The two of them continued to walk down the large corridor as they cautiously moved through it,
They then found themselves in front of a large door
"Press O to open or X to keep close...well that's not a hard thing to decide" Pokkle said as he pressed the O on his timer along with Ruma.
The Door then slowly opened, both of them cautiously walked through the door and as soon as they did the door quickly shut behind them an they were left in darkness
"I can't see" Ruma said
"Why is it so damn dark" Pokkle said
HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA!"
both of them looked and noticed a skinny man holding what looked like a candle along with a key hanging around his neck.
"Who are you?" Ruma said
"Hehe, just a humble prisoner serving a 200 year sentence is all" The man said through a creepy grin.
For what?" Pokkle said
"For slaughtering a small village...Not that it really matters." the man said nonchalantly
"Why are you here?" Ruma said
"Oh yeah I'm just part of a little game were going to be playing" The man said
"What Game?" Pokkle said
Its called "Key hunt" the man said
"and why would we play?" Pokkle said
Well I'll tell you..you see this door behind me? you will need two keys in order to get through One of those keys you will find in the the next chamber behind the door to the right and as for the second one..." The man said holding the key to his neck
Pokkle then quickly took his Bow and readied his shot.
"Pokkle what are you...?" Ruma siad
Pokkle then shot his Arrow but before it could do anything the man dropped the candle and dodged as everything went black, and as the light turned back on the man dissapeared
"Where did he go?" Ruma said
"Hey now that wasn't very nice" and echo went out
"Like I'm going to be nice to a murdering psychopath like you" Pokkle said
"Well that was just plain rude and here I thought you and that little brat would be fun." the mans aid
Who are you calling a brat!?" Ruma yelled
"You see if you two fail, my sentence gets deduced by half and in order to get this key around my neck your gonna have to earn it by opening the door to my cell, which is also the key to the main door out of here and fighting me, although I highly doubt you have a chance of succeeding...Good luck" The Echo ended
The two of them then stood towards the door. Pokkle and Ruma then pressed the button on there timers to open it.
"Well here goes nothing" Pokkle said
as they continued on the path that they were talking slowly started to build up more and more light as they went further down.
"What do you think we might encounter here?" Ruma said
"I don't know but keep alert?" Pokkle said
As they continued forward they found themselves Near a rail cart along with another map on the wall
"Its another map" Ruma said
the map showed a lot of railways some leading to dead end and others intersecting as well.
Ruma and Pokkle then started to at the description
"two of the Applicants who ride this Trolley must work together to traverse this track, the buttons on your timers will change the directions of the track at each specific point, be sure to choose wisely as you go" Pokkle said reading the description.
Ruma then looked at the cart with skepticism and then slightly kicked it
"It seems okay" Ruma said
"Well its not like we have a choice were going to need to ride this in order to get to our destination" Pokkle said as got into the cart
Come on." Pokkle said as he helped Ruma into the Cart, Pokkle then looked at the release latch and then pulled it back to release the mine cart and they could feel themselves being carried off.
As time went by they then found themselves at a crossroads as they stopped and the railway was starting to shift as two pathways opened
"So which one do we take?" Ruma said
"I pick Right" Pokkle said quickly pushing the button,
"Hey! At least give me a minute to think" Ruma said as she pushed the button to go right
"Whats there to think about I know what I'm doing, trust me" Pokkle said
Soon there section of the railway then started to Connect to the right passage, but as soon as they continued forward they then felt themselves heading straight down really fast as they both screamed.
the Mine cart then took off nearly derailing them both
"LEAN TO THE LEFT!" Pokkle yelled
Ruma and Pokkle quickly tilted the cart to the left putting the cart back in place.
"WE GOT TO SLOW THIS DOWN!" Ruma yelled
Ruma and then started to pull back on the brake but it wasn't working
Pokkle then tried to help Ruma slow it down but then the brake snapped off,
"This is bad" Ruma said
Pokkle then looked forward and saw another crossing coming
"Theres another crossing coming!" Pokkle yelled
"LETS GO LEFT THIS TIME!" Ruma yelled pressing the button along with Pokkle
The Mine cart then took a tight turn to the left as they were almost tipped over to the side again.
"HOW LONG DOES THIS THING GO!?" Pokkle yelled to himself
Oh No" Ruma said looking forward as they saw a Ramp
HOLD ON!" Pokkle yelled
Pokkle and Ruma then gripped on the sides of the cart as it jumped and then slammed back onto the rail again.
