To be a Hunter - 2011 (being revised)

by Relentless-virus

There was one more survivor of the Kuruta clan. Her name was Mishka, the younger sister of Kurapika. Join her on her adventures with Gon, Killua, Kurapika and Leorio as she learns who she is as a person as well as becoming less dependant on her brother. This is the 2011 version! Being re-written and revised.

55. Strategy x And x Scheme

A big thank you to Anime lover, Hortenseyounka and all silent readers!
Anime lover – Oh, I figured something out and I think people will like it.
Hortenseyounka – Nah I think you're pretty good at English! Yeah, it was challenging, but something has been found so I hope you enjoy! Don't worry about it :) And don't worry about reading the other one, not something you have to do.

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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.

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Me and Gon had been training intensely over the last few days, mastering our special abilities to show off to Killua. Gon had suggested that we wait by the mill that we came out of. He had a feeling that Killua would be back. And he was right. We hadn't been waiting at the mill long until we saw Killua walking down the steps with a smile on his face and hands in his pockets. Me and Gon smiled widely at him.
"Welcome back, Killua!" We said at the same time as Killua began walking towards us, keeping the wide smile on his face. Me and Gon walked towards him to meet him half way. Killua looked clean, and his clothes were clean to while be and Gon were still covered in dirt, dust and sweat… that was so unfair I really wanted a bath or a shower too!
"How was the exam?" Gon asked him as we stopped in front of each other, forming a small three person circle between us.
"I passed it in to time, naturally." Killua said to us. The three of us raised her hands into the air, forming fists and bumped the back of my hands together, glad to see each other again but also glad that Killua was now a Hunter like me and Gon.
"Yay!" We celebrated with wide smiles on our faces. I heard footsteps come towards us. The three of us turned our attention to Biscuit who stopped beside us, a wide smile on her face too.
"Sorry to interrupt your celebration, but look at these spell cards." Biscuit said to Killua.

We walked back to the rocky area that we knew. The four of us sat on the rocks, forming a four person circle. Biscuit had summoned her book and handed it to Killua for him to look at the spell cards. He flicked through the pages with wide eyes, looking at the cards in amazement.
"Wow… There's even an S-rank card! How much can we sell it for?" Killua asked us, staring at the S-ranked card.
"Oh, let's go ask around!" Biscuit said excitedly, quite happy to go along with Killua's idea. I frowned widely and shook my head at the idea, looking at the two sternly.
"No, we should wise it widely." Gon said as I nodded my head agreeing with him.
"Yeah, we might need it one day." I said to them sternly, keeping the stern look on my face. Me and Gon looked at Killua who turned his attention to us.
"So what should we do?" Gon asked him. If I was honest, we had been a little bit lost without Killua around, we weren't sure who to ask questions who or to turn to for guidance when we didn't want it from Biscuit; it had all been a little bit mad.
"Well, I guess it's safe to hold on to it. With all these defensive spells, we don't need to worry about it getting stolen." Killua said to us making me smile widely at him. Biscuit turned her head and puffed out her cheeks, not happy with the idea of no longer selling the S-ranked card.

Killua continued flicking through the pages, turning his attention back to the book to look at all the spell card.
"Have you tried any of these?" Killua asked. I nodded my head slightly, we had only used one and that was the Blackout Curtain card so we could practise our training in peace.
"Just Blackout Curtain." Gon said to him. Killua furrowed his brows as he looked at us, frowning widely at our lack of using cards.
"What? If you have all these spells you should use them… Start by using this one." Killua said to us, taking out a card and handing it to Gon. I peeked over Gon's shoulder slightly to look at the card. The card was called "Contact". It let you talk to other people in the card for only three minutes.
"You can choose a player you've met before, and talk to them." Killua explained to us. That seemed like an interesting card, it also seemed like one that could come in handy if you ever got into trouble and needed someone to help you get away. Me and Gon looked back at Killua.
"Who should we talk to?" Gon asked him confused.
"We won't know until we see who's available." Killua pointed out to Gon.

