Chapter 10: The power of gold dust Part 2.

That night, Lucy and Margo had to help Agnes up into her bed. Since Agnes had gotten so heavily injured from Diesel 10 throwing her off the bridge, she couldn't move well enough to get in bed by herself. Lucy lifted Agnes by her back, and Margo lifted her at the area by her legs. After Agnes was laid comfortable enough on her bed, Margo spoke to her in a comforting tone.

Margo: "So Agnes, you feeling better?"

Agnes:(groans in pain) "Just a little bit, I've been through worse. But getting thrown down into a canyon and nearly having your bones fractured, that's something I don't wanna experience in my lifetime again."

Lucy: "Once we get you to the Wellsworth hospital tomorrow, you can be taken care of properly. You've been through too much today."

Margo: "And next time, don't try to start a conversation with a psychotic diesel with a mechanical claw that's bent on destroying every steam engine on the island and turning it into diesel heck. Okay Agnes?"

Agnes surprisingly stared at Margo for a few seconds.

Agnes: "Thomas and the other engines told you about that, didn't they?"

Margo: "Yep."

Agnes: "I guess I agree with you Margo."

Lucy: "That's good, you should rest now. If you need anything, Dave and Kevin will be there for you."

Agnes: "Okay, goodnight guys."

Lucy and Margo: "Goodnight Agnes."

With that, Lucy turned the lights off leaving an injured Agnes sitting in her bed. But Agnes couldn't quite sleep yet, she was thinking about when Diesel 10 threw her off the bridge.

Agnes: "Ugh, I should've known that Diesel 10 guy was that 1 Thomas told me in his backstory. Someday I'll get my chance at payback, but at least I can turn to 1 person who knows more about that evil diesel than I do, hopefully then…. I'll have a chance to get back at him."

With that said, Agnes finally started falling asleep. But what she didn't know was that her wish was gonna come true, much sooner than she expected.

Meanwhile, Gru, Lucy, Margo, and Edith came back outside to talk with Thomas, Emily, and Ryan about their plans tomorrow.

Gru: "Agnes is doing better, been giving plenty of rest to ease her body. But just to be safe, we'll take her to the Wellsworth hospital to have her checked out and see if she's made progress with the healing process tomorrow."

Thomas:(sighs) "I should probably be the one to take her since I exposed her to the magic railroad and leading to her confrontation with Diesel 10."

Emily: "it's okay Thomas, you didn't mean to expose our secret to Agnes. It's not your fault, and we don't blame you. Besides James, but that's besides the point. What matters now is that we get through this together, and we can't do this without you."

Thomas: "Aww, thanks Emily. You're the best, it's no wonder you're one of my closest friends."

Emily:(blushes) "thanks Thomas."

Ryan: "I have to agree with Emily on this one, you've made mistakes and we do work as a team to fix them. So I don't think it was your fault for exposing Agnes to this so-called magic railroad."

Thomas: "At least some of my friends trust me for my mistake."

Lucy: "That's really sweet of you guys, but tomorrow we have to take Agnes to the Wellsworth hospital to have her checked out like Gru said. But we need to somehow get over there without further damage."

Ryan: "Beg pardon Lucy, but I think I should take her. I know a certain someone who can take her to the hospital, I can take her to meet him while Thomas tries to reassure himself from his mistakes."

Lucy: "That would be most appreciated Ryan."

Margo: "Awesome, let's get going Ryan. But we'll do it tomorrow, I need to save my excitement to do it."

Gru: "Now you 2, let's not get too hasty here. We have precious cargo we'll be transporting, so we need to carry Agnes delicately."

Ryan: "Don't you worry Gru, I'll go easy while carrying Agnes."

Gru: "Thank you Ryan. Now let's get some sleep, we have a busy day tomorrow."

Around the night in Gru's house, Gru and Lucy were asleep in their bed. The minions were also fast asleep, but some were helping Dr. Nefario with his work. The girls were also asleep, but the one that was in the deepest sleep was Agnes. But something was being developed inside her head, Agnes was starting to have some sort of dream.

(Agnes's dream)

Agnes found herself steadily walking down a stretch of track through a very misty canyon with bumpy sandstone walls. It wasn't as tall as the Grand Canyon, but there were a bunch of overgrown spots along the canyon walls and around the track she was walking on.

Agnes looked around herself as she continued to slowly walk down the track, she was feeling kinda nervous about what was going on.

Agnes: "Uhh, h-h-hello? Is….is anybody there?"

