The Gaian Guard was still holding out against Dame Petrify. Rosa called the Guard Commander. “What’s the situation?” she asked.
“Bad, Lord President,” replied the Guard Commander. “Dame Petrify and her forces keep pushing us back! We’re being herded to the Mana Pools!”
“They must really need the Pools as an Entrooper Incubator,” remarked Rosa.
“We can’t afford to lose much more ground! We need reinforcements! NOW!”
“I’ll send who I can, Commander. Hold them for as long as you-.” A noise interrupted her. “Was that the door?”
“Some of the Entroopers are turning around, my Lady,” replied the Guard Commander. “…It looks like the Cosmic Roses and…hang on, when did they swap to pleated skirts?” Just then, he saw several Entroopers being flung into the air! “…Then again, they seem to have gotten stronger, Lord President! Yes! Dame Petrify’s focusing her attention on them!”
“I’m still sending Malachite over with our reserve Guards,” directed Rosa. “Assist the Roses as best you can!”
“With gusto, my Lady! Out!” The Guard Commander ended the call. “All guards, I want groups of 80 men stationed at 20-meter intervals!”
“We barely have 80 men left, Sir!” replied his second-in-command.
“All right, groups of 30, then! We have to surround them!”
As the Guard Commander organized his forces, Dame Petrify and the Entroopers were engaged with the Cosmic Roses. “It won’t matter,” chuckled Dame Petrify. “Your new skirts will not stop what will take place on Gaia.”
“I dunno, I think we’ve done a pretty good job so far!” taunted Opal.
“You squishy people insist that you are a proper form of existence,” dismissed Dame Petrify. “You’re not solid enough and, as proven, even if you DO obey me without question, you still can’t take becoming a proper life-form. Well, that’s your evolutionary shortcoming.”
“I dunno,” remarked Bethany, “being soulless has a huge disadvantage.”
“My dear, being without a soul is a strength,” scoffed Dame Petrify.
“We’ve just had four examples of how weak a person is without a soul,” said Ruby. Dame Petrify arched her stony eyebrow.
“…What do you mean FOUR, Earthling?” she asked. “You only killed Lord Typhoon.”
“And Rockette,” replied Ruby.
“And Banger,” supplied Bethany.
“And Pebble,” said Yazmyn. She then shuddered. “Creepy, that’s what he was!”
“You’re lying,” scoffed Dame Petrify.
“You got a means of checking for life-signs?” asked Ruby.
“Entrooper Commander, prove to these liars that my minions are still alive.” The Entrooper Commander obeyed and checked its instruments. …Its eyes widened in terror.
“Th-They’re not…they’re not registering!” it reported. “Our ship recorded their deaths! At the hands of those girls!”
“WHAT? IMPOSSIBLE!” shouted Dame Petrify.
“Nope,” replied Opal. “We would have brought pieces of their corpses, but, well, we were too busy and that’s just sick.”
“YOU MURDERED PEOPLE THAT KNEW THE TRUTH! PEOPLE THAT BECAME SUPERIOR! GAIA IS NOW FORFEIT! WHO DO YOU GIRLS THINK YOU ARE?!” The girls smiled and summoned their weapons as the Entroopers attacked. Ruby began introductions.
“I, Ruby Kobayashi, the Red Dame, am the Rose of Fire!” She scorched a few Entroopers with a slash of her blade.
“I, Bethany Williams, the Blue Dame, am the Rose of Water!” Bethany created a whirlpool as she swung her shield into Entroopers, then joined Ruby.
“I, Yazmyn Jacobson, the Yellow Dame, am the Rose of Lightning!” A few zaps from Yazmyn’s guns knocked down her opponents and she joined her friends.
“I, Pat Daniels, the Purple Dame, am the Rose of Gravity!” Pat swung her hammer and delivered crushing blows on her opponents, then joined her sister Roses.
“I, Opal Garcia, the Orange Dame, am the Rose of Sand!” Opal cracked her whip and created biting sand tornadoes that took down her opponents, then she joined her fellow Roses.
“I, Gabi Morales, the Green Dame, am the Rose of Plants!” Gabi frisbee’d her chakram into several Entroopers and carnivorous plants snatched them up and ate them as she joined her sisters.
“I, Wilma Lux, the White Empress, am the Rose of Light!” Wilma fired a stream of light from her lantern that fried several Entroopers, then joined her students.
“I, Grace Grayson, the Gray Empress, am the Rose of Balance!” Grace thrust her spear into several Entrooper chests, then joined her fellow Roses.
“I, Belinda Umbra, the Black Empress, am the Rose of Darkness!” Belinda’s scarf enveloped several Entroopers, then they vanished into nothing as it returned to her hands while she joined the Roses.
“Blooming wherever evil lurks so we may defeat it,” continued Ruby as everyone posed.
“WE ARE THE COSMIC ROSES!” the Roses finished as Wilma’s lantern created sparkles.
“YOU’RE SOFT IS WHAT YOU ARE!” Dame Petrify said defiantly.
“Roses, let’s show our thorns!” called Ruby. “DAME FIRE SWORD SLASH!” The blade set itself on fire and Ruby slashed horizontally, creating a wave of fire.
“DAME WATER SHIELD WHIRLPOOL!” Bethany Spun around, creating a water vortex, then threw her shield, causing the vortex to fire it.
“DAME LIGHTNING PISTOL RAPID FIRE!” Yazmyn pointed her guns at Dame Petrify, pulled the triggers, and multiple lightning bolts erupted from the barrels.
