Chapter 26: What? X Hat!
Pokkle's eyes burned with determination as he witnessed Killua's victory. An insatiable hunger ached from within, he wished for the same results. To be a winner on the 200th Floor.
After understanding Killua's Nen Ability and knowing his Category as a Transmutter, he felt overwhelmed by the future of his ability. This got him contemplating his own Nen Ability and couldn't wait to try it out on the big stage and against another Nen User.
'I should remain confident,' Pokkle thought inwardly as he rose from his seat and ushered out of the audience section. He walked with Sinbad, Zushi, and Wing. 'Sinbad had approved of my ability so it should be fine, it is up to me to properly utilize it.'
Together the group made their way to the designated meet up place for after the fight.
Sinbad nudged into Pokkle. "Are you overthinking again?"
"Is it that obvious?" Pokkle answered, not surprised by Sinbad's ability to accurately read his facial expressions. For a long time now, he had given up on trying to hide anything from him because for one, it was almost impossible. Pokkle extended his right middle finger and thumb, keeping the rest of his fingers tucked into his palm, he pinched one eye closed to aim. "I'm excited for tomorrow more than anything."
Zushi's eyes widened with inspiration. "I can't wait to see your Nen Ability in action even though you refuse to tell me anything."
"Well, what if we end up fighting each other on the 200th Floor," Pokkle mumbled, folding his arms across his chest. Even though Pokkle had finally forgiven himself for losing to Zushi because of his inability to harness Nen, he still held a grudge and was determined to not lose again. "I'm not giving you any more advantages."
Behind them, Wing laughed. "That is true, Zushi. It can be rude to ask for someone's Nen Ability."
"I have no plans of fighting Pokkle," Zushi fussed to his sensei, waving his hands around. "Especially using underhanded tactics like you suggest."
"In our world of Hunters, there is no such thing as underhanded," Sinbad interjected. "There are only winners and losers, survivors and the corpses."
Pokkle nodded, Zushi's body shook at the cruelty, and Wing remained neutral in the matter.
After turning the corner, they saw Killua leaning up against the wall with a leg kicked up against it. He waited in the lobby, where the escalators were so they all could either go up or down the tower together.
Sinbad ran up to Killua and they immediately executed their handshake.
"How cool did I look up there?" Killua asked with a bright grin on his face.
Sinbad thought for a second. "Like the sea."
Ignoring Sinbad's strange response, Pokkle stepped in front of him. He and Killua high fived. "It seems you figured it out just in time."
"Yeah, it was a piece of cake," responded Killua.
"You would be dead if you fought a stronger opponent," remarked Wing, coldly. He advised Killua to forfeit the match since he couldn't transmute his Nen to lightning up to ninety-nine percent of the time.
Killua's facial features soured as he scratched the back of his head. "Heh Heh."
Wing's intense face relaxed into a gentle one. "Anyways, congratulations on the victory."
"Yes, congratulations!" Zushi repeated.
"I had to show this one how its done," boasted Killua, pointing in Pokkle's direction.
Pokkle tensed up. "Yeah, whatever."
Zushi and Wing left together to end the night with meditation and work on Zushi's Ten. The boys left Heavens Arena to go to a nearby restaurant that they've grown to love.
They sat outside as it was a nice night to enjoy the night spring breeze. Even though they were in the heart of the city, above them the stars glowed with greed and desire to be seen. A lovely harp's tune mixed with the chorus of dialogue as consumers ate and told stories around them.
Killua always ordered the same thing, a sea food spaghetti pasta matched with garlic bread.
Sinbad refused to eat sea food from an area that didn't live on a natural coast, complaining that the fish doesn't taste the same due to the travel time. The fish loses its exquisite taste so instead, he tends to order pepperoni and sausage pizza, a double stacked cheeseburger, or chicken pasta. For tonight, he ordered a steak sandwich and fries.
Pokkle's diet always remained the same, either a meat, small side, and vegetables. He was by far the healthiest eater out of the three, so tonight, he ordered grilled chicken, black rice, and a small salad.
A bit stressed, Pokkle devoured his meal and silently waited for the rest to finish up. On his mind were various scenarios in which his fight could play out, especially understanding the different match ups due to the opponent's Nen Category.
"I wonder where we should go next after I become Floor Master?" Sinbad asked before tossing a dipped fry into his mouth.
Killua twirled the last few hairs of spagethi with his fork. "By your timeline, there would be a few months remaining before we go to York New to meet up with Kurapika and Leorio."
Snapping out of his mental simulation, Pokkle turned his attention to Sinbad. "The regular fighter on the 200th Floor may be chumps to you but are you still serious about challenging Hisoka?"
