Hunter x Hunter RPG: The Hunt Begins

[MegamanX195]

"Enemies, huh..." Sora thought. "Wonder if I will have the opportunity to show off my abilities." He concluded.

Sora turned to see that one of the enemies was staring at him the whole time. "Wonder why is that... I know Hunter kids are uncommon, but those aren't overestimative or even surprised eyes... It's something else." He thought. From a quick impression, the bandit seemed like a smart guy, and was also well dressed, using a black suit. Sora was happy that he would get to fight, so he couldn't help but smile and wave at the man.

"Hey!" Sora said. It looks like the man expected some reaction.

"The name is..."

"Doesn't matter." Sora interrupted him.

"What?"

"While I do think you know your stuff, you made a fatal mistake. Anyone with even a little bit of talent can tell when people are way above their league. Dietrich already said this, but you and the other guys challenged 7 professional Hunters."

"Wh... What do you mean?"

"I'm saying that you have no talent for fighting, that's all. I suggest you change your "career".

"You..." The bandit said. Sora noted that something was weird: the bandit didn't have any sort of comeback or even an insult. "Maybe he's just polite..." he thought.

"Blue Wave!" Sora said, as his sword appeared. His smile came off for a second as he did this, his face changing into a more serious tone, and then it came back. He was slightly surprised the bandit didn't show any reaction to what he did. "Is he really that confident? ...well, I wasn't planning to use Blue Wave, just wanted to show off a bit." He thought.

The guy pulled 2 guns that he was concealing. Sora could tell they were very powerful handguns, though he couldn't tell exactly which guns were those. They seemed old though. Then, the guy extended his aura over the guns. "Shu, huh... Is this really just a simple Intensification attack?"

"Those are Single Action Army revolvers. Rarities today..." The man said with some pride.

"Six bullets each... more than enough to kill anything that moves."

The suited-up man quickly aimed and shot. One shot for each gun. After the bullets traveled a short distance, though, the bullets vanished. Sora crouched, and 2 bullets went flying right behind where his head was supposed to be.

"Heh, I knew it." Sora stated, with his smile still on."You're an Emission user, right? You emitted 2 portals to the middle of the bullet's trajectory, and 2 more portals to 2 locations a few meters behind where I was standing. That's why you kept staring at me. I was on the "right spot", right?"

The man was left speechless. Sora went on.

"You did all that before we arrived, for 2 reasons: One, if you were to emit those portals in front of us, it would be too obvious. And, most importantly, two: You're not skilled enough to emit those portals during a fight. That preemptive strike was everything you got, and that's why you aimed for the head and the guns were particularly powerful (though old)." Sora said all of this, without taking off his smile. The man was still speechless, and now bearing a very worried expression.

"You impressed me though. I underestimated you and didn't think you were capable of using In, so I didn't use Gyo." Sora said. "Though that was more due to me secretly wanting to see if I could win without using Nen..." he admitted to himself on his head.

"You lost for, once again, 2 reasons: First, you didn't think about what could happen if things didn't go according to plan, and put everything you got in. That is rarely, if ever, the case. Secondly..." Upon saying this, Sora seemingly vanished and instantly appeared in front of him with sheer speed, this time, a serious and deadly expression on his face. "...I'm simply much stronger than you."

Suit guy jumped back in reaction, in absolute fear.

"Good reflexes." Sora complimented, smile back on.

The gun fanatic then got into a small bush nearby, and his presence couldn't be felt anymore. He had vanished

"So you had a backup plan to escape in case this didn't work out and left a portal there? That actually disappoints me... it means you know you're weak and you would be screwed if your main plan didn't work. You can never think that you're going to lose in a battle." Sora declared, seemingly to no one.

"Anyway, your escape plan is flawed. It's obvious you're not very skilled, so the other portal can't be that far. The area has almost no hiding places, so you could only be..." Sora jumped up to the only tree nearby... "...here." ...and kicked the man back to the ground.

"If you really wanted to escape, you would have to use your ability to get into some sort of underground tunnel. That would require far more preparation than what some bandits are about to do, though."

The bandit had given up by that point. He had been completely outclassed.

"You have no talent for fighting, but I think you're pretty smart, and you're also quite skilled at Nen for someone with your inexperience."

"If... if I promise to stop doing this kind of thing, will you let me go?" Sora felt the bandit really meant it, with no basis other than intuition.

"Sure!" Sora nodded and did a thumbs up. The bandit parted ways after that.

Sora was cursing in his mind a little, though. "Bummer... I expected to fight someone strong. I didn't have to use anything special to win. Oh well."

Sora saw that everyone had finished their fights, and they had some interesting abilities, too.

"So... shall we get going?" Sora said cheerfully.

 

[Hunter2323]

Lukannon gave a silent command for Ash to pin the man Sora (at least this name was becoming easier for him to recall) had let go.

Like a blur Ash rushed the man, ripping the guns away before circling around another time for the pin, paws on shoulders, fangs bared against the prey's neck, ready to kill at a moment's notice.

