Disclaimer: I don't own HunterXHunter. I am not making profit off of this story.

A/N: Thanks for waiting, guys-hope school isn't bringing you down! Here's November's update. (:

Everywhere is within walking distance if you have the time.

XXX

Gon sniffed the air and pointed. "This way!" he declared, while Kurapica and I shared a dubious glance.

I slowly inhaled the air myself to check, but was unable to distinguish anything unusual. "…Are you sure?" I asked skeptically. Though there was really no reason to doubt Gon, I found it difficult to believe he could really smell Leorio from so far.

"Yup!" Gon replied enthusiastically. "Leorio's cologne has an unusual scent, so it's easy to detect even several kilometers away. And animal corpses are littered around like markers. They were probably killed by Hisoka."

That last reason, I could understand. But smelling Leorio's cologne? I couldn't even remember what it smelled like, let alone find and follow it in this vast jungle.

"Um, Kurapica, Arella," Gon started, "when Hisoka said that we passed, what could he have possibly meant? 'Don't worry, they aren't dead. They passed.'"

"He said he was playing examiner," Kurapica replied. "So basically, Hisoka was judging us."

"How?" asked Gon. "All Hisoka did was stare at me."

"But you hit him before that, right?" I said.

"And Arella survive in a fight with him," Kurapica added.

"Not really," I admitted meekly. "He wasn't being serious at all. So actually, Leorio and I just got beaten up. But we still passed, apparently."

Kurapica hummed. "Maybe he sensed a smell similar to himself from you?" he pondered. "I definitely do not think he possess the temperament of a hunter! However, I can't help but admit that his super-human movement and techniques are amazing. If you just consider his combat ability, he's a genius."

I nodded, having had similar thoughts. Even though I had been suppressing my nen throughout the exam, Hisoka had still managed to sense my antipathy towards him. My individual antipathy. Out of all of the animosity in the entire crowd of examinees.

If I were honest with myself, I'd tell myself that I was lucky to be alive. Of course, I much preferred to lie and claim I would've been able to escape the situation by using my nen ability.

"It's common for an individual with a unique ability to find others with a similar talent," Kurapica continued. "Perhaps with his instinct and experience, Hisoka felt that you the makings and potential of a hunter. He might have been thinking something like, 'they have too much potential to kill just yet.'"

Wincing, I held up my arms in an X shape, shaking my head.

Kurapica seemed to realize what I meant. "Ah, sorry," he apologized. "My words were insensitive."

Gon frowned in thought. "I think I can understand a little now," he said. "That strange sensation I felt at that moment… The intensity scared me and I really wanted to run away, but I couldn't even turn my back on him. I thought I was going to die. But on the other hand… I don't know why—even though it was a desperate situation where I was facing death—I felt a little nervous with excitement. Isn't it strange?"

"Yeah, that's strange," I said bluntly. "You should've been scared out of your mind. Heck, I was scared out of my mind. You're still a kid—act like it."

Gon pouted, but didn't argue. "Ah, there they are!" he exclaimed suddenly, pointing in the distance.

I could see a warehouse getting closer as we ran, along with all the examinees that'd successfully passed the second round.

"I don't think we're late," Kurapica murmured, and I made a noise of agreement, scanning the crowd for Leorio.

I flinched as I felt a sudden burst of nen, and whirled around to face Hisoka, who was standing at our backs. He smiled friendlily, as though we hadn't just scraped through a deadly encounter with him, and pointed to his right. There, we found Leorio sitting underneath a tree, looking positively confused.

Marching right up to him, I grabbed his jacket—which was around his waist—and buried my nose into it, taking deep breaths.

"Um, Arella, what are you doing?" Leorio asked, bewildered. Kurapica and Gon looked just as confused.

I ignored him. "Jeez, Gon—I can barely smell it even from here," I complained. "You're like an animal!"

Gon sulked as I shook Leorio's jacket in his face. "It really is a unique scent, though!" he protested, as Kurapica bent down to Leorio's level.

"You seem fine except for the injury on your arm," Kurapica said, checking him over for any new wounds.

"When did you wake up?" Gon asked, effectively distracted from our bickering.

Leorio frowned. "Uh, just a little while ago. But how did I get injured?" he asked. "I can't seem to remember anything from after we entered the marsh."

I had a quick, whispered conference with Gon and Kurapica, and we decided against telling him. No need for him to get all upset and demand a rematch or something equally dumb.

All problems set aside for the time being, we finally turned towards the rest of the examinees. "Why is everyone outside?" Gon wondered.

"We can't go in," a voice answered.

Gon spun around with a wide smile on his face. "Killua!"

"What kind of magic did you use?" he asked, laughing. "I didn't think you'd be able to make it back at all."

A quick explanation followed, with Killua's facial expression moving swiftly from mildly curious to downright incredulous.

"You followed the scent of his cologne?" Killua exclaimed. "You… That's really strange, you know."

"Maybe," Gon admitted. "Arella said the same thing. So why isn't anyone going inside?"

