A New Platform [Intro Post June]

[voidtreckermods]

On the Train

The days following the mission are relatively uneventful as people once more get used to the rhythm of life on the train. "Good morning passengers, it is day sixteen of the month of Fiddlesticks. Points have been updated on the system."

They have indeed and everyone can spend the morning shopping. Those who have been on the train a while 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." A lurch and a jolt and they are soon surrounded by the fog that means they are at a platform. It is a cool day, clouds gathering threateningly though it stays dry luckily.

As usual the first to leave the train notice nothing as they walk silently, rucksacks on their backs, towards the barriers. Leviathan, Atsushi Nakajima, Spinel, Peggy Carter, Evie Grimhilde, Cal Kestiss, Gwen Stacey, Renee Corbin, Lan Jingyi, Waver Velvet, Aoko Nakamori, Namine, Jak and Marcus Wright all reach the barriers, show their tickets and disappear through, vanishing into the fog.

But on the platform itself there are many new faces. Wearing hoodies, 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. They are standing, in clothes that are not their own, styles they might not even recognise. They are carrying a rucksack on their back. For a moment it seems to just be them, alone in the white haze but then the steam begins to fade and they realise they aren’t alone.

The platform is not large and it holds twenty six figures all facing the tracks, all dressed in cargo trousers and hoodies. The air is cool with a slight breeze. Both left and right the tracks disappear into the mist. 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 into the cold step a selection of people. 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.

The Train

The doors hiss open. Those from the train may encourage those on the platform to board. It’s not like there is 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 not be a good thing. 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. The store rooms have been restocked with plenty more bacon as well as other staples.

Passengers who are not brand new will notice a new carriage. A second gym. This one is outfitted for training with mats, fighting pads, balance beams and even climbing apparatus to help get everyone ready for the missions ahead.

New passengers will find their tickets allow them into their cabins. They may need to negotiate for beds, especially if they want a top bunk!

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 and you will hopefully find a pillow for your bed if it has not been nabbed by a roommate, there are also spare blankets for if it gets cold.

Departure

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

The train sets off, the fog obscuring the view 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. The fog from the windows is gone now, replaced with a kaleidoscope of ever changing colours.

Welcome to the Void!

Comments

Piccolo | OTA

[shutupnail]

I. Platform

Piccolo did his usual routine whenever they stopped at a train station. He went outside more to enjoy the space and outdoors than anything else. However, he did make the usual minimal effort to greet a few people and answer questions if asked any.

Then he spent the majority of the day in the air, practicing his flying technique by hovering in place well above anyone else's heads. He couldn't go too far high, unfortunately, he always managed to reach the invisible boundary and then just get stuck there, but he could get out of the way at least and hover there undisturbed for the most part.

He'd still come down and answer questions if signaled or yelled at, or if any other flyers joined him they could have a chat in the air.

II. After Departure

After the train left again, Piccolo remembered to go pick up the item he had ordered and headed to the Luggage Carriage. The item marked for him was simply wrapped in brown paper. It didn't make any difference to the Namekian. He picked it up and started to head back towards another carriage.

Along the way he debated where to go. He usually went to the greenhouse or the garden to meditate but for once he wouldn't be doing that for a bit. He could still go there to read the book in his hands truthfully but he decided a change of scenery might not be a bad thing. The cabins were too small and cramped so he wouldn't go there. He decided to head to the standard coach.

He took a seat in one of the rows with lots of open space in front due to the missing rows torn out some time ago, and stretched out his legs into the empty space. No reason not to be comfortable. He torn off the packaging and opened the book. It wasn't exactly the best reading material for someone like him who wasn't interested in such topics, but Piccolo was pleased to find it did have some technical pictures and the information that he needed to learn how these machines worked.

Anyone passing by glancing at the book cover would find that the book was about firearms.

After Departure (new account, same great flavor)

[nutkrusher]

Cassie is just passing through on her way back from the dining car. Piccolo wouldn't be hard to miss even in a space as narrow as a train, but his choice of reading catches her eye too.

"Hey, Piccolo," she says. "Doing some research?"

[shutupnail]

Without looking up Piccolo answered, "As a matter of fact, I am. It seemed a common interest."

Eventually he stuck a finger in the book and closed it on the appendage before looking up at her. "Not everyone has interest in martial arts, unfortunately for them. As long as they don't cause issues among the passengers I'm willing to help them."

If issues did arise then he would help resolve them. So far the vast majority had shown natures of kindness and caring. He hoped that remained just so.

[nutkrusher]

"It's better to have them and not need them than need them and not have them," Cassie says.

It's an odd way for a 21st-century soldier to be thinking about guns, she knows. Then again, she does know a few people for whom guns top out at "nice to have" in battle.

