Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The expedition team had set up camp near a mountain range in the dark continent. The voyage had been so indescribably tedious and long and everyone wanted to rest, but scouting the area was necessary to ensure the surroundings were safe. They could not risk anything getting past them and making the expedition for naught. So groups of one designated fighter and a support were assigned to explore the perimeter and report back; Kurapika and Leorio had set off closer towards the mountains.

While scouting the forest Kurapika could feel a presence stalking them, he clutched this handgun tighter. “Leorio, I think something is watching us.” He spoke plainly.
“There is?!” Leorio spun around trying to look for what Kurapika was talking about in a panic.
“Idiot! Don’t be so obvious”

“Urk!” Leorio quickly went back to normal and coughed, “Well how are you doing Kurapika! This sure is a nice forest!”
“... I don’t know, what do you think, Leorio?” He deadpanned
“Haha! …C- classic Kurapika!”

“Well, regardless, we must stay calm and focused. We cannot let whatever is watching us take us by surprise.”

Leorio looks towards the sky “Yeah that makes sense. Anyways- Wait what?!”

As Leorio looked down he saw a vine-shaped thing attach to the top or Kurapika’s head. The end expanded and dug into his flesh seamlessly like it was always a part of it. Kurapika froze suddenly, then loosened up slightly as if he was a doll, his eyes were half closed and shaking slightly like the nerves didn’t know how to process what was happening. His hands loosened and the gun fell from his grip.

Leorio dashed towards Kurapika and grabbed the “vine” before releasing his grip and jumping slightly at its warmth before doing it again and yanking it. The second it strained Kurapika’s arm shot straight forward pushing him away. Kurapika’s arms then lifted sharply, not the slightest amount of naturalness left and gripped Leorio’s throat. His hands gripped as hard as he could and his torso moved towards Leorio like he was floating, not like someone who could fly but like he didn’t understand gravity relative to his own body correctly. Leorio tried to push him away but as he moved his arms to do so he felt something.

Something physical? It felt as if an idea entered his head but he didn’t understand what. It was like pure whiteness, like every part of him that was capable of feeling any sadness was gone. He didn’t realize that he couldn’t see, feel, hear, taste or smell anything but he didn’t notice any of that. Kurapika and Leorio’s body started walking somewhere after a few minutes, deeper into the forest.

—

“Hey Mob!”
Mob looked over at Reigen standing up from his desk.
“We got a job in the forest. It’s a ways off but it’s been awhile since we’ve been out there so let’s have a picnic since we’re already making the trip.”
Mob blinked “A… picnic?”
“Yeah! Well I finally managed to finish growing some of those vegetables and it took so long that it feels like a waste to eat them normally, so let's celebrate the fruits of my labor.”
“But Master they’re vegetables-”
Reigen cuts him off, waving his hand, “It’s a figure of speech, anyways if we’re going today we should hurry out now or it’ll be too late by the time we get back.”

Mob snapped out of his memory as Reigen started talking.
“Dimple go ahead of us and try to find a nice place to have lunch for us.”
"Tch, yeah yeah, sure...” Dimple said, flying off into the forest.
Mob and Reigen followed the direction Dimple flew off in though he had disappeared into the trees almost immediately.

“Do you know where the spirit is Master?” Mob said, looking up to Reigen.
Reigen puts his hand on his chin and nods “Hmm… Well I can feel it but only slightly so it must be far away. We’ll go after it once we eat.”

“Huh? Is that dimple?” Mob pointed in the distance as the green spirit flew back to them frantically.
“Hey! Did you find a nice spot for us to eat, Dimple?
"MOB WE HAVE A PROBLEM- '' Dimple suddenly got punched by a hand that came out of a tree.
Reigen took a confident step forward towards Mob, “Are you ready Mob?” It was also the only direction away from a tree.
Mob stood silently staring in the direction Dimple came from.
“Um… Mob?” Reigen asked with a slight bit of concern in his voice.

A blonde figure dashed at them unnaturally.
“There’s the spirit Mob!” Reigen said bracing himself to be close to danger once again.
“That’s not a spirit Master.”

Before Reigen’s surprise could show on his face the blonde person reached them, the rest of their head loosely covered in what looked like stringy roots. Mob raised his hand towards the figure and froze them in mid air when they jumped at him.
“A wire?” Reigen said, noticing the “vine” at the top of the thing’s head. “Dimple what did you see over there?”
Dimple flew off the ground and looked up at Reigen. “I saw them and someone else with wires going into some sort of hole."

Reigen raised his eyebrow, “Someone else?”
A taller attacker jumps out and attacks Reigen, swinging its limbs wildly.
Reigen yells “SELF-DEFENSE RUSH!” and starts attacking, knocking it off balance.
But it doesn’t fall.
It regains its composure slowly moving its body to shift weight until it can stand back up. Reigen dashes past the blonde attacker towards the source of the wire. The tall one chases him for a few steps before he’s frozen in place.
Mob looks at Dimple, “Are you okay?”
“I'm fine, kid."
“I should go help Master. Even from here I can feel how dangerous this spirit is.” Mob says before walking after Reigen, bringing the two people with him.

