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Super Solos 2-7 (3,078 words)

Bellorophon took a moment to look at the mirror that he was standing in front of. It was one that he had found during his patrols in an abandoned building that he had attempted to spray-paint at one point afterwards. Attempt being the key word. The building creaked so much that he was afraid it would collapse on him if he stayed too long.

Which is what pushed him into going through it after only a moments hesitation as he heard another creak and decided that he didn’t want to be there when the building finally decided to give way.

He found himself once again in Mirrorspace and he took a moment to breath. It had been some time since he had come here. If he was remembering correctly, the last time he had been here was when he had been pulled in against his will and fought a monster with Itokawa.

Not something he wanted to repeat, which had kept him from entering again within the past 6 months.

But he hadn’t heard about any other attacks, and with the Dark Mirror being at least closer to each other than the Negaverse, from what he could tell, and with nothing said to him by New, he was sure that there wouldn’t be another random monster attack.

Hopefully.

From what he had been told about Mirrorspace, it was so unknown that a monster attack, while incredibly rare, wasn’t totally unheard of…

Currently though he was just in the common room, a gold mirror in front of him, various other mirrors leading to other places, doors, etc.

For a moment he felt as though he should go back and wait for a time when Itokawa would be available so that he didn’t have to tranverse Mirrorspace alone, but he chased the thought out of his head. He was a Super Senshi now, and while he didn’t feel too different from his first… form? He had to take some sort of lead and confidence in himself. He wouldn’t have become a Super if he hadn’t earned it. Again, something he assumed though wasn’t quite sure how the magical universe decided on power upgrades.

He had to do something without Itokawa, even if he was nervous about doing so.

While he wasn’t entirely sure of himself in Mirrorspace, he had a goal that he wanted to complete today if possible. First, he wanted to find one of those crystals that had been mentioned to him before. The ones that could be used to build things. He wasn’t sure what he would be doing with them at this point, but he knew he needed to work on doing something to improve Mirrorspace. What it was, he wasn’t sure. It seemed that even the Royals didn’t know much about the place, which made it a bit harder to figure out what he wanted to do.

But part two of the goal this time was to find and claim his own realm within Mirrorscape. What he would be doing with it, he had no idea, but he wanted to at least do something. For right now he would collect crystals and keep them on the realm. While he did have pocket space for storage, it wouldn’t help if he couldn’t remember how many he had. Better to keep them all in one spot so that he could keep track of all of them.

And he would be needing a lot. If what he had heard was true, then one had to collect a lot of crystals to make any real impact on their realm. How many would be required? Of course, it depended on what one wanted to do with their realm, but apparently the realm also grew as the Senshi upgraded. So even if one acquired enough crystals as a Super, once they were upgraded to an Eternal, it wouldn’t be enough.

Something was better than nothing, however. He couldn’t stand the thought of only collecting energy and doing nothing else for his team. As much as they liked to say that they were neutral, that really meant that barely anything happened with them in terms of larger events. There really were no huge battles or going up against the Negaverse or stopping the White Moon or whatever it was.

It was surviving and gathering to keep their group alive. Nothing else.

It had made him question the Dark Mirror. Of course, he still believed that they were neutral and that the group was good and closer than either the White Moon or the Negaverse ever would be.

But would it survive? One could call him a bit of a coward, but sometimes he wondered if it wouldn’t just be better to try to go to the White Moon. At least they didn’t seem to have a need to gather anything to keep their powers. Perhaps other than the good of the universe. Negaverse he assumed might have the same problems as the Dark Mirror but was nowhere close in terms of losing their powers. They most likely needed energy as well, but because of how much larger and more powerful their group was, he doubted that they would ever see even a flicker of their power going away.

It made him a bit worried. Would there be signs of not having enough energy for the Dark Mirror? Would their powers slowly fade away or would it just turn off all at once. If that was the case, would they ever be able to power up again even to go to the White Moon?

It was something to keep in mind for the future and something to motivate him to gather more energy. Something he hadn’t done in a while and knew that he couldn’t stand there whining about it. He had been depending on New/Itokawa too much and he knew it. He needed to take charge of his own situation some time and not keep depending on his boyfriend to keep him on his toes.

