"Huh? What's a cat doing here?" Hmm that sounds like Killua. I stretch my limbs and rub my eyes. I look around and swish my tail around, not exactly pleased about being woken up. Wait! Killua asked 'what's a cat doing here?' I look at myself. I turned myself into a cat in my sleep. I'm lucky it wasn't my big tiger form but a cross between tiger cub and house cat. I look up at Killua pretending to be a cat; I sniff him and cautiously rub myself against him.
"Your kinda cute." So he is a cat person then. I purr against my will when he scratches behind my ears. "Huh? We're landing soon? " what?! I must have been distracted my Killua's stroking that I ignored the announcement. "You have a collar let's see who you belong to. Gah! I run away from Killua and dash into another room. I forgot my collar sticks around even when I change, well only in my cat forms, I have no idea why. I look around the room I found myself in. I sniff someone is here. but I don't see anyone, so they must be behind. I look behind me only to see Hisoka.
"Meow" act like a cat. Act like a cat. Their personalities are ingrained into me I can do it easy. But seeing Hisoka can put anyone on edge.
"Huh what's a cute kitten doing here?" he goes to pick me up. I swipe my claws at him without a second thought. He ignores my protest and picks me up and scratches behind the ears. Heavenly. I purr against my will. Animal instincts taking over I rub my whiskers against his hand. The sound of chuckles snaps me out of my thoughts. "Your rather friendly, hmmm you have a name tag." He reaches for my tag. I go to swipe him again, but he scratches my chin. Heavenly... snap out of it. I bite the offending appendage and swipe my claws. I wiggle myself out of his grasp and run like hell out. I race to one of the more private bathroom. Lucky I went with Gon and Killua yesterday over wise it would take me forever to find an appropriate place to shift. I sneak into the bathroom. No one is around nor been here in a while. I don't sense any one nearby. I shift back into my human form. I look in the mirror checking my hat and everything is in place. I sigh in relieve when I see that I look human.
I wonder why Hisoka let me go, it's obvious I wouldn't of been able to escape him if he wanted to. That must be it he didn't really care, and didn't really have the desire to hold onto me.
I look around looking for Gon and Killua. Where are they? We landed on a tall tower with several secret passages. As I spot them the green bean tries to get everyone's attention, so I stop and listen. It's probably best if I actually know what the next challenge is.
"Everyone, the exam's third phase will begin here, at the top of trick tower. 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 pray for your success." Seems simple enough, I wonder if I can spice things up.
I walk to Killua and Gon. "Hey." I wave to them
"Where you this morning? I woke up next to a cat." Killua asks, I guess being an assassin he never sensed me leave so is confused.
"I woke up early and snuck out. I didn't want to wake you. I don't remember seeing a cat." I look at him to see he is glaring at me. He must think I but the cat next to him, he didn't glare at me till I said that. "Well it suits cat boy to wake up next to a cat. You must attract them. All you need now is retractable claws and they will accept you as one of their own, and will teach you their ways." I tease, he blushes. "You have retractable claws don't you?" I smirk, oh sweet revenge.
"No!" I chuckle at him, he is hiding something.
"I sense denial." It turn my attention to Gon "Gon, when cat boy shows off his claws let me know so I can introduce him to his cat family, I know a tribe who will gladly accept him, hmm the fur colour matches too."
"Will do. I never met someone with retractable claws before!" Gon looks at Killua starry eyed. Killua takes one glance at him before pushing him.
"Shut up!" he storms off to the edge of the tower.
"Hey do you guys want to race to the bottom?" I ask them.
Killua looks at me "Oh your on. Gon lets go we have to beat Rochelle!" I chuckle as I see them approach the edge.
"So you guys are going to team up against me hmm? Fine but don't complain when I beat you." Killua turns to me.
"Well remember that when we beat you!" He throws back.
"Will do, though only to hold it against you. Oh don't bother looking over the edge the way down isn't there."
