Our world... inside of a continent?
It couldn't be; it simply didn't make sense. What about the entire galaxy, as well as the ones trillions of lightyears away? Could all that just fit inside of a simple "continent?"
All For One stared down at the man before him. He'd said it as if he completely believed in it, though...
"Inside of the Dark Continent, you say," he slowly repeated. "How?"
Musubu settled down, resting his hands in his lap. "...I don't know."
He scoffed. "Then there's no reason to believe in that nonsense."
"No! I swear it's true," he piped.
Sighing, the large man contemplated whether he should let the boy continue or not. He was starting to doubt his word, but, at the same time... it was quite intriguing.
Perhaps it was true. The unimaginably vast, expanding universe may be contained in a single gigantic continent. Or, perhaps, the entire population had been somehow convinced that the universe around them had been "fake," meaning everything scientists had worked for had been wrong. Or, Musubu had just been too engrossed in conspiracy theories.
Still, All For One was curious. If the boy was right, then that meant there was a whole different world out there; that there existed powers known to absolutely no one on Earth. Taking his word for it would lead either to time wasted, or an exciting discovery. After all, Musubu currently was the only thing connecting the two worlds together, so it wouldn't hurt too much to take a once in a lifetime chance such as this.
Hm. Maybe it was time to give Garaki a call.
Staring at the boy, he said, "If you truly do believe in this, I may have a way to confirm your suspicions."
Eyes widening, Musubu's jaw dropped. "Really? You can do that?"
"Yes," he nodded.
Then, All For One turned himself to his computer, searching for Garaki's contact. Once he found it, he called the scientist, dial tone buzzing throughout the room.
'Hello?' Garaki said, tinny voice filtered through the speakers.
"Garaki, it is good to see you. I have a new project for you."
'Project? I've been a bit busy with the nomus, but perhaps I can squeeze this in. What is it?'
"This man, Musubu Tenchi, has a quirk called Inseperable Interdimensionals..."
He went on to explain the odd quirk, occasionally glancing over at the man in question. His features twitched, a hint of nervousness on his face.
'Really? Different dimensions?'
"Actually, that is something he is not so sure of. I want you to experiment with his quirk—try and find out whether his suspicions are valid or not."
Garaki hummed.
"And," All For One continued, "if they are true, I want you to make it two-way."
'Two-way...' he trailed off. 'Alright. I'll clone it for you first, though, so you can still use it while I work on the original.'
"Thank you, Garaki. Kurogiri will take him to you soon," he said, then promptly disconnected the call.
"M-my quirk's gonna get experimented on?" Musubu stuttered.
"Not just your quirk, young Musubu," All For One smiled. "You did want to prove yourself, correct?"
"You figure out where you wanna intern, kid?"
"No."
"What about your hero costume? Submitted anything, yet?"
"No..."
"Do you even—"
"Quit pestering me, old man."
Aizawa sighed, turning on the coffee maker. "I'm trying to help you. Internships are due tomorrow, and you're not prepared at all."
Swinging his feet on the sofa, Killua again clicked the TV remote, changing the channel for the hundredth time. "I'll figure it out," he drawled.
"You have less than a day."
Suddenly, the phone rang on the coffee table. Both pairs of eyes slowly turned to the noise, then, at the exact same time, whipped back around to stare at each other.
"Hey," Aizawa began. "Don't answer that."
His order had been outright ignored, as the teen had already picked it up, gleaming at the contact. Uraraka Ochako, it read.
"Kid."
"It's just Uraraka!" Killua pressed the green button, answering the call.
'Aizawa-sensei?'
"Hey, Uraraka."
'Zoldyck?' she gasped. 'Wow! You're the reason I called, actually.'
"Oh, so you don't need to talk to Homeless-sensei?"
Cheekily glancing at his teacher, he'd been given a dirty look.
'Ah, no... Actually, I was wondering whether you were free today?'
Free? Was she inviting him out somewhere?
"Yeah, I am. Why?"
'Oh, perfect! Do you want to come with me and some other friends to Hosu?'
"Hosu? Why there?"
