Gon, Kurapika, and I finally reach the Phase Two testing site.

"Looks like we made it in time," Kurapika sighs in relief. We start looking around for Leorio. Gon freezes. He looks in the direction of whatever was bothering him and see's Hisoka watching our every move. He points to his right. Leorio is sitting up against a tree with his face all swelled up from where Hisoka punched him.

"Leorio!" Gon yells out. The three of us run over to him.

"Man, that stings," Leorio says, rubbing his face. "Why am I all beat up? My memory is kind of hazy..."

"Except for your arm, everything seems fine," Kurapika points out.

"Are you mocking me? What about my face?" Leorio asks. I struggle to hold back my laughter.

"We probably shouldn't tell him what happened," Kurapika whispers to us so Leorio can't hear. Gon and I nod our heads in agreement.

"Looks pretty normal to me," I tease.

"Gon!" someone calls.

"Killua!!" he replies excitedly. They high-five.

"I can't believe you actually got here... I thought you were done for."

"I tracked Leorio's cologne."

Cologne? That was how?" Killua looks surprised. "You definitely are weird." I hope he doesn't hate me for what happened in the wetlands...

"Excellent work everyone," Satotz takes the stage. "Phase Two of the exam will occur here, in the Biska Forest Park. So, I shall take my leave. The next phase will begin at noon. Best of luck to all of you."

"So we've got some time..." Killua says with a bored expression on his face.

"Hey Killua..." I start.

"Hmm... what?"

"Can I try out your skateboard?" I ask, thinking he might say no.

"Yeah I guess," he says coolly, handing it to me. "You do know how to ride right?"

"Yes, of course... but can you teach me some new tricks?"

He glances at Gon and shrugs, "Fine."

I smile at him as he takes the skateboard back. The other three guys hang back by the tree. Killua shows me a different variation of the flip he did when he met Gon, and ends it by easily landing on the skateboard. "That should be simple enough." He hands the board to me. Easy for you to say. I take it and attempt to do the move he just did. It doesn't go so well and I end up falling. He catches me before I hit the ground. "Baka, next time I won't catch you." I look up into his eyes... Wow, they are such a deep blue... I blush feeling my heart beat faster.

"I can do it," I reply hopefully, trying to get him out of my head while stepping on the board again. Something goes wrong I end up falling a second time. Damn he really didn't catch me. He watches me as I try once more, and fail yet again.

"You really aren't very good at this are you?" he asks me.

I'm about to yell at him when I remember what I really want to ask him about, "You're not mad for what happened in the wetlands are you?"

"I don't care either way," he replies unemotionally. "But..." he hesitates. "What about your eyes?"

"What about them?" I ask trying to avoid the subject.

"They were red."

"Oh that... umm... It happens when I'm angry. Why did I scare you?"

"Not really," he shrugs.

I pause for a moment. "Why did you say that Gon isn't really my brother?" I ask quietly.

He looks a little guilty, "I didn't mean anything by that. I was surprised when he first told me... It's just... you two don't really look too much alike."

"Is that a compliment, or an insult?" I narrow my eyes at him.

"Just an observation," he says casually.

"Well he is my brother. Mito-san found me when I was a baby and adopted me, which makes him my brother. We were raised together."

"Yeah, I get it," he replies. "And what if you hadn't found him?"

"But I did." I pick up the skateboard and attempt the trick again... and this time I land it.

"Finally," he sighs.

I flash him a smile and give him a big hug. "Hey what are you doing?" he yells in surprise.

"Just giving you a hug," I reply innocently.

"Don't do things like that so suddenly," he says trying to hide the blush on his cheeks.

The gates start to open and the other three guys join us.

"Will all the applicants who passed the First Phase please enter?" A woman's voice calls out. "Welcome. I'm Menchi, the Second Phase examiner." She has green eyes and blue hair that's bunched up in five different places which appear to form a star around her head. A gigantic man with a drum like belly is sitting behind her. Her shirt is a little see through... I look over at the four guys standing next to me. None of them seem to really notice... except for Leorio. Pervert.

"And I'm Buhara, the other examiner," The enormous man says. Everyone stares back at them in silence. A monstrous noise can be heard coming from Buhara's stomach.

"You must be hungry," Menchi says to him.

"I'm starving," he confirms rubbing his belly.

"There you have it. Phase Two will involve..." She pauses for dramatic effect, "...cooking!"

This doesn't go over so well with some of the other applicants. "Wait cooking? We're here to take the Hunter Exam!"

"That's right," She says proudly. "Your challenge for the second phase is to create a dish that will satisfy our palate."

"Why do we have to cook?!" the other candidates complain.

"That's because we are Gourmet Hunters." I'm so glad Mito-san taught me how to cook.

Several men start to laugh. "Man, what a letdown." Idiots. "So Gourmet Hunters," They mock. "What are we supposed to make?"

"Buhara," Menchi says trying to hold in her anger.

