Chapter 3: Numere Wetlands

"Congratulations on passing the first half of Phase One. We are now at Numere Wetlands, also known as Swindler's Swamp."

She looked towards the tall examiner, noticing that he was stood in front of all the contestants. Everyone looked towards the man as well, curious on what Numere Wetlands is like. Everyone was but one, a curious Kurta was looking her way, wondering why Killua had been talking to her before just paying attention to the hunter in front of them.

"Now that we are here, I should inform you of some things about the Numere Wetlands." The man was speaking in a deadpan tone, utterly boring her. Catalina already knew everything about the Numere Wetlands, having read about the place when she was eight. Deciding to ignore the man, she wandered over to Killua for some company. He gave her a quick glance before paying attention again, making her sigh.

Deciding to ignore everyone this time, Catalina takes out her navy notebook and starts to read through it, even though she has it all memorised anyway. It wasn't long before she felt someone tugging on her sleeve. Looking over, she saw the young black haired boy staring at her in innocence, Killua next to him looking away.

"You should start running, everyone else has and if you don't start now you might not be able to catch up." The boy said to her, a giant smile on his face as he let her go. Stunned by his act of kindness of actually letting her know that everyone was running, Catalina simply nodded and gave him a gentle smile in return along with introducing herself to him and he introduces himself as well. Giving Killua a smile as well when she looked up at him when he gave her a quick glance, he gives a slight blush and snaps his head to the side. Chuckling, all three start to run, easily overtaking the people in the back and quickly catching to the older man and blonde feminine boy.

Both looked their way, giving the boys a greeting of some kind along with a questioning glance to the brunette girl wondering who she is and gives a glance to the younger boys in hopes of an answer.

"I guess your wondering who I am. I'm Catalina, a friend of Killua's and Gon's." She gave them all a big smile, wanting to show she doesn't mean any harm towards them.

"Kurapika, it's a pleasure to meet you." The blonde boy spoke first after a moment of hesitation between the elder pair.

"My names Leorio." The elder one replied after, a smirk present on his face. She narrowed her eyes at the man but shrugged the smirk off after a moment, unaware of the perverted thoughts floating about in his head.

"It's very nice to meet you both, Leorio, Kurapika. I hope we can become good friends during the exams." She looked towards the direction of where Gon and Killua were, or used to be in better terms. Catalina blinked slightly, confused on where the boys went.

"Where did Killua and Gon go?" She looked towards Kurapika and Leorio curiously, both looking slightly out of breath and tired.

"They probably went ahead, having another race most likely." Kurapika answered back, seeming to be the only one capable of talking still. She nodded and carried on with her running with the two men. They were only running for around half an hour when they heard a familiar voice yell out far in front of them all.

"KURAPIKA, LEORIO, CATALINA! ME AND KILLUA ARE GONNA GO AHEAD TO THE FRONT. TRY TO CATCH UP WITH US IF YOU CAN!"

Frustrated at Gon, Leorio yelled back "WELL WE WOULD IF WE COULD!" Kurapika and Catalina had to cover their ears from the loudness of the mans voice. Wincing slightly from the yell, Catalina looked over at the sweaty man and chuckled slightly at him. Giving Kurapika a quick look over as well, she saw that he was also slightly sweaty but not as bad as Leorio.

It wasn't long though until they all noticed that the fog was getting worse. The thick fog was starting to obscure their view of the other contestants and the pathway, many yelling how they couldn't see anything. But it was only a few minutes later that they heard screams all around them. The brunnette girl didn't like the atmosphere around here, she wanted to go ahead, get closer to Satotz.

"Hey guys, I'm going up ahead. I'll see you two later." Catalina gives the two a nod as she informs them, Kurapika nodding back along with Leorio. Receiving their nods, she gives them a quick smile and dashes forward, hopping over fallen bodies and pit holes. Dodging other people, lots giving loud complaints, she easily speeds past lots of contestants.

Scanning the area around her as she runs, Catalina noticed that the fog had thickened, it was getting harder to see. Narrowing her eyes, the teen sped up even more, zooming past monsters, trees, contestants. It all became a slight blur.

It wasn't long before she saw Gon and Killua appear in her line of sight. Slowing her speed down, her breathing a little hoarse, she easily caught up to the boys, Satotz not far in front. She smiled to herself, jogging up to Gon's side.

Killua, having noticed her presence behind them a while back, simple looked up to her and back to Satotz. Seeing that Killua had looked up, Gon too looked up in Catalina's direction and grins.

"How did you catch up to us? We were so far in front of you! Did Kurapika and Leorio come too?" Gon looked around, looking for the elder boys. Catalina chuckled and shook her head at him.

"No, they didn't come with me, and I caught up to you by running silly." She patted his soft black, spiky hair and gave Killua a 'Hello', which he responded to with his own hello. Seconds later, they all heard a scream behind them. Gon reacted immediately to it and stopped, turning around and looking behind them.

"Leorio!" Gon shouted, worry laced his voice. Me and Killua exchanged looks before we glanced at Gon then to the group that was growing further away from us.

"Gon, let's go. We're gonna lose sight of the group soon." Killua tried to convince Gon, but he wasn't listening. He shook his head and turned to us.

