Disclaimer:I do not own Hunter x hunter or my hero academia. Those rights go to the legends Togashi and Horikoshi.
ALSO IM SO SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG ^~^ FORGIVE ME
Edited: 23/03/2020
The eleven of us had gathered onto the airship (in different locations), transporting us to the final phase, when an unexpected announcement was made.
"I have an announcement for all remaining applicants. The chairman wishes to interview the remaining applicants. When your number is called, please go to the first reception room on the second floor. Then we will start with #44, Hisoka-sama."
"An interview? Is this the final phase? No that's not likely... But then what is the purpose of this interview? Is it a secret phase? What order are they doing it in? If we fail the interview does it mean we can't take the final phase? Oh no they wouldn't do that would they?"
"Shut the fuck up Deku."
Although he did it in a rude manner, I had to thank Kacchan for preventing me from overthinking. An interview was unexpected, and thus I was unprepared.
Before I could discern a specific order of interviews, it was my turn.
"#392, Izuku-sama please."
I anxiously paced up to the second floor, and attempted to keep in my nerves.
"Come, sit down." The chairman invited me over.
'The chairman is talking to me directly? I can't believe this... No! Stop! Keep yourself together!' I battled inside my mind, trying not to show my skittish nature.
"I'll just be asking a phew questions to satisfy my curiosity." The chairman's laid-back attitude was a stark contrast to my tense self.
"O-o-okay!" I blurted out. I could feel my face burning hotter every passing second.
"First, why do you want to be a hunter?"
"I-I want to h-help p-p-people! S-sir!" I managed to muster out a broken answer through my stutters. I was royally failing at staying relaxed.
"I see." Giving no mind to my stutters, he seamlessly moved onto the next question. "Which of the other 10 applicants are you keeping an eye on?"
"U-umm... W-well..." I had not thought about a question like this. The first question was to be expected, and I knew my answer, however I had not thought about this. "I-I guess... #44? B-but also #99 and #405, i-in good w-ways."
"Hmm... Well here's the last question - Which of the other 10 applicants would you least like to fight?"
"That w-would be #391, #405, #99, #404 and #403... I th-think."
"You can go now."
"Th-thank y-you!"
/
Bakugo POV
"#391, Katsuki-sama next,"
'It's about fucking time. Let's see what this interview is all about.'
"Have a seat." The casual attitude the chairman held pissed me off, so however unwise this may be, I decided to challenge him.
"Actually I'd rather stand," I scoffed.
"Haha! If you want to then sure! So I have a few questions for you. Why do you want to be a hunter?" The old man casually replied to my retort.
I was about to snarl aggressively in answer, however I caught myself - in the pre-exam, someone asked the same thing, but it proved important answering to him. I decided to attempt to be more civil at the matter.
"Because I'm destined to be the greatest hunter! I'll beat you some day old man."
"Ah, interesting. Well moving on, who out of the other 10 are you keeping your eye on?"
"#99. And #392."
"Last question, who would you least like to fight?"
"#392."
"Your'e excused."
/
Izuku POV
"Welcome gentleman. Did you get plenty of rest? This hotel is owned by the hunter committee. The place is all yours until the battles have concluded. For the final phase, we will be holding a one-on-one tournament."
'I guess that's quite obvious. So far we haven't directly had to fight against other applicants, despite the penultimate being combat focused, one could've passed using stealth or negotiating. Who will I fight?'
Right on cue, a cloaked board was rolled in and uncovered to reveal the fights.
'Wait... does that mean only one person passes? And what's up with that... the amount of fights people get aren't equal... I guess that's the chairman...'
"You only need one win to pass. The winners are removed from the competition, whilst the losers move up the bracket. In other words, the person who finished at the top will not pass."
Afterwards, he removed the cover over our names, and unveiled the applicants we would be facing, and potentially face.
Quickly counting the brackets in my head, I discovered me and Kacchan had the same number of chances - 4. Gon had 6, Killua had 3, Kurapika had 4, and Leorio had 2. My immediate opponent was Bodoro, the old martial artist, and Kacchan's was the victor of the fight between Pokkle and Gon or Hanzo. Worryingly, If I lost my next opponent would be Kurapika or Hisoka. If Kacchan lost, he would have to fight Killua. In other words, it would be best if we both won our first fights.
"Impressive isn't it? After all everyone has at least two chances to win."
