8 Ultimate x Choice

Gon read a note that the captain gave him on the info of the Hunter Exams.

Hunter Exams - Directions. This notice is sent to all Hunter applicants, providing the date, time, and a general location of the Exam Hall. This is the only information provided to applicants at this stage, This will further test applicants' acceptability...

The paper kept going on and on about the directions of where they needed to go. The four were currently in Dolle Harbor.

"Now, for a ride to Zaban.... All these people." Leorio glanced around at the various people from many different places across the world.

"Most of these people are probably going our way." Kurapika added on.

...

"I don't know about that, Gon." Gon had recently told the group that the Captain informed him that they needed to go to the giant pine tree resting atop the mountain, rather than take a bus there.

"See? Zaban's right on the map. Can't miss it." Leorio and Kurapika seemed to disagree while Yukana was in deep thought about it.

"Why go up there, the opposite way? Best shot's the express bus to Zaban. Climbing that hill would be a waste of time." Leorio dismissed Gon's claim.

"Are you sure that's what the captain suggested? Kurapika asked, confused.

"Hmm, if you really think about it, it makes sense. The old man said that there would be multiple people waiting to test us. I don't think that will happen if we just take the bus." Yukana interjected, rubbing his chin.

"Beats waiting for a bus, if you ask me. I'm gonna go check it out." Gon and Yukana began walking down the road in the direction of the mountains.

"Gon, you need to learn not to trust so much. I say we take the bus." Leorio tried scolding Gon, but Gon and Yukana kept walking.

"Hey! Where are you going?" Leorio yelled out to Kurapika who began to follow the two boys.

"I find that I'm interested in what Gon may do." Kurapika began walking away, leaving Leorio behind.

"Thought you were more independent. Well, suit yourself. Me, I'm sticking to what makes sense." Lets just say Leorio sat on the road for a long time before he decided to follow them.

...

The four found themselves in a ghost town. The ground was littered with ripped cloth and broken bottles. The long set of "houses" were all boarded up and you couldn't see into them. Remnants of clothes hung on wires connecting the seemingly endless narrow street.

"What a creepy, crummy place. And not a soul around." Leorio commented.

"Oh, there's lots of folks here."

"Yes, keep your guard up."

"They don't seem all too hostile." Gon, Kurapika and Yukana all consecutively said, surprising Leorio.

"How can you tell?" Leorio whipped his head around from left to right, extremely confused.

"I hear them breathing." Kurapika nonchalantly said, like it wasn't weird.

"Yeah, and clothes rustling. Are they all hiding?" Gon commented, also looking around.

"I can kinda feel their movement on my...." Yukana trailed off, but felt a small urge to rub his horns. Leorio wiped his hands over his ears, trying to hear anything, but to no avail.

"Well, sue me for having normal hearing-"

"Shh!" Kurapika hushed Leorio. The four were startled when dozens of people came out of seemingly nowhere. All of them had long hair and a gas mask on their face, the only exception being a short old lady with a walking stick.

"the excitement..." The old lady weakly started, confusing the four.

"TIME FOR THE MIND-BOGGLING "TWO-CHOICE" QUIZ!!!" The old lady suddenly exploded in volume, still confusing the quartet. The masked people clapped idly.

"You three heading for that pine tree? You'll have to go through this town to get there. The other trails are like a maze, winding through the realms of ferocious magical beasts. I will pose a single question, and give you but five seconds to answer." The old lady held up one finger. "Answer incorrectly and you fail. No hunter license for any of you this year." She almost finished her explanation.

"Hmm." Leorio hummed.

"Yes, this is another test." Kurapika mumbled to himself.

Yukana nudged Leorio. "Told ya." to which Leorio grumbled in response.

"You must answer with a 1 or 2!! Say anything else, however clever, and you'll be wrong." The old lady was cut off by Leorio.

"Hold the phone! We get one question between the four of us? And I'll fail if Kurapika botches it?!" Leorio pointed accusatorily towards Kurapika.

