A/N: And here is chapter three of my story. :) Here, we will see Jesse in the train for the first time, and we will also see more of Jack. Also, I have some good news for you. After some consideration, I've decided to make the story 20 chapters again (excluding the prologue and epilogue). So you can expect 17 more chapters before the end. Until then, I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Chapter 3: The Family Tree Car
The next morning, Emma and M.T. were still sleeping on top of each other. Emma was able to get a good night's sleep last night thanks to her. Since she'd begun to sleep closer to her, she was able to withstand the cold climate of the night. If Emma had known sleeping beside her would give her the unexpected warmth she needed, she'd have done it a long time ago. Although, it wasn't without its tradeoff.
As much as Emma enjoyed being near her, M.T. had an unfortunate habit of snoring in her sleep. However, after 50 cars of sleeping with her around, Emma barely got used to that. There was a brief altercation the night before, but it was put to rest. All that said, Emma and M.T. began to wake up from their slumber as they opened their eyes, the first thing they saw being each other. But the more awake the two became, the more they realized how close the two of them were. Blushes instantly came on their faces before they both shouted in surprise with Emma jumping backwards off of her. While Emma was struck with embarrassment, M.T. was dumbfounded by the fact that Emma was sleeping on top of her.
"Uh, why were you sleeping on top of me?"
Emma began to blush harder at this as she tried to answer, afraid she'd already figured out what happened that night.
"Okay, before you get mad, there's something you have to understand."
M.T. only raised an eyebrow, waiting to see where this was going.
"Which is…?"
Emma became confused, yet hopeful. She didn't appear to know about the jam she used last night. Although, it was still a question as to whether or not it was the case. All the same, Emma was still embarrassed that M.T. found out she was on top of her as she spoke meekly about what started it to begin with, her blush getting a bit worse as she explained herself.
"It was cold last night. My jacket couldn't keep me from being cold, and I didn't exactly have a blanket, so I had to sleep next to you. And you… you just felt so warm."
Hearing that said about her, M.T. didn't know what to feel. Her blush began to turn a few shades darker as she spoke softly.
"That's it? Because it was… cold outside?"
Emma's blush maintained itself as she added to her answer. In itself, this was the driving force for her to do what she had done.
"Uh, yeah. But, there's more to that. I was also scared of…"
It wasn't an easy thing for Emma to explain. But as she tried, M.T. noticed that the deer wasn't around. For now, since Emma couldn't find the words to explain immediately, M.T. felt it best to give her the time to work it out while they look for him.
"Wait a minute. Where's the deer?"
Emma was caught off guard by that question for a second, but she began to notice the lack of its presence thereof. In fact, she was hoping for it to take priority. She let out a sigh as she spoke softly before realizing the context of what she said to herself and corrected herself.
"Oh, thank goodness. Uh, I mean, we should go find him! Yeah."
M.T. began to call out to their companion as Emma quickly placed the jar of Passion Fruit Jam in her sling pack and caught up to her, helping M.T. along while Visco peeked out of the jacket pocket and went up to her shoulder not long after.
"Deer! Where are you?!"
"Come on. Where'd you go?"
Neither of them saw any sign of the deer, unfortunately. However, Emma had a theory, taking the deer's eating habits into account. All things considered, it shouldn't be too much of a hassle to find him, Emma thought.
"You don't think he went to find other leaves around here, do you?"
M.T. didn't see it as much a surprise as it is a habit. In fact, she considered that when she started looking.
"Oh, yeah. Definitely. But we should probably keep an eye out in case those Flecs decided to come back."
Emma nodded to her as she replied.
"Gotcha."
Emma called out to her left while M.T. called out from her right as they walked together, but each with different methods. The passenger picked up a leaf and waved it over her head while the Chrome girl simply picked up her leaf and held it out from her palm.
"Deer! We found another pile of leaves for you to chew!"
"Deer. Deer! Deer!"
The deer made no answer. But they did earn a familiar voice in reply.
"Hey, will you cut that out? This isn't a petting zoo."
Emma recognized that voice all too well. She had only heard it yesterday, but it was still a dead ringer, nonetheless.
"Wait a sec-"
Emma looked past the bush to her left and saw Jack on the other side with his arms crossed. It was the same guy who held back Mace long enough for the two of them to get away. After the day she had, she was practically relieved to see him. She walked over to Jack, surprised to see him again so soon.
"It's you!"
"Yeah? What about me?"
"You're the guy who warned us about Yukon!"
"And you're the kids who didn't listen."
M.T. didn't quite like his attitude towards Emma and went up to him in her defense.
"Hey, she's not a kid, and I'm not either!"
Despite her outburst, Jack wasn't threatened. He was well aware of her situation if those Flecs from yesterday were any clue to it. He looked to M.T. with a sour look as Emma stepped in.
"Okay, reel it in, M.T. He did save our butts back there against that Flec. The least we can do is thank him."
M.T. only made a scowl towards him as she replied suspiciously.
"I don't know. Why would he come back the day after he saved us?"
Emma looked towards Jack for an answer, which he was quick to give.
"Hey, I told you I had business to take care of."
That didn't do anything to make M.T. feel any better as she snapped back at him.
"We could've been dead for all you knew!"
"Except you're not. Especially when I heard them talking about how they failed to get you guys."
M.T. was about to retort, but found she had no reply against that. All she could do was give a grunt before Emma tried to perk her up.
"Come on, M.T. He may not be the best guy, but he did help us out. Don't you think we should at least thank him?"
M.T. made another short grumble. She didn't ask for his help, so she certainly wasn't going to thank him, especially when it's not necessary to her.
"No. I don't."
Emma would've been annoyed, but since being with her, she'd gotten used to M.T.'s behavior. And she knew better than to fight with her. Emma looked back to Jack as she replied.
"Well, you don't have to if you don't want to, M.T. But I will."
Emma held her hand out to Jack with a smile.
"Thanks for helping us back there."
He had never known a face as innocent as hers, but somehow… it felt too familiar. But as much as he wanted to know how, he wouldn't waste time trying to figure it out just yet. He gave her a smile back before he shook it.
"You're welcome, uh…"
"You can call me Emma. This is Visco."
Visco squeaked a hello to Jack before she pointed to M.T.
"And the grumpy one is M.T."
M.T. resented that quickly, even if she did give off the vibe. She snapped back quickly with a blush on her face.
"Hey! I'm not grumpy!"
Emma maintained the smile on her face as she replied.
"It's okay, M.T. I'm just messing with you."
M.T.'s blush faded a bit as she realized that Emma meant to say that about her in a good way. The two of them had been together for well over 50 cars by now. She shouldn't be so surprised that Emma would mess around a little bit, if only to keep herself distracted from the possibility of never leaving the train.
"Oh. Right…"
After they shook each other's hands, Jack had something on his mind that needed to be answered since yesterday.
"So, now that we all know each other, what did you guys do to get on the Flecs' bad side?"
M.T. didn't see any reason to tell him. As far as she was concerned, Jack was still a stranger, even if he did save her life.
"I don't want to talk about it."
Emma, however, was a different story.
"They just didn't like the fact that M.T. wanted her own life."
M.T. reeled her head back to Emma in disbelief.
"Emma!"
To Jack, this was understandable. As it turned out, this was nothing new to him.
"Oh, yeah. That'll do it."
M.T. felt this conversation dragged on long enough and wanted to cut it short.
"Look, we don't have time to talk to you right now. We're looking for our deer, so can you please just-?"
Before M.T. could finish, she and Emma heard a male voice from far away.
"Oh, yeah. Looking good…"
M.T. made a quick gasp before she hid behind a tree, suspecting the Flecs have come back for her. But Emma and Jack looked over to the source of the voice while she peeked out of the corner of said tree, only to find the deer wearing shades along with a young man. He was a teenager of Native descent with short dark hair and an olive complexion who wore a blue letterman jacket with yellow sleeves. The jacket had a yellow "A" on his front left side and his name on the front right. On his left sleeve was a patch with a swimmer and in the colors of the Arizona state flag, and the back of it was the word "Pupfish", and it was worn over a white T-shirt with a red collar. He also wore gray jeans and white and beige sneakers.
"Okay, now just don't move…"
Emma looked over to Jack, confused at what the boy was doing.
"Did this guy go with you?"
"Actually, no. I haven't seen him following me around anywhere I know…"
Meanwhile, M.T. was furious. She didn't like the idea of the young man placing shades on the deer when he didn't ask for it. She was about to chew him out for it, but Jack beat her to it as he shouted out to him while he, Emma, and Visco went over to him.
"Hey! What are you doing here?"
The boy turned to see the three of them and tried to greet the trio.
