Note again: Ok, so the first chapter is pretty short. Bah, just a prologue . There's some profanity coming up, so bear it.

We sit on the seats in the hollow train car, but strangely the train doesn't move. What's going on? I wonder. What's next? This, I wish I can answer.

"Strange. we got on without a hitch, and everything's so quiet and still" Kou breaks the silence. "I don't like this at all."

"Just shut up. We don't want to risk being discovered by them" Volt whispers.

"Whoever they are "

BREEP! BREEP! BREEP!

"Oh shit." Kou looks up at the flashing red alarm light with a look of disgust. "How do they know we're here"

The alarm continues. My ears ring with every pulse of the noise. It is deafening, screeching throughout my head and body. Volt and Kou look around, trying to make sense of it all and find a place to hide.

After what seems like hours, the alarm quiets, and we hear someone approaching with the "clump, clump" of casual footsteps.

"Quick! Hide somewhere" Volt spits.

We all scurry to a possible hiding place. I duck underneath the bench on the side of the train, thanking whoever is above that the seat was wide and deep, covering me completely at the top. From the side, I can see Kou pressed behind a doorway, but where was Volt? I can't see him, but as I try to search as much as the cramped space would allow me, I see shoes right next to me.

They weren't dress shoes, as I would expect from an employee. Instead, they were sneakers, a thick black stripe running from the top and back of the shoe down the whole until it stops at the end of the tongue. The soles were caked with dust and a few specks of dirt, with dead grass embedded in the dirt. The owner shifts his feet, loose denim hugging his ankles, suggesting baggy jeans. I can't see any more above this, and I don't dare. I also worry about my hair, lest it sticks out from beneath the bench and becomes the dead grass stuck on the soles of his sneakers.

"Huh." The voice carries a hint of adolescence, which leads me to conclude that the man is no more than my age, but I can be wrong. "Where can they be."

Silence, save for my heavy breathing and the hum of the train's innards working non-stop underneath the floor. I wonder what could be present in his mind. Then.

The legs bend, and suddenly I find myself staring at a face.

"Boo."

"YYAAAA" I roll out quickly and try to deliver a sweep while on my back. He jumps out of the way with ease. A flash of metal, and I am facedown with an ache in my side.

The man runs, turns a corner and shouts"WHOA" I see a blur as Kou shoots out his arm and misses. He is shoved and stumbles over me.

"WAA" "OW" I hit my forehead on the floor by accident and grunt. A set of denim-clad legs was stumbling towards me but stops an inch from my face as Volt rights himself.

Kou and I get up clumsily. When we look at out attacker, it is a. bizarre sight.

I don't know what are the most outstanding features of our attacker, whether it is his sunny-blond hair, his half-nakedness, the silver-gray arms, or his weapon. His hair stands straight and spiky, slightly curving to the back, and wavers in the air-conditioned car; it must been at least a foot long. It is like seeing broom bristles pasted on his semi-suntanned head, although at this time, I have no time to laugh about it; he has that much hair. Two bundles of it emerge from a spot on the left of his fore- hairline and sweep to the right and left side, a few locks sticking out.

His torso is naked; the only things on it are the nipple rings. Now, I am not joking, they are HUGE. They are about 2 inches in diameter, which is rather large for nipple rings. The left ring is elaborately fitted with steel angel wings encircling the circumference, with a woman's head at the bottom and folded arms beneath her chin, the hands resting on her shoulders. The right ring is a wreath of cracked bones, with three similarly detailed skulls threaded by the bones, hanging loosely. They shine with the luster of a new product, but I can see that the bones have received no similar care. Likewise, the head on the angel ring was gleaming in the soft light of the overhead fluorescent bulbs, yet the wings and arms were dull.

His arms are also worth mentioning, though not as impressive as his accessories. The skin on them is COMPLETELY silver-gray; I take a guess that he deliberately had his arms tattooed in such a way. From the top of his shoulders to the tip of the middle finger, each arm, I swear, can defeat Kou's head-to-ankle tattoo in a body tattoo contest. No design, no image, just silver-gray arms. I note them as part of his bizarre wardrobe, if you can consider nipple rings and loose jeans as a whole wardrobe.

