A/N: And at long last, here is the next chapter of my story. :) Now, I'm aware of what Infinity Train's Book Five could've been, as well as what the themes could be from 5-8. And all I have to say is: we've been robbed. I just hope that HBO Max took notice of our #FinishInfinityTrain trend event and actually take the advice. It may be a long time before they do, but at least we gave it our best shot, and I, for one, am feeling great about that. That said, I'm still following my Book plans for the Tales of the Infinity Train, as they will happen separately from the main books. And I hope to be able to post the next chapter sometime this month, but I may or may not be working on another story in the meantime. If so, I hope you understand. Anyway, I hope this chapter makes it worth the wait.
Chapter 4: The Map Car
Meanwhile, Mace and Sieve were on a mission of their own. They were roaming around in what appeared to be a misty battlefield. All around them were remnants of what appeared to have been a major battle. The ground itself had many helmets and armor scattered left and right, as well as the more unsavory elements. Skeletons with daggers, arrows, and/or swords were stuck in their bodies as well. Sieve didn't like the atmosphere one bit as he turned to his partner.
"Uh, Mace? Remind me again why we have to go here?"
"I've already told you, Sieve. Our contact in the mirror world is the most fearsome there is. If anyone can help catch that Sliver, it's Backscatter."
After they failed to capture the Sliver due to Emma's interference, the duo were forced to retreat back to the Mirror World to repair themselves after an initial sweep that followed. During the initial repair, Mace had an epiphany. On their own, it was difficult enough just to capture her, or even to sand her. But with Emma in the mix, and seeing how lethal she could be in her attempts to protect her, they might as well be playing the same game, only the Sliver's odds would be in her favor almost every time. So if the Sliver was to have an ally, he thought it fair for them to have their own, much to Sieve's reluctance.
"But Mace, Backscatter's a criminal, too. Not to mention the guy's a loose cannon, and a butcher. The mirror council wouldn't agree to that."
"At least, he never broke the rules concerning the barrier between our worlds. Besides, I ran it by the council. They were more than willing to agree to it."
Sieve let out a sigh of worry as he spoke to himself.
"I still don't like this, Mace…"
In that moment, he heard ominous growling behind him. The chrome cop turned behind him, finding nothing behind him. But the fact that he heard something didn't make him feel any better. Sieve kept his sander at the ready in case of an ambush. Though, he tried to keep his composure if only not to give away his fear.
"Keep it together, Sieve. You're probably just seeing things."
Before Sieve knew it, Mace held up his hand and called out to his partner.
"Stop. Wait here."
"In the mist? I-I don't think—"
Just then, Sieve heard another growling, as well as a short roar with heavy footsteps near him. It sent the chrome cop into a short exclamation of fear before Mace narrowed his glance into the mist and suspected what it meant.
"He's here."
Sure enough, Mace was right. A silhouette of a tall, dark being walked closer to them with a snarl, practically terrifying Sieve as he whimpered before the silhouette revealed itself. He was hazy, made up of particles that make him hard to make out at first glance, with some of them hovering around his body. He also had a white grey skin tone, and he wore a long black leather coat and dark gray body armor around him with a black body suit underneath. He also wore spiked, heeled, black boots, as well as a few guns and weapons poking out from under his coat, strapped to his body. He was also wearing a big mechanical vulture skull mask instead of a rubber human mask adorned with the mirror shards, indicating the prey he had captured, as well as sharp claws as fingers. He snarled under his breath before he spoke.
"Mace."
"Backscatter."
"What is my prey?"
Mace stood still, maintaining his glare. He didn't quite fully approve of his hunting on the grounds of it practically being vigilantism. But compared to defying the natural order, that crime was only secondary. Once the job's finished, he'll deal with this hunter himself.
"We've got a criminal on the run. And we need your help to track her down."
Backscatter raised his eyes. At first, he seemed interested. But after a few seconds, it only proved trivial to him.
"A runaway sliver? You insult me."
Backscatter was about to leave the room, but Mace spoke up again.
"You don't understand the situation, hunter. The longer that sliver's out in the prime world, the more distorted our balance will become."
Backscatter snarled as he turned his head to Mace.
"Poor Flec. Still consumed by flawed reasoning. When will you learn? Only the hunt matters."
Backscatter turned away again and proceeded to walk away. This gave Mace an idea. He knew Backscatter would only be interested in something that could prove a challenge. As it happened, Mace knew how to attract his attention.
"Why do you think we're here?"
Backscatter stopped walking away before he turned back to Mace with an interested look.
"I'm listening…"
Mace then held up a poster in his hand, showing a wanted image of M.T. back when she had hair as he explained.
"This is no ordinary sliver we're dealing with. She's a sliver that's escaped capture for two months. Surely, that much interests you."
Backscatter took the poster from Mace's hands before taking a closer look. He snarled as he examined every detail and looked back to Mace with a devilish smile.
"Tell me more…"
Meanwhile, M.T., Emma, Jesse, Jack, Visco, and Alan Dracula got out of the Green Car. It was a car where almost everything was green, except for the odd appearance of a living grape named "Green." Jesse was quick to hang out with him and take a picture. M.T. didn't particularly agree to it, but Emma managed to rope her into one of his pictures, along with Jack, who didn't know that he was in the picture at the time. As they got out of the car, M.T. was giving Jesse advice about how to get his number down.
"I've seen this number thing before, so I'm basically totally an expert. You're gonna have to listen to everything I say if you want to get home. All you need to do is learn stuff about yourself."
Jack hardly believed it to be possible as he scoffed.
"Pfft. It can't be that simple."
Emma only held up her hand in response as she replied, showing her number of "186".
"Actually, it is. Mine was at '285' when I started. And it's only been a week, too. I think."
M.T. made a smirk towards Jack, knowing her point was made. Then, she turned back to Jesse, wanting to be certain that he'd remember how to get his number down.
"Maybe you should be taking notes."
Jesse dug into his jacket pockets and got out the items necessary to take his notes.
"Got a pen and some paper. Oh, I have my receipt from Gas and Dog."
Emma looked at the receipt and became puzzled over how it could possibly help with taking notes as she noticed the order.
"But doesn't it already have stuff on it? And what's this 'Zesty Nacho Supreme?"
"See, my brother Nate and I have this deal where we always go halfsies on the Zesty Nacho Supreme…"
M.T. made a small groan, realizing the mistake in trying to get him to take notes.
"Ugh, never mind."
The group went closer to the door with Jack grunting in disapproval and giving a small glare towards M.T. They all stopped just close to it before the Chrome girl instinctively reached her hand towards it. But before she could open it, her hand stopped itself before turning to Jesse.
"Wait a second. You should be doing this. Open the door. Learn something."
"You're the boss."
Just when he was about to open the door, Jack piped up from behind and pulled Jesse aside, clearly not willing to let this go on.
"I'd hold that right there if I were you."
M.T. quickly became peeved by this, turning around to glare at Jack while Emma looked at him in confusion.
"Hey, what's your problem?"
"Yeah, what's up?"
Jack walked closer to M.T. practically jabbing his finger at her shirt.
"Jesse is a human being, not an automaton. You can't just boss him around. He has to be able to think for himself."
M.T. glared back at Jack as she retorted.
"Hey, my way works just as fine, Jack. You probably don't know what the heck you're talking about."
While the two of them argued, Emma tried to interject, but with no success as Visco looked on in cautious curiosity, knowing how angry M.T. gets.
"Uh, guys?"
