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Were all youma this damn hard to kill, or had the pair of them simply stumbled onto something a little heartier the. You're average mindless minion? Her experience with beasts of the negaverse was extremely limited, having only really seen the giant from the surrounding, but surely they weren't all might Goliaths like the sinew covered dragon that had nearly won chaos it's war. There wouldn't be any white moon soldiers left if that were the case.

Her attack launched, Navi stared after the youma with narrowed eyes, breaths falling from drying lips in pain shortened pants. The hand she had pressed to her side was stained, blood contrasting brightly against pale skin.

She flinched as Grant ran up to her and pressed his coat against her wound, leaning against him as a tremor shook her knees and threatened to spill out her mouth in a whimper. "I can't let you die for me," she murmured stubbornly against his shoulder. "Not again.." It was barely a whisper. She wouldnt accept defeat, it wasn't allowed. She bit her tongue against the whimper, held back that helpless sound of defeat, and curled an arm around her boyfriend, tugging at him to get him moving again.

The beast had recoiled, but for how long. They needed to leave. If her attack hadn't killed it they were in serious trouble. "I don't know of I'm strong enough to defeat this thing." It hurt to admit it, but the pain in her side with each quick step was reminder enough that she was still mortal, and she did have her limits. "You need to escape."

Poor Grant, she was trying to urge him to do something that was unthinkable for the young man. She knew it, she didn't need his wide, troubled eyes, or the shake of his head in protest as he helped her run. It hurt Navi's heart to see it.

She really wasnt sure what they were going to do to get out this. Physical and magical attacks only seemed to piss the youma off, and with her now injured she was only going to be able to slow it down so mug before it simply over powered her. And then where would Grant be? Defenseless. There was. I brilliant plan that came to mind on how they were going to survive this, no last ditch efforts that would pan out. Only their feet kicking up snow as they ran.

It was the only idea that came to mind. Keep moving, stay ahead of it, and pray for a little luck.

Navi stumbled, but Grant swept her up and into his arms, holding her against his chest as he continued their vain bid for escape. It made her look up at him, almost smile, but the sight she caught over his shoulder was enough to snuff out that little little stubborn spark of hope. She swore loudly, curled her fingers into Grant's shirt then gave a pained yelp as the youma struck.

The impact sent them both bouncing across the snow, and Navi lost her grip on her boyfriend's shirt as her head collided painfully with a rock hidden by the snow. Blackness erupted across her vision, everything slanted to the side, and when she tried to rise up on hands and knees the world beneath her spun and sent her tumbling to the side.

She heard Grant running towards her, saw him drawing nearer, and her idiom dissolved into blackness.

It had been hard to miss the commotion--the clashes of the battle raging across the snow covered ground. Silently, the cat had skulked through the shadows to better watch, his round eyes wide and fearful. Youma. There was a reason that Grendel had vanished from the Negaverse once Nealite had...

The once chubby tabby was thin and gaunt now, shoulder bones jutting out sharply even as he flattened himself to the earth, ignoring the cold, wet bite of the snow. The power radiating from the newest arrival was almost overwhelming. He had heard rumors, whispers of a new group of senshi--and it seemed as though he had unwittingly stumbled upon them. Still, there was a reason the guardian cat had stayed here this long, and his eyes fixed on the man.

"Stay your hand, Princess," The cat cautioned even as he crept from the shadows, still low to the ground as though that would help stay the other's ire. "There's more than meets the eye, to this one." Yes, he was sure of it now--that same, tingling feeling he got whenever he somehow knew a senshi was nearby.

What better way to keep alive than to prove himself useful to potential new allies?

Pale eyes flickered nervously around them, as though waiting for Negaverse agents to spring up out of the gloom at any moment. "No, Princess," He agreed hastily, dipping his head after a moment, allowing his paws to carry him closer to the wounded senshi. She was hurt, but alive--she'd go on to fight another day, this time. Too young. They were all too young.

Catching himself after a moment, the guardian cat tilted his head. "Grendel." Curt, perhaps, but he saw no need to bring up past affiliations, less she take him on as an enemy--but Chaos, she'd said. Yes, he could sense it now, and the sheer momentum of such an opportunity took him off guard. What were the chances he would stumble across the leader of the Dark Mirror Court--a supporter of Chaos?

"I will do anything you ask of me, Princess. I will not claim to have much experience in Awakening senshi, but I have done it once before. With your help--it would be feasible. Very feasible."

Perhaps he should have felt guilt, but as it was, Grendel only felt the first shimmers of excitement. Another senshi on their side, ready to help, ready to do what needed to be done. They couldn't waste this chance.

His tail whisked back and forth for a moment, though he wisely chose not to comment on said mistake. He was still young--his mouth had gotten him into too much trouble, before. "I'll do my best, Princess," The cat conceded, only briefly betraying himself by pausing hesitantly.

Summon the pen of the senshi... The bony cat allowed his eyes to close as he concentrated, trying not to think too much about it. This was supposed to be natural--he was supposed to know how to do this. With surprising grace, the guardian unexpectedly performed a neat back flip---and a pen was neatly deposited in the snow.

Shaking himself a bit to get rid of the disorientation, the cat planted a paw on top of the pen, frowning to himself before, satisfied, he nodded and glanced up at Ares. "It's ready."