I looked at Gon as he looked away from Killua and at the card, holding it slightly in the air.
"Contact on!" He said, making the card vanish into thin air. I looked at Killua who began pressing down onto something inside the back of the book. The book bleeped with every press he mad.
"Oh, I see a lot of names." Killua said, staring into the book. He continued pressing down on buttons until his eyes narrowed in fear. I looked at Killua confused as Gon looked at Killua with the same wide eyed look.
"Hey, Gon, Mishka…When did you run into him?" Killua asked us. Me and Gon looked at each other confused before looking back at Killua even more confused. Run into who? We stood up and walked to either side of Killua, bending down to look over his shoulder. We gasped in shock. That name…that was…Chrollo Lucifer…the guy who ran the spiders.
"Chrollo?" Gon questioned shocked. I stared at the book wide eyed; I could feel my hands shake as I gripped onto my training trousers tightly. Something rose in my throat, but I couldn't swallow it no matter how hard I tried.
"Who's Chrollo?" Biscuit asked us. Me and Gon looked at Killua seriously, ignoring Biscuits question. This was more important than explaining to Biscuit who this man was.
"We haven't seen Chrollo inside the game." Gon said to him as I nodded my head quickly agreeing with him. Killua looked at both of us shocked, tearing his eyes away from the book.
"Does that mean you guys passed each other without noticing?" Killua asked us. I shook my head, my grip tightening onto my training trousers as I continued to stare at the name, picturing the man's face. It couldn't be true, he couldn't be here.
"Huh? What are you talking about?" Biscuit questioned more, only to be ignored by us one more time.

Me and Gon continued to look at Killua seriously, without my brother inside the game Chrollo could easily kill me for my eyes and Kurapika wouldn't be none of the wiser as my body would disappear…But would he be able to take my eyes outside of the game? No…of course he could, our bodies were physically transported into the game…he could do so with no problem.
"That doesn't make sense. Kurapika sealed his Nen." Gon pointed out, jogging me away from my thoughts. But I couldn't take in any of the words, he had somehow gotten into the game even with sealed Nen…how could he do that…did something happen to Kurapika?!
"Yeah, and you have to use Nen to enter the game." Killua said to us. I just grew worried though, what if he had to call off the sealing? Could Kurapika do that? I didn't understand his attacks too well so I couldn't be sure…I had to get out of the game to see if everything was okay.
"Who's Kurapika?!" Biscuit asked sounding as if she was getting more and more annoyed with us just ignoring her questions.
"That only leaves…" Killua began saying before being cut off with all three of us being punched into the air by a very ticked off Biscuit.
"Let me in on this!" Biscuit shouted at us angrily as we just continued flying up into the air.

We landed on the ground with a heavy thump, not really expecting to be punched into the air in the first place. We decided to ask her if it was possible to purge Nen from your body; just to put my mind at rest that Kurapika was more than likely fine.
"Purging Nen? It's very doable." She said to us simply as if it was nothing.
"Seriously?" Killua asked her as we stared at her with wide eyes.
"Of course! If you can place Nen on others, it's not unreasonable to think Nen can be removed, as well." Biscuit said to us, holding up a finger with her eyes closed. She made it sound like it was something everybody knew about. Me, Gon and Killua looked at each other, my brows knitting together more and more with the conversation at hand.
"Does that mean Chrollo has removed Kurapika's Nen, and entered the game?" Killua questioned. Gon looked at him confused and moved his shoulders back slightly.
"Why would he be here?" Gon asked him. Killua pointed his head slightly to me, making me furrow my brows even more.
"One reason could be to get Mishka's eyes. I'm not sure of other reasons, but we should probably let Kurapika know." Killua said to us and began turning on his heel to leave.
"I'll leave the game real quick." Killua said. I shook my head quickly and grabbed Killua's wrist before he could run off. He looked at me questionably as I gave him a stern look.
"I'll do it. I want to see if he's okay anyway…what if something happened to him and he had to drop it? Book." I said to them and then summoned my book. I let go of Killua's wrist and began flicking through the pages and removed the one card I needed before turning to Killua.
"Summon your book. I'll give you my cards to hold on to until I get back." I said to him seriously.

Killua summoned his book. We began exchanging cards. I looked at the spell card I could use to get off the Island and sighed slightly, handing the card back to Killua to take.
"I'll be back in four hours. Save this one for when we really need." I said to them smiling widely. Once the exchanging was done I dismissed my book and turned to the three, keeping a wide, confident smile on my face.
"I'll come find you guys again okay? See you soon." I said to them and quickly turned on my heel to run from our small group. I needed to ask my brother what was up and if purging his Nen was possible, more so if he was okay. Of course, Gon and Killua didn't stop me, they knew how close I was to my brother; being that he raised me from the age of eight and he was the only family I had left.

