Fully completed story at:
patreon.com/FanFictionPremium
***
Risotto's opponent was some bald man, probably ex-military.
- Let's fight to the death, the man suggested.
- Are you so sure you'll win? Aren't you afraid of dying or being crippled for the rest of your life?
- Don't underestimate me. You don't know how many battles I've been in. Let's get started.
- Underestimate you? I think you overestimate yourself,' Risotto said quietly under his breath.
- Start on the count of three,' said the examiner, 'One, two, three!
At that moment the man immediately jumped up and tried to nail Risotto, but he dodged. He immediately turned round and started swinging his fists at Risotto, but Risotto dodged all his blows and finally ducked behind him.
- That's the best you can give me? No tactics? No interesting moves or abilities? Well, what else would you expect from an ex-military man,' Risotto said with slight disappointment.
- Don't get cocky, I'm just warming up,' The man turned in his direction and walked towards him with a slight smile. But then his smile changed to a grimace of pain. He bent over slightly and spat out a handful of blades.
- What the hell?! Y-yes, who are you? - A bunch of needles erupted from his cheeks and he screamed in pain again. A couple of razors came out of his ankle. He could barely stay on his feet. A couple more came out just above his eyebrow.
- That's enough. I'll finish this. - Risotto grabbed a knife from the inside pocket of his jacket, ran up and slit the man's throat in a swift motion. The man stepped back a little and tried his best to stay on his feet holding his throat. Risotto simply walked up to him and pushed him into the abyss below the arena.
- One victory for the examiners, - Said the examiner.
The passage extended out of the floor again allowing Risotto to go back to the others. Everyone without exception, and the opponents as well, were frightened by this terrifying ability. Some were more afraid, like Leorio, some less, like Killua.
- What are you looking at? I've won us a victory, now you will not let us down. Who's next?
- Yes, a truly terrifying ability,' Leorio muttered to himself, 'Okay, I'll go next.
Next, Leorio lost 50 total hours thanks to losing to rock paper scissors.
'Cretin! Lost so many hours because of a pathetic desire to grope a broad. I'd kill him, but the hell with it. There's hope for the rest of us.'
Next up was Kurapika and some big freak. The freak tried to intimidate him, but Risotto quickly recognised his pathetic showmanship. Kurapika didn't care about his threats. Then the big guy jumped and tried to nail Kurapika, but Kurapika deftly jumped back. The big guy turned his back, a twelve-legged spider tattooed on his back.
- Is it really Genei Ryodan?! - Leorio exclaimed.
- Genei Ryodan? Who the hell is that? - Asked Risotto.
- Don't you know?! They are the worst criminals in history. A criminal organisation whose members all have a tattoo of a spider. How can you not know about them?
- I told you, I'm from far away.
''Is this show-off from such a famous organisation? I don't really believe it. I wonder how strong this organisation is? Could they stand up to Passione?'
In the end, Kurapika got really angry and knocked him out. As it turned out, that tattoo was fake. The real members of Genya Ryodan have a spider with a number.
'The kid's got a lot of strength. Small stature, not much muscle, but he was able to take down that big guy, even though he was a cheat.'
- Victory for the examiners. They're moving on. - Said the examiner.
Now, because of Leorio, they had to wait for time to pass. For this, they were assigned a room to spend time in. The room had couches, a TV, a bookshelf with a bunch of books, and other things to enjoy themselves. Risotto decided to finally relax. He picked up a book and made tea with all sorts of goodies. Killua came up to him.
- What do you want?
- Tell me, - Killua said, - How did you put all those razors and needles in that man? What kind of ability is that? That's what everyone else is wondering.
- I can't tell you that. I could get in trouble for telling my secrets to just anyone.
- Do you think I could beat you in a fight?
- Hmm, let me think. Can you see the future?
- No. Why, because I can't beat you otherwise?
- Probably not.
- You don't know me at all. How can you be so sure?
- Believe me, I know a little more about you than you think.
Killua thought for a while and then went to read comics with Gon.
Soon Risotto was approached by Kurapika.
- Listen, why did you decide to become a Hunter.
- Why do you want to know?
- I was just curious. Don't worry, I have no evil intentions.
- I don't really know why I'm doing this. Somehow I got into it and now I'm just moving forward, cos I don't really have much choice.
- Honestly, it's kind of hard to understand you.
- I do. In that case, now tell me why you decided to become a Hunter. Or is it a secret?
- No, it's not a secret. At least not to all of you. It's revenge. I want to become a Hunter to avenge the destruction of my clan. My clan was destroyed by the criminal organisation Genya Ryodan. That's why I was so angry when I saw the spider tattoo on that creep's back, even though I knew it was fake.
- Revenge, huh? I totally get it.
- You've lost people close to you, too? - Kurapika's a little more animated.
- You could say that.
- And now you want revenge?
- No. I've already tried and failed. I probably won't be able to take revenge again.
- Why is that?
- It's hard to explain. Let's just say the man I wanted to kill is no longer in this world.
- Someone else killed him?
- Maybe so. Maybe not. But either way, I'll never see him again.
- Oh, well, all right. By the way, I've been meaning to ask you for a long time. What's wrong with your eyes? They're quite unusual. Are they lenses?
- No. I was born this way. What's wrong with your eyes? They turned red when you got angry.
- Did you notice that? It's a characteristic of my clan. In our clan, everyone's eyes turn red when they're angry and their strength increases with it.
- Really? That's an interesting trait.
- Okay, it's bedtime. Let's all go to bed.
Risotto made himself a place to sleep and went to bed with everyone else.
Morning. Everyone's starting to wake up. Time is almost up and we'll have to move out soon.
Time was up. They left the room and headed onwards. What came next were only uncomplicated traps and puzzles. The last challenge was an interesting one. One had to leave two people to go the short way, or go the long way, but then it would take about fifty hours to go. This was solved thanks to the ingenuity of Gon: He guessed that it was possible to go the long way, but break the wall and go straight to the short way. Risotto used his stand and removed the iron from the wall, which made it less strong. Once again he surprised everyone else. In about half an hour before the 72 hours were up, they reached the bottom. The stage was passed.
Soon they boarded a boat that took them to the third stage. They were sailing towards the island. Along with them were about thirty other people.
'At last the open expanse. The last time I breathed sea air was during my stay in Sardinia. These guys: Gon, Killua, Kurapika and Leorio. Looks like they can be trusted. I can't wait to pass this exam.'