“Touya...” Basil mumbled sadly as he turned to follow. He knew better than to argue with him when he was like this. He'd just laugh and disagree and continue being a mopey teenager. “It's getting worse.” He decided to talk about how the rain wasn't letting up as they continued up their ascent. “Should we see if some of those trees can provide cover?”

“What? Stop and sit it out?” Touya turned to look back at him while continuing walking forward, now backwards. “Aren't you excited to see the ruins? My blood's practically electrified – I can't just sit around waiting for the rain to stop.”

“But as we get higher the winds will pick up too.” Basil tried to argue.

“You can take care of that can't yoouuuuu?” Touya yelped as his ankle hit the edge of the next step and he fell back until his butt hit the stone. It was so sudden that Basil started laughing out of reflex. “Ow!” Touya cursed as he rolled over to his hands and knees before getting up. “Stupid stairs – whatever gave them the idea to stop with the ramp?”

“It's steeper here.” Basil answered through giggles.

“Whatever.” Touya stood up, clapping his hands together. He took a half-step back to glare at the step, pointed his right hand at where he tripped and clicked his tongue. As soon as he did, a shot of electricity, although small, zapped from the tip of his finger in a zigzag right down to the spot where he'd tripped and left a little black fried mark.

“Oh, come now, don't take your anger out on the path.” Basil chuckled as he stepped past him.

Touya shrugged as he followed. “Remind me to eat the eclair when we get to the top.”

“No way. Then you'll just fry the whole path!”

“Darn. You saw through my evil plot.” Touya snapped his fingers, his skin wet and causing them to slip faster than he'd intended and his middle finger's nail ended up stabbing his ring finger's knuckle. He yelped again, causing Basil to stop and turn. “Ow, ow, ow, stupid rain!”

With a groan, Basil rolled his eyes. “I did say to wait it out for a reason.”

“No! I'm not letting it win!” Touya strode past him, gripping his knuckle tenderly.

“You're just being stubborn.”