*Author's Note*

Since I have to write further than the Manga, I'll be making some educated guesses about certain things. No complaints; I like my idea.

Chapter 31 The Secret of Ging Freecss

Due to its small and out-of-the way nature, there was no aircraft that could take the trio directly to Whale Island, so they took the next flight as close as they could and boarded a ship the rest of the way.

Although Gon wanted to impatiently rush over to see Mito the moment the ship arrived, Rayleigh had other ideas.

Rayleigh asked, "Gon, did you call and tell her that you were coming?"

Gon answered, "No, I wanted it to be a surprise."

Rayleigh replied, "Then please direct us to the nearest market. I doubt Mito has enough groceries to feed all of us for very long, so we should stock up and bring some over. I'll see if I can cook later."

Gon said, "Mito will want to cook first, but yeah, some groceries would be a good idea."

That was how Rayleigh, Gon, and Killua ended up heading up a hill to a lonely house that sat atop it while carrying multiple grocery bags. In Rayleigh's opinion, if you show up uninvited to someone's house, you should always bring food.

As they got closer, Gon noticed a young woman near the back of the house hanging laundry out to dry and exclaimed, "Mito!"

Gon ran up to her and gave her a hug, which the woman returned with a warm smile. Then her smile turned stern. "If you're going to come back, let me know! I haven't prepared anything!"

Gon said, "Anything is fine. We even brought groceries."

Mito looked over toward Ray and Killua and softly smiled, "You two must be Rayleigh and Killua. Thank you for taking care of Gon. Come on, let's get that inside."

Mito opened up the groceries and saw plenty of fresh fruits, meats, seafood, vegetables, bread, flour, and spices.

Mito nodded, seemingly thinking of a number of recipes she was now fully stocked for, and said, "Alright, take a bath before supper and change your clothes. I'll wash them."

Gon replied, "Okay, I'll do it later."

Mito instantly countered, "Now! You have ten seconds."

Gon rushed off with Killua and Rayleigh to take a bath. They all got out their spare clothes while Gon tossed the ones they were wearing in a basket and showed them where the bathroom was.

Killua asked, "Is she always like that?"

Gon awkwardly answered, "Most of the time."

After finishing a bath and changing, Mito had already started dinner. Rayleigh offered to help, but Mito declined, saying he was a guest who had just arrived.

Dinner was a seafood stir-fry with steamed veggies.

Over dinner, Mito asked, "So how was the exam? Your letters didn't give any details about it."

Gon replied, "It was pretty difficult for me at least. Ray passed without a problem."

Ray stated, "Having a laser sword helps."

Killua and Gon nodded solemnly.

Gon continued, "Only four hundred even made it to the exam site, and of them, only six passed."

Gon then got out his Hunter License and showed it to Mito, "Look, this is my Hunter License."

Mito took it and said, "Huh. Looks ordinary." She then experimentally bent the thick card as if to snap it which made Gon panic, "What are you doing?!" To which she replied, "Just joking."

Gon quickly took his card back and gave her a look that said he did not believe her at all.

There were still several hours of light, so Gon took the pair outside and began giving them a tour of the island.

"This is a bear-fox territory, and this is also where I met Kite."

Killua asked, "Think he'll show up?"

Gon shook his head, "No. Female Bear-Foxes hate the scent of humans, so if I met him, he'd get into a fight with his wife. Since he is the protector of this forest, it wouldn't look good to the other animals if he was friendly with a human anyway."

Gon pointed out, "This is where we used to play with each other."

The trio then noticed an irregular sound coming from a nearby pond and went to investigate. They saw a small pile of fish on the ground, apparently placed there by someone or something they had just missed.

Killua pointed it out and said, "I guess that means, 'Welcome home,'" to which Gon smiled brightly.

They made a small bonfire and roasted the fish while Gon told them about all the crazy things he did on the island growing up.

Killua asked, "So what are you gonna do now?"

Gon answered, "Like Rayleigh said, we can rest and train here until the end of August and then head to Yorknew. Although I don't need to meet with Hisoka anymore, I might be able to find out something about my father since I bet there will be a lot of Hunters there."

Killua said, "I'm jealous. I don't really have anything I want to do."

Rayleigh said, "So find something. There are different kinds of Hunters. You can meet them, learn about them, and see if any have a life you'd find interesting. Or find something else to do."

Killua asked back, "What about you? You always say you want to get stronger, but why?"

Rayleigh answered, "There is something I want. I heard only the strongest can get it. I'm not even sure what I'd do with it if I got it, but knowing that only the strongest can get it, I want to give it a shot."

Gon asked, "What is it?"

