~Hakari Kotaro~
The exam briefing ended without much fuss or problems. He may be a bit weird, but Present Mic was effective in presenting information without being overly boring. I did still get to witness the scene of Engine Boy berating Izuku for mumbling.
Now, kind of a dick move from Engine Boy, but honestly? Deku really was getting annoying, audibly muttering and mumbling nonstop in an otherwise silent auditorium.
Anyways, after that whole debacle was done, we were all handed our cards designating which Exam Areas. After some asking, I found out Ochako was headed for B, and Toga was going to Exam Grounds E. I, on the other hand, was headed for C.
Shortly after the briefing, we were all taken to our respective exam areas via bus. I shed my jacket (I came here rocking a black tracksuit), and I couldn't help but feel my jaw drop from awe upon seeing the sheer amount of effort and budget UA poured into their exam.
Because where we were dropped off was a massive set of concrete walls and a gigantic door. Behind it was a replica city, or at least a portion of a city. It was still at least several city blocks in size, that was for sure.
In the waiting area, I noticed several familiar faces I could pick out of the crowd. A girl with raven black hair wearing a sailor's uniform with a leather jacket over it, carrying a boombox and twirling her phone jack-shaped earlobes. Jiro, I think.
On the side, I saw two boys, one whose head looked like a skin-covered rock, who looked way too skittish to be here, while on the other side was a little boy with bulbous grape-like balls on his head.
There were probably a couple more, but I did not have much time to look around. Instead, I lowered my gaze to the ground and sorted through the messages on the ground thanks to Seek Guidance and found what I was looking for.
'Range and versatility required ahead. Therefore, try tail.'
'Time for tail'
'Filthy clankers'
Whoa, now, Slow down the hard r.
But deciding to listen to the voices in my... eyes? I swapped my active slot to Bikaku. The slight tingly feeling in my tailbone gave me a reassuring feeling. If Engine Boy could break robots by kicking, and Ochako could demolish them by dropping them from 2 stories, I can easily smash them apart.
I stretched my limbs. I had an edge over everyone here. I physically could not get tired or exhausted in the span of the mere 10 minutes that we were given to hunt the faux machine villains.
Speaking of stretching my limbs, my Bikaku erupted from my tailbone, drawing some gasps of surprise as the large tentacle-like tail limb came out. I tested out its flexibility and found no problems.
Now then, any time...
I got into a running position while keeping my eyes sharp, my Bikaku coiled like a spring behind me to give me an appropriate boost when I needed it.
"Start!"
For a moment, I was startled as a feminine voice shouted instead of Present Mic before I remembered that he was supposed to be at Area B instead.
I took off into a sprint as the doors swung open, revealing the city, leaving behind a gust of wind and nearly losing balance from how hard the Bikaku pushed me. As the others were stunned for a brief moment, the female voice continued.
"What are you all waiting for? There is no countdown in real life, go!"
I heard the stampede occurring behind me, but ignored it as I was the first to step inside the city and had the initiative.
"[I have found you hero. Prepare to die.]"
The first sight that greeted me was multiple villain bots, a few 1 pointers, a 2 pointer and two 3 pointers in the street. The one pointers pointed their guns at me, but they were not very fast in doing so. Before any bullets were fired, my tail lashed out and impaled one in the chest.
Boom!
As expected, the bots were frail; the metal did not feel as strong as aluminium even and they were definitely not built to be sturdy. I lifted the bot up and slammed it onto the other 1 pointers before doing a sweeping motion to slam the other robots to the wall, doing it once more to shatter them.
Thankfully, the Bikaku seemed to operate on its own series of physics as I did not feel the weight of the robot all that much, but I did have to crouch when lifting it up.
Crash! Boom!
"Hey, don't steal my kill!" "It's your fault you are so slow!" "Got this one!"
While I was busy dealing with that group, the other exam takers flooded in, some moving past me with having quirks more suited to mobility like flight or speed, but that did not mean I had bad mobility. Bikaku wrapped around my leg and I did a great leap with it, assisting my leg. Reaching several floors high before the tail unwrapped and shot forward, digging into the side of the building and hauling me up.
From my vantage point, I saw several groups. One group was struggling against a street with a lot of clankers concentrated in it, so I dropped down with my tail wrapped around my leg and smashed down on a three-pointer before my tail unwrapped and swept out, shattering two bots with a sweep.
Bikaku was unexpectedly good for this. Its power, range, durability and flexibility made it the bane of the bots.
I spent my time going for a good balance of slaying robots and helping the people out. Dodging the bullets(rubber ones) and missiles(Just noise and smoke) was easy due to them being artificially slowed down, and the villains being slow to aim and preferring to go in melee.
Bikaku was also great at reaching out and grabbing someone by the waist and pulling them to safety.
And unlike others, I abused Boundless Stamina plentifully. I had no need to pace myself, I never stopped sprinting, jumping and lashing out with my tail. And I barely felt like I was jogging.
Now that didn't mean I was not getting hurt. I couldn't dodge every bullet, and my tail got hit a few times, but that did not disqualify you in the least. They don't really expect the students to dodge bullets here.
I was sure my points were pretty damn good, and when the timer started getting closer to the end, I moved closer to the middle to help anyone who would be caught by the 0 pointer.
