The shark provides protection. The remora cleans the shark.

"Mr. Finch," Mrs. Darwin asked. "Can you give me an example of symbiosis in nature?"

Alex looked up.

"The midfielder and the striker, Miss," Alex said. "One provides the service. The other provides the finish. Without the pass, the striker starves. Without the goal, the pass is wasted."

"An interesting analogy," Mrs. Darwin smiled. "Though I was looking for something more... biological. Like lichen."

"Lichen is cool too," Alex said politely.

Mark sat next to him. Mark was wearing a pair of fake animal ears. They looked like wolf ears.

"I AM THE ALPHA WOLF!" Mark whispered. "I HUNT IN A PACK!"

"Mark," Alex sighed. "Wolves are pack animals, but they don't wear plastic ears in class."

"It helps me get into character!" Mark insisted. "Tonight, we hunt the Seagulls!"

Alex nodded.

Brighton & Hove Albion. The Seagulls.

They were the surprise package of the season. They played beautiful football. They passed. They moved. They were dangerous.

And they had a new manager. A tactical genius.

Roberto De Zerbi.

He made his team play like they were daring you to press them. Come and get the ball, they said. We dare you.

Alex walked out to the car park.

Milo was waiting.

Milo was dressed as... a Birdwatcher.

He was wearing camouflage gear, a hat with leaves on it, and he was holding a pair of binoculars that looked like two toilet rolls taped together.

"I SPY WITH MY LITTLE EYE!" Milo shouted. "ALEX! I AM THE ORNITHOLOGIST! I AM TRACKING THE MIGRATION OF GOALS! I AM SELLING BIRD SEED! IT ATTRACTS VICTORIES! ONLY TEN POUNDS A BAG!"

"Milo, that is just popcorn," Alex laughed.

"IT IS HIGH ENERGY FUEL!" Milo yelled, eating a handful. "SQUAWK!"

They drove to the stadium.

The Emirates was ready.

Steve, the manager, was serious.

"Brighton," Steve said. "They are a trap. They put their foot on the ball and wait. They want you to run at them. If you run, they pass around you. If you stay, they keep the ball."

He looked at Alex.

"Professor. This is a game of patience. Do not take the bait. Wait for the mistake."

He looked at Rico.

"Rico. Do not chase shadows. Stay in position."

Rico nodded. "I will be a statue. A very handsome statue."

The match began.

Brighton were brave. They played out from the back. Their goalkeeper passed to the defenders inside their own six-yard box.

It was terrifying to watch. One bad pass and Arsenal would score.

But they didn't make bad passes.

Dunk to Webster. Webster to Gross. Gross to Mitoma.

Mitoma was the danger. The Japanese winger. He wrote a university thesis on dribbling. He studied the mechanics of beating a man.

In the fifteenth minute, Mitoma got the ball.

Ben White went to close him down.

Mitoma didn't use speed. He used angles. He shifted his body weight just a fraction. White moved left. Mitoma glided right.

It was scientific dribbling.

Mitoma crossed.

Ferguson, the striker, was there.

He shot.

Ramsdale saved.

"Close!" the Brighton fans cheered.

Alex stood in the midfield.

He watched Brighton play. It was like watching a clockwork toy. Everything moved in sync.

"Symbiosis," Alex thought. "They move as one organism."

"They are annoying!" Mark yelled. "They keep the ball like it is their favorite toy! Share!"

"We have to break the connection," Alex said. "Disrupt the ecosystem."

Arsenal restarted.

Alex stopped pressing the ball carrier. instead, he marked the passing option.

He stood in the lane between the defender and the midfielder.

He cut the supply line.

The Brighton defender looked up. He wanted to pass to Gilmour. But Alex was there.

The defender hesitated.

That hesitation was the trigger.

"Now!" Alex shouted.

Rico sprinted.

Rico pressed the defender. The defender panicked. He tried to chip the ball.

Rico jumped. He blocked the chip with his chest.

The ball fell to Alex.

Alex was thirty yards out. The Brighton defense was split open.

He saw Mark making a run.

But he also saw Mitoma tracking back.

Alex needed to be clever.

He looked right. He shaped to pass to Saka.

