A/N: My crappy first attempt at a Tumblr request! Pokemon HxH AU where Killua and the gang are Pokemon trainers! I haven't played or watched Pokemon since Pokemon 2000 was in theaters so it's been a really long time. Anyway, here's my attempt!
Disclaimer: I obviously have nothing to do with the HxH or Pokemon franchises.
Look on my Profile for my account links!
...
"Killua, come on! It went this way!" Gon whined, jogging in place impatiently as he waited for his best friend to catch up.
Said friend cursed under his breath as he pulled himself over the steep ridge, covered in dirt and grime. When the twelve-year-old left his mansion to become a Pokémon trainer, he'd expected intense battles (with him winning, of course), a steady climb to fame, having money for all of the chocolate and junk food he could ever want- at the very least he expected having dozens, if not hundreds, of cool looking Pokémon at his fingertips.
No, he most certainly did not sign up for this. He had twelve pokeballs- twelve! You want to know how many Pokemon he currently possessed? Five including his starter. After all his hard work, that's all he had to bring to the table.
He felt like it had been months since he and Gon left the Professor's lab. And he felt like he'd accomplished absolutely nothing. Nothing but capture four Pokémon- And he'd struggled even with that. Gon, on the other hand, was proving to be a natural. His current inventory? Thirteen. The thought that that idiot was actually better than him was enough to cause the contents of Killua's stomach to lurch. Blue eyes looked up at his friend in annoyance as he tried to rid his shorts of excess dirt.
"How do you even know that?"
"I just do! I sense it!" Killua looked at the boy exasperated, his jaw dropped. He's so full of it.
"You sense it?" He recovered from his shock and crossed his arms, "What? Are you a Pidgey whisperer now? Are you sure your dad's a Pokémon Master and not Pokémon? I mean since you just know them so well…" The shorter boy's left eyebrow twitched in annoyance.
"I could hear them, you dummy!"
"You can hear them?" Killua gave an incredulous laugh, "Gon, there's literally nothing to hear! I haven't heard a thing since you dragged me all the way out here! It's just trees and animals and bugs!"
"It's not my fault you suck at listening….and catching Pokémon." Blue eyes narrowed at the smug boy in front of him.
"Take that back, you idiot! I'm a better trainer than you'll ever be!"
"Uh huh. That's why I have thirteen and you have… six, was it?"
"Five…" Killua muttered, his cheeks turning a healthy shade of red, much to Gon's pleasure. "But mine are stronger than yours, so-so there!"
"They are not!"
"Are too!"
"Are not!"
"Are too!"
"Are not!"
"Are- wait! Listen!" The two boys, who had been yelling in each other's faces, froze- Gon looking off into the distance listening, Killua staring at him as if he'd grown a second head.
"What now? You listening to your friends again? Are they inviting you over for some- Mph!" Killua's cheeks reddened as Gon clasped a calloused hand over his mouth, a finger to his own lips.
"Shh!"
The forest grew quiet then. There was a light breeze and Killua tried to focus, hearing leaves rustling. Beyond that, he couldn't hear much of anything- and that frustrated him. What is Gon hearing? What is that kid even made of? What-
Then Killua heard it. He heard it. The cry of a Pidgey. He turned to face Gon, a bright grin stretched across his face. Gon already had a pokeball in hand, smirking at him.
"Race ya!"
"You're on!"
….
"Did you see how amazing that was?"
"Yes, Killua. I saw." Gon sat on the ground, biting back a scoff as he tossed berries in the air for his Eevee to catch.
"I mean Pikachu just shocked it! I mean your Eevee didn't even touch that Pidgey!" Killua grinned, his eyes sparkling with excitement. He paced back and forth with his Pikachu on his heels.
"Uh huh. That's nice."
"I'm starting to think I'm the Master here!" He laughed, squatting down to his starter, "I bet you and I could win a gym battle, huh?" He scowled, hearing his green-haired cackling.
