-The Phantom Train Alliance-

Locke was never keen about following Jacques anywhere, especially into the dark woods. As much as Locke hated to admit it, Jacques always seemed to have some kind of inside information, the Returner just had to make sure his partner didn't stick a knife in his back during the adventure. Especially and adventure that Jacques had specifically talked Locke into when they crossed paths in Nikeah.

The real trouble for Locke started at sundown when he was about to complain that they had been wandering around the forest since early that morning.

"Are you sure you know where you're going Jacques?"

"Of course I do! I know this place like the back of my hand. It's not much farther now."

"I think you've got us going in circles."

"No I ain't. I told you, it's not much farther."

"Look, that's my footprints just ahead of us."

"Er… no it's not. It must be someone like yours. They says this forest has some kind of magic powers. It keeps people away leaving it for lots o' smugglers who are probably going through here lookin' for my treasure. Don't worry, I won't let them get… wait what's that?"

Locke stopped to listen. "I hear that too. Get down!"

The pair dove behind one of the bushes, hearing footsteps race closer and closer to them. A shadowy figure ran into the clearing and stopped for a moment to catch his breath, panting heavily.

"Lone Wolf?" Jacques called out.

"Jacques? Is that you?"

"Lone Wolf me ol' matey! What are you doing here?" Jacques emerged from his hiding place with a friendly smile. Locke also showed himself, but didn't seem nearly as happy to see the villain.

"Matey yourself Jacques. What are you doing out here with that crook?" Lone Wolf asked.

"Crook?" Locke questioned. "Last I saw you, you were being taken away by the fine guards from the Empire."

"Aye," Jacques agreed, "that's the last I heard of you as well. How'd you get out of their clutches?"

Lone Wolf put his hands on his knees taking in deep breathes to calm himself. "Good behavior. They really don't have room in their prisons for a man like me."

From a distance came the sound of barking dogs and a voice calling out, "I hear something up ahead! Hurry!"

Locke and Jacques both looked to Lone Wolf in anger. "Good behavior?"

"Okay, so maybe that's not the complete truth."

"You brought a whole corps of the emperor's soldiers here tracking you down?" Locke cursed the villain out.

"Well what the hell are you guys doing out here?" Lone Wolf tried to plead his case. "This forest is an outlaws hide out."

Jacques joined Locke in cursing out the newcomer, "yeah, but when outlaws hide out in here, they don't bring half a squadron from Vector with them."

Lone Wolf could hear the dogs coming closer to them. "No worries, I know a place to hide," the villain took off again at full sprint, with Locke and Jacques quickly behind him. While they weren't the original ones being hunted, both of them had prices on their heads and knew any kind of capture by Gestahl's guards would result in a lifetime of hard labor. Locke hated having to follow a bumbling idiot like Lone Wolf, but at the moment he didn't have any choice.

The three bobbed their way through trees, logs, and brush before finally coming to something Locke would never have guessed was deep in the woods: an old rusted locomotive. The train and passenger cars were at the end of an ancient set of railroad tracks that looked like they were something from centuries long gone by.

"What is this?" Locke asked.

"What does it look like?" Lone Wolf snapped back, "it's an abandoned train you idiot."

"I told you we'd find it Locke," Jacques bragged.

"What are you talking about?" Lone Wolf asked.

"This! The train!" Jacques grinned. "This is what we were looking for. Locke my boy, there's treasure to be had on this thing."

"What do you mean treasure to be had?" Lone Wolf shot back angrily. "This is my train! I found it fair and square. Anything on it belongs to me."

"What do you mean you own it? I don't see your name on it. I didn't know you had a deed to a train."

"Keep it down!" Locke tried to interrupt, but it was no use.

"I was the first to find it, so finders keepers!"

"Since when?"

"Since you would never have found it if it weren't for me."

"Hey… keep quiet!"

"Of course I'd have found it. What do you think Locke and I were here looking for?"

The sound of the approaching hunting dogs cut them off. "I hear something up ahead. Keep going straight."

"Damn it!" Locke muttered. "You two morons sure know how to bring trouble onto yourselves."

"Quick, get on the train!" Lone Wolf called out, sprinting ahead of the group and jumping onto one of the passenger cars. The other two quickly followed, grabbing hold of the railing and vaulting onto the platform of the train. Locke looked back to see the first of the Empire's soldiers coming out of the trees to within eyesight of the train. He was about to say something when he was cut off by the loud noise of a steam engine.

