Another Level

~5~

Due to there being only 10 people advancing to the next round, the bracket was slightly lopsided. There wasn't all that much anyone could do about that. After drawing lots to determine who was fighting who, the results were immediately translated onto the panel where Midnight stood. Killua stared blankly at it for a few moments, trying to make sense of the dialect. I can't even tell which one's my own name. He sulked internally. I really need to take some sort of class after this festival thing. "You're fighting Tokoyami." Uraraka explained, he'd overheard the names of several students at lunch. He was pretty sure Tokoyami was the one with the bird face. Killua nodded. "Ah. Birdface, right?"

Uraraka blinked, then laughed awkwardly. "Yeah. But I think he'd prefer it if you....called him his name?" She suggested. Killua huffed. "Yeah I know, just making sure I knew who that was." This tournament style battle is gonna be pretty easy. I can't see me having a problem against any of them. Their Nen is super weak, but what else did I expect? Soon after that, the minigames were in full swing. Everyone was running around with cards trying to find things. Killua didn't bother with it. As he was just standing by himself, Midnight walked over to him. He glanced at her curiously. "Hm?" She sighed. "Students have assigned seats, you'll be sitting with class 1-A since there's no other place to put you. Everywhere else is pretty full."

Are they like the top class or something? Killua thought. "Sure, where exactly is that?" Midnight gestured in a direction with her whip, and he followed it with his gaze. He walked through the stands, pushing his way into the seating area. Killua took a seat down on the first open one he found, which happened to be beside someone of similar stature to him, although he was a lot more bulky and macho looking. He glanced sideways at Killua and blinked. "Uh...These are the hero course seats." Killua leaned backwards on his chair with a sigh. "Yeah, I was told to sit here by Midnight. Something about seating being full. Anyways, the name's Killua. Nice to meet you."

"Sato."

The other male introduced himself, with a slight nod of his head. Killua turned his focus to the upcoming match, which was that guy with the electric quirk against Hatsume. I wonder how this will go...

~~~~~~~Meanwhile~~~~~~~~

"There you go! All fixed."

Gon announced triumphantly, staring at his handiwork with pride. Aunt mito shot him a dubious look. "Good, and you better not damage someone else's property again. You hear me?" It was an accident though! "Yes Auntie." He grumbled. It wasn't his fault that some jerk had gotten into a fight with him while they were on that old captain's boat. He'd ended up accidentally smashing a hole through the side of it. "I mean you're a hunter, sweetie. A single star hunter. You have to start acting like it." Mito scolded him. Gon let out a sigh, raking a hand through his wiry hair. "I do! It won't happen again, I promise."

After he and killua separated, Gon had to live with the fact that he could no longer use Nen. he meditated every day in hopes of reactivating it, but so far he'd gotten no results. He did however continue to train his physical strength. Gon's options as a hunter were limited without Nen, but he'd ultimately decided on becoming a Beast Hunter. He sought out creatures, both common animals and magical beasts, to document them. Gon developed a very unique role. Where most hunters would observe from afar and not approach those who might seem dangerous, Gon would directly speak to any magical beast with sentience.

This was exactly what had earned him his single star status, having learned far more by talking to them directly than simply observing them. This had nearly gotten him killed several times, but in Gon's eyes it was very much worth it. "I can only stay for three more days though." Gon told his aunt, as they made their way back home. "I just got a call requesting me to deal with some Copyhares stealing livestock." Mito let out a chuckle. "Do I even want to know what those are?" Gon laughed, his aunt could only take so much before she started worrying about him. "They aren't super dangerous, don't worry. But they can become a nuisance if not dealt with, and they are impossible to chase off once nested." He explained.

"But Copyhares are pretty friendly when you actually talk to them, and if you give them another place to live they usually move on peacefully."

Mito hummed in response. "Why are they called Copyhares?" She questioned. Gon rambled on, he loved talking about his discoveries to his aunt. And she loved to listen. "Copyhares are a kind of shape shifting magical beast. They travel in a husk, and they mimic the behavior of the prey they're trying to catch to get close to their prey. They don't prey on humans, but tend to go after things like chickens, cats, small dogs, or baby cattle. They can't completely change appearances but if they're hunting chickens they can grow feathers and mimic the noise of a rooster." His aunt nodded slowly. "And they can talk?" Gon shook his head. "No, they can't. But they seem to understand basic human speech."

Mito ruffled his hair, causing him to huff. "Just be careful, ok? You make me worry sometimes." She said, with a more serious tone. Gon let out a sigh, giving his aunt a tight hug. "I know, but I promise to stay out of the more dangerous fights and stuff." He felt the soft wetness of tears against his hair. Gon hugged her a little tighter. "It's just...after you went into that coma you haven't been as strong as you used to be. Don't go doing something stupid you can't handle." Gon felt bad about worrying his aunt Mito so much. As a kid, she tried so hard to keep him away from being a hunter. Worried he'd be killed, or she'd never see him again like what happened with Ging. He'd continued writing her letters about his adventures whenever he was away, just as he had when he left whale island for the first time.

"I won't Aunt Mito, I promise."

1058 words

To Be Continued...

Gon's reference sheet >:3