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"Why not do some pushups, Themi-chan?"

Sigh. "Why d'you like to nag on me about the exercise? Runnin' around in crazy shoes is exercise enough, doncha think? I've been doin' all the runnin', by the way. You just sit in this... flap-thing and nag me."

"I'm like a furry personal trainer, Themi-chan. It's my job to make sure you're in tiptop shape to save people and be a hero! Isn't that what you want, Themi-chan? A sexy body~?"

There came a choking noise soon after as Themisto nearly drowned inhaling his own saliva. "DUDE. Keep it down, that's personal biz. And besides, why don't you do some pushups or crunches or something? You could use a lil workout yourself, my dude. All that pampering at Melody's house has got you fuzzier than usual."

"That's my winter coat, Themi-chan. And I do exercise! I do pushups with you! I just can't use that punching bag you have - no thumbs, no punch."

The pair continued their banter while Themisto walked the two of them down the street. Tonight, it was chilly, but no monsters seemed to be roaming the streets. No Negaverse agents were draining civilians, no Mirrorwalkers were out being creepy. Ever since that capture of so many people, he couldn't trust them. They had to have something to do with that. At least, this night, things were relatively quiet. Easy.

"One less tuna sandwich every day isn't gonna kill you, Itsuki."

A feline whine followed. "BUT THEMI-CHAN I WORK HARD FOR THAT SANDWICH."

"That don't mean you gotta pack on the poundage! What's a pound in cat-weight? Isn't that like, ten pounds of people-weight? We gotta set you up on a lower-calorie diet or I'll have to roll you around like a bowling ball and---"

Suddenly, a froggo appears!

Themisto found himself just as shocked as Itsuki, for a strange young man with floppy frog feet (boots) just bounced in out of nowhere. That part was a failing on both the cat and the senshi, for they were too busy bickering to scan the surrounding area, which would have picked up the strange frog-man's signature easily. While the eternal senshi was busy taking in all the very odd details of this guy's fuku, Itsuki seemed incredibly excited. This was all before Themisto registered that Froggo knew who he was, despite Themisto never having seen him previously.

"Uh," was the best the Lost Senshi could manage. "Do I uh.... know you, dude?" Confusion wore plainly on his face as Itsuki flopped this way and that to get a good look at Nix from the folds of Themisto's fuku.

"Konbanwa, Kerokero-chan!" came a cheerful call, the cat trying to wave tiny paws at the frog senshi. "Are you out on patrol? Are you new? Who awakened you? I don't think I've seen a kerokero senshi before!"

Itsuki seemed utterly delighted to be greeted in kind by another senshi. He couldn't get Themisto to remember even the basics of Japanese while this senshi had decency and manners! The cat practically vibrated in Themisto's fuku, which tickled, but Themisto couldn't let weakness show. Not like that.

"I... saved you... Hmm, sorry dude, when you're all frogged out, I don't recognize you. It's part'a the uniform, you know? The glamour and all that, hides what we look like when we're just normal dudes. Just before Thanksgiving though... OH! That crazy Negaverse chick?! Jesus... sorry about your bud. You... doin' okay? Uh... I don't wanna keep tryin' not to call you Froggo or whatever so uh... You know my name. Whaddu they call you when you're all frogged out?" Themisto rubbed the back of his neck apologetically. Having to lose a friend like that, at point-blank range no less, would be incredibly traumatizing. He wished he was an eternal back then - maybe he could've moved faster to save that poor civilian.

"BERNARD-SAN!?" came a squeak, and finally the lilac point was free of the folded fuku and plopped onto the sidewalk to give Nix a good inspection. "I met Bernard-san a while ago! He's very fancy! Very good choice, Kerokero-chan! Did Bernard-san teach you everything you need to know? Do you need help, Kerokero-chan? Themi-chan and I can help!"

Themisto gave an uneasy shrug. "Yeah, I mean... whatever we can do to help, 'specially after what happened."

Themisto wasn’t the best with emotional support, but was learning some tips from Denebola. With a somewhat awkward smile, the eternal senshi made to knuckle Nix’s shoulder. “We’ll get ‘em back, somehow. Listen, I’m… sorry I wasn’t fast enough. To save your friend, I mean. I’m glad you got out okay, but still. The Negaverse is full’a people like that, an’ we try to stop ‘em any way we can. Glad to have you on the team though, Nix. It ain’t easy. We’re all kinda… learnin’ as we go, I guess. Some’a them out here have been doin’ this for years. Can you believe that?” Themisto crossed his arms and looked up to the twinkling stars in the sky above. Light pollution hid many of them, but up there somewhere was the place Nix would have called home, thousands of years before. “Runnin’ and hidin’ and fightin’ this war for god knows how long. Mind bogglin’, if you ask me.”

Itsuki took to purring and rubbing himself up against Nix’s froggy legs, winding in and out happily. “Watashi wa Itsuki desu~” chirped the fluffy cat. “If it’s alright with you, I’d still like to call you Kerokero-chan. It’s honto kawaii~! Like your fuku! Bernard-san would be proud of you, patrolling on your own, but it’s dangerous, Kerokero-chan! You should patrol with friends so you’re not alone!”

