Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

You know what sucks? Waking up having slept on hardwood flooring. Know what’s worse? When that wasn’t where you fell asleep. The icing on the cake is when you start to smell the ocean breeze, but the nearest ocean is about a day away by car. The loud seagulls and men yelling back and forth don’t help with the growing headache, either.

So imagine how she felt, waking up in this exact situation. Opening eyes to a world filled with blues, browns, and a kid in green perched where he had climbed up the mast, shouting to someone about a huge storm coming in.

Wait for the panic to set in in about three…two…one…

“Holy shit.”

The girl sat up straight, not at all helping her incoming headache. While the reality that this wasn’t where she fell asleep had yet to set in, she did take note on how she knew that boy.

And who he was.

…and the familiarity of his call of danger. And– 

“Holy shit.” She finally had figured it out. Good job, Emily! Her breathing picked up as the pieces fit together. She was no longer in her own world, in the safety of her own home.

She pinched herself.

…nope, not dreaming! She really had found herself on a boat. But not just any boat. This was the boat featured at the beginning of a beloved anime series she enjoyed: HunterXHunter.

Which means, yes, she was currently on the path to the Hunter Exam showcased in the show. And that because she knows the show, she’ll know what will happen. Mostly. If she were to just say ‘fuck it’ and leave once she got to land, that’d be great. She wouldn’t have to partake in an event she would surely die in. Emily was delighted with that idea. It beat dying, that’s for sure.

‘But,’ a little voice in the back of her head spoke up, ‘You don’t know how you got here, nor how to get back. If that information was in this world, it would be locked behind a Hunter license.’ It was a solid argument, Emily thought, but didn’t change the fact that even if she did make it to the exam site, she wouldn't even make it through half an hour of running. Never mind the whole length of the tunnel plus the swamp. Not unless some Anime Protagonist Bullshit happened. 

Speaking of anime protagonists…

“Hey,” Emily looked up from her spot on the floor to see none other than freaking Gon standing in front of her, “you should join us below deck. There’s a big storm coming, and it wouldn’t be much fun being out here when it arrives.” To her shock, the kid held out his hand, his classic friendly smile taking up half of his face. Emily glanced at his hand, before taking it. She was surprised at how strong the boy was, doing most of the work lifting her up, even when she ended up being more than a foot taller.

“Uh, thanks, I guess,” her small voice spoke, still in shock over the situation. Goh didn’t drop her hand, instead he walked towards a nearby door, dragging the poor girl behind him.

“No problem! My name’s Gon, what’s your name?” His cheery attitude did nothing to help ease the situation, but it did make her smile.

“Emily.”

As much as she didn’t want to take the exam—because she had to, Emily decided, if she wanted to figure out how to get home—having Gon and his friends around would help raise her chances of survival; if she somehow found the stamina to run that ridiculous distance, that is. Never mind the rest of the exam. Cooking wouldn’t be bad, she can do more than spit roast a big. She’d never butchered anything more than a fish before, but she could maybe figure out how to do some kind of pulled pork. It might not be good, but it’ll be different.

It was these kinds of thoughts going through her mind as she leaned against one of the walls in the room all the applicants were in. As showcased in the show, everyone but Gon, Kurapika, and Leorio were having a tough time handling the storm. Emily herself was a bit nervous, but having prior experience on rocking boats and a distracting thought-process helped. 

As the Captain walked in, surveying the room, he caught her eye. ‘This is it,’ Emily thought, ‘the first test.’ She figured she had passed it, given her lack of vomiting and/or complaining, but she still gave him her most determined look. The only reaction she got was a twitch before his eyes roamed elsewhere, most likely at the real protagonists. The OGs, one might say. Once he was satisfied, he summoned them to the helm, which was thankfully indoors.

The four of them stood before the captain and a couple crew members. Leorio on the far left, then Gon, Kurapika, and finally Emily on the far right. Outside, they could see the storm continue to rage on, not an end to it in sight.

“Alright, let’s hear your names first,” the gruff voice commanded. It was a typical one for a sea-faring captain, and really cool to hear in person. It also did nothing to curb Gon’s enthusiasm.

“I’m Gon!” he announced, raising his right hand. It was similar to something one might see in elementary.

“I’m Kurapika,” a calm voice spoke next. The boy, in contrast to Gon, moved nothing more than his lips.

“My name is Leorio.” He stood in what Emily assumed Leorio thought was a cool pose. She also caught how he kept his voice low and indifferent. She knew that would change soon. In fact, Emily had forgotten he could even speak this way, leading her to believe he had tried to put up a tough guy front. She noticed the Captain and Gon looked to her when she didn’t immediately speak up.

“Emily.” She couldn’t trust her voice not to waver with saying more than that. She noticed some raised eyebrows, probably from the way her name sounded unconventional or foreign. At least for them, who all had Japanese-like names. You know, because this was an anime . Emily still wasn’t over that. She didn’t think she ever would be.

“Why do you four want to be Hunters?” It was a simple question. Mostly harmless, too, as you could be as vague as you needed. But for some people, it was weirdly personal? Specifically in the way Leorio immediately called out the Captain.

“Hey, you’re not an examiner,” he took a step forward, pointing at the accused, “Why are you asking us?”

“Just answer me,” came an irritated reply. Gon took it as his cue to share his story.

“It’s because my dad is a Hunter.” The words made the Captain grunt in surprise. Emily just smiled. She hadn’t actually finished watching the show, so she has no idea if his goal will be accomplished. “I really want to find out what kind of job being a Hunter is. That fascinated my dad. That is why I left Whale Island!” Gon stood there for a moment, proud of his words. Emily grinned at him around Kurapika’s frame.

“Hey, brat.” And then it turned into a frown aimed at the man behind him. “Stop being such a busybody.” Leorio really knew how to rile up other people. Maybe not so much Gon, but Emily felt her blood begin to boil. 

“There’s nothing wrong with telling him our reasons,” Gon argued.

“You don’t seem to be good at teamwork,” Leorio shot back. Emily was appalled. ‘Where did that come from?’ The man (even if he said he wasn’t) pointed a finger to the boy’s head. “I’m not telling him anything.”

“Suit yourself,” Emily chimed in, which was weird in her mind, because she knew Kurapika should have spoken then. Instead, she let her anger towards Leorio fuel her to speak. “I need the license to find information only Hunters have access to.” She crossed her arms, turning her attention to the Captain with a determined frown. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught that Leorio had moved on to pointing at her.

“You too?!” he nearly shouted.

“I agree with Leorio.” Now we were back to canon dialogue. Leorio’s point to Emily, who was a bit taller than Kurapika, shifted down to target the blond boy.

“Hey! You must be younger than me. You should address me with honorifics.” Emily held in a snort. Guess this was more the sub dialogue. The English dub wouldn’t have used the word ‘honorifics’. While to her they were speaking English, this world must still use Japanese formality in terms of addressing people. 

“Coming up with a logical lie to avoid answering annoying questions is easy,” Kurapika continued on like Leorio hadn’t spoken at all.

“Hey, did you hear what I said?!”

“But lying is despicable. Even so, telling the truth about why I want to try this out is deeply personal to me. Hence, I’m unable to answer you.”

“Don’t ignore me.” Leorio started waving his arm to get attention. Emily just sighed, uncrossing her arms to hold them behind her back.

“You don’t have to go into detail, just be vague.” Leorio glared at Emily, while Kurapika spared her a surprised glance. “That’s literally what I just did.” She turned to smile at the Captain, whose face had scrunched up into a frown.

“That means you guys have no answers to my questions. Hey, Katzo,” the captain addressed the skittish, lanky crewmember who was off to the side.

“Yes, Captain?”

“Report to the Committee that these two are disqualified.” The shocked faces of Leorio and Kurapika gained a giggle from the one female in the room.

“What do you mean?” The Captain smirked into his pipe.

“You still don’t get it? The Hunter Exam has already started.”

“What?” came from the older boys of their group. Emily smirked. Knowing what was happening would be a huge advantage in a game that heavily employs the element of the unknown. That’s part of the reason why many rookies don’t make it their first try, isn't it? The only thing in her way is her physical prowess, of which there was very little. Unless getting isekai-ed into an anime suddenly boosted her abilities. 

She looked down, thinking about what her physique here was like when she noticed the clothes she was wearing for the first time. Black and white running shoes, black socks, black leggings, and a lilac zip-up sweater. She could tell she had some sort of t-shirt or tank top underneath, but it didn’t peak out, so she had no clue what it looked like. The Captain continued his speech.

“There are countless people who wish to pass the Hunter Exam. But there aren’t enough examiners, nor time,  to test the candidates one-by-one.” He pulled his pipe from his mouth. “Hence, they hire people like us to screen the participants first. So far, apart from the four of you, the rest have been reported to the committee as disqualified.” The others beside her reacted in surprise, Emily just listened like he was spouting out fun facts about himself. “If they couldn’t handle the storm, they had no hope of passing the upcoming Hunter Exam. That means, whether you can or can’t take part in the Hunter Exam depends on my mood. So you guys should think properly about how to answer me.”

“Did you hear that?”

Emily actually burst out laughing at Gon’s response. The boy had turned to Leorio, his words sounding exactly like something her brother would say to her after their mom finished correcting her. Of course, Gon’s words didn’t have that teasing or mean-spirited tone attached to it. His words also helped break the tension of that monologue. Leorio didn’t hesitate to glare at Gon, before almost growling at Emily for laughing. Unfortunately, it only made her laugh harder.

“You should have said so,” the man grumbled to the Captain.

“I’m actually the last remaining member of the Kurta Clan.” Right, more monologues and backstory. Emily’s laugh slowed down into a giggle before dropping altogether. Kurapika continued to explain his past, his reasoning for becoming a Hunter. That his Clan was killed off. Emily kind of tuned it out, as she knew the story already. Yeah it was a little rude, but we have to keep this scene moving, dammit! The Captain gave his warning about hunting the Phantom Troupe, followed my Kuripika’s ‘I’m not afraid to die, I’m just scared of losing my rage’ response. Emily truly did feel for the boy and he went and will go through, but she found herself longing for the action she knew would come soon. Unfortunately, there would be an argument in the way.

