Trick Tower part 1

"The third phase will begin here at the top of Trick Tower. To pass this phase you must reach the tower's base alive. The time limit is seventy-two hours."

A cylindrical tower running high in the sky, with no windows, hatches, or signs of exit. That was the drop-off point for the next hunter exam. The airship was in the middle of the colossal tower of stone. That morning, Gon, Sakura, Killua, Leorio, and Kurapika had quickly caught up to each other before they even left the aircraft.

The winds were heavy at the altitude, but no one was getting lost in it. More concerned about finding a path down that wouldn't kill them.

'It would be easy for me to get down here,' Sakura could walk along the wall and make it down in a few minutes, faster if she ran. However, this wasn't a world of chakra and while extraordinary at the same time these applicants were not cut from the same cloth as her, so there had to be another way to the base.

'Like from the inside,' Being expected to climb down the tower would have been a given if not for the seer size.

Analyzing the structure of the tower, given its size and length Sakura suspected that they weren't meant to climb down this tower from the outside. Unless more people like her had the ability of surface scaling. If her assumption was correct then there was likely another method to reach the base of the tower but there were no visible doors or entrances at the top of this structure.

'Unless of course, they're hidden.' She thought, crossing her arms as she glanced around. She found it common to hide the obvious right in front of a person so that they would miss it.

She saw Gon and his friends standing at the edge of the tower, looking down. Gon was on his knees peering over. They wouldn't consider climbing down right?

'No one would be that stupid,'

Just then; another applicant appeared behind them; a burly man, with the tag, 86 on his chest; he said something to the group she couldn't hear. Then he moved to the end of the tower, lowering himself without a hint of hesitance or fear. The five were leaning down, obviously watching him. The Tower was practically a straight wall, the structure would be extremely difficult to climb down and with the length, it would also take time and stamina.

'I still don't think that's the point of this phase,'

"AAAAAHHHHHHH"

Screaming caught Sakura's attention; her head snapped back to the group with Gon before running over to them when she realized that's where the scream had come from.

"What's going-

"AAAAHH,"

Sakura was cut off, as their shadows were overtaken by a larger one hovering above. They were odd creatures, with thin wings able to hold up their bulking bodies but they were certainly not pigeons. They were far larger, easily able to carry one or two people in their talons, and had wide mouths with razor-sharp fangs. Sakura fell to her knees clutching her head as the beasts let out an ear-piercing call before flying away. The reason they flew away; one of them had captured an applicant in its jaws; the one who had wanted to climb down the tower.

"Guess we can't climb down the side…" Leorio trailed, clutching his patterned briefcase.

Now Sakura was certain that they weren't meant to climb down from the outside; if they attempted, then those creatures would be having them for lunch.

'So the only other way, is from the inside.' Sakura thought, keeping her eyes on the beasts that were still flying away with the poor applicant; they had gotten so far his cries were nonexistent.

"Hey," Killua called, tapping Sakura on her shoulder which gave her a jolt.

She found it a little difficult to look him in the eye right now. "Hey, Killua."

Gon waved at her, "Hey Sakura,"

She smiled back at the spiky-haired boy, "Gon; how did the game go last night?"

"It was fun! We couldn't get the ball though."

"Anyone have any ideas as to how we're going to get down here?" asked Leorio. Turning them back on topic.

Sakura crossed her arms, "I kind of figured, a tower this big has to have an entrance somewhere."

"But there aren't any doors," Leorio said,

"You mean there aren't any visible doors," Kurapika corrected.

Killua narrowed his eyes, "Meaning the doors are invisible?"

"Something like that; chances are there might be a hidden entrance somewhere along the top of this tower," Sakura told them.

"I say; we split up to find an exit," Kurapika suggested.

No one argued with the arrangement, moving away from the edge of the tower, the first being Sakura and Kurapika making sure to move in opposite directions to each other. Leorio followed after Kurapika and Gon and Killua went after Sakura.

