Roughly three months had passed since Gon had been told of 'Veronica Penn.' After passing the exam and getting his license, he and two of his friends, Leorio (whom Ronnie had called 'Glasses') and Kurapika (the boy Ronnie had referred to as 'Blondie') journeyed to Kukuroo Mountain, with the goal of rescuing their other friend, Killua (the white haired boy) from his family after failing the Exam. Now however, Gon, Killua, Leorio, and Kurapika have all gone their separate ways. Gon and Killua stood side by side as they watched their other friends leave, smiling slightly.
They were now discussing their money issue.
"Gon, do you have any money?"
"Actually, I'm running out." Said Gon, a sheepish expression on his face.
"I don't have much either. But there's somewhere we can train and earn money at the same time." Said the white-haired boy, his eyes holding a little spark.
"Train and earn money?" Killua lifted a finger.
"The Heavens Arena."
"Heavens Arena…"
"Yeah, I'll explain later. We should get moving." Said Killua, turning around and starting to walk. A thought suddenly flashed across Gon's mind.
"Wait a second! There's something I have to do first…"
Ten minutes later, Gon and Killua were sitting next to a computer booth at a public library.
"What are we looking up?" asked Killua, leaning in to get a better view of the computer screen.
"Right before I left the hotel where the Final Phase was held, I talked with Satotz a little bit about my dad. He said that if I was looking for any leads, I should contact 'Veronica Penn.'" Gon replied, typing the name into the search engine. All that came up were books.
"You can't just type a random name into a search engine; we have to be specific." Gon made an 'oh' of realization, and then tilted his head in confusion.
"Specific?" Killua groaned and dragged a hand down his face.
"Yeah, you'll have to put in the occupation. According to Satotz, she's a Hunter, right?"
A minute later, Gon typed 'Veronica Penn Hunter' into the search bar, and a few results popped up on the screen. At the very top, a url to a social media site popped up, and upon clicking on it, a profile was shown with the name they had searched and a picture of a slice of pie. Gon clicked on it, and several journal updates appeared on screen. Next to her name, there was a label that displayed '1407 followers.'
As Gon scrolled through the entries, Killua quickly found that they were nothing of interest.
"I guess we won't get anything out of this… Although it does look like she's a published author. I'll make some calls to find out how to get in touch."
"Yeah… Uh huh… Alright. Thanks." Said Killua, scribbling something down on a piece of scrap paper. Putting the phone back on the receiver, he turned to Gon and waved the paper in the air triumphantly.
"I talked to one of the secretaries at the publishing company she uses; I've got Veronica Penn's phone number!" a wide smile split across Gon's features before vanishing into a thoughtful look.
"How did you convince them to give you her number?" he asked. Killua put a finger to his lips, grinning like the Cheshire cat.
"Secret…~ Now let's make that call!" Killua and Gon turned back to the phone, and the black haired boy fished a few coins out of his pocket. Sliding them into the slot, he then dialed the number and waited. The phone rang. And rang. And rang.
Ronnie was currently sitting on the bed in a hotel room, scribbling in her notebook with her back to the headboard. She examined the strange symbols on one of her reference pages, chewing on the end of her pencil. Suddenly, her phone started to buzz with an incoming call. Without looking, her hand felt around under the covers before finally locating the annoying device. She looked at the screen. An unknown phone number was displayed there. Weighing the chances of the call being another stupid survey or advertisement, she waited a little before finally making her decision. Tapping the receive button, she held it up to her ear.
"Hello…?" she asked. Some shuffling was heard on the other end before an excited voice made itself known. It sounded much like a young boy.
"Hello! Is this Veronica Penn?"
"Yes…" she replied, grimacing at her given name. Her eyes narrowed. "How did you get this number?"
"We called the publishing company you use and asked how we could get in touch with you." Ronnie's eyebrow twitched.
"Listen kid, you'd better have a damn good reason for getting a hold of my number. What do you want?" she asked, irritated.
"Were you once a student of a Hunter named Ging Freecss?"
"Yeah. Get to the point or I'm hanging up now."
