The Badge and the Burden 4 - An Original Super Sentai/Magical Girl Setting


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It was a good day to be Tekkan. After all, his student had followed his mindset just fine.

Sure, he had to put her through a few therapeutic sessions of watching complex movies to get her simple-minded brain to adapt to the notion that sacrifices were needed and the idea that things could be divided between pure good and pure bad was just silly.

The issue was the mascot- little Ruby was 'angry' at him for having literally praised Komeko for killing her first enemy and thus denied their main foe a scout to keep track of them. It wasn't enough to warrant a major reaction, but the floating bunny was so warranting a kick to the nearest garbage bin the next time she breathed that candy-flavored stink onto his face.

That being said, and ignoring smaller bumps along the road of shifting Komeko's training into one of 'control' rather of 'stamina and power-building', Tekkan's life was going smoothly. He thought that things would have escalated for the worst but... it was all but a silly worry.

...

Until he came along.

Actually, some background info existed before that horrible event. First, Komeko came by for her usual session with a tired look on her face, and some questions that left Tekkan in a very very uneasy mood. She asked him something about 'what to do about enthusiastic potential partners' as she mentioned yesterday's patrol had ended up with her encountering another Magic Gal.

She event took a picture, and Tekkan was blasted by the sheer amount of hideous and familiar yellow coming along from that picture alone.

"She said her name is Magic Gal Lemon, that we were now friends and... that- that she wanted to be very close to me," Komeko gulped nervously, her face pale. "S-Sensei, do you think she is trying to hit on me? I-I don't like girls that way."

"No. I..." Tekkan took a brief pause in his response, this sudden situation feeling awfully familiar to a particular aspect of his own past. "Just don't be too forceful about it. For some reasons, that makes people think you may be into it."

"...That's a thing?!"

As tragic as it was, Tekkan could only nod to the dismayed look plastered all over poor Komeko. She was off to watch some movies by the store's backroom as she found it to be 'homely' enough to have her peace and quiet when compared to the 'silent home' she was dealing with; Ruby was, instead, whining about 'not liking' the blonde's mascot as he was too noisy but...

Tekkan planned to ignore what he just heard. While he wasn't convinced that there was any serious and concrete correlation between this new magical girl and him, there was no way that he was going to jinx himself over it. No way in hell he was going to let Murphy grill his ass out of nowhere because he felt like he had been on the good road of success but...

Murphy is cruel, and he needed that sweet Tekkan-bun grilled for lunchtime as the mere 'idea' of these two elements being connected was soon given more ground for belief.

He sat by the counter, hoping that the next customer would bring him a distraction but-

"I can't believe it!" A familiar but stronger voice boomed from the shop's entrance. Tekkan turned and blood drained from his face. "It is you! I knew the rumors were right!"

God, why? What did I do to deserve this?!

Before he could have said or done anything, Tekkan saw the intruder bolt around the counter and pull him in a ribs-crushing hug.

"Tekka-bro, it's been ages~!"

Slightly taller, definitely wider due to muscles but still yielding the same doggy and silly facial expressions from when he was younger, the man known as Hiroto Miki was indeed an unit. And one that had, outrageously so, out-heighted Tekkan despite him being older than the blonde man.

"M-Miki, you stupid himbo! G-Get me down!"

"Never!" The blonde exclaimed giddily. "Oh, the joy! The delight! You and I are finally back together, Senpai!"

Hiroto Miki, the 'dog-boy'. He was quite the puppy back when we were at school. If you were to do him a nicety, he would become your ultimate friend/pest. The boy- no, this guy is not a bad person. But he tended to have zero boundaries when it came to friendship.

Tekkan had been one of the longest-known friends of the himbo, and yet it never occurred to either of them for such a reunion to happen after all Rangers split. This was... a novelty. A shocking one. And one that Tekkan wasn't enthused about.

After wrestling himself out of that hold, Tekkan growled at the man.

