The violin's sound always calmed Sir Topham Hatt whenever he listened to it on a record player peacefully from time to time during days off.
But when it suddenly started playing out of nowhere and on top of a gigantic galleon ship, it was something he did not expect to see or hear.
Sir Topham Hatt listened to the violin music as he poked his head out of his office, staring out in the open as he watched what looked like a gigantic galleon ship.
It sounded so upbeat, as if a pirate crew were on the ship, as Sir Topham Hatt watched the ship sailing in the distance with the song playing on a loop.
He could not see who was playing the violin from the front bow of the ship, but he did see the flag, which showed a double-bladed ax and a skull with a black rose on its forehead.
The ship sailed through the area as everyone watched in awe, but the animals ran away from the galleon when they saw the boat.
"Sir!" Sir Topham Hatt perked up after hearing someone's voice call him and opened the door but moved a foot up when Notches quickly entered the office.
After watching Notches scramble inside the office, he closed the door and hid underneath the desk as Lucy stepped out with Radar and the others.
"What's going on?!" Lucy exclaimed, and Sir Topham Hatt knelt, moving a hand towards her, and she climbed on while talking to him. "I was asleep before suddenly hearing that violin music, and then that gigantic galleon suddenly appeared out of nowhere!"
The galleon ship's shadow appeared over the station, and Notches gave a terrified meow, hiding further underneath the desk and shaking from head to toe while Spyglasses was petting his head.
The group anxiously watched as the galleon ship slowly sailed past the station, and Sir Topham Hatt felt he wanted to get on that ship.
That feeling of wanting to climb that galleon ship and confront whoever was playing the violin, like he was excited to meet an old friend he had never seen in a long time.
A sudden ringing noise hits Sir Topham Hatt's ears among the violin music, startling him and the group slightly from the sound, but he huffed after seeing it was the telephone.
"Oh, bother that telephone." Sir Topham Hatt huffed, feeling slightly embarrassed that he was scared by the simple telephone.
But Sir Topham Hatt walked to the telephone and placed Lucy on the desk as the Curators climbed onto the desk.
Sir Topham Hatt puts the telephone to his ear, answering the person's call from the other side as Notches slowly crawls out from underneath the desk.
"Hello?" an unknown voice spoke to Sir Topham Hatt. "Is this Sir Topham Hatt?"
"Yes, who is this?" Sir Topham Hatt responded.
"I'll tell you my name later, but meet us at the Gracey Mansion with the other conductors and the Cupper siblings," the voice continued explaining to him. "There's something important Madame Leota wants to tell you."
With that, the phone hung up, and Sir Topham Hatt was confused about what the person on the other side of the line was talking about.
But, knowing this must be important, Sir Topham Hatt took the Curators, Lucy, and Notches, with him, not wanting them to be in the dark about what was happening.
Sir Topham Hatt told Bob the Builder, Postman Pat, Fireman Sam, and the other conductors what the person told him.
To be safe in case something went wrong, he told the Cupper siblings, and they brought their engines with them, knowing it was important to get them with them.
So, they all headed off to the Gracey Mansion, where the person told them, and approached the porch, noticing that an eerie feeling from the past had strangely lifted.
As they were getting close to the mansion, a sudden need to hurry washed over them, but they ignored it as they arrived.
They stepped outside as the engines puffed into the graveyard, having that uneasy feeling wash over them as they noticed the gravestones.
"I'm starting not to like this," Spencer quietly expressed as he anxiously looked around, and Holly gently patted his side to calm him.
"Do not fret, cousin!" The Flying Scotsman smiled boldly. "You don't have to-" Something in the shape of a humanoid appeared from the bushes, which caused him to give a small shriek.
The others did the same after suddenly seeing the humanoid shape appear before heading towards them, causing the entire group to move backward to escape from what was heading towards them.
"Sorry!" Ember slowly stepped out from the shadows with a sheepish smile while P.T. Boomer followed behind her, slightly hiding. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you all."
"Ms. Ember?" Sir Topham Hatt perked up after seeing Ember appear. "What on Sodor are you doing here in this graveyard?"
"Well…" Ember blushed with embarrassment before P.T. Boomer groaned, jabbing a thumb over his shoulder, "Our knuckleheads thought it would be grand to enter the Gracey Mansion to look for some treasure maps."
"And the rest, we'll explain once we enter inside." Ember nodded, opening P.T. Boomer's bag to search for the Dust Crystals they had collected.
Her fingers suddenly gently touched a whistle shape, and Ember looked confused, gripping it and taking out what looked like Stephanie's whistle, along with her Zodiac Pocket Watch.
Gordon's eyes widened after seeing Stephanie's whistle and the Zodiac Pocket Watch in Ember's hand, and she exclaimed, pulling her sleeve up to show her bracelet, "How many items does this little girl carry?!"
"Ember, focus," P.T. Boomer gently ushered Ember.
"Right, right, right, right." Ember nodded and pocketed the Zodiac Pocket Watch before turning the knob of Stephanie's whistle to the copper symbol.
The humans stepped aside to allow Ember to use the Dust Whistle, and she whistled, Copper Dust flying out from the whistle and swirling around the four locomotives.
Then, the Copper Dust disappeared and showed four humans standing between the rails, slowly standing up after being transformed.
They resemble what their human forms semi-looked like from the Tin Dust, but they are fully human and wearing uniforms that match their livery.
"Okay," Ember nodded as she looked at the whistle in her hand before putting it around her neck and heading towards the Gracey Mansion. "Let's go meet Zeke and Madame Leota. She might have some ideas about what that galleon ship was."
The group entered the mansion and saw a crystal ball on a table with a stand, along with the others, but Sailor John and Zeke were missing.
"Where are Zeke and John?" P.T. Boomer asked.
"Sailor John ran off into the library, saying he needed to find something," Conrad explained before pausing and adding. "And I don't know where Zeke went off to."
"I thought I told you to keep an eye on him!" Ember exclaimed.
"We were!" the group exclaimed.
"I couldn't see because they were blocking my way," a female voice spoke, causing the Cupper siblings, the conductors, and the others to perk up.
P.T. Boomer walked over to the group and gently nudged them before picking up the crystal ball, showing what looked like a woman's head inside.
"Finally, I can see crystal clear without having to see backs facing me," the woman sighed before noticing the group staring at her bewildered. "Ah, greetings, children. I am Madame-"
CRASH! Everyone flinched after hearing a crash noise, and a ghost's head popped out from a door and winced, calling, "Clean up in the library!"
The group instantly headed towards the library and saw Zeke sitting on the ground, covered somewhat with books as a group of ghosts were helping, and he groaned, "I'm okay!"
"I told ye!" Sailor John exclaimed as he helped the ghosts pick up the books from Zeke. "Ye shant careen back that much!"
"And I didn't listen." Zeke nodded with a sigh, adjusting his cap before noticing the group. "Oh! Hold on for one minute. I think I found the book I was looking for."
Zeke stood up after the books were all lifted from him and climbed the ladder, looking for something as Sailor John watched him with a sigh, crossing his arms over his chest.
He looked through the titles of the books before taking one out, looking at the cover before nodding.
But before Zeke climbed down, he saw something hiding at the back of the shelf and reached towards it with his other hand.
"Be careful!" Sailor John exclaimed after seeing Zeke lean forward from the ladder.
