Chapter 45: A Very Bad Sign

A/N: Been awhile, hasn't it? God... I feel like a fricking broken record, repeating the same lines and the same excuses. Well... uh... this time, Christmas kinda curbstomped my schedule. I didn't have much time to do really anything. HOPEFULLY I can return to some normality, but I dunno. I'm writing 4 stories for 4 games across 2 different websites, after all. It's kinda hard to manage it all at once.

I'll do the best I can, and that's just how it's gonna have to be.

Oh... but on another note, happy new year. Hehe.

I chased after the kid through the tunnel, past some food vendors, and caught up to her in front of another train track.

"If I had a pon for every time you've gone off without me..." I muttered..

She giggled.

"Sorry!" She apologized light-heartedly.

"It's alright, you're just excited. You want to explore. Can't fault you for that," I responded.

I watched a series of trains zoom by us one by one.

"Doesn't seem like any of the trains are stopping soon," I muttered, "It makes me wonder... where do they stop? Or when? How do people get on? How do people get off? What's the point of having a metro station if no trains stop there, or rarely?"

"Do you really have to question everything?" She asked boredly.

"Well... it's kinda my thing. This place is so much different than where I come from, it's only natural that I question the things that confuse me," I reasoned, "And this is confusing."

"But it's like everywhere we go, you ramble on and on about some weird thing that you don't understand. It's boring!" She pouted.

"If it's really annoying you that much, I guess I can wait until we get back to the ship," I muttered.

"Thank you," She said, "Now, a train's coming! Come on!"

She hopped on top of a hanging light fixture then landed on top of a train.

Once again, it seemed to me like it was going to be a long day.

I scrambled on top of the train as fast as I could and crept to the front...

... and barely avoided a neon sign, what a surprise.

"I knew it!" I yelled.

There were a couple more along the way that I (barely) managed to jump over or sidestep away from.

The kid hopped toward a ledge, and I did as well.

"Kid, one of us is gonna get a face full of glass shards and electrified neon gas, and that one of us is not going to enjoy it," I grumbled.

"And that 'one of us' is just gonna have to deal with it and keep going," She stated blankly before hopping on another train.

"Just don't say I didn't warn you," I muttered, then hopped on the train as well.

After hopping over a couple more neon signs and jumping over to another ledge, it seemed like we were actually at the main Yellow Overpass station.

"I wonder if people really get around this way..." I muttered silently to myself.

I walked around and surveilled the area, looking for a place to start looking. There seemed to be a tunnel leading down, but one look told me that it led to the blue station or whatever it was called.

So... it seemed like the only way to go was up.

Not surprisingly, the kid was already like ten miles ahead of me.

I hopped on a train and jumped up to a ledge to catch up to her, and I found her sitting down in front of a yellow holographic wall.

"So, uh..." I said, "This place is pretty big. Maybe you should use your hat."

She nodded and took off her mask to put on her top hat again.

I waited a few seconds, and she let out a "hmm" sound.

"What?" I asked.

"There's two in this station. One way up and another way down," She said, "I think one is... in a manhole?"

"Sounds like a job for you," I said.

"So you'll get the other one?" She asked.

"I'll try to," I answered.

She hopped up happily and shouted "okay" before running off.

"Be safe, kid," I whispered.

I then put a hand to my chin as I thought about where to go.

'There's two in this station. One way up and another way down.'

I looked up and saw a springboard on top of a food cart.

I climbed on top of it while saying a quick "pardon me", then hopped on top of the springboard.

There was a train going by right in front of me.

"It's like this planet is a freaking platformer game," I grumbled.

Another train zoomed by beside the other train, going the opposite way. I hopped onto that as well.

An air conditioning unit was approaching. I hopped on top of it, then onto yet another train.

A smirk crept onto my face. Not gonna lie, riding on top of the trains was pretty fun.

It didn't seem anywhere near as risky as those damn ziplines in Alpine Skyline.

CRASH!

"AH!"

In my lapse, I found myself barreling into a neon sign.

Somehow, I didn't get burned or electrocuted by hot gas, nor did I get lacerated with glass shards, but it still hurt like hell.

"Ok... I need to focus," I grumbled.

I hopped over the next sign, then rode along until I saw something interesting.

It seemed like a cat was being a ticket vendor?

I hopped off the train and landed in front of it.

"Want a Metro Ticket?" The cat vendor asked.

"Uh, I'll need two, please," I said.

"Okay, that'll be 20 pons," They declared.

I handed over the money and they handed over two yellow cards with the metro logo on the front and a sentence or something that I couldn't read. They also had black stripes across the bottom and the word "TICKET" on the top right.

"Thanks," I said.

"Anytime," They responded.

I walked away and waited for another train to come by, then hopped back on.

I rode it for a bit, dodging a couple more signs along the way, then I saw some floating signs that I could probably clamp onto with the hookshot to get to another train.

I reacted quickly and did so, landing at the front of another train. For once, there wasn't a billion signs in the way, it was a relaxing ride. I came to another train track coming out of the wall and hopped onto the edge of a train.

I stumbled a bit from the sudden change in momentum but I thankfully managed to stay on... uh... barely.

I looked ahead and grinned from ear to ear to see the Time Piece full steam ahead.

I hopped forward and snatched it.

"Good, good," I muttered, "Now how the peck do I get down from here?"

I felt something grab my shoulder and all went black.

A few seconds later and I was back at the Yellow Overpass.

"Miss me?" A smug yet familiar voice taunted.

"I guess you could say that," I grumbled.

"If I had a pon for every time I've had to help you out..." 'The Traveller' mocked.

"Yeah..." I muttered.

"Try not to get yourself stuck again. I can't be in thirty places at once, and I'm too busy to be watching you like a hawk," He warned, "You've just been really lucky with me so far."

"Alright, makes sense to me," I responded.

I walked over to where I saw the kid run off to and waited for her to return.

I didn't have to wait long. She popped out of the manhole less than a minute later.

"Find it?" I asked, and she nodded.

Great, at this rate we'd be done in no time.

We walked out of the small area, and two cats were waiting for us, one small and one tall. Was it the same cats who confronted us at the main station? It was impossible to tell. The small one had a baseball bat.

"You know the deal. Hand them over!" The tall one shouted.

Right... I'd completely forgotten about our little deal.

I sighed.

"Well, you heard 'em, kid," I said, reluctantly giving the Time Piece to the cat, who snatched it rudely from my hand.

The kid did the same, and as the cats left I could hear her begin grumbling and pouting.

"We'll have to figure out some way to get them back. Maybe we can bargain with her?" I asked, "But for now, we'll have to go along with it. Let's go back to the jewelry shop, she'll probably want to see us."

She nodded, and we walked away.