The Speed Hunter

by Bugz-Toon

The Speed Hunter follows the adventures of Ryozha Tenryu, a young Hunter who joins up with Gon and Killua for a hunt. Fabled treasure, spies, legendary warriors, haunted castles, commando raids, and lost valleys. Complete and LONG. Reviews welcome.

3. Chapter 3

The next day, at the Celestial Tower, Ryozha was fiddling anxiously with his headphones in one of the arena seats- Zushi Biscuit's next fight was scheduled to begin in ten minutes. A quick phonecall from Gon had revealed that Master Wing and Zushi were, indeed, still in York Shin, at the Celestial Tournament. The same phone call had also netted Gon and Killua- Gon hadn't mentioned Ryozha yet- an invitation to come visit Wing and Zushi at their tower room. This in turn had led to Wing agreeing to meet with Ryozha.

Ryozha really wasn't sure what to expect- all he had to go by was a brief description and Gon's usual enthusiastic praise, which unfortunately told him very little. Gon and Killua were due to arrive a little later- Gon had wanted to buy a gift for his Aunt Mito, and they were scouring the markets. Ryozha squirmed a bit. Wing was already five minutes late, and, while it wasn't hard to guess why he was late -Probably giving Zushi some last minute tips- it didn't help his impatience any; his nervousness at meeting someone new... especially a potential teacher... had his control badly weakened, and his speed awareness was sliding in and out so that the crowd-noise (which also made it next to impossible to use his player to help anchor himself) was spiralling up into the ultrasonic one second and dropping into the infrasonic the next.

Just as he thought that Wing was never going to come, he sensed someone coming up the aisle. That in itself was a bit surprising- the arena was already packed- but nevertheless, a strong presence was fast approaching. It soon revealed itself to be attached to an unprepossessing young man with dark hair and glasses who appeared to have gotten dressed in the dark.

The sloppily-dressed man checked his ticket, then said "Excuse me, are you Ryozha?"

Ryozha nodded, looking at him sidelong. He did, in fact, fit the description that Killua had given him, but hearing about him and seeing him were two different things. He looked more like a university student who had been cramming for exams and overslept than a Nen Master. "I'm Wing," the man continued, sitting down. "Gon and Killua have told me about you..." Ryozha winced, imagining what exactly Killua had said, and Wing smiled, "but why don't we talk after. Zushi is very excited about this match, and I don't want to miss any of it."

Wing turned his attention towards the ring in the center of the arena, and Ryozha did likewise. He saw a small boy, about ten or eleven with short brown hair and a kungfu jersey enter the ring, and from the opposite side, a tall, dark-skinned, rangy man of uncertain age. He assessed both of them briefly- presumably the boy was Zushi, and a glance at the board informed him that the tall man was named Ganetro.

Zushi moved easily, with a certain amount of little-boy bounce still apparent in his movements, but also the confidence of a seasoned fighter. Ryozha watched him for a couple of seconds, then turned his attention to Ganetro. He was tall- very tall, more than twice Zushi's height, and appeared to be mostly knees and elbows. He walked like a heron- gawky and awkward-looking, disguising the fact that he could strike from anywhere with lethal suddenness. -Hmmm...- he thought to himself -This could be interesting- the difference in size alone is going to make this a bit of an odd matchup. Ganetro's gonna have a rough time hitting Zushi, since he's built so close to the ground, but by the same token, Zushi's gonna have a hard time closing with Ganetro because his reach is so much greater. Of course, unless Ganetro's using a rather sophisticated version of In that makes him look like a non-Nen user, Zushi's the only one down there with Nen, which would tend to give him the advantage... well, we'll see.- He looked at Wing, who seemed to be totally unconcerned. Ryozha shrugged and settled back to watch the match.

A few seconds after the match started, Ryozha found his estimation of Master Wing's teaching skills rising sharply. Zushi's tight guard and sure footwork earned him some respect, and the accuracy with which he predicted Ganetro's moves made him look much faster than the tall man, despite the fact that Ganetro was, in fact, by far the faster of the two. After a few moments of lightning jabs and snap kicks, almost all of which missed, Ganetro grew frustrated- he had scored a point on Zushi when the other had miscalculated a blow, but Zushi had popped back to his feet so fast he nearly didn't earn even that point- and dropped into a low sweep-kick that seemed to cover most of the arena.

Zushi, apparently, had been waiting for this- he jumped over it and kicked Ganetro solidly in the face, then, flipping over the tall man's head, flipped him in turn so that he slammed down on his back and looked for all the world like a daddy long-legs that had fallen off a wall. A couple of fast toe-kicks to the nerves in Ganetro's shoulders ended the match before the referee had even finished calling off the critical hits for the kick and the throw.

Master Wing slipped out of the watching crowd ahead of the rush, and Ryozha followed. They quickly fetched up at the ring exit, where Zushi was just coming out. He was smiling, and the smile grew when Wing said "You did very well Zushi- your training is paying off."

Zushi bowed and said "Osu! Thank you, master..." and then he caught sight of Ryozha. "Oh... hello! I'm Zushi (Osu!)." he said, bowing again.

Ryozha bowed in return, almost involuntarily, and said "Hey- I'm Ryozha.", clamping his mouth shut on the 'Osu!' that wanted to escape. Zushi seemed to be rather infectuous.

A short while later, they were ensconced in Master Wing's flat. Wing came straight to the point. "Killua says that you don't know some of the basics of Nen training." He sighed, and looked at Ryozha. "I know the way Killua talks, and I'm sure that you aren't doing as badly as he made it sound, but the fact that you sought me out makes me think that you DO need some training. However, I'm not convinced that I'm the right person to give you the training. Why did you come to me?"

Ryozha considered him for a second, then said "I have to stay in York Shin for some time, since this is the only place I can get information that I need for my current hunt. I only found out how much of the basics I was missing recently, and need a teacher I can trust. Gon and Killua trust you, and I trust them. It's that simple."

Wing looked at him for a while, then said "Very well. I will consider teaching you. Have you registered in the Celestial Tournament yet?"

Ryozha looked at him, confused. "Erm... no sir. Should I have?"

Wing nodded. "You should have. I need to see you use your Nen before I decide whether or not I can help you."

Ryozha gave a half-shrug and said diffidently "Yes sir."

After a wait in a long line that had Ryozha nearly out of his mind with impatience... he was seriously considering blasting everyone in front of him clear before he was six people in... he found himself registered in the tower. After what seemed like another interminable wait (Gon and Killua had shown up, then gone out again with Zushi after finding out that Ryozha was doing nothing but waiting, in order to celebrate Zushi's moving to the 130th floor) during which he ignored the attendant's description of the wonders of the Battle Tower- he listened to the part that described the way the Tournament worked, then ignored the rest of the spiel- he entered the ring on the first floor.

Two seconds and one hundred and fifty-two Jenis later, he was on his way to the fiftieth floor. As he was sitting in the locker room on the fiftieth, sipping the juice he had spent all his 'winnings' on, Wing came up, looking scruffier than ever. "Ah..." he said, "I'm afraid I didn't learn much from that fight. It was over so fast!"

Ryozha nodded. "That's kind of the way my Nen works, all right... and it seems to be why I've kept the problems so long, despite growing up in the Tenryu School." He made a face. "My Grandpa's a good teacher, but apparently even his eyesight has limits in seeing what I'm doing when I'm going full speed. Anyways... my next fight is soon, although I don't think it will last any longer. Maybe you would be able to see more when I spar with Gon and Killua... I'm sure they wouldn't mind if you and Zushi came to watch."

Wing studied him, then smiled very faintly. "All right. Where do you usually spar?" Ryozha flopped out lengthwise on the bench, balancing the juice can on one fingertip.

"I'm not sure," he said, "our last place, a condemned warehouse, fell in three nights ago, and we haven't found another one yet." Wing raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. "May as well use the same spot, since it's not far from where we're staying- what's left of it is on Cherrybloom Boulevard, near the entrance to the industrial section." Wing had an odd expression on his face, but still refrained from saying anything. Ryozha's name came over the loudspeaker, and he raced off to his next fight. Wing watched him go, a speculative look on his face.

Ryozha walked into the ring, and studied his opponent. He was a huge man, built like a wrestler. A glance at the scoreboard revealed him to bear the somewhat unlikely name of "Polk". Polk glared down at Ryozha, and then smirked. "Don't blame me if you get squished, kid- a decisive victory will jump me at least to the eightieth floor." He moved into a wrestler's crouch, one hand resting knuckles down on the floor, awaiting the referee's signal.

Ryozha studied him for a moment, then decided to take this one a little slower. -Martial arts are going to have to carry the day on this one.- he thought, moving into a closed guard and also waiting for the referee's signal. When it came, he darted forward, jabbing at the giant's midsection with a straight hard right. Polk grunted slightly, surprised, then laughed and grabbed at him. He ducked under the grab and backed off, annoyed. He zipped in again, this time concentrating a significant portion of his Nen in his fist. He smacked the same point on Polk, with a lot less force this time thanks to having to concentrate on his Nen, and was shocked when the blowback nearly took him off his feet. He backed off rapidly and blinked the dust out of his eyes. A rapid scan revealed his opponent embedded in a crater in the wall below the spectator stands.

Wing found him some time later, studying his fist somewhat apprehensively. He raised an eyebrow at the stroboscopic display of Nen as Ryozha tried to hold it in one position. After a moment, he said "I see what you mean by missing out on some of the basics, although that's really closer to intermediate than basic..."

Ryozha looked up. "Does that mean you'll teach me, Master Wing?" Wing sighed. "Yes," he said, "although I wish one of my old teachers were here- she always was better at correcting bad habits. In fact, I think she might know your Grandfather; at least, I think I've heard her mention a Tenryu school before."

Ryozha cocked his head to one side. "Bad habits?" he asked.

Wing nodded. "Yes- a lot of the ways that you manipulate your Nen are... well, basically stopgap measures. They work, more or less, but the way you do it is preventing you from doing other things properly. You might have felt recently that you weren't getting any stronger- that's because you're not; if you don't relearn what you're doing wrong, there's a good chance you'll never be able to grow in your Nen. It's also the main reason you can't focus your Nen anywhere for very long."

Ryozha grimaced. "That would explain a few things..." he muttered.

"Well," said Wing, "we may as well start right now- the other boys won't be here for a while. Why don't you start by showing me your Ren." Ryozha nodded, focussed, and his Ren snapped on like a switch had been thrown. Wing blinked. "Hmm." he said. "Your speed may prove a problem rather than a help for this one... all right, here's what we'll do..."

The next couple of weeks were devoted to intense training, fights in the Battle Tower and carefully probing the city's underworld, trying to find a lead to Boss Myoji and if he had any connection he had to the Grand Treasure of the Ophirate and the Knight-Guardians. Unfortunately, the fact that they were a trio of kids had more downsides than upsides; an upside to it was that they were basically invisible to most of the Mafia... the problem was, they were basically invisible to most of the Mafia, which made it tough to get any information out of them.

Ryozha hadn't lost a match yet- there had been some close calls, thanks to his Nen re-training, but his speed and Nen inevitably carried the day. Oddly, it was his most complex special abilities (absorbing kinetic energy and using Nen to manipulate his own motion to give himself impossible speed) that needed little to no re-training. When he asked Master Wing about it, he just shrugged and said "That's why they're 'special abilities'- no-one else has any like them, and since they're uniquely yours, there's no right or wrong way to do them. You may find ways to make them more effective, but that's about it."

Finally, the evening before Ryozha's fight on the 190th floor, they found a concrete lead on Boss Myoji. One of his lieutenants, Hard Case Frankie, regularly frequented a small club not far from the Battle Tower. Rumour had it that he fixed Battle Tower fights there, paying off fighters more than they would have won to throw the match in order to clean up on side bets. In Ryozha's tower room, Ryozha, Gon and Killua planned their approach.

"So..." started Ryozha, "We're sure this guy works for Boss Myoji and that he'll be at the Arena Club tonight?"

Killua nodded. "We already checked the Hunter website, and Hard Case Frankie is definitely one of Boss Myoji's Lieutenants. I've also checked around the Celestial Tower- there've been a few who got caught throwing major fights, and they almost always claimed it was Hard Case Frankie who put them up to it, although there's never any proof. And everybody says that Frankie is at the Arena Club every Thursday night without fail."

Gon nodded. "That's what I heard too. So how should we do this?"

Ryozha thought for a second. "Well..." he said slowly, "the fact that we have to stay in York Shin for at least six more weeks makes this complicated. We can't afford to get caught, or even be seen, or it might cause problems for Master Wing and Zushi, and maybe Zepairu and Ping Lee as well, if the Mafia got angry at us."

Gon looked suddenly thoughtful, then said "Hey, I've got an idea..."

An hour later found Killua and Ryozha walking up to the Arena Club. The bouncer tried to stop them, saying "No kids allow..lp!" breaking off abruptly as Ryozha lifted him with one hand and threw him aside, bouncing him off one of the corridor walls. They descended into the smoky darkness of the club, zeroing in on Hard Case Frankie's table after briefly questioning the startled bartender.

There was a handful of Mafioso-types around the table, but Frankie kind of stood out- it was easy to see where he got his nickname. Hard Case Frankie looked like he had been carved out of a granite boulder by a stonemason with considerably more enthusiasm than talent, and who, moreover, had gotten confused midway through carving between "human" and "troll". Talk at the table had died down when Killua and Ryozha approached, and Frankie sighted down his fearsome nose at them. He turned to the bartender and gave a series of guttural growls that could probably have been loosely translated as "How'd dese liddle squirts gedin heah?", although there was a possibility that it was considerably more profane than that. The shaken bartender pointed to the semi-conscious bouncer who was (as Ryozha had planned from the start) visible through the open doorway.

