Author note: A very big thank you to those that had reviewed and followed this story! Another thank you to those that added this story to their favorites. :D
Regarding update timings, it'll be very irregular, however I would do my best update whenever I am able to, so please do bear with me on this. Right now, I'm doing my best to write longer and better chapters, do my English writing skills could be better.

Now, please do enjoy the third chapter of Lightning to Flames!

Disclaimer: Hunter X Hunter is owned by the incredible Togashi-sensei. I am only borrowing his plot and characters. I only own my OC's and their Nen powers

'Thoughts'

"Talking"

Located 100 floors beneath Zaban City, in a dark cavern filled with applicants, the 287th Hunter Exam was going to begin in just half an hour. A stifling silence reigned as they all waited with bated breath, exchanging suspicious glances as their hands fidgeted with various weapons and equipment brought with them. Tension increasing with every simple 'clink' of weapons against each other, weighing them down with the non-existent countdown that resounded in their heads.

Lavender eyes scanned the crowd of gathered Hunter-hopefuls thoughtfully as Akira chewed her bottom lip. Mind whirling away with the possible identities of the second aura, she frowned slightly as her eyes darted around. 'That aura… it's moving around.'

A sliver of dread crawled through her, settling in her stomach as an unbidden thought on the aura's identity rose to the forefront of her mind. 'Him?' Violently shaking her head, Akira tried to pick up her string of thoughts again, quickly dismissing the notion of that man being here. ' No! It can't be… Why would he be here? But… if I think about it, the aura's signature matches. But, why would he be here?' Sighing, she shifted from her place by the wall, making her presence known by releasing her aura. 'I guess there's no point worrying over it, looks like he's also noticed me.'

Eyes trailing over the participants, she followed the aura as it slowly made it's way towards her. So lost in her thoughts, she didn't register the sound of the elevator doors opening ,the echoes of several footsteps nor the fact she had been unconsciously walking forwards.

"Excuse me…" came a cheerful young voice.

Those two words echoed in the silence, ending it's uncomfortable reign while drawing Akira out of her thoughts, her aura quickly suppressed. As one, everyone turned to look at the trio that had just arrived. Glances soon turned to glares as everyone gauged the levels of the newcomers, deemed them unimportant, and promptly returned to their agonized waiting.

'A boy dressed in green, a blonde teen and an old man? Interesting choice of companions they have.' Akira mused to herself as she glanced over to look at the trio, who had all slightly flinched back at the collectively glares of the other Hunter hopefuls. ' Interesting. More rookies?'

As her mind whirled with this new information Akira was definitely not prepared for the second aura to spike in power before it assaulted her.

Gasping out, she jumped back towards the wall, boots scraping against the floor, dropping her knapsack with a clunk. She pressed her back firmly into the wall, lavender eyes turning a sickening shade of heather as it frantically swept through the cavern. Finally, her eyes landed on a pair staring right at her across the cavern. 'Illumi!' Her mind screamed at her, as she took in his current appearance, the altered facial and body structure, the Nen imbued needles sticking out of his body and his face. 'Foolish! How many times have I been exposed to his aura? I should have realised it was him straightaway.' Slowly, her eyes traveled down to glance at his tag, Number 301, before it quickly shot up to his eyes. The corners of his mouth crinkled up in a cruel smile sending shivers down her spine.

Shifting her stance slightly, her hand grasped the Bowie knife strapped to her right side as she let her aura flare out, simultaneously bringing the knife up to her chest.

A warning to him.

Illumi chuckled emptily from across the cavern.

His aura continued to pour out, crashing against her defense, pressing her figure into the wall, weighing her down.

Pain exploded in her mouth when Akira bit her tongue, swiftly increasing the intensity of her aura, while changing from Ten to Ren to counter Illumi's Ren. Practically snarling, she shifted to an almost crouching stance, right leg forward and left leg bent towards her chest. Her right hand angling her knife outwards while her left hand crept down to grip the throwing knives in her boots.

Last warning.

