"It might be time for the remaining 43 remaining contestants to know who I am. My name is Netero and I'm responsible for the trials and I'm member of the organization committee . I wasn't supposed to show myself until the final phase but...it just happened." He scanned the crowd, where most of the examinees were tired. Gon and Killua seemed to still be as lively as ever because of youth, and Valeria grumbled something underneath her breath. Probably directed at himself.

"I understand your anxiety but I believe it's a good thing. So if you'll allow me among you for the time being…" He gave a hearty laugh, much similar to what one would believe how Santa Claus will laugh.

"We should arrive tomorrow around 8 at the next trial ground. We are waiting for them to contact us. You are free to do whatever until we arrive." The bean like character pointed at the clock.

Gon and Killua immediately darted off with energy, to explore the ship. Meanwhile, the three older companions weren't that energetic. Leorio and Kurapika were struggling to keep their eyes open while Valeria grumbled something that sounded like: "I want to shower and change."

Then the group sees the Chairman waddling towards them and he was about to say something when Valeria directed her kick at him out of nowhere.

"I don't know, you old geezer!" Valeria attempted to kick Netero but he immediately dodged with that hearty laugh of his that irritated Valeria. Valeria's dead face didn't change except there was a small vein throbbing on the side of her face, visible to everyone and saying that she was irritated.

"V-Valeria? Chairman Netero didn't say a thing yet….are you tired too?" Kurapika stammered as he attempted to calm his friend. Valeria was still damp from her swimming and she wanted to take a shower and sleep. She didn't like the feeling of her clothes clinging onto her and she especially didn't like the old man who was trying to talk to her. Because she knows what he was going to say.

"Hohoho! It's been awhile Li Feng ! Or should I say Valeria? How's your brother, Wen Dao? And is Hong Shi still hunting for stronger people?" The Chairman stroked his beard. His returned answer was a hole in the wall, showing that it was not a topic Valeria wanted to talk about.

"Go fuck yourself." Valeria flipped her middle finger at him and her dead eyes were now shooting daggers.

Leorio and Kurapika inhaled sharply.

"W-what's with those names? Leafy? Window? Horse? Do you understand a single thing?" Leorio stammered.

"It's probably the Lavine's culture. Also...I think Valeria snapped. I don't see a single trace of a dead fish eyed gorilla anywhere. Maybe just in the strength."

The chairman merely chuckled and waved his right hand. "Don't be such a prick. I'm sorry I called you by your real name...I'll stop now. But speaking from old acquaintanceship...how is your younger brother? And how is Hong Shi?"

"My brother's fine. He's already killed his first group of bandits." Valeria replied coldly. "And I don't know where Shion, that bastard, went. I haven't seen him in three years."

"You might be seeing him soon."

"I'd rather not. By the way...are there showers here?" Valeria reverted to normal. Both Leorio and Kurapika made a mental note not to mention anything of those names while the Chairman gave her instructions.

Valeria yawned and picked her ear as she muttered a: "let's go" to her friends. Kurapika quickly glanced at the clock as they walked by and asked: "How many tests are left?"

"It changes from year to year." Tonpa approached them. "But usually there are 5 to 6 tests."

"So there are still 3 - 4 more…"

"We better use this opportunity to rest." Kurapika murmured. Valeria nodded in agreement. She stared at the bag she was carrying and grimaced. She wanted to change already.

"I advise you to stay vigilant. There might be a possibility that something will happen before 8 tomorrow." Tonpa grinned then walked away. Valeria sighed and looked at her friends.

"I'm going to shower and change. Meet up at the dining hall later?"

"Sure."

They went their separate ways and Valeria wandered into the women's bathroom. She arched an eyebrow at how there was a large area just for bathing...with hot tubs and a sauna like air. There was no one there and Valeria sighed in relief as she began to take off her clothes and tossed everything onto the ledge of a bath. She sank into the water and untied her hair, letting it float on the surface of the water.

She looked down and was glad that no one was here to stare at her tattoos. The side of her upper thigh, had a Che'ang character that meant "Tiger". On her back should be an image of a tiger with lotus flowers around it. Valeria sighed and got back up. She didn't have time to dwadle around, thinking about the meaning of life. There were a freshly cleaned towels folded neatly on wooden shelves and Valeria decided to dry herself with those. She then walked over to her bag, pulling out all of her clothes and changed.

Meanwhile, Leorio and Kurapika found the location of the dining room and were waiting outside. Leorio's stomach growled loudly and he groaned. "Ugh, when is the gorilla going to come?!"

"Valeria's a girl too. Girls tend to prepare longer." Kurapika chuckled.

"You're too nice Kurapika! Why are you always taking her side? Fight against her with me!"

"I'd rather not get an evenly symmetrical swollen face, broken bones, and broken pride. You're just lacking delicacy." Kurapika sighed.

