A/N: I'm sorry I took such a long time. Please forgive me! *bows deep* I just have had so much other stuff to do and sudden inspirations that I've wanted to get out of my head. But now I wrote this one up. In one day! And I'm right now about to fall asleep but I wanted to get this to you since I got this done. I hope you like this. I stop rambling now and let you read. Good night!

Chapter 6
Lush Green: Zevil's Island

Sora slept and ate breakfast. Slept some more and woke up for lunch. Fiddled with her stuff for a couple of hours and played Q&A on her phone. Then was dinnertime. She fell asleep once more after that. First day was spent in that manner.

On the second day Sora talked a bit with other applicants. There was Pokkle, Ponzu, Siper and even Amori b(r)others… The blonde stayed clear from Hisoka, Gittarackur and a few more applicants like Goz. And Hanzo. Because no one could really listen to him talk. Oh yeah, he was a ninja and cool and stuff but he was way too talkative.

And while sometimes Sora was so bored she felt like just banging her head against the wall, she managed to find a positive aspect of her current situation: Tonpa wasn't there. And that about made it up.

It had been a few hours since the last meal. It had been almost as good as the meals in the airship. Naturally there had also been bathroom for the applicants to use where Sora washed her face and neck and hoped that Hisoka or someone else could smell the stench of blood and death that possibly lingered on her. Although it probably lingered on every single one of them…

The door opened. The last door. It was almost the deadline. Footsteps could be heard from there and after a minute Gon, Killua and Kurapika stepped out, wide smiles on their faces. They talked about blisters on their palms while Leorio and Tonpa followed them, trying to shove each other out of the way and thus fail. Sora smiled at the quartet. Everyone was here now. All twenty-four of them… No, not twenty-four. Twenty-five since Sora was there too. Oh dear, this was going to be a tough one.

The girl took a look on her phone where she had made a list of the remaining applicants and their numberplates. Next to those names where what happened each of them… It didn't leave much leeway for her…Right now she really wished that the Troll-Guide had some clear plans for her. Some non-Sue plans preferably.

"Ladies and gentlemen, congratulations on having escaped Trick Tower." Lippo told them when they all were gathered outside the base of the tower. Fresh air! Sora didn't know anything better than that. "Only the Fourth Phase and the Final Phase remain."

"Two more…" Hanzo commented. Lippo pointed over his shoulder at an island in the horizon.

"The Fourth Phase will take place over there, on Zevil's Island. Let us proceed." The examiner snapped his fingers dramatically and a box was brought over to them. Very anticlimactic.

And was it just her but was 'Zevil' a pun from 'Devil'? Sora remembered from somewhere that on some occasions in Japanese the words with a 'D' were written with 'Z' or vice versa. The same happened with 'V's and 'B's…

"I will need you to draw lots." Lippo continued the explanation. It roused chatter immediately. When Pokkle asked what was it for… "To determine who will hunt and who will be hunted."

Sora frowned. That wasn't a proper explanation. It gave an impression that they'd be divided in two groups and those would be the roles of the groups. The proper way to describe the 'game' would be "who will hunt who".

"In here are twenty-five numbered cards. In other words, your ID numbers are on the cards. Now, I need you each to draw a card in the order by which you exited the tower. Will the first person some forward?"

Hisoka walked to the box and picked a card which number was covered. Sora noted how Gon reacted on the clown's injure.

Gittarackur, the creepiest being ever, was next, then Hanzo, Gerreta, Pokkle and Goz. After those was Sora's turn. She swallowed nervously and walked to the box. She had no idea which number she'd get. Would she get a number that belonged to one of the characters surely making their way to the Final Phase? Hopefully not. Would she get number of one of their targets? Hopefully not. To her knowledge, Gittarackur was the only one who didn't get his initial target… Oh dear… Troll-Guide do your magic or you are dead.

Sora picked a card and returned to her place. Once there she removed her numberplate and put it deep into her backpack. Then she returned watching the rest of the applicants take the card of their target. She couldn't help but worrying who was going to get the card with her number.

At last Tonpa had also taken his card.

"Everyone's taken a card?" Lippo asked. "Then, remove the seal from your card."