"Well, trust me, I do. I've been on this train for a long time, and some might say for the longest time. And clearly, I'm the only one here who cares about getting Jesse and Emma's numbers down. You might as well be spinning yarns about getting them off in the first place."
Emma tried once again to get their attention, but to no avail. She was starting to get irritated by their arguing as she spoke in an annoyed tone.
"Guys?"
"Well, how do I know you're not doing the same thing?!"
"Because I'm not the one who got us trapped in that tree!"
Emma couldn't take it anymore. She had to go nuclear.
"GUYS!"
Emma's shout echoed in the wasteland, catching the whole group, even Visco, by surprise. They stood in silence for a moment before Emma spoke.
"Can't we just agree that there are different ways to get someone's number down and be done with it?"
M.T. and Jack both glared at each other before crossing their arms and answering simultaneously.
"No."
Emma sighed at their answer while facepalming herself. She did not want to put up with this for the whole time she's on the train, however long it could be.
"Why can't you just agree to disagree?"
M.T. hardly saw any point in that.
"Because what if it's wrong? How am I supposed to get your number down then?"
This gave Jack an idea as he turned back to her.
"Well, how about this, then? We are going to have a friendly competition to find out which method works best in getting their numbers down. Whoever wins, they'll have to follow that advice until their numbers go down to zero. Does that sound fair enough for you?"
Jack held out his hand to M.T., who gave him a challenging grin as she replied while she shook it without hesitation.
"Oh-ho, yeah. Challenge accepted."
Jack crossed his arms before he grinned at her.
"Alright, then. Emma, you'll be with me. And Jesse, you'll go with M.T. Got it?"
Emma and Jesse looked at the two, the latter being confused. But nonetheless, he was willing to agree to it.
"Uh… okay."
Emma, though, only had one reason to agree to it.
"Well, as long as you guys aren't fighting about it, I guess it wouldn't hurt."
With that, the competition began with Jesse walking into the car first with Emma looking at the number "186" on her hand. She may have agreed to it, but she had to wonder if it was worth the risk. She was doing just fine with M.T. helping her out. The competition itself may be unnecessary at this point.
But as far as Jesse's own number, maybe a change of pace wouldn't hurt. Beside that, Emma found herself hoping to at least spend a little more time with M.T. before she had to go back. For now, she had to put it out of her mind and focus on helping Jesse get his own number down, even if it meant having to take part in this silly contest. Emma walked through the door before becoming astounded by what she was seeing.
The car itself appeared to be a giant map with labels around them showing a wavy lake behind their door, a field of mountains with the label "Great Plains", and a small mountain range in front of them called "Moonlight Mountains". Jesse, who was easily impressed by the car's design, went up to one of the mountains and knelt down to it in awe as he piped up to the others.
"This is so cool!"
Emma went over to the wavy lake and saw the water going back and forth, but not in a way she knew it would back home. It seemed to transition in and out of place, like it was an animated storybook.
"More like surreal. But it is pretty neat."
Visco squeaked in agreement before Jack addressed her.
"Okay, Emma. M.T. may have been keen on bossing you around, and maybe, by some miracle, it worked out, but we're going to do things differently."
"How different?"
"For starters, I'm bringing you in as my secretary and personal assistant."
Emma didn't seem to care much about it. She did a lot of general work at home, especially when it came to helping her mom through difficult periods of time in her life. This was practically extra credit for her. She gave Jack a shrug of consent as Visco squeaked.
"Okay."
Jack gave Emma a brief sigh of annoyance before he tried to explain.
"Look, Emma, this is actually kind of a big deal, so don't just say, 'okay'."
Jack did a brief wave of jazz hands as he said the last word before he continued.
"Because you're going to be making your own calls from here on out. I may give you some general advice here and there, but that's it."
Emma hardly found that to make any sense. Last she remembered, a secretary was someone who kept and/or scheduled an appointment or two, and a personal assistant is still an assistant, especially when they're being told what to do. Emma raised her eyebrow in doubt.
"Really?"
It was then that Jack had heard himself out loud. It turned out he didn't necessarily use the right words to begin with.
"Okay, maybe 'personal assistant' wasn't a good choice of words, but I think we both know by now that you get the gist."
"So, basically, I'm just gonna be thinking for myself the whole time?"
Jack snapped his fingers before he pointed at her with a smile.
"Yep. You got it."
Emma considered the idea as she placed her fingers on her chin and thought about it. It would be a bit promising. At very least, it'd help Emma prove that she can take care of herself. But there was one thing to think about. Sooner or later, there may be an obstacle or two she may or may not figure out by herself. And rather than risk getting her number higher, she might as well prepare herself for that scenario while she can.
"Okay, but what if I need help? What advice would you have that could get my number down?"
Jack took a look at her number again before he replied.
"That depends. Do you know how you ended up on the train in the first place?"
Emma was about to answer before a slight blush came on her face.
"No… It's been a mystery for me since day one. If I can't even figure out why I'm here, how am I supposed to get home?"
Jack placed his hand on Emma's shoulder before he replied gently.
"Look, Emma, if you focus too much on the why of your situation, odds are, you can't escape from it. For now, just take it one thing at a time."
"Yeah? Like what?"
"Well, just think back on what brought your numbers up and down, and do what you feel is right. You should be able to get your answer, then."
Emma took another look at her own number and began to smile a bit. Somehow, looking back on how she felt when her number went down, it became easier for her to get back home. Back in the Hunter's Lodge Car, Emma understood Charlemagne's side of the story and made a friend of her enemy. Maybe if she were to understand others' points of view more often, she'd be able to get back home much faster. Emma gave Jack a soft smile as she replied.
"Thanks, Jack. It makes me feel a little better."
"Hey, that's what I'm here for."
Emma and Jack soon began to feel a breeze blowing around them before Jesse began to feel that same draft. Then he saw little clouds forming up near his feet. A moment later, Jesse was suddenly lifted up into the air! With Jesse shouting from the wind's grip on him, M.T., Emma, and Jack looked on in surprise as the first of the trio called out to him.
"Jesse?!"
Jesse struggled against the wind before he suddenly stopped flying upwards. When he did, the young man found himself face-to-face with a giant cloud having a human face with chubby cheeks.
"Oh. Hello."
In response, the cloud stuck his tongue out towards Jesse. When he did, the young man noticed a map on the tongue before he picked it up in disgust. He unfolded the map and looked at what it showed. It was showing the door he came from, as well as the mountains, plains, and lake around it before the cloud spoke to him.
"There you go. Marcel is gonna hook you up."
"And you are Marcel?"
"Oh, yes. Check it out."
Jesse took a look at the map and saw a likeness of him blowing wind from his mouth.
"That's me."
Down below, M.T. was shouting to Jesse. She had no clue what was going on between the two of them. She wondered if Jesse was making some progress with his number.
"Hey! Are you learning lessons?!"
"I learned his name is Marcel. Does that count?"
"Did your number go down?"
Jesse looked at the number on his hand and saw no change from it at all before he answered her.
"No!"
"Then it doesn't count! Keep learning!"
Jack rolled his eyes as he countered.
"Hard to do that with you bossing him around all the time."
M.T. glared back at Jack as she retorted.
"Shut up, you!"
Marcel heard the whole conversation. He seemed to have a solution to fix that as he piped up and got Jesse's attention back.
"Well, there's a lot to learn here. We just started. I haven't had an explorer in ages. As you can see, there's a lot of unmapped territory. And that map I gave you."
"The one you spit from your mouth?"
"Yeah. That's the one. It's been torn to bits. But if you find the pieces, everything else will open up for you... for me... us. So, this is great, huh?"
