Made by: plutomoontiny

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The time to make their move had arrived as the four stood at a lakeside, the murky water making Valentine scrunch up her nose slightly, but seeing that the three boys were beginning to undress, her eyes widened as she immediately turned to looked towards the tree line.

"Okay, guys.. um.. what're you doing?",Valentine questioned.

Her voice was an octave higher than usual and she cleared her throat, shaking her head slightly.

'We're gonna have to swim across so it doesn't take as long if we were to try and go around',Gon explained, looking towards his sister and noticed that she was looking at the tree line beside them.

Hearing bags rustling, Valentine slowly nodded her head and clicked her tongue, a small sigh leaving her lips as she heard small splashes as they entered the water.

"Right.. well, while you guys do that, I have a more effective way to get across, so..",Valentine trailed off slightly,"I'll see you guys over there"

As a sharp, ear-piercing ring filled the air, all three of the teens looked towards where Valentine once was and noticing she was gone, they looked at the other side of the lake once Zeus began to fly over there, noticing that she was already across.

'Umm.. I forgot she could do that..'

'We definitely should've waited for her to take us over there'

Humming with a small nod, Jaxon shrugged his shoulders and began to swim across, the two following after him.

'We should've, but nothing we can do now'

With their waterproof bags on top of their heads, the three teenagers began to swim across and the cold water made them shiver slightly.

Sitting down on the ground a bit away from the water with her back turned, Valentine softly ran her hands through Zeus's feathers and a gentle smile formed on her face when he leaned closer to her touch, soft purr-like noises leaving his beak.

Coming up from the lake, the three boys threw on their clothes and approached Valentine, a stick cracking underneath Jaxon's foot caught the girl's attention as her head snapped towards the sound, but once she noticed it was them; fully dressed, a small sigh of relief left her lips.

As Zeus flew up to rest on her shoulder, Valentine stood up from the ground and crossed her arms over her chest, watching as the three approached her; all of them beginning to walk through the forest.

'Sneaking in was pretty easy',Killua spoke up.

"But what I'm wondering is, when we get close enough to our enemies, how are we going to attack them and not get noticed at the same time",Valentine stated.

Nodding in agreement, Jaxon frowned slightly and crossed his arms over his chest, staring at the ground with furrowed eyebrows.

'That's a good point..',The blond boy agreed and hummed slightly,'The only person out of the four of us that could attack without getting noticed at the same time is you, Valentine. The only reason being that you can teleport through sound and we can't'

Furrowing his eyebrows in confusion, Gon turned towards Jaxon and looked between the siblings, a small frown on his face.

'Wait.. Jaxon, you can't use the same ability as Valentine? I thought only the Nitsune's were able to do so'

Looking towards Gon and Killua, Jaxon noticed the looks of confusion they had and he shrugged slightly, looking between them.

'That's true but I'm the only one in our family who can't, I can do something similar but it's not the same as Valentine. But, her way is a lot stealthier than my own'

A noise of understanding left Gon's lips and he nodded his head, while Killua looked between the twins; wondering just what Jaxon could do if it was similar to Valentine's ability but not at the same time.

But hearing that made the silverette quite worried because if she were the only one that could attack, then she was in risk of getting seriously hurt.

Since he's known about her ability, he's noticed that when she teleports the first time it takes a few seconds until she can do it again and those seconds could be lethal.

'This country secretly regulates information using informants',Killua spoke up and caused the four to look towards him, with Zeus chirping slightly.

'Informants?'

'Yeah. Expose an enemy spy, get a reward',The silverette explained,'Find evidence of an uprising, get a reward. Catch a defector, get a reward'

Looking between the four in front of him, Gon's eyes widened slightly and his eyebrows rose in shock.

Hearing about rewards, the twins glanced towards one another and knowing smiles twitched at their lips as they stifled their laughter.

'People will do anything for something in return?'

Turning his head, Killua gazed at Gon out of the corner of his eye and glanced towards Valentine for a moment.

'They're not just after money',Killua declared and then turned forward,'When they rack up enough informant points, the entire group is promoted. But if you commit a crime, or you provide them false intel, then the entire group is given punishment'

'Carrot and stick, huh?'

