"Yo boys…" Buttercup greets them once she eventually draws near her assign area where her teammates, or horse, patiently waits for their rider's arrival.
She casually scans the face of the three boys that will form her horse before she adds, "You accepted the challenge of a lifetime if you've chosen me as your rider."
"Ah, Butter how sweet of you!" Butch cheerfully revels as he steps from behind one of the two boys to include, "Now, how about you hop your butt on up and protect that pretty little orange headband of ours."
A confident smile graces her face before she boldly retorts with, "You got it. Butchie boy!"
"Give it your best everyone!" Bubbles happily encourages to the three young men that were to serve as her horse when her eyes eventually land on Boomer.
'I didn't think he would be a part of my horse.' She thought in disbelief before she was brought out of her thoughts as the other two spoke to her.
"We'll be the fastest horse out there on the field." One of them asserts to her while the other proclaims, "I know we can do it you guys!"
Blossom casually strolls over to her area until she discerns Brick amongst the three boys that were going to be her horse for the event.
"You chose me as your rider?" She abruptly questioned since she was in complete shock that he selects her to be his rider.
He slowly raise an eyebrow at her question when he hastily counters "Why wouldn't I?" along with a upward shrug of his shoulders.
'For some reason, I feel extremely comfortable and relax.' The young woman inwardly considers to herself after a surprisingly sense of relief unexpectedly washes over her body.
"Besides…I'm probably the only person that knows your entire plan like the back of my hand." The male confidently assures her with a crack of his trademark smirk to seal the deal.
The teen simply releases a deep sigh and admits to the orange haired male, "I'm glad to know that I'm in good hands."
"You got it Pinkie." Brick happily remarks while he gently pats her shoulder before he eventually joins the other guys to create the horse.
"On your mark…" Principal Zeal's voice suddenly breaks them each out of their respective conversations.
The rather chaotic scene of students madly scrambled to their designated position was now instantly replaced by a creepily eerie silence, except for the sound of their principal's voice, "…get set…"
Each and every one of the students in Mr. Matura's class simultaneously conjures up the same thought, 'It's do or die time' as Principal Zeal's mouth motions for a "Go".
A loud "bang" plus a "Go!" sliced through the rather quiet calm since he officially started the very last event of the Sports Festival for the Sophomores.
Everyone, except Buttercup's group, immediately charged out as soon as they received the signal to start from the official. They patiently waited for a total of ten complete seconds to pass before they promptly launched from their start position.
She instantly thinks to herself, 'It was just as Blossom said it would start", once she realizes that majority of the groups currently clash against each other in the middle of the field.
"The opening of the race is the only time of total utter confusion and complete desperation. People will be fumbling about to eliminate as much of the competition as possible during this time."
"Buttercup, I want you and your team to wait a couple of seconds after the official start period. By then Bubbles and Midori should have at least collected a total of five to six headbands a piece."
"I then want you to wait for me to give you the go ahead." The raven haired teen mentally reflected on her sister's plans that was specifically assigned to her.
"Add twenty-five points to Mr. Matura's class, fifteen for Ms. Omiya's class, and five points for Ms. Yoshimoto's class." A referee relays the information on to the scorekeeper, who then adjusts the score on a large display board.
"Go Alpha team!" Serena unexpectedly overhears a command on her group's frequency via her communication link.
She then peeked down at the sheet that has her assigned class name written on it and pondered, 'I wonder who Mr. Matura's class is?'
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Butch leisurely led his group in an wide arc fashion once they were finally signaled to enter in the field of play, which seemed to instantly garner the focus of the other sophomores.
"Buttercup is on the field." "Get her!" "Give us your headband!" "I'll take it for my own." "I'll treasure this moment once I get your headband."
Buttercup quickly realized that the mass' attention was now directly placed on her team, which prompted her to loudly shout, "Butch!"
"I gotcha you…" He calmly reassures her once they abruptly halt at the front of the crowd that rapidly speed toward them.
His eyes swiftly scan the mob until he promptly announces, "There's a clearing! Lay completely flat back once I give you the signal."
