Chapter 15

The ground rumbles when a part of the wall lifts. Everyone looks towards a door to see a screen. Gon walks towards the screen and so does everyone else.

"To open the door... press o... if not press x..."

"So... like the guy said... this will be based off majority..." Leorio calmly says.

"Majority... like a majority rules type of thing?" Kiyomi questions.

"Eh? Are you stupid or something?" Killua says to Kiyomi.

"Hey... what's your problem-" Kiyomi huffs.

"I'm saying we explained these rules to you already... You're the dumb one who didn't understand."

"What are you talking about-? My ears are still ringing from when the fat ass fell on me... I'm sorry I can't hear shit... Why don't you talk louder... hmm?!" Kiyomi fumes.

"OH, MY BAD GRANDMA! DOES THIS SOUND LOUD ENOUGH TO YOU!" Killua yells.

"Hey- relax you two." Leorio says pushing Killua away.

"Yeah- this is a team effort challenge... it's not a good idea if we argue and fight now." Gon softly says.

"Yes... please- relax." Kurapika says in a calm tone. Kiyomi sighs and stares at the screen and pressing a button on her bracelet.

"Exactly... Let's just move forward... The answer should be very clear-" Leorio says pressing the button on his bracelet. Everyone does the same.

On the screen it shows two for x and four for o.

"Hey- who they hell pressed x..." Leorio shouts.

"Oh- right... x is no and o is for yes..." Kiyomi says with a confused look on her face.

"What are you a fucking idiot?!" Killua seethes.

"Hey- shut up... someone else pressed x also!" Kiyomi fumes back at Killua.

"Next time... pay attention to what you pick..." Kurapika calmly says to Kiyomi.

"Yes... I'm sorry." Kiyomi says quickly bowing.

"WAIT WAIT WAIT.... THERE IS STILL ONE OTHER PERSON WHO DIDN'T PICK O. WAS IT YOU OLD MAN?!" Leorio shouts at Tonpa.

"Sorry sorry- Haha... I didn't quite understand either..." Tonpa chuckles.

"What... the two of you are working together or something?" Leorio asks.

"No- I'm not working with him..." Kiyomi sighs. "Not after he sabotaged my dish... I'm not up to being his little helper..."

"HAHA SABOTAGED!? HA WHAT? I DID NO SUCH THING!" Tonpa awkwardly laughs.

TING

"Sure... whatever-" Kiyomi sighs as she walks through the door. Everyone walks out behind her.

"Hey now thinking about it... You did make an actual dish compared to everyone else... Haha- You must be a good cook then." Gon laughs.

"No- it's cause she's a girl." Killua replies.

"No- it's not because I'm a girl or because I'm a good cook- actually... I don't think I can cook well anyway... That specific dish was taught to me by someone close to me."

"Was it your mother?" Kurapika asks.

"I don't have one of those..." Kiyomi slowly says. "Paku was the one who taught me how to make food... She was somewhat motherly to me I guess..." Kiyomi says in a sad tone.

"Paku? Who is that?" Gon asks. Kiyomi stops at a wall with another screen. She slowly turns and looks at Gon and smiles.

"Just someone I know." She softly says. Gon's eyes widen and then furrow, causing him to look away.

"Which way... o for right, x for left..." Kurapika calmly says.

"To the right... or to the left...? Dang- I didn't think we would be getting another question this quickly..." Leorio sighs. Everyone looks at their wristbands and presses a button. The screen shows that four people chose o, and two people chose x. "Huh? What? Why would you go right? You should want to go left..."

"That's true- they did say those who get lost tend to chose left rather than right." Kurapika replies.

"Yeah... I heard that too." Killua agrees.

"HUH? NO! THAT IS WRONG NO MATTER HOW YOU THINK IT!... WHAT DID YOU TWO CHOOSE?" Leorio shouts.

"Right." Kurapika says walking to the right.

