Infinity Train Book 2: Emma's Story

by OmegusXIII

When Emma Stephens was brought to the Infinity Train, she considered it more a curse than a blessing. And her bumping into a certain reflection that wanted nothing to do with her didn't help. But when danger strikes at them, they come to realize that the only way out is by working together to die trying.

7. The Parasite Car

A/N: Hello, everyone. :) Here is the long-awaited Parasite Car chapter. Now, in addition with some dark details that will occur later on, there will also be a lemon separate from the story that will take place in this chapter near the ending. If there are those of you who don't wish to see it, you can feel free to ignore that one. But if you are, you may proceed at your leisure. :) That said, I hope you can appreciate the work I put into it, and I apologize for it being so long. Oh, and on top of that, there's also a reference to a certain web series we may or may not know. If you can find it, Kudos for you. :)

Chapter 6: The Parasite Car

This was just one weird event after the next for Emma. First, she woke up in a train that seemed to go on and on forever with getting her number to zero being the only way out. Then, she met a slime gerbil, a passenger who claimed to have been one for a long time, a young man who is now learning the concept of friendship, a magic deer, and a Chrome girl who wanted her own life to lead. And to bring it up to date, she got caught up in two attempts on her friend's life, one of which almost killed her. Of course, there was a lot she still needed to know.

For one, who was Jack? And why would he have risked his neck to save her when he could've saved that cure-all for himself? Of course, even that paled in comparison to the most important one: what problem was it that put her on the train to begin with? At times like this, she felt like the day she found out what it was would be the day she got her number to zero, which would make sense. But for now, she took it one step at a time with M.T. Somehow, it was easier to do it with her. Then again, they always have been going the same way.

Since recovering from being poisoned by Backscatter, Emma and M.T. had officially become girlfriends. To think that when they first met, M.T. was completely opposed to her following her around. But now, she never wanted anything more. Well, apart from getting Jesse and Emma home, but as Emma told her, they'll work it out when it comes to that. Beside that, Emma didn't seem bothered at all. In fact, she was even singing her own travel song. But unlike Jesse's, it wasn't on the fly; she knew it word for word. And she was just finishing up, too.

Train to nowhere, train to nowhere. Train to nowhere, at least you're there.

Needless to say, M.T. was more than impressed, much like Jesse was.

"Wow. That was actually pretty good. I'd go for an encore."

"Yeah. And it's even better than my song. Who wrote that?"

"Chicken Choice Judy. It was my mom's favorite band."

Jack, having heard the band's name, raised his eyebrow. He never thought anyone would want to listen to that after so long.

"Chicken Choice Judy? That name sounds more like a special at a dining restaurant."

Emma simply rolled her eyes at his comment. It wasn't the first time anyone described it back home, even when she spent all that time back home looking after her mother. At least, she supposed it wouldn't be.

"Maybe, but me and my mom really liked it. They came up with really great songs. We even have our own karaoke nights at home on Saturdays."

Jesse piped up excitedly. As it happened, Jesse had a similar event back home.

"No way! We had karaoke back home, too! Fun fact: that's where we came up with 'When I look at you, I see me.'"

Emma smiled at Jesse for his enthusiasm, though it came out more awkward than she meant it to. She and M.T. have already heard it before in the Family Tree Car. They didn't really need to listen to it again.

"That's… neat."

Emma started to look ahead to the next car before putting her hands in her pockets, only to feel something in one of them. When she felt the handle, Emma remembered what it was. It was her hunting knife that she'd used on Mace and Sieve before. This made her recall back then how Backscatter suddenly ambushed and poisoned her. But since then, nobody else popped out, not even when she was trapped in the car. Emma was about to get out her hunting knife before M.T. took notice of it and became curious.

"What's up, Emma?"

Emma stopped herself for a moment before looking back to M.T.

"Oh, nothing. I just thought of something. If the Flecs could pop out of any reflection, why didn't they pop out of my knife like Backscatter did? I mean, it would explain why they didn't the first time before they saw me. But this time? They could've tried, but they didn't."

Sure enough, that question was on everyone's mind as well. However, Jack didn't seem as puzzled like everyone else was. He appeared to have a theory.

"Well, what usually happened at the end of your chases?"

Emma tried to think back as she recalled stabbing both Sieve and Mace while getting out her knife, seeing the grey liquid from Mace's laceration.

"My knife had grey blood, I think, from when I cut one of them in the arm. And when I cut the other Flec through the mask, too. Why?"

This gave M.T. an idea. She told Emma before that people can't jump out of people. She had to wonder…

"Emma, can I see it? Your knife?"

This perplexed Emma, but she understood she had a reason for it. Still, she had to urge caution in case Backscatter had any ideas about attacking there again.

"Sure, but what if they pop out of that reflection?"

Emma cautiously handed M.T. her hunting knife handle first and upside-down. She flipped the blade up to face her and compared it with her own metal skin. The knife should've been busted from slashing at the Flecs, but it was still the same as when she got it the first time. Beside that, it appeared exactly the same as her skin. Her theory was confirmed, but the longer she looked at the knife, the more M.T. began to remember… unpleasant things.

She could still see how deathly sick Emma was becoming when Backscatter ambushed her so suddenly and unexpectedly. And even for a moment, she saw Backscatter's face on the knife, making her exclaim and drop the knife on the bridge. Emma showed immediate concern for her as she checked on her.

"M.T., are you okay?"

M.T. caught her breath before she looked back at the knife and saw that Backscatter's face wasn't inside anymore. She must've been seeing things from her fear of watching Emma die. Backscatter nearly made that happen in the Toad Car. She had no intention of letting it happen again as she got out her can of black spray-paint and sprayed the knife black before handing it to her as she answered.

"There. If they didn't come out before, they're not gonna come out now."

Emma looked at the knife in puzzlement. She caught onto what M.T. said. But what could that imply?

"Uh… thanks. But what do you mean?"

"Exactly what I said. This knife's reflection isn't normal, at least not for the Flecs."

Hearing this, Emma, despite her relief, raised her eyebrow in curiosity.

"It isn't? How?"

"Think about it. You stabbed those Flecs twice now, but it wasn't broken at all. It's made from the same stuff in the Mirror World."

Emma became utterly speechless. She never thought that weapons could be crafted in the Mirror World, although the sanders the Flecs used were one exception. And it would explain how the Hunters were able to have a few metal trophies in their car.

"What? You mean this knife came from the Mirror World?"

"Either that, or it's made from the material that came from the Mirror World. Basically, it's like a bulletproof wall that blocks bullets, like the Flecs."

"Oh. But if the Flecs couldn't get through, then how did that hunter do it the first time?"

Jack stroked his chin before looking at her now spray-painted knife. It was strange how he was able to pull it off where Mace and Sieve couldn't. On top of that, he was able to pop out of Emma's Chrome spots when she was poisoned. Then, once he took in all the details, he realized a troubling theory as he spoke up.

"Well, that Hunter isn't like the Flecs, I can say that much. All I can say is that he must've used a shortcut: something that reflections are made of that they wouldn't normally jump through."

Jesse became puzzled as he turned to Jack.

"And, uh, what exactly are they made of?"

Jack turned to Jesse as he replied.

"Let's put it this way: Emma said before that people can't jump out of people. In some way, she's right. But they really can't jump out of other people."

Jesse's eyes widened in surprise and wonder while opening his mouth, as if his mind was blown before he inquired to Jack about it.

"Whaaaaaaaaaa? But how can he do that?"

"Simple. His own essence must've been used to create the knife at some point. Denizens were always looking for stuff like that, even if it's to make sure the Flecs don't nose in on their business. That shifty little devil must've used that to his advantage and ambushed Emma that way."

Emma took another look at her knife then before she recalled her attack on Mace again.

"And after that, I stabbed Mace. That must've been why he couldn't jump out of my knife after that. Because it had his blood on it. Or essence, or whatever it is. How does it even work, anyway?"

M.T. noticed the growing confusion on her face and tried to help her through it. It's not her fault she had so many questions about the Mirror World and how it worked. She didn't have to be a reflection her whole life.

"How about I talk you guys through it? We'll start with the basics. Reflections are… well, they're basically, like living mirrors that apparently existed the same time mankind came around on Earth."

That was hardly a surprise for Emma, though, since reflections were basically in tandem with humanity itself. But what she was really wondering about was how they worked by themselves on the inside.

"Yeah, but what actually goes on… in your body? Does it work the way human bodies do?"

M.T. didn't think much about it as she rolled her eyes. But she had to admit, it was pretty confusing at times.

"Well… it depends. We can just reflect the outside, but if we needed to, I guess we could reflect our prime's insides. Not that I recommend it."

Emma raised her eyebrow curiously as Alan Dracula shrunk down and scampered around near the entrance door to the next car as Visco hopped out of Emma's jacket pocket and chased after the deer, squeaking in every step it took.

"Why not?"

"Let's just say when I saw other people reflect their primes, a lot of them aren't pretty pictures and leave it at that."

Emma could imagine a lot from that. Not many people would be in good health. And even worse, there may be a lot of them under surgery. Thinking about people having to reflect those qualities made her shudder before she replied and Jesse pondered something else.

"Yeah. Enough said."

"Oh, do you know my reflection?"

M.T. gave Jesse a scoff for asking that question.

"We don't all know each other."

"But if you did…"

"We don't."

M.T. opened the door, but the instant she did, Alan Dracula ran away from the door while growing back to normal size and taking Jesse along with him, forcing Emma and M.T. to chase after him while Jack and Visco looked on.

"Whoa!"

"Hey!"

"Alan Dracula!"

A moment later, they managed to corral the momentary rogue deer into the door as Emma, Jesse, and M.T. spoke amongst themselves.

"Geez. What got up on your tail?"

"Yeah, Alan. What is with you today?"

"What's with him every day?"

Jack only sighed. He had about as much a clue as they did when it came to Alan Dracula.

"One of the train's greatest mysteries."

Jack held his hand out for Visco to hop onto it with a squeak before he went back in as he shouted for Emma.

"Hey, Emma! Aren't you forgetting someone?"

---

When he came inside the car, however, he was as starstruck as the others apparently were. There were large fields of flowers everywhere. And the clouds above them were lined in a specific way that matched the fields beneath them. When the rain poured on an empty field with a shape just like it, the flowers were instantly grown, making Emma, Jesse, and M.T. astounded by the work. As for Jack, he gave a soft smile at that before he gave his two cents.

"No way."

"Wow."

"Whoa."

"Heh. I'll bet my wife would've loved this; it could've saved her all that hard work for planting."

Hearing that little tidbit, Emma turned around to Jack with a curious look. She hadn't forgotten that Jack told her one day he'd tell her all about himself. And even before then, he mentioned her at the bottom of the Family Tree Car. She assumed he must be ready to talk more about it as she inquired to him about his history while Visco hopped onto Emma's shoulder.

"Oh, yeah. Weren't you gonna tell me about your wife back at the Family Tree Car?"

Jack's face blanched in less than half a second. He forgot about sharing that with Emma, how he used to have a family life back home. He didn't think it'd come back to haunt him then, but it did.

"I, uh, already gave you one bit of my history for now. You'll have to ask me again in the, uh… next three cars."

Emma was getting confused. She and Jack didn't agree to that sort of thing after the Toad Car incident. She suspected something was afoot. Then again, it does seem to be the most she'd get out of him for now.

"Uh, really? I don't remember agreeing to that. But, okay…"

Just then, Jesse cleared his throat to break the tension in the atmosphere between Jack and Emma before he asked his own question.

"Okay, I know M.T. said reflections can reflect their prime's insides, but… do reflections go to the bathroom?"

That question alone was enough for Emma to understand why Jack blanched at that. It wasn't just pressing to her; it was the same for M.T. Both she and her were blushing red and grey profusely. It made Emma remember that M.T. was transgender due to an unfortunate incident at nighttime prior to meeting Jesse. As for M.T., the question itself was already awkward enough for her to even think about the concept as she spoke before Emma did as they hurried down the path.

"Okay! Question time's over."

"Why did you have to ask that?!"

"All right. All right. All right. Then what about singing time?"

Jesse began to sing to M.T., Emma, and Jack the song he initially tried to sing back at the Family Tree Car. Last time, the Chrome girl of the group denied that, but now, she found it kind of entertaining.

Travel friends! They're friends to the very end.

Jesse looked at Emma, seeing the smile that formed on her face as he wiggles his eyebrow up and down. She could tell he wanted her to sing, but who could blame him? She sang with an exceptional voice of an angel, which her mother told her before. And she wasn't wrong, there. But that didn't mean she can't have fun with it. When she sang she began strumming her own air guitar the way she saw Chicken Choice Judy's Ryan Akagi do it.

Travel friends! Traveling on the magical train around every bend!

Seeing cool stuff, and kicking bad guy mirror butt with your girlfriend!

Making friendship and showing love to mend!

M.T. smiled at Emma's performance before she sang next, holding an air mic to her mouth before Jesse spoke into it, too.

Travel friends! There's no rhythm in this song which makes it very, very dumb!

Easy!

The trio began to laugh together as Jack looked on with a smile on his face before Jesse sang again.

Brought together by the majesty of a superpowered deer!

"Take it, A.D.!"

Jesse gestured to the deer with his air mic in his hand before Alan Dracula sneezed a gust of blue dust onto Jesse's legs, trapping them in a makeshift iceberg, taking Emma by surprise before she snickered a bit while M.T. laughed at the incident, much to Jesse's irritation.

"Ah! Alan Dracula!"

He tried to break out of the ice, but his hands had no success before M.T. knelt down to the ice and made a simple chop, cracking the ice before it broke apart, allowing Jesse to move his legs out of the iceberg and hop around to get the feeling in his feet back as she and Emma tended to Alan Dracula.

"Ah! Cold feet! Ooh! Cold, cold, cold, cold!"

"Oh, poor little superpowered deer."

"Yeah Don't sniff those next time, okay?"

M.T. began gently petting Alan Dracula on the head before Emma did the same near his snout with the two of them smiling to each other. Not much later afterwards, they were heading down the trail again with Emma pondering a question to M.T. next since Jesse asked his own before they headed down.

"So, what happens when your Prime dies? Let's say that Tulip ended up being killed, got in a bad accident, or poisoned. Do you reflect her dead body?"

