Master And Pupil

The children walked through the hallways of the 50th floor of the Celestial Tower. Since he had previously fought to the 200th floor, Killua explained how things worked.

"As far as the 200th floor, the building is divided into groups of ten. Only one victory is enough for a fighter to advance to the 60th floor, however, losers are bumped down to the 40th floor. If we pass the 100th floor, we can use a special indiviual room."

"To share a room with Killua!" Stasy clasped her hands together, sparkles in her eyes. "It's like a dream come true! Alright! 100th floor here I come! For sharing a bed, for-"

Killua rubbed his sore knuckles from hitting her thick head. "Stop fantasizing about things. You'll get your own room."

Their attention was stolen as the elevator to their right rang to signal the arrival of a group of fighters. As the shiny metal doors swung to the sides, fighters walked out of the crowded lift. Among the competitors, a young boy with a fuzzy brown head and karate clothes caught the two boys attention. Another youngster their age to reach the 50th floor?

He bowed politely when their eyes met. "Hello there. I'm Zushi, and you?"

"I'm Killua."

"Gon."

"Stasy."

"I had the honor to see your matches!" Zushi exclaimed. "You're amazing!"

"What are you talking about?" Killua asked. "You needed one fight to come here too."

"That's true!" Stasy exclaimed. "You're like us!"

"Oh no, not yet, not yet," Zushi waved off their compliments. "Tell me! From which dojo do you come? Personally, I come from the Kung-Fu Shingen Dojo!"

"Umm...we don't really have one," Killua scratched his cheek.

"WHAT?!" Zushi shouted from the shock. "To be able to reach such a level without guidance. I still have a lot of work to do."

"Well, Killua technically-" Stasy began before a voice head of them interrupted her.

"Zushi! That was good!" a young man in his late twenties, it appears, exclaimed, clapping his smooth hands. His glossy black hair fell to his ears in a disheveled mess. Round glasses circled his kind eyes, and his white button-up shirt wrinkled as much as his hair."You followed my teaching well."

"That's an honor!" Zushi bowed to his teacher.

"And who are your new friends?" he asked the young boy.

"They are Gon, Killua, and Stasy!" Zushi replied with a straight back.

"Nice to meet you," the older man presented the formalities. "I'm Wing. I never thought I would see other kids like Zushi. Why are you here?"

"To become stronger," Killua stated the obvious. "But we're out of money and we wanted to earn some."

"Ah, if you came this far," Wing pushed his glasses back up the peak of his nose, against gravity's hold, "you must be strong. Then you should take care of yourselves and also of your adversaries."

They left Zushi's teacher to cash their winnings of the first floor to a lady behind a counter and a glass window. "Here are your earnings," she said as she slipped them each a small manila envelope. Gon eagerly opened his.

"152 Jenis," the spiky haired boy gazed at the change in his hand with disappointment.

"That's the price of a drink," Stasy stated.

"On the first floor," Killua explained. "If you win or lose, you still receive the price of a drink. But, from now on, if we lose, we earn nothing. On the 50th floor, a victory earns you 50,000 Jenis!"

"5-50,000?" both Gon and Zushi gaped at each other.

"And at the 100th floor, about 1 million," Killua continued, taking his canned juice he had bought from the vending machine. If we pass the 150th level, the reward is over 10 million."

"Killua, you;ve gone to the 200th floor, haven't you?" Gon asked his friend shakily.

"The 200th?!" Zushi was nearly dead from heart failure.

"It was about 4 years ago, and I don't have any money anymore," Killua told him. "It helped me buy cake for four years."

"And how much do you earn at the 200th floor?" Stasy posed the question eagerly.

"To tell the truth," Killua rubbed his chin. "I quit just before the 200th floor, so I don't really know. But at the 190th floor, I received about 200 million Jenis. How about we hurry up a bit, since we weren't injured in the first match? They'll plan another match for us today, for sure."

The kids nodded and they hurried along to the locker where all the contestants of the 50th floor waited for their names to be called. The young ones sat on a bench amidst a group of scary looking guys who couldn't be won so easily. For normal people, that is. The announcer called Killua first and Zushi.

"It's an honor for me," he bowed stiffly.

"It's only a chance of fate," Stasy attempted to cheer him up. "It'll be better in the next match."

"Well, see you guys," Killua waved as he was leaving.

"Good luck!" Gon called out.

"I'll meet you two on the 60th floor, alright?" He called out.

"This is what you've all been waiting for!" the young woman's voice echoed through the massive arena packed with anxious spectators. Her eyes were bright and her ponytail defied the laws of gravity. "An electic battle between two young boys. But don't underestimate them! Each one has had an extraordinary match on the first floor, and came directly to the 50th floor. They're really strong! Thanks to our videos, let's watch their previous matches again!"