"I'm his son, Gon Freecss, and I want to find my dad." Ronnie's face went blank. Ten seconds of silence was the only thing over the telephone line.
"…Hello? Are you… still there?" Ronnie shook her head to clear it.
"Give me a time and a place. I'll meet you there."
"Wha- really?! That would be great! We're heading over to the Heaven's Arena in a couple days, so I guess we can meet you at the East City airport in the Republic of Padokea!"
"Yeah… see ya." Ronnie hung up and put down the phone. Talk about a blast from the past…
Looking around at the dense crowd of people, Ronnie rubbed her upper arms, feeling very uncomfortable. At the current moment, she was waiting at the entrance to the airport. When she had traced the public phone's location after the call ended, she found that it was in the Republic of Padokea, and Ronnie had searched up the arrival times for flights going into the city. Being unable to pinpoint the exact time and gate Gon would arrive, Ronnie had simply decided to wait just inside the entrance to the airport. She watched an old man dig around in his ear for a bit, feeling bored. Kid could've told me when he was getting here… she thought, tapping her foot. Suddenly, a voice was broadcast over the intercom.
"Would Veronica Penn please come to desk number 4; Veronica Penn." Ronnie cringed at being called out, but began to trudge in the general direction of the desk. It would make sense to find me like that; we have no idea what the other looks like. She approached the desk, giving her full name with a little reluctance. The woman behind it pointed to a row of chairs, and Ronnie looked around to see Green Boy and the white haired kid from the exam. Ronnie thanked the woman and approached them. They were chatting excitedly with one another. She stopped directly in front of them and cleared her throat loudly.
"I should've known; I knew you looked familiar…" Ronnie said, making the boys look around simultaneously.
"Wha- you're Veronica Penn?! You were the weird lady at the Final Phase of the exam!" exclaimed the white-haired boy in incredulity. Ronnie smacked a hand over his mouth.
"I would appreciate it if you didn't call me that; I prefer Ronnie. Now…" she turned to Green Boy.
"I feel so stupid for not realizing sooner; I knew you looked familiar…" removing her hand from the other boy's mouth, Ronnie extended it toward the one in green. He grinned and shook it.
"It's nice to properly meet you! The last time I saw you, it was during the exam." Ronnie nodded, crossing her arms.
"Yep. Anyway, I heard you say something over the phone about Heavens Arena; what's up with that?"
"We need money. I just spent the last of mine on the trip here." Said the white haired boy. Ronnie raised an eyebrow and turned to Gon.
"But you're a Hunter now, aren't you? You don't really need to worry much about money…" Gon shook his head, a determined gleam in his eyes.
"I made a promise to myself that I would not use my license until I could punch this one person in the face. Only then can I call myself a true Hunter." Blinking at the black haired boy, Ronnie's shoulders slumped in disbelief. So he's one of those… I can never understand that. She decided to change the subject.
"And you are?" she asked, turning to the white haired boy.
"Killua." He replied shortly, shaking her hand. Ronnie shoved her hands in her pockets and turned back to the entrance of the airport.
"We should probably get out of here if we want to talk more. I know a place we can settle down."
Ronnie sat herself down on a park bench, crossing one leg over the other and gesturing for the two boys to sit down as well. They sat, and after a short awkward silence, Ronnie spoke.
"So. What do you want to know?" Gon immediately began to jabber away excitedly so fast that Ronnie had difficulty keeping up. Holding up a hand, she cut him off.
"Woah, woah, slow down there, kid. One at a time." Gon nodded. The woman put her hand down, and he started to speak again.
"Have you… seen Ging recently?" he asked. Ronnie let out a bark of laughter that had several birds flap out of the trees and a few passersby looking around at her.
"What's so funny?" asked Killua, eyeing Ronnie as she calmed down to a few hiccups every now and then.
"So sorry… seen Ging? I may be his student- well, former student- but I haven't seen him in around ten years, so if you're coming to me for clues as to where to track him down, I'm no help to you." Gon's face fell.