I knew exactly where to head. I needed to see the dock master and defeat or bribe him for the card to leave the Island. I didn't have any money as I left that all with Gon and Killua, so defeating him was my only option. I ran quickly, the dock coming into view quite quickly, well, as quickly as one and a half hours went. I slowed to a jog as I reached the dock masters house and opened the door. Now would actually be the perfect time to test out the ability I had been working on. The dock master looked at me questionably, his yellow snot moving up and down slightly as he sniffed the air.
"What do you want?" He questioned me, ears twitching and snot snorting.
"I wish to leave the Island." I said to him simply. The dock master just snorted a laugh at my request and turned his back to me as if I was nothing more than a bug.
"Sure you can leave, for a price that is…" He said to me, trailing off in his sentence. I sighed slightly to myself; I couldn't do that I didn't have any money on me, so I guess I would try my special technique that I had been working on for the past several days and nights to perfect.

I stepped back from the dock master and looked at sternly, a glare on my face. I held my left hand in front of me, fingers out stretched and closed my eyes taking in a deep breath, thinking of a horrifying image. I felt myself wince at the thought and sight, but also saw my vision go red. Unlike my brother, I couldn't just have scarlet eyes whenever I please, I wasn't that good yet I had to do something that invoked fear. I opened my eyes and stared at my hand, concentrating my Nen into it. My barbed wires wrapped itself round my hand, blue Nen glowing violently off of it. Concentrating harder and staring sternly at my hand I made the barbed wire shoot from my hand. It stayed attached through the process and began forming a shape. Once the shape was formed, blue Nen glowed violently off of the barbed wire once more into a form of a dog with bright scarlet eyes.

The dog growled, grabbing the dock masters attention. The dock master looked at me before looking back at the dog. He jumped back slightly, looking at the dog as it laid on the floor on its belly and began inching its way forward. I kept my hand held out with fingers outstretched as I walked towards the dock master.
"I don't have money. So I guess this is the only way. I'm sorry." I said to him, bowing my head slightly apologetically. I pushed my hand forward, making the dog jump at the dock master, who screamed painfully when the dog landed on him.
"W-wait! I'll take this as the bribe! You can have the card to leave the Island!" The yellow coloured dock master said to me. I smiled widely at him as he transformed into a card, fluttering to the floor. The Nen dog looked between me and the card as I walked over and bent down, picking up the card and smiling widely to myself. I looked at the Nen dog with a wide smile on my face.
"Thank you." I said simply to him before jerking my hand backwards. The Nen and barbed wired dog vanished, leaving nothing more than bits of broken barbed wire. I closed my eyes once more and took a deep breath, ridding the image in my mind. My vision went back to normal and with that, I left the dock masters house to catch the boat; allowing me to leave the Island. The boat was already waiting at the dock, so I boarded quietly and waited for it to leave the dock so I could leave the game.

Leaving the game was something different. I was brought into a room that looked a lot like the room I had entered in. In the front sat a girl with grey hair and bright blue eyes. Her skin was deathly pale…she looked identical to the girl I had spoken to when entering the game. She even had the same smile on her face.
"All your cards in your free slot will be lost when you leave the game. Is this okay?" The girl asked me. I nodded my head quickly, bouncing slightly on the balls of my feet.
"Yeah, that's fine." I said to her hastily, my nerves starting to get the better of me. Three panels came up in front of the girl. She stared through the words and just at me, keeping the creepy smile on her face.
"Where do you want to go?" She asked me. I thought about it for a second, ideally, the same place I had entered…but I didn't know the name as we weren't told the location. I looked at her with furrowed brows, continuing to bounce on the balls of my feet.
"That place where I entered the game, if that's okay." I said to her. The girl nodded her head and pressed one of the words. The panels vanished by collapsing on each other as the girl continued to stare at me with bright blue eyes and creepy smile.
"We hope to see you again soon." She said to me, keeping the same monotone voice. I nodded my head as my body felt like it was being ripped from the floor. With that, I was pushed into the dark room where I had entered the game.

I looked around. Some screens had "game over" on them. I furrowed my brows and quickly walked away from the console I stood at. No one was in the room, it was completely empty. I dug through my pockets as I exited the dark room to stand in the hall way. Exiting the room quickly, I closed the door behind me with my foot and stood next to the door, leaning onto the wall. I flipped open my phone and began looking for Kurapika's number. Once found I pressed the call button and held the device to my ear…I didn't even know what time it was for him so I could only hope I wasn't waking him up.

