Force of Magic
By Ewen "Blackbird" Cluney
Chapter 3
Piyo stopped by what had become his usual resting-place in
Haruko's room, a small corner where a soft towel was placed, and
sat down, closing his eyes. He stepped out of his body, as a
human might slip out of a coat, separating spirit from flesh. In
this astral form, he had a very different appearance. Not the
little chick, but a tall, proud man with the feathered wings of
an angel. Travelling astrally, it took only a small exertion of
will for him to reach his destination, the audience chamber of
Queen Artessa, ruler of Chrysalia. He came to rest on the ground
and genuflected. The Queen regarded him with a detached air and
bade him speak on the progress of his charge.
"Your majesty, Candy Rose's command of her power is excellent,
and given her inexperience she's performed admirably against the
enemy, however--"
Artessa's thoroughly neutral expression wavered to a slight
frown, but her voice gave no sign of any such displeasure. "Yes?"
Piyo sighed. "She is having doubts, she--"
"Deal with it." She said simply. "That is your purpose. Inform
me when she reaches classification two."
He looked up at her, unsure of what to say. He could read
nothing in that face, so cold and calculating. That was what it
took to orchestrate the War, he supposed, but it would've been
more reassuring to see some sort of compassion from the woman who
decided to fate of so many. "As you command, your majesty."
"Good. You should also know that it has been decided that your
charge will be made part of a Triumvirate. I believe you know
their companions, Rob and Ellie. The details will be passed to
you. You may go now."
Piyo nodded. "I hear and obey, your majesty."
He willed himself back to his body, lost in thought. Why? Why
was Queen Artessa doing this? She was planning something --
otherwise there wouldn't be any need for trying to improve the
power level of her troops. It seemed unlikely that Candy Rose was
being singled out, after all. And if this was being done on any
scale, it had to be something big. Very big. He felt the knot of
worry form even as he slid back into his body, opened his eyes to
see Haruko there before him.
"You're awake." She said simply.
He nodded. "I have some... interesting news. You're going to be
part of a team."
Haruko wasn't sure what to think of the two girls who would be
her new partners. They seemed to be mismatched, as though many
magical girls had been put into teams and they were the three
that were left over. The three of them, plus their respective
companions sat in a little caf�, eating parfait.
Yoko was a mere nine years old, the youngest magical girl
Haruko had met so far. She tried to push the envelope of
cuteness, and wore pink overalls and a purple T-shirt, and her
hair done up in pigtails, which Haruko found to be an
uncomfortable reminder of Magical Rina. Her personality, however,
quickly turned out to be very different; Yoko was also the single
most insipidly happy person Haruko had ever met, and was
absolutely certain that the three of them would be best friends
for ever and ever. As a magical girl she became Pretty Cherry.
Her companion, Ellie, was a pink talking cat whose cheerful
personality made her the ideal comrade for Pretty Cherry.
Yasuko was a stark contrast to Yoko. She was fourteen, and
somewhat plain looking. She wore jeans and a plain T-shirt, and
her hair was cut short and mostly combed straight. She didn't
talk much, and when she did her words oozed cynicism. As a
magical girl she was Shining Midnight, accompanied by a hedgehog
named Rob who only occasionally talked.
Yoko let out a giggle. "I can tell this is gonna' be lots of
fun!"
Yasuko glared at her with an expression that mixed veiled
disgust and more open dread.
Ellie regarded the group and mused, "Now we just need a name
for this team." Rob and Piyo exchanged glances and shook their
heads. "Why not?" asked Ellie.
Piyo, clealy none too thrilled to be dealing with her,
replied, "We have more important things to concern ourselves
with." He paused, and looked at the assembled group. "And
besides, there isn't any sort of theme at work here. It's a
pretty mismatched group."
Ellie and Yoko both looked disappointed.
Rob cleared his throat, and added, "Although we definitely
need to decide on a leader." Piyo and Ellie nodded in assent.
Yasuko shot a venomous glance in Yoko's direction. "I don't
really care, so long as it isn't her."
Yoko pouted. "Well, then... I don't want her to be the leader
either!"
There was a long pause. Haruko looked up from her glass of
water and realized that everyone was looking at her expectantly.
"M-me?" she stammered.
Rob and Ellie nodded.
"But why me?" she pleaded.
Piyo sighed. "For all their... virtues, Yoko's too na�ve, and
Yasuko's too cynical." He explained. "That leaves you."
Yoko grinned, barely able to contain her excitement. "I'm just
know you'll do a good job," encouraged Yoko. "We'll be with you
all the way!"
Haruko continued to look at her glass of water, the
condensation on its sides further moistening her hand. She felt
her pulse quicken, and the warmth in her face that meant she was
blushing. But why? "I'll do my best," she managed.
With a childish laugh, Yoko threw her arms around Haruko. The
younger girl closer her eyes and grinned, rubbing her head
against Haruko's shoulder. Haruko looked on, unsure of what to
do.
"Don't worry," assured Ellie, "Yoko's just very affectionate."
When Yoko finally let go, Haruko paused to catch her breath,
and risked a glance at that girl -- who was still smiling. Haruko
wondered how anyone could be so bright and cheerful under any
circumstances, much less while leading the tragic double life of
a magical girl.
Piyo looked a little irritated, though his expression was
positively sunny compared to Yasuko's glowering countenance.
"Regardless, I have a lead on a youma operation; we'll meet
tomorrow at Haruko's house to prepare."
