Metal Express

Floyd

"Zoomy," Katie says.

You make your way downstairs and look through the next door. The next room seems to be another huge open platform like the first, with just a railing to stop you from falling off. A pair of long, narrow trench with a few flexible segments are filled with some kind of red-hot, liquid flowing towards the next car. You can see a few bubbles forming and shifting along its surface.

Floyd

"I guess I-"

"I can!" Somnis volunteers. She ducks down and starts running forward. She pauses to look at the bubbles, then comes slinking back. "I don't think we're gonna be able to sneak past that thing, not in this large of a group. She pantomimes pushing glasses up. "You see, monsters don't respond to sight and sound - well I mean they do, but that's not what they depend on - they look for people by sensing emotions!" She nods to herself.

"If it's like the other things we fought, it's probably some kinda robot or fire-y thingy," Katie says.

"Or a fire-y robot..." Fox adds.

Floyd

You call out a cloud that somehow manages to keep up with the fast-moving train and sprinkle on the molten metal. A pair of bubbling, floating, skullish faces emerge from the muck and start floating towards you. The rain seems to annoy them as they advance. One of them stops and spews a jet of fire, sweeping it across all of you. Katie and Fox don't really seem to mind much, but it hurts you a lot and Somnis doesn't seem to fare much better.

The other bubble dives forward and latches onto Katie's shoulder with its jaws. She growls and punches it. Fox's scythe blade drips as he carefully slashes the monster. You look to see what Somnis is doing, but you can't see her anywhere.

Floyd

Katie punch-punches the skull some more, while Fox slashes it with his scythe again. Floyd unleashes a burst of cold, which seems to annoy Katie but not really hurt her. The flaming skull, on the other hand, drops to the ground dead.

The other unleashes a wave of floating embers that swarm towards Floyd. Not only does it really hurt, he can feel his armor burning. His key already starts buzzing.

Somnis appears out of nowhere, stabbing the bubble many times in the back.

Floyd

Somnis hops back and sticks her tongue out at the floating ball while making an irritating noise. The monster turns and snarls, then lunges and bites her shoulder.

Katie runs forward and slashes the monster with her claw, then Fox slices with his scythe.

You calls out a small cloud that helps to cool the burn. The two seem to be cancelling each other out.

Somnis points over the monster's shoulder. It glances that way, and you look as well. When you turn back, Somnis is gone again.

Floyd

You fire some bolts of wind at the monster. It seems much less effective than expected, and it starts drifting towards you. Then everyone else hits it all at once. Hard.

Obtained Flame Core x1!
Obtained Dancing Ember x2!

"You OK, Floyd?" Somnis asks. "That looked really painful."

Floyd

"They were very hot," Katie says.

"Yeah... And if I'm not mistaken, you seem to be kinda windy, right? Yeah, wind aether and fire aether don't mix." Somnis pauses with her arms folded, then makes a few gestures with one hand. "Well, actually, if you want to be technical, the issue is that they mix too well. The fire aether interjects itself into the wind aether, which accelerates and amplifies it, magnifying its effectiveness... in other words, you really don't like fire."

"There seems to be a lot of it here," Fox says. "Um... Katie and I are fine since we made armor special to deal with it, but you're, uh... not. Do you think we should maybe retreat and make some Fl- oh, uh, right, we're not supposed to use people's names in case anyone's listening."

"Someone like who?" an unfamiliar voice asks. "Like me?"

You turn back towards the front of the train and in the distance see someone a bit taller than Somnis dressed in a heavy labcoat with a tall collar and dark goggles that covers most of their face. Their arms are crossed behind their head.