Chapter 31: Realizations of Weapon
Since it's decided that Tsuna will be the one who decides for an all-out attack against Millefiore, everyone leaves the room as the Guardians go back to their training areas. In one of the training rooms, Kouga has his Mako activated with his sword ablaze, facing off Viola as she has her gauntlet blade out as they clash their blades number of times before Viola pushes Kouga down.
"How long are you going to use a single sword?" Viola questions.
"What...?" Kouga says as he slowly gets up.
"Kou, you need to use multiple swords at once at the upcoming battles. This era's Kou was able to do that."
The black-haired teen gets on his feet as he pants from exhaustion.
"You should at least know why your sword split into six." Viola says getting the teen's attention. "For now, let's stop here for today. We'll continue training tomorrow. I hope I get to hear your answer until then."
Kouga's mako deactivates as he watches Viola walking away. "Wait a sec, Viola!" He calls out but she already left the room, leaving the teen there. He then walks down the corridor with his arms crossed and head down as he thinks about what his cousin told him.
"'Why my sword split into six'? What does she mean by that." He mutters.
"Kouga-san!" The teen turns around to find Tsuna and Reborn running towards him.
"Tsuna. What's wrong? You seem to be in a hurry."
"I-it's terrible, Kouga-san!" The brunette exclaims as he has a panicked expression.
"Eh?"
"Chrome's condition has taken a turn for the worse. Several of her organs have failed." Reborn calmly informs him.
"What?!"
They run down the corridor to the infirmary where Chrome is being treated, and once they reach there Tsuna immediately opens the door.
"Chrome!" Tsuna calls out when Chrome coughs out blood as Bianchi tries to calm the girl down.
"How is she, Bianchi?" Reborn asks.
"It's no use! Nothing I do works!" She states.
"No way... Why?!" Tsuna asks as he and Kouga rush to Chrome's side.
"The medical facility here is top of the line, but this situation..." Giannini states.
"Her organs are disappearing!" Bianchi exclaims.
"What?!" Kouga exclaims as Tsuna watches Chrome's abdominal caving in.
"Why in the world? No... This happened once before..." Tsuna thought as he remembers back during the Mist Match of the Ring Conflict when Mammon destroys Chrome's trident and the Indigo Arcobaleno explains that her organs were made up of illusion. "The illusionary organs Mukuro had created... It's just like that time."
Reborn jumps onto the bed inspecting Chrome's caved abdominal. "The organs Chrome lacks were created by Mukuro's powerful illusions. Now that they've disappeared... It must mean something happened to Mukuro."
"What do you mean something?" Tsuna asks the hitman.
"Didn't Mukuro fought against that Millefiore guy in Kokuyo Land and won?" Kouga adds.
"Mukuro wasn't actually there. He used Chrome as a medium to fight, whilst the real him was elsewhere. But it looks like he's taken too much damage this time." Reborn states.
"Sonna... What in the world...?" Tsuna mutters.
"…-sama..." Chrome mutters getting everyone's attention. "Mukuro...-sama..."
"Hang on, Chrome! Don't die!" Tsuna pleads.
Chrome slowly opens her single eye and looks at the brunette. "Bo...ss?"
"That's right, it's me!" Tsuna cries and he holds her hand. "You must hold on!"
"So... warm..." Chrome pants. "Bo...ss... please... help... Mukuro...-sama..."
"Eh? Mukuro...?" The brunette asks. "What happened to him?"
Instead of answering, Chrome coughs out more blood.
"Chrome!"
"This isn't good!" Kouga cries. "At this rate, Chrome will-"
"Move." He turns around to find Hibari behind him.
"Hibari?" Kouga says but pushed away by the perfect and lifts Chrome up.
"If you die, it'll be a problem." He tells her.
"Sawada-san, we better wait outside." Kusakabe tells him. "You too, Kouga-san."
"O-Okay…" Kouga stutters as he follows the brunette outside.
The two teens enter the meeting room with Reborn where they see the others in there as well learning about the condition Chrome is in.
"He's not a doctor, what's he trying to do?" Gokudera questions.
"Hibari might have thought of something…" Yamamoto guesses.
"That's just it, what the hell. Is that something?"
"No idea."
Then they see Kusakabe entering the room, causing Tsuna to quickly turn around.
"Kusakabe-san, what happened to Chrome?!" He asks.