I walk off before we could rile each other anymore. I turn to see that they ignored me, and were looking over the edge. Oh well. I send my energy into the tower, to get the layout of the building. There are lots of passages; five of them even lead to the same place. I walk to a single entrance passage, when I stood on it, it opened. I land on my feet and look around. I walk to see a sign, 'Welcome To The Deceptive Path'. I take a bit of scrap fabric which I use in training and wrap it around my eyes, as a blindfold. Eyes will trick me and besides this sounds like it will be good training. I walk to the door which was hidden as part of the wall and pushed it open. So the challenge begins.
I walk into the hall way, hmmm, it appears this might serve as good training, with all the traps around. Even though energy manipulation was one of the first skills I developed, it is my weakest subject of control. I barely improved over the 7 years. Shifting into other forms is my basic skill, though animals more than anything, I can do humans but it very difficult and my strength goes down, I wouldn't be able to fight shifted into another human, so it is a pointless skill. Animal forms I find much easiest and works to my advantage. There are certain animals which I find easier to shift into more than others, cats are the easiest, sea creatures I find the hardest, might be because many cats hate water.
I can channel energy into me so I don't need to eat, also when injured I can channel energy though with energy manipulation and I can channel energy into me to help me heal faster, though that drains a lot of energy. I guess it's because I have to concentrate on getting the energy to flow into me, so I can't use it in a fight, not until I can master it, though in extreme cases I may have to use it but only for major injures and heal myself just to the point where can fight. Then lastly is when I channel my energy into earth, air, fire, or water, this is hard to do since it is hard to keep the connection open and drains energy like a sponge. Earth I find the easiest to do along with air, though fire and water I find extremely difficult so I can only do the minimal. I imagine that must be because I am always surrounded by air and earth but fire and water are always hidden; though my skills in the elements have improved after being taught by the animals since they taught me of their connection to nature, and how some animals interact with them.
Air beasts have taught me how to sense movement and the currents of the wind and how to cool down. Creatures of the underneath have taught me how to see with the earth through vibrations. Sea creatures have taught me the currents of the water, and how to seek water. Beasts of fire, have taught me how generate my own heat inside of my own body and out of my body and the sensitivity to be able to sense spikes in temperature.
Of course I have learnt more than those but those are the skills which I most experienced in, other forms I have to concentrate hard to get results. However, in tiger form I am able to use these skills a lot easier which I do find strange, though I have met different species of tigers which are elemental based.
I suddenly realised I was standing still by the door. I send more energy out to get a wider range. I send immediate energy into the earth and air. So I know where you trigger the traps and any affects it may have. I send a little bit of energy to water and fire to sense areas of water, and spikes in temperature.
I pause. Do I set off traps purposely, or do I avoid them? Avoiding the traps all together will be too easy, so purposely setting traps off it is. I start walking I sense a trap next to my left foot so I step on it. the air currents change, I duck to avoid the first what I assume to be an arrow, I shift to my left, then quickly to my right, I jump ever so slightly to avoid a one aiming for my feet. I grin. Oh I might have fun with this. I walk ahead again, step on a trap, I swiftly leap across the air and land in a roll. The floor where I was standing fell down. I pick myself up and head off purposely setting off another trap. I focus I sense something heading my way, fast. I start running forwards, I set off some traps on the way, avoiding unstable earth, avoiding sharp things, and weaving through arrows, spears and other sharp things that come out of the walls, ceiling and one case the floor.
I sense three doors ahead, one opens to a brick wall that is a weird door. Another door heads into a deep pit. The last door leads down. I run towards that door, still activating traps. I duck as fire starts shooting at me and slide across the floor, I stand up, again activating a trap. I avoid the water pit, I step on another trap, how many traps do they have in one corridor? Anyway I ignore the trap as air shots at me; poison doesn't affect me, so why avoid it. I quickly open the door and slide through it as the rock rolls past me. I stand up and a smirk grows on my face. Oh this should be fun for a while.
