"I am glad that all of you came here, Mr. Rose, if you would please stay behind after this... Ozpin would like to balance the teams this year. So we are borrowing these machines for the purpose of analyzing each of you on an single basis. Now for the rest of the placement tests please remain silent." Glynda told them, and in the middle she spoke directly to Haru himself. She would like to talk to him about his discovery in the forest, and Haru was startled by this.
He and the others had just been released from the hospital, though his ribs were sore they were no longer broken, and to be tested again was a surprise.
There were 5 different kinds of machines in the room. The first looked, at first, like a simple treadmill. There was a screen in front of it though, and he guessed it was to show how fast the person on the machine was running. The first test seemed to be one about speed, obviously, and he could already see the shit eating grin Ruby was going to have when that test was finished with. Of course, even if she wasn't allowed to use her Semblence she was still annoyingly fast on her feet.
The second machine looked like a punching machine that would measure the strength of a punch, and it had a screen next to it to show how strong a person was. Yang was going to dominate that test for sure, her punching strength was a bitch to deal with. Her Semblence only that much greater when she had collected more energy from getting hit.
The next machine seemed to just be a brick wall, they were outside, with 5 pitching machines aimed at one spot where the person was suppose to stand... so that test would be about reaction time and the ability to dodge. He could see why this would be one of the tests, and he could understand why some people would have the advantage over others... Blake with her super hearing and better than normal sight... and how some people were going to be pelted with balls... Jaune.
The fourth machine was a chair with a helmet, and two grip bars on the arms of the chair... he had no idea what this test was to prove... but it looked too much like an electric chair for his liking.
The last machine were a series of desks... with pens and paper on them.
"Okay then Jaune Arc, Blake Belladonna, Lie Ren, Yang Xiao Long, Pyrrha Nikos, Haru Rose, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, and Nora Valkyrie. Going by order of last names, that will be how you take these tests... now Mr. Arc if you would step onto the machine." Glynda hinted as she gestured towards the treadmill. Until a normal treadmill, it was actually based on simply finding out how fast a person ran. When Jaune got on the machine, he nearly tripped machine moved. Glynda turned the machine on, and the screen showed that Jaune wasn't running.
If it weren't for the no talking rule Glynda had placed up for them, Haru would have encouraged Jaune.
As it was, Jaune started to run and soon he hit his top speed.
13.7 Miles per Hour — Jaune
Jaune looked impressed by his speed and walked off of the stage with a grin on his face, while Blake walked up to the machine and stepped onto it. Right away, she started to jog, before she slowly increased her speed until she hit a quick run. Then she further increased her speed until she reached her top speed and Glynda let out a hum to show that she was impressed by what Blake had managed to get.
Jaune looked like he had been kicked in the balls.
33.2 Miles per Hour — Blake
Blake didn't brag or smirk, she didn't even grin. All she did was move towards her spot where she had been sitting, and went back to the book she had brought with her. Ren went up to the machine, and he started to run. Glynda noted that it took Ren longer to reach his top speed, despite it being lower than what Blake had done. Ren stepped off the machine moments later, and he looked at his score and nodded at it.
22.5 Miles per Hour — Ren
Yang stepped up to the plate, and Haru winked at her with a grin on his face. She smiled back at him, and Glynda frowned for a moment at how they had communicated, but since they didn't say a word they weren't actually breaking any of her rules. For the siblings, that was all the good luck wishing they needed to convey. Yang stretched out and grinned, before Glynda gave her an irritated look.
"Today Ms. Xiao-Long." Glynda urged, and Yang started to run as to not invoke the wrath of a single blond her in 20s or 30s.
Yang grinned and pushed herself as fast as she could go, and Haru snorted for a second while Ruby held back her laughter when she saw how fast Yang had gone.
21.4 Miles per Hour — Yang
Stupid test, cheating machine. Yang thought with a sour look on her face as she took her spot and glared at the machine. So far she was the second to last when it came to speed, something she couldn't agree with on a personal level. She knew she wasn't going to be first place, and when she saw Pyrrha step up to the machine she sent a glare at her for having such long and well toned legs.
She had legs that would take longer strides.
She was right, because the second Pyrrha really got into the running she easily took the current top spot by the a good amount. She just gave a small look of pride, before she walked and stood next to Haru with a smile on her face.
36.3 Miles per Hour — Pyrrha
Haru shook himself, before he ran up to the machine and jumped onto it. He then broke out in a dead run, going as fast as he could at the very beginning. He was pretty fast, considering the fact that most of his combos were with a partner than had high levels of speed like Ruby. He also had a lean runner's build like his sister, but he didn't have her natural speed enhancement... but thankfully he was still one of the faster people in the room. When he was done, Haru jumped and flipped off the machine.
30.9 Miles per Hour — Haru
Good job Haru, you did great. Pyrrha thought as she looked at Haru. Haru was the shortest male in the room, so she hadn't expected him to break 20, and certainly not 30 like he had done. She was happy that he was currently the third place runner in the room when it came to speed... and she did send a sympathetic look towards Jaune who only ranked about as much as the average person in running speed.