Rayleigh shrugged, "Freedom."

Gon and Killua looked at each other in confusion. Rayleigh wasn't the type to lie like that, but neither of them understood how that worked. Wasn't he already free?

The Tavern only blocked Metaknowledge; details about how Missions worked and the Final Mission were not considered Metaknowledge, so those who passed the Tutorial knew what was possible and how much a single player could win.

It wasn't that Rayleigh wanted to do anything in particular with the Universe if he won. It was just that he didn't like the idea of someone else getting it and basically becoming his God. He didn't want others to be able to dictate his fate. He wanted to be free to do whatever he wanted, be it cooking food, making friends, exploring, or having fun.

It was fine even if he didn't win. Losing in such a game with all the advantages he had just meant someone else wanted it more. If he lost after giving it his all, then he'd accept it. But until that day, he would not take a step back or bow down to anyone. Not a player, not the Force, not the Tavern, and not god.

Killua said, "I get that. I have lots of things I don't want to do. Like staying home or taking over the family business."

Rayleigh replied, "Don't let HK-47 hear you say that."

Gon laughed, "That robot is funny. But Killua. You and Rayleigh are my first friends. It's fun hanging out with you guys. The only person my age on the island is a little girl named Nouko. All my studies were through Home School."

Killua replied, "Yeah, me too. I was locked up forever, training assassination skills."

Rayleigh added, "Same here. The first time I met someone my age was a day before the Hunter Exam. The place I grew up had elders who basically tried to teach you how to be a monk. They all died four years ago, so I've pretty much been alone ever since."

Gon said, "So we were all lonely, huh? Then let's just stick together! We'll go to different places, I'll look for my father, Rayleigh can train, and you can look for something you want to do! It'll be fun!"

Rayleigh added, "Works for me."

Killua nodded, "Yeah, that sounds good. Until I find out what I want to do, I'll help you with your search and train with Rayleigh."

Rayleigh sensed someone approaching from behind. It was Mito, who apparently had no problem entering the territory of the Protector of the Forest carrying a basket of food.

Neither Gon nor Killua noticed since she was a solid zero on the danger presence scale. The only reason he even noticed was that one of his Wills was practicing Clairvoyance, so seeing everything around them was a given. Before Rayleigh could say something, Killua asked aloud, "By the way, what's your mother doing?"

Gon thought about it for a moment. "My mother. That's harder to talk about than my father. Mito raised me, so I would feel bad asking her about it. If I hadn't met Kite, I wouldn't have wanted to know about my father either."

Killua chuckled, "You probably would have become a Hunter even if you didn't meet him." Gon smiled. "I heard from my grandma that both of my parents died in an accident, but later I heard my father was alive. As for my mother, well. My mother is Mito."

Killua nodded. Wanting more when you already had something so good was wrong on so many levels. He said, "I wish I had a mother like Mito."

Gon smiled, "She's the best. Though a little naggy."

Rayleigh replied, "Nagging is how you know they love you."

Gon nodded and said, "Mito loves me a lot," to which everyone laughed.

Since Rayleigh sensed Mito was not approaching, he asked, "She might get worried if we stay out all night, when are we going back?"

Gon answered, "In a few minutes. I just wanna look at the stars for a bit longer."

Mito returned upon hearing that, and the trio returned not long after. Some futons were brought out for Killua and Rayleigh, who went to sleep while Gon went to chat with Mito.

The next morning, Gon showed Rayleigh and Killua a metal box Mito gave him last night. Apparently, Ging gave Gon to Mito years ago, along with a small metal box, and said to give it to Gon if he ever became a Hunter.

Killua took the box in hand and, after inspecting it, asked, "How do you open it?"

Gon answered, "I don't know. I tried to open it, but nothing worked."

Killua asked, "Should Rayleigh get out his Lightsaber?"

Gon shook his head rapidly in the negative.

Killua continued, "Can I try forcing it?"

"Sure. I tried too."

Killua tried twisting the metal box, gritting his teeth, and using every bit of strength he possessed. The metal box didn't distort or bend even in the slightest.

Killua stated, "Okay, this thing is not ordinary. You wanna try?"

Killua passed it to Rayleigh. Rather than force it open, Rayleigh used Psychometry. He saw the box being kept by Mito, occasionally thrown away and recovered by Gon's grandmother, and eventually being assembled by someone who looked like an older version of Gon.

Rayleigh passed it to Gon and said, "It's made with Divine Script, like that string Wing tied to your finger. Use Ten."

Gon did so, and a moment later, the box flared with bright light and broke apart into metal rods that surrounded an ornate lockbox.

