"Byul, I am freaking out," Irene sat on the edge of Moonbyul's bed, obsessively checking out every notification on her tablet.

"Dude, chill. It's just a date." Moonbyul gently pried the tablet out of her best friend's fingers and set it on the bedside table. She had no idea why Irene was so worried, Seulgi was a great girl. "You like her, she likes you, what's the problem?"

"The problem is I have no idea where to take her!" Irene tried to reach for her tablet and Moonbyul shook her head, blocking the older girl's attempt and placing the offending item on top of her desk, out of Irene's reach. "Give it back, Moonbyul. I want this to be perfect."

"You're worrying too much, Joohyun. I'm sure she'll love wherever you guys end up going. A date isn't just about where you go or what you do. It's about spending time with the person." Moonbyul grabbed a wooden box out of her bedside table and opened it. She handed Irene a worn-out scrap of yellow paper. "I took Yongsun to that cool mini-golf place on the east side of town and then we came back here for pizza. I kept the scorecard as a memento of our first date."

Irene let out a soft 'aw', holding the paper carefully in her hands. She remembered that night and remembered the stupid grin on Moonbyul's face when she came back to their shared dorm room. "Yongsun beat you so badly. You're horrible at mini-golf."

Moonbyul huffed, taking back the old scorecard and putting it back where it belonged. "How was I supposed to know the girl was a prodigy? Seriously, how can a girl that pretty be good at everything she tries? It's unnatural."

Irene giggled. "I guess you're right, Byul. But I'm still lost as to what to do for our date on Friday."

"You're a Kalos Champion, Joohyun. You have connections. Use them and knock the socks off Seulgi."

"Huh. It never occurred to me that I could use that." Moonbyul's jaw dropped at the statement, but by the looks of things Irene was serious. Had she never considered using her status as a Champion to get things done?

"Oh my Arceus, you're so innocent." Moonbyul's tablet buzzed. She read the incoming message and reached up to hand Irene's tablet back to her. "Look, Friday is three days away, I'm sure you'll come up with something by then. Now shoo, Yong just texted me."

"Kicking me out so you can have sex with your girlfriend?" Irene feigned a hurt expression. "You wound me, Moon Byulyi. I thought we were friends."

"Arceus I wish she was coming over for that. No, she wants us to start planning for the next major competition. Word has it we get to pick our teams and apparently she's already got "dossiers" on the people she's thinking about teaming up with."

Irene's brows furrowed as she walked to the door. "But the competition isn't for another three weeks."

Moonbyul sighed. "Try telling her that. But tell you what, I'll sniff around, ask Seulgi what kind of things she likes doing and I'll let you know what I find out."

"You're a lifesaver, Moonbyul."

"Yeah, yeah." Moonbyul waved her out. "I'll text you."

As Irene left, Moonbyul shut her door and collapsed on her bed. Solar was always a meticulous planner, and that's part of what made her such an award-winning Coordinator. And of course Moonbyul loved her, but man was it a lot of work sometimes.

The Hoenn Champion only got to relax for about two minutes before the door opened and her girlfriend breezed on in. Moonbyul didn't move from her position on the bed, nor did she even bother to tell Solar to lock the door behind her. "Hey babe, nice to see you too."

Solar dumped several heavy file folders on her stomach, which caused her to wheeze at the impact. Moonbyul opened one of them and her eyes widened at the sheer amount of information Solar had managed to get.

"Okay, so I've been looking around and I think I have a good idea of who to recruit for the competition. There's this one girl from Dorm Two named Jung Wheein, she'd be a great addition to our team. I've also been looking at some students from Dorm One and a freshman named Ahn Hyejin caught my eye so let me…Byul? Byul are you even listening to me?"

Moonbyul had fallen asleep, file folders covering her whole upper body. She loved Solar, but sometimes her personality was a little much.

XXX

"You've heard about the next competition right?" was Wendy's form of a greeting as she sat down across from Seulgi at the dining hall.

