Chapter 1: Chapter 1: Back x In x Time
'A final gift, huh?' 56 year old Gon Freecss stared at the pocket watch that his best friend, Killua Zoldyck had given him before his untimely demise at the hands of one of the many terrifying beasts in the dark continent, the endless lands that laid just beyond the safe haven the humans lived in.
Of course, Gon had an idea of what he and his friends were getting into. After all, in a land where the terrifying Chimera Ants are only considered a B Rank threat, one can only imagine what vast horrors could await them. It was obvious that humans were not meant to traverse these lands, but after what Beyond Netero had done to the world, they had no chance but to escape.
Around 44 years ago, the ex-chairman of the hunter association had passed away during his fight with the Chimera Ant King, Meruem. Shortly after, his son, Beyond Netero muscled his way through the ranks of the association before killing Issac's successor, Cheadie Yorkshire. With the help of the new king of the Kakin Empire, Tserriednich Hui Guo Rou, they slowly started to take over the known world. By the time Gon turned 16, every last corner of civilization was ruled by the two tyrants.
After the execution of the leaders of the resistance, Leorio Paradinight and Ging Freecss, Gon, Killua, Kurapika Kurta, and a few others decided to flee through the gates and try their luck at the dark continent. Unfortunately, the dark continent was so much worse than they had imagined. Shorty after their arrival at the continent, they ran into a chimera ant nest, though since the flora and fauna of the New World was much more powerful than that of the humans, the ants were much more powerful than the ones they had previously run into. Music Hunter Melody laid down her life and helped the small group of survivors escape by playing the Sonata of Darkness, which horribly mutilated the body of whoever listens, including the performer.
It took about fifteen years to get past the west part of the dark continent. Many people had sacrificed themselves or died vainly during those years. One notably being Morel Mackernasey, who died to an unknown humanoid claiming to be a soldier belonging to a man with the name Don Freecss, whose sole mission was to kill Gon for unknown reasons.
As they made it to the eastern side of the Dark Continent, all hell broke loose. More of Don's army raided the already small group. They were incomprehensibly strong, as the east side of the dark continent was so much more unforgiving and terrible than the west side, something though to be completely impossible, even among the standards of single and double star hunters. Kurapika had sacrificed himself by using the last of his life force to activate his Hatsu ability: Emperor Time to finish off the hulking monstrosity.
Four years later, Gon and Killua were the last surviving members of the original group, which consisted of around 3,000 trained hunters. Though blood sweat and tears, they had finally reached the location of Don Freecss. The two friends battled the ageless tyrant for months on end, neither letting up. Due to a misstep on Gon's part, Don was able to launch a fatal blast at Gon, which was then stopped by Killua. With his dying breath, Killua had given Gon his pocket watch, claiming that it was special, and would activate when the time comes.
Rage filling his heart at the death of his best friend, Gon activated his second ability: God of the Hunt. This ability allowed him to access the abilities of those he has defeated in combat. Through years of sparring with Killua, both winning and losing, he activates Killua's hatsu ability, which was his control over electricity. With their powers combined, Gon defeated his ancestor and took his power. Don's ability, aptly named Spoils of War, an ability to gain the life force and power of those he had killed, Gon then roamed the dark continent for decades, surviving and living off the power of his enemies.
After decades of living through the cycle of pain and suffering, meeting, befriending, and losing allies, and the survival of the fittest, he finally managed to reach the end. Gon now stood at the foot of a giant gate, which lead to God knows where. He looked up, his mind praying that this was the end. Before proceeding, he decided to take inventory on what he had accumulated throughout his adventures, both the reminisce the bloody events that he had gone through, and to prepare for what was to come. All of the items he had decided to keep were very useful and/or sentimental to him, and they could all be used during a fight.
Gon rummaged through the backpack he had, which had the ability to open into his own personal storage space by channeling Nen into the pack. The first thing he took out was a shining, red fishing rod. Gon's weapon of choice was named the Blood Rod. By letting the rod feed on the user's blood, the Blood Rod could extend indefinitely, only limited by the amount of blood that was feeding into the rod. The rod also emits a strange aura when enough blood is fed into the rod. This aura attracts monsters into the end of the line, making them obsessed with obtaining whatever was attached at the time. Of course, beings with high amounts of Nen could resist such urges, but most C and B rank threats in the dark continent would be utterly helpless to the urges.
The second thing was an object that looked like a smartphone. When channeling Nen into the phone, it could scan the life forms in a certain radius determined by the amount of Nen. The scanner can identify the names, qualities, and abilities of whatever it scans. It can also use blood if the user is not able to use Nen, but it is far less efficient. Gon just called this item "The Scanner" because there was nobody available to give him an actual name.
