"Oh, no. Nuh-uh, no way, HELL naw!" Weronika shook her head and closed in on Neo. "Ain't no way in Hell you're getting outta this one, blondie, especially not right now!" She finally brought her hand down with a hard SLAP on the wall mere inches away from Neo's face. Had Sophia been there, she would've had a fit, flinging herself at Weronika in an attempt to shield Neo. And then she would've had another fit trying to apologize for daring to stick her muzzle in business that wasn't hers. Although that fit would happen after Weronika beat her ass for interrupting her confrontation with Neo. Speaking of Neo…

Weronika would've been more than happy to throw hands, or paws and claws, with her too, but she knew that Neo would never agree to it. Competitive though she was, she did have a reputation to uphold and an image to maintain. They all did. And it disappointed and frustrated Weronika to no end sometimes. But there were a million ways she could best Neo at being the best, she just had to be creative. Weronika certainly wasn't going to let a hurdle so small—no matter how obnoxious—stand in her way. That wasn't Winner material.

And she wasn't going to allow any hurdles to stand in Neo's way either. If training for the rematch was what it took, Weronika was going to be the fiercest drill sergeant Neo ever had!

"Like Hell I'm letting you just quit!" Weronika continued. "It's just not like you, Neo! You're the sorest loser I ever met, but you never back down from a worthy fight, so don't you dare try backing out of any of mine!" Her face was inches away from Neo's, eyes wide and almost wild.

By contrast, Neo's face was languid and lazy, eyes half shut. She gave no reaction to the position Weronika was forcing her into. "I suppose this is the part where you make some sort of anguished, impassioned declaration of love?" she drawled.

"LOVE?!" Weronika jerked away from Neo as if she'd been burned. "What are you, stupid, or something?! It's just that…! That… I… was supposed to be… the one who finally defeated you for the title of ultimate vocalist… I can't, I can't do that if you start losing to everyone else! So, so, so it's just easier if you keep on fighting and stay on top! At least until I defeat you!" The taller girl snarled through her blush.

"This is Weronika's version of love, is it not?" Neo teased, smirking. Even though she predicted that Weronika would attempt to conceal her concern behind selfishness, it was still mildly amusing to hear how exactly it panned out.

"What the—?! Dude, no!" Weronika slapped her forehead. Jesus, Neo is really out of whack today! Just what did D4Fes do to her?

While Weronika questioned Neo's sanity, or what little remained of it, Neo herself was still smirking contemplatively at Weronika. Her arms were crossed, and she tilted her head inquisitively. "I wonder, is this how you felt the day I took your turf and title from you?" she mused.

"What?" Weronika snarled, thought interrupted again by outrage. Is she seriously going to go there right now? SERIOUSLY?!

"Even though you should've been humiliated into hiding your face forever, you immediately challenged me back."

"Well duh! No way I was going down without a fight!" Weronika snorted, thumping her chest.

"Even though you were already so thoroughly defeated?" Neo continued. Weronika scowled, but for once, Neo was being sincere.

Her words were not solely meant as insults, rather, a strange sense of new understanding, and even a budding respect. Neo would not have said that she liked Weronika, or felt more connected to her, but now Neo personally understood what it felt like to face a defeat so crushing.

"Woulda looked like even more of a pathetic little coward if I didn't at least try to stand up to your uptight ass!" Weronika shot back grimly, crossing her arms protectively in front of herself.

Neo could not tell whether Weronika was making the same connections she was, or not, or if the dancer was off in her own little world again, but Neo suddenly felt a tiny spark of renewed interest in her bandmate.

It started at the underground club, Weronika wishing to reclaim her turf and her "honor". After joining Abyssmare, though, it became an unbeatable losing streak for Weronika. That was the only thing she could say she did better than Neo: lose. But again, Weronika was never one to let hurdles stand in her way, big or small, annoying or otherwise. Someday, somehow, she would beat Neo in something, anything!

Neo distinctly remembered Weronika's recent challenge to a race, and then a ramen-eating contest. Of course, Neo knew from the start that those challenges were merely ploys to segue them into Weronika's real challenges, but Neo was amused enough to agree just to see what would happen. While she played dumb, Elsie and Sophia, for once, acted as the voices of reason, reminding Neo and Weronika of all the reasons why a race and ramen-eating contest were out of the question for any and all Abyssmare members. Neo considered that day a double victory. Not only did she conquer Weronika in every challenge they went through, but she was privately amused by her bandmates' antics as well.

