Flick came up to me and licked my cheek.

"Are you feeling alright?" she asked.

There was no worry in her voice, but a form of empathetic questioning that I had never heard before. It wasn't exactly the same tone and feeling as when Topa asked me how I was, but I could tell she genuinely cared.

Although I could breathe normally, I was still feeling the immense pain in my entire body. It was an odd feeling, as if the pain was located right outside of it, at the tip of every hair of my fur, but I couldn't move. Flick licked me again, actually worried this time.

"Are you conscious?"

I took a deep breath, focusing to talk despite the pain.

"I'm alright."

Agnes knelt and gently picked me up, petting me softly. The moment she touched me, I felt all the pain disappear, and I could move my body freely again. I peeked up, not daring look her in the eye.

To my surprise, she didn't look disappointed at all. She was fully focused on comforting me, and I didn't think twice before giving in to her care.

"Alright, to your booths," Belish said in a neutral tone. "You've got fifteen minutes to rest and strategize."

Agnes carried me to the booth and closed the door behind me. It was a rather tiny room, with a whiteboard on one wall, a large sofa laying opposite to it, and a table between them with a large carafe of water, glasses, and bowls of varying heights. She put me down on the table and filled the lowest bowl with water for me drink, then a glass for herself, and sighed.

I felt my heart break when she did. That was the full extent of her disappointment, and she was no longer hiding it. She had been holding it in so it wouldn't show to Belish and Faith, probably to keep a persona up, but now that we were separated from them, she had no qualms in letting me know how much of a failure I had been.

"I'm sorry, Ruby."

I didn't dare move. Was she about to give up on me?

"I wasn't good enough."

I squinted at her as she said that. She was sitting on the sofa, looking down, twirling a blue marker pen in her hands pensively.

Only then did I realize that her disappointment wasn't directed towards me – it was targetted at herself. She was taking the blame for our loss and that seemed to have made a serious dent in her confidence. I had never seen her like this, so down and powerless. For a moment, I thought I was looking at the girl in the hospital that had just been abandoned by her parents.

I wouldn't abandon her.

I hopped from the table onto her lap, making her jolt in surprise. Sneaking through her arms, I pushed my head against her in an obvious cuddling gesture. She dropped the marker pen and chuckled.

"Don't worry, Ruby, I'm alright. I can't let one defeat get me down. We can do this."

As much as I admired her spirit, I could tell at that moment that she was simply putting on an act, trying to act tough and pretending nothing got to her. From seeing Topa do the same and eventually crumble to a point where I nearly couldn't help, I knew she couldn't keep this on. Insisting, I kept prodding at her face with my muzzle.

"Stop that!" she ordered.

Her loud, angry voice caught me by surprise and I simply stepped back. Why was she angry? I was trying to help her. She wasn't feeling well and I wanted her to talk to me, tell me how she was really feeling, or at least allow herself to express her emotions. Why was she rejecting me?

She gently picked me up and put me back on the table.

"Let's try to figure out where we went wrong."

She walked up to the white board and became thoughtful. I was staring at her, still surprised and hurt by her earlier reaction. Did she care so little about me that she didn't want to be helped? Or was she trying so hard to keep her act up that she wouldn't allow anyone, even me, to break through it?

Why was this happening so soon after she had given me the first real display of affection I ever had from anyone other than Topa? Was she disappointed or hurt by my defeat? Was she going through that roller coaster of emotions herself?

"Ruby, are you alright?"

She was staring at me, looking worried. I shook my head and yelped with enthusiasm to let her know I was listening. I couldn't let her know her reaction bothered me.

"The Bite attack was a trap for us," Agnes explained. "They knew you'd try to keep Flick at bay. I think the whole exchange before it was simply testing your reaction speed and accuracy with Ember."

She looked concerned.

"Now that they know, they're definitely going to change their strategy in the next fight. Flick is fast enough to dodge your Ember while charging, so we can't rely on that anymore."

She looked at me, and the hint of disappointment I saw in her eyes broke my heart.

"You not knowing several moves is a big problem for us, I think. We'll have to work on that."

I looked away in shame. To my surprise, Agnes petted me on the head.

"Don't worry, it's not that bad! We'll have to be creative though."

She sat on the table next to me and stared at me, possibly studying my body. I stood still, unsure what to do.

"They'll expect you to keep your distance, I think. Just in a different way. So let's pretend we want to, but this time, you let her come close and you fight from point-blank range. The problem is, that leaves you really vulnerable, so you'll have to be very mobile and not let Flick hit you, alright?"

I nodded. It was a stupid plan, but I understood the idea behind it, and couldn't think of anything else. It relied on me being able to dodge melee or point-blank attacks, which I had no experience in whatsoever. I was going to have to improvise.

