When Yuki had come across an ad for the Kino gym, she realized she had her answer to the question that had been scratching at the back of her mind. She had realized in her last fight with the ice youma that all the other senshi and knights had some sort of weapon they used to fight. Yuki however did not. This was fine, seeing as she had her own powerful attacks, but she couldn’t help but feel that she needed to improve her hand to hand combat skills.

‘I’ll fight with flaming kicks and punches,’ she had thought to herself. So after begging a little bit of extra allowance money from her father, she signed up and paid for an evening class at the gym. Underneath her red winter jacket and black sweatpants, Yuki still had on her athletic clothes she had worn during soccer practice earlier in the afternoon. This also meant that she would be a bit more worn out today, seeing as she also still had the park meeting later tonight, but if she could learn some useful skills it would certainly be worth it.

After signing in, Yuki walked into the room she was told the class would be held in, not quite sure what to expect. She had only a small familiarity with martial arts, but assumed her over all athletic strength and ability could probably make up for her lack in technical skill.

Over the next fifteen minutes, other students would trickle in as well, resulting in a training room filled with sixteen people between the ages of twelve and fifty. After a time, a taller woman in her middle years enters the room. A few of the people in the room make hushed whispers about the 'Legendary Makoto Kino' and the fact that she still offers beginner lessons at her level of knowledge and previous competition. The room would be filled with various martial arts trophies and awards hanging from walls and sheleves out of the reach of normal combat trainees. Despite her many years, due to vigorous training the sensei had an incredibly well built and toned body, noticeable in the way she carried herself in spite of the thick black gi that covered her body. Her mid length brown hair which was slightly curly was tied in a ponytail as her standard style. A few young men made remarks as young men do.

Evening!" she says with an almost too casual, energetic tone. "So everyone here is for the Self-Defense class right? Well then, everyone get up and get warmed up. Stretch out like this..." she starts, going through a lengthy warmup session with everyone else here. After an adequate amount of warmup exercises, Sensei Kino then stands at the front.

"The beginnings of martial arts training starts with the body, and from body you gain technique, which both grow from practice. If you work hard enough, you can even become a black belt. Now get in a line and give yourself five feet of distance from the next nearest person, and then throw a punch while taking your ready position as so..." Sensei Kino says, assuming the practiced martial arts stance, before then twisting her torso in the direction of her punch and thrusting forward in a straight punch, the elementary stepping stone.

The others in the room operate the punch sloppily with a few doing better than that. The exercise would continue for the next five minutes leaving Yuki to her practice during that timeframe. A few times a punch from a nearby male high schooler would errantly get uncomfortably close.

Yuki watched with everyone else as Makoto Kino entered the room. She remembered seeing the woman on TV once and remembered thinking that she seemed pretty cool. When a group of guys made remarks not far from Yuki, she glared over at them, wondering if she should say something, but then Kino-sensei began to speak.

The warm-up exercises were very familiar to Yuki as she was already accustomed to such exercises in her own sport’s practices. After they were done, she lined herself in front of a boy roughly her age, watching Kino-sensei carefully before imitating her punch. After the first few, she realized she needed to turn her torso and hips more, in order to power the punch all the way through. She was about to practice this, when the boy in front of her nearly hit her. Yuki looked up at him, but it seemed like he wasn’t really paying attention to his surroundings. He did this a few more times, and Yuki decided it was enough. The next time his punch came too close, she blocked it with her left arm, before stepping forward and punching with her right arm, falling just short of hitting his face. This seemed to get his attention.

”Careful you don’t get too close,” Yuki warned with a cheerful grin before stepping back and resuming the exercise.

The young man that had come uncomfortably close to Yuki was needless to say startled by Yuki's sudden reaction that in a real fight would have had him take a fist full of face and knocked on his back. The young man's eyes bug out momentarily, but after the initial shock he calms down.

S..s..sorry... he mutters out, but his eyes begin to travel down Yuki's neckline which may be obvious and warrant a reaction from Yuki before...

"Hey, what's going on here?" Kino-Sensei says, walking over and looking at the boy and girl having their interaction.

