Michael's POV
I woke up to another pillow fight between the boys, them pissing me off. I'm not mad that they were fighting no, no, no. I'm mad that they didn't wake me up! The aUdaCiTy of these people.
I sat up and threw my pillow to the back of Gon's head, making him fall forward to the ground, surprised, not expecting to get hit from behind.
"The nerve of you jerks! You dare not invite me to a war of pillows!" I yelled, grabbing another pillow and tackling Killua, hitting him repeatedly with it.
Gon got up and quickly tried to me off of him, but I turned around and threw the one Killua had right in his face with so much force that he flew backwards a bit.
"How! Dare! You! Not! In! Vite! Me! To! Play!" I yelled, continuing to beat up Killua with my pillow with every word, startling him at how much force there was to the swings.
After awhile of me chasing the boys, they started doing little competitions without me, saying that I could join them when they say it's fine.
"Why can't I do the one you're doing right now?" I pouted, sitting crisscrossed and arms crossed, Nee doing the same thing on my head, looking at the boys doing handstand push-ups.
"Because you're wearing a skirt, and if you do this then we'll see your underwear." Killua replied, growing red at the end, probably the blood going to his face.
"I have shorts in my backpack you know. If I change into those then can I join?" I asked, moving to sit on my knees, just in case I needed to get up.
"But then where are you gonna change?" "Uh, in here?" I answered Gon, though it sounded more like a question than an answer, walking to my bag, looking at them with a confusion.
"What?!" The both yelled, losing their balance and falling. "You can't do that! You're a girl and the room is full of guys! We're gonna see you!" Killua protested, growing red.
"Oh, yeah? Watch me!" I challenged, grabbing my red shorts, and pulled them up, not removing the skirt. They were stunned, but then sighed, relieved that I didn't take my clothes off.
"Ha!" I laughed triumphly, my hands on my hips, Nee on my head doing the exact same thing. He even made little clothes, that resemble mine, out of some leaves he spawned.
"Guys, come and eat." Leorio called, sitting down at the coffee table with Mr.Tompa. When I heard the word 'eat', I immediately sprinted towards the coffee table, nearly running into it.
"Food! Yes, yes!" I chanted, grabbing my plate, then thanked for the meal. Gon and Killua sat on both sides of mine, me in the middle, and also got their plates.
They then started taking pieces of my food off my plate, making me shank them with my both ends of my spoon, taking a whole lot of their food from their plate. I then walked over to my backpack and hand fed Amaimon, the hamster, the rest, so he wouldn't starve.
Then I read with Kurapika. When I say 'read', I mean napping on him while he reads. My back against his chest, as I'm covered in a blanket, my lower body in between his legs again.
After a while of napping, I got up and gathered my stuff into my bag, making sure to leave room for the demon in there, and stood watching the clock go down.
"Okay! I'm ready to go!" "Yeah." I agreed with Gon. Just then, the timer was left with a single number. 1. "One more minute." Kurapika spoke. "This one minute's taking forever, huh?" Leorio grumbled.
Buzz..
The door buzzed, unlocking itself, allowing us to leave this cramped room. As it opened, Gon and I wasted no time and started running out, him taking the lead. "Wait for us, guys!!" Leorio shouted, causing Gon and I to laugh.
We passed by some obstacles and managed to get right back to where the we had to fight the prisoners, panting and trying to catch our breath. Well, Leorio, Kurapika and Mr.Tompa are while the boys and I are just fine.
"30 minutes of running and we're right back where we started." Leorio panted, still trying to get oxygen in his big lungs. "Didn't we tell you we should've taken the stairs down?" "Yeah. If you would've listened to Killua and I then maybe we wouldn't have this problem." I said, siding with Killua.
"This is the route we all agreed upon, so why don't you both shut the hell up?!" Leorio yelled at us, making me hide in front of Killua. Then after that, we were faced with many obstacles within our time limit, like, riding in a mine cart like a rollercoaster, running over a falling floor, then running away from a big giant bolder that was chasing us.
The bolder crashed into a wall, not being able to turn the corner, and let us all catch our breaths. "Man, I'm all covered in dust." "Same here, bub." I said, agreeing with Killua, dusting myself off then dusted Killua's back.
"Damn. Only an hour left. If we don't hurry, we'll never make it." Leorio panted, looking at the watch timer, then we all continued running. "We're supposed to vote on whether to open the door? We need to move on, so the choice is pretty clear." Leorio stated then clicked his answer, everyone following after.
No. No, it is not. What's up? I'm Jared, 19, and I never learned how to fucken read. I hesitated, not knowing what the answer was since I couldn't read what it said, and clicked a random one, hoping it was the correct one. The screen showed 5 'O's and 1 'X'.
