Chapter 24 The 200th Floor
For a moment, Rayleigh considered asking why Gon did exactly what Wing told him not to do, but a quick look into his eyes answered that question. Gon was too fired up. Hisoka's intimidation really made Gon want to fight. Completely understandable.
Rayleigh asked, "So what happened?"
Killua explained, "After we got past Hisoka, he said he wouldn't accept a fight until Gon defeated someone from a group who had just come over. There were three guys there. Each looked like they had undergone that 'baptism' Wing talked about. One didn't have any legs and just hopped forward using a metal peg and a walking stick. Another couldn't walk at all and was in a wheelchair. The last was missing an arm."
Rayleigh gave Gon a stare that was equal parts deadpan and equal parts amusement and asked, "So you saw exactly what happens to people who fight on the 200th floor without preparation, and you still signed up for a match with one of them right away?"
Gon laughed awkwardly, but he knew Rayleigh was just teasing him.
Killua continued, "He signed up for a match with the one with the metal peg leg. According to the receptionist, if you win 10 matches on the 200th floor, you can challenge a floor master and become one if you win. Apparently, there's this thing-type deal that only Floor Masters can participate in with a prize or what-ever, but we're not really interested in that."
Rayleigh asked with a bit of amusement, "So you don't want to become a floor master?"
Killua shook his head, "Not really. I just want to fight some of those guys and Gon wants to fight Hisoka. What about you?"
"I want to learn more about Nen. I don't really care where I'm doing it."
Gon and Killua smiled, both having a similar opinion.
Killua asked, "So did Wing say anything about how you're supposed to open your, what-ever they're called, on your own?"
Ray nodded and lay down on the floor where Wing had laid and used Psychometry where Wing had just been.
He used it to get a perfect impression of the set of stretches Wing had done, so Rayleigh said aloud, "Wing said to open the first one in the spine by doing these stretches."
Rayleigh performed each stretch to the exact degree Wing had done. As he did each stretch, he felt a warm current coalescing onto his back. He continued to do stretch after stretch until the warm current became hot, and as he finished his final stretch, he felt the hot pressure release itself.
Gon and Killua apparently saw something. Gon said, "Ah, there's aura coming from your back!"
Killua stated, "Guess that's one open. What about the others?"
Ray didn't answer, but took a moment to sense the lifeforce leaking from his spine and then took control of it. After doing so, he got up and answered, "Don't know. Wing didn't say anything about the others. I'll ask him tomorrow."
After getting up, Rayleigh asked, "So what's it like being covered in aura? Can you make it stronger?"
Killua and Gon looked at each other and tried a few different things. Ray could not see it, but he could feel their aura as it tried different things. After a few minutes, both got tired. Killua said, "Yeah, I got nothing. I have no idea how that Ren thing works. I guess we'll just have to wait until Wing teaches us."
Rayleigh added, "We can still use Ten of Point. Since it was invented by Netero, it's probably very useful for Nen of Force."
Gon and Killua shared a look and a nod, and all three found a comfortable seat to sit and meditate.
The trio spent the night as such, and in the morning, Ray and Killua bought a ticket to see Gon's match against the peg-legged guy.
Rayleigh set HK-47's head in his lap and took a seat next to Killua's as the announcer started. This time, it was a perky young female announcer.
[Today is the day of what will most definitely be a spectacular fight! Having just reached the 200th floor after an unbroken series of consecutive matches all the way from the 1st Floor! This lad just couldn't wait to enter the scene! Give it up for our newest addition to the 200th Floor, Gon!]
[And his opponent, with four victories and only a single defeat in five matches. Guido! Are the contenders ready? Well then, let the match Begin!]
The peg-legged man lifted his walking stick horizontally and swiped his other arm across its surface, releasing what appeared to be a dozen small tops, already spinning, from his sleeve and balancing them on the cane.
The announcer called out [That's it! Guido has put out his offensive Dancing Spinning Tops. It's his specialty. He throws a dozen spinning tops that he manipulates to attack his opponent!]
Guido swung his cane forward, throwing and scattering the tops in Gon's direction while shouting, "Let's go! Waltz of Combat!"
Gon avoided the initial barrage, but the tops landed all around him and started moving rapidly.
One top suddenly struck another and sent the second top flying into the air, directly toward Gon's back.
Gon's wince of pain displayed the damage he had taken. The Ref noticed it too and awarded Guido a Point for the clean hit.
[Gon received a terrible shock to his back! Gon is surrounded on all sides by the spinning tops! It's the first time he's been in such a situation!]
