Diesel finally stopped and sighed in relief, hearing the sirens from a distance, and was glad he did not move.
Of course, he had forgotten that his driver was not with him, and to make matters worse, he could not move as he did back in Sodor!
The magic here may only work a little, unlike in Sodor itself.
Diesel was about to look at his now-new surroundings when the boards near an abandoned mine crashed open, causing Diesel to flinch.
Lying in front of him was P.T. Boomer with Stephanie wrapped in his arms, and he was gritting slightly in pain but was moving as he got up.
"Are you okay?" Diesel asked, now showing concern for the two humans. "What happened? I thought you two were with Diesel 10 and the others."
"It's my bracelet!" Stephanie huffed as her ears flicked with irritation as she looked at her bracelet. "It randomly decided, 'Hmm, we're in the magic tunnel. Let's go flying!'"
She glared at her bracelet as P.T. Boomer explained to Diesel, "My new ring just suddenly teleported me out of Diesel 10's cab."
"Wait," Stephanie perked up after seeing the ring around his finger. "You have a ring that teleports you?"
"Unfortunately, yes." P.T. Boomer bluntly responded, showing he could not remove it as it was stuck to his finger.
Stephanie gently took his hand, and he stiffened but relaxed as she inspected the ring around his finger, looking at it and noticing symbols on the band.
She carefully looked at the symbols on the band without hurting P.T. Boomer's wrist, seeing that they were written in a different language.
It has so many letters and symbols that Stephanie does not know what the sentence means.
Stephanie pushed her glasses into place after seeing the carved language on the ring's band, which looked like it belonged to something ancient.
"Can you read it?" P.T. Boomer asked, noticing the language on the ring.
"No," Stephanie responded, releasing P.T. Boomer's wrist as he looked at the carved language. "It doesn't look like any of the languages I have seen."
"So I'm stuck with it?" P.T. Boomer frowned.
"It looks like it." Stephanie shrugged before looking at her wrist. "Maybe it's the same as my bracelet."
"Stuck with you?" P.T. Boomer asked.
"Yes." Stephanie frowned, proving what she meant by tugging on her bracelet to show P.T. Boomer.
"Honking horns," Diesel remarked after listening quietly to the conversation between the two. "Is there a way to get them off?"
"If we find what it is trying to lead us to," Stephanie explained as they stood up. "The last time this happened was with Rex, his engineer, and me."
"Rex went through this?" Diesel asked.
"Yes," Stephanie nodded. "We found Smudger and Stanley and walked from the Mid-Sodor Railway to the Arlesdale Railway."
Diesel looked worried and asked, "Is that going to happen to us?"
"I hope not." P.T. Boomer frowned before Stephanie could speak up again. "How are we going to find this with Diesel? He's stuck like this."
Stephanie paused as she said, "I can help with that, but promise me you won't attempt to use it for your gains."
This was something P.T. Boomer felt a little torn about.
He had heard a lot of promises from Lady when they were young, but they never went right.
But seeing how Stephanie looked up at him for respect, P.T. Boomer said, "Alright. We won't." He paused as he looked over Diesel, asking, "Right?"
"Yes," Diesel agreed, although he was hesitant and confused. "We won't."
Stephanie nodded as she removed the Dust Whistle from her garments, and P.T. Boomer thought it was like the whistle around his neck… but it looked different.
Instead, it had a knob at the end with symbols that looked like something out of alchemy and a small pill-shaped window that showed Gold Dust.
Stephanie turned the knob at the end to a familiar symbol as the color of Dust inside changed to a copper color, perking P.T. Boomer.
Did she find a way to change the Gold Dust's color?
After changing the symbol of the whistle, Stephanie approached Diesel, who looked confused about what she was about to do as she took a breath before whistling.
Diesel watched copper dust emerge from the whistle and swirl around him as P.T. Boomer stepped back, watching as it disappeared and someone was sitting between the rails in front of them.
The person has short, jet-black hair, fair skin, and ice-blue eyes.
He wore a long-sleeve red shirt with bishop sleeves, a black cap, black overalls with gold buttons, a red belt around his waist through the loops, a pocket at the chest, and black boots.
"Ah!" Stephanie exclaimed with a smile that caused said person to flinch. "It still works outside of Sodor!"
"What works outside of-?" the person stammered before freezing when he noticed something about them before glancing down.
He stared at them with a confused expression before he moved his fingers, his face changing to shock as Stephanie walked over, placing a hand on his shoulder as he flinched, glancing back up.
