Chapter 15 - Ambush

Author's note: Please review and comment on how the story is coming along so far; thanks!

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Running through the jungle, Leo scanned the area, trying to find the bots that would give him his points. The further he goes in, the thicker the flora gets, hindering his view.

'It's been a minute; something should've popped up by now,' running through the vegetation like a truck, trampling on them and not slowing his speed.

He passed a tree's thick branch when suddenly and without warning, a vice-like grip wrapped around his neck, attempting to constrict his neck. Finding it hard to breathe, he pulsed his quirk, strengthening himself and not abling the constriction to go further.

On instinct, he grabbed them with his empowered hands and attempted to pry them off. Surprisingly, the thing didn't pry itself off; it stretched like a slinky.

Minute scanning with a glance, metallic and metal scales lined the outside, 'A bot!? The only one that had scales and this long was the python and anaconda shown on screen.'

The droid, sensing its task, trying to remove itself, began attempting to constrict further. This shocked Leo, "Oka-y! I severely... under-Hrm-estimated their bots!" He tried prying them off, but the scales extended to compensate for the sudden pull.

If it didn't want to pry itself off, Leo chose another. He squeezed with his hands. *KRRK!* And it worked; the form of the snake couldn't hold under the pressure of his grip. The metal-plated scales bent and soon gave way, showing the circuitry inside of it.

With a heave, he gripped further, digging his fingers into them like claws, and ripped quickly. "ARH!" Upon the destruction of the robotic python, the mid-section spewed liquids onto his body. "Tsk, whatever this thing is, it's greasy."

With the bot destroyed, Leo examined it further. It resembled that of an actual python, with its metal scales colored to its environment as well. 'Camouflage... However, how come I didn't sense that? I'm pretty sure that was danger and harm, so how did it not ring any bells? Hell, it startled me.'

*Beep*

Looking at the noise, it was his exam-given bracelet. The once-blank bracelet suddenly lit up with 3-points, "A python bot is only worth three?" Clenching his fist, he felt that its points should've been higher.

"No use complaining; let's just go. But still, me not being able to sense these guys is troubling. Here I thought I could just scan for them easily," leaving the site, he jogged this time, not wanting to get caught another time.

*Woosh~*

However, before even 5-mins of leaving the site, he was bombarded by dive-bombing aggressors. With his quirk still active, the unknown bots smashed into his side simultaneously, exploding and flinging him across 4 meters from where he previously stood.

*Boom!*

"Okay... what!?" He voiced upon suddenly just getting hit by metallic objects and exploding on impact.

*Beep* Checking again, his 3 points became 9. "Dive-bombing bots for 6 points? And explodes, as well?" He mused while lying on the ground. His clean wet clothes were now blackened from soot and dirt.

Twisting and pushing himself to get back up without a limp, he observed the wreckage. The bots in question were three and had wings, and Leo assumed they were 2 feet(0.6m) in length; the rest were too deformed from the explosion.

'Okay, correction, dive-bombing bird bots for 2 points. I wonder how others faired?'

Unknown to him, these bots weren't supposed to explode; they were meant to hit examinees with their weight and harass them. But with his already robust body and quirk activated, the bots practically smacked into a boulder.

Annoyed because of what happened, Leo chose to reflect rather than blindly run and attract attention again. "[Danger Sense] isn't picking them up; sorry Mom, but... What the fuck!?" Leo, in his annoyance, cursed.

Not wanting to lose time even if he had a week, he decided on a new game plan. "[Danger Sense] always worked; now it's all wonky, twice at that!" circling around his spot, talking out loud to himself, "New plan. Got to rely on my hearing and empower it. Haven't really trained it, though, but it's what I have."

If Leo had more chance encounters with this sort of this, he would've realized that his sense of danger only worked on emotions of negativity. Hence, a non-living robot did not go under that scope.

Moving on with his plan to ditch his reliance on the danger-sensing aspect of his quirk, his empowered hearing was picking up some distant noises and some racket of fighting.

With the thicket of the jungle blocking his view, he flew above the trees. Upon doing so, he saw numerous groups of dive-bombing birds spanning across the section of the island he was in.

"Should've thought of this sooner," with the birds diving and rising back up, he could instantly tell that those were examinees. "But they don't... explode like mines did?"

Leaving it at that, he flew with a burst to the nearby group of birds that rose; he aimed with his finger and fired a shot of fiery golden energy. Of course, they missed, but that didn't matter. While still in control of the first beam he shot, he controlled it, homing at the birds' location.

Eventually, he got the shot to hit all the birds. But boy, was it difficult to concentrate on that one single shot. Immediately, his points racked up to 17 from the four bird bots.

Happy and satisfied, he rinsed and repeated this tactic, getting points smoothly. Yet, things were just too good to be true. Whatever tactic he was hoping for was made useless.

Instead of attacking as a group, the flying bots suddenly flew in all different directions. Effectively making Leo's efficient run crawl by focusing on each bird now.

"So, the 30 points were apparently not easy. The examiner only made it sound easy and effortless. These bots clearly have programming that learns."

Floating back down, he checked himself. 'Although I have cleared the 30 points already, that still took 20% of my reserves. Got to find more efficient means.'

In his thought, the examiner's words were recalled in his mind. '...actively hunt you...' This halted Leo in his tracks; maybe his earlier actions were the most effective.

To run aimlessly and let the predators come to you. After all, he did earn 9 points by running and getting attacked. And with his formidable body, he could endure it.

