Posting Order

1. Gummy
2. Tenma
3. Aislynn
4. Doge

I'll interject as needed for responses with NPC's or to decide on outcomes of actions in others post. Long conversations between two PC's should be done in a cooperative single post.

“My name’s Jeff.”

Now that we’ve gotten that taken care of, let’s get right into it. Jeff Pierce was a strange young man from the streets of Brooklyn, New York. He’d waste time walking around the same few blocks taking the occasional physical assault from the local gang members, if he felt lucky. He’d spend his night sleeping next to a trash can in some alleyway… despite owning the nicest house in the neighborhood.

“Man, youse wastin’ time on this kid.” One of the muggers sighed. “Kid’s got his paws on the biggest crib in da hood, with security guards and dat, but he walks down da streets with dis nasty shoe game of his like it’s nobody’s business.”

“Yeah, boss,” another mugger snickered. “Kid’s piss broke. No wallet, no car keys, nuttin.”

The first mugger scoffed, punting his victim’s skull one last time. “I don’t get ya, kid. It’s like you come up to these streets over and over without any cash on ya. It’s like y’all looking for an ass-whooping.” As the two gangsters turned to leave in the other direction, one of them spat in Jeff’s eye, causing him to wince. Out of the corner of his other eye, he noticed both of his assailants getting on smaller versions of EcoCrafts.

“Ugh… that was... less than pleasant.” Jeff cried. “That’s going to leave a mark.” With a twitchy black eye, and with a malfunctioning Micro AR, to boot, the boy started limping back to his trash can. About 15 minutes later, Jeff ran into a tall, well-dressed older fellow who clearly didn’t belong in this atmosphere Just one glance was all it took for Jeff to realize exactly where this man hailed from.

“How did you find me?” Jeff snarls at the man. “And more importantly… why are you here?”

“Master Geoffrey, if I may… Your mother has never taken her eyes off you. However, to answer your query…” the butler reached for his pocket and pulled out a sealed envelope. “This letter arrived at the estate earlier today, and I was instructed to deliver this letter personally rather than through the postal system or through e-mail.”

Jeff’s eyes burst wide open in surprise upon realizing the origin of the wax-sealed envelope. “This is… Is this from Casper!?” He exclaimed, roughly snatching the letter from the butler’s hands.

“It appears so, Master Geoffrey. The crest on the seal matches the academy’s crest. As for its content, I’m obviously not privy to it.”

“So no one knows what’s inside?”

“It is so, Master Geoffrey.” The butler nodded. “Your mother said that she has no reason to open it, since she already knows the results.”

Jeff opened the envelope and a giddy smile immediately carved its way up his cheeks. “Looks like I’m in!” With that said, Jeff pulled a dirty hoodie out of the trash can beside him and wrapped himself around it as if it were a blanket, studying the many stipulations that the school had asked of him. “Hey, Gramps… Did Mother ever disclose the fact that I’ve been hiding out in Brooklyn?”

“Not that I know of, Young Master. Such intimate affairs would only damage your house’s reputation were they to ever come to light. Why do you ask?”

“The SSB tickets included with the letter are for a ‘one-way trip from Brooklyn’… I wonder how the staff found out I was in town.”

“It is but a trifling subject,” the butler assured him. “The entire academy has close ties to the government, so having intelligence on the handful of recently-scouted students should not be as far-fetched as one can assume.

“Hmm… if you say so.” Jeff shrugged. He handed the butler a folded-up paper. “Dress code. Can you get that done for me anytime soon?”

The servant gladly took the paper and stuffed it into his shirt’s breast pocket. “Right away, Young Master. I’ll have your wardrobe ready by sunrise tomorrow. But, Young Master, I suggest you refrain from sleeping in the alleyway. Your mother urged me to remind you to wash both yourself and your clothes during this period.”

Jeff let out a huge sigh as he slung the dirty hoodie over his shoulder. “I understand, Gramps. You can tell my mother that I’ll be sleeping in the manor until then. Oh, and please let her know my micro AR was busted, and I need a new one for school.”

“I shall refrain from explicitly stating that you broke your current set in a fight, but I will not lie should she ask for the reason why it was broken.” he warned Jeff.

“I understand."

“Very well!” With that said, the butler turned and left, with Jeff’s eyes following his until he was out of sight. The roar of Jeff’s mother’s black EcoCraft starting up soon followed.

“I suppose I should get going, then…” sighed Jeff. He waited a few seconds to make sure the old man was gone before diving into the trash can in the background. "Where in the world did I place those house keys again...?"

A few months later...

Jeff barely made it on time to the SSB station. By the time he arrived, the large analog clock at the station read somewhere after 11:55 but wasn’t quite there at the 12:00 noon mark. For some reason, he stood still for a few extra seconds before rushing into the station, risking missing the train in the process. “Just what is this clock…?” Jeff mumbled. It wasn’t until the clock started making noise like a tower that he was snapped back to reality. “Crap! I’m late!”

To Be Continued...

Hands forcefully pushed a pile of folded clothes into a suitcase, before slamming it closed and zipping it up to ensure everything would stay inside. "That ought to be everything." Itaki spoke to himself, sighing as he sat down on his bed next to his suitcase. This would be the last time he'd be sitting here for a long time, he was going to miss it. Kind of.

His eyes lingered down to his smartphone; old tech, certainly outdated and in need of an upgrade. Weather: Cloudy, heavy chance of rain. Great. That's just what he needed: To be soaked before his trip. Maybe heading over to the station now would be a good idea? He was just enjoying these last moments at home anyhow; Might as well give them up in exchange for not getting caught in the rain, right? He'd be back... Eventually. He'd just have to get over it and think about the future, for now. That being said, he was still in disbelief: Casper Academy was looking like quite the place. He still couldn't believe he managed to get to such a place, but if he ever wanted to run his own business, getting an education at a place like that seemed necessary.

Now if only he had some money to start a business! He'd be good to go.

Slipping his phone into his pocket and standing, Itaki grabbed the handle of his suitcase, tugging it off the bed. He made his way towards his door, passing through the open doorway and making his way down the hall, spotting his mother in the living room, on the couch. A small smile crossed his face. She might not have been able to provide for him all the time, but she always loved him. Itaki cared for her deeply, and couldn't wait to come back home and show her how much he could improve.

"Mother." Itaki spoke up, approaching her. He stopped near the arm of the couch, looking down at her.

"O-Oh," His mother responded, looking up at him. "Is it really that time already?"

"Mhm. I'm going to head to the station before the storm starts. Don't want to be sick when I get to Seattle." Itaki explained plainly.

His mother stood, looking at her boy. While he always didn't do things the right way, and tended to be somewhat rude, she knew her baby boy was a good person. She just hoped he managed to make some friends and enjoy himself in Seattle, he needed to stop being alone so much. He always had her, but she knew he needed people outside of a protective mother.

"... We've known you were going for months, but I'm still not ready!" She spoke loudly, wrapping her arms around Itaki and squeezing him, causing him to cough from the air being forced out of him.

"M-Mother, we'll be in contact at all times. It'll be fine--"

"That's not like having my baby here!"

Eyes darkening as he stood there, Itaki shook his head slowly. Good grief, he knew this was going to be rough, but he didn't expect this. He wrapped his free arm around his mother, hugging her back. Honestly, if he could find the same opportunity here, he wouldn't leave. But this was a great opportunity for him, and it was in his blood to not pass up a good opportunity.

Even if the person who made it that way was long gone.

"Alright, alright. Let me go." Itaki demanded calmly, bringing his arm to his side. His mother pulled away, but not before giving him a kiss on the cheek, causing Itaki to roll his eyes.

"You promise everything will be fine? That you'll be safe?" His mother questioned, observing him.

Itaki nodded in response, glancing at the door. "Yeah," He answered. "I don't plan for things to go wrong." He added, his tone getting a tad snappy. But that hint of aggression was cute, in his mother's eyes.

"That's a promise, Tanooki~ You aren't allowed to break it~!" His mother sang.

Itaki gritted his teeth at the nickname, but shrugged it off. It was just her way of showing affection. "Yeah, I know." He said, walking into the kitchen. He opened a cabinet and pulled out a half-empty blue bag, gripping it tightly. He turned and eyed his mother for a moment, as it was awkward to find last words before heading off. He had to think of something. Something nice, polite--

"Can you get the door?"

_{"Goddamn it, brain."}

"O-Oh, of course!" His mother dashed over to the door, opening it and letting cold air flow through. Itaki approached and walked through the doorway, before turning and looking at his mother one last time.

"Thanks for everything..." He said, kind of awkwardly, as he wasn't sure if he was choosing good words or not.

"You're welcome, Tanooki~" His mother sang, happily. He still couldn't get mad about the name. "You don't forget the promise you made! If you break it, I'll be upset!"

"I know." Itaki replied.

"Good! And don't forget:" She smiled warmly at him, despite the cold breeze. "I love you!"

Itaki's face turned a bit red, causing him to look away. Out of embarrassment, he decided to turn and start walking. "Love you too." He said back, raising a hand and waving as he began to make his trip to the station.

He bit his lip, holding back how he felt about leaving. He simply kept his head down and started walking. His trip had gone on for about fifteen minutes, and as he looked up in the sky, he could swear rain would pour down any minute. He picked up his pace to get to the station quickly, but knew he had to make one stop first.

Seeing the station ahead, he instead ducked into a nearby alley. He walked over to a small collection of boxes, and sat his suitcase down. He crouched down, and opened the blue bag in his other hand; then started pouring its contents into a bowl near the boxes.

It was only about ten seconds seconds before the mewing started; Cats gathering around, hurrying to the bowl to be fed. Itaki smiled at the sight, taking a moment to pet one of them, which purred happily.

"Sadly it'll be up to you guys from here." Itaki said, standing up. He watched on for a moment, but only until he heard something: A drop of water, smacking onto his coat.

"Shit!" Itaki cursed, grabbing his suitcase and dashing off. Hell no, he wasn't getting rained on! He booked it out of the alley and ran straight towards the station, hearing a boom in the sky above, as water started pouring down. He pulled the hood of his jacket up, and kept going.

He was careful going up the stairs, but thankfully after that he was free from the rain. Pulling the hood of his jacket down, he shook his head in disbelief that he made it without getting si-

"Aah-CHOO!"

Itaki sniffled, teeth probably ready to shatter with how irritated he was now. He groaned for a moment, before realizing if he kept sitting around complaining he'd miss his train. Itaki stood straight and put a somewhat professional appearance back on; Continuing forward to board the train, and to start a new stage of his life.

Lock stared up at the ceiling of his darkened room, laying flat on his back on top of the mattress of his bed. He listened to the sound of the analog clock hanging in his room rotating with a tick,

tick,

tick.

It calmed him, such a simple thing. Even if the device was outdated, especially due to the micro AR implant in between his nose and eyes, Lock kept it around. Getting swept up in a constant rhythm, to relax to something you had no control over...

It was pretty blissful.

