A dark twisted Wonderland based car with four parts, in which Gladion meets with a ghost, a Mad Hatter, and an enigmatic figure known as "The White Rabbit".
- Alien Sky:
- The Charcoal Car doesn't have a sun so daytime is just a lighter shade of grey.
- The 400 Rabbits Car has a purple sky but no day/night cycle.
- Alice Allusion: It's Alice in Wonderland with Aztec references, nightmare fuel and inspired by The Birthday Massacre album art.
- A Mythology Is True: The Ultra Recon Squad's homeworld had myths inspired by the Infinity Train, and according to Phylos in their work in the multiverse they, while not having seen it outright, have seen evidence that their myths were clearly inspired by something real, so he believes Mallow.
- An Aesop: In-Universe. The stories inspired by the Infinity Train in Ultra Megalopolis all have the motif of 'not dwelling in your misery or else you get taken away into it and possibly never getting out of it'.
- Angry Guard Dog: Sooty, the guardian of the Charcoal Car, is a grumpy two-headed dog. Then again, given he's apparently dealt with the Apex before...
- Arc Number: 4 is the focus number as revealed by the author.
- The arc will consist of four chapters and is the fourth car that is the focus of Gladion's journey.
- The car is called the 400 Rabbits Car and is populated with rabbits named after characters from Kamen Rider Fourze (which was based off the number 40 to coincide with the 40th anniversary of Kamen Rider).
- The previous White Rabbit set the time on his clocks to 4:00, which can also be read as 400.
- In the tarot reading, London draws the Four of Clubs.
- The process to convert Tokio into the White Rabbit took 4 months. Combined with the year that he's been ruling the car, then that's a total of 16 (or 4 x 4) months.
- Counting Kisaragi, he and his friends make up a total of eight rabbits that consists of four males and four females.
- There are four passengers in the car: Gladion, Specter, London, and Tokio.
- At the end, Kisaragi gives Gladion a four-car head start.
- Aww Look They Really Do Love Each Other: After being separated from Lampetia for a few days, Specter acts like he's not happy to see her (as she tackled him in a hug) but the narration notes that he would never reveal that he's glad she's safe. We see proof of the latter when he sees her shattered remains from London, and can only sob when London gives him her jeweled heart to keep safe.
- Bittersweet Ending: And on the fourth car into the story.
- On the bitter side, Lampetia was destroyed by London and Specter is holding onto her heart (while in the dark that he has a Split Personality), Tokio's trust in Kisaragi is shattered when Kisaragi reveals his plan to stop the Apex, and Gladion must separate from Lampetia so she can transmit any information she finds to her sisters. Not to mention that Gladion is now going to be in pursuit by the rest of the rabbit denizens as he takes on an task to stop the Apex once and for all.
- But on the sweet side, Lampetia will eventually recover, Tokio is now able to start moving forward, the four passengers decide to work together to stop the Apex, and Mallow and Captain Phyco's message catches the eye of One-One, which will bring about the true birth of the Infinet.
- Bizarrchitecture: The White Rabbit's Domain has the walls, floor and furniture slanted. Specter asks if the architect who built it was named Caligari.
- Bleed 'Em and Weep: When London is told by Lampetia to kill her, he hesitates as he tells her that he will not be involved in assisted suicide. Nevertheless, Lampetia demands that he does so, and scenes later Tokio and Specter hear his anguished cries of despair before finding him surrounded by rubble that's distinctly in the shape of a woman...
- Bookends:
- The beginning had a fairy tale of someone killing another via a staff. The end of the arc has London do that to Lampetia.
- Gladion met Larkspur by accidentally handing her his orange lily bouquet, cementing that they will journey through the Train together. Before Larkspur goes to stay in the 400 Rabbits Car, she hands the bouquet back to him.
- Call-Back:
- Sooty was injured by the Apex as revealed in "The Plush Penguin Car" in Blossoming Trail along with Cara leaving the Charcoal Car to help Trip.
- A memory Tokio didn't tell Goh was of the time he entered a casket and met up with rabbit masked fanatics.
- Tomas, an engineer for One-One notes that if they can get the Infinet up and running, one of the benefits involves "less Yugoslavian ads".