Choo-choo!

The train shook violently sending the three outlaws grabbing anything they could get a hold of to stay upright. A cloud of smoke appeared in the sky as the locomotive made another piecing noise before the train as a whole started to move. The Imperial guards stopped in awe as the machine began churning forward, leaving the chasing party behind. Locke held onto the railing tight, turning behind him to look at Lone Wolf, "You said this was you owned this thing?"

"Er… yes?"

"Then who's driving the train?"

Lone Wolf laughed as the train moved out of reach of the Imperial hunting party. "Who cares who's driving the train. Did you see the look on those soldiers? Good luck getting us now."

Jacques stood up, brushing the dirt from the train's platform off of him. "That's all fine and dandy, but I'm with Locke here. Who's driving the train?"

"There's only one way to find out. C'mon, let's head to the front," Lone Wolf called out with a childish-like hint of excitement. He ran to the door of the first passenger car and disappeared inside.

"Don't look at me," Locke protested his innocence, "you went on way more expeditions with him than I ever did."

"And none of them ever finished with a happy ending," Jacques grumbled. "We've got no other choice, let's follow him."

The pair walked to the door and entered into the car only to see Lone Wolf staring off in the distance, his face a mask completely pale with fright. "Lone Wolf… hey! Lone Wolf!" Jacques shook him on the shoulder. "What is it? What's got you so spooked?" Jacques laughed and turned to Locke, "he must think the Imperial guards are still after him. Hey… what are you pointing at?"

Locke didn't answer, he only pointed straight ahead of him at a mysterious white figure floating towards them. It resembled the shape of a man but didn't completely fit the description of anything they had ever seen before. The figure got brighter and brighter as it moved across the car towards them.

"Aaaahhhh!" Lone Wolf screamed finally coming to his senses. "I'm getting out of here!" He turned on his heels and took off, shoving the others out of the way and racing out of the car. Locke chased after him, running into the next car where he found Lone Wolf again with an even more horrified look on his face. When Locke looked up, he saw this car was filled with more of the ghostly figures. The pair quickly ran back outside, only to bump into Jacques who was chasing them.

"What are you doing?" Jacques asked in a panic. "That thing is coming this way!"

"Then don't go in there," Locke replied, "there's a whole lot more of them in there."

The trio looked both ways watching at the specters coming closer and closer to them from both directions. It was finally Locke who snapped back into action. "Well I'm not letting those things get to me. C'mon!" The treasure hunter grabbed onto a steel ladder that went up to the roof of the passenger car, with the two villains quickly at his heels.

Once Lone Wolf got to the roof, he looked behind him to see the specters now following them up the ladder. "They're coming up!"

Jacques started to panic. "Now what do we do?"

In an instant Locke looked around at the situation before making up his mind. Lone Wolf saw where the treasure hunter was looking and started to shake his head. "Oh no! No! That's not happening."

"You have any better ideas?" Locke shouted back at him.

"Whatever we're doing we've got to do it fast!" Jacques yelled.

Locke took a second to collect his wits, closed his eyes, and took in a deep breath. Feeling the motion of the train below him, the treasure hunter gave out a cry and began sprinting as fast as he could to the end of the roof before using all his might to leap through the air. Locke felt time slow down as he watched the open space between the cars below him. His feet flailed in the air until the finally touched down on the roof of the next passenger car. The only calculation Locke didn't get right was his own speed. Fear had caused him to run too fast. The treasure hunter was left with no other option than to keep sprinting and leap from the second roof on to the next before he saw a sky light on third roof top impeding his way. He tried to put on the brakes, but instead tripped over his own feet and landed flat on his face, eventually coming to a stop.

"Owww…" he muttered, standing up just in time to see Jacques and Lone Wolf leaping across the roof tops towards him.

"Look out!"

The two followers crashed into the treasure hunter, sending the three of them through the skylight and crashing down into the train car.

"Oof…"

"Ugh…" Lone Wolf grabbed his head in pain. "Whe…where are we?"

Locke jumped to his feet looking behind them for any of the specters, but there's weren't any in sight. "Do you think those things are following us?"

There was no answer.

"Hey, are you guys listening? I said do you think…" but when Locke turned around he knew he wasn't going to get an answer. Instead he saw Jacques and Lone Wolf standing over a fancy treasure chest, eyeing it up like little children.