The phone rang a couple of times. I bounced on the balls of my feet some more, becoming nervous that he wouldn't pick up. My nerves were put to rest though once I heard the familiar voice on the end of the line.
"Mishka? Are you okay?" I heard Kurapika ask. He didn't sound hurt or anything, in fact he sounded like he had fully recovered from being sick. I nodded my head even though he couldn't see, smiling slightly to myself, glad that he sounded okay.
"Yeah I'm okay. Are you okay? Has anything happened?" I asked him back quickly, continuing to bounce on the balls of my feet.
"Yes…I'm okay. And no, nothing has happened. Why? What's going on, Mishka?" Kurapika asked me in a questioning tone. I sighed in relief, slumping down the wall until I landed on my bottom; that was a relief to hear. I looked at my arm through the corner of my eyes, trying to think on how to word what I was going to say.
"Hey…Has someone purged the Nen from Chrollo? I'm just curious…His name appeared in Green Island…" I said to him, trailing off in my sentence. I heard a confused sigh come from my brother as well as the sound of feet moving; so he must have been walking around somewhere as his voice echoed.
"I doubt it. I would know at once if Nen I placed on a spider had been removed." Kurapika said found the phone to me.

I knitted my brows together, that didn't really make much sense to me…his name was in the book of the people we could talk to! Something must have happened or god forbid someone managed to the Nen without Kurapika's knowledge.
"O-oh! Did you think something like this might happen when you chose your ability?" I asked him, trying my best to sound as curious as I could.
"Of course… If you're able to place Nen on others, it only makes sense to assume that one can also remove Nen." Kurapika said to me. That at least confirmed something, Kurapika knew about that to…but that also meant that it couldn't be Chrollo in the game otherwise Kurapika would know that his Nen was removed. I sighed slightly down the phone and shook my head, what if Chrollo did get someone to remove the Nen and Kurapika was too busy to notice? So many questions ran through my mind…nothing made sense.

I leaned my head back into the wall, closing my eyes just trying to make sense of everything. His name was in the book and yet his Nen might not be removed…what was going on. With another sigh I began to speak once more.
"Okay…well, you know now. I guess I'll just leave you to decide what to do…I'll try to avoid him though." I said to him, doing my best to sound cheerful about the whole situation, but failing miserably at it.
"Thanks for taking the trouble. You have my gratitude." Kurapika said before hanging up the phone. I frowned widely and brought the phone down from my ear, looking at the screen that showed only a red phone placed downwards, indicating he had hung up.
"Yeah…you too." I said simply to the phone, flipping it shut. I sighed once more, pocketing my phone. Kurapika had really changed since we passed the Hunter exam and he went to become a body guard but then again…I had changed a lot as well and I guess... I was missing the old times slightly before everything happened. Still, it was no time rolling about in my thoughts, I had to get the information back to Killua, Gon and Biscuit just so they could put their mind to rest…me not so much. Standing up, I walked back into the dark room and back towards the game console I was stationed at, ready to enter once more.

Once I had entered I skipped the introductions and said yes to loading from my save file. The girl who looked identical to the girl I was talking to earlier let me back into the game where I began making my way back to Gon, Killua and Biscuit.

After one hour and thirty minutes of running I finally met back up with the gang of three. I smiled widely at the two, deciding to push back my thoughts.
"From what Kurapika said, it's not the real Chrollo. He was pretty calm about it…so I guess he's really confident that it's not him." I explained to the three smiling widely. I shoved my hands into my trouser pockets as Biscuit held up a finger looking at me with wide eyes and a wide smile.
"Well, it sounds like you got worried for nothing. Now it's time to focus on yourselves." Biscuit said to said, turning her attention to Gon and Killua with her hands on her hips. Her smile turned into a stern one. That meant we were going back to training.
"Osu! Start with basics…" Gon said trailing off as he threw his hand into the air as if answering a question in a class room. Biscuit looked at the three of us and held up a finger once more, her stern smile turning into a light one.
"We're not going to train. It's time to start beating this game!" Biscuit said to us, dropping her hand once more as she looked at us sternly. I smiled widely at her, finally no more training! Now if only she would let us have a bath and I would very happy right now. I turned to Killua with a wide smile and held my hands lightly behind my back.
"Could I have my cards back please?" I asked him keeping the wide smile. Killua thought for a second and then nodded his head summoning his book. I summoned my own book allowing us to do the exchange of my cards once more.