The whole Brighton defense shifted right.

Alex played a "Reverse Pass".

He passed left. Without looking.

It went straight to Gabriel Martinelli.

Martinelli was free.

He drove into the box. He shot.

Goal.

One zero. Arsenal.

"Symbiosis broken!" Alex shouted.

Halftime. One zero.

"Good," Steve said. "You forced the error. But they will adapt. De Zerbi is smart. He will change the variables."

Second half.

Brighton came out with a new plan.

They stopped playing short. They started playing long diagonal balls to Mitoma.

In the sixtieth minute, Dunk hit a sixty-yard pass.

Mitoma controlled it instantly. It stuck to his foot like glue.

He ran at Ben White again.

This time, he didn't dribble. He cut inside and passed to Enciso.

Enciso shot from distance.

It swerved. It dipped.

Top corner.

Goal.

One one.

The stadium went quiet. Brighton were playing incredible football.

"They are good," Rico admitted. "They have rhythm."

"We have chaos," Alex said. "Let's introduce them to it."

Seventy fifth minute.

The game was tied.

Alex had the ball.

He looked at the Brighton structure. It was perfect.

"Too perfect," Alex thought. "Nature is messy."

He started to dribble.

He didn't run in straight lines. He ran in curves. He ran in circles.

He confused the structure.

He passed to Odegaard. Odegaard backheeled it to Rice. Rice chipped it to Alex.

It was playground football. It was unstructured.

Brighton didn't know how to press it.

Eighty fifth minute.

Alex got the ball on the edge of the box.

He saw a wall of blue and white shirts.

He saw Mark.

Mark was standing near the penalty spot. He was being hugged by Lewis Dunk.

"I cannot move!" Mark yelled. "He is a tree!"

Alex needed to get the ball to Mark. But there was no path on the ground. And Dunk was too tall for a high ball.

Alex remembered the biology lesson.

The Remora fish. It attaches itself.

Alex chipped the ball.

But he didn't chip it to Mark's head or feet.

He chipped it to Mark's chest.

It was a hard chip.

Mark saw it coming. He puffed out his chest (and the pillows he was probably still wearing under his shirt).

The ball hit Mark's chest.

It bounced off.

But because Mark was leaning forward, the ball bounced down.

It fell right in front of his feet.

Mark reacted faster than Dunk.

He swiveled.

He hit the ball on the half-volley.

It flew past the goalkeeper.

Goal.

Two one. Arsenal.

Mark ran to the corner. He howled like a wolf.

"AROOOOOO!" Mark screamed. "THE PACK FEASTS!"

Alex ran over. "The chest control!"

"It was the Alpha Chest!" Mark yelled. "I absorbed the power!"

The final whistle blew.

Arsenal 2. Brighton 1.

Three hard-earned points.

Alex walked off the pitch.

Mitoma walked over. He bowed slightly.

"You read the game well," Mitoma said. "Your thesis is strong."

"Your dribbling is art," Alex replied. "Good game."

Milo ran onto the pitch. He was covered in feathers.

"THE EAGLE HAS LANDED!" Milo shouted. "ALEX! THE VICTORY! I AM SELLING FEATHERS! THEY ARE FROM A PIGEON I FOUND! BUT THEY ARE LUCKY FEATHERS! FIVE POUNDS A QUILL!"

"Milo, you are allergic to feathers," Alex laughed.

"ACHOO!" Milo sneezed. "IT IS THE PRICE OF BUSINESS!"

They walked into the dressing room.

The team was buzzing.

Alex checked his phone.

A text from Maya.

"Biological analysis: Successful. You disrupted their symbiotic relationship by introducing a chaotic invasive species (Mark). Efficiency rating: 89%. Also, Mrs. Darwin says your analogy about the midfielder and striker was correct, but next time please write about bees. Bees are important."

Alex smiled.

He looked at Mark. Mark was trying to howl again but he was choking on a slice of pizza.

"Hey Professor," Mark coughed.

"Yeah?"

"Did you see the wolf ears?"

"I saw them, Mark."

"Do you think they made me faster?"

"Aerodynamically? No. Psychologically? Maybe."

"I knew it!" Mark grinned. "Next week, I will wear spots."