Stephanie was sitting near her desk, thinking to herself while holding one of Sodor's maps in her hand.
Maps trailed all around her desk, most of them having pins on them and others with scribbles of handwriting on it.
Stephanie stopped as she pushed her glasses into place, picking up one of the maps, and looked closely at the stations.
'There has to be a station where Duke was at.' Stephanie thought to herself. 'He said that he used to work at the… Oh! The Mid Sodor Railway!'
Stephanie scrambled through the maps again after remembering the story Duke told her.
She picked up one and looked at it to see if there was the old station's name on it.
'Nope, not this one.' Stephanie thought to herself, huffing a little after reading it and folding it back into a neat fold, placing it down on the desk.
She researched through the maps to look for where she had overlooked one of the charts, folding each one she recently read before coming to the last one, seeing the name on it.
'Bingo!' Stephanie placed the map down on her desk and pushed back a strand of hair over her ear.
Stephanie went to follow one of the tracks down the line to where the station is, seeing Duke's name on it with the mines, just as he told her.
'If there are mines all around there,' Stephanie thought to herself. 'Then Smudger is stuck inside a mine somewhere around here where Duke's shed was.'
She remembered asking Sir Topham Hatt a question about where Duke was found, as Sir Topham Hatt answered that he had been found in his shed where he had been placed before, sleeping for many years, and was buried underneath the dirt and greenery.
So, if Smudger was still inside a shed as Duke was, he might be around where Peter Sam and Sir Handel used to stay.
Stephanie wrote the directions to where the place used to be on a piece of paper she took out from her notebook before folding it into the pocket of her blue jeans.
After writing the directions down on the piece of paper, Stephanie picked a flashlight from her desk drawers.
Luckily, it was pocket-sized for it to be hidden from Dowager Hatt or Sir Topham Hatt and in case she enters a mine.
Once she gathered some items to take with her to go on an adventure, Stephanie paused before exiting out of her room and rethinking the idea of lying to Dowager Hatt and Sir Topham Hatt about what she was doing.
One of the rules she had to learn from her 'foster-father' was 'to never lie to anyone else.'
A shudder went down her spine at the thought of being punished for lying to them and scaring them half to death.
But she shook her mind and opened the door.
Stephanie walked downstairs a little shakily, still worried about sneaking out of the house and lying to Dowager Hatt.
"Excuse me?" Stephanie jolted when she heard Dowager Hatt's voice, turning around to see her standing behind her, looking confused. "What are you doing outside your room?"
The line went down Stephanie's spine like a cold finger as the hair on her arms stuck up.
"Uh, I, er," Stephanie stammered, blushing a little as she looked nervous and… terrified?
Dowager Hatt paused a little after Stephanie stammered, walked up to her, and placed a hand on her shoulder, noticing that she was shaking.
Instead of inquiring about her unusual nervousness, Dowager Hatt released her shoulder and asked, "Were you going to go outside?"
Stephanie shamefully ducked her head low after Dowager Hatt asked, saying, "Yes, but not from the backyard. I-I'm sorry for thinking of adventuring, I just-"
She stopped when Dowager Hatt lifted her hand, interrupting her from finishing her sentence, and said, "It is fine, Stephanie. Topham and Lowham used to do this when they were around your age. But remember to come back home at dinnertime."
"That's six o'clock, right?" Stephanie politely asked.
Dowager Hatt nodded her head after Stephanie asked before turning her around.
"And, don't get into more trouble with the other engines working on their branch lines!" Dowager Hatt warned again.
Stephanie blushed when she remembered the chaos she had done with some of their jobs.
But shook the thought out of her mind and exited the mansion.
She sighed in relief as she walked down the pathway, pausing a little in her walk, and reached into her pocket, taking out the directions she had written on it.
Mumbling to herself, Stephanie pointed northeast for a moment, before southwest, glancing up for a moment to see where she was going.
Scratching the back of her head a little, Stephanie went walking as she traveled down the side of the road, near the grass and the trees, so she would not get accidentally hit by a passing car.
