Chapter 6, The Heroes Alma Mater Exam

     A crowd of people were standing in front of the gate of the school. The crowd consisted of three groups. The Hero Teachers, the Kids taking the exam with their families behind them, and the News Media which the police kept them from getting to close. Aio and Neon (Aren Nelson) walked to where they could see the school from a distance. As they came closer to the school. Aio could hear the kids talking near them. "Did you hear?!" Asked one boy to another. "The attack on Corbankes (Core-banks) was done by two Tainted Criminals!" "What!" Says the other boy in shock. "Those Dirt bags! We'd be better off if tainted's didn't even exist!" Aio began thinking to himself in anger. "Tainted's, they are people who have superhuman abilities like Gifted's. The difference is that they did not accumulate their ability through birth or acquiring it randomly like gifted's do. Instead, they are regular humans that have either been taken or had chosen to get abilities through experimentation from mad scientists. Are society veiws them as vermin. Unclean diseases, hence the name tainted. AND I WHOLE HEARTEDLY AGREE! THAT TRASH KILLED MY FAMILY!! I'LL BURY THEM ALL!!!" Aio's intensity could be felt all around him. "Aio!" Said neon grabbing aio's shoulders to get his attention. "Are you ok?!" Aio jolts out of thought. "Ya. I'm fine...Thanks." Answers aio. Neon sighs deeply. "Few, don't do that to me again. One of these days you're going to give me a heart attack. Are you still thinking about that corbankes town where you fought those two criminals?" "Ya." Answers aio while calming himself. "Don't worry about it." Replies neon. "The criminals are in prison. They can't do any more harm. And the town is recovering well. So just focus for the test ahead." "Right!" Responds aio while thinking. "He's right. Gotta focus." As they made it to the crowd. Aio hears a familiar voice from the crowd. "HEY! AIO!! OVER HERE!!!" Aio then glimpses a hand waving where the voice was coming from. As he focused his eyes. He then saw it was Jake (aio's best friend). "JAKE!!" Aio yelled in response, as he then sprinted to jake. Jake was also running and they met in the middle. They then gave each other a big bear hug. "What are you doing here?!" Asked aio in excitement. "What do you think you idiot!" Answers jake jokingly. "I'm here to take the test with you!" "But! How?!!" Asks aio puzzled. "Asked neon." Says jake. "I should have guessed." Thought aio while not being surprised. As they continued to greet each other amongst the crowd. The voice of a kid aio's age says in anger. "Get out of the way." Aio then looked over jake's shoulder. He and jake then saw a teen who was seven foot tall, long wispy silver colored hair, square strong face, black cat eyes, sharp teeth; and had a extreme muscle toned body. The silver haired teen looked down at aio and jake and said. "I told you two to move aside." Aio just glared back at him while jake stood in fear. "Is this kid challenging me?" Thought the silver haired teen. Jake then jolted out of his fear. And then grabbed aio's shoulders while pushing him along. "We were just leaving." Responded jake. Then he thought. "Come on man. It ain't worth it!" Aio then snaps out of his gaze. As he then hears a voice from behind the teen. "Chase! leave the those kids alone!!" As a man came walking up from behind chase. Was the ranked number eight hero, Ramped. He was eleven foot tall, white skinned, yellow colored lizard eyes, a face shaped as a lion, short frisky black colored hair, human arms and hands, Armadillo shell chest and stomach, elephant legs and feet; and all his body was the muscle mass of an elephant as well. He then grabbed chase's head. And made him bow in humility. Chase began to speak "Ramped, what are you. Ahhhh!" Ramped squeezed chase's head harder. In pain, chase started to apologize. "Alright, alright. I'm sorry!" "You heard him." Responded ramped. "Please accept our apology." "Forget it." Answers aio. "It's already in the past." As they lift their heads. A voice came through the crowd. While moving towards them. "Your only apologizing because they are our pupils. Am I right?" As neon and the number four hero, who's name is Armed. Walked up to them. "You got me. My sense of smell could tell that you were there mentors." Said ramped while he rubbed the back of his head and smiled. Armed was six feet tall, fit but not big muscle toned, wore a grey colored based suit with blue colored shapes all over it. He also wore a black colored blindfold with eye holes to see through. The color of his hair was dark brown. His hair style was an emo bang hair cut that covered one eye. Also his eyes were grey colored. And had nice smooth white skin as well. Jake then begins to speak. "Oh! Aio this is my mentor, Armed." "Oh. Nice to meet you sir." Replied aio. Armed begins to speak in a calm voice. "The pleasure is all mine young man." Responded armed. "It's nice to finally meet the kid that caught neon's eye. That is no easy feat." "Thank you." Replies aio. Aio then jolts in realization. "Wait! Neon's told you about me?" "Yes." Answers neon as he put his arm around armed's shoulders while smiling. "Me and armed are childhood friends!" "So it was you that got jake into this!" Accuses aio. "How dare you accuse your mentor!" Replies neon while crossing his arms with a frowned face. Aio looks at neon in disbelief. Knowing that he was lying to him. "Well it's time to get going." Says armed. "Your right. Let's go." Says neon, changing the subject. As they start walking towards the entrance of the school. "You better watch yourself." Whispered chase to aio as he walked by. "What's his deal?" Thought aio. "Be careful." Whispers neon as he is walking