Chapter One
It was an early spring. The leaves were a light shade of emerald. The trees mighty branches made a canopy tunnel over the tracks. This was the season of love for most chuggers. The ever sprawling hills were dotted with dark emerald grass and flowers. The silence was quickly broken by the sound of a roaring engine. A chugger was hauling a passenger train through the hills. Her white coat gleamed in the sun. Her red eyes were focused on the horizon ahead of her. Her frame was rather scrawny making other chuggers and humans wonder if she was really built for anything at all. Her engine strained as she sped up. It started to rattle under her hood. She let out a growl of annoyance. Smoke began coming out of her vents. It clouded her vision to the point where she couldn't see. She slammed down on the brakes. She snarled lowly.
In her passenger wagon, there was a brown haired female. She felt the chugger slam down on the brakes suddenly. Her whole torso was slammed into back of the seat in front of her. She let out a small howl of pain. She pushed herself away from the seat. "ow." She moaned lowly. She saw smoke floating past the windows. The doors opened. "sorry miss I'm going to have to let you out. It looks like I'm not going anywhere for a while." Sighed the chugger lowly. The female exited the passenger car and smiled kindly. "it's not a problem." The chugger looked down at the track in front of her. "I'll give Dr. Ling a call and get you some help." The chugger nodded lowly. The female pulled out her phone and dialed a number.
An Asian women looked up from her files as her phone rang. She picked it up. "Chuggington Museum this is Dr. Ling speaking how may I be of service today?" A voice let out a low sigh. "hey Dr. Ling I'm sorry I'm going to be a little late getting to work. Taya broke down. She's having engine problems again." Dr. Ling put her pen down on the table. "no problem, Tracey. I'll call Chug Patrol and have them tow her. I'll send Hanzo to come get you." Dr. Ling looked at her calendar. She smiled. "by the way happy birthday." Tracey heard Dr. Ling hang up. She put her phone back in her pocket. She gave Taya a soft pat on her panel.
Chug Patrol soon arrived. Wilson got in front of Taya. He swung his winch underneath Taya lifting her up by her front coupler. Jackman coupled up to her passenger wagon. The both of them pulled away leaving Tracey at the platform to wait for Hanzo. Tracey sat down on a bench with a low sigh. The air was silent around her. She unzipped her bag taking her camera out of it. She began flipping through the pictures she had stored on the SD card. She smiled at each of the images she had taken.
Ahead of her, the bushes began rattling. Tracey looked up quickly. She saw a tall, dark shadow moving through the trees. She could make out the unusual coloring on it. She lifted up her camera slowly. The lenses moved in and out of focus as she zoomed in on it. The shadow was huge. It was bigger than an average chugger. She managed to snap pictures of it before it disappeared further into the forest. She was in awe. "I wonder if Dr. Ling has anything information as to what species of chugger that was." She wondered putting her camera away.
Hanzo arrived at the platform. She got aboard him quickly and took her seat. She then pulled out her camera again. She looked at the image she had taken only minutes before. Her mind was still pondering on what breed of chugger it was. She sighed softly. Hanzo sped quickly to Chuggington Central Station. Dr. Ling was standing on the platform waiting for her. She smiled when she saw Tracey walk out onto the platform. "I'm so sorry." She murmured. "I didn't count on being late." Dr. Ling chuckled. "don't worry about Tracey. I'm just glad you got here safely."
Both of the women walked to the museum. The main lobby had the receptionist desk in the middle followed by signings pointing at the two hallways to the left and right. It was a rather small museum and wasn't as large as the one in Downtown Chuggington. Dr. Ling took Tracey into her office. Along her back wall she had a map of the hills around Chuggington. Dr. Ling pulled out a file. "I've finally found the group of chuggers we've been monitoring for awhile." She went over to the map. She pointed at a red circle on the map. "they're located near the Graven River. They haven't moved since the last time I've checked the tracker." Tracey nodded. "I figured that me and you could go down there to observe them. I would love to get some notes and maybe you can get some pictures of them too." Tracey smiled. "sounds cool." Dr. Ling grabbed her already packed bag. "that's settled then. Let's head out right now. I figured it would take us probably a few months." Tracey nodded. Dr. Ling then smiled at her. "I remembered to bring some extra film and some supplies that we might need." Dr. Ling lead Tracey out of her office. "can I at least go back to my house to get my journal and things?" asked Tracey. Dr. Ling nodded. "of course. I'll have Hanzo take you back to your station."
