Disclaimer: I don't own anything but Phoenix and Thorne
Inside the city all the teams separated to find out as much information about the card they were after. Phoenix, Gon, and Killua had settled down after having a bit of fun on the beach, all three were far more relaxed than they had been since they entered the game.
"Search every room, one by one." Said Killua as the four walked down the street, he would of held Phoenix's hand but she was feeding Thorne since it was getting late and he hadn't eaten yet. "Some characters may not give you information until you visit multiple times, so pay attention."
"Okay," Bisky and Gon said with a fist pump in the air.
"Hey!" Goreinu called out from further down the street they were on. "Seems they found someone with information."
"That was quick!" The four exclaimed together.
It was a tired looking woman with short hair in a high ponytail. She was selling seafood, which made sense to Phoenix since the city was on next to the sea.
"The pirates run this town…" She started in a tired tone. "There's a legend about an underwater cavern called 'Poseidon's Cavern' located somewhere in this area. Strip of Beach is the entrance to it. After hearing the legend that this cave holds great treasures, fifteen pirates came to this town several years ago. Razor and his fourteen Devils… The fishermen were all tortured and killed. The pirates murdered anyone who knew about the Strip of Beach… If you get rid of the pirates, I'll tell you what I know."
After the dark tale of the town the group left and gathered in the town centre to discuss what they were told and what they had to do.
"When we visited a few months earlier, we couldn't find a single clue." A man with blonde hair explained.
"This must be information only available at certain times." The white-haired man from Kazsule's tell guess. "Maybe an event that only occurs at this time frame?"
"Didn't she say that Razor had Fourteen Devils?" Phoenix asked, when everyone nodded, she continued. "What if it's the amount of people in the group. Greed Island is a difficult game but it's designed to be beaten, normally fourteen against one would be suicide, but it it's fifteen against fifteen or more then it's an even fight. What triggered this event could have been us, since we are a large group."
"So, the event won't start until you have fifteen or more?" Kazsule summarized.
"But how would an in-game character know that?" Someone else asked.
"Oh, Accompany!" Killua exclaimed.
"Yes, a group of fifteen or more must reach Soufrabi with Accompany." Said the other girl of Asta's team. "That's probably the trigger for this event."
"Pretty brutal." Killua and Phoenix heard Goreinu mutter behind them. When the two turned to see what he was talking about he said, "Oh, nothing," and turned away from them. Leaving them confused.
"Let's go to the pirate's base!" Kazsule instructed.
It took a little while before they had found the bar the pirates were hanging out at. The bar itself seemed to be attached to a bigger building, so it might serve as a hotel too, Phoenix thought to herself.
Walking into the bar, the pirates, were all wearing brown slakes and some form of white shirt, long sleeve, t-shirt or even a tank top. They were all drinking and wearing purple hats that reminded Phoenix of a jester's hat, with what looked like bells at the ends and all.
"Who the hell are you guys?" The fattest and tallest of the pirates asked their group with a sneer. "This is a private party. Get lost!"
"We're here to talk," Kazsule said calmly, not intimidated by the pirates at all. "Would you please consider leaving this town?" He asked making Phoenix look at him like he was stupid.
Did he seriously think that they would leave just because he asked them too? The pirates must have thought the same thing because they all started to laugh at him.
"Been a while since we've heard that line!" A pirate with a hard face smirked.
The group did nothing when the fat pirate stood up and make a circle with alcohol around him and lighting it on fire with a lighter. "Don't bother talking. Sue force to make us leave." He spoke. "I don't care how many of you attack at once. If you can move me from this ring, I'll take you to see our boss."
One of the more muscular men in their group stepped forward confidently. "We just have to move you out of the ring? If it's brawn you want, I'm your man." As he was talking started to tense all his muscles and his nen started to surround him. Phoenix noticed that he started to sweat as he was doing that a knew that he wouldn't last more then two seconds in the ring.
Phoenix couldn't help rolling her eyes when all the pirate did was wrap his arms around the man and walk him over to the side of the ring and hold him over the fire so he toes were burning.
Phoenix didn't blink when Gon pushed off and kicked the pirate in the face, making him let go of the man and crawl back over to the rest of the group patting the flames on his foot out, the rest of his team racing forward to help him.
"He said he lost," said Gon glaring at the large pirate in anger. "Why didn't you let him go?"
