Chapter Text
Fate seemed to be smiling down on you as you were reunited with your new friends. You beamed up at the three, still holding gently onto the girl in your arms. The four of you quickly recounted your stories of the past few days with ease. It turns out, Leorio happened to be looking for the tag of the girl sleeping in your arms.
With that in mind, you placed her slowly onto the ground in front of you. You searched through her pouch and pulled out her tag, holding it out for Leorio to take. He grabbed it from your hands, his fingertips brushing your open palm, and thanked you with a bright smile on his face. You felt a little bad for the girl still sleeping in front of you, but you knew she would still be able to try again next year! That was better than being dead from snake venom, right?
You took care to reposition the girl against the wall of the stone cave, a bit away from the entrance just in case the snakes decided to leave their master for whatever reason. With that, you were standing up to your feet to join your friends for the rest of the allotted time. It seemed that everyone had the six points needed to move on to the final phase!
Together, the four of you decided to move towards the pick up point on the island in preparation for the end of the time limit that was fast approaching.
---
As the fourth phase wrapped up, your group was able to reunite with Killua. You pulled him into your arms once you saw him, happy to see that everyone you had grown rather close to over these past few weeks would be joining you into the final challenge. Killua could only grumble at your loud affection but you could see the inkling of a smile on his face regardless.
Your positive mood was interrupted by that familiar feeling of eyes on your back. You glanced at the familiar face of Hisoka only to see him looking at the small boy at your side. You took your chance to trail your eyes over his sharp features. He didn't seem too unstable which was probably good. Your gaze landed on his lips which were pulled up in that creepy smirk of his. You quickly looked back at his eyes to see that his gaze, which you had seen to be previously on Gon, was now focused solely on you. Heat rushed to your face as his smile only grew wider once he noticed your staring. In embarrassment, you turned back to face your friends, trying to just shake off the uncomfortable feeling the quick exchange had left you.
Thankfully, his eyes were drawn elsewhere as the woman, Khara, began to congratulate you all and tally up your points to ensure everyone here deserved to move on to the final stage.
---
You found yourself up in the airship once more as it took the 10 remaining candidates to the destination of the final phase. On the airship, the chairman took to interviewing each one of you separately. You hadn't been called quite yet as it seemed they were calling in order of increasing numbers which only served to build up your tension. You could only wait as Killua left the group to go through his own interview.
He returned later and just shrugged when asked about the short interview.
"They just wanted to know what I thought about the others."
His short little statement, and the way the group fell back into hearty conversation, did well to stomp down your anxieties about meeting with the chairman one on one.
That was, of course, until you heard your number called.
You quickly waved goodbye to your friends and made your way over to the room where the chairman was waiting. Standing in front of the door, you took a deep breath and then walked right in.
You saw that the chairman was sitting at a table and there was a pad on the other side of him for you to sit down at. You made your way over, dropping gently to your knees, while flashing the chairman a quick smile.
"Hello, I'm (y/n). Nice to meet you, Chairman Netero."
He chuckled at your formal introduction and extended his own greeting.
"I'm just going to ask you a few questions to satisfy my own curiosity. Is that fine with you?" He asked you with a smile.
"Of course."
"First, why do you want to become a hunter?"
That question caught you slightly off guard even though it was a simple question in nature. It took you a second before you formulated a response that was put together enough.
"I think the thing that excites me about becoming a hunter is the risk and thrill that comes with it. The life I'm looking to live is one full of surprises even if that's going to result in some pain and hardship! All of that will just help me get even stronger."
He jotted down some notes at your answer while nodding his head to show he was listening to your thoughts.
"I'll move onto the next question. Of the nine other applicants, which are you keeping an eye on?"
"Hmm. I'd have to say Gon and Killua! They're both so young but they have so much potential for growth and I just hope they can make it past the hard stages without giving up. Ah, I've also been keeping my eye on #44," you responded with a smile and tilt of your head.
"I see! One last question. Which of the nine other applicants would you least like to fight?"
"#44. I would have to say, I don't think I'm a match for him. Yet."
Netero nodded at that and thanked you for your time, excusing you from the interview. You stood up and thanked Netero in turn before turning and exiting the room. You made your way back to where you had last seen your group of friends, feeling a bit of exhaustion starting to work its way into your shoulders. Spending so long it the trees had sure taken a toll on your body and you couldn't wait to sleep it off.
---
Once the airship had docked, you all were shuffled into a building. Netero explained that the building you were standing in was a hotel that belonged to the Hunter Exam Selection Committee and that you would all be staying here until the various battles had been concluded.
The prospect of having your own room and your own bed was way too exciting for you.