"Right..." Killua replies, following after Kurapika.

"Tch... you two-" Leorio grumbles.

"That's why we should go right... to throw the examiner off you know." Tonpa says smiling at Leorio. "I'm sure the examiner had the same theory and made the left a lot harder." Tonpa chuckles walking to the right. Leorio sighs and looks at both Kiyomi and Gon.

"And so what... What did you two choose?" Leorio grumbles.

"I chose the right..." Kiyomi softly says.

"And I chose the left..." Gon continues.

"Augh... fuck this..." He groans as he walks towards the right. Kiyomi and Gon looks at each other and then continue to the right.

They continue walking, quietly down the hall until they reach a big open room with the ground missing, and a small platform in the middle. Kiyomi looks out into the distance to see a group of people standing on the other side of the room.

"Woah.. what is this..." Leorio says in a shocked tone.

"Look across..." Killua says. Everyone looks across the room. Kiyomi relaxes her eyes and furrows her eyebrows.

"The participants are here... Release my handcuffs..." A person across the room sighs. The handcuffs falls off the guy and he sighs. He pulls the cloak off from over him and walks forward. He is a tall buff man who is bald. "Ah- I'm finally free." He says smiling.

"LISTEN UP! YOU MUST HAVE NOTICED THAT THE PEOPLE IN FRONT OF YOU ARE THE PRISONERS OF THIS TOWER! THEY WILL BE YOUR OPPONENTS! YOU WILL BE FIGHTING AGAINST THEM! YOU CAN FIGHT HOWEVER YOU WANT BUT THE OPPONENTS GET TO CHOSE HOW TO PLAY! IT WILL BE A ONE ON ONE BATTLE... TO WIN, YOU OR THE OPPONENT HAS TO ADMIT DEFEAT." The voice says.

"The rules are simple... Whomever wins three points first wins... You can chose who goes first... the order doesn't matter... but you can only go once." The first opponent says.

"Okay... so now what?" Killua says.

"Yeah... no matter what- one wrong move and everything will be at stake." Leorio says.

"Exactly... so I should-" Kurapika starts.

"I'll go..." Tonpa says.

"Huh?"

"What?"

"Why?" Kurapika questions.

"I'll be the guinea pig and see what we are up against... take it as an apology for what I did earlier." Tonpa says smiling a bit.

TING

Kiyomi relaxes her eyes and looks off into the distance.

"Wait? Are you serious?" Leorio questions.

"I mean... yeah- you guys are wary about me... you wouldn't trust me to be the tiebreaker- so I might as well go first to avoid that outcome." Tonpa says confidently.

TING

"I... I guess you're right..." Leorio says in a surprised tone.

"Great. So I'll go first."

"Woah... Tonpa-" Leorio says in shock.

The floor begins to shake a bit and a pathway appears before them. Tonpa walks across, making it to the center floor. His opponent stands on the other side.

"Wow... I didn't think Tonpa would be the type to do that..." Leorio comments

"Yeah... and I didn't think he would volunteer..." Kurapika adds.

"Something feels off about the opponent..." Kiyomi softly says.

"In a way... I agree..." Killua calmly replies.

"Do you think Tonpa will be okay?" Gon questions.

"Okay! I will chose what our match will be... Let this be a battle to the death!" The first opponent says.

"A deathmatch?" Gon questions.

"Crazy..." Kiyomi smiles.

"Don't fall for his bravado!" Kurapika shouts.

"How about it?" The first opponent laughs.

"Fine then! A fight to the death!" Tonpa laughs.

They both get in a stance and prepares to charge at each other. The first opponent dashes towards Tonpa, preparing to attack but Tonpa drops down to the ground.

"I ADMIT DEFEAT!"

"Huh?"

"What did he say?" Leorio asks.

"You what?" The first opponent questions.

"I-I said... I admit defeat. So you win... I've lost..." Tonpa chuckles.

