Sorry for the long wait!

Disclaimer: You already know what this should say (I don't own either BnHA or HxH).

I had just dropped a bombshell on my friends.
'My hatsu was stolen by Chrollo Lucilfer.'
Leorio and Gon's mouths were agape, Killua's eyes had narrowed, and Kacchan's head was still bowed in shame.

Gon was the first to break the silence.

"Then... what do we tell Kurapika?"
"Huh? What do you mean?" Leorio said.
"I mean - I don't think he would really..."
Killua picked up where Gon broke off. "He'll have another reason for hating the troupe."
"He wants revenge, but it won't achieve anything... How do we stop him?" I continued the train of thought.
"Don't ask me," said Leorio pointedly. "Out of all of us, you're the one who can stop him."
"W-what? How - I mean - why do you say that?"
"Y'know... remember the final phase of the Hunter exam?"

He turned his head towards Killua, whose pale skin turned several shades pinker upon understanding. My own face followed suit.

However the question remained: where was Kurapika?

We had tried calling him, but to no avail; he didn't pick up the phone. Leorio suggested he may be working his job as a bodyguard, meaning all we could do was wait. Thus, Gon, Killua, and Leorio had gone out again to collect more money, whilst Kacchan and I decided to train by building up our nen.

But they returned quickly today.

Killua put a flyer with seven faces on the table. Seven faces of the Phantom Troupe.

"It's a bounty hunt," he explained.
"2 billion jenny for each person," grinned Leorio.
"Are you nuts?" said Kacchan.
The other three looked at him with confusion.
"How the hell are you gonna capture those guys?"
Leorio smiled again. "Don't you remember? Kurapika's doing some work in the auction to look for the scarlet eyes. That attack a few days ago was conducted by the Phantom Troupe, so he'll be on their tail. He many have captured a few already."
I was irked. "I think you're underestimating the Phantom Troupe," I said.
"I think you're underestimating Kurapika," Leorio returned.
"Are you forgetting that his purpose for hunting them is for revenge? It's not healthy!"
"But - but if we can work together, maybe..."
I sighed.

Nonetheless, be it for monetary value, regaining losses, or pure revenge...
'Our goals have tied together...'

/

"No good... I got nothing."

The five of us were sat in an internet cafe, searching for any information on the whereabouts of the Troupe, but we had no luck. Gon even pawned off his hunter's license for some extra money for information, but nothing had come up as of yet.

But things changed. When Gon and Killua had gone out to collect more money through sales, we finally found a lead. Leorio called up the duo and we agreed to meet at the place two of the Troupe were spotted.

The two of them were sitting in an open cafe area.

"How do we catch those two?" Leorio said.
"We can't. They're too strong," I returned at once.
"But we can at least try-" urged Leorio.
"My dad once had a hit on a Troupe member. One of the few times I've heard him complain. He said the job wasn't worth the price. That was when he told us to stay away from the troupe," said Killua.
"... but then what can we do," asked Gon.
"Well, why do you think they're here?" said Killua.
"A date?"
Kacchan scoffed at Leorio's answer. "They're acting as bait, dumbass."

Suddenly, we all simultaneously felt a heavy weight on our shoulders. It seemed Leorio and Gon had finally understood how powerful the Troupe were.

"I've got a really bad feeling..." muttered Gon.
"It's ok. They haven't noticed us yet," Killua reassured.
"H-how can you be so sure?"
"I can't use zetsu like you guys either to hide my presence," Leorio added.
"Don't be daft. If we used zetsu now they would notice our disappearance. We need to not act suspicious," Kacchan returned. He casually slurped on his drink as Killua popped a cherry into his mouth.

Their nonchalant behaviour highly contrasted the tense looks on my, Leorio's, and Gon's faces.

"They're on the move. What should we do?"
"We can't beat them in a fight," returned Killua.
"We'll find a way, we have to..." Leorio was right.

Defeating the Troupe would solve all of our current problems simultaneously.

