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In some ways being a super senshi was no different to being a regular senshi – Athene still sneaked out around three or four times a week and still stopped by the late night diner most nights for a hot drink before powering up – not that the hot drink was as necessary as it had been during those week evenings in the shorts and t-shirt get-up that had formed his first senshi outfit, however old habits kind of died hard.

Today had been a hot chocolate type of night and the dark-haired senshi had been drinking it peacefully enough as he hit the patrol beat. Spring may have finally hit Destiny City and dark-haired senshi now had pants to patrol in rather than shorts – but it didn’t stop the evenings from still being somewhat nippy – nippy enough for Athene to appreciate the warmth from the hot chocolate.

The relative quiet evening was not to last though, the dark-haired senshi picking up what felt like a youma aura – no more than one youma aura – heading in his direction and relatively fast. There was a strong aura with them, not negaverse or senshi Athene was relatively sure of it. He was pretty sure it wasn’t one of those non-senshi senshi to as he started towards the youma. Hopefully it wouldn’t be one of those claw youmas, he’d not had much luck not getting scratched by those and really didn’t want to be stuck trying to think up a lie to explain away any potential scratches.

Well it seemed that some deity had decided to grant Athene’s wish for a ‘no claw’ youma – in the form of three youma that seemed more akin to frogs than anything else – well sans the hissing. As far as the dark-haired senshi was aware frogs didn’t hiss. At least the normal variety didn’t. “It’s nice to see you again Camelot” he said quietly. “Of course I’ll help.” He added “Well to the best of my ability.” Turning Super hadn’t exactly turned Athene into a super-dooper fighter.

From his brief glimpse of the other, it looked like Camelot like himself had had an outfit change – maybe something to do with the stronger aura he was sensing from the other, although now wasn’t really the time to catch up. He looked back over at the youma making their way over in their direction, before tossing the third full cup of chocolate in the direction of the closest one. It was meant more of a distractant more than anything else with the dark-haired senshi already moving towards something more suitable in the form of a nearby trash can.

Athene was relatively fast; after all his civilian alter-ego did spend a fair amount of time running both for fun and as part of track team. He was middle distance runner, rather than a sprinter however – his strength lying in building towards the finish rather than a fast pace from the outset.

In this case, Athene’s speed was no match for the bulbous-headed frog-like youma’s greed, the dark-haired senshi managed to skid to a sort of stumble-stop as the slimy-looking thing managed to cut him off from his intended target of the bin.

Stumbling backwards even further as thick, heavy legs kicked out at him, it looked like Plan A aka use the bin as a make-shift weapon was not going to be an option on the table for the dark-haired senshi.

At the sound of his name Athene looked over towards Camelot just as the knight tossed his shield towards his direction.

It was déjà vu mayhaps – their last team up had involved a tossed shield too. Back then the dark-haired senshi had still been a base level senshi and the shield had been light enough to spin in the air almost like a frisbee.

The shield this time round was larger and heavier – too heavy to spin as its counterpart once had. Instead it sailed part way in Athene’s direction before dropping short of the bead senshi with a crash. Although the dark-haired senshi hadn’t been standing still, had instead – once he’d figured out the Knight’s intention – taken the chance to try and make a half dash, half lunge for the shield.

The shield was large – actually to Athene, who Camelot had a fair bit of height on the shield seemed huge . Luck was on the dark-haired senshi’s side however and he reached the gleaming shield a little ahead of the frog-like youma who had abandoned the bin to hop after him.

Awkwardly lifting Camelot’s shield (although Athene’s upgrade had made him stronger, it didn’t get away from the fact that the shield was not only heavy, but large too), the dark-haired senshi turned, clumsily trying to swing the shield out at the madly hopping frog-like thing.

Athene gave a slight nod at the advice and awkwardly raised the shield again, this time the dark-haired senshi managed to use both hands to get a grip on the topmost inner strap. Holding onto the strap tightly, Athene turned and swung the shield at the oncoming youma with as much strength as he could muster.

Unlike the previous time where the shield had dealt the youma only a glancing blow, the shield hit the youma with a solid ‘twack’, the impact jarring on the dark-haired senshi’s arms.

It seemed that the solid hit combined with the heavy shield was enough and Athene suddenly found himself sprawling backwards as the third youma exploded into dust.

“I’m fine, just a little winded” Athene said ruefully as the older Knight helped him up. “How about you, are you okay?” He held the large shield awkwardly out to the knight as he spoke. “Congratulations on your upgrade by the way.”

It had been a while since he’d seen the other – actually not since the last chance meeting over a bunch of youma – although the frogs gross as they were hadn’t been as bad as those horrible youma with the overly sharp-looking teeth. It seemed since then that a lot had changed for them both, at least power level wise.