Disclaimer: I do not own the copyrights to Gundam Wing, Endless Waltz, Sailor Moon, Trigun, Evangelion, Lupin the Third, Outlaw Star, Rurouni Kenshin, G-Gundam, any other Gundam Series, Stephen King's The Dark Tower series, any movies, books, or any songs that are used in this story. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.
Notice to Readers: To understand certain parts of this story, you'll have to read the other stories before this one. It is recommended by not required.
The DarkTower:
Anime's Unite
Chapter 15: The Western Group
Blaine the Mono
- - -
Far to the West, away from the Misty Mountains and the tragedy of loosing Gandalf the Gray, there was another group that was coming close to something as well. It was at the edge of the Dark Forest of Ewin, there was a small town called Hilldale. A rather peaceful little hamlet near the river with the only method of transportation to that town was by the train that ran across the tracks that stretched for hundreds of miles from the City of Nash in the northeast.
Hilldale wasn't really anything huge or spectacular, just a few buildings for the main town while the houses were speckled around it, yet the trees of the forest were cleared away to make room for the town itself. The buildings that were in the center of the town were places like the restaurant called, "Diner", not a very creative but a straightforward name nonetheless. Then there was the courthouse that was set next to the diner. It was a simple structure that really had very little cases coming through it, the most problems that they've had were roudy drunks at the bar. The courthouse had a circular quad in front of it with little walkways dissecting it into four sections with a monument in the center of it. The monument was a simple stone rising like an obelisk with the names of the explorers who trekked their way from the City of Nash to the west and settled there in the place that would be called Hilldale. Then there was the Bar which was called, "The Red Moon", where most of the towns' cases happen. Then there were the general stores providing all kinds of goods and needs that the people could use. Yet, the biggest part of Hilldale was on the Eastern side of it, the Train Station.
The Station for Hilldale was the largest building in the entire town with their prized train coming and going from it. The train was called, "Blaine the Mono", the most advanced piece of transportation equipment ever created. It is said amongst the towns' people of Hilldale that they don't even need a conductor anymore, Blaine does it all.
Yet, the peacefulness of Hilldale was in the past, until they came, much like every town and city in Mydar. Peaceful towns became fearful ones. People came and went from place to place but always in fear seeing the guards clad in black armor standing watch at the courthouse and at the train station making sure that no one in Hilldale stepped out of line.
Inside the Station amongst the small crowd of people coming and going, going and coming there were some chairs near the platform like the chairs near the gates at airports. It was there that one man sat waiting for his friend to come.
This man sat alone in his seat near the platform gate eating his small box of popcorn spitting out the loose kernels that got stuck in his teeth into to one of the empty boxes. This was Bartleby. He was quite a handsome kind of man with shortly cut black hair that gave a vague idea of the shape of his head. His brow was wide, his eyebrows narrow, his nose was thin, and he had a small cleft in his narrow chin. He looked ahead at the platform gate that had the number seven above its doorway seeing the people come in and out of it. His ears listened as he heard the young, smooth, and slightly cocky voice of his friend approaching. Bartleby threw back his head in just pure humorous frustration that his friend is on this atheist trip again. Yet, he continued to listen as the very shaken voice of the person he was talking to admitted that he was right.
"What am I doing?" The person asked
"Hey, you know what you can do, just go out and have fun. Because that's all life is, a series of moments. So seize yours."
Bartleby waited as his friend came around and sat down next to him. This was Loki, a man roughly the same age as Bartleby, who had short and shaggy blonde hair that came over his slightly protruding and wide forehead. His nose was wide which crowned his over all face which was very gaunt. He looked over at his friend with his beady blue eyes and smiled very greedily as he reveled in his victory of converging a faithful person.
"You know here's what I don't get about you." Bartleby started, "You know for a fact there's God, you serve him, you've been in his presence and he's spoken to you, and you were on your atheist thing again."
Loki laughed, "I just love to fuck with these people who are blindly faithful. I just love it, I love to keep these people on their toes, but what about you coming here man? You know the Obsessed are out to get us and the rest of our comrades, and here you are in one of the most guarded places in town."
"Because my friend, they would never think of looking for us here." Bartleby explained, "And here is humanity at its best."
"Yeah, right. Being around people who step over you so they don't miss the train and being around kids who equal the ones at Denny's, what's so pleasant about that? And it's no better since the Obsessed took over."
