I would like to say a big thank you to SpadePirates4Eva
SpadePirates4Eva – Big brothers! I just couldn't resist, I had to do it. Too good to miss!

Let's get the legal stuff out of the way first. I do not own Hunter x Hunter or Hunter x Hunter 2011. All rights and ownership go to the following: Yoshihiro Togashi, Shueisha, Shonen, Kazuhiro Furuhashi, Nobuaki Kishima, Nippon Animation, Viz Media, Fuji TV, Funimation Channel, Satoshi Saga, Yukihiro Matsushite, Makoto Sato, Hiroshi Kojina, Atsushi Maekawa, Tsutomu Kamishiro, Madhouse, NTV, Yuzo Sato, Shoji Yonemura and last but not least Keiichiro Kawaguchi. Whew.

The game with Chairman Netero was fun! I had a lot of fun playing with Gon and Killua, although I could have done without all the slamming into each other repeatedly, or being slammed in the face by the Chairman's hand. But, I had fun! I had so much fun…

I hope I can have other days like that.

I felt something pushing me awake a little bit, which only made me bury my head into whatever I was lying on.
"Just a little longer." I muttered into the clothing. I heard a sigh and felt someone push me up making me sit up straight. I looked forward groggily, my eyes half open and my head swaying side to side, backwards and forwards. I was still really tired, I'm not even sure how much sleep I got; I just hoped it was a lot.
"What time did you come in here?" I heard the familiar voice ask as I continued looking forward with my eyes half open. I could see a blurry and smudged outline of my brother, and knew the voice belonged to him.
"I think…f-hi-hi-ve." I asked yawning loudly into my hands and closing my eyes tightly shut. I lazily dropped my hands to my side as I heard him sigh again.
"It's time to get up." He said, as I nodded my head and stood up shakily and tiredly. I almost felt myself trip forward but caught myself and yawned once more. My view of looking forward was blocked once again by my brother standing up. He folded the sheets neatly and placed them on the ground again. I lazily picked up my bag and placed it around my shoulders. I couldn't feel my hair on my back and instead felt pressure on the back of my head. I untied the ribbon and brushed my hair through with my fingers; after neatening my hair up I tied the ribbon back in, keeping the odd long bits at bay at the back.

I slipped on my shoes as I heard a dinging noise. I looked up groggily for the noise source, but couldn't find it.
"I apologize for the long wait. The airship will soon arrive at its destination." The voice said. It sounded like Beans. I blinked a couple of times tiredly and walked over to the window. Standing on my toes I looked out of it and felt awake suddenly. There was a giant hill with a giant tower right in the middle of it. I looked over to my big brother, smiling widely.
"Big brother, come look at this it's huge!" I said to him excitedly. Kurapika looked over with an eyebrow raised and come over standing behind me. He looked through the window himself and raised an eyebrow in question. I looked up at him, staring at he's chin.
"I wonder what we're doing there!" I said to him excitedly, making him look at me and nod his head in agreement before he stared out at the window again. I looked out of the window again myself and continued to smile widely, after yesterday's game; I felt really revived and ready for anything.

The airship landed. As soon as the doors opened everybody began piling out. The group of us stood in among the crowd. I stood next to Killua and looked around in amazement. We all stood on top of the tower. We heard someone clear their throat and looked at the person. It was Beans, the small bean headed shaped man in a black suit.
"Ahem… Everyone, the exam's Third Phase will begin here, at the top of trick tower." Beans said. I looked at him oddly, an eyebrow rose in question.
"Trick Tower?" A guy behind me asked, asking the question I was sure was on every bodies mind.
"To pass this Phase, you must reach the tower's base alive. The time limit is seventy-two hours. With that, we will now begin the Third Phase. I will pray for your success." Beans said making me and Gon look at Killua in question. Killua looked at us both and shrugged his shoulders, signalling he had no clue himself. The airship lifted into the air with Beans on it.
"Best of luck to everyone!" Beans shouted through a microphone as the airship left us all stranded on top of the tower. It didn't feel so great being on top of here anymore, or even here in general; not with the airship gone.

The five of us wondered to the edge, Gon got on his hands and knees to look over the edge as the rest of us stood with me between my brother and Gon. It was really high up and so far down.
"That's a long fall." I said a chill running up my spin as I looked down at the ground. If someone fell there would be no way for them to survive. Leorio hugged his suitcase close to him as he looked down at the tower in disbelief.
"Are we supposed to climb down?" He questioned as I shook my head quickly.
"I hope not…"I said to him furrowing my brows. Kurapika crossed his arms over his chest as he looked down the tower himself.
"That would be suicide…" He said as I nodded my head quickly agreeing with him. We heard chuckling behind us and turned around to face the person.
"Maybe for a normal person." Said the man. He was a muscly guy who wore a greyish brown vest top, green fingerless gloves, a big belt like thing and black trousers. He smirked at us with his arms crossed over his chest.

