Shaji Ai's Story

Joesei wasn't expecting it. He wasn't expecting it at all. Not long after he left to go to the ritual of the rings does he get notice that his father dies. Even worse, it was almost as if his dad knew since he had a letter, a box, and two pairs of rings sent to the location he ended up flying too. "I'm sorry about your loss sir. But you see, your father, he.." The man in front of him was cut off.

"Yeah I know. Wanted me to stay calm on my trip." Josei said while sighing. "He was always like that." He was calm. At least on the outside and no one that looked at him could tell what he felt on the inside. "I'll be walking Jeeves." He said to the man in black. "There was really no need to send a limo. I only have one bag."

After saying that, he went into the city. He walked for a couple of hours. Then a couple more. Finally he realized the direct truth. "I'm lost." He said calmly to himself. He sat in the same area with his hand on his chin trying to think of his next move. To anyone else he looked like a tourist at best. A few people walked by him when he realized that he was now part of a well respected family. "Hey you there." He asked a male waiting for the light to turn. "Do you know where the Vongola mansion is?" He made sure to show his ring to the man. He in return nodded, "Yes. It's that way. About one hundred twenty miles." The man said while pointing. Jo's eyes widened in shock. 'So I did need that shofer?' He thought. "Th-thanks." he said to the man before walking in the pointed direction. "Got. To. Stay. Calm." He repeated this for about a day and a half, pushing himself through the night with no sleep just to make it to the ceremony in time.

He was about twenty minutes late. "No doubt going to make a big entrance later on." he heard a familiar voice say from outside the doors. 'Finally I made it.' He thought in relief. Pushing the doors open he entered the room. Everyone was hostile for some reason. Thinking it was because of him, he explained himself. "Ummm. Hi. Uh. I'm Josei Lambe. Lambo's son. My dad unexpectedly died about a week ago and sent his rings to me instead of giving them to me himself. Some of you may know me and some of you probably don't. Anyways, I hope I make a good guardian for the sky." He said while bowing. Suddenly the arcobaleno he knew to be Colonel jumped from where he was standing and ran to him.

"Tell me that was your lightning that we just heard?" He asked in an urgent tone.
"No. It wasn't me." Josei said, too tired to even notice the lighting to begin with. He watched as Colonel said some more things that he couldn't make out and dropped to the floor.

Reborn ran towards him. "What happened to him?" Colonel asked. "Is he dead?"
"No. He's asleep." answered Reborn in his usual nonchalant tone.

Samuel was standing at the far left of Jayson and the present guardians when the lightning hit. It was extremely unsettling. Especially when the babies and Josei were certain that it was not of Natural cause.
Samuel ran to his grandpa(Ryohei) "May I have my ring Grandpa?!" "Yes, use it to the extreme!" he said tossing to Samuel. Samuel caught it slipping it on his finger, He also removed his tie and the over shirt of his suit. "Let's crush em to the extreme! Right Josei?!" said Samuel shaking Josei who was sleeping.
"Maybe you shouldn't do that to our sleepy friend," it was old man Talbolt who stopped him. " Well I was just passing through, Ryohei I have the gift for the kid," said Talbolt. He tossed a box weapon to Samuel, it was yellow with a golden piece that looked like a bird. "I worked hard on that one so use it well," said Talbolt fading into to the crowd "I will to the extreme."

"Let's crush em to the extreme! Right Josei?!" A familiar voice called to Josie while shaking him. He opened his eyes slowly. Still fatigued from his long walk. "S-Sam?" He lightly said as he turned to his old friend. "You gotta....stay....calm." He looked over to Jayson, daughter of the old boss and the new boss of the Vongola. Turning back to Samuel he said, "We shouldn't operate without our leader. Instead, we should wait for the boss to give us orders. She's the sky that we all dwell from after all." He proceeded to turn over saying, "Five more minutes mommy." as he tried to go back to sleep.

Jayson had just expected a normal or at least normal for her, ceremony, Now it's been interrupted by some random threat. She sighed knowing business came first but for once all she wanted was at least some normalcy. She spoke up finally after hearing some of the others. "I say we figure out whatever this threat is and fix it. No one is just going to destroy this home or this ceremony and get away with it I don't give a damn who it it." she sighed once again looking over at her mother whom seemed to know her intentions when Jayson grabbed scissors. "Jayson don't-" it was too late now gone was the ball gown she was forced into replaced with a tattered and obviously cut dress. "Sorry mama." she said.

Jayson's mother Victoria wasn't the boss but she was still able to instill the fear of god into Jayson and it didn't help Jayson that her mother was an Italian gypsy that followed religion closely but as of now if Jayson had to run or fight being in a ball gown wasn't going to help her at all. "Now who's with me?" she asked to others now ignoring her mother's disapproving look.

Shiro was lazy watching The ceremony from afar Doing his best not to take part or make much movement After the ceremony look to be finally over shiro could almost feel the warm sun on his skin as he slept in his to nap as he day-dream a small smile would begin to form on his face but as fast as the day-dream of napping in the sun pop into his head it was destroyed by the the feeling of a number of presence is outside of course reborn and the others had already noticed them it seem the presence was unlike anything he has felt before they had an odd wickedness that seem out-of-place to him he had hoped the other would had not notice the presence but unfortunately for shiro they had and to his dismay the 11th had already made up her mind about finding out who it was shiro took this opportunity to remove the tile around his neck and toss it aside "I was hoping to take a nap after this" he would begin to remove his jacket " this ceremony has already made me miss my favorite cartoon so who ever this is better have a good reason for ruining my nap" he would look over to the 11th in her ball gown and he would look at the others who were also in formal dress wear but the only thin he could think about was his training how he was trained to be the focus of fights to make sure that all enemies were a where of his presence to be the heart of the storm he would look down at his right hand it was slightly shaking as he said under his breath " can I really be the heart of the storm"

(sorry for no punctuation i did this post on an ipad i will fix it when i get home lol)

"I'll follow you to the extremes of anything!" yelled Samuel in his usual manner. "Every guardian will follow you!" He lifted Josei from the ground where he was sleeping and also lifted Shiro by there collars "the extremely lazy ones will follow too!" he yelled "Isn't that right Shaji!?" he asked to the one present guardian who hadn't yet spoken.

Being picked up made Josei feel a little uncomfortable. He was having such a nice dream too. With the decision to get back to being comfortable he let all of his weight fall on Samuel's strength. He let out a drowsy, "I'm with you......awake.......sleep......or....dead." and yawned trying to get back to sleep. He hear Sam say a weird girls name and ask her if she was ready. Shaji. Who was this Shaji whom he never met before. He was sure a thumb on a finger that he knew all of the current guardians and potential guardians in the family. Seeing as he never heard of her before that meant that she didn't grow up in the family.

Turning his head towards her he saw the most beautiful girl that he ever laid eyes on. Pink hair. Pink eyes. He never saw a girl like that before. 'Gotta stay calm. Gotta stay calm.' He thought to himself as he was going to introduce himself to her. 'Gotta stay calm. Gotta stay calm.' "Garra day bomb miss." He ended up saying as a greeting while bowing over to her. 'Oh great. How am I gonna play this off. I was pretty loud too. Izanagi strike me now.' He used this phrase in his thought because Izanagi is the lightning god who he's nicknamed after. Lambo use to tell him it's his guardian god.