Haru groaned when Ruby walked up onto the machine with a confident look on her face.
Goodbye third place, hello fourth place.
Many people looked rather shocked when they saw that Ruby started to run with a starting speed equal to Yang's top speed, before she continued to go faster and faster until she broke not only Haru's, but also Blake's scores with practiced ease. She had the biggest shit eating grin on her face as she ran, something that Haru had to face palm at when he saw.
39.8 Miles per Hour — Ruby
That her speed without even using her Semblence, something that he found annoying because she was going to be bragging about it for a good while. Haru gave Ruby a pat on the back anyway when she finished, and Weiss was forced to go next with a nervous look on her face even when she started to run... and she was nervous for a good reason.
She used her Semblence to increase her speed, and she had wheels inside of her shoes to make her glide across the ground... she couldn't use those now.
When she hit her top speed, she sighed in relief when she saw that she was doing better than she had thought.
24.1 Miles per Hour — Weiss
Weiss didn't even finish getting off the machine before she was nearly pushed off when Nora rushed onto the machine and started running on it. Weiss glared at Nora, before she huffed and walked back to her spot and gave both Haru and Pyrrha looks.
She was right to expect greater things from the two of them, they both had broken 30 miles per hour and had been able to maintain that speed.
17 Miles per Hour — Nora
"Very well, you all did well on this test... some more than others. Next up I am going to have each of you step up and strike the center of this machine with your fist. Same order as before. No using Aura based strikes, this machine is expensive, but we have enough for everyone to punch at the same time..." Glynda told them, and Jaune looked like he was going to regret this. Ren looked like he had been struck when he heard that no aura based strikes would be allowed, but he calmed down and realized that he wasn't going to get the top score anyway.
Glynda was right though, there was one for everyone to step in front of. Everyone did step in front of the seperate machines, and they cocked their fists back as one. The the sounds of fists hitting sand was heard, and the electronic sounds of counters ticking away was heard.
Jaune — 11 / Blake — 29 / Ren — 28 / Yang — 98 / Pyrrha — 74 / Haru — 31 / Ruby — 15 / Weiss — 7 / Nora — 69
"Hehehe... 69." Somebody laughed under their breath, and Haru looked at his score with a sigh of relief. He had scored pretty well again, anyway, his strength wasn't about his pure punching power. His Semblence punched harder than his normal hands did, and he was a weapon user for the most part. He used dust as well for a large part of his fighting style, so seeing that he didn't rank up there in strength... still pissed him off.
"Impressive strength both Ms. Xiao-Long and Ms. Nikos, nearly a perfect score from you Ms. Xiao-Long. Now, this next test will be done seperate... the results will be posted right to my scroll... Mr. Rose, you will take this court... and the rest of you will take other courts. 10 balls will be launched at you, you must dodge them all. Each ball dodged is a point." Glynda explained to them, and Haru wondered why she was keeping him under her sight. Haru did move to the court in front of her, while everyone else separated and went towards many separate courts.
Now what? Haru though, before his senses went haywire and he dodged a ball aimed at him from the left, before he ducked and dodged a second ball. Haru did a backflip and dodged two separate balls at the same time, before he crouched to the ground and dodged a fifth ball. Haru rolled across the ground when a ball smacked where he was, and then he got to his feet and twisted to his side and dodged the seventh ball. The balls were fast, very fast, and Haru barely dodged the next ball when it zoomed at his head.
The ninth ball came at Haru from right in front of him, and he dodged it well enough.
Haru actually predicted the last ball would come from his right, and he leaned backwards and it slipped by him.
"OW!?" Jaune shouted out in pain, and Glynda looked at her scores for dodges.
Jaune Arc — 0 / Blake — 10 / Ren — 8 / Pyrrha — 8 / Yang — 6 / Haru — 10 / Ruby — 7 / Weiss — 7 / Nora — 3
Hmmm... so Jaune and Nora are below average in evasion, while those with the highest sixth sense are Blake, Ren, and Haru... with Weiss and Ruby being a little above average. Glynda thought as she looked at the scores. Haru's battle trained instincts alarmed her in how he had been able to dodge things he couldn't have seen, and how he had predicted the last ball instead of dodging... while Blake used her ears and eyes in tandem to dodge... Ren was the one that seemed to figure out the pattern and used that instead of truly dodging.
It looked like this year had some very promising students, and some less promising ones.
Next up was the aura sensing machine, something that she would place as one of the more important tests in the school. This would simply test how much aura their bodies contained at one time, but it wasn't as important because aura could be increased with experience.
She looked over the test results again, before she frowned.
She knew that Haru and Pyrrha were considered equals, but she wondered how Haru had been able to tie with her so far. His strength and speed were below hers by a good amount, she had yet to see the recorded matches, but she wondered what let him fight on par with somebody that had higher natural abilities than him. He was only 15 years old, so he had less experience than Pyrrha... unless he truly was a once in a generation fighting genius.
Well, his age would actually explain the difference in strength and speed. Pyrrha simply had longer legs than he did, so she was faster when it came to running... and her arms were longer so she could put more striking power in her punches.
