Training × Hound × Exhausted (特訓×猟犬×バタンキュー, Tokkun × Ryōken × Batankyuu) is the 33rd episode of the original Hunter × Hunter anime. It first aired on July 1st, 2000.
Overview[]
Gon, Leorio, and Kurapika stay in the servants' quarters. Zebro lets them in the Testing Gate. While they stay, Seaquant trains them with weighted objects to open the main doors. They increase their strength after 20 days and open the gate themselves. Gon and Kurapika can open the first 2-ton gate, and Leorio opens the second.
Synopsis[]
The phone rings inside the Zoldyck house. When the call is finally picked up, Zebro informs the Zoldyck family butler Gotoh on the other side that Killua's friends have come to see Killua. The call ends with Zebro dejectedly hanging up. Gon suggests that they try calling again so that Gon himself can talk this time. Gon politely asks to speak with Killua when Gotoh answers the phone. Gotoh states that Killua has no friends and hangs out. Gon tries calling a couple more times, but Gotoh is incredibly suspicious of Gon and is unwilling to risk Gon being a potential imposter or liar, and he continues to hang up on him, telling Gon to leave.
Gon is very upset after this, so he attempts to climb over the Testing Gate by himself using his fishing rod as a rope. Leorio and Kurapika try to talk him out of it, and Leorio and Gon get into a fight. Zebro interrupts them and offers Gon a key to get in instead, touched by Gon's conviction of being Killua's friend. He claims that if he goes in with the trio, there is a slight chance that Mike will recognize Zebro and not eat them, which is better odds than them trying to sneak in.

The boys meet Mike
Zebro pushes open the Testing Gate, and the group walks through together. They are soon approached by a giant, Mike, who terrifies the boys. Zebro explains that Mike is a highly trained hunting dog and cannot be swayed through any attempt at connection or friendship with the dog. The group moves on, uneaten.
Zebro brings the group to the servants' quarters, where he says the boys can stay for now. The trio is introduced to an uninterested Seaquant. Afterward, Zebro lets the boys try to open the door to the servants' quarters themselves. Gon is unable, but Leorio can push them open with tremendous effort. However, the doors slam shut in his face the second he lets up. When they get inside, the boys are given slippers to wear, and all three of them immediately fall on their faces, unaware that the slippers are weighted, as are many other things there, like the tea cups.
While the group talks with Zebro over tea, Seaquant overhears their conversation about the boys being Hunters and expresses how unimpressed he is with them, especially since they couldn't open the Testing Gate themselves. Leorio's pride gets bruised, and he insists that if he can open the gate, Seaquant has to take back what he said. Gon likes the idea; however, Kurapika worries they won't have enough time to train before their 30-day tourist visa runs out.

Zebro puts the boys in weights
Zebro offers to help train the boys. He first makes them clean the servants' quarters since all the cleaning supplies are also weighted, and straps weights all over their bodies as well. It takes them a long time, but the boys eventually reach bed. At night, Seaquant talks to Zebro about why Zebro is helping Gon's group. Seaquant says the group will never be allowed to see Killua, but Zebro expresses hope in Gon.
The next day, the boys are tasked with various chores while wearing their weights. While Gon is fetching water from the well, Seaquant comes up and helps him pull the bucket out of the well. He tells Gon about the Bounty Hunter who brought a hundred men to storm the estate, but barely made it past the gate before being killed. He warns Gon that the same fate is in store for him and his party, but despite everything Seaquant says, Gon isn't discouraged.

Leorio falls through the decoy door
After ten days, the boys take turns trying to open the Testing Gate. Leorio can open it a crack, but Kurapika is entirely unsuccessful. Leorio instead attempts to open the decoy door leading Mike to test his strength. However, as soon as he pushes, the door immediately breaks down, and Leorio falls beyond the gate's threshold. Mike attacks and Leorio can dodge out of the way of Mike's paw but ends up further inside, face-down in the bushes. Gon runs through the broken-down door into the grounds of the Zoldyck estate to distract Mike, who immediately runs after Gon. Seaquant runs after the both of them, with Kurapika and Leorio in tow.

Kalluto with Mike
Gon barely outruns Mike and dodges his attacks, but eventually gets stuck in a tree while evading Mike. Seaquant saves him by shooting the branch he is caught in right before Mike strikes. Mike chases Gon to the edge of a cliff, and Kurapika begs Seaquant to do something, but Seaquant says that only a member of the Zoldyck family can call off Mike. Just before Mike is about to strike again, a whistle is heard off in the distance from the Zoldyck house. Mike runs off, and Gon is left scared and dangling off the cliff's edge until Seaquant, Leorio, and Kurapika eventually help him. Far off in the woods, Kalluto is seen petting a calm Mike.
After twenty days, Coco Loo gives a tour outside the Testing Gate to a group of tourists when Gon can finally open the Testing Gate with Leorio and Kurapika cheering him on. Zebro congratulates the boys on their success. Back at the servants' quarters, the trio thanks Seaquant and Zebro for all their help and start on the path toward the Zoldyck home. Once they've left, Seaquant reveals that he was part of the group that tried to storm the Zoldyck estate before and expresses how hopeless he feels for the trio, considering he knows who they'll have to face along their way to the house. The trio walks along the path and eventually stops as Canary stands in their way.
Characters in Order of Appearance[]
- Zebro
- Kurapika
- Gon Freecss
- Leorio Paradinight
- Gotoh (Debut)
- Hishita (Debut)
- Mike (Debut)
- Seaquant (Debut)
- Kalluto Zoldyck (Debut)
- Coco Loo
- Canary (Debut)
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