The dark room was crowded with an insurmountable number of people; all here for the hunters exams. There weren't many children, only eight. Three of which were the smallest here. One was a chubby child typing away on a computer, he reminded me of a greedy little pig. The second was a child of the infamous Zoldyck assassin family. He had white hair and eyes bluer than the sky. And the third was a a boy with spiky black hair and a cheery attitude. He reminded me of someone. I couldn't remember who though, the more I tried, the more my head began to pound. I winced as the pain increased. Finally, as I stopped trying to force myself to remember, the pain reduced, but not by much.
"Hi I'm Gon!" A cheery voice said. I looked down to find the spiky haired boy with the happy-go-lucky attitude from earlier.
"I'm Kējikarasu. You can refer to me as Kēji or Kara if you'd like."
"Okay Kēji-chan! This is Leorio and Kurapika." he said gesturing to a blonde boy with feminine features, and a tall teenager who looked like an old man. I nodded.
"Just Kēji is fine. There's no need for an honorific." I said. He nodded. A man, one well known for his petty desire to crush newcomers, walked in our direction.
"Would you like a drink? As congratulations for making it this far and a token of our new found comraderie." Tonpa asked. They all took one.
"Carbohydrates will not help me in the long run, that isn't a healthy choice, therefore I shall pass." I told him when he questioned my reasoning for not wanting one. After smelling the drink, Gon also told Tonpa he didn't want it.
"This drink has gone bad Tonpa-san." Gon said with a look of innocence on his face. Kurapika and Leorio spit their drinks out as soon as Gon said that. Impressive.
I thought. I could feel my lips twitch upwards, even if only slightly. Another boy soon came over; the Zoldyck. He kind of just stood off to the side, only introducing himself when we began to run after the first exam proctor introduced himself. Killua Zoldyck. Heir to the Zoldyck family of assassins. He was a cute, good natured boy, contrary to his family.
"Hey, how old are you?" Leorio asked me as I ran with him and Kurapika near the back. It wasn't that I couldn't run faster, but I didn't want to reveal my skill to anybody yet.
"I am twenty, I'll be twenty-one in three days." I said. His eyes practically bulged out of his head as he now openly checked me out. Perhaps I should not have told him my age, he was a tad bit more discreet before he knew my age. His face suddenly took on a serious look as he seemed to realize something, but before he could ask, Gon interrupted him.
"Wow! I thought you were way younger Kēji-chan! Like fourteen or fifteen!" He exclaimed. I looked to him, my lips twitching upwards. "Thankyou, Gon." I allowed a small smile to don my lips. Leorio took the pause in conversation as an opportunity to ask his question.
"Why would you leave home so close to your birthday?" He asked. I shrugged.
"That is a rather complicated thing to answer." I replied, leaving it at that. Realizing he wouldn't get more of an answer from me, he kept quiet. He was now extremely out of breath, barely keeping himself upright. Compared to the training I've gone though, I may as well have been walking down hill right now. Gon stopped, noticing Leorio's constantly slowing pace. Even as Killua attempted to get Gon to keep going and leave Leorio, he still stayed, encouraging his companion to keep going. Having finally mustered up enough motivation, Leorio dropped his brief case, and took off his jacket and tie. Gon retrieved Leorio's case with his rod. The first exam procter increased his speed more and more, his long legs seemingly moving on their own. He had no mouth to speak of, and his purple hair was eye catching. Finally we came to the end of the tunnel. Light filtered in through the opening. Suddenly another man -no, a man faced monkey- came running out claiming to be the real proctor.
"He stole my hunter ID." He exclaimed. He smelled like rain and mildew, that was how I could tell he wasn't the real proctor, whom smelled of lavender and plastic. Hisoka, the false member of the Phantom Troupe threw a card at them both. The first card killed the man faced monkey, but the examiner caught the second one.
"The real examiner should be able to catch a measly little card." He explained, giving his signature pedophilic smirk. The proctor narrowed his eyes.
"I'll take that as a compliment, however if there are any other incidents like this I won't hesitate to disqualify you." He said turning and starting his run all over again. We ran after him. The further we got, the thicker the fog became. But this was nothing compared to that room. I could navigate through here with my eyes closed. Literally. The only way I'd be able to get through here was if I closed my eyes and used my sense of smell, touch and hearing. I could hear people's screams and their footsteps pounding against the forest floor. I could feel the shift in air as the fog moved and shifted and as a copy crow flew past me. I could smell the wet earth and blood. I stood still, breathing in until I smelt the scent of the examiner. Lavender and plastic, and the faint smell wood. I followed his scent, coming up to a tree he was perched in. As more and more people began arriving, he jumped down.
"Congratulations on passing the first exam. Welcome to the second exam phase." He said before walking off. The gates opened to reveal two people. One was a pretty woman with green hair tied into a series of ponytails to look like a star. She was rather busty and wore short jean shorts, a black bra and a flowy mesh top. The other was a large man who wore a yellow long sleeved shirt and green pants. He had black hair and a large bump in the center of his forehead.
