Magical Girl Dallas Episode 1

Copyright © 2016 Latis Books

All rights reserved.

Written by: Peter Barton

Edited by: Gabriel Wright

This is a work of fiction. Any names, places, and events were entirely made up by the author or used in a way that's entirely fictitious. Any resemblances to real persons, places, events, etc. are entirely coincidental and unintentional.

www.latisbooks.com

An orchestra of speeding cars on the highway, scores of chatter, and pop music filled the air at the Prominence Shopping Center, a large outlet on the upscale side of town. Hundreds of people were taking advantage of the cool spring evening as they enjoyed themselves immensely.

Atop a large clothing store knelt a girl, surveying the area from the shadows. Her attire consisted of a mint green dress and a small jacket. She had on a pair of gloves and thigh high stockings with knee high boots. Her shiny blond hair was styled into two pigtails, tied up in little ribbons. A large ribbon adorned the bottom of her back, somehow defying gravity as it spread out almost like wings.

“It's close,” she said as she held out a small wand that glowed with a yellow orb at the end. She turned around, looking at the shadows. “Looks like you were right, Amadeus.”

A black cat jumped out from the shadows and landed next to her.

“It's just like The Masked Sorrow to attack crowded areas,” the cat named Amadeus said with a gruff, masculine voice. “Make sure to be extra careful and not let anyone get hurt.”

“I know,” the girl said, rolling her eyes. “I've done this for a while now.”

The girl ran across the rooftop of the conjoined buildings as she stared at the people below her, occasionally checking her wand. When she came to a large gap between buildings, she swiftly jumped across it with ease, landing quietly on her feet.

She reached a movie theater where she watched a crowd of teenagers laugh and chat amongst themselves. When she peered over the edge of the railing, she could see the movie posters that adorned the wall of the theater, albeit upside down.

“Want to see a movie after we're done?” she asked.

Amadeus grumbled before answering. “I'd rather not.”

“Aw, come on. There's a new movie out that I hear is super funny.”

“That doesn't interest me.”

The girl sighed. “Why do you feel the need to act serious all the time? Can't you loosen up a little?”

“One of us has to act serious.”

The girl stood up and placed her hands on her hip. “Are you insisting I'm not serious?” she asked.

“I really wonder sometimes.”

“I take this job very seriously, you know. Doesn't mean I can't try to make it entertaining in the process.”

Amadeus looked away from the girl and glared as he cursed under his breath. When he did, he noticed the shadow of one of the teenagers below begin to twitch.

“Lily! It's a shade!”

“Where?”

Lily leaned over the railing and looked down at the teenagers. The twitching shadow began to rise up from the ground, its form inconsistent. The shade began stretching toward its victims.

Without hesitation, Lily's wand transformed into a large staff that stood almost as tall as her with shiny gold ribbons flowing up to a medallion crested with a pair of wings. She held it out and fired several green spears of light at the creature.

Before it could be struck, the shade leapt away. The spears pierced the ground and shattered into shards of light, leaving no trace they were ever there.

“Holy crap!” one of the teenagers yelled, having watched what just happened.

“Halt, villain of darkness!” Lily yelled.

The teenagers and others nearby looked up at Lily, who stood on top of the rail while pointing her staff in the direction of the shade. She then jumped off from the roof and twirled in the air before landing on the ground. Amadeus, who stayed on the roof, could only shake his head.

“Whoa! It's Lily Mint!” one of the teenagers said.

“This is awesome!” cheered another.

People came running to check out the commotion. When they saw the local magical girl hero, Lily Mint, they began to cheer. First arriving a few months ago, she protected the city and its citizens from the work of The Masked Sorrow and his vassals. To say Lily Mint didn't love the attention and adoration as a magical girl would be a blatant lie.

The shade began to rise from a shadow behind a trash can. With quick reflexes, Lily shot another spear at the creature, piercing what appeared to be its shoulder. It screeched in pain as black smoke rose out from its body as if it was blood. It then jumped into the air and behind a crowd of spectators, running away.

“Oh no you don't!” Lily yelled as she leapt over to where she thought it ran off to.

As she was landing, the shade shot out from another shadow and rammed into Lily, hitting her into a wall, which cracked from the pressure. Just as it was about to attack again, Lily dodged out of the way. It then jumped into a nearby shadow and vanished.

Lily scanned her surroundings, knowing that it could appear from anywhere around her without notice.

Despite what was going on, people gathered around her to take photos while a few recorded video. Lily smiled and waved for a little fan service.

“Lily!” Amadeus yelled from the roof.

Lily turned around and spotted the shade rise up from behind her, but she was too slow to react. It grabbed her legs and tripped her onto the ground.

“I don't like it when you guys embarrass me like that,” she mumbled while getting up.

As the shade charged toward her, Lily summoned a barrier of light. It bounced off the barrier and into some tables and chairs on the patio of a restaurant. She dashed to it before it managed to get up.

“Go back to the shadows from whence you came!” she yelled.

Lily swung her staff in a large circle before her, summoning a large emblem of light with elegant circular patterns. A giant beam of green light fired from the emblem, releasing a wave of heat around it. The beam struck the shade, which let out an ear-piercing shriek as it dissolved in the light. Once the beam dissipated, all that was left of the creature was a puff of smoke that quickly blew away in the wind.

With her enemy defeated, Lily twirled and posed. “Love and friendship will always stand triumphant!”

The crowd of spectators began to cheer. They ran up to Lily and congratulated her.

“I'm sorry your evening was rudely interrupted. May you return to enjoying yourselves,” she said with a curtsey. She then jumped into the air and onto the roof of a nearby store.

“I can't believe I got to see Lily Mint in person!” one spectator said.

“I know! I always feels like she turns up whenever I'm not around!” another said.

“I love you, Lily Mint!” cried a fan.

As the people cheered, Amadeus watched from the rooftop. He let out a sigh. “I don't understand why she talks about love and friendship every single time.” He then flipped into the air and vanished.

