01 | HOPES x AND x AMBITIONS
OPENING THE DOORS TO THE EXAM SITE, [Y/N] was filled with excitement. Adrenaline was coursing through her veins. The room was filled with many applicants, all coming from different backgrounds and something hopeful to gain out of this exam. It was surprising. The participants doubled since last year. This was [Y/N]'s second attempt to hopefully acquire a Hunter's license, since she failed it the first time.
A short bean-shaped creature/person with green skin approached the young adolescent girl. He lacked a common features like a nose, eyebrows and ears. "I'm Beans," he smiled and pulled out a white button with a number centered in the middle. "And this is your number." [Y/N] reluctantly took the button from him and pinned it against her sweatshirt. The number read 401.
[Y/N] leaned against a wall, and peered to her fellow contestants. Everyone was either talking to another individual or displaying their skills. [Y/N] didn't make any friends from the previous exam, but she's quite used to the solitude. One of the downfalls of making friends is building a conversation and frankly, she does not have a good performance rating when it came to talking.
Perks of being a loner and having no friends. Yay!
Enjoying her peaceful surroundings, [Y/N] felt an uncomfortable presence besides her. She peered over to her side and a short, unidentified fat man stood next to her. He wore a large, blue v-neck shirt, with a white symbol resembling a lowercase "i" on its right side, over a matching pair of light, blue-grey sweats. A number 16 badge was pinned on his vest.
"Yo, I'm Tonpa," the man introduced himself as he extended a hand to shake. [Y/N] refused to shake the man's hand, and just stared at him instead. He retracted his arm back, only to extend it once more, but this time, the man's hand contained an orange drink. "Want a drink?" Tonpa asked the young girl.
"No, it's alright," she responded, pushing the drink back.
Despite her refusal, the short man was persistent. "You must be thirsty. I insist," he asked once more, slowly growing impatient. The sound of his foot tapping rapidly against the ground indicated that he lacked patience and didn't take 'no' for an answer.
To shut him up, [Y/N] grabbed the drink from his hand, and opened it. Tonpa carefully watched the girl, waiting for her to drink the liquid substance. The man was being awfully suspicious, and [Y/N] took notice of it.
She took a huge sip from the beverage, but didn't swallow it. Instead, she spit out the drink all over the man's face. Tonpa's expression quickly morphed into that of disgust. [Y/N] wasn't fazed, she bid the man an innocent smile.
"When I say no, it means no," she said and gave him a pat on his back, while disappearing into the crowd of participants.
[Y/N] was smart. She wouldn't just take a strange drink from a man she just met. The drink could have been contaminated. She wasn't going to risk it.
When she departed from the short man, she was then informed by a participant who knew of the man, Tonpa. They have informed her that Tonpa is nicknamed the "Rookie Crusher" which meant that he would crush any newcomers dreams of becoming a pro hunter.
[Y/N] was surprised because she didn't know of him nor even heard of him when she participated in the last Hunter Exam. Then again, [Y/N] wasn't the only newcomer so he must have targeted someone else. She was relieved that she didn't actually drink the beverage he offered her.
An assembly of people began to form around inside the building. [Y/N] was curious about the sudden commotion and the gathering of people. She pushed through the crowd until she reached the front. From there, she saw a man whose arms were slowly disintegrating into flower petals.
Looking up, there stood a tall guy with a light complexion and a fairly stoned stature. His hair was red, almost a neon pink color. His attire is adorned with various suit symbols on the front and back. He seemed to be wearing face paint. On his right cheek, there was a small maroon start and on his left, he had spring green teardrop equally as small.
"His arms seem to have become flower petals," the man stated, proud at his creation.
[Y/N] wanted nothing to do with this person and hopefully, it stays like that. He was giving her a bad vibe that she couldn't shake off. The clown makeup the man has wasn't helping it either.
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Everyone was waiting for the exam to begin. Different feelings filled the air; nervousness and excitement. A man then entered the room. His hair was a lavender shade. He even had a thin curly mustache and seemingly lack of a mouth. The lavender-haired man was evidently the examiner for the first phase of the exam. He introduced himself as Satotz. One thing that was strange about the examiner is that he talked through his moustache to communicate. [Y/N] had never met someone like him. The Hunter Exam was full of surprises and strange individuals.