He enjoyed the sensation, but the blinking in the corner of his eyes clued him in to the fact that sitting around and doing nothing wasn't going to get him anywhere. The boy thought for a moment, causing a white notification with red lettering to slide in front of his field of view. His train was due to depart in only thirty minutes, and he didn't exactly have his EcoCraft on hand to get there in the blink of an eye...

The boy swung his legs over the edge of the bed, stretching out a little before glancing off to the side. Stray rays of light were coming through the blinds of his window, cluing him into a bright and sunny day. A bit of good luck, he didn't have to fetch his coat from the sports bag that lay in the corner of his room. Lock didn't really have much he cared to take with him to Casper. Just some clothes were fine, he could do without the various little trinkets he'd acquired over time. It was mostly antiques won in bets, pretty to stare at but ultimately worthless. It's not like Lock would have any trouble buying himself some luxury if he truly got bored at such a prestigious school.

He went over and flung his backpack over his shoulder, having made sure to fill it with some provisions beforehand. He grabbed the bag and made his way downstairs, hearing the noise of his parents chatting in the living room nearby. Lock briefly thought about saying goodbye, but he didn't care much. They knew he wasn't one for sappy goodbyes, so he didn't bother to warn them as he closed the front door behind him. If they had a problem with it, it wasn't that hard to call him or shoot him a message through his micro AR.

As the boy calmly paced towards his local station he looked up at the sky, losing himself in thought. It's funny that he was even going to Casper, all things considered. He's never had the luxury of going to prestigious schools, and up until recently he doubted that his parents could even support him financially through it. Getting his invite about a month ago was a nice, albeit unexpected surprise. He had a feeling that the school figured out what he was up to in his spare time, which wasn't the part-time job he managed to convince his parents of having.

His eyes trailed off from the sky towards the city landscape around him, seeing bright advertisements littered all across buildings through the device implanted in his face. It was an amusing sight, seeing the flurry of colours advertising some new pop drink next to the bombastic advertisements of new EcoCraft models. You'd wonder how the corporations got away with littering their ads everywhere, until you realised that people and other companies let the big names install a chip on the side of their house to display them and make some quick money.

People are predictable like that.

Bored of the common scenery around him, Lock decided to play a little game to kill the time. A simple match-4 puzzler where you needed to connect the same colored blocks, aiming to clear the board given to you without getting yourself stuck in a situation where you couldn't swap to connect. It's a quick little game anyone could easily download that didn't require too much storage and he'd heard it was popular due to how difficult the later levels got, as well as it being fairly non-intrusive with the blocks being transparent enough to not obscure vision too much.

Though it wasn't really all that thrilling.

Killing time this way, Lock managed to find himself at the station soon enough. It was bustling like usual, with most people scrambling to get to their rides on time. Lock exited the puzzler and brought back the notification from before, seeing the timer now ticking away at only three minutes until departure. That was more than enough time for Lock to casually strut his way over, observing everyone around him. Couples making out, mothers guiding their children, some beggars crumpled up against the wall...

Dull and perfectly normal sights.

Just as the escalator on which Lock had stepped reached the top, he saw his ride arrive. "Pretty convenient timing," he thought to himself as he walked over, the doors opening just in time for him to not have to stop his momentum. Lock tossed his sports bag underneath a two-person seat next to one of the windows, laying down his bag next to the spot he sat so nobody would figure to sit next to him and bother him.

Time to find out what Casper was like.

"D-Do I really have to go, Mother?" Eden's frown deepened as she removed her hands from table she was next to and rested them on her lap. Sitting in the joint kitchen and dining room of her childhood home while watching her mother work her magic on the stove, Eden and her brother Adam's gazes were locked on the woman as she cooked. Usually Eden would be captivated by the sight in front of her, as she always has been ever since she was a child, but this time it was different. This new gaze was troubled, filled with distress, extremely anxious, and more than anything, filled with fear. Today was a momentous day for the Blake family as their first born and only daughter would be making her way to Casper Academy due to her gifted ability in cooking as well as artistry. Of course everyone in the family was happy for the girl and the one in question tried to be enthusiastic about it for the past few months, but she couldn't help but be nervous about leaving home so soon...

Eden's question lingered in the air for a few seconds as both Adam and their mother were engrossed with what the later was attempting to make. But as Adam's face slowly began to scrunch up proving that he just registered his sister's question.
"Wait, now you're questioning if you want to go?" Adam questioned, arching his eyebrows in disbelief. "You know you're leaving today, right?" He then added on as he slung an arm around Eden's shoulders, much to the other's squirming.

"Yeah,I-I do...b-but..." Eden tried to make up some excuse for why she didn't speak up earlier but the words got caught in her throat. It was just apart of her nature. With her whole family being so proud of her, followed by the stress of going to a new school where people would probably harass her as well as trying to figure out what she wants to do with her life, actually wanting to go to Casper Academy was almost a complete afterthought.

Eden had been so deep in her thoughts that she hadn't noticed the red and green Tupperware filled with food and stacked on top of each other until it was right in front of her face. Brown and green eyes blinked in confusion before looking up to meet her mother's warm gaze.
"Sweetie, you know I would never force you to do something you didn't want to, but trust us on this one. This is something that I know would be good for you and figuring out what you want to do. Heck, maybe you'll find something else that interests you more than art or cooking?" A small grin formed on the brown haired woman's pink lips as she handed off the containers of food to her daughter, who of course took them gratefully.

"I-I hope you're right..." Eden trailed as she lowered her head and broke eye contact in the process. Although she couldn't see it, she could feel her mother's sad smile as she mentioned grabbing Eden's luggage before leaving Eden and Adam at the dining room table. The two looked at each other a little bit before Adam raised his arm from Eden's shoulders and rested his hand on the top of said girl's head.

"You'll be alright, Eve. You're my big sister with so much potential. You got this." Eden couldn't help but smile at her brother's little nickname for her; she never understood why she was named Eden instead of Eve, but she couldn't complain.

"Hehe...you kind of h-have to tell me that s-since you're my brother." She said with a playful smirk just as Adam stood up with a look of fake disgust.

"Wha?! I'm saying it because I mean it! I swear!" He said as he placed a hand on his chest. Seeing that Eden was still giggling away at his weird antics, Adam took this moment to reach into his pants pocket and pulled out a small box. "If you still don't believe me, here." That seemed to get her attention as she stared at the plain white box and took it slowly.

"What is this?"

"Open it." Eden took this as her cue as she pulled off the top cover of the box, only to stare at the contents with wide eyes. Inside was a small gold heart-shaped locket necklace. She took the necklace out of the box and held the locket on the palm of her hand. As she popped open the locket, Eden's wide gaze turned into a large smile. It was a picture of the both of them as kids.

"Oh my gosh...Adam..." She began, but the boy cut her off and instead took the locket and moved behind her to put it on.

"Don't tell Mom I got you this. She would freak. But I want you to look at this whenever you feel down. Serious, I got your back, okay?" He said as he walked back around to face her. Eden knew that the other could be an extreme dunce when it came to almost everything, but he was always so genuine, something she couldn't help but love about him. After receiving a grateful nod, Adam grinned before handing her back her containers of food and walking with her to the front entrance.

"Are you sure this is all you want to take, Eden?" Her mother questioned as she pointed to the cream colored backpack and luggage next to the door.

"Yeah, that should be all of it." Eden replied before holding her arms out. Her mother smiled ever so sweetly before moving forward and hugging her petite daughter.

"Stay safe, okay? Although your father couldn't make it, he wanted me to send his regards as well. Make sure to call every day and video chat once a week." Eden could hear the shakiness in her mother's voice, it only making her want to cry as well.

"Y-Yes Mother." She whispered back releasing her hug and running into Adam, wrapping her arms around him as well. "Don't give Mother and Father too much trouble, okay?"

"Yeah yeah yeah...whatever." Adam smirked before hugging his big sister back.

And with that, Eden packed the container of food into her backpack and gave a heartfelt goodbye to her family. It wasn't as sad as she thought it would be mostly because she would hear from them everyday, whether she waned to or not.



Eden hadn't realized how early she was until she reached the SSB station, climbed on board and check her phone.
"Ten more minutes? H-Huh..." She frowned as the loneliness was already getting her to. Clutching Adam's locket in her hand, Eden let out a quiet sigh, bracing herself for the new life she was catapulting herself into.

---

"Hey! Hey Dad!" Dakota sat perched on the edge of her father's bed, poking him repeatedly in the side. Although she was well into her teenage years, the young girl looked as though she could have been a six-year-old on Christmas morning. She shook and bounced as she waited impatiently for him to stir from slumber. Meanwhile, he was trying in vain to grasp what tiny vestiges of sleep remained in his mind. He groaned, turning over to protect his side from the incessant storm of pokes. But his efforts, as always, would prove to be no match for Dakota's persistence. "C'mon Dad! I know you're awake." She grabbed onto his shoulder, shaking him rather violently. "Get up!" His eyes fluttered open as she turned his body to face her. There above him was a pale but familiar face. Her eyes sparkled with excitement, though it was difficult to tell since they were half-covered by messy, purple hair. Her father couldn't help but laugh at the sight of her. Dakota was... a bit of a train wreck at the moment. The extra-large t-shirt she slept in was covered in holes and food stains (courtesy of its previous owner, her brother Josh), her hair stuck out in every possible direction, and from the red imprints on her face it was clear she had fallen asleep on her control pad again. But there she was, grinning from ear to ear without a care in the world. She laughed along with him, though she didn't really understand the reason behind it. But Dakota had always found laughter to be contagious, and it seemed she was particularly susceptible. "Finally!" She giggled again as her father struggled to his feet.

"So today's the day, huh? Always thought I'd be the first one out of this house." Josh appeared in the doorway. He leaned against the frame and flashed a cocky smile. "Guess all that noise you make was good for something." Dakota turned toward her brother and stuck out her tongue. He probably thinks he's cool, she thought with a smile. He'd been acting like this for quite some time now, which she found absolutely hilarious. Maybe it worked with his college buddies, but Dakota had grown up with the guy. Once you've seen somebody running around the house in their underwear pretending to be a superhero, any chance of them being seen as "cool" tends to fly out the window. Still, she was going to miss him. Dad too... Josh was right about one thing- both of them had always assumed that she would stay at home at least through high school, and be the last one out of the house. That is, until they received the letter from Casper. For a moment she spaced out, trying to imagine what life would be like away from her family. But her brother's voice brought her back to reality. "I get to keep all your games, right?"

"Only if they won't let me have them in my dorm. I'm gonna ask when I get there, and then Dad's gonna send them to me. Right, Dad?"

Her father was still standing there, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "Huh... oh yeah. Sure thing, honey." He glanced over toward his alarm clock, and his eyes suddenly flew wide open. "It's ten already!?!" Suddenly he seemed fully awake, moving frantically around the room as he searched for various articles of clothing. "We're gonna be late!" Dakota cocked her head to the side, looking at him with confusion. Had he forgotten what time the train left? The only time she'd seen him in such a panic was when he was late getting her to her first day pf middle school, and he was afraid her teachers would punish her for it. But at least that time, they had actually been running late. The train station was only five minutes from her house, and they still had several hours before they would need to worry. Still, she couldn't help but grin at her Dad's disheveled appearance as he rummaged desperately through his sock drawer.

