Third Exam: Trick Tower(Part 1)
After clearing the second exam, the 42 remained examinees boarded the airship and fly through the night starry sky toward the site of the third phase.
Netero introduces himself as the chairman of the hunter exam selection committee and bean informs everyone that they'll be arriving at 8 AM to destination.
"You'll find dinner waiting in the dining hall." Bean says, "You are free to get some rest and do whatever you like until you're contacted."
"Okay, you two, let's explore the airship!" Killua happily tells gon and wendy.
"Yeah!" They agreed before following him.
"How can they have so much energy?" Leorio questioned, "I'm hitting the sack."
"You can say that again." Kurapika agrees.
"I do that after going to the dining hall, I'm sure they have some good fish there." Happy thinks and drools.
"The only thing you think about." Kurapika isn't surprised.
Meanwhile, after the three ate a bit at the dining hall, they stood near the airship window and comment on how the ground looks like it's covered in jewels.
"Hey, I was wondering, you guys..." Gon wonders.
"Hmmm?" They questioned.
"Where are your parents?" Gon asked.
Wendy answers first, "Well, I was raised by a sky dragon, named Grandeeny. She's my mother."
"Woah! A dragon as a mother?!" Gon finds that cool.
"You do have sky dragon slayer magic after all so it makes sense." Killua says.
"As for where she is... I don't know." Wendy looks down, which surprises the boys, "She suddenly disappeared on July 7, X777... Ever since then, I've been trying to find her." She has a sad expression.
"Oh..." Killua feels sorry for her.
Gon then looks at the sky, "Looks like we're both out looking for our parents... you finding your dragon mom and me finding my dad. Let's hope we find them both." He smiles.
Wendy looks at him and smiles back, "Yes." She nods.
"What about you, killua?" Gon and wendy looks at him next.
"Hmmm... they're alive." Killua answered, "Probably."
"What do they do?" Gon questioned.
"They're assassins." Killua answered.
"Assassins?" Wendy questioned, surprised.
"Both of them?" Gon also asked.
Killua looks at them for a moment before sitting down on the bench, "You guys are the first to respond seriously."
"Well... your telling the truth, right?" Gon questioned.
"What makes you think that?" Killua questioned.
"We can tell your serious." Wendy answered.
"Yeah... people only like me because they can't tell whether I'm serious." Killua looks out the window, "I'm from a family of assassins."
"So they're all assassins." Gon gets it.
"Who knew..." Wendy states.
"... My family had really high hopes for me... but I can't stand it." Killua murmurs while looking at the window, "Who wants to have their life planned out for them?" Turns towards them, "When I told them I wanted to decide my own future, they all snapped!"
"Really? What kind of family would do that?" Wendy is surprised.
"They always do. My mother had tears running down her face, as she told me I have the potential to be a top assassin." Gon laughs a little at that.
"Horrible parents, right?" Killua asked.
"You could say that again." Wendy agreed.
"It's only natural that their kid would go bad." Killua continued, "So we ended up fighting, and I stabbed my mother in the face, my brother to the side, and ran a away from home."
"Uh... but wasn't that a bit too far?!" Wendy asked with a surprised look.
"I didn't want it to turn out that way but they wouldn't respect my decision so I didn't have much of a choice." Killua replied before smirking, "I'm sure they're out for blood now, but if they find me then I'll send them packing."
Gon laughs a bit at that, "And when I become a hunter, I'll start by capturing my family, I'm sure they're worth some hefty bounties..." Killua beams and dreams.
Wendy laughs a bit as well, before getting off the bench, "Okay, I'm about to go and get some sleep for the upcoming phase tomorrow." She says.
"Okay." Gon gets it.
"See ya in the morning." Killua waves and she waves backing before going.
Killua then sense felt netero's bloodlust nearby, he comes out and challenges the boys to a game of taking the ball in order for them both to pass the exam. But hours later, they couldn't get it from him, Killua leaves to get rest and kills off two examinees after bumping into them and Gon falls asleep after making netero use his right hand.
Tonpa gets out of his room area to see if Leorio and Kurapika are freaking out about the next faced, but is shocked to find them, wendy, and happy sleeping without having any hint of worry.
The next morning: The third exam begins at the top of trick tower and every examinees is dropped off of the airship. Bean explains that in order to pass, the examinees will have to reach the towers base in twenty-two hours without getting killed.
"Best of luck to everyone!" Bean shouts in luck after boarding the airship.
They all look down and sees that they are very high
"Are we supposed to climb down?" Leorio questioned.
"If that's the case then it's not a problem!" Happy raises a paw.
"For you it isn't because you can obviously fly." Killua rolls his eyes.
"B-but that's too long...!" Wendy says dramatically.
"And it would be suicide..." Kurapika adds.
"Maybe for a normal person." The group turns around sees that #86 speaks up, The man then starts climbing down, "But a top-class rock climber can handle this, no problem."