Trevor looked up at the sky, thoughts drawn inexplicably to the cold void of space beyond it. The sun, locking the earth in its elliptical orbit, overcoming the moon at each and every turn. Eerily poetic. He took a deep breath, grimacing ever so slightly, lips pursed. You'd have to know Trevor to realize his facial expression had changed at all.

Something was wrong. Okay, something wasn't wrong, per say, but something was... happening. To him. Though impossible to notice by simply looking at him, Trevor realized his knees were shaking. His palms were sweaty. He could hear his heartbeat in his ears, like a racehorse pounding down the pavement. It was all very odd. He hadn't experienced anything like this since...

Well, since he fought his first alien three or so years ago, when he was nine. It's your purpose. He remembered one of the scientists from the facility telling him. It is the sole reason for your existence. A weapon for humanity. For the Rizzo. But now he was here. Back in the past. To fight the Vongola of legend that he'd read so much about growing up as a proverbial lab rat.

What was this? Anxiety, maybe? Or... perhaps a desirous craving. An ardent and fervent need to see these historic beings, the Vongola, in the flesh. To judge their might for himself. Were they truly as great as the legends make them out to be, or was it simple hyperbole? Still, no matter how good, he just couldn't fathom them winning this conflict. They were just too... old.

Trevor turned his back on the others, shoving his hands into the pockets of his deep black suit pants, the gentle lustrous fabric coming down to rest lightly upon the ankles of his dark gray and silver gym shoes. He wasn't a fan of dress shoes. They had a tendency to fall off whilst he was piloting his C-Frame, his anti-alien combat armor and only box weapon. Plus, they were generally uncomfortable, even in the future.

Under his unfastened Jacquard-stitched suit jacket, black enough to match his debonair dress pants, was a collared shirt, a rich resonant gray in color. Tucked in, top unbuttoned. The dress shirt matched his eyes and the color of his Moon flame perfectly. A gaunt black tie had been fastened under his collar by his keepers, but he'd loosened it with his fingers the moment he was free, leaving it to hang almost awkwardly to the side, its tail flapping ever so slightly in the wind. He really disliked ties. They were relics of the past—like little choking devices. Bleh.

Top met bottom at the belt area, where Trevor sported a custom-made black leather belt featuring the Rizzo family insignia on the buckle. The look was completed by a thin dark gray fabric that sat upon his shoulders, like a scarf, descending from his shoulder down to the small of his back. It was a gift he'd received from Donovan, the Asteroid guardian, a while back. It was made of a fireproof future material that, when heated, changed colors—usually to a flat light purple. Gifts were a rare thing for Trevor, so he treasured each and every one. Specifically, he wore the scarf everywhere he could get away with it.

All in all, his garb was an unorthodox mix of the urban and the dapper. He thought he looked stupid, all dressed up and what not, but he'd been told he looked "like a real Rizzo". And Kurai liked it. It's the only reason he tolerated the annoying getup.

Finally, he made up his mind. Kurai had given no constricting orders limiting his actions before they arrived here, so she shouldn't mind him running ahead to test the waters. Trevor gritted his teeth, drawing on that seemingly infinite ball of fire inside of his body. In the future, their Rizzo gear had been implanted into them. There were no external rings to call upon or squabble over. The Rizzo embodied their flames in every conceivable way.

The power jumped at his beck as metal to magnet, filling him with a milky lofty feeling, as if he were floating in a lukewarm liquid of similar temperature to his body. It was the Moon's power. He could definitely feel it now—emanating as pale gray flame from his forehead and hands. He took a step forward, the tails of his suit and scarf picking up with the wind, flowing behind him, a testament to his urbane demeanor. Before he could accidentally burn his suit pockets with gray flame, he whispered a command under his breath.

"C-Frame, feed restriction to level 2 approved." Upon his wrist, tied to a chain, was a small black cube. At his words, a dim light seemed to radiate from its center. Suddenly, the cube was engulfed by gray flames, starting out light in color like Trevor's Moon flames but becoming darker and darker by the second. It was a sign of his box weapon powering on. "Enter Carnage Mode."

And at that, Trevor Rizzo disappeared.



"I understand and greet you back, lightning guardian."

Before the conversation could continue, the atmosphere in the room changed dramatically, drawing notice from all of its occupants. In the center of the grand auditorium, a few yards from each of the Vongola guardians, a darkish-gray wisp of flame appeared, as if someone had set off a torch on the ground. As the flame grew longer, reaching towards the ceiling, circles of flame, similar in color to the wisp they encircled, began to appear. Two... four... six rings of flame, roughly equidistant from each other, lay spread across the ground.

In the same moment, the rings of fire exploded outward, the dark gray wisp expanding into a vortex of flame, like a miniature tornado. When the edges of the flame vortex reached the perimeter of the outermost ring, it suddenly contracted, as if sucked in by a vacuum, before vanishing altogether.

In place of the vortex was a... thing. It rested upon the floor, hunched forward, one knee upon the ground, as if genuflecting to some unknown god. For a moment, thick black smoke wafted from the thing, obscuring the area before dissipating to reveal the intruder. It was an all black, bulky thing, like a medieval suit of armor come to life. Slowly, the armor began to stand. It was tall. Darkish-gray flames emanated from it in waves. Like some sort of magnetic repulsion, they pushed at everyone in the room. Those closer to the creature could feel a sort of dampening effect in respect their flames, as if they were slowly being negated out of existence.

Where its eyes should have been, there was only a horizontal neon red arc. With a creak, it came to its full height—a bit more than six feet. It angled its head, looking upwards towards the ceiling in a silent howl of triumph, the flames surrounding it becoming thicker and more overwhelming, their influence reaching further.

And then it its gaze fell upon the nearest of the Vongola ring-bearers. Inside of the suit, Trevor almost grinned. Almost.

It was nothing personal. He'd make this quick.

When being sucked through a time vortex, there are a couple of things one should never do like reaching outside the tunnel or moving in general. While the other guardians seemed to understand this pretty well, Donovan ignored the rule entirely, floating around in the weightless tunnel like he owned the place and almost falling out several times. It had only been moments since the Rizzo family had chosen him to travel with them in time and even if he didn't agree with the reason why, he wasn't going to question his family. Besides, this could turn out to be a grand adventure.

One by one, the guardians descended from the sky in a brilliant flash of light, each landing onto the blackened soil. The first to fall was Donovan himself, his extra speed smashing a small crater in the ground.
“Well, that could have been more graceful.” He muttered, pulling himself out of the hole. After shaking off the dirt and grass from his hair, Donovan scanned the surroundings. They were surrounded by forest, or at least what used to be a forest, the trees were black and ripped from the ground. He made a mental note that trees do not like time travel. Away from the forest was a large mansion, the location of their targets.

