If I didn't make it onto the train, it might have been over for me. 

But it was as if at that moment someone splashed a potion of jump boost and speed at me, and I just managed to land at the half-block area of where the fence was. The shaking of the train was throwing me off balance and the others quickly pulled me over the fence to get me to safety. 

I was out of breath and my legs gave out from underneath me immediately, falling right into Noah's arms. He lowered me onto the floor and leaned my back against the railing. 

"You okay?" He asked, his brows furrowing together. 

"I made it," I said, taking in deep breaths. My legs felt like honey blocks even though I wasn't standing. How long have I been running for me to feel this exhausted? At least everyone else looked okay- alright for people who have just jumped over rooftops. 
Matthew looked a little sick, and I wasn't too sure if it was from the train or from us trying to get him to do parkour. 

"Yeah!" Kisha hugged me, her eyes bright with pride. then she deadpanned "barely"

"We should probably carry ender pearls on us next time." Matthew managed to say "Or something- it would have saved us a lot of time."

Theo frowned "But that would cost quite a bit of health if we wanted to travel as far as that, so not the best idea."

I managed a grin "And who randomly carries something as rare as ender pearls?"

The train was going at full speed by now, and the shaking made everyone either sit down next to me with their back against the railing or holding onto something to steady themselves. The sprawling plains flew past us with nothing note-worthy to look at. 

"But we're on the train!" Ethan cheered, temporarily letting go of the railing to clap and was immediately thrown off balance and had to return his hands to where they were "We're on the train! We're going to the capital! Isn't this great?"

Everyone else let out a tired cheer that was quickly drowned out by the noise from the train. I wanted to celebrate- my father probably wouldn't be too happy with me for going to the capital... but at least I told him where I was going. 
By this point, even I wasn't too sure if I was going to the capital because I wanted to act as a spy... or because I was curious about what might a heavier populated area of the overworld might be like. 

And when I say populated... I mean populated by people, not just pigmen or wither skeletons. 

Of course, I might not want to admit it, but I knew I was getting attached to this group of people my age. 

I cleared my throat. "Uh- yeah! Great!"

Kisha frowned "Was that the challenge William was talking about? The massive eliminations? There is still a lot of people left on this train- not to mention everywhere else."

Noah shrugged "compared to the number of people that were originally there? We did great."

"Imagine what would have happened if Jayden was here." Ethan grinned "Oh- he would be throwing a fit that he didn't get on the train. Thank goodness Amythest rolled into town and decided to give us that chance of kicking his butt, hah?"

if that was what they thought me as, I didn't mind. 
It was far better than what I actually came here for. 

The spruce door in front of me flew open, and standing there was a very happy person who we all recognized. 

"Hey!" Emily smiled "You guys made it!"

Noah patted my head since I was sitting "Amethyst is a genius. She somehow knew that there was going to be a race to the station, and had ladders prepared to scale the buildings. All credit goes to her."

I can feel my cheeks turn a little pink "Aw- you flatter me. It wasn't that difficult to figure out- it was kinda the only thing that made sense that there would be some fight for the spots on the trains." 

Emily raised her eyebrows, opening her mouth to speak but Noah interrupted her. 

He couldn't stop grinning "But on the roofs???"

Matthew pretended to throw up, which was uncharacteristic for him to do so. "Please don't make me do that ever again."

Emily laughed, leaning against the doorframe "Amethyst take the credit. you should have seen the uproar that the people on the ground had when they saw you and your group jumping around on the roof. Not worth all the gold in the world."

I looked up at Emily "Which reminds me- thanks for knocking the guy who was shooting at us with a bow. You saved us."

"Aw shucks-" Emily said, pretending to be bashful "I saw him shooting as someone and recognized him as the person who was picking a fight with me. Not that big of a deal."She stepped aside and gestured inside "You guys know you don't have to sit outside, right? I counted, and there are extra compartments. There should be room for you guys."

Ethan shot to his feet "Sweet! Thank the gods of Minecraft we don't need to stay outside-"

Emily watched as Ethan skipped inside "I don't think I'm ever going to get tired of seeing how enthusiastic he is." she tilted her head "Come on, lets head in. I'll introduce you to my four-person team."

"Four?" Matthew frowned "I thought there has to be at least five, six maximum."