"It's okay, Diesel," Stephanie assured him as she knelt a little. "I just changed you into a human temporarily."
"You did what?!" the person, Diesel, exclaimed with a squeak in his voice.
"I only changed you into a human." Stephanie explained before saying, as she showed the Dust to Diesel as he slowly calmed down, "Copper Dust transforms any locomotive into a human, and it would stay like that until Gold Dust is used."
"Really?" he asked.
"Yes," Stephanie nodded. "It's not permanent."
"But dangerous," P.T. Boomer spoke as she glanced at him with Diesel. "If Gold Dust was used too much for adults like me, I would've transformed into a puppet."
"Wait, you can?!" Stephanie exclaimed as Diesel slowly backed away, stumbling a little. "But it didn't work with-"
"It only works on people outside of Sodor," P.T. Boomer explained. "Didn't Sir Topham Hatt tell you this?"
"No," Stephanie said, shaking her head. "I usually poke around and find myself learning from a different perspective. But I should've."
Stephanie's bracelet and P.T. Boomer's ring glowed, perked their attention, and caused them to be dragged sideways.
Stephanie grabbed the rails with her left hand while P.T. Boomer dug his heels into the ground as Diesel perked, exclaiming, "What's happening?!"
"Alright, alright, alright!" Stephanie shouted. "We'll get there at our pace!"
The glowing stopped after Stephanie exclaimed, and P.T. Boomer stumbled back after being yanked forward as Stephanie sighed.
"God, one of these days, you're going to pop off someone's arm!" Stephanie angrily hissed as she stood up.
Stephanie turned to the confused Diesel and explained, "Well, that happens if we don't hurry, and it doesn't hurt much."
She rubbed her wrist as P.T. Boomer did the same with his as Diesel asked, "Well, where is it trying to take you two?"
"That's what we're trying to find out," Stephanie responded, taking Diesel's arm. "But let's start with getting you onto your feet."
Diesel hesitated after Stephanie told him but nodded as she hoisted him, causing him to flinch when he was lifted to his feet.
He wobbled as Stephanie wrapped her arms around his middle, causing him to wrap his arms around her as his legs shook underneath his weight.
"Uh, Boomer?" Stephanie spoke as she glanced over at P.T. Boomer. "A little help, please?"
P.T. Boomer walked over to Diesel and moved his arm over his neck as he kept one of them on Stephanie's shoulder, standing upright while keeping himself balanced.
"Alright," Stephanie spoke. "Put one foot in front like you're driving."
Diesel hesitated but slowly did so, stumbling, but Stephanie and P.T. Boomer kept him upright from falling flat on his face.
"There you go!" Stephanie happily chirped. "Keep going and follow along with us."
Diesel blushed a little and scoffed after Stephanie chirped to him, feeling a little embarrassed that he was being helped by a child.
But since he cannot move without a driver or walk alone, Diesel swallowed his annoyance and continued walking.
Stephanie's bracelet and P.T. Boomer's ring glowed through the woods as they walked through the darkness, faintly lighting their way as they wandered.
Diesel hates going through the darkness without anything to light his way, while P.T. Boomer feels a little agitated that there is barely anything to light their way.
Stephanie, on the other hand, was just silent the entire time, staying next to Diesel as she walked over rocks in her way and stepped over twigs while Diesel or P.T. Boomer would stumble onto them.
"How are you managing to walk over them?" Diesel asked, looking down at Stephanie.
Stephanie looked up at him and responded, "Oh, I can see in the dark-" She paused as she stopped, causing the two to stop as she pushed her sleeve up a little, revealing they almost walked into a tree. "Like that."
After stopping in front of the tree, they walked around it, and Diesel asked, "Can other humans see in the dark too?"
"Not all of them," P.T. Boomer responded. "Stephanie," he paused as Stephanie replied, "I don't know how I am the one who can see in the dark. I remember having this ever since I was born."
Diesel and P.T. Boomer glanced at each other after Stephanie told them before their bracelet and ring started tugging a little, causing them to pick up their speed.
"Slow down a little!" Diesel exclaimed. "I haven't gotten to the running part!"
"Blame our jewelry!" Stephanie exclaimed back.
They continued going through the darkness as Diesel followed them, tripping over some items and invisible rocks or twigs but keeping up with their pace.
Stephanie watched the ground as they continued going through the woods before seeing a dip that caused her to gasp and yank backward.