"Look! I can see the end of this thing!" Pokkle yelled
BUT THERES A GAP THOUGH!" Ruma yelled
"Looks were going to have to jump" Pokkle said
"What!?" Ruma said
"Theres no choice! if we don't we'll die!" Pokkle yelled
All right!" Ruma yelled
Ready..." Pokkle said
The Cart then jetted off the rails forward but as soon as it started to tilt down to the abyss below.
"JUMP!" Pokkle yelled
Ruma and Pokkle then jumped as there legs pushed off the cart as it was falling into the darkness below, Pokkle jumped far enough to make it ot the other side and rolled, as Ruma quickly grabbed the edge as she barely missed
"I'm slipping!" Ruma yelled as she was trying to pull herself up. Pokkle quickly grabbed her by the arm as she was mere second from losing her grip, Ruma was then quickly brought up,
"Man...That was a close one" Ruma said as she took a huge breath.
Pokkle then stopped by the door
"We need to keep going, come on" Pokkle said as he pressed the button
"Wait, lets just catch our breath for a minute" Ruma said sitting down
"Look we don't got time for resting the sooner we get that key the better" Pokkle said
"You know were suppose to work as a team you know that right?" Ruma said
"Yes..I do so why aren't you working with me?" Pokkle said
"What!? Why don't you take into consideration on how I'm feeling right now, we just got done nearly escaping death right now!" Ruma said
"Look...we don't have time to argue about this lets just continue on." Pokkle said
"Not until I have my break first!" Ruma yelled
"You can have your break later!...Lets go!" Pokkle yelled
"...No"" Ruma said
" What!?" Pokkle said
I said No! I want to take a little break!" Ruma yelled
"Why are you being so difficult?!" Pokkle yelled
"I'm...Scared! Okay!...I just want to sit down and just...Catch my breath...Please." Ruma said in a kind of scared tone.
Pokkle then looked at her and then sighed.
"Alright, fine" Pokkle said
"...Thank You" Ruma said
Pokkle then sat down to.
"Ruma was just took a deep breath and reacheed into her backpack and took out a canteen of water, and Drank it.
"Do you want a drink?" Ruma said
"I'm fine" Pokkle said
There were then silent for a minute
"So, is this your first time taking the Hunter Exam, its mine" Ruma said
"No" Pokkle said
"Really? how many times have you tried it?" Ruma said
"This will be my second time taking it, the first time I was fifteen years old, I actually made it to the 4th phase of the exam." Pokkle said
"But?" Ruma said
"What do you think? I didn't pass...it kind of broke me...for a while...So I decided to use the last 2 years to hone my skills and take it again, and this time I'm gonna pass it." Pokkle said
"Have you decided on what you want to do when you become a hunter?" Ruma said
"Not yet, but I got a few ideas in mind...How about you why do you want to become Hunter?" Pokkle said
"I want to become a Beast Hunter" Ruma said
Pokkle then lifted an eyebrow.
"What?" Ruma said
"Oh nothing, I just find it surprising thats all, I didn't really picture you being interested in something like that?" Pokkle said
"Well you know what they say, looks are deceiving" Ruma said
"Why do you want to become that kind of Hunter?" Pokkle said
Ruma then took out her Journal
"Well weirdly enough its because of this" Ruma said as he walked towards him to show him, Pokkle then looked at it with an intriguing look, seeing the pictures of different creatures and there Descriptions.
"Did you do this?" Pokkle said
"No, it was my fathers Journal...he was a beast Hunter, at least that's what I was told by my Mom, it kind of opened my eyes to how many cool things and creatures are out there in the world still ready to be discovered, and I want to find them, and the only way for me to do that is to become a Hunter" Ruma said
"This is really cool, your father must've been a very committed Hunter to put in so much detail with these creatures" Pokkle said
Ruma was just silent and was kind of smiling. Pokkle then gave the journal back to her.
"Are you ready to go?" Pokkle said
"Yeah lets get going" Ruma said pushing the button on her watch as the door opened up
(Later)
"I hope that were nearing the end of this hallway, I didn't expect it to be this long, Ugh" Ruma said
"GROWL"
Man I'm Hungry" Ruma said
Yeah me to, I don't suppose you have anything in that backpack of yours?" Pokkle said
Just about 6 Granola bars left" Ruma said
as they walked forward they then stopped as they saw sharp wires sprouting down the Maze. along with some minor holes covering the floors, alogn with some of them being noticeably cracked.
What the hell is this?" Pokkle said
Ruma slightly touched the the wire with her finger and it slightly cut her.