The TVs on the wall of a large department store showed a news story about Magical Girl Lily Mint's appearance at the Prominence Shopping Center the night before. Leaning against the register while letting out a huge yawn was Sam Howell, a twenty-something who cursed having to come in so early for work. She wore the store's blue polo shirt uniform with her light brown hair tied into a small ponytail. She stared blankly at the walls of TVs as there was nothing else for her to do. Despite being bored, she preferred this than having to deal with customers.

The only other person in the area was a tall, lanky man slightly younger than her, but appeared way older. He was almost skin and bones with a 5 o'clock shadow, permanent large bags under his eyes, and a t-shirt and pair of jeans that should have been retired years ago. His black hair was a mess, not having seen a comb in some time. One could almost mistake him for a homeless drug addict. He was hunched over the discount bin with DVDs for $5 or less, grabbing multiple at once then tossing them aside when they weren't to his liking.

This man was named Dallas Lancaster.

“What are you doing here so early on your day off?” Sam asked, glancing at him.

“Hey Sam,” Dallas replied. “Just grabbing some stuff I forgot to get after clocking out last night.”

“And you got up early for this?”

“Nah, haven't slept,” he said as he looked through the DVDs.

“Then why are you digging through garbage?”

“Every once in a blue moon something decent winds up in here.”

Sam looked back over at the wall of TVs showing clips of Lily Mint.

“I'd be embarrassed to be seen in public like that,” she said.

“Hm?”

She pointed at the TVs. “Lily Mint.”

“Oh. Yeah,” he said. “You'd think one could kill evil beings from an alternate reality without the theatrics.”

“It's ironic.”

“What is?”

“We're so used to the idea of heroes being all super macho 'n junk, but in the real world we get some anime nerd prancing around in a dress with a magic staff. I can't help but pity her whenever I see her doing all that cutesy crap. Sort of like when you see an actor on a kids' show on PBS. I wonder if she enjoys doing it.”

“Yeah.” He dropped the DVDs in his hand and grabbed his shopping basket. “Oh well. I'd better head home before I end up driving into a ditch due to sleep deprivation.”

“You going to Matt's party on Friday? I heard he's making his special dip,”

“Does that include chips?”

“Wow, Dallas. Chips and dip? Aren't we demanding?”

“Not sure if I'll go. I might be-”

“Wasting time on the internet all night like the antisocial dweeb that you are?” She finished his sentence.

Dallas let out a stream of air from his nose as a form of soft laughter. “You know me too well.”

“Try not to die on your way home.”

“I'll try, but I can't make any promises.”

After Dallas left, Sam returned to watching TV.

Above the clouds of the city, hidden to the eyes of those without any magical aptitude, sat a majestic castle amidst the heavens. This castle was the home to Queen Anna, the queen of magical girls.

Inside the large red velvet-covered throne room was a small gray kitten with a gold bell strapped to his neck by a red ribbon. He dashed across the room, jingling the bell in the process.

“Queen Anna!” he called out in a panic.

The kitten dashed through the halls, almost accidentally running into the other cat servants that were trying to do their job. Everyone he passed looked at him with annoyance.

“It's Cookie,” one of the cat maids whispered to her co-worker.

“Ugh. He's gonna make more work for us running around like that.”

At last, Cookie stopped before a set of large wooden doors that towered over him like a pair of giants standing guard. He tapped his bell, casting a spell that opened the doors for him.

“Queen Anna!” he cried as he ran into the room.

Curled up under a large velvet quilt behind silk curtains surrounding the bed was Queen Anna. She was a young woman with beauty incomparable to anyone in the world. Her long auburn hair was strung over her soft, fluffy pillow as drool leaked from her mouth and into a tiny pool next to her. Though she ruled over all magical girls in the world and was in charge of keeping the planet's peace from those who wished to wreak havoc, she was not a morning person. Some of her servants joked that the world would implode if she ever woke up before noon.

When Cookie entered the room, he used his magic to slam the doors shut behind him. The doors let out a loud bang as the force shook the walls. Every servant in the castle heard it. Queen Anna twitched in her bed with furrowed brows.

“Queen Anna! We have a problem!” Cookie shouted as he passed through the silk curtains and climbed up onto the bed. He walked over to her face and pressed his paws against her cheeks.

“Mrmmr...” was all Queen Anna could muster to say before falling back asleep.

“We've received news that The Masked Sorrow is planning on doubling his frequency of attacks!”

With extreme effort, she squinted her eyes open. She saw Cookie, the source of her current annoyance, and turned her head.

“We need to act fast!” he cried as he jumped onto the top of her head with his claws, accidentally stabbing her skull.

Angered by the nuisance, she shoved Cookie off the bed. This didn't deter him as he quickly climbed back up and proceeded to jump on her now quilt-covered face.

“Go away,” she said.

“But if we don't do something quick, Lily Mint might be overwhelmed! I think we need to get her help, fast!”

“Then go do that.”

He tilted his head in confusion. “What?”

“Go hire a new magical girl or something. I don't care.”

His eyes grew wide as he stood up on his hind legs. “What!? Y-you mean me!? Me!?”

“Sure. Whatever. Go away.”

It felt as if a fire had ignited in Cookie. To hire a new magical girl and become her assistant was a gravely important job. Cats usually trained for years before they were finally awarded the privilege. However, not even a year old, Cookie had been bestowed with this duty. He couldn't even use magic by himself, having to rely on a magic bell. Never in a million years did he think he'd be given the chance, not with how the others constantly got angry with him, telling him he's a screw-up or saying he's stupid.

“Maybe Queen Anna sees something in me!” Cookie thought. “This means it's up to me to uphold the safety of the world! If I don't do something, the world will come to an end!”

It wouldn't have.

Cookie stood upright and gave a salute with a huge grin. “I won't let you down!” he said with gusto.

He jumped down from the bed, opened the doors with magic to let him out, and slammed them shut again. This time Queen Anna sat up half asleep.

“What was that?” she slurred. She looked around the room and noticed nothing unusual. “Meh,” she said as she laid her head back down. Within seconds she was asleep again.

Outside of the castle, an elderly cat wearing a straw hat was watering the flowers in the Castle's large extravagant garden that separated it from the edge of the clouds. He was once the assistant to Queen Anna when she herself was a magical girl long ago, but with her current status and his old age, he retired to spend his remaining time tending the garden as a hobby.