Once me and Killua were done swapping my cards back into my book we walked away from the rocky area and instead walked to some farm land. There was a local farmer there. He was kind of stocky and wore green overalls with a short sleeved dirty cream shirt. He had a pipe in his mouth and very sun touched skin, probably because he spent a lot of time outside. He showed us to a giant tree. The tree was ginormous! Its leaves were a nice minty green colour; the bark was a dark brown colour. It looked like a very healthy tree. The four of us stared up at in awe as Gon walked over the top roots, getting a better look at the tree.
"It's said the legendary King Great White Beetle lives only on this tree! There is only one way to capture it! Hit the tree hard enough to shake it out." The farm said to us, smirking widely to himself. I saw Gon hunch over slightly and pull his hand back, clenching it into a fist.
"First comes rock! Rock, paper… Rock!" Gon shouted as his fist started glowing a violent yellow. He slammed his fist into the tree making it shake from the bottom of its roots to right up the top of its trunk. Gon's voice echoed through the land. Bugs started falling from the tree, making me and Biscuit cover our heads to stop them getting into our hair. I closed my eyes tightly and creased my nose.
"Awesome!" Killua said in amazement.
"It's raining bugs!" Biscuit said as I nodded my head quickly, keeping my eyes shut tightly I felt a poke on my hip and opened an eye slightly to see Killua smirking at me. I furrowed my brows slightly at him as he started laughing slightly to himself.
"See, you are scared of bugs." He said in a cocky voice. I shook my head quickly, denying everything he was saying.
"Am not!" I protested at him. I felt something hit the back of my neck, making me snap up straight and snap my eyes open, pulling a wide frown. That's when I started to brush off the side of my neck quickly, trying to get whatever landed on it off.

Once I got the thing off my neck as I wasn't sure if it was a bug or a leave or Killua trying to do a trick to me, I looked at the tree trunk, trying to spot a beetle that was white in colour.
"Found it." Gon said walking over to the trunk. He grabbed the bug, making it turn into four cards. I smiled widely as Gon held the cards in the air, smiling widely at us.
"Difficulty A! That's four Great King White Beetle cards!" Gon said in triumph. I clapped my hands quickly in Gon's success as Killua closed his eyes and laced his fingers behind his head, smiling widely to himself.
"You could've gotten more if you'd thrown a real punch." Killua said to Gon in a dismissal tone of voice. I looked at Killua through the corner of my eyes and lightly elbowed him in the side, making him gasp slightly and glare back at me. That was for two things, one mocking me about my non-existent fear of bugs and two for dismissing Gon's punch. Gon turned to face Killua with a wide smile on his face, keeping a tight hold of the four cards in his hands.
"Well, I didn't want to damage the tree." Gon said to Killua, making him sigh some more and pull a face at him. Killua may not have minded damaging nature, but Gon sure did. Then again, if I remembered correctly from what Gon said when we were at his house back at Whale Island, he used to play outside a lot; so I guess he just grew a general respect for nature.

We began making our way to a mansion to collect another four cards once Gon handed us a Great King White Beetle card each. Biscuit asked about a girl in the mansion, obviously knowing more than us. Killua had gone off to try and find the girl just in case the butler at the front of the mansion lied to us.
"There is no such girl in this mansion. Even if there were, it would be impossible for you to bypass all the traps and find her." He butler said to us, closing his eyes and shrugging his shoulders. I knitted my brows together, should have seen that coming. I opened my mouth to say something; however I was cut off by the sound of Killua's voice.
"Found her." Killua shouted, making me, Gon and Biscuit turn our heads in the direction of Killua's voice. The butler gritted his teeth together, not expecting someone to find the girl. Killua emerged from behind a door as he pushed it open with one hand, holding the girl by her hand with his free hand; a large smile on his face from his find.
"She was in a hidden room, four floors underground." Killua said to us, pulling the girl through. She was a very pretty girl. She had green eyes and purple hair that sat on top of her head in two buns; they looked like mouse ears. She also wore a red Chinese style top. The butler began walking towards Killua, his fist pulled back as he went to punch him.
"Curse you!" The butler shouted running at Killua. Killua however just punched him into the air and away from the group as if he was nothing more than a mere fly.

The girl turned into four cards. The cards began dropping to the floor until all four of us caught one each, smiling widely. On the card was a girl who sat in a bath tub, both her and the bath tub were gold in colour. She was called "Gold Dust Girl."
"Got an A-rank Gold Dust Girl!" Killua said with joy in his voice as he held up the card into the air. Gon picked up a card that had fallen to the floor. Me, him and Biscuit all looked at the card, it was the guard.
"The guard was a rank F." Gon said as we stared at it with wide eyes.
"Guess he's a pretty easy guy to get." I said to them. We all summoned our books and placed the cards into the respective slots so that they didn't vanish; Killua may not have been looking that long but we couldn't risk the girl being in the same place twice if the card vanish.

