"Hisoka, what happened to Leorio?" Rosabella said in shock.

Hisoka smiled, "He passed."

Rosabella dropped by him and removed her backpack to get supplies out. Leorio seemed really dazed and barely conscious. "What are you talking about?"

Hisoka patted her head. "Just as I said. He passed, little flower. So did your two little friends. You passed as well little flower."

The man walked away as the girl glanced at him in confusion. Rosabella turned and started taking care of Leorio's injuries.

"Leorio. Rosabella." Gon called.

She turned to see Gon and Kurapika running to her. "Where were you guys? Who did this?"

Leorio moaned, "man, that stings. How the hell did I get beat up so badly?"

Gon and Kurapika shared a look as Rosabella looked confused.

"My memory's so hazy, I can't remember." Leorio said rubbing his head.

Rosabella opened her mouth to tell the boy what happened when Kurapika placed a hand on her shoulder. She glanced at him in confusion but, at his shake of his head, kept her mouth shut.

"Here, this is a pain herb. It will help with the pain without making you loopy." Rosabella said.

Leorio smiled, "Thanks."

The man started chewing on the herb with a nasty look on his face. "Yuck."

Rosabella and the other two boys laughed. "It's gross but it will help."

"GON." A silver boy called.

Gon turned around with a smile. "Killua."

The silver haired boy ran over with a smile.

Gon turned to Rosabella and motioned to the boy, "This is Killua, my friend."

Rosabella smiled at the boy holding out her hand. "Hello. I'm Rosabella."

Killua stared at her with a tilted head and blank face before offering his hand to her. "Hey."

The two shook hands.

"I didn't think you would make it." Killua said looking at Gon.

Gon smirked, "I just followed the scent of Leorio's cologne."

"You tracked him here. Man, you are really weird." Killua said with a smile.

"Excellent, everyone. The first phase is over and the second phase will begin here in Visca Forest Park. I shall leave and I wish you the best of luck." Mr. Satotz said with a tilt of his head.

The group watched the man leave and disappear into the forest.

The doors opened and the group entered to see a woman and a large man standing on a stage.

"will all the applicants who passed the first phase please enter?" The woman said with a smile.

The group moved forward to see a small woman sitting in a chair with a huge man sitting behind her. Rosabella stared in shock. She had never seen someone that large.

"Quit staring like that. It's rude." Kurapika said with a frown.

Rosabella blushed. "Sorry. He's so big. We could use someone like him on Clover Island to move logs and other heavy things. He must be so strong like the gods of old."

Neither noticed the man was watching them in amusement. It had not been the first time someone was surprised by his size but usually they were talking about his weight.

The woman sitting in the seat was smirking at the ones before her. "I am Menchi. Your examiner for the second phase."

"And likewise, I'm Buhara." The larger man said with a smirk.

Everyone glanced around as a growl sounded. Everyone looked around in confusion.

Menchi smirked at the man. "Sounds like you are getting hungry."

Buhara sighed. "Not just hungry. I'm famished."

Menchi stood and faced the contestants. "Well, there you have it. The second phase will be a cooking."

Rosabella smirked as others around her started to grumble.

A large blond man frowned saying, "We came here to take the hunter exam."

Menchi just smirked at him. "The second phase will be cooking a meal to satisfy our pallets."

"Why do we have to cook?" Another asked.

"Don't you know? It's really simple. Burhara and I are gourmet hunters." Menchi said with a smile.

People around started to laugh at the two. They started making jokes about the gourmet hunters. Gon and Rosabella were the only two who did not. She huffed in anger at these fools and she couldn't stand for it.

"SHUT UP." She screamed at the top of her lungs. Everyone was staring at the girl in shock.

"It doesn't matter what you all think. Your all going to fail if you don't get it together. They are official hunters whether you think their profession is good or not. It's because of people like them that new dishes and food are introduced. The hunter association chose Menchi to do this exam so they must think Menchi is worthy of running this exam how she sees fit." Rosabella said in anger.

The girl turned to the gourmet hunters and bowed. "I'm sorry for their disrespect, Hunter Menchi and Hunter Burhara. What are we making?"

Menchi raised an eyebrow. "Buhara?"

Buhara smiled. "Todays required ingredient will be pork. You can use any pig in the forest. Our may use any cooking facility to prep your pork dish. To pass you must create a dish to satisfy our discriminating palpates."

