Clear to cloudy
Target 50: Best for last
Geraldino, now revealed as the cosmic rain flame and Boris 'the demolisher' have begun their battle, Geraldino having picked up the mantle in the last second as Kotsu's rain guardian. Both are smirking devilishly as they clash. Boris begins the bout by trying to land a solid hit, which Geraldino blocks with his sword, Boris leaving a faint glow on the sword. Geraldino pushes the attack back with a quick flick of the sword before counterattacking, Boris punching the sword to counter, however his countering impact is severely diminished by Geraldino's rain flame.
The gangster smirks before jumping back to create some distance Boris quickly healing his wounds using his sun flame. "I think I'm about ready to get serious…" He says resting the sword on his shoulder and Boris laughs.
"Don't make me laugh! BLESK BOMBIT!" He yells clenching his fist but there's a bit of silence. Geraldino smirks knowingly.
"What's the matter? Were you expecting something to happen? Maybe an explosion of some kind?" He says slicing his sword along the ground leaving a thin ice trail as the sword is incased in ice. "FROSTBITE!" His sword changes shape in the same way it did when he fought Kotsu. He begins picking up speed as Boris prepares for an assault. He throws a punch and Geraldino simply jumps over it striking down at him, Boris blocking with his free hand but he's forced to his knees as Geraldino uses his block to set off from spreading his ice to Boris' arm. "THIS is Boris 'the demolisher'?" He says shrugging as Boris recovers still with his back turned to Boris. Boris grits his teeth ripping the ice off his arm.
"You bastard…" he says before stomping his foot. "BLESK BOMBIT!"
"I told you that won't wo-" Geraldino starts before suddenly the ground under him explodes. "You placed that when you first ran forward…" he says recovering in the air.
Boris jumps into the air making explosions under his feet for extra height and Geraldino blocks the incoming strike however when the second his fist connects it explodes sending Geraldino flying into the ground making a massive dust cloud fly out and Boris blasts himself down with another explosion. "TAKE THIS ICE WOLF! LOKOT BOMBY!" (Russian: elbow bomb) He yells crashing into him massive a giant explosion. As the dust is flung to the side Geraldino is laying with both hands on his sword of ice having blocked the strike somewhat.
"Damn… I gotta admit…" He pushes Boris back quickly recovering himself with a roll. "ICE FANG!" His sword changes shape into the longer much smoother ice sword. "You're pretty strong Boris… guess those rumors WERE true huh!?" He yells laughing almost happily running towards the brutish Russian.
"They sure are! Let's see what happens if I go all out then!" He yells and his bandages start giving off a faint constant glow and he punches at Geraldino and the second the two make contact there's an explosion. Geraldino's pushed back gritting his teeth in annoyance more than anger. "You can't negate it with your rain flame if it's instant…" Boris says cracking his knuckles.
Geraldino spits some blood to the side. "You got me there," He begins his charge again and right as Boris is about to counter-punch Geraldino stops slamming his fist in the ground making an ice pillar rise, trapping Boris' fist inside it and Geraldino spins around it slicing at his opponent again, but Boris kicks the bottom of the pillar off the ground blocking the strike with the giant pillar which he swings around like it's nothing. As Geraldino's attack is halted by the pillar Boris does an uppercut under it hitting Geraldino straight in the stomach, causing an explosion again and sending him flying back into the bubble and he lifelessly falls to the ground.
Boris makes his other fist explode destroying the pillar around it. "You put up a good fight Ice Wolf… but it's pretty clear I'm stronger…" He says holding up his fist and it starts glowing brighter and brighter. He stands over Geraldino and raises it. "I'll put Kotsukiba's hopes of becoming boss into the ground with this! YADERNOYE ORUZHIYE!" (Russian: Nuclear weapon) He punches down at Geraldino and there's a huge explosion.
"GERALDINO!" Kotsu yells worriedly, everyone having been quite stunned by the intense battle between the two powerhouses.
However Reborn simply smirks. "What are you so worried for…? You should know more than anyone how strong Geraldino is…" He says tipping his hat back slightly as the explosion clears and Boris is standing with his fist planted solidly in the ground and Geraldino standing behind him with his sword being on fire with the blue ice fire. His burning ice form.
Boris falls forward with Geraldino just standing with his back turned. "I guess we're done here…" Geraldino says swinging his sword around with a smirk. "I might've said you were pretty strong Boris… but I never said you could beat me…" He says however Boris manages to hold himself up supporting himself on his arms.
"Oi oi… who said I was done Geraldino…" Boris says getting up slamming his fists together again and it seems to somewhat dull the pain. "I'll crush you! With THIS!" He yells as his shirt rips to shreds from his sheer willpower and the ground beneath him cracks and he leaps forward at an even more amazing speed.
Kotsu gulps seeing Geraldino avoid the insane new speed of Boris, getting slight hits on him from the assassin. Though Kotsu cannot for the life of him see Boris doing anything like a silent assassin.
However Reborn just crosses his arms. "You shouldn't worry about him. As said… he's the cosmic rain flame. Beside that… the rain guardian's duty is to wash away the enemy and end conflicts as efficiently as possible," He grins as Geraldino jumps back.
"Sorry Boris… but I'm ending this…" he says turning his sword to a reverse grip. "ASSAULT OF A THOUSAND BURNING WOLVES!" He declares his sword flaming up even more and it looks to almost crack the ice with how cold it gets and he swings it once sending a massive wave of ice which takes on the form of tons of wolf-sculptures that instantly envelop Boris freezing him solid before the entire thing bursts into rain flames. Geraldino's swing ends with him having his back turned again ending in quite an awesome pose with the giant burning ice sculpture behind him.