He was correct, the lowest brackets someone had was 2 (Leorio and Gittarackur) and the most was 6 (Hanzo and gon)
"Why didn't you use a balanced bracket?" The discontent in those with fewer chances showed in their faces. Bodoro out spoke his concern
"This bracket was based on your performances throughout the entire exam. Those who performed better received more chances."
'Wait... does that mean they thought I was... e-equal to K-kacchan? And better than K-Killua? No that can't be true, I know Killua was above both our levels..."
"That doesn't sound right. Can you explain how you scored our performances?" Killua said, attempting to hide his disdain.
I could see his discontent etched in his face. Killua was thinking the same thing as me: why was he ranked lower than me?
His eyes stared into the chairman's, longing for an explanation.
"NO!" Out of nowhere, the chairman dropped his calm demeanour and shrieked at the question, violently shaking his head.
Killua was clearly frustrated at this senseless outrage.
He chuckled, immediately switching back to his usual self. " Your scores are classified information, so I can't tell you everything. But I can tell you the method. First we consider 3 major criteria: physical strength, mental strength, and overall impression. For physical strength we use an aggregate of agility, flexibility, endurance and perception. For mental strength, an aggregate of resilience, adaptability, judgement and creativity. However this is only used as a reference, as you all have advanced to the final phase. However we are most concerned with your overall impression. This refers to any intangible factors not previously mentioned. You could consider this an evaluation of your potential as a hunter."
'So if overall impression is the most important, it makes sense why me and Kacchan would be equal, however... Do I really have the same potential as him? Or did they give me 4 chances just because the system demanded a path as such and I was the most suitable... Either way, 4 as a measure of hunter potential isn't amazing. It's not bad, but it's average. It's in the middle of the highest and lowest, and also the most people have 4 chances. And that means I'm average. That just means we are both average. For hunters anyway...'
Cutting off my gradually worsening train of thought, the chairman continued with his explanation. "The battle rules are quite simple. Weapons are allowed. No cheating. If your opponent admits defeat, you win. However! If you kill your opponent, you will be immediately disqualified. All the remaining applicants will pass, and the exam will end. Are we clear?"
After noticing the uneasy nods everyone gave, I plucked up the courage to ask a question.
"Y-you said that you w-win if your opponent s-surrenders, and if you k-kill them, you're disqualified. B-b-but what if you kn-knock them u-unconscious?" It was really quite nerve-wracking to be stuttering in front of some strong applicants I was about to fight, however this only made my usual habit worse.
"You can only win if your opponent surrenders. Knocking unconscious, or TKO doesn't count."
'With being disqualified after coming this far as a strong deterrent against killing, this'll likely then turn into a battle of will... That's both a relief and a pain, I'm sure everyone will be determined to not give up. I just need to be more determined.'
"Uh, o-one more. I-if you were to hypothetically kill y-yourself, would this result in your o-opponents win?"
"Yes, that's correct. The one killing is the one to disqualify. Is that all?"
'Ok, so you wouldn't be able to use your own life as leverage, although that would be quite short-sighted and foolish. Good to know however. In this case, it is optimal for me to not do anything at all. I need to demonstrate my determination, use it as a deterrent.'
/
"The first match is Hanzo vs Gon. Step forward! I will serve as the referee. My name is Masta."
"Yo. It's been a while. You were tailing me during the fourth phase." The ninja Hanzo spoke back to Masta's surprise, unveiling something I should've known.
"You knew?"
"Naturally. I'm assuming each applicant was assigned an examiner for the fourth phase. Well I'm sure everyone else noticed."
'In hindsight it was obvious. How would they judge us otherwise for the ranking. The first 3 phases wouldn't have given sufficient information. Kacchan doesn't seem startled by this at all... He's definitely hiding something...'
"Then, it's time."
Gon readied his stance.
"Begin!"
At once a green flash whizzed around the room, shortly followed by a black blur of a ninja.
In an instant Hanzo sent a chop straight to Gon's neck.
'Fast! So fast I can barely keep track with my eyes. If I want to become a strong hunter I need to be faster than that.'
And just like that, in less than a second, Gon had fallen to the floor in a different place than when he started. It wasn't that he was slow, it was that Hanzo was faster.
Of course however, to knock Gon unconscious wasn't what Hanzo wanted, so he helped him up.
'I see, it's like a taster, a deterrent.'
Despite the giant gap in their power, and the obvious obstacle, Gon didn't surrender. A will of fire.
The same series of events followed, each wound escalating in severity, but Gon was not discouraged. A will of fire.
