Chapter 32: 9.2 Cause and Effect

  Sarah steps through a portal, re-sheathing her sword and allowing the scabbard to rest against her hip. She stands on the back of the train in her sports bra with her gun harness fastened over it and the excess scarf trailing another seventy feet behind her, waving like a banner as the train curves around the face of a mountain.

  The journal entry’s contents weigh heavily on her; they are a helping-hand left behind by the one she knew as Grandfather. A single entry became available, further stating that the book’s scenarios would only be accessible if they became applicable, various scenarios that would serve as a guide should they become a reality.

  ‘Your scarf has changed colors and you have become aware of it,’ the entry had stated.

  Sarah watches as the ninjas climb over the sides and through the hatches in the roof, others climbing up from between the rail cars. The ninjas are wearing the same black garbs with metallic wrist and chin guards, but their heads are no longer human, instead being a flickering black flame that seems to focus attention on her.

  ‘The train is a pocket dimension that reflects the state of your mental and emotional wellbeing,’ the entry continued.

  Among the ninjas are two other figures that she recognizes from her fight on Teetering Hill. While their heads are likewise covered in black flame, she can still recognize the postures of both Angry Face and the staff wielder from that fight, even though their attire is now solid black. She looks at them all, her grip tightening around her weapon.

  ‘Black for anger, blue for sadness, and yellow for panic…they’re like smoke trapped in a room with you inside. If you don’t vent them from your world, they’ll smother you.’

  Angry Face charges at her, but this time his weapon has an edge. His first attack is batted away and with such force that it takes a great deal of effort for him to recover. He trusts, then rotates his sword away from Sarah’s parry and into another strike that goes wide.

  Sarah bellows as Angry Face becomes overextended. She repeatedly slams her scabbard into his flaming head, knocking away shadowy cinders form the impacts.

  The sword rolls out of his grip as he’s driven back, before reaching up with his hand to shield his face. He stops the next attack, then blearily grabs hold of the scabbard on the attack that follows.

  Sarah pulls the sword out of the sheath as Angry Face holds it, then steps beside him, burying the blade in his solar plexus. He leans forward as the blade extends out of his back. She bends down to take her scabbard out of his hand, then lowers her sword, allowing him to tumble off the side of the train.

  ‘Never allow the red of your scarf to become completely replaced. You’ll become emotionally numb, a point from which you won’t recover. Remove the relevant opposition in your pocket world to restore yourself.’

  Three more rush her including the staff wielder. The lead ninja leaps into a drop kick and an entry portal is opened to face him like a catcher’s mitt. Sarah can see through the portal as if nothing is there, but the assailant’s form falters as he passes into it, only to have an exit portal send him flailing into the nearby valley.

  The other ninja attacks with a pair of sai as the staff wielder prepares to strike around him. With her sword in one hand and scabbard in the other, she alternates hands as she deflects the flurry of attacks. The final attack is more aggressive and leaves the ninja overextended only to have the staff wielder attack over his flank.

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  Sarah bats the incoming staff blow aside with the scabbard, then kicks the staff further across causing it to swing out like an opening car door to eject the ninja from the fight. Before the staff wielder can withdraw the outstretched attack, Sarah steps under the low bar, dragging her blade across his torso and continuing to walk forward as he collapses behind her.

  The staff wielder makes a whimpering sound and Sarah spares a glance behind her only to look ahead again as several ninjas get swept aside by a yellow sign that comes soaring across the top of the train. Sarah quickly opens a portal in front of herself, stepping through and onto the middle of the next train car up as the ding, ding, ding sound of a crossing bell quickly fades behind her.

  Several injured ninjas roll around on the train next to her with some of them unintentionally rolling off all together. Sarah looks down at her chest, clutching at it with her palm and looking at the coloring. The black had started to recede but the blue and yellow have seen no change.

  Her heart is continuing to pound from nearly getting taken out by the sign, but her rage is noticeably quieter, allowing her to think and focus more. As she tries to regain control of her breath, she sees a big ninja with a mace climb on top of the train again, accompanied by an even larger partner in black.

  Sarah shakes her head as she looks at the figure. Well, Big Rick, she thinks, while looking at the giant club on his shoulder. Looks like my delivering you an ass kicking is destiny.

  More ninjas and arena fighters climb onto the roof and rush towards her. The first one barrels forward just as the train takes a high-speed turn, shifting the ninja’s momentum backwards and causing Sarah to stumble towards him. She arrests her momentum by counterbalancing with a kick to the ninja’s chest, sending him over the side while she rights herself.

  Sarah bats aside another attack, then throws a punch into the attacker’s face. She punches again, then rams her shoulder into the ninja, sending him over the side as she looks towards Big Rick to see him climbing down between the railcars.

  Where the hell are yo— The train’s momentum suddenly slows drastically even as they move downhill. Sarah takes a countering step forward as her set of cars break free from the rest. Big Rick and the boss ninja are standing at the rear of the train’s main body, looking back at her as it continues to drift further away.

  “No!” Sarah says, slamming her katana into the sheath. Two more ninjas rush her with weapons readied. She jabs the handgrip into the face of the first, staggering him, then steps forward and hits the second in the chest with her scabbard. He’s clothes-lined into a half back-flip, landing on his head as she shifts her focus into forcing the blade further into the sheath.

  Sarah grits her teeth while the remaining ninja recovers behind her. Her blade turns a dark-blue and she pulls it free again, slicing the air to send a wave out ahead of her railcar. The ninja approaches to strike her from behind and the portal expands, pluming ahead like an opening parachute only to fold back over them as they pass into the opening.

  Sarah drives her blade into the roof, and everything shifts forward, feeling like they are a vehicle that just drove out from the back of a flying plane. She strains, elbows bent and arms shaking as she tries to push away from the handle of her weapon. The ninja tumbles past, then slides into the flexing gap between the railcars as the lead’s nose end pitches down, accelerating as the second car comes out of the portal. The gravitational forces shift again as the last car comes free, her push turning into a pull as the three cars accelerate, requiring her to tighten her abs and drive her feet downward.

  A pain radiates through her abdomen as she does this, causing her vision to blur before the pitch of her railcars become low enough to see her targets. Despite the momentary pain, a smile creeps back onto her lips.

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