Force of Magic
By Ewen "Blackbird" Cluney
Chapter 10
Candy Rose, Shining Midnight, and Pretty Cherry, along with
the other "misfits," rested in sleeping bags in a small valley
between two mountains with impossibly steep sides. The sky, what
of it could be seen, was full of brilliant stars. The ground
beneath them was, in contrast, rocky and altogether wrong for
sleeping.
"I can't believe her." murmured Cherry.
The others nodded in recollection. The events of this, the
fifth day of training were hard to forget, considering. Lovely
Power was a monster, inhuman and unforgiving. There had been
running and dancing and singing...
For sixteen hours straight. Broken bones were delivered, as
promised, with a cute smile and madly sparkling eyes to those who
couldn't keep up to her satisfaction, then healed. Rose shivered
when she remembered the screams of those who were healed, didn't
dare ask why.
Rose didn't dare even try to move; her body was a mass of
aches and cramps. The fire in her arms and legs had died, down to
a dull smoldering. As long as she didn't move. The endless
repetitions of the Happy Funtime Joy Song had left her throat
sore beyond the possibility of speech.
Thing had been difficult before, but never like this.
"Hi there!" The voice was deceptively cheerful and totally
unbearable.It sent chills down Rose's spine, in turn agravating
aching, cramped muscles. Lovely Power stood over Candy Rose,
smiling. "You must be Candy Rose, the one that gave Crystal
Moonlight a big boo-boo." From the tone of her voice, Lovely
Power could've been talking about a stuffed toy or a new dress.
Rose couldn't move enough to react, and didn't try.
"But I guess you're too pooped to even talk now." she mused.
"But I'm _so_ glad you're here! Wanna know why?" She didn't wait
for a reply. "'Cause you're strong, stronger than you think."
Power leaned closer. Rose caught a whiff of what smelled like
strawberry candy, so strong and sugary she might've thrown up if
there was anything in her stomach. "I want you to believe in
yourself and do your best," she whispered. "That way I won't have
to bweak your head."
And with that, she left.
Unwilling -- unable -- to stay awake any longer, Candy Rose
drifted to sleep.
Dreams were odd enough normally, but according to Piyo, using
magic had a way of making dreamtime visions meaningful, prophetic
even. Add that to a brutal training regimen being applied to a
bunch of girls -- the memory of the sounds of sobbing as dozens
and dozens of magical girls cried themselves to sleep each night
was something she'd never forget -- and much as she longed for
rest, Rose all but dreaded the dreams that would come with sleep.
As Rose was jolted awake by a sort of trilling sound, a sort
ofgentle cooing soundthat would've been pleasant were it not loud
enough to shake the ground, she tried to sift through what she'd
dreamt, what vague bits she could remember. She'd been playing
with little toy soldiers made of green molded plastic, carefully
arranging them for an attack. Most had rifles, but where were
ones with metal detectors or bazookas or radios instead, and a
captain with a pistol and binoculars. Then a woman stepped on
them, just before they were in place.
She'd said something, but Rose couldn't remember what.
All around her the other girls were waking up. Some were
looking for signs of attack, some stood at attention, and a few
da red to continue sleeping. Rose sat there for a moment.
Something was different, and she realized what it was -- all the
aches and pains were nearly gone. Given some food, her legs might
actually support her.
Lovely Power, desite having danced and sung even more than her
charges, looked bright as ever, her shimmering pink outfit and
matching hair in perfect order. She held a purple furry... thing,
presumably the source of the seismic wake-up call. When Power saw
Rose looking, she smiled and waved.
"Okay, listen up!" announced Lovely Power. "Since you all did
such a good job yesterday, and since it's such a nice day, I've
decided to let you have an extra hour of sleep!"
All over the camp, girls flopped back onto their sleeping
bags. Rose lay back and let out a long sigh. If she slept forever
and ever, it would be nearly enough.
"Why? Why's she doing this to us?" moaned Pretty Cherry.
Midnight turned over in her sleping bag. "She's a sicko."
Rose thought about it and shook her head. "No... She knows
what she's doing. Making sure we'll do whatever they tell us."
Cherry's stomach growled. "All I wanna know is, when do we get
to eat."
"After we get back." said a nearby girl. She'd slept only a
few feet away from them the night before, and cried for a long
time. "At least, that's what I heard."
"No way!" cried Pretty Cherry. "I'll never make it!"
The girl shook her head unsteadily. "You haven't been through
her bone breaking."
Cherry paled.
She shuddered at the recollection. "I thought nothing could
hurt more than when she snapped my arm, but then she healed
it..."
Midnight rubbed her temples. "And?"
"It's not like normal healing magic! It _hurts_! It feels like
every little cell is being stabbed and scraped into place, and it
burns and stings all at once." She looked at her arm, clean and
whole, as though it might turn on her. "She _is_ a sicko."
