Drawing by: Natalena Hess

Honestly this is some real talent for an eleven year old, little sis 👏 👏 Not bad at all, I'm proud of you! Like, look at that!

Mwah 😽 Beautiful!

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Purple Nen flew into the air as soon as Razor snapped his fingers and he drew back the aura he had dispersed.

It was clear to Valentine that he was about to show them his true power.

With his eyes glistening, sweat fell down Gon's forehead and a small smile was on his face as he stared at Razor.

Focusing his aura into the ball, Razor tossed it into the air and everyone on the sidelines stared at him in confusion, before they realized what he was going to do.

He was going to spike it.

'Hey, over there!'

Turning her head, Valentine noticed the position they were in and a small drop of sweat fell down the side of her head, her eyes widening slightly.

Standing behind each other, Gon, Killua and Hisoka held their hands all close to one another so that they could catch the ball.

'Wait, they're going to..-'

'Merge!'

Seeing what they were trying to do, the smirk on Razor's face grew and he harshly striked the ball, sending it flying towards the three.

'This battle determines... the winner!'

As soon as the ball had clashed with Gon's hands, Valentine perked up and realized their strategy, a small gasp leaving her lips.

While Gon had caught the ball, Hisoka would trap it with his bungee gum which would in turn stop it from leaving the green-haired boy's hands and Killua was focusing his aura evenly throughout his body to act as a cushion and a brace; making sure that they wouldn't slide too far.

Smoke arose from the bottom of their feet as the three slid back and Valentine bit down on her bottom lip, watching as their feet harshly slid against the floor.

As soon as they had stopped, the cloud of smoke covered them from everyone's view and as soon as it had cleared, they all saw that they had caught the ball.

'They did it!',Biscuit cried out.

'They stopped the ball!'

'Way to go'

Sighing in relief, a relieved smile formed on Valentine's face and looking towards Killua, she noticed how swollen his hands were, causing her smile to slowly turn into a frown, her lips parting in worry.

Getting ready for Gon's next attack, Killua held out the ball just like last time and the green-haired boy began to gather more power until it suddenly bursted out of him, the aura was so intense and strong.

Just staring at the aura had almost blinded Valentine and she closed her eyes slightly, turning her head to the side for a moment before looking back at them.

'Hey Killua, I'm going to give it everything I've got'

'You'd better or you'll hear about it from me'

Focusing his aura into his fist, Gon began to ready his attack and it was almost blinding for everyone as they watched.

'Jan! Ken! Rock!'

Rushing forward, the green-haired boy punched the ball as hard as he could and it was sent flying from Killua's hand, everyone watching as it shot towards Razor like a missile.

Watching as the man focused his aura in his hands, it was clear to the blonde that he was going to bump it but at that speed, the ball was clearly going to knock him out of bounds and he knew that.

So why was he still attempting it?

As soon as the ball had made contact with his Nen, Razor tensed all of his muscles and bumped the ball right back towards them.

'Gon, you have to dodge it! You can still win!'

'No way, he'll never dodge! Because that isn't how he wants to defeat me, I've learned that much about him in this match'

However, before the ball could collide with his fist or his face, Gon's eyes had suddenly went blank and he fell to the floor with a thud, completely unconscious.

'You can take pride in this, you've won, Gon'

'Not quite yet'

Hearing the familiar voice, a small drop of sweat fell down the side of Valentine's face and she snapped her head to the side, looking towards Hisoka.

She had momentarily forgotten that he was there.

Forming his Nen between his hands, Hisoka watched as the ball soared towards him and Tsezguerra's eyes widened.

'What the hell do you think you're doing!?'

'The win must be.. flawless, right?'

Catching the ball in his Bungee Gum, Hisoka's aura began to stretched out as the ball was trapped within the gum-like substance, a low groan leaving the man's lips before multiple cracks filled the air.

Launching back at Razor, the ball was covered in the pink aura and as soon as it had made contact with his hands, the ball was immediately stuck to him and the momentum from the spinning object had completely pushed him outside of the court.

