=|=|=| Episode 3: Stock Racing |=|=|=
Tim and his family were poor. It was only recently that when Tim started working on a railway that he and his family started to get a decent amount of money. However, Tim wanted more money. He wanted more money so that he and his family could live a very happy life and buy all the things they want. But... he didn't know where to get that kind of money from. So he was stuck with working on a railway.
Tim could get another job so that he'd get more money, but it meant he'd have to leave the railway he worked on for some time everyday. Unfortunately, Tim didn't want to leave the railway. Driving a train and working on one was his dream, and he wasn't about to leave it. Besides, the railway gave him a decent amount of money anyway. So he didn't really need another job.
As Tim and his family started to have their breakfasts which were just some eggs and toast, Tim's mother noticed that he looked like he was deep in thought. Concerned, she asked "Tim?". "Hm?" Tim replied looking up, "Is something wrong dear?" Tim's mother continued. "Oh, no. There's nothing wrong. I'm just thinking how much money we'll have if I keep working on the railway that's all." Tim answered. "I'm sure it will be enough soon." Tim's mother said smiling.
Tim's mother may have comforted and supported him, but inside Tim still wanted more money. And like I said, he wanted more money so that he and his family could live a very happy life and buy all the things they want. However, with the current status Tim was in that idea was pretty much farfetched.
Anyway, after Tim and his parents finished their breakfasts Tim got up and went towards the small wooden cabinet he and his family used to store their clothes and some other stuff. Tim grabbed his work clothes and put them on while looking in front of the mirror that had a small crack on the bottom left of it's glass. When Tim got done putting his clothes on, he made finger guns at his reflection and said "Pew pew! Lookin' good!" before heading out towards the door. But not before giving his mom a kiss goodbye and greeting his parents bye bye as well.
"Good luck dear!"
"Well, see you soon then son."
"Bye mom, bye dad. I'll see the both of you soon."
Since Tim and his family didn't have a car or anything like that, it was a bit of a walk towards The Leafy Line. Not that he minded anyway. As soon as Tim got to The Leafy Line, he went towards the engine sheds.
There, he saw his engine Riptide talking to some of the other engines in the shed they were in. Tim walked up to where Riptide and the engines were and said "Hello Riptide. Who are those?". "Oh them? They're engines in this railway, and they're my new friends too. Tim, meet Rainwater, Sunshine, Cremini, Chestnut and Almond." Riptide replied. Then, Riptide turned to his new friends and said "Everyone, meet my driver and friend. Tim. Say hi everyone.". The other engines greeted Tim, who greeted him back.
Since all of you have never met the other engines Riptide was talking with, I will now introduce them to all of you. On Riptide's right was a Prussian T3 painted in brown, His name was Cremini. The word cremini meant a type of mushroom. If you're wondering why this engine was named after a mushroom, it's because Mr. Fred has a knack for naming most of his locomotives after things related to nature. Since his railway used to be a big farm, it only made sense that he would name his locomotives like that. Anyway, there were four other engines on Riptide's left. There was Sunshine, a yellow tank engine that looked like an NSW Burra that was slightly bigger with a shorter funnel. She was a TLL A5, an 0-4-0 tank locomotive made by The Leafy Line. Next was Rainwater. A light blue LBSCR K class locomotive. Next to Rainwater was Chestnut, a brown LMS class 7F. And after that was Almond. A brown GCR class 1 locomotive.
Tim thought the names of the other engines were weird. He knew he named his engine Riptide, but he didn't really have a choice during that time. Mr. Fred was the one in charge of the railway, and Tim was required to give Riptide a name that was related to nature. The name Riptide seemed cool, so Tim went with that. But he thought the other engines' names sounded funnier and weirder. So he asked "Riptide, why are all the other engines named after things related to nature?". Then, Rainwater spoke up. "The reason why our names are related to nature is because this railway used to be a big farm. So when Mr. Fred turned it into his own railway, it made sense he'd name us after things related to nature. And honestly, we don't mind." he said. Tim had stop himself from laughing, he couldn't believe what he just heard. Tim, Riptide and the other engines soon ended up chatting with each other before Mr. Fred came to where they were.
"-A-a-a-a-ahem."
When Mr. Fred cleared his throat, Tim, Riptide and the other engines stopped talking and looked at him. "Alright, now that I have all your attentions, I shall now give all of you your jobs for the morning. Sunshine, you will be the one to arrange the trains for everyone else today. Chestnut and Almond, the both of you will be pulling passenger trains. Cremini, Riptide, Tim and Rainwater, all of you will go to Aquaria Docks to carry freight to and fro. said Mr. Fred. "Yes sir." said Cremini as he and his friends got to work. Sunshine went to the yard to arrange the trains, Chestnut and Almond got ready on platforms 2 and 3. While Cremini, Rainwater, Tim and Riptide all went to Aquaria Docks.
When the three engines and the driver got to the docks, there was a person waiting for them. "Ah, you three must be the engines to collect these trucks eh?" he said pointing at a few rows of trucks. "Yes sir." Cremini replied. "Good, because the three of you will be carrying freight to and from the docks. Do you three think you can do it?" the person asked. "Of course!" said Riptide. "Good. Now, please take your trucks. They won't pull themselves you know." said the person before going away.
