章 34: Lead x Lurking
It was their first dangerous battle, and they won—or at least that's what they thought as they turned to search for Jett. However, as they turned to leave, an image of a smiling Jett appeared in their minds, saying with a smug voice, "I Got you again."
On reflex, they both jumped back; everything was in slow motion as they dodged. Killua and Gon saw Zark attack the spot where they had just been; however, before they could do anything, they saw Zark's head explode in a spray of blood.
"You should be careful. Next time, you should finish off your enemies," a voice said at Gon's back. With a swirled, Gon took a defensive stance. Killua, however, saw it was Jess, so he stayed calm.
"Jess, what happened to Jett? Where is he?" Asked Gon repeatedly after seeing Jess. "Where have you been?" Killua also questioned. "Calm down; your friend is okay; he is currently fighting someone who took in the appearance of Gon here," Jess explained.
"My appearance?" said Gon, bewildered.
"Yes, it must be a type of Hatsu. I didn't want to shoot without ensuring a Nen ability wasn't controlling you. There are a lot of dangerous abilities out there. That guy's Hatsu must have something to worry about with copying your appearance. We have to hurry and capture him; he may be our last lead," Jess said.
"Let's go!" said Gon; he wanted to hurry and help Jett.
After they took off, the steps of something big and heavy echoed in the city's silent ruins. The three of them fail to notice a predator is stalking them. Out of the shadow, a lizard-looking creature stepped out, turning its head sideways like all lizards; a long tongue licked its long-shaped teeth.
It stepped into the ruins of the battle Gon and Killua had left behind. Its nose sniffed the air, taking in everything. It looked strange—like a beast with no intelligence. Its eyes also showed no emotion; they were dull and deathlike, like a doll's.
Although it looked like a beast, its movements weren't mindless. It searched with claws, grabbing at the ground and sniffing it as if trying to figure something out. Although its appearance and cold demeanor resembled a typical reptile, it showed human intellect.
(SH-SHE)
As it searched, it made a strange sound, turned its head to the sky, and took a deep breath. Abruptly done with its search, it opened its mouth wide, and what followed was a sickening, crushing sound of bones. It was eating the corpse left behind, its body glowing with Nen. After finishing the corpse, it started manipulating its nen, just like it had seen Gon and Killua do. Unknown to Gon, Killua, and Jett, a creature was hunting them, following their steps and learning from their fights how strong it would be when it eventually decided to hunt.
____
Jess explained everything as the three of them ran. She had seen the whole thing but decided to stay hidden. It was the right choice because the two hidden in the shadows attacked not soon after the phantom troupe had captured Gon and Killua. As soon as she located where Gon and Killua were, she went back and looked for Jett, but when she arrived, she saw another Gon. However, she didn't say anything. She watched as Jett fought the other Gon. She noticed that Gon was behaving like the original Gon. His moves and Nen's control were like Gon's.
Jess was aware of Nen's abilities to control others by taking in others' appearances; a while back, she faced a man who took on her appearance, and every injury she inflicted on him appeared on her as well; it was a brutal fight; thankfully, she had won. She was also thinking that this could be the same situation. She didn't act or help Jett because of this; she was afraid anything she did would trigger a condition for the Nen's ability.
However, when she saw that Jett was holding his own and nothing was happening, she decided to go and look for Gon to know if he was alright and if anything had happened to him. The three arrived at the alley, where Jett and the man known as Orkis were still fighting. Jess and Killua held Gon back so they could scout out what was happening. Grinding his teeth, Gon waited reluctantly. He was an enhancer; he didn't have the patience to wait.
The three could see the fight from their vantage point. Jett was injured, but all his injuries were superficial. He wasn't struggling in the fight; he was only worried about injuring Gon. He still didn't know if he was being controlled or impersonated. The Gon in front of him had revealed a few things that only his group should know, although they were only from the past three days. It was why he was hesitating.
"Does it look like anything is happening? What do you think his Hatsu is?" Killua asked after watching for a while. He could see why Jess had not come out. The Gon imposter was almost perfect, but you could see the flows, but that was because he knew Gon well.
