BATTLE OF THE SUCCESSORS – I HAD TO TELL THEM
On the Storm Battle Grounds
The storm battleground was situated at the top of a mountain; the wind here was fast enough to send any weak individual flying off the cliff's below. However, nobody gathered here was weak, they were all prepared for a battle full of danger and guts. This battle would also inevitably contain a huge range of emotions for Gokudera Hayato because of who his opponent was. It was as a few had suspected.
"I had a feeling it would be you I would be fighting… Haru" said Gokudera with a pained expression on his face. It was three years ago now that he last heard from his girlfriend before she had 'died' in the USA. "You're really alive".
"Just like Tsuna and Ryohei, you made no effort to find me following my death" Haru coldly criticises Gokudera. The same story provided by Kyoko, the two of them are holding a grudge that many thought uncharacteristic for them.
Gokudera tries his best to calm her though, "It's not like that, we had our agents in America go to you as soon as possible" he explains. "They told us they had seen your dead bodies, we even brought them back for a burial".
Haru stands motionless, no changes in her facial expression as she watches Gokudera pour his heart out, "I won't fall for any such lies Hayato".
Gokudera had suspected that Haru would be his opponent and had done his best to mentally prepare himself, even having suspected this attitude from his former girlfriend he still couldn't prevent tears forming in his eyes. "I had to sit there and tell your parents… I had to tell them that I wasn't good enough to protect their daughter" he sobs.
"I said that lying wouldn't cut any ice with me" repeats Haru as she raises her open palm into the air. Suddenly a huge heavy sword appeared within her hands, the sword is the focus of everyone's gaze, it's domineering enough to force many to their knees. Gokudera Hayato however, is not such a person.
Haru suddenly swings the sword downwards as if to strike the empty space before her, light gathers on the edge of her sword though and is thrown by the motion of the blade, this sword light travels at full speed towards Gokudera.
Gokudera counters the attack, launching several of his newly created bombs to slow the sword light. Four explosions happen, one of red wind, one of green lightning, one of blue rain and one of deep purple clouds. This is an incredible attack, perhaps the strongest power that a storm guardian has ever demonstrated but it's not enough.
The sword light emerges from the explosions and travels straight at an unsuspecting Gokudera. Gokudera leaps to the side at the last moment, "Damn, what the hell was that attack" he questions.
Haru doesn't give her opponent time to gather his thoughts, she swings her sword again and again sending many streaks in the engineer's direction.
This series of attacks forces another dodge from Gokudera, he flips sideways and when his posture is perfectly opposite to his average standing position he fires his own counterattack. Only one bomb is needed for his desired attack, as the sun bomb nears on Haru his thinking becomes clear. 'There is no way that she can dodge with that heavy sword, this is going to hit' he speculates.
Beyond the expectations of everyone present, with the exception of a grinning Bana, Haru leaps away with no more movement than a normal person would require to do so. The sword Haru is wielding would slow down anybody else enormously, however the challenging storm candidate treats the weapon as if it is weightless.
"What…" starts Gokudera, he himself is a storm attribute user, otherwise he wouldn't be competing against Haru but he is confused by her strength. The storm attribute isn't ideal for amassing great strength, that can only mean that Haru has obtained this strength through pure training. To have reached such a high level in the sword and in an element is something that only Yamamoto has accomplished here, Haru is clearly a freakishly talented fighter.
The 9th however is quite cheery in spite of Gokudera's difficult challenge, "She's impressive that girl and she truly represents the storm" he explains. He along with everyone else remembers Haru's over the top attitude from when the guardians were kids. "She can move so fast with that sword; she would truly be a worthy guardian".
"They've had a busy three years have the trash" Xanxus notes.
"I'll say" agrees Enma, another of those present who doesn't realise the importance of this competition between Bana and Tsuna.
"I understand now, you're stronger than me" begins Gokudera, "Your abilities make you a more suitable guardian and even your storm resembles a storm more than mine" explains Gokudera to the dismay of his supporters who have gathered.
