The x Third x Phase (Chapter 6)

I fall but land on my feet I look around and see everyone. "Huh?" We all said in sync. I walk to get the bracelet. I throw the bracelets at them. "We need six people." I look at them. "So we wait?" Kurapika questioned. "Very good!" the speaker said.

I jump and start screaming. "WHAT THE HELL IS INSIDE THE WALL?" I jump into Killua's arms and he just sighs. He makes sure I can't fall and pets me. "Uh anyway you guys have chosen the Majority rule path so, that means one more person has to join you. Good luck"

He cuts off the speaker as I calm down. "So we really have to wait here until someone else shows up?" Leorio sighs. "Um, I guess." Killua sits down. I play with his hair for a while. Gon and Killua were talking and I was watching Tiktok.

"Hey come here!" I shout to Gon. He comes over to me, riding the skateboard. "Yeah, Sis?" He bends down to my height. "The TikTok says to pick my room." I show him the video and he strokes his chin. "Hmm..." Gas starts to come out of his ears. "Nevermind then!" I turn off my phone and look at Leorio and Kurapika.

"When were you, two siblings? And since were you a thing?" Leorio points at me and Killua. "Like you are sitting on his lap like it is normal." He crosses his arms. "Well, I am used to it. She does it all the time. I swear she is a new person every day." Killua laughs and kisses me on the cheek.

"Stop it I am watching TikToks!" I put my hand to my cheek he kissed. Gon laughs and looks at Killua. "Hey, Sis wanna play tag?" He gets up. "No." I scroll on my phone. "Are you scared to lose?" Gon puts his hand on his hip. I get up and look at him. "Fine, I am it." I count to ten while Gon goes to a corner. I run and grab his arm while he tried to escape.

"See? You are no match for me." I pull him into a hug. He hugs me back. "Hey! I don't get a hug?" Killua pouts. "No. I have been wanting to see Gon for 9 years. He gets hugs." I continue to hug him as he laughs awkwardly. "Sorry, Killua."We hear something above us and look up. Suddenly, Tonpa plummets to the ground.

"Wow, good grief." He rubbed his head.

"Mr. Tonpa!"

"Oh great"

"Look who it is."

"The motherfuc-" I lift my sleeves and Killua grabs my arm. "Baka! Relax!" I huff as I watch Tonpa put the bracelet on. "Ok-" Tonpa looks at the bracelet. The wall started to lift so we see the door. "I see. So the door must be programmed to appear once all 5 timers are on."

Kurapika says as we all walk up to the door. "At this door select 'O' the open, 'X' not to open." Gon read. "Using majority rule already?" Leorio added. "No, it is just telling us this for no reason...clearly we are using majority rule." I sigh and look at the door. Gosh, I am with a bunch of idiots. "All right...at least the answer is obvious." Leorio presses the button as we follow.

O- 5

X-1

I go through the door as they argue. I read the sign and look at my sides. "Which way do you want to go? 'O' or right an 'X' for left." I look at the group. "I didn't think we would have a question so fast..." Leorio thought out loud. We all press a button.

O- 4

X-2

"WHY WOULD YOU GO RIGHT?" Leorio started to argue. "Research has shown people who get lost or are at crossroads end up choosing left than right. Kurapika said. "Oh! I heard about that!" I start walking to the exit. "Who chooses left?" Leorio followed. "I did." I, Killua, and Kurapika said in sync. We walk as Leorio mumbles.

We walk until we reach the end. "Woah, where are we?" Leorio looks around. "See that? Over there?" Killua point across us. We watch the man get ready. Killua grabs my hand gently but, he doesn't look at me nor, break the eye contact of the prisoners. "Gentleman. Let me explain." The announcer starts talking.

"Excuse me! I am a girl! I am no GeNtLeMaN!" I huff and look away. "My Lady relax. He didn't know." He chuckles and hugs me. "Sorry...Gentleman and Ladies. Let me explain. You probably already have noticed that some of the prisoners of the Trick Tower are standing before you." He continued.

