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Hide and Seek

Trials in the Pillar

"To all Passengers…. We are ready to land." A mechanical voice proclaimed. Slowly, the airship landed on a giant pillar, and everyone tumbled off, trying to get used to being on land again. Mutters filled the air, with questions of, "What are we supposed to do?" and "Where am I?"

The blob man announced to the crowd, "You are here at the 'Shrewdness Tower.' It's here that the third trial round shall take place. Concerning the trial itself, here are all the jury's orders. Within a seventy-two hour time period, you'll need to get to the bottom of this tower. Alive, of course…" With that ominous prediction, the blob man re-boarded the zeppelin, not once turning back to face the examineers as it took off.

The forty participants remaining looked up at the quickly disappearing figure of the zeppelin.

"May the trials begin! Good luck!"

"Well, I doubt that we actually have to climb down the outside, or that would be too difficult for those who didn't include rock climbing in their training regiment. I also doubt they want to kill all of the contestants." Hakou said rationally, trying to think of how to get down.

"Flying is out of the question. And I doubt they'd want us to ruin the tower by digging, not to mention that then everyone would just follow the digger's man-made path, however slow it may take. That, and the ground does not seem uneven. So the only thing left is that this tower is hollow." Luciano stated, finishing off Hakou's reasoning.

"The panels are undoubtedly hidden, so I guess we'll just have to stomp around. Without making it obvious, of course." Hakou said.

They then proceeded to have a 'fight' in which they both stomped away in a huff. When Luciano felt himself fall, he snapped his fingers before he disappeared.

Hakou whipped around as he heard, and caught a glimpse of Luciano before he disappeared. Grinning, Hakou walked over, only to find that the trap door wouldn't open.

There must be a limiter of some sort… He thought, and grimaced. No matter how much Luciano annoyed him, they were both on the same level, and strangely in sync with one another. Nobody else really understood them besides each other.

Hakou glanced over and saw that Gon, Killua, Leorio, and Kurapika were standing suspiciously. He overheard them say five trap doors… That was good. Silently, he stood on the other one and mouthed the countdown. "1, 2, 3!"

Suddenly, he fell down through the trap door. Prepared for this he landed partially upright, knees bent, in perfect balance. He looked around, and saw that Gon, Killua, and Kurapika were all in the same room as well. Leorio was nowhere in sight. Perhaps he went to another room. Hakou thought absently.

"Ehh? Leorio didn't make it!" Gon exclaimed.

"Aren't you glad I'm here?" Hakou said sarcastically.

"Ah! Hakou!" Killua said, and the others smiled as well.

"Hey, guys. There's no exit… But wait, look at this." Gon said.

They read the little bulletin board that hung on the brick wall right above a pedestal that contained watches.

Choice of the way by the majority.

For the five candidates:

You'll have to reach your goal following the majority's choice.

Hakou stared at the message blankly. "Majority?" He asked.

"Five?" Kurapika asked at the same time.

After they found five watches with X's and O's on them, and they confirmed their hypothesis that five people were needed for them to continue. "Still one guy… We won't be able to get out of here before another guy falls into this room?" Kurapika asked.

"All right!" the loudspeaker in the room proclaimed. "This tower contains numerous passages. Each one contains its own crossways. You can only move forward following the majority's choice. It's impossible to pass if the choice comes from one guy only. The difficulty is that cooperating is the essential condition. On that note, just fight well."

The four occupants of the room sighed. "All we can do is wait," Killua said, and he sat down. Hakou nodded and leaned against the wall, putting his headphones on and playing music softly. He closed his eyes, and they waited.

After what was around forty-five minutes, there came a clacking sound from above. Calmly, Hakou turned off the music and placed the headphones around his neck once again. Down came-guess who?-Tompa, the fat guy with a rectangular nose.

Greetings were exchanged, and explanations given. After a span of about five minutes, Tompa put on his watch, and suddenly a door appeared, opening for them.

"Ah, okay… When the five people are gathered, watches synchronize and the door appears." Kurapika said.

Suddenly, Tompa exclaimed, "Well let's go!" And so, they began their journey-

Which came to a sudden halt when they were approached by a metal door proclaiming that O opens it, X does not.

Everyone clicked their answer, and the door opened-though it stated that one person chose X.

"Ah! Sorry! I messed up pushing!" Tompa exclaimed heartily, causing him to get some suspicious glares his way. Nevertheless, they pushed on.

