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Above the clouds lies an island. An island filled with a beautiful garden and a village, which belonged to the angels, fairies, and a queen, who ruled this land and lives in the grand castle. Her name was Queen Uriana. The home was called Heaven Island.
The kingdom lived in peace and harmony for many, many eons, until one day…
Hell had risen.
A rivalry kingdom, known as the Hellgrounds, had been plotting to take over Heaven Island as their own. They have always lost. Their goal was to take over the entire universe in despair and hellfire.
“Amoura! Esther!” The queen called.
Two flying animals, a pink cat and a blue unicorn, came bursting through the queen’s quarters. “Yes, Your Highness?”
“Take these! Quickly!” In her hands were two necklaces with pendants that shined like diamonds. One was a pink heart and the other was a blue star.
“What are these?” Esther asked as the queen placed the star necklace around her neck. Amoura held the pink heart in her paws.
“I have kept these amulets in case if they ever strike back again. I’m sorry that I haven’t told you about these. They belonged to the previous generation of our Heavenly Guardian Angels and had powers close to our Goddess of Love and the God of the Stars. When my mother ruled while I was a child, she had told me many stories about the Hellgrounds. She fought back for a long time with many victories. It seems that they have risen once again. Now, it’s time for you to find our newest generation of Guardian Angels.”
An explosion erupted from outside the castle, shaking the fortress. “But what about you?! Our people?!” Amoura exclaimed.
“I will hold them back for as long as I can. Go, my Guiding Lights. Find them before it’s too late!”
“Where do we go, Your Highness?!”
“A planet called Earth. In the Milky Way galaxy. When your pendants resonate with the hearts of two humans, then they will become them. Go! Now!”
Her palms glow white while they faced Amoura and Esther. The light then encase the two animals in spheres.
“But, Your Majesty!” Esther cried.
“Go!”
The spheres were sent away beneath the clouds. Another explosion ruptures the castle. Uriana rushes out to the balcony and gasps in horror. The blue sky was now covered in smoke and homes were burning and being destroyed.
“Queen Uriana.” said another godly voice.
The angelic queen looks into the sky to see another woman with large horns and torn wings. “You…!”
“Ah, the precious Queen Uriana. You’ve grown so fast. I bet your mother was a great queen. Before I killed her.”
“Empress Celosia! How dare you speak ill of her!” She growled. “She died using the last of her strength to keep us away from you! And yet…! How dare you show up again!”
“Let’s see how you can handle my strength.” She raises her black clawed hand in the air. “O, my Soul Reapers! Destroy this land and kill the queen!”
The giant demons rise above the ground, roaring and swinging their claws at the village. The angels screamed and flew for their lives, grabbing as many fairies as they could in their arms.
Queen Uriana flicks her hands up. They glow white and the palms face the empress. A halo shines above her head and a pair of wings spread out from her back; she flies up into the sky and a beam of light shot towards the demon ruler.
The empress summons her staff and blocks her attack. “Impressive.” She draws a pentagram with the point of her staff and shot out a large black and red spiral beam.
A shield was created in front of Uriana, but it shot her back into the castle. She looks down to the village and sees a little girl trip and fall. A large demon towers over her.
“No!” She yelled. She flies down, shielding the girl and shooting the beam of light at the demon. The demon screeches, turning into black ash and flying away.
“Thank you, Your Majesty!” said the mother.
“Mommy!” the girl cried.
“Go!” The queen ordered. Then, she was hit with a beam. Empress Celosia stood above her.
“Where are your Guardian Angels?” The empress asked. “I thought they were supposed to protect you.”
“My Guiding Lights will find them.”
“Where are they? I must kill them!”
“I’ll never tell you!” Uriana shoots a beam of light from her hands. Celosia’s staff flew out of her hands and onto the ground miles away.
“Tell me!” Celosia then quickly pins the queen down. “Or else…”
The queen looks up, seeing the towering demons burning and clawing at the townspeople and fairies. Tears forms in her eyes.
“Fine then! I’ll tell you! Unhand me!”
The empress lets go and Uriana stands up. “So?”
“Earth. The Milky Way galaxy. But you’ll never find them. My Guiding Lights will find the angels in time.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty.” Celosia taunted. She turns away and her wings spread out to fly to her weapon.
The queen’s lips trembled. She puts her hands in prayer. “O, Heavenly Goddess of Love! O, Heavenly God of the Stars! I plead for your help! Lend me your hands to expel these demons!”
“My Empress!” shouted a red-haired demon woman. She jumps in front of her and summons a pentagram to form a giant shield.
The empress looks back to see a giant light shooting towards them. “Abellona! We must retreat!”
“What about—?!”
“Now!” She yelled. “I have a new plan.”
As Queen Uriana released more light, she exhales with a shaky breath. “My Guiding Lights… Amoura… Esther… They’re coming for you. Find the Guardian Angels.”
She falls to her knees and yells, the light expanding around the island. It then bursts, whisking away all of the Soul Reapers into black ash.
Heaven Island was restored to its bright blue sky and greenery. The village was repaired and even the castle. Everyone stood out of their hiding places. A little girl sees a stone woman in the middle of the garden.
“Your… Majesty?” She runs towards the stone.
