I had forgotten to mention in earlier chapters that Zeus now looks like the final picture.

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Edit by: @athy2_04

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The deep hue of the lake became the poetic song of the light that played upon it's wind-dancing ruffles. It met the sun with such grace as if it were enchanted with some mystical spell.

Sun-kissed pearly clouds blossomed in the azure, free to fly with the wind and in the long horizon, they take on silver hues.

The sun bloomed on the horizon, golden petals stretching outwards into the rich blue and kissed the treetops in a soft light of gold.

The dying embers of the flames had become nothing more than crisp logs of wood, charred by the once raging colors of the fire and the only thing that remained as a reminder of the warming flares, was the thin line of smoke that slowly rose into the air.

The boy's had been up all night listening to Kite and no matter how much she tried, Valentine couldn't fight the warm embrace of darkness that had won over her consciousness.

'So, what kind of work do you do, Kite?',Gon asked, curious to learn more about the man.

'Biological surveying',Kite answered and hearing this, the young blonde turned towards the man with an interested gleam shinning within her golden eyes,'My main focus is discovering and researching new species. For instance, have you heard of the Camp Tiger?'

Blinking slowly, eyes of thunder slowly squinted in curiosity and she gradually rose up her hand, placing on her chin.

She didn't think she had ever heard of it.

'They've mastered fire, the use tree branches that were ignited by lightning as kindling',The man explained and passed his laptop to Gon, watching as his friend immediately crossed around him, glancing down at the screen,'Other than bipedal Magical Beasts, they're the first of their kind; a wild animal that prefers it's meat cooked opposed to raw'

Watching the video, the three watched as the tiger leaned it's head down slightly, so that it's horn with the prey was over the fire and began to slowly cook the food.

Eyes widening in fascination, Killua leaned forward and gazed at the screen with a smile gradually spreading across his lips.

'Hey, check it out! They're actually cooking it'

'They really are using fire'

"This is so cool..",Valentine muttered under her breath and her eyes glistened as she looked at the screen.

Quickly snapping his head in her direction, Zeus let out a shocked screeched and a look of envy was on his feathery face, before he bitterly looked away from the girl, low chirps leaving his beak.

Humming in confusion, eyes of thunder looked towards her companion and watched as he bitterly turned his head away from her, rustling his feathers as he looked towards the water, slowly waddling away from her.

Huffing slightly, Valentine slowly shook her head with a small smile on her face and glanced towards Kite with an apologetic look, before getting up and walking towards her hawk.

Since her legs were much longer than his own, she had caught up to him quite quickly and she crouched down, gold and black staring into one another.

Reaching forward, Valentine gently stroked the top of his head and Zeus slowly looked up at her, an indignant look on his feathery face.

"Oh Zeus, there's no need to be jealous. You know that you're the only animal companion I need"

With a low purr-like churr, Zeus spread his wings and flew atop of Valentine's shoulder, nuzzling his beak against her cheek.

It was a strange sight for the older man, watching as a hawk of that size nuzzled into the young girl as if it were still a baby wanting attention from it's mother.

'Oh yeah.. you said that the thing that attacked me earlier was a Chimera Ant, right?',Killua asked.

Walking back over to the others, Valentine sat in between the boy's and watched as Zeus flew over to Gon, landing on his shoulder to nuzzle the boy's cheek with his beak, causing the green-haired boy to let out a chuckle as he reached up his head to gently pet the hawk's head.

'Yes, the Chimera Ant',Kite answered and slowly turned his head, gazing at the destroyed nest that was littered with dead ant bodies,'It's under a designated quarantine level one, it's a dangerous insect that normally, no one's allowed to be near'

'So.. were you the one who discovered them?',Gon asked and furrowed his eyebrows together, his lips pulled down into a confused frown.

'No, I usually specialize in larger creatures, but right now, I'm investigating these insects',The man answered and turned his head,'Something has been bothering me lately'

Following his gaze, eyes of thunder locked onto the destroyed nest of the ants and a small frown tugged at her lips as her eyes narrowed slightly.

Glancing down at Killua's leg, her eyes focused on the scab just above his knee and her eyes softened momentarily, before she looked back towards the destroyed nest.

She didn't know why, but a bad feeling was beginning to bubble within her chest.

'As it stands, it looks like I'll have to move to a different location now',Kite stated and pulled his phone out of his pocket,'I have to make a call, but I'm not getting a signal here'

'A phone call?'

'I'm working with others, there are seven of us on the team',Kite told them and placed his phone back in his pocket,'I guess I'll just have to wait for them to show up. They're all amateurs, but extremely skilled Hunters. I'll introduce you to them'

Hearing people approaching them, Zeus perked up and looked behind the man, watching as a small group began to walk towards them.

Hearing as he let out a small shriek, Valentine hummed slightly and looked up, spotting the group.

"Is that them now?"

Humming for a moment, Kite turned around and perked up at the sight of the group, slowly nodding his head.

'Well, speak of the devil'

Standing up as they got closer, Kite turned around and faced the group, placing his hands on his hips as his eyes looked over each of them.

'Hey Kite, who are these kids?',A woman with dark pink hair; who actually reminded Valentine of Machi.

'Some brand-new friends of mine, they dropped by for a short visit on their travels',Kite explained and gestured towards the three children.

Once again, a low chirp left Zeus's beak as he quickly looked up at the man and angrily ruffled his feathers.

What was it with everyone not introducing him to new people.