Reigen stops to catch his breath before freezing.
“...Salt Splash!!” He spins around and throws salt at the “vine” that was approaching him. The salt sticks to the end of the “vine” , stopping it from entering Reigen’s head.
“Master look!”
Reigen looks over to see the spirit coming out of the hole. He knows exactly what to do to exorcize the evil spirit… “Mob!” Reigen yelled.
Mob reaches forward and “grabs” the dark creature with his power before making it disappear and the attacker’s go limp. The “vine” shrinks up from the hole up to the former attacker’s heads up to the base where it connects and the “roots” slowly get pulled up into it taking a slab shape before falling to the ground.

Reigen stomps forward crushing the slab like it was a piece of rotten wood and slides his hair back. “Another spirit falls to the greatest psychic of the 21st century. Are you two okay?” He looks toward Mob and Dimple.
“Yeah…” The tall man pushes himself off the ground.
“We’re fine, thank you.” The blonde figure following suit.
“Are you two okay?” Mob asks the two strangers.
“Again, we’re fine, we are greatly thankful for your help.”
“Besides feeling a bit roughed up I feel great!”
“Well that spirit sure did a number on the two of you so that explains the pain. It was controlling your bodies like a puppeteer who had no idea what they were doing. Luckily it was easy for someone like me to get rid of it. You should have seen it, you had these weird wires going into your heads and everything.”
The blonde man looks at Reigen shocked. “It’s very impressive you were able to chase off one of the five threats, you must be an incredible hunter…”
“Chase off? I crushed it! It was no problem for the greatest psychic of the 21st century: Reigen Arataka! And my apprentice: Mob.” Reigen says, pointing at himself with his thumb while Mob gives a small wave.

The two men stare at him.
“You… defeated Pap? One of the most dangerous creatures in the Dark Continent?”
“Pap was its name? Must have been someone’s father before it died… Anyways you shouldn’t go around giving Asia such an ominous name like that. It could give someone the wrong idea since you’re foreigners.”
“Is… Is this not the Dark Continent?”
“...Where are you two from?”
“We’re from the Known World… Are you two not? Don’t tell me you defeated Pap without Nen?”
Reigen looks at Mob “I think something’s getting lost in translation here… Do you know what Nen is?”
Mob shrugs “No…”
“Nen is a technique that allows someone to use their aura in different ways-”
Reigen snaps his fingers “Ah! I think I get it now. “Hunter” is what you must call psychics where you’re from and you call psychic powers “Nen”
“I suppose that could be the case… Then the name people from the Dark Continent use for the Dark Continent is Asia? Interesting.” The blonde man says, nodding.

“Sorry to interrupt but what are your names?” Mob asks the two strangers.
“My name is Leorio and my friend here is Kurapika. We came on an expedition from the Known World with some friends from the Hunter Association to explore and document the Dark Continent.”
“Hm? Did you not know about Japan where you’re from?”
“Japan?”
“This is Japan, a country in Asia.”
“You sure know a lot about the Dark Continent! Since you’re a hunter, how about you come back with us? We could really use one as skilled as you.”
“Well I can’t help you for free, I’m running a business here. How about you go back and ask the leader of your group about how much you can pay me and we’ll wait here and have lunch.”
“That’s probably a good idea. We don’t know how long it’s been since we’ve been taken over. We probably should have been back already.”
“Okay I’m sure the Hunter Association will be happy to pay as much Jenny as it takes to get someone like you helping us! How about we meet here again tomorrow?”
“Sounds good to me! Are you free tomorrow Mob?”
“I don’t have any plans after school.”
“Everything’s good on our end.”
“Then we’ll be heading back now. Thank you again for your help.”
“No problem.”
Kurapika walks away and Leorio follows after giving a friendly wave.

“Now we can finally eat! All that running has gotten me hungry.”
…
“Mob, Where is the food?”
“Oh I must’ve dropped it when I used my powers earlier.”
“Now we have to walk all the way back…” Reigen sighs, “Well sitting here complaining won’t fill out stomachs”

As they walk back Dimple floats thoughtfully alongside them.
“What’s wrong Dimple?” Mob asks.
“Well if those two were psychics why didn’t they ask about me? I am an evil spirit…”
“Oh now that you mention it I didn’t sense any psychic energy from either of them.”
Reigen turns toward the both of them in shock “Wait you mean they weren’t psychics!? T- then what’s a Hunter?!”
“Beats me. I guess we’ll have to explain the misunderstanding to them tomorrow.”
“Hm… but it sounded like they were willing to pay a lot for our services. Maybe I’ll still be able to help them. Who knows, maybe being a hunter isn’t all that hard in the first place.” Reigen says, thinking about how it probably can’t be much harder than pretending to be a psychic.
“Mm. Maybe.” Mob responds.

He looks up at the sky and smiles “‘Reigen Arataka, Greatest Hunter of the 21st century!’ Has a nice ring to it doesn’t it?”

Chapter Text

Kurapika dropped a Nen chain with a ball at the end and after a moment it slowly swung to the side like a magnet was pulling on it.
“Dowsing chain sure is versatile…” Leorio said with a smile.
“I don’t know how far it is though. We should get going.” Kurapika says before walking in the direction the chain is.

