Young Writers Society

Hey Ossie here! I have a storybook idea finally! The story is about a bunch of people that have had their memories wiped and wake up inside a bullet train as the only passengers. Each of them has a unique set of skills they are unaware of. They each have one supernatural power however it is incredibly difficult for them to use it. As they learn about who they are (memories come back very slowly) they realize that they are from another dimension and were sent to investigate the dimension they are currently in. The machine that sent them there is called the Lacus machine. However when they came to the new dimension they ripped a hole in reality causing the universe to slowly begin to decay. It is now up to them to save the other dimension and their own.

If you are interested please PM me


Rules:
I would prefer if nobody posted any swearing. If your character must swear either make up a swear specific to their dimension (for example Gumdrop, Marshmallow, Cookie crumb, etc.) that is comical. Or simply say (insert character name) swore under his/her breath.
There can be romance in this story but please refrain from writing graphic scenes or including vulgar or inappropriate descriptions. You all know what I mean. If you have questions about a scene feel free to ask about it.

Character template:
Name:
Nickname:
Approximate age:
Gender:
Ability:
Personality:
Appearance:
Dress:
Memories (if any):
Greatest fear:
Strengths:
Picture if you can get one

-Ossie

Mason

I woke up with my face down on the cold metal floor. My ears were ringing and my head felt like it would explode I sat up gripping my head and squeezing my eyes shut. Once the pain subsided and I could release my puffy hair I gripped a nearby pole and dragged myself to my feet. Looking around I realized that this was a train car, out the window I could see a large expanse of water and not much else.


"Hello there," a voice called out from behind me.

I spun around to find a truly bewildering sight. A girl of about 19 with long dark blue hair and piercing green eyes stood at the other end of the car, sprawled out on the floor, just like I had been, were six other people.

"I didn't hurt them if that's what you think," she called again.

"Why would I think that?" I asked growing more confused the longer I spent here.

"I don't know. It is logical, you have just woken up on a train with me and six unconscious people of which I was the only one awake. As untrue as the assumption may be it does make sense." She answered as she made her way toward me.

Her long coat brushed one of the other people and he stirred slightly. She ignored him and came to stand by me. He slowly stood up and brushed off a large grey robe many sizes to large for him.

"Hello" I said calmly not wanting to frighten this boy who was obviously much younger than me and the other girl.
He said nothing and didn't even look surprised.
Alrighty then I thought. He doesn't have to talk we are strangers after all.

"So where are we?" I asked the girl,

"I have no idea." She answered,

"How did we get here?" I said hopefully

"Nope"

"Where does this train go"

"I know just as much as you do Lion"

"Lion?"

"Well I don't exactly know your name now do I and you do have that puffy hair."

What is my name?

I began the day by shocking upright, a crazed smile on my face. “Boo!”

“Guah!” The puffy-haired guy stumbled backwards, tripping over the seats of the train car.

A woman caught him from behind, giving him a strange look before glancing over at me. “He’s awake,” she noted.

Laughter bubbled up from my chest as I rocked back and forth on the seat, grinning incessantly. “The dynamic entrance of me!” I said, popping to my feet and bowing. “Performing on the stage of- wait.” I whipped my head around quickly. “Where am I?”

The puffy-haired guy crossed his arms and tilted his chin down. “Then it looks like you don’t know, either. Well, we’ve just woken up not too long ago, so we can’t say too much about that. Near as I can tell, we’re somewhere above the ocean.”

I dashed to the window. Waves of water churned gently together below us, roaming the deepening cobalt sea. Dark outlines raced beneath, following the train for a bit before vanishing back into their depths of mystery.

Beautiful as it was, confusion colored me purple. Why was I here?

The woman came up behind me. “Do you remember anything at all about how you got here?” she asked.

“Foo,” I groaned, resting my chin on the windowsill. “No, nothing. I don’t even know my own name right now….” I grasped my skull, sulking miserably.

A warm hand rested on my shoulder. I turned around to find her smiling at me. “It’s alright. We don’t know anything either. So let’s all help each other out, okay?”

“Ah...okay!” I smiled even wider than she did.

The guy shook his puffy-haired head. “Well, if we’re all on the same page now, let’s begin.”

“Yes, let’s.” The woman pointed at him as though directing a class’s attention. “Until we all remember our names, we’re going to call him Lion. Is that okay with you, Lion?” She smirked at him.

