Gon ran infront of the whole group, moving the plants aside and going from tree to tree as he explored the tropical place, he would sometimes use the vines to move around but being careful not to damage them
He had seen many different tipe of birds however other tipe of animals had to yet be seen, he wondered if they were hiding at his sight, however he remembered the old man's words, there were only two small predators in the reserve, if the predators were small, that meant that the preys must have been around the same size, since the predators never evolved to be bigger, or so he thought, Gon assumed the animals to be around the size of bunnies and foxes
He landed ona branch three meters above the ground, the tree was one he didn't fully recognize, the leaves were similar to the ones of a sequoia, but the tree was too short and took the shape of a common oak, it grew fruits too, they were similar to cherry, what a bizzare tree, Gon reached out with his hand but then noticed that the red fruits had blue little segmentation on them
"It must be poisonous," he thought
Not far behind Alluka was walking next to Killua, dragging him left and right to see all the different plants, her left hand was holding his, her right hand was holding a bunch of flowers, since they weren't endangered like some other plants in the reserve Alluka was given permission to take some with her
Leorio was watching around as he carried the bag with all the necessities inside. He seemed interested in plants that resembled aloe and other plants that could be used for various treatments and medicals
However, he was having trouble walking with all the mud getting on his shoes and suit
"Dam, it, I should have brought some clothes more fit for this tipe of environment!"
Kite was not far behind, with a backpack of his own. He was carrying a notebook in his hand and writing similarities and differences of the various spiecies of plants
"It's on you....you knew you were coming to a natural reserve and still brought an office outfit? I can't decide whether you have weird priorities or you're just stupid Leorio. "
Leorio turned a little embarrassed and pissed, he was about to say something to Kite but since he was turned he hit his head on a branch that he didn't see coming and fell to the ground on his face
Kire walked past him and snorted a bit. "You should look more carefully where you are going, Leorio," trying to hide his smile
Leorio got up from the ground, his entire face covered in mud. He then stood up with an angry expression and mumbled, "It's mister Leorio."
Alluka stopped to get another flower from the ground, an Iris, Killua got to carry all the flowers Alluka couldn't carry by herself and looked like some weird florist, Gon was just on top of them, sitting on the branch, he was watching around to see if he could find any animal to speak of, but simply couldn't see any, this got him thinking, he wrapped his legs around the branch and turned over, hanging upside down on the branch
"Hey Kite,"
Kite walked past Killua and Alluka and stopped right underneath Gon. "What is it?"
"Where are all the animals? You said there were 36 different spiecies here, but I can't see or smell anything other than the plants..." Gon had a neutral look on his face and brought a hand to his chin, recently he had discovered he liked biology, it was the subject he got the highest score in and it felt much easier for him to study it, he remembered the theory of evolution: animals adapt to different environments and change overtime so that the next generation might survive a drier climate or more aggressive predators, however there's simply something that he couldn't understand about the reserve
'When animals are small they tend to adapt better to changes in environment, sure it doesn't always happen but this forest isn't all that different from a common forest in the rest of the Federation of Ochima...so why? Why would the animals have suffered so much from human expansion? If they were small they would have done like rats and pigeons, adapted to the city, nothing about the temperature or air of this place is different from what it's like on the surface, and I have seen no particular fruit that might have carried the ecosystem to speak of....if they were small mamals that just suffered deforestation they would have adapted for the most part....' he was lost in thought when suddenly he heard the branch that was sustaining him cracking
Not long after the branch broke, Gon flipped midair and landed gracefully on both feet
Kite got in front of Gon
"Well, it's true, they are pretty hard to spot,"
"Maybe they make huts underground," said Gon, trying to think of where to find the animals
Leorio walked close and took a moment to clean himself up
"Yeah, I haven't seen anything either... Kite, are we going in the right direction?"
Kite took out the GPS he was given by the old man back at the facility. "we are close. If we get to Lake Cla, we should find various groups of large mamals going there to drink."
Gon got curious. "Wait, large? I thought that the animals here were little!"
Kite turned to him. "Why is that? If they were little, they would have adapted to the city like mouses and rats did"
Gon stood dumbfounded for a second, then thrust his finger at Kite. "But you said there were only two small predators! Of course, I assumed the other animals were small as well!"
Kite snorted "well ops...I forgot to mention what small means here."
Leorio got confused "wait what?"
Kite turned to him. "The smallest animal here is two and a half meters long in adulthood."
Killua, Gon, and Leorio commedicaly fell to the ground after hearing that
Killua got up. "You call that small!? That's basically a lion!"
Gon followed up shortly, "So that's why they suffered deforestation do much!"
