Katekyo Hitman Reborn

My Fate is Certainly Uncertain

Chapter 27: Reborn's Trial

Overall warnings: Swearing, disclaimers and other things. You know, the finer things in life. Like chocolate wafers. There ain't any in this chapter though. Sorry.

[Written to: Sixth Sense - Brown Eyed Girls ]

~o0o~

I probably should have expected to Reborn to go as hard and harsh as he did for his version of the trial. He was a strict man, and if anything, he really did want Tsuna to succeed with whatever he chose to do with his life. He may not be good - heck, that's downing the situation - at showing, but that's always something that teachers do. They put all of their hard work into their students just so they can get a better outlook on life. Me, well, I had no idea what caused Reborn to become a tutor. It may have been because of his social status in the Mafia, but I like to think it was somewhat of a personal choice.

Reborn's choices usually consisted between two things. Heavily, they depended on his analytical side. You should never tried to be swayed by your heart while in the midst of a battle. You needed to stay focused and ready for absolutely anything. You needed to give your all every time or you might just end up losing what you hold dear. But analytical was also problematic to over analysis. So you also needed reasoning. To hold a steady head in battle, those two things are what you would particularly need to become a strategist. That's what Reborn was, and it was the same for Ryohei. He would skip sleeping sometimes to think about the previous day - how he should have moved, should've dodged, should've punched.

I was forced to sit this one out too. Not that I would have wanted to join in this - particular - fight, because I didn't. I didn't want to fight with Reborn by a country mile. Plus, any fight I got myself into, Al would be as well. And I wasn't a guardian either, so this was no place for me. But I got to watch from a distance and thank my lucky stars that I wasn't. Team player? Me? Nope. I was just a girl working in the information department.

The night before we left for the island - I wasn't too sure of the name, but it was about an hour or two from Hiroshima - surprisingly, Aria visited again. I had thought previously that she would have wanted to get home quickly. But as I read her mind I was beginning to think that those previous were Gamma's instead. Anyway, It felt like she wasn't ready to leave yet. Reborn had something to do with it. And the kids hadn't had their trial with Verde either. It was becoming increasing concerning the way this was developing.

"Good evening Aria." I said to her, as she waited outside the gate to the house. By this time in spring, Nana's magnolias will start to sprout. I hoped that maybe Iemitsu would send me here again soon. I'd want to see them, since during the fight with the Varia, she had constantly worked on the outside part of the garden. It was like the house was her baby instead of Tsuna. (I'm pretty sure that's not true, but she did take great pride in it.)

She was still dressed in the same outfit she wore and I wondered if she kept replicas, like Reborn does with his wardrobe. (Of course, the only thing Reborn couldn't replace was Leon.)

"What brings you out here?" I quickly asked again, before Reborn could get his foot in.

"Slam dunks with the punks and gelato most likely. That's the 'hip' thing kids are doing these days. Why is it called hip anyway? Why does everybody have obsessions with bodily parts?"

Maybe because you started it? I wondered, waiting for Aria's answer. As she thought, the memory of her mother in a uniform disappeared as quickly as it did.

"I wish to see through till the end of the trials for my mother's sake."

"I see." Reborn replied, almost whispering to himself in a deep train of thought.

Aria smiled expectantly. "It's finally your turn."

"Yeah."

"You won't be holding back?"

He played with his hair - something he always does in the face of nerves or deep thought - and imagined how to respond to that. "That's what makes it a trial. Come to think of it…."

"What?"

"Your mother made me realise that my sideburns are my most attractive feature."

I blinked in slight surprise. "How on earth did you get from trials to sideburns?"

"You wouldn't have known, but I wasn't overly confident before I met your mother, or even when I met the other Arcobaleno."

"No way. Mr Casanova, a scaredy cat?"

"You're being very hypocritical Al. Zip it or I shall do it for you." I looked back at Reborn. "Sounds like an interesting story. Maybe one for later though, when it's not the season for kicking people in the gut while they're still rolling on the ground."

"And you are an oddity." Aria said in awe, eyes bulging, watching the translation between Al and I.

I wasn't sick at all today. I was up to full speed, despite being awake all day. And that certainly didn't mean that I had changed. No, I was still the Queen of Sarcasm. You can thank Al for that title, but all I'd rather be called is Phillipa. Or Marsh.

"Why thank you. Seeing that you're coming tomorrow for the trials, have you got a ride to the island?"

She nodded. "I can take you if you want."

And that was how I ended up with a free ride with the daughter of who I'm assuming to be Reborn's sort of crush/love? How entertaining.

