Chapter Text
Unleashed Prototype
----------------
The atmosphere grew more tense as time passed. No one spoke a word as they waited. As the sky darkened, Shalnark became uneasy. There was no word from Uvogin. The man was strict about time and checking in. The fact there was no word gave everyone pause. Finally, Chrollo broke the silence and asked about who Uvo was tracking down. After an explanation, Chrollo leaned forward.
“A Chain User… He’s either a Manipulator or a Conjurer. Uvogin is a dominant fighter. But in a one-on-one fight, he is most vulnerable to those two categories. Many Conjurers give special powers to the thing that they create. Some of those abilities could render Uvo helpless. And a Manipulator could manipulate Uvo himself.” Chrollo explained.
The knot of worry in Shal’s gut tightened. “I should have tagged along! Damn!”
Chrollo continued without acknowledging Shalnark’s outburst. “If he fails to return by dawn, there will be a change in plans.”
“We’re changing plans?” A loud voice boomed from the entrance. The tension dissipated as everyone turned to see Uvo. He was in bad shape. His left arm hung limply at his side; nasty bruises were slightly visible under his shirt. Blood was splattered over his mouth and chest.
“Uvo!” Shalnark ran towards his friend but then stopped. “Is that...?” He started.
Slung over Uvo’s right shoulder was the body of a young boy in a simple uniform. His eyes were closed, but Shal could tell he was alive. Uvo adjusted the weight of the boy on his shoulder before nodding.
“Yeah, it is.” He answered before turning to Chrollo. “Danchou! I want to recruit this kid!”
Everyone stared at the giant with surprise.
----------------
“You are unbelievable.” Nobunaga started. Uvogin only chuckled before coughing up some more blood. They tied the Chain User to a pillar nearby. Uvo had warned not to let the boy move his hands, and to keep an eye on him with Gyo. The large man was sitting on a crate while Machi tended to his arm. He also had multiple internal injuries that would keep him from fighting for several days.
“He must have left a strong impression on you. Though from what you tell me, I doubt he’d join willingly.” Chrollo mused.
“Danchou, I lost that fight. I shouldn’t be alive right now. The kid earned his place in the Spider.” Uvo explained. He had a serious expression on his face as he stared at Chrollo. After studying the giant for a moment, Chrollo turned to Pakunoda who wordlessly obeyed. Uvo opened his good hand and let Paku slide her hand onto his own. Her hand seemed impossibly small in Uvo’s giant palm.
“Tell me about your fight with the Chain User.”
----------------
Uvogin had accepted his death.
When he couldn’t break out of the Kurta’s Chain Jail, he knew that the fight was over. No, the fight was over a long time ago. The Chain User used Uvogin as a guinea pig to test out his abilities. He completely healed the arm Uvogin shattered moments ago while he explained that he purposefully sought out Uvo to test the strength of his chains. This kid was smart, he thought of everything. Uvo was jerked out of his thoughts as the Chain User came at him. He punched Uvogin in the stomach with a Ko enhanced fist. Uvogin threw up blood which splattered in front of him.
“It looks as though my enhanced fist is slightly stronger than your physical brawn. That’s valuable information. Then I can beat every Troupe member barehanded, provided I’ve chained them.” The Chain User explained. The boy’s tone was unnerving. He was simply stating facts. “Tell me everything you know.”
‘He’s trying to break my will. The kid is still inexperienced.’ Uvogin thought. He grunted as he tensed his body, preparing for the boy’s oncoming assault. The Chain User didn’t disappoint as another Ko enhanced fist was rammed into Uvo’s gut.
“Where are the other spiders?”
“… Kill me…” Was all Uvo said. ‘I’m sorry everyone. I won’t be coming back...’
The Chain User didn’t like that response. He attacked again, this time on Uvo’s left arm which snapped easily. Uvo gritted his teeth against the pain before the Chain User tried again. “What abilities do they have?”
