A/N: All right. I wanna go on record to say that this will be the last new story of 2024. Of course, in 2025, the Ben 10 story will be written in full effect to celebrate the show's 20th anniversary. And speaking of anniversaries, a friend brought this story idea to me and I'm writing this one to celebrate Infinity Train's 5th Anniversary in its honor.
Infinity Train: Reflected Relationship
Chapter 1: The Chrome Car
One day, Tulip opened a door and exited a room apparently full of colorful jelly beans onto a metal bridge. She rubbed and scratched several of them out of her hair and flicked a red one off across the bridge.
"Why are there so many cars where I end up picking stuff out of my hair?"
But no one had it worse than Atticus, who furiously scratched his back.
"You're telling me."
"Here, let me help.", Tulip offered.
She scratched Atticus' back and found one of the jelly beans stuck to his fur. To that end, she pulled out her red multi-tool out of her backpack and started searching through it for the necessary tool.
"Nail file... Tweezers... Mirror... Ah! Okay, hold still.", Tulip shouted as she finally found the scissors.
"I trust you.", Atticus replied.
With careful precision, Tulip cut a green jelly bean out of Atticus' fur.
"Success!"
Meanwhile, One-One popped up, covered in dozens of beans.
"Ooh! Me, next!", Glad One shouted.
"This is my cocoon now.", Sad One added.
Tulip chuckled and flicked the green-colored bean at One-One, knocking the jelly beans off of him, making the multi-personality robot giggle. Then, she opened the door to a chrome-colored train car with various geometrical shapes spaced out and smooth surfaces, all made of chrome.
"Whoa! Everything is chrome."
"I don't think anything will stick to our hairs here.", Glad One said, despite the fact he literally doesn't have any hair.
A moment after, Tulip slid across the floor.
"It's like a skating rink, but with mirrors! It's like a.. vain person's skating rink?"
Meanwhile, Atticus stared at his reflection.
"Who is that dog beneath me?! How has he obtained the Imperial Crown of Corginia?!", Atticus barked.
"Atticus, that's your reflection.", Tulip stated.
"This is terribly embarrassing. I..."
WOOF! WOOF WOOF WOOF! WOOF!
"I just-"
BARK! BARK BARK BARK! BAAARK!
"Ugh..."
Later, the trio slid down a triangular structure and laughed at their reflections in warped mirrors. Tulip approached the exit, but when she tried to open it, it wouldn't budge. She struggled for a moment before sighing.
"I guess we're dealing with another locked door or puzzle, or... Oh! Man, do you guys remember...?"
Suddenly, Tulip noticed that her reflection wasn't moving with her at all. If anything, it was staring back at her.
"WOOOOOOW!", Tulip yelped, backing away from the door.
"No, I don't remember, 'WOOOOOOW!'", Glad One replied.
"My memory has been terrible ever since the change.", Sad One added.
"What change?"
"My new haircut, didn't you notice?", Sad One asked.
"No, look! My reflection isn't moving with me!"
"GGGRRRR!", Atticus growled.
"Are your reflections broken, too?", Tulip asked.
Suddenly, her reflection spoke up.
"I'm not broken."
"WOOOOOW! You're alive?!", Tulip reacted before realizing what embarrassing things she must've done in front of her reflection.
"Oh, no. I'm sorry about all the times I've picked my nose in front of you."
"Not gonna lie, that was gross.", the reflection chided.
"Do you know why I can't open the door?"
"Doors work differently in this car. I have to be the one to open them with you as my reflection.", the reflection answered.
"This isn't gonna suck me into a loop of my own memories, is it?", Tulip asked cautiously.
"Nah. We place our foot on the ground at the same time in the opposite direction. Then we can cross the barrier into each other's world.", the reflection answered.
"I don't know about this world-switching business.", Atticus said worriedly.
"Well, if you want to stay in this car forever, fine by me... But it's gonna get real boring, real quick. Trust me."