Tracey lived outside of Chuggington. Her house was located at the foot of the mountains about several miles away from Jagged Cliff Station. Hanzo had dropped her off before darting away. Tracey took in a deep breathe. She walked all the way to her house taking a number of shortcuts in order to get there.
Tracey opened up the front door to her house. She smiled finding everything left where she had them. She went upstairs to her room. Her film camera, extra film, batteries, and clothes sat on the foot of the bed. She began packing them into a duffle bag. She was happy over the fact that she was going to be studying chuggers in the wild. "now I better pack my tripod. If I'm not mistaken it's downstairs in the basement."
She walked downstairs to the basement. Her tripod sat in the corner of the basement next to a makeshift studio she had. Her computer sat turned off on the desk that she had handmade. She began to load it into her duffle bag. She then zipped her duffle bag up. She walked back upstairs and into the kitchen. She grabbed her box of protein bars and fruits putting them into her duffle bag. She then packed water bottles before closing the fridge.
She finally finished packing and walked out of the house. She locked up the front door. Hanzo parked near the station waiting for her. He let out a small sigh. He had Dr. Ling with him. She was sorting things on her tablet. She had the tracker loaded up on her screen. She smiled. The herd she was tracking was a band of females and males that were lead by an alpha male and female pair. The herd was small only containing 10 herd members. She heard the doors to the passenger wagon open. Tracey walked in taking her place next to Dr. Ling. "alright so how big is this herd?" asked Tracey. "it's about ten members strong. They haven't moved much from the area. I think the only movement they've done is hunt." Tracey nods. She took notes. She then put her journal back in her bag.
The country side whizzed past them. It was going to be about an eight hour drive to the station and another three hour walk to the site. Tracey sighed to herself as she looked out the window. She noticed a herd of chuggers moving alongside them. She could also make out a small dot moving rather slowly behind them. It's axles dragging to keep pace with the herd. An older chugger turned around and snapped at it. "Hanzo stop for a moment." Murmured Tracey. Hanzo stopped quietly. Tracey and Dr. Ling got out and the both of them watched the older chugger and the younger cub snap at each other. Tracey pointed her camera at the both of them.
The cub was begging softly for the older chugger to carry it. It's back axle was completely broken. The older chugger gave it a sharp bite on the cab. It tossed the cub further away. It landed next to a pair of scrapvultures. They snapped their sharp beaks at the cub. The cub let out a low whine. Tracey's hand began shaking. She could feel the adrenaline kick in. The older chugger moved away from the cub. The cub let out a loud squeal as the vultures began circling it. Tracey dropped the camera and ran over to the cub. She put her arms protectively around it. She dragged the cub away from the vultures. She panted as she put the cub down. "you poor thing." She cooed. The cub whined. It had some blood and oil pooling under it. Dr. Ling went inside Hanzo. She soon returned with a med kit designed for chuggers. She bandaged the wounds and broken axle. "looks like it's axle was damaged when it fell." Murmured Dr. Ling. Tracey nods. "why did they do that to it?" she questioned. "sometimes if a member becomes too weak they either kill it or they cast it out. I've seen cubs and old chuggers get tore apart." Whispered Dr. Ling. Tracey pulled the chugger cub into her lap. "well I'm not letting anything happen to this one." She carried the cub into the passenger wagon. She unzipped her bag and set it down in it. The cub instantly settled. It's gaze on her.
Somewhere off in the distance….
A pair of antlers watched Hanzo pull away. It's eyes narrowed as it disappeared into the shadows once more.