After a few hours of walking Leorio starts to look around.
“We must be getting close. We were around here earlier, right?”
Kurapika looks up “We must be a little bit past where we got knocked out. It-”
They both stopped.
Beyond stood in the distance staring at them.
Kurapika’s mind started racing Beyond escaped. What happened? We expected something like this would happen, our preparations didn’t stop him. He’s alone so it’s possible he escaped silently. That’s the best case scenario, if that’s the case then at worst only a few people are injured or dead. How many people did he have working for him? It could have been a battle between them and the Zodiacs. It could still be going on right now. He’s still wearing his tracking bracelet though which means no one was able to get it off, this could have been desperate and it was certainly rushed. Most importantly, he had no aura-

Then Beyond jumped onto the side of a tree, then jumped to another one. He jumped between trees far faster than most people would be able to run. His aura was shifting erratically now to boost his strength but it was clearly not being controlled well.
“Leorio!”
“Got it!” Leorio punched into the tree next to him and hit Beyond in the face.
Beyond didn’t have any reaction and kept moving towards them.
He pushed towards them and Kurapika kicks him. Beyond spins in the air and lands on his feet catching his balance perfectly before dashing towards Kurapika.
He should have at least paused Kurapika thought, making a chain but failing to turn around in time. Beyond punches Kurapika making him drop his chain and doesn’t stop hitting him. Kurapika’s back hits a tree and he tries to get away or grab his arm and fails.

Then he notices that Leorio has been hitting the entire time. Beyond was just ignoring every attack. Then Leorio yells out “You’re about to learn about why they also call me Leorio Padriknife!!!” and stabs Beyond in the neck.
He didn’t flinch.
Kurapika desperately threw himself to the ground and yanked his chain.
Beyond had put most of his weight on it and he fell back. Kurapika jumped up and backed away. It was the first thing to affect Beyond directly. Kurapika shortened his chain and wrapped the end around his right first then ran forwards as Beyond stood up. He quickly punched with both fists in quick succession. His chained hand sunk in noticeably more. He backed away before Beyond could counterattack and glanced at his neck. It had bled when it was stabbed but underneath the initial blood there didn’t seem to be any more coming out.

They stared at each other and Leorio was tense besides him still holding the knife.
“Leorio, you're going to be useless here.”
“I think so too…” He said, sweating.
“I have an idea. I’ll hold him off while you take my chain and wrap it around the trees. Physical attacks don’t work at all but my chains seem to work.”
“Then why didn’t my punch do anything?!”
“Your arm isn’t Nen even if you are using Nen to do something with it you normally couldn’t”
Leorio paused, then grabbed the chain off the ground and dashed.

Kurapika kept staring at Beyond. He was waiting for him. Something was different about him. He felt different before he arrived here. He’s far too odd of an opponent. He has Nen but doesn’t control it. It lashes out with every attack so I know it’s extremely powerful. He should have better control of it, if he didn’t he probably would have destroyed his body by now. Right now though he’s only using brute strength.
He couldn’t attack with his chain, he’s too fast for that to be a consistent strategy and altering it could make it harder for Leorio-

Kurapika dashed forward as Beyond went for a tree opposite of Leorio. Unable to think of anything better in time he threw himself between Beyond and the tree. Beyond slammed into Kurapika and grabbed him. They hit the ground and Beyond held him down.
“I can’t escape like this. I’ll let you both live if you surrender and agree to help me. Why did you have to bring such a big boat?” Beyond spoke for the first time.
Let you live? You? What happened while they were gone?
Kurapika activated his Scarlet Eyes and flipped them around so that he was on top of Beyond. He then pulled his arm until he slowly slipped out of his grip then pried the fingers off his other wrist. It took far more strength than it should have.

He stood up and almost stopped his eyes but pushed through it. I can’t get tired now, Leorio probably hasn't gone around enough trees. He wouldn’t fight though, that would make him too tired later. So Kurapika turned and ran in the opposite direction. He made it a few steps before Beyond started jumping between trees. Kurapika jumped to the ground and felt Beyond’s fingers grabbing at his clothing as he flew over him. He dashed to the side again looking back and got as far as he could before Beyond got back to tree jumping then spun around a tree causing him to go between a few more. He tried to repeat what he did before but this time Beyond caught him mid-drop. Kurapika slipped out and started running again, this time back to where he came. He did it as fast as he could, it was maybe the fastest he’d ever run. Can’t be caught, can’t be caught can’t be-

“FOOL!!!!” Beyond yelled in anger, increasing his speed until he could no longer keep track of anything but the trees and Kurapika. He had lost the other one.
He felt something hit him hard and his vision flipped around wildly before he hit the ground. He looked up to see the two of them standing in the middle of a web of chains.

“Try doing that trick now you little shit!” Leorio stood looking very proud of himself.
“We can’t hurt you but you can hurt yourself.” Kurapika said, also looking very satisfied despite being covered in dirt and blood.
Beyond stood for a moment before speaking “Well I guess I’ll just go find other people to help me. You being from there would have made you useful, but at this point it’s just a waste of my time. And I’ve waited far too long to have any more of my time wasted by people like you.” Then he pushed himself up a tree until he was above the chains and quickly went somewhere.

