11/04/19 - Edited
Sillar groaned internally and just barely stopped himself from shuddering as he tried to ignore the gaze on his back and focus on the two examiners for the second phase and what they were saying.
They had managed to make it to the clearing where the second phase was held just in time, a second before Satotz declared the end of the first phase. Once there, they had received instructions to wait and had proceeded to spend the next mind-numbingly boring half an hour or so doing nothing besides stare at the sealed off warehouse and ponder about what was creating the loud rumbling noises being emitted from within the warehouse.
The most interesting theory he had heard came from Gon, who suggested that there was a new kind of magical beast inside the warehouse that communicated with those rumbling sounds, while the most ridiculous one came from, surprisingly enough, Killua, who felt that there were people playing drums just to mess with their minds. The truth was much more… strange.
The rumbling sounds turned out to be the growling of the stomach of a man, who even sitting down was the height of the warehouse that more than tripled Sillar's own height. The giant wore a simple plain shirt and long pants. He was sitting behind a loveseat on which a female.
Her hair was done up such that there were five protruding bundles, which reminded Sillar of a steering wheel for some odd reason. Her clothes were quite revealing, with a short fishnet shirt that ended off above her belly button and a bra behind it. She also wore shorts as well as long socks that came up to her knees and high heels. The two examiners then proceeded to introduce themselves, inciting a chorus of sneers from the applicants.
Which was where Sillar found himself being molested by a pair of eyes. Instead of focusing on the examiners, whether to sneer at them like what the other applicants were doing or just to listen to what the second phase would consist of, like any other, not foolish and idiotic, normal applicant, Hisoka was instead staring at Sillar, sending shivers running down his spine.
"Are you done?" The female examiner, who had introduced herself as Menchi, asked. Her eyebrows were raised as she glared at the applicants, obviously unimpressed.
"Yeah, yeah. Just tell us what we have to do so we can get this over and done with." A broad-shouldered yet relatively short man, with the number tag #255 pinned to his shirt, sneered.
"Hmph. The second phase is split up into two parts, one administered by Buhara and the other by me." Menchi snorted before crossing her legs and folding her arms as she settled back into the loveseat. Her body language made it abundantly clear that she was not happy in the slightest and Sillar sighed.
Great. Now he had to somehow pacify the female examiner or actually do something good enough that she wouldn't fail him on principle, all because of a couple of applicants who couldn't keep their mouths shut. And all of that while trying not to die to a crazed jester. Fan-fudging-tastic.
"Your task is simple. I feel like eating roast pig right now so catch any pig in this forest and cook it for me." Buhara instructed, grinning slightly. Sillar frowned, confused as to why the task, like Buhara had stated, sounded so simple. This was the Hunter Exam, not some random survival training in the military. Before he could question the examiner though, Buhara signalled the start of the second phase and Sillar was forced to run off along with the others in case he got left behind.
"Be careful. There's probably a trick or two in this task. And even if there isn't, its best to be alert." Sillar warned as he and the others jogged off, receiving nods in acknowledgement. Unlike the other applicants, who soon veered off the path and headed into the forest to try and find some pigs, Sillar's group followed Gon as he led them confidently straight ahead. They soon came to the edge of a hill, which had a steep slope.
As Sillar was slowly and cautiously peering over, he suddenly lost his balance and started rolling down the slope. Startled, Sillar looked up, while his world was flipping and doing somersaults, and saw Killua doubling over in laughter, a hand clutched to his gut, and Gon grinning mischievously down at him. Leorio and Kurapika were looking on in amusement, and subtly sneaking up to the two boys. Understanding their plan, Sillar smirked and, as he came to a stop at the foot of the hill, called up to the now wary boys.
"Karma's a bitch!" Sillar chuckled evilly as Kurapika and Leorio pushed Killua and Gon down the hill respectively. Then, he burst out laughing when Kurapika immediately turned on Leorio and pushed him down as well before jumping and sliding down the slope of the hill on his feet instead of rolling like the rest of them. Now, the five of them were gathered at the bottom of the hill and, after calming themselves down from their laughing fit, turned around to continue their hunt for some pigs.