Gon looked in every direction, trying to keep track of the bouncing tops, and looked very much like a cornered animal.
Another top struck his back, and before he could brace himself, a third struck his head, sending him to the ground. Guido was awarded more points for each hit and two points for the down. He already had five points and only needed five more for a TKO.
Killua asked from the side, "How are those tops always sent flying toward Gon?"
HK-47 helpfully answered.
[Analysis: Each Top acts like a magnet for anything in proximity. While on the ground, they strike each other. Due to their magnet-like nature, once one gets close, it will accelerate toward the other, striking it with enough force to send it into the air. Once in the air, the standing Gon is the closest target, unless another top is also in the air.]
Killua asked, "So he can just lie down?"
[Negatory: Raising a fraction of a centimeter off the ground would be enough to direct themselves towards Gon.]
Rayleigh already had some ideas, but asked HK-47, "How would you deal with Guido?"
[Answer: Altering the smooth terrain to be less hospitable towards those tops would be advisable. Landmines can be placed, and Fragmentation Grenades could also be lobbed at the metal-limbed meatbag. If Gon had brought his Fishing Rod, he could have spread the fishing line on the ground, and nothing would have prevented the tops from tying themselves up. Alternatively, one could stand at the edge of the ring, and half the tops that attack would fall out of the ring on each attack and find it difficult to return. He would run out of tops eventually.]
Rayleigh nodded, but stated, "Gon might figure that out, but he's not there to win."
Killua agreed, "Yeah, he's just there to have fun."
Gon got pounded a few times and even got ejected from the ring. He didn't return immediately but examined the spinning tops from the safety of outside the ring for a few moments. The Ref started counting to ten, and by nine, Gon seemed to think of something. He ran back into the ring and ignored the tops. He charged directly to Guido to deliver a flying kick, but a moment before Gon made contact, Guido started spinning at what appeared to be close to three hundred RPM. The spinning man's centrifugal force knocked Gon back over the tops and all the way back out of the ring. The hit was so strong, the announcer awarded it a Critical. Guido now had nine points. One more, and he'd win by TKO.
Gon returned to the stage and closed his eyes.
Killua reacted with panic, "What's he doing?!"
Rayleigh couldn't sense him from that far away and asked, "What do you see?"
"Gon stopped using Ten. In fact, he's not using any aura at all! I think he's suppressing it completely."
Ray understood why that was a bad thing. Ten was like covering yourself with pillows during a practice match. Gon had just completely removed his defenses.
It was obvious why this was bad. A single hit from someone using Nen against someone lacking Ten to protect themselves usually meant getting crippled.
Rayleigh sighed and said, "He's probably not going to lose any limbs. If he gets crippled, I can put him back together."
Killua remembered how good Rayleigh was at healing, but asked, "You're not gonna do anything if he doesn't get crippled, right?"
Ray nodded, "As long as the damage isn't permanent, he can keep any injuries he gets from being an idiot."
Killua agreed but was inwardly relieved.
With his eyes closed, Gon's senses were enhanced. The unpredictable movements of the tops bouncing off one another to launch themselves at his position were clearly read, even when coming from behind.
The announcer went crazy, astounded that Gon was finally able to dodge the tops.
Guido apparently had more tops than Rayleigh thought, as once it was clear that ten were not enough to pressure him, Guido launched a dozen more. Then another dozen. And another. After a full hour of Gon's insane dodging, there were almost fifty tops shooting around the arena.
Watching the scene, Rayleigh winced, and a moment later, Gon moved into a corner that Killua spotted. Unable to hold himself back, Killua shouted, "No! Not this way!"
Gon realized too late that he had no way out and braced himself for the impact of a top shooting at him from the side. Gon used his arm to block, but the impact shot him out of the ring and broke his arm.
Rayleigh sighed. A broken arm. Again. Could be worse.
Though Gon could get up, the clean hit won Guido's tenth point, awarding him the match's victory by TKO.
Killua and Rayleigh got up to meet Gon at the medic station he was being taken over to by the Ref.
After the damage was diagnosed, Gon's waist was securely tied up to hold together his cracked ribs and the three places his arm had been broken were set before a cast was applied.
Killua stated, "The Doctor said it will take four months for you to heal."
Rayleigh added, "The last time his arm broke, it healed in a week. This is a bit more severe, so I'd say a month or two at the most and he'll be fine."
Since Gon was being a complete idiot, he received no healing from Rayleigh. Instead, he got scolded for being an idiot until someone knocked on the door and Rayleigh answered it.
Wing walked in and spotted Gon on the bed with his arm in a cast.