"Come on everyone, let's do this." said Cremini as he and the others got to work.
Tim, Riptide, Cremini and Rainwater were kept busy at the docks. When one line of trucks were done, another would be waiting for them. But they still continued to do their work. It took a long time for them to complete it, but they did eventually. And by the time they did, they were tired.
"Phew! I'm exhausted!" said Cremini, "Yeah, I need a break. Let's rest here for a while." said Riptide. "We can't, we don't know if Mr. Fred has more jobs for us. Now come on everyone. Let's go back." Cremini replied as he and the others did just that.
When Cremini and the others got back to the engine sheds, Mr. Fred was waiting for them. "Ah, there you all are." he said. "Sir, can we please have a rest? We're kinda tired from all the huffing and puffing at the docks." asked Cremini. Mr. Fred thought about it, before saying "Alright. But I won't be able to let all of you rest for very long. There's more work to be done soon." Mr. Fred replied before he left.
Soon, Cremini and everyone else were resting in the shed. And they chatted with each other.
"So Tim, how's the railway?"
"It's great. The scenery is beautiful. And the engines here are friendly. Well, most of them but that's alright."
"Alright. Riptide, what do you think of the railway?"
"I think it's nice too. I'm glad I got to see all of it."
"Hehehe. So, Riptide. Is it true that you and Tim saved a man from a... -well- -riptide once?"
"Yes. One day me and Tim stopped at a station to let off passengers. Then, in the distance was a man needing help. We uncoupled from the coaches and came to check him over. And it turns out he did need help. So Tim grabbed an anchor that was nearby and attached it's chain to my coupling hook, while he let the riptide carry the other end of it towards the man. The man then hooked it to his boat. After that, me and Tim started to try and pull the man. But the riptide was stronger than we thought. So Tim kept shoveling coal into me. But as time went on, the riptide started to pull me into it. It pulled and pulled until the water almost reached my firebox! But Tim kept on shoveling more coal into me, giving me more power. So I struggled and struggled and struggled and struggled until eventually me and Tim were able to pull the man free. After that, the people at the station cheered for us."
"Wow Riptide! Quite the amazing story you have there!"
"Yes, I wonder if it's true though?"
"It is true! Just ask Mr. Fred."
As everyone was chatting to each other, Tim and Riptide saw two more engines in the shed just across from theirs. One was a CR (Caledonian Railway) 264 class, the other looked like an LMS Ivatt class 2 2-6-0. But it wasn't. It was a TLL A4, a 2-6-0 locomotive that looked like the LMS Ivatt class 2 minus the weird elevated surface on the front of it's tender.
The CR 264 class locomotive was called Snowflake, she was painted in white with a lot of snowflakes on her. The TLL A4 was called Condor and was painted black with a condor symbol on the sides of his tender.
Tim and Riptide looked at the two engines chatting to each other, then Tim said "Hey Riptide, wanna talk to those engines?". "O-ok." said Riptide as he and Tim started to go over to where Snowflake and Condor were. As soon as they started, Cremini asked "Hey, where are you two going?". "We're going to try and talk to those two engines over there." replied Tim pointing at Snowflake and Condor. "Trying to make new friends I see." said Cremini, the others just laughed and went back to chatting with each other.
When Tim and Riptide got to where Snowflake and Condor were resting, the two engines looked at them. "Hi." said Riptide. "Hello." Snowflake and Condor replied. "What's your name?" Condor asked, he couldn't really see Riptide's nameplate from where he was. "Riptide, what about you?" Riptide replied. "I'm Condor, and this is Snowflake." Condor said as he introduced himself and his friend. "Nice to meet you!" said Snowflake cheerily smiling. "Nice to meet you too." replied Riptide smiling as well. "Hey guys." said Tim from inside Riptide's cab. Condor and Snowflake were a bit surprised, the drivers didn't usually join their engines in talking about things. Then, Condor asked "Riptide, who's that?". "Oh, that's Tim. He's my driver." said Riptide. "Hi!" Tim said as Snowflake and Condor greeted him back. Then, Condor noticed something weird about Riptide. "Hold on, where's your fireman?" he said. "Oh, I don't have one. Tim does all the work of driving and shoveling coal into me. He dosen't mind. In fact, he likes to drive me alone." said Riptide.
Condor and Snowflake were shocked! How could Tim ever want to drive an engine alone? That would be lots and lots of hard work! But Tim didn't seem to mind, in fact when Mr. Fred asked him why he didn't want a fireman with him he replied that "the fireman would only get in the way and he wanted to drive the engine alone" or something like that.
"-B-b-b-b-b-b-b-but Tim! Isn't that a lot of hard work?!" asked Condor, "To me it isn't. As long as I get to drive my engine and work around the railway, that's what matters." Tim replied. Condor and Snowflake were still shocked, but just accepted the fact that Tim drove Riptide all by himself.