Killua pointed to a sign, which read 'The second exam will start at noon.' "We can hear strange noises but no sign of anyone coming out. Guess we can only wait," he said, shrugging.

As the time ticked by, the crowd began to shift. "Everyone's getting so tense," I observed, starting to feel a little anxious myself.

"Since there's no way of knowing what might happen," Kurapica agreed.

"Heh, we might even get attacked by surprise," Leorio said, fisting his hands together in preparation.

When the minute hand struck twelve, the door slowly opened…to reveal a man and a woman sitting calmly inside.

I smacked myself in the head, realizing that the strange growling noises were not coming from an animal, but from the large stomach of the huge man inside the building.

"So? You really hungry?" the woman asked, looking up at the giant of a man behind her.

"Can't you hear it?" he replied, glancing at his stomach. "I'm starving."

The woman laughed and then called out to us. "So, for that reason, the second exam will be cooking! Cook up a dish that can satisfy us two gourmet hunters."

The man began to speak in a rumbling tone. "First, cook the dish that I designate—"

"—And only the ones who pass that will be allowed to cook the dish I designate," the woman finished. "So basically, only by getting us both to say 'it's delicious' can you pass the second exam! The exam will end when we're full."

All around me, people began to whisper.

"I don't know about the guy, but the girl doesn't look like she can eat a lot," someone muttered. "Many will be eliminated here."

"Man, I've never cooked before," Leorio said, and even Kurapica was looking concerned.

"I never imagined an exam like this," he admitted.

"I can only make basic meals," I sighed mournfully.

We waited as the giant spoke. "My menu is…whole roasted pig! My favorite." He pointed towards the forest. "As long as the pig resides in this forest, any type will do. The second exam has begun!"

At these words, people began to scramble towards the trees.

"To be honest, I'm relieved!" Leorio exclaimed. "It's a simple dish."

"All we have to do is catch a pig and roast it, right?" Gon asked, and Kurapica nodded.

"But we have to catch it quickly," I added, "since there's a limit to how much even that monster-man will eat."

We all skidded to a halt as a stampeding storm came upon us. Gigantic round beasts snorted at us, angry that we'd dared to enter their territory. With a great roar, they charged.

"Whoa!" we all yelled, leaping in all directions to avoid getting squashed.

I watched out of the corner of my eye as Gon smashed his fishing rod down on the head of one pig, knocking it out in one fell swoop.

"Nice, Gon!" Leorio congratulated. "Looks like their heads are their weak-points."

"Their nose probably evolved over time to protect their weak forehead," Kurapica postulated.

In quick succession, we knocked out four of the pigs, cooked them as quickly as we could manage, and rushed back to the clearing to present them to the examiner. As I'd suspected, there were many other people who managed to pass the exam.

What surprised me, however, was the monstrous volume of the examiner's stomach. "I can't believe he managed to eat 70 of them," I mumbled feverishly, eyes wide.

"It's just impossible!" Kurapica was muttering next to me. "He ate more than his body weight!"

Leorio crossed his arms, looking resolutely unaffected. "Don't stress over it so much."

The female examiner seemed to be arguing with the male monster, telling him he had gone too easy on us. "But Menchi…," the man sighed.

She turned with an exasperated groan, ignoring him. "I'm not like Buhara," she said, pointing at the mountain-man behind her. "I'm going to be a little harder to please. I'm going to judge strictly as well! For the second half of this exam, the menu will be sushi!"

"…What?" I asked. "Zushi? Is that a name?"

"Sushi, I think she said," Leorio replied. "I've never heard of it, though."

Menchi laughed. "You all seem quite perplexed. It's not a surprise that no one knows what it is, since it's a traditional dish of a small island country."

She led us into the warehouse and spread her arms at the magnificent kitchen around her. "Here's a hint!" she cried. "Please look this way—this is where you'll be cooking! All the necessary ingredients and utensils are here. The essential ingredient, rice, has been prepared. And the biggest hint: I will only be accepting nigiri sushi, the kind made by clenching the rice with your hand! Alright, begin! The exam will end when I'm full! Until then, you can make as many as you want!"

And so it began.

"Nigiri zushi," I muttered, hefting a rice spoon in my hand.

"Sushi," Leorio corrected, though he looked as perplexed as I felt. "Clenching by hand… Well, I can imagine the basic shape of the dish. But what's the key ingredient?"

Kurapica leaned closer to us. "I've never actually seen the general shape, but I've read about this before."

I rolled my eyes. Of course Kurapica would have read about sushi before. He had probably read every single book in the entire country by now.

"Most likely…," Kurapica continued, oblivious to my thoughts, "this is a dish where you add vinegar and spices to the rice, and then add fresh fish meat. I think."

"FISH? Do you realize we're in a forest?" Leorio thundered at the top of his lungs.

I slapped a hand to my forehead as every examinee in the whole building turned to stare at us with a predatory glance.

"Lower your voice!" Kurapica snapped. "There should be a river or a lake somewhere!"

However, the damage had already been done. All of the examinees made a mad dash out of the warehouse, each attempting to find a body of water.

"Damn, I can't believe those cheaters were eavesdropping!" Leorio complained.