The man walked over to us and started to climb down, gripping onto the various cracks in the wall with his fingers and feet. I bent down, balancing on the balls of my feet and hugged my knees close to me as I watched him climb down, Gon was still on his hands and knees and everybody else was still standing.
"But a top-class rock climber can handle this, no problem." He said as I climbed down, not slipping once. I watched with my mouth slightly open in amazement.
"That's amazing." I said watching him.
"Wow…" Killua said after me, amazed as well.
"He's going down pretty fast." Gon said blinking a couple of times as we watched him climb down. We heard something in the wind and began looking around for the noise source, as did this professional work climber. What we saw was one of the freakiest things I've ever seen in my life. It was this giant head with wings and little arms and legs, they had razor sharp teeth and their eyes were closed. They cawed through the sky and began circling around the rock climber. It was really freaky.
"Stop! Stay away! Stop! Stop it!" The rock climber shouted as we all watched the giant flying heads circle him. Suddenly one dove in under him and opened its giant mouth, swallowing him whole. It flew above our heads, making me fall back onto my bottom in surprise.
"G-guess we can't climb down the side…" Leorio said, stuttering.
"Yeah…" My brother said as I nodded my head with the other two. We watched the creatures disappear from sight, carrying the rock climber with them.

It had been a while since we stood on the tower. Me, Gon and Killua had split from my brother and Leorio to try and find an exit. We wondered around the top.
"Hmm. There doesn't seem to be an exit anywhere." Killua said bored out of his mind as he shoved his hands into his pockets. I and Gon nodded our heads agreeing. I looked around, there were a lot less people around, and no more of those giant flying head things had flown above us.
"There aren't many people left. So there must be somewhere we can go." I said to the two. Killua looked at me from the corner of his eyes and looked up, pulling a bored expression.
"I guess. But it's boring until then." He said making me smile nervously and Gon laugh slightly at our friends unnaturally short amusement scale.

The next thing I knew was the feeling of slipping before falling down a hole, the pavement slab I was standing on hit my back as it turned over. I gasped as I began falling. Gon and Killua turned around quickly. It felt like everything was happening in slow motion. I reached my hands out for Gon and Killua only just grazing their fingers with mine before falling down the hole too far to grab onto anything.
"Mishka!" I heard Gon and Killua yell. With that, the hole I fell, the pavement slab that had turned blocked out all light. Everything disappeared into black. I landed on the floor with a heavy thud and winced. Placing a hand on my stomach and I struggled getting myself up using only one arm.
"That really hurt…" I said as I sat on my legs and looked around. The room was dark. The walls were stone as was the floor. It felt cold and made me shiver. I rubbed my arms with hands trying to warm up. There was a single door in the warm. Lights turned on, brightening up the whole room. Standing up, I walked over to it and grabbed the handle, only to feel electricity run through my body. I screamed and pulled my hand away. Looking at my palm I could see that it wasn't burnt or singed, but it stuck a lot.
"Welcome to the Third Phase!" I heard a voice boom through the small stone room. I looked around for the voice, but couldn't see it anywhere.
"I'm the examiner, Lippo. You won't be able to exit the room until another person arrives. Once that person does I'll explain the rules and open the door. Good luck." The voice said, a clicking noise accompanying it afterwards.

I looked up and sighed to myself. Who knew when the other person could arrive? I saw a clock on the wall and sighed to myself again. I had to wait here, for hours on end, until someone else arrived. What if that person never arrived? What if I was here on my own for the whole seventy two hours? I shook my head at the thought; I couldn't allow that, I had to get out of here. But touching the door handle was near enough impossible as that electrocuted me. Instead, I walked towards the wall and leaned my back against it gently and allowed myself to slide down it.
"Guess I'll wait…" I said quietly to myself as I looked up at the ceiling, waiting for someone, anybody, to fall through so we could get through trick tower.