M.T. made a small frown before she explained to Emma while making small air quotes about the Flecs' motto.

"Mm. No. Once a Prime dies, the Flecs make you choose if you want to have your memories erased and reflect a new Prime, or keep your memories but become a Flec to 'protect and enforce the barrier'."

"But you're not doing either of those things."

"No, both options are stupid. Besides, I've already been there and done that with getting recycled."

Emma was perplexed to hear that in one of the options.

"Recycled? You mean when you reflect a new prime?"

"Yeah. Along with getting your memories erased, your body also had to be 'remade' into something new, something to completely reflect that Prime."

Whether she intended to or not, Emma began looking down to her crotch. She wondered if her recycling had anything to do with her… extra feature. She was even beginning to ask that before she caught herself.

"Oh, is that why you…?"

Emma began to blush when she stopped herself, making M.T. look at her with puzzlement.

"Why I what?"

Emma turned her head away with a blush before she tried to cut the topic short.

"Oh, never mind! I thought I had something, but I lost it."

Emma made a small, nervous laugh before the confused M.T. moved on.

"Uh, okay?"

Emma made a small sigh of relief before her blush died down. She almost forgot about that moment between her and M.T. at the Family Tree Car. She gave herself and M.T. the tiniest dab of Passion Fruit Jam to help calm herself down and move on without offending M.T. by telling her about what she noticed about her. But she called it a good fortune to have remembered this, or she would've driven M.T. away before she even realized it. While Emma took her moment of relief, Jesse asked another question of his own.

"So, um, if someone— not me— practices kissing in a mirror, can their reflection see them doing it?"

M.T. and Emma began to bear a big smirk on their faces as Jesse tried to repeat a point he made before.

"A-again, not me. Someone else, different person. Did I say 'not me'?"

As Jesse stepped back, he inadvertently stepped into a mud puddle in front of them while Alan Dracula walked casually into it.

"Hm? Ew."

As the deer walked in the mud puddle, his sinking height gave M.T. a good idea about its depth while Jesse had an idea about how to make it through.

"Looks pretty deep."

"Think Alan Dracula would let us ride him across?"

Emma, on the other hand, had a different one in mind. She knew the deer would do whatever it wanted, so that option wouldn't seem likely. And beside that, what she had in mind would seem more fun in comparison. At the very least, it could be something to help take her mind off the stress that she had to endure so far.

"Nah. I think he's more likely to dump you guys in. So…"

With that, Emma began taking off her jacket and gently folding it on the floor. Then, she took off her shoes and socks while M.T. and Jesse looked on in confusion before she answered her.

"Uh, what are you doing, Emma?"

"Well, how am I supposed to take my mud bath if I got my clothes on?"

This gave M.T. and Jesse a great surprise. The Chrome girl began to make a heated blush as she stammered with an odd mixture of lust and embarrassment while Jesse formed a blush of his own and became just as embarrassed. Meanwhile, Jack shook his head in shame and slightly tired exasperation. He didn't see this to be necessary when it didn't appear that deep to begin with.

"Oh! U-Um, okay…!"

"Come on, Emma! Did you have to put that in my head again…?"

"Look, Emma. I appreciate your enthusiasm, but this isn't the time to go commando."

Emma made a small laugh before she picked up her jacket and shoes and turned to the little gerbil beside them.

"Hey, it's not like I'm doing it on a theater stage. Can you take them to the other side, Visco?"

Visco squeaked before it turned its paws into a large bulldozer-like shovel and scooped her jacket, socks, and shoes. Then, it stretched over to the other side before setting them down on the ground as Emma spoke to Jack.

"Besides, I kinda always wanted a mud bath at those spas I couldn't afford to go to back home, so this is kind of a golden opportunity for me. Plus, I think I can trust you guys not to look while I get in, so what's the harm?"

As if to prove her point, Jesse had his hands over his eyes as he made a slight grumble before M.T. covered her own eyes.

"Well, at least you warned me."

Jack only rolled his eyes before covering them as he spoke under his breath.

"You're a strange kid, Emma. You know that?"

Emma simply rolled her eyes at his comment before she responded.

"I can live with that."

From there, Emma discarded the rest of her Eww clothes on top of Visco before he took them to the other side and Emma dipped her foot in the mud before pulling it back.

"Ooh! It's a little cold, but I think I can work with this."

Emma began stepping into the mud, feeling the wet, cool, and slightly rough mud as it began to envelop her legs, followed by the rest of her lower body. It turned out that it wasn't quite that deep after all. Emma made a small frown at this before she lowered herself to where her body had gone completely into the mud, her head being the only thing above it. She gave a content sigh as she felt how nice and relaxing the mud was on her body.

"That's more like it."

Once Emma had settled into the mud, she turned to the others and signaled them.

"Okay, guys! You can look now!"

M.T., Jack, and Jesse lowered their hands from their eyes, though the younger man of the group did so cautiously before seeing her head in the patch of mud with a smile on her face. M.T. considered it somewhat of a relief while Jesse made an exaggerated sigh before she inquired to her about her appearance.

"Huh."

"Phew!"

"Are you sure you're okay like that?"

"Yeah. It feels pretty nice to sit like this."

In that moment, Alan Dracula ended up stopping in the middle of the puddle to lick at the mud before Emma turned to the others.

"But how are you guys gonna make it across?"

Jack crossed his arms before he gave his own answer.

"Well, I'm not walking into that mud. It'll ruin the leather."

Emma had an idea to solve this. She knew how far Visco can stretch and grow.

"Well, maybe you can use Visco as a bridge?"

Visco squeaked affirmatively before she suggested another idea, to which Jack shook his head. While he appreciated her generosity, he'd rather get across on his own devices. Beside that, he didn't want to end up seeing something that would offend her by mistake from being high above her or near her.

"Or you could go commando like me."

"Thanks, but I think I'll just go around the old-fashioned way. Honestly, was your mother like this?"

With that, Jack got out his switchblade and began to go into a field of flowers before disappearing into them only to pop out to another path on Emma's left with the path to the exit just behind her as Emma answered, though it was mostly to herself. She thought it over on how it was easy for her mother to be used to it before picturing an older man in the buff next to her, blushing madly with embarrassment at the thought of it before she spoke again to Jesse and M.T.

"Yeah, I think she'd be into it if she were here, but… you know what? Yeah, that's a good call. Just go where Jack's going, guys!"

Jesse couldn't agree more with Emma as he shouted back.

"Like I even had to ask!"

Just then, the flowers that Jack cut to make a path to the other field grew bigger until they were full-size again, blocking the path. M.T. tried to force it away, but it was stronger than even she could push. The Chrome girl tried again and again, but she became exhausted before the young man tried to think of a way to get to Alan Dracula without getting stuck in the mud.

"Great. Now, those flowers can't even move at all."

"Well, at least we know how they're gonna get across, but what about us?"

As if to answer, M.T. climbed up on one of the giant tulips before nearing the top. When she stopped, she dragged the long stalk closer to the mud just above Alan Dracula. It's not enough to completely snap the flower, which was a good thing for her in this case. If it did, it would not only send her into the mud, but it would make that flower regrow and become sturdier than ever. Then, they'd have to go into the mud. She turned to Jesse and shouted for him playfully, remembering his earlier question.

"Come on, Casanova!"

"Hey! I said it was someone else!"

M.T. and Emma laughed with each other as Jesse tried to catch up to her on the flower. With how backwards the deer tended to be, Jack looked over to Emma, figuring that she may not want to be in the splash zone.

"Emma, you know that deer's just gonna drop them, right?"

"Yeah, I'm kinda counting on it."

M.T. overheard this and made a raspberry. Even if it was true, she didn't personally see the harm in trying.

"Coming in for a landing, Alan Dracula!"

M.T. and Jesse inched closer to Alan Dracula, dipping the flower into the mud before they got on top of his back and let go of the flower. In doing so, the flower flung back to where it was standing while also slinging mud into the air behind it. M.T. and Jesse laughed together before Alan Dracula's body split in half, sending the two of them into the mud as Emma shielded herself before M.T. spoke with sarcasm while Jesse sniffed the mud.

"Thanks. Much appreciated."

Emma then gave M.T. a smirk before she reminded her of when she said that the deer would drop them, which it did.

"Told you so."

M.T. grumbled before Visco squeaked from far away while hopping on its cute little legs. Emma, M.T., and Jesse took notice of the little slime gerbil just as Jack emerged from another field of flowers and onto the pathway by the door. Unfortunately, the door was barred by the vines wrapped around it, making M.T. groan in agitation as Alan Dracula heated himself andhardened the mud before it cracked away from his body.

"Ah! Is it too much to ask for a regular door?"

However, Jack was more concerned about how Emma was supposed to get her clothes back on now that she was all muddy.

"Hey, Emma, did you really have a plan, or did you actually think you could walk through the train like that?"

Emma gave Jack her own raspberry before she answered and looked towards her slime gerbil companion.

"Of course I have a plan. Visco, can you help me out with my shower?"

Visco squeaked affirmatively before it grew and transformed itself into a makeshift circular shower curtain with a small pipe that led to one of the large ocean blue flowers beside it and it began to nibble away at said flower. As a result, the shower head began to sprinkle hot water within the shower as steam came from above the curtains, making everyone's eyes widen in surprise, even Emma's. She hadn't known that would be possible with the little slime gerbil, but it's managed to amaze her once again.

"Wow. That's pretty neat. Oh, and you guys may want to cover your eyes again."

Having made her warning, Emma got up from the puddle as Jesse and Jack shielded their eyes except M.T., who ended up amazed at seeing her mud-covered body. The mud had soaked her whole body from the neck down, acting as a cover for it. But upon seeing this, M.T.'s face turned dark grey with huge blushes on her cheeks as she stammered again before Emma turned around to see her. She wondered if that was really how she looked when she saw a brief flash of M.T.'s own body when she changed her outfit. If so, it was refreshing to see that look on her face for once. In the end, Emma gave her a soft smile and a gentle laugh before she spoke gently.

"It's okay, M.T. I'll just go wash up over there, okay?"

Emma then headed towards Visco's makeshift shower curtain as M.T. stammered with embarrassment.

"Uh… o-okay! It's fine!"

Once Emma got inside Visco's shower, she spoke to the others.

"You guys can open your eyes now."

Once everyone opened their eyes, all they saw was a big blur of Emma washing the mud off of herself as she hummed her song to herself. Jesse saw this and became flummoxed as he spoke to himself.

"Man, I'm so jealous…"

Within the makeshift shower, Emma wiped the mud clean off of her left arm as the water rinsed it off her body. But as the mud fell down, Emma took notice of something off. On her left forearm, she found a small grey spot. It reminded her of the time when her body was coating itself in Chrome while she was poisoned by Backscatter. It made Emma five a worried glance as she tried to brush it off, but to no avail. Unfortunately, M.T. heard the small panic in her voice before she checked with her.

"Emma, are you okay in there?"

Emma's face blanched for half a second before she responded.

"Uh, yeah! Just found a weird spot is all. I'll tell you about it after I get out. With my clothes, that is."

Once all the traces of mud got off of her, Emma cautiously opened the curtain slightly to see her clothes just close by. Emma drew a mental sigh of relief that she didn't have to go far as she proceeded to get dressed just as Visco discarded the mud from underneath him by way of opening up the bottom where the pile of mud was before sealing itself back up, allowing Emma to dress herself up in peace. When Jesse saw how Visco discarded the mud from inside the shower by ejecting it from underneath and shoveling them out into a pile, Jesse became disgruntled even further.

"Wha-? He can clean after you, too? It's like you're rubbing it in my face."

Emma became puzzled as she turned to Jesse while she put her clothes back on, starting with her underwear and pants.

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"Your little slime dude's always been helpful so far, Emma. But Alan Dracula, he… he just does whatever he wants."

Emma then reminded Jesse about Alan Dracula's helpfulness as she put on her black shirt and red jacket.

"Hey, Alan Dracula can be helpful, too. He did kick the toad for you guys. If he hadn't done that, I probably wouldn't be here."

Jesse began to see her point as he recalled that when he tried to kick the toad himself, it only raised his number up. At the end of it, he didn't care about his number when Emma's life was in danger, but Alan Dracula managed to save the day, even if it was by coincidence.

"Oh, yeah. But still, I just wish he'd work with us here."

Jesse then looked at Alan Dracula, who was sitting in front of the door before he shouted to him in irritation just as Emma opened up the shower curtain, revealing herself to be back in her clothes before she stepped outside and Visco turned back to normal while she gave him a different piece of advice.

"Alan Dracula, be useful for once and laser away those vines!"

"Hey, take it easy, Jesse. If you're gonna order him around like that, of course he won't listen. Maybe try asking him nicely. It always works between me and Visco."

Visco squeaked positively before Emma held her hand out for the little gerbil for it to hop onto the palm before she set him on her shoulder with a slight giggle. Jesse began to be embarrassed as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Oh, right. Uh, Alan Dracula? Can you laser away those vines, please?"

Despite his effort to be nice, M.T. and Jack scoffed at the likelihood of him actually listening.

"Watch. They'll just explode into more mud."

"Sounds like it. I mean, let's face it. The day he actually listens is the day that something's wrong with him."

Contrary to Jack and M.T.'s opinions, Alan Dracula shot a laser at the vines, making them disintegrate in a purple light, astounding Jesse, Emma, M.T., and even Jack as the young man spoke.

"That's more like it, Alan Dracula!"

Emma smiled as she gave Jesse a nudge in the arm.

"Told ya."

Then, Alan Dracula did something nobody expected him to do: he talked.

"Hey, wow. Thank you. I think you guys are pretty good, too."

Emma, M.T., Jesse, and Jack became surprised in their own way from hearing Alan Dracula speak to them for apparently the first time.

"Whoa!"

"Did you just…?"

"You can talk?"

"You can talk!"

"Was that really a possibility before?"

When "Alan Dracula" spoke again, his mouth inadvertently showed what looked like a small green bean in his mouth.

"Well, um, yeah, you bet. Another one of my amazing superpowers, I guess, or magic or science. You know, one of those things."

While Jesse was convinced, M.T. and Emma had their doubts, especially Jack.

"Yeah, yeah, checks out."

"No, it doesn't."

"Yeah. If he could talk, why would he hide it before now?"

Jack went up to the deer and tried to get to the bottom of Alan Dracula's "speech".