"Let's start looking," Sakura said, tapping her foot on a few of the blocks; "I'm thinking; since the airship landed in the middle of the tower; we should go around first and make our way to the center."

Killua and Gon nodded; they followed Sakura's example; the three kept in a straight line while walking to tap their foot on each of the stone slabs.

Nearly thirty minutes passed of the three constantly walking along with the tower, with little luck. Patience turned out to not be the strongest virtue of either three. Sakura looked up from her feet, sighing softly before she glanced around the area; she frowned.

"There are fewer people now," Sakura said to the boys.

"What?" Killua asked looking up as well.

Pointing around, Sakura started counting the number, "There's only twenty-seven here."

Gon started looking around, he saw an applicant who was crouching down on the floor; then the stone beneath him flipped; taking him down and then returning to its original place. He pointed in the direction of Sakura and Killua.

"Hey; I saw someone use a trap door!" He exclaimed running over, with Sakura and Killua not too far behind him. Gon touched the stone slab where he had seen the applicant disappear.

"This is it," he said, tapping the door but frowned when nothing happened. "It's not opening-I don't get it-I saw someone fall through it."

Sakura pressed on the door (no chakra) but the trap door didn't move. "I think this means we can't go through a door that's already been used; we need to keep looking."

Gon and Killua groaned; standing up. Sakura stayed down though, she trailed her fingers along the ends of the stone; it was rectangular, and judging by its size it would only fit one person at a time. What if there were a limited amount of these doors?

"We need to look for the floors shaped like this," Sakura pointed to the tile again,

"Alright,"

"Yeah; though shouldn't we tell Leorio and Kurapika about this?" asked Gon

"We can tell them after we find some doors," Sakura said standing up.

With a better idea of what they were looking for, Sakura, Gon and Killua resumed their search. The slabs that made up the floor of the tower were shaped differently and now they knew what kind of shape to look out for. In ten minutes they were able to find a total of five doors; all standing closely together. That factor alone put Sakura off.

"I suppose we'll each have to take a door," Killua observed.

"Okay we found one for each of us; let's call the others." Gon said, starting to look out for Kurapika and Leorio. They weren't too far from him and within hearing distance when Gon called for them.

Sakura turned away when she saw the two heading towards them.

"What is it Gon?" asked Kurapika.

Kneeling, Gon pointed to the stone floor, "We found some hidden doors."

To prove it, he pushed down on and the stone moved with a soft clinking noise.

"I see, so we can descend by flipping the stones," Kurapika observed, hand holding his chin in thought.

Leorio patted Gon on his shoulder, "Great job Gon, now let's head down."

"There's just one thing," Sakura interjected, turning back to face them "We found five doors,"

Gon nodded and started pointing in several directions, "Here, there, over there, and over there as well."

"Five hidden doors; located in the same area, seems suspicious; some could be traps," Kurapika said, holding his chin in thought.

"Oh and we also found that each door can only be used once. When we tried using a door someone else had used, it wouldn't budge." Killua told them.

Kurapika observed that the size of the door would only be able to accommodate one person at a time.

"We'll each have to take a door," Sakura finished, moving across until she was standing in front of one of the stones she knew was a door.

"What about the traps?" Leorio asked,

"Well there's no guarantee there are traps," Kurapika clarified, "It was just a theory."

"The three of us are gonna choose a door," Killua said

"No hard feelings if one of us springs a trap; what are you guys gonna do?" Gon asked

Leorio smirked, hand on his hip "I can live with that. Luck is part of the game…"

Sakura wondered if her luck was going to get her into a trap. She's already been in this world for two days and counted that as bad.

"I have no objection; it's better than staying up here," Kurapika said, stepping to the side in front of one of the doors. Leorio moved a little way next to him in front of another; Gon and Killua did the same, both were standing on either side of Sakura.

