A big thank you to Hortenseyounka, Anime lover, Just A Cadbury and all silent readers!
Hortenseyounka – Welcome back dear! Hope you had fun on your travels! You'd be amazed by what you can put yourself through when you want to hurt someone that badly. I'm glad you like it! At the moment I'm trying to find basic stances so I can broaden my drawing. Feel free to draw her as much as you desire, I honestly don't mind! Also, my French is a little rusty, so I apologise if I get this wrong. Merci! J'espère que vous apprécierez les prochains chapitres.
Anime lover – The whole licking chains things, I had to lie down for nearly an hour coz I laughed too much.
Just A Cadbury – I'm glad you think so! I actually did it in about half an hour at work when I was trying to motivate myself to do event spreadsheets. Haha Nope, see answer above.
Also! New picture of my profile, trying different stances.
Let's get the legal stuff out of the way first. I do not own Hunter x Hunter or Hunter x Hunter 2011. All rights and ownership go to the following: Yoshihiro Togashi, Shueisha, Shonen, Kazuhiro Furuhashi, Nobuaki Kishima, Nippon Animation, Viz Media, Fuji TV, Funimation Channel, Satoshi Saga, Yukihiro Matsushite, Makoto Sato, Hiroshi Kojina, Atsushi Maekawa, Tsutomu Kamishiro, Madhouse, NTV, Yuzo Sato, Shoji Yonemura and last but not least Keiichiro Kawaguchi. Whew.
The song "Just Awake" is performed by "Fear, and Loathing in Las Vegas".
The next morning had come quickly; my phone alarm buzzing loudly and playing a song called "Just Awake". Indecently, that was also my ring tone when I actually took my phone off of vibrate and put in onto call instead. It woke me up with a shake when it suddenly became really heavy in its music. I set my alarm on my phone early as I didn't want to miss Kurapika and Melody going back. Knowing my brother, he wouldn't tell people when and would try to sneak off. I sat up quickly and grabbed my phone, flipping it open with my thumb and pressed the "off" button to turn off my alarm clock. Hopefully that didn't wake up Gon or Killua as they were in the rooms either side of me.
I quickly rolled out of bed and stumbled about in darkness to find the light switch. Once found, I flicked on the light and began getting ready to see Kurapika and Melody off; and then train with Gon and Killua for the screening day. I just had to work extra hard to keep up with them because once they discovered they're abilities there was no doubt in my mind that why would overtake me, leaving me behind them once more. If I was honest, I didn't want that to happen.
Once dressed and presentable to people, I quietly went out of my room, nearly bumping into Leorio who was up and about early. He looked at me with an eyebrow raised slightly in question.
"You're up early." He commented. I nodded my head and closed the door quietly so that I didn't wake anybody up, then turned to face him probably with a small smile on my face.
"I want to see Kurapika and Melody off; I said I would yesterday to Kurapika, but he didn't say a time so I just got up early." I said to him, my smile growing a little bit wider. Leorio shoved a hand into his suit pocket and nodded his head for me to follow him.
"Come on then, I'm heading there myself so I'll take you." He said to me. I nodded my head quickly and followed Leorio out of the building, I was actually lucky to have bumped into him; otherwise I might have missed the flight.
We managed to get to the airport quickly, there wasn't much traffic about as it was early hours into the day; but enough to keep the roads occupied. Once we got to the airport it was bright and sunny, and a lot busier than when we left. We met up with Kurapika and Melody in the lobby. I couldn't see Gon or Killua anywhere, I wondered if they were going to see him off to. If they were, they needed to be quick. I looked up to Kurapika in question, slightly confused.
"Have you told Gon and Killua what time you're leaving?" I asked him confused. He shook his head, keeping a small smile on his face. He still looked sick, but not as sick as yesterday; so that was a good thing.
"I haven't told them. I didn't want to." He said to me, making me look at him in more confusion. Leorio looked at him questionably as well, slightly confused himself.
"You're really sure? You won't tell them?" Leorio questioned him, shoving his hands into his suit pockets.
"Yes. Right now, they should spend every second training, like you should be doing." He said, glancing at me. I just smiled a little and furrowed my brows slightly; I should, but making sure they got onto the plane safely was my first priority. Kurapika looked back at Leorio, keeping the small smile on his face.
"Tell them we'll meet again." Kurapika said to me and Leorio. I nodded my head as Leorio gave him a thumb up.
"Sure." He said, smiling widely at him.
Kurapika promptly turned around on their heels and began walking away.
"So long." Kurapika said simply as they walked away. I furrowed my brows slightly, frowning widely; not exactly the goodbye I was hoping for, but he was with a work colleague so I guess it could be forgiven…
"Goodbye." Melody said as she began to turn around to walk away.
"Oh, one second…" Leorio said, stopping Melody in her tracks. She looked at him confused. Leorio bent down to her level, clearing his throat. When he was crouched down, he was just about the same height as me, give or take a few inches. He looked at Melody with a serious look as he spoke.
