It wasn’t quite twilight when Micah set out for her run. Her iPod blared in her ears as she set off down the block towards the football field she liked to run at. The track circling the field made it easier for her to keep track of how far she went and the level terrain allowed her to not focus as hard at not tripping over raised portions of the sidewalk or stray children. With that out of the way, she easily fit her steps into the beat of the songs that pounded in her ears. It helped, of course, that her work out playlists were carefully crafted to maintain a beat that she could keep up with.

Ratta tat tat ratta tat tat tat hey

It’s never getting any better than this.

A few stray curls escaped her pony tail and bounced wildly into her face. They fell jovially in step with her own strides, dancing in front of her vision. She smiled through her sprint, rounding the first bend of the track as the song turned over. (Say what you want about Nickelback, Micah found the beats of their songs something she could run to.)

She stopped dead in her tracks before the first veres even played out.

“s**t…”

From the parking lot came striding something that looks curiously like a bishop piece from a chess board. Save for the face, of course, that it was the size of a moose, walked on two legs, and muttered like a duck. Its motions were fractured and strange, like it was constantly having to pop joints back into place before it could take a step or move its arm.

You’re not a soldier anymore, Mikes. You don’t have to do anything. You can run. You were really good at that, remember?

And she did. Micah did remember very well that she was very good at running. And it mortified her. But… she wasn’t a soldier anymore. She gave that up. A long time ago. As the thing strode toward her, no doubt smelling her starseed, she had moments to think.
She she screamed. Micah screamed long and she screamed hard. There had to be another senshi in the area. And if there wasn’t, then she’d fight. Once. And then she’d power down forever. Just this once and only if no one else came.

Tortali was out patrolling on her own that night. She was just a little foolish for doing so, but there wasn’t anyone else who was able to go tonight…and she didn’t really feel like being cooped up in her house any longer. She hadn’t really wanted anything to come of this patrol, but of course whenever you wanted nothing to happen…all hell broke loose without fail.

It was hard to say what happened first, really it was almost a one two punch of scream and GIANT YOUMA AURA, but what either way, it had Tortali running towards the commotion. “It’s okay! Stop screaming! I’m here, it’s all going to be okay!” She stopped dead at the sight of the youma. What the heck was that? That wasn’t any sort of negaverse agent…that was a monster. One of the monsters that she had been told about, it must have been…but…damn. How do you fight a monster?

She stared at the creature, swallowing. “Um…Girl I think you should run, I’ll take care of all of this, I promise…you just get somewhere safe! Go home!”

Micah stopped screaming when the senshi appeared, partly because she was about to give up and just power and fight this thing. It was a little stronger than she would like, yeah, but she would manage, or at least wound it enough for someone stronger to take care of when she caught their attention. And she would. Micah didn’t fight quietly. She cleared her throat when the senshi arrived at her side, however, and backed up, ready to give the fight her her.

That was, until she instilled that indelible confidence in Micah.

“D-do you know how to fight one of those,” Micah forced a stammer, secretly reaching into her pocket where she always kept her henshin pen. She kept telling herself it was for emergencies like this. She would deny its call until the end of her days. She wasn’t a soldier any longer.
The Bishop Youma turned to Micah as her fingers closed over the pen, sensing the buildup of energy at her starseed woke slowly within her, readying for her power up. Her eyes flicked over to the senshi, praying that it was a subtle enough stirring of energy that she would not feel it.

Tortali shook her head. “Nope. Never seen one of these things in my life. But I’m sure I’ll manage. Really, go home. This is no place for a pretty girl like you. I don’t want you getting hurt…shoo. Shoo.” She waved a gloved hand in Micah’s direction and stared at the youma, sizing it up. Would her attack do anything to it? It diverted the attention of people…but was this thing a person? Did it have any grudges? Or was it just a…a giant chess piece, escaped from Andy’s room and ready to destroy the world.

Yikes. That was a kind of scary thought.

