Katekyo Hitman Reborn

My Fate is Certainly Uncertain

Chapter 29:The Lightning Arena.

Overall warnings: Swearing, disclaimers and other things.

[Written to: Unleashed - Epica ,EXO - Miracles in December by Silv3rT3ar]

~o0o~

This is the story of me meeting Nemo's cousin. Never thought I would and I never want to ever again. I hate dead things.

Enzo eating everyone was like the Messiah coming to tell me that what I could see and touch was even more scarier than what I had dreamed of the following night. Hell yes it was pretty frightening having a rapid turtle gobbling up everybody like the beggars of medieval England. Not only was I concerned with Al disappearing, everyone else was too! Not me, since I was with Lal in the medical bay, talking away about boys and life and whatnot.

That was until the green reptile literally shat out everybody in circular eggs like an ikea magic trick. It was so odd all I could do was give the bug eyes and then slink back to Lal to give her an update on what the heck had just occurred. And she gave me the same expression, shaking her head at the stupidness. It then appeared to me that I'd been hanging out with her too much when she muttered, "This shit is getting weirder by the minute."

Preach it Sister.

The quote "Serious Box Training" unquote started in the cycle hanger, while everyone was awake and ready to focus for once. There were speculations about where Chrome stood in the way of which side of the river she chose to stand on as well as seeing if Lambo was alright enough. In his conscious state of today, it wouldn't matter if he was fully aware of it; not sure if he would ever get to that point, but like I mentioned before, it wouldn't matter on his CV and it wouldn't cause a dent now. His role as the Lightning Guardian of the Vongola was too valuable to lose at this point in Byakuran's game.

I blinked rapidly as Reborn's voice came through my mind. However, it didn't overall sound like Reborn.

And I was sure as fuck that there was no fedora around to match.

"W-What on earth are you wearing Reborn? It's like a midget and Taylor Swift had a child, there's glitter everywhere!?"

"I am here serving as a peacekeeper, my lovely dear." He ushered, in a flittery imitation of a womans. "I'm Dino's superior, the Tutor Fairy~"

You are so weird…..

Dino smiled smugly, basking in the euphoria. Tsuna, even though a native to japan, still wasn't used to a fully grown man cosplaying every now and then. Little did he know that I was almost roped into it, if it weren't for Lal and Iemitsu.

"H-He turned into a fairy! And he's suspended by wires!"

"Well he's not an ACTUAL fairy."

"Can't you dress normally for once?" I asked, giving Dino a sorry face that almost pitied him. "I'm sure Dino's is quite capable of doing this himself. I'm sure he's past the tripping stage - " I elbowed his side. "Right?"

"Ehe…."

"You heard the boy my dear, I'm here to lay down the law if he screws up, which he probably will." He started to swing by the sway of the suspenders and ran like he was on a treadmill on the side of Dino's cheek. "So don't you fret~"

It's a good thing I'm not outwardly expressing it then.

I had my own concerns too about how the future fight will come about. Because, in my mind, Byakuran wasn't one to sneak things quietly into someone's back pocket while they were turned the other way. No, he was the example of a Miss Priss and wanted to make a spectacle bigger than the fourth of July. That meant it could almost attract the attention of the innocent bystanders that were above our heads and maybe, there might be some fatalities.

The Varia also peaked my interest a little bit, only in the idea that they might get more involved in this battle and invest themselves further. But that was a longshot, if I remembered their leader correctly, no less the granny.

"Oh so you're one of them?"

I remember batting my eyelashes that I knew would cake up unless I got to some wipes pretty soon, because tomorrow morning, I wouldn't want any of the remains of a high class par-tae on my face. I held up my wine glass and shot him a smile with my red licker lips. "What are you, Deaf? Basil clearly just said the obvious."

Or was your temper shoved so far up your ass that you could use yourself as a hand puppet?

"I wasn't asking, Bitch!"

I didn't participate in any of the Vongola's training method's this time around. I didn't see where I could be of use in that field, since they had to find their own way to train, unless they had already been assigned a trainer.

~o0o~

The brief time that I had within the following hours that I had to myself before everybody else arrived in the sick bay with injuries ranging from burns to headaches was spent bettering myself with recapping my first aid skills. Lal was fast asleep and her being who she was, I could have played some surround sounds and she still wouldn't have woken up.

