Type: Near Human Animorph/Metamorph (Insectoid)

Element: Bug

Frequency: Not Rare Enough (Extremely Rare)

Diet: Live, wriggling meat (Mainly human males, but also bird, lizard, frog, and bug-type Pokégirls)

Role: Assassins, Torturers, Executioners

Libido: Very High

Strong Vs: Dark, Fighting, Ground, Plant, Psychic

Weak Vs: Fire, Flying, Rock

Attacks: Slash, Black Wind, Beheading Strike, Bide, Dragonsbane, Megaton Strike, Spiral Jump, Swordwave, Quickturn, Sabre Claw, Weapon Guard, Zanmato

Enhancements: Enhanced Strength (x10), Enhanced Endurance (x5), Enhanced Speed (x7), Enhanced Agility (x6), Multi-Limbed (4 arms, 2 legs), Metamorph (Alternate form), Natural Weapons (Serrated sickles on 2 arms), Reduced Feral

Evolves: None

Evolves From: None

Bounty: Varies from League to League

Recommendation if you see one: Have a strong warrior-type or fire-type ready to fight. Otherwise, evacuate at once if at all possible, where there’s one there's almost always more.

 

We all know Sukebe took ideas for his Pokégirls from both old legends and pop culture in his era. However, there was one old series of Legends that we all wish he'd never heard about, the legends of the Tang-Yin. For it was from these grim tales that the most dreaded Pokégirl ever was birthed, they were meant to be the bane of the men who aided women like Linda McKenzie...the Mantis.

 

The Manti were the most dreaded Pokégirls that any soldier had ever faced in the Revenge War. However, any of the few survivors would have told you, it had nothing to do with their looks. Standing a towering 7 feet tall at the on average, the Mantis Pokégirls were veritable giants. They appeared as attractive humans at first, with long flowing hair coming in a veritable rainbow of colors. Their eyes were often a hauntingly beautiful red, their hair dark as the night, a starch contrast to their pale skin with plump C-D cup breasts. However, they were limited metamorphs. When their prey would get close enough, they sprang, twin lethal scythe-arms sprouting from their shoulders in a flash, they'd skewer, slice, and slash their target without mercy. These scythe-arms are double jointed, allowing them to be moved freely with surprising speed and precision and are usually held in a position of prayer when active, yet not in use. Extending from the base of their spine was a short insectoid ‘tail’ with a solid stinger on the end, from the shoulders down to the tip of this ‘tail’ were hardened wings.  They are not strong enough for true flight, but more than enough to allow the Mantis to leap incredible distances at amazing speeds. They hard two primary forms, their ‘normal’ form, which they could only be in while Tame, something that's become nigh impossible now.

 

Their other form, however, was truly a terror to behold. Their once dainty feet replaced by strong and lethal talons, beautiful and prominent breasts shrunk and replaced by muscle, velvety skin hardened into potent armor. The Mantis' 'Battle mode' is truly something to fear. They could kill a platoon alone normally, in this form it'd take a battalion just to take one down and have a survivor. Now 7 feet tall is the smallest recorded sighting of one in her battle mode, they become as terrifying as they acted. Their eyes become a solid color and 'bug out' to a disturbing size, log antennae growing from their foreheads, and their wings also taking on a hardened blade-like quality.

 

In combat Manti like to make the best of their surroundings. They liked to sneak attack their quarry, often attacking from the treetops above or sneaking in via the use of their metamorphic techniques to give them a sort of ‘mobile camouflage.’ In battle their scythe-arms were their key weapons, whether a sneak assault or a front-line charge they always preferred to rely on their scythe-arms and sword-based attacks. They would often leap straight into heavy close-combat with their intense long-range jumps and dive in fighting, swinging their scythe-arms with a fervor rarely seen in even the most violent of a Gynadose’s rages. What made this grim sight even worse was that Manti almost NEVER fought alone. Wherever they went, litter-mates of Manti always fought as a team, often making a particularly enjoyable battle a ‘family outing’ for them.

 

While their combat style was vicious, what they were most famous for was their sexual appetites. Frequently, they would take victims off and rape them, forcing them to erection with their human hands and taking what they wanted from them.  And then once they had gotten off, the Mantis would then start eating their victim alive, usually starting with the genitals, the victim screaming in agony as the Mantis stripped his body of all his flesh. It’s said that the only way to know if a Mantis had bonded to you from one of these incidents, is that she'd either let you live, or kill you quickly. No one’s been willing to test which of these is the true outcome of bonding to a Mantis.

 

The soldiers of the Revenge War learned the hard way on a Mantis' Feral State. The mantis' Feral state is mild enough so that they'd know to hide from the potential threat that humans and Tamed Pokégirls now represented, thus they went into hiding and tried their best to keep their movements secret. A few were found shortly before the first Widow was sighted, and the first Pokégirl bounties were made. That bounty was subsequently increased, as Manti seemed to have developed a taste for bird, insect, frog, and lizard-type Pokégirls as well, great piles of bones being found in Manti lairs. However, it should be noted that Manti rarely, if ever, stay in one area for more than a year, two at the longest. The reason is because they apparently know that if they're in the same spot long enough, then sooner or later they'll be discovered.

 

As if things couldn't get worse about these deadly Pokégirls, it seems more and more are working for the Limbec Pirates. Information revealed by a Pirate who went legit revealed that Mephaesta, who'd grown fond of the vicious man-eating warriors, had begin to recruit them en-masse to work as torturers, executioners, and Assassins for the Limbec Pirates. Apparently both sides of this arrangement enjoy it greatly. This caused the already high bounty on Manti to increase even further for the sake of safety.

 

In recent a raid on a Limbec Pirate lair, a particularly fat, Snorlass-sized Mantis was found in the base's dungeons, alongside several hundred bones. DNA testing later revealed that these were all Tamers, Pokégirls, and civilians who had disappeared in the last few months. Before the Mantis was put down, a psychic probe revealed that all those she had eaten were somehow connected with anti-Threshold and anti-Feral research. The Mantis knew nothing more than that, she simply ate whom she was sent. This has led security to be increased around those facilities and for the family members of those involved.

 

There’s rumors of a sub-breed of Mantis, commonly called the ‘Praying Mantis’ by those few who’ve seen one. There’s little to go on other than they seem to be more intelligent and in control of their instincts than the ‘normal’ Manti.

 

Thanks to the obvious facts, as there's no confirmed cases of Taming a Mantis Pokégirl and surviving, let alone capturing it, thresholding into one, whether naturally or by force, is impossible. Thank the gods above.