Chereads / Equation Zero Battle/Line / Chapter 25 - The First Test

Chapter 25 - The First Test

Night Twenty Four...

Age 1991

The Enforcers Try Out Testing room...

Before anyone could do anything else they were forced into silence as the entire room went pitch black... A red light shined out as all the bats flew back up to the roof and the entire room began to shake...

It looked like the tests were finally beginning...

There was a loud buzzing sound followed by what sounded like metal on metal as everyone looked around in confusion?

The loud metallic ringing rung out throughout the large circular room. Then before anyone could figure out what exactly was going on the entire room began to shake as the temperature seemed to rapidly drop. Hero nearly fell over but managed to keep his balance. Unfortunately, he did this by grabbing onto Kitsune and shoving the boy into the ground as hard as he could. It was hard to tell if it was an accident or not but Hero looked pretty satisfied and let out an innocent whistle when Kitsune glared up at him.

"Hey!" Kitsune yelled out as Hero pushed him as the entire room shook. "Why did you do that!" He shouted out trying to get back up but the entire room was shaking way to much for him to manage. It was like a massive earthquake was going off or something.

"Well, I didn't want to fall..." Hero said shrugging his shoulders as if it made perfect sense to him. "Shouldn't have been standing there! Nerd..."

"Why you little-"

"Shove him down big brother!"

"Why is the room shaking?" Ken questioned in a panic as her arms flew wildly around. Poor girl already sucked at keeping her balance. "Hero don't let me fall!" She yelled out in a panic grabbing onto the person in question as she used them to hold themselves up and now almost shoving Hero into the ground.

"Good question..." Irene muttered as her face became green from all the shaking. Apparently she had motion sickness and did not look to good.

"Guys! The room seems to be shaking." Emma pipped up seemingly not bothered by the entire room literally spinning. She was also suddenly next to them with Shelly in tow. Shelly didn't seem to be managing any better than Ken also almost falling over while Emma didn't even seemed phased. Both her and Light simply stood as if nothing was happening.

"Who the hell are those two?" Hero and Kitsune asked.

"Oh thank you Mrs. Obvious!" Ken yelled out. "Next you'll tell us that the sky is grey, and it's always snowing!" Her arms shook as she fell back. Thankfully she managed to grab onto Hero choking the life out of the poor teen as she held on for dear life. Hero made several gasps for air as Ken held on for dear life. "You don't need oxygen to survive right? Say something if you do."

"AHGHAHAHAH!"

"Well he didn't say something so I'm not gonna let go." Ken said casually. "Oh and they're Emma and Shelly. I met them earlier. Shelly, Emma, these are Irene, Light, and Kitsune."

"What about the one your choking?" Shelly asked.

"Oh he's Hero but give me like five more minuets of choking him and we won't have to remember his name. Still though... This shaking is getting worse and worse..."

They weren't the only people having this issue either. Several other people seemed to be struggling to stand as the room shook and spun seemingly at random. Practically everyone seemed to be tripping or getting motion sickness as the ride got bumpier. What the hell was happening to their room exactly?

Everyone seemed to be affected. Very few actually managed to keep their cool. In fact, only three people didn't seem to have any kind of problem with the shaking. Those three people were Emma who wasn't even bothered with Shelly clinging to her for dear life, Light, who you'd suspect would be the most affected, and Max who stood with crossed arms as he boredly stared at the people with disappointment shown clearly on his face.

"How can you losers actually be affected by this?" Max said smirking. "I'm almost ashamed that only I'm the one unaffected. After all a worthless street rat like me has no business being better than all you Nobles and trained warriors right?" He said in an almost mocking tone. "How sad that-"

"Dodge Nerd!" Hero yelled throwing a book at Max. The boy simply tilted his head dodging the book easily as he crossed his arms and stared at Hero with disapproval. Hero frowned as he peeled Ken off of him. "Dodge!" He yelled again as he picked the girl up intending to throw her, only for Irene to quickly snatch Ken away from him. "Fine. I'll just throw another one of Kitsunes books at him..."

"What- That was my book!" Kitsune yelled out as he grabbed Hero's leg since he was still on the floor. "How the hell did you even get it out of my bag?" He yelled.

"Not important..." Hero said holding up another book as he got ready to chuck it.

"I disagree! Also! Stop!" Kitsune hissed out pulling the book out of Hero's hands.

