Chapter 6

For once in his 26 year old life Cloud was happy not having to have Yuffie around. He did like her, even if she did betray him and his friends to steal their materia. After the incident in Wutai, she was loyal and dedicated to stopping Sephiroth and Jenova. She even came to help fight the Bahamut in Edge when Kadaj attacked. The only problem with the 'great ninja' was her intolerance to air travel. Every time they took to the skies in the Highwind she would run to the bathroom faster than if she'd cast haste on herself. Right now, sitting in the bowels of the Koopa airship, he was glad she wasn't there because he sure as hell wasn't going to clear up her puke.

The pilot that they'd threatened on the ground hadn't kept to his word. As soon as they'd touched down, the pilot had run out screaming that heroes were on board but in the short moments he'd been gone the heroes had worked a little disappearing act. Oh sure, the ShinRa and koopa troopas had tried to find them but soon they'd had to give up and wonder if there had been any heroes at all. Despite the pleas from the pilot, he'd been locked up for 'wasting everyone's time and energy'. The heroes however, had slipped away into the hold.

They'd been there for a few hours sitting in the hold of the steel beast flying through the skies. Every once and a while a patrol would pass by and check cargo looking for possible stowaways or anything out of the ordinary. The large cargo room below decks was cold and dark and shuddering from turbulence. Crates and containers were stacked on top of each other, creating a container skyline inside the airship.

Sonic was restless, marching from spot to spot at lightspeed tapping his foot. "How much longer we gotta stay here? I'm getting bored." He complained.

"For the last time, we don't know. Just wait until the ship begins to descend and then you'll get your answer." Cloud replied, attempting to sleep for umpteenth time.

"We ought to be getting there soon," a sleepy sounding Mario said from across the way, his red cap pulled over his eyes. "Koopa Land isn't all that far away the Mushroom Kingdom, getting there on foot takes longer since Bowser usually sets up seven or eight outposts along the way to his dominion."

"That and crossing water is dangerous. Massive Cheep Cheep's, Big Bertha's and even monstrously sized Bloopers." Luigi mumbled from under a green cap pressed down over his face.

"Bloopers? Cheep Cheep's?" Sora asked, "I don't even want to know what a 'Big Bertha' is."

"That probably sounds for the best...wait, d'you feel that?" Cloud got up from his place on the floor and made his way past a few containers to a port window. "Looks like we're landing." He informed everyone.

"Would we happen to be coming down over a massive lava lake?" Mario inquired, waking himself up.

Cloud shook his head, "Nope, I can't tell where we're coming down. This window's giving me a terrible view; it's defiantly the coast though."

Mario looked confused and so did his brother. "We can't at Bowser's palace then, his main citadel is inland."

"Then we'll hitch a ride on the ground. There must be some way to get around this place that doesn't include walking." Sora suggested.

"Sonic drawn cart?" Luigi asked, but the hedgehog gave him the evil eye. "What? You've wanted to do something the entire time we've been on this airship."

"Not funny dude." Sonic said.

"We worry about that when we're grounded, for now we hide. Cargo will be the first thing they want unloaded." Cloud began walking towards a container and opened it. "In." he ordered.

Sora, Mario and Luigi were straight in no problem. Sonic complained as he was forced into the box. "Great. Put me inside an even tinier box. Lovely." The hedgehog muttered under his breath.

Cloud secured the container from the inside and waited. Half an hour later the entire airship shook as it landed. In minutes, soldiers, koopas, and dock workers were inside shuffling about and removing steel boxes. Inside their container, the heroes held their breath. One mistake and they'd be found not that Sonic would have a problem with that. He'd be free to run to his heart's content. For the rest of them, they'd be surrounded by the enemy in enemy territory. Not favourable odds.