'Catching the ball while the body is touching outside of the court is illegal! Razor is out, which means that the winner of the match is Team Gon!'

Raising her hands, Valentine cheered loudly for her friends and a wide smile formed on her lips, listening to the cheers that echoed around her.

Waking up, Gon tiredly blinked and looked around, listening to the cheering with a confused look on his face.

'I missed it, what happened at the very end?'

Standing to her feet with Biscuit's help, Valentine had her left arm over her friend's shoulder and the woman had an arm around her waist, keeping the girl steady as she helped her over to them; missing a bit of the conversation.

'Or he stole our glory. But that's depends on how you look at it'

'We won because we all worked together, that makes this a team victory'

'You sound so out of character, Hisoka'

Hearing the familiar laugh coming from beside them, Gon and Killua turned their heads; while Hisoka looked up, and seeing the blonde standing there with their teacher's help, the two immediately perked up.

"So, who wants a hug first?"

Almost immediately, Gon surged forward and wrapped his arms around his sister figure, causing her to stumble back, falling to the ground with a small shout of shock and a chuckle.

Gasping slightly, Biscuit began to fret over the injured girl and scolded Gon, while the sibling-like duo only looked up at her from the ground with smiles on their faces.

'Seriously, are you trying to hurt her more?'

Placing her hands on her hips, Biscuit sighed and slowly shook her head, a small smile twitching at the edge of her lips as she chuckled.

Looking towards the silverette, Gon watched as he looked towards him and so, the green haired boy gestured his head to the side, watching as Killua followed his gaze.

Holding out her hand, the woman helped Valentine up from the floor and before she could react, another pair of arms immediately wrapped around her frame, causing a small squeal of shock to leave her lips as her eyes squeezed shut.

Knowing who it was instantly, Valentine chuckled as a hand gently intertwined with her own and an arm wrapped around her waist to keep her steady as soft locks of hair tickled her forehead, causing light laughs to leave her lips.

Slowly opening her eyes, thunder and the ocean clashed as one as the two gently smiled at one another and looking between the two, a smile formed on Gon's face as he stood beside Biscuit with his hands on his hips; the both of them smiling as the green-haired boy nodded in satisfaction.

'I lose'

Hearing Razor's voice, Valentine and Killua turned their eyes away from one another, looking towards the man; who looked between their group with a small frown on his face.

'As promised, we'll all leave this town, immediately'

'Oh.. yeah'

'Well, that is what we wanted'

'But first, you asked about Ging. So, I'll tell you'

As Gon walked off with Razor to talk about Ging, Valentine was gently wrapping up Killua's hands with bandages, a small frown on her face as she stared at the torn up, swollen and purple tinted skin.

Hearing as a small noise of pain left the silverette's lips, the golden eyed beauty immediately looked up with wide eyes and seeing the pained look on his face as he clenched his teeth together, his eyebrows furrowed in pain as he looked down at his hands, caused her eyes to soften with worry.

"Sorry..",She muttered lightly and looked back down at his hands.

Closing her eyes, Valentine slowly took in a deep breath and lightly let it out, concentrating as she felt a wave of power form around her body.

Concentrating on the blood within the hands in her grasp, the blonde furrowed her eyebrows and slowly began to speed up the blood within those injured skin cells only slightly, trying to speed up the healing process.

But she didn't want to speed it up too quickly and cause internal damage.

Feeling as the pain began to fade, eyes of ice widened in shock and he stared at Valentine, watching as small beads of sweat rolled down her forehead, before her aura vanished and she opened her eyes, looking up at him with those glowing, goddess-like eyes.

Staring down at his hands in shock, Killua watched as Valentine slowly let his hands go and he lifted them up, feeling no pain whatsoever as he gently flexed his fingers.

"Now it's not going to heal them completely, but it's only a temporary solution for now and it should help with the pain and the swelling for a little bit"

Still staring at his hands, the shock on his face was evident as his lips parted and his eyes were slightly wide.