The colossal screen on the wall above the audience flickered to life and replayed the past fights. The announcer began her narration.

"Killua triumphed in a fraction of a second! He knocked out his opponent with one dazzling shot with the sharp of his hand! As for Zushi, using Kung-Fu techniques, and thanks to a precise shot, he ko-ed a giant of over 200 Kg without being injured! Ladies and Gentlemen! You can now use your command boxes for betting!"

The screen shut off the video and displayed the results.

"Oh! According to the results of the voting, Zushi should be the winner!"

Killua stared at the screen, face as placid and furious as a face set in stone. Zushi was squirming in his boots. I'm dead, I'm dead. I'm so dead. Killua is going to kill me!

"Well, three rounds of three minutes with the discount of the points and KO!" The announcer lady shouted into her microphone. "BEGIN!"

Zushi immeadiatly switched into his fighting pose.

Killua was impressed. I see...A gaurd that doesn't give a lot of space. That can't be learned in one day. He took the first step.

"Oh? Killua is heading audaciously for his adversary!" the announcer narrated the battle.

When Killua was but a step away from Zushi, the young Kung-Fu master shot forward, however, his efforts were futile. Killua appeared behind him in a second, the sharp of his hand engraved into the young boy's neck.

'Poor boy,' Stasy thought. 'He's no match for Killua.'

"Sorry, I want to go to the first floor in only one shot," Killua looked down on the fallen body of his opponent.

"CLEAN HIT!" the referee shouted into the noise of the crowd.

"Oooh! A terrible hit from Killua," the giddy announcer called out fervently into the crowd. "A clean hit and a down: 2 poinits! With the rules of points and KO taken into account. The excellent hits are filed in the 'Clean Hits' and are given 1 point. The extraordinary, filed in the 'Critical Hits' are given 2 points, and a down earns an additional point. If a total of 10 points is reached, the fighter is declared the winner! And of course, if the fighter can't continue, its a KO and he forfeits!"

The referee checked on Zushi. "Can you continue?"

"Yes, I'll be ok," he wiped his face as he warily got back up.

The fight continued with Killua clearly dominating over Zushi but this strange little kid would just not go down! 'It doesn't matter,' Stasy told herself. 'Even if the kid manages to get up after Killua's attacks, Killua will still obtain 10 points before Zushi could even make one!'

The announcer voice brought Stasy back down to the fight.

"Again! Zushi is on the ground! But he stood up, immeadiately, before the down could be called, so no points for Killua."

Now, the fighters stood still, but ready. They glared at each other intently, each trying to formulate a plan to defea the other. It appeared Zushi came to a conclusion as he began to do a strange swirling motion with his fists. At first, Killua was puzzled, but then he leapt back. Even from this distance, I could see the fear in Killua's eyes.

Then, like the sound of a nuclear bomb, Wing's voice rang out through the loud crowd, silencing everyone.

"ZUUUSHIIII!"

The loud interruption distracted the young fighter and he loked up curiously at his master. Who would've thought such a clam, small man could yell so loudly?

After the fight, Gon and Stasy waited for Killua outside the arena. The familiar puff of white hair was not hard to spot.

"Hey, Killua, over here!" Gon called out. "I got 60,000 Jenis!"

"I've got some problems," Killua ignored Gon's enthusiasm.

"Was he strong?" Gon questioned him.

"No, not at all," Killua replied. "He's talented; he'll become strong, but he's lacking. His punches are too slow, and he couldn't read any of my movements. But still...I couldn't crush him. Plus...when he changed his guard, I got the same impression as when fighting my brother. I can't really say what, but there was something bad about it. There's a technique behind all of this. I heard his master say something about "Ren."

Killua then began to explain what he heard over the eavesdropping of the teacher and student.

"Forgive me, master!" Zushi pleaded desperately to his sensei, head bowed.

I told you, Zushi, don't use 'ren' yet," he scolded his pupil.

"I'm so sorry!" Zushi apologized humbily. "He was so strong, I couldn't tell what was happening to me and..."

"I know," Wing knelt down to his pupil. "Wanting isn't a bad thing. But your goal is far away from that, isn't it? The top of the tower... One who is obsessed with winning reduces his own abilities."

"Yes, master!"

"Here, you must be prepared to lose one thousand times!"

"Yes!"

"'Ren'?" Stasy mused.

"Gon, I've changed my mind," Killua smiled. "I want to reach the top."

"I'll just be happy if we can reach the 100th floor," Stasy sighed.

"You're such a lech, aren't you?" Killua sighed.

"Only when you're concerned, my love!" Stasy squealed.