A bet

"Now the Hunter Exam will begin!"

"A final caution... If you are short on luck or ability, you could be very well end up seriously injured or even dead"

The man said looking at them pausing for moment before speaking again, saying to follow him if they accept the risks. Otherwise, they can exit via the elevator behind them but none of the presents retreated.

"Very well, all 404 applicants will participate in the Phase One"

He said and began to walk and everyone followed suit, after walking for some seconds the pace sped up thus everyone started to run.

"I neglected to introduce myself. I am Satotz, the Phase One examiner" Satotz presented himself and started to explain that he is going to guide them to the Second Phase and that the First one has already started. They will have to follow him without knowing where or when they will arrive, they just need to follow him.

....

Two hours later Noah who was running alongside Gon, Kurapika and Leorio, was getting a little bit bored of running in that monotone and insipid tunnel without doing anything else than just running when suddenly Gon talked him.

"Hey Noah can I ask you something?"

"Uhm, yes what you want to know?"

"That mask, why are you using it?"

"Huh... ah, the mask is part of my attire and is normally used to conceal your identity in assassination missions… but I mostly use it because I like..."

"Assassination missions you said..." Kurapika said

"But this time, there is an important reason I decided to keep the mask on" He answered as the aura around him changed, making the three turned serious.

"An important reason" they repeated at the same time.

"Yeah, actually I'm using it…" he said with a serious tone and made a sign for them to get near him.

"To make a prank" he cheerfully said while the three anime fall at his statement then he continued "Someone I know is here taking the exam too, and as I haven't seen him in a long time I want to tease him a bit and see if he can recognize me, to make short is to mess around" he explained.

"Oh, that's why hahaha" said Gon laughing

"But if we call you by your name won't he suspect you, blowing off your covered?" Kurapika said.

"I don't think he will recognize me just by the name but you do have a point there" he said putting a hand on his chin thinking.

"But I guess it's better to use another name… so let's use Shin, call me Shin"

"Okay Shin" they said.

"But how are we going to know who that person is?" Gon asked.

"Well, it doesn't matter just call me that name, but well he is a white haired kid…" Noah said pausing to look at them and grinned "If he is got near you guys, I will scare him to death, that way you'll know" he said cheerfully and they smile wryly.

"Now that all has been said I'll going to practice…" He said

"Practice?"

Kurapika said while he disappeared from spot and reappearing by Leorio's side poking his ribs, the blonde got startled at his speed and before he could even mock Leorio, in a flicker Noah had disappeared again, this time getting out of his sight and before he could started to look for him, an electric shock striked his ribs making him jumped like cat out of surprise just like Leorio.

"Nahahaha success!" Noah cheered making a gut pose. The two victims looked at him startled and then Leorio started to yell scolding Noah and Kurapika was nodding, then he said "sorry guys, it was just a joke" while laughing, clearly not feeling sorry at all.

"Well I'll go to kill time, I'll be back in a while"

He said disappearing from their sight before they could even reply.

Noah then started to run around tapping the shoulders or poking the ribs of some people and disappearing from the spot, letting them startled, making some of them even start arguments with the people around them. He kept playing around, and after a while as he was deciding who's going to be his next victim he felt Hisoka's presence getting near him and also sensed his bloodlust. Nonetheless, Noah did nothing, letting him approached, to see what he was going to do.

"What a naughty brat... why are you doing that?"

"Huh" Noah said a bit startled because of his weird behavior, instead of attacking he just decided to talk to him"ah... I just got tired of just being running... so I decided play around a bit"

"Hmm certainly is pretty boring…" he said and getting near to Noah, he continued "that movement of yours is pretty interesting, what is it?"

"A prankster brat never reveals his secrets"

Noah said sarcastically before disappearing getting away from Hisoka. The clown got startled, but then his expression turned sinister and a lewd grin was formed over his face."What an interesting toy I just have found fufufu" he mumbled.

...

Noah who was now away from Hisoka, decided to stop playing around as he already had enough fun for now, when he suddenly heard Leorio's voice

"You should show some respect to the Hunter Exam!" Leorio yelled to a white haired kid.

"What do you mean?" the kid asked

"Going on your skateboard… that's cheating" he yelled again. As he was arguing with the boy, Noah got near them. He looked at the kid "is him" he thought

"Why" he asked again "Because this is an endurance test!" said Leorio and before he could continue

"No, it isn't" Gon said

"What are you saying Gon!"

"The examiner just said that we have to follow him but not that it was an endurance test"

"Oy Gon what side are you"

Then Noah got near them without being noticed and positioning himself just beside Gon he spoke

"He is with the side that has the reason Leorio san" he said startling the white haired "When he got there" he thought

"You too!" Leorio yelled. To what Noah just shrugged

"Shin you're back from playing" said Gon moving near Noah

"Yep, I feel better now their reactions were priceless"

The white haired recovered and went near them and asked "How old are you?" to what Gon replied "I'm twelve years old"

"Uhm I guess, I'm going to run too" the boy said while stomping on his skateboard making it fly upwards and landing on his hand. As he keep running.

"Wow awesome!" said Gon

"I'm Killua"

"I'm Gon"

Then Killua turned staring at Noah for a moment and then he kept talking to Gon.