'Your Nen is awesome..'

Feeling her cheeks redden, Valentine's eyes widened and her lips parted as she stared at the boy, watching as he looked towards her with a smile.

As Gon walked over to them, Valentine was helped up and before she could even think to try and walk, Killua stopped her.

Watching as he gestured towards his back, the blonde blinked in shock and disagreed since his hands were all busted up, causing the silverette to roll his eyes as he hoisted her onto his back.

Letting out a small shriek of shock, Valentine wrapped her arms around the boy's shoulders and hearing as Killua chuckled, a small pout pushed at her lips before she began to laugh as well.

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Following a lady who had given them the tip about Razor and his gang, they followed her to the top of the building and stood at a window.

Sitting a top of Gon's shoulder, Zeus looked around with his obsidian black eyes and a low coo of curiosity left his beak, turning his head every which way in order to take in the sight of the room.

'Well, this is the place'

'A window?'

'From this vantage point, we can see the shore'

'So, how do we get to Poseidon's Cavern from here?'

Reaching over the edge of the window, the woman leaned down and pushed in one of the bricks, pressing a button.

Suddenly, the floodlight turned on and illuminated the pitch black darkness that surrounded them , shining directly at a certain point in the ocean.

'Directly under that point, where the light shines, you'll find an underground cavern and you won't find any treasure, because there isn't any',She explained,'I feel terrible for deceiving all of you'

'There's no treasure?'

'We consider the cavern to be sacred, so only a few fishermen know exactly where it's located',The woman said,'All of the other stories you heard were rumors that took on a life of their own. But Razor and his other pirate friends just simply wouldn't believe us'

Watching as she looked down, Valentine and Gon looked at the girl with sympathy, causing Killua to glance between them.

'Those who live off of the bounty of the sea, can never defile it. Or that's what they said right before they were buried with their secrets'

'Hey, don't forget, okay? This is just a story in a video game, guys'

'I can finally see the ocean again from here. The rising sun, the boats returning with their hauls, all of the colors sparkling across the water..',She trailed off as she stared at the sparkling waters of the ocean,'If you ask me, this is the greatest treasure of them all'

As she stared out the window, the woman had suddenly exploded into a cloud of smoke and once it dispersed, they all watched as a card slowly floated towards the ground.

Walking towards it, Gon picked up the card from the card and cheered as soon as he had seen the name printed on the card.

'Yes! We finally got the strip of beach card!'

"You should use clone on it"

'That way you can have two copies'

'We're fine with taking the copies'

'Of course. You guys have earned the original'

Watching as Hisoka walked off, the boys walked towards him and Valentine furrowed her eyebrows, watching as the man began to walk down the stairs.

'Are you sure you don't want anything, Hisoka?'

'No, I've had enough fun'

'Why don't you stick around and join us?',Killua offered.

Even with the smile on his face, Killua held his true intentions in those words back and stared at the man.

He wanted to know what the Troupe was up to and what they're next actions were.

'No, I'm not interested in collecting cards. But contact me if anything else comes up. I'll cast Accompany or Magnetic Force to come and find you. Oh and by the way—'

The man trailed off and his golden eyes connect with those of the goddesses, a small smirk on his face as the young blonde tilted her head to the side, a confused look on her face.

'Akari says hello and see you soon'

Eyes widening, Valentine watched as Hisoka turned around and walked down the stairs, causing her breath to hitch.

"Wait, where is she!?"

But alas, the clown hadn't answered her call and only continued to walk away, causing a small frown to form on her face.

Silence rang through the air, before suddenly, Killua's eyes widened and he gasped out in shock, causing the three to look towards him.

'That jerk, he lied to us! We haven't used Magnetic Force at all since Hisoka teamed up with us, right?'

Nodding their head, Gon, Valentine and Zeus were quite confused on what the silverette was trying to say, all three of them blinking in confusion.

'That means that when he ran into us, he already knew about spell cards! Do you guys get it?'