This was a good thing, because I wasn't a visual learner. I had to hear things being said and repeat them in my own way for them to be memorized. Youtube wasn't the best place to learn first air but it was vocal, and for now, that's all I needed.

"Step seven: do not put anything within the patients mouth. Contrary to what many people believe, a person having seizure is incapable of swallowing their tongue. Theref…."

I nodded to myself, eating a sandwich that I'd packed this morning. "Short straw even shorter, make sure their airways are free of blockages so they don't choke on their own vomit,"

The girls were fighting with the boys and the only reason I made a packed lunch was because the kitchen was such a depressing place right now. The boys were sobbing on the floor, and I had come to notice that the bin was thigh high full of instant noodles and ramen packets. Asian equivalent of mac and cheese, the bachelor's star food choice.

But I could see why they got sick of it so quickly. There wasn't much nutrients or protein, or anything really in it so within the space of twenty minutes they would be completely hungry again. I was luck to get out of there while I still could.

"Marsh."

"What?" I asked blankly, not looking up from the monitor. On it was also links to all the camera's in the base. And here's me hoping that the band of merry "girls" doesn't slip into the room. I wasn't too sure how I would take to Reborn chewing on long hair and Giannini with make-up.

"I'm bored."

"So then do something."

"Don't you think I would if I could." She was grumbling and a lot of her words were lisps. The 73 policy wasn't working too well with her, and it was a miracle that Reborn was still unaffected by it, thanks to Giannini. "This sucks."

I moaned out loud and gave her my laptop. "Fine, here. Take it."

I couldn't stand it when people complained anyway, so I hightailed it out of there, in search for an ice cold drink and someone else to talk to. I'm sure Fuuta or someone else could man the bay.

There was no one in the kitchen, but I knew Giannini was in the control room, so I went past there and I kinda had to make sure that I wasn't seeing things.

Because Byakuran was on the screen with a giant-ass sunday with pocky and whipped cream and the overload I was getting wasn't a nice one.

"Is that icing sugar?" Al made dry heaving sounds. "Oh yuck."

He wasn't a big fan of sweet things. Me neither, but I could handle it a lot more than he could.

Byakuran smiled. "I was bored so I came to play." Rather annoyingly, he held out a spoonful of cream and offered it to the group. "Want some?"

"No, that'll go straight to my hips and at that point I'll have no choice but to poop on you in the public eye."

"Bastard...You playing with us!?"

"Just kidding." He smiled smugly, eating what he 'offered.' "I'm actually making a courtesy call about Choice."

"Huh?" Tsuna blinked.

Did he mean the fight? Referring to it as choice? Blasphemy.

"I said I'd give details to you later, right? Be at Namimori Shrine at noon in six days."

"We're fighting in Namimori!?"

So my hunch was right…..Namimori is getting involved…..

But the guy is so lax and upon first inspection would appear to anybody who didn't know the guy's true motives to perceive him as a day dreamer, but to anyone else he was a tease. It wasn't "Yes Sir, No Sir, Three bags full Sir." Always wishy washy was his ways and my tally score ranked him around the top with people who annoy me the most, and heck, I had only known him for a few weeks. I didn't know whether to trust my gut this time.

"Hmm, I wonder….." He looked off camera and then brought his eyes back into focus. "For now, make the necessary preparation and bring everybody with you."

"Who died and made you Queen of the Harpies?"

His eyes thinned. "You'll at least need to bring everybody who came from the past."

Ah crap.

"Eh!"

"What?!"

"Even Kyoko and Haru?!"

"What do you mean?!" Ryohei growled. The thought of his sister getting involved in something like this made his blood boil and I wasn't especially elated to get them involved either. In my head, I saw no need to spill excess blood.

Hot air blew out Byakuran's nose, and for once, I didn't see that smile he usually had. It was strangely replaced with pursed lips and partially opened eyes.

"It's more meaningful this 'll be disqualified if anybody is missing."

"Hold on a second!" Gokudera yelled.

"Definitely priss." I whispered.

But then he changed to his usual demeanor and before flicking off the connection, he gave us a belated goodbye and a ten watt smile. "Well, good luck with training!"

It was too late for Gokudera to yell a comeback. He had already shut off the connection between us and it was pretty hard to re establish it, if you didn't have the IP address (one that was reliable.) and a safe line to work on without giving yourself a target on your back.