"Look after Kurapika. He acts calm, but he can be rash. He's smart, but doesn't always think things through. It looks like he's opened up to you, so could you act as a brake?" Leorio said to her smiling widely with his brows furrowed, making Melody smile widely at him. Melody nodded her head at his question.
"Yes. You're very soothing. You have the most pleasant heartbeat I've heard in this city. It's soft, expansive, and very warm. You would make an excellent doctor or teacher. You're very well suited to such careers." Melody said to him, keeping the wide smile on her face. She winked at him and held up a finger as she spoke some more.
"I recommend a career change." Melody said to him, making him smile in embarrassment and rub the back of his head.
"Well, I'll think about it." Leorio said to her, smiling widely.
He looked at me questionably, keeping the smile on his face as Melody did the same.
"Anything you want to add?" He asked. I thought about it for a second before remembering what I said last night and looked at Melody seriously myself.
"He can be really stubborn at times, so don't be afraid to tell him no. And if think he needs someone to talk to outside of work then let me know and I'll ring him or text him even if it's really late." I said to her. Melody nodded her head once more, keeping the smile on her face.
"Your heartbeat, even though much like your brothers, has a lot of different tunes. While the other night it was full of worry, it's now full of hope with the worry still there. I think you need to try and find your own path in life instead of following the one Kurapika has taken." Melody told me, keeping the smile on her face. I looked at her questionably; did Kurapika tell her last night of my plans for the future? That's the only way that would make sense.
"Goodbye, I hope we can meet again." Melody said to us, turning around and leaving me and Leorio standing, or in Leorio's case squatting, in the airport lobby, watching her retreating back catch up with Kurapika. Leorio turned his head towards me as they began disappearing from sight.
"We'll go see the airship take off and then I'll take you back to train." Leorio said, making me nod my head agreeing with him.
We made our way quickly to the outside of the airport and stood in the courtyard where we could see the airship take off clearly. It took off into the sky not long after we got to the courtyard. Leorio stood with his hands in his pockets as I waved my arm above my head, waving goodbye at it, smiling widely.
"I need to get serious about this…Let's go, Mishka." Leorio said turning around. I looked at him over my shoulder and nodded my head once and then turned my head back towards the airship watching it take off further and further into the sky. We would meet again; I just hoped it wasn't such a long time like this time. But I knew that this time, my brother was being looked after by a really good friend.
Me and Leorio got back to Zepile's house. We wondered through the house. I cautiously peeked into Kurapika's room to make sure that he didn't leave anything behind; it wouldn't matter now anyway, but it would mean that we would have to see each other again if he wanted it back. Gon and Killua were in his room, Killua sitting on the bed, leaning back on his arms. Gon looked over to me and Leorio, looking at us questionably while Killua acted as if he was unfazed by anything going on in the room.
"Where's Kurapika?" Gon asked. I smiled apologetically at him, furrowing my brows slightly as me and Leorio entered the room. Leorio took a seat on the couch as I stayed standing next to him.
"He's gone." I said to him, making his eyes go wide in surprise.
"What? He left?" Gon asked, sounding hurt by not knowing he was going. I looked at him apologetically once more, I thought he knew what time Kurapika was going until earlier today; I felt a little bad for not calling them or texting them, telling them to get over to the airport quickly if they wanted to say their goodbyes.
"We'll see him again. He said to keep training hard." Leorio said to him, as I nodded my head quickly agreeing with him. Gon furrowed his brows as he looked at Leorio, while Killua kept the same expression on his face throughout the whole conversation.
"What? He didn't have to worry about that…" Gon said trailing off in his sentence.
Killua shifted himself slightly and lifted a hand up as he spoke to Gon, his neutral expression turning into one of boredom.
"Weren't you happy that Kurapika was leaving Yorknew City?" Killua said, making me glare at Gon slightly, my eyelids off closing in annoyance. He was happy that Kurapika was leaving Yorknew? What kind of friend is that? Gon turned his head towards Killua, furrowing his brows slightly.
"Sure, but he left without telling us." Gon said, bowing his head down. I just glared at him more until he noticed. Once he did he waved his hands in front of his face, looking at me with a wide awkward smile.
"I didn't mean it nastily." Gon said as I hummed to myself and continued to look at him annoyed. Leorio threw something at Gon, who quickly caught it in his hands when he saw it coming from the corner of his eyes.
"It's from Zepile. He said that you'll see him again." Leorio said making me look at him with wide eyes. Zepile was gone to? And we were still at his house? Or maybe this wasn't he's house and he was lying?! But if that was the case whose house was this. I furrowed my brows as I thought to myself, trying to figure out where we were actually staying.
"Eh? Zepile's gone, too?" Gon questioned as Leorio brought a knee up, placing the heel of his foot onto the dirty looking couch.
"Yeah, and he recovered your hundred million, as promised." Leorio explained as Gon opened up the red bank book.
"He really did…" Gon said trailing off, staring at the page.
"Now you can buy back your Hunter Licence." Leorio said, leaning back onto the couch. Gon nodded his head and tore his eyes away from the page, looking at Leorio with a wide smile.
"Yeah…Zepile is really special." Gon said to him smiling widely. Leorio than threw something to me. I saw it coming out from the corner of my eyes and quickly turned around, catching the items in my hands. It was a little box. I looked at it confused.
