*By the way, I'm posting this on Ao3 now under the same name. Give it a follow if you'd like!*

Chapter 29

There's A Simpsons Reference In Here Somewhere

(-○-)

This girl was a terror.

Lazuli had dashed ahead after a time, apparently saving Alices life in the process, and tried to flank her, but the natu was far to quick. Whenever they managed to surround them it would teleport her to the next car. And he was pretty sure they were nearing the end of the line. Or train in this case.

"What do you think she wants?" He knew the first guy went towards the rear of the train. She was going towards the front. A thought suddenly occurred to him. "Wait, how many cars did this train have?"

"Twelve, we started on car 5." And they've chased her through 4 cars. Meaning the only one left is the engine.

They needed a plan. Chasing her down was getting them no where and so long as she had that natu they couldn't corner her. Even if they rushed her she could just teleport back out to this car.

"Lazuli, stay in this car. Be ready to battle her in case she pops up. I'm going to rush her and try to catch her off guard." Laz saluted and barked out a 'Yes Sir'.

Ok, here goes nothing.

He slid the door open to the outside to see an attendant pulling on the door opposite of him. The grey metal refused to budge for her.

"What happened?"

She startled at him as she took in his presence, noticeably glancing towards his belt at his pokeballs.

"Somethings wrong with the train." She explained, "The phone is down and the train is speeding up. I can't get ahold of the other attendant or the conductor. And now the door to the engine is jammed."

"Get back, I'll get it open." He motioned for her to move behind him as he selected his starter. "Monferno, use Work up and open this door."

The ball popped open and released the fire type. It nodded before beginning to breathe heavily, its muscles flexing and straining against its skin as the flame on its tail grew hotter and hotter as the strength enhancing move worked its magic.

With a howl it slammed its fingers into the seal of the door and pulled it apart. A metallic squeal and a few prominent pops sounded off as the door was quickly pulled open enough for them to squeeze inside.

"CONFUSE RAY!" That's *bad.

An orb of shimmering yellow energy splashed onto monferno as they stepped inside, confusing him with its ghostly energies.

The conductor was out cold and leaning against the wall, probably left where he had fell. The girl stood at the controls in the front, fingers dancing over switches and dials at a panicked speed. Natu stood on her head, beak still letting off whisps of distorted energy.

Monferno screamed at something beside him and swung with a Mach punch. Denting the wall with a significant impact.

"Monferno! Snap out of it!"

The pokemons eyes were wide in terror as it frantically whipped its head around, throwing punches and spitting fire in the enclosed space. No amount of calling for him seemed to calm it down as it flailed about the cabin violently.

"Natu use Nightshade!" She hadn't even looked to see what was happening as she gave the order.

Black lightning lanced out from the small bird pokemon striking Monferno squarely in the head. However this didn't seem do do much if any damage. What it did do was give Monferno a solid target to focus on.

The fire type charged in a frenzy towards Natu and therefore the girl as well. Flames kicking up under its paws as it rolled and went into a powered up Flame wheel.

She and the psychic both disappeared with a flash as the wheel of fire crashed into the control panel, smashing it inward with the sound of screaming metal and pokemon.

"CRAP! MONFERNO RETURN!" Oh he really hopes that's not as bad a thing as he thinks it is.

"Whats happening in there? What was that noise?" He turned back to the attendant who was still outside as he scrambled to release another pokemon into the fray

"Uh, she destroyed the controls!" He lied.

"WHAT!?" That was not a good shout. That was a panic shout. He's pretty sure it's panic time. Uh Oh.

The girl had reappeared to the side of what was left of the console. She looked completely baffled even through her half mask. "*WHY!?*"

"YOU DID IT!" He yelled.

"I DID NOT! YOUR POKEMON DID IT SO IT'S YOUR FAULT!" She argued back.

"YOU CONFUSED HIM AND THEN ATTACKED HIM AGAIN! SO IT'S YOUR FAULT!" He yelled again.

"I DON'T CARE WHO DID IT JUST FINISH IT!" Screamed the attendant from behind him.

He let out Shroomish. Because he had a battle to win and not because he was just a touch afraid of the very angry lady behind him, because he wasn't.

"Stun spore!" If they could paralyze them then they would be able to hit them. That natu looks pretty fragile, one solid hit should take it down. Of course they need to actually hit them with the spores first.

