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It had started out a fantastic night; Sailors Scylla and Ares were going to be making a sweep together, mostly just to see how they meshed in combat. It was going to be a simple Nega sweep, and they'd thought they found someone. It had looked to be going well.

Now Sailor Scylla and Sailor Ares were standing next to each other, perched in the branches of a tree and watching the small pack of youma-dogs tear their way through the underbrush in their pursuit of them. "Well that didn't go so well." Scylla said wryly, referring to the fact that they were in a tree and the youma were bouncing around them like rabid rabbits. "I've fought youma like this before." With Castor, and he'd saved her a**. "Vicious little bastards." But they were minor enough annoyances now; the issue was catching them in one group so that she could just strangle them all at once. And that issue was just about resolved.

Leaves were rustling around them as they shifted- an awful lot of rustling for a windless night- and the Senshi of the Kraken tried to reposition herself for a better angle on the annoyances. Unless she wanted to destroy the tree they were in as well as getting a grip on some of the youma, she needed to have a better vantage. She was looking down, distracted by yapping. That was why, she would claim later, she didn't see the tree branch that was going right for her head.

Jada had been treed, and then beaten by a tree. The branch swung into contact with her, Ares' warning belated but effective. Her hands clung to another branch on the tree that she was standing on, and she blinked until the spots cleared. "Thanks for the warning." her voice was dry, but not sarcastic. That could have gone a lot worse without Ares' voice calling her attention to the danger.

Something groaned behind them, leaves rustling again. It really wasn't windy. There was a crack, as if something else was moving, something else coming toward the sounds of combat. "We do need to clear these suckers out quick." Scylla agreed. "And frankly, I'm already a little on the tired side." which meant, as Ares was surely coming to recognize since they'd started patrolling, that control over her power could be less than desirable. "Where is Laocoon when we need a sharp implement?"

A breath in, a breath out. Another, harder crack from behind them, and another branch came swooping in their direction.

"Oh my- <********>, Ares!' It was the first coherent thing out of Scylla's mouth after she watched her friend leap out of the tree, drop kicking a youma into a trashcan and taking off at a sprint. Somehow Sailor Ares had even managed to collect all of the little yappers behind her, chasing her like a- well, like a normal dog chased a bone, or a cat chased string.

Scylla leaped to the limb of the next tree over, chasing them aerially, until she finally had a vantage. "Scylla's HUNGER!" she cried, and a barrier was erected between the running Ares and the pursuing youma; three of them ran headlong into the thrashing limbs, which proceeded to grab and bind the wolf-like creatures, the hungry sucker-mouths tearing through youma flesh faster than they could any human, negaverser or not. It still wasn't the mouths that were doing the damage, however; it was the viselike grip that was trademark to her attack, pulling at the front legs of the first youma, pulling them apart mindlessly, as if trying to tear the youma limb from limb.

Two of the youma escaped the initial trap, however, one of them stopping short and the other jumping over the tentacles to catch his prey. The one that had stopped was growling at this new enemy that had appeared.

Ugggh. Scylla fought back a visible wave of nausea as two of the arms she'd summoned ripped the youma apart. Literally. One of them dropped its half, slowly stretching out toward the beast that had managed to stop. One by one the other arms did as well, joining their sibling tentacle in their hungry pursuit of more. If asked, Jada would call her power greedy, hungry even.

The youma that had gotten over her trap distracted her as it sprang at Fal- well, Ares' face. The other senshi was holding it off well for the moment, but was that blood on her arm? She couldn't tell from where she was. "I'm still in a tree, boss." she called back to Ares. "Figure I'll get down when I need to. I like being taller than you." The youma that was facing her arms gave a heavy bark, posturing at the predators that were patiently inching their way across him on the ground. Did she have time for this? Scylla willed them from the ground, dipping into her own energy to control the actions her 'allies' were doing. They struck again, quickly, and the youma leapt into the air, landing on the first and tearing into it with its teeth.

Scylla felt it, though not physically. Her power was an escape tactic, or was supposed to be. She'd found more versatile uses for it, she was sure. But she could feel the tingle down the back of her spine that signified the drain on her use of the powers she wielded. Still, go little youma dog. Its bite had torn deeply, disabling the slender arm with its teeth and finally the youma was panting over it victoriously; until its partner grabbed it round the middle and whipped it around in a sharp circle. There was an audible crack, and then the tentacle tossed the discarded carcass at the last remaining hound, who was doing a little dance with Ares. The tentacles vanished, and Scylla shook a hair as she lowered herself into a seated position in the tree branch, preparing to jump down if needed.