They did. Sora let out a breath she'd been holding. While this was probably the worst cliché ever, it just might've just saved her life. Her card was one of the Amori brother's. The one who was not Killua's or Hanzo's targets. Which meant she probably should team up with the ninja at some point so they could catch those badges despite which way Killua would throw them. But the teaming up couldn't happen immediately. No, it'd be too suspicious. But maybe after the first or second day…

"The card indicates your target." Lippo's voice brought the girl back to reality. And the words he said caused an immediate reaction: applicants covered their badges. Sora kept an eye on the other's so she could see who would be targeting her. This far no one caught her attention but maybe in the boat they'd be more obvious.

"This box has recorded which card each of you drew. This means that you're free to dispose of the cards if you wish. The objective is to steal your target's ID tag."

"Oh, so we don't need to kill each other." Imori(blue-clad of the trio of brothers) breathed in relief.

"Naturally you're free to use any method you choose to steal the ID tags-."

Like Hisoka going on rampage…

"-Including killing your target and taking the tag off the corpse.

"That sounds like the fastest way." Amori(seriously they are called Amori brothers and one of their name is Amori?), the red-clad, smirked.

"S-So that's what this is about?" Imori stuttered.

"Fool, there's nothing to be scared of." Umori(the yellow one) nudged the blue boy.

"Listen carefully!" Lippo called. "Your target's ID tag is worth three points. Your own ID tag is also worth three points. All other ID tags are worth one point. You need six points to advance to the Final Phase. So while on Zevil's Island, you must gather enough ID tags to total six points. That is the condition for clearing the Hunter Exam's Fourth Phase."

The words were met with silence.

And so the boat ride began. Sora took her seat near Kurapika and Leorio. The two asked her about the path she'd taken since she'd been down so early.

"It was… interesting." Sora replied her eyes closed. "It had a quiz, a puzzle, a fight and a few choices."

"So you were alone the whole time?" Kurapika questioned. The girl opened her eyes.

"Yeah, I was. So?"

"Kurapika just was worried about you." Leorio grinned. "We all were after we realized what sort of obstacles we were facing." When the bluish green eyes narrowed, the to-be-Doctor hurried to explain. "I-I mean… there were five of us – not that the bastard would've been any help – and we still had troubles and you were alone…"

"I get it Leorio-kun." Sora held up a hand to stop the ramble. The med students eye twitched at the '-kun' but he didn't interrupt. "I appreciate your concern but I'm fine really. It was downright easy to get through the tower." That wasn't a lie. It had been easy. Frighteningly so even. "How about you? What did you meet along the way?"

And the duo (mostly Leorio though) launched into a tale of the Path of Majority Rule. Sora nodded and hummed in appropriate places but otherwise didn't really pay attention.

"I'd like to commend everyone onboard for their excellent performances in the Third Phase. I will serve as your guide." The woman speaking to a headset had orange hair and yellow eyes. She was wearing a red skirt and white long-sleeved t-shirt with a pastel yellow slipover. Her name, if Sora remembered correctly, was…"My name is Khara." Yep, that's right. "It will take two hours for this boat to reach Zevil's Island. All twenty-five applicants remaining here are automatically qualified to take the next year's exam!" A wink with a big yellow twinkling star. "So if you fail this year, don't feel bad. Please try again next year…" And the gloomy atmosphere caught her. Sora smiled to her sympathetically.

"Khara-san… you understand that about everyone here is thinking either passing the exam or preparing to die while trying it." The girl told the woman.

"Uh… yes…"

"The battle has already begun." Kurapika stated to Leorio and Sora.

"Yeah, everyone's removed their ID tags, and hid them." Leorio agreed.

"Well, you're free to do as you like, for the next two hours. Please enjoy the boat ride." Khara ended her speech, vanishing then to somewhere below the deck. Leorio glanced at his two companions nervously.

"Speaking hypothetically… if either of you happened to be my target, I wouldn't show any mercy."

"Naturally." Kurapika agreed. "If you happened to be my target, I would be the same."

