Gon Freecss

Gon Freecss (ゴン=フリークス, Gon Furīkusu) is the main protagonist of Hunter X Hunter. He is the son of Ging Freecss, his mother is unknown through out the manga and anime. He is also the nephew of Mito. He is on a quest to find his father who happens to be a legendary Hunter.

Appearance
Gon is a young light-skinned adolescent boy. He has black hair with green tips, and light brown eyes. His usual outfit comprises of a green leather jacket covering a blue tank top, green shorts and green laced boots.

Personality
Gon is an open, friendly and an often very naive boy. He loves his friends more than anything and would go to the worlds ends to help them. His nen-type is Enhancement and they're known for being very simple-minded. Gon's determination and kindness leads to that many possible enemies decide to take his side. He has inhuman senses and his ability to understand animals and make them like him shocks the society.

History
Gon is an optimistic, energetic and friendly boy. He is first seen on his hometown Whale Island where he lives with his Aunt Mito. His Aunt (actually his cousin in the manga) told him that his parents died in an accident when he was a baby. However, he later learns that this is not the case. When he was nine years old, he was rescued from an angry mother bear-fox by a stranger named Kite, who is a hunter and a student of Ging Freecss, Gon's long lost father. Kite is looking for Ging as a final test before his master will consider him to be a true hunter. Kite's admiration of Ging awakens in Gon a lifetime goal of meeting his father. In order to find Ging, and follow in his footsteps, Gon is driven from that moment to obtain a hunter's license. His uncanny sense of smell, hearing and taste as well as his remarkable stamina serve him well on that path.

Pre-Hunter Exam Arc
Gon is first seen at his home of Whale Island, fishing for The Master Of The Swamp (a giant fish with many insect-like legs.) It is said that five grown men pulling together couldn't land it. Gon had to catch it because he had a bet with Aunt Mito, with the condition that she will let him take part in the Hunter Exam. After he succeeds his aunt finally lets him go. Then he proceeds to go visit his friend, a grown up foxbear named Kon, who Gon raised since he was a cub. Gon tells Kon that he's going to become a Hunter and that he will do things the the animals of the forest won't like. Since Kon is the king of the forest, he can't talk to Gon anymore. Kon walks away from Gon to a gathering of other animals. Gon runs away yelling, "Kon, you rule!"

Returning home Gon speaks to his Aunt. She asks if Gon always knew his Father's trade, and also tells him his father left Gon with her when he was still a baby, to which Gon replies being a hunter must be an important job that family comes only second, and being a hunter isn't for weaklings. He then says it's time for him to meet his father.

He is then seen preparing to board a ship heading for the Hunter exam. Everyone in the town comes to say bye and wish him luck. Aunt Mito comes and tells him his father didn't abandon him; she made him give up Gon. Gon says he knew because she never looks at him when she's lying. He gets on the boat and yells back to her that he will return as a great hunter.

Preliminary Hunter Exam Arc
The first night on the boat, there is a huge storm that tosses about most of the would-be hunters. After the storm the captain walks around to see only two candidates are still able to move, but Gon is running back and forth trying to take care of the sea-sick. Later on, Gon is standing on the front of the boat where he predicts they will be hit by another storm, but this time it will be three times the size as the previous night. The captain knows he is correct and not guessing; he sees Ging in Gon. He asks who Gon's father is, and finds he is correct. The captain shows Gon how to steer the boat, he also announces that the next storm was coming and anyone who wanted off should right now. All but Gon, Kurapika, and Leorio leave. The captain asks why they all want to be hunters. Gon answers while the other two don't. Leorio asks why they should tell him when he just steers the ship. The captain replies he screens applicants and it is up to him whether or not they pass. The remaining two tell him. While explaining, Kurapika annoys Leorio to the point they go out into the storm to fight. When a crew member jumps in to stop them he falls overboard and Gon jumps after him, narrowly missing falling into the ocean thanks to Kurapika and Leorio grabbing his ankles in time to pull them both back on board.

When they reach land the captain gives them a hint to head to a far off tree. Gon decides to go, and Kurapika decides to tag along. Leorio stays until he finds that there was another trick to weed out the weak. And he runs off to join the other two.