"Uh, hi. I'm Jesse. What's your name?"
Emma was about to answer, only to be cut off by M.T.'s angry outburst.
"I don't care who you are! Why are you putting sunglasses on a deer?!"
Emma stepped in and pulled M.T. away as she tried to resolve it peacefully.
"Okay, okay. Calm down. It's not like he's hurting him."
Although, the topic made Jack curious as he raised his eyebrow. That was part of his question as to what he was doing.
"But you still haven't answered, though. What were you thinking with putting sunglasses on a deer?"
Jesse only looked at Jack in a good-natured way as he answered.
"Just that it's funny. Look at him! Look at you…"
When the group looked at the shades, the first thing they noticed about it was that it was reflective. Emma and M.T. both made a gasp of worry, the chrome girl hiding behind the passenger before Jack took the shades away and stuffed them in his jacket pocket, much to Jesse's chagrin.
"We'll have none of that."
"Hey, come on! Those are mine!"
Jack glared back at Jesse with a serious look as he replied with Emma and M.T. looking on in surprise. He must've known about how the Flecs could enter through any reflection. Then again, it may not be a surprise with how old he is, along with how casual he responded after Emma told him that M.T. was on the run for just wanting to live her own life.
"Not anymore, they're not."
"But all the cars here are really bright…"
"Yeah, well, the next time we find a shades shop, get non-reflective shades. Trust me. It's for your own good."
With that debacle taken care of for now, M.T. was quick to get back to the topic of how unnecessary it was to give the deer sunglasses with Jesse.
"He didn't ask for glasses. He's just living his life!"
"But he's my deer."
Emma raised an eyebrow in disbelief as Jesse went beside the deer and brushed his fur gently. Could he have known the deer before?
"Wait, your deer?"
"We've been hanging out for a whole hour, and maybe even a little more."
Emma placed her hand on her chin. Before anyone would start assuming anything, she needed to be sure.
"Well, did he want to hang out with you?"
The question seemed to have stumped Jesse as he tried to answer before he came up with a workaround.
"Well, uh… I don't know, but-"
Before he could give out his excuse, M.T. interrupted and corrected Jesse.
"Of course you don't. You didn't ask him what he wanted. He's free. He's his own deer. At least Emma had the decency to ask Visco what he wanted."
Jesse looked over to Emma and Visco. He became interested in how that happened as he spoke up.
"You mean your little guy can talk?"
"No. But I can just tell what he thinks. He is his own slime gerbil."
While Visco gave out a squeak towards Jesse as a reply, M.T. further engaged in an argument with Jesse.
"Besides, if he was anyone's deer, he'd be my deer, because Emma and I hung out with him longer, like two days!"
Emma contradicted M.T. briefly before siding with her.
"Actually, that's one by my count. But it's still pretty much longer than your time, Jesse."
"Are you sure? I got all these pics with him."
Jesse showed his phone to Emma and M.T., showing various pictures of him and the deer together. The first showed the deer casually chewing its leaf with Jesse making a silly face before scrolling down to show Jesse in front of the deer, making it look like he had antlers. Another picture showed the deer's face on top of Jesse's body, albeit with the latter smiling before his phone showed a picture of him chewing on a leaf with the deer. While Jack became confused about the meaning of what those pictures were meant to prove, M.T. merely rebuffed the photographic evidence as she scoffed.
"I don't get it. What's the subtext here?"
"Pfft. That could be any deer. This deer can change color."
Jack looked over to Emma in confusion before she replied to him.
"Change color? Don't chameleons do that?"
"You'd be surprised, actually."
Jesse didn't appear to be confused or stunted. In fact, he seemed to believe the deer he hung out with was different.
"Oh, well, this guy doesn't change colors. He's got laser eyes."
Jesse began to make laser sounds before he laughed to himself. But M.T. wasn't amused by that one bit.
"Seriously? Laser eyes?"
"Yeah! Well, laser vision. Or h-heat vision? What do you call it?"
"What kind of idiot do you think I am? This deer doesn't have-"
Before she could finish, M.T., Jesse, Emma, and Jack took notice of the deer. While they were arguing, its neck happened to be stretching up past the tree like a giraffe's! While the deer simply looked around for its meal, Emma looked over to Jesse to verify whether or not this was the same deer they've been inadvertently sharing.
"Uh, Jesse? Can your deer stretch his neck like a giraffe's?"
"Uh, no?"
Just then, the deer gave out a hiccup before it shot out purple lasers from his eyes and stretched back down. Once he was back to a regular deer size, M.T. began to realize something about the deer.
"I think we've been hanging out with the same deer. Have you been getting two dinners?"
Emma made a small smile before she spoke to her.
"Or maybe it's had one dinner and a midnight snack."
Hearing herself say it out loud, Emma began to realize what it meant. Could it have seen what she did with M.T. and the jar of jam? Emma looked at the deer nervously before she recalled when it didn't move. It must've been asleep at that point, so it must not have noticed until later. Frankly, she hoped it would be the case as Jesse realized something else.
"Oh, he's friends with all of us! Now we're friends, too, by association! We're travel friends!"
As ecstatic as Jesse was, M.T. and Jack were annoyed by this idea.
"What? No…"
"You don't get to speak for me, kid."
Jesse began to sing despite their opinions, making Emma crack a giggle at his dance moves before M.T. interrupted again.
"Travel friends! Brought together by the sheer majesty of an incredible super-powered deer, and…"
"No! This deer is leaving with me and Emma. Good-bye, and enjoy putting sunglasses on… random… animals!"
M.T. tried to pull the deer back, but despite her metal strength, the deer didn't budge an inch. All the while, Jack raised an eyebrow towards her statement.
"So you're telling me I can't come along either?"
"Exactly! Emma and I don't need anyone else's help!"
In spite of her adamant answer, M.T. lost her grip on the deer and fell backward. Emma saw this and went over to her side before she held her hand out to M.T.
"I gotcha, M.T."
M.T. was quick to take that hand and lift herself up along with it before she glared at Jack, believing her point was made.
"See?"
However, Jesse still went closer to the deer before he interjected.
"But Dracula isn't random. He's my friend."
This puzzled the trio and Visco as they spoke intermittently before Emma, Jack, and M.T. spoke individually.
"Dracula?"
"What kind of name is that?"
"The deer's not a vampire, kid."
"You cannot name a deer 'Dracula'!"
Jesse had an idea to fix that. He looked over to Emma before he replied.
"Then I'll take a page from your book… Emma, was it?"
"Uh, yeah."
"Hey, deer, what do you want to be called?"
Emma didn't see anything wrong with that option personally. Knowing the deer, it wouldn't make any answer. But she didn't count on Jesse's method for getting his answer; he took his hands towards the deer's mouth and began to move as he made a voice for the deer, speaking for him.
"Dracula! Ha ha! See?"
The deer snorted at Jesse before he proved his point.
"Dracula."
M.T. was quick to get annoyed while Emma understood her earlier point. Before she and M.T. patched things up, she did a voice for Visco at first, and it was different seeing it from that perspective.
"No."
"Was it really that weird to do a voice for Visco? I had no idea…"
Hearing their opinions, Jesse began to reconsider his choice.
"Hmm, yeah, I guess you're right. I mean, maybe we should go with something everyone would be into. What's everyone's favorite name…? Oh, Alan! It's Alan. Wait."
Jesse seemed to be stumped again for a moment before he had an epiphany.
"That's it. Alan Dracula! Let's try it out."
While Jesse tried to figure out a sentence to use, Emma looked over to M.T. and tried to get her to loosen up as she spoke to her.
"Hello. Have you met my deer, Alan Dracula?"
"It'll be fine, M.T. Remember how I was when we first met?"
"This is different. At least you knew better than to just label things without your companion's say-so."
"Well, he's still a passenger, like me, and I learned how to get along with you. What could possibly go wrong?"
"Oh, yeah. Sounds like something I'd say. Good idea, Chrome girl."
Those words pushed M.T.'s buttons too fast. Her face instantly shot into a viciously sour look, much to Jack's surprise and Emma's worry as he inquired to her.
"Uh, what's up with her?"
"I think Jesse just pushed her worst button."
And Emma couldn't be more right. Within seconds, M.T. shouted at Jesse, taking Jack and Emma aback while making Visco topple backward from Emma's shoulder, forcing him to hold onto Emma's hood to pull himself back up as she scolded Jesse.
"NO! That's not his name, and it's not my name! You can't go around deciding names for people without asking!"
Unbeknownst to M.T., the ground beneath the deer started to creak, something Emma took notice of as she tried to get her to snap out of it.
"It's their choice to-"
"Uh, M.T.? You might wanna turn around!"