"Of course," Sinbad replied without hesitation before shoving the rest of his sandwich down his mouth. He took three bites and finished swallowing his food. "Sure he is strong, but I've seen his Nen Ability. That is more than enough reason to fight him."
Pokkle leaned back into his seat. "I've never seen that look on your face after the first time y'all fought."
"Back then, I didn't know about Nen," Sinbad responded while getting out of his seat. "Especially the more intricate rules."
Killua tapped on Pokkle's shoulder. "Forget it, he rarely does anything without having a solid plan."
"True," Pokkle agreed. He also rose to his feet and they began leaving the back patio of the restaurant. "But what do you do if your plan fails? What happens when you face something without a plan?"
"You should already know the answer to that," said Sinbad without turning back to look at him.
…
Heavens Arena 200th Floor, March 10th
After being announced by Cocco and the overbearing lights flashed onto Pokkle, he climbed the cement steps onto the square tile fighting arena. He abandoned his nerves and worries as his eyes glared forward with determination. The only thought on his mind was winning, tuning out the infectious crowd and their attention.
As a lone hunter who remained in the shadows to shoot their prey with arrows, going into an environment like this was jarring. So, Pokkle cleared out his mind and ignored them, staring forward till the opponent breached over the tile and appeared. A man with an elongated magician's hat and a single monocle on his right eye.
His opponent skipped over the last step and tumbled, his hat flew into the air as the man rolled on the ground. His roll came to a stop, crouching over onto his tippy toes and the hat landed perfect back onto his head. He extended to his full height and thrusted his arms up into the air in celebratory fashion.
The strange man had long black hair, perfect porcelain white skin, and wore scarlet lip stick. A high bridged nose demanded attention from the rest of his face, a strong jaw structure, and deep empty black eyes. The man was dressed in an all black tuxedo with a frock coat on top.
He was hauntingly intriguing to look at.
The crowd cheered for this little performance.
"Give it up to Heaven's Arena for our very own Magician!" Cocco announced the strange character in front of Pokkle. "This mysterious man doesn't have a name but he is currently one win away from earning the right to challenge a Floor Master and steal their title! However, he also has three losses so if he were to lose tonight, he will be kicked out from the Heavens Arena! Never to compete again on this grand stage!"
Pokkle narrowed his eyebrows as he locked onto his strange opponent who greeted him with a gentle and warm smile. The mysterious monocle wearing man took off his magician cap and bowed toward him.
Not knowing how to respond to such a greeting, Pokkle did nothing but wait for the referee to join them. Once he stepped onto the ring, he prepared the signal to start the match.
"Can another rookie of the 200th Floor perform a great upset against the Magician?" Cocco asked, building up the tension of this fight, right before it begins. Feeding into the intensity, the crowd roared, understanding the stakes for this match up. "Or will we see another Floor Master match up so soon?"
The referee swung his hand downward, signalling the start of the match. "Begin!"
"I foresee a Floor Master match in my future," The Magician replied, taking off his top hat and stuffing his hand into the hat. Similar to a magic trick, the Magician pulled out an all black cane from inside the hat. The crowd squealed from the spectacle. "What are you capable of seeing?"
"Victory!" Pokkle shouted, unleashing his Nen and pouring it into his left hand. With his middle finger and thumb pointing outward while the rest of his fingers curled into his palm, the surrounding Aura conjured into a bow. He activated his Nen Ability. "Rainbow Arrows!"
With his right hand pulling on the conjured string of the bow, his left glowed in red. "Red Arrow!"
Pokkle fired the arrow at the Magician.
Quickly, he banished his crane, disappearing it into his long magician's hat and then flipped over the hat to face the dark inside at the arrow, he waits as the arrow vanishes in the insides of his hat and like tossing a rock into a lake the arrow vanished with a *blob* sound. Then, the Magician aimed his hat at Pokkle as the red arrow shot back out from the hat, firing it directly back at Pokkle.
The crowd gawked in surprise.
"One of the classic Magician pranks, his Return to Sender Ability!" Cocco shouted. The Magician twirled the hat at the end of his index finger and then skillfully placed it back on his hat. His eyes and lips slanted into a smile.
Anticipating this, Pokkle leapt and rolled, dodging his own arrow. He came to a stop in a crouching position and aimed his bow, concentrating his Nen and fired an ordinary white arrow. This arrow was aimed at the Magician's right shin.
The Magician jumped unnecessarily high, but then his attention snapped onto the red arrow hitting the back wall, erupting into a ball of fire. His eyes widened with bright red reflecting in his black iris. "Wow! Fire!"