Machinery echoed throughout the cargo hold as boxes were hauled away by stevedores. One by one containers and boxes were taken away. Each one marked with the ShinRa's insignia or Bowser's emblem. Each one containing something to further the Syndicate plot, or so the heroes assumed and each one bringing them one step closer to being taken out of the ships hold and so it continued for the next few minutes. The echoing and noises of machines got louder and louder until they were right outside their container door. Then the feeling of being picked up ensnared them and they felt the sensation of movement which was of little comfort when they could barely see their hands in front of their faces. Their container was being driven through what the heroes assumed was a shipyard full of the similar looking containers and each little bump in the road felt like they were about to be dropped by whatever machine it was that had picked them up.

Then they were put down. Voices were talking to each other outside and they could barely make out what was being said. Sora, being the closest to the door, put his ear up to it and listened. He made out a odd words. Hojo. Experiments, Bowser Palace. But that was all Sora could get out of the conversation before the door was opened and he fell out into the cold night air.

"What the hell? Did anyone order live teenager?" the voice asked, irritated. It came from a man in a scruffy suit with red hair and goggles and behind him stood a taller man who was bald with shades.

"Erm… hi?" Sora said, giving a feeble smile.

Cloud jumped out with sword drawn, "The Turks, should've known you guys would show up eventually."

"Hey Cloud, long time no see buddy." Reno replied enthusiastically, arms spread open as if he was expecting the swordsman to embrace him like they were old pals. His arms were outspread for a few moments before realising Cloud wasn't going in for the hug.

"What errand is ShinRa sending you on now?"

"Aw, Cloud it's all business with you. We haven't seen you since Kadaj's gang and this is how you greet us after so long. That's cold brother." Reno looked genuinely hurt for a second.

Cloud turned to Rude, "What're you two here for?"

"The Old Man is worried about Hojo. He thinks he might be doing some of his below board experiments." Rude shifted nervously at the mention of Hojo's experiments.

"You two couldn't find out?" Sonic asked.

"Ha, you don't know Hojo my little blue friend. The guy's halfway to both insane and paranoid. He trusts no-one and the only guys who're let into his labs are handpicked scientists and SOLDIER operatives. Not even Bowser is allowed into the lower levels of his castle without Hojo's say so." Reno explained, clearly exasperated by the thought as he tapped his electromagnetic rod on his shoulder while pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Even though we got our orders directly from the President, not even we can into those labs." Rude continued, "We have to head back on orders, but if we couldn't get in…"

The red-haired Turk smiled, "But I bet you guys could."

"What." The heroes said in unison.

"Yeah, Cloud. Think about it, you guys get to wreck Hojo's experiments as well as knock out one of our facilities." Reno began to get seemingly get excited at the prospect of ruining the professor's day.

"And you'd let us? That sounds kinda fishy to me." Sora rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

Rude straightened his tie, "We might work for the President, but our loyalties lie elsewhere."

"How is Rufus?" Cloud asked, "Still wheelchair bound?"

"He's good…well he's not in a wheelchair anymore at least. I think he's still wondering how all this happened." Reno pointed his rod around in gesture.

"Yeah well so am I." Cloud sheathed his greatsword. He signed, "So if we're going to get into that lab, we need to get to the castle first. Mario, you have any ideas?"

"I'll take a while to get there on foot, even by car it's at least a day or so drive." The plumber shrugged.

"Hey now, we got you covered there." Reno said putting his arms around Mario and Cloud, "On the other side of this shipping yard is a newly built train station, courtesy of both ShinRa Corp and Doctor Robotnik."

"Which will be both heavily guarded and dangerous as hell?" Cloud folded his arms.

"I'm sure you'll work something out. You guys always do." Reno continued, handing Cloud a keycard, "You'll want this too, just a little something to help your case."

"Gee thanks." Cloud pocketed the card. "Anything else?"

"Start running." Rude said, with a phone to his ear.

All eyes turned on the Turks.

Reno held up his hands in defence, "Sorry guys, we need to cover our own asses. Plus it'll look weird if you have one of our key cards without some kind of fight."

"Oh god dammit, RUN!" Cloud cried and all of the heroes took off in the direction Reno pointed, towards the train station.

