Author's Notes: Ch. 9 brings us to the start of the ongoing storyline writing, and I can already tell it's gonna be a bit hard for me. I know what I want to do, but the means of getting there is becoming a bit hard to do. I'm not quite at Writer's Block status yet, but it's definitely been hard to figure out how to write the latter half of this chapter.

A thanks to those that continue to read, before I continue on, and to those that gave a review the previous chapter (the whopping two of you, ayyyy). Admittedly I wonder how some of the views on my stories come up (I get a lot of hits on here from the UK, and I'd like to think it's not from one person constantly revisiting the story several times like I do to the videos in my Youtube history), but I'm glad that the updates I post brighten up people's days or give someone a reason to not be bored.


"'Ey, Poppa... Rusty still at home?"

The rush of the morning clock-in was still strong in the air, despite it being the first day of the weekend. Despite not pulling much work for his age, Poppa still clocked in each day, lending a hand whenever needed. Today, he aided one of Greaseball's gang in taking over the freight work in Rusty's continued absence. The young diesel, Tank, was helping transport materials to their correct loading zones, with the occasional quip or complaint lodged against one of the Rockies or Flat-top. It was at break time when the diesel asked a question that had been on the mind of a few of the trains, but was surprising for one that wasn't very fond of the steam train.

"Hm?" The old steamer mumbled, having taken a seat on a nearby wooden crate, dabbing at his dark brow with a grey handkerchief. "Oh yes, he's still restin' at home.. He's much better now that he's got medicine, but Wrench wants him to take a while off before heading back to work."

Tank nodded his head, shaking a black-gloved hand through his spiky hair. "Yeah, I hear she gave him an earful for not gettin' checked up.. Must be nice to get so long off for a little cold."

"Well, he may have gotten repairs to take care of his more serious damages from the rust, but he's always been prone to gettin' real sick illness-wise.. and he only has so long off because he was too stubborn to get checked up and let his cold grow worse."

The young diesel whistled, feigning part of his concern as he got back to work. In reality, he only asked out of boredom, but was amazed that the steamer got that sick. It had been two days since Rusty got his medicine, getting better with each passing. Of course, Control wouldn't actually clear him for work until they were sure he was completely cured of the aggravated cold. But despite that, Rusty still made good on the order of getting fresh air, and could be seen after work hours riding around by himself or with Pearl or Dustin.

But Poppa was secretly worried about what else was on Rusty's mind. He'd visited the young steamer early that morning only to find him looking worse than he had the night prior. During their breakfast, Rusty told him about the nightmare he'd had; the heat of the flames that surrounded him, the screams he heard as the other units burned, the rush of the wind as he fell through the darkness... All of it had felt real to him, he told Poppa. He'd woken up only a short while before the elder steamer arrived, and Rusty couldn't figure a reason behind it. "I've tried to think of everything," he had said, resting his head upon his crossed arms on the table, "and I just... I'm lost, Poppa. I'm just lost.."

"It's just stress, boy," Poppa had told him, insinuating it was another product of the cold and his frustration towards the racing issue. Rusty had yet to talk to Sofia about the misunderstanding, and worried about it fervently, but Poppa only placed a calming hand on his shoulder. "It'll be alright. She's just busy with her work. She'll come around soon and you can explain everything to her."

"I hope you're right, Poppa." It was the only thing that Rusty could bring himself to say before clock-in time for all working trains. Poppa began to worry if part of his sickness being so bad was because of the stress grinding on his mind and nerves. It seemed likely enough, he thought, with the conditions almost un-naturally perfect...

It came to Poppa then, as he now stood in the freight yard, that maybe the Starlight had a plan for all this. "If this is your idea of a plan," the steamer mused, reaching back and scratching the back of his head, "it sure is a heck of one."

The sound of a nearby wall-mounted speaker clicking on caught the locomotive's attention. "Poppa, are you busy at the moment?" The voice of Control, loud and demanding but ever so childish, echoed over the freight yard. "We have some new trains that just arrived. Can you show them around the trainyard before they start training tomorrow?"

Late arrivals. That was a rarity in and of itself, especially considering the deadline for new resident trains this season had already passed. Poppa eased himself around to face the speaker, and nodded to himself. "Sure can, Control!"


