Vampiretwilight
Izurich
AlteredTundra
Dion
Yankee
Hos
Crimson Flame
Level 4-
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| (26/40)
Word Count: 2328
+4 EXP
Edinburgh MagikaPolis - Nyakuza Metro
On the train pulled by the large friendly cat, Raiden opted to stand in silence and solitude as he held onto the handgrip of the moving train. He looked at the passengers who had made themselves comfortable previously, some- if not most of them, clearly of feline origin. He examined the team, now well rested and ready for another day of adventure for a moment before the outside of the train went dark as they passed through the mouth of a tunnel. There was nothing much for Raiden to do in the time being, so he simply tapped his foot for a moment, avoiding direct eye contact with any of the passengers. He was sure the sight of a metal-clad man had been a sight enough for most of them, staring at them any longer would only raise the awkwardness Raiden felt in the momentary silence.
The voice over the intercom had voiced their arrival before light broke the darkness into a new area. Raiden, now eager to get off the train immediately released the handgrip of the subway before striding over with the rest of the group. "Finally..." He muttered to himself as the vehicle broke to a stop as the doors slid open for the crew to exit into the brightly lit area filled with neon signs and multiple attractions for the group to visit. The metro possessed an air of charm as the room was lit with multiple tracks in the sky, pulling Raiden's attention for a moment as he examined the atmosphere. Now... Where to go next?
It seemed Big Band had begun investigating the platform for clues as to where they should go, but he seemed just as lost by the information as everyone else was. Luckily, a short cat, clearly familiar with the metro had introduced itself to the crew, allowing Raiden a hint as to what to do next. Clever and convenient. Raiden, opting to search for more information before finding an immediate means of payment for a pass, stuck back and examined the kiosk. It took a bit of puzzle piecing, but it seemed each of these lines was color coded with their track, leading to a new area, however, none of these new areas sounded remotely familiar to the cyborg. Raiden seemed to be the first to notice this, for as soon as he had turned to inform the others of this news, many of the others had begun slipping around the area to collect small circular emerald crested objects. It was clear to Raiden that these were his means of currency in this unfamiliar area. He took a moment to gather himself and began exploring the station.
Raiden found himself, after a bit of sightseeing and exploring, now on a part of the station that lead to a black track and platform, seemingly an area completely unexplored by any scavengers or new friends of Raiden, yet even considering his enhanced cybernetic eye, couldn't see any clear indication of any Pons nearby. It was odd, considering many of them seemed to be placed in convenient areas for hiding or areas which required precise bodily movements. Raiden sighed, now ready to explore a different part of the station.
That was until he saw a very panic-stricken young cat in a plaid dress anxiously wobble about in place for multiple moments. It was clear that while she followed the cat theme like every other denizen surrounding the metro, she was somewhat unfamiliar with the location in which she found herself. Perhaps she had gotten lost? Raiden knew time wasn't to be wasted, but surely helping such a lost friendly face couldn't take too much of his precious time, right? Who knows, maybe he could be rewarded for helping her out. In the end, it couldn't hurt to help a poor soul out. The cyborg walked over to the small feline, gently poking it in the head before it turned, some panic left in her soft black eyes. "Something wrong, friend?" he said casually as the cat continued to wobble about, panic mode still on.
She seemed slightly taken aghast by the offer of empathy presented by Raiden, performing a small gesture of surprise and then afterward sighing in slight distress. "Just... Guess today just isn't my day is all." She said, seemingly becoming less tense simply by talking. "How so?" Raiden asked the small feline simply, willing to allow her to vent her struggles to him for a moment.
She seemed to enter a small train of thought as she began speaking. "Well, it all began when I entered the platform leading to the metro. I boarded the train, and everything seemed fine and dandy. It was when I exited the train that I realized..." She seemed to take a small break of a dramatic pause. "I had forgotten my pass on the train! And paying for another would be such a pain, especially since I didn't bring any money..." She sighed again before flopping her arms down. "What am I gonna do..." She whispered gently under her breath.
"What's your name, miss?" Raiden asked the little cat. She looked back up for a moment before introducing herself. "Lolly?" She said slightly confused by the origin of the question.
"Lolly... I'm Raiden." After crouching down to meet the cat's height, Raiden jutted his hand out for a shake. Lolly took his hand into her paw for a moment, still seeming slightly confused by why such formal introductions were being conducted. "I'll get you your pass back." At the offer, Lolly seemed more excited by his generosity. "Really?! You mean it?!" She asked like a small child. "Sure." Raiden nodded with a cold expression on his face despite his attempt at kindness.
Lolly seemed as if she was soon to say something more but quickly silenced herself, provoking a moment of thought in herself. "How'll you do that? No matter how long I've waited here, I hadn't seen the same train pass by..." Raiden poked at his skull for a moment, thinking of how he could logic his way into finding the right train. Then he remembered... Each of the trains was pulled by cats. "Does the train you're looking for having any distinguishing features? A marking, maybe?" Lolly didn't even need a moment to think. "Sure I do, it was being pulled by a cat with a little white diamond on its forehead." She pointed to her forehead, clearly indicating the location of the diamond she meant.
"But even if you have a pass, it'll be impossible to get to it without standing for hours..." Raiden shook his head. "I don't have a pass... but..." Raiden pointed to an oncoming train, which quickly had its doors open. It was led by another orange cat. "I'll hitch a ride." Lolly somewhat cocked her head to the side in confusion to Raiden's answer. "You need a pass to board a train..." She seemed slightly disappointed again.
