Project CITYFIGHT - Ch 1 - Commute Commotion!

[Arhra]

It was late at night. It was early in the morning. Perhaps it was even the witching hour, if you could get any two witches to agree on such a thing.

All reasonable people would be asleep at such an time.

CHUGGA CHUGGA CHUGGA CHUGGA

Like a cork out of a bottle, Lia Kiparen burst out of luminous mist spilling over the ridge. Shredded tatters of fog clinging to her, the little spirit landed, legs pumping. Her head and body were tilted down and her arms swept out behind like a jet fighter on an attack run as she stumbled and jumped down the slope in a barely controlled descent. Beneath her feet were grim steel tracks on coffin-wood sleepers laid on a bed of eerily skull-like gravel. No matter how much she twisted or turned, she couldn't get off the railway tracks. Lia guessed it was a meta for the inevitability of death.

"You, you witch-engine!" she shrieked behind her. "You haunted kettle!"

CHOO CHOO!

The train lumbered over the ridge and immediately started picking up speed on its downhill slope. The same ghastly mist streamed out of its funnel and the black iron of its workings.

Far ahead of her, a constellation of lights were laid out on the valley floor, like an army of stars. Or glow-worms. Lia frowned to herself, sudden realisation burning in her brain. Stone heaps of buildings like termite mounds. Scuttling carapaced things in the streets. A great gathering of people, drawn in by honeyed words and undoubtedly more sinister means into an enormous hive.

Honey.

Surely some insect or annoying buzzing flying thing had to be behind this. Lia complimented herself on her deduction, even in the midst of these trying circumstances. Her investigation was throwing up thousands of puzzles and she was solving them all. This train was supposed to be taking spirits to the underworld, not abducting people for suspicious purposes! It was time to trip up the plan this trip was serving!

Lia leapt and cartwheeled on one of the rails, mismatched clothes billowing out around her. "Take this, you thing of no gears! Here's the toll for your friend the ferryman!" She left two coins behind her, glinting on the rail like two tiny moons.

clunk clunk

The train powered over them without even noticing.

"You, you damn'd mechanism!"

[Steel Shadow]

Perhaps reasonable people were in bed, asleep and dreaming of the days to come, surrounded by families and friends. Perhaps reasonable people had a good life, with a job, and a wife. Perhaps reasonable people spent their days never knowing of true hardship.

But he was not reasonable. He knew hardship, like a boot knew the earth he was forced to tread. Hardship ground his face, sharpened his teeth, and did painful things to his nose. And yet he endured. He was alone. A crusader of vengance, cast out into a cold unfeeling world. He was his own strength. He was a lone-

*Wham*

"Sorry, guy!" Shiro Shiroson called over his shoulder as he dashed down the path. He hoped he hadn't shoulder checked that weird person on the path too hard... But, well, what did the guy expect, standing around at night in the middle of a road wearing nothing but black? It was hard enough to see out here in all the mist as it was!

But Shiro had a mission - he'd heard the angered and slightly panicked cries of someone in distress, and as a wandering martial artist, it was his duty, nay, his RIGHT, to go help them out. And they were yelling something about kettles. Perhaps they were trying to make some tea? He could go for a cup...

With a bold bound, the disciple of Aherne crested the ridge, skidding down it towards the center of the commotion at quite unreasonable speeds. Huh. Well this was an interesting situation. Perhaps that strange woman with the feathers in her hair was a fare dodger? She did seem the shifty sort. But if so, this seemed a little excessive. No, no, he'd have to do something about this!

He picked up speed, intercepting her course down the slope and jogging alongside her. Now, what to say? It would be rude to just ask if she'd done something to deserve the giant mechanical beast chasing her down straight away... Aha! Shiroson, you brilliant wit, that was it!

"It's a bit early to be out jogging, isn't it?"

Flawless.

[Intern Nin]

Elsewhere, three witches gathered inside a circle of some rather ominous-looking standing stones were in a heated debate about when exactly their agreed upon meeting time was. Well, two of them were anyway. The third and rather plump one was seated upon The Sacred Altar of Pantherean Offerings, drinking a stout and enjoying a pig's knuckle sandwich. This discussion was going to take a while so she thought it might be a good idea to eat before the tomato made the bread completely soggy.

The whole affair was interrupted a normal-looking buck in a frock running right in between th two quarreling witches, followed by very weird looking fellow covered from head to toe(?) in shabby clothing shouting, "Colm, get back here! We're not finished with practicing being human!"

The pair of witches stared dumbfounded as the pair of creatures bounded away, disappearing into the woods.

