The four of us arrived at the Boutique together, and I could barely contain my giddiness as we were all warmly received as Chloe's guests.  Many times I'd poked my head through the door, but each time I was chased out and informed of my lacking status before I could even really take in all that there was to see.  Now, I stood bouncing on my toes, slowly turning around and around and drinking in the sights.  Luxurious dresses, sharply tailored coats, stockings and shoes and handbags and jewelry and even hats, far too numerous to comprehend, and I knew even a single one of the items here would devastate my savings, if not send me spiraling into debt.

"You like what you see, don't you, little one?" Chloe murmured, and I instantly replied.

"Oh, yes!" Shauna and I intoned simultaneously, and at that I sharply turned to glare at her.  Obviously she loved it here, I could tell she'd already been.  The little summery white dress tightly hugging her curves and the platform wedge heels she stood atop were unlike anything I'd ever seen her wear in all the years I'd known her.  She looked... sophisticated.  More grown up, and worse than that, she was taller than me in those heels and that frustrated me almost as much as knowing that I was still wearing the same dirty clothes from days ago, my worn boots and the blouse with Chloe's shoeprint on the chest.  She remained blissfully unaware of my dissatisfaction though, simply beaming for the benefit of our beautiful mistress.

"Hey," Malva muttered while giving me a little nudge to pull me out of my seething rage.  "Go pick something out so you can get out of those rags, hmm?"

I stood there blinking a bit and took a deep breath, trying to be a little more calm and composed for a moment.  My Malva still had some kind of attitude, but she had a point and I was willing to go with her suggestion instead of snapping back at her.  I looked back to Chloe for some reassurance, and she offered one of her radiant little smiles and nodded.

"Anything you want, sweetheart.  Go on, you two have fun."  She patted Shauna on the head and pulled her off to another section of the sizable boutique, and I was left standing there, staring after the two of them with my eyes narrowed and my teeth clenched.

"Seriously, come on kid."  Malva shoved me forward a little and I sort of let her guide me towards the dressing rooms.  Somewhere along the way she must have snatched a few things off of the racks and tables, and while I was still internally grumbling to myself she was pulling the curtain closed behind us and swiftly starting to unbutton my blouse.

“Hey…” I blinked and tilted my head a little as Malva finished with my shirt and tugged it off of my body.  She was efficient, businesslike, but then I felt her warm fingertips sliding over my stomach briefly and it left me shuddering, at least long enough for her to loosen my skirt and drop it around my ankles.

“You know, runt, you’ve actually got a half-decent body under there,” Malva quipped while yanking off my boots and guiding my feet out of the skirt pooled around them.  “It’s really too bad that you have no clue what to do with it.”

“Hey.”  This time I said it with a lot more conviction.  “Aren’t you supposed to be my slave pet servant or something?” I snapped, and without thinking I just kicked out a leg and knocked Malva flat on her back.  I must have kicked her harder than I thought, because she laid on the ground and coughed a few times instead of snapping back at me, which was enough time for me to take two steps forward, the first one positioning me over her torso, and the second firmly planting my foot on the side of her face and pinning it to the ground.

“Where do you get off talking to me like, that, huh?” I growled, grinding my heel into her jaw.  Her pretty little face fit perfectly under my foot, and I could feel her movements, even her little groans through the sole of my thick sock.  “Didn’t I tell you not to talk?” I shrieked, and I found my chest heaving as I raised my foot just enough to stomp back down on her stupid head.

It felt good.  It felt really good just stepping on her.  Standing over her, pinning her to the ground, holding her helpless under my foot.  It was fulfilling, satisfying, even exciting to do this to her… to overpower her.

“Man, you really hate her, don’t you?” I heard from beneath my heel.  It surprised me, enough that I lost a little bit of my thrilling and righteous indignation and became a little more aware that I was standing in my underwear and boot socks in an upscale boutique and stepping on a rather formidable woman’s face.

“Wha… what are you talking about?” I stuttered while doing my best to continue sounding authoritative.

“Look, kissing your feet was kind of hot in the bathtub the other day, but your socks are like a week old.”  She eased out from beneath me and started stripping off those same admittedly dirty socks, and I let her without any resistance.  “I mean, I’m kind of into the scent,” she continued while pressing my balled socks to her face and taking a deep breath.  “Chloe’s kind of conditioned me to this whole foot thing, but I can’t deal with you looking like a homeless girl,” she grumbled and then tossed them aside.

I was pretty confused by this point, between being almost naked and having ended up that way because Malva’d undressed me and all the things she was saying.  “Sit,” she suggested, and I settled back on the bench against the wall.  Still, she was on her knees and I was comforted by that fact at least, even as she started to guide a silky white stocking up over the curves of my leg.

I hadn’t worn anything so… smooth, and Malva was there, kneeling before me with her hands sliding up along my leg, gliding across my thigh and again I was flushing, taking a shaky breath and watching her eyes for some strange reason.  “Shauna,” she casually spoke.  “You can’t stand her.”

“She’s my best friend,” I calmly replied as she shifted a little closer, her fingers sliding back down along my silk-covered calf before she started carefully slipping the second stocking over my toes.  “We’ve been friends almost since I moved to Kalos.”

Malva was taking her time with my second stocking.  Her thumbs guided the band slowly up along the curves of my leg while her fingertips teased and caressed further and further up my smooth and sensitive flesh.  She didn’t look up, wholly focused on her task, but I was completely focused on her, watching her down on her knees and watching her serve me.  I took a long and somewhat shaky breath and shifted to rest one of my stockinged feet just above her knee, and she let out the faintest sigh before speaking again.

“You look at her the same way I used to look at you,” she commented while stretching the tops of my stockings a bit more, making sure they were even.  “It makes sense, though,” she continued as her fingers brushed my inner thigh, making me shudder a little while I bit my lower lip.  “She doesn’t belong with us at all.”

“Wha… what?  Huh?” I stammered while I watched her rise up on her knees and slip forward between mine, moving closer, moving very close to me.  I felt her body against my thighs, her hands on my legs as her head finally rose and her bright eyes locked with mine.

“Chloe runs all of Team Flare.  I’m, well… of course, I’m me.”  She laughed a little and rolled her shoulders, then gave me this look that made me shiver… she was smoldering, her mouth so close to mine and her fingers just touching me, touching my thighs while she licked her lips…

“And you,” she purred.  “You’re the fucking Champion, Lucy.”  She leaned closer, her cheek brushing mine, and I found myself shifting closer to her, moaning softly as she whispered in my ear.  “Shauna?  Shauna’s nothing.”

God, I’d never thought about it that way before, but it was completely clear to me now.  “Nothing,” I whispered back.  It felt so good… I felt so good, I was powerful and in control, and Shauna…

“Just a useless little nobody” Malva hissed, her teeth tugging at my earlobe, pulling it past her lips.  I leaned back, letting out a soft and low moan that I didn’t know I had inside of me as she suckled at my ear.  “She’s nothing next to you.”

She was right.  She was so right.  “You’re right,” I laughed, reaching out for her.  My eyes were closed by now, I was just letting her do whatever she wanted because everything in the world really did feel just so right.  One of my hands slipped into her hair, so soft, but she was pulling away from me and it left me briefly whimpering with my need for her.  I opened my eyes to see her leaning back, turned to the side and pulling something out of her purse.

“That’s why we’re going to put her in her place,” she muttered with a grin, and when she turned back to me she was holding a Flare Ball.