She glanced back at Micah. “Seriously! Just run okay? I don’t want you to get hurt!” And she didn’t! That was one of the main reasons she came out here, so civilians like this girl didn’t end up getting hurt or killed or…you know. Have her soul ripped from her body. Because damn that would suck.

And the assurance just kept coming in waves from this girl. Micah looked from the senshi to the monster and then back to the senshi. She could run home. She’d done her job. Someone else had come to deal with the youma. Someone young. Someone with no experience in that department. Someone who was probably only just starting out as a senshi. Probably just? If they hadnt’ seen a youma yet, they were still just babies.

Micah took a few steps back, rubbing the smooth metal of her pen in her pocket. Just go home. You’ve done your job. And if she turns up dead? Micah cursed to herself, making hurriedly for the bleachers where she was moderately covered. It offered her the best vantage point to make sure the girl could really handle herself. And if Micah saw blood, then she’d get involved. Right? Besides, if the girl didn’t fail, she would never succeed.

Right?

Right…

Tortali let out a sigh of relief as the girl left the scene. Good. One less thing to take care of…now there was just this huge a** monster to…uh. Well to kill. Or something.

She drew in a deep breath, then marched over to it, staring up at it, then finally kicking the thing hard in one of it’s legs, completely at a loss of what else to do. When in doubt…kick it in the knee. Or the crotch…or the face. Whatever you could do. After all, wasn’t that why they made shoes with heels on them?

She thought so. And she had such good looking boots as well. Time to kick some giant chess piece butt.

Of course…when one spent too much time doing a celebratory dance in their mind, it was so very easy for giant monsters to punch back. And punch back hard.

The green haired senshi yelped and fell backwards, holding her stomach and coughing. Damn…okay maybe kicking the thing hadn’t been the best thing to do…but…but there was nothing else that she could think of…

The youma attacked again, and the blows started coming faster and faster, and there just wasn’t a way for Tortali to get up, let alone get her own attack in edgewise. The senshi finally managed to curl up, trying to protect herself from the youma’s blows, but it was getting quite difficult as they just kept coming.

Micah winced and the senshi was set stumbling backwards. And she kept wincing as the senshi got her a** handed to her. Damn. She really didn’t have any experience in this, did she? And as the hits kept coming Micah’s resolve grew weaker and weaker until she didn’t need to see blood to act any longer. Once. Just this once. Because this was an emergency.

“Acubens Star Power Make Up!”

Acubens rather ran through her transformation, fuku forming around her strides. She could not deny that it felt good to be back again. Raptors screaming around her as the light touched her skin with the moist heat of what must have been a tropical jungle. So good to be back.

But there wasn’t much time to celebrate. As she came around into view, the Youma turned its attention to her, a stronger, more substantial meal. “Chess is a game of skill and patience, bro. It doesn’t look like you have either.” So the cheesy one liners hadn’t been nixed from the job description. Good to know. “Why don’t you leave the baby alone and play with a master? I hear I’m a real…” Acubens’ lips curled up into a smirk. “Pradator.”

As soon as the creature stopped attacking her, Tortali scrambled backwards, panting and shaking slightly. Well. Fighting a real person was a hell of a lot easier than this. A hell of a lot easier indeed…at least real people she could get to stop the hits and talk to her…or something dumb like that.

There was another voice…and another power nearby…very nearby, actually. The green haired senshi looked up at the newcomer, blinking slowly and letting out a sigh. Well…at the very least maybe with the two of them together they could beat this thing…this girl was a lot stronger than she was…okay, maybe not a lot. Not like Kalli, but at least somewhat stronger. Clearly she had been doing this for a while.

Slowly Tortali got to her feet and moved close to the other senshi, still shaking slightly. “Thank you for coming…It uh…Do you think we can beat this thing?”

Acubens laughed as the Youma trained itself on her, turning bright golden eyes on her newest partner.