Frankie returned his gaze to Killua and Ryozha and let out another series of growls, which probably meant "Whaddaya want..? Wait..." he looked closer at Ryozha, and continued "Yer in th' T'wer, aintcha, kid?" Ryozha eyed him coldly, and nodded.

Killua interrupted, saying, "My... friend... and I find ourselves temporarily embarassed for cash. He has a fight coming up on the 190th tomorrow, and heard that it might be worthwhile talking to you."

Frankie gazed impassively at them for a moment, then, without warning, swung a fist the size of a basketball at Ryozha's head. Ryozha weighed his options in the split second that he had, then sucked the kinetic force straight out of the Frankie's fist when it hit, but not his arm, leaving Frankie feeling like he'd just punched an I-beam, and making it look to the observers around the table like he'd simply taken Hard Case Frankie's punch without so much as a flinch.

There was dead silence around the table as Frankie slowly withdrew his fist, nursing it gently for a few minutes. Finally, he looked up. A distant rumbling that could probably be construed to mean "Not bad, kid. Whaddya gettin' f'r odds?" emanated from him.

Again, it was Killua who spoke. "Ten to three, in his favour. Ever hear of Ryozha Tenryu? This's him- he hasn't had a match that's lasted longer than five seconds."

Frankie looked at him appraisingly. The distant growling came again. "I c'n see why..." Frankie glanced at his cronies and emitted a series of rapid-fire grunts and growls. "Well... whaddya think, gents? H'much c'n we spot th' runt? Three-ten... hrm. Wid what we got in th' kitty, c'd prob'ly afford..." he trailed off. A few moments of intense concentration later, Frankie rumbled "C'n spot ya about five hunnert mil, giver take a coupla hunnert thou."

Ryozha and Killua looked at each other. After a pause, Killua spoke up. "Well... that would cover most of our debts, although it wouldn't leave us much free and clear. Well?" he asked, nudging Ryozha with his elbow.

Ryozha thought for a moment, then said "I'll think about it." and stalked out. The bouncer, who had regained consciousness by this time, growled at him and lunged as he passed by, whereupon Ryozha simply grabbed him and threw him against the other wall. Hard Case Frankie stared speculatively after him, then looked down at Killua.

"Whad're yew still doing here, runt?" he rumbled.

Killua smiled faintly. It was not a smile calculated to be reassuring. "I know my buddy," he said, "he's going to do everything he can to try and wipe out that debt without needing to throw a fight. He's... touchy... about his perfect record. And he's probably going to wait until the last minute to make up his mind."

Frankie subjected Killua to a fishy stare. A slightly strangled rumbling emanated from him, which, with some effort, Killua translated as "So whaddya expect me t'do, kid? Hang around here u'til tommora night?"

Killua gave him a cat's smile and said, "Why don't you leave me some way to get in contact with you?" Hard Case Frankie fished in his pocket and pulled out a collection of plastic shards that might have once been a celphone. He and Killua looked at it, then each other, and Killua smiled inwardly. Apparently Ryozha had been right about being able to smash Frankie's phone just by touching Frankie... or by having Frankie touch HIM.

"Phone's broke..." Frankie rumbled, a little redundantly, in Killua's opinion.

Killua shrugged. "Do you have an address?" Frankie looked at him blankly. "Where are you going to be, come this time tomorrow night?" Killua prompted him.

"Uh... d'boss's place, most like..." Frankie rumbled.

"So," Killua said, "give me the address, and I'll send word to you via courier before betting closes tomorrow."

Frankie considered this for a moment, then gave a massive shrug and said "Shewr. Why not."

One of his men nudged him and whispered urgently "Th' boss ain't gonna like that, Frankie...", only to be abruptly cut off by Frankie casually backhanding him through their booth's divider. Killua raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment. "Fer dis kinda money, th' boss won't mind." Frankie growled. He checked something in his pocket, scribbled briefly on a piece of scrap paper and handed it to Killua. Killua nodded in thanks and was turning to go, when Frankie spoke up. "S'nunna my business kid, b't how'd a coupla runts like you get so far inna hole?"

Killua turned back to him and shrugged. "He likes the casinos." was all he said, and then he walked out the door.

A few seconds later, once Hard Case Frankie and his men had returned their attention to their drinks, a shadow detached itself from the rafters and blurred invisibly out the door. Ryozha came to a halt next to Killua, who was casually leaning against a wall waiting for him.

He glared at Killua, sputtering "He... 'likes the casinos'?". Killua shrugged. "Only thing I could think of. Did you get a clear shot of the thing he checked in his pocket?"

Ryozha fished a tiny digital camera out of his pocket and said "Pretty sure I did- took about a dozen shots when he was pulling that thing out of his pocket." He flicked quickly through the photos he had taken, then said "Looks like I got it, but let's get back to the tower and crossload them- we'll be able to see them better on my laptop's screen."

Back at the tower, Gon joined them in Ryozha's room. After Ryozha had run the pictures through an image enhancer, they had a clear list of addresses. He cross-checked them against a digitally archived map of York Shin, finding that at least half of them were in other cities. He narrowed it down rapidly, highlighting the various addresses on the map, with the address on the paper Hard Case Frankie had given Killua highlighted in red.

Killua prodded the screen and said "Okay... tomorrow morning, Ryozha, you take these five addresses, and I'll take the three near the tower. Gon, you still need to stay clear of these spots- for your plan to work, they can't see you before tomorrow night. We'll check them out and see if we can figure out where Boss Myoji keeps his records."

Ryozha and Gon both nodded, then Gon said "Why don't we all get some sleep now? It's pretty late, and we have to be rested and alert tomorrow."

The next morning found Killua ambling casually down the busy streets of York Shin City, apparently doing little more than window-shopping. He reached the first of the addresses on the list and studied it carefully without betraying the slightest flicker of interest in it. It was a small, dilapidated warehouse. He meandered past it several times over the course of a couple of hours, apparently absorbed in the displays in the various shops, but no one went in or came out.

Shrugging his shoulders and picking up a couple of bars of chocolate from one of the stands, he moved on to the next address to repeat the process. The second address turned out to be simply another run down warehouse, but Killua gave it the same careful once-over. When several more hours passed without anybody going in or out, he moved on to the third address.

Meanwhile, Ryozha was hurtling from rooftop to rooftop at top speed, running silent at invisible speeds. He dropped to street level just before reaching the first address and studied it. It was a warehouse much like the ones Killua had been inspecting. He whipped around it several times, then checked for tracks. The mud from the early morning rains was undisturbed in all areas, so he sped off to the next one.

His second address was another warehouse, but this one was the scene of intense activity- several dozen men were manhandling large and obviously heavy crates onto a truck. One, which was apparently a bit rotted, split slightly and spilled a small cascade of rings and jewels. Ryozha watched, one eyebrow raised, but a superfast check revealed there to be a distinct absence of record books in this warehouse... in fact, an absence of much of anything other than several dozen cubic metres of treasure in crates. Ryozha gave a half shrug- the rings he had seen certainly matched the Ophiric rings he had seen in museums from small stashes that had been found. -So much for any question as to whether or not Boss Myoji has a connection to the Grand Treasure and the Knight-Guardians...- he thought to himself as he sped off for the third location.

That afternoon found the three boys reunited in Ryozha's room again for a few moments before Ryozha had to go to Master Wing's flat for training. Killua spoke up first. "The first two addresses I found were just warehouses, but the last one was weird... I almost didn't find it, it was just a door in a section of ruined wall. The strange part is, it was made from Nen, or else had it so heavily infused in it that it might as well have been made from Nen."

Ryozha nodded. "Two of the addresses I went to were warehouses too, but two were doors in broken walls or abandoned buildings. The address that Hard Case Frankie gave you was the only place that could really be where the records were- it's Boss Myoji's mansion."

Killua flopped back and muttered "Well, that was a waste of time."

"Not really," Gon said, "if you hadn't done all that, we never would have known if we had the right place or not, especially if the records were hard to find."

Killua shrugged and sat up. "Oh well..." he said, "Anyways, do you guys think the plan is ready?" Ryozha and Gon both nodded. "Don't forget, Gon," he continued, "yours is the most dangerous part- you have to keep all those gangsters busy while Ryozha searches the place." Gon nodded seriously, and then Ryozha groaned.

"Ah, great." he said, "I'm going to be late- seeyaguysbye!" And with that, he vanished in a blur of speed.

After he had gone, Gon and Killua wandered out of the room and out into York Shin. As they walked, Killua suddenly spoke up. "What do you think about this hunt, Gon?"

Gon looked at him oddly. "Huh?" he said, "What do you mean, Killua? It's a great hunt- a chance to be part of the hunt for all this treasure that could help the whole world!"

Killua nodded. "Yeah," he said, "but with this... well, we're going against the Mafia, a bunch of different country's spies, some other Hunters and maybe even a bunch of mythical fighters, all for some guy we only met a month ago. He's never even said if we're getting a share of the treasure and the credit!"

Gon looked at him, slightly shocked. "But... Ryozha needs our help! Besides, I'm sure he's planning on splitting the treasure equally..."

Killua shrugged. "It's not just the treasure- if you want to be a great Hunter, you need to get known; it might even help you find your Dad." he said, "But now that I've thought of it, I'm going to ask him."

Once Ryozha had finished his training for the day, he came back to his room. As expected, he found Gon and Killua waiting there for him. What he DIDN'T expect was the question Killua had for him. He simply stared at Killua in shock, then snapped out of it with a slap to his forehead.

"Don't tell me I forgot..!" he exclaimed.

"Forgot what?" Gon asked him.

Ryozha looked at them both for a second, then said "Didn't it ever occur to you guys to check the Hunter website for info about me?"

Gon and Killua looked at each other, then looked down, embarassed, but not sure why. Ryozha yanked out his laptop, popped it open and tapped out a few commands. After a few seconds, he spun it around so the screen was facing Gon and Killua. "Here, read." was all he said.

Gon and Killua looked at it, and Gon read aloud "Hunter Bios: Ryozha Tenryu. Age 14. Hair Brown, Eyes Blue-Grey, height 5'5"..."

Ryozha interrupted him, saying "Further down, Gon."

Gon read silently for a second until he hit the section titled "Current Registered Hunt: Grand Treasure of the Ophirate. Partners: see Freeccs, Gon and Zaoldyeck, Killua."

Ryozha raised an eyebrow. "You know what that means? You guys are registered as my partners- full, equal shares in the proceeds of, and credit for, the hunt, overseen by the Hunter Council. I couldn't gyp you if I wanted to..." he paused, glancing at Killua, then continued, "which I DON'T, just in case there was any doubt still."

Killua shrugged a little, looking as embarassed as he ever did and said "Sorry... but I had to ask."

Ryozha sighed, then gave him a lopsided half-smile. "I guess you did, since I forgot to say anything. Anyways, now that that's out of the way, are we ready for tonight? The schedule's gonna be tight..."

That evening found them synchronizing their watches not far from the bus stop that would take Gon to Boss Myoji's place. Killua would be on the same bus, disguised, to act as backup in case there was any trouble. Ryozha would go ahead on foot.

"Don't forget," Ryozha reminded them, "Two rings is 'we're done, time to break off', and one ring is 'get out now, it's gone bad'. And make sure your phone is set to vibrate... I've had stupider things screw up a plan entirely." Killua glared at him, but checked his phone. Gon did likewise, although without glaring. Ryozha checked his own phone, then said "Showtime." He blurred away just as the bus turned the corner.

At Boss Myoji's mansion, Gon's knock was answered by a large, lumpy man in a dark suit. He looked down at Gon and said "What do you want, little boy?"

Gon bridled slightly at the 'little boy' comment, but controlled himself and merely said "I have a message for Mr. Hard Case Frankie."

The guard looked at him. "Well then, give it here and get lost, kid."

Gon shook his head. "Sorry, sir, but I have to give it to Mr. Hard Case Frankie himself."

The guard shrugged. "Guess you're not gonna get your tip tonight, kid." He started to close the door.

"Hey!" Gon shouted.

The guard opened the door fractionally again. "Look kid, beat it. I have orders."

Gon shrugged. "Yes sir," he said, "but this is a message about tonight's fight. I don't think he'd be very happy if he lost a lot of money because you didn't want to let me in."

The guard looked distinctly unhappy at the thought of an angry Hard Case Frankie, and said, "Listen, kid... I'll... I'll... I'll call this in." He disappeared for a moment, closing the door, then opened it again. "Alright, little boy. Come in to the front hall. Hard Case Frankie will meet you here."

Ryozha whipped past silently and invisibly as the guard stepped aside to let Gon in, grinning slightly as the "Mission: Impossible" theme started playing through his headphones at 1000 times normal speed. -All right... he thought, According to the info we were able to gather, Boss Myoji doesn't like being photographed by ANYONE, so there are no security cameras in the house. All his security is based around his men, and they're deployed where he is. The rest of his safety he trusts to his walls... and I can see why. I've seen castle gates that were thinner than his front door. It looks like he built the whole place out of case-hardened steel... could probably withstand a direct bomb strike.- Ryozha sped through the house, searching it from attic to cellar in a matter of seconds.

-Okay,- he thought, -I've got about two minutes. The most likely place for his office is where that one guard is. I'm pretty sure he didn't see me the first time, but I'm really gonna have to pour on the speed to get inside undetected.- Ryozha quickly turned thought into action, opening the door, hurling himself through and closing it so fast that he nearly lost control and slammed through the far wall. Inside the office, he scanned quickly. No telltale blinking lights told of activated alarms, so he shrugged and started opening drawers, feeding a trickle of Nen into each so it opened silently and with incredible speed.

