I don't own rotg
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Jack sprang up and wiped his tears fiercely whilst grabbing his staff in one hand. More yeti cries and crashes came from below, and he heard Phil's voice among them, trying to get the other yeti safe. The spirit gripped his staff harder and flung himself out of his room at speeds even Bunny would be impressed with.
Jack rushed into the room which held the most noise and collided with Phil. The yeti grumbled something to the spirit and purposefully blocked his path.
"I am ready!" Jack raked his free hand through his hair and tried to push past, but it was impossible. Another crash, followed by a high-pitched whine, sounded from the other room. Phil said something else more urgently.
"But I can deal with it!" Phil picked Jack up by his battered hoodie and began to walk away. He said something else.
"How can you keep going on like this! You can't just flee! I can do this!" The spirit managed to slip out of the yeti's grasp and tried to slip out of the door; Phil blocked the way again, shouting at him.
"I need to do this!" Jack yelled back. "I can do this." Phil looked back at the spirit and saw the determination in his blue gaze. The yeti let his arm go limp at his side and Jack smiled.
"Thanks. I'll win, don't worry." He reassured and walked into the room, his staff glowing brightly.
Immediately he saw a nightmare in the middle of the room, pounding its hooves on the floor and breaking the floorboards. The horse was twice the size of Jack and instead of the amber eyes the spirit had grown used to, it had blazing red ones. Its mane was spiked and its dark figure now glistened red as well as black.
The spirit backed against a wall, trying to get behind the nightmare to hit it from behind. No chance.
The nightmare suddenly turned its head around and spotted Jack staring back at it; the horse neighed and charged into him with its eyes blazing. Jack dodged quickly and spun around, shooting ice shards in the direction it was in. The nightmare shrieked and darted to the spirit's left; whist Jack was turning, the nightmare kicked him with its hooves, sending him flying across the room.
"I guess they have gotten stronger…" Jack muttered, spitting out blood from his mouth. He didn't get a chance to recover before the horse kicked again, at his shoulder, and the spirit heard a sharp crack before a hot pain erupted. Hissing, Jack kicked back, aiming for its stomach. His feet landed successfully on his target, and the horse skidded across the floor, snorting; Jack sprang up, clutching his shoulder, and shot another blast of ice at the nightmare. It dodged, however, and charged into the spirit again. Jack tried to avoid the attack but the horse- he was thrown onto the floor again violently. Black hooves began to trample him, and it took all of his energy to move his head out of the way. The horse gave another furious neigh and bit down on Jack's neck; the spirit screamed as pain spread through his body; he could feel the nightmare bite harder and shake his neck in its jaws. He coughed as more blood leaked from his mouth. Thinking quickly, Jack swiftly stabbed his staff into the horse's own neck and twisted it until it came out the other side. Finally, with a sharp cry, the teeth released his neck and the spirit rolled out from underneath the horse as it began to collapse. Panting, Jack dragged himself over to the wall as he watched his attacker began writhing on the ground as frost spread across its body, digging into the nightmare sand. It then lay still. The spirit closed his eyes, breathing deeply and let himself go limp.
"Fuck." He slurred; Phil suddenly burst through the doors again, accompanied by some other yeti. One of them yelled something and Jack opened one eye to see two of them running over to him- the last one was cautiously moving closer to the icy remains of the nightmare that he had fought.
A sudden wave of dizziness hit the spirit and he closed his eye again, groaning. He was faintly aware of Phil talking to him and asking questions.
"I beat it. Told you I could…" Jack muttered, smiling. The yeti said something else which he couldn't catch to his colleague and scooped the spirit up without seeking permission. Jack yelled as another pain shot through his shoulder.
"My…shoulder…" he gasped in explanation, "…it hurts…a lot…" Phil nodded and then began to carry Jack down numerous hallways. The spirit vaguely recognised the walls that he was passing but drowsiness began to take over again, and the last thing he was aware of was the warm blood running down his neck and the faint grumbles coming from Phil.
—
Jack woke up, interrupted by his sleep, because a irritating itch had spread across his neck. Moaning, the spirit moved to scratch it with his hand, only to find fabric instead of skin.
"Huh…" Jack opened his eyes properly from the tired squint they were at and found himself staring up at a white ceiling which made his head ache.
"Holy shit!" He cried out suddenly, "How long have I been asleep this time?!"
A few grunts answered, and a familiar yeti came into his vision.
"Phil!" Jack cried, trying to sit up. He grinned in relief. "So I haven't been asleep that long…Good." Phil rolled his eyes and asked a question.
"I'm good…feel a lot better…my shoulder doesn't hurt anymore!" The yeti grumbled something else. Jack nodded. "Err…can I get up now?" Phil shook his head firmly and the spirit groaned.
"Please?"
"Please?"
"Please?"
"Please?"
"Aw come on!" Jack tried to get up again but his other arm was in a blue sling. Still, after a moments hesitation, the spirit began to slowly straighten himself up until he was sitting in his bed. Phil watched, amused. Jack caught his look and scowled at him.
"See- I'm fine!" To demonstrate, Jack waved his uninjured arm and kicked his legs. "See?"
Phil rolled his eyes and gave up trying to keep the teen in bed; punching the air in victory, Jack slid out of bed on unsteady feet and grabbed the staff that was leaning against the wall. Phil watched him, smiling slightly, and then grumbled something.
"What do you mean, 'why so eager?'" The spirit asked, grinning. "I just wanna start training!" The yeti let out a surprised yell and held out a hand to stop him. Jack pushed it away and weaved past quickly; Phil said something angrily in response and tried to grab him again, but the spirit dodged.