Before he could hear Uraraka's answer, the phone had been snatched away from his hand. Scanning the area for the culprit, he found Aizawa's scarf dangling it from the end.
"Seriously?" he whined. "You're using that?"
His guardian simply didn't answer, instead releasing the phone from his scarf, dropping it into his own hand, and telling Uraraka that he was now speaking.
Stupid old man...
Wait, Killua thought, narrowing his eyes. He'd always been curious about those scarves, and now that he'd unlocked his Nen...
Channeling his Nen, he used Gyo, observing his teacher. He hadn't yet used this technique, so he was quite curious how people with quirks were utilizing it.
But, it didn't seem like he was using any kind of it on his scarves. Huh. He guessed he just really honed his skills, or something like that. There was still the normal amount of aura surrounding his body, though, so maybe he'd have to see him in action, first. Maybe he can try...
"Hey, Homeless-sensei," he dryly laughed. "Wanna fight over who gets the phone?"
Aizawa narrowed his eyes. "That's the second time you've asked me something like that. Give it a rest."
That was fair. He'd been half-joking, anyway; half, because he was still annoyed by the fact he so rudely interrupted his conversation with Uraraka. She was calling for him, after all!
Then, the flat phone flew through the air, making a landing on the beige couch cushion.
"You're meeting with Uraraka at U.A. in fifteen minutes. Go get ready."
"What?" Killua exclaimed."Didn't she wanna go to Hosu?"
"Yeah, until I told her how behind you are with everything." The coffee machine beeped, and Aizawa picked up his mug, slowly sipping from it as the hot steam rose and hit his face. "You're welcome."
Killua pouted. "Fine."
There was nothing Killua thought he'd need to bring, so he immediately exited the apartment complex, making his way to U.A.. He chewed on the inside of his cheek. Uraraka said she'd be there, along with "some other friends," whatever that meant. Did that mean Aizawa forced all of them to help Killua with his schoolwork?
He clicked his tongue. Trying to help, yeah right. The old man just wanted his students to do his work for him.
Making his way to the entrance, he found Uraraka and the apparent friends she mentioned: Izuku and... Todoroki?
Huh. He wasn't expecting anyone other than Izuku or the class rep to show up. He also hadn't talked to the guy since the sports festival, so he hoped things wouldn't get awkward...
"Zoldyck!" Uraraka called, waving her hand.
Hand in his pocket, Killua strolled up to the group, lazily waving back. "What's up?" he asked, surveying the unexpected trio.
"You need to work on your hero costume, don't you?" she said. "We can totally help with that!"
"Huh," he drawled. "What about Hosu? I thought you wanted to meet there."
"Ah... we're going there once we're done here, Zo—Ki—um..." Izuku chimed in, hastily avoiding his gaze.
Killua raised an eyebrow, then leaned back on the metal railing. Holding back a laugh, he realized the boy probably didn't know how to properly address him ever since he unexpectedly called him by his first name.
"Alright, Izuku!" he toothily grinned.
Uraraka's eyes widened. "You're already on a first name basis?"
"Yup," Killua confirmed. "But, you know, I still think it's better if everyone just called me Killua."
As he stared down the group, he silently pleaded with his eyes. What did he have to do to get people to stop using his last name? By now, some people have already started calling Asui "Tsu," so when was his turn—
"Huh, okay!" Uraraka beamed, surprising him. "You can call me Ochako, then. Come on Killua, let's go meet Power Loader! He should still be here today..."
Well, that went better than he'd thought.
Grinning, he followed the bubbly girl as she walked inside the school, Izuku and Todoroki both trailing behind them.
He turned his head, and as his gaze travelled towards Todoroki, he lifted an eyebrow. "Oh, by the way," he blurted, "did you replace Iida?"
The ice boy's expression stilled.
"No, no!" Ochako fretted, waving her hands in the air. "It's just that... since we're going to Hosu... you know."
Ah. Killua nodded to that, remembering how some villain nearly killed Iida's brother in that same city. It probably was a good idea to not subject their friend to a constant reminder of that tragedy.
"But then," he began, "why're we going there in the first place?"
