Fragmented Afterthoughts
Chapter Five:
Anthro-were? Anthro-there!
Chapter Five:
Anthro-were? Anthro-there!
Crash was slowly explaining things as the four young girls made their way
steadily down the road. "You know how we said we've remodeled and all? You'll
be sharing part of a room with either one of us three, or with one of the new
members. We've gotten a lot of those, somehow, in the last few months. And
I'm not sure about the others, but I'm starting to get suspicious."
"Of course we're suspicious," Joey interrupted, laughing in the way she
had that sounded like wind-chimes. "Why shouldn't we be? Not all of them are
healthy-looking, and I suppose it's that which is making them particularly
noticeable. After all, we've been pretty much empty up until a little while
ago. This means all those ones who look like crackheads coming in are
probably up to something."
"That's a vile word to use, Joey," Jads sniggered, trying to look as
dignified as she could while trying not to laugh. "Don't call them that.
After all, they're humans like you, just like you, and don't you forget it!"
Crash looked thoughtful a moment, placing a delicate index finger on her
chin. "Actually, I see several things wrong with that statement. First off,
crackheads are NOT just like her. After all, the pasty skin, the shadows
under the eyes... there's a recognizable difference. And second, remember,
not all people present are human."
From beneath Crash's shirt, a faint movement showed, and Madoki scuttled
across the road away from her. The long, slender tail synonomous with a
Raichu's flickered out for a moment, twitching vivaciously, and then
disappeared under the shirt again. "You can never tell when someone might be
around," Crash said, giving Magick a toothy smile.
Magick had, up until now, been digesting this information with somewhat
of grim satisfaction. After all, in the years she had been gone, she would
have had to come back and find out the newest things going on in the HQ. Now
she would have to not only greet old friends, but new members, too. It didn't
particularly appeal to her to aqquaint herself with "crackheads", as her own
experiences had left her somewhat changed in that light.
However, returning to reality, an argument had come about between Joey
and Crash. "...too!" Joey said, lowering her brows until they fell over her
eyes, hodding them from light.
"Is not!" Crash shot back, eyes narrowing as she crossed her nimble hands
over her upper chest.
"Is too!"
"Is not!"
"What is and what isn't?" Magick asked, somewhat confused.
Jads sighed, shaking out her shining hair. "They're at it again. They
have some sort of debate going on right now, and that is whether or not Urth
was a suitable place for you to stay. After all, they don't even have pokemon
there."
Magick sighed as well, nodding slightly. "It's true. Urth isn't a nice
place. People there seem to think that Pokemon is only for small children."
"It's not," Jads clarified, looking forward and away from the two
bickering. "Pokemon really can depend on what you like, who you are, and I
suppose your preferances. I happen to think that people up to and including
those who have lived past ages like that of one hundred can still enjoy
Pokemon. It can be a hobby to keep them in shape, a challenge to battle them,
a family tradition to keep them as pets, or to raise them for a particular
type of breed-"
"Or become the greatest master, which I just have to say is fairly
possible. 'Specially with me," Joey said, before dissaparating back into her
verbal battle with Crash.
"That too," Jads said, acknowledging the fact that she had been
interrupted twice now. "But you're saying they don't respect other people's
choices, and judge others, even if they don't know what they're like?"
"That pretty much about sums it up," Magick replied faintly, smiling. She
stooped over quickly and gathered up Madoki into her arms, halting the Jell-o
blob from tripping either one of the bickering two.
"It must be horrible on Urth," Jads said, eyes widening as she looked at
Magick. "Nobody respecting anybody else, constant competition... I certainly
hope that I never go there!"
"I hope, for your sake, that you don't have to either. Not a pretty
place, either. Litter's everywhere, smog, overpopulation... the list goes on.
I mean, even in L.A. there are thousands upon thousands upon thousands of
people who live there. There's an electrical crisis, even, and they refuse to
do anything about it. The President thinks that L.A. should handle it's own
problems."
"That's understandable," Jads said. "I mean, the Koffing must be a little
bit too heavy in your area, along with the Grimer and Muk. All you need is a
couple of type-efficient pokemon and that problem's solved. Just like with
the electrical crisis; if somebody bred a Zapdos or something for that
specific need, then you could most definitely have lots of power for your
state, and many others as well. Why don't they just do that?"