"Wow..." Killua and Happy are impressed.
"He's going down pretty fast." Gon says.
"Looks like I'll be the first one to pass the third phase..." #86 brags as he climbs down. Suddenly everyone hears a noise and some monstrous flying creatures then snatch #86 as he screams for help and he gets eaten.
"G-guess we can't climb down the side..." Leorio says and they agree.
As most of the examinees found an exit, "Man, if we don't find an exit at this rate... then I'll just have to fly us down there, one by one without getting caught by those ugly flying creatures." Happy crosses his arms and thinks out.
"You don't have to do that, Happy." Wendy assures, "We'll definitely find one."
"Let's just hope it's very soon." Killua says.
They then see an examine flip over the stoned door.
"Well that was quick." Killua called it.
The four then headed over there and ducked down to try to tap it but it didn't work.
"Kurapika! Leorio!" Wendy calls them back.
"What is it, wendy?" Kurapika asked after they ran back over.
"Looks like Gon found a hidden door." Happy answers before Gon pushed down on the stoned door.
"I see, so we can descend by flipping the stone." Kurapika analysis.
"Now that saves you the trouble of flying us down to the bottom, Happy." Gon looks at him.
"And that's a relief too." Happy sighs in delight.
"Okay! Great job, Gon!" Leorio congratulates, "Let's head down!"
"But I'm confused." He tells him.
"About what?" Leorio questioned.
"There are also hidden doors here and there." Gon points to them all.
"It sounds suspicious that there are five hidden doors." Kurapika says.
"It could also be a trap." Wendy adds.
"And it looks as though each door can only be used once." Killua also adds.
"Seriously?" Leorio questioned.
"We tried opening a door someone used, but it wouldn't budge." Killua explained.
"Judging by the doors size, only one can fit in at a time." Kurapika figures.
"In other words, only one person can use each door." Happy adds.
"Then we'll have to split up." Wendy suggested.
"Gon, wendy, and I decided that we're each going to choose a door while happy holds on to one of us." Killua says.
"No hard feelings if one of us springs a trap! What are you guys gonna do?" Gon questioned them.
"I can live with that, luck is part of the game..." Leorio agrees
"Then that settles it, I have no objections either." Kurapika doesn't mind.
They then stood on top of each door and prepared themselves.
"Let's go on the count of three." Leorio suggested.
"Guess this is good by for now." Gon says.
"Guess so.." Wendy agrees while holding Happy.
"We'll meet again at the towers base." Kurapika assures.
"Sounds like a plan!" Happy raises a paw.
"Let's go!" Killua starts it off as they count one, two, and three before the stone doors flipped them over and they start falling in, But to their surprise, As they land, they were in the same room.
"Well, that farewell was for nothing, was it." Happy questioned.
"You could say that." Kurapika rubs the dust of him.
"So the doors lead to the same room..." Leorio was surprised a little.
They the walked to a board on the wall that tells them that they must follow the will of the majority to reach the goal.
"7 of us..." Leorio murmured.
"There's even watches." They each grabbed on and put it on their wrist.
"There's an O and X button." Killua notices.
"Could it be that we can't leave this room." Kurapika thinks.
"What! So does that mean we'll be trapped in here!" Happy dramatically states.
"No, I think it's until another person drops in." Kurapika figures.
"That is is right." They then looks at the intercom on the wall and a prison warder, as well as the third phase examiner, named Lippo spoke from it. He explains that multiple routs have been prepared and that they have chose the majority rule path and cooperation is required to pass. He wishes them best of luck before hanging up.
Two hours later, the group is just waiting patiently doing there own thing, Gon skating on killua's skateboard, Killua checking out gon's rod, Wendy doing her hair, Happy flying around every now and then, while Kurapika and Leorio are sitting against the wall.
"Oh come on!" Leorio complains, "It's been two hours now! What if the others took different routes?
"Yeah, I'm ready to get a move on and get out of here." Happy agrees.
"And only a roll would still be at the top of the tower!" Leorio adds/pumps his fist.
"Calm down Leorio, complaining won't help..." Kurapika tells him.
"He's right, we have no choice but to wait." Wendy agrees.
"What if no one shows up before we reach our time limit?" Leorio goes on.
Suddenly, they hear a sound coming from up top. A crack forms up top the sealing and they gather around it. The stone flips and someone drops out of it, revealing it to be none other than tonpa.
"Tonpa-san." Gon and wendy both were a little surprised to see him.
"Aw great, it's this guy..." Happy ain't relieved to see him.
"Oh..." Killua and Kurapika aren't relieved to see him either.
"This old man..." Leorio has the same expression.
After Tonpa puts on the watch, the door finally opens. They then see O and X at the door.
"I see "At this door, select O to open and X to not open." Kurapika reads.
"Forcing us to use majority rule already?" Leorio questions that.