~o0o~

Water is taken from bodies of it's own, such as lakes, rivers, streams, oceans, puddles and even normal glasses of water to create rain. Rain was not my type of weather. For one, I didn't actually like getting wet. In fact, I hated it so much that I hated to go swimming. I'd only ever do that if the weather was boiling enough to force me into a pool or for cleaning purposes. The rain that fell onto my raincoat right at this moment dripped off and landed on the island that we had travelled to, a place of desertion. The dirt smell plugged my nose and I couldn't help but think back to running away from wolves and cans of beans, I think they were.

We weren't alone, Aria and I when we reached the top of the ledge, the place where spectators of the trials who were not guardians were supposed to be positioned. Almost all of the Arcobaleno were present - spare Reborn, for this was his trial and Verde. It made me wonder if the green ball of creepiness would ever face the light of day for us. I severely doubted it, if it didn't include any positive affect towards himself, the selfish bugger.

It was probably that we were treading on government property. Or, more likely, was owned by the Mafia. Now that wouldn't be much of a surprise; they like to invest in property a lot so that at least some revenue comes in while they're busy with other things, like dealing with other Mafia families and whatnot.

The boys were pumped, let me tell you. They couldn't wait to face Reborn's trial, but the air of nervousness that hung over all of them like a bad cloud covered the excited motions really well. Tsuna wasn't in the mindset that this was to be a very difficult battle. And inside myself, I hoped that he would get through that. Al said to me before that his emotions would lead him to somewhere, and I wanted that place to be good for the fishy; not winding up in a metaphorical sushi restaurant.

"Hey." I said to them, sitting down, cross-legged. Lal was being nicer to me today and she sat beside me with Colonnello on her side. Al was in my lap while Fon and Mammon sat on the other side of me. Skull stood up and Aria refused to sit on the ground, but I was wearing a raincoat so it didn't particularly bother me much if my shorts got mud on them.

Wimps.

"Good morning Phillipa." Fon was the one that responded to me. Like I said, he's the type who's shown me nothing but politeness, so I try to return it with less sarcasm than my daily outtake is. "Did you have a good sleep?"

"I guess I did. A lot of it was just waking up but then falling back to sleep, which I find to be a little annoying; since when I wake up the next day, I'm not as punctual or energetic."

"Maybe it's the type of food you're eating."

"Maybe." I mumbled back, thinking that it was 'no'. That something else was still haunting my nightmares. Ocean blue eyes reflected onto the stormy seas themselves as the tides began to simmer down, the clouds above deciding that enough rain had fallen to purge the land of its sins.

The boys had already started. They fought about how Tsuna was chosen and how he was a great leader. That, in turn, was challenged by Reborn saying that he was still too soft.

One by one, Reborn picked at them, like a menacing vulture.

And as the day started to pass I let my mind wander by itself, something that I rarely did for the fear of inflicting mental damage onto it. But here, even with the trials going on, I felt a little at peace. Not the happy kind. More somber than most, but then again, my week hadn't turned out the way I'd have liked it to.

"Impressive stuff." Colonnello said, intently watching.

Lal nodded. "Yeah. I haven't seen Reborn this serious in a long time."

As the first time they met, the Arcobaleno, played constantly in Lal's head, my mind wandered to what drove him.

It didn't take me long to zone out.

I realized that before he even met the Arcobaleno, probably even before he met Momma, that he could have been just a lonely as the man in the mansion. The lonely man, who - out of the love in his heart - made the lonely girl, who fell into the arms of a lonely hitman. And in the end, I was their result.

Al pulled me back down.

"Thinking hard or hardly thinking?" Al asked, licking my thumb.

I exhaled and petted him, looking down at my friend. "Don't worry Al, it's nothing serious. Just debating about dinner."

"Really, food? At a time like this?"

"The way I see it, I just hope Reborn doesn't hurt them too much."

In my head, to the count of three, Yamamoto went down like a heavy bar of lead. Face first he collapsed onto the sand, his body damaged from Reborn's beating. That meant, after three hours, Tsuna was the only one left. He watched in shock as his friend's knees gave way.

"You're the only one left Tsuna." He told them, his tone as sharp as ever. He definitely frightened me when he got serious like this, and it was a similar temper to Momma's. Mine differed, but his was in a totally different ballpark.

"N-No way…" Tsuna looked behind him at Lambo, who was oblivious to the scene unfolding in front of him. "Lambo's the only one in good shape…Everyone's beaten up!"

