Ok here's the second chapter! More of that mysterious boy in the last car in this chapter! And some more action!

I do not own Total Drama nor do I own the Polar Express

"Did you know that Montezuma, the king of the Aztecs would actually drink 50 quarts of hot chocolate every day? They say it was as thick as mud and colored red because he liked to put chili pepper in it instead of sugar! How awesome is that!" The annoying boy said as he wiped the last bit of hot chocolate from his lips. Noah was in a state of bliss, and couldn't even hear what the boy was saying. The cup of hot chocolate had certainly hit the spot. He was staring up at the ceiling in a daze until he saw Courtney get up from her seat with the cup of hot chocolate she saved. Noah turned his head towards her,

"Hey. Where're you going with that?" He asked. She turned towards him and raised her eyebrows.

"Well we can't just leave that boy back there without any of this awesome hot chocolate? It's for him." She said and approached the green door leading to the caboose. Noah sat up in his seat as he watched Courtney approach the door.

"Hey, um, I don't think we're allowed to leave our seats Courtney." Noah said. From behind him, he heard the annoying boy speak up,

"He's correct. Leaving your seat is a violation of railroad safety regulations for a kid to cross moving cars without a grown-up." He pointed out. As much as he hated it, the boy was siding with him on this matter, and he was slightly content that he had someone to back him up in the matter. Courtney turned to Noah and grinned,

"I think I'll be ok." She said and turned back to the green door. Noah spoke up,

"Are you sure?" he said. Her crossing between cars like that could be dangerous, and he didn't want to be left all alone with the kid with glasses. He would much rather prefer if she waited till at least the conductor would guide her across. In a most unusual coincidence, the conductor appeared behind Courtney and put his hands on his hips as he looked down on her. 'Where did this guy come from?' Noah wondered, dumbfounded.

"What about this lad in the back. Did he receive any refreshment?" He asked. Both Noah and Courtney shook their heads 'no'. The conductor stood silent for a moment before throwing his hand sup in the air, "Well, let's take some to him, by all means." He said and guided Courtney to the green door. Noah shook his head, confused at this man's mood swings. He stood up from his seat and watched as he opened the green door. "Watch your step now, watch your step." He said as he closed the door behind him, shutting Noah away from sight of Courtney. As Noah was going to return to his seat, he noticed a golden shimmer from the side of his eyes. He turned around and saw a golden ticket, much like his own, sitting on Courtney's seat.

"Oh great. She forgot her ticket." Noah said grumpily. Why did he have to do everything? Noah inspected the ticket closer. He noticed that it had no hole punches in it, and sighed heavily, "And it hasn't even been punched. Why am I not surprised." He said rolling his eyes. Although, even though he had just met this girl, he felt that he was obliged to give her the ticket. They were friends after all. So, after deciding what to do, Noah turned towards the green door. As he approached it, he heard the annoying boy speak up from behind him,

"Hey what're you doing? You're going to get us in trouble! Gosh!" The boy said as Noah grabbed hold of the door handle. Ignoring the boy's pleas, Noah thrust open the green door and was met with the sting of the cold air as the snow and wind whipped his face. Squinting his eyes, he held on to the sides of the doorway, one hand holding the ticket. As he looked beneath him, he could see the buffers and chains holding the train together with the caboose. Noah then looked ahead of him and saw Courtney and the conductor handing the cup of hot chocolate to the boy with brown hair. While Noah was staring, he didn't notice the golden ticket in his hand start to loosen from his grasp. With one final gust of wind, the golden ticket flew right out of his hands, and flapped around in the wind.

Noah swung his arms around in the air, in an attempt to grab the ticket. Unfortunately, he was unable to get a hold of it. 'Come on!' he thought as he watched the ticket start to fly towards the front of the passenger car, the train's gust of wind carrying it all the way. Staring at the ticket through the windows of the train car, Noah ran down the aisle of the train car, following the ticket's every move. Noah's heart stopped as he saw it get caught on one of the train car's last windows. 'Ok Noah don't blow it. You can grab it!' he thought as he eyed the ticket cautiously. Noah then placed his hands on the window frame, and gently pulled down. It seemed as though fate wasn't on his side today, (was it ever?) however, and the ticket flew out just as soon as he pulled the window down. Noah's heart sank as he watched as his friends ticket flew into oblivion, never to be seen again.

