Day 141

[from StarLight]

Meanwhile, downtown, Amaya was greatly enjoying her new-found powers as Black Star. "Man, this is a blast!" she exclaimed, looking down upon the twisted wreckage of the several cars she had destroyed. "I didn't think I'd get to do this when the series first started!"

"I didn't think I'd be released by someone who'd have so much fun with the Emblem, nyaa~" said Kage, hovering at her shoulder. "But I have to admit, it's fun to watch you smashing up all these weird doohickeys, nyaa~."

"It sure is~" said Black Star. "Man, I wish I could do this forever!"

"Wouldn't you run out of stuff to smash eventually, nyaa~?" asked Kage.

"I guess so," said Black Star, "but to be honest, I probably would've gotten bored by then. Also, I need to go to school tomorrow, so at some point I'll have to stop and go to bed."

"That's lame, nyaa~" said Kage.

"Yeah, I know," said Black Star, as she levitated a passing SUV off the ground. "But I like school. I get to leave the house for a while and talk to people, like-"

"Stop right there, criminal scum!"

Black Star was so surprised at the sudden shout that she dropped the SUV, causing it to smash back down to the ground, wrecking its suspension and shattering its windows. Turning around, she saw White Star hovering in the air behind her, a serious expression on her face. As the two magical girls stared each other down, they were completely oblivious to each other's secret identities.

"You must be White Star," said Black Star. "I was wondering whether you'd show up."

"Of course I would!" said White Star. "I made a promise to this city that I would protect it, and that means stopping people like you!"

Black Star snorted. "You? Stop me?" she said. "You could barely stop that fifty-foot sea monster! What makes you think you can stop me?"

"The fact that I'm the protagonist!" said White Star. "And the protagonist always wins!"

Black Star scowled. Now she's taking attention away from my best friend!, she thought to herself. Sanae's supposed to be the protagonist, not this idiot! I'll put her back in her place for sure! "Well, we'll see about that," said Black Star. "Prepare yourself, White Star! You're about to face the wrath of Black Star!"

"Bring it on!" said White Star, adopting a combat stance. "In the name of the moon-"

"I thought you said you couldn't use that one," said Kousen.

"Oh, right, yeah," said White Star. "Darn."

"Use your line from yesterday!" called out Hitomi, who was eagerly watching on below. "The one about the light of justice!"

"The light of justice…? Oh yeah, I remember now!" said White Star. "Hey, you're right, that does make a pretty good pre-battle one-liner! Thanks, Hito- uhh, I mean, thank you, random heterochromatic citizen!"

"You're welcome, White Star!" said Hitomi.

"Alright then!" said White Star, adopting her combat pose once more. "Time to let the light of just- OOF!"

Black Star had grown bored of waiting for White Star to come out with a catchphrase, and so struck her with a bolt of energy, knocking her backwards. "Oww! Hey, you're not supposed to attack while I'm talking!" said White Star.

Black Star's response was merely to grin and start firing more bolts of energy. "And how come you're not calling your attacks?" asked White Star, as she flew around in circles trying to dodge. "I thought you had to do that to get it to work!"

"I am calling them," said Black Star. "I'm just muttering the spells so quietly that you can't hear them. If you don't know what I'm about to do, then you can't-"

"Star Shower!" White Star interrupted by firing a stream of star-shaped projectiles at Black Star, striking her and sending her flying back.

"Now who's attacking while the other person is talking?!" Black Star complained.

"If you're gonna ignore the conventions of magical girl battles, then so am I!" said White Star. "It's not like this series follows anime conventions anyway!"

"Did someone say anime convention?" said a fat otaku who suddenly appeared beneath the two girls, dressed in a ninja outfit and carrying a body pillow.

"Go away, you filthy neckbeard!" shouted White Star and Black Star in unison.

"Awww," moaned the man, before running off, his arms trailing behind him.

"Alright, fine," said Black Star, readying her wand. "The gloves are off!"

"You're not wearing gloves," White Star pointed out.

"Exactly!" said Black Star. "Fire Storm!"

White Star grinned, and shouted, "Fire Hose!", summoning a large jet of water from the tip of her wand. She had expected a jet of flame to burst out of Black Star's wand, only to be quenched by the fire. She had not expected a large flurry of snowflakes to engulf her, freezing the water solid and chilling her to the bone. Shivering uncontrollably, she was unable to move as Black Star pointed her wand at her once more.

"Weren't expecting that, were you?" declared the villainous magical girl. "Now, to finish you off! Dark Laser!"

A black pulse shot out of the end of Black Star's wand, heading straight for White Star, but in the instant before it hit her, White Star managed to shout through chattering teeth: "F-F-F-Flame Shield!" A fiery sphere engulfed her just in time; the black pulse smashed straight into the solid flames and exploded harmlessly. At the same time, the flames surrounding White Star began to warm her up, counteracting the effects of Black Star's misleadingly-named Fire Storm attack. By the time the flames dissipated, White Star was back to normal, and ready to keep fighting.

Black Star couldn't help smiling. "I have to admit, I underestimated you," she said. "I've been throwing every trick I can think of at you, and you're just shrugging them off."

"Well, if those are all the tricks you can think of, you're obviously not a very good magician," said White Star with a grin. However, internally she was starting to panic. I really underestimated her as well, she thought. I know Kousen warned me she'd be tough-

That's right, I did, thought Kousen in response.

-but I didn't think she'd be this tough, or this hard to deal with! I can barely get an attack in! White Star's grip tightened on her wand, her resolve hardening. There's only one thing for it, she thought. I'm going to have to use my ultimate attack-

"Are you gone with your internal monologue yet?" asked Black Star impatiently.

"Pretty much, yeah," said White Star.

"Good, said Black Star, "because this ends now!"

"Agreed!" said White Star, resuming her combat stance.

"I'll show you my ultimate attack, that I came up with just now and totally isn't a copy of yours!" said Black Star, readying her own wand. "Black Star…"

"White Star…"

"BEAM!!!" Both girls fired their ultimate attacks simultaneously, sending out two immense beams of energy, one snow-white and one pitch-black. The two beams collided in mid-air, clashing in a burst of energy. Sparks crackled and flew as the two girls focused their entire beings, each trying to overwhelm the other's beam and finally claim the ultimate victory.

Down below, a massive crowd had already gathered to watch the fight, and now they all stared in awe at the titanic tussle being played out above them. Hitomi watched on anxiously, silently cheering on White Star, as were most of the other spectators. I have to win this for them, thought White Star, her gaze remaining focused on the opposing magical girl. I have to…