She spent more time going over what strategies she thought Flick and Faith would use, and what I had to do to counter them. She asked that, if she gave me an order, I obey unconditionally, as it would mean she had an idea on the spot and she trusted me to execute it.

There was a knock at the door as Belish told us that break time was over. When I went back to the arena, I became extremely nervous again. It was a different sort of anxiety, however. I wasn't so scared of the battle anymore – on the contrary, I was rather looking forward to playing again – but of the pain. I could still feel it lingering around my body, threatening me quietly. Flick seemed to be perfectly fine, which meant I started with a disadvantage. Then again, I wasn't sure if the few hits I landed had really done anything to her. I hadn't even seen her flinch.

We took positions on the area again. Flick looked really joyful, but I didn't share the feeling. I was still nervous and honestly scared of being hit again. Despite that, I was feeling somewhat excited, and the first battle had been a lot of fun despite the loss. I wasn't sure whether or not I was looking forward to the next one, or wished I could just run away and not battle anymore.

"Both ready?" Belish asked.

We both nodded at about the same time. The poochyena lost her smile and started focusing, ready to battle. I mimicked her movement and felt my inner fire sparkle with renewed anticipation.

Belish counted down from three and gave the start signal. Immediately after, I shot an Ember at Flick, who had no trouble dodging. I needed to make her think I was going to keep her at bay again. Shooting fireball after fireball as a barrage, trying to aim at where I estimated she would move, I suppressed the poochyena to prevent her from approaching. She seemed to be fully focused on dodging my attacks and had not thrown any moves of her own yet.

"Flick, contest with Mud Slap," Faith ordered after around a minute.

"Ruby, slow down," Agnes immediately replied.

I was busy throwing moves around as Agnes gave the order, and Flick stopped trying to dodge. Instead, she challenged my Ember with Mud Slap. As expected, her move obliterated mine, but I was too focused on firing as fast as I could to see it coming. Before I could react, the mud energy hit me right in the face, making me stagger back.

"Roll to the side!" Agnes shouted.

Without thinking, I obeyed and tossed myself to my right. Peeking back at where I was a moment ago, I saw Flick land with an odd dark purple energy surrounding her muzzle.

Flick turned to me and pounced again. I had a hard time dodging this one and I certainly wouldn't be able to evade the next attack.

"Do it now!" Agnes ordered.

Her plan came back to me in a flinch. As Flick pounced on me again, I released an Ember as big as I could make it, landing it right in her throat.

To my surprise, it seemed to successfully stop her attack. I saw her face wince when the fireball hit and her Bite attack vanished as she landed on top of me. Without waiting, I shot another point-blank Ember into her throat. She emitted a loud whine and staggered back.

"Continue!" Agnes encouraged me.

"Use Mud Slap again," Faith calmly ordered.

There was an exchange of hits. I threw another Ember directly into her right as she used her back legs to toss a Mud Slap under her, directly into my side.

I yelped in pain, extracting myself from under Flick with difficulty. It was the same pain as before, but this time, only my lower body felt completely debilitated. I could move my head and front legs and used them to crawl back to Agnes.

"Enough," Belish said as Flick repositioned herself behind me.

Agnes petted me again. The way her hand shook gave away her anger, but she was still forcing herself to smile.

"That was good," she said.

"Indeed!" Faith confirmed, walking in to check on me. "I didn't expect you to stay in close range. Thought you'd win when Ruby got herself under Flick and started shooting Ember.

"You still won," Agnes replied crudely, unable to hide her frustration.

"But you're doing better," Belish intervened. "Don't give up."

He knelt to check on me as well.

"Ruby might need a little more rest. I suggest we cut it for today."

He stood up and patted Faith on the shoulder, then gave Flick a quick pet on the head.

"Good work, you two. That was good."

I watched as they left, impatiently waiting for the doctor to repeat the gesture with Agnes and I, but he never did. He waited as well until our opponents had left and turned to us, sighing.

"I can't say the same about you."

Surprised and genuinely hurt, I look at Ilma for support, but she simply shook her head in silence. I felt like my heart was about to stop when I read the disappointment in her eyes.

He went into one of the booths to take a chair and offered a seat to Agnes by the arena. She obeyed silently and I waddled to her side. Belish and Ilma took similar positions in front of us. There were several minutes of silence during which none of us was moving. I could hear everyone's heartbeat and sense the tension in the room. Belish and Ilma both looked like they were about to yell at us, and Agnes was as puzzled as I. Whatever was coming, it wasn't good.

"That was your first battle, wasn't it?" the doctor asked me, breaking the silence.

