The four of us along with the Extermination Team gathered in an old room. There was a bird cage floating in the middle of the room. This was it. We were seeing Kite again.

"Kite is in that cage. He's no longer the person you once knew." Shoot told us.

"It's okay. We'll find a way to return him back to normal." Gon replied, sounding determined.

I was ready to see Kite again no matter what the enemy did to him. We left him with the Chimera Ant to fight it, so we had to find a way to cure him.

"Hotel Rafflesia. Once I deal a certain amount of damage to an enemy, I can trap the whole body or just a part in the cage." Shoot explained, making me realize why my right arm vanished when I fought him.

The cage door began to open, causing us to let out soft grunts and stare in anticipation. A tiny little Kite stepped out of the cage, green energy crackling around him.

"Once he's out, he'll return to his normal size. Be careful. He can't use Nen, but he's still powerful." Shoot warned us.

We watched as the small Kite grew back to his normal size. I gasped in shock. His body was all covered in scars and his eyes looked like they were about to pop out. His hair was messy and he seemed like he was injured.

"Oh. My. God." Lizzy whispered, frozen with shock.

"Kite." Gon muttered, his breath shaking.

"I believe he was used to train new soldiers. He automatically attacks anyone who gets close." Knuckle stated.

The spiky-haired boy slightly hesitated for a second and began walking towards him.

"You're safe, Kite. It's going to be alright." He said, moving closer to him. However, when he got close enough, the manipulated Kite threw a punch to the face, sending him back.

"Gon!" Lizzy cried.

"Damn." I muttered.

"It's been a long time since you last hit me. I remember how much it hurt." Gon quietly told him, blood dripping from his head to the floor.

Kite punched him again, and then again and again. His moves were almost robotic. All of us cringed as we watched Gon get beaten up many times by the manipulated man. I knew he was letting himself get hit repeatedly on purpose. I clenched my fists and hardened my expression.

"Well? Are you gonna let this continue or not?" Morel asked. "Gon cannot use Nen to defend himself either, right?"

"It's going fo be fine. He's the one who should decide. I'm sure he must have realized it now." Killua replied.

Can he bear the pain of every punch Kite throws at him? It seems like he can anticipate every one of them. Kite is like a fighting machine, and it's all our fault he's being manipulated like this.

I gritted my teeth and stared at the beating with anger and empathy for the boy.

Gon, hang in there.

After a while, Gon dodged one of Kite's punches and hugged him around the waist, astonishing everyone in the room, including my sister, Killua, and I.

"I'm sorry. It's our fault you are like this. Go ahead and get some rest. We'll take it from here." He said to him quietly.

A black cloud appeared above Kite after Gon let go of him. Then, a monster came into view. It had strings attached to Kite, allowing it to control him like a puppet. We gasped in surprise upon seeing it.

"What is it?" Lizzy asked, feeling nervous.

"Level two. Neither Lizzy nor Gon can see that thing. It activates whenever someone touches Kite. You need highly advanced fighting skills to defeat him at this level. I sealed Kite's Nen, but that thing belongs to whoever's controlling him. Be careful. If you touch him again, he'll attack you relentlessly." Knuckle explained.

"What do I do? How am I gonna stop him?" Gon asked.

"We had to injure him badly to get him inside the cage. I'm sorry, but we had no other choice. If you stay away from him, he won't attack." Shoot solemnly replied.

I continued staring at Kite and all the scars on his body with my pitiful eyes. I heard Gon grunting softly and noticed him clenching his fists in anger.

"Don't worry, Kite. I'll fix you, I promise." The boy quietly swore and turned around. His expression was cold. Very cold. He stopped to look at us with those hazel eyes filled with nothing but anger.

"Guys. I'm going to take them on myself." He said, opening the door and leaving the room.

"Gon..." Lizzy whispered.

"You guys have changed since I last saw you. What did you all do?" Knuckle asked.

"We didn't do anything." Killua answered, looking at Gon as he was leaving the room.

"Our enemies changed us." I added, laying my eyes on the boy.

Gon, you're starting to become more like the girl I used to be when I wanted to beat the murderer so bad. The enemy clearly is stronger than you are. If you lose, I don't know what I'll do next. I can't lose you.