“So it’s about Revenge.” Emily did not like Leorio’s tone as he spoke. “You don’t need to be a Hunter to accomplish that.” Did he not just hear the Captain say how dangerous they were? Usually becoming a Hunter will help you gain the skills to do such a thing. The man looked at her. “And what did you say? Finding information? The internet has all the information you could ever need.”

“That has to be one of the most stupid comments, Leorio.” Emily huffed, nodding.

“I’ll have to agree. You must not be aware of the true power getting the license can give you.” She crossed her arms, taking a step towards Leorio. “Let alone how the world completely opens up at the flash of the little piece of plastic.” Her voice was pointed, clearly showcasing her anger towards the comment. Even behind the safety of the screen, the man had always pissed her off a little. Yeah he had redeeming qualities, but it was like he refused to make them known.

“It’s “Mr. Leorio”!” Oh, so no actual honorifics. Emily was relieved, as she had no clue what the rules for half of them were. She could deal with English formality. Leorio began shaking his fists, anger split between the older boy and the girl before him.

“Places that only Hunters can go, classified information,” Kurapika quickly glanced at Emily for that point, “and the ability to do certain things. Your tiny brain simply can’t comprehend that idea.” Leorio was already practically blowing steam from his mouth, but Emily decided to chime in again.

“If you didn’t know about those things, how can you possibly stand a chance to get through the exam? Knowing what’s at stake will tell you what kind of people will be participating. Kurapika’s right, you are stupid.” She smirked as those words did it for him. She knew she was being a little harsh, as she knew he had good reasons to take the exam, and that he will indeed pass, but it was fun riling him up. Leorio was three seconds from attacking them when Gon raised his hand in his face.

“Hey, why do you want to be a Hunter, Mr. Leorio?” And like that, his mood flipped.

“Me?” Leorio smirked, standing straight up, “My reason is simple. It’s because of money.” Those last three words started his enthusiastic rant about how many made the world go round. Again, Emily tuned it out, but more because she thought it was stupid. She got why he went that route, not ready to give up his own tragic backstory, but it still didn’t hide the fact it was annoying.

“Money can’t buy character, Leorio.” 

“Ooh burn,” Emily whispered under her breath. Leorio froze where his back had turned, and slowly moved his head to face the rest of them, glaring.

“That’s three strikes.” He turned back around, straightening his posture. “Step outside, I’ll show you how I’m going to exterminate the Kurta bloodline.” As he began to walk away, Emily’s eyes widened. She had completely forgotten he was going to make that remark. Any guilt she had from teasing the man slipped away. That was uncalled for!

“Take that back, Leorio!” Kurapika called after him, rightfully angry. The man paused as he opened the door, sparing a glance to say his last piece:

“It’s “Mr. Leorio,” he grumbled before walking out. It didn’t take long for the Kurta boy to follow. Emily, on the other hand, was shaking, frozen in her anger.

“Hey you two, I’m not finished yet,” the Captain called after them.

“Let them go,” Gon spoke up, sounding a little more serious than his always-cheerful self. “Mito once told me, “if you want to get to know someone, you need to find out what makes them angry.”.” Gon turned to the Captain. “I’m sure they have their reasons why they’re so angry right now. So, I think it’s best to let them settle it.” Even with his words, Emily did not calm down herself.

“He had no fucking right to say that shit.” Everyone in the room turned to look at her, making her realize she just swore in front of a kid. It was one way to stave off her anger. “Oh, right.” She cleared her throat before looking down at the boy. “Gon?”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t say “fuck”.” She thought for a second, placing a hand on her hip. “Or “shit.” The boy just smiled.

“Okay!”

“Captain!” a crew member called out, the one currently steering the ship. “That’s…” Everyone stared out the window to see a wild water spout had appeared, and the ship was heading right for it.

“If we get sucked into the tornado, the ship is done for!” Katzo cried.

“Bring down the sails,” the Captain ordered.

“Yes sir!”

“I’ll help too!” Gon offered. As much as she would have liked to stay dry, Emily knew they would do better with her help.

“I’ll come as well.”

Up on deck was a nightmare. The high winds, the rain, the lack of balance due to the waves, the two people about to fight off, all of it. Unfortunately, Emily didn’t have time to complain. She had a job to do and dammit, she’d do it right. She joined a line of men hauling on a rope in a desperate attempt to get the sails down as commanded.

A gust of wind kicked up, forcing the rope to break free of its hold. Poor Katzo still held on and thus went flying, right between Leorio and Kurapika, and over the edge of the ship. Emily knew Gon would get him, but she needed to get Gon. While she knew everything would be alright without her, she couldn’t just sit by and watch. She had to do something! So Emily ran after Gon, jumping slightly to catch his legs as he fully jumped over the ledge, snagging Katzo’s wrist. She was only using her legs to stay on board, but because of her small jump and the rain, she felt herself starting to slip. Once gravity took over, her weak hold of the railing with her knees gave way, meaning she slipped overboard herself. Emily screamed.

Only, she didn’t go further than a couple inches before she felt two sets of hands grab at her legs.

“Get ready to pull,” Leorio warned, before she felt herself beginning to be lifted back over the railing. She hauled Gon up with her, who had a tight grip on an unconscious Katzo.

They had saved him.

Emily almost went overboard into the waves.

But in the end, no one was hurt.

They were able to sail away safely. All of them were soaked, but they were glad to make it out alive. Emily wondered how those below deck were doing. Not good, most likely. But now, Gon, and for some reason Emily, were being chastised by the two older boys.

“You idiots!” Leorio yelled, “If we didn’t catch you, you’d be dead at the bottom of the sea.” Emily sat beside Gon, more upset at her wet clothes than anything.

“You are so thoughtless,” Kurapika added with a sigh. 

“But you did catch us, didn’t you?” We all turned to Gon. “You two really caught Emily, who had caught me first then slipped.” Said girl smiled at the boy, who had sprinkled in a defense for herself. Leorio looked shocked.

“That’s true, yes.”

“Gon!” They looked over to see Katzo running towards them. Gon stood up with a greeting. “Thank you Gon,” he started as he came to a halt in front of them, “you saved my life.”

“It wasn’t me alone,” Gon countered, “You were saved because of their help too.” He looked over to Leorio and Kurapika, before turning around to grin at Emily on the floor behind him. She took that as her cue to stand up, smiling in pride. Katzo began to bow to the other three in the group.

“Thank you so much.”

“No, that’s all right,” Kurapika replied, playing the indifference card. Leorio at least looked flattered. 

“It’s nothing. I’m glad you’re safe.” Emily liked this tone a lot better than the one Leorio was sporting earlier. It felt more genuine, rather than a front.

“I would do it again in a heartbeat,” Emily declared, her words shocking the rest of them. It was a bold statement, but while the act scared her, she felt it in her heart that her words rang true.

“Right!” Katzo stood up from his bow, “I’ll get back to work then.”

As he walked away, Gon and Emily watched the sweet interaction between the older boys. It was a heartwarming scene, one which brought smiles to all their faces.

Until the Captain interrupted it with his loud cackling of a laugh.

“I like the four of you. Very well,” he made eye contact with all of them, “I’ll take responsibility to take you four to the nearest site of the review committee.” Gon’s eyes lit up as the Captain turned to leave.

“Really? What about the test?” Emily smirked, knowing the answer. The Captain halted his ascent up the stairs to face them again.

“I told you, it depends on my mood. The four of you have passed.” Those words brought some sort of smile to all of their faces, Gon even cheering out in glee. Emily herself felt relief. This had been step one of many, and things only got harder from here.

‘Please let me have cool anime abilities’, she silently prayed, ‘I won’t make it in this world without them’.

Chapter Text

The rest of the ride to the dock was mostly uneventful. Leorio and Kurapika mostly loitered in silence, while Gon couldn’t keep still. Emily leaned against the railing, taking in all that had happened the last couple of hours. 

The first thing was how, even though she knew things would be okay, she still went after Gon as he jumped the railing. It wasn’t a decision she made consciously, it just sort of happened. It surprised herself more than her new companions.

The second thing was how calm she was during their little interview. Well, calm as in not panicking. She cringed as she remembered how she lashed out in anger. Emily blamed it on her stress of the whole situation mixed with her dislike for Leorio’s attitude pre-character development. 

The third thing she thought of was her final decision made about becoming a Hunter. It was true that she needed a license if she even wanted to find a scrap of hope about how to get home. It didn’t help that she had no clue how she got here to begin with, having gone to sleep in her bed and woke up on the boat. Her other options would be to hire someone, or steal a card from someone else. In order to hire someone, she needed money, and the best way to get that kind of money quickly involved either prostitution—no thanks—thievery—with what skill—or Hunter work—which defeated the purpose of hiring someone to begin with. She would also have to explain her situation to them in order to get accurate information, which would make her sound crazy, and she didn’t want that. Anyone she asks would just laugh at her. And in order to steal a Hunter license from someone, she needed a skillset in pickpocketing—which as mentioned before, she didn’t have. So that left her with taking the exam. It was convenient that she woke up on the boat set up to do that exact thing. Emily wondered if the mysterious force that brought her here also took care of registration for her. Considering the Captain was good at his job and didn’t even hint at her being a stowaway, she assumed there was some world-crossing magic happening there.

“Hey, Emily, what kind of information are you looking for?” The girl was snapped out of her thoughts by her favourite boy in green. He had bounded up to her, asking the question with a large grin on his face, the question reflected in his big, innocent eyes. He had taken her momentary silence as a need for explanation. “You said you were taking the exam so you can look up information, right?” Emily coughed, quickly trying to think about how to put it. She noticed the other two had turned to look at her as well. They must have also been curious, as her answer earlier was short and vague.