We began running away from the mansion once we dismissed our books. So far, our card hunting had been going well; we got two A-rank cards within a matter of hours of each other. If we were lucky we might have been able to complete the game nice and early and a good thing two as that Chrollo thing was still playing on the back of my mind; I just couldn't shake it off.
"Next, let's head to the City of Gambling, Dorias!" Biscuit said to us cheerfully as we ran through the forest. The forest was full of trees, the leaves blocked out a lot of the light which made it a lot cooler. I was grateful for that, I felt like I was going to overheat. Me, Gon and Killua ran next to each other as we ran to Dorias.
"Wait, wasn't today supposed to be the monthly contest in Antokiba?" Gon questioned as he looked at me and Killua. I looked at him wide eyed, had it really been that long already? It didn't feel like a month ago that Killua won the sword from their last monthly contest…time was going by so fast.
"We'll be passing through, so let's give it a go." Killua said cheerfully, smiling at Gon and then turning his head to me to smile widely. I smiled widely at the two and nodded my head quickly agreeing with the idea.
"As long as it's not Rock-Paper-Scissors than I'm up for it." I said to the two happily. Everything else I could do, just not Rock-Paper-Scissors I was terrible at that game.

We got to Antokiba. Me, Gon and Killua all teamed up to take on the contest. It all happened so fast, but the end result was us winning the monthly contest. Gon waved his arms in the air smiling widely as I stepped behind him slightly, there was so many people staring it was unreal. Killua waved to the crowd with a hand in his shorts pocket. The woman next to us, who wore a white blouse and black skirt with black flat shoes, pointing her hand to us as she spoke into the microphone with a wide smile.
"Our winner is the Killua, Gon and Mishka team." The woman said to us making the crowd cheer louder. She handed us the cards, which we took gratefully. I stared at the card. I felt very light on my feet; we were getting these cards so fast!
"A Paladin's Neckless! Score!" The three of us said together. I summoned my book and began putting the card into the slot where it belonged. It was a D rank card, so luckily if I had to use it, it was going to be medium difficultly to find again…now if only I could understand the description.
"I don't understand this description." Gon said as he stared hard at the card. Killua turned his attention back to Gon, keeping the wide smile on his face. I dismissed my book and turned to Gon myself.
"We can ask one of the shopkeepers." Killua suggested as I nodded my head agreeing with him. The shopkeepers around here always seemed to know what was going on, so they were our best bet to ask.

The three of us walked to the shop we came across when we were first in this town. We were at the shop that sold us our blank map, talking to the guy who had to explain the blank map to us and how it worked and how we got to some places…He was a nice guy. Me and Killua stood either side of Gon. Gon summoned the Neckless and placed it around his neck. It was a gold colour in the shape of a star. In the middle was a big, bright blue gem. In the gem part was a lighter blue cross with four little blue gems in each square segment.
"When you wear this Neckless, you can reflect all attack spells. And if you touch cards under the effects of Transform or Fake, you can restore them to their original state." The shop keeper explained to us. Me and Killua turned to Gon, wide smiles on our faces as we stared at the Neckless dangling from his neck.
"Wow… If we wear this, we won't have to worry about losing any cards." Killua said happily. I nodded my head quickly, staring at the Neckless.
"It's lucky we won it!" I said to the two as the Neckless gleamed in the shop light. Gon looked down at it, smiling widely himself.

We met up with Biscuit and began making our way to the City of Gambling. I stood between Gon and Killua, making it easier to talk to the two of them. The four of us had gotten a few cards on our journey which so far had taken us three days, all of them being of different. Gon summoned his book so that we could read through what we had. The land was very dry and dusty, which only handed to mind and Gon's current collection of dusty and dirt covered clothing. The land was filled with Cactuses, and I could understand why it was boiling hot!
"Memory Helmet… Witch's Love Potion… Risky Dice… Great King White Beetle… Gold Dust Girl… Paladin's Neckless… A total of six different restricted card slots!" Gon said as the three of us looked at each other with wide smiles. We high fived each other, proud of our success so far.
"Piece of cake!" We said at the same time keeping the wide smiles on our faces. This was going to be easy if we were collecting cards like this. I could feel Biscuit staring at the three of us from behind, she liked walking behind us for whatever reason; I chose not to question it.

The three of us made mild chit-chat. I pulled off my white training shirt, leaving me in a white, wide shouldered vest top. I sighed in relief that was much cooler, and clean…although I suspect that wouldn't be the case soon. I tied my longer sleeved top around my waist tightly so that I didn't lose it. Gon's book binged a light, soft noise making the three of us stop and look at it in confusion.
"Another player has used Contact to reach you." The book said, flipping over to the back of Gon's book. The three of us continued to stare at the book in confusion.
"Yo. It's been a while, Gon." The voice said as Biscuit walked closely behind the three of us, looking over Killua's shoulder at the book. I didn't recognise the voice and could only stare at the book questionably. All I knew was that it was male. Gon seemed just as confused as me.
"Who are you?" Gon questioned the voice. The voice began laughing at Gon's question, as if it couldn't believe what it had heard.
"You don't remember me? Do you remember the player who took the Sword of Truth from you in Antokiba?" The voice questioned us. The three of us gasped slightly…it was him. Gon glared at the intercom part of the book, suddenly not very happy to hear that voice. Me and Killua looked at each other briefly before looking back at the intercom part of the book.
"What do you want?" Gon questioned him angrily.
"Up for a trade? I have number sixty six, Witch's Diet Pill, and number seventeen, VIP Multi-pass. You can talk it over with your friends." The voice said to Gon. Gon turned his attention to me and Killua as we just stared wide eyed at the intercom inside the book.
"What do you think?" He questioned us. Me and Killua looked at each other again before looking back at Gon, trying to decide what we should do I mean he had to know what our cards were right in order to make a deal…was someone following us all this time?