"Okay, what's in your mouth? Open it up."

When the deer opened his mouth, it showed something on his tongue. It was a green wormlike creature with a red bow tie on him. Despite his exposure, he seemed ready to greet himself.

"Hello, hi. Nice to meet you."

Emma became baffled to see him inside Alan Dracula. Last time she saw him, the little guy wasn't inside his mouth at all.

"Where the heck did you come from?"

"Hopped aboard your deer pal back in the mud."

While Jack recalled what he said before, M.T. wasted no time trying to force him out.

"You see? What did I tell you all before?"

"Out of the mouth, parasite, now!"

The moment M.T. tried to remove him, however, the parasite became shielded by bars around Alan Dracula's mouth as his body took on the appearance of a brick wall. Then, as he introduced himself, he ended up spelling out his name with the deer's body.

"Hey! What's with the name-calling? You want to call me a name, how about Perry? You'd like that, right, Perry? That's cute. I'm cute."

M.T., Emma, and Jesse grew doubtful despite his words.

"Saying you're cute doesn't make you cute."

"If anything, it just makes you more creepy."

"Yeah, parasite!"

"Pals, that's such a harsh label. I'm a symbiotic creature."

To demonstrate his point, the "P" in his letters turned into an alligator with a little bird at the end of it.

"I help and hang out like those little birds who clean crocodile teeth. You don't call them parasites."

While Perry changed Alan Dracula's form back to normal, Emma still held her reservations. This Perry is already proving very suspicious to her.

"That's because they don't basically take over their bodies, which is exactly what you're doing."

"But, hey, check this out. I'm practical. Remember when I zapped away those vines? Your deer pal Alvin would have never done that."

Emma's face blanched from getting the deer's name wrong.

"It's Alan."

Perry only continued to try to prove his worth to the group as his body formed a likeness of Jesse, M.T., and Emma riding on top of him.

"Whatever. Point being, I'll never sneeze your feet into ice, and you can ride me like a horsey all day long. Convenient, right?"

This only raised red flags for Emma and M.T. as they gave out their suspicions.

"Hold on a minute. I thought you came from the mud. I mean, the last part, I can understand, but what about the ice thing?"

"Yeah. How do you know about all that?"

"I can read this guy's mind, and let me tell you, he likes you guys very much."

With that, Perry's eyes shot up to show a projection of Emma, Jack, M.T., and Jesse traveling up a large tree at the Family Tree Car with Visco and Alan Dracula carrying the two groups before the projection went into static and showed a lush green field of grass from the Map Car before it stopped.

"Almost as much as grass, which, uh, seems to occupy every other waking thought."

It was a likely story, especially for Jesse. Alan Dracula always did want to go find something for him to eat.

"That actually checks out."

As much as it did, though, M.T. and Emma were hard sells for Perry.

"So, Alan can still think for himself?"

"And he is okay with you in his mouth?"

Perry didn't hesitate to make his case as he replied positively while turning his head into the shape of a house.

"Oh, sure, old antler-head loves this new setup. We're like brain roommates."

Given this situation, Emma still maintained her doubts while Jesse tried to help her and the worried M.T. see reason not to shut out Perry so soon.

"Well… I don't know."

"Guys, having an Alan Dracula who actually listens to us might not be such a bad thing."

"As long as it's not hurting him."

Perry overheard the conversation and piped up.

"Oh, wow, gosh. I would never."

Just then, he blew a huge gust of air from his nose like a vacuum on reverse, blowing all the mud off of M.T. and Jesse before he went near the exit door.

"Now let's get this boy's number down."

Alan Dracula's hoof began to get a bulge before it traveled upward. When it got to the edge, a green human hand burst out of it, making M.T., Jesse, Emma, and Jack surprised and disgusted (mostly from the older man)

"Uh…"

"Okay, that is just wrong on so many levels."

Despite Jack's criticism, Perry opened the door with that hand and held it out to showcase his good manners.

"After you. See, that's polite. I'm polite."

Emma grumbled before M.T. turned her head away from the unnatural sight.

"You don't need to brag about that…"

"Please never turn your hoof into an adult human hand again."

Jesse, on the other hand, considered it a nice treat. At very least, he'd be able to high-five him, which he wasted no time to do so.

"Down low, A.P.D.!"

Jack, on the other hand, considered Perry a freak of nature, especially for summoning that hand. When Jack rebuffed him, Perry made a small complaint.

"Yeah, don't count on me giving you any praise anytime soon."

"Wow, what a grouch."

But that didn't stop Perry from getting back into the swing of things as he went to Jesse and lifted him up into the air with his hooves.

"Anyone else feel a song coming on?"

Perry then began to sing his rendition of Jesse's Travel Friends song with Jesse doing a big finish.

Travel friends! They once were six but now they're seven. The travel friends will never end.

"Let's bring it home, Jesse."

"Travel fri-e-e-e-e-nds!"

Jesse and Perry began to laugh together before he turned back to M.T. and Emma

"Hey, guys…"

When he looked at her, however, M.T. was looking down with worry on her face, along with Emma. They both felt Perry's taking over Alan Dracula to be invasive, and now he's acting like he's their best friend. None of it felt right for either of them. But for Emma, it wasn't the only thing worrying her. It was also that chrome spot she found on her arm while she was showering.

The last time she saw that, she was being poisoned by Backscatter. Could that have been a leftover from what could've been the end of her life? Or was she still being poisoned somehow? With her knowledge about the Mirror World, Emma hoped M.T. would know for sure as she tried to talk to her. But, at the same time, M.T. wanted to talk to her about something. As a result, they ended up speaking intermittently.

"Can I talk to you about something?"

This made the two of them flustered before M.T. tried to let Emma speak, only for her to do the same for M.T.

"Oh! Sorry, you can talk first."

"No, no. It's fine. You can go ahead."

Emma and M.T. each shared a small blush with each other before the latter took a deep breath.

"Emma, do you think that maybe there's something wrong with Perry?"

Emma looked over towards Perry with a suspicious glare as she concurred.

"Yeah. I mean, he's called a parasite for a reason, isn't he?"

"Parasite wouldn't do it justice, Emma. He ends up in Alan Dracula's mouth, and suddenly he's our best friend? It doesn't work like that."

Emma saw the look of worry on her face. Worried as she is about her own situation, she didn't want to see M.T. hurt like that. She remembered how frightened and scared she was when was almost dying, not to mention when she was spray-painting her knife. She can't force that on M.T. again. Before anything else, she needed to help M.T.

"Don't worry, M.T. If anything's going on with Alan Dracula, I'll try to help him."

M.T. looked at Emma with a soft smile before she replied.

"Thanks, Emma. So, what's going on with you?"

Emma looked at her left forearm before she held it with her right hand. She couldn't let M.T. worry about her. It would only scare her even worse with Perry in the mix, she believed. It was better to handle it one problem at a time.

"Oh, don't worry about it. It's fine."

Emma tried to give M.T. a reassuring smile, but once she looked away, she had a small frown on her face before Jesse went up to the two, catching Emma momentarily by surprise as she gave a startled yelp before she tried to cover her tracks.

"Hey, guys."

"Hey, Jesse! What's up?"

Jesse felt her reaction to be odd, but nonetheless, went on to discuss the matter of Perry"

"I know this is weird, but maybe we can give Perry a shot."

M.T. wasn't in any mood to try that with Perry as she replied almost deadpan-like.

"I don't trust him."

"Yeah, well, you didn't trust me at first, either, but look at us now."

Upon saying this, Jesse began to blush a shade of brown on his cheeks, making Emma giggle a bit before M.T. made a soft smile.

"Yeah."

At the end of the door, the suspicious Jack crossed his arms towards Perry as he spoke out in different lyrics.

Tardy friends! Bow-bow-ba-bow! They're tardy till the very end.

"That's not even how you sing that song."

"Sure, it is. Isn't it?"

As for Emma and M.T., they saw a strange anomaly going on with Alan Dracula's body. The Chrome girl leaned into her ear to whisper into it before Emma spoke just as quietly.

"Hey, does Alan seem bigger to you?"

"Now that you say it, I think he does."

Unfortunately, Perry overheard this with Alan Dracula's ears having grown to the size of bat ears before he responded, trying to divert suspicion.

"No way am I bigger. We're outside, and I just look bigger because of the big train."

M.T. deflected that opinion with common sense quickly.

"That's now how perspective works."

"Sure, it is."

With that, Perry caused a human hand to grow out again, only this time, it was a smaller, baby-sized hand. Seeing that out of Alan Dracula's hoof made Emma nearly gag while Jesse fawned over how tiny the hand was while Jack and M.T. immediately showed displeasure from it.

"I think I'm gonna be sick…!"

"Aw!"

"Okay, I take it back. That is wrong!"

"Stop doing that."

Perry opened the door with the tiny hand before responding with an almost sad tone, only for M.T. to respond even worse.

"But you said no adult hands."

"Ahh! Baby hands are worse. Put that away. Ugh!"

Jesse and Perry laughed together while Emma's eyes looked behind her, maintaining a suspicious look towards the deer.

"Ah, baby hands."

Just then, Emma bumped into someone in front of her before she stumbled back to see the figure. She had purple hair with an indigo skin complexion, along with a white dress that reminded her of stage curtains at a theater, along with a golden bodysuit under said dress.

"There you are! The judges are getting restless!"

Emma spoke up to the figure in confusion as she tried to find out who she was.

"Sorry. And you are?"

The figure gave a gaudy laugh before she answered Emma.

"I'm Sashay, baby. I'm head honchess here at Sashay's Runway Fairway. If you don't hit the exit runway pronto, the judges are going to wig out. Pun very much intended."

Jack heard the most important words in his mind from Sashay. The instant he saw her, he had an immediate need to look for the exit and get out of the car.

"Wait, did you say exit runway?"

And Jack's need was quickly proven justified as Sashay strutted her leg in front of him.

"Ugh…"

"Yes, darling. The only way out of here is to dress to impress with finesse. Oh, and do this."

Sashay then began to demonstrate her move as she got out a stereo and set it on the ground before playing music from it. She then began to move forward in a strut where she swayed her hips left and right, making Emma blush from seeing this move before Sashay swiftly lifted her leg up and set it down as she turned her back to them before turning around again and moving her hands to the left, and then to the right before doing it above her and making a pose with a split before she spoke again.

"Ta-da!"

Emma, Jesse, and M.T. were at a great loss for words while Perry quickly agreed to it. As for Jack, though, he tried to give out a refusal.

"Uh…"

"Seems easy enough."

"Yeah, there's no way that I'm-"

Before Jack could finish, Sashay quickly shoved the group along

"Tut-tut! We can't keep those judges waiting."

---

Later on, the show was getting started on a runway with the background similar to a mini-golf course. And the crowd was getting ready for it. It consisted of many living forms of headwear with one among the crowd being a hat pole with shades on. As luck would have it, he was just in time to see the show as Sashay spoke out to the crowd with spotlights shining onto the runway with the end of it guarded by a headless bronze mannequin with a fancy black suit and clip-on tie, with the clip-on itself as its head.

"It's time for Sashay's Runway Fairway. Give it up for our first contestant. You won't believe what you'll Jes-see!"

First up on the runway was Jesse. He was wearing a white wig with a blue dress around his clothes. He gave them a simple smile and wave before the wig started to fall out a bit, only for him to catch it before he strutted his stuff the way Sashay did as much as he could without breaking the dress. The split itself at the end was difficult, but he was barely able to pull it off before Sashay turned to the judges on the side of the runway.

"Judges?"

As if to answer, they simultaneously lifted up the same number they had to give for Jesse's performance.

"Lucky number 9, looking fine. Round that up to a 10, and you're a winner, darling. You may exit."

The bouncer at the end of the runway opened up the velvet rope before Jesse went on to the exit. Meanwhile, on the other side of the curtain, Emma oversaw the performance and felt somewhat relieved. Although, with the size of the crowd out there, she was still looking worried.

"I had to open my mouth about a theater stage…"

Emma then took a look at her own outfit. She was wearing a new outfit comprised of a black and red lined lace-up corset with four buckles hanging loose over a mesh sleeveless top over a white low cut long-sleeved blouse, as well as a black choker around her neck. She also wore a red pleated skirt that is split at the side with a small brown belted strap across the gap, and bright red shorts under it. On her arms, she was wearing black bracers with large brown buckled straps around the wrist as well as black fingerless gloves. Around her waist, she had a brown belt with several bullets with a buckle of an emblem of a rose on it. And she was wearing black, thigh-high steel-toe boots with red soles and heels, a single-buckled strap, rear seam, and a large brown buckled strap with attached pouches near the top, over a pair of brown mesh tights.

"It's a good thing I found this outfit. Whoever was here last really had good taste."

Just then, M.T. arrived with a dispassionate look on her face before Emma noticed her.

"At least you had a good outfit."

Unlike Emma, she was wearing a pink tutu with golden wings on her back, as well as a small blue wig with ponytails on the side of it. Upon seeing the outfit, Emma began to form a blush on her face, having no words about what to say to her.

"Um… you look great, M.T.! You rock that… pixie tutu angel dream gal look? Your style is super ahead of the times, I can't even think of what it'll be named. You're a trendsetter, my gal pal."

Upon saying this, Emma realized her mistake and spoke under her breath.

"Did I really just say 'gal pal'? Ugh!"

M.T. only blushed with a chuckle and a shrug as she replied.

"Eh, not really. I just threw something together. I'm more into, well, punk-y-er clothing. But I'm glad you're impressed by my look. I can say though, I'm more impressed by your look. You're really rocking that look."

Emma blushed again, happy that M.T. overlooked her 'gal pal' comment as she waved her hand in a bashful way.

"Aw, you. Stop it, you're making blush. But really, you like it?"

M.T. looked into Emma's eyes with a smile before she nodded, the blush still present on her face.

"Yeah. You look super cute in that."

Emma smiled at M.T.'s comment on her outfit. From her, it meant a lot, especially with how she looked.

"Thanks. This outfit is kinda from this one show I watch online called 'RWBY'. The fandom it has is pretty controversial, but I think it's a great show. Well, except Volume 5. I think it could've been better."

M.T. didn't quite understand a word she was saying about a show she hadn't watched before. But if that outfit belonged to a show, M.T. can understand what Emma is.

