“ 𝚁.𝙸.𝙿 𝙷𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚢.”
.
𝐒𝐄𝐂 𝟎𝟏
That evening all the four were lounging in Gon’s room after their meet up with Palm. The lady had seemed shady at first glance but Happy reminded everyone not to judge a book by its cover. In response, however, he was met with dumbfounded looks which yelled we did not judge though, did you ? The exceed had only let out a flustered laugh.
“ So I'm fighting no one ?” Wendy asked everyone, pointing at herself.
“ Uh..,” the boys exchanged glances,“she didn't mention any of that. Maybe you'll be a tag-along like Palm ?”
“ That doesn't make me happy,” she let out all down.
“ Or maybe you'll be tested in a different way?” Gon quickly made up in order to not let her feel down.
“ That would make zero sense,” Killua said nonchalantly and received heated stares from Gon and Happy.“What ?”
“ So that means Netero-san thinks I'm not capable enough to take on the ants ?” Wendy muttered to no one in particular. The mood dropped and Gon racked his brains to find out a cheery response. Wendy's fists clenched and slowly relaxed. Taking a deep breath she looked up with a smile,“ that just means I have to prove him wrong, don't I?”
Gon, who was ruffling his hair still trying to find a satisfactory answer, stopped mid action, staring at his friend. His arms dropped down and his lips parted, his mouth going slightly wide.“ Woah ! You're so positive, Wendy !”
‘Like you're one to say,’ both Killua and Happy thought.
“ I'm with you !” Gon pointed towards himself and cheered pumping his fist in the air which widened the smile on her face.“ By the way, Happy, we heard you've been learning something?”
“ Aye, sir. Transformation magic,” Happy said excitedly.
“ Can you show us ?”
“ Hehe.. I'm not sure. I've just started learning.”
“ Just try it. May be you can score something big,” Gon pressed further, intending to see magic. He has never witnessed something like that, afterall.“ Show us, Happy !” He said leaning on the edge of the bed.“ Show ! Show ! Show !”
“ I really want to see what you transform into, too,” Killua said in an embarrassed tone as he pushed the overexcited boy to prevent him from falling off the bed. Scratching his cheek he smiled cheekily,“ it sounds cool.”
“ It does ?” Happy asked surprised staring at the silverette. He never thought the boy would admit something like that.
“ Yeah, show us, Happy. You might turn human like Carla,” Wendy said.
“ I doubt that. But,” he gaze swept through all their faces finally stopping on Wendy's.“ I will try.” Summoning the book, he turned the pages to stop on a certain number. Closing his eyes he gathered up his magic, concentrating mainly on the core. He must spread it equally throughout the body to balance it. Unless his body is looking for bad consequences, he must strictly adhere to the rules.
The other three sat down on the floor, circling the exceed and one could see Gon’s eyes sparkling, literally, as Happy glowed a dim blue. It illuminated his entire body, not too bright but just the right amount to contrast the gaslights in the room.
“ Is something happening ?” Happy asked his eyes still shut.
“ You're glowing. Wait, is that all ? You transform into a light bulb ?” Killua asked incredulously.
“ No ! It should--”
Before he could complete he felt certain outgrowths on his body, slowly taking shape. They leaned back when the change began to be noticed physically and Happy grew bigger in size. Gradually the room went dim and when they looked closer, they found he was no longer glowing.
“ You stopped glowing.”
“ Did I change into something ?”
“ You did.”
“ Oh really ? Can you bring me a mirror ?”
“ You changed into a...uh...”
“ What the hell did you change into ?”
When the trio pushed Happy inside the bathroom where a small mirror was hung over the sink, the latter freaked out at his own complexion. No, he was still blue. But his outgrowths were of a light shade of red consisting of two frail wings protruding from his back, small blue scales on his tail, and a small red horn in place of his nose.“ Who is this!”
“ This is you, Happy,” Wendy said in a concerned tone while Killua snickered from the back.
“ Something went wrong, maybe ?” Gon said unsure. Happy rushed back to the room and flipped through the pages of the spell book, rapidly. Stopping on a certain page he had almost tore it apart if not for Wendy who tried to calm him down.“ So something did go wrong.”
“ Release ! Release ! Go back !” Happy cried animatedly following the process to undo it.“ Am I normal now ?”
“ No,” Killua said bluntly which freaked out the exceed more.
“ Calm down, Happy. You can't focus on your core if you're this restless.” Wendy patted him on the back and he relaxed.
“ Aye.”
It took him a good few minutes before the magic came undone. Happy returned to his original form, shrinking back to his previous size. Once done he collapsed on the bed due to fatigue. No good. Still needs practice...he realised and sighed to himself.
“ It was good for a first time. Carla had faced difficulty while doing it too.”
Happy nodded at Wendy's words.
“ So we're going to Palm’s place tomorrow ? Does that mean we don't have to pay for rooms anymore?” Killua gave them a sly look.“ Maybe I can buy some more chocorobo-kuns for myself ?” And he began fantasizing in his mind.
“ Hm. Hm.” Gon nodded to himself, eyes shut glad to see that the mood was no longer grim and everybody seemed to be in good shape. He took it upon himself to ensure that the mood is never down and the spirits remained high for the rest of the evening.