He was watering the tulips, Queen Anna's favorite flower, when he noticed Cookie running as fast as he could toward the edge.

“Hold up there!” he called out to Cookie.

Cookie turned and saw the elderly cat, then ran to him.

“Hi, Fryderyk!” he shouted as he bounced in place.

“What's gotten into you?” Fryderyk asked.

“Queen Anna gave me the task of hiring a new magical girl to help Lily Mint!”

Fryderyk's eyes grew wide. “She what?”

“Yeah! So I'm going out now to hire one!”

Fryderyk lifted his straw hat and wiped his brow as he looked at the window to Anna's room. Considering how early it was, Fryderyk knew Anna must have said it accidentally while in her sleep. He looked back at Cookie and smiled.

“Is that so? I'm happy for you, Cookie. But you know, it's a really important task.”

“I know! It's SUPER important!” he yelled.

Fryderyk chuckled. “I'm happy that you're excited, but do you know what to look for in a new magical girl?”

Cookie's excitement quickly became fear. He was so excited to become the assistant of a new magical girl that he forgot he didn't really know anything.

“I'll give you a tip,” Fryderyk said. “A magical girl needs to be that of a pure heart, have a strong sense of justice, and above all else...”

Cookie leaned in to hear what came next.

“...be a kind and gentle person.”

Cookie smiled. “Got it! Someone kind with a pure heart and a sense of justice.”

“That'll do it. Now, I'll stop delaying you. Have a good trip.”

With a nod, Cookie started running off again. “Thanks!”

Cookie ran toward the edge of the garden and into the clouds, then leapt off without hesitation. Fryderyk smiled and returned to tending the tulips. “Best of luck to ya.”

Cookie dove toward the surface from the castle. The rushing winds rustled his fur as he squinted to see the city below him. He fell for several minutes with the roaring wind deafening his ears. When he reached the top of the tallest skyscrapers in the city, he flipped, forming a bubble around himself. The bubble hid him along with instantly stopping his fall without issue. He glided past the windows of passing buildings without so much as a reflection.

He hovered above the cars stuck in traffic and people walking on the sidewalk. Though the city was loud with activity, it was muffled by the bubble.

The city gave way to the suburbs, filled with houses and greenery as far as Cookie could see. Once he was miles from downtown, he spotted a middle school hundreds of kids were heading toward.

“That's it!” he cheered.

The bubble drifted about a block away from the school and gently placed Cookie at the end of a driveway to a single story house. Just as he landed, a large truck began to back out from the driveway.

Cookie screamed in a panic and jumped out of the way moments before he was flattened by the truck's massive tires. He rolled across the yard and crashed into a tree, slumping upside down at the bottom of the trunk. The truck drove off down the street with a cloud of exhaust, causing Cookie to cough uncontrollably.

“The human world's a dangerous place!” he thought after he gathered himself.

Cookie ran toward the middle school, where he hid in a bush across the street. Numerous kids walked by as he studied them one by one with the words of Fryderyk running in his mind.

“Pure, sense of justice, kind,” he thought over and over again.

After several minutes he noticed two girls chatting with one another as they made their way to school. One of them was a thirteen-year-old girl with a tomboyish look and short hair. The girl next to her, however, caught his eye.

She had a pair of pigtails tied with pink ribbons and a cute dress with frills. She laughed and smiled as the other girl talked. When she spoke her voice was sweet and innocent. The air around her seemed gentle, Cookie thought.

“She's perfect!” Cookie thought. “Now to get her attention.”

He placed his paw on his forehead and shut his eyes as tight as possible. The bell around his neck began to jingle as he pictured the pure, kind-hearted and just girl in his mind.

“Please! I need your help!” he thought.

Across the street, the girl stopped in her tracks and looked around.

“What is it?” her friend asked.

“Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

“I don't know. It sounded like someone was calling me.”

Her friend laughed. “That's weird.”

“Okay!” Cookie said to himself. “Now to give her the powers of a magical girl.”

He tapped his bell, which caused a tiny beam of light to shoot out toward the girl. It cut through the air almost like a bullet, but it didn't make a sound. In a moment, Cookie would become the assistant of a new magical girl who would help protect the Earth.

But then a car drove by with the window down playing classic rock on the radio. Inside the car was Dallas, driving home from the store. He came into the line of fire of Cookie's beam and was struck in the eye.

An intense pain hit Dallas' eye, causing him to slam the gas on accident and drive up onto the curb. He quickly managed to slow down and get back on the road. As he drove away, all the students stared, talking amongst themselves about what had just happened. A teacher who was outside ran over to the students who were almost hit by Dallas to see if they were all right.

Cookie stared in the direction Dallas drove off. His gut began to churn as his eyes widened. He started to tremble as he placed his paws on his face.

“What have I done!?”

He began to roll around in the grass screaming like he was in pain. “I accidentally gave him the magical girl powers! What do I do!? What do I do!? What will Queen Anna say!?”

He imagined a scenario where Queen Anna stood above him like a merciless goddess. She looked liked she wanted Cookie dead. “You messed up on the job!”

“But please!” imaginary Cookie cried.

“Silence!” imaginary Queen Anna demanded. “For your insolence, I sentence you to life in the Devil Bathtub!”

“No! Not the Devil Bathtub!”

In Cookie's imagination he saw himself trapped in what appeared to be a large, black cauldron-like bathtub. He would cry in agony as his fur got wet and he couldn't reach the bottom of the tub.

Back in reality, Cookie stood up. “No! I can't screw this up! I'll just have to make it work somehow! Things will be okay!”

Cookie jumped out onto the street and followed Dallas. The two girls he surveyed earlier watched as he ran.

“That was weird,” said the girl who was supposed to become a magical girl.

“Yeah,” her friend replied. “That cat looked kind of stupid.”

The girl laughed. “Yeah, he kind of did.”

Dallas pulled up into the parking lot of a rundown two story apartment complex, rubbing his eye as he got out of his car.

“Must have been a million-to-one chance of a bug hitting me or something,” he mumbled to himself.

He entered his apartment and dropped his groceries on the counter.

“How's it going?”