He adjusted the bag that he had brought with him on his shoulders and squared them, taking in a breath before letting them out. He had brought some snacks, water, and a box to keep the crystals in. It wasn’t much, but he also didn’t want them just laying out for anyone to see, even if they wouldn’t be able to reach his realm without allowing them. He could also perhaps keep his and Itokawa’s crystals together. He wasn’t sure what the other Senshi wanted to do with his realm. He was sure that they had talked about it before, but for some reason it was eluding him.

He moved towards the door and opened it out into Mirrorspace. Ever changing, and unable to be mapped (at this time) he wasn’t sure where to start. There were plenty of other doors that lined this hallway. Some of them appeared to be broken. All he knew was that he probably should have brought some sunglasses. Maybe he would do that next time. He was sure that his eyes would need to be in darkness for a few hours at least when he came out of this place.

He decided to randomly pick a door that he saw and opened it. It looked like any of the other rooms. Mirrors lined the walls. There appeared to be some dirt in the corner, but nothing that could tell him of any time that had passed within the area. Only that it was yet another room. And if he was correct in the color of the crystals that he wanted to collect, they would be hard to find in this white-gray scape. He was looking mostly for gray and red. The latter would be easier to find, but he had no idea what they looked like, so even if he found a gray one, he may overlook it just because it wasn’t obvious.

He would have to spend some time in each room that he entered searching for these crystals. Perhaps he could find some sort of light that would help him in finding them.

After a few minutes of searching and alternating having to keep his eyes closed for a bit before opening them to take in all the light coloring, he was pretty sure that this room contained no crystals. Not red ones, he was less sure about the gray ones, but would have to deal with not being able to find one and having to continue his search.

He moved into another room. This one appeared to be more tattered, dusty, and overall, like a door had been opened and things had flown in with the wind or had been toppled by it. There didn’t appear to be any furniture from what he could tell. There was a few more piles of dirt and rock that appeared to have been scattered. More mirrors lined the room and while he didn’t feel the need to go into one of them now, he was glad they were there in case they needed an escape.

But if he thought about it, would they be helpful? The fight with the monster had proven that sometimes the mirrors worked against their wishes. It didn’t appear to want to keep them in Mirrorspace for very long no matter what, but there did appear to be something that could make it hold them if it wanted to.

He was still a relatively new Dark Mirror. It had been two years almost, but what did that mean in terms of being a Senshi? Did it matter how long someone had been a part of all this magical nonsense or was it experience? He had gone through some events already, both as a Dark Mirror Senshi and as a civilian who had gotten caught up in it with Itokawa. He didn’t feel that he had experienced much, at least compared to some of the other Senshi that he had met so far. And he had wondered how he had unlocked the upgrade to Super. Of course, it was the Corrupted cat that had upgraded the Henshin Pen, but what caused the cat to feel it in the first place? Could they do it before a Senshi was ready? He doubted that they would want to do it, but there was the possibility that they could. He certainly wouldn’t be the guinea pig if they wanted to experiment.

Senshi had Henshin Pen upgrades, Agents, and he supposed Vanguard, had promotions after a certain point, Knights… he didn’t understand them either. How did they become Squires or Knights? They didn’t have cats and from what he had experienced so far, it was not as though Knights gave upgrades to others.

He let out a snort. Sometimes it was just too confusing for him, and he felt the need to keep a pen and paper around him to write down his questions. Even if he didn’t want to, he needed to learn more about this magical war that he was now participating in. He had gone into it willingly, and the Dark Mirror because of Itokawa. He didn’t blame his boyfriend; he wasn’t forced into it. But he had been caught up in some of the magical shenanigans that he would have otherwise been ignorant about if he hadn’t had the knowledge that he did now. In fact, he probably would have been mentally worse off after that smoke monster village thing that they had been stuck in for so long. At least he could tell it wasn’t just some horrible nightmare and he felt relatively safe with his partner.

After that he had wanted to become a Senshi himself, especially a Dark Mirror one. He already knew that there were things going on around him that as a civilian he wouldn’t have been able to figure out, but mostly it was for the powers that he would gain. The speed and strength compared to ordinary humans; it wasn’t much but it was better than nothing. And he had been lucky when it came to his sphere. He was sure that he could have had a much worse one than Chimera and the ability to let out fire from his mouth. It was harder than he would have thought to control it. He wasn’t using his hands and had to let it build up before he let it out. Still, he had been able to do it with little trouble.

