Chapter 5: An astonishing test
Killua was waiting, waiting for the return of his friends who were lost in the "crook's nest". He did not see Hisoka among the candidates who like him had passed the first test of the exam and suspected that if Gohan looked so panicked when he had left to look for the others, it must have been the fault of candidate no. 44. However, he was largely happy to see his friends coming to the end of the road.
"Gon! You are finally here." He said to his friend who had just arrived.
"Yes, we had a little problem." Gon replied, who seemed a little breathless.
"And Gohan, where is he?" Killua asked, more curious than he was worried that he would not see the saiyan-earth hybrid among them.
Before Gon could respond a bright light appeared in the sky and descended on the candidates. Gohan stopped using levitation and flexibly landed alongside his friends.
" Sorry for the delay." The half saiyan said after landing.
"How did it go with Hisoka?" Gon asked worried.
"I think, I managed to get him out of the race." Gohan replied.
"Uh ... How did you manage to defeat Hisoka, he's stronger than you, aren't he?" Killua asked who did not really understand the situation.
"You would have seen Gohan by the time he arrived to save us, he was literally exuding power!" " An excited Gon replied before even Gohan could answer" It has to do with ki, right? Can you teach that to Killua and me? "
"Well not really, it has to do with ki, but it does require certain genes that I inherited from my father." Gohan replied, a little embarrassed.
" Is that so?" Gon said with disappointment.
"I would love to know what happened!" Killua shouted who was tired of being in the dark about what had happened.
After a few apologies, everyone gave their version to Killua, who was a little disappointed that Gohan had lied to him but quickly forgave him when he realized that his friend and mentor certainly had a lot more to teach him than he thought. Gohan, on the other hand, felt Hisoka's ki coming closer to them.
'So he managed to take it in and come back, damn it,' Gohan thought of the evil clown still in the running.
And indeed a few minutes later, Hisoka arrived and qualified for the rest of the exam. He had a few scratches but no critical wounds. He gave a slightly unhealthy smile to the five candidates he had met in the "crook's nest".
"Ladies and gentlemen, congratulations on getting here." Satotsu said to all the remaining candidates. "The first test is now coming to an end; the second test will take place here in the Biska forest park. Congratulations again to the 149 candidates who have arrived so far, I will now withdraw. "
And with these words, the judge withdrew and the iron door in front of which the candidates waited opened. Behind her were several little kitchens.
"Let all the candidates who passed the first test approach." A woman said who was to be the judge of this test.
Gohan, his friends and the rest of the candidates entered the large courtyard, which was filled with little kitchens. At the bottom of this courtyard, there were two people: A girl with turquoise blue hair wearing five braids who was the one who called all the candidates. The second person was a clearly obese man who was almost three meters tall. According to Gohan, these two new judges were about the same level as Satotsu.
"Very well, let's introduce myself, I'm one of the two judges in the second round, my name is Menchi." The girl said, getting up from her seat.
"As for me, I am the second judge of this event: Buhahra." The man said without moving.
"We are gourmet hunters," said the two in one tone.
With these words, almost all the candidates burst out laughing at the unexpected statement by these two new judges.
"And so, gentlemen gourmets, what is your ordeal?" Asked candidate number 255, Todo the Wrestler smugly.
"Buhahra." Menchi said much drier, clearly offended by the candidate's tone.
"Today you're going to cook pork for us." The fat judge said as he stood up.
"Obviously, the test will be based on the kitchen," Gohan said to himself after hearing the judge's instructions.
"You are going to have to capture a pig in the Biska forest park, whatever species of pig will do, we will taste the dishes you will make from the captured pig and the other ingredients at your disposal." Buhahra said.
"If we both validate your dish, you will be qualified for the next test, the test will end when we are both satisfied." Menchi finished.
"With that, let the second test of the 287th Hunter exam begin." Buhahra announced, hitting his stomach as if it were a gong.
And all the candidates went to get a pig to cook for the second test.
"No matter what kind of pig, you too can be vicious." Menchi said to his judge as they watched the candidates walk away.
"It was my role to select the ingredients, right?" Buhahra retorted.