Though he had never met a Vongola before, he’d heard stories from Trevor. Tales of heroics and victory against all odds! His favorites were the tales of Gokudera, the holder of the Storm Ring. It was said his attacks were relentless, never stopping once until his opponent was dead and when the body was recovered, it was just bits and pieces that had to be swept up. The speed of his dynamite still sent chills through Donovan’s body.

More of the guardians began to arrive through the vortex. First came Bellona, the insane chick with an unhealthy obsession to the boss. Bellona made Donovan feel uneasy, not “She’s kind of creepy” uneasy but “I’m going to castrate you for no apparent reason and make you explode” uneasy. He made sure to keep a wide berth from her in case she decides to use him as target practice again.

Next came Yami, possibly one of the three only normal members of the group. He is extremely optimistic and wants to be friends with everyone, something Donovan wholeheartedly accepted. He liked Yami, even if he did have the common sense of a pole.

When Trevor landed, Donovan couldn't help but smile. They had become close friends in the past few weeks of being guardians, even if Trevor didn't acknowledge it, and to Donovan he was his little brother. His hand wandered to the long strip of pink flesh on his chest, courtesy of training with the kid. ‘I just hope he can keep it under control this time.”

Finally, the boss herself landed, albeit not as gracefully as the others, a fact that Donovan couldn't help but chuckle at. Kurai Rizzo didn't look like a commanding figure with her pink hair and innocent face but Donovan learned from experience not to judge a book by its cover. She was the holder of the Space for a reason and the fact that she could actually create a time vortex was astounding on its own. Donovan held the utmost respect for her.

Suddenly, a large burst of power erupted from beside him and disappeared in an instant. Donovan sighed softly. “God damn it Trevor, the one time you actually take the initiative is the time I wanted to go first.” This was, of course, every time. “Well, I’m not going to let that little pipsqueak hog the spotlight!” He roared, launching himself off the hill towards the castle. At the speed he was going, a normal person would break every bone in their body upon landing.

But Donovan Shmautz wasn't a normal person. A normal person wouldn't be coated in maroon flames rocketing through the air towards a castle to help his friend who just so happens to have a mech. With the castle closing in, Donovan cocked his arm back an threw an iron palla at the wall. Upon impact, the wall crumbled into rubble on the ground as the palla bounced back into his outstretched hand. A brown streak shot through the opening, landing on the ground without a sound. He shot a cocky grin at Trevor.

“C’mon little bro, you didn't think you’d start without me, did you?”

Kurai blinks as she felt a soft hand lay on her head. "Neee, can I make something explode today~? I promise I'll be clean about it~" Bellona. She looked directly at her eyes and couldn't help but smile. The explosive follower, who she knew had strange desires to take her away, but Lona knew her place- somewhere in her consicous.. Kurai, however, couldnt help but feel extremely loved by the quesor flame. It filled parts of her loneliness along with the other 3. This women had an extreme obsession though. It was all in her eyes..

"Please boss~ I've been bored all day!" She pleaded, the psychotic grin never leaving her face. "Even my baby boy, Canvas, is pleading today~ Just a tiny explosion~? I'll behave the rest of the day, promise! Kekeke!"

Her eyes closed in a smile and she nodded. "Of course..besides everyone else seems excited as well~" She glanced at the spot both Trevor and Donovon had been. "Have all the fun you want. Besides the vongola need to know of our power~" The kind smile turned into a wicked one- for just a moment. "Be good though~" She tip toed slightly and patted the women's hair affectionately. "kay?"

Taking a cute step back, she peered back at Yami. One of the sane ones. Supposedly. People believe so, defiantly in the future. But she came across situations of where people would beg her for Yami to back off. He was just to kind.. 'Its cute.' Kurai giggles to herself. "Follow when you're ready Yami~" Plucking her box from her belt, she felt a purr vibrate against her palm. "Now you're free." Pushing her ring within the center, she watched a black jaguar appear, its tail whipping happily...

Now most would scream and run in fear as the beast had long fangs and enough power to kill in a swipe. But the girl merely took a step forward and caressed its large head. "Sorry.." She whispers and received a rawr of forgiveness. "Now take me to them." She swung on its back and felt the creature leap off in a burr of speed... She closed her eyes..

-
within a couple of minutes she arrived and she opened her eyes, her mouth drawing to a smirk. "Hello Vongolas.." Her voice dark for a second.

Leaping off the beast, she stood innocently near them, and quickly looked at all of them with a clear and pure eyes. "Its nice to finally meet you." She added on thoughtfully in a sweet voice.

Samuel's first reaction was confusion, He stood near the giant suit of armor looking puzzled.
"Is he an enemy?" he asked.
Verde face palmed himself "Yes, you Neanderthal, that is an enemy."
"Neande-what?" asked Samuel.
"Neanderthal it means- oh never mind just fight." said Verde discouraged.
"Yeah, to the the extreme!" said Samuel slamming his flame into his box. The mighty phoenix roared to life above Samuel glowing the golden glow of his sun flame. Samuel shouted "Combio forma!" The Phoenix moved onto Samuel as he swallowed the whole.
Samuel stood in a boxing fighting position. His eyes were closed and as he opened them they were the color of his golden sunflame.
"Let's get this started to the extreme!" He yelled
He ran up to the girl who had just arrived. he stood several meters away from her then asked "Are you strong?"

In all honesty Josei was about to tell Ai to stay calm before the boss gave her further orders to begin her attack. He was then going to tell the boss to stay calm but was interrupted by a second person entering the building and then a third. She was pretty cute too and he knew he couldn't fight her. She also seemed nice because she said, "Hello Vongolas.." although it was in a pretty sadistic tone. She leaped off her Jaguar thing that he could only deduce was her box animal and said "Its nice to finally meet you." In a sweeter voice.

Being the gentleman that he was, Josei stuck out his hand to her and said, "Hi. I'm Josei. Nice to meet you." He wanted her to shake his hand but he was interrupted by Samuel stepping up to the girl asking her "Are you strong?"
"Geez man. Men can't fight against girls. It's a secret rule don't yah know. 'Sigh' Let's try our hand at these two guys if you really want to fight." He suggested while over looking the two guys in front of him. At least, he was sure one was a guy. The other looked like a human sized robot. Deciding it was his role to take on the bigger challenge Josei walked up to the robot and said. "Hey. Could you stay calm and come outside with me. I don't really want to fight you but if I must then I think we should handle it outside away from the females. I don't want them to get hurt you know?" He stuck his hands in is pockets and walked towards Ai. "Um- Uh.... Stay super safe okay." He said as he started walking towards the door. "Oh and all you kiddo's stay calm. We don't want to be the generation that destroys this building do we?"
Turning to the black robot he said, "Well. Are you coming?" as he headed out the door.

Trevor was his armor. The armor was Trevor. All he had to do was think about it, and the suit would respond—sometimes even faster than his actual limbs would have, outside of the suit. He sends the impulse to move his arm, and the suit moves its arm. Coming in at a measly four feet eight inches, the boy didn't actually "fit" inside of the six-foot super-hardened battle armor. He didn't need to. It was filled from head to toe with a type of "intelligent," inky, viscous but breathable liquid composed entirely of nanomachines—the liquid within which he currently floated. The scientists back at the facility referred to it as a "superconductive artificial nanochemical". They said the "smart" self-recycling substance allowed the armor's pilot to remain within the air-tight suit in zero-gravity space for long periods of time without any oxygen, and is the only thing keeping the pilot alive during Short-range Wave Apparition, the official name for when he and the suit would teleport short distances, like he did just moments ago into the middle of the Vongola ring ceremony.

