Chapter 2: The UA Entrance Exam

UA High, 11:24 AM, Musutafu, Japan

Carter was ecstatic that the plane ride was over. Not only did he have to ride with a guard in the plane's cargo hold, but he wasn't allowed to use the bathroom for the whole flight. On top of that, he had to stay strapped into the stretcher for the entirety of the trip. The guard escorting him was now joined by members of the Musutafu Police Department, who helped the guard escort him to the ampitheatre where the pre-exam meeting was being held. As soon as they entered the room, all eyes were on Carter, who had missed most of the exams explanation. Murmurs and whispers of Carters arrival soon filled the auditorium.

'Is he a villain?'

'He's just a kid, why are the police here?'

'Why is he dressed like some sort of prisoner?'

All of these questions proceeded to be answered by a man standing on the front stage. He had a long, spiked up hairdo and wore sunglasses, even though the room was already dark.

"Oh and one more thing examinees", he started, "We have an exchange student joining us today, fresh off the plane from America. Everyone, please allow me to introduce Carter Slade, from Folsom Prison, California".

The whispers started up again once the students heard he was from prison. The entrance examinees weren't too keen on having an american, much less a prison inmate, participating in their schools entrance trials. The man with spiky hair started speaking again.

"Not to worry everyone. Because of his current condition, the principal has already informed me that he will not be taking the exam with everyone else. Instead, he will conduct his exam solo in battleground Echo, once that group's exam has finished. Still, feel free to come watch, I know I will. Now everyone please make your way to your assigned battlegrounds. GO GO GO GO!!!"

The sound of explosions and clashing metal filled Carters ears as the other examinees went about their business. Apparently, from what he had been told, all he had to do was destroy as many robots as he could, all the while avoiding the massive one they called a Zero Pointer. Carter just wanted to get this over with. He didn't care about some stupid entrance exam, although he was excited about getting out of this stretcher for a while. It had been almost a year since he had been allowed to move around outside.

"...And that wraps it up!!! All examinees please make your way out of the exam areas and back to the main courtyard!!!", shouted the man with spiky hair, whom Carter had recently learned went by the name Present Mic. The sound of his voice was really starting to get on his nerves.

"And now everyone feel free to gather around Battleground Echo, so we can all see what our American exchange student is capable of!!! YEAH!!!!", shouted Present Mic.

The massive crowd of students gathered around the gate to Ground E as the guards escorted him inside, slowly parting the sea of examinees as they wheeled him in. Once inside, the guards unstrapped him from the stretcher, quickly backing away before the gates closed. The other students couldn't help but notice one guard, clearly American, handed him a necklace with a silver cross hanging from it.

"Alright kiddo", shouted Mic, "You have fifteen minutes to disable or destroy as many robots as you can before time runs out. We don't care how you do it as long as it gets done. You ready?"

Carter looks up at the viewing booth where Present Mic was, giving a slight nod. He then puts the necklace on and kisses the cross before taking his ready stance.

"Well then my American Amigo, your exam begins… NOW!!!", he yelled.

The first thing he did was take in his surroundings, eyeballing any high ground or rubble that could be used to his advantage. That's when the robots started coming out and began charging Carter. Taking his time, he started walking forward slowly, kicking up dust little by little with each step. The dust and dirt appeared to float towards and around his hands, which rested ready at his sides. Once the first robot had gotten close enough, Carter used the dust floating around his hands to create two sawed-off shotguns, each loaded with slug rounds. He remembered once again how good a firearm felt in his grip.

Aiming at the first robot, he fires, hitting it in its knee joint. The robot trips, sliding once fallen, and stops in front of Carter, who shoots the other shotgun into the robots eye, neutralizing it. The students watching on were in awe, while others were shocked that he was able to take down a robot with two shots.

'BANG' 'BANG BANG'

Three more slugs tore through two more robots. Just then a much bigger one, marked with a number three, started charging at Carter, who proceeded to empty the rest of his slugs into the robot, finally bringing it down.

"Sloppy", he muttered to himself. It shouldn't have taken him more than three shots to bring that thing down. He threw down the empty guns, watching them turn to dust as soon as they hit the ground.

He kicks up more dust and pulls an assault rifle out of the cloud. "M-16 don't fail me now", he says aloud, sending the bolt home and chambering a round, before he runs off into the rest of the makeshift city.

Present Mic then comes back over the loudspeakers. "For any students wondering about what the heck just happened, our American examinee Carter J. Slade, has the ability to create any firearm out of dust. The only thing is he can't make any more ammunition once the gun is empty. So once a gun is empty, that's it. He just throws it down and it turns back to dust. Talk about ashes to ashes, am I right?", he explained.

Carter made his way through the city, which had already been damaged by the previous examinees. He was already on his fourth M-16, and having already taken down 36 robots, that would put his score at 57. Then suddenly, off to his left, a pile of rubble starts shifting as if something were under it. Carter zeroed his rifle in on the movement, as if by instinct, and began edging closer to it. Once he had gotten closer, he heard groans of pain. Someone was under there. Without even thinking, he threw down his gun and began digging until he found a hand.

'GET ME OUT OF HERE!!!', shouted the muffled voice. He kept digging until he was able to pull the kid out the rest of the way.

