Disclaimer! Hunter X Hunter belongs to Yoshihiro Togashi, and to him ONLY! So until you get that to your heads, dear people, consult a shrink! Oh yeah, and part of the plot is derived from another story…which I will not tell you. So there! Hah! XD
Story Summary: (Warning! Alternate Universe ahead!) Gon is the youngest of the adventurers who searches the island for the precious secrets it contains. He decides to come home after a three-week-long hunt and finds his home in shambles. Determined to find the culprit, he embarks on a journey to the islands, meeting a colorful cast of characters — finding invaluable friends — and finds himself in a whole new world beyond his wildest dreams, not knowing he was about to find the clues hidden within his past…
Author's Notes: Well, blimey, I've done it! I've actually drafted out a story that does not, and will not hopefully, contain even a tinge of Mary Sue filth in it! Heavens, bless this rotten soul of a writer! *throws around a bunch of confetti* I do hope you'll pay considerate amount of attention to this now, as I've thought about this story very seriously. So don't hesitate to pour out whatever you feel in the reviews corner after you read — I'm all willing to read 'em all! Help this poor writer out by giving suggestions! And in turn, I'll do my best to satisfy you. If I don't get any, this goes to the fireplace. Fair, right? Well, then, dig in!
Arigato! To Yomi-san (and his lovable alter-ego Hades) for giving me the inspiration. I hope you'll read this and give me more pointers in improving — but hopefully you are now bursting with ambrosia there in the dark realm of the underworld because there's no wish-fulfillment, no ego-feeding, NO BLOODY MARY SUE tainting this piece of fic! Lol! Thanks again and hope you keep with your reviews site, you have pushed many of us to improving, including me and Sammi! ^_^
And now without further ado……………..*drumroll*
Itadakimasu!
Chapter 1 ~ The Hunters
"Gon? Gon!"
Slowly his eyelids rose, to make out a slightly blurred vision of three heads hovered over his sprawled body. He let out a groan and rolled over, as if he was snuggling on a bed of soft sheets. "G…Gimme a few more…minutes…"
A sharp slap made its way to the boy's cheek, causing him to force his eyes wide open. "Oh for the love of…Gon! Get up, you lazy sloth, or I'll make sure you never do again!"
"That doesn't sound like Aunt Mito," Gon muttered loudly enough for the others to chortle. The man who slapped him snorted, straightening himself up and gave the younger one a light kick with his large boot. "I'm up…I'm up…" He sat up and rubbed his wood brown eyes, and stretched his arms and legs, almost straining them to their limits. Letting out a big yawn, he scanned the surroundings: black. All black. Except in the middle of the darkness that was illuminated by the light of the tiny bonfire. "Hey, what happened to the moon?" he wondered aloud in innocence, earning louder chuckles from his companions.
The one who sat next to him rolled his eyes. "Oi, Gon, did you scramble your brains when you smashed into that wall?"
"I — what?"
"Smashed into the wall," the third repeated, pronouncing each word carefully like he would with a three-year-old. He was in his early twenties, wearing a cowboy suit complete with short-cut boots and a hat fit for his long light brown hair held back neatly in a ponytail. "I can perfectly remember you running around, screaming 'Oh yes! I can finally treat Aunt Mito and Grandma for a whole month!' over and over until you ran to a dark route of the cave. And the next thing we heard was a loud 'wham!'" His clenched fist hit his other open palm in an attempt to relive the sound, his face held a lopsided grin. He turned to his right. "Gave us all stomachaches from laughing so hard. Only one of us wasn't too happy of your little circus act."
The last one, with a mass of midnight blue hair shielding Gon from seeing completely his displeased expression, was huddled in a corner, covered in a tattered brown cape up to the lower part of his face, grunting incoherent words that only a few of them could be understood, "……idiot………crazy fool………too bad his head was too thick for that rock……" Gon shot him a sheepish grin. "Er…sorry about that, Kai."
He gave him glance that lasted for barely a second, then gave another condescending noise, before turning his back on him.
"Don't worry about it, Gon. You know he gets like that whenever he cares. Not very…uh…open, I daresay," the Western-clothed one said, his eyes twinkling in amusement. "Mind, he's been like that ever since he was ten, I heard my neighbors say. Been complaining about taking you with us for this treasure hunt from the start. You'd think he joined this group before any of us."
"But Kai's good," Gon interjected, grinning at his direction. "And we sure needed someone smart enough to get all the riddles in this place. We could have been run over by some boulder a long time ago if it weren't for him."
All three nodded to Gon, not a trace objection present. Then the lot fell silent, the only sound left was the crackling of the flames. Until one of them cleared his throat.
"So…how long do you think until we get out of there?"
The second one, sporting a black leather coat barely covering up his tanned body that would make the females swoon, shrugged. "Not too far now. I'd reckon a few days before we see the sunlight."