Just then, Mr. Fred came back. He went over to where Tim and Riptide used to be. Only to find them gone.
"Where's Tim and Riptide?" asked Mr. Fred, "Over there sir, they're talking to Condor and Snowflake." replied Almond. "Ah. Making new friends I see." said Mr. Fred as he walked over to where Tim and Riptide was.
When Mr. Fred got to where Tim and Riptide where, he said "Tim, Riptide.". "Oh, hello sir." Riptide said, "Is it time for our next jobs?" asked Tim. "Yes." replied Mr. Fred. "Tim, Riptide, I want the both of you to arrange the trains for everyone this time. And shunt the empty trucks and coaches if they're not being used anymore." Mr. Fred added. "Alright sir." said Riptide as he and Tim went to the yard.
When Tim and Riptide got to the yard, they began to do their work along with a bunch of other engines. There were living and normal engines. As Tim and Riptide began to shunt some rolling stock, another engine started talking to them. It was a green LSWR G6. "Hello." the engine greeted, "Hi, who are you?" asked Tim. "My name is Johnny." the engine said. "Well hi Johnny, I'm Tim and this is Riptide." Tim said. "Hello!" said Riptide whistling, Johnny gave a whistle back.
Tim, Riptide and Johnny chatted with each other whenever they were near each other during shunting. They continued to talk until Mr. Fred told them their work was done and that other engines would be taking over.
Once Tim, Riptide and Johnny got back to one of the sheds, they continued to chat with each other. After that, Mr. Fred told them about their next jobs. Which they did.
Tim and Riptide continued to work until afternoon. Then, when they were pulling a passenger train they saw Johnny again. Johnny whistled and said "Hello." at them. Tim made Riptide whistle back, and the both of them said hi.
Tim, Riptide and Johnny then chatted with each other again, eventually they got to the topic of money. In which Tim said "I'm glad that I'm earning at least a decent amount of money for me and my family. We're poor you know, so my work here on the railway is very important for me and them.". "Sorry to hear about your situation Tim, at least you're finally finding a solution to it. Even if it's slow." Johnny replied. "Yes, but I want more money. So me and my family can live a very happy life and buy all the things we want." said Tim, "Good luck with that, it's hard to become that rich." said Johnny. And for the next few hours, Tim, Riptide and Johnny continued to talk to each other until they finally had to part ways somewhere along the line.
As Tim and Riptide continued their journey, Riptide asked "Hey Tim, I know you and your family are poor. But I just have to ask. Why do you want to become so rich? You don't need that kind of money to live.". "I just told Johnny, didn't you hear? I'd like to have lots and lots of money so that me and my family can live a very happy life and buy everything we want." Tim replied. "But you don't need so much money to live, you're perfectly fine as you are right now." said Riptide. "You don't get it. You're an engine. So you don't need money. I'm a person, people buy things. So I need money. People have to pay to buy things, engines can just get more coal and water when they want to." Tim replied. "Yeah but, I know that a person dosen't need much money to live a good life. Just enough." Riptide replied back. And with that, Tim and Riptide continued their conversation as they went on with their journey.
Now, Tim dosen't actually want so much money. He just wanted to see what being rich felt like since he and his family were poor. He knows that he at least lives a good life, but he just wondered what having a lot of money felt like. I'm sure it would feel really good since you'd be able to do almost anything and buy almost everything you want. But Tim knows that even though he dosen't have a lot of money, he and his family at least lives a good life, It's just that being rich feels really good you know? And with Tim and his family being poor, I'm sure Tim is even more curious about what that feels like than the rest of us.
Tim and Riptide then continued to pull their passenger train, then they did all the other jobs that were assigned to them. Eventually, it became dark and nightfall came. Tim and Riptide were waiting at the docks to pick up a freight train that would be delivered by another engine.
"The waters look very nice today, and the scenery too." said Riptide looking in the distance. "Yes, and this breezing wind feels nice. Refreshing after a long day at work." added Tim as he opened his arms to welcome the cool wind that blew throughout his body.
As Tim and Riptide were enjoying the beautiful cool night, they could hear the chugging of an engine. Followed by a loud and long whistle. "Who's that?" asked Tim, "I don't know, I've never heard that whistle before." said Riptide. Then, as the engine came nearer Tim and Riptide could see that it was the same kind of locomotive as Lightningstreak. A TLL A3. However, unlike Lightningstreak this engine was blue. He had lightning streaks on him too, but they looked different compared to Lightningstreak's. His running board was also blue and had the number 28 on his side. On his nameplate read "Thunderstrike". I guess we now know who this engine is.
I know what you're asking. "Lightiningstreak and Thunderstrike?". Yes. All the TLL A3s are technically brothers to each other, but Lightningstreak and Thunderstrike treat each other like real brothers. It's actually quite nice to be honest. Anyway, as Thunderstrike pulled up to the docks Tim and Riptide looked at him. When Thunderstrike stopped, Tim asked "Who are you?". "I'm Thunderstrike. And I came here to deliver these trucks. They said someone would pick this up after I deliver them here." Thunderstrike said, "That's us. We're supposed to pick up a freight train that an engine was supposed to take here." said Riptide. "Well, better get a move on then. Time is running you know." Thunderstrike said with a slight smile before Tim and Riptide went to buffer up to the train and get themselves coupled to it.