"How lame... and I thought I was going to see a fight to the death..." Kiyomi sighs, holding up both her hands.

"What the hell..." Leorio begins to twitch in anger.

The first opponent laughs and then he nods.

"Alright. We win the first round... If we win all three rounds then you won't be able to advance and fail the hunters exam... and we will get 72 years taken off our sentences." He laughs as he turns around. The first opponent turns around and walks to the other side. Tonpa stands up and walks back to his side. Once he makes it across he awkwardly laughs.

"Haha! How embarrassing..." Tonpa awkwardly laughs. "I didn't expect him to look so scary..."

"WHY YOU! NOW I GET IT!" Leorio grabs at Tonpas shirt and clenches his fist. "YOU'RE A PIECE OF SHIT THAT'S BEEN HOLDING US BACK!" Leorio shouts.

"Yes... I am." Tonpa says smiling at Leorio. "That is what I've been doing the whole time... and I'll continue to do it... again- and again..." He laughs.

"What the hell-" Leorio huffs.

"I'm not doing this to pass... no no- I'm here for the fun."

"Are you serious? FOR FUN?" Leorio seethes.

"Exactly... It's full of young people with dreams... I like- to destroy those dreams. That's why I find this... fun." Tonpa continues. "I've had my fun this year... I was planning to drop out by now- so might as well..."

"FUCKING DISGUSTING PIG-" Leorio holds up his first preparing to punch Tonpa.

"LEORIO! No..." Kurapika says pulling at Leorio's arm. "If we continue to argue we will waste time... and that's exactly what they want." Kurapika sighs.

"True... but if wasting time is their goal... then this guy's choice was the best choice to begin with." Killua states.

"Yeah... that's true- That guy wasn't going to kill Tonpa... instead he probably would have crushed Tonpa's vocal cords so Tonpa couldn't admit defeat and then torture Tonpa until the time ran out..." Kiyomi adds.

"Exactly... so this guy's idea wasn't to kill him- but to waste our time..." Killua continues.

"Yeah- Yeah... heheh... I also took that into consideration too..." Tonpa quavers.

"You look pale old man." Leorio says in a dull tone as he bores down at Tonpa.

The second opponent gets revealed.

"The next guy doesn't seem much of a physical fighter... so we look to be at an advantage..." Killua comments.

"Don't underestimate him... he's still a prisoner..." Kiyomi adds.

"Who will go next?" Leorio asks.

"I'll go next." Gon says holding his hand up.

"Are you sure?"

"Yep..." Gon says placing his stuff down. Gon walks across and stands across from the opponent.

"I'm not much of a fighter... or am I one who likes to run or jump." The second opponent says.

"Oh... really? I love all of those things..." Gon calmly says.

"I'm more the type who likes to do mind games..." The guy adds.

"Oh- I'm not good at those."

"Haha... good- I was hoping for that." The guy laughs. "So then let's play a game. A game that doesn't involve mental or physical ability..."

"Huh?" Gon looks at the guy confused.

"A game. A simple game."

"What's the game about?"

"We both will light a candle and whoever's candle goes out loses... How's that sound?" The guy asks.

"Sure. It does sound clear in simple... Let's do this!" Gon bubbles. The guy pulls out two candles. One short one and one long one.

"Which candle do you want to choose... You can pick first, and I'll use the other... It's your choice completely." The guy says. "Press o for the long one... or press x for the short one."

Kiyomi smiles as she watches Gon chose a candle.

After a short game- Gon wins, and the second opponent looks shocked as he admits defeat. One point is for participants team and one point for prisoners.

The third opponent walks to the center after his handcuffs come off. Unlike the first two, this opponent hadn't taken off his robe.

Kurapika volunteers to go next. He walks to the center as the opponent stands across him. Once the pathways pull away, the third opponent pulls off his robe, revealing himself. He's blue with a big strong body and no nose. He barely has teeth too.

Kiyomi makes a semi disgusted face.

