Clear to cloudy
Target 52: Grand Finale: Threshold
Ywan and Kotsu find themselves in what can loosely be described as a pickle, as Zaccaria's guardians all appear in the middle, with no sign of any of Kotsu's or Ywan's guardians to be seen. As such the two have made a temporary pact to deal with this situation. Ywan facing down, Barley, NM-5 and Boris, while Kotsu is holding off Faust, Ricci and Kagetora with Zaccaria in the middle. The cosmic sky flame stands in the middle just looking content as they all begin their fighting.
Ricci leaps into the air attempting to get past Kotsu from above, thinking his opponent will leap after him creating an opening for the other two, however, while barely paying him any mind Kotsu points his fork upwards shooting a flurry of cloud flames his way and Ricci's shot straight into the glass ceiling of the mall, bursting through it and Kotsu notes that the other two had thought the same presumably as they've charged straight for him. Kagetora gets his knife out, while Faust hardens his skin and the two start attacking Kotsu with a flurry of attacks trying to push him back, when suddenly Kotsu feels something from behind him and he jumps slightly, using Ricci and Faust's block as stepping stones, barely dodging Zaccaria's twin katars. "Don't think I'll stand idly by and let you beat up my guardians!" He declares happily and Kotsu is now left fighting three opponents all on his own once more as Ricci seems to have disappeared after the very first attack.
Meanwhile on Ywan's side he holds out his knife taking one hand behind his back taking a very regal pose. "Which of you three shall I dispatch of first?"
Boris grins and right as they're all about to attack he slams his fists together. "You two stand back! Boris' got this!" He yells before speeding forward winding back his fist for a strike. NM-5 and Barley both stand back the human of the two letting out a sigh.
"I kind of expected he wouldn't be one to share the spotlight,"
Ywan stands perfectly still until Boris is just about to hit him and he jumps back, perfectly straight, letting Boris hit the ground. He does a spin once in the air, to swing his knife with extra force sending a blade of sky flames at Boris in the shape of a saber. Boris puts up a block, destroying it easily. "That all you got uncle!?" he yells before stepping on the bomb he laid when he punched the ground propelling him towards the elder man, who holds his knife close as if preparing for a fencing match and he stabs it at Boris hitting him dead on with another powerful blade of sky flames this time in the shape of a rapier and once more Boris simply punches it to bits.
"Oh please Boris. I've been much more of a father to you than those worthless biological brothers of mine!" He yells smirking as Boris comes in close and once more strikes, Ywan blocking with his coated knife and the two stalemate for a little.
"That's true. But calling you pops makes this a little harder on my emotions!" Boris says quite genuine. "But right here and now I need to give it my all for master Zaccaria!" He raises his other fist. "YADERNOYE ORUZHIYE!" He yells as it starts glowing and he hurls it towards Ywan, who quickly sees it and boosts away using his knife in the same manner Kotsu uses his fork. Boris' attack misses, hitting the ground creating a rather large crater.
"I'm glad you do not hold back for my sake Boris. Because that will end badly for you…" He says with a smirk.
Kotsu jumps back, blocking behind his back with his fork and his remaining fist in front as Zaccaria's katar connects from behind and Faust's fist from in front, kicking at Faust back in order to boost himself upwards slightly to counter Kagetora's incoming knife slash, simply using his fist once more to grab Kagetora's arm preventing the strike and tossing him into Faust who doesn't prepare and the two tumble a little, with Kotsu now able to briefly concentrate on stopping Zaccaria. He spins on his heel and Zaccaria pulls back his katars smirking almost happily. "You've gotten stronger since we fought last…"
"I've been practicing," Is the simple answer he gets before the two clash again. However it's quite clear that Zaccaria's two katars are far superior to Kotsu's fork, as Kotsu keeps getting small cuts and bruises.
"Practice makes perfect! But you're FAR less than perfect unlike me!" He yells doing an insanely fast front flip coming down with a double handed cut and Kotsu blocks it by catching it in between his fork spikes.
"I may not be… but I will win either way Zaccaria," the statement causes Zaccaria to smirk.
"I'm not so sure about that. REVERT! 40%!" He yells and his two katars transform back into one, this time growing a little longer, becoming a sword and he quickly gets hold of the handle slicing Kotsu's fork straight in half as he did in their previous match, and Kotsu's eyes go wide as Zaccaria kicks him back into Faust and Kagetora, who've recovered and the three of them start beating on him, as he now can't use his fork like he did before. He gets kicked around like a ragdoll.
Meanwhile Ywan and Boris are still going at it. Ywan clearly has the upper hand with his refined swordsmanship or knifesmanship in his case, where Boris is much more sporadic and unpredictable with his explosions and rough rugged fighting style. Ywan coats his blade in sky flames once again, throwing it at Boris blocking with an explosive punch, however Ywan deflects the punch the instant Boris attempts to counter landing a solid kick in his opponent's stomach he shoots him back with a flurry of quick bullet-like knife-projectiles made from sky flames and Boris smirks as he comes to a stop. "Not bad uncle. Not bad at all," However without a second thought Ywan turns around and begins walking away. "Oi! Where're you going!? We're not done here uncle!"
"Yes we are," he says looking to Kotsu who's still getting beaten on by Zaccaria. "And our partnership is over," He says before shooting off with his knife as a rocket booster.
"What do you mean!? If you leave master Zaccaria will win in an instant!"
Ywan just smirks and holds up Boris' sun ring. Each of them got new ones with different colors of handles to signify the team they belong to. "He cannot win without this, so my victory is assured." He simply says before shooting away to go elsewhere.