"So, you're like a cosplayer?"

Emma made a cute smile on her face as her blush grew deeper.

"Uh, yeah. Kinda like that."

Just then, Sashay called out to the crowd for M.T.'s debut.

"Hope you didn't fill up because this tank's running on M.T.!"

With the crowd cheering out for her, M.T. did a descending sputter from her mouth before she blew a small lock of her blue wig from her face and spoke.

"Okay. Let's get it over with."

While M.T. headed out to the runway, Emma gave her a shout of encouragement.

"You go knock 'em dead, babe!"

M.T. smiled back to Emma as she headed out onto the runway. When she got there, she tried to do the same moves Sashay did. She swayed her hands to the left, and then to the right before holding them above her. Then, she jumped and did the splits while also doing a ground pound with her right hand. With the effort she put into it, the judges were impressed with her performance as they held up a score of 8, 8, and 9.

"Avant-garde? More like avant-great! You may exit."

M.T. continued down onto the runway before hardcore rock music played on the background as Sashay called someone out.

Play Casey Lee Williams Music: "This Will be the Day"

"Now for something peppy, sassy, and a smile that can light up the world. Here's the ever sunny and fierce, Emma!"

As the music played, spotlights shone down on where Emma walked out to the runway, holding a scythe in the similar style as her outfit behind her back with a smirk on her face, making M.T. blush like crazy while Jesse was astounded by her appearance.

"We are lightning,

straying from the thunder,

miracles of ancient wonder"

Then, Emma began walking out onto the stage as she twirled her scythe around her, making the crowd cheer for her before she planted the end of it into the ground and she began to dance with the scythe as she leaned out and gave M.T. a smile, making M.T. give an excited look to her as she shouted.

"Whoo! You go, Emma!"

"This will be the day we've waited for,

This will be the day we open up the door,

I don't wanna hear your absolution,

Hope you're ready for a revolution"

Emma then began to throw kisses to the crowd as she made a cute pose their way with a wink, making the crowd cheer louder before she spoke.

"Don't be too mad; this beauty, it's all-natural."

"Welcome to a world of new solutions

Welcome to a world of bloody evolution"

Emma began to do a backwards flip on the ground, placing her hands on the ground to keep herself steady before using her feet to kick the scythe into the air, making the crowd gasp before she pushed her hands, launching herself back into her feet before she caught the scythe and spun it around until she held it behind her back.

"In time, your heart will open minds,

A story will be told,

And victory is in a simple soul"

End Casey Lee Williams Music: "This Will be the Day"

Just as the song ended, however, the scythe began leaning towards the ground, dragging Emma along with it until it landed, nearly making her fall over until she lifted herself up with its handle and she gave a nervous laugh before doing a bow. Upon seeing her performance, the judges raised up their cards, tallying Emma's score up to 7, 7, and 7 as Sashay spoke out to the crowd.

"Oh, voila! Another lucky number. You've earned your exit, baby."

Emma hurried over to M.T. and Jesse as the bouncer opened the red velvet rope to let her in, but not before she had to leave her scythe behind as it proved too heavy to carry after the end. The two of them had a look of surprise on their faces from seeing Emma perform.

"That was fun, huh?"

M.T. was the first to speak up to her.

"How the heck did you do all that? Have you been holding out on me?"

Emma had no clue herself, but that didn't stop her from being any less excited about it.

"I don't know. But while I was performing, I felt like I could do anything. I don't know where that came from, but I'm glad it helped."

Jesse spoke up next to Emma about her performance. He was still blindsided by her moves.

"You're telling me? It looked so awesome how you were swinging that scythe!"

Emma giggled a bit from Jesse's words. She had to admit; it was pretty awesome.

"Thanks, Jesse."

Just then, Sashay began to introduce Jack out onto the runway.

Play 2 Unlimited Music: "Ready 4 This"

"And let's not forget someone coming to show that toughness can be fabulous, rocking the look and attitude of a meteor shower with his power, toughness, and grace. The tranquil and tough, Jack!"

When Jack got out onto the runway, his outfit caught Emma, M.T., and Jesse's attention with surprise. It was a dark blue power jacket with white slightly high platform boots, a flow-y ruffed dark blue skirt over his pants, and a straw sun hat on his head. He had a look on his face that showed he just wanted to get it over with as he spoke just as the music stopped.

"I'm getting too old for this."

When the music played again, Jack began to strut his stuff the way Sashay did, only he didn't use his legs; after all, he wasn't a lady. The trio tried to hold in their laugh as Jack did his performance. During their struggle, M.T. leaned closer to Emma.

"I can't believe he actually went with that outfit."

Although, once Emma heard this, she realized that she was still wearing her cosplay outfit. She started to get embarrassed as she grew blushes on her cheeks as she spoke.

"Uh, speaking of outfits, I'm gonna go change back into my original. I left them in the dressing room, but I'll be right back."

In no time at all, Emma took off into the dressing room as M.T. waved to her.

"Okay. Just don't take too long in there, Em!"

"You got it!"

Pause 2 Unlimited Music: "Ready 4 This"

---

From there, Emma went behind the curtain again to see the dressing room backstage. The first thing she noticed about it were the mirrors, which she was quick to avoid and spray-paint before. When they had to pick out outfits to wear, Emma asked M.T. previously for her black spray paint to prevent the Flecs and/or Backscatter from finding them. Oddly enough, nobody seemed to have made a move against that, not even Sashay. Either that, or perhaps she just didn't notice.

"Huh. I wonder how Sashay would've felt about this."

Just then, as Emma was thinking about her, her hair began to grow longer into a mane of sorts, puzzling the young girl when she noticed a lock or two in front of her.

"Huh? What the-?"

Emma couldn't use the mirror, or she'd risk them being hunted again. So, she had to use her hands. But when she did, she immediately found out it was longer than it should be.

"What's going on?"

At that moment, Visco popped out of the pocket of Emma's red jacket that was left on the ground. He'd decided to hide there until her performance was over. She once thought about stuffing him in one of her new outfit's pouches, but she realized it wouldn't let him breathe. So, she let him stay in the jacket for that time being. Visco hopped over to Emma before she looked down and noticed him.

"Oh, Visco. Thank goodness. Can you show me how my hair looks right now?"

Visco squeaked a "yes" before he immediately morphed into the exact appearance of Emma's face and current hairstyle. Seeing this, Emma became surprised. She knew she hadn't made any changes to her hair for the performance.

"Hey… my hair looks just like Sashay's! But how? I didn't do anything to it. Unless…"

Emma rolled up her sleeve to see the small grey spot on her forearm. It hadn't changed since she first saw it. Yet, she had to wonder if she was beginning to change. But as much as she wanted to get to the bottom of it, she still thought it best to solve the problem with Perry first. M.T. had enough to worry about already with being hunted and with Perry practically forcing his way into the group. Although, it wouldn't hurt to at least talk to M.T. about this development. Maybe it could help her out with Perry somehow, she thought.

"Weird… maybe it wouldn't hurt to tell M.T. after all. But first, let's get dressed."

With that, Emma started to undress her outfit with Visco acting as a makeshift curtain once again, but this time as a 3-panel privacy screen. Emma took off her shirt and pants quickly before she put the original articles back on. And then, just as she was putting on her jacket with Visco shrinking back to normal, Emma began to hear an odd groaning from far away backstage.

"Huh? Where did that come from?"

To find out, Emma went closer to the source of the noise, only to find Alan Dracula apparently dressed in a brown wig with jewels adorned on his antlers, as well as lipstick on his mouth, along with pink high-heel shoes on his hooves. This was a surprise to see Alan Dracula dressed up like that. Of course, she knew it must've been Perry, but she hadn't forgotten about the noise that came from his direction.

"Whoa."

"Oh, hey, Emily. What's up?"

"Uh, it's Emma."

"That's what I said."

Emma would rather not argue with him about her own name, not when there seemed to be a bigger issue.

"Anyway, are you, um… are you sure Alan Dracula's fine?"

"Well, uh, yeah. What makes you say-?"

Just then, before Perry could finish, a second head began to pop out from the chest resembling another Alan Dracula, making Emma gasp in horror as it began to bleat in terror. She could make out every detail right in front of her. She could practically see the poor deer crying before it went back in the body, launching it back a bit before Emma realized what was going on. Alan Dracula didn't agree to it at all. He was his prisoner. But in spite of the overwhelming evidence, Perry tried to disregard it.

"Whoa. Don't know how that happened."

Emma gave Perry a cold, disapproving glare as she walked up towards him. She knew that she and M.T. were right about him. There was no way she was going to let him get away with it.

"Yeah, you do, Perry. You're forcing Alan Dracula to do stuff he clearly doesn't want to do! You're using him like a puppet!"

Perry's eyes, or rather Alan Dracula's eyes, widened, feeling pressured by Emma's tone.

"Hey, come on, Emilia. Didn't I tell you before? We're brain roommates. You can't split that up."

Emma didn't care about that one bit. She saw the tears on the deer's second head. It was clear to her that he was suffering. And she can't let him do that to Alan Dracula.

"No! It's Emma! And I don't care what you say; we're not friends, you're not his brain roommate, and you're still just a parasite."

Emma began walking out backstage before Perry tried to change her mind again.

"But if we're not friends, how come I'm so good at keeping secrets? Like this one."

"Like what?"

This was where Emma began to regret asking that. Alan Dracula's belly acted like a projection screen, showing Emma a surprising memory: it was the night when she used that jam on the both of them. Seeing this made Emma give a short high-pitched squeal while she blushed hard as she blocked the screen before Perry spoke to her again.

"Ah! How did you know about that?!"

"I mean, if we're not friends, I'd blab it out to everyone, but you and I are friends? Right?"

Emma's face distorted into a grimace. Perry caught her secret through Alan Dracula. If M.T. ever found out about this, her life would be worth squat, on or off the train. She might as well end up killing herself. All she could do was speak through gritted teeth. If she didn't want M.T. to find out about that secret, she had no choice.

"Yeah. Of course..."

---

Resume 2 Unlimited Music: "Ready 4 This"

Meanwhile, out on the runway, Jack was showing off by doing some backward flips, astounding the crowd as they cheered. Then, Jack got out his knife from his pocket before he placed his hand on the floor and began to make stabs within the space between his fingers. Then, he began to pick up the pace, making the crowd gasp in suspense at the speed he managed to pull off without accidentally stabbing even one of his fingers. Even Jesse was impressed.

"How is he doing that?!"

When Jack was done, he retracted the blade from his knife before he made a high jump and landed on the edge of the stage with his hands, doing a hand-stand for a few seconds to finish up before he pushed himself up off the ground and did a bow as the music finished.

End 2 Unlimited Music: "Ready 4 This"

As a result, the judges became impressed enough to draw out different numbers with one holding a score of 9, another holding 8, and the last one holding 10.

"A wonderful performance, darling! That's going to be hard to beat. You may exit."

As the bouncer let Jack pass, he took off his power jacket, his frilled skirt, and his straw hat before he noticed that there were only two of the group by the exit. Jack became puzzled at this development since he saw Emma go out before him and do well.

"Where's Emma? Did she not make the cut or something?"

M.T. only scoffed at his query. She didn't have any doubt that Emma would do great to begin with.

"Yeah, she did. She's just getting her stuff from backstage."

Just then, M.T. saw Emma coming close to the group with an anxious look on her face. The last time she saw her, she was happy as she could be. What could've happened in the time she left before coming back? Jesse took notice of that, too, and he became puzzled, though not nearly as worried as M.T. was as she tried to check with her.

"Hey, Emma. What happened back there? Did someone die or something?"

Emma only turned her head away as she replied softly.

"I wish… It might as well be freedom."

"Huh? What are you…?"

Before M.T. could get to ask, Sashay began to call out Alan Dracula.

"Don't stake our final contestant in the heart before he steals yours. It's Alan Dracula!"

On cue, Perry walked out onto the runway with a pink dress and a bow on the back of it. He began walking towards the runway before he quickly pulled off the dress and tossed it into the air to show a dark pink, glittering suit before he proceeded to move his hooves to the left, and then to the right before doing it above. But as his hooves traveled down to his neck, Alan Dracula's second head tried to burst out again, only to sink back and propel the deer backward before lighting himself on fire, burning off the dress and acting as lightning before turning into purple slime that fell to the ground before reforming into his physical from and making a nervous laugh before doing a bow. Seeing this, Jesse became excited while M.T. and Jack were surprised as the latter spoke.

"Okay, I'll admit it: I'm impressed."

Emma, however, maintained her sour look as she moaned with a sigh, catching M.T. and Jack's notice. However, the judges sang a different tune as they held up their score cards with one saying one, and the rest saying three zeros.

"Hole in 1 million, baby! I couldn't have done it better myself. You may all exit!"

Perry then began to strut out to the exit with a smile on his face. A smile he robbed from Emma…

---

Outside the Runway Car, M.T. had to admit that she was impressed with Perry's performance.

"Whoa. I can't believe I'm saying this, but nice work in there."

She tried to give him a gentle scratch on the head, but after a second or two, Perry pulled his head away.

"Hey, hey, hey! How about a little personal space?"

"But I thought Alan Dracula liked that."

"Well, you know, people change."

As if on cue, Emma began to speak up meekly in favor of Perry, trying her best to put on a convincing smile.

"He's right. Maybe his tastes have changed since they started being… brain roommates?"

Jack and M.T. saw that look on her face while Jesse began to believe that to be the case, although he was starting to be a bit uncertain due to how Emma looked.

"I guess it makes sense…"

"Sure it does, so there's no need to debate it. Hey, check out this new door."

Perry then opened the door with his human hand out of his hoof again.

"Look, ma, no baby hands."

Jack only grumbled as he spoke up.

"But you still used a human hand."

When the group got inside the next car, M.T., Jack, and Jesse were astounded by what appeared to be a Food Pyramid. At the bottom of it, it appeared to be wheat and bread with fruits and vegetables above it. And above them were milk, fish, meat, and dairy with the top of it being whipped cream and a cherry on top. M.T. figured that would help Emma smile again as she spoke up.

"Wow. I'll bet it's really exciting in there, huh, Emma?"

But when she looked behind her, Emma was still in her sad state. She was about to get her attention, but Emma looked up and responded with a sad look.

"Huh? Oh. Yeah, it's… it's pretty great."

