CM series: S1- Akuya Arc

6. The Royal Express

"Good morning, ladies!" said the person making the call. "Get your breakfast and be ready to get to the Royal Express!" Ella blinked, yawned and stretched. At least this was better than her noisy alarm that danced. It was early in the morning and she saw her friends staring down at her. "Ella, today is your big day!" exclaimed Erin. "Huh? Why?" mumbled Ella. "Because today, you and us are-" Sheila began. "Because today you and we are going to Crystilville!!" Maggie quickly interrupted. "What, today?!" Ella gasped. Her friends nodded. "O.M.G!!!" cried Ella. She got up and started dancing like how Erin danced when they met yesterday.

"I can't believe it's today! We're going to have the best times of our lives and-" Ella then noticed her friends, looking at her with confused looks. "Oh, well, um, this is a bit awkward," she said blushing. "Let's just, um, get changed ready for the train-" Then she awkwardly tiptoed into the bathroom to get ready. "She," Rita stared, "is the strangest girl I've ever met." After the girls got ready and had breakfast, they took their luggage, checked out of their rooms and headed towards the station. The Royal Express building was tall and pink like Sheila's home, but instead the station had offices, a ticket collector and a platform to wait on. All the young women went to the ticket collection, where the ticket man had come to collect their tickets.

"Tickets please!" he trilled. As he collected the girls' tickets, Ella stood in the queue, super excited. She was so excited that she wanted to dance again, but she didn't because she was in public. "Number 64!" called the ticket man. 64 was Ella's ticket number, but she didn't listen because she was too busy daydreaming. "C'mon Ella, it's your turn!" Sheila said to her because she was behind Ella. Soon Ella fell out of trance and realised that she was in the front of the line. "Ticket number 64??" the ticket man called again. "Yes, I'm here!" Ella blurted, awkwardly walking up to the man behind the counter.

"May I have your ticket, ma'am?" he asked for a third time. Ella handed him her ticket then went to the platform to wait for the carriage. "Next! Ticket number 65!" the ticket man called. After all the girls had handed in their tickets, the platform was packed with young ladies with suitcases of luggage. It was hard to stand up! Suddenly, there was a sound of a bell in the distance. "What was that?" said one of the girls. The bells got closer. "I heard it as well!" another girl exclaimed. "Guys, do you know what I think it is?" another girl suggested. The other hundred girls shook their heads. "Well, I think it's-" the same girl started. "THE CARRIAGE!" a third girl interrupted. She pointed at a direction and everyone else looked. The bells sounded, and out of the smoke came a pearl coloured train with passenger carriages.

All the girls screamed, cheered a jumped with joy. Ella could see it right in her eyes: she just needed to step on the train, and she'll be at Crystilville! The door opened from the driver's locomotive. "Next stop, Crystilville!" the driver called. Then the first carriage door opened. Ella attempted step on, but all the other girls stampeded on, knocking her over. Luckily, Maggie helped her up and they joined Erin, Rita and Sheila. Ella was shocked when she stepped into the train; it was like walking into those 1st class seats in those plane adverts! There were sofas made from fine leather, and there were recliner seats too! The walls were pink and had symbols vertically on it, and there were vending machines too! The doors were made of pure marble with opals around the doorframe.

The luggage was stored in the back of train, and once all the girls had seated, the driver put on his microphone and explained all the train rules and stuff. After that, the train started chugging, and it started the journey from Roselilly to Crystilville. All the girls except the 5 friends were singing random chants about Crystilville. Ella was bored; her friends were doing other things, and she was in a room with noisy girls chatting, doing handshakes and pat-a-cake games. Ella liked some noise, but this was too loud. It felt like a prison rioting. Suddenly, she heard humming from the next carriage; it sounded like an angel's voice. What is this? Ella though, being enchanted by the voice. Without being noticed, she entered the next carriage. It only had one girl, the girl singing. She was holding a Frappuccino and she also has some lollipops. Ella tapped her on the shoulder and said "Hello?" Then the mysterious girl turned around...