Minako

This place had been scary enough in the fog, but at least it had kind of made a little sense. Not that I'd ever seen a junkyard like that except on TV, but I knew they actually existed, and were probably in the city somewhere. But now, the ground had turned into a metal grate and there wasn't anything below it. And the play castle I'd hid in had just… disappeared. I didn't want to look like a scared baby, but… it was pretty nice when Buffy-neesan grabbed my hand and squeezed it.

She seemed so calm, like she did this all the time. And maybe she did, given what she'd said. Maybe she was a monster-hunter, like Archer Kaguya, back in Featherman Dual? Kaguya was always telling Feather Hawk he wasn't paying her enough, usually right after saving him from a monster. Which was usually when he said he wasn't paying her at all.

"Well. It's dark, it's spooky, and this is probably a very bad idea, but we don't have any good ones right now," Buffy-neesan said, looking at me. "You ready?"

I started to nod, when I saw something out of the corner of my eye. It was polished wood, light and shiny against all the dark rusty metal of the walls. I walked over and tugged at it, and it slid out easily, leaving me holding a lacrosse stick. I'd played lacrosse a little, before the accident, though we'd used aluminum sticks. This one was wood, and heavier, but if I was going to be hitting things with it, that was probably good. I took a few practice swings, then nodded.

"Ready," I replied, sticking my chin out. Buffy-neesan smiled at me.

"Excellent. Okay, I'm taller and my weapon's faster, so I'm going to take point– that means I'll walk in front. You stay behind me and check to be sure nothing's sneaking up behind us, okay?"

Again, I nodded, hefting my lacrosse stick a few more times. Then we headed off into the dark tunnel.

Except it wasn't actually much of a tunnel. Maybe fifty meters long if that, and then we were stepping out into a more open area. There weren't any stars, and even the moon was hidden under black clouds, but there was a weird reddish light that didn't seem to come from anywhere in particular. Ahead of us, I could see columns rising up and suddenly realized– we were walking across a bridge, a really big one. I couldn't help but look down, and whimpered a little as I saw black water– or something kinda like water– bubbling away gloopily under us.

"Minako?" Buffy-neesan had really good ears, because I didn't think I'd been that loud.

"I… I'm okay," I said, making myself believe it. Buffy-neesan looked at me for a moment, then nodded.

"Okay, but, new plan. This place is way too open, walking single-file would just be asking for trouble. Come up here on my left, okay? If something comes at us, we can go back to back, and this way we don't have to worry about something splitting the line."

That actually sounded really good. I did as she asked, and the two of us walked across the bridge, keeping to the center and looking out for anything coming at us.

"So, where were you before this happened?" Buffy-neesan asked casually. She wasn't looking at me, but I could tell she knew right where I was.

"Um. I was living in Tachikawa City– uh, that's sort of a suburb of Tokyo? Kind of?" I couldn't remember all of what I'd learned about how American cities were set up. I knew they were mostly wide and flat, and only the really big ones had any really tall buildings, and that almost everybody had to have a car, but that was about it. Then again, Buffy-neesan might know what I was talking about. She spoke really good Japanese for a gaijin, after all, although my oba-san always said it was rude to tell people that.

I could tell she was blinking at that, even if she wasn't looking at me. "Tokyo? Wow, I was in California, that's… it should have been four in the afternoon there, when I slipped in here. You said you woke up at night and nothing worked?"

"Yeah. And I don't feel like I've been here very long, but this place is… weird."

"Serious understatement, kiddo," she agreed. "If we're lucky, we can get you out of here right after you went in, and nobody'll have had time to miss you."

Not like they would anyway, I thought, but I didn't say anything. Instead, I put on my best smile and aimed it at her. "So, you were in California? I know it's really big, is it all beach where you live?"

"Not so much all, though we do have a lot of coast. It's a town called Sunnydale, a little north of Los Angeles. So on the ocean, about in the middle of the state. It's really pretty, but it's… kind of got a bit of a monster problem."

"Like here?"

"Nope, definitely not. This place is a level of weird all its own. Sunnydale's full of vampires, mostly."

I blinked. "Real vampires? Like Vampire Princess Miyuu, or what was that old one, Vampire Hunter D?" My dad had liked horror anime, and I can remember Mom scolding him for letting me watch some of the tamer ones with him– I didn't actually get to watch Miyuu, I just remember the title.