"Guess I'm working on both halves of that equation."

[shutupnail]

"I suppose. It's just not something I'm used to promoting," the martial artist replied. Indeed, weapons weren't really a thing among his kind of people. The only people he could recall last seen with one were Frieza's lower henchmen. They didn't exactly have much strength so energy weapons made that up for them, he supposed.

His Earth, of course, also had weapons but they didn't amount to much to the top martial artists on the planet these days. Any of the Dragon Warriors could easily catch a bullet with their bare hand and suffer nothing for it, so they barely even blinked whenever it came up these days.

"Get any takers for creating them the old fashioned way?"

[nutkrusher]

Meanwhile, guns are still effective against most of the beings of Outworld and the Netherrealm, even if some of them take more bullets to bring down than anything on Earth. But "most" and "all" aren't the same thing, so if nothing else, her training with Piccolo might be able to bridge that gap.

"A lot of interest," Cassie says. "Some ideas, too. Two real leads. I talked to one guy named Feanor, and had another person direct me to a Tony Stark. I haven't talked to him yet, but I mean to. You know him?"

[shutupnail]

"I know of him. He's not the quiet sort but like most geniuses I know tends to get caught up in his own affairs pretty easily. You can find him in the quiet carriage in the room with the blackout and lock installed, if he's working on something."

It was common knowledge that Piccolo just happened to hear because what did't he hear in such cramped spaces with his excellent hearing. He was lucky he wasn't prone to headaches because otherwise the cacophony might bother him more. It had certainly taken a lot of adjusting when he first arrived. He was too used to being out in the stark wilderness.

II

[pleple]

"You're really taking this seriously, aren't you?" Ple Two observed the combination of the alien and a book about guns. Even though he was an incredible force in battle, he still sought to help the rest of them...

[shutupnail]

"Yes," the Namekian said as he looked up from the book. "I may be used to protecting everyone but I cannot, in fact, be everywhere at once. And unlike my world where there's usually one large threat, there always seems to be more than one with this train's travel destinations."

That was basically his way of saying he wanted people be to able to defend themselves, and not everyone wanted to train hard to learn new techniques. So be it. This was the least he could do in the other direction then.

[pleple]

"One large threat would be very manageable." She's BEEN one large threat. And uh... she's been managed! Numbers are powerful and unpredictable.

[shutupnail]

Piccolo wasn't used to large numbers. Something about one on one battle being honorable and all that nonsense. Not counting henchman, those were just there to make the heroes look better, right? Sure.

"I suppose so. I've seen some pretty large threats come in very small packages."

[pleple]

Ple Two was used to war. Not much honor in a war waged by Neo Zeon, despite a few loudmouths.

Not much honor in a war where... cities were totally destroyed, either.

"All the same, at least everyone can focus on a single task."

[shutupnail]

"Hmm," Piccolo looked thoughtful. "I guess that's one way to handle things."

If it were a natural disaster everyone working together made sense, but for Piccolo a single target enemy usually required a single warrior to fight on behalf of everyone. Even if they rushed a stronger opponent it never seemed to do anything.

He didn't want to get into the kinds of trouble he was used to in the conversation though. Things were very different here. Instead, he treated it like he was talking to a regular citizen of Earth that never had a clue.

After departure

[laurefindil]

Glorfindel saw Piccolo reading and stopped, jingling the bells at his waist to let the other know he was there. As he did so he looked curiously at the book.

"Piccolo, correct?" he asked. "I was hoping I could ask you for some guidance on an issue I have. If I might disturb you for a moment?"

[shutupnail]

Piccolo knew the elf was in the compartment the moment Glorfindel stepped inside but the bell ringing didn't hurt to get his attention at least. The Namekian looked up.

"Correct. What can I help you with?" The elf was extremely polite and Piccolo recognized the fact gratefully, but he was also a blunt fellow. No beating around the bush, just get down to business.

[laurefindil]

Glorfindel nodded. Business, good, he liked a direct person. "I have a lot of power. Honestly...I carry a sun within me. But," he twisted his wrist in a pesenting motion, "I really excel at area effects currently, which is not the best aound teammates who are fragile mortals." Which not all were, but enough were that Glorfindel wanted to expand his repertoire.

"I understand you are teaching Cassie Cage to better control her power and learn to channel it as she wills?" It was a small Train, news travelled faster than they did through the void. "Would you be willing to teach me as well?"

[shutupnail]

Piccolo considered the elf's words. Less whether he would teach the elf so much as what kind of energy he felt from the golden haired entity and how it could be used, how he would teach him. There was certainly something there.

"I can teach you martial arts and by extension the technique used to manipulate ki," the Namekian answered. "If you're looking to learn magic you'll want to ask someone else on the train. I don't understand it."

