章 18: Chapter 18 The Hunters and the Hunted
*Author's Note*
So many reviews have maxed out my motivation to write. Here is another chapter.
Chapter 18 The Hunters and the Hunted
The bottom of Trick Tower contained a waiting area, a resting area filled with cots, and a free cafeteria. Rayleigh still had leftovers from the feast he made during the second trial packed away in storage containers, so he was able to fill himself up while the others checked out the cafeteria.
Since they had nothing better to do, everyone talked about themselves.
Gon basically lived a life of repetition. Throughout his life, he would try random things and fail, then practice doing them until he succeeded. Dozens of strange and odd things, like chasing certain animals, chasing certain fish, chasing certain birds, running from certain animals, playing with certain animals, etc. None of it was training exactly, but most of the actions he was trying to do were beyond a human's capabilities, and the fact that he didn't get himself killed was just as much a mystery as Rayleigh's. At the comparison, Rayleigh and Gon shared a look and grinned back at each other like loons.
Leorio had a relatively normal upbringing but lost a good friend at a young age due to a lack of money to pay for treatment. This sparked a great desire for money in his heart, but only because he felt some problems could only be solved with money. He intended to become a Doctor who wouldn't charge his patients one day, but a doctor's training is expensive in any world, much less one as strange as this one.
Kurapika explained a bit about his past, saying that every member of his clan was attacked and tortured so that their eyes could turn scarlet, and then they were killed so those same scarlet eyes could be removed and sold to collectors. Kurapika's greatest fear was that his hatred would weaken and he would lose the motivation to destroy the Phantom Troupe, the ones who killed his clan and stole their eyes.
Killua remarked, "My father told me about the Phantom Troupe before."
Gon asked, "Oh, what did he say?"
Kurapika was certainly interested and gave Killua his complete attention.
The assassin answered with complete seriousness, "To avoid them at all costs."
Rayleigh asked, "A professional assassin and the head of a family of professional assassins said to stay away from a wanted criminal?"
Killua shrugged. "A good assassin doesn't kill someone they aren't paid to. Especially if doing so puts your life at risk."
Leorio responded, "Shouldn't they already have bounties?"
"Probably, but that's freelance. If a person wants someone assassinated, they'll pay more for a contract than just the bounty would reward, so killing them just for the bounty would be taking a loss compared to waiting for someone to specifically request it as a job."
Killua gave a few tidbits about his past, but you could tell how censored it was. The feeling Killua gave when describing his training was strict and confining.
Rayleigh asked, "Wait, you're a member of the Zoldyck family?"
"Yeah. You heard of them?"
"Well, not them. But a few years ago, I got something called the Zoldyck Family Adjustable Weight Set. I've been using it since I was six."
Killua looked thoughtful for a moment before saying, "Well, we do go through a lot of them, so maybe a used set got out somehow. Not sure how it would have ended up on your island though. Still, that does explain a few things. How do you usually train with them?"
Rayleigh didn't leave out any details and even included information about how the Force worked.
Killua looked impressed and said, "Wow. I can't believe you didn't kill yourself."
Leorio also scolded him about taking better care of himself. Rayleigh launched from that conversation into subjects of healing, as Rayleigh learned much of the subject from the Temple of Healing and wanted to compare it to what Leorio knew.
Rayleigh asked if he knew any better ways of using it, and Killua did give him some pointers while Leorio gave him some sound medical advice.
A few hours after they arrived, Hisoka reached the bottom as well. He had a few wounds, and smelled of blood and death, and seemed to have a satisfied expression, leaving no one to wonder what he had done before arriving. After passing through the door, he spotted their group.
Rather than being upset, he seemed pleased to see that others reached the bottom before he did. In fact, he almost seemed too pleased. After he explored the ground floor's accommodations for a bit, he sat down in the waiting area and got out a deck of cards, which he started stacking like a pyramid.
Several other candidates started arriving, one every couple of hours. They still have over two full days, so there would be a lot of waiting.
On the second day of waiting, Rayleigh walked over to Hisoka. Leorio tried to say, "Hey, stay away from him! He's dangerous!" but Rayleigh didn't mind.
