Kagero was the last one to walk out of the room, yawning she followed the others throughout the tower. She probably should have taken the lead. It was a stereotype but women tended to have better senses of direction, and the group she was in just proved that further.
"Hey. Um, if you haven't noticed, we have been running in circles." Kagero yawned, though fully awake.
"We should have taken those stairs down." Killua pointed out.
"Thanks for stating the obvious, tips." Kagero was a bit grumpy about running around and not getting anywhere.
After what seemed to be hours of endless bickering they got to a series of courses down the stairs. One being mine cart things like in Indiana Jones, though going at high speeds and choosing the path as you go down was proven to be hard on the eyes. Then a glowing pathway that lit up as you ran and fell apart behind you. Thirdly there was another Indiana Jones copyright, being the huge bolder rolling down the hallway. If you were not fast enough...well...Being crushed by a rolling boulder would not be a very good death.
"Hurry up Leorio!"
"Ahhhh!" Leorio tripped around the bend and jumped in freight when just a second later the boulder that was chasing them rammed into the wall. It was very loud and the floor shook with the impact.
"Ouch!" A fragment of stone cut his cheek. "Aww man… We only have an hour left." Leorio wheezed.
"Let's go then." Kagero started running. "Don't hold up."
"Oi!" Killua yelled.
"Wait!" Gon started running after them.
They arrived at another majority rule point after another very deadly trap. Spikes were shooting out from holes in the wall at intervals, and once again they needed to run at full speed to keep away from their impending death. You could feel the tension as soon as they stopped running. Their tired breaths were the only sound out of their mouths for a minute. Everybody was stressed out and it could break into another argument at the drop of a dime. Kagero saw Leorio shoot Tonpa a dirty look, though the short man didn't notice, hunched over and breathing heavily.
"Hooo, that was a scary run." He wiped the sweat off his forehead and stretched to his full height and saw the screen on the door. "We're supposed to vote on whether to open the door?" Apparently Leorio is always the one to break the silence with his stupidity. "We need to move on. Obviously, we want to open the door." Oh boy. Tired Leorio's a sassy Leorio. That's going to be trouble.
Que button pressing. The result came out in 5 out of 6 want to open the door.
Leorio's eye twitched and he growled, "I've had enough of your crap." He whirred around to face Tonpa and clutched Tonpa's shirt, holding him up in the air. Leorio had to be quite to lift Tonpa. The fatso.
"It wasn't him Leorio." Kagero interrupted his rage, with a wave of her hand. "And stop creating sexual tension with Tonpa. There are children around." She heard Killua snort behind her and a cough from Kurapika. Gon probably just didn't get what she meant.
"K-KAGERO!"
"That was uncalled for." Tonpa said. Well there's one thing they could agree on.
"Mirage is right! It was me, Sorry, Leorio." Gon pointed to himself. "I accidentally pressed the wrong button."
"Oh, I see." He promptly let go of Tonpa."
"Wait. You owe me an apology. I can't let that slide." Tonpa glared at Leorio. Though didn't come of threatening since it was...Tonpa.
"It's your fault for doing things to make me distrust you." Leorio also glared.
Kagero's face darkened at the development. Gon and Kurapika backed away knowing what would happen next.
"Do you know whose fault it is who cost us those fifty hours?" Gon and Kurapika backed up some more to brace themselves. "Yeah, you!"
"You're the one that keeps holding us up with your fat a—!"
"AHH, shut UP!" Kagero snapped, "Just stop." She surprised the two bickering people she knocked them upside their heads. "Close those mouths, and stop arguing. That's why I called you two an old married couple in the first place! For one, Tonpa, Leorio knows what he has done—and secondly you know we don't trust you so you should expect this." Kagero stormed into the next room with a huff. "Now if you two really want this relationship to work out in the end, I'd book an appointment with a therapist!" She shouted with exasperation from the other room.
"Woah." Killua was shocked. Leorio was scared senseless and Tonpa was dumbfounded, though Gon and Kurapika were fine since they expected this. "Is that normal?"
"He's done it once when Kurapika and Leorio were arguing." Gon laughed lightly.
"Hmm." He looked to the two rubbing their heads with bumps forming. "Well, I'm moving on." He walked out into the next room.
"Oi, Gon, were getting close to the goal." Killua poked his head out the door way after a few seconds of going in the room.
"What? Really?" Gon excitedly ran to the next room.
Leorio and Tonpa both recovered from their lecture, "Wait a therapist?!" "Relationship?!"