"Chrome Dokuro is out of immediate danger." Kusakabe states.
"T-Thank goodness!" Tsuna exclaims as Kouga sighs in relief.
"How did you manage to save her from that situation?" Reborn asks.
"With the Vongola Ring." He states. "What Hibari made Chrome do was draw the power of the Vongola Ring, to provide her with enough. Power to keep living. Right now, Chrome is surviving on organs created from her own illusions."
"I-Is that even possible?" Gokudera asks.
"Yes, however with her current strength, the illusion's incomplete. She's barely hanging on…"
"Then, what happened to Mukuro?" Kouga asks but Kusakabe shakes his head causing both him and Tsuna to hang their heads.
"Regarding Rokudo Mukuro's movements, Sasagawa-shi would know more, seeing as he was part of Varia."
"That's right" Tsuna shoots up from his chair, looking at Ryohei. "It was because you received information from Mukuro that you went to Kyokuyo Land, right?"
"I heard the orders from. Mukuro to the Varia was quite one-sided." Ryohei states. "I trusted the instructions and followed them, but I have no idea of Mukuro's activities or his current location."
"All of his power to. Chrome was completely cut off." Bianchi states. "We must prepare for the worst-case scenario."
The younger Guardians all flinches at the Poison Scorpion's statement as Tsuna collapses back into his chair with wide eyes. "No way..." He mutters.
"Juudaime! We're talking about that persistent guy." Gokudera tells his boss. "He won't bite the dust that easily."
"Un..." Tsuna makes a small nod.
"That's right, Tsuna. Don't worry too much." Yamamoto cheers the brunette up.
"However, no matter what, there's no way Chrome will be joining the battle in five days." Reborn states.
"That's gonna hurt..." Ryohei states as he narrows his eyes.
"Don't worry about that. I'll fill in for Chrome." Lal states.
"There's no way we could let you do that." Viola says getting everyone's attention. "Right now, you're exhausted just from sitting down."
"Viola?" Kouga calls.
"What are you trying to say?" Lal questions her.
"Don't push yourself." Reborn continues from Viola. "One look at your face, I can tell your condition. Your body's in shambles from being exposed to the Non-Trinisette radiation."
"Non-Trinisette...?" Kouga and Tsuna thought.
Lal slams her hands on the table. "Shut up! Coming from the past, what could you know?!"
"I too felt the Non-Trinisette above ground when I first came here. Being reckless about this right now won't help us."
"However, the ones responsible for causing the Non-Trinisette are the Millefiore! If we don't defeat them, this world will never go back to normal!"
"Um well, on that matter..." Giannini nervously says. "We still haven't located the source of the Non-Trinisette radiation." He states and Lal glares at the mechanic. "While we do suspect some sort of connection with the Millefiore, there's no definite evidence."
"It's the same in our investigations." Kusakabe states.
"No! It's their doing!" Lal exclaims. "For Colonnello... Viper... even Skull... They were the ones who killed them!" She suddenly grunts in pain as she collapses off her seat.
"Lal Mirch!" Tsuna cries out.
"Are you all right?!" Giannini asks.
"Hurry and take her to a medical room." Bianchi says.
"Don't touch me! I can stand! Let me go!" Lal slaps Bianchi's hand away from her as she the CEDEF officer sits up.
"Just listen to us..."
"Don't push yourself. It'd be best to get a check-up."
"I'll go get a stretcher, okay?" Fuuta says as he goes to get one.
"I'll go prepare medical equipment." Giannini adds.
"Ruki, can you use your flames to numb out Lal's pain?" Kouga asks.
"I'll try." The girl nods and places her ringed finger at Lal as Ruki uses her Snow Flame.
"Sawada!" Ryohei calls out. "Regarding the operation in five days, now that you see the cruel state of our attack force altogether, I can guess what you're going to decide. I'll go and tell them to stop the operation."
"This is just an acute attack. It's nothing! Don't bother!" Lal shouts.
"Quit pushing yourself, Lal."
"So, Tsuna, do you want to cancel the operation?" Kouga asks.
"No, Let's do it." The brunette states with everyone look at each other before looking at Tsuna. "If we go to the enemy's hideout, not only we could find out how to return to the past, we could also get information about what happened to Mukuro. And then, we might also get information on the Non-Trinisette thing. But, I feel if we take out time for either, it might be too late..." All the older guardians ponder for a moment. "And, I don't want to stay in this place any longer, even if it's just a second."