Jesse didn't quite know how to answer that. At the very least, it's a start to figure out where the exit door is. And Marcel did seem eager to help out.
"Yeah. It's pretty good."
Just then, Emma was shouting from below. With how long their time together had dragged on, she was eager to get things started already.
"Hey, uh, Marcel, was it? Can you give Jesse back, please?"
Marcel became embarrassed that he'd kept him for so long.
"Oh. I'm sorry. Here you go."
Marcel blew Jesse back down to the ground next to Jack, M.T., and Emma. Once he got down safely, M.T. reached for the map.
"Alright. Let's see this thing."
But when she tried to take it, something unexpected happened. The instant she touched the map, M.T. was electrocuted! Once she pulled her hand away from the map, Emma went to check on her.
"M.T.! Are you alright?"
M.T. only grumbled from the incident.
"Just fine."
M.T. glared up to Marcel, demanding an explanation for the sudden electrocution.
"Hey, jerk! What's the deal with your electric map?"
"I'm so sorry, but there can only be one explorer. I don't make the rules."
Enma found it hard to believe. He did seem to be the only one here who told them what's what in this car.
"But you're the one who gave us the map."
"Well, yeah. But you can tag along if you'd like. It's pretty fun."
M.T. gave a small glare to Marcel. She didn't believe that he didn't make up that rule. Otherwise, he wouldn't have had that map in his mouth. But he does seem to be willing to lend them a hand. Still, she had to keep an eye on him as she turned back to Jesse.
"Whatever. Maybe you need to carry more stuff to get your number down?"
"Yeah. Maybe."
Jack didn't see how that would help his number in the slightest. But somehow, even that was more helpful to him than M.T.'s way of doing things.
"Or maybe he needs to think for himself, not listen to your constant ordering around."
M.T. grunted from Jack's opinion. Determined to prove him wrong, and to get her mind off of his disapproval, she went back to the task at hand.
"Just show me the map."
Jesse opened up the map to her, Emma, Jack, and Visco. It showed the plains, the mountain, and the lake like before. But what really interested M.T. was the X on the map. Commonly, X always marked the spot. But the question was what spot it was for. Emma seemed to know that very well.
"Well, there's the X on the map. But where is it out here?"
Visco squeaked up, pointing to the line just near them headed straight for the X just in-between the mountain ranges. Jesse thought it was easy, but M.T. had a feeling it wasn't so simple when it came to his number.
"Oh. Well, this seems pretty straightforward."
"A little too straightforward. The X seems right, but a dotted line? Like following a line is gonna get your number down."
Jack raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, and I suppose you have a better idea?"
M.T. believed she did as she looked at the mountains.
"How about those?"
Jesse became puzzled by what M.T. had to suggest.
"You want me to walk on the mountains?"
"Definitely. You'll get some balance in, overcome some hardships. Can't get that on a dotted line."
Emma found that hard to believe. Normally, it would be the case, but the option to walk on the mountains seemed unnecessary to begin with.
"I don't know. What kind of hardships would you even get on the mountains anyway?"
Jack looked over to Emma as he reiterated what he'd told her before.
"With any luck, there won't be. Just do what you think is right."
Later, Emma was seen walking alongside the dotted line towards the X with Visco and Jack while Jesse was having difficulty hopping from mountain to mountain with M.T. and Alan Dracula walking behind him. The slime gerbil that rode on her had changed into a blue scarf that wrapped itself around her neck with its paws out at the front. Emma looked back at Jesse, wondering how he's been able to keep up.
"You doing alright, Jesse?"
"Uh, yeah! I think so."
Jesse almost lost his balance, but he was able to regain it before he hopped to another mountain. At this point, M.T. wondered more about what Marcel's role is.
"So, uh, Marcel, are you just gonna watch us the whole time?"
"Yep. Pretty much."
Jesse managed to balance himself on a mountain using the tip of his shoe before looking up to Marcel with a look on his face that was reminiscent of a puppy doing his favorite tricks.
"How am I doing?"
"I like what I'm seeing so far."
"Yes!"
Jesse did a fist bump, but in doing so, he lost his balance and began to fall forward, right on top of Emma, knocking the both of them to the ground. Jesse was laying on top of Emma, the both of them groaning from the unfortunate fall. When Jesse realized what was happening he became embarrassed as he hurriedly tried to get off of her.
"Oh, my gosh! I am so sorry!"
Emma groaned as she sat up and rubbed her head.
"It's alright. You just couldn't get your balance in, that's all."
In that moment, Jesse and Emma noticed that they were just next to the X on the map. They went over to it before noticing a small piece of paper on top of it. Emma knew her earlier hunch was right as she shrugged her shoulders while Jesse picked up the paper and shouted to M.T.
"Well, what do you know?"
"H-hey, there's a piece of map up here."
"Bring it here."
"Can I take the dotted line this time?"
"Mmm, I guess. But on your way back, think about your shortcomings, and how you deal with them."
"You got it."
Jack didn't see it as necessary as he spoke to himself while Jesse began to head back.
"Like we needed your help for that."
But as much as he disliked M.T.'s idea of a solution, he felt it best to check with Emma.
"So, Emma, how's your number doing so far?"
Emma glanced at her number, but it didn't change from its current "186" status. It was starting to unnerve her a little. Emma did everything right that brought her number down as far as she knew, but no progress had been shown whatsoever.
"I'm… stuck. It didn't move."
Jack took a look at Emma's number and became confused. But he wasn't willing to give up.
"Huh. Well, have you given it some thought about what might have put you here?"
"Give it some thought? What do you mean?"
"Well, nobody's perfect. Something must've gone wrong in your life for the train to put you here."
Emma raised her eyebrow in a way that told him it was obvious.
"You think? My mom was taken away. And it's not like the train took her, too."
Emma seemed to regret it the instant the words left her mouth.
"Wait…"
But after a moment or so of thinking about that possibility, she denied it.
"No. She had me to help her out. Never mind."
Regardless, Jack revised his earlier theory.
"I mean something else that happened. Something that, in your background, resonated with how you're feeling?"
It made no sense at first. But then, Emma thought back to one of a few times when it did happen. When she was attacking the Hunter in the Hunter's Lodge Car with malice while thinking of how cruelly her mother was taken away, her number went up almost immediately. But when she forgave him, it went down, and vice versa. She hadn't thrown a fit of any sort. But maybe that was the point.
Her number changed for the better the instant she showed meaningful progress, like when she apologized to M.T. when they first met. And here, no changes had been made, for better or worse. If there was a chance that her number would go down from a daily dose of introspection, it was worth taking a shot.
"Well, no, but I guess I can try."
Jack placed his hand on her shoulder with a smile as he replied.
"Good for you."
It wasn't long before Emma, Visco, and Jack caught up with Jesse just as M.T. walked up to him.
"Okay. Let's put this map together."
She was about to take the map, but once she remembered the shock it gave her, she held her hand back from it to avoid it happening again.
"Eh, you do it."
Jesse took out the piece that he found and lined it up with the map. The tear on the map piece was in sync with the one Marcel gave to Jesse. And the moment the two were paired up, a bright light came from the cracks. Not long after that, the horizon near the X that was blanked out started to expand itself. Trees started popping out from the ground as it moved on. Emma and Jesse looked on in fascination as they spoke individually.
"Whoa."
"Not too bad."
Of course, to M.T., the true test remained.
"But what we're really focused on…"
As if on cue, Jesse's number began to move. But it didn't change the way she would've liked. Instead of going down from "32", it went up to a "33".