Since this was a conversation Rayleigh didn't want others to hear, he used Force Muffle around the pair, which drew interest from Hisoka. Rayleigh then asked, "Where did you learn that thing with your lifeforce? Like, how can you make your playing cards sharp? I saw Netero do something like that, but he refused to tell me anything."
Hisoka was not a quiet or reclusive person, so if someone directly walked up and politely asked a question, he didn't mind interacting. Especially with someone who had drawn his interest. "Lifeforce? Ah, you mean Aura. Hmm. It's something I learned from a teacher. But a teacher for such things is not something you can seek out on your own. I understand it is possible after obtaining a Hunter License, but I do not know the actual process myself. I don't need a teacher after all."
"Can you teach? Or what about your teacher?"
"Hehe, to think you would ask me to teach. How interesting. Unfortunately, I do not have it in me to be a teacher. As for the man who taught me, well. He is no longer in a state that allows him to take on another student. Hehehehe."
The wicked smile Hisoka wore easily revealed the state of the teacher and who had put him in that state. Oh well, it was worth a try.
"Thank you for answering my questions."
"Of course. Now I have a question for you. How did your group get here so fast? From what I understand, the larger the group, the longer it should take to arrive."
"Oh. I have a skill that lets me break things that don't bother to dodge. There were lots of doors and annoying tasks, but I broke them all so we could skip them."
"Ah, I see. That does make sense."
"Do you know what kind of place this is? Did they use this place last year?"
"Oh no, they did not. When it is not being used by the Hunter Association, I believe this tower acts as a prison. You met with several others with whom you must compete, correct? They were all prisoners."
"Oh. Well, thank you again." With that, Rayleigh left, and Hisoka smiled. Rayleigh knew it wasn't a good smile. Hisoka was a predator. There were only two categories of people for a predator. Those he wanted to eat and those he didn't want to eat. If Rayleigh fell into the latter category, Hisoka would not even talk to him. So why approach him? Because Hisoka was a picky predator. He didn't like unappetizing food on his plate, and he would not remove a meal from the oven until it was fully cooked.
Rayleigh certainly wanted to fight Hisoka at some point, but only when he had a chance to win, which meant he had to learn more about Aura. He was tempted to ask the Chat, but at the moment it was still filled with whiners and scammers. If any of the Players have actually learned Aura, advertising that he heard about it might cause a problem. He'd consider it if he failed the Hunter Exam and had no other options.
Rayleigh spent the last day chatting about various things with everyone. With Leorio, he traded medical knowledge. With Killua, training tips. With Gon, they exchanged wilderness experiences. He even had things to talk about with Kurapika. Rayleigh told Kurapika and the others his character's backstory, which actually had similarities to Kurapika as Rayleigh was the only surviving member of a clan that was completely wiped out. Though his clan was different, they did something to cause the issue themselves and were idiots.
When the timer hit the last few hours, everyone gathered in the waiting room to check for new arrivals. Only a few more showed up. A little before the three-minute mark, another door opened, and someone walked through, appearing heavily injured.
Dripping with blood, the new arrival sighed with relief, "Ah, just in time," and dropped dead.
Some of the gathered members chuckled, while others shook their heads.
No more doors opened, and the speaker on the wall eventually declared, "End of the Round Time! Third round, the number of participants who reached the goal: 24, not including the dead guy."
The door on the far wall opened, and the light of day peaked through, inviting everyone to bask in its warm glow.
Upon walking out of the tower, Rayleigh looked behind him and smiled. Yep. The bottom half of the tower was perfectly smooth.
A short man with glasses stood in front of the tower and waited for the participants to gather around him before stating, "Congratulations to all of you for exiting the tower. You have only two more trials. The fourth round and the final round."
He pointed behind him. The plateau the tower was built on was adjacent to the sea, and not too far from where they stood, one could see a large island.
He continued, "The fourth round will take place on Zebiru's Island. But first, line up."
Another man walked up to his size with a box on a roller pedestal. The box had a hole on the top large enough for a hand to go in but deep enough not to be able to see what was inside.
"This is a lottery. This lottery will allow us to determine the Hunters and the Prey. Inside the box are twenty-four cards, each with a number matching the badge handed out to you at the beginning of the competition. You will pick a card in the order you arrived at the bottom of the tower."