"I need to save them!" Jack yelled in frustration taking his hands through his hair. He then froze, as if he realised what he just said. Gently, Phil put a supportive hand on the spirit's good shoulder, sensing his feelings. Jack sighed.
"I need to get stronger…as fast as I can…" he explained, turning away. "I need to save them…I'm not strong enough…not yet." The spirit gave a small smile and walked out of the room whilst he began to tear the sling off his arm. Phil watched and wanted to call him back, but there was nothing for him to be called back for: his shoulder was only dislocated and the bleeding had stopped on his neck for the time being. All he could do was watch him go, and wonder what the spirit could do to get stronger- Jack was one of the most powerful spirits he had ever seen, but that hadn't even been enough to defeat Pitch Black.
—
"Jack- ya better not be playin' one of ya stupid games again!"
"What else?!"
Jack's laugh echoed across the snowy landscape as he looked over at Bunny, who was shivering in the middle of the snow. A scowl appeared on the Pooka's face as he realised he had been tricked.
"Ya little shit!" He yelled.
"Language!" Jack yelled back. He could hear Bunny growl angrily, but amusement flashed in his green eyes.
"Were ya serious about the fight, then?" The Pooka challenged, bounding nearer. Jack grinned.
"Only if your not a chicken, Kangaroo…" he said back. "Same rules?" Bunny smiled back, and the amusement was replaced with challenge.
"Yeah, obviously." He pulled out his boomerangs. "No snowstorms, or any help from the wind or elements whatsoever."
Jack laughed at the raw memory of a snow covered Bunny, too frozen to move.
"And no tunnels." The spirit reminded, moving into a battle stance.
"No ice on the ground." Bunny retorted, moving into his battle stance too. He lay down his ears.
"And no swearing. Or any rude language. At all." Jack grinned.
"Ready?"
"Go!"
Jack charged foreword with frost racing after him. Bunny did the same, bounding on four paws until they were inches apart. Then, unexpectedly, the Pooka jumped into the air, intending to go over the spirit. The cold had been forgotten and his limbs were no longer stiff from being frozen.
Jack cursed silently in his head and quickly managed to drag Bunny down from the air by hooking his belt with the crook of his staff. The Pooka got slammed to the ground, his fall cushioned by snow.
"Good one Frosty." Bunny said, smiling. Jack smiled.
"Thanks!"
"Do ya wanna know a tip?" The Pooka silently grabbed Jack's staff crook with a hidden hand.
"Yeah!" The spirit answered, oblivious. Bunny chuckled.
"Don't get distracted easily."
"Wha?"
Bunny tugged Jack's staff, causing the spirit to fall towards him; with his back legs, he then kicked Jack hard, sending him flying across the snow.
"It's on, Kangaroo!" Jack jumped out of the snow and shot hundreds of icicles at his challenger, still in mid air. Bunny yelled in surprise and began to dodge them; he used the opportunity to throw some boomerangs at Jack, but the spirit dodged them swiftly, cartwheeling across the snow.
"Show pony."
"Cottontail."
Jack grinned and suddenly darted past Bunny, tripping the Pooka up with his staff. Bunny growled and spun around, kicking Jack again in the ribs.
They both fell to the ground at the same time, both winded.
"I could've beaten you if I was trying to kill you." Jack said after a minute of lying in the snow. Bunny laughed.
"I know I wouldn't like ya as a opponent." He replied, and the spirit smiled at the praise.
"I wouldn't want to face you either, though." Jack said back. "How do you manage to fight so well?" Bunny smiled.
"I practice. A lot."
"Practice what? I wanna know!"
"There's more to being strong than your physical strength." The Pooka said, sitting up. He thought. "Though…your strength helps a lot, actually."
"What else?" Jack sat up eagerly, moving into a cross-legged position.
"Ya also need to focus on ya speed. Dodging is one thing, but ya need to be quicker than your opponent in attacking and defence." Bunny said seriously. Jack nodded and he carried on. "Ya need to be flexible- it will help when ya fightin', when ya need to counter attack.
"Stealth is also the key to being the best fighter. It is often overlooked; be light on ya feet and be as silent as the footsteps of a mouse." Bunny looked at the spirit, who was hanging onto his every word, and smiled.
"Anything else?" Jack asked, leaning forward. The Pooka nodded.
"Ya wit. Ya need to learn fast about your opponent's fightin' style, an' his attacks. Use your challenger's attacks against them whenever ya can, as they will start to learn about you too. Ya have to beat them to it." Bunny thought, pausing. Jack watched him, eyes wide.
"There's one more thing. One thing that will make ya the best ya can be." He said; Jack leaned closer.
"What's that?" He asked.
"Ya weaknesses. Every warrior must know their weaknesses and refuse to run away from them."
"What do you do instead?" Jack asked. Bunny smiled.
"Ya face them. Face ya weaknesses and make sure ya know how to deal with them in the heat of battle. Ya never know what'll happen when ya get into a fight. Ya weakness may be the difference between life and death."
Jack nodded, smiling.
He was glad that he would never face Bunny in a real battle, otherwise he would be dead by now.
Jack closed his eyes as the memory faded in his mind. After a few seconds, he opened them again and looked at the snowy landscape that stretched out before him, which was located at the back of the pole.
It was the same place that he and Bunny had practiced their fighting skills; he could still see the remainders of some wooden target boards that North had built for them.
"I'm going to get stronger." Jack muttered, staring at the abandoned 'training grounds'. "And then I will save you all no matter what. I promise."
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