The corners of his mouth crept up even more, just as the pressure of Illumi's Ren disappeared immediately, causing Akira to stumble a bit. Her left hand shot out to stop her fall, jerking her head in his direction. He was gone. Lost within the crowd that had started moving forward.

Akira shakily sheathed her Bowie knife back, standing up slowly with her entire body trembling. Breathing out slowly, she leaned against the wall while eyeing her knapsack on the ground. 'Nice to see you too. Jerk.' Sticking her tongue out in Illumi's general direction, she scooped up her bag. Just as she secured her knapsack over her back, a loud shrill ringing echoed through the cavern. Turning to face the front of the cavern, Akira watched as a wall started to move up revealing a long dark tunnel ahead. Standing behind the wall was a tall lean man with pale lavender hair wearing a suit, in his hands was the alarm that rang.

"I apologise for the wait." He said. "The entry period for Hunter applications has ended. The Hunter Exams will now begin!" The man announced. "A final caution. If you are short on luck or ability, you could very well end up seriously injured or dead. Those who accept the risk, please follow me. Otherwise, please exit via the elevator behind you." He paused, scanning the applicants.

"Very well. All 404 applicants will participate in Phase One."

With that sentence uttered, Akira allowed a shaky smile to appear before noticing movement next to her. It was a boy with silver hair. Number 99, she read from his tag as he glanced at her showing cerulean blue eyes that had her turning away immediately. 'I've seen eyes like that before.' She thought.

"Oi, why did you look away?" He said looking at her, a frown plastered on his face.

"Huh? Are you talking to me?" She pointed to herself.

He dropped the skateboard that he was holding with a clatter, one foot placed on it as he gave an exasperated look. "Is there anyone else? Idiot." He muttered to himself, his hand moving to open a juice can. "What are you doing here?"

"Do we know each other?" She asked, confusion written all over her face.

"Bichir Kreshler." was his reply, as he drank from the juice can.

"The Zoldyck Heir? From 7 years ago, July 16th?" Her voice was laden with shock. 'Not another one.' She thought, sweat dropping.

"The Night Clan's Princess." His voice was calm and indifferent as he nodded, raising an eyebrow at the note of shock.

"Princess?" Now she sounded confused.

"Isn't that what you're called?"

"I guess so"

An awkward silence settled between the two children.

"Name." he suddenly mumbled.

"Huh?" Akira was confused.

"Your name. I wasn't able to get it the last time." He said, looking down at his skateboard.

Smiling hesitantly, she replied. "Akira, my name is Akira."

Nodding, he replied, "Killua."

Smiling, she nodded before focusing her attention back to the applicants, realizing that the exam proctor had started to move further in into the tunnel. "We should start moving, who knows where he'll be leading us to." She told him, nodding her head in the direction of the applicants moving off.

Killua gave a nod of consent before getting on to his skateboard, juice can long thrown away, slowly skating towards the crowd. Hefting her knapsack over her back, Akira took off after him, jogging by his side.

"They're picking up the pace." Killua noted.

"I guess the proctor started running." She deduced.

"My apologies, I have neglected to introduce myself. I am Satotz, the Phase One examiner. I shall lead you to the exam's Second Phase." Came the proctor's voice.

"Second Phase? What about Phase One?" A ninja looking guy asked from in front.

"It has already commenced." Satotz replied.

Looks were exchanged by all the applicants as they mumbled to themselves. "It's already begun?" "This is part of the exam?" "You're kidding me?"

Satotz turned around as he continued, "You must follow me to Phase Two. This is the exam's First Phase. I cannot tell you where or when you must arrive. You need only follow me."

"Hmm, tricky. Testing our endurance right off the bat." Killua hummed.

"Are they testing our mental endurance?" Akira asked.

"Most likely. The mental stress of not knowing when or where you'll reach would start to affect you. This phase is probably to weed out those with a weak mentality." Killua further explained, glancing at Akira before looking back to the front.

"Guess we'll just have to see how far he runs then. Want a sweet?" She offered, already digging in her knapsack for a handful of sweets. Tossing a few to Killua, she popped an orange flavored candy into her mouth, keeping pace with his skateboard next to her.