Leorio suggested they go on the count of three; after saying their goodbyes they counted down from three, and on one jumped on their doors. The stones automatically flipped with their additional weight; dropping them to the floor.

The fall was shorter than Sakura expected only lasting a few seconds before her feet touched the ground in a graceful landing and given the length of the tower, she had a feeling there was still quite a ways to go before getting to the bottom of it. She found herself in a small, square room with seemingly no exit and only a small white pillar stand with a board pasted on top with some writing on it. Though she didn't read it; because Sakura was focused on another matter….that being Gon, Killua, Leorio, and Kurapika who had also fallen in the room with her.

"So all the doors lead to the same room…." Leorio deadpanned, sitting up properly after landing flat on his face.

Sakura sighed, standing up as well. "It's better than a trap right?"

Gon stood up and walked over to the stand with the post-board pasted on the wall and read; "The five of you must follow the will of the majority to reach the goal"

"That explains why the doors were set so closely together," Sakura said. It was almost too fortunate that they were already five together.

"Look," Gon pointed to the stand, five silver wristwatches sat on top, neatly assorted. "There are five stopwatches."

Everyone took one, on closer inspection, they found that there was a digital time of 71 hours and at the bottom of the time, two buttons marked X and O.

"Now how do we get out of here?" asked Leorio, putting on his wristwatch; however he was the last one to place it on, and after there was a rumbling noise that caught everyone's attention. Their eyes fell on one of the brick walls that started to shift, a single rectangular piece moving up and revealing a metal door with no handle. Only another message was pasted with two small screens showing X and O again.

"So it opens when we all put on the stopwatches," Kurapika noted.

A voice then echoed through the room, the way it traveled mechanically already told the group that it wasn't anyone physically in the room. They spotted a small square box, with a speaker on the top of one of the walls and realized there was a monitor.

"That's right,"

"Who's there!?" yelled Leorio.

"My name is Lippo. I am the prison warden here, as well as the Third Phase examiner." Everyone's eyes now remained on the monitor. "Multiple routes through this tower have been prepared. You have chosen the path of majority rule. Cooperation will be key if you wish to clear this path of the exam phase. One person's selfish behavior can derail an entire group. Best of luck lady and gentlemen!"

There was a second of static before the monitor went silent; although the five were now aware they were being watched.

"Good thing there are five of us here already," Leorio said stepping over to the door.

"Yeah, who knows how long we might've had to wait for other people to come dropping in," Killua said.

Sakura stopped in her tracks if there were supposed to in fact be five people who had to take on the path of the majority and she was one of them; being a factor that wasn't meant to exist in this world; then whose place did she just take?

"Sakura!" Gon called, snapping the pinkette out of her thoughts, when she looked up she saw that everyone had turned to her.

"Uh, sorry you say something?"

Killua frowned and pointed to the door; "Yeah, we're waiting for you to cast your vote! O to open and X to not!"

Flustered, Sakura quickly pressed the O button, and the opened; Sakura watched as the door slid to the side.

"Come on; keep your head on straight. We have to work together here." Leorio reminded her

"Sorry," Sakura muttered again, walking through the exit after the other males.

The door, however, leads to another room with bars blocking the paths on both sides and another question standing in front of them. This one asking which way they wanted to go; O for right. X for Left. All five glanced from one side to another; before casting their vote without turning to the next person to make a decision. There were two votes to go left and three to go right. Leorio looked t the group in disbelief.

"Why would you choose to go right?" Leorio looked around at the group, being the tallest, he was able to overlook all of them. "Normally, you'd go left."

"That is true." Kurapika agreed, "Studies have shown that people lost or stuck at forks unconsciously tend to go left."

"I heard that too," said Killua

"If the examiner knew about the statistics, I'm sure he would've made the left part harder," Sakura explained, before walking away down the Right path that was now open; followed by the rest of the group.

