The Badge and the Burden - An Original Super Sentai/Magical Girl Setting
A premise: 'What if a retired Power Ranger/Kamen Rider (Nakagome Tekkan) ends up pulled in quite the story as the new hero is just a thirteen years-old girl (Kashiwa Komeko) with no experience in fighting evil as the brave Magical Girl she is supposed to be?' I've been thinking about this idea and possibity for a long time now. This is the result of that months-old brainstorm.
Another premise: This story was originally written three years ago in the old Archive in QQ. The concept tends to pop up from time to time, and I have been contemplating resurrecting it for a while now. So, here's a much polished but overall the same story.
I now have a Ko-Fi for Donations. I don't take requests/commissions, but if you can support me through it, then it would be awesome.
Link: ko-fi DOT com /justbukharin
A blink, the sole occupant of the bedroom woke up with a sigh as his green eyes stared at the ceiling. It was early in the morning and, from a first glance, this was going to be the same kind of work day as usual.
Taking a moment to yawn and further push himself off the bed, a 'young' man in his late thirties lamented back pains starting to become aggravating after suffering of those for a few months now. It was a sign that his youth was just bailing on him, leaving him alone with the notion of him being old, alone, unfairly bored and terribly unsatisfied with his life.
...
Meh, nothing new then.
Nakagome Tekkan, 37, American-Japanese, shop-keeper at the near grocery store.
At first glance, Tekkan stood out as a bland guy. He was laidback, incredibly whiny when he wanted to be spared from trouble, and particularly easy to irritate when it came to discuss about his 'mysterious past.
Even the harmless memories regarding his childhood and his first steps were regarded as reasons for a scowl and a change of his mood for worst for the entire day.
It wasn't even something driven by will or logic, but one pushed forth by his sense of... personal frustration.
A feeling that didn't exactly have the personality that matched with the one that made him stand out from many. It's been two decades now since he was there, smiling and braving the darkness that threatened the world together with his friends and companions.
It's been twenty years since he last donned the outfit of Red Hero - Dragon, twenty years since the world was saved thanks to him and his team and... twenty years since the dream started to fall apart.
A sigh left his lips as Tekkan finished going through his stuff by the bathroom.
He was now quite clean and he was already wearing his standard work uniform so he could get through the biggest issue of the day. As usual.
Work wasn't that troublesome, but... it was work. And it required his attention and constant presence to guarantee a steady income to his current bank account. It wasn't like he was seriously in need of it.
After having invested well in stocks for so long, he was rich enough to manage living a good life for about twenty more years without an income before starting to have some trouble. And even then, that wouldn't be the case with how frugal he was with his things.
Old TV, old PCs, no subscription to any of those things that required monthly costs to sustain for extra services- Tekkan was virtually without troubles of any sort when it came to money.
The job was... a way to keep himself busy. To not just waste his time and interest into pure boredom but also in something that was meant to be tough and... unpredictable.
Of course, that was the plan before he realized how that workplace just wasn't suited for anything exciting and 'different' from the norm.
It was an upsetting realization, one that just fueled his interest in keeping himself busy there as a form of punishment for putting himself into that role. It wasn't even the first time he failed to spot a bad predicament like this one from happening.
His perception just wasn't as good as it used to be many years ago. At the mere thought of the past, the little quirk of his to reach out and scratch the little hair that had formed underneath his chin urged him to comply to the need.
It was either that or scratching the back of his head, ruffling part of his shoulder-length brown hair out of nervous itches.
A quiet hum rumbling from his throat, Tekkan entered the small shop and started to prepare everything for the 'long day'.
Just as expected, there weren't many customers coming by.
Since the town was fairly small compared to other big cities here in Japan, the ones that frequently visited his shops were usually parents, mostly mothers, elder people like grandfathers and grandmothers, and just rarely a couple of kids that wanted to buy some candy in display.
There were just eight customers that day, and they were the usual few.
A couple of Milfs genuinely passing by to get things to fill up their cupboards and give something to feed their families... while also stealing some glances his way while he wasn't looking. No matter how much the brunet tried to make it clear he wasn't planning to be involved in any NTR scenarios, the interest was still there to keep him sour-mooded all day long.
Lunch break soon came, and teere wasn't anything unusual even there.
At this point, people were legitimately odd when it came to this kind of business. Sometimes the shops of this kind would remain open during these hours, but the man preferred to keep it close since he was the only employee and technically the owner of the place.
If I want to have a lunch break without nuisances, then I shall have that little mercy within the day.
The ham sandwich was filling, just enough to keep Tekkan going through the basic stuff for the rest of the shift.
A yawn, he spared a look at the clock as he finished with customer no. 7 and he groaned when he realized that it was ten minutes to the end of the shift. Since today was Tuesday and since he had been in that situation way too many times to expect this to not happen, he waited patiently for the last and eight customer to visit any time now.