They disappeared in a flash before the spores could reach them. He growled under his breath as he called for it again to the same effect. They were too fast and he couldn't predict where they would pop up next, all he could do was keep her on the move and hope.

Or, maybe he could give them no choice about where they go.

"Stun spore! Makes lots and lots, just not at me!"

It was taxing for the grass type, she hadn't done a lot of training to increase her spore production but she let out a massive cloud as best she could and threw it forward. He braced himself to react at a hair trigger as the cloud enveloped the cabin.

It took a moment but the instant he saw a flash to his left his struck with a well aimed kick, slamming his heel into her stomach. She curled up from the force, throwing the natu from her head onto the floor in a flapping heap.

Shroomish rushed on her stubby legs and slammed a Headbutt into the flying type, knocking it out cold as it was thrown into a nearby wall.

Citrine followed his pokemons lead and pressed his advantage, throwing a punch towards her jaw that she barely avoided. Her hands flailing at her belt as she tried to both recover from that nasty stomach kick and get away from him. He went for another kick but not before she dropped a pokeball to the ground, the sound of it opening spelling bad news for him.

He yelped as a very angry and very fast medicham suddenly had him in its grasp. He jerked back put the pokemons grip was like iron and used it to line up a kick to his ribs that sent him flying across the cabin. Back slamming into sheet metal with a meaty thud.

All he could do was writhe in pain as it sent a white misted fist into Shroomish who, at seeing her trainer being attacked, rushed the evolved pokemon with a determined battle shriek. The Ice punch was both powerful and super effective stopping the little mushroom in her tracks and knocking the loyal pokemon out cold.

Medicham flinched back as a puff of purple powder flew from the top of shroomish's head and into its face. Effect Spore, always useful in a close combat fight. Purple means Poison powder, and it got a nasty amount of it directly in its face. He could turn this around, he just needs to get up first.

He gritted his teeth as he tried to stand, kind of impressed with the fighters strength but mostly just angry that he was kicked so hard. He really hoped that didn't break a rib. The girl recovered before him and retrieved both her pokeball and the natu, though the bird was still unconsciousness and in no shape to teleport her.

He managed to get up in time to see her step out of the cart and order a Confusion on the attendant for getting in her way. The poor lady went down immediately, the resulting headache just far to much to deal with.

He returned Shroomish, promising to give her a special dinner tonight for her bravery.

She must have seen Lazuli waiting in ambush because she rushed up the ladder, intent on bypassing her entirely. He rushed after her, slamming his hand into the glass of the passenger car door and pointing up when Laz met his eyes.

He had an idea and he really hoped it worked, if it did then Shroomish's charge would have won him this fight.

He climbed the ladder to the top of the train and How did Alice do this so casually? This was terrifying!

The roof was slightly curved but he had enough grip on the floor with his sneakers to not be pushed off by the rushing winds. Alice battled up here? Oh man, he didn't that girl enough credit. But then again she apparently fell off, so maybe he did.

Here's hoping he's better at this than she was.

The girl was walking down the car with Medicham in tow. Good, maybe he could pull this off without them seeing him.

Crogunk was released, the blue amphibian looked around confused at its bizarre environment. "Crogunk go and-"

As soon as the first syllable left his mouth the medicham turned and rushed them, closing the gap in an instant. He didn't have time for fancy strategies and sneak attacks were off the table. He might only have one chance at this.

"VENOSHOCK!"

A glowing open palm slammed into crogunks ribs as they met, the force palm sending a ripple of power through the poison types body. In return Medicham received a foul smelling cuastic green liquid bile into its face. The Venoshock toxins mixed with the poison powder already inside, sending it into a convulsion as it dry heaved with a disgusting noise. He didn't know how it worked but Venoshock could end a battle almost immediately if the other guy was poisoned first.

"MEDICHAM!" He could barely hear her over the wind but he was pretty sure that was panic in her voice. She was rushing back with its pokeball in hand. But Crogunk wasn't giving her the chance to salvage this.

A rippling glow coated its odd hand as it slammed a Revenge into the fighters stomach, forcing it to try and puke up its non-existent lunch again. And then another and another. Until finally the skinny pokemon collapsed.

A red beam enveloped it and pulled it back into the safety of its pokeball. Her hand digging around her belt for another pokemon.

Lazuli had other ideas.

