This could not be a good idea.

"Perhaps I should invite Seira instead," Rukei offered hesitantly.

"I'm 99.9% sure Seira is Flask now," Killua countered, already irritated by the argument between the three of them, "So we can't do that. It's dangerous."

"And inviting Chrollo Lucilfer isn't?" She retorted.

He rolled his eyes and shoved his hands into his pockets, "But Kurapika said that he was 100% sure that he's a fake."

Gon hummed, looking up from his binder to the other two, "Who is it, then?"

"Well, it's probably a member of the Troupe."

"Why would a member of the Troupe be here?"

"Maybe to beat the game?"

"Then wouldn't they have used their own name?"

Their reasoning was going nowhere and Killua sighed as they had returned right back where they started. "That's true."

Goreinu had offered them a way out of the circle with one of the cards he had on hand. "We can use Sight Vision. If that person isn't here to beat the game, they won't bother collecting cards."

It had turned up that 'Chrollo Lucilfer' only had six cards in their free slots all regarding food or water. "This guy's not even trying."

"That makes it easier to invite them," Goreinu concluded though Rukei couldn't completely agree to the statement. She was pretty sure the Troupe would like to rip her and all her friend's apart and probably would have if their leader wasn't bound to Kurapika's Nen.

Gon turned around, putting on a condition on Goreinu's suggestion, "But if it really is a member of the Troupe, we won't invite them. We'll just ask a few questions."

"Then don't bother," Killua scoffed at the idea with tone that sounded just a bit too snarky for Gon to sit still with, "Since it's definitely one of them."

"Finding out who they are is important but I'd rather learn why they're here!" Gon exclaimed which made Killua declare him as even more of an idiot.

The boy finally raised his voice as he got up in Gon's face. "Are you stupid?! You're gonna ask them why they're here? They aren't gonna tell you!"

"Yeah, I'm an idiot!" Gon shot back immediately to show Killua exactly how much Gon cared, annunciating every word in a funny way, "I'm an idiot, so I'm. Still. Gonna. Ask!"

"Ugh, Rukei, you say something to him," Killua turned around exasperatedly.

She blinked dumbly before continuing in an unimpressed tone, "What? When did I become a part of this?"

"What do you mean 'when did I become a part of this'?!" he demanded and in frustration he threw his hands up in the air, "Y'know what? Fine! Do whatever you want!"

"I sure will!" Gon declared, snatching up an Accompany card, "I'm off then!"

"Knock yourself out."

Hyoshi had been watching fairly quietly with his arm in the sling but he had to notice that, "You guys really fight a lot more than I thought you would."

Gon held up his card to teleport but not before sharing a very short spat with Killua that consisted of no comprehensible words and sounded more like angry growling.  

They landed somewhere surrounded by a thick mist, and by the placid and quiet lapping of water a little ahead, somewhere near a pond or stream. A blurred figure was concealed by the fog standing a couple yards away from them. She couldn't tell which Troupe member was there, or wether the figure was a Troupe member at all.

But soon, she could make out a familiar shade of red; 'Chrollo Lucilfer' was Hisoka!

At the call of his name, it was very clear as his gold eyes met theirs along with his always amused grin, "Well, well, I have unexpected visitors. It's been a while," the man declared turning around to face them.

Rukei relied on all her senses but her eyes at that point.

She held up her Ren in hopes of keeping him at bay like Gon and Killua did, but the action seemed to have backfired on them. "As I thought. You've matured quiet a bit," Hisoka observed, "It appears that you found an excellent teacher. As I anticipated, you grow more appetizing with every day."

"Wh-who is this pervy freak?" She heard Goreinu ask, before hearing the footsteps of someone backing up as he was asked a question.

"Are you their teacher?"

She heard a very late and fake, "Stop it!" from their real teacher beside her.

They let him get dressed before the interrogation started. "So what did you want with me... No, with Chrollo?" Hisoka questioned, fixing on his shirt.