"Delicacy? Why do I need delicacy to approach a gori...lla? Who the hell is that?" Leorio pointed. Kurapika gave him a funny look before turning and also looked surprised. Valeria walked over to them with a silky white cheongsam, which faded to a lighter shade of teal than her bright teal eyes. On the bottom of it were patterns of pale pink lotus flowers. The cheongsam hugged around her until her hips where it separated to two flowing fabrics, one in the front and one in the back. It still retained it's shape as a cheongsam...but it gave more freedom of movement and Valeria was wearing white shorts underneath. Her hair was tied into two twin tails with matching teal ribbons and she would have have looked like an entirely upgraded person. If she didn't wear that dead expression and was yawning.

"Yo." She waved at them casually. Leorio began to circle around her until he grabbed her shoulders and shouted in her face: "What have you done to Valeria?!"

"What have I done to myself? I've been reborn, Luigi." Valeria brushed off his arms as she entered the dining room, leaving Leorio and Kurapika with their mouths open. She decided to humour him for a bit as she examined the wide variety of food.

"S-she's that female gorilla right?"

Kurapika coughed and followed her in, before replying: "If she has that dead look, of course." Both him and Valeria began to fill their plates with the freshly cooked food as Leorio blinked before following them.

"You can't fool me, Kurta boy...I know that you're just as suspicious as I am."

The three sat down and began eating. Of course, there was never a moment of silence among them.

"You guys don't believe in Tonpa, right?" Valeria asked as she forked her steak.

"Of course not, Valeria 2.0…"Leorio swallowed his potatoes. "I'm just going to sleep, no matter what!"

"Good plan...wait. 2.0?" Valeria arched an eyebrow as she drank her miso soup in one gulp.

"Yah...it's like you've upgraded into a whole new identity." Leorio pointed.

"It's actually Valeria 1.0. The 'me' you've met before is 2.0" Valeria finished her meal already.

"So all of this time...you're not the original Valeria we've met?" The pretty, blonde Kurta boy was carefully and elegantly cutting his steak with his knive.

"Pretty much. I mean I think personality wise...I'm the same. But everything else is different."

"What? Even your name?" Leorio replied sarcastically as he finished his water and sighed, from being stuffed.

"Yup." Valeria leaned back and watched Kurapika now, slowly move onto his vegetables.

"Wait what?" Leorio stopped dabbing his mouth with his napkin to look at Valeria as if she was an alien.

"Haven't you heard her conversation with the Chairman? She has a different...name…" Kurapika stopped talking and his eyes widened. He immediately looked at Leorio turned his head, avoiding his eyes. Kurapika accidentally brought up something Valeria didn't want to care.

Surprisingly, Valeria didn't seem bothered at all, other than snapping the metal fork in her hands in half. "You're right. Valeria is just a name that I use, outside of my clan. Otherwise it's too hard for the ossan-looking-teenager to remember my name." They got up and left the dining room.

"Why you-"

The group found the resting quarters and wandered in. Several contestants were already sleeping away. Valeria looked around and picked up a brown blanket that was folded neatly in one of the cupboards. Turning to her companions she motioned them to come over.

"Let's sleep." Valeria sat down and patted the ground beside her. The boys looked slightly flustered before Kurapika crouched down and smiled. "I don't think it's proper for a girl to-"

"I'm a gorilla and I'm a hunter. We're friends right?" Valeria pulled Kurapika down, making him sit right next to her. She tossed the blanket over him and motioned Leorio to sit down too. Leorio scoffed but obediently wandered over to the other side of Valeria when she gave him the death glare. The three, soon enough, fell asleep and sharing a blanket. If they weren't hunters, one would think they are a cute group of friends who have been tired out from a day's trip. It wasn't exactly an inaccurate description though.

As the group fell into a deep slumber, morning came really fast and they were woken up by a large announcement: "Ladies and gentleman! We have reached your next exam site!" Kurapika and Leorio jumped up, in response, whereas Valeria was still sleeping. Kurapika and Leorio laughed a little and Kurapika gently shook her.

Valeria's eyes reluctantly opened and she grumbled something, before shutting her eyes closed. Leorio sighed and nudged her legs, shouting: "Wake up Gorilla!"

Valeria's bloodshot eyes flung open and she instinctively slapped the air on her right but she ended up leaving the silhouette of her hand on the wall. "I'M UP YOU MOTHERFUCKING CLOCK!"

Blinking in confusion because there was no clock on the right, she looked around to see a pale and frightened Leorio and an amused, chuckling Kurapika. "You're not at home, Valeria." Kurapika offered his hand to help pull the girl up.

"Morning Kurapika...Leorio…are we there already?" She yawned and rubbed her eyes. The three walked through the hallways and left the blimp. By then, Valeria was fully awake as she stepped onto a circular platform with nothing.

