He noticed....a change in his sister. She was more cruel than she used to be, burning up cave rats that dared to get near them without a second glance, watching with blank eyes as they squealed and twisted and ran around to speed up their perilous deaths in mindless pain. She didn't use to be like that when they were both younger, and he didn't think he liked it much.

She didn't care to share what she was thinking either, she just called him out to the arena to 'practice', though, to what end, she kept silent.

Once they were in the empty arena, she walked a ways away from him and faced him, and he paused. What was going on?

She faced in in the arena, her face set. For the past few weeks, Papa's words had settled into her mind. There were monsters everywhere, waiting to hurt them both, and Papa was saying he needed the two of them to be stronger. She practiced on cave rats whenever she could, watching them die in silence, her heart quiet and peaceful.

It was okay. They were just tiny little carnivores, little monsters, and she was doing the caves a service by killing them. She didn't care about them at all.

But she needed her brother's help to make the both of them stronger. They needed to get used to battle in case a monster showed up - they couldn't just laze around playing in the river with Mama, they needed to use their magicks respectively and master them! The world out there outside of their starry home was perilous, according to Papa, and Papa was never wrong!

She didn't want to hurt her brother, and she could still see some of the healing welts on his face and shoulder from when she had accidentally burned him, but as Papa said, fear was the best teacher. If they managed to evade each other, they could take on anything.

"Get ready, brother," She said, squaring her feet, bringing up her magick. She felt the stickiness build up in her throat, ready to log a mass of incendiary ammo at him, her hoof glowing in preparation.

ROUND: 1/5
ATTEMPT: Spitting Fire at her brother (dodge it, dodge it!)
DEFENSE: None
INJURIES: None

Deadnettle was absolutely horrified, watching the ball of unlit pyro magic coming straight at him. What was Fever doing?! Why was she attacking him? Fear rose up in him, his skin remembering when she had burned him before, even if it was on accident, and after the shock wore off, he startled and begged his legs to move out of the way of her attack.

Fever was supposed to be his sweet, safe sister, not someone who deliberately tried to hurt him! He was supposed to protect her, he was supposed to be her gallant shield, not her practice target!

But as he tried to scurry out of the way, his hips seized and he cried out, stumbling. The piece of flammable ammo lodged onto his skin like some sticky sap with a slick sound, landing right on his left side. Panic, blind panic seized him now. He didn't want to burn! He didn't want any of this to happen!

ROUND: 1/5
ATTEMPT: Evade!
DEFENSE: None
INJURIES: None

Fever was panicking too, fear for her brother and quick anger coursing through her. No- he couldn't just fall and cry! What if this was a real fight, and a monster was going to come and eat them both?? What if Fever was already hurt and couldn't do anything, and it was up to Nettle to save them? He couldn't just sit there and take it!

"Come on Nettle, fight!" She growled, raising up her fire magic in preparation to set the pyrogel on fire.

"No!" He yelled back, and she could hear the fear in his voice. Her heart twinged - she didn't want to hurt him, but she had to put the real risk there! He had to fight! "I don't even know why you're doing this!"

"We have to get stronger, Nettle!" She bit back, tears in her eyes. It hurt her to see him like that, see that plain confusion and terror directed at her. "Fight back!"

She was ready to cast the magic to set the pyrogel on fire - but she couldn't bring herself to do it. Her throat went red hot, and steam rolled from her mouth, but she swallowed the fire, her face scrunching up, tears falling from her face.

ROUND: 2/5
ATTEMPT: Set that pyrogel on fire (dangit Nettle just do something!)
DEFENSE: None
INJURIES: None

His breath was coming shallow. Why was she doing this? Why was she prepared to hurt him? Why was she crying - why was she ready to set him on fire!?

No - he needed to do something before she really hurt him. He called up his magic to - to do something, to make her stop, and his gem flashed violently, reacting to his fear -

- but he didn't aim it at her, he couldn't aim anything at her, and with nowhere to go, no target to jump to, his electricity crackled over him and shocked him, and he screamed and yelled out, his very skin, his blood, boiling and tingling with pure pain. His veins were screaming from the point of entry, just above his gem hoof, and it radiated up his leg.