Everyone else walked into the room to see Kagero sitting by the left side of the room, arms crossed looking at the various weapons on the wall. They were being showcased them for some reason. The room had a statue imbedded into the wall with writing on the wall underneath it. It stated that this choice would be the last decision. Once everyone entered a voice came on the intercom, explaining the two different paths. One is a short path that allowed three people and the other six. The short path was easy and the long hard, both having very different time limits.
The group started debating in what path to take, and tension started to brew in the room. Tonpa edged away from the circle, no one noticing despite his large size, and suddenly brought out a weapon from the wall to launch it at Leorio. Leorio just barely dodged—well actually Tonpa missed, Leorio isn't that observant—and it smashed into the ground, embedding it into the stone. Tonpa was having troubles getting the lance out so he just grabbed a different weapon.
"Woah!" Gon's eyes widened at the sudden animosity.
There was a standstill as Killua, Kurapika and Leorio readied for a fight. The examiner wanted them to fight for the short path. It would work with people who didn't know each other with a free for all. It was a clever and well thought out path that the examiner thought of.
An Idea just went through Kagero's mind. If those weapons could do that much damage to the floor then maybe… just maybe... She walked to Gon and tapped his shoulder.
"Mirage?"
"Hey Gon listen…" She leant down and whispered it into his ear. His eyes widened and he nodded, secretly pressing 'O'. Killua gave strange looks to them with narrowed eyes, Gon seemed to do something when he stretched. His eyes widened when Kagero suddenly disappeared.
"She went behind Kurapika and pressed his button. Kurapika reacted in instinct and went to elbow Kagero. She was already behind Leorio pressing his button. He blinked and looked to his watch.
"Kagero, What. Did. You. Do?" Leorio was enraged.
She got to Tonpa and he already saw what she was about to do so he tried to counter her. She just crossed his arms behind his back and did the same thing.
"Kagero!" Shouted Leorio, he stormed over to her and looked down to her oddly smiley expression with a smouldering one.
"Calm down, we can all pass. Killua press any button." He did so and the long and difficult door opened. She deliberately chose not to try to tamper with Killua's watch. It was a death wish to try to sneak up on Killua in a hostile situation.
"Why did you do that!?" Leorio yelled.
"I said, calm down." Her tone went from cheery to dark and threatening. "We can all pass within our time limit." She took a weapon and walked into the hallway. Secretly she sneaked a few others onto her person. A few knives, a cool dagger with a hand guard and blow darts.
"What are you doing Mirage?" Kurapika was curious. She was always full of surprises.
Kagero took the large axe—it was taller than her—and set the head of the axe behind her, the blunt end of it facing her foot. She swung it over her shoulder and kicked the axe to give more momentum. It slammed in at an angle and took a large chunk out of the wall, though it became stuck.
"We can…" Kagero grunted as she yanked at the axe in the wall, "dig through the wall and take the easy paa-AAHHHTH!" She fell backwards when the ace suddenly broke away from the wall.
"No kidding..." Leorio dropped his weapon.
After about five minutes of digging Kagero was sick of it. It was taking too long. The wall couldn't have been so thick that it would take so long with six people.
"I have a better idea." The group stopped and looked to her. "Can you guys back away?" They complied, not really wanting to question why.
Kagero took a fighting stance and put all her power into her arm and launched herself at the wall and punched it at full strength. The wall shattered and a hole was left there leading into the other pathway. Kagero took a deep breath and clenched her hand a few times. That would be sore later.
Killua whistled. He could see that in the other path the debris from the impact had damages the wall behind it.
"Let's go then." Kagero walked through the hall. Her hand now bloodied from the excessive force she put into the punch. Her skin around her knuckles was shredded and was covered with blood, it was bleeding quite heavily and was dripping onto the stone floor.
"Are you okay Mirage?" Gon looked to her hand.
"This is nothing. Don't worry." She patted his head with her non-injured hand, and winced inwardly at the stinging from her right hand.
"Want me to patch it up?" Leorio offered with a shake of his brief case.
"Not right now, there's no time! Now hurry up!" She was already running down the hallway. "Come on gu–AH!" She screamed suddenly at a sudden drop she found.
The others, in a panic ran after her, only to experience the same fate.
• • • • • •
"Two more minutes remains" Came the announcement in the waiting room at the bottom of the tower. There were many people, varying from injured to not even touched.