"Pretty nasty business",Valentine stated,"Family members are separated into different groups, so then if a whole group even tries to escape, that would mean the remaining family would be executed or imprisoned for life. But if a family was caught trying to escape together, they would immediately be executed on the spot"

Nodding slowly, Killua placed his hands in his pockets and continued off of what she had said.

'For this country's elite to live the good life, the rest of it's citizens starve',The silverette said,'Of course, the media is lying constantly, making up stories like; "In other countries, half the people starve to death before age ten". Foreign aid never gets to those who need it'

As Killua continued to explained, smoke began to rise out of Gon's ears causing Valentine to exclaim in shock and hearing her, the silverette immediately turned around, before noticing what was wrong.

'Hey!',Killua shouted,'Did you just blow a fuse!?'

Blinking in shock and worry, Valentine looked over her brother figure and a frown tugged at her lips.

'Uhh, no.. I think I'm okay',Gon said with a small smile on his face and they continued to walk again,'That was just a whole lot to take in. But you guys sure know a lot about it, huh?'

'My older brother told me everything and he probably heard it from Grandpa'

Humming slightly, Jaxon slowly nodded his head and looked towards his sister, noticing the other two looked towards them as well; probably wondering how they knew about it.

'Val and I heard it a lot from our grandparents and our older sister; who had to come here once for a mission',The blond haired boy explained.

'Oh. Yeah?'

Humming slightly, Killua nodded his head and stared forward.

'Yeah. A long time ago, he had to infiltrate the place in order to finish a job he was doing. And I saw similar information when I was looking around the Hunter website; the same system might still be in place'

Stopping near the edge of the cliff, the four crouched down and eyes of gold slowly surveyed the area, a serious expression on her face.

The loud echo of crickets filled the air as the wind blew through the grass and the blades slowly whipped around, nothing seeming to move except the tree and bushes.

'A town..'

'Yeah, a tiny one'

Narrowing her eyes, Valentine's gaze swept across each of the houses and a small hum of thought left her lips.

Looking towards Killua, Gon furrowed his eyebrows and tilted his head slightly.

'So what now?'

'We sneak in'

Eyes widening slightly, Gon looked towards Killua and then, looked between the other three, noticing that they were agreeing with the idea.

'Are you sure that's a good idea'

'We need up-to-date information, like what kind of clothes they wear here or how to identify somebody's rank and social status. They might also have certain practices in place to root out suspected spies. The more data we have, the better we are'

Looking down at the village, Valentine stood to her feet and watched as the boys looked up at her; two with confusion and one with understanding.

"Well then, I'll go and check it out"

Before anyone could argue or even get a word in, a high-pitched ringing filled the air as the teenagers body disappeared in a blur and they all immediately looked back towards the village, noticing that the blonde now had her back pressed against one of the houses, before she disappeared from sight.

Clenching his jaw in worry, Killua kept his face neutral so that the two beside him wouldn't notice and felt his heart pounding in his chest as he watched his girl disappear into the shadows.

Looking through each house slowly, Valentine furrowed her eyebrows and realized that every house was completely empty, causing paranoia to rush through her veins.

As wind swept through the area, the blonde could've sworn that someone had placed their hand on her shoulder and when she had turned around, no one was there.

Putting up her guard, the girl's muscles tensed and her lips pursed as she turned around once more, continuing on.

After realizing that no one was there, Valentine went back to the first house and signaled for her friends; and brother, to come down.

Once they joined her, the five of them entered an abandoned house and looked around, trying to find anything out of place.

The house seemed deserted and dried blood stained the floor in streaks.

'It looks deserted',Gon spoke up,'Maybe everybody is already on their way to the capital'

Looking at the dried blood on the floor, Valentine knelt down and held out her hand; but didn't touch the blood stains, pressing her lips together as her eyes narrowed.

"No.. something else happened here and it clearly wasn't good"

Turning her head towards Killua, the four watched as he walked towards a chair by the wall and moved it slightly, showing a bloody bullet hole.

'Someone's trying to hide it and they did a sloppy job too'

'They really did. God, what are these guys, amateurs or something?'

