Intro: Into the Void

[voidtreckermods]

On the Platform

At first all you can see if steam. Billowing around you as you come to your senses. You are standing, in clothes that are not your own, styles you might not even recognise. You are carrying a rucksack on your back. For a moment it seems to just be you, alone in the white haze but then the steam begins to fade and you realise you aren’t alone.

The platform is not very large, but it hold ten people all facing the tracks, all wearing similar clothing. The tracks stretch left and right into steam, or perhaps fog. Nothing can be seen to either side. There is a wall around the platform and the only entrance is a security gate. It cannot be open, nor do there seem to be any staff.

What there is, is a train. Jet black and gleaming where it stands on the rails. Voidtrecker Express is emblazoned in the engine in gold. There is a hiss as the doors slide open.

Boarding, it seems, is the only option.

The Train

A horn sounds and anyone not on the train will feed the need to board immediately. The train is empty. But it seems ready for you. The stores are full of food, the carriages are all clean. Every screen on the train is showing the same message.

The luggage carriage, strangely, seems full of luggage. Or at least the cases. Suitcases, bags, trunks. All empty. But it at least will make good storage for your own bags once you have unpacked.

Carriages

Just like the message reads, your ticket is required to enter your cabin. The names are written on screens outside each cabin but once you are inside bed choice seems to be up to you. It might mean there is a fight for the top bunk.

Room is right 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 find a pillow for each bed as well as extra blankets, in case it gets cold.

Departure

A second horn, to encourage any stragglers to enter and then the doors slide shut. It seems, for good or for ill you are riding this train to… wherever it is going.

"Welcome aboard, passengers of the Voidtrecker Express." A female-coded artificial sounding voice echoes throughout the train. The train begins to move, shuddering along the tracks, fog obscuring the view from the windows.

"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 tilts, the movement changes. It seems, as impossible as it might seem to some, that this train is flying.

"Entrance into Voidspace imminent. New passengers are advised to remain seated."
A shudder runs through the train. A lurch to the left, a jolt to right, the feeling of going far too fast and then a flash, bright colours that are almost 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 multicoloured ever shifting void.

Your journey has begun.

Comments

[siriusly]

Moving through cabin cars
Amidst the slow-moving throng of boarders both bewildered and confused, one Manabu Yuuki lets out a massive yawn. It hasn't sunken in yet that this train isn't one of the early express lines back up to HQ -- sometimes a train is just a train! Never mind that aside from his uniform and sidearm, his bag of stuff seems absent! Could've already been loaded on for all this sleepy head knows.

"Aa...Mm, sorry." He drowsily sidesteps for those cutting past, in no hurry at all to get back to work. Man, it feels like he's slept a thousand years, his head all muddled up with a mix of memories new and old. Something about Nonah? But Nonah's not on the list of planets...

"Eh...?"

Holding up the line, Manabu squints at his ticket, discovering that he's overshot by two whole cabins. He clicks his tongue and sighs, looking back over his shoulder, smiling apologetically at whomever wound up behind him.

"Aa, sorry--I think I got turned around. On a train and everything!" He laughs weakly.



Cabin 1:B, Departure
Wait a minute.

Bunk-cars? Really? Was there a shortage of day-trip cars or something? That's not really a big deal, but...

Welcome aboard, passengers of the Voidtrecker Express.

Manabu frowns, tilting an ear toward the speaker. Voidtrecker? He's not heard that one before. Sounds kind of...spooky, honestly. Like the ghost train? But if it's still a Galaxy Railways exclusive, then it's fine, so...

Wait.

Manabu grabs one of the information cards, squinting, flipping it over, scanning it, feeling a bit of unease even as he obediently sits down. It just means he can pop right back up very dramatically.

"This...this train isn't SDF-run?! But--How--wai-GYAHH!"

There is a reason passengers are to remain seated, and it's because if they don't, they tumble and go spilling into the aisles. Like so!

[mtsilver_conquor]

"Are you ok?!"

Eva honestly hadn't been that far away when the train had departed and she'd just started on her rounds to see if others were OK when she'd heard more than seen him.

So of course she (and Princess, who's back on his shoulder/rucksack perch) are heading over to him.

She offers a hand with a smile. "Here, if you need a hand up."

[siriusly]

"Urh, ye-yeah, I'm...I'm good."

Remaining articulate through immediate pain has become something of a skill of his, honed by many, many misfortunes. With a little grunt, Manabu pushed up onto his knees, rubbing his nose and chin before looking up at the hand held out his way and taking it without a second thought.

"Thanks," he chirps, hopping up with a sheepish grin. "I, ah, I didn't expect the jolting or the...the pink...thing on your shoulder..."

Mid-excuse, his eyes trailed to Princess and stayed there in a fixed, baffled stare.

[mtsilver_conquor]

"That's good," she says as she hauls him up, returning the grin with one that's less sheepish and more just happy to be of help before dropping his hand.

"Huh- Oh. This is Princess. He's pippi, which is a pokemon- an animal from my world." There's a small bow. "And I'm Eva. It's nice to meet you."

