The New Kid [TAKE 2]

Dusk. It was roughly 7:30 in the afternoon. I was taking the train to station square, all by myself. Just a few days ago, some drama went down and it ended up costing my strong friendship with my brother, but you don't need to know that right now, do ya?

I was in the second to rear car, just in the coach class. I sure as hell can't afford first class, but ohhh boy do I wish I would be there. It turns out that first class ticket holders could bring along one person who doesn't have a ticket for said class, but I'm just hearing from distant conversations down further in the carriage.

I was able to distantly see the city in its orange light. The windows of skyscrapers reflecting the beautiful orange Haze of the sun's set. Rather a sight to behold, wouldn't you say?

Meanwhile, there I was. Just chilling out in my seat, doing nothing but resting my chin onto my palms and daydreaming as I look out the window and take in the sky's beauty. It's not really that frequent to see a perfect day like this one, I'll say from personal experience.

"Damn.. I wish every day was as cool as this sunset.. Awesome..."


I was captivated by the sunset and the way the city looks epic in it. I then hear a distant and soft 'ding' come from the train's speakers.


"Arriving at Station Square in ten minutes.." An automated voice would announce to the passengers throughout the train.


Now, just to sit back, relax, and wait.

A certain orange Badger was holding onto a railing in the center of the train. She overheard the young man talk as one of the songs on her old silver plastic MP3 player was particularly quiet. It looked rather beat up, like the girl had dug it out of the garbage.

"Hey Kid. You can't just go expressing your wishes to the world like that. That's how you get genies."

Overall she looked rather uncomfortable. She was stuffed into a trendy modern outfit: a red bohemian dress with an exposed right shoulder and grey spaghetti strap of her under clothes, denim shorts that were cut short and frayed for style, and a pair of summer boots with short heels. Her arms were adorned with some traditional jewelry and a modern coiled bracelet. The only thing that seemed to fit on the girl was the natural twine bundling her hair up in two large pigtails.

(I was thinking of something like: http://reddym8.tumblr.com/post/165872172091/the-cool-best-grill-in-the-show-3
or https://amii-art.tumblr.com/post/163549517239/i-like-how-you-draw-amy-can-you-draw-sticks-please but a little less comfortable.)

Sticks was in the city for business. The radio program she created got popular enough that she was offered a job at a popular publicly owned network. At first it was exciting to sell out and get all sorts of new listeners, but she couldn’t run the types of stories she wanted anymore. The show’s producer didn’t want to hear about the types of ‘fake conspiracies’ or ‘drama bait’ she normally ran, things like: “Dog Collars, humane pet control or cat supremacy tool?” “Do shark Mobians really re-grow teeth? The Truth may shock you,” and “If taxation isn’t murder why are bullets and coins both made out of metal?”

She was coming to Station Square to investigate corruption and a possible mob link to the city’s local Casino, the aptly named Casinopolis. There was a rumour that Mobians who couldn’t pay their debts to the casino were dropped down a garbage shoot into a sewer. Such a cruel form of extortion couldn’t go unpunished, at least that is what the Producer told her. Sticks had another idea: the Mobians were being taken away to a secret laboratory to have their brains sucked out through a pneumatic tube. The brains were then being loaded into a super computer that would destroy the world!

That part probably wasn’t true, but Sticks believed she was onto something.

Further down the train car, a loud, metalcore ringtone blared from a cell phone that rested on the stomach of a female Mobian feline. She was laying across the empty seats next to her, her left leg dangling off the edge and her right forearm covering her eyes to block the shining lights in her face. 

She had features similar to an ocelot, despite being of a different species; her fur was golden-brown with dark brown spots, her tail was fairly long with a white and brown tip, and her eyes were a deep brown. Her hair was long and about back length, golden blonde in color with dyed purple and pink highlights. She was wearing a blue denim jacket over a black t-shirt reading "PLAY DUMB: It suits you" in bold, jagged, white-and-pink letters; light blue jeans with rips across the knees and shins; black and white sneakers with a pink trim (similar to Converse); black, spiked leather bracelets; and a black-and-pink bandana over her hair.  

Her name was Victoria van Heimlich—or Vicky for short. She appeared to be just a normal high-school junior on vacation for winter break. Her secret identity, however, was Mirage, the fabled enigma of the infamous travelling vigilante gang, DVNz. She and her gang was in Station Square investigating rumored mafia connections at a major casino in the Casinopolis district, looking to add another dangerous crime syndicate to their list of takedowns.

Well...were investigating. 

It turns out the rumors were false; some drunk gambled all his money away, got into a fight with the bouncers, and jumped down a garbage shoot to escape a beatdown, winding up in a sewer. He apparently started rumors of an underground mafia to save himself from embarrassment. A fairly disappointing investigation, but certainly not DVNz's first like it.

Now that the job was over with, Victoria was using the spare time to visit a few Soumercan shopping malls. She was on her way back from window shopping in Harbor Heights to do some actual shopping with fellow DVNz members Jonas (aka 'Volt') and Rico (aka 'Overclock') in Station Square. However, a delay in Mystic Ruins caused the train to run a little late; because of this, her leader and adoptive father Oskar (aka 'Alloy') was calling to check on her.

The phone's vibration caused her to subtly groan in annoyance. Uncovering her eyes, she reached for it and picked it up. Seeing it was Alloy, she pressed a button on the touchscreen, put the phone to her ear, and began speaking in a semi-tired voice:

"Hello?...Yes, sir....I know, sorry. The train ran into a delay, so...Yes, sir...Well, I should be meeting with them in about um"—she paused to take her phone off her ear to check the time, then continued—"20 or so minutes...Yes, sir...I love you too...I will. Bye."

After concluding her conversation, Victora slid her phone back into her jean pocket. Almost as if on cue, a chime could be heard over the train's intercom, announcing the arrival in Station Square in about 10 minutes. "Finally...," she'd mutter to herself, sitting up and stretching. She'd then stand up and walk nearer to the car door, sitting in a seat by a human and a rather...strange looking badger. She'd then pull a coin out of her pocket and begin rolling it across her knuckles, waiting for the train to stop.

I heard Sticks' little remark, and it got me out of a daydream. But I only glanced over to her in response. And.. I honestly didn't fully understand what she was getting at with that remark, but I raised a brow and asked anyways.

"Huh?.. What are you on about?"


I replied, having a very slight chuckle as to how strange of a thing she had said to me, leaving me puzzled as to whether she was being serious or genuine.


I then check my phone.. "7:53 PM" it would read. Seven minutes until I got to the big city. I then got a bit distracted by the sudden metal that I heard from distantly down the train car. I saw someone was on the phone, so I let them do their thing.