Part 5: Risking X For X Cooking

SECCO RASVIN

"Put me down now!" I shouted at Killua, still not putting me down. We were already at the end of the first phase, what is the point of lifting me! I want to touch the ground, being traumatized by how he ran so fast earlier.

"Moron! If I put you down, you will go back to the wetlands!" he shouted at me. I couldn't see his face but I knew he was very angry right now, despite my personality.

I didn't shout back, as what he said is very true. I will go back to the wetlands no matter what he will do to me. So I just stay still, looking behind the wetlands hoping that I can see them running towards us.

I looked back at the participants when I saw the clown Hisoka carrying Leorio as the same style as mine. He put him down into a nearby tree and moved away.

"Leorio!" I shouted and without hesitation, Killua put me down. I ran towards the old man and looked at him in the face. He was all beat up and it looks like he was unconscious. Based on his large injuries and Hisoka carrying him, he might have a fight with him and he was defeated. Thank God, the magician didn't end him.

And at last, when I turned around to see the swamp, I saw two silhouettes running towards our direction. A tall blonde man and a kid. It was Kurapika and Gon!

"Gon! Kurapika!~" I shouted loudly so they can hear me, while I showed a very wide smile as a sign of my happiness now that I saw them safe and sound.

When they finally made it to the area where we were standing beside Leorio, I jumped at Gon and gave him a great big hug while the tears that I tried to stop earlier fell at last. I can't stop myself from crying, they're very important to me.

"I'm glad... you're all safe..."

Gon patted my head. "Sorry, Secco."

I stopped crying and started to wipe my tears that remain in my cheeks.

"Jeez, you're a crybaby," Killua said to me as he pointed his index finger towards my forehead. But I didn't mind his insults to me and gave him a warm smile. Come to think of it, if he didn't stop me, I might be the one who ends up dead after all.

"Thank you, Killua, for saving me!~" when I said those embarrassing words, he turned his head away from me, but I knew that he was blushing.

"S-Shut up, idiot! I was just doing what I've been told!" he said, a hint of shyness in his voice.

"Yeah, me too, Killua! Thank you for taking care of her for me!" Gon also said, releasing the same smile like mine, making Killua blushed more.

"And by the way, how did you know that this is the way?", Killua started to ask Gon and I also looked at him curious about what did he do.

"Well, I smelled Leorio's cologne and followed it!"

"And just because of that? You're really weird. " Killua said as a sweatdrop shown into our heads.

"Eh? I think it's amazing!~" I shouted, again, sparkles in my eyes.

"You don't have to be amazed by everything, blonde!" Killua shouted at me but I ignored him and pouted.

Gon and Kurapika told us what happened. They actually encountered Hisoka and he said that Gon and Leorio passed and hoping for them to become a hunter which is the worst part of their encounter. That means, he will chase after them until death. So creepy!

Leorio had finally awake and it looks like he didn't know what happened to him or his face so we decided not to tell him.

"Well done, everyone." Satotz started to speak. "Phase Two will be held here in Biska Forest Park. I'll be having my leave now and wait for the door to open."

After hours and it was almost noon, finally, the large door in front of us started to open. We all entered through the said door and saw a hundred of kitchen areas presented by rows. On the other of those are two people, a large fat man standing and a woman sitting on a couch, wearing a see-through shirt.

"I am Menchi, the Second Phase examiner." the woman said

"And I am Buhara, the other examiner." the large fat guy stuck a smile.

"And Phase Two will be about... cooking!" Menchi announced which made us surprised and some of us complained that this is the Hunter exam and not a cooking contest.

Those are answered when they explained that they were actually Gourmet Hunters, which are hunters that hunt for rare ingredients to make spectacular dishes. Some murmured bad things about Gourmet Hunters but me, I was really grateful. I'm really starving! Maybe I'll become a Gourmet Hunter too...

"So... what are we supposed to make?" one of the irritated examinees asked. Menchi called her other examiner to explain as an irk mark shown in her forehead.

"The required ingredient will be pork. You can catch any species of Biska Forest pigs. Now, let the second phase... begin!"

We all started to run outside the Biska Forest Park to hunt some pigs. Leorio and I thought that this will be an easy task for we are just hunting some pigs in our way.

Gon jumps and slides down a hill while Killua followed what he did. I found it fun so I followed them while Leorio was on my back. Then suddenly, Gon stopped, resulting Leorio bumped his head into mine, my head into Killua, and so on. Kurapika just walked down the hill.

"What was that about, Gon?!" Killua shouted angrily.

"It's fun! Let's try it again!~" I said happily which made him so angry.

"Shut up, blonde! You're really noisy!" Killua scolded me but I just ignored him. I didn't hear anything! I didn't hear anything!

"I found them." Gon said as he pointed out some large pigs not far away from our position while they are chewing some bones.

We all watched them eat until we caught their attention and start running towards us.

We all ran as fast as we can just to get away from those pigs and now, there is a stampede of pigs from behind chasing after us.

"These pigs are crazy!", shouted Leorio as I keep running as fast as I can. So that's why this is a Hunter exam! Risking your lives just to get these kinds of pigs is really dangerous!

I saw Gon swings his fishing pole towards the snouts of one of the pigs but it didn't work and just knocked it away. The pig ran into a tree while chasing Gon, and apples fell into its head. The pigs started to shake and fell into the ground. Gon immediately smash its head with his fishing pole and the pig finally been defeated.

"Could their foreheads be their weak points?" Killua stated which made me think that maybe it really is.

We started to knock down one of the pigs in their forehead. The other applicants used their weapons to defeat their pigs. I jumped through the air, grabbed my small knives, and threw it to its forehead, although not on my desired spot, it defeated it.