Young girl, at first glance she was a firstie in high school.
Pink-hair that barely reached her shoulder, matched with pink eyes that just showed genuine naivety and unwillingness to believe in cynical views of it all. Pretty school uniform, she had a red bag and she tended to be a customer of the shop on a weekly basis.
Tekkan wasn't sure if he had seen the kid's parents around, but perhaps he had spotted her younger brother once or twice. She was terribly clumsy, leaving a trail of disaster once in a while that would force him to spend roughly ten minutes beyond his shift to get things cleaned.
Sparing a quick look in his way and nodding, the girl murmured a familiar 'hello' and then went through the aisles to get the things she needed.
Basic stuff, nothing that seemed out of the ordinary.
What made her interesting enough for the shop-keeper to remember her all the time was the way she reacted to him.
Really polite, really... 'aware' of his gaze at times as he found her hair color as frustrating as fascinating. He might have met some pinkettes, but it was generally rare and tied to something about magic or shit like that.
Right now he could tell that neither was the case as the girl was pretty normal.
Normal-looking, normal-behaving, normal-boring.
But now that he spared her another quiet look while he got the pricing right for the products she had brought to the cash-register, he realized that something new was added to her usual outfit.
A small topaz-colored chain with a red heart-like gem tied to it. It was possibly a gift from a friend... and yet there was something odd about it. He might have lost his powers since his career twenty years ago, but he could grasp at the fact that something was magical or not.
Maybe he was seeing things but... his fascination at the unusual element put him in the mood to check for any odd event from now on.
Still, he doubted that it was actually the case. It's been so long since that 'thunder' struck this part of the country, and Tekkan doubted it was going to happen again after twenty years of inactivity.
Especially since the big bad guy was destroyed with no chance of coming back.
After he was done getting through the things the girl bought, he asked for the money needed to pay the full price of the shopping, and soon she was gone. Soon the shift came to an end and, after getting the shop properly closed, the brunet started to make his way back home. A yawn leaving his lips, he pressed his left hand on his mouth to cover himself.
He wasn't really tired, but the habit of going to bed early had long gained traction in his mind to leave him sleepy at that time of the day. He just had the time to get a quick bath, get dinner ready and then go to bed.
That was the usual schedule... And then something unexpected happened.
Having passed the local park way too many times, the man knew that there were some elements about it that just made it so pleasant as a landmark to pass by all the time during the afternoon.
Particularly calm, it was one of the few natural spots in town that wasn't going to be ruined by some rich businessmen and their interest in malls. All thanks to a small legislation that turned the place in a protected area and a public one at that.
Still, as Tekkan wandered beside the entrance, he couldn't help but pause as his ears caught a particular issue to what he was quite familiar with the park.
Loud noises... Those that were quite common in a fight.
Not a big one, in fact it sounded rather modest compared to what his mind could muster of his memories of the past glory of his. He could check there, the brunet pointed out within his own mind. It would be a quick glance to see if this was something serious or if someone was recording some faux fighting with these special effects and sounds.
...
Tekkan hummed. Why the fuck not?
WIth minor fascination driving him to take the first steps into the cause of the noises, Tekkan didn't hesitate in wondering what could really be happening.
It wasn't unusual for people to still try to get some acted action akin to the one they had seen two decades ago, trying to match the same popularity of the Color Heroes through small videos.
Some were made out of respect, others just wanted to greedily exploit the popularity the group once had through these methods. Of course, both actions would just fail since the locals here no longer cared about what happened back there. And they were exactly known beyond their town and the region around.
Lost in his thoughts, the shop-keeper finally stopped as he found his attention stolen by the louder noises of the fight. His eyes were on the scene that cemented his conviction that this wasn't a play of sort.
The bug-like humanoid monster with big red eyes, violet body and some spots of green armor looked way too realistic and familiar to what he had seen in the past. The laugh was also on spot, if not too 'exaggerated' to gloat over a silly situation. And indeed there was a silly situation unfolding there.
Against this foe that was up to no good, a young girl that Tekkan had seen before was fighting this prick in a frilly and girly outfit.
Her pink hair was combed in a twin-tailed style, the shade of the bangs being a little lighter than the frustrated pink eyes of the gal. She was wearing a sleeveless pink dress that looked fairly impractical when it come to a fight, offering no protection whatsoever from any sorts of attacks.
The only 'weapon' he could see was a small red staff with a golden heart-like arc at the top end of it, and a pink-orange crystal in the middle of it. It was producing energy, which soon became pink balls of doom that soared towards the cackling bastard.
The crucial issue in that display of basic monster-killing? The monster was good at dodging, effectively making her disadvantage, which was a degree of clumsiness when it came to aiming, even worse than it would with non-dodging monsters.