Killua picked up one of the small metal rods and examined it, seeing the Inscription written on one side of each piece. "How'd you know? Was that another psychic thing?"

Rayleigh then realized he had never actually shown them his Psychometry before. "That's right, I can read the history of an object; it's kind of like watching a movie of the past, but backward."

Ray turned to Gon and said, "Mito threw this thing away like a hundred times."

Gon gave an awkward laugh.

Ray continued, "I saw someone who looked like Gon, but older, place the Inscription and assemble the box. This thing is on another level compared to that string Wing used."

Killua asked, "Wait, you understood those journals you borrowed from Wing?"

"Yeah. But I can't use it until I have a proper Hatsu."

Gon picked up the ornate box that fell out of the metal box. It had a slot on the bottom, and Gon pulled out his Hunter License and inserted it, causing the box to open.

Inside were three objects. A memory card, a tape cassette, and an ornate ring.

Gon pulled out the ring first and said, "Look, it has some Inscription on it too." He then handed it to Ray, their resident expert.

Rayleigh used Psychometry again while deriving the meaning of the inscription.

"Hmm. That's interesting. You wore this ring when you were a baby, but not for very long. Ging didn't make this either, someone else did. I don't get the Inscriptions. They are not related to Enhancer Nen abilities, at least."

Inscriptions were basically someone writing their Hatsu into an object. Rayleigh could somewhat decipher Inscriptions written with Enhancer attributes because they were his type and pretty simple. This thing was not simple.

Gon said, "Then let's listen to the tape."

Killua said, "Let's copy it too."

Gon got out a cassette tape player and a blank tape, inserting Ging's tape on one side and the blank tape on the other, setting one to copy the other as the first played.

Gon pressed Play, and a voice was heard.

[Hey Gon. So, you became a Hunter too. I need to ask you something. Do you want to see me? If you do, keep listening, if not, press stop.]

No one moved, of course.

[You do, huh? One more question. Are you prepared? Hunters are selfish people. They leave things behind for things they want. If you are searching for me just because you feel you want to see me, I suggest you press stop now.]

Gon didn't move even with this. His mind had been made up.

[Hehe. You want to see me that much, huh. Well, I don't want to see you. Frankly, I don't know how I could. I gave up being your father to be what I really am. Selfish, right? It will be at least ten years before you listen to this. But during that time, there are things that will never change. I am what I am. So, as you're listening to this, I'll be doing crazy things. If you really want to see me, then find me. But as I said before, I don't want to see you. I'll run when I know you're close. Catch me. You're a Hunter too, right?]

Killua scoffed, "Your father isn't easy to deal with."

Gon nodded, "Yeah."

Killua moved to turn off the cassette player, but Gon stopped him, "Wait, it's not over."

[Ah, right, I forgot one thing. About your mother. If you want to know, keep listening, otherwise-]

Gon stopped the player.

Killua asked, "Are you sure? There might be a clue."

Gon answered, "No, there wouldn't be. I don't want to know. As I said before, my mother is Mito."

Suddenly, the cassette player, which had stopped, started rewinding the tape. Not only Ging's tape, but the blank tape that was copying it was rewinding too. Aura was being emitted by the cassette player.

Killua and Gon freaked out. The only way for that to happen was if Ging applied some sort of conditional Nen to the tape that could activate even ten years later.

Then the cassette player started recording. Killua stated, "It's recording over his tape! He's trying to erase his voice!"

Gon and Killua tried to stop the player, unplug it, and break it. Rayleigh sat to the side with his backpack in his lap.

The cassette player continued recording until Ging's tape was completely overwritten.

Killua looked over to Ray, just chilling there, and asked, "Why didn't you help?"

Rayleigh shrugged and unzipped his backpack, revealing the familiar head of HK-47. He said, "HK, did you record everything?"

[Statement: Of course, Master. Would you like a playback?]

"Not now, but thank you."

Killua sighed with relief, "Oh, he can record stuff too? Nice."

Gon said, "Cool. But what did Ging have to go that far?"

Killua answered, "He didn't want to leave a trace of himself. You can find out a lot from someone's voice, though since Rayleigh knows what he looks like, that's kind of pointless. I think the main reason is Nen. What if there was someone who could derive information of someone from their voice? In that case, we can use that recording to find out more about Ging. Hey Ray, wanna try that Psychometry thing with the tape?" he asked while tossing it over.

Rayleigh did so, but oddly enough, he saw nothing. That was a first. "I don't know how, but Ging erased the records of this thing. I can't see anything with it."

Killua added, "Maybe a Nen ability can do that? He's really formidable." Gon then exclaimed, "Wait! I got an idea!" He went over to his own pack and, after rummaging around for a moment, pulled out a Hunter License, but it wasn't his own.