Zeke carefully held the book under his chin as he removed a small wooden box from the shelf before climbing the ladder.
Once he reached the floor, Sailor John helped Zeke by taking the book from underneath his chin before seeing the small wooden box in Zeke's hands.
"What is that?" Ember asked after seeing the wooden box in Zeke's hands.
"I don't know." Zeke responded as he placed the wooden box on the desk before asking Sailor John, "May I have the book?"
Sailor John nodded and handed the book to Zeke, and Sailor John looked at the wooden box, curious about what it could be.
But there was no lock for him to pick, so there had to be another way to get into what was inside the box.
The red book in Zeke's hand has a title that reads, 'The World's Most Terrifying Pirates Across History,' and has a picture of a band of pirates raiding a ship.
Zeke opened the book in his hands, flipping through some pages and looking at them briefly about different pirates.
Then Zeke stopped on a page with a drawing of the same galleon and the flag's symbol that everyone saw.
The entire page, including the title, reads as Zeke reads the page to the group as they listen to him:
The Maelstrom Buccaneers
The Maelstrom Buccaneers are notorious pirates that strike fear in anyone's heart, including the most famous pirates like Blackbeard, Captain Callen, Anne Bonny, and Captain Kidd.
The legend states that their captain, the Blue Demon, had sold her soul to Davy Jones himself to earn a bow that would play music to send fear into the hearts of the bravest and bring the dead alive, and a ship called the Reaper of Souls that would devour the souls themselves to keep it 'alive.'
And if someone had listened to or seen their galleon ship, the Blue Demon would chop their heads off, and he would show it off to passing ships as a warning towards anyone who 'crosses the line.'
The Maelstrom Buccaneers had hunted down many kings and queens throughout history, and nearly half of the kingdoms had lost their rulers to this violin-playing pirate who roamed through the seven seas.
For the treasures the Blue Demon had collected from the many beheaded kings and queens' ships he attacked, he and his crew gathered the gold on the lower deck of the Reaper of Souls within the ship itself, collecting them in one gigantic pile.
People had attempted to board the Blue Demon's Reaper of Souls, but they would never come back the same after boarding the ship itself, claiming they had seen the souls of the people it consumed and the ghost of a pirate who haunts the ship as Davy Jones.
They even hunted down many people on the islands around Sodor and the outer parts of the world, with the Blue Demon playing his violin as a warning to those in the villages and a death song towards the greedy and dark-hearted kings and queens who have an iron fist.
Others who heard the violin would attempt to run away after denouncing themselves as king or queen, but they would mysteriously disappear the next day or have an unfortunate time of death come to them.
The Navy tried to track down the Blue Demon for his pirating, but strangely, he would directly attack their ships, and the Navy Admirals would either have their heads chopped off or go insane from the violin music he played.
One day, the Blue Demon mysteriously vanished into thin air, and his violin disappeared along with the ship, never to be seen again after the Great Sodor Dam destroyed Mayfield Harbor in the northeast.
People have been attempting to find the treasure the Blue Demon kept in his Reaper of Souls after the captain mysteriously vanished into thin air. However, they mysteriously disappear without a trace whenever they have a clue as to where the treasure is hiding.
The story sent shudders down everyone's spines after hearing the captain's and ship's names and descriptions of what happened to the kings and queens.
But Zeke, Mélanie, Jake, and the group had witnessed why the galleon was called the Reaper of Souls and why the Blue Demon's music was so terrifying.
"Is that ship what we encountered?" Mélanie asked slowly.
"And the violin, too," nodded Zeke, nervously biting his fingers after piecing together some parts of the puzzle.
"But who played it?" Darius asked.
The group shared a worried look after Darius asked before Ember slowly explained, nervously rubbing Stephanie's bracelet around her wrist, "Stephanie did."
Lucy, Notches, the Curators, and Gordon perked up after hearing Stephanie's name from Ember's mouth as she continued, "The Phantom, known as Henry Ravenswood." She paused a little, looking over at Mélanie. "Mélanie's father, who mined gold from Big Thunder Mountain, tricked Stephanie into playing the violin."
"He swore to keep me from marrying my lovers," Mélanie explained as she wrapped her arms around Jake's arm. "He had killed others behind my back and then went on to kill Jake right before our wedding."
"Which sets the Thunderbird to destroy the mansion and kill about everyone inside," Zeke explained as everyone listened. "Then Gracey Mansion was built on top of where the mansion used to be, thus repeating the cycle."
"It happened again?" Jake asked.
"Yes, this time with another group from a different era who learned about Master Gracey and what happened to his lover, in which the butler poisoned the soon-to-be wife." Zeke nodded as he rubbed his temple, muttering, "It was so weird learning about it."
Madame Leota looked at the readers with a slight nod before she was placed onto a crystal ball stand with the help of Conrad.
She faced the group, explaining, "And judging from what we had discovered from the Phantom's tricks, Stephanie played the Bonesong Violin."
The book Baz was carrying lifted from the desk and opened, showing a picture of the Bonesong Violin towards the ground as she hovered a little.
"The Bonesong Violin is an ancient and powerful artifact made by the Blue Demon himself," Madame Leota explained to the group. "He made it from the bones of a cruel king when he was a slave and sold his soul to make other kings and queens pay the price around the world."
The book closed after showing the violin as she sighed as she was placed back onto the crystal ball stand, "And I'm afraid that Stephanie Allen is doing what the Blue Demon's contract is to finish what had started in the beginning."
"Is there a way to stop this, Madame Leota?" Cleo asked worriedly.
"I think so." Madame Leota nodded. "I believe the only way to stop this curse is to find the contract the Blue Demon signed and destroy it for good to end his terror."
"And that means…?" Sailor John slowly asked.
"Boarding the Reaper of Souls to find the contact where it would be hidden," Madame Leota nodded. "It may be dangerous for ghosts like me and the others, but it would not attack people if we were careful."
"How are we going to find the ship?" Zeke asked, placing a hand on the wooden box he found, as he had forgotten about it. "It's not like it will reappear once in a-ow!"
Zeke brushed his fingers across the wooden box during his sarcastic remark before his first finger hit something sharp, and he yanked his hand back.
"Gah!" he exclaimed as he looked at his first finger, dripping slightly with blood. "There I go again, forgetting what was before me!"
Something glowing blue appeared on the wooden box before disappearing, and the locks on the wooden box clicked open, slowly opening to show a rolled piece of paper inside.
"That was unexpected," Zeke remarked as Doc placed a bandage on his first finger after taking it from his pack.
Sailor John reached inside and took it out, opening it to see that it was a map.
"Sink me!" Sailor John exclaimed after seeing the map. "Ye found a treasure map!"
"I did?" Zeke perked up after Sailor John exclaimed.
"Finally!" Baz huffed. "We've been looking for one for ages!"
Ember rolled her eyes before the bracelet slipped off her wrist and hovered over the map, going from left to right as the group watched.
Suddenly, the bracelet separated into multiple bracelets and wrapped around each member's wrists, some changing to match their styles as they watched.
"Again with the cursed jewelry?!" P.T. Boomer growled as he attempted to slip the bracelet off, but it was firmly stuck on his wrist.
Suddenly, writing started to appear on the map after it had magically disappeared as everyone watched, and the first sentence read:
Well, hello to you all!
