{Namimori, Japan}

Exhaling, Koro could feel the uselessly gathered flames stocking up in his rings as he slowly sat down. Legs crossed, he leaned against the wall, his purple eyes taking in the torn up hotel room before settling on his Boss. They flickered to his beaten up comrades namely Lussuria and Leviathan before he stood up. The battle recap had been given a second ago.

And, as he more or less predicted team Skull and Fon were wiped out. Well, Hibari destroyed his battle watch, something he had thought off previously, and team Skull was taken out by a third party. Team Bermuda. He would have to look into them, but what could he gather on the Vindice that wasn't common underworld gossip?

"I'm going out," he announced to no one in particular. "Do you guys need anything?" he asked as he neared the exit, his black trench coat on as he stuffed his wallet and phone into its pockets. Not earning any answer he made his way out. The sun had long since set and the moon, which had not risen since it was alway out, shone into the night.

Strolling down the deserted streets of Namimori, Koro looked up at the moon, the brilliant crescent moon that hung in the night sky. It was a beautifully nostalgic sight. It brought him back to his time as a teacher, when he would teach class 3-E. When the moon would look over them and remind them of their incoming death if they didn't kill him. Kill him.

His eyes snapped from their semi-dazed state as he came upon the obvious realization Earth would explode when his self's dimension imploded. It made a deprecative smirk grow on his face before a dry chuckle escaped his lips. Right, after they solved Mammon's case, he would have to take some days off to meet with the Him of this dimension. Should he tell the Varia his motive? That was an issue he would address when needed.

Yucca's eyes narrowed dangerously as his left wrist flickered. Right, he would address it once the pest was out of his way. With these thoughts, he started to build up the energy in his Varia rings once more. Staring ahead of him the cloud cleared his mind, so they did come, he mused. Blackish fog built up before him only to reveal one of the dreaded Vindice guards.

He knew they were the violent type, to overtake one of the participating group, they had to use violence. And he guessed that out of all the Arcobaleno Bermuda was the thirstiest for victory. It wasn't such an unbelievable idea for him to send his goons after the participating members. He had the means to, as the head of the Vindice, so why not do it? It made Yucca slightly bitter, they too as the Varia had tons of underlings they could use to ambush the other groups. But they didn't and instead played fair. He couldn't help the sigh from escaping his lips, weren't they the ones who used the Ninth to beat Tsunayoshi and his gang?

"Yucca of the Varia," the figure draped in black stated as they materialized in front of the white head. "Team Mammon's representative, hand over your battle watch," they asked in a civilized way.

It made Koro dubious, he hadn't pined them on the friendly type. Then again, the Varia who was known for hitting before speaking wasn't full of uncivilized members, some did chat before engaging in battle. It oh so happened Koro belonged to his category, what a great coincidence.

Though he didn't know if he should feel flattered at the other's politeness or offended for being looked down upon. After all, not ambushing him and kindly asking was belittling his skills. No matter how you looked at it this Vindice guard didn't deem him an opponent.

Feeling the other's insistent stare Yucca's gaze flickered to his battle watch before going back to the tall figure before him. He was more than fifteen minutes away from the hotel if he walked, running he could make it in less than five minutes without a problem. But would they allow him to regroup? He didn't think so. Now, if he was correct, the shopping district was less than five minutes away, if he ran he could make it in two minutes at most. The probability of him joining it without troubles was low but not nonexistent. He had more chance to go there than to regroup with the Varia.

Deciding it was the best route to follow, Yucca made up his mind. The fight against Fon hadn't left him unscathed and he doubted the guard before him was anything but weak, the bloody chain lying at its feet in an intimidating manner was enough proof. "This?" He finally drawled as he surveyed the street for an alley to use as his escape route. He smiled, "I apologize, it seems I ca-"

He couldn't finish his sentence a sickle bound to the lying chain flew his way. Barely dodging as he flipped back, Yucca ran into the alley he had spotted. It made him an easier target for sure, but it also allowed him to predict where his pursuer was likely to appear. Running and barely dodging the sickles and attack behind him, Yucca could feel his skin burning as the dangerous blade grazed him numerous times.

His breathing became slightly unregular as more blood started to drip from his scratches. Taking a pen out of his coat's inner pocket he pressed its tip twice before letting it fall to the ground, a cloud of smoke emerged from behind him, momentarily covering his trace. Well, they could teleport, it wasn't that big of a deal to them. But it bought him enough time to reach the streets.

What greeted him was the sight of another Vindice guard fighting against three of team Reborn's representatives. Ha, what a joke.

::

Taking his dirty leather gloves off Koro stuffed them into his trench's pocket before getting a new pair out of its inner pocket. Now wearing clean gloves, he went to comb his slightly messy white hair as his left hand which held a white tissue wiped his lightly sweaty face.

His purple eyes flickered to the three teens and Arcobaleno next to him before he eyed his intact battle watch, a relieved sigh escaping his lips. "Reborn," he called out, his voice devoid of his usual fake cheerfulness as he folded a put the cloth back in his coat's inner pocket. "Thank you," he didn't receive any answer, only a nod from the Arcobaleno.

Yucca narrowed his eyes, he didn't know if he was lucky the Vindice aimed to kill him or not. Letting the useless thought slip out of his mind, he bid his farewell to the group before walking back to the hotel. He would need to stop by a drugstore if one was opened on his way.