Tulip thought for a moment before coming to a decision.
"Hmm. Yeah. I can't just stay here."
Then, she turned to her reflection.
"Okay."
"On three. One...", the reflection began, raising her right foot.
"Two..."
By that point, Tulip raised her right foot as well.
"Three!"
At the count of three, Tulip and her reflection stepped at the same time, shifting and switching places, unaware that a small piece of the chrome world had latched onto her right glove. Nevertheless, Tulip gasped as she saw what the other realm had to offer.
"Woooow."
"Tulip, are you all right?!:, Atticus asked cautiously.
Tulip knelt closer to Atticus as she answered.
"Yeah! It's just... Colder?"
She turned and saw that her reflection had now turned chrome as her reflection saw this for a moment.
"Heh! Ready to open the door?"
Then, the two walked over to their doors on different planes.
"One... the reflection spoke, placing her hands on the handle.
"...two..."
Tulip placed her hands on the handle just as the reflection did.
"Three!"
In unison, Tulip and her reflection turned the handle at the same time, and the door finally opened. The reflection was in awe at what awaited outside the door.
"Oh."
"Wow, thanks, Mirror Me! Do we do the same thing to switch back?", Tulip asked as the reflection walked away.
Unfortunately, while it turned out that, as helpful as it was, the reflection had an ulterior motive.
"Oh. That's how we switch back... I didn't say I was going to switch back."
Tulip and Atticus gasped in shock.
"I haven't come this far on the train to get bamboozled by my own reflection!"
"Excellent use of 'bamboozled,' Old Tulip!", Glad One congratulated.
"I'm not 'Old Tulip!'", Tulip snapped.
"'Former Tulip' it is.", Sad One said.
As ulterior as her motives are, her reflection carried no intention of replacing Tulip at all.
"You can keep calling her Tulip, because I'm not her, and I'm not living her life anymore. I don't have to do your stupid coding anymore.", the reflection began as she took her glasses off and crushed them with her hand.
"I don't have to eat your stupid onions anymore."
The reflection even removed and tossed her backpack aside, just missing Atticus, who ducked before she even undid and ruffled her hair.
"Woooaaah! I'm gonna explore the world on my own! I'm gonna touch a tree, or, like, smell something! What's something that smells good?"
"Let's see... asphalt, gasoline, sulfur... Other petroleum-based products...", Sad One suggested poorly as Tulip's reflection nodded eagerly nonetheless.
"If my reflection is a separate person..."
Then, it hit her. She gasped and then turned to the reflections of Atticus and One-One.
"Can you guys talk, too?"
Sure enough, One-One's reflection turned to Tulip to answer her.
"Salutations."
While One-One's reflection was refined, however, Atticus' seemed more like a jumpy, easily frightened version of the real thing.
"Um, hello... Hi."
WOOF! WOOF! WOOF!
"Noo! Not again!", Atticus reflection yelped.
"Can you guys get me back up to my world?", Tulip asked.
"I don't know! It's basically my first day! I've only been reflected in a river before, and he keeps barking at me!"
RRRWOOF! WOOF WOOF!
Suddenly, Tulip noticed something on her right glove: a lone, chrome drop-shaped spot.
"Huh? What is that?", Tulip puzzled.
She tried to shake it off, but it wouldn't budge. Even worse, it began to grow bigger until it could barely fit in the palm of her gloved hand.
"What the...?! Do you guys know what's going on with that?", Tulip asked worriedly.
But the reflections of her two friends only shook their heads (or at least, Atticus' reflection did while One-one's reflection only spoke).
"I'm afraid I'm not certain. However, I've already alerted Reflection Enforcement. They should know something about this predicament. And in the meantime, they'll bring her to justice.", One-One's reflection replied.
But Tulip's reflection heard this and gasped in shock.
"You called the flecs on me?! You little jerk!"