A little bird fairy looked up at the statue. “Your Majesty…!” As it cried softly, it placed its head on the queen’s dress.
There she stood. Queen Uriana was on her knees, hands on the ground, and looking up at the sky with tears.
°°°
The capsules land on the cement. “Where are we?” Esther asked.
Amoura gasped as she looked up. There was a black sky with shining dots. She looks around to see many other shining lights. But there was no fairy in sight.
“I don’t know, but… we need to find the Guardian Angels. Quickly.”
Esther yells, “Guardian Angels! We need your help! Where are you?”
“Es!” Amoura covers her mouth with her paw. “Hush! Someone could hear us! We don’t know where we are!” She then takes her paw off.
“Sorry, sorry!”
“Okay. Let’s hide somewhere for now. We’ll start first thing in the morning.”
°°°
Screams of pain. Burning village homes. Demons tormenting the people. A statue of a queen with wings.
“Help!” Someone yelled. “We need your help! Please! Help us save our home! We need you, Guardian Angels!”
Dan suddenly wakes up, breathing heavily. “What the fuck?” He whispered to himself. He looks next to him and sees a microphone stand, a desk lamp that was on, and his phone propped up against a shelf. He groans, rubbing his eyes. “Ugh… again?”
He turns off the light and checks his phone for the time. “Five-thirty? Jesus…” He turns off the phone and heads to the couch to fall asleep again.
At around 9:00, Dan was all dressed in a simple sweater, jeans, and sneakers. It was time to head into the Grumps building for some recording sessions with Arin and the crew.
He was sitting back in his car with his eyes closed. He takes a big inhale and exhale. “Okay,” he said. “You got this.”
He gets out of the car, locks it, and heads inside the building. Across the street was a pink cat and a blue unicorn.
“Where do we start?” Esther asked.
“Let’s start—“
“Mommy, look!” Said a young girl, pointing at the two animals. “A kitty!” She starts running after them.
“Ah!” Amoura yelled. “Let’s go!” Their small wings lifted them off the ground and they fly away.
°°°
“Dan?” Arin asked. “Dan, it’s your turn.”
“Save us, Guardian Angels!” The voice echoed.
“Dan!”
Dan suddenly turns his head to Arin. “Huh? What?” He turns to face the TV to see that it was his turn. For today’s session, one of the games they played was Wheel of Fortune. “Oh.”
As the wheel spun, Arin asks him, “You okay, dude? You’ve done this three times already.”
“Yeah. I’m good,” he rubs his eyes. “Just didn’t sleep well. I fell asleep in my recording basement again.”
“Oh.”
Dan stares at the board. The category was ‘Phrase’. Most of the slots were filled in. “Ah.” He chooses to solve and gets it correct.
Arin frowned when he saw Dan resting his chin in his arm on the side of the couch. “Are you sure you’re alright? You want to take a walk outside for a bit?”
“Yeah. That’ll actually help. Thanks.”
“Here. I’ll go with you.”
°°°
Amoura and Esther walk through the busy sidewalk. Esther was darting her eyes quickly from up to the side.
“Are you okay?” Amoura asked.
“There’s so many humans. There’s no other fairy here!”
“Don’t worry. I’m sure we’ll find someone.”
“Heh. Look at that!” Said a voice.
“Huh? Ah!” Amoura was snatched from the ground.
“Amoura!” Esther immediately covers her mouth and gallops into an alleyway behind a dumpster.
“What a weird looking cat!” Said a boy. “Why is it pink?”
Amoura hisses and scratches him across the face. “Let go of me!”
“Ow!” He exclaimed. “You little…!”
“Hold it still!” said another boy. He takes out the gum from his mouth and sticks it on top of the heart mark on her forehead.
Esther pokes her head out and hears the laughter while Amoura hissed. The unicorn steps out and opens her mouth, but the boys had already run away.
As she watched them disappear, she gallops towards her friend. “Amoura! Are you okay?!”
“Yeah,” she sighed. “I’m okay. Those boys stuck this on me! Gross! Now I can’t communicate with the humans!” She sighs and sees a large group of people walking across the road. “Come on. Let’s go this way.”
Esther spots a pair of humans walking towards her. She quickly backs away.
“I don’t know,” Dan replied. “I only had it last night, or, this morning. I can’t stop thinking about it. It’s all about this demon stuff. I saw a statue of a woman and someone was calling out to me, saying ‘help us save our home’ or whatever.”
“Jesus. You sure you didn’t sleep on your back?” Arin asked.
“No, I fell asleep at my desk.”
“That’s weird. What did the woma—? Oh my god!”
Dan was confused on why Arin stopped so suddenly. He then saw him run out into the crosswalk. “Arin!”
Arin breathed heavily as the car honked behind him. “Jesus. He could’ve gotten run over. You okay, little guy?”
“Whoa. What a weird fur color for a cat.”
“That doesn’t seem natural. Aw, look! It has a bell tied to its tail with a bow!”
“Any collar?”
“No. Just this necklace.”
“Maybe it belonged to the previous owner.”
“There’s no name on it. Looks pretty though. Oh, you poor thing! Who stuck gum on you?”