What they didn't expect was that, upon turning around, they would find a herd of giant pink pigs with massive horned snouts that were easily twice their height. Said herd of pigs were crowding around a set of bones on the ground, the flesh stripped expertly from them and the bones themselves pristine white.
Time seemed to freeze as both groups simply stared at each other in surprise. Finally, one of the pigs snorted and, snapping a bone in its mouth clean in half, stamped heavily on the group before leading the charge as the entire group of pigs rushed them. "Run!" Kurapika yelled as he scrambled back up the hill. Leorio and Gon were not far behind him and, glancing at each other in a silent conversation which ended in a shrug, Sillar and Killua followed them in a much calmer jog.
Together, the group of 5 raced back the way they had came, attracting the attention of all the other applicants who either stared in shock at the charging pigs, and promptly being knocked away, or ran. Sillar glanced back once and couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of all the people being knocked away by the pigs. The way they were flying through the air was almost as if they were bowling pins in a bowling alley.
They led the pigs on a wild merry goose chase through the forest, hoping that they would go for the other applicants, which some of them did, but they still had quite a large number of pigs charging after them. Finally, Gon got impatient and he turned to face the leading pig. Leaping up just as the pig was about to gore him with its large tusks, Gon crouched on a tree branch of the tree behind him as the pig crashed heavily into the tree.
It seemed largely unaffected, shaking its head slightly and quickly recovering. Then, a couple of apples, dislodged by the force behind the pig's crash, dropped onto the pig's forehead. The pig went cross-eyed, let out a high-pitched squeal and keeled over, dropping onto the ground on its side, unconscious. "The forehead! Their weakness is their forehead!" Gon gasped.
That particular titbit revealed, all the running applicants stopped and turned around. Sillar and Killua simply casually jumped up as their own pigs charged them and, hands stuffed in their pockets nonchalantly, they drop-kicked their pigs and landed back on the ground lightly as the pigs dropped heavily.
Looking around as they stood over their fallen prey, Sillar whistled in appreciation as he saw the ninja-wannabe jump up and take out his own pig by camouflaging a large rock as the background behind it. He was curious how the ninja-wannabe managed to make the cloth and paint it that fast, or maybe it was standard issue for all ninjas? But either way, it was interesting to watch.
Meanwhile, Killua was watching Kurapika and Leorio try to take out their own pigs, ready to intervene if needed. Kurapika managed to do so easily enough, leaping up and bringing his wooden swords crashing down on the pig's forehead. Leorio took more time, not being as fit as they were and unable to jump up that high. Instead, he clambered up a tree and, waiting for a pig to come after him, dropped down onto its head. Following which, he revealed a swiss army knife from his pocket and stabbed the pig's forehead viciously.
Noticing that everyone of their group was done, Killua nudged his brother. Sillar blinked and looked down at Killua, startled, with a question in his eyes. "Everyone's got their pigs. Come on." Killua replied impatiently as he bent down and easily lifted his pig into the air.
"Right. Sorry." Sillar apologised sheepishly. He grabbed his own pig and set off after Killua, meeting back up with the rest of the group and running back to the clearing. Once there, they built a campfire and, breaking a tree in half, pierced a stick through the pig. Settling back, they turned the pig every once in a while, roasting it all the way through.
They had been among the first to hunt their pigs and return and thus, were among the first to finish roasting the pig. So, when they handed their pigs to Buhara, they were the first to do so. And after receiving a pass from Buhara, they went to the side and waited for the end of the first part of the second phase.
"How did he do that?" Sillar asked in a mix of amazement, fascination and disgust.
"I…I don't know. This should not be possible." Kurapika replied hesitantly. The group were staring as Buhara ate roasted pig after roasted pig, a mountain of bones by his side. As they continued to watch, Buhara polished off yet another pig and tossed its remains onto the mountain carelessly. The mountain rumbled slightly before it erupted, bones rolling down and gathering in a much larger but shorter pile on the ground and revealing all 71 roasted pigs in their full glory. "The combined mass that he ate is even larger than himself. Where does it even go?"