- Gladion gets the idea of trapping the Apex in their memory tapes from listening to Tulip's story back in "The Toy Brick Car".
- Call-Forward:
- When Larkspur brings up The Beach Car, she also notes Randall selling his donut holers. Gladion remarks who'd ever use a donut holer as a weapon. Answer? Chloe Cerise.
- Lana cooing over Ilima's Eevee and stating that she wants one. Ask and ye shall receive.
- When Tokio attacks Grace, she tells him that she will die alone and no one will love her. Oh will he be right on that. Moreover, the way Grace stabs Utahoshi in the head is like how she'll stab Walter in The Fog Car.
- Kisaragi's idea of the Apex realizing they're killing passengers was actually right all along. In Blossoming Trail, Grace learns the Awful Truth that her number rose because of how she hurt/wheeled former passengers and this spurs her to break the Apex apart after seeing Simon turned into Destruction and Sean became the Phantom after he drowned in Toluca Lake. It's just the method he chose was wrong.
- Waspinator, who first was mentioned at the end of Blossoming Trail, appears in person in this car.
- The Cameo: Part 4 starts with the Apex successfully having taking Waspinator's limbs for themselves.
- Character Tics: The White Rabbit does a head twitch.
- Chekhov's Gun:
- Specter's Duel Disk gets Mallow's message which becomes crucial to freeing Tokio.
- London's staff. It's wood which is the perfect counter against Specter's Split Personality who has electrical abilities.
- Before meeting London, Gladion was about to sit on a stump. When Lampetia sits on that same stump, she somehow reveals a secret passageway.
- Color Motif: White is a focus color: Gladion, Specter, and London all wear white, Larkspur and Lampetia are white marble statues and the leader of the rabbits is the White Rabbit who is actually the white-haired Tokio Chisou.
- Contrived Coincidence: Mallow and Captain Phyco's message somehow winds up being transmitted to Specter's Duel Disk, and Specter is conveniently in the same car as Gladion and Tokio. Even he can't help but lampshade this.
- Cradle of Loneliness: Specter does this to Lampetia's heart when he learns that London has killed her.
- Creepy Doll: In the secret passageway, Larkspur and Lampetia find three bunny dolls dressed as Gladion, London, and Specter, wearing tunics that are associated with the cards they drew for Nozama's fortune-telling.
- Deceptively Silly Title: "The 400 Rabbits Car" doesn't sound like something that would give you nightmare fuel, but considering the first chapter alone has a White Bunny figure sitting on a chair with spider legs...
- Deliberately Monochrome: The Charcoal Car, one of the cars Gladion visits, is entirely monochromatic.
- Description Cut: After receiving Mallow's message, Specter idly wonders whether there's anyone on the Train who knows anything about signals. Cut to the Engine and One-One learning about the situation from Tomas, the Train's resident expert on such things.
- Dramatic Irony:
- Tokio believes that Goh hates him because he got sick and Gladion reassures him that Goh would understand that it was all a misunderstanding. Anyone who knows how the anime and Blossoming Trail play out will remember that Goh took this "betrayal" hard and it made Goh decide that friendship wasn't worth it, which plays an important factor to Chloe's trip on the Train.
- Gladion dismisses the idea of Kisaragi's idea of having passengers be murdered by the Apex as a way of them realizing they messed up (albeit on the lengths that it might make the Apex seem more justified in their actions). Those who read Blossoming Trail remember that it was Chloe's death, along with the Apex learning that a member of theirs, Sean, drowned and then became the Phantom will know that Kisaragi was right; they would have an epiphany at what they had done and disband immediately thereafter.
- "Eureka!" Moment: When Kisaragi brings up the possibility to "trap the Apex in their own delusions of grandeur", that inspires Gladion to use the memory tapes and trap the cult in them.
- Everyone Has Standards:
- London has murdered people and Specter has performed horrible deeds as part of the Knights of Hanoi. Neither of them agree on Kisaragi making Tokio the White Rabbit or Project Solitaire in general. London himself refuses to kill Lampetia because he is not an accessory for assisted suicide.
- When Kisaragi say that he and Tokio are "friends with benefits", Specter is immediately disgusted with what that means and Kisaragi has to explain no, not like that.