As the heroes dashed off down the alleys created by the shipping containers, Reno turned to Rude. "D'you think they'll make it?"

"God no."

"Me neither, let's go."

In the distance alarms began to sound as they ran this way and that trying not to run into oncoming infantrymen or koopa's. Clouds thundered and lightning flashed across the sky as rain began to pour down on them as they turned left down an alleyway and into a four way intersection. Looking around frantically Cloud turned to the others. "Alright, we split up here. Mario's you two go left, Sonic you go right. Sora, you're with me, and we all meet up outside the station. Got it?"

They nodded, not wanting to argue in the current situation. "Alright, move!" and they split.

Mario and Luigi darted down their alleyway, turning left and right to out manoeuvre the thudding of boots that was rapidly approaching behind them. They ran, looking behind to see if they were coming after them, rain pouring down, soaking them through. Luigi could feel his heartbeat pounding faster and faster reminding him of his night in his haunted 'mansion' except no ghosts and far worse.

Before they could exit out onto a road koopa's blocked the way about to pounce on the brothers. But thinking quickly both Mario's jumped into the air, using the koopa's heads as bounce pads and began to kick off the sides of the containers making clanging sound as they ascended. The both of them exploded out onto the tops of the metal boxes, rain pounding down on them while they ran from box to box jumping the long distances with their signature jumping abilities, Luigi going higher.

Paratroopa's descended down from on high zooming and zipping around, repeatedly trying to ram either Mario or Luigi. Mario ducked an incoming paratroopa and waited for the next one to attempt his ramming trick. When it came back around to attack, the plumber was ready. With careful timing he waited until the last second, just as the paratroopa was closing in with its head bowed down preparing for impact. Within seconds, Mario had jumped into the air and began to bring his leg around. His foot connected in with a loud crack and knocked away now senseless koopa away into the night as more and more came. Gunfire ricocheted off the containers as infantrymen below shot at them hoping that a stray round might hit one of the plumbing brothers.

"Luigi!" Mario shouted and pointed frontwards at the lights coming from the train station.

It was a large four storey building with massive steel framed windows spanning the height of the building. Art deco styled arches topped the building with a dome in the centre with Bowser's red banners adoring the station. Bridges stretched out from the building and spread far off into the distance, connecting the place with other stations all across Koopa Land. Spotlights mounted to the roof of the station shone down over the shipping yard watching for the approaching heroes as soldiers and koopa's filed out to find their enemies.

Luigi saw the building and called back "I see it!" as he used another paratroopa as a springboard to launch himself across to another container.

Cloud meanwhile was dodging and ducking gunfire, using his fusion sword as a shield to block the bullets. As he ran, he pulled the small case containing his material and pulled one out quickly. Ducking into a side ally and attached the materia to his sword. The rain was an unrelenting force as it battered down on the ex-infantryman, slowly flattening his perpetually spikey hair. If I was a vain man, Cloud thought, I might be more concerned about the rain messing up my hair. He thought then looked at Sora, The kid on the other hand… Sora kept brushed the spiked hair out of his eyes clearly frustrated. "Hey," he nudged, "Got a plan, all you need to do is run."

Sora looked confused. "What are you going to do?"

"Just run when I say go….GO!"

Cloud and Sora sprinted out into the road. Sora kept running while Cloud stopped as the infantrymen and koopa's came running towards them. Holding out his hands and arms, he cried with determination "FIRE!"

Flames erupted from his palms and danced across the road towards the soldiers. It engulfed and bathed them in a torrent of heat and fire. Swirling around them and setting them alight. Frantically they began patting themselves down and rolling on the floor. They dropped their weapons in panic which in turn fired off a round as they hit the ground pinging off the container and accidentally wounding their comrades. While the flames were lethal, Cloud knew they probably wouldn't die. The rain seemed heavy enough to douse the flames on the soldiers. Worst they'd get is third degree burns. It was painful but not deadly unless ShinRa had a policy of offing their heavily wounded as a way to save on medical supplies. Yet knowing that the company was now using clones instead of 'brought by the stork' babies the chances of ShinRa putting a bullet through the brain of the wounded seemed frighteningly high. Sora didn't need to know this mind.

