Welcome to Gaia! ::

“Ari,” she replied. She shook her head at him, smiling slightly all the while. “It’s been... interesting... meeting you, Tom.” Interesting and different. Whether those were good things or not, only time would tell, Ari thought.

What might have turned into an enjoyable, flirting-filled walk home was all too suddenly derailed. A scream pierced the air. Ari halted, head swinging to the left where the noise had emanated from. A growling-hissing sound followed, an indication that this wasn’t some regular mugging or human-driven assault.

Ari was out of Tom’s coat in a flash, tossing it back in his back. Moving backwards, she shot him a regretful smile. “Sorry, looks like we’re splitting up after all. Better go wait for your club to open, ‘kay?” Then she turned and bolted. Rounding the corner, she entered a dead-end street (with a number of closed garage doors indicating it was used for private or underground parking, when open). A figure lay crumpled at the far end, the civilian already knocked out with a thin trickle of blood running down her forehead. Between Ari and civilian crouched a giant lizard. Giant by lizard standards, that is – it wasn’t quite as tall as Ari herself, but still far beyond what a lizard ought to be. Thin and spindly, it rested on its haunches, front legs raised and sporting wicked claws the length of one of Ari’s fingers. And it was now staring right at her.

Totally focused on the threat (and civilian) in front of her, Ari didn’t even think about the civilian she’d just left behind. Whipping a pen out of nowhere, she cried out, “BirhanIsat Makeup Power!”

And the lightshow began.

The youma was well and truly focused on the new intruder by now, wincing through the light show, then turning to face Birhan. Moving prey was more fun than unconscious prey – and the unconscious prey wasn’t going anywhere.

Birhan, for her part, was relieved to be missing the dual burdens of sports bag and exposure to the elements. Her fuku might not have covered anything more than her workout clothes had, but she noticed the cold less than before. She eyed off the lizard-youma, as if only now realising that she had no way of using her attack without another senshi present.

But Fate was being nice today.

“Mind if I lend a hand?” a deep voice spoke up.

Glancing over her shoulder, Birhan blinked at the newcomer. A male senshi, she was guessing, since white didn’t seem to be the colour of choice for the enemy. She seemed to keep attracting the boys, too. There were other female senshi out there, right? Somewhere?

“Be my guest,” she invited the male senshi. “I do hope you have as nice an attack as the last boy I met.” Mmm, fire claws. Those had been fun to use.

And would come in handy right about now, as the youma decided that break time was over and leapt towards the two senshi, four sets of claws extended...

Birhan was too busy trying to dodge the youma to reply right away. Hissing as the claws raked her arm, she danced back, closing to the newcomer. She risked shooting him a glance. “Yeah? Now’d be a nice time to dirty up, then.”

Cursing the lack of offensive firepower, she darted back into the fray. A high kick at the youma’s head was followed with a low sweep, then a strong mid punch. The b*****d dodged the first two and only received a glancing hit from the last. It was fast. Birhan scowled and darted in again.