Second Exam: Through the Fog
Satotz then explains to the applicants about the Milsey Wetlands, also known as Swindlers Swamp. He explains to everyone about the very cunning, insatiable, bizzare creatures that lived there, deceiving and preying on humans. The remaining applicants had to follow him to phase two again, but they were warned to stay right behind him, or else they would get lost in the labyrinth of a swamp.
"If you let them fool you...," he paused, "You're dead." Many applicants gasped, while some, sweat started dripping down the side of their head.
Suddenly the giant door behind them began to close, leaving one of them screaming not to be left behind. "Stay very close to me, so you won't be deceived," Satoz said.
"Ha! What a joke, how can they fool us when we're expecting it?" Leorio asked.
"Aye!" Happy agreed.
"It's about time someone agrees with me." Leorio muttered.
"Don't let him fool you!" A voice shouted out of nowhere.
"I just said they can't!" Leorio exclaims while aggravated.
The examinees turned toward the sound. They looked to see a man peek his head out from around the building.
"He's lying!" He pointed to Satotz, who was still calm and composed, with no sign of any emotion, "He's an imposter! He's not the real examiner, I am."
"An imposter?" Happy questioned before looking at Satoz.
"What's going on?" Leorio looks at satoz as well.
"Look at this..." the man pulled out a monkey-like creature that looked just like Satotz.
"It looks just like the examiner!" Wendy gasped.
"This is the man-faced ape, one of the creatures that dwell in the Numere Wetlands. They love the taste of fresh human flesh." The man explains.
"A man-faced ape?" Leorio questioned.
"They disguise themselves as humans since they have weak, thin, limbs. They trick people into following them into the wetland and team up with other animals to devour them. He intends on trapping every single applicant!" The man shouted and points at Satotz.
"Bastard..." Leorio insults satotz.
"He certainly doesn't walk like a human." Hanzo said.
"On top of that, he has no mouth either, which is weird." Happy adds.
Suddenly six cards were sent in opposite directions, to Satotz, and the supposedly real examiner. Satotz caught them all as if it were nothing, but the other man had the cards sent into his chest and forehead.
"That settles it. You're the real one." The examinees all turned to the person who threw the cards, Hisoka, the described psychopath clown. He shuffled his deck of cards and begins explaining, "Examinees are hunters selected by the committee to perform this duty without pay. Any hunter bearing the title we seek would have been able to block that attack."
"That creepy clown guy sure knows a lot." Happy says.
"I shall take that as a compliment. However, should you attack me for any reason, I will report you for turning on an examiner, and will be completely disqualified . Are we clear?" Satotz asked.
"Sure." Hisoka smirks with his eyes closed.
The birds then fly down and gather around the dead fake examiner, eating his corpse.
"Nature sure can be brutal to watch..." Leorio mutters.
"So he was a man-faced ape as well." Kurapika figures out.
"He was attempting to confuse the applicants to lure some of them away." Satotz figures out.
"We cannot relax our guard." Killua reminds Gon and wendy.
"Yeah." They both agreed.
"You will be encountering such deception on regular basis." Satotz walks by the examines, "I believe that a number of you were fooled into suspecting my identity?" Leorio, Happy, and Hanzo slickly laugh behind everyone while scratching their heads.
"Do you understand? If you lose sight of me in the fog then you will never reach the exam's second phase. Do bear that in mind." Satotz explains, "Then let us be on our way. Follow me."
The applicants began running once again, into the swamp, with the fog slowly coming slowly coming back and gets thicker.
"The fog is getting thicker," Kurapika said and Leorio nods in agreement.
"Hey you three, we should move up." Killua suggested.
"Yeah, We shouldn't lose sight of the examiner," Wendy agrees.
"I'm more concerned with increasing the distance between us and Hisoka. Staying too close to him is dangerous," Killua said.
"I'm with you on that, he gives me the creeps." Happy states as he's flying.
"Yeah, I can smell the air." Killua says.
"Smell?" Gon questions, "I don't think he smells."
""Leorio! Kurapika!" He called. "Killua says we should move up,"
"Wait, Gon, I don't think it's a good idea calling out to them." Wendy warns.