Amoura hissed and squirmed as Arin carefully peeled off the gum. “Unhand me!”
“It’s okay. It’s okay. I won’t hurt you.” Once the gum was unstuck, Arin flicks it off his fingers. “Whoa. There’s a heart mark on its forehead.”
“We should take it to a shelter. It’s a stray, isn’t it?”
“I don’t think we have time for that, but I don’t want it to cause trouble around the office either.”
“Well, we don’t have time for the shelter, do we?”
Arin sighs, “I guess not. Alright, we’ll take it in and have someone look after it.”
Amoura meows loudly. “Esther! Help me!”
Esther pokes her head out from the corner. “Oh no! Amoura!”
Back in the Grumps building, Brent comes up to Dan. “Hey, Dan. You feeling alright? Someone told me about you spacing out a bit.”
“Oh. Yeah, I’m okay. Just… didn’t get enough sleep.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah.”
Brent then noticed something in Arin’s arms. “What’s that you got, Arin?”
“Oh. Um, while Dan and I walked around the corner, this cat was out in the middle of the crosswalk. The light was green and I ran out to grab it. I didn’t want it to get run over.”
“We don’t have time to go to a shelter, so I guess we can take it in for now.” Dan added.
“Aw, how cute!” said Hannah.
Arin hands the cat over to her. “Do you mind if you guys take care of it for now? I don’t want it causing trouble around here. Keep an eye on it.”
“Sure thing.” As Hannah takes the cat, she notices something hanging from its neck. “Um, where did this come from?”
“I… don’t know. We found that when we found it. There’s no owner name on it.”
“You want to take it? I don’t want it to accidentally choke on the string or the heart.”
“Uh, sure. Yeah.”
Amoura sees Arin’s hand reaching out to grab the necklace, so she yowls and swipes her claws at him, which made him pull back.
“Hey, hey, it’s okay,” Hannah said, calmly petting the cat. “He won’t hurt you.”
“Hey, Arin,” Dan said, nudging his arm. “I forgot my phone in one of the offices. I’ll be back in a bit.”
He nods. “Okay.” As everyone disbanded with Hannah with the cat in her arms, Arin heads back to the couch.
Dan walks into an office to grab his cell phone. He sees that the window cover was rolled up and decides to close it. However, he sees a small animal looking through the glass.
He pockets his phone and walks closer. His eyes widen as he saw a blue unicorn with a white star mark on its forehead and a beautiful white mane with a blue ombré. “Oh… my… god!”
In front of her, Esther saw a tall human staring at her in awe. She looks up in fear, but notices a large star mark on a piece of cloth he was wearing. She then looks down to the star amulet.
Dan opens the window, takes the unicorn in his arms, closes the window, then drops down the cover. “There’s no way! You have a mark on your forehead like that cat! And you have a necklace, too.”
“Cat? Amoura!” She thought.
“This is…! Oh my god!“
“Dan?” Arin called from the couch. “You coming?”
“Uh… yeah! I’ll be there!” He turns his head back to the unicorn. “Wait, you have wings? So you’re an alicorn.”
“Nope! I’m a unicorn! I may look like one with these wings, but I’m just a unicorn.” Esther said with confidence. She quickly covers her mouth.
“What the fuck?!” Dan exclaimed loudly. “You can talk?!”
“Ah!” She yelped. “I-I’m sorry! Amoura!” She called as she zoomed out of the room in a panic. “Help me!”
“Hey! Wait! Come back!” Dan then chases after the unicorn.
Arin suddenly sees Dan running out of the office. “Whoa, whoa, Dan! Wait! Where are you going?” He gets up and goes after him.
Esther flies up a stairwell into a room covered with shelves of various objects. “Amoura, where are you?”
Dan turns on the lights of the Power Hour room. “Hey! I promise I won’t hurt you!”
“Dan! What’s wrong?” Arin asked as he came up behind him.
“I-I saw this unicorn and it spoke to me and…!”
“Hey, hey! Calm down! You’re scaring me. You like unicorns and you know they don’t exist. How could you have seen one?”
“No, no. I swear, I saw one and it spoke to me. Help me find it.”
“Uh… Okay.”
As Arin and Dan searched the room, Amoura stood at the doorway of the room. Her heart mark on her forehead glowed softly. She eyes a faint glow of a star in one of the shelves.
“Amoura!”
“It’ll be okay. On the count of three, let’s get out of here, okay?”
“Okay!”
Amoura looks around to see the two looking through the shelves. “One… two…”
Dan squints his eyes and sees a faint glowing star in between two board game boxes. “Found you!”
“Three!”
Dan quickly steps back to see the unicorn fly out of the shelf and out of the room. “Hey! Get back here!”
Amoura followed suit down the stairs. “Are you hurt?” She asked.
“No! I’m okay!”
“Find the nearest window! Quickly!”
As one of the merch department members was walking with a box full of shirts, they snap their head up to see Dan and Arin running down the stairs. “Whoa, guys! What’s going on?”
“I don’t know!” Arin called back as he and Dan rushed off.
Amoura and Esther had just pulled up the cover of the window. However, Esther had some struggle opening the actual window. “Come on! Come on!”
As Arin and Dan searched the many offices in the hall, they eventually found the two animals trying to unlatch the lock.
