Welcome to Gaia! ::

While Ganymede was relieved to have the youma so deftly removed from his person—it had already gotten much too close for comfort, and it smelled of something foul—the replacement of a smaller form crashing down on top of him was hardly any better. Now not only was he pinned to the ground with a snarling, deformed rat youma nearby, but the air was momentarily knocked from his lungs in the collision.

Fortunately, the body on top if his was neither too heavy nor too viciously intent of mauling him, and he was able to move after a gasp and a few steadying breaths. He coughed and rubbed his sore chest through the restricting garment he wore, shifting the smaller senshi carefully aside so that he was able to sit up.

“I’m okay,” he wheezed out his reassurance, looking toward Tomlin and reaching to quickly pet his head in gratitude. “Just a little winded. Thanks for… I mean, with Peter. I know you did what you thought was best.”

And maybe it really was.

Ganymede looked at the newest chibi senshi… Oberon… and slowly climbed to his feet, helping his miniature ally up as well. Oberon looked so small and cute and young, but he gave off the air of one who was ready to help, and even though none of this was easy and all of it was dangerous, Ganymede was charmed by that sort of innocent tenacity. He was worried still, of course, and he had every intention of keeping an eye on him from now on, but if there was one kid who could take all this in stride and handle it with a boldness and a maturity beyond his years, it was Peter Gallo.

“I sure hope your magic’s better than what I’ve got,” he observed. He checked on the youma again and saw it climbing to its feet a few yards away. Protectively, Ganymede placed himself between it and Peter and Tomlin. “Remember last time at the park? If we hit it enough it’ll just bust into dust. Otherwise it could hurt a lot of people. Go ahead and give your magic a shot. Might as well find out what it does now so we can figure out how you can use it best whenever these things pop up.”

Tomlin butted his head against Ganymede’s petting hand, affectionate but just the tiniest bit annoyed at the tone of voice. It almost sounded as if the super senshi thought there’d been some other option. Oberon was a senshi, of course it was for the best. Any reservations the cat himself had had earlier had melted away like morning frost, all but forgotten as soon as the magic took hold. It had been ridiculous of him to hesitate. It couldn’t be any other way.

“It’s what I’m here for. He’s protected now,” he said, with only a slight pout, moving back to allow them both space to stand.

And that protection went two ways, he thought, considering their improved odds against the youma. He felt more at ease now Ganymede was no longer facing it down alone, relaxed enough to note how the pair immediately started working together, the older senshi taking the lead to direct his smaller partner. Teamwork was such a wonderful thing to see.

With the immediate danger surmounted, he focused on Oberon again as the chibi senshi felt out his magic, pacing around his legs, close enough to brush his tail against the boy’s knees in encouragement and feline support.

“Perfect, Oberon. That should do the trick!”

And then hastily stepped out of the way, behind Oberon’s boots, because even as a guardian, he couldn’t judge exactly what type of effect the magic was going to have on Ganymede, and the nature of adventure seemed likely to be a little unpredictable.




((I am so, so sorry, I don't even have words for how sorry I am. sad If you still want to finish this, feel free to ignore Tomlin to wrap it quickly, or let me know if there is something you would particularly like him to do. Again, my sincerest apologies for disappearing for so long on this one.))