A/N: And here we are: the infamous Ball Pit Car episode. But while things are a bit darker, there's also a bit more hope near the ending as well. And in case you're confused about what happened after the previous chapter, I plan on releasing M-rated chapters somewhat separate from the story called "Infinity Train: Reflected Relationship - Growing Pleasures" to cover what happened in-between certain chapters to avoid confusion. Rest assured, there will be more of those intermission chapters to cover as the story goes on.
Infinity Train: Reflected Relationship
Chapter 4: The Ball Pit Car
The next morning, Tulip and Lake groaned as they woke up and turned to each other, both apparently clothless, though only seen from the neck up as their bodies are in the water from the neck down, given their clothes strewn around at random spots near the lake. If anything, Tulip's hair was completely let down, but still cleaner compared to Lake's hair. Tulip yawned as she woke up.
"Last night was incredible, Lake...!"
"Yeah... I'll bet you wanna do it again later tonight, right?", Lake asked.
"Ohh, yeah...!", Tulip moaned eagerly in response.
Then, she realized something.
"Oh. But for now, we should probably get dressed.", Tulip suggested before she and Lake both turned and got out of the water, which dripped off them neatly before their clothes began to morph around them yet again.
Later, the two girls caught up to Atticus and One-One near the exit.
"Hey, guys.", Tulip greeted.
"Oh, there you two are.", Atticus said in relief.
"Where did you run off to last night?", Glad One asked.
"Just wanted to look at the new me. Lake seemed to like it.", Tulip replied, making her blush.
"Okay, let's get going to the next car.", Lake said, still blushing.
Later, Tulip, Lake, Atticus, and One-One arrived in the Ball Pit Car. In it, they saw a sort of gigantic indoor playground. They even saw a bee-like TV with wings as it showed a message saying, "Hey, you! Take off your shoes! Thanks, honey!". The two metallic girls grinned at this before they took their shoes off and put their shoes in shoeholders.
"So, what's it like, Lake?", Tulip asked.
"Hmm. No exit in sight...", Lake replied, looking around before One-One spoke up.
"Ms. Tulip, look at all these mums!", One-One said in excitement, looking at an assortment of red, yellow, and blue balls.
"I guess we could just stand here. Not moving. And give a real hard look. Out here, on the floor, where we won't be distracted. Again, without moving.", Tulip said before Lake spoke up.
"Or I suppose we could take a quick break to...", Lake began.
Very quickly, Atticus ran in and jumped into the ball pit. Tulip, Lake, and One-One excitedly jumped in.
"WHEEEEE!", Glad One shouted excitedly, swimming in colorful balls.
Atticus playfully and happily laid on his back amongst the balls, one of which was in his mouth.
"Now, this is the kind of thing I'm gonna miss when we get home.", Tulip said.
"Home? Weren't you trying to get to OshKosh?", Atticus asked.
"Well..., I mean, I was trying to get to Game Design Camp. But... it's over. Now, I just... kinda wanna go home?", Tulip guessed as Atticus played with his ball.
Lake just grinned to Tulip at this.
"Hey, Atticus? Thanks for sticking with me through all this.", Tulip thanked.
Atticus then spat the ball out of his mouth.
"A king needs to avenge the wrongs committed against his kingdom. Turning a blind eye to what that monster did isn't an option.", Atticus responded.
"But.. you don't need me for that. I've got a lot of stuff going on. Stuff that you don't have to deal with.", Tulip said.
But Atticus turned around and sat up, facing Tulip.
"Tulip, everything we have dealt with, we have dealt with as a team. I have never questioned our alliance or friendship, the latter of which I value more.", Atticus assured.
"Thanks... You're a good boy.", Tulip grinned, petting him.
"I'm a good man.", Atticus corrected.
Suddenly, a voice called out from nearby.
"Heroes! We need heroes!", an unfamiliar voice called out.
