A barren sea of red and orange sand as far as the eye could see, an endless expanse of nothing with only the occasional bolder or towering spire of dual-coloured sandstone to break up the sight; the air was stagnant and dry, not a single drop of moisture in the air or a single cloud in the sky of the eroded badlands. Despite the abundance of nothing for miles upon miles, one thing stood in stark opposition to the desert, laid out firmly into the desert sand were luminescent steel train tracks which divided the area in two. With the weak murmur of ionized crackles, a faint rumble chimed from the tracks as a distant droning roar raced closer. The droning continually ramped up and up, building in intensity as the train tracks quivered before a speeding object blasted past, stirring up the once motionless sand into a frenzy. The speeding train raced across the desert, a torrent of wind coating it and shielding it from friction, allowing it to gain even greater speed.

Situated in one of the train's private cabins, Zalmimi sat by and silently stared out the window, her eyes formatted into a frustrated glare, the comfort of her hammock overlooking a tropical beach but a distant memory.

(Zalmimi is a slightly short humanoid kitsune visage, The Hydra of Determination, with the appearance of a seventeen-year-old female; she has hip-low silver hair with pale yellow tips, the back half of her hair tied by a pale cyan cloth around her neck with two slightly curved hair strips on the side of her face, pale yellow eyes, pale white skin to the point it's faintly cyan, seven small yellow snakes in her hair, a short yellow scaled tail, and yellow scale-covered legs)

(Zalmimi is wearing a grey sundress, a pale yellow hooded fur coat with yellow trimmings, and a large light phoenix feather in the mouth of one of her snakeheads)

"Why'd he have to pick me? Wasn't the other two enough?" Mimi grumbled disappointedly, keeping her eyes locked on the distant specks of civilisation poking over the far horizon. She continued her unbroken stare, slowly letting the reality of her situation sink in, stuck at the isolated academy until she fulfilled her task.

Even while deep in thought, Mimi ensured her hand was firmly planted on her fellow visage's head and contently ruffled the young girl's hair. Zalxelphia slept with her head on Mimi's thigh, the soothing chill of her senior visage permeating her brain and bringing her a moment of escape from the desert's imposing heat.

(Zalxelphia is a short seven-year-old humanoid kitsune visage, The Spider of Independence; she has fluffy and spikey maroon with pale pink tips tied into two hoop pigtails, pale pink eyes, pale white skin to the point it's faintly cyan, four small spider eyes around her human eyes, pink fur-covered human legs, and dark pink marks around her human eyes)

(Zalxelphia is wearing a pink short-sleeved shirt, a maroon hoodie with a spider-themed hood, and a plain oversized dawnite bracelet on her left wrist)

"No... I won't give the book, you're... not smart enough to... the Cron Coplex," Xelphia mumbled in her sleep, tightly clutching the small Chronicle Codex in her tiny grasp. At the sound of the smaller visage's words, Mimi briefly departed her gaze from the window and looked down at the mini book, continuing to stroke Xelphia's hair as she held onto the book like her life depended on it.

(The Chronicle Codex is a hand-sized purple magical book with flat black circles, an octagon lavender gem on its front cover, and a long red qi[particle-looking energy] chain attached to the head of the book's spine)

"Was it always that small?" Mimi remarked mentally, tilting her head for a better view.

"What do you think, Ma—?". Mimi held her tongue, her frustration simmering behind her glare; the sight of an empty seat opposing her filled her with displeasure. With a sigh, she threw her face back towards the window and uttered, "Right, he's at the food carriage.".

Mimi allowed her mind to wander once again, ushering her gaze back to the window to continue complaining about her situation while ensuring that Xelphia's hair was being ruffled. As she got back into the groove of her brooding, Mimi was swiftly interrupted once again by the mini stampede outside her cabin, the relentless pounding of the rushing students minorly adding to the floor's continual bounce.

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"How noi-.".

