Chapter 19 - Retreat and Evaluation

Creaking?

Bursting?

Overflow?

Leo does not know.

But entering his armored state with an injured body makes him doubt his earlier estimate of 5 minutes. Leo's training with his mom was his first showing of this state to her was controlled; nothing comparable to what's happening now.

With each breath and move he takes, he feels wafts of pain shooting through his body. In spite of everything, he felt the power coursing through his veins.

No matter what happens, he truly believes he will get past this situation.

On the other hand, his opponent merely stared, "Is this supposed to be your final form?" His confident look annoyed Leo; it was as if he didn't have a notion of fear in him.

On the contrary, everything Leo thought was wrong. The wavy-haired blond teen was wary of whatever just happened. It was only because of his upbringing that he could maintain a smug and confident face throughout this moment.

Choosing to act first rather than react, he erected his quirk, Reflective Dome, around him. The translucent barrier from earlier made its appearance once again, though it seemed to have brightened up a notch.

'The guy is clearly not underestimating me... but maybe this is best,' Leo thought. With each movement, it was painful, so when his opponent erected a barrier around themselves first, it was a small blessing.

Slowly, Leo raised his hand up, and the tip of his pointer pinger showed a golden ball accumulating in size. 'Retreat is best; no point fighting for now. Especially when I have a teammate to carry in a literal sense.'

With a basketball-sized ball, something happened. The smug blond hollered, "I took you for a brave fighter; are you going to fight from afar!?" Goading him to attack, as if he wants to be struck like a masochist.

In its name, the smug teen's quirk was a reflective dome. Reflective, but not in a sense like a mirror. Instead, it reflects back damage, but only in the physical sense.

If struck with anything energy-like, his barrier will reflect back the kinetic force it just received in the same direction as its attacker, no matter if it's strong enough to even reach back.

So, it is most effective on melee fighters, of which Leo is one of them. Sadly for the aggressor, Leo was not planning to entertain that notion.

With a basketball-sized energy sphere, Leo did not respond; wasting time was a dumb move.

He acted with a bent to his knees, acting as if he would propel himself along with Raiden, unconscious, to crash into the blond's dome. Simultaneously, the blond-haired teen increased his dome's strength, almost turning opaque.

But what happened next stunned the third party.

"Huh?"

*WOOSH!*

Instead of barreling straight at the dome, Leo shot straight up into the sky, cracking the ground with his act! High in the air, Leo sent the spear of energy and shot it at the other blond.

*BOOM!*

The impact causes cracks on the dome to appear and elicits the ground around to erupt in dirt and dust. With the view from below covered in a smoke of dust, Leo retreated after being assured that his flight path could not be traced back.

Upon his departure, the fog of dust cleared. All that remained was a dome cracked, falling to the ground like broken glass. Broken and dispelled, under the dome was revealed.

*Huff* *Huffs*

Huffs and puffs of air were being taken rapidly. The wavy blond-haired teen was panting as if he had run a marathon. Looking around, the ground was ruptured, a passive effect of his barrier's reflective properties.

"*Huff* What a strong quirk, that one," leaving the scene without a scratch but somewhat lethargic. "Should've watched longer, I suppose."

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In the air, Leo was rushing back to his base with all his might. He was beginning to feel drowsy and weak, evident from shells of armor falling off of him.

'C'mon! C'mon! Almost there!' From his view, he already saw the rock formations, and luckily, no campfires were around. He noticed that maybe more have quit with the scores they earned or have been escorted out for injuries.

Meters away, the totality of his armor fell off, leaving him bare with shredded clothing. But remembering he was carrying someone, a girl at that, he embraced her and turned his body to be the receiver of the impact.

*THUD!*

*SKKRSHHH!*

There was no harsh impact, but his skin and clothes scraped against the rough stones he carved out of his cave. But with a toughened body, it left only red marks.

Uncontrollable panting, Leo's eyes heavy, though he still managed to look at his impromptu teammate. She, too, had irregular breathing, which he thought of it as exhaustion.

'Everything... is... fine.'

Seeing his partner fine, he resigned to tiredness and passed out.

_______________

In the late afternoon, someone within the cave woke up, the purple attacker of Leo. 'W-Where am I?' She wondered, confused about her surroundings. Placing her hands instinctively on the ground. Instead of the hardened stones, she felt something softer but hard in nature?

Confused, she gazed down, only to shoot off the body she was on. 'Wh-WHAT IS THIS!?' All manners of decorum were shot out of the window; she was too shocked but then remembered everything.

'Right, we teamed up... he probably escaped with me in tow,' now, looking at Leo's body, she couldn't help but irk at it. It had wounds all around, the majority of which she caused.

Without thinking, she moved and scavenged for anything in the cave. Looking at the end of the cave, she spotted an oversized bag filled to the brim with supplies.

She walked over with support from the walls, aided by her hand. With the bag, she rifled through it, removing everything quickly in search of medical supplies and water.

'Why is everything so messy!? It's as if he just stuffed everything!'

Leo did stuff everything inside.

Finally finding bottles of water, rags, and some bandages, Raiden quickly went over to Leo's body, attempting to give medical aid. There, she hesitantly ripped the shredded top of Leo; in doing so, his pungent odor was released.

'Did this person not bathe the entire duration of this test!?'

Leo did, in fact, not bathe yet, but he was going to if he found a large enough body of water.

