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 Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2014 7:58 pm
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Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2014 7:38 pm
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Posted: Fri May 02, 2014 9:46 am
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Posted: Mon May 05, 2014 5:11 pm
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Posted: Mon May 05, 2014 5:13 pm
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Posted: Wed May 14, 2014 7:31 pm
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Posted: Tue May 27, 2014 6:37 pm
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Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2017 4:26 pm
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Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2017 3:42 pm
Cetus was right - carrying shoes that wouldn’t render him a cripple was a brilliant idea. Zachary had slung a gym bag over his shoulder so as not to attract suspicion. Indeed, he looked like Every Other Bro who had either come from, or was going to, a gym. The bag itself was covered in pins and other memorabilia, and since the bag was a black nylon, he couldn’t easily screenprint on it. No matter, it served its purpose.
Cetus was a badass dude by Zach’s standards. He ran around in socks whenever he could because the Senshi Sorting Hat was literally awful at handing out sensible footwear. That night, using Cetus’ guidance, Zach had prepared accordingly. No more would be, as Themisto, be subjected to twisted ankles and ear-splitting grinding sounds when he tried to so much as turn a corner in a hurry. No more CLACK CLACK CLACK echoing through the streets when he tried to be quiet.
(Truthfully, he tried once to pass through a neighborhood but got bottles thrown at him for his efforts - he was keeping the hardworking folks up at night with all that racket.)
One other thing Cetus reminded him to be aware of - one must power-up in secrecy, lest ye be caught by the enemy. The enemy, Cetus had said, were the people who felt like a brush with a known serial killer. Stay away from them, stay alert. Don’t get caught. Don’t patrol alone if you can help it, or power down if you sense someone bad coming near you and their signature was HUGE. Zachary surmised that, as one grew more powerful (somehow), one’s weird aura grew larger, making you easier to spot on the radars of other people.
Zach sighed. This was all so ridiculous.
That being said, Cetus mentioned several allies had patrolled downtown, and that downtown might be the safest place to learn to run and jump in better shoes. Less risk of being singled out and hunted down, more chances of someone friendly being nearby. Zach still didn’t quite believe the depth and ferocity of the “war”, not even going so far as to think of the term war without quotations in his head. The boy thought someone special and crazy had bestowed a great number of bored young adults with magical superpowers and set them loose in the sandbox of the city, complete with talking cats.
It was just too much.
Regardless of what he thought about the whole thing, there was a certain exhilaration that came with the idea that one had magical powers, and other people did not. With a smile, Zach started to look for a safe place to pull out that stupid pen and power up. Stairwells were too open and echoed too much, a port-a-potty was disgusting. The evening was fairly crisp and cold, therefore not many people stayed outside for long periods of time. Instead, they quickly shuffled from one destination to the next with the intent of keeping warm.
With a frown, Zach realized he had another date with a dumpster. Seeing as they tended to be avoided due to the smell and alleys tended to be dark, it seemed like the best idea. The gray-haired boy ducked into an alley as soon as the couple he was walking behind pushed open the door to Generic Coffee Chain Store. The dumpster’s usual smell wasn’t as pungent tonight, likely due to the sting of cold air in his nose. At least there was that?
What he failed to notice was an eternal senshi drifting on the edges of his vision. Cetus was correct - several senshi did patrol downtown. The more people, the more likely a Negaverse officer was to pick one off to drain -- or worse. Truthfully, the senshi wasn’t about to pay a civilian in an alley much mind without an accompanying Chaos signature nearby. She was going to keep moving, but the boy looked familiar.
Kallichore stood in the shadows of the building opposite the alley, watching as gray hair shone briefly under a streetlamp. Gray hair, charcoal, just like her own. That was Zach! What is he doing out so late? She made the jump easily from one building to the next, taking care to stay quiet. She doubled how often she counted for signatures, knowing her little brother was outside the safety of the family home. Should she drop in on him? No, the glamor would make her appear like a stranger and besides, who knew what Zach’s opinion of senshi in general even was? He could have been swayed by the Destiny City nightly news that depicted senshi and knights as “local terrorists”.