"Hmm… If one of you were my target I wouldn't need to show any mercy. I'd just snatch he tag and flee. And neither of you would notice a thing." Sora mused. She was now more confident on her abilities and was pretty sure she was stronger than either of the two currently were.

Leorio panicked.

"I'm your target?!" He didn't even care which one of them he was talking to. Kurapika chuckled.

"I was speaking hypothetically." The Kurta smiled.

"Oh, right…"

"Don't worry. You are not my target. Neither of you." Kurapika pushed himself off the edge of the boat and made his way elsewhere.

"And you aren't my target!" Leorio called after him. Sora let out a laugh, making the young man turn to glare her.

"What now?"

"Well… You aren't my target either." The girl grinned before going to look for Gon and Killua.

But by the time she found them (the boat was surprisingly big), the child assassin was already leaving the porcupine kid. Killua stopped in front of Sora who also slowed down. The bright blue eyes scrutinized her for a moment.

"So you were the seventh applicant to pass." He stated.

"That I was."

"Was it easy? With your amnesia and all?"

"I did just fine. But it was easier than I thought." Sora smiled and with a nod, Killua continued his way. The girl sat next to Gon on the bottom of the boat. "Hello." She greeted him.

"Hello, Sora-san." The boy greeted back, smiling brightly.

"Do you already know who's your target?"

"I do. It's…" The boy swallowed before whispering. "It's Hisoka…"

"Oh, that's a bad one… I hope you survive from that alive then." The blonde grinned.

"So do I. What about you? What's Sora-san's target?"

"Someone." Sora shrugged. "But I already have a plan for that. Kind of…"

"Good luck then. I don't have any plan yet." Gon laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head.

"I'm sure you'll come up with one."

"Maybe…"

The rest of the journey was spent by idle chatting between Gon and Sora. The boy told about his life on the whale island and Sora told about the little she'd found out about her past.

"But all in all that was just a scratch on the surface. A couple of random flashbacks from so far back don't really tell much." Sora shrugged. Suddenly a sharp pain travelled across her left shoulder. The blonde girl flinched. "Ouch."

"Are you alright?" Gon leaned closer in concern as Sora squeezed the place the pain had flashed. It was gone now but the phantom pain lingered…

"I think so…" Sora frowned. She opened the top of her outfit and pulled it off her shoulder, leaving her only in a sleeveless t-shirt. When the girl got a look on her shoulder she saw… "Nothing. There's nothing."

"Nothing?" Gon peeked across her and blinked as he also noticed that the skin on the girl's shoulder was completely alright. There was no scar, no wound, not even a scratch.

"Weird… It really hurt just now…" Sora ran a finger across the area she'd felt the pain but didn't feel anything, just smooth skin. Surprisingly smooth actually.

"Maybe you'll find out about it when you remember more…" The green-clad kid suggested.

"Yeah… That must be it. I shouldn't bother myself about it yet; just concentrate on passing the exam."

The boat came to the shore and it was Khara's turn to take the stage for a moment once again.

"Thanks for your patience, everyone. We've finally arrived at Zevil's Island! Now, please disembark in the order by which you cleared the Third Phase." The woman explained. "After each person disembarks, we'll wait two minutes before the next person's turn."

Which meant that Sora's turn would be in fourteen minutes plus the time each person took to leave the boat.

"You will stay on this island for exactly one week. During that time, you must amass your six points of ID tags and return here.

"Alright then, the first person may start!" And Hisoka left.

When it was Sora's turn she took a note on people who especially watched her back. She wasn't sure was it because they thought she was their target or because they thought she'd be an easy target. It didn't exactly narrow down her list of potential enemies. Although in this game everyone was each other's enemy. Except the main char quartet. As she left, she wished a nice week for Khara who beamed at her then.

The first thing Sora did once she was in the shadow of the trees so people in the boat couldn't see her, was to sprint fast onwards. She'd better find a good place to camp for the upcoming week or at least for the first two nights. And she didn't need any stalkers to find her.

"If I remember right… There was a stream where Gon practiced his aim. If I find it I can stay there for a night. With Gon or without…"

The stream was found quite far from the starting point. And because some of the woods grew quite near to the water, it took her time to find and appropriate place to camp. And coincidentally she found one: the place where Gon was practicing with the apples hanging from the tree.

