ᴡʜʏ ᴅɪᴅ ɪ ᴅʀᴀᴡ ᴢᴇᴜs sᴏ sᴍᴀʟʟ ᴄᴏᴍᴘᴀʀᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴏx ;-;

༺♥༻

༺♥༻

During the middle of the night, while the three were sleeping, Gon and his Aunt had a private chat and she had told the green-haired boy all she remembered about Ging.

While they had been chatting, Mito had given Gon a small, black metal box and she told him that Ging requested that she had given it to Gon when he became a Hunter.

What was inside it though, she had no idea.

And that's where they were now, the three were currently observing the metal box; but Zeus on the other hand, was biting at it.

'Okay, so.. this is the box, huh?'

Picking it up, Killua ignored Zeus as he fell to the floor and looked towards him with an angered chirp, before he rose it higher to look underneath it and then, handed it to Valentine.

Observing the object, the golden-eyed beauty tried to find any sort of opening or a lever to at least try and open it.

But there was nothing.

'How do you open this thing?',Killua questioned, leaning over Valentine's shoulder and watched as she tried to find a way to open it.

The feeling of breath tickling her shoulder was all Valentine felt as an array of shivers ran up her spine and electricity zapped her brain, having her nerves run haywire.

A loud thumping began to drown out everything and all noise around her faded away into nothing as a flush crept across her cheeks, a tingling sensation swept up the back of her neck and slowly crept along her face as her chest tightened.

Handing it back to the silverette, Valentine looked down so that her hair curtained around her face and hid her well as red slowly began to paint her skin, a tingling sensation filling her body as her heart pounded.

'Mind if I use a bit of force?',Killua questioned and Gon nodded.

Stretching his arms, Killua readied his arms and confidently smirked; knowing that he'd be able to open it. Putting his palms completely around the box, the silverette took a deep breath and began to attempt to open the box.

Even with all of his strength, his face slowly began to turn red as he used as much force; the same force he uses to open a 16-ton steel gate, to open the simple box and yet, he failed to open it.

Panting out in exhaustion, Killua stopped and looked at the box in his hands with an expression of confusion.

'Bah—!',The silverette breathed out and sweat slowly rolled down his cheek,'It's no use. This things not normal!

Throwing it up into the air, Killua caught it and stared at the box with steely gaze.

'I could twist open a regular steel box no problem',Killua stated and holding the box in one hand, he began to slowly shake it but no sound resonated from within it,'And since we have no idea what's inside, we can't exactly smash it, can we?'

Shaking the box up and down in his hand, Killua listened closely for a sound and yet, nothing came from the small box.

'It doesn't even make a sound..',The silverette stated.

Gently taking the box from Killua's hands, Valentine deeply stared at it and turned it in her grasp.

As the boy's watched her, they noticed her left eye changing color and it glowed brighter than her right.

Her eyes played with light the way honey teases an unsuspecting sunbeam. When the sunbeam first notices the honey it looks like tea; a warm, yellow-y gold and is intrigued with the warmth's intimations and so is trapped. FascinatedIy, it slants into the honey from an angle higher or an angle lower and is enthralled, finding itself a splinter of amber fire caught in a viscous lantern that shines with such golden sweetness that to part from that beauty is as good as death; the honey dark again waiting sweetly to catch the darting glance of another slender ray of light.

Her eyes glistened with a kiss of the sun and it were as if, the rays themselves were encapsulated into a state of mystification; flecks of gold scattering throughout her iris.

Feeling the energy radiating off of the object, a small gasp broke past her lips and her eyes widened as they returned to their natural color, before she quickly looked up at Gon.

"Hey Gon, your dad told Aunt Mito to give this to you after you became a Hunter, right?",Valentine questioned.

Gently nodding, the spiky haired boy tilted his head to the side and a look of curiosity filled his eyes.

'Yeah, that's what I heard',Gon told her,'Why?'

Seeming to understand what she was saying, eyes of the Atlantic brightened and Killua quickly turned towards Gon, a small smile on his face.

'There's still one thing we haven't tried yet!',Killua exclaimed,'What's something you have now that you didn't have before you were a Hunter?'

Pondering his question for a moment, Gon stared off into the distance before his eyes lit up and he straightened his posture, a bright smile forming on his face.

'Hey, you're right!',Gon exclaimed,'My Hunters license!'

With a deadpanned looked, Killua looked towards Valentine and watched as a small bead of sweat fell down her face as she looked towards the ground, a deep sigh passing through her lips.

Letting out a disappointed chirp, Zeus looked towards the ground and slowly shook his head, a low trill leaving his beak.

Watching as Gon pulled out his card and looked around the box for an opening to insert it into, Valentine slapped her hand to her forehead, a loud groan filling the room.

'Except.. there's no opening for the card, so that can't be it'

Slumping forward, a drop of sweat slowly fell down the side of Killua's face and he let out a small sigh.