Looking towards Jaxon, a small frown resided on Valentine's lips and she slowly shook her head once her brother looked at her, her lips twitching up for only a moment.

Jaxon was right; the person had to be an amateur for such a sloppy cleanup.

Snapping his head towards the doorway, a screech left Zeus's beak and Valentine looked out the door, heading back outside; hearing as her friends quickly followed after her.

A few wild dogs were feasting upon the once buried corpses of the residents and hearing the five approaching, their heads immediately snapped up with tense growls, before they ran off, hiding in the bushes.

'These are shallow graves. Wild dogs got to the bodies',Killua explained as the dogs glared at them for disturbing their meal,'I bet the entire village is buried here'

'What's going on here?'

Looking towards the silverette with a frown on her face, Valentine watched as he looked towards her and they kept eye contact with one another for a moment, before turning to look at Gon.

'I think that this is the true purpose of the rally. When whole towns disappear, nobody will even be suspicious',Killua explained and clenched his jaw slightly,'They set it up perfectly. The selection has begun'

Looking back out towards the half feasted upon bodies, Valentine let her eyes wonder along the tree line and stared at the dogs who were running off; realizing that they weren't leaving for a while.

'In hindsight, summoning all of the citizens and then sorting them out would be extremely difficult; all told, that's about five million people. Clearing out own town or city at a time is more effective',The silverette explained,'In that case, their concern would just be coworkers or family, anyone who would notice them missing. But with everything going on with the national rally, no one will find it strange if they can't contact someone'

Starting to walk once more, Valentine stuffed her hands in her pockets and pursed her lips, a small hum leaving her as her eyes surveyed the area.

'Cell phones aren't allowed in this nation, so everyone would assume they're traveling and not getting in touch wouldn't be suspicious at all',Killua stated,'The selection should go smoothly. The capital city of Peijing is in the southeast corner, they need to start with western towns and work east. As long as the towns all get the same story, that the government is assigning them each a unique time to depart, troublesome communication between the villages is less likely to be a problem'

"So.. if they can prevent people from meeting between each town to travel with one another, then they could eliminate any cause for commotion"

'But..'

Humming slightly, Killua glanced back at the four and then, looked forward once more.

'That means they have to run all around the country to attack all five million citizens, right?'

'Yeah, if only one percent survives, that gives them fifty thousand soldiers'

'Yeah I know, but I mean before that'

Turning around to face Gon, Valentine walked backwards and furrowed her eyebrows, wondering what he was trying to say.

"What do you mean, Gon?"

'There are only nine more days left. If you wanted to check five million people in that time, then you'd probably need a whole lot of help, wouldn't you?'

Glancing towards Valentine, Jaxon rose his eyebrows slightly as if to check if she understood what he was trying to get at and he looked back towards Gon, blinking slowly.

'Okay.. so let's say that in ten days, one Nen user can check 10,000 citizens. That's, uhh...'

Noticing that he was struggling to do the math, a small chuckle left Valentine lips and she turned forward, glancing over her shoulder to look at the struggling boy with a small smile on her face.

"That would be five hundred Nen users"

Perking up at her answer, a bright smile formed on Gon's face and he looked towards the blonde girl, nodding quickly.

'Yeah, that! Exactly!'

'There can't be that many Ants that can use Nen. Is that what you're saying?'

'Yeah'

'I agree with you, but it won't be that hard'

Furrowing his eyebrows, Gon looked towards Killua and a frown of confusion tugged at his lips.

'It isn't like they need Nen users in order to check everyone out'

'Huh? Why not?'

"Because it's clear that one of them can use Manipulation, like me",Valentine explained and glanced at Gon over her shoulder once more, noticing that he was most likely thinking back to Kite,"With the power that Chimera Ant is using I'm making a guess that it can robotize victims; or similar to what Genthru's ability was, control multiple people all at once"

Continuing her explanation, Killua looked between the two and eventually, his eyes settled on Valentine.

'Of course, normal humans have aura as well, so the manipulator could force a victim's aura to concentrate in his fist. One punch alone could easily create an army of 50,000, leaving 4,950,000 dead in the process'

Gritting his teeth together, Gon seethed in anger and his eyebrows furrowed, his jaw clenching.

