Ding. Dong. Ding.

The clock finally struck twelve and the remaining contestants gathered even closer to the large doors which led to the second phase. As Kiri observed, some were nervous and jittery whereas others seem calm and almost bored. Gon didn't seem to fit in either categories, he had sparks literally flying out of his eyes and was jumping up and down on his tiptoes, trying to get a glimpse of the entrance over everyone's shoulders. Killua seemed mildly uninterested and had one leg on his skateboard, rolling it back and forth. Leorio had an irritated, impatient look on his face and was tapping a finger over his folded elbow, and Kurapika stood next to them, not betraying anything from his face.

Kiri clambered to Killua's head and sat on top for a better view. As the doors open, Kiri could spot a single sofa and a woman with five stiff ponytails sticking out of her head, sitting on it. She had a mischievous grin in her face and Kiri could tell she could be a difficult one to please. Behind her, was a gluttonous man who looked like a giant when compared to normal people. He had an upset look draw on his face and loud, low grumbling noises seem to be emitting from his stomach.

"Hey Menchi, let's get this started quickly," complained the large man. "I'm starting to get hungry."

"Hah, I can hear that without you even needing to tell me. Let's hope these guys can satisfy our hungry," Menchi replied. "Alright, listen up you guys!"

All eyes were fixed on her.

"Your job for this phase is to catch us some Moleleik Rodents. And we want them cooked. If you don't know what they look like, we have kindly prepared a dead specimen to your right."

On cue, a large rat the size of a big dog dangling from a piece of rope from the ceiling on Buhara and Menchi's left hand side.

"Well then, what are you waiting for? Take a good look and then go!" said Menchi. "Oh and before I forget, we only released eighty of these rats onto the land so everyone's your enemy!"

Mumbling spread across the crowd and in a matter of seconds, everyone was scrambling to reach the front of the building to look at the specimen. By the time Killua and the group got to the specimen, everyone had already left and they were the only ones left.

"I've never seen a rat this huge before," commented Leorio. "Look at those eyes, they're so blank."

"And those whiskers as well," gaped Gon, poking at it. "They're twice as long as my fingers!"

"It has quite a thick, waterproof coat though," observed Killua. " So it probably lives somewhere cold and wet."

"And dark," added Kurapika. He pointed at the eyes. "They're blind so they don't see much light. It's most likely they rely on their whiskers and long tails to get their way around."

I think his observations skills are better than yours, Killua, grinned Kiri. He beats you there.

"Shut up before I decide to make cat soup with you," Killua replied.

Kiri saw Kurapika's eyes flicker to her for a brief moment. It was quick that Killua didn't notice, but not quick enough for Kiri to not.

"Most people went over in that direction towards the woods," said Gon, "But the caves are over there." He pointed towards the opposite direction of the woods. "I saw it earlier when we went past."

"Okay, let's go there then," decided Kurapika, and they headed off towards the caves.

After a short walk, they came across a huge stone wall with numerous holes acting as the entrance. Standing in front of the entrace, was a certain magician.

"Hey," drawled Hisoka. "That didn't take long."

"Hisoka!" shouted Gon. Hisoka did a little wave in reply. All around him were several dead Moleleik Rodents and he had one dangling from his hand too.

"That guy…" said Leorio. "How can you catch so much, it's one per person!"

"Calm down Leorio," said Kurapika. "They never said it's limited to one per person. He could catch all of them and pass the Hunter exam on his own if he wanted and he won't be violating any rules."

"Correct," said the Magician with a creepy smile. "But then that wouldn't be any fun would it?" He gave the tail of the rat a quick spin and flung it to Kurapika's foot.

"How about I make you guys a deal? If you guys all come at me together and manage to steal one of my rats, I will give each of you one. How about that?"

"Challenge accepted!" shouted Gon, who still remembered how bad Hisoka attacked Leorio.

"Hey Gon! Don't be so reckless, we can't all go against him!" said Kurapika. "We'll just all get killed!"

"Ah...Don't worry about that. I managed to release some pent up emotions just now so I won't kill you. Probably ," said Hisoka. "You are my previous fruits after all."

"Kurapika is right," Killua said, pretending he didn't hear the last part of Hisoka's sentence. "You would be sentencing yourself to death if we went against him."

"But we won't know if we don't try! I still can't forgive him for what he done to Leorio and Kurapika too!"

"Gon…" said Leorio. "Okay, you creepy third rate magician, we will take you on!"

Before anyone else could stop him, Leorio charged towards him. Only to be battered aside. Hidden behind Leorio, Gon jumped out and aimed a punch but Hisoka sidestepped and tripped him up easily.

Beside her, Kiri could hear Kurapika sigh and take up his bokken as he ran in to join the fight.

"What idiots," said Killua. "They know they can't win yet they're doing this. Kiri, he doesn't know that you're not a normal cat so while we fight, I'll distract his attention and you go and get one of those rats, okay?"

Kiri meowed in response and jumped off to one of the nearby trees. She watched as Killua joined and the magician just seemed to be dancing between the four of them. Well, three to be exact since Leorio was knocked out again.

She edged closer and closer to the pile of rats. Killua was leading the fight further and further away. Her eyes immediately went to Kurapika next, who paused for a moment to wipe his forehead with the back of his brow. His face in deep concentration. She saw Gon whip out his fishing rod and whilst Hisoka's attention was astray, she raced into the pile and took one of the rats between her teeth. Just before she took the rat, she felt a blast of killer intent directed towards her and a shiver ran down her spine.

"Hah! We did it!" said Gon. "We took a rat!" He sat down on the floor, exhausted. Kurapika relaxed slightly, but still had his guard up. Nearby, Killua dropped down from a branch onto all fours.

Hisoka turned around and raised an eyebrow. "Well it seems like you did. That ended quicker than I expected. How sad. I suppose this is a good place to stop...Anymore and I might get…excited…" Kiri looked at Hisoka's face. He licked his lips at her.

When they were sure that Hisoka had walked far enough from them, they relaxed and picked up a rat each.

"Maybe we should hide the rest," suggest Leorio. "Y'know so there'll be less compet-" but his sentence was never finished as Kurapika hit him on the head.

"You went easy on them."

Hisoka turned around and saw the slender figure of a Zoldyck leaning against a tree.

"I almost lost control. It was so fun toying with them."

"So fun that you forgot to keep a rat for yourself," said Illumi ,tossing him one.

"Thanks . If you didn't tell me about that little kitty, I would've been quite surprised too. She hides her presence quite well."

"That's to be expected. She was taught by me. If you lay hands on her or Killua however, I will kill you."

Hisoka chuckled. "This may get interesting."