Welcome to Gaia! ::

Maisie screamed again. The street around them was gone, and in its place appeared unfamiliar surroundings — old and decrepit, like it had been lost to time.

She released the hold she had on Riker’s baseball bat at the same moment she shoved him, his magical superpowers be damned.

“What did you do?!” she screeched. “Where are we?!”

The first thing she noticed about the place, other than the fact that it was old and decrepit, was that it was very white. The second thing she noticed was the air of solitude, even though it wasn’t empty. Somehow, they’d found their way from the street where Riker had become a superhero into some sort of ruin.

Clearly, the only explanation that made any sort of sense was that Riker had transported them here with his superpowers.

“Very good deduction.”

The voice echoed like it came from somewhere in front of them, and yet still somewhere all around them. There were no speakers, though. No illusions.

Just a glowing orb of fine mist that swirled on a pillar before them.

When it spoke again, the orb pulsed with each word. It had no mouth to speak from, but it seemed like it was doing its best to give the impression of someone there with them.

“I brought you here. Welcome to the Moon. You two looked like you could use a bit of safety. You can rest here for a moment. I’d like to talk to you, anyway. You put up a good fight down there. Even without powers.”

Only one of them had a Wonder, but it seemed unfair to have one awaken and not the other, not when each had put up such valiant effort–and worked well together to d oso.

“Ganymede has already chosen you,” it said to Riker. Its attention shifted to Maisie. “But the Moon could use your help. If you’re up to the task. I suppose you both must have questions. I will do my best to answer them. You’re safe here, though. No harm will come to you.”

Riker stared at the strange pulsing, glowing orb as he tried to make sense out of everything. His eyes narrowed both with curiosity and suspicion.

“What could the Moon possibly need help with? What-- or who is Ganymede? Are you some kind of… spirit?” he frowned, although maybe it was Maisie’s distress that had him on edge more than he normally would have been. She was screaming and sputtering and acting like she was going to jump out of her skin.

“That thing that attacked us. What was it? Why us? Why does she get a choice but not me?”

He’d reached for his pencil to attack the creature. He’d picked up the shiny letter opener instead. Riker held out his hand as though to try and calm Maisie down, not thinking her hitting anything was going to help.

Maisie did not put the bat down. She kept it in hand, only lowering it when the mist made no move to approach them. It simply… sat? Spun? Did misty things?... right where it was. If it posed any danger to them, Maisie doubted they’d be able to anticipate it.

She wasn’t any less nervous, or any less afraid, but she did her best not to jump and scream or swing the bat around like they were under attack.

They were safe here, supposedly. Safe enough that she could listen, though she had some trouble making herself believe.

This had to be a joke. But how could it be? They were on the street, and now they weren’t; that much she couldn’t deny. And if it was possible for them to vanish from one place and reappear in another, that meant it must also be possible for that place to be the moon, for Riker to be a superhero, and for this… Code... to be exactly what it said it was.

Maisie goggled at it.

“Holy s**t, this is real,” she said, more to herself than to Riker or the Code. “It can’t be. Maybe I was knocked out, and this is some crazy dream.”

She pinched herself.

It hurt.

“Ow. Okay, maybe not.”

Riker was a knight. He didn’t look like one. Maisie had never known knights to wear suits instead of armor, but maybe it was a superhero-knight thing. More importantly, she could be a knight if she wanted to.

Maisie didn’t know about saving the world, but she’d very much like to save herself.

“I… Okay, so… What sort of help do you need? I mean, if you’re so powerful, what can I do that you can’t?”

Though the Code was quiet for a moment, it didn’t seem to be ignoring them. A creature such as itself was old and ancient, and yet it still took time to consider its words for these young people. They hadn’t asked to be attacked, or to be brought here. Riker was new. Maisie might not want to take on the mantle.

The Code did not lie to them.

“The cycle of life,” it answered, finally. “Sometimes it ended well. Sometimes, not. A darkness has passed over the universe, though. Now, the burden of chasing it back falls on the Knights. And Senshi. There are many on Earth, though. You won’t be alone when you go back.”

