"Ugh... let me out...!"
Nico, as per his usual over-dramatic self, was currently banging his head repeatedly against the door of the express. His face was full of sheer boredom, and whether his actions hurt him or not, any pain was clearly not reflected there.
Hearing the commotion, both Caelus and March walked over with confused expressions as they looked at Nico, who didn't even seem to register their presence. He simply kept lightly hitting his head against the door.
"What are you doin-?"
"LET ME OUT~!" Nico suddenly screamed as March let out a high-pitched scream of fright. Nico jumped up, latched onto the door, and began tugging at it like a certain monkey meme on the internet. "THEY'RE KEEPING ME HOSTAGE!"
After multiple failed attempts of forcing the door open, Nico flopped onto the ground motionless as both March and Caelus stared at his limp form with massive sweatdrops on the back of their heads.
"H-Hostage? What are you talking about...?" March's eyes twitched as Caelus pulled Nico up from the ground. "Why are you even banging against the door? You just left in the middle of the conversation, and this is what you do?"
"Well, my bad for getting bored with listening to Earl yap on and on!"
Caelus quickly corrected. "Pearl actually."
"Close enough." Nico waved his hand without a care in the world. "Whatever the case, I want to get out there and enjoy the world! Yet here I am, a young man in his prime being kept locked behind these doors..."
With a look that you'd only give your mortal enemy, Nico glared at the door he was previously banging against.
"Overly dramatic much?" March deadpanned before shaking her head with a sigh. "We'll be allowed off soon enough, but Himeko said she wanted the three of us to come meet her in the parlor car before we all go our own ways."
"We're not going as a group?" Nico blinked after hearing this. "Isn't this a family trip?"
March placed her hands on her hips before responding. "Well, if you listened during that conversation, you'd know."
"Himeko and Mr Yang are heading off to meet with Madam Pearl." Caelus explained simply as Nico turned to look at him. "Dan Heng decided to go and gather any information he could about the Xianzhou envoy, and Sunday was going to join him."
"Huh, I see..." With a serious expression, Nico nodded in understanding. "I don't get it."
In response, both March and Caelus faceplanted heavily.
"Though you did say that after we meet up with Himeko and listen to whatever she has to say, we can then head off, right?" Nico, undisturbed by their reaction, nodded with vigour. "Then let's go! Time's wasting!"
Grabbing both of their arms, Nico rushed towards the parlor car.
xXx
"Himeko~!"
"Hm?"
While staring outside silently at the station that the express had stopped at here on Planarcadia, Himeko heard a familiar energetic voice as she turned her head towards the source of the voice.
Before any greeting could leave her mouth, Himeko blinked when she saw Nico running towards her like Sonic while leaving a dust trail in his wake. Behind him were both March and Caelus, being dragged along as their bodies flailed like flags in the wind.
Upon reaching her, Nico skidded to a stop, even producing a tire-screeching sound effect as he came to a stop. However, due to the speed, both of the other two who were with him were sent flying across the room.
Caelus flipped through the air like a Beyblade before flopping onto the ground, and March was more like an arrow as she pierced through the air before colliding face-first with the opposite wall of the parlour car.
"Nico here reporting for duty!" Nico gave a salute with a big smile on his face, completely oblivious to the damage he caused to his other companions. "March told me that you had some kind of mission for us."
"That I do." With an amused smile, Himeko gave a small laugh before turning to look at March and Caelus, who were slowly getting up. "It's a rather long story, so why don't we wait for those two to come on over first?"
"I see." Nico nodded. "What are you guys doing? Come on! We have an entire world waiting for us to explore out there!"
"C-Coming..." Caelus stumbled over with a look of dizziness on his face. "So dizzy...!"
Caelus managed to stumble his way over, almost falling over a few times. Meanwhile, March groaned as she walked over with uneasy steps, both her hands rubbing her reddened face, courtesy of the impact she had endured just before.
