Hey, reader(s)! I'll stop writing this story in about 3 or 4 chapters! I'll only continue when I feel the need to do so for this story so I'll probably concentrate more on 'The Sky's Reflection' and some other original stories... Do read if you don't feel like reading this!
"We've been walking around for hours now! Where are we going? " Gokudera shouted, angrily. He didn't want to be stuck with this group of people. An idiot cow with a noisy turf-head, an annoyingly cheerful baseball-freak, an ex-convict who was bent on possessing his juudaime's body, an easily irritable skylark and a dumb girl who was leading them to god-knows-where. Here he was, separated from his boss, unable to protect. How could he call himself a right-hand man?
" We're almost there okay? Che, impatient puppy. " she retorted, mumbling the last sentence which the grumbling storm guardian didn't catch. They soon came upon a small building with the Vongola crest. " Alright, we're finally here. "
The guardians stepped inside the building and noticed a small robot with a beeping red light on its head in front of them. " Identity. " it buzzed.
" Vongola Decimo's guardians. " Tsukiyo answered. The light on its head turned green and again, it buzzed, " Follow me. "
They entered an elevator and it went down to the basement. When the door opened, they were met with three familiar figures. Spanner sat on the floor, eyes fixated on one of his robots. Irie Shouichi was tapping away on a computer while their ex-nemesis was lounging on a chair, popping marshmallows into his mouth. Irie and Spanner look different, younger to be exact. Byakuran, well, he looked younger as well but other than that, he looked exactly the same with his tattoo. He wore a white polo tee and a white pair of pants. " Look, Shou-chan! The Vongola guardians! " Byakuran said with a mouthful of marshmallows.
" Eh? " the younger Irie swiveled round and jumped a little when he saw the group in front of him.
" BYAKURAN! Aren't you dead? " Gokudera burst out, pointing an accusing finger at the white-haired man who was not fazed at all.
" Hey Byakuran! Thanks for the last time! " Yamamoto smiled.
" Haha~ No problem at all~ " Byakuran eyed the guardians and his eyes fell upon Tsukiyo. " Ne, who are you? I haven't seen you before! "
There was a slight pause before she answered, " Tsukiyo, Varia's shadow guardian. "
Tsukiyo stared back at Byakuran, scanning him from top to bottom. He still had his tattoo, a Vongola anklet and he's not wearing the White Spell uniform... He should be on our side, right?...
" Don't just stand there! Have a seat! " Byakuran waved towards a large sofa at the side. The guardians sat down, with Hibari standing in a corner, trying to keep away from those herbivores. Irie pulled Spanner away from his work and dragged him to where the guardians were seated.
" So... Erm... Why are you here? How did you even know about this place? " Irie questioned, getting a little nervous at the large group of seven.
" They were shot by a teleportation bullet created by our current enemy, Lorenzo Benigno and were transported here. " Tsukiyo answered.
" Wh-What? And what- Wait, you said they... How about you? "
" Ah, sharp as usual, Shou-chan! " Byakuran laughed, his gaze still on Tsukiyo.
" I came from the Vindice. " There was a long silence before Gokudera burst out again, " What the hell! Why are you with the Vindice? "
" Because they helped me escape death. " she answered in a bored tone. Gokudera was about to speak when Irie interrupted. " So... You want us to help you get back? "
" Yes, but where are we in the first place? "
" The eastern most part of Italy~ The Vongola put me here in this boring locked dimension, " Byakuran said, pouting. " But Shou-chan and Spanner came here to keep me company! "
" Kufufufu... So I'll assume you're harmless now? " Mukuro suddenly asked.
Please don't tell me he is still upset over the other time... Tsukiyo thought, remembering the fight they had when Byakuran revealed Mukuro's identity and didn't allow his soul to return to his body.
" I'm not allowed to use my powers unfortunately~ " Byakuran smiled as he popped another marshmallow into his mouth. One could sense the menace in that sentence. Imaginary sparks seem to fly as Mukuro and Byakuran had a stare-off. Sensing the tension, Irie tried to calm them but the aura that Byakuran was giving off was telling him to stay out of it. " P-Please stop... Urgh... " A pang of pain hit his stomach and he clutched at it, feeling more nervous as the silent warfare ensued.
" Irie-san, please ignore them and find a way to get us out... " Tsukiyo asked, almost in a pleading tone.
