Training From Hell

Next day...early morning...

Gokudera came to a rocky area outside Namimori at 6 am, with a breakfast of just five bananas and warm tea.

He was told 'light breakfast or you'll puke' and they'll handle lunch.

'Welcome to Boot Camp.' Gokudera gawked at his teacher. She's fucking huge! And...she's a nun? But what nun wears combat gloves and combat boots? And that habit has a very high slit! Not far from her, was the CEDEF Boss and Reborn. 'I heard of you from Juri. You aspire to be a future right-hand man, correct?'

'Hai!' he answered ten-hut.

'You are high level in intellect and culture, but you're frail and weak when a right-hand man must be competent and equal to their boss in strength and competence that should the boss get inconvenienced or on a business trip, it's a right-hand man's duty to keep the organization and a bunch of idiots together!' Big Ma'am boomed with all her authority. 'He must command the same respect and for that, they must be trusted first so we'll address your sole weakness...look at you, you're a twig!' Gokudera winced and flinched in shame as well, he is very skinny when most boys his age are somewhat more meaty than he was. 'One good hit, you're as good as shattered glass. Out of the question!' she barked, her voice like a striking whip in the air going 'wha-pack!'

'Hai!'

'Juri! Come forward!' Big Ma'am commanded as from the trees, there's Juri, his boss who came out of the woods.

Yesterday, she wore a cute orange dress that's very flowy and empire waist, good for summer, but it also showed how big she was for thirteen when most girls in town are an A or nothing.

But while she's hot, why is she wearing revealing stuff?! Sure she wore elbow pads, knee pads, combat gloves and boots and biker shorts, but what the hell is that top?! Even if her ensemble is all-black, there's no way in hell a top like that is fuckin' legal in society. CEDEF Boss ain't too happy either and looked constipated with her choice in clothes.

Yeah, it's a turtleneck spandex top, but there's a large diamond cut half of her assets are out! A mere movement, he'll see taboo!

He tried to focus elsewhere.

No fat on her abdomen at all he could see her curves. Her defined waist and belly so flat without looking bony that would show the ribs. Her legs very shapely that fully-showed a pear-shaped body type. It would take discipline to look that good! There were signs of muscle, because she's a fighter who trained under this she-hulk.

'Fight me and show this guy what we expect of him! Hand-to-hand!'

'Hai!' and Juri lunged at Big Ma'am. Her fighting style was clearly MMA with acrobatics mixed in, but it was a style dedicated to breaking one's body to mush. They can hear the strength of her blows and see how fast she was which was hella amazing for her age. Interestingly but also to their relief, no nippy-peek-a-boo.

But despite all that, all Big Ma'am did, was parry and block her blows with her eyes closed without moving an inch from her spot.

Holy shit.

'W-wow...' Iemitsu was wide-eyed. 'All that yet Juri can't make her budge an inch...' his daughter is a very skilled fighter. She can take on grown mafioso by herself with the strength of her blows strong enough to crack skulls and yet... 'Just how on earth, did you train my kid?'

'Experience.' said Big Ma'am as she signed for Juri to stop. 'I've lived years in the battlefield, faced many people...and incorporated all that in my teaching. So no student of mine will make mistakes their elders made that cost many of my colleagues a limb, a sense or worse, their lives. Its the duty of the elder to always make sure the next generation is stronger and learned from the past to succeed in their futures.' she told Iemitsu before facing Juri. 'Now, I will fight back. Prepare yourself!'

'Hai!'

And with Big Ma'am fighting Juri...poor girl fought like her life was on the line unlike earlier and the old biddy did NOT pull her punches that by the end of it, Juri was black and blue. But she never made a meep but her injuries damn look bad. This was also the first time Gokudera has seen a thoroughly battered female he was left shaken when its all over.

'Well, with Juri's talent, by the time she's twenty she'll reach 1/2 of my battle prowess. And that, is high praise.' said Big Ma'am proudly with an armfold. 'She is the most talented out of all students I ever had.'

'Juudaime, you OK?!' Gokudera choked out in worry as Juri staggered upwards, her face showing no emotion.

'Meh, long used to this.' her face is bruised purple yet forced herself to talk normally. 'It hurts a lot but you cannot show your feelings post-battle whether you win or lose, especially if you lose...' Juri told Gokudera seriously. 'If you show defeat on your face, it will give your enemy power over you as well as pleasure. You will also lose respect.' she lectured. 'Moreover, had this been a fight to the death that's normal on my jobs, a true victory means you must make sure your enemy is totally dead. Winners who let their guard down...get a fatal hit out of spite. They'll take you down with them, or they kill you first after playing possum, knowing help is on their way.'