"You know the train won't get here until four, right?" She chuckled. "Phoenix is one of the last stops before Casper, since we're on the west coast. You've got nothing to worry about!"

"No, no, not that." He muttered. A few moments of confused silence later, he emerged triumphantly with a matching pair of socks. Seeing Dakota's troubled expression, he explained. "We have to go somewhere else first. It's a surprise." As if that explained anything. She glanced over at Josh, but he seemed just as dumbfounded as she was. The second he saw her looking in his direction though, his expression changed to one of pure apathy. He shrugged and turned the corner, obviously trying to come off like he might know, but didn't care what his father was going on about. Unfortunately for him, this attempt was also foiled. "Joshua Middleton, get your ass back here. Don't think for a minute we're not taking you with us!"

"Language, Dad!" Dakota grinned, throwing out a comment that he had so often used on her and the boys when they were younger.

He smiled back at her, reaching down and messing up her hair even further. "When you've changed somebody's diapers and given them food and shelter for twenty years, you're allowed to call them an ass."

At this she burst into laughter again. That seemed to be a rather common occurrence this morning. For one thing, the way he had phrased that sentence made it sound like Josh was still in diapers after twenty years- a thought that nearly sent her into hysterics. She was even too busy laughing to point out that while her father had used the word "ass", he hadn't actually called his son that. Usually she was quick to point out when things her father said did not make sense, simply because it made him flustered. And unless it was during a serious conversation, they generally were all able to find amusement in it. In fact, even now they were both still giggling. Josh had turned bright red, defensive as he was these days- but Dakota and her father hoped to tease it out of him eventually.

"Now go get yourself cleaned up," her father spoke after calming down a bit. "I'm not taking you anywhere looking like that."

A few moments (and a failed wrestling match with her hair) later, Dakota found herself riding shotgun in her father's car. Neither she nor Josh had any idea where they were going yet. Dakota thought for a moment about prying further. Her dad was almost as bad a liar as she was, and the worst secret-keeper she'd ever met. A few guesses and he would certainly break down and tell her. Not today. Curious as she was, he had obviously been planning some sort of surprise for her. And this was the last day she would see him for quite a long time. Might as well let him have this one.

Unfortunately, Josh seemed to feel no such obligation. "Where are we going?"

"This way."

Nice one, Dad. Dakota rolled her eyes, but still couldn't help but smile. This was about all the deflection her father was going to be able to handle. She turned up the music, cutting off Josh's interrogation, and began to sing along. Soon she was joined by her dad, whose singing voice was... comical at best. Wherever Dakota had gotten her musical talent from, it certainly wasn't anywhere in his genes. Not that she cared. Even if the man could never carry a tune, she still loved singing with him. Her mind flooded with memories of her family singing and playing together- back before Josh thought he was too cool for it and Hayden... well, it was best not to think about that now. She fell silent and her eyes widened as they pulled into a parking lot.

"No way!" she gasped, clutching her dad's arm. "No freaking way!" Even Josh was visibly envious. In front of them was a large, dome-topped building with a bright red sign reading "AR LIFE." She had been here a couple of times before to look at games, but had never been able to afford anything. The last time had been roughly five years before though, so the newer technologies had been a lot more expensive. Still, if he was going to buy her a game, he would have just bought it beforehand and given it to her at home. There was only one reason he would bring her to the store with him...

"I love you, Dad!"

The entire way back, she couldn't stop blinking and twitching, watching the internet pass before her eyes. The area where they'd put the implant still stung slightly, but she was far too excited to notice. After thanking her father about a million more times, she'd gone straight to exploring all of the new features. While the concept of Micro AR was not new to her, she had never experienced it herself. It was fairly common among students her age, and not nearly as expensive as one would expect it to be, but her father had always been under the firm belief that the smartphones they had would be good enough for any practical use. Until now, apparently.

"You don't have to blink to make it work, you know," Josh commented, obviously jealous. "You look ridiculous."

She did know this of course, at the moment it was simply involuntary. She wasn't used to seeing the internet projected in front of her. Thankfully, her father stepped to her defense. "Josh, when you get into a gifted school, you can have one too. As for you Dakota, you'd better not play games on that thing during class. I payed to get it put in, and I can pay to have it removed."

"No promises!" She giggled, flashing her father a look to show that she was not serious, and would of course do her best to be responsible with her new gift.

After a brief stop by the house to pick up her luggage, and several long moments spent staring at her empty room, Dakota and her family arrived at the train station. She hugged her dad first, thanking him once more for the Micro AR, and for raising her and being such an amazing person. In fact, she continued to ramble on until it looked as though he were about to cry. Then she turned to Josh, determined to hug him whether he liked it or not. But to her surprise, it was he who lunged forward to embrace her. Then her father stepped toward them, wrapping his arms around both of his children. Time seemed to freeze for a moment, and Dakota found herself wishing she didn't have to go. But the last call over the loudspeaker broke the enchantment.

The young girl waved frantically back at her family as she boarded the train. Smiling out at Josh and her father, she thought for just a second what it would be like to see Hayden standing there as well. Her face twitched once more, not from the Micro AR this time, but from the involuntary pain that struck whenever she thought of her fallen sibling. She missed him. In fact, as the train began to pull away from the station, she found herself missing all of them- her Dad, her brothers, her friends from middle school... Still, it lasted only momentarily. The same bright, cheerful smile returned to her face as quickly as it had gone. Today was her first day away from home. And if she had anything to say about it, it was going to be a happy one.

Sneakers... a pair of smarter shoes for when he had something to go to... he was going to wear the winter boots on the train. Always wear your biggest clothes when going on a long trip, a tip that had stood the test of time. That was shoes taken care of.

Sam shoved his running shoes down into the bottom of his bag, shifting them to the side to make sure there was enough space for some of his electronics to go in after. He stood at the foot of his bed, looking at all the clothes and gadgets splayed out on the mattress before him. Each group organized into piles that marked their categories according to his own filing system while he looked over it all from above, thinking over how to fix almost everything he owned into a duffel bag like a squishy game of tetris.

Then he got spooked out of his skin as the door behind him slammed open and a high pitched voice screeched in his ear!

“Got all your outfits together, Princess?! I gotcha tiaaaarah right here for 'ya!” Screamed the tiny dwarf that was the source of most of Sam's pain in this world.

“Get out of my room, Abby!” He screamed back, struggling to close the door while his little sister whipped around like a hyperactive ping pong ball, giggling in that super annoying way she always did until he could chase her off.

A guy had to be vain right now. At sixteen boys were at the biggest risk of turning into gross, unwashed, greasy slobs. By putting even just a little effort in Sam could muscle out half the competition when it came to talking to chicks. That was even more important now that he was going to go live on his own. Like, now he could invite girls back to his place or something... whoah.

After his third try he finally managed to fit all the clothes, bathroom stuff and tech into the bag. They couldn't afford to get fancy implants for the kids, Sam included, and his dad had only gotten it because he practically had to for work. Sam figured if he could get a job while he was in Seattle he might be able to save up enough for one of his own but he'd have been lying if he tried denying he'd inherited some of his dad's technophobia. Sam always liked having a separate device for each purpose. One for work, one for calls, one for music. Though that maybe was just because trying to play tunes on his smart phone killed the battery cold blooded like. Having a fancy chip in his head would sure free up space on his person at least.

Sam got blasted out of his daydreaming by a flash of light as he walked into the living room.

“There he is!” Cooed his mom, offending camera still in hand and looking hyped as hell. “Honey put your bag down here I want some shots of all of you before you go.”

“Mooooom!” Sam protested impotently. “I got my train to catch!” He was too old for first day of school pics anyway! Not that he'd dare tell her that.

“You've got a few hours for that, come on sweety this is important!”

It was with a bunch of sighs, huffs and groans that Sam got dragged into the mix and let himself get propped up for shots like a doll. He still made sure that he cut a good figure though. It turned out he got some good luck cards from a few of his aunts and uncles too, some of 'em even put cash in there so score! Then came the time for the tearful goodbyes.

“I'm so proud of you!” His mom cried in a wail mixed with a cheer. “Oooh, don't go.” She said holding him close for a hug- before playfully pushing him an arm's length away. “But do go, get outta here!” She smiled. She'd been doing this joke for like a week since Sam got his letter, faking bursting into tears before giving a big cheer about seeing the little tyke finally fly the nest and talking about turning his room into a gym. Except this time Sam noticed that her eyes were shining pretty bright this time, in that wet kind of way where tears were just about threatening to fall.

Which made Sam feel like he was about to tear up too! Seeing his mom like that laways had that effect on him. Women, man, it wasn't fair. “I'll miss you, Mom, I'll call, like, once a week I promise.”

“You betta' young man.” She jokingly chided him. “Now come on, Abby has something she wants to show you.”

It was his little sister's turn for her big goodbye now and she was looking uncharacteristically bashful for it. Abby usually loved being the center of attention. “I wanted to get your tiara like I said for your goin' aways present but uuh...”

“But I said she could keep it.” Mom cut in firmly. “We were gunna get you a mascot for your dorm.” She went on to explain.

And with a little more nudging abbey brought her hands out from behind her back, revealing a little teddy small enough to fit in Sam's coat pocket. He remembered seeing it about the house before but it wasn't one of the named stuffed animals that Abby turned into her inner circle. He knew those guys 'cus she made everyone have tea with them... loudly.

“So I thought maybe you could have Doctor Bear to look after you.” She said, shuffling her feet and gluing her eyes to the floor. So that was why she was embarrassed, Abby always got that way when she had to do something nice. She presented him with the little teddy bear with hits sown on scarf and Sam took it graciously, slipping the fella into his inner pocket so the little guy didn't fall out in transit. The bear didn't have a white coat or anything that marked him out as a doctor but he wasn't about to question the deep lore that connected all his little sister's toys.

“We'll take care of each other.” Sam said, offering up his most big brothery smile and patting the annoying scamp on the head. IT was the last chance he'd get to bug her in a while.

Next was Lil' Mikey's turn. The youngest of the three Fraser kids and one that was spending his early years in the shadow of his more rambunctious siblings. Sam knew it and he tried to help out where he could. Micheal was a quiet kid, slow to yell and quick to cry. Sam wasn't much of a mentor and with their dad spending most of the time at work he kind of worried for Mikey's future once he left. Nothing he could do about it now though, his bro would be okay no doubt, he just had to find that Fraser fire.

Mikey hugged his legs like a tree and Sam offered him a cool guy goodbye. Kneeling down to eye level he walked Mikey through one last super complicated handshake and leaned in to share a few private words. “Don't let the bastards get you down.” Sam whispered to him. Teaching his little brother swear words was like their secret bond and it always made Mikey feel like he'd been let in on some secret that only big boys knew.