"It is more likely you will make a mistake. How depressing." Kurapika retorted, a scarily angry look on his face.

"No, it means we get to put our heads together on one question!" Gon spoke before the argument could escalate further.

"Hmm." Kurapika hummed.

"Okay, if you put it that way..." Leorio half-heartedly agreed.

"I mean, she said we can't speak unless it's 1 or 2 so..." Yukana was a bit confused on how that would work.

"What's the holdup here?" A voice came from behind the group of four, and they turned to see a guy with two weapons on his back and martial arts robes with ripped sleeves came forward.

"Mind if I play through? Heh heh, sorry kid, I overheard you and your sailor friend." The (sus)picious looking dude casually referenced he was definitely being a creeper

"Huh?" Gon wondered, somehow not knowing what he was talking about.

"So clueless... Your chat with the captain." Leorio whispered to Gon, eyeing the suspicious man suspiciously.

"Well?" The old lady interjected, waiting for an answer of whom is going first.

"He can go first, and we'll see what the questions are like." Leorio answered for the group.

"Thanks, later." 'Fools, I'll lay traps for 'em up ahead.' The man had an evil grin on his face as he walked up to the plate.

"Here's the question. Rogues have taken your mother and your true love captive. You may only rescue one. 1. Your mother 2. Your true love. Which do you save?" The elderly lady had half lidded eyes as she spoke.

'Easy question. Slaughter all of the rogues and rescue my family. But that isn't an option, so what?' Yukana wondered to himself, seemingly content about his answer.

"1!" The man shouted. 'In fact, I'd choose my true love, but no doubt this hag favors the answer I gave.' He thought to himself.

"And your reason?" The lady asked.

"One may find another true love, but one's mother is irreplaceable." The man explained with a smug grin, thinking he had it all figured out. The masked people conversed with each other before coming up with an answer.

"You may go." The old lady said, letting the people part for the man. Yukana's brain fried and he was close to collapsing in confusion about the question.

"YOU'VE GOTTA BE KIDDING!!! YOU CRAZY OLD BAT! WHAT KINDA QUIZ IS THIS!?" Leorio's intense shouting seemed to reroute Yukana's brain, allowing him to think once more.

"There's no "right" answer to a question like that, and never has been! You applicant screeners are full of crap, you know that? And I'm not taking it!! I'll find another route to the exam hall!!" Leorio was extremely annoyed. If he were a man that wore 20,000 yen pants, he would have said "I'm going to burst a vein!!" angrily.

"There's no other route, not for you. This is the way you must pass." The old lady was still passive in her decision.

"Leorio!!" Kurapika called out.

"What?! You intend to go along with this farce?!" Leorio continued his raging.

"Hold it!!" The old lady shouted at Leorio. If there were a desk in front of him, she would have slammed her hands on it, then pointed at him.

"The blond one's heard! No more chitchat." The old lady demanded. Yukana finally organized his thoughts and went into deep analysis mode.

'If you want to be a hunter, you have to look past the lines... We had to do that with the old captain's test... Now this lady's test... Hmm, she never said-' Yukana's thoughts were cut off by the old lady's announcing.

"Any more extraneous remarks, you all fail!! Answer now-- 1. You'll take the quiz. 2. You won't." The lady stated the obvious question to the four.

"1!!!" Kurapika immediately responded. Kurapika looked at Leorio who was glaring at him.

'C'mon Leorio, it should be easy. Wait, why are we letting Leorio be the spokesperson?' Yukana wondered, temporarily forgetting the situation at hand.

"Here's the question. Your son and daughter have been kidnapped. You can only get one back. Which will you get back? 1. Your daughter. 2. Your son." The lady asked,

'Hmm, its a similar question but this one has no judgement factor, only pure choice.' Yukana thought, gears turning in his head.

'Same question?! She take me for an idiot?!!' Leorio thought, an extremely angry expression glued to his face.

"5" The group had 5 seconds to think about an answer.

