THE RAINBOW FLAME WAR – IS HE ALIVE?
Japan's Resistance HQ
The warehouse is sombre but noisy, people discussing their misfortunes or their hatred for the Yakuza, for years now there has been little in the way of options for conversation. Nobody knows what is happening at that very moment, Dino decides against telling them, letting only the Chiavarone Mafia members and his son know.
Hibari Kyoya walks subtly in through the front door. His coat sways in the breeze as he walks towards Dino, Romario and Aron, his adopted son. He approaches the screen with all six of their eyes fixed on him.
"Gokudera?" Dino asks simply.
Hibari shakes his head, letting the trio know that the right-hand-man of Sawada Tsunayoshi has died. He thinks back to the memories he has of Gokudera, that man was always so noisy, he fought with those damn bombs and he was always droning on about 'mafia' this or '10th' that. Yet Gokudera was still a friend to him.
"I'm sorry about your friend dad" comes the voice of Aron.
Aron is a twelve-year-old boy, made an orphan by the war, he is the adoptive son of both Dino and Hibari. Aron has short black hair and a skinny build as did many children following the war.
"Yeah…" Hibari replies to his son, not the type to linger on such an issue for longer than is necessary.
Hibari brings a device up before his face. It only has a few buttons on it but it is what Gokudera died to give to him. It's a chunky black device, Hibari recognises a couple of audio components meaning that it is likely to be the device that Gokudera stated, perhaps it really is a phone to the rest of the world's resistance.
Romario shakily raises his hand before he points to the object in the cloud guardian's hands. He struggles to get the words out he wants, it has been so many years since he first helped formulate a communication method and it hadn't worked yet now another one has appeared before his eyes.
"Is that the phone" he asks, "Is that the phone that gets through to the rest of the world's resistance".
Hibari looks to Romario and nods.
"There's no mistaking it then" Dino starts as he holds Aron tightly. "We will finally know… finally after all these years we will find out if Tsuna survived".
Dino takes his turn to look at the device in awe. For too long now he has been fighting a hopeless fight against the Yakuza and for what. The Chiavarone boss has only had one reason to fight, it's for the faint hope that Sawada Tsunayoshi is still alive. If Tsuna is alive then there is hope for the world's freedom, if Tsuna is dead then it has all been for nothing.
"EVERYONE QUIET" Romario shouts at the top of his voice, silencing the entire warehouse.
Nobody looks at the second-in-command of the Chiavarone with anger, he has greatly earnt their respect during their fight. When Dino was unable to give orders or Hibari was out fighting it had been up to him to organise the group. He truly is one of the greatest leaders of the Japanese resistance.
As the crowd quietens down Romario takes a deep breath, what may be about to come to these men and women is the greatest news they have ever heard. It is also true that they could learn of Tsuna's death, that would signal an end to life as they know it.
"We received a communication on the radio not long ago, it was from a famous name you might know. We heard from Gokudera Hayato".
The resistance members whisper messages between themselves. Many know who Gokudera Hayato is, the right-hand-man of Sawada Tsunayoshi himself. The second-in-command to the world's hope, where had he been for so long.
"He informed us that he has come to this country with a mobile phone, a phone we could use to contact the resistance from the rest of the world".
"He died to give us this phone but his sacrifice will not have been in vain. I won't lie, what you are about to hear could be very hard for you".
"But what we hope we will find out is the status of the Vongola boss himself… this could be the best news we have ever had".
A serious expression comes to the face of many of the men and women of the resistance. Romario notices people shuffling around, swapping places and such. People are nestling close to their families, is it in case the news is good or in case the news is bad.
Aron's hairs stand on end. He has never experienced anything like this in his young life as he turns behind him to look at his blonde father. "I can feel the tension dad".
Dino holds his son close to him before he looks the Vongola's cloud guardian dead in the eye. "Kyoya, make the call".
Hibari notices a few audio-visual connectors on the device so he plugs it into the compute before him.
Then he presses the call button.
RING! RING!
RING! RING!
RING! RING!
The phone gets through to someone and a loud obnoxious voice comes through. "VOI, it's Squalo here".
Many people tense, another name they recognise, the famous rain officer of the Varia. The man who could defeat any sword style, Squalo is on the phone.
"Squalo, so you survived" Hibari blandly replies through the phone. Truthfully Squalo being on the other end is underwhelming for the Japanese police officer, having hoped it would at least be one of the seven great mafioso.
"Who is this?" Squalo asks.
"Hibari Kyoya, Dino is here too".
Another loud cry comes from the other end of the phone. "VOI, It's Hibari and Dino, they are alright".
"Never mind that you fool" Hibari shouts into the phone, far too impatient to wait any longer, "Let us know the important thing...".
"Did the herbivore survive?".
Squalo adopts a serious tone as he speaks through the phone. He pauses a moment before beginning, "I can confirm it to you all now… you've not been fighting for nothing".
"Sawada Tsunayoshi is alive!".
Squalo is likely deafened by the roar that follows the statement. The men and women of the resistance have never cheered so loudly in their lives. They hug their families tightly and wear smiles so great it seems they will never disappear. So many years fighting just for that one hope. Their hope has come true.
Their saviour is alive.
Dino holds Aron tightly in a hug. "I can't believe it, Tsuna really is alive".
Hibari is the only person in the room refusing to smile. "Put him on moron, everyone here is waiting to hear from him not you".