After a few hours of walking down the road, Stephanie paused a little as she scratched the back of her head with a hand again, glancing up from her written piece of paper, seeing that she was in a forest.
'Oh great, where am I now?' Stephanie huffed, glancing around a little.
Suddenly, something yellow passed by her at a fast pace, causing her to yelp out of startlement and hop backwards, luckily not dropping the note in her hand.
After the object passed her, it screeched to a halt and went backwards, seeing to be Ace!
"Oh, hello, Ace." Stephanie shyly blushed.
"Wat ahah ya doin' out in the open agayyn?" Ace asked as his driver came out of his driver's side. "Did Thomas awr the others fawrgot about ya agayyn?"
"No," Stephanie shook her head as his driver knelt a little to her height. "I, uh, j-just adventuring around a little."
He took the written note from Stephanie's hand when he noticed the scribbles on it, seeing that it had directions to a closed railway.
To Stephanie's surprise, the driver took his helmet off from his head once he had stepped out of Ace.
He has short blond hair and deep green eye color, with the appearance of a mid-twenty-year-old.
"What are you doin' headin' towards the Mid Sodor Railway?" he asked, speaking in clear English.
"Wat's the 'Mid Sodawr Railway?'" Ace asked in confusion.
"It's a railway that was closed down back in the nineteenth century, Ace!" Stephanie beamed a little. "I, um, am searching for something there."
His driver paused a little after Stephanie paused a little before saying, "Keep this as a little secret between us, 'kay?"
Stephanie nodded her head after he winked before handing the directions back to her and said, "Hop on in. We know the way to that closed railway."
She paused a little after he spoke to her but obliged, hopping into the backseat of Ace before closing the door quickly and buckled, still afraid of being tossed around like a rag doll.
Once she had buckled in, Ace's driver placed his racing helmet back onto his head and started Ace up, zooming down the line as fast as he could.
Stephanie gripped the door's handle in fear as the other gripped the seat in fear as they went down the road.
Since her last time on Ace was a little terrifying, it was not as bad as she thought, but it was still scary for her to be in at the moment.
Ace turned tight corners, zoomed past other cars, and went through thick shrubs of forests, heading towards the abandoned railway that Stephanie had been trying to walk to but instead got a little lost.
They passed by Bertie, who honked at them for being a little too fast, but Ace ignored and continued with what he was doing, heading towards the old railway.
Once he had reached it, Ace went to a stop in time, as Stephanie in the back was a little shaken up from all the jostling she had been through.
"Alright, kiddo!" Ace smiled. "We'ah here!"
"O-Oh, good!" Stephanie stammered, shakily stepping out of Ace before releasing the handle, and luckily it did not bend from her grip. "Thank you."
"No problem." Ace's driver winked at her. "Besides, call us if you want to go anywhere else instead of having to walk around on your feet."
Stephanie blushed sheepishly as Ace's driver noticed, asking, "You don't have a phone, right?"
"Yes…" Stephanie nodded, blushing more with sheepishness.
Ace's driver paused a little after she nodded before smiling and reaching over to her head, gently patting it and mostly ruffling her hair.
"It's okay, kiddo!" Ace's driver smiled. "Maybe ask Sir Topham Hatt to get you one after headin' back home, 'kay?"
Stephanie nodded her head after Ace's driver spoke as he stood back up and walked over to Ace.
"There's a mini railway that is almost close to here, just a mile away from here if you wanted to get help," Ace's driver described. "And let us know if there are any more problems."
Stephanie nodded her head again after Ace's driver explained before going into Ace and driving off, kicking up some dust, which luckily did not hit her.
She waved goodbye to Ace and his driver as they left before turning around on the abandoned railway.
Everything was covered in grass, bushes, and many more greenery that has taken over its place again after having to be unearthed.
Stephanie reached into her pocket and took out a rubber band before putting her long brown hair up into a low ponytail.
After putting her hair up, Stephanie went on an adventure through the abandoned railway, climbing over half-crumbled walls, rusted and bent rails, even noticing the shed that Duke used to be inside was open, and the roof had been caved in.
