Star & Orange - (Original, Magical Girl Show Deconstructed)
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The throne room was silent and darkened in shadows, hardly a few lights lit as court was in session.
The forces of the Space Lord Dark Star Zero had finally found the remaining essence of the heroines of Dream Rainbow, the legendary kingdom that once stood as the beacon of hope and safety for the galaxy as a whole.
After a difficult fight against the Queens of Dream Rainbow that saw Dark Star Zero triumphant, the weakened power had been snatched away by a local critter entrusted with the job of finding the new heroines here... on Earth.
A large orb manifested before all major officers of the Darkness Fleet, their eyes unwilling to peel away from their latest goal - the capture of the Power of Dream Rainbow and the subjugation of this divided planet.
As usual, a lottery was issued on who would be granted assignment of capturing a planet and the one that was selected was a lowly minion.
"Master Star, I shall bring the foolish critter and the power of Dream Rainbow right to you at once!"
The buggy-humanoid that spoke up, the name of his unfamiliar to Dark Star Zero, waited for a response as he knelt before him.
Yet, there was silence. Confusion sparking out of this lack of verbal cues.
Even the Lord Advisors appeared baffled by this silence, but they all turned to see that their Space Lord was peering at his personal holo-screen.
Flashing lights alternating between pink and blue, and red and orange, and yellow and green seemed to intrigue him.
Even more curious was that he worse two earphones that allowed him to listen to the sound of what he was watching without disturbing anyone in the throne room but... actually made him unaware of what had just occurred.
"S-Sire."
The oldest of the Lord Advisors, Sir Marcak, coughed as he tried to get their supreme leader's attention.
It worked.
With a sharp turn of gaze, all eyes from Dark Star Zero turned to Marcak. Not just the various dark-sclera red-eyed ones on his face, but also those on his chest, arms and his large tail.
"What?"
"T-The mission. The lottery-"
"It is not applicable for this mission."
The sudden interruption stunned not just those that trusted Dark Star Zero, but also the lower grunts. And the bug humanoid that was meant to go and savour victory appeared shocked and furious.
"S-Sire!"
Now Dark Star Zero glanced at the lesser bug, his many eyes inducing immediate fear and despair upon the lowly fool that dared to speak without permission.
"This decision is not personally meant to hurt you. I have seen enough to know we need a change of tactics," The Space Lord remarked bluntly as he stood up from his throne, light shining upon his frame as everyone was reminded of the unholy beauty of their lord.
"S-Sire, what do you mean with this?" Marcak inquired, surprised by this turn of event but still bowing his head in submission.
"This planet- it may not seem like it, but it is fertile of potential heroines. I will not take any chances and personally take care of the issue at hand."
This was a most unexpected announcement, but it grew even more stunning as Dark Star Zero snapped his claws and teleported out of sight.
The room, thus, exploded in loud shock and confusion at what had occurred.
But to Dark Star Zero, this was but a small headache for later.
If there is one thing that his Dark Fleet had been trained to do was to accept his absolute rule without any question. Not only that, but to study and understand their enemies before fights rather than arrogantly expect to be above them.
It was a mindset that Dark Star Zero had since he was very young, before he mastered the powers of his now-extinct race and obtained power akin to godhood: there will always be a bigger fish.
He was immortal, yes, but he wasn't truly endless. He had limits, and no amount of training could truly grant him omnipotence over all. Thus, he didn't seek it.
Rather, he pursued the notion of wisdom to aid him in most instances.
Such as this one and the one before it.
Fighting the heroes of Dream Rainbow should have been impossible for him. After all, the powers of the Dream Rainbow was effective against his race, being responsible for the mass genocide that left him as the standing survivor.
No, patience and preparation taught him much, especially with how flashy and hardly secretive the heroes were about their own limits.
He fought them one by one, avoiding getting ganged up and the queens perished due to their own arrogance.
Now? Earth was far less threatening than Dream Rainbow.
Their rudimentary space-faring technology was a major telling sign of their own limited technology.
But while this meant they were facing a weaker opponent, that didn't mean they didn't make up their weakness with something else: 'magical girls' or 'masked heroes'.
