35 A Strange Incident

__________ POV Narration__________

As the scientist rushed towards Gon's location. He received another phone call.

He usually wouldn't even hear that with the wind in his ears. But it seems the universe really wanted him to hear that one.

He landed a bit and answered the call.

"Hello?" Ashton greeted with some curiosity.

"Hello, this is Starbucks, may I take your order?" Hmmm, strange.

"You are the one that called me, no I don't want coffee."

After that, he just continued his journey. Only to be interrupted by his phone once more. He looked at the number only to realize it was the same one as before.

This time annoyance was starting to set in. Still, he landed and answered.

"What?" Was his greeting this time, much less cordial.

"Sir! You have been selected as the prize winner for 100 million dollar!" The scientist didn't even bother responding.

"All you need to do is the message this number with your credit card number and three numbers on the back." Said a voice with a thick Indian accent. Not that Ashton knew what an Indian was.

"Stop calling this number." He said, but his calm expression started to crack a bit, as his eyes promised a lot of pain to the phone.

But the caller didn't take the threat seriously. After a few minutes, he was called again. Same number, different voice.

"Sir! You must renew your television license! I hate to inform you that~"

"LOOK! I don't care who you are or where you are. I am going to find you, and kill you in the most painful manner I can think of!"

He hung up the phone and continued.

Meanwhile, in a random warehouse, the Phantom Troup were gathered around a phone, some were laughing, some were smiling.

"Kalluto! This phone prank idea is really nice! A good way of entertaining ourselves." Said Nobunaga with a satisfied smile. Or the Starbucks employee.

"Yeah! This guy's reactions were quite great too!" Said Bonolenov, or the Indian scammer, as he recovered from his laughter.

"Indeed, by the way... Whose number was that?" Asked Feitan. He was the one that tried the last prank. He was quite sad that he didn't get to finish.

"Oh, that was Ashton's number." Said Kalluto with an innocent smile on his face.

The members of the Troupe all turned pale at the same time. As Feitan just looked at the phone, his emotions unreadable.

'Fuck' Was the collective thought going through their minds. Well, everyone besides Kalluto, who just smiled.

______________HAPPY APRIL FOOLS(or whatever)______________

(this was posted on the first of April on Patreon)

(Back to regular program)

Chapter 35: Assassination Techniques

_________ POV Ashton_________

It took me around an hour to reach their location. I moved using my explosions. I can reach better speeds after my recent powerup.

It has to do with the fact that I can defend myself better against explosions, so I can just use stronger ones to send myself forwards.

The most shocking part is that I no longer feel the need to trim my beard. I simply look better with it. At least as a 40-year-old looking man...

I haven't gotten used to looking like this yet. I've seen a lot of people grow old and die, but I've never actually undergone that process myself.

Although, my vitality is still much greater than that of other humans. I'll have to go to the dark continent to gather some more food.

I have a lot in my void space, but I'm keeping that for rainy days. The situation isn't dire at all right now.

I reached the hospital Gon was being held at, Killua wasn't there. But someone else was. A young man of decent height with long black hair and large, emotionless eyes.

I don't think I've ever seen this guy, but he seems quite serious. He looks like he has a mission or something. He's standing right in front of the hospital.

I just decided to ignore him, but when I passed him he tried to stick a nail in my neck. That's not really something I appreciate.

I grabbed his forearm with my right arm. I gripped him hard enough until I heard a crack. He didn't react much to the pain, but he seemed quite surprised that I caught his attack.

"The younger generation lacks manners these days..." I said whilst shaking my head.

"I won't let anyone enter the hospital." His tone was calm, but his hostility is quite obvious.

I won't let some kid stop me from getting my fair share of entertainment after such a harsh experience. This black haired kid isn't really a concern of mine right now.

I didn't let go of his arm, he tried to pull it back, but he didn't have enough strength to do so.

His next move did surprise me though, well not the move, the way he did it. His nails turned into claws and he tried to stab my chest.

What? Is he also a Zoldyck? How many of those will I meet in the span of a few weeks?

I haven't even visited them like I was planning to. Still, his move isn't exactly what I'd call surprising, it this situation you'd expect him to attack me...

I didn't even bother dodging this one, just let my Nen protect me. His nails stopped when coming in contact with it.

Usually, my Aura is well hidden, but it flares up whenever I'm attacked. Like it did just now.

This man was quick to realize that I was a Nen user, mostly because I just spelt it out for him by blocking his attack with aura.

"Glad to see the Zoldyck way of making friends hasn't changed at all..." I'm not even joking, most of my meetings with Zoldycks had them attack me one way or another.

Kalluto wanted to fight me the first time he met me in that shitty warehouse. Killua in the forest and he actually fought me in the Palace.

Maha, Zeno and Silva tried to kill me the very first time I met them.

Hell, Zigg used to do it regularly too. He said it helped with my reflexes, but he just liked attacking me.

Now this guy, apparently a Zoldyck too. Doesn't want me to enter a hospital of all things. Really what a weird family. Just as I said, these are the only people that I can truly befriend.

Insane people like Netero are really rare after all.

I let go of his arm and just ignored him. He didn't attack me again, at least not in a straightforward manner.

He clearly demonstrated his training by waiting for me to turn around before trying to stab me once again.

Still somewhat predictable though, I just whipped my leg around and kicked his side. Much like I to Killua, but somewhat stronger this time.

I basically used 'The Snake Awakens' with only one leg. I think I've only seen Zigg and Maha do this in the past.

The Snake Awakens is a simple enough technique. Whipping your limbs at great speeds and cleaving anything within range of them. But it does take quite a bit of practice and control.

He seemed to recognize that technique, his eyes widened as his bloodlust started showing.

"Where did you learn how to do that...?" Yep, his bloodlust is truly worthy of the Zoldyck name. But I still want to play around a bit. Gon sure can wait a few more minutes.

I started walking around him in a strange manner. Every step I took left behind an afterimage, but they were slow, I circled around the assassin as he stared at the afterimages with hate.

Rhythm Echo. An assassination technique that has the user walking in a certain manner and creating afterimages and decoys. This also happens to be my favourite one.

It's hard to tell the real one with me, I can perfectly hide my Nen. Unless you have a special technique to sense me then it's useless to even try.

It continued like this for a bit, up until the point where all of the afterimages took a step towards him at the same time. All it took was a simple change of pattern in the Rhythm Echo to make the Assassin lash out.

Throwing his nails at them with great precision and in very quick succession. The nails passed through all of the afterimages, and me too. As I used 'Fleeting Existence to extend my fun.

It made all of the afterimages stop too, but it was only for one second, so the technique didn't become undone.

After that, I rushed towards him from the back, my nails quickly tore open my gloves. As I started regretting not wearing the fingerless ones. I hate it when this happens...

I didn't stab him, but I slashed him across his back at incredible speeds. I didn't leave all that big of a cut. But it was still something.

He had been too caught up in trying to find out the real one to protect his own behind. Bit of a rookie mistake.

It also didn't help that my forward movement made all the afterimages pounce at him, leaving him open from a few sides.

I took a few steps back as I took off my gloves with regret.

"I think we're done here," I said in a simple tone.

"Where... DID YOU LEARN HOW TO DO THIS?!" He was really getting aggressive. I didn't know the Zoldycks cared so much about their techniques.

Maha, Zeno and Silva all saw me use them and they barely reacted at all. I think it's mostly because they somewhat knew who I was. But this guy thinks I'm just some random doctor or something.

______________________________________________

This one was a bit longer(probably cuz of the April fools part)

I got this idea on the toilet after a patron suggested I do something like a special for the 1st of April.

Hope it was good enuf.

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