Just like that, sirens blared as Reflection Enforcement police cars approached in the Mirror World. Tulip's reflection gasped and ran away. In the meantime, an ambulance arrived next to the car while 2 Reflection Medics quickly exited and brought over two gurneys over to Tulip, Atticus' reflection, and One-One's reflection. The medics picked up the reflections of One-One and Atticus, placed them on the gurneys, wrapped them in chrome blankets, gave them each a hot chocolate with One-One's reflection even drinking it, and rushed them into the ambulance just as the doors to the police car opened. From the car, out stepped two Reflection Enforcement agents, Mace and Sieve, who walked towards Tulip.
"You Tulip Prime?", Sieve asked.
"Y-Yes... I think. Don't arrest me! She said I had to switch to open the door!", Tulip shouted.
"No need to explain. Slivers will do anything to get what they want.", Mace said coldly.
"Slivers?", Atticus puzzled.
"Cracked reflections. We call them Slivers. Get it?", Sieve asked, ruffling Tulip's hair and making her frown.
But then Mace noticed a chrome spot on her hand.
"Hold on. Your hand. Let me see it.", Mace said, gesturing to it.
"Uh..., okay.", Tulip puzzled.
When she held it out, Mace noticed the chrome spot on her glove.
"This doesn't look good. We're gonna have to go above. You three. Make sure her condition's stabilized.", Mace instructed.
"Huh?", Tulip puzzled before she was taken to a similar gurney and placed there.
"What's going on?", Tulip asked.
"You've been tricked into coming here and already, you've been infected.", Mace replied bluntly.
"Infected?! With what?!", Tulip asked worriedly.
"Chrome. Once it fully envelops you, well, let's just say might not live to tell the tale if you try to get back now.", Sieve replied.
"In other words, you won't be human anymore.", Mace added.
"What...?!", Tulip gasped.
"Fortunately, there is still time for you. In the meantime, we'll handle the matter with your 'former reflection'. Sieve, get the skins... and the sander.", Mace instructed.
The two flecs then began walking to the back of the cop car.
"Whoa! Hey, man, do we really need the sander for this?", Sieve asked.
But Mace quickly pushed Sieve against the car.
"You want that little defect running around in the Prime World while her Prime is confined to life in the Mirror World? We keep the barrier intact. You got that?", Mace asked.
"I got it. I got it.", Sieve said before Mace released him.
"Put the Prime in the ambulance. She should be able to have her condition treated for the time being.", Mace instructed.
Tulip was then taken to the ambulance with the reflections of Atticus and One-One.
"Hey, stop!", Tulip shouted.
One-One and Atticus followed them, but they appeared underneath them, as they were still in the Prime World.
"Miss Tulip!", Glad One shouted.
"What are you doing with her?!", Atticus growled.
"Relax. She's being taken in to be treated for her chrome condition so she can still be a Prime when she gets back. Besides, she doesn't wanna be around for this."
Sieve paused for a moment as Mace leaned over to talk to Tulip near the side of the ambulance.
"If your reflection doesn't turn herself in, we'll find her and we'll polish her down to a pile of nothing.", Mace warned as he opened the doors to the back of the police car to fetch certain tools.
"A pile of nothing?", Tulip puzzled.
Then, she gasped as she realized something.
"You can't kill her! I just thought she'd go to jail or something!"
"That shatter, that sliver is not a person. And what's worse, she already had you infected with chrome that will only spread if it's not treated quickly. She exists to reflect your existence, and if she isn't serving that purpose... then we'll make sure she doesn't exist at all. Get this Prime treated A.S.A.P. and get outta my sight.", Mace instructed before Sieve started closing the ambulance doors one at a time.
"Hey!"
By then, Sieve shut the doors and walked away.
"Let me out! Come on, you can't do this!"
The ambulance then started to move.
"No, stop!"
Atticus and One-One chased after her, still in the Prime World.
"Tulip!", Atticus shouted.
"No!"
But through the window, Tulip spotted her reflection running across the room.