"N...nothing Sensei..." the boy gets out meekly, mildly afraid of what Yuki might do to him if he made a scene out of it. Makoto's eyes traverse to Yuki for a moment before she shrugs and then goes back to the front.

The remainder of the night would be filled with exercises for beginning kicks and punches. While not quite the flurry of swings and kicks that people envision when they think of martial arts, most people would understand that this was the foundation of technique to come. A few complained at how slow and boring this pace was under their breaths and to their nearby friends.

"Okay! Well that's a good first lesson, I hope you enjoyed it. Next class will begin to learn some more advanced moves and the beginning of grapples that can help you in a stick situation. In a couple of weeks, you will be able to qualify to test for a White Belt if you want to, though this class is more general self defense early on and I realize that some might not have the time to go after belts." she says sheepishly, rubbing her head with a slight laugh. In a weird way, Makoto had a kind nature that seemed to come before the famous Martial Artist, as if it was somebody who given a choice would never fight a battle, but would do so without hesitation if the need be.

A moment later, the building shook, causing a few trophies to fall over off their shelves, and some of the less agile people to fall to the ground. Makoto held he ground and then glared around.

"What was that...everyone, stay here, I'll check it out." she says, putting the safety of her class first...dashing out of the room. For the next five minutes, Makoto would not return, leading those to wonder if something was seriously wrong.

”It’s alright, just be more careful of your surroundings,” Yuki responded as the boy apologized. However it seemed as though he wasn’t paying attention, as Yuki noticed his eyes wandering. She suddenly felt somewhat self-conscious but before she could say anything, the sensei walked over to them.

”Nothing,” Yuki confirmed when Kino-sensei asked what was going on. What had simply been demonstrating to the boy the importance of being aware of what he was doing, Yuki realized might be perceived as her being the bully in this situation, so she thought it better to just let it go.

Other than that the class went smoothly. The pace hadn’t bothered Yuki, she expected this much from a first class. The fun would be in the classes to come, and the people complained and weren’t serious probably wouldn’t stick around for the more advanced classes anyway. When the sensei mentioned going after belts, Yuki had to think for a moment. Getting belts wasn’t really the reason she came but if time allowed she supposed she might consider it.

Before thinking more on it, however, the building suddenly shook with enough violence to knock things off of shelves and cause a few to fall over. Yuki managed to stay upright as she looked around. ’Was that an earthquake or something?’

She watched as their teacher ran out to see what had happened. After a few minutes passed, a dreadful thought occurred to Yuki. ’It could have been a tremor…or maybe….’ However unlikely, Yuki knew if the covenant was somehow responsible for this, Kino-sensei and everyone else could be in a lot of danger.

”I’ll go see where she went,” she announced before running out of the room, looking around to see where their sensei might have gone.

When Yuki ended up following, she would find nothing until she went outside, when a chill would go down her spine. Something would make her feel uneasy, and the following pursuit would end up leading her to a parking lot where a large creature, a youma, wearing a black gi. It's expression was much like an Oni, towering seven feet tall. Two horns curved behind it and upward vertically while it's clawed hands formed fists. The creature was in a martial arts pose, staring down Makoto, who was standing between it and an unconscious couple. A few other people were unconscious nearby, drained of all their energy and in critical condition. Makoto was breathing heavily, but didn't appear obviously injured. A car that was somewhat crushed and upside down made a large dent in a building, explaining why the building shook earlier, connected in a larger complex.

"What's wrong human? Tired already? I should stop playing with you...it was fun though, most humans don't have that kind of fighting spirit."[/color] the Youma states, running at Makoto, who stands, and waits...not moving until the last possible second, when she backflips and has both of her feet rise in a vertical kick landing on the youma's chin, knocking it back a few feet and stunning it, but not inflicting much more damage. The youma however was clearly angered by the act of defiance.

"Why don't you leave these kids alone creep...what did you do, get pissed off at the world and joined that stupid cult to make up for your own failures as a person?" she mutters, while the youma chuckles a little.

"Aww...you make it sound like such a bad thing to embrace the true nature of the human existence, an endless well of negativity and despair, we just seek to bring the human race to that one truth."[/color] the youma chuckles, with a toothy grin, eyes aglow red. It was in a position to think it was merely playing with it's prey.