Citrine had watched the nervous girl sneak up on the girl while she battled him until she was practically on top of her. A single pokeball in her hand that popped open. The theif girl had just enough time to turn around before Clocks massive talons gripped her arms and his wings snapped out.

It was like opening a parachute. His wings caught the powerful winds and the girl was yanked off of the train with a yelp. Clock slowing her down until she could safely be dropped onto the ground.

He would have much rather beaten her and tied her up, but there was no telling what other pokemon she had or how dangerous they were. Laz had made the right decision, probably.

But now they had other problems, the controls were smashed and that other guy was still here somewhere. And the other cars were disconnecting from the-

The what was What!?

The cars behind the one they stood on were starting to seperate from them. Slowly gaining distance as they both starred. They looked at each other before Lazuli returned a fast flying Clock and both rushed back down the ladders and into the car.

The first thief stood there, heaving for breathe. His outfit was torn, a sleeve ripped off entirely revealing a mechanical device underneath. His hat was gone, leaving a mop of frazzled hair. He smelled like sulfer, there was blood gushing from a very busted lip and also running down the far left of his face.

He held a baton out, the end flashing with electricity as he kept the scarred passengers at bay. Their eyes met through his cracked mask, and he spit blood before whipping the hand carrying the briefcase
around to point at the distancing train car, and stammered out a single question

"WhAt the FUCK iS tHat giRL!?"

He responded by letting out Machop.

"Where's Alice!" Both him and Machop assumed there favored stances. This guy looked awful but could still have some literal tricks up his sleeves.

Or, sleeve, as it were.

"That, THING, is on the cars behind us and in a few minutes will hopefully be incredibly far away from me-"

The door in the back slammed open to reveal Alice screaming at the top of her lungs in apparent rage and wearing the missing top hat. She charged and jumped at him as the people in the cabin watched in awe and terror at the bizarre situation they had found themselves in.

The man turned and dropped to his back with a mechanical efficiency that told Citrine of countless hours of martial arts practice. Alice's pounce was met by two feet planted firmly into her sternum and a push that sent her up and over right in front of the two friends in a heap.

"Alice!?" She looked terrible, her hand was coated in webbing and gripping a pokeball. There was a hole torn in the back of her jacket, the stolen top hat was bent and slightly ripped she was missing her boots. Her eye was swelling shut and her mouth was covered in drying blood. She was bruised, beaten, and bloodied. But she looked like she couldn't be happier.

In a psycho kinda way.

"Yo. How's shit going up here?" She asked from the floor, tipping her new hat.

"WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO GET RID OF YOU!?" The Magnificent Micheal screamed as he scrambled back to a standing position.

"A red ferrari." She quipped as she stood back up with him. Was that some kind of pokemon? "Why? Don't you like me?"

"YOU TRIED TO BITE OFF MY EAR!" That explains the blood around her mouth.

"Tried." She turned to Citrine, "Turns out, ears have a lot of cartilage. Who knew?"

"How did you even get here!? You were on the cabin BEHIND ME!" That's, a good point. How did she do that.

"I had my golbat use Whirl wind in the cabin and launched myself over the gap." She said as if that wasn't insane. Seems Micheal felt the same way.

"You- You stay away from me!" He backed up, brandishing his baton at her.

"Hey hey hey, were all friends here right?" That look kind of scarred him, her eyes were wild and twitchy and her face was split in a sickening red tinted smile. Her eyes kept twitching to a certain spot, and Citrine tried to see why. "How about a magic trick!"

"NO! Stay Back!" The back door was still open, the other train cars were gone now, possibly having hit their emergency brakes.

"Oh, don't be like that. See? Nothing up my sleeves!" She wiggled her arms to emphasize her rolled up jacket sleeves. "It's a good trick too! Im'ma make all of my problems, Disappear."

And then he saw the rope.

"Bippity."

"YOU STAY AWAY FROM ME!"

It snaked its way from the outside and ended at the magicians waist.

"Boppity!"

"I JUST WANTED YOUR STUPID BRIEFCASE!"

A coil of it sat just behind him, rapidly uncoiling and being dragged out the back door.

"Bye!"

Then the rope went taught.

(-○-)

Mickey the Wonder Fuck was Ripped from the car in a beautiful display of applied physics and the unforgiving inner workings of momentum. The other end of the rope, hooked into something outside brought the man to a sudden halt, forcing him from the speed of a train to a dead stop. To everybody else it simply looked like he launched backwards as if shot from a cannon. There one second, gone the next.