"Even so, the answer is so obvious..." Happy states before they clicked the answer on their watches.
It's shown that 6 voted O and 1 voted X.
"What? who pressed the X button?" Leorio looks around.
They then look at Tonpa, "Ha ha, sorry, it was me." Tonpa scratches his head awkwardly.
"I knew it." Happy points at him.
"I pressed the wrong button by a mistake." Tonpa replied.
"Stop screwing around, old man!" Leorio grabs him by the shirt, "Are you blind?"
"Like I said, it was an accident." Tonpa tries to explain.
"Accident by Butt." Happy finds him guilty.
"Yeah, how can you accidentally press the wrong button?!" Leorio yells at Tonpa.
"It doesn't matter." Gon breaks the two up.
"No, it does matter!" Leorio shouts, "This guy pressed the wrong button on purpose..."
"Let's go." Kurapika doesn't care, "We have no time to bicker amongst ourselves."
"All that matters is that the door opened." Wendy agrees.
"That's right, even if he does press the wrong button, the rest of us just need to press the right one." Killua shrugs before they proceeded.
Tonpa smirks at Leorio in victory before he proceeded as well, which annoys Leorio.
"Damn, I can't stand him..." Leorio whispers happy, "I'm definitely keeping a close eye on him."
"That's a good idea." Happy whispers back, "I'll try to as well..." They then proceed as well.
As they catch up, "Seriously, another question?" Leorio complains.
"Which do you want to go, O for right or X for left?" Kurapika reads.
They each pressed a button and it's shown that 4 voted for right and 3 voted for left.
"Huh?! Wh-Why would you go right?!" Leorio looks around at each of them, "Normally you'd got left..."
"That's true. Studies have indicated that people who are lost or stuck at forks unconsciously tend to go in." Kurapika explains.
"Ah, that makes sense." Wendy gets it.
"I've heard that before, too." Killua states.
"Wait! The numbers don't add up, which button did you press?" Leorio points in question.
"Right." Killua, kurapika and wendy answered and walked by him.
"Y-you guys..." Leorio is annoyed.
"Not gonna lie, I picked right as well." Happy confesses.
"You too?!" Leorio exclaims.
"Aye!" Happy replied before following them.
"They chose to go right to outfox the examiner. If the examiner knows people tend to go left, then the left path will be more difficult." Tonpa follows them.
Leorio had no choice in the matter after looking at gon, "So we're just simple minded!"
"We?" Gon doesn't know what he's talking about.
The group then walks into a huge area with a platform in the middle of it.
"The applicants have arrived." Says one of the seven prisoners on the other side.
One of the prisoners come forward and takes off his clock, delighted at being free. Lippo then speaks through the intercom and explains to the group that they have to each face against one prisoner. One of the prisoners explains that they must secure 4 wins in order to pass.
"Hear we go with the majority rule again..." Leorio's tired of it.
"Well, I prefer straightforward rules." Killua prefers.
Bippo then explains that it won't be simple and that if each prisoner wins, their sentence will be reduced by one year, for every hour they delay the applicants.
"I understand, and we must reach the goal within seventy-two hours." Kurapika looks at his watch, "So time will be critical during these fights."
"Okay, I'm up first." Bendot declares, "Choose your combatant."
"What should we do? He said we can fight with any method." Wendy whispers.
"So that means anything goes, bad or good." Happy gets it
"We don't know what they'll try to pull..." Leorio states.
"There's too much at stake without knowing... what they have up their sleeves." Kurapika says, "Given that, I shall..."
"No, I'll go!" Tonpa steps up.
"Tonpa-san?" Gon is surprised a little.
"I'll act as a guinea pig so we can discover what they're up to." Tonpa says, "Consider this an apology from before."
"Hey, are you serious?" Leorio questioned.
"Sure. Plus, you guys don't actually trust me, right?" Tonpa points to himself, "Do you really want me to be the tiebreaker, when the score is 3-3"
"You have a point..." Happy agrees.
"Then, that settles it..." Tonpa says.
"Tonpa, you're..." Leorio is surprised at him not pulling anything.
The bridge comes out on each side and the volunteers go to the platform.
"It's a surprise that he's actually volunteering..." Happy says.
"He even called himself a guinea pig." Kurapika adds.
"Will tonpa-san be okay?" Gon questions as they look on.
"Not sure." Wendy answered.
As the combatants get ready, "Now, let us determine the method of combat." Bendot suggested, "I propose a death match."
This surprises tonpa and the group, "A death match?" Gon questioned.
"No way..." Wendy couldn't believe that.
"Is he crazy?!" Happy exclaims.
"They fight until one dies?" Leorio is surprised.
"No... don't let him provoke you!" Kurapika warns tonpa.
"Well..." Bendot wants an answer from him.
"Very well... I accept!" Tonpa responds with a confident look.
"Huh?" The group is surprised.