"Looks like it'll just be the 21 of us here." Someone yawned and stretched while lying on the floor. There was nothing better to do and leaning on the wall messed with your back—their butt has fallen asleep multiple times using that method of waiting aimlessly.
The torches flickered in the room and a certain someone smiled oh-so-very creepily. He could hear it.
A door opened and everyone in the room looked to that single open door, there was a faint voice being heard, it got louder and louder as it got closer. It seemed that someone was yelling—or screaming more like it, and it was very many. Oh so very manly. A moment later Kagero rolled out and ran into the wall, head on the ground and body against the wall. "Ugh, that was not fun." She held the back of her head and looked around. Seeing Hisoka she smiled and waved a little with her injured hand. The blood dried from the fast speed she was tumbling down the slide at.
"Kagero, applicant #410, is the twentieth to pass, total time, seventy-one hours." Not even twenty seconds later came the others. "Kurapika, applicant # 404, is the twenty-first to pass. Killua #99, is the twenty-second to pass. Gon, #405, is the twenty-third to pass. Total time, seventy-one hours and fifteen seconds".
"My but hurts!" Killua exclaimed. "I didn't expect a slide for the short and easy path."
"That was really close, ne?" Gon, looked to Kurapika.
"Hey guys!" she grinned from her awkward position, too tired to get up from it.
"My hands are full of blisters." Kurapika blew onto his sore hands.
"Same here." Leorio's voice came from the hallway from the opened door.
Another announcement came on to report Tonpa's and Leorio's passing.
"It would have been worse if Kagero didn't shatter the wall." Killua put his hands in his pockets.
"Our hands are blistered, but all six of us cleared the tower together. All thanks to Kagero!"
"Uh guys?"
"It was Mirage's idea to enter the long and difficult path and cut a hole in the wall, sneaking into the short and easy path through the hole."
"Though he got impatient and just punched it." Gon laughed at Killua's remark.
"…"
"Speaking of which… Where is he?"
"Um, down here."
"What happened to you?" Killua ran up to her and nudged her head with his foot.
"I didn't expect the slide… so when I was running I ended up running off the ledge of it and tumbling down it…"
"Hahaha! That's hilarious!" Killua laughed at her pain.
"Need help up?" Gon reached out a hand.
"Yeah, thanks. At least Gon's kind enough to not laugh at my misfortune." She game a pointed look to Killua. She took Gon's hand to help her up, but her knee gave out and she ended up just lying on the ground. It was actually quite comfortable.
"How did you even think of that path though? I would have never come across that possibility." Kurapika asked.
"Well from the damage the weapons did to the floor..." Kagero stopped and scratched her head and chuckled slightly. "Without Tonpa wanting to immediately kill us with the opportunity I wouldn't have thought of it."
The man mentioned chuckled nervously, "Well all's well that ends well right? Haha."
All five of the glared at Tonpa—well Gon just frowned and narrowed his eyes, but that's probably the closest thing Gon could do.
Since there was some time to kill Kagero meditated and the others did who knows what. The Third phase ended with a buzzer and another announcement.
"The Third phase is over. Twenty-eight applicants have passed. One has died." Then a door opened and applicants started walking out. That's a surprisingly low death toll for a hunter phase.
"Ahh fresh air!" Kagero was happy and she stretched.
"Ladies and gentlemen, congratulations on having escaped Trick Tower." A man short in stature with a partially bald head with a purple Mohawk and glasses was speaking. "Only the Fourth and Final Phase remain." From the voice they all immediately knew who he was.
He explained where the Fourth phase would be held, on Zevil Island, which was in sight from the base of the tower. He snapped his finger and an assistant of his brought a box and told everyone to draw lots. "This will determine who will hunt and be hunted." In the box was twenty-seven numbered cards and what you got was the one you would hunt. So in short, whatever number you got was the applicant you were hunting based on their ID numbers. "Now, I need you each to draw a card, in the order by which you exited the tower."
He started calling people up and Hisoka walked up, naturally being the first one who passed.
Must have been a really long wait. Kagero honestly felt sorry for Hisoka as he had probably spent seventy hours waiting in that dull room. She spaced out until she was next, she drew a card, and it was blank. Everyone had a card by now and the examiner told everyone to take the white film off of the card.
So, I have number 191, Bodoro. Tonpa was talking about him in the first phase. Apparently he is a martial artist like me, though he probably won't know my style. Kagero looked around and looked at him from the corner of her eye.
"The objective is to steal your target's ID tag."
"So we don't need to kill each other." One of the Amori brothers sighed in relief.