"They are prisoners?" Kurapika questioned. "Not just prisoners. The Hunter Exam committee hired them as examiners. In this phase, you will be fighting all 6 of them. The fight will be one-on-one with each person fighting once. Use any style you like. There will be no draws. To be declared the victor, your opponent must admit defeat. If there is a tie the first people will go again." He confessed.

Why does he talk so much? "Ok ok, we get it now shut up." I wave my hand at the speaker as it cuts off. "You can decide-" The prisoner starts speaking but I cut him off. "By majority rule yeah, yeah." I roll my eyes and turn to the group. I push Killua off a but and look at them. "Now what? He said to fight however we want." Killua looked at everyone.

"Tonpa go." I push him away from us. He let out a huff and claimed he was going to go anyway. I watch the ground extend and I go into the hallway more. I watch TikToks until he comes back. I put my phone and AirPods in my bag. I get up and punch him across the face which sent him almost falling off the edge. "Don't talk unless you want to die." I huff and cross my arms. "Yeah but My Lady...if their goal was to kill as much time as possible, then the move the old man made was actually the right one." Killua puts his hand on my shoulder and walks to me.

"The bald guy looks ex-military. Probably a mercenary. If he fought with him, he'd have started by crushing his larynx. Pretty hard to give up if you can't even talk. Then they would have tortured him without killing him for as long as he liked. So can you calm down?" He looked at me with his emotionless eyes. I pushed him away and walked to the back. Gon chases after me.

"(Y/N) he is probably ticked off by Mr. Tonpa. Can you watch me at least?" He points to the front. I chuckle and put my phone away again. "Alright, Gon." I get up and walk next to him. "Me! I want to give it a try!" He catches up to them and smiled. "Are you sure?" Leorio questioned. "Shut up and let the kid go old man." I give Gon a nudge and he chuckles. Leorio starts yelling and I cover my ear. Gon puts his bag down and I pick it up. "I got you." I smile.

The prisoner begins to pull out candles and explains the rules. "Yep! Makes sense to me! Let's do it." Gon shouts. So which candle do you want to use? Your choice. Press O for the long candle and X for the short candle." He holds up two candles. I already know he sabotaged both because he isn't good at hiding anything.  "So we have to choose one? This is a damn trap! Normally you'd want to go for the long one, which means that lowlife must've done something to sabotage it." Leorio raged. Yes, that would be the safe assumption." Kurapika looks at Leorio. "You know what?! Gon you choose what you want." I give him a thumbs up. "Are you sure My Lady? He doesn't think things through." Killua puts a hand on my shoulder. "Yeah, I believe in him." I smile while holding his hand on my shoulder. He smiled and looks at Gon. "Me? All right I will choose the long one!" Gon points at the candle and looks at us. Killua sighs and takes his hand away. "I told you." We press the button and watch Gon and the prisoner. I smile until I see a big fire. My eyes widen as I watch him fiddle with it.

-Flashback-

"I win again!" I do a little victory dance and laugh. "You are so good at this game!" Killua laughs and grabs my hand. "Let's go over there!" He points to his bed. I cough and nod. It smelled like something was...burning? "Hey, Killua-Kun is something burning?" I barely open the door to see a big fire. I see Illumi trying to put it out. "Don't worry (Y/N)! Go play with your toys!" He smiled and closes the door. I start coughing like crazy and Killua tries to calm me down. I didn't remember anything after that besides Killua swearing I was safe and fire.

-End of Flashback-

I start to feel my chest burn and I freak out. I was scared of big fires and get big anxiety attacks. I start to cry silently. "Hey, Killua is she ok?" Leorio points at me while looking at the distracted boy. "Yeah, she looks scared," Kurapika added. He looks over to me and his eyes widen. "Oi! Don't cry!" He goes to me and hugs me. I hug him back tightly and cry on his shoulder. My body felt weak and my head was hurting so I fell asleep on his shoulders still crying in my sleep.

