I realised I accidentally said 42 remaining applicants in chapter 4, but actually it'd be 45 and also Gon, Kurapika, and Leorio's numbers (plus some other guys that have a plate above 392) should all be up by 3 with Izuku, Katsuki, and... wait who's the 3rd extra character? .*nudge nudge wink wink* :) I changed the 45 mistake, but im not bothered to change the number plate one... I know it's lazy but then I'd have to change so many character's number plates...
Disclaimer:I do not own Hunter x hunter or my hero academia. Those rights go to the legends Togashi and Horikoshi.
Edited: 23/03/2020
Izuku POV
64:43:57
Following the previous two challenges, the next ones were cakewalks. All we had to worry about was our time, slipping away like water in cupped hands.
After running from a boulder, walking through mazes, avoiding lasers, and other obstacles of the sort, we found ourselves in what looked like the final room, with over 15 hours to spare.
In front of us, a statue of a woman above a large metal door stood. An assorted array of weapons adorned every inch of the walls, from common weapons such as swords, and daggers, to rarer ones such as tridents.
"In order to pass the 3rd phase, you must get past this door. The door will only be opened after someone is secured to the wall with handcuffs." Lippo's voice sounded through a statue above referenced door.
"I see... Even if strangers at the beginning, two people would bond over facing these challenges together. B-but... Kacchan... what should we do?"
"Bust the wall down that's fucking what."
Saying this as if it was a given, Kacchan swung an axe straight at the wall next to the course, to no avail however.
"How can we cheat the system... destroying the wall or door is clearly a no go, as Kacchan is demonstrating."
I ignored the constant thud of Kacchan swinging an axe at the wall, accompanied with his yelling, and muttered my thoughts.
"Perhaps we could use a dummy? I can see a camera in the corner, likely to deter the applicant from cheating, so if we just cover it... But what would we use for the dummy? Would they go so far as to make the handcuffs have sensors, in order to make sure it is a living being? What if the applicants killed the other one? Then a dead body would have to suffice... Would that mean cutting off our arms would suffice? No no no, Izuku what are you thinking, that's crazy we'd faint from blood loss..."
I glanced at the weapons, beckoning us to use them in order to fight. Although I had no intention of fighting Kacchan, I picked up a small knife for later use, slotting it in my belt, it would certainly come in handy if we made it past this dilemma.
"Should I cover the camera first? Or maybe we can break the camera? Yes, that should deal with that.."
I tentatively stood up, and grabbed an axe from the wall.
Walking slowly to the camera, I held my hand ready and...
FWING
To my surprise, the axe bounced off the camera, not leaving even a dent... it was almost like there was a force field protecting it...
Not giving up, I swung my axe again, but to no avail.
All could be heard in the room was
THUD*FWING*THUD*FWING*
After a few hits, I gave up, brute force wouldn't work.
"Kacchan! That's not gonna work, we need to figure something out!"
There we likely audio devices in the room too, so I brought my voice to a low whisper, hoping they wouldn't pick up.
"M-maybe we can create a dummy of some sort?"
"Why are you whispering deku? You fucking testing my hearing? I can hear you perfectly!"
Contrasting my low whisper, Kacchan shouted as loud as ever.
"N-no! There are likely audio devices in this room. We need to cheat for both of us to pass."
"You think they will just let us cheat? This is the fucking hunter exam, doesn't matter whether we discuss it quietly or loudly, we can't cheat!"
He hadn't lowered his volume, in fact if anything he had increased it.
"W-well... It's still worth a shot. We can-"
"Forget about your stupid dummies, let's just break down the wall."
Giving up on hiding our discussion, I spoke normally. "B-but you've been swinging at it for the past 5 minutes, that's not gonna work."
"How about you help me you damn nerd! Then we could at least get some progress!"
Ending the discussion, Kacchan once again picked up his axe swung with all his might against the wall.
'Although his temper can really get to him, he was resilient in not giving up. When I was thinking he kept hitting... which actually-'
My thoughts were cut short by another thud, except this time, instead of being accompanied with a groan, there was a victory shout.
"See! You were wrong Deku it did work!"
Diminishing all my doubts, I picked up the other axe, and swung it at the wall with him, a huge grin on my face.
/
We swung for 3 hours, my arms ached from fatigue. But we kept going, we had made a decent dent in the wall.
Finally, after smashing the wall with all our power, the wall broke down.
