"Took you guys a year and a half," I saw Killua, Gon, Kurapika and Leorio come through the gates, "Your welcome, I got Amp to fire your spits already." I point at the fires at the benches next to mine, "Good boy," Gon scratched Amp's jaw, he growled, "Thanks wombat," Leorio went to his bench, Amp huffed and blew a small fireball at Leorio's pants, "Good boy~" I gush and grabbed his face and shook it left and right, he lolled his tongue out, "Thank you Amp," Kurapika began his dish, "You have a dragon?" Killua walked over, "Well I guess I can't call him mine, he's his own but he comes when I call him," I smiled, Killua whistled and ran his fingers along Amp's scales, "Beauty isn't he?" I went back to cooking, "I've never seen a dragon in real life but I've got to say, yeah." He goes to his bench, "You can go now Amp. I'm almost done. You've been such a good boy." I took the pig from the spit roast, I saw everyone else spit roast theirs, they were going up to Menchi and Buhara, Buhara passed everyone but Menchi however, so far she's crossed everyone out. I lopped off half the pig and threw it over to Amp who gladly swallowed it, he licked his lips in content, he roared before flying off, some of the examinees flinched at the loud noise before going back to their dishes.
"The pork's overcooked. It's way too tough it totally ruins the flavour." "Charred and dried on the outside, raw on the inside, your fire was way too hot."
"Not one applicant's passed yet." Leorio looks at the two of them and the group of defeated examinees, "And Menchi's yet to take a single bite yet," Kurapika looks out, "Seriously! Can't anyone out there make something that can please my tastebuds!" She screams, "That's it, the second phase is a cooking test, but their judging us based on originality and observation," Kurapika snaps his fingers, "Oh I see..." Leorio stuck a toothpick flag in the top of his pig, "Tell me, how much you love it." He says proudly, "IS THIS SUPPOSED TO BE A KIDS MEAL!" She threw the plate up in the air in anger. Gon placed flowers around and on top of his roasted pig and tied ribbon on the tail and ears, "Okay. Mine is next!" Gon places the dish in front of Menchi and Buhara, "IT'S JUST LIKE THE LAST ONE!" She throws it off the table. Kurapika sliced his up and places vegetables in between, it looked like a pork and vegetable cake, "Mine is up next, ready to be judged." He presents his, "Well... something that somewhat resembles a dish." She looks skeptically at the pork, she takes a bite, "GROSS!" She spits it out and throws the dish up, Kurapika flinches, "Presentation is important but not at the expense of the flavour, you're basically no better than 403!" She gives him an X. "Mine's ready." Killua put his hands in his pockets and brought the dish up, he dressed the roast pork with a sauce just drizzled on top, "ARE... YOU... KIDDING ME!" Menchi screams, "She's gonna burst a blood vessel," I looked at her.
"FAIL!" "GROSS!" "NO!" "NOPE!" "FAIL!"
The pile of defeated applicants was getting larger and larger, "Come on Yuki, just hurry up! It's not like she'll pass you anyway." I heard Leorio's voice, "Shut up!" I bark at him as I cut up the katsu, I grinned as I heard a satisfying crunch from the panko crumbs, "Yes, yes, yes!" I jumped up and down on the spot, I used a ladle and scooped a large portion of curry I prepared, and poured it over the rice and pork, "I'm ready!" I had the dish covered my domes, "So. Number 406. First to start, last to finish. Called a damn dragon to help. Show me what you've got." Menchi leant back in her chair, "Ready?" I grinned and lifted the domes up, everyone gasped, Menchi sat up straight, the smell was intoxicating, all the examinees seemed to lean into the smell. "There's a few things I'm good at in this world, that's calling beasts and cooking." I threw them a set of forks and spoons, "Dig in." I smirked.
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Menchi took a bite, everyone held their breath, "What is the recipe." She ran out of her seat and was eye to eye with me, "I-I'm greatly honoured." I took a step back, I didn't expect this reaction, "We've got a pass!" She lifts me up, "Finally! Something other than roast pork!" She cheers and spins me around, I burst out laughing.