Kite turned to look at them
"Well obviously small mamals and reptiles usually adapt to city environments and deforestation doesn't necessarily lead them to extinction but the same can't be said for bigger spiecies that need space and greater quantities of food to survive, which sadly humans took away from them"
Leorio got to Kite with a nervous expression and leaned in to wisper something
"And how dangerous are these...bigger animals?"
Kite pushed him away slightly. "Not so much, most of them ignore humans and have learned to trust the people in the facility so they won't be aggressive"
Leorio shrugged. "Phew, that's a relief..."
Alluka started walking again. "So when do we actually get to see them miss-- ehm... I mean... mister Kite?"
"Yeah, sure, just follow me. The lake should be nearby... They should mostly roam that area to have easier access to water."
Killua sat up and started to stand up again, but Gon got in front, Killua looked up at him for a second before Gon offered his hand at him and helped him get up
Killua smiled and accepted Gon's help
__________________________________________
"Why?! Am I not good enough for you!?"
__________________________________________
Wind
The wind was ringing in its ear, and the door was open
Its eye dilated at the sudden amount of light coming in, and it hid in a corner of the room, moving many boxes and books as it did
The door started closing behind the two figures
It managed to see what was behind the door as it closed, a corridor...long....black and lit up by lamps on the ceeling, the corridor was made of the same thing as the room it lived in, the same material as the reinforced door that separated it from the corridor, the same material as the other door at the end of the corridor
Metal, it's all it ever knew: metal...cold...and dark and hard to break
Step
Step
Step
Step
The sound echoed through its ear. It was scary, it didn't like sounds... Silence was better, and ...far better
Step
Step
Step
Step
The steps were different today, no...they weren't different, and there were simply more of them
Two people, perhaps?
They couldn't see, the door had closed again, with an unbearable sound as it scraped the metal floor below
The door was heavy, it couldn't open it on its own....it had never gotten past it...it had never tried to get on the other side anyway
The room was barely lit green by the tanks full of that green liquid. It never understood what it was...byt it was always connected to its body through pipes and cables
Maybe it was important
One of the two figures spoke....it didn't understand speech, but it recognized the sound
"Come out,"
Obey
It crawled out of the boxes it was hiding in, it was scared, it didn't like to have more than one person near its body
The figure started speaking again...it didn't understand speech, but the other figure seemed to be interested in what the first one was saying...perhaps they weren't talking to it
When the second figure spoke, the voice was deeper....more intense than the one it was used to
It scared them
They tried to hide again
They were asked to come out again
Obey
After a short discussion between the two figures, the metal gate opened again
the sound was unbearable
The new figure with the deep voice got out, making a strong sound as it did
They didn't know the sound. It sounded weirder than speech. It was just the repetition of the same sound. "hahahahahahhaha."
It didn't know what it was
The second figure was gone
The other remained
The figure walked close to it
It tried to defend itself by raising its arm. However, the figure put its hand on its face, the part it couldn't feel, it did something, and then sounds came out
After the figure took a step back and walked out of the room, leaving it alone
It was confused, but then a shock of electricity ran through its skull, speech came out of its mouth, it didn't know how to speak
The sounds were "[special soldier A-017] transfer to <untit> F-161-F-165...[pawn soldier F-162] move to <non completed unit> G-21-G-25 as the new G-25"
It wasn't the first time speech came out of its mouth. It didn't understand why its speech was so much more robotic than the figure's
didn't matter
It laid down on the floor, crawling to the weird rectangular object in the corner
"Book"
It was the sound the figure did when it gave them the object
It had some weird simbols on it, but they didn't care. The images were so beautiful
They didn't know what the images were about, but they seemed to be something different than metal
They didn't like metal
They liked the book, it wasn't like metal, metal was hard, cold...and without color
The book was soft, and the leather cover was warm, colorful
It was all they had
It's all they'll ever have
___________________________________________
Gon was resting on the grass, relaxing on the lakeshore
He had his arms behind his head and seemed to be sleeping
They had been in the reserve for two days now
A giant animal, three meters long, resembling a bear started to close in on the boy
It's step were silent, it's figure was massive but hidden, a predator ready to leap on the prey
The animal jumped, Gon did not open its eyes, then....
The two rolled onto the ground for several meters and Gon eneded up having the full weight of the creature on top of him, he opened his eyes and started to gasp and move as the animal licked it's face
"Ah, get off! Come on, Eva, this isn't funny! OhmygodIcan'tbrethe!" Eva flipped over and brought Gon onto her stomach and started to lick Gon's hairs until they took a completely different shape
Gon carefully moved his hands and pushed against the animal's chest, releasing himself from her grip and falling on the grass below
Eva turned around and tried to jump on him again, with her tongue sticking out of her mouth playfully
Gon suddenly stood up straight and shouted, "SIT!"
