King's fist was what ended their confrontation with the Sovereign class and its formerly growing pack. As the Beast class turned to dust, leaving behind only its unfiltered Myst core, King let out a laugh into the sky. Jayde swore he felt the earth under him shaking at the pure force of the man's voice. “That was amazing!” King proclaimed. “A little too short for my taste, but exhilarating nonetheless!” Body still shaking with the occasional chuckle, King began picking up the Myst cores.
Meanwhile, Jayde busied himself with making his way down from his perch. Engaging the hover function on Zhou’Yin and flying down was an option, but Jayde wasn’t a fan of not having the hover function at least half power in case of an emergency. And he wasn’t enough of a beast to just eat the damage from the fall like King would. He could just go back the way he got up, but that would be way-
“Need some help getting down, Sleepyhead?”
Isha’s voice jolted Jayde from his thoughts, and he looked up to find the raven haired woman giving him a tired grin. That fight had really taken a lot out of her staying afloat and controlling each individual dagger had probably drained her Flux faster than she’d like to admit. Jayde simply sighed and shook his head “Could ya at least try ta make me look cool on the way down, Isha?”
“You know I would never promise that, JayJay.”
Jayde rolled his eyes. “Fine, but lemme send Zhou’Yin ahead. You look abou’ ready ta keel off.” Isha simply rolled her eyes in response. She really must be exhausted if she didn’t have the power to run the motor attached to her vocal cords. With a triumphant smile that he hid by turning around, Jayde looked towards where he’d last seen King, his smile widened when he saw that Uriel had already made their way over. After a moment to take aim, Jayde began enhancing his arm, ignoring the shiver that ran up his spine as the Flux breathed energy into his muscles he then double checked his aim and let loose his, Zhou’Yin launching it towards his teammates.
He then turned to Isha and said, "Ready when you are, Isha.” The woman nodded, flapping her wings and grabbing the man by his armpits before moving forward and off of his little perch. She flew them towards where their teammates were, and all Jayde could think about was how much he hated this experience. The weird pit in his stomach grew heavier every second. Flying with Isha always felt unnatural, but Jayde knew better than to complain. He wasn’t keen on being a splatter on the ground below.
Soon they would arrive where King and Uriel were standing, with Isha keeping true to her words, as Jayde made his landing perfectly with his face planting itself into the sand right next to his weapon. Jayde’s anger soon turned to faux annoyance as the laughter of his friends reached his ears. He could even make out some chuckles made by their dear leader. Or the sand had penetrated his skull and caused hallucinations.
Once Jayde had cleaned himself up sufficiently, he looked to his friends, finding the three still smirking at his misfortune. Even Uriel couldn’t feign apathy at the sight, having lost a part of their mask in the battle, half their face was exposed, and the amusement was clearly visible in their visible golden eye. Characteristically, King was the first to express his concern.
Jayde could never be mad when that giant lug was around.
“Alls good, big guy.” Jayde patted him on the shoulder. “Ya know a small fall like ’hat ain’t gonna be the end o’ me.”
‘Too bad~’
Jayde clicked his tongue in annoyance. He was hearing that idiot's voice again.
“All the same, Jayde, let me know if you need me to do a checkup.” King's concern was rarely evaded, but Uriel knew when to bail Jayde out and when not to.
“Now that we are all here…” They spoke, authority clear in their tone even through the distorter that seemed to still be working by some miracle. Jayde was almost disappointed. “We have neutralized our target I have already contacted the Aurelight for evac. It should be here momentarily, ETA 10 minutes.”
“That theory about the Sovereign expanding its pack was true, huh?” Jayde chimed in with a frown. The briefing had only mentioned three Beast class, and a Wraith class hadn’t even been in the picture.
“No sh-”
“It would seem so,” Uriel cut Isha off with ease. “Be sure to mention that in your reports. While unexpected, it was not beyond the scope of probability.”
“Aye, I suppose yer right, cap’n,” Jayde sighed. He then looked around, scanning their surroundings with a weary eye. He was sure Uriel was doing the same. After confirming that nothing was close by, Jayde turned back to his friends and smiled at the sight of Isha with her eyes half shut even Uriel looked like they were ready to collapse. So with a nod to himself, Jayde turned his smile to his teammates. “Why don’t you an’ Isha take a caulk?” He nodded towards King, “Me an’ King’ll keep watch.”
“Negative, Jayde,” Uriel protested immediately, “Taking rest in the vicinity of a newly-” How predictable.
“-a newly vanquished Sovereign class is inadvisable without the presence of a Psychic Shield Manifestation.” Jayde cut her off with ease, earning a tired snort from Isha, who looked like she’d already fallen asleep while her body leaned against King's arm. “I shot that thing with a Sunscale Round, Uri. Mystborne don’t regenerate from regular Fire Myst rounds. If that thing can come back from tha’ mixed with an explosive round, I’d gladly let it kill me~”
“That does not matter. It is still my duty as your leader-” Uriel began to speak, but stopped as a yawn climbed through their body. They resisted the urge with all their might. They succeeded, but it came at a cost.