Cloud crossed to the other side of the road and ran into the warehouse after Sora and closed the door barring it behind him. "That'll hold 'em for now, but it won't last long. We need to find the exit." Cloud said starting to look around.

The warehouse was filled to the brim with shipping containers each baring the ShinRa or Bowser emblems filled with lord knows what. They towered over reaching the ceiling nearly meanwhile in between lights dimly lit the pathways between the towering containers. Cloud didn't even know where to start looking. Sora on the other hand seemed to know where he was going as he didn't even hesitate. He jumped up and began climbing up a nearby crate. "Up there, we can get out through the skylight."

"Well," Cloud looked up at the open skylight above. It was just above a very tall and very unstable looking tower of containers, "I've been part of worse plans." He said and started to climb up after Sora.

As they climbed, both swordsmen could feel the slight shake of the container. Though Cloud was confident they could make it, he wasn't so keen on the idea of being up there when the enemy finally broke through the door yet still they carried on climbing, each container more wobbly than the last and each one forcing Cloud and Sora to slow down to prevent it from tipping.

Behind, Cloud heard the door creaking open, mounted flashlights began to fill the room. More infantrymen and koopa flooded in, their footsteps echoing throughout the warehouse. Crap. We could not be in a worse position right now Cloud wondered as he pulled himself up another container.

Apparently they hadn't seen them yet as the soldiers searched for the heroes, not even thinking to look up and yet high above both swordsmen were jumping from another stack of containers to the next, instantly crouching down to try and hide as he made a clattering noise. "What was that?" an infantryman asked from below.

One of the soldiers looked up. "You don't think…" he nodded at the piled containers.

"Don't be ridiculous, he wouldn't be stupid enough to climb all the way up there." Another chided, "Now keep searching."

Cloud laughed silently to himself. They waited for the men to pass before continuing upwards, pulling himself onto another crate. But something was wrong; someone hadn't stacked his current crate properly and as Cloud had made his way halfway across it shuddered violently with Cloud nearly losing his balance. He jumped off and just barely managed to grasp the edge of another container as the former fell from the stack and tumbled down onto the unsuspecting infantrymen and koopa's below. Sora helped pull him up onto the container and watched as it hit the ground.

It crashed into the ground with so much force the ground shook. All the enemies below either fell over or started running towards the sound. From Cloud and Sora's position they could feel another about to go and before it started to move he was pounding his way, nearly at the window exit of the warehouse. Gunfire began rattling off as infantrymen began shooting upwards at the former soldier. Cloud jumped onto the final container as an entire stack began to tumble and fall, cargo spilled out of the containers as they crashed into the floor. Weapons, armour and crates of potions and ethers littered the floor of warehouse only to be crushed by more containers.

Sora and Cloud barely managed to make it to the skylight, their current container disappearing from under their feet and into the carnage below. With little effort they pulled themselves up onto the roof of the warehouse. Cloud kicked the window closed. "That was close, but I'll bet both of us have seen closer." Cloud said.

"Ha," Sora laughed, taking in deep breaths, "That was nothing compared to the Hydra."

"I remember after we defeated Sephiroth, hanging from a rock ledge with one hand holding and my arm around Tifa with the other." Cloud reminisced, a faint smile playing over his lips.

Sora looked amused. "Smooth."

"Don't go there Sora. Me and Tifa are childhood friends. That's it."

"So are me and Kairi but that doesn't stop Donald and Goofy making fun."

"I'm sure it doesn't but we gotta move." Cloud looked over and saw the train station a couple of roofs away, "We're close, the others should be there by now. Well Sonic should be at least."

"I'd be surprised if he were the last one to arrive."

Sonic was lost.

Somehow he had been certain to take a left instead of a right and then a right then a left. In the back of his mind he knew he was lost but the rest of him knew with absolute confidence, he knew where was going.

