Disclaimer: I don't own HunterXHunter. I am not making profit off of this story.
A/N: Aaaand here's October's chapter! (: Thanks to everyone for being patient! Your reviews always cheer me up when junior year comes around with a truck and smashes me into a puddle.
All men are equal before an animal.
XXX
Outside was burning, the sun beating down our flushed faces, and I almost regretted leaving the tunnels. At least it was cooler being surrounded by stone. Squinting in the distance as I rested my hands on my thighs, I breathed deeply. An unexpected uneasiness was rising in the back of my stomach, and I bit my bottom lip anxiously.
All the examinees were gaping at the swamp before us, filled with dark forests and mysterious animals.
"The Numere Marsh, otherwise known as the 'Swindler's Nest.' To reach the second exam site, you have no choice but to go through here," Satotsu explained. "The marsh is home to rare species that can't be seen anywhere else. Of all the species, the majority is cunning and greedy, and many feed on humans. Please take all precautions and stay alert at all times. Being fooled is as good as being dead."
I gulped as Satotsu continued to speak of the dangers of the quagmire. It really wouldn't do for me to die here, especially after all the research and general trouble I'd gone through to ensure I would be ready to pass the exam.
"It's a lie! He's lying to you!" a voice suddenly yelled, and I was startled out of my worries.
A man was stumbling towards us, dragging along what seemed to be a dead monkey. "He's a fake!" he cried, pointing an accusing finger. "He's not the examiner! I'm the real examiner!"
Hundreds of faces turned towards Satotsu in uncertainty, jumbled mutters of confusion arising.
"A fake? What's going on?"
"Then who is he…?"
"Look at this!" the man shouted, holding up the monkey. "A human-faced monkey that lives in the Numere Marsh!"
I gaped, staring unabashedly at the monkey. If this was a hoax, it was a well-played one. The monkey greatly resembled Satotsu. Immediately, I felt ashamed for comparing Satotsu's appearance to that of the monkey. I'd feel awful if someone told me that I looked like a monkey.
"Human-faced monkeys like fresh human meat, but their arms and legs are extremely weak because they're thin and lanky," the 'real' examiner explained. "So they disguise themselves as humans and discreetly lure their prey into the marsh and band together with other species to eat them!" He jabbed a finger at Satotsu. "That one's trying to lure all the examinees and decimate them all at once!"
As I was deliberating, caught between trusting Satotsu and trusting the stranger, playing cards shot through the air, slicing through the stranger's skull. He made a choking noise, dropping dead while I exclaimed in shock. Satotsu, on the other hand, skillfully caught all the cards with his fingers.
I felt an inescapable fury boil within me as Hisoka emerged from the crowd. I took a hostile step in his direction, but was halted by hands on both of my shoulders. Kurapica and Leorio had both taken the liberty to keep me still.
"Kukuku," Hisoka laughed, shuffling his remaining cards with glee. "I see, I see." He flung another couple cards at the retreating human-faced monkey's back, which had been attempting to run away. "This proves it," he said. "He's the real one. The real examiner wouldn't have been weak enough to be killed by my attack."
"…I'll take that as a compliment," Satotsu said, eyes narrowed. "However, any further attack on me will result in immediate disqualification. Understood?"
A savage part of me sincerely hoped Hisoka would go for another round, just so he would be disqualified. I couldn't even imagine a violent murderer like him qualifying to be a hunter.
"Yes, yes," Hisoka laughed, not looking worried in the least.
My eyes widened as a flock of deranged-looking birds swooped down upon the fresh corpse of the fake examiner, feasting upon his body. I felt bile rise in my throat and shuddered.
"Even if it's survival of the fittest, that's too much," Leorio muttered in disgust, turning away.
The examinees began to move once more through the marsh, and I sighed.
"I can't believe we're running again," Leorio complained, exactly voicing my thoughts.
Kurapica agreed with a frown. "Yes, the ground is really mushy, which makes it more tiring."
"Knew I should've kept my bike," I said mournfully, and the two boys rolled their eyes.
A few minutes into the marsh, and fog began to sweep in, surrounding us with gray. Suddenly, I felt edgy. This was the perfect opportunity for some wild animal or nefarious trap to kill me.
"Leorio! Kurapica! Arella!" Gon's voice echoed in front of us. "Killua says that it'll be better to move up front!"
I laughed as Kurapica and Leorio rolled their eyes in exasperation.
"You moron!" Leorio hollered.
"If we could've, we would've done so a long time ago!" Kurapica yelled.
"C'mon, there must be a way—just try to get out of there—"
"We can't!" I shouted back, sounding inappropriately gleeful. Somehow, hearing Gon's simplistic views on things made life so much easier. "You have fun with Killua up there!"