"Hey, watch it. They could be listening." The cautious Bartleby warned, "But here, take a look at that couple."
He pointed over at the gate he was sitting near, seeing a couple hugging and kissing each other. Both of them just so happy to be with one another, yet Bartleby knew better.
"Yeah, what about them?" Loki asked
"Well, what he doesn't know is that while he was away at the City of Nash, she was cheating on him."
"Really?" Loki asked with great intent
"Four times with his sister and his best friend."
"Nice."
"But that really doesn't matter." Bartleby tried to illustrate his point, "What matters at this moment that they're so happy to be with one another. And I'll remind you that as you clearly put life's a series of moments and this is one of them. I like that. How all that distrust and suspicion vanishes in that one moment when they look at one another. Kinda makes me wish that life was more like that all the time."
Loki just felt frustrated by all of this nonsense that Bartleby was spouting about these people, "This is why I had to come here, so I had to miss my fuckin' cartoons, to share with your half-assed obsession with grab-ass Oprah hallmark moments?"
Bartleby shook his head as he reached into his trench coat pocket and pulled out a roll of paper, "Nope, my friend. We're going back home." He handed the roll of paper to Loki who looked down at it once and then back at his friend with that same vacant expression as if asking what he was supposed to do with it.
"Quite glaring at me, Loki." Bartleby pleaded, "Otherwise people are going to think I just broke up with you…and badly too." He let out a small snigger as he unrolled the paper for his friend.
"I thought you said we were going back."
"We are; I just received this bird message from our comrade Jake Chambers the Key Master saying that he met the members of our new army and he's leading them here."
Loki took the unrolled paper and read it to himself:
Bartleby and Loki,
The doors have been opened by our master; the Anime's of different worlds have come to Mydar. I'm currently leading the Kenshin-Gumi and the Peace Guns to the town of Hilldale. From there we should be able to take the train to the City of Nash. Meet us at the Diner. We should be arriving in the afternoon on the 3rd.
Jake Chambers the Key Master
"Outstanding work!" Loki smiled as he handed the paper back to his friend. He pulled back the sleeve of his right arm to look at the day on his digital watch, "The third…that's today."
"Exactly and they should be arriving here pretty soon." Bartleby observed, "Let's go meet them."
"Man, we're finally going back." Loki smiled, "If I had more time then I'd go get laid."
"Easy there my friend, we're going to need all the strength we can."
And so Bartleby and Loki left the Hilldale Train Station sneaking past the black guards of the Obsessed. They left behind the noise and bustle of the station while the shadows of the Obsessed guards still haunted the minds and hearts of the people within as well as all around Mydar.
- - -
Less than a mile outside of Hilldale, the Kenshin Gumi, the Peace Guns, their guide Jake Chambers had broken through the last line of trees in the Dark Forest of Ewin. Looking from behind the trees of the forest they only saw bright light coming from in between the trunks while only a little bit of light came through the leaves and branches above them. The first one to break through the edge of the forest was Jake who stood at the edge while the Kenshin Gumi and the Peace Guns gathered around him.
"Hey, why'd you stop, Jake?" Sano asked
"Look." Jake pointed to the town ahead of them. Even though the town was half a mile away they could still see that various points were black guards, at least they assumed so since they could only see black figures between buildings.
"Hmm, I see your point." Kenshin observed, "With those guards there it'll be hard to get in."
"For you, no." Jake pointed out, "They won't be looking for you but they will be looking for me."
"What'd you suggest?" Kaoru asked with a deep mother-like concern for Jake.
"Another way." Jake said, "There's always another way."
"What'd you mean, kid?" Sano asked
"Here's what all of you will do." Jake outlined, "See those black guards on the far right?"
The Peace Guns and the Kenshin Gumi looked and saw what Jake mentioned. There was a small dirt path that led from the edge of the forest to where the black figures stood. They saw two of them there just like at two other entrances of the outer edge of town.
"Yes." Vash answered
"All of you head into town through that entrance." Jake instructed
"What if they stop us?" Vash asked in his comedic concern thinking about the horrible things that they could do to them if they were captured.
"I'm sure you and Knives could use a little persuasion upon them." Jake winked at the gunmen as he reached into his back and pulled out that piece of ash he had been carving for the past two nights. They could all see its finely cut four jagged edges as well as the supple s-shape curve it had towards its handle.
"What the hell do you plan to do?" Sano asked very frustrated by Jake's cryptic instructions.