She closely observes as the mob continue to swiftly advance forward while her horse patiently remains at an almost complete standstill.
As soon as the word "Now" leaves from Butch's lips, Buttercup leans as far back with her hands rest on the rear end of her horse's shoulders.
The raven haired teen pops forward once they escape the mob of students, who attempt to snatch her headband from around her head ends in failure, to utter "Whew…that was too close for comfort."
"Um guys…" A voice from the rear snags their attention when he reports, "…they're turning around now!"
"Alpha team execute route one to your right." They receive a direct order from Blossom on their links before Buttercup shouts, "You heard the lady!"
Serena marveled in awe at the strategy of the class she was entrusted to monitor utilized, 'Whoever this group's leader is has an amazing sense of tactical strategy.'
"Team Bravo…run route 1A with a break to the left and a straight shot." She issues out another set of orders to the team Bravo along with Charlie, "Team Charlie…Bravo is in route to intercept Alpha. Run route B until I say otherwise."
"Boomer, shift left and move forward. We're going to help out Buttercup and her team." Bubbles relays the message on to Boomer in case he did not hear their new instructions.
"Alright boys…you can start walking now. We have Bubbles' job at the moment." Midori informs her team before they gradually slows from a trot to a jog and then to a walk.
"Pinkie…duck!" Brick's voice instantly breaks her out of her thoughts as she nimbly shifts her head to the right just in time to avoid the outreach hand. "Whew, that was too close!"
"I don't mean to disturb your rhythm but your boyfriend is making his way over here." He unexpectedly mentions Flash by his title, which causes her to inwardly considers, 'Why did it pain me from what he just told me?'
Pink eyes peek through her bangs and spots the blonde proudly gallivants over in their direction when Bell's voice rings in her ears, "Blossom, it's good to see you are faring well this year."
"What do you want Bell?" The orange haired teen inquisitively inquires about the purpose behind her abrupt visit during the chaotic Chariot race.
"Why I was just checking in on some friendly competition." She falsely claims as her eyes briefly cast downward at Brick and returns them back to Blossom's face.
Brick was feeling Flash sharply glaring at him ever since the pair approach him and Blossom until hearing him vocalizing his disdain for him, "What I want to know is why do you have this loser as the head of your horse?"
"Quiet down Flash!" The platinum blonde shushes the male with a whack to the back of his head when she reminds him, "We didn't come over here to start a fight, now did we?"
"What are you here for then?" Brick irritably posed since he already assumed that it had to be something in their possession that captured the girl's attention.
A coy smirk stretches across her pale face when she mysteriously hints to the pair, "To simply see this one plan completely unfold…that's all."
"So you basically want to know what our strategy is?" The Utonium easily interprets her real reason behind the abrupt visit.
"It would only serve as rightfully exchanged confidential information amongst good friends." Bell brightly affirms while she simply shrugs her shoulders with her hands outward.
"No way in the…" Blossom's horse head instantly counters the idea, however she expeditiously cuts him off since she yanks the bill of his hat backwards, "Hold it Brick…"
"I knew you would be a great investment, Blossom." She confidently remarks after she personally witnesses her friend tugs at Brick's red baseball cap.
"If you manage to hack our radio frequency without being caught and recite "The Bell has tolled at noon" then and only then will I reveal to you our entire plan." The orange haired teen honestly proposes to her fellow companion.
"Hm…" Bell slightly mumbles as she brings one of her index finger to the side of her lips before she consents to the idea, "…that sounds absolutely fine to me. Move along Flash, I have some hacking to do."
Brick promptly readjusts his baseball hat when he retorts, "Blossom, you just gave a freaking, walking super hi-tech computer a deal that she can easily win in her sleep."
"Look here Brick…when we were on our way out here I happened to overhear the Radio Referees reveal whose frequency that they're designated to protect." She suddenly speaks to her orange haired companion.
"…but they may not have even the slightest clue that we're being hacked." He counters while he maintains his surveillance of the other horses around them.
"If we had any regular person that was simply taught the basics then surely by now we would hear her recite the code "The Bell has tolled at noon"." The girl calmly asserts with an easy-going smile on her face as she converses with him.
