Chapter 7: The mystery of devious diesel.

It was a bright sunny morning on the island of Sodor.

Agnes was using her track-cycle to shunt some trucks in the yards outside Knapford station. She found it a tiny bit tricky, but she was able to get the hang of it. Then she stopped underneath the yards coal hopper, and she stood on the big, dark pink, cushiony seat, put her hands on her hips, and took a breathing moment for some air.

Agnes:(inhales and exhales) "This really is a good morning."

Suddenly, she heard a sound mixed with clanking and rumbling.

About half a second after the moment she looked up at the hopper, she was hit by a shower of gravely coal.

Agnes: "Ptttt! Pah! (Coughs) Blah!"

Diesel and his 2 friends Arry and Bert were shunting nearby, and they just couldn't help laughing at what had just happened to Agnes.

Then as the coal finally stopped pouring down on her, Agnes struggled to reverse her track-cycle out of the pile of coal. As she climbed down, her body was almost completely covered in dark gray coal dust. Even her skin had a sootie dark gray color.

Agnes:(coughs repeatedly) "Aww, come on! I'm a mess!"

Then she saw diesel, Arry, and Bert laughing at her, she could mostly hear diesel laughing his annoying cackling.

Diesel: "Hahahahaha, oh but black suits you perfectly! You should learn to be hard as nails and very tough, and not whine about getting so dirty.(looks towards Arry and Bert) right boys?"

Arry and Bert: "Hard as nails, always rough!"

Agnes looked at her dirty body for a second, then gave a very irritated look back at Diesel, Arry, and Bert.

Agnes: "Why don't you take a picture, it'll last longer!"

Arry and Bert suddenly grew extremely wide eyed, then they reversed out of the yards as fast as they could. Diesel just rolled his eyes and scowled at Agnes.

Diesel: "Hmmph, that candle head of yours would look pretty good…...Once I light it with a match!"

Agnes just gasped while stumbling backwards a couple inches, she felt rather offended from diesel making fun of her hair like that.

Agnes: "Ugh, stop being such a horrid bully!"

Diesel: "I can act however I want, and there's nothing you can do about it!"

Diesel just rolled away while cackling, leaving Agnes fuming about the way diesel acted. Then she just stormed out of the yard back to Gru's house.

At Gru's House, Margo was just placing a new picture frame on the wall. It was a picture of her and Avery sitting with each other in their swim suits on the beach over at Bluffs cove. Margo just warmly smiled at the picture.

Just then, she heard the front door of the house slam open. When she looked towards the front door, she saw Agnes almost completely covered in coal soot. There was a small pile of gravel-sized coal chunks on each of her shoulders, and there even some of it slightly piled around the base of her ponytail. Her skin still looked rather black, but at least some of the soot had gotten off. Most importantly, she looked downright cranky.

Agnes angrily walked up by Margo leaving a faint trail of coal soot behind her, Margo stared silently at Agnes with a mix of worry and confusion on her face. But before she could ask…..

Agnes: "I accidentally moved under the coal hopper at Knapford, okay!?"

Margo: "Okay Okay, Just calm down."

Agnes: "Sorry, I'm just really mad at the moment."

Margo: "You're really that upset about moving under the coal hopper?"

Agnes: "No, it's Diesel."

Margo then grew slightly surprised with a raised eyebrow. Somehow, she knew about diesel and his devious attitude.

Margo:(crosses her arms) "What did he do?"

Agnes: "He, Arry, and Bert laughed at me for getting hit by the coal hopper, then he made fun of my hair looking like a candle stick."

Suddenly while Agnes was giving a depressed look, she pulled a small metal fire lighter box out of the pocket at the front of her overalls. Then she flipped the tiny switch on it, and a tiny flame flickered from the top of it.

Margo: "Uhh, Agnes?"

Agnes: "If Diesel really thinks that way about my hair...…then I guess I'll just face the facts and go with it."

Then she started raising the lit lighter towards the top of her ponytail.

Margo:(GASP) "Agnes no!"

Margo suddenly snatched the fire lighter out of her hand, then she threw it like a softball out the front door. Then she slightly lowered her head down while putting her left hand on Agnes's right shoulder.

Margo: "Listen, Diesel may be mean a lot. But no matter what he says, just don't listen to anything he says."

The moment she said the word "don't," she wiped a little bit of the coal dust off of her forehead. Then after she gave her a kiss on the cheek, she got back up and wiped her lips a little bit from the coal dust that got on them.

Agnes: "Thanks sis…..but after I take a nice long shower, I'll try to figure out what to do about Diesel."

Margo: "Well…...maybe Duck can help you with that."

Agnes looked up at Margo with a raised eyebrow.

Agnes: "Why Duck?"

Margo: "He knows more about Diesel than anyone."

Agnes: "How do you know that?"