"Juudaime..."
"Tsuna..."
"Tsuna-san..."
"Same goes for my friends from Namimori. Even Chrom and Lal Mirch. This sort of place... is totally unsuited for them!" Everyone smirks at the young brunette's speech, while he realizes what he had said. "Um... that's the impression I get, but..."
"Well said! You're the man, Sawada! I'm touched to the extreme!" Ryohei shouts.
"For a brat..." Lal grumbles.
"Then, what are we waiting for?" Kouga speaks up as he leaves the room.
"R-Right!" Tsuna stutters as he swallows his Dying Will pills. "We only have five days left. We can't afford to waste any more time.
"Yes, sir!" Gokudera shouts.
"Of course." Yamamoto says.
"Let's do our best." Ruki says.
Even if he and Tsuna said all that, Kouga still has no idea what to do with his other swords as he stares intently at the six swords lying before him as he sits in the training room.
"From what Viola told me earlier, there has to be a clue as to why my buster sword split." He thought.
"But still they have odd shapes. There are even pairs too." Kouga mutters, looking at the two pair swords as one pair are mirrored long swords with one straight edge and one saw-toothed edge, with a long black hilt; as the other are identical mirror image dagger-like swords. They are single-edged, with a gear-like mechanism between the hilt. "But what most weird sword is this one." The black-haired teen picks up the thick metal sheet blade. "Even though this is a sword, why does this one only has two hilts." He tilts the sword a bit to inspect the two hilts before looking up and widens his eyes as he straightens the sword to see the 'V' groove on the back. "This groove... and two hilts... could it be...!" He picks up the first sword before looking straight at the blade before placing the metal sheet blade on it as the blade locks onto the main blade's front edge, covering it, and its own edge serves as the striking point for the assembled sword turning the construct from a symmetric shape to the distinctive Buster Sword appearance.
"It fits..." Kouga gasps before looking back at the remaining swords. "Then the rest too..."
He quickly places the two pairs into the main blade and once they are all assembled, Kouga widens his eyes a bit.
"T-This is..." He trails off before nodding to himself as he stands on his feet before trying out the sword with his finishing move, Omnislash. At first, it was going well until the very last second, Kouga is sending flying backward to the wall with a huge crash before falling to the ground as all six swords stab on the floor.
The door swings open as Viola and Ruki rush in. "Kou!" Viola shouts as she runs over to see the huge crater on the wall. "What did that come from?"
"Ite..." Kouga grumbles as he sits up from the rubble. "Damn that hurts..."
"Onii-sama!" Ruki shouts as she runs over to him. "Are you all right?!"
"Yeah... just barely..." The teen grunts.
Viola notices the slight burns on Kouga's sleeves. "Did you figured something out about your swords?"
"Yeah..." Kouga trails off. " But it's not complete yet, plus I need to balance out the flame and Mako at the same... time..." He stumbles down as he collapses to the floor with a thud.
"Onii-sama!" Ruki cries out.
"It's all right, Ru-ru. He passed out from exhaustion." Viola tells her. "But with the burnt sleeves on his shirt, it looks like he really figured out the secrets of his six swords."
When Kouga wakes up, both his sister and cousin are gone causing the teen to sighs as he walks around after exiting the room to hope to find the rest and thinking asking Kyoko if she knows where they might be.
He then notices Ruki and Viola at the door, peeking in with Yamamoto and Reborn. "What are they doing?"
"Oh, Kouga-san." Tsuna calls out behind him. "What are you doing?"
"Nothing, just ask them what they are doing." He tells him pointing at the rest. The four notices the two as they immediately move away, much to their confusion, but Kouga then feels a huge spike in energy in front of them. "Move, Tsuna!" He rushes him back as a huge blast of Storm flames blasts through the wall behind them. Kouga looks back to the wall completely destroyed with a huge hole from the blast.
"Yosh, I've figured out how to complete the Sistema CAI..." Gokudera's voice sighs. "All that's left... is how to explain this little guy to Juudaime." Kouga peeps through the smoke to see GOkudera all bruised all over, but on the bomber's head was a cat scratching all over his head.
A/N: There something I forgot to add from the last chapter. If all of you are wondering how to get into the poll, this is the link: quiz/12079107/KHR-Filler-arcs