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 Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2026 10:31 am
Neith had been feeling restless lately, which was, in and of itself, quite unusual. She was normally content at this time of year to spend her afternoons dozing in a pool of sunshine, ideally in Khaz or Yasmeen's bedroom.
Not today, however. Nooo, today, she was in Khaz's room, which should be quiet enough and sunny enough, but the Arabian Mau just couldn't settle down, no matter how hard she tried. Worse, Khaz stopped in the middle of his summer homework, something he seldom did, and sighed before petting her. What was on his mind?
Khaz just couldn't seem to focus on his summer homework right now. It happened, from time to time. But, right now, with his final year of high school not far ahead, and, needing to figure out how to pursue his college studies, when what he really wanted was something he was convinced his parents would not support...yeah. He needed to focus.
The teenager glanced over at the family cat on his bed. Neith seemed just as unsettled as him, which was unusual, as she'd normally be curled up in a sunbeam. Khaz couldn't help but smile.
"Can't settle down, either?" he asked, moving over to pet her. For all that she hadn't been able to settle long enough to doze off, her fur was still sun-warmed and silky smooth.
Come to think of it, he hadn't been on a patrol lately, either, and, as a super senshi, he couldn't be neglecting his duties, could he...
Better still, no one else was home, so he could easily take a break. Smiling, he rubbed the cat's ears, said, "See you later, Neith, try to get some sleep, OK?" and hurried out of the house, pausing only long enough to lock up behind him. He didn't notice that he was being followed, by more than one entity, not at first.
Neith purred a little as Khaz petted her, rubbing her fur the right way, as he always did, respectfully and thoughtfully. Her peridot eyes followed him as he seemed to reach a decision, giving her ears a quick rub, less refined, more cheerful, before telling her to go back to sleep. Neith gave a startled mew, and hurried after him, padding down the stairs, and, in a moment that surprised even her, out the door.
Neith had always been a decidedly indoor cat, disinterested in hunting her prey in the loud and messy out-of-doors. Not knowing what else to do with the strange urge to follow her boy out into a world she'd never wanted to explore before now, the cat hurried after him, cursing slightly his long legs and athletic lifestyle, which made it hard for her to keep up with him.
Worse for her, she was unaware that cars would be the least of her problems this afternoon.
Helplessly, she mewed at Khaz to please slow down and wait for her, like he did every time she was on the wrong side of a door.
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Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2026 10:59 am
Khaz made his way to a park a few blocks away, glad that the streets near home were quiet residential streets, most people at work. No real worries about people spotting him wandering around, whether as a teenage boy or a senshi in fuku. Finding a quiet little copse of trees that would shelter him adequately, he stepped inside, and dug the henshin pen out of the pocket of his pants. Holding it aloft, he softly murmured the new activation phrase, enjoying how it indicated how far he'd come in the last two years.
"Aberdonia Asteroid Power, Make-Up!" he murmured softly. As usual, a soft light suffused him, followed immediately by the sensation of linen wrapping itself around him, before the brief burst of transformation magic burst like a bubble around his skin. And it was a good job summer was finally here, no more freezing to death in the winter snows. Even where the fabric was layered thickly over his skin, he didn't feel the least bit hot. Well, sure, a bit attractive, but not overheated. Though he'd definitely be extremely shiny in this sunlight.
Time to go looking for trouble.
Neith finally caught up to Khaz as he entered a copse of trees, and found herself glad as she never thought she'd ever be to be in the shade. The bright, intense summer sun on her black fur was murderously hot, and she decided the next nap would take place somewhere out of reach of the sunlight.
And then she saw a sight that she just flat out didn't understand. Wait, no, maybe she did? Hang on, she seemed to be having more thoughts than usual today, didn't she...?
Khaz held a pen in the air, shouted a phrase, and changed into someone--something--else. Someone--or something--that glittered and sparkled and shone. And seemed to give out a positive thrum of energy, as if his very being purred. How was that even possible? Humans didn't purr, even when they made the sound, they couldn't do it right, so how could anyone purr without sound?
But, she had to say--her boy looked so good.
Good enough that she let out a startled and awed meow.
Good enough that she almost didn't notice something felt wrong, like a lump under the covers of a bed.
Aberdonia noticed the meow from his feet at the same time as he noticed the queasy, acidic power signature winging its way toward the upper branches of the copse above his head. He glanced down, and saw, to his utter horror, Neith, the family cat, a cat who had never been outside on her own since she'd been brought home to the Khalid household as a kitten, watching him with eyes that seemed like they should be the size and shape of saucers.
"Neith? What are you doing here--nope, not the time, we'll deal with that later--" he shouted, scooping her up into his arms before shouting, "Papyrus Protection!"