"Naturally, you're free to use any method you choose. Including killing your target and taking the tag off the corpse."
"That sounds like the fastest way." Another Amori brother smirked.
Kagero zoned out but got the gist of the rules, your ID tag is worth three points, same with your target. Other tags are worth one point. You need six points to advance to the Final Phase. Lippo gestured behind him to show everyone that the boat to the island had arrived. It was a good sized boat. Judging from the size it had cabins and rooms like the airship had.
The trip would take approximately two to three hours to get to Zevil Island. The majority of people chose to stay on the deck of the boat, the weather was nice and warm, and the wind felt cool. Though Kagero would have to be careful not to let her wig fly off. That would be a very bad thing to happen.
The guide decided to not talk from the atmosphere given off. Wise choice. The tension in the air was palpable. Killua Gon and Kagero were walking around the walkways of the boat, they stopped at the back of the boat where they watched the waves the boat made in the water.
"So what numbers did you guys draw?" Killua broke the everlasting silence.
"How 'bout you, Killua?" Gon asked.
"Secret." Killua rested his chin on his hand over the railing. "Don't worry. You aren't my target."
"And my target isn't you."
"Same here." Kagero joined in.
"Show each other our numbers at the same time?" Killua proposed.
"Okay!"
"Ready and..." They flipped their cards over. Kagero tried to do something cool with it and the card ended up bending and launched right out of her hand. They all watched it as it flew passed them in the wind.
"Uh… did you guys get to see the number?" She rubbed the back of her neck nervously.
"No…"
"Well do you remember it?" Killua sighed.
"That'd be awful if I forgot it!" She shouted, "But yes I do." She beckoned them to lean over so she could whisper it.
"Oh him, he doesn't seem too hard."
"Oooh. Killua's got some high standards." She laughed at the look she got from Killua. "So what were yours again?" They showed her again. Since her card distracted them they didn't actually get to see the others cards either.
Killua got #199 and Gon got #44.
"Are you—seriously? You have some really bad luck Gon..."
"You know what I would do if I got Hisoka?" They looked at her with questioning looks, "Just leap over this rail here. Bust seriously I would target other people. I'm too young to die."
"Don't make it sound so bad please!" Gon shouted worriedly. Though he looked scared… and excited. Morbidly excited? "So who's your target Killua? I don't recognize the number."
"Ah man… You don't know either?" Killua frowned. He crumpled the card and tossed it off the boat. That way no one could somehow find it.
Kagero poked Killua's side and he jumped. "I do."
"Really!?"
"I'm not telling though."
"Che, stingy."
"Haha, isn't the point of the exam to be a challenge?" She shoved her hands into her pockets, "Welp. I'm going for a walk." Kagero got up and waltzed off.
"Bye!" Gon waved.
She walked to the bathroom and did her business, fixing her wig and her appearance. After making herself look decent she wandered around the boat. Deciding to be daring she jumped onto the railing of the boat and walked around the boat out of boredom. She got weird looks from people and didn't care. Though one person was being especially creepy about is and just stared at her the whole time.
They finally reached the Island and they started departing people in an orderly fashion, and every two minutes the next person would leave.
Finally it was Kagero's turn to go.
"Good luck Mirage!" Gon waved as her form disappeared into the forest.
"Hmm, I guess I'll find a camp site." She talked to herself. After running for a while she found a nice place by a small lake. There was a huge tree and it had roots uplifting from the ground making a little cavern under it. It was small but after a bit of digging it would be a good camp site. She can set up bushes and branches around the holes in the roots to hide her. She made her camp and it was already dark.
Hmm it would be best if I got some food... She sharpened her senses to see if there were any deer or rabbit around. She caught on to one and hid her presence and pounced on the unaware hare. Skinning it back at her little base she set up a small flame inside the tree, the bushes and branches around the tree would disperse the smoke evenly throughout the air and not be able to be seen. After eating she went to sleep, while sleeping she was still on guard, paranoid of anything.
The next morning she went to look for her target but ran into two other people. She took one tag rather easily and the second one put up a fight. She just decided to steal it at night when he was off guard.
After getting her third tag she went back to her base and promptly went to sleep. The next day was a repeat of the first. But she noticed someone following her. She stopped in a clearing and looked around to catch a glimpse of someone in a tree. He isn't giving off an aura of a threat. Is he an examiner? We were probably all assigned one. She brushed it off. After walking around the island she ran into some other people but they weren't Bodoro, she was looking for him because she wanted to fight him and test her skills.