“I uh,” she turned to the side, away from the others, to look out at the sea and the bit of land in the distance. “I’m looking for something magical.” That’s what it would be, right? Either an item or a spell to send her back? “Most items of that sort can only be found through the Hunter website. And if not the item itself, then information about it.” Emily spared a glance back at the boy, whose eyes widened in wonder. She didn’t know they could get any bigger.

“That sounds so cool! What does it do?” Gon was practically jumping up and down. Emily sighed.

“That’s just it, I don’t know if the kind of item I need even exists. The only way to find out is to either get a license myself, or hire someone who does have one. I don’t have the money for the latter.” She turned her back to the ocean once more, looking over at the older boys. Both appeared to have been intrigued by her words. Her attention went back to Gon as he raised a fist in determination.

“Well if you don’t pass the exam, I’ll make sure to help you find your item!” Emily choked at his words, not expecting this kind of proclamation from Gon this early into their friendship. After the exam? Sure. Right away?

“You don’t–you really–” Emily found the words caught in her throat. “Thanks, I guess,” is what she settled on, heat rising to her face as she looked away. ‘If only I watched past the first few episodes of the Greed Island arc, then maybe I could help him find his dad in return.’

The ship fell into a silence as the crew got ready to dock on land.

Emily stood beside Gon as he thanked the Captain, offering her own word of thanks as well. Kurapika and Leorio had gone on ahead, with little clue as to where to go next from the harbour. The Captain grinned at them both, before telling them about the tall tree they should aim for. 

Movement behind the crate a few meters behind the Captain caught Emily’s attention. She didn’t see the culprit, but she did notice someone walk out, then quickly hide behind it. ‘ Must be that guy who follows the group,’ she figured. She’d leave him alone, insteading using it as an opportunity to test how observant she could be without tipping anyone off that she knew he was there. Other than “prophetic knowledge”, that is. It would be a good skill to develop for the near future.

“Thank you!” Gon spoke again, causing Emily to refocus on their current conversation. Or rather, the ending of it.

“Right, thanks again for everything!” The Captain grinned behind his pipe.

“Take care,” he spoke with a wink. With those words, Gon grabbed Emily’s hand and dragged her off to the other half of their group.

“Take good care of yourself too, Captain!” Gon called, momentarily turning around with a jump and almost causing the poor girl he was attached to to trip. She just laughed, also turning around to wave one last time.

They regrouped on a large map of the surrounding areas.

“That’s weird,” Leorio pointed out.

“What is?” Gon turned to look at him, eyebrows raised.

“On the letter of notice we received, the exam venue is somewhere in Zuban City.” The oldest boy showed the youngest the piece of paper he was referring to. Emily, wondering if she had that same piece of paper, reached into her sweater pockets and–oh, there was some there! She pulled it out to find a similar piece of paper. “We are here, right?” Leorio pointed to our current location on the map, “the pine tree and Zaban City are at opposite ends.” Kurapika looked between Gon and Emily.

“Maybe you heard it wrong.”

“No,” Emily said, “he definitely said to go to the tree. Right after saying he was in a good mood, too. I don’t think he would lead us astray like that.” She lifted her finger to make her next point. “Sometimes you have to turn left to go right.” That was a thing that happened sometimes, especially with city roads that weren't planned that well. Sometimes hiking trails would curve left, before making a sharp turn right later on as well. Even though she thought she had given sound advice, Leorio looked at her like she had gone mad.

“Yeah!” Gon agreed, though mostly to the first part of her statement. Leorio turned away from the map, grumpling about the letter in his hands. It certainly was vague about where to go, saying ‘somewhere in Zuban City ’.

“Searching for the venue based on the limited information in the letter, I suppose that’s a prerequisite of the Hunter Exam,” Kurapika surmised. It was a good observation, one that pissed Leorio off.

“I know that without you having to say it.” He had widened his stance as he vented to the blond. Gon, the wonder child, spoke up to try and break the tension.

“Anyway, we should check it out,” He began to walk towards the left, passing both Kurapika and Emily. The girl was quick to follow, knowing it was the right way already. “I’m sure there’s a hidden lead.” The other two watched them go, Leorio more surprised.

“Hey, are you serious? The bus heading to Zaban is leaving. We can just take that.” Gon’s response to his words was to just wave, not even looking back. Emily giggled, looking back to wave to him as well. They had just gotten out of ear shot when Kurapika made to follow them. Once they had turned the corner, the cries of Leorio wanting them to wait came up behind them. Emily smirked, knowing exactly what had changed his mind.

It had been a while since they left civilization, and Emily was beginning to think she had indeed gained a boost to her stamina. Normally walking for a long time made her wear down a bit, especially over a dirt path, but her feet were not even a bit sore. She could definitely go a few more hours at this rate, which she would need as they continued their trek up the hill.

While Leorio kept talking about how lonely we would be without him, Emily took the time to work on her observation skills. While it was kind of cheating knowing they had someone tailing them, she didn’t know exactly where he was. As they turned a bend, she tried to pick up the sound of light footsteps behind them. Unfortunately, nothing out of the ordinary came up. She knew he was there, but still couldn’t quite pinpoint where.

It wasn’t until they were just about to enter the abandoned town that she heard some rocks tumble behind them.

Entering the town was creepy. The wind blew at just the right angle to create a soft whistling, and the sound of crows could be heard from the rooftops. Every door and window was closed, truly adding to the abandoned feel. Even when Emily knew different, she was still spooked.

“What an eerie place.” Leorio had truly spoken her thoughts aloud. “There’s nobody around.”

“No,” Gon countered, “There are many people here.” Right, he could probably smell or hear them.

That was the cue for a set of doors to open to their left, the sound of drums and bells following. Many people dressed in white, with freaky white masks and a rainbow assortment of messy wigs pulled out a stage of some sort, a short old woman in the center of it. It truly looked like they had stumbled into a cult. 

“Exciting,” the woman mumbled, causing Leorio to echo her. It went back and forth a little before the woman’s one-calm face broke out into a terrifying expression as she exclaimed “It’s the exciting two-choice quiz!” Her face went back to normal as the people behind her played a variety of small percussion instruments, one playing a trumpet. It was quite a ridiculous tune, one that forced Emily to cover her mouth in an attempt not to laugh. “You guys are headed for the pine tree, right? To get there, you must pass through this town. I’m going to give you a quiz.”

“Hey, what’s going on here?” Leorio protested.

“You have five seconds to think,” the old woman continued on like he hadn’t spoken at all, “Get it wrong and you will be eliminated. That will be the end of your Hunter Exam this year.” Her words left a foreboding energy, one that made Kurapika excited.

“I see. This is a checkpoint for the Hunter Exam, isn’t it?”

“That means this was the right way after all, huh Leorio?” Emily teased, nudging the man’s arm. He briefly glared at her before focusing again on the person who currently had their future in the Exam in her hands.

“Is that so? I’m really good at quizzes.” He then registered more of her words. “Just one question?”

“You can only choose one of the two,” the woman went on, “All other answers are considered wrong.” 

Emily smiled as Leorio continued to object. He really knew how to delay the inevitable, didn’t he? Even went as far as to prematurely blame Kurapika for a wrong answer. Emily had to scoff at that. If anything it’d be him spewing the wrong answer. 

Kurapika ended up voicing her thoughts, enraging the man who thought coming to an exam—known for its need for physical prowess—in a suit would be fine. Gon, ever the diffuser, spoke up with his thoughts.

“But it’s fine as long as one of us knows the answer. Less pressure, right?” He placed his hand on his neck, “I’m not that good at quizzes.” As the bickering couple relented, Emily walked over to ruffle Gon’s hair.

“Don’t worry buddy, I’m sure we’ll do just fine!” The boy grinned up at her, grateful for her vote of confidence.

It was then their follower made himself known.

“Hey, hurry up,” Emily kind of forgot about him, whoops, “otherwise I’m going to answer first.” He walked up to the group, but stopped a few feet away. Emily almost laughed at how big his nose was.

“Who are you?”

“This guy has been following us since the harbour,” Gon spoke, Emily just about to say a similar thing.

“So sorry kid,” the stranger did not look sorry at all, “I couldn’t help overhearing your conversation.” 

The old woman became impatient.

“Have you made up your mind?”

“Let this guy go first,” said Emily, “That way we can prepare ourselves as to what kind of question is going to be asked.” She turned her back to the stranger, grinning at the woman and crossing her arms.

And so that’s what they did. Their group backed up as the guy got ready for the question. Emily would never get over how quickly he had answered it. She understood his reasoning, barely, but still growled at him as the people let him continue down the street.

Of course, Leorio started to freak out at this point. Emily tried her best to tune him out, even if it was justified. She was still slightly annoyed with him, and just wanted to move along. The answer was silence, anyways. She took this moment to plop on the floor, not even bothering to think of the answer. She did jump when Leorio attacked the woman, blocked by Kurapika.

“Get out of my way, Kurapika! I'm going to explode if I don’t teach her a lesson.” He really needed to work on his temper.

“Leorio, calm down!” Kurapika yelled back at him.

“How do you expect me to calm down?!”

“Are you going to give up this rare pass?” Emily smirked as the blond’s words made the older boy pause. She took this as her cue to stand up, yawning for emphasis. 

“The answer was to not answer,” she spoke, sauntering over to the two of them by the stage. They both turned to look at her, Leorio shocked. “You had said it yourself during your little rant: there is no right answer. And since we couldn’t say so because of the rules set, silence was the correct response.” Kurapika nodded to her.

“But the guy just now–”

“She never said he was correct,” Emily pointed out, glancing at the woman, “just to move along. The real path must be elsewhere.” The woman broke her indifferent facade with a smile, before beginning to stand.