Absolutely gorgeous.

"TAH DAAAAHH!" Jazz hands!

Oh man, I'm glad hes gone, he was a bastard to deal with. I'm still seeing spots from all the flash bangs. And I swear my ears are still ringing.

"How did you do that?!" Lazuli asked, anxiety forgot momentarily at my sweet ass magic trick.

"My dear a magician never reveals her secrets!"

"You're not a magician." Citrine pointed out as he returned his machop.

"Did I not just magic the fuck out a guy just now?" It wasn't magic, it was just physics. After I jumped to this train I hit the safety rail and broke it, whole thing came right off. Then I saw these guys talking to him through the window So I tied the rail to the string shot rope I got earlier. Then I came in here and distracted the idiot so Mark could sneak up on him and hook it onto his belt. Then the scraggy used his fighting type strength to throw the railing into the first thing that could snag it and bam. Bye bye wannabe David Copperfield.

"Is he going to be ok?" Lazuli spoke up.

"I don't care. Wheres the other one?" Could have sworn Lazuli said there was a girl in a similar get up running around here.

"A few miles back, we got her off the train before the cars separated." That's great! Wait.

"You didn't just throw her off did you?" Oh man I hope they didn't kill the kid.

"No, we parachuted her off with Clock." Oh, thank goodness. I'm fine with dick head back there being fucked up, but kids don't deserve that shit.

"Then that wraps everything up! Smooth sailing from here." I sat in the first available seat I saw, next to some old lady who I'm pretty sure wasn't entirely all there. "Do you have any butter scotch?"

Then the train took a turn, which trains tend to do. But usually the turning is smooth, peaceful, and not on only two wheels.

I was thrown from my seat as the train tilted from the force of its own speed before straightening out and slamming back down on all of its wheels. Which in conjunction with the speed of the scenery passing by outside, would indicate we were going much fucking faster than before.

"What the hell is happening now!?" We got them off the train, why is shit still going down?

"Oh yeah." My head snapped toward Citrine.

"What?" Please be an easy fix. Please be and easy fix. Please be an easy fix.

"The girl destroyed the train controls and knocked out the conductor."

Oh

So not an easy fix.

Hm

Wheres a train attendant when you need one.

Oh, there's one. Just stumbling into the cabin from the front door and clutching her head. Good timing, I should give her a tip. Do train attendants get tips? These are thoughts for later.

I rushed over to her as she seemed to be coming out of some kind of daze.

"Hey! Hey, snap out of it, we got problems!" She looked at me for a second with a confused expression. "Does this thing have an emergency brake?"

She blinked before gesturing towards a wall with a metal panel that was marked with caution stripes. I rushed over and yanked the panel of with a mechanical click. A big red lever was my reward and by all the gods to ever or never exist I just wanted to pull it because big shiny lever. And also runaway train.

The lever came down with such a satisfying clunk and the trains wheel screamed as the skidded across the steel rails below. The momentum throwing everyone forward a bit but not halting our progress

"That won't stop us." It was the attendant, she seemed a good bit more coherent. "The engines are at full blast, and the emergency brakes have been burned up with the controls." Shit.

A panicked chatter began from the few passengers in the car. All of them quickly realizing how bad of a situation this was.

To much noise.

Come on, think you dumb bitch!

Think!

...

I think I got it.

"Lazuli!" She stood at attention with an odd salute I didn't recognize. "Use Doduo and Clock to get all the passengers off!"

"EVERY BODY," I began addressing the now freaking out passengers, "FORM AN ORDERLY LINE AT THE REAR OF THE CAR, WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST! MY FRIEND WILL GET YOU OFF THIS TRAIN WITH HER POKEMON, FOLLOW THE TRACKS TO THE STATION!"

Everybody quickly fell in line, seems like having someone shout a plan at least calmed them down somewhat. Probably would have been different if there were more than twelve of them.

"You! Train lady" The attendant stopped helping the passengers to focus on me for a moment. "How long do we have until were at the station?" Please say more than twenty minutes, please.

"Maybe ten minutes? Possibly less, the train doesn't usually run this fast." Was her answer.

Ok, thats fine, we can deal.

"Citrine, your with me." I started running for the engine. "We need to figure out how to stop the engine, break it if we have to and *What The Fuck Happened Here!?*"

I had moved into the engine car and saw the massive burnt up *hole* where the controls used to sit, along with an unconscious man.