"I… don't really know, anime is not really my thing," Buffy said. "But probably not, most vampire fiction only gets some of it right. They're corpses with a demonic spirit inside, they're pretty much all evil– or no, that's not a good term for it. They're all dangerous, because the spirit that moves them is addicted to killing, it feeds off death as much as the resurrected body feeds off blood. Some of them keep enough of who they used to be that they can try to act like people, but they can't keep it up for long, because they pretty much don't have human emotions anymore. There's three exceptions right now, vampires with souls, but for the most part? They're all a threat."

Oh. That… honestly, that was kind of scary. But part of me felt kind of good, that Buffy trusted me enough to try and explain rather than just tell me it was too scary or too complicated for me. Or just tell me to shut up and keep walking.

"Wait, you were out at midnight? How old are you?" I wasn't very good at telling that with gaijin, their faces were just so different than I was used to. I didn't think she was a grown-up, though.

"Nineteen. And three-quarters," she replied, grinning at me as I giggled. "Yeah, I was out at midnight. Patrolling. The town's got a monster problem, like I said. Mostly vampires, some evil demons– there are good demons too, but the ones that are bad can be pretty nasty. So I go out at night and try and be there to stop people from getting hurt. Doesn't always work, but with the help of my friends, it makes at least some difference."

Wow. "What are your friends like?" I could see the other end of the bridge approaching, which was a good thing, but we weren't off the bridge yet. Plus the glooping was getting louder, like maybe something in it was trying to get loose.

Buffy-neesan smiled. It was a really nice smile, too. "They're crazy, like me, obviously. There's Giles; he's my Watcher, basically the person who does research and helps me figure out what the bad guys are up to this time. Kind of like my dad at this point, too. Then there's Willow and Xander, my two best friends. They kind of latched onto me really early on and just refused to let me handle all the bad stuff alone. Xander's brave and funny and kind of a giant dork, but in a good way. Willow's really, really smart and good with computers and magic both. And then there's Ms. Calendar, she's Giles' girlfriend and Willow's teacher, and she's also really smart and pretty level-headed, which honestly helps.

"Then there's Faith, she's like me. She moved to LA with her Watcher, so we don't see each other much, but we talk on the phone all the time. She's so badass, and really, really good at just… not listening to her fears when she has something to do. I sometimes let my brain get stalled with all sorts of worries and what-ifs, and she just… sees what needs to be done and does it. And Oz, Willow's boyfriend. He doesn't talk much, but he's pretty much unflappable, which is a serious help when things get crazy.

"And then there's my mom, who's really awesome, and my sort-of big brother Nick– he's a biologist and again, really badass. So I'm really lucky, you know? I had to go through some bad stuff to get them, but now that I have my friends, I wouldn't trade them for anything."

… Okay, there was something else she was saying there, in that way grown-ups had when they wanted you to pick something up but they didn't want to say it out loud. Usually it was to be polite, or teach you the polite way of saying or doing something, but in this case, I was pretty sure I'd gotten it.

"So, are we friends?" I asked, trying not to sound too worried about her answer.

She smiled back at me and squeezed my wrist quickly before going back to scanning the area. "Absolutely. Even after you're back in Tokyo– pen pals are a thing, right?"

Oh, that would be cool. And I could even practice my English some, which would keep Oba-san off my back about the cost of postage.

Ahead of us, the bridge finally came back to actual ground, or at least solid metal plates instead of ones that had all the little holes in them. Buildings lined the street ahead of us, but they were all shuttered and dark, no lights anywhere. We'd just stepped off the bridge and onto the solid ground when a shuffling sound came from an alley to our right.

Buffy-neesan turned first, making sure she was between me and the alleyway, though not exactly blocking me in. Which meant we both had a good view when a giant bloodstained teddy bear appeared out of the shadows of the alley.

"You have to be shitting me," Buffy-neesan said flatly. The teddy bear just snarled, showing off a pair of really impressive fangs in that plush muzzle, and lurched closer. As it moved, a rip in its belly opened and shut, showing it wasn't stuffed with fluff, but rather skulls. Pretty small skulls.

A low, dark giggle came from behind us, and I whirled to cover Buffy's back, hefting my lacrosse stick as a pair of red eyes watched me from the alley on the other side.

This was not going to be fun.

"Oh look," Buffy-neesan drawled, shifting slightly behind me. "Winnie-the-Ghoul brought friends."