Boris grits his teeth. "Dammit… this was NOT what was supposed to happen… Master Zaccaria! Change of plans!" He simply yells before bolting after Ywan followed by Barley and NM-5 the three splitting up to find opponents.
-NII-
While the match begun Ren and Rinoka had met up, running from both Riccardo and Antonio. They've entered the electronics department and are hiding in a store. "This is crazy… all these guys are incredibly strong… and I'm just…" Ren says not able to stop shaking. Having Riccardo's hostile intent on him was simply too much for him.
"R-Ren-senpai…? A-are you okay?" His companion takes the time to ask and Ren nods a bit.
"Yeah… yeah I'm good," he says looking to Rinoka who's looking just as scared as he is. He takes a deep breath realizing that he's the one who needs to protect her, so he can't waste much time showing fear. "Don't worry! I'll be right here to protect you!" He assures when suddenly the door to the store is blasted in and Riccardo enters.
"Don't make a promise you cannot keep child," the brutish man says taking a fighting stance. "I'm not much for it, but I will have to beat you up. Boss' orders," He adds before charging at the two of them. Ren manages to push Rinoka aside right as Riccardo punches at them and he kicks directly at Riccardo's fist making the older man grit his teeth. "That's some impressive strength… but you will have to do a lot better than that if you wish to defeat me!" He gives another rough strike with his free fist and Ren jumps back using Riccardo's fist as a setoff.
"I… I don't want to fight you!"
"Sadly that is too bad! On the battlefield mercy is but an illusion!" He's about to attack against when he suddenly gets hit by someone, so hard he flies across the store, knocking down almost every shelf there. Ren frantically looks to see if there's another enemy, however it's Marco in his dying will state. He exits the ability, still holding Cotton in his arms.
"Marco!" Ren says reassured, however Marco quickly gestures for them to follow.
"Quickly! This way master Ren! Miss Rinoka! We've little time to waste! He's right on our trail!" He declares and as they begin running Rinoka looks behind her seeing Antonio on his giant phoenix.
"You're not getting away!" He yells as Riccardo comes out of the store quickly following the two of them.
"I'll second that!" Riccardo yells jumping onto Antonio's giant phoenix, which only seems to speed up from the added weight.
After a quick chase they get outside, to the parking lot again and Marco stops running realizing they've trapped themselves. "Master Ren, Miss Rinoka. I believe this is where we must take a stand…" Ren and Marco both get up in front with Cotton being handed to Rinoka. "I am aware of your pacifist nature master Ren. Simply follow my lead," He says taking a fighting stance as Riccardo jumps from the phoenix, while Antonio flies higher into the air on the giant flaming bird. Marco let's out a roar as his storm flame bursts forth on his forehead, however his clothes remain, likely being made of a material resistant to his flame burst. He begins charging forward and as Riccardo comes flying down with a punch, Marco counters it perfectly, however he still gets overpowered by the brutish man. Ren stands frozen until he looks up seeing Antonio come flying down. He's halfway into a roll when he realizes that both Rinoka and Cotton are right behind him, needing his protection. Rinoka holds out her box weapon the tiny bird flying out and instantly grows its wing trying to blow Antonio and the phoenix away, however it doesn't work in the slightest.
"You think something this pathetic will stop me! I am not as soft as Galileo was with Tsugemora!" He yells however right before they hit Chido, Antonio suddenly feels the bird getting held back, quickly glancing behind him seeing Ren standing and pulling on the tail with all his might getting an incredible amount of burns on his hands.
"D-don't… a-attack her! I promised my little brother I'd protect them!" He yells before managing to overpower the bird tossing them both back a bit.
"R-Ren-senpai…? A-are you okay?" Rinoka asks as Chido flies up around him noting that his burns are slowly but surely healing themselves.
"Y-yes… b-but this is bad… I… I can't fight… I refuse to hurt someone on purpose…" He says standing his ground. Marco gets pushed back from his short scuffle with Riccardo exiting his dying will state.
"Well said Master Ren. However I must humbly disagree. I do not consent to mindless violence, however this is anything but mindless. According to master Primo the Vongola family will be corrupted if either Zaccaria or Ywan is chosen as the next boss. It will mean a lot of people will get hurt as a result. We're not fighting for ourselves entirely. We're fighting for the sake of those strangers. And that is quite a noble goal wouldn't you agree?" he says before charging forward entering dying will mode again. Ren grits his teeth tears slowly forming in his eyes.
"I-I'm sorry lil' bro… I'm never there when it counts… I swear! I WILL fight! Just… believe in me!" He yells off the top of his lungs.
-NII-
Inside the main square Kotsu gets kicked back by Faust once more, sending him flying towards a wall, however he smirks feeling his brother's resolve from all the way in there. "I do Ren. I do," He suddenly gains balance in mid-air landing against the wall, instantly shooting forward with the speed he normally uses with his booster and lands a solid hit sending both Kagetora and Faust back while Zaccaria looks at the young boy.
"W-what happened!? You should be down for the count with your weapon destroyed!"
"Not quite… I simply needed a little time to make them better to use…" he says pointing one of the fork-ends at Zaccaria resting the other over his shoulder. The boss candidate quickly notes that they don't look broken anymore. In fact they're simply two smaller versions of his normal fork with only two spikes on each. "Now then… I think we've all gotten to know each other… so what do you say we finish this Zaccaria?" He says the tips of his fork lighting up with cloud flame.