Uh oh.. Leorio growled and grabbed Mr.Tompa by his shirt, yelling, "I've had enough of your crap." "What are you talking about? I pressed 'O', too." Mr.Tompa defended.
"Don't you lie to me. Sabotaging our chances is your freakin' specialty." The tall man growled. "Sorry, Leorio." "Huh?" "I accidentally clicked the wrong button." I admitted, Nee and I pointing at myself.
"What? Fine, I see how it is." Leorio questioned and then put Mr. Tompa back on the ground, walking away from him. "Hold on." "Hmm?" "I think you owe me an apology. You think I'm just gonna let that slide?" Mr.Tompa said, his voice low like a dad getting angry.
"Maybe if you weren't always doing shady stuff, this kind of thing wouldn't happen. I don't owe you a thing." "Almost sounds like you're trying to say I'm the one to blame for everything that's gone wrong." Mr.Tompa stated.
"What's that?" "Don't tell me. Have you already forgotten who it was that cost us those 50 hours and had some little girl fight to earn us our 25 minutes back? If memory serves, I'm pretty sure that honor goes to you." This time Mr.Tompa struck a nerve in Leorio's head.
"Hey, guys. Can we please calm down?" I asked, placing my hand on Leorio's arm. "Shut up, Michael." Leorio growled, making me flinch and cower behind Gon, who was the closest. Leorio then placed his suitcase down and got into a fighting stance, as did Mr.Tompa.
"Come on, guys. Knock it off! Michael was the one who accidentally pressed the wrong button, but that's okay." Gon tried to stop them. Just then then, Killua grabbed my arm and pulled me to the door, opening it.
"This is stupid. We're going on ahead." Killua said, pulling me along with him, I mean, I'm not complaining. Gon turned around, hearing what Killua said, shouting, "Michael, Killua, don't go!" "Hey Gon, we must be getting real close to the end." Killua poked his head out of the room we're in, with me nodding next to him.
"Whoa! Really?" Gon asked, happy, then ran to us, gaining the rest of the group's attention. "Let's see. 'This will be the last decision made by majority rule. Are you ready? Choose 'O' or 'X'.' And that's it." Killua read after everyone entered.
"Am I ready? Of course I am! Let's do this!" Leorio said. The screen then showed five 'O's and one 'X'. "Bastard!" "Let it go! We don't have time to argue!" Kurapika yelled at Leorio, sounding like a mom yelling at her kids for talking back.
"Please select a path. There are two available options to choose from, the long and difficult path, which the entire group can take, or the short and easy path, which will be limited to only four of you." The announcer spoke, making us all gasp.
"Incidentally, if you choose the long and difficult path, it will require a minimum of 45 hours to complete, while the short and easy path will lead you directly to the goal in approximately three minutes. Press 'O' to select the long and difficult path, or press 'X' to choose the short and easy path.
If 'X' is selected, two applicants from your group must be chained to the wall with handcuffs before the door will open. Those applicants will be unable to move until the time limit has expired." Then the announcer left us alone to our thoughts.
"The examiners thought of everything. Look around. Every weapon I've ever heard of is down here." Killua said, walking with me as I examine some of the weapons, making sure I didn't cut myself. "So two out of six, huh? Then they must expect us to fight to decide which four pass." Kurapika concluded.
"All right. I wanna make this clear. I'm pressing the 'X' button, but I'm not staying behind. I'm one of the four that's moving on, and I'll do whatever it takes." Leorio told us.
"You're one to talk. We could've taken the long path if you hadn't wasted 49 hours. Why don't you do the right thing and make up for it by staying behind?" "What's that?!" Leorio growled at Mr.Tompa, making me cower behind Killua.
"I'm sure we all agree. What about it, guys? Did I lie?" "Hold on a second." Gon cut Mr.Tompa off. "I'm going to press 'O'. It's just we all made it this far by working together. We should finish together."
"Gon-" "Yeah, I agree. It's a big risk to take, but still, we gotta try!" I cut Kurapika off, agreeing with Gon, walking to stand next to him, grabbing his hand.
"Aw, come on. It's not a question of being a risk. We've got less than an hour." Killua said looking at his watch timer, then looked at us, secretly eyeing at our held hands. "Gon, Michael, there's only one way to pass. I mean it's obvious."
I turned my face to the side, upset, not wanting anyone to be left behind, squeezing Gon's hand, with him squeezing back. "Well, there you have it, guys." Leorio stated, quite coldly to be honest.
"So now we have to pick which four advance. If it was up to me, you, Michael and I are three of 'em, Gon." Killua states, looking at us, glancing at our held hands once more. "But that's not fair for the others.." I muttered.
Just then, Mr.Tompa yells as he swung a weapon at Leorio, him barely dodging it. Gon pushed me behind him as to not get hurt, nearly giving me a heart attack.
