"At last, Magical Guardian Sapphire! We meet on the field of battle once again, but this time, I shall be victorious!" A huge, armored man stood atop the slide, pointing dramatically in the moonlight.
Sapphire looked at her companion, who was fiddling with her camera setup. "Jenny, you know these things. Who is this guy?"
"He's Gloaming Supernova, he's been Sapphire's nemesis for years now. Okay, strike a pose!"
"I can't believe I'm doing this," said Sapphire, holding her Gem Rod aloft in a heroic fashion.
Gloaming Supernova flipped off the slide and landed on the grass, thrusting forward with his glaive. "You'd better believe it, Magical Guardian! For on this day, you shall receive the punishment you so richly deserve!"
Jenny butted in again. "No, no, more cutesy, Sapphire's always been more of a 'fun' Guardian."
Sapphire rolled her eyes and put two fingers over her eye like a sideways peace sign. "Like this?"
"Perfect! Now, smile~!"
The flash went off, and Gloaming Supernova's eyes darkened behind his helmet. "Are you ignoring me? After all the glorious combat that has passed between us?! You knave, you shall taste my blade!"
He slammed the glaive downwards, only for Sapphire to leap into the air and perch perfectly on a nearby fencepost. "Dude, this is the first time we've ever fought, and like my second fight ever. Chill out."
"What nonsense is this? You and I have clashed for all eternity! Across time, across space, and here for at least twenty of this planet's miserable orbits!" He swung again, hurling a blade of dark energy off the tip of his weapon. Sapphire flipped backwards to avoid it, but then Gloaming Supernova was upon her. Sparks flew as she blocked his vicious attack with the Gem Rod.
"Yeah, that's fine," she grunted, "but I've only been Magical Guardian Sapphire for two weeks." She activated the Rod and threw him backwards with a burst of sparkling blue energy. Jenny made awed noises as the camera clicked rapidly. "Or did you not notice that we just passed into January? The mantle passes to a new person at the same time every goddamn year."
"What does the human calendar have to do with either of us?! I know not what trick you're attempting to pull, but I shall not be swayed from my path!" He landed heavily, then dove at her again with a flurry of strikes.
"No, seriously," said Sapphire, rapidly dodging through the storm of blades. "I mean, I don't look anything like the previous Sapphire. Come on, the costume doesn't even have a mask. Hell, Sapphire was black two years ago, you had to have noticed that."
Gloaming Supernova pulled back his glaive into a defensive stance and blinked. "What are you talking about? Your costume is blue, as it has always been!" As Sapphire approached, he whirled, forcing her back away from his spinning weapon.
"No, dude," she said, charging up her Gem Rod, "I mean my face."
"Maybe he's faceblind?" offered Jenny, who was now futzing with a drone camera she'd brought with her.
"My eye is as keen as ever! And more than enough to defeat you!" Gloaming Supernova launched out of his spin into an overhead slam, which Sapphire had to dive to the ground to dodge.
"This is bullshit," she complained. "I thought the Magical Guardian titles were supposed to be handed off to," she rolled away from another attack, "people who hadn't had their gender awakening yet. I had mine already! Last year!"
"Oh, yeah!" said Jenny. "I remember that! That was the party where you wore that cute maid dress, right?"
Sapphire flipped to her feet and used the power of the charged Rod to blast Gloaming Supernova through the wall of a park shelter. "Yes, that one."
"You were so cute! You'd even drawn little ball joints on yourself with sharpie! You were such a perfect little servant~"
Sapphire blushed bright red. "Yes, okay! That's the one! Can we focus on the fight now?" Gloaming Supernova charged out of the broken building and slammed right into Sapphire, knocking her across the playground.
"Ha HA! That is but a taste of my vengeance!" he crowed, whirling his glaive around to pose dramatically with it.
Jenny helped Sapphire up. "Okay, but we're going to talk later about maybe some additional awakenings that the Magical Guardian mantle might want you to have. Try the sword, he's not great at dealing with it."
Sapphire nodded and leapt back into the combat, transforming her Gem Rod into a Gem Sword to do battle in earnest with her foe.
"Preferably," murmured Jenny, as she maneuvered her camera to get the best angle on the fight, "we talk before you end up fighting the Witch of Stellar Storms." She bit her lip as she imagined the Witch with Sapphire on her knees. "I wonder if I'd look good in a thigh-slit black dress?"