'Oh...'

'In hand to hand, that is what I expect of you for your age.' Big Ma'am told Gokudera. 'I will pound muscle and skill into your twiggy body. I will be a lot harsher on you as you'll start at age 14 as opposed to Juri's age 6 years ago. So I'll be staying at your apartment this summer.'

'Hai!'

'We'll begin immediately! Follow me!' and the two ran off somewhere.

'Juri, you alright?!' Iemitsu fretted over his daughter who spat blood on the ground.

'I'm OK. Like I said I'm long used to this.' said Juri as Reborn healed her with his flames. 'Maria training is a lot harsher as we cannot be a burden to our Qwaser Partners. Marias must support in all ways imaginable, a sentence Big Ma'am embodied and taught to all girls in Sqole as weak marias get the short end of the stick if caught that death is preferable. I got Maria Training until I was ten. The easy part was Qwaser Training. Learning, Controlling and Creating Nitrogen and how to use it. It was so easy those three years felt like I took a vacation even if I was told I must keep up my body training.' she sighed wistfully.

'Now she tells us.' said Reborn wryly. Damn nuns are brutal...

Come to think of it, he may want to spar with her in his adult body if only to keep his title as the strongest arcobaleno at night.

The coming days, were tough and hell for Gokudera who learned what Big Ma'am Field Studies is all about, and for progress sake's, Reborn heals him when he's knocked out cold so he'll wake fresh as a daisy and keep coming. Being a Neophyte-Level associate, Gokudera is not privy to certain things just yet.

But when Reborn sparred with Big Ma'am...

...he was furious with himself.

xxx

'Reborn hasn't come home in days huh?' Iemitsu remarked, having tea with his breakfast when he's used to pure coffee. Breakfast was steamed fish, poached eggs and mizuna with steamed mushroom salad with homemade dressing with their bowl of rice and shellfish suimono. Their pickle for the day is rakkyo.

'Well he's furious with how low he fell since becoming an Arcobaleno.' said Juri. 'You can't exactly maintain your shape with a body like that.' she snorted. 'His pride took a huge hit.'

'Ouch.'

'Well, don't comment on that within his hearing range if you don't wanna be a human pretzel.' Iemitsu shuddered at her words as Reborn will certainly do just that to you. 'He's so angry these past few days, so don't mention taboo and keep acting normal daddy. So no getting drunk until he soothed his pride.'

'Well...assassins and fighters are entirely two different things you know.' said Iemitsu wryly. 'Assassins only have a single goal, kill you. Thus they won't waste much time and effort as sneaking in and getting out are the hard parts. Fighters like yourself are a different story. You go down and dirty until the last enemy is dead.'

Cue a grenade coming into their dining room which Juri immediately turned into an ice cube.

'Gyahaha!' came a child's obnoxious laughter. 'I found you, Reborn!' and its a kindergartener in a cow-print onesie...and she KO-ed him.

'Daddy, this child will seriously die if he meets that guy as he is right now.' Juri stated flatly, picking the boy up and slapped a circuit on the forehead. 'I'll have him live a healthy diet while under a puppet state. He clearly didn't eat healthy.'

'Ahhh, really, if parents hear my child eats vegetables, they'll be jealous of your mother and I.' Iemitsu chuckled, playfully swiping an imaginary tear from his eye. 'I'll be leaving back to your mother when DNA Results are out to close your case tonight.'

'Mm. Who is this kid anyway?' Juri dangled the boy before him by the scruff of the onesie.

'I was hoping he would be your Lightning Guardian when he grows older so for now, you raise him.' said Iemitsu. 'Nono intends to hold the fort until he no longer can, to give you and those you chose time to grow but realistically being he's 69 now, you have until high school. And as there's no ideal in Namimori, we had to choose him for you.'

'...you gotta be kidding...anyway, demand living expenses from his family for his expenditure. Clothes, shoes, his upkeep, etc. I'm not doing this for free. What am I, an idiot?'

xxx

Third week into training...

In Meteora, in a dark hallway, a person in black leather clothing lined with white crosses got mail from anonymous. All that can be seen, was their spiky deep honey-blonde hair and their reddish-brown eyes. Half her face and her neck is obscured by a high scarf. Her gender is also obvious, dressed like a nun befitting an Athos female member.