Dallas looked over to see his roommate Todd McAlister holding a gym bag and wearing athletic clothes. Unlike Dallas, Todd kept up with his appearance. He had a muscular build as he frequently worked out and styled his short, brown hair. Dallas first met him in community college a few years ago and had been his roommate for almost a year.

“Fine,” Dallas replied. “I think a bug hit my eye on the way here.”

Todd laughed. “No way! That must have sucked. Is your eye okay?”

“I think so.”

“That's good. So anyway, I'm about to go play some disc golf with a few of the guys from the gym. You're welcome to tag along if you want.”

Dallas shook his head. “Nah. I was up all night and planned on going to bed soon.”

“Okay. Sleep's important, after all. I'll see you later.”

Todd walked up to the front door and was about to open it, but leaned back to the entrance to the kitchen.

“Oh yeah. My dad dropped off some barbeque chicken last night while you were at work. I didn't know if you saw it yet, but go ahead and help yourself to some.”

“Really? Awesome! Thanks, man.”

Todd waved and left the apartment. When Dallas opened the fridge he noticed a plate covered in tinfoil. Upon further inspection it was the chicken Todd had mentioned. Dallas grabbed a drumstick and held it in his mouth, tasting the sweet barbeque sauce as he grabbed a can of soda, then entered his room.

“I need your help!”

“Aaah!” Dallas yelled, dropping the chicken from his mouth and soda onto the floor. He looked down at the soda spilling all over the rug. “Aw crap!”

Dallas quickly grabbed the can then looked up to see where the voice he heard came from. Sitting on top of his bed was Cookie.

“Please!” Cookie cried.

Dallas stared at the talking cat, then walked out of his room.

“Wait! Hold on!”

He returned moments later.

“I must have passed out in the kitchen again or something.”

“This isn't a dream! I really do need your help!”

Dallas rubbed his eyes in annoyance and looked at Cookie. “Okay. First off, who are you. Secondly, why can you talk. Thirdly, how did you get into my apartment. Fourth, fourthly? Fourthly, you made me drop my chicken and soda.”

Cookie lowered his head. “I'm sorry. I didn't mean to surprise you, but the world is in great danger.”

A moment of silence fell between the two as they stared at one another. Dallas was still unsure if he was hallucinating or not. He was pretty sure he hadn't eaten anything weird, unless Todd's dad put something in the chicken. Regardless, a talking cat saying that the world was in great danger was never a good sign, so he felt like it was best to at least listen.

“Okay, so, I have a sneaking suspicion that this is gonna take a while, so go ahead and start. I'm gonna grab some paper towels and clean this mess.”

“All right,” Cookie replied as Dallas placed the half empty can on his desk and left the room. “My name's Cookie and I come from a castle in the clouds.”

“Floating castles now,” Dallas yelled from the kitchen. “I'm Dallas, by the way.”

“Nice to meet you, Dallas. Anyway, there is a queen in that castle, Queen Anna, who is in charge of overlooking the peace and safety of the world. It's her job to send out magical girls to help defend that peace and safety.”

“Oh, so like Lily Mint,” Dallas said as he returned into the room with a handful of towels.

“You know about them!” Cookie sprung up with glee.

“Kind of hard not to. She's on the news like once a week.”

“That's probably because the Masked Sorrow, a general of despair, sends out-”

“The Masked Sorrow?” Dallas asked, cutting off Cookie.

“Uh, well, yeah. That's his name.”

“Sounds lame.”

“I guess? Maybe? Anyway, he's from the Dimension of Despair, a realm wh-”

“That's lame too,” Dallas commented while leaving the room with a soaked-up paper towel.

“...Where sadness and hatred rule. People from that realm came to Earth to harness the power of happiness, the most powerful energy of the universe.”

“Uh-huh,” Dallas yelled from the kitchen.

“You see, the Masked Sorrow has been sending out creatures called shade, which are shadow creatures made up of shadows? I think? They're really scary. Once a week they collect the happiness of people so that the Masked Sorrow can send it to the Dimension of Despair to power a doomsday device that could potentially destroy reality.”

“Why?”

Cookie blinked. “Huh?”

“Why are they powering a doomsday device that would destroy reality?”

Cookie thought to himself, but couldn't think of an answer.

“Also, how does one destroy reality?” Dallas asked. “I mean, what does one consider to be reality? If they're from a different dimension, does what they consider reality to be different from ours? Are they really just trying to destroy their reality in their dimension that might not even be connected to our reality, thus making all of this moot?”

Unable to answer the questions, Cookie began to hold his head in frustration. Dallas waved his hand. “Forget it. Go ahead and continue.”

“Okay...” Cookie responded. “Um, where was I?”

“Once a week shade things something.”

“Oh! Yeah! So, once a week the Masked Sorrow sends out a shade to collect the happiness of people and spread despair. The magical girl we have now, Lily Mint, is tasked with stopping them. But recently there was word that the Masked Sorrow plans on doubling his efforts and I don't think Lily Mint will be able to handle the job all by herself.”

“By doubling, do you mean twice a week?”

Cookie jumped. “Yes! Exactly!”

Dallas wondered how much of an issue an increase of one attack a week to two really was, but decided to keep it to himself as he didn't think Cookie would have an answer.

“Because of this, I was tasked with finding a new magical girl to help with the increase in attacks.”

“Ease some the load off for Lily Mint. I gotcha. And since you're here, you want me to help you find a new magical girl?”

Cookie looked up at Dallas. “Huh?”

“Though I'm not sure if I can really help you in that aspect. The only girl I really talk to would absolutely hate doing it. Then again, maybe Todd knows somebody? Maybe you can wait and ask him once he's back?”

“N-no! That's not-”

Before Cookie could finish his sentence, his bell began to jingle.

“Oh no!” he yelled.

“What is it?”

“A shade appeared!”

“That's not good,” Dallas said, taking a sip of the soda he dropped earlier. “You haven't found a new magical girl yet.”

“But I already found one...” Cookie replied.

“Huh? Really? Then why did you come barging into my room and ask me for help if you already found one?”

“It's because the new magical girl is you.”

