Chapter 14: Training Begins
The next day, Kouga gets up earlier than usual and changes into his school uniform and decides to visit Basil before heading off to school with Ruki. He grabs his bag before going to Ruki's room, but when he enters her room, Kouga didn't see her anywhere and thought that she went ahead. With that thought in mind, he runs off towards the hospital. When he gets there, he sees Gokudera and Yamamoto in the hospital as well.
"Are? Yamamoto? Gokudera?" Kouga says in shock.
"Oh! Kouga, it's you." Yamamoto says.
"Why are you…" The bomber asks.
"I'm here to check on Basil."
"Basil?"
"The boy from before." Kouga tells him.
"Oh, him."
"Dino-san…? Are you here?" They turn around to find Tsuna looking around before noticing them.
"Yo, Tsuna!" Yamamoto greets.
"Ohayo, Tsuna." Kouga greets the brunette.
"Juudaime!" Gokudera gets up immediately. "Ohayo gozaimasu!"
"Gokudera-kun! Yamamoto! Kouga-san!" He calls in shock. "Why are you here?"
"Cavallone told us." The bomber answers him.
"I just came here to visit Basil." The black-haired tells him.
"Ah, I'm sorry about yesterday." Tsuna apologizes. "You saved me but…"
"W-Well…" Gokudera looks down as Yamamoto looks away.
Then the baseball ace remembers something. "Oh yeah! Something weird happened this morning!"
"T-That's right!" The bomber agrees as they rummage their pockets and takes out a half-ring.
"I went to get the paper this morning, and this was in my mailbox."
"My place too." The silverrette states. "I thought it might have something to do with the guy from yesterday."
"AH! Those rings can't be…!" Tsuna shrieks.
"Do you know what this is, Tsuna?" Yamamoto asks.
"It's dangerous!" He cries as he takes out the ring chained around his neck. "They'll come after us if we have them!"
"I see."
"So you have one too!" Gokudera says cheerfully.
"You mean this one, right?" Kouga takes out his ring too.
"But why did they go to you two?!" Tsuna cries.
"Because they were also chosen." They all turned around to find Dino by the counter.
"Dino-san! And Reborn!" The brunette shouts.
"There are nine Vongola Rings." Reborn tells them. "They only have meaning when the nine members hold them."
"Nine Family members?" Tsuna asks.
"Seven other rings have been delivered to people who are worthy of protecting the next Vongola Boss, Sawada Tsunayoshi alongside the next Vongola Knight, Kouga Lanceford Mitsurugi."
"Huh?"
"That ring is proof that you are a successor to the Vongola."
"Don't make my choice for me!" Tsuna cries. "Besides, why did you drag everyone else into this situation?!"
"I'm so honored and happy!" They all turn to find Gokudera grinning. "I'm ready for this! Let's go our best, Juudaime!"
"He's really happy about this…!" Tsuna thought in shock.
"I'm glad that one of the guardians is enjoying it." They tun around to find Dan and Souha with Ruki standing next to them.
"AH! Kouga-san's otou-san!" Tsuna points at Souha.
"Tou-san! Gramps and Ruki too!" Kouga shouts in shock.
"I was chosen as well." She says as she shows her half-ring.
"HIE–!? Ruki-chan as well!" Tsuna shrieks.
"Gokudera's is the Ring of Storm. Yamamoto's is the Ring of Rain. Ruki's is the Ring of Snow."
"You're right." The bomber realizes. "It's different from mine."
"You sure?" Yamamoto asks.
"Mine too. Why?" Ruki asks.
"What's with the 'Storm', 'Rain', and 'Snow' parts?" Tsuna asks. "This isn't a weather report."
