The sun rises slowly over the mountains behind the school. The woods around the old castle are relatively quiet. It seems that nature itself is blissfully unaware of the firestorm that’s beginning to brew inside of the stone building. Both Jongin and Sehun are up at the break of dawn that day and are trying to stay as far away from each other as possible while still preparing for the match that’s set to start in a few hours. At first Sehun takes refuge in the kitchenette with his Pidgey. He feeds the small bird in near silence at the table. Jongin is still in their bedroom, but is cradling his Gastly against his chest as he smirks to himself about the advantage that Yoochun had told him about the day before.

“Unless if his Pidgey knows Foresight it won’t be able to land any physical hits on your Gastly.”

Those words repeat themselves in Jongin’s head endlessly. He know that Sehun’s Pidgey is still very young. It’s even newer than his Gastly. But at the same time he’s worried if he’ll be able to hit it with Gastly’s only move; . He’s also worried that Sehun may have figured out that Gastly is mostly made of gas and can easily be blown away by any kind of wind.

“There’s no way that idiot figured that much out already… Unless if that annoying student body president told him everything already… People are always spoon-feeding that the information he needs…” the fuming ghost trainer mumbles to himself.

There’s a soft knock on the door that stirs Jongin from his thoughts.

“If your name is Oh Sehun you’re not welcome here,” he says quickly.

Whoever is outside hesitates slightly before opening the door slowly. Kyungsoo is standing there with his half-asleep Drilbur nestled in his arms. The older boy looks at Jongin a bit sadly as he shuffles inside without a proper welcome and sits beside him on the bed. The door swings shut and closes with a soft click before he begins to speak.

“Jongin… This is all so ridiculous… In the end I hope you and Sehun can still be friends…” he murmurs in a sad, yet soothing tone.

“Why would I want to continue being friends with that ?” Jongin asks.

“Because that had been your best friend since you were both in diapers! … There is no loss more painful than losing the first friend you ever made… It’s even worse when that person is still alive and simply refuses to acknowledge you…” the older replies shakily.

His voice had cracked a couple times as he had said that and tears have even started trickling from his eyes slowly.

“Kyungsoo… You’ve lost someone that way, haven’t you?”

Kyungsoo nods and lays his Drilbur on the bed before burying his face in Jongin’s shoulder. The younger’s heart breaks as his new almost-boyfriend starts crying steadily. He sighs softly and sets his Gastly down. Without a word he turns and faces the other, pulling the petite boy into his arms. He doesn’t ask the other any more questions. The two of them stay there for a short while as Kyungsoo calms down. He wordlessly grips onto Jongin’s loose t-shirt and presses closer to the other.

Breakfast is rather lively that morning. Some of the older students start placing bets on which of the two will win. Most of them bet on Sehun simply because he’s the one that issued the challenge, but also because they believe that Jungsu and Jay had been able to help him train his Pidgey far beyond the strength of a recently-hatched Pidgey already. Some even say that Jungsu had given him a TM for a move like Wing Attack or Steel Wing. The eldest boy denies every single rumor vehemently, but that only adds more reason for people to disbelieve him. Sehun simply ignores everyone. He eats in silence at the end of the table acting very much unlike his usual self. Meals had been tense ever since he’d challenged Jongin, but this meal is by far the tensest yet. Jongin and Sehun are sitting on opposite sides of the table at the complete opposite ends. They’ve created as much space between them as physically possible and everyone has taken notice. Food is the last thing on everyone’s mind that morning. Most people eat quickly as if hoping they would be excused to get seats in the stadium early. Finally one of the teachers stands and clears his throat.

“Alright everyone. It’s time to really get this new school year underway. Will Oh Sehun and Kim Jongin please come with me?” Jay asks with his eyes on the EXO K table.

Silence falls over the mess hall as the two of them get up simultaneously and throw nasty glares at each other. The two soon disappear through the back entrance to the room behind Jay. He takes them through the teacher’s entrance to avoid having any of the other students follow them too closely.

“Boys, just remember one thing; this is only a practice fight. I know tensions are high between you two right now, but you have to keep in mind that your behavior is also reflecting on this school. Don’t think YG Academy hasn’t caught wind of this. News spreads like wildfire thanks to phones… And I must say this is not the image we usually hope to have at the start of the school year,” he says in a serious tone without looking over his shoulder.