I see you have found my treasure map that leads to my treasure, but I can't just hand the treasure down to you quickly.
Let's play a game to get to your goals, just like I used to enjoy old times with my crew.
It's simple. I write down a riddle for you all to follow, and if you guess it right, I'll show you where to go.
But beware, my treasure hunters. You're not the only one who would search for my treasure, as enemies of mine are still roaming to find it.
The staff will guide you to safety if any of those enemies of mine appear and attempt to steal the map away, and it will act as a parrot to guide you to the destination.
Here is the first riddle to begin this treasure hunt for all to guess!
"Is the map sentient?" Zeke muttered in confusion after seeing the map's writing.
Sailor John shrugged his shoulders after Zeke muttered before the writing disappeared and the map reappeared, along with a sentence that read:
I stand tall by the shore, guiding ships with my light.
Warning of danger that's hidden from sight.
Though I'm not on a ship, I'm a sailor's best friend.
What am I?
"That's easy." Sailor John chuckled a little after reading the riddle. "A lighthouse."
The sentence disappeared after Sailor John answered the riddle before the picture of a lighthouse appeared on the map, which confused the group.
"Does anyone have a current map of Sodor?" Sailor John asked, turning to the group.
"Wait one moment," Ember said as she turned to P.T. Boomer's bag and reached inside before taking out the map of Sodor.
She opened it and compared the treasure map to the current map, lining out the direction of where the image of the lighthouse was and where it could be.
"The lighthouse is at Arlesburgh Harbour!" Ember perked up after lining up the two maps.
Their bracelets suddenly yanked them towards the door, causing the group to stumble as their bracelets were dragging them, bumping into each other, and trying to pull themselves backward.
"Slow down!" Darius exclaimed before accidentally tripping over his own feet.
They exited the mansion and stumbled down the stairs, but fortunately, they did not fall over because their bracelets dragged them.
"Be careful!" One of the ghosts called, and Mr. Percival was carrying Madame Leota.
Ember was in front of the group, catching up with her bracelet's speed while holding the maps in her hand, trying to get her footing right but tripping a little.
They continued walking and semi-tripping along the way before arriving at the nearest train station, panting a little.
Notches had to run to chase after them, carrying the Curators and Lucy on his back and even avoiding some trips from the people.
Holly struggled to catch up because of her wheelchair, but Spencer picked her up from her wheelchair when they were yanked out of the mansion and piggybacked her.
Their bracelets were then gently tugged in the opposite direction of where they were, and they followed as Bernie was the last one behind.
A group of women were talking to each other before one of them, who was a chubby woman, accidentally dropped their phone to the ground and bent over to pick it up.
Unfortunately, Bernie saw the full moon before himself and turned crimson red, boggling at what he saw as he followed the group.
Then Bernie crashed into a pole with a metallic clang, startling the woman as she glanced over and watched Bernie stumble backward, looking a little dazed.
"Oh, my god!" the woman exclaimed as she approached him. "Are you okay, hun?"
The woman was beautifully chubby, with bronze skin covered with vitiligo, dark brown eyes, long, curly jet-black hair, a short-sleeve light yellow shirt, a blue jean dress, black tights, and slippers.
Bernie did not say anything but blushed a light red as she inspected his face before moving back a little.
"You look fine," she remarked softly before holding up two fingers of her right hand. "How many fingers am I holding up?"
The palms of her hands were a lighter shade than her skin, almost like she had cat paw pads that were different colors.
"T-Two!" Bernie stuttered, still blushing at the woman's appearance.
"Bernie!" After hearing his name called, Bernie perked up and looked over, seeing Baz waiting for him. "What are you doing? Come on!"
"Coming!" Bernie nodded and scrambled to his feet, telling the woman, blushing more, "Th-Thank you." before chasing after the group.
The woman looked confused after the man thanked her before noticing something lightly glowing on the ground and picking it up.
She had a yellow gemstone bracelet on the man's wrist when she kneeled to inspect him to see if he had any injuries.
"Oh, wait, hun!" the woman called, turning around to watch him board Bertie the Bus. "You forgot-aw, bubbling boilers!"
The woman cursed after watching the man board the bus, looking confused when she uttered the curse and putting a hand on her throat.
"Did my curses just change to a different word?" She muttered in confusion before noticing something else. "Aw, bubbling boilers!"
Meanwhile, the group arrives at their destination, and their bracelets start tugging them toward the lighthouse, which luckily slows down a little once they approach the place.
Gordon, however, felt déjà vu when he noticed the connection between the lighthouse and his nightmare but kept the feeling to himself.
"Okay." Ember softly winced as she gently rubbed her wrist around where the bracelet tugged. "That's starting to hurt."
"Excuse me?" After hearing someone's voice, the group perked up and looked up, seeing a man walking around the lighthouse towards them. "What is everyone, including the controllers, doing here?"
The stranger wears a brown shirt, a gray undershirt, gray jeans, and a blue sailor's cap.
"Erm, we're on a supposed treasure hunt," Ember said, opening the map to look at it before her bracelet glowed.
Another bracelet emerged from hers and went around the stranger's wrist, causing her to groan, "You too?"
"What's going on?" the man asked, trying to get the bracelet off his wrist.
"I'll explain," Ember assured him before looking at the map as new handwriting appeared on the map after the drawing of Sodor disappeared.
It reads:
Well done! You made it to the lighthouse, treasure hunters!
Step inside the lighthouse, and I will give you the next ones.
Ember looked back at the lighthouse before rolling the map and opening the door to the inside of the lighthouse.
Everyone followed behind, and Bernie rubbed his wrist nervously but paused when he noticed something was off.
He looked down at his wrist and noticed that the bracelet that attached itself was missing!
Bernie was about to turn around to look for his bracelet, but Baz grabbed his arm and yanked him inside the lighthouse before he could.
After Bernie was yanked inside, the same woman that Bernie met arrived at the spot, huffing and panting as she wore Bernie's bracelet around her wrist.
"Cinders and ashes, how much can they walk?!" She cursed and quietly 'D'oh!'ed herself when her cursing was censored.
She walked towards the door and opened it, poking her head inside before stepping inside the lighthouse, accidentally leaving the door open.
As it was about to close slowly, a wrinkled hand gripped the door and opened it more as the camera angle showed what looked like a purple-cloaked figure.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" a female voice asked, sounding worried.
The purple-cloaked figure nodded after the second female asked before stepping inside, followed by a man and the woman, and she closed the door behind them.
The inside of the lighthouse was wide from the inside, but it was not too cramped inside as the group looked around out of curiosity.
Ember unrolled the map and looked at the cover as new handwriting appeared on the paper, and it read:
Now, here's the next riddle:
I don't move but dance gracefully, flickering shadows in a fiery embrace.
What am I, a source of warmth and light, on a winter's night when the world has turned white?
Ember cocked her head slightly after reading the riddle before tapping Sailor John's shoulder as he turned towards her.
"Listen to this," she said, reading the riddle out loud. "I don't move, but I dance with grace, flickering shadows in a fiery embrace. What am I, a source of warmth and light, on a winter's night when the world's turned white?"
"That sounds like what a firebox does." The Flying Scotsman remarked.
"A fireplace for homes," a voice said, startling the group as they flinched.
They looked over and saw the same woman helping Bernie, and she exclaimed, "There you are! I was lookin' all over for ya!"