Tsuna was visibly upset as well. "No way….bring Haru and Kyoko to the match? How could I?"

I squeezed his shoulder in support. "With a plan. That way at least, we can go in hoping for the best outcome and prepare for the worst."

"I won't allow that to happen!" Ryohei clenched his fists.

"We don't have a choice here, you buffoon."

Gokudera was more logically ahead of his age and was able to calm his teammates down with some sound reasoning. We would be killed if we didn't go but we would if we did. It was a lose-lose situation with no back door out of it.

Dino, the oldest one here - spare Reborn - wasn't happy at all to see Byakuran's face or to hear his voice. I don't really know the exact reason, but whenever he doesn't like something or someone he always silently grinds his teeth with the straightest face he can pull.

"What do we do Reborn?" He asked, unsure of what to do.

Despite his inner pride, Reborn always chose logic. "We have to do what Byakuran says for now."

"N-No way!"

My nose twitched. "Tsuna, now's not the time to fight. We don't actually have a choice. It's his road or no road."

In the pit of everyone's guts was a cold truth that they were afraid to explain to the girls. They were afraid to show them the world they tried to shelter them from, but I knew they would take it okay. They were beginning to suspect something was at hand and it was only this morning that I found them huddling in the bike hanger, like little ninjas.

Reborn smiled. "In hindsight, Tsuna was right to tell them everything."

Shocked faced glanced at the brown haired boss-to-be, who shrivelled a little bit inside under the weight of their eyes. He apologised immediately.

"S-Sorry…..I told them. I felt that Kyoko and Haru deserved to know the truth."

Ah shit.

My first reaction to Ryohei smashing his fist into the wall, even denting it a little was to position myself between the two groups so that I could decrease the level of inside damage that might prove to be dangerous to fight with if they ever went into the battle.

"Calm down." I ordered. "There's no n-"

"No need?" He asked, a dark shadow covering his eyes. "How did she react Sawada?!"

"Uh…"

"HOW DID SHE REACT!?"

"Just tell him." I whispered. "We really can't afford to fight between ourselves."

Tsuna couldn't look him in the eye. "S-She listened to everything I had to say….."

"I don't think Tsuna made the wrong choice, Ryohei." Dino told him, adamant that it was the better choice of two bad ones. "In this situation, we would have had to tell them sooner or later."

A difficult temper filled the air and Reborn was the one to shove it away by trying to shove it in a corner of the room while changing the subject to what had just happened.

"Still, how did Byakuran access our network?"

"Maybe still from that bug that Chrome carried?"

"No." I shook my head. "Hibari destroyed that, remember?"

"Your security's a joke. Damn Amateurs."

The wafting odor of salt and wetness filled the room as the voice made itself present to the rest of the group, a very gruff one at that.

"No way…" Al whispered,

I never expected Squalo to cut his hair, but I never expected this. Wow, what is it with this timeline?

"Ah!"

"Squalo!"

"Woah." I said, nodding with an alright expression. "I was wondering before when the Varia would turn up, but your timing is perfect."

"Here." He said, with a gruntier voice than the past Squalo. WIth one hand, he held out the massive tuna to me and I couldn't do anything other than hold the slimy bugger with two arms. "A gift."

"Um…"

"You're late Squalo." Dino taunted, smiling. "Your student's tired of waiting."

And that was how I met Nemo's cousin.

Never again.

~o0o~

In no time at all, six days had passed without me realizing. We were all too busy getting ready for the battle. I had my supplies and Leon, poor little guy, he spent the time trying to make everybody clothes that would act as protection material. He was amazing, he was! The girls helped and I tried to pitch in where I could. It was nice, all working together. They stopped every so ofter to go prepare food and whatnot, but Banchi and me stayed behind to finish things.

I was lucky enough to design my own. I had a red coat on, like everyone else. Blouses weren't really my thing, since I found then constricting when I tried to run or jump, so I changed the design to a white shirt that was accompanied with a high-waisted pair of shorts. I didn't feel like skirts would be appropriate for the job today and I talked that over with the girls, and they agreed with it. Al had a red ribbon for the occasion, and it matched the ribbon I had in my own hair.