“Ah! Hurry! Hurry!”
Amoura takes one of her paws, unlocks the latch, and lifts the window open. “Come on!”
Dan scrambles to reach for the unicorn, but he was a tad bit too late.
“Dan.” Arin sighed.
“Arin, I swear, it talked to me!”
“I think this dream is getting to you, dude.” He said with crossed arms. “Let’s finish this round and we can take a breather, okay?”
Dan sighs, “Okay.”
In the sky, Amoura and Esther breathed heavily. “Oh heavens, that was close!”
“Wait, Amoura.” Esther said.
“What?”
“One of those humans had a star on a piece of cloth they were wearing! Could they be…?”
“No, no. Remember what the queen said? If the amulets resonate with the hearts of two humans, then they become the Guardian Angels. It couldn’t have been possible.”
°°°
Surrounded by a moat of lava was a decaying castle. Sitting on the grand throne was Empress Celosia. With her staff in her right hand, she clangs the bottom twice on the floor. “Princess Abellona!” She bellowed.
The red-haired demon princess appears from rings of fire. She takes a bow before her. “Yes, My Empress?”
“It’s time to execute our plan.” She stands from her throne and walks down the small steps to draw a pentagram on the rocky surface. The symbol glows and a hologram of the Milky Way galaxy appears.
“This is the Milky Way galaxy?”
“Yes. And this… is Earth.”
A sphere of blue and green appears in front of both of their eyes. “The Guardian Angels are there?”
“Yes. We need to find the Guardian Angels and kill them. You need to find Uriana’s Guiding Lights as well. They hold the powers of the island’s god and goddess in those amulets. We must not let them get a hold of them. Go out and find them.”
Abellona takes another bow. “Yes, My Empress.” With a flick of her hand, she disappears into the flames.
°°°
After a long recording session, it was now the evening. Arin and Dan were the last few people in the building.
Dan was slumped on the couch, hanging his head high with closed eyes.
“Hey,” Arin said, patting his friend’s shoulder. “I’ll take you home today. You’ve been out of it.”
“No, no. It’s okay.”
“Well, you want to take one last walk outside before we go? Today was long, anyways.”
“Yeah. Sure.”
While walking outside the busy streets of Los Angeles, they decided to rest for a bit at a nearby bench in a park.
Suddenly, they both heard screaming that was coming towards them. “What the heck?” Then, a cat came into Arin’s view, flying straight into his face. “Ow!”
“Ah! Sorry!” Amoura said. “I… I need your help! Quick!”
Arin winces, holding his nose. “What happened?”
“My friend is being chased!”
“By who?”
Then, another voice came closer. Another flying animal came into Dan’s view. This time, Dan catches the animal in his arms. “Oh my god, it’s you from earlier!”
Esther looks up and her eyes widen in fear. “Ah!”
“It’s okay. I won’t hurt you.” He said in a calm voice.
Then, two young boys came up to them. “Hey! We found them first!”
“Come on, kiddo!” said a male voice. “Leave them alone. Let’s go home.”
“But Dad!” the young boy whined.
“No, Thomas. Let’s go.” He said more sternly.
“Ugh, okay.” The more older boy looks back at the cat and sticks his tongue out.
Amoura hisses back, “Shame on you!”
“Huh? Did that cat just—?”
“Now, boys!” The father then yelled.
When the boys left, Amoura jumps out of the man’s arms. She sighs in relief. “Thank you for saving us.”
“You can talk!” Arin said in shock.
“Hmph! Why don’t they learn from their mistakes?!” The unicorn exclaimed.
“Oh my god, you’re not joking, Dan.”
“I told you.” He said.
“Where the heck did you come from?” Arin asked. “You’re pink, that unicorn is blue, and… you have these necklaces on you.”
The cat puts a paw on her breastbone. “Well, for a start, let us introduce ourselves. I’m Amoura.”
“I’m Esther!” said the unicorn as she spun in a circle in the air.
“And we’re from beyond the clouds. We live on Heaven Island with our people, the angels, our beloved kingdom, and…“
“Our queen.” Esther said, solemnly.
Dan looks to the unicorn in realization. “Queen? Wait! You were the one who was in my dream!”
“Dream?”
“Yeah! Last night, I saw a woman covered in stone and she had these big wings. And I saw this place covered in fire and there were these giant demons burning the place and…”
“Demons? Oh no…” Amoura’s eyes widened.
“What?”
“The Hellgrounds! Esther!” She said, flying up to the unicorn. “They might be after us!”
“Oh no! What do we do?!” Esther panicked. “We haven’t found the Guardian Angels yet!”
“Guardian Angels?” Arin asked. “Who are they? And what are these ‘Hellgrounds’?”
“Our queen gave us orders to escape to here and find the Guardian Angels,” Amoura spoke. “They defend our home and the entire universe.”
Esther adds, “The Hellgrounds has been trying to take over for eons. They want to burn our home to the ground and put everyone under despair and eternal hellfire. Our queen has always banished them away, but it looks like they’re back again.”
Amoura places her paw under her chin. “And it seems they want to take over this place as well.”