The chains disappeared immediately once Beyond was out of sight.
Kurapika’s eyes faded back to normal “We need to hurry. Something really bad happened while we were gone. I know the way from here so I shouldn’t need to rely on my dowsing chain.”
Leorio nodded and they both ran back to the ship.

—

Kurapika stood in the front of the conference room while Leorio watched while sitting down.
“After our encounter with Beyond Netero in the forest we immediately returned back to the ship. Once we got back we found several Hunters dead outside including the other Zodiacs sent to explore. We then searched the ship and found the rest of the official expedition crew dead except for-”

Leorio then raised his hand slightly and spoke “Official expedition group? What other group was there”
Kurapika nodded “There was another group that was supposed to break Netero out of his cell.”
“How do you know this?”
“Ging was part of this group and told me. We also expected this to happen.”
“If everyone was dead then how did Ging tell you? If you expected this to happen then why didn’t you stop it from happening?”

“I’m going to answer your second question first. We expected Netero to have a way to escape and were aware that some might try to break him out, but that’s not what happened.”
“Then how did he escape?”
“Zobae.”
There was a short pause.
“Netero wasn’t directly responsible for the deaths of all the Hunters. Zobae had spread and killed everyone. Those who weren’t killed became immortal but lost their sanity. Netero had killed most of them in his escape, the ones left were dealt with by Ging. Ging was injured during this and was alone with Cheadle who was the only one of the infected still alive.”

After a short pause Leorio smiled “That was a report worthy of the V6!”
“I’d hope so…”Kurapika sighed and walked over to Leorio, sitting down next to him.
Leorio grabbed one of the cups of coffee next to him and handed it to Kurapika.
“It’s hard to believe that we’re basically in charge of the entire Hunter Association now”
“Assuming this goes well we won’t have to.” Kurapika said, looking exhausted.
“Don’t fall asleep yet! We still need to do the real thing.”
“We?”
“I made the slideshow!”
“Oh yeah… thanks…”
Leorio checked the clock “It’s about time for them to start showing up.”
Kurapika stood up, drank the rest of his coffee in one gulp and walked back up.

—

Leorio tended to Ging’s wound while Kurapika stood over the bed Cheadle was laid in.
“Can you shake less while you work on my arm please?” Ging said annoyed.
“O- oh yeah… sorry about that.” Leorio said, trying to regain his focus.
Kurapika stared at Cheadle. Her eyes stayed as open as possible and she was shaking. “Is she okay?”

Ging looked back at Lerio. “Well obviously not. If you’re asking if she’ll live then I wouldn’t know. Zobae either kills or makes them self sustaining but I don’t know how to tell the difference. Aren’t you a doctor?”
“Actually I’m still a student.”
“Well I’m not good enough with medicine to tell. I’m pretty sure the method used to tell so far is to lock them in a box and see if they die or not after a few days.”

Kurapika started for a few seconds longer then turns to Ging.
“I’m going after Beyond. Once he’s dealt with we’ll go back with Cheadle.”
“How’re you going to do that?”
“We put a tracker on him. It was still on him when we fought him.”
“Okay I’m just about finished then we can head out.”
“I’ll go alone. It’s not a good idea to leave the injured and sick without a doctor. Plus you aren’t able to hurt him. After that we’ll go back and see what we can do to help Cheadle.”
“I wasn’t kidding about putting people with Zobae disease in a box. If there is one thing I’d recommend it’s not bringing it back to The Known World. And that’s if she survives in the first place.” Kurapika froze in thought.

“Well either way I’m staying here. Now that we know there’s some kind of civilization I can probably get by without having to rely on an expedition group.”
“Okay. Can I ask a favor?”
They both look at Kurapika.
“Someone please bury all those bodies.” Then he walked out of the room.

—

After checking in which direction the tracker indicated Beyond ran off to, Kurapika sets off to find him. After two and a half hours he finally reaches what looks to be the outskirts of a city. Kurapika summons his dowsing chain to more accurately locate Beyond within the unfamiliar city-
Kurapika's eyes went wide “Huh…” He could only see the top of it above the buildings but he was pretty sure that it was some kind of tree.
I wonder…
Kurapika uses his dowsing chain again and it moves in the direction of the tree.

He arrives there after walking for a while. “There” being a plaza filled with stands around the giant tree. After walking around and talking with a few people he found out that it was apparently a new addition to the city that appeared out of nowhere a few weeks ago.

Then slowly the chain started to go straight up.

Kurapika jumps back quickly expecting Beyond to slam down where he was previously standing but Beyond instead lands where he was just standing in a non-threatening way. Beyond looks at Kurapika and smiles.
“You followed me all the way here? I merely wanted some cheap-yet-surprisngly-high-quality-food in order to keep this body of mine from rotting. Well there is the finding other people to sail that ship problem isn’t there? Hm. I suppose you’ve realized that I won’t let you leave on that ship. Or maybe you want revenge for those sailors I killed? Perhaps you merely want the fame of defeating one of the Five Threats. I don’t know what those are exactly but the sailors did seem to think my being one was a matter of great importance as they died.”
“...?” Kurapika looked at Beyond confused, both due to lack of understanding and disbelief at the only thing he could think of.
“What? The events weren’t obviously linked?”
Kurapika’s look of confused changed to horror as his mind worked rapidly. Why kill the people who were going to break him out? How was he able to use Zobae disease? How was he unaffected- …No it’s possible he is being affected and that’s why he’s been so abnormal. But then why want to go back to The Known World? What would he gain?