After Tim and Riptide got coupled up to the train, they set off. It took a long time for them to deliver the freight. But it wasn't too long. And by the time they got back to the engine sheds, it got darker.
"Well, I'll see you tomorrow Riptide. Good night." said Tim, "Good night." Riptide replied as he started to sleep in the engine sheds. While Tim walked home.
When Tim got home, he greeted his parents with a "Hello mom, hello dad.". "Hello dear, how was your day?" asked Tim's mother, "It was nice as usual." Tim replied. "That's good to hear." Tim's mother replied back. "Hello, son." said Tim's dad smiling, "Oh, hi dad." said Tim. "I'm going to prepare us our dinner, sit right there!" said Tim's mom as Tim and his dad took a seat.
A few minutes after Tim's mother started cooking, you could smell something really good. "That smells good." said Tim, "Mmmhmm." said his father. When Tim's mother finished cooking, she laid down plates of fried chicken and bread. The pieces of chicken were just small, and each one had 3 pieces of bread to go with it. It wasn't much, but to Tim and his family this was enough for the night.
"Mmm! That looks nice. Let's dig in." said Tim's father as he and the others started eating. Tim and his family chatted with each other for a bit, after they were done eating they went to their rooms.
Since Tim and his family were poor, the rooms of the house were just small. But to Tim and his family, it was fine. Tim didn't feel that sleepy yet, which is odd since he worked practically all day. But I guess we just have those days where we can't sleep until later or something. Anyway, Tim decided to look at his old train toys from when he was a kid. He smiled as he looked at them. He remembered the days when he was just a young boy wanting to be a train driver. And now... -look at him. Finally fulfilling his dream. Time sure flies.
While Tim kept looking at his old toys, he heard a klang outside his window. Then, someone said "Ow!". Tim looked over to see what it was, it was just the mailman. Apparently, he accidentally hit himself in the mailbox or something. Tim watched as the mailman slid a letter into his mailbox before going away. Once the mailman was gone, Tim rushed outside his house and went over to the mailbox. Where he opened it and took out the letter before rushing back inside.
Once Tim was in his room, he opened the letter. When he did... -he got a shock as he read what was in it! The letter had designs related to trains and things like that, it read "You are invited to Mr. Patterson's underground locomotive hangout! If you like trains, then you'll love this place!". "What the..." Tim thought after he read the letter. Then, more words magically appeared on it! The words said "The locomotive hangout is actually a place where everyone who joins in will be able to compete in games that involve trains. You can win money if you win the games! So make sure you're in tiptop shape!". "AAAHHH!" Tim yelled as he dropped the letter. He didn't expect more words to appear on it magically.
Tim shook a bit, scared that the letter might be something bad or something. But eventually, he mustered up the courage to grab the letter again. Tim read the letter one more time. "I... Is this really true?" he thought to himself. It couldn't be real, an underground locomotive hangout that had games related to trains? And the prize was money? It was all too good to be true. But Tim didn't really have that much of a choice, since he and his family were poor he decided to check out more of the letter. The letter also told him that it recommended if he kept this a secret from his family. Tim didn't know why, but it sounded important. So Tim just decided to follow what the letter said anyway. The letter also told him where the hangout was, how he can find it and a bunch of other things. It also told him that various games related to trains were being held right now as he was reading this letter, it also told him that the hangout lets everyone play games for as long as they like everyday. So that meant more and more money.
Tim could not believe it, did he really just get a letter that said all this stuff? Tim tried a couple of things to make sure he wasn't dreaming. He wasn't. "Okay... Is this all real? Am I just dreaming? No, I've tried everything to make sure I wasn't dreaming. And I still see the letter. -M... -maybe I'm not dreaming after all... maybe... this is real." Tim thought as he rubbed his eyes to make sure that the letter was real. It was.
Tim wanted to go the locomotive hangout right now, but then he thought "What if my parents found out? What would they say?". So he decided to wait until his parents were asleep before he'd go outside.
A few minutes later, Tim's parents were already asleep. Tim crept quietly towards their room and carefully opened the door. When he did, he saw his parents sleeping soundly. "Good, now I can get out of here!" thought Tim as he quietly snuck outside.
Tim was running outside in the dark night, he had brought a lamp with him so that he would be able to see. In the locomotive hangout, you'd obviously need a locomotive. And Tim knew where he'd find one.
When Tim reached The Leafy Line, he found all the engines sleeping in the sheds. He looked for Riptide, and after a while he found him. Tim turned off his lamp and crept quietly towards Riptide. Once Tim got to him, he said "Psst! Psst! Riptide! Riptide!" in a low voice. "Huh?" Riptide moaned sleepily as he looked around to see who said those words. Then, Tim said "It's me, Tim.". "Tim? What're you doing here?" Riptide asked, "Shhh! Keep it down! We don't want the others to hear us!" said Tim. "Ok, but what're you going to tell me?" Riptide asked in a lower voice.
