Miku's team reached Spike's first, Yamashita slashing forward pre-emptively against any attacks. With a muffled grunt, Miku reached towards the 1,000,000 points –
"Ah-ah-ah, Miku-chan. What do you think you're doing with my hard-earned points, eh?" Spike's hand reached out, narrowly missing putting a spike through Miku's paw. "You'll have to do better than that."
Yamashita slashed again, this time towards the odd-looking girl with the hair – she dodged, twisting her torso away from his blade. "Okinawa-san! Strengthen me!"
With a nod, Okinawa-san sent another pulse of pink light through Yamashita's arm; his arm grew, curved, and he slashed again, almost grazing the flexible young woman.
"It's useless, Miku-chan! Your team doesn't have the offensive capabilities that mine does!"
All four members rushed against Spike's team – Yamashita slashing left and right, his arm a blur of steely flashes, Miku kicking forward as best she could, trying to trip her classmate up, Ali-chan and Okinawa-san darting in for punches and grabs. And yet Spike and the two others kept dodging, kept keeping just out of their reach, kept their balance despite everything. Not only that, Spike produces spike after spike from unexpected places – his bicep, the edge of wrist, his wrist, his hip. The blue sports uniform was starting to tear. But, Miku noticed, not… there. If she could find an opening –
Miku finally landed a kick, knocking Spike onto the ground. It was a little under the belt – literally – but it was worth it. Spike had almost let go of the rope, barely keeping hold of it with his spikes, but in doing do had also pulled his entire team towards the ground. Now, before he recovered – Miku's hand darted out and grabbed the white band. It was time to make their escape.
"Let's get outta here!"
"Not so fast, sister!"
Suddenly, Miku remembered that Hayate existed. Shit.
"Um… Hayate… Hi…" She looked around at her team. "Run away!"
They ran away.
Hayate looked back at Spike, groaning and struggling to get up. Did he still have the 1,000,000 points? All of their ribbons were every which way. Was it worth it? They could attack quickly, while Spike was down… Still, Akiyama might not want to put her hand near the angry, injured Spike. Perhaps if they used a different tactic…
"Let's get close up."
"But I could just reach over – "
"Spike is very…. Spiky. If he so much as grabs your hand –"
"Oh, right."
"Let's go!" They crept forward, closer to the stricken team. "If we get the top three point scores… that's almost 2,000,000 points, right? That's got to count for something."
Spike stood up, slightly hunched, but gritting his teeth, just as Hayate's team drew level. "Come on, guys, defend, dammit!"
"It's no good, Spike, we outnumber you and have more combat-oriented Quirks." Hayate reached out for the nearest ribbon.
"Uko-kun, now!"
A new boy materialized right in front of Hayate, squeezed in between Spike and the white-haired boy, and gave Hayate a swift uppercut. He reeled.
"Why didn't you call me earlier? That rabbit girl stole our points!"
"If you didn't notice, Uko-kun, I had other things to worry about! Couldn't you have figured it out for yourself?"
Hayate regained his balance, shaking his head quickly.
"I can't see very well when I'm small! And she nearly crushed me!"
"Hey, uh, guys? I took the opportunity to snatch a ribbon, but… He's staring at us."
Spike's team looked up at Hayate and his team.
"I think this is the time to get away with what we have in a tactical retreat!"
"You mean, run away?"
"That's exactly what I mean, dammit!" They ran away, in the other direction to Miku, leaving a trail of dust in their wake.
"So… what do we do now?"
Hayate looked back at his team, who were all looking as bewildered as he felt. For a moment, he considered what there was to do, how to get more points before –
"TIME'S UUUUP!"
"What? I didn't hear a warning or anything –"
"THAT'S RIGHT PEOPLE THE TIME IS UP AND THE SCORES ARE IN! ONLY THE FOUR HIGHEST SCORING TEAMS WILL SURVIVE, SO LET'S HEAR IT!"
"Well… I guess it's over now, huh? How many points do you think we have?"
Hayate looked at their collection of ribbons and tried to estimate their total.
"I think it's enough… right?"
"In fourth place, PACHIKO NAGISA AND HER TEAM! In third, YAMAMOTO KENJI AND HIS TEAM! In second place we have the YOUNGER NAKAHARA TWIN, NAKAHARA HAYATE! Which means that FIRST PLACE GOES TO NAKAHARA MIKU AND HER TEAM! ALL FOUR TEAMS ADVANCE TO THE NEXT ROUND!"
He smiled. "Good job, team. We got through."
"You guys did so well out there!" Hima-kun, decked out with a tray of drinks, greeted them with a grin as they made their way back to the preparation area. "I am here with sodas to celebrate!"
"Well, it's nice to know you were cheering us on!"
"Of course! You guys – Miku-chan, you were amazing! Did you really kick Spike in the – "
Miku blushed quickly. "Er, yeah, I did. It was a… spur of the moment kind of thing, it wasn't –"
"But it gave you the opportunity to grab the 1,000,000 points! Your team worked to well together despite not having a good combination of Quirks."
"I… suppose so…"
"And Hayate! You and Abe had a great tactic there with that stretchy girl!"
"Uhh… Thanks."
"What about me, huh? Gonna complement me?"
Hima-kun looked embarrassed. "Uh… I actually didn't see any of your fights except the last one." He gestured to the drinks tray. "It's hard to sell and watch… But you did really well to defend your points for so long. Although you probably could have used that invisible guy better."
Spike ground his pointy teeth. "He wasn't invisible. His quirk shrinks him to the size of an ant and back."
"Oh?" Ali-chan grinned wickedly. "Are you sure he's not just really tiny with a Gigantification Quirk?"
"Shut up, dumbass, or I'll call an exorcist on you."
An announcement came over the speakers, quickly distracting them from their fight.
"The one-on-one games will be starting shortly. Competitors, please pay attention to the timetable to find out about your fights."
Hima-kun looked up. "Ah, already? I'd better get out of your way then – unless any of you want to buy a drink?"
They didn't.