Snapping her notebook shut, Ronnie gathered up her backpack and spear and squeezed out of the small opening in the rock. After making sure the coast was clear, she quickly made her way over to the docks. She slipped underneath them, placing her backpack on her head to keep it from getting wet. And hour passed by before the boat could be seen chugging toward the island, getting bigger and bigger until it floated right alongside the dock.
As stealthily as she could, Ronnie reached up and swung herself onto the deck, landing crouched down. Ronnie knocked on the cabin door and the orange-haired woman she had seen before opened it up and let her in while walking out of the cabin herself. The captain was sitting inside, chin in his palm. Barely sparing Ronnie a glance, he let out a sigh through his nose at her soaking wet clothes.
Nine. Out of the four hundred four applicants at the beginning, only nine had made it this far. They were all currently aboard the Chairman's airship once again, and Ronnie had to sneak around the crowd once again to get in without being noticed. Eventually, she extracted herself out from behind a rather bushy potted plant and made her way to the lounge, where the Chairman and the other examiners would be meeting.
Opening the door, she spotted all of the examiners and Chairman Netero, all of whom sat on the couches around the coffee table. Ronnie detached her spear from her back, tossed it and her backpack to the side, and collapsed onto one of the couches, closing her eyes.
"Well? How many have passed Phase Four, Miss Ronnie?" asked the Chairman. Ronnie held up both hands, showing nine fingers.
"Nine, eh? How many of them are new to the Exam."
"Six, I think." Chairman Netero began to laugh.
"Six of the nine are rookies? Marvelous, marvelous." Buhara, who sat across from Ronnie, raised a meatball on his fork up to his mouth.
"Has this ever happened before?" he asked, before eating the meatball.
"Hmm, there's a trend where we'll go many years without a single rookie qualifying. Then suddenly, we'll have a whole bunch of promising newbies. This is the fourth time I've seen it happen." Said Netero, smiling contentedly. Ronnie opened up her eyes and leaned forward, taking a good look at all of the food on the table. Plucking a dumpling from one of the platters, she sniffed it briefly, and then promptly stuffed it all into her mouth at once. Every occupant of the room turned to look at her, to which she replied with a deadpan expression.
"By the way," started Satotz. "what are we doing for the Final Phase?"
"Oh, right." Said Buhara, swallowing the last meatball on his plate. "You haven't told us yet."
"Yes, about that…" smiled the Chairman. "I intend to have them participate in a rather peculiar fight."
"Hmm? A rather peculiar fight?" asked Satotz, putting down his plate. Ronnie swallowed her mouthful of dumpling with some difficulty.
"What do you mean by that? 'A rather peculiar fight,'" she said, mimicking his voice. "Just what the hell are you smoking, old man?"
"First, I want to talk to each of the nine remaining applicants. Afterwards, that is when Ronnie's scoring will come into play. Ronnie, if you will hand over the booklet you were given at the start of the Exam?" Netero held out a wizened hand, and Ronnie sighed, picking up her backpack and digging through it before stuffing the now doodle-covered scoring booklet at him. The Chairman flipped through it, raising an eyebrow at all of the tic-tac-toe games decorating the pages. When he finished, he smiled at Ronnie.
"Not bad work for someone I practically had to force to take this job." Ronnie gave the old man a sour look, which he openly laughed at.
Ronnie had left shortly after Beans had called up the first applicant to be interviewed. She clasped her hands behind her head and began to walk aimlessly down the corridor, free from having to sneak around at last. Whistling a short made-up tune, Ronnie decided to look out at the clouds outside the window. Ahh… they look so soft and cottony… it really is too bad I'd fall right through them. Yawning, she paid little attention to the three applicants leaning against the wall and instead made her way over to one of the guest rooms. She took a peek inside, and after finding it unoccupied, she walked in and locked the door.
The ash blonde stretched languidly and pulled a portion of her tank top up to her face to sniff. Oh… that's getting pretty ripe… when was the last time I took a bath? Scratching her chin, she struggled to remember. She could vaguely remember about two weeks ago taking a bath at the motel she was staying in on her latest travels. I was busy… I had brats to look after all this time. She thought, knowing full well that some of those 'brats' were probably older than her.
Ronnie extracted her feet from her boots, tossing them to the other side of the room before traipsing over to the bathroom and peeling off her clothes, dropping them onto the floor and turning on the hot water tap in the bathtub. It filled up gradually. Stepping into the water, she sighed at the warmth, feeling the tension wash away. Untying her hair from its ponytail, Ronnie flicked the hairband onto the counter before wetting her tresses and beginning to scrub shampoo into her scalp.
Steam billowed from the bathroom as the door opened, and out stepped Ronnie in a fluffy white bathrobe. Her clothes could be seen drying on the shower curtain rod, having been recently washed. She yawned and checked the clock on the nightstand. 3 pm. Quite early for one who had just gotten out of the bath. Ronnie shrugged and sat on the bed, deciding to grab her bag and take out a notebook at random. She opened it up and began to read, crossing one leg over the other.