"Riptide, can you keep this a secret?" Tim asked, "Ok, but what is it?" Riptide asked back. "I just got a letter from the mail that invites me to an undeground locomotive hangout. The hangout is where games related to trains are played all the time! And everytime you win a game, you get money." answered Tim, "Oh, that sounds nice." replied Riptide. "Yeah, and I was thinking. Maybe... you know... can you be my train?" Tim asked again. Riptide thought for a moment, it was nighttime. And dark outside. And he needed to sleep. But on the other hand, Tim was his friend. And he'd do anything to help him. When Riptide finally decided, he said "Alright.". "Yes! Thank you." said Tim, "No problem." said Riptide. "Now, the letter tells me where we need to go. Let me just turn on this lamp and get us out of here fast and quietly." said Tim as he took out a matchbox that he'd been keeping in his pocket and lit a match with it to turn on the lamp. Then, he quickly got to work and lit Riptide's fire and let it burn for a while.
Tim made some small noises while trying to start Riptide as quickly as he could, but luckily none of the other engines woke up. As Riptide's fire burned nicely, Tim made him start as slowly and quietly as possible so they wouldn't wake up the other engines. Then, they went off into the night.
As Tim and Riptide were cruising down the line, Riptide asked where they were going. Tim told him where. It wasn't too long before Tim and Riptide finally reached their destination.
When they did, they were on what seemed like an abandoned part of the railway. It was empty, and there was no one in sight. The tracks were old and so were some of the other stuff around.
"There's nothing here. It's abandoned." said Riptide, "The letter said it was an underground locomotive hangout. Maybe we just need to find the right spot." said Tim. But he didn't have to. Up ahead was a tunnel that was old and broken. There was rubble on it that blocked the other end of it. Suddenly, a bright light came from inside the tunnel! It grew bigger and brighter until it formed what seemed like a white portal!
"WHOAAAAAAAAA..." Tim and Riptide said in amazement. They've never seen that happen before. Tim and Riptide continued to look in awe and wonder before Tim asked "So... why do you think a portal appeared in front of us?", "I don't know, maybe it leads to the underground locomotive hangout?" said Riptide. "Maybe." said Tim. Tim and Riptide looked at each other for a moment, thinking if they should enter the portal or not.
"I think we should go in. After all, it might lead to the underground locomotive hangout."
"But Tim... what if this portal leads us to somewhere bad?"
"It won't lead us to somewhere bad. Think about it, we followed where the letter wanted us to go. And when we got here, this portal appeared. So maybe it is the portal to the underground locomotive hangout."
"Mmmm... I suppose you're right."
After Tim and Riptide finally agreed on something, Tim made Riptide go slowly towards the portal. Little by little... Tim and Riptide got closer and closer and closer and closer and closer and closer to it. Then, Tim and Riptide finally went inside. As they did, the portal vanished.
Meanwhile, what was going on inside the portal was quite surprising. There were people dancing to music that was played by the dj, and there were locomotives on the many lines of tracks the place had. It looked like the people were having a wonderful time.
As Tim and Riptide finally got out of the other end of the portal, they were shocked at what they saw! "-H-huh?! What's this?" Tim said as he looked at all the people partying. "I thought there was going to be games, not a party." he continued. "-M... -maybe they're on break?" Riptide suggested. Tim just shrugged and looked around. It was very bright everywhere. There was a big disco ball that hung in the air, it illuminated the place in lights of different colors. Tim tried calling someone's attention, but everyone as too busy partying. And I don't think anyone would notice him, not in the very big crowd of people anyway.
"Uh... hello? Hello? Uh, excuse me? Hello?"
Besides, I don't think people will hear him either with the very loud music blaring from the speakers. "It's no use, guess I'll just have to find another way to-" Tim was about finish that sentence but got interrupted with...
"Alright everyone! The next game will start in a while! So please, get yourselves ready while you can!"
-Those words. Someone spoke them through a microphone, specifically... a big stout man with light green skin, white hair and a white mustache. The man also wore a green cap that looked like a police's but wasn't. He also wore a green polo with a white tuxedo and a black necktie under it. He also had green pants and black shoes.
When Tim got to get a good glimpse of the man, he screamed! "-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" he yelled. Riptide heard Tim screaming and asked "-WH-WH-WH-WH-WHAT-WHAT IS IT?!", "-I... -I SAW A MAN WITH GREEN SKIN! HE LOOKS SCARY!" Tim yelled. "-WAIT WHAT?! -IS THAT TRUE?!" Riptide asked, Tim nodded in response. "Uuuuuhhhhhhh... maybe we should just go back home..." said Riptide, "Yeah, let's get outta here!" Tim replied as he climbed on Riptide's cab and made him go back. But when they looked back, they stopped. The portal was gone!
"-UH OH... -THE PORTAL'S GONE!" said Riptide, "-WHAT'RE WE GONNA DO NOW?!" said Tim as he panicked. He tried looking for other ways to escape, but he couldn't. After a while, the green skinned man announced that the next game would start. The music stopped and the green man came down to check on everyone.
