Two Storm Army Trackers stared silently at the body lying before them on the ground, the green Parrot Harpy having found four new holes in his chest thanks to the soldier's sharp bidents. His corpse was still twitching from the currents of electricity stuck in his body.
"...I think he's dead," One of the Storm Creatures said, as he poked the body with the side of his polearm.
"Wait.... Weren't we supposed to bring these assholes in alive?" Storm Creature B asked as he turned away from the body and started nudging the two other Storm Creatures that were lying unconscious on the ground.
"Yeah..." Storm Creature A whispered as he too turned away from the body in order to look at his coworker.
"And we just killed him?" Storm Creature B pointed at the Parrot.
"Look, dude! it was the heat of the moment! You saw what he did to Jeremy!" Storm Creature A waved his arms at one of the unconscious bodies, "It was self-defense! I had no choice... And beside! You're the one who stabbed him!"
"You stabbed him first! And you activated the shock function while the bident was inside him!" Creature B defended himself from his partner's wild accusations.
"You also activated the shock function! And you also shot the fat pink one! They're super dead!"
"I did not shoot the pink one! That was Terry! And besides, They could have survived!" Creature B shifted the blame towards one of the two Trackers that jumped onto the train.
"Could have survived?" Creature A repeated those words, "Let's see how you survive after getting tranquilized, thrown into a rapid river, and then have a boulder fall over where you landed, Let's see you survive that with Hollow Bones as well?" Creature A walked up to one of the unconscious trackers, "Anyway, which one of these two idiots had the communication device?"
Creature B looked at his fellow tracker, before looking down at their chest, and at the small box sticking onto their armor.
"...I'm the one with the comms, aren't I?" Creature A said dryly as he joined Creature B in staring at the communications device on his chest.
Creature B pat A on the shoulder and gave him a thumbs up, "Good luck,"
Creature A whimpered as he picked up the communications device.
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"Come on! If we reach the head of the train, we'll be able to release the carts and lose weight, we'll be halfway to Klugetown before The Storm King catches us!" Mullet yelled, the Parrot Harpy dragging his Captain by the hand as what remained of the Pirate Crew ran down the train carts, passing rooms filled with large crates and boxes.
"SQUAWK!" Squabble yelped as he opened the door to reach the next cart, only to almost fall into the gap between carts as his face bumped into a solid wall.
"The next cart doesn't have a door!" Mullet shouted over the winds that entered the train through the opening, "We'll need to climb over it to pass!" He turned to look at his captain, making sure she heard him.
"Captain, We need to move." His one eye focused on her face, trails of tears streaking down her face, eyes blurry and unresponsive, she was zoning out, Seems like he'd have to do the rest himself.
After all, What else was the Second in Command supposed to do?
Mullet grabbed his captain's arms and wrapped them around his neck as he picked her up on his back, "Let's go," He nodded to the only other member of the crew.
"SKWAA!" Squabble yelled as he nodded vigorously at his Friend and Leader, Moving out of the way so Mullet could exit the train cart first and start climbing onto the cart in front.
Mullet held on tightly to both his captain and the metal container that acted as the cart, His claws sweating as he climbed the railroad cart, the wind whipping at his face as he grabbed onto the roof before he pulled himself and his captain over, letting himself take just five seconds to breath before he started walking on the roof of the train, making sure his captain won't slip from his grasp.
Squabble, on the other hand, had a different plan as he turned to look at the boxes that lay around the cart he stood in. He stared down the path he ran through moments prior, watching two Storm Creatures in the distance make their way down the train towards him.
He wanted to escape, but he knew that by the time he'd finished climbing up the next cart, the soldiers would have caught up.
He couldn't bring his crew down, he couldn't bring his best friend down.
"SQUAWK!" He yelled as he grabbed a specifically labeled box and threw it onto the floor, watching the crate slammed open, releasing a cloud of black powder that slowly settled at his feet.
He did the same with a few more crates before he returned to the door leading to the next cart. He got on his knees and tried to pull at the lock connecting the cart to the next, he had to hurry, he could already hear the shouts from the Storm Creatures behind him.
He pulled, he screamed, with all his effort, before-
PING
He succeeded.
He watched with relief as the cart sped ahead, leaving him and the Storm Creatures behind.
But it wasn't over yet.
"GET ON THE GROUND!" One of the Storm Creatures yelled as he leaped on top of his back, holding him down, his face on the floor, But Squabble didn't care, he was put in the perfect position for what he wanted to do.
With a simple movement of his neck, the bronze plate covering his beak tapped the metallic floor of the railroad cart.
And Sparks Flew.
BOOM!
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Mullet stumbled as he felt a shockwave rock the train, And he already knew what had happened.
"Heh, You really did like Explosions, didn't you..." Mullet shook his head, clearing a single tear from his eye before he returned to running.
This wasn't the time to grieve, he had an escape to finish.
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High Above the Ground, flying in an airship after the escaped pirates, Major Deggan stared at the train far below him with a calculating look.
The Airships were fast, but the train was faster. If the Airship was one more designed for combative situations, like the others in his small fleet, he'd have caught up to the train long ago, but sadly, his ship was designed for leadership and communication, to deliver orders to the rest of the fleet instead of participating in the hunt himself.
"Ready the Cannon," He said simply, his eyes turning to look at the green Hippo who stood behind him, "You know what to do."
"Sir Major Sir!" Lieutenant Roughhouse saluted his commander before running to do his job, his heavy stomps echoing around the airship.
And as the Major kept his eyes focused on the escaping train, His glare intensified as he watched a pair of green Harpies, as small as ants from the distance between them, try and make their way to the head of the train.