Margo: "I talk with him at certain times."

Agnes thought about this for a moment, then she looked up at Margo with her face brightening up a bit.

Agnes: "I guess you're right, I'll go talk with him right away!"

For some strange reason, Agnes started proudly marching back towards the front door.

Margo: "Uhh, Agnes?"

Agnes: "Oh right, after my shower."

Then as Agnes walked past Margo in an irritated slouchy way, she continued leaving a trail of coal dust behind her. Margo just rolled her eyes and slightly planted her left hand on her forehead while putting her right hand on her hip.

Early that afternoon at the shunting yards, Oliver and his break van Toad were relaxing. Avery was nearby stacking a bunch of mid-sized crates on top of each other.

After she was done, she walked over by Oliver and toad.

Avery:(wipes a little sweat off her forehead) "Whew, Sir Topham Hatt wasn't kidding about those crates being heavy."

Oliver: "Believe me Avery, Sir Topham Hatt doesn't always give us such easy jobs."

Toad: "Quite right Mr. Oliver."

Just then, Oliver and toad saw Agnes coming into the yards on her track cycle. She looked like she was looking for something or someone.

As she parked about 3 ½ yards away from Oliver and toad, she climbed down and walked up to her 3 friends.

Agnes: "Hey guys!"

Oliver: "Hello Agnes, what brings you here?"

Agnes: "Do you know where I can find Duck, I have something to ask him."

Oliver thought for a moment, then he looked towards Toad with a sly grin on his face.

Oliver: "Toad…...say it."

Toad: "The wrong way is better than the great western way Mr. Oliver!"

As if right on cue, Duck pulled up alongside Oliver. Coupled up behind him was a troublesome truck completely loaded with dynamite.

Duck: "I'm sorry, what was that?"

Oliver: "I found him Agnes."

Agnes: "thanks.(turns towards Duck) Hey Duck, I need to ask you something."

Duck: "Agnes, you should be well old enough to know where babies come from."

Agnes: "Nah, Edith told me that they come from trees."

Avery stared confusingly at Agnes with a raised eyebrow, then she pinched the bridge of her nose.

Toad: "Uhh Mr. Oliver, don't they come from-

Oliver: "Ah-ah-ah Toad, Let's Just keep that between you and me."

Duck: "anyway, what did you wanna ask me?"

Agnes: "I was just wondering if you knew why Sir Topham Hatt kept Diesel on Sodor after all the mean stuff he's done?"

Avery stumbled back a tiny bit in complete shock after hearing what Agnes just said.

Avery: Wait, you're actually asking something about Diesel?"

Agnes: "Yeah. He made fun of my hair after getting a coal shower from the coal hopper at Knapford yards, and now I've just about had it with him."

Duck, Oliver, and Toad shared disappointed looks with each other feeling sorry for Agnes.

Toad: "Aww, poor Mrs Agnes. I always thought your hair looked fine."

Agnes: "Thanks Toad,(turns towards Duck) but how much do you know about Diesel exactly?"

Duck: "Quite a little bit, but I just don't know how to tell you it."

Then Avery snapped her fingers getting an idea.

Avery: "Agnes, ya still got those goggles Wilbert and I gave you?"

Agnes: "I Sure do, I take them almost everywhere I go just in case."

Agnes walked back over by her track-cycle, then she pulled down a green-brown leather bag. She pulled out the goggles that Avery and Wilbert gave her, then she walked back over by Duck, Oliver, and toad.

Agnes: "So what do want me to do with them?"

Avery: "Just Wait there for a second."

Avery went over by Duck and whispered something to him.

Duck:(slightly hushed tone) "oh yeah, it's back inside my cab."

Avery ran over to Duck's cab and climbed inside, Agnes was a bit confused at this. Then after a few sounds of shuffling and clanking, Avery climbed back out of Duck's cab.

As Avery came back over, it looked like she was holding something small clutched in her left hand.

Avery: "Hey Agnes, have a look at this."

When Avery gave Agnes the small object, Agnes took a very close look at it. It looked like a black microchip titled "Duck's memories of Diesel.", Agnes looked very carefully at it.

Agnes: "How were you able to make this?"

Avery: "Duck told me and Margo about everything he remembers about Diesel, luckily I had the right kind of tech to take notes on it."

Agnes: "Oh?"

Avery: "I've got a computer system that copies the notes of an engines memories, then I have them downloaded inside these microchips."

While Agnes seemed quite impressed by the tech that Avery had, Duck, Oliver, and Toad were flabbergasted by this knowledge with their jaws slightly ajar.

Oliver: "You never told me anything about that."

Duck: "Are you sure any of the engines would let you do that?"

Avery: "I've done it to Hugo a few times, and he's okay with me doing it."

Duck and Oliver just looked at each other with surprised looks, then they just decided to forget about it.

