ꜱᴛᴜᴄᴋ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴍᴇ- ᴋɪʟʟᴜᴀ x ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ [OLD]

64- 𝘔𝘺 𝘹 𝘛𝘶𝘳𝘯

"And start!" The referee shouted.

"You make the first move. Not exactly trying to take you down here, kiddo." She chuckled, putting her hands in her pockets.

"That's not fair. I'm sure you've worked hard to get strong to get here." I sighed.

"That's really considerate." She smiled. "Okay, I'll start if that's what you'd like."

"Go for it!" I grinned, just before she tried to knock down my legs with a small kick. Thankfully, my knees were locked pretty well, so the most she got was a small ankle roll.

"Come on, Y/n, what are you doing?" Killua shouted. "Take her down, I know you can!"

"I'm working on it! It's a process!" I shouted, laughing a bit.

"That your friend?" Marceline asked in a sweet tone.

"Mhm. His name's Killua. He's nice, when he wants to be." I giggled. "Anyway, he's right. I should hurry up here."

"Go on ahead." She nodded.

I took in a deep breath and tried to remember what Gon did. A big push, followed by an opponent stumbling backward. I hopped up and punched her cheek as hard as could, but unfortunately, she remained standing.

"Damn." I sighed. "Gotta try harder."

I glanced at her form, which was tightknit, with very few open spots for me to attack. I glanced down at her knees, which were bent. I ran as fast as I could to behind her, which was a bit difficult, but she didn't seem to notice. I then kicked her as hard as I could on her back, as she fell over.

"Nice one, kiddo." She smiled, as the rest of the crowd began to shout, just before closing her eyes.

"Go to floor 50." The referee printed out a receipt.

"Will she be okay?" I asked, glancing at her unconscious body on the ground.

"She'll be just fine." He replied.

"Okay. Thank you!" I smiled, rushing up to where Killua and Gon were sitting. "Did you see me? How'd I do? Oh, I hope I didn't mess up too bad." I began to ramble.

"Relax, you did really good." Killua smiled, patting my shoulder. "It was cool how you thought of a way to take her down, even with her stance."

"Mhm! I probably wouldn't have thought of something like that. Especially not that quickly!" Gon grinned.

"Thanks, Gon! Now, let's get goin'. Floor 50." I beamed, grabbing both of the boys' hands and walking out of the stadium.

~~

"The first 200 floors of Heaven's Arena are divided into classes, 10 floors each. Which means that a fighter who wins on the 50th floor, advances to the 60th." Explained the guide in the elevator with us. "Lose, and they automatically jump down to the 40th floor."

"So that's how it works." Gon thought aloud.

"So no second chances." I winced.

"Not like we'll need them though." Killua nudged me. "Not with your strength and quick-thinking."

"Thanks, Kil. But I dunno. It took me a while to figure out what to do, and it was obvious she was going easy on me." I sighed.

"You don't know that." Gon smiled. "Maybe she was working hard, but you were actually stronger than her. That's always a possibility."

"He's right you know. You treat yourself as though you're really weak, even though you can do things. Dummy." He turned his head to the left.

"I heard that once you get to the 100th floor, they comp you your very own room!" Spoke a voice in the back. I let go of Killua and Gon's hands and turned around, only to see the brown-haired boy from before. "So just keep working hard so you can rest."

"Uh...Thanks, I guess." I chuckled nervously. 

"Oh, I'm sorry! How impolite. Osu! My name is Zushi." He bowed. "And you?"

"I'm Y/n. Nice to meetcha." I waved.

"I'm Killua." The albino had his hands in his pockets.

"My name's Gon." He had his hands on his backpack straps. "It's nice to meet you!"

The elevator let out a small 'ding' and the guide moved away from the door. "Here we are," she spoke. We all walked out, and I smiled, looking up at the ceiling and thinking of frogs wearing stupid little outfits. Very specific, but I liked it.

"Oh, I watched your fights earlier. You guys are amazing!" Zushi smiled.

"What are you talking about?" Killua asked, looking down at the boy. "You made it up here with only one match too."

"He's right!" Gon encouraged.

"And you're younger than us. Pretty impressive." I grinned.

"No, no. I still have a long way to go." He dismissed. "By the way, what discipline do you practice? I study the Shingen-Ryu technique."

"A discipline?" Killua repeated. "Don't have one."

"Nope." Gon replied.

"I mean...I took Judo when I was like...8. Does that count?" I shrugged.

"You're kidding!" The younger boy gasped. "You're all that powerful with little formal training? I'm humbled to be in your presence." He sighed. "I've come a long way, but I'm not finished!"

"Uh...What's he talking about?" I whispered to Killua.

"Hey, don't ask me." He shrugged. "It's a compliment though, so maybe we just stay silent and take it?"

"Good idea." I giggled.

A man with black hair, thick glasses, and a pink shirt began walking over to where we were, clapping his hands. "Zushi!" He stopped clapping. "You did well."

"Thank you, Master!" Zushi turned.

"Everyone's been getting called master lately. It's so weird." I muttered.

"I'm glad you've been sticking to my teachings." The adult smiled. 

"Osu! I am honored." Zushi did his weird bow thing again. "But Master, your shirt's untucked."

"Oh! Sorry about that." He chuckled, tucking in his shirt.

"This guy seems like a spaz." Killua leaned into my ear.

"Oh, hush. He might be...smart?" I laughed.

"Why'd you phrase it like a question?" He smirked.

"Cuz it kinda was a question."

"Who are they?" The man asked.

"Oh, This is Killua, Gon, and Y/n." Zushi replied.

"Hi!" I waved nervously.

"Pleasure to meet you, my name's Wing." He smiled.

"Osu!" The three of us cheered, doing the strange bow thingy as well.

"I really wasn't expecting to see any other kids here besides Zushi." Wing said. "So what brings the three of you here?"

"Money!" I shouted, throwing my hands up in the air.

"We also wanna become stronger." Killua laughed. "But they're right. We're pretty broke too, so we're makin' money at exactly the same time."