It was Finally Time...

The 125th Annual Aspiring Hero's Exam was finally here, the whole city watched from afar as the contents of the exam area was broadcast on massive screens that littered the outer walls. the whole nation watched in broadcast as the call was made!

Many of you had chances to get to know eachother, or to connect with new acquaintances, potential classmates, Some of you didn't get the chance, or perhaps didn't take it.

Regardless, when the bell tolls, the call must be answered!

A Siren from across the water, audible for miles, signaled the beginning of the Pre-exam gathering! The one time of the year when it's call was a good sign, a sign of the future, of the next generation of heroes getting their chance to enter the ground of the New York Bay University.

The Siren was the ten minute signal, giving the aspirants ample time to make it to the entry building, the Former Abraham Lincoln High School that was long ago converted into the entry to NYBU's Entrance Exam area. When entering the western doors, aspirants could see the walls of the testing area extending all the way down to the shore, and beyond that, a Dark metal wall rising up from the ocean, frightfully reminiscent of the Tartarus prison facility from this view.

Within though, an entire building the size of a 'normal' high-school had been converted into a stadium, where hundreds of aspirants had gathered, with a platform in it's center, and a massive set of doors at the other end... otherwise it held little decoration, merely a doorway into their new life, as far as anyone could see at least

The central platform though, It held a small gathering of individuals, mostly familiar faces, and all teachers in the Academy.



Finally, though the place was quite large, it seemed most of the aspiring heroes had been clustered together around the front of the platform, Some knew eachother, many didn't. Some blended into the group, and some stood out at a glance, like that unusually fat man in a Gi, The big Red haired grinning horseman in a suit, or the smaller horse in a hoodie that seemed to glow, The freakishly tall man that loomed over the whole crowd, The slimy black creature, or the tall man dressed in a full fluffy russian winter getup, even the red haired girl who was... wearing a crown of whisky bottles?

The crowd was as diverse and strange as every year, riddled with all kinds, from the confident to the desperate, the average to the outstanding to the downright weird. And every last one was here in pursuit of becoming a hero!

"WELCOME! POTENTIAL STUDENTS!"

The man in the suit stepped forward, the group of teacher's parting for him to near the edge of the platform, a smile on his face and a strange sense of approval emanating from him as his voice projected unnaturally well.

"I'm glad to see that so many of you have come this year, and I hope to see most of you admitted to classes this year!"

His smile waned somewhat as he brought his hands together and bowed his head slightly

"Unfortunately, and I'm sure you understand this, we cannot just 'admit' students because they desire it, as much as I wish that one day the world would be safe enough for will alone to be enough, I must ensure you that any failure to meet criteria is to ensure the safety of those who cannot keep up. The training you will undergo will become dangerous in time."

And he straightened back up, returning his smile and raising his arms in delight

"But remember, you can always train yourselves, improve, and try again next year! We're not as picky about age here as some schools are!"

He turned then, waving a hand towards the massive doors, which began to creak open, light from the sun peering through, and yet his voice seemed to ignore the noise of the doors when being heard.

"But now, let me explain the exam this year!... naturally, I'm sure you know we change things up each year, to be 'fair' but strict, we study each aspirant and do our best to create challenges that are not inherently impossible to anyone... naturally, this is next to impossible with so many of you applying... And thus, we long ago designed this exam ground!"

The doors opened enough to peer outside... it wasn't very impressive, it just looked like it led to the corner street of a city block with a wall at the end.

"A One Kilometer area, city blocks, buildings, roads, riddled with obstacles, challenges, and traps designed to test you all... Your goal, is merely to reach the bridge gate at the opposite corner of this area within the time-limit. As per usual, things will always be different from last year, and you will be graded on different criteria."

He leaned over then, raising one hand with a finger extended in a chastising manner

"There are only a couple of rules! You will not act to injure other aspirants, You may not leave the walls of the exam area except through the exit gate, and you may go higher than the walls themselves, there is a sensor grid tracking that level."

He returned to a normal stance then, putting his hands back together and smiling merely pleasantly.

"Now then, We will allow you all a minute to converse with eachother, but once the siren blares again, It will be time for you all to start running!"

"After all these years... Countless hours of practicing, training, minor acts of heroism in the name of the common man, the community, pushing myself to beyond my own limits. Pushing myself to the step of death's door and deny the reaper. But at last, I am ready. At long last I stand ready to show the world that a new light shines upon it. A light of peace. A light of honor. Of truth. Of strength. Of everlasting JUSTICE!

The age of fear is done. The age of darkness shall be washed away! Never again will children hide from the dark! Fear not citizens of this city, this world! A NEW DAWN HAS RISEN!

PHOENIX DAWN HAS ARRIVED!!!

And like the Phoenix I will rise, again and again to bring JUSTICE TO ALL and SMITE the wicked and unrighteous! FEAR NOT FOR I AM HERE! PHOENIX DAWN IS HERE to become a hero, your hero! The hero you need and deserve! A hero to every man woman child and creature large and small who lives a life of virtue an good! Dawn fights for you, so you keep smiling in the light!"

The hulking half naked man with armor plated golden arms, and what appeared to be a martial arts gi for leggings was talking to himself amongst the crowd, and rather loudly at that. It would be enough to get most people's attention, if the odd shine from him and the designs of glowing tattoos and lack of pupils. One could mistake him for a mutant, it wasn't the oddest look by far among the crowd, but like a spotlight, the eye can't help but look to its shining golden form for an instant, and that would be enough to see this shining paragon of muscle and purity. He looked strong, and the glow of the golden light that ran across his body from the marks on his body gave him a certain... angelic air. He looked the part... if he didn't show so much skin.