“Indeed.” She began to walk towards the doors from which the stage came from. “The correct path is through here. This one leads you directly to the tree. Just keep going for two hours to reach the top.” If Emily remembered correctly, it would take a lot longer than two hours.

It took a lot longer than two hours. It had taken four. The only good thing about it is that Emily was able to prove she had some inhumane amount of stamina now. If only she could take it back home with her. If only her patience had gained stamina.

“It’s really dark,” Leorio complained, lagging behind the group, “Didn’t she say to walk for two hours? The two hours were up two hours ago!” Emily grumbled, before turning around to face him.

“We get it, you’re tired. Can’t you complain quietly?” She was getting a little grumpy herself, but had kept quiet through all of Leorio’s complaints for the last three hours. It was getting to be a lot, at this point. The suit-clad man frowned at her, before mumbling something about women. Before she could call him out on hit, the younger two of the group had found a sign. Again. Emily joined them in walking past. She found it strange how she could read the symbols of this world and translate them in her head—more isekai bullshit, she assumed. Unfortunately, Leorio stopped again to complain about the sign before screaming about how he was hungry and needed to take a dump.

“Leorio, we should go.” Gon called out to him, Emily just catching up to the two of them.

“I see it,” Kurapika announced, immediately lifting the mood of the group. He was right, Emily could just see the base of the big tree cresting over the hill.

Leorio knocked on the door to the cabin that rested just underneath the tree. It looked really nice, with its walls made up of solid logs, windows indicating a second story, and the whole structure placed on a nice, sturdy deck. While she was no carpenter, Emily had seen enough HGTV shows to appreciate the beauty of the building. She wondered if those magical beasts lived here, or if the house was given to them for the exam.

“Hey, is anyone home?” 

“Maybe they’re out?” Gon suggested when no one had answered. Emily shrugged, reaching past Leorio to open one side of the double door entrance while he opened the other.

“We’re coming in!” he called out. 

The four of them paused at the sight in front of them. Broken furniture and glass riddled the floor, and a boy with blue hair was passed out there too. In the center of the room stood a large yellow beast, its back initially turned to them before it sensed their presence. Red eyes soon bore into them, a snarl splitting its canine face. Emily soon realised it was more of a smirk as it laughed at them. Well, less laugh and more of a ‘kekeke’. Most importantly, it held a girl hostage in its grip.

“Magical Beast.” The four of them took fighting stances: Gon holding out his fishing rod, Kurapika held his wooden swords in an ‘X’, Leorio had dropped his briefcase in shock, and Emily held up her fists in a lame excuse of a fighting stance mimicked from a typical action scene. Yeah, she should really have someone teach her how to fight properly. Little late for that now. She will just have to rely on instinct and what she’s read about in training sequences within books she has read. Those weren’t so accurate either, but the principle was there. Maybe.

“A shapeshifting Magical Beast, Kiriko,” Kurapika helpfully supplied. Emily had to admit, she had forgotten what they had been called. “They are able to take on human form.” ‘That whole sentence should have clued them in on the set up,’ Emily thought, bemused. “It’s a highly intelligent beast.”

“It’s got the woman,” Gon pointed out, crouching to get ready to spring after them.

“We need to check on the injured man too.” Now this was the Leorio Emily could deal with. The one who looked out for his fellow human. Well, the unconscious man wasn’t human, but you get the gist.

The kiriko took their moment of observation to jump out the window on the far side of the room, taking the girl with it and spurring the group into action. Kurapika, Gon, and Emily ran for the window, while Leorio went to the man, who was actually still awake.

“Please– please, save my wife.” Kurapika took that as his cue to drop his bag, while Gon jumped out the window, Emily hesitating a moment around the broken glass before following. Kurapika ordered Leorio to do something he was already working on—helping the man—then followed the other two out and into the woods.

Emily and Kurapika followed Gon’s lead, as he could smell the creature. The girl was a little behind, having difficulty with traversing over fallen logs quickly. She had also never sprinted through a forest before. At one point, Gon leapt up into a tree to better follow the kiriko closer to the canopy, causing Kurapika to speed up in response. Emily frowned, but did her best to push herself as well. Even when she knew there wasn’t any real danger, this was still a test. She needed to do her best.

Emily yelped when Gon fell out of a tree and landed right next to her, even more surprised at how quickly he bounced back up.

“Amazing, that thing can speak!”

“The Magical Beast, Kiriko, can speak human language.” Kurapika really was a walking encyclopedia right now, wasn’t he?
That makes things easier then,” Gon proclaimed, jumping back into the tree. Emily was now only a step behind the blond boy, now that there were less obstacles on the ground she had to worry about. “Kurapika!” Gon had hit the kiriko, causing it to let go of the woman. Kurapika didn’t hesitate to jump to catch her.

“He’s so rash. Emily, follow them!” The girl nodded, trying her best to speed up.

“On it!”

It didn’t take long for her to lose them. The sounds of those up high landing on branches had all but faded away, leaving Emily behind. She still continued onward, knowing she had yet to prove herself worthy in any way. She couldn’t just trail behind the group doing nothing but inputting a thought every now and then based on things she already knew. She needed to get stronger, to become independent. After the exam, after retrieving Killua, they’d be going their separate ways. Emily needed to be able to survive without knowing what would happen within the next minute to an hour.

She needed to do better.

A figure dropped down, causing Emily to quickly jump to the side. Taking a moment, she was surprised to see a kiriko in front of her. She assumed this was the one they had been chasing, its partner now confronting Gon.

“A little girl alone in the woods, without her friends to save her,” it taunted, raising a clawed hand. Emily glared, glancing around for any sort of makeshift weapon or way to defend herself. 

“Considering I’m the second tallest, I wouldn’t call me little.” She tried her best to distract it with conversation as she desperately tried to plan her way out of this. It was like her plea of needing to know how to survive the unknown was heard, and so the universe thrusted her into this situation. It was not fun.

“Either way, you’re going to die here tonight.” It took a step closer, readying a strike. Emily jumped back, tripping as she avoided the swipe. She quickly rolled to the side, before scrambling to stand while heading towards a tree. “You can try to run, but I am much faster.” It laughed its little ‘kekeke’, before being cut off by an object hitting it in the face. Looking down, it saw an acorn. Huh?

That small distraction gave enough time for the girl to run up to its side in hope to kick at it. Was it stupid? Definitely, but Emily knew she couldn’t run away, and the only reason she could even hit it with anything was because her target was so big. 

The kiriko had noticed the human running towards him, but was so impressed by her bravery that it didn’t think to move out of the way until the last possible second.

“Are you not scared of me? Not afraid that I’ll shred you to bits?” It flexed its claws at her in demonstration. Emily huffed, desperately trying to think of her next move.

“Of course I’m scared.” This was a huge, scary monster in front of her, after all. Even if she knew they were the navigators, it was still threatening her. “That won’t stop me from trying my best to take out the threat, to protect my friends, even without a proper weapon.” She picked up the acorn she threw earlier, hurling it at the beast once again. It didn’t even attempt to swat it away, bemused at the action.

“A simple seed won’t do it, kid.” The kiriko ran up to her at an inhumane speed, stopping right in front of her. Emily put her arms up to try in vain to protect herself, bending her knees and shifting her stance. “Pathetic.”

The creature soon gasped from the sudden pain between its legs. She had kicked him, following it up with a lousy, but strong, punch to the gut. The beast didn’t move, stunned at how she was able to do that so quickly. Emily herself would either call it intuition, or a pull from the back of her mind. She was well aware that if this was her home world, she may have not been able to pull this off at all.

The kiriko’s pained face turned into a grin. “You’ve got guts, kid. I like you.” Emily smirked in response, still in what she thought was a fighting stance.

“I’ve got to, since I hit yours.”

A cackling laugh broke out into the night.

Back in front of the house, the group of four humans stood by the four kiriko, two of them still in their human forms as the man and woman.

“It’s been many years since someone could tell us apart.”

“I’m delighted,” the other kiriko, the one who Gon came back with, said. Leorio leaned over to Kurapika and Emily.

“Can you tell their appearances and voices apart?” he whispered.

“Not at all,” was Kurapika’s response. Emily just giggled, hiding behind her hand. She couldn’t see a difference, but she could tell one voice was higher than the other. Gon turned to look at the three of them.

“The one Kuripika and I hit, the one Emily fought against, was the husband,” he explained, trying to help the older boys figure it out. Emily only knew which one it was because his voice was deeper. If they had both kept silent, she wouldn’t be able to tell.

“Let us introduce ourselves,” the husband spoke up, standing. “We are navigators. Our family is helping out with the Hunter Exam.” The daughter and son then introduced themselves.

“Well, you guys sure had us good,” Leorio complimented them. 

“The venue for the Hunter Exam changes every year. It’s quite impossible to find it without any help,” The husband said.

“That’s where us navigators come in,” the wife continued, “We’re assigned to take the participants to the exam venue.

“I see,” Gon grinned. It seemed like that boy was always either grinning, or smiling. If not, then a look of determination.

“But we’re not doing this for all participants.”

“First, they have to pass our test before they are qualified to take part in the exam.” The daughter and son each spoke in turn. The former addressed Kurapika.

“You are very meticulous and correctly guessed that we weren’t a married couple. My tattoo was a hint,” she pointed to her wrist, a design covering it, “it’s a tattoo meant for local girls who vow never to marry.” She wiped it off, proving it was fake. “This shows that Mr. Kurapika is very knowledgeable. Hence, it’s a pass from us.” The boy being evaluated let out a deep breath.

“Good for you, Kurapika,” Gon cheered. Emily patted him on the back once, before looking back at the navigators. 

“Leorio,” the son was now presenting, “You never saw through my real identity until the end. But while treating my wounds,” Emily always found that word a little funny, “you were decisive and accurate. More importantly, while I pretended to be concerned for my wife,  you kept assuring me with words of encouragement.”

