Chase grit his teeth, shielding his eyes from the snow as he tried to walk, but the wind was too strong.
Jeremie shook his head.
"I have to wake up... Yeah, I have to wake up!" the blond haired teen said to himself, convinced that this was a dream.
He pinched himself. "Come on... Wake up, wake up, wake up!"
Anne shook her head. "Jeremie, this isn't a dream!"
Chase turned to look at Anne and Jeremie, with gritted teeth.
"Are you coming, or not?" Chase asked
Jeremie slapped himself. "Come on! Wake up!"
He then took his glasses off and buried his face in the snow to try and make himself wake up. "WAKE UP!"
Chase tried to pull Jeremie up. "Jeremie, move it! This is not a dream!" he yelled over the wind.
Anne had a wide eyed look, as she helped Chase pull Jeremie up."Jeremie, snap out of it! This isn't a dream! Come on, we've gotta get the ticket to Aelita!" she exclaimed.
Just then, the train whistle blared loudly. In the distance, they could see a light approaching. As the light got closer, they could see it was the hobo on a pair of skis with a flashlight strapped to his hat.
"KID!" he yelled over the train whistle as he approached them. "Kid, get your head outta the clouds! Wake up, kid!"
Jeremie's eyes widened as he slipped his glasses back on.
"There's no sleepwalkin' on the Polar Express!" the hobo exclaimed.
"What?! I can barely hear you!" Chase exclaimed, over the snow
"We gotta jump them knuckles!" the hobo said as he turned around and held his hand out to Jeremie. "Come on, kid. Flip my shoulders. Grab my hand."
Blinking, Jeremie grabbed the hobo's hand. The man then placed Jeremie on his shoulders.
"You two, hold on, alright?" the hobo ordered as he looked at Anne and Chase. The two held onto him as he started to walk through the snow. "We gotta hightail it to the hog, pronto!"
"The hog?" Jeremie questioned.
"The engine, you tenderfoot." the hobo explained. "We gotta make it to the engine before we hit Flaptop Tunnel."
"Flattop Tunnel?" Anne questioned
"And how come we gotta reach the engine before Flattop Tunnel?" Chase asked.
The hobo let out a sigh. "So many questions... There is but one inch of clearance between the roof of this rattler and Flattop Tunnel. Savvy?"
"Savvy..." Jeremie said, nodding in confirmation.
The train started to go up a hill. The hobo quickly crossed the back of his skis as they started to slide backwards. His eyes widened seeing some of the snow break off top behind them.
Quickly, the hobo used one of the skis and slipped it into a handle, stopping them abruptly. However, the sudden stop knocked Jeremie off the hobo's shoulders, nearly falling off the train. Luckily, he managed to grab onto the back just in time.
"JER!" Chase exclaimed.
The hobo's eyes widened seeing that the Polar Express was starting to go downhill.
"Hurry, flip back on, kid! Grab my muck stick!" he exclaimed as he held the ski handle out to Jeremie. The bespectacled teen quickly grabbed it with both hands.
The hobo then flipped Jeremie around, having him land on front of him on the skis.
Anne and Chase held onto the hobo tightly as they started to slide down the train. In the distance, they could see they were approaching a tunnel.
"We need to hurry this up, guys!" Anne exclaimed
As they quickly approached a gap between the carts, the hobo quickly jumped over the gaps and did the same thing to the other gaps.
"We gotta hurry!" Chase exclaimed.
The train got closer and closer to the tunnel.
"There's only one thing to this, you three..." the hobo told them as they rapidly approached the engine and the tunnel.
"When I say 'jump'... you JUMP!" he yelled before he suddenly disappeared into thin air, vanishing in the snowflakes.
Jeremie, Anne, and Chase screamed as they jumped, right before the tunnel went over them. They ended up landing in a pile of coal. Chase, Anne, and Jeremie slid down through the coal, until they landed on a metal floor.
Anne groaned and sat up.
"That wasn't fun at all..." Anne muttered
"Just who was that guy?!" Chase asked.
"No idea!" Jeremie said
Chase's eyes widened as he got up and saw that Aelita was sitting in the engineers seat and that William was standing next to her.
Aelita and William both turned, and smiled at Jeremie, Anne, and Chase.
"Hey guys!" Aelita said, smiling
"Aelita?! William?!" Anne asked, shocked to see her two friends here.
"What're you two doing?!" Chase asked, shocked to see Aelita sitting in the engineers seat.
"They put us in charge!" Aelita said.
"WHAT?!" Jeremie, Anne, and Chase all asked with shock.