Gon, straightforward as ever, went on without missing a single beat, "Why are you here?"

Hisoka brushed his bangs out of the way as he answered almost immediately to their surprise, "I'm looking for Chrollo. There's actually a way to remove Kurapika's Nen from him."

"You can purge it."

"So you knew?" Hisoka chuckled, "Then that makes this easier. I'm looking for Chrollo to give him that information, but I have no leads. That's when I remembered that some of the spiders were interested in this game? I thought that they would know Chrollo's whereabouts and by choosing this name, I ensure that they will come to me."

Technically, Hisoka couldn't tell Chrollo this information but from what Killua figured out, the jester did actually have a loophole. "I see. He was just pretending to be a member of the Troupe."

"Now, it's my turn for a question," Hisoka chimed, "You didn't come here just to ask me that, did you?"

"No, I did."

"Um..."

When Killua and Gon turned around, they were met with a very, very different Bisky, even more girly and soft-spoken than the Bisky they first encountered in Antokiba. They could have sworn they saw flowers and bubbles blooming and floating around her. "You see, actually, we're looking for really strong. Won't you please join us?"

"Hmm?" He agreed without much of a second thought, "Sure. Why are you looking for strong people?"

His question went unanswered as everyone hounded Bisky on her terrible decisions. "W-wait a second, I'm against this. It's too dangerous!"

"Yeah, you have no idea who this guy is, Bisky!"

"Listen, even I have no idea who he is, but I do not want to be next to that guy!"

"Oh? That's not true!" Bisky gasped, "I can sense that he's a kindred spirit," she went on innocently while holding up her transmuted message of 'he's lying'.

They were to set off to Aiai, in hopes of finding more teammates against Razor until the group noticed that one of their members was still standing in the clearing as stiff as a statue.

"Rukei, we're leaving!" Gon called and she quickly whipped around noticing the lack of presence around her. She luckily avoided slamming into a tree as one of her hands was fortunately placed outwards.

Hyoshi dragged a hand over his face and shook his head upon realizing why she was acting so strangely. "Her eyes are still closed."

"Oh, how cute~"

"I somehow can't blame her," Goreinu shivered as he brushed past the clown who had just spoken with that disturbing expression on his face.

Gon bounded back to the girl who was still very doubtful of taking a look around. "Rukei, it's safe now."

Rukei very hesitantly cracked one eye open, "If you're lying, you will not just get away with a throw."

-

"What did you mean about him lying?"

Bisky and her students walked a little ways ahead of the clown so they should have been able to converse quietly without being found out, "Technically, I should say he wasn't speaking the truth."

"How could you tell?"

"I had a gut feeling," Bisky replied as if it was the most obvious and reliable thing in the world.

Killua voiced her complaints in a very skeptical half-yell of, "'A gut feeling'?"

The blonde turned to them with a hand covering her mouth to hide her complacent laugh, "After lying for fifty years, I can recognize a fellow liar."

Somehow, it was an extremely convincing argument.

Bisky glanced behind her quickly before looking back forward, "Since he's hiding something, we'll keeping him around to see what's up. Plus, he really is strong, right?"

"I will admit that-"

Rukei stopped mid-sentence as she felt a very strong and unpleasant chill shoot through her body. She hadn't glared in a while, and Hisoka was the first to receive it in a long time.

"Hisoka! You walk in front!"

Without a set of eyes burning ill will into her back, she could finally focus on clearing all the mysteries starting with why Hisoka was helping them. Hisoka was searching for the Spiders so why was he wasting his time with their group? Why was he even in this out of the way place near Aiai, anyways? If he wasn't going to stay in a crowded city like Masadora that guaranteed players to drop by in, then wouldn't he at least cause a ruckus and stir up as much trouble as possible to get their attention? Was sending this message about the purger really that covert?

In the first place, why did he have so few cards? Surely, if he had been in Masadora, he would have seen cards like Contact or Magnetic Force that would have appealed to anyone trying to search for someone else in the game. 

Was it possible that he had already found the Spiders?