"She's right, Can't you feel the tension surrounding us?" Killua asked.
"Moron! If I had the strength, I would already be there!" Leorio called back.
"We'll be fine! Don't worry about us!" Kurapika adds.
"At least we know their still with us." Happy says and wendy nods.
"Let's go, guys." Killua runs ahead.
"Ah, Wait up!" The three went after him.
As Leorio and Kurapika ran, "We can't even tell where we're going."
"It's okay, As long as we don't lose the guys ahead of us, we'll be fine," Leorio said.
Suddenly and unexpectedly, heads of the people they were following flew off, their bodies falling down all around them.
"Huh? What's going on?" Leorio questions as they look around their surrounds.
One man went forward, and suddenly got taken away and eaten by a giant tortoise...with strawberries on its back. "W-what?!" The other people with who were with them had either been eaten or ran away. Only Leorio and Kurapika were left. The creatures closed in on them, preparing to eat them.
As other examines were falling to different creatures and lost sight of satoz, The trio and happy were in another part of the swamp.
"I hear people screaming all around us," Gon said.
"Just stay on your guard," Killua reminds him.
"I hope Leorio and Kurapika are alright." Wendy murmured.
"I'm sure they are." Happy says.
Suddenly they felt something on their feet, except happy since he is flying. "Hm?"
The three then suddenly fell into a pit. "Uwaaaaaaaaaa!"
"What the- Guys?!" Happy called putting after flying out of the way.
A giant frog had swallowed them. The frog got up and then starts walking off.
"Let spit them out you frog!" Happy demands but it ignores him.
The frog then feels sick as his head turns blue and he suddenly vomits some liquid out, spiting out the trio in the process.
"Well, what do you know, he spit you guys out." Happy flys down to them, "Could it be he didn't like the taste of you guys?"
"That seems about right." Gon scratches his head.
"It was this." Killua holds up a can.
"Huh? That's the drink fan from tonpa." Wendy recognizes.
"I see, it.'s that taste he didn't like." Happy figures out.
"Looks like he saved us." Gon says.
"Well I could of a escaped." Killua drops the can.
"Even without that can? I wonder..." Happy kinda doubts.
They then hear some noises from animals in the swamp.
"I'm still worried about Kurapika and Leorio." Gon says and wendy agrees.
"Forget them, let's get a move on." Killua reminds.
"They're probably with the examiner, if we keep moving then we'll catch up." Happy says.
With that said, they continue through the swamp, but Gon stops with a serious look and glances back for a moment, actually going back to help them.
As killua, wendy, and happy kept moving through the woods, they finally spotted some examines.
"Hey, looks like we caught up to the main group, guys." Killua looks back at wendy and happy.
"That's a relief." Happy sighs, "Saves ya from encountering anymore strange animals."
"Yeah, I know." Wendy agrees before seeing that Gon isn't with them, "Huh? Where's gon?"
"Hmm? did get lost or something?" Killua questions.
"Or he's probably in the crosses too?" Happy wonders, "Cause they are run in the opposite direction."
"It's probably the case." Wendy agrees.
"Yeah, Let's go on and follow the main group." Killua said before they run they're way in.
10 minutes later, the three are at the entrance gate with everybody else, looking for Gon.
"Where could he be?" Killua looks around.
"Thought for sure he'd be here" Wendy states, looking around.
"Well, he kept being concerned for kurapika and leorio." Happy says as he's flying before thinking of something, "Hold up! he must of went to find them."
"Wait... I think your right!" Killua agrees.
Wendy then sees gon, kurapika, and leorio gathered together, "Hey you two, I see gon with kurapika and leorio" She points out.
"Oh really? Looks like he succeeded in finding them." Happy says as they start going up to them.
"Hey gon!" Killua greets out as they walked up.
"Ah! Hey you guys." Gon happily greets the three.
"We thought you were lost." Wendy says.
"I just tracked leorio's cologne." Gon confirms how he got there.
"Cologne?" Killua questioned.
"That's it?" Happy also questioned.
Killua weirdly looks at him, "You definitely are weird."
"Well, anything helps." Wendy giggles.