There will be a large scale attack in St. Mihailov School where Iron,
Copper and Neodymium teams are stationed at by Athos and the latter
by Koya Temple. The Adepts are coming to the lake behind the school.
Friedrich Tanner will be there, along with his brother the Cobalt user,
Oxygen and Hydrogen as support. The counter will be under Big Ma'am
commanding these three teams.

Interested? But come alone. Your job is assassination of the Tanner brothers.
Subtlety is extremely important as he is a Crest-Maker who can easily escape.
Happy Revenge. Look under your bed for the job remuneration.

The leather-gloved hand shook, nearly crushing the flip-top phone in their hand.

As much as this person want to do this, this person cannot act alone still. Storming over to an office where a man with graying hair stood before numerous monitors.

This man is the Head Priest of Meteora, Clifford CJ Crawford. He's a middle-aged man with graying light blue hair, green eyes and a perma-sneer on his face. He too, wore a variant of the uniform with cross-shaped ear plugs in his ears.

Tapping into his shoulder to get his attention, her handheld communication device and her phone were held up before his eyes.

Who sent this? Is this legit? Can I go? CAN I KILL HIM?!

The priest read the two messages and sniffed in disgust as if smelling dung.

'So, a lot of heretics are coming, one of whom committed a grave sin unto you.' it was CJ who recruited Lee May in the past as a Child Soldier and she already fit right in, having lost a sense...her voice. A naive, but broken girl whose reason to live, is revenge and defiled her body in a bid to keep her flames of hatred going. Thus her past was like an open book to Meteora.

However!

'How did they get here? Hacking into a Meteora-issued phone and if this is true, left their pay under your bed in your quarters?!'

Haven't looked into that yet, information is more important.

'Hm. I will track down this phone even if its likely that after sneaking about like a rat, they destroyed what links to your phone.' said CJ, taking the girl's phone and crushed it in anger. 'While we rejoice that justice is coming for a heretic who sinned upon a child of god, this breach of security is not forgiven. Get a replacement phone in logistics and make sure no bug remains in your room. Take Leon with you for support. Crest-Makers are a tricky opponent indeed. This is also a chance to gain intel on the Sword of Maria in that school. Normally, they'd be kept in the deepest pits of Athos to keep them away from the Adepts, but what are they thinking, letting them out in the open?' he grumbled.

'Focus on the assassination. It will help to ensure the Sword is not taken by killing all of them, Lee May.' Lee May nodded before leaving for the grounds where there's a young man looking after large wolves. She took out a handheld morse code device and began tapping in a pattern.

'Oho? Is that right? I can already see how upset CJ is right now.' said the young man who has a cross-patterned blind over his eyes. Thus for a mute to talk to a blinded, morse code is a must. 'By the way, how much was given for the job?' several more taps. 'What? Just how expensive, did that heretic get in the European Union that they paid you that much?' he was shocked before sighing. 'Lucky girl. Twice the luck in one day. Let's prepare before we depart to ensure absolute success. Let's meet at 6 pm at the docks.' and the two parted ways.

xxx

'So, you hired Silent Magnum as an insurance.' Big Ma'am thought as she drove a car with Juri in it.

'Hai. Being a Crest-Maker myself under that person, I know how tricky we are as opponents.' said Juri. 'I have my own designs and so does he. To fight a crest-maker, the element of surprise and trick-and-trap come hand-in-hand.'

'And where'd you get the money? Last I checked his bounty is huge, not even we of Athos is willing to pay that.'

'There's always Stock Trading~' Juri grinned. 'It took me several days to amass that money and it paid off, even if it meant giving Meteora some more resources, but alas, there's a price to pay if we want stuff.'

'Sad truth.' Big Ma'am grumbled. 'Taking Adepts out isn't such a bad idea now. I just hope its enough. Meteora is anything BUT subtle.'

'Mm. I got my costume ready so no one knows me, but I'll have to trouble you a bit incase they demand information about me.'

'We can always play that card.'

'Ooh, that too!'

xxx

Gokudera hasn't much to do, as Big Ma'am and Juudaime left for a job, so he has some time off to rest and recover. Damn, Big Ma'am's training is fuckin' brutal...

