Hey, so second chapter…. Wow I feel accomplished. This'll be the first time I update a story in 2 weeks or less for the next chapter. So, YAY ME! Anyways on with the show!
Luna loves u: Killua, mind doing the honors for me?
Killua: *Grinning that evil cat grin* Luna loves u does not own Hunter x Hunter…. which includes me!
Luna loves u: *In the corner with a large cloud over her head* The only thing I own is the character Mei…
"Hey Killua, do you think we are close to the exit?" Mei asks, as they zigzag their way through the crowd.
Killua hums in thought, "I hope so, this is kind of boring just following this guy. Hopefully the next test is more interesting."
Mei nods, hoping that they were almost done with this test cause she was also bored.
Then from behind them they hear, "Hey! Wait up, kids!" Causing them to both go "Hum?" And turn to see the old man that came off the elevator last. The old man then starts lecturing about showing respect to the Hunter exams and how Killua should be running not riding the skateboard. Killua and Mei just blink at the old man trying to understand what he is yelling about.
Finally, Killua asks, "Why?" After the old man yells something about 'cheating'.
The man replies, "This is an Endurance Test!" Leaving Killua and Mei to look at each other in confusion, 'When had that been said?'
A boy's voice calls from behind them, "No it isn't. The examiner just told us to follow him." Making Mei nod in agreement and the man yell about how 'Gon whose side are you on?'
Killua, after staring at the boy for a few minutes, skates back to him and asks, "How old are you?"
To which the boy replies, "Twelve Years Old." and Mei and Killua think 'Same age as me', after skating for a few seconds Killua kicks off his skateboard and starts to run beside Gon and Mei, "Guess I'll run."
Mei grins, knowing that they had just added a third to their party of two making it a trio. "I'm Killua." He introduces himself.
"I'm Gon." The boy replies.
"I'm Mei, nice to meet you Gon." Mei says, "I am also Twelve." Gon waves at her and grins, as they begin talking while still running.
Behind them the old man grumbles about brats inside his mind.
*Twenty Minutes Later*
They had been running for a long time and some of the weaker contestant had stopped running, or were slowly going towards the back of the pack. This included the old man who Gon had identified as Leorio, who was slowly but surely beginning to stop. Gon, realizing that Leorio wasn't behind them anymore, stopped and turned around causing Killua and Mei to also stop. Looking back Leorio didn't look so good, what with all the sweat and the heavy gasping, he looked like he was dying. For a few moments, the three kids just started at him, before Killua, "Let go." But Gon just stood there and stared at him, almost like he was willing him to keep going.
Suddenly, Leorio was up and running past them screaming about how he would be a hunter and running up to about the front-middle of the group. Gon grins and uses his fishing pool to grab Leorio's suitcase, causing Mei and Killua's eyes to widen in childish glee. "Hey that was cool. Let me try?" Killua asks, with Gon replying, "Sure, if you let me try your skateboard and Mei lets me use those items in her bag on her back." Killua nods, but Mei looks a little hesitant, making the boys look at her in worry, "Mei, I don't have to if you don't want me too. I didn't mean to upset you." Gon states, worry shining through his eyes.
"No, it's just that…. well let me show you what is in this bag." She then turns the bag around and straps it to her front, before opening it and revealing a bag full of medical supplies, food and clothes.
The boys blink in wonder, before Gon asks, "Mei, why do you have all of that?"
Mei just blushes, embarrassed, as she says, "Well…. I just didn't want to leave it behind." She lies, making Killua's eyes narrow and Gon look at her in confusion.
"Mei, why did you lie just now?" Gon asks, before Killua can snap at her.
Mei just blinks at Gon, "How...What…" She stumbles for a few seconds, "Look I'm not ready yet to tell you."
Gon and Killua just nod, not really understanding completely, but realizing that that bag held all of her belongings.
"Anyways, I will let you use the medical supplies and anything else in there; just leave my clothes alone." She says, narrowing her eyes at them; leaving them to furiously nod their heads.
They ran for a few more minutes before catching up with the other two and passing them, but not really going that far ahead.
Kurapika chose that time to ask Leorio 'why he wanted to become a hunter to get money?' and then explains that the reason why his clan was targeted by the Phantom Troupe was for their 'Scarlet Eyes'. This made Leorio reveal that he had had a friend with a deadly illness and that if Leorio had had money that he could have saved his friend. Mei looks back at both of them and gives them a soft look, understanding the agony that they went through, not that the boys in question noticed her look.