If he had, how could Rukei find evidence for it? It'd be difficult for her to trick him into anything. On top of that, Rukei failed the acting segment six times during Zakuya training unlike the professional liar Bisky. Keeping a straight face was the only thing she could do and sometimes she felt as if the jester could see right through it.

Luckily, ever honest Gon managed to get Hisoka to pull out his binder and let them look through his contact list when they decided to team up with Tszegerra. Unfortunately, not a single name of the Troupe appeared. It was possible that they were using fake names, that Hisoka hadn't found them yet and decided just to follow his eccentric nature as he usually did, or that Hisoka was not looking for the Troupe members at all.

They ended up teaming up with Tsezgerra and his other teammates, Hyoshi and his broken arm that he still insisted that could help somehow, Goreinu, Hisoka, and five other players that didn't care for cards and wanted to go home.

It had been going perfectly. They had won three matches so far and the fourth was against the man Killua beat up earlier, Bobobo. But that match was put to a quick end when Bobobo's head had burst with the impact of Razor's emission.

"You'll be punished for breaking the taboo," Razor stated with the same smile as the headless body fell to the floor, "Did that idiot think I wouldn't kill him?" he turned back to the group as if nothing had happened and as if blood still wasn't spilling out over the floor, "Alright, I'm next."

From the back, one of the players called out in fear, "H-hey, this looks pretty bad. We can't fight those guys!"

"No, hold on," Goreinu tried to negotiate, "We'll be doing the fighting. If the nine of us can't secure victory, then you can forfeit your matches without fighting."

"Really? You guarantee that we won't have to fight?!"

Killua broke in casually, focused on the matter at hand. "Question. That guy's dead. What about the sumo match?"

Razor seemed like he couldn't care less, "Hmm? Oh, you get the win."

"But we never decided who we were sending," Killua pointed out despite the fact he was so set on participating earlier.

"I don't care who you give the win to," the man told him, knowing what the boy was jabbing at, "Just give it to one of those guys standing in the back."

He did just as the man said, pointing at a random player and telling him he got the point giving them four wins while reserving some members. Razor declared that he was going to go with the theme of dodgeball and an nine-on-nine game but Gon could not take his eyes away from the body of the man being carried out.

Nine on nine completely threw their plans off the rails. They only players that actually got a chance at winning were numbered up to seven and if they really wanted to risk it, eight with an injured Hyoshi. Rukei now regretted breaking his arm as Razor called a group of Nen beasts to play, marked by numbers.

"Hold on," Goreinu stopped at the sudden change in events, "How is this scored? It's one win per person, right?"

"Yes, one win per person," Razor nodded, "So the victorious team receives nine wins. Simple enough, yeah?" he explained which blocked their way out of forfeiting this match and playing one-on-one for the next.

Muttering began in the back as the five other players immediately began declaring that they wanted to leave. One of Tsezgerra's teammates suggested that they just get hit and then get out but they weren't up for that either after seeing the hit that Bobobo took.

"Oh just so everything is clear, we'll be using a normal ball," Razor clarified, holding up a yellow and black ball, "But with Nen, it's just as strong as the Nen projectile earlier."

"Yeah, I'm outta here!"

"Sorry, but I-I don't wanna die yet."

They had to stop them somehow and Killua tried to convince then to stay, "H-hold on! We'll think of something real quick."

"We'll do this ourselves," Gon stated firmly, "If our lives are on the line, we should only field willing players. Do you have a problem if we only field seven?"

Razor wouldn't accept that. "Yes, actually, I can't let you do that... You have to field nine members. Otherwise, why would you recruit fifteen?"

"You can't be serious," Rukei muttered to herself while sparing a glance towards the players in the back, "I should have invited Seira after all."

Breaking away from her thoughts, she realized that Gon's mind still hadn't left the pirate from earlier. "Saying this to an in-game character is probably pointless, but wasn't Bobobo one of your allies? What did he do to deserve death?"

