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Leda had been trying for quite some time to perfect the art of battle. However, no matter how hard she tried, she always failed miserably in the face of danger. Ultimately her choice of actions dwindled into running away, or hurling pointless insults that only served to perplex the enemy. She'd decided to dedicate the night to looking for trouble, as much as it pained her to do so. She needed to get through a fight on her own, to manage a battle and come out largely unscathed. On the other hand, she wasn't looking to instigate a fight with one of the Negaversers. That would only land her in the hospital, or worse.

No, tonight she hunted for youma. Small, feral youma that skittered through the shadows of Destiny City, hunting for wandering civilians. She needed someone to protect, if she was going to fight on her own. Leda hopped across rooftops with practiced ease now, scanning the streets for any of the meandering masses of malice. Whether she'd find one, or one would find her, was anyone's guess.

Her galavanting through the night yielded few results. She spotted only a smattering of people traversing the streets, and zero youma. She was beginning to question the efficacy of her hunt altogether. Not only did she fail to find a youma, but she failed to find anyone in danger as well. All she'd managed to do was tire herself out by leaping across rooftops. How was that supposed to improve her battle prowess? All it did was strengthen her legs, though it meant her kicks packed more punch now. Still, it did nothing for her ability to make decisions in the face of danger.

In the midst of her pensive patrolling, she spotted a peculiar person strolling through the dimly lit streets. She couldn't make out what he was holding, but what drew her attention more than the boy's midnight walk was a rustling bush adjacent to him. Could it be the youma she was searching for? Nothing protruded from the bush just yet, but she stood motionless on the precipice to watch it.

What happened during that time surprised her far more than anything that emerged from the foliage.

Something heavy impacted her back, and she fell from her perch into the trash cans below. They clattered about loudly, alerting anything in a three mile radius to her presence, and effectively murdered any chances of a sneak attack. Dazed, she looked above her to spot a thickly muscled youma eyeing her insidiously. "Yeek!" She yelped, scrambling to her feet despite her body aching from the impact.

The youma, an inky black beast with thick cords of muscle running down its hulking arms, half-slithered its way down the side of the building and set its sights on the pedestrian not far from the senshi. Its snakelike tail whipped back and forth viciously, narrowly missing the lamp post near it. Even the yellowed light cast upon it failed to shine from its shadowy exterior. It approached with predatory grace, fully intent on devouring the starseed of its prey.

"Watch out!" Leda called, hurrying toward the civilian. She wanted to position herself between the boy and his assailant. "I can get rid of this thing, I swear!" Yeah, that inspired confidence.

Leda was momentarily stunned by the fact that the civilian she was looking to protect was, in actuality, another senshi! What were the odds? Maybe she should go to Vegas, given how lucky she was right now. She practically cheered him on, just from watching his transformation. Though, she'd never seen a uniform quite like that before, and it didn't bear many fashion-conscious design choices. She could already visualize some fine details that would lend to a more interesting style, but then again, it might defeat the functionality look. Maybe she'd keep those comments to herself, for now. Could she even augment another senshi's uniform? She'd tried doing so with her own, but the changes never seemed to stick.

Once he'd navigated his way to her side, she was called out of her meandering thoughts by his question. "Oh, um, you have to... like, kill it." It sounded horrific, she knew, but the destruction those beasts wrought was far worse. She was finally coming to grips with fighting and defeating them now, though she was a long ways away from violently assaulting Negaverse agents. "Um, if you don't, it just like... Tries to kill you, or other people. It's really, really bad." Luckily no one's died on her watch.

Yet.

A wall? That sounded like a good plan. If anything, maybe they could just isolate it for a while and run away. But if they did that, and it escaped, who knows how much damage the thing would cause? She couldn't live with the guilt and constant wondering if anyone was hurt by this monstrosity. "Um, if you can trap it somewhere, I can like... scald it. With steam." It sounded downright horrible, and if the beast were an animal, she'd be arrested on the spot for animal abuse. She didn't really want to think about that; she had a duty to put a stop to these things whenever possible.

Before she could elaborate on any plans, the youma charged toward the two, heading straight for the newly-revealed senshi. Mouth agape, claws extended, it leapt straight for Avior's chest.

Leda nearly toppled onto the new senshi when he grabbed her wrist and tugged her toward the ground, and she thanked her lucky stars for not planting her face into the ground. However, she soon realize that she didn't have any lucky stars, as she was shoved out of the way and ate the wall of the building instead. After giving a muffled grunt, she peeled herself off of the brick surface and stumbled backward, then turned to face the scene.

She didn't really understand what the other senshi was doing. He looked as though he was assaulting the ground, viciously, rather than the youma. She was about to question his actions when a wall rose from the ground and hampered the monster's attempts to escape. She'd never seen anything like that before, but then again, she hadn't been around that many senshi. From what she could tell, they were capable of a great variety of magics.

Luckily, she was equipped with offensive spells to fend off the vicious assailant. "Um, can I hit it through tha-"

Her response was quickly cut short by the senshi's urgent shouts. She desperately wanted to point out he was bleeding, and that he should probably get that checked before it develops an infection, but his harsh tone stunned her into silence. instead, she faced the youma pinned by the magical barrier and readied her attack.

She pressed her hands together in prayer form, concentrating for a few moments while steam encircled her feet. As one of her hands was raised skyward, the steam spiraled around her until it hovered nearly an inch above her fingertips. "Leda Swirling Steam!" She announced with budding confidence, and she watched with a small sense of satisfaction as the steam arced upward, over the wall, and landed a direct hit on their collective foe.