"I explained the rules," said the pirates. "You lose if you step outside the ring. Anything else, including admitting defeat, is totally meaningless. You kicked me, then stepped outside the ring of fire. You've lost."
"Oh no! Shoot!" Gon cried making Phoenix chuckle to herself. "Hold on! Let me start over!"
"Don't bother, Gon…" Killua said, resting a hand on his friends shoulder. "You're probably looking to use your new ultimate move. But you shouldn't reveal it in front of all these people. Just let me handle this."
"What's this? You gonna pair up now?" The pirate asked looking between Killua and Phoenix who had moved so she was standing next to Gon.
But all Killua did was walk around the ring toward the bar where he picked up a bottle. "I'll be using this." Was all he said as he flicked the top of the bottle off with his finger.
"You wouldn't!" The pirate panicked, knowing what Killua was going to do just by the smirk on his face.
Of course, Killua ignored him and disappeared from sight, reappearing in the air above the pirate, pouring the contents of the bottle on his head and then using his nen, zapping him with a bit of electricity from his finger and setting the pirates head on fire.
Phoenix smirked proudly at Killua as the pirate ran out of the ring and started to roll, screaming at the top of his lungs in pain and panic, only stopping when his head when through the wall, extinguishing the flames.
"There, I win." Killua said smugly.
When the pirate glared over his should at Killua, Phoenix started forward a bit, ready to defend her boyfriend.
"D-Damn little brat!" The pirate spat.
When he started to charge for Killua, Phoenix didn't hesitate to jump up and punch the pirate in the face with a fist full of blue flames, the same time a foot connected with the pirate's side. The two forces knocking the fat pirate the side against a pillar. It was the pirate with the hard face.
"You made up the rules… Don't get upset." he said, glaring at his fellow pirate.
"Yeah, my bad…" the fat pirate mumbled.
The hard-faced pirate turned to Phoenix who was still glaring at the fat pirate, the flame in her hand still ablaze. "That was a good punch, kid," he smirked.
Phoenix looked at him before looking away shyly, she was used to her friends complimenting her but complete strangers was a different thing. She nodded before moving to Killua's side.
"I'll take you to the boss," the pirate said turned away and leading them out of the bar.
The pirate led them to a large building on a cliff, overlooking the ocean, something Phoenix couldn't stop staring at. The group were lead inside and through a pair of large metal, red doors into a gym that was full of pirates working out.
"Eh, so your boss is here?" Killua asked as they moved into the gym.
"Boss, we have visitors," the pirate called out.
A very muscular man with short hair had his back to them lifting weights answered, "Who are these guys?"
"They want us to leave town." The pirate said.
"Leave town?" The man who could only be Razor asked, turning to face them. "Let's have a contest. If you win, we'll leave the Island. However, we choose the contest. How does that sound?"
"What happens id we lose?" Goreinu asked.
"Nothing," said Razor calmly. "You'll just have to leave."
"Okay, let's do this!" Kazsule smirked.
"The theme of this battle is sports. Each of these members will challenge you to a match in their best sport." Razor explained. "One win per person! The first side to get eight wins will be the victor."
A new pirate with thick eyebrows stepped up. "I'm up first… I'll go with boxing."
"Well? Who's up?" Razor asked pointing over his shoulder at the boxing ring.
"I've got this." The blonde man from Kazsule's team said confidently.
Everyone gathered around the boxing ring, the pirate in one corner and Kazsule's teammate in the opposite corner, Razor stood in the middle, to referee. All the lights in the gym were turned off apart from the ones above the ring.
"There's one special rule," said Razor. "You may use any item conjured by nen."
"What?" Kazsule asked concerned.
"You can't call that boxing!" A blonde man said.
"Don't worry. I'll only use my fist." The pirate said arrogantly. "That rule's for your benefit. Wanna tag out?"
"No, I'll do it," said Kazsule's teammate.
"Fight!" Razor announced moving out of the ring.
The two fighters made their way to the centre of the ring, jumping on their toes to keep moving.
"I know what's going on here…" The blonde said. "There's a reason you chose boxing!" As he said that nen quickly gathered in his fist before he threw a punch from a few feet away. The nen flew from his fist and skimmed the pirate's cheek, leaving a small cut that slowly started to bleed. "You're also an Emitter, right? We're fighting at close range, within a finite space. This is the ideal situation for an Emitter. However, you made one mistake! Not anticipating that my power could be stronger than yours!"