The skeleton thin and shock-haired witch slowly turned to her compatriot and asked "Did the one wearing the hat have cloven hooves?"

"Looked like," replied the warty witch with oily looking locks, "but enough distractin'. The hour ain't supposed to be this late! It's when the moon is at it's zenith!"

"And keep telling you, you're wrong! It's when the night turns to dawn! Everyone knows that!"

"That's the Hour of the Wolf, you nit!"

=================================

The deer bounded through brush and over stone, its chaser keeping the pace though not with ease.

"Dem it, Colm! You can't ju- oof! Can't just keep cutting out early like that! I have to get proper conversation while drinking steeped leaves and chewing soured breads down! Sven and Jeremiah don't have any problem staying put, why do you have to be such an ordeal all the time?"

In his pursuit, the obviously normal man failed to notice that the woods were morphing into steel and stone pillers of dotted light and the earth changing to paved road.

"Seriously, always fine for the one-on-one but get you in a social setting and it's-"

The odd fellow slipped on a cobble stone and landed flat on his face, the tumble briefly revealing a long, greenish and furred ear. He gathered himself up quickly but it was too late. The buck was nowhere to be seen, slipped away into the night, leaving behind only a length of pink lace

"Fine, see if I care! I'm through with you using me and never giving back. I'll go and find real people to practice with! They'll probably be much better at it then you!"

He picked up a loose stone and threw it at the general direction of where he last saw a deer named Colm, before sniffing and wiping his eye.

"Feck'd knockoff of a gazelle. *SNIFF* Heh. Hmm? Now where is here where I am?"

"Was that a sentence? I guess it is now."

CHOO CHOO

"Hmm?"

The weirdo looked in the direction of this new and alien sound just in time to see a railed path form from thin air towards him. And then around him. And finally continuing past him.

"Is THAT how paths made? I always wondered about that."

Then the light came upon him, and through it he saw the shadows of two vagely humanish beings.

"Could it be? Something besides deer and hags to mingle with? You're too kind, powers that be."

"It's a bit early to be out jogging, isn't it?"

"Arden" squatted and launch-lept into the oncoming figures.

"HUMAN INTRODUCTION RITUAL! I'M GOING TO BE LATE FOR SCHOOL!"

[Red Mage Black]

The fact it was hard enough to judge perspective on uneven ground was frustrating enough. Just as he was about to activate it to create a small homunculus, a man in black had callously stepped over the runes and smudged them. Activation now might cause unstable elements to erupt and ultimately level the area. As a safeguard measure, he dumped some of his bottled water over the remnants and smudged the chalk further.

He decided to go check out the train again. From what he had seen of modern trains in this world, this one was rather outdated. He never bothered to find out where it went and thought the city must have kept the relic since it still seemed to be in good condition.

Cecil was about to crest the hill when he heard a scream and a young man had simply leaped over the hill to pursue it. Maybe this would prove useful in finding out more about the city. Wind magic… he thought to himself before casting the spell. "Accelerando." Then he was off.

Both a strange woman and the young man were running at an impossible pace. At normal speed, he'd never be able to match either of them. Mages weren't exactly the athletic types, after all. He was somewhat behind them somewhere just ahead yet astride the train itself. Was this reconsidered suicide or was she actually running from the steel monstrosity itself? There wasn't much time to consider the options. Even with the spell, it had a duration of effect and his own stamina to consider.

[Overcast]

CHUGGA CHUGGA CHUGGA CHUGGA

Down in the insect conspiracy, in one of the termite mounds, in one of the more comfortable tunnels, a creature laid cocooned in soft silks of a thousand worms, resting easily in that quiet witching hour. It shifted slightly, sure that it had heard something.

CHOO CHOO!

A single bloodshot eye peaked out of the cocoon, full of disdain and vinegar, someone had woken Roland Vanderberg and he was not happy, “What is that damned racket!?” The blankets seemed to explode off of the bed with his exclamation, the man himself launching forth, feet to the fine carpet to stomp towards the window eyes scanning out to the hills and the source of the offending noise, tracks laid in front of it chasing down some poor fool. He grit his teeth as he held up his arms dramatically, his arrogance tore his pajamas away, and with old timey musical accompaniment formed his clothes around his body in suitable magical gentleman fashion. He grabbed a cane off the wall and stomped out the doorway stepping with aggravated purpose toward the doomtrain.

Though certainly not running off like the rest of the louts that seemed to be making it their business to launch headfirst into a lively sprint for their lives. The lot of them could see his silhouette just at the outskirts of the town fuming with single minded annoyance. He took a deep breath in and anyone who could see the spirits could see force explode off of him toward the mechanism,

“This is a residential area you garish, clamorous, morbidly fashioned piece of cast iron garbage!”

