voidtreckerexpress | A NEW PLATFORM [INTRO POST JANUARY]

A NEW PLATFORM [INTRO POST JANUARY]

On the Train

Despite whatever Voidtreckers may have learned or how they feel about those revelations - or reminders - of the precariousness of their situation, the train flies ever onward.

"Good morning Voidtreckers, it is day one of the month of Poi. Points have been updated on the system."

With points updated, everyone can spend the morning shopping. Most people will be expecting the second announcement that comes a few hours later.

"Shortly arriving into a designated void platform. Exit from void in ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. The weather is dry but there is a chill to the air and a strong breeze." A lurch and a jolt, and the windows fill with the fog that means they are at a platform.

The doors open. As usual, those who leave first notice nothing, walking silently, rucksacks on their backs, towards the barriers. Dairine, Okada Izō, Rapunzel, Satoru and Siebren; all pass across the platform, not looking back. And then they're gone, disappeared through the barriers and into the fog beyond.

But on the platform itself there are thirteen new faces. Wearing hoodies in all four colours and in various states of confusion.

For New Passengers

At first all they can see is steam billowing around them as they come to their senses. As their eyes adjust, they find themselves on a platform. The platform is long with a grassy mound behind them. It is blustery and the air is cold, they will be glad of those hoodies.

They are standing, in clothes that are not their own and a style they might not even recognise. They are carrying a rucksack on their back. For a moment it seems to just be them, alone on the foggy, windy platform; then the fog begins to fade and they realise they aren’t alone.

Thirteen figures, all facing the tracks, all dressed in cargo trousers and hoodies. Then there is a roaring sound and out of the fog arrives a train. Jet black with gold writing on the side. The Voidtrecker Express. There is a hiss as the doors slide open and out pours a strange assortment of people, over a hundred at least. Some are human, some are less so. Most are wearing the same hoodie in one of the four colours, red, orange, blue and purple, though some are sporting different clothes in a variety of styles.

Behind them, the doors close, and the train is cloaked in the same fog that hides the world beyond the platform.

The Train

After a short time, perhaps ten minutes or so, the fog clears and the doors hiss open again. Those from the train may encourage those on the platform to board. It’s not like there's anywhere else to go and even if there was, you feel a pull. A need to board, a feeling that staying on the platform would lead to something terrible. If that is not enough, there are plenty of people on the platform now, to encourage them onto the train.

Each ICP shows the same message and next to the screens there are stacks of leaflets written by those on the train, with further information (see
'Publications'). The store rooms have been restocked with fresh ingredients, with cans of corned beef lining the shelves.

For passengers that have bought items, these are also scattered around the luggage carriage in various suitcases and bags. Those from purple who go to find their prize will find a large box containing a gingerbread train for them to share. Plenty enough to go around, even for the largest team.

New passengers will find their ticket allows them into their cabins. In most rooms, the occupied beds are obvious, leaving the spotless, empty spaces for the newcomers. Room is tight but there are storage cubbies at the head of each bed, beds fold up and the bottom bunks double as benches for the small table. There is storage under those benches full of spare blankets and pillows.

Snow Time: Rock Garden

Winter seems to have followed from Osiga and nested in the rock garden. There's a chill that nips in the air and a light snow (real snow) fills the air. A thin cloudy haze at the top of the carriage seems the source. Yet the kaleidoscope of the void will assure that this is no timely world stop.

People might have seen it occurring the night before. Snow falling heavy before tapering off with an odd precision, leaving a heavy blanket over the carriage 'ground'. By morning of Platform Day, a miniature winter has descended, ripe for snowforts, snowballs, angels and snowmen.

It's not just the climate that's changed. Many statues and rock features are missing or moved. Digging below the snow reveals soil now frozen but providing a barrier between the bare floor of the carriage. Keen eyes will see changes are made with safety and available space in mind. The fountain has been emptied but the pond and streams are frozen solid, allowing intrepid spirits to try slide-skating over the surfaces without the risk of breaking through. The mosaics are still around, and enchantments are in place to protect paintings and paper decorations from damp. Any plants have been sent to sleep or taken to safety.