This young man is fitted with jeans, tight against his thighs, but loosened out below the calf and crumpled on top of his shoes. He wears them low, below his navel by two inches, and from my view they are ready to fall off at any time without any belt to support them, unless they have hidden elastics. Other than the jeans, he wears nothing.

But all these things aren't the only ones that attract our full attention. It is the long weapon he holds in his right hand that shocked us.

The weapon, should I say, clearly is a sword- or is it? No, it was a hybrid sword-GUITAR. I am not making this up. The handle of the sword is a long shaft of steel, but the general shape of the weapon is a guitar, complete with strings and tuner tabs. The body of the sword/guitar is a sharp and lethal blade, a centimeter thick and my thumb-to-little-finger span wide, and 2 feet long. The sharp part of the blade is alone 3 inches wide. The shaft has the same width and length as a typical electric guitar would have (in truth, it looks like half a solid steel cylinder), and on it 4 strings travel along from head to body. I can tell from the twisted tuners that the man plays his weapon/instrument often. Whether he is good at it or not, I don't care, so long as he is staring at us with the look of the Grim Reaper upon his face.

He gives us a wide, sinister grin, and I finally see a long scar, running from the left corner of his lips to a slight below of his left ear. He has an earring, a silver dot with a small ring attached to it, swinging freely, stuck in his left earlobe. And as I saw it, I see yet another asset that catches my attention. A flat horn is attached to the back of each ear, at the top. I do not know what purpose they serve for him, but nonetheless, they catch my eye. They now gleamed with evidence of proper care, just as his emerald-green eyes now brighten as he inspects us, stowaways on his train.

"Well" He reaches out a hand. "Tickets, please" with that devilish grin. "No? Ah well, isn't that too bbaaaadd" drawing out the last word.

I break out of my staring trance and inquire him"Where's Dominique"

"Eh" He puts on a quizzical face and cocks his head to one side. "Who are you talk- OH. that girl." He trails off, realizing his mistake.

"So where is she" I demand, losing my composure steadily.

He sighs. "Hey look, I got nothin' to do with her, 'k? She just came to our place by herself."

"What. Are. You. Talking. About"

"No really! I don't know nothin' else 'bout her"

Kou mutters next to me"Well that answers it."

"Who are you" Volt asks. "I don't remember seeing you around in Mikado."

"Why do you give a shit" He stretches his neck, popping his joints. "The point is, YOU'RE on this train, YOU don't have our permission to be here, and so YOU deserve some punishment." He fiddles with the guitar strings. "And I saved ya some front-row seats. in hell"

WHOOSH! The door behind Kou slides open as he backs up.

"C'MON"

Volt and I follow him out the door as fast as we can. Outside, the train sits under ceiling lights, with no life in its wires. Why is it not moving?

We climb up the ladder we saw attached next to the door.

"Wha- DAMN SHIT" we hear coming from the car. "He's gonna kill me."

We run toward the front of the train, our hair bellowing behind our heads, no true destination in our mind but the notion of escaping from that crazy bastard.

WHAM! He flips onto the top of the train and lands with a dull metallic sound, blocking our way.

"Now. where do you think you're going, huh"

"Dammit! We don't have a choice, do we" Kou says under his breath.

"Guess not."

SHWA! The attacker (I'll have to call him that for now) swings up and brings his sword/guitar down swiftly, right at our heads!

"EEE-YAAAAA" We strafe, barely avoiding the blade by a hair.

"Ok, that's it! You're asking for it, you son of a bitch" Kou sends out a roundhouse and hits his foot squarely on the enemy's jaw.

"AAAHH! Ggggrrrr."

We advance on him, throwing out all that we can, noting his blade as he swings it around like a crazed animal. His eyes glimmer in the dim overhead lights with the intention to kill us, shall he get the chance. As we fight him, I ponder about his ability. He can evade our attacks easily, yet most of the time, he is blocking with his weapon, destroying any chance of us lowering his defense.

Volt rams his head into his chest, his horns digging into the attacker's chest and drawing blood.

"EEEGGGGAAAHH" He flies backward, falling on the metal-grid roof of the train. He struggles to get up, just as Kou comes up with a Rolling Stomp. He rolls to the side and pushes himself up. Kou lands, missing his target.