"4" Leorio walked over to a set of planks on the wall and set his briefcase down. He proceeded to take a long 2 by 4 and snapped it in half.

"3" Leorio swung the piece of wood angrily up and down.

"2" Yukana had a slightly pleasured expression on his face but was trying to cover it up.

"1." Kurapika had his nunchaku at the ready if Leorio did anything drastic.

"Beeeeeep. Times uuup." The old lady croaked out. Leorio suddenly jumped towards her, the plank in hand, but Kurapika was fast enough to block his attempt of hurting her. Yukana was snapped out of his stupor by the sudden altercation. The old lady had an indifferent expression on her face, like nothing happened.

"Why'd you block me?" Leorio roared at Kurapika.

"Leorio, calm down!!" Kurapika attempted to calm him but only added more fuel to the fire.

"I won't, I'm pissed! I wanna knock off her head and storm the exam hall! I wanna bust some examiner heads and show 'em they're not so hot! Who cares about hunters, anyway! Always slinking around, niffing after bounties! Who needs 'em?!" Leorio ranted.

"Oi, we passed." Leorio felt a weighed presence behind him, and it turned to be Yukana with his hat shadowing his eyes, but a small red glint could be seen in the shadow. He turned his attention back for Kurapika to whack the stick in his hand away.

"Control your temper, Leorio. Don't you see? The correct response is no response. As aptly as you said yourself, neither choice is "right". She told us that we could only say 1 or 2, but she didn't tell us that we had to say anything. Silence, indeed, was golden." Kurapika explained, earning a curt nod from Yukana.

'BITCH WHO CARES ABOUT NO ANSWER IM KILLING THOSE KIDNAPPERS ON BABY!!!' Yukana's thoughts didn't reflect outside.

"But that snide punk...." Leorio muttered, still confused as to why the other guy got to go.

"She didn't say he was right. I heard his scream. I don't think he got very far before encountering a magical beast. My conclusion--this isn't the right path."

'He's right. I did feel a wave of danger from my horns in that direction. I thought it was just random.'

Yukana's Horns of Monition: Yukana's horns feel a slight vibration when something happens due to how sensitive they are. They are sometimes wrong about his premonitions and can cause small misunderstandings. Refrain from touching as they send *wink wink* shivers down his body.

"You're right. This is the real path." Two of the masked people opened a sliding door on the side of one of the buildings, with a long and dark tunnel inside of it.

"It's a plain trail, no branches or forks. You'll reach the summit in two hours." Leorio had a massive sweatdrop in guilt and regret for yelling at and trying to attack the old lady.

"Old woman, my apologies." Leorio formally apologized, twice in two days.

"Quite all right, young man. People like you make this job interesting. Good luck with the rest of the exam." The old lady was completely unfazed, amused actually.

"... Thanks." Leorio murmured.

"Sigh... I can't! I can't figure out an answer!" Gon suddenly shouted, a bead of sweat dropping down his face. There was a moment of awkward silence before Kurapika and Leorio began laughing,

"You can stop thinking now. We passed." Yukana seemed to also be in deep thought.

"What do you mean?" Gon asked, somehow oblivious to the situation at hand.

"We mean the quiz is over." Leorio said, still pretty amused.

"Oh, I know. But, what if, one day, you really have to make a choice like that? What then?" Leorio and Kurapika seemed to have a realization.

"It won't be about which is "correct" but about what's truly in your heart when the chips are down." Gon elaborated. Yukana began to laugh, gaining the attention of everyone.

"Simple, 𝕀'𝕝𝕝 𝕙𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕥𝕠 𝕖𝕝𝕚𝕞𝕚𝕟𝕒𝕥𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕜𝕚𝕕𝕟𝕒𝕡𝕡𝕖𝕣𝕤." Yukana's tone severely changed mid-sentence, becoming a serious tone with the Luffy glare. Kurapika and Leorio were startled that someone so young could have an outlook like that, but Yukana proceeded through the tunnel.