Chapter 3: Entrance Exam Pt 2

Chapter 3: Entrance Exam Pt. 2

"YOSH!" Lee yelled in exertion and exuberance as his fist obliterated yet another soulless machine bent on stopping him from accomplishing his dream!

...A little dramatic, sure, but it made things a little more exciting in a way. He pulled his fist from the army green chassis of the now-dead machine and shook it out. His fists were a little numb from punching straight through metal over and over, but his strength made it easier yet harder. Easier, he could just use his fists. Harder, he only had his fists.

Eh, one must take the good with the bad for that is a part of growing up and learning just like Gai-sensei said.

Jogging forward, Lee heard some mechanical clanking coming from around the corner and looked up to see yet another green machine step forward. It's 'eyes' zeroed in on him, and the two-legged machine turned to face him fully.

Lee slid into the Goken seamlessly, a smirk on his face.

There was silence as the two combatants stared at each other, trying to gauge each others' weaknesses. Between man versus machine, it was the machine who attacked first, its' programming demanding nothing less.

It rushed forward on thick, blocky legs and cocked back its large, green arm to swing and down its target. The thick-eyebrowed one had taken out many of its brethren, and it would be the one to avenge them! It swung at the target, all data pointing towards direct contact, and hit...nothing.

Oh...oh, no.

Its optical programming tried its best to relocate the target as quickly as possible, but only registered a dark, foot-shaped object rocketing towards its head. Odds of dodging, zero percent. Bracing for imp-

Lee grunted as he donkey kicked straight through the head of another robot. He huffed and did his best to ignore the burn in his hips and quads after that kick. His legs shook slightly and he frowned slightly. His body couldn't keep this up for much longer and he wasn't sure how many points he had at this point. He lost count of how many points he'd accumulated at this point, and the unsettling feeling of being unsure bubbled in his gut like one of those colorful fizzy drinks he saw sold at the market by the dojo.

"3 minutes left! 3 minutes left!" Present Mic's voice blared from the speaker system somewhere.

That wasn't a lot of time left. And there were no robots in sight. This was not good.

No, he thought fiercely to himself. He couldn't think like that. If he wasn't sure that meant he just had to keep going until there were no more robots in the arena! He had to go Plus Ultra just like Present Mic said.

Lee took a settling breath and began moving forward, pushing all thoughts of fatigue to the back of his mind to be tossed out the window. Guy-sensei wouldn't give up just because he was a little tired. No, he'd break through his limits to achieve his goal, and that was what Lee would do too.

With monumental effort, Lee took a step, then another, soon he was walking, then he was running. Faster, he had to move faster. He had to keep moving, find more robots, and destroy them. Don't think about being tired. Heroes don't get tired.

Keep moving. Find robots. Destroy them.

Move. Robots. Destroy.

Move. Robots. Destroy.

He heard the whirring he'd quickly come to associate with one of the robots and began to move towards it. It got louder and louder, and he a person began to yell out as well. Lee couldn't see what was going on, but it sounded like it was coming across the street. He cut across the street and hurdled a barrier. He rolled with the landing and popped up to see a couple robots slowly cornering a single, muscular teen in a tank-top and sweatpants with spiky brown hair on his head and thick lips.

The teen was breathing heavily, lungs heaving with effort, and his eyes were drooping along with his guard. The teen tried to reach for something along his waist, but, as if signaled, one of the robots swung at him forcing the teen to move his hand and dodge.

The teen rolled under the wide blow and countered with a haymaker of his own.

"Rah!" he yelled in exertion as he swung, but to Lee's surprise, the strong-looking blow barely dented the green machine.

The teen recoiled in shock which left him open to an attack from the second robot, and it didn't squander the opportunity. Its thick, blocky limb swung and smacked the teen right in his flank, and the teen he hit the ground with a grunt.

Lee was moving before his mind was even made up. In the seconds it took for the boy to struggle to get to his knees and allow the robots time to close in, Lee had gotten there ready to assist his fellow examinee.

He slid up behind one of the robots and wound his leg back for a jumping roundhouse kick.