They were approached with a choice. Left, X, Right O. 4 O, 1 X. Everyone then explained to the confused Gon that most people unconciously choose left when faced with these types of questions. So, logically, one had to go right.

Once they cleared the door, they saw a square platform that was detached from both sides. On the other side, five people in hoods and sackcloth pants with shackles stood.

There was some discussion from the strange people that could not be heard, and then suddenly one of the men's shackles were released, and the hood taken off, to reveal a tall, strong-looking man.

The man proclaimed, "We are the jurors for the trial commission! Our mission is to fight against you! The matches are one against one, and one can only fight once! The order of the passage is free! You'll have to reach three victories if you want to go on! The rules are extremely simple. Everything is allowed! There's no limit! The defeat means the victory of his opponent! You only have to tell if you accept this trial or not! O if you accept, X if you refuse!"

All of them chose O this time, and so Tompa, with a pretty little speech, strode off onto the platform. The fight was chosen to be a death match, and Hakou watched, shocked, at the outcome.

"I QUIT!" Tompa exclaimed before his enemy could even move.

Jaws hanging, the four of them tried to pass Tompa's explanation to be only a hoax. When it turned out that it wasn't, they all blinked in astonishment at the returning figure. Killua was visibly shaking, trying to keep his cool. Meanwhile the prisoners chuckled at the discord.

Prisoners, 1. Group, 0.

The revelation that Tompa didn't want to be a Hunter was not all-together shocking. In fact, Hakou rather expected it. The weasel, from what he had gathered, had done this 35 times. His spirit ought to have been crushed a long time ago.

It's a good thing it's not like that for the others. Hakou thought as he watched Gon and Kurapika win their watches. He was surprised to find that he enjoyed them immensely. Both of them show signs of great potential... Gon, with his ability to think quickly and adapt, and Kurapika, with his raw power and knowledge of many things. He could see both of them becoming double-star hunters. Hakou quickly stopped thinking like that, though, because it made him feel as old as Netero.

Now, it is Hakou's turn.

"Let's do rock-paper-scissors!" He proclaimed loudly.

"Okay." His opponent said smugly.

Keeping calm, he said, "Rock, paper scissors!"

Both of them had rock. Once again, they fought. Same result. Then Hakou began to 'panic' and 'second-guess himself.' Out of the corner of his eye, he watched his opponent's reactions.

If I follow her thought process, I am sure she will use paper. Sorry guys… I need to evaluate all of you, so I have to get Killua to fight.

"Rock, paper, scissors!"

Hakou was quite impressed, to say the least, of Killua. One second was all it took to win, and he had no qualms with killing someone. When he gets more training, he's going to be a demon. Hakou thought with certainty, as he reclined on the couch to wait out their fifty hours.

He listened idlely as Killua, Gon, and Kurapika talked, and slowly drifted off…

Fifty-one hours and many choices later, they reached the final door. One last choice… Which one was the correct one? The one that allows five people to go, but is long and difficult? Or the other one that only allows three people, but is short and easy?

The clock ticked slowly.

Everyone rejoiced as they walked out triumphantly, each in their own way. Leorio greeted them all, and Gon and Kurapika rapidly explained what happened to the left-out man. Meanwhile, Hakou drifted away from the group, over to where Luciano was sitting, indian-style, leaned back against the wall slightly, listening to music.

Eyebrows twitching, Hakou asked, "How the hell is your sweatshirt still spotless?"

Luciano turned off the music, put away his headphones, and looked back up, directly into Hakou eyes. With wink, he said, "Magic."

"Third round. Number of Participants who reach the goal: 25 (Including one dead.)"

A/N: I know this can be pretty annoying that I'm going word for word in this one, but I tried to cut some out. This won't always be like this, just until the Hunter exam is over and done with. This has been extra bolded and underlined to catch everyone's attention. I sincerely hope this works. : D Also, I am quite aware this chapter is rushed.

Also, for a clue as to how this will run: Once I finish Chapter 4, Chapter 3 will come out. And on, and on. Got it? I have much more passion for this fanfic than my other one (thankfully!) so expect one to come out every week or so. But, as I have a busy busy busy summer, I can't always type everything up, so I hope that you will stick to the story! Feel free to leave comments and suggestions, or to point out what is wrong or right, or if my characters are getting out of character. : D Have a nice day!