"Look at all these people gathered up in here," Kaminari said while looking around.
"Hey, isn't that Elara over there?" Cedar pointed out.
"Where?" Isabella wanted to know.
Cedar tried to point her out of everyone in there.
"I don't have a good feeling about this," Deia said to herself.
"I hope I'll be paired up with someone good," Yamikuro was also anxious.
"Attention everyone! I know you, 300 students who have gathered here, are all ready to begin the exams but before we start I'll have your pairs show up on this screen behind me and if you don't recognize the person, feel free to walk up to me or one of the teachers," The speaker said.
Suddenly the screen turned on and everyone started to try and find their name.
"Yamikuro! We're paired together!" Kaminari got excited.
"Really?! I can't find our names," Yamikuro also got excited.
"Right there!" Kaminari pointed at the screen.
"Oh I see it, looks like we're gonna pass easily," Yamikuro had a wide smile on his face.
"Aco...? Who is that?" Isabella mumbled.
"I'm paired up with Gray," Deia said.
"Isn't she also a girl with wind powers?" Isabella noted.
"I've spent time with her in the past," Deia tried to look around to find her.
"Which one of you is Cedar?" Someone asked.
"Me, are you Alfons, my teammate?" Cedar replied.
"Yes, you were the second team I had to ask this. How lucky of me," Alfons started laughing to himself.
"Listen up! You have an hour to get to know your teammate before we begin so use this time wisely and gather back in here in exactly an hour!" The speaker said.
"It's not like we need time to prepare," Yamikuro said to Kaminari.
"Yeah but we should still see who is paired up with who," Kaminari was serious.
"You're right," Yamikuro replied.
An hour went by and the first part of the exams was about to begin.
"Get ready everyone because this will determine a lot for your future!" The speaker said.
Suddenly the massive wall slowly went underground and revealed their exam area. It was an obstacle course but it was wide and long so that every student could take part of it. The place was surrounded with tall fences and participants parents were seen sitting and cheering them on.
"In the first part of the exam you have to reach the end of the course by not using your powers. This is to test your physical abilities, using the powers however will make you lose points so watch out. If you fall in the water below, you're out and disqualified so be careful, you don't need to rush it. You're free to start," The speaker went over the rules.
After he was done talking, the participants started running to the course.
"Stick with me, Deia!" Gray tried to not get seperated by her.
"Let's just wait until they've all gone past us," Alfons said.
"Alright, that way we'll be able to have a safer start and time really isn't a problem for this part," Cedar mentioned.
Yamikuro and Kaminari were in front of everyone when suddenly Meden showed up next to Kaminari.
"Remember, if you do worse than me you'll have to drop out of here," Meden said to him.
"What kind of a deal is that?! Who do you think you are?!" Yamikuro yelled to him.
"No, it's fine. We're competing on who will be the strongest electricity user here," Kaminari tired to stay focused.
"It looks like Yamikuro and Kaminari, who are from the same team are currently in the lead!" The speaker got in an hot air balloon that was floating towards the finish.
"We're gonna have to speed up somehow," Aco said while running through all of the people.
"I'm trying but this is too tough," Isabella replied.
"The first obstacle is up ahead, Yamikuro," Kaminari tried to warn him.
"Swinging obstacles to knock us down? Can't I use my powers to just get rid of it?" Yamikuro asked.
"No. We'll lose points for that, don't do it," Kaminari mentioned.
"It looks like Meden and Gabe, who were next to Yamikuro and Kaminari earlier have picked up pace and might even get ahead of them!" The speaker tried to hype up the crowd.
"Damn it!" Kaminari yelled.
They passed the first obstacle without a problem but the second one seemed much more tough. There were large rotating platforms and each of them rotated at different times and speeds.
"We have to time this right," Yamikuro mentioned.
"Just follow me," Kaminari jumped on to the first platform.
"As you say..." Yamikuro said to himself and followed him.
Meden and Gabe took a different path and seemed to make more progress than them.
Not too long after they passed that obstacle and others started catching up to Kaminari and Yamikuro.
"Let's just risk it and jump through all of them," Kaminari got impatient.
"You sure it's a good idea?" Yamikuro started questioning him.
