"Begin!" Midnight announced as every team began to at once.
As Team Son dashed forward together, Pan called out to her friend. "Bulla, I forgot to mention!"
"What is it?" She asked from the left wing.
"The blond boy from my class, Monoma, we can't let him get near us." She told her, causing her eyes to widen. "He can copy other people's Quirks." With Pan's eyes narrowed and focused, she watched as several teams rushed Team Midoriya.
That's right... Although Aoyama and Shinso would take that comment in stride, assuming that they just didn't want their powers used against them, Bulla understood the weight of that statement. We're different. Physically different from other people in this world, down to our genetic makeup. If he tries to use that on us, our secret could be discovered!
Team Son begin to near the team that was furthest behind the chase. As they closed in and swiped Hagakure's headband from behind, she turned around quickly, directing her team to change their course. "Hey!" She yelled as Team Tetsutetsu and Team Monoma began to close in from the rear.
"Guys!" Pan yelled.
"Aoyama, full power to the ground! Shinso, hold on tight! Pan, take flight!" Bulla directed as she and Aoyama fired off two massive lasers to the ground, boosting Pan up far enough to glide out of the way of danger.
"And in an impressive group maneuver, Team Son pull a Team Midoriya and completely fly out of harm's way!" Present Mic announced excitedly.
"Prepare to touch down! I don't want any tumbles!" Pan yelled as Shinso and Aoyama, not having fallen from high distances before, prepped for landing. Although they stumbled slightly, Pan and Bulla grabbed their collars and helped them stay upright in order to keep moving. "Great, everyone!" Pan praised as she fastened the new headband around her neck.
"Hey there, ladies!" A voice cried out as Shoji began to dash towards them.
"I know that voice!" Bulla called out. "Mineta's with Shoji!? Not good!"
"What's wrong, Bulla?!" Pan asked as she kept her eyes on her opponent.
"Mineta's the small one from our class. Although he's not that strong, the balls he pulls from his head can stick to anything, and they'll leave us helpless if we're not careful!"
"Right! Shinso, full speed! Bulla, Aoyama, give us some space!" Pan directed as Bulla held out her hand, concentrating on leaving a constant beam directed in front of Shoji. As he began to run to the right side, Aoyama began to fire pot-shots, further pressuring their team around them in order to escape. Now out of their line of fire, Team Mineta focused their attention on Team Midoriya behind them.
"We just need to defend these for now, and we can keep second or third!" Pan told them as she grit her teeth. This field is so hectic! It's so hard to distinguish some spatial awareness! She thought to herself as Team Midoriya blasted off once again.
As he took to the sky, Bakugo joined the fray, blasting off into the sky towards his rival. As Pan began to smile, Bulla's hold on her foot tightened. "Pan, I know what you're thinking, but don't engage Bakugo. I've yet to fight him one-on-one, so it's hard to gauge where he stands among me, you, and him. But we need to focus on defending our 875 points and stealing more as the lead raises!"
"Dammit!" Pan said to herself before sighing. "You're right! Come on!" As directed, her team dashed forwards Team Kendo. "Sorry, Kendo, but we'll be taking those points!"
"Son! What the hell?!" Kendo cried out as the distance between the teams became tighter.
"On my mark, disperse and reform behind that team!" Pan pointed forward, displaying her opponents clearly. As only a meter separated them, Pan leaped from her place on her horses' backs and planted one arm firmly on Kendo's shoulder, avoiding her large palm entirely. Careful! Watch out for Komori's Mushrooms! As she allowed herself to fall backward, she grabbed the two headbands on Kendo's neck, as well as the one on her forehead, before twisting around and blasting off, landing onto her team's arms.
"Good going!" Bulla told her with a smile as Pan secured the headbands around her neck.
"She teamed up with Class 1A and that General Studies kid?! What a traitor!" Tokage said angrily as the Team Kendo turned around.
"Get some distance! It'll be bad if they manage to grab any back!" Pan told them as Present Mic continued to talk away.
"As expected, everyone's after the first place team, giving them no time to catch their breath. What a show this is! Now, who wants to take a look at each team's points so far?" Present Mic announced as the crowd continued to roar. "We're halfway through the round, so let's get those rankings up on the screen!"
As the screen above displayed, the entire crowd went quiet. "What's going on?!" Pan said, looking up to the monitor.
"Now, hold on. Other than Midoriya, most of Class 1A's falling behind!" He said over the intercom. "Even Bakugo is losing!"
