At Jet's insistence, Dennis took him and Ruby to the nearest training arena in order to hone their skills. They'd expected it to be harder to get a place, but to their amazement, they found that one of them had a vacancy for an entire day. Upon their arrival, Dennis had immediately paired Jet and Ruby against each-other, with his excuse being 'to watch the machinery'.
Now, Ruby stood on one side, Jet on the other. It was impossible to stare into those green eyes without feeling nervous. He had incredible power, and was hands down one of the best fighters Ruby ever knew. She'd even heard about his duel with Ozpin, not only holding his own but nearly winning, the only reason he lost being a drop in his guard.
That wasn't to say Ruby held herself low either. On the contrary, despite Jet's strength, she was strong too, and Jet wasn't invulnerable. If she fought him right, she would come out on top.
She rehearsed the battle plan she'd came up with on the way to the arena.
Jet's attacks were stronger than normal, and he could also use other people's semblances, but his attacks and defences came at the cost of a little of his aura each time. He could restore himself up to full aura with a super-activation of his Dharc armour, but that was a double edged sword. Ruby knew that if he did that, his aura would restore, yes, but it would deplete more rapidly, and Jet had no way to restore it beyond his super-activations.
All Ruby needed to do was make sure that she didn't get hit too many times by his attacks and force him to use his aura in defence, and eventually she'd be able to break his armour and aura and take the match. The question was, how long would that be?
She stared Jet down once again. She knew he was waiting. The moment she stepped towards him, he'd attack. She unfolded her beloved Crescent Rose, and watched as he mirrored her movements, Midnight Rose appearing from shadows billowing around Jet. She shivered, something that always seemed to happen when she saw that duplicate of her own weapon.
Jet's wings extended from behind him too. Ruby paused, having forgotten that he could indeed fly, but remembered that Jet rarely took flight while fighting. It made him slow in the air, something he couldn't afford as a liability, especially against a fast opponent like Ruby. He pointed his scythe, fully extended, at Ruby, and made one statement, one that carried great meaning to some, but not to Ruby, until much later.
"Remember, no plan survives first contact with the enemy."
Ruby was about to retort when something stopped her. Did Jet know she had formulated a battle plan?
Ruby took the first move, and triggered her semblance before flying at Jet, scythe blade whirling in her classic frontal attack. Jet deflected it, his aura dropping a little, and watched as Ruby came to a halt behind him, before she spun around and charged again, this time aiming at Jet's back with a downward swipe. Once again, Jet blocked, and Ruby followed up with several more slashes, spinning on the spot in constant motion to avoid his inevitable retaliation.
Only it never came.
Jet warped after her third strike to the opposite side of the arena, and Ruby paused, watching as he adopted that same ready stance, emotionless. Why wasn't he attacking?
She checked his aura, and sat that he'd barely dropped below 90%. She remained at 100%, as Jet hadn't done any damage back yet. What was he doing?
Shaking her head, Ruby charged for the third time at high speeds. The only reason Jet had been able to block her attacks thus far was because he had Ruby's semblance too, and could respond with the same speed. Ruby swung at his side, and overextended. She could almost see Jet's counter coming as if in slow motion. The haft of Midnight Rose deflected her blade, and at the same time, the laser blade slashed Ruby's leg, the flash of her aura indicating a hit.
Stopping behind Jet, who still hadn't moved, Ruby watched as her aura indicator came to rest at 75%, where Jet's stopped at 85%. So that was his counter-plan. He was waiting for her to make mistakes, and would conserve his limited aura for blocking her good attacks. In that case, it was time to turn up the pressure, with a couple of moves he wasn't expecting.
Ducking a purple fireball that was flung in her direction from Jet, she once again triggered her semblance and began to run in circles around Jet, taking occasional swipes here and there. Jet flawlessly repelled each attack, but his aura depleted rapidly, the critical side-effect of his aura fuelled offense and defence.
