Canon Fodder

CHAPTER 204 A NICE JOG

“Here it comes,” I whispered. “Better start stretching. We have a long run ahead of us.” I checked the weights at my wrists and ankles. Making sure they were well secured. I had run for 5 days straight once. I knew this wasn’t going to be a huge hassle. If I got unlucky and wandered too close to someone dangerous I could remove them easily, but for now I wanted to get at least some training done. 

Jill looked at me oddly but then noticed the man walking in from the newly opened hall. She began stretching her legs. I found myself checking out her ass more than I would care to mention. She really was toned under the shabby clothes she was in. Not that I was in any better attire. 

“Careful, or I’ll think you’re one of those disgusting men,” she said. Having sensed me checking her out again I didn’t pretend not to be. 

“Just watching your form. If you need help massaging things after this long stretch of the legs, I will be more than happy to oblige,” I said. 

Jill barked a laugh. “You’re shameless. How far do you think we will have to run?”

“Level ground then stairs? A lot,” I said, trying to remember. “Gotta keep up with the examiner too. Which won’t be a slow pace. 6 hours? Longer?” I couldn’t remember exactly. I knew that the test was supposed to be a mental thing. Not telling you how long you had to run and see how long you could keep going. It might have been longer. I remembered reading it and thinking I could never run that far. Now, I could do it easily. Probably outpacing the examiner.  

“Jeez,” she mumbled. “This is going to be a bitch.”

“Bitch and a half,” I said. “We also need to contend with all of these people. Some might try to eliminate the competition now.” 

“I thought that killing was forbidden.” 

“That guy literally cut that other guy’s arms off. This is a lawless zone, Jill.” She frowned but nodded. 

“Now the exam may begin,” the man said in a simple voice that was still able to be heard over the crowd. He was tall with a curly french mustache, and wore a suit. Everyone quieted as he stared at us. Behind him was a dark abyss of a long hall that went on and on. 

“We will start with a short verification. As you all can surmise, this is a very difficult exam. For those of you not willing to risk death or serious injury, turn around now,” he said. No one spoke, all studying him expectantly. He nodded. “This way please.” The examiner turned around and began walking down the hall. The group followed. Jill and I in the middle as we kept a simple walking pace. I had thought he introduced himself, but things seemed to never be how I remembered, so I would go with the flow. 

“There are 404 participants,” the examiner said, his voice carrying to everyone somehow. “Let’s see if we can’t cut that number down a little.” His leg kicked up and he began a long stride. Swinging his arms slowly he practically skipped with each step as he picked up speed. 

“Here we go,” I said as the group of examinees picked up speed in a large wave. Jill and I sped up, matching the people in front of us and the test began. Nothing happened for a bit, but then the gap between us and the group ahead got wider. Apparently the examiner had sped up. Jill and I matched one another’s speed as we accelerated. 

“I forgot to mention. I am Satotz,” the examiner said. His voice a faceless echo from the front of the crowd. “I am in charge of the first round of the hunter exam. I will be leading you to the place for the second round. Be sure to keep up.” 

“The second round?!” Someone yelled. “So the 1st round has begun?” 

“Of course,” Satotz said. “If you are able to follow me, you will have passed the 1st round. I cannot tell you when we will arrive. You must be content with simply following. Good luck.” He sped up again and the crowd followed. 

The noise around us was a constant huff as people ran. Satotz didn’t increase the pace again so we moved into a fast rhythm. The cool underground air and the fact that we were always moving ensured that we were never too hot. But people were sweating more and more. One guy stopped by the sidewall, whipped his dick out and took a piss. Nerves getting to him as we came upon an hour of running. 

“You weren’t joking,” Jill huffed as we ran. 

“Yep. Could be longer than I remembered too,” I said. “Keep a constant pace. I’d hate to have to carry you so early into the examination.” 

“You’d carry me?” She asked. 

“I keep my word,” I said. She gave me a slight smile but kept running. 

Eventually she said, “Talk for me. I need to distract my mind.” 

“Like what?” I asked, my voice unlabored as we ran this was about a quarter the speed that I could maintain for hours on end. 

“I don’t know. Your story,” she huffed but then refocused on breathing. 

“Not much to say,” I said. “Grew up on a small island. Got a few siblings. My dad worked and my mom stayed home. Then my dad’s business tanked. They’ve been struggling to survive ever since.” 

“What did he do?” She asked. 

“He was a fisherman. Owned a few boats. Over extended himself by buying too many. A bad storm came in and destroyed over half. He had to sell the rest just to pay off his debts,” I said with a sigh. “He worked on the sea all his life. Had to start over from scratch on someone else’s boat. Left my mom with the kids while he was out to sea. Things haven’t been right since.” 

“He had hoped to send us all to school, but we had to help around after that.” 

“And you decided to become a Hunter?” She asked. 

I nodded. I could see that it was selfish of the me before I came to the world. The Weston before didn’t like the fishermen life. It was all leading to me having to work a ship with him. I escaped while I could. Seeking adventure. I didn’t want to admit it but sometimes the Memory Meld was annoying. I would probably go back and give them money to help get them back on their feet. For now I had to focus on the exam though.

“So hot,” Jill huffed. I extended my hand to her forehead. Pulling out hot energy to make it colder. She let out a long drawn out sigh. “How the hell do you keep doing stuff like that?” She asked. 

“Lot’s of training,” I said. I had shown her a few tricks like walking up a wall, but kept it mostly simple. I didn’t need to hide my skills in this world. But Jill needed something to distract herself as we continued to run. “Ever heard of Nen?” She shook her head. “I don’t know it, but it is a powerful skill that some of the people here understand. Like that clown guy.” I pointed to Hisoka. 