Eva interrupted herself midleap and pushed her head down, sliding on the ground on her face. When she stopped, she brought her back down as well and laid on her stomach in front of Gon
He shrugged "dammit...I couldn't hear you coming" he turned around and started walking to the little curtain Kite had brought, as he did he mumbled to himself "I used to be able to hear animals coming even in my sleep, what happened to me?"
Gon entered the curtain to find Leorio inside, sleeping
Alluka and Killua had gone back to the facility to ask for a second curtain and something to distillate the lake's water
Kite was off in the southeast side of the facility to research specific spiecies of reptiles that had caught his interest
So Gon had offered to stay with Leorio at the curtain to make sure no animal would destroy it by accident
Gon sat on his sleeping bag and started thinking about the spiecies they had seen so far
They noticed that all the animals had set their huts near the lake, Kite had a theory that the territory of the United States of Ochima used to be covered in swaps before humans started to reclaim the territory during the various agricultural revolutions that took place in the period going from 890 a.C and 1306 a.C
Kite had explained how Ochima used to be the center of the ancient world during that period, and Leorio explained how thanks to those revolutions, it was possible to find a soil near a vulcano in the region of Orsta, north of Maiadel, where a plant called Alos Salvator could grow very easily, this plant turned out very useful in medical treatments and helped researchers develop a cure to a specific bacteria that was weak to a gel released on the plant's leafs
Since the territory was used to grow these plants, the animals had fewer and fewer swaps where they could sustain their ecosystem and eventually had to live near lakes and rivers instead of swaps
Gon himself noticed how all the animals were very agile in the water and had specific traits made to thrive in a tropical environment
Eva, from a species called Fur Ursi, looked like a bear but was a bigger and a skin structure between it's paws allowed her spiecies to move in wanter much faster and in fact, Eva only ate fishes off the lake and had no hostility towards other mamals
Of course, Gon assumed the animal wouldn't have been as friendly if it had a cub to protect
Gon quickly thought back of all the species they met in the past four days. They were very particular, to say the least. Some resembled other animals, while some others looked like something completely different
He had met Eva during the second day of camping in the reserve, he had found her in the lake hunting, Leorio was scared at first but Kite allowed Gon to keep the bear for the time they would stay in the reserve and Leorio decided to roll with it, most importantly Eva was one of the only two tipes of predators in the reserve and it was also the biggest one, in fact they never got to meet the other predator, which according to Kite resembled a raccoon, probably they were afraid of the bigger predator and never took a step in Eva's territory
When the group wasn't going around doing researches they would usually walk together through the forest and spend time sharing experiences or simply doing some chatting to pass the time
Gon started reading some books Killua had brought with him and found stuff that was a lot more interesting than the old rusty books that were in his house on Whale Island, he begun getting intrested in modern fiction and planned on bringing some new editions on Whale Island when he'd get to go back
Leorio had started cataloguing some plants that seemed to have some resemblence to a family of erbs that grew in the Belgerosse union, he also discovered that the plants from the reserve seemed to have effect much faster than the ones from the Belgerosse Union
He tried this by cutting his arm with his knife, and his wound had been disinfected in less than five minutes of exposure to the gel produced inside the leaf of the plant
Leorio had gone to the facility to ask if he could bring a couple of specimens with him, and the director approved
Killua didn't seem attracted to any animal or plant in particular. He just kind of followed Alluka around wherever she would go and seemed content with it
However, Killua seemed more interested in Gon than the reserve, Gon always had the feeling that Killua wanted to talk to him, and...Gon wanted to do that as well, but he himself didn't feel like it
The two would most of the time have awkward interactions, and it was pretty hard for them to stay around each other
They didn't hate each other, they were still best friends and they were both sure of it, however, both of them had a weight on their hearts that they didn't have the strength to push away
Kite didn't stay with the group much. He was always following species of reptiles around the lake, and that day was no exception
He spent some time looking for evidence of poachers going in to take away some animals but couldn't find anything
From the first day Kite had been mapping every spot in the cave that could have served as a way in or out that wasn't the main building, he thought he had found something during the third day of stay but discovered it was just another dead end
Whoever it was that was getting the animals out without leaving traces was very good at it
Kite even suspected the said poachers to actually be a group of hunters, considering they were able to go in and out of the facility without being discovered
After all the higher-ups of the association, I did know about the place, but Kite didn't know anyone with a relevant position in the association that could have an interest in the reserve
Kite didn't understand why some poachers would be so dedicated to getting these species out of the place
Sure, someone could think that since these animals were almost extinct, they would be worth millions on the black market. However, it didn't seem like it
The entire facility had been kept secret to almost all the governments for decades, the only people with enough power to hire poachers or mercenaries capable enough to enter the facility without being discovered were a handful of people that had known about the reserve for decades and that had swore to never reveal the secret of the reserve hidden below Maiadel
Gon had theory that it was some members of the founding family or an employee that wanted to make money through seeling the animals at the black market
However, Kite told him that it was unlikely, he had met the founding family himself and inspected every employee
It had to be someone from the outside
As Gon thought all of this, his body relaxed, Gon decided to lay down a little, but then...