On the other side we could see many bewildered faces of the other applicants.
I realised they must've been incredibly confused, after hearing constant thuds coming from behind the wall for 3 hours.
"Katsuki, applicant #391 is the fourteenth to pass. Izuku, applicant #392 is the fifteenth to pass. Total time 60 hours and 39 minutes."
We stepped out from behind the wall into a spacious room. After looking for a while, I could not spot Gon, Killua, Leorio or Kurapika.
Avoiding all the stares, we both made our way to an unoccupied area in the room.
'Great, that's probably drawn lot's of unwanted attention to ourselves, although I don't know how bad of a thing that is... I don't like it...'
Sweat glistened all over my body. I was anxious, as I wanted Gon and the others to pass, but I was so fatigued after constant activity for over 60 hours straight, that I fell asleep as soon as I sat down.
/
I slept for 11 hours, undisturbed. The time remaining was less than an hour, and looking around, there was still no sign of any of our newfound friends.
"Kacchan, d-do you think t-they'll make it?"
"They fucking better, if I drew in a race with them then they should be good enough."
I sat, impatiently anticipating for them to appear through a door. I stared intently at the timer, watching every minute tick down.
/
There was a minute left. Kacchan had given up on them making it, but I still stared at the timer faithfully.
All of a sudden,
"Kurapika, applicant #404, is the twenty-third to pass. Killua, applicant #99, is the twenty-fourth to pass. Gon, applicant #405, is the twenty-fifth to pass. Total time, seventy-one hours and fifty-nine minutes."
It was like a bolt from the blue. There, the three of them stood, Kurapika downcast, Gon confident, and Killua annoyed.
"Took you guys long enough! Like to keep us on our toes? Those bastards." Unafraid of the aspiring, clearly capable hunters filling the room, Kacchan broke the silence that followed.
'But where's Leorio?' I was incredibly happy at their success, however, concern began to overtake me, as Leorio wasn't behind them. Although I was certainly closer with Killua and Gon, I wanted them all to pass.
"30 seconds remain!" The loudspeaker furthered my concerns.
"You made it! I'm so glad!" I ran up with Kacchan to meet them, forgetting about the dull ache throughout my whole body from fatigue. "B-but... do you know where Leorio is?"
Right on cue, the familiar voice of a man, supposedly in his teens showed himself, announcing his presence before the speaker had a chance to.
"Right here!"
"Leorio, applicant #403, is the twenty-sixth to pass. Tonpa, applicant #16, is the twenty-seventh to pass. Total time seventy-one hours and fifty-nine minutes."
Much to my dismay, Tonpa had come with them, through the same opening, at the same time.
"The third phase has ended. 27 applicants have passed. One has died."
Before I could ask any further questions, the end of the phase was signalled, and the doors exiting the tower opened.
Greeting us stood a man with a pink Mohawk and glinting glasses.
"Congratulations on escaping Trick tower. Only the fourth and the final phase remain. The fourth will take place on Zevil Island. Let us proceed."
At the click of his fingers, a box on a stand was brought over.
"I will need you to draw lots in order to determine who will hunt, and who will be hunted. Here are 27 numbered cards. In other words, your ID numbers are on the cards. Now I need you each to draw a card based on the order you exited the tower."
First to step forward was Hisoka.
'Our ID numbers are on our cards? Does that mean... Dammit! I knew attention would be bad! I need to hide my own tag and remember everyone else's tags.'
I took my tag off my chest and placed it in my belt for now, nudging Kacchan and Gon to do the same. I caught Kurapika and Killua's eyes, and they did the same, following my line of thought. Kurapika nudged Leorio to do follow.
'#44 - Hisoka. I won't have trouble remembering that, however if I do have him as my target... Anyway #301 - Needle guy. Again I won't forget him. # 294 #384 #53 #371 #281 #246 #211 #34 #80... Gahhhhh too many numbers! Hmm if I group them together? That'll only work with #197, #198 and #199 as they're brothers. Defining features of each applicant? #294 - bald head, #246 - weird hat, #80 - shades, #118 - monkey, #211 - long scarf...'
"#392 hurry up!" I was eyeing every person, inspecting them all carefully, shutting out all sound until people were shouting at me to go."A-ah! I'm s-sorry! I-I'll go!"
It was quite defeating to have everyone shouting at you, with glares directed at you. Fortunately I had already put my tag away, so the attention wouldn't add, however, I already had garnered enough.