Did he bollocks.

The hedgehog only saw walls of shipping containers; he had no clue where the train station was let alone which way to go. Of course it occurred to him that maybe running around at the speed of sound at ground level was probably the worst idea he could've had. So to remedy this, he stopped and ran to the top of a crane used to carry the crates. From the top he saw over the majority of the shipping yard including the ship that had brought them in. In the distance he could see the lights emanating from the train station. He whistled. "Now that is a view. If only it were prettier…and less wet."

Heard gunfire and if he squinted he saw fire rising up near one of the warehouses on the other side of the yard. "Well they're having fun." He said to no-one in particular. Then he heard the rotor blades behind him. He turned to face a ShinRa helicopter gunship with paratroopas on escort and waved at the pilot with a half-hearted smile on his face. Though he couldn't see the pilot, Sonic was pretty sure he wasn't repaying the gesture. The koopa's on the other hand were more than happy to smile and wave back before realising who he was and charged in.

Sonic dodged the first incoming paratroopa and jumped into the air, curling into a ball, and pounded into the second knocking it into the metal floor of the crane. He picked up the knocked out form of the koopa and as the first came back around he flung it at the incoming enemy. They collided and fell over the edge of the crane to the containers below. Sonic spun back around to the see the chain gun mounted to the underside of the helicopter begin to rotate. He grinned, knowing what was coming next and boy was he going to enjoy this. Bullets began to fly as he jumped from the platform to the crane arm as weapon fire riddled the machinery. The copter pulled around in front of the crane arm to shoot the hedgehog and Sonic was quicker and sped up along the arm to launch himself onto the gunship. Sonic dove through the air and latched onto the cockpit and stared down the pilot.

With the hedgehog attached to the front of the copter, the pilot couldn't see anything and pulled back in some attempt to not fly into the crane in front of him yet failed to account for the crane behind him and pulled back too far. The rotor blades hammered into one of the cranes legs and as they did, Sonic realised this and with his speed he began to kick the cockpit window open. Yet the rapid thud, thud, thud of the blades kept on going until something snapped and the rotors broke under the pressure. As the helicopter began to spin out, Sonic managed to break through windscreen and undo the straps for the pilot in record time before diving off into the sky. While they were air born Sonic got a decent view of the train station which as it turned out was west of his position.

Landing was a rough affair with both Sonic and the pilot colliding into a stack of containers very hard. Sonic curled up into a ball thudded into the container leaving a small dent on the metal. The pilot crashed into it and screamed in pain as a few of his bones broke. Meanwhile the helicopter spun out and exploded in a fiery blaze a short distance away from their stack. Sonic uncurled himself from his ball and surveyed the carnage. "Woo! That was fun!" he cried. Then he noticed the pilot next to him nursing his right arm.

"Hey, you okay?" Sonic asked.

"Screw you, hedgehog." The pilot said back.

"Nice buddy. Looks like you won't be going too far with those injuries. So hey since I'm a nice guy, I'll take you to your friends."

"You touch me and I swear I'll-"

"TOO LATE!" Sonic yelled as he picked up the pilot and at speed ran through the maze of containers and left him outside a warehouse along with some burned infantrymen also in pain. Sonic then continued onwards to the train station.

Mario and Luigi were the first to arrive hiding in a dark, empty container opposite the chain fences that prevented them from entering the train station. Sirens blared and the sounds of mobilising vehicles and soldiers rose in the distance. Paratroopa's flew overhead to locate the enemy from the air. This was a fine mess they'd gotten themselves into.

The brothers studied the outside of the station carefully, trying to figure out how to get inside but there seemed to be nothing. Koopas patrolled the outsides while others entered and exited. Sometimes, trucks would pass by with containers loaded onto the back. Mario stroked his moustache wondering just they'd get in. He'd noticed as he and Luigi had gotten close that none of the containers or warehouses was close enough to jump inside the wire fencing and that guards both Koopa and ShinRa were kept on duty at all times, well it seemed like all times. Mario and Luigi had only been there for a ten minutes.

