Ruby struggled to get up as she saw Cardin rising behind his team, but after looking down, she realised that she was held by a dark glyph. Resigning herself to the side lines, she barely heard Cardin's battle cry before all four charged Jet.
Jet immediately whirled around in circles, forming the tornado that Ruby had seen him use against her, creating a swirling blue maelstrom of flames, before he started to move towards CRDL. Seeing this, Cardin fired an explosive blast from his mace as his cronies switched to their ranged forms of their weapons, but the explosion was absorbed by the flames to little effect.
A moment later, Jet stopped spinning and sent the flame tornado straight at Cardin, all the fire leaving him. It swept him and Sky straight up into the air, scorching them on the way down as the winds dispersed. Bullets came flying from Sky and Russell's weapons as they discharged their payload at their intended target, and Ruby saw Jet's aura flicker darkly as it deflected each round with a red flare of energy.
He ran towards the assailants, and darkness flickered around him as Abyssal Chaos Jet formed around his legs and arms, chest and shoulders, with the tail being constructed autonomously a moment later. He fired a burst of purple projectiles as he curled up into the spike wrecking ball, narrowly missing the boys, but caused them to duck, giving Jet enough time to ram into Russell, who was sent flying by the impact like their leader had been.
Jet immediately popped out of his ball form and sent two more needles from his tail at Dove, who raised his sword to block. But Jet was already moving, swinging his tail and smashing apart Sky's waning aura with a single blow. The boys were backing up now, a combination of Jet's rage and his combat prowess providing fuel to their fear. That is, until their leader charged.
Cardin swung his mace with full force straight at Jet's head, the latter using his tail and aura defence to shield himself. It was a big mistake.
Carding's unparalleled strength blasted through the aura and shattered the tail, continuing through and smashing Jet straight on the forehead. There was a deafening 'CRACK' as a black wave of energy blasted from Jet, sending Ruby flying despite the distance she was away from him. She sat up and found Jet on his knees, the armour dissipating into shadows, clearly stunned by the blow.
The four victorious bullies advanced on Jet now, weapons raised, having gotten up from the knock-down blow that was that dark blast.
"Had enough?" Cardin jeered as his cronies laughed and taunted. To Ruby's surprise, Jet rose to his feet, and locked eyes with his opponent. Ruby noticed that the shadows around Jet were coalescing again, and she had a feeling she knew what was coming.
"Not yet." Jet grunted as he stood tall, the shadows forming around himself. This was it. Ruby knew now.
The darkness dissipated, and Ruby recognised the suit at once. Jet gazed at Cardin from inside Jet Black Phantom, and the crystals floating behind him pointed their tips threateningly at the entirety of Team CRDL as he hovered ever-so-slightly above the ground. Ruby recognised Astro Reaper, the deadly evolution of Midnight Rose, which gleamed in the crystals' light.
Without warning, the crystals assuming a rotating pattern and glowing yellow, Jet opened portals underneath all four of his opponents, and sent them a good 100 metres away from them. The crystals then turned to icy blue and they fired dozens upon dozens of ice shards in a hailstorm of frozen projectiles. The four boys dived for cover as shard upon shard of ice was catapulted towards them.
"No hiding!" Jet yelled, before slashing Astro Reaper in front of him, creating a thin wave of force that exploded outwards and sliced through the bushes and benches alike, blasting Dove, Sky and Russell out and shattering their auras. Cardin, however, resisted the impact, and began to run at Jet, who was still a fair distance away.
Jet responded by firing the ice shards, the crystals flaring into life as they sent icy projectiles in great numbers at Cardin, but he merely flared up his mace and created a shield of fire in front of him, destroying each projectile as he closed with Jet, who flew at him, giving every sign that he was charging his red pulse.
The two combatants smashed into one another, and a great blast of flame and red energy sent both sailing backwards through the air, Cardin landing flat on his back, and Jet spinning backwards through the air as he righted himself, coming to a stop several metres off the ground. Cardin instantly leapt to his feet and fired another explosive blast.
Jet dropped to the ground to avoid it, but Cardin dashed towards him and swung his mace in a wide, quick, arc. Jet was knocked out of his armour again as he was sent flying backwards, the suit itself disintegrating back into the darkness.
Jet knelt on one knee as Cardin approached him. He wore a defeated expression. His legs were slackened, and he looked as though his strength had deserted him. Ruby watched as he was grabbed and held up by his shirt, such that his feet were off the ground.
"Lots of tricks. But still…" Cardin said, before slamming Jet into the ground, and Ruby saw the dark purple flash that signalled his aura finally collapsing, "…weak."
He turned towards Ruby, and she finally felt pure fear, but it was a terror that gnawed at both her heart and her mind. Was Jet ok?
She was distracted from her thoughts and Cardin's grinning face by a short, coarse laugh, and she realised that Jet was the one laughing. Evidently Cardin noticed, because he wheeled around.
"What's so funny?" Cardin asked, stomping towards him. Jet coughed, before turning his gaze from the overcast skies above to his snarling face. Ruby saw his grin.
"Spare a moment to look behind you, sir." Jet requested, and both Cardin and Ruby did as they were bade, and saw a very furious Goodwitch behind a concerned Ozpin, both of whom regarded Cardin with piercing expressions.
"But, how?" Cardin grunted in confusion. As Ruby looked from the teachers to Cardin in an equal state of confusion, she noticed Izzet appear out of the corner of her eye. The short girl walked over to Jet, who nodded, and understood.
Izzet must have been working behind the scenes while the fight was occurring, making sure Cardin was the one to blame, and that the teachers were there to see it happen. But how did she know Jet was in trouble?
This, and a thousand other questions swirled around Ruby's head, tuning out Goodwitch and Ozpin, blurring Izzet as she healed Jet with a red light, and even as they then approached her. Ruby shook her head to clear it, then gazed up with re-focussed eyes at Jet.
'Come with us.' Izzet's telepathy sounded from the back of her head as the girl herself held out a hand, grasping Jet's hand with her other. Ruby complied with her silent request, and vanished.
Izzet deposited her two passengers in a small field that stood between Sunset Hill and the Emerald Forest. With a nod in response to Ruby's "thank you", she vanished, leaving the two alone. Jet averted his gaze almost immediately, almost as if he didn't want to look at her. It was very awkward as it was.
"So…" Ruby tried to begin, desperate to break this awkwardness, "are you ok?"
"Physically, yes." Jet commented, still not meeting her eyes, but playing with a small piece of grass in his fingers. "Izzet healed my body, but I'm being torn apart inside. What happened back in the field," he closed his eyes as if in pain, "I don't ever want to bring my full power to bear on you like that ever again, but you need to be aware that I have grey areas that MUST remain grey where anyone is concerned."
"I need to know what you're trying to do though." Ruby said, and remembered what Blake had gone through. "I need to know if there's anything I can do to help."
Jet paused for a moment, as if he was mulling over his words, while Ruby waited with baited breath. Finally, he spoke.
"You've no idea how much I want to confess my mission to you, every single detail. But I can't, because of two promises; the first to a being beyond time and space, and the second to myself."
Ruby waited, as if engaging in a silent staring contest, not taking her eyes off him. He seemed to almost shrink under her gaze, and continued.
"But I'm not blind. I know this secrecy is driving a rift between us. So," he said, as he lay back, using his arms to support his weight, "ask me, and I'll see what I can give you."