We had decided to trade with the man who took our Sword of Truth Card. It was a gruelling process to try and come to an agreement to, but we decided it was possibly for the best…if the man was following us than he would probably take our cards anyway. Gon summoned his book so that he was ready when the guy showed up. He came and met up with us. Gon was the one who did the trade. We had decided to trade the card "Witch's Love Potion" for his "VIP Multi-pass". They swapped over the cards. Me and Killua were watching him carefully; I was nervous. Even though we could protect ourselves, it was still nerve whacking as we didn't know what he had. The man held up a fist once he gained his new card and looked down into the book.
"Book." He said simply, dismissing the blue floating book. He turned his attention back to us, dropping his hand back to his side once more.
"See ya." He said simply to us and turned around to walk away with his follow comrades.

Gon sighed in relief once the man and his friends were out of sight. I felt my shoulders drop as I let out a huge gulp of air; I was afraid that even though we agreed to the trade he would try and take our cards anyway. Killua had also deflated a little; the tension had gotten to the three of us.
"That was uneventful." Biscuit said with disappointed in her voice as she placed her hands onto her hips. I looked at her questionably; why would she want a fight with those guys?! Killua turned his head to Gon.
"Kind of disappointing." Killua commented. I turned my head to him and looked at him questionably. Did Killua want a repeat of last time?!
"I was so nervous… But now we've gathered seven types, in three days! We're making decent progress." Gon said cheerfully as he turned around to face us, the book following him as he did. He held a wide smile on his face. I smiled back widely at him as Killua lifted a hand into the air.
"Okay, let's keep this up. Are there any other events in the city for getting restricted slot cards?" Killua questioned us cheerfully. I thought to myself slightly and placed a hand onto my chin as I knitted my brows in thought; I couldn't think of any. Biscuit placed a hand on her hip and looked up to the sky in thought.
"Hmm… I think there are…" She said to us. In the light of that thought we began making our way to Dorias once more. I was kind of nervous…what would exactly be in the City of Gambling?

We made it to the City of Gambling after a few hours of walking. Biscuit took us to a place that was loud and brightly coloured. It was filled with slot machines and people sitting at said slot machines trying to win at them. I knitted my brows together and frowned widely, Kurapika would scold me so much if he found out I was in a place like this I mean I wasn't even old enough to be here!
"Prizes from the slot machines?" Gon questioned as we stared at the people and machines.
"Should've expected as much from Dorias, the City of Gambling." Killua said to us.
"We can never speak about being here around Kurapika." I said to the two keeping my brows knitted together. Killua and Gon nodded their heads in agreement; not only would he scold me but he would scold them as well and while Killua might not care that much…Gon would. Leorio wasn't that much a problem, after all he did other us to drink alcohol with him back in York New so even though he was an adult he was a pretty irresponsible one.
"You have a zero point zero, one percent chance of winning. That's one in ten thousand tries." Biscuit said to us, placing her hands on her hips. Killua brought his thumb to his mouth in thought, looking down at the ground.
"So it all comes down to luck. Pretty risky." Killua commented. I nodded my head agreeing with him. My luck wasn't that great so I was going to be losing a lot on these machines.
"I know, Gon, Mishka! Use that dice!" Killua said to his, smiling widely as he held his finger by his face in joy.

