Vargas shouldered his way with grunts and grumbles through the thick jungle of Eridanus, doing his best to ignore the bloodcurdling shrieks of the Lessers swarming the trees overhead. He didn't like this place; it was good for hunting, sure, but noisy and vibrant in ways that he detested. Give him the ominous silence of dark, cold spaces and the hunt, any day, over this screeching disobedience.

"TITANITE," he bellowed, for the third time. Alpha should be somewhere behind him and, if the Orthoclase had any sense, it would be following the path Vargas broke through the foliage. These damn--vines- he thought, tearing another snarl of greenery from where it threatened to tangle around his chest.

When at last it came into sight, he lurched to a halt, eyeing it up and down, and grunted. It was not even half of Orthoclase's height; he doubted it stood any decent chance. As a scout among forest it might have been useful, but unless it had greatly honed magical skills, it was likely to get obliterated in battle. That said, it wasn't exactly fair--was it?--pitting a shock trooper against an infiltrator. But tests were tests; and this one had yet to be, well. Tested.

Maybe it would surprise him. Probably, not. And it was about testing Orthoclase, too. He'd see how they both fared and make his judgments then.

"This is your sibling Orthoclase-Alpha. I told you you would test yourself against it. Now is the time." They were both full-grown, now, and that's all that he'd been waiting for. "I hope you have been practicing." Vargas stepped aside, with a grunt, glancing back for Orthoclase-Alpha--to let it get a look at its until-now unmet sibling.

The call of its maker.

Titanite curled its own way toward Vargas' shouts, moving far more delicately through the trees. It was easier, for it--it was much smaller, for one, so entire trees were not an issue for it; and its magic, at least in part, tended toward some harmony with the forest. A little twist here, a flicker there, and some of the plants even seemed to part for it.

It came into sight on all fours, at first, prowling like some wicker-woven demon dog, and then--when it had sighted them--pushed itself upright. It stood only perhaps nine feet tall when fully upright, to Orthoclase-Alpha's eight in general. But it felt no fear; it felt nothing, really. At times, the Titanite was more plant than animal, and now it stood silent as its father spoke.

He had not been created into the culture of testing and trials that the others had, and most of it was foreign to him. He held an aloofness about him, one it might be wrong to call 'haughy' but as if it merely did not mean much to him at all. No, his life was about standing in Eridanus, among the leaves and vines; feeling the light on his bark and the nutrients at his roots. His... toes.

Whatever.

His voice, when he responded, was raspy and without real tone, like branches rubbed together or leaves rustled by the wind; it wasn't quite clear how he formed his words, though the jaw did move. "Overssseer Vargass... I am here." It looked to Orthoclase-Alpha, dimly noting the similarities between them, and the differences. It did not understand why they had to fight, really; it had no desire to fight.

It said so.

"I have no use... for fighting. I do not wish... to fight. But we... must?" It looked to Vargas, and perhaps to Orthoclase-Alpha--if it had arrived, as yet--as if asking confirmation of this.

@Orthoclase-Alpha

Alpha, like the obedient lapdog it was, trailed after its Overseer, head aligned with its spine and slinking along through the path torn through Eridanus.

It'd approached Vargas with Greater blood still on its claws, a memory of its failed - not entirely - attempt to well and truly destroy a beast unproven. But, they'd escaped, and it was still thrumming with that unspent energy; with the need to prove itself, it's strength, loyalty, everything that it was. No better time to finally encounter one's family members and promptly initiate combat.

Vargas spoke to the beast first as he shoved onto his feet, standing upright and baring all that was odd and... floral about his figure. Good camouflage, but - all of that exposed? If the Overseer didn't want his spawn killed, it was going to have to be a little... wary of how brutal it was. Alpha's head bobbed once Titanite was in full view, appraising and already starting a slow, predatory circle around him. Could be quick. Wear me out, it observed the lanky structure and noted warily, and have magic.

The orthoclase had that of its own, but not to the extent of - say, fire-breathing dragons of legend. Not of... whatever this one may have.

He spoke at last, voice more like the song of trees than any actual words. Weird. Acidic eyes widened slightly, quills quivering slightly at the questions. "It's a test," it jumped in with a low growl, then seemed to shrink in place, shuffling a few feet further in the wild circle around Titanite, deliberately smashing down undergrowth in its wake. Less to get tangled up in later.

@Vargas

Vargas eyed Titanite, and grunted. It wasn't that he was... disappointed in it, exactly. It was just that he had a good tendency to find the use in creatures, and Titanite was one of the few who baffled him. The question, "what is it good for" had no immediate answer; did they really need someone to, say, hide in bushes..?

They'd see.

He turned and paced out of the way, and then turned back, dropping to his haunches--though tensed to leap back, if the violence of their brawl swept his way--to watch.

"Begin," was all he told them, roughly.

Titanite's toxic eyes--and they shared that among them, did they not? all three of them--turned to Alpha as it spoke.

"I know that it is a test," it rasped, slowly; was Alpha arguing, or was it trying to inform Titanite of facts it thought it did not know?

The branch-creature was unsure, and were it not for the great respect he held for Vargas (was there even warmth there-?) it would have refused this 'test' with distaste. It was pointless. For what purpose did they need to be tested-? But his was not to question Vargas. Perhaps if he'd been raised with the rest of them, he would know the answers to his questions, but he hadn't--he'd spent his cycles standing in grass, staring at trees. Hardly prime material for learning of the Overseer's various sinister plans.