After watching the horrible act before him, Noah made his way back to his seat, a lump in his throat, and his stomach in knots. How could he have been so careless! Noah kicked a nearby seat out of frustration and sat in his seat sadly. He loathed the time where Courtney would return and find out that it was his entire fault for losing her ticket. 'Why didn't I just wait till she came back? That would've been a good idea!' Noah thought as he put his head in his hands. For a few minutes, all he did was sit there, on his seat, listening to the annoying boy go on and on about how he knew so much about the Aztecs. Noah groaned as the boy got into a debate with another boy on the train. 'Maybe Courtney coming back wouldn't be so bad.' Noah thought as the two boys quarreled. Thankfully, Courtney and the conductor returned soon after. Courtney took her seat quietly, and the conductor walked down the aisle. 'Maybe they would forget?' Noah thought hopefully.

"Young lady, forgive me." The conductor had turned back towards Courtney. 'Shoot.' Noah thought sadly. "I believe I neglected to punch your ticket. May I?" The conductor continued. Courtney nodded and searched around her seat. Noah watched as she shuffled around her seat, searching for the ticket that Noah had accidentally lost. After a moment, she seemed to have gave up and turned towards the conductor with a worried face,

"I left my ticket right here on the seat…and now it's gone." She said quietly. 'Great, now I feel bad' Noah thought as he listened to their conversation. A little more of this and he couldn't take it anymore.

"You mean…you have lost your ticket?" The conductor asked raising an eyebrow. Noah couldn't take the guilt anymore. He stood up from his seat and spoke up,

"She didn't lose her ticket…I did. I was trying to return it to you…but the wind blew it out of my hand…" Noah confessed. Courtney looked slightly angry.

"What?" She said raising her voice, not to a yell, but a more sincere questioning, like she was interrogating him. The conductor looked annoyed, and stared at the ceiling as he let out a sigh. Noah felt everyone staring at him, and felt ashamed. 'Well, might as well give her mine. I don't need it now…' Noah thought as he reached into his own pocket. After pulling it out, he handed it to her,

"Here, you can have mine. He already punched it." Noah said. Courtney reached for the ticket but was interrupted by the conductor's hand, who snatched it out of Noah's grasp. The conductor gasped and shook his head before speaking,

"These tickets…are not transferable!" he said in an informative voice. With that, he handed the ticket back to Noah, who returned it to his pocket. The conductor then turned back towards Courtney, "Young lady, you'll just have to come with me." He said offering her a hand out of the seat.

"Where are we going?" Courtney asked.

"All questions will be answered in due time." He said and led her to the green door again. Noah watched as he pulled her along. Courtney turned back towards him, with a slightly angered expression, but also a worried expression. 'Great job Noah, you did such a good job at returning her ticket, delivery boy.' Noah said and hit himself in the head with the palm of his hand. The conductor closed the green door behind him, and Noah saw him shake his head in disappointment. Just then, the annoying boy spoke up again,

"You know what's going to happen now don't you? He's gonna throw her off the train! He's probably going to throw her off the rear platform. Standard procedure, that way she won't get sucked under the wheels of the train." The boy spoke. Noah had had enough of this boy,

"Ok, who are you again? And who asked you?" He said with an annoyed look. The boy smiled and bowed,

"Harold Yellowstone at your service." He said. Noah rolled his eyes and turned back towards the matter at hand. He ran up to the green door and peered through the porthole. There, he could see the conductor leading Courtney through the caboose towards the end of the car. 'Was he really going to throw her off? How could he!'

"You know, they may slow the train down a little bit, but they're never gonna stop it. Yeah, she's pretty much a goner." Harold said, straightening his glasses. Noah rolled his eyes again. Then, he had an epiphany. 'Stop it?' He repeated in his mind, 'Stop it!' he thought of a plan.