"Up again? Is this thing working right?"
M.T. shook his hand, trying to get it to go down. But it made no change whatsoever. It left a bitter taste in her mouth as she pushed Jesse towards the trees.
"Your hand is trash. You've got to learn more stuff."
Jack crossed his arms as he saw for himself. He knew that her strategy wouldn't work to begin with.
"Are you sure it's not his hand that's the problem? That maybe you're the one that's doing something wrong?"
M.T. didn't hesitate to snap back as she shouted.
"Of course, I'm not! Nobody asked you!"
Jack rolled his eyes before he, Emma, and Visco followed along, the girl giving the old man a sour look before looking down at her number. She didn't know why it hadn't changed, but she hoped that it would sooner rather than later. For now, the group had to look for another piece of the map within the forest. While they looked around, M.T. thought about what might be causing Jesse's number to go up. She tried to find out as she asked about it to him.
"It's just weird that your number keeps going up. Tell me what your problems are."
"Hmm. Oh, well, one time during lunch, my friends said they didn't like celery, but I kind of like celery, so they gave me their celery. And then, the lunch lady saw, and thought I was wasting celery, so she stood there, and made me eat, like, 30 pieces of celery."
Emma and Jack overheard that story with the girl getting interested while M.T. disregarded it as the lunch lady's problem.
"That sounds more like a problem the lunch lady needs fixed."
Hearing this, Jesse came to a realization about something, as did Emma.
"Do you think Mrs. Graham is on the train?"
"Oh, yeah. I think M.T. and I saw her in one of the cars we walked through. Didn't we, Visco?"
Visco squeaked affirmatively before M.T. got back to the topic of Jesse.
"Yeah. But Mrs. Graham isn't here right now, trying to hang out with my deer."
Jack overheard her and he wasn't afraid to correct her. Earlier in the Family Tree Car, she was "defending" Alan Dracula and telling Jesse to let him live his life. She was acting contrary to what she'd said before. It seemed like a good moment for him to call her out on it.
"I thought that deer was just 'living his life'. Maybe practice what you preach while you're at it."
M.T. let out a heavy groan of frustration before she went onward. While she stormed off, Emma couldn't help but feel bad for her. As much as she wanted her number to go down, she didn't feel right for it to come at M.T.'s expense. She tried to take some of the pressure off of her as she piped up.
"Hey, M.T. It's okay. He didn't know what you meant. Besides, he's probably jealous that you have a deer friend and he doesn't."
M.T. blushed from Emma's attempt to make her feel better. But on some level, it did work. She managed to crack a small smile before walking away to Jesse. Once she had gone, Emma turned back to Jack with a cross look on her face. Jack became puzzled a moment before he wondered aloud what her look was for.
"What?"
"Is it really necessary to rub it in her face like that? She's got enough to deal with already being a wanted criminal. You just treating her like that isn't helping at all. Not her or me."
Jack took a look at M.T. as she noticed Jesse on his phone and tried to get him off his phone to get the focus back on his number.
"Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. Phone time is not gonna fix you. This is number time."
Jack felt it was more than enough to prove his point. He turned back to Emma as he answered.
"Well, I can't help it if I'm trying to teach her to think before saying any of that crap to people she's trying to help."
Emma's look didn't change one bit. That wasn't a good justification for her to hear.
"But that's exactly what you're doing to her. Did you ever think about that?"
Jack's face blanched from realizing her point. In trying to teach her a lesson, he ended up doing the exact same thing she was doing to Jesse. His face made a small begrudging scowl as he admitted his error.
"Okay, maybe you've got a point."
Emma's hard look faded some, but she still maintained it as she spoke her mind once again.
"Look, I don't care if you hate her guts, but the least you can do is lighten up with her. I'm not saying you two have to be buddies, but at least try to be civil. You owe her that after everything she's been through."
Jack looked back to M.T. just as she and Jesse noticed a tiny Alan Dracula chewing on another piece of the map. Of course, in the process it was electrocuting him, but the deer seemed to be unfazed by the drawback of a map meant for passengers. While the deer grew big, M.T. spoke to him about his number.
"And now, look at that. That could be you chewing that map, and your number could've dropped by 10."
Jack couldn't help but give a sour look as Jesse tried to take the map from Alan Dracula's mouth, with a bit of difficulty as it turned its head a few times.
"Give, give it, give it, give it."
Fortunately, the struggle didn't last as long as Jesse managed to get the piece. He hoped it wouldn't affect the map too bad as the passenger looked up to Marcel.
"It's covered in Allen Dracula spit. Is that alright?"
"I mean, the map had my spit on it, and it's still good, right? It's better than good."
Jack took a brief sigh before he agreed to Emma's terms.
"Alright. Maybe she'll learn by example, anyway."
Jack walked back towards the group while Emma kept her gaze on him.
"Better stick with it, then."
Emma proceeded to follow behind him. But as she did, the girl began to wonder about her number. She wondered if her sticking up for M.T. actually did anything to change her number. She did what she felt was right when she saw how upset M.T. was over Jack's words. But when she looked, she still saw her constant "186".
Emma began to feel further dispirited. She had been following Jack's advice since their contest started, but her number didn't change in the slightest. She didn't know if it was anything good or bad, but either way, the fact that it didn't change was starting to bother her. And the fact that she doesn't know what problem it was that put her on the train to begin with isn't helping her. It was practically suffocating her. Emma's mind would've snapped at this, but instead, it made her think about her life back home, some details of which she gave out in a few cars. At best, she hoped it would make a tiny change.
"Okay. Introspection time. Let's see… Back at the Hunter's Lodge Car, I was angry at Charlemagne for trying to hunt me and M.T. But when I apologized, it went down, so… maybe it's when my friend was about to be taken away? But wait. It also went down when I told Jesse and the others how I didn't have much friends back home. Is it that I don't have friends? Oh, and then there's mom smoking her butt off all the time and I can't get her to stop! Ugh! What is it?!"
Emma's frustrated mind was about to get a cramp if it went any longer, but M.T.'s sudden shout put a stop to this train of thought before it could crash.
"Ah, water!"
Emma gasped from hearing the panic in M.T.'s voice, and almost immediately after, she ran over to her as Jesse checked on her.
"Are you okay?"
"What's wrong? Did something happen?"
Emma didn't receive an answer, but her looking down at the water in front of her was enough to get the picture. To think she'd almost forgotten about them. The Flecs were capable of popping out of any reflection. The thought of them popping out and ambushing them began to unnerve her as well. But the more she looked at the water, the more she realized the fear was unwarranted. And it didn't take long for M.T. to realize as well.
"Wait a minute. The water isn't… reflecting."
"Non-reflective. Paper water."
M.T. turned around to see Jack and Jesse looking at her confusedly before she tried to dissuade them from any suspicion they may have started to have about her.
"Ha. I was just surprised that it wasn't real water, and it's not reflective, or wet, or shiny, or something. That's weird, right? That's surprising. That's... Well, off to the mermaids."
M.T. began to walk into the water. But as she did, Emma tried to warn her against it.
"Uh, M.T.? I'm not sure that's a good-"
Before her warning could get through, M.T. had sunken into the paper water as she stepped into the water.
"-idea."
In a short while, M.T. came back up, wet and with her arms crossed together before she spoke to herself.
"So, anyway, I'm metal."
Emma looked over to the mermaids sitting on the rock as she tried to come up with a solution.
"Looks like one of us is gonna have to swim over to them."
