Hunter x Hunter

The First Phase Begins (Pt. 2)

"My dearest apologies!"

"Oh, that's okay Tonpa." Gon replied, "It's just lucky i drank first. Taste is a vital forest survival tool, so my tongue's trained to detect anything iffy."

"Er... That's lucky all right..." Tonpa stammered, Drat! He seems like a naive twerp, but he's a fearful savant. And his friends caught on quick, so much for my opening gambit. Lots of rookies like that this year! I can't seem to get 'em with my usual bag o' tricks! Take #294 - Hanzo. He started yakkin' when i said 'hi';

(A/N: Everything from here will be Tonpa recalling his meeting with previous examinees until another note. Also, he is now walking around and is no longer with the trio.)

"Don't tell anyone, but i'm actually a ninja." Hanzo began casually, "I want a license so i can hunt the elusive 'Hermit's Scroll'. Rumor is it's in a country barred to commoners. Nice chatting with you. Helps lighten the dismal mood around here. That reminds me, the other day..."

"Yeah?" Tonpa encouraged him on, obviously pleased, Heh heh... Here's a prime sucker at last. "What say we drink to that?" 

But he was clearly surprised when Hanzo put up his hand, his expression covering his face in a cloud of seriousness, "The shinobi eat and drink nothing offered to them by others. No offence."

"Oh... uh... Sure." Tonpa replied, nervous at the sudden change in the atmosphere

(A/N: Stops here.)

Assassin's eyes. Trusts no one but himself. As for #187 - Nicholas...

(A/N: Starts here, again)

As soon as Tonpa offered the juice to the newbie, The boy pulled out a laptop and within seconds had all the information on 'Tonpa' pulled out;

"One moment, please. 'Tonpa'... Ah... You're on you're thirty fifth attempt. That's the second highest number of tries by anyone. You do, however, hold the record for consecutive tries at 30. Pretty impressive. You make a good showing every time, but you get too caught in whittling down the newbie faction to make the cut. That's how you earned the sobriquet... 'Rookie Crusher'. Therefore, i'll decline your overtures."

(A/N: Stops here.😅 I promise. No more.)

And then there's #301... Who's just too creepy! I decided to take a pass. Only one of 'em actually drank my juice. #99 - Killua. About the same age as #405, but clearly clueless. Still has lots to learn about life. Heh! Bet he's ready to explode.

"Tonpa!" Killua yelled, his whitish silver hair all over his face, those blue gems in his eye sockets glistening even in the darkness of the tunnel. He ran over to the rookie crusher, "Can you spare another can of that juice?"

"Huh? Uh... sure."

"I'm thirsty as anything! Must be nerves, huh!"

Tonpa grew uncomfortable by each drink that he saw Killua finish.

"Smack! Yummy!!" Killua said, mostly to himself, his thirst gone.

What's up? The first one should've kicked in by now. Drink five of those, and you die of dehydration!

"It's okay." Killua answered, reading his thoughts, "I'm doing fine, really. I've built up my resistance... no poison will kill me."

But he doesn't even know what kind of drug i used. Is he resistant to everything! This year's rookies are just too strange. Heh... Which means... This exam's gonna be fun!

BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!

Suddenly all attention turned towards the origin of the shrill alarm like voice, towards a man standing on a pipe.