"That was a cheap shot!" Leorio yelled, raising a fist up, with Kurapika taking out his hidden weapon. "In a fight, there's no such thing as a cheap shot!" Mr.Tompa says, as he picks up his weapon and began to swing at him again.
"Bastard!" Leorio growled also grabbing a weapon. "Stop it, both of you!" Kurapika shouted, standing in a protective stance in front of Gon and I. "Yeah! Come on! Let's do this together!" Gon and I shouted, with my looking over his shoulder, wanting them to stop.
"We don't have to start fighting until we choose 'O' or 'X', you idiot!" Leorio yelled, swinging his weapon against Mr.Tompa's.
"What's going on out there? You're moving way to much for my liking." Amaimon spoke, trying to peak over my shoulder, from inside my backpack. "Sh! Get back inside!" I whispered, Nee pushing him back in the bag, with him also jumping in.
"It's too late for that!" Mr.Tompa shouted as he swung at Leorio's head, who dodged it, making the weapons crash into the wall, getting stuck. I gasped, watching as Mr.Tompa struggled to pull it out.
"Then I guess I'll just have to choose for you." Leorio shouted right before Mr.Tonpa pulled his weapon out of the wall, leaving a big hole, "Well, two can play at that game. HUHH!" Mr.Tompa yelled, charging at Leorio.
"Looks like fighting is our only option." Killua said, sharpening his hand, making Kurapika gasp at him. I slowly stepped away from Gon, grabbing the closest weapon behind me, with Gon looking behind him, noticing my presence disappear, gasping as he saw me looking at him with the grabbed weapon.
Third POV
In the room with the other passing applicants are in, "Three minutes remain." The announcer spoke. "It's finally over, huh?" The oldest of three brothers spoke. "Yeah. Feels like it took forever." The smallest spoke.
Then one of the doors began to open, an injured applicant stumbled out, falling dead in the middle of the room. "He's dead." The youngest of the three boys spoke, feeling for the dead man's pulse.
"Damn, what a moron. It's better to survive and try against next year than to pass and die tryin'." The oldest spoke coldly of the dead man. "One minute remains." The announcer.
"That's it, then. Looks like it's just the 19 of that are already here." The second of the three brothers spoke, looking around at the others. All alone, in a corner, sat a clown, lost in his thoughts, thinking of certain applicants. "Mmm." He hummed with a smile.
Just then, another door opened, making everyone turn to look at the applicants stepping out. Out came four applicants that barely made it in time, covered in dirt and sweat.
"Kurapika, number 404, is the 20th to pass. Killua, number 99, is the 21st to pass. Gon, number 405, is the 22nd to pass. Michael, number 406, is the 23rd to pass. Time elapsed, 71 hours, 59 minutes." The announcer spoke, evaluating our time.
"Man, my butt hurts! And so does my tail.." The young girl, groaned, massaging where her tail and body connects. "Yeah, same here." Killua also groans, "I certainly wasn't expecting the short and easy path to be a slide."
"Four of them, eh?" A certain smirking clown thought. "30 seconds remain." The announcer spoke again. "Even with that big slide, that was really close." Gon spoke, looking at Michael, who smiled at him, then at Kurapika.
"My hands are covered in blisters." "Wait, really?" The young girl questioned, walking up to the blonde male, examining his hand. She then applied some herbs her small friend, Nee, grew from his body. "Same here." A distant voice spoke from behind them.
Looking back they saw a Leorio and Tompa pushing and shoving each other, running to the exit of tunnel the four just came out of. "Leorio, number 403, is the 23rd to pass. Tonpa, number 16, is the 24th to pass. Time elapsed, 71 hours, 59 minutes." The announcer evaluated, while Tonpa and Leorio fought on who will go through the door first.
"My hands are wrecked. But all six of us cleared the tower together, didn't we? And it's all thanks to Michael." Leorio smiled, rubbing the top of the said girl's head, messing up her hair, making her giggle.
"We entered the long and difficult path, broke down the wall, and from there, we snuck into the short and easy one." Kurapika explained what happened. "You came up with that plan on the spot." Leorio complimented.
"Well, I kinda just figured we could use the weapons to break the walls, like, what Mr.Tompa did when his axe got stuck. But it did take almost all the time we had left." The small girl blushed as she explained her thought process.
"Even under pressure you were able to calmly assess our options and think of a way to get around them, and that is what makes you so special." Kurapika thought, smiling lovingly at the smaller girl, who was getting teased by a boy who was carrying a skateboard.
A sound of a 'buzz'ing was heard throughout the room. "The third phase of the hunter exam is over. 25 applicants have passed, including one deceased." The announcer, well, announced, as a door, that leads outside, opened.
Although they had their differences, Michael found a way to bring them all together and complete the trial as a team. But today's friend may be tomorrow's foe. What Michael doesn't know is that before long, they will be forced to face each other in savage individual battles.