Magick shrugged slightly, causing the baggy shirt to fall even more over
the end of her fingers and down her shoulder. "Well, quite simply, we don't
even HAVE pokemon on Urth."
Crash and Joey stopped bickering at once. "Are you serious?" squeaked
Crash, her eyes growing large.
"Why would I lie about something like that? Of course I'm serious! I had
to endure several long years of watching my past fade away into oblivion
because I couldn't change into a mew, and the only remotely similar thing I
could do was bend a spoon and predict things. I'm not an Alakazam, it's not
my job to bend spoons! And my pokeballs had to go to waste somewhere in this
world, so I couldn't even see what they LOOKED like in the real world! Plus,
the only Pokemon on the planet were on some dumb TV show about a guy named
Ash who was a really bad trainer. I think the moral of the story was to show
that he was such a loser, people should strive to be better than him. But
there were a couple of-"
Magick stopped, covering her mouth and blushing. The other three had
stopped moving, and were staring at her quite intently, despite the bright
sunlight. Too late had she realized she had been rambling on about nothing in
particular.
"Bend a spoon?" asked Joey quizically. "Bend a spoon?" She burst out
laughing, closing her eyes and rocking back on her heels. The other three
were left in silence, watching her outbreak of mirth somewhat indifferently.
"That's sad, though," Crash said, looking back towards Magick and trying
hard not to join in the mirth Joey was in. "There aren't any Pokemon on Urth?
Then who does the fighting and patrolling and breeding and battling?"
Magick shrugged, now watching Joey giggle uncontrolably on the ground,
holding her stomach and shaking. "Nobody, I guess. Guns are popular as a
method of battling, and patrolling is done by the national guard. Breeding
doesn't mean a thing, unless you're talking about some type of dog."
"You mean like a Growlithe?" Jads queried politely, now stepping in front
of Joey to make sure she wouldn't run into any rocks on the side of the road.
"Pretty much like that, save the fact that they can't shoot fire out of
their mouths, and no dog I've ever seen on Earth has stripes like a
Growlithe. But yes, in a very faint sort of way, they are connected," Magick
commented, now seeing Joey stand up, wipe her eyes once or twice, brush
herself off, and begin to clean her glasses on her shirt.
"Bend a spoon," she snickered, shaking her head as she looked down.
"Geez, Magick, that's pretty sad." She tossed out her hair, shaking it, then
settled the glasses back on the bridge of her nose, peering through them at
the other three.
Madoki meeped quietly in Magick's arms, reminding her that he was there.
He seemed more purple now, and less solid, then he had when they had first
arrived on the planet, but it was hardly something Magick could worry too
much about. After all, he WAS a slime...
The four began to walk again, now starting up a slightly inclined road. A
thoughtful look came onto Magick's face, and she thought hard for a moment.
Then, putting Madoki safely on her shoulder, she asked, "Not to sound nosy or
anything, but how exactly is it that you three had come out for a walk at the
exact same time that I came back here? I mean... well, you guys had extra
clothing and everything, were you expecting me or what?"
Joey sighed, shrugging petitely. "In all truth, we WERE just walking.
Myself? I felt some sort of psychic energy headed our way, and thought it
best to check it out. Besides, the spare clothing was something even I was
surprised that I had. I didn't know it was in there, but then again, when
does a girl EVER know what is exactly in her purse?"
Magick considered that for a moment before moving on with her thoughts.
"Even though YOU'RE psychic, Joey, what about the other two here?"
"They just came along," Joey said, terminating any hope for Magick
discovering why the other two had come. "Besides, Magick, it's not as if I
would come alone. Not after what happened so long ago. It could have been
another attack."
Magick nodded once more, thinking about what had happened. Strangely
enough, the more she thought about it, the more she couldn't figure it out.
"And what IS the name of the man who attacked the HQ so long ago?"
Joey, Jads, and Crash exchanged glances before Jads cleared her throat.
"We never really found out, but the only name we could think up for him was
Thanos." She looked slightly perplexed, shrugging casually. "Why does it
matter?"
"Just for my own terms of reference," Magick explained. "I don't mean to
sound boring, but I really would like to know what's being going on in the
past few years. It's important to understand all the logistics of things
before I go into further detail of what I don't know." She sighed, then
continued. "And why aren't you surprised about my appearance?"
Joey raised an eyebrow. "We had expected you would be changed if you came
back to the Pokemon world, but what do you mean in particular?"