M.T. heard the worry in Emma's voice. That was reason enough for M.T. to turn around and saw the deer just as it scraped its hoof against the ground. But not long after, the ground collapsed, taking the deer with it! Emma, M.T., and Jesse became aghast with shock while Jack became surprised as they headed towards the hole and watched as the deer tumbled onto the branches, its body remaining in place despite hitting the branches dead on with Jesse and M.T. shouting for the deer.
"Alan Dracula!"
"No!"
A few moments after the deer fell, Emma looked over to M.T. as she came to the same conclusion as Jesse apparently did.
"M.T., do you know what this means?"
"We're… we're on top of a tree."
Suddenly, M.T. flicked Jesse on the head, giving him a hard hit and making him exclaim in pain before she scolded him.
"Oh! Hey!"
"If you hadn't distracted me with that ridiculous name, I would've noticed he walked away!"
The blame didn't seem to bug Jesse as he got out his phone.
"And it's too late to change it. I already put him on my phone as Alan Dracula. See?"
He began to scroll through his names on the contact list. They consisted of many animals wearing glasses, but they all had one name in common: Dracula.
"Oh, right. He's still in here, just as Dracula."
Jack took notice of the pictures and saw it to be baffling how many animals have the same name.
"Have you ever thought about coming up with different names?"
"Hey, if it ain't broken, don't fix it."
M.T. was in especially no mood to worry about that. The deer's safety came first.
"I'm not dealing with this! He could be hurt!"
M.T. began pulling out several branches in a haste to rescue the deer. As Jesse watched, he became impressed with her resolve.
"Wow. Do you have, like, super metal strength?"
M.T. glared back at Jesse as she replied, not happy with what he'd called her. Of course, she thought twice about how he and Emma were the same physically, and she wouldn't try to point it out without clearing it up with her.
"No, I just don't feel pain like you with your squishy flesh. No offense to you, Emma."
Emma felt it to be understandable given M.T.'s metal-like skin.
"None taken. Your skin is pretty hard."
With that, M.T. hopped down as Emma, Jesse, Jack, and Visco watched her while Jesse took her point to consideration.
"Oh, yeah… I am pretty squishy, and pretty good at feeling pain…"
Emma looked over to Visco with a grin. It's because the two aren't as resistant as M.T. that Emma had a feeling Visco would come in handy, especially for situations like this one.
"You're not the only one. Visco, can you get us down to M.T.?"
Visco squeaked a "yes" in response before he hopped off Emma's shoulder and turned into a slide that stopped at a branch beneath them with his front legs holding onto it while his back legs held the slide in place.
"Well, ladies first. Hup!"
Emma slid down on the slide first before Jack took a look down and made a shrug of his shoulders.
"Eh, I've been through worse."
Jack went down on the slide next while Jesse was still stuck. On one hand, it is a safer way of getting down as opposed to just climbing down. But on the other, he could fall and get hurt even worse.
"If I fall, I'm gonna feel a ton of it!"
While M.T. discouraged him, Emma called down to Jesse from below to reassure him.
"Fine! Bye!"
"Visco's not gonna let you fall, Jesse! He's perfectly safe!"
Jesse looked back to the door and then back to the hole. Jesse could leave if he wanted, but if he did, he'd end up leaving Alan Dracula alone. And he wasn't really the type to do that to his friends. It was clear what choice he had to make.
"Oh, man…"
With that, Jesse reluctantly slid down on Visco before he landed (albeit on his rear end) beside Emma and Jack, who were watching as M.T. tore apart the branches blocking her path. When Jesse landed, Visco let his back legs go before it met his front half and turned back into a slime gerbil, allowing Emma to pick him up as Jesse called out to M.T.
"Hey, wait up!"
Jesse got up and tried to follow M.T. alongside Emma, Jack, and Visco. While he did, the young man took notice of the beautiful scenery around him and became enamored. And he wasn't the only one. Emma herself was in awe of the countless leaves blocking out the sun, leaving only cracks of it to go through and shine on the branches, many of which had mushrooms growing on it. A part of her felt like she was in a dream just from looking at it.
"Wow… I can't believe this whole thing is a tree."
Just then, a leaf got in front of Jesse's face, making him sputter before he moved it out of the way to see M.T. on another branch. It wasn't long before Emma and Visco noticed her before the latter hopped off of Emma and turned into a bridge, allowing her, Jack, and Jesse to go up to her. The young man was impressed with how Visco automatically thought of building a bridge for them.
"Wow. How'd he know when to do that, Emma?"
"I told you. I can tell what he's thinking."
Jack looked over to M.T. with a raised eyebrow. He didn't forget how M.T. acted around him and Jesse.
"And what about your friend? Can you tell what she's thinking?"
Emma looked over to the frustrated M.T. as she tore apart the branches before she put on a sad look. She knew the two of them didn't exactly have a good first impression with each other. And she seemed to be the same way to Jesse. That's when it hit her. Back then, it wasn't just her she didn't like; it was all of the passengers.
"I think so…"
At that point, Jesse called out to M.T., only for Emma to take notice of what he was about to say.
"Uh, Chrome gir-?"
Emma was quick to block Jesse's mouth, taking him by surprise as she scolded him in a whisper.
"Are you serious? That's not her name."
Emma removed her hand from Jesse's mouth before he apologized.
"Sorry."
Jesse, Emma, and Jack went over to M.T. with Visco turning back into a slime gerbil and hopping onto Emma's shoulder again. While M.T. was removing a short branch blocking the way, Jesse became curious about M.T.'s identity, inquiring about it to Emma.
"Uh, what is her name?"
Emma looked over to M.T. with a soft look on her face. She knew M.T. doesn't like her giving away her name to everyone else, especially when she's trying to get away from the Flecs. She then turned back to Jesse to answer him, keeping that in mind before M.T. interjected just as she removed the branch.
"Well, it's not really my place to tell you."
"And even if it was, you won't know me long enough for it to matter."
Just then, they heard voices coming from down below.
"Do I hear some passersby?"
The group all looked down to see wood carvings of a man wearing a top hat and suit and a woman wearing a gown and dress, much to Jack's puzzlement. Emma also considered them a good opportunity to ask if they'd seen Alan Dracula.
"Whoa. That's something you don't see every day. And I've been on this thing for a long time."
"Maybe they might know where the deer is."
The group hopped on the mushroom overgrowth on the tree to get to the branch that was beside the two faces before Emma spoke up to them.
"Uh, hi. It's nice to meet you guys."
"Why, hello there. And who might you and your friends be?"
Visco hopped onto Emma's palm as she held him out to the faces for introduction.
"My name's Emma. And this is Visco."
Visco gave them a squeak of a hello before Jack and Jesse spoke up.
"You can call me Jack."
"And I'm Jesse."
Then, the faces turned to M.T., waiting to hear her answer. The male face spoke up, anxious to hear her reply.
"Well?"
Emma leaned closer to M.T. before she spoke in a whisper.
"At least humor him."
M.T. reluctantly gave out a sigh before she answered.
"You can call me M.T."
Jesse overheard this answer and became confused. He tried to address that, only to get cut off by M.T.
"Hey, how come they get to-?"
"Have you seen a deer falling through here?"
The male face gave it some thought before he answered them. But it wasn't quite what they wanted to hear. He then proceeded to introduce himself, much to the annoyance of Jack.
"Hmm… Can't say that I have, but it's a right pleasure to meet you all. I'm Great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandpa Wilbur Gillicutty. And this here is Great-great-great-great…"
Wilbur stopped himself to catch a breath for a moment before he continued, further irritating Jack as he tried to keep his own cool.
"Great-great-great-grandma Sinesta Gillicutty."
"You can call me G.G.G.G.G.G.G.G.S. for short."
With that exchange over and done with, Jack let out a smooth exhale before he replied to her prior to Wilbur continuing his introduction.
"Yeah, I think I'll just stick with Sinesta. It's easier for me to remember, not to mention a lot easier on my head…"
"And you kids are standing on the Great Gillicutty Family Tree!"
Just then, another voice rang out, shaking the whole tree as Visco squeaked in alarm.
"THIS AIN'T NO STINKING GILLICUTTY FAMILY TREE!"
A nearby branch showed another old man's face, reminiscent to that of a prospector's as he protested.
"This is the Trundleshank Family Tree! Ptooey!"
Emma was puzzled over what he was saying to them. He appeared to have a beef with the Gillicutty's, whoever they were and what it was. Emma wanted to be caught up on the uptake so nothing would catch her by surprise in their search for the deer as she inquired to Sinesta.
"What's that about?"
"The Trundleshanks are angry because one of their descendants married one of theirs a hundred years ago. And now, they have to live in our family tree."