" Ah, erm yes, of course!... But it will take a while so Spanner's robots will lead you to your rooms first... " seven robots appeared by his side and motioned for the guardians to follow them.
" Come on, Mukuro, you can continue with your pervert stares later. "
" Kufufufu... You're asking for trouble, girl. Fran's influence I presume... " he sneered, getting dragged off to his room, away from the marshmallow guy who stared at them with great interest.
~~~~~~~.
" Tsuna? Oi, Tsuna! What's wrong? " Deimos shook the stunned boy before snatching the phone from his trembling hands.
" Hey, snap out of it!- What is this? " Deimos said as he stared at the screen. There was a picture of Enma, the Shimon boss, brutally beaten up and chained to the wall. Below the photo was a message " You want the Shimon Family alive? Come to the Nanimori Shrine now. " Without word or warning, Tsuna dashed off, most likely in the direction of the Shrine. " Oi, wait up, damn it! " Seriously, this kid needs to control himself! He ran after the Vongola Decimo, taking out his phone and calling Aaron. "Oi! Go to the Nanimori Shrine now! " without waiting for a reply, he hung up and continued chasing Tsuna.
Tsuna ran as fast as his legs could carry him. Looking up, he saw that the sky was darker than before and he could feel an eminent danger ahead. " Enma... Enma... The Shimon... No! I can't lose them too! I have to protect them! " he said to himself, eyes full of resolve, tightening his grip on his gloves. He quickly popped two pills into his mouth when he went through an empty street, going into Hyper Dying Will mode.
He soon approached the Shrine, dilapidated over time. For many years, no one had been there since a new shrine was built nearby and without anyone to maintain it, broken flooring and doors remained as it were, twelve years ago. Entering the entrance cautiously, he inspected for any suspicious Mafioso. All seemed clear when suddenly, his hyper intuition started ringing. He could feel a presence... No, two... No! More than ten! Arrows covered in dying will flames were fired at him from the shrine and he dodged them by flying in the air. More and arrows were shot at him and it was getting harder and harder to avoid them all.
Zero point breakthrough: First Edition
All the flame arrows around him froze and clattered to the ground. His hyper intuition worked up again and Tsuna swiftly swerved to the right, avoiding a massive shower of arrows. What was that? Those arrows had specific flames, cloud flames. He looked up and saw a woman holding a staff with purple gems ornate on it. She looked about 20 years old and was wearing a long-sleeved, figure-hugging latex top and latex pants. Her auburn hair was tied up neatly into a ponytail and she seemed to have jumped out from the trees beside the shrine.
" Vongola Decimo! " she shouted, her green eyes staring coldly at Tsuna, making him flinch. He stood his ground and answered back in his most authoritative voice he could force out, " Who are you? What do you want and what have you done to my Family and the Shimon? "
She ignored him and rambled on, " It's all your fault that we have to use ordinary flames! If you didn't kill Aoi and her idiots, we could have obtained the Emozione crystals from them and gain the matured powers! Now that their dead, the crystals couldn't be extracted in time and became useless! Those were the only ones we had too! Damn those weak prototypes! "
Tsuna furrowed his brows, disgusted that the woman was only interested in the powers and was not concerned with the lives lost. " How can you say that? Weren't they part of the Gira- "
" They were just experiments for Master, that's all. Even that damned Lorenzo, he's merely a stepping stone! " she giggled, waving her staff. A whole row of flame arrows appeared, multiplying by the dozen and speeding towards Tsuna.
XX-Burner
The attack destroyed the arrows but when he turned around, another multitude of arrows were already flying towards him. He put his arms in front and braced himself for the blow but it never came. Instead, he heard the sound of a metal object hitting the arrows. Opening an eye, he saw Deimos in front of him, using a spear to block the arrows by spinning it. " D-Deimos!... " a wave of relief overcame him when he saw the ex-Girasole guardian. " Thanks... "
" Che. It's my current duty to protect your puny ass and I'm not about to break that promise! " he grumbled, turning to the woman. " Cravias. " he acknowledged with his usual bored expression.
" Deimos!~ " she squealed. " I'm so glad that you're alive! Now that the stupid Aoi and her brats are out of the way, come back and join the real guardians of the Girasole! It doesn't matter if the crystal has rejected you, they're gone now anyway! "
" Like hell I'm returning to that crap of a Family. " Deimos yawned.