Boom
He immediately got up at the sudden sound
"Wait... this...it can't be a..." The sound was strong and metallic. It only happened once, and it was very far away, but it stood out so much from the sounds the other animals made it had to come from something else
Something Gon knew far too well: a gun
It was far away and faint, but he was sure of it
Gon ran out of the curtain, forgetting about Leorio, who was still sleeping, and he ran towards the direction he felt the sound came from
Eva started following him, but Gon wasn't thinking about his surroundings, he didn't think immediately that it might have been the poachers Kite had been talking about, he didn't think about the fact that he couldn't use nen
He ran at full speed in the forest, leaving Eva behind in the dust and surpassing many animals that were scared by his unnatural speed
Despite his recklessness, Gon managed to keep his steps silent and stopped when he heard two voices
When he did, he jumped on top of a tree as fast as possible and waited there
Two men, black uniforms and rifles, were in their hands, despite the fact that they were keeping their voice as silent as possible. Gon could still hear them
"Dammit idiot! Hurry up before someone gets here and sees us!"
The other man was on the ground, kneeling. He had his rifle dismantled, and he seemed to be checking the various components of the weapon
"Almost done, the safety hazard seems to be rusty, maybe because it fell into the water the other day, and don't worry, nobody will see us, we'll just get back to the boss and replace this old piece of junk with a newer model, so we won't be shooting by mistake"
The man started putting the rifle back together, and the two started walking north
"Anyway, I think we could catch a couple of those bunny-looking things since we are it,"
Gon began jumping from tree to tree and listened to the conversation closely. He also noticed that the second man was carrying a cage full of Sciuris, a small rodent that resembled a bunny, it didn't risk extinction like the other big animals in the reserve but the small rodent was part of the diet of the two predators living in the reserve so it was brought in the underground ecosystem along with the other animals
The man with the cage glanced at the other man and shrugged
"Mark, we already met the quota, so now we get back to the boss, we won't be wasting time trying to get more of these little guys" he brought a cigaret to his mouth and lit it "...though it is fun to chase them around"
Mark leaned his rifle on his shoulder and looked at him with a disappointed face. "You're so boring, Mikato."
As Mikato smoked his cigarette, he smirked. "Is that so? I guess I am he he"
The two kept walking, and Gon kept following from the trees, then Gon had a realization
'What am I doing? I need to get back at Kite and tell him....but...they might be gone before I can get to Kite....dammit...I need to see their boss, these two needs rifles to defend themselves, so they aren't nen users...good, I can probably face two or three of I have to run, but as soon as I see how they get in and out of the cave I'll go back...I....won't fight'
________
In less than five minutes, the two men arrived at one of the walls of the cave, Gon had texted Kite as the two walked, Kite said he was on his way
The two men were standing still in front of the wall, Gon was on top of a tree and was looking at them intensely, making sure he wouldn't miss any of their movements, the...
"Hey, open up!" Mikato said
"Who are you?" Came from the wall
"It's us, Mikato and Mark. We have the little ones you asked for"
"Good."
Suddenly, the wall moved, revealing a secret entrance
A man, tall with a black coat and a long black bear, was looking at them now
"Very well, follow me, the entrace will close in 3 minutes, Mark, stand guard for the time being, scream if anything suspicious happens"
"K boss," said Mark as he entered the hole in the wall and stood guard while Mikato and the mysterious men disappeared in the darkness
Gon was conflicted. He could just go in and take them out, but he had to wait for Kite
One minute passed
He had to go in, but his body refused to move. He had to wait. He couldn't do any more than that. He couldn't risk his life like this... not again
Two minutes had passed
Gon suddenly came to a realization
'Wait, why would the passage need three minutes to close? What if...'
His expression switched to terror.'It's a nen ability, maybe like Knov's it allow to move trough space and in three minutes the passage will disappear forever, it's not just a secret door, it's a nen construct! It means that once it disappears, there will be no way of knowing where they went!'