"You left those in the back of the car after you and Gon went chasing after Kurapika. You're lucky they're not damaged." Leorio said to me. I clicked open the box and saw that it was the black contacts I had brought to keep my eyes hidden. I smiled widely at Leorio, grateful that he had recovered them; I had actually forgotten that I brought them.
"Thank you, Leorio." I said to him, smiling widely at him as I clicked the little box shut and kept it in my hands.
Leorio had left us alone again. All of us followed him with our eyes until the door shut. As soon as the door shut I was instantly in front of Gon glaring at him and making him jump looking at me with furrowed brows and an awkward smile.
"What do you mean then if it wasn't meant nastily?" I questioned him, keeping the glare on my face. Gon waved his hands in front of my again, keeping the awkward smile on his face.
"You know, because the spiders are still around here. So if Kurapika isn't here anymore then he can't catch the spiders." Gon explained to me. I thought over his words and sighed slightly, remembering that little detail. I backed away from Gon, dropping my head slightly.
"I guess you're right. Sorry, Gon. I didn't remember that." I said to him, smiling apologetically at him. Gon just smiled back and closed the red book that was thrown at him. Killua stood up and stood next to Gon and me, creating a small circle between the three of us.
"Now that Gon's got the money, we can get his Hunter Licence back today." Killua suggested to us. Gon nodded his head in agreement. Killua then smirked widely at the two of us.
"And then it's back to training otherwise I'll be the only one going to Greed Island." Killua said to us, making our faces drop. Of course, that's why we were here in Yorknew City in the first place, to play Greed Island and find Gon's dad.
A couple of days had passed, we brought back Gon's Hunter Licence and trained as much as we could, until it felt like our arms and legs would drop off our bodies. It was exhausting. I had gotten better at handling my barbed wire abilities, I discovered I could use them to restrain people, if I wasn't thinking about them with ill intent than the restraint didn't hurt them or me…Killua was the guinea pig for that one…without his knowledge…or constant...after we were finished training for the day. My head hurt a lot that day from him punching it and yelling at me not to use them on him unless he said it was fine or unless I really had to.
I had begun wearing my contacts again to keep my eyes hidden, sure the Phantom Troupe already knew; but that was the only people who I hoped would ever know apart from my friends. I didn't want anyone finding out in the game, there was probably nowhere to run inside the game which meant I would literally be faced with a life or death situation. So I had to keep them covered and protected, at least for my safety.
We walked to the place where the applicant screening was. Without much surprise, it was the auction house. I guess because everybody knew where the auction house was, so it was an easy place to get to for most people. There was a long queue and reporters everywhere. It took a while for me, Gon and Killua to actually get into the building and find a seat. Once we got in we took our seats, me and Killua sat on either side of Gon. We looked to be the youngest applicants here just to play this game. I noticed a familiar looking brunette with spikey hair sitting a few rows down from us. It was Kai. I looked at him with wide eyes, what was Kai doing here? Well, obviously to play the game; but if Kai was playing the game, we would need to stay on our toes a lot more. He wasn't stable minded like Kurapika said, and he even said back at Heaven's Arena that he was on medication now, on orders from Hisoka…It was a little scary.
I looked to the front, there was a short looking guy holding a microphone on the stage. He wore sunglasses as well, just like most of the people with suits here.
"I apologize for keeping everyone waiting. We will now begin selecting the players. As everyone already knows, you must be able to use Nen for this game." The man explained. I didn't know that, I just thought Nen was an advantage. But…if you had to use Nen then why was Kai here? Kai even said himself he can't use Nen, but he never explained how or why. He confused me, he confused me greatly and his being here was even more confusing.
"The test will proceed as follows. First, we need each applicant to demonstrate their Nen. We will then make our decision. The judge will be the pro Hunter, Mr Tsezgerra!" The man said, pointing to one side of the curtains. A tall looking man began walking out from behind the curtains. He wore what looked like dark green combat trousers with dark green combat jacket and very dark green combat boots. The crowd gasped and whispered in awe. What they were saying though I couldn't quite understand, they weren't speaking loud enough for me to hear. When I took a closer look, I saw that it was the man from a few days ago, the man with the grey eyebrows and black hair. In a way, I shouldn't have been surprised but in another way I was.
"Let us begin the test." Mr Tsezgerra announced, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring at us all in the seats.
I could feel the tension beginning to feel the room as everybody looked at him, getting ready to begin the test and play the game.
"One at a time, come up and show me you Ren. A shutter and curtain will block any view of the stage, so other applicants cannot see what's happening. The moment we've chosen thirty-two players, the test will end." Mr Tsezgerra announced as the shutter slammed onto the ground. The man in the suit and microphone walked over to the side of the stage and held the curtain open, making a gap for people to walk through.
"Please step this way to take the test." The man said. First one person stood up to take the test, then another, and then the entire room stood up and formed a line near the gap of the curtain to take the test so that they could play this one game. I looked at the line, it was so long. I looked down the seats and saw Kai still seated, it looked like he was leaning over in thought to himself.
