Chapter Two: Run
Aliara glided across the floor, extremely slow at first, because the crowd was thick and not as fast as her on her roller skates. The skates were working, and were rolling along the smooth floor with no sound. They were almost unnoticeable- unless, of course, you looked down or noticed that she wasn't exactly moving normally. Eventually, Killua rolled up next to her on his skateboard. "How old are you?"
"Twelve," she said, glancing at Killua. "You?"
"Same as you," he replied. He jutted a finger out in front of them at a pack of three people. "You think he's twelve too?"
Aliara squinted. It was a boy with tall, spiky black hair in a green jacket and shorts. He had matching shoes on, and from behind, Aliara could see he was carrying a fishing pole. She shrugged. "Probably."
Killua didn't acknowledge her, which made her glare at him, but instead he pushed a foot off the ground and zoomed forwards, gliding by the boy, sizing him up. There was a blond kid who Aliara couldn't distinguish the gender of (it was a bit difficult from behind) and a tall, black-haired guy in a suit that watched Killua zoom by. Perfectly content with being alone again, she continued to peacefully skate behind them, trying little hops in the air while hitting the button on her wristband. Smooth retraction. She did it again, and hit the ground and rolled again. Perfect.
"Hey, kid!" The man in the suit yelled, distracting her. "That's cheating!"
Aliara almost face-palmed. No, it's not.
"Why?" Killua asked. "He just said to follow him."
"It's an endurance test!" Suit Guy yelled loudly, his glasses almost falling off his head. No, it's not, you ignorant old man. He turned around and saw Aliara (had she said that out loud?), and the yelling recommenced. "And you! You're roller skating! That's cheap!"
Thanks a lot, Killua. You roped me into this. She ignored the pestering guy and skated by him, punching Killua in the shoulder as she reached him. He frowned and rubbed his shoulder. As the black-haired kid started arguing with Suit Guy, Killua hissed, "What was that for?"
"You just had to go and show off, didn't you?" she scowled back.
He glared back at her. "I wasn't showing off!"
"Not showing off the skateboard? Whatever." She moved away to the side. This is what I get! I don't do well with people.
Aliara tried to ignore Killua, but she felt kind of... dejected. She heard him ask the other kid how old he was, and he responded with twelve- the same age as she and Killua. There's nobody else here our age. Maybe Killua's just trying to make friends.
The word made Aliara's blood boil. Friends? No way. I don't make friends. At least, that's how she'd been raised. Everyone else is either an ally or an enemy, no in between. No room for friends, blah blah blah. Something about some people being servants too. I can't make friends. What am I doing, trying to talk to Killua? I-
"That emo over there is Aliara."
Her temper boiled over as she whirled around in Killua's direction, almost losing her balance on her skates. "What was that, short stack?"
"I'm taller than you!" Killua complained. He was running now, skateboard tucked under his arm. The boy in green with the fishing rod was running beside him, laughing. Aliara's face was bright red, but she sucked up her pride, made a little jump in the air, smacked her wrist band, and landed, just like she had practiced. The wheels had safely retracted and now she was running alongside Killua and the other boy. Perfect again. "If you guys are running, I'll just run too," she muttered. She swiveled her head around, glaring at the Suit Guy. "Satisfied, old man?"
Suit Guy sputtered in anger, swinging his hands wildly. "Hey! I'm from your generation!"
All three 12-year-olds stared at him with a blank expression. "You sure?" the other boy asked loudly.
"No way," Aliara mumbled under her breath.
"That's it, Gon!" Suit Guy thundered. "I'm never talking to you again!"
So his name's Gon. Aliara shrugged and just kept running next to them.
A couple seconds later, Suit Guy spoke up again. "Why's a girl like you taking the hunter exam? Isn't that dangerous?"
It was as if a brick had fallen onto Aliara's head.
She set her jaw angrily, and her eyes widened. The boys, bless their souls, noticed. Gon took a step to the side, and Killua simply watched with a grin. Aliara planted her left foot on the ground and spun, her right foot sailing higher than Killua thought she could kick. Her foot sailed into Suit Guy's face.
He actually stumbled and made a face plant into the ground. The blond boy (yes, he was definitely a boy, she could tell now) helped him up, almost laughing. "Oi! What was that for?"
"Just because I'm a girl," Aliara grumbled under her breath, running to catch up to the boys, "doesn't mean I'm not perfectly capable of handling myself."
Killua made a low whistle and Aliara raised an eyebrow at him. He shrugged. "What? It was a nice kick."
They just kept running and running. The farther they went, to Aliara's irritation, the more annoying the two others got. At one point, she tried to speed up, but they just followed. Annoying. Can't they see that they annoy me? Suit Guy, who's name was actually Leorio, fell behind at around the 60 kilometer mark but sped up, screaming in determination. Slowly but surely, people were starting to drop, but not until the 80 kilometer mark, at least. Not many, but a few. Most people seemed to be in tip top condition, and the worst were only sweating slightly. Gon and Killua were handling it fine.