"Aren't you their boss? You're supposed to do something about this."

It was hard to see specific details from where I was sitting, but I could have sworn Tsuna's bottom lip was wobbling a little. It was like watching a chick-flick, when a heart was being broken. He whispered. "I can't fight you…."

"You're still going on about that? The world is done for if you do not clear this trial. Don't you care about what happens to Kyoko, Haru, your own Mother or anybody else?"

And then, something changed in his mind. But he refused to give up on his heart and his resolve became alight once more. It was a little sad to watch. In his decision, he decided to take a pill and fight for the chance to save the people most dear around him.

"No way." He told Reborn, moistening his lips. "I can't let that happen!"

"So you're finally getting serious?"

But the real reason, I discovered, behind his harshness, was to teach Tsuna to never run away. It was a great contradiction to my existence. My mother ran away from her father and then ran away from mine. It must be one of her stupid habits I picked up.

Tsuna, with all the might and strength he could muster, fought against Reborn for the sake of the protection of his friends. He fought with a heavy heart, and it twisted in time with his punches. Slowly, the guardians begun to regain consciousness.

Reborn was able to jump past him as Tsuna flew back in the air, but one punch sent him flying into the hardened rock that we sat upon. I could feel the shaking vibrations in the ground, and I wondered if he was okay.

"Operation X-burner."

What!

"Should we move?" I asked, looking up at the flying boy in the sky. "Because I don't want to become flying cat meat."

Al gasped. "That's rude to all jelly meat, you know."

But, as time ticked, Tsuna changed his mind.

And it was a fatal mistake. He would be dead, if it was anyone other than Reborn. He was shot into the ground by one of Reborn's bullets and he was unconscious by the time the dust from the explosion settled.

Reborn's resolve was a secret I wouldn't tell.

"I can't pass a person who isn't fit to be the boss."

And he walked away, just like that.

~o0o~

"Try and get some sleep." I told them quietly, once we had gotten all of the bodies back to the sleeping quarters for the night. "I'll be upstairs with Chrome. Call if you need me."

I didn't get a thank you, or a reply back, but I wasn't in need of one, so I scurried back to the comfort of my sleeping bag before Shamal caught me alone in the hallway. The guy was nuts and two times before I had to kick him to get him to leave me alone. That was back in Italy when Reborn wasn't around, but he was here now. But still, I couldn't be too carefree.

I could hear them bickering from downstairs, but I didn't give a rats ass right now. They could fight for all I could care about. I just needed some sleep to rid me of this headache.

Just two more days left and we would be back in the future.

That's what I kept saying, to distract me from myself.

Two more days.

Two more days.

Two more days.

~o0o~

"Are you awake yet? It's morning already."

"Sorry….sorry." I murmured, still asleep as I was five minutes ago. I was still in quite the daze and ever since Al had been my portable alarm clock, it was often varied to when he would wake me up. When I looked at the clock on the wall, I noticed it was later than usual. "Nine? Really?"

"You didn't wake the first time, so I left you alone for a while."

"So nice of you to think that way."

"Glad you think that way, but now I'm thinking I should have woken you up at the normal time because your hair…...you resemble the cousin of a banshee."

"Ahaha." I said, my laugh laced with sarcasm. The sleep I had gotten was significantly good, and I was happy to be back on the mainland, not surrounded by water or people with more or less functioning brains.

But as I sat up, the whole lighthouse shook violently to the left. So much so that Al was tossed off of the bed and onto the floor. Sleeping beauty, Chrome, was awoken by the shake, and for a brief moment I considered the possibility that it could have been an earthquake. But, oh no, that was tossed quickly out the door when I spotted flying starfish, attacking just outside on the beach.

"W-What was that?" Chrome asked, blinking herself awake.

"Not sure." I responded, making her get up and out of bed. "But we should get out of this lighthouse before the roof collapses on our heads."

"Good idea. Let's skedaddle!"

So quicker than lightning, and with the same clothes that I wore yesterday, we got out of there and headed out onto the beach, where all the action was. It was all very confusing, and Chrome jumped away, just as several rockets headed for the beach. She ran to the other side of the beach to help out Hibari, who was being attacked by starfish.

Was that some sort of box weapon?

I had no idea.

"What's going on?!" I yelled, as explosions rumbled down the beach. Far more starfish than I ever expected were packing the shores, and I didn't even know they got to grow this big! Holy crap!

"Armageddon, that's what!"

"I'm sure they didn't say we would die by flying sea stars!" I got Colonnello's attention by shooting one that was going to get him from behind if I hadn't. "Colonnello!"

