༺♥༻

Walking along the path through the desert wasteland, Valentine walked alongside Gon and looked towards the boy out of the corner of her eye, on his back, he was carrying the silverette.

When they had went to the gambling city, Killua had gotten a bit overconfident and addicted with the machines; they had found out that if you rolled the die too many times and overused your lucky rolls, then you could more than likely get a bad roll and die.

And before he could do anything, Biscuit had knocked him out and that lead to where they were now.

༺♥༻

Continuing to collect cards, the five progressed through the game rather quickly and were currently walking down a path in the forest.

'Hey, Killua, Valentine, there's something that's been bothering me',Gon spoke up and humming in confusion, the two turned towards the green-haired boy with confused looks on their faces,'There are hundreds of players in this game, aren't there? But in spite of that, we've been able to turn every item we've obtained into cards. That's weird, right?'

Thinking about what he was saying, Valentine looked towards the dirt road that continuously ran on ahead of them and a hum of thought left her lips.

Confused by what the boy was saying, Biscuit tilted her head in curiosity and turned towards the boy.

'What do you mean?'

'You can only convert a card so many times and even B-rank specified slot types have a thirty card limit',Gon explained.

Lifting his arms up, Killua interlaced his fingers together and placed his arms behind his head as he walked.

'I just thought that the players here before us would've collected them already, you know?'

Humming slightly, eyes of thunder glistened in thought as Valentine felt Zeus nuzzling against her and his feathers rustled as he turned to look towards Killua, a confused chirp leaving his lips.

'I guess that's true',The silverette stated,'There is one other way you can look at it. Not that many teams here can make that much progress, maybe fewer than thirty'

Letting out a hum of understanding, Gon nodded slowly and looked forward once more, understanding what he was saying.

"From what I've noticed, it seems that most of the players aren't worried about getting specified slot cards anymore",Valentine spoke up and the three looked towards her,"If anything, they want to get out of the game and they're struggling to"

'It would suck if you got to Masadora and there weren't any Leave cards there',Gon stated.

Nodding in agreement, Killua placed his arms back behind his head and closed his eyes, tilting his head up slightly.

'Yeah, that's why—'

Stopping in realization, Killua gasped slightly and his eyes widened.

'That's it'

Stopping as well, Valentine turned towards the silverette and as they locked eyes, she saw the gleam that glistened within his oceanic gaze, her thunder eyes glistening with confusion.

'If you guys got to Masadora and there weren't any leave cards there, what would you do?',The silverette questioned the small group.

Humming slightly, Valentine rose her hand and placed her fingers underneath her chin, staring off with her eyebrows furrowed slightly.

'Well, let me think..',Biscuit stated and then began to explain,'I'd steadily save up money until another Leave card showed up'

Nodding in agreement, Gon and Valentine turned towards Killua.

'Okay, so then what if you acquired a super rare spell card while waiting?',Killua questioned and looked between the two in front of him.

Humming slightly, Gon and Valentine turned towards each other, the sibling-like duo furrowing their eyebrows in unison as they began to think.

"Umm.. sell it and then buy some more spell cards until another spell card comes in"

Smiling at her response, the silverette turned towards the golden eyed beauty and watched as she turned his way as well, a smile forming on her face as she looked at him.

'Really?',Biscuit spoke up, causing the four to turn her way,'Because I'd definitely save it; wouldn't it suck if all of the cards you bought ended up worthless? If you save it, maybe you could trade it for a Leave, but—'

Gasping in realization, Biscuit's eyes glistened causing Gon and Valentine to gasp as well as they stared at their teacher and realized just what the silverette was saying.

With a small smile on his lips, Killua closed his eyes and shrugged slightly, before opening his eyes, looking between them.

'Well?',Killua questioned and stuffed his hands in his pockets.

༺♥༻

After trading cards with some people residing in Masadora, the four figured that they would make trades when they found out that they could avoid fighting and Gon used the necklace around his neck to tell if the cards were fake or not.

So then, they traveled back to the village with all of the sick people from before and were trying to figure out of the necklace could reverse the curse placed on them.

And so, the five now sat in front of the coughing villagers and a look of gratitude covered the older man's face as he looked at them when Gon had asked them if he would trust them with their lives.

'You gave us everything you had without even the slightest bit of hesitation',The older man croaked out,'Yes, we trust you!'

Suddenly, all of the villagers turned into cards and Valentine blinked in shock as her eye slightly widened in surprise, watching as the cards slowly fell to the ground.

She was shocked that they could actually turn into cards.

Picking up the cards, Gon watched as the necklace around his neck glowed a bright blue and saw that the cards glowed the same color, before the once sickly people on the cards turned into healthy villagers.

'It worked!',The boy grinned.

Releasing them once more, the villagers had decided to express their gratitude and presented them with a wild luck alexandrite.