“Oh honey,” she said warmly, “We can do anything. We can run faster than normal people. We can leap over buildings. We can call upon the forces of a dead civilization. We can travel to space too, did you know that? Visit our home planets and learn about who we once were. We can run around in skirts and heels and still come home in once piece.” Acubens turned her attention back to the youma, nodding in its direction for added effect. “And we can beat this ********. Of those things, at the very least, I am one hundred percent certain.” Acubens hadn’t exactly planned that sappy pep talk, but she didn’t really regret it either. But honestly, if the senshi could do all of that and still be in awe at winning a fight, then she would have a lot of growing up to do before she could fight alone.

Plus, Acubens always was one for showmanship. She winked lightly at the senshi and sung, “Velociraptor Agility.”

She’d forgotten how fast this powered up attack was, and so had almost hurt her neck trying to twist it back around as she took off. Well, she didn’t really get it turned all the way around. The distance was close and her attack was fast. She did, however, manage to get her elbow out in front of her with much difficulty, and jam it into the monsters abdomen. Blue goo spurt from the slit fashioned into its skull and it groaned, stumbling backwards.

“The trick is finding the soft spots.”

Tortali wrinkled her nose, eyes falling upon the blue…ah…goo that continued to flow from the creature. “Oh god that is absolutely disgusting!”

But oddly satisfying. If the creature was in pain, perhaps she wanted to cause just a little pain to the creature who had undoubtedly left her with bruises and maybe some worse injuries than that. She found the spot that Acubens had started exploiting and gave it a punch of her own, then a nice kick. Right with the heel of her boot. Right into the weak spot. The goo spot.

The girl let out a loud yelp and lost her balance as the creature turned into dust. Dust? What the hell? One minute it was goo-ing everywhere and the next it was a pile of dust uh…under her a**.

If there was one thing that being a senshi hadn’t done it was give her grace. No, she was more of a klutz now than she ever had been before. “Why did it turn to dust? Is that normal?”

Another laugh escaped Acubens in a yelp, causing her to toss her head back with it. Yeah, she could remember being where the younger senshi was not too long ago. Granted, Acubens was much angrier, but hey. One less stupid, mad senshi was good, right?

“Yes, they turn to dust. Some of us refer to that as ‘being dusted’ actually. So congratulations, on your first dusting. We are all very proud.” She offered her hand to the fallen senshi with a large grin. “And you saved the girl, so that’s another win for you.” Acubens winked again, and tossed her red mane over her shoulder.

“I’m Acubens, by the way. Super Senshi of Velociraptors. You may have gathered from my attack name.”

Tortali took the hand, nodding. “I see…And yes…yes I’m glad I saved the girl. That is important. She was cute. I’m Tortali, by the way. Senshi of grudges…it’s really nice to meet you, and thanks for saving my a**. It means a lot.” She scratched the back of her head rather awkwardly.

”I’m not normally this dumb, I promise. I just…never dealt with one of them before, I suppose. It was an interesting experience….to say the least. I think I prefer the creepy a** negaverse agents who keep making threats of stealing my starseed…they’re easier to mess with…”

Acubens forced her blush down, casting her gaze to her side as she swallowed. “I’d give her a four at best,” she muttered, swiping a finger across her lips to hide the words. No one had called her cute since… Acubens forced more color from her face and tried to control her breathing. Not the time. Not the time. You’ve grown so much, and this is not the time. Finally, finally, she smiled and waved dismissively at Tortali.

“Don’t worry about it too much. We all start somewhere. No one beats them right off the bat. At least you dusted your first one; I’ve seen some senshi lose their first youma.” Another dismissive motion before she laughed again. “And just think of it this way. You have nowhere else to go but up, right?”

Tortali nodded, grinning. “Heck yes. And with friends like you, I’m sure I’ll go up up up and be able to dust these things all on my own eventually.” She pulled out her senshi phone, pointing it at Acubens and snapping a picture of the girl as she had been instructed to do.

“So…what do you think…do you want to patrol with me sometime? I think it would be fun…and you know…I could use someone who’s closer to my level…most of the people who have been helping me train have been eternals…and I don’t want to seem like some whiny girl who needs protection…I just need someone who’s there for me…and I can be there for them…you know?”

