Chapter 2 A Wall in the Desert

Maka, Soul, and Ches were riding the now functioning Runaway Express west. After Arachnophobia was destroyed Death had BJ repair and reprogram the fast moving train. Now it was used as a transport system for important missions when the people assigned can't fly, like Ches.

"This train is too slow we would be there by now if it was just us." Soul was grumpy from being forced to ride in the uncomfortable train. And he was right he and Maka would be there by now. After becoming a death scythe Maka learned how to use him in scythe form much like a witch uses a broom and could fly.
"Maka CHOP!"
"Ghaa!" Soul collapsed from the blow to the head that Maka had quickly delivered using the two inch thick book that Crona had bought her for her birthday.
"I told you Soul, stop being rude. Ches isn't a Deathscythe and his weapon mode has no flying capabilities"
Ches was sitting on the opposite end of the train cart with one headphone in as usual looked up at the mention on his name.
"What?"
"Nothing Ches just having an argument with Soul."
From what Ches saw of the aftermath he could see who the winner of the argument was.
Note to self. Do not get on Maka's bad side. Ches went back to staring out the window trying to think of something to draw.

The trio had been traveling for a day now. The Runaway Express was fast but it would still take about three days to get from Death City to their destination. Every night the train stopped for them to stretch and sleep. There was no way that they would be able to sleep at these speeds.

Maka looked up at the boy that she and Soul had been paired up with for the mission. He barely said a word unless spoken to. He sat there in his seat doing one of four things. He was ether staring out the window, drawing, reading from the seemingly endless supply of manga he pulled out of his duffle bag, or cringing from the pain of his legs which fell asleep easily.

"So Ches" Maka called "What kind of weapon are you? Soul is a scythe."
"Why do you want to know?"
"I think it would be wise for us to know each other's strengths and weaknesses to properly plot out our battle plan"
Ches gave an embarrassed smile "ah, well I promised myself not to reveal my weapon form to anyone until I find my meister."
Maka puffed out her cheeks and was about to complain
"But I will give you some hints. You two handle most of the offence, I will worry about defense and blunt attacks."
Maka sighed seeing she wasn't going to get much else out of the boy. Looking down to start reading again, but found she couldn't focus so she gave up and started to plan with the little amount of info she had been given. Frowning she pulled out a slip of paper and pencil from her bag and started making a list.

Soul started to recover and slowly got up from the floor. Grabbing the seats as he did so to steady himself. He sat down in the row across from Maka and observed as Ches had again started to panic at his narcoleptic legs.

The next day everyone was still doing their own things. Maka was making her battle plan, Ches was getting frustrated about a drawing that just wasn't working out, and Soul was sitting across from Maka reading the plan over her shoulder. His stomach started to growl.
"Hey!" he shouted. "Is there even any food on this train at least"
Maka rolled her eyes
"I think there is a dinner in the cabin behind us." piped Ches. "You could check there."
Soul grudgingly got up and left.

Several minutes later Soul came back in carrying a stack of steaming food that went three feet over his head.
"Ha-ha! Check what I found." He shouted excitedly.
No sooner had he said this did the train complete stop, going from 190mph to 0.
Soul went flying across the cabin, and if it weren't for the mass of food he was carrying cushioning the impact he probably would have died right there and then.
The cabin at the same time bucked being thrown into the air from the force of the stop. Maka grabbed the top of her seat to avoid slamming into the ceiling. Ches on the other hand wasn't so lucky. The train had piled in on top of its self, creating a jumble of cabins.

When the three of them finally got themselves out of the wreckage Soul had a massive lump in the center of his forehead which made his headband stick out an inch off his head, Ches had a few bruises and Maka was unharmed except for a single scratch she got from a stray piece of metal.

"What the hell happened?" Soul was mad. "Man BJ is going to kill us! He just got this hunk of junk fixed! How do you crash a freaking train against air!" He was pointing at the train which seemed to have crashed into a wall. The only problem was there was no wall just air. He turned to Maka waiting for an explanation and stopped dead in his tracks seeing the look on her face.

"What's wrong Maka?" Soul asked worriedly.
"It's soul wavelength." She said as she stared ahead. "The train had just hit a soul wavelength"
Ches had walked right up to where the train had stopped.
"How Maka there is no one out here?" Soul said as he gestured to the desert around him.
"It's coming from the city" Maka was still staring blankly ahead.
"WHAT! How is that possible? We are a good sixty five miles away from it.

Ches reached his right hand forward and put it past the point of impact. He quickly jerked his hand back screaming out. Both Maka and Soul turned to look at him.
"So much pain." Was all he said his hand dangling beside him. A large gash was spread across his palm dripping blood down his fingers into the sand.