The benches are still around. Paths and bridges are covered with fresh snow, but, as the day goes on, it's trampled down and or scattered. Najaran's woodfolk may be glimpsed near Jingyi's shrine or hiding in the shadows of rocks and statues still present, perhaps even buried in the snow and peeking out. Shy around humans, though those with pointed ears or Hylian lineage may find an easier time interacting.

There are signs on both doors of the carriage warning of the change and mentioning the dressing carriage will have winter gear, and it does: with hats, scarves, gloves and ice skates in a variety of sizes. Dispensers with warm drinks such as coffee, hot chocolate and hot water for tea are available in the Games Carriage.

Early the next day, the snow will be gone and the gardens returned to how they once were.

Departure

A second horn sounds to encourage any stragglers taking advantage of the fresh air, and the doors slide shut. Veteran passengers know what will happen next, but they may wish to brief their new companions.

The train sets off, the fog obscuring the view again as it picks up speed.

"Welcome aboard, passengers of the Voidtrecker Express." A female-coded artificial sounding voice echoes throughout the train. "Please take the time to read the passenger information displayed on the Information and Communication points and familiarise yourself with the layout and emergency exits."

The train begins to tilt, leaving the ground and rising up into the fog-filled sky.

"Entrance into Voidspace imminent. New passengers are advised to remain seated. Entry into Voidspace in ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one."

A shudder, a jolt, a lurch to the left. A flash of light, colourful and blinding. As quick as it happens it is done. The train seems to steady itself. The fog from the windows is gone now, replaced with a kaleidoscope of ever-changing colours.

Welcome to the Void!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"It's fine." That's not a full answer, but only because Vegeta is considering something else rather than his own training at the moment... Hm, distraction was good for, well, any emotion, so he's found, so maybe...

Raising his hand palm up, ki sparked across it before it formed an orb of yellow energy hovering just above his hand. "I know a way to warm you up real fast. If you think you're up to it." The ki splitting into smaller orbs a moment later and flying around to position themselves at various spots around the room.

He eyes the floating orbs curiously. Never seen him do that before. But considering what Vegeta asked him for? It's as good a chance as any to practice. And an opportunity to test the blessings that Koumyou put on his arrow.

"Alright. Let's do it."

Whether he's up to it or not, he needs to make himself up to it. He lets go of his arrow loosely in the air, whistling and stepping back so it floats lightly in place, leaving elegant and faint little trails of red where it spins as if it doesn't give one single damn about gravity.

Honestly, it's not worth it most of the time as an attack. A distraction at best. Vegeta's found a full on blast of ki works better now days rather than playing cat and mouse with numerous ki spheres. But it's something he's kept up with, just in case it may become handy one day again.

"They are low enough ki to not do damage." He's not doing this to damage Yondu's weapon, just to give him a new target that he himself doesn't control, and can't be destroyed. And can be taken up a level, once Yondu got warmed up. But not right now, let him get his eye in for them before Vegeta starts making them moving targets.

His jaw sets and his expression becomes more earnest. And honestly? It does help to have someone in charge of the targets that's not him. It doesn't let him be absent.

The arrow slices towards the ki spheres with a sharp whistle directing the speed. His stance remains casual, but he takes a couple of steps back. He's going to have to rely on his vision, not his fin. The ki doesn't register as solid. But he does need to remember sometimes he needs to focus more on one than the other.

As each gets sliced apart Vegeta allows it to fade away, but only to be replaced with a new one in another location. He hasn't spoken too in depth with Yondu about just how this works, so was unaware about it being based on solid items rather than energy, so he unknowingly adding an extra level of difficulty to this all. But something Vegeta would argue it was a good extra difficulty for training.

He allows Yondu several minutes to get the feel of this, to get warmed up to this all, before shifting one of the ki spheres just before his arrow passed through it. You didn't think he was just going to keep them still and let them be picked off, did you Yondu? Those still targets are now moving, not super fast right now, but certainly at a good pace to make see what Yondu's capable of doing.