The main purpose of the futuristic nano-liquid, besides keeping him alive, is to connect Trevor to the suit. Not only is it responsible for feeding on the flames that emanated from his body, but his thoughts and the AI's responses are carried through the highly conductive liquid like electricity, though much faster. In order to facilitate this functionality, the pilot's traditional senses and motor controls are only available on demand and are disabled by default. Think about it: sending the mental signal to "look down," if allowed to propagate through to the pilot's body, would result in injury (the pilot banging their head against the wall of the suit) if anatomic motor control wasn't properly intercepted. That would suck.

The nanochemical also acts as a sort of screen through which Trevor is able to experience the outside world through the capability or senses of the AI. Senses that number quite a bit more than five. One of those senses is enhanced sight: he has visual access to the entire electromagnetic spectrum, from radio waves and infrared to x-rays. So when the girl closest to Trevor—the AI identified her through a historical lookup as Shaji Ai, 14 year old female Mist guardian of the Vongola, Alien in origin—let off a flash of temporarily blinding light, the suit didn't even render it to Trevor, immediately switching visual frequencies to a mix of infrared and ultraviolet.

Pretending to ignore Donovan, Trevor saw only the faded inky silhouettes of what seemed to be an army of hitmen. They didn't give off heat like human beings, and therefore did not register on the infrared. Trevor didn't even have wonder what was going on. Thanks to the AI symbiote, he just knew.

Illusion technique. Mist guardian. Trevor took a step forward, towards the girl and her illusionary army. Behind the pseudo-men were the audience members of the Vongola ring ceremony, scrambling for cover and escape from the chaos. Trevor pursed his lips. This armor was built to fight hostile aliens, not fight our own kind... and killing anyone outside of the Vongola guardians might have adverse effects on the timeline. He couldn't allow that to happen, and it was the only reason he didn't engage the Mist guardian immediately. Collateral damage had to be minimized.

As he focused on Shaji, the AI started pointing out her potential vulnerabilities. Joints. Abdomen. And then her lidded "third eye," with veiny wire-like strings that seemed to connect with various parts of her body. Each was seen by Trevor as being boxed in red, like targets on a computer screen. Trevor's gaze was drawn to her oblong eye, which was double boxed. Before he even questioned as to why, he had the answer in his mind. There's a high probability that that spot is her most vulnerable.

Two plates on the back of the suit shifted, revealing a glimpse of the intricate mechanical system hidden within. Two twin devices seemed to be spinning on some sort of axis, gaining revolutions. Dispel this illusion. The AI was all too eager to comply. In one instant, there was the sound similar to that of a jet engine powering on. In the next, the sound was replaced completely by a short spherical burst as light-gray flames exploded from the armor, expanding outward and eating away at the illusion. Where the gray flames touched, the hitmen seemed to fall apart, sometimes even fading from reality entirely. This process was repeated thrice more before the suit completely dispelled the illusion, returning the plates on its back to their proper positions.

While he could see through the deception thanks to his AI, this Mist guardian posed a high threat to his comrades. Though he refused to actively engage her while she stood in front of the scrambling civilians, he wouldn't hesitate to neutralize any illusion she attempted to throw up.

He'd start shooting stuff later.

That's when the suit alerted him to a new threat. Turning his head, his gaze swept over the area. Little red boxes appeared everywhere, marking various enemies and their potential weak points as well as keeping track of his allies. Finally, to his far right, he spotted the subject of the alert.

It was a laid-back looking kid—older than Trevor by almost half a decade, from the look. There was a yellow and black triangle overlaying his face. For some reason, the suit considered him an extreme threat. Eyeing him, the lookup came back with the name Josei "Izanagi" Lambe, 15 year old male and Thunder guardian of the Vongola. There weren't many thunder-types back in his time, though Trevor had read much on the progeny of Vongola Decimo's legendary Thunder guardian, Lambo.

Somewhere deep in his mind, he kinda wanted an autograph. Just kinda.

"Hey. Could you stay calm and come outside with me. I don't really want to fight you but if I must then I think we should handle it outside away from the females. I don't want them to get hurt you know?" At that, Trevor, and by extension the armor, tilted his head to the side. The AI considers him a threat, huh? Trevor grinned ever so slightly.

Fascinating.

Trevor sped forward towards Josei without a single semblance of warning, deftly avoiding one of Donovan's Asteroid-flame-covered palla in the process. He leaned in, aiming to strike the guy with his shoulder. If he dodged or not was of little consequence. The cacophonous ringing of the armor's metal footfalls splintering the expensive auditorium tiling was loud enough to split ear drums. Completing the action, Trevor exploded through the wall and out onto the grassland outside of the ceremony complex.

He didn't want to admit it, but he was having a hard time holding himself back. He could tell. The AI was acting jerkily, as if indecisive. It's reaction time was slightly off, too. He chided himself. My thoughts must be all over the place. At one end, he didn't really want to fight these guys. At another, Kurai ordered it, and he'd never go against her orders. And somewhere else, somewhere deep down, he really wanted to test himself against these future legends. Did they deserve their titles?! This is going to be so fun!

Focus.

It wasn't too long before the girl, Shaji, stepped out through the hole in the wall, as did Josei. Out here there was less risk of collateral, and therefore less risk of endangering the timeline. Trevor could afford to be a bit more serious. The suit contained no melee weapons, so it'd probably be best if he kept his distance—at least initially, so that the AI could analyze their abilities and weaknesses a bit further.

There were several short clicks as Trevor enabled his onboard combat systems.

Samuel was first confused about Josei comment. Samuel never seen why men shouldn't fight women. Growing up his mother was much more fierce than his father and could pack a whole lot more punch. Josei left with the big suit of armor and Ai followed not far behind as the big guy blasted through the wall.
Samuel turned back to Bellona "Are you strong? I make it a point not to fight anyone who can't fight back."
"Wait I get it men shouldn't fight women because women have an unfair advantage in strength!" he said reaching the obviously wrong conclusion.

"Are you strong?" Kurai blinked and stared at the man. The expression she held was soft and innocent like, but her mind was full of cruel intentions. "What a stupid question, of course I am~" She smiled like it was nothing but was stuck when another one came, hand offered. to her..?

"Hi. I'm Josei. Nice to meet you." She looked down at his hand for a moment, and felt one brow raise in question. What was wrong with these vongolas.. Were these really the ones her father told her to kill and eliminate?

"Geez man. Men can't fight against girls. It's a secret rule don't yah know. 'Sigh' Let's try our hand at these two guys if you really want to fight." The corners of her lips twitched and she suddenly grinned. "How funny~..." She murmured before throwing her head in the air, letting a hysterical laugh leave her. Tiny bell like chimes resounded. "How funny! This is the vongola family." Kurai giggled. "I wonder If i should feel disappointed~" She glanced at the leader with judgement, then turned to the rest.