Then they reached the stairs, and Aliara smirked. She was going to try her shoes out again. Hitting a button on her bracelet, springs popped out from the bottom of the shoes, and she started taking the stairs three at a time. They work so well! Killua and Gon started matching pace with her, but after they had all advanced to the front of the pack, she hit her wrist again and went back to normal running. "Just testing them out," she assured Killua, who had raised an eyebrow at her suspiciously. Test, successful.
"Hey, Killua, Aliara," Gon said after a while, "Why do you guys want to be hunters?"
They ask too many questions!
Aliara didn't respond, but Killua did. "I thought it'd be interesting. But so far, I'm disappointed."
"You're not wrong," Aliara complained. "This is kind of boring."
They both looked at her expectantly. Crap, they want me to answer the question. When Aliara didn't answer, Killua, who was in the middle of three, poked her in the shoulder. "Why do you want to be a hunter?"
"No reason."
They didn't buy it. Gon and Killua kept staring at her until their annoying stares became too much for Aliara and she snapped, "No reason!"
"Really?" Gon wondered. "My father's a hunter. I want to be one just like him!"
"What kind of hunter is he?" Killua inquired.
Thankful that the attention was off her, Aliara paced herself the rest of the way in silence. When the bright light filled the tunnel, and everyone saw the exit, Killua announced, "Race you guys!" and took off. Not to be beaten, Gon and Aliara threw the rest of their energy forwards as they bolted after Killua, almost surpassing the examiner. "GOAL!" All three of them chorused as they jumped out into the open.
The examiner's eyes widened. "I think I won," Killua said smugly.
"No way! I was first!" Gon said.
Aliara rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "I really don't care. But I'm pretty sure I was first."
"EXAMINER! WHO WAS FIRST?!" Gon and Killua cried.
His eyes wide, he only said, "I think all three of you passed at the same time."
Killua and Gon started squabbling again. Aliara didn't think she had ever been more annoyed by two boys, even her brothers. She flicked them both in the foreheads. "Idiots. We all came first, got it?"
How the heck was she going to keep her sanity with these two around?
The second part of the first round passed even faster than the first. Swindler's Swamp, the examiner called it. Aliara frowned. If she tried to use the wheels, they'd probably be ruined. They was a minor confusion where a strange creature attempted to convince them that the man in the purple suit was not their examiner. The creepy clown man (Aliara literally shivered staring at him) solved the problem in his own dangerous and creepy manner, and received a warning from the examiner. The conflict resolved, he took off, and everyone followed.
They ran through the swamp, staying as close as they could to the examiner- partially because they could've easily gotten lost, and partially because Hisoka, the crazy clown dude, was oozing bloodlust. Badly. I've never seen anyone so blood thirsty. Gon turned around at one point, going back for Leorio and Kurapika, who had gotten lost.
"Oi, Gon!" Killua had cried. But their new friend was already gone. He shrugged, mumbled, "he better make it to the goal on time," and continued running. Shrugging, Aliara followed. At least another hour passed of running, avoiding creatures, and staying away from the trees that seemed to appear out of nowhere.
They were among the first to make it to the finish point. Killua and Aliara shared a high-five. "Gon'll be here soon," the white-haired boy said cheerily.
Aliara nodded along, then plopped herself down on the grass and pulled out her backpack. "What now?" Killua asked, sitting down next to her. "I thought you were done the shoes."
"I thought of more stuff on the way," Aliara said absentmindedly. "I'm thinking of spikes on the bottom of the shoes." She pulled her shoes off, wiggling her toes, and started pulling metals parts off the bottoms. The pieces scattered in the grass.
"What if you don't fix them by the time the second stage starts?" Killua asked, watching her hands fly around the metal and the tools.
She shrugged, rolling her eyes. "Then I go barefoot. You already asked me this, idiot."
"You're the idiot."
"You're a bigger idiot."
Killua scoffed. "Girls are bigger idiots."
Aliara's eyes flashed completely white and she smacked Killua over the head with her open hand. "Shut up, ghost boy!"
He started to laugh. "When Leorio asked you why you were here, it got you riled up, so I thought I'd try." Still snickering to himself, he ducked another one of Aliara's swings. Then Killua frowned. "Wait. Ghost boy?"
"Suits you," she replied, keeping her eyes fixed on her shoes.
Killua glared at her. "Hey!"
Aliara stared at Killua, and then, for the first time in a long time, burst into laughter. It felt so, incredibly good to laugh. Killua joined in, and then they were both laughing, attracting the attention of a couple other participants. But for once, Aliara didn't care. It just felt so good to laugh.
Are we becoming friends?
No way.
Not possible.
Phase one was over. Onto stage 2.
I'm struggling with what to give Aliara as a nen power. I was sure at one point, then more ideas came along, and... Agh.
I've been thinking of;
Fire. I like the idea of fire.
Ice. Something to do with ice. I don't know how to make that work, though.
Something like Kite's, where she summoned different weapons at random.
I DON'T KNOW.
What do you guys think?
Night Owl: Aw, thanks! I'm glad you like it so far!
Please review!~