Lippo's pov
What just happen! I look at #113's screen. I was feeling somewhat sorry for her since she fell down deception route that is practically a false route. Only one who knows their way through the tower is able to weave though the corridors and hidden doors.
Flash back
A single child landed the impossible route. Tough luck kid, you shouldn't have underestimated the hunter exam. You should stay in the room and not leave. She probably would set off the first trap and be speared by arrows. I glance at the other screens and see the monster #44 making his way down. I sigh, monsters like him becoming hunters. I look over the screens and see movement out of #113's screen.
"Why that cocky little brat!" the brat is blindfolded. She just secured her fate. What a baka. This year's applicants are baka's nothing special. She stands frozen, she should just remove the blindfold if she chickened out, or maybe she doesn't want to see her own death. Oh well, she will fail either way. I turn away to see 4 people falling into MAJORITY RULES oh this should be entertaining.
I explain the rules to the four and turn to see the other screens; they will be waiting for a while so what can entertain me in the mean time. I look to see if #113 has failed yet. I see her step on the first trap, I sigh I go to turn away, though suddenly her screen grabs my attention.
"How?! That brat how did she avoid those? She's blindfolded!" I watch her smirk and start to walk. I stare at her as she walks onwards. How is that possible, it is possible for experienced hunters to do, but she is just a kid. I watch her walk, her path seems unnatural she is heading directly towards the second trap. No, that can't be, she can't use nen, only two contestants know of nen and she isn't one of them. She steps on the second trap and jumps gracefully over the pit and lands in a roll to ease out her landing. I watch as she activates every single trap in the corridor and avoids all of the effects of them.
"How can she possibly be avoiding all those traps with a bolder on her tail?" I watch her as she heads directly towards the door which does not exist. The real door is blended into the wall so no one will know it's there, unless they already know, even then it takes a while to see. But she is blindfolded running from a bolder, activating every trap, avoiding the affects of every trap and yet knows where the door is. Maybe this year will be more interesting than I originally thought. I grab some biscuits and eat as I watch her. She steps on the gas trap, a particular nasty trap and reacts extremely fast. I watch as she steps right into it as if she doesn't care. I wait for it to take effect, I count down. 7...6...5...4...3...2...1...huh?
I watch as she opens the doors and slides through avoiding the bolder. I look at her in shock, she should be dead or at least in pain, but she looks fine. How is that possible? I watch her as she smirks and walks down the corridor, walking on the only stable path. The floor falls if you don't step on certain stones, she is stepping on every safe stone. I watch as she easily walks through the corridor and turn to the next door.
I watch her closely, how is she doing this? Who is #113?
Rochelle's pov
I've been activating traps and avoiding the actual traps for a few hours, there has been some interesting rooms. One room completely flooded, I swam around the room till I got bored, it would of been funny if someone saw me, I was under water for at least 20 minutes, gills sure do come in handy, they weren't noticeable so if someone was watching then they wouldn't of been able to notice. Another room had spikes on the ceiling that slowly came down. I stayed still till it was pretty much down and weaved through the spikes to the exit. Though there has been boring rooms where the whole floor fell down except a few areas, or when the walls started moving, trying to squish me, it had no sharp points. I have remained blindfolded the whole time of course; it makes it more fun this way.
I continue heading down, when I sense that the path that I'm taking will lead me to a human. I carry on walking avoiding the darts heading my way. I reach another door and open it. I enter a square room; I sense fire in the corners. I face the person. By the vibrations I can tell it is a medium sized man though has quite a bit of muscle on him. I'm all alone in a room with a man during a test, hmmm so this guy must be another obstacle. I turn towards the door on the left which leads pretty much all the way up so not that door. I face the one directly ahead, which leads to a deep pit, again, so nope. So turn to the one on the right, which leads down, so I should take that one. I face my opponent; I assume I will have to fight him.