Even though Agnes could only hear the faint echoing of her own call, nothing happened. However, it started making Agnes feel even more nervous.

Agnes:(Nervous chuckle) "Okay, keep it together Agnes. There's no need to worry, everything is gonna be just-

But suddenly, Agnes heard the distant echoing sound of a high-pitched steam whistle. After she heard it, she was almost on the verge of panicking.

Agnes: "Who's there!?"

For just a few seconds, nothing happened, but as Agnes looked directly ahead, she gasped at what she was seeing. There, slowly puffing forward out of the mist was a magical-looking engine.

The engine seemed like a Victorian-styled tank engine, but had some rather enchanting features. Her cab, coal bunker, boiler, water tanks, pistons, wheels, and middle section of her funnel were dark telemagenta, but her cab, coal bunker, water tanks, and pistons all had gold outlining. Her dome, smoke box, lanterns, buffers, coupling rods, and top part of her funnel were all shiny glittering gold, and her buffer-beam, cab-roof, and section of her funnel that was connected to the top of her smoke box were dark violet. The top gold part of her funnel was almost the shape of a crown without the pointy parts, and she had the word "Lady" written in cursive on each side of her water tanks.

The engine looked towards Agnes for a few seconds, then she smiled.

?: "Greetings Agnes Gru."

Agnes: "W-Who are you?"

?: "I am Lady the lost engine."

Agnes: "T-Then h-how do you know my name?"

Lady: "I know everything dear, I watch over everything that happens in your world. To brighten things up for you, I know how I can help you on your problem with Diesel 10."

Suddenly, Agnes looked up at Lady with a really surprised look on her face.

Agnes: "You can!?"

Lady: "Sure, I know all about Diesel 10. His life-long dream was to destroy me, just so he could be as powerful as he wanted. He even once chased me a Thomas across your island just to get to me."

Agnes: "Wait, you know Thomas!?"

Lady: "Indeed I do. Ever since the day he and I got chased by Diesel 10, Thomas and I have been partly engaged."

Suddenly, the puzzle in Agnes's mind started piecing together. Thomas told her about him being partly engaged with an engine, and Lady had just said the same thing. Could this be her, could this be the magical engine that Thomas was partly engaged with?

Agnes: "Wait a second, so you're the engine Thomas said he was partly engaged with!?"

Lady: "Agnes….I believe you're correct."

That was it, Agnes now knew that she was face to face with the magical engine that Thomas had told her about. Once she figured it out, she started pressing her hand against her chest while breathing heavily.

Lady: "Stay calm Agnes, everything is okay."

After that, Agnes soon calmed down. But once she was feeling better, she had another question on her mind.

Agnes: "So Lady, can you really help me with Diesel 10?"

Lady: "Indeed I can. But first…..there's something I have to show you."

Agnes: "Really?"

Lady: "Yes, hop aboard."

Even though Agnes wasn't sure about what Lady wanted to show her, she still climbed up into Lady's cab. After 2 peeps of her whistle, Lady steadily reversed back down the line.

Lady steadily puffed down the line through the canyon, and Agnes rode in her cab while peeking out of the side. But after a few more seconds, Agnes gasped in awe at what she saw up ahead. They stopped right outside the entrance to a large cave, and the entrance looked like it was 10 yards tall and 15 yards wide.

Lady: "Here we are."

Agnes felt nervous about what Lady was wanting to show her, but she just swallowed the lump in her throat as Lady puffed into the darkness of the cave.

Once they were inside, it was almost completely dark except with the evening light from the cave entrance. Once Lady slowly came to a complete stop, Agnes carefully hopped down from Lady's cab. As she walked ahead alongside the tracks ahead of Lady, she was trying to get a good look at the inside of the cave. But because of how dark it was, it was really hard for her to do that. But Lady softly blew through her funnel, and a bunch of thick glowing specks of gold dust steadily shot out of her funnel and spread across the ceiling of the cave like gold dust speck lanterns.

Lady: "There, that'll brighten things up a bit."

Agnes tried slightly laughing at the joke, but she interrupted herself when she saw some sort of impressive carvings in the cave walls.

It looked like a group of engines that looked just like Lady, except their funnels looked taller. But the one in the front/middle had the tallest funnel, and it looked like there was a majorette hat on the top of it's funnel. Agnes pondered at these carvings in amazement, and Lady soon realized this as she puffed up close enough to her.

Agnes: "Wow, who are these engines?"