And just in time, when the clock hit around 2 and a half minutes left, a deep rumbling accompanied by the shaking of the city could be felt by all as a behemoth of metal emerged from the middle of the city.
"Holy shit..."
In the anime, it looked huge.
In real life, it looks fucking titanic.
That gigantic beast of metal on oversized tank tracks marched forward, its shoulders sitting above the buildings around it. This thing was a whole ass Kaiju in size. It's multiple red camera eyes gleaming intimidatingly as it looked down on all of us.
I took a step back.
How the hell do you take down that thing?
Fight it.
Why?
Big Robot = Big Ticket
I can't argue with that. Thanks for the advice, primal monkey brain.
Gamba.
Alright, let's do this.
My Bikaku twitched.
In theory, it should be sluggish. Sure, it moved in a straight line fast, but it looked like it barely had any dexterity at all.
My heart got caught in a conundrum.
Taking down that thing is probably a massive ticket. A tremendous feat for me right now, who is armed with only inordinate stamina and a cool ass tail. This is probably not a good idea.
But fuck it.
We ball.
My tail wrapped around my leg. I used the boost to jump and swing on top of a building that the 0 Pointer was approaching. It turned its titanic head towards me upon noticing my odd actions.
"Hey there, Goliath."
I ran towards the giant mech as it stretched a hand out towards me. Feeling the adrenaline pumping through my veins, I stabbed forward with the Kagune, piercing the hand before using my tail to haul me on top of it and taking off into a sprint up the arm towards the shoulder.
Crash!
Ignoring the heavy crash of its hand finally landing where I had been seconds prior, I managed to push forward and stab the Bikaku into its oversized faceplate before using that to swing onto its shoulder.
Bang!! Bang! Bang!
I swung with reckless abandon using Bikaku, but I felt like I was not going to be able to break apart this thing that easily. So I decided to abandon the Bikaku and swapped my ability to slot to Spectral Claws.
"Gruh!"
The machine spun around, trying to throw me off, but the Spectral Claw I manifested dug into the side of its bus-sized head and hung on tight. I used the second claw alongside the first one to pry open the side of the Zero Pointer's head. Digging into the thing and using my spectral claw's strength to keep gripping and tearing apart compartments and parts like a mole digging through the earth.
Was I getting electrocuted? A bit, yes. But you cannot build strong bones without a little zappy zap.
Gritting my teeth and straining my muscles, I reached out and gripped the biggest parts I could take a hold of and pulled.
"Just dieeee!!!!"
Crshh! Bzzzt! Boom!
With the sound of a lot of electricity and things exploding, the Zero pointer stopped moving and started listing forward.
Problem. I was still on the things head as it started listing. I hurriedly dove out of the little tunnel I had dug out on the side of its head and grabbed onto the shoulder, feeling the wind whistle by my head as it started falling at alarming speeds.
"Hup!"
I dove off the shoulder, in the midst of the descent and aimed my fall towards a 3-pointer that was running away and also chasing a girl I couldn't quite make out.
Crash!
"Grah, that could have gone better."
I felt the pain sharply travel up my arms as I crushed the robot during my landing using Spectral Claw. As the dust cloud from my landing cleared, the Zero Pointer finally fell to the ground and kicked up a giant cloud of dust along with a shockwave, but everyone had already run away from it, thanks to it being preoccupied with me, so it did not cause any problems.
"Time's Up!"
Sighing in relief as I shook my numb-feeling Spectral Claws, I turned to the girl I had just unwittingly assisted, only to raise an eyebrow at the coincidence.
"Dude, what the hell was that?"
I shrugged my shoulders at the shellshocked Jiro's question.
"Sorry if I stole your kill, but I kinda needed it to... not end up like tinc can over there."
One of my claws pointed at the squished robot, making Jiro assent by nodding her head.
"Yeah, no, I get it, dude. Not like I was planning to kill it anyway, I kinda lost my speakers- what the hell!? Are your hands okay!?"
Jiro suddenly exclaimed in shock when I dispelled my Spectral Claws to see my... absolutely torn hands and broken fingernails.
...Ah... I forgot about the whole damage reflection part of the whole ordeal.
Thank you, adrenaline.
I looked at my injured hands and grimaced. That was not going to feel nice when the adrenaline wears off.
"Y'know what? Think I could use some medical attention. Adrenaline is putting in the work, but it's gonna clock out soon."
Jiro shook her head in what I assumed was exasperation.
"We'd better get you some help asap, dude. I'm Kyoka Jiro by the way. Do you need some help getting to the medic?"
I shook my head.
"Nah, I'm barely winded. I can walk. The names' Hakari Kotaro, nice meeting you."
Seeing me casually walk while trying to ignore the growing pain in my hands, Jiro whispered under her breath.
"Are you a monster or something?"
No, but I was fiending for some tickets right now.
Speaking of. Anytime now.
Feat Achieved! Defeat the Zero Pointer
+1x Platinum Ability Gacha Ticket
A/N: There was no way Hakari was going to perform badly in the practical exams if Kirishima, with hardening, could rank in the top 10. Stamina + Bikaku is a fearsome combination if you apply it right. And Hakari definitely can apply it right.
I wanted to have a scene with Jiro since she is often overlooked for the other girls, she is one of the if not only small breasted girl in MHA and she deserves some respect. Plus her tsundere attitude is cute.
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