Sora stopped nearby and crouched low. She remembered that Gerreta was stalking Gon somewhere near too but wouldn't act until the sixth day or so. The boy himself was so immersed with his 'target' that he noticed neither of them. Finally Sora got enough of it and she stood up and coughed a bit. She had the boy's attention now.

"Sora-san?" Gon took a step back and crouched a bit into a defensive position. He was obviously thinking that she was after his tag. After all she hadn't mentioned her target's number.

"Easy, Gon-kun. I'm not after your badge." Sora chuckled. The boy blinked and relaxed a bit.

"You aren't?"

"Nope. Mine is one of the Amori brother's. Dunno which one."

"What are you doing here then?"

"Looking for a place to camp. Mind if I stay here? This place seems to be a good one. Besides it could be better to stay together for the first night. Safety in numbers and all that."

"Alright." The kid agreed immediately and the girl facepalmed mentally. The boy was way too trusting…

While Gon continued practicing, Sora set up the camp. Since neither of them had any proper camping gear with them, they decided to sleep under the open sky next to their campfire that the girl had set up. They didn't eat anything but Sora didn't even feel hungry. And she guessed Gon was used to camping and being without food for longer amounts of time.

When Gon finally fell asleep due pure exhaustion, Sora was able to spot Gerreta's hiding place in the dark. She sent a glare to the direction, telling him to stay clear from them.

Day two

Sora didn't sleep during the entire night. She wasn't tired. After sleeping so much at the Trick Tower, she felt like a Duracel bunny. And after Gon had gotten a good night's sleep, he acted like one. After waking up and washing his face, the boy was ready to continue his training. Sora just chuckled and picked up her backpack.

"Alright, I'm off now. Take care of yourself and watch your back, okay?"

"Sure. Good luck, Sora-san."

"Good luck to you too, Gon."

After two hours Sora found another clearing next to the stream. She sat down, took off her shoes and rolled up her pants legs before putting her feet to relax in the cool stream.

"Aah…" The blonde sighed in bliss. She had been so tense the entire night but now… Now she didn't sense anyone around so she allowed herself to rest her eyes for a moment. Just for a little moment…

Sora hit a man in the middle with a wooden staff her brother had shoved into her hands. The older boy in the other hand was beating two other guys with a pair of tonfas. They were almost down. The little girl dodged a swing and hit her staff behind the guy's knees now. The man went down and she hit him around the head for a good measure.

"Sora, run! I'll catch up then!" Her brother yelled suddenly.

"But nii-san…"

"Just go, I'm almost finished."

She began running, staff in one hand and her smaller backpack in the other. She could hear her brother beating down the other two guys. She risked a glance behind, just to see her big brother was alright. The boy took his bag and run after her but…

"Sora, look out!"

The girl whipped her head to look before her but too late. There had been a fourth thug. That guy seized the little girl up, making her drop the stuff she carried.

"Nii-san!"

"Let her go!"

"My, my… A strong pair of brats you are…" The man grinned. Though Sora couldn't see it, he was missing a couple of teeth. "I will get a good price from you…"

"Ngggh…" Sora struggled against the grip on her neck. Her tiny body had never felt so weak. "N-Nii-san…"

"Let her go!" The boy growled, rooted on the spot so he wouldn't provoke the man into hurting his sister.

"I don't think so." The thug sneered. The boy blew up. Sora didn't even know what happened. She couldn't follow the events at all. One moment her brother was standing in front of her and the next she was on his arms and the bad man was down. The boy was breathing loudly and holding her tightly.

"I told you to let her go…" He muttered, glaring at the corpse of the man behind the girl.

"Nii-san…?"

"Come, Sora. Let's go." The boy guided her gently away so she didn't need to see the dead body. He picked up her backpack and fighting staff and led her deeper into the forest where they'd been ambushed. Sora sniffed.

"N-Nii-san…" A tiny fist began rubbing tears away from her eyes.

"Yes, Sora?"

"I want to be stronger. A lots and lots and lots stronger. And faster. Faster than anyone."