Carefully, Raiden splashed water over his body, rubbing a rag and cleaning his wounds. With the dirt and grime removed, Raiden returned to the bag, remembering a small bottle of betadine.

Upon return, she slowly splashed it over his wounds, meticulously dividing its contents. At the end of it, Leo looked like some tanned person with dark brown ointment.

Next, she applied the gauze pads to the wounds her bolts struck. She did feel a bit guilty. After all, not many can withstand electricity. After which, she moved on to the bits of lacerations she made throughout Leo's body. Fortunately, she only had a dull dagger-like object; her speed and lightning were the cause of its damage.

After applying an amateurish way of bandage and gauze, Leo looked like a third-rate mummy, with reddish brown stains. With everything finished, Raiden leaned onto the walls of the man-made cave, sighing at her work.

*Grumble~*

A grumbling sound ensued; it sounded boorish. However, it came from no other than the lady herself. She couldn't help but look around, making sure no one heard it, even if she knew there was no one.

"Glad no one heard that," she whispered while eyeing Leo's body, making sure he was knocked out.

Walking back to the bag, Raiden tried finding a packet of rations but found it in seconds. Why? Cause there was much of it! She expected a packet left but never foresaw an abundance!

"Did he get all these from examinees?" She didn't bother entertaining the thought a second more. What she entertained was her stomach, consuming three packets of rations in a jiffy.

'God... if someone saw me gorge myself, my image would be ruined!'

With a filled stomach, she decided to keep guard and watch just behind the cave's entrance which had flora covering it, away from prying eyes.

_______________

In the command room of the helicarrier floating above the island, the Director swiftly ordered command after command. This happened when Leo and Raiden, both promising future students, got hurt.

Well, more on Leo's part, as he was bloodied and tired.

Chatter about Leo's well-being and strength were talked about.

"Can't believe the kid could last this long! I mean, he basically kept going at it since day 1."

"Wasn't he the one who beat the boss bots? Notably, the Elephant and Panther? That was rather unexpected since a team was almost a requirement to beat them!"

"To last that long after taking a breath of that gas is something; his quirk must be quite formidable to help sustain his body."

Such was the chatter tossed around. Meanwhile, Fury kept repeating Leo's armoring. "Where on Earth did this kid pop up from?" he asked himself, staring at his data pad with an eye.

'Energy manipulation, physical enhancement, flying, presence detection, and now some form of armored mode that increased his size!?'

His mind was racing; the more Fury looked at the kid's quirk, the more new things popped out of it. If he had to call it something, he would call it a fucking clown car. Shit just keeps popping out of it!

"Agent Poller! Status on Examinee 1478, I want to know his physical condition!" He spoke loudly across the room. The agent immediately stood up and ran to Fury.

"Director, with his vest gone and damaged, it took some time to get his readings, but he has a stable pulse. The bracelet is still functional. Right now, we are monitoring him through Examinee 173's vest camera."

"Thank you. Now, go back but keep your eyes on them. As of now, treat them as if they are already students of SHIELD Academy. If a possibility of permanent injury occurs, stop all dangers around them, be it students or machines. Understood?"

Fury's words stunned many who heard them. The Director himself has already accepted them! These moments were rare, as a student needed to show exceptional abilities across the board: Combat, Quirk, Mentality, Attitude, and even Intelligence.

And so far, the two have ticked all the boxes.

_______________

Leo Morningstar:

Combat: Great potential. Has shown a weird start of getting ambushed but has adapted throughout the duration of the exam. Examinee has shown trained martial ability, evident in his form, postures, and movement of attack.

Quirk: Great potential. A quirk with multiple uses and has shown flexibility and adept mastery of its usage.

Mentality: Goal oriented. He sticks to the rules to his advantage even if his actions may not be heroic in nature. He has no problem attacking and ambushing other examinees even after they were told that there were no merits. Overall, the examinee respects the boundaries and rules of the exam but seems to be willing to do anything within the confines of said rules.

Attitude: Examinee has shown incredible willpower. After days of lack of sleep and continuous fighting, the examinee showed no hint of stopping. Only stopped after suffering an injury from a reckless act.

Intelligence: Examinee has great potential, but for now, he is average. His actions are reckless, but despite that, he learns and adapts well to the situation he finds himself in. Does not operate on Heroic ideals; his actions dictate logic. The proof is his continuous hunt for examinees, eliminating further competitors for bots and points. Allowed within the rules, but the majority of examinees did not partake in such acts.

_______________

Were the current file of Leo during this exam. Fury wanted this kid; he was perfect in a sense. For Fury, heroic ideals are good, but letting them dictate your actions is stupid.

He will respect you for it, but such people were, at or most times, the stupid kind. Stubborn too. The kind that will sacrifice their life for a single person when they can save more lives tomorrow if they let one person die.

Of course, this was just an observation of a few days, nothing concrete yet.

Getting points within the exam is important, but another aspect of the exam is to be evaluated as well.

With this, they can even assess potential danger levels onto the examinees, the hazard they bring to society should they turn to villainy. And even see the strength of each generation.

Anyway, after making sure his two future students were secured and safe, he moved on to other examinees. Examinees within the top 50 of the scoreboard.

"*Sigh* 2 down, 48 more to go," Fury said as he filled two assured spots for next semester's roster.

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CHEERS!

lmao, forgot to publish!