[batgirl]

In reality it was supposed to be an easy plan. Magnolia, wandering the world as she was wont to do, was going to hitch a ride on the so-called "Doomtrain" to the new city that had sprung up out of nowhere. I mean really, who calls a train "Doomtrain" anyways? Sure, it's ominous and sort of has a doom-like aura, but then again, what kind of clientele would a train like that attract? She supposed it DID ferry dead souls...really this was too much thinking for such an early hour for Magnolia. She hadn't even had a chance to have her morning cup of tea. She had attempted to flag down the train for a ride, but the aforementioned death locomotive seemed to have no intention on stopping for her. As such, she had to resort to more...drastic measures.

Drastic measures being the simple act of sneaking aboard, not an easy feat in itself. Magnolia, while quick, couldn't simply outrun a train. She had managed at the last second to grab ahold of one of the railings on one of the last train cars. Why the velocity of the train didn't rip her arm off, she couldn't fathom, but physics be damned, it's a death train fergoshsakes.

After unsuccessfully attempting to break into one of the cars, Magnolia finally decided to walk on the outside platforms of the train towards the front and now had wedged herself into a sitting position between two cars. She had pulled an Erlenmeyer flask out one of her pockets, used her flame magic to heat the water inside to bubbling, and was now proceeding to drop a small metal ball filled with herbs and leaves into the beaker. As she inhaled the wonderful aroma of her latest tea concoction, she stole a glance to her right and saw a golden eyed...woman leap onto the train and yell something about a haunted kettle. Her ears perked up at the mention of a tea-making device and she tapped the woman on the shoulder. "Would you like some tea, young mess woman?"

[Arhra]

"It's a bit early to be out jogging, isn't it?"

Lia glanced to her side. A nondescript young man with a ponytail was running beside her. He was obviously in cahoots with the train. Martial artists loved training.

"I'm not telling you anything!" she shrieked at him. "Nothing! Not a single word! Not a name, not a purpose, nothing! All you see is a mystery passing in the night!" Lia stumbled again and then rushed through a torrent of invective in a single breath. "Did you really think you could fool the great investigator Lia Kiparen?! A nocturnal bystander just happening to pass by and bug her?! Right between the suspicious city and the kidnapper train she is investigating?! Ha! A transparent ploy! She, that is I, saw right through you, Mr Cellophane Man!"

Shiro had set off an avalanche.

A suspicious trenchcoated individual leapt out of the night, screaming its warcry. "HUMAN INTRODUCTION RITUAL! I'M GOING TO BE LATE FOR SCHOOL!"

Lia vaulted over Arden as he lunged, one hand tapping down on his head for extra height and knocking his hat askew. The little spirit gasped in realisation. This ordinary human man was a nerd! Who else would be looking for a school at this hour?

He also was obviously the pony tail man's crony. She gulped in another breath. "Haha! Unlike your ploy, your trap was all too easy to see!" She glanced to the side and saw Cecil drawing near as well. Meeting a stranger for the third time? Enemy action, obviously. She stabbed a finger at Shiro "Are they all your thugs, Kung Fu Man?!" she shrieked in accusation.

The train's whistle went off, its shriek easily eclipsing hers. A diabolic tone with an edge of 'Could we please get back to business here?'. A sound to induce vertigo and a sense of impending doom in everyone to hear it. Lia stumbled, rolled head over heels for a few feet and then somehow regained her feet. "Take it to the junkyard!" she shouted over her shoulder.

They were more than halfway down the slope, the city lights ahead of them. A light came on in a window, a resident annoyed at the commotion.

"This is a residential area you garish, clamorous, morbidly fashioned piece of cast iron garbage!" Lia grinned. An ally! Roland's hurtful words were shouted at the train.

CLONG

The train rocked on the tracks for a second, ringing like a bell. Then it hooted in rage, mist gushing out of it as it picked up speed again. Lia glanced back again, assessing the steadily shrinking few feet between her, Arden, Shiro, Cecil and the piece of gothic ironmongery that was the train's cow-catcher. Bird-catcher? Bad news!

Down in Roland's house the air chilled and mist pooled out of a floor which suddenly had the crunch of gravel. Mournful clanging tones rang in his ears and lights flashed as two crossing guards swung down to either side of him.

His house was a train crossing.