“Don’t mention it. It’s embarrassing.” Emily just smiled at Leorio, always happy to hear about his caring side. 

“Your considerate nature is enough to qualify for the Hunter Exam. So, you get a pass,” the son finished. Leorio fell to the floor in relief, causing Emily to laugh at him. 

“Miss Emily.” Said girl stopped laughing when her name was called out by the husband. “Even when you lost sight of your original goal, you still pushed through. When a threat appeared, you didn’t back away, instead chose to attack without a proper weapon. A foolish choice.” He paused, the girl hanging her head in shame. “But even so,” her head shot back up, “you were willing to give your life in order to defeat a danger that could turn around to attack your friends. Your bravery, creative use of improvisation in battle, and your willingness to protect your allies—even at the cost of your life—is admirable. Because of this, you get a pass as well.” He winked at her, “and that little joke back there was appreciated.”

Emily’s face blossomed into red, unsure if what she did had warranted this kind of praise. But she had done it, right? She passed? She looked over as a hand was placed on her shoulder.

“You did good,” Kurapika said, a conviction in his voice that had Emily struggling to deny his words. But the kiriko was right; she could have died if this wasn’t a test. She caught Gon grinning up at her from behind the blond boy. That face was contagious, as it lit up hers as well.

“Lastly, Mr. Gon. You have outstanding athletic and observation skills that surpass any ordinary human.  It’s enough for you to qualify for the exam too.” The husband kiriko took a breath before declaring Gon’s pass.

They all grinned, giving each other small fist bumps down the line they had formed; the same order they had been in when on the ship.

Hanging onto a kiriko for dear life while it flew over the forest to get to their destination was terrifying. With one person to each beast, it worked out okay. Other than the one struggling with Leorio. Emily remembered that originally, two of them had to carry him. She, on the other hand, was having her own problems.

She wasn’t a huge fan of heights. Specifically, falling from said height.

While the others talked and laughed, Emily tried her best to not look down, or think about how easy it would be to fall to her death right about now.

“Emily, are you alright?” Of course Gon would notice something was wrong.

“Uh, yeah. Yeah. I’m just uh…” she glanced down, only to quickly close her eyes and tip her head up. “I’m good.” Gon offered her a calming smile, even if she couldn’t see it right now.

“It’s going to be okay–”

“I know that!” she interrupted, opening her eyes again to softly glare at the kid, then glancing up to the beast carrying her. “No offence, but…not my favourite mode of travel.”

The kiriko carrying her—the daughter, if she remembered right—just smiled down at her. It was creepy, considering the nature of her canine-like face, but Emily appreciated the gesture. Didn’t help with her situation at all, though.

She would just have to manage, as the eight of them flew through the night.

Chapter Text

The son of the Kiriko family was the one to lead the group once in Zaban City. Emily, like Gon, found herself distracted by the many stalls around the market they were walking through. It was hard not to, as there were all kinds of things: jewelry, cool stones, antiques, rugs, food, you name it, it was there. Gon at one point dragged the girl over to a fruit stand to look at something that was unfamiliar to her. Unfortunately, they had started to lag behind the main group.

“Gon, Emily, what’s keeping you? Let’s go!” Leorio called out to them. Gon was easily persuaded to leave, but Emily had still lingered by the food until Gon doubled back to grab her hand.

“C’mon, Emily!” The girl yelped at the pure strength she was dragged along with. It took a moment to get her footing, but she eventually righted herself and ran with Gon to catch up with the group.

Kurapika sighed at the two of them, but his mouth had twitched up a little. Gon, he could understand behaving in this way; he was a twelve year old kid who was the definition of innocence and good. Emily, on the other hand, had to be his age if not a little older. With what he’s seen of her personality earlier, he expected her to be more focused than this.

He thought back to her attitude when they had all first met. Emily had acted more her age then, and took her tasks seriously. He never really noticed her before the storm, which in his mind meant she had kept to herself and didn’t make a scene. She, like Gon, had answered the Captain’s question, but not with reckless abandon of her personal information. She never did elaborate on her reasons until much later that day when Gon had asked. He figured they had earned her trust by then for her to tell them.

And then there was when that crewmate went overboard. Leorio and Kurapika had originally missed the poor boy, but were shocked when Gon dove after him, Emily not far behind. When she slipped, the two boys hadn’t thought twice about reaching out to help her. Kurapika thought about how he would do it again in a heartbeat.

But then she seemed to have little patience for Leorio. To be fair, the man had gotten on his nerves as well, but Emily was more vocal about it, especially during their trek through the forest. She would grumble and complain about his constant complaining, which Kurapika found a little amusing. But the way she complained was on the childish side, which had surprised him. Up until then, Emily had shown high maturity levels. He had chalked it up to being tired.

Seeing her distracted in the market, he now figured it was just part of her personality. If she was closer to Kurapika’s age, maybe she just wanted a break from acting like an adult before they made it to the exam site. He could understand that.

“Sorry for lagging behind, it’s just that there’s some really neat things around here!” Emily apologized once her and Gon caught up with the group. Kurapika smiled, ‘ maybe she could afford to be childish at times, then’ .

The group left the market area, coming to an open plaza. There were still many people around, but most of them were talking amongst themselves rather than buying and bartering. Once they had crossed the plaza, their navigator came to a stop.

“It should be…” he started, looking at the paper meant to help him lead the way—though Emily suspected it was more for show, “the building right there.” He had pointed not quite in front of them, but a little off to the side. Unfortunately, the boys thought he had meant the tall skyscraper in front of them. Emily didn’t really blame them, it looked like the type of building an important event would take place in. But instead of them going 100 floors up, they would in reality be going 100 floors down. Kind of ironic, really.

“Wow, that building is really tall!” they had started to walk towards it, Emily staying by the navigator who watched them with an amused smile.

“So, this is our exam venue?” Leorio wondered. He then muttered something else that Emily couldn’t hear, but she still giggled nonetheless as she and the navigator walked towards the right building.

“Uh guys,” Emily called out, stifling her laugh, “It’s over here.” The three boys turned to look at her, noticing that the navigator had come to stop at the small gohan place beside it. Emily was still surprised at how she could read the sign above the doors.

“You must be kidding!” Leorio exclaimed, face morphed into disbelief as the group joined Emily and their guide. “It looks like nothing but a little diner,” he continued to grumble, “don’t tell me that all the aspiring Hunters from around the world come to gather here?” Emily giggled at Leorio’s angry face, using her hand to brush back her short hair that had fallen into her face.

“That’s right,” the navigator replied, turning to face the building. His short answer gained surprised looks from the three boys. Emily let out one last snort before attempting to pull herself together. This was the esteemed Hunter Exam they were about to walk into now, no time to be giggling and goofing off.

Well, the navigator had to give the code and lead them to the back room that doubled as an elevator first before they actually entered the Hunter Exam site, but that just gave her more time to prepare.

“You may wait here,” they were instructed. Emily noted that there were only three chairs. She’d let the others sit down, as she was pretty sure she might have been the oldest; unless she misremembered how old Leorio really was at this point.

After clearing it up to Gon that they were not, in fact, actually having steak, their guide spoke up once more, “One in every ten thousand.” The group turned to look at him. “This is the ratio of candidates who succeeded in reaching this place. You’re pretty good for beginners.” Emily couldn't help but grin at his words, even if she felt she didn’t really deserve them. “Well, keep it up.”

Gon held out his hand, “Thank you.” This action surprised the navigator, which surprised Emily. She herself was about to thank the man who guided them here. Were other applicants really that rude?

“I’d like to take you around again next year,” he said, before leaving the four of them in the room. Not a second later, they felt it start to move down. Leorio sat in a chair, his face preparing Emily for a complaint that came soon after.

“What did he say? It’s as if he thinks that we won’t pass this year’s exam!”

“I heard it’s once in three years,” Kurapika explained, “the chances of beginners passing the test.” Himself and Gon had sat down at the other two chairs now, leaving Emily to lean against a wall. All according to her plan. She lost focus a bit as Kurapika continued to explain how dangerous the exam was.

“Even with so many sufferings, everyone still wants to be a Hunter,” Gon pointed out. Leorio then just had to go and ruin the serious mood that was helping Emily mentally prepare herself for the exam:

“You can say that again. Being a Hunter is the most lucrative career in the whole wide world!” 

‘ Oh great’, Emily thought, ‘This argument.’ She tried to tune them all out when Kurapika stood up to make a counterpoint to Gon. It was like two salesmen trying to get a kid to buy the same car, but for different reasons; for the design versus for the fuel efficiency. 

“Gon, what kind of Hunter do you want to be?!” the two had yelled at the poor boy. Emily took this as her cue to speak up.

“Leave the poor kid alone. He’ll figure it out when he’s ready.” She noticed said boy sigh in relief at her interference. Leorio stood up straight, turning to her.

“Okay, then what about you?” he just about growled out. Kurapika peered over the man’s shoulder to look at her as well. Great, now she was the one trapped by the question. She was literally saved by the bell when the elevator hit B100, opening up its doors. 

“Looks like we’re here!” she meekly squeaked out. Everyone dropped the subject to walk out of the big elevator, much to Emily and Gon’s relief. Gon ended up giving her a thankful smile as they exited, which Emily returned with a small one of her own.

Emily’s nerves spiked when they properly walked out into a room with about 400 people in it. It sure didn’t help that many of them turned to see who had just walked out of the elevator. She hated this feeling, and was most grateful when the bean guy approached them with their tags. Leorio was 403, Kurapika 404, Gon 405, and Emily was 406. She immediately associated this number with the one given to the extra person when fanfics started at the boat. She wondered what number she would have been had she taken a different route to get here.

 “Please stick it on your chest and never lose it,” the bean, who Emily thinks is actually named Bean or Mr. Beans or something, told them. They all followed his instructions, pinning the tag as told of them.