I didn't bother actually looking– I was focusing on those red eyes, which had been joined by one, two, three, five more sets, flickering on like fireflies in the summer gloom. Except way more evil.

"Five here," I reported, trying not to let my voice quaver. This was like an episode of Featherman, except the monsters were real, and I didn't have any superpowers. But if these things got past me, they'd have a straight shot at Buffy's back, and I wasn't going to let that happen. No matter what.

"Same here. So, I'm going to make like Sid from Toy Story and try taking their heads off. Don't worry, kiddo, we got this." Then I felt her move away from my back as a chorus of snarls quickly turned into yelps and what would probably have been swear words from the bear-things.

The red-eyed things in the darkness shuffled forward, giggling as they did so. As they got closer, I got a better look at them– green, sort of squareish things wearing white fundoshi and holding boomerangs in one… I would say hand, but there wasn't a hand there, the arm just kind of wrapped around it. And from the way the boomerang glinted in the little light we had, it was probably razor sharp.

They kept giggling as they moved closer– not very fast, but with a sort of inevitability. As they came, they spread out, obviously trying to flank me. I swallowed hard, took a deep breath, and clutched my stick tighter. Buffy was depending on me to cover her back, and I wasn't going to let her down. I wasn't a crying baby, hiding under the covers from the dark. I was a warrior, an onna-musha, I was Tomoe Gozen, and I was not going to die today!

One of the green things lifted its boomerang– to throw or stab, I wasn't sure which– and I didn't think, I just moved, swinging my stick around to catch the weapon before it left his hands. The net snagged the boomerang and pulled it loose from his grip. Without stopping, I continued the counterclockwise loop, tossing the boomerang off to the right and whacking another creature in the face as it tried to move in.

After that, everything sort of blurred together, except for the bits that stood out clear as crystal. I didn't really feel like I was in charge of my body, more watching as somebody else drove. But if it got me through this mess alive, I was fine with that. The green things mostly deformed like clay or silly putty when I hit them, like they weren't flesh and blood at all. Still, they seemed to feel pain, and they were solid enough that a good thwack knocked them away from me.

Whack to the face of the one on the left, then reverse and thwack the one coming in on the right with the butt of the stick. Crack the shaft down on one of those hand-things, kick the dropped boomerang away into the shadows with a sliding step. Keep moving, don't get cornered, put your strength into it, don't get off-balance. Bring the butt of the stick up and nail the one getting a little too close right in the fundoshi– aw, rats, whatever these things were, they didn't seem to have the usual weak spot down there. Knocked it back, though.

One hard strike launched one of the creatures, already off balance, into one of the stone walls of the buildings around us, and the thing vanished in a sudden puff of red-black smoke. That seemed to alarm the other four, who stopped dancing around and rushed at me all at once.

Bad idea. I swung my stick at shoulder height with all the strength I had, catching three of them upside the head– tock, tock, tock! All three puffed into smoke like their friend, leaving only the fourth, who'd had just enough time to duck under the shot. He did a forward roll, getting back on his feet and lunging at me with boomerang raised.

At this point, though, I was in the zone. I looped my swing back around, cutting up and across as I used my torso to pivot with all the strength I could muster. And for just one second, the net and frame of my lacrosse stick glimmered brilliant silver in the light, slicing through the thing's torso like… well, a knife through modeling clay. That monster disappeared too, leaving me panting in shock as that distant feeling drained away.

Wait, Buffy-neesan! I looked over to check on her, but I really didn't need to worry. Of the five monsters she'd mentioned, only one was left, and that one definitely seemed to be– how did the joke go? "Reconsidering its life choices?" She wasn't advancing on it, just standing between it and me, holding a short sword in one hand and resting the other one on her hip.

"Hey, if you want to vacate the premises, I am totally down with that," she told it. "And if you're worrying about whoever sent you, let me remind you, it's a big city, and whoever it is, they aren't here. I am. Are we clear?"

The teddy bear looked at her. Then it looked past her, at me and the several boomerangs scattered on the pavement at my feet. I held my lacrosse stick ready and tried to look like I wasn't about to collapse into a quivering lump of konnyaku at any moment.

Finally the bear snarled one more time, made a gesture that should have been impossible, given that it didn't actually have fingers, and lurched off into the darkness. We waited a little longer, just to be sure it was gone, then Buffy-neesan let out a breath.