And he was just in time, as the youma came crashing through the foliage, and slammed face first into his wall of papyrus, shrieking furiously, spitting something on the papyrus, something that seemed to make the reeds wither mournfully.
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Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2026 12:24 pm
Neith mewed in fear as something slammed into her boy's shield of some weird kind of grass or reeds that seemed to materialize in the air above their heads, and she reflexively dug her claws into him as he wheeled and started sprinting out of the little copse of trees and into the sunlight.
Looking over his shoulder, she spotted what looked like a weird animal, opossum on fuzzy bat wings with serpentine eyes, dripping saliva that withered any plant it touched. What was that thing?! And why did it sit on her mind like a poisonous, fizzy lemon candy, even when she shut her eyes?
Aberdonia swore a little under his breath, and sprinted out of the copse, into the sunshine. Whatever that youma had for saliva wasn't worth sticking around. And he couldn't protect Neith if he had to put her down, and couldn't fight back if he couldn't put her down. Worse, no other energy signatures were nearby.
That said...there might be one other option...if he could get far enough ahead to concentrate while tapping one button on his senshi phone.
The senshi managed to get a hand free from cradling the cat, glad that she was digging her claws into his left arm instead of his right, and reached into subspace for his senshi phone. He found it right off the bat, and just focused on running while he swiped it on, shouting, "Papyrus Proliferation!" Honestly, he wasn't sure what it did, only that the words came to him in a moment of desperate need.
An even bigger thicket of papyrus sprang up around them, easily twice the usual width. Oh. Was this his super stage magic? Still nothing offensive, but, under the circumstances, he'd take it. Crouching down into the thicket, he swiped to the home screen and tapped the homeworld app, concentrating on the peace and tranquility of Aberdonia, the safety of its papyrus reeds, the beauty of its starlit sky--
Light flashed around senshi and feline, and the energy signals vanished, leaving behind a furious, and confused, youma, snapping at the fading papyrus reed thicket.
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Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2026 1:15 pm
Light flashed before Neith's eyes, and the world changed--
"WHERE IN THE NAME OF ALL THE STARS THAT HAVE EVER COME FROM THE GALAXY CAULDRON ARE WE?!" Neit screamed, trying to look everywhere at once. Unfamiliar buildings--no, she'd seen vaguely similar looking buildings back from where Khaz's father had purchased her, but not quite similar; a sky full of unfamiliar constellations; completely unfamiliar vegetation--Neit had no sodding idea where they were.
And then several thoughts collided at the same time.
Her name wasn't "Neith"--never had been, never would be--and that she somehow knew this. Stranger, she could think more completely than she could ever remember doing, as if some haze had lifted from her mind, or like waking up from a dream she'd been incapable of steering, had only ever been capable of wandering through on pure instinct. More--Neit wasn't a cat, for all that she looked like one, and this came with the territory of speech, of thought, of sheer consciousness, of having a name independent of the one the Khalids had given her.
No.
Neit was a Mauvian. While she may have been born on Earth, Earth was not the true Mauvian home--the planet Mau was...wherever that was. And she, as a Mauvian, had a duty to the senshi who protected their worlds, to guide and assist them. And her boy--her boy--wasn't just a regular boy. He wasn't just a regular senshi, either. He was her senshi. Aberdonia, Senshi of Papyrus.
She leapt out of his arms onto the stone pavement around one of the massive reflecting pools that lay peacefully under the starlit sky, and turned around to look at him. Her boy. Hers. No one else's. More hers than any other member of the Khalid household. The Mauvian took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, that outburst was unseemly of me. Where are we? This doesn't look like Earth."
Aberdonia sighed in relief. They'd made it to the palace, probably one of the courtyards filled with a massive reflecting pool. Better still, they hadn't landed in it, so good job there.
At which point, an unfamiliar female voice started screaming in his ear in alarm and confusion.
Blinking, the senshi looked down at the cat in his arms--who suddenly out of nowhere had an energy signature and a sky blue star on her forehead--
Aberdonia didn't fight her when she ejected herself from his arms, and just stared at her a little bit stupidly as he felt something, a connection he'd never felt before, blossom between him and the creature he'd always thought of as the family cat. She still possessed the form of the family cat, for all that the eyes that gazed at him were filled with a Mauvian intelligence, and that there was now a Mauvian star upon her brow. Neith. Neith was a Mauvian. Not just any Mauvian--his Mauvian. No one else's Mauvian.
And he recalled that memory, the first he'd had on the asteroid, of a Mauvian called "Neit" or "Neith" who was so clearly associated with Aberdonia....