"By the way...what's up with him?" Valeria asked Kurapika as she pointed at a really slow Leorio. He was repetitively repeating: "That could have been me...that could have been me.."

"Oh that. Haha when you woke up, you immediately slapped something on your right, which I assume would normally be your alarm clock. Leorio was sleeping there last night so he's been saying that he could have died, had he not leapt up." Kurapika sweatdropped.

"Ah…" Valeria looked away, slightly sheepish at her actions. Leorio reverted to his normal self and stormed up to her, shouting: "What do you mean 'ah'? I've been traumatized."

Valeria looked away from his angry glare as she picked her ear, not really listening to him rant. She yawned and replied: "Yes yes, Luigi…I'm sorry but everyone has a time where they press that 'snooze'button on their clock."

"Snooze button? You were going to send it to sleep pernamently! Not snooze it!"

"Calm down, Leorio...you weren't so you're alright!" Valeria attempted a very light pat on his back. It worked although Leorio looked at her warily. Kurapika was just laughing on the side. The three immediately stopped talking when the bean like character spoke up.

"You are here at the 'Shrewdness Tower'. This is where the third trial round shall take place! Concerning the trial itself, here are the jury's orders: "Within a 72 hour time period...you'll need to get to the bottom of this tower alive." The bean then boardered the blimp and the blimp began to fly away, offering a "Good luck".

"Haha you losers can wait here all you want. A mountain climber with an iron grip like me, will find descending this tower as an easy game." He began climbing down. Kurapika, Valeria, and Leorio watched the muscular man climb down.

"Ah look...the so called winner is going to get eaten." Valeria pointed at a flock of birds as they began to beck, tore, and eat away at the climber.

"I don't think going down the wall is a good idea." Leorio gulped. Kurapika looked back at the surface with narrowed eyes. "There must be a trapdoor that would lead us inside."

Valeria walked forward and the two stared at her curiously. She cracked her knuckles and rolled her head, cracks were heard from her neck. She then began stretching and the boys were starting to have a bad feeling.

"What are you doing?"

"Well I think it's faster if I just punch every tile here then find a way through." Valeria raised her fist and immediately, Kurapika and Leorio ran towards her, telling her to stop.

"We can't have everyone know the trapdoors or locations!" Leorio hissed.

Valeria sighed in disappointment and reluctantly put away her first. After wandering for a while, the three heard their names being called out. "Leorio! Valeria! Kurapika!" Gon waved at them.

"There are five trapdoors here. Gon and I have already decided to pass through one of these 5 doors. THere's five of us...so if there's a trap, not regrets." Killua stuffed his hand in his pockets

"And you? What are you gonna do?" Gon asked.

"Passing through." Valeria spoke up first. The other two grinned and nodded.

"On the count of three, we all go at the same time. 3...2.." They all smiled at each other. Valeria was about to go on her tile but TONPA was kneeling beside it, knocking on it. He nodded and smiled, pretending he just discovered his trapdoor. "1."He smirked at Valeria when all of them had disappeared, then he jumped down himself. Valeria tapped the trapdoor with an irritated look crossing her dead face.

The four boys and Tonpa gathered in the same room…though they we're a little surprised out how they all were in the same room. But they were now worried for a little brunette girl...who was gotten the better of.

"Why is Tonpa here instead of Valeria?" Killua's eyes widened.

"Yo!" Tonpa waved and grinned.

"He snuck up on us at the last second and stole Valeria's tile." Gon slightly sweatdropped.

Tonpa smiled good naturedly, pretending not to hear. "Haha just my luck! I was tapping along when I heard a trapdoor. I'm sorry your friend seemed to notice it too but the faster one is the-?!?!" A hand blasted from the door above him as it grabbed Tonpa's head. It forced Tonpa to look up into the bloodshot eyes of Valeria as he was now lifting off the air.

"You think you got the better of me?" Valeria smiled her physcopathic smile.

"I-I'm sorry!" Tonpa squeaked. Valeria lets go and leapt down, landing on top of his back. She stepped off and shook her head a little, attempting to get the dust off of her hair when she had broken through the trapdoor.

All four boys stared at her before they began laughing. By now...they really should have gotten used to the girl's odd and scary antics. So now, they just decided to laugh. Confused, Valeria was about to say something when a wall behind them, flipped around and robotic arms stretched out, grabbing Valeria and tying her to the wall. Then the wall flipped once more and Valeria was gone, just as fast as she came.

"VALERIA?!" They shouted.

"I'm okay." Was the calm response they received. The boys sighed in relief and was laughing.

"I bet right now, she's picking her nose and beating the crap of whatever's on the other side." Killua mused and the others nodded in agreement.