M.T. and Jack knew there was no denying it. Emma seemed to get worse and worse than before. M.T. had to get to the bottom of it.

"Emma, are you feeling alright?"

"Yeah. Just-just great. I just need some space, okay?"

Emma tried to walk away from M.T., making her and Jack puzzled. Why would she need any space from M.T.? She never did anything wrong to her to warrant this. Despite Emma's insistence, M.T. wanted to check up with her, but Perry popped up in-between them and spoke up, making Jesse chime in excitedly.

"Who's hungry for adventure?"

"Me! I'm also hungry for real food!"

While Jesse went along with Perry, Jack gave Perry a glare while M.T. grumbled in anger before the older man went in front of him and Jesse.

"But! Before we go in, we should look around outside."

Jesse became puzzled. Why would he need to look around outside?

"Really? How come?"

Jack looked over to M.T. and gave her a nod, something she picked up on quickly before he explained.

"Because… this is one of the facts about my life? Remember? I said I'd tell you every few cars?"

This made Jesse remember when Jack said it. It was in the Flower Car when Emma asked about his personal life before. To think he'd almost forgotten about it. And more than that, he saw how sad Emma looked. He figured Jack was doing this to give M.T. and Emma some privacy. He hoped it would be enough to help Emma perk up a bit.

"Oh, yeah! You did say that."

"Yeah. I hid something in this car out around here."

Perry became interested as he leaned closer to him, becoming interested.

"Oh, yeah? Like what?"

Jack tried the hardest he could to think of something to distract Perry long enough. Problem was, what they stood on appeared to be clouds. There wasn't anything he could think of to bury within them without them falling over. However, this setback ended up giving Jack an idea.

"Like, um… a rock shaped like Abraham Lincoln's head. Thing is, it's way below the clouds, so I may need some help to look for it at ground level. Think you can help me out?"

Fortunately, Perry was all the more willing to agree to it.

"Sure thing, Jason. Just hop on."

With that, Jack and Jesse hopped on top of Alan Dracula's body before it took on a similar density as a rock with Perry speaking to the two of them.

"You two may want to hang on."

Just then, Alan Dracula began to sink below the clouds with Jack and Jesse screaming as they fell below. M.T. became worried as she looked down the hole where Perry fell through before seeing him flying around towards the ground. M.T. gave a sigh before she spoke softly.

"Thanks, Jack."

With the others gone, M.T. took the opportunity to go over to Emma, who was looking down with her arm holding onto her left elbow. But when she spoke up beside her, she inadvertently scared her with a jump before she greeted her back, realizing it was only M.T..

"Hey, Emma?"

"Ah! Oh, M.T. What's up?"

"Oh, nothing. I just wanted to check up on you and see how you're doing."

Emma only had a sad smile on her face as she replied back.

"Oh, I'm-I'm fine."

When Emma looked back at M.T., however, she only got a deadpan stare in return. She didn't seem to believe her one bit.

"What?"

"Look, Emma, I'm not trying to pressure you or anything. But I don't think you're fine. In fact, I know you're not."

With M.T. getting more and more suspicious, Emma began to laugh nervously before replying.

"I'm not? What gives you that idea?"

M.T. began going closer to Emma, making her feel worse and worse, like she's trapped with no way out. She knew M.T. meant well, but if she found out what she did to her, how long will that even last?

"Ever since the Runway Car, You've been acting scared and twitchy around us, especially me. And on top of that, you promised that if Perry was doing anything, you'd help him. But now you're sticking your neck out for him? Are you really okay with this?"

Emma began to sweat from M.T.'s question. She felt just like a caged animal trying to break out with no hope of doing so. And by coincidence, her hand began to shift differently from how it should, appearing wobbly and wavy, making Emma notice with a nervous gasp before putting it behind her back and rubbing it while backing away from M.T. to keep her from finding out.

"Uh, m-maybe I should go and try to help Perry with finding that rock…"

Emma was about to leave, but before she could M.T. grabbed her non-wavy hand gently, but firmly before looking at her with genuine worry and fear all over her face.

"Emma, please. Don't leave me in the dark here. I'm your girlfriend, remember? We can tell each other everything when we can. Nothing should be a secret between us, and I'd never judge you for whatever you're going through, so please... tell me what's wrong."

Emma's face softened into a sad stare. As scared as she is, she knew M.T. was right. She shouldn't be doing that to her girlfriend, even if it was to keep her secret away from her. She needed to know, even if she would end up hating her for it. M.T. deserved to know. Emma gave her a sigh before she spoke.

"Okay. The truth is, after I got dressed, I found out Perry was…"

But before Emma could even begin to tell her, Perry popped out from the clouds underneath Emma and M.T. before he piped up.

"Hey, what are you guys talking about? Friends don't talk about each other behind their backs."

This made Emma give a sad and dejected look before she replied meekly once again.

"I'm sorry."

Upon seeing this, M.T. grumbled before she spoke bitterly towards him.

"Weren't you supposed to be looking for a rock?"

Despite her cold tone, Perry answered casually.

"Yeah, it turned out that the rock Jacob was looking for ended up in a black void beneath the clouds, so… yeah, it was pretty scary."

Perry's face began to show a moment of pause from the terror of seeing that void before he instantly changed his mood and spoke with a smile.

"Who's ready to go inside now?"

---

Not much later inside the Food Pyramid, the group was walking on the floor that was made out of graham crackers with rivers of chili on both sides of it with the sarcophagus holding an apple for a head and a knife in his left hand while the fork was on his right. And the way that led to it was a carpet made out of bacon with pillars of ice cream sundaes beside it. But Perry was more interested in what was on the ceiling that was held up by kabob pillars on the chili rivers. There were countless tortilla chips sticking out. Perry thought nothing of it as he tossed his head at the chips before slicing them with his antlers and reattached it back to his body. A moment after, they all fell down to the ground, only for Perry to pick them up with one of Alan Dracula's antlers and get out a pincer of sorts from his hoof, using it to pick up one chip and dunk it in chili.

"Complimentary chips and… Hey! thick, meaty chili. Meat and chips... great! I'll bet you the old Alden couldn't do that. Ha, ha!"

With that, Perry began to eat the chili-coated chip. But the instant he did that, Jesse began to show worry for Alan Dracula's well-being. What Perry did went against his natural diet.

"Wait. What are you doing? Alan Dracula is a vegetarian!"

Of course, that wasn't the only problem. M.T. turned around to notice Emma sitting by herself near one of the kabob pillars holding up the ceiling above them. She could swear that every single time she looks at Emma now, she's only getting worse. And she knew whose fault it was as she glared at the parasite who spoke with Jesse as she stormed towards him.

"Well, not anymore. See, I'm growing and changing, just like you, Jerome."

"Um, it's Jesse."

"Yeah, like I said, Jess…"

In no time at all, M.T. blew up at him with no ounce of mercy towards him. With how Emma was getting to be, there was no point beating it around the bush, not that she was ever capable of it.

"This is all your fault!"

The parasite became nervous as he tried to maintain his friendly demeanor.

"Hey, M.B."

However, M.T. didn't care for the act one bit.

"Don't act all friendly to me you little parasitic turd! What did you do to Emma?!"

As her accusation echoed around in the pyramid, Jesse and Jack looked at her in shock from saying this while Emma looked at the scene in puzzlement. How did she pick up on what was going on with her? As Emma looked on, Perry only laughed semi-nervously, trying to deflect her accusation.

"Uh, I have no idea what you're talking about, M.G. I'd never hurt my buddies, especially not Emma there. Maybe she's just going through some stuff like any passenger does, and you're probably just overreacting..."

M.T. only grew more furious. Perry was blaming Emma for the problems that he caused. And she wasn't going to let that go.

"Don't give me that! I know you're lying! Emma may be a passenger, and sure, she's got some issues, but as her friend, I care about what happens to her! And the funk you obviously put her through is as plain as day! Even Jesse could tell she wasn't happy!"

This made M.T. give an awkward look to Jesse. Although she was accusing Perry, she didn't want Jesse to get the wrong idea about him.

"No offense."

Jesse only shrugged it off. He knew she was right about him having a hunch that Emma wasn't looking too good.

"None taken."

While M.T. spoke on, Emma began to see her point. They saw how upset she was, and they were standing up for her, even Jesse. She was about to do the same for Alan Dracula, but then he had to open his mouth about her secret with M.T. What was she doing? How could she think about herself knowing Alan Dracula was suffering because of Perry? She can't let Alan Dracula suffer for her secret. She just couldn't…

"Besides, she only got this way after talking to you in that Runway Car. She avoided talking or looking at any of us, and when I finally get to talk to her, you come along and butt into it, and Emma shuts us down! I don't know what you did to her but if I don't get an answer soon, so help me, I'm going to…!"

Before M.T. could finish, Emma took her turn to shout next.

"SHUT UP!"

Her shout caught everyone's attention as they all looked over to see Emma with tears streaming down her now angry face. She couldn't let the parasite have his way with Alan Dracula anymore. The pressure of the hurt Perry inflicted on her with that secret of hers, the isolation she had to endure just to keep the secret quiet, the rejection that resulted from Perry's downplay of M.T. 's earlier speech when she tried to talk to her, and the haunting knowledge of Alan Dracula suffering under Perry's thumb, all of it was too much for her to take. She was done being a helpless bystander. Emma took a deep breath before she explained.

"You want to know what's going on, M.T.? I'll tell you. Perry has been holding this dumb, disgusting secret I had for a long-ish time ago in order for me to keep quiet and to be his hype gal to get in good with you all."

Hearing this, Jack and Jesse all turned to Perry, giving a glare to the parasite before he laughed nervously as Emma went on.

"But he's just nothing but a big turd that's been mocking and breaking me down for this dumb secret... which I guess I deserve."

Emma began to sob from that secret as M.T. tried to find out what it was.

"Emma, what did you do to deserve that?"

As an answer, Emma dropped to her knees and looked at M.T. with tears overflowing in her eyes, struggling to hold in her sobs.

"I-I-I betrayed your trust, M.T.! I've been a horrible girlfriend!"

M.T. didn't know if she wanted to know what that secret was. But she had to ask, seeing it was enough to drive Emma to tears.

"I… I took advantage of you a few cars ago, in the weird Family Tree Car… thing, and I rubbed on your private bits while you slept!"

M.T. began to have a look of shock and surprise on her face. She didn't peg Emma to be the kind of person to do that to her.

"Wait, you what? Why?"

Emma tried to explain herself amidst her sobs and sniffles.

"I-I-I just... I wasn't in my right mind, okay? That weird jam might have made me do that, but… but I still did it! I still hurt you, and now I destroyed your trust by…"

As much as Emma wanted to keep trying, she couldn't hold it in anymore. She began to bawl on the floor, ashamed by what she had done to her.

"Oh M.T., I'm so sorry!"

While Emma began to sob, M.T., Jesse, and Jack began to feel bad for her. But Emma wasn't done yet.

"And that's not even the only thing I'm hiding, either!"

She then pointed to her hair, which began transforming into different hair styles. First, she ended up as bald as M.T. was. Then, she ended up having Jesse's hairstyle. And finally, she ended up with Jack's hair. And even worse, her hand began to wobble and wave into distortion, making the others surprised to see such a development. M.T. began to speak softly to her, stuck in disbelief that Emma kept those things from her.

"Emma… why didn't you tell us?"

"I'm so sorry, M.T. But there's no helping me. I'm a freak, now… in body and mind. A weird mutant lesbo freak that raped her girlfriend. I'm so sorry…"

With that, Emma began to break down in tears, holding her hands over her face. As the poor girl sobbed her heart out, M.T. showed her a hard look. It was no wonder why she kept it a secret. Just the thought of Emma doing that to her was unthinkable. But she also said before that she wasn't in her right mind, that the jam made her do it. Unless she was mistaken, she must've been talking about the Passion Fruit Jam Yukon used on Crystal before. But the question remained: was their whole relationship born from nothing but that jar of jam? M.T. had to know as she walked closer to her and knelt down.

"Tell me, Emma. How much of that jam did you use?"

Amidst her sobs, Emma tried to answer as she wiped her tears away.

"Just a tiny drop… for each of us."

Emma continued her soft sobs, expecting to hear M.T. say that she will never forgive her. Who would after what she did? However, that answer only made M.T.'s face soften up. After which, she leaned closer to Emma and give her a tight hug, making her stop her crying, though her tears still flowed before M.T. spoke. Emma was still blaming herself for the events that happened.

"It's okay, Emma. I don't hate you for that. You don't have to feel this way anymore."

Emma couldn't believe what she was hearing. She thought M.T. would scream and punch her for messing with her body.

"You… you don't hate me? But why?"

"I know you wouldn't do anything to break my trust on purpose. It was the jam that made you do it."

Comforting as her words were, Emma looked over to Jack and Jesse, wondering what they had to say about her disgusting secret.

"What about you guys?"

Jack was the first to speak up to her as he replied.

"Look, Emma. What you did was messed up, but you said it yourself. You just weren't in your right mind. We can't blame you for that."

Jesse then spoke up next to Emma in reassurance.

"Yeah. We don't think any less of you for that, or your cool powers. And hey, if M.T. was willing to forgive you for… whatever happened between you two, I think I am, too."

With that, Jack and Jesse walk closer to Emma and M.T., joining in on the hug, making the young girl smile as the last of her tears went away.

"Thanks so much, you guys…"

Just then, Perry piped up in the background with a hearty laugh.

"All according to plan."

Jack had his suspicions as the group all looked towards Perry with sour faces.

"What plan, exactly?"

"Why, the plan to help Emma confess her secret stuff and move on, of course."

Jesse only snapped at Perry with a cross look on her face.

"Well, that plan of yours blew chunks big time! You tortured Emma with that secret! And you're torturing Alan Dracula by eating chips and chili! Now, get out of Alan Dracula and stay out!"

This forced Perry into a retreat as he backed away before Jesse could begin to pry his mouth open. As if that wasn't enough, he tried to talk his way out of it, only to incite M.T. to a shout of anger.

"Look, fellas, can't a guy make one mistake?"

"Mistake?! Emma wanted to kill herself because of you!"

M.T. lunged at Perry next, only for him to sidestep away from her as he continued to explain himself while backing up to the door.

