Fragmented Afterthoughts Chapter Nine:
Blood Red and Steel Grey

Chapter Nine:
Blood Red and Steel Grey

Magick woke up after the night filled with nightmares, dreaming herself to be
plunged into eternal darkness, hate, and loathing by some greater power. She never saw
anything of him, save for a small scrap of grey material that always drifted down after
her beating. She was shaken greatly, though slightly comforted by the fact that Kaxic had
come to help her. Her main priority right now was to spend some quality time with her
best friend after many years; Joey.

Humming and slipping on a pair of striped black-and-purple stockings under high
cut-off shorts, adjusting her appearance and brushing imaginary dust off of her clothing,
she beamed to herself in the mirror, laquered black lips shining as she happily skipped
out and to breakfast.

Strangely enough, there seemed to be a great deal more members today, all lined
up throughout the hall. Magick frowned, then sighed, getting in line. It looked like a long
line, even from here, and it didn't seem to be moving at all.

Twitching her tail in annoyance, she was about to peer over someone's head when
she heard the scuffling of feet that came to a rest beside her, and a petite head that looked
up at her from below. "Hiya!"

Shrieking and jumping backward, she flailed frantically for a moment on
stockinged feet before slipping to her doom and hearing the unsatisfying crunch of her
tail bone beneath her. It was even more unpleasant now that she had a tail.

The boy looked down on her, scratching her head in wonder and amusement.
"Are you okay?"

"I'm FINE," Magick grumbled, standing up slowly and rubbing her sore bum. She
gave a tiny glare to the boy, who seemed incredibly amused and who latched himself
promptly onto her arm.

"We can be friends!" he exclaimed, purring and nuzzling his head into the crook
of her arm, where she promptly dislodged him with a glare.

"Who ARE you?" she asked, more than slightly annoyed that some little freak had
tripped her up and then latched himself on, like some parasite, to her body. She wasn't
comfortable getting that close to someone, or something, as the case may be. Madoki still
hadn't returned after his romp during the late hours.

He stuck out a hand, looking not at all bothered by the fact that she had just
thrown him off herself. "I'm Kikiri," he said promptly, "but most people 'round here call
me Kiri!" His voice seemed to have no middle tone between a shrill squeak and a happy,
bubbly voice.

Magick scratched the back of her head, then offered the opposite hand. "Magick."

"I know!" he exclaimed happily, grinning from ear to ear. "I saw you come in last
night, you're that girl from Earth!"

So someone DOES know how to pronounce it, she thought with a small chuckle.
"Great. And how old are you?"

"Nine," he said, giggling happily and looking immensely pleased with himself. "I
can guess how old you are; sixteen or something, right? Am I right, did I guess right?
Huh?"

Somebody please get me a tranquilizer dart. "Ye-ess... you're right, I'm sixteen.
You don't seem nine." Probably between the ages of two to six. Gads, how much sugar do
they allow here? "But I'm one to talk."

She was beginning to like him, he had a certain bouncy energy about him that she
hadn't seen or felt for years.

Kiri looked at her strangely, tilting his head as he stepped back admiringly.
"You're funny, with nice ears and tail," he announced, and Magick was noticing some of
the other people starting to edge away from her, and the line to the breakfast area was
getting shorter.

"Yeah. A real crack-up. My ears and tail were a package deal," she snorted,
rolling her eyes and looking back to the breakfast line. "I'm going to go get breakfast.
You want to come, or are you happy entertaining yourself out here?"

Kiri looked momentarily frightened, stepping back into one of the two main halls.
"Nope, can't go in there with ya, sorry 'bout that. I'm gonna go back now. 'Bye, Magick,
I'll see you later!" he said hastily, and scooted off in an undetermined direction.

Magick sighed, shaking her head. Criminy, she thought, looking back towards the
hall once before entering the dining area. You would have thought that kid was on
Ritalin or something. Ears flicking back in slight interest, she looked to the line that was
now starting to form again and jumped into it. It was not long before she was at the head,
and collected a small amount of fruit, along with a bagel, and stepped out to go and
devour it.

