Chapter 4

Somewhere in the United states of Saherta, a few members of the Hunter Association discuss a proposal that can classify all chimera ants with sentience as "magical beasts" to the members of "V6" to provide them the same rights as any other magical beast or human. This is the classification that Colt was designated as, although initially it was meant as a deterrent to prevent them from being hunted. He and his adoptive daughter Reina(Kite) are both under the jurisdiction of the Hunter Association where they are provided shelter, finance, and protection from the the outside world. Although the NGL and East Gorteau are now classified as nature reserves, the supreme leader's palace was left abandoned by the Hunter association.

The government leaders of the world; "V6" decided to turn a blind eye towards the incident in Peijing's Republic of East Gorteau. V6 ultimately decided it would be best to let the nation reestablish itself without getting involved because of Yorbia's risk of violating it's foreign policy. The now deceased Masadoru Diego's influence has left multiple citizens of the republic lost. The Mitene Union is now left with a fallen capital, Peijing is left without a government and the republic of East Gorteau is now without a leader.

Because of the Hunter association's jurisdiction over these two countries they are now in the middle of all of this tension between the leaders of V6 and their involvement with the NGL incident and Peijing incident. Following the "the human selection" that was conducted by Shaipouf, the chimera ants established themselves as the new rulers of East Gorteau. The ants are structured similarly to human beings; the fact that they follow a code similar to that of a monarchy, not so different to how East Gorteau was ran already. Humans and ants are truly the same in this regard.

Elsewhere, Neferpitou is walking through the forests of East Gorteau when she suddenly sees a silhouette of a man dancing like a rag doll in the distance. "What...is that?" She asks.

Slowly the man starts getting closer to her. Pitou's expression changes to show her cautiousness. The dancing man gets even closer to her. Slowly the silhouette is slowly highlighted. The light shines on the lower half of the dancing man's body, revealing a familiar sight to Pitou.

"Wait, it can't be!" She exclaimed.

The light reveals everything and exposes the dancing man's true form. It was in fact Kite, the person Pitou killed and then revived only to be used as a puppet. There were strings attached to his back that resembled Pitou's manipulation ability. What looked like dancing initially to Pitou was actually Kite being pulled by each string jerking his body into awkward positions continuously.

"I...I killed you!" Pitou yelled. "How are...wait, why are you here?" She asked.

Neferpitou suddenly realized the malicious intent that was pouring out of the undead puppet and decided the best course of action would be to attack it before it attacks her. Kite is slowly creeping towards Pitou as she is about to jump at him.

"I'll just have to kill you again!" she said while getting ready to lunge at Kite. "Wait...I can't move! Why can't I move? Damn it, this can't be happening!" She roared.

Kite finally was within arm's length of Neferpitou. He awkwardly reached towards her face. Pitou flinched at the hand slowly approaching her face, but Kite's hand instead patted her on the head. "Ugh...huh, what are you doing?" She asked.

Kite is patting her head gently which is only adding to her anxiety of the situation. Suddenly Kite grips the top of her head and squeezes tightly. Her head starts to leak bit of purple blood. "AGGGGHHHH! Stop! Please stop! Ack!" She cried in pain.

Kite continued to squeeze her head as tightly as he could this time with the support of his other hand around her neck, choking her. As Pitou's consciousness fades she noticed a black silhouette behind Kite, a shadow figure that resembles another of her enemies."G-Gon?" She thought to herself.

Gon's silhouette then reached out his hand towards Kite and activated an ability that resembles his 'Jankenchi'. It may have resembled the scissors ability though it was covered in a black aura tinted with a purple stream of light displaying nothing but pure malice from the boy. The shadow figure sliced Kite in half leading him fade into dust. Neferpitou fell to the ground trying to catch her breathe but she was still winded from having her nearly crushed. She looked up at the shadow figure standing over her, it had no face, only the appearance of Gon. It was the embodiment of darkness showing nothing but killing intent. The shadow lifted it's arm and then attempted to slash Pitou in half. Pitou flinched and then she awoke. She woke up in the East Gorteau palace, breathing heavily as if she just had a near death experience, her nightmare disturbed her slumber while in the former supreme leader's quarters.

"Jeez...what's with these dreams...why is that kid haunting me to this day?" Pitou thought to herself.

"I wonder what happened to him, I'm pretty sure I didn't get a chance to defeat him, I don't remember fighting him at all as a matter of a fact." She pondered.

Pitou looked at her open palm and continued to wonder about her current circumstances. Last night she found out that her king and her brothers were deceased. If things weren't bad enough she has also found out that she is no longer able to use nen. "How-"before she could finish that thought someone knocked on her door.

"That must be Hippotsu with the test results."She thought to herself.