Lion furrowed his eyebrows, then snapped his fingers. “Okay, fine. But I’m going to call you Azure.”

For the first time, the woman looked flustered. “What?”

“Look at that dark blue hair, that magnificent longcoat. It’d be a crime to call you anything else.”

Lion smiled as Azure blushed. “Hey, hey!” I interjected. “What’s my name, then?”

The two looked me up and down for only a second. “Shark.”

“H-huh?”

“Have you seen your teeth?” Lion asked. “You were smiling so much it was obvious.”
I pulled my jaw open with my finger, running it over my teeth. Serrated edges met my touch, each tooth unnaturally filed to a point in a mouthful of daggers. When I smiled, I must have looked like a paper shredder.

I covered my mouth quickly, hiding the deformity behind my hands. The man noticed, and his gaze softened. “Relax. It’s not the weirdest thing that we’ve seen today.”

Azure glanced at him. “That depends,” she remarked, “on how weird you think the machete is.”

They both looked at me again, and that was when I felt something pressing against my back. Tentatively, I reached back and found a leather handle in my grasp, the rest of the blade sliding out.

I pulled back over my shoulder a wide slab of steel, roughly a meter in length. The metal was plagued with dark smudges, the handle frayed and dirty. But the real attraction was the blood, a dried crimson stain down the edge of the cleaver, transmuting the blade into deadly rust. I stared at it in fear and wonder.

Lion blew out air through his cheeks. “Yeah, I’d say that’s pretty high up.”

A second later, he was stumbling backwards as the blade slashed an inch in front of him. Azure’s eyes widened, and she backed away.

“Hey! Watch where you’re swinging that thing!” Lion yelled as I swung the machete in a rhythm of criss-crossing strikes.

His words broke through my trance. “Sorry! It’s just - this feels so familiar,” I said, ripping the air apart with my cleaver.

“Yeah, and you seem to think that’s a good thing,” he muttered.

Azure sighed, her hands in her coat pockets. “It looks like we have two problem children on our hands.”

“Two?” I asked over the soothing whip of my blade through the air. But as I began to swing in another arc, something stopped my wrist.

I turned my head, then jumped. Another boy stood right beside me, his palm gently blocking my hand from accidentally slaughtering him. His overlarge cloak partially hid his mouth, but his eyes were clear and blank, staring straight into mine.

I stepped back, lowering my machete. “Oh, sorry! I-I really didn’t mean to-”

He brushed past me without a word and sat down over by Lion, who just shrugged at me.

Silence filled the train car. We were slipping along the rails without so much as a sound from the engine.

“So, uh...what do we do now?” I asked.

Azure jerked a thumb behind her, to where four more people lay, nearly comatose in their slumber. “Now, we wait.”

The first thing Ash felt were the shackles on his arms and legs. As the world slowly solidified, Ash felt memories slowly slipping away, draining from his mind. He unconsciously reached out with a shaking hand as if to grab them and prevent them from leaving. He spoke, in a hoarse whisper to himself, desperately trying to recall the slowly dwindling amount of memories he had left.

"I...I'm Ash."

"I'm from within the Vale."

"The center of the world"

"He has put me here...."

"And...and Julie is...Julie is....."

Even as he spoke them, the thoughts shattered into nothing. Ash was a bank slate, a vessel with nothing contained within.

Ash

That was his name. Suddenly the world was light. Ash blinked a few times, adjusting his eyes to the light of the room he was in, for it was obviously a room. Four people were on the other side of the room. And as he slowly got to his feet, they turned and noticed him.

"Hey. The prison junkie's awake!"

"Don't call him that! He's obviously a wizard."

"How would you know?"

"All wizards have excessively large pointy hats. Look at that thing next to him!"

"Huh. Guess you're right. Hey! Stone face! What're you doing to poor prison junki- uhhhh, wizard guy?"

Ash felt the ground shift beneath him as he was slowly raised into an upright position. Trying his best to shake the grogginess from his mind, he opened his eyes again. A kid in a gray robe kneeled in front of him, staring at the shackles on Ashs arms and legs. Another kid tromped over to where Ash sat. This one looked younger and had messy blue hair.

"Lemme see those stoneface."

The kid in the robe glanced back at Ash before letting blue hair take the shackles. The kid studied it for a moment before grabbing his machete off the floor and yelling.

"Here goes something!"

