Some of the competition was already starting to drop out, Satotz had long legs and a steady pace, he wasn't going to slow down any time soon, the four of us kept running, "Good there Leorio?" I grinned up at him, he was dripping in sweat already, "This is a nice breezy stroll for me," I stuck my tongue out, "Why you!" He shouted at me, I saw a boy with pure white hair come up near me, we looked at each other, it was like time stopped, things seemed to slow down, until Leorio interrupted, "Hey kid! Care to show some respect for the Exam!" He shouts, I blocked my ears at the sudden outburst, "What do you mean?" He asks, "I mean quit using a damn skateboard! That's cheating!" He points at it, "Shut up Leorio, he isn't breaking any rules," I punch his leg, "How's that?" He asks, "How?! It's an endurance test! That's how!" He screams, "No it isn't," Gon says, "Yeah idiot, we just deemed it an endurance test, good one." I grinned, "What are you babbling about?I swear, if another snarky remark comes out. You were such an angel before we got to know you a little better. Now you're a sadist." Leorio grabs his arm as if to stop it, "What can I say? Character flaw? If you don't mind, I don't want to have my nose violated with the stench of BO." I grinned and slowed down to be with Gon, "YUKI!" Leorio screams, the boy slowed down and stayed at our pace, "Hey, how old are you?" He asks us, "Twelve." "Twelve." We both say, "Oh... same as me." He mutters, he kicks his skateboard up and grabs it, "I think I'll run for a little while." He closes his eyes, "You know if you wanted to run with us that's all you have to say. No need to be bashful." I giggled, "The name's Killua." He looks at us, "I'm Gon!" He runs to the other side of Killua, "I'm-" He interrupts me, "Yuki." He looks at me, "How'd you know?" I cock my head, "Well it's pretty easy when an idiot showering in sweat yells your name out for the world to hear," He indicates Leorio, I burst out laughing, "You!" His eyebrow twitches, "Careful, you're falling behind a little," I stuck my tongue out at Leorio and wagged my hand.
"It's been four hours already." I look at my watch, "That must mean we've run at least sixty kilometres," Killua leans over to look at my watch, I felt his hair tickle my neck and I blushed bright red, "Hey you okay?" He asks, "Just getting a little warm is all," I laughed and fanned my face, I turned around and saw Leorio, "He's not gonna make it..." Gon looks at him, the two of us stop, "Hey come on you two, we've got to keep moving," Killua stops with us, I cleared my throat, "I've got to say, you talk like you're so big, 'I'm gonna make racks when I'm a Hunter.' 'I'm gonna be rich when I'm a Hunter,' Well... I gotta say billionaire boy, it's not looking great for you." I grinned and mocked him, "You... I'M NOT GONNA LET YOU BEAT ME! I'M GONNA BECOME A HUNTER NO MATTER WHAT! DAMN IT ALL!" Leorio suddenly had a burst of energy, he ran past Gon, Killua and I, "Well I guess that's one way to get him energised again." Gon scratched the back of his head, I ran back a little and held onto his briefcase for him, "I feel like it's the least I can do, after all, I've just been pushing his buttons recently." I laughed and the three of us started running again.
We reached a stair portion, he kept increasing his speed, "Hey, I've got an idea, let's have a race, let's see who's faster!" Killua looked at us, "Sure! Ok!" Gon nods, "Let's make it the loser has to pay for dinner," I grinned, "Yeah, you're on!" Killua grins, "Ready..." The three of us slowed down for a little, "Go!" I shouted a millisecond earlier and took off, "Hey! No fair!" Gon ran after me, "You little trickster," Killua smirked and ran after us. Leorio had already stripped down to just his pants and Kurapika took off his cloak, "See ya at the finish line," Gon laughs, we managed to catch up to Kurapika and Leorio, "Yeah, catch ya later old man," Killua says to Leorio, "Hey! I'm not old! Can't you tell I'm a teenager just like you?" He shouts, the four of us deadpanned, "Huh?!" We all say.