Lukannon simply walked up to Ash's side, preparing to speak loudly for everyone to hear. "He not die he come back with friends. He come back with more weapons. He come back stronger with revenge." Ash let out a growl that seemed otherworldly coming from a creature made entirely of Mother's energy. "We kill him."

Ash widened his jaw in preparation to plunge his teeth into the man's neck...

 

[NoFreakingWay]

"Lukannon, could you hold on for a minute?"

It was Random. He was behind Lukannon. Lukannon still wasn't looking at him and Random thought it'd be good to give him a friendly pat on his shoulder, but he thought twice and chose to move in front of Lukannon first before doing it. He also gave Lukannon a warm smile.

"I'll hire them."

Random paused, scratched his head for like, 5 seconds, and continued.

"Hunters can hire criminals to work for them. To hire means to offer them some work, or something. These people might be criminals. If I hire them, and they accept, they'll no longer be a threat to us. So please, don't kill them just yet."

While Lukannon was processing Random's offer, Random waved at Sora.

"Did great there, homeboy! Was that analysis your main ability? That went pretty smooth!" Random was clapping like a seal.

 

[Tame]

As the others leapt off in different directions to meet their opponents, Dietrich's gaze returned to the ringleader. He stared him down as the ratty man chuckled malevolantly. Dietrich's ability was mostly defensive, and he'd waste too much time using it here. Besides, he didn't think he'd need it. He ran towards the building his enemy stood atop and leapt upwards. His opponent had the good sense to throw away his gun and began to focus his nen into his right fist - he was going to meet Dietrich's head-on charge with a power attack. As he passed through the air towards him, Dietrich fired a small bullet of nen at the man's feet. He was ill-suited for Emission, but the move served its purpose; it blasted the concrete, startling his enemy and distracting him for the split second Dietrich needed to land a powerful punch. With a squeal the man was sent skidding across the roof.

Dietrich landed and, not wasting a moment, leapt at the hateful, scrawny man, landing another punch to the side of the man's head which sent he reeling. Then Dietrich, behind his enemy now, wrapped one hand round the man's chin and placed the other across the back of his head. With a snap, the man's neck was broken instantly.

'Wonder why these chumps follow this guy,' Dietrich thought, who had no compassion for those who kill innocents. 'He's gotta be the weakest son of a bitch I ever met.'

Standing, he walked to the edge of the rooftop and looked down on the scene below to watch his team members in their various battles. He watched dispassionately, assessing how each of them dealt with their opponents. He saw Dennis producs some kind of bubble which created an explosion that sent his opponent flying through the air and into the control tower.

'Not even a reinforcer can completly get away from that unharmed,' Dennis said as he triumphed. 'Well guess I can keep my job huh?' He could certainly keep it, Dietrich thought, but Dennis had also shown his own inexperience as well; while that last attack of his had certainly been very powerful, there were certainly nen-users, even non-Enhancers, that could come out unscathed from it.

Random, Dietrich saw, disposed of his opponent with a barrage of Emission attacks whilst apparently sitting on the same kind of nen-seat that he had described to them earlier; Scyre and his opponent had disappeared, as he had hinted per his ability.

Lukannon, with help from a distraction courtesy of Ash, was able to get in close to his enemy and slice his head clean off. Then, to Dietrich's disgust, Ash began nibbling at the carcass.

Thos, meanwhile, was engaged in a close-quarters battle with his opponent, a huge man, at least twice the size of the slim Thos. The large man was swinging a bokken around skilfully, but Thos was keeping his distance, dodging each swing expertly.

The Hunter knew that his enemy was physically much stronger than him, and that if he caught him, Thos was done for, so he hopped about, dodging each attack with ease.

'Get over here, ya little worm!' yelled the thug in frustration as every one his attacks failed to hit home. Stopping to breath, he stared Thos down. 'Heh, so you've got some skill,' he said, a smirk spreading across his face. 'I'll give you that. But you've got nothing strength-wise!'

Thos remained silent. He wasn't the type to engage in trash talk with his opponents unless he had a personal grudge against them.

'Snotty little bastard!!' yelled the thug, leaping forward, this time much faster, swinging his sword down with greater strength than before. He had concentrated part of his nen to his feet to increase the speed of his attack, and the rest was concentrated into his bokken to increase its power.

Calmly and deftly, Thos stepped aside to avoid the attack, then grabbed the man's sword arm at the elbow. The man screamed out as Thos flooded his unprotected arm with aggressive nen, shattering the joint. The man dropped his sword, but still didn't give in; he swung his other arm at the Hunter wildly, but Thos disappeared from sight. He reappeared behind his enemy, airborne, and dellivered a powerful kick to his head, smashing him into the ground.

Thos landed, poised ready for a potential counter-attack, and quickly scooped up his opponent's weapon, shattering it the same way he had shattered its owner's arm. The large man lifted his head, rubbing it groggily with his one remaining good arm.

'Ugh, what did you do to my arm, ya douchbag?' he demanded.

'I don't have to tell you anything,' Thos replied simply. 'Just stay the fuck down.' In fact, it was a very simple technique; it was essentially 'Shu', but by doing so with ill-intent, it could do deadily damage. Had the man had a nen-defense up around his arm it wouldn't have worked, but Thos could tell that almost of his nen had been in his sword.