"I'm going to enter the town with the use of this key. I can't explain how, but you'll just have to trust me."
Collectively, they all trusted Jake after all he never steered them wrong before so why would he do that when they've come so far?
"Just go to a place called The Diner and you'll find Bartleby and Loki. You will not know them but they will definitely know you." Jake got up, he patted Vash and Kenshin on the back, "I will see all of you again shortly." And off Jake went back into the Dark Forest of Ewin. With his visage gone amongst the tree trunks and bushes, the Peace Guns and the Kenshin Gumi felt very awkward by the instructions.
"Well, we should follow his instructions that we should." Kenshin smirked
"Doesn't look like we have much of a choice in the first place." Sano said as he tried to clean out his ear with his little finger
"We can debate it all we like," Wolfwood pointed out, "but that won't get us anywhere."
"In that case," Meryl asserted, "Let's go."
Meryl and Miss Kaoru both stood up and marched ahead without fear in their eyes all the way across the clearing with their friends and loved ones following behind. All of them prepared for the unexpected. Some of them knew about how the human response system would have what is called, "The Flight of Fight Experience". In that the individual would either stand and fight or run for cover. All of them had prepared themselves for it mentally even though on the surface they appeared calm and confident as they had approached the dirt road and the Black Armored Guards upon either side of the dirt road. The anticipation grew larger and larger as their breaths grew shorter and shorter.
Then something odd occurred, as they had approached the entrance to the town of Hilldale the Black Armored guards didn't move. They didn't bring their spears together to block the path of the Kenshin Gumi or the Peace Guns.
As they passed by the guards they could see the Black Armor with greater detail. The texture of the armor was both black and reflective like mirror lenses for sunglasses or like obsidian that was freshly polished. To the eyes of the Kenshin Gumi, their armor looked strangely samurai-like, but it seemed jagged about its edges like sharp rocks at the bottom of a waterfall. The helmet was spiked as well as if they were horns of some great beast. In their hands was a great spear that had three blades that came together like a three-fingered claw.
Upon their belts were two swords, both at their left side, a katana and a straight edge sword, and twin guns set in holsters that sat upon their armored thighs. It was obvious that they were armed and armored to the teeth. Still, why weren't they stopped? They knew that Jake was the one that they were looking for, but why not them? After all, the gunmen and swordsmen would seem more of a threat than a twelve-year-old boy.
The Kenshin Gumi and the Peace Guns passed through the guards and into the town of Hilldale with very little effort. As they came into it all of them had felt the same way as they did when they went into the Preventers universe. Everything seemed so vastly different than the places that they had been to or the things that they had experienced in the past, the buildings, the people, their clothes, and the things that were running along the streets, all of it so much different. Even to the Kenshin Gumi they couldn't understand very much of what they were seeing. The things that they couldn't understand the most was the signs above the shops all around them, written in a language that they couldn't read.
"Where is this place that Jake was talking about?" Yahiko asked hoping someone would know.
"There it is." Vash said to his friends
Everyone looked to their far left and they saw a small place with windows that showed its interiors filled with people who were eating. Above it there was the sign that read in its English letters, "Diner".
"Jake told us to go in, so let's go in." Vash said with a great smile, "And we'll probably get some food while we're at it."
"Hey, I'm never one to turn down a meal." Sano said as he followed Vash to the Diner.
With the rest of their little band following them, Vash and Sano walked into the diner. Pushing open the glass door which sent out its little cow bell ringing through the entire restaurant. A few faces looking up from their plates of food or cups of coffee to see who it was that entered the restaurant. A few faces had continued to stare at the strangers in the restaurant while the Kenshin Gumi and the Peace Guns looked from stool to stool and booth to booth for the ones that Jake had talked about.
"Hey, Vash!" A voice called out
Vash didn't recognize the voice at all, yet the person who was calling for him knew his name. He turned his head to the far right over to one of the corners where there was one of those booths that were u-shaped to take up the space in the corner. Sitting there were two men dressed in very casual clothes, one was blonde and the other was dark haired. It was the dark haired one that was waving at Vash and signaling him to come and sit down with him and his friend.
The Kenshin Gumi and the Peace Guns came over and sat next to the blonde and dark haired men.
"Welcome to Hilldale." The dark haired one said, "My friend and I know your names but since you don't know ours allow me to fill in that gap. My name is Bartleby and this is my friend Loki."
