Raphael is forced to leave the game.
The Southernpiece Auction starting date was almost upon him. He'll need to return to the real world. While he's on Greed Island, all forms of outside communication are disrupted. It'll be impossible for anyone to reach him, let alone for him to reach them.
So, if Gon had been trying to contact him, it would've been for naught.
To a seasoned player like himself, he knew the reasons as to why that was the case.
He remembered when he first started playing the game. Something hadn't felt right during the course of the game play. There were tiny, little clues, details that made no sense. It didn't click to him right at the start, even though the answer had been staring him in the face the entire time…
As he explored the island, it felt like time tended to move by slowly, as if stuck on a ticking clock hand. He understood why it felt that way… because he was checking the time, trying to pick apart the differences of a game clock cycle, and Greed Island.
When you're having fun, time moved by quickly… It was as if, through the blink of one's eyes, day changed to night.
However, if you were constantly checking the clock, it would feel slower. He imagined it was like being stuck doing hours of homework, using the clock as a gauge to see when it was the end of the class. Sure, it may have felt like it had been more than twenty minutes since he last checked the time, but at that next glance, only a few minutes had passed by.
Games were much different. Using an RPG for example, a category surely Greed Island would fall under, an RPG's game cycle was way faster. A game would move at around four minutes in-game, sometime even faster, per minute of gameplay.
However, Greed Island wasn't like a stereotypical game. Four hours within Greed Island would barely hit into a fraction of the day. Those couple of hours could mean the difference between the early morning and afternoon. Greed Island obeyed the natural laws of time.
When he came back after making his deal with Mikkel, even though he knew the truth, he wanted to triple check something with his phone. Besides the time difference, it confirmed his suspicions, it followed a specific time pattern.
Other two factors they helped him gauge the time being one-to-one with the real world and Greed Island, was calendars and clocks located throughout the island. That helped him narrow down the time difference.
The same could be said for pain, possibly even pleasure. Well, considering there were cards like Imp's Wink and Doyen's Virility Pills, is safe to say pleasure was a possibility too. If he were to stub a toe, it wouldn't be a mild inconvenience, like it should be… it felt way too painful to be crafted as a design within the game.
When he first discovered these ideas, he initially brushed them off.
But the longer he played… the more it dug deeper into the back of his skull.
His brain started to pick up on more subtle things, like grass growing longer, seasons passing by.
He just had to know, and there was one player at the time he knew, who could confirm his suspicions… Tsezgerra. He remembers taking his knowledge to the man, Tsezgerra remaining silent for longer than usual, as if he was pondering his answer at the time.
It had been far too long for a simple no…
Actually, if the man outright said no, he would've objected to the response. He won't allow himself to be gaslit, not with that many pieces laying a clear picture.
The man had calculated a response, a request to not mention these details unless it was brought up. Greed Island… was a real place.
He was excited for correctly piecing the clues together, to actually put his field of experience into play. He was glad Tsezgerra did confirm his suspicion at the time, rather than outright lying to him.
However, if Tsezgerra were to roll out a map of the world and to ask him to point out where Greed Island was, he couldn't do it. For one where he lived, it was known as the four-season day, where the weather could drastically change over the span of a couple of minutes.
Where during Christmas, it was hot as hell… or just because it had been raining five minutes ago, doesn't mean the pathways would display signs of having been wet.
The kinds of seasons they experienced on Greed Island, was something that could help him point to its estimated location.
The main issue now, was how were the Devs able to isolate the island to the point not even texts could get through? Gon should've been able to reach him… Whatever they were using, it somehow managed to disrupt the connection, but not the clock, unless there was something else manipulating the clock on phones to register a certain time.
If the clock date and time were to be believed, he has about two days before the auction starts. He'll need to inform the others of any updates.
Namely, Gon and Killua. Sure, he did need to reach out to Mikkel and see if he was done with the weapon, but he mainly needed to update the two boys about the deal.
He'll give it one more day before he bounces. For now, he'll focus on using his remaining spell cards so that nothing goes to absolute waste. The question was which town should he hit?
Dorias and Antokiba would be the best town to hit, given that he'll have a chance to possibly disrupt a few players. He would feel bad, but just leaving the island without using them would be a missed opportunity.
He could also try to bait one of the teams that attacked him last time, to come out. He'd feel less bad about using those cards on them.
If he does that, he does have a few Defensive Wall cards to stop anyone using a Levy against him. But he'll need to time those Defensive Wall cards, not precast them, just in case they use a different card instead of Levy.