Rayleigh walked up first, followed by Gon and the rest. He pulled out a card with the number 191 on it. He didn't have to look. It was the martial artist, one of the oldest guys here, though certainly not the weakest. Somehow, Tompa was here too, and even Leorio could take him one-on-one.
After everyone had taken a card, the Hunter continued, "We have recorded what number you have each taken. If you obtain the badge with that number, you get three points. If you keep your own badge, you get three points. If you have a badge that does not belong to you or your target, you get one point. To pass the fourth trial, you must have six points at the end of the trial, which takes place on Zebiru's Island and will last exactly one week."
The group was escorted to an industrial elevator, which rapidly descended the plateau to sea level. A short trek on a well-used path led to the shore, where a boat was waiting.
On the boat, the contestants kept their distance and tried to figure out who their target was. The moment the rules were revealed, almost everyone with their badge out in the open hid it in their clothes. There were a few exceptions, though, like Hisoka.
Rayleigh was not bold enough to display his number. If Hanzo, Hisoka, or 301, that guy with a face filled with needles, wanted his tag, there would be problems. Anyone else he wasn't worried about. Better yet, Rayleigh hung up with Gon's group, which numbered 403, 404, and 405 along with Killua's 99. In such a weird group, who would specifically remember that he was 58?
Once on the boat, Killua walked up and whispered, "Who is 118?"
Rayleigh answered softly, "The skinny guy with the monkey on his shoulder wearing a black turtleneck sweater, standing next to Tompa. They might know each other."
Killua didn't look up but nodded. "Who'd you get? It wasn't me, right?"
"If it was, I'd just target three others. But no, mine is the veteran martial artist with the thick mustache."
"Hmm, he doesn't look so bad."
"Yeah, I might be able to have some fun."
"Anyone else ask?"
"No. Leorio's a med student, so he probably remembered everyone's badges. Kurapika and Gon also seem to know their targets."
Killua asked, "What? So I'm the only one who asked?!"
"Don't mind it. Your head is filled with assassination, like a certain rust-colored droid we all know and love."
"Don't compare me to that crazy tin can!"
[Objection: Even if I were, as you say, a mentally unstable can of tin, it would still be far superior to your status as a sloshing bag of meat.]
HK was still in Ray's backpack and did not appreciate Killua's remark.
Killua sighed and asked, "You want to check if anyone has your number?"
Rayleigh shook his head. He was pretty sure they didn't. One of the easiest things for a Jedi is to sense if someone is targeting him. He didn't feel anyone was targeting him, so whoever got his number either didn't know the number was his or didn't intend to find him. Either worked for him.
The boat soon arrived at the island, and everyone was let off in the same order as before, with two minutes between each departure. The boat stopped at the northern part of the island, which seemed to be shaped like the number eight and covered almost completely in dense trees. Rayleigh knew the order of the departures and how much time there was until his target left, giving him the time to run off into the forest and hide.
After getting out of visual range from the boat, Rayleigh jumped up to the limb of the overhead tree and started running from tree to tree to avoid having his steps tracked. Once he found a high enough tree, he perched himself on the tallest limb and erased his presence as thoroughly as possible.
Once done, he closed his eyes and used clairvoyance to watch the others depart and wait for his target.
That only worked until the guy with the needles got off the ship and looked directly in Rayleigh's direction. It seemed he sensed Rayleigh's peeping.
Rayleigh immediately sped off as fast as possible. He didn't know if that person would come, but this wasn't a good place to fight someone he felt was on the same level as Hisoka.
Once Rayleigh felt he was no longer in danger, he isolated himself and removed his presence and mind. In that state, he waited for a full day before deciding to use clairvoyance again. Someone on that level should be done after a day, so the risk of spotting him walking around again is much lower.
Rayleigh's senses expanded as he moved his point of view around the area. What he found interesting was that there were more than just participants. Following each was another Hunter. Rayleigh wondered if his method of hiding was ineffective on Hunters, but he then spotted the one following him pulling out a tracking device. Rayleigh figured the badge had a tracker inside of it, which explained how the guy found Rayleigh, though it didn't answer if the guy could find him without the tracking device.
Rayleigh found most of the contestants doing their own thing. Gon was using his fishing rod to do something to a bird. Someone was stalking him. There were a few corpses in various areas, but the martial artist was not among them.
After an hour of thorough searching, Rayleigh spotted the martial artist hiding himself in a bush.