'Well, that's one way of waking someone up from their long slumber.' Stephanie joked to herself.
She noticed the shed that used to be standing there before continuing with her adventure.
Just before calling the search off after climbing into the side of the mountain, Stephanie was about to head back to the mini railway to call Ace's driver, luckily having his number written on the back of the directions she had.
As she took a step forward to climb down the side of a mountain, something creaked underneath her foot, causing her to stop moving, wondering what could have made that noise.
After pausing for a minute, Stephanie shrugged to herself when the noise did not happen again.
She moved again to get to the mini railway when a loud CRACK came from underneath her.
After that, she went through the hole underneath her that made a cracking noise.
She shrieked in fear as she tumbled into the darkness before colliding into the hard and gravely ground before being knocked out after the impact.
Stephanie groaned softly to herself as she pushed herself up from the ground to her knees, feeling sore all over her body.
But she was used to the pain ever since she was a young girl.
Everything around her was semi-dark, but the only thing that was giving light out was the hole through the ceiling of the cave.
Luckily, none of her bones broke from the impact, nor any parts of her body scratched from the gravel.
To her confusion, she had also survived landing across the rusted rails that were not bent.
Is she in a mine she was searching for?
Slowly, Stephanie gingerly got up from the ground after falling through the hole before reaching over to her glasses and picked them up, which were luckily not shattered.
Once she had gotten up from the ground, feeling soft pops coming from her body with some bruises here and there, Stephanie noticed that there were three worn-out, white tarps.
Each of them has a familiar locomotive shape underneath them after noticing the tarps, feeling an excited jolt in her heart.
Then Stephanie felt unsure of peeking underneath the tarps, thinking that there would be something horrible underneath it.
But her curiosity got the best of her.
So she decided to look at what was underneath the tarp on the left-hand side of where she was but doing it slowly.
She reached into her pocket and pulled out the flashlight she had taken with her, and clicked the light on.
The inside of the cave was enormous, large enough for a bigger engine to be inside, and has signs of miners that have worked in the cave a long time ago.
Once she had the flashlight on, Stephanie walked over to the first steam train there and took the corner of the tarp.
She hesitated for a moment to rethink her thoughts of what could be underneath.
But Stephanie quietly took a deep breath to calm her nerves down and grabbed a corner of it.
Slowly, Stephanie took the tarp off as quietly as she could to not be attacked by something or someone underneath it.
To her surprise, it was a steam train like how she guessed from the appearance after uncovering the area around the face.
The basis of the steam engine was almost like Rheneas, which was a Fletcher Jennings Class Bb.
They painted him dark green with black lining underneath the dirt and dust, but his paint faded from old age and chipped.
He has brass nameplates on each side of his boiler, with the name "Smudger," including his coal bunkers.
His number plates were once on him and were screwed off by the workers who had to place him inside this cave.
Slowly, Stephanie noticed that the wheels underneath him were missing, too.
'Is this… Smudger?' Stephanie thought to herself, fully taking the tarp off of his body in awe that the locomotive she had been looking for looked almost like one of the Skarloey engines.
As the tarp yanked off of him, he slowly started to wake up, making Stephanie stiffen where she was standing.
Even though he does not have his wheels, Stephanie was still scared of him if he decided to scream and make the cave collapse on them.
Once he was fully awake after Stephanie had the tarp off him, he noticed Stephanie in front of him, with the worn-out tarp in her hand.
"What are you doing here?" he asked, with a slight growl at the end of his sentence.
Stephanie's hair from the back of her neck stood up from the growl, feeling scared about him.
But she took another assuring deep breath that he could not move because of his removed wheels or with steam or coal, since he had no driver or fireman with him.
"I fell through the roof of the mine," Stephanie answered as she pointed to the roof with a shaky finger.
There was some fear in her voice as she spoke, shaking as he glanced up at the hole too.
"I'm sorry if I woke you up from your slumber." Stephanie apologized as he glanced back over at her. "I was curious about you."
An angry grunt came from him after Stephanie apologized to him and said, "Well, if you are sorry, then put that tarp back on me and get lost!"
