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<span class="mu-s">4 votes for PK Shield.</span>
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The game doesn't pause this time, play resuming as it would after a player simply botches a return, as opposed to the other two times when that player had been knocked to the floor.
Peppa supposes this meant they thought she would be injured the first two times. She wasn't. Once was luck, twice was carelessness... but three times? By then, her pride had been injured.
And a thing about Saiyans, their pride was as much a part of them as their appetites.
===
Beside you, Peppa blows some air up into her bangs. "Okay, so this is gonna sound, not great. My reasoning here was that there was no way for me to suck at volleyball that badly, so something had to have been up."
"I see," you say, tone tinged with dread. Did she let that pride boil over into anger and lash out? "So what did you do then?"
Peppa frowns, admitting, "I tried to prove my feelings correct by doing a little trick with telekinesis."
"Oh, that's not that bad!" you say, relief flooding your body. "I thought you were gonna do way worse!"
...
Peppa turns away from you, crossing her arms. "Hmph!"
"..." Ah, you've stepped in it now. "What I mean is, it would be understandable if you did something worse, but you should never lash out like that, and using your powers to test a theory is a much better alternative, even though you shouldn't take a game too seriously, and," you gasp in some air, "I, am gonna be quiet for the rest of the movie." Really could not have dug yourself in deeper. Serves you right trying to fill in for Doting and Inquiring
Peppa side-eyes you, then shakes her head. "...the thought did cross my mind, just going apeshit and giving the other team a taste of how it is to get spiked in the face."
You nod. "But you didn't."
She shrugs. "Eh. Let's finish this one."
===
Her other teammates give her some light admonishments and pep talk to inspire her to do better, or just to stop sucking, and she laughs it off sheepishly. Outwardly, she smiles as her teeth grind together.
Then, she spots Erasa, and thinks back to their talk from before, and gets an idea that puts a grin on her face, one that shows off her canines.
"Trying out a new face-to-ball style-" Erasa starts, intending to tease Peppa a little, but she pauses at the sight of Peppa's face. She turns away, letting out a meek, "Nnnnnnope."
The game resumes, and Peppa focuses, not on the ball, but on herself.
Then, she casually observes the game. Even when the ball is on the other side of the court, even when its trajectory has sent it down a definite path, even when it's the last ditch effort to return it from the back of their court, she keeps her guard up.
Then Videl spikes the ball, and Peppa makes no move to return it, the ball zipping past her zone of control.
She hears a girl behind her make a return and Peppa feels a slight breeze in her ponytail. She turns her head to see the ball spinning in the air, stymied by her telekinetic barrier.