"There is only one species of pig in the Biska forest park," Menchi said.
"I hope there aren't too many of them who will die." Buhahra concluded with a semi-sadistic smile.
For their part, the candidates were looking for the pigs requested by the judges. Our five friends, on their side after a small pileup between the three youngest. They had finally located a horde of large pigs that were ... gnawing on bones?
"Are they carnivores?" Gohan asked out loud.
At that moment, one of the pigs saw them and loaded the five candidates with the other pigs.
"Ooh, we found them!" Killua shouted sarcastically as the five candidates started to join the area where the majority of the other candidates were, some of the candidates, moreover, taken by surprise, took charge of the pigs with full force which sent them far into the sky.
"The Great Stamp, the most ferocious pig in the world, those who do not run fast enough will be kicked by the pig." Buhahra said, watching some candidates fly over the treetops following the load of pigs.
And indeed, the candidates found it difficult to manage the horde of rabid pigs. Whether Todo the wrestler by sending a big pebble on one of them, the ninja n ° 294 Hanzo whose shuriken broke on the pig's snout, even Gohan did not manage to pass the punch with a big punch defense of the pig's snout.
"Damn, these pigs are tough." The half-saiyan said seeing Gon also struggling to cut down the Great Stamp in front of him.
However, the boy had seen that an apple falling on his forehead behind his snout seemed to be causing him great pain.
" What if ?" Gon wondered before placing a sharp blow from his fishing rod on the beast's forehead, killing him instantly.
"Their weak point is their forehead." Gon shouted to all the candidates who were still standing.
" Okay. Their big snout is not a spear to impale their victims but a shield to protect their sensitive forehead, " Kurapika said, attacking his pig with much more confidence than before.
From that moment on, it was a carnage, the 71 candidates who had not been hit by the Great Stamps, easily defeated the pigs whose weak point they finally knew and returned to the judges.
"Well, she's not bad at all this year's selection." Menchi said, seeing so many candidates returning victorious from this first part of the test.
"Now is the tough time." Gohan thought to himself as he placed his pork on the stove to cook on a spit like almost all the other contestants.
And indeed, things got tough because, if Buhahra accepted almost all the dishes offered to him, Menchi, she did not accept any. Whether it's Todo the wrestler, Hanzo the Ninja or even Gon, Leolio and Kurapika were all failing.
"Well, they are struggling." Killua said sarcastically.
"I'm going to try my turn; this judge seems to be a fine mouth." Gohan replied in a somewhat unsure tone.
Gohan placed his dish in front of the two judges and said humbly, "Sorry, I'm not very good at cooking."
As expected, Buhahra approved his dish but Menchi did not.
"At least you recognize that cooking is not your strong point." The judge said with a sympathetic smile.
A few minutes later, the two judges declared that they were no longer hungry (even if Menchi had almost nothing to eat) and the second test ended and no candidate was qualified.
"What is this story, I'm not here to be a gourmet, I want to be a Hunter." Todo shouted who was particularly indignant. "I'm not going to get caught by a stupid gourmet. "
"Too bad, you have a gourmet judge and he decided you weren't worthy to continue the exam." Menchi replied dryly.
It was too much for Todo who, in rage, rushed at the judge before taking a violent kick from Gohan who sent him back to the crowd of other candidates.
"What do you want from me?" Todo asked angrily as he stood up to face Gohan.
"You should rather thank me; I just saved your life." Gohan replied quickly "After the demonstration of Satotsu earlier and the hostility more than present in this judge, you should suspect that if you attacked her, she would kill you! "
"Indeed, you should know that even if it's not his thing, a Hunter can always fight." Menchi added, juggling six knives as a demonstration. "You practically all did the same thing, without imagination without taking risks, you disrespected the Hunters Gourmets and you think you deserve to continue the exam. At least one of you humbly admitted that he was not good at cooking. "
Gohan blushed in embarrassment because he knew it was Menchi he was referring to.
"All the same, no qualified candidate seems a bit extreme to me." A voice said in the sky.
All the candidates and the two judges looked up to see where the voice came from.