The final object he had was his pocket watch. For some reason, this watch could display the date as well as the time. Gon never knew why or how, but it was a valuable tool, considering it was the only way he could possibly keep any sense of time, considering how warped the laws of time and space went in the dark continent. Killua said it was really special, and Gon took that to heart. He kept it wherever he went, and never spent a moment without the memento.
Gon looked up at the gate. The gate was several times taller than any beast he had seen in the dark continent, even the gigantic monolith known as The Earthshaker, which was around 600 meters in height. He strapped his backpack on his back, pocketed his pocket watch, and proceeded, scanner secured in his left hand and his rod in his right, ready to fight at a moment's notice.
Gon's guard went up as a bright flash of light filled his vison. Gon averted his eyes for only a split second before looking back. A majestic figure floated in the air, wearing regal clothing and a mask. It held a golden staff with its right hand and a tome with its left. It looked… royal, as if anything in this world and the next could not even dream to match the figure. Gon examined this figure, battle ready, for in the dark continent, anything goes.
"Greetings young one," The being's voiced boomed through the open area, snapping Gon out of his stupor and forced him to pay attention to the being. It was deep, commanding, and intimidating. "I am the GateKeeper of the final gate: The Gate to Paradise."
"Paradise?" Gon's low voice paled in comparison to the Gatekeeper, but it wasn't by any means small. "Does such a thing exist?"
Gon could swear the Gatekeeper was narrowing his eyes at him, examining his very soul. "Yes. Those who have made it this far would be offered an ultimatum to enter paradise. A world with no battles, strife, or grief." When Gon narrowed his eyes skeptically at the creature, it continued. "You can either enter the gates with no conflict, but take one of every creature and plant in the dark continent with you, or you can fight me for access to the gate."
Gon lowered his head and started to think. The was no way this "paradise" could last a day with even a few creatures from the dark continent, no matter how strong they were. Despite all the suffering Gon has went through, he was still a good person at heart. He didn't want to see all these people living their lives to be assaulted by the eldritch horrors of the dark continent and see whatever world beyond the gate become another terrible wasteland that Gon had spent years suffering through.
"Well, I guess I have no choice," Gon put his fishing rod and his scanner back in his pack and got into a stance that he had become all too familiar with. "I accept your challenge."
"Very well," The keeper lowered himself until he was on the ground. It entered a fighting stance, preparing to attack. "Let us begin."
"First comes rock," Gon muttered to himself as his long hair started to float into the air as the gatekeeper charged him, his staff blazing with a golden flare of Nen. "Rock, Paper, Rock."
Gon's world went black.
-
Gon instantly realized something was wrong when he opened his eyes. The first thing he realized was that the familiar coat of Nen Gon always had activated was completely gone. Gon tried to consciously activate his Nen, but it didn't work. The second thing he noticed was that he was short. Like, really short. Not just him too. He couldn't feel his long hair cascade down his back. He sat up and looked around. He noticed that the room he was in seemed familiar. It was a brightly colored room with a desk and a bed. It wasn't right. This was his old childhood bedroom. That was impossible. He remembered as Beyond personally came and destroyed his house 40 years ago and ripped Mito's heart out right in front of him. Another thing he noticed was that there was a note in his hand and his backpack by his bed. Shaking off the weird feeling of nostalgia he had, he decided to look at the letter. Maybe it had some clues as to where he was. Gon's face paled as he recognized the handwriting of the note. It was Killua's.
"Dear Gon,
If you're reading this, then you died in the dark continent and went back in time. That pocket watch I gave you was a really special device found in the east side of the dark continent. When the user dies, they will go back in time into a time and date where the user sets. I decided to set it the day you leave for the hunter exams. You will also bring three items with you. I set it to be your blood rod, your scanner, and your backpack. The rod and the scanner should be inside the backpack. The only problem now is your Nen. Your Nen should be reset to when you were at the time, which for this instance, it's nada. I understand that this is a lot to take in, but I wanted this to happen for you. So much has happened since we met and went to the dark continent, and I wanted you to live your life. Whether you decide to stop Beyond in his schemes or just decide to live your life and have fun, it's up to you. I want you to live life to the fullest, because you never had that chance. I wanted you to have this because I was already content. You were enough to make my life have meaning and knowing that you have a second chance to make your life worth living makes me happy. I have no regrets.