"It's Verde! It's no longer a trial!"

"No longer, what the hell?!"

"Just help us stop him!"

It wasn't like I had a choice to whether or not I wanted Verde to blow our asses all the way to Mars and back. The sand on my bare feet weighed me down a little bit as I sprinted to aid the boys as they fought relentlessly, ordering Al to get to safety. He kindly replied with a 'fuck you' to the flying creations and began attacking them while they spun in mid air. How he never got motion sickness, my mind still wonders.

The flames on these creatures felt perpetually human and in the briefest of moments, they went from flying sea stars to whirling shuriken weapons. It was across the tainted sea that the odd, metal dome blotted its surface with a metallic ting! The sun's heat rays pinged off of the glass dome that covered Verde in a see through embrace. He stood there with a repulsive smug and I wondered why I couldn't hear him. Was he too far away?

"Above you!" Al yelled, and I smashed the starfish into pieces as my shield coiled itself around my arms, acting like a pair of boxing gloves. The pieces of the broken sea animal crumpled onto the sand, becoming this gelatinous gray mush that had several minuscule specks of sand on its surface.

"What are these things! Because I'm sure they were never classified as gray shit in Biology!"

"They're Verde's creations!" Lal forced her way through the hordes of oncoming animals to shoot several bullets at the dome that protected Verde, only to watch them bounce off and fly into the sky that was the same colour as the sea.

"What!"

"Bulletproof glass!?"

"It's no use." He said smugly, with his hands clasped behind his back. "By the way, I believe all of the guardians participated in Reborn's trail, is that correct? But I don't see the lightening or cloud guardian anywhere! I should send them an invitation."

Out of the water's surface, two chest-piece-like rockets shot out into the air. Propelled by what fuel they carried, they both headed straight towards the mainland. I wasn't happy about that. I'm sure Hibari could handle himself, but the kids! Crap!

"Well, I'll have you play with this until I can finish assembling the Vongola rings."

Several more enemies were ordered out of the bubble that lay waste to the beachside. I knew that if we were to stop this nonsense, we had to take out that vehicle.

"Fuuta's going to be squashed! We have to go help them!"

"Wow Al." I blinked. "Never knew you cared about the little guy. That's cute." A smirk blessed my face and I moved next to Reborn. "We need to stop those rockets before things get out of hand."

"Mammon, I know you're there."

I could feel his presence as well, no his thoughts, but just the aura that the baby gave off whenever he was near. The feeling became ever more so present when he made himself visible, his illusion quickly dissipating into the air.

"Good grief." He grumbled. "I was planning to be a spectator."

Reborn threw orders at him. "Deal with the rockets that were heading towards town. We don't need civilian casualties."

Mammon sighed again. "It's not my policy to work pro bono."

"Please just do it." I told him.

"Just go already."

"Okay, okay…"

And like his illusions, he disappeared, off to the city. Verde's minions became more and more difficult to deal with, since they seemed to be coming at every direction, non-stop. It was like he had an unlimited supply.

"We need to destroy the ship!" I said dodging another attack and pummeling it into the sand.

"I know." Reborn said, firing a shot into the air that separated and hit the targets every time. "We will."

But the next time I looked over to the boys, giant lobsters walked right out of the sea and swung their enormous claws like heavy two tonne mallets. The couldn't move quickly, so they were able to hit them directly, but hurting them wasn't an easy task. Their shells were tough, and not even Reborn's bullets could break them.

However, Al took this in a completely different direction. He had informed me before that since he had stayed as a cat for so long, that it was much easier to remain in that form, but for some reason, I thought he would do much better with two legs than four paws. Nethertheless, my right-wing cat was enjoying himself immensely. He moaned happily when he got a whiff of the crustaceans emerging. His love of seafood was a topic close to his heart.

That excitement never ceases to get me riled up. Let's go for this!

I was able to defend myself a lot more and slowly, the hordes upon hordes of crusty crustaceans depleted and Verde was forced to send out more. They were like the same before, but they ate away at the flames from Hibari, Tsuna, Yamamoto and Gokudera.

Keep at it, I urged myself. They're still hurt from yesterday and you aren't even injured yet! Keep up with them!

Chrome was my main concern, so I tried to stay close to the purple-haired girl. She was an illusionist, or at least with as much confidence as a carrot, and fighting hand-to-hand combat, close combat; or even mid range as I had seen in the Vaira fights, she was not a good fighter. I made sure to deflect the starfish behind me, but as they broke off into a million little pieces, the air whooshed behind me and all of those pieces melted together in the air to make a starfish that was even bigger than I thought was possible.