"Let's just do it!" Kaminari yelled.
They kept jumping and at one point Yamikuro almost fell.
"Oh that was a close one! But it seems at this pace they're still not fast enough to catch up! The other participants are right behind them!" The speaker announced.
"We should've started even later, we've already caught up to everyone," Cedar said.
"It's fine, I have a plan," Alfons said.
Aco and Isabella were right behind Yamikuro and Kaminari as they were jumping on the platforms.
When Yamikuro and Kaminari finally made it through there were some people already ahead of them.
The third obstacle was a maze which had many different entries and only one escape.
Yamikuro and Kaminari ran into a random one and hoped for the best.
Right behind them were Isabella and Aco who went in a different entry.
"It looks like more teams are slowly making it into the maze. There's multiple entries but only one escape. Everyone will make it through eventually but it's a matter of when," The speaker said.
Yamikuro and Kaminari were running and taking random turns until they finally made it out.
"I don't think I see anyone in front of us, do you think we're first?" Kaminari got excited.
Yamikuro looked behind him, "I don't see anyone behind us either."
They continued on with other obstacles which included jumping from wall to wall, climbing up a high wall, avoiding obstacles that came up from the ground and running on a slippery ground that was slightly sloped.
"It looks like Yamikuro and Kaminari are going to finish this part of the exam first! Not too far behind them are Meden and Gabe followed by Isabella and Aco," The speaker was excited to see who would win it.
"We can't let them pass us," Kaminari tried to pick up the pace.
Deia and Gray were making progress but they knew they wouldn't finish first no matter what.
"Yamikuro... and Kaminari are first," Deia smiled a little.
"Why are you happy for our opponents?" Gray was confused.
"It's because I wanted them to win from the start," Deia responded.
Meden and Gabe were trying to pass Yamikuro and Kaminari.
"Damn it! There's no way we're losing here," Meden started to get irritated.
They entered the final part of the course where they had to jump across long distance platforms.
They did well until Kaminari messed up and almost fell down but Yamikuro managed to grab his hand and save him. Even after this slip up they were still first.
Cedar and Alfons were getting past everyone and went toe to toe with the team behind Isabella and Aco.
"And there we have it! Yamikuro Asaki and Kaminari Indra have crossed the finish line first! In the second place we have Meden and Gabe and in thirst place we have Isabella and Aco." The speaker announced the top three.
"We did it, Yamikuro!" Kaminari sat down happily.
"Yeah..." Yamikuro was exhausted from running.
"You may have won this round but we'll see how you'll do in the second one," Meden said as he walked past them.
Everyone who had passed went and sat down the benches waiting for everyone else to pass.
"Out of the 300 participating students only 200 passed! Here are everyone ranked, take some time off because we'll begin the second part soon!" The speaker said after everyone got through the course.
"I think Elara failed the exams," Isabella said to Kaminari and Yamikuro.
"What do you mean?" Yamikuro asked.
"She's not on the leaderboard," Isabella tried explaining.
"She just entered the hideout so I'm not surprised. She can take it again next year hopefully," Kaminari responed.
After everyone was able to rest for an hour the speaker started talking again: "I hope you've all had a chance to rest because the second part of the exam is starting! You'll all be going against the teachers in here!"
Everyone walked into a different room and there was a big screen on the wall in front of them and multiple doors around the circular room.
"Are they all strong?" Yamikuro turned to Kaminari.
"They're teachers here for a reason, they're most likely stronger than us combined," Kaminari responded.
Suddenly the screen lit up and it revealed which team was going against which teacher and the rooms they had to enter.
"I've never seen this teacher," Isabella said.
"Neither have I," Aco responded while looking around the room to find the correct door.
"Reidar... He's one of the top teachers in this school," Gray said to herself.
"We're not going to do well," Deia got worried.
"It's going to be fine if we are confident and do well," Gray smiled.
"Yamikuro, have you seen this teacher?" Kaminari asked and tried to see where they had to go.
"No but we'll find out who he is soon," Yamikuro responded while pointing at the door they had to go to.
Cedar and Alfons didn't think too much about their teacher and walked to the door they were assigned.
With that, they all went entered the rooms and were ready to begin the second part of the exam.