"Who are you?" Sailor John asked, looking confused after seeing the woman.
"Mallow Damaris," she greeted before lifting her wrist to show the bracelet, which Bernie perked up after seeing around her wrist. "You accidentally dropped your bracelet, hun. I was tryin' to-"
She paused when she attempted to tug the bracelet off, noticing it was stuck around her wrist whenever she tried to pull it.
"What the Sodor?" She cursed, trying to get the bracelet off with all her might. "My arm isn't that fat enough to get stuck!"
"It's a magic bracelet," Bernie explained, stopping her from attempting to tug the bracelet off as it magically produced another and wrapped around Benrie's wrist. "And that means you're coming along with us on this adventure until it releases."
"Are you serious?" Mallow asked, and Bernie nodded. "Bother!"
She pursed her lips after her curse was 'censored' as Ember looked back at the map, noticing the map did not show where the fireplace was and still had the riddle.
"A fireplace?" Ember spoke, cocking her head to the side.
The words disappeared after hearing Ember's answer to the riddle, but there was no image of the lighthouse inside.
"Is it broken?" Zeke asked after noticing the map did not transform.
A sudden creak caught everyone's attention, and they looked over, seeing what looked like an admiral standing in front of a staircase.
The admiral had short, graying hair and fair Caucasian skin, but his face was not facing them as he had his back towards them.
"John, what are you doing over there?" Ember asked, rolling the map and putting it into her inner pocket. "And how did you switch into admiral clothes?"
"I'm right here." Sailor John poked his head from around the lighthouse's corner.
Ember's eyes popped wide after seeing Sailor John, and she looked back at the imposter but was not scared of him.
Sailor John notices the doppelgänger and becomes suspicious, along with the others.
The doppelgänger glanced briefly over his shoulder towards the group, looking almost like Sailor John, but some changes made him different.
The doppelgänger smiled a little after looking over his shoulder before descending the stairs, and Ember called, "Hey, wait for us!"
Ember followed after the doppelgänger, and the others followed behind, along with Mallow, as she slightly turned her body to the side.
As they descended the stairs, the hooded figure and the woman following behind her watched the group descend the stairs before following them.
In the lower part of the lighthouse, Ember hopped off the stairs and watched the stranger approach a gigantic boiler.
Ember looked confused after stepping into the last room but watched the Navy admiral approaching the boiler.
Someone hopped off the crate and looked up at the Navy admiral, almost looking like Stephanie as she walked up to the admiral.
Instead, she had long, straight hazelnut brown hair but wore rags with dirt covering some parts of her body.
She looked up at the Navy admiral and smiled softly as he reached over to a part of the boiler, gripping something that seemed hidden and yanking downward.
The doppelgänger waited a minute before taking 'Stephanie's' hand, stepping through the boiler, and disappearing.
"Whoa!" Mallow exclaimed, gripping Bernie's arm as he blushed. "Was that a flippin' ghost?!"
"Yes, that was a ghost." Madame Leota nodded after seeing the ghost. "But what would a ghost be doing here in the lighthouse?"
Sailor John approached the boiler and inspected it carefully, noticing something hidden behind one of the pipes.
He reached through the pipes carefully and gripped whatever was hiding before tugging downward, revealing what looked like a hidden lever.
Something clicked after pulling the hidden lever, and the boiler started to transform, moving away to reveal a hidden entry.
"Wow!" Ember excitedly smiled after seeing the entry. "The boiler was a secret door!"
A sudden, haunting violin music went through the air, causing everyone to flinch before their bracelets started vibrating.
The lighthouse started creaking more, causing everyone to perk, realizing something was happening from outside, almost like something was trying to get in.
"Quick, get in the tunnel!" Fireman Sam urged everyone to go through the tunnel individually.
He helped each one through the tunnel before perking up when he saw three people stepping into the room, ducking a little in confusion as one of the boards fell.
"You three!" Fireman Sam urged, causing all three to look over. "Come towards me and into the tunnel!"
The three nodded and followed Fireman Sam as he helped two of them enter, but the third was stubborn and climbed inside before Fireman Sam entered.
After Fireman Sam entered, the boiler slowly closed, sealing the entrance as the room shook.
Inside the tunnel, everyone waited anxiously as they listened to the distant violin music before it stopped and brought relief to everyone.
"What was that?!" a female voice exclaimed as she stepped forward. "Was that a violin?!"
The three whom Fireman Sam helped were a purple-hooded figure with a long-sleeved dark purple dress that reached down to her ankles, showing her slippers.
The figure reached up to her hood and gently pulled it down, showing her wrinkled face with light gold eyes and long, straight white hair.
The second was a woman with fair Caucasian skin, light blue eyes, and long, straight brown hair tied into a high ponytail.
The third, however, was someone that Postman Pat was familiar with, as he quietly sighed, sounding like he was silently saying, 'Oh, goodness, not this guy.'
He had fair Caucasian skin, combed-back blonde hair, and wore a silver business suit with a yellow tie.
"Great, more people." Baz groaned. "This isn't a tour party!"
"Well, excuse us," the man with blond hair huffed indignantly. "We didn't expect the whole lighthouse to start shaking after a violin was played!"
"Okay, okay," the elderly woman spoke, putting her wrinkled hands between the man with blond hair and Baz. "Enough fighting. We'll figure out how to get out of this tunnel by following Mrs?"
She mentioned a hand to Ember and responded, "Ember."
"Ms. Ember." The elderly woman nodded, finishing her sentence.
"Fine," the man with blond hair huffed as his arms crossed his chest. "This better be quick."
Ember turned back around as she unfurled the map, and Postman Pat apologized, "Sorry about Mr. Carbunkle. He's been like that."
"I can tell," Ember nodded before looking at the map as it magically showed more writing.
It reads:
That was a close one. You managed to evade one of the traps I had left behind while I was alive.
The next riddle will be revealed soon after we head down this tunnel. I will show you where to go next after exiting.
Ember looked up at the dark hallway, shuddering slightly from how cold and dark it was.
"Uh, Zeke?" Ember spoke, gently taking Zeke's arm and tugging him forward. "We need you to use your lantern to shine our way."
Zeke nodded and lifted his lantern, allowing its glow to shine on their path as he walked down the hallway with the others behind.
"Oh, we didn't get to know your names," Ember perked, glancing over at the three behind her. "And why did you follow us, too?"
"I'm Rue Mallory." She introduced herself as she pushed her round glasses into place.
"I'm Edwin Carbunkle," the man with blond hair responded.
"And I am Simza Tsuritsa," the mysterious elderly woman answered. "I am a gypsy woman who helps others with their fortunes."
She said to Rue with a hand, "My client Rue is cursed with bad luck and is giving Mr. Carbunkle, as he puts it, a bad reputation because of her curse."
"And she is my errand girl, too," Mr. Carbunkle huffed, causing Rue to blush sheepishly. "She kept mixing papers and being late."
"Now, Mr. Carbunkle," Postman Pat began. "Rue might have bad luck, but she has reasons for what happened."
Mr. Carbunkle only scoffed with a roll of his eyes before Simza continued, "I learned that there is a special artifact that would break Rue's curse, but that meant following you all to the artifact itself."