Even though Gon couldn't see it with his eyes, a thick aura was wrapped around the door
___________________________________________
Ability Name: Transloco
Category: Emitter
The ability allows the user to transport an infinite amount of objects into a realm set between two portals, the user does not need to touch the spot where he places a portal, it just has to be a place he has seen before, and can be placed anywhere in that place based on the user memory of how the place is structured even from a far distance, the condition is that there can only be two portals at the same time and the doors need three minutes to disappear, leaving time for an enemy to follow the user in the IN BETWEEN. the IN BETWEEN of the two portals is a pocket dimension where the user's speed is tripled, the condition is that their defence is reduced to zero and so is their nen strength, making him unable to do anything against other nen users, a single hit with nen could be fatal and so the user is more likely to use the speed boost to escape
User: ???
___________________________________________
As Gon realised that the portal might have disappeared forever after three minutes and that there was no guarantee it would reappear in the same spot the next time the poachers would come, Gon made a quick decision
He jumped down the tree
Mark quickly spotted him and pointed his rifle at him
"What! A KI-" Gon immediately disappeared and reappeared behind him as Mark fell unconscious out of the portal, Gon did so on purpose so that when Kite would arrive, he would find the poacher and interrogate him
"One out," said Gon to himself
He kept running in the dark blue, seemingly endless room, towards a white light on the distance
He kept running and running, and tears started streaming down his face. "I am sorry, Kite, Killua, Leorio, Alluka....but this might be the only chance we have at getting them!" He said to himself as he kept running
________
On the other side
"Mark should be on his way now. The entrance has closed. Mikato, help me bring the last cages to the airship."
The two were standing near the exit of the portal, which led directly into the Belgerosse Union's national airport
Mikato started lifting some cages, but before he could leave the nen dimension, the two men heard screaming
"WAIT!" Gon was running towards them
Mikato and the other man observed as he got closer and closer
Not long after Gon was just ten meters away from them, he was incredibly scared but tried to sound as menacing as possible
"Give the animals back!" He screamed
Mikato looked at him and then took a step forward. "What the heck? How did you get past Mark?!" He raised his rifle at Gon and started getting closer to make have him at gunpoint
The man watched from behind as Mikato walked closer and closer to Gon.'He doesn't seem to be a nen user, Mark probably got tricked into getting out of the portal and the kid got him with a surprise attack, now that he is at gun point, unless a nen user, he won't be avle to do much' he thought
Mikato was barely at two meters from Gon. "Now hands in the air and no funny moves, kid! I don't care if you are a child! If you did something to Mar-"
Suddenly, before Mikato could do anything , he knocked unconscious, and Gon grabbed the rifle and pointed it at the other man
"I'M NOT KIDDING!" He screamed, tho he knew, that if the man wasn't the least experienced with nen, bullets would be useless, and a punch from him would be a death sentence
The man stood still, he watched Mikato's unconscious body, and then started at Gon, a long silence went by
"You are fast," he said, then he moved his gaze to Mikato again. "Very well, show me what you got,"
A menacing aura started surrounding the man. However, Gon was left unphased, and the man retracted his ren
"Y-you...aren't a nen user?" He said, surprised
Gon pointed the rifle at his skull "no" he pulled the trigger and started to shoot on the man
The man easily dodged and appeared behind Gon, grabbing the rifle from his hands and tossing it away
The man smirked and punched Gon in the face, sending him flying for a couple meters
Gon rolled on the ground and suddenly realized the hit didn't hurt at all. However, he acknowledged that the punch was way too fast for him to react
Gon slowly got up. His cheek didn't hurt, but he pretended to be severely injured
The man walked towards him slowly. "You see, kid, my name is Ghigitabe, rookie hunter, I learned nen just a couple years ago, but it doesn't matter, you don't have any aura to speak of, so even with the harsh conditions of my ability there's is nothing you can do!" Gon slowly got up, pretending to be almost put of senses. He saw an opportunity
"W-what do you mean?" He said
"Well you see, my ability is Transloco and it allows me to create these dimensions to go from a place to the other, however, since it requires a lot of power to move from continent to continent the condition to this ability is that here I have the physical strength of a human without nen but my top speed with nen is doubled, so I can outrun nen users and trap them in my dimension!"