“…Kill me…” Uvogin repeated, closing his eyes. At that, the Chain User unleashed a series of blows on the giant’s torso. ‘This kid really doesn’t know how to interrogate someone. He’s not even… No… This is something else. He’s taking all his anger out on me. Despite all his talent, he’s still just a boy. It’s a shame this kid’s probably gonna die. He’d make an excellent spider.’ The Kurta finally stepped back, allowing Uvo a chance to breathe.
“It makes me sick…” The boy started. “The sensation left on my hand. The grating sound of each strike. The smell of blood! It all throws my senses into disarray… How can you do all these things yet feel and think nothing at all?! Answer m-“
A loud bang echoed through the night. Uvogin opened his eyes in surprise, only to see the Chain User’s Scarlet Eyes staring back with equal shock. A crimson stain grew like a flower on the boy’s side. The Kurta followed Uvo’s gaze and saw the stain. His left hand touched the area before he brought it to his face to study the blood on his fingertips.
They weren’t alone.
“Don’t worry, it’s not a fatal shot. It should be enough to slow you down a bit, though.” A new voice informed them as the Chain User started to sway on his feet. An unremarkable man appeared behind the boy, a rifle in his hands. “I gotta say, this hunt turned out to be quite fruitful indeed.”
“This doesn’t concern you!” The Chain User hissed through gritted teach. The man suddenly hit the Kurta’s temple with the butt his rifle. The boy fell to his knees before slumping to his side.
“Don’t go using that healing chain of yours. I’m aware of all your tricks.” The man explained. The Chain User must have tried to heal himself subtly using In. While in Zetsu, Uvogin had no way of knowing. The Chain User glared at the Bounty Hunter. The man was unaffected by the heat of his glare and continued his little speech. “And it does concern me. You see, the mafia put a bounty on this guy’s head.” He pointed at Uvogin who was watching the interaction between the two silently. “When I saw you two heading to the desert, I knew it was my chance. I was waiting for you to finish him off and kill you but then I saw you remove your contacts.”
“Not only do I get the two billion jenny bounty, but I can sell of your eyes for an even bigger profit! I’ll need to bring you in alive to prove you’re a Kurta, but the same can’t be said about you, big man. Your death wish is about to be granted.” The bounty hunter gloated as he aimed his rifle at Uvogin’s forehead. But it was too late.
While the bounty hunter praised his own genius, the chains holding Uvo slowly loosened as the Chain User fought to stay conscious. As soon as the muzzle of the rifle was in reach, Uvo sprang into action. He grabbed the gun and jerked it skyward just as a shot rang out. As the chains fell off, the giant could feel his Nen surging back. With the aid of his Nen, Uvo crushed the gun completely in his hand before tossing it aside. The hunter jerked back in surprise but couldn’t do more than that as Uvo grabbed the man’s head.
“You think I’d let a worthless vulture like you finish me off?” Uvogin growled. He lifted the man and slammed him into the ground. “A talentless hack who swoops in at the last second after somebody else does all the hard work?”
“What –“ The hunter started but was cut off as Uvo slammed him into the ground again.
“The only one allowed to kill me is this boy! Not you, the mafia, or anyone else!” Uvo roared as he slammed the man one more time with all his might. The ground collapsed as the man’s head was shoved into it. He did not move.
Groaning, Uvo fell backwards into a sitting position. He placed his right arm on his knee and sighed before looking over to the Chain User. He was unconscious; trails of blood poured down from his head and gut injuries, but they weren’t fatal.
“Well, that was frustrating…” Uvo grumbled. He really wanted a beer. He reached into his pocket only to find it empty; he drank his last one before the fight. The giant sighed in annoyance. “The question is: What am I going to do about you, kid? My urge to kill is gone now.”
The Kurta didn’t answer. Not that Uvogin was expecting him to. While he was grateful to be alive; by all rights he shouldn’t be. It was by dumb luck that he was still breathing. And that knowledge hurt more than any of the injuries he received. The Chain User beat him, yet Uvo couldn’t let him walk away.
That was when he had an idea.