Unfortunately, they weren't given time to discuss it as in the next moment, Buhara sighed in satisfaction and declared that he was finally full. "And that's it! 71 people pass the first part." Menchi declared, striking a gong. She put a hand on her hips, glaring up at Buhara. "Honestly. You were supposed to filter them out, not accept every single one."
"Well, I don't see the problem. I still lowered the numbers by quite a fair bit." Buhara shrugged uncaringly. "And besides, not a lot of them will pass your part."
"Hmph. I guess that's true enough." Menchi snorted. Then, she turned her attention back to the applicants. "Congratulations for passing the first part I suppose, but, I won't be as easy as this guy over here! Now, what I want is Sushi." Murmurings started up as the applicants turned to each other, trying to figure out what 'Sushi' was. "I see not a lot of you know what I'm talking about. Take a look inside, everything that you need will be there. This part will end once I'm full. Now, get going!"
"Do you know what 'Sushi' is?" Killua asked Sillar as he glared down at the utensils on the counter in front of him. They had been assigned counters based on the chronological order of their numbers and so, Kurapika, Gon and Leorio were at the counters all the way at the back, away from them. In contrast, the two Zoldyck brothers were somewhere in the front.
"Nope. Not a clue." Sillar replied, popping the first word. "These equipment should give us a clue though, at least to the shape of the food itself. There's rice here too…" Sillar noted, opening up a rice cooker by the side and peeking in as warm steam escaped out and brushed his face.
"FISH? Where can we find fish in the middle of a forest!?" A loud, familiar voice yelled out suddenly and the warehouse fell into silence as everyone turned to stare at the big-mouthed individual. Sillar groaned as he noticed that Leorio was looking around in surprise as everyone stared at him and Kurapika face-palmed, sighing heavily into his palms. A moment later, every one rushed out of the warehouse, following either their memory or the person in front of them, to the nearest lake.
"Come on." Sillar called out to Gon, Kurapika and Leorio, as he and Killua passed by them. Together, the five of them dashed to the nearest lake. The applicants were already swarming all over the lake, trying to catch a fish for themselves but none of them were having much success so far. Quickly, the group of five claimed a spot by the side for themselves and settled down to catch their own fish.
Gon had the easiest time, using his fishing pole and catching a fish within moments of casting his line. Sillar also had quite an easy time, having been used to catching fish for himself from his time living in the Zoldyck forest. Kurapika, Leorio and Killua couldn't catch a fish though and ended up benefiting from Sillar and Gon's survival experience.
Standing back in front of the counter and staring at the fish flopping weakly on it, Killua wondered whether there was even any point to having managed to get a fish if he didn't even know what to do. Glancing beside him, Killua found his brother also staring at the counter but analytically instead of blankly. "I don't know what to do…" Sillar sighed, placing his hand on the counter and putting his weight on it, leaning forwards.
Killua blinked owlishly at the foreign sight. A chuckle forced its way up his throat and pass his lips, attracting Sillar's attention as Killua snickered helplessly. Noticing his brother's dumbfounded gaze, Killua tried to stop himself, to no avail. "I'm-I'm sorry brother. Bu-But, th-this is the fir-first time I've seen y-you look so lost!"
A blush crept up Sillar's neck and he spluttered, waving his hands about frantically. "What are you…" Sillar covered his face with his hands, watching Killua as he continued to snicker uncontrollably through his fingers with mortified eyes. After a while, Killua managed to calm down but, as he saw Sillar glare at him reproachfully, a pout on his lips, Killua almost burst out laughing again. "Shut up…"
"Sorry sorry." Killua apologised. Sillar stared at him a little suspiciously but a sudden shout from the front of the warehouse distracted him. Leorio was trudging back to his assigned work counter dejectedly and, as they continued watching, Menchi proceeded to throw Gon and Kurapika's plate away, yelling angrily at them. Amusingly enough, Gon and Kurapika were comforting each other after having been declared 'no better than Leorio' by Menchi, the both of them weeping tears comically.