He was pretty accurate. Valeri easily pulled herself out of the literal "iron grip" of the iron robotic hands and was picking her nose. She broke of the arms and waved it in the air, slightly interested about it. But when they limped the moment she pulled it off, she tossed it onto the black screen in front of her and it flickered to life.

"Well well...I hadn't expect to bring a contestant to one of the 5 Special Passages this early." A man with thin eyes and large circular glasses appeared.

"What? Five special sausages?' Valeria wasn't really listening as she yawned.

"PASSAGE! FIVE SPECIAL PASSAGES!" The man shouted.

"No need to scream buddy." Valeria looked at him with dead eyes as she covered her ears.

"Humph. The special passages are for certain people who found another way to enter the building...and may interfere with other contestants' trials. Unfortunately...your friends are in the Majority Trial and cannot have an even number of people. But don't worry...your Trial is the similar to everyone else's. It's only special because you've entered a special way. So what do you think of my special iron robotic arms?"

"Huh these?" Valeria picked up the wimpy looking arms that she ripped off. "They're lame. There's nothing special here other than these?" Valeria scoffed as she tossed them away.

The man in the screen shrieked and began to tear up. Those iron robotic arms were supposed to hold down even the buffest man. Perhaps he just haven't taken in account that a Lavine would be stopping by.

"Anyways...your're trial is the physical endurance and strength test." He sniffed. "You just need to walk forward and pass through all of the obstacles within the next seventy one hours!" A gate opened and Valeria peered inside. She grabbed the two robotic arms and tossed one inside.

"What do you think you're doing…" The man asked. Valeria looked back with a bored look. "Testing for traps.

She walked in, leaving an irritated jury shrieking and ranting. Valeria stepped on a cobblestone and daggers shout of god knows where. She immediately pulled out the iron rod hanging from her hips and extended it. She began swinging it around, deflecting the knives with an unamused look. When she finished, the radius around her was clear but everywhere else were random knives lodged and chipped on the ground. She sighed. THis is going to be one cliched trial.

Valeria examined the martial arts weapon, unique to her culture and ruffled her hair. "Looks like I need to use you for this round, buddy."

Valeria began whistling and twirling the iron staff and kicked an incoming boulder that was rolling towards her. It shattered to pieces only to reveal laser beams behind it. She stopped whistling and shrunk the iron staff and hung it by her hips.

"I'm not training to be a world class thief for god's sake." The brunette muttered as she ducked the first laser beam and twisted over another. She placed her palms first and did a handstand. She spread her legs into a split and under up doing a flip over the next one. Wincing at the aching in her back, she slowly made her way out of the lasers and was now kneeling over on the ground.

"Thank God Mama pushed me all the way down when I couldn't do splits. Otherwise I'd be a failure of a woman in my clan." Valeria huffed. The Lavine clan had standards of women being gracefully flexible and Valeria was one of the least flexible female in her clan.

Cursing as she went through the path, she reached a room where there was a vest with the label 20kg on it. She looked around and there were gloves, helmet, and chains meant to be wrapped around the ankles. They were all labelled 20kg. Valeria smirked inwardly. The exam was meant to be challenging but not impossible for everyone. The jury's probably thought she would have slight difficulties wearing 20kg items but Valeria finds it as light as her own clothes. She easily tossed them on and read the instructions on the screen in front: "Use the monkey bars across the lake of alligators while wearing your weighted clothes."

Valeria entered the passage and noticed how far off the lake was. She hummed to herself and thought: "Well now they're getting serious. It would be difficult to climb back up if one was to fall down. Not to mention that these items will prove a difficult time of even getting out of the water."

Valeria grabbed one of the handles and began to swing across. She ignored the supposingly intimidating alligators that were snapping their large mouths...hope to feed on the petite girl. Slightly annoyed by their repetitive snapping of their mouths, when she reached the other side and the instructions said she may take the weights off. She flung the items into the lake and heard a whimpering from one of the alligators.

Valeria proceeded through the eery tunnel until she approached a wide and vast area. There was a platform in the middle and there were five cloaked figures with chains wrapped tightly around their wrists. They were all larger than her except for one that seemed to be thinner and smaller. The screen on her right lit up and the instructions filled the screen: "To pass this obstacle, you must earn three wins by defeating the prisoners. The rules of combat can be decided and the contestant will choose the rules."

The screen went black and Valeria shrugged at the criminals. "Well there you have it."

"I propose a fight to death." The biggest man of the group demanded.

"Oi, oi...calm your balls...if she dies immediately we won't have our fun." Another prisoner snickered. He had a high, dry voice that sounded like he was having a hard time breathing.

"Why not just fight if one of us surrenders or the other one is knocked out." Valeria pointed out. All of the prisoners huddled up and whispered, before turning around and agreeing.

Valeria sighed in exasperation. This is going to be one long-ass trial.