In the corner of my eye, my jaw dropped at the sight of another monster coming out of the water. But unlike the lobster monsters, this one didn't fully emerge. And it was so much quicker that I couldn't dodge it in time.

It was a giant fucking squid! THING! FUCK!

"Ahaaaaa!"

"Are you fucking kidding me!?" I screamed, feeling myself being picked up right off the ground and into the air, where it was the only place where I couldn't actually get any. My breath was being squished and squeezed out of me. I couldn't move my arms and I screeched angrily."Help!"

"Chrome…" Tsuna whispered.

Al, on the other side of the waterwheel, held no respect for the situation

"Oh my god, you got yourself caught! You idiot!"

"DON'T CALL ME AN IDIOT ALLEMANDE! HELP US!"

The squid didn't like me yelling my lungs out. It screeched at me to stop, and I didn't know how it could hear us that well, since they don't really have ears, but I can tell you that the next thing I heard was so familiar that would have kissed him if he wasn't, in fact, an octopus.

"Bella~! I have come back! I will save you!"

We both felt the grip of the tentacles loosen and while I landed on my feet, Chrome dropped to the ground like a brick, on his butt. My body swayed for a moment and as I looked up, Oodako had restrained the squid with his stronger tentacles.

"Thanks Oodako!"

"You are very welcome!"

Up on the horizon line, a familiar looking boat sped towards us and Skull's booming voice echoed from the speakers. No doubt he showed up in this to show off to everybody. Unfortunately, the little bugger won't get any closer to Reborn by doing that. He would leave such a fun mess at every confrontation that each one was just so lovely to watch. That makes me sound like a little bit of an asshole, and I'm pretty sure others would have thought of me like that, but the kid needs to learn to quieten down sometimes. Me too, now that I think about it.

The speaker blasted from the haul of the ship, and the purple flag stood to address the fighting crowd.

"Sorry for the wait! It's my turn! You can't call me your lacky now! FIRE!"

That idiot! I yelled inside, as the rockets, both in air and underwater went everywhere. They were like a rookie tennis player, the rockets were uncontrolled and everybody had to dodge, unless they themselves wished for their lives to end right now on the beach.

"What is he trying to do, blow us up?! I'm going to tear his ass and mount it on the wall!"

Lal was just as annoyed as Al. "You can't just fire rockets and hope they will hit!"

Above, Colonello's weight was supported by his animal buddy as he aimed several more shots. "We can punish him, Kora!"

"FIRE! FIRE! FIRE! DON'T STOP!"

"Duck!"

Instinctively, whenever in a case like this that Al screams at me to do something, I usually do it. Because, not only is he usually right, if I don't it's me that winds up with an injury and he somehow get the I bleepidy bleep told you so bragging rights. There was no way I was giving that to him that easily. No. No way.

The starfish that was aimed at my head careened into the wall of solid ground behind us that was eroding because of the sea. The next time I looked up, half of Skull's ship was sinking.

He must have gotten hit.

The next few minutes that I spend fighting off the next wave of enemies, no pun intended, Skull managed to swim back to the shoreline while his men were all in lifeboats. Genuinely, I was happy that he wasn't hurt. That made no difference to Reborn. He was a tough man-child to follow.

"You are extremely pathetic to watch." Reborn said, as he looked down on Skull while standing on the barrier on top of the eroded ground. I scowled at his talk, but he took no notice of it.

"Pay close attention to how we fight!" Colonnello yelled, adding his own thoughts in.

While Lal yelled at us to keep going, we got through the them -finally. We were all tired and Skull had no taste in silence at all. He was very keen to voice the voice in his head to the floating scientist on the incoming tides.

"Ha! Haha! How do you like that! Now you know our true strength!"

Colonnello stomped down on his helmet before Skull could shout out anymore. "You keep your mouth shut, Kora!"

"It's over now."

"No."

Verde's voice boomed over the width of the beach. No more hordes of starfish were coming at us, but the queasy feeling in my stomach wouldn't budge. (But I was thankful that they were starfish and not jellyfish.)

"Everything has gone according to plan."

"What!" Lal jerked, gasping in shock.

"As I said I was merely buying time."

The pacifiers then glowed and I looked to the trees to see Fon and Mammon arriving. Did this mean that everybody who was an Arcobaleno was present?

Surely that was either very good or very bad.