Mario kept studying the building when from behind him a voice whispered "Hey guys, whatcha doing?"

The older brother jumped and Luigi had to cover his mouth to stop himself from yelling. "Mama mia, Sonic. You gave us heart attacks." Mario said, adjusting his cap.

"Heh, sorry guys."

"Where were you anyway?" Luigi asked.

"I got lost." Sonic replied sitting down of the cold floor of the container, "Then I got a ride on a helicopter."

"Sounds like you had fun then." A new voice entered.

In the back entrance of the container Sora appeared, his spikes dipping from the rain but his grin was remaining intact. "Hey Sora," Sonic nodded, "Where's Cloud? You lose him some place?"

"Nope, we've been getting our way in. Come on, check this out." Sora left walking back through the alley of containers.

Sonic, Mario and Luigi looked at each other and altogether shrugged. Surely anything was better than what they were planning which, of course, was nothing. So they all followed the teenager out and through the shipping yard to a truck, much like the one Mario had seen earlier. A flatbed used for hauling cargo from the warehouses with 'ShinRa' printed on the side. Cloud sat in the driver's seat waiting.

Sonic was confused. "We're busting in to a guarded station…in this?"

"It's either this or get left behind, Sonic, the guy who we 'borrowed this from had a radio which kept saying that our train was scheduled to leave pretty soon." Cloud called from the cab.

"Couldn't I just run us all in there quick?" Sonic asked.

"D'you know where you're going in there?" Mario replied, climbing onto the back.

"Fair enough…I guess." Sonic muttered climbing in too.

Luigi clambered up with his brother and Sora jumped into the cab with Cloud. Cloud gunned the engine and the tires began to squeal as he shot off down the road. He pulled around the corner nearly scratching the paintwork on a container's edge. The truck hammered along while the three in the back held on for dear life as Cloud kept the building speed, racing past both ShinRa and Bowser forces.

"BRACE YOURSELVES!" Cloud yelled.

The truck busted through the wire gate as infantrymen dove left and right trying to get out of the way of the runaway truck. Shots came from all directions while Cloud and Sora kept their heads down as moments later, the smashed through the large double doors of the train station. Chunks of concrete and stone flew across the lobby, scratching the floor and knocking down some of the soldiers inside. The truck itself was badly damaged, windscreen smashed in, black smoke pouring from the engine like a flood erupting from a broken dam.

ShinRa and Robotnik had certainly constructed an impressive train station. It was four levels of chugging engines and white smoke housed inside an open planned hall with bridges and stairs connecting the different platforms above. The sounds of trains and their horns echoed throughout with the heavy thud of jackboots and shoes as koopa's, goomba's and infantrymen all rushed. Faintly an alarm could be heard of the trains.

"How was this any better?!" Sonic cried as he climbed off the track, helping Sora out the of the wrecked cab.

"You think they saw this coming? We surprised em!" Cloud called back as Luigi helped him out. Mario pulled the fusion sword out of the back and handed it to the swordsman.

"Okay now where do we go?" Asked Sora.

A few feet away a large monitor displayed the different train time tables, one was headed for 'Dry Bones Canyon' another for the 'Magikoopa Acadamy'. The list went on until Luigi noticed the one they wanted, bolder than the rest in golden font. Bowser Palace – Flr. 3 Plt. 2.

"Floor 3, let's move!" Luigi cried as they started to run.

Cloud pulled another materia from his pack and along with Mario and Luigi they started to shoot fireballs upwards at the incoming paratroopa's and infantrymen firing down. Fireballs knocked the ShinRa soldiers back and blasted the flying koopa's from the skies. Red and green shells fell cracking on the polished floors. One or two soldiers above were hit by incoming trains as they accidentally fell into the tracks and failed to move out of the way in time.