The eternal senshi leaned against the large industrial heater while playing out various ways to keep an eye on her brother. Stalking him seemed the safest route, honestly. That way, the glamor wouldn’t even come into play…
And suddenly, an aura flared to life. Small, fledgling, in dire need of protection at this stage. Kallichore swallowed the lump in her throat and rushed to the edge of the office building on which she stood. There, in precisely the same spot where Zachary was hunkered behind a dumpster, stood a senshi.
Zachary, now Themisto, couldn’t help but grin at Cetus’ genius. Indeed, tossing his godforsaken geta into the dumpster to replace them with socks and running shoes felt fantastic. Now he could run and jump and slide around corners without breaking his ankle clean off! The senshi of kappas suggested testing his magical attacks on youma -- those monster things -- but Themisto didn’t like the idea of blowing his attack while without backup. What if it was something lame? What if it didn’t even do anything? He could be seriously injured, or worse! There was so much more to consider that he hadn’t even thought of. All he really thought about before were girls, getting a decent job and moving out of the house.
Now, his life was on the line. But simultaneously, how many people his age got to run around the city with super powers and the ability to leap tall buildings in a single bound? Sure, he couldn’t quite do that part yet, but Themisto was sure, with time, he would be able to.
Stopping to scan for hostiles, Themisto found a flare of Order energy somewhere behind him. It was intense, heavy, but definitely not one of the agents Cetus had warned him to avoid like the plague. Cetus mentioned the agents wore dark colors and carried actual weaponry like swords and daggers - very dangerous. Themisto idly wondered if any of them carried firearms… But wouldn’t the civilian populace hear more about shootings if that were the case?
The world seemed to stand still for a moment, Themisto listening to the bluster of the wind and the low-pitched chatter of the people below him. Why wasn’t the signature moving? He was never a tactician, nor did he play any tactical video games. It just seemed very strange to him that an Order signature -- an ally, right? -- wouldn’t be moving. Were they watching someone? Themisto furrowed his brow. No, he would have felt a Chaos signature, right? Maybe it was a crime-in-progress… senshi stopped those too, didn’t they?
He had too many questions.
Whoever they were, Themisto couldn’t see them from this vantage point. There were entirely too many rooftop air conditioners, billboards and random junk in the way. Maybe he should just leave them alone, you know, to do whatever it is that senshi with that kind of power run around at night and do. He could find and hang out with Cetus instead, someone more on his level (in more ways than one). Cetus was quite a bit less confusing.
How someone even got to that level of power, which felt utterly enormous, was something Themisto was unsure of. Kari called herself super, and she felt stronger than he was. This particular looming signature felt even stronger than that of Kari. As far as Themisto was concerned, Kari was the greatest thing since sliced bread. If she could reach a higher level of power, who’s to say he couldn't do the same? Besides, he needed to repay her for saving his life, and he couldn't do that without powers to back him up. Obviously he couldn't even hold his own against demon rhinos. What could someone with power greater than Kari do? Without anyone to ask, Themisto could do little but play mental gymnastics with what little information he had.
So the senshi of the lost shrugged it all off, deciding it wasn’t worth any more of his brain power tonight. Tonight was special! He’d planned to jump from building to building, all the way down Main Street and see how far he could get before he tired. Cetus said the increase in strength and stamina he received when powering up was intense, and Themisto had wanted to push those limits, to see just how intense this special power was supposed to be.
It wasn’t long before Themisto had found the preferred row of buildings along Main Street he wished to confiscate for personal training - several banks, dentists, restaurants and bars, coffee shops and knick-knack peddlers lined both sides of the thoroughfare. With people preoccupied with shopping and the nightlife, they shouldn’t notice a base-level superhero leaping from one roof to the next, right? Themisto recalled seeing news reports of strange weather activity, and the appearance of rabbits that bit people or something… maybe those rabbits have something to do with the rhino monster Kari had vanquished that night.