"Do I have to fight you to take the door on the right to go down?" I cock my head a tad confused what to do since he hasn't bothered with me yet.
"Yes. But you won't be going down. You will fail. Give up now or else you will die." He states as if it was a fact. Baka I'm much stronger than this man.
"I won't give up. I will give you an equal chance to back down, though I won't kill you, it will be fine if I just knock you out." I state, I shouldn't kill the man just because he looks down on me, though it is tempting to.
He scoffs at me, not believing a thing I said. "Remove the blindfold so we may start."
"The blindfold stays; I'm using this task to train myself in using my other senses."
"Why you brat! You won't be able to win no matter what, now prepare to di..."he falls down face first. He never finished as soon as he hinted the start I rushed behind him and hit the back of his neck, knocking him out.
I sigh as I face the body on the ground. "Too easy, he wasn't even a challenge." I sigh as I walk through the right door.
I roll out the door, hehe that was fun the final door was disguised as a trap, and it was a pit in the floor, which turned out to be a slide.
"Rochelle, applicant #113, is the second to pass the third phase." A robotic voice says, so this is the end. We don't have to find out way out. "Total time, 11 hours and 32 minutes."
"Ehhh? Damn I should have taken the path that went up and explored other areas of the tower. I should have waited to ride the stupid slide trap." I mumble to myself, not really thinking, it said I was second so someone else was here. I reach for my blind fold, no point in keeping it on. I take the blindfold off, looking around for the first time in over 7 hours. I'm in a circle shaped room surrounded by doors, with torches scattered around. I smell blood; I look over to see a smiling Hisoka. So he is the one in first place.
"Oh. Quite impressive, I didn't expect any company for a while." I take a closer look, the blood is his, I wonder how did he get injured? I cock my head to the side, confused on what happened. Someone of his strength shouldn't of gotten hurt in such a task. I look at his injures and go to take a closer look. Looking closely it looks like he was cut by a knife, twice, that was thrown at him. Curiosity somewhat satisfied I become aware of my surroundings, I then notice I'm right next to Hisoka. He simply raises an eyebrow obviously amused.
"I was curious about your wounds. Why did you get hurt?" I cock my head to the side, was his route more challenging then, maybe he had a better opponent, I doubt a simple trap could hurt him. When he doesn't answer right away I sit in front of him, might as well as get somewhat comfy.
"Hmm. Interesting. Hmm why don't we play a little game?" I simply look at him. he obviously take it as an invitation to continue. "We ask one another questions, each question answered honestly earns a right to ask a question." I nod, I want to ask about his injures and his route, also I would be bored if we didn't. Suddenly I realised I was trying to stay invisible to Hisoka, damn I just presented myself to him. "Now are you friends with #405 and #99?"
I scowl at the question. I don't know how to answer. "I don't know, I never had a friend before so I have no clue what one is, I find them interesting and fun to be around. I know the basics of course but I'm not sure if we can be classed as friends." I have to answer honestly or else I don't get to ask a question, I get the feeling I don't want to or would be able to lie to Hisoka anyway. He would most likely see through the lie he lives on lies and deceit. "So why sis you get hurt? Don't bother with how you got hurt I can already tell. I want to know why." I could tell he was going to waste my answer by purposely going into how and then would say you weren't specific enough, you only fall for that a few times before you can tell when and who will take advantage of a vague question or the wording of a question.
He raises an eyebrow at me and smirks. "Hmm? Oh they aren't anything really. I didn't expect the blades to come back originally." Ahh so he was caught by surprise, though he was aware of the danger behind him, impressive. "Now why were you wearing a blindfold when you entered the room?"
