Once again, please review so I know how I can improve this story:) Let me know if the plot is taking any illogical turns or a character isn't acting "out-of-character"!

Finally. The moment I stepped off the boat, I raced around shore to scrounge for supplies. There had to be shipwrecks here! I stopped. There it was. A tattered, broken ship near shore. Perfect. I was going to need weapons if I was going to fight.

Phase Four began with the 25 of us being dropped off on an island.

I dove under the clear, blue waves. My long hair floated behind me as I swam into the depths where broken ships lay.

The buoyancy of my body threatened to return me to the surface, but I fought it and continued to swim deeper.

"Ladies and Gentleman, congratulations on having escaped Trick Tower", I recalled the examiner saying to us earlier,"Only the Fourth Phase and the Final Phase remain."

He threw a thumb behind him. "The Fourth Phase will take place there, on Zevil Island."

Which was where I was now, searching for supplies to fight off the person who was searching for my badge.

I felt guilty. Terrible, actually. I closed my eyes to relieve my eyes from the sting of the salt water and swam inside the ship.

There, under the floorboards! The glint of gold drew me to pull a rotted floorboard up. Under it, gold! Crowns, necklaces, and other articles of jewelry. I grabbed a handful. This would supplement my family's income greatly!

I felt the burn from lack of air begin to affect me, pushed off the rotted floorboard, and ascended to the sunlight shining at the top of the water.

My head broke the surface and I gasped for air.

"Aviiiiiii!" a voice coming from my right called. I turned my head and stared. Gon.

I threw him an easy smile. "Hey Gon!" I hoped I wasn't Gon's target.

Gon's face brightened.

I cocked my head to the side and glanced at Gon. "You seem especially happy to see me..."

"The objective is to steal your target's ID tag", I recalled the examiner saying,"You need six points to clear the Fourth Phase."

Attacking 3 other random applicants was out of the question. I had to retain my own bade, worth 3 points, and find applicant 314. Somehow.

Gon wanted my ID tag. 'Or maybe he's happy to see a familiar face of someone who doesn't want to kill him immediately', a voice in the back of my mind said.

Go continued to give me his bright smile. "Don't worry Avi", he chirped, "You're not my target. My target's Hisoka". I froze and a thoughtful look passed over my face. I needed to find Hisoka anyway…

"If I help you steal Hisoka's badge", I began, "Will you help me steal #314's badge? He's my target but he looks like he can put up a fight."

Gon's smile disappeared and he nodded seriously. "Sure".

"Gon", I said, "Have you ever known of someone but not know them? What motivates them? You know them because you talk to them…but you don't 'know' them?"

Confusion flew across the teenager's face. "Something happened with another applicant?" he guessed.

Inside I was at war with myself. Should I tell him how badly I needed Kurapika's eyes to pay the debt? Should I…would he-no. He would never help me kill the Kurta.

I put on a fake smile and looked at him. "Just elderly eighteen year old talk", I told the sixteen year old.

Gon pouted and sent me a hard look. "Just because I grew up with honest, nice people on Whale Island doesn't mean I'm naïve", Gon said to me. I looked at him in shock. I had not been expecting that.

"You're lying". Gon pointed a finger at me. "But whatever it is, if you need help dealing with it…talk to me. You're my friend Avi".

I swallowed and battle the foreign emotions being exhumed from my heart. "Thanks Gon", I whispered. "Now let's find Hisoka."

"How do I steal Hisoka's ID tag?" Gon asked me. "I won't be able to face him with a head-on attack".

I cleared my throat. "I need to find Hisoka as well, Gon".

The fifteen year old sat up and stared at me suspiciously. "Why, Avi?" Gon questioned.

I sighed. He wouldn't believe me, hell, I have no clue why Hisoka didn't kill me.

"Hisoka offered to train me…and I accepted", I honestly told Gon. Disbelief shone in his face. Of course he didn't believe me.

"I believe you", Gon said, "It feels like you're not lying."

I raised an eyebrow. And how did he know when I was lying?

"It doesn't", Gon pouted, "So we both need to find Hisoka and it sounds like Hisoka doesn't want to kill you…for some reason."

He tossed a stone in the air above his head and suddenly shot up, just as I opened my mouth.

"If I have any chance at hunting Hisoka, I need to use this." He gestured to his fishing rod.