Anxious, Gon wanted to jump quickly from the roof they were sitting on and help Jett. Just as Gon's patience peaked, something happened below in the fight with Jett. Orkis's face started to melt and shift as if his skin was melting with heat. His body began to grow, changing into that of a middle-aged man, and his clothes also changed along with his body.
"What!?, damn, in that kid around here?" Orkis said; he suddenly expanded his En. It was an advanced application of Nen that allowed someone to search for other Nen users since they are different from regular people. Their Nen reacts to others, allowing someone using En to find them if they are hiding. His Hatsu allowed him to take others' forms by making contact for a few minutes. It was a challenging condition since not many Nen users allow other Nen users to touch them for long since there could be conditions for Hatsu, and you never know what that Hatsu could do to you.
"So it wasn't the real Gon after all," Jett hadn't figured out what kind of Hatsu the other person was using. Like the man in front of me, he had also used En to search for anyone nearby but had not found anyone. Jett was becoming troubled about what to do. The Hatsu was giving him trouble; he couldn't tell if Gon was real or fake. His voice and body size all told him it was Gon.
However, as the fight continued, he couldn't go all out against Gon. As the fight went on, there was a time when he resolved to cripple Gon; Gon was an Enhancer he would eventually heal. However, as he found his resolved, Gon would point a Nen blade at his neck, telling him not to do anything fullish. Jett wondered why they didn't use Gon to threaten and subdue him.
"Jett!" As soon as Jett heard Gon's voice, he understood everything. The Hatsu was incredible. He could replicate everyone's appearance, even the memories.
"Your Hatsu is incredible; I had no idea you weren't the real Gon. I also understand why you didn't just threaten me to comply by taking Gon hostage," Jett said to the middle-aged man now standing in front of him.
"Tsk, where did that useless Zark run off to? He let the kid come back?" Orkis said to himself. "If you're talking about the other guy, his death," Killua's voice said as he got closer.
"Tsk, that fool was useless anyway," Orkis said comely; internally, he panicked. If the kids in front of him had taken down Zark, he wouldn't be a match either, even less now that there were four of them; the kid he had been fighting was trouble enough. 'I have to find a way to get out of here,' Orkis thought.
"You're not considering escaping now that the odds are against you? Are you?" Jett said menacingly. He could see the guy's eyes searching around. It was a death giveaway of someone looking for a way out.
Jett stood looking out in front of him. The trio that had just arrived quickly surrounded Orkis, leaving him only the sky and ground to escape. If he wanted to escape, he would have to trade injuries with one of them and then try to run. However, Orkis knew he couldn't escape; he knew they had a technique that allowed instant movements. "I surrender," Orkis finally said; if he decided to take one of them with him, he was sure of doing it, but trading life for life wasn't something he would do.
Orkis also wanted to stay alive. If giving away information was the only price he had to pay, it was something worth giving. "I'll restrain him," Jess said, pulling a rope from her backpack. She always carried it along with her sniper. "What's our plan now?" Killua asked if they had to deal with the phantom troupe. Gon and he had already run away.
"First, we have to extract information from this guy; this is the closest we have to having a lead to where that guy could be," Jess said. A deep rage could be seen in her eyes as he looked at Orkis.
"What about the Phantom Troupe? Can't we deal with them? You said before they had someone who could extract someone's memories," Jett asked Jess. She had been the one who had told them about it.
"That's true, but..." Jess said, looking at Gon and Killua. When we were following them, we were noticed and captured. Do you think that they would still make a deal with us?" Killua said.
"That shouldn't be a problem, right? I investigated them after Jess mentioned them before; they are more like this than anything. They also take commissions, just like Jess had said before. If we offer them something they could want, then maybe we can still make a deal," Jett reasoned.
Jett already trusted Jess a little more; she had followed their plan a few days ago and kept surveillance on himself, Gon, and Killua. Jett tried keeping her away on the pretense of guarding them from the people who could attack him. If she had taken the opportunity to attack him while he was alone, then it would have been her last chance.
Sorry, guys. It's been a while since I wrote anything. Work keeps me busy, and with the holidays, I had even more work. I will have to re-check this work. I don't remember what I wrote up until now. Lmao, I have to check everything, then go from there.
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