"Neith? Or is it Neit? Ummm...welcome home to Aberdonia, I guess. Ummm. It's not really in the best shape, and it's not really a great circumstance to get introduced to a senshi's homeworld, but...uhmmm...did you just Awaken?" he asked awkwardly.
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Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2026 2:17 pm
Neit looked around. This was Aberdonia? Her senshi's homeworld? It looked...well, it was probably a very nice homeworld in its heyday, but it was just as clearly a neglected ruin. Being on another celestial body also explained why the constellations looked just plain wrong compared to Earth. Clearly, her senshi had some work to do around here--but he no longer had to do it alone. Assuming he had been doing it alone.
"My proper name is Neit, though Neith was close enough before." She hesitated. "Yes, I think I did just Awaken." Padding over to a corner of the reflecting pool not choked with papyrus, she gazed at her reflection. The star hadn't been on her forehead before, but it was now back where it belonged. Good. What she still need was other things, to make her less an ordinary housecat, and more a proper Mauvian. Oh, well. Worst came to worst, she could pester Khaz to help her make new jewelry. An usekh, cuffs for all four paws, and three cuffs on the tail, all of them beaded...unless...was it possible...
"I don't wish to be rude, but have you located any kind of treasure troves? I feel a little naked without any trinkets on my person," she admitted primly.
Neit. Her name was Neit, and she was a Mauvian. This was really happening, the wildest of coincidences, that his family's housecat had been his Mauvian all along.
And now she was asking, as polite as a queen, where the pharaohs of Aberdonia stashed their jewels.
The senshi laughed a little unsteadily. "No, I haven't gotten around to working on mapping the palace yet. I've been a little concerned with being a student on Earth, a senshi wherever I'm needed, and the only person left to try to figure out how to restart the power grid," he replied. "But if you want, we could go looking, who knows, maybe your past self left some stuff behind, or maybe there were some royal pets who wore stuff that would fit you."
It wasn't impossible. But, what it was was a little crazy. His own Mauvian, sleeping on his bed, nobody any the wiser that she wasn't just a regular cat, not even Neit herself. And inside of him was an awareness of Neit's presence, greater than any regular awareness of other Mauvians, or of ordinary cats, either. A feeling that he'd know if something happened to her, as long as he wasn't too far away. Oddly enough, kinda comforting, in its own weird way.
Aberdonia turned around in a slow circle, thinking about what he knew about the palace, what he knew about Egyptian palaces on Earth. Not much, really, and the palace hadn't been a priority for him the way it had been for Antares, the only other Egyptian-style senshi he knew of at the moment. That said, Antares had been so traumatized by her death on Antares a thousand years ago that she'd been physically incapable of leaving the compound without fainting, so Antares probably wasn't a good point of comparison.
"Let's see...I've found the throne room, the royal archives, and I think I can work out where the royal apartments are," he mused aloud. "I don't think you'd find anything in the throne room, the royal archives mostly look like an archaic library, and I haven't really gone looking for the royal apartments, but, who knows, that's probably the best place to go looking."
Aberdonia looked out and saw, amidst the darting, dancing shapes of the faience dragonflies, were another shape that he instantly knew--and just as instantly, hated. Summerflies. Parasitic, blood-sucking insects that could be a vector for nasty diseases, if the population wasn't controlled. Fortunately, the faience dragonflies had beaten them back. But, with that in mind, the senshi made a mental note to not linger around bodies of fresh water, and, possibly, start packing bug spray in subspace.
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Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2026 7:58 pm
Neit pondered the information. The throne room and the archives wouldn't have what she needed, unless they were of great antiquity, even when the asteroid fell. So those were poor choices. The royal apartments, however...those sounded promising. Even if her senshi hadn't gone looking for them yet.
On the one hand, that wasn't proper, her senshi, even if the asteroid was dead, was the senshi of this world, where had her senshi been sleeping, if he'd spent any time here? On the other...her senshi had clearly prioritized doing right by the asteroid, which was what had probably made her senshi a senshi worth bonding with in the past. No, it was fine that her senshi didn't have proper accommodations, as he'd said, he'd been too consumed with his duties.
So it could be her duty to remind him to care for himself when he became too consumed with duty, or to remember his duties when he became too caught up in the venalities of the world.
"Take me to the throne room, and we can work out where the royal apartments are together," she replied, getting to her feet and trotting over to her senshi's side.