Raphael pulled out an Accompany card, getting ready to use it, "Accompany, on." He was about to direct him to Dorias, but the sound of whistling, made him stop. Someone was headed straight for him.
It couldn't be Tsezgerra. The man would've contacted him before appearing. He slapped his card down, reaching down to grab a few stones off the ground. If he's going to be legitimately attacked by someone, he rather not reveal his Nen ability until he absolutely, needs to do so.
The smoke vanished, revealing Asta and her team.
The teen smirked, "Back to get screwed a second time?" Standing up, he held a few stones in between his fingers getting ready to launch them at a moment's notice. With his free hand, he grabbed a Rock Toss first.
The female player grinned, "No, you're going down this time. But I want to know how you got passed us." Asta crossed her arms, staring down at the teen "I thought something was wrong when it had almost been a week, yet you hadn't come to Masadora."
"Mad Scientist's Plastic Surgery, it works wonders." Raphael shifted his stance, aura now subtly pooling around the stones, enveloping them in Shu "I guess you could say, you were looking for the wrong player."
Asta let out an irritated click of her tongue, "I should've expected such low tactics."
"Low…?" Raphael offered a Cheshire grin in response to the player's words, "You know what is low…" He paused for a dramatic effect, eyes now flicking over her features, "Scoping out the only Spell card shop, in hopes of stopping me from stacking my book." The teen once more pauses, seeing the woman getting agitated by his direct accusation, "Not me, sneaking past your security force."
"We're stopping you from abusing the system to steal from other players."
"Uh, huh…" Raphael barely acknowledged the words, "Because I'm a rampaging thief, is that right?" His tone came off as sarcastic. He continued with that same tone "It's kinda like that time I went after this big group to steal their Secret Cape, oh wait…"
Raphael held up his pointer finger like a gun barrel, aiming it right at the woman, "That was you…"
Asta's eyes twitched, annoyed once more. The teen was correct, to an extent. It was Kazsule and her, that organised the multiple groups to go after Raphael. But after losing to him, now it was her seeking petty revenge.
For too long he's been gloating about winning multiple times. He needed to be taken down a peg. Winning that card first, while everyone lost against the NPC was just giving him another reason to gloat about the situation.
She couldn't have that. Shaking her head, Asta held up an accusatory finger at the teen "While there were others who did eventually manage to beat the NPC through its naturally hidden mechanic, you were one of the few people to do it… without using that mechanic. You used a different method…" As her expression grew into a smug one, the teen's remained neutral "Nobody else can figure out how you did it. Rumour has it, you were cheating…"
"Actually…" Raphael fired back, "It's possible to achieve it without cheating, you just have to be faster. I bet if you grab a card before he does, it'll count towards his pick. It detects whether or not you're using spell cards, not Nen. Besides…" The teen pointed towards himself, gloating further about the situation "You're just jealous, I got the card… and you didn't."
"Actually, no…" She stood up straight, "I got the card. The method to use was to shine a bright light on the NPC's eyes. You can't gain a flashlight during the encounter; you have to do it before you challenge them. Aim at his eyes and pick. It took people a few tries, but eventually, they won."
"Isn't that what I did as well… blind him with light. I just used a couple of flash-bangs instead."
"You can't buy flash bangs at any store…"
"I snuck them into the game. You can bring items from outside the game into it. There are no restrictions about doing so…" He paused for a moment, "It's just you can't bring anything in to use to contact anything outside of the game. It'll kinda make the Contact card useless if you could use mobile phones."
"Sure…" Asta didn't believe the teen for a second. It sounded far too convenient to be a suitable lie. Plus, why flash bangs…? Why not grenades or something even deadlier…? Still, this could be a ruse to distract her, a way of making her suspect he does have more on him.
Even if he does, they wouldn't help him in this situation. He was going down. He can't block all three of them at the same time. He can only use a Defensive Wall, one at a time. Nodding towards her teammates, they each held the same card "Levy-"
Raphael reacted quickly, surrounding the stones with a small mass of aura. With a flick of his thumb, he fired the stones like bullets, hitting the card out of their hand "Let us see who's faster…"
Asta reached out her hand, attempting to grab the card out of the air. She lunged towards it, hoping to block the teen from hitting it further.
Raphael moved to a better angle, firing another stone. The card was knocked away further from the player, no longer within her arm's reach. He continued the method, moving around them as he bashed the cards away from them, so he could attempt to grab them before they could.