"Uh, it was the girl, she, uh, made a medicham use fire punch." That was the most pathetic lie I've ever heard. But we'll argue about it later.

"Breaking the engine it is!" Shit, Jack would come in handy for this since almost everybody else is tired but I don't have a knife or any thing.

Wait, I'm like super durable now right? Could I just...

"Let your monferno out."

"Uh," He seemed oddly nervous about that but complied. The monkey seemed a bit dazed for some reason but I shrugged it off. "Monferno!" It looked at me, whatever was affecting it quickly leaving its eyes. "Use ember on my hand." I held up my webbed pokeball hand. They looked to their trainer who just shrugged and motioned for him to listen.

I really hope this doesn't suck as much as I think this is going to.

It at least looked like it spat a gentle one out. But fire is fire and yes, it did suck.

A lot.

"MOTHER FUCKER!"

Oh I'm gonna feel that in the morning. But it worked, the webbing burned away from my hand and finally let me drop the ball.

Jack popped out again as I was inspecting my new burns. They honestly weren't that bad. It looked kinda like a really nasty sunburn. Red and covered in soot. But it was workable and the pain was tolerable for the moment.

And best of all I had my bunny back.

He looked around, most likely looking for the Spinarak or his opponent. I'm not sure how much he saw from his ball. Could be everything could be nothing.

"Jack, Shadow ball the windows!" He seemed a bit confused about my order. Probably wondering what the fuck was going on but listened all the same. I'd have to fill him on the whole story tonight if we live through this.

The tempered glass exploded into gravel sized particles as a light rotting black Shadow ball detonated against them.

The smoke cleared and we got to work.

"Citrine we need that hood off!"

"On it," He nodded and turned to his monferno. "Use Strength and rip the panel off!"

They nodded and jumped out of the broken windows. Their natural acrobatic ability and climbing skill making sure he held a tight grip against the wind.

It reared up and I swear for a moment every single one of its muscles bulged before it slammed its fingers through the protective metal hood and ripped it off like it was a piece of stubborn paper.

Note to self, look up the move 'Strength'

The metal went flying as it caught the wind and revealed the inner workings below. I recognized none of it. I know what a gasoline powered engine looks like and I cant imagine a diesel one looks much different but this was neither. It must be electric, that means there should be a big ass dynamo right?

Not that it mattered much. All machines break if you set them on fire.

"Overheat it!" Citrine ordered Monferno to use Ember. I let out Luke as well he could help "Jack, use Shadowball, Luke use swift!"

All three of them got to a decent vantage point and started to throw power at it. Bright twirling stars followed vanta black spheres, monferno let loose a much more powerful ember now that he wasn't using it on me. That means he *was trying to be gentle earlier, I appreciated that.

It was taking longer than I had hoped it would. I could see some glowing red spots and dents past the smoke but we needed to get through the housing to damage the thing inside.

"It's not working fast enough!" Shit, if we didn't stop the engine we'd have to bail and see if we could derail the damned thing.

"Come one Monferno! More power, you can do this!" Monferno was starting to look strained. He was shaking a bit and his Embers were beginning to sputter.

I was about to stop everybody so we could switch to plan b but was cut off as Monfernos Ember suddenly exploded into a genuine Flamethrower. It was a messy but the heat increased immensely. The casing went from smoking to cherry red in moments.

Citrine was pumped that Monferno learned a new move.

I was pumped because the engine was starting to rattle.

Jack threw one last shadow ball and caved the casing inward. What followed was the loudest and most terrifying noise I've ever heard.

Metal roared and shrieked in a single cacophonous bark of material agony. The train *Jerked* as an explosion of momentum ripped the dynamo inside from its seating and out of the train itself in a blazing meteor of copper and slag.

It was without a doubt the most beautiful display of destruction I had ever achieved.

We killed a train.

Unfortunately its corpse had way to much momentum and was still streaking down the tracks. The emergency brakes in the rear car were working overtime but the metal wheels had little traction on the steel rails.

"WAS THAT THE ENGINE!?" Oh its the train lady.

"YUP!" I know I shouldn't sound so giddy about that but I was still riding my destruction high. I honestly may never be able to top that. It was so cool.

She shook her head before getting back on track.

Eh.

Cause we're on a train.

I'm funny.