"Hmm," Madame Leota gently hummed, surprising the three after seeing her in Lieutenant Hammerman's arms. "I suppose we can all kill two birds with one stone together. We can rescue Stephanie by removing the contract and giving the artifact to Simza for Rue."
"Excuse me." Simza walked next to Lieutenant Hammerman and asked, "Are you Madame Leota by any chance?"
"I am." Madame Leota nodded. "You've heard of me?"
"From my mother, yes," Simza nodded. "She used to tell me tales about how you can see ghosts and summon them by using the items they cherish the most."
"You can do that?" Zeke asked, glancing over at Madame Leota.
"Yes, child, I can," Madame Leota nodded. "But it is not easy for me to do whenever possible. I would accidentally summon a terrible spirit to haunt the place or something greater than my powers."
She paused and added, "Like how I sensed the Blue Demon's powers returning."
"'The Blue Demon?!'" Rue exclaimed, pausing from her walking before following after them. "What Blue Demon?!"
Zeke turned slightly toward the group and explained the book that he had read about the Blue Demon and the Maelstrom Buccaneers, which sent shudders down the trio's backs.
Then he told them how the group entered the mansion searching for a treasure map but wandered into one of the Phantom's attacks, learning about the Gracey Mansion and the Ravenswood Mansion.
He even showed the trio where the curse used to be on his arm, telling them how Ember removed it, but they were too late to stop Stephanie from getting to the Bonesong Violin.
Ironically, in an unusual and sudden twist, Stephanie turned the violin's power towards the Phantom himself, dragging him onto the Reaper of Souls ghost ship, allowing the group to see what would happen to ghosts.
It still sends shudders down Zeke and the group's spines after witnessing the Phantom's demise in front of them, not wanting to have themselves experience the same thing.
Since then, they have found the map that would lead them to the Reaper of Souls, possibly find where the contract is, and destroy it to free Stephanie from the Blue Demon's curse.
Mr. Carbunkle thinks it is a dangerous thing to do, but since he was dragged along with Rue to break this curse together, he had to come along with the group.
They soon exited the rock tunnel, and Ember opened the map, watching as a drawing of a series of tunnels appeared.
Writing appeared at the top, reading:
Okay, now this is where things get tricky.
I used magic to confuse thieves traveling through the tunnels into getting lost around these twists and turns.
But do not fret because I know which direction to go! It would help if you answered this next riddle to unlock a way to escape this trap.
Here's the riddle:
I'm slender and swift, flying straight and true, pointing the way in skies of blue.
What am I, with feathers at my end, shot from a bow, to send a friend?
"An arrow?" Ember asked, cocking her head a little. "What's an arrow do with-?"
Ember paused when she watched what looked like a glowing arrow materialize on the ground before following with others, showing a tunnel hallway before turning to the left.
"Oh!" Ember perked up as the words disappeared. "Arrows can be used to guide ways, too! Clever."
Zeke started walking ahead of the group to lead them through the maze, following the arrows on the ground, and they saw skeletons littered in some parts of the maze, indicating that people had been attempting to find the Blue Demon's treasure.
Some held the sides of their heads with their hands as if covering their ears from the violin music that continued to play.
They soon reached the maze exit and were about to leave after avoiding a skeleton on the ground, but their bracelets suddenly tugged at Zeke's wrist.
"Ow!" Zeke exclaimed, stumbling backward but luckily not bumping into Ember.
He scoffed at his bracelet and asked, "What?"
Something was glowing from underneath the skeleton's body, and Ember handed the map to Sailor John and knelt.
"Oh, come on, Ember," Sailor John groaned. "Don't tell me ye're goin' t'-"
Ember gently flipped the skeleton over, and a bunch of spiders fell out of the skeleton's body, causing the group to scramble back as the spiders skittered around.
"Spiders!" Flex Dexter shuddered with a whine. "Why does it have to be spiders?"
Ember shook her hands after the spiders skittered around and reached towards what was glowing, taking out what looked like a round medallion with a single gemstone in the middle but with two that resembled eyes, almost like a skull.
"A medallion!" Ember perked up with a smile, stood up, and a string was connected to the medallion.
Said string yanked the skeleton's head off and caused more spiders to scramble from the skull, causing Zeke to yelp as he lifted a foot to avoid the spiders.
"Oops, sorry!" Ember apologized, kneeling back down to move the head back on.
She wiped her hands across her jacket before putting the medallion around her neck and opening the map in her hands.
A new handwriting appeared:
Keep going forward, my treasure hunters! You are almost there to the treasure you all are seeking!
The next puzzle will be ahead, but be careful. There are still more booby traps lying around waiting for you.
The writing disappeared, and Ember looked forward before gently taking Zeke's arm and tugging him forward, furling the map, and putting it into the inner pocket of her jacket.
Zeke nodded and walked forward, seeing the ghost of 'Stephanie' again and looking over at them before heading through the dark hallways.
They had to walk through spider webs, but Zeke luckily found a shovel left behind by one of the deceased thieves and swiped it away.
Of course, there were complaints from Mr. Carbunkle and the other half of the group, mostly about food and cobwebs getting to their clothes.
Zeke was silently asking with the 'Are you sure you're part of the group?' expression towards Lieutenant Hammerman, Ember, and P.T. Boomer, but they shrugged towards Zeke.
They had to climb down steep areas in the hallway, helping people down while Zeke's lantern lit the way for everyone.
The place was getting colder and colder, almost like they were traveling further down from the surface, sometimes getting complaints from the group about how cold it was getting.
To Zeke, it is like the mansion: cold and lacking a fireplace, which he upgraded a little when he saved the ghosts from Atticus Thorn.
After traveling through the hallways, sometimes squeezing through tight spaces to get to some places, they approached what looked like a round disk on the wall that was away from a single hole on the wall, and from the look of it, it had multiple knobs.
"What is this?" Mr. Carbunkle asked with an unamused tone.
Ember opened the map to look at it, and handwriting appeared on it, reading:
I see you've arrived at the next puzzle. This one is a little tricky, but it will be helpful if you have it.
Here's the riddle:
I'm slender and sleek, made to fit just right in a lock. I turn to bring things to light.
What am I, a small thing with great might, ensuring your secrets stay out of sight?
"A key," Ember responded after reading the riddle.
The words disappeared after Ember answered the riddle, and the writing reads:
Good! But that is part of the riddle, my treasure hunters.
Here's the second half:
I'm not a jewel, but I'm worn with pride, displaying achievements side by side.
What am I, a pendant of honor and might, gleaming with memories, shining so bright?
Ember perked up after reading the riddle and reached into her garment, taking the medallion from around her neck and asking, "Is it a medallion?"
The letters disappeared after Ember asked, and another piece of writing reads:
Good! But how would this 'key' fit in a gigantic, narrow slot with millions of knobs?
Unless there are knobs the right size for this 'key' you have that would allow you to turn to the right side where you are positioned.
Ember looked confused after reading the written words on the map before looking back up at the hold, humming softly as she inspected it along with Sir Robert Norramby.
"It looks like someone with the right arm size could fit through it," Ember muttered.
"With length, too," Sir Robert Norramby nodded before attempting to stick his arm through, but it barely touched the knobs. "Mine won't reach the knobs."
Ember stuck her arm through it, and she could not reach the knobs before asking the others as she took her arm out, "Everyone, come over here to this hole and stick your arm through it."
