This chapter might get a bit controversial at the end, but Hilda needs to learn that people don't have the patience of her mother, so keep that in mind.

Anyway, let's answer some reviews:

1) OMAC001: Trust me, that's just one of many problems. Luckily, her journey on the train should help fix it.

2) SaturnX:

* Hilda's stubborness is certainly gonna make things interesting.

* I won't. Best boy deserves the best.

* Yeah, it's like the Rat King, but Woff!

* Nothing I say could perfectly describe Infinity Train: you'll just have to watch it to find out.

And now, to the chapter...

"Is this the spell we're looking for, Miss Pilqvist?"

"Sweetie, I already told you, call me Tildy. And yes."

That was the dialogue shared by Frida and her Witch mentor, Matilda Pilqvist, or Tildy as she preferred, while they were flipping some pages of a book.

"Now, this spell requires a ritual in order to work properly, so let's start by setting it up."

"R-Right... uh, Tildy?"

"Yes, sweetie?"

"I wanted to ask you something," Frida twiddled her fingers. "You're very knowledgeable about magical stuff, so I was wondering-"

"Yeah?"

"... Do you know about something called the Infinity Train?"

The older Witch faced Frida with a serious expression for a while... then smiled and nodded.

Frida perked up. "Really?!"

"The Infinity Train is a very big part of Witch culture: you see, several centuries ago-"

"No offense, Tildy, but I don't have all day. Could we skip to the important bits?" Frida twiddled her thumbs. "Like, what's the Train's purpose?"

Tildy smiled. "The Train serves as mobile therapist: once you go inside, you're taken through a fantastical journey to work out your issues and grow into a better person. But it also works as a punishment."

Frida grimaced. "Punishment?"

"If a Witch turns out to be too unruly, childish, or just outright unwilling to listen to reason, the Train is summoned so it can give them a reality check."

"I..." Frida lowered her head. "I see..."

Tildy tilted her head. "If you don't mind me asking, sweetie, why are you asking this peculiar question?"

"I have reason to believe..." Frida hesitated for a moment, but once she got her thoughts together, she finished. "Hilda's on the train as we speak."

Tildy hummed. "Did your friend Hilda show any troubles or issues? Attitude problems, peer pressure..."

Frida looked up as she tried remembering...

"Hilda, please follow the protocol."

Frida poked her head out from under her desk, just enough to see Hilda folding her arms and rolling her eyes.

"Take it from someone who's dealt with Trolls before: hiding under a desk won't help you during a Troll attack whatsoever."

Then, Hilda got off her desk. "In fact, the best thing you can do is avoid its attention, but that's easier said than done."

Frida frowned. "Hilda..."

"Trolls may not have visible ears, but they can hear very well," Hilda explained, oblivious to the teacher leaving her desk and approaching her. "Even the slightest twig break will catch their attention! And let's not get started on bells-"

"Hilda!"

The Bluette turned around, glaring at the woman as she growled:

"While I appreciate you wanting to... enlighten us, about Trolls, there's a time and place for everything."

"But this "hiding under the desk" nonsense is pointless!" Hilda put her hands on her hips. "Even if you could hide, the Troll could simply lift the desk and it'd find you."

The teacher pinched the bridge of her nose. "Hilda..."

"I mean, Trolls are many things, but blind isn't one of them."

Realizing the hole Hilda was digging with her words, Frida left her hiding spot and whispered: "Hilda!"

But it fell on deaf ears, just in time for Hilda to pridefully boast:

"I mean, take it from someone who's been living in the woods, surrounded by Trolls: if there's anybody here who knows how to survive a Troll attack, that'd be me!"

"Alright, that's enough!" the teacher snapped. "Head to the principal's office immediately!"

"She definitely has an attitude issue, among other things," Frida scratched her head. "But I don't think that'd be enough for the Train to pick her up, right?"

"Well, the Train usually picks up passengers with only one significant issue, but once in a while, it picks up someone with several underlying issues."