"Okay, so that totally goes on the Top Ten Weirdest Slayer Foes list," she commented, turning towards me. "Not the Top Five, nothing's going to beat out the giant snake, the living incarnation of SIDS, the mind control blob, the giant killer migraine, or Snyder. But it's up there. You okay?"

Absolutely. I was okay, I was fine, I was… starting to shake. All of a sudden, I couldn't even hold my lacrosse stick, and it clattered to the ground as I tried to stop trembling. Then all of a sudden, Buffy-neesan was there, arms wrapped around me, all warm and solid.

"Shhh, I'm here," she murmured, rocking me just a little. "That's the adrenaline, it happens to everybody that way. My first real fight, I shook for almost an hour afterward. I still get the shakes after big fights. Go ahead and let it out– a good cry helps."

So I cried, sobbing into her sweater as she muttered and rubbed my back. I wasn't exactly sure why I was crying, but the tears just kept coming from somewhere inside. Maybe from where they'd all been hiding since the accident– I know it had bothered Oba-san and Oji-san that I hadn't cried at the funeral, or even after. But I was crying now.

Finally, after I don't know how long, my sobs died out, and I pulled back, wiping at my eyes. I took a deep breath and tried to pull myself together.

"I'm so-" I didn't get more than that out before Buffy-neesan had laid her hand over my mouth gently.

"Don't," she told me, seriously. "Don't ever apologize for having feelings, okay? Being afraid, being sad, getting angry, those are things that make us people, just as much as all the good things. They're things you need to handle, so you don't hurt other people with them, but you should never apologize for feeling things." She smoothed my hair back out of my face.

"Sometimes you need to keep a 'stiff upper lip' as the tweedy say, but when that passes, it is absolutely important not to keep it locked up. That way leads to badness, like ulcers and poltergeists and building killer robots that are still stuck in the Fifties. Okay?"

I blinked at her, then nodded, hesitantly. "I… think so? Your life sounds really weird, though."

"Oh, you have no idea," she grinned, squeezing my shoulder. "My teenage voyage of self-discovery had some really weird symbolic crap going on, you're only getting the Cliffs Notes version."

Standing up, she looked around. "Okay, I don't see any more playmates, so I think it's time to get moving. That gate up there looks promising. Ready to go?"

"Ready," I replied, scooping my lacrosse stick up off the ground. Buffy-neesan was right, though– I did feel better.

The gate Buffy-neesan mentioned was a giant wall, at least three stories high, blocking off the entire street. It was made of red– I wasn't sure if it was metal or wood, honestly. I didn't really feel like touching it to make sure. There were carvings on it, but the light was so low here, I couldn't really see what they were; and you know what, I was okay with that. What I could see looked vaguely old-fashioned, like the molding I'd seen on old English houses that I'd seen in movies. It really didn't fit with the modern city street it was sitting in.

There was a pair of doors in the middle of it, made of something white, with a gray metal plate set in the center connecting the two. The plate was a circle, with a weird symbol engraved on it and filled in with black. Three circles set in a triangle formation, inside a circle inside another circle, with weird letters and symbols running around between the two outer circles. Set into the rim of the plate, outside the outer circle, were four shiny round crystals– Red on top, green on the left, blue on the bottom, and yellow on the right. A clear one was set in the top one of the three inner circles. Something about it gave me the creeps, but it didn't feel dangerous. Just… off.

"Well. That's inviting," Buffy-neesan commented, folding her arms.

"Un." I nodded, shifting my lacrosse stick. I kind of wished I had a sheath for it like Buffy-neesan had for her sword, but Kaa-san always used to say that you had to make do with what life threw at you. "Do you think it's a seal?"

"... yeeeesss? But not a 'Do not open until Doomsday, this means you, there's a monster at the end of this book and it ain't fuzzy old Grover' way. More of a 'By going through this door, you accept all terms and conditions of what might try to eat your face on the other side' thing. Which honestly isn't exactly much of a change from where we are, so might as well give it a try, right?"

It took me a second to work through all of that, and I still wasn't sure I'd figured it all out. But I got the basic idea, and so I nodded. "Okay, let's go through, then."

"Awesome. I'll take point, you bring up the rear." Drawing her sword, Buffy-neesan pushed carefully on the plate, and both doors swung inward. They didn't even make any noise, which freaked me out more than a creepy squeak would have. Inside, we could see a short passage, maybe ten or fifteen meters long, and then another set of doors with the same seal on them. This set of doors were red.