"Sure what I did to Jemma was wrong on some level, but I'm telling ya, she's got it all wrong about me and A. Drag here."

Jack tried to force Perry out of him next as he hopped onto his back and pried his mouth open.

"That deer doesn't want anything to do with you, parasite!"

In protest, Perry chucked Jack off of him with a forward jerk of his head. But that didn't stop Perry from trying to win them over.

"But he's super happy being my brain roommate, really! I-I should know, 'cause I'm literally connected to his brain and nerve ends, so I feel what he feels. Watch, I'll just open this door trick style, show you guys I'm right, and we can all move on."

In his attempt, Perry summoned a human arm from Alan's shoulder to open the door. However, Emma saw something that proved otherwise; it was twitching like crazy. She didn't know how, but she could tell something bad was about to happen.

"Uh, guys? We might want to back up. Like now."

Despite her warning, Perry thought nothing of it.

"Oh, please, Ellie. I got this. Sure we have our differences with me blackmailing you, but come on. I'm completely in con-"

Suddenly, the arm exploded, catching Perry by surprise before he spoke in alarm.

"Whoa! What the—?"

Suddenly, Perry's body began to light itself on fire, making the others back up before he converted himself into electricity. Following this, his back end grew fatter before it went up to his head, enlarging it before he ended up flat. And afterwards, Alan Dracula's body ended up with a lit fuse that's going down on him. With the deer ready to blow up, Emma, M.T., Jesse, and Jack quickly ran for cover behind a large green bell pepper. The moment the fuse went away, Alan Dracula blew up with the dust from the explosion flying past them. Not long after, those clouds reformed Alan Dracula back to normal. Seeing the struggle the poor deer was going through with his second head popping in and out of his neck, Jesse was stuck on how someone who was controlling the deer could go berserk.

"Why are his powers going haywire?"

Recalling what Emma said earlier from her confession, M.T. had a theory. And as it happened, the fact that Alan Dracula's body was getting bigger proved it.

"I think Alan Dracula's trying to kick Perry out. Alan's fighting it off like an infection, and you're definitely getting bigger!"

"Uh, okay, rude. I'm pretty sure I'm the same… size!"

Suddenly, Alan Dracula grew larger before he spun his head around rapidly and lit himself on fire again. With that, Alan Dracula's body began to grow a second neck directly underneath his original. And that face was exactly the same thing Emma saw at the Runway Car. The girl gasped at the sight before that second head smacked into the first one above him. Emma and M.T. spoke out to Perry before Jesse did the same.

"Don't you get it by now?!"

"Alan doesn't want this!"

"You have to let him go!"

As Alan Dracula's body grew bigger, Perry tried to remind them why they had a hard time with the original, only for Jesse to deny it.

"But you'll be stuck with a deer who doesn't listen to you."

"We don't like him because he listens. We like him because he's Alan Dracula!"

Unfortunately, as Alan Dracula grew bigger, so did the increasing limit of space for the colossal deer as his leg crushed a block of cheese beside Jesse, Emma, M.T., and Jack, causing Visco to fall out of Emma's pocket and onto the floor when she staggered away from the giant hoof. And as it turned out, that growth was apparently hurting Perry as he finally admitted the truth.

"Okay, so maybe we both want the same thing, me out of Amblin Dunkula, but maybe I'm a little stuck here, guys. I could use some help."

While he grew, Alan Dracula's body knocked over an ice cream pillar beside him before Emma picked Visco up from the ground and looked at the giant deer.

"We have to get Perry out of him!"

Jesse couldn't agree more. But the question was, how would they pull it off? Then, he remembered the cold blue flower Alan Dracula sniffed before. The instant he sneezed, his legs ended up frozen in ice. If Alan Dracula were to sniff that… He turned to M.T. as he inquired about her speed. With how big the deer's getting, she had to be fast.

"How fast can you get to that flower car?"

Emma overheard this question and began to see what he had in mind. He's planning to force Alan Dracula to sneeze Perry out.

"Oh, yeah. Good idea. Me and M.T. will get the flower and bring it back here."

While M.T. appreciated the gesture, she knew that it only took one person to go and get the flower.

"Sorry, Emma. I appreciate you trying to help, but I have to do this alone."

Despite her answer, Emma was persistent. Even though they forgave her for her mistake, Emma still felt guilty for doing that to her.

"But M.T., I want to make it up to you. I'm the one who messed up so bad with you, and-"

Before Emma could finish, M.T. gave her a short kiss on the lips, making her stop talking with blushes forming on her face before she spoke again with a smile.

"I told you, it's okay. And I know you want to help, but right now, I need someone with Alan Dracula to help him. Can you guys do that?"

There was a short moment between her and M.T. before Emma smiled and nodded to her before she replied.

"Okay. I'll be right back."

Then, M.T. looked down to Visco and gave him a smirk.

"And Visco? You better keep Emma safe for me, okay?"

Visco squeaked up positively before M.T. took off like a bullet while Emma, Jack, and Jesse both went up on Alan Dracula's giant hoof as Perry began to plead for help.

"Help me, Jiles, Emmy, Johnny, and M.D.!"

Within moments, Alan Dracula's head burst out of the whipped cream top of the Food Pyramid, leaving some whipped cream on his head, as well as the cherry.

"Oh, boy!"

Down below, Emma, Jesse, and Jack were climbing on Alan Dracula's giant legs to get to the face. Perry felt their hands all over him, and in spite of his growing pains, he was impressed.

"Hey, strong hands. You work out?"

However, it didn't last quite as long as Emma hoped. While she climbed up on Alan Dracula's fur, her hands began to change into the shape of lobster claws, forcing Emma to clamp onto Alan Dracula's leg, pinching them as Perry shouted.

"Yow! Watch your hands down there!"

Emma saw no reason to apologize to the parasite. Although, it was Alan Dracula's body she pinched in the process. She at least owed the deer an apology.

"Sorry!"

Unfortunately, watching her hands was all Emma could manage to do. Her lobster claws suddenly began to change into tiger-like paws, forcing her to claw at the leg, making Perry wince before Jesse and Jack took notice of it.

"Emma!"

"You doing okay, kid?"

Given the situation she's presented with, Emma had her doubts.

"Yeah, but I don't know how much longer I can hold with hands like these."

Just then, her paws turned into hooves, eliminating any possibility for Emma to grab onto Alan Dracula. Emma began falling to the ground with a yell as Jack and Jesse tried to reach out for her, only for their hands to come up short of grabbing her hooves. They looked on in worry before Visco suddenly wrapped itself around her and launched itself at Alan Dracula's fur before pulling Emma close to it and buckling her up. Before Emma knew it, she found her legs strapped on Visco's back as he began climbing up. Emma gave a soft sigh before she gave Visco her gratitude.

"Thanks, Visco."

Visco squeaked a "you're welcome" in reply as Jesse's face blanched again. Once again, he's reminded of how helpful Visco is in comparison to Alan Dracula.

"Oh, man…"

Jack saw Jesse's slight jealousy before he reminded him of the task at hand.

"Hey! Get your head in the game!"

Jesse immediately snapped out of it before he went back to the matter of saving Alan Dracula.

"Yes, sir!"

Meanwhile, M.T. was racing back from the exit of the Runway Car before she stopped in the middle of it and did a wave of her hands from left to right, instantly earning the cheers of the crowd as she ran into the curtains. It wasn't long after that before M.T. ended up in the Flower Car where she walked across the mud. Fortunately, just at the edge of the puddle, M.T. found just the blue flower she was looking for and plucked it.

Back at the Food Pyramid Car, Emma, Visco, Jesse, and Jack made it to the top of the back of Alan Dracula. The girl had to ask Perry how he was holding up mostly for their sake.

"How are you doing, Perry?"

Perry was groaning from Alan Dracula's growth. Unfortunately for the parasite, he could feel whatever he felt. And it was starting to take a toll. The giant deer began to shift skin consistencies randomly from a brick wall to a rainbow color.

"Honestly, I'm… I'm not feeling too good, Elise."

Emma grew worried for the poor deer. If that keeps up, there's no telling what'll happen to Alan Dracula. Emma turned back to Jesse and Jack with a determined look on her face.

"Everyone, can you help keep Alan's mouth open? I'm going to see if I can pull Perry out of him."

Hearing this, Jesse became worried about that plan.

"What? But what if Perry eats you?"

"That's why I need you and Jack to hold his mouth open."

Hearing that part of the plan, Jack became a bit concerned with what would happen if it turned out bad.

"You know we'll get crushed, right?"

As worried as Jesse was about that outcome, he owed it to Alan Dracula to try to save him, even if it meant getting crushed in the process.

"I don't care. We owe it to Alan Dracula to save him. And if it means getting eaten, so be it. But also, I don't wanna get eaten."

Emma made a small smile before she replied with vigor in her voice.

"Then let's go save Alan Dracula. Onward, Visco!"

With that, Visco ran on top of Alan Dracula's long neck, climbing up to his head just as M.T. arrived back into the Food Pyramid Car with the Blue Flower. Once at the top of his head, Emma, Jack, and Jesse sat up, using the seat belt Visco wrapped around their waists to climb down on his head. It seemed to go smoothly until Alan Dracula's skin turned into glass, causing them to slip and fall in front of his face while Visco fell backward, making M.T. gasp at the scene. However, Visco was able to stop it by wrapping its legs around the neck before the Passengers' belts caught them, hanging them in front of his mouth before Emma spoke to herself.

"Huh. That works, I guess."

As soon as they regained their mobility, Jack and Jesse went on both sides of his mouth before Emma spoke to Perry.

"Okay, Perry. If you know what's good for you, you better open that mouth up!"

With what's happening to Perry, he had no choice but to agree to it. He opened his mouth as wide as he could, opening Alan Dracula's mouth in the process before Jesse and Jack held it open for Emma. At that point, her hands turned into noodle-like bandages, puzzling Emma before looking up at the Parasite. She then gave Perry a smirk before she swung herself into the mouth and wrapped her bandages around the little Parasite, squeezing him hard before she tried to pull him out. But in doing so, she ended up making him give quick exclamations of pain.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow! Take it easy, Ember!"

Emma tried again to pull him out, but with no success. He was practically as stuck as a bear in a honey tree. She didn't like that one bit as she spoke out to the others.

"Perry's stuck! I can't get him out!"

As it happened, M.T. arrived with just the solution in mind as she shouted.

"Jesse, here!"

She tossed the flower to Jesse before stuffing it into the deer's nose. When he did, he tried to give Emma a warning.

"Emma, you gotta get out of there! He's gonna blow!"

Not wanting to end up being stuck in ice as a result, or worse, Emma made her exit, jumping out of his mouth backwards before Visco's rope pulled her, Jesse, and Jack up to the top of his snout just as Perry began to sneeze.

"Ah... ah... achoo!"

Blue dust filled the air before Perry was seen falling out of Alan Dracula's mouth with his behind completely frozen in ice. As Perry hit the ground in numerous clatters, M.T. ran into the Food Pyramid Car to see Alan Dracula shrinking back down to normal size alongside Visco with Jesse riding on top of the deer while Emma and Jack rode on Visco before Emma and Jack hopped off of their ride while Jesse fell down from the deer splitting his body in half. Once the deer reattached himself, M.T., Jesse, Emma, and Jack went over to him and patted him as they spoke, although the young girl had a tinge of regret when she spoke to him, feeling guilty for keeping his suffering a secret.

"Welcome back, Alan Dracula."

"Sorry, we didn't get you out sooner."

"And I'm sorry I kept my mouth shut about you going through this. I'm just glad you're okay."

"Eh, I'll take you over that parasite, any day."

Just then, Jesse's number began to shift, catching the others' attention before it stopped at "11", making M.T. smile at him.

"Look at that. Alan Dracula got your number down."

Emma felt proud for Jesse, considering the circumstances as she spoke up with a happy tone.

"At this rate, you'll see your brother again in no time, Jesse. Nice work."

Just then, as Jesse gave her a smile back for her encouragement, the group overheard Perry's voice speaking to them from below.

"Wow! Great job, Jimmy. Kind of thanks to me, too, though, right? Now, whose mouth am I hopping in next?"

Emma, M.T., Jack, Jesse, and even Visco only glared at the parasite before Alan Dracula shook his ears, gesturing them to follow him, only serving to add much to the parasite's desperation.

"Guys, guys! Aw, come on! I spent two years stuck in a succulent. Let me hop in one of your mouths!"

Having had enough of him, Emma spun around and gave Perry a kick in the face, flipping him onto his back and bruising him as she spoke bitterly.

"If you thought we'd ever bring you along again after what you put us through, you're not thinking at all."

With that, Emma walked away, leaving the bruised parasite to rot in the car as the doors closed behind her.

---

Outside the car, Emma leaned against the door behind her and gave a heavy sigh as she slumped to the ground, feeling ashamed for how she'd been the past couple of cars. M.T. saw this and became worried about her again.

"Are you okay?"

Emma didn't know how to answer that. She was put through the worst thing a parasite like Perry could've done to her. He used her to keep his leash on Alan Dracula, no matter how much the deer hated it. And even before then, she felt as dirty as ever for what she did to M.T. But while they knew the truth, they still stayed by her side when any other person would've abandoned her. Frankly, she was in a flux of emotions that she just now braced through. But now, there is only one she's focused on: guilt.

"I guess. I'm just a bit tired, is all. But, guys… I'm really sorry for what I did, and for not telling you about it sooner."

Alan Dracula only snorted at Emma before laying his head down on her lap, letting her rub his head as Jesse and Jack spoke out to her, trying to give comfort to her again.

"It's okay, Emma. Really. Even Alan Dracula agrees."

"Yeah. You were just in too deep. It happens to the best of us. There's no need to feel guilty about it."

Emma felt grateful for their words. But that didn't change the feeling in her stomach as she spoke sadly while the deer lifted its head and went back to Jesse.

"But that's the thing, you guys. Maybe I deserve to feel guilty. Instead of putting an end to it sooner, Perry paralyzed me. I let him use Alan Dracula like a puppet, and I was useless. I was weak. Just like before… You guys deserved so much better than me."

As Jack overheard this, he began to tense his right hand, no doubt getting angry over what he did to Emma. M.T. put on a hard look at Emma before she took her hand into both of hers and spoke with a tone in her voice that contradicted it.