“Are you new around here?” a voice called down to them. Emily looked up, suppressing a groan when she saw Tonpa. She mostly hated him for how easy it was for him to rile Leorio, though Tonpa himself most likely loved it. “Hi, there!” he greeted as they came closer.

“Can you see us from over there?” Gon called up.

“Sort of,” the man replied, jumping down from his spot. “How do I put this? I’ve taken part in the Hunter Exam 35 times now.” He held a grin that on the surface was very friendly, but Emily knew his motives. Besides, taking an exam 35 times screams out about how he doesn't care about passing anymore. He’s taking it for fun, and what does he do to entertain himself every year? It was suspicious from the get go. “You could say I’m a veteran in the Hunter Exam.”

“That’s not something to be proud of,” Leorio mumbled to us. Emily couldn’t help but nod in agreement.

“You can ask me anything you don’t understand here.” Tonpa had stood right in front of Gon, who was ready to fully trust this man. The man for sure had to have picked up on his innocence, as that was his job at this point.

“Thank you!” Gon replied.

“They call me Tonpa,” he introduced.

“I’m Gon!” The boy pointed behind him to his three companions, “and these are Kurapika, Leorio, and Emily.” The girl tried her best to force out a smile rather than glare at Tonpa, to some success. “May I ask you something, Tonpa? Are there many among us who have taken the exam so many times like you?” Emily made sure to pay attention, as this was where the guy gave out some actually useful information. She needed to keep track of people now, so she could better remember who and what number they were when it came time for the fourth part of the exam.

“None of them are as seasoned as I am. Speaking about that, look over there.” He pointed to number 255, “Todo, the wrestler.” Emily knew he was out come phase two. “Not only is he powerful, but he’s got a sharp mind.” And he was currently stuffing his face with food.

“Opposite him is Number 103, Bourbon, the snake charmer.” Emily figured his parents were alcoholics. Who named their kid Bourbon, like the drink? “He’s a pretty vengeful guy, so you don’t want to mess with him.” Emily shivered at the knowledge of what will happen during phase four with him and the bee girl. Ponju, if she remembered correctly. She hoped she could maybe avoid that fiasco.

“There are others, Number 191, Bodoro, the martial artist.” Emily couldn’t remember if this was the old man who made it to the final phase only to be murdered by a brother-influenced Killua. “He may be a senior citizen, but anyone can hardly beat him in a spar.”

“And there are the three brothers, Amori, Imori, and Umori.” Emily remembered thinking how they could have made it past the exam one day, if they hadn’t died during it. “Their exceptional teamwork ensures they always do well.” Not well enough to pass the exam. Now that she thought of it, anyone who struggled to pass the exam technically were failures, the true strongest amongst them being those who pass as rookies. Right? Unless you get disqualified, like Hisoka.

“And moving on to Number 384, Geretta, the Huntsman. A natural talent that shoots all sorts of animals with his blowgun and club.” Which is why phase four was perfect for him, why he let Gon practice how to really hunt before taking him out himself. He must have respected Gon’s determination, and let him figure it out himself unchallenged.

“Of course, there are more, but these are just the regulars.” Again, regulars mean failures, if they’re trying to pass the exam. Tonpa was one of the exceptions, with his goal being to not actually pass the exam.

Emily’s eyes caught a man walking right towards a familiar figure, running into him. And this is where things really start to heat up. Tonpa had continued talking to Gon and the rest of them, but Emily was focused on the man who would soon lose his arms. Or, well, already did and Nen was used to show otherwise. She wasn’t really sure how Hisoka did that trick.

It was his scream that got everyone’s attention, horrified and guttural. A wide circle formed around him as, starting with his hands, his arms began to turn into red flower particles, before fading into nothing. Emily assumed this was Hisoka’s Texture Surprise ability at play, but had trouble figuring out how. The conclusion she came to was that his arms were already clean off, and that he used the cloth on the guy’s gloves to make it appear otherwise, before slowly getting it to disappear. The flowers, Emily guessed, was just the way Hisoka had his nen form at the moment. It was very impressive either way, and did the trick of gaining the fear of most everyone in the room. 

“How magical,” the clown spoke up, addressing the crowd, “his arms dissipated into petals just like that.” The guy fell over, probably dead. “And I didn’t touch him.” Gon gasped. “Just be careful. You must apologize if you run into someone.” Well if that wasn’t a surefire way to teach a lesson. Emily couldn’t help but imagine a parent teaching life lessons this way. It was horrifying, but probably effective if the child wasn’t the victim.

“It’s that dangerous guy again,” Tonpa spoke up as the crow uneasily dispersed. 

“Again?”

“Did he participate in last year’s exam?” Kurapika asked. Emily, like Tonpa, was still staring at the clown. Only she wasn’t super aware of it.

“Number 44, Hisoka, the magician. No doubt he was eligible last year, but he beat up a dissenting examiner half to death!” Who he would then go on to kill as said ex-examiner tried to take his revenge in phase three. Emily just hoped she wouldn’t end up like other people in HxH fanfics and get stuck with him during this time.

“Is it really fair for a person like him to take part in the Hunter Exam?” Leorio asked, angry and a little scared.

“Of course it is. That’s because they change examiners and challenges every year. And it’s the examiners who decide the challenges. As long as they meet the criteria set by the examiners of the year, even demons and fiends can pass the exam. This is what a Hunter Exam is all about.” Emily finally turned her gaze away from Hisoka’s form as he walked towards a wall. She didn’t want to risk his attention with her gaze, though he was getting many stares at the moment. “In short, nobody likes that guy. You’d better not get close to him.” Plus he kills for fun and fights for sexual pleasure! What a guy!

“He sure looks hard to deal with,” Leorio said.

“You can say that again, Leorio,” Emily agreed, sparing one last glance towards the clown. What will she do during the wetlands? Stay and fight to protect Leorio, or run away to save herself?

“By the way,” Tonpa reached into his bag, “shall we celebrate our friendship with some drinks?” Right, the spiked drinks. 

“Oh, that’s so kind of you!” Leorio exclaimed. Gon’s eyes had gone wide at the prospect of a drink as well. “I happen to be thirsty right now.” He grabbed the drink in Tonpa’s hand. The older man then proceeded to pass out drinks to the rest of them, only Emily refused.

“It’s a…kind gesture, but no thanks,” she tried, noticing some looks they were getting their way. Tonpa frowned a little.

“It’s rude to deny this symbol of our friendship!” he tried to reason, but Emily still shook her head.

“You may have been a decent source of information, but that doesn’t mean you're my friend.” She crossed her arms, further rejecting the juice. 

Tonpa sighed, “Suit yourself.” He figured he at least got three of the four. There were other ways he could get her out of the exam. “Let us all pray that we’ll all make it through smoothly. Cheers!” He laughed to himself as his three victims opened their cans, though side-eyed the girl who refused him. She reminded him of the others he had tried to convince to drink the laxative. He would have to up his game if he were to have any hope of savouring the look on her face when he demolished her dreams. But he had lots of time, as the exam had even yet to start.

Emily couldn’t help but think about how she would have still drank after Gon said it was expired, not spit it out like Leorio had. Kurapika had yet to take a sip himself. But if Emily hadn’t known, she probably would have risked it anyways, and would have been found rushing to the bathroom not long after. Just another reason why she wouldn’t have passed the exam if not for her prophetic knowledge of it.

“My humble apologies! I didn’t notice that it’s expired!” Tonpa cried out, bowing down with his hands together in front of his head like he was praying. Emily knew the act was bullshit, and so scoffed at his actions. This earned a miffed glance from Leorio, who thought her rude for her reaction.

“It’s okay, there’s no need to apologize,” Gon told the man on the ground, “Didn’t you get a stomachache, Tonpa?”

“No, I’m fine.” Because he didn’t drink it, or had un-spiked cans. Gon then explained how he knew something was off, before Tonpa bid his farewell. Emily was glad to see him go, and hoped she could avoid him in the future. She thought he was smart and good at what he did, which was part of the reason, but the other was that he usually set off Leorio, which would get on her nerves. She didn’t know what it was with the suited guy, he just annoyed her.

Once it was just the four of them again, Emily took the time to sit on the ground, an action that did not go unnoticed by her companions.

“Uh, Emily? What are you doing down there?” Leorio questioned. The girl stretched out her legs, leaning back on her hands. She glanced up to Leorio with a raised brow.

“What does it look like I’m doing? I’m resting while we can before the exam starts.” She shrugged, turning her attention to the other applicants, looking for familiar faces. Leorio just left her alone, thankfully, to make small talk with the others of their group.

As Emily scanned the crowd, which was kind of hard to do from the ground, she recognized a few people. She saw Ponzu’s hat, and may have even caught sight of Killua’s skateboard. Anyone else she saw she either didn’t recognize, or forgot the name of. She did see Hiskoka again, but quickly looked away as soon as she realized that she did. Her best chance of survival was to stay off his radar as long as she could.

It wasn’t long before a ringing echoed throughout the room, catching everyone’s attention. As soon as it was turned off, one of the walls opened up to reveal the first examiner. It was the lanky one, with purple hair, a twirly mustache, and no mouth, though those details were hard to see from where Emily was just getting up off the floor. She only knew his appearance from watching the show, like most of her knowledge of the people around her.

“Sorry to keep you waiting for so long. Now, we have come to the end of the exam registration. And so, the Hunter Exam begins now!” The examiner’s voice rang out through the space, earning small reactions from the applicants. Emily herself felt herself stand a little straighter, a determined feeling traveling up and down her spine. “Let me remind you again. If you are not lucky or strong enough, taking the Hunter Exam could lead to serious injuries on your part and it could even cost you your lives.” Emily felt she definitely leaned towards the lucky spectrum than the strong of that statement. “For those who are taking the test in spite of all that, please come with me.” The examiner then held out his hand. “For those who are giving up, please leave the place by taking the elevator right behind you.” When no one moved after a moment, he took that as a sign to continue. “Well then. All 405 candidates have decided to take the first test.” 

