"Hmm, what should I say..." Eustace wondered. Only few moments remained before he would finally set off on his adventure. Before departing, however, he decided to talk to his grandfather. Or at least, what was left of him. Eustace had already buried the old man's body long ago. According to some of the books he read beforehand, speaking to your loved ones was the best thing to do before setting off, even if they were buried with only a shoddily made tombstone near the house to indicate their existence. "Well..." Eustace continued, still seemingly unsure of which precise words he wanted to pick. "It's been way too long since I've seen you. I'm not sure if you're still watching over me, or if I'm just talking to your cadaver at this point. But I really hope I can do something that'd knock your socks off! You probably would've been way happier if I wanted to become an info hunter like you, huh? Don't worry about me though, I still wanna contribute a lot to that field, just isn't what I'm super passionate about, y'know?" Eustace stood up from his seat on the ground after he said those words. "Sorry for being such a crybaby for a while. I promise I'll do good to make up for it. I'm gonna go now, thanks a bunch...for everything." Eustace ended with a grin.

The walk to his destination would probably take him quite some time to get there. Luckily, he had already prepared something that would make the trip somewhat easier. There was a lid, not unlike one used to cover up a manhole, a few feet away from his small house. Eustace approached it, dragging it away to reveal a hole. He leapt inside of it, revealing a variety of tunnels that all lead to different paths. Given how much time he spent digging, he had gotten rather good at it. As a matter of fact, he could even dig as fast as the average person could walk! Despite the abundance of different paths he could take, reaching the place he wanted to go to was fairly simple, as he had taken the time to draw arrows on the floor to avoid getting lost.

—

After an hour or two of walking through the tunnels, Eustace's head popped out of another hole. His location? The docks where an old friend of his grandfather awaited him. "There you are, lad!" The man exclaimed, grabbing the boy's hand to help him out. The man's entire body was wrapped up in a cloak, with only his brown eyes being visible.

"Nice to see ya again, Mr.Bill!" Eustace replied with a smile. "Is that our ride?" Eustace asked, pointing towards a boat that awaited them.

"Yessiree, we're all set to make our leave." Bill nodded.

"Is Kyo here, too?"

Bill shook his head. "Not yet. Feel free ta wait in the boat 'til she's here."

"Gotcha!" With that, Eustace boarded the boat, sitting down on the far left side of it while placing his backpack down. He had mainly brought along some books for the trip, but was interested in looking through one in particular, an art book by a surrealist painter named H.R. Giger. Eustace took the book and looked through the illustrations as he waited for his friend.

The raven haired girl got herself more punctual than the boy, and she seats beside him. "Hey Staz, this boat is impressive, never knew there's a dojo next door." Carrying her sword with her, it explains what she had been doing earlier and not informing Eustace ahead of time that she's early and whatnot. That's her usual habit of not informing people ahead of time which often comes dismaying or outright disrespectful. In case if anyone doesn't know, Staz is the affectionate nickname that she calls her friend. The raven haired girl's name is Kyōka, and like Eustace she also have an affectionate nickname which is Kyō, she is one year older than him; she knew of Eustace's grandfather through the grandpa's successor, a hunter that is globally well known and that's how the two came to be.

Kyō's eyes twitched and her face puffs and stomps her foot to the ground. Her display then causes people to startle and hide in their seats due to her unfriendly face, "I didn't bring any clothes! Oh crap!" She just remembered, as much as she hates it, excitement is one thing that is a double edged sword. Kyōka was too excited for their journey and she completely forgot to bring her essentials like clothes and all she brought with her was herself, her favorite outfit that she is currently wearing and not to mention, her sword which she holds dearly. Her face is stoic yet her eyes shows the window through her soul, she slowly frowns like as if she's crying already but crying is more on the inside, she seats beside her friend and sulk for her forgetfulness of basic needs.

"Wow, there's a dojo around here? That's so cool, can't believe I've never seen it!" Eustace smiled at Kyō as she sat beside him, they were both similar in that they had a habit of losing themselves in their excitement. He probably would've done the same thing, had he more than one set of clothing. In all the time he spent with Kyō he found her quite interesting. She was from a family of politicians in Meteor City, which surprised him as the place didn't even have a form of government! He was one of the few people who never got afraid of her when she was angry, which only made making friends much easier. Although, from the looks of things, Kyō seemed like she needed a pick-me-up. "Have you read this book?" He held the art book open towards her direction. Another similarity between the two was that they both enjoyed strange stuff. The artist definitely fit the bill, only making the book more fascinating in his eyes. Eustace passed the book to his friend, he had a lot of other stuff to read in the meantime, so it was really no trouble at all.