As he walked under the crescent moon, a fragment of his past, Koro methodically infused his rings with flames. Summoning and un-summoning them he tried to get a better hang of it, of his sky flamed which seemed keen on not answering his call.

As he walked he wondered, what was it that ignited his flames?

::

Leaning against their room's still standing wall, Yucca barely registered the words his teammates exchanged. His mind was focused on letting more flames enter his ring as he stared at his three bedridden comrades. Lussuria and Leviathan who already were in pretty bad shape were now entirely out of commission. Belphegor who he had left in a pretty good state was beaten up and also lying in one of the Varia's clinical beds.

Well, it was sure Belphegor's watch was unusable as of now, as for Squalo's. Trailing his eyes to the silver head's wrist, he sighed in relief. He should be grateful at least three of them remained in good enough shape to protect both themselves and their watch, who knew when the next battle would-

Beep, Beep.

Did he jinx himself? Glancing at his watch, he clicked his tongue. One minute before the start of the next round, who were they kidding? By now, the only team which wasn't severely beaten down was Bermuda's, all the others had most likely shared the same fate as the Varia. The predicament he found Tsunayoshi, Takeshi and Hayato in hours ago was enough proof.

Continuously infusing his sky ring only in flames, Koro spared his Boss a side glance. The scarred male seemed unbothered by the announce of a new round, but the small twitch of his brow was enough for the cloud to know better. The movement of his hand was also all he needed to know how eager his Boss would be to fight the Vindice when they came. But, he couldn't allow that.

Who knew whether or not his battle watch would survive the next assault if he charged at them like the killing machine their Boss was rumored to be. A smile bloomed on his lips as he straightened himself, stretching a bit under the curious yet unbothered stare of his comrades, he sent them his signature smile. The action seemed to irk them, as they started trashing and more or less insulting him for not being there when they needed him before.

The action was normal. Yucca could conceive it, and instead of getting fakely (or not) hurt, he only chuckled, his grin widening. "Don't worry, I'll redeem myself in," he glanced at his battle watch before counting down, "Two, one," a cloud of black appeared, revealing three Vindice guards. Taking a step in front of the cloud, Yucca cooly looked at the Varia. "Leave it to me."

Closing his eyes, he extended his left hand on which were his Varia rings. His eyes taking in the time he needed to stall before he uttered his desired partner's name, "Metsu," in a cloud of orange a cat, an original tone of blackish orange appeared before him.

The petite feline seemed unbothered by the danger before him and, as he saw his master send him a smile and flick his wrist, he turned to the three imposing and death reeking figures. The cat stretched, the action looking exceptionally long as it leisurely opened its pitch-black eyes. A low meowing sound escaped its lips, and two of the Vindice guards' figure vanished back into the black void they came from.

The third one who had stayed saw his battle watch break into pieces as his body fell to the ground. The figure slowly turned to dust until nothing but an empty pacifier was left.

Like that, in less than ten seconds, Yucca or more precisely his box weapon had sent the three Vindice members back to where they came from. It was more accurate to say one was out and two had retreated upon feeling the power the small pet hid within him, a potential they could glimpse at through his eyes and that they tasted when it opened its mouth.

The Varia stared baffled at their cloud counterpart. If you could beat three Vindice guards with a snap of your fingers, why didn't you do it before? They were about to assault him with questions on the black feline which was licking itself when they saw the white totter.

"See?" the guardian mumbled, as a low unconvinced chuckle slipped past his lips. He himself couldn't believe it worked his way. "I had it all under control!" he drawled, his left hand searching for a wall to lean on as the black cat vanished in a cloud of blackish orange. They were about to retort when the guardian suddenly fell to the ground. Peaceful snoring echoed in the Varia room as the white took a nap.

"Small trash?" Squalo called out questioningly not expecting the white to fake sleeping to get out of their interrogation session. Kicking the white's legs harshly to force him to answer he was met by an unexpectedly expected dodge from the cloud before another wave of snores came to his ears. He was about to shout again when the low voice of his Boss interrupted him.

"Trash," the Boss growled, picking all of the awake guardians' attention. "Why are you trembling?" he snarled his brown eyes narrowing dangerously, he stared at his mist guardian or the reason why they were in this mess.

The voice seemed to snap the caped figure from their stupor as they shook their head dismissively. "Nothing," the petite guardian began before feeling the insistent stare of their Boss. An inaudible sigh escaped their lips. "I am going to my room," they said before retreating to their quarter, leaving behind his skeptical representatives.

Entering their room, the petite guardian leaned against the wall. The mist could feel their heart's pace was erratic, unregular like never before in this current life. They hadn't expected the mere sight of the box weapon to bring back this memory they had tried to banish after entering Yucca's mindscape. They sighed, things were bound to get complicated if the Vindice got involved, all the Arcobaleno knew it. It wasn't time to do down memory lane.

Snapping out of it they stood up. The Arcobalenos needed to have another talk. With these thoughts, they went out. They didn't expect that in one night they would re-live their future self's death and learn about their, or the Arcobalenos as a whole, incoming demise.

::

Full of resolve, Tsunayoshi appeared before the Varia Boss and his vice commander. His sky flame was lit as he calmly talked to yet another one of his old enemy. "Xanxus, I need your strength," he stated decisively.

Into the night, as the third day of battle came to a closure, Tsunayoshi renewed his resolve. He, no they would defeat Bermuda and save the Arcobalenos. Now he only had to wait and see whether they would answer his call or not.

Thanks for reading, until next time^^