"Why so?"

"So you don't need to worry about me. So I can take care of myself too. I want to… I wanna be as strong as Nii-san!" And little Sora was bawling her eyes out against her brother's moss green tunic. The boy hugged her.

"Alright. Let's make you stronger. I'll start teaching you. And we'll go somewhere full of strong people."

"Where's that?"

"Meteor City."

Sora blinked awake. Only one word was stuck in her mind now. One place. Meteor City. The teen swallowed. If she really was from there…

"There's no hope in finding any official records about me. And my strength might be more than I anticipated…" She muttered. Then she realized another detail from the memory. Her brother. She remembered him afterwards saying that he'd blacked out and didn't know what exactly had happened to the man. And that speed… It was much more than he'd usually done.

"Nen… I guess he used Nen for the first time back then." Sora drew circles on the surface of the water with her toes absent-mindedly. "I need to figure out my own abilities soon too. I need to know what my Nen type is…"

She got on her feet and put on her shoes. "But first I need to find Hanzo and Killua. And the Amori brothers."

It was late evening when Sora found the ninja. He was in the shadows, following Killua and Imori. Sora in the other hand stood on a branch of a tree. It was quite creepy and shadowy in that part of the forest but she didn't care. She needed the badge and she needed to trade it with Hanzo. As simple as that. But the time of confrontation wasn't yet. Well, she had time. Time and energy. And that's what she needed for the upcoming night.

Day three

Sora had finally spotted Hanzo. The ninja was on the left from their targets while Sora was on the right. Killua continued walking on. Sora took a short nap during midday but caught up quickly with the others. None of them seemed to have spotted her yet. She ate an apple she'd taken with her from Gon's training and drank some water from her water bottle but otherwise did nothing else aside from following her target.

Day Four

Imori was finally spotted. Sora let out a sigh of relief. The following had become a tedious job. She watched as Killua approached the young man. And there was the other two brothers. It was about the time already.

Yep, the showdown began. Killua took the badge from Imori and then got Amori as a hostage. Umori was forced to give up his own badge.

"And as for the tag I don't need…" The kid assassin smirked and turned around. He threw one badge into one direction and one to the other. Sora waited for a moment to see which one Hanzo would go to retrieve before dashing after the other one. Soon would be the bargaining time. And getting the badges of the other two applicants that Hanzo wouldn't target anymore.

It was fun to run after the other badge. The wrong badge. She didn't need to hold back her speed and her muscle memory made sure she didn't run into anything. The trees were just a blur around her as her feet just barely touched the branches and trunks.

"Gotcha!" Sora landed on the soft grass with the badge #197 on her hand. "And now to find the mouthy ninja."

Day Five

Sora found Kyu, the drunkard looking guy that had been Pokkle's target. The man was still out of cold and after going through his pockets, the girl found she'd been the guy's target.

"Too bad, drunky." She smirked and bounced into the woods.

Finding Hanzo again turned out to be one of the toughest missions this far. The ninja definitely knew his jutsu. On the way though Sora came face to face with Shishito, a guy who in the original story line was beaten up by Hanzo. The girl won the fight with him though and took his badge, #89. She could always keep it as insurance.

Day Six

Second last day. Sora slept well. She had bathed on the previous day in the stream and felt nice and clean and fresh now. She had also inspected her shoulder but had found nothing on it. Weird thing…

"Oh, hello, Ninja-san." Hanzo was just picking the tag of his fallen opponent, Kenmi who was number #362. The bald teen (Sora had troubles to believe the guy was a year younger than her) straightened up and directed a slight glare at her. "Easy, easy… I came here for a trade. You were hard to find you know." Sora laughed, showing her empty hands in mock surrender.

"A trade? Why and what would I want to trade with you?" Oh, good. He was sceptic unlike Gon.

"Well… I guess you were after this." Sora showed the badge #197 she had caught. "And I were after the other one."

"This one?" The ninja showed tag number #198.

"That's the one." The girl grinned. "Interested in an exchange?"

"I could always go after other applicants."