"I gotta say Gon and Yuki. I'm impressed you could keep up with me." Killua looks at us, "You are?" Gon takes it as a compliment and rubs the back of his head, "Don't you think highly of yourself," I went close to his face and smirked, his face erupted into red, "Well maybe all these guys are just slow so you just seem fast," He flicks my forehead, "I thought the Hunter Exam would be more challenging, this is just boring." He puts his hand in his pocket, there were people dropping left and right, they gave up, "Hey, why do you want to be a Hunter anyway Killua?" I ask him, "Who me? I never said I wanted to be a Hunter." He looks at me, Gon and I were confused, "I just heard the Exam was gonna be really hard it sounded kinda fun so here I am but it's not as hard as I thought, what about you two?" He asks, "Well the thing is my dad's a Hunter so I decided I'll be a Hunter just like him no matter what!" Gon balls his fist up, "So what kind of Hunter is he?" Killua asks, "No idea!" Gon says, the two of us burst out laughing, "It's the weirdest thing I've ever heard, you want to be the same kind of Hunter as your dad but you don't know anything about him that's nuts!" Killua says, "Aunt Mito was the one who raised me she told me a little but I only have seen pictures of him from really long ago. She said my dad took the Hunter exam when he was twelve too! He passed his first try and became a Hunter that's when he decided to leave the island so I came to find out why he left to become a Hunter and why it's so important." Gon looks up, "What about you?" He looks at me, I look at the ground, "I guess I was kinda forced into it. Papa's a strong Beast Hunter. I guess he's trained me since the day I was born, I don't really remember having a childhood, all I remember is blowing countless whistles, calling beasts from every corner of the earth. But I don't want to be my father. I do want to be a Hunter but I want to forge my own path, I don't want it to be mapped out like me, I guess I just feel like I'm leaving the family legacy behind... Papa says I'm a disappointment, I'm not carrying the family honour." I rubbed my eyes, I felt tears well, Killua stopped running, "Hey what's wrong?" Gon and I stop, "Yuki..." He looks at me, "Yes?" I cock my head, he tackles me into a hug, I blushed bright red, "K-Killua?" I ask, "I've felt the same way, my entire life. Maybe some day I can tell you more but I want to have my own life. My family follows a strict line, it's like when I was born I already had my fate planned for me. I couldn't do things on my free will and you best believe I trained till I bled." He looks at me, "Killua..." I've never had someone that can feel the pain I've felt, he smiles, "Okay, show's over lovebirds, if you opened your eyes, you'd see the end right there." Leorio ran past and punched the top of my head, "Ow!" I clutched my head, "You..." I slipped out of Killua's arms, "COME BACK HERE!" I shouted after Leorio, "You know, I've got to say, pushing people's buttons are fun. I get why you do it now." He grins.
"GOAL!" Gon, Killua and I jumped out from the tunnel, the three of us were first, "Yeah I did it! I was first!" Gon raises his hand, "What are you talking about? I obviously won." Killua says, "No, I won!" I puffed my cheeks out, "Huh? No I won." Gon says, "No I won." Killua says, "Nu-uh, I won so you have to buy me dinner." I point at me, "No way, I was faster so you're buying me dinner." Killua points at himself, "No, I won so you need to buy it for me!" Gon points at himself, it was a three way argument of who won first, I lit up, "Hey, which one of us came out first?" I look at Satotz, "The three of you ran past the finish line simultaneously," He says, I rub my chin, "I've got it!" I snapped my finger, "I'll pay for Gon's, Gon pay's for Killua and Killua pays for me!" I jumped up, the two of them laughed, "Hey, Mr Satotz, is this the second phase?" Gon asks, "No, we still have a long way to go," He shakes his head, "Oh man," Killua puts his hands behind his head, "Don't tell you're tired," I grinned, "W-Wha?! No I'm not!" Killua sticks his tongue out at me, "So are!" I stuck my tongue out, another examinee reached the finish line and he accidentally bumped into me, I felt myself falling and I felt my tongue graze Killua's, the two of us erupted in red, he had a steady stream of blood come out his nose, "PERVERT!" I pointed at him, he had a dazed look on his face, "Hey Killua?" Gon slapped his face back and forth to try and bring him back to himself, "Direct kiss." His mouth morphed into a cat's and he evilly chuckled, I puffed my cheeks out and sat down next to Gon, separating from Killua and threw my head to the sky.
