Magical girls? IN HILLWOOD? its more likely than u think
As strange as Hillwood was, Arnold never thought he'd see the day they'd have their own superhero
Was that even the right term? He felt like in this context, maybe "Magical Girl" was more appropriate. Nobody knew who she was, where she came from, or why she operated in Hillwood. All they knew is that one day, some girl with a golden wand appeared out of nowhere and protected a woman from a robbery, and ever since she'd become a reoccurring part of their already zany community.
She called herself 'The Bow Princess', she wore a long white dress that seemed to trail off into sparkles that flowed in the wind, on her chest was a large pink bow that had a crystal heart in the center, on her back were to angel-like wings, with her long hair left to flow freely, complimented by yet another pink bow on the top of her head; she always carried around a golden wand, that was decorated with different heart shaped carvings, at the tip of the wand was the same crystal heart, albeit larger.
Arnold had never seen her in person, only on TV, but he knew that one of his classmates — Stinky Peterson — had caught sight of her a few days ago when she had helped with a bank robbery situation, and according to him she was even prettier in person.
In a way, Arnold wasn't too shocked that Hillwood had a Magical Girl, somehow he still felt like that wasn't the weirdest thing to happen there. Still, they had all sort of gotten used to her existence, so much so that it rarely crossed his mind just how whacky it all was. There was some girl running around in a frilly dress saving the day with the power of magic, they should not have viewed it all so casually, and yet, they did.
He actually respected that a bit, to put your own safety on the line to protect the community was an admirable thing to do, whoever she was behind that cutesy outfit must have been an incredibly selfless person to be willing to do that.
He wasn't sure why he was thinking so intently about her in the middle of class, perhaps it was because he'd seen another news story about the great Bow Princess saving the day yet again before he left home, or perhaps it was because he'd overheard Stinky gushing about how beautiful she was before he walked into the classroom — whatever it was, he hadn't the time to continue his pondering, as the door was soon swung open, only to reveal none other than a rare Helga Pataki, in all her 'don't fucking talk to me' glory.
Helga was an oddball when compared to the other girls, she didn't care for cosmetics, seemed to wear the same thing every day, hadn't grown out of her pigtail phase. At fifteen years old, it was safe to say she was a lot prettier than when they were younger, her thick unibrow was gone, she'd grown into her once oversized features, and — according to the creeps of the school — had sporty curves that were to die for. Still, despite many considering her hot, she was never actually grouped with the hot or pretty girls. People more so considered her the edgy and unapproachable hot, the type you could make crude comments about from a distance, but would never go up to and flirt with. This being mostly because of her attitude.
The most accurate description of Helga as a person was from his own best friend, who claimed that her attitude stunk. Granted, he never liked her so perhaps he was being biased, but there was some truth to his statement. To be fair she was a lot nicer than when they were younger, and she didn't go around picking on people anymore, but Helga Pataki was still very rough around the edges. Few people in the entire school had the bravery to approach the unpredictable teen out of fear that she may deck them for getting on her nerves, she was a sports legend and had brought the girls basketball team more championships than the boy could ever imagine (another thing that pissed his best friend off), and yet she wasn't for being in a team. Blunt, sarcastic, snappy and with a tongue of ice, Helga Pataki was not, and probably would never be, one of the nice girls.
And yet Arnold still waved at her when she entered, feeling a small bit of joy when the blonde nodded her head in acknowledgement.
"Any reason as to why you're so late, Ms. Pataki?" their slow talking, condescending history teacher questioned with a brow raised.
"Sorry, spent most of the morning contemplating if you all deserved to see my awe-inspiring face," she responded sharply, something which received a few giggles across the class.
Their teacher, clearly not wanting to start anything with the quick-witted blonde, simply huffed and continued with her lesson.
Arnold smiled softly in her direction, he'd always admired how easily words came to Helga, she was the type who could never lose an argument, always knew what to say and when to say it, few people had the luxury of saying they had one upped her in a back and forth. He couldn't let himself get distracted though, he actually took history quite seriously, he was a future archaeologist after all. So, he turned his head away from Helga, and went back to writing notes in his textbook.
It was lunch when all the chaos happened.
Arnold had noticed that throughout the day, Helga had started acting more lethargic, and he ended up not seeing her sitting with Phoebe and a few of the basketball girls at lunch like he always did. According the the glasses clad girl, she began feeling ill and was sent home by the school nurse, something that made Arnold worry. He was aware that Helga's parents were still not very attentive of her, so if she was seriously ill, who would look after her? He decided in that moment he'd go and check on her after school.
