Despair and Hope

Chaos reigned outside of the Nise Kitai building as kaijin and goon alike collided.

Sayuri was busy fending off three goons at once. Being a werewolf had its perks. Having the muscle and claws that came with their wolfen form were proving their worth. Which was for the best. The last thing she wanted to do was to create more wolves by biting any attacking goons.

Those goons seemed almost endless. While the Kaijin Support Group was holding more than its own at the moment, she knew they weren’t trained fighters. The goons were.

She needed them to hold out.

----

Kumiko and Kuma-chan stared at the chaos below as they saw Sweet Bear and Wolf Knight join forces in beating back the goons of Jade Chrysanthemum.

Kumiko’s heart raced as she saw the two pull stunts that she could only dream of watching their shows. That euphoria was only driven to new heights with the added knowledge that those weren’t just heroes.

Those were her parents.

Her parents had come to save her.

She couldn’t stop watching.

----

The brawl outside let Sweet Bear join Wolf Knight in manhandling any survival instinct deprived goon who’d stayed inside and tried to fight them. Bodies had gone flying in every direction. The two parents refused to go down. Not until they’d finished the damn thing.

Eventually however, the goons finally stopped trying to bumrush them. They stopped coming at all.

Sweet Bear clutched her staff a bit tighter even as she caught her breath. That couldn’t be the last of their manpower. They had to have more.

A slow clap echoed over the noise from outside. Slowly and from the shadows emerged Fuzukawa Ayumu, staring the intruders down. “Well, well, well. Look what the past coughed up. Two heroes past their prime.”

Sweet Bear tapped her staff’s end on the floor. “I will not let you poison the future anymore,” she warned.

“The future is mine.” Ayumu’s purple eyes flashed brighter. “When I take over, the world will have no place for fools like you. The suffering that will be caused when the kaijin are allowed to interact with humans again, in the old ways… It will be beautiful. Humans will finally know the despair the kaijin have experienced for centuries.”

But Sweet Bear did something unexpected: laugh. It was a sweet and genuine giggle, one that deeply upset Ayumu.

“What’s so funny?”

“You,” Sweet Bear chided. With a wag of her finger, she explained. “Jade Chrysanthemum does make one good point. A new Japan requires old solutions. Just not the ones they promise.” She twirled her staff around, pointing it at Ayumu. “It needs heroes of all shapes and kinds. Even those who don’t go around casting magic or kicking evil in the face – especially those. Heroes inspire people, give them hope. Maybe one person can’t change an unjust system.” She looked to Wolf Knight, who gave her a knowing nod. “But one person can inspire others – and then they aren’t alone. And as long as I draw breath, I will strive to be that one that inspires the world! I will be the light that shows the way to a better tomorrow! I am the Magical Girl Sweet Bear! And I will not despair!”

Ayumu sneered. “I still have your kid. What’s to stop me from ordering her dead right this second?”

“You do have her,” said Sweet Bear. “And I may not know where she is right now. But I don’t need to.” The jewel on her staff briefly shone an ocean blue. “I just need to know where Kuma-chan is.”

----

Kuma-chan froze mid-wing flap and immediately turned to look at Kumiko. “Grab my paws. Now!”

Kumiko didn’t question it, holding on tight as she heard Sweet Bear cry out, “KUMA-CHAN, TO ME!”

The room was filled with that blue light, and Kumiko felt herself be stretched across a whirlwind of color and sound. Even Kuma-chan looked like he was a strand of oddly-colored ramen noodle for a moment.

----

In a heartbeat, Kuma-chan appeared next to Sweet Bear – and a very disoriented Kumiko.

Kumiko only grew more confused as she found herself hugged by her own heroes. She could only looked back and forth between the two in shock.

“You!” Kumiko looked back at Ayumu, whose eyes were now glowing purple. “I have had just about enough of you!”

Sweet Bear, Wolf Knight, Kumiko, and Kuma-chan all watched as Ayumu’s jaw elongated and grew jagged teeth. The hair on her head grew long and lost all of its color. Her arms and legs extended, cracking and reshaping with bony plates as her flesh grew pock-marked and yellow.

Zetsuboru towered over the assembled family, its belly bloated from all of the suffering it had engorged itself on. “This is finally the hour of your destruction! I will kill you both and make your child watch!”

“Like hell you will,” snarled Wolf Knight. “Let’s finish this.”

Sweet Bear tapped her staff on the ground three times. “Let’s.”

----

Fuku felt a series of tremors run up his feet, through his legs, and into his lower back.

One. Two. Three.

A simple but effective little charm. The timing was unmistakable.

He flung off the sack he’d been hauling around all day, pulled out his wand, and disappeared in a flash. It was now or never.

All along where he’d been walking, a band of gas began to light in the middle of Tokyo. It grew stronger, the gas expanding to form a solid-enough looking ring. Its presence confused the drivers and pedestrians still wandering about.

It would only confuse them as eventually… the ring began to contract. None of them knew it yet, but it would center upon a building three blocks away.