"Oh hey Kurapika." I saw the two of them reach the end, "Oh hey, is this the destination?" He asks, "Nope not yet." Gon answers, "Oh I see... looks like the fog is lifting," He looks out, sure enough, it was. "The Milsy Wetlands. Also known as Swindler's Swamp, we must cross it to reach phase two of the exam, this is home to a variety of truly bizarre beasts many of which are crafty, tenacious creatures who deceive and feed on human prey, so please, be very careful. If you're deceived, you'll surely die." Satotz turns around, many examinees dropped out, only a handful remained, there was a sound and we turned around, a gate was shutting the exit, "They're cutting the numbers down," I muttered, "Yeah, it's to stop the stragglers from reaching here," Killua nods, "Hmph," I turned around, "Hey, it wasn't my fault our tongues touched! Besides, it was only the tip, it wasn't a kiss or anything!" He tries to reason, I thought for a while, "WAIT FOR ME!" We saw 306 finally make their way to the top of the stairs just to get locked out, I winced, "What bad luck," I shivered, "These wetland creatures are not to be underestimated for they will use every trick in the book to fool their prey. This is an ecosystem where the beasts use the art of deception and that is why it's also known as Swindler's Swamp." We turn back around to Satotz, "Now then, please follow me closely so you won't be deceived." Satotz turns around, "Psh, is me messing with us, if we know they'll try to deceive us who's gonna fall for it?" Leorio says, everyone turns to him, "Don't fall for it!" Someone says, "Listen, didn't I just say we won't?" Leorio turns, "Don't let them fool you. He's lying." We saw a man come out from behind the tunnel, "That man has lied to you!" He points at Satotz, "He's an imposter! A fraud! I'm the real examiner you got that! I'll prove it! Look at this!" He pulls out something that looked like Satotz, everyone gasped, "Oh wow! He looks like Mr Satotz!" Gon says, "This is a Man Faced Ape from the Milsy Wetlands." He says, "A man faced what?!" Leorio asks, "The Man Faced Ape, loves the taste of human flesh, but their limbs are really long and thin so they're actually quite weak, that's why they disguise themselves as humans they trick us into following them into the wetlands where they work with other creatures to hunt and kill us!" He says, everyone turns to Satotz, we were all skeptical, was he who he says he is? "That's what he wants! He fool the entire Hunter pool so he can feast on every one of you-" He was impaled in the face and chest with kunai knives, "Cute speech but you're not really fooling anyone." I spun a kunai around my finger, "Huh?" "What?" Murmurs spread, "Very well spotted." Satotz looks at me, "He might've fooled you but in the eyes of a family of beast hunters. I've got eyes that sense beast and human auras. Humans have a distinct aura, that thing just isn't cutting it." I grinned and kicked him, the 'dead' Satotz opened his eyes and ran off, "So long!" I smiled and waved as he disappeared, "Woah, that was amazing," Killua looks at me, vultures flew down and began to eat the Man Faced Ape, I shuddered, "The circle of life," I put my hands over my eyes, "What? Squeamish?" I heard Killua's voice with a playful tease, I jolted my head back and head butted his face, "Oh sorry, I didn't see you there," I grinned, he laughed and held his forehead, "Please be aware you'll face these deceptions commonly I must assume some of you must've questioned my true identity. Understand? I want to make it abundantly clear that if any of you are to lose sight of me once we enter the fog of the Milsy Wetlands you have no hope of reaching the second phase of the Exam. You've been warned, now, we begin, please follow me." He begins to walk off, "Well. Let's go boys." I turn around at the four of them, they nod.