Finally realizing what he was saying, Valentine and Gon snapped their eyes towards the stairs that the man had walked down, small frowns on their faces.

'Killua, there are some liars who lie when there's a good reason to and there are those who will lie without any reason at all'

Turning around at the sound of their teachers voice, the silverette hummed slightly and furrowed his eyebrows together.

'You and I are the former, Hisoka's the latter'

Finally leaving the tower, the group was walking down a path and Valentine had her chin rested on Killua's shoulder, glancing towards the silverette.

"You can put me down now, you know? You're hands are probably starting to hurt by now"

Looking back at the girl, Killua glanced down at her foot and frowned slightly, seeing the ace bandage that the medics had used as it slightly peeked out from under her sock.

'How's your foot feeling? If you think you can walk on it, then I'll let you down'

Going to open her mouth to tell him that she was fine, Valentine realized that the silverette would know that she wasn't telling the truth since she had only used her Nen on him and not herself.

Huffing out a sigh, the girl's lips pouted out as she stared off to the side, causing Killua to smile slightly and then, look forward once more.

Suddenly, the ring of Tsezguerra's binder filled the air and as he took it out, he looked down at it with a confused frown.

'Attention, another player has cast contact on you'

'It's been a while, do you know who this is?'

Recognizing the voice, everyone's eyes widened in surprise and Valentine narrowed her eyes, looking towards the binder.

'Genthru',Tsezguerra stated,'What do you want?'

'First, I'd like to congratulate you'

'What are you talking about?'

A low chuckle echoed throughout the speakers and Zeus spread his wings slightly, staring down at the book with a low trill, his obsidian black eyes narrowed.

'Don't play dumb. So here's the deal, I promise to spare your lives and in return, you hand over the Strip of Beach'

'That's ridiculous'

A laugh once again echoed throughout the speakers and Zeus look around, his beady eyes looking through the darkness.

'Well, I am somewhat interested to see if you can beat us. If your willing to make a deal, then come alone to Masadora's entrance gate in one hour',Genthru ordered,'And if you don't, we'll take the card by force. Oh and don't bother running or trying to hide, we have a lot of accompanies'

Watching as Zeus narrowed his eyes, Valentine turned towards where he was looking and couldn't see through the darkness, before the hawk stared right at the figures through the darkness, preparing to take off.

Clicking her tongue, the blonde watched as the blue hawk immediately stopped and looked towards her with those adorable, obsidian colored eyes, tilting his head as a confused chirp left his beak.

'Asta, Amana, Manheim, Nick Cue, Souheil, Kazule. They were all members of your part of fifteen, correct? If you'll just check your binder then you'll notice, they're no longer with us'

Immediately calling out his book, Gon watched as Killua and Valentine came by his side and the three looked through the names.

But they weren't there.

This meant that they were all either dead or they weren't in the game any more.

'Genthru!'

'Who are you?'

'I'm Gon Freecss and I'm ready to take you on!'

Eyes widening in surprise, the three immediately gasped and Zeus snapped his head in the boy's direction, looking as if his soul had just left his body.

'Gon, huh? So you're one of those four brats?'

With a look of offense crossing over her face, Valentine held a hand to her chest and was thankful that Killua had his arms under her legs to hold her up or else she would've fallen.

'I see you have Wild Luck Alexandrite. I'll find you once I'm done with Tsezguerra, unless you want to give up the card now?'

Growling in anger, Gon clenched his fists together and gritted his teeth, his body shaking in with rage.

'Get over here right now, I wanna fight you! I also have-!'

Before Gon could worsen the situation, Valentine immediately smacked the boy upside the head with as much force as she could and he groaned in pain, raising his hands to his head before Biscuit covered his mouth, screaming so that it drowned out what he was trying to say.

'Tsezguerra, talk somewhere else!'

Moving out of sight, Tsezguerra looked down at the three and looked between them, placing his hands on his hips.

