59 The X Hunt X Begins

Bursting out the opened cab door after settling the fee, I began looking around as I cross-referenced the anime with a maps app I had on my phone. As I rapidly investigated the small plaza I ended up finding what I presumed to be where Machi and Nobunaga were eating earlier. Mostly due to the waitress cleaning up the table for two that was in the middle of the square. Whereas, everyone else was eating closer to the shops and restaurants where they were covered in shade.

"Miss, could you please tell me where the people sitting here went? Me and my friends were supposed to meet up here but it looks like they went on ahead of me… haha." using a mix of half-truths and lies I spun a story. Mostly because I lied/acted on the level of porn stars.

"Oh my! I believe they left about 30 minutes ago. I just had to finish cleaning up a table or two in the shop before coming out here. As for where they went, I think they headed that way… I hope you have luck with finding your friends!" Thinking for a moment she points to our right before grimacing, realizing she was pointing at the shady area of the city.

"Yeah me too…" looking at the hurried retreat of the waiter In an uncomfortable silence I began to make heads and tails of the situation. If they were walking at a slow pace towards the outskirts of the city half an hour ago they shouldn't have arrived there yet. Meaning I had a chance of intercepting Gon and Killua before they did something stupid.

*bzzt* *bzzt* *bzzt* surprised at the loud noise of my phone interrupting me, I made a mental note to put it on silent as I pulled my phone out of my pocket. Looking at the caller I.D I saw it was Leorio who was calling me, something I didn't quite expect.

"Hey wait right there, I see you!" deciding to pick up the call it ended as quickly as it began for whatever reason. Looking around confused, I was curious about where Leorio was supposedly.

*huff* *huff* " hold on! Tell me what the hell is going on!" Sprinting towards me from across the square Leorio ran up to me. Which was odd, as I didn't recall Leorio being here, though it could have been he came here to meet me knowing I would come here.

"What are you doing here!?" looking him down and up, I was somewhat unimpressed by the tired and sweaty form of my friend. Turning around and walking towards the exit of the square as he shadowed me as we talked.

"I could say the same bastard!" Speeding up to move in front of me he blocked my path as he latched both his hands on my shoulders. Seeing the angry look on his face I resigned myself to dealing with him.

*sigh* " you probably won't go away if I told you, so just walk with me as I explain" slowing my pace down just a notch so he would keep up as we walked through the slowly changing surroundings of the city.

"Fine." while we walked, he began looking around at the change from tall sleek glass buildings to cracked concrete warehouses and slum houses while remaining quiet as he listened to what I had to say.

"To explain what is going on as easily as possible I'll use… comic books as an analogy you seem the kind to read those? Oh, and H books don't count so maybe I should not use that analogy…" Following the main road and avoiding side streets we made a straight shot to the most undesirable spot in yorknew.

"Just get to the point!" with his head swiveling to look at me, he cut me off with an angry look that was quite different than usual. Instead of the warm flame in his eyes when we would bicker it was a much more turbulent look.

"Right now Leorio, you are like Yam- The one character the writer of the story introduced but has tried subtly phasing out of the story because he is boring or weak, replacing him with another better character." rambling whatever came first to mind, I began trying to convey how screwed Gon and Killua were.

"... I'm not even going to say anything at this point." stunned at my unintentional jab Leorio's scowl just deepened as he muttered under his breath.

"And right now, I am at the level of a weekly villain. I am only strong compared to the small group I am in but will quickly get beat or overshadowed by similar strength opponents." running with the analogy, I continued to put things into scale. As we were moving we started to spot local residents of the area, common thugs, street urchins, the homeless, etc. From just a bit of walking our surroundings have completely changed.

"Right now, Gon and Killua are somewhere in between, maybe the romantic interest of the protagonist. Cool characters that are strong but lose all development once they settle down becoming weak as the power creep of the story goes insane." at this point I was just using dragon ball as a reference and just not using the characters' names. Though if it worked, and by Leorio's expressions it was, then it wasn't that stupid.

*sigh* "The problem is, the Phantom Troupe is like a recurring villain. The protagonist has no right 'beating' them in the first few encounters and is only strong enough to beat them much later in the story… We are outclassed and outgunned here. So we are legging it and trying to catch up to those two before they get themselves killed for their stupidity!" Raising my voice at the end of my rambling I started to slow down as I began looking up into the higher floors and rooftops. For any signs of conflict or a glimpse of Gon or Killua.

"Recurring villains huh… not final boss material?" musing to himself while also looking around, Leorio turned to look at me with a curious yet worried look.

"No… that's saved more for people like the chairman and people on a similar level of strength."