It was at that point our young hero woke up, and above him he saw the face of the man that murdered his mother, leading to his father's death. He was smiling goofy with his hands next to our protagonist's head. He instantly went into action, rolling backwards and aiming to kick the fatter man in his round face. That was when his kick fell short. Our main character looked at his legs and noticed he was shorter than before. His arms were too. He didn't think about it for now. He went to grab at his knives, to only find they weren't there either. "Come on Shevvy. Don't you want to kill me? What's wrong?" His voice was deep and hollow yet somehow jolly. He was teasing Shev. He reached under his bed and took out one of his few hidden knives. 'At least that's still there,' Shev thought to himself as he lunged at the target in front of him. He was slower than normal. The man grabbed the blade between his two thick sausage-like fingers, and snapped the blade.

"OI! Nick! Stop giving my kid a hard time right after the hell you just put him through!" Shev's father, Gero, had walked through the door to his room. Alive and unharmed, well minus the still missing arm. Shev looked around while the fat ass kept laughing. His home wasn't in shatters. His father was alive, and so was the fatty. 'That must mean mom is alive!' Shev ran out of his room, and into the kitchen where his mom was standing there, cooking breakfast. Tears ran down Shev's face as he ran up and clinged to his mom. After a few minutes Gero came in with the bald fatty from before, and pried Shev off his mother. "Everything's fine brat. The last year was all a nightmare. More specifically the one I lived through before taking my own Exams. Well modified a bit. The killer of your gramps never came to our home, and my Ma died when I was little. But other than that, It was mostly the same." Shev stood there, his shirt still in his father's grasp for a few moments. Then he just shot his fist out, landing just a few centimeters short of his father's Jewels.

"DAMN IT! This is just like last year. You tested me then too and this time you took it too far! I really thought you guys died!" Tears continued to run down the eleven year old's face. Till his father spoke up again.

"Yeah yeah, to make up for it, I'll actually teach you Nen. Deal?" The young boy sniffled and got out of his dad's grasp, moved closer looking up at him with determination. Then he struck the Hunter's Bag of Gold. He quickly keeled over. At which point Nick started to laugh again, and Shev's mom shook her head.

"I told you he would hate it if you did that." She hummed out while cooking.

"I don't know Gero, I mean he really is your kid, and you couldn't see that coming? Sorry about putting you through that Shev. I owed your dad a favor, and this is what he wanted, don't hold it against me okay? See you all later!" The man known as Nick left the building. He quickly ran off, hoping his nards wouldn't be next.

"I'm going to train in cooking the whole next year! As well as my own training. Nothing you do will convince me otherwise. I learned Nen once, I will learn it on my own again! Is that okay with you mom?" The young troublemaker looked up at his parent, in which she responded with a nod.

"Although I will be training you in some aspects. I want to make your sense of smell and palate much more sensitive. I also want to teach you first aid and sewing. You never know when those will come in handy!" Shev smiled cheerfully at his mom.

"Yep!" And that is when his training began. Once he woke up, it was a ten lap run around the forested parts of the island. Dodging in and out of trees, and avoiding any animals that may attack him, and looking for edibles for breakfast. Once he got home it was time to start cooking, each day every meal was from a different country, or was made a different way, or was a dish made by combining two or more countries types of food or cooking. In between every meal it would be expanding his palate, or making him smell all sorts of stuff to increase his sensitivity, all while learning the basics to first aid, and sewing. In the evening, it wouldn be time to work on Nen. In the short year that he had, he had remastered his Ten and Zetsu, and not even getting close to anything else he had learned. His father knew that his skills with Nen were actually really weak. During this year he also found out it was in fact a Zylock family butler that had taken his arm.

It was time. The day to leave the island and take the hunter exam. He once again got his special knives although this time with straps for his waist, thighs and back so he could openly carry them, a case full of herbs and spices, and a signed copy of the paperwork letting him enter the exam. Before he left, his father grabbed him by the shoulders, and turned the child to face him. His look cold and stern. "Do not use any Nen during the exam. Keep yourself in a light Zetsu the whole time. If you break these rules, I will take your license from you and you will not get it back. You can not have another reprinted nor a replacement. Understand?" Shev nodded and left his father behind. He got onto the ship and paid the fare. He sat on the edge on the boat.