- Gladion admits that the Apex have done a lot of shitty things, but he tells Kisaragi that Solitaire is a bad idea.
- Exact Words: Before Nozama can read Specter's fortune, she says she needs "your" cards. When Specter hands her the Eight of Diamonds, he also finds an Ace of Hearts which is later revealed because he has a Split Personality. Nozama was speaking in plural.
- Eye Scream: In a flashback, an Apex kid with a caulking gun — later revealed to be named Kenny — sprayed hot sauce into Tokio's eyes.
- Felony Misdemeanor: Kisaragi sends London, Gladion, and Specter to the dungeons for the act of assaulting the White Rabbit with the most insulting of weapons...a carrot. Then subverted when he reveals he was trolling them.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing:
- When Specter does his card reading, he somehow obtained an extra card, the Ace of Hearts. Scenes later, Lampetia tells Larkspur that something happened to Specter that had him begging Lampetia to "Give him back his heart".
- After being tasered and knocked unconscious, Specter suddenly opens his eyes as a lightbulb on his head starts flickering.
- Foregone Conclusion: Given that this is a prequel.
- Given that this Car serves as the Origin Story for Tokio of Blossoming Trail, not only will he escape his brainwashed state, but will eventually leave the Train. Unfortunately, he will not see nor communicate with Goh until Blossoming Trail, meaning that he's completely right that Goh blames him for everything that happened.
- Tokio warns Grace that she wishes she'll die alone and that no one will love her. While she's not dead by the end of Blossoming Trail, everyone she ever has loved is gone...and then she dies in Voyage of Wisteria, just as he stated. Completely alone.
- Gladion's plan via the tapes won't work, as the Apex won't be done until the Fog Car, but he will stop the Apex from taking over the Tape Car. Moreover, as revealed in Voyage of Wisteria, he and the White Gestalt's plans will be forgotten until the Apex dissolves for good.
- Foreshadowing: A lot of it.
- In the fairy tale that opens the arc, the White Rabbit is actually a human. The White Rabbit of the 400 Rabbits Car is also a human. Moreover, in order for the man to gain the guidance of the White Rabbit, he had to offer up the messenger (a young boy). In order to obtain a replacement White Rabbit, Kisaragi brainwashed Tokio.
- On their way to the White Rabbit's Domain, London remarks the time he held someone hostage with a carrot. Next chapter, he tries to attack Gladion's Umbreon with a carrot.
- Kisaragi offers a drink to Gladion to which Gladion immediately refuses as he is paranoid of what would happen if he drinks it. That same drink was given to Tokio and he gets drugged and forced to play a different role.
- Specter was found struck by lightning in the Living Lightning Car. Because of this, he somehow has access to lightning powers that he uses to attack Nozama and Kazashiro.
- Specter mentioned how Larkspur pushed him down a hill to protect him from a giant monster. Said monster is a giant rabbit mecha piloted by Daimonji.
- Fans of Fourze would probably be wondering why there's no bunny named after Utahoshi. Turns out there is...and he was killed by Grace.
- The fact that Specter drew another card for his tarot reading; he has another side to him that he's not aware of.
- The fairy tale that started the story had the "White Rabbit" request a sacrifice by slamming a staff onto their head by stating time was running out. Lampetia requests this to London in a similar method. Moreover, both stories describe the killing as the person slamming a club onto a person's head.
- London's card was Four of Clubs and in Part 4 he clubs Lampetia to death.
- For Want Of A Nail: Had Mallow not approached Captain Phyco about the train, or Captain Phyco didn't believe Mallow's story at all, the message to Tokio wouldn't have been sent and Tokio would've been stuck as the White Rabbit indefinitely.
- Four Is Death: In the final part (Part 4), Lampetia asks London to kill her. He does. Moreover, London's card was Four of Clubs.
- Friendship Moment: In the Charcoal Car, Gladion said he won't have to worry about facing the Apex alone, because he has Larkspur to back him up.
- Fluffy the Terrible: The rabbit mecha Daimonji controls is called "Hippy-hop".
- History Repeats:
- Just like Margaret did with Gladion, Kisaragi spiked a Passenger's drink to knock them out and brainwash them into believing they're someone else. Unfortunately for Tokio, there's no Larkspur to knock him out of his trance...