He took the documents out of each and photographed them one by one, replacing them as perfectly in position as he could. In less than thirty seconds, he had emptied the desk and one of the two filing cabinets, filling thirteen memory cards with photos. Ten seconds later, he had emptied the other filing cabinet (eight and a half more memory cards) and was searching for the safe he was certain was hidden somewhere in the office. He found it behind a fake wall panel, and was a bit surprised when it turned out to be an old-fashioned combination lock.

He shrugged and set the tumblers spinning with his Nen, popping it open a split second later. Touching the wall, he found the wires that connected the safe to the silent alarm. Reaching through them with his Nen, he prevented the electrons from passing through them until he had pulled everything out of the safe and closed it. Satisfied that the alarm wouldn't go off, he photographed everything in the safe, then jerked it open, replaced everything, and closed it in a single motion. He double checked the alarm, then blitzed out of the room, again as fast as he could. The guard outside the door stretched and yawned, not even blinking when Ryozha went past.

At the door, Gon had been telling Hard Case Frankie and a couple of his men, "I'm sorry, Mr. Frankie. But Ryozha's friend said that he hit a lucky streak at the Casino, and said that you'd know what that meant." Frankie growled something, and Gon said, "I'm sorry, Mr. Frankie... what did you say?" Frankie growled again, and Gon shook his head. He looked pleadingly at Frankie's cohorts.

One of them took pity on him and said "Frankie said that you'd better not be jerking us around, kid."

Gon looked surprised. "What..? I don't understand." he said. Frankie rumbled something else, and again one of his men translated. "Frankie says that there's a lot of money that stands to be won or lost in this deal, and you'd better be sure of what you're telling us." Gon stammered for a second, then felt his phone buzz twice.

He caught himself, and said "Ryozha's friend- the one with light blue hair and cat-eyes- said that Ryozha and he hit a lucky streak in the casino, so they don't need money anymore. He's going to fight like usual." Hard Case Frankie grumbled, but turned to go, waving Gon off.

He jerked a finger at one of his men, and rumbled something that Gon made out as (maybe? he really did have a hard time understanding the giant) "Call th' bookie- tell him to put dat money on th' kid rather than th' mook he's fightin'."

The big lumpy man who was the door guard jerked his thumb at the massive door which was now ajar. "Okay, kid. Y'delivered your message, now would you get out of here?" Gon nodded to him and walked out, feeling the faint breeze pass him that told him that Ryozha had made it out as well.

Once on the bus, the three boys exchanged high fives. "Okay, that went smoother than I ever imagined it could." Ryozha exulted, pulling off the lightweight gloves he had been wearing.

Gon nodded. "I don't think they noticed anything... if they did, they're really really good actors."

Killua just smiled. "And to think..." he said softly, to himself, "it was possible to do it without killing anybody."

At the next stop, Ryozha debussed and bolted for the tower, headed for his next match with just barely enough time to make it. He sped into the tower and hurled himself up the stairs, taking them at nearly two thousand miles an hour, sprinting up one hundred and ninety-three floors in less than a second. He paused just long enough to be recognized by the judge, then took his place on the floor.

His opponent seemed more than a little nonplussed by his abrupt appearance, and slipped out of his patient "I'm going to win this by default" guard for a second. Then he recovered and settled into a still-confident (although not as much) guard. Ryozha watched his opponent for a moment, and realized that his eyes were glowing with Gyo. Ryozha half-grinned, and thought -Well... I may as well give him something to look at. Besides, I absorbed so much energy this afternoon 'just in case' that I've gotta do SOMETHING with it, or I'm gonna pop...- And with that thought, he released his Nen, creating a silent storm of gold-shot scarlet Nen that towered above the arena. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a surprising number of people in the crowd flinch back, and his opponent jumped visibly. The judge, apparently oblivious to all this, brought his hand down and said "Begin!"

Ryozha and his opponent circled each other warily. -I suppose it was inevitable that I would meet up with another Nen-user on my way to the 200th...- Ryozha thought. -After all, they have to GET to the 200th floor somehow...-He blitzed in, hammering his opponent with dozens of punches in an eyeblink, some Nen-boosted, some not. He backed off rapidly, cursing himself and his inability to properly control his aura roundly, if silently. His opponent, who had staggered back a step or two, looked at him curiously as the judge said "Clean hit! One point!"

Ryozha shrugged. -I've already blown my record of never having a match last longer than five seconds- time to try for ten.- Without pausing, he launched himself at his opponent, this time closing the distance in an eyeblink and transferring several tons of kinetic force into his opponent with a single (somewhat showy) flip kick. He landed it, expecting to see his opponent writhing feebly in a crater in the far wall, but was shocked to find him still standing at the end of two grooves no more than four or five feet long.

The referee shouted "Critical Hit! Two Points!" Ryozha hesitated, moving around his opponent rapidly, although not superhumanly fast, holding back and carefully assessing his opponent. The next time he moved in, he launched a flurry of heavy blows and darted back. -All right,- he thought, -now I know what he's doing. I used Gyo during that attack for a split second, and saw that he had transformed his Nen into a thick shield all around himself. That's why I didn't get through very much, even attacking from a couple of different angles. So... he probably depends on seeing me move. Let's see how he does if I go a little faster...- And with that thought, he vanished. His opponent staggered and went down on one knee, buckling under a rain of heavy blows from all directions at once.

Ryozha slid to a halt, amazed that his opponent was still more or less upright, as the referee called "Critical Hit and a Down! Three Points!"

-It's weird,- Ryozha thought, -but this guy...- he glanced at the scoreboard -uh... Vladimir? Weird... anyways, this guy Vladimir hasn't moved since we started...- A sudden change in air pressure was the only warning he had, as an invisible hammer of force shattered the flagstone he had been standing on a second before. A second one smashed where he had ended up, and he darted back, shifting to Gyo for a second and pausing nearly long enough to be flattened as he stared at the writhing nest of Nen-hammer-tentacles projecting from his opponent's aura.

Vladimir stood with his arms folded in the middle, laughing slightly as Ryozha raced back and forth, frantically dodging the Nen hammers. After a few seconds of this, he appeared to get bored with the game of whack-a-Hunter and brought about a dozen hammers into play at once, bringing them smashing down over nearly the entire surface of the ring. Ryozha smiled. -Exactly what I was waiting for.- he thought, and blurred under the strikes, suddenly appearing in his opponent's face with his fist cocked. He landed a triphammer blow in Vladimir's face, enhanced by both kinetic power and Nen, from less than four inches away, summarily ejecting him from the ring and leaving one of the type of craters beneath the spectator stands that were rapidly becoming his trademark.

However, the judge simply called "Critical Down! Three points!", and Ryozha found himself gloomily unsurprised to see his opponent peeling himself out of the crater, apparently not much the worse for the wear. A brief shift to Gyo revealed that his opponent had gone from a writhing tentacle-nest of Nen hammers to one large Nen hammer around each fist. Even as he watched, his opponent gestured, and one of the hammers shot from his hand to powder the stone where he had been standing.

Vladimir smirked seeing the dodge, and brought his hands together, sending both hammers spinning out, sweeping across the arena. Ryozha leapt frantically out of the way... too late. A smashing blow knocked him spinning out of the air to land in a crashing heap outside the ring.

"Critical hit and down!" the judge called, then came over when he saw that Ryozha was having trouble getting up. "Can you continue?" he asked.

Ryozha nodded grimly and dragged himself up. The instant he was back in the ring, Vladimir launched his attack again, hammers scything in towards Ryozha. He'd been expecting it, but a last second twitch caught him off-guard and knocked him sprawling again. The commentator was going crazy at this 'sudden turnaround', 'Ryozha going from dominating to being dominated', blah blah blah blah... Ryozha had a sick feeling that he hadn't been dominating the first part of the match any more than he was now.

Ryozha shook off his reverie in a hurry when he realized that the last blow had landed him inside the ring, gaining his feet and diving blindly so fast, he left the camera crews blinking and checking their equipment. He scrambled to his feet again, hopping back into the arena to face Vladimir, who was advancing on him with a mean grin on his face and his fists glowing with Nen.

-Apparently he's decided to forego using In for his hammers...- Ryozha thought. -Good. I can use that. Means I don't have to keep switching to and from Gyo all the time.- Ryozha hopped briefly from one foot to the other, checking to see if he was injured. He winced as pain shot through his right knee, and dropped to massage and work it briefly. Vladimir smiled wider, bringing his hammers together with a sharp CRASH that even those without Nen could hear. He lunged, and was caught off balance when he found Ryozha was gone. He whirled, bringing his hammers together and starting to form them into his shield, but he was too late. Ryozha brought a crippling axe kick down on him, doing a backflip with the momentum to kick him sprawling. The judge called the final points, and the match was over.

Gon and Killua found him in the locker room later, having his leg and shoulder iced down and wrapped by one of the arena medics. "Are you okay?" Gon asked. "That guy was really strong!"

"A powerful Transformation user, yes." Wing said from behind him.

"Master Wing!" Ryozha exclaimed, surprised. "You almost never come back here after my matches..."

Wing nodded. "I know." he told Ryozha, "But just because you have more confidence than Zushi doesn't mean you never need encouragement."

"Encouragement!?" Ryozha echoed incredulously. "If that Vladimir guy hadn't been playing with me, letting me get nine points before even moving, there's no way I could have beaten him! Honestly, it feels like I'm getting WORSE, not better..."

Wing glared at him. "So..." he said coldly. "You're saying that since you had a hard time beating a powerful, experienced Nen user whose abilities were very nearly a perfect counter for yours, you're not improving."

Ryozha rubbed the back of his neck and looked down embarrassedly, wincing slightly as the movement jarred his injured shoulder. "Well... when you put it that way, Master..."

Wing glanced at the medic. "How is he?" he asked.

"Already told the kid, sir. Nothing broken, but he'd better stay off this leg for a few days, and not do anything strenuous with the shoulder, either." He eased Ryozha's injured arm into a sling, and said "Now keep it in there as much as possible- and TAKE IT EASY, for at least two weeks. You fighters are all alike- think you're invincible. I've seen more careers ruined by you guys refusing to take enough time to heal completely..." He packed up his kit and walked out, pausing to toss one more admonishment to Ryozha to be careful of his injuries over his shoulder.

Back in his room, Ryozha sank back into his pillows with a sigh. "Well," he told Gon, "at least now I'll have some uninterrupted time to go through all these photos. Now I'm REALLY glad we did our little raid on Boss Myoji's place before my fight, rather than waiting for after, when we had more time."

Gon nodded. "I know." he said. "If we hadn't done it then, we wouldn't have been able to do it at all!" He reached under Ryozha's bed and pulled out the small pile of camera memory cards, handing a handful to Ryozha and keeping a larger handful for himself.

Ryozha looked at him curiously. "Did you buy a laptop, Gon?" he asked.

Gon shook his head. "The TV screens in these rooms have a small computer in them- Killua showed me the slots where you can plug things into them last time we were here, and I'm pretty sure that one of them fits these cards."

Ryozha smiled faintly and gave a half-shrug, the smile fading abruptly as a stab of pain told him it was his injured shoulder he had just shrugged. He sighed and turned his attention to his laptop. Killua came in a while later carrying two flat screens and a message from Wing. He snapped the TV off and popped the card out, shaking his head to Gon who had started to complain.

"First off," he said, "Ryozha- Master Wing told me to tell you that you should continue to practice your basic Ten and Ren, but don't do anything more for three days." He turned his attention to Gon. "Your idea was good," he told him, "but these televisions are connected to the Battle Tower's computer network, and even though it's not likely, someone might be able to connect to it and see what we're doing. I bought these..." with that, he tossed one of the screens he was carrying to Gon, "at the market today. They're card readers- all they do is show what's on the card. They have no memory, so even if someone stole them, they couldn't see what was on the cards unless they stole the cards too."

Ryozha nodded, smiling admiringly. "Good thinking, Killua." he said. Gon took one of the readers, and the three of them settled back to study the thousands of photographs, studying in companionable silence.

Wing and Zushi stopped by to check on Ryozha the next morning and found them there, nine hours later, still scanning through photos. Wing gave Ryozha some fruit and a stern warning to rest. After Wing had left, Ryozha shut off his laptop with a sigh. "That's as good a place as any to take a break, I guess."

Gon and Killua glanced wordlessly at each other, then shut down their viewers as well. They grabbed the pieces of scratchpaper they had been using to keep track of which photos were interesting and came over to sit on the edge of Ryozha's bed.

"Well," said Killua, "I've eliminated all the ones that are about stuff outside York Shin for now, like you suggested, Ryozha."

Gon nodded. "I did the same thing." he said. "There's a lot of stuff in here that I don't understand, about taxes, or something." He scratched his head. "There's something weird in these things here, though." He brought up the appropriate picture, and Killua and Ryozha clustered in close around his screen.

"Those look like security logs." said Killua.

Ryozha nodded. "Yeah... and you're right, Gon. He goes out at 10:30 PM on the third day of every month with no explanation, and no escort. For somebody as paranoid as Boss Myoji seems to be, that's downright bizarre."

Killua looked at him. "Maybe not so bizzare..." he said, "It might be BECAUSE he's paranoid that he goes out alone on that occasion. Something so secret that he cannot trust any other with it."

Ryozha shrugged. "Could be." he said. "One other thing that's been bugging me, so that I can actually rest like I'm supposed to... Take a look at these." He turned his laptop back on, swung it awkwardly around with his left hand and pointed.

Gon and Killua looked at it in silence for a moment, then Gon said "Those are the addresses you went to, aren't they?"

Killua nodded, and said "Hmm... and the address that was nothing but a weird Nen-door is listed as the source for some... whatever those numbers mean, going to the warehouses that I checked. I'll bet that the other two 'source' addresses are the other Nen-doors?" He glanced at Ryozha for confirmation, who nodded. Killua said, "Now, if only we knew what was in those warehouses..."

