Disclaimer: I don't own Hunter x Hunter

Chapter 2: The Hunter's test 1st round

"ARGH GON! IT'S FINISHED! I'M NEVER TALKING TO YOU AGAIN!" Leorio shouted, as he made a long suffering pose and Kurapika slowly edged away from us, probably attempting to keep his sanity.

Not that I blamed him though. I probably would've done the same.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

4-5 hours later...

Leorio was sweating heavily and his movements became slow and choppy. A few moments later, he couldn't take it anymore, and stopped running completely.

"Leorio!" Gon cried.

"Come on. We have to hurry." Killua said. I skidded to a stop next to him, and stared on silently.

Suddenly, Leorio took a deep breath, and yelled,

"THAT'S ENOUGH! I'M READY TO DO ANYTHING T BECOME A HUNTER! YES! AAAARRRGGGHHH!" He started running like a maniac. He passed us so fast that he almost blew my cloak away. Luckily, it was made of an especially heavy material, for training purposes. Don't question it. I looked at the dust cloud that Leorio had left behind and noticed his forgotten suit case.

Gon took out his fishing rod, cast it and pulled the suitcase back with a flick of his wrist.

"That's a cool trick! Can I try later?" Killua asked, voicing my thoughts.

"Only if you lend me your skateboard."

"Can I try?" I asked, not wanting to be left out.

"Of course!" Gon beamed.

"Eh? Why does he get to use it without trading anything?" Killua complained.

"Because I met him before you." I laughed.

"Unfair!"

During these few hours, I had gotten to know Killua and Gon quite well. It was really interesting to see Killua slowly warm up to Gon and I, although Gon did most of the talking, while I remained silent.

After running about 80 kilometers, one kid gave up, but everyone else was quite persistent.

"Hey.. is that a joke?" A random contestant voiced.

As I looked up, I silently wished it was... but it wasn't... Stairs. An endless tunnel of up-going stairs.

With this new twist, people after people began collapsing, and after a while, 37 contestants deserted.

"I didn't realize that we were in the front." Gon suddenly interrupted.

"That's because the rhythm isn't very fast. In fact, not moving fast enough is more tiring." Killua answered nonchalantly, while Gon and I were panting lightly. "The Hunter's exam seems accessible in reality. It's not funny." He looked at me, "By the way Kay, why are you still wearing a hooded cloak? Don't you feel uncomfortable?"

"Hm? Not really. I actually feel more comfortable with the cloak and the hood on."

"Is that so..."

After a few moments of silence, Gon decided to interrupt.

"Why do you guys want to be Hunter?" He asked.

"I don't really want to be a hunter... I've heard that the exam was extremely hard, and I thought it sounded interesting. But I'm disappointed. What about you Kay?"

"Well, long story short... A Hunter saved my life and my village when I was younger and he inspired me to become someone like him. My village was near the Edokyo ruins and the people of my village were dying of starvation and lack of water. I went out of the village to search for some herbs, or something to eat, but collapsed in the forest. I was waiting for death to come to me, but instead, he came and saved me. He used his own fortune to renovate and preserve the ruins and the village. Ever since then, no one ever had to suffer from starvation anymore. I'm really grateful to him, I would like to meet him one time and say 'thank you' properly. For myself and for my village."

"Heh~ But then why not train more? You're only 11, right? It's not like he's going anywhere." Killua stated.

"Well no, he's the most mysterious Hunter in the world There's no information about him anywhere. But recently I heard that he is making his appearance again, so I can't miss this chance."

Gon blinked, "Nee, Kay, can I ask for that Hunter's name?"

"Oh he's G-" Then it hit me.

"Kay?"

"Of course!" I shouted, "Why didn't I realize this before? You look just like him Gin Freeks!"

Gon's eyes opened wide,

"Gin?"

"Yup! Do you have any connection with him?"

"Yes! Actually, I'm his son."

"EHHHHH! No wonder you two look so identical!"

"The reason why I'm taking this Hunter exam is to become a Hunter like my father, then I'll be able to understand why he chose the life of a hunter over raising me." He smiled, and unconsciously I smiled back.

"Look! The exit!" Killua noted.

As we burst through the doorway, fresh air flooded our senses, and as soon as our eyes adjusted to the light, we saw something similar to a forest or a jungle. Satotsu-san waited for a few moments before he started to talk.

"Welcome to 'Numelle's Marsh', also known as the Crook's nest. You'll have to go through here to get to the second exam site. The creatures you will find in the marsh eat humans for lunch. There are birds of prey as well as tricksters. Follow me and pay close attention. Losing your way results in immediate death."

"That's false! He's lying to all of you!" A voice behind the crowd caught everybody's attention. "He's an imposter! He's not a judge at all, the real judge is me!"

Everybody got confused with the unexpected turn of events. I, myself, didn't even know what was going on. I looked at the monkey, which the bruised man was dragging and then back at Satotsu-san. Boy, they looked really similar with no mouth. It was so weird!

Suddenly, a creepy looking man with unusually pale skin and wearing clown garments, stepped up, and decided to settle out the confusion. He gave me the hives! He suddenly laughed as he licked his lips. I could feel waves and waves of killing intent rolling off of him.

"There is only one way of settling this circumstance..." He grinned, squinting his eyes. In a flash, he sent playing cards towards both 'judges'. Satotsu caught the cards in between this fingers, but as for the bruised man... he wasn't so lucky.

"With this, it's all cleared." The creepy man smirked, watching the vultures dive down from the sky to feast on the corpse. "He's the right judge." He pointed at Satotsu-san. "In fact, judges are Hunters that do this freely at the jury's request, so there's nothing odd about a Hunter, even from a second zone, stopping that kind of attack."

"I'll take that as a compliment." said Satotsu-san as he flicked the cards away, "However, the next time you use such intervention against me, whatever the reason is, you'll be disqualified. Do you understand?"

"Yes, yes." The creepy man snickered.

"Now, let's go to the second stage of the test." Satotsu-san started moving again.

"A marathon again?" Some people complained, but dashed after him anyway.

I wonder what the creatures inside the fog are going to be like...

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Kagome Echizen Fan: thanks for story alerting!