"Then we need to devise a plan," I said.
"Leorio, you should stay, since you can't use zetsu," said Killua.
"But isn't having four tails excessive?" Gon asked.
"It is. What if one pair tails and the other watches their backs?" I suggested.
"Like a double tail?" said Leorio.
Killua nodded.
"Then, who will be tailing?"
Killua looked at Gon, who nodded. "Alright." He then turned back to all of us. "If we are spotted, or if I judge further pursuit is impossible for any reason, we need to give up immediately and escape. The signal is a phone call."
We all nodded.
"What do we do if one of us is c-captured?"
They all narrowed their eyes at my question.
"The rest of us will regroup and see what we can do," answered Killua.

The 5 of us split ways, Leorio heading back to the hotel to contact Zepile, a trustworthy appraiser Gon and Killua had met just before.

The duo went ahead, keeping contact with us via call, as watched from afar.

I trusted Killua. Having grown up in a family of assassins, he would be highly skilled in the art of trailing enemies. I just hoped we weren't being too ambitious. His duo focused on the targets as we focused on the surroundings. There were more than two Troupe members after all.

This was different from the hunter exam. The applicants were highly skilled, but nowhere near the level of the Phantom Troupe. Despite not trailing them directly, all my senses were on edge.

Gon and Killua were heading to a deserted area. 'Are they leading us into a trap? Or are they returning to base...?' Unfortunately the pair entered a building, meaning we could no longer see them.

But...

Something felt off.

'They aren't alone!'

Kacchan was the first to notice them. By the time I'd realised there were two more members trailing Gon and Killua, I could feel a weight vibrating in my pocket.

The two other Phantom Troupe members had noticed something had changed and were more on edge, yet I was too worried to run, hoping Gon and Killua had enough time to escape. I wouldn't run away until I was sure they were safe. Even if I had to intervene.

I heard an explosion. If it weren't for him I doubt we would've made it out, but Kacchan's distraction seemed to have done the trick, and now I could see a fleeing Gon and Killua.

"Damn nerd! Why didn't you start running immediately?" Kacchan was now running by my side along the roof tops.
I smiled nervously. I'd learnt it was best to not answer these kinds of questions. "We need to make sure we're not followed."
"Yeah. Here here, I'll-"

I didn't let him finished and jumped back.

"I'm throwing another one! If we team up we can take them!" I hoped the other three would understand my intentions.
I heard a distant "Let's go!" being returned from my left. It meant Killua or Gon had understood.

We ran for a while before we regrouped, but unlike during the first phase of the Hunter exam, I wasn't phased.

"De - Izuku, what did you do that for?"
"I didn't want them to have any clues to our identities..."
"Man, that was close..." said Killua.
"Did you notice them? The other two members?"
"Not before the signal..." returned Gon.

There was a pause.

"Then, what are we gonna do?" Kacchan knew that an eventual confrontation with the Troupe would be inevitable.
"I guess we can meet up with Leorio and-"
"No, about the Troupe. Izuku and Kurapika both have scores to settle, and you two would benefit from the bounty award."
"...We should wait for Kurapika. We need to contact him," said Killua.

/

Before we contacted Kurapika, we headed back to the hotel to regroup. At first I was shocked to see a stranger in our room, but Gon and Killua quickly explained the man with the thick eyebrows, receding hairline, and long sideburns was Zepile, the appraiser they had met.

"Seriously... They were drinking whilst we almost got captured?" Killua grumbled.
"Oi! Four-eyes, Sideburns! Are you fucking kidding me?"
"Oh, you came back!" Leorio's face was bright red. "Come and drink with us!"
"We're underage idiot!"
"Aren't you underage too?" Killua muttered.
"In my country you can drink once you're sixteen."

We ended up waiting for the alcohol to leave their system before explaining what had happened.

"Really... I had no idea that happened. I'm amazed you managed to escape."
"The Phantom Troupe's really that dangerous?" said Zepile.
The four of us starkly nodded and turned sharply towards Leorio, who already knew this.
"Hey, hey, hey! Don't look at me like that! I haven't just been drinking myself senseless, you know!" he spluttered. "A con-artist's knowledge might come in handy against the Troupe. I've been learning a lot from Zepile, and tomorrow morning we'll hit the auction! Are you guys coming?"
"I think we should try and find Kurapika," I answered, looking at the other three. They nodded.

So we called him again, but this time he picked up.