Gon looked at him oddly. "I thought you were here when Ryozha said that he had gone inside one of them!" he said. Killua gave Gon, then Ryozha a strange, somewhat affronted look, then smacked Ryozha on the head for good measure.

"Ow!" said Ryozha, rubbing his head. "Why'd you...?" Killua plopped back down, cross-legged on the floor, and glared at Ryozha for a while. Finally, Ryozha said "WHAT!?"

Killua continued to glare at him, then said "Fine! What... was... in... the... warehouse?"

Ryozha blinked. "Oh, that. It was full of treasure, at least some of which came from one of the Ophirate treasures. I don't think there was anything much else in it."

All three boys were silent for a bit, then Ryozha said "The next delivery is less than a week away, isn't it?"

Gon looked at the photo again and nodded. "It's three days from now." he said. "And the next one is more than five months from now. If we're going to find out what happens at those weird doors, we're going to have to watch them now."

Ryozha slumped back into his pillow. "Well, I guess that leaves me out of this one. We don't really need a plan or anything for this one, do we?"

Killua shrugged. "Just for watching a couple of deserted doors? I don't think there's too much to worry about."

Ryozha sat back up, a thoughtful expression on his face. "Just be careful..." he said, "I've got a bad feeling about this, for some reason."

Later that same day, the Iron Wolf and Shea stood in Boss Myoji's office. The Knight-Guardian Enforcer had been smoothly explained away as one of Boss Myoji's lieutenant's, and they had been told they were now going to report to Boss Myoji himself. Shea was uncharacteristically sullen, having been raked over the coals first by the lithe Enforcer, then by Boss Myoji himself.

He had threatened to go into a manic rage, only to find himself smashed to the floor by the sheer force of the Enforcer's Nen without him even needing to draw his mace. The Iron Wolf simply stood by, as impassive as ever, his nostrils flaring occasionally. Boss Myoji stood at his desk, gazing with distaste at the screen of a laptop one of his men had brought in and hooked up to the Web. On it, a picture of Ryozha glowed faintly in the dimness, taken from the Hunter's Website by Shea's Hunter Card.

"This?" Myoji was raging. "This... CHILD is what threatens all I have built?" He paused, and continued more calmly. "Still, it would explain why the Speed Hunter is able to get about with such anonymity- who would suspect a young boy?" He looked to his henchman who had provided the computer. "I assume that you can duplicate this picture so that we don't have to drag this ridiculous toy everywhere?"

The henchman nodded. "Yes sir. I can have copies of it in the hands of every one of our men in York Shin within the hour."

Boss Myoji grunted affirmatively, and said "See to it."

Just then, Hard Case Frankie hulked in. "S'rry, Boss." he rumbled. "Wuz at th' Pachinko Parlour when y' called. Whaddaya need?"

"Ah, Frankie. So glad you could join us" Boss Myoji said sarcastically. He gestured toward the screen. "Once Sanji has made copies of this picture, give them out to your men and have them check around. I want this boy found!"

Frankie peered at the picture for a moment, then growled "No need, Boss. I know where th' brat is."

Boss Myoji looked at him sharply. "How?" he demanded.

"Hezat th' Tower." Frankie grunted. "Saw part uv h's fight de udder night."

Boss Myoji stood up straight, pinning the suddenly cringing Frankie with his glare. "And WHY, Frankie, did you suddenly decide to go see one of the fights at the tower? Did you have an interest in it, hmm?"

"Uh... yah, Boss..." stuttered Frankie, his voice rising several octaves (although this merely made it basso, rather than basso profundo...), "Th'kid an' his manager 'r sumthin' came t'me th'night before, cuz dey needed some dough." He paused to run his sleeve over his sweating brow, and continued, talking fast now. "Th'kid wuz gettin' ten t' three, in his favour, so I figgered it wuz a decent deal... offered him 500 mill, which his buddy said was pretty near t'enuff, but thad he'd make up his mind later. Next day, dey sent a, uh, a courier t'tell me tha' he'd gotten a streak at da Casino, so thad he didn' need me no more... still made a nice bit o' dough bettin on da kid, tho'."

Boss Myoji advanced, and Frankie cringed back further, apparently trying to dig through the wall with his massive shoulderblades. Without taking his gaze from Frankie, Boss Myoji snapped "Sanji! Send some men around to the casinos and gambling parlours- find out if anyone... anyone at all!.. has cleared a debt in the range of 500 million with them through a lucky streak over the past few days... and check to see if anyone has cleared a debt of 500 million with what they won from elsewhere."

Sanji said "Yes sir." bowed, and left, taking the laptop with him.

Boss Myoji relaxed fractionally, and said in almost conversational tones, "Of course, Frankie, you said he sent a courier. Does that mean you TOLD HIM WHERE I LIVE?"

Frankie was blubbering openly now. "I... ahuh... didn' t'ink y'd mind, Boss! Dere was loads o' dough on th' line, and my phone wuz broke!" he sobbed. "An'... an'... he wuz jus' a brat..." he started to continue, but Boss Myoji cut him off with a wave of his hand.

He eased back the wattage of his glare, and said "What's done is done. Frankie, I want you to take over my home security detail for a while- let's see if you can't undo your idiot blunder. Triple the guard, inside and outside. If that boy comes within a mile of here, I want to know about it."

High above Boss Myoji's house, a drone hovered on silent wings, capturing the data from the unsecured Wifi port that Sanji's laptop was hooked to and sending it in an encrypted tightbeam to another drone, which in turn beamed it down to a nondescript van more than a mile away. In the van, Daniel Smith looked over the shoulder of the techie who was bringing the data in.

"Just a kid, huh?" he said. "That fits what we've heard- according to the comm chatter we intercepted from the Bederusse, and the embassy gossip, their entire strike force was stomped flat by a kid whose description matches this photo. So... we finally have a face and a name for our mysterious quarry. Ryozha Tenryu. Odd... he's so... average looking."

The techie glanced back at him and shrugged. "Average looking or not, sir, if the drones catch sight of him now, the computers will pick up on it and alert us. Even if they don't, I've already passed it along to our photo analysis guys, and it's been passed to our HUMINT types here too. If he's still here in York Shin City, we'll find him." -Yes,- Daniel thought, -but will we be able to keep track of him..?-

As they left Boss Myoji's fortified mansion, Shea looked slyly at the Wolf. He giggled slightly. "So... what are you hiding, my hirsute friend?" The Iron Wolf looked down at him. He paused for a moment, then shrugged, deciding there was no harm in telling the little pseudo-maniac.

"There was the scent of another in Myoji's study. Someone young, who came in there but once, and recently."

Shea giggled again, smirking at the Wolf. "So... the Iron Wolf keeps secrets from his employer?" The Iron Wolf ignored him, as he ignored the voice raging in a whisper in the back of his mind (I am the greatest tracker the world has ever seen... and I am lost and alone on the clearest of trails...). He walked on, sure and swift. (I am never lost. I hunt the Hunters. I am the Wolf.)

The next couple of days passed slowly for Ryozha. He poked occasionally at the photos, and talked and laughed with Gon, Killua and Zushi when they came to visit him, but he was increasingly restless. Finally, the night came when Boss Myoji's Triad would be working around the strange Nen-doors. Gon and Killua had decided to split up, each watching a different door. They had left two hours before, at Midnight, and there was nothing due to happen at the doors for at least another hour. Ryozha was poking through the photos they hadn't checked yet, wishing he was with the others, watching the third door, when one of the documents he had photographed seemed to leap off the screen and grab him by the throat. He stared wordlessly at it for a long moment, then fumbled for his phone.

Killua leaned casually on the edge of ruined chimney on a rooftop looking down over the doorway that he had chosen, motionless save for the shallow rise and fall of his chest, at one with the shadows. He felt his phone vibrate, but he ignored it, focussed on waiting to the point of being aware of little other than the passage of time.

Back in his room, Ryozha glared at his useless phone, roundly cursing the fact that they had been so overconfident that they hadn't even bothered to set an emergency code.

Gon was crouched silently in the shadows of windowjamb of the ruined building he had staked out, shifting position minutely every once in a while to prevent cramps. Every sense was keenly attuned, and he waited with the patience of a wild animal expecting prey. His phone vibrated, but he ignored it. -This is an important hunt!- he thought, -I can't afford to be distracted.-

In his room, Ryozha dubiously eyed the wheelchair that the Celestial Tower had provided for him. After a moment, he glanced down thoughtfully and activated his Nen. When nearly pure gold presented itself, he sighed and sank back into his pillow to listlessly listen to music. -It's gonna be a looooooooong night.- he thought.

As the hour from the photo drew near, Killua sensed someone approaching. He crouched down in the shadow of a ruined chimney, invisible from the street. Alerted, he soon heard the soft tread of someone approaching, and quickly spotted a dark-clad man with a high-powered rifle strapped to his back. Another turned up shortly after, and there was a vague feeling of one or two others just beyond the limit of his senses, on the far side of the door he was watching. However, the closer two were what concerned him now. The first started to climb the fire escape of the building next to the one he was perched on, and the second started to ascend to the roof of a building a couple of doors down.

At the same time, in another part of town, Gon was also warned by the sense of an approaching presence. He shifted uneasily, feeling them draw steadily closer. From the sound of it, whoever it was, was searching the building room by room. A faint noise from above changed his mind. Not searching. Patrolling. A flicker of light from out in the hallway made him shift again, his mind racing.

Killua glanced rapidly around, coolly analyzing the situation. -If those are night scopes on those rifles, these shadows aren't going to be much help...- He glanced down the sheer, brightly-lit front of the building. -That's not going to be much help either.- With snipers on both sides, hiding on the far side of the chimney wasn't going to help. He looked around, checking the progress of the snipers. -Not long enough for me to get clear of this roof silently before they get onto their perches, and I can't afford to let them see me, at least not now.- His eyes swivelled around, drawn inevitably to the chimney he was hiding behind. He peered into the murky depths, then half-shrugged. He grinned faintly to himself in the darkness as he hopped into the chimney. -I guess Ryozha's rubbing off on me more than I thought.-

A few minutes later, on top of the neighbouring building, the Aerie Clan sniper eased himself into position. A faint thud from the building next door whirled him around, rifle ready. He scanned the rooftop rapidly, sighting in on the half-ruined chimney. Seeing nothing, he was about to sweep the roof again when a flicker of motion caught his eye. As he watched, the bricks of the chimney caved in slightly over a hole in the chimney.

Moving the scope downwards, he found a shattered brick on the pavement in front of the building. "&#! old buildings." he muttered. Into his mic, he said "Miyamoto- anything on your side?"

In his earpiece, his counterpart's voice crackled "Nah... think it was just a bit of chimney falling off."

"Agreed."

Inside the chimney, braced partway down, Killua grinned and peeked through the small opening he had made by knocking a brick out. -Perfect!- he thought, -A nice, clear view.-

Gon watched, holding his breath, as a flashlight beam probed all corners of the room he hid in... all the floor-level corners, anyways. Gon braced himself just below the ceiling, holding himself aloft in the corner. The guard moved on, and Gon dropped soundlessly to the floor.

-I don't think I can keep doing that...- he thought, -since I don't know how often they'll come around, and I need to be able to watch with no distractions...- He glanced around the room, thinking quickly. Then he kicked the doorframe sharply, tumbling back as a good portion of the ceiling caved in. He heard a muffled shout from outside and the sound of running footsteps. The pile of rubble shifted slightly as the guard probed it, then a scattered beam of light probed from above, through the new holes in the ceiling. Gon eyed them uneasily, then relaxed -Phew...- he thought, exhaling silently, -None of them are big enough for anyone to see much through.- He turned his attention back to the window and settled in to watch.

In his room, Ryozha shrugged himself over onto his stomach, wincing as the motion jarred his damaged shoulder. His sense of unease had intensified into a feeling of impending doom. He looked at the wheelchair again, then glanced at the window. He paused, thinking, then half-shrugged (this time being careful to shrug his UNhurt shoulder). He rolled out of bed and hopped on one foot over to the chair, gritting his teeth at the pain as each hop jarred his injuries. He grabbed the wheelchair and turned.

-Man,- he thought, -either there's more adrenaline pumping than I thought, or else I've gotten further in my training with Master Wing than I thought. This thing feels ridiculously light.- Leaning on the chair, he half-hopped, half-hobbled over to the window, then smashed it with the chair. He scrambled out the window and dragged the wheelchair after him. Teetering on the ledge outside his window, he lobbed the chair off and hopped after it, grabbing hold and seating himself on the chair as it plummeted downwards.

Gon and Killua were both watching more or less the same scene unfold- the ruined doors flared with Nen-power, then opened on their own, and Boss Myoji's men entered them, disappearing into the blaze of light, and appearing a few seconds later carrying heavy crates. A human chain quickly formed, and they passed the crates to the waiting trucks. Then the men all piled into the trucks, and they departed.

Killua watched 'his' snipers depart, trying to pin down his growing sense of unease. As far as he could tell, he was alone. He dropped to the bottom of the chimney, crawled out, and hurried to the place where he was to meet Gon for their trip back to the Battle Tower.

He got there, and found it deserted. Then he heard a distant howling sound, and stared disbelievingly as a titanic fireball of scarlet Nen pinballed through the freeway traffic, leaving a trail of abruptly motionless, stalled cars in it's wake.

Ryozha swept Killua up without pausing and headed for Gon's last known position. "How..?" Killua managed to splutter after the disorientation of being near-instantaneously accelerated to thousands of miles an hour had passed. "Jumped off the tower. Absorbed the momentum of my fall to get started. Something's wrong." Killua nodded, shifting his position so he was hanging off the back of the chair. He watched Ryozha uneasily, wondering if his injuries would be a problem.