She nodded, rocking back on her heels. “Because I don’t like getting my a** handed to me, to be honest…”

Whoop there it was. Acubens had to keep from wincing visibly as Tortali snapped her picture, complete with awkward smile and uncomfortable stance. She himmed and she hawed for a good thirty seconds before she finally managed, “Ah, see… there’s the thing. I haven’t… really… that is to say… I mean… there’s this thing and… I can’t really…” Acubens fell quiet again, tugging nervously on a wild curl.

You needed a mentor too, remember? And there was no one.

I scared everyone away…

That doesn’t change the fact that there was no one. Now look at you.

Acubens bit down on her lip until it hurt, twirling the piece of hair frantically around her finger. “It’s not that I don’t want to, Tortali… It’s just…”

Just you don’t want to.

I didn’t even mean it like that.

Well, best get it over with, right? Acubens took a deep breath and threw her arms out to the side, casting propriety to the wind, yet again. “Look… I ******** s**t up real bad a while back. Like…” She cast her gaze around nervously, biding her time and choosing her words. “A lot of s**t. And to avoid ******** more s**t up, I sort of only power up in emergencies. Like what just happened. You understand, right?”

Tortali looked at the more experienced senshi for a long moment, then slowly stowed her phone away. “I…I mean. I guess so.” She shrugged. “Well…thanks for saving my a** then…if there’s ever an emergency…I hope I can do the same for you, provided you show up…”

She sighed then shrugged once again. “Yeah. I mean, everyone has their own way of doing things…and who am I to judge. If you’ve had issues in the past…it’s up to you. So, just…stay safe and all that. Okay? You seem like a nice girl.”

For one second – one terrifying second – Acubens thought Tortali wasn’t going to accept that answer. She stood, still as a statue, debating whether or not to just book it. And even when Tortali spoke she still felt like running. Acubens hadn’t grown at all. If she had… if she had… if she had…

If you had grown then you would help her.

Acubens sighed, pushing her hair out of her face. Resignedly, she pulled out her own phone.

“Smile,” she said wryly, scanning Tortali is return, just in case she did find herself in such a situation. Being back home made it dangerous, but this was the first attack in a few months.

Maybe she would get lucky.

When do you ever get lucky?

“But look. I’m no one’s… anything. I’m not even a very good bad example. If you’re any fraction better at this than I am, then you’ll do fine. Beautifully, even.” Acubens offered a small, casual salute as she stepped away. “Keep yourself safe too. And you know how to reach me if you can’t.”

Tortali laughed then nodded. “You too. And hey. You know how to reach me if you ever just want to hang out and talk about s**t. I’m a damn good listener, and I know this great place to eat and talk. I wouldn’t mind buying you lunch one day if you’d let me pick your brain about everything. I get Negaverse brats and the like, but these creatures, that’s really a whole new ball game…I’d really love some sort of guidance in that department. Besides. I like having friends…you know. IRL? This isn’t online or anything, but it feels like it. Secret lives. Nobody knows who anybody is…it’s good to have people who do know…at least I think so…”

If nothing else just so some people would care and maybe know what happened if the unthinkable ever did happen…

”Anyway! You have a good night, Acubens…and text me sometime. I’ll be waiting.” The green haired senshi winked once, then turned on her heel before she could get any sort of rejection from the other girl. She wasn’t one that liked rejections. No matter how they were presented. She just didn’t like them. But she did like Acubens, she decided…though now it was just time to nurse her wounds and be done with it.

And so Acubens escaped, with nothing but a wounded pride and something inside of her throbbing to turn back and just give up on the whole “normal citizen” routine. She convinced herself that it was just her starseed, aching to be used, if that was even a thing. The lie helped her power down without crying out to the new senshi. God, she wanted to go back. To hold Tortali and tell her that everything would be alright. That Acubens was there for her. That Acubens would teach her everything Acubens had to learn on her own. And whatever Acubens didn’t know yet, they could learn together.

But then Acubens became Micah, and the throbbing receeded to a dull ache in her chest that force the air out of her lungs.

Run.

And she did. Long and hard and fast. Until her lungs caught fire and then further. All the way home.