The Mist. The Storm. The Sun. The Thunder. And finally. The sky~

The presence of the rival leader seemed to sicken her mind and soul. It irritated her to no end, almost to the point where she forgot the rest of the vongolas but she was still in enough focus to side step from trevors nearby attack. That's what training did to you.. Wonder if these kids got what it takes?

"Well lets show the vongola a warm welcome~" Kurai announced the starting of the fight, eying each of every one of them with a warning and finally the leader. 'You're mine..' Taking calm steps, her power seethed off her and she laid a hand on her box weapon. Within seconds, she pulled out her staff and she smiled at Jayson. "Are you ready~!?"

The Vongola certainly didn’t look like much. The most intimidating of them all was a blonde kid and that’s only because he was the loudest of the bunch. The sad thing was he couldn’t even start a fight with three of them because they were girls. He didn’t believe in striking a woman unless it was self-defence, then it was fair game. With a careful eye he analyzed his opponents.

As he turned to their leader, Donovan felt his heart skip in his chest. ‘She’s….she’s really cute,” he thought, his face darkening to a light pink. He tried to remember what the debriefing had said about her before they came. ‘Uh, let’s see…if that’s the boss then her name is Jayson! What else, what else….oh, right, sky flames. Crap, what do they do again? Something about compasses?’. Donovan racked his brain, trying to remember, but to no avail. He’d have to keep a close eye on her, if nothing else then to check out her butt.

Next was the redhead. A confusing person, Donovan couldn’t tell if it was a guy or a girl. The bored expression didn’t help to clarify the point. He hoped it was boy though, that way he could start a fight. His gaze drifted to the purple-haired girl just in time to be blinded by a bright light. When the light subsided, they were surrounded by hitmen. A large smile spread across his face, “Finally, we can get to the good part.” Donovan said, fishing two iron palla from his coat.

As he cocked his arm, a large blast of energy rippled through the room, vaporizing every hitman. Donovan sighed and tossed his balls in the air impatiently. “Dammit Trevor, I was planning on showing off for our new friends,” he said with a wink to Jayson, “especially you.” A nervous glance was cast towards Kurai, she definitely wouldn’t approve of him snuggling up to the Vongola, even if it was just a playful tease.

When the blonde kid asked if they were strong, Donovan almost burst out laughing. This kid had no idea of the power Kurai possessed, he actually felt a bit of pity at how naïve he was. A soft, masculine voice reached across the room. "Geez man. Men can't fight against girls. It's a secret rule don't yah know. 'Sigh' Let's try our hand at these two guys if you really want to fight." Donovan smiled, he liked this kid. If he survived the upcoming battle, they just might become friends.

As he and Trevor walked outside, he turned his attention to the other male in the room, Samuel. Maybe he was wrong, maybe this kid was actually a combat genius and just wanted Trevor gone to maximize his flames potential- "Wait I get it men shouldn't fight women because women have an unfair advantage in strength!" Donovan face-palmed, ‘I retract my previous thought,’ he snickered, striding over and placing an arm around Samuel’s shoulders. “Listen, buddy. I’m going to be completely serious with you, man to man, if you fight her you’re going to be blown into tiny pieces. You don’t stand a snowballs chance in hell against her, instead, listen to your friend there and face me, I guarantee I won’t disappoint.”

Releasing his opponent, Donovan walked through the hole Trevor had previously made, beckoning the other guardians to follow. He pointed to Jayson and Kurai. “I think we might want to go outside, shits about to hit the fan in here,” he cast a longing look at Jayson, “and boss, don’t hurt her too bad. I think I’ve got a shot with that one.” He shot a cocky wink at Vongola leader. “Don’t worry, I won’t kill them.”

As Josei emerged from the hole in the wall and began to saunter toward the hulking jet-black future armor, two thoughts occurred to Trevor almost simultaneously. The first: Josei and Donovan's personalities were strikingly similar, especially when it came to fighting girls. Trevor never understood why Donovan refused to fight them. Something about... something. Any time the older boy tried to explain, it served only to confuse Trevor further. There were times that Donovan would even point to a girl, seemingly at random, and make a comment about her looks. Trevor never understood this, either. Why were they so special that they deserve unique treatment? His best guess so far: they had to be really good C-Frame pilots. Even Kurai. What else could possibly garner them so much attention from all the guys?

The second concerned Shaji Ai. She stepped out of the wall hole and took a position standing off to the side. It looked as if she wasn't going to assist Josei in this skirmish, leaving it one versus one... but how come? Did she believe the Thunder guardian could handle his C-Frame all by himself? That her power wouldn't be necessary? Or did she want to see her friend get beaten down?

When fighting aliens, the C-Frame pilots always worked in teams. The concepts of "honor" or "fairness" did not exist when it came to fighting hostile aliens in the future. Only victory—or death. These... primitive value systems did not make sense to him at all.

Trevor shook his head as if to clear it, etch-a-sketch style. People in general were just so baffling.

The light emanating from the sky visibly dimmed. Thick voluminous clouds were gathering over the area, the sign of a storm rolling in. Sure enough, as Josei began to speak, small disparate droplets of water began to pelt the armor. Intrigued, Trevor took his eyes off of his opponent, electing instead to look up at the encroaching meteorological event. The weather of this time struck him as odd. Who is controlling their—

"THUNDERRRRRR HAMMEEEERRRRRRR!!!!!" Suddenly, Josei appeared within Trevor's line of sight, blocking his view of the sky. Though slightly annoyed, he wasn't particularly surprised. His historical records indicated that he was extremely fast. At this restriction level, the suit might have a hard time precisely tracking his movements. Again, Trevor wasn't particularly worried.

There weren't many flame-based attacks capable of causing him or his armor any harm. Not at this point in time. He had his Moon flames to thank for that. Their distinct attribute: the cancellation of any other flame type they came into contact with. Like matter meeting anti-matter, enemy flames were simply negated out of existence.

Trevor's armor alerted him to a parietal cranial impact. Josei had smashed his fists down upon the top of his armor's helmet with what the C-Frame categorized as "a negligible amount of force". Within a span of milliseconds, he used his AI to calculate the best method of attacking his opponent. He wanted to restrict his enemy's range of motion.

Cracked ribs would probably do the trick.

The necessary calculations were initiated, computed, and executed all while Josei was still mid-air from his Thunder Hammer move. Before the unsuspecting guardian was able to land on the ground, the armor punched him hard in his stomach. Trevor gave him no time to react, following that initial fist with an onslaught of heavy, focused combinations to the upper body. It was fairly reminiscent of a boxer executing combos on a punching bag, though the armor executed its attacks with such speed and precision that the movements seemed to blur together into one.

Trevor's counterattack had lasted but for a fraction of a moment. He poured strength into one final punch, sending his opponent flying across the lawn. Half of him hoped he'd killed the guy with that. It's what Kurai ordered. It'd make her proud. The other half of him was horrified. Dead people don't give autographs! Trevor bit down hard on his tongue, purposely trying to scramble his thoughts. "I don't care about stupid stuff like that," he uttered out loud, as if trying to persuade a friend. There is only the mission.