While she was eating, a clunk hit the table beside her, and she looked to see some
bagels resting on a tray, and managed to strain her neck to look up at the intruder. Joey
smiled down at her, glasses catching the light filtering in from the windows in the room.
Magick grinned, and obligingly scooted over to a side to let her friend sit down. Joey did
so, with a careful toss of her hair over her shoulder, avoiding hitting anybody.

"Hey, sleep well?" Joey asked, taking a bit of cream cheese on her knife and
spreading it around some on her neatly cut bagel.

Magick shrugged nervously, grinning through a mouthful of watermelon. "Purfy
mutch," she said, and swallowed it promptly. Blinking a bit to clear her otherwise
groggy-appearing eyes and the bags of the aforementioned, she smiled. "How did you
sleep?"

Joey turned to look down at her bagel, taking a bite. "Same old, same old," she
said quietly. "Just a whole lot of psychic energy that I've been picking up on... pretty
much the same old news. Some guy. I have little doubt that it's Thanos."

"Thanos?" Magick asked, confused. Oh yeah, it was the big baddie they had been
talking about yesterday to her, the man who was responsible for the demise of the entire
Team Rocket Forty-seven estate earlier on. "Never mind," she said pompously, and
sighed, shaking her head a tiny bit.

"You know who he is, I think," Joey said. "We discussed him the other day. One
thing we're not quite sure about is exactly what he has in store for us; he made one attack
and stopped, but I'm not sure what else he wanted to do. The entire prospect of it... there
had to be more. One attack on a couple of people... there was something else in mind, I'm
nearly positive of it."

Magick frowned, brows drawing together in slight annoyance and displeasure.
"So you're saying there's something more to this now. My question to you would now be
exactly what happened after I left. I mean, I saw things up until the point where you
transported me home, which was unpleasant, by the way..." She stopped. She was calling
the Earth her home. Had it really been that long?

Joey nodded vigorously, finishing up her half-bagel. "Yes, there's something more
to it. I've gotta figure out what, and you're welcome to pitch in any suggestions you can
think of. But still. You really want to know what happened?"

Magick nodded assent.

Joey looked displeased, pursing her lips in distaste, but nonetheless continued.
"Thanos had pretty much downed most of us. The psychics had a good advantage over
him, as we were powerful enough to keep standing for a while, but we still managed to
drive him back, all of us. It was a combined effort, however..." She stopped, looking
down.

"He didn't swear revenge or anything tacky like that. He just left, not saying
anything. Any attack we tried on him was just like using water pistols on a grass-type; it
did nothing. We didn't understand, but he took up his army and just left. There was most
definitely something suspicious about that, as you can imagine. It bothered all of us.
There's got to be something he wants to do. And with all the new recruits, getting in here
without a scratch or anything of the like, we've got to wonder exactly what's going on and
all. We're keeping close watch on those ones, mind you."

Magick took this in with an air of dissatisfaction. "I understand," she finally
responded. "I just wish there were more to it, like something that could actually explain
what he wanted."

Joey took a sip of a sweet-smelling herbal tea and shook his head, shrugging her
shoulders, and giving a general impression of not knowing what to do. She swallowed,
then looked back up. "We don't know. We just have to find him and stop him."

Magick looked down, frowning down onto her nearly untouched plate. "So people
died because of this."

Joey nodded, looking over. "A couple -- hey, are you all right?"

Magick wiped her nose with the fishnet sleeve and a conciliatory air, frowning.
"Yeah. I just wish there were be less brutal approaches to this. I know that won't happen.
And something bad is going to come out of this, someone else is going to die, and
something is just so wrong about this entire thing..."

"I understand," Joey said, placing a comforting arm around her friend's shoulder.
"I understand."

Magick sniffed again, sneering and looking away with a harsh laugh. "Lookit me.
I'm such a wuss, I think it's so horrible, though."

"You're not a wuss."

"Could've sworn I was."

