"Sir, um, we've...got a problem."
Those were the last words Bernard wanted to hear. The small crowd that had already turned up for the occasion were milling around, fanning themselves in the heat, and looking interestedly at the two different trains that stood face to face on the tracks. Already, he had had to tell off a couple of kids for climbing on the engines and turn down several women who had asked for chairs. Shouldn't have come out into the desert without bringing your own seats, ladies. The president wasn't due to arrive for an hour or two yet, but there were still mutterings about him being late or perhaps not bothering to come at all. And on top of all this, there was this problem.
Cursing quietly, he climbed down the makeshift podium and followed the worker towards where a small mob of other workers were crowded around something. The man who had fetched Bernard hurried forward. "It's okay, I got the supervisor!" The men stepped back, fanning out to reveal a scared, but defiant, gurdurr.
Bernard regarded it carefully. They had several different pokemon helping around the place, he didn't see why this one had caused such a fuss. "What's the problem?"
One of the workers piped up. "It's the beam, sir. The one the president gonna hammer in? He won't let go and can't none of us get it away from 'im."
At the words, the gurdurr clutched its steel beam even closer, its eyes darting wildly, as if looking for escape routes.
"Aren't there any others we could use?"
"Beams? No sir, not here. It would take us about a week to get new 'uns."
Bernard wiped his brow and checked his pocket watch. They only just had time to lay the beam down before the president arrived to hammer in the golden spike. And that was assuming they could get the beam away.
Suddenly, inspiration struck,
"Congratulations, my boy!" Bernard turned and shook the hand of the person nearest him, a wiry older boy with a bowler hat and a wispy beard. "This creature is now yours!"
The boy's jaw hung open.
"In fact," Bernard plucked the boy's hat off his head. "We'll trade for it!"
No sooner had he finished the sentence, than the gurdurr began to shake. It bulged and bent and, as the small crowd looked on, dumbfounded, transformed into a fully formed conkeldurr. It immediately dropped the beam to the ground and started lumbering off, away from the railroad.
There was a moment of stillness, then a flurry of activity as Bernard barked orders and the men scrambled to carry them out. As they dragged the beam to its proper place, Bernard watched the conkeldurr out of the corner of his eye and smiled. Somebody better look out for their concrete.