"He could be anywhere.", Glad One spoke, happening to be near the closest source of the voice, whose foot was sticking out.
"One-One, he's right there.", Lake chuckled before picking the source up, revealing him to be a live rabbit doll.
"Oh, my jeepers! Are you the champions I've been waiting for?", the rabbit doll asked.
"You're in luck. I am Atticus, King and Uniter of the cardigans and the pembrookes.", Atticus introduced.
"Well, I'm Khaki Bottoms and all of the cotton is rushing to my head.", Khaki introduced.
"Sorry, Mr. Bottoms. I'm Lake, this is my girlfriend Tulip, and this is One-One.", Lake introduced as she set Khaki down.
"My cotton is where it's supposed to be.", Glad One said.
"Look at you four! This is perfect! I have an artifact that needs to be returned to its sacred holdin' chamber... the Jiggle wiggle.", Khaki spoke, holding out a purple squishy item with colorful sparkles inside.
Tulip giggled as she touched it, making it shake slightly before Khaki laughed.
"Rewards await adventurers who are bold."
"Yeah, adventure... can't get enough of it.", Tulip sighed.
"Bottoms up!", Khaki shouted, leading the way.
"You guys can go ahead. I'll catch up.", Lake assured.
"You're not coming?", Tulip asked.
"Well, literally speaking, the place might get crushed if I come with you.", Lake warned.
"Oh. Yeah. I'll see you there.", Tulip said.
With that, Tulip and her friends followed Khaki up in the interior of the playroom until they reached the top.
"The first trial has claimed many.", Khaki said, presenting a slide with spinning noodles instead of steps.
Atticus inspected one of said spinning noodles and gasped as it spun.
"I can see why.", Atticus commented.
With that, Tulip carefully went up the slide.
"Ms. Tulip, without a helmet?!", Glad One asked in surprise.
"I live dangerously."
Of course, Tulip did make it, though not without landing on her side upon reaching the top.
"Ta-da!"
"They're gonna make a statue of her one day.", Khaki whispered.
With that, Tulip took off her jacket and set it down for her friends, allowing Atticus to bite into it with One-One and Khaki Bottoms hitching a ride on Atticus as she dragged the jacket upwards.
"We're also heroes!", Glad One shouted.
It wasn't long before all four made it to the top.
"We'll put that one down as a team effort.", Tulip grinned.
"Let's keep it up.", Lake grinned.
But Khaki jumped toward a hole.
"Wait!", Khaki shouted before making a sort of noise. "Force field. You're gonna have to solve the puzzle to deactivate it.", Khaki said, pointing to a tic-tac-toe game just near them by their left.
"We could be stranded up here for weeks. I'll split up the rations...", Sad One spoke before he and Glad One split up.
"I'll warn you. I'm gamy."
"Fear not, One-One. I've danced this tango once or twice before.", Tulip assured as she stepped forward with her jacket and put it back on.
With two red X's up front in 1 row, two green circles and one red X in another, and two green circles in the bottom row (albeit with nothing in the middle), Tulip held out her finger and pressed it against the 3rd tile on the top row, turning it into a red X before looking back with a smirk.
"A bold move!", Atticus said.
Khaki made a power down sound.
"Okay, it's safe to go now.", Khaki said before hopping off.
"After you, champion", Khaki invited as Tulip went in first, followed by Atticus, and One-One with Khaki the last one in.
The 4 went in through a climbing slide and then a slide with nets, and finally, a usual slide as they slid down into a different room.
"The final test... the punching bags of pain.", Khaki said.
Tulip turned to Lake, who gave a supporting nod with a grin before she then went through the noodles.
"There she goes!", Atticus said.
"Ohoho, wow!", Glad One spoke up.
"Well, it was nice knowing ya.", Sad One added.
Eventually, she made it through and held back the noodles with her arm.
"Yay!", Khaki squealed excitedly.
The other 3 made their way in, neither one aware that something monstrous zoomed by past the window.