The long sleeves on my coat were a risk, in my head, so I rolled them up. My hands were sweating a little bit, and Al gave me some word so support. I hated to sit and watch and wait with expectation, but it was a necessity today.

"Phillipa."

I looked up at Tsuna, and smiled at how snazzy he looked with a suit on. The boss-to-be now actually looked the part. And I was proud.

"Yeah Starfish?"

"Are you ready?"

I checked in with Al and then nodded. "We both are."

He smiled in response and checked in with Haru and Kyoko, who stood side by side in the uniforms that they worked on. With straight backs, they nodded curtly.

"Yes Tsuna."

"Yes Yes!"

"Alright then. Let's go."

~o0o~

Climbing the steps to Namimori Shrine was more daunting to some. The excitement and nerves was getting to everybody, and I wondered what we would find at the top.

Wasn't anything I really expected.

"What's that?" I asked.

"A festival float?" Haru pondered.

"Festival! Yipeee! Lambo loves festivals!"

"Doubt it. Doesn't even look festive."

Gokudera held out an arm. "Wait, stop! It might be a Millefiore trap!"

And then the coin dropped, with Shouichi scratching the back of his head in embarrassment that made his cheeks redden. "Aha, I forgot to tell you! This will be our base unit!"

"Eh?"

"I moved it out here this morning beforehand. Your bikes are stowed inside."

"Hahi! So that's what you were building this whole time!"

"Amazing!"

"Lambo's going to climb on top of it!"

This was a good storage option, from looking at the blueprints in Shouichi's head. It would be resistant to attacks, but all it was, was storage. Good in my opinion. Everybody else came to their own conclusion about the tent, and while they talked, I went over my hand-to-hand training with Lal. I'd be defensive, but I would need to protect myself it I got attacked.

Unfortunate as it was, Reborn wasn't able to be here in person. The 73 didn't allow him to leave the base, so we were communicating via the earpieces. Lal was unmovable. We couldn't transport her there, and she had said she would crawl if she could.

Maybe we should send her a postcard.

"Above!"

And in the air, above the land, a storm of flames swirled like a tornado's, momentus in size and dark as a closed closet. The clouds swirled violently and a dark shadow spread over everybody. The winds started to pick up and the clouds circled faster. Some were slower than others, but all were pretty foreboding.

Like out of a book, straight out of a tv show, a circle of light emerged from the clouds, in a perfect form.

His face was a hologram, and Byakuran greeted first, as if we were on good terms.

"Hey there fellas!"

"Eh! What is that!?"

"You look well, Tsuna."

Everybody started to freak out, until Shouichi tried to calm everyone down, comparing his face to a blimp. Ha.

"Oh?" Byakuran's eyes were looking around everywhere. They were hollow, and his iris wa barely visible. "I thought I told you to bring everyone. Oh well, you'll be the ones to suffer at crunch time."

"Byakuran, you're the one who's broken the rules! That apparatus is too big for a base unit in choice!"

He chuckled. "You still haven't gotten over your habit of jumping to conclusions, have you Shouichi? This is a new method of transportation that has just completed. You've also seen it before."

"Eh, that means….."

"This machine will take you to the stage where Choice will happen. The flame ring teleportation system. Cool name, huh?"

Oh, so I wasn't really right? That's definitely a confidence builder.

"Flame ring….."

"...teleportation system?"

Al sniffed. "And they call me crazy."

"So that's how you made the base disappear…...Neato."

"As you know already, this device isn't easily activated. It also serves a role to see if you're qualified to participate in today's Choice!"

"Qualified?"

Wait, does that mean that not everybody will fight?

"In other words, five million fiamma volts. We need that much flame pressure to transport you to the stage for Choice."

"F-Five million!?"

"A ridiculous amount of flame pressure is still needed to transport you all. I'd say it's reasonable to expect that you provide the flames yourselves. You could say it's a ticket for participating in the Choice."

"No way!" Fuuta yelled. "That's so unfair!"

Giannini nodded. "It won't be easy to prepare enough flames for twenty x-burners!"

"Produce any flames without barriers and the device will pick up on it immediately!" His eyes widened a peek. "Oh, I don't mean to scare you or anything., but I'll be so disappointed in you lose. I'd have to take the town…."

With a blink, the nearby mountain exploded once a bead from the blimp hit it.

"The northern mountain!"

"Is that an illusion."

"I-I can't t-tell….."