As they traveled, she gazed upon the ruined glory that was the seat of the Aberdonian senshi. It really had been a splendid palace, filled with lush and dreamy water gardens, flanked and held aloft by great pillars that resembled the papyrus reeds that were the source of her senshi's power, tiled in vast mosaics that showed images of daily life along the asteroid's water ways. And the ceiling of the throne room...it was a marvel, even covered in flaking paint, depicting an ultramarine sky filled with golden stars placed to resemble...constellations? As they appeared on Aberdonia? Truly, awe-inspiring, and just as clearly meant to invoke the glory of a presumably prosperous asteroid, while also reminding those who passed beneath it of the senshi's place in the universe, a servant to the galaxy's needs, just as much as the apex of the asteroid's society.
And yet, as she traveled along at floor height, much as it resembled an ancient Egyptian palace, she spotted the various little signs of electrical wiring, in faience lamps in golden fixtures along the walls, in delicately embossed electrical outlets spaced at regular intervals. None of the lights were on, but, as Khaz had indicated, he hadn't succeeded in fully reviving the power grid, so no surprise there.
All in all, she could see what kind of a place Aberdonia was, or, at least, what kind of a place its senshi occupied. Whatever they could scrounge would presumably be just as exquisite.
Aberdonia made his way down the starlit corridors, using his senshi phone for light, peering through doorways as they traveled halls that seemed suitably grandiose for a pharaoh. That said, he could almost feel the asteroid wanting to do something to help, tugging gently on his power without drawing anything away. Not yet, anyway. He sighed, and thought, All right, if you wanna restore something for me, can you make it something small? I need to get us home before too much longer.
He felt a light surge of power leave him, or thought he did, and the tugging stopped. Nothing visibly changed, but...there were light fixtures along these halls...maybe...
Finding a switch, he flicked it on, and was startled to see light sputter on in bulbs in the faience lamps. Okay. That was something. He tried other switches in other rooms, and noticed that the power seemed to only selectively be on. And the asteroid seemed to want to help him....
The senshi started following a route marked by which spaces had working electricity, navigating slowly toward a wing of the palace that seemed to be living quarters, and very grand living quarters.
For a brief moment when the lights turned on in the first of those rooms, he caught a flash of a room that wasn't falling apart, before the brief vision was gone again.
Alabaster walls, decorated in gold, faience, turquoise, lapis lazuli, emeralds, jet, peridot, topaz, and quartz; sheer, filmy linen drapes, their ends beaded with gold and faience to weight them down; actual furniture, ebony trimmed in gold, not just wickerwork, carved into elaborate shapes; and, as elsewhere, exquisite mosaics on the floor matching an equally elaborate ceiling painted with Aberdonian constellations.
The actual room was more like a tomb, and, for a hot second, he felt a bit like Howard Carter must have felt when he first glimpsed the contents of King Tut's tomb. It wasn't in ideal condition, but it spoke volumes about the world the senshi had grown up in.
Unfortunately, however, it didn't look like there was any usable jewelry or clothing Neit could use, but they did track down a massive trove of seed beads in a range of materials, turquoise, lapis, gold, and peridot, all packed away neatly in an ebony-and-gold box. "I think this is as good as we're going to get," he told her regretfully. "Sorry, I don't know if we're going to find more than this at this time."
Neit swallowed her disappointment a little easier than she thought she would. Beads were still useful. The Mauvian could just make herself some jewelry with this assorted trove.
"It's fine, I'll just need some fittings and quite a lot of thread from a craft store," she replied, accepting the still-priceless gift.
Aberdonia blinked. "Neit, you know how to make jewelry out of beads?" he asked, surprised.
Neit nodded. "Yes. I do. I think I do, anyway, somewhere deep down inside." Somehow, she did know, and she wasn't sure how. How odd. As for where and when to work on this...
"After we return, I will need some time from time to time to go to the Mauvian headquarters in Destiny City," she explained. "I need to set up a workspace, and learn as much as I can from the other Mauvians operating in the vicinity."
Also some time to catch her breath after such a momentous, exciting day. Awakening at the end of a battle with a youma, combined with a visit to her senshi's homeworld, was a lot to have happen to a Mauvian in one afternoon, after all!
Aberdonia blinked at the mention of an HQ for Mauvians, but shrugged a little. He honestly didn't know much about Mauvians, his limited experience was them showing up when he needed them for growth, or when they came to participate in larger gatherings, where he hadn't much interacted with them. So it was very plausible that there being a Mauvian HQ was one of a number of things most Mauvians didn't discuss with someone who wasn't close to them.
And he now had one who was very close to him, indeed.
He smiled and nodded. "I'll cover for you, but there's a couple other members of the family who'll need to know about you, so they can cover for you, too. But we'll cross that river when we get home."
As they prepared for the return, he didn't notice a little speck of light that had suddenly begun following him in the hallways after the lights had been activated quietly attach itself to him, and, just as quietly, followed the senshi to the place the senshi currently called home.
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