Just then, Jesse did just that. He took off his blue jacket and dived into the water. The young man swam up and down, getting above water to breathe before he went down again. Emma, Visco, M.T., Jack, Alan Dracula, and even Marcel looked on in interest as Jesse made it to the rocks and stopped at the mermaids before he introduced himself.
"Hi. I'm Jesse."
The mermaids giggled at Jesse almost bashful-like. During this, M.T. tried to give Jesse a pointer from far away.
"Uh, share your feelings with them. Uh, go to game design camp? I don't know."
Jack crossed his arms as he immediately disapproved.
"Game Design Camp? Are you serious?"
M.T. turned back to Jack with a glare, feeling as though he's taking a jab at her method again.
"Hey, I'm trying my best here!"
Emma glared back at Jack, trying to remind him of what they agreed to before he took a deep breath to compose himself.
"I know. I know. Look, I get that you're just trying your best with Jesse, but don't you think you should cut the kid some slack and ease up on yourself over his number?"
M.T.'s face softened before taking a small groan for herself. Annoyed as she was, she was also getting tired.
"First of all, I'm not doing this for me; I'm doing it for Jesse. And Emma, obviously. And second, I'm just going by my prime's method of getting her number down. I just thought that if it worked for her, maybe it'd work for him, too."
Jack put his fingers on his chin as he took this information into account before pondering something.
"Well, did it work out for her after the two of you split?"
M.T. was about to answer before she found difficulty just from trying. She didn't know what happened to Tulip, or Bryce for that matter, since they went their separate ways. It didn't leave much ground for her to stand on as she grumbled and gave a huff while turning away before Jack spoke again.
"Listen, M.T. I'm just trying to give you a hand here. All I'm saying is your method might not work with him."
M.T.'s face began to show a look of livid embarrassment, her dark blush evident on her face before she made a quick retorsion.
"Yeah, well, your way of helping isn't any better! Because from what I've seen, Emma's number hasn't even gone down yet!"
Emma began to get nervous from her going into that topic. Of course, Jack saw no reason not to admit it as he spoke again.
"I'll grant you that, but she hasn't figured herself out yet. She needs more time."
While that was true, Emma knew M.T. was right about that much. Time is more of a liability than a requirement in her case. But it didn't make her feel any better, least of all in this situation. Emma looked down at her number, afraid of what she'd find out when she so much as looks at it. But the moment her eyes looked at it, she saw that it was shifting again. She thought it best to let the others know as she piped up.
"Uh, guys! My number's changing!"
Jack and M.T. all looked to her simultaneously, their argument cut short by the news. They all huddled closer to Emma within reasonable distances to look at her number. But when the number stopped, it wasn't anywhere close to what Emma would've liked. It stopped at a "197". The trio became appalled by that change, especially since it was farther from where her number was supposed to go. Emma and M.T. were the first to speak in alarm.
"What?!"
"Your number went up, too? But how?"
Jack, on the other hand, gave her an empathetic hiss upon seeing her number change before he tried to reassure her.
"I'm… sure it's fine. It'll come down sooner or later."
However, with so much on her mind, and the mystery of her problem always eluding her, Emma wasn't in the mood to wait. Her face began to go into a deep shade of red as a mad look came over her face. She wanted to shout at him, to tell him his way isn't working for her at all, but she didn't want to risk dragging her number down on the ground in the process. She only mumbled to him in a frustrated tone as she walked away.
"Yeah. Right…"
Emma went past M.T. before she got to the shore and sat down near the paper water before she placed her head in-between her legs. Jack and M.T. took notice of this and felt bad for her. They both looked to each other, though M.T. gave him a dirty look.
"Just so you know, I blame you for this."
Jack didn't argue as she walked away to the shoreline where Emma was. Truth is, her blaming him wouldn't really do anything to help her or Emma. And for that matter, neither would him pointing that out to her. Still, he wouldn't call himself a fan of M.T.'s attitude.
"Well, someone woke up on the wrong side of bed."
By this point, M.T. had caught up to Emma. She was sulking as the girl gazed out towards the limited horizon of the paper ocean. Visco shifted to his normal gerbil state and tried to get her attention as he hopped up and down with a few squeaks. But Emma didn't budge, looking somber as ever.
"Not now, okay, Visco? I just… I need to be alone."
Visco squeaked sadly, though the little creature understood before he wrapped himself around her neck, his back legs sticking out from her left shoulder while his front paws and face stuck out from her right. M.T. went closer to Emma before sitting just a few feet from her. Emma noticed that via peripheral vision, her eye looking to the farthest left and became slightly agitated.
"Weren't you listening, M.T.? I said I need to be alone."
M.T. turned over to her with a sad look on her face before she replied.
"I know. Thing is, I… kinda need to be alone, too."
Emma's face softened a bit. It reminded her of the time when she had the idea to walk with M.T. under the premise that they'd be going the same direction. It only took about 11 cars for her to get sick of the idea. But since their debacle with the Hunter's Lodge Car, the two of them came to terms with that. So, she knew that it would only be right to accept that, too.
"Oh. Sorry."
"Nah, it-it's fine. I can get grouchy, too."
Emma rolled her eyes with a smirk as she spoke to herself.
"Oh, I believe it."
M.T. overheard this and made a light jab on her arm.
"Hey!"
Emma began to laugh a little from her reaction before M.T. began to laugh herself. When they were done, M.T. saw Emma beginning to smile again before it eventually faded. The sliver had a feeling about why she was so glum. It was plainly obvious for anyone to see, really.
"Hey, don't worry about your number. We'll get it back down."
Emma made a sad sigh. She didn't quite know how long it would be, or if it'd just go on and on. It was starting to feel like a cycle for her.
"Yeah, but for how long? What if it just goes back up? I'd be doing this over and over with no real progress at all. I can't help what I feel or how I think in stuff like this. And yet, I feel like I'm being punished just for being me. Basically, almost anything I do would just work against me. It's like this whole train wants me trapped here. It didn't even tell me what I did wrong…"
Emma's face shed a single small tear as she closed her eyes. M.T. saw this and wanted to get closer to her, but she couldn't, even if she wanted to. She said she wanted to be alone, and she at least needed to respect that as far as distance. But she couldn't let Emma be hurting like this. Not if she could help it. She reached her hand as far as she could before gently placing it on her shoulder near Visco as he squeaked puzzedly.
"Look, Emma. I don't know what you did wrong, either. Heck, apparently, I don't even know how to get Jesse's number down. But I'm still trying anyway. There's no reason for you to give up."
"But M.T… my number would just keep on rising and falling over and over again. What'd be the point?"
M.T. gave her a serious look that told her she shouldn't brush it off as she redirected her face to hers.
"Of course there's gonna be some slippery slopes on the way. But that doesn't mean it's pointless. Besides, if all you do is keep worrying over your number, then you really will be trapped."
Emma raised her eyebrows. It sounded almost similar to what Jack told her from the beginning.
"Look, Emma, if you focus too much on the why of your situation, odds are, you can't escape from it."
Emma's face softened some before she smiled a bit. She can't help but feel happy that M.T. would actually be the one to say it. It meant that she was coming around with Jack's method, not that hers wasn't helpful to her. Still, it was nice to know that M.T. would be willing to say that to her. In fact, she had a feeling where it would go next.
"I guess you want me to take it one step at a time, huh?"
M.T. had a look of confusion on her face for a moment before she replied, puzzled by her knowing what she was going to say.
"Uh… yeah. Kinda like that."
Emma found it a bit odd as before they entered the car, she was concerned about finding the right way to get her number down. She couldn't help but laugh at that, much to M.T.'s confusion.