"She's really focusing on the appearance. How are we supposed to…" Killua glanced at Sillar in confusion, only to see Sillar staring at Menchi, or more specifically, at a particular utensil in Menchi's hand that was being abused and producing click clack sounds. Sillar's eyebrows were furrowed in concentration before his eyes brightened up and he leaned over the counter, setting to work.
Killua watched as Sillar skinned his fish, a four-eyed and flattened monstrosity, before slicing its flesh into small yet thick strips. Following that he grabbed the rice and rolled it into a sphere before wrapping it in the sliced fish. "Wish me luck!" Sillar shot Killua a brief grin as he hefted his plate and headed up to Menchi.
Killua watched eagerly as Menchi smirked and carefully lifted up the dish into her mouth. Chewing it, Menchi swallowed before saying something to Sillar. In turn, Sillar nodded his head and turned around, walking back to Killua. He shot Killua a thumbs up, smirking when Killua immediately tried to emulate what he had seen Sillar do earlier.
Suddenly, just as Sillar returned to his counter with an empty plate and a satisfied curl of his lips, a loud yell pierced through the low murmurs and discussion in the warehouse. "What do you mean, its not nice? Sushi is just a thin strip of fish on top of rice! That kid earlier passed so why didn't I pass? He can't possibly have managed to make a nicer one than me!" Silence blanketed the entire warehouse and the bald ninja started, realising what he had just revealed in a fit of anger.
Immediately, every one of the applicants rushed to make their own sushi according to the specifications that the ninja had revealed. Menchi noticed this and shot to her feet, getting into the ninja's face and poking a finger into his chest. "Shut up! Sushi is a cultural dish! You need years of practice to successfully make one!" Then, she turned to where Sillar was staring at the scene in barely veiled amusement. Amusement that swiftly turned to anger when Menchi yelled at him next. "And you! Since this ninja is complaining, you fail too!"
"That's not fair!" Gon yelled back. "You already passed him!"
"Well, too bad kiddo. Blame this guy!" Menchi retorted. Gon clenched his fist, glaring at Menchi. He took a deep breath, opening his mouth and preparing to yell again.
"Gon!" Sillar shouted. Gon started, whipping his head around and looking at Sillar. "It's fine." Confusion and surprise swirled around in Gon's eyes but he reluctantly nodded and, shooting another glare at Menchi, subsided. Instead of continuing to work on his next attempt at the dish though, Gon folded his arms and took a step back from his work counter. He wasn't the only one though and several other applicants, namely Kurapika, Leorio, Killua and surprisingly enough, Hisoka, also refused to work on their own dish.
This didn't escape Menchi and Buhara's notice but Menchi just snorted derisively while Buhara merely shook his head exasperatedly at both Menchi and them. None of them gave up though and they just watched on as Menchi tasted dish after dish and refused applicant after applicant. Menchi sipped at her green tea when the flow of applicants lessened and finally stopped. Placing the ceramic cup down with a small click, Menchi took a deep breath. "Ok. I'm full. The second phase ends with no passes."
All the applicants froze, turning to stare at Menchi in disbelieving silence as tension permeated the atmosphere. "You can't do that!" Agitated protests started up from the applicants who unconsciously moved towards Menchi as their protests grew louder and their body language increasingly threatening. A select few hung back from the crowd, neither protesting nor accepting. Killua and Sillar gathered with Gon, Kurapika and Leorio at the back of the crowd, their eyes trained on the scene in front of them.
"I can do whatever I want! I'm the proctor for the second phase and what I say goes!" Menchi yelled back. And, to hammer the nail into the coffin, Menchi whipped out her phone and called the Hunter Exam board. "Hello? This is Menchi. The proctor for the second phase of this year's Hunter Exam." Menchi paused, smirking at the gathered applicants before her. "Tell the board that no one passed this year's second phase."
