"Huh?" Killua says.

"What?" Leorio asks.

"Did he just give up?" Gon asks innocently.

"N-no way…" Saber mumbles.

"M-maybe he meant 'Give me a sec'?" Leorio puts in.

"What did you just say?" Egg Head asks.

"You win if I admit defeat, right?" Tonpa looks up. "I give up…" He bows his head again. "I lose!" He laughs nervously.

"Wha…wha…wha…" Leorio stutters, looking pissed.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" I scream, wishing I could jump onto the platform and strangle Tonpa.

Weirdly, Egg Head starts to laugh. "All right. I win this round."

A screen above us on the wall switches from zero to one. "If we win three more rounds, you lose. You won't be able to advance or turn back. You'll be stuck here until the seventy-two hours are up. Should that come to pass, our sentences will be reduced by seventy-two years."

Evil Egg Head laughs again, and walks back on over to his side. Tonpa walks over to us too.

"Man, that was a disgrace. He looked a lot stronger up close…"

I'm about to reach on over and strangle him, when Leorio beats me to it. Again.

"Bastard!" Leorio grabs on to his collar, nearly lifting him up. "You just confirmed all my suspicions!"

"What is wrong with you?!" I growl, pointing a finger at him.

"Seriously, you jackass!" Saber agrees.

"You're a worthless piece of trash, who's only good for sabotaging other applicants!" Leorio exclaims.

"Exactly." Tonpa agrees. "That's what I do every year. And I plan to continue the tradition."

"W-what?!" Leorio stutters, glaring daggers at him.

I pause, something starting to nag me…no way…it couldn't be…

"I'm not looking to pass the Hunter Exam." Tonpa exclaims, looking pretty calm, considering his situation. "I'm only in it for the thrills."

"The thrills?!" Saber repeats, fists clenched.

"Yes." Tonpa looks at us, a sick smile on his face. "The Hunter Exam is a trial meant to crush confident young people's dreams. The moment of despair, when ambition and hope give way, gives me a sense of exquisite pleasure."

I can feel the blood draining from my face as I remember some of the advice Jett had given us after he had become a Hunter, before he left. He had told us a few things, the usual stuff, be careful, it's dangerous, bla, bla, but he had also said something about rookie crushers…

"Especially when I'm actively shattering these rookies' dreams. I don't plan on becoming a Hunter. I've already had enough fun this year, it's time for me to bow out."

"You bastard!" Leorio raises a fist.

"Stop it, Leorio!" Kurapika interrupts.

"You guys don't know the joy of crushing a newbies dreams…" Tonpa continues. I felt sick. Jett's words starting to come back to me.

This rookie crushers, they're despicable. Only like hurting other for their own pleasure.

"I remember last year when I sent this one rookie into a garden full of carnivorous plants, I had told him it was a healing garden. Sucker!"

They gain your trust, and use it against you. I had nearly died during my exam because of one.

"And the year before that I had tweaked one of the newbies equipment, so when he tried to fight off a gorilla that was attacking, his sword broke apart!"

I had been stupid to trust him. No one is ever kind in the exams. I was lucky I just got away with a few scars…

"And then one year there was a maze exam, I nearly killed this one annoying rookie guy. He had light blue hair, and I sent him off in the wrong direction, heard him screaming when he came upon one of the slug monsters. Too bad he survived that though."

The guy who tricked me…his name was Tonpa. Be careful of him, alright?

"YOU BASTARD!" I scream. Before I even know what's happening, my fist had already made contact with the guy's face.

"YOU JACKASS! YOU MONSTER!" I completely lose it, I try to tackle him but something was holding me back.

I turn, and I see Kurapika, he had an arm around my waist, and was holding on to my right fist. "Get a hold of yourself!" He yells as I squirm.

I can see in the corner of my eye Killua and Gon struggling to hold back Saber, who had come to the same realization I had. Leorio and Tonpa both just stand still, surprised at our sudden violent acts. Tonpa's face was slowly reddening from my punch. Good, but he deserved more.