"Look at that Harold you're nonstop talking actually came to use. I'll just stop the train again!" Noah said approaching the emergency brake again.

"What? No! Please don't do that again!" Harold said, cowering in his seat. The other children heard Noah's plan, and also pleaded with him to stop. Noah ignored them, and was about to pull the handle, when he noticed something in an air vent next to the emergency brake. Fluttering inside the small vent, he noticed a golden piece of paper. Noah quickly grabbed the end of the paper, and pulled it out. Could it be? Courtney's ticket? But how? Noah ignored the improbability that it was indeed Courtney's ticket, and formulated a plan. He would return it to her, and this time, he would hold on to the ticket more securely. Noah threw open the green door, and returned to the familiar scene where he had lost the ticket the first time.

Unlike last time, Noah put the ticket between his teeth, and clamped down, ensuring that it would not escape his grasp this time. With a surge of confidence, Noah leapt across the train cars. He landed successfully on the caboose's side, and grabbed hold of the nearby railing. He threw open the green door and entered the caboose. Unlike the passenger car, it looked more elegant and did not have any booths for passengers to sit in. It had seats lining against the wall, and lamps that accompanied each one. Noah practically slid down the train car's glossy floor and grabbed hold of the door leading to the balcony at the end of the train. Along with the other two doors, he opened the door and ran out onto the balcony.

Outside, all he could see was endless snow and track that was disappearing as the train continued on its journey. Noah searched but could not see any sign of Courtney or the conductor. Where had they gone? Frantically, he looked around and saw the boy sitting alone on one of the chairs. He had completely forgotten about him as he ran past him. Noah ran up to him and asked,

"Where'd they go?" The boy gave no response, and looked up at him confused. "C'mon tell me! What happened to them! You have to tell me she's in grave danger, I have her ticket!" The boy still gave no response. With a humph, Noah was about to leave when he saw a shadow of a man and a smaller figure on the top of the train from outside, plastered on the rocky wall. Apparently, the lantern's light that the conductor was holding was providing a shadow in front of him. 'On top! Of course!' Noah ran back to the balcony and grabbed hold of the cold metal latter that led to the top of the train. Noah's black hair flew about in the wind as the cold air slammed into his face. Snow pelted him as he began to climb the latter. He was indeed scared, for not only falling off, but also the rocky ledge that was next to the train was getting awfully close. Close enough to knock him off! Squinting his eyes, and clutching the ticket in his hands, Noah scaled to the top of the caboose, which was covered in icy snow. Once on top, he could see the conductor's silhouette and the golden glow coming from the lantern he was holding.

"Hey!" Noah shouted trying to get their attention. They still kept walking away from him, so Noah shouted again, "HEY! I FOUND YOUR TICKET! COURTNEY WAIT!" Still, they kept going. Eventually, the light from the lantern disappeared. Noah continued shouting the same thing, over and over again, but this time he pursued them from atop the caboose. The wind was even stronger up here, and he slowly trudged through the icy snow that was on top of the train. His face was a light shade of pink from the exposure to the cold. As Noah pressed forward, the light reappeared, but not in the shape of a lantern. More of the shape of a campfire. Noah approached the light cautiously, and soon found out that it was indeed a campfire. Complete with a grungy looking Hobo. Noah slowly walked over to the man, who was playing some sort of instrument that emitted wheezy sort of notes. The man stopped playing when Noah was close enough, and stared up at him with a smirk,

"Can I help you?" he asked, still with that stupid smirk on his face. Noah stared at him and raised an eyebrow.

"What are you doing up here?" He asked. The man snickered.

"Gettin' a free ride that's what. What're you doing up here?" he asked.

"I'm looking for a girl." He said. Noah was about to describe Courtney to him when the man laughed aloud, holding his sides as he did.

"Hahaha! Ain't we all?" Noah rolled his eyes at the man's joke.