The air whooshed as his leg cut through it and slammed into the robots head. The machine's head crumpled under the force and it was knocked aside. Lee landed and, on instinct alone, crouched underneath the swing from the second robot. On his toes, he dashed into the robots reach before it could retract its arm and unloaded a devastating uppercut that left his hand acutely throbbing and another robot without its head.

Lee winced and shook out his hand a little bit. He looked at it and noticed a few red blotches underneath his white wrappings. He'd broken the skin on his knuckles underneath his wrappings from the force of his swings hitting metal. Darn.

Now he was going to have to replace his wraps.

Lamenting aside, Lee turned to the guy he saved and was immediately greeted with a tired but wide smile.

"Those were some sweet moves, guy! Hehe," the teen Lee saved chuckled embarrassingly' "you really saved my butt."

The teen stuck his hand out for Lee to shake. "The name is Satou. Rikido Satou," he introduced with a grateful smile.

Lee wasn't one to pass up an opportunity so he shook the hand and felt delighted at the strength he felt behind it. "Rock Lee."

Satou smiled and retracted his hand "Ah, thank you, Lee, for the save, but this is a test after all, and all the points matter, right?" He said with a wide smile. "We only have a couple minutes left, I think, so I'll see you around, Lee-san," he told him.

Lee nodded his head. "You are correct, Satou-san. I wish you the best of luck!"

"Same to you," Satou responded back.

With that, the two teens separated and went to accumulate more points.

Lee jogged around trying to find any more robots to get points off of, but was, once again, stumped in his attempts to find any.

Suddenly, without any warning, the ground shook and rumbled. Lee swayed with the shaking and stayed on his feet, but immediately he wondered what it was that caused that shaking.

As if to answer his question, from behind one of the buildings a few blocks away, a robot bigger than anything he had encountered during the test lumbered its way through the streets, leaving behind cracked and cratered pavement and broken glass. Lee felt his heart drop in his gut and he gulped in slight fear. That...what was that?

"What is that?" a person said from somewhere around Lee.

"I have no idea, but I am not going anywhere near it," another answered.

A part of Lee felt they had the right idea, and with the way his muscles were throbbing, it would be the smarter move to go nowhere near that robot.

With a mighty swing of its arms, the robot smashed its giant limb into the earth like the world's biggest hammer. The ground broke and cracked like a pack of crackers and a thick plume of dust erupted into the air. The cracks raced up the street and the thick pavement cracked and splintered like a plank of wood.

Gasps and strangled sounds of shock and surprise sounded out around him and Lee felt a bead of sweat drip down the side of his face.

This was unreal.

What were they supposed to do against something like that? Did the Pros even face something like this?

"One minute left! One minute left!" Present Mic's voice rang out from the speakers scattered throughout the faux city turned battleground.

The single, giant red eyes flashed a menacing crimson and it began to stomp its way in their direction one slow, long step at a time. Okay, a minute. He could avoid that thing for a minute. Just as he turned around to go away from the giant robot, a distressed voice met his ears and dread filled his chest.

"Help! Somebody! Somebody help me!" A familiar voice rang out from far away.

Lee turned fast and his eyes jumped around trying to find the source of the call for help.

There!

Pink in a sea of grey and black. It was Mina and she was stuck! From what he could see, her leg had gotten stuck underneath a slab of concrete that must've fallen on her when the robot smashed the ground into smithereens.

Speaking of the aforementioned robot, the thing was scarily close to where Mina was trapped. Maybe a block of two, but for a robot of that size, it meant very little.

"Dude, there's somebody trapped over there!" one of teens around him called out.

"And the robot is walking right towards where they are!" another voice said with a tinge of panic.

That much was obvious to Lee, so he did not see the point in the teen stating it.

Lee had to do something. He couldn't just keep standing useless. Gai-sensei always said to follow his gut, and his gut was telling him to move and help her. He stepped forward, but he almost collapsed under the strain. He looked down at his legs and he could feel the muscles in his thighs and calves shake and throb.

He grit his teeth and forced his leg forward in a shaky step, but ended up on one knee.

He hissed out a breath from behind a cage of teeth and felt frustration rising inside of him. No, no, no! Not right here!

He desperately tried to rise to his feet, dredging up any vestige of stability and strength, and barely ended up hunched over breathing heavily. He had reached his physical limit with his legs. The weights felt even heavier around his ankles and he could barely stand.

