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Ethe had been on the hunt. They had found the streets of Destiny City to be perfect at this time. Perhaps it was the fog rolling in, perhaps it was the time of night or perhaps it was just what happened this time of year. The youma didn’t know. The workings of Destiny City, once so familiar when they were human, were foreign now that they were youma.

Still, it was nice to feel the cold air on their fur. And to smell the scents in the air.

That is when they felt the aura of a senshi and the scent of a cat.

Their instincts went into overdrive. A cat with a senshi must be a Mauvian and they had been told of them. Even gotten the scent back when they had toured the technical areas of Negaspace. Now they’d meet one.

It was surprisingly not too difficult to separate the two. The senshi was rather young. Ethe would catch her later. There was a Mauvian he wanted to see…

“We smell you, cat. Come out and play!”

Ethe’s left head cackled while the right head sniffed the air. They moved in closer and closer, trying to chase the Mauvian into a dark alleyway…


✧

Dalgona continued to run, because, well, what was the alternative? She could feel herself nearing her limits, though, especially as the youma continued to pursue and chase her into unfamiliar places, further into the darkness. Although the ‘epiphany’ she had experienced when she first became aware of that she was more than an ordinary housecat had given her a second wind of sorts, a burst of youthful energy… Dalgona was still an older cat. Not only an older cat, of course, but also one who was unused to having to endure such grueling physical exertion!

The Mauvian didn’t know in which direction Hokkaido had gone, or if she had managed to find help, but she would have to hope that her young charge was safe for the moment. With any luck, when all was said and done, Dalgona could try to spin this into a future lesson, one of safety in numbers and what not to do. Hopefully. Maybe.

If she could just shake off her pursuer, who was very certainly closing the distance between them as the fluffy guardian cat was running low on stamina.

“I am terribly sorry, but I’m afraid I must decline!” Dalgona called out in response, very much not keen to find out what the two-headed demon dog youma’s idea of ‘play’ was.

--

Every time Hokkaido tried to be brave and patrol without the company of her twin sister, bad things always seemed to follow. Thus, Hokkaido was starting to arrive at the conclusion that perhaps it was a bad idea to power up and go outside at night, and that staying indoors was the much better idea... maybe until the end of time, really! Then again, Hokkaido found that misfortune would befall her no matter what, given that she seemed to be cursed; there was a good chance that staying home wouldn't help, either.

Dalgona, the twins' new guardian cat, had been trying to instill herself as their new tutor and mentor, in the place of Rune, who technically wasn't their cat, but the one who had awakened them and given them their pens and powers. Where Rune was more lenient, Dalgona was more strict, and vice versa at times, it seemed, though they had different teaching styles, so perhaps it was unfair to compare the two Mauvians? Especially when Dalgona was still new to the job...

Hokkaido had seen the reports of rabid dogs on the news, and had been hesitant to go out and patrol, at least not until she knew things were all-clear (for the time being). Dalgona, however, had been trying to push the young girl into being braver and more confident in her abilities, and although it was with much reluctance, the chibi super senshi of baku had finally given in and agreed to go out on without Aomori... but on the condition that the ragdoll cat accompany her. After all, wasn't it Dalgona who also stressed that Hokkaido shouldn't attempt to wander about on her own?

Things went cautiously well at first, which should have been the first sign that something bad would happen. Then a big canine-like youma had shown up and started chasing them... which led to cat and senshi becoming seperated from each other. Hokkaido had gotten lost, though she was more familiar with the town than Dalgona, and had no idea which direction the youma went, or if her fluffy feline companion was alright or not. Although she didn't sense anymore youma nearby, Hokkaido didn't stop for long to catch her breath, as she was already on the move again, headed for somewhere more well-lit, where she could get a better idea of her surroundings.

After that, though, what should she do? Should she try to call Lepus, and hope that the older senshi could come to the rescue? Or should she try to be brave and enlist the help of a stranger? Feeling hopeless and trying not to fall into despair, Hokkaido pulled out her senshi phone and did the next best thing, something Rune had taught her to do when she first gave the twins the rundown of how to use the phones:

She pressed on the icon for the distress signal app, and hoped for the best.

She had not gotten very far in her candy hunt when she felt a ping in her pocket. Her senshi phone!

The girl still hadn’t gotten used to the cellphone yet. It was such a strange little device. She liked all it could do, but sometimes it overwhelmed her by just how much. She’d once spent a whole day playing around with the various features and apps. She’d definitely written an entry for an app called ‘Connections’ and then spent forever reading all the entries others had written. She hadn’t been aware just how many senshi were in Destiny City!

But this was something she hadn’t seen the phone do before. It had brought up a map. And was leading her to a signal from another phone.

Urania followed it tio the source. A young senshi?

“Hello! My name is Urania. Are — are you the one who sent out that signal?”

She held up her phone which was beeping indecently now.


❂

Hokkaido hadn't been sure what to expect when she used the distress signal app, aside from that it would call for help. The senshi that showed up was pretty, though the chibi senshi couldn't help but take note of the starry eyes. Unusual eyes or not, compared to previous encounters with other senshi, if this senshi was answering her call, then they weren't... a bad person, correct? The aura was similar to hers, but Hokkaido could never be sure...

"Y-Yes, I did," the chibi super said, nodding, "U-Um, I'm Hokkaido... D-Dalgona and I... m-my cat and I..."

The girl stumbled over her words, still shaken up, but it was important to convey her message, of why she had called for help.

"T-There was a youma, a-and it chased us... a-and now... now..."

Deep breaths, deep deep breaths... it was important to try to calm down...

"I-I think it's still chasing her! We got separated... I-I don't know where she went..."

It was clear the senshi was really worried. She supposed that was to be expected. It was a distress signal.

“I’m Urania. And I’m going to help you find your cat. Don’t worry!”

That’s what senshi did, right? They helped each other out. Besides, Mauvians deserved their protection!

“What direction did you last see them? I can get us there really fast with my magic.”


❂

Urania nodded as the other senshi spoke. A relative direction was good enough. If she could just get a hold of the cat’s aura or, better yet, that of the youma which would be greater, they would know they were on the right track. But if she could catch sight of them… all the better.

“Let’s go!” Urania grabbed Hokkaido’s hand. “We’ll find them.”

She said her magic spell quickly and gave Hokkaido a reassuring nod. Then stars appeared before them, three that led up. She jumped one to the other while guiding her new friend to follow.

Once they got high enough, Uranus hopped on a nearby roof.

“I think I see something… Hey! Did the youma kinda look like a dog?”


❂

“Yes! I see them. And they’d not that far off. We can catch up to them.”

Urania once again grabbed her hand and they went off running to where she had seen the youma just in time to see…


❂