Glancing round, he saw that most of the others had finished their battles; Scyre had just reappeared with his enemy, who had dropped dead soon after; Dietrich had jumped down from the roof, having retrieved Dennis' unconscious opponent first, whose body he threw down next to Thos' opponent.

Thos was disgusted at Ash's treatment of the dead man. He himself never killed, but he appreciated that from a practical stand-point it was sometimes admissable, so he rarely interfered when teammates of his chose to finish their opponents off. However, he believed that what Lukannon was letting Ash do was desecration; the dead, friend or foe, should be dealt with in the proper manner, not fed to wolves.

Sora, meanwhile, had just let his enemy go after demonstrating his analytical skills (which was a little too cocky and show-boaty for Dietrich's taste), and the bandit was hurrying swiftly away, leaving his comrades in the hands of their enemies. Like a blur Ash rushed the man, ripping the guns away before circling around another time for the pin, paws on shoulders, fangs bared against the prey's neck, ready to kill at a moment's notice.

Lukannon simply walked up to Ash's side, preparing to speak loudly for everyone to hear. 'He not die he come back with friends. He come back with more weapons. He come back stronger with revenge.' Ash let out a growl. 'We kill him.'

Ash widened his jaw in preparation to plunge his teeth into the man's neck...

'Stop!' yelled Thos, rushing over. It wasn't that he cared about the enemy, he just didn't think it was Lukannon's place to decide his fate. 'Lukannon, you can't kill that man! He was Sora's enemy! Sora defeated him, and chose to spare him! It's not your decision whether he lives or dies!'

Having made this speech, Thos wasn't sure what to do next. He could forcibly kick Ash off the man's back, but that would be tantamount to attacking Lukannon himself, and if they started fighting amongst themselves, the mission would be doomed.

 

[Zvane]

"Lukannon, that's cheap" Scyre said getting closer to the others "It's Sora's target, so he's the one who should kill him, or not."
Scyre had a personal problem here, he might be borderline psycho, but he still had a sense of honour.

"Random, hiring him is not a bad idea, we could use some cannon fodder but....it might be better if we control him, like I did with that other idiot, so he won't even think of selling us out. But I'll leave it up to you to decide."

He was worried, his mind wasn't still over that text message he received earlier. If she was anywhere near, then he'll be in trouble -That bitch...if she wasn't such a lousy friend we would be able to date-

-Agh...I really need to take a piss....please guys, hurry-

 

[Hunter2323]

'Stop!' yelled Thos, rushing over. 'Lukannon, you can't kill that man! He was Sora's enemy! Sora defeated him, and chose to spare him! It's not your decision whether he lives or dies!'

"Lukannon, could you hold on for a minute?"

Lukannon felt the presence of one of his new, temporary pack members behind him after hearing the one, Te-hos, the one he would have to work with on the plan, yell at him to stop. With no ill intent showing he did not bother to turn around to the one at his rear. Fortunately, the man had the common sense not to touch him from behind.

"Sora not kill man affect our safety. Man not use Mother's energy right. Use it to hurt people."

"I'll hire them."

"You make him taller? How that help?"

"Hunters can hire criminals to work for them. To hire means to offer them some work, or something. These people might be criminals. If I hire them, and they accept, they'll no longer be a threat to us. So please, don't kill them just yet."

Lukannon looked at the others now seemingly joining together to confront him. A small, feral look began to make its way across Lukannon's face just before one of Noa's teachings came back to him.

*FLASHBACK*

"Others are not going to be able to understand you. Some of them will ignore you while others will confront you. Them disagreeing with you is not a challenge to you. It is simply a way for people to understand each other and reach compromises. In your pack did one wolf make all the decisions? Probably, but he always listened to his brothers and sisters suggestions, correct? Just listen to what they have to say and don't rush into your decisions. People, especially Hunters, have their own way of doing things. You can learn from them, and maybe they can learn from you."

A fairly tall and lean man, said as he was correcting Lukannon's training. Dark grey eyes with brown hair (and a little grey starting to come in) distinguished the man's unassuming face. The suit he wore seemed horribly out of place for being in the jungle, but it was the only thing he seemed to ever wear.

Lukannon simply tried to absorb as much of Noa's teachings as he could during the training. Ren and Ten everyday on top of some of these more exhausting "type" exercises plus his usual training were beginning to take their toll. It had been over a year since Noa found Lukannon. He was the only human Lukannon trusted. The only one that could give him answers to all the questions he had growing up in the jungle, being raised by the pack.

The language barrier was hard, but with Noa, learning it came much quicker than the time Noa brought it that talking specialist. Having grasped a greater understanding of Mother's energy, Lukannon assumed it had something to do with Noa's ability. An ability he had still yet to share. Whether that was due to him not being able to understand it or Noa not wanting to share, Lukannon could not even guess.

"Understand, Noa. I try compromise more."

*FLASHBACK END*

"Ok, compromise. You give work him. I not kill, but he must not use again Mother's energy this way."

"Lukannon, that's cheap" Scyre said getting closer to the others "It's Sora's target, so he's the one who should kill him, or not."