Gon had watched the trucks leave, the same as Killua, but seconds after they did, a big motorcycle had pulled up, and a shaggy giant of a man had stepped off, testing the air like a dog. -Or a wolf...- Gon thought, unsure why the comparison had suddenly popped into his head. A small, deranged looking man with a shock of wild hair and a Nen-aura of shifting, unstable colour that skittered madly from one end of the spectrum to the next, swirling like a window into the mists of a deranged mind appeared next to him.

Gon blinked. The man hadn't come up quickly -Even Ryozha can't move THAT fast...- Gon thought- and there had been no Nen-flash that usually signalled an emission-user's teleportation. -Invisibility?- Gon wondered, then tensed. The big man and his small companion were meeting with the guards that had been covering the area. One started to point towards the floor he was on. Gon ducked before the guard finished the motion. -I planned on being able to just smash through the wall to get out, but if I make noise now, they'll catch me for sure.- Just then, his phone vibrated again. He looked at it in surprise, then answered it in a whisper. Killua's voice came from the other end, and he quickly outlined the situation he found himself in. With the occasional shouted interjection from Ryozha, they quickly formulated a plan.

The Iron Wolf followed the tantalizingly vague scent trail, Shea following closely behind him. (Whoever passed here was experienced at hiding his trail...) he thought. The voice that always whispered at the back of his mind stirred at that thought, then Shea giggled, breaking his train of thought. He glanced down at the smaller man, his face a passionless mask as always, but inwardly he was annoyed. He resumed his trailing, carefully following the scent down the ruined hallway..

In the room, Gon tensed as he sensed two people approaching. Neither was making any attempt to conceal their presence, and one of them had a powerful aura. The rubble in the doorway began to shift, then there was a shout from outside.

The Wolf paused, and Shea broke off, hurrying to the window of one of the open rooms. Outside, the guards who had remained were rushing off, chasing a small, shadowy figure.

Killua smirked in the shadows as the Mafiosi blundered through the dark after him. He made sure they never caught sight of him, only a faint rustle of movement as he passed.

Shea went back to where the Wolf waited, and they resumed their probing of the rubble around the window.

Gon's phone vibrated, and he leapt out the window, the arc of his jump carrying him to the dead center of the street. Just before he hit, Ryozha blurred past and snatched him up, simultaneously draining Gon's downward momentum while accelerating him horizontally to match Ryozha's speed, and hurtling off into the night.

The Iron Wolf stood back as Shea simply blasted through the rubble, clearing the doorway with a wave of his arm. He ventured in after Shea, and found the little man giggling angrily in the empty room, apparently on the verge of frothing at the mouth. He ignored him and took a deep breath, sorting the scents from the dust-laden air. "Someone was here." he said flatly. "Very recently- someone young, probably a boy, although not the same one who was in Myoji's office." He glanced down at the street, sweeping it with his vision. "Apparently, our prey is more cunning than we thought." Shea started bashing the walls with his fists, knocking massive chunks out of them, apparently oblivious of all else save his tantrum. The Wolf watched him for a second, unimpressed, then turned and left.

About half an hour later, the taxi bearing Ryozha, Gon, and Killua pulled up to the front of the Battle Tower. Gon helped Ryozha out and into his wheelchair, while Killua paid the cab fare. As they walked, with Gon pushing Ryozha's wheelchair, into the Battle Tower, Ryozha sighed.

Before he could say anything, Gon, who had been looking around, a little wide-eyed, at all the stares directed at Ryozha, said "Why's everyone staring at us?"

Ryozha glanced around, then back at Gon. He shrugged his uninjured shoulder and said "Probably staring at me- going to be some interesting rumours floating around about me for a while. I DID jump out the 197th floor window a little while ago, after all."

Killua and Gon stopped walking for a second to give him nearly identical incredulous looks, then Gon said "Oh! You needed to recharge your... uhm, kinetic... Nen, right?"

Ryozha gave him his trademark half-grin and nodded, then he sighed again. "I just wish Master Wing wouldn't find out about this." They resumed walking, and Killua looked at him.

"Why does he have to find out?" he asked.

Ryozha half-shrugged. "If he's heard about it already, he'll be at my room waiting. If he hasn't heard about it already, I'm going to call him and tell him. Better that he find out from me than find out by some random comment from one of the rubbernecking idiots who saw me float down out of the sky."

Master Wing was, in fact, waiting in Ryozha's room. And he did NOT look happy. Ryozha cringed a little, expecting a volcanic eruption of shouting. Instead, Master Wing merely said "Well?" in icy tones. Ryozha untensed a little and met Master Wing's eyes. When he did, he froze. Master Wing locked gazes with him for a long moment, then dropped his gaze, rubbing his forehead and shaking his head. "I had hoped..." he started, then paused. He heaved a sigh. "I had hoped you had a reason for ignoring my instructions for your training. To say nothing of the Doctor's orders!"

Surprisingly, it was Killua who came to Ryozha's defense. "Wing, Gon might have died if Ryozha hadn't come when he did." Killua said. He hesitated. "Me, too." he admitted quietly. "I've never seen an aura like that." Ryozha simply stared at him. -Just when you think you know a guy...- he thought.

Wing looked from one somber face to another, a slightly incredulous expression on his face. "You FOUGHT, Ryozha?"

Ryozha blinked, then shook his head. "No!" he exclaimed. "I just got them out- I was their 'escape driver'. I didn't even move my arm or my leg... well, at least not very much."

Wing backed off a bit, and said "Well... that much is good, at least." He frowned. "What exactly were you doing that your lives were in danger?" Gon brightened a little. "We're on a really important Hunt, Master Wing! It's for a legendary treasure that could..."

Wing cut him off with an impatient wave of his hand. "So... for this... treasure..." he trailed off, his eyes downcast. He looked up again, meeting Ryozha's gaze squarely. "I guess," he said finally, "it comes down to what is more important to you. Your training, or this treasure chase of yours."

Ryozha seemed to shrink a little, huddling in on himself in the wheelchair, but he held Wing's stare. After a long moment of searching his master's eyes, he bowed his head. "I wish..." he said haltingly, "I wish... that you weren't forcing me to make this choice, Master Wing." He drew a deep breath, and looked Wing in the eye again. "But if I have to, I have to. I got by without your training before, and, even though it hurts, I can get by without it again. This Hunt is too important. It could literally change the World."

Wing sighed, and shook his head. "I guess there's no denying your nature. Who am I to deny you your place in the history books?"

Ryozha blinked, surprised, and looked at Wing. He raised an eyebrow. "History books?" he said. "I'll be lucky if I'm allowed to talk about it before I die of old age." He paused, weighing his options. Then he half-shrugged, and told Wing of the Grand Treasure of the Ophirate, and Dr. Schrenk's plan for it. When he had finished, he said "So you see why I can't quit- this really is more important than my training. It's my chance to change the World for the better."

Wing sat back, the faraway look in his eyes fading as the spell of Ryozha's words broke, and said slowly "I see." He met Ryozha's eyes again, holding his gaze, then said "Your determination is that strong?" Ryozha nodded unhappily, breaking eye contact and looking downwards again. Wing stood. "Very well." he said. "It's settled then. I still have a great deal to teach you; we will resume your lessons as soon as you heal up."

Ryozha sighed deeply, then his brain caught up with his ears. He looked up, grinning. "Really?!" he exclaimed, "Thank you, Master Wing!"

Wing smiled slightly and then left, dragging Gon and Killua with him. "Now REST!" he ordered as he shut the door behind him.

The next week and a half passed with agonizing slowness for Ryozha- he beat every game he had on his laptop (Killua wouldn't talk to him for two days after he beat him seventy-three games to twelve in Killua's favourite fighting game), then was bored out of his mind. The day before the Doctor gave him a clean bill of health, he was down to seeing if he could make the TV blow up just by flipping channels really fast (the first two did, the third one wouldn't). The day the Doctor finally did give him a clean bill of health, he sprinted to the top of the Celestial Tower, leapt off, and jumped from building to building like some kind of enormous cricket.

He found Gon and Killua downtown at one of the markets, and grabbed them up in a whirlwind of speed. They wound up back on top of the Celestial Tower with Ryozha jumping up and down going "I can MOVE again!" Gon slapped Ryozha on the back nearly hard enough to knock him off the tower, and Killua looked annoyed at having been abruptly dragged halfway across town, but high-fived Ryozha nonetheless. "Come with me," Ryozha said, "I want to go tell Master Wing that I can finally continue training."

As they came up to Wing and Zushi's door, Ryozha suddenly stopped. He put his headphones to his ears, then prodded his player. "Weird... it turned on by itself..?" he said, then hesitated. "I didn't even know I HAD Aretha Franklin on this thing..." he mumbled, as the faint sound of a woman's voice belting out "R-E-S-P-E-C-T, find out what it means to me!" could be heard from the 'phones. He gave Gon and Killua a rueful half-smile and shrugged. "Lee has a bit of an odd sense of humour... it seems to have rubbed off in how he programmed this thing."

He pushed the door open, and a girl's voice said "Oh, good! My students have finally come." at the same time as Gon and Killua chorused "Bisuke?!"

Ryozha stared at the blonde girl in the frilly red dress for a long moment before saying "Bisuke..? Who are..." and then stopping. He stared again, shifting to Gyo, before saying "Miss Krueger..? What are you doing here..?"

Gon and Killua stared at him. Gon said "Miss Krueger?", and Killua said "You KNOW the old hag?" Bisuke smiled sweetly and backhanded Killua out the door and across the hall, landing him upside down against the far wall.

Killua groaned, got up, and said "Well... it's definitely her, all right..." Ryozha looked from Killua to Bisuke and back again a few times, then turned to Gon, a questioning look on his face. Gon sighed and shook his head. "They always do this..." he said, "I still don't really understand why."

Killua and Bisuke glared at Gon, and both said "HEY!" at the same time. Then they turned to glare at each other for a few seconds.

Bisuke broke it off first. "It's good to see you again, too" she said drily. "So... Ryozha." she continued. She walked around him, examining him from all angles while he stood stiffly, unsure as to what exactly to do. After a minute or two, she stopped in front of him and smiled at him.

He stared back warily. Her smile broadened a little, but all she said was "And how IS old Tenryu, anyways?" Ryozha looked at her flatly. "'Old' Tenryu?" he answered. "Grandfather said that he was three months younger than you..." then he ducked as Bisuke took a swing at him.

He gave her a lopsided grin as she glared at him, then she whirled to belt Killua, who was snickering. "So Bisuke used to go to your Grandfather's school?" Gon asked Ryozha. Ryozha shook his head. "No, I don't think so. She just visited sometimes... there might be some connection between the Shinjen Dojo and Grandfather's school... I know one of the underteachers from the Tenryu Hunter Academy went to the Shinjen Dojo years ago, maybe it was a teacher exchange." he shrugged. "It doesn't really matter- she came sometimes, usually to fight with Grandfather about something pointless."

Bisuke glowered at him for describing her arguments as 'pointless', but didn't bother trying to smack him again. After a moment, she said, rather archly "Actually, your Grandfather and I were students together for a short time. There's no connection between the two schools beyond that. So... now that introductions are out of the way, why don't we get down to training?"

After setting Gon and Killua to doing some Nen exercises and examining Ryozha's techniques for a while (Ryozha had glumly acquiesced to her teaching when she had pointed out that she was Wing's master, and therefore his also), Bisuke rocked back on her heels for a moment and thought. "All right," she said, "before I forget..." she called Killua over. "Killua... I remember that Gon mentioned once that your family has a special training program their servants use? Something about heavy clothing and brooms and... well, pretty much everything?" Killua raised his eyebrows, but nodded. "Do you think you could get a set of those sent out here?" Bisuke asked him.

Killua shrugged. "Sure." was all he said.

Bisuke smiled. "Good," she said, "you can go arrange to have them sent once we're finished this training session." Killua made a face, but went back to the exercises she had set him. Ryozha watched him wander off, grumbling, with an amusedly speculative look on his face. -It looks like Killua respects Ms. Krueger a little more than he likes to let on...- he thought to himself. Then he was jarred out of his thoughts by Bisuke.

Getting right in his face, she ordered "Here's what we're going to do. Wing has been far too indulgent of you and your reliance on speed-tricks and crutches like your music-speed controller. First off, I want you to burn off all the red Nen you're using to store kinetic power right now. Then we're going to start your training." Ryozha looked at her, a little wide-eyed, then raced off, out the window and down across York Shin.

The next few days passed in a blur for Ryozha- Bisuke's training was far more intense than Wing's, days and nights running together like melting wax as she turned up the pressure. After their third shouting match about whether Ryozha was doing something the right way or not, Killua's package full of weighted clothing and stuff arrived (it might or might not have been four days... Ryozha, by this point, was so tired he considered himself lucky he remembered his own name most of the time). Bisuke unpacked the crate (which both she and Killua handled as if it were weightless, much to Ryozha's exhausted disgust) and put the weighted clothing on an unresisting Ryozha, who promptly fell over.

The next day, once Ryozha had rested enough to stand on his own again, Bisuke resumed training. Gritting his teeth, Ryozha shambled through Nen exercises and strenuous workouts like Frankenstein's monster, clanking gently every time he moved.

After four hours, Bisuke called a halt. "That will be enough for today," she said, "there's no point in overdoing it." Ryozha, who was of the opinion he had passed the point of overdoing it about three hours ago, collapsed gratefully, only to be hauled back to his feet by Bisuke. "I want you to go for a cooldown run. WITH the weights." Ryozha blinked at her owlishly for a moment, then decided that doing what she wanted was less trouble than convincing her to let him lie there.