He snapped at her angrily as Stephanie clenched the tarp in her hand with both of her hands.
She shook like a leaf in front of him, feeling scared of being hurt or trapped forever with them.
"I-I'm sorry," Stephanie stammered, looking like she was on the verge of crying. "I heard a story about you, and I was wondering if I could find you."
Stephanie paused as she sniffed, still trembling like a leaf in front of him in fear as she gripped the tarp in her hands tighter.
He cocked an eyebrow after Stephanie explained, his anger fading away a little as she stood there.
"Who told you the story?" he demanded, his tone sounding a little gruff rather than angry.
"D-Duke," Stephanie stammered as she answered his question without hesitation.
He groaned after Stephanie explained, rolling his eyes.
"Of course, that old geezer is still alive," he grumbled to himself. "It should've been better if he had said that there was someone else with him!"
Stephanie softly gasped after he grumbled to himself, remembering the story Duke had told her about him, explaining how he stubbornly refused to listen to his advice and ended up as a generator.
…Does he still have any regrets for ignoring the warnings, or does he have anger towards Duke for not helping him?
He paused for a moment after explaining the truth to Stephanie, sighing again.
"Now, since I have told you the truth, may you leave now?!" he snapped again, moving a little from where he was as the wood underneath him creaked.
Stephanie flinched again from his snap and was about to cry when something shuffled from underneath the other tarp.
"Smudger?" a voice asked, sounding confused and half-tired. "What's going on, and who are you yelling at?"
Smudger, the name of the angry dark-green steam train, glancing over at the tarp who asked him, as Stephanie dropped the one she had pulled off of him onto the ground.
Being generous, Stephanie reached over to the tarp and pulled it off from him, noticing that there was another steam train.
He was covered in dirt and dust and was halfway broken down from age.
The base of the engine is unique, and it is Virginia and Truckee 18 Dayton.
His background color is black, with red lines with the name "Ryland" on each side of his cab.
Like Smudger, his number was scratched off instead of using a screwdriver.
His paint has faded into a lighter color and chipped from old age.
When he noticed Stephanie from the corner of his eye, he instantly frowned and stayed quiet.
Stephanie ignored the frown on his face after noticing him and glanced around the cave, trying to keep her emotions down.
Then, she noticed that there was another engine inside, except taller than the others.
She moved onto the next train inside after dropping the other tarp in her hand, approaching a larger one.
"Hey!" snapped Smudger. "Don't get too close to that one! He's terrifying!"
Stephanie continued to ignore the warnings from Smudger and pulled the tarp off the last engine, noticing that the train was much larger than the others.
Even after pulling the tarp off, she encountered a face that was covered with a metal mask.
The engine's basis was a Milwaukee Road's A2 class, and his black paint job was chipped and covered in dust.
There was no number on him, but the faint smell of melted metal was coming from him.
When he noticed Stephanie bravely standing in front of him, his eyes narrowed.
Goosebumps rose on Stephanie's arm when he noticed her, taking a few steps away from him, remembering an almost familiar face like his.
"Uh," Stephanie spoke, shaking again as she dropped the large tarp in her hands. "Why is this engine wearing a mask?"
"Not going to tell you and not dared to even ask," snapped Smudger as she jolted again. "All you humans do is never care for us careless steam engines! All you ever did was toss us away like scrap!"
The words hurt Stephanie as she flinched as she turned around to Smudger.
"But, I care about you," Stephanie protested, even though she was crying. "I think everyone could have a second chance, even if they are evil or downright stubborn!"
Now, it was Smudger's turn to be startled by the protest that Stephanie had said back to him.
"I don't give two scraps about what you all say about us humans," Stephanie continued. "I'm going to help you all, no matter what!"
It was not from fear or the dust of the tarps she pulled off, but it was from the sudden bravery she had, even from the hurt of the poison in Smudger's voice.
Smudger, however, looked surprised by Stephanie's determination after she snapped.
But his surprise turned to worry a little when he heard her sobbing as she moved her hands up to wipe her tears away.