"Seriously?" Leorio couldn't believe it.
"I commend you for your courage!" Bendot gets in a stance and they stare each other down. Both of them start to have fire form around them, especially tonpa, "Let the fight begin!" Bendot jumps at tonpa with a punch coming in. Tonpa waves his hands, looking like he's about to preform a move, but... "I... I give!" Tonpa bows down in defeat, which totally confuses the group.
"Did he just give up?" Gon sweat-drops.
"M-Maybe he meant "Give me a sec"?" Leorio sweat-drops and thinks.
"What did you say?" Bendot asked.
"You win if I admit defeat, right?" Tonpa looks up at him before going down again purposely, "I give up, I lose!" He then laughs awkwardly.
Happy then looks at leorio, knowing how he is, "Uh-oh..."
Leorio is ferocious with this, "Wha... Wha... Wha..."
Bendot himself laughs in amusement, "All right... I win this round!" The scoreboard then changes to 1 in the prisoners favor, "If we win two more rounds, you lose. You won't be able to advance or turn back. You'll be stuck here until the seventy-two hours are up. Should that come to pass, our sentences will be reduced by seventy-two years." Bendot then laughs in victory.
"Man, what a disgrace." Tonpa walks back to the group, "He looked a lot stronger up close..."
"Sigh, I knew it was too good to be true." Happy shakes his head, unimpressed at Tonpa.
"Bastard..." Leorio angrily grabs him by his shirt, "You just confirmed all my suspicions! You're a worthless piece of trash, who's only good for sabotaging other applicants!"
Tonpa admits it and smirks back, "Exactly. That's what I do every year. And I plan to continue the tradition."
"Wh-What?" Leorio is made even more angry.
"I'm not looking to pass the hunter exam." Tonpa goes on, "I'm only in it for the thrills."
"The thrills?" Leorio questions.
"Yes. The hunter exam is a trial event to crush confident young people's dreams." Tonpa says, "The moment of despair, when ambition and hope give way, gives me a sense of exquisite pleasure. Especially when I'm actively shattering these rookies dreams." He keeps smirking at leorio, "I don't plan on becoming a hunter. I've had enough funs this year. It's time for me to bow out."
"You bastard..." Leorio was about to punch him, but kurapika holds him back, "Stop leorio!"
"But..." He was about to go on but kurapika shakes his head in disagreement, "They want us to waste our time, fighting amongst ourselves."
"He's right, we won't be able to advance if this keeps up." Wendy agrees.
"Aye, Look at them acting all cool over there." Happy points to the prisoners.
"However, if their goal is to buy time, then the old man made the correct choice." Killua says and looks at the prisoners
"Huh?" The group is confused.
"That bald guy is probably a former soldier or mercenary. Had you fought him, he would of started by crushing your throat, so you couldn't have given up. Then he would have tortured you, without killing you, for the rest of the remaining time..." Killua now has tonpa terrified.
"Th-that was one of the possibilities I took into consideration..." Tonpa tries to explain.
"Oh please, you got terrified by the time killua said that. It's written all over your face." Happy can tell.
"I'm serious I did." Tonpa waves his hands in assurance.
"Your sick." Leorio insults tonpa.
"My plan was disrupted. I was going to take my time, punishing him..." Bendot crosses his arms, impressed that killua figured it out.
"Don't worry about it, I'll go next..." A prison walks forward and takes off his shackles and cloak, revealing to have a cat-like face, and he is Larry, "Taking this win is gonna be easy since I think I know who they're gonna send next."
"We have to win this round to even the score." Kurapika reminds the group, "And that cat-like prisoner is up next so who should we send..."
"Hold up, I know who we should send..." Killua smirks and gets a funny idea.
"Who?" Wendy asked.
"Well, since that guy looks like a cat, we happen to have one of our own..." He looks at happy and so does the whole group.
"Huh? I'm going already?!" Happy points to himself.
"I mean, it's be a cat battle so why not?" Killua smirks.
"It would be fun to watch, honestly." Kurapika goes with it.
"Besides, you can do this." Wendy encourages.
"Yeah, but I didn't expect that I would go second." Happy jumps off of gon's shoulder and head towards the platform and so does larry.
After they made it in the ring staring at each other, "A small cat? This is gonna be easy."
Happy is kinda offended by that, "We'll see about that!" He exclaims dramatically.
"Now for the purpose of this match, we'll fight till one of us is unconscious." Larry sets the rule.
"Until one is unconscious, huh..." Kurapika murmurs, "I wonder how is happy gonna fight."
"That's what I wonder too." Killua agrees
"It's still a fight, but good thing it isn't to the death." Happy thought.
"Something wrong?" Larry asked.
"Nothing, I accept." Happy raises a paw.
"I wonder if happy will be alright..." Wendy wonders.
"Yeah..." Gon agrees.
"All right, then let's begin!" Larry rushes at Happy, who jumps back to avoid being grab.
