Take Back the Light

Chapter 33

Alana and Trixie stood in front of each other, confident smirks on each of their faces.

"You're not winning this," Trixie warned, although her voice wasn't completely confident.

"We'll see," Alana laughed, glancing down at Ash, who winked and nodded at her.

Eli stood beside the two, watching apprehensively.

"Alright, whenever you two are ready," he said. Alana waited for Trixie to nod. Then:

"Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!"

Alana held out her hand flat for paper, while Trixie held out two fingers for scissors.

Seeing her defeat, Alana groaned and dramatically collapsed on the ground, but there was a smile on her face.

"Go on without me," she said, and Trixie stuck out her tongue. Alana laughed and shifted over to the edge of the railroad tracks the Shane Gang was standing on. "Alright, you win fair and square, Trix. I'll listen for the train. You four go get your dramatic poses ready."

The gang had narrowed down which track Blakk's new engine would be running on, but they hadn't gotten an exact time. So while their plan was to sit up on some rocks that Kord's Rammstone knocked free from the cave walls around them, they still needed someone to wait down on the tracks and listen for when the train was actually approaching- the tunnel they were in was too narrow and twisty for them to risk a surprise. And that person was the loser of their rock paper scissors tournament.

"Alas, the art of rock paper scissors is one that few can truly master," Pronto noted as he climbed up the small mound of boulders.

"Uh, there's no much art to it, Pronto," Kord argued. "It's all luck."

"Yeah!" Alana called up as she adjusted so her ear was resting on top of one of the metal bars lining the train tracks.

"Then why is Pronto so incredibly talented at it?" the molenoid challenged, and nobody could offer up a decent answer. Whenever they played, Pronto always won.

From there, Pronto launched into a speech about the hundreds- no, no, thousands- of rock paper scissors matches he had won. Alana met Ash's gaze and rolled her eyes, a faint smile on her face.

She was excited to be back with the gang, excited to be getting back into action against Doctor Blakk. She was still having nightmares about the West that left her short of breath when her eyes opened, but now that she was living with the gang again, she felt less alone.

Every few minutes she would get bored and switch sides, resting her head against the other side of the track. Finally, after what seemed like hours (but was probably just fifteen minutes of hearing Pronto ramble about his talents), she heard a faint rumble.

Alana held her hand up, silencing the game as she held her breath for a moment, waiting to hear it again.

"Yep. It's on its way," she confirmed, getting to her feet and stretching out her back. "Time to get ready."

Not wanting to get stuck still trying to climb the pile when the train was approaching, Alana stood at the base of the rocks, her Arachnet loaded in her blaster in case she had to move. Her heart pounded, but it was from excitement, not fear. She was getting back to doing what she loved.

A few moments later, the train came into view. It was more sleek and definitely faster than the other Slugterran Express models, and Kord whistled as it approached. Eli just smiled, staring at the engine determinedly.

"I wish I could see the look on Blakk's face when he realizes we're alive," he said. Alana watched apprehensively as the engine approached, and began to notice that the hiss of the brakes the gang had been waiting for wasn't coming.