"You've got to be kidding me! You'd lose in a heartbeat!" Gon wheezed, falling over on the ground. "You-You suck at this!"
"Say one more thing-"
"And-And you think you'd actually win!"
"That's it!" Killua tackled the boy onto the ground, their Pokémon jumping out of the way, watching them fight.
"Quit it, Killua! I was only joking around!"
"You quit it! You're such an idiot if you think you're any better than I am!"
"I'm just saying that I have more!"
"Well that doesn't-"
"Pika-"
The two boys looked at each other in horror.
"No, no, no!"
"-chu!"
"Shit!"
…
The two young Pokémon trainers limped through the sliding doors of the Pokémon Center, the younger of the two cursing under his breath while the older was somehow beaming despite his sorry condition. The blond teen sitting in the waiting room raised an eyebrow at them, giving them a slightly concerned look.
"Are you guys okay? Looks like you had a heck of a battle." The boys looked up at him.
"Yep! We're fine! Thanks for asking!" Gon grinned at him. Killua scowled at the boy next to him and jabbed his obviously broken arm with his elbow. "A-Ah! Killua, that hurt!"
"Don't say you're fine, idiot!" Killua snapped at him, earning a whine. The white-haired boy turned to the blond. "We had a run in with some trainer named Hisoka. He really packed a punch."
"You battled Hisoka?" The blond's eyes widened, "That guy's nothing but trouble. He kills trainers left and right and snatch their Pokémon."
"Kills them and steals their Pokémon?" Killua tensed before sending a menacing glare toward his friend, "Dammit, Gon! I told you he was too strong! He could have killed us!"
"But he didn't!" Gon gave him a cheeky smile before his arm was jabbed again, howling in pain.
"Serves you right." He turned back to the blond, "Anyway, I'm Killua Zoldyck and this idiot's Gon Freecss. We need to have our Pokémon looked at."
"My name's Kurapika Kurta. I don't work here, I'm just waiting for a friend to get off work. But he's a nurse so I'm sure he won't mind taking a look at them for you."
"Thanks, Kurapika! Come on, Killua! Let's sit and wait for his friend!" The boy sat down in one of the chairs with so much energy that he winced. Killua rolled his eyes but sat down next to his friend nonetheless.
"You have way too much energy for someone who just got his ass kicked."
"Because Hisoka was really strong! And we have a new friend!" He grinned and waved at Kurapika with his uninjured hand. Kurapika awkwardly waved back, amused by the two of them.
"You've gotta be-" Killua sighed, putting his head in his hands before looking back at him, "Okay, so two problems: One, how is Hisoka being strong a good thing? Two, we literally just met Kurapika- you can't force him to be friends with us!"
"Awh, but Killua! Kurapika's our friend! Right, Kurapika?"
"Um, sure, Gon. We can be-" A taller teen walked from the back, "Leorio! Hey, these are my friends, Killua and Gon. They got roughed up in a battle and need their Pokémon looked at."
"Sure! Of course I can!" He walked over to the two boys. "Let's see what we can do."
…
"Thanks so much, Leorio! We owe you one!"
"Idiot, it's his job." He rolled his eyes, putting his pokeballs back into his bag. "But thanks, old man."
"You're welcome, kids. And I'm not that much older than you guys!"
"Uh huh, sure. You keep telling yourself that." Killua grinned mischievously seeing the scowl on the older teen's face.
"Killua! Don't be mean!" Gon whined, though any guilt that the white-haired boy would have felt was trampled when he saw Kurapika laughing.
"I'm nineteen, you little brat." Killua immediately stopped his cackling and he and Gon looked at Leorio in disbelief.
"Seriously?!"
"Haha very funny, you guys." Leorio crossed his arms, scowling. "You know, I just fixed your Pokémon so you should give me some respect."
"Thanks-" Gon narrowed his eyes when Killua covered his mouth quickly.
"Again, it's your job. You can't use that as leverage." The doctor clenched his teeth, using every ounce of willpower to keep from punching the kid.
