World Refugees Final Mix

Aria had asked around in the Sandlot area. Most people said Pretty much the same things. People getting sick after sightings and the most frequent sightings on the edge of town.

Since there didn't seem to be any more information here she went back to her ship to do some research on the most likely culprit.

There weren't many people in the back alley area where Seph was asking around but, the few people he did find that would answer his questions all said the same thing. Sickness and most sightings at the edge of town.

He went back early to find Aria already preparing for bed. As she suggested before she went to sleep he read the article on the Doomtrain in the event that it was what they were dealing with before he went to bed himself.

It took a bit of convincing for Seph to get Aria out early. She usually stayed up late and slept in and they hadn't really discussed what time they would go look for the train...

She was still half asleep as they walked up to Central Station.

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Roxas had said he'd check the market first, but in truth, his first stop was actually just a short ways off of Market Street, into the back alley, where a few familiar faces had a hang out underneath the train tracks. He didn't get all the way to his destination when he spotted those he was looking for... or rather, two of them. Pence and Olette were outside the usual spot, looking worried. Granted, when they saw Roxas, they tried to convince him there was nothing to worry about. It failed miserably, considering that Hayner's absence was just too conspicuous.

It took a little cajoling, but Roxas was able to get them to tell him what had them so worried: Hayner had seen that phantom train up close. It had passed over the tracks under which the usual spot lay when he'd been in it. As had happened to so many other witnesses, he'd fallen ill. Pence helpfully offered a fairly useful little tidbit of information: some witnesses had reported seeing the train during the day at an old trainstation that was no longer in use. It wasn't always there, but that seemed like the best place to start looking. Still, he headed out to the market for more clues, as he had said he would. With any luck, maybe someone had had the presence of mind to get a picture of it. If it really was retiring to a burned out old station, it could very well be hiding out, possibly looking like a damaged old train, but there had to be some way to identify it... if that was the case. Oh well. It was a lead, at least.

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He arrived at the Central Station fairly early the next morning, tense and grumpy. Inexplicably, he'd slept soundly and what dreams he'd had had been oddly normal.

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As soon as her cohorts had arrived, Song got right down to business. She looked alert and sounded downright peppy, which wasn't her normal demeanor, but probably had something to do with the thrill of an adventure that might actually be easy, for a change.

"Alright, so..." She flipped her notebook open and ran her finger over the text as she spoke. "The most recent sighting I heard about was under Sunset Hill, but the most frequent sightings have been on the north-western edge of town. A couple people also mentioned an abandoned station that I think is near the same area. Besides those, the other accounts were all different. I won't bother with them unless one of you picked up a match."

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"It seems we found the same information." Not that too many people were willing to talk to him. It probably had something to do with the ridiculously long sword that he carried around. He hadn't thought to borrow a bag of holding and wasn't currently willing to leave it behind.

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"Where should we check first?" Aria asked sleepily. Splitting up might be quicker but, they weren't sure how dangerous this train might be so, it wasn't really the best idea. She kept that thought to herself for the moment though.

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"It would probably be best to check out where it's seen most often," Roxas replied, "We'd have the best chance of finding it there." He wasn't even going to mention the stupidity of splitting up to actually look for the thing. They knew nothing about it and finding it alone could end badly.

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"Seconding Roxas here. I organized my notes that way for a reason. So, does everyone's research match up? Roughly thata way?" she pointed north-west. "And is there a faster way to get there than on foot?" That question was directed at Roxas, expecting him to know this town best.

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"Yeah, pretty much the same stuff," Aria muttered. She didn't really care how they got there... although walking might help her finish waking up.

Seph didn't see the need to repeat that they didn't get any different information. His thoughts wandered to what they would do if it didn't show up there but, he did not voice his concern yet.

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"Hmm. The trains might run close to there," Roxas replied, thinking, "As far as I know, the tracks are not usable after a certain point. We'd probably have to walk from there."

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"Getting half way there by train is better than not," Song replied cheerily. One of the reasons she wanted to make it a short trip was precisely what Seph was concerned about. If they didn't get lucky on their first try, they'd have to search the other locations one by one. If that didn't work, they'd have to pick a spot and wait. It could get very old very fast... best to keep things moving quickly in other ways, at the least.

"Just get us on the right track - literally -and we'll go from there." She was already edging back towards the station entrance, though she was waiting for Roxas to take the lead or at least tell them which line to ride. With luck it would be free, since their destination was still in town.

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Seph started to walk to the station entrance but, Aria stopped him by grabbing a bit of his hair.

"I doubt that will be welcome on the train," she said, indicating his sword. They all had weapons but, his was most likely to really get in the way in a small space.

He was about to reply when she held up her bag of holding. Sighing, he deposited his word into the bag. He really needed to get something better to store it in when carrying it openly wasn't advisable.

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Roxas held out a schedule, which also had a map in it.

"The train that'll take us there leaves in about fifteen minutes. I don't think the tickets are free, but I'm not sure."