He instructed us to follow behind him as the first phase would officially begin once we were all out of the tunnel. To [Y/N], it seemed like an easy task.
How long could this tunnel even be? It can't be that long, right?
Halfway through the tunnel, [Y/N] already regretted her words. This tunnel felt like it was never-ending. It just kept on going and going without an end. [Y/N] was never much of a runner, so this endurance test is causing a strain on her leg.
"Hey kid! Give the Hunter Exam some respect! Don't use your skateboard!" An older man called out to a young boy with spiky silver hair. His skin was pale and his eyes were blue. He wore a plain white T-shirt over a dark blue long-sleeved turtleneck. With the addition of blue shorts and purple colored boots.
[Y/N] slowed down her pace just a little to listen in to the man and the young boy's exchange.
"Why not?" The silver-haired boy questioned.
"This is an endurance test!" The guy yelled once again.
"No it's no," he said. "Satotz only told us to follow him."
He ain't wrong.
The silver-hair boy proceeded to ride his skateboard despite the man's complaint. He rode up to a spiky-haired boy dressed in an all green attire. He had on a green jacket with reddish edges that was paired up with green short shorts, and green, laced boots. The silver-hairs boy asked him something that [Y/N] couldn't quite make out. The voices were muddled and inaudible. However, something the boy said led to the silver-haired boy to jump off of his skateboard. He landed perfectly on the ground, catching his skateboard in the process.
━━━━ ⋆ฺ｡❀ TIME SKIP ❀｡ฺ⋆ ━━━━
After what seemed like forever, a staircase came into view. [Y/N] sighed in relief but her expression changed once she saw the amount of stairs. She just wanted this to be over already, her legs couldn't endure it much more. [Y/N] started to run up the stairs, passing a few of the contestants that looked to be exhausted. Some people gave up along the way, they just couldn't run anymore or keep up with the group.
A bright light came into view and [Y/N] knew she would finally be out of this godforsaken tunnel. When she was running up the stairs, she felt a huge gust of wind. She looked up and saw that it was the two boys from earlier.
I wish I was that energetic.
"Goal!" The two boys yelled once at the top.
Well, that was fast.
I followed behind and made it to the top of the stairs. [Y/N] placed both of her hands on her knees, catching her breath. Her legs needed this breather. She could feel her legs throbbing and her side was not in the best condition.
The participants all gathered around the examiner as he began to speak. "Welcome to the Numere Wetlands, also known as Swindlers Swan," he informed the crowd. "The creatures in this ecosystem feed off human flesh and will do anything to get it. The creatures often use devious tactics to lure and eat their prey in the wetlands, and falling for their tricks equals death," he warned the participants.
Suddenly, a wounded man appeared, claiming to be the original examiner and informing us that Satotz was man-face ape in disguise. Hisoka, the one with the clown attire, simultaneously threw his deadly playing cards at both the man and Satotz. The cards pierced the unknown man's skin, killing him in the process. On the other hand, Satotz catched the cards.
Hisoka then explained that Satotz was the real examiner since examiners are well-trained Hunters that could deflect simple attacks, like his cards. However, Satotz wasn't pleased by his demonstration. He warned Hisoka not to attack him again, or he will be disqualified.
He instructed us to follow him again, but this time into the swamp. He explained to the participants that if they lost sight of him, they would never reach the second venue.
Upon following Satotz, a fog covered around the swamp and his presence slowly disappeared in the misty atmosphere. Most of the contestants were either rendered unconscious, killed by traps, or eaten by the ferocious beasts.
[Y/N] was glad that she didn't lose sight of the examiner or else she would have become dinner. Everything she had worked for would have all been for nothing, if she doesn't make out alive.
She reached an area where the fog was rather thin. [Y/N] proceeded to go closer, and there she saw a big metal gate and few of the applicants standing near it.
Second phase, perhaps?
*
First chapter of this story! Please leave a comment or feedback telling me what you think. I would really appreciate it.
P.S i would like to advise all of you that this story is taken place in the 2011 version of Hunter x Hunter. The gifs and the pictures should have already clear any confusion you might of had.
Thanks for Reading!
Hope you all enjoyed it :D
(=^K•A•T•^=)