"Hey!", Tulip shouted out before staring down at the lock on the door handle.
"Huh?"
Getting an idea, Tulip pulled her multi-tool out of her backpack and used one of the tools to fidget with the lock. At the same time, Sieve and Mace, in the front seats with the latter driving, turned and saw Tulip bursting out the ambulance and running off.
"The Prime unlocked the door!", Sieve shouted in surprise.
"What?!", Mace exclaimed.
Quickly, Mace hit the brakes, stopping the car, while Tulip rushed over to Atticus and One-One. She paused for a moment.
"Stay here and keep them distracted!", Tulip urged.
She then ran towards where she saw her reflection, and Sieve hurriedly unstrapped himself from his seat.
"Stop!", Mace shouted before Sieve paused as instructed. "That Sliver just doesn't know all the rules yet. Suit up."
Mace then opened another door in the police car, with Sieve standing behind him. He opened a case labeled "¡OBSERVE OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY STANDARDS WHEN ENTERING THE PRIME WORLD!" on the top and "ALWAYS USE THE BUDDY SYSTEM" on the bottom. The case contained white gloves and masks that resembled white-colored human faces. The flecs put these on, and Mace cracked his neck and grabbed the sander, turning it on for a second. Atticus and the two halves of One-One appeared underneath and in front of them.
"Remain where you are, gentlemen! I am a pacifist by nature, but a warrior by necessity.", Atticus warned.
"I'm a robot!", Glad One urged.
The flecs knelt and began pushing into the Prime World, causing Atticus to bark at them.
Meanwhile, Tulip ran only to pause and gasp as she noticed her reflection at the entrance to the train car. Of course, she hurried over to her reflection, sliding on her knees to reach the entrance, but, because she's in the Mirror World, she couldn't do anything.
"Stop! You can't leave me trapped here!", Tulip shouted.
"If it means I get to be free... Heh... then I'm doing it."
But the moment her reflection took a step outside, her right foot appeared stuck. Struggling, she tried to pull it off of the ground, but she ended up falling onto the bridge. Desperate, she tried to crawl out, scraping at the metal, but it was no use. She couldn't get free, not even if she wanted to. She noticed a red jelly bean near her head and grabbed it. Sadly, she crawled back inside of the train car, sitting against a side of the open door with her head tucked into her knees, and stared outside, and then toward the small red bean in her hand for a moment before Tulip knocked on the wall.
"Hey, I can help you if you talk to me."
"That's funny, coming from you.", the reflection chided.
"Huh? Well, what is that supposed to mean?!"
"I have to do everything you do, remember? You're always in your room ignoring everyone. You never ask for help."
"I'm not ignoring everyone. I can just handle my problems myself! That's completely different!", Tulip argued.
"Skipping texts from Mikayla? Pretending you couldn't hear Mom because, 'Sorry, I was just so busy making my game!' Just go away, Tulip! That's what you do best!"
A moment of silence passed, and Tulip, finally realizing the errors of her ways, inadvertent as they are, took off her glasses and sighed.
"Okay, you're right. I don't like asking for help when I have a problem. I guess I should. But that proves you should be talking to me now!", Tulip advised as she put her glasses back on and placed a hand against the wall. "I don't want those mirror police to hurt you."
"Who cares what they do to me?! I can't step outside! There aren't any reflective surfaces out there! And besides, you got chrome on you. If you try to get back now, who knows what could happen to you...?"
The reflection sniffled, wiping her eyes with her arm.
"I don't even have a name. I'm still nothing. I'm nothing at all."
"No. You're someone!"
Tulip thought it over for a moment.
"If we switch back, I think I can get you a new mirror."
Her reflection hesitated for a second, but nevertheless, she decided to trust Tulip. Both girls pressed their hands against the wall in the same spot at the same time, and switched. But when they did, she suddenly found her right hand melted and stretching toward the ground.