"Hey, what's so funny?"
"Sorry. It's just that you tend to worry more about my number."
Emma's comment made M.T. blush a small shade of grey before she smiled awkwardly and answered.
"Yeah, well, I figured your number doesn't need any help. Well, it does, but you know what I mean."
Emma quickly hugged M.T. before she spoke into her ear softly.
"Yeah. I do."
M.T. began to smile again without any trace of awkwardness before she hugged Emma back. But while she did, M.T. took notice of Jack, who smiled at her and gave her a nod. M.T. didn't care much for his validation, but at the very least, it gave her some peace of mind, especially with how he'd treated her recently. It was at that point that Jesse came up onto the shore and held out a small map piece.
"Hey, guys. So, they had this. Also, they said you two look cute together."
Emma and M.T. both blushed simultaneously as they looked back at the mermaids who waved to them as Jesse waved back. Emma and M.T.'s blushes became worse as the latter spoke to them first where the passenger turned to Jesse and spoke in a timid tone.
"Hi. See you. Thanks."
"Jesse, can you put the piece in before I die of embarrassment, please?"
In compliance with Emma's request, Jesse took out the map and set it on the ground before lining it up with the piece he received from the mermaids just as Jack caught up with the others. When he did, the horizon around the ocean expanded further. But there wasn't any sort of land to find there, unfortunately. In fact, it was only the ocean itself that expanded.
"More ocean?"
Jack noticed it as well and felt as though something strange was afoot as he spoke to himself before looking up to Marcel.
"This is just not right… Hey, Marcie! There should be a door piece soon, right?!"
Marcel was quick to answer him as he flew close to them.
"Oh. Of course. It's just bad luck on the order you found those pieces, huh? But you're so close. You haven't even set sail yet."
Emma raised her eyebrow before noticing a boat consisting of a sail and a large compass as a boat.
"Huh? When did that boat get there?"
"That's where the real fun is, eh? Eh?"
Jack and M.T. turned to each other, both of them having a suspicious look. It almost seemed like Marcel was hiding something. They would question him, but their priority was to lower Jesse and Emma's numbers for now, so they put it out of their minds for now as M.T. spoke first.
"I guess we don't have much choice."
"Yeah, it could be worse, I guess."
"That's the spirit... Well, it's not the best spirit, but, ah, there's at least something there."
Later, Emma, M.T., Jesse, Jack, Visco, and Alan Dracula were on the boat sailing across the paper water with Alan Dracula rapidly spinning his head around. Jack, Emma, and M.T. were sitting at the edge of the boat while Jesse was steering the boat with the deer standing beside him. As they looked out at the water, Jack looked to Emma a bit awkwardly before he scratched his head, not sure if he should touch the subject again despite her talking things out with M.T.
"So, uh… how's your number doing so far?"
Emma wasn't in the mood to answer, but truth be told, she wondered the same thing. She looked back at her hand, and to her puzzlement, she found it was back at "186". Despite the relief it brought her, Emma still felt a little down about it. Her talking it out with M.T. did help her get over it, but she wasn't in the mood to hear his advice.
"It, uh… it changed back. But I don't really want to hear your advice right now."
Jack took a sigh as he looked back out to the paper ocean while explaining himself.
"It's not about that. I just wanted to talk."
Emma became puzzled. She knew he was just trying to help her before. Maybe he finally realized it wasn't doing much good for her, and just decided to talk to her like a normal person instead of being cryptic.
"Oh."
Emma kept herself silent, expecting him to speak more. But when he didn't, she only spoke the obvious question in her mind.
"Well, what did you want to talk about?"
Jack leaned his back on the boat and gazed up at the map's sky as he answered.
"Well, I've, uh… just been meaning to ask. Do you have anyone waiting for you outside this train?"
Emma took her turn to lay her back on the boat before she answered him with an albeit dismal look on her face.
"Just my mom. I can't exactly say my dad, even if I could, because, well… let's just say he kicked the bucket. I was just a little kid when it happened, but… every time I try to remember how, it just… it cuts away before I find out anything. I can't remember anything."
Jack turned his head to Emma. He already knew what she was implying, and frankly, she didn't sound too sure about talking any more about it.
"Oh. I'm sorry."
But despite how sad it was getting, Emma kept on talking to Jack.
"It's okay. It wasn't on you. But anyway, it really hurt my mom. She didn't know how to handle herself anymore. So, I tried to help her. Instead of leaving her alone, I'd always be there for her. Always…"
This made Jack puzzled as he raised his own eyebrows. Didn't Emma have friends to be with? Then, he remembered from the Family Tree Car that she didn't.
"Always, huh? I'm guessing that's why you didn't have a lot of friends."
"I don't just leave her like the other kids would. It didn't feel right. I mean, she frustrates the living crap out of me, especially with all that smoking she does since then, but… at the end of the day, I still love her. A lot of good that did. I'm stuck here, being who knows how far away from her, and I can't even help her…"
Emma began to sniffle, her tears coming on again as she tried to bite back her sobs before Jack held onto her hand and tried to comfort her as he spoke gently.
"Hey, take it easy. You're gonna see her again."
Emma took the opportunity to wipe her tears away as she pulled herself together before continuing, unaware that M.T. was listening to everything she was saying.
"Anyway, I just can't stay on the train forever. Don't get me wrong. I really appreciate what M.T.'s trying to do for me, and I really like being with her, but it's just not right for me to think about… well, being with her when I should be focusing on getting my mom back. So… why do I still feel like I should be with M.T.?"
Jack saw the conflict on her face. The poor girl must be starting to have a hard time figuring out what she even wanted anymore. He saw how cozy she was with M.T. a moment ago. It was obvious how much the two liked each other. As for M.T., she had a lot of mixed feelings that came from what she had to say. She felt happy for Emma, but at the same time, she was angry over her saying that it wasn't right to even think about her before Jack sat up and spoke to Emma.
"It's okay. It's normal to feel that way. That's what happens when you make friends. They become a part of your life, and pretty soon, you'll want to be with them all the time."
M.T. overheard what Jack was saying, too. She slightly turned her head back to them as Emma's face began to soften. She hadn't known this strange feeling before she got on the train. But since she met M.T., all she wanted to do was to be with her. It may have started out because she didn't know how to get her number down, but pretty soon, she ended up wanting to be around her just for the sake of it.
"So, you're saying… that this is what friendship actually feels like?"
Jack nodded his head in confirmation before Emma looked back up to the sky. Emma thought back then to when she saw M.T.'s new look. And every time they were close, neither of them can't help but blush at each other. Beside that, Emma remembered how often M.T. said that having her around was good enough for her. Taking all of them together, Emma began to form a small smile as she replied.
"Actually… it doesn't sound right."
Jack looked back to Emma in puzzlement as he pondered the reason while M.T. turned her head back to her just slightly.
"Why not?"
Emma's smile grew bigger the more she thought about M.T. as she gave her answer.
"I think… I think it's more than that."
But as big as her smile was, Emma couldn't help but think back about her mother as her smile sunk before reality settled in again. To be with her would mean to abandon her. As far as she knew, M.T. didn't want to leave the train, or say that she wanted to. She didn't want to force her if she never wanted to, and she was scared of asking that to her, at risk of somehow offending her since her prime wanted to get off the train. Emma spoke further in self-reflection as she looked at her number.
"But I don't… I don't know how long it'll last before I go back to my mom. I want to be with M.T. so much, but… if I'm supposed to go back… how could I go against that?"