"HE TRIED TO KILL JETT!" Saber and I both scream.

"Jett?" Kurapika, Gon, Killua, and Leorio all repeat.

"He deserves this! Let me go!" Saber yells again, tugging against Gon and Killua.

"Oh, so the blue guy is your friend?" Tonpa realizes, grinning.

Dammit! I should have realized sooner! Tonpa, that's why the name seemed familiar! That's why I thought I knew him in the beginning! He's one of the reasons Jett nearly died!

"Let go Kurapika!" I practically snarl, squirming.

He just tightens his hold. "I understand why you're angry, but this is what they want! They want us to waste time fighting amongst ourselves!"

"I don't care!" I holler.

"Don't let your emotions control you!" Kurapika yells back.

After a few more minutes, I finally start to calm down. No longer was anger clouding my vision. "…Fine." I stop struggling.

"WHAT?!" Saber screams.

I turn to him, ignoring Tonpa's evil smirk. "Don't misunderstand me. He will pay. We don't have time now, but he will. Later."

Tonpa's smirk quickly drops. Good. Let him be afraid.

"You can let go now, Blondie." I turn to look up at Kurapika. He doesn't look completely convinced I'm not about to try to throttle Tonpa, but he let's go.

I scowl and Tonpa, and cross my arms. Tonpa casually inches away from us.

"You know… if their goal is to by time, then the old man made the correct choice." Killua notes.

"What?" Saber growls.

"That bald guy is probably a former soldier or mercenary." Killua explains, turning to Tonpa. "Had you fought him, he would have started by crushing your throat, so you couldn't have given up."

Tonpa quickly looks like he's going to be sick. All I can feel is disappointment that Evil Egg Head didn't have the chance to do just that. I'm a nice person. I swear. But mess with my friends and I'll give you no mercy.

"Then he would have tortured you without killing you," Killua continues. "For the rest of the remaining time."

Tonpa slowly turns his head back to Leorio. "Th-that was one of the possibilities I took into consideration."

Leorio, Kurapika, Saber, and I, all just give him disbelieving stares.

"You look sick." Leorio notes.

A strange clacking sound draws my attention away. I glance across the room and see another cloaked figure had just gotten out of his shackles. He takes off his cloak, he looked skinnier than the other guy. He also had brown hair, and bangs that covered one eye.

"Regardless, we need to win four rounds and advance." Kurapika says.

"Who's going next?" Killua asks.

Hm…maybe I should take these guy, he looked kind of weak. Though he was at Trick Tower for a reason so…

"Me! I'll go!" Gon says, taking the decision out of my hand. He raises his hand up like it's roll call or something.

There's a few seconds of surprised silence, before Leorio puts his hands on his hips. "Are you sure?"

"Uh huh!" Gon says confidently.

"The next opponent doesn't look too strong." Killua notes.

I guess it was for the best Gon took this guy, he was only 12.

"But you can't let your guard down." Leorio warns.

"Right, he's in here for a reason." I agree.

"Uh huh, I know." Gon puts down his backpack and fishing pole, and walks over the bridge to the platform.

"Now then…" The prisoner guy starts to talk. "As you can see, I'm not very strong. I don't really enjoy fist fights, or other physical activities, such as running and jumping."

"Why is he listing his weaknesses?" Saber leans over to whisper to me, confused.

I whisper back. "Maybe he's trying to making himself appear weaker to trick Gon?"

"Well I guess we're going to find out." He nods towards the stage and I look back.

"I do. But I'm not good at using my head." Gon admits.

"Gon!" I hiss.

"You're not supposed to admit your weaknesses either!" Saber complains.

"As I thought." Prisoner guy says. "So I came up with a simple game we could both play."

"A game?" Gon repeats.

"Yes." Prisoner guy replies. "It doesn't rely on either mental or physical activity."

I snort. "What's he going to do? Beat Gon at tick, tack, toe?"