Seulgi shook her head, mouth full of pancakes. She swallowed her bite of breakfast and took a drink of orange juice. "Irene mentioned the next one was in a few weeks but I haven't heard any details about it. Why?"

"One of my sources says we'll be able to pick our teams for this one! You just transferred here this semester, you wouldn't get it. Usually we're divided into teams by dorm number or floor, according to the school's records there have only been a handful of times the students have been allowed to freely make teams."

Seulgi nodded politely and waited for Wendy to finish rambling about how unprecedented this dorm competition would be. "So have you thought about who you want on your team?"

Wendy looked downright offended. "You, duh. And Irene, if she hasn't already been offered a spot. How cool would it be to get to battle with the Kalos Champion?"

Seulgi flashed back to that day at the Moon manor when she and Irene had taken on the rogue reporter. Things thankfully had quieted down since then, but Seulgi remembered watching Irene easily taking on the reporter's Pokémon with her Aegislash. They would be at a major advantage if the rumors were true.

"I'll ask her. Moonbyul mentioned something about maybe asking her, but I think Solar has other plans for them. Arceus, can you imagine how overpowered a team would be that had bothMoonbyul and Irene in it?"

"Yeah that shouldn't be allowed. Joy and Yeri have already agreed, so are you in?" Wendy looked at her expectantly.

"Yeah I'm in." Seulgi wheezed as Wendy tackled her with a hug. "Please don't break my ribs, we have PE today and all Irene would tell me was a name: Sunmi."

Wendy's face fell. "Sunmi? Ah, fuck me."

"Who's she?" Seulgi scraped the last bit of food off her plate and stood up to return it. Wendy followed her, backpack slung over her shoulder.

"She's Satan," Wendy shivered. "Seriously. Whenever the Academy brings Sunmi in to teach we're in for a world of trouble. She likes things like contact sports, paintball, military-style obstacle courses…"

"So, pain. Sunmi likes seeing us suffer." Seulgi sighed inwardly. No wonder Irene had that look on her face this morning. Seulgi could only hope that today didn't injure anyone, their date was only two days away now. "Should I be worried?"

Wendy waved away her concerns. "No, not really. Sure, Sunmi is sort of crazy and you really don't want to be on the losing side, but she's actually really nice. Just…keep some ibuprofen on hand for after class."

"I'll do that." Seulgi checked the time. "Well, I was looking forward to PE today but after hearing what you just told me I'm not so sure anymore…"

"It'll be fun, Seul. Painful. But fun."

XXX

"All right, who called paintball as today's activity?" Moonbyul asked the students as they gathered at the edge of the forest on the western side of campus. She had her tablet out and seemed to be checking a list of names. "Congratulations Chaeyoung and Mina, you guessed it right. I'll send you both a certificate to the BP store."

The two girls she had just called out grinned and bumped fists.

"Paintball?" Seulgi glanced sideways at a stack of metal crates that had been piled by a tree. Class was due to start in a few minutes but she hadn't seen a single sign of Sunmi. Or Irene for that matter. Where had her roommate gone?

Wendy looked happy though. "At least it's not full-contact flag football like last semester. I see flags over there though, I think Sunmi's planning something a little more complex than just a paintball match."

"Speak of the devil…" Joy muttered to their left and jerked her head in the direction of the school. Sunmi and Irene were walking towards them, carrying a large crate in between them.

"Good morning everyone!" Sunmi and Irene set the crate down with the others and she opened it with one swift movement. "Suit up, grab a gun and armor. You have five minutes to get ready or you'll be running laps after class."

There was a mini stampede as all twenty-seven students rushed to the crates to find their gear. Seulgi grabbed a set of armor and a basic paintball gun. There were more complex and cooler-looking guns to pick from but she didn't want to make things more difficult by picking something she didn't know how to use.

To be honest though, Seulgi had no experience with paintball. She'd seen videos on the internet so she knew how to do the basics but she wasn't confident in her skills by far. She could only hope she wouldn't drag down her team too much.

