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It was the first time Sailor Tsui had finally ventured out of her apartment since the ordeal, and it seemed that the world was going out of its way to prove to her just how wrong she had been, as the moment she ventured away from the apartment and transformed, she had immediately picked up on the dark aura and decided to pursuit it. Two weeks ago she would have stalked in and observed from a distance until she could determine if it were a Dark Mirror Senshi, a Negaverse lieutenant or a youma, but after the ambush, Tsui stalked towards it with the intent to stop it, whatever it may be.

The truce was over in her mind, and it was her luck that the one she was hunting down was, in fact, just another youma. She had no qualms in killing them. After all, they were nothing but mindless predators, seeking out the innocent and weak without a mind of their own. And what did you send out to kill a predator?

A bigger predator, and there were few predators bigger than that of a tiger, Tsui thought, and without the usual finesse or flash, she engaged the youma without ever once looking at what it was, considering what its strengths or weaknesses were. Sailor Tsui had one plan of attack: attack.

And now she was paying the price for her brash actions. As strong as her fists and 'claws' were, the crab-like youma was graced with strong plating and Tsui had barely managed to avoid those nasty claws when she heard someone shout her name, just moments before the shield closed around her, trapping her inside but also saving her from what looked like it would have been quite a nasty pinch. The youma made a noise, as though it were gargling bubbles and pebbles, but Tsui paid little attention to it now that Super Sailor Pasiphae was before her.

"Pasiphae..." Tsui's excitement to see her was only overshadowed by the ping of shame that she felt without ever once hitting the shield. No, the shame she felt was natural, and for someone who had decked enemy agents well beyond her power range and German suplexed a youma, Tsui was surprisingly tame when addressing Pasiphae. "I'm alright... you don't have to protect me anymore!"

The youma scuttled closer, its red eyes on its new target, and black and violet bubbles spewed from its mouth like drool. Perhaps it was considering how this one tasted...

The crab-like youma gave a screech and actually scuttled backwards when its claw hit the impenetrable shield, and it scuttled even further away after Pasiphae's blow, but it did not retreat or expose its underbelly, much to Tsui's dismay. She was eager to get out of the shield now. The memories of the ambush and how helpless she was when the page was being torn apart before her very eyes-

Pasiphae's words had not gone unheard and they actually helped ground Tsui back to reality before the poor page's face came to her mind. No, she didn't want to remember him right now, not unless he was fueling her attack. She gave a nod and once the shield had begun to fade, Tsui not only stood ready to attack, but like Pasiphae had predicted, she charged towards the youma. She gave a growl as she ran past Pasiphae, "I don't need protection!"

By this time the youma had finally recovered from Pasiphae's blow, and Tsui had fallen back to her many years of gymnastics to jump at just the right moment and used the creature's back as a vault to leap over him and land behind him. This left the youma confused and as it struggled to turn around to face Tsui, the Tiger senshi called to Pasiphae. "But... I'd like to have a partner instead. Got any ideas?"

While Tsui was more of an all action kind of gal, she did have a small part of her that respected strategy. Perhaps it was the part of her that wanted to survive the encounter that made her appreciate the strategical approach that Pasiphae offered and she saw the wisdom in her advice. She needed Tsui to propel herself at the youma with more force?

White aura gathered at Tsui's arms and fists, and her shout was to draw the youma's attention back towards her and alert Pasiphae of the incoming attack. "More force? You picked the right Senshi... alright, here it comes!"

A part of the pre-ambush Tsui had shone through for a moment, as her charge left her feeling strong, confident in herself again, and her yell could only be compared to that of a roar of a tiger, as she brought the claws crashing down on the crab-like face of the youma. "Tiger Fist STRIKE!"

As armored and heavy as the youma was, it could not hold its ground after such an attack and flew backwards, straight towards Pasiphae. Tsui hadn't stopped in her charged, running after him and preparing to strike it again if she needed to. "Pasiphae, use your shield! Now!"