"The first Vongola Family had a variety of unique members." Reborn explains. "Their traits helped to shape the rings. The first Vongola Boss was said to be like the blue sky, colorful and engulfing everything, open to all things. So his ring was the Ring of Sky. And the other rings were named after various kinds of weather that color the sky. The merciful shower that washes all away, the Ring of Rain. The turbulent gale that fiercely blows, the Ring of Storm. The drifting cloud that is never trapped and walks its own path, the Ring of Cloud. The illusion that prohibits knowledge of its true nature, the Ring of Mist. The orb of fire that brightens the great sky, the Ring of Sun. The thunderbolt that strikes a zealous blow, the Ring of Thunder. Calm and gentle, but at the same time, brings frigid blizzard, the Ring of Snow."
"But what's with the Vongola Knight?" Kouga asks.
"For the Vongola Knight, like the name tells itself, to protect the Vongola Boss and Family no matter what the cost." Dan explains. "You greatly resembles that duty, Kouga."
"But with the rings you have right now-" Reborn adds.
"Stop! Stop!" Tsuna cries.
"What is it?"
"Look, I just don't want mine! Right, guys? Right?"
"Yeah. Sorry, I play baseball, so I can't wear rings." Yamamoto apologizes. "I don't really understand all this."
"Right! Right! He means its big trouble to hold onto these!" The brunette says. "The long-haired guy from yesterday is gonna come after us!"
Both teens' eyes sharpen when they heard it.
"He's coming?" The baseball ace asks.
"Yeah. Dangerous, isn't it? Within ten days, if things go badly!"
"Ten days huh…"
"Are? What's the matter?"
Yamamoto grabs his ring into his palm. "This is mine, right? I'll hang on to it."
"Huh?"
"I don't think I can stick with being a loser." He says as he runs out of the hospital.
"Ya-Yamamoto?!" Tsuna calls out.
"Juudaime! In ten days, I will be reborn as a man who wouldn't put this ring to shame!" The silverrette shouts as he too runs out of the hospital.
"Gokudera-kun too?! W-Why?" Tsuna cries.
"Good job, Tsuna." Dino congratulates him. "Thanks to your words, Gokudera and Yamamoto are ready and willing to train."
"That's not what I intended!" Tsuna shrieks. "This isn't a joking matter!"
"Let's go, Kouga." Dan tells him.
"Where?" He asks.
"Training of course! Besides you want to get revenge on Superbi Squalo, right?"
Kouga widens his eyes a bit and nods before looking at his sister. "But what about Ruki?"
"Since I taught her Mitsurugi Style, I should be the one training her." Souha states.
"Okay. Then I'm off!" Kouga yells as he runs off after Dan.
"Let's go." Souha tells his daughter.
"Hai."
The two soon leaves and go the other way that Kouga and Dan took.
Ah! Kouga-san! Ruki-chan!" Tsuna cries.
"Don't worry. They'll be fine training from those two."
"Eh?"
"Don't you remember how Kouga and Ruki learned to fight?"
"Ah."
'I was taught by my grandpa from America.'
'And I was taught from Papa.'
"That's why they're the best tutors for them." Reborn states.
Kouga follows Dan to a forest around Namimori, and then to an area where there are many cliffs as well as a river from a huge lake and they stand on one of the cliffs.
"Gramps, what are we doing here?" He asks.
"This is a place that you will train." Dan tells him. "Kouga, you haven't control the Mako inside of you and let your emotions and the Mako control you."
"You sure don't mince words with that."
"But if you harness and control Mako, you can create powerful moves with it."
"Okay."
"Then let's start."
Kouga immediately closes his eyes as the Mako inside begins to come out slowly and surrounds his body as it rises enormously.
"That won't do! Concentrate more and condense it!"
Kouga squeezes his eyes hard trying to condense the energy into a smaller size, but it didn't budge one bit. Then the energy disappears as Kouga pants heavily.
"This is… harder than… it looks…" Kouga pants.
"Don't give me that tone. I thought you were better than that." Dan comments.
"Why don't you try it yourself!" Kouga retorts.
"Kouga. What you're trying to is the same thing that the First Vongola Knight did."
