Disclaimer: I don't own HunterXHunter. I am not making profit off of this story.
A/N: Sorry, but school is starting tomorrow. DX I will be a junior, so I will be immensely busy. I will try to update once a month, but school is inevitably more important than my hobbies. Thank you for being understanding.
Go big or go home.
XXX
When I awoke I was very comfortable, snuggled against something incredibly warm and soft. However, the incredibly warm and soft chair seemed to be moving, and it jarred my brain every time we moved up and down. Suddenly, we came to a halt, and I breathed in relief, attempting to go back to sleep.
"Let's see…Tsubashi District 2-5-10. Must be that building over there," the chair said, and I frowned in slight confusion. Tsubashi District was in a city. What was a doing in a city? How did I get here…?
"That's the exam site?" a familiar voice asked, whistling in appreciation.
"Wow!" another familiar voice exclaimed excitedly. "We should wake Arella up; she'd want to see this!"
"Now, now, Gon," a third voice chimed in, shedding some light on my situation. "She's clearly suffering from sleep deprivation and nutritional deficits."
"Not to mention blood loss," the second voice added.
That's right, I realized. I'm travelling with Gon, Kurapica, and Leorio. What happened? Why am I— "The exam!" I blurted, flailing my arms and managing to fall out of the arms of the disguised kiriko who had been kind enough to carry me.
I landed on the floor with a thump and moaned. "Ow, my head," I complained, glaring up at the boys with watery eyes.
"Arella, you're awake after all!" Gon said happily, oblivious to my foul mood. At his side, Kurapica sighed resignedly, and I was relieved to see he was wheeling along my bicycle.
Leorio kneeled beside me and grabbed my wrist. He checked my pulse, peering into my eyes. "How are you feeling?" he asked briskly. "Headache? Nausea? Any unusual pains?"
My free hand moved to my neck to find it had been bandaged and was no longer bleeding. "A little dizzy," I confessed. "But that's only because I'm hungry." I snatched my hand back and folded my arms. I glanced around at the busy plaza. How had we gotten here, anyway?
"Yes, we're getting something to eat now," our kiriko guide assured me, much to the incredulity of the boys beside me.
"…Aren't we going to the examination site?" Kurapica asked uncertainly, pointing to the large and imposing building in front of me.
It must have been several hundred floors! Daunting archways, beautiful outdoor décor—I couldn't wait to see what beautiful furnishings waited indoors. I stared, transfixed. What a place! I thought. It's so magnificent. I can't believe I'm this much closer to becoming a hunt—
"That's not the exam site," the navigator declared, pointing to the left. "That's the one."
We all turned our heads to the side, noticing for the first time a small, dingy restaurant called Meshidokoro Gohan.
I blinked slowly. "…Food?" I asked hopefully.
"No matter how I look at it, it's just a normal restaurant," Kurapica said, frowning.
Leorio seemed to agree. "Hey, Mr. Navigator—you're joking, right? You're telling me that all the hunter prospects from the entire world are gathered here?"
"That's exactly what I'm saying," the kiriko acknowledged. "No one would expect the hunter exam, which expects millions of applicants, to be in a place like this, right?"
"Food," I insisted. Honestly, these boys had such a one-track mind. We hadn't eaten for more than a day, hadn't had a decent night's sleep in even longer (fainting didn't count), and they were still more concerned about the appearance of a building than they were about basic necessities?
"Yes, yes," the navigator agreed, laughing. "Let's go in now and get some food."
He moved to open the door, but I hesitated. "Should I leave my bike here?" I asked, worried that someone might steal it.
"No, no, bring it with you," the navigator stated, waving off my concerns. I raised an eyebrow, but complied.
We entered the small restaurant, expecting to see something special, but it was indeed just a normal restaurant, with customers and chefs. Some of the consumers looked astonished that I was rudely bringing a bike into the restaurant, and I blushed.
"Welcome!" one of the chefs exclaimed, and we gathered around him. "Your order?" he asked.
"The steak meal," the kiriko said, and I hummed in appreciation. Steak sounded heavenly.
The cook's eyes sharpened, and he spoke in a lowered tone, piquing my curiosity. "How would you like it cooked?" he asked.
"Slowly over a weak fire," the kiriko said slyly.
"Coming right up," the chef said, and a waitress suddenly appeared.
"Please, follow me to this room," she said, leading us to a backdoor.
By now, I figured that this was a password exchange of some sort, though I was still more concerned with actually getting the meal we'd just ordered. We entered the room, and I smiled dreamily at the meat cooking at the table.