"S-so y-ou h-h-have n-no defense?" Gon mumbled as he struggled to get up
"Well, yeah," he was right next to Gon. "That's what I just sa-"
Suddenly Gon got up, with all the strength that he had he punched Ghigitabe's stomach, Gon's strength was far superior to a non nen user and even to rookie nen users, the punch was half as hard as Ghigitabe's nen powered punches, Ghigitabe had the faintest of ten around him and it was barely enough to avoid a fatal blow
He was sent flying several meters away and rolled onto the ground as he spit blood from his mouth
Gon stood up fully and cleaned his mouth. "I used to be a nen user, and I gotta tell you, never have I met a guy with a dumber ability!" As he jubbed his finger at him
Ghigitabe stood up holding his stomach and rushed towards Gon at speeds way beyond the boy's reaction time, his punch connected with Gon's face. However, it barely got the boy to spit some blood
"That all you got?" Said Gon, looking at him dead serious
"What?!" Ghigitabe started punching Gon again and again, barely doing some damage "what the fuck are you?!"
Gon managed to finally find an opening in Ghigitabe's movements, he was slightly slower with his left arm, because of the injury on the stomach
Gon studied his pattern of attacks until his hand moved up and grabbed Ghigitabe
Ghigitabe tried to punch him away but he was too weak
Going for a punch would be useless, Ghigitabe was still fast enough to dodge, however what Gon did was put his other hand on the man's arm and crushed it
Ghigitabe screamed in pain as his bones were pulverised by the boy's strength
He rolled onto the ground holding his hand and looked up at Gon, who was covered in light bruises but was overall fine "you should train your body as well idiot, just relying on nen is a big disadvantage, as you can see, I don't need my aura to beat a rookie like you"
Ghigitabe started circling around Gon, practically crawling, his expression terrorized "p-please, spare me" he begged
Gon kept looking at him, his gaze intensifying "I don't kill unless I have to, that's why I spared your friends, if you want to live tell me who you work for and then bring me back to the reserve! Say no, and next, I'll break your legs."
Ghigitabe kept circling around Gon "ok fine! I swear I'll get you back to the reserve... but first...m-might I know...at least your name?" He stopped circling around Gon and looked up at Gon
"Gon Freecss, why do you want to know?"
A wide grin spread on the man's face "so I know what to write on your grave"
Suddenly, Ghigitabe leaped, too fast for Gon to see. He tackled Gon, and the two came out of the portal, rolling on the airport's ground
Gon got up seeing Ghigitabe on the ground and started running towards him, then he realized and stopped cold
Ghigitabe had circled around him so that he would be allined with the portal, and now they are both out of the nen dimension
'That means...'
"Hehehehe, that's right, fool," a menacing aura started circling around Ghigitabe. However, Gon couldn't see it. "Now that I can use my aura to defend myself and strengthen my body, a single punch will be more than enough to take you out!"
Ghigitabe struggled to get up. His arm was still broken, and his stomach ruptured. However, his aura was as strong as ever
Gon took a step back and entered a defensive stance. "y-you..."
"Let's see...what are you gonna do now!" Ghigitabe leaped, not as fast as before. Actually, he was a lot slower
Slow enough for Gon to dodge, even if barely
Ghigitabe became a hunter at age 35, the year prior to Gon's exam. However, he learned nen around the same time as him and Killua
His potential wasn't, of course, comparable to the two prodigies, but he had mastered the basics in a year and a half. However, his nen strength rised slower than his capability with nen. He had complete mastery of the four principles, but in terms of aura, he was basically a novice, his ability too wasn't meant for fighting, but it was made entirely as a safe way to do jobs and avoid conflicts
Relatively to his personality his aura wasn't made for fights, he always hoped to avoid them, however in that moment, against Gon, he decided to go all out, for the little dignity he had left, to avoid losing to a child
His nen however was barely enough to outclass Gon, and with his speed back to normal, he didn't have any major advantage but the usage of Ko to deal a fatal blow
That was the only reason Gon could even compete. Their speeds were roughly even now, and a punch from Gon could still cause some damage. However, a direct hit from Ghigitabe would be a death sentence for the boy
Ghigitabe kept coming at Gon, Gon had learned how the man attacked, and Ghigitabe's injuries started to slow him down more and more. His attacks would never land, but Gon's counterattacks would never push him back enough to leave leave the body room to breathe
To avoid a jab to the face, Gon ducked and rolled on his foot, sending Ghigitabe off balance
"Dam you -" he said before getting kicked in the face
As Ghigitabe flew through the air, he flipped over and pointed his finger at Gon, charging up his aura
Gon saw his movement and was left confused. 'What is he doing? Wait!!! He is probably an emitter like Knov, right? That means...'