Reborn was looking down at his yellow pacifier. "It looks like the seven-coloured rainbow has been completed. All of the Arcobaleno are together."

From behind the rocks, I could see the kids and I sighted with the sick feeling refusing to leave. The last place I wanted them to be was here!

Verde let out a settled laugh over the intercom. "The cursed seven who walk outside time have appeared here today. However, this would not be an example of the unscientific event known as the twist of fate. Indeed, it was an inevitable step for my research to succeed. I expected you all to interfere. Which meant that I had to simply catch you all at one time. Rejoice. You will be providing the basis for my new research."

And there it was. The reason for my uneasiness.

Oh boy, Mr Verde. I certainly knew you were a man of logic and I knew that you would go oh so far to achieve such stunning results. Please, why don't you flood your ship and do us all a favor?

An apple green, circular rocket shot out of Verde's dome and into the air. Out of it came specks of green flecks that floated to the ground softly, I didn't want to breathe it in, but I found that neither me nor Tsuna were affected by it, as we were the closest to the Arcobaleno. Unfortunately, they were.

"T-This is bad…" Mammon whispered and Reborn gritted his teeth as he breathed it in.

"What is this, Kora!?"

Lal closed her eyes in pain. "Agh! My eyes!"

"I can't move!"

Behind us and very quickly, the same chest-pieces that rocketed off towards the city appeared and the Arcobaleno, every single one was pulled onto it, like it was the driving force of gravity. I couldn't grab them before the flew up again. And it really bothered me that I couldn't get to them, since I couldn't fly like Tsuna could.

It bothered me that I couldn't help them. That I couldn't protect them.

But that bothering motion was overtaken by a confusion. I didn't understand it fully but I could still hear them mentally from this distance. But that in itself was confusing, because if I could hear them, I should technically be able to hear Verde, right?

Well I couldn't. That meant that the man we saw to be Verde wasn't really 'Verde' at all or that the Arcobaleno were much closer than what our eyes perceived. My mind was tugging the back of my head and while everyone looked to the sky, I looked behind.

Are you hiding, I wonder…

"Now, you should be aware of my power." Verde's voice didn't falter. "Hand over the Vongola rings."

My gut dropped and I looked back at the place. I was certain, absolutely that they weren't up there. At least, that's what my intuition was yelling at me.

Should I stop him?

Tsuna flinched inwardly. "I-I can't!"

"You tell him Tsuna!"

"The whole future rests on these! We can't give them away!"

I gritted my own teeth and looked up at the floating martyrs, debating the thought of it in my head.

What if I'm wrong?

No.

But it's possible.

"So you don't care what happens to them?" Verde asked, chuckling.

"No, I'll save Reborn and all my friends!"

"Let's do it boss!"

"Let's go, Tsuna!"

"Save the Master and the others!"

"M-Me too." Chrome piped, deciding to be brave.

Decide with your heart. The voice told me.

But before I could, my eyes were drawn to the spectacle in the sky. Without a word of a warning, Verde hit a button that caused the detonation of the rockets that that they were tied to. The tingles in the soles of my feet worked themselves up to my stomach and through the panicking sensation that erupted out of everyone around me. But, the voices became clearer and I began to smile.

That had almost got me.

"Oh thank god." I whispered, falling back on my butt.

"P-Phillipa, how co-"

"That's my girl."

The illusion that I had heard past vanished once the rockets had been exploded and everybody's eyes were cast to the Arcobaleno, clearly standing on the beach, clearly alright. Reborn's voice was magical. To think that I even considered that he might have been captured and killed just moments ago made me doubt myself. How could I have ever doubted the world's greatest hitman?

"R-Reborn?" Tsuna's eyes went wide and happiness evoked his soul as he realised the truth of the situation. "Reborn!"

"Reborn!"

"Master!"

Yamamoto changed his stance. "Hey kid, are you alright?!"

"What a relief…." Chrome whispered.

"A bloody modern-day Houdini, those kids are. I swear Phillipa, if he does that again, I'm going to zap him."

"Baby."

It was clear from Verde's reaction that he didn't foresee this happening. "Was this Viper's doing?"

Mammon smugly laughed once. "I created that illusion the second I saw that glittering powder."

Reborn agreed silently. "But we couldn't move till Tsuna destroyed the device."

"Are you okay?" He asked, landing back on the beach.

"Yeah, that seemed to be weaker than the real non-7³ policy" Reborn replied.

Colonnello swung his arms around in a circle, warming them up, just as he was thinking that a good beating of a certain green-haired fellow was in order. His voice bellowed across the beach, just as loud as Skull. "You've done it now, Kora!"

