From the moment Ninten had the displeasure of laying his eyes upon Claus, he knew they would be enemies. He knew his kind all too well, cocky, athletic, a true ace of spades. When Claus rose through the ranks of popularity in school in record speed Ninten was not surprised, this only fueling his intense hatred of the ginger. He hated the way he sat, legs far apart and arms tied behind his head as if his father was the principle. He hated the way he talked, short and sweet though filled with an underlying sense of anger and condescent. Most of all, he hated the boy's obvious superiority to himself. Ninten had no qualms calling himself the intellectual type, though where he bore weakness academically Claus excelled. Sure he was undeniably the superior in a few subjects, math, science, the usual, but where he was weak it cut the deepest. The ginger far outperformed him in most, nay all physical activities and of course the two were tied together by mutual gym class. Ninten had practiced baseball for years, as long as he could remember even, not for his team but for himself, and the pure power physical prowess could earn him. Of course though the first time Claus picked up a bat it was as if he were the captain of the team, effortlessly performing play after play as if he slept with the wooden bat. Ness foolishly claimed he was simply jealous of the boy, but Ninten was quick to dispute, he knew they both detected the overwhelming sense of superiority the boy released everywhere he went.
"No, no, I'm sure you will, man," Ness replied, his face failing to conceal the laughter brewing beneath.
"Don't laugh at me, you know it'll happen!" Ninten suddenly yelled. He earned a few disdainful glances from the students in seats around him, even a boy previously snoozing through the bus ride. "I'm gonna' beat him, today. You'll see, I'll wipe that smug-ass look off your face!"
"What look?"
Ninten could not decide whether his friend was poorly lying or was simply clueless. From his previous track record, he leaned towards the ladder. "Just shut up dude, you'll see."
Ness broke out laughing. "The day you beat Claus in any sport is the day pigs fly."
Ninten slouched down in his seat and brewed over his claim. He would see. They would all see. It was high time Ninten took the spotlight for once, and he did not care how. He would gladly throttle the redhead for his own dignity, a thought he had fantasized over. A fiendish grin grew on his red face as he imagined such a scenario. Pinning down his arrogant nemesis, beating his face senseless, and watching as blood dribbled down it as it stained the grass below.
The bus suddenly grinded to a sharp stop, sending Ninten face-first into the cushioned seat in front of him. His face boiled red once more as Ness snickered at him, culminating in a punch to the shoulder. His violent intentions were overruled by his friend's laughter. Ninten slowly rose from his seat and checked his backpack's side pocket for his inhaler. The last he needed on such a monumental day was an asthma attack, but of course he did not wish to tempt fate.

Ninten flinched as his gym locker suddenly slammed shut in front of him. He did not even have to raise his cap and clear his hair from his eyes to recognize the culprit.
"'Sup," a voice rang through his ears. The boy's voice was not abnormal, though Ninten would be quick to point out it was not average either. It was slightly high-pitched and awfully scratchy, a combination that curled his fingernails every time its presence punished his ears.
Ninten was not in the mood for banter with his enemy at the moment. Victory would be so much sweeter if it was truly unexpected. "Shut up Claus," he muttered, barely loud enough for the redhead beside him to pick up.
The boy was quick to retort however. "Ooh, someones feisty today. Did you finally buy a mirror or somethin'?"
The quip was hardly commendable, though it still cut right through Ninten's provisional barriers against the boy's attacks. "I said, shut it." Ninten found his feet quickly stalking out of the locker room with the rest of his body in tow. He feared his ability to keep to himself at such taunts.
As gym officially began with the entrance of the teacher, precisely three minutes late by Ninten's count, everyone split into separate groups to chatter amongst themselves while stretching. Ninten quickly found Lloyd and marched over. He would barely consider himself truly friends with the awkward boy, with his companion's own physical failings sticking out from the crowd, a feature Ninten wished to avoid at all costs, though he was drawn to him for other motives.
Various other jeers and taunts were thrown at Ninten by a recurring passer-by, all of which he continued to ignore. The hatred brewing inside of him would hopefully redeem itself against his mortal enemy when the time was right.
The coach announced the game, dodgeball. This was of course no surprise to Ninten who had asked the previous week in preparation. He could not deny he had practiced throwing the same foam ball against a wall with increasing precision the past week, but he would never admit it. The game quickly began as soon as it had been announced with balls suddenly soaring through the air to various corners of the gym. Ninten's prayers were answered when he noticed the unmistakable glint of flaming red hair on the opposite side of the court. He had not however wished for said person to immediately grab a ball and spike it as hard as possible towards him. He quickly and barely dodged the soaring object, rushing behind his line of teammates. Protecting himself until the game's final act was essential, no other strategy could ensure his survival. He refused to step forwards, not even for a soft foam ball rolling straight towards him, instead keeping his eyes glued to the boy opposing him. Soon enough, his wall of human shields became dispersed and Ninten was left on his own with only a few teammates remaining. Lloyd was nowhere to be seen, likely eliminated as soon as the whistle was blown.