'No, not that..',Killua stated,'I meant Nen'

Blushing in embarrassment, Gon felt a drop of sweat fall down the side of his face and he let out an embarrassed chuckle, before he placed his Hunters license back into his pocket.

Gently holding the box in his hands, a white fog slowly surrounded Gon's body as he activated his Nen and he stared at the box in complete concentration.

The box began to slowly glow from the inside, catching the four by surprise and Zeus let out a panicked shriek, quickly hiding behind Valentine's body.

A sharp clank filled the room as a new object was surrounded by a multitude of small, metal planks and the three slowly went towards it.

'That's what's inside?',Gon questioned,'Another box?'

Nodding, a hum of agreement left Killua's lips and he slowly leaned down, picking up one of the steel planks from the floor.

'Regular steel plates..',Killua observed and slowly examined the object,'No trace of adhesives'

Leaning forward, Valentine leaned against the silverette's arm and examined the steel object in his hand.

Noticing the pattern of the object, Valentine tensed up and looked towards Killua, catching his eye.

Ocean and sun clashed together as one as eyes connected, the two of them thinking the same thing and noticing their expressions, Gon decided to speak up.

'What is it?',Gon questioned, wondering what the two had seen.

Throwing the object towards him, Killua watched as Gon swiftly caught it in his hands and began to observe it as well.

"Look at the design on it",Valentine stated, her golden eyes still locked onto the object,"Does it look familiar?"

Perking up, Gon quickly looked up towards the two and his lips parted, realizing just where they had seen this design before.

'This looks just like the pattern on the promise thread Mister Wing gave me!',Gon observed.

Nodding in agreement, a bright smile formed on Valentine's face and once she looked towards Killua, she saw that he was in deep thought, his hand placed on his chin.

'The promise thread was designed to snap if Nen was ever used, wasn't it?',Killua mused and leaned down, picking up another steel plank,'I'll bet you this pattern holds a power similar to Nen'

As Gon spoke up, the two quickly looked up at him and watched as he observed the new box in his hand.

'And it looks like.. maybe the card goes in here',Gon observed.

Opening the colorful box with his Hunters license, Gon revealed a ring with a seaweed green gem, a cassette tape and a memory card.

Everything within the box was a bit strange and the only normal thing, was the ring.

Picking up the ring, Killua observed the small object and looked at the pattern printed on the inside of it.

'Hey, look at this',Killua said, causing Valentine and Gon to look at the ring as well,'That pattern's on the back of the ring, too. You should be real careful before you try putting it on'

Deciding to start by listening to the tape, Gon had readied a cassette tape player and with Killua preparing to copy the tape; just incase, they set up the recording.

Sitting on the floor in front of the tape player, the four gazed at it and watched as the wheels slowly began to turn, before a voice spoke up through the speakers, causing a small gasp to leave Gon's lips.

Ging.

'Hey, Gon. So, you became a Hunter too, huh? Anyway.. I have a question for you. Do you.. want to see me? If you do, keep listening. If you don't, just press the stop button',The voice said and it was silent for a moment, as if Ging was waiting for Gon's decision,'I'm guessing that's a "yes". But I'll ask you one more time; are you sure? Hunters are selfish creatures, we're willing to sacrifice anything and everything to get what we want. If you just think that it would be nice to see me.. stop the tape here'

A moment of silence passed through the group and it was clear that Gon wanted to find Ging. Looking towards Gon, Valentine and Killua could tell his answer just by the determination in his gaze.

'You want to see me that much, huh?',Ging's voice sighed out,'Well.. I don't want to see you'

Feeling her eye twitch with anger, Valentine used every ounce willpower in her body to not try and take that tape out of the player, then smash it to pieces.

But she'd never do that to Gon.

'Honestly, I don't know how I could face you. After all.. I walked away from being a parent for purely selfish reasons. I'm not a decent guy.. I don't have any way of knowing how much time will pass before you listen to this tape, I figure it'll be at least ten years. But it doesn't matter. There's one thing that will never change; I will always be the guy I am. As you sit there, listening to this tape, I'm sure I'll be off, horsing around somewhere. If you still want to see me, find me. But like I said, I don't want to see you. If I hear you coming, I'm gonna bolt. Catch me if you can. You are a Hunter now, aren't you?'

A determined look formed on Gon's face and his aura formed around him for a moment, before fading into nothing.

Once Ging asked Gon one final question, Gon's eyes widened for a moment and then, he brought the tape to a stop.

Even though the two questioned him about it, the spiky-haired boy reminded them that he didn't want to know about his mom and already had one, Aunt Mito.

Standing to his feet, Gon stretched out his legs as a tingling sensation rose up them.

'Hey, are you guys hungry?',Gon questioned,'I'll go get us something to eat'

Laying down on the floor, Valentine stared up at the ceiling with her arms spread out on the floor, her hair sprawled out around her.

A sudden click filled the air and caught Valentine's attention, causing her to lift her head. An aura was surrounding the cassette player and the tape inside was rewinding itself.