"Dammit! Sorry!" Tsui shouted at the sight of Pasiphae being knocked down, but she had no time to waste in helping her back up. The youma had fallen onto its back and was kicking frantically, and Tsui had to move quickly. Once again, she put her years of training to good use, vaulting off of the exposed stomach of the youma and launching herself into the air with a flip. Once she was in the right position, she summoned the white aura back to her arms and gave another shout, summoning her attack and charging directly down. "Tiger Fist STRIKE!"

She had done this once before but not when the enemy was directly below her, but in principle if should have been the same as if it were pinned to the wall. She rushed forward and slammed both of the claw-shaped energy downward, striking the exposed underbelly and not stopping until she felt herself practically exploding through him and hitting the ground below. Her arms and feet stung from the blow but it was worth it to hear its last garble of pain before dissipating into dust. Another youma killed, another score for Tsui... and her partner.

Tsui was too proud to admit that her ankles were stinging too much for her to go check on Pasiphae, so she called to the Senshi as she remained as she were, kneeling on the ground where the youma once was. "I'm sorry... I didn't mean for it to hurt you like that. Are you okay?"

Had it been pre-ambushed Tsui that Pasiphae had been worried about, Tsui would have scoffed at the very notion that she might have hurt herself in the attack and would have went to great lengths to walk it off. However, after the ambush and how she was still physically, mentally trying to recover from it, Tsui couldn't bring herself to brag. Not this time.

She tried to rise and her legs gave away from beneath her. Another blow to her ego, and Tsui allowed her frustration to be seen with a half angered, half pained spat. "I'll walk again, I'm sure... for now, I'd rather just sit here in the enemy's remains for a little longer."

She looked to the Senshi and even after all that she's been through, she still found herself adoring her attire, and she fought down her sense of envy so that it wouldn't sound like she was angry at her. "Nice to see you made it out in one piece, though. I didn't worry you too much, did I?"

Tsui had been so distraught from her fight with the crab-like youma and events prior to today that she simply did not think about the time of day in which she had transformed, and her cheeks lit up with embarrassment as she did nothing to hide her surprise. "I... didn't even notice the time of day..."

Without ever looking around or even thinking about her actions, Sailor Tsui powered down, revealing her civilian identity but still finding it impossible to stand up on her own. As the last of her fuku had disappeared, she took that hand, figuring that where Tsui would have been too prideful to accept the help, Gwendolyn Caspian wouldn't have thought twice. When she touched Pasiphae's hand, however, it dawned at her as to what she just did and she looked around frantically. "Ah... please tell me that you're the ONLY one that saw that, right?"

She didn't SEE anyone else around, but that was no excuse. Gwen kept most of her embarrassment to herself at least, berating herself mentally as she pulled herself back up to her feet and standing steady once more. 'Gwen, you're an idiot... you were an idiot before the meeting, during it, and you're just as big as an idiot now!'

"Yeah, I'm alright, just... feeling incredibly stupid as it's something I've never done before..." Gwen said with an angered spat, but none of it was directed at her. She was relieved to see that no one had spotted her, as well as Pasiphae powering down as well, though more discreetly than she had done. It was such an amateur mistake and Gwen wasn't going to allow herself to get over it. "I've been doing this for a couple of months now and you'd think I'd learn... I'll never get my stripes at this rate."

It was a stupid thing to be bothered with, as Gwen hadn't thought about the topic for awhile now. But it was hard to ignore once it was triggered in her mind. Now that she knew what ranks were, she wondered why she hadn't achieved Super status yet, like Pasiphae had, or if she'll ever reach Eternal and stand toe-to-toe with Kallichore and Ganymede. 'Likely not, if I keep making stupid mistakes! No more after this!'

She was able to stand on her own now, and she made quite a show of it with the way she dusted herself off. Little bit by little, more of the 'old' Gwen was showing through, but it was a facade. A mask to hide her troubles from someone who likely had problems of their own. "But really, I'm fine now, thanks to you. That's twice you helped me out... meaning that's twice I now owe you."

Gwen thought about it for a moment, before extending her hand, this time in introduction. "My name is Gwendolyn Caspian, but you can call me Gwen."