"It's payback time!"

Skull waved his arms erratically. "We won't let you get away with this!"

Fon breathed in calmly and stepped back into a fighting stance. "Let's go."

"In that case," Verde growled. The crustaceans that were still standing, their power went up. "I'll be sure to destroy you this time!"

"Lal." I whispered, keeping my eye on the enemy. There was no way he could hear me from this distance. "I don't think that's the real Verde."

"What?!" She gasped, blinking rapidly. "Are you sure?"

"Relatively."

"It's futile to parade this any longer." Reborn stated and Verde's response was to laugh in his face.

"Futile? What you're doing is futile. Why don't you understand the importance of my research? I can't lead a meaningless life, ignoring my own desires." His voice spoke truth, but his face was clouded with a shadow. Verde quickly threw his arms into a position of attack and yelled. "Electro Thunder!"

Everybody, every animal, everyone at that time yelped in pain. Green electricity shot down on us from Verde and we were shocked, literally. It hurt, and I couldn't move.

Neither could Colonnello. "That's some strong attack, Kora…."

Verde smiled. "A trump card must be saved for the very end."

To my surprise, as I thought all of the kids were still on the beach, Lambo's cries could be hear from where Verde was standing. "W-What? What! What's going on?! Ouch! Ouch!"

"How the fuck did he get over there?"

"Stupid cow, what are you doing?!"

Lal groaned. "W-Why can h-he move?!"

"H-he's the guardian of lightning." Reborn tried to support himself on his knee." He can repel electric shocks.

Lambo was in a world of his own at the moment. He was panicking and I don't think he really knew what was happening. All he knew was that something was wrong and was trying to attack him. Being the Girl Guide he was, he was prepared to defend himself. Although, how he stashed all of those grenades along with everything else he owned in his hair, I'm not too affected everything greatly and soon enough, Verde was hit and the force caused his focus to break, therefore we were temporarily free from this shocking situation.

It was only a few seconds, but that was all it took for Tsuna's engine to start going on the X-Burner.

"Dammit! I won't allow you!"

Several rockets were fired, all aimed at Tsuna, and Reborn shot them down in an instant. He tipped his hat to Tsuna and away he fired. I would have thought that the ship would have gone down too but once the smoke from the cannon had cleared, it was certain that my intuition was correct.

"A-A robot?!"

"Ten points to you missy."

"You were right." Reborn whispered, as Tsuna stared at the scene in shock.

"Then where is he Kora?"

"He should be nearby." Tsuna said abruptly, turning down his flame. "Err...why did I say that? I just had a feeling…."

Reborn looked away to think. "If that's what Tsuna reckons, then he's probably right."

You could see how Tsuna's powers were growing. Imagine if this was happening back when I first met him. He wouldn't have been able to hold his courage with a high head like he did right now. His intuition was forcing him towards the random small island in the middle of the harbour.

Gokudera spoke up. "Hey, that's bumpy rock, where we used to practice."

And that's where we went.

We didn't walk, of course. Most of us swam.

~o0o~

"Welcome to my research lab, I suppose."

His welcome wasn't pleasantly received, nor did he want any of us here. He was a hermit who prefered the company of nobody.

"Are you Verde?!" Gokudera snapped. "The real one!?"

"Yes, of course." He turned in his chair, and once again, I was faced with the strange man. "I am very grateful. I was unable to obtain the Vongola rings, but I did obtain valuable information. I will be able to make significant advances with my research now."

"Research, you say?!"

"Don't you care about the Arcobaleno curse, Maggot?"

"He doesn't. To him, it's something he can tinker forever at because it's always there." I muttered, staring into his eyes with analysis. I was drenched and I was getting very short tempered. "You got something Verde, and they passed your test, didn't they?"

He lifted his eyes to me and a small smile appeared. "Oh, I never noticed you were here. Yes, they did. Vongola, come here so I can give you the seal."

"Boss, be careful!"

"It's fine." He murmured, as Verde's seal was handed over. Green light poured onto the ring and everybody's rings glowed.

"You did it!"

"Good job!"

"You're getting there kiddo."

"We have six seals now, Boss!"

Tsuna nodded and Verde blinked in surprise, looking down at my father.

"Six? You haven't given yours yet?"

Reborn stood firmly. "I have my own way of doing things."

Verde smirked, blowing it off. "You two are the oddest family I've come across. Really. And you," He pointed at me. "I forgot your name. But I remember you visiting a couple of days ago. How is Joseph? Still a fart?"