"Gokudera don't say that" pleads Tsuna. Of all the people who have followed Tsuna since he became the 10th Vongola boss, Gokudera had undoubtedly been the most loyal, it would be a severe mental blow if his right hand man were to give up.
"But I am much more suitable to being a Vongola than you" Gokudera smiles. That statement may have been less valid before Sawada Tsunayoshi came along but now it is true, being a Vongola has become less about strength and domination over the mafia world. Now the word Vongola is synonymous with the fun loving attitude that the 10th generation has helped to bring about.
"If this fight is all about power" begins white haired boy, "Let's just skip straight to the main event" he suggests as he fixes a new bomb launcher to his arm. The launcher is not dis-similar to the one who used with system CAI however this one has been optimised to launch his new style of bombs.
Haru cracks a small smile that hardly anybody notices, "You who are so weak hope to overcome my power with a single attack?". Haru raises her sword above her head as effortlessly as ever before but something changes. Formerly the sword light materialised on her sword mid-swing but right now sword light has begun to gather on it while it is stationary. The sword that was so domineering before now looks more intimidating than ever, ready and waiting to settle a grudge between the former lovers.
Gokudera isn't fazed however, he gathers storm energy into his own launcher causing it to light up red. Storm energy is naturally the strongest for Gokudera as he can reinforce it with his own storm element, this is clearly a clash of each fighter's strongest attack.
"Shall we test which one of us is truly stronger" asks Gokudera as he fires his attack towards Haru.
Haru shows no hesitation in returning the attack, she swings her sword downwards even quicker than she has done before, it's full weight denting the floor upon impact.
As the two combatant's attacks collide in the middle a huge red explosion causes everyone around to shield their eyes. The power contained within this blast is something that has not been seen in a very long time, not since the battle of the rainbow. While some people are focused on shielding their eyes and protecting themselves from any damage, Tsuna and Bana are eager to remove their hands from their faces and feast their eyes on the victor. When the two are able to see the victor it is Bana who wears a smile on his face.
Haru had won.
"Gokudera… lost" stammers Doctor Shamal, his former mentor.
"HAYATO" Bianci screams, eager to tend to her younger brother when the fight is over.
The fight was over in everyone's minds, except one person. Haru seemingly undamaged by the storm attribute collision raised her arm once more, gathering sword light on the edge of her blade for a second successive time.
Everyone winces and Colonello cries out "Is she actually going to do it again".
Haru didn't get the chance to attack a second time however, the 9th appeared at her side and grabbed her by the wrist. "Come now, this is not the place to be settling personal grudges" he reasoned, "Wouldn't you agree Haru?".
"Yes 9th" Haru obediently agrees, "I will be replacing him soon anyway, I'm sure that will settle my personal grudge". With that Haru slowly walks off back towards her team's camp, as if she was completely oblivious to the injuries she had dealt to Gokudera. She was the victor after all.
Tsuna runs over to Gokudera after a suitable distance appeared between his friend and Haru. "Are you alright?" he questions, concerned for his most faithful guardian. What surprised him though was that Gokudera didn't look as if he was hurt, he just looked sad, incomparably sad.
"Sorry, I lost my nerve, I couldn't muster up the will to go all out against her… at least not yet" he explains to his boss.
Before Tsuna gets the chance to reply his eventual opponent walked over and apologised to Gokudera. "Gokudera, I'm afraid my actions so far have made this fight more personal than it should have been, my sincerest apologies for that".
Bana walks over to face the other guardians on Tsuna's team before bowing, "I promise that neither my rain nor my cloud guardian should cause you any hesitation when fighting them" he assures his opponents.
The 9th approaches Bana and places a hand on his shoulder, "thank you Bana, you really do have the 1st's sense of fair play" he smiles. This situation is dream-like for the 9th, regardless of who wins, he will have been successful in passing the role over to a charismatic, good natured and most importantly strong successor.
Xanxus however is not so naïve as his father, the old man sure is an idiot he thinks to himself, 'however that guy has all of these people fooled and now we are depending on the other two to win'. Xanxus realises what a bad situation his boss is in now, the score is 2-1, 3-1 if you count the pre-determined mist match. One more loss and it's over.