"Now you have done it," Ryland groaned before glancing over at her as the flashlight was on the ground. "Hey, come here. Don't mind my grumpy cave-mate, but he has had a rough time with humans ever since."
Smudger grumbled under his breath and glanced away, not even looking at Ryland as he shifted his body to the side a little, as the wood supporting him creaked a little.
Stephanie lifted her head a little after Ryland spoke to her before nodding her head and walked over to him while crying.
Once she was close to him, Stephanie sat down in front of him while sniffing, using her sleeves to wipe her tears away.
He stared at her for a moment as he watched before noticing something that seemed a little... off.
"How old are you?" Ryland asked after she had calmed down a little from crying.
"Eleven," Stephanie answered after sniffing.
Instantly, Ryland's and Smudger's expressions on their faces paled slightly as the big engine's eyes widened a little.
Her parents would be terrified half to death if they realized that she is missing!
"'Eleven?!'" exclaimed Smudger. "Where the heck are your parents?!"
Stephanie's shoulders hunched a little as she placed her hands on her legs, curling slightly on the cold and dirty gravel ground.
"I don't have any parents." Stephanie whimpered softly. "But, my foster-father is coming here from America."
Smudger looked floored from the answer Stephanie gave him after she answered Ryland's question, glancing around for a way out for her.
Ryland and the masked engine in the back were concerned for Stephanie, as the masked engine looked more concerned than Ryland.
"Then… who's taking care of you?" Smudger slowly asked, not sounding annoyed or angry anymore.
Stephanie glanced over at Smudger and answered, as she had a sad expression on her face, "Sir Topham Hatt is taking care of me until he comes back."
Then, slightly confused expressions appeared on their faces.
"Who's 'Sir Topham Hatt?'" Ryland asked.
Stephanie pushed back a strand of brown hair from her face, answering, "He's the conductor of the rails."
They were silent after Stephanie answered, before Ryland asked, "What year is it now?"
Stephanie sniffed as she wiped her tears away with the bottom of her palm, with her sleeve, and answered, "Twenty-twenty."
"'Twenty-twenty?!'" Smudger exclaimed. "That's almost seventy-four years!"
Stephanie silently nodded in agreement before glancing up at the entrance, noticing that it was blocked off with rocks.
She paused a little after noticing the rocks blocking the exit out of the mine, thinking to herself.
Then, she wiped the last of her tears away from her face and stood up from the ground she was sitting on.
Ryland looked confused as she picked up her flashlight from the ground and walked up to the blocked entrance.
When she was close to it, Stephanie placed the flashlight down and stared at the rocks for a moment.
"What are you doing?" Ryland curiously asked, cocking an eyebrow.
Stephanie felt one of the rocks with her hand, thinking to herself for a moment.
Glancing around, Stephanie noticed a metal pole on the side, which looked sturdy enough to break through the rock.
Picking it up from the ground, Stephanie stared at it for a moment before turning to the engines, noticing the confused expressions on their faces.
"I will break all of you out from being trapped here forever," Stephanie finally answered.
"You?" Smudger scoffed as Ryland had a concerned expression on his face. "Pah! You can't even-"
Before he could continue his sentences, Stephanie lifted the end of the metal pole and hit one of the rocks in front of her.
The force of the pole broke through the rock and caused it to collapse down from the pile.
It landed in front of Stephanie as she backed away slightly to not get her feet crushed from under it.
It reached up to Stephanie's knees and was broken in half.
Stephanie glanced back over at the engines after breaking a rock, seeing Ryland's and Smudger's expressions, their eyes popped wide like saucers, and their jaws dropped to their front buffers.
However, the masked engine has his eyes wide with the impression of Stephanie's strength instead of shock.
"You were saying something?" Stephanie sassily asked before placing the pole to the side and reaching down to the rock.
Hooking her fingers underneath the rock, Stephanie lifted the rock and walked it over to the side of the cave, placing it down.
After placing the rock down, Stephanie picked her pole up and looked at the end, noticing that it cracked a little, now pointed slanted.