Moreover, Juudaime had him babysit a kid since no one's at home since CEDEF Boss left back for Italy after getting a DNA Test done to close the case regarding her. Juudaime ain't happy Vongola chose an INFANT to be her future guardian and prefers one who can fend for themselves. But as the kid is already arranged for, she has to take him in and CEDEF Boss will feed bullshit to his wife so Lambo can be at their house under Juri.

Well...what's this glowing thingy on his forehead?

'He'll behave as long as he has it. I had to smack that on him as Reborn is in an extremely foul mood. As long as he has it, he'll obey anything you say so you have no problem.'

So yes, Gokudera made the kid busy by reading books to learn something, and come to meals on specific times, and sleep early. Problem solved, as he rests and recuperates at home. Oooh, his back...there's gonna be a boot print over there.

xxx

St. Mihailov Academy, the Chapel...

Big Ma'am paid it a visit with Juri who wore a hooded nun habit with a fox mask over her face.

'Big Ma'am.' Father Yuri Noda greeted. But he stared at the smaller one walking behind her.

'Are they well-hidden?'

'Yes, in two separate locations to be sure.' said Yuri. 'Tomo is looked after by Teresa while Mafuyu is under my care. They understand the necessity if they want their normal lives intact as normal schoolgirls. But it seems at least Tomo can use her half of the Sword with competence? How is she doing it?'

'She is this one's Maria.' Big Ma'am patted Juri's head. 'But this one's existence is a secret, so her identity cannot be compromised. While she can take Soma from a distance from Tomo, she is also responsible for all those other circuits for her safety, and instructing her through a dream through a circuit on her head that activates when she sleeps.'

'I see...that just redefined a brand of learning.' Yuri laughed weakly. 'Wish we can do the same for Mafuyu.'

'Tomo's half of the shield specializes in defense while Mafuyu has the offensive half. Once Mafuyu masters hers, the Sword will be alright.' said Big Ma'am. 'Are the teams informed?'

'Yes. We prepared for days.' Yuri said grimly. 'Leave the swords to me. The Sanctuary will be in your hands.' and the two females departed. "...who is that girl that her identity is classified...?" he wondered as he went into his quarters to think about it.

xxx

In the school dorms...

Martyr Sasha was in deep thought.

A few days back, Yuri gathered all of them.

'A big storm is coming.' he said. 'Thus the orders are for the Sword of Maria to be split and hidden before the storm arrives. So before then, take as much Soma as possible from your marias. Be full in order to sustain a long fight. Doing this will take days for the sake of the girls because they cannot be vulnerable prey on that big day.'

So yes, it was...quite awkward to prepare for this day, and they are all forbidden from spending even a single drop of their precious milk.

Mafuyu, his Maria is currently in a hidden location. Tomo is also hidden elsewhere as incase of discovery, they can't take the whole set. He sighed.

Tomo shows signs of Soma drainage every day and they have no idea why, how and when. Due to that, her breasts shrunk by three inches. It doesn't help that because of her power, they can drink from her too though its mostly Katja doing it, because Hana was so small.

On the big day however, a masked nun descended from the sky...to stop two idiots.

'Have you fools forgotten your orders?' she spoke using a voice changer.

'That foul beast dared touch what's mine! Stay out of this!' Katja snarled.

'Haa?! You nearly killed Mutsumi!' Fujiomi spat in anger as with him is an injured girl.

'Hooo? I have no idea you like men...Friedrich Tanner.' the nun sneered. 'Look at you, clinging on a man's leg!'

'Wait, what?!' Fujiomi yelped, stunned as 'Mutsumi' stood up with a smug smirk on 'her' face.

'Heh, you think I'm doing this because I wanted to?' 'she' scoffed in contempt. 'These yellow pigs are just too damn easy.'

'Aren't we racist? As expected of a German like you.' the nun snarked back as 'Mutsumi' changed into Tanner. 'You infiltrated this school as Nitta the History Teacher, enabling you to grasp the behavior of the Neodymium Team and Katsuragi Hana to pit these two into killing each other.'

'You mean...?!' Fujiomi squawked out in horror.

'Yup, you've been played.' the masked nun deadpanned flatly. '...dumbass.' Fujiomi squawked and Katja seethed at being played at. This, she could not forgive at all!

From afar, Leon and Lee May watched while the girl dosed herself with drugs just to stay calm.

'That informant was right.' Leon muttered in astonishment. 'And Lee May, overdosing on drugs is bad, can you not calm naturally?'