- Mallow's message reveals that just like Tokio went to Azalea Town in search for Celebi to rewind time to apologize to Goh, his parents are now in Azalea Town nearly repeating the hunt to get their son back...and perhaps also landing on the Train if things don't change.
- Hope Spot: In the flashback as to how Tokio became the White Rabbit. Utahoshi knocks the Apex away with a large barrier before going to Tokio for comfort. But just as Tokio is about to reach out to Utahoshi for reassurance, he sees a knife and can only watch as Grace kills the rabbit.
- Incoming Ham: Kisaragi makes his entrance by shouting "It's Train Time!!!"
- Innocently Insensitive: Gladion assumes that all rabbits are into carrots because Buneary and Cinderace in his world like them. One of the rabbits accuses them of stereotyping it and Specter has to explain that it's not the case.
- Impossible Task: Gladion puts one on himself: to stop the Apex, he'll find their tapes and force the cult to watch them. The only way out of your tape is by admitting your faults and flaws, which will also have the benefit of making their numbers drop and give them the epiphany to stop doing mean things.
- It's All My Fault: Tokio has a massive guilt complex; not only does he blame himself for breaking his promise to Goh but he also thought it's his fault that Grace killed Utahoshi. Gladion, London, and Specter help explain that it wasn't his fault for either: for the former, he was just more susceptible for being sick, and for the latter, the Apex were terrorists and would've started a manslaughter even if Tokio wasn't involved.
- Kids Are Cruel: The Apex is a gang of this. When they raided the 400 Rabbits Car, they sprayed hot sauce into Tokio's eyes. When Tokio tries to wipe it off with the first glass of water he sees, another Apex kid knocks it over out of spite. And they also don't show any qualms of destroying the Church of Diamonds Car or how they had fun taking away Waspinator's limbs.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: The Infinite Radio has One-One excited about Gladion's quest to track down the Apex, hearing that it sounds like "quite the story".
- Meaningful Name: Whatever is inside Specter decides to take London's suggestion to call themselves "Easter" since "Eas" is a play on "Earth-as-Specter" (whatever that means) and the fact that Easter is a holiday of rebirth and Spring that's associated with rabbits.
- Mercy Kill: As Lampetia's body starts crumbling, she requests London to kill her so that she can start regenerating a new body. London, despite stating that he won't assist someone in suicide and trying to find another way to save her, ultimately fulfills this request.
- Missing Child: Tokio disappeared while on the search for Celebi and somehow wound up being the leader of a tribe of rabbits with no one knowing where he went...except for Mallow, who notes that the article that announced his disappearance is almost two years old. Gladion also brings up that Tokio must have friends and family to return to and a message from Mallow reveals that Tokio's parents moved from Cianwood City to Azalea Town in the hopes of seeing him again. And then it's revealed that he chose to become mentally broken to atone for a crime that he didn't commit after seeing Grace murder Utahoshi without a second thought.
- Mood Whiplash:
- Gladion being stuck in a casket is then cut to Dulse being very emotional and passionate about Ilima kicking Ikari's ass in ping-pong.
- Lampetia saved London from Jojima's cannons! Hooray! Then she gets shattered by a Rocket Punch and begs London to kill her before we cut to Tokio and Specter arguing over a moving bridge. Fun times to be head until they see what remains of Lampetia's body...
- Multiple Head Case: Sooty, the canine guardian of the Charcoal Car, has two heads. This is to be expected, since he's an Orthos.
- Non-Indicative Name:
- The car is named after a census taker who stopped counting after 400 and the name stuck. Whether or not there are 400 rabbits is unclear.
- In the fairy tale, the White Rabbit is neither white nor a rabbit — it's a human in a suit and shades. The White Rabbit leading the 400 Rabbits is also not a rabbit, but a human.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: You know something is wrong when London, who had no problem acting like a delusiona kook, is horrified when he's asked to kill Lampetia.
- Origin Story: Serves as this for Tokio, revealing what he went through on the Train and how Gladion formed the White Gestalt group.