She is definitely going to die if she doesn't pick up her slack.
It was clear that the chick just wasn't experienced with this kind of shit, with her growing panic further adding to that assumption and confirming it to be quite the truth. Tekkan valued the situation with his cold-logic and... by all reasons, he shouldn't do anything about this.
He didn't have the same strength as his heroic alterego, and his morpher had long been taken from him when the biggest threat was vanquished. He was just a simple Japanese man in his thirties. A slim but muscular one at that, but still far from being a legitimate opposition to monsters of that kind.
...Unless he played his cards safely and abused his disadvantage in an advantage.
He sighed, knowing that what he was planning to do was going to hurt him in the short- and long-term.
But it's been so long something like this happened and... I fucking need this.
"Hey!" Tekkan yelled, the sudden interruption stopping the entire battle altogether and drawing the attention of both fighter right at him. "I know this situation is literally stroking your poor ego and little self-esteem, but I think you should leave, bug-face."
The monster snarled at the comment. "Puny human think that brilliant Yotei is going to leave because puny human asked?!"
"I wasn't asking. I am being rather merciful today," The man lamented. "You really don't want to play this game, buggy. Trust me, it ends poorly for ya."
"Yotei's name is Yotei! Yotei is no 'bug', puny human."
"Well, I'm no puny human and I can assure you that I will kick your butt myself if you try to start something, you bug-faced buggy bastard."
That last rebuttal proved to be more than enough to enable the weak-minded prick to snap into action.
Maybe he was bored too and wanted to finally do something other than dodging, Tekkan pondered with a hint of interest as most of his attention was on the approaching foe. He thought of what could work on a monster like this and... he remember a distinctly amusing event that unfolded during one of the first battles he got through on his own.
Some of these monsters with humanoid feature had similar details and elements as normal humans. The same was for weaknesses.
Rushing his right claw towards the 'puny human', Yotei felt close to steal more despair from the foolish brat that had stood before him by killing the man that had insulted him so annoyingly.
His mission was just, his power was undeniable, and her mistress picked him for how useful he truly was. One moment the bug felt victory smearing his lips, then he felt dirt doing the same after he ended up getting flipped and smacked on the ground by the 'puny human'.
A moment was all it took for him to realize that the expression on the man's face wasn't a frightened one. It was one of amusement.
Tekkan grinned giddily as he felt adrenaline starting to kick in as he got himself in quite the good position to handle some vicious punishment to the checky bug that tried to kill him like that. Without wasting times in words or monologues, the brunet went through his plan, and soon he started to mercilessly stomp the bug-faced bastard's groin.
If dread had first reigned in Yotei's mind, now it was the turn of agony and pain as he was quickly overwhelmed by the unplanned torture.
Screams of pain erupted from his mask as the human, albeit not strong enough to be a genuine threat to him, was still powerful enough to deliver some serious suffering through that ruthless action of his.
"GaHHHAAAAAAAAAAHahahaHHHHHHHAAA!"
Then a kick to the ribs pushed him away, leaving him agonizing on the ground to push him away. "I will say this again and repeat it no longer since you're really pissing me off now. You better leave, or the next thing I will do is shove a foot up your ass and turn you in my muppet. Understood, bug-face?!"
The creature actually eeped, his right hand still covering his bruised crotch while his left one helped him stand up and... help him bolt away from the wrathful human.
The monster didn't hesitate in running away. His mind still overwhelmed by the agony and his unwillingness to be subjected to that kind of pain anymore drove away any need to prove loyalty or worth in this situation. As much as it pained him to admit, he wasn't in no shape to handle that monster of a human.
Tekkan huffed as he stared sternly at the retreating monster, annoyed that this was the best outcome he could have hoped for due to his current predicament. He spared a quick look at the girl, her jaw dropping at the sight before her and... he started to leave.
"W-Wait, where are you-"
"I've just got enough time for a bath and eat dinner. I'm not waking up late tomorrow just because you didn't train on your own before this happened," The brunet interrupted tiredly. "Get on with some practice on that terrible aim of yours, or you are getting killed next time this happen and I'm not around to kick some asses."
No answer beyond that, and Tekkan was allowed to leave without any problem. The rest of the afternoon, evening and night was pretty standard and it went as he had planned.
The real issue came the next day as something rather unusual happened. It was ten minutes before the end of the shift and the... pink-haired girl from yesterday came by. It was just me and her in the shop. Me, her and... a flying little white-furred bunny with big red eyes and a little pink heart painted on its forehead. And 'she' offered me something that I just failed to grasp at due to the suddenness of the development.
"I want you to train my friend Komeko-chan to be the best magical girl ever!"
...
"The fuck?"
AN
Indeed, Tekkan- the fuck?