The sun had just barely set that evening, and the lights over the main yard and tracks lit up the darkness. Even as spring had already fallen in, the chill of the passing winter season was still present, a feeling Rusty welcomed as he rolled about alone. He thanked the Starlight that he was no longer bed-ridden from the aches and pain, but even then he still had the occasional cough and sniffling. Wrench believed he'd be cleared for work soon, for which he was glad, but Rusty silently shamed himself for not being able to clear up things with Sofia yet

Well, not that he's been able to. He'd brought the issue up with Poppa before, but he just thought she was probably busy. The young steamer figured he hadn't been very clear on the subject; it wasn't that Rusty couldn't find her, it's that he couldn't catch her. Every once in a while, he'd find her talking to someone at a distance, but upon reaching her location, it'd come up that she had just left, sometimes even in a hurry. It drove him up a wall in frustration and slight panic, his mind running rampant thinking that she was surely upset with him for not telling him. "It's not your fault," Pearl had told him when he expressed his worry, "she's gotta talk to you eventually. You will have to work with her at some point!" He agreed, but mentally reminded himself there was no telling how long that would be.

Rusty stopped in his tracks and yelled out in frustration. "I can't stand this! How the hell am I supposed to fix this if she keeps running from me?!" He ran a hand through his hair, suddenly realizing that he left his headband at his unit. As he kept moving he looked around at his surroundings, remembering how it had been when he was younger and going through training with the other trains.

With the other trains... Rusty stopped once more when he realized he didn't remember much of back when Sofia had been here the first time. He'd only first remembered the actual promise they made after she'd hounded him so much about it that first day. As he stood there lost in thought, more bits of memories came to him. Sofia had never actually talked to him before that time, usually being nothing more than another coach that never paid much mind to him. So it made sense that after the promise had been made, Rusty had begun to notice Sofia a bit more, occasionally seeing her about the yard when the kids had recess at the school they trained at. He'd see her milling about with the other chatty coaches, laughing at the freight boys goofing off or fawning over the bigger engines. She'd flirt with Greaseball just as the other coaches would, admire his muscles with wide-eyes wonder, agree with no hesitation when anyone said he'd be the best of the best...

He didn't get it. Even now, he still didn't get it. Sure, Sofia tried to cheer him up that day, but WHY did she even agree to racing with him if she still believed that he couldn't even win against someone like Greaseball? Why encourage it to begin with?

"Because it's fair." That's what she said back then.

No. It wasn't fair. Fair is two kids each getting two equal-sized scoops of ice cream on a cone and being able to eat it with no problem. Fair is all kids getting to go an extra round on one of those carnival rides that would surely make you throw up your lunch from earlier.

Fair is two engines being able to move and race in equal power without the fear of rust eventually overtaking your ability to move and function properly. This was not fair.

And yet somehow, here Rusty stood, able to say "I beat Greaseball in a race" even in his rusted state. No one could say that, let alone anyone with rust issues like his. And what did that prove? It proved that anyone could do anything if they truly believed in themselves, that's what it proved! Granted, he knew the Starlight was with him that day, so yeah, he quite didn't do it all by himself. But still, Rusty beamed, because it was something he was proud of!

So lost in his thoughts was the steamer that he didn't notice the sound of wheels in motion, so when the mystery car placed a hand on their shoulder, it took Rusty by such surprise that he whirled around far too quickly and knocked himself off his wheels. He hit the ground with a thud, and looked up to find himself face to face with a truck clad in silver and dark blue. She almost blended in with the darkness had it not been for the bright red-and-white mohawk she sported.

"For the love of Starlight, Joule, what did we tell you about sneaking up on people?" Rusty rubbed his elbow, having landed on it when he fell. "No one's a fan of things like that!"

Joule pouted, her features almost cat-like underneath her makeup. "Well, can you blame me? You were just standing around with a dumb look on your face, so someone had to see if you were alright! You were just lucky enough it was me that found you instead of Krupp!" She grinned, playing with one of her earrings. "What are you doing wandering around so late anyway?"

Rusty sat up, minding how sore his body felt from hitting the ground. "I was just getting some fresh air. It's what your associate thought I should get after being so sick. And what are you doing out so late? Volta says you're usually sleeping like a rain-soaked log after work."

