Rocks and boulders came avalanching downhill and Dragonair picked up speed, homing in on its glowing opponent. A dense mixture of dust, dirt and sand arose, covering air and status bars alike. It was progressively harder for the players and spectators to see anything.

I poked Norah's shoulder, who was probably gazing at the swirls of dust being pushed in front of the barely visible dragon's bow wave. "What's happening?" I asked, my hands slightly unsteady from suspense, "Did you make it?".

Norah lifted a finger to hush me up; her voice was barely audible. "My attack missed."

"How do you know?" I asked. "What are you concentrating on, anyway?"

"Vibrations." she whispered.

"Vibrations… eh…," I mumbled in response.

As I looked around for what the players were doing, I noticed that Norah actually had her eyes closed. She seemed totally immersed in the fight. In admiration of the amount of self-control she radiated, I felt shame in my ignorance and looked at my phone again.

I understood. Not only did the device display visual information, but the tiny electric motors inside kept spinning up and slowing back down to emit vibration pulses, based on the state of combat.

Carefully, I peeked at the player behind Onix. Attis' face had assumed an evil grin. Eyes wide open, teeth grit tightly; he masterfully blanketed the screen with precise taps, hurling rocks downhill from all directions. Taptaptap-taptaptap-taptaptap...

Norah was still trying to evade, desperately hanging on, but for how much longer could she survive?

Focusing on my newfound game feedback mechanic, I could feel it too, now. The vibration rates and intensities were in line with each of the rocks bumping downhill, making it possible to guess their distance to one's position. I had no idea how Norah managed to utilize these ambiguous hints so flawlessly, as she guided her Dragonite safely through the battle zone, fully focused on evasion.

The extended combat at such high stakes started to take its toll. Even though she seemed fine, physically, I noticed that she gradually approached the limit of her resolve. At this pace, she was going to lose her Litwick.

I swallowed and investigated the rules again. Items: Disabled. Range: 200m. No way to heal, nowhere to run.

She started to shake, barely noticeable at first, but soon, her hands seemed to develop their own will. The sweat beads on her face mixed with another clear liquid on their way down to her chin.

Poor Norah, the emotional girl she was, started to cry.

With dedication, I wiped a masculine tear out of my face. That monster, Attis, had to be stopped.

Slowly running both hands through my hair, I desperately tried to find a solution.

In my mind, I assumed Norah's body and walked straight towards Attis. He'd never see me coming with all his dedication set to making me and my friend miserable on our sixteenth birthdays. The spectators put away their phones - with nothing to see in AR, they all decided to follow my every move instead. As a girl, this would be easy. A brief distraction was all it needed - game over.

My thoughts rewound. This strategy wasn't viable at all.

I approached Attis once more, this time, without spring flower fragrance, no boobs, just muscles. Well, being almost as strong as Norah had to be sufficient for my plan. Forming a fist, I took a swing, aiming for his phone. I'll save you, Norah!

However, before I could execute my attack, I felt disorienting pain emanating from my scalp, paralyzing my body. I tried to look around, but couldn't spot any attacker as I hit the floor.

I entered a different, yet familiar scene. Standing next to the pizza guy's cardboard, I realized that my hand was extended. I cringed from the headache, caused by the luggage compartment, as time slowed down around me. No Norah in sight. No Attis to be seen. I spotted a bus stop sign through the windshield. Checking my hand again, I noticed that I was but a centimeter away from a red button labeled 'STOP'.

As I hit the button, the scene around me sped up drastically.
My brain finally connected the pieces, accelerating my every thought. With superhuman speed, I dashed to look outside the bus door. The driver's angry voice was pitched up and sped up, as if a DJ would have spun a record too quickly. 

Norah was still outside, sprinting towards the bus, faster than sound. 200 meters to go.

"NORAH! Brace yourself!" I screamed through the bus at the top of my lungs, a split-second before smashing the STOP button with my fist, for real this time.

Fragments of red plastic scattered on the floor. I could see the bus driver watching me through his mirror, his face twisted in anger, glowing in an even brighter red than the almost-melted Onix. A split-second later, the driver slammed the brakes. Luckily, I was prepared.

"Idiot! Raus, du Schweinehund!", an amplified and distorted voice cursed.

There was nothing I'd be rather doing.

Smartphones, reading glasses, books and pieces of luggage were sent flying through the bus thanks to inertia. I held tight to the handrail that used to have a working button attached, doing my best to evade the various missiles accelerating towards me. A cardboard box, decorated with fat stains and cheese, that probably used to previously contain pizza, squashed against the windshield.

As the bus came to a halt and gravity finally returned to normal, the cardboard distributed the smelly fat even further, as it slid down the windshield with a squeaking cacophony, amplified by the driver's microphone.

"...Ace. Have you l-lost your mind?" I heard a confused, worried and emotionally overloaded Norah ask, who was desperately holding on to her smartphone. Her smeared make up and reddened eyes did not detract from her perfection.

"We don't have time for this. Run!"

I untangled my backpack from my feet, and grabbed Norah's hand tightly, rushing towards the exit. Heavy steps pounded on the aisle behind us. Attis knew what we were trying to do. This interruption may have cancelled the Rock Slide barrage, but also prevented Norah's Dragonair from finishing Onix. The game was still on.

"But… why? Why did you stop the bus? I almost had another attack charged!" Norah stuttered, blinking away a tear.

As quickly as possible I left the bus with Norah on my side. The doors' closing alarm slowly faded as we ran alongside the street. "200 meters," I said emphatically. "There's no way that oaf could possibly beat you in a sprint."