"And I don't know anyone who can end a fight better than Geraldino…" Reborn ends.
The bubble disappears and both Zaccaria and Ywan grit their teeth seeing what this now means. Geraldino deactivates his form letting out a relieved sigh. The Cervello raise their hands. "Geraldino is the winner!" They put up the sign and the sculpture breaks falling apart. Everyone looks at it Ywan gritting his teeth while Zaccaria just seems a little grumpier than usual. "The score is now three wins to Kotsukiba, three wins for Ywan and three wins for Zaccaria! Meaning the ring conflict… IS A TIE!" They declare and Kotsu suddenly realizes that Geraldino was fighting as his rain guardian. He was so caught up in the moment he forgot. Kotsu's back in the match!
The Cervello hold out their hand. "We have anticipated this outcome. As well as the other tie outcome of 4-4-1. Since we find ourselves in this predicament we will hold a final round tomorrow! This time the entire mall, in addition to the parking lot will be the fighting stage! Everyone will participate in this battle. All three candidates and all of their guardians. The rules are simple. In order to win this battle a boss will need to collect all of his guardians' rings as well as be in possession of his own. That is all. No one can be eliminated, even if they are unconscious they are still eligible to wake up and keep fighting!"
Zaccaria chuckles a bit. "So… a smart guy will win without knocking anyone out, while someone like Ywan will need to beat up everyone to ensure winning? Sounds reasonable…" He says smirking slightly as Ywan clearly gets annoyed but there's nothing to do.
"I would expect such a tactic from YOU Zaccaria…" Ywan says spinning on his heel. "Now if you'll excuse us we will go and prepare!" He says exiting stage right and Zaccaria does the same.
"I hope you'll make the most of this chance you got Kotsukiba. Not that it'll do you any good," The cosmic sky flame says smirking happily walking out of the room with his guardians. He smirks to himself. "I told you you'd play your role Geraldino…" He says to himself mostly.
Geraldino walks up to Primo glaring at him with that creepily cold grin on his face. "What's up Primo? Looks like I'm back in the family," He says tossing the sword back to Yamamoto. "Hope you don't mind," He leans his head back slightly condescending.
Primo simply smiles. "Why of course not. It's good to have you back. It's just as I predicted in fact," He says rubbing under his nose before getting smacked in the back of the head by Reborn.
"That's a lie if I ever heard one,"
"Now then… after the final round Geraldino… we'll have to put some restraints on you… you HAVE been a bit… uncooperative lately you know,"
Geraldino just grins with a slight chuckle. "No problem. I can handle whatever," He simply says and the group begins their return to the resort.
Kotsu is walking along a bit nervously with Reborn next to him. "So… you got a plan for the battle knowing the rules?" He suddenly asks.
"Um I… not really… I guess… I'll just have to do my best… hyper Kotsu is much better than I am at this sort of thing after all," Kotsu says scratching the back of his head. He quickly receives a smack in the back of the head followed by another. "W-why two!?"
"One was for not having a good plan… figure the other out yourself," He says and Kotsu sighs, wondering if he'll ever understand the reasoning of this strange man.
"I guess… the easiest thing to do is to… have everyone gather in one place and then I can swoop in and get all the rings in one go without having to fight anyone…" he says and Reborn slowly nods.
"That's right… here's a little insider knowledge for you. All of your guardians will be split up around the mall and they'll be with the other guardians of their type. Then they'll have 10 minutes to split up before you, Zaccaria and Ywan are allowed to move out…" He says before speeding up his pace to join Primo and his guardians.
"A-alright… I'll… keep that in mind…" He says looking up wondering what the other two candidates are going to think up for a strategy…
-NII-
Back at Zaccaria's apartment he sits down on the couch letting out a little sigh. "Man it's pretty tough to be bad isn't it?" He says as Ricci jumps onto the couch next to him grinning.
"Well seems like loads of people got talent for it! YOU… are NOT one of them!" He says grabbing Zaccaria in a headlock.
"H-hey… stop that," He says chuckling lightly as the rest of the team go about their routine, NM-5 repairing himself after his fight at his station, Boris already working out again, Faust lazing about, Kagetora meditating.
Barley leans against the wall crossing his arms. "So… what's the plan for tomorrow Zaccaria?" He asks significantly less patronizing than he was the day before.
"It's simply… we're going to go for the win from the start…" Zaccaria says and everyone look a little confused.
"Go for the win?" Kagetora says popping an eye open to see if he's being serious.
"That's right… here's how it's going to go…" He says leaning forward Ricci letting him out of the friendly headlock so he can explain their plan.
-NII-
At Ywan's apartment him and all his guardians are simply sitting around not doing anything really. "Ywan. Is there a strategy you prefer we follow tomorrow?" Galileo asks hanging up his skeleton on the wall.
"we can simply win the easy way, however I've grown tired of Primo and his games… using his position to choose a mere child. And that Zaccaria, while he may be said to be a born leader he is anything but in my opinion. Therefore we'll not just win, but we'll make them lose any will to fight," He says leaning forward on their coffee table.
Riccardo lifts an eyebrow. "That seems quite cruel to do to children Ywan,"
"I simply want to prove to Primo that you cannot think of this as a game," He looks out the window towards the resort where he knows Kotsu is located. "It is dangerous and letting them think they have what it takes is simply foolish…"