"So...who's first?" Valeria asked as she spat on the ground, walking towards the center platform. Rubbing her wrists slightly before stretching out her legs and back, she thought to herself that she wanted this to end as soon as possible and to sleep. She didn't bother hiding her thoughts, as it was blatant on her face that she was disinterested, which irritated the prisoners. The largest of the group, who had proposed the death match, ripped off his cloak and jabbed a finger at his own chest. "I am!"
He had voluminous hair with a single grey strand running along the left side, and a rugged beard. He had scars all over his body but the noticeable ones were the several nasty gashes on his eyes that left him blind. Valeria sighed, waved her hands.
"Surrender man, I'm sure we both don't want to waste energy on this fight. Can't you see I'm in a rush- oh. I am so sorry." She bowed politely before standing straight. The man twitched in annoyance but smiled as he lifted his arm, roughly estimating Valeria's height.
"Hey hey, I'm not that great enough to not enjoy pulverizing weak shrimps. In fact, I take joy in it. Hmmm, my first kill was probably actually around the same height as you. Yes, he was indee-" He reached out his hand to firstly, intimidate Valeria, and secondly to pat her head while insinuating that he can see without his eyes. However, Valeria grabbed his wrist and dragged him down, causing the larger man to end up having to look up at her instead. Not that he can actually see her.
"I assume the match is starting or that you were disrespectfully trying to grab a lady's head. Either way, you don't deserve to look down at me like that. Also let's clear some misunderstanding. I'm not scared nor am I underestimating you." Valeria loosened her grip in her thumb and pressed the wrist of the prisoner, pushing his hand backwards until it broke. The large man grunted in pain before trying to swing his other arm at her. She stayed still, allowing him to punch her gut, sending her flying backwards. However, she easily picked herself up and dusted the dirt off of her clothes."Now we're even. Do you still want to continue?"
"Don't screw with me shrimp. I...I'm just getting started." Heran up to her, trying to kick her jaw. Valeria leaned back and grabbed hold of his beard as he flew above her, not hesitating to yank it. She immediately whipped it back so that his body came back from where he flew from, but his beard was ripped off his chin cleanly. The girl tossed the strands of dead hair follicles aside and dusted her hands as she tucked a loose curl behind her ear. Unamused, she watched the large man grip his chin while biting his lip in pain really hard. His chin was read and swollen, with specks of blood starting to appear before running along his whole chin.
"I repeat, surrender buddy. Otherwise your chin won't be the only thing that becomes as swollen and red as a red bottom monkey. Red bottom? Or was it red assed? Or was it bloody bummed?" The man glowered at her as she muttered to herself, trying to remember the creature's species, and charged at her as he screamed.. He directed a fast and powerful punch at her face but Valeria blocked and grabbed it instead. As his right hand was trapped, Valeria then delivered a back kick in his jaw, sending him flying back to the wall next to where he came from. Of course, his body was etched deeply into the wall that his consciousness had left him. The screen flickered to life and had the scores: "0-1"
"I told you to surrender." Valeria rubbed her wrist once more as she rotated her left ankle, the side where she delivered her kick. The group of prisoners stared at their largest member in horror before a thin and tiny old man approached Valeria. The girl looked down at the man who seemed confident in himself as he bowed. Surprised by this familiar gesture Valeria did the same before the two began their stance. They circled each other like calculating tigers before the small old man began to run around her at an incredible speed.
"Ho ho, it seems like your fighting style is rather similar to mine. But…" The speed began to increase as the other three prisoners snickered. One of them spoke up, presumably a woman: "You're done for, little girlie. That old geezer may be tiny, but he studied underneath a Lavine before. Perhaps you've heard of that mysterious clan, famous for their strength and mysteries?"
"Now that's interesting." Valeria shielded herself as the little old man delivered a hard kick towards her face and sent Valeria skidding backwards. The girl stopped herself at the edge of the platform as she anchored her toes into the ground. An angered smile with a mad glint in her eyes lit up her face as she commented: "Now which loser became crazy enough to teach a geezer? I don't need anymore Lavines and I certainly don't want half baked Lavine wannabes." Valeria leapt up and threw a punch at him. The old man managed to dodge the punch in the nick of time and stood on the opposite side of the platform from Valeria. He inhaled sharply as the surface on Valeria's side shattered. Her strength from the previous round could not compare.
Luckily for him, the punch seemed to shock Valeria into realization as she looked down at her fist with her dead expression. She felt disgusted that she allowed her instincts to take over. How lame, right after she made fun of her clan and blood, the very same blood took over her. The girl dusted her hands off as she waved her hand at the old man with a tilt of her head. "Do you still want to continue this?"
The old man began sweating and as a bead of sweat trickled down his chin, he lowered his head and muttered: "I surrender." The score became 0-2. The other prisoners immediately became disgusted with his reluctance and easy surrender as they muttered their discontent to him.
"Why'd you surrender just like that?"
"In the end, you're a pathetic old geezer."
