30th Chapter and still going! Thank you War Sage, punisher7771 and Generalhyna for giving me good reviews, following my story, and favoriting it along with Crispybaconlove and lildip14!

Chapter 30: Gelato's Improvement

Characters (in order of first appearance):

Kiba Inuzuka / Zanna Caneforte

Akamaru / Rosso

"The seventh match will be fought by Zanna Caneforte from the Foglia family's Squad 8, and…" the Godfather paused, nervously looking at the name next to Zanna's. "…Gelato Vortice from Squad 7."

"All right! I finally get to fight!" Gelato said, jumping for joy. "Though I wish it could've been Beni Nero or that..."

At that moment, Tarma looked at them. But Gelato only glared at him and said, "…Tarma guy."

Tarma scuffed, and turned away.

"Good thing you learned from what happened before," Rosa said, folding her arms. "Let's hope you've improved enough to fight against Zanna. I've heard he comes from a shamanic family that bond with their dogs, said to be descendants from Laelaps, the great hound who could always catch his prey, in order to become as tough and vicious as their faithful companions."

"So he's basically a dog whisperer? How lame!"

"I heard that!" said a boy standing next to Morte who defeated Zach earlier, and a girl with short black hair and the same colored eyes as Voluta. He wore a gray hoodie outlined in brown fur with a black dress-shirt and green tie underneath, matching black slacks and shoes. His eyes were black and small, there were red stripes running down the sides of his cheeks, and abnormally pointed teeth stuck out when he gritted them in frustration. Then from behind him appeared a small white dog with brown spots on its back, which also bared its teeth at Gelato as they both glared at him.

Neither said anything as they walked down to the white circle on the hangar floor, removed their guns, and stood at opposite ends of the arena. Everybody watched Gelato with anticipation, particularly due to his reputation as being a troublemaker and slacker. They were curious to see how he would hold up in a one-on-one match against a boy who looked tougher and more experienced with combat. Imprevisto looked at both sternly, and then called for the match to start. At first, they didn't move, and only stared at each other.

Then Zanna broke the ice and spoke. "You may not remember me, but we used to do small deliveries together when we were still Cugines. You always messed up and got constantly bailed out of jail by Delfino, so I thought you were never going to pass the initiation test. But I guess I was wrong, seeing that you're a Soldier now. Some favoritism must've been in the works to let a loser like you into the Foglia family."

"That may be true, but…" Gelato replied, trying not to show his anger. "I got into this family regardless, and I will become the Godfather!"

"Dream on!" As the dog ruffed in agreement, Zanna crouched down on all fours as he chanted, "Canine Pose (Four Legs Technique)!"

Blue nature energy emitted in streamlined trails as his front teeth grew sharper, his nails grew longer, and his eyes had the look of a wild animal in them. He growled at Gelato, who was frozen stiff from fear and confusion. It was then that Zanna charged at Gelato, still on fours, and head-butted Gelato in the chest. This knocked the wind out of Gelato as Rosa and the girl with black hair looked in horror as he fell to the ground a few feet from Zanna, who stood up and folded his arms in a smug fashion.

"What was all that stuff you were saying about you being the next Godfather? What a load of dogs**t!"

But to his and everyone else's surprise, Gelato, despite his obvious groaning, was able to get up and glare at Zanna.

"That felt like nothing!" Gelato declared. "I was thrown by a six-foot assassin, cut multiple times by his assistant, swallowed by a giant snake, and all you could do was slam into me? You stink, just like your clothes!"

"You're gonna regret those words!" Zanna said, gritting his teeth once more as he took a gray tube from his jacket. Then he shouted, "Rosso!"

The dog responded and ran towards Gelato, who only smirked at it. Then Zanna opened the cap on the tube, which released purple-colored smoke, and threw it at Gelato. As the smoke clouded Gelato's vision, he saw shapes moving towards him and near him as he was hit multiple times by Zanna and Rosso the dog. It also blocked the audience's view of the fight, which only made them more anxious.

When the smoke cleared, Gelato was lying flat on his side with bruises on his face and his clothes were torn. Meanwhile, Zanna, who was on all fours like before, got up again as Rosso walked over to Gelato. He sniffed Gelato, and then barked as a sign that Gelato was down. Rosa clenched her fist angrily, while the girl with the black hair looked away in shame.

"I'd say this match is decided, right?" Zanna said, nodding to Imprevisto. Then he held his arms out to Rosso. "Good boy, Rosso! Give daddy a hug!"

Obediently, the dog came running to Zanna as Imprevisto walked over to him to raise his hand. But the dog intercepted Imprevisto and instead of jumping into Zanna's arms, it opened its mouth and bit Zanna on the hand. Surprised, Zanna tried to shake Rosso off, but it wouldn't let go. Then it growled as it held on, making Imprevisto and Zanna nervous.

"W-What's wrong, Rosso? You've never behaved this way before!" Zanna exclaimed.

A bright light suddenly enveloped the dog, and instead of him biting Zanna, it was Gelato. Nearly everyone gasped, except for Spauracchio and the Rena siblings. Gelato then let go of Zanna's hand, and stepped aside to show the knocked out Gelato, which disintegrated into blood. After that, another Homunculi stepped out from the shadows of the hangar into the white circle holding Rosso by the forepaws.