Blue hair brought the machete down on the shackles binding Ash's hands. Before it could hit, however, purple electricity arced out of the iron shackles and knocked the machete out of the kids hands. Blue hair stumbled back.

"What the hell was that!?"

With an effort. Ash managed a few words.

"Sealing magic."

Blue hair turned back to Ash, then jumped back yet again.

"HOLY CRAP. HIS EYES ARE PURPLE!"

Ash blinked. Why would purple eyes be weird? Taking a breath, he decided to speak. On the first try his voice cracked before he could get anything out, on the second try however, he succeeded.

"Where are we?"

Everyone turned to him. Ash noticed someone he hadn't seen before. A kid, a girl, with long blue hair and a black trench coat. Blue hair spoke.

"Ah yes. Welcome to the metro to nowhere. This was originally the gold line, but the funding got cut and-"

The girl cut him off.

"Yeah don't mind him. We actually don't know either. We're trying to figure out what everyone's names are at the moment. Do you know yours?"

"I'm Ash Elendel."

The girl seemed to sigh in relief.

"Finally. Someone who remembers. Can you recall anything else?"

Ash thought for a moment, closing his eyes.

"I...uh..it's..."

Julie

A tear dripped down his cheek.

"Uh....."

Ash felt a hand on his shoulder. The kid in the robe sat next to him. The puffy haired kid spoke.

"Hey. It's okay. We'll get back to you, first however, let's get those shackles off you."

Ash nodded. Truthfully he didn't know why he was crying all of a sudden, but the name Julie had bought with it an agonizing sorrow. Ash looked out the windows of the train car, for he saw that it was in fact a train car, hoping for a sign of something familiar. A sign to bring the memories back.

Tereza Woods

I heard thick whispering voices close by. Right beside me but not quite. It was coming from above me. Which meant I was below them. Why was I below them? I was afraid to open my eyes, because that meant I would have to confront them. Did they bring me here? I had a feeling that they didn't know me, that I didn't know them. In fact now that I think of it, I can't even remember who I was. I didn't want to witness their reaction, when they saw that I was awake, I'd have to respond accordingly and I didn't want to risk it.
The ground beneath me seemed to vibrate. It felt like I was being taken somewhere by a vehicle. I was exhausted and my muscles were sore. It felt like I awoken from some sort of long dream. A dream that tightened my face and sent shivers down my spine. I don't know what happened in this dream of mine but this type of feeling seems all so familiar.
There was a brief pressure on my shoulder that interrupted my thoughts. Someone tried to wake me up. I slowly opened my eyes and as my vision adjusted through my thick glasses, I saw three people about my age, hovered over me with calm yet concerned faces. It was then I noticed I was on some sort of bullet train. They were all about my age, two guys and two girls. One of the guys had brown curly hair, while the other three had blue hair. And for some unknown, prejudice reason I saw their blue hair as very strange.
Their eyes were fixated on me as if expecting me to say something. Before they could say anything, I couldn't control myself, and sprinted towards the other end of the bullet train and unconsciously searched for a way out. The dead end of the train was a plain metal wall bolted on all sides. I banged on all sides, my hands ran across the surface of the smooth metal in search of a door. I felt their presence behind me.
"There isn't a way out. Trust me we would've left a long time ago", a girl said from behind me.
"We magically appeared here too. We don't how, we don't know why and we don't even know much about ourselves or our past", she said.
I kept my back facing towards the wall still in search of a door. I heard someone slowly move closer to me and as they did I started to forget how to breathe. I was being stomped on by this enormous weight that overwhelmed me, they were crowded around me and I needed space. Without thinking I sprinted across towards the other dead end of the train and attempted to search for a door again, but couldn't seem to find one. What was I even thinking? Was I going to jump out of a moving train going who knows how fast?! Upon realizing this, I hid behind one of the train's chairs.
I suddenly heard some laughter and a brief discussion from where I ran off from. I know it was about me. I know they think I most be so childish, for freaking out the way I am. I didn't want to look at them, I didn't want to see their faces, which I assume would portray just how questionable they were of me. So I buried my head in my knees, while I uncontrollably started to weep.
"Listen, we won't hurt you! We understand why you feel this way!", a guy this time, screamed from across the train, I guess they recognized how much I wanted my space.
"We just want to know more about you, so maybe we could find a way out," he added.
"Do you remember anything about yourself?"
That made me think, which I was too afraid to do in the first place. It then hit me, I am like a new born who just entered the world, nearly traumatized, scared, and with no knowledge of who I am. I didn't know how to respond. I didn't want to respond. I wanted to go back to where I came from. At that moment anywhere seemed better than this, even though I don't remember much of anywhere.