Glancing back towards the boy, Valentine frowned lightly and turned her eyes ahead, watching as Zeus slowed down in his flying to make sure they caught up to him.

"But, we obviously aren't going to let that happen, right Gon? After all, we are heading there to do something to stop it from happening"

'If my theories correct, this'll be easy. We just cause a commotion and the selection will totally stop. We just have to pop up, take out whoever's being controlled and cause a panic'

That sounded too easy though.

Staring ahead with narrowed eyes, Valentine bit her tongue to not say anything and slowly sighed through her nose.

The persistent tugging in her chest wouldn't go away and the young teenager couldn't tell if it was a bad feeling starting to brew up within her or if it were the darkness that resided within her body fighting to take control once more.

'And then after that, we encourage the people who escape to go off and check on other nearby towns. If the Ants have sent controlled puppets instead of actual Nen users, this'll all be a cinch. You, Jaxon, Val and I will just run around taking them down one after another and wreaking havoc'

'Right!'

Not wanting to bring down their spirits, Valentine kept her thoughts and feelings to herself, but she couldn't help but wonder one thing.

Just what was going to happen that was so bad that it made the darkness within her shiver and rage even more.

Noticing that Jaxon had been quiet as well; which was quite unusual for him, Valentine glanced towards her brother and noticed that he was deep in thought.

He was probably thinking the same thing she was.

'The problem is they'll detect us quickly. Once we make our move, they'll know. If we want to go through with the old man's plan, then we should keep as low a profile as we possibly can'

Coming to a stop, Killua noticed that they all stopped with him and he turned around, looking between the three of them; ignoring Zeus as he churred in annoyance.

'Your call'

Thinking for a moment, Valentine began to think over every possibility and outcome if they went through with this.

If they were detected easily then it would mean big trouble, but on the other hand, if they concealed themselves for as long as possible then they would have a small chance.

And that small chance would be enough to hopefully win.

Looking towards one another, Gon, Zeus, Valentine and Jaxon all nodded in agreement, before looking back towards Killua.

"Alright, let's do this",She stated and placed her hands on her hips, a small smile forming on her face.

'If the selection has begun already, we can just simply ignore it'

Staring at them for a moment, Killua's eyes glistened under the moonlight and slowly, a small smile spread across his lips.

'I'm with you guys. Let's go'

Smiling back, the four all nodded in agreement and Zeus spread out his wings, letting out a loud screech as a smile formed on his open beak.

'But I'm gonna do it alone'

Freezing up in shock, Valentine blinked slowly and tried to make sure that she had heard him right.

Did he really just say he'd do this alone? Was he insane?

'You guys stay hidden'

'Stay hidden? But wouldn't it be better if we—'

'Don't forget our primary mission. We have to take Pitou down! That should be your focus. You guys let me handle everything else, alright? I'll stir things up'

Glancing at the ground, Gon bit his tongue to not say anything else and a small frown tugged at his lips.

Slowly shaking her head, Valentine stepped forward with a frown and hearing her stepping closer, Killua glanced at her.

"I'm going with you, Killua"

Snapping his head in her direction, the silverette turned towards her and immediately began to disagree with her.

'No Valentine, stay with Gon and Jaxon. I know you'll be safe with them'

Watching as she was about to argue, Killua walked towards her and placed his hands on her cheeks, tilting up her head slightly as he stared into her eyes.

'Please, Val... I don't want you getting hurt'

Staring between his pleading eyes, Valentine clenched her jaw and slowly shook her head.

"No!"

Hearing her speak so loudly caused Killua's eyes to widen and a shocked look formed on his face at the look in her eyes as she stepped closer to him, her hands gently wrapping around his wrists as his hands softly cradled her face.

"I'm not letting you do this alone, even if you try to have Gon and Jaxon force me to go with them, I'll still fight to go with you",The blonde stated and stared up at the teen with a hard look in her eyes,"Even if I get hurt.. even if I die along the way, I won't stop protecting you and that's exactly what I'm going to do"

Knowing that the silverette wouldn't be able to change his sister's mind, Jaxon crossed his arms over his chest with a grin and looked between the two, a chuckle leaving his lips as he watched his twin harshly stare her boyfriend down.

