The Astral Express possessed a protective barrier on its outer hull. This barrier could shield the train from ordinary external attacks, maintaining normal gravity within.
Thus, in Star Rail, even when the Express was swallowed whole by a colossal worm, it didn't suffer significant harm—the worm's gastric acid couldn't even erode the outer barrier.
Yevenko even remembered the fight against IX, when they directly summoned the Astral Express to ram into it. He himself almost lost that battle; the final desperate charge of the Express had saved him.
This was the power of the Path of Trailblazing.
Yet now, this protective power had backfired spectacularly, making Yevenko's scalp numb.
Initially, he'd worried Aha might blow up his train again—but now he and Aha were on pretty good terms. Yet he never expected he couldn't stop Tom and Jerry from doing exactly that.
Right—Yevenko didn't even need his eyelashes to think clearly: this was definitely Tom and Jerry's doing. He'd gotten so engrossed in pulling cards, he accidentally took his eyes off them, and in that brief moment, they'd caused massive trouble.
Though only half the Express remained, it was damaged internally, absurdly leaving the external barrier perfectly intact, merely blowing away the entire rear carriage. Thus, gravity remained stable.
Right now, half an Express hurtled downwards through the cosmos.
Yevenko blankly floated in freefall.
Seeing this, Jade hurriedly used her talisman's power to hover mid-air inside the tumbling train, rushing to rescue Yevenko.
But Vatz blocked Jade's path immediately, shaking its head.
"It seems you truly don't understand."
"Indeed, only a mascot of magical girls like myself can perceive the love and justice hidden deep within people's hearts."
Vatz's blank eyes drifted toward Raiden. Jade paused, following Vatz's gaze.
At that moment, Raiden reached out with one hand to grip a railing. With a swift leap, she caught Yevenko in her left arm, swinging gracefully forward to grab hold of another stable spot.
Feeling the softness pressed against his back, surrounded by a faint yet irresistible fragrance, Yevenko snapped out of his daze instantly.
He scanned the surroundings. Tom and Jerry were nowhere to be seen—likely chasing each other through some unknown space and vanishing without a trace.
This was serious—he couldn't immediately get Tom and Jerry to fix the train.
The problem was, whenever Tom and Jerry started fighting, they'd lose all reason. Once they ran off somewhere random, who knew when they'd remember to come back to him?
Simply put, he'd lost control over them.
On the bright side, at least he didn't have to worry about Tom and Jerry blowing up his train or belongings for now.
However…
The bad news was, if Tom and Jerry ended up blowing up the entire cosmos before remembering to return… well, then whether or not his own things got blown up wouldn't even matter anymore.
In any case, the urgent priority was finding Tom and Jerry and repairing the train.
Fortunately, Yevenko quickly came up with an emergency plan.
"Wolf Pack, form the rear carriage!"
The wolves, scattered and in freefall, paused briefly upon hearing the command.
Then, the lead wolf immediately reacted, shouting:
"Alright, boys—Transform!"
Instantly, the wolves began assembling mid-air, paws grasping paws, mouths biting tails, swiftly merging into a new rear carriage, neatly reconnecting with the front section.
The last wolf stuck its head out from the very bottom of the makeshift carriage, imagining itself as an "exhaust pipe."
"Toot! Toot! Tooooot—!"
It spat black smoke dramatically into the cosmos.
Just as Yevenko was about to mock—since when does a train have an exhaust pipe in its rear?—the falling train gradually slowed, stabilizing and resuming smooth movement.
Raiden's gentle purple eyes briefly showed faint ripples of lingering emotion before she calmly released Yevenko.
He looked around again.
Still no sign of Tom and Jerry—clearly, they'd abandoned all sense of home in their wild chase.
"Spike!"
Yevenko shouted at once.
The next moment, Spike—flattened into a pancake from the earlier chaos—heard Yevenko's call. It quickly pulled out an air pump from behind, gave itself a few quick pumps, and puffed back into shape.
Curling its fists near its chest, Spike took a running stance and sprinted immediately to Yevenko's side, tail wagging furiously.
Yevenko gently patted Spike's head, saying:
"Go catch Tom and Jerry and bring them back."
Spike nodded decisively.
He went down on all fours, sniffing the floor thoroughly, finally stopping at a corner of the front carriage. Standing upright, he opened his dog-skin like a coat, revealing a neatly pressed grey-white shirt beneath, pulled out a pen from his chest pocket, then adjusted his golden spectacles. With a swift hand, he scribbled intricate mathematical calculations onto a paper.
Finally satisfied, Spike put away his glasses, closed his dog-skin, drew a large "X" on the floor with his pen, and dug frantically with both paws.
But quickly dissatisfied with the speed, Spike fetched a red safety helmet and a pneumatic drill from behind his back.
"Grrr! Grrr! Grrrrr——!!!"
Dirt exploded upwards. Soon Spike had dug a large hole, adjusted his sleeves, and dove straight inside.
Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!
Violent crashing echoed upward.
Before long, Jerry emerged from the hole with a reddened backside, Tom following closely behind, head wrapped in bandages. Immediately, the two chased each other wildly again in the front carriage.
Clearly, even Spike's violent intervention couldn't change Tom and Jerry's nature.
Just then, Tom whipped out a red bomb from behind his back, lit the fuse, and threw it at Jerry.
Yevenko's eyebrows jumped sharply—his rear carriage was already destroyed; the front couldn't afford the same fate.
He rushed over, stepping directly into their path.
Bang—!
Jerry, mocking Tom from behind while fleeing, slammed headfirst into Yevenko's foot.
"Ouch!"
Jerry rubbed his aching head, glaring furiously upward—then saw Yevenko.
Immediately, Jerry's tiny mouse-teeth flashed into an awkward grin.
Bang—!
Tom, unable to stop, crashed right into Yevenko's leg next. Shaking its dizzy head, Tom furrowed its little black brows angrily, pouting to see who dared block its way.
Noticing Yevenko, Tom's fury instantly melted into a full, innocent eight-tooth grin.
Tom glanced nervously at the lit bomb, hurriedly shoved it into Jerry's paws, raised both hands innocently, pointing at Jerry: it's not me!
Jerry instantly passed it back to Tom.
Back and forth, the cat and mouse started rapidly passing the bomb.
Finally, when Tom handed Jerry the bomb, fuse nearly gone, Tom quickly squeezed his eyes shut and plugged his ears with both fingers.
Realizing the imminent explosion would probably destroy the front carriage too, Jerry's brain whirled. Swiftly, he leaped forward, tugged at Tom's belly, opened a small door there, tossed the bomb inside, and slammed it shut.
BOOM—!
Tom's head erupted upwards like a volcanic blast, flame jetting beneath him, launching him high into the air like a rocket.
Feeling something odd, Tom opened his eyes, glanced down, and saw Yevenko and Jerry shrinking rapidly below.
Jerry waved enthusiastically with a handkerchief.
Tom gulped loudly, stretching his neck, then realized he was drifting alone in the cosmos, watching helplessly as the Astral Express sped away, disappearing entirely.
Tom sighed dramatically, shrugged.
Well, guess I'll wait for the next scene transition.
...
Back on the Astral Express.
Just moments after Tom had flown out, he appeared out of nowhere right in front of Yevenko, casually strolling out of thin air.
Yevenko immediately realized a scene-change had occurred, conveniently bringing Tom straight back.
Simultaneously, Spike limped out from the hole he'd dug, leaning on a cane, right hand bandaged and neck wrapped. Clearly, Spike had successfully completed his task, forcibly herding Tom and Jerry back—but paid the price, taking heavy damage from their brief combined assault.
After all, in the world of Tom and Jerry, nothing could withstand their combined attack—not even Spike.
Next, Yevenko sternly commanded Tom and Jerry to quickly repair the rear carriage, this time supervising them closely.
In mere moments, amidst rapid hammering and clouds of cartoonish smoke, the missing half was fully restored.
In fact, even the random items Tom had previously neatly stored inside cabinets reappeared perfectly intact.
Before leaving Luofu, Yevenko had already asked Tom and Jerry to restore Jing Yuan's Divine Foresight HQ. Jing Yuan, however, insisted the banquet be hosted at the Divination Commission—clearly wary of another incident.
Yevenko saw through Jing Yuan's careful scheming but didn't point it out.
Suddenly, Yevenko's phone vibrated.
He glanced at the family group chat:
[Pom-Pom]:Hey hey!
[Stelle]:Hey hey!
[March 7th]:Stop repeating!
[Yevenko]:Stop repeating!
[Dan Heng]:...
[Pom-Pom]:How was everyone's banquet? If you're done, let's discuss matters onboard.
[Himeko]:Are we heading to our next stop?
[Welt]:Our next stop is Penacony. Without Stellaron Hunter interference, we would've gone there directly instead of Luofu.
[Pom-Pom]:Exactly! Warp device calibrated—but the conductor has three small matters first. Also, Yevenko, why did your train suddenly plunge straight downward in space just now?
Yevenko replied casually:
[Yevenko]:Nothing much, just a tiny insignificant issue.
[March 7th]:Oh, good. I was worried something major happened.
[Yevenko]:Just Tom and Jerry blowing up my train.
[Pom-Pom]:Huh?
[March 7th]:I retract my last statement…
Yevenko looked up. Tom, clearly tired again, had drifted off on the couch, snoring softly, a cloudy speech bubble above his head, clearly dreaming.
Watching Tom sleep, a wild yet oddly plausible thought blossomed in Yevenko's mind.
What if, instead of Xipe's Dream, the whole cosmos fell into Tom's dream?
The Dream of Xipe? No—The Dream of Tom!
---
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say thank you to Girantina for that thoughtful message