Magick gesticulated wildly to her eyebrow piercings, her ear piercings,
and what seemed to be black eyeshadow above her eyes. The darkness that was
there was actually her lack not only of sleep, but her poor nutrition as
well. "I wonder, what seems different about me to you!?" Madoki managed a
startled hiss and bit her ear as she made wild gestures.
Crash shrugged briefly, sighing. "I don't know, did you expect us to make
a big to-do about nothing? I think it looks good." She peered over at Magick,
raising her eyebrows slightly and smiling. "Besides, I think everyone else
who remembers you will care."
Magick sighed, shaking her head. This was turning out to be incredibly
boring, as she had now talked about social problems and economic problems on
Earth. The next thing she was sure to have arise was the presidency or
something to that degree. Fortunately, she saw Joey stop a moment, then take
something out of her backpack.
"Nearly there," Joey said, rumaging through it as she twisted it to the
front with a great show of acrobatics. Grabbing something out that looked
like a chapstick container, she took the cap off and swiped it over her
fingers, then put it back in. Noticing Magick looking, she smiled quickly and
showed her fingers to the girl. They were glowing ever so slightly, showing a
white little aura over her index and middle fingers.
As they came to the top of the now-getting-steeper incline, what Magick
saw made her awed. Her eyes opened as she looked carefully to the rebuilt HQ,
seeing only what she assumed to be the very upper-most levels of the thing.
It was a pale building, built into the hillside, so that grass came up
and around the walls, nearly covering it. It was a good defense trick, so
that invading troops would think that the entirety of the thing was there,
above ground. Moving forward, she saw it's mass showing very slightly under
the hillside, where the grass rippled very slightly. It looked neatly taken
care of, though, and approaching a set of metal double-doors, Joey and the
other two stopped.
Joey was the one to step forward, placing her fingers in front of what
must be a panel, but was something on the side of the wall, obscured from
Magick's vision. She ran her hand twice over the panel, and Magick stepped
forward to get a closer look. A miniscule device, surrounded by a metal
frame, was hung on the wall. It had what looked to be a mapping device,
something used in radar, as a red light kept flickering back over the green
and black screen. It stopped in the middle, turning orange, and the doors
issued a soft hiss as they opened.
"Hermetically sealed shut," Jads and Crash explained at the same time,
then looked at each other and giggled. "We don't want any intruders," Jads
said, gesturing for Magick to follow Joey's lead and step through the
entryway. "And we especially don't want any heat or cold getting in when
there's bad weather."
Stepping inside, Magick saw a room very much like the hall of a hotel.
She was walking in on the carpet, to her sides were little pictures, those of
landscapes, countrysides, beaches... she looked forward, seeing more sets of
steel doors, presumably those of the elevators. Magick walked forward with
the three others, Crash being the one to touch a small pad right by the
elevator. It hummed, and the doors slid open from the sides and into the wall.
The four girls stepped forward (Magick with a look from Jads) and onto
the so called elevator. The lift descended, and for minutes on end, the four
dropped. Madoki meeped once again, and she saw that he was loosing the
compilation that made a slime. His skin was now a light purple, and his ears
were beginning to disappear. Worried, she patted over his body to make sure
he wasn't deflating (after all, what could hurt a slime?), but found nothing
wrong. He beamed up at her silently as the other three stood, arms crossed,
waiting for the ride to end.
Finally, with a choppy, thumping noise, the elevator stopped. Magick gave
a little sigh of releif, and stepped out with the others to another hall,
similar to the first. She groaned, and Jads looked over at her.
"What's wrong?" she asked, walking briskly down the hall.
"Nothing," Magick responded, struggling to keep pace with her. "It just
seems so.. repetitive in here."
Joey smiled to her side. "Thing'sll get a lot more interesting when you
get to see all your friends again," she commented. She opened yet another
door with the touch of a finger, and it slid open to reveal a cafeteria.
Refridgerators, humming to the sides, were large and accessible. Tables ran
down the length of the room, and it looked tidy enough. Nobody was in here.
"Anyway," Joey once again spoke up, her eyes shining. "You've got to try
and get back to being a mew sometime soon, or you'll never be able to again."
"And since when is that?" Crash asked sardonically, marching to Joey's
other side.
Joey shot her a mild look. "Since she was on Urth for so long, I'm
guessing... this is a plausible guess, mind you... that if she doesn't hone
her skill back up to being able to transform, she's never going to be able to
again, due to the lack of experience."
