The First Task
The stadium erupted with cheers. It was the morning of the first task. There was a tent just outside, teachers and contestants gathered there. The judges were sitting at a podium. The headmasters were the judges: Knottingham Trent had the god Deus, Sheffield Harem had Netero, and Oxbridge’s was of course Fukazawa. The fourth judge was Lord Goo’s stand-in, Sebastian Michaelis. For safety measures the seer Trelawney had been hired so the students would be kept out trouble. Shanks was there to cross-reference her babbling as he too could see the future, but by using the stars.
Each champion had a tent. In Oxbridge’s tent, Nekozawa sat with Hawkeye, who was silently supporting him by not talking. Kakashi entered.
“Victor stay at the door, we don’t want your cowardice rubbing off on Nekozawa.”
“Actually I’d rather have him in here,” Nekozawa muttered. “Seeing someone so pitiful makes me feel better about my life as a whole.”
So Victor entered, legs shaking, and took a seat on the floor.
Suddenly the cannon sounded, and Yuki’s name was called to start his task. Nekozawa could only listen to the cheers, and pray that he will survive his turn.
-
Sebastian spoke into the microphone, “This is the first task. You must collect the golden ball which is being protected by Atsushi. There is no time limit, but the quickest will be the winner of the first task. Will Yukiteru Amano from Knottingham Trent please step forward.”
Yuki stepped into the arena. Tears were already spilling down his cheeks, inside his mind he was asking himself ‘why me? Why me? I’ve never done anything wrong in my lyfe, ever.’
Then he saw a figure in the distance- Atsushi. He was a skinny small boy, though his eyes burned in determination. Yuki’s tears dried up. Was this it? Did he just have to beat some boy that looked as pathetic as Yuki himself?
Then suddenly, Atsushi transformed. His clothes ripped off as his body began to grow, his spine arching, until there was a full grown white tiger in front of him, though his coat was smattered with bald patches. This tiger had clearly gone through a lot.
The tears came back, Yuki’s legs wobbled and he collapsed, just as the tiger started to sprint towards him.
“Yuno!” Yuki began to scream, snot dripping down his chin. Just before the tiger leapt for him, Yuki pushed himself out the way, though tripped, and rolled across the dusty ground. Yuki blinked, trying to see through the dust that had risen in the air to find the tiger that surely must be ready to pounce again. How was he to beat such a beast? Would the tiger eat him if he failed? Thoughts of a grisly death rushed through Yuki’s mind. He didn’t want to die.
All of a sudden, he heard a voice rise above the din of the crowd’s cheering. It was Akise! “Use your future diary!” he screamed.
His future diary! Yuki had forgotten all about it. It was a diary on his phone that told him the future, a gift from the headmaster Deus.
He fished his phone out of his pocket, and flipped the flip phone open.
Just as the diary on his phone had predicted the tiger was about to pounce at from the left! Yuki rolled forward, just in time, leaping away from the jaws.
The tiger was going jump up at him, so he sidestepped it just in time. Using his diary, he could dodge any attacks.
Half an hour later, the tiger was about to pounce from the left and Yuki rolled forward, leaping away from the jaws. The hype in the stadium had died by then. The spectators just wanted for his turn to be over but it seemed like it would never end. At that point, even the tiger was bored. It curled up and started licking its paws. This gave Yuki the opportunity to crawl over, commando style, to the golden balls and grab one. There was some weak applause, accompanied by a delayed cannon fire, and loud cheers from Yuno, whose ovaries were basically bursting by the manliness exhibited by her mans Yuki.
"Yuki finishes in 34 minutes and 5 seconds!" Sebastian announced into the mic. Yuki limped back to his tent, drying his tears with his sleeve as he went. “Leorio Paladiknight from Sheffield Harem please step forward,” Sebastian continued.
Leorio strutted confidently out onto the field. Just as he stumbled past the boundary the cannon fired, signalling the beginning of his round. He saw the tiger in font of him, which was readying itself for their match. Once again, Sebastian told the contestant that the aim was to grab the golden ball. Leorio was ready, he had faced much more difficult tasks in the Hunter exam, and he had his nen to protect himself this time.
He whipped out his flip knife, extracting it with grandeur and displaying it, the clean blade glinting in the sunlight. He faced off against the tiger, its patchy fur rippling with anticipation, its tail twitching.
The tiger leapt forward, jumping, aiming to land squarely on Leorio, ripping him to shreds with his claws. But Leorio was ready. He ran forwards and then ducked down, skidding underneath the tiger’s belly. Then, with his knife, he slit the tiger’s belly open, using shu (the nen technique, not the dead virgin) to strengthen the blade. Kurapika taught his man the skill shu, looking out for his gorgeous man. The tiger landed, blood flowing down from the cut, staining its white fur a crimson colour. It keeled over, clearly in pain, before using its regeneration powers to heal itself.
