato had conjured from seemingly thin air, and Kyoya gave an additional hit to any who twitched too much.
Takeshi shrugged, trying to look nonchalant when Tsuna could tell he felt a little smug. "I asked Dad to give me lessons after you visited the restaurant. I still have a lot to learn, though, and I have no idea where the blue fire came from. Is it like yours?" He asked with a tilt of his head, looking mildly curious and satisfied instead of freaking out like he should have.
True enough, from what the Sky had observed during the fight, Takeshi had exceptional reflexes, but his technique, be it with his blade or his newly-discovered Rain Flame, was lacking, and he used his katana often more like a baseball bat than a blade. At least compared to the only other swordsman that Tsuna knew.
(Maybe that wasn't a fair comparison, since Squalo was allegedly the strongest swordsman or something, but the only fighters with remotely similar weapons he knew were either also in the Varia, or were Kyoya and Mukuro, so...)
"Yeah, it's like ours. We don't really have the time to explain right now, but I'll tell you everything once we're out. Can you stay with the girls and Skull in the meanwhile?" Asked the brunet, unwilling to question why their visit to Takesushi had prompted Takeshi to take up a sword. "With our presence known, we can't rule out attacks from behind, and I'd prefer someone who can fight to keep a close eye on them."
"No problem!" Takeshi granted him a smile as sharp as the edge of his sword.
This conversation dealt with for the moment, Tsuna turned to the biggest issue.
"That was fucking stupid, Kurokawa." He stated stonily, for once using some of Hayato's vocabulary. The situation certainly warranted it.
The uncharacteristic vulgarity shook the girl out of the shocked state she had been stuck in since Takeshi caught the blow aimed at her neck (she was so unresponsive that Kyoko-chan and Haru had had to manhandle her out of the way of the battle). She turned on Tsuna, all bristling fury and snarling defensiveness. "How dare you?! None of this would have happened if you'd listened to my plan! Just because you're an incompetent monkey doesn't mean-"
Smack!
Kurokawa raised a trembling hand to her reddening cheek, eyes wide in bewilderment.
Tsuna wasn't faring much better. He had wanted to slap the girl for weeks now, but had always held back. This time had been no different, and he had not been the one to give Kurokawa the long-awaited smacking.
That had been Kyoko-chan.
"... Wha-"
"That's enough, Hana!" Yelled Kyoko-chan loud enough to be heard over Kurokawa and the alarm. Tears threatened to fall from her eyes, but she stared unwaveringly at Kurokawa as she scolded her. "You have to stop disputing everything Tsuna-kun says! He knows better than you – they all know better than you! This is not a time where we can afford to play around or argue with our only friends! This. Is. Not. A. Game, Hana, and you have to learn to let more experienced people when they know better!"
"But-"
"No 'but's', Hana! You've done enough damage already!" Cut off Kyoko-chan with a furious glare at her now cowed friend. She turned towards Tsuna and bowed deeply. "I'm so sorry, Tsuna-kun! I knew that Hana was not making life easy for you, but I had no idea it went so far; I should have stopped her before she endangered you and herself."
Tsuna floundered to get her standing straight again. "It's alright, Kyoko-chan! As long as it doesn't happen again, everything is fine! Nobody was hurt – thankfully – and you don't have to apologize on her behalf!"
"Kyoko is right, that was EXTREMELY stupid!" Butted in Ryohei-nii with a disapproving stare Kurokawa's way, his booming voice easily overcoming the alarm. He bowed next to his sister. "I'm sorry for Kurokawa's actions to the EXTREME!"
"No, really you two, I tell you it's fine-"
"Maybe the girl herself should apologize for her actions, instead of her friends." Remarked Mukuro snidely, putting an end to Tsuna's panicked fumbling.
Everyone turned to said girl (with no little amount of glee on the part of Tsuna's friends). She huffed indignantly, but with much less conviction than earlier. "Why should I have to-"
"You would have died!" Interrupted Kyoko-chan once again, her eyes still wet, but her gaze unyielding. "You would have died, and Ryohei-nii would have stayed kidnapped, and I would be alone if not for them, Hana! Get over yourself!"
And miraculously, Kyoko-chan's words seemed to get through to Kurokawa. Probably because the scolding came from someone whose opinion she valued, someone she cared for, instead of Tsuna's, whom she didn't even respect a little.
Kurokawa's pursed her lips, before she deflated, lowering her head and the red imprint of Kyoko-chan's hand on her cheek – the other girl had not held back. "I'm sorry." She muttered. Mulish, but genuine nonetheless. "I'll behave. It won't happen again."