The words "cheap" and "target" made little sense to Lukannon the way they were used this time, but he could guess that this one, Disappear (this name would have to do until he said his name again), agreed with the others.

"Understand." was all he replied to Disappear, hoping to mask his wariness of letting the prey stay so close and his confusion.

Lukannon finally turned to Sora, the closest thing he had to a friend excluding his siblings. "We sorry for doing that. Still not use to not killing. Still trust?"

 

[thatguy3331]

Dennis looked on at the drama and sighed. "sheesh, never a dull momment on the job huh?" He never usually cared for killing opponents unless they really pissed him off, though he wasn't about to go and preach to jungle man and his big bad wolf over there. He then turned and walked over to his unconsious enemy, poking him with his foot.

"Still alive huh? well I guess since it wasn't full power it'd make sense, plus I really didn't care if he lived or died... If you guys want another lacky, you can have this chump!" Dennis then yelled. "I don't care what you do, so anyones gain." He said as he began to walk back towards the group.

"Even still from what I can tell, the emitters from my group have much more useful abilities from what I can see... even that one chump sora faced had a portal ability, even if it sucked..." While dennis liked the hatsu he came up with, he was aware of its flaws. if it weren't for a few conditions and pledges he tacked on for sure mesure, he wasn't sure if his abilities would work as well. Despite this a grin came to his face. "Still though, I think I have a idea of a new techniqe I can work towards... but It'll have to wait til this is overwith." Dennis finished.

"well now that we know we're all still employed, hows about we give these new 'assistants' of ours a task and move out?" Dennis said doing knee squats and streching his legs. He then notice scyre, and from what he could tell, he either had something in that little slightly deranged mind of his or he had to take a piss. hell, it could have been both!

 

[Tame]

'If you want to hire them then go ahead,' Dietrich said to Random. 'But they can't join us on this mission; we can't trust them for sure yet, and besides, they're too weak to be of any real use. I'm going to make a call to the authorities informing them of what happened here, but I'll make sure these men have amnesty under your sanction, Random. Assuming they're still here when the police get here,' he added, given that of their four still-living enemies, three were unconscious.

'You guys clear up here,' Dietrich continued, indicating the bodies. Then warm up - we're setting off for the Gobunlia border by foot in ten minutes.'

As the others lined up the bodies of the airport steward and their fallen opponents, Dietrich headed into the control building, found a phone and called the local police. He gave them his identity and provided him with his contact details so they could get hold of him if they needed.

As he put down the phone, he thought about the exchange that had just taken place; it was worrying that anyone had known they were coming, but there was nothing to be done about it. On the other hand, he had been able to see the others' strength first-hand, and he was pleased with it. They had also managed to resolve the issue with Lukannon with just a few short words, which was gratifying. It showed that they were capable of working as a team. It had been worrying him that their different clashing personalities would make them incompatible, but now his worries were at least partly averted.

There were local maps in the control building which he studied. It was sixty miles to the Gobulina border as the crow flies. Then they'd sneak over said border (he didn't want the Gobunlian authorities to know seven Hunters were entering the country - if Marconi had any of the border police bribed then he'd hear about it). Then it was another thirty from where they'd cross the border to the nearest town. It would take them an hour and a half, at a rough estimate. There they could buy a van and drive the sixty miles to Deriva. They'd arrive at about 8pm; about dusk time. Hopefully they'd be able to scope out Marconi's mansion briefly before they lost the light. Then they could review their plan as the sun was setting and attack once it was fully dark.

Dietrich returned outside to see what the others were doing.

(OOC: Random, you can take control of the bandits if you like now, since they're now in your employ.)

 

[MegamanX195]

Sora waved back at Random, and liked his little joke. He took that as a compliment and joked back.

"Maybe, but your ability is a lot more badass!", Sora said waving back.

----------


Sora had observed the whole affair instead of stepping in. Why? The reason was simple. He could feel that was "natural" to Lukannon. While Sora doesn't believe in killing needlessly, he also knows that everyone has different beliefs and mind-sets, and he also knew that you couldn't simply tell someone to "stop doing what you've always believed in" and expect them to simply comply. Lukannon, then, was someone totally out of the ordinary. Maybe his belief was that "killing his enemy" is always the best.

After the whole affair, Sora was happy to see that Lukannon was trying to change. What pleased him even more, however, was that he sensed Lukannon thought of him, at least, as "trustworthy". That was enough to him for now.

"Of course, Lukannon." Seeing that Lukannon was trying to learn, he decided to keep talking.

"Have you imagined: what if that man has little children, plants, 5 dogs and 3 birds at his home?" Sora waited an instant, but Lukannon kept silent, so he continued.

"They would all die. Meaninglessly. What if that man was actually very poor, and HAD to do what he was doing to keep on living?"

"On the other hand, even if he came back someday with more people, we would just defeat them again easily, wouldn't we?"

Sora paused for an instant, and smiled a bit. "Of course... I suppose all of what I'm saying is kinda pointless, since we already had an agreement, isn't it?", he said, chuckling a bit.