I nodded nervously.

"You did quite well, I think, for your first two battles. You can be proud of yourself."

These words didn't seem to affect me at all – upon hearing them, I felt my tails drop to the floor completely and looked up at Agnes, who was so tense I could have kicked the chair out from under her and she wouldn't have moved a bit. From the corner of my eye, I saw Ilma nod in agreement to the doctor's statement, and it made me feel only marginally better. I could still read the disappointment in my trainer's eyes.

"Relax, Agnes, I'm not going to yell at you. Victory or defeat doesn't matter as long as you had fun. You're here to learn and I'm going to ensure that. That's why I stayed and watched."

That didn't make Agnes any less tense.

"You lost twice today, so tell me. Run me through that first battle."

Agnes took some time to think. It was probably difficult for her to think analytically, considering her state of mind, but she was making that effort nonetheless.

"I'm not certain we had the upper hand at any point in the first battle," she analysed. "I was expecting Flick to try and close up on Ruby to use Mud Slap at close range, since it's weaker from a longer distance, while Ember remains strong until it disappears. I told Ruby to try to keep Flick at bay."

"Sensible strategy," the doctor nodded. "Continue."

"Ruby got the first two hits on Flick when she tried to charge in," Agnes continued. "She dodged the charge and simply shot Ember in melee range. But then, Faith ordered Flick to use Bite and Ruby fell for it. I didn't realize it was a trap and I couldn't tell her to dodge, and that's how we lost."

Belish seemed to be taking mental notes, as he didn't reply. After a few seconds of silence, he raised his finger.

"That is your first mistake. You weren't listening."

"Well, I heard Faith order..."

"You weren't listening" he insisted, cutting Agnes off. "You let Ruby decide on her own how to deal with that new order instead of finding a counter. But Ruby was battling and trying to keep Flick at bay as you said, and had no idea how to deal with the move once the charge started. It was pretty obvious that Flick and Faith knew they could avoid the Ember shot to counter the charge, or they wouldn't have gone in for Bite, wasn't it?"

I heard Agnes' fist tense up as she nodded.

"You should have instructed Ruby to get away, or given her an option to counter the charge other than simply tossing an Ember at Flick. Admittedly, you seem to have realized that on your own since you did that in the second battle, but we'll talk about that later."

He raised a second finger.

"Your second mistake was trusting your opponent. When you heard the Bite order, you immediately assumed that it would be carried out. You were caught by surprise by their trap and fell right for it. It wasn't Ruby that fell for it, it was you both."

He had in his eyes a form of disappointment I had never seen before. I had no idea how he was exactly feeling, or what he wanted to say, but we had been doing something wrong beyond simply losing and I had no idea what.

"In the first charge, Ruby was able to accurately shoot an Ember, dodge, then shoot another one. It was pretty obvious that we could have done the same again, so Flick and Faith weren't going to fall for it. But you never questioned that order, and thought they'd continue attacking straight-on. They used that against you and that's how you lost. They knew you'd first throw an Ember to counter the charge, then dodge at the last moment. As expected, Ruby threw an ember, but Flick used that to throw a Mud Slap of her own knowing you wouldn't expect it. And at that point, it was game over."

He peeked at me with sorry eyes, making me feel like I wasn't at fault for our losses. I wasn't myself exactly sure why we lost, but I was eagerly listening, determined to get better.

"What was your strategy for the second battle?"

"We were going to take them on in close range," Agnes replied. "Flick and Ruby are fast enough to dodge each other's attacks from long range, so that would have lead nowhere. I'm certain Ruby is faster than Flick and I was hoping to use that. I told her to pretend she was trying to keep Flick away, but instead of countering the charge, to let her come close. She could dodge the attacks and retaliate from melee range. I knew it would leave her vulnerable, but I thought it would work."

"It could have," Belish replied. "Surprising strategy, but by no means stupid."

"Well... we never really got to execute it. Instead of dodging the Ember, Flick contested them with Mud Slap. Ruby didn't react in time and got hit, and then she was stuck under Flick and couldn't do anything."

"Correct. I'm surprised you didn't consider Mud Slap would easily overpower Ember. You did good telling Ruby to slow down in reply to the Mud Slap order. That would have allowed her to react in time to dodge and continue the pressure, or set up for your strategy."

I looked away in shame. So that second loss was my fault, for failing to follow through on Agnes' idea. Had I been more careful I would have been able to dodge the Mud Slap and maybe execute our initial plan.

"You also did good in recognizing that Ruby had been stunned by the sudden Mud Slap and telling her to carry on with your plan to help her. Without that, the Bite would have hit and you would have lost earlier. That allowed her to focus on the fight again. And then you helped her evade an attack she didn't see coming."