Without a word, he walked up to Gon and gave a silent stare of disapproval.
Gon started, "Wing. I'm sorry-"
Wing slapped him.
Wing shouted, "I don't want your apologies! What were you thinking?! You know exactly what happened to those who entered that stage without knowing anything, and you still went up on your own! It would not have been surprising if you got crippled!"
Gon lowered his head, fully aware that Wing was right. In fact, Rayleigh had told Killua he could heal such things, but he had never mentioned it to Gon, so Gon had no reason to think Rayleigh could fix him if he messed up.
Wing sighed at Gon's genuine regret and said, "It's really lucky it only ended up like this."
Gon looked thoroughly reprimanded and asked, "Wing. I'm sorry. Please forgive me."
Wing gave a hard stare and directly replied, "No way."
Wing turned to ask Rayleigh, "Do you know how long the convalescence will last?"
Ray answered, "A month or two at the most."
Wing nodded. He turned back to Gon and said, "For the next two months, you are not allowed to study or practice Nen in any way. That's your punishment. No fighting, and no practicing Ten. If you don't respect this punishment, then I will have nothing to do with you anymore. Do you agree?"
Gon gave Wing a firm stare and answered, "Okay, I promise!"
He then gave a grateful glance at Ray over the fact that he gave Wing his own estimate of the recovery rather than the Doctor's estimate of four months.
Confirming that Gon had made his promise, Wing took out a piece of string. He tied it to Gon's left hand's pinky finger and said, "This is a wire of pledge. When you look at it, I want you to remember the promise you just made."
Gon held up his hand to look at it and nodded, "Yes!"
Wing confirmed the message was clear and turned to Rayleigh and Killua. "Both of you, please come with me."
He left the room, with the boys following him out.
They made their way over to some empty benches, where he had them sit down and asked, "What is your objective for being here?"
Killua answered, "Well, it was to get some money. If we hadn't met you and Zushi that is. Gon just wants to fight Hisoka. As for the reward of the 200th floor, I'm not really interested."
Rayleigh noticed a few signals from Wing's emotions. Wing seemed relieved that Gon and Killua had no interest in the 200th Floor. Did he want Zushi to have less competition? Rayleigh stated, "I have no interest in the 200th floor either. I'll climb back up the tower for more money, but if I don't find any good matches on the 200th Floor, I may not even fight. It would be better to just spar with Killua or Gon."
Killua continued, "Gon isn't as picky. He wants to fight Hisoka, but to be honest, this entire setup just seems to amuse him."
Ray nodded and said, "Yeah, he's just having fun."
Wing looked quite worried. Gon's match basically involved him dodging thousands of attacks strong enough to kill him for over an hour. What kind of beast does that kind of thing for fun?
Killua and Rayleigh both noticed Wing's hesitation.
Killua interrupted the man's train of thought, stating, "It's too late. If you regret teaching us and want to stop, we'll learn Nen from someone else or figure it out ourselves. Don't think you're responsible for us. We already knew about Nen from guys like Hisoka and my brother. Sooner or later we would have discovered it."
Wing nodded. The confusion in his eyes was replaced with resolve.
"I understand. I don't have any intention of stopping in the middle. Quite the opposite, I have tons of things to teach you both. Zushi is waiting for us at the Hotel, if you aren't bothered exercising with us, you can join Zushi in practices while I instruct Rayleigh on opening his Aura Nodes."
Killua seemed to consider it for a moment before answering, "No, it's alright. I'll wait until Gon has healed, and we can do it together."
Rayleigh sighed. There was no point in getting ahead if he didn't have someone to spar with at the same level. At least he'd have more time applying Nen of Point and Alar to his Jedi Training. He already finished Absolute Belief, so he could start on Contrary Belief which led to splitting the mind.
Rayleigh said aloud, "I don't want to get ahead without Gon and Killua, so just tell me where to go after opening that spot in my back."
Killua gave an appreciative look, and Wing smiled at their friendship.
Wing told Rayleigh, "We can't get ahead of ourselves. You need to open the node on your back before we start on the others."
Rayleigh turned around and uncapped the aura flowing out from his spine, pointing out, "Yeah yeah, I already did that. What's next?"
Wing looked shocked before becoming concerned. He stated, "I said you can't use those stretches more than once a day. Doing it more than once can damage your aura openings."
Killua pointed out, "Ah, he only did it once. He showed us what you told him to do, and then that spot on his back opened up."
Wing froze. "You. You opened it on your first try?"
Rayleigh nodded. Thanks to Psychometry, he did it exactly the way Wing did, so he didn't know if that helped or not.