"With courage and grace, a champion rises from the challenge.", Khaki beamed.
"Very cozy.", Atticus grinned.
"Oh, my jeepers! Thank you so much. I tell you, few eyes get to gaze upon this majesty, you are so lucky.", Khaki grinned, gesturing to not only his room where he sleeps, but also the prize time counter, which housed several objects, one of which is a Randall in a jar.
"And now, the artifact can rest.", Khaki said, setting the jiggle wiggle down on the cylindrical block. "And the world is made whole again! While heroism of your caliber can never be rewarded, your bravery must be recognized. You may select any of the...", Khaki began.
"Jiggle wiggle!", Glad One interrupted.
"An excellent choice! It's basically the most fun thing ever.", Khaki said, picking it up before handing it to Tulip, who squished it with her left hand only for it to slip off and land on her right hand.
"Oh. Neat."
Suddenly, the whole playground shook, catching the 4 off-guard. Tulip rushed to look outside and saw, much to her horror, metallic tentacles surrounding almost every inch of the playground, unaware that Lake, upon noticing them, had already went into hiding.
"Oh, no, no, no, no... We gotta go! Right now!", Tulip shouted.
But before she could, metallic tentacles also emerged from in-between the noodles.
"How do we get out of here?", Tulip asked in worry.
"Oh, but you just got here! And the feast of a thousand chicken nuggets...!", Khaki began.
"No. This is serious.", Tulip interrupted as she knelt down and put her hands on his shoulder. "Where's the exit?"
"All the way down, left, then right, you get to a slide and the door's just outside.", Khaki replied.
"You need to hide someplace safe, Khaki. Atticus, One-One.", Tulip said, turning to them.
"I think that...", Glad One began only for Tulip to shush him and shake her head before picking him up and putting him in her backpack.
But when she and Atticus looked, they saw several metal tentacles up ahead. Cautiously, as Tulip's massive chest shrank to a manageable size for this situation, they tred downward, cautious to avoid them, especially one of the tentacles that dangled down. They stopped for a while with Tulip giving the all-clear before slowly going around it. But after seeing it move for a bit, Tulip gulped nervously and then continued. The two then noticed more tentacles up ahead. However, as they tried to climb up, the jiggle wiggle only fell out of Tulip's jacket pocket and earned their gasps. Tulip tried to grab it only for it to squeeze out and bounce around right into one of the metal tentacles, which crushed it and then tore down the slide, causing all three to fall down and slide back on the ground. Before they knew it, the being responsible for its metal tentacles caught sight of the trio and prepared to fire rapid-fire lasers from its eyes.
"No!", Lake shouted as she suddenly sprang at it from out of nowhere with a lunge and guided it away from them as it fired lasers at random everywhere, mostly toward the ceiling and walls, nowhere near Tulip, Atticus, and One-One.
"Lake...", Tulip said in surprise.
"Tulip, One-One, it has been an honor, but now is the time for you to save yourselves.", Atticus urged.
"No, Atticus. Stay here.", Tulip urged worriedly.
"I didn't leave my kingdom on a crusade only to cower before my dragon.", Atticus only responded before leaping forward.
"Atticus!", Tulip shouted, reaching out for him.
Atticus growled as he expertly dodged the lasers and tentacles. He even went right inside the playground, bounced around in some areas, and even lured a metal tentacle right toward another, causing it to break one of its own. The monster then pulled back its broken tentacle to inspect the damage and turned towards Lake.
"Uh-oh."
The metallic entity then shook Lake off her before she landed.
"Run, Tulip, run!", Lake shouted.
It turned just in time to spot Tulip, who was starting to run with One-One only for the monster to charge toward her and grab her by the waist and make her drop One-One.
It prepared to fire again at point blank range only for sinus waves to sound from nearby, asking it to cease fire.
"Huh? That noise... Where did it come from?", Lake puzzled.
