DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN HUNTER X HUNTER NO MATTER HOW MUCH I WANT TO!

Last time on Red is a Pretty Color...

All of a sudden, I see three cards pass my field of vision. Piercing into the fake examiner. Two the chest and one to the forehead.

What the frack was that!?

Chapter Six: Bubblegum Man

I looked to my left and saw a man clad in a light blue, puffy sleeved halter top with a black club and the front and a pink heart and diamond on the back while he had a blue tear drop under his right eye and a pink star under his left. He wore three pink bands on his upper arms, wrists, and neck while he had four encasing his abdomen. He had a yellow cloth tied around his waist over his light blue pants. He also had a pair of heels on which went with his freakishly weird hair that was flamingo pink, but what intrigued me the most about him... was his aura. It was strong, dangerous, sinister, and reminded me of bubblegum; the way it would get stuck in your hair and would be impossible to get rid of. But why bubblegum.

"I see, I see... that settles it..." he opened his amber eyes, "You're the real one."

"Huh?" I looked towards the supposedly dead Man-Faced Ape. It suddenly got up and ran off.

Bubblegum Man closed his eyes and began to talk again with a psychopathic smirk on his face, "Examiners are Hunters selected by the committee to perform this duty without pay." vultures began to circle overhead, "Any Hunter, bearing the title we seek, would have been able to block that attack." I looked towards Satotz and saw cards at his feet. His eyes were closed.

"I take that as a compliment." he opened his eyes, "However, should you attack me again, for any reason, I will report you for turning on an examiner. And you will be immediately disqualified." his eyes narrowed at him, "Are we clear?"

"Sure." he said without a care in the world.

The vultures that had been circling overhead, came down and began eating at the fake examiner. As they ate him, you could hear the squishing sounds of the meat being nibbled off the bones.

Gross. I could tell by the looks on all the other applicants faces (minus Killua and Bubblegum Man), that they thought the same thing.

"Nature really can be brutal to watch..." said Four Eyes in slight disgust.

"So he was a Man-Faced Ape as well." Kurapika commented.

Satotz began to walk through the middle of the crowd of applicants, "He was attempting to confuse the applicants, to lure some of them away."

"We cannot relax our guard." said Killua informing Gon and I to be wary of the dangers we may face.

"Yeah." both Gon and I say at the same time.

"You will be encountering such deception on regular basis." Satotz said coming to a stop at the edge of the crowd of applicants, "I believe that a number of you were fooled into suspecting my identity?" both Four Eyes and applicant 294 scratched the back of their heads embarrassed; laughing sheepishly. Satotz turned towards us, "Do you understand? If you lose sight of me in the Numere Wetland fog, you will never reach the exam's Second Phase. Do bear that in mind. Then let us be on our way. Please follow me."

And with that, he led us into the foggy swamp of the Numere Wetlands with a total number of 368 applicants. 36 left in the tunnels.

"Pay attention now. Be sure to stay close behind me." he called out to us.

As we continued to run through the swamp, the fog began to grow thicker and thicker. So thick that I could feel the fog brush against my pale skin. Half an hour after we started running again, I took notice of Killua looking behind him.

"What is it Killua?" I asked with a concerned tone of voice. His eyes widened a fraction of an inch before going back to their normal size as quickly as they widened. I almost didn't notice it... almost. Gon turned to Killua as well.

"Let's move up." he said with an air of certainty. I gave him a curious look.

Gon moved his gaze from Killua and looked ahead of him, "Okay. We don't want to lose sight of the examiner."

"I'm more concerned with increasing the distance between us and Hisoka. Staying too close to him is dangerous. I can smell it in the air." he said with a serious tone of voice.

Hisoka? Does he mean Bubblegum Man?

"Smell?" Gon questioned before taking a whiff of the air. He turned to look towards Hisoka, "Hmm... I don't think he smells." he turned his head in the other direction and called out behind him to his other two friends, Four Eyes and Kurapika, " Leorio! Kurapika! Killua says that we should move up!" Oh... so Four Eyes' actual name is Leorio. Hmm... I think I'll just stick to calling him Four Eyes for now.

Killua turned to Gon, "Hey... can't you feel the tension surrounding us? Please tell me you're not as naïve." he narrowed his eyes at me. In the background we could hear Leorio and Kurapika give Gon a response to his call.

I let out a small chuckle, "Don't worry Skater Boy. I'm not as naïve as my otouto. I can feel the tension as well. It's pooling off of their auras in waves."

"Mmm... let's go, Mai, Gon." Killua said before running off ahead.

"Ah, wait!" Gon pleaded before the two of us ran after Killua.

Thank you for reading this chapter!

*Flamingo Pink= reference from Ouran Highschool Host Club

I'd like to say thanks to Kainaya who encouraged me to pursue the romance for this story.

Thanks again. See you in the next chapter!~

Edited: October 10, 2016