"Oh. I see."
Informative as that was, this only gave Jesse another idea to find Alan Dracula.
"Hey, maybe the Trundleshanks have seen Alan Dracula. Mr. and Mrs. Trundle-"
Before Jesse could finish, Wilbur cut him off and grew branches where Jesse was going, completely blocking the path altogether.
"Oh, no, you don't!"
Emma was caught completely off-guard as she turned over to Wilbur.
"What was that for?!"
"As long as you're on our tree, you ain't allowed to talk to no boneheaded Trundleshanks."
M.T. was quick to defy his order. He wasn't really the boss of her to begin with, and Emma felt his word was just as unreasonable.
"I'll talk to whoever I want!"
"Yeah, don't you think you're being unreasonable to let a grudge get in the way of finding our friend?"
Wilbur's mind didn't shift from his position.
"Those Trundleshanks are always up to no good! We have a long history to prove it!"
Jack went up to him next, and he was having none of that either.
"Look, if you can't stand these guys, that's your business, but leave us out of it."
Jesse, on the other hand, tried to come up with a compromise.
"Uh, hey, I know. You could name the tree after both your families. Like my friend, Troy. He took both his parents' last names. So, instead of being Troy Banks, now he's Troy Snooterly-Banks."
Emma raised her eyes in puzzlement.
"Snooterly-Banks? Yeah, I don't think anyone would agree to that name."
In some way, Emma was right. The Trundleshank branch was just as offended by the very idea.
"No way, no how! Ptooey!"
With seemingly no agreeable solution, M.T. decided to press onward.
"Fine. Emma and I don't need you guys anyway. And Snooterly-Banks? No wonder you thought Alan Dracula was a good name…"
Emma compared the two and saw how preferable it was.
"Well, you have to admit it is better in comparison."
M.T. then smashed the branches blocking her path before moving forward towards the Trundleshanks. As Emma and Jack followed her, Jesse laughed sheepishly towards Wilbur. He didn't know how things are going to be fixed between them and M.T., if there even is such a hope. Eventually, he followed the group before meeting on a branch adjacent to her. He didn't quite approve of M.T.'s method of handling disputes.
"You shouldn't have left like that. Now they're mad at us."
M.T. didn't consider that any of her concern. Finding the deer was more important to her than to deal with their grudge. As for Emma, she didn't think it was right to drag them into it in the first place.
"They were being totally unfair."
"Yeah. They shouldn't be dragging us into their feud to begin with."
M.T. then jumped towards a tree branch and did a flip before Jesse tried to explain his plan. But neither Jack nor M.T. could see the merit in it.
"But maybe they can help us find Alan Dracula. If we can get them to stop fighting…"
"Jesse, do you even realize what you're saying?"
"They've been fighting for a hundred years."
"Well, I bet I can help. I'm friends with every kind of group at school."
Emma found that hard to believe. In her experience, it was impossible to have any friends who truly understood. She considered it a sucker's bet.
"Really? Name one group you're friends with."
For Jesse, it wasn't quite hard for him. The list was practically endless.
"Jocks, theater kids, eraser kids…"
That clique was something Emma didn't hear of before, so she became reasonably suspicious.
"Wait, say that last one again?"
"Eraser kids, the kids that collect eraser shavings during the day and compare them in the parking lot after School."
The trio looked at him in confusion, failing to see or understand how such an odd group would even exist.
"I didn't say it was a common group. I-I just said I'm able to be friends with them."
That made Emma give a slight scoff of agitation before she replied.
"Well, if you had such a perfect life, then what are you doing here with the other losers?"
Emma didn't hesitate to jump off the branch, not waiting for an answer while leaving Jesse perplexed.
"Wait, what?"
M.T. gave Jesse a glare as she spoke sarcastically while Jack shook his head.
"Wow. Fitting in. What a gift…"
Jack and M.T. took their turn to jump off next, landing safely on the branch as Jesse tried to apologize to them.
"It's not like that; it just means I'm likable."
By the time he finished, Emma, Jack, and M.T. had already jumped off the branch and gone away.
"Except to you guys, I guess…"
It wasn't long before Jesse followed the three of them. They landed on the same branch the others did before Jesse looked toward them. With Emma still mulling over her situation, M.T. was still in opposition against him. It seemed to be unwarranted, but he knew there had to be a reason.
"Why are you two so mad at me?"
Emma and M.T. turned around to face Jesse, the former feeling a little guilty for saying what she had. She was about to tell him off, but Emma stopped her, placing her hand on her arm before she suggested another option.
"Take it easy, M.T. He just doesn't know."
M.T.'s face softened before she sighed in defeat, not wanting to upset Emma any further. She then turned to Jesse and explained herself.
"Look, it has nothing to do with you. It's just… Okay, so... I used to have this friend named Tulip, and we did everything together. But, as we grew up, I didn't have much in common with her anymore. But, um… my parents thought Tulip was perfect and wanted me to be exactly like her. So, I had to stop hanging out with her so I could be free."
Jack seemed to get the memo as he nodded to her.
"I hear that."
But Jesse was out of the loop, focusing on how it must have affected Tulip.
"Why would you do that to your friend? That's—That's crazy."
Emma stepped up in M.T.'s defense and snapped at Jesse, infuriated that he'd even ask that.
"Well, maybe Tulip was never her friend to begin with. Maybe she only cared about herself and didn't care about what she wanted. Did you ever think of that?"
When she said this, Jesse was dumbfounded by her response as the branches around them began to grow bigger and surround the group. All the while, M.T. was flustered by Jesse's response.
"Wait, what? I didn't know."
"See, Emma? This is why I like hanging out with the deer; he doesn't tell me how I should act."
Her focus then shifted towards Jesse before she went towards him.
"Plus, he has cool powers, unlike you who only has the power to annoy me!"
"If you want to find Alan Dracula faster, we should talk to the families and do what they say."
At that moment, though he was unaware of it, Jesse's feet began to turn into wood before Jack spoke up in resounding defiance.
"And get mixed up with their problems? Not on your life. We're better off without them."
Emma heard enough from those words. Those were the same words her aunt gave her. A flash of her distrustful aunt played back in her mind as she spoke callously in her mind.
"You shouldn't have been mixing yourself up with her problems. You were better off without her anyway."
Unfortunately, those echoes grew louder and louder until Emma was forced to shout.
"NO, I'M NOT!"
The group all looked at her in stunned surprise. And Visco, who was within range, had to hold onto his ears to keep from getting its hearing impaired by her shout. Realizing that she'd made an unnecessary outburst, Emma blushed in embarrassment and took a deep breath before she continued.
"Okay, clearly you guys have your own way of doing things. So here's what we're going to do. Jesse, you and Jack will try to ask around and see if they know where the deer is while M.T., Visco, and I look for him ourselves."
M.T. considered it a blessing as she gave an exasperated sigh.
"Finally!"
Emma looked at M.T. with a slight glare. The Sliver didn't see any reason why Jesse had to come along anyway.
"What? We didn't ask them to follow us. We could find the deer ourselves."
With that, M.T. began to tear apart the branches that blocked her path before Emma turned to Visco and spoke gently to her.
"Can you help out with the branches, Visco?"
Visco squeaked before turning into hedge clippers with its back legs being the handle and its front legs being the blades to cut off the branches as Jesse was in agreement with Emma's divide-and-conquer strategy.
"Okay. Watch. I'll form a truce. It'll be a piece of cake. Or pie. Some people don't like cake. So…"
With that, Jesse went over a branch before he jumped to another one below. Jack looked over to Emma with a look of slight disapproval as he spoke to her.
"You know, the only reason I'm coming along is to make sure he doesn't hurt himself."
"That's the idea. He's gonna learn sooner or later."
Jack looked back down over the edge before he sighed to himself.
"I'm getting too old for this…"
Nonetheless, Jack jumped off the branch and landed beside Jesse, only to find two members of the Trundleshank family practically abuzz about their intrusion.
"The whole tree is buzzing about you two! Way to stick it to those awful Gillicutties!"
Jack only rolled his eyes as he spoke under his breath.
"Just keep telling yourself that…"
Jesse tried his best to explain his standing in the feud.
"We weren't trying to stick it to anyone. Just looking for our friend. He's a deer. He's about… he's deer-height."
The other member only snickered as he inquired to Jesse about what he perceives was payback well-deserved.
"W-What was the look on Wilbur's face when you told him you didn't trust the Gillicutties?"
"I didn't say that."
Jack held no interest whatsoever as he sighed before Jesse began to have a realization, or at least an idea of what they could be like.