The hairdryer was making quite a lot of racket as Ronnie held it up to her clothes, eyebrows furrowed. Turning it off, she picked up her tank top and felt it. It was still just a little damp. Her eyes narrowed. That wouldn't do. She turned the hairdryer on again, focusing on that one spot on her pants that just wouldn't dry off. Ronnie had to be at a meeting in fifteen minutes, and her clothes had almost dried. Another minute should do it… Putting down the hairdryer, she felt her clothes again and nodded. Good enough. She pulled them on, leaving the bathrobe in a heap on the floor and pulling on her boots, gathering up her pack and spear and opening up the door. The hallway was empty. She made her way over to the lounge and opened up the door, tying up her ponytail as she entered. As always, everyone was already there. Everyone except for the Chairman, at least.
Ronnie sat down on one of the couches again putting her elbow on her knee and her chin in her hand. The door creaked open and in walked Chairman Netero, holding what looked to be a whiteboard.
"Sorry to keep you waiting," he said cheerily. "I've drawn up the bracket."
"Pardon?" said Menchi, voicing what everyone else had been thinking.
"What is this?" asked Satotz. Lippo, who Ronnie had sat herself beside, leaned forward in his seat. With wide eyes, Buhara stared at the whiteboard the Chairman was holding up. Ronnie decided to take a look herself, and her eyes widened at what she saw.
"What the hell is that?"
"Are you serious about this?" asked Buhara, eyes still glued to the whiteboard. Netero chuckled, a smug grin on his bearded face.
"Dead serious." Ronnie fell back into the couch cushions, clutching her head. I know that I've questioned his sanity before, but it's not really a question anymore.
"He certainly has a serious expression on his face…" said Satotz, squinting at the Chairman. Menchi, who sat beside him, gave him an incredulous look.
"That's a serious expression?"
"Winning will make them Hunters." stated Netero. Ronnie was still collapsed on the couch, lamenting his loss of marbles.
The next day, the airship arrived at the destination for the Final Phase; a hotel somewhere in the mountains. A tournament would be held there, which would determine who would pass and who would fail.
Ronnie did not have to sneak around anymore, but she stayed in her room until landing anyway, examining the samples of various texts scattered around her on the floor. Most of them were rubbings taken off of stone, and she was now copying the symbols by hand onto clean sheets of paper to be read more easily. A shudder rumbled through the airship and Ronnie looked around. Are we there already? She gathered up her papers, carefully putting them back into the correct order before fixing them in a folder and in turn shoving that into her bag. It took around fifteen minutes to pick up the rest of her scattered belongings. Finally picking up her spear, Ronnie exited her room and walked down the hallway, quickly finding the exit to the aircraft and opening it.
Birds chirped in the trees and sunshine warmed Ronnie's skin as she entered the hotel, jogging over to where Chairman Netero had said the Final Exam would take place. She could hear voices coming from within even before she entered.
"…This bracket was assembled based on your performances throughout the entire exam. Those who performed better received more chances." Obviously Chairman Netero. Ronnie thought back with some smugness to her questionable scoring technique.
"That doesn't sound right," said a young voice. Ronnie pressed her ear to the door to hear a bit more clearly. "Can you explain how you scored our performances?" Silence. Then…
"NOOOOOO!" yelled Netero, making Ronnie jump.
"Why not?" asked the young voice. The Chairman chuckled.
"Your scores are classified information. Even I don't even know exactly how you were scored." Ronnie grinned. This is a good time to butt in. Raising her foot in the air, she kicked the door open and strolled in, hands in her pockets and a grin on her face.
"So sorry I'm late, a black cat crossed my path, so I had to take a rather long detour." The Chairman smiled at her as she crossed over to a bench against the wall. The remaining nine applicants were still looking at her, some in confusion, others in suspicion, and #44 with… Ronnie shuddered, scratching her chin at his strange and creepy gaze. She sighed when the Chairman cleared his throat to get their attention once more.
"As I was saying, not even I know exactly how you were scored," he shot a pointed look at Ronnie and she crossed her arms, looking away. "But I can explain our basic methods. First, we consider three major criteria: physical strength, mental strength, and overall impression." Ronnie could remember this from the briefing that Chairman Netero had given her before the exam, and while her scoring method was certainly questionable, she had indeed followed the basic guidelines stated in the beginning of the booklet. Netero continued to speak.
"For physical strength, we use an aggregate of agility, flexibility, endurance, and perception. For mental strength, we use an aggregate of resilience, adaptability, judgment, and creativity. However, this information is only used as a reference point. After all, you were strong enough to advance to the Final Phase." He said. "However, we are most concerned with your overall impression. This refers to any intangible factors not previously mentioned. You should consider this an evaluation of your potential as a Hunter. And we also incorporate the opinions of your peers. That was our process." Ronnie thought back to all the times she had taken off points just because she didn't like someone... Umm… maybe I got just a tad bit carried away…
Ronnie's not very good at following orders, eh?