Without waiting for a reply, Menchi flipped her phone shut and, clenching her fist, shattered it through raw grip strength. Her display did nothing to dissuade the infuriated applicants though as they, fuelled with anger at the injustice, continued yelling at Menchi. "You're just a Gourmet Hunter! Who cares if you're the proctor? Why is cooking even a test? We're here to become hunters! Not housewives!" #255's voice stood out in particular as he smashed the work counter beside him, causing it to collapse onto the ground.
"Oh really? I'm sorry then. Try again next year and hope that I'm not your proctor again." Menchi waved the wrestler off flippantly.
"You'll regret this!" #255 raged as he charged at Menchi, arms out as if he was going to hug Menchi. Sillar narrowed his eyes when a sudden motion from Menchi caught his attention, allowing him to catch the slight glint of the light reflecting off a metal blade. Before #255 got into range of Menchi though, Buhara lifted his hand, casually slapping #255 away like he was a fly. #255 shot out the door of the warehouse, bouncing and rolling on the ground outside before sliding and coming to a stop in a cloud of dust.
"Why did you do that for? I can take care of myself." Menchi leaned her head back to look up at Buhara who glanced back down at her, unimpressed.
"I wasn't worried about you. You can take care of yourself. I just didn't want to have to explain a death to Chairman Netero and Beans. Chairman Netero might just laugh it off but you know how Beans is about this kind of things." Buhara retorted.
"Hmph." Menchi snorted. She stood up easily, revealing 4 swords which she held in her hands, two in each hand. Menchi then proceeded to juggle her swords, throwing them in the air and catching them by the hilt casually as she stepped forwards slowly towards the crowd of applicants. Finally, she came to a stop, the dazzling swords coming to a stop as well.
"Look here and listen well! All hunters are experts, if not masters, of their chosen fields and are required to be proficient in at least one martial art. None of us are weak! And, as Gourmet Hunters, we fight countless magical beasts to procure our ingredients. Sometimes, we are also called upon to defend beasts from poachers. We are blooded!" Menchi declared, pointing her swords at the applicants.
"That may be so. However, don't you think that you are being too harsh on them?" An old wizened voice asked as a deafening sound, reminiscent of that of an explosion, rang out. The hunter applicants darted outside, towards the source of the sound, and they stood in shock as a cloud of dust cleared to reveal an old man, wearing a white Gi with blue linings and a pair of wooden sandals.
"Ch-Chairman Netero…" Menchi stuttered.
"Menchi." Chairman Netero greeted, striding casually towards the Gourmet Hunter, the applicants falling back before him to give him a clear path towards her. "What's this I hear about you failing every single one of these applicants? I' sure you have a good reason for this?"
"Ah… that is…" Menchi gulped nervously. She straightened up, visibly steeling herself and looked the chairman right in his eyes. "My task was for the applicants to replicate 'Sushi', a dish that I purposely chose as I assumed that few of the applicants would know considering its origin. The purpose was to test their analytical skills as well as their willingness to explore and step out of their comfort zones. None of the applicants showed these qualities and thus, I failed them."
"That's bullshit! Sillar-nii managed to figure out what the dish was and you even passed him! Then, you failed him because some ninja-wannabe pissed you off!" Killua riposted. The chairman turned to Menchi and raised an eyebrow, his expression questioningly yet threateningly polite. Menchi shot a quick glare at Killua surreptitiously.
"Fine." The Gourmet Hunter bit out. "I got irritated after the, as the little brat over there put it, ninja-wannabe revealed what Sushi was to the other applicants. And he protested the little brat's brother's pass so I failed him too. I was also already frustrated before that when the other applicants laughed at my chosen field." Here, Menchi paused as an introspective look crossed her face. "I… I was wrong and unfair. I apologise, I should not have been so unprofessional. Chairman Netero, I officially resign as the proctor for the second phase. Please choose another proctor and give these applicants another chance."
"Hmm. I'm glad that you see the error of your ways now but it would be difficult to find another hunter to act as a proctor on such short notice…" Chairman Netero muttered, stroking his beard absentmindedly as Menchi cringed. "Well, how about this then? You will stay on as the proctor for the second phase but you will have to come up with another task and you will also demonstrate it to the applicants beforehand. Is that fine?"