Aside from that, lunch started off rather smoothly, Arnold sat with Gerald, eating his own packed lunched as his friend complained about the nasty school lunches, occasionally looking over at the table Phoebe was sat at. Arnold huffed, he still didn't understand why Gerald hadn't made a move, it's not like Phoebe was drowning in potential bachelors and it was painfully obvious they liked each other, and yet, he refused to make a move. What made it stranger was Gerald probably had more of a shot now, he was a star player on the basketball team and was respected by many, so why he didn't go to the bookish girl and ask her out was beyond him.
He thought that was how their hour long lunch break was going to last, that was until a group of students burst into the cafeteria. They were all rambling loudly, something about Bow Princess; nobody even had a chance to question it, as the moment anyone would have tried to assist the clearly shaken students, they heard a loud crash in the middle of the cafeteria.
They all looked to see what it was, only to notice a large hole in the ceiling, in the center of the room were two figures, one that looked to be some sort of shadowy being, and the other being none other than the infamous Bow Princess. Oohs and aahs echoed in the room as the Magical Girl pushed the shadowey being off of her, her iridescent blue eyes glaring at it with a burning hatred.
"I'll ask again," she hissed, "who sent you, filthy beast?"
The figure chuckled, it's voice scratchy and hard to listen to, "I am but an agent of her highness — say, pretty Bow, where are your helpers? Plant Princess? Sea Princess? Don't tell me they left you to handle this on your own"
Arnold's eyes widened at the statement, there were other Magical Girls? Bow Princess wasn't the only one?
The figure then laughed again, "ah yes, they're still in training, aren't they? They can't help you sadly, the poor little Bow Princess has to do this all on her own"
Bow Princess aimed her wand at him, her brows furrowing deeply, "I don't need their help, you're the one who needs help to defend yourself from me," clearly the school was on her side, if the loud 'ooooh!' she had received was anything to by, "now enough with the small talk, if I can't get to her then I'll just have to rip you to shreads!"
Without any warning, a seemingly electrified pink beam shot out of her wand straight at the shadow being, who just barely managed. In that moment, everyone knew they needed to duck for cover, they still wanted to watch of course, but they couldn't risk one of their attacks hitting them. For a few seconds, it seemed to be just Bow Princess throwing different attacks at the being and the being either avoiding or countering, and Arnold was going to join his friends underneath the lunch table when he was suddenly grabbed by the collar, dragged back, and held tightly by his neck.
"Arnold!" Gerald snapped, ready to stand up and go help him.
Bow Princess stopped, the hate in her eyes somehow growing stronger, "put him down," she said simply.
"Oh Bow sweetheart, isn't it against your code of honor to attack and harm a civilian? And yet," Arnold helped as the being pulled him forward, using him as some sort of human shield, "yet, you're pointing your scary little wand at one! I don't think the Mahiran Council would approve of this darling"
Arnold was sure the being could feel his heart beating faster than the fastest runner alive, who knew that a shadow beast from only God knows where was going to use him as a human shield against an all powerful Magical Girl during his lunch break?
Bow Princess stepped forward, "put the civilian down, now"
"If you want, you can shoot, but just know you'll kill this mortal human Bow"
Although her stance didn't change, Arnold could see the worry in her eyes. He wasn't surprised at all, her whole thing w as helping people, killing a civilian was clearly against whatever Magical Girl code they had going on, and yet here he was, being a human shield.
In that moment, Arnold felt he had to do something, he couldn't just expect Bow to know how to get him off the thing that had it's... whatever it was around his neck. So, as the being cockily glared at the hero, he slid his had into a pocket, sliding out a pair of scissors he kept just in case; unsure if this would even work, the boy held his breath, before quickly stabbing the creature in the side.
Much to Arnold's surprise, the creature seemed to be solid, it quickly let go of him and cried out in pain, allowing him to quickly crawl away. It pulled the scissors out if it's side, looking his way, "you little... AH!"
Ceasing the opportunity, Bow shot a beam at the creatures shoulder, before unleashing an array of bright pink attacks at the once cocky being. It tried to fight back, but from the confusion of being outsmarted by a mortal, and it's ego now being shattered, the one sly beast was now no more powerful than a kid throwing a temper tantrum. Arnold could barely see what was happening, it was all so bright, so pink, all he could tell was whatever was happening, Bow Princess was winning.
Soon, the brightness settled; the beast lay on the ground, crippled, exhausted, unable to fight back. Bow Princess flapped her wings and was soon in the air, she pointed her wand down at it and spoke, "sadly, once I eradicate you from this plain, you will not be dead, you will simply go from hence you came," she said, her voice filling the room, causing silence amongst them all, "so when you are once again forced to face your maker, I want you to tell her that I, as well as the rest of the Princess Defenders, will stop at nothing to rid this universe of you and her, your time of talion is coming," soon, Bow Princess began to glow a golden color, her pupils having disappeared, with both hands gripping her wand, she aimed it at the creature before then yelling:
"Royal Ribbon Blast!"