“DAME GRAVITY HAMMER CRUSHER!” Pat swung her hammer up, then the head expanded, then she swung it down.
“DAME SAND WHIP STORM!” Opal cracked her whip and created a biting sandstorm that flew towards Dame Petrify.
“DAME PLANT CHAKRAM VINE!” Gabi threw her chakram and a giant vine grew, following the chakram’s path.
“EMPRESS LIGHT LANTERN FLASH!” A bright light shot out of Wilma’s lantern.
“EMPRESS BALANCE SPEAR JUDGEMENT!” Grace twirled her spear and the scales on it rushed to Dame Petrify.
“EMPRESS DARK VEIL SHADOW!” Belinda’s scarf wrapped around Dame Petrify as all the attacks hit her. The scarf then returned to Belinda’s hands as glowing cracks appeared on Dame Petrify’s skin.
“N-NO! NO! YOU CAN’T-!” begged Dame Petrify. “IT’S-! IT’S THE LAW! STRONG…ALWAYS…DESTROY WEAK!”
“She sounds like Banger now,” remarked Gabi.
“She’s gonna sound like a bomb any second now!” yelped Yazmyn.
“EVERYBODY TAKE COVER!” shouted Ruby. Even the Gaian Guard took cover. Dame Petrify then exploded, her stony remains scattering everywhere. No one said a word as the dust settled. That was when everyone heard footsteps…belonging to Malachite and the reinforcements he brought.
“Guards, we’ll handle the…wh-what is going on here?” asked Malachite.
“You’re fashionably late is what you are,” chuckled Wilma. “Look at you! The fight’s already over and Dame Petrify is dead!”
“What?!” protested Malachite. By now, all the Cosmic Roses were laughing at him.
“Look at you, Daddy!” laughed Opal. “All dressed up and nowhere to go!”
“I had to grab soldiers from all sectors of the citadel!” protested Malachite. “Even the shortest route takes a long time!”
“Well, it looks like your former boss failed against us again!” declared Ruby.
“N…No…” strained an Entrooper.
“…It’s alive!” gulped Gabi.
“Only just,” remarked Belinda.
“Our…primary…mission…succeeded,” said the Entrooper.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” asked Ruby. “Gaia’s people are still very much flesh and blood, not stone.”
“That…was not…the primary…mission…” replied the Entrooper. “Your…slaying…of Lord…Typhoon…made…the Emperor…realize…that…Entroopers…were…being produced…at an…unacceptable…rate… …So we…infiltrated…the Mana Pools…to learn…their secrets!”
“WHAT?!” yelped Pat.
“Those secrets…shall be studied! …The larvae…sent their notes…to Central Command! …We shall…make…our own…Mana Pools! …We have…succeeded!”
“No, you haven’t,” said Gabi. “The Mana Pools aren’t of Gaian design.” Everyone looked at Gabi. “…Ordinarily, the Lord President and those they trust wouldn’t dare reveal this secret, but there’s a clause in the Gaian Planetary Constitution that allows us to say something should an enemy study it. …The Mana Pools were constructed by the Terran Great Mages.”
“L-LIES!” argued the Entrooper.
“No. Terrans had landed on our planet and saw that we were mana-deficient, despite being great masters of magic. The Terrans were saturated with mana, but had no interest in anything beyond basic spells to enhance their technology. But basic spells couldn’t drain off their mana, so they entered into an exchange of knowledge and became our staunchest ally. They built the Mana Pools based off of natural pools on their homeworld and connected theirs to ours. Hence why we use magic a little more liberally, not just to study, but to help Terra. Put simply, you haven’t learned ALL the secrets and Terra’s quite vicious when they learn that their secrets are threatened. …Sorry, but you still failed your primary mission.”
“If…what you say…is true…” snarled the Entrooper with its dying breath, “then…we have been…merely…delayed! …Not…defeated…!” That was when it finally died.
“…M-Miss Morales,” asked the Gaian Guard Commander, “is this true? Our Mana Pools are linked with Terra’s?”
“…Yes, it’s true,” sighed Gabi.
“That’s not good,” remarked Malachite.
“Oh, come, come,” retorted Wilma. “Terra and Gaia are allies. They’ll-.”
“They’ll be Emperor Entropy’s next target,” interrupted Malachite. “Entroopers transmit all their memories to a central computer upon death and the signal WON’T degrade or be delayed across light-years. I must inform the Lord President of this.”
“I think we’d better check upon our Terran Roses,” Grace suggested to Wilma and Belinda.
“Right,” agreed Wilma.
“Wait, you’re leaving?!” yelped Ruby.
“Don’t worry, girls,” assured Belinda. “We’ll see each other. We’re just going to check up on your silver and gold sisters on Terra and assess the situation.”
“Basically, convince Terra to shore up their defenses,” continued Grace. “And raise the girls’ levels to Dame like you six.”
“…Quick question, about the new outfits-,” said Yazmyn.
“Oh, that? Well, you WILL need to wear them against a strong enemy, but you can swap back and forth between outfits, just say the appropriate transformation announcement.”
“YES!” Yazmyn pumped her fist. “Yellow Lady Rose of Lightning, I desire to bloom!” Her Transformation Seed did the usual thing and she leapt out of the resulting rose in her Lady outfit.
“Eh, I dunno,” said Opal, “I kind of like the outfit I’ve got now.”
“Suit yourself,” said Yazmyn.