Before he realized it Kurapika dashed forward and punched at Beyond who twisted his body enough for him to push off the ground with a crack of unrestrained nen shooting him towards the city.
Kurapika regained his center of balance and turned to run after him.
With his Scarlet eyes he could probably keep pace with him but although far faster than a normal person he couldn’t compare to someone launched with that much force.
Not yet.
Kurapika ran towards the ruins of buildings between the plaza and the city. He made his way atop the rubble scanning the fallen buildings between him and the city. There!
He activated his scarlet eyes then lengthened his chain before attaching it to an antenna on the top of one of the ruined buildings. He then jumped and yanked on the chain as hard as he could, sending him flying towards the real city.
He hit the side of the first building exactly as he intended. I can’t launch myself consistently between buildings but they are close enough that with my current speed I can run along the outside of them as long as I’m able to give myself a boost with my chains every once in a while.
And while fast in short bursts launching is very stop-and-go

Kurapika ran along buildings while occasionally boosting himself. Spectators would have been left in shock if they hadn’t already seen Netero doing something similar just a few moments ago.
As Kurapika caught up to Beyond he glanced down. I was hoping to chase him to somewhere with fewer civilians but… Wow… This place is much more populated than I thought. It’s just like any city back in The Known World. We’ll have to completely revise what we thought about the Dark Continent.
This thought gave Beyond the opening Kurapika didn’t even realize he was looking for. Beyond had thrown himself below Kurapika and then lashed out his Nen into the ground shooting himself upwards at a slight angle.
Kurapika was sent flying upwards into the side of a building. Before he lost his upward momentum Kurapika was able to send a chain up to the top of the building and was able to keep running upwards.
Beyond was starting to lose his momentum but wasn’t falling quite yet.
I got him. Kurapika increased his speed by pulling on the chain as he ran up. Beyond started to fall and sent what looked like a liquid thunderbolt straight up pushing him down at an incredible speed. Just then Kurapika slide low using the momentum he’s built up and pulled the end of the chain going down up so it’s length spread where Beyond had pushed themself.
Beyond hit the chain and Kurapika pushed his legs against a window seal into a dash downwards before jumping off the side of the building awkwardly wrapping part of the chain around Beyond.

Kurapika’s body slammed into Beyond’s.
“Fool!” Beyond yelled as they flew towards the adjacent building. Seeing his chance, Beyond launched off it, sending them and a large part of the building flying far above the skyscrapers. The torrent of Nen from the blast was so big that Kurapika could only see the aura, Beyond and his chain before they had been launched.
Perfect.
Beyond didn’t have time to react as the end of the chain attached to the top of the building changed their direction slightly. Kurapika and Beyond were now spinning slowly in the air. Not a lot. The force from Beyond’s Nen blast was so strong that it got ripped from its hold.
But it's enough. Even if normal methods of force are useless.
As they fell Beyond hit the corner of a building destroying the side of his body.
Force applied to objects made of Nen that then hit you do work!
They spun much faster through the air now and after falling through open air hit another building destroying Beyond body even further and unraveling the chain.

They both hit the street. Beyond slammed into it while Kurapika was able to roll across it though their speed was slowed down so much by the last building that it didn’t do much damage to either of them.
Kurapika stood up shaking off the disorientation and force he just took before letting his eyes go back to normal. Beyond pushed himself up.
It shouldn’t have been possible. He didn’t even look like he had any blood left to bleed. A large portion of his side was gone. The organs had flown out at some point after hitting the skyscraper. Now you could see straight through him.
He wasn’t even breathing heavily.
What kind of Nen ability is this?

Beyond forcibly exhaled as if he didn’t even have to. “Heh… Truly a fool…”
His voice…
Beyond’s voice no longer sounded like it was coming out of his mouth. His mouth wasn’t even moving.
“You thought you could beat me? Unfortunately I can’t protect a body I’ve taken from Nen but even that is only enough to merely be an annoyance.”
“Who are you?” Kurapika asked wide-eyed but seemingly more in shock than truly scared.
“You called me Zobae… But really that’s only a part of me. It’s like naming your arm… or perhaps it’s more like naming Nen abilities…” he smiled despite the lack of words leaving his mouth, “My real name is Don. Don Freecss.”
“W- What?”
“A long time ago I traveled to the Dark Continent. I even wrote about my experience while I was alive. But eventually I was killed by something or other. I doubt it matters to you much. Afterall even though I died… I’m still here.”
Kurapika took a step back contemplating retreating.
“What you call Zobae is merely the result of me trying to find a new body. Unfortunately it seems that very few are able to handle my spirit. Whenever I try to possess a new body they either die or they resist me, those however are unable to take the mental strain the residue of my power puts on the body. Until… this man’s body was able to bear my possession. I’ve taken it fully! It was–perfect… Until you destroyed it. I would hate you, despise you for it, if it wasn’t for one thing. Do you know what that is?”
Kurapika didn’t respond. He just stared into Beyond, Don Freecss dead eyes and reactive his Scarlet Eyes.
“You don’t know? Because! You have brought me a body that surely outdoes this one!”