I shared a helpless glance with Kurapica as we made our way to a lake.

"Hey, do you know how to catch fish?" Leorio asked us hesitantly. "We don't have anything to catch them with."

"It's not a problem," I said confidently, relieved that I could be of some use after all. Even if I couldn't hope to win a fight against Hisoka, I could catch a few measly fish. This was my territory. I snapped my fingers and walked forward, directly onto the water's surface.

"You can walk on water, too?" Kurapica asked, shocked.

"No, I'm just hardening the air on top of the water," I replied. "I'm basically just floating. It's actually easier than walking on air, since I don't have to maintain my state in the air—the water does it for me. I told you, my nen ability is really useful."

"What do you mean by maintaining your state?" Kurapica asked curiously.

"It's like this," I explained. "Even if I make a wall of air, if I don't maintain the state, the hardened air can just be pushed around. It'll be like the wall isn't even there. So if I try to walk on air without maintaining the state of the wall, it would be similar to me trying to walk on air by standing on top of a thick book. I'd just fall. That's why I have to keep myself hovering the whole time I'm on air so that I don't sink. However, if I'm on water, the wall floats, so I don't have to maintain the state. Like, if you had a really large book, you'd probably be able to float on water, too. It's a little tricky maintaining my balance, though."

"And your dad said you haven't even realized half of your potential?" Leorio asked, shaking his head in disbelief.

I frowned, though still concentrating on finding a fish. "Yeah, I'm not too sure what he meant by that. He wouldn't explain, 'cause he wanted me to learn for myself or something."

A fish lazily swam underneath me, and I grinned triumphantly. "Aha!" I exclaimed, snapping my fingers six times in quick succession, creating a box around the now-frantic creature. Bending down, I picked up the box of air right out of the water. "Here, catch!" I said, throwing the box at the two boys waiting by the shore.

Using this method, I caught a couple more fish, and we hurried back to the warehouse.

Leorio began to work immediately, and finished in less than five minutes. "I'm all done!" he announced. "I'm the first to finish!" He presented his dish to the examiner. "I call it the Leorio Special. Here, try it!"

The examiner lifted the top of the plate to see a glob of live fish surrounded by rice. "I'm not eating this," she said in disgust, throwing the dish over her shoulder. "Listen up! The shape is very important," she called to us. "If it's not shaped like nigiri sushi, it's not even worth trying!"

Examinee after examinee failed and failed to bring the examiner a successful dish, and she seemed to be getting more irritated with every failure. "There hasn't been a single one I've tried yet!" she complained. "Are you guys trying to starve me to death?"

Even the all-knowing Kurapica failed. "You're the same as 403!" the examiner snapped, causing Kurapica to spiral into a state of depression.

"The same…as Leorio," he gasped, causing Leorio to point angrily.

"Is that such a big shock, you punk?" he asked crossly.

"Geez, what's wrong with everybody?" the examiner angrily huffed. "Before I even consider observational skills, everyone's lacking common sense!"

I turned away, pouting, as I hadn't even begun to make my piece of 'sushi.' In my opinion, Menchi was the one without common sense. I just couldn't understand why anyone would want to eat a whole, live fish with rice.

"WHAT?" someone bellowed, and I whipped my head around in surprise. "What's so hard about packing a bite-sized amount of rice into a rectangular shape, and adding wasabi and thinly sliced fish meat on top? Something like this will taste the same no matter who makes it!"

Bingo, I thought victoriously, immediately getting to work. I lined up with the rest of the examinees, waiting patiently for my turn.

With every failed contestant, I began to feel more nervous. Just as I was about to step forward, the examiner took a sip of her tea and sighed. "Sorry, I'm all full now!"

Dismayed, I looked sadly at my piece of what I believed to be sushi. Curious as to what it would taste like, I popped it into my mouth. Immediately, I dropped my plate and began to hurl.

"Arella?" Leorio exclaimed in surprise.

"What's the matter?" Kurapica asked anxiously.

"Disgusting," I gasped. "Raw fish—bleeeeh. No wonder she didn't like any of them. Zushi is such a disgusting dish."

Leorio sighed, realizing that I wasn't in any danger of dying. "It's sushi," he corrected again. "With an 's' sound."

Meanwhile, Menchi was on the phone. "Like I said, there's nothing I can do about it! It just happened that way!" She paused, listening to the response on the other end. "I don't want to! Results are results! We can't redo it!"

The examinees looked hopeful, wanting the person on the other end to talk some sense into our crazy examiner.

"This is different from the rules I first reported? How?" she demanded. "We first agreed that the only way anyone would pass is if I said their meal was delicious, right?"

Behind her, Buhara shook his head. "That was just the surface rule. The judging was supposed to be based on observational skills and—"

"I told you to stay quiet!" the angry woman snapped. "It's not like I didn't have a reason for this! One of the test takers knew how to make the dish, and that stupid baldy ended up blabbering it to everyone! My ruling stands—end of discussion!"

She turned to us, hanging up her cell phone. "The second half of the second exam—number of examinees passed is zero!"