Canon Fodder

CHAPTER 203 THE CANDIDATES

The area around me became illuminated. It had been a few weeks since I’d been in the Hunter x Hunter World. Luckily I had stopped at a good point. I was currently waiting with a few hundred other people for the hunter exam to start. 

The original manga followed a kid named Gon. He was only 13 or 14 years old, I couldn’t remember which, but he was strong enough to become a Hunter. The Hunter Association was basically an exclusive club in the world. You took a super hard test and were able to use the hunter license as bragging rights. 

Able to go most anywhere. Hunters were considered the elites. But I knew that there were much stronger people than hunters out there. Much stronger monsters too. This was only the beginning of Gon’s story. Stuff only got harder from there. 

“How many people do you think will make it?” Jill asked. She was a skinny girl. 16, like me, she had short brown hair that was in a pixie cut. No real curves she and I were still dirty from our run to the exam from the boat. 

“404?” I asked. I remembered Gon got the 404 tag. Only because it reminded me of the 404 error message that popped up on computers. 

“That was oddly specific,” Jill said. 

“We will see if I’m right,” I said. Side eyeing her, I didn’t remember Jill in the manga. In fact I didn’t think any women made it very far. Looking around in the crowd there were only about 20 women I could see. 

The author of Hunter x Hunter never was all that good at female protagonists. He made Yu Yu Hakusho, and the girls in that were more side characters as well. In real like he had married the woman that wrote Sailor Moon, so I guessed he left it to her to make strong female leads. 

“Guess I’ll have to find my own women,” I mumbled. Scanning the few women in the crowd. 

“What?” Jill asked. 

“Nothing,” I said. “Hide your tag.” I took my #289 tag, which was the number I got when arriving, and put it in my pocket. Pinning it inside there. 

“Why?” Jill asked. 

“You don’t want people to know your number, trust me,” I whispered. “There will be lots of tests coming up. Eventually we will have to hunt one another based off the numbers.”

“I thought you said this was your first time,” Jill said as she hid her tag. 

“It is. I did research though,” I lied. “Didn’t you?”

“No, I heard the test was always random. Depended on the veteran Hunter that ran it,” she said. 

“It is, but there is a theme,” I said. “And lots of people we need to watch out for. Like this guy.”

“You look like new faces,” a man said as he walked up. He was shorter with slicked back brown hair. Heavy set he wore simple clothes and didn’t appear all that imposing. 

“Good guess,” I said shaking his hand as he came closer. “How can you tell?”

“That’s easy. This is my 35th consecutive attempt at the Hunter exam,” the man said. “I started taking it when I was 10.”

“Jeez, it’s that hard to pass?” Jill asked. 

“It is,” the man said. “Oh right, I’m Tonpa by the way.”

“I’m Weston,” I said. “Got any pointers for newbies?”

“Good luck is all I can say,” Tonpa said with a wide smile. “A rookie passes once every 3 years. You 2 will need all the help you can get.”

“Oh yeah? I’m betting at least 5 rookies will pass this year,” I said. Sensing an opportunity.

“5?!” Tonpa asked. “Impossible. Most I’ve seen was 2 rookies in one year. And that was decades ago.”

“I’m betting 5,” I said. “Care to take me up on that wager?” 

“Ha, I’d love those odds,” Tonpa said. “But I’m not much for gambling. As a consolation how about a soda? I brought too many and I don’t want to carry them all for the rest of the exam.” He dug into the satchel at his side revealing plenty of soda cans in there. 

“On my god, I’d love some,” Jill said taking a strawberry flavor. She cracked it open and put it up to her mouth. I smacked it away quickly. “What the hell?!”

“Goddang it, Jill,” I said. No wonder she wasn’t in canon. “Didn’t they ever teach you not to take drinks from strange men?”

“What? It was sealed,” she said, eyeing Tonpa then me. 