"Training." I simply answer, I could tell he wasn't impressed by the answer and wouldn't answer any of mine if I don't expand. I sigh in defeat. I didn't want him to take a deeper interest in me. "Well the phases up to now was, well easy really. I wanted to make this phase a tad more interesting so what better way than to go blind folded. I also wanted to train in not to rely on my eyes and to use over senses as well as to develop them. So it was the perfect training course. So I purposely set off all the traps to make it actual training, and to make it more interesting. Now what was your course like? I want details, did it have traps, did you set them off, if so by purpose or otherwise and what sort of traps. Don't avoid the question." I can tell he would have answered plainly and not give me any details.
"Your quite interesting, unripe fruit is always so tempting. The course was simple and not interesting. I didn't purposely set off traps and none was set off. I simply walked down." I deflate, now what are we going to do, I have no more questions so I don't need to answer any more. "Would you like to play a card game with me to pass the time?" I perk at the word game but frown at the word card.
"What's a card game? What kind of game is it?" he looks mildly shocked but hides it well.
"Hmm. That's two questions so you have to answer another question to get the answers." I growl at him, but I nod in defeat, curiosity really did kill the cat. "Now how come you don't know what a card game is?" he looks slightly curious, but I can tell he is just doing this to annoy me, bastard.
"I lived secluded from humans for the past 7 years. I haven't spoken to a human probably during that time." I don't expand but he accepts the answer, probably thinking of something else.
"Hmm that so. I will teach you some card games whilst we wait, let's start with old maid." He takes out several thin flat paper like things. I assume that they are cards. I unconsciously take a closer look at them. I hear chuckles. "These are cards we will be playing with these." I nod at the statement and watch as he impressively moves them. He hands me several cards. I simply look at them, leaving mine on the ground. I look at him to see what to do. I notice he is holding his cards up so I pick mine up. I examine the cards close up. I notice one card in particular, I look at it deeply. I look up at Hisoka, then the card then back up to Hisoka.
"Hisoka, you somewhat look like this card." I pick the card up and show it to him.
He chuckles again, covering his mouth and turns away from me, I frown, did I do something foolish again. "That's the joker card, any way on to the game. Do you have any cards that match?" I nod. "Match them up and place them here. "He takes three sets of paired cards and place them on the ground, I look at mine and do the same. "We take turns in taking a single card from one another." He gestures to his hand I cautiously take one of the cards and match it up with one of mine. I then move my cards so he can take on and he matches it with one of his "we have to get rid of all our cards the one with the any cards left lose. There is only one card which can't be paired which is the joker card." I realise what I did, I showed him where the joker was. I sulk at the thought. I won't be able to hide where the card is now. Though I do attempt to I move all my cards around simultaneously so it will be harder to tell. He could probably follow the card though easily.
Like I thought he won the first round we played several rounds I won twice whilst Hisoka won three times. We start another game. I sense someone approaching so I turn towards the door, they will walk through. The door opens to a guy with pins in his head, he has weird energy too. I go to turn away, but then I catch the scent of him. He smells like Killua. I look up at him and cock my head confused on what's going on.
"Gittarackur, applicant #301, is the third to pass. Total time twelve hours and two minutes." I notice him turn to us. I look at him still confused. I turn to Hisoka still looking confused, though he just looks at me clearly amused somehow. I look at Killua's brother, I know they are related but why is he here from what Killua has mentioned he doesn't know or he just doesn't care. But if he didn't care then this guy wouldn't need a disguise. So Killua doesn't know, but why is his brother here. I look at Gittarackur, should I tell Killua his brother is here, but I have no proof except my nose, and I don't know what to do I never had a family so family situations confuse me. I growl at my confusion, completely oblivious to the others in the room, aware of threats, yes, conversations, not so much. I turn away it's obvious I won't get any answers so i won't ask. So I look at my cards again. I briefly look at a door where someone is approaching but over wise ignore them.
"Alright! I'm in first place!" he completely ignores the announcer. Saying he is in fourth place. He turns and sees us. I cockily wave at him before turning back to my cards. "Huh? No! I don't believe this... I came in fourth and a kid beat me and a girl at that!" I growl at his loudness but I pinch one of Hisoka's cards and place down a pair.
