__________ POV Narration__________
Kanzai's scuffle with the Land Lizard didn't go unnoticed, as the tremors were felt in the nearest villages.
That made all of the Zodiacs gather in that place, preparing to fight a threat.
They quickly noticed that Kanzai was missing, so they were forced to start making their way towards the tremors.
Kanzai might've been a hot-headed individual, but he was still a valuable member of the Hunter Association.
The zodiacs all left their teams behind to protect the city in case something went wrong. They made their way as a group.
Leorio remained behind, as he was not a fighter. He stayed to take care of any injuries that might occur and to lead the hunters that protected the city.
The Zodiacs all headed in the direction of the fight, after a bit, they ran into Kanzai's group of hunters. They were all panicking and trying to explain what had happened.
Eventually, they managed to blurt out the situation. It left Cheadle a bit displeased, to say the least. Kanzai had gone both against her orders and against Ashton's warning.
It was frustrating, but she now needed to hurry, she may have been frustrated with Kanzai, but he was still an important member of the expedition.
They all hastened their pace, trying their best to reach the site in time. Then, they heard a powerful explosion. It was twice as loud as the previous hits, and the ground only slightly trembled this time.
They didn't know what had happened, but they decided to hurry once again. They ran into Ashton, Pitou and Kanzai after around 5 minutes of running.
The three were just silently walking, Pitou and Kanzai were the only ones that looked like they had been in a fight.
Cheadle was shocked, then she was pleasantly surprised, both because Kanzai was completely fine(mostly) and because Ashton was back.
It had already been quite a while since he had taken off by himself to the Dark Continent, she was glad to see him just fine.
Ashton also noticed them and smiled.
__________ POV Ashton__________
"Quite the welcoming party! I wasn't expecting this, honestly." I said with an amused smile.
I figured they wouldn't ignore the repeated earthquakes from earlier, I wasn't really expecting them to act so quickly though.
"Well... Great to see you! I see that you are looking much younger than before..." Cheadle said after some of the awkwardness in the air clear up.
"Indeed, I see you're still healthy." Botobai also seems to be pleased with my appearance.
"Yeah... You missed quite a bit of what's been happening." Said the Cow-man (I can't remember his name).
Cheadle looked behind me, Pitou and Kanzai she seemed a bit confused. I didn't comment on the age part, as I don't really feel like explaining myself so much.
"What happened to the beast?" She finally decided to ask the obvious.
"Don't worry too much about it. I'll take care of it eventually." I said while wiping my knuckle on my chest.
"Ashton scared it away, it was also injured quite heavily. I doubt it will be approaching us any time soon." Kanzai gave a more concise answer.
Cheadle looked a bit confused. "Why didn't you kill it?" She asked, looking at me with a bit of curiosity.
"I'll use it to train my student. It's strong enough to serve as a sparring partner." I said while patting Pitou's head a few times.
The latter didn't seem all that keen right now. I think she's still skulking about being beaten by that lizard.
I'm also still wearing my gauntlets(which might've been a bit painful for her), but I'll take them off soon. Especially since even the Zodiacs seem to be eyeing them curiously.
"I see... Thank you for helping Kanzai." She bowed a bit to me, Kanzai just looked a bit embarrassed.
I think she still has quite a few questions on her mind. But I'm not going to spend the entire day speaking to her in the woods.
There are better places to do that.
"Let's talk more over some tea. A city shouldn't be that far-right?" I looked at all of them, the city should only be around 1 hour away(at most).
"Sure..." After that, we kept on walking.
Kanzai got scolded all the way through, apparently, not listening to orders is quite a bad thing.
But this incident is also not a good sign for Cheadle herself. It means that her position as President isn't yet stable enough for people to listen to her at all times.
Netero didn't have that problem, everyone respected him greatly. But she is still new to this position. And them being forced into this journey might've also been a bit frustrating.
Overall, things aren't looking all that peachy for her. Her position as chairman isn't under threat or anything, but any influence she might have is being a bit undermined.
The V5 constantly weighing in on the situation isn't helpful at all. They have a habit of ordering others around brazenly. Netero also had that issue, but he had a lot more influence than Cheadle.
He wasn't getting pushed around like she is. He did have his moments though, they were just never this early in his career.
Cheadle is really unlucky in this aspect. But I guess Beyond is the one that screwed her over in the end.
He planned the whole deal with the Kakin empire, and the association was forced to tag along in order to oversee the situation.
All of the Zodiacs look tired, so I guess they aren't having much fun. Maybe that's also because they rushed here.
"Ashton... How do I get stronger?" Pitou finally decided to ask something. The Zodiacs are all busy with their own stuff, the two of us are left to speak to each other.
"Well, you are talented, you only need more time. Don't worry about yourself too much, but keep this incident in mind. There are many beings in this world that can kill you." She looked down in shame again.
"It's not a reason to despair. You've only been training for a week or two at most. You have more than enough time to grow. Besides, what I've said also applies to me."
Her eyes widened as her head snapped in my direction.
"W-What do you mean? You are really strong." Her confusion is what I expected.
"Even I have to be careful in some situations and against some enemies. Overconfidence can easily kill anyone." My conversation with Pitou continued for a while.
I did my best to help her get over this loss, although she was a bit surprised by the fact that anything could put me in danger.
We eventually reached the city, well, one of them. I think Cheadle said something about there being 3 cities?
Oh well, it's no skyscraper paradise, but it's a nice living area. A bit underdeveloped in places, but overall good looking location.
All of us eventually ended up around a table, holding a meeting as Cheadle was still curious about my trip.
I took the role of the storyteller and told them some of my findings. I obviously didn't mention anything about Gods. I just told them about the calamities.
And even about the civilisations that were there before. I left the reasons for their extinctions quite vague. Still, the information seemed to intrigue Cheadle.
After which, a monitor turned itself on, it seems we have a rude visitor in this meeting.
I could see an old man wearing a suit on the screen. I think he is with the V5? Oh well. I wonder what he wants now...
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