On The Thunder Mesa Railway, the Dream Keeper and his students raced the rails, taking in the sights of the American Wild West. Gabriel hummed a tune as he looked out the window, letting Fantasia dance between his fingers as he tapped on the window.

"Hey Gabriel, I was wondering something," Toren said, coming over to sit next to the raven. "I know that out of all of your students I'm the one you've had the most time with ever since we first met. However, I can't help but feel like I'm still behind them somehow. Like, I have my pranks and my crystal magic, but at the same time…. I dunno, it feels more like I'm going on instinct than coming up with a plan."

"Well Toren, you tend to wear your emotions on your sleeve, which is why the crystal magic comes naturally to you," Gabriel said. "Like back in the volcano, you used Sadness to create water and cool down the lava."

"I did, but honestly I was kinda faking those emotions," Toren admitted. "I was more scared of that Robo-Adam than anything else. I just thought of a sad memory and used that to call on the water."

"That's kinda the point, though," Joy said to her partner. "My powers come from Memory Orbs, which are all just as they say, memories. That doesn't make the emotions any less real. There's no shame in recalling the past to give you strength."

"But you must also not let the past have control over you," Belos added. "If you only focus on what you left behind, you'll miss what's coming up ahead. We learn and grow from the past so we can make the present and future better."

"…I think I get it," Toren nodded. He fluttered in the seat and smiled. "Yeah, thanks guys! I guess being the youngest here was just making me second guess myself."

Gabriel gave the Jaquin a pat on the head. "That's why we have friends: they can explain stuff that we don't understand. And we'll always have each other's backs."

This sweet moment was interrupted by a gunshot, followed by the passengers screaming in terror. The heroes looked around to see bandits riding on horses, which quickly jumped onto the train and started holding up passengers. "Okay, take out your valuables and give 'em here!" said one of the bandits.

"Is that horse wearing a bandana?" Aline asked.

"I think these are those Bandito Bandits that Sheriff Pete mentioned," Gadget said.

"Yeah, well we're not about to let them take over this train," Gabriel said. "Everyone, let's defend the passengers."

The Dream Students fanned out, using their abilities to kick the Banditos off the train. It seemed like there were quite a few of them, as continuing through the cars the heroes had to contend with more Banditos. Eventually they made it up to the front of the train, were a bolt of magic stopped them in their tracks.

"That's as far as you go, Dream Keeper," said a voice with a Southern drawl. She tilted up her cowboy hat, holding two pistols with magic runes engraved on them.

"I'm guessing you're the leader of this group?" Gabriel asked.

"The Bandito Bandits aren't my crew, but they'll get my job done," she shrugged. "Now then, I was told that I'd get paid big bucks if I stopped this train, so stand back so I can do this without any bloodshed."

"She sounds familiar," Double D said.

"Wait… Rachel!?" Toren exclaimed.

The bandit leader smirked, pulling down her bandana to reveal that she was in fact an alternate Rachel! "Guess I shoulda known that one of my previous targets would have recognized me. Tell me, what's your universe's me about?"

"Rachel is a noble sword mage and the Sorcerer's Apprentice to Yen Sid," Beth explained. "She has a strong sense of justice too. You should be ashamed to share her face!"

Fractured Rachel shrugged. "Well, in my world, I decided to take up the gun rather than the blade and fancied myself to become the best bounty hunter in the Magical World. Of course, hunting down outlaws got boring, so I decided to take up making a game out of catching people like you folk." She pointed one of her guns at Gabriel. "Have to say, you seem stronger than the Dream Keeper of my world, but that might be because I didn't give him a chance to get stronger."

Gabriel looked a bit sick at that statement. "I can't even imagine Rachel hurting us like that… The Trio really are picking the worst versions of my friends to fight us."

Fractured Rachel chuckled. "Well, this has be fun, but now's the time for all of yall to be floating up the river." She turned to the engine and shot at the controls, making them spark and sputter. Rachel then turned and shot at the heroes, making them duck for cover as she leaped over them into the train. The outlaw then cut the cable connecting the engine to the cars, sending the heroes away.

"Well that was scary, but at least she's leaving herself out of this," Double D said.

"Guys, look!" Aline called, pointing to the bridge they were heading towards. It was suspended over the river and looked to have dynamite all over the supports.

"Oh dear," Ben said.

"Everyone, hold on to something!" Gabriel shouted.

Behind them, Fractured Rachel smirked, before putting her guns together and transforming them into a sniper rifle. With one magic bullet, she hit one of the dynamite packs, exploding it and destroying the bridge. Gabriel and Belos quickly put up a shield around the train as it careened into the canyon, with Aline using plant glyphs to push them away from the canyon walls. Once they hit water, Gadget pulled out an invention that set up foam around the train, letting it float in the river instead of sinking.

"I'm so glad we didn't get wet there," Mittens sighed in relief.

"But now we're nowhere near the mirror shard," Aline groaned.

"Wasn't it on the river though?" Toren asked. "Then why don't we use this train to get us to it. Just a bit of magic and we'll be good!"

"Yeah, but this thing is heavy, and that weight is making it more like a rock than a mobile object," Gadget pointed out.

