Mischievous Function

Topping from the Bottom

"Like I said, I don't know," she scoffed with a shrug. "And neither does anyone else, except for Four, X, and probably Two. Why? What's the look for?"

"What is in that lunch?!" Mic finally yelled, taking a threatening step toward Golf Ball and causing the latter to back up.

Golf Ball furrowed her brow and gritted her teeth. "Why are you getting mad at me?! I told you already, I don't—"

Then it clicked.

Her eyes suddenly widened as she finally understood what Mic was getting at. The other three got it as well soon after, and their mouths hung open as they all turned to stare at Golf Ball expectantly. "I...I don't know," she breathed, glancing tentatively at all of them.

Mic's breathing started to speed up in panic as she clutched her head and stared up at the ceiling. "And Basketball said," she whispered out loud, "that the reason she survived that 750-foot fall was probably because of that—"

She stumbled backward and nearly fell to the floor, only staying upright because Dot managed to catch her in time. They walked her over to a bench and gently set her down, watching worriedly as her pupils started to constrict and she leaned backward, resting her head on the wall. Her panicked breathing soon started to escalate into hyperventilation, and she gripped a fistful of her own hair, nearly ripping it out. Suitcase managed to make her loosen her grip, but her heart was still pounding out of her chest. She took heavier and deeper breaths in an attempt to get some air into her lungs, but her vision was starting to swim and she shook her head repeatedly. "Not like this..." she tried to choke out, "...please, not like this..."

Overwhelmed with guilt, Golf Ball could only look on in shame as the other three tried to calm Microphone down enough to keep her from collapsing on the spot. "I...I'm sorry," she whispered, though only the other three could hear it. With nothing else to do, she turned and walked toward the rest of the group to explain her suspicions.

——————————

A few minutes later...

"Uh, folks, we have an announcement to make."

As the receptionist began speaking to the audience, some staff members suddenly came backstage and dispersed to guide the groups onto the stage, as well as confiscate their awards. The girls all stood up and, after a few moments of hesitation, followed their staff member toward the curtain and handed their silver medals over. Test Tube and Suitcase reluctantly got up to leave as well, and Suitcase decided to take the trophy over in Mic's place. However, Dot stayed behind and tried to talk Mic into standing on her own.

"Hey, you okay?" she asked. "It's time for us to go. Can you stand?"

Mic glanced up at her and, after a few moments, nodded as she shakily got up to her feet. "This can't be happening..." she breathed as she shuffled over to the rest of the group. Dot watched her with a wary face and stood by her side in case she fell again.

When they stepped on stage, they were more or less in the same positions that they'd been in during the initial award ceremony. There were noticeably fewer people in the audience than before, but the alert had been sent out rather hastily; people were still trickling into the seats from the hotel. Despite this, many B.F.D. High and I. High students were sitting in their reserved section and were just as confused as they were, if not more so.

"The Annual Summit Showdown is meant to be a fair and friendly competition," the announcer continued. "And although this event is intended to be more casual and fun than serious, we nevertheless uphold some competitive standards to ensure a clean and fair game for all of our competitors. After carefully reviewing competition footage, and after a thorough investigation of some behind-the-scenes systems, we have determined that one of our 10–12 groups has been found in violation of one of these standards, and as such will be eliminated from the competition."