(Book 2) Neferpitou and the human Royal Guard

Chapter 27 (Part 1)

At the Southernpiece Auction House

"So this old place is where you've been hiding?" Gon inquires, seeming to recognize it.

Shaking his head, Hound responds "Not here, but below here. Hid underground in case the humans got any ideas of launching nukes at us. Father and Vasilias were always paranoid about such things."

"Quite the stark contrast when considering the state of the rest of the city. The building is almost completely without blemish..." the professor muses.

"Father wanted to keep it nice and pretty. Not sure why though. There's a small group of ants maintaining and guarding the place. Shouldn't be too hard to take em out, bet they're feelin nervous right now. The real party starts when ya head down." Hound explains.

Pitou takes a curious step forward and says "It's empty."

We all turn to her, and Hound raises a brow, asking "What?"

Pitou repeats herself "It's empty. Nobody's inside."

Hound narrows his eyes and gives her a quizzical look before looking back at the building, now taking a cautious step toward.

"They probably have the place rigged to blow." Ging tells him.

Hearing this, Hound seems to agree with the possibility and stops in his tracks, contemplating on what to do next.

"What now then?" I ask.

"Shut up and let me think." he spits back at me.

I just rolls my eyes in response.

"Hrm... if we were in one of those old cartoons, we could just grab a small shovel and dig our way in." Jovesworth suggests jokingly.

"Great idea, professor!" Gon exclaims.

Jovesworth is taken aback by Gon's reaction, and says "Uh- Gon my boy, that was just a little jest to lighten the mood. I didn't truly-"

But he is cut off by Gon shaping the Conjurer's Rod into comically large a shovel, pouring a tremendous amount of nen into it, and shouting "Rock!" before planting the shovel into the ground itself, before uprooting it and flinging a large boulder toward the auction house, causing a large portion of the building to collapse in on itself, and leaving a sizable hole in the ground in front of Gon.

Blinking, I quip "Well, that's one way to check for bombs."

Without another word, Gon hops down into the newly formed crater he made, and repeats the process, shouting "Rock!" before striking the shovel into the ground, and upheaving another chunk out of the hole and into the auction house like a catapult launching boulders at a castle.

I chuckle a little and look over at Ging, telling him "Clever kid. Guess he takes after his dad."

To my surprise, Ging looks unimpressed as he lets a brief pause go by before reacting to my compliment. "Huh? You say something?" he asks.

Sheepishly, I back off "Eh, nevermind."

Gon is just about to dig deeper before he is cut off by Pitou who shouts to everyone "Clear the area!"

Mere moments after she shouts that, using en I sense a massive amount of destructive aura below us rising rapidly. Not having much time to think or move, I look down at Gon, and in a desperate bid to save him from whatever is coming, I extend a hand out toward him and hastily recite the word "Beckon!" Thankfully, when I do Gon is pulled toward me at rapid speed. Quick as I can, I grab him and leap far away. I look back only to see a massive pillar of crimson red aura erupt from the ground where we all were. No doubt a few of us would have died from that if it hit us, while the rest would be severely injured.

I feel my heart stop at the thought of what could have happened if Pitou had not alerted us to the attack. That aura...

Eventually the colossal pillar of aura dissipates, leaving a massive hole in the ground where the auction house used to be. Silence persists after the initial burst, and before any of us can break it, we are beaten to the punch when dozens of enemy ants emerge  from the new crater, along with backup in the form of Jaws's Chikurage, both red and blue variants, at least twenty of them total.

Two Chikurage, one red and one blue, dart toward Gon and I. Repelling the first one, I hold out one hand and invoke the word "Repulse." flinging the blue one backwards into one of the enemy ants. Gon, not one to be easily outdone, intercepts the incoming red Chikurage by smashing it repeatedly into the ground with his shovel. The nen beast attempts to reform itself as it is being bashed by Gon, and so I finish the thing off, throwing a classic nen spell card, chanting "Chaos Bomber." The spells causes a small explosion, but manages to catch the nen beast on fire, evaporating it's form.

Gon turns to me, and with a toothy grin, gives me a thumbs up.

Smiling, I return the gesture. However, taking me off guard, I feel something grip my ankle, and before I can react, I am pulled through the ground at rapid speed, being scrapped and battered by stone and concrete on the way down until I find myself within a sizable cavern lit by numerous candles. Looking down, I see what exactly is pulling me downward, it is Youpi. His eyes are yellow and devoid of thought, and I can see that his free arm wielding his hammer, ready to grind me into dust when I reach him. Thinking fast, I hurl the Blitz Glaive some distance away from him, then use it's effect to teleport to it, and out of Youpi's grip.

He looks over to me, grumbling mindlessly.

"Youpi..." I start, but am cut off when I notice a presence swiftly approaching. With little time to react, I move my head to the side, narrowly dodging a nen arrow that whiffs past my head. Turning around, I am confronted by Zazan, who is wielding Pouf's bow. She grins a sadistic grin when we lock eyes, then knocks another nen arrow, ready to fire again, as I feel Youpi bolting toward me, granting very little quarter...