Diesel 10 didn't know where to start. At this point, he figured he might as well just gather up all of the dead engines and take them to the Sodor smelters, and figure it out from there. His mind was still reeling, and his heart still aching, after seeing Dodge die right in front of him.
As Diesel 10 was about to couple up to a broken class 14, he heard a strange sound, like an echoed, soft whine, coming from a siding. Thinking it was a bit strange; he switched onto another track and went to investigate. Hearing the sound again, he followed it, and switched onto an old siding that was quite well hidden from view. There, he saw the remains of a badly burnt class 02, still fully intact.
Diesel 10 remembered the little engine from the first time he had been at this scrapyard, when his sister had towed him there. He had been both horrified and amazed at the same time when he had first seen this engine. At the time, the little shunter was still alive, and acted quite cheerful despite his injuries. Sadly, the class 02 had died that night, and Diesel 10 regretted not being able to apologize for coming across as rude to him.
"Phoenix," Diesel 10 said sadly, "If, somehow, you're listening…I'm sorry." Then, Diesel 10 gasped, remembering what Burnett had read. "Gold and fire, vulture's nest, Phoenix, Phoenix! This must be the one!" Noticing that the mangled shunter's couplings were partially melted, Diesel 10 gripped Phoenix' buffers and reversed. He couldn't go too fast like this, which irritated him, but he had to get this engine back to Sodor.
Meanwhile, Daniella had found herself in a predicament. Someone had switched her onto the wrong track, and she was heading straight for an old shed. Realizing she was going too fast to stop in time, she shut her eye and braced for impact. Smashing through the old wooden doors, she came to an abrupt stop when she hit a set of buffers rather roughly. Wondering why a set of buffers was inside of an abandoned shed, Daniella opened her eye. Before her was a weathered looking green diesel, who stared back at her in abject terror.
"Um, hi there," Daniella said awkwardly. She wasn't hurt, save for a few scratches, so she reversed a bit, that way she wasn't all up in the other engine's face. "Sorry about that, you alright?" she said.
"Reaper," the other engine said quietly.
Daniella moved some of the debris away with her claw. "Yeah, I'm the Reaper. You can call me Dani though. Everyone else does…er…who are you and what are ya doin' in this old shit shack?" she said.
The green diesel gulped. "I'm BoCo; the Fat Controller locked me away in this shed after I found out what he was planning to do. I suppose you've already scrapped all the other diesels," he said, looking down in defeat.
"Wait what?! BoCo?! We've all been searching for ya! And no, I didn't murder any diesels! Before you ask, I'm not a killer," said Daniella.
"But…the Fat Controller was planning on having…having you…" BoCo gulped nervously, "Scrap all of the diesels," he said with a shudder.
"I'm well aware of that. The fat asshole is dead. My owner runs the railway now," said Daniella.
At that, BoCo looked like he wanted to cry. Noticing his distress, Daniella spoke up. "Hey…Lorelei cares a lot about engines. Tell you what, I'm gonna take ya to the works to get looked at, and on the way, I'll tell ya everything that happened." At that, Daniella coupled up to BoCo, and told him about how Diesel 10 had nearly died, how Lorelei found out about the Fat Controller's plans, the rockslide that killed Bert, and how she risked her life to save Paxton. By the time they arrived at the Dieselworks, BoCo was no longer afraid. He was quite relieved that the rumors about Daniella were mostly false, and that she was actually a kind, caring engine.
Upon arriving at the Dieselworks, Lorelei called for all the engines to assemble there. After all, BoCo had valuable information, and answers that many of the engines, especially the steam engines, desperately needed. However, even after the rest had showed up, two engines remained absent.
At the Ironworks, Diesel 10 and Lady watched nervously as the freshly made parts for a class 02 diesel were being assembled. To speed things up, Diesel 10 was using his claw to help lift and hold the bigger pieces. It took many hours, which wasn't half bad, seeing as constructing a new engine normally took much longer.
Burnett had put some of Lady's gold dust into the new engine's fuel tank, and they waited anxiously as it was started up for the first time. Finally, the little shunter opened its eyes, blinking a couple of times before taking in its surroundings. Finally, the big, innocent eyes looked at Lady, then at Diesel 10. The shunter grinned, and spoke for the first time: "You did it!" he said happily.
"Phoenix? Is it you?" Diesel 10 asked.
"It's me," Phoenix replied, smiling warmly.
"Oh, thank heavens," Lady said, sighing in relief.
Phoenix then looked down at his buffers, and realized that he hadn't been painted at all. Letting out a gasp, he exclaimed, "I'm naked!" and flushed red in embarrassment.
Lady giggled, and Diesel 10 sighed in exasperation. "Fine, I'll take you to the Dieselworks where you can get painted whatever colors you want, but after that, you need to do whatever it is you magic engines do and stop us from all dying!" he said. Diesel 10 then coupled up to Phoenix from behind and pushed him all the way to Vicarstown. Lady followed behind, letting out a few giggles.
When they arrived at the Dieselworks, however, Phoenix was horrified to see that every engine on Sodor was gathered there! He hoped that he could get past them without being seen, but to his horror, Diesel 10 honked his horn and quite loudly announced, "Out of my way! Naked engine coming through!"
Phoenix' cheeks turned redder than tomatoes as he was shunted into the main shed. Now, everyone was staring at him, and quite a few of them were laughing! This was certainly not what he expected. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he was inside of the main building, and away from prying eyes. Well, other than Den, Dart, and Arry. At least those three weren't staring or laughing immaturely.
As the workmen began to paint him, Daniella went into the main shed. "Diesel fucking 10! Where the hell have you been?!" she snapped.
"Dani, I can explain—" Diesel 10 began.
"You are five hours late! Everyone, literally everyone has been waiting for you and your damn girlfriend to quit fucking around and get your ass to this meeting!" Daniella snapped.
"Lady is not my girlfriend!" Diesel 10 snapped back, "Now, if you'd just let me—"
Diesel 10 was once again cut off by Daniella. "And who the hell is this?!" she said, pointing her claw very rudely at Phoenix.
"That's what I was trying to explain!" Diesel 10 said, exasperated.
Phoenix, however, looked down and pouted. "You don't recognize me, Dani?" he said sadly.
Daniella stared at him for a couple seconds, not believing the voice she was hearing.
"It's me, Dani. Your brother and Lady brought me back," Phoenix said, looking at her with watery eyes.
"No. Fucking. Way," Daniella said breathlessly. "Phoenix—but—how?! You're dead! Diesel fucking 10! You created a goddamn zombie!"
"He's not a zombie, Daniella. He's an engine like me," said Daniella.
"You mean to tell me…" Daniella trailed off.
"Yes, Daniella, he's magic, and without him, horrible things will happen to engines on the mainland, especially diesels," said Lady.
"That's why so many of us have been dying!" said Diesel 10.
"Without my magic to protect them, bad things will start happening to the mainland engines…I know it's already started. I'm sorry I didn't tell you before, Dani," Phoenix said, looking down. "I didn't have much time, and I was trying to hold on…I finally couldn't anymore. If I did…then all would have been lost. Though as a spirit, I could only do so much to protect them," he said sadly.
"How exactly are you gonna help us set things right?" said Daniella.
"He can explain that later. Right now, BoCo has something he's been waiting to say for hours," Lorelei said, giving Lady and Diesel 10 pointed looks. At that, the two of them went out and joined the assembled engines. Daniella, however, stayed behind just long enough to give Phoenix a reassuring smile.