As the Space Lord prodded into the various pieces of media produced by Earth, he could tell their imagination was powerful.
If said creativity, especially one from a child, was given the means to enforce willpower onto reality through the power of the Dream Rainbow then... yes, this was a problem.
Upon arriving on Earth, a disillusionment device activated and allowed the monstrous space lord to wander the streets of... Japan.
If he recalled correctly, this is where most of the activities inherently these flashy heroes were meant to unfold and, as he located a spark of Dream Rainbow energy near his current location, he could tell he had been right.
A magical girl.
"Congratulation Pretty Orange!" The blue-haired humanoid spoke up and... Dark Star Zero frowned as he could tell it was the critter that stole the power, feeling most of it within it even though she had changed her appearance. "Now that you are powered up, you can save the world by defeating-!"
He had seen and heard enough.
A force pull caused the flying humanoid to squeak before being slammed inside a soundproof bubble.
His invisible form fell as he stood over the young human girl.
"Greetings."
'Pretty Orange' tensed up, frowning fiercely at the space lord. "W-What did you do to Valia-chan?"
"I merely removed her from being a problem. She is fine, just muted for now," Dark Star Zero assured softly, then turned to her with all his eyes and he saw the child shudder.
She bore the power of Queen Arancia, the leading ruler of Dream Rainbow. But she lacked the experience, wisdom and... age.
"My name is Dark Star Zero, I am the Space Lord of the Darkness Fleet. Who are you?"
The child's lips twitched in discomfort at the strange situation. "M-Miho."
"Just Miho? I am familiar that earthlings have two names."
"...I don't have a family."
...A young orphan. How peculiar.
"Truly? How come?"
"They..." Miho muttered weakly. "W-Why should I tell you?"
"I wish not to fight you. I am not sure what this 'Valia' told you, but I am not your enemy."
"You- You took over a planet. You hurt people, a lot."
Dark Star Zero... nodded. "I did."
"S-So you are bad."
"Have you ever stolen food from others?"
This question, so sudden, drew a surprised look from Miho.
"W-What?"
"Food. To eat. To not starve."
"I-I have. But it's not the same!"
"...What would you say if I told you who killed your parents?"
Once again, Miho hesitated. "I..."
"You would be angry, but you wouldn't act upon them since you are a good person. You wouldn't want your parents to be upset wherever they are."
Miho... bowed her head. "Yes."
"But what if this individual was doing the same he did to you to others?"
"W-What?" Miho's gaze was back on the Space Lord.
"What if, under the guise of goodness, they started to kill more parents and orphan more children? What if they kept on doing the same to people from distant places? What if they did all of this because... they don't like how you look?"
...
"T-That would be bad."
"And, if you had the power, you would stop them."
"...yes. But- but I would just defeat them?"
"But what if merely defeating them isn't enough? What if they nourish hatred for you and your family and others and grow more resentful instead? What if they break free and hurt more and more?"
"I-I would stop them!"
"How?"
Miho opened her mouth, but stopped short of giving Dark Star Zero the answer he expected from her.
"I understand you are afraid to accept this reality. But let me give you an offer: I can show you the truth. I can show you what mere words can't truly explain. I can show you the past and she cannot."
The little critter was still bashing her tiny fists onto the bubble, crying and screaming but no noise could reach out. If he had allowed her to talk and hurl lies, then there would have been no chance to convince little Miho to trust him.
"You... You mean it? Not a lie?"
"Do you know why people lie, little Miho?" The Space Lord inquired, expecting the child to not know this but-
"When the truths hurt."
A pleasant surprise. Enough to delight Dark Star Zero.
"I am glad you know this and... let me tell you something - I braved that ugly truth and I came on top of it. Join me as I show you what made us what we are now."
The child walked up to Dark Star Zero and, with some reluctance, she reached out to his open claw, tensing as he softly clutched her palm and then snapped them away from Earth and back to his 'History Room'.
After all, he wants the truth of his greatness to be fully manifested - may it be ugly or good, it mattered not. It was the truth he won.
AN
So, I always tinker around 'debunking' genres. And I did my tries with the magical girl one but... what if this goes a bit more than that? After all, little Miho and Dark Star Zero may not be as different as both expect themselves to be.