"Well that was close." Happy says after getting some distance.
"Not bad, but these next attacks will finish it." Larry continues to attack Happy, who dodges in many sorts of ways. Happy activities his wings in time and dodges punch from larry.
"What the heck?! How are you able to fly?" Larry exclaims.
"This is how I am." Happy replies.
"Don't get it, but whatever." Larry shrugs.
"Now it's my turn... to attack!" Happy charges at him and tries to hit him, but instead... larry counters his charge by punching him to the ground.
Happy's eyes are twirling around, pokemon-style, "Oh no..."
"Looks like that ends that." Larry says and stretches himself.
"Oh no..." Wendy sees that he's down.
"Something told me this wasn't gonna work..." Kurapika murmurs to himself.
"I thought it would, but dang..." Killua says.
"Damn..." Leorio said under his breathe as they see happy not getting up.
"Looks like I win this round." Larry declares and the score changes 2-0 in the prisoners favor.
Happy wakes up after the score was changed, "W-wait, did I just lose?"
"You sure did." Larry tells him before he walked back.
"Aww man." Happy flies back to the group, dramatically downed, "Looks like I let us down that time."
"D-don't worry about it." Wendy waves her hands in assurance, "We'll just win the next rounds straight in a row."
"Yeah, it just depends on what majority rule they pull." Kurapika says.
"Sigh, well At least you tried." Leorio said anyway, despite losing.
"Either way, good attempt." Gon smiles.
"He's a cat, so of course he can't fight." Tonpa crosses his arms and taunts.
"Neither can you." Killua rolls his eyes.
"He's way better than you, old man!" Leorio exclaims and points, "You shitted your pants as soon as your match started while the cat didn't!"
"Not to mention you were scared out of your mind when killua explained what he was gonna do to you." Happy taunts.
"Like I said, that was one of the possibilities I took into consideration." Tonpa remarked dramtically.
"Yeah yeah." Happy finds that as an excuse and taunts.
"Guys, there's another prisoner going forward." Kurapika reminds them and they turn back to the platform.
The next prisoner gets up and goes forward, unlock his shackles and takes off his cloak, Name Sedokan "Now, If we defeat two of their remaining four, then we win."
"Regardless, we still need to win four rounds to advance." Kurapika reminds.
"Who's going next?" Killua questions.
"Me!" Gon raises his hand, "I'll go!"
"Are you sure?" Leorio asked.
"Uh-huh!" Gon is positive.
"The next opponent doesn't look too strong." Kurapika evaluates.
"But be careful, he could be up to anything." Wendy warns.
"He is a criminal after all." Leorio adds.
"Uh-huh, I know." Gon puts his bag down and goes to the platform.
After they got in, "Now then... as you can see, I'm not very strong." Sedokan tells him, "I don't really enjoy fistfights or other physical activities such as running and jumping."
"I do." Gon answers to that, "But I'm not too good at using my head."
"As I thought..." Sadeokan puts up one finger, "So I came up with a simple game we could both play."
"A game?" Gon questions.
"Yes. It doesn't really on either mental or physical activity." Sedokan explains.
"What kind of game is that?" Gon asked.
Sedokan then takes out 2 candles, "We each light a candle at the same time. The one whose candle goes out first is the loser. What do you think?"
"Yeah! That's easy to understand." Gon accepts with a thumbs up, "Let's go with that."
"Okay, in that case... chose which candle you want to pick..." He does a long and short one, which surprises everyone, "Press O for the long one, or X for the short one. This will be determined by majority rule."
"We have to choose one?" Wendy questions.
"This has to be a trap!" Leorio tightens his fists, "Normally, you'd choose the long one, so he must have done something to the long one!"
"That would be the safe assumption." Kurapika states, "But it might be a trap and he's actually tampered with the short one."
"Aye." Happy agrees.
"When you put it like that..." Leorio trails.
"Yes, there is no end..." Kurapika understands.
"You've got a real dilemma there." Tonpa taunts leorio.
"You keep your mouth shut!" Leorio shuts him up.
"Yeah, Yeah." Tonpa shrugs and doesn't care.
Sedokan then sits down and waits, "Take your time. This may be a majority decision, but your free to discuss it. We have plenty of time."
Gon turns around to his group, "Hey which one should I choose?"
"We have no idea which one to take..." Happy says.
It's silent for a few seconds until, "Gon!" Wendy calls to him, "You can decided and think which is best."
"Right, we'll go along with it." Kurapika agrees.
"Are you sure about this?" Killua asked.
"Aye. I don't see him thinking about one." Happy agrees.
"Instead of wasting time om what to do, let's rely on gon's instincts." Kurapika believes in him.
"Instincts, huh..." Killua wonders and looks back.
"I get to choose?" Gon questioned.
"Yes." Wendy replied.
"Okay!" Gon turns back, "Then I'll go with the long one!"