“We’ll let Danchou figure out what to do with you.” Uvogin told the unconscious boy as he worked to get up. First, he needed to get rid of the body of the bounty hunter. He remembered the Chain User bringing a shovel and used Shu to quickly make a hole. It was harder than it should have been with only one hand, but it worked. Cocky bastard… Bringing a shovel to a death match… He supposed that it wasn’t really cocky after all because one of them should have died back there, and it was most likely going to be Uvo. After burying the body, Uvo tossed the shovel in a random direction before grabbing the Chain User and the tunic that he took off. “You’re lucky, kid. Anyone else would have just killed you.” Uvo rumbled before leaping into the night.
He didn’t notice a cellphone slip out of the tunic and fall onto the ground.
----------------
“A fortune teller? Now the mafia’s earlier actions make sense…” Chrollo’s eyes were alight with interest. Uvo knew that would catch Danchou’s attention.
“Yeah. Apparently, she’s pretty accurate. I figured she could tell us our future. See if it’s worth keeping the kid around.” Uvo explained as he nudged the unconscious boy’s foot with his own. The boy did not stir.
“I thought you said you wanted to recruit him.” Nobunaga said.
“I do, but I’m under no illusions that it will be easy.” Uvo explained. “He’s dangerous. If we’re not careful, he could kill us all.”
“That fact that you’re saying that is saying something. What kind of powers does he have?” Phinks said. Uvogin huffed but said nothing. He purposefully didn’t tell the others the Kurta’s powers yet. The only other who knew was Pakunoda. Even then, Uvo could tell that there was more to the boy’s power than what he saw. There was that annoying one, Chain Jail, and the healing chain. Each one was set to a different finger. That meant that they didn’t even know half of the Chain User’s abilities. And that Emperor Time…
If the Troupe had such versatility on their side, they’d be unstoppable.
“We will keep the Chain User alive for now.” Chrollo informed them. “I want at least two people on him at any time. Hisoka, Nobunaga, you will stay here.”
Hisoka, who was watching everything from his perch in the window hummed while Nobunaga sputtered. “What?! Why me as well? We already have Uvo watching him!”
“Uvo’s healing, idiot.” Phinks answered. Nobunaga’s cursing faded from Chrollo’s hearing as he and Pakunoda went to a different room. He prepared himself for Pakunoda’s Memory Bomb, tensing when Nen bullet struck his forehead. All the information she learned about the Chain User flooded into his mind. He saw how the Chain User overwhelmed Uvogin, and he was a Kurta too. An interesting catch indeed… Even if they couldn’t recruit the boy, they could sell his eyes on the market.
Chrollo mentally planned everything out as he went to sleep. Tomorrow looked to be promising, indeed.
----------------
All Kurapika could feel was pain as he returned to consciousness. He cracked his eyes open only to shut them again after the light worsened the already painful headache he had. His body was sore and there was a stinging pain in his abdomen. What happened? That’s right, I was fighting one of the Phantom Troupe. They must have captured me to take my eyes.
Kurapika could hear people talking not far from him, but he couldn’t make out the words yet. Slowly, Kurapika opened his eyes. He was in an abandoned building. There was rubble everywhere. He was tied to a ruined pillar. Kurapika could see his hands tied in front of him. He wanted to summon his chains, even if only to bluff, but he knew that summoning them would instantly alert his captors that he was awake.
He saw two of the Troupe Members across from him. One was the giant, Uvogin. His left arm was in a sling, but otherwise he seemed in good shape. The other was the samurai Kurapika saw during the fight with the mafia. The pair seemed to be arm wrestling. The samurai was obviously losing, but he was holding his own.
“How big did you say the bounty on us was again?” The samurai asked, his voice strained.
“Two billion jennies.” Uvo answered.
The samurai chuckled at that. “Not bad, but not the highest bounty we’ve had…” His voice trailed off as he focused on keeping Uvogin from twisting his arm. It was a futile effort as eventually the samurai’s arm hit the thing they were using as a table. The samurai stood up and exhaled as he shook his arm. He turned to their captive. Kurapika quickly brought his head back down and closed his eyes.
“I know you’ve been awake for a while now. No use pretending.” The samurai called over. Realizing it was useless to hide, Kurapika opened his eyes and glared. “That’s a scary look.” The samurai complimented.
