Hayato is lost. It's a simple fact, but one he can't accept. He's supposed to be in a kingdom called Viperia. And his partner Pokemon is no use; for a dog Pokemon, it's weird and downright frustrating that Herdier has no sense of direction. Said Pokemon is currently frolicking in the greenery and having a grand ol' time.

Well, Hayato thinks fiercely, it's Aneki's fault for not even getting me a map. What the hell does 'east and above the legs' mean?

...Am I even going east?

No, he is not, as he finds out from a nearby old man. "In fact," the old man tells him with a genial smile, "you're directly opposite from Viperia! You're in Aurora."

The fact that the old man continues to smile as Hayato is visibly distressed makes him want to punch his lights out. He's actually kind of proud of his restraint, to be honest."So I'm nowhere near where I need to be," he says with gritted teeth.

"Yes. Are you alright? You're looking quite red."

"I'm fine!" He stomps away angrily with Herdier trailing at his heels. Stupid, stupid, stupid, Hayato berates himself.

Herdier says, 'Are you okay, Haya-tan?' from a far off distance.

"Don't call me that!" Hayato hisses under his breath. Not looking where he's going, he lets out a grunt of surprise when he bumps into something. "Watch where you're going!"

"S-sorry, but I really need to go somewhere-"

"Whatever." Hayato starts to walk off but turns back around when he notices that Herdier is missing. "...You've got to be kidding me."

So apparently Tsuna is a Pokenapper now. This is what he thinks as he stares blankly at the Herdier barking playfully at his Eevee. Eevee, not noticing his inner turmoil, wags his tail excitedly and bounds off to play tag or whatever the heck they're doing.

Okay, Tsuna, Tsuna tells himself, All you've got to do is walk around looking for a worried owner. No big deal. Except what if they think I stole their Pokemon on purpose and press charges on me and then I get thrown to jail? Actually, that might not be too bad. I'm pretty sure you can't be a warlord if you're locked up behind bars. No, no, no, it's bad to be a criminal no matter what the benefits.

"Hey, you!" shouts a voice. Tsuna looks around for a good thirty seconds. "I'm over here, dumbass!"

His eyes land on a silver head that looks familiar for some reason. Then Tsuna realizes that he should probably run away because he has dynamites. Slowly, he beckons to Eevee and mouths, Run. Tsuna really doesn't want to mess with a gangster or whatever the hell the boy is so: flee. Get away. Whatever.

Tsuna inhales deeply before yelling, "THERE'S AN ARMED BO-" and is immediately knocked to the ground for his efforts.

"Shut up!" the boy hisses to him. "I just wanted to say that's my Pokemon you have there!"

"Oh," Tsuna says stupidly.

"Yeah, 'oh.'"

"Then the dynamites?"

The boy looks embarrassed. "Precautions."

What.

"Against what?" Tsuna frantically gestures at himself. He knows painfully well that he's underweight and skinny as a stick to boot. While girls might aim for that kind of thing, boys want to be tall and strong. Which he's not. A breeze might be enough to knock Tsuna over.

"Well, that's what I'm here to change." Reborn drops in out of nowhere and lands squarely on his head. Ignoring Tsuna's squeak of pain, he peers at the boy and remarks, "You're Gokudera Hayato the Smoking Bomb, aren't you?"

"...Is that a hooker name?"

"NO," the boy yells, looking mortified. Meanwhile, Herdier seems to have remembered that he has an owner and wanders over to the newly named Hayato. He tugs at Hayato's coat, making Hayato say irritably, "Stop it."

"He's a hitman," Reborn announces and honestly, Tsuna isn't that surprised. Weird things have been happening lately, he thinks grimly.

Hayato, with eyes shining, says, "You've heard of me? Wow, such a great person like Reborn-san knows my name!" Reborn says nothing.

"So, um, Hayato-san-"

"Show some respect! I don't want some stranger calling me by my first name!"