The fog became thicker around us, and clusters of people slowly began to be separated. Screams erupted from those unfortunate enough to have lost track of the main group. Of course, the group I was in became lost as well.
"Man, all of a sudden, this place has fallen into a state of complete panic," Leorio exclaimed.
"The group behind us must have been led astray," Kurapica reasoned, though his tone was sharp and frustrated.
I opened my mouth to reply, but instead whirled away as a card sliced through the air where my eyes had been moments before. I dodged two more in quick succession, as hoarse screams exploded from all around me. Leorio shouted as a card embedded itself in his arm, and I glanced at him in concern.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Leorio growled at Hisoka, who merely chuckled disturbingly.
"Playing examiner," he said, shuffling his cards. "I was planning on behaving myself until at least the second exam… But the first exam is boring me, so I figured I'd help with the selection process. I will judge every one of you." He jeered sinisterly.
"Judge us?" one of the more imprudent examinees barked. "Ha, are you stupid? Once you lose the examiner in this fog, it's over. You can't even see what's in front of you! It's absolutely impossible to find the examiner again!" He pointed angrily at Hisoka. "So that means you're also eliminated with the rest of us!"
A card entrenched itself in his forehead, and he fell backwards with a grunt. "How insulting," Hisoka said mildly. "How dare you compare me to the likes of you. As my gift for your journey to the underworld, let me teach you. There is nothing impossible for a magician."
Foolishly, the remaining examinees surrounded Hisoka in an attempt to appear menacing.
"You don't have the right to become a hunter!" one shouted.
"We will make sure you never take this exam again!" another supplied.
Hisoka merely smirked. "Is that so…?" he asked. He lifted the four of hearts. "This one card is enough for all of you combined," he taunted.
"We'll shut you up!" the men roared, rushing at him with their weapons drawn.
In mere seconds, Hisoka swept through the crowd, swiping at his attackers' throats. He even killed those who had given up and were attempting to run away, all the while laughing maniacally. "You guys are all eliminated," he sang. He turned to glance at us. "Only you four left," he murmured, and I narrowed my eyes at him.
"Hey, when I give the signal, scatter and run," someone whispered next to me. "He's strong. Even if we attack him together, we don't stand a chance."
I shifted my eyes to look at the three boys beside me. Kurapica, Leorio, and Number 76, a stranger. Leorio was injured, and all of us were severely fatigued. If Hisoka really wanted to, he could kill us easily, even if we all ran in opposite directions. I knew, however, that I desperately wanted to attack Hisoka, even if it meant my untimely death. Logically, I realized anger was clouding my judgment, but I couldn't seem to calm down.
"I'll hold him off," I offered, and all three boys glared back at me.
"Don't be crazy!" Number 76 spat. "Just run when I say to."
I shrugged, but my mind was already made up.
"Run!" Number 76 shouted, and the boys bolted. I glimpsed three identical looks of horror when they realized I wasn't moving, before they were swallowed up in the fog.
Hisoka and I remained behind, and I refused to regret my decision. "Oh?" Hisoka said. "So they're splitting up—smart move. Now, what are you doing?" he asked me.
Good question—what was I doing? I didn't have any offensive power. My punches were weak; my kicks were useless. What could I do? Trap Hisoka with air and somehow manage to kill him? Yeah, right. If I didn't come up with something fast, I was seriously going to die.
I took a slow breath, trying to make every second last so that the others could escape. "I'm going to kill you," I asserted resolutely, trying to sound more confident than I felt.
"Hm," Hisoka hummed. "And you think you can do that?"
"Well, normally I'd say no," I admitted, "but at this point I don't really care."
Hisoka leered. "You know, I noticed that throughout the exam you've had an awful lot of stifled killing intent aimed towards me, and it made me wonder." He shifted into a fighting stance. "Did I kill one of your precious people in last year's exam?"
With an enraged snarl, I lunged at him, snapping my fingers.
Walls of air appeared around me, cushioning me against Hisoka's returning blows. I flipped over his head, throwing a halfhearted kick at his legs.
Hisoka uninterestedly leaped backwards with one arm, the other unenthusiastically flinging a card aimed for my throat. I caught the card and hurled it back at him with equal force.
"Ah, a nen user," Hisoka hummed gleefully, snatching the card out of the air. "There were a couple nen users last year, as well. I don't suppose you were related? A shame, since I'm sure I killed the adult. Not too sure about the younger. Are you trying to avenge them? I suggest you give up while you're still alive. You're even weaker than they were."
"I'll kill you!" I shrieked, as the pain of my father's death hit me tenfold. I rushed forward, completely disregarding my weak combative aptitude.