'Genthru doesn't know what you're capable of, he and his team assume that we have the original Strip of Beach',Tsezguerra explained,'And that can prove to be very helpful. So they're after what they think is the original card, the one we have'

Watching as Zeus kept glancing behind them, his obsidian eyes looking through the darkness, Valentine looked between him and the tree line behind them.

'Use the time to regain your strength. If you want to beat this game, you'll have no choice but to fight',Tsezguerra stated,'You are the only one's with a chance of beating them, there's no doubt in my mind. But Gon, what you did just now was selfish and foolish. If they had accepted your challenge and come, what would've happened to Killua and Valentine? Given the extent of their injuries'

Realizing that he could've put his best friends in danger, Gon immediately looked over at the two and glancing down at their injuries, a frown pulled at his lips as he knew that he could've gotten the two of them hurt even more.

'By losing control of your emotions, you endangered not only yourself, but your friends too'

Looking down, a frown formed on Gon's face and he knew that if Valentine had gotten hurt even more than she already was, he'd never hear the end of it from her siblings and Killua.

But if Killua had gotten hurt even worse, Valentine would've most likely killed him.

'That aside, it will all come down to accompany. If we can evade their pursuit, we should be able to buy plenty of time',Tsezguerra stated and then, looked towards Goreinu,'But if we let too much time pass, then they may switch up things and target you instead. We probably have a week, more if you're on your own'

Looking down at his hands, the silverette frowned and knew that even with Valentine's help with speeding up his healing process only slightly, he wouldn't have been fully healed by then.

Having a weeks time would be too optimistic, they'd probably come after them after three days or less.

'I'll team up with Tsezguerra, but what about you?',Goreinu asked and looked down at the four, looking between them,'What're you going to do? If we're buying you time, that implies we have an alliance'

'There's very little benefit in an alliance with them, The enemy already knows that the nine of us have teamed up. In that case, we won't be able to act as decoys while you take out Genthru. So of course, will have to be careful with the two cards they still lack; both number two and number seventy-five',Tsezguerra spoke up,'Leaving that with anyone party would be dangerous and we can't afford the risk, that means that my offer to buy time is an alliance, what I'm offering you is a trade'

'A trade?'

'Just three weeks, that's all the time we can buy you and if we succeed, you'll give us number seventy-five, lucky alexandrite'

Furrowing their eyebrows together, Valentine and Killua looked towards one another, their lips tugged down into frowns.

Looking back towards Tsezguerra, the silverette tilted his head slightly and kept his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

'I don't get it, you just said that you could only buy us a week'

'Well, that's assuming that we stay on the run for that long. If necessary, I may be able to force a stalemate of sorts'

Humming in understanding, Killua slowly nodded his head and thought over the man's plan.

'Oh, I see. But if you guys really want number seventy-five, we could just tell you how to get your hands on it'

'No, we're well aware of how to obtain it. Some of us only have a few empty slots left and that's including Goreinu',Tsezguerra told them,'We would be required to turn over all of our cards over to the villagers and that's no longer reasonable'

Looking down at the ground, a frown formed on Killua's face and Valentine looked at him with a frown, her eyes filled with emotion.

'Three weeks. But that isn't nearly enough time for Killua's hands to heal or to close the gap between our abilities and those of Genthru',Tsezguerra spoke up and then, looked towards Valentine, before looking down at her foot,'But, it may just be enough time for Valentine to get back onto her feet'

Slowly, a smile spread across Killua's lips and he perked up.

'So, we should use that time to come up with a workable strategy'

'Yes, exactly',Tsezguerra agreed,'Devise a scenario that you could win. Identify the circumstances and then prepare to carry out the strategy'

'Got it!'

'Good, we'll leave now and delay Team Genthru while we can. And never forget Gon, they've killed over fifty players in this game so far. If you truly want to beat the game, you'll have to fight them'

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Wowww, this chapter took me forever today! I had so much trouble trying to figure out some lines for Valentine since that episode made no sense to me at times lol.

Anyway, a surprise appearance is coming soon!

But who is it? 🧐🤭