Diesel and P.T. Boomer did the same when Stephanie yanked backward, causing Stephanie's bracelet and P.T. Boomer's ring to pop off.
And they tumbled over the ledge and down a very steep and deep ditch.
Stephanie skidded on her back while P.T. Boomer was on his side while sliding down the steep ditch, and Diesel attempted to grab the grass but was sliding with no luck.
Stephanie took out her Dust Whistle and blew into it without checking the symbol, causing a different kind of Dust to fly out of it.
It swirled around Stephanie, and she grew twice in height as she went past Diesel and P.T. Boomer, landing on the bottom of the ditch as Diesel and P.T. Boomer landed on where her shoulders were, getting into her hair.
"Ow." Stephanie winced as she gingerly got up. "That's going to leave a mark."
Diesel sputtered some hair out of his mouth as he sat up a little while P.T. Boomer did the same, looking confused before glancing up at Stephanie.
Stephanie looked at the whistle in her hand as she looked at the symbol and perked up when she noticed the bronze symbol, saying, "Oh, I used Bronze Dust."
Then she paused, glanced over where P.T. Boomer was, and perked up when she saw him at a small size instead of the normal human height.
"Wait a minute." Stephanie glanced over at Diesel, who instantly froze after seeing Stephanie's appearance as she looked at her hands. "Did I grow?!"
"It looks like it." P.T. Boomer responded as he shook his head to get some of her long hair away from his face.
Stephanie reached over to P.T. Boomer and carefully picked him up, placing him on her chest as she did the same to Diesel, who squeaked when Stephanie picked him up.
"Well," Stephanie began as she gingerly stood up, feeling some parts of her joints hurt from the skidding. "That's one way of learning how Dusts can affect you."
Something small went past the side of her head, and Stephanie perked while holding Diesel and P.T. Boomer close to her chest, standing up to her feet as she watched what looked like two glowing lights in the darkness.
She could not see what they were but could see them glowing as she looked confused.
So Stephanie followed them while carrying Diesel and P.T. Boomer close to her chest as Diesel nervously gripped some of her sweater's fabric with his hands.
He had been lifted by cranes and gone over bridges, but being carried by a gigantic blue-haired child was something he was not used to.
Stephanie wandered through the darkness while carrying P.T. Boomer and Diesel with him, seeing she entered what looked like a cave with stalagmites and stalactites.
Diesel noticed the stalagmites and the stalactites in the darkness, looking confused about how the same thing could be pointing downwards and upwards.
He could ask his driver where they are again after he gets back on solid ground.
No, on the rails in his normal body!
The temperature started going down as Stephanie's breaths started to have condensation on them, and Diesel and P.T. Boomer started shivering slightly.
Stephanie paused when she felt P.T. Boomer and Diesel shiver in her hands and placed them into her garments with her whistle out, keeping them close to her body to share her warmth while their heads poked out from her collar.
Diesel's cheeks flushed shyly when put into Stephanie's garments, while P.T. Boomer was confused about her kindness as she continued walking.
But darn it, it was warm, and Diesel was getting a little cold from the temperature change.
Stephanie soon came across a large rock wall and stopped in front, looking up at it in confusion before perking up when she saw her bracelet and P.T. Boomer's ring.
P.T. Boomer's ring transformed into a necklace, and her bracelet became a staff, surprising both P.T. Boomer and Diesel.
The necklace removed itself and was all that was left of the crystal, and it inserted itself into the staff's crystal, causing the glow to go brighter.
Then it transformed into a crystal key and inserted itself into the wall, turning to the left as glowing light blue lines appeared as Stephanie, P.T. Boomer, and Diesel watched.
The glowing light blue lines reached every corner of the wall, and after reaching each corner, they disappeared, and a door opened, causing what looked like ankle-deep water to pour out as Stephanie stepped back.
Strangely, the water had what smelled like a faint salty smell to it, and after the door opened and all the water poured out, Stephanie looked back up and saw it looked like an entrance to a hallway.
The key reappeared and transformed into a staff, disappearing down the hallway before stopping after a few meters.
Stephanie hesitated after watching the staff go down the hallway, waiting for Diesel, P.T. Boomer, and her to follow it.
She took a slow and careful breath before walking through the door and into the hallway, feeling barely dripping drops of water dripping on her from the stalagmites as her shoes gently splashed against the water that barely made an inch.
Compared to normal-sized humans, it would have washed everyone away and been ankle-deep for them.