This gave Stephanie an idea to make the work go faster.
Picking a good-sized rock up from the ground in her hand, Stephanie placed the pole down on the rock she smashed out from the pile blocking the cave's entrance, this time the cracked side down.
Using the rock in her hand, Stephanie cracked the other side of the pole and made it look like a spear, flattening it to make it easier for her to get in between the rocks.
After re-constructing her pole from what it used to look like before, Stephanie placed her new post down.
Once she had placed her pole down, Stephanie picked the flashlight up from the ground beside her, deciding to look for something to light the way.
Then, she noticed something over her head when she looked up.
Lifting it, Stephanie noticed that it was a torch, and the oil on it was still good.
Smirking to herself, Stephanie reached down to the rock pile and searched through the rocks before finding a flint and a random stone.
After taking the two rocks into her hands in the same shape, Stephanie stood back up to her feet and began to strike the two stones together, producing tiny sparks to the engines' impressed, before lighting the torch.
After lighting the torch, Stephanie smirked gently to herself and went to the next one, repeating the same process as she did before.
Rather than ask her, the engines instead went silent, wondering what was about to happen next as they watched with confusion.
When the last one was lit up, the cave was bright enough for Stephanie to see inside, including the hole in the ceiling, seeing that the entrance was blocked off by a landslide.
She could guess that it was from the people who locked them away for no reason.
Irritation was inside her for what they had done to the engines, but she lashed out at the rocks, pulling each one down from the slide.
"Be careful!" Ryland called her. "You might get hurt or worse, crushed by one of the rocks!"
Stephanie glanced over her shoulder and nodded after picking one rock up from the ground and moving it to the side.
After a few hits with a thick rock, Stephanie broke through it with the end of her pole and backed away as it landed on the ground, with some smaller rock bouncing off it.
Sunlight poured into the cave from the other side, causing Stephanie to lift her hand to cover her eyes slightly.
"I-Is that the sun?" Smudger asked, sounding slightly excited.
"Yep," Stephanie nodded as she picked up her pole again. "And if Sir Topham Hatt or anyone else finds us here, I might be in trouble with them."
"Oh…" Ryland nervously spoke. "That…"
They were nervous about being scrapped after being caught, uncertain if Sir Topham Hatt would like them.
After the last rock was removed, Stephanie picked that rock up and moved it to the side, placing it down.
Now that the sunlight is in the cave, Stephanie could see that they are on the side of a mountain.
But a few more miles away from the station nearby from the description from Ace's driver.
Glancing up at the sun, Stephanie noticed that it was afternoon, telling her she was stuck in the cave for five hours.
"What's wrong now?" Smudger asked. "Now that you're free, you can return to Sir Topham Hatt."
Stephanie turned to them and said, "But, not without you all."
Anxious expressions appeared on their faces when Stephanie said while the big engine in the back eyes looked slightly concerned.
"What are you, crazy?!" Ryland exclaimed. "If you tell this 'Sir Topham Hatt' about us, we're scrapped for good!"
Stephanie understood their fear and stepped back into the cave, assuring them, "Don't worry. I'll explain to Sir Topham Hatt and get an engine here to get you all out. Okay?"
With that, Stephanie went off to find a way out from the side of the mountains, leaving the concerned and anxious Ryland, Smudger, and the big engine in the background.
"Is she serious?" Smudger asked, glancing over at Ryland.
"Who knows?" Ryland answered in response. "She is one crazy girl, though."
Smudger nodded in agreement, but the bigger engine at the back was silent, looking concerned and thoughtful from behind the mask.
Meanwhile, the walk took Stephanie a few hours to finally reach the mini railway station, panting and sweating from her workout.
Her cheeks were red, and she used her sleeve to wipe the sweat off her brow.
She had the pole with her to prove to Sir Topham Hatt that she was not lying to him about her truth.
"There you are!" Stephanie flinched from someone's voice, turning around to see that it was from Rex. "Where have you been, young lady?!"
Stephanie was about to explain what she has been doing for the past eight hours until Bert and Mike appeared.