"One out of ten thousand," the navigator said, interrupting my thoughts.
"…What?" I asked, momentarily distracted.
"That's the probability of making it to this room. You guys have done extremely well for beginners," he explained. He began to back out of the room. "Alright, then. Good luck, rookies. We'll be more than happy to guide you guys next year, too!"
"Ah, thank you for carrying me," I said, only just remembering my manners.
The kiriko nodded in acknowledgement, waved goodbye, and closed the door behind him.
To my surprise, the room began to move downward, like a giant elevator. I shrugged, taking a seat at the table and digging in to the meal.
"That was rude," Leorio protested at the kiriko's parting words. "He made it sound like he knew we wouldn't pass this year."
"One in three years," Kurapica replied grimly. "The probability of a rookie passing the exam, so they say."
"Why do people go through such hardships to become a hunter?" Gon asked, astounding everyone in the room.
"You mean you came to take the exam without knowing why?" I asked incredulously. "You literally had no purpose in becoming a hunter?"
"Hunters are the most well-paid/respected people in the world!" Leorio exclaimed with Kurapica, respectively. They both immediately turned to glare at each other.
I shrugged, snagging more meat off the stove as the two eldest argued it out. They began spouting paragraphs of information on the benefits of becoming a hunter, though I only listened with half an ear. To be honest, I agreed more with Leorio—after all, the reason I was taking the hunter exam was for the money.
They both turned to Gon, fed up with attempting to convert one another. "Gon, what kind of hunter do you want to become?" they demanded.
Poor Gon looked conflicted. "…I'm not too sure," he hedged.
He was saved from giving a more detailed response by the ding of the elevator.
"Well, hate to interrupt, but looks like we've arrived," I said loudly, stuffing one last piece of meat in my mouth.
"We'll continue this talk later!" Leorio groused.
I rolled my eyes as we stood and made our way to the door. I carefully maneuvered my bicycle to my side. The moment we exited the elevator, we were accosted with hostile stares from all directions.
Gon, of course, seemed unaffected by all the antipathy. "Wow, this place is dark," he exclaimed excitedly. "Looks like some kind of underground passageway. How many people are here?"
"You guys would make it 406," a voice replied, and we turned to see a diminutive man leap down from a pipe attached to the wall. "Yo, I'm Tompa," he said, shaking Gon's hand. "Pleased to meet you."
As Gon shook Tompa's hand, a small man came up beside us. "Please take a number," he said, handing us small, circular cards. I took a glance at mine and raised my eyebrows in surprise. 406, indeed. Quite a lot of people. I stuck the plate to the front of my shirt.
"You're new, right?" Tompa asked us.
Gon blinked in bewilderment. "How did you know that?"
Tompa laughed. "Of course I know! Since I was ten years old, I've taken this exam 35 times. I guess you could call me a veteran. If there's anything you want to know, feel free to ask me!"
"Thank you!" Gon replied sincerely, though I was immediately wary.
"That's not anything worth bragging about," Leorio whispered.
Kurapica nodded. "I agree," he said.
"It's kind of suspicious," I added, "that he should have the skill level to keep from dying for 35 years in a row, but not enough skill to pass."
"We'll keep an eye on him," Kurapica assured me.
Gon, though, was completely unsuspecting. "Do you know everybody here?" he asked excitedly.
"Of course!" Tompa laughed. "Alright! Let me introduce you to everyone!" He began to point to people. "Number 103 is Barbon the Snake Tamer. He's extremely tenacious, so it'll be a pain if you make him your enemy." Gon nodded in understanding.
Tompa turned around and directed our attention to others. "Number 76 is Cherry. He's a martial artist and is unsurpassed when it comes to hand-to-hand combat. Number 255 is Todo the Wrestler. He has incredible strength and is surprisingly intelligent as well. Numbers 197 to 199 are the Amori brothers. They always perform well with their impressive combination play. Finally, Number 348 is Gereta the Hunter, who can capture any kind of beast with his arrows and club. These are just about the ones who come every year. They're highly skilled, but barely miss the cut every exam."
"GYAAAA!" A savage scream suddenly interrupted Tompa, and everyone whirled to stare at Number 58, whose arms had both been sliced off. "M-my aaaaarms!" he wailed.
"Oh my, how strange," a tall man with bright orange hair said gleefully. I shivered at the intense bloodlust he was admitting. It made me want to immediately go into a state of zetsu—cut off all my aura in the hopes I could simply disappear—but I knew if I did, his attention would immediately be riveted towards me. "Your arms have disappeared. You should be careful to always apologize when you bump into someone."