The blonde haired man smiled at them as he was chewing his gum.
"I still want to know how the hell it is everyone here seems to know our names." Wolfwood's eyes narrowed at the new companions.
"Our master was the one who told us of you all." Loki answered, "Especially the funny escapades of those within Kenshin's group. Like that time that Sano found that great big huge dog."
"Someone's been watching us." Sano assessed
"You could say that." Bartleby shrugged,
"Jake was saying how much this land is in peril," Kaoru said, "But it doesn't seem like it's just fine to me."
"Just fine?" Loki asked, "Of course not. Who wants to dwell on things like that? Why think of the boys in the mines crouched over the chutes? Endlessly pounding away at the rock bringing forth the riches the Earth can give them for the hunger of the Obsessed, worked to death before the age of thirteen. Why think of the little girls who sell themselves to the men, women, and creatures of the Obsessed? To be kept in cages like animals for endless sexual appetites. 'If anyone causes even one of the little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and be damned in the depths of the sea!' They must open their eyes and see! They must open their mouths and drown!"
Bartleby placed his hand upon his friends shoulder, "Easy there my friend." He looked to the faces of the Kenshin Gumi and the Peace Guns who seemed to have been so awe struck by the little speech that Loki had made that it made them realize that not everything is what it seems on the surface. Especially with seeing how such a handsome man who seemed to not have a single care in the world have such deep compassion for the things around him.
"You must forgive my friend." Bartleby apologized to the Kenshin Gumi as well as the Peace Guns, "He does tend to get a little passionate about the situation our lands are in."
"It's perfectly understandable." Vash nodded, "There are grave injustices that happen everywhere."
"It seems that an injustice anywhere is an injustice everywhere." Kenshin observed
"Yes, it is." Bartleby agreed, "But getting back to the matter at hand, where's Jake?"
"He said that he would find another way into town and instructed for us to meet you here." Kenshin explained
Loki shrugged, "That's Jake for you, always finding a different way."
"Unfortunately," Bartleby said with a twinge of hopelessness in his voice, "we can't plan our next move without Jake here."
Just as Bartleby had said that a door had opened elsewhere in the restaurant. It wasn't the front entrance door that people had used to come in and out of. It was the door to the bathroom. Of course the Diner did have a bathroom, but it was just one, a simple one that had its standard sink and toilet. The person who came out of that door was the young twelve-year-old boy who was dressed in that charcoal suit and had that backpack on. He walked out while tucking away a key into one of his pockets; he looked around very carefully to make sure that no one would spot him, at least no one who would cause any trouble. He looked over to his far left of the door to the bathroom and there they were.
"Speak of the devil." Loki smiled, "Here's the little rascal now."
Jake's face broke out into a huge smile as if it had been lying dormant inside him like those things about childhood that many adults are forced to bury as they grow older. The young key master walked over to the booth and took his seat, right next to Bartleby and Loki. The smiling Loki rubbed his fingers through Jake's hair messing up his part and every strand of his hair.
"How have you been, Jake?" Loki asked like a very affectionate older brother greeting his younger one.
"We got here in one piece." Jake reported, "Now we can make plans for our next step."
"That parts pretty obvious right now." Loki said as he laid himself back against the plastic seating of the booth placing his arms against the back rest.
"What do we do, at this point?" Kenshin asked
"You see that over there?" Bartleby pointed to the window. The Kenshin Gumi and the Peace Guns looked in that direction and they saw a great building there with people coming in and out of its gates made of steel and glass.
"That's our ticket." Bartleby said, "That's the train station and there we will catch Blaine the Mono who will take us to the City of Nash."
"Damn, I knew that this trip was going to have a train in it." Sano said as he curled himself up, "I just knew it."
"Such superstitious humans" Knives shook his head, "like so many others, thinking that the simplest of devices are products of demons."
"Hey pal!" Sano started up the argument, "You can say what you like I still say that things powered by a ghost!"
"Keep you voices down!" Loki said in a quiet shout
As the argument between the former Sekihotai and the superhuman came down, they soon addressed something very important. Jake.
"With Jake here it'll pose a huge risk for us to get into the station." Bartleby had planned aloud
"Yet, we can't leave him here." Meryl had brought up the catch about the whole situation.