Eventually Sam's time was up and his dad ushered him to the car. It was on the way there that the old man decided it was time to have one of those hear to hearts that both of them sucked at having! Sam had always had trouble talking about serious stuff to his dad and it seemed the reverse was true too. Things had been rocky between them for a long time and though they'd both calmed down in recent years Sam's dislike of the catholic church had hung between them for a long time as something they couldn't get over. His family was old school in some ways and opening up about feelings would always be a weakness for some of them. Still he got a few pieces of fatherly advise!

“And you know not to smoke while you're out there. Your mother would hate that.”

“I know, Dad.” Sam had only ever tried one puff on a cigarette, he didn't need a second.

“And the same goes for drinking-”

“I know, Dad!” Like he could get a fake ID anyway.

“And you know... with girls and such well... well they probably taught you more about that in school than me anyway!” Came his dad's flustered reply as he kept his eyes firmly fixed on the road.

“Yeah, yeah sure!” Sam barked back, begging for things to not go there and keeping his own gaze locked on the passenger window.

It was only once they got to the station and Sam was putting his back into getting his luggage out of the car that they gave it a second try.

“Sam.” His dad gave him a hand pulling the bag out of the trunk and... just kind of let his name hang in the air for a heartbeat. “You know I'm so proud of you. We all are.”

That caught Sam off guard. “Y-yeah...” Anything he had to add to that just got stuck in his throat.

“Nobody, no one else in the family's ever managed something like this. Whatever you do out there, it's gunna be great, and you know you can come back any time if you get homesick.” His dad half stumbled over the words as if he was still shaping them in his head.

“Thanks dad.” Sam felt himself smiling super wide and what might have been some blood rushing to his face.

“C'mere then.” His dad grunted, pulling him into a hug. The two of them did what they always did when Fraser men hugged, they slapped each other on the back like they were playing drums and made a ton of overly loud grunts and comical blustering just to make the situation more macho, but to show they were self aware about it too and stuff. “Yeah, there 'ya go! You can get your next one same time next year!”

Sam and his dad shared a grin, like men and said their goodbyes once he'd gotten a photo of Sam on his platform to take home. And they waved them through the window once he'd gotten another of Sam getting his seat on the train. After that there was nothing Sam to do but sit back, relax for the trip and... watch his home city rush by before it was gone.

'Here I go. Gunna go make my way in the world.' He thought with just a few worries and nerves.

The air feels thick, even humid. It’s hard to tell if it’s due to the sheer amount of people on the BBS or if they’ve turned off the air conditioning, but the fact is it almost feels like you’re flying through a cloud. That may be because you are, you’ve heard the northwest was moist, to be prepared for rain, but this is just ridiculous.

A look around the cabin shows there’s at least 40 other people in the cart with you. Most are student age like yourself with vibrant colored hair and fashion styles, but a few are adults, business professionals by the look of them. Most of them stare out the windows into the darkness of the night, assumedly using their AR for one thing or another, but it’s not always clear without seeing the tell of darting eyes, like reading a sign in the distance.

Outside the windows you’re currently hundreds of feet in the air in near pitch dark, the only light coming from the weak blue LED’s lining the cabin. In front of you are the fixed path guideways, the train passes through them at awe inspiring speed producing a barely noticeable reverberation through the floor and walls. They’ve become commonplace in most residential areas, floating like monoliths above the people below. A sign of the ever changing time. The ground beneath you quickly changes, occasionally you see city lights and your AR or smartphone reminds you how far from your stop you are.

For those using AR, it registers your thought and a small box floats in front of you as a thought pops into your head “You will arrive in 15 minutes. Please prepare your items for deboarding.”

It seems others on the train have all received the same message, whether through a notification on their smartphones, or through AR, and are readying to depart. The lights in the train car flash back on, filling the long narrow room with stark white. Faces appear in the crowd of people.

Some of the passengers have had longer trips than others, jumping from one BBS to the next. At longest it’s been a day and 12 layovers, at shortest 20 minutes straight through. Luckily, the results are the same. Most passenger are on their way to Casper Academy to begin their school year. Many of the students are returning for their second year. They tend to have a certain amount more grace than their first year counterparts, and have already segregated themselves into pacts formed the previous year.

It’s your first year. And like many others on the train this will be your first time from home. Some are taking it well, but there’s at least one dark haired boy with glasses who has been sniffling throughout the ride, likely already homesick, or simply terrified of heights. Students pull out bags from overhanging compartments, most full to the brim with clothing and other necessities for the year. The occasional student looks wildly unprepared with only a backpack to their name.

Outside the window Seattle itself comes into view. Flanked on one side by the Puget Sound, it looks liable to slip into the ocean at a moments notice. The whole area is covered in old winding highways that go largely unused at this time. Keen eyed students can make out large EcoCraft floating around the city transporting people throughout. AR devices begin to spit out information about Seattle, it’s history, interesting facts, places to visit, and many break down the best way to get to Casper Academy from the station. Those with smartphones must look up this important information independently, and many students are taking their last moments on the train to do just that.

The BBS begins to slow as you arrive above the city. Most peoples AR devices light up as the sky fills with advertising, holograms coming off of buildings, welcoming travelers into the capitalist utopia below. Students with smartphones are spared the spectacle, but it’s hard not to feel like you’re missing out as others begin to interact with the AR World in front of them.

Tick tock. Tick......

The change is so quick, you barely notice the lights are gone and the many electronic devices cease to function. The city below once vivid in colored light, only produces a menacing red. The blue light lining the train car has changed to a crimson hue, accenting the spiderwebs that have appeared on the surface of every static object. Where there was once moist oxygen, is now dry air that instantly produces a burning sensation in your nostrils, like being in a room with bleach fumes. Everyone around you in the car, aside from 6 other students who look equally taken aback, appear to have vanished without leaving any trace behind.

Only now do you realize the BBS has ceased moving as well, which is from you knowledge physically impossible. You’re trapped 400 feet in the air above an abandoned Seattle, surrounded by red tinted spiderwebs, with no signs of the spiders that should call them home.

The dark haired boy that had been weeping during the trip yells out to the stillness “What tha hell is goin on!” without skipping a beat he yells out again as he stands up. Clearly shaking as items begin to fall out of his bag “I can’t dew this, I can’t dew this!”. Then there is a huge crash that echoes through the car, as the window behind him exploded into his back. The glass digs into his skin through his clothes as a black insect like claw comes through from the other side and digs into his shoulder. He barely has time to scream as he’s pulled through the broken window. The red splashes of blood and a few items from his bag are all of him left in the car.

Jeff Pierce
Location: 400 feet above "Seattle"
Time: September 5th, 2028; 12:00 AM

Jeff was asleep in the very back of the car, opposite to where the bespectacled individual was originally seated. Like everyone else, he witnessed some sort of giant insect claw bust through the window and drag the poor boy to what Jeff supposes was a bloody, painful death. The mere sight of the bloodstained window made his heart race... Not out of fear, though. "Damn..."he mutters to himself. "What kind of sick initiation prank is this?"

Without saying a word to any of the six students that were also trapped inside the same train, or even making eye contact with anyone, Jeff walked over to the shattered window and pricked his finger on a shard of broken glass. He then proceeded to stick his bleeding finger in his mouth, keeping it in for an awkward amount of time. Suddenly, with his finger inside his mouth, his eyes widened in shock. "There's no way..." he thought. He immediately removed the bloody finger from his mouth and started to tremble in fear. "This is... This is real blood."

His fight or flight instincts activated. "I have to get to the control room. As much as I hate my own life, I'd never forgive myself if these future pillars of society lose their lives when I could have done something..." With this said, Jeff took a deep breath and charged in the direction of the door leading to the next car, but after failing to scratch the door with his full-body tackle, he sank to his knees and his face began to redden. "Dammit!" he cried out into the dead atmosphere, smashing his bleeding knuckles against the door. Tears started rolling down his cheeks, more out of pain rather than fear. He turned his face 90 degrees so that half of his face would be visible to everyone else. "Don't look at me!" he screamed, referring to everyone else on the BBS.

Sniffle...

Damn cold. It had mostly gone away during his trip, but it was still lingering. Itaki had been sitting near the front of the car for the final portion of his trip; Though he had ended up shifting seats once or twice, for small reasons. Things like this weren't his main concern as it hit 12:00 AM however; As the lights went out, Itaki went into a mild panic. He glanced outside to ensure he wasn't falling to his death with the train, and was about to sigh in relief once he realized the train wasn't falling...

But the sight below, Seattle... It was red. Awfully menacing and unwelcoming, not what he had seen minutes earlier. This was a dramatic mood shift, and it made him extremely uneasy.

Then he heard someone screaming.

Jumping from his seat and turning to look at what was happening, one of the people in the car was freaking out. Now that Itaki looked around, the car was -much- more empty than he remembered. Where did everybody go?!

"What the--"

Itaki was cut off as something crashed through the window, some... Claw-thing, and snatched the boy up.

He recoiled instinctively as he finished his sentence: "HELL?!"

Itaki's breathing got heavy at the sight of the events in the train car; There was something out there, and it just grabbed somebody and yanked them out within seconds! Aside from his outburst, the japanese student wasn't overly vocal about his concern, at least at that moment in time. He wasn't sure of what to do; Did he try and go to another car? Was it a good idea to stay still and pray that thing didn't come back?

Or should he go prick his finger on the broken glass and then stick it in his mouth--

Wait, what?

Witnessing a messy-haired boy do just that, Itaki was both disgusted and uncertain of where the hell he was anymore. He decided to step over his suitcase and attempt to open the door, but before he could get beyond his seat that same messy-haired boy ran straight past him and rammed straight into the door! This threw Itaki off enough that he always fell backwards; But thankfully kept his footing.

At the failures of the messy-haired boy and his added fit of insanity, Itaki didn't feel safe anywhere in this car. God only knew how damn crazy the rest of these people were: He wanted that door open before he started praying to be the next one to get picked out of here by that cornerstore claw-game from hell!

Managing to get beyond his seat with his second attempt, he felt kind of bad for that guy on the ground; As Itaki approached the door he noticed the blood the boy had on his hands; As well as the blood he left on the actual door.

Should he say something? The kid was pretty hurt, maybe he ought to try and provide something comforting...

"You tried." Itaki said plainly, making it difficult to pinpoint exactly how he meant it. Though he wasn't smiling, so obviously it wasn't sarcasm or his amusement at the boy hurting himself. He wasn't really good at these sorts of things.

Itaki inspected the door, and took note of it with annoyance. Automatic, of course. Technology of the future, so helpful in these situations. He observed, but found nothing of real interest with the door. Except for one very large damn flaw:

"There's no way to open this thing manually?!" He questioned to himself, sounding honestly surprised. At the realization there wasn't a release, he shook his head. Damn new tech garbage making life difficult at the worst times.