The beast yelped loudly and writhed under the unrelenting heat of the steam. Though it scalded the youma's back, it still remained present in their world. Despite its injuries, it still tried desperately to claw its way out of the barrier to attack the two senshi. The wall dissipated in a matter of seconds, and it was free to pursue the order-aligned nuisances. Its feral instincts urged it toward Leda, who stood nervously awaiting the beast's next move. Rather than disappointing her with inaction, the beast stumbled its way over to her and attempted to slash at her legs.

"Yeek!" She screamed, hopping backward to avoid the attack. It narrowly clipped one of her knee-high socks and tore a hole in it. Blood quickly lined the slight gash and threatened to stain the damaged material. "Um, do something!" She considered stomping on the beast, but aside from the fact that it was much too violent, it may cake onto her boot and ruin it. She didn't think there were any fuku dry cleaners around, either.

Leda steeled herself at the words of her comrade, and despite her creeping exhaustion from her last attack, stood ready to attempt it once more. She knew from watching the barrier last time that only had seconds to hit the temporarily restrained youma, else the barrier would shatter and the two would have to resort to attacking it with more conventional means.

Suddenly the thought of youma caked to the bottom of her shoe seemed much more realistic. Her face contorted into a grimace by the mere thought of it.

Still, she had no time to waste! She couldn't allow her thoughts to roam free while that beast was restrained. She, and her partner, depended on it. Besides, it slashed her leg, and that rather hurt. It would kill her if it had the chance, right? It was either kill or be killed, and she didn't like the thought of either one. Perhaps she wasn't cut out for this senshi business... But then her power would simply be a waste.

Finally Leda once again made the motions for her attack, raising her hand skyward while she watched the enemy. This time the youma seemed to recoil in fear of the attack, which only made the thought of scalding it again even worse. Still, as the steam collected above her hand, she had no choice but to attack it. Finally she released the attack toward the youma, and looked away as soon as the steam left her hand. She didn't want to see what happened to the thing once the attack connected, and she was fairly certain it would. She hoped it wouldn't be painful for the beast.

The steam was a direct hit. The youma screeched wildly once more, though this time it writhed in place. Its convulsions only lasted a couple seconds before the beast exploded violently, sending black shards across the floor. Those shards soon evaporated, leaving no evidence that there was ever a youma. Its vicious spirit was simply sealed back into the Rift from whence it came, though the girl knew nothing of such things.

Rather, she found it fitting to mourn it passing.

Leda frowned when she looked toward where the youma was. "Did I do the right thing?" She asked aloud, more to the universe than to the other sailor scout. She didn't want to kill the creature, but it would've simply gone on to kill others if they didn't stop it. "Um, I'm really sorry..." She bowed her head in shame toward the other senshi. "I'm not good at this whole thing, and um, I forgot to introduce myself, and then there was that youma that I probably should've dealt with before it came after you, and..." She trailed off as she considered a laundry list of mistakes. "Oh! Um, I'm Sailor Leda!" She offered a charming smile and extended her hand. At least she could fix this mistake rather easily.

Leda thought she had something to protect. Her mom was something to protect, right? Sure, she didn't have much family left in the world, but she wanted to keep her mom safe. But... If something happened to Leda in this monster-filled world, wouldn't that hurt her mom? She had to keep herself safe as much as she had to protect her mother, and going after these things seemed counterproductive toward her own safety, yet helpful for her mother's protection. Then again, what if her identity was found out? That would put her mom into great danger, wouldn't it?

And the other senshi also transformed in front of her, revealing his identity. He had to keep that safe as well, for his sake and his family's. She wouldn't be able to live with herself if something happened to him as a result of her somehow divulging his identity.

The role of a senshi felt like it was too much for her. She wished she could forget some of the things she's seen.

She shook his hand vigorously, though her thoughts were elsewhere. "It's nice to meet you, Avior!" Was that a planet or a star? An asteroid? She didn't know; Leda really needed to brush up on her astronomy. She watched him bound over to a crumpled bag while she still considered where in the night sky Avior could be. Maybe it was behind Jupiter.

Leda snapped back to attention at the mention of a treat. "Oh, um, a bear claw?" What would the boy be doing with bears' claws? It sounded a bit morbid, until she heard his correction. "Oh!" She exclaimed, her confusion finally dispelled. "Okay! I'd love a bear claw!" Even though she really didn't know what they were, either. Still, that didn't stop her from scurrying over to the newfound senshi and reaching into the bag tentatively, in order to pull out one of the treats without touching any of the others. She didn't know how hygienic the man was when it came to his food, but she certainly didn't want to chance it. Besides, she'd just dusted that youma with him. Who would want youma-dust on their baked goods? Wait... Youma-dust disappeared shortly after getting rid of the youma. Oh well.

She'd barely stuck the bear claw into her mouth when she remembered a vital piece of information. She let out an enlightened grunt before reaching back into the bag and finding the boy's receipt. She pressed the receipt to the other senshi's bare arm, with the back of the receipt tape facing her, and scratched her finger across it. The carbon reacted marvelously, and numbers were made clear in deep gray against the white tape. Finally, she handed the newly-augmented paper to him, and took the bear claw out of her mouth so she could speak. "This is my number to my senshi phone! Just give me a call if you ever need help, mmkay?" She flashed him another cheerful smile before returning the treat to its rightful spot in her mouth. She waved emphatically, then started in the opposite direction, down the alleys from whence she came.