Paragon (Season 1)

Chapter 9: Quirk Apprehension

Mr. Morrigan led the class outside to the wide dirt courtyard. The ground was red tinted, like a baseball pitch, white lines subdivided the field into different sections. Here, it was open square, but up ahead the students could see a fan-like pattern, and to the left what looked like a set of boxes drawn in the ground. Throughout the open square, 20 or so iron stakes were placed in the ground at various lengths.

Mr. Morrigan turned to face the class. 

"This is the training field. It is where you will rise to at least the physical expectations of an entry-level hero." 

He pointed to the ground. "This is where you will hurt, sweat, and bleed if you must. UAI has been producing top quality heroes for two decade now, this is done through various filters, physical, mental, and spiritual." 

He placed both hands behind his back, holding his clipboard with one hand and his pen with the other. He could rattle this all off within the span of a minute, but through the years of teaching he had learned that it is more effective to pause for dramatic effect. 

"Today though, we will be sorting out the pecking order. I want to know your strengths, and more importantly, your weaknesses."

"We will be going through a series of five quirk apprehension tests that are designed to evaluate five key aspects of hero strength: offensive power, speed, agility, endurance, and defensive power. Imagine it like a spectrum, each transitioning into the other and showing the various sides of your capacities."

"Some of the tests are individual while others will be conducted alongside or against your peers. It will also be an opportunity for you all to get to know each other, if you haven't already. And so, as you are all at your strongest right now, we will start with the speed test, which takes the form of sprints."

Johannes heard some groans coming from the group of students, who would have thought that such a mundane activity would still transfer over into the hero course? But there were also some who grinned to themselves. 

Johannes motioned to the students to stand at a starting line drawn on the ground. "I assume you all know how sprints work, on go, you must run as fast as you can or reach the finish line with the use of your quirk. A flash camera at the end will record your speed. You will all go in groups of five, so do stay in your lane."

"The first group will be: Alexandra, Ken, Boedhi, Winona and Julian, please get to your starting positions." 

Julian and Boedhi belonged to the group of students who seemed excited for the sprint, though for different reasons. 

When Johannes fired off "Go!" Boedhi bolted forward at an impressive speed considering his large stature, the rest of the class watching in awe as his deer legs swiftly moved him forward. 

Julian lingered at the start line for a second, putting his hands forward and beginning to emit a gas from his palms, directing it at the ground which froze with a clean sheen. And so he began almost skating forward, accelerating as he continued to freeze the ground in front of him. Boedhi still reached the finish line first, but Julian was not far behind, with Ken and Winona arriving at the end in short succession of each other and Alexandra coming in last, seemingly tired out from the sprint already. For unknowing observers, the other three students' quirks remained unknown.

As they waited for Julian's ice to melt in the late summer sun Johannes invited the second group to take their places, consisting of Aimee, Jett, Colbie, Chimlin and Cindy. All students seemed equally paired as they all shot forward. However, Colbie quickly slowed down, her longed tail dragging behind her and catching on the ground, at which she visibly became frustrated. Jett and Chimlin crossed the line first within milliseconds of each other, the rest of the students finding it difficult to tell who came first but seeing that both of them had previous training. Aimee came third and was followed by Cindy, both running at relatively average pace. And last came Colbie, who slammed her tail on the ground once she was done. Running was never her forte.