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The round ends.
The stars collide- you pause for a second. "That many stars?" You don't think Leonardo is a cheater, but... there's no way, right?
He doesn't seem like he believes it, either. "Y-Yeah..." He says, digging out cards from the discard piles. "3 from the gems I got from this, 10 from my parrot echoing this effect..." He recounts the stars gained this round from each side, then places the cards back in their discard piles. He's smiling the entire time.
His hands move back over to calculating Fav.
"Times 4 means... means..." He looks at the stars left over and at the fever bar, and then at the Fav bar. He puts a hand on the slider and slides it all the way to...
... Did he slide it to the wrong end? There's no way, right?
He looks at you and he's grinning.
Is he taunting you?
Is this a new way of bullying?
Now that you think of it, he hasn't made his usual comments about your deck all battle.
Did you...
...really...
...beat...
... LEONARDO!?
You weren't even paying that much attention to the Fav bar- there's no way right- Everyone's always saying how Leonardo's deck is way too strong- when Amit said that maybe with how strong your deck was getting that you could win against Leonardo he was joking!
Leonardo himself is... happy, surprisingly. He's rocking back and front in place, giggling to himself. You don't think he's realized what side of the Fav bar the slider is on.
(Then again... he's never acted like that when he's won against you before...)
Leonardo stops his giggling. "Rematch." He says, joy in his voice as he looks at you.
"What?" You ask.
"Rematch? Can be right now, can be tomorrow, can be after some time when we've both got new stickers to help better our decks." He says. "I have my own phone! You can ask your parents to text me whenever you want to rematch."
"Rematch?" You ask. You think you've heard of this before. "Do you... want a do-"
"No! Not a do-over!" He says. "You won! You won against me! Fair and square! A rematch! A thousand rematches! I'll rematch you as many times as you want!" He expresses emotion with his body as he speaks- he points at you, he pumps his fists, and when he's done he rocks back and forth with a smile on his face while he looks at you.
"... Ok?"
The next time, you're actually paying attention to the Fav bar. You realize some rounds you have the lead, some rounds he does, and right after a round you point to the Fav bar and ask. "Was it this close last time?"
"Yes! You didn't notice?!" Leonardo asks.
"You beat everyone you fight, anyways..." You say.
A few rounds later, you beat him again.
He's still happy.
Your deck is very strong, to the point when you and your friends talk about whose deck is the strongest other than Leonardo's... they all agree it's yours.
Because you haven't lost a single game against them in a while.
Somehow, that fact slipped your mind.
"It's the chickens!" Bobby says. "It has to be the chickens." Bonnie nods. "Chickens are amazing!" The twins say in unison.
"I think it's the token shields!" Min says. "Whenever I play my dragons your tokens are always safe and sound even when my dragon goes like this! RAWWWWRRRRR" She growls, swiping at the air with her hands.
"Some of those tokens are gems!" Luna says. "They're very powerful!"
"I think it's the crocodiles with the token shields!" Eilas pipes up.
"T-Thanks, guys, I..." You still haven't told them you've beaten Leonardo.
Several times.
"... Should I make a new deck?" You ask. "So that I'm not like Leonardo?"
"NOOOOOOOOO" Your friends cry out!
"Leonardo's not fun to play with because he makes fun of your cards whenever you play them and then at the end of the round he has a gaZILLION stars and-"
You remember how Leonardo's mother smiled and said she was happy he finally had a friend to hang out with.
"Would Leonardo be more fun to play with if he were nicer?" You ask.
"YES!" Your friends yell.
It makes sense.
He is fun to play with, if you could think past the shock of it all.
That next rematch, you finally lose.
You watch as Leonardo's eyes sparkle as he slides the slider to the end, and you wonder if things will go back to normal.
If you'll stop rematching him.
If he'll stop being so nice and excited and happy near you, if you'll ever see the way his eyes light up and he does that thing with his hands where he moves them up and down like a bird for some reason.
Instead, he looks at the slider, brimming with excitement, and offers you a high five.
"What?" You blink.
"Uh..." Leonardo pulls his hand back, gets up, and offers you a high five again. "High five?"
You get up and give him a halfhearted high five, and he frowns seeing it.
"What's wrong?" He asks. "... Are you sad you... lost?"
"Is it all going to go back to before I beat you?" You ask. "Where you criticize my cards and you tell me I need to do this or do that or whatever with my deck?"
"Huh? No, your deck..." He trails off. "... Is that how I am to everyone? Is that why you're my only friend?" Tears well up in his eyes.
You realize he really doesn't have any other friends. Sure, a few people recognized him while you two were battling at a fast food place one time (He paid for the food for you both), but...
"What's this? You have to make friends with little babies because nobody your age likes you?"
"Leave me alone." He said. "I'm trying to beat my rival."
(You remember nothing about being his rival felt right.)
It still did not feel right. You could be Amit's rival. Eilas' rival. Sofi's rival. Leonardo's? You could tell your friends and they'd think you were joking.
(Now that he's won, does he still think of you in that way?)
(Is that important to you?)
"... Do your friends hate me?" He asks.
"... They don't like your advice." You say. "Even if you don't think their decks are the strongest they can be..." You remember hearing someone talk about a 'ZU', once. "... They could... just like... playing... 'ZU' decks?"
Leonardo's tears stop and he snorts. "D-Do you know what ZU is?" He asks, walking over to his computer.
"No?"
He types something in and explains as you see text pop up on the screen. "'ZU" in Smogon stands for 'ZeroUsed', which is basically just where they rank all the bad pokemon- the worst pokemon, and they're awful- You basically just called your friends' decks garbage." He laughs, then pauses as he sees the look on your face. "... But... you're right. I've been bringing my OU deck into your friends' UU games and trying to get them to make their own decks OU..." He looks over at his stickerbook, covered in all sorts of stickers- some holographic, some golden, but most regular. "Maybe I should make a new deck? And one for you, too..."
"If you want..." You say. "But let's ask my friends about it first! After, well..."
"YOU BEAT LEONARDO!? MULTIPLE TIMES!?"
"AND YOU DIDN'T TELL US?!"
"I'm sorry..." You say. "I-"
"That's so cool!"
"We need to throw a party!"
"A party?" Leonardo asks. "... Am I invited?"
"YES but you need to behave."
At the end, you and Leonardo had a good time.
