Killua yawned as he leaned up against the bar. They were overstaffed; business was particularly slow today, so the silver haired Valkyrie left the waiting work to the girls. Even Palm had run out of things to do, and was currently filing her sharp nails while leaning up against the counter behind the bar, to Killua's right and at the farthest spot from him possible.

Just when he thought things couldn't get any more boring, a humanoid dressed in all green showed his tanned face. "Killua!"

"Hey Gon." The boy sat at the stool in front of Killua, currently the only person occupying the bar. Palm glanced at the two of them from under her indigo lashes, then seeing that the newcomer was underaged, continued her loitering.

Tch, she didn't seem so nonchalant when she served him alcohol last night. She didn't even think to ask him to remove his hood to assess his age, how come she suddenly cares now?

"So, you work here?" Gon's question dragged Killua from his thoughts.

"No, I just sit behind the bar in my free time," Killua responded sarcastically.

"Huh?" a look of confusion crossed Gon's tan face.

Killua laughed, "It's called sarcasm, ya idiot!"

"Ohhhh, hehe," Gon rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "Yeah, I'm not that good at knowing when people are being sarcastic or not. Anyways, how are you allowed to work the bar? You're 18, that means you're underaged!"

"I don't actually work the bar," Killua drawled, "I just come back here when I run out of stuff to do. I'm actually a waiter, though I prefer cleaning duty to waiting on people."

"Oh! Well, if you're a waitress then why don't you wear a maid outfit like all the others?"

Killua scoffed, "I'm a dude! That's why! I'm not gonna be caught dead wearing some frilly dress! Even if it is for work!"

Gon snickered and stuck out his tongue.

"Shit head," Killua grumbled.

And that's how things went for a week and a half. Killua continued his life as normal, but at every breakfast and night shift Gon would show up at some point. They'd talk for a little bit, and sometimes even get into trouble with Knov. The two of them got along very well. Gon was such a weirdo, but fun to be around all the same. Killua found himself actually enjoying being in the other teen's presence. It led him to question if his family's assessment of friendships was correct.

Wait… friendship? Is that what this was?

No, couldn't be! Who'd wanna be friends with Killua? A Valkyrie and a Zoldyck? The silver haired boy sighed and continued his morning wander.

Gon walked his way down a new street, he hadn't been down this one yet! This town was so fun! He observed the new pattern of whimsical architecture, appreciating every little detail. Gon loved adventuring, seeing the world was his favorite pastime! He'd been all over the place in his 18 years of life, but he felt as if he hadn't seen nearly enough.

Gon had left his human village and his Aunt Mito two years ago, and had been exploring ever since. He did his best to stay out of trouble, but it tended to follow wherever he went. The confrontation with Tonpa was a perfect example.

"What was that all about with the fat guy?" Killua had asked.

"Don't call him fat! That's rude!"

"But that's what he is, I call it like I see it. But whatever, what was his beef with you in the first place?"

"Oh," Gon had placed a finger on his chin and looked up, wracking his memory. Where exactly had things gone wrong with Tonpa… "Oh yeah!"

Killua had quirked a thin eyebrow.

"Well, I was traveling through a village called Misty Valley-"

"-yeah, I've heard of that place."

"-And anyways, Tonpa was poaching animals! Endangered ones! The selling and hunting of them had been declared illegal in that region, but he was doing it anyways!"

"What sort of animals?"

"Foxbears."

"Huh, weird."

"It just made me so mad!" Gon frowned, his anger still seething. "So I confronted him and told him to stop! He told me that I was just a kid, and that I had no business sticking my nose where it didn't belong. So I waited till the next day, and when he still hadn't stopped, I broke into his cart that night and freed all the foxbears."

Killua had busted out laughing, tears edging at the corners of his eyes. His smile was hidden by that black cloth mask, but Gon had seen his grin through the crinkles at the corners of his eyes. "You broke into his damn cart? That's so extreme!"

"Well he was being illegal!"

"You could have just called the authorities!"

"The authorities in Misty Valley don't care about poachers, they make too much of a profit from being paid off to stop them."