I developed a terrible habit. I kept looking at the clock and I kept doing it every five minutes. It made time go longer which was a blessing but a curse all at the same time. A blessing because it meant I still had loads of time, a curse because time went much, much slower. I saw the floor opening up and quickly moved out of the way as another person fell through. He landed on his feet professionally, his knees bent. Taking a good look at him I could see he had long brown hair down to the middle of his back. It was tied back into a low ponytail. He had purple eyes. He also wore trainers. He was quite skinny and had tanned skin, he didn't look very strong; but looks are deceiving. He was much taller than I was, but not as tall as Leorio, maybe just a head shorter. I watched as he stood up straight and brushed off his black button shirt and blue jeans. The number on his chest was the number four hundred and six. He looked at me with a glare and raised his eyebrow slightly.
"What? Got a staring problem?" He asked me in a harsh voice. I shook my head quickly making him scoff and turn his head away to look at the clock.
"Yeah, whatever." He said staring intently at the clock.

I heard something move and looked in the direction. Part of the wall opened up revealing two watches. Just simple digital watches with bright green writing. On this was numbers, to be precise; how much time we had left. According to the watches we had sixty nine hours left.
"Now that your partner has arrived the test can begin!" The voice boomed making me look up again.
"Partner?! With someone as weak and pathetic as her?! You're kidding right?!" The boy yelled, making the person through the microphone click their tongue. I looked at him myself and did my best to glare as he looked back at me and shot a glare back. The glare on my face vanished instantly and instead I cowered away from him.
"Yeah that's what I thought." He said as he walked over to the watches. I walked over myself and picked up the one of the left. Fastening it to my wrist I stared at the time some more.
"You must work together in order to get to the bottom of trick tower alive. If not you will die. Both of you must be alive for you to pass with this route." The examiner said making me and the boy look up in disbelief.

The boy scoffed once more and rolled his purple eyes.
"Now before you go, introduce yourselves and I'll let you through." The voice said. I looked back at the boy who stared at me with a glare on his face. I tried saying something, but I got nervous and couldn't get my words out. He rolled his eyes once more and held out a hand.
"The names Kai, sixteen." He said glaring at me. I placed my hand into his timidly to shake it. He grabbed my hand firmly and shook firmly as well.
"I-I'm Mishka, I-I'm twelve." I said to him nervously making him groan and remove his hand quickly. He smacked his forehead and shook his head in disappointment.
"Are you telling me I have to baby sit you? You're pathetic; I've seen how you act around that other blonde guy who I assume is either your dad or your brother. What a joke." He said as he walked over to a wall and rammed his fist into it hard. I stared at him frightened, as if I was a deer caught in the headlights. He's been watching me? That was a little bit creepy and disturbing.
"Now that the introductions are done you may go through that door. I'll be watching, good luck." The person on the Microphone said, a soft click shortly following it. We looked over to the door and walked over to it. Kai grabbed the handle roughly and yanked the door open, if he pulled it any harder it might have come off the hinges. He walked through first as I followed behind.

We had entered a giant corridor. The corridor was also made of stone walls and floors, the ceiling was high up.
"A corridor? So we just got to keep walking then?" Kai questioned as he began walking forward. I looked around some more on the spot, furrowing my brows. Something didn't seem quite right.
"Hey, brat! You coming or what?" Kai shouted making me look over to him.
"Coming!" I shouted back over to him and quickly jogged to catch up with him. Once I was next to him I slowed down to a walking pace. Kai shoved his hands into his pockets as he walking, looking around the corridors bored. I looked around the corridors myself, unable to shake off the feeling of being watched or the uneasy feeling I had in my gut.
"Hey Kai…" I began saying to him. He looked at me from the corner of his eyes and raised an eyebrow in question.
"Doesn't it feel like to you as if we're being watched?" I asked him innocently. He rolled his eyes at my question and looked forward once more.
"Of course we're being watched! Lippo talked to us through a microphone just a few minutes ago, he's watching our every move." Kai said as I shook my head.
"T-that's not what I mean! I mean there's something else watching us. It's distur-" I began saying until I was cut off. Kai had picked me up by the front of my dress and slammed my back into the wall, glaring at me. He had lifted me from the ground so I was just a little bit above eye level to him. I began to shake; it felt like he wanted to kill me.
"Stop talking. You're annoying me already and it's only been ten minutes. If you have anything to say then it better be useful." He said as I stared at him, scared once more.

I heard growling and flicked my eyes to the direction of the growling. Kai pressed by back against the wall some more.
"Well? What is it?" He questioned me as I pointed in the direction of the growling. The brown haired boy looked over himself and went slightly wide eyed at what he saw. He dropped me to the ground and placed his hands behind his back dragging out two daggers and crossing them in front of him. I fell to the floor in a heap and winced, my back and chest being sore from the bruising of yesterday's actions. I looked behind me as I heard something shut behind us. There was a wall, locking us in with the beast.
"Don't sit there staring like a goldfish, draw your weapon!" He spat harshly at me. I nodded my head and dug through my back as the beast drew closer to us. It had two heads, bright yellow eyes and large pointed teeth. It looked a lot like a dog, a mutated one. I found my weapons and stood up myself, holding both of the dagger like weapons in front of me tightly.
"Do you know how to use Sai's?" Kai questioned me angrily as the mutated dog drew nearer; he never took his eyes off the dog.
"Sai's?" I questioned him as he turned his head to be angrily.
"You don't even know what they're called?!" He yelled at me before pushing me out of the way and jumping backwards himself.