"AAUGH!!", he cried out. Carter set him down and looked over at his leg. Not only was it broken, but there was about a foot of rebar steel going through his calf. He knew he had to carry the kid out of there, as his leg was now unusable.

"Easy man, I'm gonna get you outta here okay? What's your name?", Carter asked, attempting to reassure the kid.

Through pained breath, he was able to finally get his name out. "Ei- Eijiro Kirishima", he said, his voice fluttering out of shock.

"Alright then Eijiro, I'm taking you straight to the gate, okay? Someone can take you from there", said Carter, who had already settled Kirishima over his shoulder. He started walking post haste towards the gate when the red haired boy stopped him suddenly.

"Wait!", he shouted, "I wasn't the only one down there, there's a girl still buried!". He lifted his arm, pointing toward the pile of rubble he had just come out of.

Looking back at it, Carter sighed. More digging. He set Kirishima down against a light pole adjacent to the rubble and began moving rocks once more, until he found a foot. He carefully dug around it until the girl was completely uncovered.

"Attention examinee", shouted Mic, once again over the loudspeakers, "You now have five minutes remaining. Better hurry!"

"Fuck off you hair gel using prick", he muttered, picking up the girl. She was unconscious, so Carter was very careful as not to injure her more. Blood was dripping from her head, meaning she had a possible concussion. He set her down next to Kirishima, who was beginning to bleed out. Catching his breath, he was about to carry the two of them out, when he heard the awful noise coming from behind him.

'BWEEEEEERRRRR'

Carter turned around only to find a massive robot, marked with the number zero behind him. He immediately started kicking up dust. Reaching through the cloud, he pulls out a massive gun, an M-60. He aims the machine of death at the mechanical monstrosity before him, and squeezing the trigger down he lets out a battle cry.

"RAAAUGH!!! GET SOME!!! GET SOME YOU METAL MOTHERFUCKER!!!", he shouts, not realizing that he isn't making a scratch. Finishing the guns magazine, he drops it in defeat, knowing what he has to do now. Quickly he moves the two unconscious examinees behind cover, and begins whispering to himself.

"Let me use your powers once more… grandfather".

He begins walking toward the massive mechanical monster before him. He rips off the top of his prison issued tracksuit, giving the onlookers a view of his upper body. While the girls watching the viewing screens eyed his muscles up and down, the boys were too busy questioning why his body was covered in scars. All of them began wondering what he did to get into prison in the first place.

As he walked forward, he held up the silver cross in between his fingers, kissing it before whispering to himself once again.

"God give me strength"

Dust begins to swirl around him, followed by the ground beginning to shake. His skin began to turn gray, and the tips of his hair started catching fire. His skin began flaking and cracking, revealing flaming embers as if he were burning from the inside out.

"No", he thought to himself, "I can't use my full power yet. This will be enough".

The onlookers, admiring his new form, wondered what this new power hat had been presented to them was. They watched as he began walking forward slowly, his shoes burning off of his feet. Slowly, he began jogging, then full on sprinting towards the giant robot, each step he took left a flaming footprint behind him. He began to cry out for battle while charging the metal giant. Once he was close enough, he jumped towards the robot with so much force that the ground around him practically shattered. He cried out a single word as he made impact with the robot.

"BRIMSTONE FURY!!!!" was all the students heard when the cameras went dark. Seconds later, they heard the sound of the impact.

'BOOM'

Many of the onlookers ducked down, covering their ears, even Present Mic had to cover his ears from the noise.

Once his ears had stopped ringing, he shouted through the loudspeakers.

"TIMES UUUUP!!!!", he shouted, checking camera after camera trying to get a view of the examinee and the other two students. To no avail, he ran down from the viewing booth, pushing his way through the crown of students as the gates opened up. They were greeted by a wall of fire surrounding the area of the explosion. Present Mic fell to his knees, thinking that three students had just died on his watch, when one student called out.

"Look!" shouted the student, pointing toward the wall of fire.

Appearing through the flames was a silhouette coming towards them. As it got closer and closer, the person finally walked out of the cloud of smoke and cinders, revealing Carter carrying the two unconscious students over his shoulders, his silver cross gleaming in the sun as he walked towards the group.

"MEDIC!!", he shouted, trying to get Mics attention.

"Medic? MEDIC! WE NEED MEDICAL NOW!!! SOMEONE GO GET RECOVERY GIRL!!!", shouted Mic once he had come to his senses. Soon the two students were carried off on stretchers towards the infirmary, while Carter was taken back into custody by his escort of guards. As they strapped him into the stretcher to wheel him away, an onlooker in the viewing room stared at the monitor. The dog handed and mouse eared individual sipped his tea and laughed to himself.

'Interesting', he thought. Taking another sip of his tea, he glanced out through the window overlooking the battleground. His view falling on the giant zero pointer, or at least what was left of it. What remained of the metal monster was now just a pile of steel and wires, all still glowing hot from the explosion. He chuckled to himself again as a man in a brown trenchcoat with a snow white mustache came up behind him.

"What did I tell you?", asked the man, taking a swig out of the flask he had hidden in his pocket.

"You weren't wrong", said the mouse eared creature, taking another sip of tea, "He's even stronger than I've been led to believe".

The two watched as Carter was wheeled into the back of an armored truck, which then drove off, heading back to Musutafu Police Station.