"You don't understand! She knocked out Lewis with one kick and she shattered half of the platform with a punch. She's a Lavine." The old man was sweating and gritting his teeth. Of course he didn't like surrendering and losing the chance to shorten their sentences. But that was better than getting pounded alive by a female gorilla...or a tiger.
"Humph! It's because y'all using brute strength and looking down at her." A woman with short, red hair, twisted a strand of curl around her finger with a scoff. She pulled out a rose from underneath her collar and snapped her fingers. Immediately, two more flowers appeared. "Hey sweetie...do you believe in magic?"
"A commercial break?" Valeria watched as the woman descended the stairs to the platform. The redhead smirked as she sniffed the flowers and sighed in a satisfied manner. Her left hand reached out to the side and twisted around before rose petals flew around and gathered. They began to construct themselves into a hat and the woman placed it on her head with flourish. She snapped her fingers and rose petals began to flutter around. "It's showtime."
Valeria crouched down as she looked at all sides warily. Suddenly a kick was delivered to her stomach out of the tornado of flower petals. Valeria was sent flying backwards but she stopped her movement by clawing at the floor, leaving a long trail of what looks like claw marks. She was currently surrounded by a thick curtain of fluttering petals and was unable to hear, smell or see her opponent.
"Is this seriously magic?" Valeria looked around. Unknowingly to her, it wasn't magic but rather Nen. Valeria spun around in 90 degrees every so often to make sure she doesn't get attacked again. However there was no such luck and for the next while, the girl was beaten around blindly. After several attacks Valeria managed to grab ahold of the woman's leg and slammed her down, with full force. The redhead immediately coughed up blood as she struggled to stare at Valeria who didn't seem to suffer from much injuries other than small cuts and bruises caused by the rose's thorns.
"G-give." The woman surrendered as Valeria raised her fist, ready to ruin the woman's face. Valeria lets go as she picked her nose as the screen lit up with the exact words she wanted to see: 3-0, you may pass into the next obstacle of this trial."
Valeria looked down at the redhead who was shivering with a broken arm and then Valeria looked down on her fists, clenching them and then unclenching them. Valeria lifted her head and she walked up the stairs, past the other prisoners.
"I told you I didn't want to do this, but you made me do it."
The five prisoners watched the girl exit with terrified eyes. She was a petite girl but they saw the distortion of her tiger form into the beastly form of a tiger. Valeria descended the stairs and reached a large wooden door that seemed to have veins of moss attached to it. Arching her eyebrow at why there was suddenly moss in this area, she cautiously pushed the door open only to have her eyes brightened in silent joy. It was a goddamn jungle. Literally. There were plants everywhere, some being the most deadly ones. And currently, the largest and most dangerous plants were staring right at her: Venus Mantrap.
Valeria cracked her knuckles as the Venus Mantraps all started to attack her but Valeria propped their mouths open with her arm as she examined them with extreme interest. This was her paradise. She still has several hours so why not enjoy this jungle to her fullest?
As Gon and the others barely made it across, Kurapika looked around and the others began to follow suit, all looking for a certain gorilla. To their fear, the group didn't see any trace of her at all.
"You don't think Valeria…" Leorio began, but trailed off. Killua clicked his tongue in annoyance and anger as he pointed accusingly at Tonpa.
"If she didn't let that thing steal her spot, she would've made it."
"Guys, let us not talk as if she's failed already. It's Valeria." Kurapika attempted to calm them down. Gon nodded in addition, believing that she would make it.
"Let's believe in her."
"30 second." The intercom buzzed and began to countdown. As it reached 15 seconds, a door was knocked down, drawing everyone's attention. A string of curse words was heard from the opening before she walked out with a dazed look. She was carrying a large wooden plank under her arm, which she was using to knock down a series of doors. Turns out the last trial was more of a mental obstacle that effectively drove her insane. She dropped the door, noticing that it was the final destination. "Oh fuck, I made it. If I knew that there were twenty and more doors, I lost count after, I wouldn't have pretended to be Tarzan."
Not letting her catch a breath, the three boys ran up to her and gave her a hug while Killua nonchalantly walked over.
"Valeria! What were you doing?" Leorio shook her shoulders.
"We thought you were dead." Killua spoke, purposely faking his tone so that he sounded as if he was disappointed that she didn't die.
"It took you awhile, were there a lot of issues that even you couldn't handle? Must've been hard multiplying with double digits..." Kurapika patted her back, offering his condolences. Valeria stared at him, unsure if he just threw a backhanded comment at her or not.
"No….No, no! Why would I be dead? I was busy collecting plants." Valeria opened her bag to reveal numerous bottles containing different specimens of plants. The group then noticed that there were branches and leaves in her hair and she didn't smell like her usual jasmine like fragrance but she smelled like earth instead.
"I've read about them, but I've never actually seen them in real life and the Venus Mantraps were absolutely adorable. They're around five meters tall and rather boisterous but they're definitely a brilliant species. I gotta bring back some sort of souvenir from this damn place. What else is the point of travelling if you don't get a souvenir?"
"Venus…" Gon began.
"Mantraps?" Killua finished.