Pitou got out of the king sized bed and approached the door to open it only to be greeted by a new face "Gooooood morning Pitou-sama!" the mystery person gleefully shouted.

"AAAAGGHHHH!" Pitou shrieked at the sight of this new chimera ant she has never met. With all the strength in her legs she jumped to the ceiling and dug into it with her claws, leaving some cracks in the ceiling. Only one thing could make a cat girl frantically jump like so. This chimera ant that Pitou just saw had canine dna. This is the first time Pitou had seen this dog chimera ant.

"Huh? What's wrong Pitou-sama? I hope I didn't startle you! I'm really sorry, I tend to surprise people with my unique personality". She then sticks her tongue out in a friendly manner while rubbing the back of her head in slight embarrassment.

Pitou didn't know why she jumped in response to seeing her, however it was evident the dog girl meant no harm so she landed back onto the floor. "Sorry about that...I'm not sure why I reacted like that."That was really unlike me." She thought.

"No worries Pitou-sama! I came in here to serve you your breakfast!" The dog girl claimed.

"Huh? Thanks...but who are you?" She asked.

"Awww, that's really mean Pitou-sama! You don't recognize me?" The dog girl lamented. "It's me, Inuka! The king's former maid!"

Neferpitou looked at her with confusion trying to remember a time where she interacted with her. She was a dog chimera ant with sky blue hair and round glasses. Her stature proves that she is a few meters taller than Neferpitou. She had other features that were also more 'noticeable than Neferpitou's. "Oh! Meow I get it! That was you who I sensed moving back and forth from the kings position with my En!" She said.

"EEEEEE! You remembered me Pitou-sama? I'm so happy!" After saying that she hugged Pitou real tightly and started jumping up and down with her.

"Hey! G-get off!" Pitou yelled.

"Oh! Sorry Pitou sama! I usually get a little too excited for my own good. Hehehe" She laughs nervously. "By the way your majesty, don't you think your chest is a bit too small? Inuka said.

"Wh-what are you saying, all of a sudden? That's too personal!" Pitou responded.

"A queen should have more pride in her outer appearance...and...her inner appearance hehehe." Said Inuka with a perverted smirk on her face.

Neferpitou stared at Inuka obviously freaked out by her odd behavior. "Wow...this girl is weird." She thought.

"Oh that's right! Pitou-sama, I present to you one of my special dishes, the-" however Pitou cut her off.

"Thanks but i'm not hungry right now. Just leave it on the bed, i'll have it later." She said.

"Awww, but I spent a lot of time on this dish! It was inspired by one of Pig's dishes! If you don't eat it fresh then you won't-" however she was cut off again.

"Thanks, but I'm really not hungry. I'll eat it later." Insisted Pitou.

"I understand...I'll just leave it here for when you're ready." She distressingly said. "Oh, before I forget, doctor Hippotsu wanted me to tell you that he's ready for you."

Pitou's face showed her surprise and then she responded with "I-I see. Thank you, tell him I'll be right there."

"Hehe, alrighty then, no problem Pitou-sama! I'll bark ya later! Hehe...I wonder what kinda kinky stuff her and the doctor are into." She perversely thought.

Sometime after her interesting interaction with Inuka, Neferpitou made her way down to the medical ward of the palace to make an inquiry of her current condition. She was walking down the hallway with irrational, nerve racking thoughts in her mind."I was about to face off with Gon...but then my body collapsed. I awoke after being in a coma for five days and then I found out that the king..." she cut herself off from remembering Meruem and then continued her deep thinking with"Anyway...I lost the ability to use nen, which would also mean that all the people I was manipulating during the selection are free from my control. Well, I guess that doesn't matter now. There's no reason to go through with a human selection anymore. All I want is to-" Pitou was interrupted from her thinking by a shout from down the hall.

Pitou saw someone running down the hall in front of her. With speed that could out match the late Cheetu. The person was yelling "THE KING IS DEAD! LONG LIVE THE KING!" They then stopped in front of Pitou, slightly startling her. "GOOD MORNING YOUR MAJESTY!" he yelled.

Neferpitou looked at the chimera ant in front of her who had a noticeable amount of blue attire on him. But before she can get a good look he bolted. She then looked back at the blur behind her and asked "Who the hell was that?!" His voice continued to echo throughout the hallway "THE KING IS DEAD! LONG LIVE THE KING!"

Suddenly a door opened near her with Hippotsu walking out of it.

"Ah, good to you again this morning your majesty!" Hippotsu declared.

"Uhm...good morning. You know you don't have to call me that, right? Neferpitou-sama is just fine." She affirmed.

"I understand. I'm just trying to properly give you your due respect." Hippotsu said." "Why don't you come in? I think I've figured out what happened to your aura." Pitou acknowledged him and walked into the room with Hippotsu walking behind her.