Joey gave her friend a repremanding look, and communicated with her
telepathically, putting a sympathetic to an otherwise toneless voice.

We need to take a walk.

Magick rose from her seat, leaving her food to be cleared away later and
following after Joey, who strode briskly in large high heeled boots and strode outside into
a large garden that Magick had no idea would be included in such a place. It was lower
than the hill in which she originally saw the HQ, and was most likely nearing sea level.
Roses twisted from all over, varying in colours and seeming to sniff Magick as they
twined in the wind, twitsting about and facing their petals towards her. She blinked,
looking back at them, but then they seemed to simply sway in the wind, doing nothing
wrong.

Joey stuck her hands behind her head and tilted back somewhat, looking up at the
clear blue sky. Her glasses showed the white, puffy clouds that reflected, and she smiled
as she looked up. "Aah, such a nice day. Don't you think?"

Magick looked down at the ground, shuffling her feet lightly in the light green
grass, which seemed to retaliate by putting dirt and mud on her shoes. She grimaced,
glowering down at it. "Nice day," she mumbled in agreement, and hardly noticed when
Joey took time to stop and pick a blue rose, then set it in her hair, carefully balancing the
purple against the blue.

The rose twined in her hair to adjust, and bloomed more openly in there,
becoming a startlingly bright colour that seemed to bleed into her hair. Joey looked down
once more, and found a red rose, then set it carefully in Magick's hair.

Kiri suddenly came dashing up. "Magick! Big sister Magick!"

Magick blinked. Big sister? Since when?

Kiri bounced a few feet from her, then pounced her, catching on to her stomach
and holding tightly. "I missed you since breakfast, big sister!"

Joey raised a brow as Magick picked him up and set him down a bit from her and
crouched. "What's up, mah Kiri?"

He grinned at her and swung him arms in a typically little child fashion, and
waited as Mazaki walked up, from whence Magick knew naught of where he came.
Mazaki looked at Magick, then bowed to her and Joey. Joey managed a small frown, ut
nodded her head. "Mazaki," she said coolly.

Mazaki nodded and took a stance behind Kiri.

Mazaki took over for a rival gang once, when I had killed their leader... the
leader had a major issue. Strong, buff anthro. He was practically going to kill everyone
in his "pack", shall we say, Joey's voice came in Magick's head. She nodded assent
momentarily, and smiled to Mazaki and Kiri.

"Taking a walk?" she asked sweetly, and the little boy nodded, hair flopping over
and into his face slightly.

"Yes yes, with big brother Mazaki." He then scuttled off in a particular direction,
and Mazaki followed, leaving Magick to wonder about what had happened to make them
both so anxious to arrive, then to leave.

She turned to Joey, who shrugged, but pointed to the rose in Magick's hair.

Magick jerked back slightly. The rose was wrapping it's branches through her
hair, which had seemed to lose all it's thorns. The dark mass of black set off the bloom,
and it burst into a bright red, staying in her hair and looking very much like blood. "Relax
a bit," she heard Joey say from her side, a small laugh in her voice as she said such. "The
roses attune to what they like, and that's a bit of power."

Magick had to blink. Who in their right name would keep something like this, if it
fed off power? "They're pretty," she managed to say.

Joey smiled at her and looked back up to the sky. "They determine lots of things,
you know," she stated simply.

"Oh? Like what?"

"For example, they attune to power in such a way that they can detect lies..."

That's a stupid trait, Magick thought angrily. This isn't some stupid sort of
magical world where all my dreams come true, so what the hell? "Detect lies. Gotcha."

Joey gave her a look from the corner of her eye. "Also, they have this nice way of
telling when you have love for someone, friendship, wish death upon them, and much
more..."

Magick rolled her eyes again, sighing and stretching, looking up at the clouds that
drifted, white and puffy, in the sky. "Uh-huh.."

Joey poked the black-haired girl with her tail in the stomach, and Magick doubled
over with surprise. "If you don't believe me, just tell me," Joey said somewhat angrily,
her normally sweet voice taking on an annoyed tone.

