Chapter 2: Shining Time

Hey Everyone! BlueTornado3275 here with another chapter of Amber's Journey. I think that this story will be 5-10 chapters long. I don't know so don't hold me on that. It might be more, it might be less. So how bout we stick to this chapter for now shall we?

My alarm went off again. That pissed me off because I could of sworn I turned it off yesterday. I reached out to stop it. As I sat up I noticed a few things. 1) My closet was open and a bunch of clothes were missing. 2) My short blue top, black tracksuit pants and my green belt were sitting neatly on my floor and 3) my red suitcase was missing from its place. I looked at it weirdly.

"What the hell? What happened?" I got up and got dressed and headed down stairs. Taylor was sitting at the kitchen bench drinking a coffee. She saw me coming down the stairs and immediately put it down. She came up to me and hugged me. Well more squished me.

"Good morning Amber!" she squealed. I looked at her funnily. "Guess what!" I was about to guess but she obviously wasn't looking for guesses. I'm sending you on a trip around USA by the most famous trains you would only dream of riding! Don't worry about the cost. I'll pay for everything you want to do."

I was gob smacked. Taylor was sending me on a trip around USA! All expenses paid! And by the most famous trains of USA for crying out loud! This was a dream come true for me! I grabbed Taylor back and squished her even more.

"Oh thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! You are the best roommate ever!" Then a thought struck me.

"Where are you going to get the money from?" Taylor grinned sheepishly.

"Well… I kinda told boss that my roommate was going through a rough time. I also said that you were pretty young and he took the bait." I hit her playfully.

"Hey! I'm eighteen you meanie." She laughed.

"Well it worked didn't it? Now come on. Your plane is in three hours. Let's go!"

And she dragged me out the door. She grabbed my bike and put it on the roof with my luggage. We then rushed to London Airport. Once there we grabbed my ticket, put my luggage on the baggage carousel and went to grab some breakfast. After an hour or so of talking, my flight was called and we headed to the plane. We stopped outside the door to the plane. I turned to Taylor.

"Thank you Taylor. This is going to be the best holiday ever!" She smiled.

"No problem. See you in three months!" And with that I towards the plane. I stopped as I heard Taylors voice.

"Wait! I forgot to give you something!" I walked back to her as she pulled out a camera. It was a newer version that I have been saving up to buy. I gasped.

"You got me this! Thank you so much!" I hugged her again.

"Take lots of photos!" She called out as I boarded the plane.

After about fifteen minutes the plane was taking off. I looked out the window as I was leaving and saw Taylor waving to me from the window. I waved and the plane lifted off the ground. I sighed as I left London and the UK. It was going to be a long flight.

About five hours or more later.

I jolted awake as we landed in New York. I yawned and looked out the window.

"Man. That was a long ride. I can't wait to get off this plane." I jumped up as soon as I could and walked off the plane. I wondered around the airport looking for the baggage carousel. As I was, I bumped into a boy who walked in front of me. He turned around to face me.

"Oh. Sorry about that." He said. I blushed. This guy was cute.

"No. That was my fault. I wasn't looking where I was going." We stared at each other for a moment before he spoke up.

"Well. Seeings as I have made you acquaintance I'll introduce myself. I'm Matt." I laughed.

"That's a funny way of saying hello. I'm Amber." I shook his outstretched hand. There was something familiar in his tone of voice.

"Are you Australian? I can hear a slight aussie accent in your voice." He smiled.

"Guilty as charged. Yeah I'm from Australia. I'm here on holiday. My mum gave me tickets to go to a festival here in New York. My boundaries are apparently New York City outskirts, which sucks because I want to explore this place." I smiled.

"Oh well. I'm from Australia too. But I live in the UK with my roommate Taylor. She is paying for me to travel around USA on the famous trains here." Matt's face lit up.

"You like trains? I like them too! Do you have a favorite train?" I swallowed hard. If I told him about Thomas, he might laugh at me. But I worked up the courage to say it.

"Uh. Does Thomas the Tank Engine count?" I whispered. He looked at me. I sighed, waiting for insults to come out. Imagine my surprise when he smiled.

"Eh, good enough. Don't worry. I like him too." I had a feeling that I was going to like this guy. I was about to strike up a conversation about it when I saw my bag coming around the carousel.

"One sec." I ran to get my bag. Once I got it I walked back to Matt as he got his bag.

"Well I better go so that I can explore a little bit before I catch my train. I'll see you…"

"So, what. Your going leave me here to fend for myself? Let's explore together for a bit. Seeings as we're both here." I thought for a moment. I wasn't going to let a chance to hang out with this cute guy slip away.

"Sure. Why not?" He smiled.

"Great. Let's go!"

So after that Matt and I explored New York City. We visited lots of sightseeing's such as the statue of Liberty, Times Square, the park, Stark Tower… Wait. What? No! That doesn't exist! I took lots of photos of me and Matt. By the end of the day we were at my station. Matt was saying goodbye.