"Hey, who was that fast guy?" Pitou asked.

"Hm? Oh that kid; Jagren? I'd stay away from him...he is a bit...odd. He started patrolling the palace ever since the Dragon Dive incident in a rather persistent manner. Don't mind him." He said.

Neferpitou didn't know what to make of what she had just heard, but she decided to ignore it for now.

"Please have a seat here." He said. "Last night, I've examined your blood pressure, your heart rate among other things. Everything seemed fine until I looked at your X-ray." he lamented.

"What? But I don't have anything broken, you said so yourself!" Pitou insisted.

"Yes, your bone structure is fine, even your inner layers are intact." He claimed.

"Inner layers?" She said in a confused manner.

"Actually never mind about that. When I said x-ray I meant the node x-ray, this palace's medical fortunately had one. With it, I can see every single one of your aura nodes." He explained.

"Who would have thought we had something like that here." She thought.

Hippotsu continues "At first, I hypothesized that something happened to your nen sometime after after you've awoken from your coma, because you were still very strong and were able to break out of the steel binding I placed over you...again I apologize for that ma'am." He said.

Pitou responded to him "Why would you assume that? You do realize that my physical strength isn't connected to my nen right?" She scolded.

"What? Really?!" Hippotsu asked with a dumbfounded look on his face.

"Want some proof?" Pitou teasingly asked.

"N-no...that's okay. I believe you. But if that is truly the case...then it must be after you had your fight with Gon. But that can't be...there isn't anything inhibiting your aura nodes. So I know for sure that there is no need for a nen exorcist. The only other possibility is that nodes have been destroyed completely."

Pitou looked at Hippotsu in surprise and said "Destroyed? How is that even possible?"

"Well there is a very obscure study that I've read about not too long ago. It could potentially explain the cause of irreversible damage to one's nen. The study of 'Restrictions' and 'Covenants'. Based on what I've read, it's possible for an individual to use an ability outside the norm of their nen attribute or gain a power beyond your normal limitations but at the risk of losing something of important. Let's assume during your fight with Gon, you activated an ability that cost you the use of your nen for the rest of your life."

Neferpitou responded with "You don't mean I did something like that? But I don't remember doing anything like that!"

"It's possible that while also giving up your nen, you sacrificed your memories of your fight with Gon." Hippotsu responded.

"Well...I can't deny that it's possible." Pitou sighs and puts her face in the palm of her hand as a sign of annoyance of the current situation.

Hippotsu responded to her "Well, I did say it was possible, but there's a chance it may not be true, it's only a hypothetical and by the way, I'm sure you don't even need your nen ability. You have your super strength after all. Your physical prowess is enough to defeat your enemies."

"That's not the problem. I had the ability to place someone under my control...but now I can't do that without my nen that would have been useful for taking over a country covertly."

Hippotsu looked at his queen who was clearly worried about the current situation she was in. He then responded to her with "Ma'am. Maybe this is a sign."

"What do you mean?" Pitou asked.

Hippotsu responded "Being in the medical field I don't really believe in miracles or anything outside a cause and effect occurrence, I've always believe in medicine and I always will. However sometimes someone can perceive a major change in their life as an opportunity to change along with it."

Neferpitou looked at Hippotsu and said "Meow I get it. What your saying it, I shouldn't dwell on the king's old ideals of conquering the world but rather managing the small nation of chimera ants itself!"

"Wait..." Hippotsu said with a worried expression on his face. "That's not what I me-" however before he could finish. Pitou made a declaration.

"I won't waste time with other countries. Meruem is dead so there's no reason for his ideals to live on. I'm the queen now, so, I'll just rule my own nation and forget about the humans. It'll be easy! Thanks for the pep talk Hippotsu, you make a good soldier ant." Pitou said.

Neferpitou then walked out of the ward and went on her way back to her room. "I guess that's okay too. As long as someone is guiding us, the chimera ants future is secure. Even if it is different from lord Meruem's end goal." He thought to himself.

Once Pitou arrives back into the queen's quarters she starts to talk to herself "There's always a silver lining in the end. My nen may not come back, but I don't think I'll be needing it again." Said Pitou.

Pitou noticed the plate of food that Inuka left for her was still in her room. "Ya know, I haven't eaten anything at all last night. I should've ate before I went to see Hippotsu but I was just too shaken up from my dream." She thought. "Hmmm, let's see what we got here." When Pitou lifted the stainless steel cover off of her plate she saw a human hand, severed from it's body and baked as if it was a common dish. She stared at the dish in disgust and then dropped the cover.

"What...the...hell?" Said Pitou.

End of Chapter 4