- Playing Card Motifs: In the second chapter, Nozama reads fortunes based on these cards:
- London: Four of Clubs
- Gladion: Jack of Spades
- Kisaragi: Ace of Spades
- Specter: Eight of Diamonds and Ace of Hearts
- Properly Paranoid: When Kisaragi pours drinks to the passengers, Gladion immediately passes as he remembers what happened in the Pearl Gates Car. A flashback reveals that Kisaragi gave this same drink to Tokio Chisou in the exact way Margaret did.
- The Reveal: Part 3 has a lot.
- Tokio wasn't forced to be brainwashed by Kisaragi; he chose to become the White Rabbit as a way to atone for his mistakes in letting the Apex kill Utahoshi.
- Larkspur and Lampetia find out that the rabbits are planning something called "Solitaire" which is an elite group of soldiers, passengers and denizens alike, to attack the Apex under the belief that if the Apex murdered passengers, they'd be too horrified to continue.
- Specter has a Split Personality called "Earth-as-Specter" (shortened to "Easter" by London) that somehow has lightning abilities.
- London is on the Train because he wants to atone for the murders and sacrifices he did for the White Rabbit in his world and that he's all that's left of the Rabbit Tribe.
- Rule of Symbolism: The clocks in the White Rabbit's Domain are frozen at 2:51. 251 happens to be Celebi's — the Pokémon who can travel through time — National Dex Number. Now which Pokémon character who is a former passenger on the train is so interested in Celebi again?
- Say My Name:
- Gladion screams "LARKSPUR!!!!" in a desperate attempt to find her after being separated for who knows how long.
- Specter wails Lampetia's name when he learns that London murdered her — by her request — and all that's left is her heart.
- Scissors Cuts Rock: JK's weapon against Larkspur and Lampetia is a giant pair of scissors. Lampetia even lampshades how crazy it sounds...before JK reveals that the scissor can fire a laser...
- Shout-Out:
- Plenty to Kamen Rider Fourze.
- All of the weapons used by the White Rabbit, Kisaragi, and his friends are actually based on the Astroswitches Fourze used and are wielded in the respective arms (barring Stealth which is actually for the lower left leg). Notably, Kazashiro uses the Elec weapon and Nozama the Fire Weapon; they joined the Kamen Rider Club during the time Gentaro was using those Switches. Also, Daimonji is the one controlling the Rabbit mecha; in the show, Shun Daimonji became the Power Dizer user. Last, Maseki uses a rocket which was Kamen Rider Nadeshiko's main Astroswitch.
- The fact that Utahoshi was killed by Grace after unleashing a barrier calls back the penultimate episode of Fourze when he learned he was the Core Child and knocked the Big Bad away with a Barrier Warrior...before said Big Bad murdered him.
- "Specter" starts going mad when he hears Kazashiro being called "Queen". In Fourze, Miu Kazashiro's nickname was "Queen of Amanogawa High". In Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS, the one who caused the death of the Earth Ignis was named Queen.
- After Grace killed Utahoshi, JK comments that he's usually pretty cowardly before revealing that what Grace did is messed up. In Fourze, the real JK comments this when the Aries Zodiarts forces the Kamen Rider Club to murder students for a sick play.
- Tokio screaming "Stop!" before Grace killed Utahoshi mirrors Yuki begging Kamen Rider Meteor to stop before he murdered Kamen Rider Fourze.
- A non-Fourze one: If we take the words of "Earth-as-Specter" to heart (pun unintended), the fact that he's so obsessed with hearts is because of the Crystal Heart Aqua gave Earth and that he considers precious.
- The White Rabbit's attire is based off of the Rabbit contestant from The Masked Singer. Funnily enough, there's a rabbit wearing a mask and singing in a microphone.
- Mallow's search about the Infinity Train online has her finding a Galarian legend with the text coming from Collated Accounts of the Infinity Train: A summary.
- Upon seeing the interior of the White Rabbit's Domain, Specter asks if someone named Caligari constructed the place.
- Daimonji controls a rabbit mecha called "Hippy-Hop"
- Plenty to Kamen Rider Fourze.
- Shoo Out the Clowns:
- The Pokémon world gets at most one scene per part while it's mainly focused on the horrors of this car.