* * *

Meanwhile on the train, Magnolia found her impromptu tea party interrupted. A carriage door slid open and a uniformed man came out. An intricate wing-like badge glittered on his lapel. He was a great ball of a man, with huge arms and tiny feet. His head seemed to be mostly moustache, a long nose pinning it in place with a neat conductor's cap on top.

"Having a spot of tea, ma'am?" he said, moustache waggling and bristling affably. He held out a ham-like hand. "Ticket please."

[Intern Nin]

Lia vaulted over Arden as he lunged, one hand tapping down on his head for extra height and knocking his hat askew. The creature in cognito quickly readjusted his vital, precious head covering hat, but not before the two midnight joggers got a good look of the brown hair and one of the nubby green horns that were meant to remain concealed. However, the mind of our generation and brainiac really didn't connect the odd features with inhumanity, so crisis averted.

Arden however was having his own private crisis in thought. A thought crisis. Thrisis.

She... leapt out of the way? But that never happens! All the scenerios I gandered at in the magic looking glass showed that when two people crash into each other, when running to somewhere important, they usually form a bond and make a whole lot of kooky friends.

He connected with the ground and rolled over the rail planks.

But... leaping out of the way? She doesn't want to be... aquaintances? Did I do it wrong? Was my unnaturalness showing? Or maybe...

Just before the cattle wedge could reach him, Arden acro-circus'd into the air and out of harm's way.

The mind gulped in another breath. "Haha! Unlike your ploy, your trap was all too easy to see!" She glanced to the side and saw Cecil drawing near as well. In the spirit's head dots were connecting to form a doggy, but they were meant to form a racecar. She stabbed a finger at Shiro "Are they all your thugs, Kung Fu Man?!" she shrieked in accusation.

Landing in a run right next to Cecil, Arden then pulled a plasticky object out of the folds of his oniony smelling overcoat.

"Lies! Everything you showed to me is lies! Nobody behaves the way they be doing in your images! What do you have to say for yourself, 'Enchanted Looking Glass'?"

The weirdo opened the device like a clamshell and illuminated his scarf-covered face with it's glow. Although the other three could not clearly see what was on the screen, for some reason they could clearly hear what they object was saying.

"Saki-chan wa, watashi no ai o ukeirete kudasai!"

"Iie, Tako-san! Yamate!"

Arden let a very loud growl of annoyance. "You've led me astray with your louse-infested social lessons for the last time! To hell with you!" With ex-prat preciscion, he threw the the 'magic mirror' in a high arc that landed it right into opening of the doom express's smoke stack.

"S-s-soreha-chū ni haitta!"

"Great riddance, I say. Moving on then," He faced Cecil and the others, "Pardon my forwardness, but it would seem that we are now being chased this devil-born contraption, are we not? So for all our sakes, I must ask for your blokes' opinion. Which would you say is the tastiest, most nutricious, and magically saturated portion of a cursed locomotion vehicle?"

[Overcast]

Roland let forth a hearty laugh as he raised up his cane in triumph as the doomtrain was smashed by his biting words, "And let that be a lesson to..." Suddenly the lamps of his home were snuffed out, and a chill ran through the room. Gravel and fog rolled across the floor, crunching replacing the soft feel of carpet under his fine boots. The stones slowly seperating to summon a strange wide blade,

"Oh no, no no no no no."

In a panic, Roland desperately tried to keep the crossguards from coming up, but it would take a much stronger man to stop this fate. Before he knew it they were up in full, and dropping to each side, keeping the world safe from the coming of the doomtrain. It had happened.

His house was a train crossing.

Roland began to shake visably as he slowly turned to the advancing train and began to power walk towards it letting out his own hoot of rage,

"YOU DARE!? You dare to sully my upholstery, ruin the organization of my furnishings?! You unstylish cur, it took me weeks to put that all in its proper place, do you think you can simply chug into my home with your tacky death thematics?! I WILL NOT ALLOW IT!"

The spirits began to shape around Rolands idea of style, around his suit, where his carpet was, his fine lamps and comfortable bed. His style became a barrier of dissonace between he and the train. Roland was beyond himself now, set to cause a head on collision between his insurmountable pride and its relentless charge.

[Steel Shadow]

Shiro hopped over the odd tackling man, but paying him any mind. When you were a wandering martial artist you got used to people randomly attacking you out of nowhere. Ninja, pirates, all-you-can-eat buffet owners... There was no end to the trials a wandering hero faced.

Lia's rant, though, this was worthy of note. He was beginning to suspect that...

... She was a suspicious person!

"I don't have any thugs!" He protested as the train hotels behind them. "They must be ticket inspectors! That's what you get for riding without paying!" Yes, it was all becoming clear now!