BATTLE OF THE SUCCESSORS – THUNDEROUS
The Thunder Guardian Battlefield, A Desert on the island
With the exception of Ryohei and Kyoko the same people were attending this battle. Bana maintained his friendly disposition, as if giving an interview or applying for a job. The prospect of him being boss didn't seem too bad to those who were unaware, unaware of his sins. His golden hair matched the colour of the sand as it exhibited small motion in the occasional breeze.
While Bana kept his regular clothes, dressing as his 'father' Vongola Primo had, the others all adorned stripped down versions of their regular attire. The blazing sun reflected off every surface in a way that illuminated it perfectly. As Byakuran described to Yamamoto, "It's good weather to get a tan".
Tsuna watched as the two fighters before him observed each other. His little brother Lambo had grown so much in these last few years, who knew how strong he truly was now. It must be understood that a few years ago when the guardians were first brought together, Tsuna and his school friends were all young adults, getting towards the end of their adolescence. Namely those at Namimori school had their development slow down the longer time went on, however Lambo was only a child back then, he had yet and has still yet to reach the peak of his learning curve. Among them Tsuna could be described as the strongest but Lambo was definitely the one with the most freakish talent.
Lambo's opponent didn't hold the same reverence for his opponent, it was easy to misjudge a child. He was however respectful towards him, after all no matter how young he was, there had to be a reason this kid in the cow skin was the lightning guardian. This man was named Tokata, a tall man with short black hair and a goatee. Tokata had a strange choice of fighting clothing, a buttoned shirt and some smart trousers, he wouldn't have looked out of place in Gokudera's engineering company.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Tokata, let's have a fun match little boy" offers Tokata, as if to teach Lambo that honest and fair play are integral parts of fighting. Educating Lambo however is no easy task, the boy has a tendency to be impertinent.
"Don't call Lambo little, I'm 7 years old" yells the obnoxious child. People often talk to Lambo like a child only to receive an incredibly rude reply such as this one. Gokudera got into the habit years ago of referring to Lambo as 'stupid cow', a moniker which he justified with this previous statement.
"That stupid cow… he actually got his age wrong" Gokudera explains as he sweatdrops.
Tsuna joins him in the gesture, "At least he was only one year out" he says in an attempt to improve Lambo's status in the eyes of everyone else.
While others would react violently or loudly to Lambo's rude behaviour, Tokata forcefully restrains himself, wanting to cast a good impression on behalf of his boss and fellow guardians. His expression changes from surprise to a wry smile, "My humble apologies… please allow me to use my full strength", he requests before pulling out a small metallic knife.
The knife appears unremarkable, if anything it exhibits a poor level of craftsmanship, however it is still a very dangerous weapon. The reason for this choice of weapon relates to Bana's choice of Tokata as his lightning guardian. Tokata electrocutes the knife, anything hit by this will inevitably suffer great damage.
Xanxus turns to Levi to enquire about the power of the knife, "Levi, you're our expert, just how strong is that guys power of electricity", he asks.
Levi is the foremost expert on electrical attacks at this gathering. Although Lambo has more absolute power, Levi has years' worth of expert as an assassin, a wielder of this power. "I would say that it is so strong that not even the electrico cuio can withstand it" he offers this calm analysis. This is a surprise to everyone present, someone with enough power to harm Lambo with electricity, such a person is exceedingly rare, a genius.
As everyone gazed at Tokata in awe, the silence was only broken when the man himself curved his arm for an overhand throw. Tokata launched his electrocuted knife at Lambo with great velocity, a speed which no ordinary man could hope to avoid. Lambo is a boy and is hence yet to become a man, he is also far from ordinary.
Using his great speed and rate of perception, Lambo twisted slightly to the side, giving him a good view of both Tokata and the passing knife. The knife passes by and Lambo calmly observing the situation with a battle intelligence unrivalled by those his own age. Right then something Lambo didn't think possible happened.
As the knife continued to pass Lambo he lost sight of Tokata for a moment, in that moment Tokata appeared directly in front of Lambo, his hand wielding the knife as if he had an hour to get the perfect grip. Those with vision permitting them to follow the battle started, surprised that someone could move so quickly, so precisely but Tokata didn't wait for their shock to subside, he immediately went for the kill.