They continued to make their way through the path, no one making any effort to start up a conversation. It was a few minutes and there were no unwanted surprises by far other than a few turns. The five were forced to a stop when their path came to an end, entering one side of a room, much larger than the previous one. There was no floor beyond that point, the bottom was an endless fall of darkness; except for a cube base in the middle of the room, four torches lit on both corners with a monitor attached to one of the sides.

"What is this place?" Leorio asked

Killua pointed in front of them, right across from the room, past the platform; there were five figures. Four stood in front, while the other sat way at the back of the other side. They stood with their arms in front of them, hands visibly restrained by thick metal cuffs.

A gruff voice then came from one of the figures, "The applicants have arrived. Remove the shackles."

On command, the cuffs came undone. Hit the floor hard, in pieces. Large hands rubbed each wrist, before reaching up for the hood of the cloak and drawing it back.

"Jeez,"

Stepping into the lit part of the room, revealed a large bulky man with tan skin, and a bald head with scars following around it; he smirked at the five exam applicants.

"I'm finally free."

While everyone simply stared back with unchanging expressions, Leorio swallowed hard enough for them to hear on both sides of the room.

Then, their current examiner; Lippo's voice echoed through the room. "Lady and gentlemen, allow me to explain. Here before you, are some of Trick Tower's prisoners."

Everyone visibly reacted, with the slightest of movements in their postures as Lippo continued speaking.

"The Hunter Exam Committee has also officially hired them as examiners. You will be fighting against the five of them. The fight will be one-on-one. Each person can only fight once and you are free to use any method you like. There will be no draws. A win is declared when someone admits defeat."

Then the male prisoner spoke, "It's majority rule." He then held up three fingers "So secure three wins, and you may pass."

Leorio scoffed, hands on his hips, unhappy about having to use the majority rule again; and Killua preferred straightforward rules.

Then Lippo chided in once again, "The actual fights won't be that simple though. The prisoner's sentences will be reduced by one year, for every hour they delay the applicants."

"Nice incentive," Sakura said, her arms crossed. The applicants were on a time limit; their goal was to reach the base of the tower before that time ran out and the prisoners here in the tower were meant to make obtaining that goal hard. By pitting two opposing goals against each other; with both parties having their motives for fighting against each other.

"Okay, I'm up first," the first prisoner who had spoken, was a man known as Bendot. He was sentenced to 199 years, crime robbery and murder. Gon and the others were unaware of this however and Sakura was yet to find the opportunity to check her book. "Choose your combatant."

"What should we do? He said we can fight using any method." Killua said.

"That might not just pertain to actual fighting," Sakura told them.

Leorio frowned "We don't know what they'll try to pull…"

"There's too much at stake, not knowing what they have up their sleeves." Added Kurpika. "Given that, I'll go."

Sakura quickly interjected, holding her arm out. "Let me go."

Kurapika, Leorio, Gon, and Killua stared at Sakura; surprised by the pinkettes declaration. There wasn't a hint of fear on her face as she stepped forward, her back now facing the four.

"Sakura…." Gon called

"You sure about this?" Killua asked with his hands behind his head.

Sakura nodded with certainty.

"Are you nuts?!" screeched Leorio, his hands shaking, he then turned to the rest of the group. "Seriously; we're gonna send her out first?"

Brow twitching with annoyance at the insult, Sakura did her best to maintain her composure. She could not afford to injure him before it was hit the turn to step into the ring.

"Based simply on appearances; it doesn't look like your chances of winning will be good if it's a fight," Kurapika said honestly; he wondered what exactly she was thinking.

"Don't be so quick to assume then," Sakura snapped back, glaring at the four "I'm a lot more versatile than you think. Besides, with all those doubts you have about me wouldn't it make sense for me to go first?"

"I'm still against this," Leorio said,

"Use the expression Ladies first then," Sakura hissed through clenched teeth; she couldn't' do anything until they voted.

"No one uses the expressions; Ladies first-to their deaths!" Leorio yelled.