Satoz then begins to speak up, "Excellent work, everyone. Phase two of the exam will occur here, in the biska forest park. So I shall leave. Best of luck to all of you." Satoz makes his way out of the area, leaving only the examinees. The Castle gates then suddenly open.
Will all applicants who passed the first phase please enter?" A young woman speaks up, "I'm Menchi, the second phase examiner." The fat guy behind her also introduces himself, "And I'm Buhara, the other examiner."
A grumbling sound is suddenly heard and the examines wonder where it came from, "Looks like your hungry." Menchi figured that it was buhara, "I'm starving." He confirms.
"I am too now that he's mentioned it." Happy thought, "It's a perfect time to munch on some fish." He drools a little.
"There you have it. Phase two will involve cooking!" Menchi announces.
Some examinees find that ridiculous, but menchi confirms that they have to make a dish to satisfy them.
"Why do we have to cook?" One of them asked.
"That's because... we are gourmet hunters." Menchi confirms.
The examines then started laughing, finding them being gourmet hunters very funny. After a while, one of them asked what they're suppose to make and Buhara then steps up to explain.
"The required ingredients is pork." Buhara explains, Your free to use meat from any species of biska forest pig. You must use the cooking facilities here to prepare the pork and you only pass if we find it delicious.
"Add we will evaluate more than just the taste." Menchi adds in, "Don't underestimate the intricacies of cooking. Got it? So when we both eat our fill the exam will end."
"We get it. we get it, let's just start." One of them said.
"Then the second phase of the exam begins now!" buhara then pats his loud like a drum, which cause all the examines to turn and begin finding meat in the biska Forest, including gon's group, wendy, and happy.
While searching in the Forest:
"Catch a pig and cook it." Leorio says, "This looks more easy than the first exam."
"I hope it will be that simple..." Kurapika states.
"I hope so too because same time I get the feeling this isn't." Happy says.
"Yeah, me too." Wendy agrees.
Gon sees something and slides down on the grass. Killua finds it cool and follows him down.
"That looks fun." Wendy follows them and happy "Aye's" in agreement.
As they slid down, Gon suddenly stops and makes them bump behind him and each other.
"What was that about, gon?!" Killua asked.
"Found them." Gon looks at they're target and they notice as well.
"Pigs!" Happy exclaims and they are just chewing on bones.
"So they were down here the whole time." Wendy says, Killua looks behind and sees her so close to him and that causes him to blush, "Something wrong, Killua?" She sees him red, "N-Nothing!" He replied awkwardly.
"Uh... they're chewing on bones." Leorio notices.
"They eat people?! I hope that doesn't include cats!" Happy exclaims dramatically.
"Don't tell me..." Kurapika starts to get it, "They're carnivores?"
The pig snaps the bone and roars out loud before chasing after the group, "Aw great, now their chasing us when we're suppose to be doing the opposite!" Happy activates his wings.
They then lead the pigs to every examine in the area and the pigs start attacking them one after another, some examines even try to retaliate, but that didn't help. Gon takes on one of the pigs and finds out it's weakness after dodging a tackle and seeing it hit it's head on the tree and apples falling on it, which it roars in pain.
Gon then retaliates by hitting it hard on the head with his rod, which successes and knows the pig out.
The rest turn around and sees this, "Could their foreheads be there weak point?" Killua notices.
"So, the pigs evolved large, strong noses in order to protect their soft foreheads." Kurapika gets it and so does everyone else.
"Perfect! Now we know where to strike." Wendy says.
"That just makes this it all the more easier." Happy agrees.
They all then went for each pig and started attacking their foreheads, "Gotcha!" Happy fly tackles the pig's forehead. Wendy also delivers a kick to another pig's forehead.
Once everyone is done, they collect there pigs(Happy struggled a bit carrying his) and rushed back to the gate. Each them picked a grill and started roasting their pigs.
Once everyone was done cooking their pigs, Each examinee started going forward to be judged on their dish, but each time, Buhara would like it but Menchi wouldn't and fails them one by one without taking a bite.
"No one's passes yet..." Leorio notices.
"And menchi hasn't even taken a bite..." Kurapika looks on.
"Yeah, she only judges with her eyes.." Happy agrees.
"I honestly don't know what she wants..." Wendy states.