Later they reach a village that seems to be deserted but Gon says he can hear them and so can Kurapika. Then the whole population of the village comes out to start The Mind-Boggling Two Choice Quiz. The leader of the village asks two questions and all they can say is 1 or 2. The man who heard the clue walks in and says he'll go first. She asks him, "Men have taken your mother and your true love captive. Who do you save?" He chooses 1 thinking that's what she wants him to say. She says he may go. Leorio starts yelling because of the preposterous question. Kurapika tells him to be quiet seeing Gon has heard something. She asks another impossible question and Leorio attacks her. Kurapika blocks it stating they passed, since silence is the answer. He adds he heard the other man scream, meaning he was killed, but no one knows how.

After a short walk they come to a couple in a small hut being attacked by a magical beast. The beast takes off with the lady followed by Gon and Kurapika, with Leorio staying behind to take care of the man. While chasing after the creature Gon pulls ahead of Kurapika, closes in on the creature, and bashes it in the head. It drops the wife, who is caught by Kurapika. The creature still manages to get away from Gon, who continues chasing it. Soon he comes to clearing where the creature attacks him. Gon merely greets it and asks where the one he hit went to. It is revealed that both the creatures and the couple are a family and the ones who would take the three to the Hunter exam.

The next day, they arrive at a small restaurant. The disguised magical beast orders a specific meal, then the cook sits them in a room and delivers the meal. The room is actually an elevator that starts to drop. As they make their way down, Kurapika and Leorio try to find out whether Gon is taking the test for the wealth, or for the adventure. He doesn't answer.

Gon's hunter exam starts with him getting targeted by rookie hunter Tonpa. Tonpa first introduces himself as a friend trying to help Gon. Tompa then introduces some of the other regulars, Such as Bourbon the snake charmer, Todo the wrestler, The Amori brothers, Geretta the huntsman. While doing the introductions they hear a bloodcurdling scream, and they look to see a man missing his arms courtesy of Hisoka the magician who maimed him only because he bumped into him.

Tonpa then offers Gon and the other two some juice. Gon, being the first to taste it, spits it back out saying it tastes funny, leading to Kurapika and Leorio dumping theirs on the ground. Afterwards Tonpa makes a hasty apology.

1st Stage
Satotz, the first examiner, begins the exam with an extremely long run down a tunnel. A kid on a skateboard ends up next to Gon, and he asks how old Gon is. He jumps off his board and introduces himself as Killua. Gon looking back, seeing Leorio back and falling he drops his briefcase, he then gets his second wind and runs past. Gon uses his fishing pole and carries while he's running. After running for 80 km they come to a set of stairs and start climbing, while Satotz starts to pick up the pace.

2nd Stage
The second stage of the exam takes place in the Visca Forest, where the examinees meet Gourmet Hunters Menchi and Buhara. Buhara's test is to find the world's most dangerous pig and bring it back to him so he can eat it. Gon and his friends complete the task easily along with 70 other applicants. However, Menchi, the second examiner, baffles the examinees when she tells them to make sushi, a traditional Japanese dish, as none of them knows what sushi is. Menchi Overeacts because of an examinee making them all fail as a result, no one passes, which requires Netero to intervene. The test is taken to Split Mountain where examinees hunt for Spider Eagle eggs. At the end of this stage, there are 42 applicants left.

A Game at Midnight
The 42 remaining applicants board the judging committee's blimp, where it is revealed that their next stage of the exam will begin at 8:00 A.M the next day. As everyone rests up for tomorrow, Gon and Killua encounter Netero who challenges them to a game; if they win, he'd issue their licenses on the spot. All they have to do is take away a ball from Netero. Killua eagerly goes first but fails. Gon then takes his turn to take the ball but he also fails. Time passes and when it seems Gon and Killua have tried every possible tactic, Netero suggests they attack together. Though they come seemingly close to it at one point, Netero rockets in between them at lightning speed and takes the ball. Killua calls it quits and ends up killing two applicants in his frustration; Gon, however, decides to play until he forces Netero to use his right hand. When he succeeds in doing so, Gon collapses in exhaustion where he is.

3rd Stage
In the morning, the blimp arrives at the top of a huge tower; Trick Tower. The 40 applicants are informed that the objective of stage 3 is to get down from the tower alive within 72 hours. The group is forced to team up with Tonpa.