The elder senshi signed deeply, palm quickly traveling to his face, as if this happened often. “Itsuki, lil dude, his name is so short and you’re making it like, five years long. What’s that even mean?”

Itsuki, in response, plopped down on top of Nix’s foot like a cat loaf and smiled. Cultural education time! “Kerokero is the sound a frog makes! Ribbit or croak would be the equivalent in English, but it’s so…” Itsuki made a face, as if he found the words to be distasteful. “harsh, so kerokero is better! Right, Kerokero-chan?”

“So you’re basically calling him Ribbit.” came the conclusion. Themisto looked to Nix with an apologetic shrug. “Anyway, Itsuki’s got a point though. When you’re brand new and you patrol by yourself, you’re easy pickin’s. You got your phone? I don’t mind havin’ a buddy. Usually it’s me havin’ to learn somethin’ new, not the other way around.” With a flick of his wrist, Themisto produced his touch-screen phone from its subspace pocket and took a quick picture of Nix to register him in the contacts section. Boops and beeps followed and Themisto dismissed it back into subspace for safekeeping.

“I’ll keep you safe too, Kerokero-chan. Mauvians like Bernard-san and I can help dampen your signature so you’re harder to spot on radars!” offered the cat, finally standing up from his comfortable spot on Nix’s froggy boot. The warmth he left behind vanished soon after. “Are you hungry, Kerokero-chan? You can’t patrol on an empty stomach!”

Themisto seemed surprised at first that Nix didn't patrol, only practiced, but in hindsight it made perfect sense. Now that he really sat and thought about it, Themisto himself should have subscribed that line of thinking. It probably would have saved him a broken arm in the long run. "...yeah, yeah, that's a good idea, so long as you keep an eye out for other, less savory peeps. Maybe we should set up some kind'a training camp or somethin'. You think Denebola would be all over somethin' like that, Itsuki?"

"Tonbo-sensei?" Itsuki tilted his head on his way back to his favorite riding spot - Themisto's fuku. "I promise just to call you Nix-chan, if that's okay with you, Nix-chan~ Nix-chan should meet Tonbo-sensei, definitely." came an enthusiastic nod from the cat. Themisto bent over to scoop him up and tuck him into the folds of his fuku. All tucked away, Itsuki looked pleased as punch.

The eternal senshi chuckled. "Denebola's like a mentor to me. She taught me an awful lot when I was brand new. I mean... I got awakened... awoken? A little kitten by the name of Horatio got me and I kinda... freaked out and decided to hide from it for a while. Focus on school, ya know? Now that I graduated, well... Wanna and gotta play hero and all that. So uh..." Noting the requested subject change, Themisto nodded his head. "You likin' the higher jumps and stuff? It's pretty cool, to be faster and stronger than you ever thought you could. You can go into space too, but that's kinda trippy. Definitely not for beginners, if you ask me."

As Itsuki got situated in his patented carrying case, Themisto chuckled at the commentary on the disorganization of the faction ironically called Order. “Yeeeeaaaahhhh that’s a real problem. I dunno exactly why that is, I just know there’s some political bullsh---crap, goin’ on. I’m not involved and neither’s my sister, ‘far as I know. She said there’s some senshi runnin’ around with royal titles and she knows a few, but I never met ‘em and frankly, if they’re not blastin’ away with their lasers ‘n whatever, then what good’s a crown, you know?” Not that Themisto knew whether or not they even had crowns, and Kallichore had never mentioned any. It didn’t matter much to him in either case - anyone with a tremendous amount of power had a duty to affect some positive change, at least in Themisto’s mind.

Itsuki squished his face happily at Nix, incredibly overjoyed to know someone else understood at least some Japanese, and had manners to boot. “Uwah! Nya-chan? Sugoi! Arigato, Nix-chan~! Now I have a nickname! Did you hear that, Themi-chan? I’m Nya-chan~! You can call me that too, if you want.” The cat seemed more than content to beam with pride over having his own Japanese nickname from a fellow aficionado. It felt special that way, he thought.

But the fact that Bernard hadn’t brought up space travel didn’t seem surprising in the slightest. “Hai, Nix-chan, you can travel to your very own world in space now that you’re a senshi!” cried the cat, tiny furred paw balling into what would be a feline approximation of a fist, thrust into the air in triumph. “It’s not something very easy to swallow, Nix-chan. Being a senshi and having magic already breaks an awful lot of rules you’ve probably been taught in school! Nix is up there, somewhere, hidden by magic~ Even the closer stars and moons are protected by the same glamour that protects your identity when you henshin~!”

Themisto nodded in agreement, motioning for Nix to walk with the unlikely pair as they talked. Itsuki got grumpy when he was hungry. “I didn’t believe it either, and my moon’s orbittin’ Jupiter. Not exactly close, but… I’ve heard a couple people who have spots way further out than that. Had to look it up, though. Not like everybody just knows what the heck Themisto is. It’s not like… ya know, Deimos or somethin’ closer or bigger. Wikipedia’s your friend, my dude.”