Your best friend,
Killua"
Tears fell onto the paper as Gon silently sobbed. His friend had given him everything. He had given him his chance at a new life but decided to give it to Gon. After a little while Gon wiped his tears and smiled. "Thank you, Killua," he murmured to himself as he put the letter on his bed and stood up, a newfound determination filling his once dead eyes. He opened his backpack and dug through. Surprisingly, he was able to pull his blood rod and his scanner without using Nen. He grabbed his scanner and pressed the button on the bottom, wincing as needle popped out of the device and pricked his finger. The scanner flared to life and displayed two names: "Gon Freecss" and "Mito Freecss"
Tears welled in his eyes again. Mito-san was alive! The scanner never picked up on anything dead, so that meant only one thing. He tapped on his name and read his file.
"Gon Freecss
Age: 11 (56)
Height: 154 cm
Weight: 49 kg
Birthday: May 5th
Nen Ability: Nen is not currently unlocked.
Nen User Classification: N/A
Gon sighed in exasperation. It was really happening. He was in the past. He started debating on what to do, but he decided to unlock Nen first. Gon held out his pointer and middle finger, turning the fingers on to himself before jabbing at multiple parts of his body. He learned sometime down the line that if your aura nodes are hit with just the right pressure, they will open. As he opened the last one, his aura flared to life. Gon shaped it into his Ten. He noticed something immediately. His aura was pathetic. By a hunter's standards, Gon would be considered a prodigy, as he was before, but compared to the monstrous aura he had before he died, this was as if an ant was compared to an Earthshaker
Gon grabbed his scanner and channeled some of his aura again. He tapped on his name and narrowed his eyes as he read the description.
Gon Freecss
Age: 11 (56)
Height: 154 cm
Weight: 49 kg
Birthday: May 5th
Hatsu: Future Past
Description: Future Past an ability created as a result to someone entering the past from the future. As their powers grow, they will gain the abilities they had in their alternate future. They cannot learn or gain any abilities other than the ones they have learned in the past, but they can still surpass their alternate self.
Nen Abilities: Lightning"
Gon flipped off the scanner and put it in his bag along with the fishing rod. He sighed in exasperation and looked at his hands. In most circumstances, his new ability would be terrible, since most Nen users didn't have a lot of abilities, but in Gon's case, it was completely different. The abilities he gained from defeating and killing things from the dark continent and from defeats he had before then were in the thousands. He didn't know how much stronger he had to get before gaining what he once had, but that was okay. He stood up and dusted himself before grabbing his backpack and exiting the room. He found it ironic that his first ability was Killua's. He'd watch him zip around the field with his Godspeed for years, and was excited to see what he could do with-
"Gon," a voice shook Gon out of his stupor. Gon looked up from his stupor to see his long dead Aunt Mito. "Are you ready? The ship leaves in 10 minutes. Have you packed everything you-"
Mito was interrupted by a bone crushing hug from her nephew. "I'm ready, Mito-san!" Gon declared with a huge smile as he pulled away. Gon was trying his best to hold back tears and act like his old self as to not arouse suspicion. "I'll miss you so much! I'll be sure to write often!"
"Alright, Gon," Mito looked at him with a soft smile. "Good luck."
"Un!" Gon nodded as he ran off. He was really happy that he got to see Mito-san again, but he didn't know what to do. He started to think to himself as he ran towards the boat. He had decided to currently go with the original timeline because he wanted to meet Leorio, Kurapika, and most importantly, Killua. That also meant that Gon had to constantly stay in Zetsu, so that no Nen users would notice him. He weaved through the buildings and people of the town as he approached the shore and hopped onto the correct boat. "Yosha!"
"Hey kid," The vaguely familiar voice made Gon turn around. Standing in front of him was the captain of the boat, one Gon vaguely remembers as the guy who took him to the first part of the hunter exams. "Are you sure you're on the right boat? This is the one to the hunter exams."
"Un!" Gon nodded again, that ear to ear grin plastered on his face. "I'm here to be a hunter! Don't worry, Captain-san! I'm really strong, ya know?"
The captain took a drag from his cigar, sighing heavily in the process. "Well, it's your funeral. See if I care."
Gon smiled at him as he turned around and left. Gon's smile then dropped as he stared out into the ocean. I won't let you guys die again, he thought, a determined look on his face. He couldn't lose them again. He won't lose them again. "I want to live happily these first few months, but when we get to Yorknew, I can't afford to screw around, but one thing's for sure. I'm not going back to the dark continent. As far as I'm concerned, Paradise is right here."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
lightningstormtc
lightningstormtc Welcome to my Hunter x Hunter Time Travel fic! This is actually the first fic I've ever written. Feel free to leave reviews or comments to tell me what you feel about my fic. Thank you for reading!
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