Tim and Riptide panicked as they tried looking for a way to escape, but they couldn't. Eventually, the green man got over to them. Tim hid inside Riptide's cab and got his shovel ready just in case, while Riptide was shaking from funnel to bunker.
As the green man looked at Riptide, he said "Where is your driver? I would like to meet him.". "Ummmmm..." Riptide muttered. Just then, Tim poked his head out of the cab to see if the green skinned man was still there. He was. Tim tried hiding back, but the green skinned man saw him and said "Come on out, I won't hurt you. I just want to talk.". Tim poked his head out of the cab once more with a wary look on his eyes, he hoped that the green man wasn't an alien or something.
When the green man saw Tim, he said "Hello. You can come out. I won't hurt you. I may look different but I'm friendly.". Tim then got out of Riptide's cab and walked over towards the man, "-H...-hi..." he muttered. "Hello, I'm Mr. Patterson. I take it you got my invitation?" the green man said. So that's Mr. Patterson. "-W-W-W-W-W-WAIT... -MR. PATTERSON?! -YOU'RE THE ONE WHO SENT THAT INVITATION?!" Tim asked in shock, "Yes. Welcome, I hope you like it here." Mr. Patterson replied.
Tim was shocked, he never expected the green skinned man to be the one to send him the invitation. He thought the man was going to do something bad. Now that Tim knew that the man was good, he had a bit of a chat with him. This made Riptide confused, so the engine asked "Tim, why are you talking to that man?". "Oh, he said he's good. So we're safe." Tim replied. After that, Riptide started to talk to the man too.
"Well, I hope you two are enjoying yourselves?"
"Well, so far... yes. The place is great and beautiful. Lots of people here too. Haha!"
"I'm glad you think so, well it's time for the next game to start. So be ready."
"Alright."
"Ok."
Tim and Riptide got ready as Mr. Patterson walked up to the stage and told everyone to do the same thing. Everyone went to their locomotives, some just stood by them and some did some maintenance on them or something or other.
While Tim and Riptide were waiting, they talked to each other for a while.
"So, what do you think the game's gonna be?"
"I don't know, but I sure hope we win. I'm getting excited now!"
"Yeah, me too!"
Then, Mr. Patterson walked up to the stage again. Tim and Riptide watched as the stage rose, followed by a TV appearing from above. "WHOOOOAAAAAAA..." they thought as the stage made Mr. Patterson get close to the TV.
After that, Mr. Patterson started announcing. He said "Alright everyone, the next kind of game that we will be playing is stock racing. Now, for those who are new here stock racing is what it says. Racing with the original or current stats your engine has.". Tim and Riptide looked on as Mr. Patterson continued announcing.
"Here are the rules, obviously you have to race with the current stats your engine has. I will choose 5 drivers so that there won't be too many racers. And they will all be the same level, have the same skills and strengths so it's fair. Before the race starts, the engines of those five drivers will be modified quickly so that they will be able to do certain things they need to do in the race. In this race, drivers will have to make their engines jump, switch some points using extendable shunter's poles, have chances of getting speed boosts along the way by running into speed boost orbs, and "attack" each other using toy guns. And now...I will choose the 5 drivers who will be in the race. Kenneth, Maddison, Elly, Jack and Tim."
When Mr. Patterson was done announcing, the people clapped and cheered as Tim, Riptide and the others drove their engines forward a bit. Then, on the tracks that Tim, Riptide and the other drivers were on red arrows started to appear. "Drivers, please follow the red arrows." said Mr. Patterson. "Well, here we go." said Riptide, "Come on." said Tim as he made Riptide start and follow the other drivers to where they were going.
The arrows led to a very big room, when Tim and Riptide went inside it they gasped and looked around in awe. The room was beautiful. Then, some sparkling shining gold dust started to pour down on Tim, Riptide and the other engines. Those engines aren't living by the way. "-W...what was that?" asked Riptide, "I don't know." said Tim confused. Then, Tim and Riptide saw that the drivers of the other engines were driving them away. "Ummm... Tim, do you think we should leave now?" Riptide asked again, "I mean... the other drivers are leaving so..." Tim replied before making Riptide start and follow the other drivers.
Tim and Riptide continued following the other drivers until they were led to the other side of the room, which was the start of the race track. Unknown to Tim and Riptide, people could see them through a screen. And they didn't know that... yet. The drivers of the engines would be able to see the people who were looking at them if they stopped and looked at the screens which were above and beside on each side of the race track. Tim and Riptide found out that people could watch them when they looked up and on each side of the track.
"-W-W-W-W-W-WAIT WHAT?! What is this?! A TV? Wait... it's COLORED?! How can that be?! I thought TVs were black and white?!" said Tim, "You're right Tim! The TV IS COLORED! And someone managed to put it up there!" Riptide replied. Here's the thing, Tim and Riptide lived in an alternate dimension where the year was the 19s. So now you know why Tim said something about black and white TVs. Anyway, Tim then noticed something a bit unusual. There was a big red button on the top middle of Riptide's controls, when Tim saw this he said "Riptide! Riptide! There's a big red button in the top middle of your controls!". "-WHAT?!" Riptide said in shock, as Tim got a closer look at the button he figured out it was the button for jumping. So he said "Uhhh... I think this is the button for jumping.". "What, really?" asked Riptide, "Yes, I can see an engine jumping on the button." said Tim. "Oh." Riptide replied.