"Fine... Light give your books."

"Yes Big Brother! In fact just throw me! I offer myself as tribute!"

"You're not gonna actually throw him right?" Kitsune asked.

"You know on second thought maybe I'll just leave Max alone... The intercom didn't mention anything about shaking!" Hero called out. "Quick! Nerd! What's happening?" He asked dodging Kitsune's own questions?

"I have no idea..." Kitsune said unable to get up as the entire room continued shaking and the loud bangs from metal on metal got louder. "None of the books I read mentioned anything about a shaking room before the test! Mostly because the Enforcers prefer to keep the test secret so people can't cheat for it! All I really know is that we will take four different kinds of tests and then a fifth test that is always the same?"

"You're useless!" Hero announced out pointing at the boy. "You should feel bad!"

"Yeah!" Light announced.

"Screw you, you assholes!"

Irene, Shelly, Emma, and Ken simply watched the three boys with blank looks. "Wow... They are all just so dumb..." Shelly muttered.

"Tell me about it..." Ken sighed. "At least their all semi cute."

The room seemed to almost tilt to the side as the walls began to change. There was a loud audible click as the room raised up slightly. Then the left wall opened up. It raised up getting higher and higher. Finally, it fully raised up reviling a second room?

"Damn... I was hoping it would be something cool..." Hero said letting a sighing out. "Like a giant Bestia Macht... Or... Two giant Bestia Machts? Or three giant Bestia Machts... With guns. That fire chainsaws... Yeah..."

"Me too," Ken said folding her arms in disappointment. "I wanted to fight something really cool. I wanted to fight a robot samurai with a laser sword. That fires chainsaws."

"Is that all you two can think about..." Shelly frowned.

"No." Hero said.

"Yes." Ken said at the same time.

The new room that opened up was also a large open room much like the one they were already in. It had several rows of desks with several seats in each row. Eight people stood in the back of the room all of them holding several pieces of paper and a pencil. They all looked very fancy and really boring to hero, and Ken, but Emma, Shelly, and Kitsune seemed fascinated by them...

"Good evening!" One of the men said addressing the crowd of confused and annoyed teens. "You are no doubt wondering what is going on-"

"No shit!" Some unnamed figure yelled from the back.

"I like that guy." Hero said nodding slightly.

"-Please come in and have a seat." The man said gesturing to the many desks. All of the recruits walked in slowly as they all took a seat looking around nervously as if something weird would happen. Once everyone was seated the man began once more. "Today you will begin the written exam. This test was selected by the Eight Squad Captain Alexander Gates. This test has one thousand questions all of which will require you to write out the answer you believe to be true. please give as much detail as possible to each question."

"Psst!" Hero turned letting out a sigh as he raised an eyebrow at Kitsune who was looking at him. "Can I cheat off of you? As a Samurai I don't read often so... I didn't study."

Hero's eye twitched slightly as he shot a glare at Kitsune in frustration. "No. Absolutely not-" He was beginning only for Ken to jump into the conversation.

"Can I cheat off of you?" Ken asked flashing the boy a cute smile.

"Yes. Absolutely 100% not even a question." Hero said nodding his head falling for it almost instantly.

"What!" Kitsune said offended. "What makes her so special?"

"I'm a girl..." Ken gave a cute smile and flipped her black hair with a silver line in it getting stares from several people. "A cute girl."

"But gender equality?"

"Yeah that doesn't exist." Shelly nodded flashing her own adorable smile.

'Cheaters...' Irene and Emma both thought.

"During the test please keep your eyes on your own paper. You will have a total of four hours to finish the exam. Any questions unanswered by the end of that time will be counted as incorrect. The test will go over several different problems ranging from math, history, and problem-solving as well as questions about you. Please answer honestly."

Hero let out a sigh as he tapped at the table. "When they said we would take a test I didn't think they were literal..." He complained. "I'm not that bright, but I can at least beat the idiot who thinks he's a Paladin... Kitsune lives in his own little world so beating his test will be easy. Still... To make us take a written test. I don't know who this Alexander Bloke is but he's an ass..."

"I know what you mean..." Ken said letting out a heavy sigh. "I thought for sure we would fight a powerful Bestia Macht or a Captain or something... But no... Instead, we're taking a simple paper test? I wanted to fight something..."

"Are you addicted to battle that much? Are all Red sisters like that?" Hero asked Emma.