The examiner turned, walking that strange march, with everyone else following behind. Slowly, the group sped up, signaling the examiner to explain one more thing. “I forgot to mention. My name is Satotz and I am the official examiner for the First Phase. Now, I am taking all of you to the Second Phase venue.” After a voice called out in confusion, Satotz explained that they were already starting the First Phase of the exam.

“So is that it,” Kurapika wondered, thinking over the words just spoken.

“What a strange test,” Gon pointed out. If only he knew, like Emily, that things would only get stranger from there. Running was probably the most normal thing about this exam.

“I think it’s to test our patience,” Leorio theorized, “Just what I’m looking for! We’ll just have to catch up wherever he goes!”

“More like testing my patience…” Emily grumbled. She was currently running in between Gon and Kurapika, with Leorio just behind. 

‘This is it’, Emily thought to herself, ‘This is where the true test of my abilities come into play. Let’s hope I’ve gained all the powers of an anime protagonist, or I’m not going to make it.’

But she would learn soon enough just how strong of a protagonist aura she truly had.

Chapter Text

They had been running for about two hours now, and Emily had yet to break out into a sweat. Actually, a lot of people were still going strong. If she remembered correctly, Emily assumed most people wouldn’t start dropping until the wetlands portion of this phase. 

She watched that kid with the laptop run by her, overly confident and smug in his predictions. This was one kid she always enjoyed watching drop out, and in that way could understand Tonpa. She actually didn’t hate Tonpa’s goals or overall character, she just didn’t enjoy watching him try to drop the main characters. Like a favourite villain of sorts, though that title went to someone else.

A little while later, Emily found herself keeping pace with Gon when a familiar figure rode by on a skateboard, an act that immediately pissed off Leorio.

“Hold it right there, you brat!” he called out, beads of sweat running down his face. “Don’t underestimate the Hunter Exam!”

Killua looked back to him, “what do you mean?”

“I’m talking about your skateboard!” Leorio pointed at said object, “Isn’t that cheating?”

“How so?” Killua’s calm demeanor frustrated the other. Leorio’s frustration almost frustrated Emily, mostly because of the assumptions being made. And you know what they say about assumptions.

“This is an endurance test!”

“No, it’s not.” Both Gon and Emily called out, having been slightly behind the two arguing boys. Leorio and Killua both looked back at them, the former in rage, the latter in mild interest towards Gon.

“What are you two saying?” Leorio growled out.

“The examiner only told us to follow him,” Gon pointed out, which angered the older man. 

Emily decided to move a little out of the way when Killua made his way over to talk to Gon. She figured that she’d let this beautiful friendship blossom naturally and without her input. She gave a snarky wave to Leorio as she passed him, though she knew she’d be nearing his current exhaustion levels eventually. She was, afterall, already fairly sweaty.

After another few hours, Emily found herself in a state of absolute boredom mixed with a tinge of exhaustion. Watching and listening to people drop out had been entertaining for awhile, but now most people were focused on staying in the game. She lost track of the others from her group, so her only point of reference for figuring out how far into the run they were came from if she could see stairs up ahead or not—oh. Hey look, stairs. Great. Emily was a little upset to admit that she did hesitate for a second before beginning her ascent upwards. ‘Fucking hate stairs.’ were the types of thoughts running through her mind.

This leg of the journey was probably the worst thing Emily had ever done to her body, and somehow she found the strength to keep going. After repeating phrases to herself about how much she hated stairs got old and discouraging, she switched it up to thoughts of home, and how she needed to get through this if she ever wanted to get back. She knew abilities like nen had the capabilities to generate powerful outcomes to those who could wield it correctly, and that there were such things as magical or nen-infused items, she just didn’t know if any of these things could get her home. But also, she didn’t think there was anything in this world or hers that could have gotten her here in the first place. So that meant she had to do some research, and in order for her to get any meaningful research done, she needed a Hunter’s license. And that meant conquering these goddamned stairs! Yeah! She could do this!

After a few rounds of her hyping herself up, Emily found herself caught up to Kurapika and Leorio, who had both taken off some layers of clothing to stay cool. From the sound of things, Leorio was just finishing up his true story as to why he was taking the exam.

“That definitely sounds better than ‘I want expensive cars and hot women’,” Emily joked, coming up on Kurapika’s left. The two seemed shocked at her sudden appearance, Leorio looking flushed from more than the physical exercise.

“Well, since you’re so energetic, what’s your deal?” Leorio asked. “You never said exactly what you’re looking for, and why.”

“I…” Emily looked away, gaze focusing on the steps in front of her. She couldn’t just up and say the whole truth, at least not with this many ears around. Who knows what others around them might pick up, especially since not many people are talking. The air was filled with huffs and puffs, and the odd noise of someone giving up, but not much chatter. Maybe she can give partial truths. “I mentioned before how I don’t really know what exactly I’m looking for, just that I need some kind of item for something.” Emily took a big breath, both to calm her nerves, and because fucking stairs . “Essentially, I was taken away from home, a home not located on any map I’ve seen. I’m looking for a way to get back.”

She was met with a few confused faces; but before either of them could say anything, a couple of young boys came sprinting up behind them. When Killua called Leorio an old man as they passed, said old man went back to his old (pun intended) grumpy self.

“Hey, I’m not old! I’m a teenager just like the four of you!”

This news shocked everyone, except Emily because, you know. But she was confused as to how he thought himself and the two youngest were in similar age groups. Maybe it was a cultural thing, but two twelve-year-old boys did not count as teenagers, in her mind. Fourteen, sure, but not twelve .

“...Leorio, I don’t think you should put us in the same age group as them. What’s your exact age, anyway?” Emily asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Nineteen.”

Emily shook her head. “How old are you, Gon?”

“Twelve!”

The girl shook her head. “See what I mean? Not even a ‘teen’ in that number.” She also realized that this may not be true for Japanese numbers, and that 12 was probably seen as part of the “teenager” group in that culture. But to her Canadian mind, 12 was a child and 19 was an adult.

“Oh yeah?” Leorio asked, “How old are you then?”

Emily frowned, before looking away with a ‘humph’. “A woman never reveals her age!” Especially since she was a fresh 20 years old. She could not let them find that out in this context.

Killua snickered, “So you’re an old hag.”

Her eye twitched. How dare this brat—!

“You don’t look that old.” Aww, her favourite bundle of joy came to her rescue.

“Thanks Gon!”

“Yeah, for a hag,” Killua added, very much not under his breath.

Emily growled, feeling as though steam was spouting from her ears. “That’s it, come here you little bastard!” she yelled, raising her fist and sprinting after Killua. Gon laughed and ran ahead with his friend.

Kurapika and Leorio stared after them, dumbfounded.

After a while of chasing after the two boys, Emily realized she should save her energy. After all, the real trouble has yet to begin. It wouldn’t do for her to be too exhausted before the danger even arrived.She ignored Killua’s mocking face as the two continued their race without her on their heels. Besides, she had to now focus on not tripping over the bodies littered across the stairway.

“I see the exit!”

At that call, Emily looked up to see light filtering in from up above. ‘I made it! First exam part one is nearly over!’ . With just a few meters left to go, she pushed herself slightly so that she could have a few more seconds of rest afterwards. She could hear the cries of Gon and Killua making it out, and soon enough, her own face suddenly saw the light of day once more.

Emily was slowly walking in circles with her hands on her head and her elbows pointed out to the side when Leorio and Kurapika finally made it up. Gon and Killua were sitting on the ground beside her near the entrance to the tunnel. After greeting each other, Kurapika gave her a strange look.

“Emily, what are you doing?” The girl in question came to a stop, hands still on her head.

“I’ve been told that after a hard run, you should still keep your body moving a little. Something about being good for the heart. The arm thing is to help get more oxygen into my lungs.” The former was something she was always told to do after the beep test in elementary. The second thing was something her dad said to her when she played soccer around that same time and into middle school.

Kurapika gave a soft hum, before looking around them a bit. “The fog is clearing.”

Sure enough, the white mist that surrounded the examinees was slowly lifting to reveal a lush, green forest beyond their little clearing. Emily couldn’t help but marvel at the sight. Sure she’s seen green forests in her life, but knowing how dangerous the place was added an extra level of mysticism to the atmosphere.

“The Numere Wetlands, properly known as the Swindler’s Swamp,” Satotz began, “This is the path you have to take to get to the Second Phase.”

‘Right’. Emily thought, ‘exposition time’.

“There are many rare animals here that you can’t find elsewhere.”

‘And they’re super deadly and like to eat humans, blah blah blah’. Emily tried not to roll her eyes, as she knew this very well already, but it was still a little scary hearing it in person. ‘ And speaking of scary…’ She began looking for where Hisoka was standing, as she very much did not want to get in the way of his card for when he was to slice up the fake examiner. It wasn’t very hard, as there was a ring of people around him. Not in a good way either. This was a ‘people making as much space between him and themselves as possible’ kind of circle. Luckily, she didn’t think that from her position she’d be in the way. Emily had no clue as to what her dodging skills were like, and this was not the best time to check it out.

“So everyone, be careful and follow me closely. If you get tricked, you will die,” Satotz concluded. And cue the door closing on that one last participant who was tragically not fast enough. “These wetland creatures will use all sorts of tricks to catch their prey. In doing so, it becomes an ecosystem where they get their prey through deceit. That’s why it’s known as the Swindler’s Swamp.” ‘Dun dun dunn’ Emily supplied in her mind. “So be careful not to be tricked and follow me closely.”

Leorio slowly stood up, “This is so ridiculous. Now that you’ve warned us all, who’s going to get tricked now?”

Emily scoffed. “I bet you’d be tricked even if I warned you every ten seconds,” she teased, placing her hands on her hips and leaning forwards. The shorter parts of her hair that didn’t fit in her ponytail fell onto her face, sticking from sweat. 

