World Refugees Final Mix

"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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"What fun."

Song glanced at the flash of keyblades appearing and idly spun her glaive in her hands, playing with its balance. Granted, she didn't think an ordinary weapon would be much use against a train. She'd more likely have to draw on her newly learned magic. It would be an interesting test.

A few steps more and she stopped, holding still for a moment and then prudently stepping off of the tracks. They were vibrating.
"I think it's coming to greet us..."

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"Lucky us," Aria muttered sarcastically. "At least it's not gonna keep us waiting." She hadn't been walking on the tracks but, she moved a bit farther away. They were already within sight of the abandoned station but, the train was likely to show up before they reached it.

Seph stepped off the tracks and considered the likelihood of getting on the train if it didn't stop. He could probably manage it but, Roxas was the only other person there that might be able to.

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Provided the train wasn't running full steam, Roxas could definitely get onto it if it didn't stop. He was still considering the likelihood of having to fight immediately upon boarding though and finally getting a glimpse of the train said enough. There seemed to be far more smoke coming from the smokestack than there ought to be, but a closer look showed billowing darkness coming out with the smoke and steam. As the train drew nearer still, it became apparent that there were indeed Heartless on board.

"This would be too easy if we could jump on right by the engine," the Keybearer grumped as he watched the train approach. Then he realized that the train was already moving fairly slowly and the swarming Heartless were mostly up by the engine. No, they didn't want to jump on right by the engine. They wanted to get on further back. Fighting their way up from the back would actually be easier than trying to board while fighting off the Heartless at the front. Since there were only four cars besides the engine and the coal car, it wouldn't be that far to go. Getting on by the caboose might be the safest bet. The damned thing was moving slow enough. Grumbling under his breath, Roxas broke into a run, fully aware that as slow as it was going, it was still going too fast to catch up if it passed and they had no way of knowing if it was going stop at the abandoned station.

It took a leap boosted with Aero to get him onto the deck at the back end, but he was made it, even if taking the risk of using Aero in a way he never had before got him face planted on the deck. He was up quickly, ready for any Heartless or to help his friends board, whichever came first.

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Song had taken off at a full sprint the moment Roxas started to move, predicting his plan. She'd never been much for distance running, losing her breath too quickly to last, but in short sprints she was fast. She caught a rail on the caboose as it passed, tossing her weapon onboard immediately so that she could use both hands to swing herself up, landing with a foot on the pole of the glaive to stop it from sliding back over the edge.
It was a lucky move, successful mostly because she hadn't stopped to think about it, but she couldn't help feeling rather awesome. Now if only she was as strong as she was athletic...

She waited again for Roxas to make the first move onward. Better not to be in between the Keybearer and the Heartless.

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Aria and Seph followed suit but, Seph frowned for a moment once they were on board. His sword wasn't really good for small spaces.

He brought this up to Aria, hoping she had a spare shorter sword, and after a small discussion somehow ended up using her tiki torch fire staff. Which he wouldn't have given in to if her sword hadn't been infused with Light element. He didn't really like to talk about it but, being too close to Light made him uncomfortable. Another reason he didn't like being in Disney Castle too long.

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The caboose was empty. Cautiously, Roxas started toward the front, Keyblades in hand. He had not noticed the tiki torch yet, nor who wielded it at the moment as he had more pressing things on his mind, like getting to the front of the train and getting it stopped. If he was right, clearing it of Heartless might solve the issue. Hopefully.

They could worry about that when the time came. First, they had to get to the front. They had four other cars to fight past and Roxas was dreading the possibility of fire using Heartless hanging around the coal car.

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Luckily for Song's peace of mind, that thought hadn't occurred to her yet. In the midst of action was possibly the only time she wasn't planning for every possible circumstance. It was good for making snap decisions, not so much for avoiding a headfirst charge into trouble.
But then, that was the other reason she let someone more durable go first.

Despite that, she was almost running over his heels as they passed through the vacant caboose. So few cars seemed like a deceptively short distance. The fight hadn't even started and she was impatient for victory.
"Heeerrrre Heartless, Heartless, Heartless..."

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Seph and Aria were a bit behind because of the weapon issue. They hung back though. Seph in case of hidden Heartless that may try to attack the others from behind once they passed and because he wasn't enthusiastic about using a tiki torch weapon.

Aria was just giving the others room to fight. There wasn't exactly room for all of them to move freely if they were all bunched together.

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Roxas wasn't particularly enthused about the tight quarters either. It wasn't something his fighting style took into account and that complicated things. All the same, he stayed on point. However, the caboose was empty and the next car contained only a few weak Heartless.

The next car, however had probably the worst thing they could encounter in such a tight space: a Large Body and a Barrier Master.

"Shit!" was all Roxas could say before diving to one side to avoid the Large Body's charge...

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