"Moonbyul, Nayeon, Taeyong you're my captains. Pick wisely, you can only have eight others on your team."

"Solar." Of course Moonbyul would start with her girlfriend.

"Jihyo." Another obvious pick. Nayeon and Jihyo were best friends.

"Johnny."

The selections went on and on until the teams had been selected. Seulgi stood with Moonbyul and she looked over at the rest of her team. Most of them were familiar faces, Moonbyul had picked Irene, Wendy, Joy and Yeri but she didn't recognize the last two Trainers that had been picked. She vaguely remembered one of them as Wheein, the girl she had fought against in the triple battle earlier in the semester.

"This is Hwasa," Moonbyul introduced. "I found her practicing out on field six last week with her team and I was impressed."

"And we all know it takes a lot to impress Moonbyul," Solar added. "We're thinking of adding her to our team for the next dorm competition along with Wheein." She clapped a hand over her mouth, and Moonbyul sighed.

"Guess the cat's out of the bag now," the Hoenn Champion said. "What do you two say, wanna be on our team?"

Hwasa looked surprised, like this was the first she'd heard of it. "Really? You want me on your team for that? Aren't the competitions like a huge deal? I'm not a Champion."

Moonbyul huffed, "Don't sell yourself short. I wanted to ask you because I think you two would be a great fit to work with me and Solar."

Hwasa and Wheein gave each other a knowing look and smiled. "Then we're in!"

"Great," Solar grinned. "All that's left is to come up with a team name…"

The first warning whistle blew and Moonbyul stopped mid-sentence to grab their team's flag. "But that'll have to wait until we destroy Taeyong's team. It's about time we paid him back for all the trouble he put Irene and Seulgi through."

Everyone nodded. Jihyo and Nayeon had approached them earlier and asked to make a deal. Unauthorized of course. Last place would get the worst punishment so Moonbyul and Nayeon agreed to stay out of each other's way until Taeyong and his boys had been dealt with. After that, anything was fair game.

XXX

"All right, everyone, you know what the stakes are for today's match, right?" Moonbyul yelled to the eight Trainers standing at attention before her. "First team to capture the other's flag at their base is spared the punishment. And you know how creative Sunmi can be with her punishments!"

"But paintball?" Seulgi muttered to Solar, adjusting the shoulder strap on her gun. "What on earth does this have to do with competitive battling?"

"Technically nothing, but both Sunmi and Byul think it's a great way to hone your quick-thinking skills and to see how well you handle under pressure." The blonde coordinator easily loaded her gun and gazed down the sights to make sure everything was in the right place. "Personally I think it's just fun to shoot paint at the people who irritate me."

A scoreboard had been brought out and it was now displaying a list of players along with their gear and gun choice.

The first team was Moonbyul, Solar, Hwasa, Wheein, Irene, Seulgi, Wendy, Joy and Yeri. Seulgi, Yeri, Wheein and Hwasa were their front-line fighters since none of them had real experience with playing paintball before. Out of the four, Seulgi was the only non-freshman.

The rest of the group outside of Solar and Irene were running a variety of weapons and paintball accessories. The two of them were assigned to be their team's snipers.

"Both of them are ridiculously good shots," Wendy muttered as Solar and Irene assembled their rifles. "It's literally insane, I'm surprised Sunmi allowed them to be on the same team again."

The second warning whistle went off. Five minutes until the match began. "I'm sensing there's more to this story," Seulgi said.

"Remind me to tell you after the match. If we win. If we lose I'll tell you while we kill ourselves running laps or whatever."

Moonbyul decided to place their flag in the branches of a tall tree. She then dug a hole and filled it with rocks as a decoy to trick the other teams into thinking they buried the flag. "Yong, message Sunmi the location of our flag. I want Joy and Hwasa on flag defense. Wheein, Yeri and Wendy you go take Taeyong's flag. Seulgi, you're guarding Solar and Irene while they set up. As soon as the last man on Taeyong's team falls you're clear to start going after Nayeon and her girls."