~20 minutes later~

I wake up with my head still pounding. I use the wall to guide me to the battle. It was Kurapika's turn and I saw his red glowing eyes while he stared at the prisoner. I soon see Kurapika beating him up. "YES DRAG HIM!" I smile and start to whimper while holding my head. I see Killua and hug him from behind. He picks me up (Bridal style) and I was laying down. "Thank you, Kil!"

I pat his head. I was still trembling and I was dizzy. I didn't hear anything they said because I was deep in thought. All heard was Killua because he was close to me. I watch as Leoiro walks away. I get off of Killua and use his shoulder to hold me up so I don't faint. "Ok! Time to end this! Drag him off and send in your next contender!" Leorio commands. The woman giggles "That's not possible."

"Wait what?" Leorio puts his hand down. "I said I'm afraid we can't move him. His match isn't over yet." She walks to the center. "I don't get it? How is the match not over yet? What are you talking about?"  She checks his pulse and announces he is alive. "Oh don't you remember? This is a fight till the death. One of them had to die or admit defeat. He is still alive and he hasn't surrendered."

She giggles again as she walks away. I take my hand off Killua because I am calmer than before. So I didn't feel like I was dying. "Talk about splitting hairs." Leorio scoffs. "Maybe, but you've got to admit she is right." Killua added. "I'm with Killua." Gon didn't break eye contact. "So do I." I raise my other hand. "That's how it is? All right Kurapika. Get over there and that loser out of his misery." Leorio turns to Kurapika.

"I refuse."

"Wh-Huh? What do you mean you refuse?" Leorio grumbled.

"The fight was already over. It was clear to me that by the time I punched him, he had already lost the will to fight. I will not continue fighting a loser." Kurapika explained. "Seriously?! What are we supposed to do?! Cause those guys are claiming the match hasn't even ended yet!" Leorio complains. "I will leave that up to him," Kurapika said calmly. Leorio let out a huh waiting for another explanation. "He decides his own fate just as soon he revives." Kurapika answers.

"Come on Kurapika we don't have that much time on our shoulders and the fact that it is running out isn't helping." I sit next to Kurapika. "Exactly! We can't just sit around and wait!" Leorio added. "My mind is made up guys!" Kurapika looks away from me. "Hey, I can kill him if you don't want to. Never killed anyone before have you? Are you scared?" Killua questioned. "Whether or not murder is frightening has never entered my mind. Regardless, this is a one-on-one battle. You can't interfere." Kurapika looks at the ground. "Fine. I won't argue.

Except if you were a team player, you wouldn't be acting so selfish." Killua points at Kurapika and Leorio to add to the argument. I put my head my AirPods in and I shuffle my playlist. I watch the inaudible conversation. I watch Leorio sit down and sulk. I take out an AirPod. "Hey, can I lean on you?" I look over to Kurapika. He nods his head and I smile back. I put my earpiece back inside my ear and I take out a book called 'The Hobbit'. I silently read while looking at Killua and Gon sometimes.

(Off-topic but why is Gon more flexible than me? 😃✋🏻)

(Also there is a lot of dialogue with Leroute and Leorio so I just made it so you know who is saying who. (Y/N) doesn't know Leroute's name too.)

~Time skip~

I wake up after my head hits the floor. I groan and get up to stand with the others. "Damn it! It's impossible to tell this far away." Leorio states. I grumble and grab my phone. I answer the missed call from Kikyo while going into the shadows. "Hey, Mom what are you doing?"

"Nothing but, sweetheart where are you? You are not in the forest nor the town. We are worried to death about you." I hear Milluki and Kalluto yelling about something in the background. "Yeah, um about that...we are not in town. We went far away from town. I doubt that we are not leaving for long though." I hang up and put my phone away. I put my earpieces in my bag along with my book. "Fantastic." I zip up my bag in frustration and walk to the crowd. "We'll each have 50 hours with which to wager, and bets can only be placed in 10-hour increments. We bet until one of our clocks reaches zero." The woman finished. I hug Gon from the side and sit down letting my feet hang off the side. I observe the conversation.