What emerged was beyond description. The shape of Don’s soul was so twisted that it resembled nothing in reality. The scale of the spirit was terrifying. It consisted of colors that didn’t even exist. It-
“Huh?! What? WAIT! I’VE FOUND IT. AFTER ALL THIS TIME. A PERFECT BODY! WHY NOW? WHY-”
Then he disappeared.

Kurapika turned to see a vaguely familiar young boy behind him.
“Hm? Excuse me, aren't you that guy who was in the forest with another person yesterday? Your name was Kurapika right?”
Kurapika remembered the apprentice that was with the hunter Reigen Arataka from yesterday… Yesterday? Kurapika realized he had lost track of time at some point.
“Yes. Aren’t you Arataka’s apprentice?”
“Mhm. Mob.” Mob had been forgotten enough times in a similar context to have a sixth sense when it comes to reminding people what his name is.
“Was Mr. Arataka the one who just dealt with that thing?” Kurapika realized that if Reigen actually had defeated that thing then it would be rude to not refer to him as “Mr. Arataka”.
“Hm? No I did that.”
“You did?”
“Yeah I was just walking when it tried to possess you so I exorcized it. Should I not have?”
Kurapika blinked twice. If even Reigen’s pupils are this powerful then he’d have to be hopelessly self absorbed to not call him Mr. Arataka. He was this close to calling him “Master” himself.
“You were just passing by? You didn’t even know it was here?”
“No. I’ve never seen that spirit before.”
“Why are you here then?”
“Oh I live here. I was going to grab some things before going to work” Mob pointed at the house that Kurapika and Don Freecss had crashed into before landing. “Oh. It looks like my house got destroyed again.”

Before Kurapika could apologize Mob had already already explained what he was doing. “I was going to grab some things before going to work but I guess now I’ll just go straight to work.”
“I should head back too. Thank you for-”
Kurapika froze
Where is the forest from here?
Kurapika looked back at Mob.
Well we were already supposed to meet again in a little bit anyways…
“Er- Mob?”
“Yes?”
“Would you mind if I join you? I’d like to head to the meeting spot with the two of you if it’s not too much trouble.”
“Mm. That’s a good idea. It’d probably be a longer walk if you went all the way back only to have to come back part-way anyways. Master isn’t the kind of person who’d mind either.”
“Then let’s be on our way then.”

—

After a perfectly reasonable amount of walking the two of them arrived outside a multi level building with a sign that says “Spirits and Such Consultation Office” outside.
Seeing Kurapika look at the sign Mob said “That’s Master’s office.”
Kurapika didn’t let his confusion show on his face at the word “Spirits”
Mob led Kurapika up the stairs and into the office.
Reigen was moving his mouse and typing furiously on a laptop at the desk at the end of the room with an intense expression on his face.
Mob set down his bag, “Master?”
“Ah Mob. Hm? Aren’t you one of the guys from yesterday? Your name is Kurapika right? Is something wrong? We were supposed to meet later in the woods weren’t we?” Internally Reigen was worried that he realized he had lied about being a hunter.
“I was walking around the city when I was attacked by another of The Five Threats and Mob saved me.”
Dammit Mob! At this rate they won’t even have to pay us! We can’t afford to be defeating spirits this powerful for free!
“That’s good. If Mob didn’t show up then who knows what could have happened.”
“Yes, I’m very grateful.”
Reigen breathed a sigh of relief at his ability to play along with the situation.
But Kurapika continued “If you don’t mind Mr. Arataka, can I ask a question?”
“O- of course!”
“When Mob defeated Zobae, how exactly was he using his Nen? I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“What do you mean? He just used his powers to exorcize the spirit didn’t he?”
“Spirit?”
“You mean it wasn’t a spirit?”
“I- …was it?”
Reigen looked over to Mob.
“I didn’t notice anything that unusual about it.”
Dimple decided to show up to compensate for Mob’s lack of self confidence. “It was definitely an evil spirit, a powerful one too.”
Reigen made a pondering gesture and looked at Kurapika. “What is Nen?”