He coughed as some dust picked up in the pile that he was searching through for a shard. He felt that there was something in this room. Or that was his brain telling him that so that he would leave more quickly and wouldn’t spend hours searching for something he may not even find.

He moved some more dust over and felt his gloves slide over a sharp edge. Thank goodness for those. He wasn’t sure he wanted to fight with his bare hands.

He picked up… something. He wasn’t sure what it was, but he thought that it may have been one of the shards that he had been looking for. It appeared to glow a bit, but considering it was gray, it was hard to tell next to the white-gray coloring of everything else in the room. Even holding it up to one of the mirrors didn’t help considering the reflection.

He sighed and decided to keep it with him just in case. He took out the box and put the crystal in it before closing it and putting it away again. Now it was time to go and find his own realm. As much as he wished to have shared it with Itokawa, he needed to have some space in-between him and his partner. Not anything to cause a fight, but something to say that he didn’t go to Itokawa for literally everything and follow him around like a puppy.

He moved back towards the door that he had come from, taking a quick look to see if the outside had changed or if it had stayed the same. It appeared to be the latter, so he went back into the common room to find the golden mirror.

It was a welcome sight to his eyes. A bit of color in this otherwise very drab landscape. He had to blink a couple of times so that his eyes could adjust to the color that greeted them. Next time he came in he would have to bring some sunglasses. The whiteness bothered his eyes greatly and he wasn’t sure how anyone was supposed to find their way around here if they had to keep blinking it away.

Slowly he stepped into the mirror, and he was instantly transported into the Mirrorscape. He hadn’t expected it to be so dark and… large. As though it were never ending, and he was in the middle of space. He could see from a distance that there were various “realms”. A few that had been claimed, more that reflected the whiteness that had been seen in Mirrorspace. He wasn’t sure which one was going to be his and looking at the large ominous citadel that stood before him, figured that was the best place to look for a way to get to it. It took a minute for him to get into it, mostly from him walking slowly and looking around, making sure that he didn’t fall off any edges, but eventually he made it inside and noticed a mirror on the floor. He couldn’t help but lift an eyebrow. Was there anything that wasn’t mirror themed in here? Why was it so hard for them to understand their own place if it seemed as if they were born to live within it.

Too many questions still and not something that he would be able to answer at this time. Instead, he took a step into the mirror, feeling himself moving like he did while mirrorwalking and eventually found himself on an empty island that hadn’t been touched by any other. He took a moment to look around to see exactly what was around and tried to see if he could find Itokawa’s but they were too far apart to be able to see any other realm clearly.

He moved to set the box down and followed by sitting down himself, taking a moment to think of what he wanted to do with the place. Of course, the main goal of the Dark Mirror was to create a space to live if their current world became uninhabitable, but what should his realm provide? He felt like arguing with himself for a moment. He wanted to help the Dark Mirror by creating a place that would be a good place to live, but he also wanted it to be themed around his sphere. As Dark Mirror they no longer had access to their Homeworlds and without any information from it, he still felt disconnected as a Senshi. Why was he the Senshi of Chimeras? As much as he wanted to stay with the Dark Mirror, there would always be a part of his mind wondering what he was missing by not being able to go to his Homeworld.

He set the box down, positioning it near the mirror so that it could be seen but not immediately run into when he came back again. He would collect crystals for now, but what he still wanted to do with them was still unknown to him. And considering how large the realm was and would grow even larger when he became an Eternal, however long that may take, it stopped him from wanting to start any projects at this time. Collecting the shards would be enough. He could figure them out later and note down which ones he needed and what he could do with them.

But now it was time to head home. He hadn’t done much and hadn’t been in here for long, but he had been able to secure a realm of his own and find at least one crystal. He took one more look around the realm and sighed. He just wondered how many crystals it would take to fill in this whole space? And with that he stepped back inside of the mirror to the citadel, making his way back out of all of this and to Earth, now with yet another goal that he had to come up with.