The dog landed a little bit away from us on its feet. It turned one of its heads towards me. I sat on the ground shaking. A dagger landed into its side making if howl in pain and turn the other head to look at Kai. Kai held his hand out, his fingers outstretched and pulled his hand back forcibly, bringing the dagger straight back to his hands. It ripped out of the dogs shoulder, making it howl once more and turn around fully. I stared at Kai in shock and amazement, wondering what he had done to make the dagger some back to him. I couldn't see anything, not even anything that looked like fine string.
"What are you waiting for?! Didn't you hear that guy? We must work together to pass so get up off your pathetic arse and help me kill this beast! Or so help me…" Kai said trailing off as he rammed the dagger onto the dogs' mouth. One of the dog heads kept snapping its jaw onto the blade, drool dripping and swinging from its mouth. I grabbed my weapons and stood up from the ground shakily. The beast spotted me and jumped down from Kai's shoulders. It stared at me as I stood in a ready like stance, my feet wide apart as I held the Sai's in front of me. The creature rushed at me making me grab my weapons tighter. It jumped at me and slammed me into the ground. Both its heads came down to bite on me, I managed to lodge the blunt parts of my Sai's into one of the dogs already bloodied mouth, stopping it from snapping at me.

The other head clamped down onto my arm making me yelp in pain and close my eyes tightly. The dogs' mouth loosened its grip and in the end completely let go of my arm. I placed my feet under its chest and kicked the dog off of me, yanking my Sai from its mouth. I rolled away quickly and stood up as quickly as I good. My eyes widened at what I saw. Kai had thrown a precision shot into one of the heads neck, slicing open a main vein killing it instantly. He once again pulled back his hand, yanking his dagger out from the dogs' neck. The other head yowled in pain once more and turned to look at Kai, who stood calmly, glaring down at the dog. The dog with it's one active head ran at Kai, only to fall to the floor almost instantly with its head completely gone. I stared between Kai and the beheaded and dead dog, ignoring the pain in my arm or the fact that the walls started to lift once more. Kai stared at the animal and muttered something. I didn't know what he muttered.

He started walking over. I avoided all eye contact with him.
"I'm so-" I began saying until I was cut off with a slap across my face. My head moved with his hand making me stare down the corridor that had just opened up. I suddenly felt myself lifted from the ground, a hand gripping tightly around my throat. I gasped for air as I looked at Kai and furrowed my brows, trying to get some air into my lungs. I couldn't even put my hands onto his to try and loosen the hold, I was too scared.
"The only thing you're good for is bait. If both people weren't required to stay alive to pass I would kill you myself." He said, before dropping me to the ground once more in a heap. I landed on the floor with a thud and coughed harshly at the sudden intake of air into my lungs. Kai began walking away as I pushed myself weakly off the floor and onto my feet.
"Get moving, I want to get to the bottom as quickly as possible." Kai said, placing his daggers into the holders on his jeans. I bent down and quickly picked up my weapons and placed them into the top of my bag, deciding that was the best place for them now. I would need to make something that could go around my waist so I had easy access to them in future. I wanted to leave this tower quickly myself, I wanted to get away from Kai; he scarred me and he was brutal, dangerous, unkind and deadly on top of it all.

We had been walking for what felt like hours. I looked at the watch, it showed sixty hours left. We had been walking for nine non-stop and the tunnel didn't seem like it was getting any shorter. I heard Kai grumble to himself every now and again, saying stupid this test was and how boring it was as nothing was happening. The smell of blood left long ago, the feeling of something around my neck never did; it hurt to touch and made me winch every time I did touch my neck. I assumed it was just another bruise to add to my new growing collection of them. Kai walked with his fingers laced behind his head and leant his head back, looking up at the ceiling. I did the same, wondering what he saw.