(2 hours later)

'It's been two hours already,' Akira thought, looking at her watch, 'I'll say we've travelled more than thirty kilometers from the start.' She watched as another applicant in front collapsed out of sheer exhaustion, easily jumping over his body while glancing over at Killua who had a bored expression on his face.

"Akira," He called out, "We should start moving up to the front, that way we won't have to keep going around those that collapsed."

"Roger." She breathed out.

As they started to overtake a tall man wearing a blue suit, he suddenly shouted out.

"Hey kid! That's cheating!"

Killua turned to Akira who gave him a shrug, before turning to study the man. 'Number 403, he was one of the trio that was the last to enter.'

"You should show the Hunter Exam some respect!" He ranted on.

"What are you talking about?"

"Why are you using a skateboard?" Here, Number 403 stabbed a finger at Killua. "That's cheating!"

Raising an eyebrow at the finger, Killua replied, "Why?"

"Why…? This is an endurance test!" He shouted back.

"No, it isn't." "Since when was it an endurance test?" Came two replies.

Akira glanced behind to see that the boy in green, Number 405, had also replied with her. He looked to her and grinned.

"Gon, what are you saying?" Number 403 shouted to Number 405, Gon.

"The examiner only told us to follow him." Gon simply said.

"You… whose side are you on, eh?" His question fell onto deaf ears as Killua slowed down to skate beside Gon, Akira following as well.

"Hey, how old are you?" He asked Gon.

"I'm twelve years old." Gon replied cheerily.

After contemplating for a while, Killua jumped off his skateboard, performing a trick before catching it in his outstretched hand. "Guess I'll run too." He sang, tucking the skateboard under his arm.

Gon ran up to the left of Killua, "Wow that was so cool!"

"I'm Killua, she's Akira." Killua gestured with his head towards Akira running at his right side.

"I'm Gon, nice to meet you Killua, Akira!" Gon grinned a toothy grin. "Akira, how old are you?"

"I'm thirteen years old, Gon." Akira replied, smiling at Gon.

"Killua, did you meet Akira here at the Exams?" Gon asked, looking to both Akira and Killua.

"We've met before. A few years back." Akira spoke up when Killua remained silent.

Gon nodded before they continued running in a comfortable silence.

Not long after that encounter, Akira's left hand drifted to her Bowie knife strapped to her left thigh, eyes turning amethyst as she slipped the knife out of its sheath, raising it to a certain angle. Studying the reflections reflected on the knife's surface, she smirked before turning to Killua who was also looking at the reflections. "I'll catch up with you guys later." She said smiling at Gon who had a confused look.

Nodding to Killua , Akira came to a stop before turning around to face the group of buff men that were running behind, her knife back in its sheathe.

As other applicants ran ahead, the group of ten stopped as well, fanning out in a semi-circle facing Akira. 'Guns and swords?' She snorted at the sight of their weapons being drawn. Dressed in rugged clothing with boots, scars littering across their tanned skin, with the exception of the leader wearing a black bandanna and having knives strapped to his chest, they were a scary sight for any normal person. Fortunately, Akira wasn't any normal person. 'How friendly. 9 lackeys and one boss.'

"So, what business do you have with me? You haven't really been hiding your animosity." Straight to the point, she didn't have much time to dawdle, she was in an exam after all.

The leader laughed, "It's an honor to make your acquaintance, Night Clan's Princess. I had the honor of fighting against your brother, Ryuuji Night." Giving a mock bow he gestured to his face where a scar ran from his temple through his eye till it ended near his mouth, "He left me with this scar among many others. Apparently I wasn't worth the effort to kill. A big mistake of his, I'm sure, since he'll be regretting it when I send your remains to him." Laughing cruelly, a mad glint appeared in his eyes while he hefted the large sword off his back, it's weathered blade gleaming as it reflected the tunnel lights.

Eyes flickering with flecks of lilac, Akira pulled a pair of scimitars out from behind her back, flashing them a cheeky smile as the group took a step back, their eyes widening when they saw the blades, wondering where it came from. Only the leader narrowed his eyes, shifting his stance lower, gripping his sword tighter. 'Looks like they don't know about Nen, only the leader seems to understand that these blades didn't come from nowhere.'