"Would the first applicant please step in." The man announced. A tall guy wearing a skin tight red shirt and blue jeans stepped behind the curtain, disappearing from sight. This was going to be a long screening.
I continued watching as the man continued calling more people to come into the curtain. But something wasn't right, people were entering; but no one was actually coming out. I furrowed my brows slightly and leaned forward; crossing my arms on the top of the chair and resting my chin onto my arms, watching people go in. Where were they going? I heard someone chuckle behind us, making me turn my head over my shoulder slightly.
"Those guys are hopeless…They don't stand a chance." The man said. He had a rectangle like face and very short orange looking hair. It looked like he was wearing a purple suit. Gon and Killua turned their heads as well, looking at the man in as much confusion as I was.
"I'm talking about the ones still in line and those waiting nearby. Especially the ones standing next to the line. They're probably waiting for someone to return, so they can ask what's inside. If you did some research and used your head, you'd see there is no rush." The man explained to us. But that still didn't explain why people were not coming out from behind the curtain, unless I completely missed that in his explanation.
Killua thought to himself, placing a hand onto his chin. I looked at him questionably, an eyebrow raised slightly in question. Gon looked at him in question to, wondering what Killua was thinking of.
"I get it. This time, they aren't choosing thirty-two players!" Killua said to us.
"Exactly. It's been over ten years, and no one's cleared the game. And new players can't begin if old ones are still alive. Meaning that they have to save a few spots in case any extraordinary players appear. I'd guess they'll choose around twenty this time round…" The man explained as he crossed his arms over his chest and sat up straight. Killua turned to look at the front as me and Gon continued to look at the man wide eyed and interested with what he had to say. However, after a while, we both decided to look out to the front again.
"Personally, I'd say that those in line or standing nearby have no shot. Anyone worthwhile either got in line at once, or figured out the trick and stayed in their seats to focus, like we did. Wouldn't you agree, kid?" The man asked us. I was more focused on Kai. The game could only be played by Nen users, which Kai was not…so what was going on and what was he hiding now?
Me and Killua looked at Gon when he wouldn't answer the man. He had his hand clenched into a fist and just stared at it. I looked at his clenched hand; aura flittered off it, being concentrated into just his hand.
"Gon? You realized what was going on?" Killua asked as we stared at him. Gon looked between me and Killua, keeping a neutral expression on his face.
"Well, it was just a hunch. I thought it was only natural that the hosts would want to test everyone here." Gon said to us. I thought over his words and widened my eyes slightly in the realisation. Don't show him Ren, anyone could show Ren; instead show him Hatsu, not everyone was able to do that. And with Gon focussing his Nen into his fist, that's how I was able to get the answer. The man in the purple suit began laughing, making Gon turn his head towards him.
"That's true. You win, kid. Yeah, I'm impressed. Not many people can stick to their ideals. The steeper and more dangerous the path, the greater the need for both wit and ignorance to move forward." The man said. I raised an eyebrow at him; he was strange; really strange. I looked back at front, the line had moved rather quickly and left no more people; just us who decided to stay seated. The man with the microphone raised his arm slightly as he pointed to the curtain.
"Next please." The suited man asked.
The man in the purple suit jumped from his seat and landed a little bit away from us in the front. He pointed a thumb to himself, and looked at us from over his shoulder.
"My name is Puhat. Nice to meet you." He said, saluting us and then turning on his heel to walk away. Killua pointed to him, bored and began speaking.
"People who act smart usually fail." Killua said loud enough for him to hear. Puhat stopped walking and fell over slightly, tripping over his own feet. Gon turned his head to Killua and smiled at him slightly, his brows furrowed.
"He can hear you." Gon said to him. I turned my head to Gon, smiling slightly at him with my own brows furrowed.
"I think that was the point." I said to him.
Killua jumped away from the seats himself and began walking after Puhat.
"I'm heading over." He said simply to us, not even turning his head to look at us. I nodded my head, smiling at widely at Killua as Gon smiled widely at him.
"Yep, good luck." Gon said after him. We watched Killua walk all the way and disappear behind the curtain. I thought to myself, what part of my ability could I show? Sure, I could just show him the barbed wire, but that wouldn't show how strong I was; just that I was a conjurer. I thought to myself, putting a hand onto my chin and closing my eyes. Suddenly I snapped opened my eyes and slammed my hands onto the table standing up.
"I got it!" I yelled, causing some of the remaining applicants to look at me in displeasure. I furrowed my brows and slinked back down into my seat, burying myself under the table. Gon looked at me with a confused look.
"Got what, Mishka?" He questioned me. I looked at him from the corner of my eyes, keeping myself half buried under the table.
"I know what to show him now. You know after we were done training, I used my wires on Killua? I plan to do that." I said to him quietly, keeping my voice low after my little outburst. Gon thought to himself and nodded his head, smiling widely.
"That could work." Gon said to me. I smiled back at him and sat up straight from the table. I stood up and turned around, sitting on the table. Shifting myself round, I hopped off on the other side and looked at Gon.