"See Locke, I told you there was treasure. Ol' Jacques never lets you down."

"I wonder what's inside?" Lone Wolf sounded giddy.

Locke scolded the two of them. "Are you two serious? We've got to get out of here before those things come back this way." His words again went on deaf ears.

"Who do you think should open it?" Lone Wolf asked.

Jacques thought for a moment before putting on a friendly smile. "Well this is your train Lone Wolf, and we are your guests, so by all means, the honor should be yours."

Lone Wolf grinned for moment. "You're right, this is my train. I don't mind if I… wait a minute…"

"What's wrong?"

"You rotten scoundrel!"

"What are you talking about?"

Lone Wolf pointed to a symbol on the side of the chest."Look at the markings. It's booby trapped!"

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is it's designed to unleash a monster to kill whoever opens the chest, thus leaving the treasure for the second person who happens to be left."

"Wait… what?" Locke interjected himself into the conversation. "You… you rotten scoundrel Jacques! That's why you convinced me to come along. You weren't doing this for a partnership! You needed me to open the chest for you!"

"Me? Nooo… why Locke, why would you ever think of something like that? Not your good ol' friend Jacques!"

"So then which one of us is going to open it?" Lone Wolf asked impatiently.

"Hey! What are you three doing here?" an unfamiliar voice boomed out.

"Who said that?" Lone Wolf looked around.

Locke felt a cold chill go through the train car when from out of nowhere a man in a fancy tuxedo appeared. "I did."

"Who are you? Where did you come from?" Locke backed away.

"I am Impressio and you are on my train."

"Your train?" Jacques asked.

Locke looked over Impressio, "Where is this train going?"

"Going? Why, to the other side of course. This is the Phantom Train."

"Ph… ph… ph… Phantom Train?"

"Waaaaaah… I don't want to go to the other side," Lone Wolf cried.

"How do we get off this thing?" Locke asked.

Impressio looked over the three of them in thought. "Well you could try to stop the locomotive itself, although I really wouldn't recommend it."

"Oooooooo…" a noise came from outside the car. The specters were back!

Locke raced to the window of the moving train and looked outside. Trees were flying by at rapid speed, with only a small clearing up ahead before the train crossed a lake over a bridge. "No time for stopping the train, we've only got one option."

"What's that?" Jacques asked.

"Once we clear those trees, we've got to jump."

"Are you crazy?"

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! The noise of the specters pounding on the car door was ear shattering.

"Don't have any choice," Locke opened the window as far as he could which was just enough for a man to squeeze out of. "On three… one, two, threeeeeee…"

For the second time in minutes Locke threw himself out into the mercy of the world. He was brought back into harsh reality with a splash and the bitter cold temperature of the lake. He swam to the surface seeing the Lone Wolf right behind him leaping from the window. Jacques was next, but stopped himself at the last moment.

"What are you doing?" Locke yelled out to him. "Jump!"
"Not without the treasure!" the thief yelled back. Jacques turned back to grab the treasure chest but by then it was already too late. The door to the train car burst open and was instantly filled with the eerie bright lights of the specters. "Wait… wait… what's happening… get away…. AAAAHHHHHH!…"

Locke and Lone Wolf watched as the train, and Jacques' screams, disappeared into the night. The two of them floated in the lake for a few moments before Lone Wolf broke the awkward silence. "Good riddance to him. Jacques was never anything but trouble." With that the villain swam towards the shore with Locke right behind him.

"Wooo…" Locke breathed a sigh of relief. "What do you think those things were?"

"I don't know," Lone Wolf replied, "but thank the goddess we're in the clear…"

"Wait…" Locke put a finger to his lips, "do you hear that?"

It was the sound of dogs barking, followed by a call from someone who could only be an Imperial guard. "Hey! I hear them over in the lake!"

"You've got to be kidding me," Lone Wolf cursed. Falling back into his selfish ways, the villain shoved Locke back into the lake with a splash and took off into the woods.

"Hey! I see one on the run!" the guards called out, "get him!"

Locke popped up to the surface, took a deep breath, and went back underwater to hide. Holding his breath as long as he could, he finally resurfaced no longer hearing the guards and figured they were long gone chasing after Lone Wolf. Locke flopped onto the shore, taking a much needed rest. The stillness of the dark forest was comforting for the moment… until he picked up the faintest sound of a train whistle off in the distance. The treasure hunter jumped to his feet and sprinted as fast as he could out of the woods.