Izuku scratched the back of his head, a flustered grin on his face. "Ah, well... there's this sandwich shop I go to that gives you this stamp card, and I need four more stamps to fill it before it expires tomorrow, so..."
"You can't just buy yourself four sandwiches in a row?" Todoroki asked.
"No... they only count one person for one stamp each day."
"Good thing you have us, then," Ochako smiled. "I'm sure that rare All Might t-shirt prize is worth it!"
His cheeks instantly tinged red, followed by a string of indecipherable stutters.
Killua tilted his head. "You're a fan of our teacher?"
"N-no, he's a Pro Hero, too! The number one Pro Hero!"
Memories of his heroics class with All Might flashed through his mind, and all he really remembered about the guy was that he definitely was a better hero than a teacher, even without knowing that much about his activities outside of school. It was still a fun class, though, since watching him struggle with shuffled notecards and useless guides on how to teach was pretty hilarious. Most of it being preparation for their internships probably helped, too, as he only needed to put them through general training while providing some helpful tips (however, all he really told Killua was "do your best, young Zoldyck!" as he hid behind another teaching guidebook, proceeding to watch him brutally pummel a training dummy through the roof.)
Just like with Aizawa, Killua wanted to have a little sparring session with the number one hero; only just to see how things would turn out, of course.
As the banter died down, the quartet finally reached the Development Studio, stepping inside to find Power Loader working with a blowtorch at one of the stations. The room was actually quite smaller than Killua expected, but seeing how focused the hero was on his task, it looked like it wasn't a bother.
"Hey," Killua said, attempting to gain his attention.
Looking up from the vaguely shaped hunk of metal on his table, Power Loader scanned the new visitors. "Ah, I remember you from the sports festival. You're Zoldyck," he said. "Need anything?"
"Yeah, you think you can make me a hero costume before internships start?"
He couldn't see the top half of his face, but he could just tell there was a hint of exasperation in his eyes.
"That's in three days."
"It doesn't need to be fancy," he said, gesturing with his hand. "It just needs to be... something."
"Killua," Izuku half-whispered, "you don't have a design?"
"Am I supposed to?" he answered, voice three times louder than the freckled boy's was.
Power Loader sighed, standing up to grab some sort of other welding tool from the wall. Sitting back down to continue his work, he passively said, "You gotta give me something to work with. Kids here usually just send in their own designs."
"What, do I just have to sit here and draw, then?"
A silent beat passed.
"Yeah, I think so," Ochako confirmed.
Killua groaned. While he did put good effort into styling his own casual outfits, he really wasn't an artist. Designing an entire costume was well out of his comfort zone, too.
...This was going to be a pain.
A minute later, Killua was sat at a desk with a pencil in hand, staring at a blank sheet of paper with the feeling of three pairs of eyes burning on his neck. So, how did he want to do this?
"Ah... If you need any help, I have some suggestions," Izuku said.
Killua cocked his head. "Suggestions?"
"Yeah! Even though you don't have a quirk, I've come up with lots of theories on your strength capabilities, as well as other things like stealth. Like, how you can run really, really fast. Maybe your costume can be more skin-tight to prevent drag so you can go even faster. Or, since most of your attacks are limited to hand-to-hand combat, you can have some sort of long-range weapons with you so you can cover all bases. Oh, and about stealth, I've noticed that your footsteps... don't make any sound? I'm not sure if that's on purpose or not, but maybe your costume's color scheme can be black or a mix of darker colors so it can act as camouflage. That would mean you need a costume that can further improve on your already extremely strong abilities, but all of that being done in two to three days can be tough... maybe priority should be placed only on one aspect, rather than trying to build on everything, so that, in the future, there—"
"Deku, you're mumbling again."
Todoroki nodded.
A flustered apology followed Ochako's reminder, and Killua laughed. To be fair, though, he did have some really good suggestions. He'd probably put Izuku up to drawing his costume, actually. But...
'Even though you don't have a quirk...'
If he were being honest with himself, it wasn't going to be long before Kaminari started blabbing about his twinning electricity "quirk." Better to tell people about it now than to have it come out of the blonde boy's mouth later.
"Actually," he started, "I do have a quirk, now. I got it again a few days ago."
