58 Day of the test
After a week long period of playing games and ordering takeout, the physical exercise test had finally arrived.
Walking out in their hero costumes, Aiden and the rest of class 1-A stood face to face with the teachers of UA.
Since he was the homeroom teacher of class 1-A, it was Aizawa's job to explain what was going on.
"As you already know, the end of term test is split into two parts, the written test and the exercise test. Just because you pass the written test, it doesn't mean you'll pass overall if you fail the exercise test and vice versa. If you want to go to forest lodge, then you brats better make sure to get a damn good score.
While explaining, Aiden couldn't help but yawn as he paid half attention while observing the area. According to the information they had received a week ago, the exercise test was going to be similar to the entrance exam. This meant that they would be facing off against a bunch of weak ass robots. To the current Aiden, this was basically an insult to his skills as he was already capable of defeating several 0 point robots without any real difficulty.
"I'm sure you guys already have an idea of what this test will entail." Aizawa continued.
"Hell yeah we do!!" Denki yelled with passion.
"I can see the curry and fireworks now!!" Mina cheered.
To these two, fighting against robots was a godsend. Since they had quirks that were hard to adjust against human opponents, they were initially worried about the exercise test. But after finding out that it was similar to the entrance exam, they became ecstatic.
Just as they were about to celebrate, a white mole rat burst out from behind Aizawa.
"Principal!!" The class said in shock.
"Sorry to burst your bubble but, due to various reasons we're changing the way the test is conducted today!"
"Eh?!!"
"What do you mean?" Shoto asked calmly.
The principal then went on to explain how there had been a rise in villain activity recently and that fighting against mindless drones doesn't come close to real world battles.
Hearing this Aiden wholeheartedly agreed. Compared to real combat, fighting against robots that followed a set pattern hindered the young heroes more than it helped.
"Therefore, we'll focus our tests on more one on one battles from now on." The principle carried on. "In this test, we'll have you form pairs and engage in combat against one of the teachers."
Shock rippled through the hearts of all the students as they processed the news.
"Now your pairs and opponent has already been decided. After reviewing your grades and overall abilities, we've paired you up with a partner that you should have no difficulty cooperating with." He explained.
"First off we have Todoroki and Yaoyarozu against Aizawa-sensei."
Listening up till this point, Aiden was actually somewhat interested in the test. He had killed many heroes in the past, but that was due to him using assassination techniques. So for him to engage a hero with nothing but his combat prowess alone was quite intriguing.
By the time his name was called, he found out that he was partnered up with Toru and the two were pitted against Snipe.
"Interesting." He couldn't help but smile.
---
Standing in the middle of a spaced out room with several large columns erected around the area, Aiden and Toru stood facing Snipe who was going over the test details.
"The time limit is 30 minutes, your win condition is to either pin these handcuffs on me, or escape from the area."
"Why would we escape from the area?" Toru asked confused.
"During this test, we want you to think of it as if you were facing off against a real villain. That being said, when facing a villain that you can't beat, retreating and coming back with more heroes is the smartest decision."
Understanding what he meant, Aiden nodded his head. Although Snipe didn't say it outright, he knew that the teachers thought of themselves as opponents that were on another level compared to the students. In most cases, they'd be right.
During his first week in UA, he had already investigated the teachers and other staff members and was pretty knowledgeable on their quirks and preferred fighting styles. With this amount of information at his fingertips, he had already come up with several countermeasures in case he was forced to assassinate or even fight them... But keep in mind, this was pre-USJ Aiden... Current day Aiden is on a whole other level in comparison.
---
*BANG!*
*BANG!*
*BANG!*
Standing behind one of the columns, Aiden and Toru hid while Snipe was firing at them.
'What an idiot, sure a bullet is fast, but it gives away your position. It would have been smarter if he was on the move and was firing from different locations.'
Aiden didn't even needed to close his eyes and construct a mental image of the area as Snipe was basically telling them where he was.
"Cross-kun, at this rate we won't be able to move at all." Toru whispered.
Remembering that she was there, Aiden turned to look at her with a weird expression. While it couldn't be said that he knew her extremely well, he would be a fool to rely on a variable like her when he could deal with the situation himself.
Therefore he came up with an excuse.
"Sneak around the side and head towards the door."
"Okay," She nodded... Or at least he thought she did.
The two stood in silence for a couple of seconds while Snipe kept firing in their direction.
"Um... can you turn around?"
"Huh? Why?"
"I well... I have to get naked to use my quirk properly and... Its embarrassing for someone to watch me change!!"
"...."
'BITCH YOU ARE INVISIBLE!!'
Keeping his thoughts to himself, Aiden complied and focused on how he was gonna take Snipe out.
Just as this was going on, Snipe stopped firing and threw out a smoke grenade. Once the smoke had filled the entire area, Snipe came out from his hiding place and started firing once again.
'Hmm... He's either confident that we'll use this smoke screen to our advantage and head towards the door. Or he's got a way to see our location and is using the smoke screen to blind us... Welp, its not like it matters.'
Thanks to sound of his gun, Aiden was able to calculate the distance between them and had come up with a strategy to take him down. With a confident smile spreading across his masked face, Aiden controlled his breathing and prepared to activate his light-step.
"Stay out of sight, I'll end this as fast as I can." He told Toru before charging towards a column opposite them.
"Running out of cover? Bad move!" Increasing his firing rate, Snipe determined Aiden's destination and fired rapidly.
Not replying to his provocation, Aiden suddenly Astral Shifted away from the column and into the air.
'Humph! He's leaving himself wide open in the air!'
Pointing his gun up, Snipe was about to fire again but was forced to roll to the side.
"Slash."
A purple arc of light came flying towards him at a speed that barely gave him a chance to dodge.
'SHIT! That was close.'
While in the air, Aiden used his astral gravity manipulation to lighten his body while he crouched down horizontally on the pillar. And just like he did during the hero rescue race, he tightened the muscles in his legs, refocused the gravity to his feet and pushed off the column with all his strength.
*BOOM!!*
Leaving a small crater on the column behind him, Aiden burst through the air at a superhuman speed and collided into the downed Snipe.
"GYAHH!" He coughed as he felt a strong force crash into his body.
Once Aiden felt that the impact was about to fully affect his own body, he used his astral shift to remove the kinetic energy and appeared above Snipe and constructed his pole. Now that Snipe was winded and stunned, he took this opportunity to ruthlessly slam the pole down on Snipe's head and render him immobile.
*CRASH!*
Falling face first onto the ground, Snipe felt his consciousness slip as Aiden pulled out the handcuffs that were handed to him earlier and put them on his unconscious teacher.
---
Watching this happen from the control room, Recovery girl was somewhat shocked at how unhesitant he was to strike a teacher. But since she had a job to do, she quickly recovered from her shock and turned on the microphone.
"Announcing! The first team to clear the physical exam is team Cross/Hagakure."