[siriusly]

"Ni-nice to meet you," he echoes, still distracted and holding gaze with the creature. Something tugs at his memory, turning the term Pokemon around in his head. His eyebrows shoot up when he realizes.

"Oh! That-! Like Archie! And the others, and-!" He's getting ahead of himself, he realizes, giving a bit of a wince. "S...sorry. I'm Manabu. Manabu Yuuki. And I know what Pokemon are."

He says that like it's an accomplishment. It...it kind of is!

[mtsilver_conquor]

Eva's eyes literally light up as she claps her hands with an excited smile. Yes, some of the wording doesn't make sense, but that doesn't matter. There is, she is assuming, another person from her world here.

"It's alright, Manabu-san. Though, I can't say I know an Archie... It sounds Galarish." There's a small laugh before she continues on. Sorry, you have activated Chatterbox mode. "I'm from Kantō myself, though I live in Alola now for work. But, I'm glad I'm not the only trainer here. Did one of your pokemon come, too?"

Technically, she does know of Archie, but it's under his Japanese name of Aogiri.

[siriusly]

"One of my-?" He blinks, tilting his head. Just as suddenly as his understanding of the creatures came, so did recollection of Scout, the little Poochyena he'd been raising.

"Uh! Scout?! He-hey!"

He whirls around, back toward the room he'd been launched out of, starting to search around in a mix of worry and confusion.

"Buddy, are you in here? Scouuut...?"

How had he forgotten? Why was recollection of so many simple things so difficult? He's not equipped to process all the technicalities of world-hopping, especially not when put on-the-spot; he's more a react-now, think-later sort.

[mtsilver_conquor]

She doesn't have the answers to that, but she can tell his worry is real and could only imagine what he's feeling if Scout was his only pokemon.

Still. PAnicking mean he's probably going to overlook something and given she's the one that invoked it in the first place, it falls on her to calm him down. Her voice is strong and firm, but not a shout. "Calm down! Scout could still be in its pokeball, which would be in the rucksack with everything else we have. Did you look through that?"

[siriusly]

"Rucksack?" he echoes, confused. It at least stops him enough to keep from getting too wound up. Rucksack? He doesn't remember a--

Oh, wait. No, he does. He mistook it for his gear bag and...

"Uh, over here..." He ditched it in the corner. Manabu heads over, picking it up and setting it on the table to start rifling through, growing more confused by the moment.

"These..." He pulls out another shirt, identical to the purple one he has on. "I don't recognize any of this stuff. I don't think it's mine, I--"

Wait.

Just as he says that, he finds his pistol. Pulling it out with care, he realizes it's the broken one -- his father's sidepiece. He handles it with an extra bit of reverence, his brow knitted, troubled.

"Why would...this be in here...?"

Cabin

[thebiggestguy]

The lurch threw Dread sideways, but not so much that he took a tumble. He braced himself against the wall with one hand, and instinctively reached out with the other to catch his cabinmate before the man could crack his head open on something. At his size and bulk, he wasn't the most forgiving thing to run into, but still better than a wall or a bed corner, right?

[siriusly]

"Guhffh-!!"

Manabu drapes over the bulky arm like a loose piece of laundry, limbs dangling for the beat it takes for his toes to find the floor properly. Winded and confused, Manabu stretches and reaches to grab the edge of the doorframe to keep upright as he glances over his shoulder at--

At the biggest guy he's ever seen!

"Wh-whoa! Uh! Hi!"

...Well, what else was he supposed to say?

[thebiggestguy]

"Are you all right?" Time for pleasantries later; first things first. Dread straightened up as the pressure of inertia diminished, lowering his hand from the wall.

[siriusly]

"Hoo, ye-yeah! Yeah, thanks." Manabu's mouth twitches a sheepish smile as he's released and on his own two feet once more. He lets go of the doorframe and rubs the back of his head as he tries to laugh it off.

"You got good timing! I probably would've chipped a tooth or something, haha...!"

[thebiggestguy]

"Lots of practice." Airships and strange transport vehicles and lifts and -- well, the list went on. "Though this one is stranger than most."

If his stoic acceptance and general lack of reaction indicated that time and experience had worn down his ability to be surprised at such things, well... that's partly true, but really he'd always been like that to some degree.

"Not knowing where we are now is unusual."

[siriusly]

"Yeah..."

On that note, he starts to frown. This guy's bigness aside, things really are unusual. Manabu glances around the small room -- made even smaller by the simple act of that guy just being there -- not recognizing much of anything.

"This doesn't look like the bunkers on the other Galaxy Railways trains," he remarks, scratching the back of his neck. "At least, not any of the ones I've boarded before. What gives?"

[thebiggestguy]

"Galaxy Railways?" That caught Dread's full attention, and he turned to face the Hyur fully. "This sort of thing is familiar to you?"

[siriusly]

"It'd better be if I boarded!" Manabu replied with a bit of a laugh. "I'm one of the guys assigned to help protect them."