"So. Only one of you managed to pass. Should I leave it at that? Drop all fifty of you and only pass one? Would that be fair? I think it would." She smiles at the crowd, "What?! No! That kid just won cause of dumb luck!" Someone shouted, everyone shouted, "What do you think? Little Yuki?" Menchi looks at me, I shrug, "What to do, what to do?" I tapped my chin, "Oh you brat! You better pass us!" Leorio shouts at me, "Yeah!" "Yeah!" "Listen to him!" Everyone howled, "Okay, okay. Fine. Just give them a second chance, please?" I look up at Menchi and clap my hands together, she looks back out at the applicants, "One last chance. That's all you get." She narrows her eyes, "Say, you pick. Which challenge for them to try and redeem themselves. Pick anything you want, it just has to do with food, that's the only catch." She looks down at me, I touch my chin, what to do, what to do? I think for a while, "That's it!" I knock my hand, "Come on kid, make it easy, please." Someone asks, "All you need is a boiled egg." I smile, everyone cheers, I had a glint in my eye, "A Spider Eagle's egg." I grinned, "That'd be a sinch," Toto laughs, "Suit yourselves. You're good at this." Menchi looks down at me and gives me a high five.
"Come on big guy. A sinch, show it to me." We arrived at the ravine, Toto looked down and gulped, "Come on little chef, show me what other knowledge you've got up your sleeve," Menchi pushes me down into the ravine, "AHHH!" I screamed, "YUKI!" I saw Killua run to the edge of the ravine and jump down, "Baka! What are you doing!" I shouted at him, "To save you of course!" He air-swims over to me and holds me tight, he used his free arm to grab onto one of the webs, "Stay still and don't thrash around too much, or the webs'll break." He grits his teeth and looks for a way out, "Want some help hero?" I burst our laughing, I swung out of his arms and started walking on the webs, "It's a bit of a stretch but," I jumped up and grabbed an egg, "Woah." I heard people from the top of the ravine, "Now how do we get out?" Killua asks me, "Give it a sec..." I wait, I heard a gush of wind, "Let go now!" I shout, he does so and I jump off the web, people gasped, we disappeared into the fog below, "Oh their dead for sure!" Someone shouted, "Now Killua, stretch your arms and legs out," I smiled, he was skeptical but did so, "Now get ready for the ride," I grinned, a powerful updraft pushed us back to the top of the ravine, "Woah! This's so fun!" He laughs, the two of us jumped down back onto solid ground, "And she strikes again. You ought to be a Gourmet Hunter." Menchi ruffles my hair, "Eh, I'll think about it." I smiled, "These ravines have powerful updrafts that are crucial to the Spider Eagles, once they hatch they help guide the newborn chicks as they fly up to safety," Menchi explains, "Here." I give Killua my egg, "After all, you're my knight in shining armour," I smile, he blushes, "I-It wasn't much really." He averts his eyes, "And number 99 passes!" Menchi gives Killua a thumbs up, I jumped up, "Yay!" I hugged him.
"That looked so fun! I've been waiting for something like this!" Gon jumps down, Leorio and Kurapika following after him, people gasped as they jumped without hesitation, everyone soon followed suit, "Wait! I haven't finished explaining everything!" Menchi tries to stop them, Killua and I were munching on the egg, "I can see why they're called dream eggs. They're miles better than anything you get at the stores," Killua chews it happily, I laugh at his face,"Haha! Later!" Someone let go, I shuddered and backed into Killua, "What's wrong?" He asks, "His funeral." I turned around and buried my face into his shoulder, "What?" Killua was confused, we heard a piercing scream, "The updrafts don't happen all the time. He just fell to his death," I shut my eyes tighter at the thought, "Hey, it's fine, just look, Gon, Kurapika and Leorio will be just fine. Besides, I passed, we'll stick together, always," He holds his pinky out, I smile and take a step back, "Always," I hook my pinky with his. The web was slowly breaking away from the edges of the ravine, it couldn't take all that weight, people began to let go, they didn't want to risk it, they too died because the updraft couldn't bring them up, "Okay! NOW!" Gon shouts, everyone began to follow Gon's lead and let go, everyone clutched onto an egg, an updraft bringing them up, "What about you guys? I'm guessing you quit?" Menchi looks at the other guys who refused to jump down, they look down in shame, "Hey, Mr Toto, want some? These eggs are delicious." Gon holds his up to Toto, he looks down and slowly takes a bite, "It's delicious," He was taken aback, "The discovery of finding something truly delicious, that feeling is what we risk our lives for." Menchi walks over, "You've done it. You beat me. But don't worry, I'll be back next year," Toto passes Menchi his badge. Phase two, 43 applicants remaining.