"Hm… I think we just need to think positively to get us going," Joy said. "Toren, think you can help me with something?" She whispered in the Jaquin's ear, making his tail shake with delight.

"Yeah, I can do that! Gabriel, Beth, give me a beat!" Toren asked. The two nodded, with Beth humming as Gabriel started up some Fantasia. "Aline, Belos, and Gadget, use your skills to put some power behind the engine!" Those three use their magic and tools to start pushing against the water. "And now, let's get some good vibes here!" Toren flew up to the top of the train, letting his scarf shine yellow as he focused on positive thought as he started to sing.

Sittin' in the morning sun
I'll be sittin' when the evening comes
Watching the ships roll in
Then I watch them roll away again, yeah

Gabriel and Beth harmonized with Toren, creating an acapella chorus to back him up.

Sittin' on the dock of the bay
Watchin' the tide roll away, ooh
Sittin' on the dock of the bay
Wastin' time

Double D and Ben snapped their fingers along with the beat.

I left my home in Georgia
I'm Headed for the Frisco Bay
I've had nothing to live for
Like nothing's gonna come my way

Joy and Mittens joined in sing too.

I'm just sittin' on the dock of the bay
Watchin' the tide roll away, ooh
Sittin' on the dock of the bay
Wastin' time

Toren's magic started to shine, with the train emitting small golden sparks from its smokestack.

Looks like nothing's gonna change
Everything remains the same
I can't do what ten people tell me to do
So I guess I'll remain the same

"Now for a bit of a change," Gabriel said, using Fantasia to switch up the song to a different one.

Rollin', rollin', rollin' on the river

Left a good job in the city
Workin' for the Man every night and day
And I never lost one minute of sleepin',
Worrying 'bout the way things might have been

As they started singing again, the train actually started moving, with Aline, Gadget, and Belos joining the song as well.

Big wheel keep on turnin'
Proud Mary keep on burnin'
And we rollin', rollin', rollin' on the river

"You're doing it, Toren!" Joy called.

Cleaned a lot of plates in Memphis
Pumped a lot of tane down in New Orleans
But I never saw the good side of a city
'Til I hitched a ride on the riverboat queen

Gabriel and Double D started clapping along as they train began to move up the river.

Big wheel keep on turnin'
Proud Mary keep on burnin'
And we rollin', rollin', rollin' on the river
Said we rollin', rollin', rollin' on the river...

"One, two three four!" Toren called, pumping all of his magic into the train as it started going super-fast down some rapids, making everyone else hold on as they rocketed down the river.

Left a good job in the city!
Workin' for the Man every night and day!
And I never lost one minute of sleepin',
Worrying 'bout the way things might have been!

Up on the canyon, Fractured Rachel looked down to see that the heroes were not only still alive, but moving at a rapid pace. "What in tarnation?" she said. Rachel pulled out her guns and started firing down at them, but Toren agilely avoided all the shots as if he was dancing.

Big wheel keep on turning!
Proud Mary keep on burning!
And we rollin', rollin', rollin' on the river!
Rollin', rollin', rollin' on the river!

"Keep it up dude!" Double D called.

"Mirror Shard dead ahead!" Joy shouted, pointing to said object hovering above the river.

Rollin', rollin', rollin' on the river!
Rollin', rollin', rollin' on the river!

Suddenly, Fractured Rachel jumped down onto the train, her gun right on Toren's forehead. "End of the line for you," she said.
Rollin', rollin', rollin' on the river!
Rollin', rollin', rollin' on the river!

Toren just laugh. "Nah, just for you. Bail out, guys!" The Jaquin flew away just as Rachel tried to shoot, with the others hopping into a life raft that Gadget pulled out. Fractured Rachel looked confused, until the sound of rushing water made her realize that a massive waterfall was ahead!

"Oh shooooooooooot!" she shouted as her and the train went over the falls, landing in a massive dust cloud at the bottom.

Rolling!

With the Fractured double out of the way, Toren grabbed the mirror shard from the water, the river quickly returning to its normal state. "And this shard is for us!" the Jaquin said happily.

"Great job, Toren," Gabriel complimented. "I knew you could do it!"

"And I don't think that evil version of Rachel is going to be hunting us down any time soon either," Aline added.

"How about we got inform Sheriff Pete that the riverboats can open again, and give this shard to Oswald," Gabriel suggested, his team nodding in agreement as they made their way back to Disney Gultch.


Author's Note

Unlike the others, Toren's problem was more of a self-confidence one than anything else. Luckily he has people like Gabriel and Joy to get him through those complex emotions and use his powers to draw on memories to help others!

Fractured Rachel is pretty scary, being a cowboy bounty hunter that managed to take out her world's Gabriel during his early days in the Magical World! Unfortunately for her that means that she never bothered with the other Dream Defenders, meaning that Toren and the others were able to distract her from going over the waterfall to defeat her. Overconfidence can lead to narrowmindedness and all that.

The song in this chapter is "(Sitting On) The Dock of the Bay/Proud Mary" by one of my favorite acapella groups, Straight No Chaser. I've seen them in concert before and they're a lot of fun, so check them out!

Next Chapter: To find the next mirror shard location, the team must deal with Oswald's rascally kids!