"She's the only one who challenges me now." Neo's own words echoed in her head. At last, she met Weronika's seething gaze directly, nonchalant and disinterested. "Do you know where the nearest ramen shop is?"

"…What?" Weronika's arms fell open, uncrossing from the sheer shock of what Neo had just said.

"I'm hungry." Guess we can call this… training for the rematch, eh, Weronika?

"What?"

"I can race you there too, if it's close enough." And I'm sure I'll win, she smiled slyly at the taller girl.

What? Angry disbelief turned into stunned and nervous confusion. Neo was serious, and Weronika didn't know what to think about it.

Don't you WANT to compete with me? Neo's tiny smirk seemed to ask. For a moment, Weronika could only open and close her mouth indignantly, but nothing of importance came out.

Finally, she gave up and whipped out her phone with an irritated growl, muttering under her breath the entire time. Neo only continued to watch with a calm, smug smirk. Another victory against Weronika!

ooo

"Hmpmphenkdt?" Weronika complained through a mouthful of noodles as she and Neo raced through the bustling, city sidewalks. While Weronika scampered and scurried back and forth like an ungraceful rabbit just barely avoiding capture, Neo seemingly seamlessly weaved in and out of the crowd. She sipped delicately and dainty on her ramen bowl. Not a single drop of soup or piece of noodle flew out of place even once, even slightly. She couldn't help but smirk, not just at her own success in the race-o-ramen challenge, but at her struggling competitor.

In the rare moments when she wasn't being jostled around, Weronika still made a mess just from trying to balance the act of walking while eating. Then, when she did bump into someone (or when someone bumped into her), she often felt the need to curse them out, sending even more noodles and soup flying. Sometimes, she wound up spilling more from her little bouts of "road rage" than she did from being bumped into.

"Oh, you IDIOT!" Neo smirked as she heard Weronika over her shoulder. The blonde intentionally slowed her pace, not out of generosity, but because if she lost Weronika, she would lose such a wonderful source of entertainment. Plus, Neo knew that it was far more humiliating for Weronika to always see her just up ahead than it would be if Neo simply left her in the dust.

If only Elsie and Sophia were here! Neo thought, amused. She reveled in knowing how much her actions got under all three of her bandmates' skin. She could already imagine Sophia's panicked shrill, begging Neo to reconsider her actions for the sake of her image, even going so far as to offer to do something even dumber in order to draw any potential negative press away from Neo and onto herself.

As for Elsie, Neo would've been interested to see whether her irritation with them would've be enough for her to stand up to them or not. Neo could envision her sweetly asking them all to step aside with her for one moment. As soon as they were in private, she would go off on them, shrieking her full head off as she lectured them for so recklessly endangering Abyssmare's image. Especially after the disastrous D4Fes.

But Neo could also envision Elsie keeping her eyes down and her mouth shut, merely trying to distance herself from her bandmates rather than start a direct confrontation. Neo truly meant it when she said that Weronika was the only one who challenged her anymore. Sophia needed no explanation, but even Elsie was too much of a coward for Neo's taste. There was a fine line between pragmatically waiting to react, and being too afraid to act. Elsie had a habit of hiding behind people more powerful than herself, be it her father or Neo.

"HEY! WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING!"

Neo was brought back to the present by another bout of Weronika's road rage. She was still several paces behind Neo. Neo smirked to herself again. She was correct in assuming that Weronika was still in disbelief over how and why Neo was so good at speedwalking while eating ramen. She would attribute the speedwalking to all of her performance practice, be it for dancing or public appearances. And she would attribute the noodle-eating to her years of vocal training, which gave her incredible control over very strong mouth and throat muscles.

Neo's lips quirked up as she raised another strand of noodles to them, Weronika still whining and panting behind her, soup dripping down her chin.

AN: Written after Neo loses her voice at D4FES USA. As predictable as it was, when I first watched Super Nova and the part where Weronika gives her Tsundere speech to Neo, I was like, "Hey, I wrote that once!" Great feeling, LOL!