"Oh, sorry about that. My face slipped!"

"You fucking cheeky git."

We, Al and I and rather only us, we weren't really intimidated by his threat because I couldn't allow him that pleasure of seeing me with a scared face. I had to look tough, and Al didn't appear to be either. More so, he was ready, he was excited! He really wanted to get some action, to be able to rip some flesh.

Reborn sniffed, still looking up at him. "Well, he certainly has what it takes to rule this world through fear."

"But we can't show it Tsuna." I patted his back, feeling his nerves. "Stay strong buddy."

A purple screen appeared on his forehead, to what I could only assume was a measuring system for dying will flames.

"You better start soon guys! There's only a little time left before noon, the scheduled time. Time will be up when the light from my face disappears."

Oh you son of a bitch!

The circle of light quickly shrunk until it surrounded Tsuna. Byakuran started to toy and tease Tsuna. "Come on, hurry hurry! What are you waiting for? You scared?"

"B-But, we're still missing people!"

"Oh? I'm glad that you respect the rules. But it sounds like an excuse for not being able to produce five million fiamme volts."

"I-I'm sure…...I'm sure they'll be here!"

"But you're out of time." He whined, puffing up his cheeks.

"No, t-they'll come!"

But out of the greenery, two waves of flames leaped up into the air, following their masters, Hibari and Yamamoto. Purple and blue. Materials fluttering in the wind, it was now a race to the finish.

~o0o~

When I opened my eyes from trying to keep my stance up, I realized that we had transported. The light was brighter than before, and I couldn't bare to even look it. But that meant we managed to make the time.

And it was beautiful. All around us were sky high buildings that reached up to the atmosphere with both arms, their antenna's swaying slightly. Sunshine gleamed off of the windows and the streets were completely bare apart from both teams. No bins or streetlights. No newspapers discarded on the ground. It was very sanitary. We landed on the top of a building that was shorter than most. The storage system had followed us, and I looked forward, ready to start.

"It feels like we've met many times, but this is the first time you've met me in person, Tsunayoshi?"

Out there, standing at the end the rooftop, from where the gang landed, stood the other batting team. In front of them was the man of the hour, Byakuran. The girl with blue hair. Magma Guy. The wannabe pixie. The Zombie. And the creepy priest? Halloween costume?

I counted five, spare Byakuran and an alarm bell went off.

Tri-ni-sette.

Weren't there supposed to be six? Where's the last competitor?

"Ah! There they are! The six funeral wreaths and Byakuran!"

"They look scary." Haru whispered and I petted her head. Poor thing. She was white.

"Just pretend that you're not scared, okay? Bianchi and I are here to protect you. Don't ever think you're alone."

She nodded silently and I kept my eyes on the group and Al let Haru hold him while she tried to calm down.

"Wah!" Lambo cried, as he sat in Chrome's arms. He jumped down from them and ran to hide behind Giannini, who stood at the back of the group. "They're scary! I'm on this side!"

Byakuran placed a hand on his hip and flicked parts of his fringe away. "This is where we'll be battling~!"

"What, here?"

"Yup! Don't you think it's a fine location?" He asked, looking for an honest opinion. I never thought I would see that sort of honesty out of the guy. It was creeping me out.

"W-We can't possibly fight here, in a place with so many people!"

"I thought you might say that." He admitted."So I got rid of them all."

Oh.

How efficient.

"Huh?"

"Eh!"

Yamamoto looked to his left at the side of the building. "Now that you mention it, it is awfully quiet. Don't you think, Phillipa?"

"Yes." I replied. "If it was a major city, there would be people out in the streets, not boarded up in burning buildings on a day like this."

Bianchi nodded. "Especially since we're in the middle of a metropolis….."

"No signs of crowds or chatter." Basil added.

"Or b-birds….."

"We're the only people in this place."

"Huh?"

"What do you mean?" Gokudera asked patiently.

Sweat was dripping down Shouichi's face. His eyes never left Byakuran and I breathed in, listening. "This is a place designed especially for Choice."

Byakuran nodded and stood straighter. "Well, I'll explain everything later, I promise."

"Bo-o! Puleeze! They're a bunch of kids!"

The girl's voice was high and sharp, and me nor Al liked her the second she opened her mouth. I felt myself curl back at her annoyingness and there was nothing I would like more than to take her down with a baseball bat. A bit violent of me, but fair.