Sure enough, both Tulip and Lake saw a gigantic robot figure with sinus waves moving as it spoke.
"Huh...?", Tulip puzzled.
"This would've been so much easier for all of us if you had just stayed put. But instead, you go through car after car interfering with my plans, attacking my Steward for months. You even went so far as to let yourself be contaminated with some sort of mutating agent! And despite all of that, I still wanted to help you. I send the cat to offer you your tape to live inside your happiest memories, and what did you do with my gift? You reject it and you continue to march against me and now, look where you ended up.", the entity scolded.
"Who.. who are you?", Tulip asked in worry.
Just then, the cat walked up near the entity.
"Now that I've tracked them down for you..., may I go?", the cat asked in worry.
But the entity wasn't interested.
"Where's the robot?", the entity asked, making Tulip gasp before turning to see One-One shaking nervously.
"One-One, run!", Tulip urged.
Hurriedly, One-One rolled backwards into the playground. Lake could tell it was getting dangerous and rushed off after him to keep him safe.
"Bring the robot to me, and I give you your freedom.", the entity ordered.
"No!", Tulip shouted only for the steward's tentacles to wrap them around her to restrict her.
"I found them, that was the deal. I did my job.", the cat spoke up.
"Your job is to follow directions and I am directing you.", the entity corrected.
The cat meowed in worry before following after Lake and One-One. But the entity made sinus wave sounds before the Steward turned and fired at the playground left and right.
"AH! One-One! Lake!", Tulip shouted.
Unbeknownst to her, Lake was huddled underneath as she guarded One-One while the cat yowled in panic, trying to get to Lake in a panic, much to her own surprise. Unfortunately, something from above started to give way as it was damaged enough. Finally, it crumbled and was falling right towards the trio!
Outside, the entire playground collapsed, much to Tulip's horror and despair.
"LAKE! ONE-ONE!", Tulip shouted before the Steward brought her closer toward the entity.
"And that leaves you all alone...", the entity said.
"You killed my friends!", Tulip shouted.
"Let's talk about your friends. They didn't have to be here.", the entity scolded.
"What...?"
"They had a place on the train and you took them out of it. You brought them here; you put them in danger.", the entity scolded.
"They were trying to help me!", Tulip snapped.
"They were... and this is the result. All of this... is your fault.", the entity spoke, making Tulip upset as she started to shed tears.
"Oh... no more tears...", the entity only spoke, holding out a tissue for her and using it to fry Tulip's face.
Suddenly, Atticus leapt out and tore off a few wires from the entity, who only grabbed him as Atticus barked.
"Atticus, no!", Tulip shouted in worry.
"You WILL cease your journey."
"Why should I listen to you?!", Tulip snapped.
"Because I'm the conductor.", the conductor spoke before holding out a sort of laser cannon in its hand.
It then aimed at Atticus, much to her horror as she gasped. Atticus whimpered as he turned to her. And what's worse, the conductor fired at him at point blank range.
"OW!", Atticus yelped before the crown fell off him and the entity dropped him.
"Oof.", Atticus only spoke as he landed.
"ATTICUS!", Tulip shouted.
The conductor then made sinus wave sounds before the Steward then dropped Tulip, who whimpered as she rushed over to her fallen friend.
"Atticus..."
But as she looked toward the Conductor and the Steward, as she thought about what they just did to her friends, including her girlfriend, something else began to replace her sadness with an unprecedented emotion that proved to be dangerous time and time again as she set Atticus down on the ground. It was rage.
"RRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"
With a primal roar, Tulip charged toward the Conductor, her glasses falling off and getting shattered under the weight of her feet, but missed before she could hit the conductor and the Steward as they fled and the debris in front of the door landed.
"COME BACK HERE! YOU'RE NOT GETTING AWAY WITH THIS!", Tulip roared, going so far as to try to move the debris by herself, even starting to split it in half.
And she was close to doing it, too, when a voice called out.