"Alright enough," Kurapika cut him off, "Let's just agree to this first match."

Everyone turned to the Kurta, including Sakura.

"Kurapika!?" Leorio glared at the blonde, "What are you-

"If she has that much confidence in her abilities, then we should just let her be." he said, crossing his arms "It'll do us no good to keep bickering about it with time running out."

Leorio leaned back; "That's true but still…."

"Okay, I'll vote for Sakura," Killua said, lifting his arm to view his stopwatch to press the button.

"Me too." Gon said pressing his button as well, along with Kurapika.

Leorio was still grumbling but pressed in agreement nonetheless. Straight after; a solid structure began extending from both ends of the edges where the prisoners and applicants stood; leading to the center platform. Sakura didn't turn back as she stepped forward, Bendot did the same.

"Do your best Sakura!" Gon called from behind her.

Sakura smiled a little; he had a kind of ecstatic behavior that reminded her of Naruto. Since she couldn't avoid them as she had planned; her only other option was to ensure that they made it through this exam despite her interference.

Bendot placed his hands on his hips, standing firmly. "I didn't expect you to be the brave one of the lot. Now for the method of the match. I propose a death match."

Sakura didn't flinch; despite what he said there was still what the examiner had told her. That you would win when your opponent admitted defeat.

"Alright." Sakura shifted her foot to broaden her stance slightly.

The pinkette glanced behind her at the rest of her group; this exam certainly didn't make it easy for her to hide her abilities.

'Doesn't matter. If they don't pass; if this story goes to hell because of me….I don't know how I'm getting home. There's just as much at stake for me as there is for them-if not more.' Sakura reminded herself, clenching her fists.

"D-Did he just says a death match? And did Sakura just agree to it!?" came Leorio's concerned voice.

"Relax," Killua told him, "This is why she went first,"

"She can quit anytime she wants and because she was first it won't be that big a loss," Kurapika added.

'I'm really getting annoyed now,' Sakura thought, her left brow twitching again. She held up her fists.

Arms spread, and a malicious smile settled on Bendot's face "Let the fight begin!"

With that, he leaped into the air, despite his hefty body. Either impatient or eager, it didn't matter. He was a few feet in the air, before coming down in Sakura's direction, drawing back his arm back and letting out a fierce cry. Drawing nearer to Sakura, the pinkette remained completely motionless.

"SAKURA MOVE."

Bendot threw his fist forward, aiming directly for Sakura's stomach. He felt his knuckles make contact with something soft, a loud clapping echoed around them.

'That should be enough to get it through this little girl's head-

"That all?" Sakura asked, tilting her head up to look at the man who overtowered her by a few feet. His eyes widened when he realized his fist had been stopped by a tiny palm. Unnerved, Sakura held her arm straight as she watched Bendot attempt to push her hand back; but to no avail. She was planted firmly on the ground by chakra and her strength was all she needed to stop that attack.

"Wow….." Gon and Killua trailed together, their mouths slightly widened. Leorio and Kurapika were silent, but that didn't mean they weren't surprised; oh they were. Now all focus was drawn on the match for different reasons.

"Okay," Sakura said, exhaling softly.

Bendot frowned, he quickly drew back his right hand to strike Sakura on the other side; but he only felt that hand become immobile as well as he felt something on his fist-this time it was only a single finger.

Sakura frowned, staring at the criminal's face as a vein appeared on his forehead. "You're stronger; not the average kind that only works out for looks. My guess is, you needed it for some kind of profession."

"Aren't you a clever girl," Bendot spoke with no indication of complement as he attempted to keep his stance; already beginning to breathe heavily? It was like he was attempting to move a ten-foot boulder rather than a four-foot pink-haired porcelain doll!

"How'd you get that scar?" Her eyes trailed up and around his head where the scar seemed to travel around his head.