"I'll go next then. I'll see you in a bit." I said to him, smiling widely at him. Gon nodded his as I began walking away.
"Good luck." He said over to me. I quickly turned around on my heel and smiled widely at him.
"You to!" I said to him, then turned around once more and made my way quickly over to the suited man with microphone.
I entered behind the curtain and then entered in through a door. The door shut behind me once I entered the room. The room was huge and brightly light up. The floor and walls covered in wooden panels. Mr Tsezgerra stood in the middle of the room with his arms crossed, a glare on his face as he stared down at me. I walked towards him, keeping my arms loosely by my side.
"Show me your Ren." He demanded from me. I looked at him sternly, showing him that I wasn't afraid of him; not that I had a reason to be. Sure he could probably rip my arms off if he felt like it, but he wasn't going to because he was just looking for people to play the game.
"Actually, if it's okay with you Mr Tsezgerra, I would like to show you my Hatsu." I said to him, confidently and certainly. He smirked at me as he kept his arms crossed, his glare disappearing.
"That's fine. You're free to show me anything that demonstrates your power. Prove that the Ren I saw previously didn't represent your true power. " He said to me. I nodded my head.
Taking a deep breath I held my right hand and arm out in front of me. I concentrated my Nen, focusing and then conjuring my barbed wire. I could feel it snaked around my arm, ending at my elbow and curled around my hand a couple of times, before ending with a small bit dangling down. Now to show him what I could do with this. I took a couple of deep breaths then threw my arm upwards into the air. Focusing I lengthened the wire and quickly brought my arm hand, grabbing a hold of the extended wire. Afterwards, I threw it towards Mr Tsezgerra and quickly moved round so that I was facing him side wards. He quickly unfolded his arms and held them in front of them, only to have the wire curl around his wrist. He looked at me surprised, more than likely because he couldn't feel any pain, I only knew this as I could feel pain myself. The barbed wire stayed securely curled around my hand and up my arm as well as on his wrists, even when he tried to pull them apart.
"You said I could do anything that demonstrates my power, right? This is it. You won't feel anything because I don't think of you with ill intent, so they're harmless." I said to him. I concentrated once more, dispersing the ability into nothing but air allowing Mr Tsezgerra to move his wrists freely once more. I dropped my arm back down to my side and looked up at Mr Tsezgerra, waiting for his answer. He smirked at me, keeping his arms by his sides.
"You pass." Mr Tsezgerra said to me. I smiled widely at him and threw my arms up into the air.
"Yes!" I cheered loudly, happy that I passed. That meant I could play the game.
I walked to the door and opened it, peeking inside. I looked around quickly and spotted Killua sitting at one of the empty desks, his arms folded over onto the table. Killua looked over by the door and waved over to me.
"Mishka." He said over to me smiling widely. I smiled widely at him and began making my way quickly over to him, taking note of the other people here. There were eight other people there, one of them looked as young as us. She had blonde hair in pig tails and a red looking dress. The other recognisable person was Puhat. Killua shuffled over in his seat slightly, allowing me to seat next to him. I smiled widely at him, taking the seat and placed my hands into my lap.
"Now we just need to wait for Gon." I whispered to him as the room was dead silent. Killua nodded his head agreeing with me, and folded his arms back over onto the table.
We stayed in silence until the room began shaking accompanied by a large bang. I looked around wide eyed, what had happened? Were we being attacked? The shaking stopped and the door started opening. Gon peaked his head through cautiously.
"Gon." I said over to him. Gon looked over to us and smiled widely as Killua raised his hand into the air and waved.
"Killua! Mishka!" Gon said happily and began making his way over to us. Me and Killua shuffled over in our seats so that Gon could sit next to us.
"Good, you two got chosen." Gon said happily to us as Killua lowered his arm into the table. Gon stopped by the table, keeping the wide smile on his face.
"Of course. Was that boom your doing?" Killua asked him, leaning forward slightly and replacing his smile with a smirk. Gon smiled back at us, his face being serious as he did.
"Uh-huh." Gon said to us happily.
"It sounded like we were being attacked. It sounds impressive." I said to him as Gon took a seat next to me. He just continued to smile widely at me for the compliment.
We waited in silence until Mr Tsezgerra came back. I noticed that Kai wasn't here. So he didn't know Nen…he must have left to go home or do whatever it was that Kai did in his spare time. If it was hanging around Hisoka than I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Once Mr Tsezgerra was here, he began handing us a sheet of paper. I took it politely and looked over it wondering what it was about. It seemed very formal to just play a game. Mr Tsezgerra stood on the stage in front of us once everybody received their bits of paper. We all looked down at him from the seats. He had his hands behind his back as he looked at us all.
"Well, allow me to congratulate you. The twenty-two people here have earned the right to play Greed Island. Upon clearing the game, you will receive fifty billion Jenny. The details are in the contract, so read and sign it before you depart at five PM." Mr Tsezgerra explained to us as we looked through the papers. I read through everything, it all seemed very complicated and confusing, I didn't understand any of it. We had decided to take out contracts with us so that we could get someone to look at them and try to help us understand what it meant.