"What!?"

"Oi!"

"Can I hit her?" I asked aloud.

"No." Reborn replied. "Unfortunately."

"What about me?

"Especially not you."

"Darn."

" Pooey, We lucked out there Darling. Next time."

"Boo! I can handle this lot by myself!" She yelled, and in a cloak of rain flames on her hand, it morphed into the edge of a sword. My eye twitched. But then, suddenly as she moved, she was stopped by her own teammate, the Pixie-impersonator. With, vines?

Are you kidding me?

"Hang on Bluebell, don't get too hasty. Lord Byakuran has been looking forward to this party for a while. We should enjoy ourselves."

"What the heck!" Tsuna cried.

"In an instant….no, not even an instant…..Are these freaks even human?!"

Hibari started to play up, and he lit up his ring. Pixie dude seemed to get himself interested and proclaimed his excitement.

"Oh? So this is my cloud counterpart, and you appear to be in your school uniform….." He chuckled. "Well, it's a pleasure. My name is Kikyo."

"Enough chit chat." Hibari ordered. "Let's get started."

"But we can't do that yet, Hibari!" Hummed Byakuran, and I wondered if his face ever started to hurt from all that smiling. He held up a cylindrical object (oh so close to looking like a baby's rattle) that was set alight to his Sky flame. "This is Choice. We have to proceed to the next choice."

"Eh? What's that?" Tsuna asked.

"It's a gyro roulette…." Shouichi whispered, almost frightened.

Byakuran began to walk closer to us. "I'll make it so that everyone can see it, yes? That way it's fair."

As if this was fair to begin with.

Just like the fiamme meter, two projections appeared in the sky. One for the Vongola and one for the Funeral Wreaths. A list of symbols was on each one, and Gokudera was faster than me to ask what they were. Byakuran politely respond.

"These are our scoreboards. Tsunayoshi, please, come put your hand with your ring on the side with gears."

"Huh?" Tsuna was a little lost a what he mean, and quickly, almost automatically, Byakuran picked up on it. He gestured with his own hand. "Here, like this."

I felt Tsuna's courage and he walked calmly toward Byakuran, He did the exact same thing the white haired fellow was doing. Byakuran asked his to spin when he said the word Choice, and he did so.

"Aaaaaaand it's decided!"

"Eh?"

"The participants of the teams."

They looked like this:

Vongola:

Sky: 1

Sun: 0

Mist: 0

Cloud: 0

Rain: 1

Lightning: 0

Storm:1

BOX: 3

Millefiore:

Sky: 0

Sun: 1

Mist: 2

Cloud: 1

Rain: 1

Lightning: 0

Storm: 0

BOX: 0

And I realised that this was the order of the participants. But what confused me was the box at the bottom. But, like before, Gokudera released his quick thinking brain on the enemies, before I could even open my mouth. Not that I wanted to this time.

"Wait a minute!" He called out, pointing to the box on our board. "What the hell is that?"

"Oh, that would be the null element. It's there to represent those without rings. You have three, so you'll need to send three out."

"So that's why you asked for everyone to be here." Reborn drew out, staring at the leader of the Millefiore.

"Having them all participate in a fight…" Tsuna frowned, thinking that the number was too high. "No way…."

And in the midst of it, I almost missed him. I almost missed the little bugger while listening to Byakuran talk, but I didn't and I was happy that I got him in time. Like I said, the zombie kid almost made it past me, but I managed to grab his arm and twisted him into a headlock. I was about a foot taller than him, so my face was barely out of his hair. He smelt awful.

"Ew, boy cooties! Ew!"

"What the fuck are you doing?" I asked, tightening the grip on my arm.

"Flowers." He deadpanned, holding dead ones out to the girls, who shook a bit while Bianchi held them up from the back, almost screeching at the dude. "These are for you."

I grunted and threw him back the way he came, to where he was caught in mid air by a stray vine whip from Kikyo. His face grew a smile, and I tc'd. In reality, I was a bit disappointed that he did get caught.

"So sorry." Kikyo called, batting his lashes. "I take my eyes off him for one second and look what happens. Daisy has a weakness for cute and fragile things, like you three. I hope he didn't cause you much trouble, Miss….."

