"Five! Four! Three! Two! One!" the crowd chanted.

As Will was walking above Gwen and her cronies, Gwen grabbed his arm and pulled him down into the seat next to her. "Where were you? You missed the first fight."

"I-, I- was with…" Will turned to look at his friends, who were waiting for him across the bleachers.

"Well, you're here now. We'll watch together."

Chandra, who had given a disgusted scoff and sat down, pulled Layla into the seat next to her and sighed. The poor girl had fallen in love with a complete doofus.

"Ramirez! Hamilton! Your citizen has just been mulched because you failed to defeat your villains." Coach Boomer announced. "Next young, Speed, Lash, you want to be heroes or villains?"

"Villains." Speed said, spreading his arms as if it were obvious.

"Yeah." Lash agreed.

"Ooh, there's a surprise." The coach looked at his clipboard. "Who do you want to beat next?"

"All right. We'll take little Stronghold and, uh, let's see…And we pick…" They had been about to say peace, but their eyes passed over Chandra, who looked absolutely furious. Speed chuckled, thinking her ferocity was cute and thinking that without any offensive power, she would be useless, called out, "And Chandra."

"Are you sure that's wise? I mean, Chandra doesn't have any offensive powers," Coach Boomer started.

Chandra stood, "Actually, I accept."

The coach was surprised, as were Lash and Speed.

"Scargirl, Stronghold, you're the heroes."

Chandra made her way down into the arena, strapping the protective gear onto her body. Will joined her, waving to Gwen flirtatiously.

"Hey! Get your head in the game!" Chandra reprimanded.

Will looked abashed and assumed a ready stance.

"You gave three minutes to immobilize your opponents…" the coach started.

"And save the Citizen!" the crowd roared.

"Save me!" the metallic voice of the dummy said as she was lowered towards the pit.

"Ready!" the Boomer said.

"Save me"

"Set! Battle!"

Lash stretched his arms towards Chandra, expecting an easy takedown. He wasn't expecting a green light to glow from her body and his arms to suddenly be in immense pain as she pushed against them.

"Inflammation. A part of the healing process that is very painful to the touch."

He stared at her, and her eyes glowed green.

"Good luck." she threw her arms outward, causing Lash to yelp in pain and attempt to retract his arms. However, due to the inflammation, he was only able to unwrap his arms, but the inflammation would not shrink as he attempted it.

"Hey! Coach, that's a foul! Call something on that!" The coach laughed at Lash's attempts. "Are you blind, ref?"

Meanwhile, Will had had enough of being thrown off his feet every time Speed sped past him. He jumped up and punched the floor, causing a shockwave to throw Speed off his feet. Will went to tie up Lash, but Lash started whimpering halfway through and Chandra stopped him.

"He can't stretch or shrink right now," she said with a hand on the boy's shoulder.

Will looked at her, then at the whimpering villain, and set down the boy gently. He turned to Speed, who was about to speed by them. Chandra stuck out her foot and the boy tripped. She made it so his landing dislocated his shoulder and broke his leg. It would have broken his ribs otherwise. Her ability to inflict pain, while it could amplify or create pain, could not stop pain from happening. It could, however, redirect the injury to a different part of the body. Speed attempted to stand but fell to the ground, screaming.

"Save the citizen!" Chandra yelled as she walked over to Speed. She wasn't about to forget that Zach would be bullied if they lost the game. Will ran past her, climbed up the contraption, and saved the Citizen.

Speed was still screaming, causing the audience, despite their dislike for the boy, to wince in sympathy. Chandra sat down by Speed and put her hand on his shoulder. It glowed green and his sobs and screams subsided into wimpers. "Pain killers. I healed it enough to reduce the pain."

"His ankle is broken and his shoulder is dislocated," she called to the coach.

"Can't you heal it?"

Chandra thought about it for a split second, then said "No."

Zach gasped. "What?!"

Chandra spun to face him and he seemed to realize what he had done. He shrunk, his eyes begging for forgiveness. Chandra nodded, granting it to him. After all, he was her best friend and had done nothing wrong. In fact, Chandra was a little hesitant about not healing the poor boy herself. But she wouldn't out herself, not for the bully. She would, however, dull his pain. It was the least she could do. After all, she had been the one who tripped him. The pain from her ankle had already faded. Speed had broken it with the force of his speed, but she healed quickly when she chose. No one had been able to tell she'd been injured. Except Zach, who was internally panicking in the audience. He had seen that single limped step. That meant that she had been seriously injured and used a lot of energy to heal herself. He knew she was probably moments away from collapse. From his angle, he was also able to see that Speed's shoulder never hit the wall. He doubted anyone else had seen it, for the crash happened too fast, but it had been right next to his face. He knew that she had rearranged the pain to prevent serious harm to the bully. He didn't personally understand why, but he knew she was kind-hearted, despite her trust issues, and didn't like anyone to suffer, with the exception of those who killed her mother.

She shot him a reassuring look, which Layla caught, and, also noticing Zach's panic, asked, "Hey, what happened that I didn't see?"

"We need to get Chandra to a bed." Chandra started to sway on her feet. "Now!" Zach yelled, breaking into a full sprint as Chandra began to fall. He caught her in his arms right before she hit the floor, instantly placing a bottle beneath her nose. The scent, for Will could see the bottle was not breathing salts, but an unlabeled oil with a flowery scent. Warren, meanwhile, had seen Chandra collapse and had jumped the barrier, also going to catch her, but stopping nearby when Zach beat him to it.

"Does this happen often?" he demanded.

"Only when she over-exerts herself."

"How often is that?"

"Once, twice a week?"

"You mean to tell me that she falls unconscious at least once a week?" he was practically shouting now.

Zach shushed him as people were starting to take notice. "Don't worry, she'll wake up in a second. It's normal." Zach immediately knew that he had said the wrong thing, as Warren's eyes darkened.

"You haven't tried to stop her?"

"I used to!" Zach protested. "But she's stubborn. I nearly lost her before I was able to convince her to trust me to rouse her, or even for her to tell me why she was passing out!"

Warren stared at him for a second. "'Nearly lost her?" his voice was rough and quiet now.

"Yeah." Zach sighed. "She came to my house, nearly dead, and collapsed onto my bed. She didn't wake up for ten days. When she finally woke up, she told me how to rouse her. I have been helping her ever since. But whenever I ask her to stop over-exerting herself, she starts closing up." Zach looked down at the still Chandra, "I don't know what I'd do if I lost her."

Warren bristled at the last words but realized that Zach, while incredibly close to Chandra, did not say it from a place of romantic love. However, he could also see it wasn't just a friendship or familial relationship. No, they were closer than family. They loved each other more than anything else in the world, but not in that way.

Will had seen the whole thing, the only one close enough to the trio to hear the conversation. He had a brief thought that maybe he had misjudged the hothead. There was no way that Warren could be all bad. Not with the care in his voice as he discussed the girl.

Chandra opened her eyes. She had been listening every since 'You haven't tried to stop her.' She knew Zach would never betray her, but she wanted to see how much detail he would go into before stopping. She smiled. It seemed he knew her well enough to know what he could share. She had chosen her friends well. She glanced over at Warren, who looked like he was going to cry and scream for joy, but was holding it in with a small smile and teary eyes.

Did he…care?