Calmly, we walked out of the auction house. Once out, the three of us looked at each other and smiled widely. We high fived each other for getting through the screening, it meant we could now play Greed Island, the game that was causing us all this hassle.
Gon had decided to call Leorio, he was the best person we could think of that would be able to help us understand the contract, after all; he seemed like the type of guy who dealt with contracts regularly. Leorio agreed to meet us at a local café for a celebration drink…well drink in his case; we were just going to eat food. Once we met Leorio at the café we entered and ordered our food and drinks then took a seat at one of the booths. Me, Gon and Killua sat on one side of the table as Leorio took up an entire side to himself. Our food and drinks promptly arrived, causing Leorio to hold up his glass to us with a wide grin.
"Cheers! You've made it past the first stage." He said happily to us. I took a sip of my drink as Gon leaned over the table, holding out one of the contracts to him.
"Could you look at this for us?" Gon asked him. Leorio looked at him confused and placed down his glass, taking the contract from Gon.
"What is this?" He asked and brought the contract up to him. He read through it over the top of his sunglasses.
"A contract?" He muttered to himself, staring at the paper.
Leorio quickly drank all of his beer in one go, and then looked back at the contract again. I wondered if that helped him concentrate more; it probably didn't but knowing Leorio it probably did at the same time.
"Looks like it can be summarized in three points. First, you can't file any claims if you're injured or die. Second, any items that you bring out of the game belong to Mr Battera. Third, if you clear the game, you will receive a fifty billion Jenny reward. I don't see any problems." Leorio said to us, smiling widely as he closed the miniature file of papers. Gon nodded his head happily as I placed my glass down onto the table, watching Leorio closely.
"So once you sign it, you're good to go." Leorio said, leaning onto the table with one arm crossed onto it.
"That second point seemed important." Killua spoke up making the three of us look at him. He leaned an elbow onto the table and his head lazily into his open palm with his eyes closed. It looked like he had taken a drink earlier as his straw was close to his mouth.
""Anything that you bring out of the game." That's why he's paying the big bucks." Killua said to Leorio, removing his head from his hand and opening his eyes. Leorio sat up straight and looked at Killua questionably.
"Anything? Like what?" Leorio questioned him.
"I'm willing to hand it over. I'm not looking for items. I just want to get closer to Ging!" Gon said to Leorio, happily and smiling widely. I smiled widely at him as Killua closed his eyes and smiled to himself. Leorio smiled at Gon as well, happy about his dreams to meet up with his father.
We finished our food and drinks and paid for it all. Exiting the restaurant stopped and faced Leorio. Leorio was leaving us as he had his doctor's exam coming up. He was closer to becoming a qualified doctor, I was happy for him.
"See ya." Leorio said to us as we looked up to him.
"Good luck on your exam, Leorio." Gon said to him cheerfully.
"Yeah, you guys be careful." Leorio said to us, keeping the smile on his face. I smiled widely at him.
"If we're not then we can ask you to help us." I said to him, making him sigh to himself. That was not the way to see someone quicker, but if it worked it worked.
"Next time we see you, you'll be a doctor." Gon said to him. Leorio leaned forward slightly and dropped the smile from his face, instead looking at us in slight annoyance.
"Wouldn't that mean we won't see each other for at least four years?" Leorio questioned us. I looked at him wide eyed, four years?! That's how long it took?! I would want to see Leorio quicker than that.
"We plan to clear the game much more quickly." Killua said to him. Leorio stood up straight once more and smiled widely at us, shoving a hand into his suit pocket.
"I don't intend to fall behind." Leorio said to us.
We watched him walk away. Me and Gon waved our arms into the air at him, waving him goodbye as Killua stood with his hands in his pockets. The only thing we had to do now was sign the contracts and then give them back to Mr Tsezgerra before five so that we could leave to play the game.
We reached the meeting point, which was a train station, signed papers at the ready and handed them to Mr Tsezgerra with the rest of the applicants. We were quickly hurried onto a train. It was sun set when we left the train station; but after a few hours, the three of us grew tired and had fallen asleep on the train. Killua and Gon had fallen asleep, leaning their shoulders onto each other with Killua sprawled half way across the chair. I ended up using Killua shoulder to lean on and found myself curled up with my knees to my chest slightly.
The three of us woke up once the train stopped moving. I sat up first allowing Killua to sit up which allowed Gon to sit up. We all stretched at the same time and yawned. I lazily turned my head to the window, it was completely dark outside; it must have been the middle of the night. Mr Tsezgerra came through the carriage, collecting us all and then began leading us to another building.
Once at the building, we followed him closely behind and down some set of stairs. When Mr Tsezgerra opened the door he revealed a room that was completely dark. The only source of light was from the TV's, that all had stations plugged into them. I looked at the room wide eyed; I had never seen so many electronics on at any one time, apart from when me and Kurapika were in Yughi, a town filled and thriving on electrical equipment.
"Now, then… Before we begin, let me explain a few things." Mr Tsezgerra said to us as we entered the dark room. If someone wanted to damage their eyes for good, then this was the best way to do it.