"Never say that again, Emma. You're not worthless. You're not weak. And you're not a lesbo freak. No matter what Perry did or said to you."

Emma's face softened from hearing this. But her tone still retained its sad demeanor.

"How can you say that, M.T.? I'm the one who…"

Before she could finish, M.T. interjected.

"It's okay, Emma. Look, if you're still guilty about all that stuff, we understand. But honestly, you aren't weak or anything. You're the strongest, toughest, and most outgoing girl I know, but you're also a living being that can get scared, too, like all of us. After what Perry did to you, I can understand why you'd want to hide it. And besides, it's no different from what I did about the Flecs. But it didn't show you're weak or a freak. Besides, it was the jam that made you fondle my bits, which we're going to have a long talk about."

Emma began to blush awkwardly as she concurred.

"Yeah. I'll bet…"

"That said, from what you told me, you limited yourself on that stuff before it went too far. That shows you are a good person, and a strong one, too. So just keep that in mind, okay?"

Emma didn't know what to say. nodded with a smile, feeling a bit better as she held her hand out for M.T. before she lifted her up into a hug before she spoke up to the passenger again.

"And if you wanna talk about it more, I'm all ears to hear ya out. Besides, we still gotta talk about your new power junk, too."

Hearing that, the men of the group became puzzled. They saw Emma's earlier shapeshifting before, whether it was her hair or her hands. Jesse was the one to ask first before Jack.

"Oh, yeah. How long have you been able to do all that? With your hair and your… hands?"

"More importantly, when did all that happen?"

Emma gave herself a breath. She knew it wouldn't exactly be easy to talk about, especially not with what happened to her before from Backscatter. But Emma also knew it was bound to happen eventually. She unrolled her left sleeve as she answered them the best she could make out for herself.

"I think it must've happened when I got this."

Emma exposed her dark grey spot on her left forearm to the others, making them gasp in wonder and shock (mostly from the old man). Jesse and Jack were flabbergasted to see it remaining on her after she was cured, the latter even more so as he spoke in disbelief.

"She's still being poisoned?"

"I thought that cure-all was supposed to work."

Emma began to speak again, still trying to understand the situation herself.

"Well, that's just it. I don't think that's part of the poison. I mean, I don't feel like it is…"

The more she looked at her arm, the more M.T. began to suspect something as she checked up on Emma.

"Let me take a look."

Emma held her arm out for M.T. to examine the spot. It didn't seem to get any bigger like before. Although, she had to be certain.

"Emma, was the spot that exact size when you first saw it?"

"Uh… yeah, actually."

M.T. then gave Emma a soft smile before she replied.

"Then you've got nothing to worry about. It's not from Backscatter."

This made Emma's face widen in surprise. The only contact with anything mirror-like was when she got scratched by Backscatter. What else could that have been?

"But if Backscatter didn't make this happen, then who did?"

M.T. only gave her a gentle smile as she spoke softly.

"I don't know. But we're gonna find out together."

Emma gave M.T. a smile back before they placed their foreheads against each other while holding each other close. After a moment, however, Emma opened her eyes again before looking back to Jack and Jesse. Of course, they were willing to stand up for her, but that could've meant anything. She had to know for sure.

"Guys… I don't think I got to ask you before. And I'm glad you stood up for me, but… are you guys really okay with me and M.T…. being around each other like this?"

Jesse only made a "pssh" sound from his mouth before he replied.

"Yeah, of course, I'm okay with it. You and M.T. look cute together."

Emma smiled at his answer before looking to Jack, hoping he wasn't too judgmental of it.

"And you… are you fine with it?"

Jack gave her a sincere smile before he replied and gestured to Emma and M.T.

"Well, it's no skin off my bones, I can tell you that. I mean, don't get me wrong, you did a lot of weird stuff. But this… this is beautiful."

Emma's face began to tear up some from his answer. From the look of him, he may be about a little less than half the age of her Aunt Edith. But he didn't seem to have any problem with her and M.T. at all. In fact, he, a man from a golden age of how things were supposed to be, of all people, supported it. Without hesitation, Emma gave him a tight hug around his waist as Jack became puzzled.

"Oh. Uh, okay."

Jack then returned her hug back as he gently wrapped his arms around her body. He then looked behind Emma to see M.T. smirking at him.

"Softy."

Jack smirked back at her for a while before he realized something, his eyebrows widening a bit as he cut the hug short.

"Oh, dang it. I, uh, seem to have misplaced my knife in the last car."

Emma looked up to Jack with a smile. She hadn't forgotten about Perry, but without any power over her or anyone else, Emma didn't need to worry about him anymore.

"Well, maybe I can help you out."

All the same, Jack politely refused.

"No, it's fine. You kids go on ahead. I'll catch up to you soon."

With that, Emma and M.T. smiled to him before they caught up to Jesse and Alan Dracula. As they headed for the next car, M.T. and Emma asked Jesse about how he came to know Bryce and Penny.

"So, those people in your phone? Bryce and Penny? How do you know them?"

"Oh, well, they were actually visiting from Chicago on Summer Vacation to visit their Grandpa Frank. He's a really funny guy. But, how do you know them?"

M.T. gave him a smirk as she replied.

"Well, I'm kinda the one who helped them get off the train."

This made Jesse's eyes beam up in surprise.

"Really?"

"Nah. I mean, technically, I did, but I didn't go with them long enough to find out."

"Huh. Neat."

Jack couldn't help but give a smile to the group. But when he looked back to the door he came out of, he bore a hardened glare, and a grudge to go with it. He didn't know why, but seeing Emma break down into tears made him furious. It was like seeing his wife breaking down, somehow. In fact, that was all he ever saw when it happened.

Instead of Emma, he saw a dirty-blonde haired woman with a dark teal shirt and bell bottom pants crying to herself with her hands over her eyes. That memory was the last thing he wanted to remember. And that parasite was not only going to pay for torturing Emma to that point, but he's also going to pay for reminding him of the one time he let someone down.

---

In the next car, Emma, Jesse, and M.T. walked inside to see a strange place that took them by surprise. It was a big field of giant sunflowers with a sunset sky in the horizon and a dirty path that wound itself around the flowers, which was offset by the trimmed grass patches next to the path. The Sunflowers themselves appeared to be decorated by the petals. One sunflower was colored turquoise, another was colored red, and the third was yellow. And the exit at the end of the dirt path that went around the sunflowers led to a big grassy field standing on a hill, with a rating review board next to it. Emma was immediately astounded by the big flowers she laid eyes on as the girl went up closer to one of them in turquoise.

"Oh, my gosh! They look so cute!"

M.T. couldn't contain her smile as Emma looked up at them. Jesse liked to see her happy, too. But he still had to wonder how she could cope with what happened for the past few cars.

"Hey, M.T.? How's Emma gonna be able to move past all that stuff? I mean, between her getting mirror powers and all that stuff Perry did, that's gotta be tough on her."

M.T. gave Jesse a short flick on his forehead, making him yelp before she replied with a smile.

"Weren't you listening, Jesse? She's the toughest girl I know. Besides, maybe some down time would make it easier on her."

Jesse grumbled a bit from the flick as he agreed. Though, he was still concerned with how the train operated, which M.T. made a light scoff at.

"Well, yeah, but what are the odds of that if every car we go to seems to have some danger we don't know about?"

"Pfft. Come on. It's not every car."

At that moment, Alan Dracula began to chew on the grass nearby one of the giant flowers, making M.T. smirk at Jesse as she spoke.

"See? Even Alan Dracula agrees."

Meanwhile, as she looked around the gigantic flower in admiration, Emma took notice of something… odd about the sunflowers. There are doors and windows on the stem near the bottom, and facing on the fount of the stem, the size being equal to the big flower itself. She turned back to Jesse and M.T. as she shouted.

"Hey, guys, look at this! These flowers are like motels! Maybe we can rest here!"

M.T. and Jesse became interested to see that from the sunflowers. It was a rare thing to see for certain. At least, it's a change of pace from the last Flower Car they went to. As they went up to one, Emma tried to open a door, but found that she couldn't. No matter how hard she tried, it wouldn't budge. Finally, after some effort, Emma grunted in defeat before she slumped.

"Well, this door's locked. And I'll bet the others are, too."

However, doors were no match for M.T. as she smirked.

"Heh. I gotcha covered."

M.T. raised her fist to break through the door open, but just as she tried, Jesse piped up.

"Wait, M.T.! What if someone lives here? You'd be breaking in!"

This made M.T. blush in embarrassment. She may be a criminal to the Flecs, but that didn't mean she should act like one.

"Oh. Right. Well, maybe we'll try knocking."

M.T. then began to knock on the door gently before calling out to whoever lived inside it.

"Excuse me? Can we come in, please?"

While M.T. had no luck getting an answer, Emma saw something by the entrance of the car. It was a hook board full of what looked like room keys. Not willing to let M.T. try her alternative for nothing, she spoke up to the others.

"Uh, guys? I think I know why they won't open."

Jesse and M.T. looked at Emma in confusion before seeing the direction her eyes were focused on. They were surprised to see this, although M.T. was more frustrated that she didn't see it before now.

"Unbelievable!"

With that, the trio went back to the entrance to get the keys. But as they did, they noticed that the keys themselves were based on sunflowers. And the plastic lanyards are decorated in the same colors as the sunflowers. Jesse thought that it was a nice decoration as he held the yellow one in his hand.

"Huh. That looks cool."

Jesse, Emma, and M.T. looked back to the sunflowers, one of which had Alan Dracula eating grass on its field. Seeing the petals they held, Emma began to realize why they had the same color.

"I think they might be our rooms."

After a moment, M.T. looked at Emma with a smile before she spoke.

"I call the blue one!"

She made a dash for the blue sunflower before Jesse and Emma were caught off-guard. Although, Emma mostly wanted to pick one first.

"Hey, no fair, M.T.!"

As Emma ran after her, Jesse tried to speak up to them.

"Hey, guys! Don't you think we should wait for Jack?"

Just then, Jack opened the door to the new car, only to find Jesse by himself. He seemed to have a hard look on his face, puzzling the young man.

"Whoa. You doing okay, Jack?"

Jack looked up to Jesse, as if his voice snapped him out of it before he replied.

"Huh? Oh. Yeah. Just fine. Where are the girls?"

"Uh, they kinda went ahead with picking which sunflower to sleep in. M.T. kinda picked the blue one. And Emma? Well, she…"

Jesse then pointed over to see Emma chasing after M.T. for the key.

"Come on, M.T.! We have to put it to a vote!"

"What's the point if there are three sunflowers?"

Seeing the chase scene, Jack grumbled to himself.

"Oh, for the love of… what are those keys for?"

Jesse held out his yellow key before he explained.

"They're kinda like room keys or something."

"I see."

With that, Jack put his fingers in his mouth and made a whistle, catching the girls' attention before he spoke out to them.

"Okay, what's going on here?"

Emma and M.T. both became embarrassed with blushes on their cheeks before Jack spoke again.

"You girls want that room? How about this? You two can share that blue one, Jesse will have his yellow one, and I'll take the red one. That work for you?"

Emma and M.T. looked at each other with short smiles on their faces before they replied intermittently.

"Yeah."

As for Jesse, he responded with a semi-nod as he agreed reluctantly, concerned about where Alan Dracula would sleep.

"Uh, sure. I guess that'll work. But what about Alan Dracula?"

Jack looked back to the deer as it ate the grass off of the field by the turquoise sunflower as he replied.

"I don't think you have to worry. He's due for a break, anyway. And I think everyone here should do the same. Got it?"

Emma, M.T., and Jesse both replied at the same time, although with different expressions.

"Sure."

"Gotcha."

"Okay."

---

Later, Jack was inside his own red sunflower. The room itself had a king size bed, a bathroom, a wooden floor, a set of two windows with fancy red drapes, a chair that was next to the windows, a small kitchen with a cabinet, an oven, and a pantry, a table with wooden chairs, and dressers next to the bed. Jack only drew an exhausted breath before he took off his leather jacket, revealing his white tank top shirt, as well as his number. It had gone so high as to be shown on both of his arms. And even worse, it was still changing. When it was done, Jack's number stopped all the way at the end of the wrist of his left arm. He then set the jacket on the chair before sitting down on it. Once he did, Jack looked at his arms and sighed to himself before he spoke to himself.

"Why am I not surprised? Of course it had to happen."

---

Inside the Food Pyramid car, Perry heard the door opening. He was hoping that they came back to their senses.

"Oh? You guys came back? Oh, thank goodness! Now, I know we got off to a bad start, but we can make it work."

However, when the door opened, all Perry saw was an angry Jack who stared darkly at the little worm with purple lightning striking the clouds behind him, sending chills (as if there wasn't enough from the ice) down his little vertebrate.

"Hey, uh… why are you looking at me like that?"

Jack made no answer as he walked towards the little parasite, his glare getting worse and worse up close, just as the parasite was getting more and more scared.

"C-Come on, can't we just talk about this?"

Jack only picked up the parasite by his ice block before walking back out the door as Perry began to come to a hopeful deduction.

"Oh, I get it. You're trying to help me get free from this ice so I can hop inside your mouth, right? I knew you'd come around, Jackson."

However, Jack only stopped just at the edge of the bridge before hanging him over it.

"Huh? What's going on?"

When Perry looked down, he saw the wheels of the train spinning rapidly below. The instant he saw them, Perry began to realize what Jack really had in mind.

"Wait. Y-You're not gonna drop me are you?"

Jack made no answer to the parasite, maintaining his dark, cold look. The suspense started to make Perry erratic, making him shake left and right in panic.

"I-Is this about what I did to Elizabeth?! Because I can apologize! I'll get down on my legs and cry! Well, I don't have any legs, but still! Please don't drop me! What can I do to make it up to Emily?! Please, I'll do anything!"

Jack's face only got worse the instant he said Emily. When he finished his pleas, Jack gave Perry the hardest glare he could before he spoke with a fittingly dark tone in his voice, one that held no mercy in his eyes.

"Go to hell, Parasite. And stay there."

