I said "next week" last month.. I guess I'll develop the issues I faced with this chapter further down..

Just.. Sorry peeps..

Both Killua and Gon, never had any friend before they took the hunter exam.

For them, Kurapika was one of the first and best friend they ever had..

Colt's description was unequivocal, « a blond one with red eyes and controlling a chain ».

In most cases, ten words wouldn't be enough to target just one individual out of so many.. But in Kurapika's case, those ten simple words felt like a definition.

Gon's aura flared in a threatening manner.

-G..

But before anyone could notice or comment, Killua had a hole in his neck…

…

Dang ! I can't find anything to switch the focus on without making too much of a mess of my narration..

Could it be that I will have to explain what just happened right away ?

No ! I will not accept it ! I will make you WAIT !

…

Let's sneak a peek into Yunju's psyche :

I can't wait to see those new dogs, Maybe I should try to ..

Wow wow wow ! that's definitely not PG-13 !

What about Hundra, the centipede ant officer ?

He's running behind Yunju at the side of his mosquito colleague.

He seems to be the most sane one in this group..

He must be apprehensive, I am sure he has a lot of interesting thing on his mind :

What a lovely bouncing motion !

Bouncing motion ? Wait, what is he looking at ?..

Ow ! C'mon !

If you did not get the joke, you're very lucky.. Now let's try to find something else to divert your attention from what interests you..

I guess I could make up a random joke about a nightmare Hagya would have had involving bug spray and a cliché « No ! Bug spray ! My only weakness ! Ugh ! » and then he explodes and subsequently wake up with a surprisingly high pitched roar..

Wait, did I just write that ?

… Shit !

Well I guess I could just delete all that and rewrite it in a narrative style.. but that just doesn't feel right..

Let's just stay away from those pervs from now and get to the meat of it.. No, Not that.. meat.. that's an expression.

Now if you still do not get that joke, you're even more lucky than the last time..

But rest assured, I'm going to make sure you're not so lucky anymore before the end of this chapter..

…

Killua had a hole in his neck..

But I can't really just tell you what that mean just yet, there needs to be a dramatic feeling to it..

Which I most likely already screwed up to be honest.

But Kite saw everything and he should have the right to comment because it's like in mangas, when something impressive happens, the characters would rather praise their opponent's feat rather than act..

Fast !

I'm calling it right now it's going to become a running joke, half of the fight-related thought will include the word « fast »..

Anyway let's resume :

The window of opportunity was really small. It can't even be said that Killua failed to maintain attention at this point.

Indeed in that moment when Gon's anger flared, Kolt remained focused while Killua's faltered.

Ultimately Kolt had the advantage of not being human : For Kolt, the only survival that mattered was the queen's.

In that moment, he realized the threat was even greater than he had anticipated, he realized that the threat was real enough for him to risk his life to deal with it and took action.

« Whatever you're doing ! Stop ! Or your friend gets it ! » He shouted to Gon as he had Killua restrained and a finger in his neck menacing to rip through what's inside..

Gon was taken aback, it was the first time he was interrupted while he was showing his power.

Usually everyone act impressed and that's all.

He didn't want to believe that Killua would end up in such a predicament because of him..

When he saw the monstrous finger in his friend's neck, something broke inside..

But to the young assassin, it was clear he was the one to blame. He was the one to have made a mistake : he underestimated his opponent.

« Gon..It's not your fault »

Kolt didn't care about the two young hunters anymore, his eyes were directed to the man behind..

He knew that if he asked Rammot to capture the other kid, the man was going to act to save at least one of them and what he'd do to save the other kid was something Kolt feared greatly.

He still had to test the waters, evaluate the character of the real threat :

He's waiting for my conditions ! He's leaving me the initiative ! What could it mean ?

He's calm, composed.. he doesn't seem to be in state of hesitation or mental turmoil or has he simply trained himself to rid himself of the visible signs of hesitation.. Does it show on my face ?

Let's just try this !

« Rammot ! Get up ! »

« I..I.. » Rammot tried to cough a protest.