" You... You... You're so strong, the Girasole can give you more power! What's wrong with that? You used to want power to destroy, don't you? Well, you can! " The woman named Cravias seemed to be getting impatient and she seemed to know Deimos very well...
" Used to. I have better things to do now. "
" You've teamed up with the Vongola haven't you! Why- "
" Shut up already! I'm on a contract. "
" So you'll come back? " she suddenly brightened up.
" No. "
" Grrr... " she bared her teeth angrily and was about to wave her staff again when suddenly, she couldn't move. She saw the thin threads coiling round her arms and legs. " Hmph, Neko. How exciting to see a noisy brat again. I wished that you had just died with the other annoying idiots. " she looked down and saw Neko and Aaron below. " Grrr, I'll get you next time, just wait and see! " she broke off the threads forcefully and disappeared off with her men who were hiding in the shrine. The dark sky rumbled with thunder and drops of rain pelted on them.
"Let's go home, it's starting to rain. " Aaron said. Tsuna flew to the ground and extinguished his flame. " Good thing I brought an umbrella! " Aaron opened the umbrella and shielded Neko and Tsuna.
"Thank you, Aaron... "
"No problem, Tsunayoshi. "
"Hey how about me? " Deimos scowled, getting drenched as the rain got heavier.
"I think you're old enough to take care of yourself! " smiling as he said that. Deimos rolled his eyes, "Look who's the old one under the umbrella!" he smirked and ran back home by himself.
"Erm... Aaron? " Tsuna mumbled, fiddling with his shirt hem.
"Yes? "
"Who was that woman? She knew Deimos? "
Aaron frowned a little before replying, " Yes, I have heard a little about her. It seems that she was teammates with him in the past. That woman probably worked for the Girasole higher ups I suppose... "
Enma... Please be okay...
~~~~~~~.
"So how do we get out? " Tsukiyo asked excitedly.
" I-I'm still working on it... " he answered lethargically. Irie had stayed up the entire night to find a solution to get them back. " Ah! Got it!... Eh?... "
" What? What? " Tsukiyo stopped pacing around and rushed towards the screen, tripping over one of Spanner's mini robots. " Ack!- " suddenly, someone grabbed her collar mid-way, preventing her face from colliding with the backrest of Irie's chair.
At that moment, Irie swiveled round, " Are you seeing this? It- Aah! " he got a shock when Tsukiyo's face was just inches away from his. The strategist could feel his stomach churning and winced at the slight pain. " I seriously need to man up... " he thought to himself. Byakuran was amused by the scene and chuckled to himself, earning a glare from the girl.
" Erm... I tripped. " she laughed nervously. She turned her head and thanked Spanner who replied with a " Hm. " before stabalising herself. " So what do you have? "
" There's a way to leave the locked dimension but you have to go through here. " He pointed to a map on the screen.
" A building? That's very difficult. " she deadpanned.
" I did some research on it and that building happened to be Lorenzo's hideout and stuff. "
" Ahahaha! He teleported the guardians away, only to have them right beside them! I can't believe that idiot!" she laughed.
"Kufufu... Who might be the idiot?" said a certain mist guardian from the door.
" That Lorenzo. He teleported you guys here, not knowing that we were near his base! Also, to get back home, we have to go there! Isn't that great? Killing two birds with one stone! " laughed Tsukiyo.
Upon hearing the word 'home', Gokudera's face immediately lightened up as he thought about his juudaime. " Well? Let's go! Juudaime will be worried! "
Irie scratched his head and said meekly, " It is quite far and we don't have a plane or anything... "
" My Moscas can take you there but not completely all the way since they may not have enough fuel for the trip to and fro. " Spanner interjected, much to Irie's relief.
" Then let's go! " Yamamoto cheered. Spanner walked out and the rest followed, with the exception of Byakuran.
" I only have three Moscas so four will share two and three to the remaining one. " After much disagreement, they finally came to a conclusion.
" So Hibari and Yamamoto will share one, Mukuro, Lambo and I will share another one while Gokudera and Ryohei will share the last one. Okay? "
" Why must I share with that Lawn-head? " Gokudera fumed.
" Why must I ride to the extreme with that octopus-head? " Ryohei yelled.