Lady: "Well Agnes, they called themselves "The Golddust Guardians." They were the ones that controlled the energy of gold dust before I did."

When Agnes heard the words "gold dust," she got a bit confused.

Agnes: "Wait, what do you mean by gold dust?"

Suddenly, Lady softly wheeshed a slight cloud of steam from each of her pistons. At that moment, a thick flurry of gold dust slowly emerged from her pistons. Agnes was impressed by this, she was starting to really like the kind of magic Lady could do.

Lady: "This is gold dust, it's the substance that's keeping our entire world alive."

While Agnes was still impressed by what Lady just said about the gold dust, she suddenly remembered something. She pictured the moment that bit of gold dust she found on the magic buffers getting absorbed into her systems, then she decided to tell Lady about it.

Agnes: "Ya know Lady, I did find a little bit of that stuff sprinkled on the magic buffers Thomas told me about. But after I looked at it from my hand for a few seconds, it somehow got absorbed into my systems."

After hearing what Agnes explained, Lady suddenly gave her a surprised look on her face.

Lady: "Oh my, that could only mean…...t-that you've actually been chosen."

Agnes looked up at Lady with a raised eyebrow.

Agnes: "Chosen for what?"

Lady: "During the times me and the Golddust Guardians were still running our world, they always knew another guardian would be chosen. But since you said you've absorbed a supply of gold dust, it would seem that you are that last guardian."

After hearing what Lady just explained, she gave the most surprised look on her face she had ever given. She always wanted to be part of something amazing, but she could not believe she was the newest member of a group of legends.

Later, Lady had brought Agnes back to the spot where they first met. Agnes climbed down and walked up in front of Lady, but she now had a few things on her mind.

Agnes: "Wow, I can't believe absorbing just a little bit of gold dust would start something so big for me."

Lady: "Indeed, so I believe you know quite a bit more about gold dust now?"

Agnes: "Ya know, I think I do. It's the energy that's keeping our whole world running, it can absorb itself into anyone it chooses to, and-

Lady: "And it's what makes me more powerful than Diesel 10 will ever be."

Agnes: "Oh, I guess that too."

Lady: "Don't worry, I'm impressed by how much you know about gold dust now."

Agnes: "Thanks, so will this gold dust I absorbed make me an official Golddust Guardian?"

Lady: "Almost, you just need to put your gold dust managing skills to the test. But for now, I know just the way you can get even with Diesel 10."

Agnes: "Really?"

Lady: "Yes, I shall absorb my soul directly into your systems. With my help, you just might be able to master the power of gold dust and prove that you really are the newest Golddust Guardian."

Agnes thought about this for a moment, and she soon realized that Lady's plan might just work. She was finally gonna get back at Diesel 10 for throwing her off that bridge, and she was gonna figure out what it's like to be a Golddust Guardian.

Agnes: "Alright, what do I do?"

Lady: "Head out and find Diesel 10, then challenge him to a battle. I will be there to help you, together we can show him who's boss."

Agnes: "Okay, I'll do it."

Lady: "Good, now you go deal with Diesel 10 and fulfill your destiny."

With that, Lady closed her eyes. Then she started forming into a bright gold stream of mist that started flowing into Agnes's forehead. A small gold light appeared on the middle of her forehead the moment the flow of energy hit his forehead, but it disappeared once all of the flowing energy disappeared inside Agnes's forehead.

As Lady's flow of energy had gotten sucked into her forehead, she had her eyes closed the whole time. But once she widely opened them again, the outside colored sections of her pupils were softly pulsing a glittering gold color. Agnes could already feel the power in her systems, and she felt like she was ready to fulfill her destiny.

(Agnes's dream ends)

The next morning, the sunlight showed through the cracks in the girls room's window-drapes. Once the light hit her, Agnes slowly woke up from her slumber. She stretched a little bit, but then she realized something.

Agnes: "Strange, I should've felt a really bad aching pain by now."

But when she looked down at herself, she got a really big surprise…All of her bandages were gone. When she jumped down from her bed, she got another surprise…...she was already feeling better. Still feeling perplexed by this, she walked over to the full-body mirror to get a better look, she could see that all of her bandages really were gone. Not only that, but she could no longer see any of the bruises she got from when Diesel 10 threw her off the bridge. She also saw that her arm sling was gone, and she moved her arm around just to be sure her arm was better as well.

Agnes: "I'm….I'm fixed!?"

Agnes took another look in the mirror, she just couldn't figure out how this could have happened.