He didn't want it to be easy, thankfully. His fins lit all the way up as he tries to tell some difference in the expansive emptiness of the room between the energy and empty space. But he can't.

Luckily Centaurians have quick eyes, like some predator ancestor. It makes it difficult to trick them with holographic illusions. They can see through them. And it means even as those targets pick up speed, he's easily following them with sharp little whistling commands.

Though it's obvious those are for speed, not for direction. It's his fin (and sense of purpose) guiding the arrow like a chellenge.

He catches it on another return. "Pick her up some." He's ready to go a little harder, sir.

"Fine." This was good practice for Vegeta too. He's not sure what for, delicate movements like this wasn't really needed for fighting, at least not at the level he was now days, but it was good to work on rusty skills.

And so the speed picks up. He's not sure what Yondu can do, or how far he wants to go, but Vegeta will steadily keep increasing the speed and manner in which the ki spheres travel around the room until he's told otherwise.

It does take him a little bit to warm up. Not at all looking for patterns- he's expecting that Vegeta is the type of fighter good at randomizing his moves. He just has to compensate. More importantly, he has to concentrate.

He finally takes more of a defensive stance. Not so he can fight back, so he can jump out of the way as quickly as possible if he fucks this up. "Now at me!" He scales it up. Deflection is a skill he doesn't get to use as often as outright sniping.

Vegeta huffed out a 'heh' at Yondu's shout, appreciating the other man's confidence, and who is he to deny someone's training like this. With a flick of his wrist all of the moving orbs from their different locations around the room instantly change direction and head straight for Yondu.

He whistles sharply to bring the arrow in closer, zipping through and hitting the ki lights before they can get threateningly close. His mouth is busy dispatching orders to his arrow, the pitch of his whistle dictating the speed, the fin dictating the motion and destination. So he just gestures to Vegeta he wants more, and faster.

It is helping. He doesn't want to think right now, and he's become pretty damn focussed.

Vegeta's happy to keep going, throwing more and more of those ki orbs at him, change up the speed, size, and directions they moved as random as he could to make sure there was no obvious pattern, or creating a pattern then switching it at random to another. Anything and everything to keep Yondu on his toes during all this.

During this all he's used his tail to sweep up both his drink and snack at different times, either drinking or munching on them as this continued.

He does keep up pretty well until at one point he Notices, and at that point he has to dodge, even bringing up his gauntlet-turned knife-holster to guard in case he doesn't make it in time.

He barks a "Hold up! Hold up!" before pointing at Vegeta.

"...I didn't know your tail could do that much."

Yes, it's worth noting, because that's crazy useful!

The instant Yondu stops playing along, Vegeta freezes each orb in it's place. They may still look rather menacing, he being surrounded from all directions from them, but they won't move unless Vegeta wants them to. For his part Vegeta is mid sip from his sports bottle he normally brings along for breaks, raising a brow at Yondu's shock and surprise.

Then barking back, "What did you think it was for, decoration?!" Not that Vegeta uses it a lot to show off. He will now and then in the kitchen while cooking, to grab stuff if his hands are busy, but for the most he keeps it safely wrapped around his waist. And of course for training when he's focused on fighting with it. "It's another limb."

"I dunno! I just ain't seen you do it before. ...That's real handy. About as handy as somethin' without an actual hand could be."

See, it's one thing when your buddy is impressed by your super awesome fight moves. And he is! He's expressed so many times and even talks Vegeta up to other people. But he's also impressed by this incredible little burst of buttmobility he didn't know about.

That... is quite a mental image, having a hand on the end of it... yeah, no, Vegeta doesn't like that, a shake of his head to send it away. "It certainly has offered me options back I had been missing."

"For most Saiyans their tails were a weakness as well as a strength, so keeping them close to us were a way to help protect them. Any decent Saiyan learned to use this to their benefit, as many forget that it's another limb to fight with," Then a huff of a laugh, not a nice one. "Until they get hit with it."

"If you throw someone with that tail? Or whack 'em good with it? I wanna see it." Please, it'll be one of the best things. No one would see that shit coming.

"Hell, it's even good for a cupholder but goddamn I'd pay good money to see you whoop ass with your own ass."