On the fourth day she was jumping through the trees and found him.
"Hey," He turned around abruptly to face Kagero. "You're my target, give me the tag or we won't have to fight." She knew that he wouldn't give it up, but it was worth a shot.
"Ironically you are my target as well." He went into his fighting stance and charged at her.
She let him give her a few hits, she guarded of course. And she evaluated that he was a Karate master. She would need to use some redirected forces against this, judo techniques. He threw a punch at her face, she blocked it and she spun around to his back side. Bodoro lifted his leg to kick her in mid-movement but she jumped and landed on his leg. He swung his arm to his backside hoping to make contact but to no avail. Kagero kicked him firmly in the rib and jumped off of his leg to his front side. He sent another barrage of punches to her upper body and face. But Kagero side stepped to dodge and bent his arm, grabbing his fist and twisted it around to his back side. She reached into his internal pocket of his robe and took out the tag. She jumped off of his back. He stood up and tried rushing her again. She ran up and planted a firm punch to his stomach.
"You are a very experienced fighter, I commend you on that." She took out her other two tags, "Here, you deserve them." Then, she disappeared. Well she just jumped high into the trees, hidden by the foliage.
She went back to base since there was nothing else to do. She popped her Mp3 out of her pouch and put one headphone in. She needed to relax a bit.
After a few hours she went hunting again and it got late. What a beautiful full moon. She stretched and looked up at the clear night sky. "I need a bath…" She was feeling grungy. But first... She launched herself at top speed to a tree nearby, appearing beside a man with black sun glasses and a black suit. He flinched to see her beside him so suddenly.
"Would you be kind to not watch me bathe mister?" She smiled a threatening smile. He simply replied with an 'Okay.' "Thank you kind Sir." She jumped down from the tree. "I'll let you know when I'm done if you need me to." He nodded.
Kagero proceeded to the part of the lake that was shielded with the most trees. She took her clothing off and folded them neatly by the edge of the lake and took off her wig. She washed her wig first so it would dry faster and proceeded into the water.
"Cold!" She winced.
She took her bandages off and grabbed a bar of soap from her bag and scrubbed her body free of all that dirt. Grabbing that mini hotel shampoo and conditioner bottle she took from the towers bathroom she took her hair net off. Her long dark turquoise and neon blue highlighted hair fell down and floated in the water.
It's gotten longer...oh well, father told me to not cut my hair unless it touched the floor… She laughed at the memory of her father's seriousness for when she wanted to cut her hair.
Submerging her head underwater she got out all the big chunks of dirt before using the shampoo. After using the shampoo she used the conditioner ad let it sit. Relaxing in the water she felt tingling on her scalp telling her to wash the conditioner out.
Kagero got lost in thought and looked at the full moon. It was a full moon when I was transferred here hmm. Nevertheless it's beautiful. Hearing a crack in the bushes she bolted up and yelled, "Who's there!" No answer...
A minute before Killua had just been wandering around aimlessly until he stumbled across a lake, and there was a girl bathing in it, not wanting to invade her privacy he went to walk away but stepped on a twig in panic. His head jolted to the girl when she yelled "Who's there!" jumping up from the water. He could now clearly see her figure gleaming in the light of the moon. Her face was lit in the moonlight making her look like a doll. Though the shadow covered her eyes and they glowed a beautiful emerald green. Her hair was down to her knees and was shimmering in the white light. He caught himself staring and ran as fast as he could in stealth mode, running away from that doll of a girl.
Kagero felt the presence run away at high speeds. At least they didn't come out. Kagero took that as a signal that she should get out. She dried herself off and put her shorts on. The proceeded to wrap her arms and upper body with her bandages and put her sweater on, her wig was still wet so she went into the base and dried it with a small fire. Putting her hair up in the net she put her wig on and went to sleep.
• • • • • •
UUah there's the first hint of Kagero actually looking like a girl~ Heh heh heh Killua's in for a surprise!
(Omake)
I have a better idea." The group stopped and looked to her. "Can you guys back away?" They complied.
Kagero took a fighting stance and put all her power into her arm, "I came in like a-" and launched herself at the wall and punched it at full strength, "-wreaking ball!" The wall shattered and a hole was left there leading into the other pathway. "I never hit so hard in love," she winced and shook her hand in pain.
The group paled and anime fell.
"All I wanted was… to break... your walls...?" She blinked to the guys twitching on the ground, "Hey, are you guys alright?
(Omake)