Before he went, though, Bisuke said "Wait a moment." She motioned Gon and Killua over. "I want you all to go together- Gon and Killua, this will help your speed, and Ryozha, this will help your control. In other words, Gon and Killua, I want you to try and keep up with Ryozha, and Ryozha, I want you to try and keep your speed to a level where they CAN keep up." The three looked at each other, then headed for the door.

When they returned, they were chatting easily. -Running, at least, is one area where I can keep up with Gon and Killua's stamina and strength, even with all these weights.- Ryozha thought to himself. -Still, it wasn't as hard as I thought it'd be to hold my pace down... maybe 'cause I'm so tired already. Mind you, it still wasn't exactly easy... if my focus slipped even for a second, I found myself shooting off way ahead.- Then he snapped back to the conversation they were having- Gon and Killua had been telling him how they had met Bisuke on Greed Island, and her obsession with sparkly things, especially all things gemstone-related.

For some reason, that tickled something at the back of Ryozha's brain, but he couldn't place it. He filed it for future reference, and told Gon and Killua a few stories about Bisuke's visits to his Grandfather's school. When they got back, Bisuke was waiting for them. "Wing has been telling me about your sparring sessions you have each night." she said without preamble. "It's a good idea, but for now, I don't want you to do it anymore, Ryozha. Gon and Killua, I'll be watching you for the first few nights. And Ryozha, I think you're ready for your first fight on the 200th floor." At this, Ryozha perked up- his registration on the 200th floor had been deferred until he had recovered from his injuries, so he still had more than two months before he HAD to have his first fight.

After Ryozha registered for his first 200th-floor fight, he found that he had four days before it was to happen. Those four days were filled with the most intense training yet, Bisuke vowing that she wasn't about to lose a student to his own incompetence. Finally, the day of the fight arrived. He awoke feeling refreshed and energized... or at least, as refreshed and energized as he ever did in the morning. He rolled groggily out of bed, then threw himself to the floor as a change in air pressure warned him of something coming hard at his head. His head whipped around, and he tracked what had been thrown at him.

A split second later, he was halfway across the room and snatching the candy bar out of the air. He nodded to Killua as he unwrapped it and started chewing on it. "Thanks... I think." he said. Killua grinned at him, and then Gon elbowed him out of the way.

"I can't wait to see how you do in this fight, Ryozha!" Gon told him.

Ryozha looked at him oddly and said, "Again... thanks, I think." Gon looked puzzled, and Ryozha laughed and poked him in the ribs. "Never mind." he said. He dug around in his pack, pulled out his clothes, and dressed in an eyeblink. Then he paused for a split second and yanked his jointed staff out of his pack as well. "We're allowed weapons at this level, right?" he said. He half-shrugged. "May as well take advantage of that." he said with a lopsided grin. He glanced at the time, then said "Well... still got a while before the match. Let's go for breakfast- my treat."

A couple of hours later, Ryozha arrived at the ring. Gon and Killua had gone to find their seats- Killua complaining that Ryozha's matches already cost 20,000 Jenis to watch- and Wing, Bisuke and Zushi were already seated. A few minutes before the match was due to start, Ryozha's phone rang. He pulled it out. "Hey- Ryozha here."

"I'll make this quick, Ryozha." Bisuke's voice came from the other end of the line, "If you win, I've prepared a surprise for you."

"Wha... er, wow... thanks, Bisuke." Ryozha said. He shut the phone, wondering to himself -What's she up to now? A surprise is all well and good, but Bisuke's sense of humour is a bit weird...- He shrugged. -No time to worry about it now- game on.-

He walked out onto the arena floor to the roar of the crowd. Surprised, he glanced around at the sea of faces that presented itself. -Whoa...- he thought. -At 20,000 Jenis a head...- he paused, making a fast rough count of the spectators, -Gyeesh, no wonder they can afford to give such exorbitant prizes at the lower levels...- He glanced at the scoreboard. Huh... the oddsmaker's are calling this one a lot closer than my lower-level matches. Just then, his opponent walked in.

-So that's Maita.- Ryozha thought. -Big, bad, bald, burly and burnt are the first things that come to mind for this guy... lesse, if I remember right, he's four and two for win/loss. Looks like his Nen-baptism wasn't easy on him...- Maita strode easily into the ring, the livid burn scars running down the left side of his face and head, all the way across part of his chest and ribs, ending in a cooked-looking claw where his left hand used to be, scars writhing like angry snakes as his muscles rippled. He brought his hand and claw together, pumping them in the air like a prizefighter. The crowd responded with a roar, and Ryozha glanced at the screens, where it was showing some of Maita's previous battles.

He focussed, sliding into speed-awareness and studying each of the flickering images carefully... or trying to, anyways. A headache was already threatening to form without the player. The first match was, as expected, a torrent of flames and the downfall of Maita. The second match was closer, but Maita still lost. After that, Maita appeared to start using... Ryozha stared closer, the roar of the crowd deepening until it was lost in the subsonic. -The resolution's bad, but it looks like he's using... ice? Weird.- Ryozha thought. -Then again, I guess it sort of makes sense, considering how he GOT his Nen. That means he's either Emission, although from the way it looks, he only projects it through the ground, so it's not too likely, or else he's Transformation. I'll bet on Transformation for now.- With that thought, he brought his joint-locked staff from where he'd been holding it casually draped across his shoulders, unlimbered the joints, and blurred it through a couple of quick patterns. The audience roared appreciatively once more, and a brief glance at the screens revealed that they were showing a few of his fights from the lower levels. He grinned- actually, it looked like they were showing ALL his fights from the lower levels, since there simply wasn't enough footage to fill up the time slot otherwise...

Maita and Ryozha moved into the center of the ring and dropped into ready positions. The judge shouted "Match with points and KO! No time limit! Begin!!" and jumped back. Ryozha vanished in a flare of golden Nen, leaping high above Maita's opening strike. Maita grunted and deployed his Ren. Ryozha watched with interest from above as Maita's badly burnt left hand covered quickly over with a thick gauntlet of ice, while his right hand followed suit more slowly. Ryozha's speed awareness slipped slightly, and he landed a little awkwardly, catching a heavy one-two icehand smash with his staff before he could recover. He was forced back, then did a backflip to get clear. He darted in to land a series of rapid blows, aiming for Maita's relatively unprotected elbow joints. Maita laughed and grabbed him, hugging him in while his body temperature dropped. "Clean hit! Point!" the judge called.

Ryozha squirmed free, using some of the force he had stored from Maita's earlier strikes to force his arms open far enough, then using the rest to restore his body temperature. He frowned. -I wish Bisuke hadn't insisted that I go into this fight with no absorbed kinetic power in my Nen... it would have come in handy for this one.- He dodged a couple more blows, then changed tactics.

-The guy's obviously fast enough to grab me if I close... time to try something else.- Ryozha blurred out of reach, then started to run in superspeed circles around the ring, creating a dazzling circuit of golden Nen around the suddenly wary Maita. -Good,- Ryozha thought, -he's not sure what I'm going to do next.- Focussing briefly, Ryozha started dumping the accumulated friction heat of his sprint on the inner side of the circuit, finally releasing it fully in a sudden jolt after a moment to create a pale ring of blazing friction fire.

Maita, who had been edging gently towards one side of the ring, obviously hoping to snag Ryozha on one of his passes, shrieked and lunged back to the exact center of the ring. -Good again... exactly what I expected.- The shriek continued, deepening to a roar as Maita raised both arms above his head, bringing both ice-encased fists down on the center of the ring, creating a rapidly-spreading patch of slick ice... -Uh... this, I didn't expect.- Ryozha barely had time to think as his speed focus faltered.

Out of control, he slid on the ice to tumble to a crashing halt in a heap outside the ring. Regaining his feet, he shook his head rapidly to clear it.

He grabbed up his staff as the judge called "Critical hit! Two points!", then hurried over to him. "You need to get back in the ring soon..." he said, but Ryozha waved him off.

"I know," he said, "just give me half a sec."

He thought fast. -If what I saw is right, then this Maita guy creates ice by brute-forcing- that is, he uses his Nen to force the molecules of matter to slow down, so he's burning power to do it, not gaining it like I would be. Could be handy to know.- He hopped back onto the now-slick ring, gliding easily along it. -Maybe it's a good thing Bisuke made me come into this with just my own Nen... he thought, I tend to get so carried away with absorbing and redirecting kinetic force that I tend to forget that at it's most basic level, my Nen is about manipulating EXISTING motion.- He curved casually around Maita, propelling himself with his Nen and building up speed. Maita took a swing at him, but he brushed it aside and turned the momentum he picked up from that into a low sweep kick that sent him pirouetting away and Maita sprawling.

"Clean hit and down! Two points!" the judge called.

Ryozha spun to a stop and skated back to where Maita was scrambling to his feet. He leapt, bringing a series of lightning-fast bicycle kicks against Maita, who blocked them with his ice-fists. Ryozha caught the return strike on the centre section of his staff, turning the momentum from that into another backflip. He landed on his feet and skated around for another pass.

As he curved around, Maita stomped his foot, and a thin sheet of ice erupted between them. Ryozha quickly battered it to pieces with a few quick strikes from his staff, then paused. Save for an openings to see, breathe and speak through, Maita was now encased in a thick casing of armoured ice, and his ice-fists had now become either ice-spikes, or maybe ice-blades. Which, it was hard to tell, at least without getting closer than Ryozha cared to.

The now ice-armoured Maita stomped his foot again, and Ryozha stumbled, his left foot abruptly frozen to the icy ground. He nearly fell, then threw himself back, wrenching his ankle painfully as he dodged a whistling sweep of Maita's iceblade. He smashed the block of ice holding his foot with a quick staff-strike and scrambled back. -Okay... he's a lot slower now,- Ryozha thought, -but he's also a lot tougher. I'd be willing to bet...- he lunged forward, whipping the ends of his staff around with his Nen to block Maita's blades and bringing a crushing palmhand strike to Maita's armoured sternum with his free hand.

He bent back like a limbo dancer, shooting between Maita's legs and hopping briefly to avoid the clutching ice from Maita's answering footstomp. -Yup.- he thought, -I'm really gonna have to NAIL him to do much of anything.- He skated around in another lazy arc, a little surprised to hear the judge call "Clean hit! Point!" Guess this guy's judging by technique rather than actual damage. He shrugged and slid to a stop facing Maita.

Behind his icy mask, Maita growled at him and charged forwards, bringing his blades to bear. Ryozha dodged easily, then a little frantically for a few seconds, avoiding dozens of slashes, some of which would have left him somewhat shorter if they had connected... by about a head. Maita pressed his attack, and the dodges shifted from a little frantic to near-panicky. Bleeding from shallow cuts all over his face and arms, he jinked and ducked, trying to keep all his various body parts attached.

Finally, one hit came in so close Ryozha was forced to catch it on his staff or get spitted. The hit launched him backwards out of the arena to crash into the wall. He stumbled to his feet ("Critical hit and down! Three points!" the judge called) -Bleah... Not being able to fine-control my speed awareness is distracting.- he thought. -I can't fight and hold consistent speed awareness at the same time without music, at least right now, so things keep speeding up and slowing down. If I don't focus better, it's gonna get me killed.- He jumped back into the ring and glided in careful circles around Maita, who turned cautiously to always keep him in view.

-Hmmm...- Ryozha thought, -he seems to be moving a lot more carefully than is really necessary... I'd be willing to bet that if he fell down, he wouldn't be able to get up without ditching the armour, at least for a second or two.- He continued to circle, watching carefully, and, the next time Maita had a foot lifted completely off the ground, he darted in, throwing himself onto his stomach and sliding into his opponent's leg. When he hit, he thrust his staff under Maita's descending foot. Maita's foot rolled off the staff and he stumbled, slipped, and went crashing down. He flopped for a moment, ("Down! Point!" called the judge), then started to release his armour. Ryozha lunged into the air and flipped over... Maita, who was struggling up, looked up just in time to catch the full force of Ryozha's down-smashing foot on the point of his jaw, crashing back into a heap ("Critical hit and down! Three points!").

After a moment, the judge approached Maita, slipping a little. He crouched and checked Maita's pulse and pupils. "KO!" he called, straightening up. Ryozha paused for a second, unsure of what to do, then shrugged and whipped his staff around in a couple of fast, showy spins, ending in a stylized 'ready' pose, grinning. Then he skated off the slowly melting platform, hopped down, and blurred out of the arena. After getting his cuts tended to, he headed out of the dressing room, where all his friends met him, Gon, Killua, Wing and Zushi all applauding, and Bisuke looking on in amusement.

Gon clapped him on the back, and Killua high-fived him when he got close enough, Zushi bowed, and even Wing unbent far enough to ruffle his hair. When their congratulations had died down, Bisuke stepped up and said "You did well, Ryozha." Ryozha favoured her with a cynical half-grin, waiting for the inevitable "but". It came, followed by a torrent of criticisms that left him feeling about five centimetres tall and stupid to boot. When Bisuke finally slowed, he was blushing bright red, and even Wing was wincing in sympathetic embarrassment. "However," Bisuke finished off, "overall, you did quite well. And you won, so as promised, I have a surprise. Since we're all here, we may as well all go."

Thirty minutes later, after Ryozha had showered and changed (re-donning his weighted suit at Bisuke's insistence) the two taxis they had taken pulled up outside a modest restaurant, set back a bit from the street. Everybody piled out and headed for it, until Ryozha brought the whole party up short by stopping abruptly.

His eyes shining and his stomach growling, he turned to Bisuke. "A Quanattese Restaurant! How on Earth did you find this place?" He turned to the others. "Get ready to meet some of my favourite foods." he said, winking. Then he hurried in (being careful not to accelerate to super-speed). The others were close behind, Zushi, Gon and Killua bursting with curiousity.