"I swear..." March groaned before looking at Nico with all kinds of emotions. "You're probably even crazier than Sparkle is. When it came to crazy, I thought she was the limit, but you're an entirely different breed!"
"Sparkle?" Nico blinked. "Who's that?"
"She's someone... hard to really explain," Caelus responded with an uncertain tone, making Nico's look of confusion even more prominent. "Aside from crazy, we're not really sure how to describe her. Who knows? Maybe you'll meet her at some point."
"Please no!" March had a look of horror flash on her face. "She and Nico are the last ones that need to meet!"
"Alright, you three. Now that you've all gathered..." Himeko, being the saviour that she was, quickly gained their attention as the three in question all turned to face her. "I think we should get to the main topic at hand."
"Oh, right!" March nodded after hearing this. "Did you need us to do something?"
"It's a long story..." Himeko dragged on for a moment before continuing under their curious gazes. "What if I told you that there was a 'game' being played in a corner of the cosmos... and the winner might 'become an Aeon'? Would that pique your interest?"
In response to her words, both March and Caelus gave expected looks of disbelief and shock. On the other hand, Nico didn't react at all, instead showing a look of boredom, which Himeko was curious about.
"Oh? Are you not interested, Nico?" Himeko wondered. "I figured someone as eccentric as you would've been rather excited at such a prospect."
"Nah, I've seen this kind of thing way too many times to count." Nico shook his head before crossing his arms behind his head. "Stuff like this always ends up with some kind of catch. It's honestly so overused."
"It does sound a bit too good to be true." Caelus rubbed the back of his head as he agreed with Nico's words. "Is there a catch, Himeko?"
"You three saw that special moon in the sky, didn't you?"
"The moon...!"
（ #▽д▽）
"Nico...?"
Himeko was momentarily stunned when Nico suddenly had a look of pure comical anger on his face. Seeing this, both March and Caelus could only give Himeko helpless looks when she turned to look for an explanation.
"Nico has a grudge with that moon." This answer from March only made Himeko even more confused. Knowing of her lacking answer, March continued. "Nico claims that the moon gave him the stink eye and now... he wants to blow it up with his rocket launcher."
( ´･_･`) ???
Himeko had no idea how to respond to such an answer, so she could only continue her explanation from where she left off before... meanwhile, Caelus and March held Nico by both arms to ensure he didn't run off in a rage at the mention of the moon.
"Whatever the case..." Steering the conversation back to the main topic, Himeko continued. "That moon is a piece of 'artwork'. Here, a ceremony called the Phantasmoon Games is held every full moon. In these games, the winner 'becomes an Aeon'."
"Right... Pearl mentioned that name too." March chimed in after hearing the explanation. "Just what kind of ceremony could be so mystical?"
"The Phantasmoon Games, duh."
"Oh, wow. I never would have guessed..." March deadpanned after Nico responded to her question. "Thanks for telling me, I never would've figured that one out. It's not like Himeko just said it like a second ago."
"Then why'd you ask?" Caelus scratched the back of his head in confusion. "You already knew."
(- _ -)
"Himeko, please continue..."
With a small laugh, Himeko helped March out by quickly continuing the topic. "Historically, the origin of the Phantasmoon Games is tied to a group of Mourning Actors. Legend has it that they offered heartfelt stories to the moon, hoping for a chance to have an audience with an Aeon."
"Sounds like some weird cult type shit." Nico stated bluntly as he crossed his arms behind his head with a bored expression. "I don't really care about the whole meeting or becoming an Aeon thing, just tell me whether it's fun or not."
"Fun? Well, considering the Aeon behind the Phantasmoon Games is none other than Aha, there is no doubt many would consider it to be fun. Due to the nature of these games, they tend to become rather... hectic."
"Oh~?" Nico's eyebrows rose with interest as a sharp grin formed on his face. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!"
"Not so fast now, Nico." Himeko quickly stopped the young man before he could rush off. "With the first signs of the war among the Aeons beginning to show, I believe this is why the IPC has been positioning itself here for years. With the Phantasmoon at its fullest, that becomes even more possible. This ceremony to commune with the Aeon, whether genuine or not, could be the turning point that determines the destiny of the cosmos."