"You could but there's no one left." Sora shrugged. The ninja took a step back in shock. The blonde sighed and took out her phone where she had her list. "I did some research while here… There're a lot of applicants who already have their needed tags. Hisoka has four: his targets and three others. Gon has two: his and his target's. Same with Kurapika, Killua, Pokkle, Bodoro and Gittarackur. That means sixteen tags. Then there three from me: mine and two others. Nineteen. You've three too to my knowledge: yours and two others. That means twenty-two. So there're three badges left. Leorio is going after one of them and one is his own. The third one… I guess the owner is either dead or someone is using is as a bargaining chip somewhere else." The last one wasn't exactly a lie but technically Sora wasn't supposed to know what was the situation with Bourbon.

"Alright, I believe you. On three." Hanzo held up the tag its number towards Sora to indicate he wasn't trying to cheat while the girl did the same.

"One… two… three!" They tossed the badges simultaneously each other and caught the incoming ones.

"Thank you! It was a pleasure to make business with you." Sora waved her goodbye and jumped away before the ninja had a chance to reply.

Day Seven

Sora took it easy on the last day. She practiced/tested her knife-throwing skills both with the chained knives and the regular throwing knives. And she was impressed. All those things she were able to do…

"I must've practiced hard…" The girl muttered as she went to wrench the blades out of some poor tree.

Dhooooo!

It was the boat.

"The Fourth Phase of the exam has just ended." Khara's voice echoed on the island. "Will the applicants please return to the starting point at once? You will be given one hour of extra time. If you do not return during this time, you will fail the exam. Furthermore, you are not allowed to exchange tags after reaching the starting point."

Sora made her way towards the shore. She could see Pokkle, Killua and Hisoka going to the direction before her.

"Anyone caught swapping tags will be disqualified."

They were standing on the rocky shore of the starting point. Khara stepped out of the boat to count the points. Almost everyone was there. Only the Trio was missing.

"Then we will now check the tags of everyone here!" Khara smiled. They showed their tags they'd gathered. For some reason Sora felt extreme satisfaction that she (and Hanzo) had one point more than the rest of the passed applicants. But that was trivial.

"So, seven applicants have passed?" Their ginger guide asked. "Oh?"

And the Trio was there! On the last second like on the previous phase. They showed their badges. Sora and Killua noted the slight change on Gon's behavior but neither of them commented it.

"So these ten applicants have passed the Fourth Phase of the Exam!" Khara announced in proper mahoujo-shoujo anime style. Sora had to hold back a grimace.

"Well, I can't wait for participating in the quite peculiar fight." The girl decided to state as everyone made their way to the boat. Above them the airship of the Hunter's Association was to be seen floating leisurely.

Sora yawned on her seat on the windowsill. After a short boat ride, they'd embarked on the airship. Embark… How she hated that word… But now the excitement of the last week was wearing off and she was extremely tired. She could just…

The blonde's head hit the glass softly and she was off to the land of dreams once again.

A/N: And here was are again. On the Author Note of the bottom of the page. I bet you've got some questions and I've decided to answer them. But only if the answers aren't spoiling the plot. Although I guess you already have quite a good idea of Sora's background now.

And I think I'm going along with the Japanese names. Altought Chrollo will be Chrollo since Kuroro is the way of writing it in Japanese and it looks stupid if he has Japanese looking first name and Western last name. Don't you agree?

Review Replies:

-Pri-Chan 1410:
Thank you very much. As you can see the update is finally here. :D

-SakuraPetals13:
Thank you very much! Your comment made my day!
I think I get you are saying. I'm trying my best. I don't like it either when an OC comes and(if it's a self insert fic) keeps saying that s/he won't change anything and nothing out of the plot will happen, YET they go and change things. I know that Sora will have troubles when she comes to face the fact she'll let Pokkle and Ponzu die and not warn them. I remember reading a SI fic where the char goes to warn them. It was a good fic but... yeah...
Simon? Yeah... She'll meet him. But he lives in Meteor City. As you cen see from this chapter, that place deals a great significance to her.
And having one flashback per chapter must be also taxing for her. I feel for her. :'|
Dank juu! I hope you hear your opinion about this chapter too. :D

-Guest:
As you can see I came to the same conclusion. :)