"I think I may have an idea." Millie smiled at Jake
- - -
It had been at least fifteen minutes since the Kenshin Gumi and the Peace Guns had received their instructions from Jake the Key Master to come into the down of Hilldale and meet Loki and Bartleby. The plans and the wheels began to turn in their favor, but since they knew that the guards of the Obsessed would be looking for Jake a plan was devised. Yet, the question of why Jake and not Bartleby and Loki, so Jake had answered this question saying that Bartleby and Loki were in disguise and that's why they weren't recognized it was for this reason why Millie had devised a plan to get Jake into the station.
"Why can't he do the same trick he did in the forest?" Sano asked
"That's too risky." Jake said, "I could come through a door that the Obsessed are already guarding. Millie's plan has to work."
And so it was that the Kenshin Gumi and the Peace Guns with their new guides Bartleby and Loki walked up the steps of the train station. At least some of them walked up, Millie was waddling as her belly was full and her arm was around Wolfwood's. Everyone who passed by Millie kept saying their congratulations to her.
"You must be expecting triplets." One woman said
As for Wolfwood under the disguise of his sunglasses felt the greatest sense of déjà vu in his entire life. After all this same ploy was used a while back when he and the rest of the Peace Guns (with the exclusion of Knives) were traveling in a caravan. There was a dancing girl there who was trying to escape with the love of her life, and so Millie came up with the brilliant plan of hiding the dancing girl underneath her long coat and make it seem as though she were pregnant. Wolfwood felt just embarrassed as hell by the awkwardness of the situation.
"How the hell do I get mixed up in these things?" He asked himself as he tried to reach for a cigarette in his pocket but then grimaced as he remembered that Millie threw them all away. Yet, he smiled again with that déjà vu kicking in, remembering that look on Millie's face as she said that one line to him.
Second hand smoke is bad for the baby darling.
Meanwhile under the heat of Millie's long coat was Jake who had his face pressed against Millie's midsection and had his feet on top of her shoes, thus the reason why Millie was waddling. He felt ten times more embarrassed than Wolfwood, because there he was a young boy at the edge of puberty underneath a woman's coat, holding for dear life around her waist and his face pressed against her belly. That made the heat even worse as he began to blush with the thoughts of what was underneath Millie's clothes.
"Dear God, get me through this." Jake thought to himself.
Outside, the group came to the ticket booth in the very heart of the train station. Sitting inside the tiny glass booth with marble counter tops was a young man who was just there for a job. Giving out tickets to those who asked for them, never paying any mind to anyone who came by.
"What can I do for you, sir?" He asked Bartleby
"Eleven tickets for Blaine the Mono to the City of Nash." Bartleby asked
The man calculated the total and reported to his customer, "That'll be ninety-one plenax."
Bartleby reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet that was leathery and smooth with the English words on its outer layer that read "Bad Mother Fucker". He thumbed through the paper money inside it and pulled out the appropriate amount needed.
The man inside the booth only saw a glimpse of the words "Bad Mother Fucker", but of course in the course of his job his only concern was actually getting what comes out of a wallet, and not what's on the wallet itself. He watched his customer pull out a one-hundred plenax bill and shoved it through the little opening in the glass. He took the money brought up the right amount of change and gave the tickets along with it.
"Enjoy your trip." The man in the booth said
"Thank you." Bartleby smiled as he and the others headed for the platform written upon the ticket, Platform 11.
Walking through the place, the Kenshin gumi were awed by it, the materials, the entire place seemed like it was made out of the most precious things on Earth. The floors, the figures, the seats, even golden trim around the doors. All of it was such a pleasure to the eyes, and not just to the Kenshin Gumi but to the Peace Guns. For some of them it seemed like a treasure trove of lost technology, while the others it felt almost like home.
"Looks like we're in luck," Bartleby had reported to the others, "Blaine the Mono only seats twelve people, and hopefully if no one else gets on we can get there in privacy."
"Let's keep our fingers crossed then and hope no one suspects anything." Loki assessed
They had crossed through the passage way to the platform where they saw their train waiting for them. After going through the turnstiles where they had deposited their tickets, the Kenshin Gumi and the Peace Guns had seen what the infamous Blaine the Mono was like. The entire thing was enormously long, as long as a locomotive and a few cars behind it. Or the lengths of a few houses that were put side by side. Yet their eyes could see that the train had no cars, it was just one long silvery mass like a bullet, completely smooth. Some members tried to look around it, they saw no windows, no doors, not a single crack and seam. They couldn't even see wheels on the track. Even the track was strange to their eyes, all they could see was just a long smooth road that looked like a long stretch of plastic or porcelain.