Izuku's and Ochako's eyes widened, while Todoroki and even Power Loader looked at him in anticipation.
"You do?" she asked.
"Yeah. Electricity."
"Wow, just like Kaminari?" Izuku exclaimed.
Tapping his chin, he said, "Almost, I just need an outside source for it. Like, maybe a taser? Something like that."
Izuku's eyebrows furrowed in thought. "I guess that explains how you walked through Kaminari's electricity during your match in the sports festival..."
"Yeah, no kidding," Ochako added. "Who would've thought you had nearly the same exact quirk?"
Shrugging his shoulders, Killua purposefully left out the part that he could still actually feel the pain. Even if that was something Kaminari knew and would possibly blurt about later, in the current moment, he didn't want to freak them out even further.
"Your costume should have its own electricity source, too, then," Izuku said.
Turning his attention to Power Loader, Killua noticed the diligent man had stopped his work.
"If you're taking up all of Midoriya's suggestions," he said, "I can get it to you the morning right before you leave for internships."
"Really?" Killua marveled.
"Yeah, but I have to get to work immediately. It won't be easy for me, so you better put it to good use, alright?"
"Sure thing, old man!"
Instead of firing back, the Pro Hero simply sighed, getting up from his seat to start his new project. "I have a good idea of what your costume should look like, but if you want any specific design choices, you have until tomorrow to tell me anything."
Nodding to that, Killua turned around to the trio standing behind him. "So," he grinned, "are we getting those sandwiches now?"
'Three Pro Heroes in Hosu reported a Villian yesterday: one whose goal is to seemingly cut off the tips of their pinkies and run away with them. Not much is known about this Villian, however, all three of them describe them as wearing a black mask and hat, along with two black holes for eyes. The Villian is extremely quick, so if you see anyone matching this description, please report them immediately. Speculators theorize that they may be connected to the Hero Killer, but no evidence can support this claim. Stay tuned for more...'
Gon turned his attention away from the TV, instead focusing his eyes on his own reflection from the shop window.
Black mask. Check.
Black hat. Check.
Black holes for eyes. Not right now, no.
But, to anyone who was listening in on the news, it would most likely be pretty easy to connect the dots between him and the villain description.
Shaking the small cardboard box he held in his hands, he cringed at the small thump of one of the heroes' pinky tips.
After a small argument with Shigaraki, he was finally allowed to go back to Hosu and return them to the heroes—by himself, even! Since, well, Shigaraki found his attempts at apologies to be a "waste of time." Hopefully this would take some of the heat off of his back; he didn't need his own disguise getting a bad reputation, too. The reactions from the Pro Heroes were quite... baffled, though...
Gon dropped down from the roof as he just barely recognized one of the Pro Heroes he stole from. It was tough trying to remember what they all looked like since he always blacked out before he could get a proper assessment of them, but it was quite easy if he just looked at their left hand and noticed something missing.
"Hello!" he called out, forcing the hero to whip her head around to the sound of his voice.
A confused look came from behind her mask, then immediately turned to one of animosity upon recognition. "You're the villain who cut off my pinky! What the hell?!"
"No, no, you can take it back. Sorry about that," Gon said, proceeding to open the cardboard box and chuck one of the tips at her. "This should be yours! Bye!"
...And that's pretty much how the past two encounters went before he dashed away, fast enough for none of them to catch him. Hopefully the last one would go by just as quickly; he still needed to return the paper shredder to that shop in Kamino Ward, after all.
Hiding in the shadows of the city, he scanned every new area he stepped foot in, hoping to find a hero with a fin attached to his helmet.
As if by some strange fate, Bakugou ended up being in the same exact sandwich shop.
He also was in line to get his own stamp card redeemed for the rare All Might t-shirt.
Killua almost laughed. Both Izuku and Bakugou were All Might fanboys? Now he was even more curious about their history...
Before any words could be passed between them, however, Bakugou immediately walked out with the t-shirt rolled under his arm, making absolutely no eye contact with any of them. Still, there was a sneer on his face, so he must've been aware they were there in the first place.
Facing them with tightened lips, Izuku mumbled, "Um... l-let's just go in line..."