“Do you not see the other people around us? They’re all watching to see if you’d fall for it,” I said. There was a ring of people around us, all eyes had been on us but quickly turned away. “This guy is Rookie Crusher Tonpa. He doesn’t pass the exam because he gets off on crushing rookies. What was the can full of? Laxatives or something?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Tonpa said quickly. “If you don’t want a drink, all you had to do was say something.” He acted offended, moving away. 

“Yeah yeah, I catch you near us again and I’m kicking your ass,” I said as the man retreated. I knew I could too. There were only 2 or 3 people I feared that were taking the exam. 

“Nicely done,” a voice said. Turning, I saw one of the people I feared. He was a young kid, white hair, pale skin, skateboard in hand. He drank from a can. The same brand of soda that Tonpa had tried to pass out. “You’re missing out though. The soda is pretty good.”

“You’ve got a strong stomach to be able to deal with that crap,” I said. 

“Been training since I was young,” he said. Crushing the can he belched as he walked up. “I’m Killua.”

“Weston, and my gullible friend is Jill,” I said. 

“Was that really full of laxatives?” She asked, still a little shaken. 

“Something like that,” Killua said. He was shorter than us. But his Haki was strong. 

I knew he was strong. Despite me probably being stronger physically. He still had a chance at killing me without much effort. Trained as an assassin since he was born, Killua was one of the main characters of the story. I actually liked him. Usually manga writers made the dark and broody character wrong, in my book at least. Like Sasuke or Bakugo, they were all woe is me, damn everyone else. Killua was done right. Despite his childhood being shit he still had a smile on his face and acted like a kid. I was still a little on edge around him though. Most anything could snap him into a violent killing rage.

“Your first times too?” He asked. 

“Yep, you appear to be the youngest one here,” I noted. 

“I noticed,” he said, annoyed. “But you’re strong. I can feel it. You’ve killed before.” He had a slight smile on his lips as he studied me. I actually felt a little…honored. To be recognized by Killua was quite the compliment. 

“Oh, I’m sure you’ve killed more,” I said. Putting on a wide grin as we squared up in front of one another. Neither talking for a moment as we sized the other up. We stayed like that for a moment. Then instantly his hand shot out. 

I pushed his erect fingers away with great effort. Throwing my own punch at his face he twisted his hand from my grip and moved to kick my feet out from under me. I jumped and kicked down at him as he blocked with both arms. 

He absorbed the hit and slashed at me with his hands again. His fingernails had grown to sharp tips and the veins under the skin bulged. The razor sharp fingernails barely missed cutting into my legs. I jumped back, landing close to someone as they cursed, stepping away. 

Killua and I stared at one another. Both smiling. “I think this exam might be more fun than I thought,” he said. 

“That it might,” I said, walking back toward him. 

“What the hell!” Jill yelled at us. “Warn a girl before you go all ninja assassin.”

“Sorry,” I said. “Gonna do a lap around. Be seeing you out there, Kill.”

“Sounds good. I’m gonna go get another soda,” he said, looking in the crowd for Tonpa. 

“What the hell was that?” Jill asked as he ran off. I pulled her and began walking the edge of the large room we were waiting in. 

“Every hear of the Zoldycks?” I asked. She shook her head. “They’re assassins. World class. Kind of a family business. You just met the heir or whatever.”

“That kid was an assassin?” She hissed. 

“Not just an assassin. But one of the best in the world,” I corrected. “The kid could rip your heart out before you knew it was missing.”

“What the fuck,” she hissed. “How do you know this? Are you sure?”

“I’m sure. There are quite a few you need to watch out for,” I said. “Only 2 others I’m really worried about though.” I stopped, seeing one. “Like that guy.”

“The clown?” She asked. 

He was tall. White makeup on his face that made him look pale. He had a water droplet painted under one eye and a star under the other. Bright red hair slicked back he made my skin crawl just looking at him. 

“Never call him that. He’s probably the strongest person here,” I hissed. Turning away so he didn’t catch us staring I whispered as we walked. “That guy could kill most everyone in this room. But he would find it too boring. We are lucky he is super weird. Try not to catch his eye.”

“How?” Jill whispered. 