At Vargas' instruction, it rumbled, that quiet rasp becoming a sound of thought and of concentration. It had never truly... battled, before. It stepped back, sharp-taloned forelimbs reaching, as if grasping, for the foliage around it. That was all it knew, really; to call on the plant life to aid it. There were thorned vines all around, though Alpha was doing its damndest to trample them.

...Maybe that would just make them angry, and more liable to help Titanite. It didn't know. Titanite would've been mad, at least.

Round: 1/5
Attempt: Ensnare Alpha in some thorny vines
Defense: Idk man he's like made of wood but it's pretty thin ya dig
Injuries: None

@Orthoclase-Alpha

Then don't question, it thought, awaiting the signal to "begin."

Alpha intended to make the first move, overwhelm the beast before he could lay traps, cast magic, do something - but it almost immediately found its legs bound by vines that pricked and drew blood. Magic, then, was a thing that the Titanite possessed.

More reason to crowd in, get close. A pitchy growl rumbled through its throat as it twisted its head to gnaw through the thorns, not caring how many prickers stuck into its flesh at the moment and trying to trudge forwards, to freedom - whether or not that meant it was dragging vines and all the branches they were attached to behind it.

Round: 1/5
Attempt: Just tug yaself out of there
Defense: Full Minecraft Diamond Armor
Injuries: Thorns :'(

@Titanite

Orthoclase-Alpha dragged itself up like some sort of eldritch monster, tearing through the vines and shrugging off Titanite's magic with pure, raw strength.

This was... alarming.

The tree-beast let out a slow wheeze that might have been the plant version of "oh, shit," and then twitched the taloned fingers inward. Its magics, admittedly, were not as strong as they could have been--should have been; it had not been training relentlessly as its sibling had been. And Orthoclase-Alpha was-... huge. Titanite had never fought, it did not know what damage those massive limbs and gnashing teeth might do to it, but it did not particularly want to find out.

It sent its plea into the forest around it, surging magicka into the plants, seeking to animate them further to fight for it.

Maybe if Orthoclase had to fight some bushes, instead of it, it'd have some room to maneuver further.

Round: 2/5
Attempt: Haul up some Combat Bushes™
Defense: Some Wood
Injuries: None

@Orthoclase-Alpha

Alpha was sure powering through those vines, but make no mistake: it was gritting its teeth through a thousand little winces and whines of pain. Turns out, it sucks to try and march your way out of plant-based ropes on top of a million thorns.

It hauled forwards a few paces, before being faced with... basically, the entire forest. For a beat, all its thoughts could amount to was a profound ??? before it managed to gather itself and spring into action. These... bushes rising up and angling towards it were just more enemies to fight.

I'm surrounded by plants, it thought worriedly, glancing around while the smell of ozone started to fill its nostrils. I need to get close. If it could clear away this wave, perhaps Alpha could rush forwards, cause too much confusion or panic to focus -

The orthoclase reached for its magic - maybe it would work, just this once - backpedaling and batting half-heartedly at the bushes. Electricity buzzed in its quills, the tips rattling up and up as it bared its teeth and aimed a bolt of it at the plants.

Round: 2/5
Attempt: /give orthoclaseALPHA minecraft:lightning_rod 1
Defense: Full Minecraft Diamond Armor
Injuries: Thorns :'(

@Titanite

So far, so... well, not good but he wasn't dead, that was something but he wasn't making any headway, either. He was delaying Alpha, and the "hold him off until he exhausts himself" certainly worked both ways. Titanite couldn't keep magic going forever.

One bush flash-fried, its tearing branches smoldering smoke skyward, leaves wilting and curling as it collapsed to the Orthoclase's magic. It could only hit one at a time but how long could he delay it, really-?

His plant-mind churned through ideas, but all that really came up was "keep fighting it with trees." Titanite abruptly wished he had the light magic--the more powerful version of his own--to blind the Orthoclase. He'd have to learn that.

Well, he could try to bind its limbs, at least-?

Titanite decided on that, but then ran into a new problem: it had six.

The-... back ones, then. The propulsion ones.

That would do.

Titanite focused on the vines all around, struggling to bring them together, to wind Orthoclase's hind legs, at least, together. He worried that it might move just as well on the front four, but--he'd have to see.

Round: 3/5
Attempt: Bind the... back two limbs?
Defense: Some Wood
Injuries: None

Goodbye to that particular bush, but Alpha didn't have the patience to keep slinging magic at these bushes to no consistent degree of success. It was going to close in - but how?

Surely the plants would impede it before it crowded up proper. They'd keep rising up from nothing to keep it from getting too close to Titanite. There were vines all over, but surely they couldn't -

The orthoclase's eyes widened imperceptibly, and rather than keep stalking forwards and ineffectively against an army of blueberries and vines apparently trying to bind its legs together, it started... bouncing in place.

The first hop was maybe an inch or so - the second double that, and the third quadruple that. On the fourth short bounce, it crouched down and hurtled forwards, aiming to sail right up into the air and land at least somewhere on the other side of the plant wall - but Masters, if it landed on top of Titanite...

Round: 3/5
Attempt: ... just jump at Titanite
Defense: Full Minecraft Diamond Armor
Injuries: Thorns :'(

@Titanite