While he was doing that, Raphael went ham. He targeted strictly Asta, using Rock Toss. If she activated a Defensive Wall, then Bullet right after to clear any Restricted Slots she had. He destroyed one card after another, managing to get in four successful Bullet cards and three Rock Toss cards.
He did accidentally waste a single Bullet card, considering he was a tad bit slower when it came to activating the card before Asta's Defensive Wall. Also, another three of his Rock Toss cards were spent on breaking down those protections first.
Her teammates were unfortunately forced to supply some extras for her to throw up those defences.
When he ran out of cards, besides the two Levy he stole, which he wasn't planning on using, he drew the final card he planned on using. He's not about to try playing this game of cat and mouse indefinitely. Time to end this abruptly…
"Out of cards already…?" Asta flaunted her agility, grabbing the last remaining Levy still on the ground the teen failed to reach "No, you still managed to grab onto two of my Levy cards. I'm not going to let you use them though…" Pulling the card in front of her, she took notice of the teen failing to shoot the card out of her hand.
It seems like he no longer could use his Nen ability, "And it seems like you ran out of aura, or whatever you were using to knock the card out of our hands."
Raphael raised an eyebrow in concern. Could she not see him using the most basic of fundamental Nen techniques? There's no way? They were in Greed Island, where one of the players was known as the bomber… Asta must have a Nen technique, or as least know about the most basic, Nen fundamentals.
"Wait, you're serious…?" The boy paused for a moment, trying to gauge if the woman was joking "You couldn't see that?"
When she shook her head, the teen found himself smirking, "Honestly, you're a Nen user and you couldn't see me shoot the cards out of your hand with Shu-filled rocks? I hadn't even shot them that fast."
"So that's what you're doing." However, the teen's words were a cause for concern. What did he mean by it was simply Shu-filled rocks, that he hadn't even shot them that fast? There was no way he was more powerful than he was letting on. He must be lying to her "You must be an Emitter then."
The player offered a grin that rivalled the boy's, thinking knowing those facts changes their situation. But in the boy's eyes, it changes nothing. Except for one thing… he now knew she was much weaker than him.
"Levy on!"
The boy moved quickly, running away from the spell attempting to target him.
Asta laughed, "You can't run away from spells." She burst into laughter, "You of all people should know that."
The boy grabbed another card from his book, "Defensive Wall, on." The spell was activated, right before Asta's spell could hit him. Being disrupted, he smirked at the idea of having perfectly wasted her last Levy card.
Asta was mortified. The teen managed to time his spell, just so he could waste hers "That's-"
"And for my next magic trick!" The boy flipped a finger off at her, his other hand revealing his next card. He showed off which spell he plans on using next. Offering her a cruel smile, he spoke slowly, "Leave"
"No!" Asta reached out to grab the boy as if that would make a difference, attempting to try and stop him from leaving the game.
"On. Raphael."
"~"
The teen vanished into a bright light, the orb disappearing off into the distance. Sure, he lost all his spell cards which means when he comes back, he'll have zero Free Slot cards. But because of his tactics, that also means he managed to lose their Levy cards too.
"We were more prepared than him!" She slammed her fist into the ground, now glaring at the floor "No… we should've been more prepared than him!" She grew even more frustrated with the situation. Time and time again, she was always losing against a single teen that, somehow, always managed to have the upper hand.
Why couldn't she beat him at this game?
What exactly was he doing right, that she wasn't?
Clearly, the boy was holding back, his Emitter ability being faster than her eyes could register. They weren't strong, seeing as it only managed to hit the cards out of their hands, not destroy them. But for all they knew, the cards could be considered indestructible, impossible to destroy through normal means, let alone Nen-filled strikes.
No player has purposely attempted to rip up a card, at least not that she was aware of.
But if the cards were indestructible, it means she couldn't gauge his full strength… but if the cards could be destroyed, the boy wasn't that strong.
She'd have another chance to attack the teen. When he comes back, she'll hit him again.
They'll get him where it hurts, and make him cry over his loss of ultra-rare cards.
And they'll have to do it before he can launch any Nen attacks…
Finding herself smirking once more, she was going to get him next time. And that time… she doesn't plan on losing.
Seeing as Raphael left the game, he had roughly only seven days to return to the game or lose all of his cards. As long as one of them is watching out for when his name blinked green, she can let loose a full-frontal attack on him.
They'll try one more time, the teen without spells, will be an easy target. And if he's still unbeatable after that, then she won't bother trying again.
"~"
Raphael arrived back at the mansion to a barrage of phone pings. He expected one or two, not his phone stuttering like it had broken down into a crying mess of pings. Pulling his phone out, he saw only two names listed, Gon's and Mikkel's.