Despite the fact that he could use it.

[laurefindil]

Glorfindel shook his head. "No, not magic. That I know. This is...energy manipulation. I am hoping that what I bear is close enough to your ki that learning to control it will better help me. I am a fast, but thorough learner, and I do have the patience to put into this. I would be grateful for anything you were to teach me."

He has been learning various martial arts, armed and unarmed, for both his lives. Learning a new one sounded quite interesting.

[shutupnail]

Piccolo nodded in acceptance. "Then I can teach you what I know and should you follow my teachings carefully you'll get something useful out of it. We can start in the gym the next time I'm there." A beat. "Tomorrow."

He didn't give an exact time but mentioned when he was usually there, which was quite a bit of time out of the day. He mentioned he also used meditation to enhance focus and strength as well, and that sometimes he did it in the gym to keep watch with his ki sense but usually kept to a quieter carriage such as the Greenhouse Carriage whenever he wanted to focus on something else.

Platform

[aggressivelygood]

Sven watched Piccolo for a while from the ground before endeavouring to join him. Since his arrival he'd been bemoaning the absence of his old wood-and-fabric paraglider, but his earlier contest with Nita had forced him to improvise.

He removed the tiny, branchlike form of the Petals of Nil from his hair and let his power flow into the artefact. Having borne the form once before, the shape of a glider came instinctually to the weapon, its black wooden body stretching into a wide frame between which shimmered an unnatural fabric that glowed and bent the light as though it were made from molten glass. Sven lit a fire beneath his feet and let the updraft caused by the hot air raise him into the fog.

It was difficult to hover still in one place like Piccolo, so Sven resorted to curving in lazy circles, giving the flying man a wide berth. Firstly to avoid a mid-air collision--he was feeling a little out of practice with this thing--but secondly to avoid baking the poor guy as Sven used his fire magic to keep his glider airborne.

"I've had better aerial views, but still: the train looks pretty impressive from this angle. Mind if I hang out here a while?"

[shutupnail]

The plus side to being a Namekian was that no matter how many circles Sven did around him, the rise in temperature around him didn't even make Piccolo bat an eye. The flames might have hurt him, but the heat certainly didn't do a thing.

He followed Sven's lazy circle around him for one instance while the magic user was out front, perhaps a bit amused by the aerial display. Wings were so over-rated. Piccolo was glad he didn't have any like one of his deformed brothers.

"Have at it to your heart's content."

[aggressivelygood]

Gliders were definitely best suitable when crossing a gap between one high-up place to a slightly lower place, but Sven did his best to try and stay at one altitude. He was curious about Piccolo: a guy like him stood out with his green skin and pointed ears. The ears made him seem vaguely elven, but Sven had never known a race back home to have such a vivid hue.

"Do you feel cooped up stuck on the train all the time? I know that most of us do, but it's gotta be harder for somebody who can take to the skies so easily. Is that magic?"

He didn't know what else it could be, but experience has taught him not to presume anything in this place.

[shutupnail]

"No," Piccolo responded. He closed his eyes as he talked, preventing them from following Sven in his circular pattern any longer and causing strain on his eyes. Despite what looked like inattention the Namekian kept up the conversation as well as following Sven with his ki sense instead of visually. "I don't specialize in magic."

Which wasn't to say he didn't have any but the phrase was a familiar one. He was a warrior and that was where his true strength lay.

"I use a ki manipulation technique to fly. It's a part of martial arts where I'm from," he explained further.

[aggressivelygood]

Sven hummed appreciatively. It sounded a lot like another form of magic to him, but hey...who was he to doubt this man on his own abilities? There was much about other worlds that he expected he'd never be able to understand without seeing them for himself.

"Those are some pretty impressive martial arts if they can allow you to fly." His tone was light and full of a genuine curiosity. "What is ki, exactly? Can anybody master it enough to float as you're doing now?"

[shutupnail]

The ability did seem magical in nature and even in Piccolo's universe some ignorant people compared it to such or thought of it as such whenever they saw it without knowledge of ki manipulation. Thing was it wasn't magic. Magic had it's own separate power source. If one had strong physical strength it didn't amount to the same in magical strength, and vice versa.

The problem with explaining that to Sven might be that Piccolo did have magic and Sven might be able to sense that. And while unusually strong for a fighter type Piccolo wasn't actually that great with it. Not like his predecessor or one of the Dragon Clan Namekians.

"Ki is an inner energy. It comes from within and can be strengthened by becoming physically stronger and learning techniques that manipulate that inner energy into physical attacks." Many of which would probably look like magic to Sven and others, but wouldn't have quite the same properties to them. Piccolo nodded as he answered the last question. "Anyone can learn it so long as they make the effort and take the time to master martial arts and learn the higher class techniques."