Glorious Origins

"Tenko?!" Kumiko asked in shock at the older version of one of her biggest fans. "You're the -?! I mean, how -?! When did you -?!"

"Well, I think I probably should explain..." Tenko replied with a sigh. "It was after The Magical Girl Kumiko Look Alike Contest in my timeline..."

Years ago...

"A hero, Sayuri!" Tenko exclaimed as she sat in a bathtub filled with tomato juice and vinegar, talking to her best friend over the phone. "Magical Girl Kumiko actually said that I was a hero!"

"Well, I'm happy for you, Tenko." Sayuri commented. "Are you sure Americans say this treatment works?"

"Well not right away." Tenko replied as she leaned back, grabbing a scrub brush to scrub herself with. She sighed blissfully, a wide smile on her face as she asked, "Do you think I could be a superheroine like Magical Girl Kumiko one day?"

"Probably focus on smelling like your old self one day first."

Tenko chuckled as she said goodbye before hanging up and looking up at the window, seeing a shooting star as she let out a gasp and closed her eyes. "Shooting star, I wish that I was a superhero like Magical Girl Kumiko!"

Tenko opened her eyes... And gasped again, this time in horror. "And I wish the shooting star wasn't heading right at me!"

"Thankfully, I managed to survive the impact." Tenko said, "However, what was in that meteorite had some chemical reaction with the acid in the tomato juice as well as the vinegar. The doctors found nothing wrong with me when I left the hospital, but I soon discovered my new powers after I got home. I went to find you to show you them, maybe even offer to be your sidekick, but..."

"Den you discovered dat Kumiko had blown Da Wacko to kingdom come, didn't you?" Tabitha asked, gesturing to the monitor.

"Yes." Tenko replied, turning to Kumiko. "But I never agreed with what the others said about you..."

"Tenko. Why can't you understand?" Sayuri asked, shaking her head. "Nobody wants a crazed murderer defending Calamity City."

"I know that she wouldn't have done that without a good reason, Sayuri!" Tenko argued.

"The Wacko was just some Joker wannabe with disgusting Magical Girl Kumiko merchandise!" Sayuri retorted, "What good reason could she have had?!"

"Well... I..."

"Exactly!" Sayuri replied, sighing sadly. "Look, Tenko. I know how hard this is for you. But Magical Girl Kumiko just can't be trusted anymore."

"Or maybe it's you I can't trust anymore?!" Tenko challenged as she stomped away. "I'll show you! I'll show all of you! I will avenge Magical Girl Kumiko's good name!"

"I trained day in and day out until I graduated, taking on the moniker of 'Glorious Victory'." Tenko stated, "I kept Calamity City free of crime in your good name. And then... I found what had become of you..."

The Goddess of Shadows cackled madly as she blasted at a bus of civilians... Stopping as Glorious Victory tanked the blast, glaring the villain down from behind her helmet.

"This fight has gone on long enough, Goddess of Shadows!" Tenko shouted, her hands glowing with a light golden aura. "One of us is going down, and it's not going to be me!"

"Oh, you are a child!" Goddess laughed as she fired another blast from her hand, Tenko tanking it before flying forward and punching Goddess of Shadow in the gut, sending her rocketing down to the park with a tremendous impact...

But not before grabbing a hold of Glorious Victory's helmet.

Goddess of Shadows groaned as she staggered to her feet from the small crater that was made in the park's baseball field.

"Glorious and Victorious Power Zap!"

Goddess of Shadows howled in pain as she fell to her knees. "What..." She grunted, not even looking at the superheroine behind landing a few feet behind her, "Have you done?!"

"A power that I save for only the most dangerous of threats." Tenko explained sternly. "Your powers have been stripped away... Permanently."

"You bitch! I'm going to -" Goddess of Shadow spun around and gasped in shock, her eyes going wide at the heroine in front of her. "T-T-Tenko?!"

Tenko froze at her name, a look of confusion on her face. "How do you know that name?"

"Well, I guess I did make you a hero after all." Goddess of Shadows said with a laugh. "And all you had to do was steal my costume and get it covered in skunk stink to do it."

"How did you..." Glorious Victory began before a look of horror came to her face. "No... No! You can't be!"

"Bad news, you stripped me of my old Magical Girl powers. Good news, you left everything else." Goddess of Shadow cackled as she waved a hand and summoned a portal, "Oh well. Win some, lose some. Catch you later, Glorious Failure!"

By the time Tenko snapped back to reality, Goddess of Shadow was gone.

"I spent months tracking Goddess of Shadows down." Tenko finished, "Eventually, I discovered where she was going and followed her. Which lead to us here and now."

"Wait, wait!" Stryker exclaimed. "You can just permanently strip powers away from your opponents. Why not just zap Goddess of Shadow now and have everything go back to normal?!"

"Gwut Gwhat Gwbout Gwur Gwowers?!"

"So, we all become normal, bland side characters." Stryker said nonchalantly, "It's either we're powerless or we're dead!"

"Uh... Slight problem with that." Tenko said sheepishly, "See, I learned the hard way that I can only do that twice, and my fight with Goddess of Shadow was the second time."

"Sacré Blu! We are duhmed! Duhmed, I sai!" Mufette cried as she embraced Selkie, the Irish woman gently patting the French skunk woman's back. "There's non wai wé can possib-lee win now!"

"No wait a second!" Tenko argued, "We can at least think of something to -"

"No, she's right! We're done for!" Stryker shouted. "Game over! It's a bug hunt, Man! A bug hunt!"

"Watch it!" The Moth Queen barked.

"Geeze, I can't believe this is supposed to be me!" Kitty groaned, rolling her eyes.

"Watch it, Pipsqueak!" Stryker barked, glaring up at the floating quokka. "Just because I'm powerless doesn't mean I can't drop kick your tiny ass!"

"Oh yeah?! Bring it on!" Kitty challenged angrily as he got into a fighting stance...

And transformed into a kangaroo three times the size as Stryker, much to the shock of the entire room.

"Kitty!" Mrs. Kishi exclaimed, "How did you do that?!"

"Do wha- WHAT THE?!" Kitty shouted, finally noticing his transformation. "How did this happen?!"

"Uh, Kumiko? Could Kitty always do that?" Kiyoshi asked, getting a shake of his sister's head in response.

"Of course I've never done this before!" Kitty said, "I just got so fed up with this guy that I thought I could even the playing field and -"

"Envisioned yourself as a giant kangaroo?" Stryker asked, getting a nod from Kitty in response. "That's exactly how I use my shape shifting. I mean, I can't turn into some kind of kaiju like thing due to my limitations, but still."

Kumiko was quiet for a second, a hand to her chin in thought. As Kitty reverted back to normal, Kumiko's eyes widened as a smile came to her face.

"Kumiko...?" Kitty asked.

"Okay!" Kumiko said, looking at everyone in the room. "Tenko! When we get back to Calamity City, I want you to take my parents and Kiyoshi, as well as any other civilian you can find to safety!"

"Rodger!" Tenko said with a smile, donning her helmet again.

"Kitty, Osaka, Ken, Selkie, Stryker, Curb Stomper, Moth Queen, Mufette, Lord of Lobsters, Gator Gal, and Gwuk? You guys are with me." Kumiko stated, a confident smile on her face. "I have an idea on how we can finally put an end to Goddess of Shadow once and for all!"