We summoned the Risky Dice card. It was one of the cards in our restricted slot so that meant getting it again was going to be a nightmare…Well there was four of us so not really as we were teaming up. Killua held the black, many faced dice between his finger and thumb, smiling widely.
"This is it. If we get Good Luck, we can win!" Killua said as he took a seat at one of the slot machines. Me, Gon and Biscuit stood to his side as Killua grinned widely at the dice, just staring at it.
"But if you get Bad Luck, something bad will happen that cancels out everything good that's happened." Gon pointed out to him. Killua turned his head towards us, keeping the wide smile on his face.
"There's only a one in twenty chance of getting Bad Luck. Besides, it's not Mishka rolling it." Killua said as he turned around in his seat, throwing the dice to the floor. I furrowed my brows slightly and frowned widely, closing my eyes.
"Silly thing is I can't argue with that." I said them, hearing the click of the dice on the floor. I opened my eyes to watch the dice as it rolled about on the floor, trying to pick a face to land on. Killua smiled widely as the dice stopped moving.
"There! Next, we try the slot machine!" Killua said excitedly as he grabbed the handle of the slot machine and pulled it down hard. I watched him carefully, I'm pretty sure this is how gambling habits start and Killua was too young to have a gambling addiction!

The wheels in the slot machine turned quickly. I couldn't count how many times they went round. The first wheel stopped on a red seven, then the one in the middle and then the last one. Killua's smile got wider at the results of his luck.
"Awesome! One try!" Killua said as he got off the stool. He bent down and placed his hand into the prize compartment and took out a card. He held it out to show us, keeping the wide, excited grin on his face at all times.
"A Rainbow Diamond! Score! That's what I thought… This die is the key to winning in this city." Killua said as he held the key dice in between his finger and thumb once more, keeping the wide grin on his face. He was getting very excited over winning against the slot machine game. Gon summoned his book and took the Rainbow Diamond card from Killua. It was through silent understanding and agreement that Gon had become our main card keeper, mostly because he was wearing the Paladin's Neckless.
"But if you roll Bad Luck, it could be scary." Biscuit said to him, crossing her arms over her chest. Killua turned his head to her, the wide, happy smile still on his face.
"Don't worry. It can't kill me…" Killua said trailing off in his sentence.

An explosion filled the room, making the four of us look towards the noise source. On the ground laid a man, he was face down and had his arms sprawled out in from of him. The slot machine was smoking as was his head.
"Oh, no! A slot machine exploded! I knew something was wrong. That guy hit the jackpot five times in a row." A man spoke as we watched the guys smoking head and lifeless body.
"And he was acting weird… he kept rolling a funny looking die." Another man said as they turned the guy over. I turned my head away from the sight; it wasn't particularly pleasant to see. His face…well…there wasn't one anymore.
"Yikes, his face is mush…" Another man said. I could hear the annoyance in Killua's voice as he watched what was happening. I quickly grabbed his wrist and removed the dice from his hand, throwing it up and down into the air a couple of times before catching it one last time and looking at Killua sternly.
"I think that's enough of playing with the dice." I said to him, furrowing my brows with an apologetic smile. I didn't want Killua to no longer have a face, he looked fine with a face; if he didn't have a face he would look very odd and he wouldn't be the Killua me and Gon knew and loved.

Killua went back to playing the slot machines. He had taken the Risky Dice off of me despite my protests of "I like you having a face!" Killua watched the slot wheels roll around and around, his face lightly covered with sweat and eyes narrow like a cats…who knew gambling could be so intense?! We had stopped him actually using Risky Dice every time he tried to, this time it was Biscuit of dice watch duty. Me and Gon stood to the side of them, watching them with blank stares.
"I can do this… One more time! I said I can do this, so I'm gonna do it!" Killua shouted as he threw his hand into the air, ready to throw the dice down onto the ground. Biscuit chopped him in the neck with the side of her hand, making Killua stop instantly and grip the dice tightly. Me and Gon just watched in annoyance.
"This is how a gambling problem starts…" I said trailing off in my sentence.
"Maybe we should tell Kurapika about us being here but only tell him that Killua played…" Gon suggested, trailing off in his own sentence.
"No…he'll scold all three of us anyway. He'll scold me and you more for not stopping him." I said back to Gon. The both of us sighed as we looked at Killua and Biscuit blankly. I guess it was better in a way to get it out of your system now so that you never tried in the future?

Once Killua got the whole gambling thing out of his system, the four of us left the giant castle shaped city. I was glad, if we spent another minute in there I think I would have gone nuts. The sun was setting by time we exited and there was a slight breeze in the air; not enough to make me feel chilly thought. Me and Gon carried Killua between us, carrying his legs and me carrying Killua from under his arms. Biscuit had hit him a little too hard in the neck; that and Killua had worn himself out with his Gambling fit. I kept the Risky Dice in my training trouser pockets, it was best if I kept a hold of it forever.
"Okay, let's move on to the next city!" Biscuit said to us cheerfully as we walked away towards the sunset.

With our luck, we should hopefully be completing the game soon and as long as we kept Killua away from any more Risky Die's and gambling, we would all be okay.

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Author note: Check out concept art of Cat's Cradle and Dog's Wire on my profile.