And that they did. Every time they ordered, Izuku offered to pay, but both Ochako and Todoroki declined. Unfortunately, Killua didn't think he'd be needing Aizawa's credit card today, so he made a promise to pay his friend back when he could. As they sat down to eat their food, Killua stared out the window.
Hosu. All he's heard about this city was that the Hero Killer seemed to be currently working here... Hopefully they wouldn't run into him, but he doubted that'd happen at all since he reportedly only goes after Pro Heroes.
The TV in the corner of the shop suddenly caught his attention.
'Three Pro Heroes in Hosu reported a Villian yesterday: one whose goal is to seemingly cut off the tips of their pinkies and run away with them. Not much is known about this Villian...'
Killua bit his cheek. Another villain in Hosu? At least they weren't killing people, but, wow, what a weird goal.
"This sandwich is cold."
All eyes turned to the speaker, finding Todoroki holding the sandwich with one hand, staring at it.
"...Huh?" Izuku said.
"It's cold."
"O-oh, if you regret paying for it, I can still make it up—"
"No, it's fine. I can heat it up when I get home."
Killua snorted. "Why not just use your quirk on it now?"
"We can't use quirks in public."
"Then go in the bathroom."
"Ew, Killua," Ochako recoiled.
"What? I'm just trying to help."
Izuku's face squished. "There's so many germs in there..."
Staring at the green haired boy, Killua teased, "You had no problem going in there to change into your new All Might shirt."
"Th-that's completely different!"
More conversation followed, laughs abound. They all finished eating their food (excluding Todoroki,) and headed outside the shop to the city streets.
At some point during their walk, Killua looked all around him. The sun was starting to set, signaling night's beginning. Lights shone all around the city, signs glowing against the orange backdrop of the sky.
Something from his first few days after waking up popped into his mind.
"Zoldyck may be rightfully perceived as a threat," the principal grinned, "but, of all things, he is still a child. A lost child who has nothing to his name; not even his own memories. For now, he at least deserves a normal life experience."
Was this what that felt like?
Glancing back at the group around him, laughing with each other, his smile grew to his eyes. For just a moment, he didn't care where he came from. Because, right now, he felt like this was where he belonged.
How hard was it to find one Pro Hero in a whole city?
Gon groaned as he searched, unable to have found the hero for the past hour. Was he in the hospital? That could be possible, but the other two Pro Heroes were still working when he found them, so he doubted it. Maybe he could cause a scene so he can bring him to him, but he didn't want to endanger anyone who had nothing to do with him.
Sliding down, he sat with his legs crossed in an alleyway. There had to be something he could do to make this easier, but all he knew about the hero was his appearance; no name, no nothing. Meaning he couldn't even look him up online to try and find the agency he worked at, so this might as well be a waiting game.
Staring at the pedestrians on the sidewalk, an idea popped into his head...
Maybe he could just ask someone. Besides, if they recognized him as the villain on the news, it would be easy to run away, anyway, since they weren't Pro Heroes.
Getting up off the ground, he dusted himself off, peering into the crowd to find someone who looked knowledgeable.
There—a boy who looked to be his age was wearing a shirt with a Pro Hero on it... perfect! Someone like that has to know something.
Stepping into the light, he smiled and waved at the boy. Only, he realized the boy couldn't see his smile in the first place because of the mask he wore. Closing his wave into a fist, he cupped his hands around his mask and yelled out, "Hey!"
The boy stopped in his tracks, looked around him, then narrowed his eyes at Gon. He pointed to himself, as if he were asking if Gon was calling out to him, and he nodded.
Slowly stepping towards each other, Gon said, "I have a question!"
"Why the hell are you asking me?"
"Um... you look smart?"
The boy scrunched his nose, tilting his head up. "What d'you want, you runt?"
Ignoring the insult, Gon asked, "Do you know any Pro Heroes who have a fin on top of his helmet? Oh, and he wears a lot of blue, too."
"Manual," he said. "Now get out of my way."
"Thanks!" Gon grinned. Even if the boy couldn't see his mouth, he assumed he could at least see his gratefulness in his eyes.