"Ah crap," Tompa muttered. "We got a dangerous one this year again. Number 44, Hisoka the Magician."
I stiffened immediately at the name. Kurapica was the only one to notice, as he was standing the closest to me.
Tompa explained how Hisoka had been disqualified for almost killing an examiner the last year. I missed many of his words, as I could hear nothing but the blood pounding in my ears. My father's murderer was right here, right in front of me…and I was not strong enough to avenge his death.
I knew if I attacked Hisoka now, I would only die in vain. Like Leorio had said earlier, I was a bleeder. The smallest cut could kill me if left unattended. The most I could do was to suppress my nen and pray that I stayed out of Hisoka's radar.
Being weak infuriated me. My nen ability was next to useless in a fight. I could only run away or protect myself, but I wanted more. I wanted to be able to hurt, to kill Hisoka—draw out his painful demise…
A hand brushed against my arm, and I flicked my eyes to the side, noticing that Kurapica was looking very concerned. Gritting my teeth, I forced myself to focus on Tompa's words.
"—other dangerous people around here," Tompa was saying, "but I'll let you know ahead of time so you don't have to worry."
"Okay," Gon agreed cheerfully.
"Oh, that's right," Tompa said suddenly, taking out five cans of soda. He offered four of them to us. "Aren't you thirsty? Have some. Let's drink to everyone doing well."
"Thank you!" Gon exclaimed, smiling.
Mechanically, I reached forward and took a can, struggling not to crush it in my fist. By now, Leorio had also realized that I was behaving strangely, and seemed to be pondering on what to ask.
Before anyone could say anything, though, Gon drank a mouthful of the soda and immediately spat it out. "Blech," he complained. "Tompa, this juice must be old! It tastes weird."
"Wh-what?" Tompa stammered. "Really? How strange…" There was no doubt in my mind that Tompa had put something in the drinks.
As if on cue, Kurapica and Leorio poured out their cans on the floor. Seeing how unresponsive I was being, Kurapica grabbed my can as well and dumped it out for me.
"I-I don't know what to say!" Tompa gasped, bowing profusely.
"It's okay," Gon assured him. "You don't have to apologize. But it's a good thing I was the first to drink it. I've spent a lot of time in the mountains and I've eaten a lot of different plants so even if it tastes a little weird, I can tell right away."
"Whew," Tompa exhaled nervously. "That's a relief." Finding that we were beginning to act unsympathetically towards him, he made a quick escape, conceivably to trick other rookies.
With Tompa out of the picture, Kurapica turned to me. "Arella, what—"
"Hisoka the Magician," I hissed murderously, glaring at the floor. "I want him to die."
"What?" Leorio blurted. "Weren't you listening to Tompa? He told us to stay away from him at all costs!"
"As a matter of fact, I wasn't listening to him," I spat, clenching and unclenching my fists around my bicycle handles.
Kurapica understood at once. "He's the one who murdered your father and hospitalized your brother," he stated, managing to make it sound like a question.
My shoulders started to tremble. Arms wrapped themselves around me, and I started at the unexpected contact, blinking at Gon, who had latched himself to my torso.
"My Aunt Mito hugs me when I'm feeling sad," he explained, looking up at me with large, innocuous eyes. "So maybe you'll feel better if I give you one, too!"
"Yeah, group hug with a pretty girl!" Leorio cheered, and draped himself around Gon and me, almost knocking my bike over. "C'mon, Kurapica!"
Kurapica shifted uncomfortably. "I hardly think now is the time to—" he began, but was interrupted by Leorio.
"Don't be such a sick-in-the-mud," Leorio needled.
With an all-suffering sigh, Kurapica rolled his eyes and quickly threw his arms around us.
Maybe because Hisoka was no longer in my line of sight. Maybe it was because the ridiculousness of the situation. Maybe it was because everyone in close proximity was staring incredulously at our impromptu dog-pile. In any case, I started to laugh hysterically.
"Thanks," I gasped in between chuckles. I leaned against my bicycle for support. "I'm feeling better already."
"You know, when you say it like that it makes me worry more," Leorio pointed out, perturbed.
I waved off his concerns, still snickering.
"By the way, about before, when we were chasing the kirikos," Kurapica started, but was interrupted suddenly by a loud alarm.
"JIRIRIRIRIRIRIIII—" It was cut off by a lean man, who seemed to have appeared out of thin air.
A nen user, I thought to myself. Kurapica looked incensed that he had been cut off from what he'd been about to say, and I wondered what could be so important.
"Now," the strange man said, "this concludes the registration. We will commence the hunter exam."