Carefully, we moved through, and I didn't even flinch when the doors swung shut behind us. We did the same thing at the red doors, and stepped out into the same foggy city we'd been in before. The streets were still empty, but the area looked… more lived-in? There were more lights in the buildings, even if they were still that creepy greenish-white, and there were neon signs everywhere, flickering in all sorts of colors. Still, nothing actually looked open, there weren't any cars or buses, and the only sound I could hear was the whispering rush of water flowing by somewhere.

"Huh." Buffy-neesan stopped to let me come up beside her, looking around. "Okay, I think we're back in the better part of town. That's a good sign, I think." She squinted up through the fog at the moon above us and the shadows of buildings lining the street.

"Taller buildings that way, so I'm thinking that's our best bet for a destination. Ready?"

I nodded, a lot firmer than I actually felt, and we started walking again. After a second, I decided to ask the question that was bothering me. "Buffy-neesan? Why did you think something sent those monsters after us?"

She looked over at me, then sighed a little. "Because those were scrubs, cannon fodder. The weak minon-y types that hang around the edges of the battlefield trying to stab people in the ankle, who say stupid stuff like 'we will meet again' or 'this isn't over' before they run off. And guys like that? They break and run when they realize their prey has teeth. Under normal circumstances, when I took the first Teddy Trash-Bin's head off, the other four should have been setting land speed records in the other direction. They didn't. And your Gumby guys didn't either, even though you proved you weren't easy prey. That means there was somebody they were scared of enough to keep trying."

Oh. That was frankly pretty scary. "Why would something be sending monsters after us?"

"I dunno, but given that Scare Bear and his cousins were fairly obviously trying to flank me, I'm pretty sure their target was you. Which I am not in any kind of mood to allow, you know?"

Is it possible to go cold with fear and warm and squishy both at once? Because honestly, that was kind of what I was feeling. I had to swallow twice to be sure my voice wasn't going to crack when I talked.

"But… why would they be after me? I'm nobody special."

"First off, not to sound all Afterschool Special, you totally are. Everybody is, but I think what you mostly mean is that you're not unique? Lotta kids like you around?"

I nodded hesitantly. I guess that wasn't entirely true either, most kids had parents still, but other than that, I was just a normal third grader. I got good grades in school, I was okay at sports, but a lot of kids are. I'm not special, special.

"Sometimes it doesn't come out until later," Buffy said wryly. "Like, I was a perfectly normal kid, right up until I was fifteen! Except come to find out, not so much. You know how I said saving people was what I do? Well, it's because of this mystical thing called the Slayer. I need a British accent to make this sound right, but to boil it down? Lots of girls are born as something called Potentials. Every so often, one is Called, and yes there are capital letters there, and becomes the Slayer. To quote a friend of mine, we become 'hot chicks with superpowers.' Mostly extra strength, speed, and the ability to take a lickin' and keep butt-kickin'. Downside is, you kind of have to kill the monsters. And if you don't go to them, they go to you.

"I got Called at fifteen and… it was hard. I don't think you're a Potential, you don't feel quite right for that, but you might be something and not know it yet. Whatever it is, I'm pretty sure something dragged you in here for a reason, and I got pulled in because I'm the Slayer. I go where the mess is and clean it up."

Oh. "I– don't know how to feel about that," I admitted, as we walked.

"Good. That you admit it, I mean. Because it's confusing and you're probably feeling a lot of different things all at once. People are good at that. Emotions are messy and hard to understand even when they're yours, but sitting on them, as I said, leads to much badness."

"So… I was right before, when I thought you were kind of like Archer Kaguya on Featherman Dual."

Buffy-neesan blinked at me. "Uh. Sorry, reference not found. Feather-what?"

"It's a sentai series!" I tried not to get too bouncy, but Featherman was one of the few things I still had from before. "Phoenix Ranger Featherman! Five young people get chosen by the mysterious Feather Boss to transform into Feathermen and save the world!"

"Wait, isn't that Power Rangers? I'm sure I've seen that."

I rolled my eyes. "Power Rangers is the American version of Toei's Super Sentai line, Featherman is by Atlas Studios, there's a huge difference."

"Like what?" Buffy-neesan looked amused, but not like she was laughing at me.

"Like… like Featherman doesn't reboot every year! It's all the same worldline, since it started in 1989! Oh, and Zyuuranger totally stole their helmet designs from the original season. I mean, just look at them, it's kind of obvious."