"Burglary-murder and rape-murder," Razor replied without missing a second, "Eleven confirmed counts alone."

Rukei stared in confusion at the automatic answer. It was somewhat odd that there was that kind of backstory to an in-game character. Did every one of them have this?

"This is the real world."

"This place, Greed Island, is located in the real world," Tsezegerra went on, "This game takes place in the real world. Revealing that information to a player who believes they're inside a game is a taboo. Bobobo was executed for breaking that taboo. This guy, Razor, is a Game Master, a real human."

"Game Master?"

"One of the people who made this game. Bobobo and the other pirates are real death row criminals. Not only did he disobey orders, he attempted to instigate an escape. Execution was a fair consequence."

Razor was growing impatient with the chattering about what was real and what wasn't. He didn't think it affected the game anyways. "Well, it doesn't really matter. Since this island is still isolated from the rest of the world."

"Wait a second," Gon started suddenly, "If this is the real world, does that mean that Ging is here, on Greed Island?"

Razor expression seemed to change for once. He was still smiling, but that smile was much different from the one he usually wore and his aura spiked. "I see. I was instructed not to go easy on you. By your old man."

It should have meant bad news. It should have meant terrible news that this game was going to be even more difficult but Rukei couldn't completely feel that. There was gain at the end of this! Gon would be a step closer to finding his father.

But the players in the back couldn't stand this idea as they began to run at Razor's frightening and towering aura. Hyoshi clicked his tongue in annoyance as he adjusted the bandages around his arms, "I guess I'll have to join-"

"It's okay," Goreinu intervened, "I'll count as three."

Like Razor, two Nen beasts were summoned in a similar fashion, both beasts taking form of gorillas, one white and the other black. They picked the right team members.

"Thank you, Hyoshi," Rukei turned to him before they stepped into the court, "We'll take care of this."

"There you go again with the 'we'," Hysohi huffed vaguely, shoving his not broken arm into his pocket and stepping back, "Break a leg, Rukei."

The game used the cushion effect and inside and outside players. An outside player could move inside with "Back" but that could only be used once a game.

"I am Number Zero the referee. Let's have a clean game. We will now begin. Ready... Go!"

As the ball was thrown up in the air, Razor's player moved back letting their team take the first move. It started off with Goreinu knocking out Four and Five, though Rukei was aware of the position's Razor's Nen beasts were taking around the court and was growing uncomfortable with it.

"Alright...," Razor declared, stretching out a little as Goreinu took back the ball from the white gorilla, "It's good to go."

He looked up in confusion, "What was that?"

"I'm prepared to defeat you now."

Goreinu snorted at the idea, packing his Nen into the ball and throwing it back to Razor who easily caught it with one hand. Razor copied his opponent's action, putting his own Nen in the ball, but it was easy to tell that it was far stronger, even with all his Nen beasts scattered about.

The incredible throw that Razor sent back could not be dodged or caught. Goreinu could only avoid it by switching out his place with the white ape, sending him to the outside court and the ape's head off and the rest of it's body shattered.

But they had no time to focus on their teammates condition. Taking advantage of the positions they had already formed, Razor passed around the ball around them creating a virtual cage around their players.

Tszegerra was the next one out of the game, but having barely been able to guard himself with Ten, he could not even play from the outside court and had to step out of the game completely from the damage.

"Hisoka."

He understood the plan that Gon had come up with easily just by hearing his name, "Okay. Give me the ball."

His Bungee Gum was perfect for a situation like this! He easily took out one with an amused taunt that asked Razor to entertain him, while swinging the ball around lightly and deciding to leave Razor last because of the rules of Back.

But as Hisoka threw the ball out again, Six and Seven merged to make a giant Thirteen that even Hisoka couldn't retrieve the ball from as he released his Nen.

"Is that even allowed?!" Killua demanded angrily to which the ref gave them a solid yes, as long as the maximum limit for players did not exceed the court. Razor's ability was the one that was perfect for this situation.

