Chapter 5: Food x For x Thought

"I'm Menchi and this is Buhara," A woman with blue hair states. "We will be the examiners for the second phase of the hunter exam. For this part of the exam, you will be cooking for us."

At that, there was a roar of laughter. "Stop it! That's mean!" Gon shouted at the crowd, being thoroughly ignored. Menchi survived for about fifteen years in the Dark Continent and treated Gon like a little brother, teaching him how to cook and identify poison within ingredients, along with other skills a Gourmet Hunter would need. Gon, in kind, saw Menchi as an older sister, holding her to a very high regard. Naturally, future or past, Gon wouldn't let an insult to Menchi slide.

"Shut up, kid!" One of the participants shouted at Gon.

"At least he's more open-minded than you lot," Menchi sighed. At least one person had respect for Gourmet Hunters, even if it was just a kid.

"What will we be cooking?" A chunky man, which Gon identified as Todo asked.

"You will be cooking pork from the Visca Forest Preserve," Buhara replied. "Your ingredients will be in the area around the mansion."

"You will be judged based on your presentation and taste," Menchi replied, waving her hand dismissively. "Be quick with it, too. Buhara and I had to skip breakfast for you ungrateful shits."

-

Gon winced as needles extended from his blood rod, sucking about a pint of blood from its user. Gon flung the rope about 100 meters away, red mist coming out of the weight. Suddenly, a bunch of Great Stamps charged for the end of Gon's fishing rod.

"There!" He shouted, deactivating the rod's ability. He jumped up and landed a punch on one of the pig's forehead. The pig stiffened before falling unconscious. He figured that everyone else can figure out the pigs' weakness on their own.

-

Gon knew he had to fail the exam so Netero can show up, but future Menchi had taught him never to lower his standard and to take pride in his cooking. Gon decided to make something simple enough for Menchi to fail without tasting it while still giving it his all.

As he started to dismember the pig, a huge crowd of people ran over to their stations with an unconscious Great Stamp held above each of their heads. They all went straight to roasting the pig while Gon neatly cut his big into smaller chunks of meat, adding salt, pepper, and a couple other ingredients as he went.

As he prepared to pan-fry his first cut of pork, he heard a loud crash. He looked up to see Toro destroying his workstation. "This is utter bullshit!" He shouted as he punched a table, causing it to crack in half. "Why didn't you pass me?!"

"Your dish lacked effort, therefore it was not a dish that both of us can enjoy," Menchi stated simply.

"Aren't all pork dishes the same?" Hanzo asked. "I mean, pork is pork. Why make a huge fuss over it?"

"Listen here you little shit!" Menchi grabbed Hanzo by his scarf and yanked him over. "We Gourmet Hunters put a lot of work in our food so their taste can be of the highest quality!"

"And look at him!" Menchi shouted, jutting a finger at Gon, who was blankly staring at them as he flipped over one of the chunks of meat on his pan. "Even if he hasn't put too much thought into it, he's still showing more effort than all of you combined!"

"Menchi, your habits are showing again," Buhara pointed out as he finished eating another gigantic pork roast.

"Well, it's too bad that these dolts can't try new things and have an open mind," Menchi said.

"Ano," Gon said, walking over to them with a lazily stacked pile of pan-fried pork. To trick himself into maintaining his dignity, Gon had deliberately placed each chunk of meat as to look disorganized but was placed deliberately as to make people think he didn't know what he was doing. Utter bullshit, I know. "I'm done."

"Thank you for the food!" Buhara stabs a fork into one of the chucks and eats the whole thing in one bite. "Man, this is amazing! Menchi, you've got to try this! Trust me!"

"Although it is better than everyone else's, it still lacks the visual presentation that would be needed for you to pass," Menchi said. It was obvious that she at least respected the kid for trying new things, but wasn't necessarily pleased with him. "I'm sorry, kid, but I'm going to have to fail you too."

"It's okay, Menchi-nee!" Gon chirped, a huge smile on his face, surprising the lady almost as much as the suffix he added to her name. "It's my fault for not thinking up of something better. I'll just try again next year."

"Who gave you permission to call me that..?" Menchi growled, causing Gon to chuckle and sheepishly rub the back of his head.

"Enough with this bullshit!" Toro yelled, cutting off the conversation, "I'm fucking done with bowing to a stupid Gourmet Hunter like you!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever helps you sleep at night," Menchi said, waving her hand dismissively.

"Why you…" Toro dashed towards the Hunter to attack, but was sent flying when Buhara slapped him, his hand almost the size of Toro's entire body.

"Don't interfere," Menchi said, not moving an inch.

"I only did so because you would have killed him if I didn't," Buhara said.

"Whatever," Menchi scoffed. Gon sighed. Some things will never change.

-

As Satoz hangs up the phone with the chairman, he could see a Hunter Association blimp arriving in the distance. As it lands, an old man jumps out. Satoz sighs as he jumps out of his hiding place to join the group.

"Chairman Netero," Menchi says, turning towards the elderly man. "What can I do for you?"

"It has come to my attention that you have failed everyone in this exam," Netero said, chuckling. "Is this true?"

"Yes sir," she says. "Their close-mindedness and unwillingness to experiment was enough for me to determine that these people cannot be hunters. I admit to having overreacted during the exam, though, therefore making the exam harder. If you can redo the second phase, I will retire as an examiner because of my incompetence."

"No!" Before Netero can respond, Gon piped up, running towards the two. "Menchi-nee did great! She was just mad that people didn't respect her field of work. If I was a hunter and people started insulting my work, I would be offended too. Please don't fire her, Netero-san."