Ivonne Bellamy

"Will you be all right?" he asked, pulling me into a fierce hug by the gate.

"Of course I will!" I replied, stepping back to look him in the eyes. "You know me. But what about you?"

He smiled, then it faded into a sorrowful frown.

"This is our last chance, Vonnie . . ."


It was someone else's crying that caused my eyes to open. It was as though I had dreamt of something, perhaps, and couldn't recall a single detail. My mind felt like it was filled with cotton.

Only . . . Where am I? I wondered as I found myself lying on the ground, with a gentle sound beneath me.

Who am I?

Some frantic shuffling noises and loud, nervous voices brought me back to the present, and I sat up slowly, surveying the area guardedly.

"Look, another one's awake!"

I glanced at the group. None of them seemed my type of people, as they all either looked confused or shady, was crying, or had blue hair. Blech.

"Yes, 'another one' is awake," I snapped and rolled my eyes by instinct. I stood up and found that I was taller than some of the group.

Happening to be wearing high-heeled boots seemed to add to the effect.

"What are you staring at?" I demanded, shooting a glare at everyone. None of them seemed to look too threatening.

"It's just . . . are you sure you're supposed to be here?" One of the guys flashed a snarky grin. "This ain't a movie set, you know."

"A . . . movie set? What is that supposed to mean?"

"I think," said the blue-haired girl, "he's just saying you look like an actress. Who are you anyways?"

I was silent for a moment, then something seemed to stir in my mind. But I couldn't quite grab a hold of it yet.

"I suppose I know as little as you all do," I said, decidedly in a much calmer voice. I glanced around us, and saw that we were on a bullet train.

"Has anyone looked around in the other cars?" I asked, pacing the car we were all in. The rest of the conscious passengers shook their heads or ignored me.

I sighed and rolled my eyes again. "I guess I'll have to do it myself," I said, reaching into my jacket and pulling out a handgun. Though I hadn't really expected it to be there, something in me had urged me to try it. And there had been a gun waiting for me. Of course, I made sure it had looked like I had been intentional.

"Uh, Actress, do you know how to use that?" the same irritating boy asked.

I ignored the nickname, but I returned his smirk. "Why else would I have it?" I said, and headed for a door.

The ground shook as Sivv awoke. His blank eyes stared up at dull ceiling. The strange material looked so elegant, glimmering softly and reflecting light in every direction however weakly. Sivv stared at it in wonder. He didn't remember seeing anything like it.

He didn't remember anything.

Sivv gasped softly. He closed his eyes again, hoping that his memories would come rushing back to him.

I am Sivv. I come from.....I go to.......I live in.......

Nothing.

Sivv opened his eyes once more and stared at the ceiling, no longer looking at the strange shimmery material. He stared past the drab gray sky above. He looked beyond the stars hidden by the clouds.

Who am I?

I am Sivv. That is all I am.

Sivv slowly sat up. His gaze met faces, a man, a woman, a boy. They all stood, listening to a young man with a broad blade on his back speak loudly. Sivv recognized the weapon, it was used to cut things.

"...Have you seen your teeth? You were smiling so much it was obvious.”
iiiii
The man froze, his movements somewhat exaggerated and comical. Sivv would've loved to watch him talk but he felt like he needed to be alone. There were things in his head he couldn't quite dismiss. Sivv stood quietly and began his walk over to the seats he had spotted. He kept his eyes fixed on the man with the blade. The man had unsheathed his weapon and was swinging it in wide arcs, much to everyone's immediate horror. Sivv attempted to scoot past the swinging blade. He had found a spot by the back of the train where only one other sat.

However, as silent as he was the blade inevitably found him, wildly dashing towards his face. Sivv put his hand up, his palm finding where the older man's hand met the blade's hilt. The man looked over at his machete in horror.

“Oh, sorry! I-I really didn’t mean to-”

Sivv didn't bother telling the man that it was of no concern. Instead, he walked onwards, moving to the seat next to another occupant of the train.

He had much to think about.