At that, he straightens up a bit more, nodding up at the hulking man...alien..........alien-guy.

"I'm Manabu Yuuki, and I'm one of the officers of SDF's Sirius Platoon. I didn't expect to clock in so early, but then...problems wait for no one, right?"

Cabin

[sweetnessandfight]

Sarai hadn't been expecting that either--but she grabbed the handles right outside the doorframe and made herself a barrier to prevent the man from falling out of the cabin car. She might not be very tall, but her strength was a wiry one, and she planted her feet. She might end up with the wind knocked out of her a bit, but better that than--anything else.

"Browf!" That was instead of a hello, really, but she managed to shove herself and the guy back towards the interior of the cabin. She panted and grabbed the front of his hoodie with a clawed hand, just so the momentum of being shoved back in wouldn't have him losing his balance and cracking his head on the table, either.

She has a very startled expression on her face, at the very least!

[siriusly]

There are a lot of spins on the crash-into-hello, and most of them are awkward. A taller man would've bonked her right on the noggin upon impact, but instead he just sort of flopped into and off of her like some weird, demagnetized hug. Landing on his rump was probably infinitely better than many of the alternatives, so he'll take it as...as gracefully as possible (not much).

His greeting in reply was more of an "Uffh!" upon plopping onto the floor, immediately propping himself back up--

"GAH!"

--and bonking his head on the underside of the table. He recoils, hugging his head with both arms, sinking down against the table's middle pillar.

"Owowhhh, oh jeez...! He-hey, are you hurt?!"

...Asked the guy growing a bump on his head.

[sweetnessandfight]

"No, I'm fine! I should be asking you that question!" The response was a little breathless, but Sarai had definitely endured worse, before and during her tenure as the Warrior of Light.

"I was trying to avoid that sort of thing, for either of us," she said ruefully. Now that the train's ride was stabilizing, she stepped over to kneel down and lift a clawed hand to gently brush his hair back and inspect the goose egg he's growing.

"Well, I am on kitchen duty, if there's ice to be had, I can probably find some. I'm so sorry! You aren't dizzy, are you? How many fingers am I holding up?"

The answer is two.

[siriusly]

The extra attention to his well-being brings a light blush to his face as he blinks owlishly back at the fingers thrust in his face.

"Uh, t-two," he utters, ducking his head away from the other hand touching him. "I'm alright! I've had worse bumps, I promise. Uh, thanks, though..."

In the midst of this flustering, he starts to slow down, realizing who he's looking at is...not...human? In a way he's not familiar with at all. His head starts to tilt with growing curiosity.

"You're...one of the passengers here...?"

[sweetnessandfight]

"I am! My name's Sarai." She can sort of recognize by the look on his face--she's seen it before, but takes no offense. No, instead, she smiles--for all the weird horns and the claws, her teeth are completely normal. And she dimples, just a little.

"I'm an Au Ra, I come from a world called Hydaelyn. You might have met my husband, too...save he's not like me, he's at least twice my size." She lifted one hand way over her head before backing up a little to give the poor fellow space.

"His name's Dread Thunderstorm. He's a Roegadyn, but he's nice. Big, but gentle. You don't need to be afraid of him." Either, she didn't say.

[siriusly]

"Oh..."

Not the brightest or most useful of replies, but an honest one to have had heaps of brand, new, strange information thrust upon him. It's at least less strange if he thinks about it: two aliens, husband and wife, traveling far from home. That's hardly weird at all if he thinks about it.

He nods, mollified, and straightens into a more polite posture. He'd get up, but that'd be getting all up in her space again, so this'll have to do.

"I'm Manabu," he says. "Manabu Yuuki. I'm SDF -- part of Sirius Platoon. I was just about to look for another officer when we took off all jerky like that...kinda, kinda rough from what I'm normally used to on the railway, if I'm honest..."

[sweetnessandfight]

Oh--personal space. Yes, that was a thing, and she'd been invading his for quite some time. Sarai sat back on her haunches, first, and scooted back to give Manabu some breathing room, an apologetic look crossing her face.

"Sorry about that! I'm used to being one of the smallest folk around, unless there are Lalafell about, so sometimes I forget I need to give others some breathing room." She did have the grace to look embarrassed.

"It's nice to meet you, Manabu--that is right, yes? I fear I'm not quite used to trains like this--you sound like you are, though! What might you tell me about them?"

Curiosity always did die hard--and she was usually an endless well of it at the best of times!

[siriusly]

He nods to confirm she's got the name down, then grimaces a little at the question.

"Er, well..." Kind of a big, broad question, isn't it? From a technical standpoint, a cultural standpoint, logistics standpoint...lots of different ways to answer! He'll go with the most pertinent information first.

"The cabin design in this car isn't familiar to me. It actually looks kind of...kinda outdated? Like, maybe this is a temporary car switch while the standard's under repair. But until I can get access to a command terminal, I can't say for sure."

His head tilts a little.

"You...haven't happened to see one, have you? Video screen with a button array? They're usually on the walls..."