To what would probably shock most of the passengers, Itaki pulled out his smartphone, pointing him out as the low-tech peasant he was, as he decided to helplessly check for a signal. Unfortunately...

'I'm an idiot for thinking that'd work.' He thought to himself, as old tech was also proving to be useless. Maybe they needed something simpler..

"Stupid question," Itaki spoke up, cramming his phone into his pocket. "Nobody happens to have a crowbar, do they?"

Switching rides was a pain.

All things considered, though, Lock got pretty lucky. Seattle wasn't too far from the middle of California, with only one stop in-between to have been made. It wasn't exactly a straight shot, but it was better than having to traverse the entire country to get to your destination. He'd already gotten bored of his game, though, so most of his time was spent staring at both the outside world and the people around him. The regular businessmen that got on and off weren't much of a concern, but any student that hopped on with a bag was at least somewhat interesting. Especially as how everyone looked to be extremely different, separating the dots from the earpieces and flat touching devices clenched in between their grubby paws. Everyone used their technology so religiously.

Nearing Seattle a notification had popped up in front of Lock's eyes that they were about to arrive, along with a wave of information he had absolutely no interest in. "Off," he thought briefly, dismissing every last informational guide that tried to warn him about what the city was like. He'd much prefer to explore it at a later date, going at his own pace with only a map telling him where exactly Casper was located. Either way, the train was coming to a halt, so he should get up and-

Stop.

Lock had been scanning his surroundings attentively this entire time, and because of that, the sudden disappearance of about five people before his eyes as well as the surroundings seemingly frozen in time came as a quick burst of surprise. After all, he had just turned off his micro-AR for a little while, so this could not be the work of his technology.

"On," he thought again, but as Lock suspected, nothing happened. The device was scrambled in some way. He wasn't sleeping, that much was for sure. The intense atmosphere as well as the dry air cutting into his throat could clue anyone in to that fact. Lock calmly rose from his seat to take another look at his surroundings, seeing only six others remain like some kind of reality-TV game show. Two of them were oddly calm to what Lock expected, but one boy sitting opposite to a disheveled-looking individual was practically panicking. Then, in the blink of an eye, the claw came. A mix of flesh and scales burst through the window next to which the boy with glasses was seated, digging in to and cutting open his flesh. The scream no doubt left an impact on everyone there, even Lock, as the boy was violently yanked from his seat and out to the depths below.

"Well, this is a new one, even for me..." Lock muttered to himself, a rush of adrenaline pouring through his body. There was some fear, of course, as no healthy human wouldn't be scared in this situation. More than fear, however, there was excitement. Excitement at the thought of this unusual and dangerous thing happening, excitement at being unable to predict what will happen. But despite getting his thrills from everything, the others would not think the same way. Lock would have to keep a cool head, especially as he looked back at the scene of the crime.

The disheveled looking boy got up, looking possessed. They touched the broken glass- presumably to confirm what just happened- and put their now-bleeding finger into his mouth. Recoiling in horror, the boy muttered something to himself and dashed forward to try and break open the door connecting two cars- to no avail, of course. Another boy, who had been closer to said door, started to inspect it and made his frustrations known to the entire crowd. He soon turned around to face the rest of them, Lock included, and asked if anyone had a crowbar. As useful and logical of a tool it would be in this situation, Lock doubted anyone would have such a thing on hand.

"Unfortunately," Lock stepped forward, being the first to reply. "I don't think any one of us do. At least I don't, didn't really figure to take a crowbar to school with me."

He looked around the car, seeing as how everyone's eyes were turned on him now. Lock cleared his throat, not intending to make a fool of himself.

"Right, before we try to force open the door, can I make a suggestion? If any of us have something on hand that could be used as a weapon, I suggest we hold on to that. Whatever that thing was that burst through the window, I have no doubts it's planning to come back for us. In case it does, it might be wise to be able to defend ourselves."

Lock considered his own idea rock-solid, of course. It was a reasonable thing to ask in the face of danger. Although, all things considered, Lock didn't exactly pack anything sturdy either. Most of his current belongings are food and clothes, but he did have at least one sharp object on hand. Lock turned his focus away from the rest, opened up his bag and rummaged around in it for a little while. It didn't take him long to find what he was looking for: Scissors. Carbon steel was sturdy and had the advantage of not dulling easily, though the metal surface and rounded handles made it a bit unwieldy. These things were always useful to open a package with, but the pointy edges could also be used to stab into something, which is what he promptly planned on doing. Lock spun it around his finger once, looking back to the rest.

"Ah, and I suggest we stay away from the windows... for rather obvious reasons." Lock said, taking his own advice and stepping back from his seat. He was used to dealing with high-pressure situations, but here was to hoping that the others wouldn't cause trouble through needless panic.

Eden had been relaxing on the train for a quite a while now, or at least trying to do so. With the high altitude followed by all these new and strange people also entering the train, Eden was mostly on edge. She remained overly cautious, sitting at the very front of her respective car so that she could get out and leave as soon as possible. Although she had been sitting pretty far away and rather close from where she assumed the sources were coming from respectively, she could hear one person let out sniffles filled with emotion and loneliness and another letting out sniffles probably due to not feeling well. If she was more confident in herself, she probably would have comforted the former, or maybe gave a tissue to the later, but not when the thought of possibly falling to her doom replayed in her mind every time someone entered the train and added their weight into the equation. Honestly, she knew that they couldn't have put the train on the ground since it connects to so many places, but still anything would be better than this!

Unfortunately for Eden and those on the train, once the digital clock on her smartphone turned to 12:00AM, the train came to a distinct halt and the lights inside of the train dies out, being replaced by a dim, hideous red. At first Eden thought she was just hallucinating, but as she slowly stood up to take a look around it became clear that this wasn't normal. It felt real, almost too real. Her and six others were the only ones in the darkened car, and the fear and panic that reverberated off of them matched her own. What was going on? Before she even had a chance to process the situation, a scream filled the brown haired girl's eardrums, forcing a yelp out of her in response. Turning to face the source of the screaming, Eden was met with the sight of a bespectacled boy panicking and attempting to get his things together; honestly, she was surprised that she wasn't freaking out as much as she thought she would...probably because she wasn't alone on this?

"W-Wait, we should p-probably st-stay cal--" Eden gave her attempt at calming the boy down, trying to relay that the train should be up an running in a few moments so long as he stayed calm. It's not like she knew if this was true or not, but if there was any way to reassure herself and the panicking boy, then she would take it. Too bad no one saw this coming as a horrific off white insect claw smashed right through the window, grabbed the panicking boy and pulled him through said window leaving a bloody mess behind...

Okay, so the heights, Eden didn't like, but could handle. The lights and everyone disappearing, it was clearly strange and unreal, but she knew that if she stayed calm, things would be okay. But that...that was the last straw.

Eden let out a breathy scream as she stumbled away from her seat and any window, in fear of that thing coming back for someone else. Her eyes were red, tears already rolling down her pale cheeks and making her trembling frame appear even smaller than it already was. A sudden dizzy spell rocked Eden's body as she had to place a hand on one of the outer seats to stabilize herself. She felt like she was going to pass out, her heart was beating far too fast to comfort, but it didn't feel like any blood was going to her head. Taking her free hand, Eden grasped tightly on the gold locket her brother gave her, her knuckles turning white from how tight she was grabbing the heart-shaped jewelry.

Despite Eden trying to pull herself together, she did catch sight of a dot of white move its way over to where the panicking boy had been snatched. Her vision had been so blurry from the dizzy spell she was under, she couldn't even tell if what she was looking at was even human until he got closer...and closer...wait, he was running right at her! Letting out another scream and reacting as fast as she could, Eden sloppily stepped out of the lane, only to fall into her previous seat, shutting her eyes tightly in the process. From what she could hear, the messy haired boy ran straight into the door, probably in hopes of breaking it down. Eden soon opened her eyes and brought her teary gaze back to the direction of the door, only to see the messy haired boy now on his knees. Eden was of course worried that the other possibly injured himself during that rash action, but her attention was quickly taken away by a rather plain voice stating that the other tried.

Not sure of what to make of that herself, Eden took another gander at stepping out into the lane, but not until another white haired boy had answered the dark haired boy's question. The former seemed eerily calm about the situation, as if he was use to intense moments like these. Of course, this reassured Eden, as even his suggestion sparked a thought in the girl's mind.
"...I-I have some k-kitchen utensils..." Eden tried to speak up, but her voice reached barely above a whisper as she practically dove into her luggage and pulled out a long sleeved shirt and medium sized black case that had been covered in what looked like bubble-wrap; it was the only way she could bring it with her without security looking at her weird, okay? With shaky hands, Eden removed the bubble-wrap and opened up the case revealing an assortment of shiny spoons, polished forks...and sharp knives. "P-Please...t-take whatever you n-need to p-protect y-y-yourself..." Her voice shook terribly as she shoved her luggage down to the ground and placed the black case in it's place so that everyone could take if they wanted. Attempting to slide back out to the lane and just as she thought she was okay standing on her own, the girl's knees gave out, forcing her onto the ground right next to the messy haired boy with the bloody knuckles. Despite almost trampling her, the boy did try to get them out of this hellhole and that's something she could appreciate. Sucking up her tears and letting out a shaky sigh, Eden held out her shirt.
"T-Take this...f-f-for your w-wounds..." She said passing off the fabric to the other with trembling hands.

---

Dakota's leg vibrated as she looked excitedly around the train car. There would only be a couple more stops before they reached Seattle, so most of the seats were already filled with Casper students. Perfect! Already, here was an opportunity to make friends. Even though she had a lot less travel time on her hands than many of these people had, it was sill going to be several hours. And there was no way in hell that Dakota Middleton was going to spend hours sitting alone in a corner. That was definitely not her style. The way her eyes flashed from one person to another probably would have looked strange, had it not been for her new Micro-AR. As it was, everyone probably thought she was just playing a game or browsing the internet. And with the way everyone around here seemed to be addicted to their devices, it was doubtful anyone would suspect that she was really just looking for somebody to talk to. There were several second-years in one corner of the car, chattering about their various summer vacations. Probably best not to interrupt, she thought. There was also a white-haired boy at the back of the car, but he appeared to be fast asleep. Still, there were plenty of options. Toward the front there sat a boy who kept switching seats for some reason, and a nervous-looking girl with chestnut hair. Behind them, a guy with amber eyes stared out of the window. He looks bored, she smiled.

Just as she had made up her mind to go and introduce herself to the red-eyed student, she heard a sniffling sound coming from the rear of the car. There was slumped a young man in a white scarf, head buried in his hands. From the looks of it, he had just burst into tears. The seats on either side of him were empty, likely because it is natural to give a crying person a decently wide berth. That is, unless one happens to be Dakota Middleton. Her new course of action decided, she rose from her chair. Her eyes were immediately met with a warning from her Micro AR: PLEASE REMAIN SEATED WHILE THE TRAIN IS IN MOTION. Ironically, were it not for the sudden appearance of the bold, red letters before her eyes, she probably would not have stumbled and rolled out into the isle. A few students looked up from their devices long enough to notice her fall, and the group of second years began giggling. Dakota grinned and gave them a thumbs up before dragging herself to her feet and walking unsteadily over to the crying boy. He looked up at her, flashing a mildly confused expression as she took a seat next to him.

