Apple's favorite challenge so far was the most recent one. That's not to say she wasn't okay with triathlons (and the learning they were). Going to space was cool, too, despite the anxieties of the day. But food was food.

And cookie pizza was amazing.

"Lightbulb sure knows what she's doing around the kitchen. This is delicious," Marsh remarked.

They were sitting on top of the counter in their own little section of the kitchen, a cookie pizza with a few slices taken out of it sitting between them.

"Yeah, she does," Apple said as she grabbed her third slice. "I wish MePhone wasn't going to take everything away. I'm always soooo hungry..."

"I feel the same way. It honestly really bothers me that he doesn't think we're worthy of even a shred of decency or respect," Marsh replied, a note of annoyance in her voice. "We're nothing but tools of profit to him. We don't get proper meals or even shelter. Don't union rules prohibit this?"

'Gee, she sounds fired up. ...Should I tell her I don't know what half those words mean?'

Apple grinned helplessly. "Well, MePhone gives us some fun challenges sometimes," Apple chose to reply. "And maybe if we ask super nicely, he'll let us keep the kitchen. You'd be small enough to sleep in the oven when snow came, right?"

"That's a fair point. We could use it to warm up when winter comes. Not that he'd let us be comfortable."

Even Apple could tell she was being sarcastic. "You sure do think ahead, and that's cool. But he's not that bad, is he?"

Marsh opened her mouth to reply, looking indignant, but there was another voice. "Ooh, look, Yin! It's a cookie pizza. You love cookie pizza!"

They turned to see Yin-Yang approaching. "Yes! I do love cookies!" His grin became devilish. "Then we should EAT that cookie! But Yang, we can't steal it; it's not ours!"

"But it could become ours!"

"But that's robbery; that pizza belongs to them!"

Yin-Yang came to a stop in front of them. Apple grinned. "Heya Yin-Yang. You look nice today. Hmm... it's your shoes, isn't it?"

"We don't even wear shoes," he said, then pinched himself. "Maybe I look nice today, but Yin sure doesn't! Yang, as much as I want to argue with you, neither of us is very attractive... SHUT UP and act natural!"

Marsh and Apple exchanged a confused glance.

'Guess it's time for me to take charge of the situation, whatever a situation is.'

She cleared her throat. "What's attractive mean?"

"Let me handle this, Yin..." Yin-Yang cleared his throat. "'Attractive' is what you are when everyone wants to be with you because you're so handsome or beautiful. You know who isn't attractive? You!"

"Hey!" Apple glared at him, swallowing the last of her slice. "Are you calling me not attractive?! Meanie!"

"You're right; I'm sorry." He laughed. "No I'm not! But you'd be more attractive if you gave me and Yin that pizza!"

"You've got to apologize for being rude, whatever rudeness is, first!"

"It means you're a dumb idiot! Give me the pizza and then I'll apologize."

"Maybe we should just let him have a slice," Marsh said. "It's better not to fight-"

"What?! But-"

"Pizza isn't worth tearing this team apart. Lightbulb and Paintbrush do enough damage as-is with their arguing."

Yin-Yang laughed. "Looks like your dumb, unattractive girlfriend knows what's what!"

"Huh?"

Yin-Yang reached for a slice of pizza. Apple slapped his hand away and rubbed her stem thoughtfully while being glared at.

'Wait a second... If attractive means someone who it's fun to be with because they look nice... That means that he just called Marshmallow ugly and boring, which she's not! So that means...'

"Hey, you take that back!" Apple yelled. "Marshmallow is so attractive! She's the fan favorite."

Marsh stared at her incredulously, face turning a little pink. Yin-Yang looked irritated at having had his hand slapped away.

"I am so sorry for all the trouble Yang is causing- Shut up, Yin! You better give us that pizza right now, or I'll stop playing nice!"

Apple punched him in the face, knocking him back several feet.

"Apple!" Marsh exclaimed, reproachful.

"No way. Not until you admit that you're wrong!" Apple yelled.

"Ow! Okay, we probably deserved that," Yin-Yang muttered to himself before shouting "shut up!" and throwing a punch at Apple, who just barely blocked it with her arms.

She karate-chopped him in the face, then had her arm grabbed and twisted. She used her other arm to clock him in the jaw; he exclaimed with surprise, then punched her hard in the face.

'Agh!'

Then she got thrown over the kitchen counter and fell on her face.

"Yes! We're victorious! Wait, noooo! I'm so sorry!"

Apple was frozen with pain for a moment, rubbing her bruised cheek, then noticed the frying pan lying beside her. She stared at it for a second, then grabbed it and slid across the counter. Then she swung at him while he had a moment of hesitation, yelling at himself, "Yang, you moronic ba-"

Yin-Yang went flying.

The fight was over as soon as it started.

Apple stared after him, panting. Then she grinned, pride filling her chest like a balloon.

"Holy crap! Did you just hit him with a frying pan over pizza?!"

Apple spun to face Marsh, dusting her hands off with a chuckle. "Yep! I'm pretty tough. That'll teach him to be mean to you!"

'And I won this time! She knows how strong I am! She's probably so impressed!'

"You did all that... because he called me unattractive." Marsh slapped herself with frustration. "Ugh! I don't care if he has a different opinion than... you, apparently. Beating someone up is not the right thing to do."

"Wh- Marsh, he was going to steal from us! And he can't just call you ugly; you're cute."

"I don't even care what Yin-Yang thinks! Even if I did, you can't go around fighting for my honor."

"But why?"

"First of all, people will get the wrong idea. Second of all, you'll get your butt handed to you." Marsh's fingers just slightly brushed Apple's fresh bruise. Apple shut her eye and bit her lip at the contact. It still hurt.

And it made her stomach feel weird too.

Suddenly she averted her gaze, feeling very foolish. "...Sorry."

"It's okay. Paintbrush works really hard to keep this team together, and assaulting our teammate isn't very good for morale," Marsh continued. "We won the last challenge, but that doesn't mean we'll win the next one. I think that maybe you should just... calm down?"

"But-"

"You beating him up will probably get you a turn in the Calm-Down Corner if Paintbrush finds out. ...Plus you don't even know what attractive actually means."

Apple finally met Marsh's gaze. "...Y-you won't tell Paintbrush, will you?"

"No, not this time. But I want you to promise not to get yourself hurt for my sake."

Apple sat beside her on the counter and took another slice.

But she couldn't promise Marsh that.

"...What does 'attractive' mean, anyway?"

Marsh sighed. "It means that you're drawn to someone or something. Now, do us both a favor and never use that word again."

'Well... I am kind of drawn to you. That makes you attractive, I-I think...? But isn't everybody drawn to you? You're the sweetest contestant, and there are lots of people who just want to squeeze you, after all. It's not hard to be. Everyone must feel this way.'

"Okay," Apple replied.

She didn't think about it again.