"Don't worry about anything too much. C'mon, Dietrich is calling us."

----------

"Man, some of these guys were heavy." Sora mentally complained. "Suppose I'll talk a bit to Random now. I think it's best to leave Lukannon thinking a bit for now, and, since, after Lukannon, Random was the one who stood out more from the rest...", he thought, walking up to Random.

"Heya!", he waved at the drummer.

"I couldn't help but notice how... "musical" you are, haha. Is there any special reason for that, or is it simply because you just happen to like it?"

"Also... any music recommendations?"

 

[Zvane]

"So...I'll take it as a "no" for turning them into our slaves"

-Great, now we have 4 idiots to take care of besides the mission, and not even one of them under mind control..oh, things are gonna get funny- Scyre thought while staring at one of the unconscious guys.

"Have you imagined: what if that man has little children, plants, 5 dogs and 3 birds at his home?" Sora waited an instant, but Lukannon kept silent, so he continued.

"They would all die. Meaninglessly. What if that man was actually very poor, and HAD to do what he was doing to keep on living?"

"On the other hand, even if he came back someday with more people, we would just defeat them again easily, wouldn't we?"

Sora paused for an instant, and smiled a bit. "Of course... I suppose all of what I'm saying is kinda pointless, since we already had an agreement, isn't it?", he said, chuckling a bit.

"Sora, it doesn't really matter what kind of lives they live, or if they had no other choice but to resort to steal, or whatever. In my line of work, I steal, blackmail, even whore myself out to complete my job: survive, and that's all we can do, survive. The point is, they attacked us, we fought back, we won. Period. Don't want to kill him? It's your choice." Scyre said putting back his serious face. To him, Sora was a good hearted kid, filled with ideas of right and wrong. He was going to have a hard time later on.

As soon as he finally took a piss, he came back to the group. He took out his hand sanitizer from his backpack (he had to admit it, he had a pretty severe OCD even if he'd never admit it) and while rubbing his hands with the gel he watched as the unconscious bodies were being taken y the group.

-I'd leave them here to rot....oh well-

After grabbing one of those guys and putting him on his back, he walked with the others. He approached Lukannon, he figured he'd better apologise for being a bit hard to. "Uhm...sorry about earlier...you know...I would have killed him myself but...it wasn't your call this time. So....we okay?"

 

[NoFreakingWay]

Random exhaled as soon as Lukannon gave his offer a chance.

"Wow, Thanks, man. I owe you one. I'll make sure your decision won't be wasted," said Random, and he shook Lukannon's hand and bowed his head a lot in gratitude.

Scyre said something about controlling the survivors. "So that's what happens when they get out of the nen-dimension? Or is that only one of the things that may happen?" thought Random. As usual, Random can't hide his state of mind and it showed through an exaggerated pout.

Dietrich also mentioned that he'll arrange for their opponents to be under his supervision, but he pointed out some things that would go against bringing them along.

Dennis also suggested to move the fallen opponents out of the battlefield.

Random smiled and replied.

"Well Scyre, controlling them in that state is just a waste of nen. They're already pretty much incapacitated. We still have more important things to waste Nen on. As for these guys, they'll be taken to the hospital. I'll make a call to some of my brothers in the OTG to guard them. They'll be trained after their recovery is complete and be offered a position in the OTG if they become strong enough. So it'll be a long time before we get to hear from them again."

-----

As they were arranging the unconscious bodies, Sora went up to Random and asked about his musical ability. Random can't help but smile a childish smile at this question. Everyone in Saint Vesalius knows how Random loved music, especially those genre that were drumming-intensive.

"Well, how to start...? I would say 'yes' to both... I simply like doing music, and there's also a special reason behind it," Random paused and looked up to the sky, after making sure the guy he carried lay in a comfortable position.

"My ability, my music... is like, a hymn for the dead, a requiem, you see..."

-----

*FLASHBACK*

Year 19xx, Saint Vesalius.

Delinquent crime reached an all-time high.

Arms and drugs were both cheap and easy to find.

Violence and death were an everyday occurence.

The police could not function normally. Most were either corrupt, or just scared shitless of the whole situation.

A young Random Randomson listens to his older brother play a cassette tape copy of the album "Person" by the band "Dauthi" for the first time.

Random Randomson comments that this album is just "a record of a walrus succumbing to diarrhea for 34 minutes".

Weeks after the first listen, Random Randomson starts playing the air drums.

--

Months after starting to play the air drums, Random Randomson buys his first pair of drum sticks.

Weeks after the purchase, the local music shop gets burned down after molotov cocktails were thrown at its general direction. The owner dies.

--

During his freshman year at high school, Random's neighborhood went through what some call the "Vesalius Incident". But, to the gang members who perpertrated the whole thing, it will always be remembered as "The One True Drive-By".

Untold numbers of delinquent gang members drove by on various vehicles at every street touting various firearms and explosives, and let loose on each person, animal, house, establishment and vehicle they came across.

Needless to say, unethical amounts of damage to property and deaths resulted.

Each delinquent gang member who participated wore a white wristband on both wrists.

*END FLASHBACK*

-----

Random snapped back to reality. Sora had that concerned look on his face.

