14 Phase One

"Ok then, 405 participants of the first phase of the exam, " the tall man said and began to walk briskly down the long dark tunnel.

His pace increased step by step and soon the examinees were running. Yuuki ran beside Killua who was skating on his skateboard.

"Oh yeah, what's your name by the way?" He asked.

"It's Yuuki," she said.

"My names Killua!" he said.

"Hey Yuuki, " Gon called up from behind, soon he caught up to Yuuki and Killua and began to run beside them.

"Who's that?" Killua asked.

"I'm Gon!" Gon said cheerfully.

"Hey, kid, " Leorio yelled, "You can't ride a skateboard that's cheating!"

"How so?" Killua asked nonchalantly.

"It just is!" Leorio yelled, "The is a test of endurance you know!"

"Is he always that loud?" Killua asked Yuuki.

"Yep, you get used to it after a while though," Yuuki replied.

"Oi, you brats!" Leorio yelled.

"You should probably just stop yelling, conserve your energy. " Kurapika said

"So how old are you guys?" Killua asked.

"I'm twelve," Gon said.

"Me too!" said Yuuki.

"Ah, so your both the same age as me!" Killua said.

"Wait, Killua when's your birthday?" Yuuki asked.

"July 7th, why?" He replied.

"Argh! I'm still the youngest, it's not fair!" Yuuki moaned.

Killua got off and flipped his skateboard and caught it. "I'm going to run with you guys, ok?"

"Cool because I'm totally going to nab your skateboard later when I get winded!" Yuuki said.

"There's no way you would get tired that easily, " Gon said.

"Don't tell him that Gon, a delicate girl like me is easily exhausted ok Gon?" Yuuki whined.

Killua laughed, "You can borrow it later if you want."

"Yay!" Yuuki cheered.

A while later they reached the stairs. Yuuki was not looking forward to this part, climbing stairs was very different from running and Yuuki really hated doing it.

After a while of climbing the stairs, Gon spoke, "Hey? You guys wanna race?"

"Sure!" Killua said, "What're the stakes?"

"Loser buys the other two dinner!" Gon said.

"No way!" Yuuki said, "I'm not buying you guys dinner!"

"You don't know you'll lose Yuuki." Gon said.

"Umm... yes, yes I do." Yuuki insisted.

"If you forfeit, it counts as losing and you have to buy us dinner anyway!" Killua told her.

"What?" Yuuki questioned, "No it doesn't, and I'm not forfeiting, I never said that I would participate."

"I mean it sounds like forfeiting." Gon said.

"You ready?" Killua asked.

"Yep!" Gon replied. "Let's go!"

"No, no, no, let's not go!" Yuuki said.

Gon and Killua began to run quickly up the stairs. Effortlessly leaping up the steps.

"What no! No, no, no!" Yuuki groaned, "Inot buying either of you anything!" She then began to charge up the stairs after them.

"See you at the top!" She yelled at Kurapika and Leorio as she passed them.

Soon the three of them were running at the top of the stairs. After running behind the examiner and talking for a bit, a glimmer of light appeared at the end of the tunnel.

Gon and Killua looked at each other, "The exit!" They both yelled at each other and began to leg it up the remaining stairs.

Oh, sweet God, Yuuki groaned internally, clutching her stomach. She began to run after them as fast as she could. Her legs hurt after running so long and she was beginning to get winded.

"I'm first!" Gon and Killua both yelled as they reached the top of the stairs. Yuuki reaches the top a few seconds after them and stopped to catch her breath.

"You don't get to choose what I buy you for dinner though," Yuuki said.

"As long as it's food," Gon said.

Soon everyone was gathered at the top of the stairs and the metal door slid down behind them, blocking the exit.

"This Marsh is full of dangerous beasts which would love to have you for their lunch." The examiner said, "Make sure to follow me."

"He's lying!" A man from behind said, "The real examiner is me!"

Here we go, Yuuki thought, the man-faced ape. They were quite interesting but their main ability was simply disguise. They couldn't do anything amazing like transform themselves like the kiriko. They could barely be considered a magical beast due to their ability to talk and intelligence.

Hisoka swiftly dealt with the man-faced ape by attacking both it and the examiner with nen-infused cards. The examiner gave Hisoka a warning for attacking him.

"Were any of you ready to follow that imposter?" The examiner asked, "You should be more vigilant if you wish to survive here."

"Well, let's continue to go to the second stage." He continued.

As the situation was dealt with, the examiner began to move forward again.

Swindler's swamp.

"Hey Killua, Gon, you mind taking these?" Yuuki asked fishing out two small metallic objects with a small flashing light on them from her bag. "Something I brought from home."

"What are these?" Killua asked.

"Tracking devices, so I can see where the end is." She said.

"Why do you need us to have these Yuuki?" Gon asked.

"I need to do something here, ok?" Yuuki said. "You should probably start running, they're almost gone now! Bye!" She started running off in another direction.