"If you are present when a chance presents itself." Vegeta leaves it at that. It all comes down to being in the right situation, and that includes a target. However, "I have been training Trunks not to overlook alien anatomy by using it when I believe he's not expecting it." Got to keep the boy on his toes.

Vegeta then levels a very flat look at Yondu. "You cannot use it as a cupholder." Don't even think about it.

"Good idea. I had to train Quill on all kinds of that shit. Especially since he couldn't use any of his blood father's powers at the time. He was just sturdy." But then he pulls a face.

"I wasn't gonna ask."

But that made him think about it, briefly, and what kind of bizarre situation that would be. Still, not going to ask. Just gonna move on to the more real question. "How's Trunks been?"

"As well as can be." Vegeta answered as he let his hand controlling the orbs drop, the ki vanishing away as he did so.

"He's been training me how to use a sword." He adds, actually offering that without a need for prompting.

"Oh yeah? Cool. Swords are real clean if you can use 'em right. Finish somethin' off quick without prolongin' it. How are ya with it?"

He bets that even Vegeta wielding a campfire log could do a fuck of a lot of damage but he's self-critical enough to be honest about his progress. Yondu was always a dagger man himself, as they're pretty easy to hide. The one in his arm sheath currently is a candy-red display.

"After the incident at the last space station stop I decided I needed another option in case a similar situation arises again." It would take time for Vegeta to get comfortable with using any weapon, however Trunks was a good teacher, and knew his father's temper well for when it snapped in irritation.

However... Vegeta struggles with a way to answer Yondu's question, his pride not allowing him to admit he isn't instantly an expert at it. Logically he knows that is not possible... but he's spent so much of his time training, perfecting what he was capable of doing, that to start from step one was difficult for him. "I'm... learning." That answer having a bit of a snap to it.

The snap doesn't detract from the interest, though, and Yondu barks a sharp, 'Hah!' but not at Vegeta's lack of skill.

"Man I seen some poeple use some special laser swords? Bet someone with your strength could casually dissect a ship or somethin'. Nice!"

Even if he's learning, he's apparently very happy with the fact Vegeta was doing something that could eventually wreck some shit.

It's a good thing Yondu expanded on that laughter, Vegeta's brows already dropping, ready to snarl back something, however it vanished as quickly as it appeared as he calmed again. "Provided the weapon is suitable to do so. Often it's not a case of being limited by strength but by using tools with it." He's certainly learned that over the years, Bulma asking him to move something that would normally require heavy duty machinery to move, only for him to do so and end up leaving finger dents in the surface. Strength was not the issue, the weight of the item on a specific area that didn't allow for the weight to transfer across it often was the issue.

A sword or any weapon would have the same trouble, everything physical would eventually have a breaking point. "If I required to do so and wanted to use a sword, I would use this." Vegeta raising his hand to the side away from them both, a blade of ki extending from the end of his hand and resembling a long blade shape.

Like Yondu'd ever scoff at Vegeta! Well... maybe, but the situation would have to be pretty dire. A good solid rejection and something could wrap that soft heart of his in barbs again.

Oh hey! That is pretty great. Yondu nods approvingly, making a little Yeah, alright! kind of face, as much as one can describe an expression as that.

"How much ki can use in a fight? Do you start wearin' out at some point?"

The ki flickered back away as Vegata no longer needed it, moving to cross his arms over his chest instead. "Most of the fights in my world are against challenging opponents, often it requires a high output over a short period of time to defeat them quickly." Ideally that is, unless he was playing around with them. Because that has never come back to bite him before... "I and others have to be mindful not to damage the actual world we're on too greatly though, it would be easy to go all out but destroy the planet itself. It has to be balanced."

"Here I haven't had a need to push far enough to come close to being exhausted." Although, "Unless I'm starving." Saiyans really did run on great amounts of food. Vegeta can work through hunger, he certainly has before, rage was a great replacement fuel, but that would only work for a limited time too. If there was no energy in the body to burn you started to do damage to the body itself.

A NEW PLATFORM [INTRO POST JANUARY]

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