Magick looked up from her huddled position, then stood up as she saw some
black roses. Hm, she thought, stepping towards the bush and letting her fingers graze the
blossoms gently, I wonder why Joey didn't give me one of these, to match my-

"DON'T TOUCH THOSE!"

Magick was pushed to a side immediately as the rose bush seemed to swivel and
focus on her, and the thorns oozed some sort of sinister looking sap, dark blue and
seemed to thrive with poison. She blinked, looking as Joey, who had taken off her glasses
and was standing by the roses, grimacing.

"Had you touched those, Magick," Joey said slowly, "you would have been
poisoned. Those are the roses that you give to someone when you want them dead." The
purple-haired girl stood for one moment more looking at the roses, then stepped away
and frowned intently. "You've got to be more careful about what you do around here. Not
everything is so gentle as it may seem on Urth. Or had you forgotten?"

Magick felt immediately defensive. "Look, woman, had you just spent four to five
years of your life on another PLANET, then maybe you could tell me whether or not I
was allowed to think something about it. Until then, and only then, you will NOT be able
to tell me that anything here has some sort of freakin' semblance to the life I've been
living!"

Joey frowned even more heavily now, and said nothing, only turned away,
holding tightly onto the pendant which held the yellow-and-green pendant similar to the
boy in the series once watched on Earth, Shigeru Ookido. Shrugging indignantly, she
glanced once back at Magick. "Okay, go ahead and touch what you feel like. I'm not
going to stop you if you find it that important." She started off at a brisk stride, and
Magick groaned, smacking her pale forehead with her palm.

Damn, she thought. All this planning to spend time together today wasn't going so
well. "I'm sorry," she called, jogging slightly to catch up with Joey.

Joey shrugged once more, looking slightly upset as an otherwise perfect forehead
was creased with a frown. "Yeah, it's fine."

Magick grumbled internally. "Uh, maybe you could take me out today, and I
could... I don't kno, go around with you, hang out a bit, maybe see a bit of this world,
huh?"

The other mew sighed blatantly and looked over her shoulder, stopping to let
Magick catch up. "Fine by me. If you have any means of transportation, it would be nice
to know at the moment. A motorcycle is my thing, so you know, if you want to grab some
of the vehicles we have stored or something. I take it you've got your driver's liscence?"

Magick nodded, taking all of this information in. "Yeah, got my driver's liscence
a little while ago. Eh... I guess I could rent one of the cars, unless you have any better
idea?"

Joey shrugged, smiling. "Nary a one."

***

After a fufilling day of walking through Goldenrod and shoping for new wear at
several dozens of stores, Magick felt stiated as she climbed up into the bunkbed which
was her new home. Underneath her was noone, yet she felt most comfortable on top.
Joey had indeed taken her Moltres bike, which had looked sufficiently cool, and Magick
was restricted to a fairly modern red-flamed motorcycle, black in chrome and design. It
had fit her perfectly, and she vowed to herself that if she ever had to ride again, that was
going to be her preferred vehicle.

Sighing and shuffling through the blankets and onto the cod sheets, she sprawled
out, starting to think about her past. She hardly remembered anything before finding the
Headquarters and Joey, who had kindly taken her in; she remembered nothing parent-
wise, and a cold shocking grip of fright grabbed at her. Her parents. She hadn't known
them... they could be anyone. Pokemon, human... it didn't matter. ANYONE.

Searing pain gripped her head after she thought of that, and she felt the comings
of a migraine. Holding her head and whimpering, she closed her eyes tightly and shut out
all of the outside world. If she could focus, this thing would be gone in no time.

How coming back from shopping had made her reminisce about her parents, she
wasn't quite sure. It frightened her once again to think of them, as they were never in
touch with her. Anyone. It could be anyone. The migraine pressed harder, and she rubbed
her temples vigorously, trying to get rid of it.

A shudder ran through her body, and she twitched violently. Something was very,
VERY wrong. There was something...