When Yuki ran outside, she was not pleased to find that her suspicions were in fact confirmed. Even worse, it seemed as though the sensei was trying to fight the covenant creature on her own. She seemed to be holding her ground at the moment, but who knew how long that would last.

Looking around, Yuki makes sure no one else is nearby before, taking her wand out of her pocket, saying the words, ”Mars Power Make-up.” Magical flames soon surround her as she transforms into her senshi outfit.

”Stop right there!” Sailor Mars yelled, quickly running towards the youma and her Kino-sensei, hoping she can keep the monster from attacking the other woman.

”I won’t let you hurt anymore people,” Mars spoke before glancing over at Makoto. She wasn’t sure how the other would perceive her. ”Don’t worry, I’m on your side and can fight monsters like this. You should probably take some of these people to safety if you can.” Yuki faced back towards the youma readying herself for a possible attack.

The youma turns to where Sailor Mars manifested and had a deadpan expression on his face. A girl in a short skirt was declaring SHE would not let him hurt anyone else? A toothy grin manifests on his face as he looks at the brave senshi.

"Ohhh~ You think you got what it takes to go a round with the champ? Let's see what you got. maybe I can turn your pretty little hide into a belt...I'll call it the 'Short Skirt Girl Who Thought She Could Beat Me'" he says, laughing a little too much at his incredibly stupid 'joke' if you can call it that. "At least that one put up a fight, what do you got? You're small, weak...insignificant." he taunts, looking at Yuki, clearly ridiculing her and not considering her a true threat right now. The youma cracks it's knuckles and stands facing her, walking in her direction, as a sphere of blue energy begins to appear in it's hand.

Makoto has a bubble of sweat go down her head as she sees Sailor Mars enter the scene and declare she was going to handle the youma. How could a young girl in a short skirt really handle that...monster?

"Get out of here girl! It'll kill you." she says, seeing the youma approach. Fearlessly, Makoto runs at it and leaps at her enemy, letting loose a flying kick against it's neck with enough force to make the creature stumble and roll on the ground. She runs at it trying to finish it off with a stomping movement to the neck, but it grabs her leg and then stands up, holding her upside down, before throwing her at the wall, as Makoto hits it full force and causes her to lay on the ground not moving for a moment.

Yuki felt her face flush slightly when the youma mentioned the short skirt in what was apparently meant to be some stupid joke. The whole skirt thing had definitely not been her idea. However when the youma called her insignificant, Yuki bristled.

”I’ll show you insignificant,” she muttered, readying herself as the youma began to walk forward. However at this moment, Makoto ran forward charging the covenant monster.

”No Sensei, wait!” Yuki yelled out, however it was already too late and although she managed to roll the creature onto the ground, the youma then threw Makoto against the wall.

”You’ll pay for that!” Mars yelled. She wanted to check on Kino-sensei and make sure she was alright, however she didn’t want to waste the other’s effort at managing to get the creature on the ground. Even without senshi powers, Makoto Kino was impressively strong.

”Shooting Flame Kick!” As she spoke, a large fireball formed at Mar’s feet before being launched at great speed towards the youma’s direction.

Killian had finished some late tutoring for some of his students at the Juban high school and hoped that he could get home and get ready for that meeting in two hours. That was until he felt a chill go down his spine. And he wondered what it was and followed this feeling and it got stronger and found the Kino Gym and saw a Oni, a woman spralled against a well, and to top it off was his senshi. He ducks into a ally way and leaves his bag against a dumpster that would be out of sight. Then gets his transformation item out "Mars ARMOR UP" he called out and transformed. Kail draws his katana blade and moves out from the allyway and sees that Sailor Mars was taking advantage of the one's moment of weakness. Although resheath's the blade as he was going to get the woman out of there first, since he knew that his senshi counter part could handle herself.

