Author's Note: A little warning for people reading this that eating disorders are discussed in this chapter, specifically bulimia and anorexia. I changed the rating of the story just to be safe, but I still wanted to put a warning here.

Chapter Four: The Food Pyramid Car

A week had passed since Brooklyn Hayes first boarded the train. After their bonding experience in the Blindfold Car, Brooke, Zac, and Oliver had all grown quite fond of each other, even if Brooke was still hesitant to call the human and the corgi her "friends". However, Oliver still had the tendency to get into quite a bit of trouble. This reached its' breaking point when the gang entered a car that had a literal food pyramid in it. From the waffle cone walls to the saltine cracker floors, Oliver just wanted to eat everything. On the flip side, Zac noticed that Brooke hadn't eaten much since she had gotten on the train, but was eating an uncomfortably large amount of food in this car.

"Why are you eating so much food, Brooke? Don't you feel uncomfortable eating that much?" asked Zac.

"I'm trying to get my number down. I thought we agreed that making ourselves uncomfortable is what causes that" whined Brooke.

"I don't think that making yourself sick is what will get your number down."

Even though Zac meant no harm when making that comment, Brooke did not take this comment well. "So I'm making myself fat for nothing? Oh dog, everyone at school is going to murder me once they see how fat I've gotten!"

"That's not what I meant!"

"Don't lie to me like that. You think I'm fat just like everyone else. I'm trying my best to lose as much weight as I can."

"I don't think you're fat. You look great just the way you are. If anything, you are quite underweight. Wait, is that why you haven't been eating much on the train?"

Brooke nodded.

Zac sat down next to Brooke and put his hand on her head. "Girl, you don't have you starve yourself just to lose weight. You just have to choose the right things to eat, and make sure you get plenty of exercise. Now that I think about it, we've both gotten way more exercise than usual while on this train".

Brooke couldn't help but smile at Zac's comment. "You know, maybe my eating habits do need to change…"

Suddenly, Brooke's number went down to 213. She tried to figure out why it went down, but eventually, she just told Zac "Maybe talking about food gets our numbers down, too?"

"My number didn't go down during that conversation."

"Well your number is like, half of mine. So maybe it gets more challenging to lower it after to certain point?"

Zac shrugged. Suddenly, they heard a friendly adult male voice.

"Don't forget about me!" said the voice.

Zac and Brooke quickly turned around and found the source of the voice. It was… Oliver?

"What's with the voice change, Oliver?" asked Zac.

"Oh nothing, it's just puberty" said Oliver, apparently. He then let out an inexplicable yawn. Brooke quickly noticed something in his mouth.

"Gigi, what are you doing inside Oliver's mouth? What are you doing on this train, for that matter?"

The creature inside Oliver's mouth was confused by Brooke's comment. "You must have been mistaken" the creature said. "My name is actually Perry. Think of me as something like an obedience trainer for your dog, only cuter!"

Zac was skeptical about this creature. "Perry? Is that short for 'parasite'? You certainly seem to act like one, given that you just jumped into our friend's mouth without his permission."

"I'm not a parasite" said Perry. "I just have that name because it's cute. I'm cute!"

"I've got to admit, you are pretty cute" said Brooke. "You remind me of the pet cricket I have back at home".

"You have a pet cricket?" asked Zac. "A cricket seems like a pretty strange choice for a pet."

"Where I come from, they are perfectly normal".

Zac just took Brooke's word for it. Oliver sat right next to the door, waiting for the passengers to open the door for him.

Perry made Oliver say "I'm ready for adventure when you are!".

The next car they entered was the Mashed Monster car, a car full of partying monsters. The car was definitely not Brooke's cup of tea, so she wanted to leave the car as soon as possible. Oliver, or more specifically Perry, on the other hand, was already partying with the monsters. "Guess we might as well stay here and have some fun" said Zac. Soon, Zac and Brooke were partying as well. They had lots of fun bursting piñatas, playing pin the tail on the donkey, and of course dancing. Their numbers even went down a bit as they enjoyed themselves at the party. Then Perry started making Oliver eat candy.

"What are you doing, Perry? Dogs can't eat candy!" said Zac.

"Where I come from, they do!" retorted Brooke.

"I already know that animals work differently where you come from, Brooke!"

"There's no need to argue" said Perry. "Oliver has just turned over a new leaf!"

Oliver then proceeded to throw up, vomiting out Perry along with the candy he made him eat.

"Oh god, let's get Oliver out of this car so he can let out all that sugar without making such a mess" said Zac. He then carried Oliver out of the car, with Brooke following close behind.

"Wait, don't leave me here!" said Perry. Everyone else ignored him, and the door closed behind the passengers as they left.

As Oliver kept puking off the bridge that connected the two train cars, Zac and Brooke both felt guilty.

"I can't believe I let that parasite control Oliver's body. It was clearly making him feel uncomfortable" said Zac.

Brooke sighed. "I can't believe I feel bad for Oliver, too. I usually find it funny or just don't care when other pets get sick at parties. But now I just have this strange feeling that allows me to … understand how he feels? This can't be right!"

Suddenly, another car moved in front of the one they were about to enter. The door opened on its' own and out came … the same cat Brooke saw in the beach car?

"It's called empathy" said the cat. "Come, let me show you inside. You need to pay me back for the advice I've given you".