“It’s this messed up power system that literally makes no sense whatsoever,” I said. “But I’ve heard stories about it. There is someone that can use it to tell fortunes. Real fortunes that come true. Another can use it to make an unbreakable chain. One guy can make an invisible nen leech where it charges a toll when attached to you. Another can steal other people’s nen…” So I explained some of the broken powers of the characters in the Hunter x Hunter world that I could remember. I was getting excited, wondering what kind of cool power I could awaken. 

Over time I ran out of stuff to talk about but Jill was better. Her mind calm as we continued to run at the same pace. The group was spread out more but Satotz was still in the lead, running in the weird way of skipping and swinging his arms. 

“Oy Nicholas, you good there buddy?” I asked. The kid we had run in with was slowing down. Sweating profusely as he dropped his laptop. He didn’t answer as the crowd of people ran around him. “Guess he miscalculated on how hard he had to train.” 

“Guess so,” Jill said. We got quiet again. People yelled, gasped, cursed, and began dropping like flies as we continued to run. I played with my new quirk. Closing my eyes I kept the Observation Haki up to tell me all the information around me. I was getting better and better at my Haki. Angiea had taught me a little about sensing emotions through it, so I was sure to keep it up at all times. Trying to gauge people. Most everyone around me felt anxious, but that could have been my own mind playing tricks on me. Instead I tried to think on my quirk. 

Search was the quirk that Ragdoll had from MHA. All-For-One had sent the league to kidnap her because he liked her quirk. The Wild Pussycats had been a search and rescue team. With the quirk she was able to tell where her team was at all times to help coordinate where they had to search for survivors during disasters. 

I knew she could find people she knew with it. The question was, how much information did she need to know about them? Too much information assaulting my mind I turned off my Observation Haki and tried to mentally think of people I had met. I thought of Nicholas. 

I felt it then. Just a pulse of information from behind me. He was back there, getting further and further away. I focused on the itch at the back of my mind where I knew he was. I could almost feel some more information about him, but I hadn’t practiced enough to identify it. But it was a great first test. I had met him prior to me getting the quirk, that meant that people I met before receiving the quirk could be found. This would help me find the girls in Naruto. 

I thought on Satotz, the examiner. I felt a pulse from ahead. Then Kiri. She was off to the side. I closed my eyes, mentally finding her. Turning my head I opened my eyes to find her straight ahead. I then mentally searched for Hisoka, the jester looking guy. There was nothing. 

That told me what I needed to know. All I needed to be able to find someone was for them to tell me their name. Satotz and Kiri had said theirs. I knew Hisoka’s name, but I still couldn’t find him. All the possibilities of this quirk started to run through my mind. 

Could I find Obito in Naruto world after he showed up? Could I beat the canon earlier now? He could still disappear, but if I could train against the Permeation Quirk guy in MHA, maybe I could learn to fight it. Could I use the Search quirk for other things? I thought I remembered there was more to it, like telling weaknesses or something. I didn’t have enough practice to tell what the information I was receiving was though. 

I needed to find the range of the skill. What information I could ascertain from it. How many people I could keep track of. Did it tire? All of this information I had to figure out. 

I turned it off and kicked my Observation Haki back in. “Here we go!” A voice yelled beside us. He was a tall man, black hair, glasses, nice pants, tie around his neck, but no shirt on. Ahead the stairs had begun. We had been running for 4 hours by that point. Satotz began jumping up the stairs, 4 at time. Making it up easily. Some gasped and dropped back. Losing the will to go on as an incline was added. 

“You guys rookies too?” I asked the man next to us. Beside him was a very effeminate guy. Long brown hair, wearing detailed robes, he appeared to be making it up the stairs easily. 

“We are,” the man said. “I’m Kurapika. This loud idiot is Leorio.” 

“Hi,” Leorio said. 

“Weston and Jill,” I said. Jill didn’t respond as we started jumping up the stairs. She was in the zone as new muscles were used for the run. 

“Made a friend, Killua?” I asked the assassin behind them. The white haired guy was running with his hands behind his head. At ease as we moved up the stairs. 

“Well yeah, this is Gon. He’s 14 too,” Killua said. 

“Nice to meet you,” I said. 

“Jeez, how many teens are taking this damn test?” Leorio asked through struggling breath. 

“You sound like an old man,” I said. “What are you, like 40?” 

The man growled. “I’ll have you know I’m 19!” He yelled. 

“We already had this conversation,” Kurapika said. “No one believes you.”

“I really am!” Leorio yelled. Grumbling as we continued to run. 

We switched into an awkward silence as we ran. I wasn’t quite sure what to do now that I was with the main cast. Hunter x Hunter was a little odd because it was more of a slice of life story. Instead of a set path like One Piece, MHA, or Naruto. The world was wide. There were no bad guys trying to destroy the world or society, well not yet anyway. I could really do whatever I wanted. 

I could find a trainer for Nen. Go to the tournament grounds from one of the arcs and become a floor master. Living the high life as I became stronger. Or I could hang out with these guys. Help them out along the way. Maybe some Challenger slot quests would pop-up, maybe not. 

I considered what to do and where to go as we continued to run up and up the impossibly long staircase. The others talked around me. Saying some backstories about them, but the more I heard the more I was convinced I might want to move from the canon for once. Push things on a little further. 

Hell, if I got really strong could I join the Phantom Troupe? Maybe there would be an awesome Nen weapon in the auction of York New City. I could help Kurapika destroy them from the inside. It all really depended on how things flowed. I decided to ignore it for now as a light appeared ahead. All of us increased our pace. It wouldn't be too long until the first half of the first test was over.