Zanna frowned. "Last time, you couldn't even imitate a cop, let alone make decent Homunculi! How did you get so much better than before?!"

"Didn't you hear a thing I said?" Gelato said, putting his hands at his sides. "All those things I listed were events that happened in the past few months, and it is because of them that I've improved!"

"Oh, yeah? Try to survive this!" Then he took something out of his pant-pocket and threw it at Rosso.

Rosso swallowed the thing, and then suddenly, his fur changed from white to red. He growled angrily with foam coming out of his mouth, as the dog twisted out of the Homunculi's grasp, which turned into blood like the previous one. Gelato was shocked, and yet backed away in fear of the dog.

"What did you give the little guy to make him this vicious?" Gelato asked.

"A Steroid Pill (Food Pill)," Zanna answered, taking a white capsule out from the same pocket as before. "It was developed by the Godfather as a means of making his Soldiers stronger in battle."

"But…but that's cheating, isn't it?"

Imprevisto shook his head. "I said no guns, but Steroid Pills are fine as long as the user takes them moderately."

"You don't need to worry about me," Zanna said, swallowing the pill. "All I need is one."

After gulping it down, Zanna's eyes grew wild again, and then he made a series of hand-signs, saying, "Beast Man Homunculus (Beast Clone Jutsu)!"

Before Gelato's eyes, he saw Rosso encased in light, and then another Zanna stood in the dog's place, looking equally vicious and wild. At the real Zanna's nod, both crouched down as they performed the Canine Pose once more. Gelato tried to avoid them as they attacked, but barely as they were faster than him. But it got worse when they suddenly both started spinning in mid-air, creating two human cyclones of razor sharp claws and charged at Gelato.

"Hellhound Hunt (Fang Passing Fang)!" Zanna shouted, as he threw two smoke bombs at Gelato's feet.

As the two cyclones crossed paths multiple times throughout the smoke, groans and shouts from Gelato were heard as everyone watched in anxiety. Though Gelato couldn't see them, he managed to dodge them a few times, but was mostly beaten and scratched from different sides. He knew he needed to come up with a plan to stop them, but all his attempts weren't working so far. Then, after catching a glimpse at the two Zannas before being knocked into the air, he got an idea.

The smoke cleared again, but what appeared before the audience shocked them. At the center stood three Zannas instead of two, all with confused looks. Rosa grinned, realizing what Gelato was up to. Spauracchio's eye slightly widened, but it quickly went back to being bored. The girl with the dark hair smiled, but looked slightly worried.

I hope Gelato will be okay…she thought.

At that moment, one of the Zannas chuckled. "If you think you can fool me with your Transfiguration spell, you're wrong! Because I can smell you!"

One of the other Zannas eyes widened as Zanna punched him in the face, knocking him down. But to his surprise, the Zanna he knocked down turned into Rosso. In anger, he punched the other Zanna, but it too became Rosso, which made him look at both in confusion. Then the difference was settled when the first Rosso he punched changed into Gelato, who staggered up.

"YES! Way to go, Gelato!" Rosa cheered.

"Interesting," Spauracchio said, folding his arms. "I've heard from Squad 8's Capo that Zanna's sense of smell is heightened due to him concentrating his nature energy into his nose. That's why he was able to distinguish the real Gelato from his dog. But instead of changing back into himself, Gelato changed into Rosso, which made Zanna confused, and hit his own dog instead. Pretty clever for a boy who acts foolishly most of the time."

"You…you b****rd! Now Rosso is injured because of you!" Zanna yelled.

"It was your own damn fault, because you thought he was me," Gelato said, grinning.

"I'll kill you for that!"

He got into the Canine pose and attacked Gelato in the same way as he did in the beginning. But Gelato kept getting back up and tried to perform hand-signs, until Zanna knocked him down. Then at one point, Zanna ran past Gelato, and ran back at him with his claws drawn. Gelato had no time to avoid him as he was in the middle of a hand-sign, when suddenly, a fart noise escaped his butt. Everyone was grossed out, especially Zanna, who was close enough to smell it, and backed away with his hands on his face, gagging and coughing.

"How do you like that superior sense of smell now?" Gelato said, turning around with his hands positioned in the sign of the Lion. "I wasn't intending that, but I'll use it to my advantage. Say hello to my new attack!"

He clapped his hands, and red mist spread from both sides of his body, creating five Homunculi. After they were formed, they surrounded Zanna on all sides, as he was still disabled from the horrible smell. Each Homunculus took a turn at hitting Zanna from a different side, then they did a combined lower kick, which sent Zanna flying into the air. The real Gelato leaped into the air and gave Zanna a downward kick to the stomach, shouting, "Vortice Combo (Uzumaki Combo)!"

Did he learn that from Tony's fight? Spauracchio wondered. Probably. It resembles those moves perfectly well, except he did it with Homunculi.

As Zanna moaned underneath Gelato's foot, Imprevisto walked up to him and raised his hand. Rosa cheered loudly, while the others smirked in approval, whether they were impressed or intrigued. Even the girl with the dark hair smiled, until Morte looked at her in a threatening way, even though his eyes were covered by shades, which made her look away. Even the Godfather smiled a little, and then he pulled the lever again.

End of Chapter 30