Clover


The first thing I did when I woke up was look out the window of the train. We appeared to be at least 70 feet above the water and considerably far from the distant buildings. I estimated we would have around an hour before the train stopped.
I decided to keep this information to myself until I could more accurately predict our arrival. Instead I evaluated my companions.

That one has blue hair too. Oh I can't go around calling them 'that one' they need names.
Names are tricky especially when you can't remember your own.

I was pondering this when my friend lion woke up.

His hair is enormous!

I resisted the urge to poke it and returned to naming the others. Pointy toothed boy was easy he looks like a shark. Mouse was the name given to quiet boy in the grey robe. Shark gave actress her name soon after I thought of mouse's. The boy in the armor looked like he was in the military so I called him General. Grunge was what I called the jumpy girl we had to coax from the other end of the train. Her clothes provided the basis for this name. Finally the boy that was dressed in a nice suit was left. He looked like he could get what he wanted easily so I decided to call him governor.
After dodging Shark's machete I sat down by the window and informed the others of their names. "Just so I have something to call you until you remember your names." I explained carefully. Actress wasn't listening, she was too busy trying to look like she knew what was going on. Nobody seemed to complain about their names, we could all at least agree on that.
"So what is happening?" Lion asked,
Actress turned from her work on the door and turned to face us. "I don't know why you would ask that none of us know what is happening, or how we got here, or where we're going. Apparently I am the only one concerned about what else is on this train, so please either think of something useful to talk about or help me."
"And that's a wrap! Great take actress, excellent work!" Shark exclaimed sarcastically earning him a glare.
"Lion was not wrong to ask for all the information available." I countered "what if one of you remembers something about how we got here? Wouldn't that be useful information to have? For instance I know that this train is moving approximately 200 miles per hour and we will reach the city in about 45 minutes. Before we get there we need to exchange information and decide our next move. I think that would be a useful conversation."
Nobody moved.
"Well what do you remember?"

???

I woke to the feeling of the ground beneath me trembling. Rather soothing actually. I lay there with my eyes closed, listening to the clatter of whatever sort of vehicle I was on, and to the voices of other people speaking around me. They were no more than murmurs, but they seemed to give my presence the finality it was missing. I concentrated, trying to recall the last wisps of the dream I'd had, but they only drifted farther away, and then evaporated altogether. Sighing, I sat up, passing a weary hand over my face. A tall boy with what looked like a brown cloud on his head looked over at me.

"Hey, he's awake." The cloud-boy noted, addressing his partner, a young looking woman with electric green eyes that seemed to pierce right through my skin and into my mind. She looked over at me, fixing me with a keen gaze. I stood up slowly, stretching languidly and scanning the other people on the train (Or at least I assumed that's what it was.) A walking gray blanket, some sort of cartoon cosplayer, and the sniffling preschooler behind the train seat I passed over entirely. My focus instead settled on the two more lively of the vehicle's occupants. A small, blue hared puppy dog of a boy happily swinging around a bloodstained machete, My eyebrows raised and I continued watching him. There was a look of joyful rapture lighting his features as he slashed it through the air in wide, graceful arcs.

"What do you remember?" A voice behind me inquired loudly. "We need to compare experiences." I looked over at my shoulder at the green eyed woman, who was pointing at me in an almost accusatory manner. What do I remember? I dipped inside my mind for an answer to the woman's question, and found my mind to be completely blank. Keeping my outward expression completely calm, I delved deeper desperately searching for anything that might be inside. My name, how old I was, how I got here. But I was rewarded with nothing but static. I held the woman's questioning gaze for a few more seconds before speaking.

"Nothing."

The woman didn't seem to like my answer. Her eyes glinted slightly. "Well obviously that's true." She said matter-of-factly, flashing me an irritated scowl. I shrugged.

"You asked."

The woman sighed. "Are you sure you can't think of anything at all?"

I just told you no. "Well..." I pretended to think. "Hmmm...surprisingly, I haven't had any great revelations since you asked me five seconds ago."

The woman clenched her jaw. Her eyes once again flashing like twin jades before she took a deep breath. "Why don't I introduce you to the others." I shrugged.
"If you want to." The woman ignored my comment. "I'm Azure," She gestured to herself, the to the cloud-boy. "This is lion." She then pointed to each person behind her in turn.
"And these are Shark, Actress, Grunge, Mouse, and General."

I took a long look at each one of them. "Your parents must think they're so clever."
The Actress glared at me. "They're nicknames." She snapped.