"Interesting. Looks like I'll have to correct my brother's mistake. To think you fought against my brother when you don't even know about aura. Frankly, I find it insulting that you still dared to challenge me without learning anything from that fight." Twirling her blades, Akira walked forwards, her smile replaced with an irritated look. "Sadly, I'm not as merciful as my brother. When I am done with all of you, scars would be the least of your worries." Grinning, she lunge towards the nearest guy, 'Lackey 1' she named, who was carrying an assault rifle. With a firm swing, she cut through the metal, her aura humming around her, leg lashing out to strike the lackey's throat. Using her momentum, she launched herself to the next guy, 'Lackey 2', shattering his sword while sweeping her blades across his face.

As both men cried out, the remaining had quickly surrounded her with the leader charging straight at her. Jumping back from his wide swing, she jerked to the side to avoid another downward swing from the side. Striking out, she parried another blow before countering with her own. The sound of a gun being cocked had Akira freezing, so caught up in the exchange she had forgotten about the firearms. Seeing his chance, one of the lackey rammed into her, sending her flying back.

Break falling, she twisted to face them only to pause in getting back up. Rubbing her side, Akira carefully eyed the guns trained on her, glancing down at the blades she dropped, before looking up to study the groups faces, Lackey 1 and 2 also included,blood dripping down from Lackey 2's face. The leader stepped towards her, kicking her swords away, as he laughed heartily.

"A good attempt." He sneered, " Now, be a good kid and just surrender. I promise it won't hurt." Giving a nasty grin, the leader signaled to his lackeys to grab her. Hoisting her up, he missed the spark of mischief that shined in her eyes, but his group didn't as they tightened their holds on her. Turning around, the leader froze to find his way blocked by a wall of black flames. Flames that were silent and radiated no heat but there was no mistaking the aura of death that the flames gave off even as it slowly crept along the floor, trapping them in a circle.

"That's why I said you didn't learn anything. You obviously realised my brother had used some sort of technique to beat you, yet you did not even bother to find out more, even though my brother so graciously let you go." Chuckling, Akira shrugged off the hands that had loosened its hold on her.

"What did you do?" He snarled at her, as guns was pressed against her.

"As I said, scars would be the least of your worries when I'm done." She chirped, letting her aura spill out around. Lilac eyes mocking them were the last thing they saw as the flames grew taller before it consumed the light.

Light footfalls echoed through the empty cavern as Akira ran, following the turns and twists, never breaking her pace. 'That took longer than I thought. Who knew that those that had dropped out during the run was also part of that group. To think of the trouble they went through to just find me. All because Ryuu-ani walked out on that job.' Making a face, she ran faster, mentally noting that she had just passed the seventy-kilometer mark. 'When all this is over, I'm really going to smack Ryuu-ani, even when he isn't here, he still causes trouble for me.' Feeling a slight incline as she ran, Akira glanced ahead, jaw dropping as her eyes roved up, up and up the lengthy flight of stairs that never seemed to end.

"Are you serious? How evil must one be to add climbing stairs to the end of a run?" She complained to herself as she picked up the pace, easily jogging up the stairs despite her grumblings. Weaving her way past applicants that had collapsed, eyes fixed on the exit that was steadily getting closer, she sighed as she spied a mop of silver hair gleaming in the sunlight at the entrance.

"Killua! Gon!" She called out, dashing up towards the exit, waving her arms enthusiastically.

'For now, let's just concentrate on getting through this exam. Ryuu-ani can die afterwards.' With that thought happily filed away in her mind, she plastered a smile onto her face as she reached the top, beaming down at the duo sitting down.

"Did you wait long?"

And that's the end of Chapter 3! I'm so sorry it took me so long to actually update this. My confrontation/fight scene could use some work actually now that I'm rereading it. Oh well, next time!

Do let me know what you think about this chapter in your reviews!

Until next time!

Happy New Year to everyone and have a wonderful 2017!

Edit: Cleared some spelling mistakes.