“If you’re going to kill me, do it now. You won’t provoke me into turning my eyes red.” Kurapika told them.
The giant chuckled. “You think so? I think it’d be easy to get you angry enough. I couldn’t tell because of your contacts, but I’m pretty sure your eyes were red the entire time you and those goons ‘interrogated’ me. We could get your buddies from the Nostrade group and bring them here, rough them up a bit. What do you think about that?”
Kurapika worked to keep his eyes their normal color. The Troupe members could tell that and smirked.
“Relax kid, we’re not going to hurt you… yet.” The giant said. When Kurapika looked at him in surprise, he continued. “Danchou has decided to keep you alive until he’s figured out what to do with you. Might as well get along until then. Name’s Uvogin. This is Nobunaga, and that freak up there is Hisoka.” The giant jerked his head up towards a window. Kurapika followed and saw Hisoka playing with cards while reclining in the windowsill. His yellow eyes turned toward Kurapika at the mention of his name before going back to his cards.
Could Kurapika rely on Hisoka for help? The Kurta immediately knew the answer as soon as he thought it. Hisoka won’t risk his cover for Kurapika’s sake. He’d have to find his own way to escape. Kurapika thought about his options. His chains were currently useless. His holy chain was the only one that could move autonomously, the rest he had to have some control of his hands to use. He still hadn’t chosen a power for his index finger. Kurapika decided to leave it free, he may have use for it later.
He tugged slightly at his restraints; they were solid. It would take some effort for him to break free, but it wasn’t impossible. He just needed a moment. Kurapika placed himself in Zetsu. That had the spiders on edge.
“Oi, don’t mess with your Nen, Chain User. Just sit quietly until the Danchou gets back.” Nobunaga ordered. He tightened his grip on the katana at his side. Kurapika could tell he wasn’t bluffing. He dipped his head in frustration and released his Zetsu. His aura returned to normal, and the samurai relaxed. He nodded in approval before sitting down in front of Kurapika.
“Why didn’t you kill me back there?” Kurapika murmured, his voice wavered as he worked to control his anger.
Uvogin sighed loudly. “Because I lost. I hate to admit it, but it’s true. If it weren’t for that idiot, I’d be dead, and you’d be hunted by the Troupe. You’re an irritating little shit, for sure. But you earned your place in the Spider –“
“WHAT?!” Kurapika’s head snapped up at that, his eyes were scarlet. They wanted to recruit him?!
“Why’d you think Danchou was keeping you alive?” Uvogin shrugged.
Kurapika started struggling in his bonds at that. “No! I refuse! I won’t -”
Before Kurapika could blink, Nobunaga had unsheathed his sword and plunged it into his shoulder. Kurapika’s eyes widened, and his head sagged, but he didn’t scream.
“I told you to sit quietly.” Nobunaga muttered before taking the sword out from the wound and sheathing it.
“Just relax and it’ll be easier for everyone involved.” Uvogin told him as Nobunaga sat down. Kurapika didn’t answer. Uvogin shrugged and went back to what he was doing.
“I can see why you like him.” Nobunaga said to Uvogin. Uvogin huffed but said nothing. Kurapika was surprised by that statement. The giant had made it clear that he hated Kurapika, he went out of his way to kill him.
Blood oozed out of the wound, staining more of his training outfit red. He could heal his wound with his holy chain, but it was more likely the samurai would hurt him again if he tried. Kurapika instead focused on getting his breathing under control and ignore the pain.
----------------
Neon prophecy (WIP)
The angel of death becomes ensnared in the spider’s web
Yet you would do well to avoid such tempting prey
Lest a greater threat descends
----------------
- Uvogin is my favorite Phantom Troupe member besides Chrollo. I feel like people often underestimate him or just turn him into a bully when he's really more complicated than that. He has a sense of honor from what we've seen and I wanted to explore that a bit more in this.
- Unfortunately, a lot of the deleted scenes I had for Unleashed were lost when my old computer died. I'll do some searching to see if I can find them, but that is unlikely.
- Creating a Neon prophecy from scratch is hard. I only got one verse out of who knows how many.
Please rate and review!