Mikkel had only one message, whereas Gon had more… a plus attached to the end of the nine. He could be forced to look through walls of text and questions. What's going on?
He checked Gon's messages first.
Gon
Hey, we were wondering if you're free to help us with a task. We'll let you in on a small cut.
Three days ago.
He looked through the lists of texts, unable to paint a clear picture, but they seemed to have gotten themselves into a difficult position. Though the illusiveness of the texts does mention they'd rather talk to him in person, than over text.
The last text received was from yesterday.
Gon
Hey, are you okay? We've been trying to reach you but you haven't been responding. We still need help, but unfortunately, we won't be paid for the job. Will you still be willing to help us?
Yesterday.
He knows it's late, but he might as well see if they still need help. Although, he's probably far too late to assist them now. He dialled Gon's number, not even a few seconds going by before he heard the pickup tone "Raphael!"
The teen pulled the phone away, the voice echoing deep in his ear drums. He's definitely, going to be losing his hearing for a while, after having his name screamed in his ear "Ow…" Raphael pouted from the loudness of the boy's voice, "You don't need to scream my name."
"We were trying to contact you, but you hadn't even been reading our texts."
"I was stuck in an area without reception, so I hadn't received them till like a couple of minutes ago. I should've warned you about that. Do you still need help?"
"No… we don't" Gon pouted, a little peeved about not knowing their friend would be unable to be reached. Although, the thing that annoyed him the most, was that Raphael said he'd be willing to help them as long as they reached out "Next time let us know. What about the other thing? Were you able to help us with that?"
"Actually, yes." Raphael found himself smiling when he heard a giddy squeal, the boy explaining to his friend, most likely Killua about the short update "I'll explain everything in person to you tomorrow. You're going to Southernpiece Auction, correct?"
"We are!"
"Good, I'll meet the two of you at the lobby."
"Couldn't we meet now?" Gon whined even louder, wanting to meet up so they could talk in person now and not have to wait until tomorrow to hear everything.
As the boy whined, the teen failed to contain his smile in response "Tomorrow, I promise."
"You better show up. Pinkie swears?"
"I pinkie swear." Raphael found himself chuckling at the absurdity of the situation. It was such a childish request but for someone like Gon… He could imagine it fitting the boy's personality so easily. Still, he did find himself needing to apologise once more, "I'm sorry for not being there when you needed assistance. I'll be available for at least two days before I have to go back to radio silence…"
"You're going to leave again…?" Gon found himself frowning. They wouldn't be able to talk about everything then, not with that short notice and the Southernpiece Auction starting tomorrow. That would take up a large chunk of his time.
"Again, I promise to explain everything, before I leave again."
"Alright…" Gon's voice quietened once more, the uncomfortable silence kicking in.
Raphael thought he'd have to apologise again, but like every other time, Gon's tune seemed to have brightened up, "But we'll see you tomorrow."
Raphael heard a muffled voice through the receiver, the tone almost going silent, "Killua wants to ask if you are sure, everything will go okay tomorrow?"
"Well, it will. You just have to do a small test."
"Is it a maths test?"
Raphael snorted at the idea, "No. But I can't give anything away. Just know, that I know, the two of you will pass the test."
"Thanks again, Raphael!"
Raphael heard the phone go silent, the teen raising an eyebrow. Did the boy accidentally hang up on him? Going through his contacts, he was about to call him again, but he received a notification.
It was a text from Gon.
Gon
Hey just double-checking the info, given that you're being hush-hush about what the test is about. Anything we should specifically be prepared for?
~Killua
Oh, so the reason Gon probably hung up, was because the two wrestled over the phone, one of them hitting the 'end call' button by accident. But rather than call him back after Killua ripped the phone from his friend's grasp.
Raphael quickly typed out a small response.
Just a test of strength, nothing to worry about.
In response, he received a small thumbs up, followed by a clarification text.
Gon
Understood! Make sure to let us know of any changes before you leave us on 'unread' this time.
~Killua
Raphael offered a nod to no one in particular, just sending a short message to let them, or more likely of the two, Killua that he understood. With a quick hit of send, Raphael moved on to Mikkel's messages.
Mikkel
Hey kid, the spear is done. Head on over when you have time. Here's my workshop address.
Yesterday.
Raphael checked the location, seeing it was a couple of hours away by transport. Time to collect his weapon, find a place to stay and just as importantly… find a suit for the auction tomorrow.
A/N: Leave a review, it helps inspire me.