Esther looks to the star symbol on Dan. “Maybe you could be one of them! Could you be a Heavenly Guardian Angel?”
“Huh?”
“The star on you!”
Dan points to his Rush shirt. “Oh! This? No, no. It’s just a design. I couldn’t be.”
“You saved me from those boys,” Amoura told Arin. “Could you also be…?”
“Oh, no, no, no.” Arin said, waving his hands in front of him. “I don’t think I’m capable to do that.”
“Like, we play video games for a living,” Dan added. “I-I don’t think we’re able to balance that and our personal lives.”
“Well, even if you aren’t the Heavenly Guardian Angels,” Amoura said. “Will you promise to help us search for them?”
“Sure. Yeah.” Arin shrugged.
“I’m down if you’re down.” Dan said.
“What are your names?” Amoura asked.
“I’m Dan, that’s Arin.”
“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Arin and Dan.”
Dan looks up to see a flying star in the sky. However, it looked like it was getting closer. Closer towards them.
“Guys! Get away!” Dan yelled, snatching Esther.
“What?” Arin looks up in the sky and sees a giant meteor hurdling towards the park. “Oh shit!” He grabs Amoura with one hand and Dan’s hand in the other.
The two men panted, their faces glowing from the fire. “What the fuck was that?!”
Arin sees a young woman in the distance, but she was… glowing red? “Hey! You need some help?” He called, running towards him.
“Stop it.” She muttered. “I’m useless. Don’t help me.”
“What? What do you mean?” Arin kneels down and reaches his hand out.
“Get away from me!” She screamed. “I don’t need you!”
“Hey, hey. Are you okay? What’s happening to you?”
“Get away from me!” She screamed again, holding her head in her hands. She falls to her knees and large wings grew from her back.
“Arin!” Dan called, running towards him. “Whoa. What the hell is happening to her?”
“I-I don’t know!”
“A-Are you okay, m’am? Do you need some help?”
“Get back!” Amoura instructed.
“What?”
“Get back!”
As Dan helped Arin up, they run back and hear the woman scream. They turn around and see her surrounded by a black dome. Suddenly, the dome exploded into a creature with horns and large claws.
Then, Arin hears a laugh from the sky. He sees that the starry night sky had become smoky and most of the surrounding area was burning in flames.
“Ah, I have finally found you,” Said a woman. “Looks like you haven’t found your precious Guardian Angels yet. How pitiful.”
“Who the heck are you?!” Arin asked.
She had a long, flowing, black dress with a headpiece shaped like the monster’s horns. Her eyes were blackened out with red pupils. Her long, red hair flowed to her legs. “I am Princess Abellona, servant to my Empress Celosia, who rules the Hellgrounds.”
“What did you do to her? Let her go!”
“Nonsense! She’s my captive until she destroys this place! The more anger she lashes out, the more powerful this demon becomes! Now, give those fairies here!”
“No! You want to torment these guys and burn their home to the ground! They’ve been through enough!”
“Arin, come on,” Dan said, stepping back. “Let’s just go. We can’t fight that thing nor her!”
Arin grabs his wrist. “Dan, we can’t go now! We made a promise to help them find their Guardian Angels. We never break promises and we never back down. We stick together.”
Then, the marks on Amoura and Esther’s heads glow alongside the star and heart amulets. Dan and Arin stood back, covering their eyes.
“Amoura!” Esther exclaimed.
Amoura holds up the heart and turns to face Arin. The amulet starts to glow brighter. “Could it be…?”
Abellona growls, “Soul Catcher! Kill those humans and get Uriana’s Guiding Lights!”
The demon roars and opens its mouth to release fire. Amoura and Esther flew into Dan and Arin’s arms and they jumped back.
Arin and Dan ran behind a car for a temporary shield. “What the fuck do we do?!” Dan yelled.
“Take these!” Esther said, taking off the amulet and holding it out to him. Amoura does the same to Arin.
“Why are they glowing?” Arin asked.
“Just take them! Hurry!” Amoura ushered.
Dan takes the star pendant, but drops it immediately. “Ow! Why is it so hot?”
“Put them on!” Esther said.
Dan picks the necklace back up. “Okay! Okay!”
Dan and Arin put on the necklaces and the heart and star pendants start to pulsate with brighter lights as they floated in the air.
“Are you ready?” Amoura asked Esther. The unicorn nods in response.
“Ready for what?!” Dan asked in a panic.
“You two need to say this at the same time: ‘O, Heavenly God and Goddess of Heaven Island! We summon thee!’”
“Uh…” Arin and Dan hold the two pendants in between their thumb and index finger. “O, Heavenly God and Goddess of Heaven Island. We summon thee?” The amulets exploded with light and surrounded the two in domes.
The giant demon shoots out a lava beam from its mouth and burns the car they were hiding behind. The car explodes and most of remains flew towards the demon and Abellona.
Quickly, she uses her pentagram shield to deflect them. She looks to the glowing white domes. “No…! No! How…?”
The light disappears and Amoura and Esther look at Dan and Arin with shining eyes. “Yes! We did it! We found the Guardian Angels!”
Dan rubs his eyes and blinks several times. “Aw fuck, my eyes. What happened?” After his vision adjusted, he notices his arm was sealed in a white glove. “What the…?”