I paused before answering. "It's Marsh, you Pixie. Keep him on a leash."

"The nerve of this guy Phil! He's trying to talk you up!"

"W-What's wrong with this guy?!" Tsuna pondered.

"Well then," Byakuran voiced, moving on. "Let's announce the participating members then. Oh! And this is your only chance to discuss before making your Choice, okay?"

Shouichi stepped forward. "Byakuran, since I don't have a ring, I can be considered a null element, right?"

"Hmmmm…..I guess I can make an exception….."

"In that case, Tsuna, our line-up is set."

"Huh?"

He pushed up his rims. "The participating members are as follows: Sky will be Tsunayoshi. Storm will be Gokudera. Rain will be Yamamoto. And the null element will be represented by Spanner, Giannini and Me."

I raised my hand. "Objection!"

"This isn't a court, you know!"

"Tsuna, I request that you replace Giannini with me."

"H-Hey!" Giannini called, trying to sound brave. "That' not fair! Just because I'm short and round doesn't mean t-"

"That's not the point." I snapped. "I'm pointing out to Shouichi and Tsuna that it's not a smart idea to put all three of the Vongola's engineers out on the battlefield. If the worst comes, we're screwed if we lose all three. Permission to switch?"

"Do you have a a flame?" Byakuran asked, piping his interest.

"Not one on that board. The only place you could put me is in the null section." I held up both hands, flat. "See, no rings."

"Phillipa!" Reborn growled and I ignored him.

Byakuran shrugged. "Alright, whateves. You guys need a female out there anyway."

"Sexist."

The other guys started to play up, upset that they weren't chosen, and Shouichi tried to calm them down.

"You'll have to bare with it this time!" He pleaded. "The other side is also bound by these conditions. That's how Choice works. Besides, the gyro roulette gave us a pretty favourable result. The other side is a person down, and Byakuran can't participate."

"You think I'm going to accept that reasoning?" Hibari sassed. "I'm going to participate."

Oh boy, here comes Mr sass pants…..

"Hibari!"

"Wait, you can't just decide to participate!"

"Hold on Kyoya,"

And there was Dino. I was wondering when he would make himself present. He'd been hiding for a while.

"Man, you're so difficult….."

"Dino!" Tsuna yelled. "When did you get here?!"

"He snuck in." I told him. "Did you bring it?"

He sighed. "And you're impatient." He brought one hand out of his coat pocket and pulled out the flames silver box I had been hearing about. "Here it is."

"Tha-nk you~" I sung, holding the box in my own hands, giving him a hug on my tiptoes.

"Now, remember what I said about it…."

"Yes, I remember." I held it up. "No better place than to try it here, right?"

He sighed and smiled, and I spun on my foot.

"You snuck in?!" Tsuna cired. "T-That means you've been here the whole time!'

"I have."

"EH!"

Al chuckled. "His expressions are priceless."

I picked Al up. "Alright, we can do this buddy."

"What are you doing?" Byakuran asked.

"Waiting for the match to start." I looked behind him. The pixie was still staring and Bluebitch was still short, "You haven't introduced your team yet."

"Are you taking him?"

He meant Al. "Yes."

"Nope! You have to leave him here. I don't want the kitty to get hurt, he's not even a box animal."

"Hey!"

"Excuse me?"

"Just do it Phillipa." Reborn said, and all three of us ended up being sour about the situation.

"I'm going to kill him, I swear."

Sour like a lemon, stings like a bee.

"I'm your brother's tutor, so of course I'd come!" He looked over to Hibari.

"Use your head. If Tsuna and the others beat the Millefiore, you'll be free to fight whoever you want."

"..."

"Suck it up for now, yeah?"

"...hn."

"That's great!"

No, my boy, that's some fine bargaining skills you've had fermented.

"Tsuna, it's your call. Are you okay with the changed line up?"

"Uh, yes!" He nodded.

And over on the other side of the proverbial fence, the magma bathing buffoon almost cried out in a tantrum like state, sinking to the ground in a puddle of grumbling moans. He looked pretty gutted to be left out too. Nice to see that the feeling was felt both sides.

"Lord Byakuran, but since I don't have a role to play…..I'm getting sick of this to be honest…."

Kikyo knelt. "I'm sorry, Lord Byakuran. Zakuro is starting to lose interest."