The gigantic man stands up and announces, "The ingredient required is pork. You're free to use meat from any species of Biska Forest pigs. The exams Second Phase... begins now." He hits his tummy like a drum and it shakes the whole place. Everyone starts running to find the pigs.

Gon, Killua, Kurapika, Leorio and I all search together.

"Catch a pig and cook it. This is way easier than the First Phase," Leorio gloats.

"I hope it will be that simple..." Kurapika says uncertain.

Gon jumps and slides down a hill with me following right behind him. He stops at the bottom and I smash into him. Killua crashes into me with Leorio right behind him. The impact from Leorio causes Killua's head to bump into mine. Kurapika was smart enough to walk down the hill.

"What was that about, Gon?!" Killua yells at him. I rub the back of my head.

"You okay?" Kurapika asks to me.

"Fine," I answer half-heartedly.

"Found them," Gon points to a group of hefty pink pigs with large snouts. They're chewing on bones, human bones.

"Don't tell me... They're carnivores?" Kurapika proclaims nervously. The pigs take notice to our arrival and start chasing the five of us and we all run away as quickly as possible. There's now a stampede of pigs behind us, knocking other Hunter applicants into the air.

"These pigs are crazy!" Leorio yells.

Gon tries to bash in one of their snouts with his fishing pole but he gets knocked away. The pig doesn't realize it's heading straight for a tree, and smacks right into it. This doesn't faze the pig, but it was enough force to knock a few apples off of the tree and they fall onto its forehead. The pig wobbles around in a daze. Gon smashes it in the forehead with his fishing pole again, thus claiming his pig.

"Could their foreheads be their weak points?" Killua suggests.

"So, the pigs evolved large, strong noses in order to protect their soft foreheads," Kurapika agrees.

Killua gets his pig by using his skateboard to bash it's head, Kurapika by using his wooden sheathed sword, and Leorio trips his pig. I wait for one rush at me then jump up above my pig and kick it as hard as I can in the forehead.

We all carry our pigs back the Phase Two sight and start roasting them over an open flame. Mito-san may have taught me how to cook but I don't think a giant whole roasted pig was ever on the list. I get really nervous when I hear her failing

Every.

Single.

Applicant.

Leorio has already failed. Gon and Kurapika soon join him. Killua's up next in line, and I'm right after him... his plate looks delicious, but Menchi fails him too. Great, now it's my turn. I swallow hard and hope I don't meet their fate.

~~~~~

Most of the applicants are looking over the edge of a cliff into a canyon. "A Spider Eagle's web," Menchi explains. "Look below the web. Those are Spider Eagle eggs. The eggs are also known as dream eggs."

Long story short, I failed the test too, along with everyone else. It was Chairman Netero to the rescue. He fell from an airship and said that failing all of us was a little excessive. He let Menchi decide something else for us to do, as long as she performed it first. We all ended up using his airship to fly to Mt. Split-in-half. Our test this time is boiled eggs.

Menchi jumps off the cliff and grabs hold of the web. She waits a moment before letting go. She easily grabs an egg but continues to fall into the canyon. Some applicants start to worry but within seconds she is carried back up by an updraft in the ravine. Killua and Gon watch in admiration. "That looks fun," Killua says in awe.

"There now I just boil the egg," Menchi says happily with both feet back on the ground.

"You must be joking," number 255 says frightfully. "No reasonable person would jump down there..."

"I've been waiting for this," Gon declares as he, Killua, Kurapika, Leorio, and I all jump from the cliff simultaneously. A few of the other contestants jump in after us. I grab hold of the web firmly, but some of the applicants let go just as soon as they grabbed on and drop without thinking.

"Let's go," Leorio says almost being one of them.

"Not yet!" Gon and I scream at the same time.

"Why not?" he questions.

"There's no wind," Killua answers for us.

"There isn't always an updraft," Kurapika adds.

"Then when's the next one?" Leorio asks again.

"Wait," Gon says. Everyone is watching him.

The web starts to come loose causing others to panic. "It won't hold us." "Damn I can't wait for an up draft." A few people let go thinking they'll be safer... they don't come flying back up.

I feel the wind gently blow through my hair. "Now!" Gon shouts. Everyone still holding on lets go, grabbing their eggs. The updraft carries us back up and we land back on the edge.

"That was awesome!" I yell with a huge smile on my face.

All of the contestants who grabbed an egg put them in a large pot to boil. When they're done we start to eat them. "Mmmmmmm... It's so good," I can't help but blurt out.

"I see why they're called dream eggs," Kurapika agrees. Killua's enjoying his egg too.

"Hey Todo-san... would you like a bite?" Gon offers to the guy who insulted Gourmet Hunters. He was too scared to jump.

He graciously accepts. "I was out classed," he admits. "I'll be back next year."

The applicants have learned whether you're a Black List Hunter or a Gourmet Hunter, calling yourself a Hunter requires an enormous amount of determination. Only 43 applicants remain.