Agnes: "Oh well, better go tell Gru and-

But before Agnes could finish her sentence, something in her reflection caught her eye. At the top corner of her shirt, she saw what looked like a sticker of the front of Lady.

Agnes: "What the, how did that get there?"

When she tried to scratch it off, she found that she couldn't, the sticker actually felt like a smooth plastic sowed-in decoration for her shirt, it seemed to be permanently superglued right into it.

Agnes: "Oh well, maybe I can try putting on another set of my clothes."

With that, Agnes went over to the closet to get a new set of her clothes. But when she opened it to grab a set of her clothes, she found that it had the exact same sticker of Lady on it.

Agnes: "What in the…."

Suddenly, she started flipping through every other set she had. And to her shock, they all had the same sticker of Lady.

Agnes just quickly closed the closet doors, she couldn't believe what was going on. Suddenly, she remembered that dream she had about her big conversation with Lady.

Agnes: "Was that dream also some sort of vision, something to tell me what I have to do?"

Then at that moment, she remembered what Lady told her to do. Growing a determined look on her face, she immediately remembered what she had to do. She was gonna find Diesel 10, and she would show him who was the newest Golddust Guardian.

Meanwhile, Margo and Edith were outside talking with Thomas, Emily, Edward, and Ryan. Edward had also heard about what happened to Agnes, and he managed to stop by and check in with her. And now, Thomas and Emily were explaining everything to Edward.

Edward: "So you're saying that Agnes met up with Diesel 10, then he threw her off the Big Dipper viaduct?"

Emily: "Yeah, it's kinda a good thing that you didn't see how injured she got from it."

Thomas: "She had bandages all over her body, she even had an arm sling for her right arm."

Margo: "We took her to bed a little earlier, and I'm sure letting her rest will make her injuries heal faster."

Edward: "Oh my, this is an outrage. I better go and tell Sir Topham Hatt."(starts reversing away)

?: "There won't be a need for that."

Edward immediately stopped after hearing that, then they all looked over towards the house. They were shocked to see Agnes with a determined smile, and she also looked fully healed from her injuries. They couldn't see the sticker of Lady on her shirt, so they were gonna be in for quite a surprise.

Emily: "Agnes, y-you're all better!?"

Agnes: "Yep, quite a surprise! Am I right?"

Thomas: "Yeah, but how?"

Agnes: "They got healed up after some extremely powerful dream I had last night."

Margo, Edith, and the 4 engines all looked at each other with confused looks, then Edith walked up to Agnes while shaking her head in disapproval.

Edith: "Agnes, I think you're losing your mind. I mean really, how could a dream fix your injuries?"

Ryan: "Sorry Agnes, but I actually have to agree with Edith on this. Dreams can be powerful, but not powerful enough to heal a bunch of injuries."

Agnes: "No guys, you gotta believe me! I really do feel much better, that dream really did fix my injuries!"

Thomas: "Alright Alright just calm down Agnes, we believe you."

Edith: "What, you actually believ-

Before Edith could finish her sentence, Margo slapped Edith at the back of her head reminding her not to ruin it for Agnes. After shaking her head in disappointment at Edith, Margo walked up to Agnes and knelt down to her while putting her hand on her shoulder.

Margo: "Hey Agnes, what exactly happened in your dream?"

Agnes: "I can actually show you later. For right now, I gotta go settle a score with Diesel 10."

Thomas, Emily, Edward, and Ryan: WHAT!?"

Agnes: "Relax, I'll show how I'll do it once we find him. Thomas, Emily, I'll need you to come with me."

Thomas and Emily looked at each other with unsure looks, but they still excepted Agnes's offer.

Emily: "Uhh, okay."

Thomas: "But how are we able to help?"

Agnes: "On our way to find Diesel 10, we'll go to a yard and pick up a few trucks. We can use them to bash Diesel 10, so are ya with me?"

Thomas and Emily:(realizing Agnes's plan) "Yeah!"

Just then, Ryan puffed forward.

Ryan: "I'm coming too, best friends stick together."

Agnes: "Thanks Ryan, now where's my track cycle?"

Margo: "In the garage, Dr. Nefario and some of the minions fixed it for you in the night."

Agnes: "Alright, let me just get it and we'll be on our way."

While Agnes went to get her track cycle, Thomas, Emily, and Ryan weren't quite sure if Agnes knew what she was doing. But the only thing Agnes had on her mind was that she was gonna deal with Diesel 10, once and for all.

To be continued.