Running in he noticed the other participants run off in their own ways. A second of thought later, he sprinted in the direction with the least amount of participants. Less people meant less competition. Less competition meant more points.
And more points led to a higher score.
He could see the victory screen already.
BOOOOOM
The building next to him exploded as a massive robot tumbled through. It had two claws and treads on which it rolled. One of the claws had a large one painted on it. The claws slammed into the ground as it righted itself and locked onto Rakuro.
"A robot?" Rakuro froze before his eyes went wide, "A ROBOT?!"
He turned around and began sprinting for cover.
At that very instant, another robot rumbled toward him, this one had a two painted on its front. Two claws were at the bottom of the massive robot and two revolver like objects on its shoulders.
He squinted as he pivoted to the right and into an alley, "IS THAT A MISSILE LAUNCHER?! WHAT KIND OF EXAM IS THIS?!"
The two robots stopped as soon as they came to the turn and spun to lock onto Rakuro.
"Ah man...." Rakuro muttered, "I was waiting for a three-pointer first but its whatever."
The two-pointer robot fired off a missile at him.
And the missile hit, throwing up a large dust cloud following the explosion.
"Get ready to get the injured out." One of the examiners in the observation point said into his mic. The missiles weren't that dangerous. It was mostly just a controlled explosion. The buildings breaking around them was designed to be that way, breaking as soon as there was heavy impact.
WHOOOSH
The dust split as a claw stretched out. A claw that looked exactly like the one-pointer's. The dust dissipated as another one-pointer moved out of the dust.
"There was another one-pointer behind him." The examiner muttered, "Unfortunate for this one."
Meanwhile, a certain chimera leaned closer to the screen, "Interesting." He muttered.
The two robots then turned away as they recognized another robot and began to move away as the other robot moved out of the alley.
"Gotcha!" Rakuro's voice echoed out of the robot as he swung his claws into the two-pointer's back and ripped it in half. Using the claw, he grabbed the revolver like shoulder and spun around quickly. The arm whipped around as he spun and let go of the missile launcher.
BOOM
It slammed into the one-pointer and broke through.
Raising both claws in the air, he spun once more, "I'M A MECH!" He roared, "LETS GOOO!!!"
The examiners looked shocked.
"Did he turn into a robot?"
"Quick what's his quirk?"
"Damn."
Unaware of the commotion, Rakuro gently rumbled through the city looking for more robots. And in a period of thirty minutes, he got another five one-pointers, eight two-pointers and three three-pointers bringing his current point tally to thirty three points.
Thirty three points in forty five minutes.
That was great.
But it wasn't like he was ignored by other competitors. There were quite a few who had attacked him but once he spoke, they stopped immediately.
He had even saved a couple people from falling debris.
"Of course the robots weren't going to hurt us." One of the students said as his claw caught falling rubble.
Rakuro pointed his other claw at the boy, "The robot is taking the test with you buddy."
The boy stumbled back, "The robots are alive? I've been destroying sentient creatures?" He looked at his hands in shock.
"What? No." Rakuro stopped the guy, "Its my quirk. I became a robot."
The boy let out a sigh of relief, "You almost made me think I was a murderer there."
Rakuro used his claw to scratch the top of the robot and then rolled away leaving the student to his own devices.
Imposter was an amazing ability. Simply put, it allowed him to transform into anything he saw. Both organic or inorganic. Now why choose the one-pointer? Simple. The two-pointer had weapons.
Even if he could transform into the two-pointer, he couldn't use the missiles since they were essentially separate from the main body. And his quirk did not replicate that.
Therefore, the one-pointer with simple claws was the obvious choice. And the smaller choice allowed for more mobility.
At first he had been afraid of not being able to move but it felt pretty similar to a certain VR game he played.
Nephilim Hollow.
A mech battler game.
And this particular robot?
It resembled something he had once designed in his run for top of the leaderboard.
His baby.
Fiddler Crab.
A mech with a large claw, a gun, a buzz saw in the back, invisibility cloaking and the secret that tied it together... a anti-gravity base that could be swapped with treads on command, allowing slick movement in both the ground and sky.
This transformation however, it didn't posses most of the Fiddler Crab's systems.
This was simple.
Two claws and a tread.
Almost like operating a crane with two arms. Just a large construction equipment.