After 2 minutes Reigen decided he had heard enough and stopped him. “Psychic powers are not Nen. It seems we misunderstood each other yesterday.”
“What do you mean? What are psychic powers then?”
“They’re only similar in that they’re powers that most people don’t have access to. They aren’t nearly as complicated as Nen seems to be. It’s like comparing a martial art to someone born with good looks, one requires lots of practice but is more versatile while the other is natural but is very straightforward . ‘Versatility’ really is the key difference between the two, not power.”
“I see…”
“That explains why you had so much trouble with the two of The Five Threats too. They’re spirits, not a living creature.”
“But Nen chains were able to hurt Zobae.”
“Well Nen seems to have some connection with spiritual energy. Except it comes from the body instead of the mind like with Espers. Espers are born with Psychic powers though people like Mob’s brother weren’t able to use them until later. I’m curious as to how you were able to see Zobae though. Did you see Pap before it took over your body?”
Kurapika shook his head “I was definitely able to see Zobae but neither me or Leorio saw Pap before I was taken over.”
“That’s interesting… by any chance were you using any sort of ability that used your eyes?”
“?!?” Kurapika’s eyes widened, “Yes I was using my Scarlet Eyes.”
Reigen snapped his fingers “That’s how you were able to see Zobae then.”
“I see… literally I suppose. Are you a Hunter then?”
“Of course I am!”
“Then why do you advertise yourself as a psychic?”
“Ah well… you see! Um….. W- well Hunters are not common in Japan as you can tell. It’s easier to get business if I advertise myself as a plain old psychic.”
“Do you mind if I see your Hunter License then?”
T- they have to have a license!? Wait didn’t they say they were part of The Hunter Association? Yes they definitely did! I know because that was the group that was going to pay us… That means… Yes this should work.
“I don’t have a license.”
Kurapika’s eyes opened slightly “Really?”
“Yes. I’m a Independant Hunter unaffiliated with The Hunter Association.”
“But… why?” Kurapika was baffled at the concept, the idea never even occurred to him.
“I simply looked at the benefits and decided that it would be more beneficial for me to be independent. Ah but of course I respect The Hunter Association and look forward to working with them.”
How amazing must this man be to be able to be a Hunter without the help of The Hunter Association? After the last few days… It'll be good to have someone so powerful on our side. Our expedition is ruined but this gives me hope that at least some good will come from this trip.

Reigen stood up and grabbed his jacket.
“Master?”
“It’s about time to go isn’t it?” Reigen said, slipping his jacket on. “Serizawa should be here soon to look after the place so we don’t need to worry about that.”
“Yes. I need to inform Leorio and Ging that Zobae has been defeated.”
Reigen grabbed a plastic bag with a few water bottles he prepared ahead of time for the walk and strode toward the door confidently.
“Then let’s not keep them waiting then.”
So Reigen, Kurapika, Mob and Dimple left and headed towards the meeting place.

—

Kurapika stood in front of the V6 and continued giving his report.
“It seems the reason that past expeditions to The Dark Continent aka Japan is due to a fundamental misunderstanding we had.” Kurapika paused trying to think of how to explain this.
“Which is…?” One of the V6 interjected.
Kurapika sighed.
Guess there’s no getting around it then.
“Both Pap and Zobae are not what we thought they were. While we thought that Pap was a living creature and that Zobae was a disease neither were true. They were both evil spirits.”
V6 reactions seemed split between insulated and shock depending on if they thought Kurapika was joking or not. No one spoke until one of them broke the silence. “Evil… spirits?”
“Yes, which is why we weren’t able to hurt them in any meaningful way. The only method we found for defeating them was with psychic powers. Nen had far less effect and what little it could do was mostly against its physical body. Zobae was really the spirit of Don Freecss attempting to possess people but most hunters weren’t strong enough to handle it. Until Beyond the only people who survived had been driven mad from his power but were left with immortal bodies.”
A V6 member laughed when Don Freecss was mentioned but Kurapika continued, “They normally cannot be seen by the human eye. However by using Gyo or a Nen or Nen adjacent ability involving the eyes you can see spirits. It’s likely that the people who have returned from voyages in the past saw the Five Threats this way.”
“Like I said, Nen and Psychic powers vary in several different ways.” Leorio continued to the next slide of the slideshow while giving a thumbs up, “Psychic powers are usually innate from birth and are much more rawly powerful than Nen is by default. Spirits are weak against it and so it is far easier to defeat spirits this way.”
At this point all but one of the V6 had realized this wasn’t a joke, or at least not entirely. The one left however, failing to read the room, vented his anger. He slammed his fist on the table “You dare make jokes after the death of the entire expedition crew! Including the entirety of The Zodiacs besides you and your friend! To me it seems entirely possible you, him and Ging Freecss killed all of them yourselves in a attempt to take over The Hunter Association-”
Kurapika cut him off. “I’m afraid I’m not joking. And none of us have any intention of being Chairman… at least not anymore.”
“Well frankly I find that hard to believe. Do you even have any proof at all that anything you just said was true?”
Kurapika smiled faintly, failing to hide it. “Actually, I do.”

—

Leorio, who had been resting after burying all the bodies of the expedition team, suddenly hopped up from where he was sitting.
“Where are you going? Kurapika still isn’t back yet.”
“That’s exactly why I’m going.” Leorio smiled, “I have an appointment to keep.”
Ging threw up his arms slightly in resignation as Leorio walked out the door.

—

Hmmmm I think this was the place… Huh? Is that!?!
“Kurapika!” Leorio called out cheerfully.
“Ah–Leorio!” Kurapika ran ahead of the group to Leorio.
“I hope you’re here because you beat him and not because you gave up!”
“I, or rather Mr. Arataka’s apprentice defeated him for me. I ran into him during the fight and it seems even Mr. Arataka’s students are quite powerful.”
Reigen pointed at himself as he and Mob caught up and exclaimed “Of course! I wouldn’t be the Greatest Hunter of the 21st century if I didn’t pass on my knowledge.”
“I suppose so.” Leorio said plainly.
“Just like how I couldn’t if I didn’t get paid!”
“Wow! I like how you think Reigen!” Leorio said enthusiastically.
Kurapika turned to Reigen. “Actually…”
“Hm? You didn’t tell him already Kurapika?”
“Tell me what? I am going to get paid for my work right?”
“Of course you will. However the reason I was chasing the spirit your apprentice defeated was because it killed everyone in the expedition group except for me and Leorio.” Kurapika decided to leave out Ging for now. If Cheadle survived he’d probably end up taking care of her and he didn’t want to have to explain something so dark to a child.
“So the job’s canceled?! Why did we walk all the way here then?”
“Actually if it’s alright I’d like to ask you and the rest of Spirits and Such consultation help.”
Reigen blinked.
Kurapika panicked. “...With appropriate compensation of course.”