"You want the longer candle?" Sedokan asked.
"Right, because a longer candle will burn a longer time!" Gon points up and explains.
This confuses the group, "Er, he's just taking it at face value?" Leorio doesn't get it.
"I knew he wouldn't think this one through." Killua wasn't impressed at all.
"Well... I guess we have no choice but to go along with his decision." Wendy says before the group pressed the circle button.
"It's not like we can figure out which is a trap." Leorio gives up on that.
"It was hard to figure that out to begin with." Happy says.
The scoreboard reveals 5 for O and 0 for X.
"Okay, you can get the long one. I'll take the short one." Sedokan tosses gon the long candle before the walked to the fires torches on the edge of the ring, "Now we light our candles at the same time." They then light them up and head back to the center.
"It's gonna take forever for both of those candles to burn down." Happy looks on.
"How long would it take that candle to burn down?" Killua questions.
"Five to Six hours?" Kurapika thinks.
"I was thinking the same thing." Wendy agrees.
The wind from the sides and below the platform then breezes up and almost puts out gon's candle, "Whoa... that was a close one."
"A strong wind is coming from below." Happy looks down.
"That means we should watch our step..." Leorio suggests, "No time to relax, huh..."
Gon and Sedokan stare at each other for a bit and sedokan laughs a bit, "If you don't pay attention, your candle will go out."
"That's because your planning to do something bad. Otherwise, your candle will go out first." Gon observes.
"I won't do anything. I've already taken steps." Sedokan planned.
Suddenly, Gon's candles lights up even bigger, which startles him.
"Wh-what's happening?!" Wendy questions at gon's candles.
"Look at gon's candle!" Leorio looks on.
"The flames suddenly became bigger!" Happy adds.
"He must have hidden gunpowder or some other highly flammable substance inside, to make the candle burn faster!" Kurapika figures out.
"So that was the trap!" Happy points.
Gon's candles is melting fast and he's having trouble holding it.
"Oh no, at this rate, his candle will only last another two or three minutes." Wendy says.
"Damn... Hey! That was dirty!" Leorio shouts at sedokan, "I knew you tampered with the long candle!"
"Yeah, that isn't fair!" Happy shouts as well.
As gon's candle melts faster, he then grins widely and gets an idea, which confuses sedokan.
"If the fire is stronger..." Gon sets his candle down, "then a little breeze won't extinguish it." Gon then dashes at him at high speed without blowing his candle out and comes up on sedokan, "Fast..." Sedokan surprisingly thought before gon blows out his candle and sees that his own is still blowing and in game.
"I win!" Gon happily points two fingers up in victory, before going back.
"Yay, gon!" Wendy congratulates.
"Good Job, Gon! Once Kurapika, wendy, and I win, we can advance!" Leorio says and is liking the odds.
"Hmph, you fool." The blue prisoner insults, "That's the result of reliance on tools and cheap trick."
"You had it set up and you still lost, huh? Pitiful." Larry insults.
"If you want to fool someone, you have to sacrifice a bit." The blue skinned prisoner unshackles his arms, "Just watch." He then walks forward toward the platform.
"All right, I'll go next." Kurapika goes next and onward to the platform.
"Good luck." Wendy wishes him.
After the blue prisoner and Kurapika made it to the platform, the prisoner takes off his cloak, name majitani, "Hahahaha, I'm next!"
"That's one freaking body..." Leorio comments.
"Not to mention that face..." Happy adds.
"Look here." He points to his chest, "I've killed nineteen people, but it bugs me that it's such an uneven number." He laughs, "I'm so glad I got to meet the twentieth victim."
"Another serial killer?" Leorio questions.
"Then we know what that means..." Wendy knows it.
"I insist that we put our lives on the line. I won't accept some half-assed contest." Majitani speaks of blood, entrails, and agony. He starts to laugh, thinking Kurapika will get scared but...
"Very well." Kurapika understands.
"Huh?" Majitani was confused, not expecting it.
"You can decide how we settle this contest." Kurapika says, "I'll agree to your choice."
"O-oh... you've got balls..." Majitani tightens his fist, but in thinks he's putting up the tough guy act.
"I propose that we have a death match, where we fight until one of us surrenders or dies." Majitani explains, "However, don't expect me to stop when you surrender and beg for your life!" He laughs in his head, expecting a frightened look on Kurapika, but...
"Very well, I accept." Kurapika throws his best aside, "Let us begin."
Majitani isn't getting why he's not scared of what he said and does another, "Hold on! I forgot to mention something, no weapons allowed. We'll for to the death with our fists alone. After all, while I may be an examiner, I'm still a prisoner. I'm not allowed to carry weapons.
"I see, I understand." Kurapika throws his wood chucks aside, "Anything else? If not, then I'd like to get started."
Majitani again thinks of some ways on why he isn't running or scared of him and mentions that he has cards up his sleeves on how to deal with fools. He then bulks up his muscles.