'You can't argue with a hard head like her, Killua. I know my sister better than anyone and there's a reason why her Nen type is manipulation; you can try and argue but she'll only fight back',The boy explained and glanced towards his twin,'If you don't end up taking her with you, she'll only follow you anyway. So one way or another, she'll end up going with you if you like it or not'

Looking between her eyes, a small sigh left Killua's lips and he leaned down, softly pressing his forehead against her own, his eyes slowly closing.

'You're so damn stubborn..',The teen whispered to her and felt as her head tilted slightly, the tip of her nose gently rubbing against his own.

"I know..",She whispered back.

Breathing in slowly, Killua opened his eyes and leaned back, looking between Gon and Jaxon, clicking his tongue slightly once he noticed that they were grinning at him.

'What're you idiots smiling about? Come on'

Gently grabbing Valentine's hand in his own, Killua began to walk once more and heard as Jaxon snickered slightly, whispering something to Gon that caused the boy to hum in agreement.

'I'll text you, okay? Our cellphones should still work in this area'

Clicking her tongue in a certain signaling way, Valentine watched as Zeus spread his wings and flew towards Gon, softly landing on his shoulder which caused the boy to look at him in shock.

"Take care of them for me, buddy! And make sure they don't do anything stupid"

Watching as Zeus shrieked in agreement, Jaxon's mouth fell open and he looked towards his sister, an irk mark forming on his forehead.

'I should be the one saying that about you, dumbass! You're the one who puts yourself in dangerous situations!'

"You know you love me!"

Looking over her shoulder, Valentine sent a playful wink her brother's way and watched as he began to rage behind them, causing Gon to hold him back as Jaxon crazily waved his arms, shouting all sorts of things at her.

With a small chuckle leaving her lips, the young Nitsune looked forward once more and tightened her grip on Killua's hand slightly, feeling as he did the same.

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Sitting against a tree, Gon was eating an apple and Jaxon was cleaning a katana that he had somehow snuck in, a small smile on his face as he stared at the blade his sister had made for him a long time ago.

And if you looked closely, you could see a small carving on her initials in the blade by the handle.

Using Jaxon's sword to cut off a piece for Zeus, the green-haired boy didn't notice how the teen had tensed up and slowly turned his head towards him, a dark aura surrounded his body as his eyes seemed to go white with rage, small sparks of lightning emitting around him.

The once clean blade was now stained with juice and bits of apple, causing the boy to seethe in anger and his body shook as his hand tightened on the handle of the blade.

As a leaf slowly fell from the tree, Jaxon snapped out of his murderous rage and looked at the leaf, slowly rising to his feet as he fixed his grip on his sword.

Much quicker than a milisecond had passed before the two jumped away; with Zeus in Gon's arms, and they watched as a giant snake-like body crushed the tree it was wrapped around.

'You did well to avoid that. How about this!?'

Using it's tail to propel itself into the air, the ant went from tree to tree and the three could barely keep their eyes on it.

Letting go of Zeus, Gon gestured for the hawk to stay back and begrudgingly, he listened, flying back a bit to watch what would happen.

If anything happened to him, Valentine would for sure kill the both of them and just imagining her rage caused the two boys to shiver in fear.

Gritting his teeth, Jaxon lifted his sword out of it's sheath for a moment and tried to follow the ant's movements.

'I use my strong tail as a spring to propel me through the trees! It's impossible to follow my moves in the dark'

Wrapping his tail around the two, the ant laughed maniacally and stared the two down, a wicked grin spreading across it's lips.

'I've got you! Now prepared to be crushed like a tiny little bug'

With a dark look casting over his face, Zeus's wing movement slowed down as his aura coated his body and rage coursed through his veins.

Loud laughs left the ant's mouth and they slowly died down once noticing the large, growing shadow that loomed over his body, watching as the boys mouths gaped open in awe as they looked up at something behind him.

Slowly turning around, the ant froze as the once small hawk now loomed over him like a giant and his body shook once the beady black eyes of the large bird locked onto him.

Opening his beak as much as he could, a very loud screech left Zeus's beak and he rushed downwards, causing the ant to scream in fear, before blood splattered onto the grass below.

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