Just then, Mr. Patterson was getting ready to announce again. Tim and Riptide got themselves ready as Mr. Patterson said "Alright drivers, on your marks... get set... -GO!". Then, as Mr. Patterson fired a revolver and the signals on the race track dropped Tim, Riptide and the other drivers started off! Jack took the lead with his black LMS Ivatt class 2-6-0, but Maddison was catching up from behind with her yellow Marning Wardle L class locomotive! As Maddison caught up to Jack, the two used their shunter's poles and fought with them like swords! This kind of thing was normal in most of the games of the undrground locomotive hangout, so Jack and Maddison weren't breaking any rules or anything. Besides, all the drivers were wearing protective clothing. And there were systems inside the games to prevent people from getting really hurt.
"En garde!" yelled Jack as he continued to fight with Maddison, "You won't get me!" Maddison said. As Jack and Maddison were fighting, Tim got past Kenneth who had a blue CR 498 class loco. "Hahaaaaaaa! We've gone past him!" said Riptide as Tim made him go faster, however Kenneth pulled out his toy gun and started shooting one of the bullets at Tim! Each driver had 5 bullets and has to hit another driver on the target logo on the front or back of the shirt three times to get that driver out of the race. Kenneth's bullet missed it's target, but Riptide saw it and said "Hey Tim! Someone's shooting at us from behind!". "Huh? Where?" said Tim as he looked back. When he did, Tim saw that it was Kenneth. Tim then pulled out his toy gun and shot one of the bullets at Kenneth, who avoided it and continued driving.
Meanwhile, Elly was at the back of the race with her green GCR 8F. She was struggling a bit to catch up with the other racers ahead of her, but she kept on going anyway. She shovelled more and more coal into her engine. Eventually, she was able to catch up to Kenneth. Who was still trying to get ahead of Tim. Elly pulled out her gun and loaded one of the toy bullets into it before aiming. Then...
*BANG!*
As Elly pulled the trigger, the bullet flew into the air and hit Kenneth's back target logo! "What the?!" said Kenneth as he looked at his back before looking back at Elly. Kenneth used his gun again and tried firing two more bullets at Elly but missed. Elly did the same thing and missed as well. Not wanting to waste their bullets any further, Kenneth and Elly decided to just try to completely pass one another instead.
Meanwhile, Tim and Riptide were speeding up. They were slowly starting to catch up with Jack and Maddison, who were still fighting with each other using their shunter's poles. Maddison was blocking the line where Tim was supposed to go, Tim wanted to use the jump button but as afraid he'd become Jack and Maddison's target if they saw him. So he decided to try to find ways to get past them in a way that would get less attention.
Then, Tim saw some points. He quickly grabbed his shunter's pole and extended it before using it to switch the tracks. Then, Tim shovelled lots and lots of coal into Riptide. Making the engine speed up and go past Jack and Maddison, who didn't notice because they were still fighting.
"And Tim has taken the lead!" Mr. Patterson said as the crowd clapped and cheered. When Jack and Maddison heard that, they looked at their front. There was Tim and Riptide hurtling down the track starting to leave them behind! "-Oh no ya don't!" said Maddison as she and Jack pulled out their guns and fired 2 bullets each at Tim. But Tim was too far away for them to properly hit. When Tim looked back, he saw that Jack and Maddison had their guns out. So he used his gun again and shot a bullet!
The bullet ended up hitting the front target logo of Jack's shirt. Jack looked at his shirt in shock as Tim and Riptide were going faster and faster. "Whoaaa... Riptide's a LOT faster now! I wonder what happened? Maybe it's the modifications done to him? Maybe that dust was some sort of magic dust or something that can modify engines?" Tim thought, then he shared his thoughts with Riptide which made the engine shocked.
Tim and Riptide may have taken the lead, but there was a speed boost orb in Jack's line. Jack rocketed down the line and hit the speed boost orb! When he did, his engine went faster for a couple of seconds before returning back to normal speed! Those couple of seconds were enough to make him be able to slowly start to catch up to Tim and Riptide!
"WHOA!" said Tim and Riptide as they saw Jack slowly starting to catch up to them. "Faster! Faster!" said Riptide as Tim shovelled coal as fast as he could into his firebox. Tim may have been shovelling lots of coal but Riptide was already struggling a bit to speed up, he was sort of getting at his limit. Jack slowly started to get closer to them and readied his gun, but then Tim and Riptide saw a speed boost orb on their line. When Tim and Riptide hit it, they sped through and out of Jack's reach! "Bother!" said Jack.