Menchi crossed her arms. "We won't be evaluating taste alone. So take this seriously, is that clear?"

The others scoffed at the woman's words while Rosabella tilted her head trying to come up with a good dish.

Burhara smirked, "Let the second phase begin."

The other hunters including Gon took off. Rosabella turned to leave when Buhara spoke, "Contestant 406"

Rosabella turned to the man. "Yes, Hunter Buhara?"

The man smirked, "The kill spot is the forehead."

Rosabella smirked. "Thank you for the information. See you soon."

The girl took off and started to look for her pig. She had a lot of prep work to do.

Menchi smiled at Buhara. "Kinda mean for giving them that pig but why the hint to that contestant."

Buhara smiled, "I like her."

In the forest Rosabella found group of pigs. Licking her lips, she picked up a rock and threw it at a pig. It looked at her confused before becoming angry and running at her. She took off leading it away from the heard.

Jumping up into a tree the pig rammed the tree. The girl dropped putting Gyo in her heal and smashed into the pig's forehead. It fell down dead.

She quickly picked up her pig and moved to the arena. Looking around, she was the only one back. Buhara and Menchi smirked at seeing her.

Rosabella quickly carved her pig up and started to prep her station. She pealed off the loin that was located on the shoulder to the hip. Reaching into her bag she pulled out some seasonings and added it to create a good taste.

She started roasting it on the fire. Rosabella took a pan and started chopping up some of the vegetables provided and added spices. It went on the grill next to the pork loin. She filled a pan with water and started boiling the water and prepping the rice her mama sent her.

Other Contestants started coming back and Rosabella watched as they roasted the pigs whole. She shook her head. That was not what the challenge was.

She finished her dish and started plating it up for the hunters. She could hear Menchi chewing each contestant out as they came up.

Rosabella walked up to the table carrying two dishes. She could hear other contestant grumbling about her dishes.

"What the heck? Her dish is smaller than all of ours. We cooked the whole pig." One said.

"Does she really think that simple meal is going to work?" Another said with a scoff.

Rosabella walked up to the hunters and set the plates before them. She took a step back and bowed, "I have for you some pork loins with thyme and sage seasoning. Served with some fresh grilled vegetables and sautéed rice. Please enjoy."

Buhara and Menchi shared a look.

Menchi glanced at the girl, "We didn't give you rice?"

Rosabella smiled, "My master said to pack easy to cook food with me as there were some times where food from around me would be scarce. Rice was one item I packed along with oil and seasonings."

The two shared a look before taking a bite.

The man smiled. "This is the best tasting dish ever."

He held up the pass sign.

Menchi tilted her head as she tasted the pork. She hummed before trying the grilled vegetables and sautéed rice. Her face went completely blank as she rose and moved to stand before the girl.

Rosabella bit her lip and shifted nervously before the hunter.

"You pass." Menchi said with a smile.

Rosabella jumped for joy. "you really liked it?"

Menchi nodded her head. "yes. Your pork loin was cooked to perfection and the seasoning was perfect. Your vegetables were grilled and crisp with the flavoring you added. The rice could have cooked a minute longer but it was eatable. Your dream is to work with food, correct?"

Rosabella smiled. "Yes. My dream is to serve in finding a way to make meals for those who are ill to feel better."

Menchi turned to look at Buhara who nodded. The woman offered her hand to the girl. "When you pass your exam, come find us. We would love to give you further training."

Rosabella jumped up and down in joy. "Oh thank you so much."

The girl turned and went back to her station ignoring the glares from others.

"What the hell?" the big blond man said in fury.

Rosabella turned to look at him. "I warned you and so did Hunter Menchi about taking it seriously. Not my fault if you ignored the advice."

Several others tried but only Rosabella passed.

"Well, I'm full." Buhara said.

Menchi smirked. "That's it than. Only 406 passed. Better luck next year for the rest of you."

Rosabella sat eating some pork meat from the leftover pig that she did not use.

People were grumbling at the fact all but one was disqualified.

"This is unacceptable. Do you hear me? I will not accept this." The large blond man said.

Menchi scoffed. "Say what you want, but you still failed."

"Shut the hell up. You asked for pork and we gave it to you. We should have been passed just like that little girl." The man said pointing at Rosabella who watched amused eating a slice of bacon.

