A/N: Be warned I'm mixing the 1999 anime with everything else. So some filler plots will be included, as you will see here, but not all of them.

Not Strong Enough

Chapter 7

Just as she thought, tedious.

Keeping up with Satotz was no harder than keeping up with Zushi. If anything she was a comfortable yard away from him the whole time. She could see his curious glances from time to time, one of them being on her when they began climbing the steps to the top. It was interesting seeing him take long strides while she still ran. He had to have some powerful legs.

Aleta tried her best not to "aww", she really did, when Gon and Killua burst past the doorway before she and Satotz. But they were just so adorable. Like a puppy and a kitten. In fact, that's exactly what they were. It was an internal war as she fought to not squeal on the spot.

The Swindler's Swamp wasn't as hard as she thought it'd be either. This time she kept closer to Satotz, only two feet separating them. There was no way she'd die out here or get caught by Hisoka. Though it was proving to be complicated given the mud ruining her white shoes and the thick fog obscuring her vision nearly every time she blinked.

Fortunately they reached their destination before the mud could cake her shoes completely brown. She would have to wash them asap, but she doubted she'd get them back to their usual white. A dingy ivory at best.

As expected, the main characters arrived with her. It was also an odd experience waiting for the inevitable to happen. She knew Gon and his friends would arrive, but just sitting doing nothing was so bland. Satotz cast her another curious glance the second time that day. Maybe she should intentionally fail with the others during the cooking exam. She still had a better chance than the others aside from Hanzo. Then again she could probably get a taste of Hisoka or Killua's tasty looking cooking.

More uneventful time passed before everyone arrived and they were greeted by Menchi and Buhara. Hearing Gon behind her was just endearing. He didn't even know she existed but it was still enough to make her giggle quietly into her curled hands.

Then finally, they were instructed to make the roasted pig. Playing the dumb roll, Aleta casually strolled around, though still followed behind Gon's gang, as she pretended to look for the wanted pig. Seeing Killua willingly slide down after Gon as though it were just for fun made her face flare scarlet as she hid behind a tree. Giggling like mad, Aleta let out a quiet "Awww." once more.

Her heart couldn't handle the cute, it was going to be fatal after awhile. But the sound of the pig stampede snapped her out of it. She should snag one before the others got a chance. Facing one head on, a fifteen foot leap was all it took before bringing down an ax kick on her target's head. All that weight lifting paid off because she was able to lift the thing over her head and run back to the cooking site.

Now to actually cook the thing… she had no clue. Deciding to follow the others example, she clumsily copied everyone else and hoped it didn't fall apart. The process was no less disturbing. Sure, she saw bits and pieces of animals being roasted, but never the whole thing with its eyes attached. By the time she was finished, blood splattered all over her white clothing. Sure she was going to pass this one from Buhara, but Menchi was still going to fail her regardless. Such were the sacrifices she had to make.

Cringing as another squirt of blood got on her skort, she kept following examples from those around her until she was turning the rotisserie. It was going to take a whole gallon of bleach to get all of this out.

Just as expected, Buhara declared her dish "Delicious" and passed her.

As they made their way inside the large, indoor cooking area, Menchi explained exactly what she wanted. However, even though Aleta knew exactly what it was, the hints she gave were impossibly vague. Just like the rest of them, she fetched some fish bare handed and set to work, deciding to play around for now and make her own creation. She could hear those eager to please go ahead of her, but she decided to put her finishing touches first. It wasn't much, just the rice placed into a perfect circle with the fish packed neatly inside and sea weed minced and placed on top.

"You got a good idea, but it's still the wrong thing!" Menchi yelled to her face.

Aleta sighed. Even when expecting it, it still hurt. No wonder that one loud mouth got mad over being insulted by a Gourmet Hunter.

Returning to her station, she pretended to ponder when Hanzo finally shouted out the instructions. Oh, that was right, Killua and Hisoka got their dishes rejected. Well, it was a risk she was willing to take. Death or taste the cooking of Hisoka. Yeah, worth it as long as she ran away in time.

Temporarily abandoning her station to seek out the pond she got her fish from, she spotted the clown, sulking by himself. It was so precious it was creepy.

The dish was still steaming in the hot air. Cautiously, Aleta walked forward.

"H-Hisoka?"

The man slowly turned, his smile a little on the peeved side. Was this a bad idea? Absolutely. But she would eventually meet worse opponents t-oh who was she kidding. Hisoka was the worst!

"I-uh, noticed the dish you made there. And I thought I could have it since Menchi probably wouldn't approve of it."

Hisoka raised a fine, red eyebrow. "You came here, alone, to ask to eat my cooking?"

"I have." After all she was going to fail anyway, may as well lame out what was meant to happen.

"I thought you didn't accept poison." He asked playfully, but she knew the truth.

"If you wanted to get rid of rookies you'd outright kill them, not waste time preparing a meal to kill them with." Aleta said firmly.

Smirking, Hisoka pushed the plate away from him. Warily, Aleta crouched to accept. When she saw he wasn't going to lop her head off with a card, she immediately fled closer to the site and sat outside. Her heart was pounding, but at least she got her prize. Taking an abandoned spoon from the pork roasting site, she ate the dish. And it was delicious. If he wouldn't kill her in a heartbeat she'd actually stick closer to the man, he had good taste.