Pokkle raised his gaze to the blinding lights, the Magician's figure went dark due to the bright lights shining beyond him. With his next ability, being one hundred percent accurate wasn't necessary as Pokkle's right hand grabbed onto the center of the bow. Making a fist and pouring his Nen, his fist turned blue. He tilted his bow horizontally as if he were holding a crossbow.
'Try and return this attack!' Pokkle thought.
"Blue Arrow!" Pokkle shouted, firing five blue arrows simultaneously. Once launched, the arrows flew in a straight line aimed at the shadowy male figure in the air.
The Magician placed a finger on his chin. "I foresee the need for an umbrella."
As the five blue arrows reached about halfway, the Magician once again took off his hat and aimed the empty inside of the hat at Pokkle. He glowed in a dark purple, activating his Nen Ability. "Light Drizzle!"
Dozens of swords, spears, knives, needles, cats, turtles, and a singular shield exploded from the Magician's hat. The five arrows dissipated into blue shards of light as the miscellaneous sharp and blunt objects crashed into them.
'What the f–'
Pokkle's thoughts were interrupted as he was in desperate need of running out of the trajectory of the downpour of weapons and living creatures. He ran with all his might as the dozens of objects struck at his shadow, the crashing of objects pounded on his eardrums and shook the arena.
To save his own life, the referee dolphin dove off the stage.
"What in the world!" Cocco yelled, finally able to say something from the strange attack. Slowly, she rose to her feet to get a better view. "As always, the Magician puts on a miraculous and mysterious show!"
Sinbad, Killua, Zushi, and Wing all had their mouths agape open as they slowly turned to look at each other in utter disbelief.
'Why is he so unlucky?' Sinbad and Killua thought the same thing.
Like a strange sequence from a video game, Pokkle ran around the perimeter of the square tile arena to escape the wrath of the unrelenting hat. After completing a full lap, the sharp swords, piercing spears, stabbing knives, poking needles, hissing cats, and groaning turtles finally stopped raining down at him. He lurched over onto his knees to catch his breath.
Meanwhile, the Magician pulls out an umbrella out of his hat and uses it to slowly float back down onto the tile arena. He awkwardly lands and needs a few extra steps to correct his balance.
"Lucky me, I landed in bounds," said the Magician with obvious relief.
Pokkle scanned his environment, the square tile arena was surrounded by stuck weapons and confused animals. Most of the cats blitzed off the stage while some remained to attack the slow moving turtles, swiping at the protruding heads of the sea creatures. One of the cats chased after Pokkle, his feet dancing around the cat's swiping claws.
The Magician chuckled. "Aww, he likes you."
"Shut up!" Pokkle shouted back, unleashing his Ren to scare off the cat from persisting its attack. "Enough with the jokes!"
"I'm bearing serious," teased the Magician.
"I can't believe what I am seeing right now! It feels like a crazy fever dream!" Cocco commented. "We have cats and turtles fighting each other on the stage!"
The audience went into an uproar, commenting on the cuteness of the cats and turtles.
"Sensei?" Zushi asked. After failing to respond, Zushi nudged his elbow into Wing's ribs to gain his attention.
"Yes, Zushi?" Wing answered, unable to tear his gaze from the insanity in front of him.
"Please tell me this isn't a normal battle between Nen Users?" Zushi asked.
"Absolutely not," Wing answered. "This goes beyond my experience, this is the most bizarre fight I've ever witnessed."
Killua shoved popcorn into his mouth. "What category is he?"
"Emitter, probably," Sinbad answered, shifting one leg over the other. "His hat is connected to a separate space."
Right before Killua could say anything back, the Magician took off his hat, killing all the excitement and buzz in the arena. Everyone's eyes fell on him.
Pokkle's hands and fingers locked into position, this time he would allow the Magician to make the first move and then he would respond accordingly.
The Magician slammed the hat down onto his head, disappearing it into the void of the hat as it was pushed down to his slender shoulders. Even with his whole head buried away in the hat, Pokkle withheld from attacking, due to awkwardness of this fight and the Magician's behavior he refrained from being rash.
Within the next second, the Magician lifted his arms as his head reappeared, revealing himself with a sly smile. "Sorry, he is a bit shy."
Pokkle resolved himself, understanding that something else would come out from the hat.
The Magician activated his Nen, glowing in a dark purple and tossed his hat into the air. The hat was also vibrant in the same color. "Big Hug!"
An enormous ten foot tall furry beast that had large threatening claws with a singular eye wearing a clear monocle fell from the hat.