"AAAH!", Tulip yelped in surprise from seeing this.
"Whoa... Most of you still made it through. I guess the chrome only keeps the parts of your body it spread to from crossing over.", the reflection said.
Unexpected as it was, Tulip still saw some hope.
"Then, I just need a reflection of my own.", Tulip said.
Hard as it was, she found her multi-tool and was able to find a mini mirror.
"Let's hope this works.", Tulip said in slight relief.
She managed to stick out the mirror and place it on where her right hand was stretching out, causing the long rope to stretch and reform back into her right hand, albeit in a chrome color.
"It worked...", Tulip's reflection said.
"Yeah. It did. And if it worked for me, it can work for you.", Tulip assured as she removed the small mirror, revealing behind it another one before she moved the detached mirror into her glove at the back of her hand for the time being.
Later, she and her reflection ran towards the exit, close to where the heads of the two flecs are in the Prime World, the rest of their bodies still in the Mirror World. Atticus was biting the right hand of Sieve, and the halves of One-One had partially melted the flecs.
"Bad dog! Bad dog!", Sieve scolded.
"Hello, Miss Tulip! We're melting people!", Glad One spoke, holding Sieve's head.
"So, what's new with you?", Sad One added, holding Mace's head.
At that point, Tulip's reflection sprinted past them.
"There goes the Sliver!", Mace exclaimed as Tulip grabbed One-One's halves and continued running as Atticus followed.
"We gotta go!"
Mace knew something had to be done to put Tulip's reflection down and fast.
"You stay here in the Prime World, I'm going after that Sliver!", Mace ordered.
"But the Buddy System! The Buddy System!", Sieve urged.
But Mace only pushed himself back into the Mirror World and ripped off his mask, revealing his orb-like head with a mouth. He then chased after Tulip's reflection while Sieve pushed the rest of his body into the Prime World, leaving his mask on.
"Aw, geez!", Sieve groaned as he caught up after Tulip, Atticus, and One-One.
He was catching up to her, and Atticus was ahead while Tulip looked toward her reflection.
"Okay! Ready?", Tulip asked.
"Ready!", was the reflection's reply just as Atticus pounced on an unsuspecting Sieve, who was knocked over. Tulip placed the second mirror from her multi-tool on the floor above her reflection.
"Now! You're your own reflection!", Tulip shouted.
But the sound of the sander startled both girls, and they looked over to see Mace, who chuckled as he shredded his toothpick, making it smaller and earning the reflection's worried gasp. A moment afterward, he charged at Tulip's reflection, ready to shred her with the sander. Worried, Tulip looked toward her metallic right hand, closed it into a fist and grunted with a fierce look of anger. Just as Mace charged and tried to shred her, Tulip suddenly crossed over to the mirror world and struck Mace right in the head, knocking him to the ground in just one blow, especially moving him a few feet away from her reflection.
"Eat that, Flec!", Tulip shouted as her reflection looked in awe.
"I can't believe you just did that...!"
"I know. I can't believe it, either. Now, come on!"
Hurriedly, Tulip's reflection stepped onto where the mirror is in the Prime World, and, much like earlier with Tulip's right hand, her idea worked. The reflection braced herself as she was being lifted up by Tulip from the other side, a clear sign of her entering the Prime World. But as she started to pull, Mace only managed to cut the majority of her hair off, giving her little more than a haircut. Tulip now held her now freed reflection by the ankles, somewhat struggling with her left hand while her right seemed to have no problem.
"I'm out.", the reflection said in surprise.
"Okay, time to stand on your own two feet, please!", Tulip urged.
Meanwhile, Sieve was once again being bitten on the hand by Atticus.
"Get him off me!"
Before he knew it, Atticus ripped off Sieve's glove and tossed it. Instead of a hand, Sieve was left with a melted mess that seemed to attach to the floor, much like Tulip's right hand moments ago. Atticus ran towards Tulip, her reflection, and the exit, with neither Mace nor Sieve far behind.
