Sniff laughed at the Dragon Slayers' antics, and but then returned to his senses - the others were right, they had to get moving. They might not have long before the attack came. 'Right, Alica, Terry, you go ov-'
His speech was cut short, however, by the door in front of them sliding sharply open. Standing in the doorway was a guard wearing blue robes, a look like thunder and holding a spear that was pointing in their direction. Behind him and also staring at them were five more guards. All of their spears were pointing at them. The members of the Wild Hunt had no way of knowing, but every one of the bank train’s five carriages had six guards inside it. 'I knew it, I told you I heard noises!' the first guard shouted angrily.
'Wait, we're here to help!' Sniff exclaimed raising both hands in defense.
'Oh yeah, sure!' yelled the guard, preparing to charge. Before the man could run him through, though, a sudden explosion of noise and a flash of light arrested all of their attention. From nowhere, another train had appeared. From its engine a middle-aged man with silver robes, short white hair and a short black goatee looked back at the trains and laughed. This was Argent Franklin, the Goblin Coin’s Guild Master. Using a set of now depleted Lacrima to boost his already considerable magical power, he had just successfully teleported his moving train directly onto the railway tracks.
‘Perfectly done, Master!’ the man driving the train congratulated him.
‘Thank you,’ Argent replied with silky smoothness. ‘Gekko, begin the attack,’ he said, turning to a slim, tall man with lizard-like features and long spiked hair that looked more like spines than hair. Gekko nodded and walked from the engine into the first carriage. Every door of the train’s five carriages slid open simultaneously. At each open door, at least half a dozen Dark Guild members stood facing the racing train beside them. The two trains were running evenly side-by-side. Goblin Coin began their attack. Its minor members all threw lacrima bombs at the side of the bank train, blowing its doors off.
Both the guards and the members of the Wild Hunt could be forgiven for not reacting in time – between the train appearing and the bombs being thrown only a couple of seconds had passed. In the back carriage the bombs not only blew one whole wall of the train off, but sent the six guards flying; they all crashed against the remaining walls of the carriage.
By the time the smoke had cleared, one of the Mages from the Goblin Coin train had already leaped over into the back carriage and was standing amongst the rubble, laughing. He was topless, revealing his lean, muscular frame. He wore red boxers shorts and had white bandages wrapped round both his hands. He had several gold teeth that showed as he laughed at the guards. This was Canter, an elite member of Goblin Coin.
‘Herbivore Soul: Brown Hare!’ Canter’s eyes landed on Sniff just in time to skip back, narrowly avoiding the powerful kick that had been aimed at him. Sniff had used a partial-body Take Over and leapt into the carriage to confront Canter. His legs were longer and more muscular, and his face now had a little black nose, buck teeth and whiskers. Atop his head was a pair of long ears. There was brown fur all over his body. Sniff landed and raised his fists, ready to box with Canter.
‘Oho,’ Canter said with a smile, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet, fists also raised to fight. His smile was still fixed. ‘Looks like the bank grew some balls and hired themselves a few Mages. But you must be trippin’ if you think you can beat our five top Mages, let alone our Master!’
‘Dante, Alex, Terry, deal with the rest of their key fighters!’ Sniff called to the others. ‘Okami, get to the engine – tell the driver to stop the train, or at least slow down, then join the fight!’
‘Haha, and what’s you job, Bugs?’ Canter asked Sniff, sneering.
‘I’m gonna beat you,’ Sniff said simply. 'Go on you guys, get out of here! I'll take care of this guy!'
Down the length of the two trains running side-by-side, the scene was the same everywhere; from the Goblin Coin train the members had blown the doors off the bank train’s carriage doors and one elite member of Goblin Coin was beating the crap out of the guards inside.
‘Clay-Make: Wolf!’ A huge roaring canine made of clay leapt from the Goblin Coin train into the first carriage of the bank train. Gekko Trapper watched in satisfaction as his creation crashed into the carriage’s occupants.
In the next carriage down, a man in a pinstripe suit, a tiny moustache and slicked back, greasy hair, looked and chuckled on as his enemies slipped helplessly over the oil he had just sprayed all across the floor. Goblin Coin Member: Moncrom.
Next door, a man in a denim shirt, leather chaps and a cowboy hat was firing off his twin pistols into the contents of his target carriage. The bullets from his pistols were freezing the poor guards inside. ‘Yee-haw, stay cool guys!’ the cowboy taunted. Goblin Coin Member: Clint Stallone.
In the carriage nearest the one that Sniff and Canter were facing off in, three identical, cloaked figures had leapt inside and were smashing the guards there with hammers apparently attached to their hands. Goblin Coin Members: ???