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"Good enough. I can afford it if not, and I imagine you can too." She went on through the doors of the station, figuring they might as well wait inside whether or not the train had arrived yet. She checked a map and schedule, finding the only train that matched location and time, and bought - yes, Roxas was right - a ticket. The seller gave her weapon a rather concerned look, but most everyone knew about the dangers by now, and of the odd group of allies who often came to deal with those dangers. She was recognized.

Further words to the others didn't seem necessary, so Song leaned against the wall and skimmed through her notebook, for lack of anything better to do during the next fifteen minutes.

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Aria got her ticket and stood a short distance from Song. When Seph got his ticket and joined her she absently played with his hair until the train got there.

He was unlikely to admit it but, he rather enjoyed the attention.

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Roxas purchased his ticket and took a seat on a nearby bench, his attention divided between watching the time and watching Aria. If he wasn't mistaken, she was likely going to do something embarrassing to Seph's hair...

He must have dozed or something because it didn't really seem all that long before their train arrived and they were boarding. For the ride, he settled on going over in his head what magic he might be most likely to need and what his companions knew. In doing this, he realized he might have to reserve his magic for healing as he was uncertain of what levels of healing spells the others knew.

There was also the problem of how one went about fighting a train. Although there was a certain point to which it might be like that blasted Infernal Engine Heartless he'd encountered once. They would have to wait and see...

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Song had stopped writing in her notebook and seemed to be sketching instead, smiling rather mischievously to herself. The repeated sidelong glances at Aria and Seph made it fairly easy to guess what her subject was...
And she continued this once they were settled on the train, finally putting the notebook away when she was satisfied, still without saying a word.

Enjoy yourself every chance you get, was her opinion. Even if it happened to be while riding swiftly towards violence and bloodshed - if, that is, fighting the train proved necessary. She was never one to jump to conclusions, after all.

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Aria continued to play with Seph's hair during the ride. By the time they reached their destination he had a thin braid behind his right ear.

If either of them noticed the glances or the sketching they didn't mention it.

"Are we lucky enough to not have to fight it?" Aria asked. She didn't really think they were that lucky but, the chance was there.

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Roxas had noticed the sketching and the glances which told of who the subjects were. It only earned a roll of the eyes and a mildly exasperated shake of the head. Really? Really?

"I don't think we're that lucky," Roxas replied seriously, "Even if those games have been accurate so far about the behavior of the summons, that doesn't mean that they all are. I can't see it being friendly in any way if it's making people sick for no good reason."

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The reaction Roxas gave only seemed to please Song more.

"I don't know about Doomtrain, but several of the other summons in that particular game had to be defeated before they would join you. So whether or not this is Doomtrain, it will probably want a battle. The real question is; do we give it what it wants, or find another way to subdue it? Even monsters can be reasoned with, assuming it has enough intelligence to understand. If it doesn't, well, there are plenty of ways to shut down a train."

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"We'll have to board it," Seph muttered, ignoring Roxas' eye rolling. "Targeting the track is likely out of the question." There were other trains that used these tracks. Whatever it was doing here at least it didn't seem interested in bothering the regular trains.

"If it doesn't stop we'll have to get creative," Aria grumbled when Seph was done talking. A random image of a part of a Star Fox game had made its way into her head. At least the area wasn't open enough that she'd have to reenact it. She really had no desire to try to take out a train with her gummi ship without damaging the surrounding area.

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"We would want to shut down the engine and engage the brakes..." Roxas mused, "Getting aboard the train might be the hard part, although... it's a train. It could have some kind of passengers..." He trailed off, considering the possibility that Heartless might be involved somehow. That could explain the thing's behavior, in as far as a train can have its own behavior.

He would have some more time to think on it as they hiked the rest of the way to the abandoned station. Their train had arrived at the last open station. As they stepped off the train, Roxas looked around. This last station wasn't in a much better state of repair than he was expecting to see the abandoned station in.

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"If it's a monster impersonating a train, it might not have an interior at all, or at least not an engine chamber." Song began walking along one of the tracks that continued on from the last stop. She was more confident about their location now. She recognized this area from a long time ago, when she - or at least a part of herself - had visited Twilight Town for the very first time.

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"We have no way of knowing until we see it for ourselves." Seph kept an eye out for threats as they walked. They may be looking for a train but, there were other things that could show up.

Aria didn't have anything to add. The abandoned station shouldn't be too far and she hoped their target would either be there or show up soon if it wasn't.

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"From what I've heard, it seems to be a haunted train," Roxas replied, more looking out for possible threats as Seph was than paying attention to the conversation, "But, maybe it's like Notre Dame was. It has it's own Heart. Since it's a train, the problem could very well be that Heartless have boarded it."

Speaking of Heartless, he did sense that they were close. The power of his Keyblades hummed in his hands, wanting to be called on. After a moment, he did call on them. The threat was close enough to need to be ready.

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