"That's everyone? Well now, time for us to depart!" Bill untied the boat from the docks and quickly settled himself in the front. Luckily, the wind was blowing, so there was no problem setting sail. Eustace was excited to finally begin the ride. After all, it was his first time at sea, and would also lead into his first time outside the dumpster city. The young miner reached into his pocket, taking out two pizza crusts he had found while scavenging for food, he made sure to pack a lot of them while he still could. "Want one?" He said, holding one out to Kyō.

FIRST ARC! Aurora Sonata!

Meteor City and politicians? Nope, Kyō is from a family of one, yes but due to certain circumstances, she is without her family. Her origins are from York New City. The frowning of Kyō slowly defrosts as Staz enlightens her, as weird as it is, how could kids in their generation be excited about a book? Her intense gloomy sulking expression changed to a cheerful one as she's weirdly attracted to the book. She took the book while walking.The wind however blew the pages for her and it turned into the random page. Just before she could read it, she took bite out of the pizza with her mouth full from Staz's clutches, pizza crust no longer in his hand! IT WAS FLASH. Kyō munches her food with all her heart, her cheerful feeling brightens up the atmosphere and her eyes alone is enough to say thank you.

After that, the page caught her eyes, "It was a woman in a bikini and she's icy." Kyō pokes Eustace and pointed at the well endowed figure of the young lady. "IT'S R****TSU********IBSKLGKJSG'VE SEEN HER BEFORJEFSJEKJSGJNNSNSNSGSGK SHE'S AUQWHWKWKJKWESOMMMEEE." Who could understand what she's saying? She's talking with her mouthful. Indeed Kyō have a thing for weird things but girls? Who knew? On the contrary, she doesn't but her gestures and mannerisms were implying the wrong thing to most people in the docks, a weird girl. Finishing her food, she asks where are they and where are they headed?

Suddenly a stranger approaches Eustace and Kyō. He is tall, snarky, with the eyes of distrust like a snake, and looks like he is up to no good. The man barges in their conversation. "Oh my, it's Aurora Sonata, kiddos. She's one of the best Hunters out there, I'm surprise she even got an art of herself. Looks like your girlfriend is a big fan of her, lad." Looking at them up close. "She's here too." What is his motive? Kyo's eyes widened and sparkle, "Handsome Man, please take us to her!" Kyo rushes without thought, she have always wanted to meet this Aurora Sonata lady in person.

"You're welcome!" Eustace said, chuckling to himself as he noticed the look of content on her face. He was happy to have cheered his friend up, the last thing he wanted was for her to be unhappy during the ride. By the looks of things, she also seemed to enjoy the book he had given her. Good thing he had enough books to last him until they reached their destination. History books always seemed to make time go at least twice as fast, they just had so much interesting information for him to enjoy. Not only that, but it'd definitely help him when he finally achieved his goal. Eustace reached into his bag and pulled out a random book. Great Archaeological Discoveries of the Ages, one of his personal favorites.

Before he could delve into it, Kyō seemed to want his attention. Her voice gave away that she was REALLY excited about something. Though, it took him a bit to decipher her words as she pointed towards a woman in the book who seemed a bit out-of-place in it. Upon further inspection, it seemed like the woman's picture was actually part of a magazine that was hidden in the book. His grandpa liked reading this kinda stuff? Fortunately, Eustace happened to be fluent in Kyōnese because of all the time they've spent together. "'I've seen her before, she's awesome', is that it?"Eustace asked, craning his neck slightly. Who could that woman be? After finishing the food he had given her, Kyō seemed curious as to where they were heading. Eustace was a bit surprised that she didn't remember, maybe she had gotten too excited when he initially asked her to come with him? "We're going to Glu City, remember? I'm looking for an agency there that gives missions to archaeological hunters. So there has to be stuff for rookies, right?" He was awfully optimistic about it, but he would likely be greatly let down once he actually found the place. Which isn't to say that visiting the city is his only reason for leaving his home, just the main one.