And, indeed there was in the sky a large airship and a man jumped from this same airship and landed flexibly on the ground and approached Menchi.
"My dear Menchi, I think you got a little carried away and imposed perhaps too harsh criteria on our candidates." The old man said with slightly wandering eyes.
'This man's ki is much higher than anyone I've anticipated since I came into this world. Who could be this man' Gohan thought as he scanned the old man's ki.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Chairman, I got carried away when they started to criticize the Hunters Gourmets. I am not yet mature enough to be an examiner. " Menchi said sheepishly "Please decide on a new test and let the 71 candidates I failed to participate."
"Um, I don't see any problem, however it is you who will decide on this new test and this time you will also submit to it to show the candidates how this test should be carried out." The man replied who appeared to be Menchi's superior.
All the candidates sighed in relief because despite their defeat, they were going to have a second chance. Menchi, meanwhile, looked thoughtful before declaring ...
"Okay, I have an idea." She said with a smile "Mr. President, can you take us with your airship to the split mountain which is not far from here? "
"The split mountain? Oh, I see what you have in mind." The old man replied with a malicious smile.
All the remaining candidates boarded the old man's airship and after five minutes of flight landed at the top of the split mountain which, as its name indicated, was a mountain that appeared to have been cut in half.
"So, this is where the catch-up event is going to take place?" Gon asked Menchi after the candidates, the judges and the old man got off the airship.
"Yes, your goal this time is to make a hard-boiled egg." The judge replied
'It should be easier, right?' Thought almost all the candidates simultaneously.
"But an ordinary egg will not be enough for me, the egg I am asking for is an eagle-tarantula egg." Menchi continued.
'I prefer not to know what these creatures look like,' Gohan, Killua and Kurapika thought at the same time.
"And where are they found, these eagle-tarantula eggs?" Todo asked the young trial judge.
"Here, for example." Menchi said, looking into the big crevice in front of them. "Tarantula eagles weave large webs in mountains like this and let their eggs hang there. "
"And how are we supposed to get them?" Todo asked again, visibly intimidated by the height separating them from the eggs.
"Like that." Menchi answered before jumping into the crevasse.
Almost all the candidates watched in horror as the judge fell into the huge crevasse. Menchi caught up with a thread of the canvas and a few moments later sagged, caught an egg in the process and went up using an updraft which blew from the bottom of the crevasse.
"So much for the demonstration." Menchi said after being flexible in front of the other candidates.
"It shouldn't be too hard," Gon said before jumping into the crevasse, followed by a good number of the candidates.
All the candidates clung to different threads of the web of eagles-tarantulas.
"Okay, I'll wait for you upstairs." Gohan said before letting go of the wire to catch an egg and then come back up just after levitation.
"Okay, I'm going too." One candidate said before dropping.
"Okay, are we going too?" Leolio asked to his three stooges
" No not right now!" Gon warned as the candidate who dropped out realized his mistake. "The updraft is not constant."
After several minutes and the fall of other candidates who no longer wanted to wait. Gon shouted a big "NOW! "
All the candidates then dropped, all caught an egg and went up with the updraft.
(A few minutes later)
"Um, but it's too good." Said candidate # 294, Hanzo as he savored, like many other candidates, one of the eggs they had caught.
Gon, too, was savoring the egg he had caught, but when he saw Todo who hadn't dared to jump because of the height of the crevasse, he handed him his egg, telling him to taste it.
" It's really delicious." Todo said, taking a bite of Gon's egg.
"You see, we, Hunters Gourmets, often risk our lives to obtain ingredients with similar flavors." Menchi said after joining the two candidates.
"I underestimated the Hunters Gourmets; this failure is the price of my mistake. I will try again next year." Todo said solemnly.
The second round of the hunter exam was now ending and only 43 candidates remained.
New Chapter, New Finishing Event, I hope you get more. With exams coming soon, I don't think the next chapter will arrive quickly, well I'll see. Constructive reviews are always welcome, I look forward to continuing this story. Ah and also, tell me in review if you are interested that I put the power levels of the arc at the end of the arc precisely, as the suspense will no longer have to be I do not see where is the problem.