"Did I... space out? Sorry man... Oh yeah, if you were looking for bands, I think you might want to check out the album "Person" by the band "Dauthi". That one's a classic.

-----

ooc: The album "Person" by the band Dauthi is a play on the real album "Human" by the real band Death. Human clocks in at around 34 minutes. It was released at around 1991.

 

[Tame]

Sora was explaining to Lukannon why he thought it wrong to kill. 'Have you imagined: what if that man has little children, plants, 5 dogs and 3 birds at his home?' Sora waited an instant, but Lukannon kept silent, so he continued.

'They would all die. Meaninglessly. What if that man was actually very poor, and HAD to do what he was doing to keep on living?'

'Easy to say that now that Lukannon's already agreed not to kill him,' thought Thos, observing. 'I didn't see you stepping in to defend the guy.'

'On the other hand, even if he came back someday with more people, we would just defeat them again easily, wouldn't we?'

Sora paused for an instant, and smiled a bit. 'Of course... I suppose all of what I'm saying is kinda pointless, since we already had an agreement, isn't it?', he said, chuckling a bit.

'Sora, it doesn't really matter what kind of lives they live,' Scyre said, wearing a serious face, 'or if they had no other choice but to resort to steal, or whatever. In my line of work, I steal, blackmail, even whore myself out to complete my job: survive, and that's all we can do, survive. The point is, they attacked us, we fought back, we won. Period. Don't want to kill him? It's your choice.'

'What a whole heap o' bull shit,' thought Thos, now well and truly up on his high horse. He agreed that the criminals' circumstances were no excuse for shooting an innocent man dead, but the rest was nonsense in his opinion. '"That's all we can do: survive"?' If a Hunter's one concern is survival, then he should just take a few jobs for some rich guy, retire with the earnings and live out the rest of their days in some big-ass mansion. Hunters are in constant danger because they choose to, not because it's forced upon them. A Hunter who does bad things just to "survive" is no better than a common criminal. At least the criminal is sometimes doing it because they have to - the Hunter has chosen that life.'

The discussion moved onto what to do with the survivors. Thos' opponent sat cradling his broken arm next to his three unconscious comrades, intently listening to what the Hunters' verdict was.

'Well Scyre, controlling them in that state is just a waste of nen,' Random was saying. 'They're already pretty much incapacitated. We still have more important things to waste Nen on. As for these guys, they'll be taken to the hospital. I'll make a call to some of my brothers in the OTG to guard them. They'll be trained after their recovery is complete and be offered a position in the OTG if they become strong enough. So it'll be a long time before we get to hear from them again.'

Thos' opponent got to his feet and walked over to the group, still cradling his arm. He bowed deeply to them.

'Thank you for sparing me!' he declared sincerely. 'And thank you for this opportunity!' he said, presumably addressing Random. 'My name is Gerard Bleakly! I am indebted to you, and if there is anything I can ever do for you, I will always be at your service!'


By the time Dietrich came back out, they had lined up the bodies. He had spotted Scyre going off to take a piss from the control building's window. 'You do know there's a toilet in there?' he said to him, grinning slightly.

Some of the others went off in turn to use the little boy's room, and then they finally all assembled outside. Dietrich, through the use of map and compass, had established which direction they would be going, and outlined the route to the others. The landscape in that area was almost entirely scrubland; not a town or forest for miles. Travel to the border would be quick and easy.

After bidding farewell to Gerard with a last caution against doing anything that might piss them off, they began, first at a jog, then increasing in speed. 'If you can't keep up, you get left behind!' yelled Dietrich, leading the way.


They ran at a great pace - almost sixty miles an hour consistently. After fifty minutes they could see in the distance a high fence stretching as far as the eye could see. After just over an hour, they stopped running and crouched behind a row of thing bushes. As everyone caught their breath, Dietrich pointed to the fence.

'That marks the border to Gobunlia. As you can see, there are armed guards.' Indeed, there were a pair of armed guards on either side of the fence. About a mile down the fence in either direction, there were more guards stationed similarly. 'We could cut through the fence half way between two sets of guards, but they might spot us and raise the alarm. We have to get in close enough to take them out before they can radio for back-up. Between here and the fence, though, there's practically no cover, so we're going to have to go full-speed.'

Dennis, Scyre, you each take out one guard on this side of the fence. Random, Sora, you hop the fence and take out the two on the other side. Don't be too rough though, just knock them out. Any questions?'

 

[Hunter2323]

The loud stick man began, "Wow, Thanks, man. I owe you one. I'll make sure your decision won't be wasted." One what Lukannon didn't quite know, but the next sign Lukannon was very familiar with. Noa had explained that shaking hands with another was similar to sniffing another friendly wolf. Despite not being able to not look Stick in the eye, Lukannon tried to take the ferocity out of his stare (to what degree he didn't know).

After the little disagreement, Lukannon began neglecting what the others were saying and focusing on their body language. The one he was most interested in was his future partner, T-hoss. However, before he could get any type of understanding from him, Disappear came over to say something.