Frida grimaced. "S-Several... issues?"

"What I can tell you is that, despite being connected to Witch culture, the Infinity Train, for the most part, does its own thing." Tildy sighed. "If somebody has issues, no matter how many, the Train picks them up, and gives them a self-reflecting journey to deal with them."

Finally, Frida asked the most important question:

"You said the Infinity Train picks up people with multiple issues sometimes. Just out of curiosity... do they have a harder journey compared to the average passenger?"

Tildy took off her glasses and cleaned them while giving Frida the simplest of truths:

"The more issues within a person, the more work and effort is needed to deal with them. So, if you're asking if your friend Hilda's gonna have a hard time at the Train, because she has many issues... the answer's pretty much yes."

Speaking of Hilda, she finished changing into a setup for a bike race: a blue shirt with a "13" on the stomach, a pair of black fingerless gloves with matching shorts, a yellow helmet with her beret on top, and red skate shoes.

"I still don't understand why I have to change clothes into something more befitting a bike race," she commented. "I mean, the helmet I get, it can be a life saver, but why must I wear the rest of the setup?"

"The Infinity Train works in mysterious ways," Helga said, now sporting a similar setup, but with Green, Purple, and Orange instead. "The only thing we can do is try to play by the rules and hope things go well."

Helga quickly scanned the avaibale bikes for rent, then snapped her fingers and watched as Branch nodded and morphed into a small, sentient bike.

"Wha-Branch can turn into a bike?!" Hilda exclaimed before looking at Kelly. "Is that even legal?"

"As long as you have a bike, it's fair," Kelly sighed as she got on her bike and went to the starting line. "Now shut up and get a bike of your own."

Hilda pouted at the statement. However, she kept her priorities straight: she grabbed one of the bikes, stood uneasily on the seat, and began pedaling... before tilting too much to a side and plummeting to it, startling Twig.

One apology later, Hilda walked with her bike at hand, going straight to the starting line where four other people, Kelly and Helga included, stood ready for the start.

"What are you doing here?" Kelly growled.

"I'm gonna take part on the race, duh!" Hilda replied as she sat on the bike.

"I thought you said you were gonna practice?"

"The faster I get to the top three, the faster I can move on to the next car," Hilda sat uneasily on her bike and grabbed the handle. "Besides, nobody got anything done without taking risks!"

Kelly lowered her eyelids. "Did you put on some lipstick beforehand?"

"Haha, I'm too young to wear makeup, Genius," Hilda responded. "Why would you even ask me that?"

Kelly flashed a cocky smile. "'Cause if you're gonna kiss the ground, you might as well look pretty while doing it."

"Why you-!"

*BANG!*

The race proper started, and Kelly and the two riders to her right took off, leaving Hilda and Helga behind.

"Hey, wait a minute! I wasn't ready!"

"Nobody's ever really ready, Hilda," Helga remarked as she rode off. "Sometimes, you just gotta have fun while not thinking about it."

And as her copycat rode off into the distance, Hilda looked down at her pedals and took a deep breath. She put her feet on them, and began... well, pedaling.

She at first moved slowly, but the fact she hadn't hit her face on the ground already brought a smile to her face.

So she tightly gripped her handle and narrowed her eyes as she sped up, a cocky smile forming as she reached Helga.

"I thought you didn't know how to ride it without training wheels?" Helga asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, you did give me a hint on how to do it!" Hilda smirked. "I'm gonna have fun, not think about it, and win this race!"

Helga hummed and looked forward. "You'll do two of those things, at least."

And as the Bluettes came head-to-head, Kelly looked behind her and her eyelids lifted a bit at seeing Hilda not hitting the ground like she expected. Her riding was a little uneven, sure, but she was actually staying on the dumb bike.

Smiling at this turn of events, Kelly faced the track and sped up, leaving the pair to race each other for a while.

They weren't able to do many crazy tricks, since the race track was as simple as it came, but this only made them more determined to get ahead of the other, sporting smiles as they clashed.