Only the mission.

Trevor was genuinely surprised when Josei rose and started zipping around, assaulting the armor with an ultimately futile thunder-flame-backed melee barrage. Though his movements were slower than expected, he was still able to maneuver pretty fast for someone who'd just gotten beaten into the ground. After several failed attacks, Josei seemed to panic, confused as to why none of his attacks were working, hesitating in his rapid movements. Trevor couldn't blame him.

The armor held out its arm, hand up, palm facing Josei. Prime the Raptors. Small compartments opened along the length of the appendage. That high-pitched whining sound, like that of a jet engine powering up, now saturated the air once more. Trevor squinted at his opponent, narrowing his eyes. Several crosshairs appeared, like an FPS video game, all overlapping on the focus of his gaze.

Fire.

Brilliant gray-white beams of concentrated Moon flame erupted from the openings along the armor's outstretched arm with all the clamour and fervor of fireworks, creating synchronized zigzag patterns in the air. The beams were headed straight for Josei.

The opponents counter attack was quick, so quick in fact that Josei almost didn't have time to react. He flash stepped once more getting singed on his left shoulder while dipping behind the black machine, only to see one of the blast were going towards Shaji, he then reached in his pocket and flashed over towards her and there was a big explosion. The dirt and debris was kicked up hard enough to hide the aftermath of the blast. The black machine probably thought that the battle was over and he had killed two birds with one stone.

He was wrong if he thought that. As the smoke cleared it revealed a big green shield and behind it Josei and Shaji were safe. His normal casual demeanor was replaced by a murderous glare. He panted a little before he spoke. "Shaji, are you okay?" He didn't really need an answer, he was just asking out of chivalry. He could clearly see that she was fine. "I'ma need you to stand back a little further because things are about to heat up." He said as he lowered his shield and walked closer to the machine.
"Hey buddy, I don't know what your deal is but," He changed into a combat stance, "No one, hurts one of my friends. No one you here me?" He was tired and steadily loosing energy but he decided to let it all go as he sped swiftly to the machine hitting it dead on the center with his shield like a cannon. There was a loud bang on impact as him and the machine were forced back away from each other. The attack was followed back blast heading straight in Josei's direction as he zipped around everyone of them trying to get closer to their source. It seemed easier said then done, because the closer he got, he was just greeted by more blasts. With each blast he had to side step back a little. He really didn't know how long he could keep up like this. If only he had a proper nights rest.

Sucking it up he connected his ring to his box and called upon the Vongola storm buffalo. It was almost as if he was sitting on a seat inside the thing. "Charge!!!!!" He roared as the box animal went forward. It was almost as fast as his regular movements. The buffalo came into contact with the machine that surprisingly stopped it. It was almost like a sumo competition between the two. "Come on!!!!" He yelled. The buffolo seemed to be making the machine step back a bit, but it wasn't enough. "Fine then." Josei said as he charged the last of his strength to zip up towards the sky. "THUNDEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRR HAMMMMMEEEEEERRRRRRRRR OVER KILLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL" He hollered crashing down like a bolt of lightning on the machines head, shoving it into the ground.

He yanked his shield from the dirt and stepped back a little looking at the machines 'dead' appearance. He was panting an out of breath and the lighting buffalo disappeared into a light that traveled back to the box. "Did....did I win?" He said, eyes still focused on the target. If he hadn't won then he was in deep trouble since he could possibly only manage three more flashes. If that.

The machine that looked dead suddenly started twitching and Josei's heart sunk. "Ai, get out of here!!!!! Now!!!!!" He called back to Shaji as the machine rose once more. Josei didn't know what his next move would be, but he knew it might be his last.

Time travel was a strange thing. Kurahoshi had left with the other members of the Rizzo famiglia, but he had experienced a certain lag in the time vortex. Therefore he appeared later than the other Rizzo members. He stood in the damaged forest obviously they had been their. He started jumping branch to branch following a path of knocked over trees. That was probably Bellona's fault.
He saw flames in the distance and heard sounds. There were moon flames most likely Trevor's flames, the other flames were Thunder.
Kurahoshi reached the battle, the Vongola mansion had tooken minimal damage Trevor seemed to be having trouble with the Lightning guardian, the lightning guardian was also having trouble, but a girl was taken his place in the fight.
Kurahoshi took out three yellow boxes, two had silver stars, the other had a gold one. Kurahoshi punched his ring into the boxes. The silver starred boxes opened into humming birds that perched themselves on Kurahoshi's right shoulder. The golden starred box became a sword.
Kurahoshi held his sword in his right hand then put flame pressure into it activating the ability. Kurahoshi's everyone who got a simple glimpse of his flame would have their scenes put on standby for a variable amount of time. It depended on strength and will. He estimated 3 seconds for these vongola.
Kurahoshi ran quick 1... 2... 3.... He was now facing the Vongola guardians alongside Trevor. The guardians had regained there scenes 3.001 seconds after Kurahoshi had used his ability.
"I gather Kurai and the others are inside?" said Kurahoshi to Trevor. He was mostly certain, but conformation wouldn't hurt.

OOC: Whoa, that was a long one! Worked with Damioa on parts of it :) Anyhoo, whenever Kurai feels the time is right to go, Trevor is ready :P

Honestly, Trevor felt like he was playing a bit too conservatively with this Vongola. Energy conservation was very important—if he went all out, he wouldn't be able to sustain the C-Frame's current restriction level for as long as he'd prefer—but the Thunder guardian just wouldn't stay down. Using some sort of shielding device, he even managed to survive a direct hit from one of his concentrated beams of Moon flames—each with the destructive power of one of this time's Hellfire Missiles.

Sensing Trevor's annoyance with the shield, the AI performed an assessment of it. Combining both historical records of Josei and various wave-analysis techniques, it was determined that the shield was composed of some sort of carbon-based nanofiber and/or superelastic nickel-titanium alloy. Cutting edge by this time's standards, but the stuff of children's toys back where Trevor hailed from. The AI concluded that such a primitive metal work would not be able to withstand consecutive direct hits from the guided Raptors, especially since the Moon flames cancelled out the protective capabilities of the Thunder flames.

As he primed another round of Raptors, the AI temporarily lost track of Josei, whom reappeared within close proximity, using his momentum and his shield to bash the armor backwards slightly. This allowed the AI to reacquire the Thunder guardian as a target, and Trevor immediately fired off another burst of Raptors. In response, the agile guardian executed a series of evasive maneuvers, attempting to close the gap between them a second time.

Trevor smirked. With this blitzkrieg of Raptor lasers chasing him down, that just wasn't going to happen. All it would take is one mistake on his part, one misstep, one wrong turn, and that'd be the end of this. However, after a while, Josei was still standing, having successfully dodged the Raptors at every turn. Annoyance simmered in the pit of Trevor's stomach. Why won't he just give in? This is going to take forever! In response, the AI offered Trevor a list of weapons currently operable with the C-Frame at its present feed restriction—the ones determined to be statistically most-likely to end the fight in one move were displayed first, along with other pertinent information.