He spoke a little bit too quickly for Lukannon to understand the words, but the general meaning was easy to grasp from the body language he was projecting: "Uhm...sorry about earlier...you know...I would have killed him myself but...it wasn't your call this time. So....we okay?"

"We okay. No worry." Simple and short, if only speaking could be like hunting - quickly and efficiently taking down the prey to sustain the pack.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Lukannon recalled Ash back into his soul, feeling alone once again. After lining up the bodies with everyone else and taking in some water and food for the trip ahead, Lukannon stretched out a bit to prepare for the run. He went into Zetsu, just as the pack took off at a decent pace.

As they approached what appeared to be humans with weapons guarding their territory, Lukannon crouched low, crawling and stalking his way to the small bush. Still maintaining a flawless Zetsu even though the weapon men could not use nen, Lukannon listened closely to Dietrich's new plan. After hearing it and without trying to sound too angry for being excluded, Lukannon simply asked, "I stay here?"

 

[thatguy3331]

"Ah foot travel..." Dennis said streching. "From the looks of it, it will be....very....easy. I've ran farther back home, and this was when I was 6!" Dennis knew he was exaggerating, but if there's anything he acctually remembered from his passed friend, its that he should look at challenges with a better outlook. He wasn't exactly positive, but sarcasm can help a bit.

"zetsu..." Dennis's nen ceased to flow and he breathed in. He began running slowly, then speeding up, keeping up with the fast pace of everyone around him.

They then soon arrived at the boarder gates, and Dennis made sure his zetsu was seady as he ran into the brush, the applied Gyo. After confirming they were nen less he turned to catch his breath.

Dennis, Scyre, you each take out one guard on this side of the fence. Random, Sora, you hop the fence and take out the two on the other side. Don't be too rough though, just knock them out. Any questions?'

"Knock em out? got it." Dennis said going into his bag and taking out a simple sling shot and bag of marbles. Anyone sould simply call him a idiot, but being a emmitter, one can tell what he was holding was just as dangerous as a gun, or in this case, a BB gun. He took out a marble, and with his nen flicked it to speedily cross the ground, then he took out a marble and pulled back, he applied Shu into the sling, and a bit ofnen into the marble itself.

"Go straight towards... the temple! Dennis let go, and the fired marble hit the previous marble, causing it to ricochet into the right gaurd's temple, Successfully K.O.ing him and casuing him to slump abit.It was then Dennis shot out a 'shift' bubble and had it grab ahold of the bullet proof vest, keeping him standing.

"This should work huh?"Dennis said.

 

[NoFreakingWay]

The man named Gerard Bleakly seemed genuinely happy that Random saved his life.

"Well, Mr. Bleakly, the first thing I want you to do is to look out after our three friends over there. Go with them to the hospital to recover. Expect a visit from some of my friends, and then expect to be trained. I forgot to mention this earlier, but if you guys do very well on the training, you've basically took another step in becoming a Hunter yourselves. So, I wish you all the best, alright?" Random said, patting Gerard on the shoulder where his good arm was.

The groups said their goodbyes after a few moments, and then started the trek to the target location. It was a good distance, but this jog gave Random a chance to liven up his rhythm. He then remembered to use only his 'toes' while running, that is, running without his heel landing on the ground. He might be forced to switch to this style later for a pedalling style that he's more comfortable with. He also practiced twirling his sticks on his fingers, to make them more nimble later. He also made sure to become aware of his breathing method. Random realized this was a very good way to warm-up for a mission.

Now, while they were running, Random was growing worried by the fact that they were intercepted this early. Random was pretty sure everyone had basically noted this fact in the back of their minds. The thing that made Random worry the most, though, was Sora's method of entry. It was a daredevil procedure - he'd have to be blasted off into the sky and then dropped back to earth so fast that it'll be hard to get a clear shot on him. Now, with the possibility of someone learning of their conversations, would Sora manage?

What of their skills? If there was a way that their opponents had been able to see their abilities, either on the plane, or at the airport, then preparations are definitely made. He was worried about the entry. Who would be more surprised, us or them?

Arriving at the Gobunlian border, Random, along with Sora was ordered to take out the guards on the other side of the fence. They both complied immediately.

Random jumped over the fence using his nen-pads as floating platforms and deployed another one just before hitting the ground. He then used the drumstick to hit one guard clean on the diaphragm, and with the sudden blow and loss of breath the guard crumpled to unconsciousness. He then tore a bit of the gate to make some of it jut out and hung the guard on it to make it look like he was still standing. Random also inspected the guard he took out and when he found a communication device he smashed it to make sure it'll take long before they get to inform anyone about this.

 

[Zvane]

"Just knock them out? Seriously? Well...it's not like they can do something" Scyre complained, speaking for the first time in quite a while. He thought killing them would be much easier, but then again, waste of blood.

"Well Dennis, don't slow me down ok? If you are late, then I'll take out yours"

Scyre wouldn't deny it, he was fast. As soon as he reached the Gobunlian border, he dashed to the guard taking out his gun. -Nah, I won't waste a bullet on him- he convinced himself, and using the back of the gun struck hard to the back of his head, making him fall on the ground. -Too easy-

 

[Tame]

After hearing Dietrich's plan and without trying to sound too angry for being excluded, Lukannon simply asked, 'I stay here?'