"The last passengers are getting off." That's good. "But the emergency brake for the engine was on the console." That's bad, "There's an older manual one." That's good. "But it was decommissioned when they install the new one." That's bad, "I think I can fix it." That's good. "But we're gonna need a lot of muscle power to slow us down." That's bad. "We might be able to do it with your pokemon." That's good. "But we need to stay on the train to keep the brakes going." I really want to go home right now.

She rushed to a panel on the floor and whipped it open. Inside was quite a few pieces of machinery that I assume would help us stop the train. She pulled out a pair of pliers and waved Citrine over to help her.

"Sir, reporting in! All civilians have been removed safely, no injuries to report!" I turned to see Lazuli standing at the torn open door, looking a bit frazzled and like her hair needed fixing but otherwise fine.

"Good job solider!" I released Karen and grabbed her before the wind did. "You're next mission is to take this cottonee and coat the train with Cotton spore! As much as you can, got it!"

"SIR YES SIR!" She grabbed Karen and ran out after I made it clear to the grass type that this was not fucking around time.

The Cotton spore would put a massive amount of drag on the train and help us slow down even more. Lazuli needed to help because Karen couldn't keep up with the train, but Lazuli's doduo could. Hopefully this will make a difference.

I turned to Citrine, "That girl has problems."

"You already know that!" Wha? Oh fuck that's right! We were talking about her fucked up back story before this. Man, that feels like forever ago.

"It's done!" Attendant lady jammed a metal rod into the machinery below and braced against it. "We need to do this now, I think we just passed the last mile marker!"

I let out Mark as Citrine let out his machop and crogunk.

"EVERYBODY PULL!"

We grabbed the makeshift lever and pulled or pushed as hard as we could, hands overlapped each other as we tugged. Luke tried to help by pulling on my Jacket. It slowly leaned to the side until we could hear screeching underneath us, sputtering at first and it made the train vibrate as the older gears moaned in distress against the movement. But it some became a steady scream of metal on metal that grew louder and louder until we pushed the bar nearly thirty degrees.

It fought with us every inch. Threatening to snap back into place as it jerked in out collective grip. My socked feet kept slipping without the traction from my boots.

"JUST STOP ALREADY YOU FUCKING BASTARD!"

PLEASE! I don't want to die due to another vehicle. Or anything else, but especially another vehicle.

And then the shaking started to die down. The wheels screamed less and less. The wind died down until it was just a faint whisper.

And finally.

We stopped.

The lot of us collapsed onto each other, hearts beating like mini-gun fire in our chests.

I wormed my way from under the pile before the adrenaline wore off and I collapsed. I needed to see where we were. Figure out if I needed to send Luke to fetch some rangers or police.

We stopped, we're ok.

I had to pull open the side door with more force than I thought I would. Cotton ripped away as I did so, the spores having glued the seal together.

We were at the station. Platform 1 to be specific.

A group of people were starring at what was left of the now fluff covered train in horrid fascination.

With the chaos of the train now gone the silence was deafening. Nobody spoke, nobody moved. As if the faintest sound could break the spell.

...

...

...

"Ahem." Well so long as I have an audience, might as well entertain them. Customer service voice don't fail me now.

"We are sorry to report that the trains will not be running at this time as there has been a technical malfunction. We apologize for this inconvenience. We know we're not your only choice for train based travel and we thank you for riding-" I glanced up to see the stations logo. "Delta Railways."

"Now please. Somebody get me a fucking coffee."

(-○-)

Ugh.

Everything hurts. I'm exhausted. My hand is all burnt, my jacket has a hole in it, and I'm still waiting for my shoes. All in all, I feel like shit. Still, it could be worse, I guess. At least I have coffee now.

Rangers and police were swarming the area trying to figure out exactly what happened and how bad the damage was. Some of them had gone to fetch the separated cars with the help of some of the stations personnel, and also to help the people Lazuli had gotten off of the train. We hadn't heard anything about them finding either of the thieves so I can only assume they got away.

The medical workers were going over everybody. Only a few people were hurt and they had wrapped up my hand and given me a cold press for my eye. Citrine was given one for his chest, apparently he got kicked in the chest by a medicham and walked away with a fuck of a bruise, possibly even a cracked rib. Lazuli was fine, just some string shot stuck to her skin. That came off with a bit of rubbing alcohol.

We had given quick statements and were waiting on some benches for our full interviews. I was assured we wouldn't have to pay for the damages considering the alternative of what would have happened had we not ripped the engine out. I made sure to stick with Citrines story of the girl destroying the console to keep him out of trouble.