"Yes!" Menchi agreed readily. She paused, taking a moment to think about the next task. Suddenly, something behind the chairman seemed to catch her eye. An idea struck Menchi and she pointed behind the chairman, everyone unconsciously looking over to try and see what she was pointing at. "Can you bring us over there Chairman Netero? To Mountain Split-in-half?"
"Ah. I see. Yes, that's no problem at all." The chairman smirked, raising a hand and signalling for the blimp which had been staying just slightly above the warehouse to land. Once all the applicants were aboard the blimp, it took off and started making its way to the mountain, which was just barely visible through all the clouds blocking the way. All the applicants stayed by the entrance, or exit depending on how you looked at it, quietly, each wrapped up in their own thoughts as to what the new second phase would involve.
Once they reached the mountain, the chairman, Menchi and Buhara got off first. They were followed closely by the applicants and this time, the blimp remained on the ground instead of hovering over their heads. Menchi led them over to a ravine that split the mountain in half, likely what had given it its name, and started taking off her shoes and socks. The applicants watched on in shock and surprise as, without any explanation whatsoever, Menchi dived off the mountain and started free-falling down the ravine.
Sillar quickly dashed forwards to the edge of the ravine, followed by his brother and the other applicants. They were all careful to not stand too close to the edge though as they watched Menchi hang on a thin thread of string, that spanned the entire width of the ravine, by her feet. She swung herself around, grabbing onto the string by her hands and pulled herself up so that she was balanced precariously on the string. Once done, she made her way over to an egg, which was wrapped in more string and hanging onto the thread that Menchi was balancing on.
Grabbing the egg, Menchi paused for a moment and Sillar tilted his head in confusion, wondering what the Gourmet Hunter was doing. Obviously, the task was to procure the egg that she was holding onto but now that she had it, she had to return to the top of the ravine. And to do so, she would have to climb up the side. So, why was she just standing there?
Then, Menchi suddenly jumped off the thread of string and gasps rang out around Sillar as she broke through the clouds and vanished from their sight. A few moments later, a strong gust of wind blew up towards the applicants from the ravine, pushing some of them back slightly, and Menchi reappeared. She was riding on the wind and, as it faltered and slowly dissipated, Menchi landed back on the mountain, behind the applicants who were gathered around the edge.
"And that's how you do it! Your task is to get one of these spider-eagle eggs. Is everyone ready? This is your last chance to back out. There's a strong current at the bottom of the ravine and, if you fail to grab onto the string, you'll die, either from the impact or from being washed out to sea." Menchi warned solemnly. Several of the applicants gulped, casting doubtful and terrified looks at the ravine.
"This is great!" Gon exclaimed, in contrast to the tense atmosphere. "It's so much better than having to cook something."
"I agree. I was waiting for something like this." Killua nodded placidly, standing by the edge of the ravine. And, by some unspoken agreement, Gon, Killua, Kurapika and Leorio jumped off the ravine, grinning in exhilaration. Sillar sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose as he looked down at the first 4 jumpers, all hanging from a thread of string by their arms. Without turning around, Sillar raised his hands and waved it slightly before simply stepping off the edge and landing on a separate thread of string in a crouch.
He swiftly made his way across the string and grabbed five eggs, tucking them underneath his cloak, before heading straight for the group of 4. Standing above them, Sillar cast them unimpressed looks. "And how were you 4 planning to get your eggs if you are swinging around on the string like a bunch of monkeys?"
"Ah… Um… Sorry Sillar. I didn't think about that?" Gon apologised sheepishly, releasing one of his hands to rub the back of his neck. Quickly realising his mistake, Gon scrambled to grab back onto the thread as the others exclaimed in warning. Managing to do so before he slipped and fell to his death, Gon sighed in relief in tandem to the others and Sillar shook his head exasperatedly.
"Don't worry, I got all your eggs." Sillar sighed. One by one, he carefully passed the eggs over to each of them, leaving only one for himself. Then, he fell into a crouch, lowering his centre of gravity to make himself more stable as the string bounced underfoot as more applicants decided to take the leap of faith and either grabbed onto the string or landed on it or fell to their deaths. The string creaked slightly, bending underneath the combined weight of what must be about 10 applicants, excluding Sillar.