"You're too big for this sort of stuff to keep being a thing, you dumbass!"

The man grinned happily. "Hehe~."

But as the store-owner thought this would have been the worst development yet, he came to realize that Miki didn't come alone to the shop. And she made her presence known really fast.

"Mou, papa! Don't hog Tekkan-Ojisan like that! I wanna hug him too!"

Cue a blonde-haired middle-schooler suddenly trying to mimic her father's bear-hugging attempt, only for Tekkan to block her and... get her to giggle at such a loss.

"You got me, Tekkan-Ojisan! Sugoi~!" The girl giggled, and Tekkan was baffled by this discovery - someone decided to allow Miki to spread his genes and produce a daughter that looked similar enough to him and that bore the same horrible traits of his. "I am Hiroto Ichiko-chan! Nice to meet ya~!"

"Get her off me! Miki, you cretin, get your brat off my ass!"

"Ah, kids are gonna be kids and... oh?" Miki's jovial eyes turned as he saw someone peeking from the door leading up to the backroom. "I didn't know you had a cute daughter too, hello!"

Komeko had decided to check the source of the disturbance, but as she tensed up at being noticed, the girl knew she did a fuck up. Especially since Ichiko turned to look at her and... they recognized each other.

"Oh no," Tekkan heard Komeko's squeak/whisper, while Ichiko gasped loudly.

"Best friend!" The blonde exclaimed, turning to her father and seemingly forgetting her duty to nag at her 'uncle'. "That's the girl I told you I met yesterday! Can I go and say hi~?"

Tekkan turned to see Komeko giving him the best begging look she could muster. He could share her fear, her horror, but he couldn't avoid that encounter. Not when the blonde gremlin bolted after the older girl and soon smacked them both into the backroom.

He heard giggles and squeakes, inwardly saluting the fallen pinkette for her unwarranted sacrifice. After all, he couldn't do much as he was stuck with blonde and most himbo right in front of him.

"So... Miki. What do you do now?"

"I am the CEO of Origami Fisheries."

"Oh," Tekkan hummed, surprised that someone as financially-challenged as Miki used to be when it came in keeping track of pocket money his parents gave him could still make enough to be a CEO of all things. "That's a surprise."

"I bet. I was a real dum-dum when we were young, and now... I made it. On top. And I take care of it as much as I do when it comes to my daughter's life," Miki sighed in bliss. "To think that you and I would have to mentor our daughters into becoming heroes."

...

"Komeko's not my daughter."

Miki paused, surprised. "She isn't? I thought you two were related with that flat look you both have."

Tekkan could see the point he was raising. Komeko had a very familiar deadpan look when she mustered it right but... that wasn't the point.

"Well, she is not. I own this shop, I found her struggling with a monster, and so I took her under my wing to... be a less sucky magical girl. Speaking of which, I assume you did not tell your daughter about the past."

"Of course not," Miki confirmed, his smile a bit forced for a moment. "Sure, this whole magical gal thing is very like what we were as 'Colorful' people, but that was the past and now... these foes are lame. Think that little Icchan had two of those defeated in no time."

...

"Did she kill them?"

"Of course not!" Miki rebuked strongly, looking at Tekkan as if he had gone crazy. "Her mascot, Topaz, told me that it would be wrong for a Magic Gal to kill their foes."

...

"Miki, these mascots are dumbasses," Tekkan pointed out dryly. "You're just painting a bigger target on your daughter's back if she lets so many get out of her reach."

"Ridiculous. It's not the same as back then."

"...Miki, you forgot how it all started? It wasn't horrible early on, but we played with our foes until shit hit the fan."

"I-It can't go as bad... right?"

"If they don't start removing the filth, then yes it will go bad very fast."

Miki gave Tekkan a strange look and... he turned away as he saw Ichiko coming along and walking up to her dad.

"We're done playing. Can we go home now? I have more cookies to bake!"