He couldn't...he couldn't do it. He felt pressure began to build up behind his eyes, and he knew tears of frustration when he felt them.

Darnnit! He thought to himself as a few tears dribbled from his eyes and onto his hands supporting himself on his knees. He wasn't enough!

From around him, the surrounding examinees were talking.

"She needs help, b-but the teachers wouldn't let somebody get seriously hurt in this test, right? Right?" One of them asked.

"N-no. Yea, no. They'd stop it before somebody got seriously hurt. They're heroes and they know what they were doing, haha," one ended with a nervous laugh.

"You're right! I'm not going to go anywhere near that robot!" Another agreed.

This was the general consensus the teens surrounding Lee came to and they began to step away from approaching robot and the stuck Mina.

Hunched over, listening to these people decide to do nothing, lit a fire fueled by outrage in Lee's belly. They would do nothing when somebody was stuck and needed help? That was-that was..?! How could they? Here they were, with the ability to help somebody that clearly needed it, and they chose not to. That wasn't what a hero would do and they all were supposed to be heroes too! It was cowardly and heroes weren't cowards.

Lee took a deep, shaky breath and tried to even out his breaths and think.

The facts were that Mina was hurt and calling for help with a giant robot bearing down on her. He couldn't just ignore her and trust somebody else to save her. If they wouldn't do anything, then he would. He would...he would what?

He was viciously reminded of his shaky legs and tired muscles and a feeling of helplessness rose within him. What could he do as he was? He wouldn't be able to save her like this. He needed a boost, he needed…

It dawned on Lee what he would have to do, and he swallowed the ball of fear in his throat.

He'd have to beg Gai-sensei for forgiveness after this, but Lee saw no other option. Nobody else was going to do something.

With a wince, he reached down and unstrapped his weights from around his ankles and almost sighed in relief at their absence. He slid his feet apart as best he could, just like Gai-sensei showed him, and he breathed in deep. His heart rate settled quickly, and he reached deep within himself just like he practiced. He mentally followed his chakra pathways leading to his brain where he knew what he needed was. He felt around and found it, glowing and hot as the sun was. It was there, waiting for him to do what he had been trained to do.

So, he reached out and grabbed it.

On the outside, every teen around Lee stopped as they felt some sort of pressure rising from near them. Some thought it was another robot, but very quickly that assumption was thrown to the wind as their attention was drawn by a fellow examinee with a weird bowl-cut.

Around him, waves of energy were being let off and his hair shifted and moved to an unfelt breeze. They stopped and held their breath as if the slightest thing would mess up whatever it was they were witnessing.

In a yell of exertion, the boy shouted and expelled whatever energy was building inside of his with enough force to create fast winds and throw up dust.

What they heard, they would remember for years to come. The examinees would jot it down as the first time they ever witnessed it. The teachers watching would look upon in surprise, one in recognition, and wonder if they had made all the wrong assumptions.

"Second Gate: Gate of Healing! Open!"

They all watched, awe-struck, as the boy lowered himself into a runner's position and then, on some unspoken signal, he took off.

His destination?

The giant Zero-Pointer

.

.

.

Mina felt like panicking right now.

"Somebody! Anybody! Please, help me! Please!" She called out desperately. The fact she had to call out like this in the first place tore at her pride and made her feel humiliated. When they released the Zero-Pointer, she was unlucky enough to be too close.

And then, in a heart-stopping show of strength, the thing crushed the street leaving which resulted in her current, shitty predicament.

Gosh, how pitiful she must be if she couldn't avoid some stupid pieces of debris.

She grunted as she once again tried to lift the piece off of her leg, but she just didn't have enough leverage nor strength. She tried to dissolve it, but the cement was too thick for her acid to dissolve before the robot stepped on her. God, of all things to get stuck under. It just had to be a giant piece of rock.

Totally going to hit the gym after this, she thought to herself sullenly.

"Help me! I'm stuck! Please, anybody!" She yelled out again to whoever might have heard her. Somebody, had to have, right? There were a ton of people in here with her!