"There's no way this could be a train." Sano muttered to himself
That was when they were all proven wrong as a great hiss came from the train, some of them leaped a few inches back at the very sound of what was coming from the very odd object sitting in front of them. Then they saw that there really was nothing to be afraid of, instead they stood in awe of what was happening. They saw that a little section of the silvery exterior of Blaine the Mono began to sink in upon itself, it sunk in much like a door. It looked almost like wax when it sunk in and like a soap bubble that popped when the door opened. Then a voice called out to them in a very deep and elongated voice.
"Well get on aboard, pilgrim." The voice said, "This is Blaine the Mono departing for the City of Nash."
"What demon is this?" Sano asked in petrified fear
Just then the voice that called to the passengers changed in tone to a female's voice, like a sweet southern stewardess, "I beg your pardon sir, but I am no demon. I am the onboard computer system for the train that has been designated Blaine the Mono, now please step aboard for we are departing within a few minutes."
"You heard Blaine." Bartleby called to everyone, "Let's get on board."
Bartleby and Loki lowered their heads as they stepped into the odd bullet shaped train. Following behind were the Peace Guns and then there were the curious members of the Kenshin Gumi, though Kenshin and Kaoru were pulling in the already spooked Sanosuke. They were pulling on him like a parent trying to get their child to walk through the door on their first day of school.
The inside of Blaine the Mono was incredible. There were seats, yet they weren't the economy class seats that only had plastic backings with a little cushioning. The seats there were full kind of seats with pillows in every facet stuffed full of fluffy material. They were so comfortable that when Kenshin sat down it, it was unlike anything that he had ever experienced in his life. They were of such soft comfort that it must have cost more than half of the emperors' estate to make something like it, at least in Kenshin's mind. They were seats the he could have comfortably slept in.
"If people sit in seats like this," he wondered, "Then I wonder how comfortable their beds are."
There were those enormously comfortable seats as well as love seats and couches that really attracted people like Sanosuke. At first he was so reluctant of the train then he was forced to sit down upon the couch and that was all he could think about.
Aside from the really comfortable places to sit, there was also a small bar at the front end of the car, or rather to the right of where the door to the platform was. Then upon the wall where the bar was there was a painting, a very odd painting of a lone gunman standing in front of a skeleton where a crow sat perched upon it and in the distance among the clouds was a tower that stretched in its turrets all the way up to the sky.
The only members that were left were Wolfwood and Millie. Wolfwood was helping Millie waddle along with Jake Chambers the Key Master still underneath Millie's long coat. The heat that Jake was feeling had become so much for him that he wondered how long he would have to wait underneath that. The only time he could remember being that hot was wandering around in the Gunsmoke Desert worrying that he would be eating by the sandworms. The sun burning down upon him and the sand underneath him certainly didn't help him at all. Yet, body heat is such a different kind of hot compared to the desert, it was a wet kind of warm as opposed to dry warmth which is what Jake felt. Feeling the sweat rolling off of his own chin and soak into his clothes, and he knew that Millie was feeling it.
Outside, Wolfwood had already stepped into the train while Millie was still waddling her way over the little gap between the platform and the interior of the train itself. As Millie lifted her foot over the gap she still held her hand upon her protruding belly where Jake lay in hiding. So far so good, as she brought the last foot over the threshold, while inside everyone was just as nervous as could be that this plan would go off without a single hitch. Even the most calm and cool of the group could feel a little sweat upon their brow that something could go wrong and it did.
As Millie brought her other foot over the threshold it caught upon the ledge of the door and she tumbled face first onto the floor of the interior of the train, allowing Jake to fall out from underneath her long coat. Jake rolled out all sweaty and breathing hard for fresh cool air, but soon it turned to quick breaths of panic as the alarms blared through the station.
"Alert!" A robotic sounding voice said over the intercom, "Alert! All Obsessed Operatives report to platform eleven, Jake Chambers the Key Master has been sighted. Orders are to capture on sight and any accomplices with him. Repeat! All operatives report to platform eleven and capture Jake the Key Master and any accomplices with him."
"Oh, shit." Loki uttered to himself and stood up to yell at the train, "Blaine the Mono! This is Loki the Warrior, Guard to the one true King of Mydar, and I order you to close the door and depart! NOW!"