Rayleigh made a beeline for the candidate while avoiding others.
Once Ray found his hiding spot, he immediately took out the card with the man's number on it and tossed it into the bush the man was hiding in.
Seeing that not only was he discovered, but the one who discovered him was there for his badge, the man came out and looked over Rayleigh.
With a bit of reluctance, he stated, "I cannot stand the idea of fighting children. But I do not believe you will give up if asked."
Rayleigh did not answer but gave a polite bow before taking a stance.
The man moved first, with the intention of getting behind Rayleigh and knocking him out. Rayleigh blocked, but the block was grabbed as the man shifted his body to turn the grab into a lock using his greater weight. The angle he was trying to lock Ray's joint into would negate the difference in strength and speed, so Rayleigh used the Force to partially lift the man and raise his center of gravity so he'd be unable to use his weight to lock Rayleigh into place.
Rayleigh used the moment to get out of the locking angle and remove his wrist from the man's grasp.
Seeing he wouldn't be able to end this without hurting Rayleigh, the martial artist changed his stance and threw his palms out like a battering ram. Rayleigh bent and tilted to the side to barely avoid the thrust, but the man rolled his body while upright to direct a roundhouse kick at Rayleigh's side.
Rayleigh blocked, and the pair continued their exchange. There was no one close by, and their blows did not make much noise. If Rayleigh wished to end the fight, he could obviously take out his lightsaber or just use something like Force Stasis. He didn't use them, but he did learn every skill in the Temple of Force Skills. The reason he didn't use them was because relying on a skill outside of your specialty was a crutch. Besides, Rayleigh was trying to practice something, and this man made the perfect sparring partner.
This martial artist wasn't bad, but he didn't have excessive lifeforce, what Hisoka called Aura. Or at least he didn't have so much of it that Rayleigh couldn't see the man's shatterpoints. Although Rayleigh's Alchaka, his martial practices with and without Lightsaber, incorporated the fact that he could see shatterpoints, he never had someone to practice on.
Shatterpoints looked like cracks, but they all don't share the same appearance. Some were on the man's body. They were quite visible, with dark and deep cracks. Possibly old injuries. Some appeared and disappeared as the man moved. They were lighter cracks but stretched throughout the body to crucial points. Ray could instinctively tell these were weaknesses in the man's stance. Striking one would throw the man off enough to reveal a wide opening. Another shatterpoint looked like a shattered pane of glass over the man's face. Looking through it revealed a scene of him protecting children from some dangerous looking fellows. It was a mental weakpoint Rayleigh could take advantage of.
Rayleigh wondered if he could develop this into the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception. Perhaps not, but maybe something close? It gave more ideas, at least for directions to train in. Until this point, he'd only been training his speed and connection to the Force. This was fine. The stronger the connection to the Force, the stronger everything else. Training your foundation was never a waste.
He'd have to add more training to develop his shatterpoint, Battle Precognition, and Clairvoyance while also checking if he could incorporate Psychometry into a fight to gain more information on weakpoints.
Once Rayleigh felt he had enough practice, he struck the man's wrist at what might as well have been a pressure point, then struck the arm, the shoulder, and the neck in quick-fire succession.
The martial artist froze up and fell to the ground. Each strike was like a jolt of electricity that ran through his body and built upon the last to basically turn off the man's motor functions and knock him out without permanently damaging him. Rayleigh took the man's Badge and then used the Force to lift him up and move him back to his hiding place under the bush.
Since the martial artist was hiding, he probably already found his own target's badge, but Rayleigh didn't need it. If he recovered fast enough, perhaps he would have time to find three more badges and make it to the fifth round.
With his practice session over, Rayleigh found a secluded plot and decided to people watch. No, not people watch, he was practicing his clairvoyance, that's right, it definitely wasn't people watching.
Killua seemed to have teamed up with Leorio. Kurapika was doing his own thing. Gon was still at a river, practicing something with his fishing rod. From what Rayleigh could see, Gon was practicing how to snag a bird with his rod when the bird was in flight. He was only able to do so if the bird was traveling along a predictable path, something that only occurred when it was about to grab a fish from the river.
Once Gon had the hang of it, he wandered around until he found Hisoka. Rayleigh felt a sense of danger, so he didn't look where Hisoka was, but at the general area without registering him.