"A few days…" The cowboy's face wrinkled in a grimace. "It's been three weeks already! As much as I enjoyed the trip, I'm getting sick of eating cold canned food! Can't wait until I'm back home with my wife, but then again, she makes me prepare my own food…"
"Yeah, lucky Gon he has his Aunt to do that for him," chimed the silver-haired. "And I hear she's a damn good one to boot."
Gon grinned. "Aunt Mito is the best cook there is, but she can make me run for my life sometimes. Learned from my experience in fourteen years."
"Sure, but — "
A slight rumbling of the cave had interrupted their light conversation. "What…was that?" the shortest of them, with short light green tresses and wearing clothes with a faint scent of the earth, asked no one in particular, his voice slightly shaking as well.
Kai stood up, taking notice of the jagged rocks falling from the ceiling, and leaned closer to one side of the cave. A minute later, his voice resounded, to further deepen their panic. "This one's going down."
"You're kidding me! I knew this place was about a thousand years old but…" Another blast of rocks at different sides made them jump. "All right, I get your point, Kai! So how do we get outta this place?"
Kai shrugged. "Well, that's helpful!" the Western-garbed guy shot back.
"We don't have time to argue!" Gon made himself heard from the noise. "Anyone got a compass?"
The man with the silver hair dug into his pockets, and tossed it at Gon, who caught it easily and stared at it. "How is that going to help?"
Gon replied nothing, until he determined the way to the north. Then he spun around and pointed to one road. "There! We'd better hurry!" He started to run blindly into the darkness.
"Hey! Gon, wait!" The silver-haired struggled to keep balance. "Just what is that kid doing now?"
It dawned on Kai soon after. "Let's follow him," he said shortly to his fellow mates before following the boy's trail. Although bewildered, they did the same, hoping that Gon wouldn't run into another wall…or it would be the last thing they would ever see.
"Next time that Gon should let us in his crazy mi — OUCH!"
"Sorry, Korza! I thought that was some rat!"
"Well, be a little more careful, will ya, Luce!?"
"Will you please STOP TALKING AND MOVE OVER?!"
Then a flicker of light startled them from strangling each other. "You guys all right?" Gon asked over the matchstick. He sweatdropped at the sight of the four irritated faces. They looked ready to kill someone.
"Skip it, Gon. Where to now?" snapped Kai.
Gon scrutinized the compass once more, his other arm with the matchstick raised over it. "Can somebody be kind enough to explain what the hell we are doing?" Korza said in strained patience, holding over his prized hat.
"When we entered the cave last time, I remember the moon was right across from it," Gon replied, while he lead the group in a running marathon to another course, barely missing the falling rocks from collapsing to his head. "So as long as we keep heading north, we'll be in the entrance in no time!"
The annoyance plastered on their faces immediately turned to realization, then complete to utter approval. Kai rolled his eyes as he kept checking the condition of the cavern, but thankfully, he didn't add anything else.
The glow soon faded in an instant, so the group had no choice but to concentrate on the sound of Gon's footsteps. Another explosion occurred and drowned the rest of the noise. Kai had to pause like the others, until Gon called out to signify his location, and they moved on without any more interruption. Then a small thud echoed in the area.
"Sorry! That was me," Gon's voice rang out. "I think the road is divided."
"Oh, that's peachy keen. Where to now?"
Even Kai apparently couldn't see a clue this time, as they didn't hear a whisper from him.
"It's the right one!" one of them spoke up. "I can smell the earth from here!"
"Gau, are you sure this is…."
"I'm positive! Look here!" He pressed into Korza's hand some damp soil he took from the ground as evidence. Kai took some as well and fingered the powdered loam. "This came from our footsteps…" he muttered.
"That's settled. Everybody to the right!"
A few moments of rendition of the blind mice scampering for their lives, a streak of light flashed, almost blinding them. They all rejoiced at the sight of the greenery, as if they had uncovered another roomful of treasure. Kai had to keep Gau from staining his outfit with mud as he wrapped his arms around him, jumping madly. Luce and Korza slapped each other high fives as they carried Gon by the shoulders like a proud champion.
"Yeeeesss! We did it! We got the gold!"
"We're bloody rich!"
"We're alive!"
A huge blast behind them brought them back to reality. Kai smirked.
"Alive, still, are we?"
They looked at each other, then resumed their wild race.
"When we get out of this, Kai," Korza panted, keeping his hat from falling off as he dashed for the outside. "Remind me to never, ever look for treasure in damned fossil caves again!"
~*Next Chapter – Forest Glacier*~
Well? I already have the second one prepared, so I'll just sit back and wait for reviews. Dunno if I should put a review bracket (like, say, 5 reviews per chap), but it never worked before for me anyway T.T Lemme hear what you think, ok?