"So exactly who hands do we place our faith in?" He wondered since Blossom did not appear to even be bothered at the fact that Bell could potentially hack their frequency.
"Why it's none other than your very own sister, Serena." She finally discloses the identity of who their Radio Referee for the game is.
"Oh…now it's starting to make since…always think two steps ahead of the opponents. Good job Pinkie!" Brick compliments her, which causes a bright blush to materialize on her face.
A "thanks" leaves from her lips as she dazzlingly stares at the back of his head when, "Delta team…we've successfully completed the interception on Alpha team."
"Good. Return back to route B." "Charlie return back to route C." The Utonium relays the next set of instructions on to the other two squads as her mind snaps back to the task at hand, victory.
'I can't believe I was distracted just by a simple compliment.' Blossom considers to herself until static then the sound of Buttercup's voice captures her focus, "Alpha team has reached our first position. Still attracting flies."
She remembers, 'Buttercup…once you and team Alpha reach your fist position…you're allowed a small scale attack. When you are done report in and I will tell you what to do afterwards.'
Meanwhile with Buttercup and her team,
"Why don't you hand over your headband, Buttercup?" A random voice jaws once the group eventually stalk closer to the raven haired girl and her horse.
"…or what would happen if I don't?" She coyly mentions with a smirk on her face before the voice counters with, "I did ask nicely."
A brief second passes before the group shout, "Attack!" or "Get her!"
Butch and the other two simultaneously run in a zigzag motion as they easily slide through the small openings that would quickly appear and disappear within the assault.
Buttercup deliberately swivels her head and physically blocks people's hands with her forearms since they attempt to yank her headband off her head when she contemplates, 'I'm being allowed this much fun for a while so I might as well make good use of it.'
The rider quickly adjusts the timing of her movements so that once she extends one of her arms outward at another horse, she easily removes the headband from the rider's head.
The raven haired teen continuously repeats her assault in a similar fashion until she eventually collects about ten various colored headbands from their onslaught.
"Good job team Alpha. Convey with Bravo for the next move."
'It seems as if Blossom has a well thought out plan…this is starting to get interesting.' He reasons to himself when the sound of Buttercup's voice breaks him out of his thoughts. "Yo Butch, head over to where Bubbles' team is."
"Aye Captain" The teen jokingly shouts as he searches for the blonde girl before he maneuvers over toward them.
'So far everything has been going according to Blossom's plan…' She deems while they advance forward and just so happens to pass by Bell and Flash.
'….but I can't help but to think that there's something bad brewing.'
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Bell and her horse easily eliminate the other weaker teams that somehow manage to gather a sense of false confidence to test their unfortunate luck against them.
"Flash…" She calls to the teenage boy, who serves as the head of horse.
The blonde then physically responds as he cocks his head in her direction to show she has his attention.
"I'm going to need you to keep me out a danger for a couple of minutes. I'm going to try and hack their systems." She requests for him to do before she busies herself with her plan.
He speedily diverts his sights back to what was going on in front of him when he assures her, "Alright then…fellas let's move away from all of the others."
'So let's get started shall we…' The teen inwardly meditates, closes her eyes, and transforms her eyes to a scanner.
'Mr. Matura's class still have all of their people on the field while we only have a handful left.' The platinum blonde reads the report information that her eyes transfer to her brain.
Her sights then align on the small rectangular section as it picks up on the Sophomore classes' frequencies from each respective antenna of their radio.
'Now where is Blossom's frequency?' She curiously wonders as she attempts to hone in on the orange haired girl class' radio.
Serena suddenly overhears the same "click" noise from earlier, which only means one thing that someone attempts to hack in to her team's system.
'Uh uh, not on my watch!' She defiantly asserts while she swiftly leaps in to action in order to prevent the hack from being successful.
After the solider slightly readjusted the frequency, a loud static noise via communication links piercingly rings in Mr. Matura's students ears.
"Hey…what's going on with our earpieces?!" Butch poses to Buttercup after he snatches the earpiece from his ear due to the unbearable noise against his sensitive ears.
