The first thing they saw when they reached their destination was a middle-aged woman in a white lab coat who appeared to be emotionally void. Her face bore no expression and she held her tablet and stylus like a clipboard. Her dark hair was in a tight bun with not even a strand out of place. She was simply there to direct and observe.
"My name is Susan. I'm here to direct your assessment today." She looked at her tablet and decided who should go first. "I will be making sure the correct ability level is displayed on your watches after you have demonstrated your strength. Will Dobin Plantwell please step forward? You are first."
Lana smiled at her brother knowing he'd get the dreaded "1" on his watch but that would change. She would need to do her normal thing… The question plaguing her was how difficult would it be in this environment? He would learn the earth ability as all those the military "helped" did. He also would be wrapped up into the bullying ring. She was in for a challenge as she knew she had to protect her twin from the monsters pulling the strings.
She watched as her brother was escorted across the scorched earth that Lana wondered if she could even get anything to grow in. It had obviously been used for this purpose for a long time. She inwardly shook her head marking yet another reason she hated the military, their blatant disregard for the plant life on this planet. Were they even on Earth?
She heard the instruction of "destroy the targets in front of you quickly" and watched the woman walk away. When Susan was about 30 feet away, five, what could be described as stop signs, popped up but they had circles that depicted a target, three in total with a dot in the middle. Dobin ran up to each and punched them. The next test was to punch a drum and Dobin was informed his strength was a 7. The third test was for dexterity. The test taker was to avoid spikes which flew their direction and they got faster over time. This one, Lana was particularly interested in. Was she allowed to use her vines on them? Did she want a high number? She needed to stay at a 5 for the whole year but how can she make sure she does? She observed as her brother got eliminated pretty quickly.
"Dobin Plantwell, your strength is 7, agility is 5. Overall ability level is 1 but make sure you study that book and you can reassess."
Dobin smiled brightly, "I will, thank you!"
Lana realized she was so lost in her thoughts and worries she paid little attention to the others in their group. Just as Susan called "Alto Funnel, please step up to the targets. You are next."
A 5'6" boy with sandy hair and glasses stepped forward with little confidence as the targets popped up. He took a deep breath and brought his palms together. He slowly formed a ball of water about the size of a tennis ball. He threw the ball with all his strength and hit the target. He repeated the process four more times, missing the target twice. When he stepped up to the barrel, he let out a water blast from his hand just as his fist connected. The number on the barrel stopped at 22. He smiled, obviously pleased with the result, "two points stronger" she heard him mutter. Next was dexterity which was not a strong area for him. He stepped up to the machine, taking a deep breath. He heard Susan's voice call out "you cannot use your ability on this one. Just do the best you can" and a slight look of panic crossed his face. After a few deep breaths he declared himself ready and the assessment started. He dodged the first few poles with little effort imagining his father tossing balls of water at him. This gave him confidence but soon he was struck and the assessment ended.
"Alto (All-toe) Funnel, you are a 2.3," Susan announced and the number appeared on his watch. He seemed proud of the number and Lana was confused. He noted the look on her face "It went up a small bit" he said, grinning.
Next up was a 5'11" boy with purple hair by the name of Almin (Al-Min) Dester. He nodded when his name was called and stepped up to the targets. When they popped up, he looked at them for a moment then extended a hand in the direction of one. With his fingers splayed at first, then he balled his fingers forming a fist and the target crumpled up like a ball. Soon, the other 4 targets were in the same state. At the barrel, he pulled back as hard as he could and left a dent in the metal upon impact. The number stopped at 30 and he pulled the front of the barrel back to its original position. Lana noted this act as she was expecting arrogance among her fellow students at the very least and thus far, she had seen no such thing. In the dexterity test, he did as he expected and retained his level 3 status.
The next person to be called up was named Kattie (Cat-tee) Bree. While there was nothing remarkable about her plain face, an inch taller than Lana, long black hair down to the small of her back, what was remarkable was what was sitting on her shoulder. It was a beastie, as Lana called them. It had shiny, jet-black feathers that seemed to glisten as though they had been polished. Its claws look deadly, 3 toes in the front, one gripping in the back. Its beak looked geared for death, long but wide as the face, a little sawed where the top and bottom meet. This beast consumed meat, a lot of it by the looks of it. It seemed to observe everything, and its eyes looked wiser than many humans Lana had met at this point in her life.
Kattie walked with some pride in her step seeming to be from one of the big families that held prestige in this world. Lana liked plants and animals better than humans on any day and more on Sundays. This was one she felt compelled to pay attention to. As Kattie approached the signs, her bird took flight and Lana smiled a bright smile at the sight of the bird's outstretched wings. Kattie nodded to her bird and it dived into the first target then flew quickly, knocking down all the others. It was the fastest time so far to defeat the targets. At the barrel, Kattie, too, got a 30 on strength. On dexterity, though she didn't do much better than Alto.
Next was Lana's turn. She was nervous. She knew her strength and dexterity were high; higher than should match her MC points which indicate how strong a user is with an ability. This number goes up as the strength in the ability goes up and is used temporarily as ability-tied skills are used. The points are regained with rest. Lana prefers to call this energy. She feared the results of this assessment changing the number displayed on her watch. She needed it to stay at 5 if she was to keep her secret. At the targets, she thought about knocking them all over at once then thought it would be too fast. Then realized if she were too slow they would know something was up so she settled for two at once. She knocked them over quickly and got the best time but not enough to make them think she was some ace. She was satisfied. At the barrel, she knew she had a lot of strength. She was a gymnast and acrobat. Still, she fired off another vine to add momentum as she swung for the barrel satisfied with a nice 55. The next test was the one she was truly worried about. She could be in that one a bit based on what she had seen so far. She stepped in and moved as it started while her mind complained about it being slow. She moved casually, easily evading the poles as the hologram pretended to attack her. She decided she had been in there long enough and moved slightly to make sure she got hit hoping she got the timing where she wanted it.
"Lana Plantwell, you are a level 5 but very close to being a level 6. Keep up the good work," Susan declared. Lana beamed a smile at her pretending to be happy about her compliment but inside she was thankful she stopped when she did. She would need to find someone to do something about this watch before she could resume her training to master her ability.
Dobin watched his sister perform. Inwardly, he kept saying 5 over and over again. She had been a 5 for a long time but the plan was to make the military think she had topped out, unable to go any further.
"Everyone, stand inside that circle," Susan stated as she pointed. As soon as everyone was inside it, they were teleported to the front of the school with what looked like a teacher standing in front of them.