The wind felt positively exhilarating as it whipped through his hair, feet barely making much more than a few steps’ worth of contact on the textured rooftops before he was sailing through the air again. Arms outstretched, it truly felt as though he were flying, without the constraints of ridiculous geta he was saddled with every time he transformed. With a long, heavy scrape, Themisto landed atop the third building in the sequence and turned to gaze at the direction from which he came. How far was this from where he started?
His muscles contracted and he’d worked up a healthy sweat. Breath hitching in his throat slightly, Themisto smiled to himself. Not bad!
It was then that he saw someone, a black silhouette against the lights of the city. Themisto closed his eyes, as he had done before, to scan. Order, definitely. But were they following him? There was too little detail for the senshi to make out who this particular person was, so he hazarded a yell when he thought the people below might not be able to hear him - after all, there was plenty of street noise on Main most of the time.
“Kari?! Is that you!?”
The figure dropped from his view suddenly, leaving Themisto perplexed. Did he scare them off? Without the wherewithal to continually scan, Themisto had no idea how rapidly the other Order signature was approaching his position. With a shrug, the boy-turned-superhero let the subject drop and was about to continue on his merry way when he felt a hand on his shoulder.
Themisto about jumped out of his skin and nearly fell to the ground if he had not been caught by the fuku. Leaning awkwardly, he flailed about until he was pulled up enough to stand on his own. So this made for the third time his outfit caused him problems! He had to find that damned Senshi Sorting Hat and give it a piece of his mind for foisting one of the worst costumes he'd ever have to wear. He slapped away the offending hand (so manly!) and was surprised to see another senshi standing there, staring at him. For a moment, the two stood there, eyes locked, neither saying a word. The night wind blew a la classic ninja or king fu movies, their hair rustling softly. Jaws were clenched. Silence reigned. That is, until Themisto spoke.
”Well excuse you.” he spat, brushing himself off. “I was perfectly happy here just training and everything and then you come along and just grab me and… that’s assault, you know! And also, what the hell are you wearing? Are those wings on your a**? Look, I know I could've fallen and maybe I could've broken my face off but what is with being saved by ladies all the time?? I'm trying to bulk up and get powerful so I can start saving you and here you are, making me look bad!"
Yes, Themisto did not take embarrassment gracefully.
Kallichore pinched the bridge of her nose. Not the most graceful entrance but at least he was alone and wasn’t being pursued by the Negaverse. There weren’t any youma signatures, no Dark Mirrors (she’d triple-checked), no agents she could find tonight. No, it seemed as though the lingering Order signatures kept Chaos at bay tonight. That was quite fortuitous because she was most positive this was, indeed…
“Zachary, it’s you, isn’t it?”
Cetus warned him to power up in private, to make sure no one saw him to put two-and-two together. Find an empty stairwell, an abandoned house, a restaurant closed for the night or in desperate times, a port-a-pot.The senshi of kappa said Negaverse agents could find out who you were and could hunt you down, or worse… find your family, ruin your job, get you kicked out of school. School obviously wasn’t a problem for Themisto, but the thought of his father and sister being endangered because of his carelessness sent a shiver down his spine.
Thank goodness someone from his side of the playing field had seen him, and not someone else. Themisto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. “Uh… yeah. Look, um… don’t tell anybody you saw that, okay? I’m still new at this and--”
The other senshi shook her head. “Zach, it’s me. CeeCee.”
Themisto about fainted.
Word count: 2,336 (Themi count: 2,097)
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Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2017 6:29 pm
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Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2017 12:42 pm
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Posted: Mon Mar 06, 2017 7:47 pm
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Posted: Wed Mar 08, 2017 12:16 pm
Finally Googling this…
Zach sighed as he rested his head on his arms, bathed in the faint glow of a computer monitor. It had been a few days since Ember, the guardian cat, moved in with him. He rather enjoyed her presence and was able to pick her brain for a few things that had been nagging him. Ever since traveling to Denebola with its senshi namesake, Zachary had been curious about his own piece of the solar system. Watching Denebola become wracked with pain and fear from memories she could not control, however, made him quite hesitant to learn anything about Themisto.