I nodded in agreement. "I need to train too anyway", I told Gon.

There was no way I was letting Hisoka know about another weapon I had so he could steal that one and mock me with it too!

Sweat rolled down the side of my face as I gripped the blade in my hand and threw it at the apple.

It landed in the apple with a thud

"Not bad", Gon told me, "But I realized Hisoka will be moving. We'll only have one shot. We have to acquire Hisoka's tag when he isn't paying attention."

I stopped and cocked my head to the side. "How about when he's fighting me?" I asked," I can distract him and you can steal his tag. We know Hisoka wants to keep me alive, for some odd reason, so you get Hisoka's tag, and I'll be able to find Hisoka."

Gon looked me in the eye, "And why are you looking for my target rather than your own?"

One side of my mouth lifted upwards in a sad smile. "My family has this debt and the people we owe it to...the Mafia, they're dangerous. I need to learn how to protect myself and my family", I told Gon,"I have to learn how to fight. I don't care about passing the Hunter Exam. All I know is Hisoka offered to train me and I can't leave the exam anyway. So I might as well train and if I happen to stumble across my target. Great".

Gon smirked and I immediately felt unsettled by the sight. "If you help me", Gon began, "I'll get you either your target's tag, or those of three other applicants".

I stared at Gon and slowly nodded.

Gon looked at me and answered my unspoken question. "Why? Avi", he said," I always keep a promise, you're my friend, and you will help me get Hisoka's tag. Trust me".

Oddly enough, I did.

It was a dark, starry night. The third night Gon and I have been together training on this god-forsaken island. "Gon", I whispered and poked my sleeping friend. "There's someone following us."

He stirred. "Piss of Avi, I'm tired", he groaned.

I sat up. Gon was useless. Besides, I needed to practice using my knife anyway

Immediately, I jumped off my backpack (which I had used for a pillow) and ran to the place where I had seen the shadow move.

If Gon woke up and decided to join me, great. If he woke up. That teenager was a heavy sleeper.

"Hey", I shouted, "Either you show yourself and fight me or I'll scour this area and find you. There aren't that many places to hide!"

There weren't. If the person tried to run away, I'd hit them. If the person hid, I'd find them. If the person fought…well, hopefully I'd win.

Applicant #314 dropped from a tree near my right and stared at me. His lips curved into a smile.

"Clever girl", he slowly said. He was scrutinizing me to determine how much of a threat I was to him.

I saw the change in his countenance as he smirked victoriously. Fuck no. I was enraged. I had been humiliated and bested by almost every applicant so far. But not today, not this one. Not my target.

I gripped the switchblade tighter and took a step to my left, effectively driving him towards the area where Gon lay.

The man raised his…beehive? Whatever the fuck it was into the air.

Immediately a swarm of…"Bees!" I screamed as the hive flew at me.

Luckily Gon and I had practice hitting moving targets. Gon had flung his hook at birds and I had thrown my knife at them. A girl had to eat somehow.

I jumped to the left and began to dodge the hive, rocks, and trees as I ran closer to 314.

Just a little closer…314 jumped to my right and drew his leg back-he was going to-

I screeched in pan as I slammed into a tree. Fuck…now my side was hurt.

314 smirked, "You should have just stayed asleep and let the little boy fight me instead".

I looked up above the man's head…there was a hive there…

Buzzing noises drew closer as the hive swarmed closer to me. It was now, or never.

I hoped the bees would attack one another rather than a random human.

One step…I exploded toward the hive, twisted my hips, and flicked my wrist to achieve maximum power as my switchblade sailed towards the hive above 314's head.

With a sickening thud, the blade slammed in the hive. An angry swarm buzzed out.

314 looked shocked and I smirked victoriously. I put a hand on my hip. "This is why you shouldn't underestimate people who are in this phase of the Hunter Exam".

314 shouted, "No!" as his bees mingled with those from the hive. Naturally, the bees began attacking one another.

I cheered. "Avi?" Gon groggily called from the other side of the clearing. 314 and I stopped and stared at him.

"Put your fishing rod to good use Gon", I shouted," And help me get his tag!"

314 looked at me. "I'm your target!?" he incredulously said.

I rolled my eyes. "And Gon's yours. That's why you wanted to fight him rather than me. That's what your earlier words meant".