And then, before the duo even knew it, they had crossed the finish line, the gunshot heard causing them both to stop and catch their breath.

They walked to a bench and put the bikes on the side, grabbing a water bottle and taking a sip of them as they sat down, joined by Twig and a detransformed Branch.

"I can't believe it... I rode a bike!" Hilda chirped while Twig waggled his tail by her side. "Without training wheels!"

Helga nodded. "That you did."

"And I didn't crash on the land, or tumble down the hill, or be sent flying by my bike exploding for no reason!"

"And," Helga took another sip. "You reached the finish line. I'm proud of you, Hilda."

Hilda smiled with a tiny blush. "Thanks."

"Good job out there, Hilda!" Alfur blurted, coming out of her hair.

"Oh, right, I keep forgetting you're in my hair, Alfur," Hilda snickered. "Was it a bumpy ride?"

"Not really, it was actually pretty pleasent."

After another sip of her bottle, emptying it in the process, Hilda stood up and looked around for the score... and once she did, she grimaced.

Hilda was in fourth place, above Helga but beneath Kelly and the minimum spot needed to go home.

"Fo... fo... fo..."

Twig walked to Hilda's side, but her suddenly clenching her fist startled him.

"Fofo... fofo... fo..."

"H-Hilda, c-calm down please," Alfur pleaded. "It's not as b-bad as it looks-"

Suddenly, Hilda yelled at heavens:

"FOOOOURTH PLAAAAACE!?"

"Is that so bad?"

Hilda snapped at Helga, whose calm smile slowly vanished, though she remained calm.

"Bad? Bad!? IT'S TERRIBLE!"

Helga rolled her eyes and kept drinking her water.

"The longer we stay on this car, the deeper the hole I dig, Helga: I need to leave as soon as I can!"

"Hey, you said you couldn't ride a bike if it didn't have training wheels, and not only did you prove otherwise, but you didn't end dead last like myself," Helga finished her drink. "Can't you take a moment to enjoy that little victory?"

"Oh I don't know," Hilda folded her arms and glared. "Can you take a moment to swallow your pride and admit you were wrong!?"

Helga crushed the water bottle with her bare hands, then threw it away as she stood up and asked a simple question, with the heaviest of tones:

"What are you saying?"

"You told me that we were going to ace this race and have fun!"

Helga gently jabbed Hilda's head. "I only said we were going to have fun. If we did wind up winning the race by complete accident, perfect, but that was never the intention."

"That was never the intention?! Sorry to break it to you, but we don't have all the time in the world!" Hilda yelled. "While we're stuck here racing a bunch of kids on bikes, my Mum must be having a heart attack wondering where the heck did I run off to! She can only take comfort in the idea that I'm in the wilderness for so long! At least, assuming that was her first thought!"

"If you knew that running off like this would've caused your Mum to panic, why did you do it in the first place?"

"Again with the vague questions, Helga!? We don't have time for this!" Hilda got on her bike again. "Come on, let's go back to the starting line! We gotta be ready for when the next race starts!"

"What you gotta do now is slow the heck down."

The Bluettes and co. turned around to see Kelly approaching them, the Marra grabbing Hilda's bike before it tumbled over.

"What are you still doing here!?" Hilda snapped as she got off her bike. "You reached the top three! I mean, just barely, yes, but that's better than nothing! You should be going on your own merry way right now!"

Kelly narrowed her eyes, and Hilda quickly got the message and shut her mouth.

"You know what? A part of me wants to go on. To leave this dang car and leave you two to sulk and figure things out for yourself, since a certain little someone has an attitude problem."

Hilda narrowed her eyes, while Helga glared disapprovingly... at Hilda. Which she was joined by Branch.

"But... your display just now was rather good," Kelly smiled. "Much more than what I expected from someone like you."

"Okay, are you complimenting me, or insulting me?" Hilda frowned. "Pick one."