A robust man wearing what was obviously a captain's hat walked out. He wore a red vest with a black and white horizontal stripe pattern down the inside, with beige, long sleeve V-neck underneath. He had a rather large red nose, and a long white beard spiking out from his chin with a mustache to match. He yelled out, "NEXT STOP, WHALE ISLAND."

Shev smirked. While he had never gone to another island before, his father took him out on fishing trip after fishing trip to prepare him for the open sea. Always saying something along the lines of, "You never know how you're going to have to travel as a hunter!"

After Shev got bored looking out into the sea, he opened his knife case and took them out, sharpening them and making sure they were in top shape. Looking around the ship, he saw a lot of what his mother would call, "Scumbags." Although two of the people on the ship interested him. A boy? Maybe a girl? Sitting in a chair near the helm, they were blonde wearing a red and blue tabard, with some sort of white clothing underneath. They seemed to either be meditating or sleeping. Speaking of people one might call a scumbag, there was a tall lanky man sitting against the side of the ship, reading a porno mag. He wore a full blue suit and wore glasses. He carried a brown case with him. That case interested Shev more than anything though. He wondered what the man kept in it.

Once they had gotten to Whale Island, only one new person boarded. A boy about his age, wearing a black tank top, with a green jacket over it. He wore matching shorts and boots. His whole get up screamed that he lived in the wild. It didn't help that he had a fishing rod on his back. That was when he did it. He turned back towards the island and yelled, "By Aunt Mito! By the time I come back I'll be a hunter!"

At that phrase everyone pretty much tensed up. Of course the two Shev was looking at before hardly reacted. Looking again the blonde wasn't too much older than the two twelve year olds on the boat. Based on how everyone on the ship was acting, it looked like they were either going to kill the kid, or throw him overboard. Possibly both. So of course Shev walked up. "You really shouldn't brag that you are on the way to the Exam at all. You know some people will do anything in order to pass the exam, including killing a kid on their way." Shev held out his hand to the big mouthed kid, "Name's Shev. I'm also going to the Exam this year."

The boy nodded his head and met Shev's with a firm grasp, "I'm Gon. Don't you think this is all amazing? I mean look at how many people from all over the world are all trying after the same goal!" Shev just froze for a second with a look of confusion.

"You know hunter is just an overall position right? Like there are different types of hunters in the world. I'm aiming to be a gourmet hunter myself. Like hunting rare food and animals to savor the flavor."

"No clue! I'm just trying to find my dad. Or at least figure out why he left." Shev flinched at hearing that. "Oh no! Are you okay?" Gon let go of his grip on Shev's hand.

"I don't know are you? You just said your dad left you with a cheery look on your face. I'd kill my old man if he left me and my mom for any reason." They walked over to the side of the ship, sitting down and letting their legs hang over the side.

"I don't really hold it against him, He told Mito that it was too dangerous to take me with him. And that he couldn't stop being a hunter to raise a kid. So I figured that this job must mean a lot to him, so I want to see what it's like."

"Well if you really want to know what it's like, it definitely isn't a walk in the park. My dad's a hunter if you want to ask him about it. Although he may not like talking about his time after he lost his arm." Gon just smiled at Shev for a moment and nodded.

"I'd love to! Any hints on finding my dad might help too!" Shev just looked at Gon for a minute, 'This guy is interesting,'

"It's a promise then, after the exam, pass or fail, you can come over to my island and we can talk to my dad!" They high fived, leading to Shev losing balance and falling back onto the ship, both of them laughing. Then Gon perked up, he smelled the air, pinched his nose, and held up his finger asking Shev to give him a minute. He quickly ran up the mast of the ship, and took a deep whiff of the air. He looked over at the seagulls surrounding the ship. He then slid back down in and looked at Shev.

"It's gonna storm. Badly too." The captain had seemed to over hear this and walked over, taking a puff of his pipe.

"What makes you say that boy?" The captain talked with a rough and deep, yet somewhat jolly voice. He stood over the two of them eyeing each one over.

"It smells like rain, the birds are warning each other about high winds, and the sea feels rougher than when we left." Shev put his hand on his chin, nodding and agreeing, although he only noticed the change in the smell of the air.

"You understand the birds boy?" Gon nodded as the captain turned to the crew. "GET READY FOR A STORM BOYS! RAISE THE MAST AND GET OUR CARGO UNDERNEATH THE DECK!" The sailors scrambled out to move as many people under the deck as possible, as well as come crates and barrels. 'Looks like Whale Island made another good one!' The captain thought to himself.