Tokata sliced his knife down vertically with the same distinct curving motion that he first threw it, cutting Lambo with clinical precision. The cut is thin and clearly superficial, a result of Lambo's reaction to Tokata's attack. Lambo is a guardian recognised for possessing immense speed, yet not even he could completely dodge the attack.
The young thunder guardian leaps backwards, "Lambo is confused" he dumbly states, "Can you really move faster than Lambo".
Tokata maintains his fighting posture but extends a polite explanation to Lambo, "That's right, I am able to travel as fast as lightning, that's near instant movement" he explains with a confident smile on his face.
Enma watches the fight with an inquisitive look on his face, not quite confident enough to believe himself he turns to the CEDEF successor Basil. "Basil, do you see what I see" he asks so as to confirm his suspicions.
"Yeah, his movement wasn't lightning quick, it was instant" explains the Italian mafioso.
"You noticed too" smiles Tsuna. The other two were not confident in their ability to perceive attacks at high speed but Tsuna is completely confident, he has best high speed perception in the Vongola family and he couldn't track Tokata's movements. Naturally this means that Tokata is either faster than him, or he is using some form of teleportation.
Bana's gaze never leaves the battle as he joins the conversation, "You are all correct, Tokata is merely bluffing to confuse Lambo" he confirms. "He is using the weakness every child has, gullibility, it's quite cunning really".
"My little brother is no ordinary child" retorts Tsuna. The leader of the current 10th generation does have full confidence in his thunder guardian, that's the sort of family he has always insisted on maintaining, one that believes in each other. Although they may argue and fight it's a philosophy that all the guardians adopt, they have never doubted their comrades' victories and they will not start doubting here.
Despite a showing of support from his brother, Lambo is not doing well. His injuries continue to worsen as Tokata uses teleportation to dance around him, slicing him in more and more painful locations every time he re-materialises.
Tokata has a hint of resentment appear in his eyes, something so small that nobody on the battlefield notices it. What is this he questions. 'The boss gave me a chance to work hard, to obtain strength and use it against mighty opponents but is this it… is this it'.
Osaka, 1 Year Ago
It was another rainy day in Osaka, rainy didn't begin to explain how bad the weather was. Pluviophiles were dotted about the usually busy streets, the few who dared to venture into the storm smile and laugh as they gaze around to experience the rare openness of the city. These people however all spend their time walking the main streets, nobody would want to go into a dark and damp alley on a day like this but that is exactly what one man did.
The man is dressed casually, in a short sleeve shirt and a pair of jeans, clothes completely unbefitting of the weather. This man wears these clothes out of habit though, he has stood in this same spot wearing these same clothes at the same time every day for the past three years. Every day he turns up, rain or shine, weekday or weekend, even on holidays and he proceeds to repeat the same process. He throws knives at a target.
This man is Tokata, someone who would eventually became very influential in the mafia world but right now he is just a man, someone who can throw knives very accurately. Once more he throws a knife at the target, hitting the centre perfectly, he does this again, and again, and again, he repeats this for two hours.
Tokata throws the knife with all his might until one attempt where everything changes, for three years he promised himself he would never get frustrated but on that day something snapped, he just fell to his knees and screamed.
"What are you getting frustrated about, you hit perfectly every time, that's a bullseye" claims Bana as he walks out from a nearby shadow, encountering his future thunder guardian for the first time.
"It's not the accuracy" explains Tokata, "The accuracy is not what bothers me, no, it's the power. That knife thrown so accurately is enough to defeat any normal person true, however beyond a point the accuracy becomes redundant, she will die if I hit her in the left eye just as much as she will if I hit her in the right eye. There are exceptional people in this world though, I could hit them with that knife a million times and not defeat them. I need more power" he finishes.
Bana smiles as he looks at the kneeling Tokata. "I understand exactly what you mean, there are people in this world who have reached seemingly unclimbable heights". Bana lights up a dying will flame in one hand as a demonstration to Tokata, "If you want I can help you bridge the gap, I can remove your limits" he offers.