As soon as he had placed the card in his binder, a noise echoed throughout the speaker and meant that someone was trying to contact Gon, causing him to look between his friends with a look of confusion.

It was the guy who stole their sword from the beginning and had gotten beaten up by Valentine.

'Hey, this is Kazule. Could you and I meet in person?',The man asked,'I really have to talk to you'

'About what?'

Beginning to explain just what was wrong, he had told them that a team lead by Genthru was close to clearing the game and the five let out noises of shock in unison.

༺♥༻

Sitting in a canyon, Valentine let her eyes wonder over all of the players and she slowly inched closer to Killua, causing the silverette to glance at her out of the corner of his eye, before looking towards the group of players as well.

It was clear that she didn't trust any of them and to be honest, he didn't blame her.

'Thanks for taking the time to come out, everyone. As I mentioned via contact, team Genthru is getting very close to completing the game',Kazule spoke up,'I just checked the ranking and they're currently at ninety-six types. We have to come up with a strategy and now'

Lifting her leg up slightly, Valentine placed her arm on top of it and stared down at the man, a small hum leaving her lips.

If team Genthru was close to clearing the game, then it wasn't good for anyone and they had to come up with something.

And quick.

'I've got a question',Killua spoke up and slightly rose his hand.

'Yeah?'

'How exactly do you check the rankings?',The silverette questioned.

Letting out an oh of understanding, Kazule was about to explain and then, he was cut off by someone else, causing the four to turn towards the woman.

'Oh great, you don't even know how to do that? We don't have time to explain the whole game to them'

While the three of them took offense, the woman sensed a hostile burst of aura quickly heading her way and she slightly tilted her head to the side, her eyes widening slightly at the sound of rock cracking echoed behind her.

A small trickle of blood ran down her cheek and she turned her head slightly, seeing a silver dagger with beautiful carvings engraved into the hilt stuck in the wall of rock behind her, her blood slowly dripping off of the side of it, before turning her gaze towards the children, wondering just who had done that.

Looking towards the golden-eyed blonde who glared up at the woman, she could almost see the malicious aura that surrounded her body and a small drop of sweat fell down her face, before she watched as the silver-haired boy beside the blonde gently placed his hand on her shoulder.

A small shriek filled the air and the woman watched as the blue colored hawk flew towards her, causing her to move slightly, thinking that the bird was going to attack her.

But instead, he had grabbed the dagger from the stone and flew back towards the girl it was with, dropping it in her open hand.

'Alright now, play nice. All of us are here to exchange information'

'He's right Asta, you'd never know, these kids just might have a bit of intel that you don't'

'That's impossible'

A loud laugh left the woman's lips and Valentine eye twitched, about to throw her dagger again when a hand gently wrapped around her own, causing the thunder-eyed girl to look up, seeing the silverette staring down at her with a gentle gaze.

Slowly, her body untensed and a bright smile formed on Valentine's face, causing her to beam up at the boy.

'Their rank amateurs who don't even know how to use the Trade Shop',The woman stated,'Don't make me laugh'

With her eye twitching, a vein popped out of Valentine's skin in irritation and she turned her head towards the woman, almost burning through her body with the glare on her face.

'In the trade shop, you can look at the official rankings of who has that most cards',The man explained,'Which can be very useful. And if you pay a fee, then they'll even tell you which specific cards they have'

'But, just because you can get the players name from the ranking, doesn't mean you can use Contact or Fluoroscopy. You've got to meet them for that',The woman stated and chuckle with a smirk on her face, staring down at the children,'Do you feel a little smarter now, little boy?'

Growling in anger, an irk mark formed on the boys foreheads and Killua was tempted to let Valentine go, letting her attack the woman, but he decided against it.

'The thing is, if we know all of the members on the team, we can exactly determine how many cards they have between them'

'And, team Genthru is only missing zero, two, nine and seventy-five'

Recognizing one of the card numbers, Valentine perked up and looked towards the man, her once darkened eyes glistening with light once more.

A small drop of sweat slowly fell down the side of Gon's face as he looked towards his blonde friend and blinked slowly.

Sometimes, Valentine really terrified him with how quickly her emotions could switch from innocent and kind to terrifying and deadly.

'There's a well accepted theory that number zero only appears in an even after the other ninety-nine are collected',The man explained,'So they only need three. What we're proposing is this; we find one of those three types before they do and utilize it, preventing them from clearing the game'

'Really, that's it?',The aggravating woman from before spoke up,'I figured that we could at least inundate them with spell cards or something'

'We've learned that they've already obtained a Paladin's Necklace and so, Levy is the only spell that might work. And they can block it, if certain conditions are met anyway'

Pursing her lips together, Valentine leaned back and her shoulder brushed up against Killua's, causing him to look down at her for a moment, a small smile on his face before he looked back up.