“What image is that?” Jongin asks curiously.

“Rowdiness. Rebellion against tradition. Those are the main problems we have with two brand new students already being at each other’s throats like this.”

The two teenagers fall silent at that. Both of them want right then and there to turn to the other and apologize, but neither is able to work up the nerve before Jongin is ushered down a different hallway by BoA. Sehun silently trails after Jay, suddenly feeling less confident.

“Relax, Sehun. The best way for boys your age to settle their differences is to fight it out like this. The same thing happened last year about halfway through when Yunho and Jaejoong got into a fight over who is technically the leader of their dorm. Yunho argued that Jaejoong isn’t mature enough to handle it even though he is the oldest. On the flip side, Jaejoong wanted to be leader because he’s the oldest technically. In the end Yunho became the only person to ever defeat Jaejoong in battle and therefore became the leader of the DBSK dorm. Jaejoong’s been bitter ever since… I really hope that isn’t how things are going to end between you and Jongin. Best of luck, both on and off the battle field,” Jay says softly after stopping in front of a large door.

Before Sehun can respond the doors swing open. Blinding lights pour into the dark hallway, making Sehun throw up an arm to shield his eyes. Once his eyes adjust to the light he realizes that Jay’s no longer beside him. He can also hear a dull thunder of cheers somewhere up ahead. Taking a step out into the stadium he looks around. About ten feet in front of him is a chalk square that marks where he’s allowed to stand during the match. He sighs inwardly and makes his way over to it. Once he’s in position he looks up at the stands on either side of the room. One side is totally empty, but the other is full of his classmates and teachers, including Jay and BoA. He finally turns and faces the other end of the room. His eyes instantly land on his best friend and a wave of regret washes over him. Why had he challenged Jongin so rashly? He shakes his head to clear away those thoughts and calls his Pidgey out of her Pokéball. On the other side of the field, Jongin does the same with his Gastly.

“Let the battle between challenger Oh Sehun and his Pidgey against the challenged Kim Jongin and his Gastly commence!” a loud voice booms from above.

Sehun looks around, bewildered for a moment.

“What’s the matter? Are you backing out on me now??” Jongin calls over to him.

“Not on your life, Kim!”

With a deep breath Sehun takes a slightly wider stance and urges his Pidgey forward.

“Off the floor, Pidgey! Let’s take this battle airborne!” he shouts out.

Pidgey chirps and quickly starts flapping her wings, soon rising well above Sehun’s head. His eyes focus on Jongin’s Gastly as he rises up to the same height easily.

“Alright Gastly, use !” Jongin calls suddenly.

Before Sehun can even react, Gastly floats over to Pidgey and douses her in slobber. She cries out in disgust and struggles to clean the slime from her feathers.

“Pidgey! It’s okay! Use Tackle!”

Pidgey instantly raises her head and rushes straight at Gastly. It looks like it’s going to be a powerful hit until she phases right through the gaseous body of her opponent.

“…” Sehun mumbles under his breath.

He had known this would happen. Jungsu had warned him time and time again that Pidgey would need a different move to actually land a hit on a Ghost type Pokémon like Gastly. His frustration with himself starts to boil over as he watches his friend’s Gastly his precious Pidgey a few more times.

“Alright Gastly, let’s use your new move! Hypnosis!” Jongin suddenly yells enthusiastically.

Pidgey is easily hit with the ghastly lullaby. Her eyes close quickly. Her wings also stop moving and she starts plummeting toward the hard ground below.

“Pidgey!!” Sehun cries as he dashes from his assigned spot.

“Oh Sehun has forfeited the match!!” the announcer’s voice booms.

But Sehun doesn’t hear any of it as he races forward. Tears have started streaming from his eyes. All he can see is his Pidgey falling from the sky, getting closer and closer to a painfully hard landing. He reaches his arms out and…

The crowd goes absolutely wild. He manages to reach Pidgey just in time and pulls her against his chest. The rest of the morning passes by in a worried blur. He doesn’t even remember shaking hands with Jongin or being led to the Infirmary by an overly worried Taeyeon. He gets a slight reprieve from a portion of his worries when the nurse assures him that Pidgey isn’t injured in any way. But she also doesn’t know when the little bird will wake up either. That doesn’t happen until lunchtime. Thankfully Jay gives Sehun the rest of the day off.