Saber chuckles. "It would fit the whole X and O thing."

"Right, right." I nod smiling, my anger at Tonpa forgotten.

"Can you two shut up?" Killua asks us, a anger mark twitching on his forhead.

"Sorry." We both sweatdrop.

I notice Kurapika smiling in relief. What? But when he notices me looking, he quickly schools his face back into that annoying poker face.

"What kind of game?" Gon asks.

He grabs something from behind him, he probably had a bag or something, and I tense. What was it? A knife? A GUN?!

He brings out two candles.

…Not expecting that.

"We each light a candle at the same time. The one whose candle goes out first is the loser." He explains. "What do you think?"

"Yeah!" Gon agrees enthusiastically. "That's easy to understand, let's go with that!" He gives a thumbs up.

"That's way too simple…" I mutter, instantly suspicious.

Leorio nods. "He must have something up his sleeve…"

"Okay, in that case…" Before he had been holding the candles by the ends, but now he lifts off some fingers to reveal one candle was longer than the other.

"I knew it!" I can't help but exclaim.

"Decide which candle you want to use." Creepy candle guy drawls. "Press O for the long one, or X for the short one. This will be determined by majority rule."

"We have to choose one?" Leorio mutters, looking intently at the candles. "This is a trap! Normally you'd choose the long one, so he must have done something to it!"

"That would be the safe assumption." Kurapika interjects. "But it might be a trick, and he's actually tampered with the short one."

"When you put it like that…" Leorio grumbles.

"Yes, there's no end." Kurapika remarks.

"You've got a real dilemma there." Tonpa says cheekily, I tense.

"You keep your mouth shut!" Leorio snarls.

"Yeah, yeah." Tonpa shrugs. I keep my eyes fixed on the platform. It was taking all of my will power not to just push the guy off the edge.

"When presented with a clearly uneven choice, people become suspicious and hesitate before deciding." Kurapika says. I had a feeling he was about to spew a bunch of scientific stuff. Because that's just what he does. I had to hand it to Blondie, the guy was smart…though I wasn't about to admit that.

"Yes, this is a real dilemma." He continues. (Knew it!) "What's worse, if you make the wrong choice, the resulting mental anguish would be much greater than if the problem had offered two fair options."

Creepy candle guy just lounges on the ground, looking totally relaxed. Asshole. "Take your time." He says. "This may be a majority decision, but you're free to discuss it. We have plenty of time."

"Maybe you do, but we don't!" I growl, losing my patience. I groan, throwing my hands in the air. "Guys, this is useless! Discussing about the stupid candles won't make this easier!"

"Hmm, hey, which one should I choose?" Gon calls out.

"Damn…which one should we take." Leorio hisses.

I notice Kurapika frowning, as he closes his eyes. He opens them and glances at me, looking like he had decided something.

"Gon!" He yells back. "You decide! We'll abide by your decision. Choose the one you think is best."

"You sure?" Saber asks nervously.

"He never thinks things through." Killua adds.

Kurapika nods. "Talin was right."

I blink in surprise.

"I was?"

"She was?"

I glare at Saber, who laughs nervously. "H-hey, you said the same thing!"

"Well yah, but it's me, doubting me! It's different!"

"It is useless, fretting about and wasting our time won't help our chances." Kurapika ignores us. "Let's rely on Gon's instincts."

"Instincts, huh…" Killua mutters, not looking very convinced.

"Oh yeah, that boy's got good senses and stuff." I nod, remembering. "He tracked Leorio once just by his cologne."

"Huh?" Leorio glances at me. "What? When did that happen?"

"Whe-" I stop when I see Kurapika's pointed look. Oh shit, right, Leorio wasn't supposed to know anything about the whole him getting beat up by clown freak thing.

"Uh…it…didn't. I was mistaken, sorry." I give out a nervous laugh, rubbing my head. Leorio doesn't look convinced, and is about to say something but Gon cuts him off.