Now, we all have pigs so we decided to go back. Carrying cargos is my life in the ship so carrying this pig isn't a problem.

We decided to roast the pigs' whole body since I don't have a single idea about cooking. But I lost hope when Menchi started to fail every applicant that tested their dishes. Even Leorio, Gon, Kurapika, whose dish is actually delicious that I want to eat them, and even Killua.

I decided to give them to Menchi and she tasted it. She raised the 'X' mark and explained why I failed but I didn't listen. Come to think of it, I'm really starving! So I took a bite of my dish but it really tastes bad. That's why Menchi didn't like it!

None of the applicants passed the exam, which some of us complained and irritated, even destroyed their kitchen area to show their irritation. Then, the chairman of the Hunter Association, Chairman Netero, came to the rescue. He jumped from the airship and let Menchi do something else for us as she demonstrated it how it goes.

We all ride in the airship towards the Mt. Split-In-Half to take the second try. We looked below the cliff of the mountain, curious of what's below and it actually a web full of large eggs, larger than the chickens'.

"That is a spider eagle's web. Look down below, there are some spider eagle's eggs which are also called dream eggs." Menchi explained as we still looking below.

Menchi stood near the cliff and jumped below. She grabbed an egg and hold onto the web to keep her from falling. Then, she waited for something, and let herself fell towards the edge of the cliff which made us very surprised. She was carried back up by an updraft in the ravine, safe and sound.

"Woah! That was really amazing!~" I can't help myself but to amazed by what she did.

"That looks fun," Killua said as he looked below, admitted that Menchi did was awesome.

"Now, I just boil the egg!" Menchi said happily and put in the large boiling pot prepared by the Hunter Association.

Some applicants were afraid to jump from the cliff for it was dangerous and said no one will jump below.

"Ready, go!" Gon shouted as we all jumped excitedly, Killua, Leorio, Kurapika, and me, and simultaneously. We all grabbed our egg and hold onto the web. Other applicants followed and jumped towards the web. Some people just grabbed an egg and let themselves fall without the updraft, resulting in them dying.

"Let's go," Leorio said as he also grabbed an egg and hold onto the web.

"Not yet!" Gon shouted.

"Why not?" he asked.

"Because there's no wind," Killua answered.

"There isn't always an updraft," Kurapika added, joining their conversation as I was just listening.

"Then when is the next one?"

"Wait." Gon said as everyone was looking at him, waiting for his signal.

The web suddenly became loose because of our weight, causing other people to panic. Am I too heavy??

Some applicants shouted and decided to fall towards the ravine. Idiot! They will die if they fall, they don't understand that!

"Gon, is it time?" Killua asked as he noticed that the web became looser than before, but we still didn't move an inch or let ourselves fall. We waited for seconds, causing the area to be quiet to hear Gon's words.

"Now!" Gon shouted and we all let go of the web, letting ourselves fall down the cliff. Suddenly, a large amount of wind blew us upward which called the updraft and safely brought us back to the top, where the examiners and other applicants are waiting for us.

"That was fun! Let's try it again!~" I yelled excitedly.

Killua looked at me in anger. "Idiot! If you go down there again, the web will completely break loose because you're SO HEAVY!"

"I can't be fat how many times I eat, stupid!" I answered with a tongue out which made him even more upset and started to pull my ear.

"Ouch! Ouch!"

"Come on, guys. Let's put our eggs in the pot!" Gon said so we stopped fighting. We started to boil our eggs on the large pot and wait for it to be eaten.

"It's so yummy!~" I yelled as I devoured the whole egg, not leaving a single part. Maybe because I'm really starving earlier I can't help but eat as much as I can.

"I see why they are called dream eggs." Kurapika gave the egg a compliment for it was seriously delicious.

I saw Gon generously gave a bite in one of the applicants that was scared to jump the cliff and who insulted the name of the Gourmet Hunters, and he was delighted by the egg.

Menchi lectured the applicant and he accepted his defeat. "I accepted my failure. I will come back next year.", he said which made us all happy.

I approached them to say something to Menchi. "Miss Menchi, I also wanted to be a Gourmet Hunter!~", I said with matching sparkles in my eyes which made Menchi very surprised.

"Eh? I thought you said you want to become a hunter just like us!" Gon said.

"You don't understand, Gon! I can do both, become a Gourmet Hunter, and just like you!~" when I finished my sentence, someone suddenly punched my head from above. Resulting it getting hurt.

"You just want to eat some food, you moron!"

When I heard that voice, I knew where it came from.

"Ouch! That hurts, Killchi!" I shouted at him in anger, trying to stick my forehead to his.

"You always say something unnecessary! And by the way, I don't remember giving you permission to call me Killchi!" he shouted as he pointed my head causing us to fight word by word.

"I don't need your permission! Bleh!~" I said and gave him a tongue out and started running when I saw his angry face. He chased after me all over the area while the others that we passed through are still eating their eggs, complaining to us because of what we are doing.

Then, we ran into Leorio and Kurapika. Leorio gave us a punch in our heads and we all stopped fighting when he grabbed us in his arms.

"You both are really enemies," Kurapika said as he let out a sigh in front of us.

"It's her/his fault!" Killua and I both shouted at the same time, pointing at each other, which we gave each other a deadly glare and we started to fight by kicking each other in the air, now that Leorio was carrying us by our shirt.

We stopped fighting when the chairman announced that he will ride us to Phase Three in the airship at 8 a.m tomorrow. During the free hour, we are free to do what we wanted to do in the airship.