Kai suddenly fell down a gap. He yelled as he landed on the floor on his stomach not expecting to suddenly fall. I ran up to the hole quickly and fell down to my hand and knees. I gripped onto the ledge of the hole tightly with my fingers and looked down. Kai pushed himself up, covered in water and shook his head.
"Are you okay?" I yelled down as he snapped his head up glaring at me.
"I fell down a bloody hole! What do you think?!" He yelled up and began standing up. He rang out his hair as he looked around. He felt the wall and sighed to himself. When he tried moving his feet he found he couldn't. In a panic he looked down at the ground and bent down feeling underneath the water. He stood up and shook his hands getting the water off.
"My feet, they're stuck. There's something on my ankles. It feels like it can be unlocked. See if you can find some rope and a key!" He yelled up. I looked around and looked back down the hole once more.
"Hang on I'll go look!" I shouted back down.
"Yeah, because I'm going to go somewhere! Just hurry up!" He yelled back up. I stood up and looked around once more, not able to see anything. The hole was huge; it left a very small gap between its edge and the wall. I took off my shoes and placed them on the floor along with my back. Walking over to the wall I stood on my toes and pressed myself against the wall and carefully edged my way to the other side of the hole. I could feel Kai watching me; he leant against the wall with his arms crossed and a stern look on his face.

I reached the other side and stood on my feet probably. I looked around once more. This side of the hall was covered with hooks on the wall, as if hinting to be used for something. I walked up to one of the hooks and pulled at it slightly, it didn't come out of the wall; so something must be placed on it. I crossed my arms and thought to myself slightly. I could hear Kai tapping his foot in the water.
"Hey, brat! What are you doing?! It's filling up with water quickly!" Kai shouted up. I snapped out of my thoughts and quickly jogged back to the hole. My eyes widened. The water was coming in quickly; it was up to Kai's waist. He pressed himself against the wall, as if trying to get away from the water. I quickly stood up and ran down the hallway. To my surprise, I found some rope. Grabbing it quickly I looked around on the spot for a key. I spotted a sign and jogged over to it.
"Answer me correctly to get the key. What is the only question you can't answer yes to?" I muttered to myself. I thought through the question. There was a pen to write the answer down once you got it.

I panicked, I didn't know the answer. I looked around for anything to help me answer it. When that came to no anvil I began tugging at the sign, trying to pry it off the walls only to be electrocuted once more. I yelped in pain and removed my hands straight away from the sign.
"I'm going to drown if you don't hurry up!" Kai shouted from the hole once more. My stomach slipped, I didn't know what to do. I began running answers through my head and grabbed it in frustration. I rubbed my head hard with my hands and closed my eyes tightly, gripping at my hair. I couldn't fail here, I couldn't let Kai die no matter how scary he was; we both needed to be alive to pass. I snapped my eyes open at the realisation. Die.
"Dead!" I yelled and grabbed the pen. It felt rubbery. I held the end of the pen between my fingers and thumb and started to scratch in the answer.
"Are you dead?" I muttered to myself as I scratched it into the panel. The panel lit up and started moving upwards, revealing the key. I dropped the pen and quickly grabbed the key. I ran as fast as I could back towards Kai, I could get him out.

My feet started getting wet. I picked up the pace. When I reached the hole I saw it was filling over with water. I dropped the rope as I took a deep breath and dove into the water. The water stung the puncture wounds on my arm from the earlier dog attack me and Kai were involved with. Opening my eyes I looked around, I was lucky it was salt water, otherwise my eyes would sting. I looked down and saw Kai holding his nose and mouth with his hands; he's eyes shut tightly. Swimming down I poked him making him open an eye and showed the key. I pointed to the shackles that held his legs in place and swam down once more. My feet touched the ground as I unlocked the shackles. Kai nodded his head in thanks and then nodded his head towards the surface. I nodded myself and watch as Kai began swimming up. I pushed myself up only to feel a hand grab onto my ankle. I then felt something grab my hair pulling me against the wall. My eyes widened as I slammed against the wall and instinctively I covered my mouth and nose with my hand and closed my eyes tightly. I was going to drown, I just knew it; this would be my first, last, and only Hunter exam. I wasn't going to pass with my brother, Gon, Killua and Leorio; I was going to drown here, in this hole. I felt the pressure realise from the back of my head as well as the hands grabbing my ankles let go. I opened my eyes to see Kai, who grabbed my wrist and began swimming upwards.