Tensions were high, blood had been shed, and yet Gon did not yield. A will of fire.
I could feel my insides turning over, I hated simply watching my friend beaten senseless, but I knew if were in his position I would not surrender.
'From a logical standpoint, even though as a friend, I truly want him to surrender, to end this slaughter, I wouldn't surrender if I were Gon. In a way, the severity increasing could act as both a discouragement and incentive, as you would know next time it'll be worse, however you also think you have come this far, why not keep going. There's only so far one can go in wounding someone before you kill them.'
"I'm going to break your arm. Give up"
"NEVER!"
At this point there was almost no turning back. If Gon were to give up now, he would be severely harmed for his next fight, and likely lose. Hanzo however wanted this futile cat and mouse game to end.
*crack*
It was excruciating to watch, so I squinted my eyes. Kurapika, Leorio and I were visibly intensely aggravated from this fight.
Hanzo went into a speech, one I didn't listen to as I was too busy restraining myself, however in his distraction, displaying his skills by forming a hand stand on one finger. Gon seized his opportunity and struck him on the arm he was standing on. However, short after he collapsed from the strain he must've been facing.
"My head's cleared a bit after all that pain and that long explanation. This isn't a battle to see who is stronger. It's to see who's willing to surrender first."
At once Gon dispelled the tension in the room with a few words and actions.
"I let you kick me on purpose. You don't understand. This isn't a warning. This is an ultimatum."
From beneath his clothing, he removed a blade, and reverted the atmosphere back to how it was a few minutes ago in the blink of an eye.
"I'll cut off your legs so that they can't be reattached. A permanent injury should help wake you up. But first I ask of you to surrender." He was clearly frustrated. Behind his sombre attitude I could see the end of his patience. That being said however, it was still unwise to not surrender at this stage.
"I refuse! I don't want my legs cut off, but I don't want to surrender. So let's find a different way to fight!"
Although Gon was kind and carefree, he was also selfish. To demand a different way to fight after being brutally slaughtered? To show confidence and be recalcitrant after such a show was unheard of (well to me at least)? Was it foolishness? Was it his strong will? Was it selfishness?
This had struck Hanzo's last nerve.
"Hey... Do you understand your own situation?" The tensity in the atmosphere had once again been dispelled by Gon. Chuckles resounded through the room.
"I'm seriously going to cut off your legs!" The edge in his voice had disappeared and he now simply sounded comedic. Just like that, with a few words, Gon managed to completely flip the situation, taking control.
"I still will not surrender. Besides, if you do that I'll bleed to death. Let's think of another way."
His words were not simply an attempt at appearing fiercer. Gon was genuine in his demand, as when Hanzo shoved his blade directly at Gon's forehead, he did not flinch.
"You really don't understand. If I kill you, you don't get another chance, but I need only try again next year." His attempt at reverting the atmosphere was futile. Although Gon had every reason to surrender and Hanzo had all the evidence to win, Gon was tenacious.
His prideful glare at Hanzo was relentless, determined. "I'm going to find my dad. I'm going to become a hunter and find my dad. So I won't surrender!"
I don't think I even saw him blink.
Hanzo, defeated, retracted his blade.
"I can't accept that. That's not fair! We have to think of a fair way to settle this fight!" Utterly foolish. Ridiculous. That was the only way to describe those words uttered from the mouth of Gon.
In a rage, Hanzo threw a punch and knocked out Gon. With that, the opening match conceded.
Sorry about the dull exposition on the fighting order. It's quite annoying fanfic doesn't allow images (unless if I'm just being stupid and it is possible). Hope the explanation was clear enough. Also sorry again that this chapter was quite... empty I guess?... It's necessary to the plot but it felt like filler to me... maybe I should've skipped the fights already shown... Actually then in that case:
Question: Was that last part with Gon vs Hanzo boring? I mean it basically was a written version of the scene, I guess with some of Izuku's thoughts but that was quite minimal. Should I just skip all the fights that would be the same as in the manga/anime (I'm following the 2011 anime directly btw lol) and go right to Izuku and Katsuki's fights?
I'M SO SORRYYY (again) THAT TOOK SO LONG! Honestly, school gives too much homework. The combined workload from school, and also the fear of butchering the final phase kinda kept me procrastinating from writing it ^~^ sorry... Thanks for sticking with me! Also prepare for more slow updates...
Thanks for all the follows and favourites! And thanks for all the reviews!
Replies to reviews:
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