"Oh, you know what? I bet, uh, you have a lot more in common with them than you think. In elementary school, we used to sing this song that I think would be helpful. It's called, 'When I Look At You, I See Me'. And it goes…"
Jesse began to take a breath, but one of the Trundleshanks interrupted him.
"Is it true you spit in his face?"
Jesse lost his breath quickly before he answered.
"No!"
Jack only glared at the Trundleshanks before he interjected and tried to cut this whole thing short.
"I'll tell you what I said."
They took interest in Jack already as they looked up to him.
"What was it?"
"What did you say?"
"I told him that exactly what I'm going to tell you: this nonsensical feud is none of our business, so leave us alone!"
Jack took Jesse's arm before he jumped off of the branch with him in tow, only to land on another one with one branch pointing upwards. Jesse felt it was too soon to leave them, especially with the breakthrough he would've made.
"I thought I was doing good."
"Trust me, kid. You couldn't have done any worse if you tried."
Just then, to make matters worse, they heard a feminine voice from the Trundleshanks speaking with a clear sign of anger.
"What are you doing on our tree?!"
Jack and Jesse turned around to see three faces of the Gillicutties on the left and three faces of the Trundleshanks on the right before Jack groaned.
"Great. I stand corrected."
Meanwhile, M.T. and Emma were going through the tree, leaping from one branch to another. As they cut down the growing branches in front of them, although they were still growing on the sides, Emma felt guilty for blowing up at Jesse. It wasn't his fault for her baggage, yet she treated him like he had. What reason did she have to be mad at him? Emma tried to work it out when suddenly, they found themselves barred by another set of branches that acted as a gate before M.T. attempted to break it down.
"Come on, already!"
Emma held a sad look for M.T. She had also started to wonder why she was acting that way. They already went over how not all passengers were helpless in the Hunter's Lodge car. To see her acting this way regardless frankly made her worried.
"M.T.…"
Just then, a feminine voice spoke from their left, making Emma turn to see a woman from the Gillicutty family smiling at her.
"Hi, there, little girl. Going down the tree?"
"Uh, yeah. That's the general plan."
Just then, Emma heard another voice behind her.
"You shouldn't talk to her, little girl. She's as dumb as they come."
Emma knew who was talking the moment she heard him. He was from the Trundleshanks. That didn't make the situation any better as they argued back and forth.
"Can it, ding-dong!"
"Aw, this from a woman who choked to death eating an orange peel!"
"I told you, it's the most fibrous part of the fruit!"
The branches began to grow on the sides of the Gillicutty and Trundleshank branches as the former pointed out his own flaw.
"You died because you sat on a toilet seat too hard!"
Having enough of their argument, Emma interjected as she piped up.
"Uh, excuse me? Have you two seen any deer around here?"
The Trundleshank portrait spoke up to Emma first.
"No, I ain't!"
"And you?"
The Gillicutty woman only shook her head. Emma let out a sigh as she mumbled to herself.
"Of course, you haven't…"
By that point, M.T. broke apart the branches that were blocking them before she turned to them and spoke up with a stern look on her face.
"Okay, see you guys later. Sorry you both died in such embarrassing ways."
M.T. went past the branches before Emma followed her and the two of them jumped down to another branch. When they landed, Emma tried to figure out why M.T. was being hard on Jesse. But the problem was, she was in one of her more unsettling moods. Emma had to ask her calmly.
"M.T… do you think Jesse's a bad person or something?"
M.T. didn't bother looking behind her as she answered lamely. She may be focused on finding the deer, but she had to answer those questions, which was part of her focus.
"No."
"Then why do you hate him so much?"
M.T. chopped a branch in front of her clean off before she answered, but her tone showed a slight rise in irritation.
"I don't know."
With no luck thus far, Emma continued to ask her questions as Visco rubbed its nose with its stubs.
"Do you feel… threatened by him?"
M.T. tore off another branch blocking the way before she began to get tense in her voice while she replied.
"No. I don't."
M.T. could certainly tell that she was lying at this point. Despite her words, her tone told her otherwise. Determined to get the truth, Emma kept on pressing M.T. with her questions.
"Be honest, M.T. What's the reason you hate Jesse so much?"
M.T. chucked the branch away as she began to get more angry.
"Who cares?"
"I do! I understand about the Chrome girl thing, but what about the rest of the time? You've been nothing but hostile to Jesse ever since we got down here. Is that because you're afraid of him?"
While the two argued, they weren't aware of the branches stretching out to the side and rising up.
"I said no…!"
"Then why? Why are you treating Jesse like trash when he's just trying to be your friend?"
That was the last straw for M.T. Those questions proved too much for her to be able to take. She had to say something to get it all to stop.
"Why do you want me to be friends with that loser?! Do you want to get rid of me?!"
As M.T.'s shout echoed, Emma took a step back in surprise. Following this, the two of them glanced at each other. Seconds later, M.T. began to feel guilt from saying what she'd said to her. As for Emma, she began to feel anger from her persistence in her unwillingness to try to be nice to Jesse, as well as sadness for her yelling. She was used to it, but that didn't mean it never hurt. And then, there was a blend of shame, shame that exists now in the back of her mind. After a lengthy uncomfortable silence, M.T. spoke up to her with regret in her voice.
"Emma… I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like—"
Emma cut her off with a soft voice as she looked up to her.
"Stop. If you don't want to talk about it, don't talk about it."
Emma then walked solemnly over to M.T. before she spoke softly to her again.
"But at least try to give Jesse a fair chance. You owe him that much."
Emma then proceeded to walk past M.T. through the branches that were torn apart as she looked on with a conflicted look on her face. She didn't really want anything to do with Jesse, but she could tell that her pushing him away the way she has was hurting her. It was the last thing she wanted. As much as she can't stand him, M.T. knew that she should at least consider Emma's words. But then, there was someone else to consider.
"And what about Jack?"
Emma stopped from hearing his name before she sighed. She was still trying to work out how he was so familiar to her, but after what M.T. told her, she didn't know if she liked having him around, either. She was stuck. Emma gave another soft reply without bothering to turn her head around.
"I don't know."
Emma then continued walking on the branch, leaving M.T. behind to catch up with her.
Meanwhile, Jesse was hearing out both sides of the argument of the Gillicutties and the Trundleshanks with Jack watching. The young man seemed sure of himself as he was going over the Trundleshanks' side of things. But Jack knew better, and he knew that this wasn't going to work. All the same, he had to make sure Jesse didn't get into too much trouble.
"So, Mr. and Mrs. Trundleshank are mad because you Gillicutty quadruplets broke their milk bottles every morning. Think you can apologize?"
One of the Gillicutty quadruplets spoke up to Jesse, letting him know that their actions were justified and that they were in no mood to apologize.
"No! They never invited us to their kids' birthday parties!"
"Hmm, yeah. That's tough on a kid."
To counter their point, Mrs. Trundleshank, or Leona according to her portrait, was quick to counter their point with Jesse taking it into account.
"Well, we couldn't afford to feed every child in town at our parties!"
"Yeah, that's a valid point, too. Affordability."
A portrait of a girl spoke up next on the Gillicutty's side of things.
"But we were the only kids who weren't invited."
"Yeah, you shouldn't leave people out. That's true."
Wilbur Trundleshank (which was coincidentally named after Wilbur Gillicutty) felt Jesse was going back and forth, and he can't wait any longer for him to make his decision. And one of the quadruplets couldn't agree more.
"Hey! Whose side are you on?!"
"None of us are helping you down this tree until you pick a side!"
Being brought up this ultimatum, Jesse became nervous as he stammered.
"Um… Well, I-I don't- I-I don't want anyone to be mad at me."
Little did he know that while he was at a stupor, Jack took notice of his number, seeing it rise up to a "33". And the fact that Leona was forcing him to choose wasn't helping matters.
"Choose!"
Jack grew tired of this very quickly as he piped up.
"Look, he doesn't have to choose anything for you. We never needed you guys to get down this tree before, and we don't need you now."
With that, Jack knocked the branch with a punch, causing it to shake unti Jesse fell off before he caught him in his arms and set him on the branch. He then glanced at the feuding families before he gave out his own farewell.
"So long, idiots."
Jack took his hand and they went down the tree before they landed on another branch. When they landed, Jesse grew uneasy. His words seemed to make it unlikely to help them find the deer.
"Jack, why'd you have to go and do that? They could've helped us find Alan Dracula."
"Or they could've bragged about it to the other side and not help us at all. I know how these feuds work. And what you're doing isn't helping us in the least."
As Jesse and Jack argued, the branches around them began to grow from the side of the branch they stood on.
"Look, I'm just trying to find Alan Dracula! Why is that so wrong?!"
"Because you're just doing what they tell you to do instead of actually thinking for yourself!"