A heavy silence fell on the room. Dallas looked like someone had told him they sincerely thought the moon was made of cheese. He wasn't sure if Cookie was kidding or not, but the serious expression on his face made Dallas believe he wasn't.

“...Dude, I'm a guy. Guys can't be magical girls. That's why they're called magical girls.”

“I get that,” Cookie said, “but when I accidentally hit you with the beam to grant the powers of a magical girl your body accepted it.”

“Hit me with a-” Dallas muttered before recalling the incident with his eye. “Don't tell me this happened outside of that school.”

Cookie bowed. “I'm really sorry! I didn't mean to! You drove by when I was giving the power to someone else, and, well...”

“That was your fault!? I almost ran over some kids because of you! You know what'll happen if they report me to the police!?”

“I'm sorry, but it's too late now! You have the powers of a magical girl resting within you!”

Dallas sat down on his desk chair and reclined while stretching his arms. “I'm not doing crap.”

“I'm sorry, but there's no time.”

Cookie tapped his bell, which shot a beam of light at Dallas. The light began to spiral around his body, causing an aura to glow around him. He then appeared to warp into another dimension as a rainbow of colors and stars flew around him.

His clothes shredded off his body, leaving him naked. Moments later he felt his body begin to change. He started to shrink while his hair grew out to his shoulders and changed from black to red. His eyes glowed green as his chest expanded and his crotch dwindled.

Next, forest green ribbons flew around him and wrapped his body. The ribbons poofed into a similarly forest green dress with white frills and a pair of large pockets and a ribbon on his chest. Two thin strips ran over his shoulders for support. A pair of white gloves formed around his hands to his elbow as a pair of puffy sleeves sprouted from the edges of the gloves and up the rest of his arms, leaving his shoulders exposed. His legs were then covered by tights as a pair of shoes popped over his feet. A collar wrapped itself around his neck with a bow to secure it. Finally, a large ribbon ran around his head and tied itself at the top.

After a thin layer of gloss was applied to his lips, he was placed back in his room. To Dallas, it felt like he spent a minute in that other dimension, whereas to Cookie he transformed in less than a second.

Dallas looked down at himself, noticing his newly-formed breasts. He grabbed the dress he now adorned, lifting up the hem then dropping it. The reflection in his bedroom mirror was no longer a raggedy-looking man but a young, cute girl. He touched his now smooth cheeks with a slight blush.

“Holy-” Dallas yelled before quickly covering his mouth. His voice had changed along with his body.

“It's now up to you to protect the happiness of the people!”

Dallas began to shake with frustration as he continued to stare at himself in the mirror.

“What's wrong?” Cookie asked.

Dallas quickly looked at Cookie with fire in his eyes. He grabbed Cookie by the back of the neck and hurled him into the wall, where he became stuck in the drywall.

“What did you do!?” he yelled.

“I... unlocked your magical powers,” Cookie said as he struggled to push himself out of the wall.

“But, what happened!? Why do I look like this!?”

“It's just as you said,” Cookie replied. “Boys can't be magical girls, so your body had to change for your powers to work.”

“That doesn't explain anything you moron!” Dallas yelled.

Just then, there was a pound on the wall from the apartment next door, telling Dallas to quit making a racket. He looked at where the pound came from then back at Cookie with intense frustration. He then started to pace around the room as Cookie fell from the wall and onto the bed with a slight bounce.

“I don't believe this,” he said with a quieter tone of voice. “What am I gonna do? I can't go to work looking like this. Worse, how would I explain this to people? Would they even believe me if I told them?”

Dallas sat down on his bed and placed his head in his hands to try and grasp the situation.

“I-” Cookie began to say, but was quickly hushed by Dallas pointing at him.

He lowered his hand and fell backward onto his bed, placing his hands on his face. “Just... don't say anything.”

Cookie felt incredibly guilty over what happened, especially since this was all an accident, and he didn't try calling for help when he initially messed up.

The bell on his chest began to ring again. A shade was on the loose and he needed to get Dallas to find it and defeat it as quickly as possible.

Then a thought came to him. “Don't worry! You'll be able to change back!”

Dallas looked over at Cookie. “Really,” he said with sarcasm.

“Really!” Cookie cheered. “This isn't permanent! Since your power was unlocked, you have the capability to transform back and forth between your regular form and magical girl form! However, I really need you to go stop the shade from taking the happiness from people! Otherwise the world is doomed!”

Dallas stared at Cookie, then let out an annoyed sigh. “Okay, fine. Might as well, but I'm still pissed at you.”

“Thank you!” Cookie bowed. “You don't know how much this means to me!”

Dallas stood up and adjusted his dress, still not used to the way it feels. “Yeah, yeah. Can I at least change this outfit? It's really embarrassing.”

Cookie shook his head. “That outfit is your magic armor. You'd be defenseless without it.”

“That sucks. Let's get this done as quickly as possible.”

“Okay!” Cookie cheered.

The two of them exited the apartment. After Dallas locked the door, he spotted two people standing on the other side of the parking lot, looking and pointing at him. His face lit up from embarrassment. He couldn't wait for it to be over.

“Do you know where this 'shade' thing is?”

“Only a general idea. I can help lead you the way but once we get there you'll have to pinpoint its exact location on your own.” Cookie tapped his bell, then pointed out towards the distance. “It's that way.”

“Cool.”

Dallas walked over to his car and unlocked it.

“Why are you getting in your car?” Cookie asked.

“Uh, to drive?” Dallas replied. “Were you expecting me to walk?”

Cookie nodded his head. “It'd be much faster that way.”

That piqued Dallas' interest. “That so?”

“Since you're now a magical girl, your body is significantly stronger and faster than a normal human's! Plus you can use your magic to help you run even faster, leap great distances, and all kinds of things!”

Dallas whistled in amazement. The more he heard of the benefits of being a magical girl, the less irritated he felt. “Nice. Can I fly?”

Cookie shook his head. “With your current abilities, no.”

“These powers suck, then. Let's go.”

“Hold on!” Cookie yelled.

“Yeah?”

Cookie jumped onto Dallas' dress and opened the front pocket, then crawled inside. He poked his head out. “Okay, ready.”