As the blonde started to throw multiple punches Phoenix knew that he was going to lose. Not being he wasn't strong enough or skilled enough but because he was over confident. The pirate had obviously thought of a plan that would counter an Emitter if he had chosen boxing as his sport and the blonde hadn't thought of that, only sticking to the one plan, that he was stronger than the pirate.
"Wow! He can't dodge that rapid fire!" Someone in the crowd said excited but Phoenix only rolled her eyes.
After the rapid fire the pirate flew back and bounced a few times on the floor but Phoenix had seen what he did, he wasn't just taking the hits thrown at him, he had attacked as well, with an upper cut, using what could only be his nen ability. It looked like his fist had teleported but as an Emitter Phoenix guess that it was a portal of some kind. The pirate won the match in one hit.
"Yes, he's down! Too easy!" Someone else cheered.
Gon was the one who stopped the cheering and excited mood, "No, it was a simultaneous hit."
Everyone understood what Gon meant when the blonde in the ring collapsed as the pirate stood up.
"What just happened?" Kazsule asked shocked.
"He teleported," said Killua.
"Teleported?" The blonde from the crowd said.
"Only his fist, with a short uppercut." Killua explained. "His goal was to land a knockout counter. It was obvious."
"Not to mention, it was easy to see. He was over confident and didn't think that his opponent had a plan to counter his nen." Phoenix shrugged.
"Seems he's out cold…" Razor said after checking on the blonde. "That's one win for us."
The next round was for juggling soccer balls. Gon went to volunteer but Killua was quick to stop him. The four of them quickly had a team meeting. Killua explained to the three that they wouldn't be able to win with the members they had with them. They'd have to throw the rounds and come back with more capable people. Phoenix agreed but could tell that it annoyed Gon, even if he agreed.
"Indeed, that would be wise." Bisky nodded before volunteering to play with round. "Okay, I'm up next!"
"A little girl?" The pirate sneered. "I'll have to take care not to injure you."
"Injure me with juggling?" Bisky asked innocently.
"We're allowed to attack using nen." He explained. "Provided you don't touch the ball with your hands."
"I understand," said Bisky.
"Moving anywhere inside the building is allowed. Whoever drops their ball first loses." Explained the pirate.
"Right! Got it!" Bisky nodded.
"Okay, let's get started. Ready… Go!"
The very first go Bisky let the ball bounce off her foot, disqualifying herself much to the shock of everyone else.
"That was harder than I expected…" She giggled. "I lose."
"I'm up next, then." Said Killua moving forward, not caring what the sport was but he could help but to antagonise the fat pirate again, "You wanna go, big guy?"
"You bet! Prepare yourself, brat!" The fat pirate shouted.
Much to Phoenix amusement Killua stepped out of the sumo ring as soon as Razor called the match to begin. She watched as the fat pirate fume with a quiet giggle to herself. It only got funnier when Killua apologized for stepping out of the ring as if he meant it.
Phoenix went up next, she was up against the hard-faced pirate from before. The sport he chose was gymnastics. He seemed to know what they were up to so he only said the one who can do a cartwheel the best wins. Phoenix purposely made sure that she landed on her butt instead of her feet. She rubbed her head sheepishly.
The matches all went the same after that, though some trying more then others. Once all eight rounds were over, all points going to the pirates Razor called it.
"We're the victors." He said as Goreinu walked way from the basketball hoop.
"Get out of here," said the basketball pirate. "We'll keep doing as we please in this town."
"Damn it, you brat! Come back here!" The at pirate yelled after Killua making him and Phoenix laugh to each other at his frustration toward the white-haired boy. "We need to fight again!"
"You really have an affect on people, huh, Killua?" Phoenix joked making the white-haired boy laugh louder, the fat pirate screaming in the background, clearly having heard Killua laugh.
Once every was on the beach again they all looked back at the pirate's base silently for a few moments.
"When you saw we couldn't win with this line up, you decided to lose deliberately, and gather information, huh?" said Goreinu with a smile.
"But once a party has lost, they can't make another attempt." Said Kazsule.
"but it's okay if we simply switch out one member," said the man from his team. "It was a worthwhile risk."