"That's it!" Kurapika gets an idea, "This phase of the exam is a cooking test, but they're judging us on originality and powers of observation."
"I see..." Leorio gets it.
"That could be true..." Killua agrees.
"We could try decorating our pigs." Wendy suggests
"Hmmm, we could put it to the test..." Happy goes with it.
Leorio puts a flag on his pig before going up to be judged, "How do you like my cooking?"
Menchi says nothing and throws it high, "Is this supposed to be a kitty meal?!" Buhara catches it and eats it though."
Gon goes next and has flowers decorated on his, "I'm next."
Menchi does the same thing and throws it away, "It's basically the same thing!" Buhara catches it again.
Happy carries the plate over his head and goes next, "Now it's me." He sets it down. His has leaves around it.
Some find it weird that a cat roasted a pig and they're kinda impressed.
Menchi, again, throws it aside, "It's the same thing again, cat!" Buhara catches and eats it.
"Whaaattt?!" Happy being dramatic.
Wendy goes next and has flowers across hers, "How about mine?"
Menchi, as usual, throws it aside, "It's nothing but a copycat!" Buhara catches and eats it.
"Huuuhhh?!" Wendy being dramatically surprised.
Killua goes next and has sticks on top of his, "Go ahead, But I obviously know the answer."
Menchi throws it high, "And you guessed right, it's too burnt!" Buhara catches and eats it.
"Oh course..." Killua shrugs.
Kurapika goes next, "I am next!" he has his as a sandwich with multiple layers, "Please judge my creation.
"Finally, something that resembles an actual dish..." Menchi grabs a fork and tastes his dish.
"The point is to use the provided facilities and ingredients to highlight the main feature... the pork. In other words, the taste is insignificant!" He thought, confident that he passed.
"Yuck!" Menchi finds it disgusting and tosses it, which buhara catches and starts eating.
"Huh?" Kurapika is surprised.
"Appearance is important, but only if it also tastes good. You're no better than #403 or the cat!" Menchi criticizes and gives him a "fail" sign.
Leorio laughs a bit as he passes by, "Too bad!" Happy laughs a bit as well.
"No better than #403 or the cat..." Kurapika is a bit down from hearing that.
"At least you did your best." Wendy pats him on the back.
After the two examiners declare that they're stuffed, Menchi gets up and makes an announcement, "Therefore, nobody passes! We're finished!"
Many examinees find it shocking that they failed and start complaining especially Todo.
" I'm not trying to become a cook or gourmet... I want to become a hunter!" Todo shouts a her and everyone agrees with him, "I'll become a black list hunter and I refuse to let a mere gourmet hunter decide my fate!"
"Too bad you got stuck with a mere gourmet hunter as an examiner..." Menchi talks back and doesn't care, "Better luck next year?"
Todo has had it and goes to attack her, "Why you... don't mock me!"
Buhara then punches him all the way back up the castle tower and knocks him out.
"Woah! what a punch." Happy being dramatic a bit.
"Buhara, don't interfere." Menchi advises.
"If I hadn't, you'd have killed him, right?" Buhara asked.
"Probably." Menchi gets up with knifes in her hands and steps down the stars
"She sure ain't fooling around." Happy murmurs and wendy agrees.
"Let me clarify this... We frequently venture into the dens of furious beasts searching for ingredients. Every hunter knows some form of martial art." She then starts juggling the kinfes around like a circus act, "You lack focus and willingness to experiment. That alone disqualifies you from becoming hunters!"
It was silent for a bit as the examinees might have to accept it but then a voice out of nowhere spoke up, "That said... it would be excessive to fail, every single applicant."
Everyone then looks up and sees a flying airship with the hunter association symbol on it. An old geezer than jumps out and lands hard on the smoke, causing a little gust of wind from it. Menchi points out the he is chairman Netero, who is in charge of the whole exam.
Menchi apologizes to Netero for having the second exam harder than necessary and decided to resign from being an examiner but Netero wants her to continue being an examiner and has her participate in the test she proposes.
Menchi accepts and announces the new challenge, "The new challenge will be boiled eggs. Chairman, can you take us to Mt. Split-in-half in your air ship?"