Stephanie, P.T. Boomer, and Diesel noticed signs of water wearing down rocks, and Stephanie continued following the staff as it moved down the hallway, lighting the way before pausing every meter it moved.
The water started to become a little deeper as the pitters became patters as the temperature dropped, making it feel like they were walking underwater.
The journey soon ended with them coming across a large mural of what looked like a sea serpent with a symbol over it, but the symbol was cracked, and part of it was missing.
There was carved handwriting on it at the bottom of the carved mural of the sea monster, which has the same symbols.
Stephanie walked up to the mural as the staff hovered over it before noticing that it was missing an eye where Stephanie could see it.
The staff went in front of Stephanie and transformed into the mural's eye, taking it into her hand as she looked back at it.
She inserts the eye into the mural of the sea monster, and after inserting the eye, the mural suddenly lights up, and the sea monster magically moves, causing Stephanie to gasp as she moves back.
The moving mural of the sea monster roared and swam downward, causing something to unlock as a door opened, revealing a hand-sized chest, but compared to a human, it looked like a trunk.
Confused, Stephanie reached over to the chest and picked it up from in front of her, looking at it in her hand as the door closed and the sea monster reappeared before the eye was removed and transformed back into a staff.
"We came all this way for a trunk?" P.T. Boomer asked.
"I think so," Stephanie nodded before looking at her staff in confusion.
The staff suddenly went down to Stephanie's face as she perked, staring at it in confusion before it grew to Stephanie's size.
Stephanie placed the trunk into her sweater's pocket and reached over to the staff, pausing briefly before gripping it.
Suddenly, Stephanie, P.T. Boomer, and Diesel were taken from inside the cave to outside, causing Stephanie to blink before stumbling a little.
"Whoa!" Stephanie exclaimed, nearly falling over but keeping herself upright.
She glanced over at where they had entered but looked surprised when it was not there anymore and was just a steep ditch.
However, the feeling of the trunk in Stephanie's pocket indicates that it is all real.
"Is everyone alright?" Stephanie asked, looking down at Diesel and P.T. Boomer.
"A-A little c-cold." Diesel stammered. "But I'm f-fine."
"I'm alright, too." P.T. Boomer nodded. "But what was all that back there?"
Stephanie looked at her staff in her hand with a faintly confused expression at what just happened, noticing the color went from a faint ocean blue to a more normal color.
"I think we discovered something else in Shining Time," Stephanie responded after being quiet.
Then the staff lifted itself from Stephanie's hand as she released it, watching it transform into a bracelet before attaching it to her right wrist.
This staff looks slightly different from what it originally looked like.
Sir Topham Hatt was worried and had every right to be worried about it as he made himself a cup of tea to ease his nerves.
First, it was not being able to find Avril or Kathleen, and then it was Stephanie getting herself lost in the magic tunnels after pushing everyone to safety.
Now, the magic buffers that were supposed to be the bridge between both realms are suddenly closed off.
What makes it worse is Gordon's expression after hearing that the magic buffers are not working.
It is one of the expressions that always makes Sir Topham Hatt feel guilty after seeing an engine's face when they hear the news.
After realizing the magic railroad had been closed, he assured the worried and confused Jackson and Ms. Richards that they needed to wait.
But they could not wander around in the dark because the Nightmares were roaming, so they had to get into their homes to wait until morning came.
"Topham?" Sir Topham Hatt snapped out of his thoughts and glanced over, seeing Lady Hatt awake after feeling her husband was missing. "What's wrong, dear?"
"I'm just worried, dear," Sir Topham Hatt explained. "I'm worried about Stephanie's safety in the magic tunnels."
He turned back to his teacup as he put his hands together, saying, "I know Lady is responsible for the magic tunnels, but this isn't natural for Stephanie to be suddenly whisked away."
Lady Hatt walked over to Sir Topham Hatt and gently hugged him, saying, "Stephanie will be fine, dear. We can tell Lady what happened, and she can help us find Stephanie together first thing in the morning."
Sir Topham Hatt softly smiled after Lady Hatt assured him and returned the hug to her, saying, "You're right. Stephanie is a responsible child. We'll ask Lady first thing in the morning."
He finished his tea and returned to bed with Lady Hatt, but he had those lingering worried thoughts in the back of his mind about Stephanie.
Sir Topham Hatt knows Stephanie is responsible and will always return… but he is worried about who else was there after discovering Diesel 10 and the others had followed them from behind and lost Diesel.
But he was more worried about P.T. Boomer.