M.T.'s face began to sadden before turning her head away to mull it over with an upset look before Emma's number began to change again, changing from "186" to a "155". The passenger became surprised as she made a light gasp.
"My number changed again."
Jack became happy for Emma as he gave her a nudge on her shoulder.
"I guess M.T. was onto something when she said to share your feelings."
Emma made a small laugh before she spoke.
"Yeah. I guess."
Jack took the moment to look back at M.T., certain that she must've heard that about her advice at least. M.T. only turned her head a bit before giving that advice some thought. All that time, she had been telling Jesse what to do, and it only succeeded in bringing his number up, much to her irritation. And Jack's advice didn't help matters, either. But he was able to talk things out with her, and that got her number down. She wondered if it would really work with Jesse as she pondered about him swimming the way he did.
"So, you just jumped right in back there. What was that about?"
Jesse pointed to the badge on his left sleeve as he answered.
"I'm on the swim team. It's kind of what I do."
"And they tell you to flail wildly with both arms?"
Emma overheard this from M.T. and interjected into the conversation in his defense.
"Hey, I thought he swam pretty good. At least he didn't sink."
M.T. blushed again while making a slight grumble while Jesse didn't get offended by the Chrome girl's teasing. In fact, he took the opportunity to show that off.
"Excuse me? It's called the butterfly... Which I happen to be qualified in for State."
"You picked the biggest, stupidest-looking stroke to be your favorite?"
Jesse began to blush from M.T.'s comment as he answered.
"I wouldn't say favorite. When I started, we only had one senior on the team who swam the butterfly, and I was the only new guy who could kind of do it. The team obviously agreed I had to do it, so I did."
That didn't make sense to M.T. Didn't Jesse have any say in what he wanted to do back then?
"So, they all agreed that you should go to State for something you don't like?"
"Well, I didn't actually go to State. Too many people qualified, so they needed someone to stay behind. I really, really wanted to go, but I didn't."
"But don't you care about doing what you want to do?"
"Yeah. I guess. I don't know. I'd love to swim freestyle sometime. Nate once asked why I like it so much. I think it's because there's something, I don't know, just something about how simple it is. But they told me if I qualify for butterfly again next year, then, maybe, I wouldn't have to give up my spot, so it's fine."
M.T. didn't feel it right to believe that, but Jesse seemed sure of it. And she can't really tell him how to feel, as it would only spike his number up again. For now, she went along with it.
"Okay."
"Kind of sounds stupid when I say it out loud."
Emma stood up on her feet again, inquiring to him with sympathy.
"Well, is it stupid?"
Jesse turned his head away in deep thought as he pondered this. But when he did, he heard his number beginning to change. Jesse looked back at his number and saw that it was changing to a "31". It was the number he started with when he first got on the train. To see this change meant that he was at least getting back on track. M.T. became especially proud of him for that.
"Hey! Alright! It's not much, but at this rate, we'll get you out of here in no time."
Emma took a look at Jesse's number, as did Jack before the latter replied prior to the girl who wondered about the reason for it.
"Oh, yeah. He's getting better."
"Yeah, but how did his number get down?"
"I guess you need to talk more about sports or something."
Jesse could see M.T.'s point while Jack's face blanched a little bit.
"Yeah. That makes sense."
"Well, at least it wasn't about Game Design Camp."
M.T. grumbled from this before Emma laughed a bit before Jack tried to explain it to her.
"Come on, I'm just having fun with you. She gets it."
M.T. looked back to Emma, seeing her smile at her. When she took notice of her, Emma slightly turned her head away before looking back at her with a bashful look, which she took notice of and smiled a little bit before she got back to business.
"Anyway, I think we got all we can get from this car."
M.T. walked near the edge of the boat and shouted to Marcel from above.
"Hey, wind guy, it's been fun, but we're done here. Let's wrap things up, huh?"
Marvel had one eye open before he closed it as he kept blowing his wind onto the boat's sail. Jack and M.T. took notice of this and began to get suspicious.
"Huh?"
"I said we're done!"
Just then, Emma heard laughing in the distance as she looked behind her. She saw the same mermaids who thought she and M.T. were cute together. And they were waving back to her. Emma became puzzled, but nonetheless waved back to them.
"Uh, hi! Nice to see you again!"
Jesse, M.T., and Jack, in the meantime, began to see that something odd was going on.
"Weren't we just here?"
"Yeah. We totally were."
"Something strange is going on here."
M.T. hated to admit it on his behalf, but she knew he was right. She tried to find out what was going on as she shouted over to him.
"Hey, Marci, we've already been here! What's going on?"
"Uh…"
It was the only answer Marcel could give before he went back to blowing the wind on the sails. M.T. didn't like being ignored as it only fueled her suspicions. She shouted again to the big cloud in the sky, fed up with him holding out on her.
"Hello? Are you just gonna keep us going in circles forever? Hey, creep, I'm talking to you!"
Suddenly, Marcel moved as close to M.T. as he could and shouted at her.
"You don't know anything! I'm nice! I'm fun! I'm helping! We don't have to stop."
Emma heard the desperation in his voice. She could tell that he was having no intention to help them, if he had any to begin with. And M.T. came to that same conclusion.
"Wait a minute… you're not trying to help us!"
"You're trapping us in this car!"
"How can you be trapped? We can keep exploring, and expanding the map forever."
Emma was in no mood to play Marcel's game.
"I don't have that time! My mom needs me back in my world, and she needs me now!"
"Are you kidding?! The world is as big as we can make it, so let's keep making it!"
Marcel then blew his breath onto the water, causing it to turn into waves, rocking the boat back and forth amidst the storm he created. And as if that weren't bad enough, the sail went down and split the boat in half with M.T., Alan Dracula, and Emma on one half with Jesse and Jack on the other as Emma looked up at Marcel with a livid look on her face.
"Are you crazy?! You'll kill us all!"
"Not if you stay here! One person guides. One person follows. It's a system. It's great! Let it be great!"
While both halves of the boat were drifting away, the mermaids that were sitting on the rock retreated into the paper ocean. Scared for what would happen, Jesse looked over to M.T. for her advice, hoping it would somehow resolve this situation.
"What do we do, M.T.?"
Unfortunately, M.T. was just as much at a loss as he was. She would've thought about swimming to land if it weren't for the fact that her body was literally made of metal. And whether she had any idea on where to go from there or not, it wouldn't help them stop Marcel's deranged attempt to keep them in the car.
"I... I don't know! If I jump in the water, I'll sink!"
Jesse began to ponder to himself. With M.T., Alan Dracula, and Emma on the other half of the boat, Jesse was forced to think of a way out himself.
"Okay. M.T. doesn't have any ideas. What can I do?"
Jack took notice of Jesse's attempt to think it through. He knew the boy was bound to be onto something, given the information. He only needed to make sure Jesse understood it all.
"Think back. Why did Marcel keep that map in pieces in the first place?"
Jesse looked back up at the maniacal Marcel who blew the hardest wind he could at them as he realized his end goal, and more importantly, his weakness.
"He doesn't want the map completed."
Jesse got out the map and found that most of it was complete, save for a hole in the middle of the ocean. Jesse looked behind him and found a hole in the middle of the paper ocean as well. Jack took notice of that and had to wonder if Jesse was quick on the uptake.
"Get any ideas yet, kid?"
"Just one. But we don't have any paper for the rest of the map. And Marcel wouldn't let us go to find a piece."
Jack looked back up to the cloud before he looked over to Emma, M.T., Alan Dracula, and Visco. Seeing the group, Jack turned over to Jesse before he spoke.