"The First Vongola Knight?"
"That's right... With the same method as he did, you can control the Mako. Now go back concentrate. Your friends are also training."
"…Alright." Kouga positions himself again and concentrates the energy.
Meanwhile, with Souha and Ruki…
Souha brings Ruki to the forest after she picks up her weapons from the house along with the older man grabbing a katana.
"Why are we here, Papa?" Ruki asks.
"This is where your training starts." Souha says.
"Right here?" Ruki asks, but Souha doesn't answer as he only draws out his sword and slashes in mid-air which causes the white-haired girl to cover her eyes letting the wind of the force to pass. When Ruki slowly puts her arms down, many leaves begin to fall as Souha withdraws his sword into the sheath.
"This will be your training, Ruki. Cut all the fallen leaves in a single movement." He instructs.
Ruki looks around at the fallen leaves. "This many…?"
"Once you do, we can begin the next phase of your training. Do your best." Souha smiles as Riki only stares at him with a sweat drop.
"Papa... you're asking me to do the impossible..." Ruki thought but her expression changes into serious. "But, I have to do this! So that Onii-sama doesn't have to strain himself to protect me!"
"Hai!" The white-haired girl replies.
"That's right, Kouga and Ruki Lanceford Mitsurugi." A man on top of the cliff, who is the CEDEF leader, Sawada Iemitsu says, "Improve your skills more."
The two have been progressing very well. Kouga manages to minimize his Mako halfway into his body while Ruki had little trouble cutting all the fallen leaves all at once as she cuts them a few times. By the end of the day, both siblings are exhausted as they immediately go to their room and sleep.
The next day, Kouga condenses the Mako into his body, showing a small blue aura of the Mako lines up around his body and his hair turns blond half-way as he looks at his hand.
"Sugoi..." Kouga mutters.
"Now that you have condensed your Mako, we can go to phase two." Dan declares.
"Phase two?"
"Kouga, catch." The old man throws something at Kouga to find that it was his buster sword, causing the teen to panic a little but catches it.
"Do you realize that I almost got injured because you threw this sword?!" Kouga shouts with a red tick mark.
"As for your next training-"
"Don't ignore me, Grandpa Dan!"
"-You're going to fight me."
"…...Huh?"
"What's wrong, Kouga. Did you already forgotten your training days back when you were a kid?" Dan asks.
"No, but how can I fight you without a weapon on you?"
"You don't have to worry about that." The elder man casually replies.
Kouga still looks unsure about Dan's idea without a weapon but the teen makes a stance and when he about to charge, Dan just flashes in front of him and lands a powerful blow on him, sending the teen into the air and hitting hard on a tree behind him. Leaning against the bark, he has blood dripping off his mouth. "How can... *pants* you have this kind of strength...?"
"It's me that you're talking about, Kouga." Dan replies. "Do you really think that I'll go easy on you during training?"
"You're right..."
"So, let's continue." The elder says as he leaps forward, but Kouga manages to block the fist with his sword and then kicks him. "Looks like your hyper intuition is coming out."
Kouga doesn't reply as he takes a stance, readying himself for another wave.
With Ruki and Souha...
Ruki manages to cut many leaves, but still missed some of them as Souha uses a rake that he brought with him to gather the fallen leaves and puts them into a basket that has few holes for them to fall.
"No matter how many times I tried, I still missed some." The girl says.
"Ruki, you're focusing too much." Souha tells his daughter causing the girl to turn to him.
"I can't help it! When it comes with training and sparing with Onii-sama, I focused on what's in front of me!"
"That good and all, but you have to relax."
"Relax?" Ruki repeats.
"That's right. What good would your body be all stiff? Relax your body and feel the movements." Souha advises as the girl looks at her father with a perplexed look and nods slightly.