What was she going to do? Despite himself, he was incredibly curious. He'd seen civilians being corrupted before, but never senshi... and this was a whole different ball game, entirely.

The senshi-to-be was talking to Ares, but she was too focused on her upcoming conversion to pay too much attention to him, even as he was simply asking to go check on Navi.

The process of creating a senshi from scratch was much more challenging than corrupting an already awakened one. But the incident at the Surrounding had given Ares enough experience. With the tip of her torch, the Princess flicked the pen up at the injured boy, and then with a swing of the other end of her torch sent the glowing black mirror flying directly into his body.

Glass shattered in thick chunks, but instead of clattering to the ground, it stabbed into the flesh of the boy before her. The shards hover for a moment, but then absorbed in a flash of bright, dark black light that left behind a new person altogether:



When the light cleared, Princess Ares was left with the familiar shape of a Dark Mirror Senshi. Leaning toward Grendel, she said quietly, "Who is this?" Sphere, name -- she didn't have the power to see that.

Then, louder to the boy, she said: "Welcome to the Dark Mirror Court, soldier. We have much to discuss, but first, I need to see that Navi is all right."

If Grant hadn't known what was happening before, he was very hopelessly lost now. A pen being tossed his way prompted him to try and catch it. A mirror being thrown at him? He hadn't been expecting that and certainly couldn't defend against it. He didn't try.

He let out a cry of surprise, maybe pain, maybe fear: an amalgamation of all three. He stumbled backwards and everything, his entire world, changed.

Literally, figuratively, everything. He thought he was being killed: this was what dying was. Darkness and light all at once, but when it cleared and the throbbing, soundless echo that filled his ears faded, he was standing on his own two feet, in his own mind, but it was different.

There was something else in him.

He looked at his hands, his clothes, the fact that his body was largely whole, save for the injuries he had taken before the fight. He was like Navi, he thought, he was one of the senshi. That's what they had been talking about, the Queen and the cat. Him.

Welcome to the Dark Mirror Court. He looked at Ares and nodded his head, appreciative of her welcome, of course, though his heart was still skipping and he realized he was holding his breath. He looked at the cat, then, who gave him a new name.

Sailor Virtus, Senshi of Kindness.

"Oh! Navi!" He moved to join Ares at her side, seeing blood and wanting nothing more than to do something. He had power now, though he knew nothing of it. Still, they were magic. The Surrounding had been magic: it healed them before. It brought them back from death. If this was the same magic, surely he could help Lydia after she was hurt protecting him. "Please," he said, looking at the cat, at Area, back to Grendel, "what can I do? Can we fix her? It's my fault she's hurt..."

He didn't see how badly he was shaking, didn't feel how truly scared and utterly confused he was. He had strong mental blocks, maybe, or was truly gifted in the art of denial. Or maybe he just really was that worried for her. Either way, his focus was on Navi.

"Kindness," Ares echoed to Grendel. Hm. The sphere didn't strike her as one that would be entirely useful, but that was likely because the Princess of the Parallels had a hard time understanding the usefulness of things like kindness, mercy, love even. It didn't matter. Here was a new soldier, a new link to the world that was lost. There was no way Ares could be anything but overjoyed.

But there was an injured soldier to attend to, and that had to come first.

Ares was beside Navi with the new Virtus. The princess was moments away from scooping the Senshi of Tumbleweeds back up when suddenly her eyes opened. The name "Grant" was not one that Ares recognized, but she put two-and-two together to realize that her new soldier was this boy Navi was currently worried about.

Gray eyes moved to stare at the boy. "You brought our court a new member tonight, Navi -- even if you did something foolish to bring him here." What had caused the altercation with a youma anyway? Ares had no idea. Her assumption was simply that Navi had tried to protect a civilian from a youma... not exactly in the Dark Mirror's plans. But Ares had faith in her troops. She was sure Navi had a reason for her actions. And it was those actions that had brought Sailor Virtus to the cause.

"Can you move? We need to take you to a hospital, I think. It would be best if he did it." Fallon was not exactly the safest face in the world to parade around Destiny City. The Princess turned to Virtus now, handing him a small compact. "This is a mirrored compact communicator. You need to use it to call me. Just open the compact and say my name. I'll hear you. Update me on her condition one hour from now. That henshin pen Grendel gave you is the key to your transformation. Use it, call your name aloud, and you will become Virtus. But never compromise your identity."

The words were quick, to-the-point. Navi needed medical attention, and Ares didn't want to waste time. "Tell them you got mugged. You didn't see who did it. They didn't steal anything because you intervened. Once they patch her up, do what you can to get her out of there quickly. The quick healing can confuse doctors. We can't have too many questions." Ares pulled a piece of paper from her pocket and scribbled something down. "This is the phone number of someone named Quinn. If you need civilian help, call her. Tell her Lydia needs her help, and that Fallon gave you her number. She'll understand."

Ares turned back to Navi, touching her arm. "Come see me once you are able. Leto can be sent for me at any time." The Princess stood to her full height, one hand sliding her torch upright. "We need to clear out of this area." Again, back to Virtus: "Do you understand this, Virtus?"