Time for our cadets to see how well balanced they are! XP Enjoy!

Hetalia belongs to Hidekaz Himaruya and Attack on Titan belongs to Hajime Isayama!

Aptitude Tests

It took two days for everyone to recover. Well, most recovered after one day but they had to wait for Gilbert to regain consciousness and then he had to recover but now he was, the tests could begin.

Out in the yard, there were rigs set up that looked like crossbows pointed at the sky with the wires holding people by their belts who were in various stages of either being upright or upside down as they attempted to keep their balance.

Shadis walked down the row of hoists, watching the cadets as their balance was tested and right now he was looking at the self-proclaimed 'Hero' who was managing to keep his balance while swinging on the wires like a big kid.

"YAHOO!" Alfred cried as he swung back and forth, causing Shadis to roll his eyes. The kid had great balance and potential but he needed to take things seriously. He went to the winch on the side of the hoist, not seeing the blonde, violet eyed boy by the winch and released the catch. Alfred gave a cry of surprise as he fell to the ground.

"That's not a swing, Hero!" he snorted as Alfred rubbed the butt he had fallen on. "And you're a soldier now, act like one!" And he moved on to the next hoist which was holding the large blonde man with the violet eyes and the dark aura. Shadis had learn from Panda boy, who was operating the winch, that the man's name was Ivan Braginski and he was from Moscow District but Shadis had nick-named him Creepy Bastard but he would never say that to his face. Ivan hung still and upright in the cables, in fact it was like the cables did not dare tip him over.

"You have good balance, cadet!" he commented. "Think you can keep it up?"

"Da!" Ivan replied. "I will not fall, comrade!" The creepy aura spread as if Ivan was expecting to be contradicted and ready to dish out retribution if anyone did. Honestly, this cadet actually scared him.

"I believe you won't!" Shadis replied and quickly moved on.

On the next hoist was Pasta Boy with Muscles stood helping him right himself as he had not only tipped upside down but had managed to somehow get twisted up in the cables. Shadis had not seen anything that bad since he trained that Eren Yeager kid and that was because he had broken equipment.

Feliciano was still stuck in his upended position with Ludwig trying to unravel him from the cables and Shadis knelt down to look him in the eye.

"Hey, Pasta Boy!" he mocked. "You stand a good chance of seeing what a titan looks like upside down! Right before it eats you!" Feliciano gave a yelp as Ludwig released him from the cables and he spun round. Ludwig then went to the winch and slowly lowered Feli to the ground so he could right himself again.

"Okay, Muscles!" Shadis ordered. "Take him back up and fail this time, Pasta Boy, and you'll be sleeping in the fields after ripping up plants in them all day!" Ludwig turned the winch and slowly, Feliciano's feet left the ground.

Feliciano began wobbling and tilting, flapping his arms trying to keep his balance but, as he swung backwards and forwards, it was obvious he was going over.

"FELI!" Ludwig yelled. "FAIL AND I'LL GO BACK TO THE BARRACKS AND THROW OUT ALL YOUR PASTA!" Feli 'eep'ed and, suddenly he straightened up and achieved perfect balance. Shadis was stunned! A threat to pasta and the most incompetent cadet became a model one, He just shook his head and moved on. In the next hoist was Kiku and he just hung there, effortlessly with natural grace. And reading some kind of book while Egomaniac stood by the winch, looking awesome! Or trying to!

"What the Hell are you doing, cadet?!" he shouted at the unsuspecting Kiku who jumped out of his skin at the unexpected voice while Gilbert fell on his butt in the dirt. Kiku managed to keep his balance and posture but dropped his book. Shadis picked it up and looked at it. It was one of those weird books that were read from back to front and right to left that were popular in Tokyo District. What was it called? Oh yes! Manga!

"Ow!" Gilbert got up, rubbing his aching backside. "That was unawesome!"

"Hey, Manga Boy!" Shadis said, flipping through the pages and stopped at one, his eyes widening at what he saw on it. (Yes, it was R-18!) It seems the quiet, black haired cadet was a secret deviant. "What you do in private is your own business but read this stuff in your barracks! I catch you with this out here again, I'll make you read it out to the rest of the squad!" He slapped the book back into Kiku's hand. "Now, put it away!" He went on to the next hoist as Gilbert lowered Kiku down.

"Will you stop playing with the winch, you git?" a disgruntled London District accent caught Shadis's ear and he turned to see Eyebrows in the hoist with that Bonnefoy cadet operating the winch. Or messing about with it was more accurate as he kept raising and lowering Arthur every time he tried to maintain his balance.

"You want me to just make you rise, mon cher?" Francis leered, waggling his eyebrows at Arthur.

"Pervert!" Arthur retorted and Shadis thought that, had the Parisian been within striking distance, Eyebrows would had beaten Francis to a bloody pulp. "Just do it properly, Francy Pants! I want to pass these tests! I don't care what you do!"

"Like the nick-name, Eyebrows!" Shadis commented. "Hey, Francy Pants! I take it you don't want to clean out the latrines later?" Francis turned a ghostly shade.

"Non, sir!" he replied.

"THEN OPERATE THAT WINCH CORRECTLY!" Shadis screamed at him. "OR YOU'LL BE CLEANING THEM ALL WEEK!" Francis raised Arthur up in the hoist and left him alone to hang from it correctly. Shadis looked back at everybody taking their turn in the hoists and realised that some one was missing.

"Where's Vargas?" he demanded. Feliciano waved his hand in the air.

"Ve~ Here, sir!" he called.