Behind them Sora cast blizzard onto the floor behind them at the feet of the soldiers and left the enemy to fall over each other in their attempts to chase them. Some soldiers fell over and fired their rifles on impact some of which hit their comrades. A few were hit in the leg, others in the arm. One got them a bullet straight through their liver. Sora never saw this though, more focused on following his team.

On their stairs soldiers thudded down trying to shoot the heroes but with speed, Sonic zipped past the enemy and stole their weapons and threw them over the side of the staircase. Quickly they pulled their tonfa while koopa's spun down in shells bouncing off each step. Cloud unsheathed his sword as he began sprinting up the stairs and swung it at the incoming shells. The greatsword slashed through the hardened shells and the yellow forms of koopas spilled forth falling past down the stairs. Mario jumped the flailing koopas and landed only to be hit with an infantryman's tonfa, nearly sending him backwards only to be caught be Sonic who spun around and flung the plumber back at the infantryman. They collided and Mario's fist connected with the face of the infantryman while simultaneously grabbing the tonfa out of his hands.

The plumber threw the weapon aside and leaped up the stairs to catch up with Cloud and Sora who were slicing and dicing through the koopas and infantrymen. Each slash and cut were kept non-lethal but Cloud had a very hard time doing so while Sora seemed like a natural at it like he'd done this before. At the top of the staircase thick iron bars stretched across the hall and branched out to the different platforms another staircase at the far end. Shells began dashing towards them but just in time a blue pinball jumped over their heads and sped towards the green and red shells.

With force, Sonic dashed into each one knocking them aside with force. Some of the shells broke sending koopas sprawling across the bridge and others actually fell slipped through the railings and fell to the floor below smashing on impact leaving the enemy's inside dazed and broken. Behind them ShinRa's infantry clambered up the stairs behind as the heroes rushed along the bridge ducking to avoid gunfire and the paratroopas attempts to ram them.

Up the second set of stairs they fled towards the train. Bounding up the stairs onto another platform, they could see their goal in sight. The train itself was a standard ShinRa MK100-90 which consisted of a huge cylindrical engine with various pipes and tubes coming from the engine and seemingly covering the train car while the passenger cars had curved roofs along with cargo cars and tankers. Yet, for whatever reason, it was painted purple and yellow with a large cerulean W painted on the side of the train. Though it made no sense to Cloud, Sora and Sonic, Mario and Luigi on the other hand knew exactly what it stood for. They didn't seem scared by it mind, just…annoyed.

"Please tell me, that's not our train?" Mario asked dashing alongside the others.

Cloud checked the sign by the platform, 'platform 2'. "Yeah, it's us."

"Oh bolognaise!" Mario cursed, "This is going to be tedious."

They continued to dart towards the train. Sora spotted an open door one of the passenger cars. "THERE!" he shouted, "COME ON!"

As they drew close, the horn blew on the train and it began it pull away from the station, steam rolling off from the pipes. "Ah hell, they're leaving us behind!" Cloud cried.

Sonic rolled his eyes, as he grabbed his teammates and within seconds zipped into the train car as it began to fully pull away from the platform. It built speed as it started on its long journey over Koopa Land towards Bowser Palace.

Dead land rushed passed as the heroes composed themselves after having found themselves in an empty passenger car as the scenery rushed by. The seats were golden with red fabric and a red carpet ran the length of the car. Elaborate designs were carved into the ceiling and walls. All depicting a large nosed, large bodied man, sat upon throne or punching monsters into oblivion. It was certainly very grand. Over the intercom a voice came. "WELCOME ABOARD WARIO RAILS, REMEMBER TO HAVE A ROTTEN DAY! WAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Everyone turned to Mario and Luigi, "Who the hell was that?" They asked.

This took longer than anticipated and actually isn't even finished. Originally the heroes being on the train was supposed to be part of the chapter but now it seems like a brighter idea to make the train it's own chapter. So the next chapter might not be as long as this. On a lighter note, chapter 8 has already been written so that's a thing.

Anyway, enjoy this. I certainly had enough fun working out and writing what each hero was doing anyway.