A golden beam blasted from her wand, shooting the creature at point blank range, all it could do was scream as it began to disintegrate, surrounded by a golden ribbon. In just a few seconds, the beat was no more.
Bow Princess then landed gracefully, looking around cautiously before sighing, "it's safe, you may all leave your hiding sp—"
The second she spoke, a rush of teenagers ran to the hero, screaming and cheering at her, some asked for autographs, some asked if she was single, one even professed love to her. She daintily raised a hand, chuckling the excited youth, "no need to thank me, it's my duty as a Princess Defender to protect the community"
As the Magical Girl tried to handle her adoring fans, Gerald helped a still shaken Arnold up from the ground, "bro, that was so clutch!" Gerald said with a large grin, "if you hadn't have done that, shit, you'd probably be dead right now!"
Arnold chuckled and nodded, he looked to where Bow Princess was standing only to see her... walking up to him?
The blond boy was left speechless as she walked up to him, she truly was like a sort of angel, even being a tad taller than him, "hey," she began, speaking softly with her hand to her chest, "what you did back there was beyond brave, attacking that thing could have lead to your demise, yet if you didn't you would have gotten hurt... had you not have done that, I wouldn't have known what to do, and I may have had to surrender" she then took hold of his hand, and placed something inside. When he opened it, he saw a very small pink bow shaped crystal pendant with a long piece of silver attached so he could wear it, "I can't do much to reward you, sadly that's all I've got..."
"No it's..." Arnold looked at it again, before smiling, "it's gorgeous, thank you so much"
She softened at his words, before taking a step back and taking flight once more, "well, I've gotta go now— oh! I almost forgot!" she pointed her wand at where the hole had been left in the ceiling, and soon surrounded it in a pink ribbon, which soon disappeared to reveal a now fixed rooftop. The Magical Girl then waved at the crowd, happily saying, "If you ever need me, just yell out my name!" before then disappearing in a cloud of sparkles.
First, the cafeteria was eerily silent, no one truly knowing how to process what just happened. I mean, what would you do if a Magical Girl suddenly appeared in your cafeteria and started fighting a shadow beast?
Though, if there was one thing about this that Arnold took away, it was that Stinky was right.
Bow Princess truly was even more beautiful in person.
In the few hours following the Bow Princess incident, not only had their school become a reporter hotspot, but Arnold had also become a mini-celebrity.
Everyone had questions for him, over five different news broadcasts where shoving cameras and microphones in his face asking him what had happened and how he felt. Naturally their were students that filmed the incident, and it quickly went viral, so in just a few hours he'd become more known than he thought he'd ever be. Kids in his class he'd never seen before were calling him by name and asking to see the pendant Bow Princess had gifted him. According to the comments and conversations he was hearing and seeing, he was now Bow Princess' boyfriend, or maybe her brother, or he was actually in on it and it was all staged, actually no he himself was a hero too. He'd even had people try to snatch the pendant for themselves, though he'd never let that happen.
Things had gotten so hectic that the principle was forced to end school early, and with the help of Gerald and his older brother, Arnold was able to sneak home, away from the prying eyes of reporters and nosy teenagers. Once inside his home, he was greeted by none other than his parents, who had moved to live with him and his grandparents upon hearing of his grandmothers failing health. Stella was quick to pull Arnold in for a tight hug, "oh sweetheart, I saw what happened on the news! The video's spreading all over social media too! Are you alright? You're not hurt are you?"
Arnold chuckled, "no mom, I'm fine, a little shaken but I'm good"
Miles took notice of the pendant, "aw, she gave you that didn't she? It's pretty, what kinda gem is that..."
"Looks like a quartz to me, but then again who knows what sort of whacky gems a magical superhero has access to" Stella retorted, receiving a nod from her husband.
Arnold was going to take that as que to leave before his dad clapped, laughing loudly, "but enough of that, let's talk about that little bout of heroism aye?"
"Dad..." Arnold began with a small blush.
"Oh no no no!" Stella rebuttaled, "what you did back there was incredibly! My own son managed to best... whatever that thing was! If I was Bow Princess, I would have given you a thousand pendants!"
"And what's he going to do with a thousand pendants Stella?"
"Hush Miles!"
Arnold laughed as his parents began bickering, honestly, sometimes he was more mature than them.
will this have regular updates? IDK maybe lol