Still, she wanted to figure out how Haru held his own while fending off the dangers of the forest while protecting 5 people at the same time.
It was simply unnatural to see somebody like him at his age.
While Glynda was distracted, she missed the fact that everyone had already taken the next test. She missed it until the scores flashed in front of her scroll and she looked rather surprised at them.
Jaune — 56 / Blake — 34 / Ren — 23 / Pyrrha — 71 / Yang — 61 / Haru — 100+ / Ruby — 51 / Weiss — 24 / Nora - 25
... This is strange... Jaune has shown the least aptitude for combat, his speed, strength, and reaction time are consistently lower than those around him... yet his aura is naturally high... and... wait... 100+... Haru's aura has actually exceeded the amount that the machine can read... his sisters are above average as well. Glynda thought in shock when she looked at the top 5 people with the highest auras. She suspected that the Rose family had naturally high auras, since she remembered Summer having a similarly high aura... and Yang's was related to Taiyang so the same could be said.
Jaune was a complete mystery, how such a... and she didn't want to sound offensive, but pitiful fighter could amass such a well sized aura was beyond her.
She sighed and looked at the results again, before she nodded to herself.
Now was the IQ test, so that she could see how smart this years students were.
"Okay then, everyone sit at a desk and take a pen and fill out the paper in front of you." Glynda told them all, and some of them moved towards the desks with looks of death on their faces. Glynda nodded to herself, before she clicked on a timer and she started waiting.
1 Hour Later…
Jaune Arc — Speed: 1 — Strength: 1 — Evasion: 0 — Aura: 5.5 — Intelligence: 3 = 10.5
Blake Belladonna - Speed: 3.5 - Strength: 3 — Evasion: 10 — Aura: 3.5 — Intelligence: 10 = 30
Lie Ren — Speed: 2 — Strength: 3 — Evasion: 8 — Aura: 2 — Intelligence: 7 = 22
Yang Xiao Long — Speed: 2 — Strength: 10 — Evasion: 6 — Aura: 6 — Intelligence: 6 = 30
Pyrrha Nikos — Speed: 3.5 — Strength: 7.5 — Evasion: 8 — Aura: 7 — Intelligence: 10 = 37
Haru Rose — Speed: 3 — Strength: 3 - Evasion: 10 - Aura: 10 — Intelligence: 10 = 36
Ruby Rose — Speed: 4 — Strength: 1.5 — Evasion: 7 — Aura: 5 — Intelligence: 6 = 25.5
Weiss Schnee — Speed: 2.5 — Strength: 1 — Evasion: 7 — Aura: 2.5 — Intelligence: 10 = 23
Nora Valkyrie — Speed: 2 — Strength: 7 — Evasion: 3 — Aura: 2.5 — Intelligence: 4 = 18.5
Pyrrha and Haru both scored above 30, the elite level... and both Yang and Blake scored at exactly thirty, ranking them at the upper level. Ruby and Weiss ranked around 25 making them above average... and both Ren and Nora ranked at average... but Jaune ranks at much lower than what is normally required to enter Beacon... I must look into this. Glynda thought, and she looked and saw that Haru was still in the room with her, waiting to be talked to about the Grimm he saw.
"So... did I do well?" Haru asked with a curious look, and Glynda nodded.
"Your score is the second highest, you sister Yang scored right under you, and Pyrrha scored a little above you. The three of you are truly talented, and for your age you stand out even more... despite your physical scores being lower than your... rivals." Glynda told him, and Haru nodded with an only slightly annoyed look.
"Well Pyrrha is talented, strong, and fast... and she has longer limbs, but sometimes you just work hard and get a strong fighting spirit. I'll admit that her punches hurt like a... they hurt a lot." Haru corrected himself, and Glynda flipped through her scroll and showed a video of Haru fighting the Floramander.
"Can you explain anything you know about this, strengths, weaknesses, things to look out for... and the name of this Grimm?" Glynda asked him the most basic of questions, and Haru nodded.
"I named it the Floramander, like Flower and Salamander... it has a strong body, and weighs a lot. It's covered on top with armor, and its tail is slightly bladed and very fast... the creature also has flowers coming from its back that make poison gas... that make you see things, and paralyze you... it is a slow runner, and it has no armor on its belly." Haru told her everything he knew. It wasn't like he had stayed and fought it long, he had defeated it pretty quickly after all. Glynda nodded to him, understanding that he had told her everything.
"Very well, Mr. Rose, I suggest you get as much rest as you can. I noticed you seemed pained when you ran." Glynda told him, and he nodded at her.
"Thanks, I'm still really sore." Haru told her as he rubbed his ribs tenderly, and he started to make his way out of the room.
Glynda wrote something down, before she looked at the teams and quickly sent a message containing the scores. She waited a few minutes, before her scroll beebed and she got the answer back. Glynda nodded to herself, with that the 4 teams of this year were finished forming. This group were just the hardest to form teams for since they had all worked well together during the test.
Tomorrow would be the team placement ceremony.