- A couple of weeks later -

We were riding a train to the Republic of East Gorteau, the four of us playing card games to pass the time. Lizzy lost most rounds, pouting every time she got a joker. Me and the others chuckled, and Gon gave her a toothy grin to cheer her up.

When we arrived near the border, we went to a restaurant to eat and watched the news on TV.

"Colt has a theory. He believes the celebration is used to sort the population." Morel stated, starting the discussion.

"The Royal Guards know how to awaken Nen by force, and we're worried about what they'll do to them. Almost all of the citizens there will certainly die." Knov added, making Lizzy gasp.

"But we cannot let that happen. We have ten days."

"So, what's the old man up to?" Killua spoke up.

"I received a text from him saying that he's already infiltrated East Gorteau. I haven't heard anything since then." He replied.

"Do you think he's taken out already?"

"He told us that if he doesn't contact us by today, we should assume the worst has happened."

We heard a cell phone ringing, making us tense up. Knov took it out and looked at the screen.

"It's the chairman." He told us, and we gasped in surprise.

"He's got satellite ears indeed." Morel commented.

"Yes. He knows everything." Knov tossed him the phone, smiling gently. "Including the fact that you four are here, and that Morel's trashing him."

I leaned forward along with Lizzy, Gon, and Killua to read the message Netero sent. It read:

I want you to split into three teams and lure the Royal Guards away from the King. Start at midnight at the start of the rally. From the Old Man With Satellite Ears.

"Way to call himself by that kind of name." I remarked.

"That old bastard scares the crap out of me!" Morel grumbled.

- One day later, at midnight -

"Hate to say good-bye, but unfortunately for us, the 30 days are up meow, so that means we'll be moving on. So see you guys later." One of the demon cats said before disappearing.

"Bye!" The other one laughed and disappeared too.

I watched as both Lizzy and Gon activated their auras, smiling with pride.

"All right. It looks like you guys can use Nen again. Go on, try it out." Knuckle urged them.

"Gon. Sorry, but I'm not convinced we should keep you around." Morel said, and I gasped along with Killua and Knuckle.

"Show me your resolve. Pretend I'm the enemy who did all that to Kite. If your attack isn't powerful enough, I'll have someone else take your spot."

"Don't hold back, Gon. Use your Jajanken." Knuckle whispered.

The boy's face became more serious as soon as he heard that.

"A real attack?" He asked.

"Yes, damn it!" Morel retorted, taking off his shirt and revealing his muscular build. "Hit me with everything you got, or else you're out of the team!"

"Got it." He nodded and stepped up to attack him. Morel inhaled deeply and bulked up in preparation for his attack, his aura increasing dramatically.

I wondered if Gon's Jajanken attack was enough to knock out Morel, just like he knocked out Knuckle when he first attacked him with it. I noticed his hazel eyes went blank. Perhaps he was thinking about the Chimera Ant and how it messed up Kite. When I felt his bloodlust, I widened my eyes in shock. Lizzy took a couple of steps back, fearing what would happen next.

"Now, show me Rock!" Gon yelled, concentrating a lot of aura in his fist. The incredible power of his ability caused Morel to sweat and shiver in fear. The ground shook and cracked a bit in front of the boy. Lizzy and I gaped at him in astonishment, witnessing his full power.

Killua went over to Gon and placed a hand on his shoulder, stopping him from using his ability on Morel. He froze.

"That's enough." Killua muttered. Then he turned to Morel, who was in a cold sweat from sensing the immense power of Gon's Jajanken.

"Am I right?" He asked him.

"Uh, yeah." Morel nervously replied.

Gon's eyes went from angry to startled after he realized what he was going to do.

"Oh, Killua! Thanks so much! I'm very sorry, Mr. Morel! I was about to kill you!" The boy apologized, praying that he wouldn't be kicked out of the team.

The white-haired man burst into laughter. "You got me good there, kid. You've got the right amount of crazy in you, too."

He then laid his eyes on my orange-haired sister and scoffed at her. "I want to see how strong you really are. By your weak appearance, I just don't believe you have the guts to stick with us."

She grunted in disbelief. "Okay, fine."