Then Souha raises the basket into the air high above Ruki's head and shakes it so that the leaves fall out from the bottom while Ruki closes her eyes as the leaves fall in front of her. For the moment, the white-haired girl doesn't move and suddenly draws her sword and slashes mid-air in a heartbeat. She stayed in that stance for a while until she slowly sheathes her sword and when sheathe reach to the hilt, Ruki snaps it closed causing the leaves to split apart along with the basket which it fell apart in Souha's hand which surprises him.
"You did it, Ruki." He says and Ruki opens her eyes, looking at him. "With this, we can go the next phase."
"Hai, Papa." Ruki replies.
"But I'm surprised. Your range of slash is stronger than mine when I was your age."
"Really!" She asks excitedly.
"Why would I lie about that." Souha state. "Now then, let's go to the next phase."
"Hai."
The next two days are almost very accomplishing with two of them progressing very nicely. Within the two days, Kouga receives a few bruises from Dan, but the teen manages to inflict a few blows on the old man. Ruki has improved with her sword techniques by Souha and learned a few more tricks up her sleeve.
The next day, Kouga meditates, standing there with his sword in his hand along with his eyes closed and half of his hair already turned blond as the Mako stirs around him. Ruki is sitting down and watching on the sidelines.
"Onii-sama…" Ruki mutters and remembers the conversation between her brother and their grandfather earlier.
~Few Minutes Earlier~
"Gather Mako in my sword?" Kouga says.
"Ah. Since we've gone over the basics during this training, you need to gather your Mako inside of you to your sword to release a few powerful techniques." Dan replies. "Also since you sparred me while your activated Mako, it'll be easier for you to make one or few."
"O-okay…" The teen nods.
Dan turns to Ruki. "Ruki, I want you to keep an eye on him while he does this."
"Hai."
~Present~
"But… one wrong move, Onii-sama will be…" Ruki trails of when a rustling of the leaves catches her attention and she turns her head to find a blond-haired man walking out of the bushes.
"There you two are…" He states. "I wonder why Dan puts you in this area for a reason…"
"Who are you?" Ruki asks cautiously.
"There's no time for pleasantries. The Varia is here."
The girl's eyes widen in shock. "But that's too early!"
"Yeah. But they figured it out faster than we anticipated." The name tells her. "My guess is Xanxus' or Aaron's hyper intuition."
Suddenly they hear something slashing and turn their heads to find a deep scar on the earth that and in front of it is Kouga holding a post-swing sword on the ground.
"Onii…sama…?" Ruki hesitantly calls out seeing the aftermath.
Kouga turns to her and the man with his hair back to normal. "Is there something wrong, Ruki?"
"N-no, but…" She trails off and shakes her head. "There's trouble, Onii-sama! The Varia-!"
"I know. We need to go now."
We better hurry." The man says. "The wielder of the Lightning Ring is in danger."
Meanwhile, three young children are walking along the street alone as one is dragging along on the oldest kid's leg.
"Lambo-San is done for…" Lambo whines. "Fuuta, carry me…"
"Lambo, your heavy!" Fuuta cries. "Walk on your own."
"Lambo spoiled!" I-pin says.
"Fuuta's really stingy!"
"Why am I?" He asks angrily. "It's all your fault! You had to run after that truck! Thanks to you we got separated from nee-sans… Give me a break."
"Lambo irresponsible!" I-pin shouts.
Unknown to them, a man in black overall and a black trench coat is monitoring them. "Uno to Captain Levi." He says over the radio. "They're just kids. Nothing seemed odd about them."
"This is Douhet." Another voice says over the radio. "I did not see anyone who could be at 12 o'clock."
"Trea reporting." Another voice adds. "I do not see anyone who it could be at 2 o'clock either."
"One of the three brats must have the ring." A muscular voice instructs. "Uno, take care of them. Douhet and Trea, head there as well. Don't leave any of them alive."
The man draws a thin baton/rapier and a few crackles of electricity covers the weapon as he points it at the three kids. A sparkle reflected light shines in Lambo's afro as a half ring shines in the cow boy's hair.