We broke through the water's surface and gasped for air. We both swam over to the edge. Kai lifted himself up first and I followed shortly behind, dragging myself onto my hands and knees and breathed heavily as Kai laid on his back, his arms outstretched to either side as he took deep breathes. I looked at Kai through the corner of my eyes.
"Y-You saved my life." I stuttered out. Kai opened his eyes slightly and nodded his head. His breathing became somewhat calmer.
"You saved mine, so I repaid the favour. I do not like being in debt to someone. Besides, we both need to be alive to pass." Kai said. I nodded my head and looked over to the rope. We didn't need it for this particular test. Kai stood up slowly and began walking back towards the hole. I sat on my legs and began ringing out my hair, only to find it was much shorter and no longer went over my shoulder. I furrowed my brows somewhat and felt the back of it. Instead of reaching the middle of my back, it now reached just above my shoulders. My bag was thrust in front of my face with my shoes being dropped on the floor.
"Yeah you got a haircut because it was grabbed." He said as I reached out and took my bag. Kai turned around and began taking off his shirt.
"We're on a slope, so the waters running down this corridor. I'm going to assume you got spare clothes in that bag, so hurry up and get changed." Kai said as he began ringing out his shirt. I nodded my head slowly and watched him. His back was covered in scars, I could only assume he had been in a lot of fights.

I turned myself around and stood up, hanging my bag onto one of the hooks so it wouldn't get the bag wet and ultimately my dry clothes. I took the pin off my dress and laid it on the floor for the time being. I then untied the knot I made in the arms to keep the dress up in the first place. I took off the soaking wet fabric and began ringing it out standing in only my pink underwear. I didn't have anything like a bra; I was completely flat; so my brother said there would be no point until I got older and started developing. I always wondered what he meant by that. Now was not the time to think about it. Opening the flap to my bag I took out some dry clothes. I had a pair of white training shorts, a long sleeved white training top and a dress like tabard that stopped at the middle of my thigh, just like my other dress did. I sighed slightly to myself, I wanted to start wearing my tabard when I became a hunter, so I could wear it proudly; but I had to do so now. I quickly dragged on the training shorts over my legs and training shirt over my head. The sleeves covered my hands still, only showing my fingers but I didn't mind, it also covered the puncture wounds in my arm, which meant I didn't have to explain anything to my brother and have him flip. Finally I dragged my tabard like dress over my head. My tabard like dress had a turtle like neck, which was fine by me as it covered the bruise on my neck thanks to Kai. My shorts showed at the bottom which I didn't mind. The dress itself was a blue colour with a pinkish red hem and pattern. Lastly I slipped on my shoes and picked up the pin, pinning it back to my chest. I wasn't going to change my underwear, not with Kai standing behind me; even if he did have his back turned.

Shoving the wet clothes back into my bag I flipped the cover back over and pulled the strap over my shoulder. I took the ribbon out of my hair and sighed slightly, shoving that into my bag through the gap between the flap and actual bag. I would need to fold everything up later and put it back away neatly.
"Oi, you ready?" Kai shouted over, his shirt hanging over his shoulder in his fingers. He had a hand in his jeans pockets. I nodded my head and walked over to him quickly. I looked at the watch, once more. Surprisingly it still worked even though we had been under water. The whole thing took about an hour, which included ringing out our clothes and in my case getting changed. I sighed to myself, there was still fifty nine hours with Kai and I wasn't even sure how far we were from the bottom. I walked over to rope and picked it up, making Kai raise an eyebrow at me in confusion.
"It might come in handy." I said quietly to him, making him shrug his shoulders.
"Fine, bring it along. Can't hurt anyway." He said walking off once more. I nodded my head and followed Kai quickly behind. I don't know what came over me in that hour, but I had felt both fear and some sort of reliability placed onto my shoulders. I had saved someone, and in return they saved me. I was glad I was actually helpful to someone and I thought about it by myself, without my brother holding my hand; as happy as that made me feel I also felt sad knowing that my brother wasn't here. I wanted to get back with him, Gon, Killua and Leorio quickly.

We spent more time walking and even ran at some parts. Me and Kai solved more riddles and we got away from things seemingly unharmed. Kai had put his shirt back on when he felt it was dry enough, plus he was getting a chill. We had about fifteen hours left and were currently stuck in a dead end. We wondered around the room. Kai sighed in frustration.
"This is just fantastic!" He yelled and punched the wall hard with his fist. The stone he punched moved inwards making Kai withdraw his fist almost instantly and look at it with an eyebrow raised. I looked around the room, and saw the stones move up into the wall, making a door.
"There's a door now." I said to him as he turned his head and walked over to the gap in the wall. Kai looked down with an eyebrow slight raised and sighed. I followed and looked down myself; it looked like a drop, a long drop.
"The exit is down that hole. You must use whatever you picked up along the way to reach the bottom safely. You must work together in order to reach the bottom." Lippo said over the microphone making me jump. The door we entered through closed, shutting us in the room and stopping us from going back to collect anything that may have been of help. I looked up, but I couldn't see Lippo. Kai looked around himself and couldn't spot anything either.

