Vinnie's eye twitched as Red stepped away and turned away - the very obvious message in the act being, you weren't even worth his time. Well, fine. If that was the case, then the Venusaur didn't want to waste his time being anywhere near him either. Not while he was like this.

It had to be some trick of the school. Three years of this school and of Max, Vinnie knew he couldn't trust everything at face value. Maybe it was a curse or a heartswap or some weird magic, but this couldn't possibly be the person he followed for so many years.

Maybe it was denial, but it wasn't implausible either.

The rational half of his brain knew that it would probably blow over in a week's time - that's how long it usually lasted. But his emotional half was still reeling. He wanted to bite back, regressive as it was.

"I haven't needed you in a long time," he said coldly, finally taking a step away from the wall and towards the door. "You think you're such hot shit that you can judge who's strong an' weak? What the fuck've you done since you've been here?

"I'm not takin' shit from any human who's all talk."