Dark Rose
Chapter 4: Teamwork
"Jett?" Matilda called out his name, but he didn't respond. He lay there, kneeling on the ground, letting his tears flows. "Jett?" Matilda called out again. No response, again. She walked over to his side, and put a hand on his shoulder. Jett's eyes snapped opened, and he violently moved her hand of his shoulder with his own. "Don't. Touch. Me." He growled, giving Matilda the dirtiest look he could manage. She recoiled, then gave him a look of hurt. Eccon walked in between the two. "Lets scout the area ahead for the temple, Matilda." he offered. "It'll give him some time to think" Matilda looked back at Jett, but nodded. The two headed for the treeline, and disappeared into the underbrush. Jett closed his eyes again, and sighed. I WILL find out why he did this to you, Mother. Jett thought. Because of this man, I was robbed of a normal life. I need to find out why...for my sake.
Jett spent what felt like a half an hour sitting with his legs curled up to his chest. Well, enough feeling sorry for myself. Time to find the others. He thought. He pushed himself off his feet, and placed his guns in their holsters, as he walked in the same direction that Eccon and Matilda were headed. "Ahhhhhh!" a voice screamed to his right. Jett turned, only to see an Asian girl thrown at him by an Ursa, bowling him over. "Who the-" "YOU!" Jett opened his eyes, and found Miranda laying on top of him. "Ice Queen!" "Stop calling me that!" Miranda was a slender Asian girl, with green eyes and green hair, currently staring at Jett with a mix of embarassment and anger.
"Please get off me." She flushed even harder, and scrambled off his chest and dropped into a defensive stance. He followed suit, bracing his hands against the ground, and launching his body forward with a handspring. He pulled out his weapons, transforming them from revolvers into swords in a flash. Three more Ursa emerged from the underbrush around them, forcing the two to face opposite directions, moving backwards towards each other until their backs touched. Jett looked over his shoulder at Miranda, and saw her loading Dust crystals into her gauntlets.
"So, those are your weapons?" Jett asked. "Yes. I made Shredder myself." she answered cooly. Her gaunlets were made of sterling silver, notched with metal plates to protect the backside of her forearms. The metal pieces joined with a small metal plate on the back of her hand, which housed two 11in spikes, with notches along the bases, which looked like the notches in gears. On the underside of the gauntlets were two glowing red openings, which she was feeding the Dust crystals into. "Ready to do this, Princess?" Jett asked excitedly. Suddenly, Miranda dropped her arms, and put a hand on her hip. "Really?" "What?" "Princess?" "Want me to call you Ice Queen again?" Miranda sighed. "I'd like it if you called me by my name." she answered. "Which is?" Jett asked, still in a defensive stance. "Miranda. Miranda Juniper." Jett smiled. "I like Princess. Suits you better." he said. Miranda rolled her eyes, and dropped back into her stance. "Whatever." she said simply. The Ursa, which the two forgot up until now, inched ever closer to the pair. "Lets do this!" Jett shouted, launching himself at the two Ursi in front of him.
Jett slashed at the Ursa closest to him, but the creature swatted the sword out of Jett's grasp. Panicked, Jett jumped to the right, and ducked under one of the creatures arms. He dove for his weapon behind the creature, but was kicked in the chest by one of the creatures on his right. "Here!" Miranda shouted. Jett spotted her throwing a Fire Dust crystal through the air towards him. Jett jumped backwards, and let the crystal fall between him and the Ursa in front of him. "Say goodnight." Jett muttered, changing his remaining sword into a gun. He fired a round at the exposed Dust crystal as it fell in front of the beast's chest. The beast looked up at the crystal, and, in an instant, the Grimm was vaporized in a display of fire.
"Good thinking!" Jett exclaimed, giving Miranda a thumbs-up. She slightly blushed before shaking her head, focusing on the fight. She dispatched the first Ursa beautifully: right hook to the face, jumping uppercut, ending with a cut across the neck with her claws. The beast fell to the ground, and dissolved like the first. "Jett? Your weapon!" Miranda exclaimed, reminding him. Oh! He had indeed forgot about Ivory, which lay on the ground behind another Ursa. Jett closed his eyes, and focused his Aura. Energy crackled around him with restrained power. Jett flashed forward past the Ursa, grabbed his blade, and somersaulted over the beast, slicing it's head off before landing and turning off his Semblance.
One more. Jett thought. Miranda dropped out of a defensive stance, and turned to face Jett. In that instant, the last Ursa jumped from behind Miranda. "Miranda!" Jett cried, trying to run to her side. Too late. The Ursa's blow connected, raking it's claws across Miranda's back. "Nooo!" Miranda stood there for a second, before straightening up her body. She cracked her neck and her knuckles, and gave a Jett a smirk. What the hell? A blow like that should have killed her. Jett thought. Ribbons of emerald energy eminated off of Miranda's frame, causing her to glow. She snapped her eyes open, and they were glowing! Green energy pulsated from her pupils outwards to the edges of her irises, making her eyes look more alive than they had been. She turned around to a confused Ursa, which tried to swing it's paw the radiating girl. She lazily put up an arm, deflected the blow easily, walking ever closer to the Grimm. The Ursa got down on all-fours, and roared inches from Miranda's face. "You...need a breath mint." she growled. She cocked her fist back, and punched the Grimm square in the jaw, obliterating it in one hit. The Grimm dissolved into black powder, before being blown away by the wind.