Avery: "So Agnes, would you mind putting this into the goggles?"

Agnes: "Okay."

So Agnes found a plug-in slot for a microchip, then she placed the microchip she was holding into it. It got sucked inside the slot like a dollar bill getting sucked into a vending machine, but much faster.(at lightspeed)

After the microchip was installed, Agnes put on the goggles and pressed the "ON" button.

Duck: "So, what do you see?"

Agnes: "... I see you heading towards Tidmouth sheds looking kinda tired, and I see James, Gordon, and Henry waiting for you there….but they don't look very happy to see you."

Duck: "Oh, I remember that day…. Diesel told them lies about me, and they actually believed every single one of them."

Agnes shifted the goggles up onto her forehead for a second.

Agnes: "How so?"

Duck: "Keep watching and you'll see."

Agnes just shrugged, then she put the goggles over her eyes again.

When Agnes kept looking through the goggles, she saw what looked like tidmouth sheds. But they looked a bit older, and it only had 6 births. She then saw James, Gordon, and Henry sitting outside the sheds, and they looked kinda upset.

Then she saw Duck reversing towards the turntable.

Agnes: "Hmm, I wonder what's gonna happen."

So Agnes just listened on what had happened back in that day.

(In the goggles)

[May 14th, 1986]

Duck had been pulling trains and shunting trucks all day, and he wanted to rest in the sheds.

As he turned on the turntable to face the sheds, the 3 engines blocked his way. Then out of nowhere, they blew a lot of steam in his face.

James: "Keep out!"

Agnes was surprised by their actions.

Duck: "Stop fooling, I'm tired."

Gordon: "So are we, we're tired of you. We like Diesel, we don't like you. You tell tales about us to the cars.

Duck: "I Don't!"

James, Gordon, and Henry: "You do!"

Duck: "I Don't!"

James, Gordon, Henry: "You do!"

Then Sir Topham Hatt came along and asked what was going on.

Gordon: "Duck called me a galloping sausage."

James: "Rusty red scrap iron."

Henry: "I'm old square wheels."

Agnes couldn't believe what she was hearing, how could Diesel make them think that Duck did all this to them.

Sir Topham Hatt: "Well Duck?"

Duck: "I only wished Sir, that I thought of those names myself. If the dome fits…

(Out of the goggles)

Suddenly, Agnes shifted the goggles on her forehead again.

Agnes: "You actually admitted that you gave them those names, even when you didn't!"

Duck: "To be honest, I actually don't know why I did that."

Agnes gave a disturbed look, then she just shrugged and went back to the goggles.

(Back in the goggles)

Henry: "He made the trucks laugh at us Sir."

Sir Topham Hatt thought for a moment, then he turned towards Duck.

Sir Topham Hatt: "Did you Duck?"

Duck: "Certainly not Sir, no steam engine would be as mean as that!"

Just then, Diesel lurked up alongside Gordon.

Sir Topham Hatt: "Now Diesel, you heard what Duck said."

Diesel: "I can't understand it Sir, to Duck of all engines. I'm dreadfully greeved Sir, but know nothing."

(Out of the goggles)

As Agnes shifted the goggles again, she had a look on her face mixed with nervousness and concern.

Agnes: "So Sir Topham Hatt actually believed what Diesel said about you?"

Duck: "only at first. But when he did, he sent me to work with Edward at Wellsworth station. But a little later after that, He brought me back."

Agnes:(gasps with delight) "You mean he found out what really happened at that time!?"

Duck: "He told me that he never believed Diesel, so he sent him packing."

Avery: "Well at least you thought you would never hear from Diesel again."

Duck: "But when he came back when me and Percy needed help at the harbor, it was the same haddock All over again."

Agnes: "How so?"

Duck: "Keep watching the goggles, and you'll see."

So Agnes put the goggles back over her eyes, then she continued watching what was in them.

(Inside the goggles)

[April 14th, 1992]

Diesel pulled up alongside Percy and Duck who were feeling exhausted, but Percy and Duck soon grew shocked once they saw Diesel.

Diesel: "Good morning."

Duck: "What are you doing here!?"

Diesel: "Your worthy Top-err I mean, Sir Topham Hatt sent me. I hope you're pleased to see me again, I'm here to shunt some very tiresome cars."

Percy: "Shunt them where?"

Diesel: "Where? Why from here to there, and then again from there to here."

That last bit actually made Agnes gag a little bit.

(Out of the goggles)

Duck: "A little after that, Percy and I decided to go on strike."

Avery: "Ya really couldn't handle working with him?"

Duck: "Nope. When we told Sir Topham Hatt why we were on strike, he was all…..

(Inside the goggles)

Sir Topham Hatt: "I have to give Diesel a second chance, I'm trying to help you by bringing Diesel here. Now you have to help me, he was the only engine available."