Haruko sat down on her bed only after giving up on pacing
the length of her room. It was too short to pace across properly
anyway. From where she sat, she could see the little blue waste
basket that was tucked in between the bed and the dresser. In it
were the two halves of her Tangerine Blossom CD. Tangerine
Blossom was a magical girl and idol singer, and Haruko had begged
for the CD, and finally saved up for it, but the night before she
had taken it out of the DiscMan and snapped it in two. The music
was supposed to have cheered her up, but the lyrics of the first
track, "At Your Side" did just the opposite. It was a cheerful,
optimistic love song, and for some reason it had made her think
of Teruo. She wasn't sure just what she felt for him, but the
more she thought about it, the more her stomach tied itself in
knots of mixed emotions. The only one she was sure she could pick
out was fear.
Stop, she told herself. Don't go there. Think about
something else.
Her new "team" was something else to worry about. Haruko
had been chosen as the leader mainly because Yoko and Yasuko
seemed to hate each other. Their personalities were so different,
and Haruko had simply been the one least unsuitable for being the
leader. Only, she felt like she could barely hold herself
together, much less two others. It wasn't supposed to be like
this when you were ten years old. A month ago she'd never even
considered having these sorts of problems; her biggest worry was
whether she could manage to make it over the vaulting boxes. Her
teammates would do as they were told up to a point, Piyo had
explained, but to get them to cooperate was another matter
entirely, and even he was unable to think of how to accomplish
that.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the doorbell
ringing. A moment there was the sound of the door sliding open,
followed by Mama talking to two girls, barely audible from
Haruko's room. They were Yoko and Yasuko.
"Oh, you two must be Haruko's friends!" exclaimed Mama.
"Please, come in."
"Thank you very much!" replied Yoko.
Yasuko's reply was a mumble.
"What interesting pets you have." remarked Mama, "What
is... he?"
"A hedgehog." Yasuko said flatly. "He bites."
Mama chuckled. "Well, let me get little Piyo and show you
to Haruko's room, alright?"
A moment later, everyone was in her room, getting situated.
It suddenly seemed cramped. Mama announced that she would bring
some snacks and received a chorus of thanks. Once she was gone,
Piyo was the first to speak.
"Hopefully we can get started in earnest now." he said,
hopping over to Haruko's side.
Ellie nodded to Yoko, who in turn unzipped her little
backpack, a pink thing covered in manga characters, which she'd
never get away with taking to scool. She pulled out what looked
to be a trio of pink folding calculators.
"These are magical communicators;" explained Ellie. "With
them you can speak to one another anywhere in the world."
They were briefly interrupted when Mama came in again,
setting down a tray with milk and cookies, as well as a second
tray with fish, bird seed, and, it seemed, crickets. Rob eyed the
latter appreciatively. "Your father and I will be out shopping
all day," explained Mama, "so we won't be back until this
evening. Bye-bye girls!" No one spoke until after they heard the
front door close.
"I suspect we won't have to worry about it too much with
this group," said Rob bitterly, devouring the last of the
crickets. "But these are to only be used for your duties.
Yoko seemed a little disappointed as she passed a
communicator each to Haruko and Yasuko. Haruko opened hers. It
had a little screen and three buttons. Yasuko glared at the pink
thing she held and stuffed it into a pocket.
"But now for the mission." said Rob. "Piyo?"
Piyo nodded and cleared his throat. "Based on reports
from... HQ, I did a reconnaisance of a suspected youma operation.
It's an arcade game factory; they're making UFO catcher machines
that drain energy. The staff is almost entirely disguised low-
level youma. We have to find a way to stop them before they ship
out those machines."
Haruko turned a chocolate chip cookie in her hand and
sighed. "What happens if we can't?"
Yoko and Ellie seemed astonished that she'd even ask, that
she'd doubt their chances of success, but Piyo just fixed her
with a level gaze and said, "The enemy will have the means to
collect energy from all over Japan, maybe even conduits through
which to send youma. The stolen energy could be for any number of
purposes, up to and including destroying the world."
"Of course," growled Yasuko, "what we need, though, is a
plan."
Haruko blushed when she realized that everyone was looking at
her expectantly. She tried to think. "We can't just attack," she
began. Images of the Queen of Hearts and Bloodblade flashed in
her mind. "We should find a way so they won't suspect, like..."
She thought and thought, and they waited and waited. How could
they explain three schoolgirls wanting to get into a factory?
"...We could tell them we're doing a school project and ask for a
tour!"
"Good." said Rob. "And once inside?"
That was the next thing. She didn't want anyone to get hurt,
so maybe... "If we're just trying to keep them from shipping, we
can destroy their computers, so they don't know who to ship to."
Stunned silence followed. Yasuko was the first to speak.
"That's... brilliant. Even if the machines are ready and packed,
they won't go anywhere without the database of addresses."
Yasuko's voice showed... respect. Haruko hoped she'd be able to
deserve it.
Piyo nodded. "It is. I'm impressed. However, we should still
do as much damage as possible to the factory itself, to make
sure."
Much as she didn't want to admit it, it made sense. Without a
database they could still get some machines out and take in more
orders, but without a working factory they'd be out of business.
"Alright. Pretty Cherry and I will take care of the factory,
while Shining Midnight sneaks away, destroys the computer, and
comes back to help after that."
Yoko and Yasuko nodded at almost the same time. "Right."
Then they had to get out. "After that, Shining Midnight can
teleport us out. If not, we un-transform and if anyone asks we're
just scholgirls who were doing a project when it all happened."
"It seems we have a plan." said Piyo. "With that decided, all
that's left is to go and do it."
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Ewen "Blackbird" Cluney blackbird@earthdome.com
Blackbird's Domain http://www.geocities.com/tokyo/6127/
Knight Kevlar of the Immortal Frog Silver Knight of Mihoshi
"Be nice to me; I might just develop
psychokinetic powers and destroy Tokyo!"
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