He then made a decision. Even though his body was beginning to tire from the effort required to feed and operate the suit, forget the conservative love taps. He'd end this in one strike. Sure, it'd seriously burn through his body's stores of Deathperation energy, and would probably cut the remaining time he had with the suit in half, but, based on the situational data, the trends suggested that continuing to use Raptors against this guy would end up being an egregious misuse of his energy anyway.

So he'd finish this. Finish it with a move the Vongolas ought to recognize immediately, since it was based on their Decimo's own signature move. Trevor's smirk return, a severely out-of-character expression for his usually emotionally-barren stoic self. Thankfully, no one could see him through the opaque airtight armor of the C-Frame.

Prime the ZZ-Burner. In response, the C-Frame's fingers seemed to morph, parts shifting up from the palms, elongating the digits and bringing their ends to a point. However, before he could charge and fire the devastating attack, something else happened.

"Charge!!!!!"

Josei had activated his Vongola box, summoning some sort of bullish animal. Trevor had briefly read about this box weapon a while ago. It was the same item used by Lambo and Lampo before him. A legendary Vongola artifact. Unfortunately, before the AI had time to do a detailed lookup and situation report of its powers, strengths, and weaknesses, the creature was already within close proximity to the suit. Again, Trevor was not phased in the slightest. It was a creature that relied on flames to operate, after all... and flame-based attacks would not be effective against him. Despite himself, Trevor turned up his nose in arrogance, a plan of attack already having solidified in his mind.

Determining the intent of its pilot, the C-Frame took a stance, preparing for impact. With one outstretched hand, Trevor caught the rampaging beast by its head, immediately arresting its forward momentum. The Moon flames emanating from suit's hand and arm were already having an adverse effect on the thing. A few more seconds of exposure to his flames and then he'd annihilate it and its rider with the ZZ-Burner, which was busy charging. That high-pitched whine of complex mechanical instruments spinning up had returned. The suit's ambient flame output was reduced to near-zero, making the armor look less like a malevolent knight-demon from hell and more like a normal medieval suit of metal—all of the Moon flames were being concentrated at the palms of the hands.

Trevor was experiencing an unfamiliar sort of excitement. He was going to be the first one to finish his opponent! This is the en—!

"THUNDEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRR HAMMMMMEEEEEERRRRRRRRR OVER KILLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL"

The last thing Trevor remembered was a red-hot searing pain cascading throughout his entire body, as if he had been tossed into a pool filled to the brim with sharpened needles. A torturous clamor, like a thousand bird chirping, blasted through his eardrums. Everything was even going haywire with the AI. His vision kept alternating between the world outside the suit, experienced through the AI's massive suite of senses, and the dark internals of the suit, where he was suspended in the breathable nanochemical agent, blue-white arcs of electricity hopping about. Unable to cope with the stress of it all, Trevor's body gave out. At first, all he could see was white... and then, nothing.



Nature on its own is definitely a force to be reckoned with. A lightning strike from the sky contains over a billion volts and travels hundreds of time faster than a speeding bullet.

Trevor had underestimated his enemy.

The massive lustrous suit of armor looked... dead. The usually-red arced visor that represented the eyes of the suit had turned a smoldering metallic black color. The armor itself was slightly bowed over at the waist, and its feet were sunken into the ground up to just below the knees. Steam wafted from the machine in waves, as if it had just come out of the oven.

"Did....did I win?"

Unbeknownst to the others, something was happening inside of the suit. A dim red light illuminated the armor's internals. The source of the luminescence was a small futuristic display on the inner wall of the C-Frame's chest cavity. It currenty read:



Suddenly, the suit could be heard powering on, but the visor remained black.

Outside, Kurahoshi, the Rizzo's Star guardian, jumped down to stand beside the armor, speaking to the pilot inside, but he received no response. Just the shrill monotonous whirl of advanced mechanics.

And then the C-Frame moved. It raised its helmet, looking upwards. Somehow, the motion just seemed unnatural, like watching a machine assemble a car. It just didn't look human. The helm began to shake then, oscillating slightly from left to right, as if it were struggling with something. The sounds of tortured and twisting metal met the general mechanical hum that had previously pervaded the air, which made for quite the alien symphony. The front of the armor's helmet... it was tearing, like a piece of cloth being rent in two. When the twisted metal finally gave, it snapped in several places, fragmenting in others, leaving jagged pieces of metal around the new opening in the thing's face—like a mouth with spiky teeth.

Abruptly, an ear-splitting screech exploded from the thing's mouth, as if it were crying out to the clouds and rain droplets above. The C-Frame then tore its legs from where they were entrenched in the ground, pointing its arms at Shaji and Josei, since they were the first living beings it noticed. Kurahoshi had created distance between himself and the C-Frame, leaving the two Vongolas as the closest living things to the disgruntled machine.

The suit suddenly combusted, bright gray-white flames emerging from every inch of the armor. The flames were much more brilliant and pure when compared to earlier. They were also larger, cloaking the armor and the surrounding area completely and utterly in neon-gray nullification flames.

With another screech, this time aimed at the two Vongolas, the armor targeted them with every single weapon it had. Compartment after compartment opened all along the armor's body: arms, legs, torso, chest, shoulders, hands, everywhere. Some opened to reveal small circular holes along the arms and legs. Some revealed oblong devices spinning at high velocities. Others featured tubes that eerily resembled miniature cannons. Its hands and fingers extended, entering ZZ-Burner mode. Metallic black boxes emerged from its back and sides, sliding open to reveal what looked like rows and rows of missiles. Chain guns unfurled from compartments hidden in the shoulders. A large circular weapon had been revealed by retracting chest plates—it looked like some sort of particle weapon.

And then the machine began its assault. As if a fireworks warehouse had exploded, streamers and beams of light of various sizes and colors flew from the armor in a great flourish, going off in every which direction, all of them headed for the two Vongolas. Bringing his shield to bear, Josei grabbed Shaji and threw her backwards, zipping towards the oncoming barrage. As he expected, the projectiles were locked on to him—not Shaji—and as he zipped around, they followed him. The AI wasn't finished, however. The dual chain guns on its shoulders became active, firing at Josei with pinpoint accuracy. At the same time, one of its arms detached from the rest of the armor, jetting off in the hopes of acquiring a better firing angle on Josei—though it soon returned as its target was lost within the dense foliage of the forest.

Using his shield to deflect most of the chain gun rounds as they found their target, Josei headed for the aforementioned nearby forest, weaving in and out of the trees to dodge around the light beams and missiles that followed him. Even then, the armor did not remain idle. White light began to emanate from its mouth, and, after just a moment, a ball of white luminescence exploded from the thing's mouth, barrelling into the forest where Josei had last been spotted...

There was no sound. There was no time. There was only a massive expansion of light. Nothing seemed to be destroyed. The trees were barely rattled. The attack was meant to annihilate Josei's Thunder flames, thus ending his ability to move quickly. If he was unlucky enough to have gotten caught up in that blast, his ability to use flames would be temporarily suspended.

That would afford the C-Frame all the time it needed to kill him.