Part of him wanted to know what Themisto even was, and why he was the Senshi of the Lost. Denebola mentioned that her power sphere of dragonflies connected very obviously to her homeworld - the people of the past used to fly through the skies astride huge dragonfly mounts. To think that an entire civilization rose and fell on a single star without Earth’s science being able to detect it…
It made sense, according to Ember. She had explained the senshi glamor that protected their identities while powered up also cloaked ancient civilizations such as this from prying eyes. If Earth could detect the ruins of societies on outlying moons and stars, the whole world would be abuzz about it. The face of science itself would be changed permanently.
The fact that the nightly news still spoke of car accidents, vandalism by high school delinquents and “costumed terrorists” meant senshi homeworlds were still protected.
After returning from Denebola, Zach told himself he had two weeks to muster up the courage to at least perform a cursory Google search about his own homeworld. Truth be told, this was the last day he gave himself on his timeline and he was rather embarrassed he’d procrastinated this long. No matter how long he waited, Ember was convinced he must return to his homeworld at some point - it was the seat of their power, after all.
The boy finally lifted his head to type into the sterile white search bar, asking the world wide web anything and everything it knew about the place called Themisto. What he found answered many of his questions.
Themisto (/θᵻˈmɪstoʊ/; from Greek: Θεμιστώ), also known as Jupiter XVIII, is a small prograde irregular satellite of Jupiter. It was discovered in 1975, subsequently lost, and rediscovered in 2000.
Subsequently lost…
Bingo.
Zach leaned back in his chair and snapped his fingers before cringing. The last thing he wanted to do was awaken Ember, who was napping so peacefully on his bed. She’d nagged him lightly to clean his room and his own father commented about how nice it was to have a female influence in the house (despite her being a cat). If only Zach could tell his father the truth - why Ember only liked raw seafood and why he seemed to hold his own conversations with her. Ember seemed well adept at hiding her superior intelligence and it made her a very welcomed member of the household.
“So… Themisto was lost for twenty-five years before they found it again? A moon of Jupiter, huh? I wonder what happened to it…?”
Ember didn’t know, even when asked. Not every Mauvian knew all there was to know about a particular homeworld, she said. They were advisors, not always historians. He should find out on his own. With gentle prodding from the cat prior to her peaceful nap, Zach had made the decision - he had to visit his moon.
Word Count: 596
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Posted: Wed Mar 08, 2017 12:55 pm
So… his sister was a senshi.
Not only that, but she’d been a senshi for six years and didn’t tell a soul.
Zach wasn’t sure how to reconcile this information in his mind. On the one hand, he and his sister were supposedly very close. Ever since the divorce and their mother’s departure from their lives into the arms of her new lover, Christa seemed ever more distant. Was that when she was awakened? When she needed space and stayed with their Aunt and Uncle while the divorce was being finalized? He had so many questions for her.
He understood, logically, the need to keep their identities a secret, but he was her brother! They grew up together! They were supposed to tell each other everything!
When she, as Kallichore, had tracked him down after transforming in a sadly conspicuous spot near a convenience store, they had exchanged senshi cellphone data. Christa rarely answered texts on her civilian phone, claiming she was very busy or otherwise inept - she preferred written communication. That pissed him off. If one’s sibling was a superhero, they were supposed to tell the other siblings!
That’s just how things worked!
Zach lay on his back, head on the opposite side of the bed, staring at the ceiling. He was fuming that night, upset that their relationship seemed to have deteriorated to the point that his elder sister was keeping life-altering secrets from him. In disgust, he quietly transformed and pulled open his bedroom window to leap onto the roof. He needed some fresh air and access to his stupid flip-phone. Ember mentioned she could upgrade it for him sometime. He needed to do that.