"Why ask?" he panted,

"I'm getting kinda bored," Sakura said narrowing her eyes at him, "And the alternative would be this…"

Removing her one hand from Bendot's fist; Sakura quickly ducked to avoid the blow before clenching her hand and drawing up her fist. She made contact with Bendot's hard stomach and the man ended up coughing up a puddle of spit. He could feel her fist pressing only halfway into his skin, yet it was still so painful.

Sakura watched as he staggered to the back, gripping his gut and grunting in pain. The rest of the room was completely silent, watching in anticipation.

'I didn't even hit him that hard,' the kunoichi thought, she had barely coated her fist with chakra. It certainly wasn't enough to rupture organs at least. She glanced at the hand that she used to punch him; perhaps it would be better if she put a little more effort in it wasn't like they had all the time in the world.

Bendot got back on his feet, he swayed a bit before he pushed back on the sold of his foot and ran towards Sakura again. Sakura didn't make any sign to move until he was an arm's length away and sidestepped him. He was surprised, he was still in motion.

Almost too quick to see, Sakura with her hands behind her back, threw her upper body to the front so it was parallel with her lower half. Her leg lifted straight and her foot hit Bendot right in the side of his face. The impact sent him flying across the platform, near the edge on the other side.

"Your sentences will be reduced one year for every hour you keep us here," She said, stomping on Bendot's back. "That means you intended to prolong this match as much as you could, what exactly were you planning?"

Now Sakura wasn't that vindictive, and she understood that they were all playing by different rules. But she didn't take well to what was entailed had she been weaker and what would've become of that person if they didn't surrender. She kicked him into the air, watching him land closely in front of her.

"Well?"

Bendot was standing again, wiping the side of his mouth where blood had started to gather and drip. "You-You little-

"What?" she asked; she shifted her head to the side. Daring him to finish his sentence; baiting him.

"AAAGH"

In a flash, Sakura blurred for a second before appearing in front of Bendot. She reached forward, grabbing him by his worn shirt. Immediately, his hands reached for her throat but twice as fast; Sakura lifted her knee and brought down her free arm. Trapping his arm in between both limbs; she pressed her elbow down hard and there was a loud snapping sound followed by Bendot's scream of pain as he clutched his now broken arm.

"Yikes," Leorio winced.

"She broke his arm so easily," Kurapika muttered under his breath.

Sakura then proceeded to drag the man who had to be several pounds heavier than her; towards the edge of the platform. Holding her arm out straight, she dangled him by his shirt over the edge. Three was an upward wind that rustled their clothing.

"Alright, now I'm angry." Sakura sneered; a deep frown on her face. "You have five seconds to surrender, or I'll drop you,"

Through his pain, Bendot laughed, "Y-You're serious? If that's the case then you have no intention of killing me!"

Sakura detached a finger from his top making him jostle in the air. That seemed to draw Bendot's attention away from the pain as he looked up at Sakura.

"Two-

Another finger unlatched itself from the fabric, only two fingers remained before she would no longer be pinching the material.

"Three-

"You're bluffing."

"Fine," With that she let him go without finishing her count down. As he fell Bendot screamed.

"I give!" He couldn't say any more because he was more concerned about falling. Sakura grabbed his hand and yanked him roughly back onto the platform.

"If you'd fallen any further, you'd be dead," She smiled walking away from the platform.

"That was incredible Sakura!" Gon gushed.

Killua smirked, standing with his hands in his pockets. "Yeah, I wouldn't have guessed you could fight like that. Or that you were willing to kill."

After last night, he was fair in making the assumption. But Sakura knew this man was in prison for a reason and he was willing to put his life on the line if he had entered these exams to shorten his sentence because any other way he would be dying in prison. Sakura wasn't against killing she just didn't do anything senseless.

Leorio appeared nervous, taking several steps away as Sakura walked passed them all; slumping against the wall and resting her head between her knees. "Ye-Yeah-hey about all that stuff I said earlier-

"I'll forget it if you do."

"Done." Leorio laughed.