She simply shrugged her shoulders before she mentally recalled that ominous sensation she felt from earlier, 'Could this be the reason behind this feeling?'
"It seems as if Bell has started to hack our frequency." Blossom mentions to herself as she searches for the white haired teenager through the crowd of horses and riders.
Brick conveys his opinion about the reason behind the static, "Isn't this a part of your plan Pinkie?"
"Charlie….get rid of Mr. Stanley's and two of Ms. Omiya's team then drop off." She calmly fires off another set of orders before she waits to confirm whether or not they receive the order.
"Copy…Charlie's moving out." Midori verbally approves the instructions as she proceeds to move forward to execute her duty.
'It appears as if she hasn't successfully infiltrated our radio yet. Hopefully Serena can continue to keep that bulldog at bay.' She wishfully prays that Serena can ultimately prevent Bell and her attempts to take over their system.
"Here's your mission Alpha…" Blossom promptly addresses the Alpha team and secretly discloses their next portion of the plan to them.
"I trust you well enough with that." She confidently asserts to her sister before she completely ceases the communication for now.
"Come on Butch…let's get going." Buttercup urges Butch forward after she communicates to him what Blossom wants them to do.
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'Wait a minute…' Serena unexpectedly halts after she hastily strengthens the security of her class radio frequency. She then instantly peeks over the metallic object and out on to the field.
The orange haired woman regularly honed in on her responsibilities and the girls throughout the game.
Upon her observation of their precise movements, she gradually connects the pieces of the puzzle together until finally realization dawns on her, 'I have those six frequency to protect?'
The young woman then purposely adjusts the tuner once again, steadily rotates the electrical device to the back, and easily pops open the back portion.
General Malone eventually cast his gaze over to where Serena was stationed for the event and amusingly watched as she begun to tinker with the radio.
'It was about time she broke in to this child's toy.' He concludes to himself before he diverts his focus back on to the Chariot Race.
"Two more and then it's our grand finale, Boomer." Bubbles purposely mentions as she easily snatches a headband from around a girl's head.
"Then let's make it a memorable one!" Boomer suggests after he briefly glances over his shoulder at his blonde rider.
Light blue eyes diverted her focus on to the two boys that made up the rear of the horse when she questioned, "You ready fellas?"
The boys exchange looks with each other, nods their head at the same time, and responds with a, "Yes!"
'Well this has been a blast but our part has come to an end now.' She notes before she brings her index finger to her ear and merrily announces, "Bravo has finally completed all assigned task and will gracefully exit from the game."
The group was soon on the receiving end of praises from their comrades in arms, "Good job!" "We couldn't have done it without you guys!" "Way to go Blondies!" "See you at the podium!" "Thank you for all of your help."
Boomer leisurely slows the pace of their jog to a walk before Bubbles deliberates dismounts from her horse.
"Whew! I'm so glad that we can finally rest!" "This year race was really intense." The other two say to each other when a student referee escorts them off of the field.
Bubbles watches as the other students strategically run about the field until warmth radiates on to the palm of one of her hands.
She feels a hand along with a gentle squeeze against her hand, which automatically registers the identity of the individual as she cheerfully responds, "We really make a good team Boomie!"
"Yes…yes we do." He sincerely agrees with a small smile as they trail behind a spare student referee until they reach a set of metallic bleachers that seats the other students.
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Flash frequently surveys the battle scene as it soon become sparse of riders and their horses. His sights eventually land on his girlfriend, Blossom Utonium.
He watched in complete and total awe at how she commanded her classmates as if they were soldiers in the midst of an all-out war in order to achieve a sought out goal, victory.
Yet when his eyes traveled downward to her horse, the sight of the orange haired male made his hands ball in to a fist. 'How dare he parades around here with that smile on his face after he what he has done?!'
"Flash…" One of his classmate's voice forces him out of his thought, "How long are we going to have to wait?"
His question causes his focus to return back to his current situation which was Bell, "We'll give her a couple of more minutes before we move out."
'Hurry up Bell! Our time is starting to run out.'