'Is that so? Nice of you to come all this way',The woman spoke up,'My name is Spinner Clow, Spin for short. Pleasure to meet you'

Reaching out her hand, the woman blew a large bubble with her gum and a small smile formed on Gon's face, reaching forward to shake her hand.

'I'm Gon Freecss, nice to meet you, Spin'

The bubble popped and covered the woman's face in the sticky substance as she stared down at the boy with shock covering her face.

'Hang on.. Freecss?',She slowly spoke and released his hand, pointing at him,'Wait, does that mean you're—'

'Yep, this boy is Ging's son'

The group all gasped out in unison and they looked towards the silverette and young blonde that were standing next to one another, leaning towards them in fascination.

'Wait, what about you two!? Are you Ging's kids too?!'

Smiling slightly, Killua slowly shook his head and pointed to himself, his sapphire eyes glistening in the light of the sun.

'No. That's just Gon, my name is Killua Zoldyck'

With a bright smile on her face, Valentine closed her eyes and a beautifully bright aura surrounded her body as the small group looked towards her for their answer, her teeth gleaming like freshly fallen snow.

"And my name is Valentine Nitsune"

Flinching back at the name's, the group felt sweat gradually falling down the sides of their faces and their eyes widened as they looked between the two.

How could two kid's that looked so sweet and innocent be from two separate families of ruthless killers.

'Zoldyck... Nitsune..',The man with the Afro shook in fear and his hands shook as he stared at the two children,'Really?'

'Umm.. I hope neither of you take this the wrong way but, aren't you two from the famous family of assassins and contract killers?'

With a small smile on his face, Killua lifted his arm and placed it around Valentine's shoulders, pulling the young girl closer to him.

Warm blood rushed to her cheeks and her heart harshly beat against the cage that were her ribs as her blood pumped throughout her body so that all she could hear was the own beating of her heart.

Her body froze as a flush began to tint her ears with a shade of strawberry and she gently played with her fingers as she quickly looked down at the ground, her eyes widening only slightly.

'Mmhm, that's right, but Val and I quit the business',Killua explained and glanced down at the girl, watching as she looked up at him with a flustered look on her face,'Isn't that right , Val?'

Slowly nodding, Valentine agreed with the silverette and a small, rather nervous, smile spread across her face as she looked into his mesmerizing eyes of ice.

It was at times like this where she wondered if he did this on purpose just to get a reaction out of her, since he now knew just how much she liked him.

'That's not all, the three of them are professional Hunters',Kite explained and looked up at the small group,'So, that makes them your seniors'

Gasping out in unison, the four gazed at the young children in shock and astonishment, their eyes widening slightly.

Putting down their bags, the group all sat down and they all sat around one another.

'What a surprise!'

'We've conducted biological surveys with Kite for three years, but this is the most incredible organism we've ever seen!'

A loud laugh left the man; who kind of looked like a bear, from behind the woman and a bright smile formed on his face.

'You've got that right. I don't think we finished introducing ourselves',The man stated,'My name is Monta Yuras, but you can just call me Mon'

"It's a pleasure, Mr. Mon"

'A pleasure, Mon'

'And my name's Stick Dinner',The man with the Afro introduced himself,'I handle all of the cooking; on account of my name being dinner, of course'

A laugh left the man and Valentine tilted her head to the side, slowly blinking her eyes.

They all had very interesting and unique names for sure, but that wasn't a bad thing, if anything, she thought their names were pretty cool.

'Nice to meet you!'

'That just leaves me, I'm Banana Kavaro. Good to meet you'

Suddenly, an adorable snow-furred puppy popped it's head out of the backpack on the woman's back and Valentine gasped lightly, her eyes glistening as she stared at the adorable creature.

The puppy immediately jumped out of the bag and ran towards Gon and Valentine, jumping into the boy's arms while he licked the young girl's face, his tail quickly wagging behind him.

'Podungo and Lin complete the team',Kite explained and looked back towards the group,'Where are they now?'

'They're both heading towards the area of the sighting'

'Those two always move so quickly'

Perking up, Mon turned around and reached into his backpack, shuffling his hand around in the pocket; looking for something.

'What you told me earlier was accurate, Kite',He said and pulled out a small jar,'This thing right here, it looks exactly like the claw of a Chimera Ant Queen'

A claw that looked about the size of a finger resided within a small, glass vile and eyes of thunder glistened with curiosity and vigilance.

'We ran some computer analysis and it came back a 99% match'

Standing up, Killua made his way towards the man and glanced down at the vile, holding out his hand.

'Can I see?'

As Mon threw the small vile towards the silverette, he skillfully caught it in his hand and looked down at the small glass casing within his grasp, eyes of ice narrowing slightly.

'So this is a Chimera Ant claw?',Killua spoke up as he studied the item,'It's as big as a human finger'

Standing up, Valentine and Gon went on either side of the silverette and gazed down at the jar, staring at the claw.

'Does that mean there's huge ants?'

"..If the claw is this big, then that has to mean that the Queen is about the same size as a human"

Staring at the young girl, Kite slowly nodded his head and pushed his cap up slightly.

'Could one have mutated that big?',Killua asked.

'It is possible, although it may also belong to a complete different species. Regardless, we just don't know right now'

Eyes of thunder glistened as she stared down at the claw and a shiver ran down her spine as her chest tightened, wisps of golden strands of hair softly blowing in the breeze that blew past.

A bad feeling was beginning to brew within Valentine's chest and she didn't know, just how bad it would get.