With that, Jack swiftly tossed Perry into one of the wheels below him, the parasite giving his last scream before he landed on top of it before it quickly took him away with purple lightning striking the air. Jack gave no thought to the lightning above that condemned him for this action. He's been told before he was no good person, even said it himself. What would the train's judgment even matter to him anyway without any way back for him? He knew that act would bring his number up to who-knows-how-high. But he wasn't too focused on that, then. All that mattered to him this moment was that Perry the Parasite was no more…

---

But now, Jack had to wonder. Would his number possibly have lowered if he just went with Emma, M.T., and Jesse? Would that have been a first step to his possible recovery? Probably not. Even if it did change for the better, it was too high for him to be totally redeemed, even before what he did to the parasite. Still, that hug Emma gave him was the warmest he ever felt. The only hug who could ever have felt that way was his wife's. Every day, Emma was becoming more and more familiar to him, but he can't place why. One thing was for certain, though. High number or not, it's obvious how much Emma looked up to him. And one way or another, he can't let her down. Jack looked at his hands before he closed them gently into fists.

"Well, I guess there's nothing left to do… but to do my best."

---

Later on at night, Alan Dracula was sleeping outside by Emma and M.T.'s turquoise sunflower. It was just in-between Jesse's and Jack's sunflowers. Emma, now out of her red jacket, was looking out through the window to see the night sky. She could hardly believe the sight that astounded her. Then again, she thought that way about every night sky she ever saw, with the exception of the Family Tree Car. Emma took a look at her number of "159" on her hand, her face beginning to sadden.

She assumed it must've gone up when Perry blackmailed her. She didn't know how worse it was; Emma didn't care about her number prior to that situation so as not to let herself be stressed, but just thinking about how high it must've gone from her keeping it to herself was something she didn't want to do. All the same, she was grateful that she decided to speak up when she did. At least it helped her number get back however much progress it lost. Emma bore a sad smile on her face before she heard Visco squeak up behind her. He was hopping in an open drawer next to the bed as Emma gave him a little smile.

"Okay, okay, I'm coming over."

Emma walked over to the drawer while M.T. was pouring water from the tap into a cup before placing a plastic lid on it to keep from seeing her own reflection and headed to the table. In the drawer, Visco was standing next to a tiny makeshift bed, made from Emma's socks with one as its blanket and the other rolled up into a pillow for him with her folded-up jacket as a mat for it. She tucked the little gerbil in with the blanket gently before giving him a small kiss.

"Good night, Visco."

Visco squeaked back to her, as if to say good night to her back. Then, Emma turned the lights down a bit with a switch, leaving the room a little dim before the slime gerbil shut its eyes while Emma gently closed the drawer. Then, she walked over to the kitchen and got out a cup before getting water from the tap as well. Then, she got out another plastic lid before placing it over the cup to keep the Flecs out. Once she got her cup, Emma sat down at the table with M.T. before she noticed the look on her face. Tough as she is, M.T. knew she was just as capable of being hurt like everyone else. So, before she asked about her again, M.T. decided to try to cheer her up before that as she looked around the room before she spoke up to Emma.

"So, uh… geez, what's with the big flowers around here? What's next, big bees?"

Emma began to smile a little bit before she feigned horror for the fun of it.

"Oh, no! M.T., you jinxed us! Now we'll maybe get some bees. But, given the weather, it's actually more April than May."

M.T. made a small laugh at that. Emma didn't know if she was laughing at the joke or because she was being cute with telling a bad joke, making her blush before she looked at the bed. Hopefully, she could come up with one better as she tried again to tell a joke, giving a pout to the direction of the bed.

"What, a plant motel and no mints on pillows? That gets a zero out of five stars… if they had a website here."

M.T. made another laugh, but it wasn't too big a laugh to tell her it was a sad joke. To Emma, that meant she made the right one as she smiled to herself before M.T. spoke again while shaking her head.

"You're such a dork, Emma. Besides, hotels have mints on pillows. Motels have bed bugs and weird owners that dress up like their moms."

M.T. made another playful laugh before Emma stuck out her tongue in the same manner.

"Meanie… But yeah, that's true. Still, thanks for telling me about the dangers of motels in movies and real life, though. If our bed has bed bugs, you're sleeping in it. No arguments, okay?"

Emma began to laugh next while M.T. simply rolled her eyes. The Chrome girl didn't have a problem with that as she smiled back and laughed a little bit. After that, though, the room became silent again with Emma's face softening into a frown once again. After about five seconds of silence, M.T. looked up to Emma once again.

"Emma… are you sure you're okay?"

Emma only sighed in response and went to the bed where she set her cup onto the drawer beside it. After that, she gave her answer.

"Honestly… I don't even know anymore."

M.T. had a feeling about why as she spoke up to her. Like she told Emma, they had a long talk about that incident. M.T. found out from Emma that she did it to maintain the secret that when she woke up that night, she found herself fondling her organ, even though it was in her sleep. Considering what happened between them since then, it was only ever a trivial matter, especially since Emma used a very small amount of that jam to begin with.

"Hey, if it's about your jam thing, don't worry about it."

Emma only looked back at M.T., maintaining the look of sadness on her face.

"It's not just that. Perry really hit me where it hurt today. I wasn't just scared of you finding out what I did; I was scared of you leaving me because of that."

M.T. set her cup down on the table before going beside her. That much she already knew, but what she can't work out was why. She hoped she would be able to find out.

"You said that before. But why would you ever think that I'd leave you after what we've been through?"

Emma only looked away from M.T. as she answered solemnly.

"Because it's happened before. Not with you, but… with someone else."

M.T. then began to remember when she confessed. She said she was weak just like before. Could she have been talking about that event?

"You mean I wasn't your first girlfriend?"

Emma made a small chuckle before she answered her.

"Well, yes and no. We weren't officially girlfriends. I thought we could be, but… it couldn't last. Not with how the world was."

M.T.'s face softened in sympathy and confusion. As sorry as she felt for her,M.T. was told before that she couldn't make friends. She had to wonder why that was the case.

"But I thought you said you didn't have friends."

"Well, yeah. I mean, I tried to make friends. Then, I saw this one cute girl. Her name was Charlotte. She was the first girl I liked as much as you. But, it was more of a crush, I guess? Anyway, I was 13 when I started liking girls. We were getting really close. But one day, some kid at school caught us together at the wrong time and told everyone about us. They kept calling us 'lesbo freaks', and we didn't even do anything explicitly close to that. But it didn't matter. I may have liked girls more, but Charlotte? She didn't want anything to do with me after that. She didn't say it, but… I could tell. I didn't want her to go, but I wanted her to be happier, so I had to let her go. After that, I never saw her again, and I gave up trying to make any friends. Because if they're not gonna make an effort to understand me for being me, then why bother wasting my time giving them a chance they never deserved?"

M.T. would swear that if she were to cry, she'd be crying a waterfall. It was the saddest thing she ever heard out of Emma. She can't possibly have been that lonely back home. Could she…?

"But… what about your mom?"

Emma looked back to M.T. with a small smile before she replied. But as she talked more about her family history, traces of anger began to reveal themselves.

"You don't have to worry; she actually liked me for who I am. My Aunt Wendy and Uncle Peter supported that, too. But everyone else kinda hated me. Especially Aunt Edith. She's just… the absolute worst. Even worse than the Flecs."

M.T. had her doubts. As far as she knew, she never tried to kill Emma for being herself. But if she learned anything from her travels with Emma, it's never to assume. She had to be sure.

"How so?"

Emma began to speak more angrily. All she could think about was how Aunt Edith put her down for being who she is. And to top it off, she thought about her words about her mother.

"She left my mom to die, M.T.! She couldn't stand that she accepted me for being who I am, so she sent those social workers to get rid of her and change me!"

M.T. was in total shock from her outburst. Was her Aunt really so awful that she'd do that? If she was, then Emma was right. She really is worse than the Flecs. Still, as stated before, she knew better than to assume. M.T. spoke gently to her again as Emma panted her breath.

"How… how do you know that?"

After she caught her breath, Emma spoke bitterly as she held her hands together.

"She told me that herself. She said that my mom dug her own grave, and that I shouldn't rot in there with her. A lot of good that did. If she were a better aunt, if she would just accept me for who I am, then I wouldn't be stuck here! She should've been stuck on this train, not me! This isn't fair!"

Emma banged her fist on the drawer next to her, making Visco squeak in surprise inside the drawer. In her anger, Emma forgot Visco was sleeping in the drawer, making her embarrassed before she quickly tried to apologize to the agitated slime gerbil.

"Oh, my gosh! Uh… sorry, Visco. I didn't mean to scare you."

Visco only squeaked back softly in reply from within the drawer before looking back to see tears on M.T.'s face. Emma realized then that in saying what she had to say, she may have broken M.T.'s heart.

"Oh, no… M.T. I didn't mean to say it like that. I swear. I was just…"

Before Emma could continue, M.T. placed her hand on her shoulder before she reassured her that those tears weren't for the reason she thought.

"It's okay, Emma, really. I'm just… I'm just surprised how alike we are."

This earned a blush from Emma before she made a relieved laugh. Seeing the tears on her face scared Emma for a moment. She thought she might've already ruined their relationship in the first week. However, she still felt guilty for saying all that to M.T.

"Oh. Thank goodness. Still, I'm sorry for saying that. I'm just tired of all this, you know? Being a freak, being stuck on this train with apparently no way to get home since I can't figure out what's wrong with me, and never being able to see my mom again? All of this is just too much for me to take."

"Emma…"

"You said I'm tough, M.T., but you also said I'm just as capable of being scared. And the worst part is… you're right. I might as well be a weak little girl who can't take care of herself. Or maybe it's worse… maybe deep down, I'm not a good person like I thought I was."

Tears began to leave Emma's eyes before she sobbed with her hands over her face again. M.T. scooched herself closer to the poor girl before she tried to reassure her again.

"Emma, didn't you listen to what I said before? You're not weak. And you're not a freak, either. Who cares what those jerks think? In fact, who cares what this whole train thinks? You are a good person. It's just gonna take some time for you to figure out."

Emma looked up to M.T. slightly from her hands before she continued.

"Remember what I said? You just gotta take this one step at a time. And you don't have to do all that alone, either. It's okay to ask for help. That's what my prime told me. And believe me, the irony isn't lost on me."

Despite her comforting words, Emma still felt worried as she spoke again solemnly.

"But I still feel like a freak, M.T. More than ever, now…"

Emma proved this as she showed M.T. her hand, which morphed into a lobster claw from earlier before changing it back. However, M.T. wasn't bothered by this development. In fact, she simply gave her a smile as she replied.

"It's fine, Emma. You're not a freak just because you have these powers. They're kinda the same ones I have as a reflection. Compared to me, you're perfectly normal."

Emma couldn't help but bear a small grin before taking in the context of what M.T. told her. She didn't say anything about her powers before now.

"Wait, you have mirror powers? I don't think you said anything like that to Jesse."

M.T. only shrugged her shoulders. She didn't consider that a secret.

"Eh, I probably would have if we didn't bump into that puddle."

"But how did I even get them in the first place? I'm not a reflection."

M.T. held her hand on Emma's before she spoke up to her.

"Okay. Remember when I said we could reflect the insides if we had to? Well, when we're not, we're basically just human-sized jars for our Mirror Essence. It's how we maintain our forms around mirrors. But without something to even make a reflection…"

M.T. then held up her right foot, holding a small red piece of a mirror underneath it.

"...we can't go anywhere."

Seeing this astounded Emma. She had no idea that she had to rely on this little mirror to keep herself together. Then, she thought about the essence that Mace and Sieve held tight in their skin-suits. No wonder they had to go back: if they lost their suits, they would've been metal puddles.

"Whoa… so if they sanded you, you'd be a…"

M.T. caught on to what she was going today and wanted to cut to the chase.

"A metal puddle? Yeah."

M.T. set her foot back down before continuing.

"Anyway, we're made for one purpose: to reflect our prime. And our Mirror Essence helped us do that. But, when I was recycled from the last prime I reflected, something from him was left over."

Emma immediately knew what it was from her night in the Family Tree Car.

"You mean your crotch? I thought your prime was trans, too."

M.T. gave her a blush of embarrassment before she continued.

"No! No. Tulip wasn't trans. While I took breaks from reflecting my prime, I'd usually switch it back out. It's the one part of me that really felt like me. You know what I mean?"

Emma gave her a little blushing smile before she nodded.

"I do. But how does that explain how I got my powers?"

M.T. had a theory. She knew Emma would know what happened since she ended up scratched on her face.

"Well, tell me first. What did you see on your face when you were poisoned?"

It was something Emma didn't want to think about. But if she wanted her question answered, she had to. She thought back to the scratch that came from Backscatter when he popped out of her knife. And when she looked at the blood that was on her face, she found a grey liquid along with it.

"Oh, yeah. When I was poisoned, I saw that mirror essence you were talking about on my cheek."

M.T. knew Emma was right on the mark as she nodded.

"Exactly. Backscatter must've laced it with some kind of poison when he attacked you. But when Jack used his cure-all thing, it eliminated the poison. But the Mirror Essence isn't anything remotely close to a poison. So you should be okay."

"Oh. That's good, I guess."

Emma began to blush with a smile, however as she looked at M.T. The Chrome girl became confused about that look of hers.

"What's up?"

Emma's blush became redder by the second as she tried to reply.

"I was, uh… just wondering. Is it okay if I tried your essence?"

M.T. took her turn to blush next. She became startled just from the very question.

"W-What? Y-You really wanna do that?"

Emma made a bashful look as she answered.

"Yeah. I wasn't in control of my powers with Backscatter's essence. But I figured, maybe I could get a better handle of them with yours?"

M.T.'s blush got even worse as she tried to ask.

"Uh, a-are you sure?"

To answer that, Emma leaned closer to M.T. before she gently cupped her face the way she always did to her when she needed lifting. Emma then bore a soft smile as she replied.

"Yeah. I am."

With that, Emma leaned her face closer to M.T. before kissing her on the mouth, something that broke M.T.'s inhibitions to do so. M.T. leaned towards Emma, kissing her back deeply as they both moaned together. The little slime gerbil peeped out of the drawer to see the commotion before seeing the two of them making precious love to each other. Not a second later after that, Visco went back in the drawer and closed it, giving the two of them the space they needed to share their love for each other.

A/N: So, what do you think? Pretty great, right? And you can expect more original chapters coming soon sometime in the beginning of Summer. But for now, I'm letting my brain rest for a while, and then I'm working on a few other stories that require my attention. But don't worry. This one's not over yet. Not by a long shot. :)