He stood just looking at the field with arms crossed, the wind in his short white hair, eyes wide, and a confident grin on his face. Excited, he wanted to get started. Finally. Finally. He'd get to become a 'licensed hero' but in his mind, he was always the hero. A piece of paper just made it easier.

'If it were a shorter distance I could just skip this test entirely' alas his clone only had around 100 meters in range from him. Still he would be lying to himself if the thought of instantly passing the test didn't put a smile on his face. That would surely leave a lasting impression. But as it stands that wouldn't be possible, so he needed a plan.

Doppel's plan more or less came to finding a way to sneak around and get to the goal. That was the only goal after all, fighting seems more or less unnecessary. Now he just needed to find someone else who would grab some attention.



Perfect, Doppel had met Dawn already in the cafe and he would more than fit the job. Of course Doppel would feel bad just leaving him behind so a team up seemed in order.

"Yo Dawn, how you doing? You want to help each other out in the exam? Teamwork is never looked down on in the world of heroes."

Alan felt his heart begin to speed up, which caused his electrical aura to glow brighter and it crackled with energy. He made sure to keep a safe distance from the other applicants and watched the man in the black suit begin explaining what the entrance exam was. Alan had been waiting years for this moment, since the day he declared that he would use his quirk to become a hero and find a way to forgive himself for what he had happened to his mom when he was born.

The test didn't sound too hard from what was explained to them, but Alan suspected that the traps were probably something that would test their strengths and intelligence. Since they weren't given any details about the obstacles, he would need to be alert and keep a keen eye out for any possible dangers. He was glad that they couldn't try to hurt other applicants in this test, but he also was a little worried that he may accidentally hurt someone if they came into contact with his skin.

His inner thoughts were interrupted by the loud declaration by the applicant Phoenix Dawn. Alan recognized him from the little meet up at the Cool Cool Coffee Beans cafe. He then saw another applicant who he recognized, it was Doppel if he remembered his name correctly. He wondered if he should go introduce himself. Maybe it was a good idea to get a sense of what their plans were with this exam.

"Hello again" Alan said to the two applicants as he walked over.

---

Melina stood quietly as the man in the suit explained their goal. Put simply, it was an obstacle course. The city streets ahead of them would be filled with various traps and obstacles. All she had to do was make it to the other side. Right away, she began thinking and strategizing. The loud bellows of the shirtless man standing nearby made it difficult to concentrate, but she was thankfully able to tune him out.

Her venom was her most powerful ability, but obviously that was out of the question. She would have to think of another way that her quirk could give her an advantage. The traps would likely be coming at them from all directions. Some of them could catch her off guard by hitting her from outside her field of vision. While she couldn't see from their perspective, her snakes could still warn her of incoming danger. With them on the lookout, she could focus on whatever was ahead of her.

Some of the others already knew each other. Melina didn't, but that wasn't going to stop her from trying. She'd be on her own at first, but she was fine with that. She was sure she'd find allies during the test if she needed to.

"HAHAHAH! I'm Glad to see that you're all so eager and excited!" The man in the suit expressed his approval of their energy with glee, and turned once more towards the doors with a flourish of one hand "And there is one last thing that we shall show you now that the last seconds are ticking down!" A quick glance to another teacher "If you please."

The suit clad man with the stone hand and face gave a firm nod, before leaping off of the back of the platform and... striking the ground... A rumble followed shortly after, and as if designed like a strange puzzle-box, the city began to move, each building and section of street seeming to move on it's own, re-shaping the visible layout and visibly traveling farther throughout the exam area.

Suddenly the very simple looking street corner that had been there, was replaced by a wrecked shop, a three story building that had crumbled from being moved, yet in a strangely deliberate manner, it even had visible ways to get through that could be seen from the crowd of aspirants.

"The City Shuffle! Hahah, Don't worry, It won't be repeated once you're out there, but I hope none of you thought it would be a leisurely race through the city! AND REMEMBER! NO PATH IS A TRUE DEAD END!"

His mouth opened once more to speak, only for the great siren to blare again at last, drowning it out... or, not? "AH! IT IS TIME CHILDREN! BE FREE! SHOW THE WORLD YOUR DETERMINATION TO BECOME HEROES!"

And like that, Chaos broke out all across the crowd, as the students charged for the exit!... A mere wrecked building would be no obstacle even for untrained aspirants, surely! Especially not a whole crowd of them!

...

Quite literally, someone among the first few smashed a hole clean through as if the stone was made of paper, and from there other's 'poured' through the building and out into the rest of the area, scattering in all directions towards whatever obstacle they thought seemed the easiest to them!...

One thing to note, once the initial wave of rabid hopefuls had wrecked it more, it became a bit more apparent that the area just outside of the entrance was a roughly 100 meter square area of various wrecked buildings and debris, wrecked cars, holes in the ground, a sub-way entrance leading east along the wall.

Another thing to note... some aspirants had gotten trapped in the disrupted debris from the first building in the chaos of so many frantic people charging through it... They didn't seem to be injured, somehow, but were utterly trapped, and unfortunate enough to lack a quirk suitable for the situation.

Once outside as well, you would be able to see that the next section east appeared to be a still intact city block, while to the south looked a bit oddly like a 'china-town' district, and to the south-east was... a Jungle?!