A soft thump at her door let her know someone was trying to get in. "Come in,"
she said, and winced in pain, red flashing before her eyes with each heartbeat. Between
the beats, she saw Kiri enter, holding Mazaki's hand.

"Magick!" he said, invigorated. "I'm so glad to see you! Me and Mazaki are going
out for a walk, and we were wondering if you'd like to come along." Kiri looked up to
Mazaki, who looked down, blinking slowly. He then turned his head from that angle,
looking to Magick.

"Would you like to come?" he asked, his voice soft and letting her know there
was an underlying tension. "We're going for a walk in the rose garden."

Magick shook her head, taking great liberty to do so. "No, I'll stay here." The two
shrugged, and Mazaki gave Magick a sizing-up glance before he exited alongside the
little boy.

Magick sighed, laying back down on the pillow and closing her eyes. It wasn't
long before she was asleep. There were no specific dreams this night, only a faint
whisper and a cry of pain and an utterance of animalistic hurt. She woke in a cold sweat,
her headache gone, and peered out the window. There was a shadow laying on the
ground; thank goodness she had been placed near the rose garden.

Hopping off the bed and scampering down to her window, she looked down and
hopped out, landing gently on her feet about ten feet down, only to see the cause of the
noises before.

Kikiri lay to what Magick could see as dead, bloody frame slumped over a rose
bush that tangled in his face and onto his clothing. Mazaki stood by, looking like a
nightmare, making Magick choke with fear and disgust.

Metal ripped through his body in spikes, showing through his spine and bending
his body awkwardly, making him look as if he were sliching to a great extent. His face
was covered with metal as well, making blood run down his front and onto the boy and
the rose bush. It didn't take long to tell Kiri had been raped and put there.

Blood ran around the mouth of the beast that was no longer Mazaki, but part of
the rival gang that Magick had heard Joey speak of earlier. His face contorted as he
looked at her, and he glared slightly, eyes narrowing to small, red-tinted slits.

The black-haired girl had little choice, and fired a psychic blast at him, cutting
through his chest and sending him backwards, only to see him land with the rose bush
sticking through his chest. She was disgusted immdiately, and ran to look at him, to see if
she had seriously wounded him, or at least could help. He looked up at her, chest healing
with regeneration, though he pulled himself up, holding onto the rose bush, and not
minding the fact that the spikes from the flower and the metal drove through his hand. He
peered at her as she huffed.

"I'll kill you, bastard. You murdered that little boy, didn't you?" she hissed
between clenched teeth, eyes narrowing in fury, no longer sympathetic.

Mazaki choked out a reply as his arm was caught in the flower bush, and he
started to ry. Magick was startled; the bad guy wasn't supposed to cry. It was always the
heroine who spared and shed a tear or so.

"I'm so glad you've come, Magick. I couldn't be the leader anymore, I just
couldn't... the old gang, I can't take care of it... I'm sorry, so sorry that it had to come to
this." He covered his eyes with a hand, though his voice was still thick with tears and
blood.

More blood spattered the grass as he continued. "It's okay, now, isn't it... I don't
want to be the leader... I didn't want to kill him. I didn't want to." He forced himself to
stand, rocking tentively as he balanced and Magick screamed for a nurse to come out.
Lights flickered on, and the moonlight night was still clouded by Mazaki's image. He
rocke once more, and tugged Kiri's dead form from the bush, stroking the bland hair that
lay tattered and bloody aainst his forehead now.

"He was a part," he whispered. "I didn't mean to kill him..."

He fell as several other started to come out, running from the building as Magick
stood over the two, Mazaki huddled up close to Kiri, stroking the bloody hair and
brushing it outof his eyes as the wounds healed and the metal tore the skin further.

"It's okay," he whispered. "She's here to help. She's here to help. She'll take care
of us now, Kiri. She'll take care of us."

His voice, harsh and raspy in the night drove Magick to her knees as she stared
blankly at his form, which was finally carried away by members. She still sat, remaining
cold. She had a sinking feeling the "she" he was talking about was her, and she was now
in way over her head.