"That sounds about right," Jads commented, looking over at Magick. "I can
see where you're going to need training. Four years is an awfully long
time... "
Magick sighed, shaking her head. It wasn't a thing she liked, to have
people debating over whether or not she would be able to switch to mew form
again. Of course, that would mean that there were only two other mews in the
HQ.
An involuntary shudder passed through Magick. She wouldn't ever want to
be human! They were so dull, and could do only the things that the assistance
of firearms or technology let them. "Okay, so when do I start my training?"
"Right now," Joey said, stopping. Magick, too, stopped, surprised that it
was coming on so quickly. "Try and concentrate, becoming a mew once again.
Okay?"
Magick closed her eyes as she had done before, and felt pain richotet
throughout her body as the scratches and bruises from before were remembered.
She pictured every fibrous hair, every nerve ending, the small, sleek coat...
She felt pain, and yelped in surprise. "Stop!" Joey cried, and with a
rush of wind, Magick felt her come to her side. "Stop, Magick! You're killing
yourself!" She heard Crash and Jads gasp.
Magick opened her eyes to see that her flesh had turned black, as it was
supposed to, but human bone split the seams of her new body. Dark purple
blood dripped from the gashes, and she let the air out of her lungs in a
rush, glancing down.
"Focus on bone structure! You're forgetting bone structure!" Joey
exclaimed, nervously shifting from side to side.
Magick was more than happy to oblige, and slowly felt her bones
shrinking, grinding against one another as they did so. Joey shook her head
in bemusement, and opened her hand. Specks of white light dropped onto
Magick's wounds, closing them somewhat, so that only a scratch was left of
each. In due course, she felt her other beatings dissapear, for they were far
less major.
Jads sighed with relief. "Oh my gosh," she said, letting out her breath.
"Magick, that scared me so much... be careful next time!"
"But at least she's back to her old mewi self!" Crash laughed. It was
true. Fur had grown over Magick's entire body, and she was once again the
chibi mew with the big ears. She flicked both ears and tail experimentally,
and laughed when she discovered she was herself again. It came out in a
series of mews, and Crash gave her a stern look.
"Focus on your speech," she said, looking over to the girl. Magick once
again obliged, and her tongue took on a different shape in her mouth.
"I know that," she snapped. "I was experimenting." Her voice sounded
tinnier, almost as if it had shrunk with her too. She floated, hovering in
the air before the other three girls. But where had Madoki gone?
Madoki managed a muffled 'Myu' from under one of the tables, and came out
with a piece of bread in his mouth, happily chewing. "Uh-huh," Magick said,
eying the blob.
"Now you get to change back," Joey grinned, looking over at Madoki for a
moment before focusing on Magick. "And please, try to remember bone
structure. Otherwise, you'll be one wrinkly sixteen-year-old."
Magick raied a brow as she shifted herself back to human form, watching
as the three others became smaller, then finally her own height. Jads
giggled, and Crash rolled her eyes, but for what reason? She looked to Joey,
who was sitting in midair with a smirk on her face.
"Well, at least we know you can go human again," she said, "but what
about the ears and tail?"
Magick looked down at herself. Her hands were still the midnight black of
her mew form, and her tail swished behing her. Her slippers had broken when
she had changed, as she now had paws of extreme porportions. And wiggling,
more to the top than the side, of her head, were her little black mew ears.
"Oh nooo," she moaned, and willed herself to be all human. Nothing
changed.
"Well, at least you'll make a funny impression on the new members," Jads
giggled, looking her over. "I'm sure they'll think you're cute!"
"Oh yeah, gotta love the big ears," Magick wailed piteously, slouching.
Her tail twitched even more behind her, displaying her anger and
disappointment.
"Well, we'd best get going anyway," Crash said, picking up the walk once
more to the other side of the cafeteria. Jads followed, but Joey stayed with
Magick.
"Don't worry," Joey consoled her as they walked down the hall, stopping
where Jads and Crash now stood. "I'm sure within a little bit you'll be able
to change into a full human again."
"I suppose," Magick sighed, looking up to the double doors in front of
her.
"Cheer up," Jads said, opening one. "At least you're back home."
Inside the set of doors was a brightly lit lounge, where TVs' stood,
along with a table for playing Pool and Billiards. There was white-and-beige
furniture adorning the room, and to Magick's surprise, there were all her
friends.