"What a crazy looking physique..." Leorio says in shock.

"He looks pretty shameless..." Killua adds.

"Look at this... haha... I've killed nineteen people- each tattoo representing each kill..." The blue guy says pointing to the hearts on his chest. "It makes me upset that it's so uneven... I was hoping to add another to my collection and make it... twenty- an even number~"

"Great... what- are we looking at a serial killer?" Leorio asks.

"Sounds more like a scam artist." Kiyomi sighs.

"Yeah- no real killer would flaunt how many people they killed..." Killua adds.

"Yeah- I guess that's true... but then again- he is a prisoner here..." Leorio replies.

"So then kid... Let's make this a duel to the death... HAHA!" The guy says smiling at Kurapika. "I want... blood- I want... guts. LETS DO THIS KID!"

"Alright then... Let's do this." Kurapika agrees. "What are the rules?"

"Huh? You're one tough brat."

"Just tell me how we should fight- There's nothing I can't do."

"Then it's a death match. We fight until one of us dies or forfeits... But if you forfeit too early... don't expect me to not kill you." He laughs.

"He's making me feel gross by laughing like that." Kiyomi sighs.

"Wait- no weapons... just a hand to hand fight. I have no weapons so you should have no weapons too..." The guy adds.

"Alright... that's fair..." Kurapika says pulling a weapon out from behind him.

"Hey guys... do you think Kurapika will be okay?" Leorio asks.

"I'm sure he will be fine..." Kiyomi adds.

"Yeah... I agree." Killua nods.

"Yeah... The guy doesn't give off any scary vibes..." Gon adds.

"Huh... really?" Leorio says in shock.

The blue guy charges at Kurapika and then slamming down at the ground, causing the ground to crack and crumble. After punching the ground he slowly stands up and turns around... showing his back. Kiyomi relaxes her eyes when she sees the tattoo on his back.

"It's a twelve-legged spider tattoo... wait- isn't that..." Leorio pauses in shock.

"Yes... If anyone has heard of that tattoo... It's the symbol that only the members of an infamous gang of thieves have... the most criminal group of people in all history." Tonpa says in shock. "The phantom trope." Kiyomi furrows her eyebrows when he says that.

"Wait- seriously?" Gon questions.

"There's no doubt... it's a pretty well known gang... plus... Kurapika was the one who told me about them..." Leorio panics.

"By Kurapika? What did he say about the phantom trope?" Kiyomi asks. Leorio slowly looks at Kiyomi. Gon's eyes widen as he slowly looks at Kiyomi. Tonpa slowly looks at Kiyomi too.

"Who are you again..." Leorio questions.

"Hey-" Kiyomi grumbles. "It was just a question..."

"Hey- Kiyomi... Is that person really a phantom trope member?" Gon asks. Kiyomi's eyes widen as she slowly looks towards Gon.

"Huh? Why are you asking her?" Killua asks Gon.

"I thought she might be the only one in here who would know that answer..." Gon calmly says in response to Killua. Kiyomi's eyes relax and she looks off into the distance.

"What? What makes you say that?" Leorio asks.

"Just a hunch." Gon calmly responds. He stares at Kiyomi waiting for a response. She slowly looks back at Gon and shakes her head.

"No- he's not a phantom member." Kiyomi answers. Gon slowly nods and looks forward.

"Huh? You believe her just like that?" Leorio questions.

"Yeah..." Killua sighs. "I know this guy is a fraud... but you barely know her..."

"We met just yesterday... but I trust you. So why can't I trust her?" Gon comments.

"Eh... tch." Killua looks away and closes his eyes. Kiyomi looks back towards Kurapika. He quickly moves and grabs the guy. The guy pleads for mercy but Kurapika punches him hard down onto the ground. He slowly stands up... panting. Kiyomi's eyes widen when she sees Kurapika's scarlet eyes.

"A Curta..." Kiyomi quietly says to herself.