(Out of the goggles)

Agnes: "Man, I kinda hate it when he does that."

Duck: "The morning after that day, he accidentally bumped into Percy."

Avery: "Was that really so important about Diesel?"

Duck: "He didn't even say he was sorry."

Agnes and Avery gasped in shock after hearing that, they now understood why that part was so important. After they recovered, Agnes looked back through the goggles again.

(Inside the goggles)

[September 30th, 2002]

Diesel was slowly rolling amongst a bunch of troublesome trucks parked along the tracks at Brendam docks.(While shunting some as well)

Diesel: "When Sir Topham Hatt sees how good I am, he'll get rid of steamie's once and for all!"

(Out of the goggles)

Duck: "When he came back at that time, he wanted to prove that he was the world's strongest engine."

Oliver: "Hmm, Diesel must have had some bad oil that day."

Avery: "pfft, ya think!?"

(Inside the goggles)

Diesel started lining up the cars into a really long line, and then he coupled up to the front of it.

He didn't notice that the breaks on the cars were locked up tight, but only the trucks knew about it.

Troublesome Trucks: "Push, push, push!"

So Diesel pushed as hard as he could against the trucks, but they wouldn't move. so Diesel tried pulling the trucks, but they still wouldn't move. And then the coupling snapped, and Diesel went gliding down the tracks off the peer.

Diesel: "Heeeeeelllp!"

Then there was a loud crash and a slight explosion of white powder, diesel had landed on a barge loaded with sacks of flour.

Diesel:(feeling dizzy) "Grease and oil."

(Out of the goggles)

Agnes: "Wow, the trucks actually helped to get rid of Diesel?"

Duck: "Yep, that's what he gets when he tries to pull more trucks than he can manage."

Agnes: "So what's next in this story?"

Duck: "Well actually….that's all I can remember."

Agnes and Avery: "...Oh."

Oliver: "But I thought we were supposed to find out why Diesel stayed on Sodor after everything he's done throughout the years?"

Duck: "Why did Diesel stay on Sodor after all these years, I guess the world may never know."

Agnes, Avery, Duck, Oliver, and Toad all felt a little disappointed that they couldn't figure out what Agnes wanted to know about Diesel, but then they all started thinking for a few moments.

Agnes: "Ya know, I do have a list of ideas for how to get even with Diesel."

Duck: "Well Let's see it then."

Agnes went back by her track cycle, then she dug through the bag again. When she came back, she was holding a piece of paper in her left hand.

Agnes: "I wasn't quite sure which of these ideas to choose, so I was hoping you could choose."

Agnes held up the list in front of Toad, and Toad tried to read it.

Toad: "Uhh, there's just one problem."

Oliver: "What?"

Toad: "The list is in English Mr. Oliver, I'm great western."

While Duck and Oliver gave Toad an extremely confused look, Avery just rolled her eyes right before facepalming herself.

Luckily for everyone else, Oliver could see the list from where Agnes was holding it.

Oliver: "Ya know, how about we try option #17?"

Agnes took a look at the #17 option, then she grew a sly grin on her face.

Agnes: "Good one Oliver, I'll have a word with Dr. nefario about it."

Toad: "Let's do it."

So they all got a little closer to each other to discuss their plan to get even with Diesel.

The next morning at the Dieselworks, Diesel, Arry, and Bert were just waking up as the doors of each of their sheds raised open. As they were all fully awake, they each rolled forward a few centimeters.

Bert:(yawns) "Ya know Diesel, I think you really gave that candle-headed child the what-for."

Diesel: "Well it was better than what you guys did, what happened to "hard as nails and always rough", huh?"

Arry started slowly rolling forward.

Arry: "Sorry Diesel, I guess we were just-

Arry was cut off when his front wheels hit a red holo-line going across the bottom of the entrance to his shed, Diesel and Bert accidentally did the same thing with their sheds.

BEEPEEPEEPEEP!

Diesel: "What the-?"

Suddenly, 3 buckets each around the size of an excavator's shovel dropped something over the 3 diesels. When they all took a sniff at what got poured on them, they each gave an extremely dirty look.

Diesel: "Cow manure!? Blah!"

Arry: "Ugh, my nose!"

Bert: "Yuck, this is so disgusting!"

Suddenly, the 3 diesels heard the distant sound of uncontrollable laughter. They looked towards the gateway to the Dieselworks, and they saw Agnes, Avery, Duck, and Oliver laughing at them. Toad was buckled up behind Oliver, but he was also laughing.

Agnes: "Hahahahaha, suckers!"

After Agnes climbed into Oliver's cab and Avery climbed into Duck's, they retreated from the Dieselworks while still laughing.

Diesel just snarled amongst the cow manure while giving a twitchy eye.

To be continued.