Seulgi was impressed. "You've clearly thought this out, Moonbyul."

Moonbyul's answering grin was ruthless. "Sunmi only comes to teach once every semester. I've waited for this day for a very long time."

The third and final warning whistle blew. Moonbyul handed out walkie-talkies to her teammates. "Alright ladies. Walkies on, guns ready. Let's kick some ass."

XXX

The first fifteen minutes of the match were suspiciously quiet as the three teams avoided any full-on confrontations in favor of scouting out their next move. A couple of Nayeon's girls ran into Taeyong's team early on but both teams made it out without any casualties.

"Seulgi, Solar and Irene know where to go, just make sure you keep them safe, the three of you are going to be our secret weapon." Moonbyul's voice drifted through the walkie-talkie. The sounds of paintballs firing could barely be heard. "Shit, a squad of Taeyong's boys are here. One sec."

Seulgi heard her shout orders to Wendy, Wheein and Yeri along with several choice swear words. There were a few tense moments of silence and then her walkie crackled back to life. "We're safe, Nayeon, Mina and Sana came by at the last second and helped us out."

Their watches buzzed with a notification from Sunmi. Taeil out. Jaehyun out. Mark out.

Six more to go before the game really began. Seulgi followed closely behind Solar and Irene as the two of them climbed a ridge to get good sights on the battlefield below. Irene gestured for Seulgi to lie down next to her. "There, over in the eastern corner, do you see them?"

She handed off her rifle so Seulgi could look through the sights. Sure enough, Seulgi could see three girls pacing around a large rock. Stuck at the top was a single flag. "Nayeon's not stupid, she put Dahyun Tzuyu and Jeongyeon on guard duty. She knows as soon as we take out Taeyong's team their flag is going to be a target."

"You know sometimes I get the feeling you and Moonbyul take paintball way too seriously," Seulgi deadpanned.

Irene laughed. "It's a nice break from battle strategy."

"Yeah, you've traded battle strategy for paintball strategy."

Solar shushed them and pointed her gun down the hill. "I see Taeyong. He's got Johnny and Doyoung with him."

Both girls adjusted their sights on the boys. "I have a shot on Johnny, Yong. Want me to take it?"

"They'll know where we are then." Solar considered it for a second. "We can always move. Remember that one hill? It's closer to Nayeon's flag. Fine. Take the shot."

Irene nodded and zeroed in on Johnny's back as he turned around to talk to Taeyong. She pulled the trigger.

Johnny fell, a single bright blue paint splatter marring his otherwise pristine armor. Taeyong swore, immediately searching for whoever took out his friend. Irene, Seulgi and Solar ducked out of sight. Johnny out.

Now that their location had been made the three of them carefully began circling around to the hill behind where Nayeon's flag had been planted.

Yuta out. Winwin out. Haechan out.

"Nice, looks like Nayeon's girls have been busy. It's only Taeyong and Doyoung left."

Irene growled, "I really hope we find him before they do, he's the asshole who was being mean to Seulgi when she first transferred."

Seulgi's cheeks flushed upon seeing Irene being so protective. It made her feel nice.

"We can ask," Solar said, taking out her walkie-talkie and fiddling with the channels. "Nayeon, you there?"

Seulgi's jaw dropped. Okay now that was definitely an illegal move, being in contact with the other team. But Seulgi knew Solar wouldn't do it unless she knew she wouldn't get caught.

"What's up Solar?" came Nayeon's response.

"Irene's called dibs on Taeyong."

The other girl huffed. "And here we were about to go hunting. Any particular reason?"

"He's a dick? Taeyong was bullying Seulgi earlier."

"Say no more, he's all yours. We'll go after Doyoung then. Remember as soon as they're down, we never talked."

"Talked to who?" Solar asked, and Nayeon chuckled.