"Your challenge was to prepare a pork dish that both examiners would find delicious, and none of you but 406, came close to succeeding. You all did pretty much the exact same thing. You didn't even try to figure it out." Menchi pointed at Rosabella. "Not one of you even paid attention to 406 and how she was cooking the dish. If you had, you would have followed her lead and possibly passed too. Those who did try just made their plate fancy and did nothing about any flavor. It's clear none of you took it seriously."

The ninja scoffed. "it's just pork. No matter how you cook it, it will always be pork."

Menchi moved and had the man by his scarf. "You wanna say that one more time? If I hear any more crap from you, I will shove my arm up your ass and knock your teeth out. Got it."

The woman flopped down in her chair with a huff. "So, as I was saying, not a single one of you has the guts to cook anything new or initiative."

Rosabella shook her head as the blond man walked forward again to yell at Menchi.

"Hey, shut up. I'm not here because I'm trying to be a stupid gourmet cook but a hunter."

Other people started to cheer the man on calling him Todo.

Todo took a step forward. "My goal is to become a blacklist hunter, and no stupid gourmet hunter is gonna tell me I can't."

Menchi scoffed, "Then it's too bad that a stupid gourmet hunter is your examiner. Better luck next year, I guess."

The woman turned her eyes to Rosabella. "We will take you to the next phase as soon as they all leave."

Rosabella licked her lips and glanced around her. She was not sure what was going to happen but something was coming and it was not going to be pretty.

Todo went red in the face. "why you…Don't mess with me!"

The fool moved forward to hit Menchi when Buhara moved forward striking the man. He went flying.

"Wow. So cool." Rosabella said bouncing in place.

Burhara and Menchi smirked at the girl before Menchi chastised the man. "Buhara, please don't interfere."

The man sighed. "It looked like you were going to kill him if I didn't step in."

The woman sighed. "Probably. Gourmet hunters' step into the dens of the most dangerous beasts to find the finest ingredients. Every hunter is proficient in some kind of martial arts. You all lack focus and the desire to try other things and that alone disqualifies you all from becoming hunters."

A voice suddenly filled the air. "Well, that said, it seems a bit excessive to fail all but one applicant?"

Everyone watched as an old man jumped out of the plane and slammed in the ground. He walked forward to Menchi with a calm look.

Menchi moved forward. "He is the head of the Exam committee and is responsible for the hunter exam, chairman Netero."

The man waved away her words. "I just work behind the scenes. Not that impressive. I only get involved when something goes wrong. Menchi, it's come to my attention that you failed all but one of the applicants for their reluctance to challenge the unknown."

Menchi seemed to deflate at his words. "I'm sorry sir. I snapped and made the challenge too hard when an applicant insulted gourmet hunters."

Netero tilted his head. "You are aware that this was unacceptable."

"Yes sir." Menchi said with a sigh. "I get emotional when food is involved. I resign as an examiner. Please let them retake the second phase."

Netero laughed. "I'm not sure where we will find a new examiner. However I do have an idea. You will give them a new exam but You must also compete in it."

The man turned to Rosabella. "You will not be required to take the new second exam as you passed this one. Congratulations."

Rosabella smiled and nodded her head. "Thank you, Chairman Netero."

Netero turned to Menchi, "So what will the next exam be?"

The woman frowned for a moment before smiling. "I know exactly what I want to do. We are making boiled eggs. Chairman, since you brought your blimp can you take us to split mountain?"

The man smirked and nodded his head. "I think that can be arranged."

The group soon arrived and Rosabella looked down to see the webs.

She watched in shock as Menchi dropping down into the cliff. She clung to the spiderweb before dropping and grabbing an egg falling into the abbess. A few minutes later she flew up on the wind and landed on the cliff.

Kurapika reached out and squeezed Rosabella's hand. "I will share my egg."

Rosabella watched as the group dropped and how some dropped to their death.

She watched in shock as they all of the sudden let go and a few minutes later was back on the cliff.

Kurapika sat with Rosabella splitting the egg. It was amazing.

"Thank you, Kurapika." Rosabella said with a smile.

Kurapika blushed, "Your welcome, Rosabella."

The group were led onto the airship to leave while leaving those who failed behind. A different airship would be coming to pick them up and taking them to a city close by. They would need to find their own way home.