Suddenly, a ball of energy shoot out of Ghigitabe's finger, Gon would have survived it had it hit him. However, the boy couldn't know. In fact, he couldn't even see the ball of energy, and he simply leaped in the air to avoid whatever might have been coming,
Gon landed as Ghigitabe rolled onto the ground, his energy almost finished, the wound to his stomach staring to feel worse and worse, he couldn't stand up anymore, however with the last of his energies he trew another two sferes of energy at Gon
Gon had started to run towards Ghigitabe to knock him out. He didn't see the movement of the man's finger and couldn't see the nen projectiles coming at him
Ghigitabe screamed at the boy
"YOU'RE DONE!" Thinking he had won
However....
Suddenly, Gon knelt down. He dug his fingers through the ground as the projectiles were at a couple meters from him. He lifted the ground and trew it towards Ghigitabe
The two projectiles were stopped in their track, and the rest of the debris fell on Ghigitabe, burying him beneath them
After a while the dust begun to settle
Gon fell to his knees. He was exhausted from the fight. However, he needed to get back at the reserve
He looked around, he was in the Belgerosse union,he was able to tell because he recognized the flags
He understood he was too far away to go back on his own
So he went to grab Ghigitabe
As he moved the debris away and pulled the man out, he saw an airship starting to set off
Ghigitabe spoke, "You fool....I might...have lost, but...the ship with all the animals is gone now...you can't do anything ha ha ha ha..." he then caught blood
Gon looked up at the ship and then back at Ghigitabe " get me back to the reserve"
Ghigitabe looked at him with a smug "as if - AHHHHHHHHHH!" Gon grabbed Ghigitabe's legs and broke them with one kick. The man was out of strength, he had nothing to defend himself with
"Mine was an order!"
__________________________________________
Kite and Killua were inspecting the wall
The soldier knocked unconscious, the footprints leading into the wall, but without anything indicating the presence of a hidden door, it was all so confusing
"Killua, have you tried calling him?"
"Yes, but he doesn't answer!" Killua was on the verge of tears, and Kite was gritting his teeth
"Dam it!" Kite brought his hands to his hairs "were did he go!? He can't be -"
Suddenly, a portal appeared before the two
Out of it walked Gon, carrying two men, one unconscious who he trew next to Mark, who was still unconscious, the other passed out right after Gon got out of the portal, Ghigitabe's face was reduced to what seemed to be smashed potatoes and all of his limbs were broken
Gon trew him next to the other two
Before he could do anything, Killua ran to him and closed him into a hug, falling into tears. "YOU IDIOT!" As he screamed his lungs out."I THOUGHT THEY HAD TAKEN YOU AWAY!"
Gon slowly raised his arms, his body aching a bit. He wrapped his arms around Killua, not intending to let go
"I'm sorry, Killua...I'm truly sorry! I wasn't thinking..."
Killua didn't answer and simply held on to Gon, not intending to let go of him
As the two hugged, Kite went to the three men and tied them all together so he could interrogate them later
After some time, Killua let go of Gon. Once he did, Kite walked to the two boys and looked Gon in the eyes
Gon was about to speak. However, before he could react, Kite trew a punch at his face that caused Gon to fall onto the ground
"YOU IMBECILE!" he shouted,"YOU PROMISED YOU WOULD LET ME TAKE CARE OF THE POACHERS, TELL ME, DID YOU WANT TO DIE?! I WOULD HAVE NEVER FORGIVEN MYSELF IF YOU DID! WHY DID YOU RISK YOUR LIFE LIKE THAT!"
Gon slowly sat up, his eyes watering, to tell the truth, not even he wasn't sure why he did it "b-because...I....wanted to h-help"
Kite knelt down and looked him intensely, fury in his eyes , however, he just shrugged and went to grab the three men tied together
"Come on, let's go." he brought a hand to his face as he walked, "good grief..."
Gon and Killua followed Kite back to the curtain, and then, after explaining what happened to Leorio and Alluka, the whole group went back to the main building, leaving the reserve after four days of stay
_____________
Ghigitabe woke up as a strong flash of light entered his eyes. He could feel his stomach and limbs immobilized
He looked down to see bendages all over his body
He moved his gaze to the left and saw Mark and Mikato in a corner of the room, both tied up to the wall
Ghigitabe looked in front of himself to see four people
A tall man, a short woman, and two kids
He recognized Gon and looked towards him
"I guess this is the part where you guys interrogate me, huh?" He cloaked his ten around him for defense. It seemed that he had recovered most of his aura "well now that my aura has recovered, just know that your punches won't do sh-!"