The first serious test is to win 3 out of 5 matches against tower prisoners. Tonpa takes the first match with a hardened-looking criminal, and promptly gives up. Gon faces the next prisoner, Sedokan a serial bomber, in a match to see who's candle can burn the longest. Kurapika engages in a death match with the next opponent, Majitani a bluffer, but refuses to kill him after seeing red (literally) and knocking the criminal unconscious. Majitani feigns unconsciousness in an attempt to run out the clock. Leorio and the leader of the prisoners bet on whether he's faking. Leorio holds the man above a long drop, and Majitani wakes up. He concedes the match to Kurapika, but the group loses a large chunk of their time because of the bet. Leorio goes next. His opponent is Leroute, an attractive woman. He loses ten hours in a bet. He then loses the rest of their betting hours to her. Killua then faces Johness the Dissector, a man responsible for the murder of at least 146 people with his bare hands. Killua rips out his heart, explaining afterwards that Johness is an amateur and he is a pro. The last test to get out of the tower has two paths: one is too long and the other will only allow three of the five to enter. Leorio and Tonpa start fighting to see who will stay, when Gon thinks outside the box. They choose the longer path, destroy the wall between the paths with axes provided so they could fight, and all five make it.

4th Stage
A game of Hunter and Prey on Zebil Island wherein they must target their prays plate.



Final Stage
After this trial the next is 1 on 1 match with each of the participants after a few fights Killua brother turns out to be one of the participants destroying Killua 's reserve of being a Hunter. Which greatly angers Gon. The hunter exam is won by only a few people Hanzo, Gon, Kurapika, Leorio, Hasko, Pokkle, and Gittarakuru (Illumi Zoldyck, Killua's brother, in disguise).

Heavens Arena
Gon, and Killua train here at heavens areana, and learn nen from Wing, and befriends fellow student Zushi. Gon fights Hisoka after having multiple matches in heavens areana, so Hisoka see's that it's time the two have a match, Gon losses in the end by TKO, but Hisoka tells him that if they fought another 10 more times they could have a good contest but that's stricktly under Heavens areans rules, and Hisoka says that this is their final match in Heavens Arena. The next time they fight their will be no rules the match will be to the death. Gon, and Killua leave Heavens Arena after the match, and head for Whale Island, where Gon intruduces Killua to Mito, and learn about the Game Greed Island from a tape that Ging recorded.

The York Shin Auction Arc
The third story arc reunites the main characters for the world's largest auction in a sprawling metropolis called York Shin City. Gon, Killua, and Leorio try different methods to make enough money to buy Greed Island, a video game that could help Gon find his father. This story arc introduces the Phantom Troupe, a group of thieves who, among many other crimes, slaughtered all the other members of Kurapika's clan. Kurapika crosses paths with them while working as a bodyguard. After aiding Kurapika with the Troupe members, Gon and Killua finally gain access to Greed Island, the seemingly-magical video game that sucks players within. The goal of the game is to collect a number of set cards, although almost everything in the game, from food to money, can be turned into cards.

Greed Island Arc
Inside Greed Island Gon and Killua are joined by Biscuit Krueger, a master and experienced teacher of Nen who trains them. During their training period, Killua also exits the game in order to take part in the Hunter exam and obtain a Hunter's License. Gon ended up being the first person to clear the game and, as part of his reward, is allowed to take three cards to be used in the real world. Using the card 'Accompany', Gon and Killua travel to a player under the user name 'Nigg', who they believe to be Ging. However, it ends up bringing them to Kite instead.