“Don’t act strong…you’re a chick so he probably won’t bother you. I think he prefers guys,” I admitted. “He only cares about fighting strong people. And if you’re young he challenges you. Beats you up in hopes you’ll be more of a challenge when you’re older. If you give up easily he will probably lose interest.” 

“Weird. Again, oddly specific, dude,” Jill said, studying me.

“You need to read more books,” I said. “There’s the other one you need to watch out for. Tackle box. 5 o’clock.” Behind her was a man that had piercings in his face. The metal studs were only the first weird thing. Extremely tall he smiled slightly and that was all. 

“Of all the people here, I’m not confident I can beat those 3,” I admitted. 

“You think you can beat everyone else?” She asked, surprise in her voice. 

“Oh yeah. Didn’t you hear Killua? He thinks I’m strong,” I said with a wide smile. 

“Whatever,” Jill said, rolling her eyes. 

“You, come here,” a voice directed at us. Jill and I turned to find a group of women looking at us. There were about 12 women huddled together. All of various heights, busts, and clothes. 

“Us?” Jill asked. 

“Just you,” one of the women said. She was taller. Curly black hair down to her shoulders, she wore tight clothes that hid her curves well. Basically a long piece of cloth that wrapped around her body I found myself curious if I could find out what was hidden underneath. 

“Know anything about them?” Jill whispered. 

“No idea,” I replied out of the side of my mouth. 

“Come on,” she said, grabbing my hand and pulling me with her. We got closer, as we did the women gave me a death glare. “How can I help you?” Jill asked nervously. There was one other girl in the group that was a little older than Jill, but the rest were in their mid to late-twenties. 

“We are offering to let you join us,” the woman with curly hair said. She had striking green eyes that ignored me completely. “I don’t know if you noticed, but most of the Hunter candidates are men. It is typically a boy’s club. It is very rare for a woman to pass. So we thought it best for us all to stick together.” 

There were a few more women scattered around. I thought I remembered a girl with a round green hat making it pretty far, but it really was odd that I couldn’t remember if any passed. I couldn’t remember if there were any female hunters whatsoever. Wait no, there was the Gourmet Hunter examiner. So what was going on? Was it sexism on the author’s part? Or was there another reason? 

I was used to being around Hancock, who was a strong physical fighter. I didn’t quite understand why no real women were taking the test. The world should have been 50/50 between men and women.

“Have any of you taken the test before?” I asked. I could feel that a couple of them had strong Haki, so they weren’t weak physically. 

The curly haired woman turned to me slowly, as if just noticing I was there. “No.” 

I nodded with a frown. I was going to have to keep my eyes peeled. I could almost feel someone watching us. There was something going on. If I wanted my harem in this world, I would have to look into what exactly it was. 

“I’m Weston,” I said, reaching out to the older woman. 

She hesitated but took my hand. “Kiri,” she answered. 

I nodded, turning to Jill. “Gonna take them up on the offer?” 

She thought about it for a moment then shook her head. “No, but thank you,” she said to Kiri. “Weston and I are going to finish this together.” I was surprised by the resoluteness in her voice. We had only known one another for a couple of days. I liked her more because of it. 

“The offer is always open,” Kiri said, but was then turning and leading the group to another lost lone woman. 

“Surprised you didn’t take them up on the offer,” I said. “I could be a disgusting male that wants to use you as bait to get away if things get dangerous.” 

“That was my plan for you,” Jill said, in faux shock. We smiled at one another. “Besides, we already promised to help one another. How am I supposed to help little old you if I am part of another group?” 

“Got me there. I’m sure I’ll need tons of help.” We moved to sit near the wall. People continued to stream in sporadically from the elevator. A small green slime man continued to pass out cards. I noticed Gon, Leorio, and Kurapika walk in. The main cast was finally there. I was growing excited. Watching Tonpa head for them to try to crush them, Hisoka caused some drama by cutting some guy’s arms off, but most of it was pretty normal. It wasn’t long until a wall started to pull away, revealing a long dark corridor.