My friends and I stepped back to give her some space as she was about to show him what she could do. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, us watching her in anticipation. Morel waited for a moment before he was met with those cute and innocent eyes of hers. Everyone gasped at the odd action. They didn't know what she was doing until they saw her eyes shrouded with hot pink aura, as well as Morel himself.

"What the hell..." Knuckle muttered behind me.

"What's she doing?" Shoot nervously asked.

"Huh, w-what? Y-yes?" The white-haired man stuttered.

"Oh, good. It worked! Now, jump up three times!" Lizzy ordered him, and he obeyed, jumping up and down three times and shaking the ground a bit.

"Okay, now stomp on the ground five times!" She said, and he did, shocking everyone around me.

"Whoa..." Shoot breathed in amazement.

"She's controlling him!" Knuckle exclaimed.

"Wow, she's as good as my brother." Killua remarked.

"She is, but don't worry. She won't do anything bad to you." I reassured him.

"One more thing! Put on your shirt and tie!" She happily exclaimed, and he picked up his gray shirt and red tie and began putting them on. As soon as he finished, the aura around him and her eyes disappeared, meaning that the ability was deactivated.

"What the—? What did you do to me?" He looked at his shirt and everywhere else, and she only chuckled.

"Just showing you how powerful I am. And look what else I can do!" She turned to the building behind everyone and closed her eyes, preparing to use her other ability. We turned around to see hot pink aura shrouding the entire building. I heard her grunt as she focused on moving it up, and after a while, she got it to move upwards slowly, astonishing everyone.

"What the hell! What kind of ability is that?" Knuckle shouted.

I turned back to see Lizzy straining to keep it moving in the air, Morel staring at it in shock and fear. But before she could move it towards him, she collapsed, and the building fell back down to where it was, causing the ground to shake. Everyone, including Morel, gasped in amazement.

"So, what do you think?" I asked him.

"Uh, maybe." He replied.

"Both of her abilities can help us out a lot. You should let her in." Knov suggested, fixing his glasses.

"I thought you were about to crush me with that thing. But you're creepy enough to have me approve you as part of the team." Morel said, and Lizzy sighed with relief and stood up.

"Alright, we'll split up now. Go and fulfill your mission by any means necessary. As requested, Gon, Killua, Lizzy, and Lynn will take Neferpitou. Knuckle and Shoot will take Menthuthuyoupi. Knov and I will take Shaiapouf. Best of luck to everyone." He announced.

We began our preparation to infiltrate the Republic of East Gorteau. When we came across a lake, Lizzy and I separated from the boys to change out of our clothes and craft new ones using leaves and grass. They were only skirts and bras, and we also made hats to blend in with our surroundings. We were the first ones to cross the lake without being spotted by anyone. After crossing the lake, we went into the woods to put our normal clothes back on and waited for the boys to get here. Eventually, they came, and we started walking through the woods quietly.

"Sneaking in was easy, but the question is how we're gonna get close enough to attack the enemy." Killua stated.

"And it'll be kinda hard, too, since we can't let anyone see us, either." Gon added.

"This country secretly uses informants to regulate information."

"Informants?" Lizzy asked.

"Yeah. They get rewards for discovering any enemy spies. They also get rewards for finding evidence of a revolution and catching defectors, too." Killua stated.

"People will do anything for something in return?" Gon asked.

"They're not only after money. If the informant points surpasses a certain amount, the entire group is promoted. On the other hand, if they commit any crimes or if they provide false information, the entire group is punished." He explained.

"Carrot and stick, huh?"

"What?" Lizzy questioned.

"It's basically just using a combination of rewards and punishment to induce desired behavior." I stated.

"That's right. It's nasty business." Killua nodded. "Family members are split into different groups, so if a group attempts to escape, their remaining families are either sentenced to death or imprisoned for life. If an entire family is caught trying to escape together, they'll be executed without even questioning."

"That's terrible." Lizzy commented, her voice sounding compassionate.

"The country's elite is said to be extremely wealthy. They live the good life while most of the citizens live in poverty, starving to death as we know it. The media says that, 'in other countries, more than half the people starve to death before age ten.' That's not true, obviously. Financial aid received from other countries never gets to those who need it. Instead, it's spent on luxury goods and war equipment."