Suddenly, a stranger approached them. Most people would be distrusting of the man due to his odd appearance, but Eustace was more curious to learn about him than he was suspicious. "Aurora Sonata?" Eustace cupped his chin with has hand as if thinking about something. "Sounds kinda familiar..." He could've sworn that he had heard her name before, but when? The thing that interested him the most about her was the fact that she was a hunter. Besides his grandfather, he hadn't actually met a hunter before? Following Kyō's lead, he too asked to met her.

"Yeah, lead the way, Mr.Handsome!" He said, basing the nickname off of Kyō's name for him.

Walking with the man, he introduced himself as the two starlings follow him. "My name Arashi. What are your names?" If it is even my real name. He asked, Kyō replied her name. "It's Kyō."(In between Eustace replies by your post). She didn't look straight on his face, after all it is to be noted that she's not so good socializing with other people that is not in the circle of Eustace and people related to Eustace and her. Arashi's surprised, "You two are going to Glu City. Yes, there's an agency that doesn't just give missions to archaeological hunters but judging from the both of you. The both of you aren't Hunters as well as lacking nen presence... at the very least, not yet. I'm sorry but you're not qualified.." Then he turns around giving them a scare, well probably most people in the streets with his large ham of eccentric behavior and screaming.

"BUT! BUT! BUT! BUT!" Kyou said. Arashi Making weird gestures with his hands. "To do so, you need to prove yourself by taking the Hunter Exam and only then will you get what you desire."

He is frankly brutally honest and sounded mean to be honest, Arashi dislikes sugarcoating answers, he is curious to see what two kids can do. "Then we have to take the Hunter Exam?" Frowning. She glared at Eustace in a melancholic manner, her eyes were scarlet but it also done in a comedy fashion. Implied that, the man is probably right and you need to pass the hunter exam to be a certain type of hunter, her intuition kicks in as assumed that Eustace seemed to not have thought it through or she is just forgetful and excited.

The man named Arashi is surprise. "Ho~ so you're friend.....is a..." Then he claps his hands. "First of all, I will be honest from here on out. I approached the both of you because I see the both of you have potential to become splendid Hunters but it seems that your worth is not enough unless you prove me wrong. Since you're here. Glu City can wait." WHY SO SUDDEN?! Their destination is halt.

Thugs starts to appear.

"Nen presence?" Eustace's expression was a mix between confused and crestfallen. Never had he heard of the word 'Nen', what could it mean? Why was it so imperative if they wanted a shot at getting a mission from the agency? So the only real way to qualify was to pass the exams? While the news had come as a great disappointment to him, it didn't compare to how bad he felt upon seeing Kyō's own reaction to Arashi's words. Her eyes had turned scarlet (another one of her traits that Eustace was fascinated about) and she seemed just as sad as he was. This did nothing but add to the embarrassment he felt from wasting his friend's time, he could barely look at the girl as he slightly blushed at his blunder.

His attention once again went to Arashi as the older man spoke again. Eustace was intrigued to hear what the man had to say, especially after he interrupted himself mid-sentence. "My friend is a...?" He said lowly. The man's next few words made him blush for a completely different reason. Did the two of them really have such great potential to be hunters? The boy clearly wasn't used to those kinds of compliments! This sheepishness lasted only until the boat abruptly stopped, Eustace's eyes quickly darting from thug-to-thug as they seemingly appeared from nowhere. A grin so crept up on his face. Would this be his chance to redeem himself?

One could easily deduce Eustace was a street fighter from the stance he took. Right hand forward, left hand guarding him, with his legs slightly separated from each other to allow for more mobility. Typically, he preferred using his pickaxe, but there wasn't any chance he'd be able to get it. He wondered if pickaxe sheaths existed? One of the thugs soon came at him, aiming a punch at his face. Eustace quickly reacted by aiming a punch at one of the most commonly known "sweet spots", the solar plexus. Given his abnormal strength and how vulnerable that part of the body typically was, the pain from the attack was easily enough to knock the man out.

Kyou being agitated uses her sword and avoided vital spots to knock the thugs out, Arashi smiles of the danger presented to them. Suddenly with a simple snap of his hands he summons more thugs but these thugs aren't really what they seem, it is in fact his nen called March of the Undead; "Come on prove to me that you guys can be hunters!" But before he could overwhelm them, a woman who seems to be his superior smacks him in the head. "Ouch!~" He felt the pain all the way to his spine, the woman with glasses. She is the Investor of the Hunter's Association of Glu City. "Nee-san come on, I was having fun." He said but he got falcon kicked to the face instead, knocking him out. Much to the anti-climactic outcome, the woman's attention turn to the kids.