But, before he could run off, the boy abruptly grabbed hold of his arm.
"Wait."
Something changed in his tone... instead of annoyance, hostility emanated from the boy.
"...Yeah?"
"Manual was one of the Pro Heroes who reported that villain yesterday. And, you almost exactly match the description given by all of them." Tightening his grip on Gon's arm, he asked, "What's in that box?"
Gon pouted. Of course someone who knew about heroes knew about villains, too (even if Gon didn't consider himself one.) He really wanted to return Manual's... belongings... immediately, so half of him wanted to break free from the teenager's hold and run off. Yet, the other half wanted to at least explain himself to the stranger.
Breathing in, he answered, "I'm just giving back what's theirs... so don't worry, I'm not up to anything bad!"
The boy sneered. "So it is you."
He didn't know why, but he almost wanted to see how things played out if he stayed here a little longer. This guy didn't seem like an average citizen.
Gon fought Shigaraki. He fought the nomu. He can't count the three Pro Heroes he stole pinky tips from, since that was what Sonohoka did. He'd been itching for a real fight, and his next one could be standing right in front of him. And, although the boy's shirt had All Might on it, he imagined he couldn't be nearly as strong as him. But, even if he was... he'd like the challenge.
"Maybe."
He waited. Waited for the boy to make his first move—to finally start a fight where Gon could actually have fun with.
Then...
The boy let go.
The boy walked away, making a call on his phone.
...Huh?
Not only was Gon disappointed, he was confused. He swore he could feel some sort of ferocity from the boy, so what gives?
"Hey," he called out again, "what're you doing?"
"Getting you arrested."
With a final tap on his phone, the stranger stepped away.
He was just playing it safe, I guess...
In the distance, he could see just the hero he was looking for in the middle of a whole group of heroes—Manual! What're the chances the guy would call and have him show up?
Since he's the last hero he needed to find, all he needed to do was leave the whole box and leave to get out of this mess. Setting it down on the ground, he took a closer look at the Pro Hero.
More importantly, his left hand. It seemed he... still had his pinky tip… what?
Glancing at his right hand, he noticed he'd made a mistake.
He cut off his right pinky tip, not the left.
Immediately, Gon blacked out.
Police sirens. Firetrucks. Various Pro Heroes bolted towards the same direction, and civilians were being told to leave the area.
Killua, Izuku, Ochako, and Todoroki stood still, looking towards the unknown battle taking place.
Todoroki said, "We should go..."
Before anyone could agree, they all overheard a conversation a distance away.
"Yeah, that kid from the sports festival's in there," an officer spoke into his transceiver. "Forgot his name. The one with the explosions?"
At that, Izuku's face paled.
"Kacchan?"
"We just saw him..." Ochako mumbled.
Killua and Todoroki simply stared at each other, then at the other two.
They all knew they weren't allowed to go back there. Hell, Killua was even reminded of the fact that they weren't supposed to use their quirks in public just earlier.
"The Pros have it handled," Todoroki said, although more lifeless than usual.
Killua clicked his tongue. "Even if they do, that doesn't mean we don't wanna go back there."
"You want to help Bakugou?" he asked, surprised. "I thought you disliked each other."
"...I don't know. It's complicated."
It's not just Bakugou I wanna go back for, he told himself in his head. Something about that fight was drawing him towards it, but he couldn't exactly place why...
"I don't want to just leave him there," Izuku said, staring into the city.
At that moment, a hero whizzed through the air just above the ground, smashing into the side of a building.
What the hell... she ended up all the way over here?
Killua gritted his teeth.
Turning to face the destruction, he mocked, "'The Pros have it handled.' Yeah right."
At that, his feet pushed off the ground as he ran towards the fight, a faint call of his name in the distance.
Beside him, he noticed Izuku started running with him. A small laugh escaping his lips, he slowed down to allow him to catch up.
"Couldn't resist, huh?"
No reply was made, but he was only half expecting one, anyway.
The pair ended up right in front of the police tape, watching as the battle went down. At the center of it seemed to be... someone who exactly matched the description of the villain he heard about on the TV. Around them were loads of Pro Heroes, surrounded by fires burning on city buildings. Was their goal really just to cut off pinky tips?