"Sailor Mars, Keep the pressure on the Youma. I'll get the lady out of the battlefield. When I get back, We will kick this things ass" he called out and ran like a bat out of hell then jumps up to a wall and does rebound kick to jump over the youma and to avoid Sailor Mars's attack. He lands next to Makoto and carefuly gets her into his arms and spots the gym's front door and then moves to place her inside the Gym and places her carefully to the floor. "SOMEONE GET MEDICAL ATTENTION FOR THIS WOMAN" he yelled out since he did not know what her condtion was. Then he turns around and rushes back out to assist Sailor Mars as a Oni was going to be a very deadly enemy to deal with. And was thankful that the oni did not have its well known weapon the Kanebo club.

The youma was oblivious to the fireball that Sailor Mars had prepared, and eats it straight to the face, looking like a clean hit from Yuki's perspective. When the smoke fades, she hears a chuckling as the creature stood upright. It's face and upper body was obviously burned, and it spits out a demonic tooth on the ground, producing a gap in the creature's toothy smile.

"Oh my...there's more to you than meets the eye, isn't there?" he says, then noticing the male guardian approaching with a blade in hand. He chuckles again, despite the injury that Sailor Mars had inflicted just now, pointing at her.

"So, you try to play the part of the honorable hero and then call in a buddy to help? Outnumbering the enemy, not very honorable..." the creature says, pausing and chuckling for a moment in taunt.

"....But it IS the smarter option..." the Oni states, punching the ground, causing the ground to shake. The area around the Mars pair would shake, quiver, and rumble, causing potential problems for footing while an orange glow appears in cracks beneath them, shooting up as a burst of heat energy, spiking up to seven feet of the air from ground level.

A smirk emerged on Sailor Mar’s face when she watched her attack solidly hit the youma. That served it right for taking her lightly. However her smile soon faded when the demon got back up. Just then though, the Mars Knight appeared much to Yuki’s surprise. She was glad that he was there to get Kino-sensei out of harm’s way at least, though there were still a few other unconscious people nearby so she would have to be careful.

”Honorable? That’s a joke coming from you, freak.”

Just then though the ground began to shake and Yuki found herself losing her footing and balance as she tried to remain upright. As soon as she saw the glow emitting from the cracks along with a wave of heat, she knew she had to get out of there. Mar’s leapt and just barely managed to avoid the spike of energy as she tumbled to the ground a few feet away

Quickly getting up, Yuki glared at the youma preparing to launch another attack at it. She had certainly not been expecting it to be able to pull off that last move.

After Killian placed Makoto down inside the gym he went back out to face the Oni. The creature spoke of the slight unfair advantage with numbers with honor being placed down and that just irked him. As it hit him at his pride and he would have wanted to fight this thing one on one. But since the Oni had drained several people that option was out the window. If the Oni had challenged them straight out for a fight then Kail would have made his own challenge. Although seeing that there were people still there and cought in the middle of the battlefield. As the red head had watched the massive ground explosion go off by the Oni. Killian kept his footing a bit until the energy spikes came out and dogged them by jumping back several times.

Killian draws his sword and thinks for a second and then knew he had to give Sailor Mars an opening. "Cinder Flare" he called out and brought his sword above his head and slashed down. The slash unleashed a powerful beam of fire energy right at the oni. "Normaly I would issue a challenge to you, but you have drained several humans. And on top of it you attacked several people that were not fighters. That is a dishonorable action you cur, you have no right to issue a one on one fight" said Kail striking at the one's honor. Even it was twisted this thing needed a lesson in knowing what honor meant. The Mars knight's sword was now ablaze with flame. He hoped that Sailor Mars would take his opening and strike at the Oni.

When Kail's attack landed, the Oni staggered back a few feet from the force of the blow. Red would dot the ground for a moment, as the hissing sound of acid mixing with water permeates through the air. It chuckles as Killian speaks of honor, and lunges a large fist in his gut, knocking the Mars Knight flying back in a direction of a parked car. It looks at him and then laughs heartily.

"Kids, I'll give you a piece of wisdom before you die. Battles are won by the decisive and the ruthless. Heroes like yourselves, like the countless weak military types I've cut down, your idea of right and honor holds you back and drags you down." he says, clenching his hands into knuckles and slamming them.

WILL OF STEEL he states, as his skin turns to a metallic tone, the Oni simply waving his hand as if beckoning for the Mars Pair to try their hand.