"Don't mind my brother. Talent Scouters are annoying sometimes but I see that he fulfilled his job. He saw potential in you both. I suppose having to teach you nen is the next step." She said

Before Eustace could attack anymore of the thugs, a woman wearing glasses had come to hit Arashi over the head, signifying the end of the test. He had to admit, not being able to fight more of them seemed disappointing. Fighting was always so much fun! Impressively, the newcomer had easily been able to knock out Arashi with a simple kick which looked almost painful to look at. Anyone that looked at Eustace's eyes could easily tell that the lady had instantly gained his respect and admiration...he hoped Arashi was still alright after that. Either way, he still needed a few questions. "Hey Ms.Kick, what's nen?" The term had been used by Arashi, but he had never actually explained what the word meant. He had also picked out a nickname for the woman, a tendency of his whenever someone managed to get his friendship or respect. "And how'd all those guys get on the ship?" He hadn't seen them use any sort of vehicle to invade the ship, in fact, it seemed like they had popped out of nowhere! Eustace hoped she could answer his questions, his head hurt just thinking about them.

Path to Hunter!

Few hours later, they are in the Love Me Do Tower, it is a twin building that sets a passage to both and is similar to Malaysia's Petrona Towers. Arashi have to prepare everything for 5 hours so that everything is presentable to their guests which is Kyou and Eustace. During that 5 hours, in between; Butlers and Maids attend to care for their needs and entertainment; funny, against their will they were bathed and groomed by the professionals. Eustace and Kyou are wearing professional clothing, dress and tuxedo, Eustace is wearing a dark green tuxedo while Kyou wears a red dress.

The Zoldyck Twins
Arashi and Shizuka
Yes, the both of them are twins. The elder twin is Shizuka, and the younger twin is Arashi; both are from the infamous assassin family, the Zoldyck. Both of them though having some ties with the family, the assassin art isn't really their forte and that is why they carry on their grandfather's tradition of Love Me Do; Talented Hunters Association. It's purpose is to recruit youngsters with hidden talents and make them bloom. Those are also explained in the meeting. In the meeting, there's a grandeur of buffet served to the two future hunters, Kyou and Eustace.

Cutting forward to what is promised. "So that is what our company is all about. It is up to you to work with us, there are no ulterior motives but just good business. If you decline, it is too bad but alright but remember this, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity." Shizuka said to the kids. "Nen's a technique that allows a living being to use and manipulate their own life energy. We call it aura." Shizuka explained it in a formal and complicated manner but Arashi made it simpler. "In short, energy manipulation. Super powers of all sorts. But what the heck, it is useless to explain when you don't face and see the real thing."

Kyou said. "In other words nen is an energy reserve. One of those stuff in fiction where a martial artists has what they call chi?" She clarifies. Arashi replied. "Exactly."

Arashi continued. "For example, I am a Specialist. My hatsu allows me to foretell a person's potential, hidden potential, and power levels but as you can see I am also a transmuter as I have summoned those lifeless thugs that you fought." Transmutater? Specialist? Hatsu? Arashi raised more questions than answers to the kids.

Shizuka replied. "Don't make it too hard, they don;t comprehend from you. We just met you guys and I know this sounds crazy but we really need you. Aurora Sonata is sadly not here and she's gone missing, she's suppose to take the hunter exam next month and we haven't got contact from her supposed partner and that draws us zero. Truly, it sounds like we want you to replace them but it isn't like that." She said with need. Arashi replied. "You and your drama. Anyhow, the hunter association expects a lot from our company and neither of us sees failure as an option. Once more. Are you in or are you out?"

Kyou answered. "I am in. My name is Kyōka Hasegawa and I want to be a Blacklist Hunter and find the one who destroyed my family and restore honor to my clan. I wouldn't call it a goal but an ambition." Driven by revenge, Kyou explicitly explains her motives of becoming a hunter and that is her main reason. The Kyou we knew a while back is laid back but with this reveal, she is revealed to be a serious person with mystery surrounding her.

Arashi thought. Like the legends tell. Ha, like ancestor like descendant.. He laughs.