"I just want to return her ticket." He said holding out Courtney's ticket. The man's laughter cut short as his eyes widened,

"Well! Lookie Lookie! What do we have here? This is an official, authentic, genuine ticket to ride! You better keep this in a safe place buddy." The hobo said, handing Noah the ticket back after he inspected it. Noah nodded and was about to put it in his pocket when the hobo spoke up again, "If I was you, I keep all my valuables right here!" The hobo said taking off his rugged shoe and holding it in front of Noah. Noah nearly gagged, but did as the man said. He took off his slipper, and slid the ticket inside.

"Not that I need those things anyway. Tickets, hah! I ride for free. I hop on this rattler whenever I feels like it! I own this train, yeah. Oh yeah, I'm the king of this train. In fact, I am the king of the NORTH POLE" The hobo declared, waving his hands in the air in a triumphant pose. Noah looked at the man, with an indifferent expression on his face.

"Uh huh, I'm sure you are." Noah said sarcastically. The man grinned and gestured for Noah to sit down.

"Oh, where are my manners, sit, sit!" Noah took a seat on a nearby crate. Thankfully, the hobo's fire was warm, and kept him from freezing to death on top of the train. "Hey, would you like some joe? Nice, hot, refreshment to take a load of, eh?" The man said, pouring a black looking liquid into a tin cup. Noah eyed the beverage curiously as the hobo handed it to him. Looking inside it, it looked like just a plain cup of hot water. Noah shrugged and took a sip, and realized it tasted like dishwater. But that wasn't all. As he was taking a sip, the man took a dirty sock out of the pot that he had poured Noah's cup of 'joe' out of. Noah spat out the beverage and coughed violently. 'What the heck! That's gross!' Noah thought, coughing the last of the disgusting beverage up.

"There. Bless you." He said as he laid the dirty sock on a stick over the fire. Noah thought for a moment about what the man had said before about being the King of the North Pole.

"So, what about Santa. I thought he was the king of the North Pole, or is he just a figure head?" Noah asked. The hobo stared at him for a moment before grinning again,

"You mean, you mean this guy?" The hobo said pulling out a Santa hat, and doing a horrible imitation of Santa Clause. After a series of 'Hohoho's', the hobo's expression turned serious as he leaned towards Noah. "Lemme ask you somethin' kid. What's your persuasion on the big man? Huh?" he asked. Noah thought for a moment before responding.

"Well, like every child on this earth, I would love to believe in a jolly fat man that delivers toys to millions of children. Heck, if I knew he was real, I would ask him for anything I wanted. However, there's plenty of evidence to prove he doesn't exist. I want to believe, but-" Noah said, before getting cut off by the hobo,

"But! You don't want to be bamboozled! You don't want to be led down the primrose path! You don't want to be conned, or duped, or have the wool pulled over your eyes. You don't want to be hoodwinked. You don't want to be taken for a ride! Railroaded!" With that, the hobo tossed the rest of the 'joe' into the fire, extinguishing it with a cloud of steam. He then emerged from the small cloud and grinned at Noah, "Seeing is believing, am I right?" He said.

"But what about this train?" Noah asked. If this man knew anything, Noah wanted to know.

"What about it?" The man asked, keeping his grin.

"Apparently we're all going to the North Pole…aren't we?" he asked, unsure. The hobo leaned in,

"Aren't we?" He repeated Noah's question.

"Are you saying, that this is all just a dream?" Noah asked, confused.

"You said it kid! Not me." The hobo said, poking Noah in the ribs and smiling. He then took a swig of the last cup of 'joe' and looked at Noah excitedly, "So, let's go find that girl!" Then, he turned away from Noah and began walking down the train. He took a few steps before turning back to Noah and approaching him slowly, "One other thing…do you believe in ghosts?" he asked. Noah snickered,

"Of course not." The hobo frowned and nodded,

"Interesting." He said before walking off again. This time, he did not wait for Noah. Before long, he too disappeared into the cloud of snow.

