Hisoka sat on a rock, bored out of his mind. If he could just fight Luna… But no. She refused to fight him after he threw her into a lake and nearly fed her to a bunch of fish. She had deduced that, quite accurately he might add. He could never say she wasn't a smart one. And he wasn't quite willing to use up the favour right then, especially when the examiner could stop the fight at any time.
So he built card fortresses and waited for all the other candidates to arrive.
Because at least then he could have the entertainment of watching them attempt to get through the lasers. His wish was granted, of course. Enough people got cut apart that the hunters had to kind of… sweep the corpse pieces away. The bodies would probably go to feed some animals in the area.
He also noted with a mixture of disappointment and amusement when the hunters proceeded to hang a sign saying 'Warning: Lasers' in front of the crevice.
There were a few idiots after that who were either illiterate or lacked the brain cells necessary to comprehend the sign. But the majority created a crowd on the other side.
Hisoka was beginning to think that he and Luna would be the only two left. He wouldn't mind. It meant they passed the Hunter Exam and therefore could go somewhere more interesting, like perhaps a nest of mafia or the hunter chairman, and antagonize everyone.
But then some genius came up with the idea of moving as a group and plugging up the laser holes.
It didn't work very well since only one person could get through at a time, but when you consider it, it worked well enough. A 'few' were sacrificed—meaning they got cut apart and their body parts plugged up the lasers—while the majority got through. The 'few' consisted of a hundred or so candidates, but that didn't really matter, now did it?
"Good. You passed," the examiner said, almost disdainfully.
Hisoka cocked his head at the man. If he didn't like people sacrificing each other, he shouldn't have created that sort of obstacle.
"There are too many of you," the examiner continued.
With that, Hisoka felt satisfied. Ah, that he could understand. The test was too easy.
Many more of these simple exams and he would kill someone.
"As you can see, we are at the docks," the examiner said.
Way to state the obvious…
"Your next exam is on that ship."
The weary group trudged its way onto said ship. Hisoka and Luna hung back, watching the others pass.
"Well?" The examiner asked impatiently, eyeing the two.
"My legs are asleep," Luna said.
"And I'm bored," Hisoka said. "Fight me?"
"JUST GET ON THE DAMNED SHIP!" The examiner burst out.
"Jeez, touchy," Luna huffed in a monotone, and walked past.
Hisoka noted with mild amusement that humans could indeed turn purple with rage.
"That was too easy. Make a more difficult test next time," Hisoka said, and watched the man turn blue. "Toodles~!"
Hisoka stepped on the white and blue ship, two long fingers tapping his chin as he considered it. It was obviously a hunter's ship, with all that nen surrounding it. He wondered if it had missiles and bombs that he could filch. He needed to replace the bomb he lost on that night of drunkenness. He never knew when one could be useful in creating a distraction for the weaklings while he went for the big boss.
But he changed his mind with a small sigh. It would not only be difficult to carry a bomb through the remaining exams, it would also mean he would smell like gunpowder, and he didn't like the smell of gunpowder. There was a reason he used cards and nen to fight, instead of cliché weapons like guns and blades.
"I am Morel Mackernasey, your examiner for the second exam," a large old man boomed.
The candidates felt the ship move, and start tilting from side to side. Several immediately rushed to the sides to throw up.
"Anybody who gets seasick should jump off and swim to shore. There aren't any dangerous animals in the oceans," Morel said. "Yet."
The same people who threw up immediately dove in head first. Hisoka felt his nose wrinkle in disgust. Did they really want to dive into water with their vomit? He was not going to touch the ocean. Who knew how many people and animals had defecated or vomited or otherwise spilled their insides into the water.
"The rest of you may rest until tomorrow. Be on deck at ten in the morning. I will give you the details of the exam then," Morel said. "Oh, and food will only be provided today. Starting tomorrow you obtain your own food. We spend three days at sea, including today. Dismissed!"
Grumbling, the hunter candidates rushed for the rooms, each trying to get the best sleeping area. And since that didn't really matter to Hisoka and Luna, they stayed on deck, watching the ocean speed by. There was a lot of water. And more water.
Oh look, an empty soda can! How rude of people to dump their trash into the ocean. As if they didn't wash all their organic waste into the water, they had to add the inorganic matter as well.
"I suppose there's no fighting this time either," Hisoka murmured forlornly.
"No. Fighting is forbidden this round," Morel said.
Hisoka sighed.
"Calm down. You'll get to fight eventually," Luna said.
"That's true," Morel said. "Every hunter exam has at least one stage where you must fight. But you must pass my stage first."
Hisoka gave a noncommittal hum.
"Come on. Let's find a room before they're all taken," Luna said.
"It's two to a room," Morel called out.
Luna couldn't help but think he should have told them that before. But it didn't matter. They could clear out any room easily. She tugged on Hisoka's sleeve. Hisoka followed rather obediently.
Morel cocked his head. The girl, candidate 44, looked young. A little too young to be taking the exam. Was she twelve? Couldn't be. Her body did not belong to a twelve year old, no matter how young her face looked. And she was just short compared to the man following her.
Morel frowned. It wasn't that she looked young. No, she looked innocent. Weak. She looked like a china doll, with pale skin, long dark hair, and dark eyes, fragile and so easily broken. Like something that did not belong in the Hunter Exam. He felt a little pity for the girl. It would be best if she failed in this round. If he knew the examiners, the next round would be brutal, and the final round even more so.
The red haired man, candidate 23, had probably helped her through the first stage. They looked close. But he couldn't help her forever.
Just as Luna suspected, all the rooms were taken. Most already had two people, but some only had one.
Luna took one room. Its occupant was the man who had drugged her.
"Oh my god! You're alive!" Tonpa shrieked.
"Yes," Luna said.
Tonpa began trembling in his shoes. Was she going to kill him? Maim him in his sleep?
No. She smiled. And the expression was so horrifying that he fainted dead away.
Luna stared at him, the smile dropping. She had to smile more often. It seemed more effective than glaring when it came to scaring people.
And people said smiles were friendly and sweet…
She sat on the second bed, preparing to settle in…
Her neighbour burst in. Luna put away the knife. The woman had no idea how close she was to having her throat slit.
"Nonononono! You came with him, you sleep with him!" The woman half shouted, hysterical.
Ah. So she was Hisoka's new roommate.
"Go! Shoo! You can have the room! I'll stay here!" The woman said, cold sweat on her brow.
Correction. She was Hisoka's new former roommate.
So Luna shrugged and vacated the room, and entered Hisoka's room without knocking. She also caught the card Hisoka threw without looking to see who entered. His nen, thick and sweet and filled with murderous intent, retreated. And then he looked up and smiled, holding out a hand for the card.
Luna contemplated tearing it into pieces before returning it as confetti. But he had gotten her out of rooming with the cowardly idiot who looked like his mother had stomped on his face a few times when he was born.
So she sharpened the card with her own nen and flung it into Hisoka's pillow, careful not to cut him. If she drew blood, he would want to fight. And she still had remnants of that headache…
If alcohol amplified the effect of drugs, it probably went the other way around too. It was enough to make the assassin swear off everything except rubbing alcohol.
And with that, the night passed. The next morning had those smart enough to filch food from last night's dinner full from breakfast and waiting on deck, and the rest waiting on deck with empty stomachs.
"The second exam begins now!" Morel boomed.