"Gambling with time, huh?"

"We'll take turns deciding what to bet on. If your credit reaches zero, you will have 50 fewer hours to escape the tower."

"What if you hit zero first?"

"50 years will be added to our sentences. If you accept these terms, I'll confirm whether he is alive or dead."

"Man that woman is crazy. Betting with her own jail time like that?"

"Consider your choice wisely. If you lose, we'll all have 50 fewer hours to clear the tower." Kurapika advised.

Leorio: "Yeah, well nobody askin' you. Case you forgot, you're the one who got us into this stupid damn mess in the first place!"

"Very well." Kurapika crosses his arms and looks away from Leorio.

"Come on! We shouldn't be fighting each other!" Gon interrupted. I and Killua just sighed.

Leorio: "All right! I accept you're damn challenge!"

Prisoner: "Ok. I choose our first bet, so you may set the ante. Decide how many hours we'll wager on whether he is alive or dead."

Leorio "I bet 10 hours he is alive."

She laughs. "Alright, then. Let's confirm."

"Playing it safe, aren't you?" Kurapika added.

"I thought you said you weren't going to say another word." Leorio goes over and checks his pulse.

Prisoner: "See? Just unconscious."

"I bet he is faking it though." I blurt out. "And why is that My Lady?" He kneels to my height because I was sitting down. "Because he would be more useful to his team alive," I explain. "So that was their intention," Kurapika grumbled.

Prisoner: "Ok, your turn. What would you want to get in next?"

Leorio: "Let me see...I say we beat on whether or not he is actually unconscious."

Prisoner: "Huh?"

Killua: "Oh, I get it,"

Prisoner: "All right. I bet 20 hours he is really out cold. The question is, how do you propose we go about confirming this?"

"Oh. It's simple really. Leorio picks up the giant smurf. "I figure I would just push him off the edge. If he really is unconscious, he'll fall to his death and that's the end of it."

Prisoner: "Are you insane?! His match hasn't been decided yet. There's no way I can accept those terms."

Leorio: "Don't worry. If he falls and kicks the bucket, we'll forfeit the match, giving you a total of two wins. That work for you?"

Prisoner: "It does. Very well then. In that case, I am changing my bet. I bet 40 hours that he isn't unconscious after all. That's everything I have left."

Leorio chuckles "Little sneak. Finally showing your true colors.

The room was silent for a moment before Leorio started speaking again. "Guess I'll let go then." He lets go and soon the Smurf started screaming. Leorio grabs him and pulls him to safety.

Prisoner: "You knew he was awake didn't you?"

Leorio: "Believe it or not but, I'm pre-med. The way his eyes were moving was a dead giveaway."

Prisoner: "Even though you only have 20 hours remaining."

Leorio: "I know but at least now we're in a better position with a two-on-one lead. Now let's keep this ball rolling! The choice is yours so, what's it going to be?"

"Oh well." She takes off her hood and I try to hold in my laughter. She looked like a doll after a 5-year-old played with it.

"Well, we are screwed." I sigh and continue watching. "Yeah what a pervert. I hear his heartbeat from here." Killua added. "I don't like where this is heading," Kurapika said.

Women: "All right. What do you say we place bets on whether I'm a man or a woman? What's the matter? That isn't a problem, is it?"

Leorio: "Uh no!"

We stayed silent for a moment

Leorio: "Fine I accept. But what happens if you're a man? How exactly are you going to prove your not?"

Women: "Oh, right. I promise to let you examine every square inch of my body. Now, will that satisfy you?"

I get up and hide behind Killua " I am now uncomfy." Killua turns around and hugs me. "He's already chosen he'll bet she is a man." Kurapika adds. Killua looks at Kurapika and agrees. "Huh? Why?" Gon said confused.

Leorio: "Well I made up my mind and I'll wager 10 hours you are a man!"

The woman scoffs. "I knew it." I and Kurapika said in sync. He smiles at me and I smile back.