"Tulip, calm down!", Lake shouted.
Hearing that prompted her to turn and see, much to her surprise, Lake and One-One in one piece.
"Lake...! One-One...!", Tulip said in relief, starting to shed tears as she ran over to them.
"Ms. Tulip!", Glad One spoke before he rolled over to her.
"You're both okay...! I thought I lost you guys...! But Atticus..., he...", Tulip said sadly.
"We better go check on him.", Lake suggested before the trio headed over.
But suddenly, Atticus groaned, suddenly springing back to life. But something was wrong. First, he sprouted a long, waving antennae, and next, his paws grew bigger and darker. It was then that the true horror settled in. The conductor hadn't really killed Atticus. Instead, he turned Atticus into a squealing, monstrous Ghom! The Ghom then leapt up and pounced on Tulip, who could only turn away in fear.
"Tulip!", Lake shouted.
The Ghom then began to drain Tulip away as she groaned. But suddenly, the Ghom stopped and turned away, much to Lake's surprise before she turned to see Atticus' crown just as Tulip gasped and crawled away. But as the Ghom was unable to keep its instincts at bay, it came after Tulip only for Lake to pounce on him and pull him away.
"Keep... fighting it..., Atticus! I know you're still in there!", Lake grunted.
But the Ghom still pursued Tulip, who ran off with One-One towards the exit door, especially with a crumbled yellow cone and window. Tulip rolled One-One out of the way and headed for the cone, stopping by its side. As soon as the Ghom caught up, Lake saw Tulip and the trap near her before gasping in realization. And just in time, too. When the Ghom charged toward Tulip, she dodged and prompted the Ghom to get inside and stop itself with its claws while turning. But before it can burst out, Tulip closed the window shut.
"Atticus... remember who you are...", Lake pleaded, holding out a crown.
Only then did the ghom finally stop attacking and calm down with a whimper.
"There we go... That's better...", Lake sighed.
Still, Tulip began to sob in grief and sadness and One-One and Lake went over to her and hugged her in comfort.
"It's okay to cry...", Sad One spoke.
"He stopped himself before he could drain you… Atticus is still in there.", Lake assured.
"Are you sure...?", Tulip said sadly, sniffling.
"Yeah. I think he'd still be trying to claw at the window by now if it wasn't true.", Lake replied, gesturing to a now complacent ghom.
Tulip could only give a sad giggle at this.
"I don't know how but..., it's like you always know what to say.", Tulip said.
"Well, the day we first met as actual people...? That's the happiest memory we could both have.", Lake responded.
Moved, Tulip kissed Lake on the lips again, surprising her. But the moment they embraced each other while kissing, as One-One and even the Ghom watched in awe, the chrome finally began to spread all over her lower body, not only making her butt and Lake's half as big as Tulip and Lake's respective chests, which grew to an M-seize cup again, but also making them taller with the both of them now standing in at 6 feet and 4 inches while Tulip's clothes began to morph into a sexier version, now resembling a sort of breast-less leotard suit, except with some fine cloth covering the top all the way up to her wrists for her arms and her neck for the top, at least, before the kiss stopped. Lake gasped in awe as she saw what happened to Tulip.
"The chrome... it's finally spread all over you...", Lake said.
Tulip was at least curious enough and was in awe over how she now appeared in complete chrome, and with a wardrobe change, no less.
"Wow… That was… amazing.", Tulip spoke in awe.
"I thought you'd like it.", Lake grinned.
Tulip smiled briefly before said smile dropped.
"So, what now?"
"We figure out how to cure Atticus together. No matter what.", Lake replied with determination as she and Tulip turned back toward a trapped Ghom Atticus, who whimpered while gazing upon the only key to his memory, a lone crown.
A/N: Well, looks like not only do we see Tulip completely covered in chrome, but we also see that Atticus still has a bit more semblance of himself to keep his Ghom instincts at bay. At least for now...