Leorio grumbled before pointing a finger at her. “Now look here you–”

“Don’t fall for it!”

Everyone turned to look as some roughed-up guy came out from behind the structure that was the tunnel entrance. “Everyone, don’t fall for it. That man has been lying to you!” This new guy pointed towards Satotz. “He’s not an examiner. He’s an imposter! I’m the real examiner.”

“Imposter? What’s going on here?” Leorio asked, looking between both Satotz and the fake guy. Emily couldn’t help but snicker as she was immediately proven right.

The fake examiner pulled out what looked to be a monkey-version of Satotz. Their faces were eerily similar, only this body had a huge, gaping mouth, while the real one didn’t appear to have a mouth. The fake guy went on to “explain” that Satotz is a Man-faced Ape, and that they were all being led to their doom. And on cue, a bunch of playing cards were then embedded into the real monster, while Satotz stood there holding the cards meant to harm him.

“I can see it now.” Everyone turned to look at none other than Hisoka as he shuffled his current weapon of choice. “Isn’t it obvious? You’re the real examiner.” Anyone who was a gullible fool (and let’s be honest, if Emily didn’t already know the show, she might have fallen for it too) gasped in shock at the grand reveal. “A so-called “examiner” is a Hunter hired by the Selection Committee to serve for free. They might not be Hunters we aspire to be, but that kind of attack should be easily deflected.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment. However, if you lay a hand on me again, for whatever reason, it will be considered a violation against the examiner, Satotz explained, “You will be immediately disqualified. Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

As vultures descended on the dead body, Satotz continued to talk about how these creatures might trick them, and how some of the people in the group must have fallen for it. Emily took this moment to side-eye Leorio with a smirk, as she knew what he was feeling. Once being warned once again to stay close, the group took off running once again, this time into the foggy wetlands ahead.

“Yay, more running…” Emily grumbled.

Even without the man-eating creatures every five feet, running through the wetlands was way worse than the stairs. With every step, Emily could feel the squelching of her shoes into the moist ground. It was fairly humid too. Emily thought about taking off her sweater, but in a place like this, she figured having less skin exposed to the air would be ideal. She also made sure to stay right with Leorio and Kurapika, with plans to run off with them (and keep running) when Hisoka showed up.

As the fog started to get thick again, the three friends—and yes, Emily was truly beginning to think of them as friends—stayed together just like the girl had planned. The features of those in front of them began to get more hazy and clouded, making it hard to decipher exactly when they were switched out for fakes.

“Leorio, Kurapika, Emily!” Gon’s voice called out from somewhere in front, “Killua says it’s better to move to the front.”

“Stupid! If I could go any faster, I’d be at the front for sure!” Leorio replied.

“Don’t worry about us,” Kurapika added, “You guys go ahead.”

Emily smiled, “Yeah, what they said!”

As they continued to run, the three of them began to worry about how they were doing.

“If we can’t keep up, we’ll soon lose the direction.” Kurapika’s voice stayed calm, but Emily could tell he was nervous.

“It’s okay. We just need to follow the ones in front of us.” As soon as Leorio mentioned the shadows in front of them, the ‘heads’ started to fall off, the bodies disappearing into the mist. “What’s happening?” Their group had now stopped running.

Out of the fog came what looked like floating strawberries, but Emily knew better. This was one of those tricky creatures trying to lure in their next feast. In fact it worked, as when one guy stepped forward, he got gobbled up by what can now be seen as a dinosaur-tortoise-like creature. Emily yelped and tried not to look while still staying vigilant, which was hard when the thing you were trying to avoid looking at was also the thing trying to eat you.

As the others around them ran away and into the mouths of even more of these creatures, Emily, Leorio, and Kurapika stood back-to-back.

“So, uh…What’s the plan?” Emily asked, voice wavering. She was full of dread, as this could very well be the end of her journey. “If we just stay here like this, we'll be sure to be…” she hesitated on the last word, “eaten.”

Leorio smirked, grabbing a log from beside him. “Don’t worry, I got this.” When one of them reached down to bite him, he jammed the log in its mouth vertically. Unfortunately, he wasn’t smart enough to let go, so when the beast reared its head, Leorio went with it.

“Leorio!” The two still on the ground called out, watching in horror and worry as the big stick in the monster’s mouth looked like it was going to break. In order to save him, Kurapika jumped up way higher than any normal human should be able to and landed on the beast’s head, stabbing it in its eye with his two bokken. The pain of getting its eye stabbed caused the monster to let go of both the log and Leorio, sending them flying. Emily, who was just staring, suddenly snapped into action to try and catch the man, even though he was bigger than her.

“I got you!” she called, holding out her hands and trying to aim for where Leorio might land. Fortunately, she was bang on. Unfortunately, the force of his fall mixed with his weight just caused both of them to land hard on the ground.

“Ow..” Leorio mumbled, before looking down to see that he had landed on Emily’s arms, with the rest of the girl having face-planted into the ground. “Uh, thanks. Sorry.” He carefully got up, checking to see if her arms looked to be bent in any weird angles.

Emily groaned, slowly bringing herself to her knees and raising a thumb. “No problem,” she grumbled. She was miserable. The force of her being brought to the wet, muddy ground meant that her entire front side was all soaked with stinky, dirty water. Slowly standing, Emily tried her best to peel off any big grass chunks and to wring out what she could. With the backside of her light purple sleeve, she attempted to wipe off her face. She frowned at the amount that came off, and hoped that she could find some clear water between now and the Second Phase.

Kurapika then landed beside them, “You two, let’s get out of here.” Emily and Leorio nodded, quickly running away from the beasts.

“We’ve totally lost track of the others,” Kurapika muttered. With a quick look around, it was easy to tell that yeah, they were alone.

“Which way should we go?” Leorio asked, looking about.

“Maybe we..” Emily trailed off as she saw the shadow of a very distinct figure nearby. “Oh no.” She held her arms out to stop the others on either side of her. She then held her finger to her lips and gestured towards the clown.

There Hisoka stood, surrounded by a bunch of men in blue coats all pointing weapons at him. Emily knew this wasn’t going to go well, and so tried to steel her gut for what was coming. If she truly wanted to make it in this world, she would have to quickly come to terms with seeing death, which was not a pleasant thought. But it needed to happen if she wanted to survive.

The leader of the blue jacketed men began to make a speech about how ever since last year, he thought about how Hisoka should not be a Hunter. A noble thought, and he was quite right, but it was one whose actions would lead to his and his men’s slaughter with just one swipe.

“We’ll let you go if you swear to never take the exam again,” one of the other men declared.

“That’s fine,” Hisoka hummed, “I’m getting in this year anyway. I won’t be returning.”

As the two groups kept conversing, and Hisoka went on about who was and who wasn’t an examiner, Emily turned to the others.

“This isn’t good,” she whispered, “we need to run.” Unfortunately, her companions were frozen, watching in horror as the group of men attacked, only to get sliced in one swoop by none other than a playing card, leaving what was presumably the captain. Shaking in fear, he tried to crawl away as Hisoka slowly walked behind him. Eventually the prey was caught, as he fell over with the four of spades sticking out of the back of his head.

Emily nudged the two on either side of her. “Guys really…we need to go.” But they continued to watch as Hisoka grabbed the card out of the head, and slowly turn his gaze to them.

“All right. Do you guys want to play the examiner game too?”

Emily shook her head. “Nope! We’re good!” She then hushed her voice. “No seriously, we need to go now!”

“Leorio, Emily,” Kurapika whispered, “wait for my signal and we’ll run in different directions.”

“That’s what I’ve been–!”

“Between us, we are no match for him when it comes to fighting.” It seemed like Kurapika was so focused on the danger, he couldn’t hear the girl beside him. “Even with three of us, we’re unlikely to win. We don’t have what it takes to fight this futile battle.”

“Cool cool, we’re all in agreement, let’s go!” Emily was chomping at the bit to run, but Kurapika continued to watch Hisoka slowly make his way over to them. It wasn’t until he stopped to raise his hand that the signal was given.

“Now!” The three of them took off, Kurapika and Emily to their left, Leorio to the right. Emily knew that Kurapika made it to the site eventually, so she figured she was safer with him. She knew Leorio would turn back, and she knew Gon would try to fight to save him, but what could she do about it? It was a miracle Emily made it this far already. She doesn’t even have a weapon to haphazardly swing around, nor any nen abilities (yet)! Guilt ate at her for not going back to help, but the only thing easing her worries was that she knew how things would play out.

“Emily?” Kurapika called, a few steps ahead of her. “I’m sure we’ll see him again. Let’s focus on getting to the Second Phase.”

The girl nodded, “Right. But, I’m still worried. Do you truly believe Leorio would just run away like that?”

Kurapika paused, a hard look coming over his face. “No, he wouldn’t.” And just like that, the two turned back. Hopefully they could at least pick up their friends after the fight. Or…well…friend, as if she remembered correctly, Leorio got carried back by Hisoka.

It wasn’t long until the two found a blob of green in the distance that wasn’t a plant.

“Gon, are you alright?” Kurapika called out. As they got closer, the poor boy looked shaken and tired. ‘Damn, maybe I should have stayed back…’ Emily thought as she gazed upon the state of her friend.

“Emily, Kurapika…”

With Gon’s nose tracking Leorio’s perfume to lead the way, the three of them safely made it to the gate that served as the entrance to the second phase.

“Finally!” Emily called out, collapsing onto the ground and completely ignoring everything she had said at the midpoint of the phase.

“Emily,” Gon called, worried, “we have to find Leorio first!”

The girl waved him away. “I’ll find you later, just let me sleep.” She was exhausted, especially after running all day with little sleep from the night before. She hoped to get in a few Z’s before the next phase officially started. “Wake me up when the gate opens…”

And like that, she was out.