Hisoka ran into Kurapika, but Killua and Leorio showed up and offered an extra badge they had in exchange for not fighting. Hisoka agreed, but Rayleigh figured it was mostly because he didn't want to eat undercooked food.
Gon continued to stalk him, and soon Hisoka found not one, but two targets. One had a sword, the other a gun. Hisoka dodged the bullets as easily as any Jedi would have by simply reading the line of sight. He used a sharpened playing card to cut almost completely through the man's neck, but this gave the swordsman an opening to cut through Hisoka completely.
Hisoka didn't dodge, but accelerated forward to meet the man in an exchange of blows.
Gon used that moment to throw his fishing line and snag Hisoka's tag.
Ironically, the swordsman was distracted by the line more than Hisoka was, causing the man's blade to swing a step slower while Hisoka's card cut cleanly through the man's neck.
Hisoka saw Gon reeling in the badge for a moment before Gon bolted.
And then Gon was ambushed by the guy who had been stalking him the whole time. The stalker hit Gon with a blowdart, seemingly paralyzing him. He not only took Gon's badge, but Hisoka's as well.
Ray thought that was just greedy, but karma was swift, as Hisoka arrived fast enough to witness the man flee and quickly chased after the new prey. A moment later, the man who had been stalking Gon for the last few days was decapitated.
Then Hisoka returned and though Rayleigh couldn't hear what they said, he could pretty much guess. Hisoka returned Gon's own badge as well as his own. He kept the badge of the other man, seemingly pleased with his luck. They seemed to have an argument where Gon tried to get up but was punched in the face by Hisoka.
After Hisoka left, Gon struggled to get to a tree, but was still enduring the paralysis.
Rayleigh jumped over once he was certain Hisoka was gone and asked, "Hey, can you move?"
Gon noticed Ray and said, "Not really."
"Want some help?"
"Yeah, if you can." They were friends after all. There was no shame in asking for help.
Rayleigh grabbed Gon's arm and started neutralizing the poison.
Gon asked, "Woah, you can do that too?"
"Yeah. But don't ask me to heal you if you get injured for being an idiot."
"Hehe."
Once Ray finished curing Gon, the latter got up and stretched a bit.
Ray nodded and stated, "I know where everyone else is, so let's meet up."
"Sure, let's go."
The pair made their way through the forest and soon found their friends and confirmed who needed a badge.
Killua's target was actually hanging around with Tompa, and Tompa was actually Leorio's target. They got their badges and met up with Kurapika, but his target was 105, a man with a sword and a big red nose. Kurapika had been looking for him but hadn't found him yet.
Rayleigh stated, "Ah, he's dead. Someone else probably had his badge."
Kurapika looked like someone had kicked his puppy.
Gon stated, "Well, there are five of us. Can't we just find three badges?"
Leorio said, "I'm willing to try."
Ray pointed in a direction and said, "Well, those three brothers, numbers 197, 198, and 199, are all working together and seem to still have their badges. They are all that way."
Everyone shared a look, which quickly became a smile.
Although the three brothers seemed to have a lot of skill when it came to coordinated assaults, they probably weren't expecting to be outnumbered and outclassed. The fight was quick and easy.
Leorio looted the unconscious bodies and said, "Hey, these two had more badges, that's five total."
Rayleigh checked them over and nodded. When checking over the five badges, he actually saw a shatterpoint on one. He wasn't sure if it was accurate, but it was worth trying.
Rayleigh said, "None of these are the ones Leorio needs, so any will do. We don't really need the extra though."
Rayleigh then grabbed the 197 badge and shouted, "You Owe Me One!" and tossed it through the trees.
Killua was the only one who spotted the ninja grab the badge. He asked, "How'd you know he needed that one?"
Ray answered, "He stalked him for a while but never made a move. I don't want to fight him for the badge, so it's better to make an honorable ninja owe me a favor."
Killua nodded, it was the smart call.
The last badge was left with the unconscious brothers and the group found a place to stay until the week was over. There were plenty of turnabouts and backstabbing among the remaining contestants, but for the strong ones, and Leorio, the fourth trial was concluded. All that remained was the fifth and final trial to pass before they could be awarded with the title of Hunter.
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