"Hey, now, is Kurapika gonna be okay? This guy looks dangerous." Leorio is a little worried.
Killua puts his hands behind his head unimpressively, "In what way does he look dangerous? As far as I can tell, this guys just a blowhard who doesn't have the guts to hit or kill anybody."
"You don't need to worry." Gon assures and crosses his arms.
"Why not?" Leorio questioned.
"Because when I look at him, I don't get the chills." Gon crosses his arms.
"I agree, to me it looks like he is bluffing and trying his best to make Kurapika surrender." Wendy agrees.
"Not to mention, he kept adding new rules whenever kurapika accepted his previous ones, he's doesn't look very threatening at all." Happy also agrees, standing on gons shoulder, "I'd say he's a fraud."
Leorio doesn't get it, but looks at the match anyway.
"Time to show you to ace up my sleeve!" Majitani bulk jumps, "I'll see you dead!" He punches are Kurapika, but he dodges out of the way.
"Wow..." Tonpa is surprised.
"He made a hole in the ground with his bare fist!" Leopio also surprised.
"That was perfect, and I still have one more ace up my sleeve." Majitani thought before turning around and reveals a spider tattoo on his back, which Kurapika recognizes.
"A tattoo of a spider with twelve legs..." Leorio seems to recognize it as well, "That..."
"Yeah, I recognize it." Tonpa sees it too.
"Huh, what does that mean?" Wendy asked, confused.
"Anyone aspiring to become a hunter has heard of it." Tonpa explains, "That's the symbol worn by members of that notorious band of evil thieves, the phantom troupe!"
"Really?" Gon questions Leorio.
"The phantom troupe?" Happy questions as well.
"Yeah, definitely. They're famous." Leorio answers, "I heard about them straight from Kurapika."
Majitani reveals to have a cyber arm to shatter rocks as well and comments that no one would want to fight him, "What's wrong? Cat got your tongue. I'm Majitani, one of the phantom troupe's four kings! Consider that first strike as my way of saying hello. This is your last chance to surrender. I'm still willing to..."
Kurapika's eyes then suddenly turn red, which shocks Majitani. Kurapika breathes heavily at seeing that tattoo, "Wh-What's wrong with you?" By the time he blinks, Kurapika already disappeared which confuses them. Kurapika suddenly grabs him by the chin and pulls him upward. He gets ready to go for a punch, "O-O-O-Okay... I get it! Wait! I surrender!" It was too late for him as Kurapika punches him down to the floor, which makes him bounce up.
The site of that astounds gon, wendy, happy, leorio, and tonpa, while Killua just whistles, impressed by that punch and knew the outcome.
"Consider this a warning..." Kurapika looks down on the unconscious Majitani, "First, a real phantom troupe tattoo has the member's number on the spider. Second, they don't bother counting how many they've killed. Third, never mention the troupe again." His red eyes glow in anger, "If you do, I'll kill you."
His speech surprises everyone in the area.
"W-wow..." Wendy covers her mouth a bit.
"So strong..." Happy murmurs.
"Well, saw that coming from a mile away." Killua wasn't surprised.
"Yup..." Gon murmurs.
"I think we all did." Happy tells Killua, "Except those two of course." He means Leorio and Tonpa.
Kurapika then retrieves his things and walks off the platform.
"You okay, Kurapika?" Happy questions.
"Yeah, I'm not injured." He replied.
"Also, is it safe for us to be near you right now?" Leorio backs up a bit.
Kurapika covers his eye, "Sigh, from the moment I saw him, I knew he was weak. And mentally, I knew that tattoo was a fake. But as soon as I saw that spider, everything in my sight turned red."
"Well, I can't really blame you." Leorio probably understands.
"Actually to tell you the truth..." Kurapika continues.
"What kind of truth?" Wendy asked.
"Even when I see a real spider, my personality changes and I go into a frenzy" Kurapika adds to it.
"Well, you should of told us that sooner." Leorio and the others made awkward faces.
Kurapika walks back and sits against the wall, "But this means, that the rage within me is still as strong as ever, I suppose I should be happy."
"I think it's best to keep kurapika away from spiders" Wendy whispers to gon, leorio, and happy, which they totally nod in agreement, "Definitely."
The prisoners discuss that their backs are against the wall after taking that lost, a female prisoner steps forward, with an idea in mind.
"Okay! I'll secure our victory!" Leorio comes forward and points at the prisoners, "Now toss that guy out and send in your next competitor!"
The female prisoner steps forward and chuckles a bit, "We can't do that."
"What's that?" Leorio is confused.
"What does she mean by that?" Happy questions.
"We can't move him yet because his Match hasn't been settled." She walks to the platform.
"The Match hasn't been settled?" Leorio questions and doesn't get it
"But it looks settled to us." Happy tells her.
