Project L81K8 (Hunter x Hunter Fanfiction)

A Surprising Challenge

Asha woke and realised she was being carried. Soon, though, she was set down by a tree along with Leorio. As her carrier walked away, she looked up and realised it was Hisoka. Being to weak to protest, she sank back into sleep again.

She was woken up by someone calling her name. Beside her, Leorio spoke as she saw Gon and Kurapika walking towards them.

"Boy that stings! How the hell did I get so beat up? My memory is kinda hazy."

Asha, however, could clearly remember. And it didn't improve her mood one bit.

"Gon!"

"Asha!"

Behind Gon and Kurapika, Killua and Laika walked towards them. Well, Laika did a mini-leapfrog over Killua's head and ran towards Asha, hugging her. While Gon explained to Killua how he followed Leorio's cologne, Laika told Asha what happened, so excited that her words all ran into each other.

"Asha, it was so cool! FirstwegoteatenbyagiantfrogbutToadysaveduswithhisjuicethatyouwouldntletmedrinkandthenwelostGonandthen-"

"Whoa, Whoa, Laika, calm down! I can't understand you!"

Laika laughed and opened her mouth again to speak.

Before she got a chance though, Satotz announced that the 2nd Phase of the Exam would take place right here, right now in Biska Forest Park.

That reminded Asha of Bisky. I wonder how she's getting on. She thought to herself. I hope she isn't worried about us.

Satotz continued by saying that he was to leave them here.

As he disappeared down the path, the gates in front of them opened.

"Will all applicants for the 2nd Phase please enter."

The speaker introduced herself as Menchi, and her huge friend as Buhara. They were the 2nd Phase examiners.

"The second phase will involve... cooking!"

This announcement caused most of the candidates to laugh.

"Cooking? We're here to take the Hunter Exam!"

"That's quite right." Menchi answered. "Your task will be to produce a dish that will satisfy our palate."

"But why do we have to cook?" asked some candidate.

"That is because we are..." She paused for effect... "Gourmet Hunters!"

That prompted even more laughter. The laughing agitated Menchi.

As the laughter died down, the same guy from earlier asked "So, Gourmet Hunters, what are we to cook?"

Buhara spoke up. " The main ingredient is to be pork. You can use any species of pig you find in the forest. Your challenge starts... now!"

All the candidates ran off into the forest, leaving Menchi and Buhara alone.

"You really do have a nasty streak, Buhara. There is only one species of pig in the forest, right?"

Buhara smiled. "It was my job to choose the ingredient." He laughed. "I hope they don't get themselves killed."

~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, in the forest, everyone was looking for a pig.

Leorio began to speak.

"Find a pig and cook it! This is easier than the 1st Phase!"

Suddenly, Gon slid down a nearby slope, followed by Killua, Laika, Asha, Leorio, and then Kurapika.

Gon suddenly stopped at the end, causing the others all to bang into each other.

"Ouch." Laika stated. "That was fun!"

"Pigs..." Leorio, Asha and Kurapika said in unison.

The pigs were huge, and were chewing... bones?

"Don't tell me..." Asha started.

The pigs looked up, and started chasing them.

Asha quickly put Laika on her back using her hair and ran, unfortunately separating them from the other four. One pig ran after them, but Asha jumped into a tree (for the second time that day)and the two pigs chasing after them banged into the tree and the one in front. Laika began pelting apples at the closest one ("Bad piggy! Bad piggy!"), while Asha swung herself down onto the other one, using her sword that was hidden in her sleeve to stab it in the forehead. It they both died almost instantly.

"Well that was easy," Asha stated.

"Yay, I helped!" Laika was happy as Larry that she finally got to do something by herself.

They started to walk back to the park, and joined the big crowd rushing towards it with their pigs.

When they got back to the park they started to roast it on spits.

Asha and Laika were shocked when everyone started handing theirs up without doing anything else. They weren't surprised, though, when they were all failed.

Asha looked at her kitchen. She rummaged around, looking for ingredients. Eventually she found ones she could work with. They were salt, black pepper, light brown sugar, mustard and pecans.

"This will take a while..." She muttered to herself. Luckily, there were still about 100 contestants to be examined, so she had about the right amount of time. It was quite a popular dish back at the restaurant, so she had a bit of practice doing it.

Meanwhile, Laika looked around at the ingredients she had laid out on her counter. She had put out mushrooms, noodles, ginger, garlic, carrots, cabbage, oyster sauce, soy sauce, spring roll pastry (That she got from the backpack Asha was carrying), eggs, vegetable oil, cucumbers, water, white vinegar and caster sugar. Spring rolls were Laika's all-time favourite dish (to cook and eat), thus explaining why she forced Asha to pack it for seemingly no reason. She had secretly been snacking on little bits of it in order to speed up the process.

"Yum, spring roll time!"