"Well, what are we waiting for? Sillar had the eggs so let's go!" Leorio said cheerfully. He was about to let go when Sillar's hand clenched around his own, effectively pinning him to the string. "Hey? What are you doing?"
"Wait." Sillar hissed through clenched teeth. As he said this, another applicant, who had managed to land on the string, jumped off with an egg clutched to his chest, calling out goodbyes and he went. And, Leorio paled as he realised that the applicant wasn't going to be coming back up.
"There's no wind…" Leorio said faintly, paling at his near brush with death that was only avoided due to Sillar's quick reflexes. Sillar silently nodded and slowly released Leorio's hand. "What do we do now?"
"Gon?" Kurapika asked, glancing over at said boy whose eyes were closed and his nose up in the air.
"Wait." Gon said distractedly, focusing on trying to deduce when the gust of wind would come. And wait they did, along with all the other group of applicants who were both skilled enough to either grab onto the string or land on it, as well as intelligent enough to know that nature wasn't under mankind's command. Finally, Gon's eyes snapped open and he released his grip on the string. "Now!"
As Gon yelled, the applicants released their own grip as well, while some of them stepped off the string. They free-falled through the clouds, the string snapping just a few seconds later. Soon, a strong gust started up just as the bottom of the ravine, a raging torrent of water, was coming into view and they shot back up through the ravine. Laughing exhilaratedly, Sillar grinned as he dropped to the ground of the mountain.
He landed in a crouch through the sheer force of habit but allowed himself to fall back and he stared up at the sky as the setting sun painted it a vibrant orange. Sighing, Sillar felt his tense shoulders relax for the first time in what seemed to be forever, as he just drank in the sight of the warm sky thirstily. Finally, Sillar reluctantly pushed himself up and trudged over to where the other applicants were crowded around a large basin of water and put his own egg in with the others.
Once the eggs were done, courtesy of Buhara whose groans and twitches told them exactly when to take the eggs out, Sillar peeled the shell off carefully. He stared down at the glistening white egg in his hands in slight trepidation, before eventually taking a small hesitant bite. Abruptly, the smooth rich taste of the egg white and the egg yolk filled his mouth and coated his tongue, mixing together. Humming happily at the unexpected surprise, Sillar wandered back over to where the others were also devouring their own eggs hungrily.
"Gei Xildar!" Gon forced out through a full mouth of egg, his cheeks bulging like a chipmunk and his voice muffled. Sillar blinked slowly as Gon swallowed the egg in his mouth, beaming at him with a half-eaten egg clutched to his chest. "Isn't this egg the best? Its delicious! Even better than normal eggs!" Then, something seemed to catch Gon's eye and he dashed off with a 'I'll be right back.' Sillar stared after him in confusion before a low chuckle broke him out of his reverie.
"Gon's very energetic isn't he?" Kurapika said, chewing on his own egg and staring fondly at where Gon was offering #255 a bite of his egg.
"Energetic is one way to put it…" Sillar muttered lowly without any real heat to his tone. Kurapika glanced at him out of the corner of his eye but remained silent, opting to continue finishing his egg. Not seeing any real problem with that, Sillar started on his own egg as well, quickly finishing it as he watched Killua converse with Gon happily, the both of them perched on the edge of the ravine with their legs swinging over the edge.
Finally, after another blimp showed up and landed, the applicants on the mountain were split into two groups, one for those that had passed and the other for those that had failed but survived, by either giving up and not attempting the jump at all or somehow getting back up without an egg for whatever reason. Then, they boarded the blimps, which took off, one headed for the nearest town and the other for the site of the third phase.
So, thanks a lot for the support over the past months. Due to some IRL stuff, I had to take a little bit of a hiatus but things are better now. You can expect updates to still be infrequent because I'm still slowly getting back into the swing of things and school just started for me. However, the next chapter is already almost done so you can expect it around the end of the month. Till then!