"Hey Izuku, why did we all put our tags away?" Gon asked me, as I came back.
"Because someone's gonna hunt for us, identifying us with our tag," Kacchan replied for me.
"Oh I see."
Everyone had taken their cards, and were told to remove the seals on them.
#80
'The woman with the shades!'
Triumphantly, I spotted the woman with the shades, identifying my target.
"The card indicates your target."
At these words, everyone gasped, and covered their tags, hiding them. But it was too late.
"This box has recorded the number of each card you drew. That means you are free to dispose of the cards if you wish. The objective is to steal your target's number plate."
I sighed in relief.
'Thank goodness, we don't have to kill anyone or drag any unconscious bodies...'
"Of course you're free to use any method to obtain said number plate, including killing the target, and taking the tag of the corpse. Your target's tag is worth 3 points. Your own is worth 3 points. Any other tag is worth one point. Overall you must end up with 6 points. That is the condition for clearing the fourth phase of the hunter exam."
At the explanation, we all made our way onto a boat that would transport us to the island.
'So we need to fight against other applicants now... Well, I guess not necessarily, we could steal the tag secretly, however someone is also targeting you, so you must be cautious at all times.'
/
The boat had a tense atmosphere about it. The guide of the boat couldn't crack it with her cheerful demeanour. Once she had explained all there was to be told, the group dispersed.
"Oi Deku! Who's your target?"
"I-I don't think it's ok to say..."
"Why not? Do you have me?"
"N-no..."
"Then why?"
"I... I don't know... Okay, but show me yours too. At the same time."
We both held up ours cards at the count of three.
#211
"I have no fucking clue who that is. I don't know who I've got either."
"I remembered, I have the lady with the shades and the rifle. For your one... Come on! Who was it... Ah yes! The lady with the scarf!"
"Fucking nerd. How the fuck should I know who that is?"
"W-well... I'll point it out to you when we see her."
"Fine. By the way Deku, you're going to stay with me and I'm going to help you get your target ok?"
"H-huh? Why?"
"Because I said so! Accept my help you damn nerd!"
"O-okay! I guess, I'll h-help you too then."
"Don't need it."
"Umm... let's go see Gon and Killua, make sure they don't have us."
"Fine. If they do though that doesn't mean I will show mercy on them."
Sitting against the edge, on the opposite side of the boat we found them.
"So... who are your t-targets?"
They looked at each other in hesitation.
"What about you two?" Killua asked.
"We don't have you, don't worry," Kacchan said.
"Us neither," said Gon.
"Want to show them at the s-same time?" I asked tentatively, ready to dodge if they didn't accept.
"Ok!"
Killua revealed his card showing #199.
Gon revealed #44.
I was shocked. Lost for words. How could Gon have the luck to land with him?
"That's..."
"Hisoka..."
"You have bad luck..."
"Do you know who #199 is?" Killua spoke up.
"Hmm... I tried to remember all their plates... who was it again... Oh yeah! One of the brothers. I-I don't know which one though."
"Oh! Was that why you spaced out when we were drawing the lots."
"Hehe... y-yeah..."
"You know your own target too?"
"Yup! Luckily she had a feature that stood out."
/
After two hours, we arrived at Zevil Island, and each person disembarked the ship one by one, in the order in which they cleared the exam.
"Deku, I'll wait for you over there, when I see you I'll rustle some leaves. You better fucking come to me or I'll find you." Kacchan hissed, just before he departed. After two minutes, I set out after him.
The week on Zevil Island had commenced.
Notice the double meaning in the title! (break through the wall, but Izuku also has a breakthrough with remembering the tags lol)
If you were wondering who the person in a scarf was... :)
Also sorry for this chapter taking so long (well longer than usual) to be uploaded, I try to always stay one chapter ahead when uploading just in case and I had a good flow going until chapter 7 T_T And a heads up, after chapter 7, the next chapter is likely going to take ages because of school :(
Thanks for following and favouriting, and all the reviews! Seeing all the reviews makes me so happy, keep them coming!
Replies to reviews:
Tap dancer: I see... I'm not very good at fight scenes, both thinking about the flow of events and also writing them...
Rayeth99: This soon enough? lol I'm not sure how fast I can keep this updates coming though, especially once school starts for me... ): I'm probably going to keep his power the same, since I wouldn't be able to write up another power, especially one that matches Gon's personality. I guess it can be limited, but it's straightforward which matches his personality