The tiger turned around, ready to continue the fight, but was shocked to see Leorio had continued his skid, finishing right next to the golden ball.
Leorio grabbed it, and held it aloft, the Sheffield Harem crowd going wild. The cannon fired, signalling the end of Leorio’s round. Everyone cheered his name. Leorio had proven himself for the first time as reliable fighter.
He walked off victoriously.
Sebastian, the judge, stood shocked still in the stands. He’d been watching the entire time, enraptured by the gorgeous creature, but to see such a beautoiful cat come to harm had an ache in his chest that rippled down his arms, burning his wrists. His movements were delayed. The champion had already walked to the stands by the time he started throwing students out of the way to get to the elegant animal, blood matting its fur.
Had Sebastian not held the tiger’s health in such high esteem he would have thrown Leorio to the dogs – to the psycho Juuzo. As it were he threw himself at the furred beast, rubbing his knuckles over the soft head of the beast.
“My beautiful lady,” Sebastian cooed. “Why did he hurt you like this? Why are you a part of this terrible competition? You should be revered, treated like the empress you are.” Sebastian’s hands quivered as they got closer to the bloodied fur. “Oh?” The fur had already healed over. The tiger leant its head on the shoulder of the Michaelis demon, huffing.
“Champion of Sheffield Harem, Leorio Paladiknight, walks off the stage unscathed with the golden ball, with the time of one minute fourty-six seconds! With that time Sheffield Harem falls into the lead!”
Half the crowd cheered for their champion. Kurapika watched his mans’, and when Leorio did a rather grotesque hip-thrust Kurapika nodded. Leorio would be getting laid that night. Kurapika was an earned commodity.
“Nekozawa, are you ready?” Kakashi asked him, placing a bookmark on his page of Makeout Paradise. That was his contribution for getting Nekozawa prepared in their tent. “Remember, don’t look out to the crowd or distract yourself. Focus only on the tournament.”
“Try not to die.” Hawkeye suggested.
“Good luck!” Victor cried.
At that point Nekozawa realised he would have to win if only to maintain the slight reputation he had. Seeing Victor’s lacking backbone urged him to win just so no one could walk over him like trash.
-
The cannon fired just as Nekozawa walked onto the stadium. When Luffini had given the clue to the first event and told them it was Atsushi – he did not expect the tiger.
Sebastian stood at the podium, angry at the other judges for keeping the tiger like a caged fighter rather than respecting its majesty.
The tiger remained solitary in front of the golden ball it was proteccing. Nekozawa hesitated. He wasn’t sure how to fight a tiger, let alone a creature with so much brightness. He would not be able to physically match such a large animal.
Nekozawa placed his staff on the sandy pitch. The timer was already ticking; he had overlapped Leorio’s time. The tiger strolled forward a little, seemingly to stretch its legs more than attack.
When they finally collided the tiger nudged Nekozawa to the ground, pinning him down with four paws beside each of his limbs. Nekozawa’s wrist was surely broken, or in the very least sprained.
The tiger pressed himself down on the competitor, pinning him down with his almighty bodyweight. At this rate Nekozawa was sure he would suffocate, and he would for sure want to die in supreme darkness and peace rather than in this brutish competition.
The timer had passed fifteen minutes, Nekozawa still pinned to the floor, sweating under his cloak and the patchy tiger fur before piecing together his plan.
“Atsushi?” the purple-yellow eyes of the tiger matched that of his classmate. “Will you please move off me? Are we not friends?”
The tiger grunted, pressing more weight onto the human body under him.
“I – I’m not trying to – manipulate you –“ Nekozawa choked, “I promise, I just want to – be your – cough – friend. Soma always – talks – about you.” At the mention of his only friend Soma Atsushi stilled. “You seem so nice.” Nekozawa tried to appeal to the human in the fur. “A-Atsushi?”
After a few more minutes of coaxing the tiger extracted him off the body of the cloaked boy.
“Thank you.” Nekozawa gathered himself into a standing position, brushing his cloak off. The tiger stood before him, weary. “Cat is in my name, of course I feel kinship to you. Have you not met my puppet, Belzanoff? He too adores you, Tiger Atsushi.” Nekozawa pulled both arms out of his cloak, oddly confident, liberating himself from the witchly cloth and wrapping both arms over the tiger’s neck. His weight was balancing independently on his toes, rubbing the fur under his gloved fingers.
Soon the tiger calmed in his arms, resting his chin on Nekozawa’s shoulder, purring. A few minutes later Nekozawa noticed the timer.
“If you excuse me Mr Tiger, the timer is increasing and I must get to the golden ball before Yuki beats me. You don’t mind, do you?”
The tiger moved his weight off Nekozawa’s shoulder, following him to the golden ball stand, where he took the sphere. The tiger tailed after him diligently.
The cannon fired. The current leaderboard: Leorio, first; Nekozawa, second; and Yuki, third.