__________ POV Narration__________
"So, who do you want to introduce to me?" Asked Momoze with a curious tone.
Ashton had dropped by her room to speak a bit, and he mentioned that he wanted to introduce her to someone important.
"Just someone that has accompanied me during the expedition. Figured a formal introduction between you two wouldn't hurt." Ashton's voice was calm, soothing.
But Momoze still found the situation a bit strange.
She had thought that Ashton had gone to the Dark Continent by himself. She had even spoken to the Chairman of the Hunter Association to inquire about that.
Well, she needed to ask through Kurapika, as Cheadle wasn't quite willing to give out much information about Ashton and his whereabouts.
"Someone that accompanied you? Well... Where are they?" Ashton had still entered her room by himself after all.
Ashton just smiled and ripped space open with his hands. He stuck his hand into the small void he had created and pulled Pitou out by the tail.
"Hey! I told you not to grab my tail!" Pitou obviously started complaining as she scratched Ashton's arm. (unsuccessfully)
He just dropped her on the ground and smiled.
"This here is Pitou! She's been my disciple for a while now. I am actually going to be training her soon." Momoze was quite surprised by what she was seeing.
She hadn't considered Ashton to be the type to take in companions.
Something else was also welling up inside her mind. She hadn't really expected Ashton's companion to be a woman...
Well, Pitou didn't look human, so that at least calmed Momoze down a bit. Her jealousy was still apparent to the old hunter though.
"Pitou! This is Momoze, someone I care about a lot." Ashton obviously decided to ignore the jealousy.
Pitou just nodded after getting up from the ground.
"Oh yeah! The princess!" Pitou was quite surprised herself. She hadn't expected Ashton to just suddenly make her meet a princess.
She had learned about Momoze from a few conversations that they had during the weeks spent in random caves across the Dark Continent.
After all, when speaking about the events on the Black Whale, it was impossible for Ashton not to mention Momoze.
"It's great to finally meet you!" Pitou walked over and grasped Momoze's hands. She didn't really have much of a notion of private space, as Ashton didn't really care enough to teach her that.
"Umm... It's great to meet you too! Does Ashton speak about me often?" She asked while giving the man in question a sideways glance.
Ashton responded with a simple smile. He let the two of them talk for a bit as he pondered on a good method to train Pitou.
There wasn't really that much pondering to do, he had an idea of how this training program would be structured...
'I'll just drop her off on the other edge of the continent and tell her to make her way towards the first city built by humanity.'
After all, if Ashton always hovered over Pitou and protected her, she wouldn't get too far. He was well aware of that fact.
Besides, he considered Pitou strong enough to be let to wander on her own.
Momoze and Pitou spend around 15 minutes speaking, with Ashton just observing them and sometimes interjecting in to defend himself from time to time.
The subject of their conversation varied, but it usually involved Ashton to some extent. And it wasn't always talking about his positive.
Momoze was quite pleased to hear that Ashton concentrated more on his research than on spending time with Pitou at some point. It greatly lessened her jealousy.
But they knew that they couldn't speak forever. Ashton had made it quite clear that he had plans for Pitou afterwards.
"This has been a pleasant conversation, Pitou," Momoze said with a smile.
The Chimaera Ant also smiled widely. "Yeah! It's been nice!" She didn't have the same eloquence in her speech that Momoze had.
But she still had her own dignified way of responding from time to time (probably taken from the books she read).
"Well, we'll be off for now! I might be missing for a day or two. But you've got the Nen Beast to protect you, so there's no need to worry about that." Ashton also waved goodbye as he walked out of the room with Pitou.
Momoze was left quite pleased with the encounter and happy for the fact that Ashton had decided to introduce her to someone close to him.
She would go on to spend the rest of her day with a smile on her lips and a bit of curiosity about where the two of them are headed.
__________ POV Ashton__________
"So where are we going?" Asked Pitou as we left Momoze's room. I've yet to tell her about the training, I want it to be more of a surprise.
"That, my dear, is something you will find out shortly!" I opened up my void space and beckoned her to enter. She just raised an eyebrow and walked in. Not bothering to refute me.
She'll have time to complain in a second(for her anyway) when I take her out.
I managed to reach the top of the ship quite quickly, I took off using explosions to blast myself towards the continent.
This trip might take me a few hours, as it's basically crossing a continent about the size of the rest of Lake Mobius, but I can manage.
In the end, it only took me about 7 hours. Time I spent just observing the forests and finding a drop-off spot. I obviously chose the shore on the other side of the continent (compared to the cities that are basically the finish line).
I wasn't able to see the Land Lizard anywhere in my journey, so it might be hiding inside the ground in another part of the continent.
I reached the shore and landed on the sand, the shockwave of my landing raised quite the dust cloud and scared off most of the wildlife nearby.
I quickly took Pitou out as I looked around and surveyed the shores. It is currently still early in the evening, so the sun has yet to set.
Pitou looked around curiously. "Where are we?" She asked with a finger in her mouth.
"Just a special place for your training! This is the continent in which you lost to that Land Lizard." She widened her eyes a bit.
"Are we training here? I guess the place is open enough..." She said as she looked at the ocean.
"Oh, yes. About that... You are going to be surviving out here by yourself." She snapped her head at me with a confused look.
"What? Wasn't this supposed to be combat training?" It seems this has really caught her off guard.
"It is! Your task is quite simple. You have 3 months to hunt down that Land Lizard and to return to one of the human cities." I put my fist on her forehead and I used 'Ring Stamp' on her forehead.
I do need to know when she gets to the city after all...
"B-But I'm not strong enough to take it out yet!"
"Well, get stronger! Or fight smarter. Try to look for a weakness and exploit it. You are not allowed to use the 'Wings of Icarus' for travel by the way." If I allowed her to use them she'd be able to cross the continent in a day or two, and that would make this training quite useless.
I would confiscate the relic, but I will leave it to her in case of emergency.
"But... What about food and shelter..." Jeez. Did I spoil her too much?
"There are animals in the forest, and the ground is soft in some parts. Good luck!" She wanted to continue arguing with me, but I'm not going to listen anymore.
I jumped into the air and started flying off. I'm taking the direction of the cities. And purposefully flying slower to give her a hint about where she needs to go.
Whether she picks this up or not, that's also going to serve as a learning experience for her.
I used my explosions to a great extent before arriving near the third city but then turned to using 'Wind Aspect' to minimize the sound.
Especially since it was already midnight. The deserted streets gave the city a strange feel. I guess curfew was made for all of the human establishments...
But I spied something strange with my little eyes... I used Gyo almost instantly. I looked down, I could see a man wandering in between the blocks and buildings, stumbling into the alleyways.
I could see it inside him, even from this distance. That strange aura that some would mistake for Nen was clearly present in him.
I almost couldn't help the smile that reached my lips. I silently followed that person from then on.
This night might be quite a bit more interesting than I had assumed...
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Hope you liked the chapter!
Sry about yesterday, couldn't write at all.
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