I heard Gon groan, and I knew he didn't understand everything Killua explained.

"I even heard that East Gorteau has cut ties with all other nations in order to increase the entity of the financial aids received through negotiations, and that part of the money is used to build nuclear weapons."

Gon's ears started smoking from hearing all of that information. I mentally facepalmed as I looked at him.

"Hey! Did you just blow a fuse?" Killua snapped.

"Uh, no. I think I'm okay. It's just too much to take in." Gon gave him a sheepish grin, scratching his head.

"I think I have a little headache." Lizzy replied, groaning and holding her forehead with one hand.

"You know everything about this place?" I asked Killua.

"My older brother told me everything, and he probably heard it from Grandpa."

"Really?"

"Yeah. A long time ago, he had to infiltrate the country to finish a job. I found similar information online on the Hunter Website. The same system might still be in place."

The boys suddenly crouched down, and Lizzy and I did too. We saw a small town that looked deserted and it was quiet, too. Killua told us to stay while he checked out the town. We waited for a moment before signaling us to come down.

We went into one of the houses and found out that it was empty with no one inside. It was filled with blood and bullet holes in the walls. Then, we followed a trail of blood to find wild dogs, and they growled at us before running away. I was surprised by what I saw on the ground.

"Oh God." Lizzy whispered.

"I bet all the villagers are buried here." Killua spoke up.

"But what happened here?" Gon asked.

"I think this is the true purpose of the rally. It is a sign for the entire population of cities and villages to disappear, and nobody will even be suspicious. The selection has begun."

My sister and I let out soft grunts, tensing up as Killua continued explaining.

"In hindsight, it would be difficult to summon all of the citizens and sort them out. The population of this country is five million. It's more effective to clear out cities and villages one at a time. Their only concern would be coworkers and family members, anyone who would notice they were gone. With everything going on with the national rally, no one will find it weird if it's hard to contact someone. Cell phones aren't allowed here, so everyone might assume we're only traveling. If we don't get in touch, we won't be suspicious at all. The selection should go smoothly."

I nodded and continued walking with my friends, feeling tense about the whole selection thing going on right now.

"The capital city is Peijing, and it's located in the southeast corner. They'd need to start at western towns and head east. If each town is told that the government will assign them a time to depart, there won't be any communication problems between towns."

"So by preventing people from meeting between towns to travel together, they can eliminate any commotion." Gon clarified. "But..."

"Hmm?" Killua turned his head to him.

"That means they have to run around the country to attack five million citizens, right?"

"Yeah. If 1% survives, that gives them 50,000 soldiers."

"No, I mean before that. We only have ten, no, nine more days left. If you wanted to check all five million people in that time, then you'd need a whole lot of help. So if a Nen user checks 10,000 citizens in ten days, that's...uh..." He paused, unsure about the answer to his own question.

"500." Killua and I answered in unison.

"Exactly!"

"There can't be that many ants that can use Nen. Is that what you're saying?" Killua asked.

"Yeah."

"Well, I agree with you, but it won't be that hard. It's not like they need Nen users to check everyone out."

"Huh? Why not?"

"Manipulation."

Killua's response made both Gon and Lizzy gasp in shock. I grew serious from hearing that.

"It's what that Chimera Ant used. I'm guessing it can automate victims or control multiple people at once like Genthru's power. Ordinary humans have aura as well, so the Manipulator could force a victim's aura to concentrate into his fist. One punch alone could create an army of 50,000, leaving behind 4,950,000 dead in the process." The silver-haired boy solemnly explained.

Gon growled, and Lizzy's breath trembled. My eyes became downcast, thoughts about the cat-like Chimera Ant and the selection filling my mind.

"Well, it isn't all bad news. If my theory is correct, this'll be easy. All we have to do is cause a commotion, and the selection will stop. We just take out whoever's being controlled and cause a panic. Then we encourage the people who escape to go off and check on other towns. If the ants have sent controlled puppets instead of actual Nen users, this'll all be a piece of cake. We'll run around taking them down one after another and wreaking havoc."

"Yeah!" Gon exclaimed.

"Right!" Lizzy replied.