Eustace had been enjoying all of the food the company had to offer as the plethora of information was bestowed upon them. The information was rather peculiar, unlike anything he had heard of. As they said, this "Nen" was the kind of thing that you'd hear about in fiction! That only made the very idea seem much more interesting in his eyes. More than enough to make up for how strange he felt in the green tuxedo they had given him. They had even taken away his hardhat for the time being, leaving his hair (which he had already chosen to messy in order to make himself feel more comfortable) on display for all.

Quick to catch on, Eustace figured that there had to be some procedure required for this aura to be of any use. The fact that Arashi said that they couldn't actually see it as of yet was more than enough to tip him off to this fact. While he didn't exactly look the part, the boy was astoundingly smart for his age. However, he still couldn't make heads or tails of the terms they were using, such as "transmuter" or "specialist". Linking them to their denotative meanings didn't seem to help with anything besides making him more puzzled. Though, with the information that had been given to them, it was easy to deduce that a hatsu was akin to a superpower.

The deal was way too good, but doubts still harbored in the corner of Eustace's mind. He definitely wanted to meet this Aurora person, she sounded completely cool! On the flip side, accepting would also mean that he'd have to compromise what he wanted to do for what would be best for the Love Me Do, a name which still brought a goofy smile on his face whenever he heard or thought about it. "What d'you think, Kyō?" He decided to go leave the tiebreaker to Kyō, no way could he leave his friend if they answers differed.

"Eh?" When she spoke, a look of shock appeared on Eustace's face, followed briefly by one of betrayal. Why hadn't she told him this? Weren't the two of them supposed to be best friends? After all, Eustace never hesitated to tell her about himself. Did she...not trust him? For the first time, Kyō had actually done something to sadden him, worrying him at the same time. Revenge stories never played out well, frankly, they were very dangerous, especially to the one seeking it. He figured that she must have a good reason, but he hoped they could still talk about it later.

"Well...I guess I'm in." Eustace said with a much less chipper tone. It sounded pretty strange on him. Kyō could easily pick up on how he was feeling at this point, the twins likely could as well, so he tried to mask his emotions with his next few words. "I'm Eustace Bell, and I want to become an archaeological hunter and maybe even explore the dark continent one day. Glad to meetcha!" The dark continent was the place that most interested him, for his grandfather had once explored it as well. Little did he know that there was actually something drawing him to it. A connection that made his family all the more strange. As he was born in Meteor City, there weren't even documents connecting him to it all.

"So, how do we go about learnin' nen, Mr.Handsome?" Long after they had gotten off the boat, Eustace was still calling Arashi Mr.Handsome, the man was basically stuck with the nickname until he said otherwise.

After the long wait, Kyou and Eustace got what they deserve which is to learn nen. Arashi opened their aura nodes and together both Kyou and Eustace felt a sudden change in their body. Aura (オーラ) is the life energy produced by all living bodies vital for survival. Aura from all parts of the body has a tendency to flow together, producing one mass of energy. This happens without the individual's awareness, typically resulting in a slow leak of aura continually escaping the body. If one were to lose their entire aura, it would be equivalent to using up all the energy keeping them alive, which would be fatal. The pores or points on the body from which aura flows out from are called "Aura Nodes" (精孔, しょうこう) shōkō). Controlling those nodes is the first step to being a user of Nen. Learning to use Nen is the final step in becoming a professional Hunter because most contracted jobs require the use of it as the minimum requirement. The technique has the ability to enhance the strength of physical attacks or objects depending on the quantity of aura employed and an individual's aura type, as well as allows for para-psychological abilities to exist in reality. Because one can craft just about any sort of psychic power through only using their mind, Nen is also a dangerous power unknown to the public at large. Arashi explains what is nen after both felt what it's like to have one.

Ten (点, Point): Focus the mind, reflect upon the self, and determine the goal.
Zetsu (舌, Tongue): Put it into words.
Ren (錬, Temper): Intensify your will.
Hatsu (発, Release): Put it to action

"Those are what you need to know, learn how to keep your nen inside your body otherwise you'll die and now for the final test, water divination."



"I will not determine what your potentials will be as the divination will but I hope for the best. What abilities do you want?"

Kyou answered. "I want flames. Nonetheless. How about you Eustace?" She asked. Arashi said. "You'll find out soon enough once you're done with this."

@ThanatosDefiant