"What are you kids doing here?!"
Killua and Izuku turned to the voice, finding a large, muscular man.
"Death Arms!" Izuku yelped.
"It's dangerous here! Go back now!"
"Where's Bakugou?" Killua asked.
"I don't know," he admitted, "but you can't stay. That villian's going after Manual, and we're currently trying to keep him hidden."
Izuku tugged at Killua's sleeve, motioning towards the villain. "Look," he said, "they're using Kacchan's quirk..."
Using Bakugou's quirk?
Izuku was right; the villain was sending explosions towards the Pro Heroes, blasting a couple outside of the area.
Death Arms seemed to overhear the observation, adding, "They have the ability to either take or copy quirks. We don't exactly know how it works, but it seems that your friend's quirk proves to be more than troublesome..."
"I'm going to find Kacchan," Izuku said, immediately leaving.
Didn't even say bye...
Now, Killua was all alone, staring at the scene in front of him.
Pro Heroes were being thrown left and right, trying to keep the villain from escaping. It was getting worse as time went on; they were both running out of heroes to keep them here, and running out of energy. If he stepped in—
"Don't even think about it," Death Arms said, catching Killua's attempt at ducking under the caution tape.
"I can help."
"No," the hero scolded. "You're just a kid."
Before Killua could reply, a rumble was heard from above. One of the parts of the buildings surrounding the area broke off, nearing the ground where both of them stood.
"Run!" the Pro Hero yelled, readying his arms so it wouldn't crush them.
Killua refused to listen. Instead, he stood still, tightening his fists.
The broken building piece fell within arm's length, and once it was only a few inches away from hitting them both, Killua jumped up, reeling his arm back.
He punched.
Bits of concrete fell all around them, dust settling around the area. Death Arms' mouth gaped open, staring at the small boy.
"I don't care what you think of me," he seethed, "I'm going out there."
With that, Killua jumped several feet in the air. Before the masked villain could react, he sent a direct kick to the villain's cranium. With a giant puff of dust, they loudly crashed on the ground, cracking several feet of pavement in the form of a deep crater, a streetlamp falling right on top of them.
Touching back down on the ground, he furrowed his brow as he noticed the villain's hat and mask fell off—
Killua's heart nearly stopped.
...Alluka?
His eyes strained as he glared at the familiar body pushing off the streetlamp, getting up again.
No... there's no way that's...
Spikes of green hair stood up as he broke open the streetlamp, deep holes reminiscent of his sister's still on his face.
…
He reached his hand inside, blue sparks travelling on his skin as the wires electrocuted him.
Gon?
Killua watched as he managed to copy his Nen ability, then ran towards him faster than he could process.
He heard a crack in his jaw as he got punched by the Nanika-Gon hybrid, flying through the air. Cursing, he reoriented himself so he could land safely on top of a building.
But, once he reached his spot...
His heart pounded in his chest, threatening to burst out of it.
I have my memories back.
Staring at the scene, he noticed Gon was now using his own Nen ability to get through all the Pro Heroes, not wasting any time trying to fight them. He was only trying to get to Manual, right?
Killua groaned as he dug his nails into his scalp, as if trying to get rid of a bad migraine. It almost felt like waking up from a vivid dream. He didn't have to deal with any more amnesia, but getting them back almost made things even worse.
He was confused. He was frustrated. His face felt heavy as all his emotions pooled in his head, spilling out his eyes as he kept trying and trying to wipe them away with his dusty sleeves.
Why is Gon here? Is that even Gon?
So, so many questions popped into his head, even more than when he was an amnesiac. But, the one he so badly wished for an answer to:
Where is Alluka?
A/N: ...hey! sorry for the long wait. hopefully this chapter makes up for it, haha... yeah. college has been kicking my ass lately, so that's why it took a while for me to update. anyway, i'm pretty tired (emotionally) from writing this chapter, so i'll keep this short. thank you so much for continuing to read this story! i love hearing what people have to say about this story (even more so after a chapter like this...) i hope to see you all in the next update! :)