Chimera Ants Arc
Alongside Kite, Gon and Killua briefly work as biological researchers in the country of Kakin. As they investigate a giant insect limb found on the country's shores, the group discover it came from a man-sized Chimera Ant Queen — an insect that devours other insects and animals, and then gives birth to progeny that inherit the characteristics of the different species it has eaten. The queen chimera ant washes up onto island nation called the Neo-Green Life (N.G.L.) A autonomous region, inhabited by a neo-luddite culture. She quickly develops a taste for humans and builds a colony in order to conceive both an army of offspring and a Chimera Ant King, Meryem. The chimera ants proceed to wipe most of the population out before Gon, Killua, and Kite arrive. The queen dies during labor, and the chimera ant king and his Chimera Ants flee the N.G.L., secretly overthrowing the government of the nearby Republic of East Gorteau soon thereafter. Under the guise of the former king of the Republic, the chimera ant king initiates the process of forcibly awakening Nen in the civilians of East Gorteau in order to form his own personal army to conquer the world — resulting in the deaths of millions unable to awaken Nen. As ants formerly under the queen's rule rejoin the king, the Hunter Association mobilizes quickly to stop the oncoming genocide by sending in an extermination team of Hunters to East Gorteau. Distraught over the murder of Kite at the hands of the Royal Guards, Gon and Killua join the extermination team in order to take revenge for their friend. After some encounters with Youpi and Pouf, even seeing the King from the distance who was to be fighting Netero himself), he finally meets Pitou, and at the end, seeing that all Pitou was doing was deceiving him from not being able to save his friend Kite, he unleashes all the anger and sorrow he was keeping within him, turning into an older version of himself. . Using all his potential in one instant to kill his enemy. In the aftermath, he was to lose something important (perhaps just all the years he lost) and was unconscious by releasing such tremendous power. Killua then took him to the rest of his friends. Gon currently resides in a Hospital with the rest of the hunters that survived the invasion on the Chimera Ants. The Doctor tells Knov and Knuckle that Gon is in an extremely dangerous state, and requires life support. The Doctor thinks to himself saying he's never seen something this gruesome happen to a 12 year old boy in a single night.

Nen Abilities
His nen type is Enhancement, which accounts for his great strength and recuperative abilities. His hatsu is called Jajanken which is a play on the Japanese word "Janken" which refers to the game of "Rock, Paper, Scissors". The unusual name of his hatsu was created when Gon stuttered when informing the hunter Knuckle Bine that his hatsu was called "janken".

Jajanken consists of three parts. His main attack is "Rock", a simple reinforcement-type attack focusing all his nen into his fist. His long-ranged attack is "Paper", an emission-type attack that fires a relatively weak ball of energy from his palm. His mid-ranged attack is "Scissors", a transformation-type attack that forms a blade of nen that is attached to his first two fingers. These three attacks are all initiated with the traditional pose and shout of a game of janken. However, as noted by Knuckle this technique has two major weaknesses: Firstly, it takes a long time to charge which gives the opponent a window of opportunity to attack Gon and stop the technique, secondly, by focusing more aura into his fist it reduces the amount of aura covering the rest of his body, thus lowering his defense.To compensate for this, Gon can use his Jajanken as a fake, using its imposing power to make the opponent tense up and try to break it or move out of its path, only to cancel the technique and take advantage of the opponent's confusion. This tactic itself is still imperfect as regardless of whether it's a fake or not, using Jajanken consumes a lot of aura.

After some of the events of the Chimera Ants arc, Gon use an unnamed ability that cost him all of his inborn talent. It has yet to be confirmed if this mean than Gon will ever be able to use Nen abilities again.


 * Rock (グー Gū): Gon focuses the aura around his fists using Ko and releases it in a punch. Rock is a close range attack, and has the strongest power among the three.


 * Scissors (チー Chī): Scissors is formed using two fingers in a pistol shape. Gon uses Transmutation abilities to transform his aura into a long blade extending from the two fingers. It's a middle range attack, and not as powerful as Rock, though it can cut through what Rock cannot break. Gon has more trouble with this attack because he is an Enhancer leaning towards Emission.


 * Paper (パー Pā): For this, Gon uses his Emission abilities to project his Nen towards his enemies. Paper uses an open palm to emit the aura. It's a long range attack that fires nen as a projectile; because Gon is an Enhancer and Paper uses emission, a different nen type, it is weaker than Rock. However, he has found this to be useful for pincer type attacks, as demonstrated in his battle with Knuckle.


 * Unknown Transformation: Gon has recently demonstrated another ability with the specifics currently unknown. Activated by his immense rage, Gon transformed into an older version of himself with strength rivaling that of the chimera ant king. In this form, he was strong enough to fatally wound Neferpitou. As Pitou's consciousness fade, the dying ant remarked that such power can only be achieved through great cost. The restriction placed on this ability is so great that any attemp to remove it would kill the nen clenser instantlly.

Trivia

 * Gon is always seen ordering orange juice at restaurants.
 * Gon thinks his aunt Mito is the best cook in the world.
 * Gon is rarely seen without his fishing pole.