Ninten knew this was his chance, his opportunity to get revenge on CDwg for all of the foul treatment he had been subjected to. Finally he stepped in front of the thin line in the back of the gym and dashed towards the nearest foam ball. He quickly dodged a soaring projectile as he scooped up the green ball from the ground. The sphere squished in his hands, revealing how tightly Ninten was clenching his fingers. The rest of the players still in the game were far dispersed and hard to hit, though Ninten did not have an objective dealing with any of them. To his glee, Claus was still standing amongst a few other teammates, none of which would pose a serious threat to the objective. Ninten broke his intense stare just in time to notice and sidestep another ball. He cursed under his breath. These other meddlers were selfishly interfering with his deadset plan. Ninten's arm lashed out and sent his own projectile soaring towards another's feet, bouncing off of it as the player failed to catch it. Ninten was disappointed when he quickly glanced around to see little applause for his play, in fact no one seemed to notice or simply did not care.
Ninten realized that his rival had not yet noticed his persistent presence, as he was sure it would entail a series of targeted throws directly to him. Finally, the redhead locked eyes with Ninten. A furious snarl matched a cocky grin as the two stood off parallel to each other across the gym. Claus quickly seized a ball from his only remaining teammate, much to their dismay, though a glare quickly quieted their discontent. Ninten looked around to realize he was the only survivor remaining on his side of the court. Finally, it was just down to him and Claus. A purple ball rolled into Ninten's hands, which he quickly picked up to block the oncoming projectile. A spin followed and a purple flash quickly approached Claus. At the last second he sidestepped. Another ball came off the ground. Ninten dodged it. A ball flew back at Claus. He blocked it with his own. One final barrage flew towards Ninten. Still no luck. Ninten clenched his arm and chucked his own at the redhead. The ball continued a straight line directly towards his nemesis. Ninten bore a wide grin as Claus still remained unresponsive. Finally, a hand shot out and the ball never hit the ground. An aghast expression quickly overpowered Ninten's face as he viewed the same ball he had just released tightly grasped in Claus's hand.
"Better luck next time short-stack," Claus snickered as he walked past the fuming capped boy to the locker room. The rest of the class followed noisily without another word to Ninten. The boy still stood in place, unmoving and silent. Eventually the group re-emerged from the locker room with bags in tow. Lloyd handed Ninten his respective backpack with condolences. Ninten muttered thanks and snathched his bag. His eyes desperately searched for the redhead in the crowd, and soon saw him laughing with a group of others. Ninten needed not hear their conversation to know their laughter and jeering was directed at him. Claus did not return the boy's intense stare, in fact he did not even seem to notice him while he walked by, chattering away about something or other. The bell soon brought the class to an end and sent Ninten sulking out of the gym to his next class. He was not looking forward to his future interaction with Ness, who would most definitely bring up the issue. Ninten suspected by the end of the day the whole school would likely have caught wind of his failure. He found his legs quickly carrying him to chemistry despite his unwillingness to move. He soon arrived and quickly scanned the room for Ness. Unfortunately, he quickly spotted him in the back corner of the room. Ninten placed himself in the opposite corner of the room, but Ness quickly stood up and repositioned himself next to him.
"So?" he asked.
"So what?"
"You know what, man. Gym class. Did you do it?"
"Do what?"
"Beat Claus, that's what."
A new voice entered the scene. "No he did not, in fact he failed quite spectacularly."
"Shut up, Claus."
"Mind if I sit here?" he pointed to the seat behind Ness and Ninten.
"Not at all," Ness quickly replied as a snarky smile spread across his face.
Ninten had different plans. He hastily hoisted himself up from his seat and stamped to the other side of the room where Ness had originally sat. To his dismay, both Ness and Claus followed him.
Ness poked his friend. "Did you do the homework last night?" He received no response.
"I did, you want it?" Claus quickly offered.
Ninten quickly cut in. "I did it Ness, here." His hands navigated his bag for his binder as he hastily removed the previous night's homework and shoved it into Ness's open arms.
"Uh, thanks man."
"You sure you wanna take his work, Ness? It's probably all wrong."
"You think?"
"In fact I know."
"I better take yours then."
Ninten's face flashed a bright crimson. He intercepted Claus's page and lowered it to his knee, ripping it in half. As the redhead stared in shock he tore it into pieces completely for good measure.
"What the hell is your problem?" he shouted. He made a grab for Ninten's paper, though was foiled when he snatched it away and held it to his chest.
"Now who's work is bad, huh?" Ninten was quickly met with a hand shoved in his face as Claus continued to desperately grab for his paper. Eventually he gave up and shoved Ninten to the ground, stomping on his paper. Unfortunately, the teacher chose that exact moment to enter the room, gasping at the fight breaking out right before her eyes.
The two feuding boys were quickly sentenced to detention, which failed to stop their quarrel. Ninten stood up one more time and moved back to the opposite corner with his homework still clutched tightly to his chest. Ness stood up to follow him though Claus remained planted in his seat, his face as red as a beat.