"Hi!" She smiled warmly. The boy continued to stare at her, probably wondering what in the world she was doing. Everyone else on the train seemed to be keeping to themselves. "I'm Dakota! You probably saw me fall down back there... talk about embarrassing!" She didn't look embarrassed at all, but the boy seemed far too wrapped up in his own thoughts to comment on that. "I'm new here, so I've got no idea what to expect. You're new too, right? This is gonna be so exciting! Although I do miss my family..."

"I d-don't!" The boy exclaimed bitterly, choking back another sob. "My parents are the ones making me go to this stupid school!"

Dakota's eyes widened at the harshness of his voice. He spoke with a slight accent, which made her think he must have come from somewhere in the South... he must have been travelling for a long time then. "You don't want to go to Casper..." she trailed off, unsure about what to say next. Thankfully the boy seemed eager to release the concoction of sad and angry thoughts that must have been swirling around in his head since he'd boarded the train.

"No! B-but my parents think it'll be a great opportunity. Great opportunity for them to get rid of me." He burst into tears again. "They just want to send me away from Michael. He was the only good thing in my crappy life, and my parents have never done anything but try to take him away. I don't miss them at all!"

"Michael?" Dakota questioned, cocking her head to the side.

"M-my boyfriend." The boy stammered, looking slightly embarrassed to have let loose such a storm of emotion on a total stranger. "He was my boyfriend. I..." he reached up to rub his tear-stained eyes. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bug you with all this. It's not important." Obviously it was, as he still appeared to be on the verge of tears. "Dakota, you said? I'm Jason."

"Yeah, Dakota..." She spoke distractedly. Although she had known this person all of five minutes, she suddenly found herself extremely invested in his life's story. "Was your boyfriend? Did they make you break up? They can't do that y'know! You can't let your stupid parents stand in the way of true love!" She'd always been a sucker for love stories. Dakota had a tendency to get worked up like this. And a further tendency not to realize when it was inappropriate. Like when she'd just met somebody on a crowded train, for example. Or when somebody has just managed to stop crying.

"It's not that simple!" He pointed to the dot on his face that indicated he had a Micro AR implant. "we didn't break up, but I'll never see him again...My parents took away my phone and gave me this thing. It's got all sorts of parental locks on it. I can't call or text him..." Jason began sobbing again.

"That's seriously messed up!" Dakota exclaimed, placing her hand on his shoulder. Then she was struck with an idea. She pulled her smartphone out of her pocket and booted it up. Since she'd just gotten the implant that day, she hadn't thought to discard it yet. "Here, use this!" she smiled excitedly. "My Dad's probably gonna cancel service to it eventually, but you could always get one of those free messaging apps. And there's no way your parents can monitor this old thing!" She shoved the phone into his hands. "Go on! Take it! Text him!"

"You want me to keep this?" Jason blinked, staring bewildered at her through red, puffy eyes. "B-but we don't even know each other."

"Sure we do!" She grinned, dismissing a notification that popped up in the corner of her eye. Off, she thought. Real-life conversations were way more important. "You're Jason, I'm Dakota! See? We know each other. And once we get to Casper, we're gonna be friends, mmkay?"

"Uh... okay..." Jason looked completely dumbfounded, but he clutched the phone in his hands.

"Well, I'd better head back to my seat. All my stuff's over there, and I think that message said something about arriving soon...

As she stood up, everything shifted. The blue bus lights flickered off replaced by an eerie, crimson glow. Everything looked dirtier and more menacing. And the train had stopped... The chestnut-haired girl was urging them to stay calm, but her words barely registered as thoughts began rushing through Dakota's head. Oh god! We're gonna die! The shock of the change sent her stumbling back into the chair next to Jason. Except he was no longer seated in it. He had stood up now, shaking and screaming. Any comfort he may have found in their conversation had been replaced by pure terror. The phone she'd given him, as well as a few other items from his bag, were now scattered across the floor. Seconds later, the window behind them burst. Dakota felt a sharp pain in her back as she was thrown forward onto the floor of the train. Her vision blurred, and she whimpered as the pain spread out from her back. She managed to turn on her side just in time to witness her new friend being dragged from the window by a monstrous claw.

"Jason..." she called out weakly, but her head was spinning, and she could barely raise her voice. Glancing over her shoulder, she managed to identify the source of the pain in her back. A shard of glass from the broken window had lodged itself there. Help! she thought, panic flooding her mind. On! On! Call for help! But the Micro AR was not responding. Had it been busted when the window exploded? No, from the look of it, nobody's was working. Well, nobody who was left anyway. From what she could tell from her limited perspective, there were only a few people who hadn't suddenly vanished from the train. This isn't real... this can't be real...

Apparently the disheveled boy who had been sleeping in the back was thinking something similar. He stepped over her as he moved toward the window, and pricked his finger on the broken glass. His response confirmed her fears. It's real... what the hell... She watched helplessly as the boy barreled into the door. He turned at screamed at them to refrain from looking at him, but that was pretty much impossible at this point. Soon he was joined by another, apparently more logical student in the search for a way to open the door. Dakota wanted to get up and help, but she was still finding it difficult to do anything. Thinking moving, breathing... everything hurt. Slowly, she rose to her feet, wincing as the shard of glass dug itself further into her back. Instinctively, she reached being her and yanked it out.

Bad move. Now not only did she have a bleeding wound in her back, but her hand was sliced in a few places as well. Man, that was dumb... She clutched her hand, cursing her own stupidity. At least most of the others seemed too wrapped up in what they were doing to notice. All things considered, she had been incredibly lucky. The shrapnel in her back, while painful, had caused no significant damage. The wound was relatively shallow, and far enough from her spinal column that there was no risk of paralysis. In fact, as she stood clutching her hand and looking around, the throbbing faded to the back of her mind. It was then that the amber-eyed boy suggested that they look for weapons. Dakota glanced down awkwardly at her hand. Normally, the chestnut-haired girls offer to use her kitchen utensils would have been her best option. The girl even had knives... but with her hand in this state, she doubted she would be able to hold one, much less wield it effectively. "Um... I'll look..."

She moved over toward her bad, searching through it with her good hand. Nothing. There's nothing here... All she had packed were basic necessities- clothing, toiletries, pictures of her family... nothing that could be considered a viable weapon. She fished out an old, ratty t-shirt and tore it in half, pulling one side with her hand and the other with her teeth. Her hand was still fully operational of course, but she was not used to this sort of pain, and so was naturally avoiding using it. She found that it was necessary though, as she tied half of the shirt around her body where the cut in her back was. She was unsure it it was still bleeding, but it was better to be safe. She then tore the shirt again, tying half of that piece around her hand. Slowly, she closed her fist and opened it again. It hurt, but it was still functioning. Perhaps she could hold a knife after all... or... looking at her bandaged hand gave her an idea. Dakota had no idea how to use a knife, but she had taken a few self defense courses. Plus she'd grown up with two older brothers... she could handle herself in a fistfight. Wrapping the remaining cloth around her other hand, she turned to face the others on the train.

"Good idea!" She smiled, albeit weakly, at the boy who had first suggested they arm themselves. She looked over toward the shattered window, still bewildered by the events that had just occurred. But the bloody mess did give her another idea. "No crowbars, but the chairs by the window got pretty busted up. Maybe there's a piece of metal or something we could use. Of course, that means getting closer to the window..." She shuddered. Hopefully someone here would come up with something better. She did not want to see that claw again.

So this was what a cross country trip was like. All things considered it wasn't so bad. Having to get all those changes was a drag but every time Sam felt like he was gunna start griping he'd just have to check out the view from his window as the trains engines kicked in and it leaped from the grav gate and into the sky. He was seeing the width of the country from a birds eye view and it only took in a day! He remembered in his history lessons they talked about just a few decades ago trains were stuck on tracks of just metal and wood and a trip like the one he was taking would have lasted, like, a few days.

He was on the last leg now and had gotten into a real rhythm for it. Casper had shelled out for some swish seating too so no way was Sam not going to enjoy that. He could stretch out, face under the air con flow and headphones on as he kicked back to some tunes. Now and then he'd lazily drag his gaze over the cabin and see the folks with AR implants looking like they were having epileptic fits. It was something he'd grown up around but there was always something about that distant eyed looks that weirded Sam out. Plus he heard that those things really damaged your eyes. How did they do anything with all that screen stuff in front of them anyway?

There were a few cute girls around who looked like they were students too. One in particular standing out to him. Sam was just dozing again when he got the ping from his phone telling him they were almost there. He waved it off. Other people were looking stuff up like facts about the city or routes to the school and though Sam knew he should have done the same he wasn't feeling like he was in any rush.

Then something changed. It wasn't immediate to Sam with his eyes closed, more like something instinctive. A noticeable change in the air. Sam opened his eyes and... yeah... yeah this wasn't right.

“The hell?” He muttered to himself, pulling his headphones off.

The place looked like it'd turned into some kind of haunted mansion. And almost, like, everybody had gone! For a second Jeff wondered if they were being pranked, except no way could someone do all these changes without him noticing unless he was drugged and that'd too many kinds of illegal to be worth it.

SMASH! Then all hell was breaking loose! There were screams, maybe some of them Sam's and one of the few guys left standing just got yanked out the window! Not out it... through it!

It all happened so fast Sam almost didn't register it but the thing that grabbed the fella was just too big to miss. Like a hook or a spear but it moved like, like something Sam's mind refused to comprehend. All while a little part of his brain screamed out, danger, RUN! To him. Except there was nowhere to run. It was pitch black outside and as far as Sam could tell they were stuck in the middle of the air!

“Holy shit!” Sam yelped, nearly jumping out of skin and totally jumping back onto his chair. This was freakin' metal!

So this was a dream, right? Right? When did Sam's dream's start feeling so real?!

Some little guy was going nuts and trying to smash the door in so hard Sam was starting to think he was as big a threat as the thing outside the window! Everyone else looked like they were looking for a way out too with talks of crowbars and stuff. That was bringing Sam back to the present at least. He wasn't any less panicked or freaked out but he was getting to a point where he could at least handle the situation a little.

Then some guy with white hair (probably dyed) started talking way too calm for the situation. Like he was freakin' bored after watching someone die! Either this guy was the world's best actor trying to act calm or he was a heartless asshole.

'Freakin' punk! What the hell is wrong with him?!'

Yeah that was good! Get angry! If Sam was getting angry then he wasn't getting scared! That didn't mean he had any idea as to what to do though. So with nothing better to do Sam went along with the team effort.

"No crowbars, but the chairs by the window got pretty busted up. Maybe there's a piece of metal or something we could use. Of course, that means getting closer to the window..."