Dallas rolled his eyes. He then took a step to prepare to run, but due to his newfound powers he wound up launching himself into the side of a car. The car's alarm started going off as the two people who were watching earlier stared in disbelief, then ran away.

“What happened?”

“Your body isn't used to your new powers yet,” Cookie answered. “Maybe take it slow first so you can get used to it and have better control.”

“Okay. Makes sense.”

Dallas pulled himself out of the car. He then carefully started to walk and eased into a slow jog. Though he meant it to be a slow jog, he was moving as fast as someone running at full sprint, to his amazement. Testing his new capabilities, he increased his speed. Cars driving alongside of him were going about the same speed, and he had yet to go into a full sprint.

“This is awesome!” he cheered.

Seconds later he ran into a telephone pole, which snapped in half and launched forward, ripping out the electrical wires along with it. The pole pierced the trailer of an 18-wheeler, where it got stuck. The cars driving behind him quickly slammed the brakes, many of them rear-ending each other.

Dallas quickly ran away from the scene, which led him to crash into the side of a building, creating a large hole and hysteria among the people in the building thinking a car had just driven through the wall.

Several more incidents occurred before he finally arrived at a local park. His hair was in disarray with bits of debris and dirt covering it and his dress. He patted himself down as he panted.

Cookie jumped out of the front pocket. “This is the place.”

“Good. You okay?” Dallas asked.

“A bit dizzy, but I'm fine,” Cookie answered.

“I'm surprised you didn't die in there.”

Cookie puffed out his chest. “I'm pretty resilient.”

“You don't say.”

Cookie tapped his bell, which created a small magic globe of glowing light in front of Dallas. “Reach in there and pull,” he instructed.

Dallas stared at the globe of light with doubt, then shrugged.

“Okay.”

He stuck his hand into the globe, vanishing as it went inside. He moved his hand around trying to feel something, but couldn't find anything.

“You might need to stick your arm in more, I think,” Cookie said.

Dallas did as instructed and reached further. It wasn't until his entire arm was inside the light that he felt something. He pulled it, but it wouldn't budge. After a few failed attempts, he pulled it out with force, causing him to fall backward when his hand was pulled free. The globe of light then vanished.

“Ow,” Dallas said as he checked to see what he pulled out.

In his hand was a small forest green-colored wand that was about as long as his palm. The bottom had a gold finish while a small golden disk stood at the top.

“What's this?”

“Your magic wand!” Cookie responded. “It'll allow you to detect and defeat the shadow minions!”

“My weapon's a wand,” Dallas sighed. “Great. How does it work?”

“Hold the wand out and cast the spell of detection.”

“You mean those stupid chants Lily Mint says before she does anything?”

Cookie tilted his head. “What chants?”

“Whenever I see videos of Lily Mint doing anything she always chants something.”

Cookie thought about it, but wasn't sure. “I've never heard of anything like that. Magic doesn't require chants. It's all in the heart.”

“Huh,” Dallas responded. He couldn't help but think Lily Mint did them for fun, thereby making it even more lame.

“Concentrate on the wand becoming a shade detector and use the magic within your heart to activate it.”

“That explains, like, absolutely nothing. But whatever.”

Dallas held out his wand and thought about it becoming a detector. It began to glow. Moments later the glow focused onto the top of the wand and formed a small orb that slowly oscillated.

“That was easier than I thought it was gonna be,” Dallas said. “How does this work?”

“You walk around the area and watch the orb at the end of the wand. The closer you get to the shade the more it'll start to blink.”

Dallas was slightly in disbelief. “It's just that hot and cold game,” he thought to himself. “So dumb.”

He stood up and entered the park. There were a couple people jogging along the concrete path while a few tossed a football back and forth on the grass field. All of them looked at Dallas, causing him to cringe.

“They must think I look ridiculous,” he thought.

As he walked around the park, he looked between the radar at the end of the wand and the stares he was receiving. All he could think about was how he wanted to get out of there as fast as possible. It took a few minutes before the blinking on the radar began to increase.

“Finally,” Dallas said to himself.

He kept walking, watching the radar flash quicker and quicker. It led him to a place where Dallas felt the most uncomfortable going near: a playground with a bunch of kids.

“You've got to be kidding me. I have to go over there?”

“What's the problem?” Cookie asked.

“I don't like kids. They're awful.”

“Awful?”

“They're super annoying, smelly, like to touch and mess with things with their dirty little hands, then leave huge messes that other people have to clean up behind them.”

As Dallas approached the playground, the kids noticed him and instantly ran over.

“Who are you?” one girl asked.

“Are you a magical girl like Lily Mint?” a boy asked.

“Why does this cat look dumb?” asked another.

“That wand is pretty!” another girl said.

One of the boys then grabbed the hem of Dallas' dress. “What are you doing?”

“I want to hold the wand!”

Dallas looked down at Cookie, who was overwhelmed by the kids. One of the girls then picked him up.

“Wh-what's happening!?” he cried.

“The kitty talks!” squealed the girl.

“Really?” another kid asked.

Quickly, all the kids turned their attention to Cookie, who struggled to free himself. He looked up at Dallas with fright, hoping he would rescue him.

“Keep them busy,” Dallas said as he abandoned Cookie, who had tears in his eyes as the kids pulled his limbs.

Dallas walked over to a bench, which caused the radar to blink like crazy.

“This must be it,” he said to himself.

Despite having figured out where the shade was, Dallas came across another hurdle: a large whale of a woman sat on the bench, texting away on her smartphone. When Dallas studied the bench, he noticed a weird dark aura emitting from it.

The woman glanced up from her phone and at Dallas. “What are you doing?”

“Uh, well.” Dallas struggled for words. “I, um, need you to get off this bench for a minute.”

“Why should I?” she demanded. “And why are you dressed like that? Did you get lost on your way to a comic book convention?”

“N-no. I just need you to get off this bench for a quick sec so I can check something.”

“I don't have to! It's public property! I can sit on it for however long I want! You don't own it!”

“I know, but could you please move? It'll be real quick.”

The woman turned back to her phone, ignoring Dallas. Annoyed by her unwillingness to help, Dallas grabbed the woman and lifted her up over his head. The woman flailed her arms and legs while she yelled. The kids who were playing with Cookie looked over at the commotion.