"Leave that to me. Hey, Emma!"
Emma looked over to where Jack was shouting with worry over her face as he continued to shout.
"You want some advice?!"
Emma hardly felt his type of advice to be helpful in times like this.
"I don't see how that could help us right now!"
"Well, how about this?! Distract that cumulonimbutt!"
Emma was quick to shout back at him. But while she did, she remembered when Visco grew into a giant at the Hunter's Lodge Car. He was able to hold off the Hunters back then. If he could do that, the slime gerbil could surely repel the cloud. And if water was an issue, the fact that it was paper water at least gave her some ease.
"No, duh! But how do I even—?! Oh, yeah. Visco, think you can go big for us?"
Visco squeaked positively before she set the gerbil on the boat, and instinctively, it hopped off the boat and into the paper water. Emma didn't quite know where it was going, but she supposed he didn't want to end up crushing the boat in the process. Enma turned over to Jesse and Jack as she shouted before the boy shouted back.
"Visco's working on it!"
"Great, but we need paper!"
M.T. dug into her pockets for anything that could help Jesse and Jack, but in doing so, she pulled out a wanted poster she'd taken off from the Doily Car during her travels with Emma. Emma took notice of that paper and realized why she took it off when she did. The Flecs must've put it up before Emma even knew who they were. The two of them grew uneasy before M.T. put it back in her pocket and shouted back to Jesse.
"I don't have any!"
Jack heard that answer and became miffed to no end.
"Great. Now what?"
In that moment, Jesse recalled another source of paper he told the others about before they got in the car.
"Gas and Dogs Zesty Nacho Supreme deal receipt!"
Jesse quickly got out the receipt and pen before he drew a door on the back of it. It was in close relation to the doors they use to enter and exit the cars. Unfortunately, Marcel got wise and tried to stop him.
"Oh, no!"
Marcel blew a powerful gust of wind on Jesse, causing the receipt and the map to fly out of his hands. Although Jack was able to catch the map, the receipt was flown all the way to the rocks where the mermaids once sat. Jack turned over to Emma and wondered what was taking the distraction so long.
"Any time now, Emma!"
"Give it a second!"
Emma looked back up to Marcel before she cleared her throat and spoke up to him.
"Uh, Marcel?!"
Marcel ceased his blowing before turning his attention to her.
"Huh?"
"Can you help me out with my map?! I don't think it's supposed to have a sea monster in it!"
Marcel became puzzled while Jesse began to draw a sea monster on the map.
"Wait, a monster? What monst—"
Suddenly, Visco burst out of the paper water in his giant form before giving a loud and deep squeak. Marcel stammered upon seeing Visco and tried to blow him away, only for the gerbil to reach its paws for him. And to add to Marcel's dilemma, Jesse's sea monster ended up going after Marcel, too. This afforded Jesse enough time to leap into the water and swim up. For a while he did the Butterfly like before, but after a moment, he stopped. Instead of doing the Butterfly, Jesse began to do Freestyle and got to the receipt before taking out the map and placing the receipt on top of it.
A golden light emanated on the receipt before it sank into the map with the door at the center of the hole. Moments later, the door itself appeared with the group gasping in surprise before the whole scenery changed. The dark brown background turned into a blue sky, and the land they once walked on, as well as the paper ocean around them turned into grass, sand and saltwater. As for Jesse's sea monster, it turned into a Red Sea Dragon before diving into the water with Visco looking up at Marcel with what appeared to be a glare. Somehow or another, Marcel knew what was coming next.
"Oh, no. Oh, no! I'm the wind!"
The instant he realized this, Marcel stretched apart until he literally vanished into thin air. And that air blew onto M.T., Emma, Alan Dracula, Jack, and Jesse before the map flew along with it. With the terrain appearing back to normal, Jesse swam Freestyle to the others with Jack swimming just behind him. M.T. pulled him back up onto the boat before the two of them laid on their backs onto it with Visco headed back to the boat and shrinking to normal as he put his paw on it. When he was small enough, Emma picked him up, only to notice how stretched his legs were. The water must've affected him for it to be that way.
"Aw, Visco. That water made you all soggy, huh? Why don't you dry off? And, thanks for the help."
Visco squeaked a "you're welcome" as she set him on her shoulder before she, M.T., and Jack noticed Jesse's number changing again. When it was done, the number was actually two numbers below: "29". With what happened, M.T. had to admit she was impressed.
"Heh. That was pretty good. Wow. You saved…"
She was about to finish, but she stopped and corrected herself.
"Uh, you saved Allen Dracula. He says, 'Thank you.'
"Thanks A.D. I…"
Jesse tried to give him a pet, but due to his still rapidly spinning head, his hand ended up being smacked repeatedly, making the boy exclaim in surprise.
"Still doing that, huh?"
Emma and the others looked at the scenery they helped create. With the map completed, the whole car itself had turned into a beautiful island. Jesse was the first to speak about it as Emma gazed in awe.
"Wow. This place is pretty nice."
After a moment, however, Emma's face softened into a sad look before speaking to herself.
"Yeah. Too bad Mom couldn't see this…"
M.T. saw this sad look before, and she knew what that meant. As far as she was concerned, Emma didn't need to say any more. She went by her side and hugged the girl again before she reassured her again.
"Hey, don't worry. You can tell her all about it when you get back."
Emma only made a small smile before she nodded back to her. In that moment, Jack made a small clear of his throat, catching the duo's attention. He appeared to be blushing as he spoke softly.
"Okay, so… I think we can all agree that contest was a mistake."
M.T. felt as though he was trying to place the blame on her as she reminded him.
"Hey, you're the one who came up with it."
"I know. You don't need to remind me. Anyway, we've prioritized proving we're right over actually getting their numbers down, and things got worse. But, they were able to get theirs back down in spite of it. So… what do you say we just agree that there's a lot of different ways to get their number down and just be there for them when they need it?"
M.T. and Emma looked to each other for a moment with the latter nodding to her. She actually suggested that advice from the beginning. The Chrome girl knew she owed it to her to go along with that. M.T. turned back to Jack and shook his hand as she replied.
"Sure."
With that, M.T. and Jack buried the hatchet and put an end to the contest. It took some pressure off of Emma. She was worried they would be at each other's throats the whole time they're together. And yet, she can't help but wonder… if everything in the car's turned to normal, what could it mean about the water? M.T. wondered the same thing before she looked at the reflection, too late to think about what would happen as she gasped in realization and horror.
"Oh, no!"
M.T. backed away in fear as Emma became scared of what is to come.
"We're trapped!"
Jesse, oblivious to what her words forebode, became confused and worried.
"What are you talking about?"
Suddenly, on cue, a clawed hand sprang out from the water and snarled as the owner of said hand glared up at the gang. He was then joined by Mace and Sieve, the former of which held up the Sander for leverage as he spoke prior to the Hunter.
"Freeze, sliver. There's no running anymore."
"In fact, you won't even be able to breathe if I can help it."
While Jack gave a fierce glare, the rest of the group gasped in horror, faced with what could be the last faces they'll ever see.
A/N: And here's a cliffhanger for your troubles. I know, it's not very sporting of me, but I can't help how an episode ends. Well, the ones that are canon, anyway. But, moving on, the voice for Backscatter is Ralph Ineson. And he will have an incredibly vicious role in it, especially in the next chapter. That much I can tell you. And, of course, there's still the man of mystery that is Jack. You can expect to see his own story in the next couple of chapters, at least. Until then, I hope you all have a good day. ;)