"I get to choose?" Gon says happily. "Okay! Then I choose the long one!"

"You want the long candle?" Candle guy repeats.

"Because a longer candle will burn a longer time!" Gon innocently says, smiling.

"Er, he's taking it at face value?" Leorio mutters.

I face palm.

"I knew he wouldn't think this through." Killua sighs.

Saber groans, raising his eyes upward. "I swear if we somehow get through this…"

"Well that's that…" Kurapika presses the O button on his watch. The rest of us do the same.

"It's not like we can figure out which one is the trap…" Leorio agrees.

The screen shows the results. 5 O's, and no X's.

"Okay, you get the long one." Candle guys, throwing the candle to Gon. "I'll take the short one."

The torches on the corners start to make a whirring sound, and sink into the stage a bit so they are shorter. Candle guy walks towards one.

"Now, we light our candles together." He puts the candle in the flame; Gon copies him, going to the torch nearest him.

Than they walk back to where they were standing before…and then they just stand there. Waiting.

"Wow, you know the last thing I expected on the Hunter Exam was boredom…" I murmer. After ten minutes had gone by I had decided to sit down in the little hallway area.

"Usually, how long would it take candle to burn down?" Killua asks.

"Forever and ever…" Saber sarcastically mutters.

Kurapika rolls his eyes. "Five to six hours?" he estimates.

"So basically forever and ever." Saber groans, rolling over and smushing his face into the ground.

A strong breeze blows up from below past the platform, and Gon carefully wraps a hand loosely around the flame as a shield. Creepy candle guy does the same thing, but he doesn't look bothered at all. Actually, he was smiling. What?

"A strong wind is coming from below." Leorio states. "That means we should watch our step. No time to relax, huh…"

I yawn, sleepily staring at my feet. This must suck for Gon, who has to stand. At least I can sit down.

"If you don't pay attention, your candle will go out." Candle guy mocks. I listen with only one ear, not really paying attention.

Creepy Candle guy and Gon chat a bit, Gon accuses him of preparing to do something sneaky, because his candle was going to go out first. Creepy candle guy just denies the statement, saying something about how he doesn't have to because he had already taken steps.

Hm…wait…

I sleepily raise my head, but when I hear Gon's cry of alarm, I instantly shoot to my feet. Saber quickly rolls on to his back and get's up too.

"What?!" I step beside Kurapika so I can have a better view, and to my horror I see Gon's flame suddenly waaaay bigger than it should have been!

"Hey, Look at Gon's candle!" Leorio mutters. Don't know why, we could all see it. "The flame suddenly became stronger!"

"He must have hidden gunpowder or some other highly flammable substance inside, to make the candle burn faster!" Kurapika theorizes.

"Oh maaaan…Gon be careful!" Saber cries out uselessly, as we watch Gon struggle to hold on to the candle.

"At this rate, his candle will only last two or three minutes." Killua reckons.

"Damn!" Leorio yells. "Hey! That was dirty! I knew you tampered with the long candle!"

"But…what if Gon had picked the short one? He couldn't have known!" I state, confused.

"Maybe he tampered with it when he had passed Gon the candle, remember we couldn't see it for a few seconds when he put it behind his back." Saber puts in.

"I don't think he could be that fast…" I murmer.

For some reason Gon pauses, and smiles. He looks over at Candle man, who looks a little surprised at his sudden positive attitude.

"If the fire is stronger, then a little breeze wont extinguish it." He carefully places the candle on the ground.

"What i-" Before I can even finish my sentence Gon suddenly rushes in front of his opponent, and blows out his candle!

"…WWWWOAAAAHHHH!" Saber yells, both his hands clutching his hair, I think my jaw was touching the ground. Even Creepy candle guy look shocked.

Gon looks over at us, and smiles, giving us a peace sign. "I win!"

"YAH!" Saber and I both cheer, and Leorio smiles.

"Yes!"

The bridge thing slides back into place, and Gon walks across to us.

"Yay! I won!"