"Hey." His voice sounded so dull. Like something he had been working towards had been snatched away from him.
"Kurapika? Where are you, we need to talk," I said.
"About what?"
"About... the Phantom Troupe."
"Why?"
"Huh?"

I looked at the others, all as confused as me. There was no feeling in his tone, he simply sounded dead. We had expected to elicit a different reaction.

"The spider is dead." Everyone's jaws dropped at these words. "There is no need to talk."
"What? No way! Kurapika?"

He hung up.

Silence ensued, before being broken by Kacchan.

"The Troupe's dead?"
"But - how?" said Leorio.
"Izuku. Your hatsu." Kacchan bowed his head.
"...Do you think if the leader's dead, you would get it back?" Gon asked hopefully.
"I mean - if it acts like a curse, it would only strengthen upon the casters death, but we don't know that for sure... besides, I don't feel anything different..."
"...Then... what if the leader isn't really dead?" Kacchan suggested. He spoke with the most optimism I had ever seen from him, but the fact he was considering it surely meant there was a chance Kurapika's information was wrong? Yet...
"I... I don't think we have enough information to tell..."

'... What now...?'

Thanks for still reading this fic, and for following, favouriting and reviewing! A year passed quickly... Sorry for worrying anyone that it wouldn't continue! My only excuse is school... But due to recent events I thankfully have a wholeee lot more time on my hands. I guess that's one of the positives of quarantining lol.

But don't worry! This fic will be complete, I have planned it all out after all. I hope I'll be able to finish part one of the two parts I have planned by the end of the summer (although I can't give any promises on the second part).

On another note, I went back and edited all the previous chapters, improving them all, fixing mistakes, adding more dialogue tags (sorry if it was confusing, I just find them tedious to read, but I end up going overboard when omitting them...) I also seemed to often go overboard with Kastuki's anger and vulgar language haha... I've fixed that too. There were no big changes to the story, so there is no need to reread anything. (The biggest changes: I realised that I never properly tied up the lose ends of Izuku's guilt that he thought he passed the Hunter exam out of luck, so I dealt with that, and I tried developing Katsuki's character a bit, too.)

Also thank you RiIl for pointing out a better way for Hisashi's hatsu to work - he only emit flames from his mouth due to a restriction.

Replies to reviews:

D3lph0xL0v3r: THANK YOU AGAIN! Thanks for staying patient with me even though I take ages...
Yes, it certainly won't be as easy as going up to Chrollo and asking him to return Izuku's hatsu, it's gonna take more than that...
Yeah, many things regarding Gon's morality come to mind, of course including his vengeance for Pitou. There's that small part when he meets Zepile and learns that he's a counterfeiter, and Gon is just intrigued, regardless of the ethics behind counterfeiting. But with Izuku's influence that, and other things, could change.
I'm glad you think that :) Although I'm focusing more on the quirk aspect, given the accuracy of Hisoka's nen type test, there should be some correlation between their personalities and types. I'm just glad Horikoshi and Togashi are so good at character design that even the character's power's reflect their personality.

justperson: Thank you! No offence taken, thanks for reading! Also thanks for pointing that out, I usually try to keep dialogue narration minimal since I feel like it takes away from it, but I understand sometimes I go a bit overboard and omit necessary information. I'll be sure to bear that in mind in the future, and I'll also go back and edit so it's clearer. :)

RiIl: Thank you for all the feedback! I've gone back and corrected all the things you pointed out. With the dialogue, sorry about that, I usually try to keep dialogue narration minimal since I feel it takes away from it, but I understand I go a bit overboard and omit necessary information. I'll keep that in mind and I'll go back and make sure things are clearer. Also thanks for the help with Hisashi's fire nen, the restriction is certainly a much better idea. I really wasn't thinking too much about that and it showed haha. I've gone back and changed it, and ensured to credit you for the idea. Thank you for reading! :)

Guest: Sorry for the wait! Glad you stuck around!

vwheel10: Thank you for all the reviews! I'm glad you liked my OCs, I was worried they were a bit subpar.

TaziyaKoya: Thank you for reading all the way through! I'm glad the story is gripping, hope I didn't make you wait too long haha.