Jesse was at a loss for words from Jack's words. Jesse didn't consider it like that when he was initiating a debate.
"Wha…? What are you talking about?"
In his confusion, the branches stopped growing before Jack made a deep sigh. It was a tough thing to talk about, but he saw how high his number was going. He wasn't going to let it get worse.
"Look, Jesse, there's something you need to know about the real world. The truth is, you can't be friends with everyone. I know that from personal experience. There are people who actually want to be your friend, the ones who want to stay by your side no matter what, and then, there are people who use you for their own agenda. People who use you never do it once. Their 'favors' pile up, and they hurt other people around them. Hurts the ones you love, too."
Jesse's face softened as he listened to Jack's words. That was something he hadn't considered when he tried to get the Gillicutties and the Trundleshanks to come to terms with each other. But they were already set on their ways, determined to one-up each other. And the fact that they tried to use him was news to him.
"Wow, I… I never thought about it like that."
"Of course not. You're young. And I don't blame you for that. My point is, if you keep giving out more pieces of yourself than what you get back in return, especially to all those groups at school you mentioned, eventually, there won't be anything of you left. And for what? Just to get friendship at face value with nothing deep or fulfilling like a real friendship. You're basically an empty husk, a tool to be used."
Jesse's face grew worried as he tried to let Jack know that his friends weren't anything of the sort.
"B-But Jack, they're not like that."
"Oh, no?"
"No. I'm always willing to take the bullet for them."
"Yeah? Well, when's the last time they tried to take a bullet for you? Name me one time, and I'll take it all back."
Jesse was about to answer, but like Jack suspected, he didn't have an answer. He was stuck. Jack made another sigh before he spoke to Jesse again with a sympathetic look on his face.
"Look, kid, everyone can have friendship. But what good is that if it's only in word, and never in deed?"
It wasn't long before Jesse made a sigh himself. Before he got on the train, he didn't understand the world worked that way. And yet, he somehow seemed to have gotten the message.
"Come on. Let's see if we can't find the deer around here."
Jack began to take off, but Jesse spoke up, making him turn around to him.
"Wait, Jack."
"What?"
"Uh… thanks for telling me all this. You're a good person for doing that."
Jack then took notice of Jesse's number, seeing it change back to a "32". He then took a look at his own right arm before he sighed, neither of them noticing the branches shrinking from the friendly exchange.
"You tell yourself that. I'm just an old man who's willing to give it to you straight."
Jack then proceeded to walk forward on the branch with Jesse catching up to him. While they were walking, they began to hear grunting from far away. The sounds seemed to have come from up ahead. Jesse thought he recognized those grunts.
"Wait. Is that M.T.?"
The duo went up cautiously on the branch, scaling the uphill slope of bark before they came down gently to see Emma, Visco, and M.T. trying to break those branches away with limited success. When they heard the footsteps, however, the group turned around to see Jack and Jesse.
"Oh, great…"
M.T. was initially annoyed to see them again so soon, but she remembered what Emma told her. It wasn't really his fault for the way things were turning out. M.T. turned over to Jesse as he spoke up gently.
"Oh, uh… hi."
M.T. tried to think of a more sensible way to approach him, mostly for Emma's sake as she replied to him.
"Uh, hey. So, uh… how did the truce go?"
"Well… trying to make everyone happy didn't really work out. Looks like you're making good progress, though."
M.T. turned over to the branches. To her surprise, they were actually shortened. A minute ago, they weren't so big. They wouldn't have been trying to cut them otherwise.
"Huh. That's odd. I don't remember them being so small. They were pretty big last time."
Confusing as it was, M.T. personally couldn't care less, so long as it helped them get to the deer.
"Well, at least we can get across now."
With that, the group all went forward on the branch. As they did, M.T. looked over to Emma, still seeing the sullen look on her face. M.T. made a sigh of sadness before she tried to catch up with her, not knowing that Jesse and Jack saw the whole thing. The young man looked over to him, taking into account what he talked about with him.
"What's wrong with Emma? Why does she look so sad?"
"Your guess is as good as mine."
"You think M.T. would know?"
"You could ask her yourself."
Jesse couldn't help but feel bad for her before he looked over to M.T. He saw how sad she was to see her like that. But the last few times he interacted with M.T., she'd been distrustful towards him. Maybe she didn't want Emma to be hurt the way she apparently was. But as much as he wanted to find out for himself, he didn't want to bug M.T. about it too much. And he couldn't be more right. In that moment, M.T. looked over to Emma, feeling bad for how she snapped at her.
"Emma… I really am sorry, you know. I just… I'm trying to be nice, but… I just can't find any reason to trust him."
Emma couldn't help but feel hurt by this. M.T. may not have meant it to hurt, but it did. To say that she can't trust him, even when he was being nice to them the whole time, only proved that M.T.'s view on passengers still hasn't changed. For all she knew, M.T. may not have wanted her around at all. She gave M.T. a hard look as she spoke in a sad and angry tone.
"Do you always have to think that everything on this train is always out to get you, M.T.? Or did you not care about the fact that there's good people here, too?"
M.T. stopped walking and became stunted by the tone she took with her.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I know how you feel about passengers, M.T.! You think you're better off without them, and that may be true, but that doesn't mean they don't need you!"
"W-What would they possibly need me for?"
"You hated me, but when it came down to the hunters, I was willing to take the bullet for you! And Jesse and Jack have been nothing but willing to help us find the deer, even if you didn't want them to!"
Jesse and Jack took notice of their argument and tried to break it up before it got worse, although they were oblivious to the branches growing around them.
"Uh, take it easy, guys!"
"This really isn't the time or place to be doing this."
Despite their words, M.T. still persisted in her argument.
"I never asked them to!"
"Exactly! The fact that they're trying anyway proves that they're trying to be our friends!"
"Well, sorry, but I don't believe in that so quickly! The passengers who end up on this train aren't good! The last time I trusted a passenger, he kept a secret from me and betrayed me and Tulip! How do you know these guys won't betray you?! We don't even know who they are, let alone why they're on the train!"
As M.T. yelled, the tree they stood on began to grow leaves and long branches around them with. With the branches going higher than before, Jesse tried to speak up to them, trying to catch their attention.
"Uh, guys?"
"Passengers can't be trusted, Emma! That's why I can't let them go anywhere near you!"
"Don't you mean you don't want me anywhere near you?!"
While Emma raised her voice, Jack tried to get her attention to no avail. She knew what every word that came out of her mouth meant. And she had the tears in her eyes to prove it. Emma wasn't afraid to let M.T. have it. As she shouted at her, M.T.'s face began to soften in shame.
"Emma, M.T., the both of you had better stop."
"Like it or not, M.T., I am a passenger! Even I don't know why I'm here, but you still hang around me! So tell me, M.T., because you owe me the truth! Do you really care about me, or are you just trying to get rid of me?!"
Emma made a harsh push on M.T. into one of the growing branches before she, Jesse, and Jack both got ensnared by branches that popped up from below them. Despite the situation, Jesse tried to help everyone get their minds off their situation.
"It's okay, guys. We can just shimmy our way out."
Jack, however, didn't find it likely as he shouted at him before glancing at M.T..
"Oh, grow up, kid! These branches aren't anything you can shake out of! And as for you, you have no right to dump that attitude of yours on us, especially when I just saved your life!"
Emma piped up to Jack, speaking in defense for M.T. and Jesse. As much as she hated it, she had a valid point. She didn't have a lot of trust in anyone herself back then. And as she stood up for them, Jesse interjected after a while.
"You can't get mad at her for that! She's just trying to be careful! Besides, did you ever think about the attitude you're dumping on Jesse?!"
"Yeah, why are you acting like I'm some kinda-"
While Jesse and Emma argued, they failed to notice that her feet were turning into wood along with her legs while Jesse's hands turned into wood. But M.T. took notice of it and made a gasp of horror before she shouted.
"Emma! Jesse!"
Jesse assumed she was going to shout at him for being around them as long as he had, but Emma became concerned about what she was trying to tell them.
"Huh?"
"No, I was yelling! It's still my turn to yell!"
"No, Jesse, your hands!"
Jesse looked down at his hands and became mortified to see them in their wooden state.
"Ahh! It's changing me!"
Emma looked down and saw that her body from the waist down was wooden already as she made a shocked gasp. It was then that she remembered what One-One's sad side warned her in the tape, right from the start.
"By watching this recording, you've agreed to release the train of any liability regarding the loss of personal property, trauma, physical injury, death, or transformation."
That must've been what he was talking about. The train was capable of transforming her, too!
"It's changing me, too! Visco, get me out of here!"