Razor called the attention back to him as Thirteen gave him the ball. "Now, it's my turn to attack again," and everyone backed up to the end of the inside court at those words, not like that would actually do much of anything.

The best thing they could do was Ken. But would Ken even be enough to catch Razor's ball? What else could they do?

"Oh? So you can use Ken. That means you at least won't die. However...," Razor added, "That assumes you aren't hit in the wrong spot. Here I come, Gon!"

Razor's smile turned wicked, but Gon would never back down from intimidation like that. That kind of thing fueled his will to keep going. "Bring it!"

Gon brought his hands up to his head and forced all his aura there as he took on Razor's ball dead on. But with the Ko set only at his hands, his feet were pushed by the force and he was thrown back into the wall as the ball flew up into the ceiling and remained there.

"Gon!"

There was a crater in the wall to tell about the impact. His team rushed back to him, asking him questions about his conditions to which he shot up with the same determination and fire but perhaps not the same uninjured head. With blood running down his forehead, Gon announced that he was "just fine!".

"The heck you are..."

"I used Ko to harden my hands but my legs couldn't take the impact. But," Gon stated firmly, looking down at his shaking hands, quite different from his unshaken spirit, "next time, I'll catch it!"

The referee suddenly spoke up to make judgements on the recent exchange. "Estimating the ball's likely drop point... Play will resume with Team Gon's inside players controlling the ball. But as the ceiling is considered an extension of the floor, Gon is out."

"I'm going to use Back."

Bisky took another look at the boy's head before trying to stop him. "But you're-"

"I'm doing it!"

"I somehow figured this would happen."

"He won't listen to us now..."

Bisky finally relented but under the condition that Gon could not enter the game until the members in the court had been reduced to three people. After that, Killua and Gorienu passed the ball back and forth in between each other to buy some time for Gon to get patched up. The moment they finished wrapping up Gon's head in a bandana, Goreinu backed up to give another go at getting Razor out.

For a moment, it looked like Goreinu succeeded in making Razor use up his Back by swapping out the black gorilla's spot with Razor, nailing the man in the face. But Two managed to retrieve the ball, return it to Thirteen who then sent in flying back at Goreinu with Razor's heavy emission ability packed in.

It seemed unfair as Goreinu was an outside player but according to Razor there was 'no rule about passing to an opponent', the same logic Netero pulled on them a long time ago. But now, Razor had the ball again and they had to get it back somehow.

She grit her teeth as Razor stepped forward, hurling the ball towards the boy beside her- she dropped to the floor immediately, barely avoiding the ball's path with it's sudden sharp turn. Just when she though both Bisky and Hisoka were in the clear, Five launched the ball right back at the jester, who managed to catch it with Bungee Gum but not without the cost of two broken fingers.

Rukei got to her feet gingerly looking to her right. Bisky, Hisoka, and herself barely managed to escape the attack. Had Killua dodged left, he surely would have...

"Bisky is out! Move to the outside court."

The brunette whipped around in confusion. Their master had definitely avoided that! But a closer look at the blonde showed a tear in her dress; clothes were identified as a part of the body during the match. Reluctantly, Bisky left the court, meeting Gon along the way.

"Back!"

Killua checked up quickly on the boy who returned to the inside, "You okay?"

The answer was positive. Hisoka mentioned that he learned that when the ball traveled to the outside court, it became much less powerful. Without Ko, Hisoka did managed to catch it after all.

"Then if we avoid Razor's throws, we can avoid significant damage," Killua summed up.

Rukei gave a short glance back towards their opponent. She wanted to be able to beat him head on, but they didn't have that kind of power. "It's not like we have a choice."

"That won't be a victory."

Killua turned to him slowly, with a quiet anger that built up as he spoke, "Don't be stupid... If we can't win no matter what we do, all this is pointless! You better cool down, idiot."

"Aren't you mad?"

This obscure question seemed to make him madder if anything. "Huh?!"