"See you on the other side." The walkie went silent.

Solar turned to Irene, "Taeyong's all yours Irene."

"Good." Irene pulled out her walkie to contact Moonbyul. "Byul, I'm separating from Seulgi and Yong to get Taeyong."

"Fine. We ran into Chaeyoung and Jihyo as they were chasing Doyoung, it shouldn't be long now."

Doyoung out.

"Well then," Irene said. "I'll make this quick. Have everyone move into their final positions. The game's almost over."

Irene slung her rifle over her shoulder as she began breaking away from the other two girls. "Seulgi keep Yong safe as long as you can. The game will depend on it."

Seulgi saluted. "I'll do my best."

The answering smile made Seulgi's heart skip a beat. Even though they were in the middle of an intense paintball match Irene still gave Seulgi a feeling like butterflies were fluttering in her stomach.

XXX

Irene tracked Taeyong back to where his team had planted their flag. They wouldn't actually lose until someone came and stole their flag, of course having no defenders would make things easy.

The boy in question was nervous and on-edge as he pointed his gun at anything that so much as thought about moving. Irene frowned. Seulgi had told her about the so-called "challenge" he made her do on her first day, and those times in PE earlier in the semester where he had purposely sabotaged her. Sure, he was a dick but Irene still couldn't understand why he targeted Seulgi. But that was a question for another time.

She aimed down her sights and waited for Taeyong to make the next move. Everyone was decked out in body armor so there was no real risk of any injuries aside from the occasional welt from getting hit with a paintball. "Come on Taeyong. Just take a couple more steps forward."

As if he had heard her words, Taeyong cautiously took a few steps forward. Irene pulled the trigger.

"OW, motherfuck—" Taeyong swore as he was hit squarely between the eyes with a blue paintball. He rubbed his head.

"Hey Taeyong," Irene said, revealing herself.

"What the hell Irene, that hurt!"

Irene sidestepped him and yanked his team's flag out of the dirt. "I've been hearing some things from Seulgi."

Taeyong's face paled.

"Yeah, I wouldn't talk right now if I were you Taeyong. Stay away from my roommate and if I hear otherwise I'm going to make sure you regret it," Irene said in a deceptively cheerful tone. Taeyong gulped. "Understand?"

"Crystal clear." Irene patted him on the cheek and disappeared back into the woods to deliver his team's flag to their base, leaving Taeyong with a large red welt on his forehead. Irene was scary, but Irene with a gun was even scarier.

She radioed Moonbyul. "I'm done. Let the real game begin."

Taeyong out. Red flag has been taken.

XXX

Now the game was in full swing as the treaty between Nayeon and Moonbyul came to an end. The first few players from each team fell quickly and without much fanfare.

Jihyo out. Mina out. Wheein out. Yeri out.

Both teams were pretty evenly-matched however and it wasn't long before Seulgi and Solar fell afoul of some of Nayeon's team.

Seulgi knew her orders: keep Yongsun safe for as long as she could. It wasn't looking good though, they were outnumbered 3-2.

"Damn it," Seulgi cursed as she ducked down to avoid a new hail of paintballs coming from her right. Solar had pulled her behind an embankment, but the other team was beginning to flank them, and it seemed that they were only focused on eliminating Solar. She radioed the rest of her team. "Moonbyul they found us we need help."

"Stay put as long as you can, Wendy and I are on the way. Just keep them distracted. They want Solar because she's such a good shot, but they've forgotten about Irene."

"You planned this," Seulgi said, peeking out from her hiding spot to return fire. "Solar is supposed to get eliminated."

"Mhm. While the two of you attract all of Nayeon's team Irene is going to take their flag."

Seulgi ducked to avoid getting hit by Chaeyoung. "Hurry up then. We're not going to last."

"Byul told you the plan?" Solar asked, calmly setting up her gun and eliminating Chaeyoung.

Chaeyoung out.

"Yeah. Guess we go out in a blaze of glory then." By now the rest of Nayeon's team had them surrounded.