We continued playing cards only stopping for me to sleep or to eat. Sometimes Gittarackur played with us though that was only when Hisoka bugged him to. I felt sorry for the guy. Hisoka taught me several games such as snap; I doubt it, and other games which I forget the names of. Whenever I slept I kept myself aware of shifting, which I never had to bother with before, but now I do. I can't be sleeping and turn into a cat, because it is more comfy. I have to stop that habit I can't do that around humans, I never trained that aspect aware of surrounding but never of my shifting before. I even trained to be able to shift no matter an stay shifted whilst asleep.
As the time draws to the end I begin to get worried. I look at all the doors, I only sense a dead man walking. I look at Hisoka from the corner of my eye we were playing old maid again. I can't spread my senses too far since him or Killua's brother will notice and would know it's me since we are so close to each other. Then I sense them. I look at the door they will come through. They should be come just in time. Since they are all together they must have gone in the five team one. I stare at the door willing it to open. I sense Killua and Gon close along with Kurapika. I stand up and approach the door, I suddenly sense Leorio and pig nose, and I begin to hesitate. I don't want to be around pig nose. I notice Hisoka looking at me in the corner of my eye. I look at him at cock my head, I sit back down, I'm not going to approach pig nose unless I can kill him.
The door opens just as our game was ending, I turn to see Gon, Killua and Kurapika enter though I sense Leorio and pig nose not far behind. I wave to them before turning back to Hisoka and pinching a card, damn it's the joker. I look at Hisoka who just smirks at me, he moved the cards when I looked the others, damn bastard. He takes the other card from me which means that I lose this round. I hand him the last card since the phase is ending.
"Thanks Hisoka." He looks at me he looks slightly confused. "For teaching what cards were, oh and for playing with me." I turn and walk away. I look at the others, Gon notices me and runs up to me. I look at Killua and see that he is horrified. I cock my head confused.
"Rochelle! Killua does have retractable claws like you said." Gon cheerfully tells me. I look at Killua and the expression on his face pushes me over the edge, he looks horrified probably dreading the teasing, or the fact his sharp claws has been degraded to cat claws. I start laughing, hysterically.
"You really are a cat boy, you can't deny it. I could show you some species of cats you would likely get along with." I burst out in anther fit of giggles, by his horrified face it looks like i just told a cat to go and take a bath.
"Shut up! You act more like a cat than me! So your cat girl!" That does it I fall on the floor and roll in laughter. "What!?" he yells at me obviously confused at my laughter.
"Y...yo...you... ha..havve no i...idea how... right you are." I gasp out in between giggles. Once I manage to gain control over my laughter I look at him with an evil grin "So can I see your claws, cat boy?" I ask. He looks at me confused probably from the first part. He sighs as he notices everyone in the room.
He sighs in defeat. "Maybe later." He thinks then looks at me again "Why were you playing cards with Hisoka?"
I shrug before responding. "Well since you guys took so long, even though you claimed that you could beat me. I got here so early that I was bored; Hisoka was interested in me probably since I hang out with you two, so he wanted to see if I would be worth fighting later on, or to see if I was interesting. He taught me what cards were and how to play card games though I forgot most of the names of the games." I shrug off the thought. They look shock for a moment but obviously remember what I said yesterday so shake it off.
The doors open I lightly punch Killua, for no reason but to annoy him, it is really fun to do, and I smirk whilst running away.
"Hey! What was that for? Hey, get back here!" Killua yells. I run back and grab Gon and dash off again before Killua could get over the shock of me actually running back to him. Me and Gon laugh at his expression, and run outside together, with Killua not far behind, though still yelling at the both of us. We head towards the next phase.
Man I struggled with this chapter I didn't want to take Tompa's place since I felt it would of changed too much really. I mean this is where Leorio and Kurapika learn that Killua is an assassin, well ex assassin.