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Flying backward through the air, Puck landed hard on his back. The youma he was fighting had just smacked him out of the way as though he was nothing. That pissed the small senshi off more than anything, the frustration of not getting anywhere with the monster. It was a larger youma than he maybe should have been doing battle with on his own, but damn it, the park was in his patrol territory and he wasn't about to let some monster stomp about through his turf destroying stuff!

He panted, trying to catch his breath as he sat up again and glared at the youma. "Dammit," he swore. That had been a hard hit; he wouldn't be surprised if a rib had gotten cracked when he landed on the ground. He got to his feet quickly before the thing could attack again, standing wide-legged as he geared up for his next attack. He doubted his usual head-butting attack would have any effect on it, so he would have to try another angle.

"Right," he muttered. With a snarl he charged the youma again, hoping he could somehow find its weak spot and hit it with a fist.

At the same moment Puck hit the youma again, he felt an aura. A Chaos aura. Before he could react, a young woman who was glowing blood red also hit the monster, knocking it back with such force it practically flew away and crashed onto the street. He'd never seen anything like it before. Where had she come from, and why did she feel like that snot-nosed little Dark Mirror he'd bested on his first night as a senshi?

She was right, though -- this was his chance.

Locking eyes with her for an instant, he nodded in acknowledgement, then charged the youma as it lay stunned. The senshi began to pound it with his fists, knocking its head back and forth with the force of his blows. The creature flailed at him, but it didn't have the sense to hit back, not at this point. It roared and screamed as Puck pummeled it. Then with one last blow it shrieked and disintegrated in a poof of glittering dust, the thing's dying howls echoing off the buildings.

Puck stood there for a moment amid the shower of youma dust, panting as he caught his breath. He'd beaten the thing! Then he remembered the senshi who had aided him -- and that she wore black. Turning back toward her, he spread his legs in a defensive posture, prepared for anything. She was the enemy, after all.

"Who are you?" he asked cautiously.

Puck eyed Mjolnir sharply as she spoke. Her aura, tainted with Chaos, set the small hairs on the back of his neck standing on end. He had no reason to trust her, or even believe what she was saying. She was a Dark Mirror.

And yet… she had helped him. He'd been a bloody fool for going up against so large a youma, and he had surely been headed for serious harm, or worse. And yet she'd thrown herself at the monster, despite the fact that he was White Moon. She had effectively saved him and given him the break he needed to dust the thing. Why would she do that?

He had to find out.

He relaxed his stance, still keeping an eagle eye on her. "Alright," he agreed. "I reckon I at least owe you that much." In truth, he probably owed her his life. But he was too uncertain of her motives to acknowledge that. Was she telling the truth about expending the last of her power? The twinge in his side told him that he had better hope that she was; he'd almost certainly cracked a rib in that last blow from the youma, just before Mjolnir had shown up. He was in no shape for a fight.

"So why did you defend me? I'm the enemy, right?"

Hearing her words, Puck felt slightly ashamed that he automatically assumed Mjolnir would view him the same way he viewed her. He didn't know very much about the Dark Mirror court at all, only what Faust had told him -- that they were in league with the Negaverse. Who were the enemy. Therefore, the Dark Mirrors were the enemy as well.

But… who was to say that they all felt the same way? Clearly they weren't the Negaverse, even if they were allied with them. Their name indicated they were their own entity, with their own rulers and their own agenda. Maybe Mjolnir was acting on her own, or maybe she was acting as others of her faction acted. No, because his first fight was with a Dark Mirror senshi. Puck was deeply confused and growing more so by the moment.

He watched Mjolnir sink to her knees, completely exhausted, and the White Moon senshi did the same, clutching his side in pain. It could be a ploy on her part, get him in a weak and vulnerable position and attack him. Her attack was pretty fearsome, too; his only defense would be his magic, which was little defense at all. But she seemed to genuinely mean to cause him no harm. Conversation with her was a risk he was at the moment willing to take.

"Puck," he replied, "of the Woods. Pleasure to meet you." He gave her a small wry smile. "And thank you for helping me out with that monster."

Listening to Mjolnir speak, Puck studied her, thinking. How did that saying go, 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend'? That there were factions within the White Moon was to be expected; why shouldn't there be factions within the other sides as well? At the very least, he was learning a little bit more about the Dark Mirror court. His curiosity was piqued though.

"An end to the Negaverse? That's a noble cause indeed, as far as I'm concerned." The White Moon senshi shifted position, trying to ease the pain in his side. "I'd like to see those bastards wiped off the face of the earth meself. They're nothing but a blight," he practically spat. "In that at least you have my support. As for becoming allies…"

Puck eyed her again, hard. "Who's to say you wouldn't turn on us when it was all over and done? I'm not saying you personally would, or the rest of your group, if you're as up front about seeking allies as it sounds. But what about the rest of the Dark Mirror? Are they the enemy as well?"