Visco squeaked and tried to help, chewing on one of the branches that held itself on her arms. But in doing so, the branches snatched Visco away, trapping it in a vice grip of sorts as it squeaked in worry before M.T. and Jack tried to struggle their way out of their own traps, with the former successfully breaking one off, only to get caught in another one while the branches wrapped themselves around Jesse's arms, turning them into wood.
"Help!"
As for Emma, she pulled her arms away from the branches, breaking them off, only for them to get bound again, but this time by her chest, allowing them to turn into wood, leaving only Emma's head unturned with M.T. and Jack pulling their arms away from the branches before their atms got caught again and bound them stronger than before. M.T. initially stopped trying to struggle as she looked at the group. Aside from herself, Jesse and Emma were mostly wood at this point, although Visco managed to squeeze out of the grip and land on Emma's shoulder with Jack's lower body becoming wood with Emma and Jesse speaking in hopelessness.
"It's no use. We can't get out…"
"Man. We're gonna be made out of wood? Everybody at school will call me Pinocchio…"
M.T. didn't find it likely as she tried to reassure him, only to consider the reason why.
"They won't call you that. Oh, okay, they'll probably call you that. If you ever get back to school."
"Why do you have to say that?"
Jesse sighed in sadness before Emma took notice of the situation they're in and began to feel guilty. If she hadn't argued with her, they never would've been trapped. But she couldn't let that feeling go. Any more than she wanted to let her mother go… She looked up to the group as she tried to apologize.
"M.T… I'm so sorry for what I said."
M.T. saw her sad look and felt bad for arguing with her the way she did. She didn't know until it was too late, but her distrust towards other passengers must've hurt Emma. And M.T. felt just as guilty for that.
"It's okay… besides, I'm the one who should apologize. You're just as much a passenger as Jack and Jesse are, and I should've respected that. You just wanted to have more friends, and I… I guess I just didn't want you to leave me. And I went about it the wrong way."
Emma looked towards M.T. I'm hopeful realization from what she'd told her as Visco hopped up on top of her head with a squeak.
"Huh? You didn't… you didn't want me to leave you?"
"Of course not. At least not so soon. I mean, you still have to go back to your mom. Anyway, I'm… I'm sorry for making you feel like I was trying to get rid of you for wanting another friend."
Emma began to smile softly for M.T. before she accepted it with tears beginning to show on her eyes before she closed them.
"It's alright. I just wish I knew that before now…"
Unbeknownst to her, Emma's branches on her legs began to loosen their grip. M.T. was confused to see that happening to her as Emma turned towards Jesse.
"Jesse, I also wanted to apologize to you for being so defensive. It's just that back home… well, I didn't really have any friends."
This was news to Jesse. She didn't seem like a person who had no friends to him.
"Really? You didn't have any friends?"
Emma shook her head sullenly before she replied.
"Nope. Never had the time to make any. My mom got into trouble more times than I should count. And I wanted to help her through them, so I stayed by her. I just wanted to help her. And then, I ended up here. After that, M.T.'s pretty much the only friend I have."
Jesse made a sad look her way before he stepped up and spoke gently.
"Well, if we weren't tied up here, no pun intended, maybe I could've been your friend."
Emma looked up to him with a soft look. It shouldn't surprise her that he's willing to do that. But it still felt comforting to hear someone say that. Of course, she's always had M.T. there with her, and she'd never forget that. But it would've been nice for the two of them to know other people along the way, not that it seemed to be a possibility for her anymore.
"Really?"
"Yeah. Nobody should have to be without a friend."
Emma made a soft smile. She appreciated how Jesse still insisted on being friends with her despite how she acted.
"That makes me feel a little better… thanks, Jesse."
With that, the branches around her waist began to loosen some before they loosened their grip on M.T., Jack, and Jesse as well. This time, M.T. was sure the branches were letting her go as she tried to let Emma know.
"Wait, Emma. They moved a little."
Her eyes were closed at the time, but she expected the worst. Emma was assuming then that M.T. was just saying that to make her feel better. But she already knew what was going to happen.
"It's fine, M.T. You don't have to lie to me."
"Emma, really."
Emma refused to look, already knowing her supposed fate was going to happen anyway.
"I know you want me to feel better, but I have a lot to say before I become wood, so please. Let me finish."
With that brief retorsion of grief, the branches tightened themselves slightly on Emma again. M.T. saw this and reluctantly kept her mouth shut before Emma spoke to Jack while he struggled.
"Thank you. Anyway, it was nice to know you all. Especially you, Jesse. I may not have known you or Jack as long as I've known M.T., but I really think we could've been friends. And Jack, you may be a grump in my eyes, but I know deep down inside that you're a good person. You wouldn't have helped me and M.T. if you weren't…"
"Don't say that like it's over, kid! It ain't over until I say it is!"
The branches then began to loosen themselves on Emma, Jesse, and M.T. while Jack looked on in surprise before Emma spoke again to M.T. as the branches went away and laid her back on the branch with the girl assuming they were taking her into the tree.
"And M.T., I'm sorry for ever doubting you. You were just trying to protect me. If you want to leave me behind after what I put you through, I understand. Maybe it was always my fate. Maybe I'm just… meant to be alone."
However, that wasn't what destiny had planned for her. Visco hopped onto Emma's face and squeaked, making her open her eyes to see Visco right in front of her face, making her realize that she didn't get to say her goodbyes to Visco as well.
"Oh. Of course, I'd miss you, too, Visco…"
Emma reached her hand over the slime gerbil to pet him when she noticed her hands were back to normal, although her number had changed to "186". Seeing this made Emma realize what M.T. was trying to tell her as she sat up, nearly throwing Visco as he fell down onto her lap before she spoke up in elation.
"Hey! I'm back to normal!"
Emma then began to blush as she turned behind her to face M.T.
"Oh, that's what you were trying to tell me, wasn't it?"
M.T. only made a quick hug, surprising Emma for a moment as she briefly exclaimed before M.T. spoke softly.
"Whoa!"
"I'd never leave you, Emma. I swear."
M.T. began to shed two small tears from her eyes before Emma hugged M.T. back with a soft smile on her face and her own set of tears that came out from her eyes. With the three of them free, Jesse became relieved as he noticed his skin was free of wood, though he wondered how it was possible.
"Oh! I'm not a tree boy. What happened?"
Emma and M.T. looked over to Jesse with the passenger smiling at him while M.T. answered him.
"Fighting was making the branches grow. But when Emma was apologizing, they were going down."
Jack had a hard time believing that as he struggled against his own entrapment.
"Oh, really? And how do you know that?"
M.T. turned towards him before replying with a smirk.
"I kept my eyes open during the scary parts."
"Oh, well if you're so sure, then why don't you get this thing off me, huh?"
Emma turned to the struggling Jack before seeing his state. The wooden parts of his body extended up to his arms, which he still used to try to force himself free. As futile as it was, Emma had to say something to him to test if M.T.'s theory was right.
"Hey, Jack…"
Jack stopped his struggling out of frustration before he turned to Emma.
"Yeah?"
"That tree is terrible."
"Yeah? What else is new?"
Jesse overheard this and tried to defend it.
"Hey, it's doing its best."
Like M.T. figured, her words caused a small branch to grow out of the entrapment before Emma made a smile and corrected herself.
"Just kidding. You're a beautiful tree."
The smaller branch sank back into the entrapment while the trap itself began to loosen up. Emma felt her point was made as she gave Jack a smile before she spoke to him.
"See? All you have to do is be nice."
Jack felt it was an especially tall order as he initially refused.
"What, you expect me to be nice to these things that are trapping me?"
"Uh, if you wanna get out of it, yeah."
Jack grumbled at such an idea, but he had little choice unless he wanted to be wooden. He ended up giving a sigh before he agreed to it.
"Well, I guess I can't blame them."
Jack's comment ended up loosening a few branches from him before Jesse thought of a moment he and the old man shared together.
"Oh, yeah. Remember when you told me how friendship works? You were so wise."
Jack only shook his head as the branches began to sink into the tree while letting him stand on it.
"No, I told you. I'm just willing to give it to you straight."
"Exactly. That's what friends do."
Jack still held onto that belief as he retorted.
"Look, just because I gave you decent advice, that doesn't make us friends."
The branches began to tighten around Jack again before Emma saw the doubt on his face. Not willing to let him turn into wood, she walked over to him before taking hold of his hand, making him look over to her with confusion as she put on a smile.
"He's right, you know. You did help us before. It's okay to let us help you."
Jack's face softened as he looked at her face. The longer he looked, the more he began to see someone else. She appeared to have light brown hair in a longer length, and she was also dressed in a yellow long-sleeved shirt with jeans and a belt as she spoke softly.