Okay, she was laughing now, but it didn't feel mean. "S-sorry!" she gasped, managing to stop. "It's just you sound exactly like Xander and Jonathan, one of our other friends, having an argument about comic books."

At that, I blushed. "Uh. Sorry, I don't mean to be such an otaku…"

An odd expression crossed her face. "Okay, I didn't quite catch that last word, but don't apologize, it's cool. You should hear me get going about nail polish sometime."

Ahead of us, I could see the street opening up, and soon enough we were stepping into a wide round plaza. It was flat, with a ring of buildings all around. Directly opposite the way we'd come in, a set of steps went up to a set of doors flanked by a pair of winged lion statues. The whole thing looked pretty dramatic.

And yep, before either of us could move further, something black zipped through the air to bury itself at our feet.

"Stop right there!" The voice was human, but oddly empty, as if reading the lines from a script. We did as ordered, getting our weapons ready. I had a bad feeling about this…

A black figure dropped from somewhere above us, landing on the asphalt in a perfect three-point pose. I saw with some dread that it was a man, wearing a black and white spandex suit with a cape over his shoulders. Then he stood up, and I saw the wing sigil on his chest and the two burning red eyes shining on top of his helmet.

"I am Feather Onmoraki, and you're not going any further here today!"

… Shit.

Buffy-neesan blinked at him, then looked over at me. "You're the Feather fan, kiddo. Ever heard of this guy?"

I looked him over. The first thing I noticed was that all his fittings were silver, rather than gold like Feathermen generally have. The Featherman sigil on his chest had the lower feathers curve down like hooks, and the downward arrow point was shaped more like a diamond than a triangle. His cape was lined with a deep red, and his gloves, boots and neck protector were black, rather than white. In fact, the only white was on his chest, a background for the sigil. His belt had a silver buckle and held the standard Feather Dagger/Blaster, over the right hip rather than the left.

The helmet had a patch of the same deep red on the head, and red eyes above a silver beak, set above the standard black visor. Underneath the visor, where the mouth plate would be, there was nothing but smooth and glossy black.

Finally, I shook my head. "No, Black Feathermen are generally Condor. There've been Sixth Feathermen before, but none in black, not even in Featherman Alpha, where they had a Green and a Blue, but no Black."

"Huh. Okay, so what, Feather Origami here is some kind of bootleg?"

If we'd been in an anime, I think he would have sweatdropped.

"That's Feather Onmoraki!" He did some sort of complicated hand routine, as much to get his balance back as anything, I think. "Surrender the pure maiden, or be taken by force!"

Buffy-neesan drew her sword in one fluid movement. "First of all, ew. Second of all, not a chance, dipstick. Minako, get up those steps and stay up there, where it's at least nominally safe, okay?"

I nodded and did as ordered, putting my back to one of the columns so I could pay more attention to Buffy-neesan and her fight. The two of them circled for a little bit, then I saw Feather Onmoraki's hand flash down and draw his dagger in a reverse-grip. I'd seen that in a movie once– it limited your range, but it made it harder for an opponent to track the weapon, and allowed for some nasty slashing attacks.

He lashed out with the dagger, but Buffy-neesan was already dipping to the side, slicing out with her sword. It set off the usual rain of sparks as it hit his arm, and I saw the dagger clatter to the pavement as he wheeled away. He clutched at the injury, putting distance between Buffy-neesan and himself, but I saw him flexing the hand on that arm, so it wasn't fully disabled.

"So, what's with all this 'pure maiden' stuff, and again I say, ew," Buffy asked, twirling her sword almost casually. I had to approve– sentai villains always talked too much, it was how the writers fit in the story bits without boring the audience.

"I am ordered to retrieve the chosen one, who bears the Light of Calamity within her! By the will of my master, the Dark Emperor!" Feather Onmoraki extended a hand, and a spear appeared in it. From my perch, I could just see that the diamond-shaped blade on the end was rendered as the beak of a black crane with red jeweled eyes.

Buffy-neesan dodged as he stabbed at her, and launched a cut at his side, but he blocked it with the shaft of the spear. They traded blows for a bit, and I could tell that he was very confused at being unable to overpower this woman who was smaller and lighter than he was.

"'Dark Emperor,' huh? Melodrama much?" Buffy-neesan commented, keeping up her attacks. "Come on, Okefenokee, clarify here. What's the Light of Calamity? Why does your Dark Emperor want it? And who stole the cookies from the cookie jar? We could all really use some more information."