Apparently, Josei was able to escape the blast radius, for he emerged from the forest a second later, zipping towards the armor like lightning. In response, the C-Frame "zipped" too.

Or more accurately, it calculated the most likely spot Josei would appear at next and apparated there first. The Vongola guardian countered by zipping behind the C-Frame, which mimicked his movement and teleported behind him, while at the same time charging the ZZ-Burner. Blinding gray-white light—the purest of Moon flames—began to gather between the machine's palms and oblong digits. Josei tried to zip away, but each time he did, the armor teleported right along with him, still aiming its glowing hands at him. He tried to bash the armor on its head with his shield, but the C-Frame countered by grabbing his entire face with its glowing hand and slamming him into the ground. Luckily, Josei retained his grip on his shield, for the C-Frame began stomping on him.

Once. BASH! Twice. BOOM! The entire ground seemed to shake. Three times. BANG! Josei was being pounded into the ground by a relentless unfeeling machine that would kill him in an instant and feel nothing. Again and again it stomped until Josei stopped moving altogether. Appeased, the machine brought its hands to bear, aiming at the unmoving Vongola guardian's unprotected face.

Screaming at him, another sphere of white light began to take shape within the armor's mouth. It was going to fire everything it had at point blank range.



When Trevor opened his eyes, all he could see was a red tinge. It took him several moments of quick blinking before he regained full control of his faculties. Touch came first. He could feel that he was floating—so he was still in the C-Frame. Then came taste and smell. He could taste the slight acidity of the breathable superconducting nanochemical. He inhaled deeply, attempting to wake himself faster. Hearing came next, followed by sight. He brought a hand to his head, mussing his own hair. He was definitely still inside the C-Frame.

"Ugh... what happened?" he muttered through the liquid to no-one. That's when he felt something odd. Like he was dehydrated, walking through a desert at high noon. He had a splitting headache, and his body was slow to respond to his commands. He felt completely drained, as if the C-Frame was feeding on all of hi—

He heard a scream from outside of the armor. No, that wasn't accurate... the scream came from inside the armor, projected outside. Plus, it was drawing a huge amount of flames from him. In fact, it was drawing so much flame energy that he could feel himself entering the beginning stages of shock. What the heck was going on?

Trevor's eyes went wide. Red light? The cockpit is supposed to be completely dark! His eyes immediately found the source of the milky glow. The "Mosca mode" indicator was on, and the timer under it read two minutes and forty-four seconds. Why?!

Mosca mode. It was a pilot preservation program left over from the original C-Frame precursor prototypes—the ones heavily influenced by the Millefiore Famiglia's Strau Mosca and Verde's Green Mosca designs. It only activates if the pilot is rendered unconscious, and it's purpose is to eliminate the threat as quickly and efficiently as possible, bypassing the usual C-Frame feed restrictions. Essentially a Genocide mode on autopilot. Even if the intentions were noble, the software package was extremely dangerous, often times resulting in the deaths of the unconscious pilots due to them being drained dry. Trevor wasn't a skilled enough programmer to remove the "feature" himself, and the scientists back at the facility refused to disable it.

And that's when he remembered everything. He was fighting the eleventh generation Vongola. Fighting Josei Lambe, the Thunder guardian. He'd been hit by... something. He'd lost consciousness, and the armor probably went berserk with no feed restriction or pilot.

So that's why he felt like so many sacks of crap. He was being drained to death by his own C-Frame!

Without wasting another moment, Trevor stuck his thumb, index, and middle fingers into the corresponding three holes under the display timer, twisting to the left, pulling the ring outwards towards his body, and then pushing it as hard as he could back into the armor's hull. It was the manual "hard shutdown" switch. Another leftover from the old Mosca units. The suit died out almost instantly, ceasing whatever action it was previously engaged in and releasing any pent up flame energy it had acquired from Trevor's body into the aether.

Still depressing the hard shutdown switch, Trevor was determined to have the suit restart itself. It worked like the old personal computers of the previous century. Just hold the power button and it'll shut down and power back up (if configured properly). He would then engage the Normal Operating restriction and finish the Thunder Vongola with as little flame use as possible.

However, something was wrong. Instead of powering back on, the internal display flashed once again, this time showing a black and white outline of an old-fashioned battery, complete with plus and minus signs. Text appeared under the battery symbol. It read: Electrical damage detected, attempting repairs. Estimated: ten minutes, fourteen seconds until startup.

Great. Just great. He was stuck, vulnerable, in a useless tin can while a war raged around him. He thought of his opponent, Josei Lampo, then. Electrical damage to the suit? How was that possible? His Moon flames would cancel out any and all flame-based attacks, even if it's electricity...

Thunder boomed in the background, interrupting Trevor's thoughts—or, rather, leading him to a new train of thought. Lightning? Natural lightning?! Trevor slammed the side of the C-Frame with his fist, frustrated. Of course! This isn't the future! Back in the future, "World Engines" control most of Earth's climate and weather. They were made necessary after global warming wrecked the atmosphere. No one had seen a hurricane, tornado, blizzard, flash floor, or lightning strike in over fifty years. He facepalmed. But we went back 100 years. Duh duh duh! He slapped his forehead with his palm several times, which did nothing for his headache.

He thought of Josei again and slammed his fist against the internals of his armor a second time. "You... cheater!" he raged, angry that Josei had used real lightning instead of a flame-based discharge. "You unfair cheater!" Despite his words, he knew deep down that it was his own fault. He shouldn't have played around. Shouldn't have underestimated the legendary Vongola. Should have just gone into Decimation mode and finished it. These guys weren't half bad, to be able to bring down the C-Frame. Trevor folded his arms, pouting. Even if he did cheat.

That's when his C-Frame re-established its connection with Trevor. If there was electrical damage, the self-healing electronics seemed to be doing their job. Glancing at the display, it still said eight minutes and eight seconds. Sighing, he linked his mind with the AI symbiote. It wasn't fully functional yet, but at least he'd be able to look around outside.

Trevor's mind froze then. The first thing he saw when his optical senses meshed with the AI's was Josei's limp body under heel. He wasn't moving. Judging from the positioning of his armor's hands and face, he guessed that he shut down the C-Frame just as it was about to finish him. Or perhaps it already had. Trevor disconnected from the symbiote, electing instead to stare at the display as the timer ticked down. Time seemed to be moving very slowly.

What if he's dead? He gulped. What if I just killed someone? That's when he realized he didn't mean to. Never meant to. Even if he hadn't gotten hit by the lightning, he wouldn't have killed his opponent. He just couldn't do it. The C-Frame was meant to protect humanity, not destroy it. It was the first thing they'd taught him back at the facility. He thought of Kurai then, and her orders. He thought of Donovan, giving his all. All of his famiglia. He could never betray them... but, this... Trevor brought his hands to his face, tears welling at the corners of his eyes, to be whisked away by the nanochemical that surrounded him.

He didn't want to kill anyone.

He wished more than anything that they were all back home, fighting aliens and doing fun stuff. At least there the good guys were easily differentiable from the bad ones—Aliens, of course.

For six more minutes the C-Frame would remain disabled, the armor and its pilot vulnerable to attack.