ROUND: 2/5
ATTEMPT: Shock her to stop her!
DEFENSE: None
INJURIES: Severely shocked, disoriented and numb, lightning scars up the leg

"Nettle-!" She cried out, running towards him, then she stopped abruptly, listening to his screams. She couldn't help him, she couldn't! He needed to get stronger, and as Papa said, pain was the path to strength. She had to harden her heart to him so that she could help him!

She called up her fire again, tears running down her face. She was close to him now, after she had made her way to him, and she called back that fire in her throat, making to set that pyrogel on fire. Intense heat rose up in her and she expelled the wave of superheated air right at the gel on his side.

She wanted him to do something - anything! But he was weak, and he needed to learn there was danger in the world!

ROUND: 3/5
ATTEMPT: Burn him.
DEFENSE: None
INJURIES: None

Nettle watched at his sister came closer to her with flickering eyes - all that existed for him was the pain running through his everything. His limbs, his insides, his face, everything was pain, and he twitched and spazzed as his muscles contracted of their own accord. It was just starting to wear off when his sister rose up, and her throat glowed with red inner heat, and he knew fear again.

As soon as the heat from her mouth hit the gel on his side, it exploded with a fury against his side, and he SCREAMED at the top of his lungs. If he thought that the shock of the electricity was pain, he was wrong, he was so wrong, this fire was a million times worse, and he was screaming and writhing and looking around for something, anything to put out the flames eating up his side.

He saw his chance in a puddle of water nearby and threw himself into it, and the fire died out with a rush of superhot steam and a roaring hiss. He was crying now, sobbing with everything he had, and he relief from the pain finally. His mind was blank with it, and he did the only thing he could once the flames were out - he readied his magic to protect himself.

ROUND: 3/5
ATTEMPT: STOP STOP STOP
DEFENSE: None
INJURIES: Severely shocked, numb, disoriented, lightning scars up the leg
Severe 3rd degree burns all along his side

The entire time he thrashed and screamed at the top of his lungs, the horrid sound burning her ears, she stood there with her eyes scrunched tight, crying, sobbing with no mind but for his pain. She did this to him, she was hurting him, setting him on fire, making him suffer from his own magic, and before she set him aflame, she saw the telltale marks on his reddened skin of his veins puffing out in reaction to the bungles electric spell. She could tell it would scar, and she could see that he would never be the same because of her.

And because she was crying, she didn't see the bolt of electricity that jumped straight at her, and it grabbed her with a white fire, burning her blood in Nettle's way. She cried out and slumped to the ground, and she felt the exact same pain Nettle did - and as she felt it, in a way she was glad of it, glad she could understand what she was putting him through.

Her throat became red hot again. Her head was swimming and her heart was jumping irregularly and her muscles screamed. This fight wasn't over though, not by a long shot - but she couldn't focus through the pain to summon her magic properly, and the fire died in her throat.

ROUND: 4/5
ATTEMPT: Burn him, again and again.
DEFENSE: None
INJURIES: Severely shocked, numb and disoriented

He had safely gotten out of the water before setting off his bolt of electricity, and he had looked straight at his sister as he shocked her, watching as she screamed and fell to the ground. He grimaced, his face scrunching up in horror as he saw her throat go red hot again - even after all this, she was planning to hurt him again?! How dare she! After everything they had been through, this was what he meant to her?!

He was no gallant shield now, only a broken piece of metal, furious and wanting petty revenge in this sibling fight. His own throat glowed and crackled now as his magic rose up in his throat, and he spat it at her, watching her scream anew with fresh pain.

ROUND: 4/5
ATTEMPT: Shock her
DEFENSE: None
INJURIES: Severely shocked, numb, disoriented, lightning scars up the leg
Severe 3rd degree burns all along his side

The pain intensified, doubled, and her mind went numb - her heart stopped for a second, then jumped back into place, and she gasped for air, laying there on the ground, spasming and violently thrashing her legs involuntarily, her voice coming in choking sobs. She couldn't breathe, she couldn't scream, she couldn't move, and she was blindly terrified, everything blank but the pain she was suffering, she she just wanted this to stop.

She took in a shuddering breath as he moved closer, and without conscious thought - for that was impossible at this point - she forced out her fire at him, hoping to stop him before he shocked her again.

ROUND: 5/5
ATTEMPT: Make him stop
DEFENSE: None
INJURIES: Incredibly, severely shocked, numb and disoriented, difficult to focus, heart rate erratic