"VOI, press the damn video button, honestly, you're the moron".
Hibari makes a quick exanimation of the phone before he notices a button. That button has a square with rounded corners on it. Upon pressing the button, the large screen projects the most artistic thing Hibari has ever seen. It's the face of Sawada Tsunayoshi.
The resistance members all gaze in awe at the face on the screen. It is the same face that was on their TV's years ago, the man who the world prayed for. The last hope for their country.
"Hibari" Tsuna nods before chuckling, "You look terrible".
"That's saying something herbivore because this is the best we've all felt in years" comes the reply.
Tsuna smiles before he explains what has been happening. "I have been on the run for years, only able to train for ten minutes in each place".
"But you can keep on smiling, after training for so long, I've made a breakthrough".
"Yamamoto, Xanxus, Bana, Enma and I, we've all reunited together in the Himalayas".
Dino walks to Hibari's side, to be certain he will appear in picture with the could guardian. "So you are coming… you are really coming?".
"Yes… I'm coming to Japan".
Once more a deafening cheer resounds throughout the warehouse. Not only has their last hope appeared but he has gotten stronger and he is coming for what will likely be the final fight. Their years of hard work have all been for the possibility of having one last chance at freedom. Now that possibility is a certainty, they will have one last chance.
"Hibari, Dino, before we discuss how we are going to get into Japan I have to know something… are the guardians still alive" Tsuna asks.
Yamamoto calls from out of shot, "That's right please tell us".
Hibari shakes his head with a sigh, "We had a few reported sightings but that was years ago, it's possible they forgot the radio frequency because they have never made contact with us".
"That's right, we have never found a body though" Dino remarks, "You can still have hope Tsuna".
Tsuna smiles faintly as he thinks about that group.
Contained within that group is his sworn brother, the sun guardian Sasagawa Ryohei. If he and Kyoko were to survive this war perhaps they would truly be siblings again. Tsuna thinks how he would like to reunite the brother and sister, how that is his duty as a sworn brother.
Contained within that group is his adopted brother, the thunder guardian Sawada Lambo. Tsuna always giggles thinking about the childish guardian, the child that he has always strived to protect. Lambo must nearly an adult now, that teenager who use to appear from an explosion of purple smoke. The man from the ten-year bazooka, that is the Lambo of the present day.
Contained within that group is his wife, the mist guardian Sawada Dokuro. The woman he fell in love with while sightseeing in Italy, the woman he married when he became the boss of the Vongola family. Both of them would surely have lost their parents to the war but the mafia boss is sure that wouldn't trouble either of them if they were able to reunite.
"That's good" Tsuna mumbles before clapping his hands loudly together, "Now, how do we get into Japan".
Hibari discusses the straight-forward approach. "The border is constantly patrolled by both boats and helicopters, if you want to be stealthy you can't get in that way".
"Underwater then" Xanxus notes.
"Yes" the Chiavarone boss nods to the man he named as one of the seven great mafioso, "It's unpleasant but your best chance of getting in without raising an alarm is the sewer system".
"More crawling in the sewers hey" Tsuna smirks before his heart clenches in his chest. That time he last crawled in the sewers was with Belphegor and Gokudera, both have since died as heroes of the resistance.
"It's underwater Tsuna" chuckles Dino, "You won't be crawling, you will be swimming".
"Well I'm glad that the guardian's taught me how" Tsuna smiles before his chest tightens once again. Perhaps the man who could truly take credit for that is the hitman tutor Reborn, another of the fallen heroes.
A man approaches from behind Dino and Hibari, a man Tsuna recognises. "We have a huge resistance force here, over one million people will be ready to launch a final attack when we order it".
"SHAMAL, you're OK" the 10th exclaims upon seeing the Vongola family doctor, "Thank god for that".
"Bianci is with us too" Shamal notes, "She's not really up to talking right now but the cheer was enough to tell her that you are alive". Bianci is naturally devastated that her brother appeared and then so quickly died again.
"I understand, so what you are saying is that we don't need our ground soldiers, only our core members".
"Exactly" the doctor gives a thumbs up to the screen, "only the strong amongst you need to come".
"You can all swim right?" Hibari's voice is filled with sarcasm.
Dino asks Romario to go and get something and the mafioso momentarily disappears. Romario appears a few seconds later holding up a piece of paper behind his boss, it's a map.
"We have a sewer in mind already, it's here" Dino explains as he points at the map.
Tsuna sweatdrops, "That's a map of the entire of Japan Dino, you need to be more specific".
Hibari wraps his hand around the back of his counterpart's head for his lack of seriousness and gives the larger group an exact set of co-ordinates. "We have a few traitors in the guards, they will come and pick you up and show you where to dive".
"Won't they die if they are found" Enma questions.
Shamal lowers his head to the floor before shaking it. "So many of us have died already, we have all long since been prepared for that".
"This plan is good" comes the voice of the mafia's second strongest son. It is the voice of Vongola Bana, "I say we go with it".
Tsuna nods, "Assuming no change in plans we will be there in three days".
Tsuna leaves Ellen to discuss small issues and details with the Japanese group as he addresses his own followers. It is really happening; in just three days he is going to Japan. The country where he will fight Honda, the last battle to determine the life or death of so many. The battle for the freedom of the human race.
The last battle is coming.