"Ohoho, popular, are we, Menchi?" Netero chuckled. Menchi shot Gon a look as a few of the participants scoffed. "Since there are people who want you to continue being examiner, I suggest you come up with an alternate assignment for the exam."

At that, Menchi's gaze softened at the boy. Because of the boy's words, Netero seemed compelled to keep her on this job. She didn't care much for the job, but it was heartwarming to see the kid stand up for her. "I think I have the perfect idea."

-

Menchi flies up the ravine with a spider-hawk egg, also known as a dream egg in her hands. "And that's how you do it," she said happily. "Now, it's your turn."

Without hesitation, Gon ran and jumped down the ravine, grabbing hold of one of the webs. Kurapika, Killua, and Leorio grabbed onto the same web as more and more participants continued to grab onto webs.

"I-I can't do this anymore!" One of the participants shouted as he dropped down, grabbing an egg before falling to his death. Several more applicants also fell, taking a whole nest of eggs with them.

"Wait!" Gon said, sniffing the air. He felt a little tickle on his nose and opened his eyes. "Now!"

He let go of the web and grabbed two eggs before the updraft carried him up. Several more people followed him up as he landed safely at the top of the ravine.

-

While Menchi hard boiled the eggs for everyone, Gon took some of the supplies he stole from the previous exam site to scramble one of his eggs and plated it with a bit of leftover pork he had made. He took the egg that he had already hardboiled and walked up to Toro, who was sulking. He didn't jump down the ravine, in fear for his life.

"Here!" Gon said, handing him the egg. "Do you want to try?"

"Really?" Toro asked, looking at the boy. After a short pause, he nodded and took the egg from the boy, biting into it. "It's amazing."

"We Gourmet Hunters risk our lives every day to get flavors like that dream egg," Menchi said, walking over to the two. "Just because our profession sounds dumb doesn't mean that it isn't a risky and life-threatening line of work."

"I see," Todo said, staring at the half-eaten egg. "I'll come back and take the exam next year. I've learned a lot today. Thank you."

After Todo left, Menchi turned to Gon and looked at his disk of scrambled eggs and pork. "You know," she said, a small smile on her face. "If you had presented that at the exam, I might have actually taken a bite."

"Do you want to try?" Gon asked her innocently, handing her the pork and eggs. "I don't mind."

"Sure," Menchi said, sticking the fork into the pork before gathering a bit of eggs. As she took the bite, Gon could see her face light up.

"This is really good!" She exclaimed. "I really didn't expect something this good. Where did you learn how to cook?"

"My awesome big sister taught me!" Gon chirped. "She would have probably killed me if she saw what I had originally served you, though. I could have done better, but I needed to get to Netero-san…"

"It's okay," Menchi said, pretending to ignore Gon's last statement. "I bet your big sister is a really awesome person."

Gon shot her a sad smile. "Yeah," he said. "She was awesome."

Menchi's joking expression morphed into one of sympathy as she realized what the boy had implied. "Well, let's get you onto the airship, okay?" She ushered Gon towards the airship, still holding his plate of food. "We have to leave soon, anyways."

-

"What do you think of this year's participants?" Netero asked the examiners as he sipped his tea.

"Number 405 is my favorite," Menchi stated. "He seemed to be a lot more open-minded than the rest. He also carried himself like a hunter would. While people like 39 and 44 carry themselves like assassins, Number 405 has the makings of a true hunter."

"I agree with Menchi," Satoz said. "Gon-san is a lot like his father. He and I had a very nice chat about Ging. Gon seems to know a lot about his father, despite claiming to never have met him."

"So number 405 is the one named Gon," Netero said before chuckling lightly. "This year is turning out to be more interesting than I thought."

-

"Ging, where the hell are you?!" Cheadle Yorkshire yelled through the phone at Ging, who hasn't left his room. He didn't want to leave his room until he knew what the fuck was going on or until his son contacted him. "This is the third zodiac meeting you've missed in a row! You can't keep doing this!"

"Sorry Cheadle," Ging said, letting out a shaky breath. It was still surreal to even talk to the girl who had died right before his eyes. "Something came up. I'm trying to find out what's going on right now. It's important. I promise."

"Okay," Cheadle sighed in defeat. "Just stay safe, okay? I don't want you dying out there on me."

"Yeah, yeah, I'll see you later," Ging said, hanging up the phone. He stared at the screen, noticing that he had gotten a text message.

"Gon: I'm taking the Hunter Exams right now. I don't think I can meet up with you until October, though. I have a few things I need to take care of. I'll be in Yorknew for the auction. I'll see you there."

Ging sighed as he turned off his phone. That text didn't feel like the Gon he knew. Not the Gon that was 12 years old, or even 16 years old. There must be something up. Ging collapsed on his bed and closed his eyes. He was going to need a lot of alcohol.

-

Gon sighed as he put away his scanner. There was no use in scanning because he already knew the Nen abilities of everyone who was on the airship. He decided to wait until later to talk to Killua in hopes that Netero would approach him while he was alone. If not, he can still play the game with Killua, but if that was the case, he couldn't use Nen.

"Excuse me, young man?" Gon smirked as he heard a voice behind him. He turned around to see no one there.

"Boo!" Gon didn't even flinch at Netero's attempt to spook the boy.

"Ah!" He turned around again as if he had just noticed Netero was there. "Netero-san! What can I do for you?"

"I'm just a little bored," Netero said, a smile on his face. Gon knew that Netero was wondering why Gon wasn't startled, but the chairman was an expert at hiding emotions. "Say, would you like to play a game with me?"

Gon smiled. This is what he has been waiting for. "That sounds fun!" He exclaimed, bracing himself for whatever shocked faces Netero will have within the next few hours.