Welcome to Gaia! ::

Jun was still fuming over the information she had been given. Information from a man who had nearly ended her life.

She was merely a toy to Galena. A toy to a girl she considered a prized student.

The man had spoken of a future that she couldn’t change. A destiny written in the stars made of darkness. Many girls might have given up and succumbed to such a notion that they could not fight destiny.

Jun was not so easily satiated.

She had mentally debated if she should even show up that Thursday, but in the end, she decided she was no weakling, hiding away from an uncomfortable situation. She was Jun and she was also Antiope, Senshi of the Mantis! Backing down was not her style. She could fight any opponent and win with enough effort.

She had her gym bag slung over her shoulder as she trudged her way to the usual spot. The grass was cool and tickled her toes as she walked, a familiar sensation to the girl who had been known to train without the comforts of shoes. Her hands and feet were wrapped, prepared for any work out. She didn’t know what she was going to say, but Jun had never been the sort to think her words through carefully.

However, as she drew close to the designated spot, a familiar form seemed to bloom before her upon a bench. The anger and rage she had felt upon being told of Galena’s intent seemed to return, causing her little form to tremble. And just like that the words had found their way to her throat.

“GAAAALLL!!!!!” her voiced roared from her small body as she stepped firmly closer, each step heavy and crushing the grass beneath her bare feet.

She hadn’t even realized she was not powered up, but at the moment that wasn’t important. For a moment, she stood there, glaring at the woman before her, throwing her bag against the ground in a sort of defiance to the General’s advice. Her breath was heated as she scanned over the outfit.

It was new.

The little senshi might not have been the brightest crayon in the box, but she remembered that Galena’s outfit had changed before as well, a sign of a new rank. Any thoughts of congratulating her student had been dashed long ago. With a heavy pant, she uttered “I’m not doing this for you...”

With a fierce step, she went back to her gym bag’s side, unzipping it and pulling out a green pen-like object with a golden topper to it.

“Antiope Power, Make-Up!!”

After seeing Antiope perform multiple forms within the Northern Mantis style, the General would find the girl’s movements very familiar as she magically donned the familiar uniform.

With her uniform now on and her power as high as it was going to get, the girl stomped forward like a child having a temper tantrum, her anger evident in a task as simple as walking.

“What the HELL is this I am hearing about the future, Gal?! Tell me, what do you know about the future!!”

“WHY didn’t you tell me?!” Hearing the explanation had done nothing to soothe the girl’s nerves. All it had done was fan the the flames of her anger. How could Galena talk about her in such a nonchalant way? In a way that made it sound like it all wasn’t a big deal!

The senshi’s fists were balled up beneath her sleeves, trembling as the bottled up rage continued to well up inside of her.

She was standing on her tippy toes, trying to look more intimidating than her usual petite frame suggested. “I thought I meant something to you! You’re my student, my friend… my...” A sob caught in her throat. Her face was red like a passionate flame.

“...a-and you only see me as a thing... a toy, a trinket, a pet?! Is that how little you think of me?!”

Antiope was dense. This was an established fact.

It took a lot of work to make things evident to even her clueless eyes.

Looking into Galena’s eyes, Antiope could even see how false this all had been. It felt as if her heart had been shattered. She took a step back, looking at the hand extended towards her.

“...no...” Suddenly her sleeved hand lashed out, slapping the offending hand away.

“He said it was a destiny written in the stars… but I refuse to believe that!” She barked out “I won’t ever join the Negaverse!” before bounding back into a defensive stance. Lifting both hands up, Antiope took a deep breath.

It would be the hardest fight she’d ever have to participate in. However, it was not for the reasons she was predicting.

Deja vu was a terrible thing. Within a moment or two, Galena had shown that she was like the man with the black cloak, moving faster than her, and proving her strength with a simple flick of the wrist. Both of her wrists were throbbing after the General had snapped at them, but the stubborn Mantis senshi refused to openly acknowledge the pain. Any pained cries were hushed in her chest, even as she was yanked towards her former student.

“G-gal…” Galena’s words lingered in her ears, the whispers sending a tingle down the little senshi’s spine. Whether it was from fear, or if it was from a sort of longing to continue to be by this woman’s side, Antiope couldn’t tell. She wanted to lean in, put her cheek against Galena’s cheek, go back to how things had been. However, things could never go back to what they had been.

Before her body could betray her and give in to the desire, Galena threw her back like a doll she had gotten bored of.

Her voice trembled now “...how can you say you love me?! I can’t join you, I WON’T join you!” A tiny sniveling sound escaped the typically brash girl. “...you can’t hurt me more than you already have...”

There was something about the look in Galena’s eyes that was unsettling. It was as if she had turned into a tiger, or perhaps even the snake which she had trained as. There was an insatiable hunger in those emerald green eyes, seeming to light up as she monologued about her new power and rank. Subconsciously, her hands had already drifted up, defensive claw stance ready for another attack.

A defensive stance that was rendered absolutely useless as Galena surpassed her guard. She forced her way through flesh, and though it was a shock to Antiope’s system, something still felt wrong about this. The girl’s knowledge of starseeds was still lacking after all this time as a senshi. The source of her life and her powers was a myth to her.

Her voice rasped to get the words out, eventually coming out in a rough, nearly parched tone. “W-what… what are you doing?!” Survival instincts seemed to start kicking in against her will as her sleeves hands drew up, scraping in a weak display, trying to get Galena to stop whatever it was she was doing.

Antiope’s body twitched as she could feel Galena moving around inside of her. If she had more wits to her at that moment, she would have felt violated. She would have turned to the lips resting upon her cheek and beg upon those lips to stop what was going on.

She didn’t fear death, but this didn’t seem like it was death. She didn’t know why, but it felt like something much worse.

The opportunity to beg was lost though as this student of hers struck out against her teacher. It would have been romantic if it was a classic kung fu movie. Bruce Lee would have risen against his teacher and defeated him in a fight. Perhaps that was what was going on here too, except that Antiope, unfortunately, was the teacher.

As the dark energy crackled over her starseed, all the Mantis senshi could feel was pain upon every nerve ending. A burning pain that seared into her very soul. A shock that could bring the dead back to life, but it was unrelenting and vicious. A pain that even now, Antiope could not describe.

And that pain was tearing her apart from the inside.



Her eyes couldn’t even stay open, such a simple task suddenly becoming a great burden. The only thing she could do was shriek at the top of her lungs, helplessly frozen in place from the most terrifying pain. Her legs buckled beneath her, and her body began to fall back. If she landed, she wouldn’t have even known. It was a pain so intense that all other sensation was numb to her now.

Everything felt weightless as she continued to scream through the night.