"I always liked ballroom classes." Jada sounded vaguely thoughtful, a careful eye on Ares and Fallon. She willed a few of her limbs away, reserving her power for a second assault on the final hound. "One two three, one two- three!" she whipped out with one of the slimy limbs, making a grab for the youma as it dodged the slung body of its companion. She missed, unfortunately, but her attack helped distract the beast from Ares, who had hit the ground. Combat was an enjoyable game for Jada, who always lost at strategy games like Chess, and Risk. Why? ... damned if she knew.

She started to drop from the tree, and was hanging on only by her hands when the youma hound... got bigger. Oh, s**t! Back into the tree, back into the tree, back into the treee! You can do this, she decided, and her magic-created limbs vanished, and she leaned down, ready to give Ares a hand up if she needed it. A barrier would be effective; an all out assault for this one huge joker. She should be able to do it, and Ares could take her little branch-stick like she'd had earlier and just stab it.

Plan formulated. Hand extended.

She grunted as she flipped back up after boosting Ares. "I need to do more gymnastics. Remind me that next training session, ok?" There was no need to say 'welcome' for the hand. By then, the youma was jumping on the tree, roughly the size of a small horse, claws scrabbling desperately. The crack alarmed Scylla, and she immediately puled back her tentacle-limbs from where they thrust through the dirt, reserving the power for more important things- like emergency jumps to the next tree. Ares was already doing what she did best- preparing to kill something. It was with almost envy that Jada watched Fallon- no, this was Ares, with Fallon peeking through only rarely- move through the tree as though she belonged there, only to 'shoot' the youma with her attack.

Until the tree fell over, and Scylla found herself suspended in midair, leaping for the next tree over. She crashed into the branch, losing her breath and probably bruising a rib.

The distraction that Ares was able to cause with her attack could almost be envied by Scylla, who knew flat out that she was either firepower or one mean line of defense, if she had backup to sustain her. Where was the originality? She never got to shoot smoke out into giant youma-eating tornadoes. The sounds of battle inside said smoke tornado were almost comical in nature. It was like watching an old cartoon on television, with the occasional glimpse of a limb popping out, and cries of pain; one could almost imagine the various expletive symbols popping out the sides. %**#*(!#(!! or perhaps the more common @#$%*&^$#@#*^@%?

When the dust settled, Scylla leapt down from her tree to go hail the conquering hero. "I let you have that one." she told Ares confidentially, lifting her white glove to the other senshi's face to wipe off some of the blood. How deep were the scratches? "But it is only because you are my bestest friend, so I love you." Eww, blood. And youma dust.

Alarm bells went off as Scylla watched Ares- watched Fallon- fall forward, hitting the ground in a pose that she knew herself far too well. Her friend was proud, so she tried really hard not to scuttle over there like a worry wart or mother hen. Neither of those modes would be appreciated. Fallon already had a mother to worry about her, and to worry about.

Instead, she turned her attention to the wound that was pointed out to her. "It looks deep." she said finally, "Though not so bad as it could be. Lets get you to my house quick. You shouldn't be in this cold too long, I don't want to risk shock. And you can indulge in a nice lukewarm shower, or bath or something if it isn't too bad." If it was, Scylla knew a place she could get Ares looked at. "But aside from the potential of your body freaking out on you, it is a good thing. Long sleeves would be hard to explain in summer." Not as much for Fallon as others; Fallon always dressed nicely.

Ares ripped apart part of her bow, and started to bind her wound; Scylla took over, binding tightly as she dared, stopping mostly when she thought she saw a wince. "I know a place we can get you sewn up, if you do decide you need it." She said conversationally. "Off the record, too. I've been there before. The area is a little red-light, but the place is clean." The extra plus was that the only cost was making sure people didn't get too fresh with the women there. It was a nice little 'hospital' that Castor had shown her. "I am fine." She said, and smiled at Ares. "Unlike some people, I can stay in trees and let my baby do all the dirty work." She patted the Kraken brooch between her breasts lightly. "But you're right. I think we lost the guy." One last tug on the bandage, and Scylla stood up.

The night air was getting cold, and Scylla reached down a hand to Ares to help her up, if she wanted the aid.