"Ouch, my bones."— Mika FangRaven waved to Ashley before taking a seat.
"Good to see you as well. It’ll be interesting to see you in action today, provided the rain lets up."Just a bunch of new faces. Maybe they’d survive today, maybe not, but they would all pass eventually. Why bother getting to know any of them? All a conversation was going to do was give Finn an opportunity to say something edgy, because of course this all had to be about him somehow. Hopefully Ashley knew what the hell she was doing, but Mika kind of doubted it.
The van started up again and rolled through the rain.
…
…
…
They drove out of the city and into some farm land. A single, unwinding road that went on for miles and miles. The rain was too thick to see anything but the asphalt road disappear in the distance. Mika parked the van on the side of the road just outside a tiny cottage.
"This is our stop."There was no reason to get any closer with the van. According to the doctor,this was the best spot to try and hitch a ride on the incoming monster. Any questions they may have had about the beast would soon be answered.
The twins, who had been speaking to each other in hushed whispers, got up from their seats.
"We'll scout ahead, wait here." Cereza let the other three know before opening the back of the van. Yes, three. Seemed whatever the two had in mind involved Timekeeper, as Cerise had gently grabbed his arm and walked him out with her. The boy rose a brow at her but did little else. The trio walked around the cottage for any sign of the behemoth.
"Forgive us, darlin', but it's hard to ignore how tense y'were." Cerise finally explained to him, a light southern accent softly reassuring him they didn't intend to antagonize him.
"We figured gettin' ya away would do you some good, stick with us instead?" Finn's expression softened. It was nice of them, but... The machine sighed.
"What good would that do? I'm gonna end up jinxing things again soon enough." He gave the mikos an indifferent shrug.
"Better I embrace it now before it kills me." He was a monster in his own right. But to them he was just a troubled kid, nothing more. The two passed each other concerned, nervous glances before Cerise spoke to him again.
"If you're strugglin', maybe we can put a word in and get y'transfered? We've heard of ya, y'could help the scientists back where we're posted. I'm friends with a few, they'll take good care of-" "No time for that, look!"And then it appeared.
Light from a center light pierced the rain. At first it looked like a distant star, but it gradually grew as the behemoth moved closer. The ground shook, and a silhouette started to take shape. Something with a long, cylindrical body was coming closer. It looked like it might be a train, and it started to sound like one too. Rail wheels hovered just a few feet off the ground and pushed the massive train along an invisible track. Rather than toot its horn, the train’s
tesla coil sparked and arced lighting lept between the raindrops at its back. It wasn’t going to slow down.
Mika grit her teeth.
"Where are they?"No sooner did those words leave Mika’s lips did Binky leap out from behind the cottage. She was fully transformed, and had all of her arms extended when she landed in front of Peace Train. It slammed into her, but she dug in her feet and tried to hold her ground. It wasn’t enough to stop the behemoth, but it was enough to slow it down.
But the train was not unmanned. Phantom train operators were scattered about the length of Peace Train. Most looked like scientists, a few priests, but all were apparitions with bodies made out of white smoke. They struggled to maintain their footing when the train slowed down.
If they were going to board it, it would have to be soon.
"Let’s move!"
@Vertigo@The World@NakushitaTrixy only blinked as Sovereign continued to ramble like a chuuni. Then, as if suddenly getting it, she smiled and raised a finger.
”I can be gold if you want!”But this attempt to impress fell the the wayside as the group tried to figure out exactly what Boteg was saying. Though this did not seem to impress Ciri, who more or less looked up from her phone only to tell off the money obsessed esper and exclaim that she was just as clueless as everyone else.
”Uh, I mean, You were able to translate back at the Bastion.” Trixy added with a nervous chuckle. But soon she decided to just honor Ciri’s request to just shut up and focus.
”’Me thinks thy company should continue to flap thy lips. Silence makes me nervous.”Then he added.
”’So long as thou doth not make me the topic of discussion.”But there wouldn’t be much time to talk, since their mark had shown up.
Crazy train had appeared. Everyone knew this because it looked just like a train. One that was made out of far more bone and sinew than a normal train, but it was a train none the less. Below its center light was a
ghoulish face that was crying out in agony. Or maybe it was just crying out because that was its nature.
Crazy Train did not travel in a straight line. It swerved side to side, howling all the while. If it was wounded, it was difficult to see with all the rain.
”Looks like it was a train after all.” Trixy shrugged her shoulders.
”Welp! Looks like this is your guys's stop!” Trixy flung Soverign off of Boteg’s back and watched her fall towards the train.
”Does anyone else need help getting down?”
@TaintedMushroom@Kero Raphael addressed Noah’s questions.
”We do not know much about how they fight. From what’s been said, they tend to avoid fighting. They move so swiftly that there usually isn’t a need for them to fight. Many greater behemoths are that way, where their very presence causes natural disasters. That, and they attract other monsters to their presence.” This was mostly common knowledge, but Raphael did not have an issue filling in a new esper.
”You should be more concerned with the weather and the demons that show up with the trains.” Lenore stretched her arms.
”Right, well, we’ll be off now.” As soon as they turned around, they disappeared behind a veil of smoke like a quatro of awesome ninjas.
”Our opponents outnumber us, we best be ready when they arrive.” Yet even though there were no visible enemies yet, the freelancers would begin to feel a sense of being watched by many,
many eyes. Their surroundings seemingly growing darker than what was natural. Even with the raging storm darkening the sky. It was something even the Walking Church's light struggled to break through.
Then they'd hear it. Creatures plenty, obscured by shadow snarl and hissed at the group, their forms hard to distinguish from each other whenever they clawed into the light. How many of them were there? And why hadn't they immediately attacked? It was as if...
"You can walk away while you have the chance, Priest." From above, a
golden haired woman sat casually on the edge of the rooftop. She held a katana in one hand, and her eye was obscured by a black rose.
"You may end up regretting getting caught between a rock and a hard place. 