"Let's go!"
Unfortunately, both Sieve and Mace rushed to the door. While Mace slid on his knees, Sieve continued running. With Sieve left without a reflective surface and Mace still in the Mirror World, neither Flec was able to chase after the group.
"You let a Sliver out into the Prime World?!", Mace shouted.
"Get back here!", Sieve shouted.
Tulip's reflection stopped running for a moment and turned towards the flecs. She pulled out the red jelly bean from earlier out of her pocket and flicked it, hitting Sieve in the head before it landed on the ground near Mace, who roared in a violent rage and pounded on the floor while Tulip's reflection laughed.
Then, she, Tulip, and Atticus kept running until they reached the next door. Tulip opened the door, and she and her reflection quickly slammed it shut after they've all made it safely inside. But very quickly, they found themselves in a train car that appeared to be a bank with people made of pencils in it.
"Huh?"
The pencil people all turned to look at the newcomers, seeming shocked. One man even dropped the pen he was holding.
"Sorry, everyone!", Tulip apologized with a nervous laugh.
Soon, the pencil people resumed their activities and Tulip breathed a sigh of relief. Her reflection walked past her, looking around the train car, enamored with what it had to offer.
"Oh, man...", the reflection said in awe.
"Aw, yeah. This is such a boring car to see first.", Tulip said.
But it wasn't quite boring for her reflection, not in the least.
"Are you kidding?! This is so cool! Do you think they'll let me open an account? Will I get a checkbook?"
She then noticed a pen with a chain attached to it on the desk and picked it up excitedly.
"Look! Oh, it's those little pens on chains! I used to get so motion sick when I'd have to reflect in these."
Then, she paused, dropped the pen, and stared at the bottom of her right boot, which still had Tulip's multi-tool mirror stuck to it. She slid it up to her right shoulder as Tulip walked towards her. Then, Tulip slid the mirror off of the multi-tool, letting it attach to her reflection.
"Here. Now no one can keep you trapped ever again.", Tulip assured.
"Heh. Thanks, Tulip. Especially for giving that Flec a well-deserved shot in the chops, too.", Tulip's reflection thanked.
Tulip simply shrugged. But then, she saw the chrome starting to spread from her right hand up to her elbow.
"This isn't gonna be much of a problem, is it?", Tulip asked worriedly.
"I don't know. But I do know one thing. You've saved me from those Flecs. So, the least I could do is help you with your chrome thing.", the reflection offered.
Hearing that, Tulip blushed madly and turned away, still looking toward her reflection.
With that, Tulip, her reflection, Atticus, and One-One left the car as the door shut behind them.
"Who cares what the train thinks? Only you control your life.", Tulip's reflection assured.
"Thanks. Uh..., you know, we really need to come up with a name for you.", Tulip said.
"Why not Chromy?", Glad One asked.
"I believe 'Metallica' could be the right name.", Atticus suggested.
"Okay. That first one? That's a little funny, but the second? It sounds cool, but... it doesn't really fit her. Maybe we should reflect on those. No pun intended. Speaking of which, I remember when I used to go to the lake at times when I wanna think about stuff.", Tulip said.
Then, it hit Tulip's reflection. A perfect name for her.
"How about Lake?", the reflection suggested.
"Lake?", Tulip puzzled.
Then, she turned to One-One and Atticus.
"I like that name.", Glad One grinned.
"I like Chromy, but Lake will do.", Sad One said.
"Quite simple, but effectively fitting.", Atticus agreed.
Tulip then grinned and turned to her reflection.
"Okay. Lake, it is.", Tulip grinned.
Lake nodded to Tulip in response. They all stood for a moment as Tulip sighed and finally pulled off her glove to check her hand. She closes her eyes, scared to look, but opened them anyway. When she did, she was surprised to find that her number was changing, despite her hand now being made entirely of chrome. It landed on 3, and Tulip stared at it in wonder.