“Dan!” Arin exclaimed. “You look awesome!”
“Huh?” He stands up and looks to his feet. There were sparkly blue platform boots with red stars in replace of his sneakers. “Ah! What the fuck?!” He feels something touch his back. “Why does this look like my spandex?” He then felt around his neck where the choker was attaching the cape. “What is this?!”
“This is your Guardian Angel form, Dan!” Esther squealed.
“Guardian Angel? Me? No, no, no!”
“Check out your hair, dude!” Arin said. “Blue looks good on you!”
“What?” He takes a small clump of hair in his hand. “Oh my fucking god, my hair’s blue. And,” he puts a hand to his earlobe. “Am I wearing earrings?”
“I… love this!” Arin exclaimed in excitement.
Dan turns to Arin. “Whoa.” He saw that Arin’s short brown hair had turned into a long ponytail that was pastel pink with a yellow highlight and tied up with a giant, pink bow. The outfit had a pink choker with a small bow, a top with puffy sleeves and a bigger bow, gloves, a puffy skirt covered in red hearts, and knee-high boots. Another giant bow was tied along the back of the skirt and more ribbons were tied behind the boots.
“Holy shit, dude. Are your eyes blue? You have some cool stars under your eyes.”
“Yours are pink! You have hearts under your eyes, too.”
“Are they? Oh my god!” Wait!” Arin gasps, “Do you know what this means?!”
Dan could see the sparkles in his eyes. “N-No.”
“We’re magical girls, Dan!”
“Magic what now? Isn’t that all just made up on TV and stuff?”
“Well, yeah, but now it’s happening in real life! To us!”
“Come on, guys! Focus!” Amoura said.
“It’s just like Sailor Moon!”
“Arin!” Amoura yelled.
“Sorry!”
She sighs in frustration. “Look. You two need to purify that demon over there to save the human inside!”
“What?! What are you talking about?!” Dan exclaimed.
“Oh, psh! Easy!” Arin said with confidence. “I got this! Come on, Dan!” Arin then runs off.
“What am I supposed to do?!”
Amoura points her paw out. “Purify the demon!”
“What?! I don’t know how to do that! There’s someone in there! I don’t want to kill someone! I’m not a fighter!”
“Dan, the amulet chose you to be a Guardian Angel. Your duty is to fight those demons!”
“But…! I-I don’t know how to fight!”
“Watch out!”
Suddenly, Dan crashes into the ground. “Ow…”
“Sorry!” Arin said, standing up. “Jesus, that hurt.”
Dan stood up with the help of Arin. He puts his hands on his hips. “You said you had it.”
Arin darts his eyes. “Uh, well…”
“Jesus, Arin! You’re already bruised and bleeding!”
“Oh! These? It’s fine. Now that we’re these angel beings, we have healing factors that heal our wounds instantly!”
“That’s a real thing?”
“Uh, yeah! Look!” Arin shows Dan the cut on his upper arm and, to Dan’s surprise, it faded away.
“Holy shit.”
“I know, right? It’s awesome! Your injuries are gone, also!”
Dan looks to his arm. “Huh. I didn’t even notice.”
“Guys!” Amoura groaned. “Focus!”
“Alright, alright!” Arin takes Dan’s hand. “Okay, on the count of three, we jump.”
“J-Jump?”
“One…! Two…!”
“Arin, wait! Where—?”
“Three!”
“Arin!” Dan felt like he was hundreds of feet in the air. “Oh my god!” He instantly lets go.
Arin quickly turns his head. “Dan!”
Dan looks back and sees himself falling to the ground. His hand touches the surface and suddenly, he felt himself flip over onto his feet. “Whoa! How did…?”
“Dan!” Esther called, flying up to him.
“What just happened? I was falling and now, I’m here.”
“Well, with the powers of the Heavenly Guardian Angels, you have advanced abilities like healing and strength!”
“What do you know? Okay, anyways, so how do I… purify that thing?”
“Just tire it out for now. I’ll tell you the rest later.”
“And… how do I do that?”
“Just look at Arin!”
Dan looks down from the top and sees his friend dodging the attacks of fire, jumping up, and kicking the demon straight in the face. “Oh shit.”
Then, in a flash, the demon princess snatches Esther and Amoura in her arms. “Dan!” The unicorn yelled.
“Esther!”
“Come and get them, Guardian Angel.” She sneered.
“Dan!” Arin called, landing next to him. “What are you doing?”
“Arin! I… I can’t do this! You know I’m not a fighter! You know more about this stuff than me!”
“I can teach you. Look,” he takes his hands into his own. “We can’t just run. I know we just became these angel beings, but I don’t want to end up suffering through literal hell, nor should you, nor should Amoura, Esther, and their home, and everyone here on this damn planet. We don’t have a choice.”
“I know, but… I’m scared.”
“Don’t be. I’ll be here with you.”
Dan looks ahead to the giant demon then up to the princess. He looks back, closes his eyes, and takes a deep breath. “Okay. Show me what to do.”
“Awesome!”
“And don’t fuck it up this time.”
“Yeah, yeah, I got it.” Arin digs his heels into the ground. “Alright. On three, we both kick. Got it?”