"Well, you're welcome anyway." Before Killua had the chance to make another sarcastic comment, Kurapika cut in.
"So…um…Gon, you look familiar. Do I know you from somewhere before?" Gon pursed his lips, tilting his head.
"I don't think so…" Killua elbowed him- this time, the arm that wasn't broken.
"Your dad, dummy."
"Oh! My dad's the Pokemon Master, Ging Freecss! Some people say I look like him." Kurapika and Leorio's eyes widened.
"You're Ging Freess's son? That's so cool!" Leorio grinned, looking at the boy in amazement.
"That must be incredible having a dad like him."
"Gon wouldn't know. The loser ditched him." Killua soured, as if mentioning the name Ging Freecss made him want to vomit. Gon, however, seemed unfazed and simply shrugged.
"Being a Pokémon Master's important! He's just really busy! That means I'll just have to work twice as hard to become one just like him!" Killua sighed, shaking his head. He never understood the kid's positive attitude towards that dead-beat. Of course, seeing the disapproving glances of the other two teens, he wasn't alone.
"That's really low. I mean the nerve of that ass-" Kurapika cut Leorio off, earning a glare from him.
"Have you guys thought about entering a League Conference?" Gon and Killua immediately perked up, eyes lighting up with interest.
"League Conference?" Gon looked as if he was bursting at the seams.
"What's that?" Killua was slightly more gifted with hiding his excitement- though not much.
"It's a tournament between the top trainers in a region. If you want a challenge, that's where you need to be."
"I heard a rumor that winning League Conferences will guarantee you a spot as a Pokémon Master." Leorio pointed out, ignoring the Kurta rolling his eyes.
"That's preposterous, Leorio. No one knows how to become one, but it definitely isn't as easy as winning a League Tournament. Do you know how many people have already done that?"
"I'm just saying what I heard." Leorio shrugged, "Maybe win all of the tournaments? That's hard to do, right?"
"Well, yeah. It's hard. But that doesn't mean-"
"Forget that! How do we compete?" Killua butted in, blue eyes narrowed in impatience, hands on his hips.
"Yeah! How do we do that?" Gon jumped up and down.
"Well, you compete in gym battles and earn badges. You need eight to compete. It's a tournament so they weed out the weaker trainers first before they get to the big matches. It's intense, though, so you need to-"
"Let's do it, Killua!"
"Yeah! We'll need to get some badges as quick as possible!"
"Guys, you need to be careful! You just lost to Hisoka!" Kurapika groaned, worry flashing in his eyes.
"He's right, you need to give your Pokémon a rest!" Leorio chided. Killua waved both of them off.
"It's fine! We'll be fine! Come on, Gon!"
"Osu!"
…
"And now for the final match of the day! Gon Freecss and Killua Zoldyck!"
The crowd cheered as they had with the first twelve matches. The late afternoon, early evening air was brisk and breezy. The boys in the ring weren't bothered by the cool weather and they hardly noticed the crowed- their eyes locked with fiery determination, a smirk on Killua's face and a grin on Gon's.
"You're going down, Gon."
"Nu uh, Killua. You're going to eat my dust!"
"Yeah, we'll just see about that."
…
"Dammit!" Killua launched his 3DS across the room, narrowly missing Gon's head. Gon stuck his tongue out.
"Sore loser much?" Gon giggled, watching his best friend fuming across from him. "Is it true that I finally found a video game that Killua isn't good at?"
"It's not my fault! This game makes no sense! There's no strategy!"
"Yes there is. Water types aren't effective against-"
"Oh, water types this, normal types that. Who cares! The strongest Pokémon should win no matter what type it is!"
"You used an electric type against a ground type! That's what makes no sense! Why would you do something so stupid?" Killua's eye twitched in annoyance, launching himself at Gon. All the poor boy could do was struggle to escape his grasp. "Killua! Let go!"
"No! Let's just see if an electric type is effective against Gon!"