"You'd be surprised at how easy it is for both to overlap," Kelly replied, her eye twitching slightly. "But anyway, think about it: this was the first time you rode a bike without training wheels, and not only did you manage to ride it without falling flat on your face, but you came inches away from entering the top three."

"Let's be honest there: with only four other people in that race, with one of them being Helga, getting the top three should've been easy and yet I missed!" Hilda put her hands on her hips. "Look, you might be having the time of your life here. The kids around us surely do. But I got better things to do than race in circles again and again for a chance to leave this stupid car!"

Kelly narrowed her eyes, clenching her fists more and more as Hilda refused to shut up:

"I don't need a lesson on how to bike without training wheels! I need to get out of this dumb train right here, right now!"

*SMACK!*

Hilda dropped to the floor as everybody gasped, Alfur falling off her hair and landing on Twig's back as they approached Hilda... just seconds before she was grabbed by her collar.

Twig and Branch snarled at Kelly, but the Marra just had to shot one green, glowing glare to get them both to stand back.

"Alright, you little brat, let me be crystal clear with you, because anything less just seems to go in one ear and out the other with you!" Kelly snarled at Hilda, grabbing and forcing her to look at the number on her palm. "You see this number? You see the very number on your palm? This number is a metaphysical chain! As long as this number is anything other than zero, you're trapped in this Train with everybody else! You wanna get out of here!? Get this number down to zero! That's the only way you're leaving this Gaia-forsaken Train!"

Kelly threw Hilda to the ground, the Bluette being surrounded by her companions as Kelly continued:

"And that's not all! Wanna learn how the number works? The more you act like an inconsiderate prick and refuse to face your issues, the higher it gets! And the more you act like an actual human being and deal with your problems, the lower it gets! That's the only way there is to change the number, and every time it changes, it'll glow, it'll let you know, and once it changes, it'll be up to you how much longer it takes for it to change again, and again, and again, until eventually, hopefully, maybe even miraculously, the number finally hits zero, and the portal back home finally opens up for you! But that's not something that happens in the blink of an eye! Change is gradual! Slow! It takes its time! You can't just rush it, because then you risk going back to square one, which means having an even longer stay at this stupid Train! And let me tell you something: with how big your dumb number is currently, I can tell you that whether you like it or not, you're gonna stay a long time here, understood!?"

*Sniff*

Kelly finally stopped her ranting and took a good look at the scene in front of her: Hilda was hugging Branch, while Twig laid by her side and Helga patted her back, Hilda herself letting out tiny, muffled whimpers while shivering.

Dang it, she went overboard again, didn't she?

"Listen, I didn't snap at you like I just did because I wanted to demoralize you or anything. That's the last thing I want to see happen on this Train to anybody, by my hand or not. No, I snapped the way I did, because sometimes, there's simply no other way to get people to get the message."

"But did you have to slap me!?" Hilda screamed, pointing at her slapped cheek, handprint included.

"No, that was to show you what happens when you test people's patience too much, and to also slap away your idea that you not only need to leave now, but that you can leave now," Kelly folded her arms. "Because the truth of it is, you can't. You can't leave the Train right now, you can't leave the Train wherever you want, and you can't force your number to go down to zero. Again, change is slow. It takes time. And we can't rush it, or else we waste time instead."

Hilda calmed down and wiped off her tears. "B-But... m-my Mum-"

"If you're worried about her getting too worried for your safety, then talk to her," Helga pointed out. "Send her a message, call her, just, try to communicate with her. Because having your phone and not letting your Mum know you're okay is the same as not having a phone and leaving her to guess whether you're fine or not."

Hilda took a couple deep breaths as the grouped slowly broke off from her, and she exchanged looks with Kelly, whose expression had softened into a true neutral look.

"The next race won't happen for a couple hours. Take that time to rest and figure out what you'll do-"

But before she could leave, Hilda grabbed Kelly's arm.

"Teach me."

The Marra turned around. "Huh?"

Hilda raised her head, and spoke:

"Teach me... what I'm doing wrong..."