'Let's assume, that Genthru is willing to reveal the fact that they have ninety-six types because they've got all of their pages protected with Fortress'

'That's possible..',Gon muttered under his breath.

Humming slightly, Valentine and Biscuit glanced towards one another, their eyes glistening with the same emotion.

'Genthru was hoarding a bunch of spell cards',Killua explained,'Him and the other guys who tried to recruit us. So it makes a lot of sense'

'Well, we could always take their cards by force',The woman from before spoke up.

'Would you be willing to lead the attack?',An older man spoke up,'Who know what other abilities that three-man team has to offer'

The woman only glared at the man and his words caught the five's attentions as they looked towards him.

'The most practical plan is to find a card type to monopolize, no objections I assume?',The man in yellow asked and looked around, seeing that no one was objecting,'We need everyone here working together'

'That sounds good to me',The woman spoke up, before objecting,'But these new members are a problem'

Eye twitching in anger, Valentine's eyes had almost turned white with how brightly they glowed as she turned towards the woman and if you looked close enough, you could see that vein popping out of her forehead, as well as the steam coming out of her ears.

Her fingers twitched at her side as she went to grab her daggers, but two hands softly took her hands in their grasp and gently rubbed their thumbs along the top of her skin in a soothing circular motion.

'Hold on, Astra',The man spoke up,'Each team satisfies the prerequisite; all of them hold more than fifty cards. Just like you insisted to begin with'

'Yeah, maybe so. But, I also insisted that they had to be people who could contribute, right?',The woman snapped and looked towards the four,'I fail to see how these kids can contribute to anything. Especially that bird'

With anger rushing through her body, Valentine snapped her head in the woman's direction and gritted her teeth, her eyes gleaming.

'The only one not contributing so far is you'

'Well, at least you're a big talker',The woman smirked,'If you can be useful, then let's see some proof'

'We know Team Genthru's abilities',Gon stated.

Gasping in shock, the woman's eyes widened and her lips parted in shock as she looked between them.

'There are three cards they're missing and we have one of them',Killua spoke up and smirked as everyone went silent,'Still got a problem?'

With a smirk on her face, the woman leaned forward and placed her chin in the palm of her hand, looking between the four.

'That's good enough for me, so these abilities, what are they exactly?'

"And why would we tell you that?"

In shock at the words coming from such a sweet sounding voice, everyone turned their heads and saw the young blonde girl from before; who had thrown the dagger, seeing the dark look shading her eyes.

"How are you going to be useful to us?",Valentine spoke up, looking the woman up and down with a frown,"Because so far, I seriously doubt that anything that comes out of your mouth will be even remotely useful for us"

Surprised by the girl's actions so far, Killua, Gon and Biscuit looked towards each other, looks of concern on their faces.

It was almost like the old Valentine; her contract killer side, was trying to win over her normal, kind self.

'We have seventy-one types of specified slot cards',The woman stated and a bored look formed on her face as she looked at the young girl, seeing the indifferent look on her face,'That's a hell of a lot more than you have. How about I give you an A-rank in return for a little information. Is that good enough?'

'No, it isn't. We can get those ourselves, no big deal',Killua stated and stared the woman down.

As she stared the silver-haired boy down, the woman felt a much darker aura fill the air from beside the silverette and could almost imagine a beast looming over her with beady red eyes, snarling down at her with a deep hatred.

'So, you can give us two S-rank cards or equally valuable information',Killua bargained and sensing the aura behind him, he didn't so much as flinch but instead, a small smirk slowly began to spread across his face.

'Don't push your luck you damn little brat',The woman snarled,'You hear that everyone? These kids won't be any help. They want two S-rank cards from each team; ten cards, really?'

'Don't be stupid',The silverette snapped and the woman looked towards him in anger,'I just meant your team'

Staring at Killua, an irritated hum of question left her lips and the woman crossed one of her legs over the other, staring the children down.

'I'm fine with giving information to the others',Killua stated,'They can decide what they want to give us in return. But you?'

Quickly snapping his head in the woman's direction, Killua eyes glistened with rage and irritation.

He was still livid for the way she had talked about Zeus.

'You guys get nothing unless you give me what I asked for!'

Now, while the silverette and the hawk didn't really get along, Zeus was important to Valentine and if you went after Zeus, then you'd have him to deal with.

'I should've known a stupid brat like you would dwell on that silly argument'

"And yet, you're a grown woman trying to hold an argument with children"

Hearing the chuckle that left the silverette's mouth, an irk mark appeared on the woman's forehead and she was about to yell at the blonde, but was cut off.

'Would you guys knock it off!? We don't waste our time fighting with each other'

'I haven't agreed to team up with them yet!'

Eyes wide, Valentine looked up at Killua and watched as he gritted his teeth, his eyebrows furrowed in anger as he stared at the woman.

