Chapter 1: Welcome Aboard

"Do you think all of the movie set will be up still?"

"Maybe."

"I read that it was so big and heavy, that they had to use two cranes and a big magnet to get some of it up."

"And you said this was before Espers, correct?"

"Yes! Two years before in 2010, but it came out 2012 just around when the miracles were being discovered, so lots of people went to ease their minds."

Ahmed nodded, smiling as the smaller Ife babbled on about the movie set.

Far out from Greywater, one of Ife's favorite movies was filmed. The site, after 17 years, was opened to the public after the owner of the land it was on finally agreed to sell it to investors.

"When's the train supposed to come?" Ife asked, peering over at the screen that displayed the schedule.

"It should be coming soon." Ahmed said, checking if his sunglasses and hood obscured his face enough. In a low voice, he reminded Ife, "Make sure your face isn't showing at all, if someone recognizes us, we'll have to leave early."

"Mhm," Ife nodded. The thought of someone who'd recognize her or Ahmed filled her with dread, so she made sure to make herself look as bland as possible, hood and sunglasses to match Ahmed.

Ahmed, although used to the paparazzi, made sure to hide himself properly for Ife. He didn't know how she'd react if people started to crowd around them, and he wasn't planning on finding out. Besides, he himself didn't feel particularly eager to deal with fans.

"Lookie, here it comes!" Ife pointed to the steam engine huffing and puffing its way to the station. It was the real one the construction workers used to take parts to the set, according to a fact board that was pinned up in the crowded station.

"Hurry, hurry!" Ife said, running onto the train. Ahmed chuckled, following close behind.

***

"Is this right?" Vanessa asked.

"It should be." Udanya said, checking the map.

"Omg! Look at this old train picture thing!" Sandrine said, pointing.

The three sisters crowded around the picture, while their bodyguards held off the crowd of people.

Destiny's Kiss came to preform at the opening day festival for an old movie set. The sisters all agreed that this would be a fun time, since they'd also get to see a cool piece of history. They'd also be getting a huge stack of cash, about 100,000 dollars worth.

"I did some research before we came," Udanya said, "and it turns out the main monster at the end of the movie was based on a miramon because they lost their original monster puppet."

"But the movie came out while the miramon started to come?" Vanessa said.

"Well, they just used CGI to make the monster appear instead of the puppet like they wanted. It was faster."

"Aww, man!" Sandrine suddenly cried. "Look at this, it says it's an over night ride!"

"Yes, we talked about that," Udanya said, shaking her head, "were you not listening?"

"...maybe?"

Udanya sighed and Vanessa giggled.

"We have a nice room, though. The owner of the set told us it was on him." Vanessa said.

"Hnnnggg..."

Udanya rolled her eyes and scanned the platform. Her eyes moved across the empty tracks and saw the train chugging to them.

"Here it comes, Sandrine," Udanya said, "you can see it won't be so bad."

***

"I've never been to a movie set before." Yuuhime murmured. She held Tang Xuan's hand, who smiled at her.

"I've never been either," he said, "but I'm sure it'll be fun."

Xuan wasn't just here for fun, though. He was tasked to make sure no miramon found their way into the set, and if they did, he was to deal with them. Yuuhime just so happened to be there, too, and wanted to help him. It was like an unofficial date.

"Did they give you that uniform?" Yuuhime asked, referring to the set owner.

"Yeah," Xuan replied, "he doesn't think there's gonna be any miramon, but just to be safe, he requested for someone to keep an eye out."

"Only you?"

"Mhm."

"Hm." Yuuhime checked her watch. She had watched the movie this set was for a million times, it was one of her favorites. She was going to be alone, but she met Xuan there and wound up holding his hand in the crowded station.

"What room did you get?" She asked. "It is an overnight ride."

"I didn't get a room," he replied, "I've got to watch the train tonight."

"Oh. Alright. If you do need a rest, my room is always open."

He nodded, smiling at her. She smiled back.

"Look at that, the train's coming." Yuuhime said.

"Wow, it really is antique!" Xuan remarked.

"Mhm. Very interesting."

***

"This was one of the first places miramon attacked," Uday read from the mission document, "but there was never a successful attempt to document them."

Bai Liuli skimmed ahead, reading the specifics of their actual mission. They were to take a live miramon back to the Shadow Degree's top-secret lab, they were to not kill any of these miramon, and they had to stay on their toes since an unknown amount of Esper Union espers were at the station to go to the set. Mateo was already by the miramon hot spot, guarding it and waiting for them, so they had to hurry once the train got to the station.

"If we have time," Long Mian said, "I'm going to get one of my own for my collection, if they're different looking."

"I'm sure you will," Jacob said, yawning, "is it just me or is there more people here?"

"The train's be here any minute!" Uday announced.

"She's right," Liuli said, "get ready to get on as fast as possible."

Her friends nodded. Liuli sighed and looked at the sun that was creeping closer to the horizon by the minute. Uday gave her hand a squeeze and smiled at her.

"This is possibly our biggest and most dangerous mission yet," she whispered, "and I know you're stressing."

"And you aren't?" Liuli joked.

"Of course I'm nervous! But I know you're going to lead us to victory."

Liuli smiled, a new confidence in her body.

"When we get on," Liuli turned to her team, "try to get some sleep, we'll need all the energy we can get."

"Already on it." Jacob said, flopping onto Mian. Mian huffed and straightened up.

"I volunteer to stay up and watch out." Mian announced.

"Are you sure? You're the most important link to capturing the miramon." Liuli asked.

"I'm sure. I'm used to staying awake for long periods of time."

Liuli nodded.

"Make sure to wake us up when breakfast is going!" Uday said, "I've heard it's gonna be like oldee food, or something, and I wanna try it."

"We'll have dinner tonight," Liuli said, "we should be done before lunch tomorrow."

Uday pumped her arms, smiling. "I'm so excited to work with you all!"

The train whistle drowned her out, though, as it chugged into the station.

"Ready?"

"Ready."

***

They watched through the screen, counting up all the espers they could find.

"Eleven espers, I believe, sir."

"Good, make sure they all get on."

"Yes, sir."

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