That was the day Tokata's life changed, after years of not being able to break through his limits, after meeting Bana everything changed in one day. Tokata had an unremarkable life until then, doing normal things with normal people and suffering from the boredom that comes with it, Bana was his saviour. A man had swooped down into the pits of hell and had chosen him, he was the one to be brought back into heaven.
The Thunder Battle, The Present Day
Lambo finally falls to the ground, a consequence of the continuous strikes dealt to him by his opponent. This turn in the battle irritates Tokata, someone who had strived for years to remove his limits and battle people of a higher level. Now that his limits had finally been surpassed this boy was offering him no challenge at all, the ultimate insult.
"IS THIS ALL THE STRENGTH YOU HAVE" shouts Tokata, finally losing all patience he had with Lambo. "If this is all the strength you can muster, how do you hope to leave here… HOW DO YOU HOPE TO LEAVE HERE WITH YOUR FRIENDS".
"Leave here… with my friends" Lambo muttered as he vacantly stared at the floor.
A small smile adorned the face of Gokudera as he realised the change Lambo was about to undergo. When he fights Lambo enhances his speed by creating an aura of lightning around himself, usually this lightning is green but suddenly it changed from green to blue. Lambo rose to his feet with a new look of determination in his eyes as he stared down Tokata.
Tokata started as he observed the change in seriousness from his younger counterpart, "What the hell… what is this". Deciding not to wait and find out Tokata once more threw his knife towards Lambo at full speed. Waiting until the knife was within a suitable range of Lambo, Tokata makes the decision to teleport.
His moment of teleportation never arrives though, for Lambo met the knife half way on its path towards him and knocked it away with his hand.
"His movement" Tokata begins, "It's actually faster than my reactions". Indeed, Lambo had closed the distance from himself to the knife even quicker than Tokata had made the decision to teleport.
"Then I have only one option". Bana's thunder guardian reaches into his pockets and pulls out a whole collection of knives which he throws in Lambo's direction.
Once again it is an easy feat for Lambo to avoid each and every one of these knives, Tokata however made that part of his strategy. As the cow dodges all of the knives he will use their new teleportation locations to appear behind him and attack.
'Your wide open' Tokata yells in his mind as he appears behind Lambo and uses his trademark swing to target the younger Sawada brother.
Tsuna was correct about his sibling though, there is no way that Lambo would lose to something like that. Utilising his new found speed, Lambo turns and punches Tokata in the chest with his full power, launching his opponent across the battlefield where he stops just short of his boss, Vongola Bana.
Tokata raises his head to look at his boss, "He was so fast boss… winning was… impossible". With his apology to his superior, Tokata lost consciousness, rendering Lambo the winner of the thunder match. The score is now one -one.
"I don't know how he beat instant movement but it was really cool" smiles Basil, gleeful that the guardians he has previously worked with have got their first victory over the newcomers.
Gokudera explains Lambo's new found speed, "The stupid cow has been training with me, running away from my attacks". He continues, "When you are fighting an opponent who can cause an explosion nearly anywhere at any time the one thing you require is speed. Thanks to that he created the blue lightning form, it increases his power and speed at a very small cost".
Tsuna's smile turns into an expression of concern, "Cost… what's the cost" he asks.
Gokudera who was previously giving a serious explanation adopts an embarrassed appearance, "He falls asleep immediately after using it". As the storm guardian explains Lambo falls onto the ground fast asleep following his victory, something that causes everyone to cry out in shock.
"How funny" Yamamoto laughs with his usual smile.
"Yeah" agrees Byakuran who has been watching with Yamamoto all along.
Iemitsu is naturally very pleased with his son's victory. "Well that is why I picked him as thunder guardian" he justifies, "Not only his body but his talent is something that is simply unmeasurable".
"I agree" begins the 9th, "Make sure you continue to raise your adopted son well" he implores the 9th, recognising the potential of one of his successors to the Vongola throne.
"You're the last person to be giving that advice" Xanxus laughs recalling the problems he and the 9th have had in the past.
"Don't worry boss, I will make sure he understands how proud I am later" consoles the leader of CEDEF.
With that the competition ended, the first victory for Tsuna's team had come from his younger brother. At this very moment everyone believed that one day, Lambo may even surpass Tsuna himself, the potential they had witnessed from a child, it was simply bottomless.