"Ow." Ruma said
"Careful, the Wire seems to be really sharp, one wrong move and we'll be sliced to pieces. just carefully try to maneuver your way through" Pokkle said as he carefully got up
Pokkle and Ruma then started to slowly try to traverse through the Wires, going under and over the Wires, Ruma slowly went under one of the wires as it stretched across her head as she carefully went under it but as she did she felt that he ground below her was starting to give way, she quickly moved before the small portion of of ground that she stepped on gave way, as her cheek was slightly slashed.
Pokkle was having trouble himself as he maneuvered around and as he put his foot down onto part of the floor and it collapsed casusing him to slump onto the ground dangerously close to a Wire. Ruma quickly turned around
"I'm fine..Just keep going" Pokkle said as he pulled himself up.
"were almost there just a little bit further" Ruma said as she moved forward.
Ruma then approached the last row of wires and the only opening was in the middle, alogn with another wire after.
I'm going to have to jump through the middle and dive under the other one." Ruma said
Ruma then took a deep breath
"Okayokayokayokayokay" Ruma said
Ruma then jumped through the middle of the wire and then slid under the other wire as a small slice of hair was clipped off her head.
"Alright, I'm through" Ruma said as he turned towards Pokkle who was next to do the jump.
Pokkle then readied himself, and then he made his jump, but as he landed part of the floor gave way and was unable to slide, and with a last ditch effort he decided to jump over the wire instead but as he did he ended up clipping his leg onto the wire as it gave him a deep cut down his lower leg,
"AHHHHH!" Pokkle yelled as he landed on the ground with a thud holding his leg as it was bleeding
"Oh my god!" Ruma screamed
Pokkle quickly rolled up his pant leg and saw the long gash it was about 6 inches.
"the cut is not to deep so its not to bad, Ruma I'm going to need your help, you know how to stitch right?" Pokkle said through gritting teeth
"What?" Ruma said
"Do you know!?" Pokkle said raising his tone
"well I use to stitch up clothes with my mom" Ruma said
" Good enough, its just about the same but with just skin" Pokkle said
"That does not make it better Pokkle" Ruma said
"Please...I won't be able to do this on my own...I need you to help me...please" Pokkle said
Ruma just took a deep breath
"Okay fine what do you need me to do?" Ruma said
"Check my quiver, there are small pockets on it, in one of them you will find some extra string for my bow" Pokkle said
Ruma quickly looked through the quivers pockets and found the extra string.
"Now were going to need something sharp to pierce through the skin carefully I don't suppose you have a needle or anything by any chance do you?" Pokkle said
"I can look" Ruma said
Ruma looked through her backpack and as she did she noticed something sticking out of the side of her back pack, it was a fishing hook from Gons fishing rod.
"Huh?....it seems one of Gons fish hooks was snagged off of his rod when he handed my backpack back to me" Ruma said
"can we use this?" Ruma said showing Pokkle the hook
"That'll work, (Inhales)...Okay" Pokkle said
Ruma then attached the string to the hook.
"Do you have anything to drink?" Pokkle said
"Ruma then gave him her canteen and he took a huge drink out of it.
"Okay, I'm ready" Pokkle said
Ruma took the Canteen back and then poured some some onto her hands to wash off any dirt that was on her hands and fingernails
Ruma then carefully pierced the skin but as soon as she did Pokkle grunted loudly in pain.
"Sorry" Ruma said quickly stopping
"No, just keep going we got to get this wound closed" Pokkle said
Ruma then slowly pulled the hook through the skin and then she went to loop it onto the other part of the skin. Ruma then continued on, what felt like hours for Ruma as the constant grunts and screams from Pokkle started to make her uneasy.
"All right I'm almost done" Ruma said
"...Hey Ruma" Pokkle said
"Yeah" Ruma said
"...I just want to say...Thank you, for doing this for me, this would've been twice as hard for me if I didn't have somebody to stitch this" Pokkle said
"Don't worry about it were both in this together" Ruma said
"No...I was kind of a jerk earlier...and I'm sorry" Pokkle said
"Its fine, I'm use to getting yelled at" Ruma said kind of uncomfortable as she finished the final loop completely closing the wound.
"There, that should do it" Ruma said washing some blood off of her hand with some of the water out of her canteen.
"Pokkle then slowly tried to get up with his good leg.
"here" Ruma said giving him a shoulder for support, as he got up he then tried to give the leg some pressure by putting his foot on it and he made slight grunt in pain, but was able to give it a little support.
"There I should be able to walk a little bit, if I just take it slow It should heal in no time." Pokkle said
"Alright lets get the Key" Ruma said as she went to grab the key from the wall
and as she did the side of the wall by them then opened a passage way
"This should lead us back" Pokkle said
"as they walked through they noticed a description of the passage and how long it will take to get back and when they looked they were bug eyed
"20 hours!?" They both yelled out
Pokkle looked at his timer watch.