We began thinking to ourselves, wondering how we could do it. Kai felt the walls inside the gap and crossed his arms over his chest in deep thought. I looked around myself. One side had hooks and was bumpy. The other side didn't have the hook, but was still bumpy. I looked over at Kai who had his eyes closed in thought.
"Hey Kai." I said to him timidly and quietly. He grunted in response, indicating for me to continue talking, after all he did tell me to only talk when it was important.
"One side of the wall has hooks, the other doesn't. Maybe we can use the rope?" I said to him as he opened his eyes and walked back over again. Kai looked at the gap and saw the hooks. He then looked at the rope that hung around my shoulder. He quickly grabbed the rope from my shoulder roughly and swung it over one of the hooks.
"I've got an idea." He said, tying a knot into the rope. I watched as he tightened the knot and then tied it around his waist before handing me the end. I did the same as him, but left enough rope for it to be loose between us. Kai walked over to the edge with me following. He held tightly onto the rope that was tied around the hook.
"Okay. I'm going to climb in, when I'm in I want you to do the same, but push against my back hard, got it brat?" He asked as I nodded my head, a determined look on my face. Kai firmly held the rope and in his hands and lifted himself into the gap. I followed him, grabbing onto some of the thicker wall slabs and pressed my back against Kai's hard.

Kai flipped the rope off the hook and kept it in his hands.
"We're going to climb down like this; this rope will be our safety net in case we lose our footing. On the count of three we'll start climbing." Kai instructed making me turn my head slightly to face his shoulder. I nodded my head agreeing with him and stayed silent.
"Okay. One, two, three…" Kai said making us move our feet downwards whilst constantly pressing our backs against each other. I could feel my breath in my throat, I was scarred plus my back stung a lot from putting a lot of pressure onto it.

We spent the next hour climbing down, my feet were sore and my back was even sorer than it was before. I could see light at the bottom and turned my head slightly to face Kai.
"There's light, I think we're nearing the bottom!" I said to him as he nodded his head, concentration never leaving his face.
"Don't lose concentration." He said as I nodded my head and turned my head to face the wall again. We got closer and closer to the light. I heard Kai grumble something to himself, muttering that the hooks had disappeared now. I felt him turn his head slightly to face me; however I lost my foot and fell, sending both me and Kai plummeting to the ground. We fell fast towards the ground. Kai flipped himself so that he would land on his feet. I tried doing the same as we fell towards the ground however to no anvil. Kai landed on the ground first his knees bent. I landed on the ground behind him, my body hitting the floor hard. I winced in pain and rolled over onto my stomach to push myself up. The rope fell to the ground. I saw Kai walking away, dagger in hand. He had cut the rope. I untied the rope from around my waist and stood up shakily. Taking a good look around the room, I couldn't see my big brother, Gon, Killua or Leorio. I furrowed my brows and looked back over to Kai, who had taken a seat next to Hisoka. I could see them exchanging a few words. Kai caught me staring and shot a glare at me making me quickly look away and remove myself from the entrance we fell through. I took myself off to the side of the room, away from Kai and Hisoka and sat on the ground with my knees to my chest and arms around my legs. I hoped my brother and everybody else would be here quickly. I missed them. The watch indicated that there was nine hours left; surely they would make it in time.

We had been waiting for a while. I stared at the ground the entire time as very few people entered the bottom with us. I looked at the watch on my wrist; it showed that there was only three minutes left. I furrowed my brows and dug my head into my knees, feeling my now short hair just grazing my knees.
"Three minutes remain." A voice said making me shake my head. Big brother wasn't here, and there was only three minutes. Instead all that was here was Hisoka, Kai, the snake guy, the martial arts guy, the ninja, the three brothers plus a few others who I hadn't seen much and me. This couldn't be happening big brother had to arrive; he just had to.
"Oi brat. What you going to do if your brother or father or whoever that guy is don't show up?" Kai yelled over making me look up at him from behind my knees. He was glaring at me, whilst sitting next to Hisoka; he's legs crossed. I furrowed my brows slightly and looked away.
"Answer someone when they're talking to you!" He yelled over and began standing up. Hisoka looked at him from the corner of his eyes and muttered something, making Kai click his tongue and sit back down again in a huff. I didn't know what he said, but I was a little grateful that he stopped Kai from coming over.