"They had to check the light." William explained.
"Hold on, what're you doing up here? I thought you stayed back in the cart?" Anne asked.
William chuckled sheepishly. "Yeah... about that... I thought you'd have a better chance of finding her if I went to look, too... I got caught..."
"When?!" Chase asked, with disbelief
"About five minutes ago..." William admitted.
"How do you know how to drive this thing?!" Chase asked.
"It's quite simple, guys. Come here, I'll show you." Aelita told them. The trio stepped closer to Aelita and William.
"This big lever here, that's the throttle." Aelita explained as she pointed at a large lever.
William gestured to a smaller lever. "This lever here is the brake..."
"Those are the pressure gauges..." Aelita continued as she pointed to some gauges. She then pointed at a rope with a handle. "And that rope there is the whistle."
"The whistle?" Anne asked.
Aelita smiled and nodded. "Wanna try it?"
Anne grinned and pulled the whistle, the train horn blaring loudly.
Anne smirked, pulling it again.
"I wanted to do that my whole life!" Anne exclaimed, joyfully
The brown haired teenager pulled it again.
"WHOOOO!" she exclaimed.
Chase smirked, walking to Aelita. He pulled the rope, and snickered as the whistle blew.
"This is awesome!" Chase exclaimed
"I know, right?!" William asked.
Chase laughed, as he pulled the whistle again.
Meanwhile, in the passenger cart...
Odd groaned as Herve was talking his ear off about the train.
Odd sighed, looking at Herve.
"Can you not talk about it anyone?" Odd asked
Herve rolled his eyes.
"I can't inform people of interesting faces about a train?" Herve asked
1h agoOdd groaned and headed back to his seat.
Odd sighed, with boredom.
Ulrich stayed silent as he looked out the window.
Yumi smiled, locking hands with him. "Ulrich... Is something wrong?" the Japanese teen asked.
Ulrich rose an eyebrow, looking at Yumi.
"No, why?" Ulrich asked
"I think there's something you're hiding..." Yumi said.
Ulrich looked out the window. "Nothing's wrong..." he muttered.
"Don't lie to me, Ulrich..." Yumi said
"I said I'm fine, okay?!" he snapped.
Yumi blinked with surprise.
"Why're you talking to me like that...?" Yumi asked
Ulrich's eyes widened when he realized what he said. "S-Sorry..." he stuttered before he quickly got out of the seat and tried to walk away.
Yumi quickly grabbed his arm, stopping him.
"Are you okay, Ulrich...?" Yumi asked
Ulrich sighed and looked back at her.
"I... uh... Not really." Ulrich admitted
"What's wrong, Ulrich?" Yumi asked.
Ulrich sighed and looked at the other kids in the cart. "Can we talk somewhere else?"
Yumi nodded, standing up. She followed Ulrich out of the cart, and to the rear one. They passed the boy, and went back outside to the very end of the train.
Ulrich sighed as he looked out to the distance. "You know why I stayed at Kadic for Christmas?" he asked Yumi.
"Why, Ulrich?" Yumi asked
Ulrich let out a sigh as he stared off into the distance. "Because my father forced me to stay behind. He was so mad about my bad grades this year that he told me, 'If you can't get your grades up, you will not be spending Christmas with us!'. And since I couldn't get good grades, Dad made me stay behind. My mother never got a say in the matter. It was like she was backing him up in his decision."
Yumi went wide eyed. She then gently put her hands on Ulrich's shoulders, and pulled him in for a hug.
Ulrich remained silent as Yumi did this.
"I'm sorry, Ulrich..." Yumi whispered.
Yumi rubbed Ulrich's back as she hugged him. "I'm so sorry..." she said, sympathetically
Ulrich closed his eyes. "And my mother just stood back and watched as Dad yelled at me... They left me there alone on Christmas..."
Yumi shook her head. "You're not alone. You have us." she told him.
Ulrich looked at Yumi, going wide eyed.
"W- What did you say...?" Ulrich asked
"I said you're not alone. You've got us. We won't let you be alone on Christmas." Yumi told him.
Ulrich slowly smiled, as he nodded.
"Thanks, Yumi..." he said softly.
Yumi smiled, kissing Ulrich's cheek. "You're welcome..." she said, smiling.
Ulrich blushed a little bit.
"Uh... L-Let's head back to the cart..." the brunet stuttered.
Yumi nodded before they headed back into the cart, passing the quiet boy, and reentered the passenger cart.
(REVIEWS ARE LOVE! SO LOVE US!)