Lieutenant Hammerman stepped to the side with Madame Leota in his arms while the others stepped up, attempting to reach through the hole.
They stuck their arms through one by one, but they would either be stuck or could not reach the knobs on the other side of the hole.
The last one was Bernie, and he stuck his arm through, managing to fit it through and reach the knobs, causing him to look confused.
The others noticed as Bernie moved his arm out, looking at it with confusion, and Ember handed him the medallion.
"Great!" Ember smiled. "Here, stick your arm through it with the medallion."
Bernie did so and paused from going on to the next as Ember said, "From what the map said, try finding something that would fit the 'key.'"
"So, connect the dots." Bernie nodded before poking at the knobs with the medallion in his hand, muttering, "Nope. Nope. Nope. Nada. Nuh-uh. Nope."
"Try those two." Flex Dexter pointed.
Bernie did, and it did not fit as he moved downward as the group told him, going from up, down, left, and right.
He finally stuck the medallion onto two perfectly fit knobs and perked, and Ember said, "Okay, from the angle we are, turn right." She held her hands with two legs before pointing to the right with her right hand. "Clockwise."
"Right." Bernie nodded and started to turn right, and clicking noises were coming from it before a more audible click came from it. "Hey, I think I unlocked something!"
A door suddenly closed around Bernie's arm, and he shrieked, causing Ember, Sailor John, and Henry to attempt to yank his arm out.
Then more serious clicks started happening, and a cannonball rolled down a handmade rail, and Sailor John exclaimed, "We've set off a booby trap!"
Bernie panicked as the group tried to yank his arm out of the hole, and he shrieked, pushing with all his might, "I don't want to lose my arm!"
The cannonball fell into a handmade basket that pulled it downward, set off some series, and soon, a small section of the floor opened, causing Conrad to fall into it with a shriek.
However, Conrad grabbed Henry's overall straps, which yanked Henry backward from helping Bernie yank his arm out.
Henry luckily sprawled his limbs out to stop himself, but he was tugged into the hole with a small pop.
Conrad shrieked as he held onto Henry's overall straps as he was tugged further, digging his fingers and shoes into the walls to slow himself down.
Soon, Henry slowed down from falling further, and Conrad was just mere inches from one of the points at the bottom of the hole.
Conrad sighed in relief after missing the spikes, while Henry silently screamed with pain from the weight against his chest and the somewhat burning sensation against his shoes and hands, straining to keep himself upright.
At the same time, his overalls were being yanked downward by Conrad's weight, and Henry silently wished they were not stretched to the point where he had to hold them up like baggy pants.
"Henry!" Henry looked up after hearing his name and saw the group peering over the ledge with Sir Topham Hatt calling. "Henry, are you okay?"
"Perfectly. Fine." Henry strained as he slid down, inch by inch.
Conrad looked around at his surroundings while still holding Henry's overall straps, noticing a secret tunnel from where they were.
"Hey, guys!" Conrad called. "I think I found another way!"
"You found another secret tunnel?" Ember called.
"Yes!" Conrad nodded before flinching when Henry slipped a few more inches. "Uh, better hurry! Because I don't think Henry would hold on."
"Nah, you think?" Henry groaned with sarcasm.
"Hold on, Henry!" Sir Robert Norramby called towards Henry. "We're going to find a way to get down there."
"What about me?!" Conrad exclaimed.
"Yes, you too!" Mr. Carbunkle rolled his eyes.
"Isn't there a way to throw a rope down there?" Ember asked, turning to the group.
After Ember asked, the group shook their heads, and Cleo responded, showing her whistle to Ember, "We could use our whistles, but our friends are in their human forms, and it would get them stuck if we turned them back to normal."
The bracelets around the group's wrists glowed and tugged Ember forward before transforming into a cuff around her wrist.
It gently lifted her upward and floated downward slowly, touching the ground before transforming back to normal.
"Oh!" Ember perked up after watching the bracelet transform before it did the same to Henry as Conrad released his overall straps, snapping them back to normal as he yelped from the smack. "That's new."
The bracelets did the same to the others, and some had to carry the others who did not have a bracelet around their wrists, although Mallow had one around hers.
Once the last person was on the ground, Ember opened the map as handwriting appeared on the map, reading:
Excellent! The next challenge was the trickiest of the other booby traps I had put up.
I hope you all have wonderful taste in music like I do.
"Music?" Ember muttered before the group continued down the tunnel as Zeke guided the group with the lantern.
The sound of water hits their ears as they step down handmade stairs, coming across what looks like a log over a waterfall.
"Okay." Fireman Sam spoke as the group looked at him. "Everyone crosses it one at a time, and be slow and careful."
"Watch me," Flex Dexter smirked before stepping onto the log and walking across it.
But Mr. Carbunkle followed behind with the others and Conrad at the back as Fireman Sam exclaimed, "One at a time! One at a time, for heaven's sake!"
"Don't worry about it, Sammy!" Flex Dexter scoffed, and Fireman Sam's cheeks blushed a little after he scoffed. "This is easy as-"
Conrad's foot slipped, and he fell downward, hitting squarely in the groin after parting his legs, but he grabbed Mr. Carbunkle's suit, Mr. Carbunkle grabbed Baz's suit, and Baz grabbed Flex Dexter, creating a combo of groin shots.
The group winced after watching the combo happen, and the group on the log winced in pain after their crown jewels were impacted on the log.
Fireman Sam exclaimed, with a slight tone of frustration, "I told you to step on the log one at a time!"
"Someday, you must lose your temper with these dumbasses," Mallow huffed with a roll of her eyes.
Fireman Sam carefully climbed on the log and helped each member up from it, gingerly walking off from it before waiting to the side to take a moment.
"Alright," Fireman Sam spoke, turning to the others. "One at a time."
The first was Cleo, and she slowly walked across the log, slipping once but not falling off, much to Thomas' worry.
She soon reached Fireman Sam, and he helped Cleo off the log before the next and the next and the next.
Spencer was next, but he was piggyback-carrying Holly, so he walked across the log as carefully as possible.
He slipped a little and stiffened, but Spencer did not fall off and continued moving forward with the encouragement of the others.
Spencer was soon helped off from the other side of the log and sighed with relief as Holly hugged him around his neck with a smile.
"Let's keep moving." Ember nodded as she looked up the rocky steps as the ghost of 'Stephanie' stared down at them with the same semi-glowing, sharp, azure blue eyes. "I feel we are almost close to where we are going."
The group carefully climbed up the rocky steps and entered a room but encountered a sight before them that sent shivers down their spines.
There was an organ made of bones, with a skeleton on the front wearing what looked like parts of the organ itself.
"That is disgusting." Thomas winced with a slightly disturbed expression.
"I don't know how I should feel 'bout that," Diesel 10 remarked, mentioning the skeleton organ pipe while Diesel looked very uncomfortable.
Ember unfurled the map and looked at the writing as it magically appeared on the map.
It read:
I hope one of your treasure hunter friends is good at playing the organ like Davy Jones himself… although I should warn you that you would be with Davy Jones himself if you made three mistakes that would put your and your friends' lives on the line.
But don't worry about how you would know what the notes would be, as I would draw them out here!
Just play them right, and the door to the Reaper of Souls will be open for you.