Still the alarms began to blare throughout the entire station as the passengers of Blaine the Mono heard the loud footsteps of the Obsessed Guards coming down the hallways of the train station. Their footsteps were like the thunderclaps of an oncoming storm bringing with it all the terrors and horrors of its destruction in its path. Some of the passengers knew that this could be the end of it all, but there were some who stood up to rise to the challenge.
Vash and Knives stood up from their seats as Jake and Millie got up out of the door way.
"Vash, Loki" Knives ordered, "try to convince the machine to get us out of here."
"What'd your going to do?" Vash asked
"I'm going to stop them in their tracks." Knives answered
"Not without me, pal." Sano stood up, "I prefer to go out fighting."
Knives smiled, "Cornered mouse bites the cat."
As Vash and Loki headed to the front of the cabin, Knives and Sanosuke came to the door of the train waiting for the black Obsessed Guards to come onto the platform, ready to strike at them with their own weapons. Only Sano and Knives had a few tricks up their sleeves about how to deal with this.
The black Obsessed Guards poured out onto the platform like cockroaches fleeing away from being discovered. They came all of them positioning themselves about Blaine the Mono bringing about their weapons and aiming for the door while one robotic voice called to them.
"Come out of the train with your hands up."
"I don't think so." Knives said as his mind focused upon all of them. He already knew about their construction, he could hear it in their thoughts, like overhearing a conversation at the next table in a restaurant. His mind focused with his superhuman abilities and they froze.
"I can't move!" One of them cried out
"Neither can I!" Another one reported the same thing
"I believe now is your chance to shine, Sanosuke Sagara of the Sekihoutai." Knives smiled at Sano who grinned with such delight as he drew back his fist ready to lay waste to the enemies before him.
"FUTAINOKIWAMI!" Sano shouted out as his fist roared through the air out at his target and the attack came upon the Obsessed Guards full force. All of them began to crumble, chip, and fall to pieces right in front of their eyes. Yet it was nothing special to Sanosuke, he could bring down walls with such an attack, but to the eyes of Knives, he had never seen ordinary humans display such talent.
Inside Blaine the Mono, Loki and Vash were at the edge of the car trying to speak with the onboard computer. Loki was speaking to it, while Vash was trying to reach it with his mind. He had been known to do that with certain machines, to be able to take control of them if he wanted to.
"Blaine!" Loki called, "Answer me!"
"Calm down, Loki. No need to shout." The sweet southern stewardess voice of Blaine came on. "Unfortunately I will not be able to leave the platform for one minute and two seconds and counting."
"If you don't leave now, all hopes for the freedom of Mydar are lost."
"One minute and counting." Blaine's voice answered back to Loki.
"It's no use reasoning with it." Loki gave up
"And I can't seem to reach it." Vash reported
"Can it at least close the door?!" Loki shouted
Upon Loki's sarcastic shouting, the train had obeyed the order, in the same way that it opened, the door had closed. The Interior around the door had turned into that waxy state, flowed over the door like water, and solidified as if the door wasn't there.
"We should be safe now." Loki assessed
"No need to worry about the guards." Sano smirked as he cracked his knuckles, but his cocky smirk turned into deep rooted fear as he realized that he was still in the hold of the devilish train. The rush of battle had placed all the fear upon the back burner of his mind, but it just came flowing back like a sickness relapse. Sano went back to his big comfortable seat (as did Knives, Vash, and Loki), but he wished that he had some fish bones to chew on in order to deal with the fact that he was on the train.
"Thirty Seconds to departure and counting." Blaine continued to use that Southern Stewartess voice.
Thinking about the departure and those following them, Wolfwood had thought of a very interesting and prominent question. He didn't say it aloud, he was thinking about it in his gunman quick-thinking mind. If the Obsessed already know that Jake is on the train and that he was heading for this place called the City of Nash, wouldn't they try to stop them from leaving? It seemed very reasonable because they did have technology that seemed to have limitless capabilities, so why not stop them from leaving Hilldale?
"Because they can't." Bartleby said aloud at Wolfwood
"What?" Wolfwood asked very surprised as if something had hit him in the back of the head
"You were wondering if the Obsessed are going to stop us from leaving Hilldale."
"Can they do that?" Kenshin asked
"They could have a few minutes ago," Bartleby explained, "But since Blaine's counting down there's no way to stop it, everything's in his control."
"And how did you know what I was thinking?" Wolfwood asked in a demanding sort of way.
