This is where Asuna gets evaluated. I hope everyone enjoys it.

When they entered through the lab door Asuna saw three older men in lab coats standing among a large collection of gear that looked like a cross between a gym and a research lab.

“Welcome to the main testing lab,” the middle-aged man in the center said. He did not offer to shake hands but gestured off to his left, “If you’ll step this way we’ll get the basics out the way.”

He led them over to what looked like a normal exam table except that it had a lot of hardware hanging from the ceiling right above it. “Please sit,” he said as he and his fellows picked up instruments.

Asuna started to feel like a race car being serviced by a pit crew as all three men crowded around her. One guy was peering into her ears while another shined a light in her eyes. She flinched when the third started drawing blood and when they started to complain Linda came to her rescue.

She shooed them away and put an arm around Asuna, “Gentlemen! Try to remember you are working with human beings not guinea pigs. If you poke needles at her without warning it’s only natural she’ll flinch. This sort of thing is why we have to send chaperons even with the males you test.”

“Well we have to get the data and it is most efficient if we are all working at the same time. If subjects would just do as they are told and nothing else …”

She interrupted him, “Then they wouldn’t be teenagers. Or humans for that matter. You must always take in to account the quality of the material you work with! You wouldn’t treat tin like steel or lead like lithium so why do you insist on treating people like robots?”

“We had a robot girl in here once,” one of them said.

“Yes, and even she said you were “a bunch of cold fish”. Now I know you want to rush through the basic exam to get to what you call ‘the good stuff’ that you will inevitably write another monologue on but you will have to do it one procedure at a time and let her know if it will hurt.” She smiled at them, “Trust me, it get you better, faster results and you won’t have to worry about her sticking her manifested katana anyplace embarrassing.”

Asuna giggled at that and the man seemingly in charge of the others looked sour, “Fine, but if I’d known how much interference I’d get in my own lab I would have held out for more money.”

“A point you are free to raise when you current contract runs out,” Linda said.

The man nodded, “Smith you go check her ears again.”

The man on the left nodded and did so, “Normal,” he said and checked a box on his clipboard.

“Jones, you may attempt to draw the required vials of blood from her … again. The subject is advised that this may hurt.”

In this manner they proceeded eventually revealing that she outwardly appeared to be a normal fourteen year old girl. The lead scientist, whose name Asuna still hadn’t heard, spoke all results into a personal recorder ending with, “As subject has apparently switched genders we will now commence ultrasound examination to see if internal organ structures common to female Homo Sapiens are in place already, still forming, or not in evidence.”

Asuna, who had been hoping it was all over, asked, “Can you do that through the suit?”

“No, the subject will please disrobe and lay back.”

Linda frowned but nodded at her, “If it helps any they won’t get any jollies from seeing you.” She winked at Asuna, “So don’t even consider them as men. Pretend they are not very well programmed androids or an Emergency Medical Hologram from Star Trek.”

That got Asuna smiling and she winked back as she handed the suit to Linda then lay back as requested, “That’s a good idea Linda. Proceed EMH.”

Smith proceeded to smear gel across her abdomen then Jones ran the sensor wand over it while their boss looked at the images and directed them. “Enough,” he eventually said. Picking back up his recorder he added another note without looking at her, “Subject has incompletely formed uterus and ovaries are currently detached and undersized. Follow up ultrasounds and a regular gynecologist visit are recommended.”

Asuna looked a question at Linda while she took the suit back but didn’t bother to ask one of the researchers.

Linda helped her back into the tight garment, “It’s not uncommon in exemplars changing sex according to the literature. If things go as normal, everything will link up eventually but until then you won’t get to experience the fun of menstruation.” She smiled, “Consider it a windfall. Or Mother Nature giving you a little breathing room.”

The lead researcher was frowning at them, “If you two have finished with the emotional display might we move on?”

They were to what looked like a barbell on two brackets. “It looks like a weight bench without the bench,” Asuna said.

To her surprise the lead researcher answered her and with a glimmer of actual excitement in his voice, “This is a devise to test strength. It interacts with gravity so that each dyne of force you exert upwards is exactly balanced by a downward thrust and this screen here gives us exactly how much force you are exerting. From this we can calculate the maximum weight you can lift and this helps us place where you fit on the Exemplar scale.”

Asuna was thinking that he was even creepier when excited than when he acting robotic. A look at Linda confirmed that the impression was mutual. She winked at Linda then walked up to the bar. She gripped it and noticed that it offered a good grip. She started off slow and watched the inset screen but soon she had to concentrate solely on lifting. She was concentrating so hard on lifting as hard as she could and trying to make sure she was pulling up only that when the bar made a *ping* sound it took her completely by surprise and she let go and fell back on to the floor.

“Very good!” Jones said.

Smith nodded, “Excellent data!”

Asuna lay on the cool stone floor panting and sweating until Linda offered her a hand up. “Thank you,” she said taking the hand but being careful not to pull too hard.

Linda smiled, “That was pretty amazing. I’ve chaperoned a few others down here but watching someone use telekinesis isn’t the same as watching you do the same with pure muscle power. You were straining so hard that I’m half surprised you didn’t leave footprints in the stone floor!”

“Nonsense!” The lead researcher retorted. “This floor is up to a compressive strength of 100 Megapascals. It would take many tons of force to make such an impression and she only exerted 903 pounds of force, well within the limits of both the floor and the devise.” He gestured, “Subject will now proceed to the test of hand/eye coordination.”

Asuna spent the next 30 minutes tossing progressively smaller spheres through progressively smaller paper circles at a fixed distance. She found this very boring but Smith and Jones both told her it was “good data” at the end.

Next they had her sprint on a treadmill and she could tell they were confused by the fact that didn’t run faster but she thought a 25.4 mph sprint was awesome herself.

Her endurance was described as “anomalous”.

“What do you mean by that?” Asuna asked.

“It will be covered in the summary at the end of testing,” was all she could get out of them.

The mental testing was a little disappointing, she was apparently no smarter than before. Finally the three of them just went into a huddle over a computer and ignored both women.

Linda shrugged, “That’s how they say thank you for participating. C’mon let’s get out of these suits and go get something to eat. When they are ready to reveal their results they’ll call me.”

So they went back in to the locker room and tossed the suits in a large hamper. “I’m going to go shower, I’m all grungy from sweat.”

“Sure, I’ll wait for you outside,” Linda said while changing.

Asuna found some lavender bodywash in the shower and decided she liked it. The honeysuckle shampoo was nice too. Drying she frowned at the clothes in the locker, “I think I’ll be happy to go shopping. I never thought I’d hear myself say that but it’s true.” She was quickly dressed again and walked out to find Linda waiting for her.

“Let’s go eat and we’ll talk about getting you some decent clothes after we hear back from the docs,” she said holding the door open.

“Sounds good to me. I am going to try to enjoy shopping,” Asuna said. “They call it retail therapy right? Well I could definitely use a treat after that.”