"What do you think they were trying to do with the engine?" Lazuli asked no one in particular.

"My guess? Use it as an escape vehicle." I explained. "Might have been a place they could have switched the tracks. They separate the engine, switch the tracks so they go in one direction. Teleporter girl stays behind to switch it back for the passenger cars and boom, clean get away. They would even have a hostage with the conductor in case it went down hill again."

She frowned, "But why would they destroy the controls to do that?"

"That's a really good question Lazuli." I turned to the orange boy who refused to meet my eye. "Why would they do that Citrine?"

"Maybe it was a an accident..." He mumbled.

"That would be a pretty fucking big whoopsy if you ask me!"

"Well nobody did so shut up!" He snapped. "And whats with the hat anyway?!" He clumsily changed subjects to my new raggedy accessory.

"A girl can't keep trophies?" I was gonna mail it back to Nurse Joy with a newspaper clipping about this whole thing. Mayor Fucking Ron would certainly like the story. "I stole it fair and square from that fuck, therefore it's mine now."

"What did you do to that guy anyway?" He asked.

"I don't remember," I had flashes of the event, mostly literal flashes, "He cracked me in the eye with that baton and the rest is a Red haze. Snapped out of it before jumping the gap. I remember like, pieces."

"You should see a doctor about that." He commented.

"Alice?" Lazuli was starring at her shoes, refusing to meet my eyes. "I'm uh, I'm really sorry I lost the package." Her voiced trailed off into a whisper as her nerves started to get to her again. She must have felt terrible for not being able to protect the briefcase, even though none of what happened to was her fault.

I on the other hand started to chuckle.

And then it quickly became the boiling laugh of a maniac. My teeth shone in the sun as I threw my head back in maddened glee as an insane laugh ripped through my lungs.

Laz pressed herself into her friend as they both went wide eyed at me weird reaction.

(-○-)

Somewhere, a few miles back up the tracks and quickly making his way through the forest in search of a place to hide, the Magnificent Micheal tightly gripped the brief case. He had gone through distortion itself to get a hold of it but the pay out would be worth it. An artifact that could exude dark type traits was a highly coveted prize to anyone who wished to keep their thoughts private from prying minds. Whether or not it would work for such purposes wasn't his problem, he was just the thief.

He found a small divot in the hill with a tunnel leading inward, probably an old onix burrow, perfect for what he needed at the moment. He took out his lock picking tools and got to work.

His waist was in horrible condition, no doubt he had a massive bruise forming that wrapped around his mid section from his belt. The strong sturdy leather lived up to its reputation today. And while that was certainly not the way he intended to get off the train he begrudgingly admitted that it worked. He would need to meet up with his daughter as soon as he could. But first he needed to ditch the brief case. It was too conspicuous

The metal lock opened with a satisfying clunking click. And he swung it open to see the prize for all his hard work.

Miles away, in a train station, laughing like a bond villain, a little orange eyed girl held a drool soaked white necklace up to the sky in victory.

And the magician found his only prize to be a single piece of white, fluffy, cotton.

(-○-)

"How!?"

"MAGIC, BITCH!"

(-○-)

Alice Thorn


May 8


Team


Jack

Buneary

Moves: Pound, Foresight, Frustration, Sweetkiss, Defense Curl, Baby Doll Eyes, Quick Attack, Jumpkick, Shadow Ball, Low Kick, Swagger, Protect, Fire Punch

Ability Limber

Luke

Golbat

Moves: Absorb, Super sonic, Astonish, Bite, Whirlwind, Wing attack, Confuse ray, Air Cutter, Swift, Protect

Ability Inner focus

Karen

Cottonee

Moves: Absorb, Fairy Wind, Growth, Leech Seed, Stun Spore, Mega Drain, Poison Powder, Protect, Swift, Razor Leaf, Cotton Spore

Ability Infiltrator

Mark

Scraggy

Moves: Leer, Headbutt, Sand Attack, Feint Attack, Swagger, Low Kick, Dragon Dance, Protect, Endure, Facade, Pay Back

Ability Moxie


3318¥


In Box


N/A


I listened to the doometernal sound track while writing most of Alices dialouge in this chapter and I feel like you can tell. And if you didn't see it at the top, I'm cross posting this story to AO3 under the same name.