"... Good." Said Tsuna, a bit wrong-footed by her sudden about-face. The screeching alarm finally proved useful by giving him a way out. "We shouldn't stay here; someone's bound to come check what happened. Let's move on."
This time, they stayed in formation. Tsuna in the lead because of his Hyper Intuition, with Kyoya at his left and Hayato at his right, Mukuro and Chrome a step behind. Ryohei walked a safe distance from the vanguard, protecting the front of the non-fighter group made of Kyoko-chan, Kurokawa and Haru with Skull in her arms, while Takeshi took the rear and intercepted any stray mafiosi that tried to attack them from behind.
The budding swordsman took very little time to get the hang of his Flames (life-threatening danger supposedly helped, according to all of Verde's studies that Tsuna had read, but this still seemed a bit too fast), and took to gleefully knocking out criminals left and right with his Rain Flames after witnessing Hayato do the same.
It was a tad concerning. But then again, Kyoya, Hayato and Mukuro were also smirking like evil masterminds, they only lacked the demented laugh (well, except for the illusionist, who kufufued away with wild abandon). Maybe it was a requirement to be one of his Elements, because a quick check of his bonds had revealed a brand new Rain Flame burning almost cheekily.
Nope, not dealing with that right now. It was already becoming increasingly unlikely that they'd be able to teach Ryohei-nii to handle his overflowing Sun Flames on his own before they left, Tsuna didn't want to think of all new people he'd have to bring back to Caeruleus.
Chrome, Skull, Takeshi (because with how sticky he already was, the Sky doubted he would balk at following him to Italy)... They had been four when they left, they were going to be double that when they returned. Shoichi was going to flip out.
At least they had the rooms, thanks to the renovations Byakuran had pushed for. Tsuna had the niggling feeling that the older teen had foreseen all those new arrivals. The other Sky always seemed to know too much...
"OODAKO!" Screamed Skull, breaking Tsuna's musings off and leaping from Haru's arms to reach the squirming giant red octopus they had just found while the Sky was distracted. "You're safe! Wait a minute, the Great Skull-sama will get you out!"
The poor creature had been bound by all eight tentacles and restrained to a shallow pool of murky waters. Clearly no thought had been expanded for the octopus' wellbeing.
A few mafiosi arrived while Tsuna figured out a way to free the animal without harming it further (it bucked menacingly in its restraints when he got close, until Skull explained that he was a friend, proving that the creature was intelligent enough to understand human speech), but Takeshi and Kyoya took care of them in a frightful display of teamwork.
In the end, Hayato barged in and dissolved the bindings with his Storm Flames. The octopus wasted no time shrinking to the size of a watermelon (like Skull had said he could, what the hell?! And why hadn't it done so before?!) before he jumped on Skull's helmeted head.
"They have the same haircut!" Yelled Ryohei-nii in amusement, looking from Hayato to the Arcobaleno.
Of course, the Storm didn't take that lying down. "What the fuck does that mean, lawn-head?!"
And Ryohei-nii rose to the bait. "It EXTREMELY means you look like you have an octopus on your head, tako-head!"
"What are you saying to Hayato-kun?!" Haru barged in, indignant on her 'fiancé's' behalf. "Hayato-kun looks the very picture of a dashing knight, and octopuses are adorably cute anyway! Just look at Oodako!"
Everyone threw a dubious glance at the red octopus whose default expression somewhat made him look angry at all times. But Skull was obviously preening in the fact that his pet had been praised (which couldn't have happened all that often), so nobody argued Haru's controversial opinions.
Some kinds of madness you didn't want to poke, even with a very long stick.
Clearing out the rest of the Carcassa headquarters went along much more easily and cheerfully afterwards thanks to Oodako.
Having found his beloved pet again, Skull had regained all the merriment he had lost upon setting foot in Kokuyo Land and was chatting almost carelessly with the others who didn't fight. Kurokawa wasn't all that enthused, but she didn't raise a fuss, while Haru and Kyoko-chan clearly loved the distraction.
Moreover, although Skull was making a lot of noise and wasn't aggressive, the octopus didn't have the same moral restraints. Whenever an enemy tried to get close to the non-fighters, it grabbed them in its tentacles – which could apparently extended at will without its body having to grow – and bashed them against any available surface until they fell unconscious.