—

The V6 watched awestruck as every object in the room flew around the room (including Kurapika’s empty coffee cup).
“Okay that should be enough Mob, you should put everything down now.” Reigen said.
“Okay Master.” Mob said as every object flew to the center of the table forming a small castle with everything the V6 weren’t actively using.
“I apologize for not being able to show you all my power myself but I’m so used to fighting powerful evil spirits that there’s a small, miniscule really, chance I’ve gotten a little rusty with being delicate with small objects. Of course at full power what I’m capable of is probably hard to imagine but I hope my student was able to convey the idea well enough”
All that practice paid off! Good job Mob, now there’s no way they’ll doubt my legitimacy.
Kurapika turned to address the V6. “Is that good enough? Of course if you want to see further capabilities of what Psychic abilities can do we’d probably have to go outside to be safe. But of course that’d be risking an information leak that Psychic Powers exist to the public.”
The V6 member who doubted Kurapika coughed and said “Yes, well… I suppose I’m convinced.”
Kurapika smiled and nodded towards Reigen and Mob who walked out into the hall.

—

Mob and his family stood on the beach with their bags looking up at the large ship. It wasn’t exactly a cruise ship but it was a far nicer boat than any of them had ever been on.

“Wow Shigeo! Your boss sure has nice friends!” Mob’s father said wearing a Hawaiian shirt and sunglasses.
“Mm. I guess it was good timing. We sure were lucky though weren’t we Master?”
“Ah well when Kurapika said he wanted us to go back with him to inform people about Spirits and Psychics I was prepared to give up the opportunity since I couldn’t just bring Mob across the ocean with me. I was surprised when Mob said that he and his family needed a place to stay until his house got fixed. Well surprised at first because I thought it already was and then again when I found out it got destroyed again. I guess this makes this the ultimate opportunity don’t you think? It must be fate that we got this job.”

“...” Ritsu didn’t hear any of this. He stood in silence as he looked up at what was just their ride to their temporary home outside of Japan. He was internally screaming. How the hell did this fraud pull off something like this!?!?

Reigen continued, “Of course it’s not like it’s going to be all fun and games. This ship is heavily automated but we’re still it’s temporary crew so we can’t slack off too much.”
Leorio walked off the ship and onto the beach. Him and Kurapika had been making arrangements until now (such as finding a part of the ship for Ging to hide in with Cheadle) but Leorio decided to take a short break to welcome them.
“You don’t need to worry too much. Me and Kurapika will be handling all the complicated stuff so you’ll only have to help every once and awhile. There will be plenty of time to kill. As far as you guys should be concerned you’re on vacation.” Especially since Ging is going to be doing most of the work from behind the scenes…

“You hear that Ritsu? I don’t really know what I want to do since I’ve never been on a ship before but I’m sure it’ll be fun right?”
Nii-san? Ritsu snapped out of it and turned to Mob. “Ah yeah I’m sure it will…” I supposed I should be more grateful. We are getting a place to stay for free after all.

Reigen wandered outside of earshot of the rest of the group and walked up to Dimple who’d been flying around.
“So what about me?”
“You stay here and make sure nothing bad happens.”
“Really? You’re just going to leave me here?”
“Yep. Is that a problem?”
“Well not particularly but it’ll probably be bor- …Actually I suppose it’ll be fine.”
Reigen stared at Dimple for a few seconds. Nah he’s gotten way too attached to us to pull something. He might try but somewhere along the way I bet he’ll have second thoughts. He turned around and looked over at Mob. Yeah… Once you spend enough time with someone, even someone with the worst intentions will get too attached to betray that person, no matter how hard they try.

—

As the door closed Kurapika turned back to the V6 and Leorio turned off the projector. What was to be discussed was to be a carefully handled secret until details were officially announced.
“Now I’d like to address what to do about the Hunter’s Association. Not only is the Chairwomen unfit to run the Association but the Zodiacs who are responsible for handling elections for the position are almost all dead, and the ones of us who are still alive have no prior experience in running one. As one of you mentioned, it would be extremely unfair for two people to be responsible for running a Chairman Election ourselves. However this is far too big of an emergency to waste time.”
“I’d like to propose that we hold an election using the rules of the previous election. After that we will work to refill the ranks of the Zodiacs. Both Leorio and I will of course not be allowed to participate. Of course I will have to make a more formal request but do I have permission to begin preparations?”
One of them exhaled and addressed the rest of the group. “I think it’s fair to say that we’ll consider it favorably and to be frank… we don’t have much other choice.”
No one objected.
“Well, then feel free to begin making preparations… for the 14th Hunter Chairman Election.”