"That's my gift." Bartleby said as he leaned back in his comfortable chair, "I can see anything in the present as well as a person's past and inner most secrets. Thus my title, Bartleby the Spy."
"Now departing from Hilldale Train Station," Blaine had stated to the passengers, "Thank you for choosing Blaine the Mono"
Under the comfort of their chairs and beneath their feet the passengers of Blaine the Mono felt a small buzz or a vibration. It was the kind from feeling the vibrations of a car engine or like feeling the vibrations of music from the other side of a wall. Within moments the pitch of the vibrations became higher like the sound of a high pitched tuning fork. Only the passengers could feel it through their whole bodies as well as hear it, but then it stopped. It felt like they weren't moving at all.
The inquisitive members of the Kenshin Gumi and the Peace Guns got up from their comfortable chairs feeling every step that they took. Each step felt as stable as solid ground itself.
"Are we moving at all?" Yahiko asked impatiently, after all he was right to ask that question because with no windows inside the train they couldn't see what was going on outside.
"One moment please." Blaine's southern stewardess voice had said
Instantly the walls within the train seemed to waver and ripple like the surface of a pond when a small stone is thrown into it. The once solid material of the inner hull seemed to vanish as if it were made of smoke and mirrors. Replacing it was sunlight, the passengers of Blaine the Mono were seeing everything around them. The only thing that remained from this transformation was the floor and the furniture, everything else seemed as if it wasn't there. Only showing everything beyond those interior walls and they saw lush green fields of grass that were blowing in the wind making them seem like a sea of green. Above they saw a blue sky with the white clouds passing by, mountains in the distance with snow capping off their peaks, and forests of old trees spreading out their branches into one another. Yet, closer to them, everything seemed like such a blur as if they were the ones who were moving the fastest, but again it felt contradicting. Even with that speed, they felt no wind whatsoever.
"I can't stand it!" Sano uttered, "I gotta get off this train."
"Calm down, Sano." Kaoru tried to advise even in her own state of pure awe and amazement of the things around her that seemed like magic, "I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation for all of this."
"Are you stupid missy?" Sano asked his eyes wide with fear, "This train must be controlled by some manner of demon. How else do you explain its power of turning solid walls into nothing?"
"I have to side with Kaoru." Vash interjected, "There are some things here that we don't understand."
"I don't care what any of you say, there must be a demon aboard this thing, and I'm getting the hell off!" Sano was about to rise out of his seat but then another voice of reason came in.
"If I might be of some help." Blaine interjected into the discussion as well
"I don't need help from you demon!" Sano pointed in the direction the voice was coming from.
"Please, relax." Blaine said as something happened to Sanosuke.
From within his seat, Sano felt something very odd indeed. His body felt something foreign coming into it almost like a poison seeping into his system. Yet, it wasn't poison. He felt a very fine sensation, he felt relaxed, very much at ease. His face that was once tight with the fears and anxieties of his superstition melted away to a face of calm and complacency. He leaned back in his chair with a great smile on his face. All the while, the Peace Guns and the Kenshin Gumi were watching.
Kaoru came over and lifted Sano's hand by his middle finger, he seemed so loose as if he were asleep, but he was very much awake from the look in his face.
"I don't know what's happening." Sano said very slowly as if he were just living his carefree life again, "But I don't care, I just feel…good."
"What in the hell's happening to him?" Wolfwood demanded from the machine
"Please, stay calm." Blaine explained, "It was a simple relaxing agent. It is common for passengers to be somewhat anxious about being onboard so a relaxing system was installed to help make the trip more enjoyable."
Kenshin smiled, "At least he isn't punching at the walls. That he isn't."
"True." Meryl agreed, "But there are some things that need to be answered."
"Like how long until we get there?" Yahiko asked
"Calculating." Blaine answered and within just one second, "It will be approximately one hour and fifty-five minutes until our arrival at the station in the City of Nash."
Even with this information, Wolfwood still wanted to know something.
"Bartleby." He asked, "You said you can see anywhere in the present, right?"
"Yeah." Bartleby answered
"Can you see what's at the Dark Tower?"
Bartleby shook his head, "I've tried that several times but whatever the Obsessed are doing there, they're blocking my vision. I have no idea what's going on at the Dark Tower, but we'll be there in about two hours so we'll know by then, but that's not the thing that worries me."
"What then?"
"What will be at the station in Nash when we arrive?"
To be continued…