'Asta, it's fine',One of her teammates spoke up,'Just give them two cards'

'He's right, we've got to move past this'

'Look, I don't have a problem with giving them cards, it doesn't make a difference to me. He's the one trying to pick a fight'

With drops of sweat falling down the sides of their faces, Asta's teammates sighed and slowly shook their heads.

Standing to his feet, an irk mark appeared on Killua's forehead and he pointed towards the woman, an angered look on his face.

'You're the one picking a fight!',The silverette yelled and then, looked down at the four as they all looked up at him in surprise and felt drops of sweat slowly roll down the sides of their faces,'Come on guys, let's get out of here! I don't want to team up with those losers'

'I know how you feel, it's frustrating'

'It's just that.. given the circumstances'

Growling in anger, Killua gritted his teeth and his eyebrows twitched in irritation.

Reaching up, Valentine gently grabbed the silverette's hand in her own and watched as his head snapped towards her, his eyes still blazing with anger.

But once he had seen who had grabbed his hand and the pleading look that glistened within her shinning eyes, Killua's anger slowly began to leave his body and his tense muscles gradually loosened as he stared down at her.

Seeing the effect the girl had on the boy, Astra hummed slightly in curiosity and leaned forward as Biscuit smiled, looking between the two.

Gently tugging his hand, Valentine slowly coaxed the boy to sit down; so slowly in fact that it seemed as if she were trying not to break the calming atmosphere she had created and set the silverette off again, watching as he gradually settled back down beside her.

With a bright smile on her face, Valentine tilted her head to the side and closed her eyes as she glistened with light once more, the aura coming off of her body kept everyone in the group calm as they all watched the scene, a light laugh leaving the blonde's lips.

With color coating his cheeks, heat rushed throughout the boy's body and he cleared his throat, glancing away from the girl.

But alas, he couldn't keep his gaze away for long because he kept glancing towards her out of the corner of his eye.

༺♥༻

Everyone sat in a circle and Gon was standing up, explaining to everyone about what they had learned.

'What we have learned so far is that Genthru's abilities are Countdown and Little Flower',Gon explained,'And that means, you're all going to want to keep a safe distance from him'

'Ah crap, he got me',Astra spoke up and placed her hand on her forehead.

'Same here! Back when we were making a deal'

'Me too'

Leaning over, Biscuit leaned closer to Valentine and Killua, keeping her voice low.

'Seems to me like a bunch of them are victims'

With a mischievous grin on his face, Killua raised his hand to his lips and Valentine looked towards the boy, a confused look on her face.

'Is there a way to disable it?'

'Yup, there sure is'

Collective sighs of relief left the small group and they listened in anticipation.

'You have to touch Genthru and say "I caught the Bomber"!',The green-haired boy explained.

'Dummy! Why would you say that!? We could've milked a lot more cards out of them'

Confused on why they would do that, Valentine looked up at the silverette and furrowed her eyebrows together.

'Because it would've started another fight',Gon stated and looked towards Killua for a moment, before turning back towards the woman,'The bombs can't be armed unless Genthru explains how his ability works to you. That's why, as long as you stay away from him, you should be fine'

Staring at the boy for a moment, Astra let her gaze slowly wonder over to the two blonde's and the silverette standing close by the shorter blonde's side.

'Did you guys know that there are two ways to cast your spells?'

Nodding slightly, Gon told the woman that they did and a slightly impressed look formed on her face.

'A spell card is used up the moment you say the words and cast it. But, there is a way you can keep reusing it'

Eyes widening slightly, the five looked towards one another and Zeus chirped in shock.

'You know how a list of the players you've met appears as soon as you put a peek card into your binder?',The woman questioned,'Try this, remove the card without pressing enter and you'll notice that the spell card isn't used up, so you can keep reusing it'

Blinking in surprise, the silverette looked between his two friends and furrowed his eyebrows.

'I've never tried it, how about you two?'

'Nope'

"No"

The woman began to give them tips and explained that if you bought cards from the same shop fifty time, then you can buy all B-rank specified slot cards there.

And if you're a regular costumer, they'll start bringing it up.

'That was fantastic everybody, we learned lots from you guys! So thank you!'

'The question now, is which card we should try to monopolize?'

As he was staring off in thought, once he had heard the question, Killua quickly snapped out of his thoughts and looked towards the man.

'The number seventy-five we have is probably impossible',Killua spoke up and everyone looked towards him,'Each team can only get one of them and the limit on that card is twenty. That's way too high'

'You guys have a number seventy five?'

'That's really impressive'

Taking a card from his binder, the man in the yellow shirt and purple hat held it up.

'Now, list on! Number seventy five!'

Staring down at his binder, the man hummed and placed a hand on his hip.

'Five other teams each have one, so a monopoly isn't possible'

'And the other two?'

After finding out that three teams number nine and no one had number two; Strip of beach, they decided to find the number two card.