"The individual game copies are not independent. It doesn't matter which console you start from. You will arrive at the same place. Consider it a virtual area accessible form any spot on this planet." Mr Tsezgerra explained. Gon's faced dropped as he looked utterly confused. Me and Killua looked at him wide eyed, it wasn't taking a lot to confuse Gon lately.
"I will now hand out memory cards. You will head immediately into the game. But first, we must decide the order." Mr Tsezgerra said to us. I looked at him confused, what did he mean by order? Couldn't we just jump into the game once we had a memory card?
"Order?" Puhat said from the back, confused himself.
"Only one may enter the game area at a time. We will decide the order now, to forestall bickering inside the game." Mr Tsezgerra said to us all. Puhat looked over to me, Gon and Killua as he raised his hand slightly.
"Then let's use rock-paper-scissors." He suggested to us.
I played rock-paper scissors with everybody, and lost with everybody. Rock-paper-scissors was not my best game.
"Yes! I'm first!" Gon said happily. He turned to Mr Tsezgerra, who smirked at him.
"Oh? You're the boy who had a save file." Mr Tsezgerra said as Killua held out two fingers in a scissors shape.
"Damn, I'm seventh!" He cursed at his fingers. I looked at him, frowning widely and pulling a slight face.
"At least you're not last." I said to him, furrowing my brows. That meant everybody was going to be staring at me when I entered the area, because I was the last person and everybody stares at the last person; it's like some unspoken rule that everybody followed. I heard Gon fiddle through his pockets and looked at him questionably. He pulled out the memory card and the ring, holding it up to Mr Tsezgerra.
"Do you want to use it?" Mr Tsezgerra asked him. Gon looked at me and Killua. We both nodded our heads and smiled at him; reassuring him it was fine to use the memory card and ring. Although Gon still looked unsure about doing so.
"Don't worry. Your initial destination is always the same, regardless of your save." Mr Tsezgerra explained to him as Gon stared hard at the card and ring.
After a few seconds of thought, Gon looked up to Mr Tsezgerra, a confident look on his face.
"I'll use my own card." Gon told him. Mr Tsezgerra nodded his head and held out his arms, pointing to all the consoles in the room.
"Then put the ring on, and start the game." Mr Tsezgerra said to him, and moved aside pointing to one of the consoles. Gon began slipping the ring onto his middle finger. Me and Killua looked at him with wide neutral expressions.
"Gon. Wait in the starting area until Me and Mishka get there." Killua said to him. Gon gave us a confident smile and gave up a thumbs up.
He walked to the console and stuck in the memory card. Holding his hands either side of it, just like when we were doing that water thing to see what Nen category we had, he concentrated his Nen and then vanished out of sight. Everybody gasped in the room as Killua looked at it and whistled. I looked at it wide eyed that was amazing.
"Once you see a "now playing" message, the next person can begin." Mr Tsezgerra explained to us. Everybody waited until the "Now playing" Screen showed up. Once it showed up, people began taking spots and stepping into the game themselves.
It soon got to Killua's turn. He turned and looked at me with a wide smile.
"Well, me and Gon will see you in a bit." He said to me, making me not my head. I smiled widely at him.
"Make sure to wait for me okay?" I said to him. Killua nodded his head and gave me a thumbs up. He took the memory card from Mr Tsezgerra and the ring. Slipping it onto his finger he walked over to a console and slipped in the memory card. Holding his hands out to either side of the console like Gon did, Killua began concentrating his Nen and then with that, he disappeared; leaving me alone in a room full of stranger, watching the other people take their turns until it was finally my go.
Last but not least, it was my turn. I slipped the ring onto my middle finger on my left hand and stuck in the memory card that was given to me. I held my hands out on either side of the console and concentrated my Nen. That's when I vanished. As quickly as I vanished, I reappeared into a completely white room, with nothing more than a black and white door, buzzing with lots of different colours. The doors opened, revealing a black and white room, buzzing with more colours on the white part. I stepped through the door and looked at what was in front of me. There sat a woman in a giant pod like thing that floated above the ground. She wore a giant pod like hat. Her hair was grey and she looked rather pale. Her eyes were bright blue and she always wore a constant smile. Her pods were also black and white and buzzed with colours every so often. She looked even younger than I was.
I stared at her wide eyed, not really sure what I was expecting.
"Welcome to Greed Island. You must be Miss Mishka. I will now explain how the game works. Would you care to listen?" The girl asked me. I walked towards her and nodded my head slightly, stopping in front of her.
"Okay." I said to her hesitantly. I had never played a video game before, is this how all video games were? If they were then maybe listening to the rules was the best thing I could do; save myself the embarrassment.
"In this game, two magic spells are available to anyone wearing a ring: Book and Gain." She explained, holding up two fingers. I held out my hand in front of my face and looked at the ring, so that's what it was used for.
"Place the hand with the ring in from of you, and say "Book"." The girl told me. I did what she told me and held my hand out in front of me, out stretching my fingers.
"Book." I said simply. Out of nowhere a purple book with a green circle simple appeared in front of me, taking me back by surprise. I pulled back my hand and held it with my free hand, looking at the book wide eyed.