"If you'd dodged left, you could've died," Gon answered, pulling his hands into fists, growing more enraged the more he thought. It showed in his aura, "I'm really pissed off... I won't settle for some cheap win. We have to completely destroy him!"

Hisoka passed the ball to the white-haired boy, satisfied to see the refinement and power of Gon's Nen and curious to see how he would put it to use. "You must have a plan in mind..."

"Yeah," Gon pointed towards the end of their side of the court, "I've got this. Killua, stand over there. Plant yourself firmly, and hold the ball."

It had taken her a moment to recognize the strategy. Simple, brilliant, but at the same time, something she couldn't bring herself to totally support. "Wait. I'll hold it instead-"

"No," Killua turned her down firmly and just as she was about to argue, he gave her a more casual smile, "Don't worry about it. Actually, you probably memorized it, right?"

Rukei was both confused and annoyed at the hazy and stubborn statement and questions. "What are you talking about?"

"Y'know, that," he went on while making an odd symbol in the air.

She understood now and she was torn in between capturing victory or damaging the two of them. "Are you joking? You are aware of what's going to-"

What she found in his eyes told her to search no further. Still giving her that stupid smile, Rukei reluctantly knelt down and dipped her finger in cerise paint.

Gon came to realize what she was doing too and stepped back to let her draw on the floor. It was on a far smaller scale but it should still work; that was the hope she clung to as she stood back up and overlooked the finished product for any mistakes or missing lines. "It's finished. Knock yourself out."

The spiky haired boy gave her a grateful grin that she wanted to turn away from. She said she would protect them. So why was it that the only thing she could do was paint the stupid Nen boosting symbol on the floor that would end up hurting both Gon and Killua?

If she had chosen a different power would she have been able to help them? Or maybe if she was gifted in something else besides memory. If she could just do something!

"First comes rock..."

No. They wanted to win- they had to win. It was Rukei's job to ensure victory.

"Rock, paper...," Gon chanted, his aura burning a brilliant orange color that glowed like a flame centered into his punch that he sent the ball flying with, "Rock!"

Thirteen's attempts to catch it were futile as he was sent tumbling out of the court with the ball in his hands. Gon growled in frustration. It wasn't enough to defeat Razor.

"Okay, let's do it again!" Killua turned around with the ball ready, pretending as if he didn't flinch when Bisky returned the ball, "Give it to Razor good!"

Rukei did not miss the quick and subtle glance Gon gave towards Killua and his hands before returning the determination. "Yeah!"

The spiky-haired boy knew he needed more power to beat the Game Master. He took in a deep breath, relaxing completely putting his aura into a calm and beautiful state that resembled a candle. The candle burst into a roar, the aura flaring as it was drawn into his fist. His first punch was nothing at this level.

"First comes rock!"

The windows shook and the lights flickered as the ridiculous power that couldn't to expend any further grew exponentially by the second.

"Rock! Paper!"

Unbelievable. She had seen him do it before, and he had done it again. He had broken the invisible barriers of could and should have been impossible. Rukei was nothing at this level.

"Rock!"

Razor was going to receive it head on. He burned off the majority of Gon's power and energy so that the incredible ball that Gon sent, probably equal to Razor's, did not even reach the ceiling.

"You can do more than just dodge or catch the ball," Razor told them waiting for the ball to fall back down for him to catch, "But I doubt that tip will help you."

But the ball was not going to reach his hands as the magician's tricky Nen quickly pulled the ball back. "Hmm, too bad. You have to catch the ball, after all."

"As dictated by the cushion effect, Razor is out! Step to the outside."

"Back."

Their team took a second to rest after being assured that the ball was on their side. Gon let out a deep breath setting his hands on his knees. The effects of what she had done were starting to kick and punch. The symbol was not a symbol that transferred her Nen to Gon or used some other magical method to giving him extra power. It was making it easier to draw out his power which exhausted him much faster than she had anticipated.

"You okay, Gon?"

"Yeah. But we need one more... I think."

And Killua...

"Alright! This time, end it."