Wing seemed to mutter to himself for a bit before sighing. He took another look at Ray and seemed to psych himself up. "Alright, I'll show you the path you have to open your remaining nodes. For the best results, they have to be opened in a specific order."
Wing began pointing at specific locations on the body and naming the Aura Nodes for each. Killua found it interesting and stuck around for the explanation.
Once he finished explaining, he said, "Take your time and allow your aura to flow through this path, and your nodes will open up naturally. If you have any questions, you know where to find me."
Rayleigh nodded and, together with Killua, turned back to return to Gon's room.
As an afterthought, Wing called out before heading off, "Although Gon cannot practice Nen of Force, he can practice Nen of Flame's Ten of Point."
The pair returned to Gon's room and found that he already seemed to be meditating on Ten of Point.
Ray and Killua took their own meditative positions, Killua contemplating the Ten of Point while Rayleigh went over the Aura Node Path.
Rather than concentrate on his aura, Rayleigh went over the path Wing had dictated again and again inside his head, without actually using it. Was Wing's path the best one? Probably. Was there a better one? In his past life, he had read far too many Light Novels, and the concept of something better than the standard being discovered by the MC thanks to plot armor always appealed to him. He already created a Code no Force User had ever dreamed of. Why not try the same for Nen?
Rayleigh emptied his mind and strengthened his awareness of his body using the Force. Control was about controlling the Force within the body, so what if he could use Control to analyze those closed aura nodes? What if he could use the Force to predict and direct his aura through the most perfect path? He wanted to try.
Rayleigh got to work, essentially creating an autopilot program for the Force to run to make his body open the aura nodes in the most perfect way. One means of cheating he used was Self-Psychometry. Basically, he placed his hands together and used Psychometry on himself to gain an even greater depth of detail than standard observation could yield for internal observations.
He had no idea if it would work, so he included the proper way as a plan B. Basically, the Force would test out various paths using Precognition and Danger Sense to determine if those paths were a good idea or not, and if no alternative could be found, it would just use the standard way.
After getting a good feel for it, Rayleigh turned his brain off and let the Force take complete control of opening the aura nodes.
"Woah," "Hey, you did it."
Rayleigh's consciousness returned when he heard Killua's and Gon's remarks.
Rayleigh opened his eyes. White mist was pouring out of his body. Remembering Wing's instructions, Rayleigh focused his mind and willed the aura to remain on skin level without escaping or dispersing. The aura on his skin blocked the release of more aura, keeping the remainder of his aura within his body.
Overall, Rayleigh didn't feel that much different. One downside of this method was that, because it was completely automatic, he had no awareness of the order in which his nodes opened and didn't know if he used the standard way or some secret way. It was fine in either case. He used the best method, even though he had no idea what it was.
Rayleigh suddenly felt the emptiness in his stomach and asked, "How long was I out?"
Killua answered, "Two days."
Gon added, "It was weird. Aura would randomly pop out like a little geyser from your body and then close on its own."
Rayleigh got up and started stretching. He didn't know if two days were fast or slow and neither did Gon nor Killua. He knew he would have gone faster if he didn't try to get fancy, but at least this way there would be no regrets and he wouldn't lose sleep over what could have been.
Heading for the door, Rayleigh said, "I'm gonna do the tower again."
Killua said, "Don't bother losing on purpose. I asked about it, and you only get a prize for your first victory on floors above 100. The only way to reset is to start the tower over again, so there's no point in losing on the 190th floor and winning on the 180th floor over and over."
Gon and Ray both stared at Killua in disbelief that he had actually thought of such a dishonest method. Killua turned away in embarrassment and stated, "What, it's not like you would not have thought of it later."
Rayleigh chuckled before heading out. He wanted to get a feel of how aura worked with the Force and experiencing it against opponents who weren't holding back was a good way to experiment.
Rayleigh registered on the first floor again and got matched up with someone who really didn't belong there. What was worse was the fact that the dude actually started insulting Rayleigh, trying to put him down with the worst type of trash talk imaginable. It was so pathetic, Rayleigh's urge to test Aura completely died, so he ended the match with the opponent planted on the opposite wall.
The Ref looked at the computer in his hand and stated, "You went all the way to the 190th floor? You can just go back to the 190th then."
Rayleigh shook his head and said, "Something happened, so I can't fight as I did before. Let me start on the 100th floor so I can adjust."
It wasn't a lie, exactly, and the Ref took it as the truth, so he gave Rayleigh a ticket for the 100th floor where Rayleigh made his way up. Because there were fewer fighters on the upper floors, it wasn't hard to get three matches a day, so Rayleigh planned to catch up to the 200th floor in 4 days.