But instead of running, he walked fast and clapped loud with his palms. His claps were tight and sharp to the ears, aimlessly traveling the jungle.

'If they're going to hunt us, might as well bring the party to me.' At that, he looked up, squinting; the sun was approaching its highest peak. 'If there's ever a time to bring in those promised bonuses, now's the best. Cause, may God curse them if they bring those out at night.'

*Squink*

With his continuous active quirk empowering his hearing, he heard a slight mechanical sound. A bit too faint. Whoever made these really wanted to make it challenging. Nevertheless, he got ready.

*Brush!* Out from the bush, something popped out, rustling its leaves and alerting Leo of its exact location. Turning slightly, Leo, in his speed, swung his arms, attempting to break whatever it is coming at him.

But, to his shock, it was a snake of thinner proportions than before. Hitting the snack with his forearm, but it didn't break. Instead, the snake conformed to his arms shape and wrapped around it.

And like a snake, it bit his arm, but the supposed thin needle-like fangs only punctured a bit and could not fully bite Leo. "Damn, better remov-!?" Before he could remove the snake bot from his arm, something wrapped around Leo's face, "Arh! What on Earth!" closing his eyes to protect it.

Then another unknown one grabbed his arm, but this felt like the one on his face. On its limbs and trying to scratch his skin, but unsuccessful.

But suddenly, more abruptly, jumped on him... from the trees! Multitudes of animalistic creatures were trying to attack him, and unexpectedly, he felt an electric shock from his arm! "Uhtt!"

Contracting and numbing his arm like a taser, he immediately connected it to the snake. 'Mom never allowed me to train this ability, but here goes nothing!'

He gathered energy within his torso until glowing was visible from his black undersuit, taking inspiration from his father's last attack before his death.

And with a cry, he unleashed his pressured energy like an explosion!

*Woom!*

He stood in a 2-meter crater, with flora flattened to the ground. The bots surrounding his body were gone and destroyed. *Beep* With a beep, his points transferred in.

Checking his bracelet, it read out into the 60s. He nodded, satisfied. From looking at the scattered pieces, he was dog-piled by random bots, probably monkeys.

Inspecting his body, he felt as if his body was dumped in spices; it stung all over his torso. "Hehe... ouch! If Mom knew I did that, I'd have vegetables for a month!"

It was still an imperfect move, but one that deserved time investing.

Looking at himself, his now outerwear all but in shambles. The only thing keeping his dignity from showing is the undersuit that Siren's family got him. And even that was tattered a bit!

Deciding to rest a bit, he took the biscuit from his pack, one of the things he scavenged from the beach bags at the start. 'Wow, this is dry.' He ate while examining its bland dryness.

After a minute to catch his breath, he stood up and clapped again. "If it works, it is not stupid. Just got to react faster."

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Off to another section of the island, a girl with purple lightning around her was having an easy time. Of course, how could she not?

Someone who can sense electrical currents will thrive in this exam. Knowing where the points are and when one is stalking you is invaluable in this exam.

Blitzing to a hidden jaguar up the tree, she siphoned all of its electrical storage for herself, gobbling it up like food.

"Hm. If I say so, these bots' electrical batteries are top quality." Ending her sentence with a pat to her tummy. Without so much as a glance, her meal fell to the ground with a thud.

Its metallic body is unmoving, out of the electrical supply it needs to run itself. *Beep* And like that, it registered Raiden's points, counting it as a win for her.

Casually looking at her points, it read in the 90s, further ahead of Leo. Raiden still held her elegance and undamaged clothes to further set apart their difference. While Leo's were in tatters.

Closing her eyes, she began sensing again, "None appears to be in my range, but I do feel some bioelectricity... examinees."

Slowly, she began planning. 'Removing combatants on the field will lessen competition for bots. Very well, this is viable, for now.'

Going out of her thoughts, she ran to the nearest examinees she felt, and with stunning speed, she reached them in 5 minutes. Seeing them alert but unaware of her presence, she decided to strike.

The person, a girl with bird-like wings, was panting, clearly panting from exhaustion and flying. Seeing this as a chance, she crouched low and sped with her lightning, charging.

Her sharp elbow, aiming like a battering ram, struck the popliteal fossa, an area behind the knee; with her area of attack, the girl in question folden like a house of cards. And what followed was pain, of course.

Knees folded and lying on the ground with the wings pressed, the girl had no way out. Wanting to end this quick, Raiden punched the angle of the jaw, instantly knocking her out.

Curious, she looked at the person's points. "A measly 15 points. Guess she should thank me for ending her suffering, onto the next."

Purple lightning was all she left, which disappeared as fast as she appeared.

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Some on the bridge of the helicarrier watched Leo in astonishment and bewilderment. Clearly, Leo was different from how the typical test taker behaved; it almost as if he has no fear.

Running around, gets choked, and continues on.

Continues on and gets blown and tossed by diving birds.

Afterward, he resumes without caution from the eyes of those watching and flies up, shooting the birds down.

Usually, after being ambushed for the first time, an examinee would, 98% of the time, become cautious and slow their pace. But this teen just busts walls of normalcy.

"Okay, you people in charge of Section 5!" the Director raised his voice, gaining their attention. "We have other examinees to look at, don't pay all your attention to the weird one."

"Yes, Sir!"

"Weird ones translate to the best ones," he mused. Remembering how the best ones all had quirky attitudes. "I'll throw you a bone and see how much you can handle, kid."

With his tablet, he pressed red dots on the screen, controlled it, and set its path for Leo's tracker. "Fail this, and you were never special."

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CHEERS!