"Corruption, that sucks."

"Yeah…" Gon had sighed and taken a drink of his lemonade.

"So, what happened then?" the silver haired boy had prompted.

"Oh, Tonpa got up the next morning and found me burning his cart."

Killua broke down into laughter once again. "Why the hell did you burn his cart?!"

"Well if I hadn't then he would have just gone and filled it with foxbears again!"

Killua giggled and motioned with a hand, "go on."

"Tonpa got really mad at me-"

"-Gee I wonder why."

"-and he yelled and cussed me out and stuff! So I stuck my tongue out at him and explained why I did what I did, but… that just made him even more mad." Gon rubbed the back of his head, "then him and his poacher buddies chased me out of town."

Killua snickered, "you got run out of town!"

"Yeah… but once I saw how many poachers there were I couldn't just leave!"

"Oh no."

"So I came back the following night and did the same thing to all of their carts that I had to Tonpa's!"

Killua was in hysterics, Gon didn't understand why, poaching was illegal! He had a perfectly good reason to do what he did! "So you robbed and committed arson."

"I wasn't robbing and committing arson, I was liberating and committing arson!" Gon corrected.

This only served to amuse Killua further, "What happened then?" the pale boy prompted.

"They chased me out of town for real! With torches, pitchforks and everything! This one guy had a flame thrower! They kept tailing me, and no matter how hard I tried I couldn't lose them!"

"They're poachers, Gon, they're experts at tracking," Killua giggled.

"Yeah, I guess so, but it was still really annoying! I left the path on the map to try and lose them, but I just got myself really lost. I thought I'd be lost forever till I found this place! It was like an oasis mirage in the desert! It just kinda appeared! I was so happy, but I didn't want Tonpa and the others to find me, so I came into town, bought that presence-concealing cloak and walked around looking for a place where I could confront them. That's when I found the Clawthorne, it looked nice and sketchy, so I knew it was a place where confrontations usually happened. And you know the rest!"

Unable to contain himself, Killua laughed so hard he couldn't breathe. Hearing the other boy's floundering gasps between spells of laughter, Gon had slapped him hard across the back a few times till he caught his breath and composed himself. "Don't kill yourself, Killua! What's so funny anyways? I did the right thing! I caught the poachers!"

"You- you led them to their deaths!"

"Technically it was you, Mister Knov, Mister Morel, and Miss Palm that killed them all-"

"-you punched Tonpa's face in!"

"Yeah, but he deserved it!"

"I agree, but still! I'm laughing because this is the most outlandishly chaotic story I've ever heard."

Gon had put his hand on his chin in confusion, "Outlandishly chaotic?" He turned to the still giggling Killua, "Does it really sound that crazy? Stuff like this is just normal!"

"Normal for you! Your life sounds so action packed! My life is just working and fighting people from time to time!"

Killua. Gon really liked Killua! His new friend was so fun to talk to! He just wished he wouldn't have to leave him when he left town. Gon was planning on leaving town tomorrow. It was about time he moved to the next location.

He had to admit, though, this nameless oasis was his favorite place so far!

As the hybrid boy walked down the street, enjoying the various natural flower arrangements that lined the walls, a sudden shadow edged against his senses. Gon frowned, his sixth sense going off. Trouble was brewing.

He looked over his shoulder from the corner of his eye and saw a frightening man walking on the other side of the street. He had upturned eyes that were sunken in and sort of squinty. He had blonde hair, blue eyes, and gray skin like a corpse. He had a mustache that hung off his face like a noose from a gallow.

It wasn't his creepy disposition that made Gon's skin crawl, but the scent he gave off. Gon had a heightened sense of smell, and he recognized this one. This man was a Skinwalker! He'd run into one only once before, but back then he had been lucky enough to be saved. What he didn't like was that one was in this town. Skinwalkers were dangerous predators that were a known serial killer species.

They infiltrated towns with ease, and with each victim they stole his or her skin. Gon felt bad for the blonde man that had been the first victim, he had been a human. A classic Skinwalker move, humans were easy prey.

One thing was starkly apparent.

This beautiful little oasis was in danger.