"Well Amber. It's been fun hanging out with you. But this is where we part ways." He fished around in his bag looking for something. He found it and pulled it out. It was a small box. I looked at him, slightly shocked. He laughed.

"No. This isn't a ring. Don't worry. I'm not proposing." He opened it and pulled out a necklace with an amber stone in the bottom and a jeweled flower. He put the necklace on around my neck and the jeweled flower in my hair. He took a quick picture and showed it to me. I gasped at how pretty I was with the jewelry on. He smiled.

"You look cute." He said. I blushed a bright red.

"Thank you Matt. I love them." I smiled.

"Hey. How bout we swap numbers so we can talk to each other during our travels?" I agreed and we swapped numbers. There was an announcement about my train and I turned to go. Matt stopped me.

"Can I…?" He gestured to my cheek. I blushed again.

"Sure." He kissed me on the cheek. I couldn't help but blush again. I jumped on the train before it started moving. Matt walked along side it and talked to me through the window.

"I hope to see you again Amber." He called out.

"We will. I promise." I said as the train pulled away from him. "Goodbye for now Matt!" I yanked my head back into the carriage to avoid whacking my head on the signal that was near the station. I relaxed in my chair as the train moved toward the country.

Four days later.

During my travels I had visited a couple of states, ridden on lots of trains and had called Matt about six times. My train, which had come through the Indian Valley, pulled up to Strasburg station. I was currently in Pennsylvania. I jumped off the train to have a look around. As I walked into the station I noticed the cool mural on the wall. It had a picture of all the forms of transport from the early years. I looked at the mural with interest. Then my eye's fell onto something. I walked up to the wall and looked at it.

"Why does this look so… Wait." The pieces fell into place in my head. I quickly ran outside to look at the place.

"No! Way! This is…" it was true.

It was Shining Time. The town that was featured in Thomas and the Magic Railroad. I looked around with wonder.

"Fan of Thomas the Tank Engine I see." I swiveled round to see an old man looking at me.

"Yeah. And what if I am?" I was a little skeptical about him. He seemed a little coo-koo.

"Their real." My heart jumped.

"What?" He was about to repeat himself when he was interrupted by another voice.

"Grandpa. What are you doing out here? You're going to catch a cold." A younger man came out of the station. The old man screeched.

"No! Don't take me back there!" He turned to me. "The lens on the muffler will reveal the truth." He cried out as he was taken away by two old-people home nurses. The young man turned to me.

"Don't listen to him. He talks riddles all the time." And he left with the old man. I was stunned.

Their real? The lens on the muffler will reveal the truth? What did that mean? I tried to think. Then a thought popped in my head.

"Muffler. Is he talking about…?" I turned to face Welsh Mountain behind me.

"Muffle Mountain! Of course!" I quickly ran toward the mountain.

About an hour later.

I was sitting on a rock half way up the mountain. I looked around. Nothing seemed out of place up here. It was a normal mountain. I took a swig of water from my water bottle. I pondered on the old man's riddle.

"The lens on the muffler will reveal the truth. What does it mean?" I wondered. Off in the distance, I saw a white bird sitting on a rock. It was beautiful. I grabbed my camera and held it up to the bird. Something must have scared it because it flew off. But I wasn't watching it. Through my camera lens, I saw the mouth of a cave. I lowered the camera. It wasn't there. I lifted it back to my eye. There it was.

"What?" I wondered. Then I realized what was happening. It was the riddle. My camera was the lens and the muffler was Muffle Mountain. Well, Welsh Mountain anyway. I jumped up and ran to the cave. But of course it wasn't really there. I stood back from where the entrance was supposed to be.

"Maybe I have to take a photo?" I thought. I took a picture and there was a puff of smoke. Once that cleared the entrance was open.

I walked in. It seemed to be a normal cave. But any cave that you need a picture of the entrance with a camera just to open it, makes this no ordinary cave. As I ventured deeper into the cave the air became cooler and cooler. Finally as I came around a corner I reached the end of the cave. It was a wide room that looked like a station. I recognized this place from Thomas and the Magic Railroad as Burnet Stone's workshop. I looked around. As I came to the edge of the platform, I saw rails on the ground leading into another tunnel. I looked down it and saw something I never thought I'd see inside a mountain.

Buffers.

Wahoo! It's the… err. I'd better not tell you what they are. Wait. No. I said it in the description! It's the Magic Buffers! Amber's in for the time of her life! Anyway aside from that, I was thinking about doing another story (Only once I've finished this one and maybe half way through Sonic Skyline.). It's called Amber and it follows Amber's life after this story. Let me know if you like that idea because I reckon that Amber is my best real life character. I've written other stories with characters in the real world but I like Amber the most because of how descriptive I am with her. So yeah. Let me know and I'll continue this story and Sonic Skyline for the time being. Cool? See you next chapter!