Weight of the World-p.r.s

22-unprocessed emotions and a hard place

That night, Brooke stood in the middle of the outdoor dojo. Dressed in her training uniform, the silver glow of the moon- a waxing crescent, reflected off of her two katanas and illuminated her features. Grey-gold eyes narrowed as she stared down her opponent, which was a samurai. Not a samurai ranger, but a traditional samurai, such as the ones that were present in feudal japan. The samurai was glowing in transparent silver, as it was made out of symbol power, but, other than that, it looked like the real thing. Armor and all- which Brooke thought the armor would be a nice challenge and was wielding a katana. The samurai and the silver samurai ranger circled each other for a moment, then, Brooke charged.

The samurai's fighting style was different, but Brooke managed. She realized Jayden used some of the same stances, and that made sense, but it was clear that the red ranger had put his own swing, pun intended, on things. Seeing the moves used as how they traditionally were was incredibly different, but Brooke didn't have time to think about it. She just had to win the battle, even though the samurai's strong strikes caused her stance to waver. She just took it as a sign of weakness and kept fighting, returning with her own strikes and swings. The sound of metal colliding with metal filled the outdoor dojo and reverberated off of the wooden walls of the Shiba House. Luckily, the others were asleep, so Brooke didn't have to deal with people telling her to go to bed. Or so she thought.

Blue eyes were trained on Brooke and the samurai, Jayden's mouth turned into a small frown. Not about the way Brooke was fighting, it was clear that she knew what she was doing, but rather the anger behind her swings. He didn't know why she was angry- well, it was more frustration, and it was worrying. Jayden knew he was probably worrying too much- far more than from a leader aspect, but Brooke's moves were almost feral. They were quick, strong, and precise, and the second thought that flashed through Jayden's mind was that it was attractive, in an intimidating, deadly way. The muscles in her arms flexed as she did a backwards handspring, and she landed on her feet, blocking the samurai's katana with both of her own.

However, with the intensity of the swing, it was clear that Brooke lost her balance, falling back. She grit her teeth, raising her katana to protect herself from the samurai's downward swing. Jayden watched as an unrecognizable emotion flickered across her face, her eyes turning pure gold and her upper lip curling around her canines. She did a backward roll, quickly hopping to her feet and rushing the samurai again.

"The ideal soldier." Deker's words rang in Jayden's mind, and his eyes widened slightly. The experimentation- he realized that his father made Brooke into a soldier. He recalled the last few battles and noticed that she seemed to have improved exponentially, but her attacks were angry. Rather than cutting down moogers, she had been stabbing them through the heart. It only happened sometimes- but Jayden had picked up on it. At first, he had brushed it off, thinking it was just her wolf senses, but then she realized that was how she fought. It was a sound way of fighting, but also incredibly unnerving. Looking back on it, Brooke had started to fight that way after she found out her past, and it made sense. But it also made Jayden guilty. He didn't know why, it just did.

Turning his attention back to Brooke, it was clear that she settled into a routine, her face set into an almost emotionless expression. However, she suddenly broke that routine when she did a backwards handspring, throwing one of her katanas in the air. It spun in the air, and as it fell, Brooke kicked it. The sole of her foot connected with the hilt of her katana and the force sent the silver sword hurtling towards the samurai, tip facing towards it. The katana pierced through the samurai's armor, skewering the samurai in the heart. Brooke wasted no time, sprinting over and wrenching her katana out of the samurai's chest.

Letting out a yell, which was more of a growl, Brooke performed to identical sideways slashes. The two attacks successfully cut through the samurai and killed it, the soldier disappearing in a flash of silver. Brooke just stood there for a moment, her chest heaving as she panted. She felt disgusting, her training uniform was starting to stick to her body due to sweat, but she also felt satisfied. Her arms burned, but it was the satisfying after-workout burn, and her katanas disappeared in a flurry of silver particles. Brooke let herself go back into her usual mentality, turning her focus to the world around her rather than her opponent. The smell of smoke and cologne filled her nose, and she heard Jayden's familiar footfalls.