Jayde realized that Uriel was too tired to listen to logic. Tactics had to be changed, drastic measures needed to be taken. Jayde frowned and stepped forward, putting a hand on the hand that Uriel held their sheathed sword in. “Uriel, ya need ta rest,” he allowed his voice to soften as he spoke, “Me and King can handle watchin’ the dunes till the Aurelight gets here.”
Jayde almost flinched back when Uriel glared at him with their bright golden eye and featureless black lens. He could almost hear their teeth grinding. But soon, their shoulders would relax, and a sigh would leave them, making Jayde grow a small smile. “Fine. have it your way, BiXiao.” They turned around and sat themselves down on the sand with their legs crossed and then laid their sword across their legs. A few moments later, Jayde could hear the soft snores that suggested sleep.
Chuckling, Jayde moved to sit himself on a boulder close by to where they’d chosen to remain and, after a few taps on his glyph, contacted King, who’d sat himself on the ground with Isha still leaning against him.
“King speaking,” came the soft voice of their gentle giant.
“I’m already feelin’ bored, big boi, entertain me~” Jayde almost sang, keeping his eyes shifting around his surroundings.
“So the usual then, Jayde?” King responded, receiving a hum of affirmation in response. Jayde could almost hear the grin in the excited tone with which King began to speak. “You should’ve seen me, Jayde!” he declared, wincing when he felt Isha stir in his lap. Jayde heard a calming breath be released over the comm link before King continued his excited rambling. “Surrounded by four of the largest Wulfs I’ve seen, I swear the Beat types are somehow getting better-”
Jayde snorted “I saw~” he says, pausing to confirm that all he’d seen was a flickering shadow, King continued his excited rambling. “Which one of ‘em was the Alpha?”
King paused and began rubbing his chin “Hmmm…” Jayde frowned as he waited for the answer. “Honestly, don’t think any of them were an Alpha their bites all felt the same…”
“That…is weird.” Jayde frowned, looking over to where King sat to confirm what had been said as true, he was met with King's steady blue gaze. Jayde then turned away to resume his watch.
“Maybe having an Alpha around would have limited the Sovereign’s control?”
“Well, this was a juvenile, so that could be it…”
Thus, the next half hour passed by with the two men speaking about their latest encounter, though, in truth, it was mostly King speaking to Jayde while the other man gave the occasional input or question to lead the conversation as he pleased. But soon the silhouette of the Aurelight broke through the horizon, flying towards them.
Jayde grinned at the sight, before realization dawned on him and the grin turned itself into a grimace. Aside from the warm bed and even warmer meal that awaited him back at Helios Academy, there was also the conversation that Uriel was going to torture out of him if it was the last thing they did.
It didn’t take long after the arrival of the Aurelight for Team Kaiju to file in to the hold, seating themselves wherever they could before collapsing, save for Isha who had simply refused to wake herself up and instead remained fast asleep as King carried her into the hold and laid her across the seats on one side. Jayde wondered whether King even felt her weight, he’d been in charge of caring for Isha before and had barely felt her weight then.
A shoulder digging into his side interrupted Jayde’s train of thought. A hiss of pain was the reply his assailant got in response. He’d forgotten that they were probably still conscious and put down his guard.
He refused to look at them and instead quickly threw his gaze over to King in an attempt to get his assistance, but to his dismay, the giant had already fallen asleep and was snoring softly with his head dipped back. The boredom had gotten to him.
In his mind, Jayde silently cussed himself out but was once again shocked out of his thoughts with a sharper jab to his side. But this time the jab was accompanied by a voice.
“You owe me a conversation, BiXiao.” A voice that notably lacked any kind of distortion.
Jayde was about ready to scream out in frustration. Over the last two years of knowing them, Jayde had only seen Uriel's face a total of fifteen times! That was with them living and sleeping in the same room for the first year. Uriel, crazy bastard that they are, even wore the damn thing to sleep and somehow had discovered a way to eat with the thing still on.
Another jab brought him back to reality, and this time it was sharp enough to elicit a hiss from the unsuspecting green-haired young man.
“Talk.” The soft voice had gained an edge as cold and as sharp as the daggers that Isha wielded.
It was all too much for the young man to bear. With the curiosity to get a rare glimpse of his leader's face being the deciding factor, Jayde turned to meet the passive mask that was worn by Uriel Ulrich. If he hadn’t seen her face before, Jayde would probably have been starstruck.
For the sixteenth time since their first meeting, Jayde saw both of her golden eyes. Eyes so bright that his own verdant greens felt as dull as a rusted sword in comparison. Her red hair, cut short, painted a picture almost more intimidating than the mask of the plague that she wore. The mask, which now lay discarded on the floor by her feet. Jayde thanked himself for tying his own emerald hair back in preparation for the mission because the urge to tug and play with it was almost instinctual. In fact, his arms jerked involuntarily in an attempt to begin doing so before Jayde had wrestled control back.
He let out a sigh, shutting his eyes in an attempt to look like he was gathering his thoughts for their conversation. He felt the air at his side shift and quickly began speaking. “Alrigh’ alrigh’” He half glared at her before relenting, his shoulders falling reluctantly. “What d'ya wanna know, Uri?”