She felt the ground shake underneath her and she jolted in fear. She looked up to see a shadow move to cover her. She gulped and felt tears prickle in the corners of her eyes. She didn't want to be squished like some kind of bug, but here she was utterly helpless. The robot was getting closer and closer, and she was still stuck. A sharp current of fear ran through her despite her best attempts to be calm, to be cool. Heroes were supposed to be calm in the face of giant freakin' robots, right? Right? Robots that were looming over just like, just like when she was younger and her classmates did the-

Her breath began to come in shorter and shorter breaths. Her chest tightened and her muscles tensed. Her vision swam and she clenched her teeth and balled her hands into tight, shaky fists.

No, not right now. She couldn't-They weren't here. It was just her, stuck, and a giant robot. She was here, she was real, she was alive. She was here, she was real, she was alive. She was-

Another thunderous step uncaringly shook her out her mantra. The robot was closer, its shadow all-encompassing, and she was alone in being swallowed by it.

She sat up as best she could and pushed at the rock. She pushed at it and when that didn't work she tried to lift it. She got her hands underneath the darn thing and lifted with everything her arms had to offer. She would not just lay here to be freakin' squished like some sort of bug somebody found in their kitchen

She lifted what felt like all the pounds in the whole world with arms that most definitely could not lift all the pounds in the whole world.

She breathed heavily in exertion, her shoulders throbbing and forearms burning in exertion.

The robot ever so slowly raised its foot to take another step. This one would probably do it too. Squish her like she was nothing. But, no! She was more than that! She was going to become a hero and show the whole freaking world what Mina Ashido could do!

She found purchase, her fingers gripping the rough rock, and tried lifting again with all her strength.

"Allow me to assist you, Mina!"

...Huh

Mina looked up and was greeted with a familiar smile that was quickly becoming one of her favorite things to witness. It was Lee! But, he looked a little different, but she didn't have time to dwell on it.

She barely had the time to nod before he put his hands right next to hers, and in the back of her mind she noted the raw power she felt from being this close, but she was mainly focused on getting unstuck. He was there and together, they heaved with every ounce of strength in their bodies. The debris moved and Mina slid out from underneath as quickly as she could. Lee dropped the piece and it landed with an intimidating crash. Mina knew it was heavy, felt it was heavy, seen it was heavy, but to Lee? It might as well have been a pebble.

She didn't know any better, felt the heat he was giving off and attributed it to how he looked. Maybe it was his Quirk? Was it a strength enhancement?

"No, time, Mina. I apologize in advance!" Lee hurriedly told her.

Wait, huh?

Suddenly, Mina was swept off of the ground and into Lee's arms. On reflex, she threw her arms around his neck to secure herself just in time, as Lee bent at the knees and dashed away just as the robot's foot crashed into the ground.

To Mina, it felt like she was going 100 miles per hour or something scarily close. Like those moments when you stick your head out of the window when the car is going pretty fast and you can't really see or breathe, but you know you're going crazy fast. Yea, it felt like that.

It was only a few seconds until they stopped and Mina felt the sudden shift of momentum move something in her stomach in a way it was not supposed to.

Oh, oh no.

It was in the arms of Lee where she barfed all over his chest and her arms.

"Time is up examinees! The test is over!" Present Mic's voice echoed.

Oh, well, good. That was good, right? Oh, wow. She was suddenly feeling really light-headed. Dark, it was getting really dark and she was getting really sleepy. The test was over, right? She could go to slee-

The darkness and exhaustion overwhelmed her too fast and the last thing she heard was a panicked, "Mina!" from Lee before it all went black.

A/N

Gosh this took forever. Sorry bout that. Life hits hard and it hits fast, but that's no excuse really. But, regardless, here is the chapter. Short, but I need to get through it to really get the ball rolling on this fic. Some of you might think that Lee overreacted or showed his cards early, but it was only the second gate and that isn't anything crazy. Some of you might ask, why did he still have the weights on and I answer that by pointing to the Chunin Exams. He had them on there for majority of it, so it made sense. Why did Mina pass out? Simple answer? Vertigo from moving faster than she is used to and then suddenly stopping. The suddenness, cuz Lee loves to stop on a dime, caused her to get all dizzy and then throw up and the stress of a near panic attack caused her to black out. Fun times. Anyways, read, review and have fun.

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