Inside, Bisuke dealt with the officious waiter's complaints of her only having reserved a table for two when she brought a party of six by ignoring them with magnificent high-handedness. Eventually, the grumbling waiter led them to a table and presented them with menus. His irritation faded a bit in the face of Ryozha's obvious enthusiasm for the food, and soon he was smiling and giving recommendations to Gon, Killua and Zushi. Ryozha promptly ordered barbequed ribs, stuffed potato skins and mixed vegetables; after some debate, Killua ordered the honey-garlic wings and fresh-cut fries platter (when warned that it normally served four, Killua just smirked), Gon had the 16 oz. Quanattese Ranch steak with salad and a double order of fries, Zushi and Wing both ordered clubhouse sandwiches and Bisuke had "just a salad". Eventually, the food arrived (Ryozha had already had to go out and do a couple of laps around York Shin, he was so impatient), and Wing and Zushi watched in frank amazement as Gon, Killua and Ryozha devoured heaping platters of food that looked like it would take twelve of them to finish.

Bisuke ignored them, obviously long used to Gon and Killua's eating habits, and enjoyed her "just a salad" (Chicken Caesar with enough croutons, dressing and meat that you had to hunt to actually find any lettuce in a bowl that normal people would use to make a salad for ten).

As they left the restaurant, stuffed and happy, none of them noticed the drone hovering high overhead. Across the city, in a tumbledown office building in an out of the way district, a light blinked as a computer started to work. A couple of seconds later, Daniel Smith was jerked out of his reverie and was throwing his van into gear, yelling at the techs in the back to have all units in the area converge on the Celestial Tower.

A short twenty minutes after that, Gon, Killua, Ryozha and the others pulled up in their taxis. Then, as if it had been rehearsed, six drab vans on either side of the street opened up simultaneously, disgorging five or six armed men (in the requisite dark suits and glasses) apiece. They surrounded the six (all of whom were glowing with Nen) and tried to hustle them towards the waiting vans. Bisuke took the lead and moved with them, grabbing Gon and dragging him when he looked like he wanted to be stubborn.

Ryozha sighed and released the friction fire he'd been building up, cautiously watching the men around him. Beside him, he sensed Gon, Killua, Bisuke and Wing all doing the same, carefully sizing up the force that had taken them. As they moved towards the vans, Bisuke, Wing and Zushi were split apart from the three boys and were led to a different van. At the entrance to the van, Gon, who was in the lead, hesitated. Killua glanced at Ryozha and jerked his head into the van, pushing Gon slightly. Ryozha nodded and followed, getting in without resistance. Inside, they were a little surprised to find themselves alone in the steel-reinforced back of the van. The door leading to the driver's compartment was locked, and the door that they had entered by quickly followed suit. Ryozha jiggled the handle, then glanced around briefly. As the van started up, he started to say something, but Killua quickly held up a hand.

Gon glanced at Killua, and nodded. Ryozha hesitated, then held up his hands and formed the phrase +You think they're recording us?+ with his Nen. Killua nodded, forming a slightly sloppy +Yes.+ in response. Ryozha thought quickly, then formed the phrase +Do you think we can talk like this, or do I need to find the bug and break it?+ Gon flashed a quick +SURE!+ with his Nen- or at least, that's what Ryozha thought he said- it was almost impossible to read it. Killua shook his head. Out loud, he said "We're going to have to be careful what we say. They're probably recording us." Ryozha looked at him strangely, and Gon formed a jumble of letters with his Nen. Concentrating hard, Ryozha thought he could make out the words +If we don't talk, it will seem weird to them.+ He plopped resignedly down on one of the benches that ran the length of both sides of the back part of the van.

"Do you think the others are alright?" Ryozha said. Killua just shrugged, and Gon said cheerfully "Master Wing and Bisuke are both there, and they're both really strong, so Zushi should be okay." Ryozha gave him a lopsided grin. Then he motioned the others over. They put their heads together, and Ryozha whispered "What with the road noise and us whispering, I don't think they can hear us very well." Gon and Killua nodded, bashing their heads together, and all three sat back for a second, rubbing their heads.

Then they bent together again. "No more nodding, 'kay?" Ryozha said in a pained whisper.

"Right." Gon whispered, while Killua just rolled his eyes. "These guys are almost definitely one of the Government teams that's after us, right?" Gon whispered.

Ryozha started to nod, but caught himself. "Probably." he whispered back. "Judging by the look I got at their gear, and these vans, they're one of the better funded groups- I think it's probably the Southern Peace, since I remember hearing that they had camera drones flying around all over York Shin, which I thought was sorta weird, since York Shin is PART of the Southern Peace. So I figured they were probably searching for me."

Killua said "It fits. Thing is, what are they going to do with us?"

Ryozha gave a half shrug. "I don't know... and I'm not sure I want to find out."

Gon tilted his head to one side, and said "I could probably smash the wall here with my Rock Fist- this is our best chance to get away."

Ryozha thought for a moment, then shook his head, nearly knocking heads with the other two again. "I don't think that's a good idea right now... they know where I am now, and they'll probably find out that you're working with me. If we just take off now, they'll come back with more men, or something. Better to just wait and find out what they want." Gon and Killua sat back, and Ryozha followed suit.

Gon and Killua looked at each other for a moment, then nodded in unison. Aloud, Gon said "We'll do it your way for now, Ryozha."

After a long ride (Gon and Killua did Nen excercises, for lack of anything better to do. Ryozha tried to join them, but he was nervous and upset, and not sure he'd given the right advice, so his control was so sloppy he nearly blew up the van), the van stopped. A few brief scraping, shuffling sounds later, the doors were thrown open to a harsh glare of blinding light.

Rough hands grabbed them and hustled them out of the van, then they were turned loose and prodded towards a waiting doorway with rifle barrels. Squinting through the glare, Ryozha risked a superfast glance around, noting with some surprise that only three of the vans were there. Apparently Bisuke, Wing and Zushi have ended up somewhere else... Ryozha thought to himself, Since I don't see them anywhere around. His glance around also revealed that they were being ushered into a lowslung building... -No, a bunker!- Ryozha realized with some surprise.

As they passed through the door, Ryozha got a good look at it and gulped. Judging by the look of the thing, he doubted even a dozen Gons, all hitting at once, could penetrate it. -Great... and the walls are even thicker. If they want to do more than talk, we could be in trouble.- He glanced at his companions. Gon was doing his usual wide-eyed-with-wonderment bit, and Killua was looking increasingly edgy.

They passed rapidly through narrow hallways and down steel staircases, and shortly, (by Ryozha's best guesstimate, they were at least three stories underground when they stopped descending), they were in a surprisingly large room that seemed to be the nerve centre of the whole place. Wall panels blinked with dozens of real-time views of York Shin City and it's surrounding environs, and several monitors showed the faces of Ryozha and his friends, although, for some odd reason, the two largest pictures were Ryozha's own and Bisuke's. Somewhere in the range of twenty technicians sat at the computers, and six or seven guards ringed the area. The ten Black-Ops soldiers who had brought Ryozha, Gon and Killua in snapped to attention as a thin, worried looking young man approached them.

A tired smile flashed briefly across his face, rendering his anonymous face abruptly handsome, then it disappeared as abruptly as it came, leaving him even more sombre looking than before. He sighed deeply, and said, almost to himself, "In so many ways... I wish that this day never had to come." He came over, stood directly in front of Ryozha, and looked deeply into his eyes. "I had wished..." he paused again. "I had wished that when you left York Shin, that you were gone for good, beyond where I was able to chase you, at least until it was too late. But you're back."

Ryozha, Gon and Killua all looked at him very strangely, then Gon said "Uhm... WHY do you wish Ryozha didn't come back?"

The young man looked at him, as if seeing him for the first time. "Well..." he said, "it's simple. The Southern Peace, and especially York Shin City, revolve around money; its storage, its exchange, and it's use. What most people don't know, and what the leaders of this country and this city don't WANT people to know, is that any major fluctuation in the World's economy could leave this city a ghost town, and the country ruined, possibly dissolving it utterly as its neighbour's grab pieces of it when it's power is gone. The treasure that you are Hunting, my young Speed Hunter, could do exactly that." Ryozha looked at him owlishly.

When he didn't continue, Ryozha said, "And...?"

Daniel Smith looked down at Ryozha again and said "What it boils down to is this: you have been declared a threat to national security, and you're going to be imprisoned here, in this bunker, until the powers that be decide what to do with you. Pray that it takes some time; there are those who are advocating killing you outright."

Ryozha blinked. "Ah... this is somewhat unexpected." he said. "But... what about my friends?"

Daniel's mouth twisted with distaste. "Unfortunately, the Justice Minister has decided that it would be a public relations fiasco if it got out that we were holding a child against his will and without charges, so I'm afraid your two friends will have to stay with you." he said, then muttered "As if that's any better..."

Ryozha cocked his head to one side, then said "... two friends? What about the others?" Daniel looked at him oddly. "Others? Do you mean Biscuit Krueger's party? They were brought to a different entrance- I was going to interrogate her about HER hunt for the Grand Treasure of the Ophirate once I was finished with you."

Ryozha, Gon and Killua all stared at him for a while, slack-jawed, before Ryozha found his voice, saying "BISUKE was the other Hunter hired to find the treasure..?" as Killua muttered "Why that lying old hag..!"

Daniel Smith watched them for a moment or two, then shrugged. "I am truly sorry about this," he said, "but my duty to my country comes first. I will do everything in my power to make sure your stay here is as pleasant as possible. I will ALSO," he said, his voice hardening, "do everything in my power to make certain you do not escape." Ryozha nodded glumly, and he, Gon and Killua allowed themselves to be led out of the control centre and down the hall.

A short time later, at a still deeper level of the bunker, they were led into a small cell block. The cells were simply, but reasonably comfortably furnished. And they were antiseptically clean, all brushed steel and concrete. The guards herded them into separate cells, and then they were left alone. For a while, they didn't even try to communicate, then a distant shouting roused them from their torpor. Bisuke's voice could dimly be made out, shrill and angry. Eventually, Bisuke, Wing, and Zushi were all herded in and shut into the other cells.

After a long, uncomfortable silence, Ryozha said "So... Bisuke-sensei, when were you planning on telling me that you were the Hunter assigned to compete with me on the Grand Treasure Hunt?"

Bisuke was silent for a moment, then said "Does it matter, now?"

Ryozha blinked, then said "Were you planning on staying here?"

"Well..." Bisuke said, before they were interrupted by a shout of "First comes Rock! Jan... ken... pon... ROCK!", a terrific BANG! and a slight tremor felt through the floor.

Ryozha glanced around, sticking his head through the bars as best he could to see into the cell next to his, only to see a surprised looking Gon land on his rear, then rub at his fist and look at the bars in astonishment. Looking closely, Ryozha noticed that one of them was bent slightly.

He gaped. "That's ALL your rock fist did, Gon?"

Gon nodded unhappily, still nursing his fist. "I don't know what these are made of, but it's REALLY strong!" he reported.

There was a faint grunt from the cell on the far side of Gon's, then Killua's hands disappeared. Breathing heavily, he called "I tried bending them, but I can barely move them... I don't know what these are made of, but it seems to be almost indestructible."

Ryozha stared at the bars, his argument with Bisuke momentarily forgotten. Focussing deep down, he brought up all the reserves of Kinetic Nen he had stored. Looking at the resultant red-and-gold aura, he frowned. Then he hurled himself around his cell, sprinting as fast as he could move within the tiny space, swallowing all the kinetic power of the superheated air and sonic booms resulting from his speed. He strained forward, moving ever faster, pushing himself to his limit and beyond. Across the way, Bisuke, Wing and Zushi all stared at the chaotic storm of red Nen that had abruptly appeared in Ryozha's cell, as flares of golden Nen-lightning occasionally flickered out of it.

After a few minutes, Ryozha stopped, his sides heaving. Grinding his teeth against the pain of focussing his Nen so deeply, he brought the incredible power he had accumulated and concentrated, gradually, slowly forcing it to two tiny, brilliant points, one in each hand. Panting with the effort, he brought his hands towards one of the bar, one barely touching it above his head, the other touching just above his knees.

Bisuke called something, then shouted it, but he couldn't spare the attention to listen to her. With an explosive rush, he let all the kinetic power he had accumulated slam through the two points on the bar, each the merest fraction of a millimetre across. His control faltered as his awareness flickered between speeds, and he felt something... tear... in his aura. The lights dimmed, there was the terrible sound of wrenching metal, and then Ryozha passed out.

When he stirred, the first thing he heard was Bisuke's irritated voice. "I TOLD you not to bother." she informed him. "But you seem to be listening about as well as always."

Groggy and annoyed, he said "Why should I bother listening to what my enemy says?" from the floor.

Before a shocked Bisuke could respond, Gon yelled "HEY!" from next door. "What do you mean, your enemy? Just because she's assigned to hunt the same thing you are! Don't be stupid- that just makes her your competitor, not your enemy. And she's STILL your teacher- you accepted her as such, and you should keep your word."

Ryozha started to answer angrily, then hesitated. He hung his head, dragging himself to a sitting position on the floor, straining against the heavy weights he was still wearing. "I..." he started softly, "I guess... I'm more angry with myself. It was my stupid, stupid advice not to escape from the vans that ended us up here."

Bisuke shook her head and said firmly "No. That was the advice that I would have given you if I had been there. And obviously Gon and Killua felt the same as you did, or they would have told you so." Ryozha looked at her in wonderment, and she frowned. "I'm not getting soft on you," she told him, "but I'm not going to have you wallowing in useless self-pity either, especially for no reason."