« I wouldn't do that if I were you. »

He's trying to lock the situation, he doesn't want Rammot to wake despite how little it would matter. That means ! He's trying to be assertive and look sure of himself but he doesn't know how to solve this problem, he didn't even dared to order me.. The cards are in my hands !

« Rammot ! it's an order ! »

Rammot had never felt so powerless before. The only thing he could think of was revenge.

Yes, he wanted to get up and kill that spiky haired brat, he wanted to do all kinds of creepy and gross stuff to him, including of course impale him on a tree.

But all the power fantasies he'd built ever since he was defeated only served to remind him of the reasons of his anger : he had been beaten ! And now, he felt closer to death than to revenge.

« I wouldn't keep giving him orders if I were you. »

They had kept their eyes locked onto one another's for the whole exchange but it was when the tension spiked up. However the new-found tension was apparently one-sided : For Kite it seemed nothing had changed.

But after a few second in which nothing happened, Kolt came up with the wittiest response he could come up with, something that he could relate to, something that would sound true.

_ Does it make you feel confident to not repeat yourself ? You think it shows you have more authority, it just shows you have no experience in handling complicated cases like Rammot here ..

_ I couldn't care less, I am not a leader but between the two of us, I know who is more experienced in handling fights.

_ We're not fighting and even if you do consider that stalemate a fight, I have the advantage here.

_ What if your hostage zap you and I take the opportunity to take your head ?

_ I took action fully aware of this possibility. If the risk was real, it would have happened earlier..

Kite sighed and broke eye contact with Kolt. He looked at Gon who felt pretty much as powerless as Rammot and Killua for that matter.. Yep.. kinda sucks to be them right now..

Killua keeps hearing a weird irrelevant message in his head about fleeing away, which is something he can't do anyway..

Gon.. I don't really know, there is something.. something dark that wouldn't let me in.

Anyway.. Rammot is fuming as usual..

As for Kolt, he knew that the Queen's life or death could be decided in this next second, a matter of acting or not, no ! a matter of how to act. He knew he had to take any turns even if just for stalling, he had to take control So when he saw that window of opportunity opening in front of his eyes, when he saw Kite looking away from him, he had one thing on his mind :

Now ! Now ! I can get it ! I can get his head ! But why ? He saw my speed ? What is he hiding ?

Is he counting on my hesitation ? But he saw that I do not hesitate even a single moment when I am given the opportunity to do something.. He's going to say something, it's going to be a complete shift of paradigm ! He is going to change the conditions.. That.. means he's going to take control of the situation ! But somehow.. I feel he hasn't created any opening ! Ever since the start of our contest, He hasn't left me a turn that he hadn't planned..

_ Gon, I am sorry..

In this moment, Kolt joined Killua, Gon and Rammot out of the game..

He felt every bit as powerless as them as his only means of leverage, the value of his hostage, was taken away from him..

It's been very hard to write that, I've been very hesitant..

Of course there was the issue about handling Gon's emotions.. I've tried a lot to put description of his feelings here and there and it was so messy!

And yeah.. Killua..

At first, it came out as a joke, I was emboldened by the previous Cliffhanger and thought it would be a good joke to put the chapter's cliffhanger.. right at the beggining! Yeah pretty crazy! right?

Then I realized I just didn't have enough to fill a whole chapter without talking about Killua's predicament anymore..

When you read the silly parts at the beginning, Do you feel like I was trying to hard?

Even now it's posted, I can't believe I am actually going down this path, it's so different than what I planned when I thought about this story..

At first, it was all about making Killua and Cheetu fight.. Then I read the comment of someone saying he'd like to read a fic about one of the four main char as an ant and immediately thought about Kurapika because you know.. clan, extermination, etc.. it was the obvious choice..

And now I realize that it's going to be much harder than I thought to conciliate all those feelings into a coherent story..

So.. anyone wanna beta read and have a say?

Also.. I don't think I am going to come back to the once per week I originally planned..