"My bets on spiral kid!" a teen outside the visages' cabin. For a moment, Mimi was still, contemplating her next actions, deciding whether to go the violent path or the extremely violent path. She clenched her fist tightly, reaching a decision before snapping to her feet, leaving Xelphia to flop onto the sofa but remaining completely unfazed in her sleep. With a single glance at the sleeping Xelphia, Mimi stormed out of the cabin and marched her way in the direction of the gathering of students blocking a door.

Eventually, Mimi marched into the cafe carriage, an aggravated murmur under her breath as she scoured the carriage for her other visage companion. Finding the obnoxious snekbourne was a rather simple matter, the angry squabbles of two fighting female students drawing Mimi's attention right to Zalmaru. But much to Mimi's disbelief, the snekbourne was sitting by the bar counter, carefully stacking an assortment of food into a single towering sandwich, and completely oblivious to the ongoing catfight.

(Zalmaru is a slightly short, eleven-year-old-looking humanoid kitsune visage, The Snake of Retribution; he has neck-low spikey half-silver to half-purple hair with pale purple tips, purple spiral eyes, pale white skin to the point it's faintly cyan, eight snake tongues, and his whole body from the neck down is covered in purple snake scales)

(Zalmaru is wearing a cyan feather fur scarf that reaches his knees, three feather bracelets on each forearm[a cyan, teal, and lime one], a knee-low teal feather skirt which goes around the sides of his legs and behind, and lime feather ankle bracelets)

"Almost done," Maru muttered loudly, blocking out all external distractions as he slowly lowered the burger bun down on the triple poultry burger: supplemented with a gooey blanket of semi-melted cheese, juicy tomato slices, crisp lettuce, freshly sliced cucumbers, tangy pickled onions; all covered by a layer of delicately placed jam and honey that oozed down the burger.

"Not the cause of the commotion, for once I see," Mimi said exhaustedly, letting her presence be known to her sandwich-crafting companion. Slowly placing the bun atop the burger stack, almost as if it were a crown, Maru could only snicker to himself and take a step back to bask in the completion of his creation.

"You say something?". Mimi frowned and gestured a snake head towards the apathetic redhead sharkling girl and the explosively expressive grey-haired vampire girl with white spiral-shaped pupils brawling on top of a table.

"What's up with them...," Mimi uttered, her focus trailing off at the mere sight of the vampire's pupil's shape. Maru shrugged, his apathy for the situation tantamount to the sharkling's reaction in the fight she was participating in.

"Beats me, something about copying eyes or some other kid nonsense," Maru remarked half-heartedly, swiftly snagging his sandwich creation from the countertop onto a smaller plate.

"Shall we get going?" Maru added, his voice filled with snark and amusement as he walked off. His fellow coldblooded visage was left at a loss for words, her eyes trained on the back of his head as she couldn't shake the feeling Maru was the cause of the incident in some capacity.

"Yeah, and I love being active," Mimi huffed dismissively under her breath, her small tail flicking about in tune with her building frustration before she dragged her feet after Maru.

The duo exited the cafe carriage and stepped into the hallway outside the private cabins. Despite the hallway only being wide enough for the duo to stand side-by-side with a barely few centimetres between them, Maru wore an amusedly surprised expression scanning every spot in front for any threat to his sandwich.

"Sure is barren here for how many people came through earlier," Maru said before aggressively kicking the sliding door open with his foot, the resulting bang snapping Xelphia awake and tumbling straight onto the floor. The small girl pulled herself from the ground, raising her head up enough to rest it against the base of the seat. She groaned a little, letting her displeasure be known for being woken up before the agreed time. But her pouting didn't last long, a single whiff of Maru's creation was all it took to banish all her prior transgression with her awakener as she placed the tips of her index fingers together and brandished her puppy-dog eyes.

"Is for me?" Xelphia uttered with a pitifully weak voice, cupping her hands together in a sort of prayer-like act.