The feline nodded with enthusiasm, claws clinging to the fabric of Themisto’s fuku as they walked. His furry feet were supported by the belt and ropes Themisto wore, and it helped that Itsuki himself wasn’t the heaviest cat in the world. “There’s an app on your phone, Nix-chan.” came a squeak. “You have to concentrate to find the special feeling of your homeworld, and push the button, then PYOOM~ off you go!”

“...truth be told, my first space flight wasn’t even to my moon, it was to Denebola. That s**t’s crazy, lemme tell you.” With a hand on Nix’s shoulder as a friendly gesture, Themisto pointed at the sky high above their heads. “You can breathe up there, dude, it’s crazy. No special astronaut suit or anythin’, just you n’ space. And… well, whatever’s on your star or moon or… What is Nix, anyway?”

"It's pretty trippy the first time. Glad you know it's a moon an' stuff. Pluto's way the hell out there, though. You think it'd be real dark and cold? Hell... what am I talkin' about?" Themisto had to chuckle at himself. Magic didn't follow logic, so something as far away as Nix and Pluto could be a desert for all they knew. Only Nix (and any passengers he brought) would know for certain. "All I gotta say is be prepared. Bring a buddy or somethin', and a first aid kit n' survival gear, cuz you never know what s**t be a'lurkin'."

"Or better yet, maybe go with someone who has already been to their homeworld, and know it's safe!" chirped the cat helpfully. Themisto didn't know if Itsuki had ever been to space, but maybe he'd tag along to keep them safe. Mauvians were already from space, weren't they? They were aliens that happened to look like normal housecats. "Themi-chan has been to his own world, and Kalli-sama's, and tonbo-sensei's! All of those places are safe!" His tail wagged inside Themsto's fuku, which made the whole thing look like a scene straight out of Alien.

Themisto shook his head. "My spot in space's a little... spooky. Japanese ghost town. Denebola's got a pretty gnarly jungle, though, so that's pretty cool. Oh... and uh... you might see your past-self there too. Now that's really weird. Nothing really prepares you for that brand of crazy."

"Hai, but we don't want to overwhelm you, Kerokero-chan. You practicing your jumping and running is a great idea! I definitely think you should consider training with Themi-chan or tonbo-sensei or Kalli-sama. Oh, Lacri-san would be good too. We know lots of senshi we could introduce you to! You should make lots of friends, Kerokero-chan. It's important to have friends!"

Itsuki's enthusiasm was short-lived as Themisto held the cat to his stomach and wiggled him gently from side to side. "You're callin' him Ribbit Boy again, little dude. Isn't that rude?"

The Mauvian's ears flattened. "It's not meant to be rude! 'Nix-chan' just sounds so impersonal..."

"See, Themi-chan?" cried Itsuki, triumphant. "It's more personal when it's Kerokero-chan~"

The question about how to travel to space was more adequately explained by the cat, for the Mauvians were in charge of the technology that powered not only senshi cellphones, but their functions as well. Hanging from the front of Themisto's fuku, Itsuki did his best to explain it all to the frog senshi. "Hai, Kerokero-chan, there is an app on your senshi cellphone! If you pull it out, I can show you! It helps tune you into your planet's special signal and transports you from here to there in an instant~ Isn't Mauvian technology sugoi~?? When you're done on your hoshi no jagaimo, you use the app again and you're taken back to the spot on Earth that you left in the first place!"

Themisto didn't quite understand the technical ins-and-outs of the whole jettison yourself into space using an app on a cellphone thing, but he knew it worked from experience. That was good enough for him. "How many are there? Shoot, man, no idea there, but I've met a bunch so far. I do know everybody's got their own piece of space, up there somewhere. Moons 'n stars 'n comets too, it's pretty crazy. How you land on a comet, I dunno, but the way I figure it, if asteroids an' all that are on the table, why not comets? All sorts'a space stuff up there, you know?"

The newly-minted eternal nodded, somewhat surprised Nix had run into his sibling already. She was a busy one. "Yeah, Kalli's my older sister. She gets around, man. Glad you're okay. The markings are weird, aren't they? Little spooky, if you ask me." Kallichore had explained how she had gotten the markings, and he definitely noticed a slight change in Kallichore's demeanor since acquiring them. She was... calmer. More peaceful, for whatever reason.

"But yeah, DC's pretty... crazy. It's a magical hotspot for bonkers bullsh---crap. Bullcrap. Tryin'a cut down on the cussin'. Sorry about that. How old are you, by the way?"

Itsuki flopped back into his comfortable pouch and twiddled his paws. The Mauvian wasn't sure if it was a good idea to reveal what the Headquarters Computer files had stated about the Negaverse and the rest of the United States. "We're doing our best, Kerokero-chan. Themi-chan and I will make sure you're safe, promise!"