"We're dropping out," said Asta much to everyone's surprise. "We've fulfilled our original goal to prevent the bomber from winning. It will be impossible for them to assemble a team of fifteen. You should probably give up on this contest for a bit. If you end up obtaining that card, you'll just become a target."
It seemed with that most of the teams agreed and gave up, quickly leaving to go find other more obtainable cards.
"They don't get it…" Goreinu said. "It makes sense to obtain this card quickly."
"To reduce the chances of infighting," said Killua.
"Exactly," nodded Goreinu.
Gon looked confused so Killua explained further. "You need at least fifteen people to participate. Even if you use Clone, you can only obtain three copies of 'Stripe of Beach.' This event was designed to incite infighting. That's what you meant." Killua said referring to what Goreinu said when they were speaking to the NPC woman. "I had to think about that, since I didn't understand right away."
"Assuming that we four are capable of winning," said Goreinu, "we still need four more up to the task. And ideally, they'd already be in a party of eleven. Do you have any leads?"
Gon called forth his book. "Looking at the names on my list, Chrollo's probably the strongest."
"But Kurapika said that he's definitely fake, but given that whoever it is knows his real name, the it's a safe bet that it's someone from the Troupe." Said Phoenix.
"Why would a member of the Troupe be here?" Gon asked.
"It wouldn't be to beat the game, I doubt they'd be interested in anything like that, maybe their looking for someone who can exorcist Kurapika's nen?" Phoenix suggested.
"But wouldn't they have used their own name?" Gon asked confused.
"That's true," said Killua.
"Try using Peek," Goreinu suggested. "If this person isn't here to beat the game, they won't bother to collect cards."
"Oh, that's right." Gon agreed.
After Gon used the card they saw that the person didn't have any restricted slots filled and only 6 cards in their free slots.
"This guy's not even trying," Killua said.
"His only card are for food and water," Gon observed.
"That makes it easier to invite them," said Goreinu.
"But if it really is a member of the Troupe, we won't invite them," said Gon. "We'll just ask a few questions."
"Then there's no point in bothering," said Killua. "Since it's definitely one of them."
"I'm curious to see what member it is," said Phoenix with a shrug. "If it's Feitan he could help us get the card, he'd do it if I asked him to."
Phoenix was ignored as the two boys continued to argue. With a sigh before stepped back so she wouldn't get in the cross fire between them. Sitting down Phoenix rested her hand on her propped-up hand and closed her eyes, blocking the boys out.
When she opened them again, she wasn't on the beach anymore, she was in a rocky area and knew instantly that she was in her mindscape where Tarkar lived. Looking around for the dragon she saw him sitting at a cliff looking at her with gentle eyes, an odd sight for a massive dragon.
Jogging over Phoenix couldn't stop the grin that grew on her face as she stopped in front of the dragon, "Tarkar! It's been so long!" She said happily.
"Yes, it has, little one," Tarkar said in a happy tone.
"What am I doing here, Tarkar? I can't usually come here myself," Phoenix asked a little confused.
Tarkar sighed, "I just want to tell you to be careful, I don't have a very good feeling."
Phoenix furrowed her eyebrows at the old dragon in concern, "Do you know what's going to happen?" She asked. Tarkar shook his head making her sigh. "Okay, I promise to be careful."
"Thank you," said Tarkar sincerely. "Before you go, when will you be telling your friends about me?"
Phoenix was silent for a moment before looking up at the dragon with certainty, "Once we've won Greed Island, they don't the distraction right now, we need to focus on getting that card before I worry them about having an old dragon spirit inside me"
The dragon gave a toothy grin at that before the two said their goodbyes. Opening her eyes Phoenix saw that they were ready to go and see who was using Chrollo's name. As Phoenix joined her friends and took Thorne off Bisky's shoulders to hold him, she couldn't stop thinking about Tarkar's warning and what was going to happen.
A/N: We finally see Tarkar again, don't worry I didn't forget him. If anyone is wondering, if I don't mention Thorne it's because he's either asleep on someone's shoulder or riding on Bisky's shoulder.
FFAP: I imagine Phoenix as an Australian, it's where I'm from, and it matches her nonchalance about dangerous situations a bit to me.
Answer from the last chapter: My favourite hobby is either my writing, reading or video games.
The question of the chapter: What does everyone think Killua's and Gon's reaction to Tarkar will be?
Thank you for reading my fanfiction, I love you guys.
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