Generation 11

Chapter 8

Eight

Akane swung around and jabbed the dummy harshly. However, the dummy barely moved. Punching with even more force this time, the dummy finally rocked a little. Sweat lined Akane's hairline and she took short breaths. Her throat was burning and she felt exhausted, but Reborn had told her that she could only rest if she was able to make the dummy's shoulders touch the ground. Since Reborn was assessing how long it'd take for each candidate to be able to do as Reborn demanded, Akane tried extra hard. However, so far, Akane was only able to make the dummy fall 45 degrees at most. She had been trying for an hour already, and was clearly running out of energy. Her flame faded after the punch and she fell to the ground in exhaustion.

"It's no use... I can't do this..." Akane moaned, lying on the cold ground and panting. Reborn jumped down and kicked her face, sending her flying into the dummy.

Karina sighed and shook her head. "You're supposed to do it like this, idiot," Forcefully pulling Akane's right arm forwards, Karina used Akane's hand to hit the dummy's soft, brown chin. It fell backwards, its feet not being able to stick to the ground magnetically, and caught on fire. The wood colored dummy crumpled to the ground suddenly, it's legs in an awkward position.

"E-eh!? I-it's on fire! Quick, someone get water!" Akane squealed. Karina facepalmed.

"That's what you're trying to do. It's made of a special material that can catch on fire from our rings. The flame disables the magnets inside the dummy's feet. Now try punching it, just as I have told you." As Karina pointed out her mistakes and relentlessly made her do punching sequences repeatedly, Akane smiled to herself. Karina had come back.

Just after they got back to the dorms, Akane had confronted her friend, who was lying on the ground, apparently "meditating", as Kari had claimed. After Akane told Karina all about her thoughts and woes and such, there was a long, awkward pause.

"Sorry...?" Akane had said softly, breaking the silence. Kari merely grunted, then had picked out what her boss was doing wrong with her kicking sequences, and led her downstairs for more training. Typical Karina, never apologizing head-on unless for more trivial matters, instead changing the topic and fixing your mistakes as an official apology. Though it was obvious she would hold a grudge over the fact that Akane had been chosen as the leader instead of her, it would disappear over time, as all grudges she held did.

"Now!" Karina snapped and from the other side, she pushed the dummy towards her. Akane flinched, she was distracted by her thoughts, so she didn't think at all when she reacted to the flaming, flailing dummy that was flying towards her. Akane didn't even know what she did. What she remembered doing was bring her arm up, forearm across her face and the other arm followed when her forearm touched the dummy. Her other arm came into contact with something - all the flames in her face was making it too hard for her to see anything- and the next thing she knew was that the dummy was suddenly gone, along with the heat. When she heard a loud 'bam', Akane shuddered. Whatever happened had caused the dummy had flown all the way across the gray floor and made a dent in the wall opposite side of her.

"OW!" Akane suddenly yelped. She just noticed the gnash that was on her forearm and she cradled her arm. "W-what did that dummy do!?"

Reborn narrowed his eyes. "She didn't even need a dying will bullet..." He muttered to himself, putting Leon back onto his hat. He was just about to help Akane out a little by giving her a shot, but it didn't seem like she needed it. Reborn sat down, deep in thought. Akane might not know it, but the dummy was lit on her sky flames. It would have normally scorched a person's arm completely if they came into contact with it, due to the components of the dummy... However, Akane's arm only had a scratch. Reborn lifted a corner of his mouth, impressed. Of course, Akane didn't yet seem as good a candidate as Tsuna was when he was younger, but this was clearly beyond a normal candidate's power.