"Mt. Split-in-half? I see what your doing. Then I certainly will." Netero accepts.
All examines then board the airship and get to Mt. Split-in-half minutes later.
"Now everyone, look down there." Menchi says.
"What are those?" Wendy asked as she kneeled down with Gon and Killua.
"A spider eagles web." Menchi answered.
"They build webs down here?" Gon looks down.
Wind then starts blowing in there direction
"There sure is strong wind out here." Happy states.
"Look below below the webs." Menchi says, "Those are spider eagle eggs and they build their eggs in deep ravine to protect them from predators. It makes their eggs a difficult ingredient to obtain."
"They are also none as dream eggs." Netero adds.
"W-wait... you don't mean we..." Todo is stunned.
"I do..." Menchi then jumps done and holds on to a web.
"Even if she grabs the egg..." Leorio trailed.
"How will she climb back up?" Happy finished.
She then jumps down and grabs the egg before falling.
"Is she trying to kill herself?" Leorio question.
"No, She's not." Kurapika doubts.
"Agreed, I smell some wind coming this way, that's what she's waiting for." Wendy explains.
"Huh?" Leorio questioned.
And she's right, wind then blows up the ravines and floats Menchi back up.
"Woah, that looks fun." Gon and Killua beamed.
"I could easily just fly down there and get the egg, easy peasy." Happy states.
"That is true, you would have to worry about falling." Wendy gets it.
After Menchi takes a landing, "There. Now I just need to boil the egg."
"Y-you must be joking... no reasonable person would jump down there." Todo is startled by that.
"I've been waiting for this." Gon then happily jumps down along with killua, wendy, kurapika, and leorio. Happy activities his wings and flys down there.
"Okay, count me in!" Hanzo and the other examinees jump down as well.
While everyone is hanging on the web, Happy flys and grabs an egg before heading back, "See you guys at the top!"
Once happy got back up, "Alright, I got an egg!" He deactivates his wings.
"A flying cat too!" Menchi exclaimed.
"It's rare seeing a cat that can talk and fly." Netero says curiously while stroking his beard.
"I get that a lot." Happy replies, "Hope I'm not breaking any rules by doing that."
"It's not a problem." Netero gives a reassuring smile.
"That's a relief." Happy phews.
Back at the bottom one of the examinees jump down eagerly to get an egg, "Catch ya later!"
"Let's go too!" Leorio suggested.
"Not yet." Gon declines.
"Why not?" Leorio asked.
"There's not wind." Killua replied and gets it.
"Right, I don't smell it coming up yet." Wendy agrees.
"There isn't always an updraft." Kurapika says.
The one that fell for his egg but keeps falling down deep into the ravines.
"When's the next one?" Leorio asked.
"Hold on." Wendy halts and Gon closes his eyes, which the examines all look at him.
The web then starts to slip, "What?!" Leorio looks at the web.
"It won't hold all of us!" Kurapika states out.
"Not yet, you two?" Killua turns over to them.
"Just a little more." Wendy replied and Gon still has his eyes closed.
A couple of them couldn't wait any longer and leaped down anyway but they fell deeper as the wind didn't catch them.
"It's gonna snap!" Leorio warns.
"Now!" Gon and wendy both shouted and everyone leaped down and grabbed one before the wind blows them all the way back up.
Upon seeing them, "They did it!" Happy raises his paws in delight.
Menchi notices that several others have quit and tells them that it takes courage to concede.
Later on in the evening, everyone starts eating the boiled eggs and comment on how good it is. Happy, however, mixes his with the fish he takes out of his bag.
"Fish mixed up with an egg?" Leorio asked confusingly.
"With every snack or meal, eating fish is my main and favorite priority." Happy replied before taking a bit of both of them, "So good..."
"Weird..." Killua murmurs.
"I gotta say but it's what he wants." Kurapika agrees but let's it be.
"I can see why there called dream eggs." Wendy takes a bit.
They see Gon offering todo a taste of the boiled egg and todo comments on it's deliciousness but declaring that he'll try again next year.
Only 44 applicants remaining...
That ends this one, also, there will be some things that I'll skip just to get this thing going faster and making it good. Until the next one.