Gon said, "Kite left this on the island when he visited. I asked during the Hunter Exam and heard that this is Ging's License!"

That certainly surprised him. Rayleigh said, "Cool, let me see it."

Gon handed it over, and Rayleigh used Psychometry. Unlike when he used it with the box, he took his time. A lot of time. After about ten minutes, Rayleigh finished and opened his eyes.

Gon noticed this and said, "Hey, Killua left to go to the toy store. He said that the memory card was for a Joy Station or something and went to buy one. What did you find?"

Rayleigh said, "Quite a bit. I even saw a vision of where he is right now."

Gon exclaimed, "Really?! Where?"

Rayleigh answered, "He's sitting on the head of a baby dragon two hundred times larger than he is. That dragon is sitting on the head of an adult mother dragon ten thousand times larger than he is. And that mother dragon is currently flying through the sky with dozens of other dragons of the same size. When your father said he was currently doing crazy things, he was not joking in the slightest."

Rayleigh then said, "I also know his secret. It's a pretty private secret, though, and one he has definitely never told anyone. Knowing it probably won't help you find him. Do you want to know?"

Gon nodded, "Yes!"

"Do you want to hear about it now or wait until Killua gets back?"

"Umm, let's wait."

Rayleigh nodded. He certainly was not expecting Ging to have a secret like that.

Killua returned a half hour later with a Joy Station, and Gon quickly dragged him back into the room so Rayleigh could share Ging's big secret.

Rayleigh started with, "First of all, this is just a guess because he has never said anything about it or really given anything away that could let others discover his secret. But some things about Ging don't add up, so I'm more than fifty percent certain I'm right on this because it explains all the things that don't make sense about your father."

Killua said, "Alright already. Enough with the hype. Just tell us."

Rayleigh smiled and said, "Alright, Ging's big secret is... He is a reincarnator."

Gon stared dumbly, and Killua asked, "What? You mean he is the reincarnation of someone else?"

Rayleigh answered, "Yeah, someone strong, someone from the past, someone who was an expert on Nen. No idea who. The thing is, I don't think all of his memories properly transferred over. The reason he left Whale Island was to search for the missing pieces of his past. I also got the impression he was waiting for something, but I don't know what. So while he's waiting, he's just going around doing whatever he wants."

Killua asked, "Are you serious right now?"

"It's the only thing that makes sense. Ging had never had a teacher since obtaining his license. He just seemed to start using Nen on his own, as if he knew how to use it and had been learning it the whole time. Ging went directly from Whale Island to the Hunter Exam, so he could not have learned Nen before that."

Gon asked, "So what did he do?"

"Well, it looked like he did everything he could to fund an expedition to certain ruins tied to his past life somehow. The thing is, even when he found the answers he was looking for, he apparently decided that he had more fun looking for the answers than he did finding them. I don't think he really cares about his past anymore, he is just using it as an excuse to search for whatever he wants, a direction to walk forward, and have fun along the way."

Killua asked, "Anything else we should know?"

"Yeah. One of the reasons he put some distance between himself and Gon is because where he wants to go will be too dangerous for someone who is ordinary to follow. This test to find him is a safety precaution. If you can't catch him when he is just having fun, doing nonsense, you have no right to follow him when he marches through the gates of hell."

Gon asked, "Where?"

Ray shook his head. "Don't know. It's not like he told anyone any of these things. I'm just piecing together actions and intent into reasonable assumptions. He took Kite as his disciple and gave him this card. Also, you were right about your mother, nothing about her will help you find him." Rayleigh didn't tell him anything else about her because he knew Gon didn't want to know. Besides, unlike with Ging, Rayleigh had no right to give away her secrets if he wasn't asked for them.

The only reason Rayleigh could figure out the reincarnator thing was that Ray was a reincarnator himself. He knew what to look for. Of course, Ging was not a Player. This was just Ging's setting in the world. Although it wasn't simple, reading Ging's past using Psychometry was still easier than reading something from 30,000 years ago.

Killua asked, "Then do you know about this memory card?"

Rayleigh nodded, "I think so. Ging and his friends made a game and titled it with each of their initials. It's called Greed Island. He made it using techniques and knowledge from his past life. It's basically a Nen Training System."

Gon asked, "It's for training Nen? Did he make it for me?"

"He probably thought of you while making it. I don't know more about it. Even the stuff I'm telling you is mostly guessed from bits and clues I'm piecing together here."

Killua asked, "How can you train Nen in a game?"

Rayleigh answered mysteriously, "Only one way to find out." He wasn't going to ruin everything for Ging.