“Don't screw with me right now,” Dallas said as he dropped her to the ground with a loud thump.

“Th-that's assault!” the woman shouted. “I can have you arrested! See!? I'm recording you now! I have evidence! I'll upload this to the internet and get you arrested!”

“Like I care!” Dallas shouted.

The bench began to turn black as night, grabbing Dallas' and the woman's attention. The bench transformed into a shade and punched Dallas with such tremendous force that it sent him flying into a tree, snapping it in half. He staggered to get back to his feet and looked over to the kids who had Cookie.

“Cookie! How do I fight it!?”

“You have to weaken it first!” he shouted. “You ne-”

Before Cookie could finish giving Dallas the advice he needed to defeat the shade, the little girl holding him squeezed her arms around Cookie's neck, cutting him off.

“Look out!” she cried.

Dallas turned around just as the shade shot out of the shade from the trees and slammed him into the ground. It picked him up and hurled him at the people tossing the football. Dallas flew over them and crashed into the ground, leaving a small crater. He could taste blood in his mouth as he got up.

The shade charged across the field toward Dallas as fast as a speeding car. Unsure of what to do, he held up his wand and tried to hit the shade, but it ignored the wand and punched him in the chest, knocking the wind out of him. Stumbling, Dallas gripped his chest while catching his breath. He then threw a punch, landing in what appeared to be the shade's face. It stepped back from the assault, but quickly twisted around and kicked him across the head, knocking him to the ground.

Dallas could hear the cries and yells from the people watching as he struggled to get up. Being dressed like an anime character was embarrassing enough, but getting beaten up as well made it worse. The shade jumped high into the air, preparing to strike him down.

“You aren't gonna keep making a fool out of me,” Dallas muttered. He couldn't let things continue the way they were. Not because the world was at stake or anything. That was the least of his worries. Instead, what worried him more was his own demise while wearing a silly dress. If he was gonna be killed by some demonic shadow creature, it was gonna be when he looked like his usual self. Of course, not dying in the first place would be better.

He held up his wand above his head, praying that something would happen. “It would be a lot better if I had an actual weapon instead of a stupid wand.”

A blinding green glow emitted from the wand, causing it to grow. The small golden disk transformed into a large blade. Dallas was shocked by its sudden transformation, still holding it above him.

The shade noticed the danger it was now in, but it was too late. It fell directly onto the polearm, piercing itself to Dallas' surprise. It bled black smoke, similar to what he saw when Lily Mint fought them on TV.

“Holy crap!” Dallas yelled.

He flailed the polearm, causing the shade to fly off and crash onto the grass field. Before it could recover, Dallas began to attack it relentlessly, shredding its body into tiny bits of black lumps of flesh that quickly evaporated into smoke.

With the shade clinging to its last strand of life, Dallas jumped away from it. He held his polearm forward and launched himself forward, spinning in the process. A swirl of light engulfed Dallas as he flew toward the shade. He pierced through it and crashed onto the ground, amazed at what he pulled off.

What was left of the shade fell backward and burst into a cloud of smoke, dissipating into the air. With the fight over, Dallas stood up and transformed his polearm back into a small wand with a burst of light.

Everyone watching ran up to Dallas and cheered. They came up to him and started congratulating on defeating the shade. Dallas grew embarrassed by the attention he was receiving, but was okay with it this time. Even the large woman who gave him a hard time was praising him, telling him she recorded the entire thing on her phone and was going to post it on social media for others to see how awesome he was.

“Dallas!” Cookie cried as he jumped into his arms. “You did it!”

“Yeah. Imagine that. Now let's go.”

Cookie jumped into Dallas' dress pocket and the two leapt over the small crowd of people and out of the park.

“I wonder what her name was?” asked one of the people tossing the football earlier.

“She's Dallas!” one of the kids said. “The kitty said so!”

Dallas jumped from rooftop to rooftop, making his way home. As he made his final leap to his apartment complex, he messed up his footing. He twirled into the air before crashing into a tree. The two fell along with a large branch on top of a car. Its alarm started blaring shortly after.

“Crap.”

Inside a large dark chamber were dozens of television screens of different shapes and sizes floating in the middle of the room like particles circling an atom. A cloud of black mist hovered over the floor. Covering the walls were strange machinery and computers, making bleeping and cracking noises as they worked.

Standing inside the orb of screens was a tall muscular man wearing a military-like uniform with several twisted badges pinned to the front. A red cape flowed down from his shoulders, attached to the uniform by large silver clasps. His eyes glowed red without any pupils behind a plain white mask with no distinguished features. His ash gray hair was combed back slick with gel with a sheen caused by the numerous screens. He folded his arms as he watched several clips of Dallas fighting the shade from numerous angles.

“Another nuisance,” his voiced rumbled.

He spun around, moving his cape behind him with his arm. He then held up his monstrous hand that looked as if it belonged to a devil. The black mist along the floor formed a spiraling pillar.

Out of the pillar came a woman with wild blood-red hair and a pair of black horns rising from her skull. Her top barely concealed her cleavage as the bottom appeared shredded, exposing her midriff. Two sleeves grasped her arms. The one on her right was tight and reached down to her hand, clinging onto her middle finger. Her left arm, however, was in tatters, like something had burst from it. Her skirt was also in tatters with a slit revealing the top of her thighs. Black thigh highs covered her legs while dirty brown boots adorned her feet. She had a long, scaly lizard-like tail that stretched behind her.

Her cold, black eyes looked up at the man.

“You called, Masked Sorrow?” the woman asked.

“Look at this, Taru.”

The Masked Sorrow waved his hands, causing the screens to float over to her. They combined to form one large screen with a jagged shape. Displayed on the screen was Dallas holding his polearm after having defeated the shade.

“Another pest has appeared.”

Taru stared at it without any emotion. “They must be really worried if they went so far as to obtain another magical girl.”

“Please see to nipping this one in the bud. We were too late with Lily Mint, but there's still time to make an example out of this one.”

Taru bowed. “As you wish.”

The black mist rose up into a spiral, consuming Taru. It fell back to the floor, leaving no trace she was ever there.