"What are those?" Leorio questioned with puzzled looks. Valeria plucked the twigs and leaves out of her hair as Kurapika helped her pluck the areas she could not see and reach. The girl eventually gave up and allowed Kurapika to pluck the rest out as she answered them. "Yup. They're a species of plants with a rather flat head and razor, sharp teeth. The head is like the shape of a half-moon." Valeria was drawing in the air with finger as she waved it around, attempting to visually describe it to Leorio, Gon and Killua.
"The intercom buzzed once more, marking the end of the exam: "Third round, number of participants that reached the goal: 27**, including one dead."
"Yikes. Unlucky for the dead soul." Muttered Valeria to the rest of her group. One of the gates lifted itself up and fresh air filled the damp and suffocating room they were in. It was proof that this wasn't going to be the sixty ninth door that Valeria was going to have to break through. Yes, counting over twenty becomes a hard task for her.
"Congratulations to those who passed. You now have only two trials left: the fourth and the last. The fourth will be located on Zebiru's island. Now, let's hurry!" A thin man, most likely one of the examiners, clapped his hands and a large man immediately rolled out a trolley with a box on it.
"Are we doing another magic show? " Valeria ruffled her hair and as if the word "magic" was some sort of keyword, Hisoka pulled out a deck of cards from midair and began to shuffle them until they disappeared once more. He then looked at her, trying to gain some sort of approval from her. Valeria scrunched her face as if telling him that his attempts to lure a kid in with a magic trick isn't going to work on her. As if testing her, he licked his lips and redirected his attention towards their examiner. Valeria shuddered from disgust and like a cat who keeps grooming itself because they feel gross, Valeria kept combing through her twintails.
"No, we're doing a lottery to determine the hunters and the prey. In this box there are 26 cards and you will all draw one." The thin examiner pushed up his glasses and Valeria tapped her chin, thinking. She looked down at her number and her badge glistened in the light. Number 406.
"Well come and pick up your card in the order of reaching the bottom of the tower." The examiner gave a pointed stare at Valeria, who scoffed and picked her nose. She flung her booger at the man and it stuck to his glasses. The examiner casually picked it off with a tissue paper as to prevent a fuss and coughed. As everyone finally finished picking their cards, Valeria went up. She stuffed her hands into the box and picked up the card: No.119. Valeria began whistling as she quickly scanned the crowd with a bored look. The girl then went back to her group and fiddled with the card in her hard.
"Now, your personal number and the card you took out are recorded inside this machine…" The examiner cleared his throat. "You are free to do whatever you want with your card. The number you picked up from the box is your target. If you've succeeded in taking your target's number, you will gain three paints. Your own card is worth three points. By the end of this trial, you need to accumulate 6 points in total. Any other card will only be worth one point."
The group was extremely silent as they began to take their time to process the information. Valeria was the first to break it. She took the tag off of her chest and stuck it in her pocket and muttered: "Well, it looks like it's going to be a killfest."
The four other boys blinked and they followed suit by stuffing their badges inside their pockets or bags. The rest of the participants did so too.
"Don't say it so casually, who knows, maybe everyone will live!" Gon smiled nervously but stayed optimistic.
"Yeah. We have -Homicidal," Valeria pointed at Hisoka who waved at them. Gon immediately shivered and inched backwards
" -masochist," Gittaruckur seemed to be triggered by the nickname as he started to have a spasm.
"And -Of-My-Kill-List I mean whoops, did I let that slip? Did he hear me saying that he's on the top of my to kill list?" Valeria repeated herself purposely as she glared intensely at Tonpa, effectively allowing him to hear what she said and to turn away.
"Pfft...no offence Valeria, but Tonpa seems too useless to kill anyone. I don't think you're scared of the right person. Hisoka and Gitta-whatever, I understand but not Tonpa." Killua stuffed his hands in his pockets as he held back his laughter.
"I never said he was going to kill someone. If you're wondering about the hidden meaning, I meant I'm going to wring that little weasel's neck with my own hands." Valeria said it loudly and Tonpa seemed to walk all the way to the opposite side, avoiding Valeria's group.
"Oops, I said it loudly by accident. I guess a certain pig got too scared and ran away." Valeria shrugged as Tonpa who glared back.
"What did you say?!"
"Nothing." Something flew by Tonpa and he turned back only to see a hole blasted in a large stone behind him. Shakingly, he looked back at the female gorilla, only to see her tossing a stone up and down in her hand with a frightening grin. "By the way, I'm missing one of my rocks. I guess one of them slipped by accident, could you kindly help me find it? Should be the one, oh I don't know, that blew through six trees?"
Kurapika sighed at Valeria's childish antics while Killua was picking up rocks from the ground and donating it to her.
"Hey Valeria, look at these sick rocks. These could be souvenirs."
"Oh, Killua. You don't understand anything about rocks. Look, this one is not sharp enough even though there's clearly a corner meant for stabbing. This is no good." She tossed the rock, creating a crater in the hole, in front of Tonpa. Tonpa nervously looked at the ground, then at Valeria and Killua who were smiling devilishly. Gon laughed nervously while Leorio cheered her on.
"Satan's spawns..." Tonpa muttered, mainly directed at Valeria and Killua.