"We still have some time left, we should be able to make it back in time" Pokkle said
But theirs no telling what we might cross once we enter it though" Ruma said
"Its not like we have a choice" Pokkle said as he slowly started to walk with his injured leg
"Are you sure you will be able to walk a bit further?" Ruma said
"I'll be fine, lets just get going" Pokkle said
"I'll Lead the way" Ruma said
"Alright...lets go" Pokkle said
(19 hours later)
After what felt like forever, Ruma and Pokkle could see the end of the tunnel,
"Hey look Pokkle were almost there" Ruma said with a smile
"Thats good" Pokkle said kind of exhausted as he felt the pain in his leg, he then slightly tripped
"Pokkle!" Ruma said
"Don't worry I'm fine I just stumbled I can still walk" Pokkle said as he got up
as they finally made it out they had a sigh of relief when they saw the Familiar room with the Two doors, Ruma then took out the key and then opened the door to the Prisoners Cell. and as she opened it she noticed that the Cell was large room which was set like a battle Arena with The Prisoner sitting down likee he was bored
"Well it seems that you've made it Well thats a shame, I was hoping for a Freebee with my sentence, Ah well," The Prisoner said as he took out a Hunting knife.
"So which one you Will i be fighting?" the prisoner said as he stylishly twirled his knife in his hands
"Alright, Pokkle you stay here and rest, I'm going to takke this guy" ruma said
"What?..No not by yourself" Pokkle said
"your not in any condition to really fight Pokkle...Don't worry I can handle this guy" Ruma said as she took out her Bo staff and slowly walked into the Arena
"Oh I see, so a little brat is who I am going to have to kill huh?" The Prisoner said
Ruma just looked at him with her Bo staff in hand.
"what your gonna do? Whack me with that? Ha good luck with that!" The Prisoner said lunging his Hunting knife towards her
Ruma without hesitation quickly swatted the hunting knife away by quickly hitting his hand with a painful force
"OW!" The Prisoner yelled
Then Ruma quickly jabbed the end of her Bo Staff right into the Prisoners face, breaking his nose
"You little bitch!" The prisoner screamed ready to lunge at her only for her to trip him. Ruma then twirled back her Bo Staff into position The Prisoner then started to get angry as he picked up his hunting knife again Ruma quickly dodged to the right and Quickly ducked as she hit his Stomach making him Bend Forward as Ruma quickly went up with her Bo Staff hitting him underneath his chin and then on the top of his head knocking him down again. the Prisoner then coughed out as he as he slowly tried to get up, as the prisoner looked at her with Anger
"how are you..." The prisoner said shocked
"I had a good teacher" Ruma said as she twirled the staff knocking him on the head knocking him out, Ruma then casually took the key from him and then started to walk out of the cell. With Pokkle flabbergasted.
"What?" Ruma said
"Uh...How did you.." Pokkle said
"Like I told him I had a good Teacher" Ruma said
"Well...it was impressive to see you handle that guy that was twice your size" Pokkle said
"Well we got our two keys lets get that door open" Ruma said smiling
"Right" Pokkle said as he took out his key
Ruma and Pokkle stood infront of the large door and then inserted the two keys into the slots as they turned the keys a mechanism can be heard as the as the door started to open, and not to there Surprise it was another Hallway
"Great another Hallway" Pokkle said
"Come on!" Ruma said running down it with Excitement
"Hey Wait!" Pokkle said as he started to slightly jog
(The bottom of the Tower)
I can see the Exit!" Pokkle yelled
It wasn't long until both Ruma and Pokkle ran through the Exit
"All right Goal!" Pokkle yelled
"Yeah!" Ruma yelled
Pokkle and Ruma then quickly did a High five as another door opened with an Applicant arriving.
"Pokkle applicant number 53, Ruma applicant Number 406 and Goz Applicant number 371 arrived simultaneously Time elapsed 30 hours and 4 minutes" The Intercom yelled
"30 hours?" Ruma said
" huh? I was expecting for us to get out a bit later then that" Pokkle said
Ruma then started to look around the large area only seeing a few applicants one of them being Hisoka who then stared at her which Ruma got a little nervous from but he quickly put his head back down shutting his eyes with a smile. but what she was really concerned was that none of her other Friends Gon, Killua, Kurapika and Leorio made it yet.