That left them quiet. Magical healing was supposed to be based
on love. There were a few magical nurses among those here,
magical girls who specialized in healing. During a brief rest
period earlier in the week, Magical Nurse Shining Angel had
explained that her kind were chosen for their caring and
compassion, and indeed, even without her powers she had tried
hard to sooth her comrades as best she could, even if only with a
kind word and a hug. They needed it. The crying every night...
Rose began to wonder if Shining Angel and those like her were all
that kept this group from falling apart.
"Breakfast time!"
Girls variously flinched or snapped to attention at Lovely
Power's approach, depending on the degree of fear they felt, fear
of punishment battling pure animal terror. Candy Rose just looked
at the ground, feeling numb.
Cherry took a deep breath. "Wh... what is it?" she asked
timidly.
"Cupcakes!" announced Lovely Power. She opened a bag made of
pink cloth and began handing out cupcakes, three for each magical
girl. The bag was small, and by the time Shining Midnight was
staring at her alleged meal, it should've been empty, but more
kept coming.
Rose regarded the cupcakes carefully. They were, not
surprisingly, pink, with pink frosting of a color that didn't
belong on anything edible, and a red, heart-shaped candy on each.
When she inhaled, she caught their scent and wished she hadn't.
The cupcakes smeled on sugar and artificial strawberry flavoring
even more strongly than Lovely Power herself, and it turned her
stomach. There was nothing in that stomach, though. The food
she'd been provided before this exercise -- which Power had
euphamistically called "a bit of jogging" -- now seemed a very
long time ago.
Forcing those things down was hard. Keeping them down made her
eyes water, but at least her stomach was full.
Pretty Cherry looked at the half-eaten cupcake in her hand, on
the verge of tears. "I... I can't eat it!" she whined. "It's
_too_ sweet!"
Shining Midnight finished scraping the frosting off of her own
cupcakes and sighed. "You'd better. You'll need the energy if
we're going to make it back."
"Candy Rose?"
There was a long pause. Rose frowned. She wasn't the leader
here, whatever anyone said.
But she could at least try to be a friend.
She rested a hand on Cherry's shoulder. "Pleased," she
managed. "So we can all go back together."
When Cherry resumed eating it was forced, desperate. But at
least she was eating.
"I feel sick." muttered Cherry.
Rose got to her feet, feeling a little wobbly still, and
rubbed her head. The sugar was getting into her bloodstream,
raking across he nerves. She'd had sugar rushes before, but
nothing could compare to this. She trembled, tried to hold her
hand steady but couldn't, no matter how hard she tried.
By the time the extra hour of sleep was done with -- not that
many had gotten much sleep, least of all after eating those
cupcakes, Rose felt about ready to explode. When Lovely Power
declared that they'd begin their "little hike" back, Rose found
herself setting out at a dead run. She knew the sugar rush
couldn't last all that long, and she'd wind up crashing very hard
before they made it back to Crystal Crown -- she remembered
something from P.E. class about how that worked -- but she
couldn't help it.
Pretty Cherry and Shining Midnight were trying to stay close
to her, but Shining Midnight was lagging behind a bit. Even so,
they ran and ran, through mountains and into the forest through
which they'd passed earlier.
Birdsof the most fantastic colors sang the sweetest songs as
they flitted through beautiful, impossible trees, some gold or
crystal, or bearing fruit of pecious stones. The morning air was
the purest, freshes, most invigorating Rose had ever encountered,
not at all like the smog-choked atmosphere of Tokyo. The sky was
blue, but with the faintest purple tinge, making it clear that
this place was most definitely not Earth.
Candy Rose barely noticed. Until, that is, the sugar rush
finally began to ebb. With each step she felt heavier and
heavier, until at last her legs gave way. She was dimly aware of
Cherry and Midnight standing over her, trying to pull her to her
feet, but their own strength was flagging as well. The threesome
wound up sitting on the oddly-colored forest loam. Rose and
Cherry were both ready to fall asleep, while Midnight fought for
breath, taking air in ragged gasps.
Rose blinked and tried to clear her head. It wasn't easy;
nerve endings felt like they'd been through a cheese grater.
"Where's everyone else?"
Cherry paled, casting worried glances about. Midnight
muttered, "We lost them somewhere along the way. We tried to tell
you but you wouldn't listen."
The prospect of standing up seemed daunting at best, so Rose
settled for trying to pull her thoughts together. "Do either of
you know anything about camping or wilderness?"
Blank, bleak stares were their reply.
"Then we'll just do the best we can with what we have."
"We don't _have_ anything." Midnight countered sullenly.
Pretty Cherry seemed torn as to which opinion to take.
Rose frowned. They couldn't give up. Maybe Shining Midnight
was ready to throw her life away, but Candy Rose -- no, *Haruko
Hayashi* -- wasn't. "We still have ourselves and we still have
our magic. As long as we have those we can't give up."
Midnight agreed reluctantly. Cherry's gaze was a little _too_
willing to agree. As they began to plan how to go about this,
Rose found them deferring to her, when they didn't somehow give
her credit for reiterating their own advice.
Going at a reasonable, measured page, they set off in what
they hoped was the direction from which they'd come the day
before.
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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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