"Oh, great." Mallow groaned as the writing disappeared and showed a single line of notes, some up or down, with different shapes, and others either filled or not filled. "I hope to God that we have an organ player."
"I would try to play it," Postman Pat suggested nervously as the group looked at him. "The Reverend let me play the organ once when his hands hurt… although I struggle with reading the notes."
"Do not fret, Pat." Madame Leota smiled. "I'll help you read the notes on the map for you. The organ player once showed me the basic uses of notes."
"Thank you, Madame Leota." Postman Pat thanked her as he took Madame Leota out of Lieutenant Hammerman's hands, and Ember placed the map on the front of the organ.
Postman Pat pointed at the first note, but before playing the organ, their bracelets suddenly started twitching as the violin music played.
"Oh, crap!" Mallow cursed.
"Quick, go find out what the warning is!" Conrad urged the woman.
Mallow nodded and ran off, peering through the entrance where they entered and seeing something crawling out of the waterfall.
"What's this note?" Postman Pat urged.
"That's middle C." Madame Leota explained.
"Right, middle C, middle C," Postman Pat nodded, looking at the board, before hitting the keyboard and playing a note that slowly opened a door.
"Keep going! Keep going!" the group urged.
"Well done!" Madame Leota smiled before reading the next note. "That one looks like a sharp A with a C."
Postman Pat nodded and carefully lined his hands to the notes as the violin music continued, getting somewhat louder.
He pushed the keyboard, and instead of playing the right tune, it played what sounded like the wrong tune, and a part of the floor fell from the left side, causing the group to panic as they grabbed onto Flex Dexter's belt, tugging him back up.
"Okay," Flex Dexter nodded as he gripped the group's clothes to keep himself from falling backward. "I think I get what the other trap is."
"Oh, darn it, that's the wrong note!" Madame Leota groaned. "Let's try the next note instead."
"Okay." Postman Pat nodded before Mallow called, "Guys, I don't know what's climbing from the waterfall, but they looked pissed off!"
Postman Pat pressed some keys, but it played the wrong tune, and the right side of the platform dropped, causing Conrad to shriek as he gripped Bob the Builder's belt and gripped onto his.
Luckily, he was pulled back with Bob the Builder's strength as he held on, and Postman Pat stuttered, "Oh, that was also the wrong note!"
"Well, what's the next one?" Mr. Carbunkle exclaimed.
"A flat!" Madame Leota exclaimed.
"A flat, A flat." Postman Pat muttered, moving his fingers to the keyboards before playing it.
The correct tune was played, the door moved up a little, showing a light blue glow from the other side, and Postman Pat pointed to the next note.
Meanwhile, Mallow watched as skeleton-like creatures rose out of the water, grabbing the staircase of rocks and climbing upward.
But the darkness of the place was dark enough that they could not see what the creatures were as they approached the hallway entrance, and Mallow ran to the group.
However, she tripped over a rock and crashed into the back of the group, hitting some of the notes that played the wrong tune.
The floor behind Mallow dropped, and she slipped, luckily grabbing onto the group before falling into the pit of spikes.
They instantly grabbed Mallow as she was cursing (luckily censored) while grabbing onto everyone's arms or clothes.
The group pulled Mallow onto the platform as Conrad sucked in his gut a little to get some room, gripping belts or their garments to keep each other from falling.
"Don't fret, child!" Madame Leota assured Pat, although she felt slightly cramped with everyone huddled close. "The next note is either a B flat or C."
"If we don't finish this, we will all be flat!" Spencer fretted.
"Don't mention it!" Baz exclaimed.
Postman Pat moved his fingers to the keys and played it, playing the right tune, and the door opened fully, landing on the platform as a bridge for the group.
"Quick, go, go!" Fireman Sam urged, watching as something poked out from the tunnel but paused before one of them bumped against it and fell into the pit.
The group quickly hurried across the platform as Fireman Sam was helping the group, glancing back once before following the group.
The skeleton-like creatures watched the group leave, and the violin music stopped, causing the creatures to collapse into piles of bones.
Meanwhile, the group arrived at what looked like a makeshift water slide and went onto the slide individually to escape the skeleton-like creatures.
Everyone went down the waterslide, sometimes separating from each other or coming back together down the wild slide.
Vines were dangling down from over their heads, and they ducked to dodge them, sometimes crashing into some webs, but the water washed the webs off.
For Diesel, Diesel 10, Spencer, Gordon, Thomas, and the Flying Scotsman, the Copper Dust was slowly coming off them, but they did not notice as they went along with the slide.
Soon the exit appeared, and the first to fall out was Sir Topham Hatt, then Mallow as she shouted, "Oh, crap!"
Then the others fell out as Conrad called, "Geronimo!" and splashed into the water before the last group fell into the water as it reached up to the group's chests.
But as Diesel, Diesel 10, Spencer, Gordon, Thomas, and the Flying Scotsman went into the water, they were reverted back to their engine forms, with Holly on Spencer's boiler but not slipping off.
Notches yowled as his fur was soaked with water and quickly swam over to the nearest steam locomotive, quickly climbing on while the dolls were on his back.
"Is everyone okay?" Sir Topham Hatt asked.
"Just soaking wet!" Mr. Carbunkle hissed as Notches shook his body and his limbs from being dripping wet.
"Holly?" Spencer looked up as Holly crawled towards his funnel and wrapped her arms around him. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, Spencer," Holly assured him with a small smile.
The group looked at where they were and saw they were inside a gigantic cave with a galleon ship made out of pure jet-black wood with somewhat shredded fabric that had faded into a yellow color and had the Maelstrom Buccaneers flag.
"We made it!" P.T. Boomer perked.
"Oh, thank god!" Sir Topham Hatt sighed before calling, "Stephanie? Are you there?"
No response followed, and worry filled the group after no response.
"Stephanie?" Sir Topham Hatt started to approach the Reaper of Souls.
"Wait a second!" Sailor John exclaimed, taking Sir Topham Hatt's arm. "A: How are we goin' t' get on the ship wit' 'em?" He jabbed a thumb over to the engines. "'n B: Wha' if the Blue Demon be on the ship wit' her?!"
Sir Topham Hatt quietly made a 'D'oh!' sound to himself after realizing he did not think about the engines and had his focus on seeing if Stephanie was alright.
Suddenly, violin music went through the air, and everyone flinched after hearing the music, glancing over to the galleon as a faint blue aura came from the very front.
"Oh, what trap is this now?" Mr. Carbunkle huffed.
Suddenly, the water around the group scooped them up as it shaped into hands and carefully carried them over to the Reaper of Souls, and the engines had the same thing but with two or three hands to carry them.
The violin music sounded different from the ones they heard, sounding almost like someone was expecting them, sending confusion among the group.
Slowly, the first to step onto the ship was Sir Topham Hatt, then the others, but the aura suddenly went towards the engines, using magic to transform them into humans as they were placed on the Reaper of Souls.
"This is definitely not Stephanie's work." Spencer nodded as Sailor John had a somewhat uneasy expression.
He knows being on the Reaper of Souls is a huge bad idea, but since Sir Topham Hatt was looking for Stephanie and they are searching for treasure, he needs to get together.
"Hello?" Sir Topham Hatt spoke as he stepped forward, and the wood underneath his body creaked from his weight. "Stephanie?"