Their conversation came short as they were suddenly called back by Tszegerra after he had asked the referee a question. "Gon, if you come outside, I can hold the ball for you," he went on with a short glance towards the white-haired boy, "Killua's hands must be ravaged by now. I doubt he's in any condition to hold the ball for you. I know how to apply a lightning fast coat of aura in order to protect my hands. I'll hold the ball, and you can take Razor out from here. It's our only way to win."

Killua could not accept that. 'The only way to win?' He wasn't going to stay down for that. "We can't do that."

Tsezgerra was baffled by his statement. "Wh-why not?! Where's the problem?"

"It would be a cop-out," Killua replied immediately, just as Gon had before.

"What?! This isn't the time to worry about that-" the man could not finish his sentence as he broke off into a series of coughs and had to kneel down to give himself some relief.

The white-haired boy smiled lightly as an attempt to give him a little bit of encouragement, "Don't overdo it, pops. You took a pretty big hit. I'm doing fine. I'm not hurting as much as you think."

"Then show me your hands."

Killua did not flinch or waver, but he refused to take his hands out of his pockets, "I'm fine-" he glared as Bisky tried to pull his hand out. Bisky won in the end, and the blistered, burned, and destroyed hand became visible.

"Look!" Tsezgerra commanded,  "He can't feel anything but pain."

Killua yanked his arm away, turning to his friends, desperate to appear okay, "I can do this! I can take one more ball! Gon, I can do this!"

"It's impossible!" Tsezgerra yelled, "Gon, Rukei, help me convince him!"

"I already knew. I knew Killua's hands were messed up," Gon admitted, "Tszgerra-san, I'm sorry, but I won't move outside. I need Killua to hold the ball," Gon looked up without a hint of doubt or hesitance, "Killua's the only one who can do it!"

Killua was hurt, terribly, but somehow Rukei smiled lightly to what Gon said. Gon didn't realize it- he never did. He could be so unaware of his surroundings. But he had saved someone again.

"If Bisky or Hisoka held it, I probably couldn't use my full strength. The only reason I can focus on wholly hitting the ball is because Killua's holding it for me."

It was difficult to catch but she knew that there was a lot more to what Killua said than his usual nonchalant tone. "So, got it now, pops? Go get some rest."

"I understand," Tszegerra surrendered, backing away, "I'm counting on you!"

Bisky was not going to disappoint. "Hisoka, give me the ball."

She stepped to the edge of the court, sighing how throwing wasn't her strong point before throwing it exactly to barely hit Two and angled it for the ball to return to their side. But Two managed to kick the ball back to Razor as he was sent out.

Before they could take him down, they needed to take the ball back.

But Gon had a plan for that. He leaned in and whispered it to them but she immediately recoiled as she heard her part in the strategy. There it was again. A plan when she would hurt them.

"Do you even understand what my abilities really are?" Rukei questioned hastily, "That's dangerous. If I'm off for even half a second, you're dead-"

"Rukei," Gon grinned widely, not taking her questions or warnings to heart. No. He did. His eyes said he was fully aware but he wanted to go through with it anyways, "Let's show Razor that he's not the only one with perfect timing!"

Oh. It was very simple. She had come up with all these 'what if's and 'if only's but it was all very, very simple.

Rukei took in a deep breath and let her shoulders slacken before looking up with a smile. "Understood."

If Gon and Killua trusted her, all she had to do, was not let them down.

"We will resume the match now!"

。。。

I thought last chapter was kinda trashy.

AND THEN I WROTE THIS CHAPTER.

Capturing the punchy and swift action of HUNTER x HUNTER was pretty difficult but capturing that pure and touching shonen-ness that made me sob was far, far, far more difficult. I look back and cannot find that beautiful shonen-ness in this piece but, I intensely hope that I shall do better in the next so please bear with me for a little while!

The picture above was inspired by looking at Gon during the dodgeball match because he kinda looked like a gangster during these episodes with the chain and bandana and everything. I present to you the Greed Island Gang!