“Y-Yeah.”
“Don’t worry. Focus on the target, and put as much power as you can.”
“Okay.”
“One… two… three!”
As fast as the wind, the angels charged towards the demon. Arin kicks it off of its feet and Dan jumps up and digs his foot right after.
Dan lands on his feet. “Oh wow.”
“There you go!” He gives a high five, in which Dan returns it. “That’s how you do it!”
Suddenly, Arin was snatched up in its claws. “Arin! Oh shit!”
The demon opens its mouth to reveal burning fire. “Uh… Dan?!”
“Fuck! What do I do?”
“Arin!” Amoura cried.
“Shut it!” yelled the princess.
Dan balls his hands into fists. “Let him go!” He starts to run up. With each step, blue stars popped out under his feet. He jumps up and a giant blue star appeared in his palms.
He slams the star onto the demon’s head. It screeches in pain and lets go of Arin. Like a frisbee, Dan tosses a star to save him from falling. As he bounced back up, he flies over to Princess Abellona and body slams her to the ground.
“Dan!” Esther cried in his arms.
“Nice job!” Amoura congratulated.
“Dude!” Arin said, running up to him. “That was fucking amazing!”
“Alright, now, put your hands together to channel your Heavenly Auras.”
“Heavenly Auras?”
“Yes. Put your hands together like this,” Amoura puts her paws together like she was praying. “And close your eyes.”
The angels did as they were told and the two animal fairies saw their auras appearing pink and blue around their bodies.
Arin opens his eyes to feel a stick in his hands. The stick had a pink heart on each end. Each heart had pink, red, and white ribbons tied with it along with small pink bows. “Oh, how cute is this? It looks like one of those twirling batons.”
The item that Dan had in his hands was a sword. There was a white diamond as the pommel and the handle was light blue, wrapped with dark blue and red ribbons, and decorated with white stars. The silver blade had white stars engraved inside.
“Arin, this is called the Heart Baton.” Amoura said, putting her paws on top.
Esther touches the tip of her horn on the white star of the handle. “Dan, I bestow upon you the Starry Blade.”
“Oh wow,” Dan said, admiring his faint reflection in the sword. “This is beautiful.”
“This is the final step to purifying the demon and rescuing the human inside.” Amoura instructed. “First, point the tips of your weapons towards each other. You will need to call upon the Goddess of Love and the God of the Stars.”
“Okay.” They both turn towards each other and points the tips of their weapons together.
“Now say this: ‘O, Heavenly God and Goddess, lend us your hands to expel these demons.’”
Meanwhile, the demon princess was slowly crawling on her knees, hugging her stomach from the impact. “No… I will not let these humans defeat me!”
The Soul Catcher roars and shoots a lava beam towards the angels.
The duo takes a deep breath. “O, Heavenly God and Goddess, lend us your hands to expel these demons!”
The lava beam deflects the explosion of light surrounding the angels and hits the giant back. Thunder could be heard in the distance. A lightning bolt strikes the blade and a bright pink beam from the sky strikes the baton.
Dan yelps, letting go of the sword. “Whoa!”
Arin holds his hand out while also shielding his eyes from the pink light surrounding the baton and the flashing pink hearts. “Oh shit!”
Dan goes to pick up the handle. In relief, it didn’t shock him. He looks at the blade, which was glowing blue and the engraved stars crackled with lightning. “Oh, this is beautiful.”
The roars of the Soul Catcher alerted their ears and they turn around.
“Okay…? So what do we do now?”
“You need to say a phrase to increase its power enough to purify it. Arin, yours is ‘Ribbon Heart Lasso.’”
“Oh, that is so badass.” He commented.
“Dan,” Esther added. “Your phrase is ‘Shooting Star Crackle.’”
Arin then tightens his grip on his baton. “You ready?”
“Oh, let’s send this demon back to hell, baby.” Dan replied.
“When I give the signal, you go.”
“You got it, bud.”
Arin twirls the baton in his hands and raises it above his head. He shouts, “Ribbon Heart Lasso!”
Arin whips the baton down and the ribbons light up, shooting towards the monster and wrapping it around its body.
The Soul Catcher screams, squirming to break free from the ribbons. A giant, sparkling, pink heart bursts out of the demon’s chest. Arin pulls the baton towards him and the monster spins as the ribbons were unraveling.
“Now, Dan!”
Dan leaps into the air with the charged up sword. His blue eyes light up with lightning and he points the tip of the blade in front of him. “Shooting Star Crackle!”
The blade shoots out a large bolt of lightning with a trail of white stars following. As the final blow, Dan flies towards the demon and slashes the sword down.
The demon cries out and it was whisked away into black ashes.
“You…!” Abellona growls. “Agh!” With a snap of her fingers, she disappears.
Arin runs up to Dan. “Hey! We did it!”
After Dan gives back the high five, he looks around to see the park back to its normal green and the street nearby had the cars and road repaired. “Uh… how did that happen?”
“Oh, it’s common in magical girl logic. When they’re purified, everything goes back to normal like nothing happens.”
“Huh.”
Both of their weapons disappear from their hands. Esther and Amoura fly up to them. “Nice job, guys!” Amoura cheered.