“I'll get it!” Sam said, leaping in. He moved over to where the purple haired chick that'd just come up with the idea. He was so high on adrenaline right now it was easy to get him to just run along with things.

That quickly changed when Sam laid eyes on Ol' Purple hair. She hurt! Cut up like something had just used her as a scratching post. In his daze Sam had stupidly not done naything while the world went crazy around him but right now he couldn’t let himself do nothing while other people were hurt.

“Jesus!” He gasped. “You gotta get away from the windows, Lady.” He said to the girl he'd later learn was called Dakota. He even gently tried to move her bags away from the danger zone while the two of them were scrambling around without even thinking.

What were they even doing? This was all so insane, this had to be a dream. How else could Sam explain being trapped on a train with monsters and trying to crowbar is way through a door. That was some dream logic right there. And it was that thought that forced the idiot to stop and think!

“Hey!” Sam called to the people at the door. His brain coming back to a place of logic and reason. “This thing's gotta have emergency buttons right? An emergency stop or- or a sprinkler thingy! That door's gotta have an emergency open switch or something!” Just how did people prepare for an emergency on a flying train anyway?

Sam still wanted that big piece of metal though. He was already cursing himself for not bringing his baseball bat but he trusted something big and heavy to fend that thing off over a knife. “Here goes nothing.” He gulped, lunging to grab the piece of metal and trying to yank it free fast enough to get clear of where that monster had just been.

'Oh god... what did it do to that guy?'

The World

Sam reached down as he approached the window, gripping a piece of metal from the broken seat. It was about 12 inches in length with one jagged edge coming to a point, it was strangely warm in his hand. It appeared to have come from the arm of the chair, easily snapped off as the claw had come through the window.

Nearing the window Sam realized that the air outside the car was unwavering. Not even a slight breeze came from the opening, or any noise either for that matter. Any anxiety from approaching the window vanished as he quickly passed by without issue.

Sam was able to jam the sharp end of the metal shard between the door and the wall after quickly scanning for an emergency release that didn’t appear to exist. He put as much pressure as he could muster toward unjamming the door, feeling it starting to give way as the magnetic lock weakened. Finally Sam forced the door to slam open on the opposite side, his fairly fancy looking clothing being in direct contrast to his show of strength.

The car on the other side was familiar. Spider webs, red glow, and not a person in sight. The group was able to begin passing through to the otherside if they decided. At that moment the group felt and heard tapping from above them as voice echoed from outside of the train. It was gravely and deep throated, it’s deepness shaking the children’s eardrums

“Don’t run. She will find you. Don’t fight. Or I will kill you.”

Just than a hole tore open in the roof of the car as two clawed hands rip it open like tin foil. With almost no time to react a third claw reaches down into the car grabbing the closest living being.

---

@Tenma Tendo
Eden felt the cold clawed hand grab her shoulder as she attempted to treat Jeff’s wound. There was no use in running, it moved so quickly she barely realized she was being pulled from the BBS car. She was forcefully pulled up into the dark sky maintaining grip on the small utensil she had pulled from her sack. The lack of stars in the sky was noticeable, but didn’t feel important in that moment.

The creature turned her to look at it as it dangled her 3 feet in the air by her shoulder. The creature resembled a spider in many ways, although its size was that of a large Ecocraft. It’s face was closer to that of a human with multiple red eyes lining its face. Course black hair covered it’s body.

It opened it's fanged mouth to speak “Don’t move human. This will be quick.”

Just then the creature moved its head toward Eden’s small neck. Presenting its saliva covered fangs. A small dot of green liquid coming from the tip of each one.

This was the end of Eden. Nothing a human could do would stop the giant spider. Yet, Eden felt something swell inside of her. Why was this word ringing through her head, begging to be said, to be screamed. She had to say it, even if it was her last word.

JEFF PIERCE

Jeff knew he was doing something wrong when he noticed that the shy, small Moe girl was much more composed than himself. "Take this... F-For your wounds," she said, handing him a handkerchief. Jeff tried to wrap it around one of his closed fists, only to feel a sharp stinging feeling speed through his system as soon as the handkerchief touched the open wounds. He forced a really ugly smile, so as not to disappoint this gifted young lady who'd just offered to treat the wounds of this peasant.

Shortly after seeing that Jeff was 'satisfied' with her efforts, the girl went off to the other end of the car, probably to rejoin her fellow gifted individuals. "Man, if only I had some painkillers," he grunted under his breath. "I wonder if I still have some in my bag, by any chance." Jeff picked himself up from the floor, only realizing that he'd injured his shoulder badly while charging the door.

Jeff gently slid his hand under the seat he had originally been sleeping on and managed to fish the whole thing out. "This should do it," he said, pulling on the bag's zipper. After about half a minute of digging through his pack, he discovered a transparent Ziploc bag filled to the brim with cylindrical containers filled with pills of all sizes and colors. Jeff pulled out a small sheet with eight tiny capsules meant for ingestion, and removed two of these. He hated taking pills this big without anything to down it with, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

Just as he was about to pop both pills down his throat, he notices that the girl in the seat across from his--the happy one with the violet hair--had been wounded, presumably when the claw broke in and snatched up that small boy with the glasses. She was building a set of rudimentary bandages with what appeared to be an old T-shirt. "It's the least I should do." he answered.

As he approached the girl on the other side of the hallway, he started to tremble. "Dammit..." he thought. Jeff very rarely speaks to women, and those that he can talk to--read; his mother--didn't really give Jeff a good impression of the opposite gender."I should have prepared for this. I'm way too anxious." By the time he arrived at Dakota's seat, his breathing had become heavier, to the point where he had to hold his breath in order to open his mouth.

"Take this." Hey, the words were coming out pretty smoothly. "It'll ease your pain." His head was turned in the wrong direction and his eyes were tightly shut. Before Dakota had the chance to thank Jeff, a resounding crash called the attention of everyone in the car. Apparently, the overdressed boy had managed to force open the door with some sort of metal rod that had presumably been ripped off a chair. "I should have thought of that." Jeff sighs. As if he had already forgotten that he hadn't finished treating Dakota, he rushed excitedly to the newly discovered car...

“Don’t run. She will find you. Don’t fight. Or I will kill you.”

...The voice that resounded through both cars was deeper than what Jeff's own mouth could naturally produce, so naturally, everyone was on edge and pulling some sort of weapon to defend themselves with. Jeff, on the other hand, who was trailing just behind Eden, stopped in his tracks and pulled out a pair of bleeding knuckles. "It's no longer an issue of whether or not I'll be able to take it on," Jeff thought to himself. "We have to battle it eventually."

"The question is... How?"

Suddenly, as if to spite everyone inside, a large claw emerged from above, ripping through the ceiling like aluminum foil. Much to Jeff's shock, the claw jabbed into Eden's shoulder and pulled her up, knife and all, through the hole it had just created. By the time he could react, though, Eden was already dangling about a meter above the ceiling.

"No!" Jeff cried out in protest. "Couldn't you have taken me instead!?" Eden's screams of terror echoed throughout both cars, but without any way to climb up to the roof, all Jeff could do at this instant was to curse the malevolent entity that decided to rid this girl from his future on a whim, all the while digging his nails into the bloodstained handkerchief that Eden herself lent to him.

Itaki's gaze locked with the amber eyes of another individual on the train; The remark about the crowbar being about what he expected. Raising a hand up to his face, Itaki pushed his glasses up, sighing as his head lowered, a small amount of annoyance trickling in his head, but not enough to get upset about. "Yare yare." He complained to himself, feeling a bit of regret for ever asking.

At the suggestion from that same person to find a weapon and hold onto it, Itaki thought of the pocket knife he had; It wasn't much, but it'd gotten Itaki out of situations before: At least against normal people. That giant claw? Yeah, like hell he could do anything to that with a pocket knife. Itaki wasn't a coward, but he wasn't stupid either: He wasn't about to think his small self-defense weapon would keep him safe, not by a long shot. But it was better than nothing, and if nobody had anything better...

Opportunity struck as a stuttering mess of words coming from a girl confirmed she had... Kitchen utensils. Perhaps a knife she had would be better than his own; Sharper, larger. Though size wasn't always everything. He figured it was worth a look, but perhaps not at the moment. He didn't want to get in the way of the girl as she seemed to be helping that messy-haired boy who was still bleeding on the ground. Not to mention staying at the door was probably safer than wandering out anywhere else: He wasn't looking to get snatched next.

A second girl, farther back, had gotten pretty hurt. Itaki wasn't a doctor, and had no medical experience, so he doubted he could help; Her staying down was for the best anyways, unless she wanted to get yanked out too. She had a good idea, however: When the monster attacked, it damaged the chairs: They could use some of the damaged metal to pry open the door.

And as she mentioned it, another boy wearing dark colors shouted that he'd get it. Itaki witnessed the boy yank the scrap away from the window and high-tail it towards his current location. Things were going smoothly so far.

"That might work." Itaki commented, stepping to the side and letting the boy jam the metal into the door. While the effort he was putting in was notable on it's own, he wasn't quite sure if it was going to open fully. He gripped the makeshift crowbar as well and helped pry the door open, gritting his teeth as he put what weight he had into getting the damn thing to open.

Luckily for them, it gave in and they got it open.

Itaki adjusted his glasses again, wiping sweat from his forehead. He peeked through the doorway, noting that there were no other passengers. "Seems clear." He announced to everyone else, planning to pass into the next car, until...

“Don’t run. She will find you. Don’t fight. Or I will kill you.”

"What...?" Itaki muttered, hearing something from above. He turned back in time to notice the roof of the train car getting ripped open effortlessly; Eyes widening at the sight of the beast above. He hesitated as a claw came downward and went for the poor stuttering girl, and didn't react until she had gotten grabbed. He quickly stepped forward, but could only stare up in horror as the girl was carried off. Shit! There went another one of them, this was looking bad. Real bad.

Hiding in these cars wasn't an option. It could come through the roof, too; It'd get them all. They had to figure something out...

The messy-haired boy's screaming wasn't helping his train of thought. What the hell -could- they do? Throw something at it? Like what? What the -hell- was going to stop that thing?

Nothing, really. Nothing they had, anyways. But if they were all going to die here, then they might as well not go out without a fight. Even if it was hopeless to try and save her, nothing they did seemed like it'd save them permanently, so annoying this damn thing for as long as possible is all the spite they could provide.

With that in mind, Itaki dashed towards Eden's kitchen utensils: He didn't focus on what type of knife he was grabbing, he just knew what he grabbed was fairly large: Big enough to use for dicing full onions. He glared at the scene above, gripping the handle of the knife and bringing his arm back; His elbow raising in front of him as he prepared to try and throw the knife and hit the creature for whatever damage he could.

He aimed the knife, preparing his attempt...

Lock stayed near his original location, his intention being to scope out everyone else before making any decisions. One girl took him up on his idea and laid out some knives for everyone to use while another had gotten herself hurt, though still managed to suggest grabbing a scrap piece from one of the seats to force open the door with. Another boy then impatiently rushed for it, yanking it out and hastily propping it up near the door. One man's effort was not enough, however, as the other glasses-wearing fellow decided to help out and heave-ho.