"Pan!" Snapping her from her gaze on the monitor, Pan turned to see Shiozaki's vine just under her neck. As it tightened on two of her headbands, Bulla pointed a finger upward and fired a Ki beam, cutting right through the vine. "We've got trouble!"
Team Tetsutetsu, holding the current fourth place spot, stood before them. "Sorry, Son, but you've betrayed our class one too many times today! We'll be taking those headbands!"
"This is bad!" Pan told her team. "We can't hit hard enough to break through Tetsutetsu's steel or we may end up knocking him off! And Shiozaki's vines can travel underground! Any ideas?" She asked in a panic.
"I've got something, but I was hoping to save it for my battle with Bakugo or Todoroki. Regardless, it doesn't seem like it'd be of much use in this situation!" Bulla explained, gritting her teeth. Come on, think!
"Why bother? You know you can't do anything!" It sounded as if Bulla's own voice echoed across her head.
"You're just as useless now as you were then!"
"Scared little Bulla. Too bad your daddy's not here to save you."
"What a cowardly little worm!" Bulla began to shake her head as Pan's voice finally began to break through.
"BULLA!" She cried out as Bulla came to her senses, taking notice as one of Shiozaki's vines managed to swipe the lowest headband around Pan's neck. "Snap out of it!"
"Right! I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me!" As another series of vines rushed forward, Bulla pointed with a shaky finger. Although she managed to fire them all off, cutting through the vines, she took several deep breaths to try and calm herself. "Ok, on three, I want you to rush them!"
"Rush them?! We've been trying to stay away from them for the last five minutes!" Pan told them as she ducked, avoiding an oncoming vine before Bulla cut it off.
Five minutes?! I was spaced out for that long?! "No matter, I need you to trust me!"
"Alright, you haven't steered me wrong yet! On three!" Pan told her with a nod.
"Are you sure about this?" Shinso asked them, finally speaking up after a round of silence.
"One..."
"I believe in our Class Rep. Très incroyable!" Aoyama chimed in as he fired off a laser, causing their team to narrowly avoid.
"Two..."
"Aoyama, give 'em another one! Knock them off balance one more time!" Pan demanded. In compliance, Aoyama fired off another large pot-shot, causing Team Tetsutetsu to dart to the left.
"Three!" On command, Team Son rushed Team Tetsutetsu, taking them by surprise as several vines rushed them from behind. "Now! Celestial Barrier!" Bulla cried out as their team was engulfed in a blue barrier. With the wave of vines crashing into the shield head-on, and the enemy team now thrown off guard, Pan dashed from her team and reached forward, grabbing all the headbands from her neck.
As Team Son dispersed and reformed beneath their rider, Pan raised her points triumphantly into the air. "Alright!" She said to herself. The team continued to flee from the clash as Pan secured their new points around her neck. "When did you learn to do that?"
"I've had it in my back pocket for about the last week!" Bulla explained with a smile as the round came to a close.
"Time's up!" Present Mic announced. "And with that, the second round is officially over!" Miidoriya, Bakugo, and Todoroki's teams were all within the wall of ice that Todoroki created, making it impossible to tell who won from the outside. As the cold air from the ice began to spread across the nearby area, Bulla shivered. "Now, let's take a look at who our top four teams are! In first place, Team Todoroki! In second place, in a stunning last stand to push Team Tetsutetsu out of the running, it's Team Son! In third place, we have Team Bakugo!" He announced as Bakugo angrily growled to himself. "And in a last second comeback, our fourth place team is...Team Midoriya!"
Now able to relax, Team Son let Pan down and took a breather. Looking over, they could see Midoriya erupt into tears. "Now, let's take an hour lunch break before we start the afternoon festivities!"
"Come on, let's go get something to eat!" Pan told her friend. "After all that stress in the last half, I'm starving!"
"Yeah, you're not the only one." As they stepped off, Bulla stopped before turning around. "Shinso, Aoyama, you two did great out there. Thank you for your help." The two of them smiled in response before Bulla caught up with Pan. In the moments before catching up that she was alone, Bulla couldn't stop thinking about the strange occurrence that took place. What happened...? It felt as if I was being told the worst possible truths in the world, but by my own voice.
"Hurry up, slowpoke!" Pan called out to her, waving from across the field.
"Right! I'm coming!" As Bulla caught up, the two left the arena to find something to eat, both girls eagerly awaiting what was next to come.