Hey Ruma look theirs food" Pokkle said pointing at the the extended Food rack
"Huh?...Oh yeah, thats great" Ruma said staggering with her words
"Are you okay?" Pokkle said
"I just thought that my friends would be here" Ruma said
"Well we still got 40 hours left I'm sure they'll be here soon" Pokkle said
"Yeah your right, I shouldn't worry to much" Ruma said with a slight smile
"Well I don't know about you but lets get something to eat" Pokkle said
"Yeah" Ruma said
(30 hours Later)
59,60,61,62,63,64" Ruma said quietly counting as she was kicking up her footbag. while Pokkle was laying up against the wall resting as his leg was healing up. then suddenly another door then started to open up and Ruma quickly stopped and looked with anticipation only to see a monkey and his master come out.
"Sommy Applicant Number 118 is the 16th to pass time elapsed 61 hours and 54 minutes"
Pokkle then looked at his timer
"Really? we still have 10 hours left?" Pokkle said
Ruma just let out a big sigh as she laid back up against the wall and started to tap her foot in worry.
"Come on guys hurry up." Ruma said to herself in anger
"Ruma worrying about it isn't going to get them here any faster" Pokkle said
Ruma just slumped down to the ground.
"Yeah I know" Ruma said
"These guys must be really important to you for you to worry this badly" Pokkle said
"I've only known them for a short while, But for some odd reason...I felt like I've known them for a very long time...I've never really had friends...and every time I tried to make friends people would just make fun of me and well...Yeah" Ruma said when she couldn't think on what else to say without embarrassing herself
"Its fine..I understand...Why not try to get some rest, keep your mind off of things" Pokkle said
"Yeah that seems like a good idea" Ruma said as she put the back of her head up against the wall and closed her eyes
(9 hours and 58 mins later)
Hey Ruma wake up" Pokkle said shaking her by the shoulder
"Huh?" Ruma said
"We got two Minutes left until the Phase is over" Pokkle said
"What?" Ruma said as she quickly got up
Then suddenly another door started too open, Ruma then waited in anticipation to see who will come out, but to her disappointment it was someone else, and he was extremely in bad shape.
"I...finally..made it" The guy said before collapsing to the ground Imori the youngest out of the Amori Brothers checked his pulse
"He's dead" Imori said
"Damn what a Moron, better to survive and try again next year then to pass and die trying" Umori said
" 1 minute remains" the intercom said
"Thats it then looks like its the 21 one of us that are here" Imori said
Rumas expression then turned into sadness as she put her head down Pokkle then put a hand on her shoulder out of Sympathy
"I'm sorry" Pokkle said
Ruma just sighed but before she could say anything another door then suddenly started to open, and much to everyone's surprise when 3 figures came out, it was Gon, Killua and Kurapika.
"Kurapika number 404 is the 22nd to pass, Killua number 99 is the 23rd to pass, Gon number 405 is the 24th to pass time elapse 71 hours and 59 minutes 30 seconds remain" The intercom said
"Even with that Big slide that was really close" Gon said
"Yeah My hands are covered in Blisters" Kurapika said
"Same here" Leorio said as he was trying to get through the Entrance but Toppa was getting in his way
"Leorio Number 403 is the 25th to pass and Tonpa Number 16 is the 26th to pass, Time elapse 71 hours and 59 minutes."
"my hands are wrecked but the five of us were able to get through the tower together didn;t we? and it all thanks to you Gon" Leorio said
"We entered the long and Difficult path, broke down the wall and snuck through the short and easy one" Kurapika said
"I can't believe you came up with that idea right on the spot Gon" Leorio said
"I figured we were able to break through the walls with the weapons, but it did take up most of the time that we had though" Gon said
"HEY YOU GUYS!"
All of them turned and saw Ruma running towards them
"RUMA!" Kurapika, Gon, and Leorio yelled
"You made it through!" Gon said
Rumas face then turned sour as she slightly punched, Gon, Kurapika and Leorio on the arm
"Ow, what was that for?" Leorio said
"THATS FOR MAKING ME WORRY ALL THIS TIME YOU JERKS!" Ruma yelled
"Yeah sorry about that, we just got sidetracked a little, Thats all" Leorio said
"gee and whose's fault is that I wonder?" Killua said
"SHUT UP!" Leorio screamed
"I'm just glad you guys are alright" Ruma said
"We could say the same for you, glad that you made it out okay to" Kurapika said
"It wasn't easy but just like all of you I wasn't alone to deal with it" Ruma said looking at Pokkle who then gave her a slight wave.
"The Third phase of the Hunter Exam is now over 26 applicants have passed including one deceased" The Intercom said
The Main door then started to slightly open as all the Applicants awaited for the Fourth Phase to start.