"Hm?" He turned. "Oh, we'd better hurry then. Alright, let me introduce to you my competitors! First, Cloud will be the ever reliable and kind leader, Kikyo. Sun will be the killing lover, Daisy. Mist is the phantom giant bringer of truth, Torikabuto. Aaaaand that does it!"

"Wait, where's your second mist!" Basil accused, pointing at the board. "You're supposed to have two!"

"Oh crap!"

"Ah!"

Byakuran giggled like a schoolgirl. "Is that what you expected me to say? Like I said before, each of the six funeral wreaths has been assigned one hundred A ranked subordinates."

"N-Now that you mention it, I thought I remembered you saying something like that a while ago….."

"The other mist player, is already here." He said, and a mist like ball flickered to life in front of him. Everybody stepped back a little and my eyes widened as the mist dissipated completely.

I didn't expect for him to come back here.

"One of Torikatbuto's men, Saru."

Chrome didn't like the fact that there were two illusionists in battle from the other team and that she wasn't on the outfield annoyed her as well, but for me I'm still coming to terms that the man in front of me is the same guy that Tsuna supposedly burned in the X-Burner.

Today was full of oddities but I didn't want to say anything right now in front of them.

"So they have plenty of resources…." Dino mumbled.

"Cowards!" Basil jested and then he cried out when I knocked his head.

"Well then, we'll get to the rules of victory, yes? I went with the simplest and quickest Choice rule set. The target rules."

"T-Target rules?"

Shouichi nodded. "A very simple set of rules. Both sides select one person to become the enemy's target. When a target is defeated by the opposing side, their enemy's lose."

"I see, so we're selecting captains….."

"Oh, maybe I should also mention that the targets were automatically chosen by the gyro roulette?"

Yeah, maybe that should have been said,

"Certain elements are illuminated on the roulette board, yes? Millefiore's is the Sun and Vongola's is Null. When two or more members belonging to the element, the gyro roulette will automatically choose one randomly."

And who did it choose? None other than Shouichi, and his face paled considerably. Pain started to enter his chest and massive movements would be difficult with the target being so close to a vital organ.

In a matter of time, once the referees had been introduced (Cervellos. Who else.) and everybody who wasn't participating had left, we began to get ready.

Al didn't go as quickly as everyone else. He didn't want to leave and I didn't want him to go. I felt a little smaller without my loud mouth knight in shiny fur.

"Al."

"Just…...keep safe, okay? Stay alive."

"I promise I will." I said, swallowing the lump in my throat. I would have shook his hand if he was in human form.

"Don't make promises you can't keep kid."

"And I'm promising you that I will make it back."

"You better. Tummy rubs on the house when we get back!"

I blinked in confusion. "Wait, you or me?"

"Who knows?"

"Come on Al!" Fuuta called and the black cat scurried away to the safety of the blonde's arms.

My main job was to patrol the radius of the area that Shouichi was hiding in and to keep the buggers out.

"Tsuna." I whispered, as he got on his bike. "Be careful of the guy in the mask."

"Why?"

"Because you remember that guy you offed with your X-Burner. Crazy guy that kinda almost got me blown up?"

"Eh?!" His eyes widened. "You mean Genkishi?"

I nodded.

He breathed out through his nose and rubbed the corner of his eye.

"I just want this to be over quickly."

~o0o~

Moving out of the house is probably one of the scariest things I've had to do in my life. I don't have much family where I live and my nerves definitely aren't on my side today. Please excuse the lateness. I've been switching between writing and packing.

Ironically, one of my minors is Italian and the majority of what I know (Like, words.) is from the show.

Replies:

Happy Reader: Yay for the feels! ;) Thanks for reading!

Cassie: Yes, he's a cutie pa tootie O/O

Girlofthearts: Uh, yes. It's mentioned somewhere between Phillipa and Bianchi when they first come to the future. *Can't actually remember*

Akayuki Sawada: True, true. Just saying. Poking them with needles is not a way to get their attention. (Actually, I'll tell you a secret. First time I watched KHR I had no idea it was Dino at first until I looked on Wiki and then I was like "WTF!?")

LeoInuyuka: It's liek a family reunion from the 90's.

shagani95: I think he's going to have a tough time a little later. That's all I'm going to say.

My Name Is Alice: I will and I have! Here you go.

-Verdigurl