"Ughh.. Killua.. Gon!",Valentine called out,"It's rewinding itself.."

Hearing her voice, the two quickly turned around and saw the aura surrounding the player, before it suddenly stopped, the record button pushing down on it's own.

'Look, now it's recording!',Killua observed,'Wait, I think I get it. He's erasing his voice!'

'What?!'

Racing forward, Gon quickly unplugged the cord from the wall and even though it should've stopped by now, it didn't.

The duo began to fret over the device and deciding quickly, Valentine raced forward and quickly apologizing to Gon; she kicked the device as hard as she could, causing it to hit the wall, before falling to the ground.

But that however, was a failure.

'Crap! It's no use',Killua swore,'The Nen's protecting it'

Persistently stomping on the device, Killua tried as hard as he could to break it and it proved futile, but he wouldn't give up. Giving it one last punch, Killua put all of strength into it and fell backwards as the Nen continued to defend the device.

Finally, a click filled the air as it finished and the aura surrounding the object faded away, ridding the message from Ging.

'It looks like it's finished..',Gon stated, his gaze remaining on the device.

Letting out a sigh, Killua's shoulders slumped and he turned his gaze towards Valentine, watched as she slumped in defeat, her eyes showing every emotion she was feeling as a dejected sigh passed through her lips.

Listening to the message on the duplicate, the trio found out that it was also completely wiped clean and Valentine pulled her knee towards her chest, wrapping her arms around it.

'I just don't get why he would go through all this trouble',Gon said.

'He probably didn't want to leave any clues or anything for us',Killua stated.

A confused expression formed on Gon's face and he tilted his head to the side, his eyebrows pulled together as a frown tugged at his lips.

'You can extract a whole lot of information from a simple audio clip',The silverette explained,'You can determine about how tall the speaker likely is, their weight, their age, diseases, facial features, even a psych profile'

Sharing a glance, shock formed on Valentine and Gon's faces, before they looked towards the tape once more.

You could determine all of that just by listening to a small tape?

'From the noise in the background, you can even determine their exact location',Killua stated,'But that's not what he was worried about. There's something else'

'What are you talking about?'

Sharing a glance, Valentine and Killua's eyes glistened and it seemed as if they were having a private conversation with one another, before the blonde's eyes widened and a small gasp left her lips.

"I get it",Valentine spoke up, causing Gon to look towards her,"You're talking about his Nen abilities"

Giving her a small nod, Killua began to explain more about it and told them that a Nen user could possibly analyze data a lot better than any machine could.

'I get it',Gon said, a small hum leaving his lips.

A small smile stretched across Killua's lips.

'Your dad is tough',The silverette stated,'Like, really tough'

Once Gon gave him a nod, Killua turned his gaze away and picked up the cassette tape.

'This is useless',He stated and looked towards the ring and memory card,'At least it wasn't the only clue, we've still got two more left. The ring and the memory card. The ring probably won't help, but the memory card might'

Leaning over the box, Gon looked into it and observed the items in it, wondering just what they were for.

If Ging had left them, then they were clearly important.

'Yeah, but it's smaller than a normal one',Gon observed, before looking up towards his friends,'You think we're gonna need special hardware for it?'

Staring at the boy with a flabbergasted expression, Killua looked towards Valentine and saw that she had the same confused expression as Gon.

She was just as clueless as he was.

'Wait a minute, you're telling me that you two really can't tell?',Killua questioned, picking up the memory card,'This is only designed to work with the JS'

Raising an eyebrow, Gon was still as confused as ever and still had no idea what Killua was talking about.

But Valentine on the other hand, was slowly beginning to understand and by that, it was very slow.

She was pretty sure that her sister used to have one, or maybe it was her aunt.

'A gaming console called the Joystation from three generations back',Killua explained and handed the card to Gon,'Man, don't you know anything?'

Looking towards Valentine, an expression slowly made it's way onto his face and she couldn't tell if it were hopeful or desperate.

'Please tell me that you at least know what I'm talking about',Killua stated and felt his shoulders slump at the look on her face.

It was a mix between confusion and hesitation.

With her eyes wide, Valentine slowly shrugged her shoulders and felt a grimace form on her face at the look he was sending her.

It was clear that he was hoping that she at least knew what he was talking about.

'If this island still has cassette players, there's gotta be an old console around here somewhere',Killua exclaimed, before standing to his feet,'Is there a toy store here?'

Staring up at Killua with a surprised look, Gon slowly nodded.

'Yeah.. I'm pretty sure there is'

With a nod, Killua quickly grabbed Valentine's hand and pulled her to her feet, dragging her along with him, causing a shout of confusion to leave her lips.

Almost falling down the stairs, Valentine had to pick up the pace as her smaller form had to desperately walk quicker in order to keep up with Killua's taller one.

Passing Aunt Mito, she had wondered where the two were off to and the silverette had simply said that they were heading towards the toy store.