behind aio. "Remember, you are my protege. Which means that most of the other kids and students are jealous of you. They will also see you as there competition. But follow your training. And you should be fine." "Got it." Whispers aio without any fear. As they start to walk through the gate. Aio sees other individuals and their mentors that peaked his interest. Starting from two wearing black colored ninja suits. To were there was a father with some sort of bird wings. And his son had ostrich legs. He thought. "Their is so many different types of competition here. Sorry but, all of you are just my stepping stones on my way towards revenge." Aio and jake separated from their mentors. Then did the written exam and passed. After words, all the passed examinees went onto the exams arena. "Young ones, welcome to the exams." A female voice spoke through the intercom. Up in the Sound booth, was a lady sitting down behind a desk. On the desk was a mic in front of her and armed who was sitting on the other half of the desk. And in front of the desk was a glass window to see the arena. She was one of the Ace Heroes who's ranked number twenty sixth on the top one hundred Heroes. Also ranked number one on Miss Heroes Magazine, Miss Flare. She had long lush fire red hair, wore a red colored mask that changed to an orange fire color when it reached the top of the mask; and the mask didn't cover her mouth, eyes, and hair. Her suit was elastic material with the color of dark fire red color. That changed to an orange fire color. Then a blue fire color. And lastly a black fire collar at the top of her suit. The collar of her suit was shaped like flames on her neck. "I am your host, miss flare." She said in a kind voice. A lot of men were in ah of her beauty. "Next to me is are guest. The ranked number four ace hero. As well as ranked number three on Mr. Heroes Magazine for good looks, The Armed." Said flare with a smile while having a open hand gesture towards armed. "Thank you miss flare for the warm welcome. It's a great opportunity." He responded in a calm smile. Lot's of girls in the stands screamed. "AHHHHHH!! ARMED IS SO KIND AND HOT. AHHHHHHH!!!" While other men and women said. "Wow! They look really good together!" "Hah! They look really good together?!" Said neon in sarcasm sitting next to ramped. Ramped replies to neon. "Hahaha! If the people in the stands only knew right?!" "I know! Haha!!" Replies neon with tears of joy. "They don't realize how much the two of them hate each other. Hahaha!!" When neon was finished talking. Armed thought while he was smiling. "CURSE THIS WOMAN!! ONCE SHE SAW ME! SHE USED HER POSITION AS HOST! TO MAKE ME COME UP HERE!!! I HAD TO DO IT SO I WOULDN'T LOSE FACE! AHHHHHH!!!!" While at the same time. Miss flare was smiling while thinking. "HAHAHA! THIS IS PAYBACK FOR ALL THOSE YEARS YOU WERE IN MY WAY FROM GETTING CLOSER TO NEON! I DON'T KNOW WHAT HE THINKS OF ME NOW BECAUSE OF YOU!!!" Then armed thought. "BUT YOU WILL NEVER GET CLOSE TO NEON AS LONG AS I'M AROUND!! NEON DESERVES A GOOD, SMART, AND HOT WOMAN!! NOT JUST HOT!!!" Flare begins to speak again. "Well I think It's time we explain the rules for the active exams." She said with a nice smile. "Agreed." Replied armed. "There are three parts to this exam. Am I correct?" "Yes." Answers flare. "The exam consists of. One, the Aura test. Two, the Extreme Obstacle Course. And three, the Battle Arena." "Does anyone know what trial is held at the battle arena?" Asks armed. "No." Answers flare. "It is a top secret, only the teachers and parents know. Which the parents, students, and audience's are sworn to secrecy while signing a contract to uphold that promise." "Interesting, I bet everyone is curious about that one." Replies armed. "Indeed." Responds flare. "But let's continue shall we." Armed nods his head. Flare continued. "The first test is extremely simple. There are different devices to choose from based upon the examinees aura abilities." "Ah!" Replies armed in understanding. "Because of the infinite amount of aura types!" "Correct!" Replied flare with a cute smile. "Since that's the case. We require the examinees when they put in their application form. To send us their aura abilities. Or if they have Ace Hero recommendations to have then send it." "Makes sense." Replies armed. "That way you can have the aura devices made ahead of time." "Exactly!" Replied flare. As both of them thought. "OH! I HATE YOU!" "Anyways." Continues flare. "The rules for this are simple. Follow the directions of the Referee, and execute it to the best results possible. And up here is the score board as well as the standings for each examinee. In order to pass this part of the exam. You have to be in the top one hundred spots on the board." A bunch of examinees spoke nervously to themselves. Jake whispers to aio. "Their were five hundred of us in the written exam. Now their are only three hundred of us. So they're saying that they want to get rid of another two hundred of us? That's insane." Aio just maintained a serious face while listening. "ALRIGHT!" Yelled flare. "How about we get started. You're referee today. Is the ace hero teacher that has the strength of the strongest Gorilla, Ape. He is also currently ranked at seventy-six on the top one hundred Heroes. I know he looks strange with his body looking like a gorilla while having white colored human skin. Also being six foot six inches tall, and five hundred pounds. But he is actually a sweet guy." "Alright." Said ape next to the examinees. "Who's up first?" "I'll go first." Said chase as he walked up to the metal scrap pile with a body scanner next to him. Flare and armed speak at the same time. "Now, BEGIN!!!!"

Next Time. Chapter 7, Make your Debut Aio!