Once the storm hit, being on the ship was comparable to being a pebble in an earthquake. You were thrown around or swayed constantly. Almost no one was able to hold onto their stomach. Except of course, Shev, Gon the blonde from before, and the man with the porno from earlier. They all went about their business, peacefully in the cargo hold. Shev was sharpening his knives yet again while talking to Gon, in between what he was doing, taking car of the sea sick passengers. The blonde seemed to actually be asleep this time, and the man in the suit was still reading. Pretty soon a member of the crew came up and woke up the blonde, then he left. He went to the man in the suit and told him something, to which he left. Then he came over to Shev and Gon, "The captain would like to see you two."

So there they were. All four of them standing in a line in front of the captain. "So then what are all your names?" They go off in order, the blonde being named Kurapika, the taller one being named Leorio and of course, Gon and Shev. "Now then, why do you all want to be hunters?" At this point Leorio went to leave the room.

"I don't need to tell you shit. We all have reasons, and some of them are none of your business." Right after saying this, Kurapika nodded as well as Shev. Gon then spoke up.

"I want to find my dad, and find out why he wanted to leave and be a hunter over raising me!" Leorio's face scrunched in anger as he turned to Gon and started talking in a hushed tone.

"Kid, you don't have to tell him anything, especially something that personal."

"I hate to agree with Leorio here, but he is correct. I would rather not share my reason.

"Hey! That's Mr. Leorio to you!" The captain turned toward one of the deck hands.

"Go ahead and tell the association that three more failed." At which point Shev looked angry, and the other two looked shocked.

"You didn't even wait for me to answer! What the hell old man?!" Shev stepped forward, ready to draw his butcher knives off the sides of his back.

"Wait, you mean that you knew he was an Examiner?" Leorio yelled at Shev, standing over him, almost hunched over.

"That makes sense Leorio. There is no way they could test everyone at the site."

"I said it's MR. Leorio to you. MR. Hear me?" Leorio's voice was stern.

"Of course, my father is a hunter as well, he's half the reason I want to be a hunter. The other half is my mom. She wanted to be a professional chef, but lost her scent of smell. So I want to be a gourmet hunter to make the tastiest dishes in the world for her and my dad. I also want to avenge my father's arm. He lost it to a Zylock family butler applicant. I'm going to take her's as retribution." The captain nodded.

"Well what about you two?" Kurapita spoke up first.

"I am the last surviving member of the Kurta clan. I wish to hunt down the Phantom Troupe and destroy them, for they have destroyed my family." Everyone but Gon looked almost faded.

"That's a tough goal there kid. Good luck." Leorio started to speak up. "Mine may not be as honorable, but it's sure as well important. Money! Being a hunter can bring in more money than any other job in the world! I mean it, half of the one hundred richest people in the world are always hunters!"

"Do not compare my cause to something as pitiful as greed Leorio." At the last word, Leorio's face grew grim.

"Tch, That's the third time. Meet me out on the deck. Obviously the Kurta don't teach their brats manners. I think today I'll wipe the last of that filthy blood off the Earth." Leorio left the room, followed by a running Kurapita. Shev casually walked out following them, along with Gon and the captain.

They stood a good distance apart, weapons drawn, rain and wind pound on them. Kurapita had some sort of combination between wooden swords and nunchucks, and Leorio had a butterfly knife. They stood facing each other down, when a deckhand went flying off the ship between them, "Gon Fishing Rod!" Shev yelled as he started to run. Leorio and Kurapita jumped after the man at the same time, both missing by just a second. Then Shev and Gon's fishing line flew by them. Shev grabbed the man, and the two that were fighting just a moment ago held him by the ankles. Along with Gon's rod the three pulled up Shev and the deckhand. The captain starts to laugh at Leorio and Kurapita scolding Shev. His response, "I knew you would catch me, and if you didn't I trusted Gon's line. He's from a fishing island."

Kurapita and Leorio made up and apologized, and the captain had told the four one thing while the storm cleared up. "You Pass!" Afterward the captain took Gon aside and asked him if he wanted to learn how to steer the ship. They went along, doing their own things until they made it to shore. The captain pulled Gon and Shev aside. "If you really want to make it to the hunter exam, go for that really big cedar tree in the center of the island. It will take you to where you want to go." They both nodded and went off to share that info with their new friends.