Suddenly, the other three figures activated their nen, Leorio, Killua, and Kite's power filled the room
Ghigitabe's face went place, then he simply shrugged and laid back down on the bed. "Well, so much for that idea...." he mumbled
He looked up and recognized Leorio, "a Zodiac? Guess the boss lied, "
Leorio took a step forward and walked to Ghigitabe's side. "What do you mean? I thought you were the boss, at least that's what those two said..." As he pointed at Mark and Mikato
Ghigitabe looked up. "No, I'm not the boss, I was simply in charge of this small squad. Our boss is named Monzui, not sure if that's his real name, I don't know much about him, or what he needed those animals for...I signed up for the money, he had promised the Zodiacs would stay out of it..."
Leorio looked at him, confused. Then he walked back to the group
"I can't tell if he's lying..."
Kite looked up at him. "He isn't. I can feel it. "
Ghigitabe looked up at the group. "So what are you gonna do to me now?" He had a hostile look written on his face
Killua spoke up, "Those two guys are gonna end up in prison," as he pointed at Mark and Mikato, the both of them didn't say anything "as for you, since you are a hunter you are protected by your license so....I guess we'll bring you to a hospital and let you go..."
Ghigitabe closed his eyes. "I see..."
'they are experienced, they immediately understood that I didn't know anything more than I just said, nobody told me what the animals would be used for, nor the real destination of that airship...I am of no use and of no danger to them, so they just let me go....I guess I still have a long way to go'
Gon, Killua, Kite, and Leorio came out of the room all together
Discussing what they got from Ghigitabe
"They are an organization. They probably picked him up because he had a useful ability. However, they left him out of the most important things this organization might need, since they left the capturing of the animals to someone this inexperienced it probably wasn't so important to them to get the animals put of the reserve" said Killua
Kite nodded. "They probably won't be assaulting the reserve anymore, which means we aren't all that involved anymore."
Gon looked down, "But..."
Kite glared at him. "What? Do you want us to look after an entire criminal organization now?" Gon stood shut. He simply looked down in shame
Killua stood up for him and spoke, "Well, we don't have to specifically go after the said organization, but we can keep track of suspicious activities and stop whatever they are doing if we see that they are causing to much trouble..."
Kite looked at him. "And so? A criminal organization selling things to the black market isn't something new. It happens every day, and it isn't our concern to go after them, besides, Gon can't use nen, if he gets in a fight there is no way he's getting out of it!"
"That's true, but just for now," said Killua
Kite got confused. "What do you mean?"
"Me, Gon, and Alluka are going to meet at Ochima's port city with Bisky. She said she might find a way to awaken Gon's nen, so he'll be back in the fight!"
Gon looked at Killua with a frown, Killua was standing up for him, even though Biscuit had told them beforehand that she wasn't sure how to get Gon's aura back, even so, Killua was standing up for him to make Kite trust him... he didn't know if he deserved it
Kite shrugged. "Fine, but I'm staying out of this. If you want to spend some time together, just call me, but I am not getting involved, I'm going back to the Chimera Ant mansion,"
The group was now back in Maiadel, right outside the building with the elevator for the secret underground facility, Kite quickly said his goodbyes to Gon, Leorio, Killua and Alluka, as well as all the members of the facility and then headed towards the randevu point with Colt
Leorio stood with the boys just a little longer, and he told them that he would look around to find clues of a secret criminal organization and discuss it with the other Zodiacs, he then wished the boys good luck and headed off towards the airport
Ghigitabe and his men had been brought by the facility's men in a hospital and prison, respectively, and that was the last of them
With that, Gon, Killua, and Alluka were now on their own
A cold breeze washed over Gon's spiky hairs, moving them gently to the side
He turned around. "Thanks, Killua."
Killua smiled and put a hand on Gon's shoulder. "Don't worry, but next time, promise you'll call ne first." Gon nodded
Alluka was short behind Killua and joined the other two. "So! Where are we going now?" She said enthusiastically
Gon and Killua looked each other in the eyes and smirked
At unisonom:
"We go to meet an old friend!"
"We go to meet an old Hag!"
_______________________________
Office building, middle of Yorknew 2:34 pm
A man, im black suit walked up the stairs in a hurry, he arrived in a big room, lightened up by giant windows, there two tall men were discussing
"Mister Monzui, I received news that Ghigitabe has been taken out."
The man with long black hair turned and looked at the man in a black suit, then he looked down and lit a cigarette. "That's a shame... well, it doesn't matter, really. It just slows down our plans, right?" As he turned to the other man, blond, wearing a brown suit
The man smirked "yeah my friend, it's not a problem, just send Ghigitabe and his men a little visit, and stay turned for other potential sources of trouble," a sinister light illuminated the man's face
"I have a great feeling about this. Everything seems to be running smoothly, right Monzui?"
"Yeah, mister Pariston"