"In this game, your task is to collect certain cards. That book is for storing the cards you've collected. Please look at the first page." The girl instructed me after explain what the book was for.
The book opened by itself, showing the first page. On one page it had a single black block with three zero's. On the page opposite it, it was filled with the black blocks and had different numbers on it. I stared at the page wide eyed; amazed by everything that was happening.
"Each slot is labelled with a number. You can only place cards of the same number in these slots. These are your "Restricted slots". Please flip ahead a few pages." The girl explained and then instructed once more. The page flipped over some, showing black blocks but this time there was no numbers. I looked confused, and furrowed my brows in confusion. What did these one mean? Why was there no numbers on these blocks?
"You may place any card inside these slots. These are your "Free slots". There are one hundred restricted slots, numbered zero to ninety nine. Then you have another forty five free slots. To clear this game, you must fill the one hundred restricted slots." The girl explained. I looked at her in disbelief, and then looked back at the book once more. I needed one hundred cards?! That was insane! When if I couldn't get the one hundred cards, I was going to be stuck in here forever and then I couldn't see Kurapika, Leorio or Melody ever again! Not only that I couldn't see Gon and Killua ever again!
I looked back at the girl, feeling very disheartened by the new information given to me. She continued to smile though with her wide smile and huge blue eyes.
"You must transform one hundred items into cards and put them in your book." She said to me. I looked at her confused, wondering what she meant.
"I'm sorry, I don't understand. Can you explain?" I asked her, looking at her questionably. An image of a sword appeared next to her.
"For example, if you obtain a sword, it will become a card the moment you get it. If you wish to use the card as an item, you must use the spell "Gain"." She explained some more. I took in the words and nodded my head; I think I understood that more now. It seemed simple enough now.
"However, once you've used Gain to return a card to item form, you can never transform it into a card again. If you want to make it into a card again, you must reacquire the item. Do you understand everything so far?" The girl explained and then asked me. I took in everything she said, I think I got it all. Book summoned the book, an item I need as a card will turn into one for said book, and if I wanted it as an item again I had to say Gain but that meant reacquiring the item if I wanted to as a card again for the book. Oh and to complete the game, I needed all one hundred cards.
I nodded my head at the girl slightly, keeping a neutral look on my face.
"Yeah, I think so." I said to her. She held up two more fingers once more, continuing with her smile and wide eyed look.
"There are two cases other cases in which you cannot transform an item into a card. The first is when you reach the item's maximum card transformation limit." She said to me, holding up just one finger. So the items and cards had a transformation limit? I guess that was a good thing in a way, it stopped people cheating and have an unlimited number of any one item.
"Every item in this game has a card transformation limit. For example, if an item has a transformation limit of three, and three players have already transformed them into a card, the fourth to find it will be unable to change it into a card." She explained to me. I looked at her wide eyed that suddenly put a whole lot more pressure onto the game. There was only limited chanced in a way and if you didn't have that chance you couldn't go on.
She held up her finger once more into the air as I continued to look at her wide eyed.
"In the second case… If you don't place the card into your book within one minute, it will automatically revert to an item. In this case, as well, you can never transform that item into a card again. Do you understand?" She explained to me and then asked me once more. I thought over the words again, it seemed simple; only three people in the entire game can have a card before no one else could, and if you're not quick it's an item again. Seemed pretty straight forward to me. I nodded my head at her.
"Yeah, I understand." I said to her as confidently as I could.
The girl placed down her hand again and continued to look at me with a wide smile.
"Finally, the most important note… If a player dies, their book and ring are destroyed and the books contents are lost." She explained to me. That last part seemed a little bit redundant actually, I mean you're not going to care very much if you're dead and I think the last thing on your friends minds will be hoarding your things after you just literally died. I think they'd be more concerned on how you died.
"That concludes my explanation. You'll need to learn everything else about the game by playing it." She said to me. I smiled slightly at her through furrowed brows; this game just suddenly became the most unappealing thing in the world. Yet here I was doing it, all because I wanted to help Gon find his dad.
"Thank you for your explanation." I said to her, even if she was just a robot or seemed like a robot, she seemed to understand human commands. The floor next to me disappeared into a circle and instead was replaced by stairs leading downwards. I looked at the stairs with wide eyes, I was not expecting that. I guess anything could happen within a game.
"I wish you the best of luck. Please take those stairs." She explained to me. I nodded my head at her, keeping the small smile on my face and began walking towards the stairs.
I walked down the stairs carefully, there weren't any railings and it was quite a long way down, so I didn't want to fall. If I fell and killed myself in the beginning of the game then I'd be the worst player to ever exist. As I walked down the stairs it got darker and then lighter. Taking the final step I shielded my eyes from the sudden sunlight with my arm.
I looked in front of me with wide eyes; it was an open plain of grass. It was bright and warm. I couldn't believe it, this was actually a game and yet everything felt so real. The suns heat felt real, the cool breeze felt real; the grass crunching under my shoes felt real; all of it felt so real. I stepped out from under the mill like building I was under. Now, I just had to find Gon and Killua and we could begin to find Gon's dad.