"So this was just a dead end…" he whispered, looking down at his knees. Ronnie looked at him out of the corner of her eye, thinking that perhaps she ought to give some words of encouragement…
"Yep. This was a complete waste of your time." She said, wearing a small grin and leaning back in her seat. Killua leapt up from the bench.
"Well you don't have to go and rub it in like that! Who the hell do you think you are?!" she raised an eyebrow.
"What, you expected me to be some pushover? I know who I am; I'm a part-time asshole, while you appear to be a full-time brat." Killua growled at the woman, finding the smile on her face making it so much harder not to punch her lights out. Ronnie looked over at Gon, who had his eyebrows furrowed and an expression of thoughtfulness on his face. She sighed, rubbing the back of her neck.
"Y'know… now that I think about it… last time I saw Ging, I didn't get the chance to properly kick his ass for abandoning me in the woods…" Gon looked up. Ronnie gave him a meaningful look, but the boy didn't seem to catch on. Killua had stopped seething and raised an eyebrow. After a few seconds of silence, Ronnie let out a sigh.
"I'm saying that since you guys are looking for Ging and up until recently I haven't given that bum a second thought… perhaps we could travel together and accomplish our corresponding goals. What do you say?" she asked, keeping a small friendly smile on her face while giggling evilly on the inside. That way I don't have to work so hard tracking him down on my own.
At her words, Gon's face split into a wide grin while Killua gave her an apprehensive look.
"That would be awesome!" exclaimed Gon, eyes shining. "What do you think, Killua?" Killua huffed.
"Fine, I guess…" Ronnie's smile widened into a grin.
"Well then, boys, it's nice to be a part of your group," She said, standing up. "Now didn't you say you were going to Heavens Arena?"
Now approaching Heavens Arena with the boys, Ronnie tilted her head back to appreciate just how huge the building was. At two hundred and fifty-one stories (nine hundred ninety-one meters) high, it was one of the tallest buildings in the world. As Gon, Killua and Ronnie neared the entrance to the massive structure, they all noticed just how long the line to get in was. They stepped into place at the very end, and Ronnie shifted from one foot to the other in impatience.
"There's a really long line. Everyone's going to Heavens Arena?" asked Gon, looking at all of the people standing in line. Killua nodded.
"There aren't any conditions here, like there were for the Hunter Exam. You just have to defeat your opponent," Explained Killua, smiling. Gon made an 'oh' of understanding, and the other boy kept speaking. "The higher you go, the more prize money you earn. This is as good as it gets for those looking to make a living with their fists." Ronnie scoffed at his words.
"That's the easy way out for making money, kid. You could be doing something more useful than beating people up for other's entertainment." Killua's eyebrow twitched.
"Did you not hear us earlier when we said that we needed to train?" Ronnie shrugged.
"There are other ways to go about this. But I suppose this way'll give you some experience. Just keep this in mind," she said, bending down a little to his level. "Since there aren't any conditions here, it's possible you could get permanently damaged, or even killed. If you have any overconfidence in your abilities, I recommend you stop thinking about what you can do, and in stead focus on what your opponent's abilities are. Could save your life one day." Ronnie straightened up, stepping forward as the line shifted ahead. She could feel Killua burning a hole in the side of her head as he glowered at her. Gon on the other hand, was smiling brightly at her indifferent expression.
"I don't think you're as mean as you say you are, Ronnie." Looking at the boy out of the corner of her eye, the ash blonde let out a titter.
"I just don't want my new adventure ruined by two little kids getting themselves crushed in the basic equivalent of a gladiator fight. It'd weigh on my conscience for at most twelve hours." It was true, too. Ronnie didn't know these kids well enough to have any sort of empathy for them, not even Gon. She had never truly cared deeply about anyone for quite a while, and she had found that path to be the one with the least pain in it. After all, I'm just using these kids to finally kick Ging's ass once and for all. Curse all those detours and distractions…
A/N: Well hello there. I understand that its been a while. I have the terrible habit of dropping things that I'm writing to start up something new... but then I realized that I have a bunch of stockpiled chapters and just thought 'What the hell, might as well'. So here's another one. Hope you enjoyed, and have a nice day/night!