"Lord Strife will not enjoy hearing that we already lost a train," He said calmly, his mask hiding the emotions passing over his face, "Hopefully bringing him the Pirates Alive will make up for it," He turned around and started making his way inside.
"After all, Who does not enjoy a good torture session?"
As he stepped inside the ship, A single cannon went off, causing a small smile to spread on the cold Major's face.
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"Hnnnng~" Mullet stopped running as he felt the Harpy on his back start squirming, Quickly taking his Captain off his back to check if she was alright.
"Captain! We need to hurry! Only a few more carts and we're at the front, We disconnect the rest of the carts and we'll be out of here!" He told her quickly, moving his claw to check her temperature, a small smile spreading on his beak as she swiped the offending hand off her forehead.
"Of course," She managed to spit out, her head was spinning from the hectic last 24 hours, She looked around and "Where's Squabble?" She turned to look into Mullet's lonesome eye, "Mully, Where's Squabble?"
"..." Mullet looked away, "You should have felt it," A small grin on his beak, "He did love his explosives..."
Celaeno looked at the back of her second-in-command's head, a single tear popping into view for just a moment before it disappeared over his shoulder.
"Let's get out of here." Celaeno said, a resolute fire burning in her voice.
She already lost most of her crew today, she wasn't going to lose anybody else!
Even if, in the back of her mind, she knew it was all her fault.
If only she never stole that ship, they wouldn't be in this situation to begin with.
"Aye Aye, Captain~" Mullet gave her a nod before the Pirate duo returned to running, only a few more carts, and safety would be in their grasp.
CRASH
And then the cabin they stood in shuddered as if caught in an earthquake for but a second, vibrations passing through the entire train as if warning the Harpies of their inevitable death.
Celaeno and Mullet turned their heads to look behind them, watching as several carts down a cloud of dust exploded outwards through a newly formed hole in a roof.
"Please stop running away, You're only making this worse for yourselves~" Out of the cloud of dust stepped a large bipedal Green Hippopotamus, An Officer's shirt adorned with imagery of The Storm Empire worn around his torso, the small size of the shirt making it look more like a Vest than a proper uniform, and on top of his head sat a Storm Empire Officer's Hat, the hat looking comically small when compared to the giant head it sat on.
Celaeno and Mullet shared looks as they watched the Hippo take the hat off his head and blow at it, cleaning it of dust, before the duo nodded at each other.
""RUN!!!"" They both yelled at once, their feet tapping against the metallic floor at a renewed pace, Celaeno's crystal peg leg creating a pinging sound as they jumped onto the next cart, trying to make as much distance as they could from the approaching Hippo.
"I'm telling you two! If you stop running this could all be over!" The Hippo yelled after them, each step he took slammed into the floor of the cart he stood in, shaking the entire train as he started to pick up speed after the two runaways.
"There!" Mullet yelled, pointing to the last door, allowing Celaeno to spot an empty driver's station, the train driver having evacuated long ago already, "We get there, Disconnect the carts, and keep going until we pass by Klugetown, where we need to jump off," Mullet told his captain as they finally reached the front of the train, entering the Driver's cabin before the two spun around and started quickly working on disconnecting it from the rest of the train.
"Hurry!" Celaeno urged as she watched the Hippo quickly close the distance between them.
"Just a moment- HERE!" Mullet yelled as he managed to pull out the lock that held the train together, letting out a relieved sigh as he watched the carts slowly drift back, the Hippo still on them.
"NO!" The Hippo yelled as he dug two of his fingers into his vest, pulling out a black marble with a green crystal in the middle, he quickly threw the crystal ball at the escaping train before he leaped out of it, grabbing onto the edge of the Train's head with his hands, his feet dragging through the wooden planks of the Railroad, breaking and splintering the railway as he attempted to pull himself onto the Train.
Celaeno ducked away as the black marble ball slammed against the side of the wall, breaking and revealing the green crystal inside to air, letting it rapidly dissipate into a cloud of green gas that engulfed half of the train.
"Was that supposed to do something?!" Celaeno yelled as she watched the gas drift away, not close to being breathed in by her.
"IT ALREADY DID!" The Hippo yelled as he stretched his arm up and grabbed Mullet's leg, not allowing the Pirate to escape as the green gas engulfed his body, rapidly turning him into an obsidian statue.
"Capt-!" Mullet tried to call for Celaeno before his head was petrified as well.
"SEE! THIS IS THE MIGHT OF THE STORM KING! YOU CRIMINALS NEVER HAD A CHANCE!" The Hippo yelled as he tried to drag himself up onto the train now that he captured one of the Pirates.
Celaeno had to move quickly, either she gets captured and turned into a statue as well, or she finishes her Escape by her lonesome.
She didn't need to think much about it, Her crystal leg already thrusting forward as the pirate captain kicked the Hippo in the face.
"STOP THAT!" He yelled, still struggling to pull his heavy weight onto the train, "STOP KICKING ME!"
Celaeno did not stop, she kept kicking him, hitting him in the face, trying her best to push him off without letting him capture her.
"ARRRGH!" He yelled as her peg leg hit him in the eye, the force of the Harpy's final kick enough to shatter the peg leg, his hand letting go of the train to cover the injured organ as shard of crystals rained on his face, finally letting go of the train in the process.
Celaeno burst forward in an attempt to catch Mullet's statue, trying to save it from being taken into the hands of The Storm King.
But now with only one leg, she couldn't reach him.
She watched with horror-filled eyes as her last crew mate slipped from her grasp, falling into the desert around her, captured by The Storm King's Men.
Finally, Captain Celaeno was safe and on her way to freedom.
But at what cost?
"Don't worry Mullet," Celaeno whispered as she pushed herself onto one leg, her hands holding onto the train's driver seat for support, "I'll come back for you, I promise!"
Captain Celaeno has escaped.