"Give it up guys, we have you surrounded," came Nayeon's triumphant voice. "And once we take out Solar the rest of your team is going to be a breeze."

Solar nodded to Seulgi and the two of them came out of their hiding spot with their hands up. Distract them for as long as you can.

"You found us, Nayeon," Solar said eyeing the six remaining girls that were surrounding them in a semi-circle. "But you've lost one of your best fighters," she jerked her head over to Chaeyoung who was pouting, a blue paint splatter on her chest.

"We're still at an advantage once you two are out," Nayeon countered, raising her gun. "An even trade."

Seulgi's radio crackled to life. That was the signal. Solar smiled. "Are you sure about that, Nayeon?"

Nayeon was about to shoot them both when everyone's watches buzzed with a new notification.

Green flag has been taken. Blue team wins.

Nayeon's grin disappeared and she growled, putting down her gun. They had played her.

"You really should have left at least a couple of defenders on your flag instead of calling all your forces to deal with Seulgi and I." Solar picked up her gun and took the ammo out. "I hope Sunmi isn't too creative with her punishments this time around."

Nayeon swore but offered her hand to Solar who shook it. "Me too. Good game, guys."

The nine of them walked back to the clearing where everyone who had been ousted had gathered. Sunmi looked pleased at the amount of paint that had been shot. "Fantastic game, everyone. Blue team, I loved your strategy. Green team, nice fight but you couldn't bring it home. Five laps around the Academy, starting as soon as we finish here."

Nayeon's team sighed. Five laps around the Academy would take at least an hour to complete. Seulgi was surprised at the scale of the punishment for second place and she was glad they had won.

"Red team." Sunmi's gaze fell on Taeyong's team. "You let yourselves get double teamed and couldn't counter it. Fifteen laps around the Academy, and I better see you working at it."

Taeyong looked like he was about to be sick.

"Oh my god that's brutal," Seulgi whispered.

"Told you," Wendy replied. "PE with Sunmi is no joke. I am glad Taeyong lost though, he deserves to get knocked down a peg or two. I kind of feel bad for his boys though."

Moonbyul joined them, "I don't. All's fair in love and paintball. Come on, we're going out for a victory dinner, on me."

The two girls grinned and fell in line with the rest of their team as they walked back to the Academy. Solar and Hwasa were chatting animatedly, and Irene and Joy were comparing their statistics from the match. Moonbyul pulled Seulgi aside.

"Hey, so I know you're going out with Irene on Friday. Any ideas of where you wanna go?"

Seulgi shook her head. "She told me she'd come up with the plan, so I'll let her do her thing."

"What kind of stuff do you like doing? Like movies, dinner, mini-golf…" Moonbyul was not subtle at all about her questions.

Seulgi caught on quickly. "You're going to pass this along to Joohyun, aren't you?"

Moonbyul nodded. "Look, I offered to prod you for information. Joohyun's the type of girl who wants her dates to go as well as they possibly can. I'm trying to tell her to just go with the flow, you two like each other, that's the big thing. Everything else will come on its own."

Seulgi smiled, "That's chivalrous of her. To be honest though, I don't have a preference. Like you said, it's not about the location but about spending time with someone you enjoy."

"I'll pass that along then. And hey, good luck on Friday. We'll have the mandatory 'I'll break your bones if you break her heart' talk if everything goes well."

"Noted," Seulgi said.

Solar approached the two of them, "Byul, Wheein and I have been talking team names. What do you think about Mamamoo?"

Moonbyul stopped in her tracks. "Mamamoo? Sounds horrible." She looked back at Solar who looked like she was about to cry and Moonbyul backpedaled. "I mean, I love it. You two did a great job. Mamamoo it is."

She quickly turned around to get away from her girlfriend so she wouldn't have to talk anymore.

Solar's expression brightened immediately and she winked at Seulgi, who covered her mouth with a hand to stifle a snort. "Works every time."