Meal finished, because she was actually getting hungry anyway, she went back to the cool inside. At this point, the loud mouth was already getting an earful. Well, now the blonde had another hour to waste and wondered how dangerous it was spending it near the disguised Illumi. She really wanted to see what he looked like. After all, some things didn't exactly translate well to how things looked realistically. Such as Leorio and Gon's hair being much shorter, and exaggerated features just looking a bit strange. Though Buhara was still practically a mountain. She was also surprised at her own height. She was about the same height as most of the men, though not exactly over six feet, she still towered over that Ponzu girl. Looking over to Illumi, which she would continue to call instead of the dumb name he used as a fake, he stood, chattering away. Only when they made eye contact, Aleta blushed and looked away.

Deciding it was best to let something else occupy her attention, she turned to Gon. He sat on the arm rest of the large couch as he and Leorio discussed something. It sounded like medical stuff. Eventually Killua joined in, causing Leorio to flinch in terror and Gon to tilt his head curiously. Kurapika remained impassive, and shook his head.

Before she knew it, Aleta was only a few yards away and hanging on to every word the small group said. Gon was like a magnet, once he got someone's attention they couldn't pull away, only closer than they ever expected.

Leorio and Kurapika spared her a glance or two, but said nothing. If Killua noticed, he made no indication.

Menchi returning was like someone turning off the television during a good show.

As planned by the universe, Gon was the first to try the moss. This time, her appetite got the better of her sense of self preservation and Aleta volunteered to take a bite as well. Gon handed her the spoon he just ate off of. If it were anyone else, she would have refused and called them gross. Well, anyone aside from Gon, Leorio, Kurapika, and Hisoka. The Zoldyk brothers were a wild card seeing as how they probably ate poison apples for breakfast.

Anyway, she accepted and took a bite. It was… weird.

"Well what do you think?" Leorio asked.

Suddenly nervous from the attention of everyone, Aleta stuttered.

"W-well. Um, it's really different. It's not sweet, sour, or salty. J-just weird."

"Hmph! You just don't have the refined taste buds of a Gourmet Hunter. Do you have any idea how many chefs would simply kill for half of what I got? More than you'd think." Menchi scolded.

After passing the plate back to Menchi, Aleta backed away into the background and decided to let the universe run its course once again.

The airship they rode on, fortunately, had clean bathrooms so the blonde found one and decided to wash her face. Her clothes would have to wait until they were given a sufficient amount of time to rest. She was going to be spending some time in the bathrooms during then. Even if it were only to get the basic dirt from her clothes. The shoes would have to wait a bit longer. If she made it out of Trick Tower, she'd have to put up with them being even more dirty when they had their killer camping trip. Now that she thought about it, Aleta still had that sandwich. She'd be sure to eat it before it went bad.

Clothes somewhat dry, she filed off the air ship with everyone else in order to see their next challenge. This time she made sure to pay attention. Either she'd be riding the wind with Gon, or playing gymnast.

After watching Menchi below, it was apparent she was playing gymnast.

Not too long after Gon, she leaped into the chasm below and grabbed onto one of the thick web strings. To say she was scared was an understatement. She was terrified. If she was propelled by the gust, at least she'd have something to eventually break her fall. Something heavy caused the web to bob, and Aleta yelped as she nearly lost balance.

Of course, of all people it had to be Illumi. He chatted creepily at her as he picked his own egg and leaped back up, causing the web to bob more. This time, she slipped.

Crying out in surprise, Aleta wildly grabbed onto the fortunately placed web under it. Right next to a nest. Hastily, she grabbed an egg and tried to figure out a plan to get back up. The web she fell from wasn't that far. She could jump it if she could balance herself long enough to gain momentum. Could she do that?

Wing's training made sure she had great balance after all. No use knowing how to kick when you'd just fall over. Ah well, if she fell, she'd land in the water… the cold, probably deep water that would feel like a million bricks no matter if it was shallow or deep. It was fate's call on this one.

After carefully managing to pull up atop the web, Aleta bounced until she propelled herself unreasonably higher than expected back up. Well, physics should have told her doing that on the middle of a bouncy object would do that. Now she was about fifty feet higher than she should have been as she reached the maximum climax of her jump. And she didn't have a clue how to land.

She had to protect the egg, but she couldn't just land on her feet unless she wanted to break them. Though with her strength she could probably just end up with a sprain. It was still a start. But it would still hinder her chances of passing completely, if not lead to immediate failure. There was also nen. Nen protected one's body even from bullets right?

The ground was getting closer.

Oh well, first time for everything.

Aleta closed her eyes and focused her aura on her feet to her knees, imagining the ground to not hurt as best as she could. When the agony of breaking bones didn't meet her on the ground, she opened her eyes to see something completely unexpected.

The ground beneath her was made into a crater. Only, like freshly dug up dirt. There was also the sight of Chairman Netero, the examiners, Illumi and Hisoka looking her way also.

Being on the spot really wasn't that great.