"Who said I was boarding the train?" Raiden answered in tandem. He began walking towards the train as Lolly realized what he meant. "W-wait! Mr. Raiden, I don't think you can do that!" While everyone else used their passes to enter the platform to board the train, Raiden climbed the side of the entrance, looking to make sure he was being stealthy enough to not be caught. Lolly continued to worryingly try to wave Raiden back to her, but he continued to climb. She flapped her arms rapidly at her as he dropped from the wall, down to the top of the train.
Raiden plopped down on the neck of the cat who mewed gently (yet somewhat loudly) at the sudden shock of having a heavy cyborg land on it. Raiden patted the cat's ear affectionately, noticing a familiar glint on the head of the creature. A pon. It took him a moment to stand up and reach for it, but after clambering over the patient cat's head, he collected it. One down... Raiden had no idea how many he was supposed to gather, but he knew one certainly wouldn't be enough.
Raiden knew to get off the cat because as soon as the whistle in the station blew, this cat was going to start building up speed. He crawled off the tail end of the cat and clambered on top of the first compartment of the line of trains. From here, he was able to see that through the top of the main compartment of the train were four more of the pons, which after being collected would ring him up to five. Before he could stand to run and grab them quickly, the whistle Raiden had narrowly avoided rung throughout the black line boarding platform, signaling the cat to begin pulling the train car to its next destination. Raiden turned to notice the edge of a tunnel, giving him just enough time to swiftly crouch down, his blonde-platinum hairs just barely scratching the roof of the tunnel.
Unlike the train he arrived at the metro on, this one quickly faded out of the dark abyss, and lead to one of the many rails present in the sky. Raiden looked down at the sights of the metro before getting back on his feet and using his ninja run to put spring in his step as he dashed along the top of the train, collecting the emerald-crested tokens one by one. Shortly after running for a few seconds, Raiden had gathered a total of five Pons and if the trains were consistent with one another, the train holding Lolly's pass should hopefully have five as well, totaling Raiden up to ten at the end of his little mission. Hopefully, that'd be enough.
Raiden searched around for the cat that Lolly had said hosted her pass, his visor closing back up, to allow wind to be blocked from his face. It took Raiden no time at all to notice the sheer amount of cats pulling trains and how each and everyone was orange, but some had more noticeable features than others, and yet none had that distinguishing white diamond on the forehead as Lolly had mentioned. He hopped off the top of the train, grabbing onto an empty track and pulling himself onto it. From here, he had a slightly better overhead view of the rest of the metro and scouted from left and right. Many of the cats moved at bullet-like speeds, yet Raiden knew he would be able to hop on one again.
With a large meow reverberating from his left, Raiden hopped high and far enough out to grab onto the side of a new train and pull himself upward. It took a moment, but after standing, it only took mere moments for him to find the cat with the tiny white diamond, which was halfway across the station. Ignoring the valuables littered on the top of the train Raiden had his footing on, he used his ninja run to dash from train to train, avoiding the gaps in between each by using his lightning to give him an extra step in his leaps.
Just as Raiden neared the train with Lolly's pass on it, he jumped and narrowly missed the tail-end of the compartment, causing him to catch himself with a baseball-style slide. He quickly got back onto his feet and dashed rapidly after the train, able to surprisingly beat its speeds. As he was inches away from grabbing onto it, he used the walls to perform a wall jump on the corner of the train where he clung as the train continued moving. While he used his cybernetic strength to hold on, he knew the rougher part of his mission was now over, and soon he could climb into the main compartment, grab Lolly's pass, grab the remaining Pons on the top, then return to Lolly.
Once the train halted to a stop, he wiggled off the end of the train and slid past the moving crowd of exiting passengers, bumping shoulders with a few of them. Once he entered the unfamiliar train, he checked each seat for a missing pass, since it had only been a short time since she had lost it. He found it jammed between the cushions of two seats, sticking out three-fourths of the way out. He grabbed it in between his fingers then as passengers were allowed on the train, he exited and climbed on top to rushingly grab the remaining 5 Pons, which sure enough, followed the same ideology as the other train he rode on. Swiftly jumping off the roof of the train, he made sure to not be gathered by security who might have seen him hitchhike the top of the multiple trains.
...
It took Raiden a fair few moments to return to the entrance to the black-line platform, but once he got there, he was greeted by the sight of a pacing Lolly, clearly now anxious by the stunt Raiden had just pulled. Not noticing her new friend arriving immediately, Raiden chimed in monotone. "Lolly." He said to gain her attention. She looked up and began stimp-stamping her way huffily over to Raiden clearly ready to lecture him. Before she could say anything, Raiden held up her missing pass. "You... got it?..." She said, obviously shocked by the skill he must have displayed to perform this feat. Her eyes blinked rapidly as she had no idea what to think. Raiden smiled cheekily before saying "You're welcome, Lolly." He said simply before walking away to find the place to purchase a pass for himself. He had decided he would board the Black Line legitimately once he obtained his own. He thought about meeting with Tora once more before doing so. As he continued walking away, the dumbfounded Lolly finally gathered her bearings and shouted a glad "Thank you!!" before Raiden disappeared behind a pair of stairs, a goofy grin slapped on his pale face.