Their drivers stepped out of their cabs and walked over to Stephanie, who was red in the face and puffing.
"Why are your cheeks red and sweating?" Mike asked. "You look like you were working out for something."
Stephanie sighed and answered from between pants as Bert's driver wiped the sweat from her forehead with a spare handkerchief from his pocket, "I-I found some new engines…"
Before she could continue, Stephanie collapsed mid-sentence from using her strength up from walking through the old railway to the Arlesdale Railway.
Rex's driver caught her before she could land on the ground, making the three small engines worried.
Soon after, Thomas appeared on the railway with a worried Sir Topham Hatt after one of the drivers called Knapford.
Stephanie was sitting on the benches, awake now from passing out from the slight heatstroke and having a glass of iced tea given to her by a stationmaster.
She was still exhausted from walking and breaking out from the cave-in.
When Thomas arrived on time, Sir Topham Hatt appeared and stepped out of Thomas's cab.
"There she is!" Sir Topham Hatt sighed as Stephanie glanced over at him. "Where were you, young lady?"
Stephanie waited as Sir Topham Hatt stood in front of her, his hand on his hips.
"You nearly-" Sir Topham Hatt was cut off from Stephanie when she said, lifting her hand as the other was holding the iced tea, "Excuse me for a minute, but may I interrupt for a moment?"
The polite excuse confused Sir Topham Hatt, but said, moving his hands behind his back, "Go right ahead."
Stephanie explained her findings to Sir Topham Hatt, telling him and Thomas that she had found not only one engine but three engines in a cave she opened after accidentally crashing inside.
Showing that she was not lying to Sir Topham Hatt, Stephanie showed him the pole she escaped from, mentioning the damaged end that she changed.
After showing Sir Topham Hatt the pole in her hand she used to get out of the mine she was stuck inside, he paused a little to himself for a moment before asking, "Can you show us where you found them?"
Stephanie nodded her head and, with the help of Thomas, lead them into the abandoned railway.
It was a little hard for Thomas to get through since the rails were rickety and old.
But he manages to go down the rails without having problems.
So, Stephanie, Sir Topham Hatt, and his helpers went on foot, walking over small trenches, going over small rocks, and eventually reaching the opened mine.
Using a flashlight in her hand that she had taken with her and the torches inside the cave, Stephanie showed Sir Topham Hatt the three engines inside, as each of them looked a little worried.
"My, Stephanie," Sir Topham Hatt spoke. "These are wonderful engines!"
They glanced at each other after he spoke, as Stephanie nodded in agreement, moving her hands behind her back as she blushed.
"Let's get them out of the mine and take them to the Steamworks to be repaired and repainted." Smudger, Ryland, and the masked engine in the back perked from what he said as Stephanie sighed in relief.
As the days passed, Rocky helped the crew to get Smudger, Ryland, and the masked engine out of the abandoned mine.
Once each of them was out of the mine, Rocky placed them onto flatbeds to be repaired.
"Thanks, kid." Smudger thanked as he glanced over at her. "Maybe I was wrong about you after all."
"No problem, Smudger." Stephanie smiled. "And, my name isn't 'kid,' it's Stephanie."
In the Steamworks, Smudger, Ryland, and the masked engine were being repaired as Stephanie came in to see how the work was going, remembering to keep her hair up in a ponytail.
"Ah, hello, Stephie." Smudger greeted. "What are you doing here?"
"Checking on how the work is doing," Stephanie answered, moving to the side for Kevin to move parts around.
"Careful," Victor warned. "You might get accidentally hurt if you're not careful, Stephanie."
Stephanie nodded her head and sat down on a crate, which was out of the way for the workers.
She watched how Smudger, Ryland, and the masked engine were doing while they were being mended.
During the process, Stephanie was close to the masked engine when she decided to move for one of the workers, hearing a male's voice whisper, "Thank you, little one. My name is Damian."
Stephanie turned around to see where the voice was coming from, thinking it was from a ghost.
But she paused a little from her search and simply smiled after hearing the voice speak to her.