The man smiled, and spared his old friend one last look. Tekkan said nothing, but he could tell that Miki couldn't see it. Not yet. And that was going to spell trouble for Ichiko and Komeko. As they left the shop and the pinkette herself emerged with a tired look, he gave her a talk.

Be careful around this one, for she will make a big fuck up somehow.


Komeko was not having a fun day. Yesterday had been a prelude of her newest and most dreaded addition during patrols: Ichika.

Magic Gal Lemon was, by all means, the ultimate stereotype for a cheerful magical girl. She was squeaky, loud, and naive. And this came from someone like Komeko herself who had tried to pull something like that herself at Ruby's behest.

Topaz, the Duckling Mascot, was just as bad when it came to voice's volume. Komeko had yet to raise a comment on the matter, but as this first official patrol together started to take a toll on her mind, she could tell that Ruby too was losing her shit.

The bunny should be less 'annoyed' by this, but something about Topaz just made the rabbit go ballistic after a while. Which was why the mascot was awfully quiet when it came to most of the patrol itself. Still, the peace and quiet was not bound to last as a foe finally emerged.

"Kukuku! If it isn't Lemon-brat!" A monster exclaimed as it finished setting up some sort of thick-looking web over a small building. It had the upper body of a normal human beings, but the lower frame of... a spider. Komeko bit back a disgusted gasp at such horrendous display, and the muffled noise caught the attention of the monster itself. "I didn't expect you to get a sidekick. And a pink one? Really?"

W-What's wrong with pink!?

Komeko was usually calm, but she heavied her wand to blast the monster to dust... and she would have done so if Ichiko didn't just jump between them and then start to throw punches with the man-spider.

"How dare you insult my best friend, you fiend! I will defeat you with my fists!"

...What?

What!?

Komeko remembered trying to punch in her current form, and it was barely enough to truly replace the explosive nature of her spells. It was such a risky and stupid effort to get so close and personal like that!

"Ichi- I mean, Magic Gal Lemon, get out of the way so I can destroy this monster!"

The blonde turned to look at the pinkette in shock. "D-Destroy him? Why would you want to do that?! He is a misunderstood villain."

"I am not misunderstood, you stupid brat!" The monster screeched and lashed out angrily, stabbing with its spiderly legs and actually cutting into Ichiko's dress and skin.

Komeko's eyes widened as she saw blood being drawn and, without hesitation, she bolted towards Ichiko. Without missing a moment, the pinkette pulled the unexpecting blonde out of reach, noticing the pained look on her face and-

"KU-!"

Blasted the man-spider into ashes.

The web onto the building vanished moments later, confirming the monster was dead and-

"W-Why did you do that? Why- why did you kill him!?"

"Because he was trying to kill you!" Komeko snapped. For the first time in a while, the girl felt entitled to be angry at someone, and this someone was Ichiko. "Look at you! You're bleeding! How the hell does your father even allow you to go around if the first thing to do is rough-housing with murderous monsters!"

"He- He was just misunderstood!"

"No," Komeko snarled. "The only one misunderstanding is you and your entire idea that this is a game. I could have believed that up to a certain point- you are bleeding. He was trying to kill you! There's no excuse to that and... I will go back home. I need to sleep for tomorrow."

"W-Wait, Meko-senpai!"

But the pinkette didn't linger. She was tired and tired. Ichiko could make it back home just fine. The transformation, Ruby had once told her, would stave off their injuries but... still, for the blonde to rush head first into battle and try to 'convert' people felt dumb.

It worked in some shows because there were signs that someone could be 'fixed'. But there? With such a murderous guy? Nope! And Komeko was nowhere in the mood to get belittled by this brat. She took to rest, already expecting headaches the next day and...

She wasn't wrong with that prediction. She just didn't expect it to be quite the turbulent clash between 'adults'.


AN

Miki is frustrated with these events, but... Ichiko may not be as honest as her daddy think she is with her details. Especially when Tekkan is not someone that takes shit as easily as anyone the girl tends to 'lie' to.