"Sorry," Tsuna apologizes. "It's just that, well, a lot of people here have the same last name so, um…"

"If anything, you should show some respect," Reborn interrupts smoothly. "He is the next warlord of Aurora, after all." Tsuna wonders why Reborn's suddenly speaking up for him when it seems to be his life goal to make him miserable. It's a nice change of pace, though. Not like that's going to last for long, but still.

"This little shrimp?" Haya- Gokudera lets out a derisive snort. "I could do a better job."

"Then why don't you two battle?"

"No," Tsuna says. "No, no, no, no."

"What's the point?" Gokudera responds flippantly. "I don't need to prove my strength to Shrimpy here."

"You could move up in ranks. I'm the Strongest Hitman in the World, after all."

"Done."

"WHAT," Tsuna says flatly.

"Congratulations, Dame-Tsuna! You get to experience your first real battle!"

"W-what if Eevee doesn't want to battle?" Tsuna asks desperately. "Look, he and Herdier look like they're good buddies already, you don't want to break that beautiful friendship, right?"

Reborn smiles sickeningly sweet. "Don't you know? Battling with each other also promotes respect amongst Pokemon. So it's a win-win situation."

"Moving up in ranks," Tsuna hears Gokudera say thoughtfully. To his terror, the other boy seems to be very interested in the prospect. Gokudera then turns around and looks at Tsuna right in the eye. "As long as I beat Shrimpy…" He squeaks in fear and backpedals away. I really, really, really don't want to do this!

"Unfortunately, you don't have a choice," Reborn says with that super creepy mind-reading technique of his.

Tsuna somehow manages to restrain himself from screaming hysterically.

"Okay, Eevee. We can do this. E-even if we failed Battling in school. We just got to believe in ourselves!" Eevee gives Tsuna an unimpressed stare. "...Try our best?" Tsuna says weakly.

Battling is horrible. Eevee is actually decent; Tsuna is another story. Everyone has to battle alongside their Pokemon. It's a fact. When they had been in school, they weren't allowed to kill each other so most students used a bokken or their fists. Tsuna had hit himself with his own bokken about a million times and don't even get him started on his feather-touch punches.

Basically, Tsuna is dead.

Especially since Gokudera has dynamites.

(He's pretty sure that those hurt.)

"Begin."

Hayato realizes that there's something wrong with Sawada Tsunayoshi about ten minutes in.

He can't seem to understand Pokemon at all. When Sawada's Eevee had shouted at the other boy to dodge one of the dynamites, he had panicked and was just barely saved by Eevee's Tackle. The whole point of Warriors, Hayato thinks, is that they can communicate with Pokemon like they're another extension of their body. That's why not everybody can be one.

So why?

'Haya-tan, I think Eevee's aiming for your stomach!' Herdier barks. Hayato snaps to attention along with a "Don't call me that!" He digs out a few smoke-bombs to distract the enemy Pokemon. For now, he'll tuck his thoughts away and think about them later. He had to concentrate.

After Eevee's attack fails, he dashes off with Sawada. To run away, probably. Like a coward, Hayato thinks. But I really need to get more jobs, so I should win this quickly. "Double Bombs!" he calls out. He slides a few more dynamites between his fingers. Hayato watches in satisfaction as they arc perfectly. Somehow, Sawada and his Pokemon dodge.

"Do we have to fight?" Sawada shouts while panting for breath. Pathetic. He hadn't even landed a single hit. Aurora had a bleak future in front of her if this is her future leader.

"If you have enough energy to talk, then fight! Herdier, let's use our combo move!"

Ready when you are!

Hayato can feel adrenaline rushing through his body as he preps for the finishing move. Herdier shifts next to him and then he finally unleashes his attack. Sorry, kid. Looks like it's over.

"Triple Bomb!"

'Hyper Beam!'

And then it all goes to hell.

A/N: I'm sorry, I really can't write action scenes ahaha.