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"Butch…" Buttercup softly speaks up while they were on the path to their next target, which leads him to allege, "For some odd reason, it sounds as if you're scared."
He felt her grip roughly tighten around one of his shoulders, which prompted him to assume it could have been flashbacks from what happened at Bell's pool party.
"Look Butter, do you trust Blossom?" Butch enquiringly challenges as he slowly brings the horse to a halt. He inwardly senses that her resolve slightly waivers a bit.
"…with my life." She gravely responds to his question before he sharply tilts his head backwards so that their eyes connect with each other.
"You're too worked up. Remember, it's just a game you know." The boy reminds her as he closely studies her facial expression for her genuine emotion.
His rider closes her eyes, releases a deep sigh, hardens her facial expression and declares, "Let's do this!"
"Alright, there's my Butter!" Butch happily exclaims before he instantly starts up the quick pace once again with their targets now in clear sight.
Meanwhile...
Brick feels a gentle tap on one of his shoulders, which could only come from the person that presently uses him as support, "Yeah Blossom?"
"I know I've been acting a bit strange the past couple of days but when it's the right time we will talk about it." She cryptically implies before she returns her sights back to the battlefield.
"Charlie has finally wrapped up our part of the mission." Charlie's team leader delivers the news through the communication link.
"You did excellent Midori!" "That's our Midori!" "Drake would be so proud of you!"
"Ah shut up!" The ginger rudely ceased her communication link since she was eextremely embarrassed at the fact that one of the sisters mentioned Drake's name.
She politely thanks the boys "Thanks fellas", who serve as her horse.
They then patiently waited for the student referee to collect the other teams along with them in order to be escorted off the field.
'Now it's up to you Buttercup…' Midori mentally asserts as she cuts her eyes over toward Buttercup and Butch, who steadily advance toward their objective.
'Go out there and secure our victory!' She inwardly declares after a confident smile stretches across her face at the thought.
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"Well we can chalk that up as a lost." Bell frustratingly mutters to herself as her voice suddenly surfaces Flash and the other two out of their thoughts.
"So what did I miss?" She curiously inquires before she casually studies the now rather empty battlefield of students.
Flash clears his throat as a signal to capture his rider's attention when he explains, "You missed out on a lot. Plus, it seems as if we've finally attracted some unwanted company?"
At the sound of "unwanted company" Bell directs her sights to what was in front of her, which causes a rather wide grin to develop on her face.
"It seems as if it's finally down to us two, eh Buttercup?" She happily declares as she visibly grows anxious from anticipation of their showdown.
Bell could also feel Flash become antsy from the wait to finally lash out his whole onslaught of personal rage against the raven haired girl.
"I wouldn't have it any other way." Buttercup agrees along with the platinum blonde chick as a similar smirk appears on her face as well.
White eyes carefully watch her idly brings her right hand up to her ear, easily removes the ear piece from within her ear and aimlessly tosses it somewhere on the ground.
"What do you think you're doing Butter?!" Butch quickly quipped once he suddenly realized exactly what Buttercup just did.
A slap against the back of his head was felt before he heard her added, "Shut up Butch! It doesn't concern you at all."
"Well...I'm glad that you finally feel like yourself again." He commented while he gently brushed where the contact was made by his rider.
Her gaze leaves from her opponent's face before she continues to speak, "This is the ultimate moment where only two rivals for a long period of time can ever possibly understand this brief pause we are in now."
"A moment where only the superior one can claim the title of being number one out of the sophomore class." Bell interjects in their conversation, which redirects Butch's attention to her.
"It's just freaking friendly competition!" He muttered to himself completely unaware that the two girls clearly heard his statement.
In a rare and weird shared moment, the two teens simultaneously shook their heads left then right as they chuckled at his comment.
"You just wouldn't understand." They simultaneously assert as he notes a crazy expression of disbelief and shock from the opposite team faces, except Flash.
"I wonder what's going on out there?" Boomer curiously ponders out loud, which causes Bubbles sights to turn toward him.
She then redirects her eyes back on to the courtyard where only two horses and riders remain on the "battlefield".
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Author's Note:
04.05.17 Major editing revisions