"Not you!" he snorted. "I mean your tomato flinging brother! Where the Hell is he?"

"Ve~ He's taking a siesta!" Feliciano replied. "He said to tell you he didn't care!" Actually, his exact words were 'Tell the bald bastard I don't give a sh*t!' when Feliciano went to wake him up but Feli thought it might be a bad idea to give the message word for word as how Feliciano had told Shadis was making the man turn an angry red and not like a tomato as he stormed off in the direction of the barracks.

Lovino looked peaceful in his siesta but his happy sleepy time came to an abrupt end when he was flung out of his bunk by Shadis who had upended his mattress and dumped him on the floor. From the second bunk!

"Ow!" he looked up from his painful position on the ground at the bald drill sergeant who loomed over him. "What's your problem, Bald Bastard?" Shadis was going to kill this kid before he could ever be cut from the squad!

Shadis just picked Lovino up, flung him over his shoulder and carried him out to the training fields, ignoring the impressive amount of curse words coming out of Lovino's mouth in which he did not repeat himself once! Everyone watched as he carried the angry Italian over to an unoccupied hoist and dumped him on the ground in front of it.

"Do you see anyone here taking a siesta, Tomato Idiot?!" he sneered at Lovino who was now dusty from the ground. "Get into the hoist and let's see how well balanced you are but from what I've seen, I not hopeful!" Lovino growled at Shadis but he got up and allowed himself to get strapped into the hoist and Shadis winched him up high. Lovino wobbled a little but managed to stay upright and he smirked at Shadis.

"Happy now, Bald Bastard!" he said.

"Very!" Shadis replied and unleashed the catch, sending Lovino crashing to the ground with a yelp. "Next time I have to come after you, I'll set your bunk on fire! Now everyone, change places!" Everybody helped each other out of and into the hoist and Shadis went back down the line.

Francis was up in the air, trying to keep his balance but Arthur kept slapping him on the back and upending him and he currently hanging upside down while Arthur smirked at him.

"Do you two immature brats need a time-out?" Shadis fumed. "Knock it off, Eyebrows or you'll be scrubbing the latrines instead of your girlfriend there!" Shadis pointed at Francis which left Arthur in a stuttering rage but he stopped shoving Francis over and Francis managed a graceful balance and Shadis moved on to Gilbert and Kiku.

Kiku winched Gilbert into the air who attained great balance and after a minute of keeping stable, Gilbert punched the air, screaming, "JA! I AM AWESOME!" Shadis went up to him.

"Of course you are, Egomaniac!" he muttered and unhooked one of the cables from Gilbert's belt and gave him a spin as Gilbert screamed again as he swung around uncontrollably on the remaining wire while Shadis went to his next vict … I mean pair of cadets!

Which were Muscles and Pasta Boy but Feliciano was having a hard time trying to get the winch to hoist Ludwig up. It seemed that Ludwig was too heavy for the slender Italian to winch up.

"You need to eat something that will put some meat on your bones, Pasta Boy!" Shadis said, moving Feliciano to one side to get to the winch. "It'll give you strength and the titans don't like their snacks skinny!" Feli eep-ed as Shadis turned the winch and Ludwig rose into the air where Ludwig maintained perfect balance and Shadis had to admit that this cadet had the most potential of the entire group.

"Not bad, Muscles!" he commented. "Keep it up and you just might pass!" Shadis went on to the next pair as a thud sounded behind him as Feli let Ludwig down but could not control the winch enough to let him down gently.

Shadis could see Panda Boy dangling in the hoist that Creepy Bastard was operating and he was wobbling slightly but managing to maintain his balance. He wobbled again and almost fell.

"You can do it, comrade," Ivan called out encouragement to his partner. "Become one with the cables!" Shadis almost smiled at their camaraderie.

"And if they do not become one," Ivan continued, dark aura spewing everywhere. "I will snap them, strand by strand!" Yao's balance became perfect at that threat and Shadis decided that was enough creepiness for one day and moved on.

"What are you doing back in the hoist, Jones?!" he demanded when he saw 'The Hero' in the hoist with a reasonably good sense of balance. "You were there before! I said change places, Hero!"

"Huh, sir!" came a voice by the winch. "I'm Jones!" Shadis turned to see 'The Hero' stood by the winch and his head flipped back and forth between Alfred and the one in the swing.

"Then who are you?"

"Matthew Williams, sir," the look-a-like replied, shyly. "From Ontario District."

"Why weren't you at Inspection?" Shadis demanded.

"I was, sir! You mistook me for Alfred and made me run laps." Shadis thought back and remembered seeing Jones twice. Now he saw the two of them together, he could see the differences between them. They had the same face but Williams had longer hair than Jones and he had violet eyes to Jones's blue. He tuned back to the one in the hoist.

"Well, next time, tell me, Jones," he ordered and the violet eyed boy sighed.

"I'm Williams!" he said with a long suffering tone and Shadis looked between the two again.

"Whatever!" he replied and addressed the whole group.

"Right!" he yelled. "Everybody, out of the hoists and dismissed! Report back here tomorrow at 08:00 from your next training session!" With that, Shadis walked away. When he was out of sight of the cadets, he rolled his eyes and facepalmed.

This was going to be a nightmare!

Okay! Shadis has a nickname for every cadet except Matthew, suggestions are welcome! You can guess what's coming next! ;) Can you imagine Italy, who has never mastered hand grenades, using this stuff! It's going to be carnage! XP

So till then,

Hasta la Pasta!