And right now he was just a claw machine on wheels.
But all this did not make Imposter a great ability.
No.
Imposter's greatest strength lie in its ability to transform into organic creatures.
Humans.
And with humans... come quirks. Since Imposter is able to transform into the other person down to the last cell in their body, their quirks are also reproduced. He had tested this by transforming into his mother when he had first pulled the ability, and spent the whole time talking with insects. And they were surprisingly talkative.
Finally came the weakness. Or rather a side-effect. Your first transformation was the only transformation for the duration of the ability. You could turn back but transforming again would turn you into your first choice.
This had all been tested in his trials and preparation over the past couple weeks. He had gotten the quirk twice and tested every possible idea with it. First time was he turned into his mother and the second time he turned into a TV while it played a documentary about some hero, thinking he could transform into the hero. And the TV worked just as any other TV. But it also let him know that he needed to have a direct visual of the target.
Currently, out of all his abilities, this was by far the most useful. If he had seen All Might in the three hours the ability had been active then the test would have been a breeze. Originally, his idea had been to transform into someone with a good quirk. But getting cornered in the alley put him in a situation with only one way out.
He spotted a group of students running toward him. His eyes widened as he recognized them focusing on him as a target.
He raised both claws in the air and yelled, "Wait! This is a quirk!"
But they seemed to show no interest in stopping.
Rakuro began quickly driving away.
"Man what have I gotten myself into!" He groaned as he came toward a corner, "I'm going too fast to make the turn!"
He tried to slow down but he would still end up slamming into the side of the building and then in a moment of brilliance his claw shot up and grabbed onto the inside of the corner.
CRUNCH
CREAAAAK
His entire robot body shifted along the corner without losing momentum.
BREEAAAK
The claw ripped off part of the wall it was holding onto and slingshot him along the corner and into the waiting arms of more enemy robots.
BANGGG
The robots exploded from the impact as his own body looked battered and bruised rolling sideways across the street. He righted himself and continued zooming forward and away from the group of robots. Catching sight of a three-pointer a couple minutes later, he aimed right at it and charged.
POOF
The transformation came undone as he stood as regular old Rakuro in front of a three-pointer.
"Ah." He muttered, slowly taking a couple steps back, "Hi?"
The three-pointer locked onto him and the missile launcher on its back began to turn toward him.
"What's that?!" He pointed to behind the robot.
The launcher kept turning toward him.
"That doesn't work in real life?!" Eyes widening, Rakuro sprinted toward a nearby building and took cover inside.
"Come on come on. Give me something good here." He prayed as he leaned against the wall, breathing heavily.
PING
PING
PING
GUARD DOG
"A NEW ONE?!" Rakuro yelled, "AT THIS POINT IN TIME?!"
"What does this do?" He tried to derive a use case for the ability from just its name, "Can I summon a do-"
The line of thought was cut off as a large chunk of the building was lifted up, revealing him to the three-pointer.
And for the first time since the exam began... Rakuro felt fear.
The same fear that had convinced him that becoming a hero was a bad idea. The same fear he had understood and abided by his whole life.
Randomness doesn't work in your favor.
Gambling with true randomness always resulted in losses.
A hero shouldn't be someone like him. Someone ever changing. Someone who could be useful at one time and be a burden the next. What hero would need saving when they went out to save people?
No.
He needed to run.
To get away from here.
He began to back up.
CRACK
The fear disappeared for a moment as he looked down, spiderwebs across the tiles where he stepped.
He stepped back once more but nothing happened.
CLANK
The launcher was positioned right at him.
And the fear returned.
He took another shaky step back.
CRACK
The tiles shattered from his step.
The ability clicked.
"Status effect for a buff in strength."
He looked around him and spotted an opening leading to the other side of the building. "Please work." He prayed as he sprinted toward the opening.
Mentally, he had estimated it would take him fifteen steps or so to reach the opening.
BOOM
He took three.
His body blitzed through the opening and since he was expecting fifteen steps, he couldn't stop himself from crashing through the doors of the building in front of him.
Rakuro moaned in pain as he lay on the remains of the broken door.
"Well there goes the plan of setting a high score." He grumbled as he clutched his side, which was burning. "I guess we just wait out the exam time here then. That.... that seems like a good plan."