- Part 4 has some levity when Lampetia arrives with her perky attitude. The moment she gets shattered by Nadeshiko and requests London to kill her, and the aftermath of it, is a sign that things will never be the same from here on out.
- Shout-Out Theme Naming: Kisaragi and his friends — Sakuta, Misaki, Jojima, Kazashiro, JK, Daimonji, and Nozama — are the surnames (and one nickname) of the three main Kamen Riders from Kamen Rider Fourze and the Kamen Rider Club. There was also a rabbit named after Utahoshi...who ended up being murdered by Grace.
- Shown Their Work:
- Specter tells Gladion that carrots to rabbits are the equivalent of candy to humans. That's actually accurate; despite what the trope may lead you to think, rabbits can only eat the leafy stems of a carrot.
- When the White Rabbit jokes that 400 is the equivalent of an infinite number, he's actually being correct. Aztecs considered 400 to be a very big number. Moreover, there actually is an Aztec myth called the "400 Rabbits" who are symbolic of the many ways a person can get drunk. Now how did Kisaragi turn Tokio into the White Rabbit again?
- Smoke Out: When Tokio and Kisaragi confront the Apex in the Church of Diamonds Car, Tokio fires smoke grenade missiles to cover the vision of the Apex while Kisaragi prepares his time-bomb stamps.
- Spanner in the Works: Mallow and Captain Phyco sending a message to Specter's Duel Disk is what helps Gladion wake Tokio from his trance.
- Stealth Pun: Hearts are a motif for Specter in this arc and the act of having to see Lampetia dead with only her crystal heart left makes him heartbroken.
- Stock Animal Diet: Discussed. Gladion assumes that rabbits love carrots because Bunnleby and Cinderace like them in his world. Daimonji chews Gladion on going into that stereotype and Specter tells Gladion that carrots are considered candy to them.
- Stuff Blowing Up: Kisaragi reveals that he has a stamper that creates time-bomb stamps on anything it touches. He demonstrates this with a rock that shatters into pieces and that he littered the floor of the Church of Diamonds the Apex is standing on with it...
- Tampering with Food and Drink: Kisaragi did this to a drink he offered Tokio. The White Rabbit was the end result.
- Wham Episode: This arc basically explains what Tokio Chisou didn't tell Goh back in Blossoming Trail but Part 3 takes the cake: Tokio chose to be brainwashed to become the White Rabbit to make amends to the previous one who died because of Grace, Specter is revealed to have a Split Personality and Kisaragi has a project called "Solitaire" involving having the Apex murder passengers in disguise as denizens as a way to stop their evil ways.
- Part 4 changes the direction of the story for good as it reveals Kisaragi's plan for Project Solitaire, Lampetia is murdered via London's request, Gladion tells Kisaragi his plan to stop the Apex, Larkspur is to stay in the 400 Rabbits Car, and the four passengers become White Gestalt.
- Wham Line:
- The White Rabbit's identity that ends Part 1.The White Rabbit: I am simply known as the White Rabbit...but you may call me Tokio.
- Kisaragi drops a reveal that changes everything:Kisaragi: (in regards to Gladion learning the truth about Tokio) I’m sorry...did you [Gladion] imply I just drugged him [Tokio] and then tortured him to become our leader?
Gladion: Because that's what you did! Tokio has a number, Tokio has to go home to his family, Tokio —
Kisaragi: Chose to become the White Rabbit to replace the one who died to protect him.
London: [looking horrified] ...What? - After Tokio realizes that he has to leave the car to see his parents again, he tells Kisaragi that he doesn't want to be the White Rabbit anymore. Kisaragi promised that any time Tokio wanted to stop, they would. But the chapter ends with...Kisaragi: ...I'm sorry, Tokio. But we cannot stop. Not now.
- The White Rabbit's identity that ends Part 1.
- White Bunny: The leader of the titular 400 Rabbits Car is literally called the White Rabbit, and he has the looks (or at least mask) to prove it. There are also numerous white bunny denizens in the car.
- Year Inside, Hour Outside: Thanks to Mallow's message, Gladion and his companions learn that this is NOT the case with the Train: however much time they spend on the Train passes back home as well. Tokio is horrified to realize this means his family has been missing him for nearly two years.