"My team jokes that I don't count as a person because of my aggressiveness. But I like to count myself anyway. Can you believe them?" She laughed "me? Aggressive? I don't think my aggressiveness and habits to pick fights don't dehumanize me, but you know, they gotta have jokes." She stepped into the train "Come on- come!"


Emily didn't answer our question. 

<>


I don't think I would want to describe how pretty the train is. 
The entire train was made of spruce wood, stone and maybe some clay. The floor was covered in red carpets, and it was surprisingly empty except for a few people who looked at me with both a face of awe and distaste. 

I automatically assumed it was because they figured I was the one who thought up of the idea of getting on the roofs, but I couldn't understand why they looked at me like that. They got on the train, and that should be the end of that story. 

Emily leads us to a compartment and threw open the doors, causing the people in there to jump  "Hello my dear groupmates! These are the people that helped me out during the inn brawl. Be nice to them."

A boy with a mess of curly black hair looked up from his backward cap, and so did everyone else "Huh?"

"I said, these are the people that helped me out during the inn brawl."

we waved awkwardly. 

The boy with the cap looked at us, straightening as a cute smile with dimples crossed his face "Oh- Emily told us about you guys, and how she owed you food. Guess anyone who Emily deems worthy enough to help her in fights is good enough for us."

Emily whacked him over the head "Hey! Don't make me sound so arrogant."

"Right- Sorry-" He held out his hand toward me since I was the closest- which I shook- "Anyway- My name is Caleb."

Emily looked over at the others, who looked at her "You guys aren't mute- or this quiet. Come on!"

The boy closest to her had green hair, which I refused to question. "No, but no one expected you to fly out from nowhere with a group of people behind you. I'm Marshall by the way."

"And stop making me sound antisocial-" She looked back at us as if to say 'see? look at these people. Do I look unsocial to you?'

"Maybe because you're usually pretty reserved and keep to yourself." Another boy who was huddled in the corner mumbled under his breath. He looked like he was trying to keep it to himself, but his ombre black and white hair made him stand out. 

"oh my goodness Russel not you too-" Emily sighed "And you're speaking like a true hypocrite-"

I cracked a smirk "You have an interesting team."

"An annoying one that likes to pick on me because I'm the only girl-"

Ethan stretched and put his elbow on Kisha's head "Oh! Kisha would be able to relate to you." He said as Kisha pushed his arm off "She was the only girl until Amethyst came around to our group."

Kisha huffed "stop putting your arm on my head I'm not even that much shorter than you-"

We quickly introduced ourselves to Emily's team while that said person was looking like my father whenever he saw me actually behaving for once in my life. 

"You guys know where the extra rooms are, right?" Caleb asked us when Theo mentioned it. He looked a little sorry for us, which was answered immediately without me having to ask "It's right next to the front where the pilot and all the bathrooms are-"

Ethan groaned "Oh we're not getting any sleep tonight-"

Matthew didn't look that enthusiastic about it "Are the rooms there the only ones left-"

Emily sighed "I mean, we might be able to squeeze two more people here, but yeah. Those are the only ones left- unless you want to sleep in the compartments in the way back- but those are deserted and kinda broken so..."

Kisha didn't hesitate "Dibs."

It seemed like Noah was the only responsible one among us- and the one that has the fastest reaction to anything because he spoke before I or Theo can say anything "No- we'll deal with it somehow." He answered "wouldn't want to bother you guys too much. At least you opened the door for us- it was locked from the outside. Otherwise, we would have been sleeping outside until someone noticed that we were back there."

"Can't you just knock?" Emily asked, frowning. 

Noah laughed "You have any idea how loud it is outside? No one is going to hear us."

"Noah's right," I added along- much to what looked like Ethan, Kisha, and Matthew's disappointment "We'll just have to deal with it, somehow, as Noah said."

Theo smirked "Better than sleeping outside where you might fall off."

A sudden image of one of us falling off tose little gaps sent shivers down my spine, but I started to push everyone out "We'll be fine."

Emily stood by the door as Caleb stuck his head out to watch us go "You sure?"

I grinned "What can go so wrong about sleeping in the front of the train?"

<>


It turns out, things can go very wrong. 
not in the way that I'd expected.