"Oh, well, whatever they may be, you have my pity." I turned away from the group, and strolled languidly over to a seat at the side of the car and sat down. Azure hurrued over and sat down next to me.

"You know, you need a name too." If this goes on much longer I might just kill a man. "Are you opposed to me calling you Governor?" I gave Azure a stony glare.

"Yes. Extremely."

"Well then what should we call you."

The word, or rather the letter, sprung from my lips with surprising ease. "A." Azure gave me a confused look.

"Alright, then. That's your name."

"Fine." I leaned back against the seat and stared out the window. Outside was nothing but titanium train tracks and ocean. No use trying to get off here.

"Now, let's talk about your past. I know you don't remember much, but we could still make some progress."

I continued staring out the window. Something was beginning to loom closer in the horizon. "It looks like we're heading for that city."

"Yes. We'll be there in about a half an hour. Don't change the subject."

The sun glared across the glass and I caught a better glimpse of my reflection. Yikes. "You wouldn't happen to have a hairbrush on you?"

Azure sighed, and began digging around in her bag. "Here."
I muttered my thanks and began running the brush through my hair, which when it was fully untangled, fell down to my shoulders. This won't do either. I looked over at Azure, who was rifling through the contents of her bag with great interest. She looked up when she felt my eyes on her. "Are you done with that?" She asked, holding her hand out. I nodded and handed the brush back.

"Now that that's done," She continued. "We can keep talking about your memories."

"I don't have any."

"You look like you had a lot of money," She pushed on gesturing to me. I looked down with muted surprise at the impeccable grey suit I was wearing. "You may have held a lot influence in society. Does any of that ring a bell?"

"Not in the slightest." I replied, still fingering a lock of my hair. "Hair tie?" Azure handed me one and I swiftly tied my hair into a ponytail. Something's still missing. In the reflection, I saw Lion bend down and pick something up off the ground. I turned to look over my shoulder. The thing Lion had picked up was a handsome grey fedora. There we are. "That's mine."
Lion shrugged and tossed the hat to me, and I settled it on my head. Finally feeling complete, I leaned back against the seat.
"Now, if there isn't anything else you want to waste my time with,"
Once again, Azure didn't seem to like what I said. "Well, what about the fact that none of us can remember anything about ourselves. Is that worth wasting time over?" She challenged bluntly. A few of the other passengers stopped what they were doing and turned to watch. I rolled my eyes. "Not really. I don't see anything we can do about it."

"That doesn't mean we shouldn't try! Don't you want to know?"

"Why should it? The only thing I lost was what happened in the past. It's the future that matters."

"Well it matters to us!"

"And that isn't in any way my problem, now is it?" I leaned over, resting my elbows on my knees. "I don't owe you anything." The next moment everyone was thrown into a chaotic heap on the floor as the train jerked to an abrupt halt