Killua frowned and set up the Joy Station and inserted the memory card. As Rayleigh said, the memory card had saved data for Greed Island. The card was actually completely filled with it.

Killua copied the data from the card onto another card and they tried to search for copies of Greed Island, but no results were found.

From going up Heaven's Arena, Gon and Killua both had about 400 Million Zenny in savings. Rayleigh went up twice and has about 800 Million. But from what they could see, the game was not for sale anywhere.

According to Rayleigh, "There are only 100 copies of the game, and I don't know how to find any of them."

Killua didn't have a better idea and called his brother. Not Illumi, but the weaker one he beat up when he ran away. Killua offered the copy of the Greed Island Save Data in return for more information, and his brother informed them that several copies were going on sale at the Yorknew Auction.

After hearing this, the trio discussed their options.

Killua said, "If we want to buy a copy, we'll need a lot more money."

Gon asked, "What should we do to get more?"

Killua answered, "I don't know, internet stock trading?"

Rayleigh snorted. He said, "I don't like doing this because I feel it's cheating, so I'll ask you first. Do you want me to look into the future and see how to get a copy?"

Killua asked, "You can do that? Do it!"

Gon added, "Yeah."

Rayleigh could almost hear the ghostly voice of Leorio say, 'What are the winning lottery numbers?!'

Rayleigh smiled at that and closed his eyes. He used all four Wills for this and entered deep meditation.

After a few hours, Rayleigh began to see images. He saw Kurapika fighting a hulking brute. He saw him speaking with Hisoka. He saw Gon and Killua trying to get some bounties for money and getting in over their heads. He saw them get captured and traded for someone. He saw the Yorknew Auction and Greed Island. He saw someone buying every copy. He saw Gon and Killua speak with that person. He saw an audition. He saw the pair pass after showing off their Hatsus. He saw a contract they had to sign. He saw them both end up on Greed Island. He didn't see anything after that.

It was the next morning when Rayleigh opened his eyes to process what he saw. That was not the future. He was not in it. So what was it? Suddenly, he understood something. Something that had always left him puzzled and even wary of the Force.

Up to this point, Rayleigh was under the impression that when he allowed it, it was the Force that controlled his body to move faster or anticipates danger. This entire time, he thought it was a stranger controlling him like he was an Arcade Fighter and the Force was the guy with the quarters at the joystick. He was wrong.

The one at the joystick, the one controlling him when he allowed the Force to run things, wasn't the Force, or at least not the whole thing. It was himself. The higher part of his mind that was always connected to the Force was himself. Why was that important? Because that self could access his sealed Metaknowledge!

What he saw was not the future, it was Metaknowledge that trickled down from his higher, unbound self. He'd found a loophole! The Tavern only sealed the Metaknowledge in his body! His higher mind which was a part of the Force was unaffected!

Though, it was only useful if he stayed with the Main Characters. Once he left them, future knowledge of what they would do was not going to be useful to him. He could only access maybe one percent of one percent of his actual Metaknowledge, but it at least gave him a direction.

But that was not the most important thing. Rayleigh never really trusted the Force. How could he? It wasn't him. If the Force wanted to sacrifice him and he went along with its will, he was screwed. But now he knew better. The one he allowed to control himself when he gave himself over to the Force was just a version of himself that was strongly connected to the Force and could see further and more clearly than he could. It was still him.

Now that he knew he could actually trust the Force, connecting to it would be a lot smoother and easier.

In any case, it was time to give Gon and Killua an update.

He found the pair and said, "I know what we have to do to play Greed Island."

Gon asked, "Really? What?"

Rayleigh smiled, "Train hard and become stronger!"

Killua rolled his eyes. "Really? How does that work?"

"I saw that a single guy will be buying up every copy of Greed Island at the Auction, but not to play himself. He will hire others to play it. We have to meet him, convince him to let us try, and then pass an audition. If we are strong enough, we'll be chosen and can play."

Gon shouted, "Alright! You're amazing, Ray!"

Killua smiled, "I'm game. So what kind of training should we do?"

Rayleigh answered, "Isn't that obvious? Hatsu training!"

*Author's Note*

For those wondering where I got the Ging Secret idea, I have one question. Who taught Kite the Reincarnation Technique that allowed him to survive being killed? It was obviously an ability based on Post-Mortem Nen, but if such a thing were easy, everyone would do it. Ging directly admitted that he taught Kite how to develop Crazy Slots and admitted that he knew Crazy Slots had a mode that probably had something to do with his revival. It was a subtle reference, as if that mode had nothing to do with Ging, but did it really have nothing to do with him?