Ruby noticed him beginning to shine red as his aura dropped to 45% and realised with a jolt that he was about to use the Red Pulse. Said realisation came a moment too late, as Jet unleashed it point-blank, blasting Ruby away and cutting her aura, dropping it to around 40%, whereas Jet now had 30% left.
She watched Jet now, as he traced a large circle in the air in front of him, one that glowed red. As soon as he completed the circle, his aura dropped to 5%. Was this a new attack?
"Try this on for size!" Jet yelled. "Deus Down!"
The circle exploded with a red blast of force that extended in all directions from Jet like a plume of foul, crimson miasma. Ruby felt it rush around her, but it had no effect, until she felt every nerve ending set alight with pain. She cried out and curled up into a ball against this searing pain, and heard Jet yell in pain as well. Mercifully, it ebbed after a few seconds. Standing back up, she saw Jet rise, glowing red due to his low aura.
"What was-" Ruby asked, before her eyes were drawn to the aura indicators. Hers was 5% too!
"That's Deus Down, a power I unlocked through intense hatred." Jet explained, readying Midnight Rose. "By cutting my Aura down to low levels, I can do the same to you, and it's inescapable. And now," he said, surrounding himself in familiar, deep shadows, "it's time for this to end."
He became invisible to Ruby, who was still shocked. He'd never used a power of the dark god against her before, and if that was just one of them… Ruby broke out into a cold sweat at the memory of the pain she'd just underwent. It felt like every cell in her body had been set ablaze, then cooled rapidly like hot iron. Ruby stiffly readied Crescent Rose as she watched Jet's aura restore itself. This was not good.
"From the void it comes, a persona of emptiness and despair! Rise forth from the depths and stand by my side! Jet Black Phantom!" Jet roared, and a keening cry from the suit that Ruby knew was there sounded out. Ruby looked up as he emerged from the shadow, purplish armour and Astro Reaper all present.
Ruby immediately ran at Jet despite her tiredness. She knew that this suit had very powerful ranged attacks, and did not want to give Jet an excuse to use them. He opening swipe was deflected by a purple shield, and she was forced to leap over the returning swipe from Astro Reaper, ducking under an ice blast fired from a dust crystal, jumping over another, blocking Astro Reaper again, and swiping at Jet's chest only for it to be blocked by the shield again. Jet followed with a one handed swipe at Ruby that was ducked, but his other hand shot out and grabbed Ruby's leg!
She felt herself being whipped up and slammed into the ground, chest first, only seeing the aura indicator drop to one single line on the bar, before a crashing blow on the small of her back blasted through her aura and ended it.
At once, she felt the scythe in Jet's hands disappear, and the arms that lifted her to her feet didn't have armour on them. She felt herself roll over until they were face to face, and felt his minty breath as he held her close.
"I'll never get used to using my powers against you, my sweet." he whispered.
"You have to. For practise, right?" Ruby whispered back, trying to reassure him.
"Yeah." he replied. Ruby pulled his head closer and kissed him, before she forced him to put her down. She then waved at Dean in the stands, wanting him to come. He got the message, and leaped over the barrier into the arena.
"You knew, didn't you?" Ruby asked him. "About my plan."
He replied with a wry smile, and Ruby had her answer. To think her own boyfriend could not only see straight through her and counter her battle plan. Ruby understood now what he'd meant when he said 'no battle plan survives first contact with the enemy'.
"Your turn to face him." she insisted, as Jet splashed her with the healing power. Dennis had a grin on his face.
"Yer both partners right?" he asked.
"Always." Jet replied, a little breathlessly.
"Then ye both face me. I have a few tricks o' me own." he said, before walking to the other side of the arena.
"Is he nuts?" Jet asked Ruby from beside her. "After what he saw?"
"Let's see." Ruby said, grinning as Jet caught her drift, and looked at Dennis.
Two scythes unfolded. Two Roses gazed upon their enemy. Two minds analysed him.
The Roses of Darkness looked upon Dennis, and he had to admit to himself, he felt a little cowed by the intimidating sight of the two lovers, including his old pupil. Still, he would give them the best fight he could.