"What war now?"
"It's a long story." Caelus voiced after hearing Nico's confusion. "We'll catch you up to speed when we can."
"Huh."
"I'll leave that to the both of you then." Himeko was referring to Caelus and March when she said this. "With all eyes on these games, the IPC won't be the only ones with ulterior motives. The road ahead will likely be fraught with hidden dangers."
With a deep breath, Himeko then smiled as she glanced at the three of them.
"But what's important is that you make your own decisions." Himeko spoke with a confident and firm tone, earning smiles from both Caelus and March. As for Nico, he just blinked and tilted his head. "Such as... whether you'll take part in these grand games, and if so, how. I have only one mission for you three..."
Himeko allowed a short moment of silence for them to process her words, to which she then continued.
"Explore and understand this world in your own way, as the place where the Trailblaze began anew, and my homeland. You may here different versions of my words from others. However, trust what you see with your own eyes, and believe in what you choose to believe."
Caelus was the first to speak up. "I trust our Navigator's guidance."
"Me too!" March immediately agreed as she nodded her head with a big smile on her face. "You may be new, Nico. But believe us when we say you can always trust and depend on Himeko!"
"I'm not doubting anything." Nico smirked as he shrugged his shoulders. "However, while I don't know about you guys, but I always trust my instincts above all else. They've never let me down before."
"Oh, really?" March rose an eyebrow at this. "What are your instincts telling you right now?"
"They're telling me we're gonna have a hard time getting off the train safely."
Turning his head towards the window, the others naturally followed suit. What they saw made their eyes bulge out. There was massive crowd of people gathering outside the train, some were even trying to climb onto the Express.
"0_o
xXx
"Th-This is ridiculous...!"
March could only cry out loud as she looked at the literal sea of people swarmed onto the station platform in front of the Express, Caelus also looked dumbstruck beside her while Nico looked completely nonchalant.
The sight was honestly absurd to the extreme.
Not only were there people with glowsticks waving them around and cheering at them, but some had also even managed to successfully climb on top of the Express. There did appear to be security present, but they were struggling severely to push back the crowd.
"I guess we're too famous..." Caelus sighed as he shook his head. "As expected, the reputation of the Galactic Baseballer is too great."
"Enough of the narcissism!" March cried out beside him. "How are we even going to get out of the station?!"
"I can blast them with my rocket launcher!"
"Absolutely not!"
As March began to scold Nico for even suggesting such an idea, the sound of metallic footsteps rang in their ears as they looked forwards towards the source. When they did, both Caelus and March widened their eyes at what they saw... or more specifically, who they saw.
A mechanical humanoid figure walked towards them with rather elegant yet firm steps, their appearance completely unique compared to any other individual here. As the figure got closer, the more defensive March and Caelus became.
"In the name of Erudition, traverse the cosmos." The figure spoke up in a rather eloquent tone. "We meet again, Deliverer from beyond the sky."
"What the heck...?!" Caelus gasped heavily as his eyes shook. "Lygus-!"
"Haahaa! Ha! Haha~! Look at this dude-!"
(☛ >∀<)☛
Caelus's rather serious response was interrupted by the laughter of none other than Nico, who pointed both fingers at the mechanical humanoid while tears of laughter fell down from the corner of his eyes.
Both Caelus and March, as well as 'Lygus', all turned to look at him with extreme confusion.
Completely ignorant to their looks, Nico continued laughing, his laughter increasing even more every time he glanced up at 'Lygus'. Using Caelus's shoulder as support, Nico slapped his own thigh multiple times during his laughing session.
"You guys seeing this?!" Nico bawled with laughter. "Dude's got a set of arms holding up his titties! Bro, what are those arms supporting? The massive hole in your chest? Hahaaha~! B-Be careful, it might start sagging...!"
ꉂ (´∀｀)ʱªʱªʱª