"No, I'm going after Leorio. I'll meet you at the end though." With that, he took off towards where the scream came from. Killua looked frustrated while Catalina looked worried. Shrugging, Catalina faced Killua and motioned for them to continue on with the running.

"That idiot, he won't make it back in time I bet." The little white haired boy mumbled to himself, not really paying attention to the other contestants.

"Then lets make a bet. I'll give you my rare choco-choco strawberry flavoured bunny if he doesn't come back by the end of phase one." Catalina said, a playful glint in her eyes as Killua's head shot up speedily to stare at her star-struck.

"Really? Alright, I'll buy you twenty boxes of chocolate pocky if he does come back then." Killua smirked and the two shook hands, sealing their childish deal. They both grinned and looked forward when they heard cheers in front of them. They were nearly at the end of the first phase.

"Catalina…"

The brunette looked down at Killua when she heard him softly say her name.

"Are you alright?" His sky blue eyes held a worried glint in them as he stared at her. Catalina didn't understand at first, her face held confusion, before she realised what he meant. When they were younger and raced around his mansion for a couple hours, she never lost her breath or sweated much. Whereas Killua would be trying to gain his breath slightly and his would be matted to his face. But this was back when he was six, now that she think about it, they hadn't had a good race in years.

"Yeah… I just haven't run for hours on end since our races years ago." Her breathing had become slightly laboured, hair slightly damp from the large amount of running done. He nodded slightly and looked towards the large clearing with massive gates looming over them that neared, glancing back at her every so often.

She smiled, it was cute whenever he worried over someone. He only ever truly worried over Alluka, seeing him worry over her was adorable. It warmed her heart a little knowing that he isn't like his family in certain aspects.

It was only a few minutes later that they reached the end of the forest into the large clearing, Killua with a smirk on his face but a worried glint in his eyes. Catalina noticed he was worried for his new friend.

Sighing in exhaustion, the brunnette girl sat down, leaning against the trunk of a tree. She closed her chocolate brown eyes, head tilted to the sky and thin lips slightly parted as she slowed her breathing down, each breath deep and slow. Killua stood next to her, facing the pathway, watching out for Gon.

THUMP!

Opening her eyes and turning her head to the left of her, she saw Leorio was next to her, leaning on another tree, unconscious. His cheek swelled. She looked up towards the walking away figure, spotted the the well toned clown and sighed again. Turning to her right, she saw that Killua had moved closer the opening of trees and turned back to Leorio before deciding to just leave it all and rest until the phase was. Ten minutes she waited before she heard Killua call out to someone.

"GON!"

"KILLUA!"

Opening her eyes once again, Catalina turned to look towards the pathway, watching as Gon and Kurapika run up to Killua. Steadily getting up, she made her way over to the three quickly and placed her hand on Killua's right shoulder, a grin on her face and a playful glint in her eyes.

"That's twenty boxes of chocolate pocky you owe my Killua." Catalina chuckled as she saw the confused looks on Gon's and Kurapika's face while the silver haired boy sweat dropped.

"Why does she get twenty boxes of pocky..?" Gon asked looking at Killua. He only shook his head and mumbled 'Don't worry'.

"Ah! Where's Leorio?" Gon exclaimed loudly, head flying side to side in search of the man, quickly potting him and running over. Kurapika and Catalina chuckled at the boy while Killua shook his head before the three made their way over to Gon and the now awake and screaming Leorio.

"Leori stop complaining about your face would you? It's annoying." The only female there interrupted said man's rant, making him gape at her and the others either smirk or laugh at them.

"Congratulations everyone on passing the first phase. I wish you all good luck in the upcoming phases in the future." Everyone turned to look at Satotz as he spoke, before he disappeared from view and away. It was all silent for a few minutes before some people started cheering and hooting.

"YATTA!" Catalina jumped a little from the unexpected shout next to her from the youngest person in the group. Sweat dropping at Gon's behaviour, the brunette turned to look at the other contestants for a few minutes, a small grin spreading on her face.

'The next phase is going to be harder than this one.'

A grating noise could be heard as the large door started to move, making everyone stop and focus on what was behind the walls. Moving closer to the entrance, the boys following behind except Gon and Killua who were to her left, they tried to get a better look inside.

Everyone started slowly walking inside once the door stopped moving, gazing at all of the kitchen stations covering the place. It wasn't long before the brunnette girl noticed the two people watching everyone at the front, most likely the examiners for the second phase. The mint-green haired woman stood up from the large couch, as if getting ready to announce something, which she did, loudly.

"Alright you lot, welcome to the second phase!"

Hello everyone, I quickly rushed the last quarter of the chapter so if there's any mistakes anywhere, let me know and I'll get on it asap!

I would also like to thank my very first reviewer Cyannel! Here, have this virtual plushie of Killua! *Hands over plushie*

I have decided for every review I get, I will respond to them by PM, but if you're a guest, I'll respond on here so leave a creative name instead of 'Guest'.

Anyway, like I said, the more reviews I get more motivation to write. So please review my story or I won't write anymore. I know I sound needy, but I need reviews to motivate me and keep me going otherwise I feel there's no point in me writing this. So again, thank yo Cyannel for reviewing.