" I was going to put Hibari, Ryohei and Lambo together but Hibari might throw them off. Of course, I can't put Hibari and Mukuro on the same one. " Tsukiyo explained as Irie handed out communicators.
" I'll keep in contact with you guys with these. So if you get separated, you can still talk. " They got on to the moscas and held on tightly as the ignition started. Spanner pressed a button on the wall and the ceiling opened up, revealing the morning sky. They took off and gained speed quickly.
" L-Lambo doesn't want to f-fly! Lambo-sama is hungry! Waaaaaa! " Lambo started wailing, much to the annoyance of everyone.
" Tsukiyo, if you don't shut him up, I will. " Mukuro said, a trident appearing in his hand.
" Stupid cow! Stop whining so much! " Gokudera retorted.
Tsukiyo sighed and whispered to the crying child, " Please keep quiet or those horrible people over there will throw you off. " she said wryly, pointing towards Mukuro and Gokudera's direction.
Lambo looked over Tsukiyo's shoulder and stuck out his tongue. " Bleah! Stupid octopus-head and pineapple head! " Gokudera was about to shout back when their communicators buzzed.
" You'll be reaching soon, get ready to land! " Irie said. The Moscas' speed decreased and landed gently on the soft soil. Their surroundings were quite barren except for a few shrubs here and there. From a distance, they could see a building and guessed that that was Lorenzo's hideout.
" Won't we be found out easily if we just waltz up there? We're completely exposed! " Gokudera said, logically.
" Yeah! We should go underground to the extreme! " Ryohei suggested, punching his fists in the air.
" Hey, good idea! They'll never see us! " agreed Yamamoto, giving Ryohei a high-five.
Gokudera rolled his eyes while Hibari just grunted.
" Actually, in a way, we could. " Tsukiyo added.
Great, join the league of idiots. Gokudera thought.
" -Through my shadows! "
" You mean like the other time when we fought? " Yamamoto asked, his interest piquing.
" Yup. Now please stand in front of me! " Ryohei dashed excitedly towards her and the moment he was in front of her, she pushed him down and he fell into her shadow. She did the same for the others until it was Hibari's turn. Hibari was still sitting on the ground, reluctant to move.
Tsukiyo sighed and walked over to him. " Come on! Stop delaying, Kyoya! " Hibari twitched and was about to attack her when he fell into the shadow as well. " Haha, so easy~ "
It was pitch black there but everyone could see each other very clearly. " Follow me, " Tsukiyo beckoned as they headed straight.
" How do you know where we're going? It's completely black here! " Yamamoto commented, looking around.
" I kind of feel where I'm going and I have never gotten lost before so it should be fine! " She said 'should be'...
" Are we there yet?... " Lambo whined, squirming in Tsukiyo's arms.
" Yes we are! " She stopped and waved her hand, the darkness in front of her forming a mist. They entered it and came out to the surface where they were right in front of the building. They crept quietly towards the glass door and pushed it open with a slight creak.
" Oya? What's with the rundown look? It looks so abandoned. " Mukuro said as they scanned the interior. There wasn't even a camera in sight. Lousy security…
" Maybe they don't expect anyone to be here then! " Ryohei said as they made their way towards the elevator.
" Well, that makes our task a whole lot easier... Irie, can you hear us? " Tsukiyo whispered into the earring communicator.
" Yes, loud and clear. "
" Can you scan the building and lead us? "
" Ah, okay sure. Just enter the elevator and head to the sixth floor. "
As the guardians waited in the tiny box, something felt wrong and they quickly took out their weapons. " What if there's people? Do we kill them? " Yamamoto asked hesitantly, a hint of fear in his voice.
" Do as you wish. Frankly, I don't care. " Tsukiyo replied, showing no signs of faltering. The moment the doors opened, they were faced with people scampering around with their jobs and when they saw the intruders, they got out their guns and started shooting.
" Shit! How do we dodge them? " Gokudera yelled. Tsukiyo waved her hand, the black mist from her claws floated and crystallised, blocking all the bullets and some trapping the people.
" Run to the large door at the end now! " she shouted, slashing the scientists and workers as the dashed towards the door at the end of the hall. She flung opened the door and when all of them were in, the door slammed shut and locked itself behind them.
Thanks!... and review?