In all honesty Dietrich had left Lukannon out simply because it was easier to communicate his needs to the others. Probably not a very leaderly thing to do, he now realised, but he'd already said it. 'Don't worry, it's not because I don't think you're capable,' he reassured Lukannon. Any of us could take them out.'

Indeed, Dennis had already knocked out his alloted guard with an impressive precision strike from a slingshot. Random and Scyre shot off at almost at once too, but not before Scyre complained about not being allowed to kill them.

'I don't like how bloodthirsty that guy is,' thought Thos as he watched the two of them effortlessly knock out a guard each. 'No, it's not even bloodthirstiness, it just seems natural to him to kill everyone that gets in his way.'

'Damnit Sora!' Dietrich shouted as he saw the boy, presumably tired from the run, not running after the others. The last guard was spinning round, looking wildly from Scyre to Random to the unconscious guard around him. His hand moved to the radio at his belt. 'Dennis, can you get him from here?' Dietrich asked, although the fence stood between them and the last guard. He hoped that Random had the reflexes to stop the guy using that radio.

 

[Hunter2323]

Lukannon was beginning to become frustrated with Sora not taking action. Sneaking past the guards should not have been such a problem. If Lukannon took his usual role of the alpha, he would have had everyone sneaking past these guards using speed and stealth. Knocking them out would just send up warning barks the moment they aroused from their slumber. He also didn't agree with Loud Stick's breaking of the machine. Although still somewhat unfamiliar with the "teck-no-gy" (or whatever it was, he assumed the machine allowed the weapon-man to communicate with others. In Lukannon's mind and according to the pack mentality taught to him by his parents, when communication is lost, danger is close.

However, with one of the talking boxes already destroyed, Lukannon took the only step he could to preserve his pack. Picking up a nearby stone and enveloping it in just the slightest bit of Mother's energy, Lukannon hurled it like the tree-swingers did back home. The small rock, now Mother's weapon, flew true, straight at the third guard, hitting him square in the helmet. Lukannon knew that shaking a prey's head so violently might not work as well as taking your jaws to their neck when needing them to be silent, but distance and speed were more important here.

The guard dropped just like the six-legs the tree-swingers went after. He turned to DeeTrick, the supposed leader, with poorly hidden anger, "What we do with talking box? Four wake up soon."

 

[NoFreakingWay]

Sora was conspicuously absent in the little border skirmish, probably the smallest Random had ever seen. Or probably absent-minded. What was going on in Sora's mind, Random doesn't want to know. But Random only watched while hovering on a nen-disc as Lukannon knocked down the last guard. Lukannon was saying something about doing something about a box - he probably meant the communication device the last guard held.

In Random's mind he had to destroy the devices since the guards would just contact reinforcements as soon as they wake up. It bought them more time if they destroyed all boxes since it would take a decent amount of time for anyone to get here, even with vehicles. "Let them come. We'll be done by that time," thought Random.

So Random spoke his mind. "How about we destroy all their communications devices? We'll buy more time if the reinforcement haul their asses here. We're going to be halfway through Marconi's playground by that time."

After speaking, Random thought of scanning the horizon by rising higher, but reconsider as he could not know if there were eyes fixed on their position. He was still wary of a possible unseen stalker or an installation where guards could see him from this distance.

Random was still standing on his toes after all this time. Literally.

 

[MegamanX195]

Something was at Sora's mind. Something... bad. He didn't feel like he was himself at that time. He felt like he was somewhere else, doing something else.

A bad feeling. That's what it was. What was it that triggered that bad feeling? Maybe, it was because of that time...?

Sora felt like he was missing something right now, though. Then he noticed he had spaced out. Some vague voices. Then, he snapped out of it.

"U... uh. S-Sorry about that guys." Sora said, as if he just had a scare. "It's just that... I blacked-out. I promise, this won't happen again." Sora embarassingly, but in a tone of confidence, said.

Sora was feeling bad for letting everyone down with such a simple task, so he felt the need to be useful. "I have an idea to stop these guys from escaping." Before anyone could object, he quickly went to each of the guards and used some of his ice aura to bind the 4 guards arms and legs to the ground, and also used some of it in their mouths to stop them from talking, just in case. They were still able to breath by the noses.

"With that little strenght, these guys won't be able to escape that. I also didn't use much power, so it should melt before they die from lack of food or water." Sora said.

"Dammit brain! Why remind me from that all of a sudden?!" Sora thought. "I hate this feeling of knowing that you let someone down..." He thought.

He looked over everyone again, some of them seemingly puzzled by what had happened earlier. He decided to apologize again.

"Look, I know that what happened was kinda... random. So, I'm sorry. This kind of thing usually doesn't happen to me, so I really don't know was the problem." Sora said.

"The only thing I can really do now to fix it is to say, once again, that I promise it won't happen again." Sora finally added, looking over everyone once again.

"Maybe I over-apologized... Damn. It's just that I really dislike letting people down, so I do that sometimes. Bad habit." He thought.