So far, everything was going relatively well. As well as you could expect from a psychedelic drug trip come to life, anyway. The homeless-looking one of the bunch decided to toughen up for a moment and stumble over back to his original seat, once again running the risk of the claw bursting through and making them one more person shy. Not that the boy minded; this one's rash actions bordered on uselessness. Someone like him might turn out to be more liable than useful.

"Now, let's investigate a little..." Lock mumbled to himself, turning his back to the rest of the party. Everyone else was too busy sticking around where the claw had burst through the window that Lock figured it would be poignant to check if nothing came from behind them. The boy walked over to the other end of the car, checking out every window he came across. Unfortunately, each one he looked through offered the same sight: Red air with a nasty drop to the bottom. Despite his suggestion, Lock wasn't all that scared of getting near the windows. Whatever that thing was, it was on the other side. Even if there were more like it, him scouting out like this would at least clue the others in to that.

Lock clicked his tongue a few times as he couldn't figure out anything new, unaware of the other boy passing him by to go and grab some medication. If Lock was going to find out anything useful, he was going to need to get out of this car. To do that, he'd either need to rejoin the group in their efforts to force open the door or look for some alternative route. Leaning out of the emergency exit for a better view might have been an option, but that was near the middle. Lock didn't have any intention of rejoining the group just yet. It was then that he spied the emergency exit sticker on one of the windows near the connection door to the next car.

"Perfect."

Lock paced over to the window, tapping it while scanning the surroundings. There didn't look to be anything to break it with nearby, so he was on his own for this one. Checking to make sure the others were not looking, Lock took a step back and prepared to kick the thing open. He braced himself, but just as he was about to kick a voice rang out across the train.

“Don’t run. She will find you. Don’t fight. Or I will kill you.”

"Wh- whoa!?"

The voice caught Lock off-guard, and the sudden rumbling from the roof getting torn open caused him to lose his balance and stumble onto his butt. The boy shook his head to regain his composure and looked up at the new 'exit' created for the party, just in time to see a giant spider-like creature stab into another student and lift them up like a piece of junk on the side of the road. Lock was much too far away to stop the thing and even if he did rush over, it being on the roof made attacking the thing less than ideal. The boy glanced back to the window he was about to kick open. Well, if he knew what was out there anyway...

Lock picked himself up and ignored the rest as they scrambled towards the girl, figuring she was a lost cause at this point. He prepared to kick open the window once again. This time he wanted to create some kind of platform and exit for him to be able to climb on to the roof, with the intent of being able to fight the thing on somewhat equal ground. If it was all hopeless he could still jump off and hope to survive the fall, anyway.

Eden smiled wearily as she helped the messy haired boy to the best of her ability. Although now wouldn't have been a very good time to be doing such, Eden understood that having too many people blurting out ideas in such a tense situation would only make it harder to come up with some sort of plan. The smile, albeit off putting, was enough to show that her efforts weren't in vain, and that's all that mattered. As the messy haired boy moved to go and get what sounded like pills, her eyes moved over to the only other girl in the car and the one that was closest to the boy that was previously snatched, as she presented the idea of using a piece of metal from one of the broken chairs to pry open the door. And while Eden thought the idea was much better than anything she could have put together herself, she couldn't help but look worriedly at the other girl. She was clearly injured, judging by the scrapes of what use to be a t-shirt wrapped around her hand and waist. It didn't look like her wounds were in need of urgent medical attention, but Eden couldn't help but stare until her attention was forced to another dark haired boy that was right next to the other girl, expressing the same amount of worry that her face was conveying. He mentioned the possibility of an emergency button for situations like this, but Eden was pretty sure if the boy with the glasses hadn't spotted a button of that kind, it probably didn't exist; which was more than odd and a bit frightening when taking to account how much humanity has trusted and let technology take over their lives.

She watched silently as the other fancily dressed boy pulled at a sharp and long piece of metal, probably misshapen from when the bony claw ruthlessly broke into the car via the window, and hurried over to the door, Eden squeezing herself to one of the outer chairs to give him room to walk past. If this was any other situation, Eden would have probably congratulated them for getting the door to open, but even with their side objective cleared, the main one still remained. A wave of nervousness washed over the brown haired girl as she quickly stood and grabbed a knife with her small hands, taking a quick peak at what the car ahead of them had in store. From what she could see, the car in front of them looked exactly the same as the one they were in, minus the broken window and messed up chairs. There were still no people, however their luggage, much like her own, was still there. What did that mean though? It was impossible for everyone to just up and leave without a trace? How come they were the only ones left behind? And why had everything seem to stop moving...?

Eden had been so caught up in her thoughts that the suspicious tapping coming from above meant nothing to her. It was only when the tapping was coupled with a deep gravely voice from above that rang in her eardrums that Eden jumped in surprise, covering her ears as a defense mechanism. She had been so frightened by the sudden evil, almost demonic, voice speaking to them, that she was completely halted in her tracks, sandwiching her head in between a flat palm and a balled up fist which was still holding onto the knife. The tears that had dried earlier returned in full force as she was bawling as this point, her eyes shut tightly as all she wanted to do was curl up and die at this point. She was in so much distress that all the voices and noises around her sounded muddled, only the sound of her heartbeat was clear and consistent. She had thought that if she blocked out everything then nothing would be able to hurt her, but unfortunately, that made her the next target.

It happened faster then she could open her eyes; a claw, the same claw from before, gripped onto her shoulder and pulled her up through the now open roof without so much of a scream escaping the girl's mouth. She was completely petrified at his point, now staring at the monster that had a hold of her with wide eyes. She had imagined what the whole body had looked like after its claw made its first appearance a few moments prior, but what was right next to her was unfathomable.

Everything from the heights to those still in the car became meaningless as Eden's heterochromic eyes were enveloped by this...this thing. An amalgamation between a human and a spider was probably the best way she could explain what was in front of her. She wanted to move, get out the way, maybe even use her knife to free herself, but her body didn't listen. Her mind was screaming for her to do something, but her body just wouldn't respond. Was it because of the pain? Or maybe it was the fear...both? Eden couldn't tell as the same voice from before hissed at her to remain still before baring it's fangs and leaning in towards her neck, a green liquid, possibly venom, leaking from its fangs.

At this time Eden remained almost entirely still, her eyes now closed. Had she passed out? Or maybe just accepted her fate? It was quite uncertain to the girl herself as she waited in baited breath for her demise, someone to help her, or her body to finally respond to her mind's pleas.

.

..

...Why hadn't anything happen? Eden was about to open her eyes to see what was going going on, but another voice stopped her from doing so.



The voice as clear, but taunting. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion, as if the world was waiting for her response.





Eden furrowed her brows as she felt her head begin to ache at almost unbearable levels. She couldn't speak so much as respond to what this voice was trying to get from her. Despite how much it hurt, she did understand that her whole family shipped her off to Seattle in order to make a name for herself. She couldn't just give up before she was even given a chance to try. Not to mention there were the others just below her that worked so hard to get them to safety...was she just going to give up on them too?



Eden had no words for what she was hearing now. It was all true. It wasn't like she had the power to anything in a crazy situation like this...



Eden blinked in confusion, the darkness or her inner mind revealing a familiar object in front of her. She...and everyone that's helped her so far, could survive if she just took this?



What other choice did Eden have? She wanted to live and see the future that her family's laid out for her! Although in her mind, she reached out for the heart shaped locket, her actual body finally moved and grabbed hold of the lock around her neck.

Just as the beast was about to take her life, Eden's eyes snapped open and she screamed at the top of her lungs the one word that was bubbling in her throat ever since these strange occurrences started happening.



An almost blinding blue light enveloped the monster and Eden as the stagnant wind around them began to pick up; it had been so bright, that where the edges of the blue light met with the dim red light below turned a stark purple. The light remained for a few more seconds before dimming, and revealing a beautiful woman dressed in white and adorned in gold. Her skin, as bright as possible, while her hair was the starkest white that Eden had ever seen. The much larger woman's nails were extremely sharp and long, while nine white tails poked out from her gown, one of the tails wrapping around Eden's waist. And while this woman was the embodiment of beauty in Eden's eyes, what really got her was the woman's, no kitsune's, eyes. She had one blue eye and another golden one.

Eden had been in so much shock that she forgot the monster was even there until the woman now beside her smiled and pointed to the monster still latched onto her. Finding a new sense of power swelling within her, Eden clutched the knife in her hand and brought it down on the claw that was still latched onto her shoulder. As she did so, the woman next to her puckered her lips and blew in the monster's direction, an icy cold wind developing before turning more into a sea of sharp icicles. Although the cold did seem to be affecting Eden, seeing as she lowered her head and shivered violently, the fox woman kept a firm grasp on her until the monster let go of the girl whether from the knife wound or the extreme cold. With her tail, the fox woman lowered Eden back into the roofless car, placing her into the arms of the dark haired boy with glasses. She jutted her head forward, as if telling them to get moving to possible safety and that she would hold this monster off for as long as she could.

The World

@Raddum
A fluffy tail holding Eden approaches you expectantly. Slowly relinquishing its grasp around her waist in front of your arms. You feel a divine chill come from the tail, like a ghost suddenly entered the room. Does Itaki drop the knife to hold her? Attack the new monster that is approaching him? Or drop the poor girl on the floor?

@Ammokkx
As Lock prepares to kick in the window, a strange face appears on the other side to greet him, on one side of its fuzzy black face it sports one large eye, and on the other a ton of small red jarring eyes, a disgusting mouth seems to elongate off its face and exposes its teeth to speak.

“Hey bud, you ain’t gonna make me go through broken glass to get ya are YA?!!” the disturbing fly like creature giggles to itself. “I’d ask big guy to make me another entrance, but he’s got his hands full with one cold MAMMA! Ah nevermind, a little blooding neva hurt nobody!”

The creature took flight with wings far too small to carry any other similarly sized thing in existence, making its way to the smashed in window and the group at the other side of the train car. Lock is able to make out some sort of long spear in its hand.

@dogematix @gummy1295 @aislynn
As Eden is dropped down into the train car you all feel the same chill. For some this may be a welcome relief from the dry burning air, but as the tail leaves the car, so does the frost. Some of you may be so focused on Eden and the spider on the top of the car, that you don’t take notice of Lock’s discovery or the fly like humanoid making its way to the smashed in window.

@Tenma Tendo
The spider felt the chill of the personas ice magic cover its body, and the sharp pain of a knife digging into his claw. Its prey slipped out of his claw as a new foe made itself known in front of him. Just as he began to feel himself become brittle the attack ended and jumped back from its enemy as it lowered the girl back into the car, making a thud on the train car behind it.

“Not again. Mother will be angry. Good I’m not alone. Can still find success.” it said to itself under its breath.

The spider creature continued to backup, attempting to draw the attention of the persona further from the humans below. After all his backup was just starting to arrive.