In the distance, Dan sees a woman lying in the grass. He and Arin run up to her. “Hey, hey, are you okay?”
The young adult stirs awake. “Wh… What happened?”
“You, uh…” Arin pauses for a couple seconds. “Got pretty mad and you turned into this… demon… thing.”
“Oh! Oh god!” She exclaimed. Tears started to form in her eyes. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to lash out at you like that! I… I didn’t—!”
Dan takes her hand into his own. “Hey, hey. It’s okay. Take some deep breaths.
She lets out a shaky breath. “O-Okay.”
After a couple of breaths, Dan continues. “You’ll be okay. We’re right here with you.”
“It’s just… I’ve been going through a lot these past couple of days. I… I got a new job and I made so many mistakes and I kept thinking that my trainers are going to tell me that I’m not fit for my position. I feel… I feel like a failure!”
Dan and Arin’s hearts start to ache. “No. You’re not a failure.”
The woman wipes her tears. “What makes you say that?”
Arin takes her other hand. “Everyone makes mistakes. That’s what makes you human. Not everyone is perfect. Ask them on what you can improve on. Keep making those improvements and we promise you, you will make it to the position you want to be in.”
“Th-Thank you.”
Dan then sees the woman staring at the both of them. “Are you okay?”
“Oh! I’m sorry. I just… I thought I saw…” she blinks a couple times. “Are you… are you angels?”
“I…” Dan looks to Arin. “Yeah. I guess we’re angels.”
“We can be your guardian angels.” Arin added with a soft smile.
Amoura flies up next to Arin. “We need to go. Now.”
Dan looks back to the woman. “Before we go, no matter where we are, we’ll be supporting you, okay?”
She nods with a sniffle and a soft smile. “Okay.”
Arin and Dan let go of her hands and they fly away to the top of a building. They detransform into their normal clothes from before. The chokers from before were now the blue and pink amulets hanging from their necks.
“Jesus Christ,” Dan said as he laid on the ground. “I’m so tired.”
“Ugh,” Arin groaned, sitting down. “That drained everything out of my body.”
“Well,” Esther winced. “Using those attacks to purify the demon took up a lot of your energy while you were both in your Guardian Angels forms.”
“Well, boys,” Amoura said as the bell on her tail jingled. “You have defeated your first Soul Catcher! Congratulations!”
“Wait, what?” Dan said immediately. “What’s a Soul Catcher and what do you mean by ‘first’?”
“The demon you just fought? That’s a Soul Catcher. They feed on anger and depression.” She sighs. “Princess Abellona said it herself. The more anger or sadness someone has, they become a Soul Catcher and they become more powerful the more they lash out.”
“That’s horrible.”
Esther adds on. “And by first, we mean that there’s more out there. Now that you both have become the Guardian Angels, they’ll stop at nothing to catch us and you two. Those amulets hold a sliver of our Heavenly God and Goddess’s powers. With you two being humans, who knows how much power you two can hold.”
“Oh.” Arin takes off the necklace and looks at the pink heart in front of him. “What would happen if… we turn into those demons?”
“You won’t. Those amulets will protect you.”
“God,” Dan groaned. “This entire day has been fucking crazy.”
“Oh! Speaking of that,” Arin said. “We should head back.”
“Uhh… how do we get down from here?”
“Jump.” Amoura stated.
“What?”
“Jump!”
“Why?! We’re not in our angel forms!”
“Trust me!”
“Oh god… Okay.” Arin and Dan stand at the edge and look down.
Arin takes a hold of Dan’s hand. “I’m right here with you.”
Dan squeezes his hand tight. “Okay. One…”
“Two…”
“Three!”
As they jump down, Amoura and Esther’s forehead marks glow and a barrier of soft light surround the two.
Slowly, Arin and Dan floated towards the ground feet first. “Oh! What do you know?”
°°°
Dan enters his home and turns on the lamp beside the living room couch. Esther flies out of his jacket pocket and gently lands on the coffee table.
“I like your home.” She said.
“Thanks.” Dan replied back in a monotone voice.
“Are you okay?”
He takes off the blue star necklace. “It’s just… I can’t believe that I’m a Guardian Angel.”
“The amulet decided that your heart was the one to be chosen. The God of the Stars chose you as the Heavenly Guardian Angel of Diligence.”
“Diligence?”
“Well, you worked hard to build up that confidence and you led your final attack on the Soul Catcher! You even saved Arin, Amoura, and I by yourself. You didn’t back away because we helped you through it. You still need a little bit more work, though. No offense.”
“None taken.”
°°°
In Arin’s home office, he brushed his thumb along the surface of the pink pendant.
Amoura, who was lying on one of the shelves next to the desk, lifts her head up. “What’s wrong?”
“I can’t believe I’m a Guardian Angel.”
“Well, what you did today proved it. And to Dan, as well.”
“But… how, or why, did this amulet choose me?”
“It was your heart. Your heart told you to help that girl from danger. When the Soul Catcher was purified, you and Dan understood her strong feelings of imperfections and gave her reassurance to become a better person by improving. And by that, the Heavenly Goddess of Love has chosen you to become the Guardian Angel. The Heavenly Guardian Angel of Kindness.”
End~