"See you at the finish line, old timer." Killua calls, not really understanding the think air around them.
Leorio shouts, "I am not an old timer. I am a teenager just like you!" Causing looks of shock to be aimed at him from all the friends around him.
After recovering from her shock, Mei calls to the boys, "Hey want to race to the exit?"
"But…" Gon goes to say, before looking up and seeing the exit up ahead, "Yeah, the losers have to buy dinner for the winner!"
"You're on!" Killua says, speeding up.
All three of the children, say, "Ready, Set, GO!" and off they went in blurs.
The rest of the contestants felt a draft passes them by as one blur of dark purple passes, then two other blurs of green and silver follows; making some of the contestants' blink in confusion, until they realize that they had just been passed. Following shortly behind, Kurapika and Leorio watch as the three children pass by the stopped examiner; with Mei first and the boys tying for second.
"Goal!" They scream, as they pass Satsoz.
"I was first!" All three of them cry, only to blink and begin arguing among themselves about who was first.
Gon turns to Satsoz and asks, "Who was first?"
Satsoz, who had been watching them in wonder, blinks and says, "I believe the young lady was first and you boys tied."
"Aww!" The boys cry, looking at Mei who was grinning at her victory.
"Well, I don't see why we all can't enjoy a dinner together and split the check three-ways." Mei says, smiling at the two boys; who grin back at her in thanks.
The rest of the examinees come out of the tunnel and collapse, while a wall closes off the tunnel and traps some of the examinees inside it.
"Hey, is this where the second exam is?" Gon asks Satsoz.
"No, we still have a bit to go." Satsoz says.
Gon and Killua pout at that, but Mei can feel the environment around them, tense with bloodlust and want for food, 'This will be fun.' She thinks.
As the fog fades, a forest is reviled to them and Satsoz says, "The Numere Wetlands, as known as the Swindlers Swamp. We must cross them to get to the second exam. This place is home to many bizarre animals, many of them cunning, insatiable creatures who deceive humans and prey upon them. Be very careful. If you let them fool you… you're dead. These wetland creatures will use every trick in the book to fool their prey. An ecosystem in which creatures obtain food through deceit…Hence the name Swindlers Swamp. Stay very close to me so you won't be deceived." He finishes and turns back to face the forest, with every examinee watching him closely.
Leorio decides at that moment to say, "What a joke. How can they fool us, when we're expecting it?"
Mei, who was beside him, shot him a look and was about to say something, when from beside them they heard, "Don't let them fool you!"
Leorio glares in the direction the voice came from, "I just said that they can't."
A man steps out from the side of the building, that housed the tunnel, "Don't fall for it…. He's lying to you." He points to Satsoz and yells, "He's an imposter! He isn't an examiner…. I'm the real examiner!" He points to himself.
Mei sighs, knowing without a doubt that this man was lying, but hearing the mummers passing in the crowd about 'Imposter?'
Leorio just proves her right, as he says, "Imposter? What is going on here? Then who is he?"
The man most likely realizing that he is winning some of the examinees trust, says, "Look at this…" and pulls out a monkey that looks very much like Satsoz. Gon even goes so fall as to say how much alike it looks. The man goes on to explain, "It's a man-faced ape, one of the creatures of the Numere lands." Making all the people ask about the creature. The man further explains, "Man-faced apes like the taste of fresh human flesh. However, their limbs are long and thin, so they are quiet weak. That's why they disguised themselves as humans. They trick humans into following them into these wetlands, where they team up with other animals to kill and devour them. He intends to trap every single applicant!"
The other examinees were murmuring about the examiner, while Mei just shook her head at their stupidity. However, she soon tenses as cards fly through the air in the direction of the two men; one catching them between his fingers and the other dropping to the ground with cards riddling his body. The examinees all blink in shock and turn to look at who had thrown the card, only to see Hisoka.
Hisoka just smirks, "I see, I see…. That decides it, you are the real one!" and all the examinees just gapped at the fact that the man they doubted as the examiner was the actual one.
"Examiners are Hunters," Hisoka explains, "Selected by the community to perform this duty without pay. Any Hunter, that bears the title we seek, would have been able to block that attack."
Satsoz says, "I shall take that as a compliment. However, should you attack me again, for any reason, I will report you for turning on an examiner. And you will be immediately disqualified."
Hisoka agrees and the examiner goes on to comment that the man was a Man-faced Ape and that it was planning to lure the contestants' away and eat them. Satsoz then warns a second time against losing him in the fog, and tells them that they needed to be off.
Thus starting the second part of the first exam….