He nodded.

"Second fight was much better than the first one, but you still lost. Why?"

"Ruby got caught under Flick. Our whole strategy relied on her using her mobility to dodge and attack safely."

"Why did you not tell Ruby to get out from under Flick then?"

"I..."

She looked away. That was a weird question – if anything, I was also at fault for not recognizing that I was trapped and that we couldn't continue with our strategy.

The doctor sighed.

"Your strategy was correct. Ruby's execution was more than decent. She's faster than I thought she would be and clearly understands what you want her to do. If anything, individually, you're better than Faith and Flick. Ruby is indeed faster and more accurate than Flick, and you were able to read through their initial strategy without a hitch. But when the battle started, you just fell apart and lost the advantages you had."

He looked at me, then at Agnes, and shook his head slowly.

"Your teamwork, however, is non-existent. The first fight made it painfully obvious, although the second one offered a bit of improvement on that, but it still wasn't enough. What happened was you sent Ruby into battle with a rough outline of a strategy, then you left her to her own device. And when you did try to intervene, Ruby wasn't listening and executed your order too late."

He marked a pause to look at our reactions. I wasn't sure if any of this was true or not, but Agnes looked devastated.

"You have no synergy. Let me ask you a simple question. At what point of this whole talk have you said we?"

He sighed again, not even trying to hide his disappointment anymore.

"You said we at the start and end of the battles, but in your analyses of them, it was always either she or I. Just look back at the first battle – Ruby being faster and more accurate than Flick allowed her to take the upper hand. As long as things were going according to your plan, you were ahead. Of course, since you're better than they are. But when Flick and Faith read through your strategy and teamed up, you lost the advantage and couldn't do anything. Ruby alone couldn't have won as she wouldn't have had time to come up with a new strategy. And you coming up with a new one wouldn't have helped if you weren't guiding her. Let me make this clear: Ruby didn't lose. You didn't lose. Each of you did better than your counterpart, but their teamwork was that much better. That's what wins battles: teamwork."

"Ruby did her best," Agnes replied.

"And you didn't?"

"Of course I did."

"I saw how you two looked when you went out of the booth. You were blaming yourself for the loss and Ruby was trying to understand why you were upset."

"It's not her fault," Agnes insisted. "I don't want her to think I'm disappointed in her."

"I notice you aren't doing much to prove that," the doctor remarked.

Agnes looked at me with guilt in her eyes. At this point, there was nothing she could do or say to deny that. Even if she were to try to comfort me, it would be too late. Anything she were to do would feel fake as the result of an order given by a superior, and she was well aware of that. Ilma shook her head in disappointment, obviously already aware of this.

"Once again. It's not about you, Agnes, or about Ruby. It's about you two. Your team. Do you even trust each other?"

"Of course we do," Agnes replied with anger.

From her tone, I wasn't sure anymore if she really trusted me. I even started to doubt my own trust in her.

"Let me ask a private question, if I may."

"Go ahead."

"How much of your life do you two share? Do you sleep together? Eat together? Do you do anything together?"

"We..."

Agnes didn't dare finish her sentence and looked away from both Belish and I. I could tell that her guilt was getting overwhelming for her and she was only realizing that she had been doing everything wrong.

"There are strict rules in my household, sir, you know my parents."

"So what? Ruby's your partner, not theirs. If you want to spend time with her, they have no right to stop you from doing so."

"I..."

Agnes seemed to have completely lost the will to defend herself. My first thought was that it was a good thing – it meant she acknowledged she had made a mistake and was willing to listen to advice. Upon further review, however, I grew increasingly worried for her. This was certain to take a toll on her confidence and our relationship, and I was afraid it would take a wrong turn.

"That's your first step, then. Get closer together. I mean, look at yourself, she's sitting by your side when she should be on your lap."

Agnes tensed up. I knew she didn't dare do anything, being aware that all her actions would seem fake. She looked at me and I could read pity and guilt in her eyes. She seemed to genuinely care, but there was always a wall of sorts between us that made her unable to really show it.

"I don't understand," the doctor eventually admitted. "You two seem so close, so why are you acting like complete strangers? Or rather, why is it your relationship seems to be so broken? It's obvious that Ruby loves you – not because you saved her life or take care of her – just because she loves you. I can't say you don't love her, but you're not allowing yourself to. Why? That just hinders you both completely, and not just for this."

The doctor stood up.

"It's time you start considering Ruby as your friend, not as your pet. You'll be surprised when you see what you can do with a real friend."

He patted Agnes on the head, then petted me, and left the room. Ilma followed him, looking at me with sorry eyes, and the room fell into silence.