"Oh ho! I see. Ain't got a choice." He picks up his sword/guitar deftly and strums it with his bare fingertips.

What comes next was shattering to my senses. At the first contact between the strings and his fingers the whole train vibrates with earthquake force. Us bouncers stumble around, trying to get a sure footing and shouting at the sudden chaos. Lampposts sway in the Central Station, and the train hums with metallic tones. My vision shakes along the rumblings, and I grip around to try and find something sturdy to hold onto. My ears ring and I clasp them.

Our enemy stands in the middle of it all, apparently unaffected by the quake. He grins at us with triumph as we fall on our knees, unable to stand securely. His guitar sits snug in his hands as they grip it tight. His right hand hovers above the strings, ready to play again.

"HA! NOW what are you gonna do? Think you can stand up" He walks up to me holding on the grid for dear life as the quake recedes. He looks at me in the eye, his sharp nose inches away from my own. I can see his chest still bleeding from Volt's headbutt.

"Now. you're an interesting one. You wanna know where that girl is, don't look at me." His brows relax. "I'm just a pawn on this board. I'm not the big boss here. So don't expect me to know much about Dom-whatever-her-name- is." He huffs.

"Or the company, in this case"

"EEEE-YAAH" Kou's Heel Smash ends his sentence with a bull's-eye on his head.

I watch as the attacker slumps to the roof, his head bouncing on the metal grid once with a thump. I breathe hard from the fight, and Volt approaches.

"Nice one, Kou." He taps the fallen's head. "Right on the spot."
KKAAA-CHONK! The train lurches. We look at each other with wide eyes.

"Ooohhh nnnooo..." Our voices sink with realization of the situation.

WWWWHHHHHEEEEENNNN! The train's engine starts up, not with a typical "chug chug", but with the sound of an electric motor. And now for the first time, I noticed the shape of the train's nose. It was streamlined, pointed at the yawn of the tunnel ahead and painted with the colors of Mikado: red lines and thick black stripes and white fill-ins. There's only one reason why the nose is pointed...

Slowly the train moves forward, its engines whining louder, then louder, working to propel its cargo. Gradually, it accelerates, more, and more, and MORE-

"OH MAN" Kou shouts. "When did they get a magnet-electric"

I feel the wind blowing against my body, pushing me backwards. I step forward to regain some footing.

Bad mistake. The aerial torrent sweeps me off my feet, my stomach hitting the train roof hard, knocking the wind out of me. It keeps pushing me to the back of the train, and sooner or later, I will fly off! I reach out and grip the holes in the metal grid, holding on as best as I can. My body lurches with the sudden stop and shift of inertia. Volt and Kou do the same thing.

The train speeds up, faster, faster! until I guess its speed at 200 kph. My lips are flapping, my teeth chilled, my cheeks bellowing, and my hair whipping back. It would be a funny sight, if I or the others weren't the ones experiencing it. Before me I can hardly see the design on the bottom of Volt's black-soled leathers, and the tunnel flashes with bright blurs of light. My fingers scream at me to release my hold, but I prevail. No way am I going to let go on a speeding train. As I pray and the train emerges out of the tunnel and into open night air, I hear the "whumpwhumpwhump" of a helicopter from behind me. I look around and see a standard black military chopper desperately trying to chase the train. Who...

I heard a whoosh, and before me stands (or lies or flies) Jarold, doing the same thing that I was: holding on for life. His left fingers lock around the metal, his right hand holding his sword/guitar. He grins.

"Just want to let ya know..." he smirks, his teeth flashing with a slight tint of plaque-yellow.

"I busted the brakes."

He lets go and flies off, arms flailing. The pilot of the chopper sees this and veers down a bit, careful of the danger present. At the last minute, Jarold reaches up and grabs the chopper's landing skis. His body swings wildly around as he hoists himself into the open door, which isn't easy to do with an odd guitar in one hand. He mockingly waves at me, and then disappears into the cockpit.

The three of us watch helplessly as the chopper lifts and hovers away toward the headquarters of Mikado Corporation, whose station the train was approaching at neck-breaking speed with no deceleration in sight...