After this text tirade.
hey so why didnt you tell me you were a senshi?? Why dont you answer my texts? What the hell christa??
He sent the message and sighed loudly, leaning back to lay flat on his back against the roof. A short time later, his phone buzzed again - a new message. This fast? Themisto flipped the phone open. Lo and behold, his sister responded.
Zach, I couldn’t risk you and dad knowing. What if the Negaverse found you and used you as bait? Or worse yet, outright killed you? The war is very real and very lethal.
The boy frowned deeply. Sure, they could be used as pawns of war but he found that to be a frail excuse. six years huh? when?
Shortly after the divorce started, when I moved out to finish school.
So he was right - it was shortly after the divorce started. And here, he felt utterly clueless. Of course, he was much younger at the age of fourteen with his own troubles in middle school and juggling coursework with the divorce. His father was a great source of inspiration while the family fell apart. Themisto flipped the closed phone over and over in his palms, thinking.
He opened the phone again. its weird knowing all this is going on and so many people dont know anything about it. Nobody on the news talks about it cept for saying were terrorists and tryin to kill people. Wtf. i feel like a sitting duck. The people i met dont know much n the cat that woke me disappeared.
A quick reply followed. Which cat was it?
Themisto thought about it for a moment. Was it the same cat? Horatio i think
Really? I know that cat. She belongs to Pasiphae. It’s strange, knowing you’re also a moon of Jupiter, just like I am. Just like Pasiphae is. How is she?
dunno havent seen her since then. So youre a moon too and penelope is a moon? Kinda weird. Whats the word
Coincidental? Perhaps.
Themisto shook his head and rolled his shoulders back to stretch. so why dont you ever answer your civ phone sis
There was a pause in the messages and then… Most of the time, I’m working as a senshi and don’t see it. I’d like to train you, if you don’t mind. Are you free tomorrow evening?
yeah i think i can clear my schedule. I wanna know whats up with all this moon stuff. Denebola is a star and she’s got all this crazy bullshit up there and a jungle n stuff. She said they used to ride dragonflies around like flying horses or somethin. You got any weird flying critters on your moon
Tomorrow evening was designated as chill the hell out from the war and binge on bad food and worse movies on ScyFy Channel but… Christa, as Kallichore, would know so much more about the war than he did. Maybe she knew that blonde General Benitoite. Maybe she knew where the youma came from. If they could put a stop to the youma, maybe… plug the hole in the faucet the youma leak from? The city would be so much safer.
As it was, Destiny City seemed to be downright crawling with the vicious monsters that came in every shape, size and form. Some seemed ripped directly from the nightmares of terrified children. How many people went missing because of these things? And they didn’t seem to attack Negaverse agents either, which made Themisto believe the agents were on the same side as the monsters. Maybe they were pets? That was a terrifying thought. Regardless, Benitoite painted a different picture of the Negaverse than the one Themisto experience. Agents collected energy but wouldn’t say why. Senshi working for them were called corrupted... If working for the Negaverse was so great, why were the senshi called “corrupted”? Themisto found it disturbing.
At least his sister wasn’t an agent. Would he have to kill her then? Could he?
Could he kill any of the agents? Had Kallichore? Had his sister snuffed out someone’s life who pledged themselves to Metallia? Did the agents even know why they were serving this Metallia? It was probably some secret they kept very close to the breast - not that Themisto blamed them. Even on the world stage, wars were fought not only with manpower and ammunition, but information. The lieutenants gathering the energy surely had to know the purpose and function behind it. Otherwise, why would they perform the task? Benitoite made the Negaverse sound like a well-oiled machine, where everyone was trained and looked after and given orders to follow.
He had so many questions.
No ‘flying critters’. You’ll have to see it for yourself.
And so he would.
Word Count: 1070 (Themisto/Zach: 1024)
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Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2017 1:09 pm
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