"No... Not sure what her problem is..."

"Will you two shut up!" Shelly hissed out. "This is a serious matter. You should take this seriously. I mean what if I don't get in! Then I'll never be able to be placed on the same Squad as my darling Eins Licht!"

"...Who are you again?" Hero asked.

"I... I'm S... S... Shelly Kaen... You remember Emma but not me?" Hero turned away not saying anything as he looked down at his test. "He's ignoring me!"

"Well at least I know I won't be doing the poorest..." Hero said smirking slightly as he looked over some of the big words on this test.

"What's that suppose to mean?" Kitsune questioned.

"I think you know what I meant..." Hero stated confidently. "I bet even Light can score higher than you. Light you better score higher than Kitsune or I disown you."

"Yes big Brother!"

The man at the front of the room cleared his throat. His eye twitched slightly as he glared at the group in the back who wouldn't stop talking. "There will be no cheating allowed. Anyone caught cheating will fail instantly... Also. During the test, there will be no talking allowed..." Hero turned his gaze away from the man avoiding eye contact as he let out an innocent whistle. "You may begin when you receive your test paper..."

'Damn... Why the hell did it have to be some kind of written test...' Hero thought. 'I'm so bored already...'

'Why is my test not in brail!' Light panicked.

'Why is my test in brail!' Irene panicked.

'I wanted to fight something really cool...' Ken sighed as she rested her head and stared at the test.

'AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH' Kitsune thought as he blankly stared at the test.

'Oh no I didn't study! What if I fail! What if I do worse than that Noble boy with the dumb look on his face! I think I'm passing out...' Shelly thought practically hyperventilating.

Emma stared down at the test for a second. 'I'm so gonna pass this...'

"And begin!" The man announced once everyone finally had their own test paper.

Hero flipped the paper over as he stared at it. He blinked a few times then flipped it over again. 'I'm so screwed...' He took a deep breath and finally turned it back over as he grabbed his pencil. "Time to ramble on about everything and make it look like I kind of know what I'm talking about..." He stated quietly to himself. "How many days did the battle of Oleander last. Why did it last that long?" He hummed as he shut his eyes? "I'll come back to that one..." He decided as he skipped straight to question two.

Kitsune battled the evil possessed paper with lots of guns and explosions. In the real world he stared at the test blankly as if glaring at it would make it solve itself.

Emma's eyes darted around the paper as she nodded reading each question internally. "This goes over practically everything, The battle of Rose, The battle of Oleander? The fall of Lillian's walls, Puzzle-solving word problems, all of these are Enforcer related incidents, many of which are classified stuff... Not even an Enforcer fan would know half of these questions... You would have to be a Noble, or have been a part of the Red Church to even have heard of half this stuff without access to classified information these questions are just impossible. Everything an Enforcer would need, my butt, this test is rigged... No way half these students know any of this? He also stated there would be math problems on this test but so far its all been classified history questions? There's got to be some kind of trick to it right?" She wondered. "I feel sorry for anyone who isn't a Noble, or a part of the Church... Than again by that logic..." Her eyes slowly darted over to Ken, and Kitsune who had no clue what to do as they set there with wide eyes. "Why don't they understand this... Did they never bother listening..."

"Which city was Rose again?" Hero questioned himself as he closed his eyes. "Was that the one with the Nobles? No. Yes. No. Yes. I'll come back to that question." He opened his eyes as he skipped another question. "Okay, so I should now be on... Question thirty-one..." He nodded slightly as he glanced down at his paper which was still blank. "...God... ...Damn... ...It... Screw this I'm skipping to the end... Question One Thousand..." Hero went silent as he read it.

Shelly's hands shook as she stared down at the paper with a look of sheer panic not understanding anything she was reading. Emma felt slightly bad for her.

Over with Ken, the girl was doing slightly better than our fox Noble. She had at least answered a total of two questions. They were both incorrect but it was the thought that counts. "There is no way a normal person would know half of this stuff..." Ken sighed out. "Most of this is things the Enforcers did... Only a massive die-hard Enforcer fan would be able to get any of these questions right..." She hummed slightly as her eyes scrolled down to the final question. "I'm just gonna skip to the final question..."

"Final Question..." Hero read quietly. "Why do you want to become an Enforcer? Worth all the points... Alexander Gates... You're an asshole..."