Ryozha half-smiled, then said "All the same... thanks, Bisuke." He paused. "Er... why were you going to tell me not to bother?"

She glared at him. "Weren't you paying ANY attention when you were being brought down here?" she demanded. Ryozha stopped, shook his head to clear it, then sat for a moment thinking. He cast his mind back across all the various impressions he had picked up as he had travelled through the bunker. Eventually, he said "Traps...?"

Bisuke nodded approvingly. "Not exactly," she said, "but close. There are dozens of electronic security points throughout this bunker- it looks like this bunker was specially designed to hold Nen-users. I suspect that even the Genei Ryodan would have a hard time breaking out of here. Automated machine guns, pressure plates that trip alarms and seal doors, electrified floors... and those are just the ones that I saw. I'm sure there are poison gas nozzles, collapsing walls or ceilings, vacuum traps, flamethrowers and various other things that are even more exotic. Also... have you taken a look at the bar that you tried so hard to break yet?"

Ryozha looked up, surprised. His eyebrows climbed and he stared in amazement at the strange sight before him. The bar that he had attacked was indeed broken in two places, just as he had planned. What he HADN'T planned on was the fact that it would simply hover in place, slightly mangled at each end, but otherwise apparently as immovable as before. He tested it, shoving hard on it, but to little avail.

A second later, a voice came from nowhere. The worried-looking young man who apparently ran the place said "I must say, Ryozha Tenryu, that you managed to give the Techs absolute fits with whatever it was that you just did. You blacked out most of the Southern York Shin power grid and nearly overloaded our transformer here... and it's built to handle a direct lightning strike! Anyways, I'm sure you noticed that even if you manage to break the bars, there are other... forces... at work here. Please don't do anything like that again... I'm sure you've noticed yourself, but you nearly died doing that- we nearly had a trauma team in there to resuscitate you when your bio-signs dropped." The voice stopped for a minute or two, then came back on. "Oh... by the way," he said, "I never really got to introduce myself. I'm Colonel Daniel Smith, of the Southern Peace J-Gold taskforce."

After Daniel Smith had been silent for a few minutes, Bisuke said "Well... we've learned a few things, at least."

"Right," Gon said, "they can hear everything we do."

"And," Killua continued, "there's something that protects the bars. It's not Nen..."

"Also," Wing continued for them, "they have delicate sensors directed at us- they knew when Ryozha passed out... and his heart stopped. That was a foolish chance you took, Ryozha." he said reprovingly. "As for what's protecting the bars... I'd guess beams of magnetic force." he finished.

Ryozha glanced across at his under-teacher, then reached for the broken bar, probing it delicately with his sixth sense. After a moment, he pulled his hand away, brushing it across another couple of bars, then nodding. "There are... I guess I'd call them tubes... of magnetic force, of incredible power, inside each bar. They're holding each bar in place, and keeping them almost perfectly straight."

Wing sighed. "The problem is," he said, "what do we do with what we've found out?"

The others all fell silent, until Zushi spoke up. "Uhm... isn't there something else important that we're missing (osu)?" Zushi fell silent for a moment when everyone looked at him, then continued "He said that we nearly blacked out York Shin... that's important, isn't it? (osu)"

The others were dead silent, then Bisuke said "Hmm..." and spread her hands in front of her, forming the words, in an elegant, almost gothic script, +Killua... how much electricity can you generate if you store it up?+ Killua shrugged, and, one letter at a time (holding his arm out through the bars so that Gon and Ryozha could see it too), laboriously formed the words +I don't know... I've never tried.+ Bisuke thought for a second, then formed the sentence +Do your best- start storing up electricity now, and keep going for as long as you can.+

The next day, their cells opened by themselves. A door at the end of the hallway opposite where they came in opened up to reveal a well-equipped large gymnasium. In one corner of the gym, a hot breakfast was waiting. Bisuke clapped her hands with glee. "We can continue our training here easily! All right... first off..." she said, then barked out a rapid string of orders that had Gon, Killua and Ryozha training as hard as ever.

Wing took Zushi to one side, and they too continued their training. After a few hours, the door back to their cellblock opened, and a computerized voice requested that they return to their cells so that lunch could be brought out. As they headed back to their cells, Ryozha flashed a quick Nen-message to Killua- +If Bisuke will let us spar, hit me as hard as you can without your Nen- I need to store up Kinetic Power to help us escape.+ Killua glanced at the message, then nodded. Back in their cells ("You will only be here a few minutes. Please wait."), Bisuke waved for Ryozha's attention, then flashed a message of her own. +I saw what you 'said' to Killua- I agree. You'll spar with him every day while he stores up electricity.+ Ryozha gave a cynical half-smile. At least something was going right.

The next few days passed relatively uneventfully- with no other possible distractions, training progressed quickly. Ryozha, who had been having a really hard time with the Reinforcement exercises (at Bisuke's request, the somewhat mystified Colonel Daniel had brought in a load of bricks to the gym) was able to move from smashing thirty or so bricks using Shu up to more than a hundred in only two days.

Each afternoon, Gon, Killua, Ryozha and Zushi all sparred, with Bisuke and Wing occasionally joining in to show them a finer point. Even Colonel Smith appeared impressed by all this, to the point where he would comment occasionally over the loudspeakers. What he didn't see is Ryozha's silent inferno of red Nen as he stored up the power from the terrible blows Killua would rain on him during every sparring match. By the fifth day, Killua was starting to spark as he walked, looking drawn and shaky, and Ryozha was shifting between speed-states, almost totally unable to control it.

By the end of the sixth day, Ryozha said "It's gonnahavetobe soon- kinetic energy that IstoreinmyNen starts to dissipate afteraboutaweek. It's already startingtogo."

Bisuke glanced to Wing, then nodded grimly. "Killua?" she said.

Killua groaned faintly, then managed to jerk out "I... don't think... I can hold it... much... longer."

"All right." Bisuke said. "It sounds like it's time. Everybody... once I yell 'Go', jump. And Killua... release your power."

"Power..?" came Colonel Smith's voice over the loudspeakers. "What do you mea..." then was cut off as Bisuke yelled "GO!"

An actinic flare of light... a terrible crash of thunder that seemed to last for hours... then darkness and silence.

When Ryozha's hearing returned, he heard Bisuke's voice... or..? It sounded like Bisuke, only much deeper, and coming from far higher in the darkness than Bisuke's voice should.

Then he heard Wing comment in shocked tones "Master Biscuit... you've shifted into your true form?"

"Not now, Wing." the new Bisuke-voice snapped. There was a sudden series of tearing, wrenching sounds, and Ryozha had a sudden mental image of bars being swept aside like a curtain.

"Killua... are you all right?" Bisuke (if it was her) asked. Killua's shaky voice came from Ryozha's right. "I... think so." he said.

"Good." Bisuke said shortly. "Can you all get yourselves loose?" she asked.

Ryozha moved over to his own bars to the accompaniment of tearing, snapping sounds from Wing's cell, a shout of "First comes Rock... Jan... Ken... Pon... Scissors!" followed by a screeching sound, like nails on a chalkboard. There was a split second of silence, then a shout of "First comes Rock... Jan... Ken... Pon... ROCK!" followed by the CRUMP of an explosive concussion, followed by the tinkling of bar-shards hitting the far wall. He put his hands on the bars, and feeling no more magnetic beams holding them in place, simply pulsed kinetic force into them, blasting them loose. Of course, given how shaky his control was at the moment... it was fortunate that he had decided to try and drive the bar into the ground; otherwise, Wing, Zushi, and Biscuit alike would have been shredded by flying shrapnel.

A few moments later, Gon had bashed Zushi loose, and Killua had mustered the effort to knock his blackened bars loose after curtly saying he needed no help.

Once they were all free, the voice that Ryozha had started to think of as "Deep Bisuke" said "This is our best chance to get out- with the power off, most of their automated defenses won't work. And..." there was a brief sound of breaking metal, "their bulkheads can't stand up against us. Can any of you see well enough to lead us?"

Ryozha spoke up after a second. "I'vealready beenupacouple oflevels- therearen't anysoldiersaroundthatI couldfeel... and IthinkIcansort ofsensethe wallsaroundus, atleastenoughnot torunintothem."

Deep Bisuke said "It will have to do. Let's go." With Ryozha leading the way, they made their way toward the surface.

After they had ascended three levels, the lights came back up, and along with them the defenses. Unfortunately, they seemed to be malfunctioning badly, sentry turrets firing wildly at nothing, spraying the air with bullets, gas traps filling empty hallways with billowing poison clouds, electrified floors sparking and shorting out. The Hunters looked at one another, then shrugged in unison, moving on.

Wing, Bisuke (whose voice had gone back to normal sometime before the lights went back up, and didn't look any different), and Gon simply smashed the traps to pieces. Killua attacked them with a sharpened blade-hand and his super-yoyos. Zushi actually managed to take control of a few of the simpler traps with his manipulation Nen, turning sentry guns on each other and shutting off gas traps. Ryozha... Ryozha moved in a trance, sweeping entire hallways clear with a wave of his hand and a blast of pent-up kinetic power. He felt like he was riding a monstrous wave, a tsunami of power that had been stored, one sixteen-ton punch at a time.

Wing and Bisuke's training chanted in his mind like a mantra as he desperately tried to hold in the walking bomb he was afraid he would become if he let his control slip even slightly.

It was a single floor below the Control Center of the bunker that disaster struck. Ryozha was scouting ahead of the others, when a malfunctioning electrified floor plate suddenly activated under Ryozha's feet, frying him with millions of volts. He jerked, twitched, then lost consciousness. With a thunderous roar, all the kinetic power he had been holding in his Nen broke loose, coring the bunker like an apple.

When the others arrived at a dead run, they found Ryozha lying, unconscious and barely breathing, in the bottom of a spherical hole nearly seventy metres across, torn from the concrete and steel of the bunker by the sudden explosion of Nen. A few moments later, other, secondary explosions rocked their prison.

"Sounds like Ryozha blowing up broke something important!" Killua yelled. Gon grabbed Ryozha up and the six raced for the surface and, hopefully, freedom.

They sprinted through the corridors, pausing for a split second in the burning control room (Bisuke, apparently out of spite, ripped loose one of the computer stations and threw it through a wall), and now Gon took the lead. Racing up steps, they passed a still functioning alarm, which Killua silenced with an irritable slash.

"Where do you think everybody is?" Zushi asked, panting.

"Probably waiting outside." Bisuke told him grimly. They reached the last floor, and all of them (save the unconscious Ryozha) tensed for the inevitable confrontation.

Shortly, they reached the hallway of the massive portal that Ryozha, Gon and Killua had passed through nearly a week before. Colonel Daniel Smith stood before it, flanked by armed guards, a sad look on his face.

"I'm sorry it had to end like this." he said as they raced towards him. "But I cannot let you escape. Perhaps, in another life... well, goodbye." he said, abruptly at a loss for words.

He stepped back, and there was the deep-throated roar of a large engine started up. The huge portal began to move as a massive tractor surged against it, forcing it closed. Bisuke and Wing immediately lunged at it, straining against the force of the engine. Killua headed that way, and Gon started to follow, then stopped. He grabbed Killua's sleeve and said "Wait! I have an idea. Hold Ryozha for a moment." With that, he shrugged Ryozha off his back, and Killua caught him. Then, with a shout of "First comes Rock... Jan... Ken... Pon... ROCK!" he smashed the far weaker hinges of the giant door, causing it to loll drunkenly and scrape to a heavy halt.

Soldiers immediately rushed up, guns drawn and pointed, but Daniel just waved them off. He looked tired, and older, somehow. "Very well." he said. "You've won. I think that my men could probably manage to cut you down, but I don't want to gamble their lives, given the abilities you displayed in there. I'm going to recommend to my superiours that you be left alone, to pursue the treasure or not. We cannot hold you."

Bisuke eyed him sharply, and he shrugged. "Even if we had more bunkers like the one you destroyed, a repeat of that performance could bankrupt York Shin without any need for the treasure to be found. You burned out the entire south side's power grid, and badly damaged the other grids. Entire neighbourhoods will be without power for days, weeks... maybe even months."

Bisuke looked at him, but before she could say anything, Gon said "I think maybe I could help, at least with some money..."

Killua nodded in agreement, and said "Between us, we have about two billions Jenis. We could contribute at least some of it to the rebuilding, even though it was the city officials that brought this down on you." Daniel looked at them, surprised, and even his normally imperturbable men looked nonplussed.

Bisuke nodded. "We do have certain... resources available to us. We can help financially with the rebuilding."

Daniel paused in silence for a long moment, then said. "You know, I think that will go a long way towards easing my superiour's minds. I'll tell them of your offer, although pride may prevent them from accepting." He turned to go, his men splitting up and heading for the vans. He hesitated at the door of his personal van, turning to the Hunters and saying "I'm sorry... I'm sure you understand why I can't offer you a ride back to the city." He paused before he got back in his vehicle. "One other piece of advice that I probably shouldn't give you. I know that the boy, at least, has been hired by the International Money Council. If they were to find out about this interference in a Hunt that they had sanctioned... it would go... poorly... for the Southern Peace." Bisuke gave him a look, then nodded. Meanwhile, Killua had pulled out his celphone and was dialing.

As the van pulled away, Daniel reached for the radio microphone. "All units..." he called into it, "discontinue surveillance activities in York Shin." One of the techies in the back commented "You sure you want to do that, Colonel? Even if we aren't going to move against them, it would be useful to know what the Speed Hunter and Hunter Krueger are doing." Daniel shrugged. "Without the bunker, we've lost more than half our stock of drones, and the ability to coordinate them on a larger scale. We've also lost more than 90 of our computer power. I'm not sure surveillance on that group is even possible anymore." He sighed, and got into the van.