As they keep running together Noah sensed the gazed of someone landed on them, he started to look for the source and found out it was from the pincushion-man."Great, now I have the attention of two weird creepy guys, ah I guess the low key plan has already failed" he thought

...

It has been almost four hours since the start of the exam and some applicants has already dropped. Noah was thinking what to do to pass the time when they heard something dropped to the ground, as they turned they saw Leorio stopped panting heavily a little further, Gon seeing this stopped staring at him, followed by Noah and Killua.

"Gon leave him, let's go" said Killua but Gon said nothing in return and kept staring at Leorio

Leorio was breathing heavily and saw Gon staring at him. He started to take deep breaths then suddenly yelled "I'm going to become a Hunter" and started to run with all his might leaving the three behind. Then Gon took out a fishing pole and got Leorio's bag

"Wow awesome" said Killua "can I try?" he asked

"If you let me try your skateboard" said Gon "Deal" Killua replied.

After some more minutes running they saw stairs ahead of them. Gon and Killua start talking

"Gon wanna race, let's see who arrived first" Killua

"The loser pay the dinner" Gon

"Okay, you bet it" Killua

"Ready… go!" they said.

They spring forward and began to climb the stairs and Noah followed behind without them noticing. They passed lots of participants as they ran, after a while they saw Leorio and Kurapika running ahead.

"See you on the goal, Kurapika"

"See you later old timer"

"I'm not an old man I'm a teen like you all" Leorio yelled while everybody got perplex with their eyes wide opened, voicing out their shocked selves.

As they were distracted Noah went behind Killua without him noticing and talked poking him

"Gotcha" Killua startled by the sudden voice behind him turned around just to meet with Noah mask which scared him making jump like a cat. "When did he got behind me" Killua thought

"Oh sorry I didn't think it would scare you that badly…"

Noah said and the trio then remembered what he told them before, seeing him struggle not to laugh while talking, which pissed off Killua

"Why did you do that?" he said menacingly and the air around him started to change.

"Calm down, calm down kid I mean no harm, it was joke… ah you have no sense of humor" Noah said shrugging

"What do you want? Take off your mask!" he demanded

"Don't wanna but if you want to know that badly let's play if you win I'll tell you" Noah said cheerfully

"You…! Never mind and I'm not that interested anyway, let's go Gon" he said trying to get away.

"So he really got scared" Noah mumbled

"what?! What did you said?"

"I said maybe you are still scared so"

"You…" he interject and Noah ignored him and continued

"Let's do this, I'll join to your race and if any of you win, I'll take off my mask, and do anything you asked once, how about it" Noah said looking at Killua, who was pondering.

"Ah, but if I win you will have to listen to me once, also you have to forgive me for scaring you" Noah added

"I wasn't scared!" Killua yelled

"Okay, okay, so? deal?"

"Deal, I hope you won't go back on your words, otherwise, well that's for later. Let's go Gon" he said and spring forward and Gon followed suit. However, Noah stayed behind with Leorio and Kurapika.

"Did you saw his face he is scarycat hahaha, as I told you guys" he said laughing

"Don't you think it was a bit too much" said Kurapika with a scolding gaze

"Well I guess I… indeed the prank got wonderful results" he said while avoiding his gaze "that's why I make a bet with those conditions…" Kurapika kept looking at him "fine, I will apologize properly once the first phase end." Noah said

"Better" Kurapika replied and return to normal

"Well, I guess I should speed up a little if not they are gonna win" He said while sprinting forwards.

Noah started to run seriously passing every other applicant without effort and when he was nearing Gon and Killua he used a Flash Step technique to pass them without being noticed, then he kept running and catching up the Examiner, Noah paused a little by his side making sure he noticed his presence, after that he rushed to the exit.

As soon as he arrived he scanned the surrounding and then sat down cross leg besides the exit, waiting for the rest. After a couple of minutes as Satotz arrives he looks at Noah and two kids passed besides him.

""Goal"" they yelled and started bickering about, who was the fastest between them. Both kept saying they were so then Gon asked Satotz who was the fastest to what he replied that both arrived at the same time so.

"Huhh then I will pay Killua's dinner and you will pay mine" said Gon

"I don't get it, at least we win against the masked idiot" said Killua proudly, then Satotz talked.

"You are talking about him" he said pointing at Noah

"Yes that idiot! Now we need to… Uhh what is he doing there?"

"He was there even before I arrived" Satotz said, Killua then rushed at him

"Hey When did you passed us? How did you do it?" he asked

"Ugh... too noisy, you're hurting my ears..." Noah said making Killua mad at him while Gon was smiling wryly

"You..." he said then Noah interjected "now as we bet, you are going to forgive me for scaring you like a kitten and also you'll have to listen what I said once" Noah said cheerfully

"Tch, I wasn't scared, I was just a bit surprised that's all" he yelled getting irked anime marks in his forehead.

"Ok, ok, sorry for surprising you I was I bit bored and wanted to play around" Noah said laughing slightly

"Satotz-san is this where the second phase is going to be held?" Gon asked

"No there's still a long way to go" he answer.