The Masked Sorrow turned around as the screens broke apart and flew back to where they were before. One flew into his hand, which he clasped tightly. It displayed a clip of when Dallas crashed into the tree at his apartment complex.

“What a fool,” he muttered.

Dallas entered his apartment, exhausted. He collapsed onto the couch to rest for a little bit.

“I'm glad we were able to defeat that shade.” Cookie said.

“You mean glad I was able to defeat it. I did all the work,” he said as he rolled his neck.

“Okay, yeah, you did most of the work.”

“Not sure how I managed to pull it off. I thought magical girls could only shoot lasers.”

Cookie shook his head. “I tried to tell you before that little girl started choking me. Each magical girl has a specific means of attack that's unique to them, and you have to look to the bottom of your heart to discover what it is. And you managed to figure it out without my help!”

“Always the bottom of the heart,” Dallas said as he rubbed the back of his head. He pulled out a leaf from his hair and dropped it on the floor. “I could really use a shower. Though before that, how do I transform back?”

“You ne-”

“I got all the way to the frisbee golf course before I realized I forgo-”

Todd came walking into the apartment. Dallas, still in his magical girl form, gaped at him. While he was outwardly silent, internally he was cursing up a storm.

“Oh, I'm sorry. Are you... What on Earth happened to you!?”

Todd ran up to Dallas, inspecting his dirty condition.

“Uh, um, well...”

Todd pulled a twig out of Dallas' hair.

“I, sort of, um, fell?”

“You fell?” Todd asked.

“Yeah... I was at the park earlier and, well...”

“Are you a friend of Dallas?”

Dallas stuttered for a moment. “Y-yeah. He's a friend. I, um, called him a little while ago after my fall and he brought me over so I could clean up.”

“That was nice of him. Where is he?” Todd asked.

“I think he went to the convenience store to, uh, get first aid stuff.”

“We have some here,” Todd said as he went into the bathroom. “Can't believe he forgot.” He came back out with the first aid kit and set it down on the coffee table. “Do you need help?”

“Oh, no! I'm fine! I can do it myself! Thank you, though.”

Todd walked into his room for a moment and came out with his wallet. “Since you said you're fine I'm gonna head out. I'll be gone for most of the day, so don't feel as if you need to hurry and leave. We have a washing machine you can use if you'd like, and feel free to clean yourself up in the bathroom.”

Todd extended his hand to Dallas.

“I'm Todd McAlister.”

Dallas hesitated before shaking Todd's hand. He looked around the room to try and make up a name. There were a couple of Todd's movies sitting on the entertainment center, so Dallas tried to remember the actresses' names in them order to make one up.

“I'm... Jennifer... Brewster.”

The two shook hands.

“I better get going. It was nice to meet you Jennifer, though I wish it wasn't under these circumstances. Maybe I'll see you again some other time?”

“Yeah, maybe,” Dallas mumbled.

“Stay safe,” he said as he left the apartment.

Dallas stood in the middle of the room for a few moments before falling back onto the couch. “Why did he have to come back now?”

“Is he your friend?” Cookie said, crawling out from under the couch.

“He's my roommate. And why were you hiding under the couch?”

Cookie put his paws together and stared off to the side. “I kind of got scared when he suddenly came in.”

Dallas laughed. “That scared you? Not the shade that almost killed me?”

“I'm scared of them too! But, well, I knew you'd be able to stop it.”

Dallas smiled. “Thanks for the confidence. Anyway, do I have to get cleaned up or can I use magic?”

“When you transform back to your normal self it'll be as if it never happened. You'll also be completely fresh when you change back into a magical girl.”

“Nifty. So, how do I change back?”

“Hold up the wand above you and cast the spell of transformation, just like you did when you cast the spell of detection and when you summoned your weapon.”

Dallas stood up and held his wand above his head. He imagined himself changing back into his regular form. Just like that, he transformed back. He looked down at his clothes and touched his face, feeling the facial hair. When he saw his normal reflection in the mirror, he let out a sigh of relief.

“Glad that's over. By the way, where are you gonna live?”

“What?” Cookie asked. “I can't stay here?”

“Oh, no. There's a $300 pet fee. I don't have that kind of money to spare. You're gonna have to go. If anyone sees you I'll get into trouble.”

“Oh! I could just hide myself if anyone shows up!”

“By hiding under the couch?” Dallas asked sarcastically.

“Nope!” Cookie answered sincerely. “Like this!”

Cookie did a back flip into the air, creating the bubble he used to float down from the castle earlier. While hidden to normal people, he was perfectly visible to Dallas due to his new magical prowess.

“You stand out even more!” Dallas complained.

“No! See, people without magic capabilities can't see me when I'm inside here. Only you can since you're now a magical girl! I also won't make a mess and clean up after myself too, so nobody'll ever find out!”

Cookie stared up at Dallas with a huge smile on his face. Dallas sighed and gave in. “Fine, but you have to stay in my room.”

“Okay!”

“And you can't come to work with me.”

“What? But what if a shade appears again and I'm not near you?”

“I dunno,” Dallas answered. “I'll show you where I work sometime so you'll know where it is at least. But only show up if there's trouble. Not for anything else. Got it?”

“Got it!”

“Good. Now, I'm gonna pass out. I haven't slept in almost twenty-four hours, so don't make any noise.”

“Okay.”

Dallas and Cookie walked into Dallas' room. He closed the door and took off his shirt, tossing it onto his chair. He climbed into bed and pulled his cover over his face while Cookie walked under the bed and laid down, letting out a small yawn.

After making himself comfortable, Dallas' phone started ringing. He reluctantly picked it up. After looking at the caller ID, he debated whether to answer or not before giving in.

“Hello? Uh, yeah. I guess. Sure. Okay, see you in a few.”

Dallas got out of bed and put on his work uniform.

“Who was that?” Cookie asked.

“Work. I got a call to come in.”

“Oh.”

Dallas walked out of the apartment with Cookie following closely behind him. He got into his car while Cookie waited to be allowed in. However, Dallas never complied. He started up the car, backed up and drove off.

“Wait! You said you were gonna show me where you work! Wait up!” Cookie said as he chased after Dallas' car.

'Til next time!