Smirking, he caught my arm, flipping me over his back. As I flew through the air, my arm twisted in Hisoka's hold. I realized if I continued to fall, I'd likely break my arm, so I immediately snapped my fingers, landing neatly in the air besides Hisoka's head.
Surprised, he let go of my arm, and in an instant I was twenty feet away and ten feet above his incredulous eyes.
"How…interesting," he murmured, glancing up at me with narrowed eyes. I struggled to contain my terror as his killing intent shot up several notches. "Not quite that weak, then?" He showed his teeth, taking a step towards me.
I stiffened, but he only paused, tilting his head to one side.
To my left I just made out Leorio's figure, calmly walking back towards us. "I just can't," he said through gritted teeth. "No way am I going to leave with my tail between my legs while you try to kill my friend!" He charged towards Hisoka, a large stick in his hands.
"Leorio!" I cried, as Hisoka disappeared, reappearing behind him. Hisoka reached out a hand and—
Crack!
The end of Gon's fishing rod smashed into Hisoka's face, and we all froze in trepidation.
"…Not bad, little boy," Hisoka praised, turning his attention towards Gon instead, who seemed to be frozen in fear. "A fishing rod, eh? What an interesting weapon. Can I see it?" Hisoka asked, sauntering away from us and towards the boy.
"Where do you think you're going?" Leorio snarled, raising his stick in preparation to strike.
My eyes widened when I realized I was too far away to use my nen and dropped from the air, lurching between Hisoka and Leorio, just in time to block the vicious left hooker he threw. The force hurled me backwards into Leorio, and we both went tumbling into the grass. It hurt more than I thought it would, especially when my skull cracked against the ground.
I blacked out for a moment, waking just in time for Hisoka to say to Gon, "Don't worry, they aren't dead. They passed." Pushing myself up onto my elbows, I glared. It seemed Hisoka's bloodlust had almost completely dissipated. "Okay! You pass too," Hisoka told Gon cheerfully. "Become a good hunter."
A radio beeped in Hisoka's pocket. "Hisoka, you should come back now. I think we're about to reach the second exam site," a voice said monotonously.
"Okay, I'll be right there," Hisoka acknowledged. He turned back to Gon. "It's nice to have friends."
He made his way over to Leorio and me, and blinked in false surprise. "Oh, you're awake already? I suppose I didn't hit you hard enough."
"Shut up," I spat murderously. "Stay away."
He shrugged, smirking, and reached over to pick up Leorio. I made to step between them, but he simply snapped out a fist, and I dropped like a stone onto all fours.
The realization that he had gone very easy on me in our fight was humiliating, but I could do nothing but cough as Hisoka slung Leorio over his shoulder and casually ambled away. "You can get back on your own, right?" he asked Gon, who nodded his head dumbly. "That's a good boy," he said, fading into the fog.
As soon as he was out of sight, Gon sank to his knees. I dragged myself next to him, feeling as though I had just had an ineffably close shave with death. "You alright?" I asked weakly, rubbing my ribs, and he nodded, though he still seemed unable to speak.
That was fine with me. I let him keep his silence, thinking to myself. My goal was to become a hunter in order to get enough money to pay back Trace's hospital bills. However, I wasn't strong enough even to defend myself against opponents like Hisoka. If my defense was as weak as my offense, I would surely die before managing to become a hunter. On top of my physical weakness, my hemophilia was another extreme disadvantage. Since I held the risk of dying after every little cut, I had to be twice as cautious as usual.
"Gon?" I heard Kurapica shout in confusion, and I was startled out of my thoughts.
I was astounded he had been able to find us in the fog, even with all the noise we'd been making. It couldn't have been easy, especially as the mist had probably amplified and echoed our voices, causing the sound to appear to have been coming from all directions.
"I'm sorry," he apologized to me as he came closer. "I wanted to come back the moment I left, but I couldn't f—"
"It's the fog, I know," I interrupted understandingly. "I know—that's why I volunteered to stay behind. Every extra second counts in this weather."
"But I…," he trailed off miserably, and I groaned, flopping backwards on the ground.
"I never blamed you, you big cow—now help me up!" I demanded, reaching up with both my hands like a newborn baby.
He glanced down at me, incredulous at my childish behavior. "I'm the cow?" he asked, and my eyes narrowed immediately.
I kicked his legs out from under him, and he landed on top of Gon with a strangled yelp. This actually served two purposes: it snapped Gon out of his stupor and also got Kurapica out of his self-deprecating mood.
"Aw, Arella!" Gon whined. "Why'd you do that?"
"Both of you should have been able to dodge that. Kurapica, you must be really distracted if a single kick from me could take you down," I sniffed, crossing my arms in a completely unrepentant manner. "Now someone tell me some good news and tell me we're not out of the hunter exams yet."
I leaned back on the hard floor and told myself this wasn't the end.