𝐒𝐄𝐂 𝟎𝟐
“....in a week--”
“ Nya,” Killua jumped back due to the force as Gon got thrown across the hall from a powerful punch which evidently belonged to...
“ Bisky !” Wendy peeped in to come face to face with the blonde who greeted her with a smile. Gon got up rubbing his sore spot and Bisky's face morphed back into a serious look.
“ A week ? I'm very much familiar with that old man's trick. If he says it'll take a month, it means it'll take a year. So forget about it,” Bisky said in a matter of fact tone.
“ Old ? Look who's talking,” Happy snickered and received a death blow from the older girl.
“ R.I.P Happy,” Killua prayed with joined hands.
“ Hey ! I'm still alive !”
“ But what are you doing here, Bisky ?” They asked eagerly.
“ I called her,” Palm’s gloomy voice resounded from within a room. “Although I have got no clue on this boy here, but he says the chariman called him here for help.”
“ A boy ?”
“ Who ?”
The trio entered the polished room only to get a shock of their life. Happy took a look at the foreign face, a big fat question mark on his head.
“ Figheim !”
“ Figheim-kun !”
“ It's that sleepy bastard,” Killua exclaimed only to get an intimidating shove from Gon.“ I mean the guy from Heaven's Tower.”
“ Yes, I am Figheim Krummer. Nice to meet you,” the boy said in a gloomy, monotonous voice bowing to introduce himself, properly.
“ Hey, come on. Why so formal ? We remember you,” Gon said cheerfully approaching the boy and swinging an arm round his shoulder.
“ You do ?” His eyes lit up although his face remained emotionless.
“ Of course. Do you remember my name ?”
“ You're Gon. And Wendy,” he turned towards the said girl acknowledging her presence. Gon grinned, happy that he remembered him.“ And that's Kill..uh..”
“ Killua,” the silverette said clearing his throat.
“ Right. I see you've not changed much.”
“ THE HELL DO YOU MEAN BY THAT !”
“ I don't think I know you,” Figheim said pointing at Happy.“ Are you an ant ? It seems like you speak.”
“ I'm Happy, an exceed from Earthland,” Happy declared flying in front of him.
“ Exceed ?”
“ I'll explain it later,” Wendy said nervously. Figheim nodded at that, satisfied.
The first thing they noted about him, on entering the room, was his strong presence. His figure still looked lean from outlook but under the white cloak, they caught a glimpse of his well defined figure of an athlete. He seemed to be much much stronger than before. Although they sensed no Nen aura, they could tell they were at par.
He was wearing some white pants, with black boots and a white cloak concealing his upper half. Under that he wore a simple black shirt. Some plain black wristbands adorned both his hands and one could get a clear glimpse of it when he raised his arms.
“ What about Heavens Arena ?” Wendy asked.
“ I dropped it,” came a blunt response.
“ Why ?”
“ It was no fun.”
“ O-oh, I see,” the three sweatdropped at his response.
“ Yes, it was no fun after becoming a floor master. Even with Nen, the guys were weaker than me.”
“ That's what--”
Killua was going to say but stopped realising his words. He looked at Wendy and Gon but they stared back at him with clueless looks. And like lightning striking they shouted together,“ YOU'RE A FLOOR MASTER ?!”
Figheim nodded not really showing much reaction.“ I was on a solo journey. I thought adventures might help me give the fun I'm looking for. But it was so boring travelling alone. I was across the seas when someone called me via a letter. When I met him he introduced himself as the Chairman of the Hunter Association. He said he needed my assistance in this Chimera Ant mission. He informed me about you three. And I thought it would be fun to hang out with you guys. Wendy was really fun to fight back then.”
“ Is it just me or did Figheim just say more than five words !” Gon exclaimed.
“ You're exaggerating, Gon-kun.”
“ So this guy here is a floor master ? He must be super strong or something if the old man sought his help,” Killua commented with narrowed eyes, gazing at Figheim’s face. The latter tilted his head giving him a ‘what’ look.
“ Okay. We can have this chit chat later. Mind going back to training ?” Bisky said clapping her hands to gain their attention.
“ Training ? What sort ?”
“ It's a good one.” She smiled proudly which made them sweat profusely.
𝐒𝐄𝐂 𝟎𝟑
“ Show me your Ren.”
“ Osu !”
“ Good. Now maintain this for three hours.”
“ You're crazy, hag !”
“ You wanna repeat that ?” Bisky's face twitched as she brought up her fist and Killua shook his head rapidly, denying.
“ Is that all ? Aren't you gonna go into that NGL or whatever ?” Bisky faced Figheim who was sitting on the couch, watching their training.
“ I'm gonna go with them. It'll not be fun without them,” he said pointing at the three. She nodded thoughtfully and looked back at the three.
“ Suit yourself. By the way--”
When she turned her body to face Figheim again, she found him already passed out. Well, not exactly passed out. He had fallen asleep on the couch, letting out soft snores.
“ Woah, that was fast.” Bisky turned back and noticed Palm peeping from the corner. She gulped and picked up a magazine from the table. What's with these weird people ! Gotta save my own skin first.
...