"That's Onmoraki! I am the right hand of the darkness, come to bring the tranquility and peace of death to the suffering peoples of the universe! The light burns and blinds, but in the darkness there is rest and– AUGH!"

Feather Onmoraki's rant got cut off as Buffy-neesan ducked under his spear and whacked him right in the visor with the hilt of her sword. The glass didn't break, but it got a beautiful spiderweb of cracks over where his right eye would be. The cracks started seeping that blackish-red smoke, which didn't surprise me at all.

Still, Feather Onmoraki'd only been surprised for a moment, and Buffy-neesan'd had to duck away to avoid him slashing at her with several throwing knives made of sharpened metal feathers. Regrouping, she started to circle him again, like a lioness with her kill.

"Spare me the 'evils of existence' rant, I have heard it from bigger and scarier things than you," she drawled. "And I've been dead. It wasn't peaceful. It sucked. So no, I am not inclined to let you pull any kind of light out of an eight-year-old girl on behalf of somebody who can't even do his own MacGuffin shopping. Also, your nihilistic philosophy isn't even that original, get back to me when you've actually read Nietzsche. So. Last chance, Okiedokie. Run away with your tail feathers between your legs, or I will turn you into a stuffed and roasted Thanksgiving treat."

He snarled, and a cloud of reddish-black energy seemed to build up around him. "That's ONMORAKI, you dumb bitch! I am the Black Crane of the Afterlife, the wings of the restless dead! Who do you think you are, to stand in the way of our Emperor's gift to the suffering masses?"

"I'm so glad you asked," she replied, and I could hear the smirk in her voice. "I'm Buffy, the Vampire Slayer. I'm the one who kills the things that should have been dead long ago… things like you. Come and get me, if you're coming, Ogopogo."

His snarl of rage wasn't even close to human, and he lunged forward, spear held in both hands ready to run her through. Buffy-neesan didn't even blink, just parried the spear aside using her sword– in one hand, no less– and stabbed him in the chest with something held in her other hand. I couldn't see what it was, but her strength and the speed he'd had meant that it struck deep.

The spear fell to the ground as he staggered back, black smoke drifting out of his chest to join the fumes coming from his visor. He looked down at the end of what looked like a wooden stake and… began to laugh?

"F... from hell's heart, I… stab at thee…" he managed, then fell onto the ground, dissolving into a mass of black smoke that drifted up into the foggy sky. I was still looking up after it when I felt something wrap around my ankle. I looked down at my feet and promptly screamed.

The cement I'd been standing on was gone. Now it was a puddle of something cold and black, which was already forming tentacles of goo that were wrapping around my feet and pulling me down into it. The goop was already up to my hips by the time Buffy-neesan made it up the steps to me. She wrapped her arms around my torso and pulled, but the goop didn't even seem to notice. I clenched my teeth so I wouldn't scream at the feeling of being pulled in two directions, but after a second, I started slipping out of her arms anyway. Now the black stuff was up around my chest, and I flailed frantically at the air. Buffy-neesan grabbed one of my wrists and pulled, but it didn't help any more than it had before. I had one second to see the look of fear and anger on her face before the blackness flowed over me.

The last thing I felt before I passed out was Buffy-neesan's grip, still locked tight on my wrist.

Glossary-
Neesan: Big sister

Gaijin: Foreigner (usually white.) Not the most polite term, but not outright rude.
Oba-san: Aunt.
Oji-san: Uncle.

Onna-musha: Literally "female warrior." Term often used for women of the samurai class.

Fundoshi: loincloth/cloth wrap around the hips and genitals. Traditional form of underwear.

Konnyaku: Gelatinous cake made with flour from the Devil's Tongue, or Konjac plant.

Kaa-san: Mom, Mother (reasonably polite.)

Otaku: Rabid fan. This word just means "anime fan" in the West, but in Japan, it connotates obsessive fandom and is pretty pejorative.

Onmoraki: A black crane with a human face and burning red eyes. Is said to be the transmuted spirit of a dead body left in a Buddhist temple overnight without appropriate rites.

Featherman - wiki/Phoenix_Ranger_Featherman_R
I have of course taken some liberties with the series, filling it out the fairly bare-bones information we got in the games with tropes and trends from every sentai series I'm familiar with, and a few things from the Metal Heroes and Kamen Rider genres too.