"It's finally over…" Said one of the three brothers. It was the one with the yellow long sleeved shirt. The shortest one nodded his head agreeing with him.
"Yeah, that took forever." He said loudly to him. I could hear their conversation; they spoke loudly, very, very loudly. A door opened slowly making me snap my head up in excitement. I got ready to stand up and run over, hoping it would be my brother. I frowned when I saw it wasn't; instead it was a guy who looked severely beaten. His legs were shaking and he gripped his chest. The man wobbled out of the door into the light, his arm outstretched.
"Made it in time…" He said, gasping as he walked. I furrowed my brows watching him; I came out lightly compared to him, everyone else came out unharmed; including Kai. He dropped to the ground making me wince slightly. It didn't look like he was breathing, he wasn't moving at all; not even an inch. The three brothers walked over to him, one of them placed his fingers onto his neck to take his pulse.
"He's dead." The one in the blue shirt said as he lifted his fingers from his neck.
"The fool. Better to live and try again, than to pass and die." The one in the yellow said, voicing his thoughts. The voice spoke once more making me look up again, wondering where it was coming from, if anything it sounded like Beans.
"One minute remains." The voice said.

I sighed and buried my head back into my knees again, shaking it. This wasn't happening.
"Looks like it'll just be twenty two here." The boy in blue said. I could feel my shoulders shake, my big brother, or my friends weren't going to make it; I was on my own. I didn't want to do this on my own. I was going to have to quit so I could try again next year with my brother and friends. That was the best thing to do.
I heard another door open and peaked my head out slightly from my knees to watch it rise up. I didn't want to be disappointed, but something told me to keep hoping that it was them. My eyes widened as I saw who stepped out, making me bring my head out from my knees some more.
"Kurapika, applicant number four hundred and four, is the twenty-third to pass. Killua, applicant number ninety nine, is the twenty-forth to pass. Gon, applicant number four hundred and five, is the twenty-five to pass. Total time, seventy-one hours and fifty nine minutes." The voice said. I saw Killua say something making the others look at him and stood up slowly myself. I couldn't believe it, they made it; they really made it. I stood in place, shocked to see them when the time was so close to ended.
"Thirty seconds remains." The voice said boomed overhead. It didn't make me move though; my feet were glued to the floor, my legs refused to move. It was as if I hadn't seen any of them for years.
"Leorio, applicant number four hundred and three, is the twenty-sixth to pass. Tonpa, applicant number sixteen, is the twenty-seventh to pass. Total time, seventy-one hours and fifty-nine minutes." The voice said.

I saw them make chat, and watched as Gon had his head rubbed. They were talking to each other about something, but I didn't know what. I unglued my feet from the floor and quickly ran over to them. I launched myself into my brothers' side making him stumble back slightly and look down. I felt my brother rub my back, knowing he knew who I was. I buried my head into his clothing and held onto his clothes tightly.
"Hmm? Who's that?" I heard Killua ask with a questioning tone. I brought my head up slightly from my brothers clothing, making Killua look at me in shock.
"Mishka?!" He said shocked as I nodded my head a little. I let go of my brother and threw myself at Gon and Killua dragging them into a hug with an arm around each of their shoulders. I heard Gon laugh and pat my back slightly as Killua stood shocked and surprised at what just happened. I let go of the two of them and threw myself at Leorio to hug him as well. He seemed shocked, but I received a pat on the back never the less. I let go of Leorio and stood in front of me to face Gon, Killua and my brother better a wide smile on my face.

Gon smiled widely at me as Killua still looked at me oddly.
"You made it to! But your hair's shorter and you've changed your clothes." Gon said, smiling widely but also confused as the change of my appearance. I nodded my head and laughed slightly, rubbing my arm a little bit where I had been bitten by the dog three days before. I was still sore, and so was the wound, so I winced slightly when I rubbed it.
"I got caught on something and ended up chopping it off. Plus I got caught in a lot of water, so I had to get changed." I said to him, smiling widely as Gon nodded his head and smiled back. Kurapika placed a hand on my shoulder making me look up to him. I saw him smiling at me and smiled back widely, proud that I got here. I stopped rubbing my arm and let it fall by my side.

We talked about what we did. I left out the details of Kai being mean to me, I didn't want my brother to flip out and try to hurt him. I was amazed by their challenge that meant all of the routes were different. I felt bad for them though, they had Tonpa in their group to and he tried to split them up and even tried killing Leorio so he could pass the Third Phase.
"The Third Phase of the exam is over. Twenty Seven applicants have passed. One has died." A voice said cutting our discussion. A door started opening, showing a bright light. We all stared out at the door just looking at the light. My stomach felt heavy but also light, I was glad to see the light, and even more glad to see my big brother and friends once more.

Fun author fact – It was my big brother who took me bra shopping for the first time.