Elly was starting to catch up to Kenneth, when she did she grabbed her shunter's pole and tried knocking Kenneth off his engine with it! When Elly tried to get Kenneth using the shunter's pole again, Kenneth made his engine jump. Kenneth then saw that there were some points on Elly's line, and that he could set the points against her. Immediately, Kenneth used his shunter's pole to switch the points. When Elly got to where the points were, her engine derailed and fell off the track! Which meant she was out of the race! Kenneth looked back at Elly for a bit before speeding away. "Oh no!" said Elly as she was teleported off the race.
Maddison tried firing a bullet at Jack, but she missed. When Jack knew what had happened, he fired 2 bullets at her and both of them hit her! "Uh oh.." said Maddison, she had one life left. And if she got hit one more time she'd be out of the race. Maddison then tried firing another bullet, but she missed. Then there was trouble. Up ahead, was a hole in the middle of the rails. Drivers and engines were supposed to jump through it. But Maddison wasn't paying attention and fell into the hole!
She screamed as she fell before she was teleported out of the race. Jack was able to jump through the hole and keep on racing.
Kenneth was falling behind on the race, but luckily there was a speed boost orb on his line. When he hit the orb he got enough speed to start catching up to Jack, who just passed Tim. Now Tim and Riptide were behind in the race.
Tim fired a bullet at Kenneth and hit his back target logo, which made Kenneth's lives reduce down to 1. Kenneth looked in shock, then he fired the last 2 bullets he had. The bullets missed Tim, which gave Tim some sort of a chance against Kenneth. Tim then fired another bullet at Kenneth again, the bullet hit Kenneth disqualifying him from the race. Kenneth knew what he had to do, he braked his engine and stopped. After that, Kenneth was teleported out of the race.
"Look everyone! The only racers left in the race are Jack and Tim! Which one of them do you think will win this stock race? Let's find out!" Mr. Patterson announced as the people watched in awe and shock! Tim, Riptide and Jack were now neck and neck. And the both of them were fighting using their shunter's poles.
"Back off boy! I'm gonna win this race!" said Jack as his pole was locked in with Tim's, "No you won't!" Tim replied as he managed to push back Jack's pole before trying to make him fall off his train! Jack didn't fall and continued to fight with Tim.
Suddenly, Tim, Riptide and Jack could see that there was another hole on the tracks. When they did, they immediately stopped fighting and pressed the jump buttons on their engines! However, Jack pressed the button a bit too early and ended up falling in the hole! Jack screamed before being teleported out of the race, automatically making Tim and Riptide the winners.
"-TIM AND RIPTIDE WINS!" Mr. Patterson said. Everyone clapped and cheered as they watched Tim and Riptide. Then, Tim applied Riptide's brakes and made him skid to a halt before making him whistle. As the people continued to clap and cheer, Tim and Riptide were teleported onto the stage.
When Tim and Riptide were teleported there, the people were still clapping and cheering. Mr. Patterson made everyone settle down before saying "I would like to give this prize money to Tim!". As Mr. Patterson handed Tim the money, Tim looked at it. He was surprised when he saw that it was a 10 dollar bill. Shouldn't he have gotten more since he won a wild race?
"Errrrmmm... -M... Mr. Patterson?" asked Tim, "Yes?" Mr. Patterson replied. "-W...-Why is it only a 10 dollar bill?" Tim continued, "Look son, you can take it or leave it. If you want more money, you'll have to win more games." said Mr. Patterson. "-B-but... 10 dollars only? This is kinda unfair." Tim added, "Hey, you can take that dollar bill or leave it. My hangout, my rules." said Mr. Patterson. Tim just sighed and kept the money, it wasn't much but at least he got something.
The people continued to clap and cheer as Mr. Patterson congratulated Tim and Riptide. Then, Mr. Patterson asked if Tim and Riptide wanted to play more games. But it was night in Tim and Riptide's world, and they really needed to get back now. So Tim said "No thanks sir, I think we're going to head back to our world for now. It's nighttime there and the both of us will really need some sleep after this.". "Wait, before you two go back to your world I'll need the both of you to go back inside the room where some gold dust were poured on the both of you." said Mr. Patterson, "Ok." Tim and replied as he and Riptide went to the room.
When Tim and Riptide were in the room where gold dust was poured on them, gold dust poured again. It removed the modifications that had been done to Riptide. Once Tim and Riptide got out, Tim went over to Mr. Patterson and asked why Riptide's modifications were removed. Mr. Patterson answered his question by saying that the reasons for drivers not being able to keep modifications done to their engines is so that they wouldn't be able to use it to potentially do stupid things in their world and because it was his hangout, and his hangout meant his rules.
Tim tried to ask Mr. Patterson if Riptide could keep his modifications, but no matter how much he asked Mr. Patterson wouldn't let Riptide keep them. Finally giving up, Tim just sighed and told Riptide everything. Then, Mr. Patterson opened the portal that led Tim and Riptide to his world. The two went inside there and back into their own world.
That night, Tim and Riptide were happy. They both got great things today. Tim got some money and Riptide won against some engine drivers in a crazy race. What do all of you think it going to happen next time Tim and Riptide go back to the underground locomotive hangout? I guess we'll find out next time eh?
