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]

"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...?"

[mtsilver_conquor]

"I don't know and my rucksack is much the same. The only thing from home was Princesses pokeball. But I'd guess whatever brought us here put it there and nothing else from home. I-"

Eva's breath hitches at the sight of the gun and she takes just a tiny step away. Though they aren't widely used in her world, they are there and she's seen them enough times to have a healthy dose of respect and fear of them.

As nice as Manabu has been, she still straightens and her voice is steady. "Please tell me that's a replica."

She really does not want to think about what would happen if it turned out the only person who knew about pokemon was a criminal.

[siriusly]

"No, it's...this is mine." He's still caught up with the surprise of finding it there, not at his side properly, that he misses the hints of alarm in Eva's posture and tone.

Finding the dragoon there prompts him to look himself over, slowly realizing he's not even in proper uniform. Or any attire he recalls owning, actually. Only now does he start to get really worried.

He looks over to Eva.

"Do you...remember even heading to the boarding platform?" He doesn't, but he's not sure he wants to say so aloud.

[mtsilver_conquor]

Fuck. Fuck her life, but she will not panic or jump to conclusions. He could be law enforcement and not a criminal, but she can't say she knows of any part of the world that uses guns like those with LEOs.

And she well remembers how ordinary a Rocket member could look when not in uniform.

"Right... No. I was headed to work myself and then I was on the platform. Is it the same for you, Manabu-san?"

[siriusly]

"Mm."

Manabu returns the pistol to the bag, mindful to folding it up within some of the clothes still in there. It's less a need for secrecy and more a want to keep it somewhere safe until he can secure a holster; no belts with these pants for some reason.

"I thought I was boarding the train to headquarters," he goes on, looking around the room with a frown. "But...the more I think about it, the more that can't be right. I don't think I was back home. Back where I could go to work."

It's hazy, like a fog in his head. But he remembers strange city streets and portions of the Nonah police department.

He exhales, shaking his head.

"But I don't remember how I got on that platform, either."

[mtsilver_conquor]

"Much the same as me then," she sighs, ranking a hand through her hair.

There's so much she wants to ask, but she also needs to get the donphan out of the room, if only for her ease of mind. "If- If I might ask, what sort of work do you do, Manabu-san?"

[siriusly]

"Mm? Oh--" He straightens back up out of the thoughtful slump he'd gotten himself into.

"I'm an officer of the SDF. Sirius Platoon." He habitually looks down to his clothes for sign of the badge...but finds none there and deflates a bit. He looks back up with a grim smile. "My assignment took me all over the galaxy aboard trains, mostly Big One. It's why I figured this was just another day off to work..."

[mtsilver_conquor]

She visibly relaxes. As far as she can tell- "Oh that's a relief and good to know. For a second - Well. It doesn't matter."

She offers a short bow as she shakes her head, as if to dismiss what she'd originally thought he might be. It's not the case and while he could be lying... she doesn't think so. Not with how he's behaving.

That there are trains in space... They are on a train in the Void and as much as she wants to think he's still from her world, the chances are ... probably not that good. Se still hopes he is from her world... or a world with pokemon. She sighs. "If you work in space, does that mean the theories are true? That some did originally come from space?"

[siriusly]

"Huh-?"

Manabu's head tilts, not entirely on the same train of thought as her. "Some who?"

[mtsilver_conquor]

"Some pokemon of course..."

She's starting to feel just a little more unsure he's from a world with pokemon. "Does... Does your world have pokemon?"

[siriusly]

"Erm, well..."

He scratches at his nose, looking about as sheepish as he suddenly feels. It'd be nice to say they've got something in common, but it's not so black-and-white.

"Where I'm originally from? N-no. Not that I know of. But...some stuff happened, and I was able to meet people who did have them. I even had one, thanks to them. But we were all together in a place that wasn't originally our own."

[mtsilver_conquor]

"Oh..."

She deflates somewhat. Damn and here she was hoping for another trainer. We'll she guesses he sort of is, but not from her world, and without his pokemon. Weird, but so is this train. "So this isn't the first time you've been kidnapped like this then?"

[siriusly]

He offers a wincing smile in reply. When it's put that way, it doesn't really sound that great, does it?

"Ah...n-no. No. This'll be a second go-around." He hesitates. "Third, if...time-travel counts."

That sure is a weird thing to consider -- something he rarely slows down in his days to consider, honestly. Nose scratching now becomes back-of-the-head scratching as he fidgets in the awkward pause before he can come up with a more optimistic addition.

"But I'm still doing alright, so I mean...this won't be so bad, probably! Right?"

His mouth twitches. Way to sell it, Manabu...