During that time, Rayleigh focused entirely on his Aura and the Force.
Aura was a force produced by his cells, given form by his mind, and given direction by his will. It wasn't all that different from the Force on the surface, but they were truly incomparable. The Force contained aspects of the minds of countless lives, both living and dead. Those who connected to it could be affected by these lives if they made a haphazard connection.
Aura was completely personalized. It originated from the self and was only affected by the self.
What was interesting was not how aura interacted with the Force, but how the Force changed when he opened his Aura Nodes.
The Force existed within Rayleigh and outside of Rayleigh. When he opened his Aura nodes, he found that the Force within him would leave his body through these nodes, but the Force outside his body would enter it. This made the Control aspect of the Force more difficult to use, but vastly expanded the Sense and Alter aspects, strengthening them both.
Jedi trained to use the Force within their bodies. They didn't really move it, they just used it. The Force was like a pile of tiny lightbulbs inside their body. They could control which ones turned on and which turned off and what color they changed to. But the lightbulbs didn't move. Rayleigh's Force now moved with his aura. As his aura flowed, so did the Force within his body.
This opened up entire worlds of possibilities. All Force Techniques rely on the Force staying motionless within the body and in the area. What could a Jedi do if the Force actually moved?
There was something else Rayleigh discovered he could do. That trick that Gon figured out during his match with Guido, where he closed all of his aura nodes to prevent his aura from distracting his senses. That was called Zetsu.
It didn't take long to figure out how to emulate it, but Rayleigh found his Zetsu had two levels. The first was the same as Gon's. It locked down the aura within the body, preventing it from leaking, being used, or even being sensed within the body. But Rayleigh had another level. In the first level, the Force within his body returned to a motionless state like it was before he opened his aura nodes. But if he increased the effect, reaching what he considered the second level of Zetsu, something unbelievable would happen. When Rayleigh reached his second level of Zetsu, he was completely cut off from the Force.
Being cut off from the Force meant having no Psychometry, no Danger Sense, no Precognition, and no Force abilities of any kind. What else did it mean? It meant he could do whatever he wanted and the Force would not be bothered in the least. The Force had gone from being a possessive and crazy girlfriend to being a casual and sexy friend with benefits.
Thankfully, his natural strength and speed without the Force were still very impressive. He didn't use the Force to open the third door of Zoldyck's gate. Once he reached the 200th floor, he'd start using the Zoldyck Family Training Weights again while in Zetsu. Killua explained to him the actual way to use them, so he'd be able to use them properly and allow his strength to catch up to Killua's without hampering his speed.
When Rayleigh reached the 200th floor, he didn't meet Hisoka. No, he saw Guido and the pair Gon and Killua described, the one without an arm and the one in the wheelchair.
The one without an arm smiled and said, "Well, well, well. How lucky are we?"
The trio approached, ready to muscle Rayleigh into accepting a match with one of them as soon as possible.
"Hey. He's ours."
A quiet voice came from further down the hall, causing the trio of cripples to freeze up.
The one in the wheelchair turned around and complained, "Hey! You can't have him just because you're the same age. That's not fair! You didn't say anything about the other two."
A different voice echoed down the hall, followed by slow but assured footsteps, "We're calling this one now. Unless you want to fight us for it?"
Guido didn't speak, but his grip on his walking stick tightened for a moment before he turned away and hobbled off. The other two followed without another word, though grumbles of complaint could be heard.
The first kid to walk into view had a wide frame. Wide shoulders and stout legs and arms. He wasn't fat, it was obvious his body was composed of dense muscles. He had sandy blonde hair and wore a crooked smile.
The second kid didn't smile and had gray hair. He was skinny and much taller than a soon-to-be twelve-year-old ought to be.
And coming from the back, the last kid had white hair and looked quite average standing behind the other two.
Rayleigh shook his head and smiled as he walked over to the approaching trio.
Seeing that the muscular one seemed to be the leader, Rayleigh held out a hand of greeting and said, "Hi, I'm Swordsman."
His hand was taken and given a strong shake before he was answered back with an unmistakable English accent, "Nice to meet you. I'm Springheeled Jack. And these are Armory and White Knight."
*Author's Note*
Although Rayleigh is staying with Gon and Killua, that doesn't mean the plot will be exactly the same. The whole point of throwing in 99 other OCs is to prevent the story from getting dull. Ray will only stick with the MCs during the Hunter Arc. Not sure if he should part after greed Island or after Chimera Ants. He'd probably get killed by the Ants...