"I'm Menchi and this is Buhara welcome to the second exam phase. For this phase, you'll need to hunt a pig; you can choose any pig from this forest." She explained, going and sitting at a couch
One of the examinees spoke up.
"Why would we need a pig?" He shouted, a smirk on his face. Menchi went on to explain that she was a gourmet hunter and that this part of the hunters exams would be to cook and sate both hers and Buhara's hunger. Both of them had to approve of our meals. Examinees all around us burst out laughing as I turned and walked off, searching for the Great Stamp. It was the only type of pig in this forest. Their weak spots were the spots right behind their gigantic noses. I found one almost immediately. Before going back, I walked around the nearby forest collecting herbs and berries to add to the meal. In order to be a gourmet hunter, one had to know how to make a five star meal from forest plants. We were being judged on creativity, knowledge, survival skills adaptability, and as a personal addition, our cooking skills. When I got back, everybody else was gone aside from Menchi and Buhara.
"Hey! You're that girl who walked off while I was talking." She narrowed her eyes.
"My apologies Menchi-sama, but I saw no need to stay there and watch as you and an examinee argued, further more, I'd already been given all the information I would need by you yourself. And I already knew that the Great Stamp was the only pig in this forest and their weak points were the spots behind their noses." I said. She looked rather shocked, then she blushed and turned her nose up.
"There's no need for an honorific. Now get on with it examinee." She mumbled. I nodded and bowed before going to my cooking station. I could feel her eyes on me as I worked. I washed the entire pig before skinning it. I set the skins aside and began to carve the fat from the meat. I wouldn't use the oil they provided, but instead I squeezed the fat as much as I could, collecting the natural oil in a bowl and setting it aside. I cut the meat into slabs before soaking in a bowl full of ground cumin, sage, lavender, dried blueberry, eucalyptus, salt, water, mint tea, and ground black pepper. I put that into the oven to speed the marination process up. While that marinated, I worked on washing berries and fresh herbs to add decoration and a bit of additional flavor when I presented it. I took the marinating meat out just as it began to get warm enough to be cooking, and wrapped it in tinfoil after sprinkling some lemon juice on it. I put it back into the oven to cook. When I took it out, I set it on a wooden plate that had intricate carvings on it. I decorated around the meat with berries, fresh lavender and basil leaves. I cut a small hole into each slab of meat and stuffed it with a crushed blend of fresh nuts and berries. Even though I was the first to start, I was the last to finish. I could feel everybody's eyes on me as I walked up to them. People whispered of how I would fail like the rest of them, but failure was not an option. I bowed after I set my dish on their table. Before Buhara could eat the whole thing himself I spoke up.
"Please taste it Menchi-sama. I promise you will not be disappointed even if you should end up failing me." I said. She regarded me wearily before nodding. As she took a bite, her eyes widened.
"Wow... this is.... this is just wow.... it has such a natural taste that its almost like the earth made me a meal, but it isn't bland or bitter either. You can taste salt, and it's a tad spicy and sweet and it's got this nature-y taste but it's so full of flavor too! It's amazing. What did you put in it? How did you make it? Please tell me!" She exclaimed. I nodded. Even though I did little to show it, her words made me happy.
"I marinated it in a blend of ground cumin, sage, lavender, dried blueberry, eucalyptus, salt, water, mint tea, and ground black pepper; and I used the heat from the oven to speed the marination process along. After that, I took it out before it could actually start to cook, sprinkled lemon juice on it, wrapped it in foil, and put it back in the oven to cook. After it was cooked, I cut a small hole into each slab of meat and stuffed it with a crushed blend of fresh nuts and berries to add a burst of sweet, nutty flavor to the meat so that when you bit into it, the taste changed once you hit the centre. I decorated it with fresh lavender, berries and basil all of which I collected from the forest along with most of the other ingredients I used. The lavender is edible and adds a beautiful decorative touch so I figured it'd be perfect for presentational purposes." I explained. Her eyes were wide as she turned and fed Buhara. He thought it was good also, but I knew he would find it good regardless.
"You pass. I really think-" she started but was cut off by the sound of a crash. There was a large crater in the ground, and at the centre was an old man who practically oozed power. He turned to Menchi.
"Dont you think it's a bit extreme to fail everybody save one examinee?" He asked.
"Yea... sorry, I'm not really cut out to be an exam proctor." She said sheepishly as she scratched the back of her neck. The old man's eyes traveled down to her cleavage.
"Well, I'll let this slide on one condition; you come up with another exam and participate in it yourself." He said slyly. I could only imagine him cackling internally. Menchi looked like she was thinking for a moment, before her eyes lit up and she spoke.
"Can you take us to Mt. Split-in-half?" She asked.
~
We had to jump down and get an eagle spider egg to boil. In order to get back up, we would have to use the air currents coming up, which meant we had to time it just right. That would be easy enough, except with all the extra bodies, the web may not hold long enough. If I jump far enough, I can use the wall to get back up, but if I don't jump far enough, I'll be stuck on the web with everybody else, and I may not make it due to the extra weight. I could generate a faux updraft but that could raise suspicion as well as make things worse. The best option would be to risk jumping far enough.