"Wait! Wait! What is wrong with you people! You're all crazy!" Noah shouted as he pressed onward, after the hobo. The snow seemed to press even harder as he chased after the hobo. His steps started feeling weighted down. He slowed down to a walk, and eventually fell to his knees in the ice cold snow. Noah remembered how the hobo had said this was a dream, "I have to wake up!" Noah said. "Yeah, I have to wake up! Wake up! Wake up! WAKE UP!" Noah told himself as he pinched his arm. Unfortunately, nothing happened. He then threw snow over his face and buried his head in the snow, in an attempt to wake himself up, and find that he was still in his room. "WAKE UP!" He repeated to himself. He removed his head from the snow, and blew off the snow that was caked on his face.

"KIIIIIIIIIDDDD! Kid get your head out of the clouds!" He heard a voice say. Noah opened his eyes and saw another light approaching him. As it neared, he was able to make out the figure. It was the hobo again, and he was sporting a pair of skis and sticks. "Wake up kid! There's no sleepwalking on the Polar Express!" He heard the hobo yell. "We gotta jump them knuckles." Noah looked up at him dumbfounded.

"C'mon kid, up on my shoulders. Grab my hand." The hobo said holding out his hand. Noah grabbed hold of his hand, and with a mighty pull, Noah was sent on top of the hobo's shoulders, like a piggy back ride. "That girl you're chasing must have moved up on ahead. We gotta hightail it to the hog, pronto!" The hobo said. Noah was confused.

"The hog?"

"The engine. The engine you tenderfoot." The hobo explained. "We gotta get to the engine before we hit flattop tunnel."

"Why is that?" Even Noah knew that was a stupid question when he asked it, but he did anyway.

"There happens to be only one inch of clearance, between this rattler, and the roof of that tunnel. Savvy?" The hobo told Noah. Noah wasn't paying attention, however, for he was too concerned over what lay before him. He saw the train start climbing a short hill. "Hold on! This should be interesting!" The hobo said and made a 'V' form with his skis to stop him from falling off the train too quickly. Slowly, the duo began sliding back towards the end of the train. 'Oh my gosh we're gonna fall off!' Noah thought frantically and clutched onto the hobo's head. "Hey! Watch it kid I can't see!" The hobo said as they began falling back towards the end of the caboose. Luckily, the hobo latched onto a nearby railing with his pole-stick, and held onto that.

Noah wasn't so lucky.

Noah felt himself fly from the hobo's grasp as he was jerked off his back. Flying in the air, Noah grabbed at anything he could to prevent himself from falling off the train. He felt his hands hit the railing that outlined the end of the caboose, and he held on for dear life, while screaming his head off. On top, the hobo was trying to regain his balance as he swayed to and fro. Luckily for the two of them, the train had climbed the small hill and was beginning its decent down a much larger drop (not too steep mind you).

"Quick! Climb on kid! Grab my pole!" The hobo said handing Noah the metal pole. Noah grabbed onto it and felt himself get lifted into the air. He landed safely in front of the hobo, and onto the set of skis. Using the sudden slope, the hobo began skiing down the train car's top, using it as some sort of ski track. One by one, the pair hopped over the train cars, getting ever so close to the engine. The train was relentless and did not stop or slow down. It's cold, black, metal wheels slid on the slippery metal tracks as it neared the tunnel. They didn't have much time. The tunnel was getting nearer and nearer. They were three cars away now, now two. They were so close!

Up ahead, Noah could see the entrance to Flattop Tunnel. It was covered in icicles and almost had the resemblance of an evil looking face. The train's light now flashed upon the tunnel, signaling how close it was to the tunnel.

"There's only one trick to this kid." The hobo said. They were getting even closer! It was only a matter of seconds before the hit the tunnel! "When I say you jump…" The hobo began. The train hit the icicles, shattering them into millions of pieces. Noah was scared!

"You jump!" The hobo yelled. Noah felt him disappear, and looked behind him for a millisecond. He wasn't there! Noah didn't have time to dwell on this matter, however, and he jumped off just as the hobo said. Darkness enveloped him as he felt himself land on a pile of coal. He had made it. He had landed successfully into the locomotive's engine.

Ok, well I know it's a little shorter, but I've divided this story into parts, as you can see, so this is where I end this chapter. Till next time (aka probably tomorrow)!