Clover or Azure

The train doors slid open smoothly allowing seven men wearing black uniforms to come pouring into the train car. They carried large machine guns and quickly surrounded us.
"Nobody move!" One of them shouted. For the moment we all obeyed and stepped closer together. The police moved to the back of the car and forced the door open. I thought about running but then decided against it.
From the corner of my eye I noticed another girl that I hadn't seen before. She rolled out from under the seats in the back and looked at me. Her piercing red eyes caught my attention first, slowly she placed a finger over her lips. The only thing I could tell from looking at her was that she knew what she was doing, I nodded and turned my attention to the police.
They managed to pry the door in the back open revealing rows of what looked like canon balls. The officer who seemed to be in charge turned back to me with a shocked expression on this face. He turned pale and began to stutter orders. I looked at my fellow amnesiacs and then at the open door about five feet away. We had two options at this point, either run or get arrested.
If we ran we would be shot at, however if we made it into the crowd the police wouldn't risk harming civilians. We had a 70% chance of survival due to the fact that the officers seemed to be in shock.
The alternative would be letting them arrest us. Because we had no idea what that would mean or if they would kill us I determined we had a 50% chance of survival.
I wish I knew about the legal system.
We now had less than two seconds to react before the police would catch us. I looked back at the girl with red eyes and winked. She grinned and winked back.
I grabbed Lion and "A" and burst out of the train. I hoped the others would follow and stay together.
We quickly blended into the crowd. "A" tried to wriggle out of my grip but I dragged him along. Lion had grabbed Grunge and the four of us were trailed by Actress, Shark, General, and Mouse. I didn't see the girl from the floor.
Lion pulled our group forward crashing through the station. We ran outside and disconnected our hands. Lion led most of us over to a bus stop.
"A" apparently had other plans. Rather than following his fellow criminals he took off running down the street.
Lion began to follow him.
"No Lion I got him stay with the others," I yelled before dashing after him.
We weaved through people and jumped over miscellaneous boxes and bags. "A" was very fast and I was barely keeping up with him much less gaining on him.
I wish I was a horse or a gazelle.
I kept my eyes on his hat as it moved through the crowd.
Suddenly I felt a tingly sensation in my legs. Panicking a little bit I refused to look down and lose "A". I grew taller and very wobbly until I dropped down to all fours. Ahhhhhhh! What is happening?
I finally looked down not caring if I fell behind.
My feet had become hooves and I was running on all fours. I had become a white horse with splotches of black across my body.
I'm a horse! I guess I should be careful what I wish for.
I could now easily pass "A" I ran past him and blocked him path.
Well this has been weird. How am I going to talk to him? Maybe I can change my mouth back enough.
I concentrated and sure enough I felt my teeth return to normal.
"A get on," I sputtered.
My language skills weren't the best in this form but I was certain he understood what I had said. This certainty came from the fact that he had stopped running and was now staring at me in horror.
"What?" he exploded.
"Just do it!" I exclaimed forcefully. I could hear sirens coming from outside the station.
Under any other circumstances "A" probably wouldn't have followed advice from a talking horse but I assumed being chased by the cops was an exception. Reluctantly he mounted me and I took off at a full gallop.

The jolt of the bullet train forced Electra awake, its pull causing her to smash her forehead against the seat above. She groaned, rubbing her head with the palm of her hand, before she realised that she felt no pain.

Her eyes zoomed in and out of focus, fixating on the group of misfits surrounded by men in black. One of them, a young woman with green jewels for eyes and flowing, blue hair caught Electra’s stare. In response Electra rolled smoothly out from under the seat, placing a finger to her lips in silence. The green-eyed woman understood.

While removing her finger from her mouth, Electra noticed the black letters printed on her wrist: ‘Electra 10.4.9’. An android. She closed her eyelids to scan the contents of her internal computers, but for some reason the memory storage was blocked. How strange…

Electra looked back at the group. She could read signs of increasing stress levels in their bodies, and the green-eyed woman glanced towards her direction once more. She didn’t know why, but Electra could sense a good feeling from these people, as if she might have known them. Giving the woman a reassuring wink, Electra began searching for any wireless connections; the least she could do was distract these men in black while the group escaped.

With success she managed to get hold of the train’s electrical system as planned, just as the group stormed out of the train and blended into the crowds outside. A couple of the policemen were able to follow, but Electra closed the carriage doors quickly afterwards, trapping the rest inside with her.

It was only now that the men noticed her from the other end of the carriage, and she stood to walk into the middle.

“Hey you, freeze!” one of them shouted, pointing his weapon directly at her head. The other men followed suite.

There was a wicked glint in her slanted, red eyes. She hacked into the emergency lighting, causing the train lights to flicker on and off before dimming completely.

“Stop that!” another of the men ordered, and sent a shock of blue electricity towards her from his gun. The shot made impact on her chest, but was mostly ineffective, absorbing into her circuits.

“That doesn’t appear to work on me,” she stated in a matter-of-fact tone, looking up from where it hit her. “My apologies.”

With that she sent out another link to their weapons, disabling them. She felt herself struggle to manage both connections. As they fiddled in confusion with their weapons, Electra opened and closed the doors of the carriage behind her, fleeing from the men.

She scanned the empty carriage for a way out, locating an opening on the roof. The sound of its door unsealing masked the pounding of fists coming from the carriage door behind her. She could feel her energy rapidly draining, and knew she must hurry.

Electra climbed out and onto the roof of the carriage just as she lost control of the train doors. From this height she could observe the large metropolis city in front of her and the crowds surging within it.

She ran across the train roof, hearing the men in black coming after her. In desperation she jumped from the train, stumbling onto the metal platform beside it. From the corner of her vision she saw a flashing red symbol indicating that her battery was low.

In awkward movements Electra merged with the crowds, pausing to rebalance herself and gain her bearings. She had done a brief facial recognition scan of the group earlier, and set out to find them in her poor condition.