Now Tsuna understood how Skull had survived in the Mafia so long, and why the Carcassa had seen fit to separate him from the octopus. The creature was visibly loyal to the Arcobaleno (understandable, given how much Skull loved it and how well he treated it), and made for a daunting opponent with its ability to shift size and its eight tentacles.
Anyway, Oodako's presence allowed Takeshi and Ryohei-nii to participate in the actual battle instead of only protecting the others. With seven fighters on the front, the Carcassa didn't stand a snowball's chance in hell.
They eventually found the leader in a rundown auditorium, flanked by a half a dozen men with what was probably the rest of the Carcassa flunkeys in the background. A Sky and his six elements, the worst kind of lineup to face, according to all Tsuna knew of the Mafia.
Unfortunately for them, Tsuna was also a Sky with six of his elements (he didn't have a Lightning here, but he had two Mists, so it evened out somehow), and they could crush the subordinates without much of a thought or an effort. They all focused on the leaders with a corresponding Flame (Chrome taking on the Lightning guy) and threw themselves into the fight with everything they had.
And gods, without the element of surprise the Carcassa were weak.
Sure, they were in another league from the Momokyokai, but their Flames were nothing to brag about, their techniques were pretty flimsy and they had no teamwork at all! Even Ryohei-nii and Takeshi, who had met them recently, had better synchronization with Tsuna and the rest than their older, more experienced opponents. They spent more time getting into each others' way than supporting each other!
Despite the swarms of small fries, the Carcassa Cloud got knocked out by Kyoya within a minute, and the Mist fell only a few seconds later. Tsuna kept an eye on their three newest members, which explained why his own opponent lasted so long, but Takeshi was clearly toying with the enemy Rain like a cat with a mouse (the boy's technique had grown by leaps and bounds as they advanced, it was more than a little frightening), and Ryohei-nii kept trying to goad his axe-wielding opponent into a boxing match through the use of enthusiastic yelling and heavy-handed punches through the man's guard while distractedly knocking out any lackey that got too close. Chrome already had the Lightning completely under the thrall of her illusions given the way he was screaming, and everyone gave her the same wide berth as they did Mukuro.
Nothing to worry about on that front, concluded Tsuna as he dealt the finishing blow to the Carcassa leader.
Hayato kneed the poor enemy Storm between the legs before Tsuna could move to assist him – they were still underground so he couldn't use his explosives, making him the only one without a weapon, but it didn't seem to be too much of a hindrance after all.
The battle died out as abruptly as it started, with Takeshi defeating the last guy standing with a grin and a Rain-infused hit with the guard of his sword to the neck.
"That was EXTREMELY underwhelming." Noted Ryohei-nii, looking disappointed of all things.
Kyoya grunted as he pulled out a military-grade transceiver (where the hell had he found that? Looted from the Momokyokai or the Carcassa's bases, maybe?) and contacted his Discipline Committee to collect the criminals.
… Maybe Ryohei-nii had a point; after how long they had waited and everything they had gone through to get here, this was terribly anticlimactic.
"Let's get outta here." Offered Hayato with one last kick to the closest Carcassa member lying unconscious on the ground.
He didn't expect to be jumped by a giggling Haru as he went through the door of the auditorium. "Oh, Hayato-kun, that was amazing! The way you delivered justice to those punks was awe-inspiring, like a prince of legend!"
She kept marveling at Hayato's heroics, ignoring the boy's frantic attempts to escape her grip on his arm. Tsuna took pity on his friend. "We shouldn't stay here too long." He interrupted her, gently prying Haru's vise-like fingers off of Hayato (he was sure there would be marks). "We're all tired and we still have things to think about, like what happens next."
Keeping everyone happy and off each other's throats as they left Kokuyo Land went much easier than when they arrived, but Tsuna couldn't relax yet.
He had to explain Flames to Takeshi (who was as likely to let that go as Hayato was likely to start a career in cooking), find a way to deal with Ryohei-nii's inability to hide his Flames on his own, keep an eye on Kurokawa (who seemed to have gotten Kyoko-chan's point, but Tsuna knew from experience that you could never be too careful with the spiteful type), call Shoichi to tell him everything, and arrange the travel back home with more people than they left, at least one of which who didn't have papers.
Oh, and he'd have to speak with Fon at one point too. He didn't want a repeat of the last time he'd left the Storm Arcobaleno in the dark, thank you very much.
Why had he thought that taking down a criminal organization would be the hardest part of the trip again?
So, the good news is that the Namimori arc is almost over, and a new character will be introduced next chapter again, so the game (and shameless begging for reviews) is back. Now then, who do you think will appear next? ;)