I ignored the glare that Reborn, plus all of the Arcobaleno were sending me, most of them having no clue what he was talking about.

I did, unfortunately.

"Last I heard, he killed himself." I stated, much to his surprise. "But he told me what I needed before he did. Reborn, is there anything you would like to put?"

Reluctantly he spoke. "No. Let's go."

"Goodbye then." Verde said, smirking as he disappeared into a hole in the ground, him crocodile buddy slinking in after him.

The roof started to shake violently.

"He plans to blow the whole place up!"

"Let's get out of here!"

"Rapido Rapido! Andale!"

~o0o~

The lab went down faster than Skull's ship when it got hit by torpedoes. By the time we got back to the shore, it had fully submerged itself underwater, taking with it whatever was left inside. Knowing Verde, he would have gotten out of there, no doubt.

"That was close….."

Gokudera yelled at the sky, his nose scrunching. "Man, that guy is nuts. I can't believe he's an Arcobaleno like Reborn and Lal…."

"He is, but that doesn't mean he's one of us." Reborn replied and I looked at him, expecting. He read my mind and simply told me. "Later."

"Yes sir."

"He got away again.." Colonnello grumbled.

"I'll watch him more carefully, follow what he's up to." Lal said.

Reborn nodded. "I'll let you guys handle that."

~o0o~

As it turned out, they didn't actually fail Reborn's trial. Well, they did the first but they were unaware that they were taking it a second. You should have seen the shock and happiness on all of their faces when they realised that all the trial were finished.

Done.

The realisation that they didn't have to do this anymore was a relief.

I wish I could say that I felt the same, because I didn't. There was a bad feeling in my stomach that wouldn't go away, no matter what I tried to think about.

Something must have been in the water.

~o0o~

Howdy doo everybody! I hope you're all doing okay wherever you are. It's the middle of summer right now, but I kinda wish I was in Canada. (Mainly because where I am it doesn't snow at all. I've only seen it, like, two times at my house. Seriously, it sucks.) I also hope you're doing good in exams. I know a few who are and some who are like what? (I'm in the 'what?' option because mine finished in November and I don't start till the beginning of March. Hopefully, I'll be able to write a little more than intended before then. I'm a little sick, but I should push through it!

So while I twiddle my thumbs and get really annoyed at losing some battles in Persona 3, I want to thank everyone. I know I do this every chapter but without the support, I would give up a lot sooner. I have an overactive sense of okayness, so bear with me. Another note, if you like Naruto, there's a new story up on my page! It's got english and dragons and you might like it so please check it out and while you do, I'll try and type up the next chapter as fast as I can.

I never gave a thought to my story getting so well liked. Maybe soon we'll get over two hundred reviews! That would be lovely~ I can't remember who asked me, but I remember someone asked who Phillipa resembled in real life and the closest person I could find was Regina Spektor on the 'The view we saw from the back seats" cover.

Replies:

Akayuki Sawada: Well, someone's immune system was going to fail sooner or later. And Gamma….oh Gamma you poor fool…..I feel sort of sorry for him and that his relationship between him and Aria never really go off the ground, ya know?

I Am Alys: Well, in the anime - if I recall properly - he turns up on his steed around episode 162...and we're around 150 onwards, so hopefully soon. ;D I can't wait to write about him! So excited!

Leolnuyuka: You won't believe how happy your comments make me. That you're so excited makes me very elated because I respect your stories very much. (And honestly, that scene was on the spot. I wasn't planning on putting it in so I'm glad! Now I know how John Green feels when he gets great reviews from critics!)

Guest: Hello hello duckie! Thank you so much for taking the time to post a review! (Sorry, I just feel obliged to say that to everyone who does.) Right, back to what I was going to write about! While it is true that he needs to curb his mouth, I just think that he needs to control it in a situation, that's all. No need to lose his assholeness. About her 'grandfather' that was just something that popped up. Not originally intended, but hey. That's how a lot of things in life go. :D

lacomptessa: (Chapter three.) I don't know, is it octopus season? Ah well, they'll stop following you around eventually. (Chapter six:) If I remember properly, to get info. And Colonnello trained because at the stage she was at, it would not be suitable for her to meet Reborn the way she was. (AND TO ADD ON.) I love the people who review on every chapter so quickly that I can't reply fast enough and their answers get answered before I can. ;D

So, I guess, stay tuned?

(I don't know if I should say that . This story is getting more serious than I intended it to be.)

-Verdigurl