Maisie still had a choice to make, so its attention focused again on her.

“I cannot leave the Moon. I have no form to fight with. I am connected to many Wonders and our powers resonate. The Code itself is broken into smaller pieces to ensure that my power is not corrupted or used for any nefarious purpose. I can give others the strength to fight but I am too much of a liability to go out, myself. But I will give you all the support you need. I won’t ask you to fight if you don’t want to. If you can help restore one of the sacred sites of the Moon, your power and dedication alone will strengthen its resilience.”

A glowing white light manifested in front of Maisie, this time in the form of a curved rod. It wasn’t immediately identifiable beneath the glow. “But if you choose to fight, as you grow more comfortable with your new power, your magic will strengthen as well. I know it’s a lot to take in. If you’re up to the task, I will give you a tour of the place I’d like for you to protect. I wish I could give you more information now, but if you’re not going to be involved, the less you know the better.”

Riker was both surprised and not to learn that there were many Knights on Earth and --

What the heck was a Senshi?

He gave the Code a strange look, not quite understanding all these words it was saying, but it seemed rude to interrupt while it was talking to Maisie.

“It doesn’t hurt,” he answered instead. “It’s like… jumping into warmth. Not water, because you can still breathe. It’s like something grows inside you, or I guess it’s what a butterfly might feel like if… I mean, I don’t know if butterflies can feel anything, and we’re not growing wings…”

He paused and frowned, mostly at himself because he could feel the change, but he didn’t know how to explain it.

He supposed the Code could also tell her…

Maisie almost decided to be argumentative, almost told the Code-spirit-thing that some people didn’t like the sun, some people actually prefered the rain, but that would be a waste of time, with no point to it other than to prove something she didn’t really need to.

No one here cared whether she was right or wrong, or even remotely cool.

She figured the offer to become a knight proved something about her that nothing else could.

“Okay,” she said. “Yeah, sure, I can do it. So do I just…?”

Maisie reached out. A tentative hand lifted again, toward the curved light. She didn’t know what she planned on doing with the power, or if she'd come to regret it or not, but she didn’t see much of a reason to turn down that chance. If she ran into one of those dinosaur monsters again (or youma, whatever that meant), Maisie wanted to be prepared.

It was as both Riker and the Code described. It didn’t hurt. Warmth surrounded her. The power and light grew within her, like a butterfly bursting free. The metaphorical clouds parted and the equally metaphorical sun came out, and it was almost like coming home, like things were always meant to be this way, like this had been waiting here for her all along.

It was totally weird but profoundly cool, and when it was over Maisie stood before them in a pale blue dress with a short shepherd’s crook.

She looked down at herself, twisting this way and that to get a better glimpse at things.

“Wow!” she said, unable to disguise her own self-satisfaction. “It doesn’t even clash with my hair.”

Oh, they were young. The Code didn’t need eyes to see the way Riker got himself all flustered at her transformation. But, maybe it meant he would work harder to make her happy. Maybe she’d work harder to impress him.

It didn’t know. But, it had to have faith in these young Knights.

The Ganymede Page already had a Wonder, but she still needed one.

There were many places on the Moon in desperate need of a protector.

“Cynthus,” it announced, “Shall be your name. And your Wonder. We’ll go there later. You’ll need to take a piece of the Code there to cement your bond, but it will be no laborious task. I can answer your questions along the way.”

The Code glowed brighter, and from within it, a smaller orb manifested and then drifted towards Cynthus as if it expected to be welcomed into her hands and carried. It hovered just before her, and when the larger Code piece spoke, the little one flashed with light and repeated with a soft echo.

“A Senshi is the guardian of a celestial body. Someone their world shares a unique bond with. In many ways, Knights and Senshi have similar roles, but your power comes through the Code and it is your job to uphold the balance of the universe. You must protect the balance, you must protect your Wonder, and you must protect yourself. Senshi and Knights have different magic, but their goals are generally the same. Especially when Chaos is involved. Do you want to stay here for a bit longer, or would you like to go see Cynthus now?”