Netero then had someone wheel out a board covered with a sheet. He revealed it to be the order in which people would be fighting. In this phase, people would fight one on one with the winner passing the exam and the loser moving up the bracket to the next fight. It looked like your position in the fights was following the battle between Kurapika and Hisoka. So, you would either fight Hisoka, whose prowess was above your own, or Kurapika, your new friend. Great.
Netero then went on to explain, briefly, the thought process behind the arrangement of the brackets and the actual rules once in the battles. You felt good about the fact that no killing was allowed at the risk of disqualification and everyone else passing because you had no doubt Hisoka would kill just for the fun of it. With all of the tedious details addressed, Netero announced the commencement of the final phase of the Hunter Exam.
The ten applicants were ushered into a large, open room where all of the battles would be held. The first being the one between Gon and Hanzo. The rest of the candidates lined up against a wall with the exam leaders to watch the fight. This would serve as a good way to gauge the capabilities of the other contestants you would have to potentially fight against.
Looking back in front of you, a nervousness began to settle in your stomach for Gon. You had no doubt he wouldn’t give up at any point in this fight but that was where your true concern was stemming from. The rules stated that a spoken surrender needed to be given. Knocking out your opponents wouldn’t work. With that thought in mind, you were afraid Gon might not know when to give up. You just hoped you wouldn’t have to see the young boy beaten to an inch of his life during this fight.
With luck, he would wipe the floor with Hanzo but you could tell, just looking at the loud ninja, that this fight would be pretty darn close.
---
Your fears turned out to be justified. Gon really really just didn’t want to give in. You could only watch with dread as he continued to take hit after hit from his opponent. Leorio was blowing a fuse from next to you, swearing at Hanzo that he would kill him but Gon just assured us that he could still fight.
Your eyes closed with the sickening sound of Gon’s arm being broken by Hanzo.
‘Please Gon, just give in. Defeat is necessary to grow.’
Your eye reopened once more as a frown took its place on your face. There was nothing you could do to help the poor kid with disqualifying yourself and probably Gon too. So, you had to wait and watch.
The atmosphere began to change as the two opponents began to talk about their resolves. As you expected, Gon was a tough cookie and you predicted he probably had the strongest resolve out of all the candidates here.
Well, he definitely had a stronger one than Hanzo which was evidenced by Hanzo admitting defeat in favor of taking on the next battle. Gon wasn’t happy with this choice and proceeded to yell at Hanzo about figuring this out amongst the two of them. In response, Hanzo decked Gon, sending him flying. Your knee jerk reaction was to catch the falling boy but you still didn’t want to interfere in the fights so you let the medics take care of the stubborn, unconscious kid.
With that, Hanzo secured Gon’s victory, explaining that Gon wouldn’t accept this win but if he lost, all the following fights would be for naught since only one person would be failing this phase. Netero seemed to agree with that, and the next fight was issued to begin.
Kurapika versus Hisoka. You were on edge since the winner of this fight would be moving on to fight you but you were excited to see the two fight regardless. Kurapika was still a bit of a mystery to you and this would finally reveal a bit on his fighting style.
The two fought for a while, both very agile and fast. As expected, Hisoka seemed to have the upperhand. He was just faster than Kurapika, stronger, more experienced. And yet, he surrendered.
You could only watch with wide eyes and confusion as you saw Hisoka stop right by Kurapika’s ear and whisper something only he could hear before backing off and admitting defeat. The best part was that he was still exuding that unwavering confidence. Almost as if he had won.
Yet looking at Kurapika’s face after the exchange, you had to wonder if maybe Hisoka really had won.
With this battle over, you could barely focus. You would have to fight Hisoka, the one who you thought could actually kill you with little effort.
You watched with a numb feeling as the third battle came and went. The winner, Hanzo.
On to the next battle. Yours.
You felt your feet move on auto, taking you to the center of the room. You turned to face your opponent and your stomach just dropped further into nauseousness. The expression Hisoka had right now was one of extreme pleasure. He smiled wickedly at you almost as if he was eating up the anxiety exuding from your body.
In a sudden bout of clarity, you realized how pathetic you must look. Since when do you shrivel up in fear of opponents? It’s not like Hisoka could kill you without heavy consequences. You just needed to straighten up and put your all into this fight.
Your posture fixed itself and you fixed a steely gaze on your opponent. This only seemed to make him more excited at the prospect of tearing you down but you promised yourself to give it everything you had just like Gon had done.
You stared at Hisoka, trying your best to get rid of the nerves you had been feeling. You knew from experience that a calm mind was the best way to fight. The tension you were holding in your frame would only serve to impede you.
You heard the announcer commence the battle, immediately preparing yourself for whatever Hisoka was about to throw at you.
Well, here goes nothing.