"Please. Let me help you…"
Jack's eyes started to water from that sight before he shook his head and saw Emma back in her place. The girl was initially confused over his tears.
"Are you okay?"
Jack only rubbed his eyes to get rid of his tears before he answered.
"Alright. We'll do it your way."
Jack then took hold of Emma's hand as it ceased from its wooden state, and the rest of his body was freed from the branches as they sank into the tree before M.T. began to smile, having an idea of her own as she spoke up.
"Good. We just gotta keep up the good vibes."
To do so, M.T. went up toward the gate of branches before turning to Emma and speaking eloquently, which was bizarre for Emma to hear..
"Pray good sirs and madam, wouldst thou care to follow me down to the bottom of this noble tree?"
Emma couldn't help but hold in her giggles before she cleared her throat and tried to do the same eloquent tone as she spoke with a bow.
"It would be our pleasure, milady."
Jesse then chimed in as he took a lead and used it to "tip the hat" as he spoke just as eloquently.
"Thank you for your very generous offer."
The gate of branches went down completely before the group looked at each other with smiles on their faces apart from Jack, who maintained a stern look as he spoke.
"For the record, I'm not talking like that."
Later on, the group continued down the tree despite the constant arguing from the Gullicutties and the Trundleshanks. Emma spoke to M.T. with a big smile on her face, almost as if it was just another day of going through the train.
"It's a beautiful day, isn't it?"
"Yes, verily."
Emma went closer to M.T. before she put her arm around her shoulder and spoke on.
"Although, it can't get any close to beautiful as you, milady."
M.T. blushed at Emma's words as the chrome girl made a small giggle from her playful eloquent tone. Then, Jesse spoke up from behind them with a smile of his own as well.
"And I like how your hair is made of needles. My compliments to the chef."
As he made a chef's kiss, Emma couldn't help but giggle at his attempt, though it embarrassed M.T. a bit as she made a slight blush before she went up on the bark and gave Jesse a compliment of her own, making the gate of branches that stood by her shrink down into the tree.
"And I like your hair. It's brown. How original."
"Shall I sing a song?"
M.T.'s face turned flat in that moment as she answered.
"I'd absolutely love it."
Having received her answer, Jesse began to sing before Jack whispered to her.
When I look at you, I see me
"Would it be troublesome if I covered my ears?"
Later, Emma was holding her hands out for M.T. as she was getting down while complimenting her, although she tried not to embarrass herself or M.T. on that matter.
"And I like your skin. It kinda sparkles like a car after it's waxed, a-and the sun shines on it."
Emma began to blush as she felt M.T.'s body and recalled what she said about it before that morning. She was forced to repeat it with nothing else coming up on her mind as M.T. let herself hang on the branch for Emma to grab hold of her.
"And, uh, I like how warm it feels at night. One would think you'd feel cold, but it's strangely nice and warm."
M.T. began to smile with a slight blush before she was set down on the bottom root of the tree with Jack waiting for her. Emma and Jesse came down after and saw an endless horizon of dirt around the gargantuan tree. And the deer didn't seem to be around anywhere. On one hand, it must've been cloaking itself. On the other, it must've wandered off. In preparation for both scenarios, Emma had an idea.
"It doesn't look like he's around. Maybe we can find him with food."
She got out the leaves she'd used earlier to locate him from her jacket pocket as she, Jesse, and M.T. called out to him.
"Hey, deer! We've got food for you!"
"Alan Dracula!"
"Bleat once if you're okay, twice if you're hurt!"
While Jesse and M.T. shouted for the deer, Emma looked around the expanse before looking to the base of the tree itself.
"Alan Dracula!"
"Deer!"
When Emma looked, she noticed two people kissing each other in a heart symbol. And within that symbol were the words "Elisa and Herbert Trundlecutty". And beneath them was Jack as he looked at the portrait with a sullen look. Emma walked up to him and checked with him to be sure he was doing alright.
"Hey… are you alright?"
"Huh?"
Jack turned around and saw Emma beside him, much to his momentary confusion before he got back to reality.
"Oh. Yeah. Just saw something that brings back old memories."
Emma looked back at the portrait and began to smile softly at the sight.
"Wow… they look so happy together."
Jack began to smile just as softly before he replied.
"I used to be happy like that once. Found a wife, had a daughter, and settled down. It was a good life."
Emma looked back to him with a sympathetic look as she began to get curious.
"So… what happened to that life?"
Jack looked back to Emma, maintaining his sullen look before he answered her.
"Well, a long time ago, I was—"
Before he could begin to tell the story, the two of them heard clog sounds from near them, looking back to the tree and seeing Alan Dracula prancing along the bark with his hooves in a rainbow color. The group widened their eyes in surprise with M.T. being frustrated while Jesse was relieved before the two of them went up on the bark to try to reach him as Emma looked at the two of them with a smile.
"Unbelievable!"
"Alan! A. Drac! Alan Dracula!"
"Hey, deer!"
Emma then looked back to Jack before she tried to get him going on the story again.
"Sorry. You were saying?"
Jack only took a sigh before he replied.
"Never mind. We'll save it for later."
Later on, M.T. and Jesse were on top of the deer's antlers, watching the scenery as they went up the tree while Emma and Jack rode with Visco morphed into a replica of the deer, though its backside resembled that of a seat of a roller coaster with seat belts, and it also used claws to climb up the tree beside the deer. With the two climbers next to each other, Emma was next to M.T. with Jack and Jesse being farther apart from each other. On their way back up through the tree, M.T. and Jesse had a moment of silence between them before she looked over to Emma with a guilty look, perplexing Emma at first. But Emma looked over to Jesse and remembered how hard she'd treated him before she spoke back to her.
"It's okay to apologize."
M.T. began to make an awkward look as she turned back to Jesse and tried to think of what to say. After a moment, M.T. finally spoke to Jesse.
"So… look. I guess I shouldn't have yelled at you so much, but only because it made this stupid tree grow."
Jesse could tell she was trying to apologize, even if she won't admit that she felt bad about it. Beside that, he knew he had a part in that happening as well.
"Me, too. Sorry."
Jack only made a slight grumble as he interjected.
"Right. Sure you are."
M.T. overheard this and turned over to him before she spoke out to him as well, trying to keep herself from getting angry, lest she invoke the branches again.
"Look. I'm not too sure about you, either. But you did help me and Emma back there. So… thanks."
Jack looked back to M.T., hearing the sincerity in her voice before turning back to her and replying, still not sure what to make of that.
"Uh… you're welcome."
M.T. then turned back to Jesse as she spoke to him.
"Well, anyway, I still want to be on my own with the deer and Emma. But… technically, we are both their friends. Not us. We're not friends. But we're friends with the both of them, separately. So, here's the only solution I can think of. I'll travel with you, and help you get your number down?"
Jesse became overjoyed to hear this as he perked up with a smile.
"Really?"
"But only because then, you'll get off the train, and I'll get to stay with Emma, for a little bit mind you, and… for lack of a better name, Alan Dracula."
Jesse was particularly proud to hear the name catch on as he shouted his hoorah.
"Yes!"
Then, Jesse began to realize he was enjoying it too much and dialed his enthusiasm back a bit.
"Sorry."
M.T. looked back towards Emma, hoping it was enough for her as she spoke.
"Does that… work for you, Emma?"
Emma looked back to M.T. with a soft smile as she answered.
"Yeah. Thanks for making the effort, M.T."
M.T. felt the guilt lifting away from her before she gave a smile and went down to business as she looked at Jesse's number.
"Okay, let's do this. What's your number at?"
"32."
M.T. didn't view it as hard as Emma's number is, even though she has been making good progress since then.
"Pssh. We'll get you home in no time. What was it when you got on the train?"
"31."
It wasn't that big of a difference. But that shows how backwards Jesse was thinking as she made a small frown.
"Your number has gone up?"
Emma tried to keep M.T. from doing anything rash as she spoke up.
"Well, it's not so bad. At least he knows better now."
Then, Emma looked over to Jack and became curious. She hadn't seen Jack's number in the time she knew him. She wanted to know the answer as she inquired about it to him.
"What about you? What's your number at?"
Jack only turned his head away slightly in shame before he replied softly.
"Let's just say I'm not likely to leave the train anytime soon."
Emma began to make a soft face his way before she looked back to the scenery in front of her and became enamored with its beauty once again with the sun setting over the tree they climbed on. She hadn't forgotten about how badly her mother needed her help, but a part of her just wanted to stay with M.T., even more so after what she'd done for her. Lately, she'd grown quite fond of her despite her usual roughness. Emma looked back at her own number of '186' and wondered if it could go down farther than that in the next car. She even wondered… if she actually wanted it to.