"I just wanted to go for a stroll, that's all! But if you're so worried, maybe you should stroll with me," Joule said, bending over and poking Rusty on the shoulder. "That way, I can tell the others that I wasn't out by myself like I'm not supposed to be!"

Rusty stood up, brushing dirt off his clothes. "And what if I don't want to? If you should be at your unit, then you should go back there!"

"Then I'll just latch on to your couplers and make you drag me around!" Much like Wrench and Volta, Joule had developed a new part of her personality after joining the trainyard. Almost begrudgingly, she became something like an annoying little sister to many of the freight trains, especially Rusty. But despite the earlier dislike he'd had, Rusty didn't mind it; it was basically like dealing with another Buffy, only with a more explosive temperament.

"Yeah, I don't see that happening, Jou-" He moved to leave until he felt something holding him back; looking back, he found that Joule had already grabbed hold of his couplers and was on her breaks. The steamer huffed and rolled his eyes, scratching his head in irritation. "Alright, fine! You can roll with me, but if I say I'm done for the night, then you're going back to your unit!" Joule grinned and stood back up, and the two kicked off into motion again.

It had only been a few moments of relatively normal conversation until Joule's curiosity got the better of her. "So... what's this thing about Sofia that's got you so wound up?"

Rusty almost contemplated stopping right then and leaving her mid-route, but thought better of it. "What's it to you? And how do you even know about it?"

"Well, Wrench knew about it because Belle told her, and Volta says Caboose knew something about it-"

"That's enough of that," Rusty hissed. Gone for only a few days and now almost everyone knew about what happened. He couldn't help but think it'd be great if gossip didn't exist in this world. "It's nothing major, it's just that there was a miscommunication somewhere and I just want to clear things up with her. That's all."

"That's it?" Joule blinked, and tried to stifle a laugh. "And that's why you got sick so bad?"

"No no, that's because I didn't go see Wrench about getting sick. That's why the sickness got so bad."

"So then why is the Sofia thing so important?"

"Joule, did you just come along so you could be nosy?!"

"What~? It's all the buzz here, so I was just wondering... Besides, Sofia's been acting kinda weird too, like she hasn't been saying much to anyone when we work, so I figured it must be pretty big if even she's not being chatty!"

Rusty stopped in his tracks and looked back at Joule, a hint of worry on his face. "Is she really acting that weird?"

"Well, when she had her first few days, she was really talky-talky non-stop almost, but the past few days, she's been kinda keeping to herself, being really withdrawn." Joule crossed her arms. "You didn't hurt her feelings, did you?"

"If I did, it sure seems like a late reaction to it," Rusty said, rubbing his temple. "If she's been acting like that since after I got sick, I don't know why she'd be that upset..."

"Want me to find out?"

"NO." Joule raised an eyebrow at the steamer's response, and Rusty shook his head. "I mean, there's no need to. I still have to talk to her, so I might as well ask her what's bothering her so much..."

Joule tapped the tip of her nose thoughtfully as they started moving again, trying to find a reason why any girl would be that upset. "Hmmm... Maybe she's heartbroken? Or jealous, even?"

Rusty's face blanched as he suddenly halted and turned back to face Joule. "Jealous?! Of who?"

"Oh I dunno," Joule mused, "maybe... Pearl? I mean, she does get to race with you this year, and she is your girlfriend, and Sofia was wanting to race with you but can't, so it makes sense... right?"

"No it doesn't," Rusty said, lightly slamming a palm on his forehead. "There's no way she'd be jealous over something like that. If anything I'd think she would be glad she wouldn't have to! I have a partner, so there's no need for her to keep her end of the promise!"

"But we don't know for sure!" Joule bounced up and down, oddly gleeful about the idea that the sleeping car might have a thing for the steamer. "I mean, if she really didn't care about the promise, she wouldn't have come back here, right? Don't tell me you honestly don't think that-"

"Alright, I'm done!" Rusty huffed loudly, uncoupling Joule and turning to face her. "She just wanted to fulfill the promise, that's all. It doesn't matter, anyway, because I'm racing with Pearl, so that's all there is to it! And I'm gonna find her tomorrow and explain this all to her, and she'll understand, and everything will be okay!"

"But-"

"That's all! Go ahead and go back to your unit now, and good night!" With that, Rusty turned and headed back to the units. Joule stood in the silence of the night for a moment before making her way to her own unit.