Now that his bees were distracted and I had Gon with me, beehive man stood no chance.

Beehive man gave me a cold glare as Gon and I tied him to a tree.

314 laughed. "You think what you two just pulled is going to work on Hisoka?" He glared at me. "You got lucky", he said through gritted teeth.

I sent him my fake-confident smirk to mask the real worry I had as I carelessly tossed his tag into the air.

"Avi", Gon said as he tugged on my arm. Blood stained my arm. "Gon!" I hissed, "Your hands are bleeding! How did you do that?"

Gon stopped tugging on my arm and he stared at me. "I now have perfect accuracy. All I need to do is to find Hisoka."

I shrugged. Once Gon became fixated on something, it was near impossible to deter him from

"So how did you know I was there", 314 asked curiously.

I looked at him. "Gon and I are about the same height", I began, "We're both about 5'8. But you? You're well over 6 foot. I'd even guess you are 6 foot 5. When your shadow appeared I realized you thought that we would think it was one of ours or that of a tree, bush, etc. But the trees here are taller than 14 feet. The bushes are shorter. Then I realized the shadow was shaking slightly. At first I thought it was a limb, but recognized the shape of your beehive thing. And when I returned to the same area later, the shadow was gone".

314 blinked in shock. "You don't seem that clever", he said, "You just seem…average".

I laughed. "Being forgettable is good when business is tough. Especially when you work with the customers of black markets".

Gon looked at me. "You're a merchant's daughter? What's that like?"

The smile slid off of my face as I looked at Gon. This was becoming too personal. "Hey", I said, "Where did those butterflies come from?" Butterflies were flitting around Gon. He held up his hand and instantaneously butterflies landed on the bloody hand.

"They're attracted to blood", Gon said to me. "Wait, Killua said Hisoka smells of blood".

I grimaced. "Okay Gon, let's leave 314 here because he's probably going to figure out a way to escape and these ropes are thin. We can talk as we follow your butterflies".

Gon and I walked away from an amazed applicant 314. Did either of us really seem that unqualified to participate in the Hunter Exam?

I looked at Gon once we were far enough away from 314. We had to follow these damn butterflies because Gon's instincts told him to. I was highly skeptical, but whatever. I really enjoyed Gon's company.

"What did you mean Killua could smell blood on Hisoka?"

Gon looked at me with confusion in his big eyes. "Killua's a Zoldyck, a family of elite assassins, he's pretty familiar with the smell of blood".

I froze and looked at Gon. "My family sells a lot of poisons, weapons, that kind of stuff to the Zoldycks! But we've never seen them because of their unspoken 'see them and die' rule."

Gon blinked. "Really? You might have sold the poison or weapon that Killua used to kill someone? That's weird…"

We walked the rest of the way in silence until I said, "I'll never be able to look at Killua the same way again. I didn't know he's a Zoldyck. When did you find out?"

"Trick Tower", Gon said, "But you weren't with Leorio, Kurapika, Killua, Tonpa, and me when he told everyone. That's why."

Time to see if I can get any info about Kurapika out of Gon. Something chewed inside of me. Did I really feel bad about manipulating Gon?

Instead, I smirked. "So Gon, is Kurapika some kind of elite assassin too?"

Gon smiled, "He fights like one with his bokkens. But Kurapika…I'm worried about him Avi. He fought an inmate with a fake Phantom Troupe tattoo in Trick Tower…but Kurapika hasn't acted the same since then. It's like he's isolating himself from us and he seemed...colder and more uncaring".

I smiled as if I was concerned for Kurapika too. But naturally, conflicting feelings emerged as I recalled how polite, kind, and generous Kurapika was. He did care about his friends and was willing to help-it seemed. I'll give him that.

I hated my confused feelings. "Well…Kurapika is the last Kurta", I said with no emotion whatsoever, "So it makes sense that he'd be upset seeing someone pretend to be a part of the Phantom Troupe."

Gon stopped. "You weren't there Avi", he emphasized, "Kurapika…I've never seen anybody, save Hisoka, move that fast. Kurapika shut down and something dangerous took over once his eyes turned scarlet".

I swallowed. I definitely needed to find Hisoka and his...robot pal, pin guy, what's his name?

Fighting Kurapika sounded terrible, but having the Mafia after my family's heads sounded worse.