"Yeah, what do you mean?" Leorio asked her.
She kneels down and checks on Majitani, "He's still alive. He's was only knocked unconscious." The group were surprised at that answer, knowing what it was suppose to be.
"Did you forget? This is a death match." She remained, "The fight doesn't end until one contestant surrenders or dies. He's still alive and he hasn't surrendered." She walks back.
"Tsk... damned technicalities." Leorio complains and crosses her arms.
"But she's right." Killua agrees.
"I agree." Wendy nods and so does Gon.
"It's up to kurapika now." Happy turns to him and so does the group.
"All right! Go and put that worthless trash out of his misery, kurapika." Leorio demands.
"I refuse." Kurapika doesn't want to.
"Huh? Why?!" Leorio exclaims.
"The fight is over. He'd already lost his will to fight when I punched him. I will not fight someone who's lost." He replies and won't move.
"Screw that! Then what do we do. There claiming that the match hasn't ended!" Leorio explains, trying to get him to go finish Majitani off.
"Let him handle it. Once he wakes up, we'll get our answer." Kurapika replied.
"Hey now, we only have so much time left." Leorio tries to convince him, "We can't afford to just sit here and wait!"
"I have no intention of killing him!" Kurapika makes himself clear.
"Come on!" Leorio tries again.
"Hey..." Killua walks up.
"If you don't wanna kill him, then I will." Killua offers.
"Killua?" Gon questions his answer.
"Or I could just fly over there, grab him and throw him off the platform." Happy also offers.
"Happy?" Wendy questions his answer as well.
"You haven't ever killed anyone before, right?" Killua questions, but Kurapika doesn't answer, "Is it that your scared too?"
"That's nothing to be ashamed of, I've never killed anyone before either." Happy tells Kurapika, "Because I'm a cat anyway, heh heh."
"I have never considered whether murdering someone is frightening." Kurapika replied, "But, the fight is one-on-one and you guys aren't permitted to interfere."
"Sigh, he's right. It would mean breaking the rules ..." Wendy eventually agreed since it was the rule.
"Okay, then..." Killua replied and looked back at Kurapika, "But we're working as a team, so you shouldn't be so selfish."
"He's not wrong." Happy agrees with Killua.
"Oh! It's about time you said something useful! Keep it up!" Leorio exclaims and is proud of Killua, dramatically that is.
"Don't you understand that your screwing our chances?" Leorio questions Kurapika.
"Sorry, but my decision is final. I'm not changing my mind." Kurapika declares.
"You stubborn fool..." Leorio butts heads with his before standing back up, "Fine! A majority decision! O to kill him, and X to leave him alive. Ready and..." He clicks on the O button but the screen doesn't come on.
"Why isn't it working?!" Leorio exclaims and wants to know.
"Maybe it's because we're asking the questions." Wendy answers for him.
"Yep, that's what it is." Gon agrees.
"Huh?" Leorio turns to them.
"The examiners are the only ones allowed to ask the questions, that's when the screen comes on." Killua explains.
"At least you tried." Happy laughs a little.
"I see... then! We'll use a show of hands! Those who agree that he should finish him off... now!" Leorio raises his hand, acting in charge, but opens his eyes to see that no one else didn't raise their hands.
"You traitors!" Leorio exclaims to both killua and happy, "Weren't you two lecturing Kurapika along with me? We're suppose to be a team... A team!"
"But it's pointless! He's not gonna change his mind." Killua replied with his hands in his pockets.
"Aye! and I can't think of anything that'll make him." Happy agrees.
"Grrr, Hey Gon! Wendy!" Leorio wants their opinions, "Why do you two oppose we kill him?"
"We agree." Wendy answered, "I thought I heard him say that he gave up before being knocked unconscious, thanks to my enhanced hearing."
"Right, he was already on the verge of surrendering anyway." Gon adds, before looking at Kurapika and back at Leorio, "Let's wait for him to wake up."
"We don't know how long that will take." Leorio crosses his arms in frustration, "I should just..."
"You shouldn't force others to do things. Different people have different circumstances and ideals." Tonpa smirks.
"No one asked for your opinion." Leorio shuts him up.
"Hey... the majority rule implies that your asking everyone's opinion." Tonpa reminds.
"Damn it! Fine!" Leorio puts his hands in his pocket, "Do whatever you want!" He walks to the back and sits down the other way.
"Uh, Leorio..." Wendy looks at him.
"Man, what's wrong with these people?" Leorio murmurs to himself.
"Now he's sulking." Gon says.
"None of this matters if we can't even progress." Leorio sulks, "Don't you people get it?"
"Just leave him alone." Killua tells Gon and turns around.
"You know what? I'm just gonna take a nap until Kurapika finally decides something cause I know this is gonna take awhile." Happy jumps off gon's shoulder and goes in the back of the corner, laying his head back against his bag and starts sleeping.
To be continued!