"Sir, let's focus on finding the Blue Demon's contract," Madame Leota spoke as she was carried by Lieutenant Hammerman. "Then we'll find Stephanie after it is destroyed."
Sir Topham Hatt nodded and followed the group towards the captain's quarters, stepping inside to see many items.
It ranged from shelves filled with different books that were withered to a desk with a single sheet of paper, a quill, and an ink pot.
"The Blue Demon writes?" Bernie asked, mentioning the papers.
"It does look like it," nodded Madame Leota. "It could be how the Blue Demon writes down his victims to know who he has beheaded over time."
The group continued looking around as Ember opened the map to look at it, but nothing appeared or any handwriting of congratulations.
Sir Topham Hatt was looking around the desk for the contract from the Blue Demon, but he was also looking for any clues that Stephanie had been in here.
The last thing he wanted was to learn that they were too late and the Blue Demon had fully taken over Stephanie's body.
His bracelet suddenly tugged him backward when he passed by something, causing him to stop and look over.
From the corner of his eye, Sir Topham Hatt saw someone standing in front of a shelf and looking up and down at it.
Strangely, this stranger looked almost like him, but less on the chubby side and more towards the fashion type, wearing the same suit but with some decorations and a cane.
He reached up to one of the books and pulled something before walking through the shelf, causing Sir Topham Hatt to perk up.
His bracelet tugged him towards the shelf as everyone was still looking around, and he reached up to the same book and pulled it.
Something unlocked, and the shelf opened, revealing a hidden door within the captain's quarters that caught Sir Topham Hatt's eye.
Sir Topham Hatt poked his head inside, watching the same ghost walk through the hallway.
Sir Topham Hatt followed the ghost of himself through the hallway, wondering where he had seen this doppelgänger before.
He soon entered a small room and perked up, seeing more doppelgängers around, each looking like either Bernie, Baz, P.T. Boomer or a group member.
But like him, they resembled different people, wore separate clothes, and had different appearances.
One of them perked after sensing Sir Topham Hatt was watching them and glanced over, revealing to be the same ghost that led 'Stephanie.'
Before the group disappeared, he pointed at something on a table, and Sir Topham Hatt's bracelet tugged him forward.
Sir Topham Hatt approached what was on the small table and noticed it was a book with a dark blue cover with no title or someone's name on it.
He picked the book up and looked at it, wondering if this could be the contract Madame Leota was searching for to defeat the Blue Demon.
Yet again, it looks like it is from a different angle, which could be troublesome for being led astray from their mission.
What if this could contain a clue as to where the contract of the Blue Demon was hiding around the Reaper of Souls?
Sir Topham Hatt opened the book to the first written page, noticing it had the same handwriting as the one from the map.
The first page of the book reads:
December 21st, 1656
This day was the strangest, yet I felt so free. Earlier in the morning, I had finally created my first violin to play music like my mom used to! …I miss my mom, though. I used to listen to her sing while playing the violin in her hand as a toddler, but those good days have vanished since I was kidnapped and sold for slavery. I will not tell you what it is like to have to do everything for him, including the most disgusting things.
Now, I spend my time slaving my life to this horrible king for nothing, watching people suffer under this monster and have their riches taken away from him. But I usually stole the gold from him and handed it back to those he had wronged, never getting caught by the king.
It was terrible having to work against my will with this horrible king, having thoughts of just stopping him by getting him stuck somewhere or pushing him into a well to trap him. I didn't want to kill someone because I believed that killing someone would haunt me for the rest of my life.
But I wish I had stayed with my beliefs on this fateful day. The king discovered the violin I had created and demanded that I hand it over to him or simply play a tune to satisfy his boredom. But I couldn't play the violin right because I had never played a violin in my life.
Frustrated about my lack of skills, the king berated me for my failures, tossed the handcrafted violin into the fireplace, and started talking horribly about my mom, telling me that if I wasn't so stupid, I wouldn't be captured and sold. I lost my temper with him and somehow managed to take one of the axes off the wall and behead the king.
After realizing what I had done, I panicked and broke down crying, believing I had sinned by beheading a king, until the fire where my violin was tossed turned blue. I approached the fireplace and watched my violin turn from a hazelnut wooden brown to the deepest black color before hands made out of the blue flames came out of the fireplace.
They reached towards the beheaded king and took his corpse into the fireplace, transforming the violin into a bone violin from the king's bones, with the bones blending into the wood to keep it all together. The head transformed into the head of the violin, the rib cage into the body, and the right arm into the bow to play. After the violin was created, the hands handed me the violin, and when I gripped the violin in my hands, the skull of the violin spoke, saying a riddle that goes like this:
'I'm a vessel of old, with sails that unfurl, sailing the seas in the age of pearls. What am I, a majestic sight, carrying treasures and dreams in the night?' I answered a ship, and the skeleton head said, 'That's correct. Step outside and go by the docks. Play a tune with me, and someone will be waiting for you near the rocks.'
Curious, I approached the castle's docks and started playing the violin. It was terrible at first, but with the help of the violin, the music began to go from screechy to beautiful as I continued playing it. In the distance, I saw something approaching me from the fog, and soon, a gigantic galleon ship arrived, seeing me standing near the docks.
I felt terrified after seeing this galleon ship arrive near the docks, and the most terrifying thing was that it had a face on the bow that looked almost like a pirate's face, which terrified me more. 'Do not be afraid, child,' the violin said as I looked at it. 'This galleon ship is wild, and the simple tune we played together had gotten its attention. Play the music again to show you don't mean harm and don't alarm it.'
I looked back up at the galleon ship staring down at me, noticing that it had an expression between uncertainty and curiosity, but if I did make a wrong move, I would alarm this gigantic sentient being. So I started playing the violin carefully, allowing myself to relax as I played the instrument in my hands, listening to the music as it played a sad but beautiful tune.
The galleon ship listened to my music as the expression changed slightly from suspicious to a soft, sad look, as if slowly understanding my pain through the music I played. The music soon ended, and to my surprise, the galleon ship transformed into a human, resembling a pirate. He was tall, muscular, and bearded but had the same expression.
He gingerly knelt down to me and opened his arms, taking me into his arms as I cried into his chest, finally allowing my emotions to come to me as he gently pushed back a strand of hair from my face. "Don't worry," he softly whispered as he turned towards the docks. "I'll take care o' ye." He transformed into his ship form and started sailing away from the island I never called home, taking me with him as I lay in the hammocks with the violin on one of the barrels.
I don't know what I should feel now that I am with this sentient ship that appeared and was carrying a violin that called the ship itself. Maybe I would talk more with the ship to understand who he is and decide from there.
From Grayce Zulu Rose Allen.
Sir Topham Hatt flipped through the pages, reading of how this young child was raised by the galleon ship who was never named because the creators barely paid attention to him, so the young child named 'Grayce' named him 'Grayson Lucifer' because his human appearance reminded her a little of an old story she learned when she was young.
Throughout her adventure with Grayson, Grayce learns how to become a pirate, like how to tie knots, climb to the lookout nest, and learn about the magic Grayson learned on a magical island.
Strangely, she started to see Grayson as a father figure, and Grayson soon accepted Grayce as a daughter towards him, even though it was hard initially to take care of a young and excited child.
Grayce becomes curious over time about Grayson's use of magic and starts to do little experiments by using the violin she had created, seeing that she can create images and hypnotize people into doing Grayce's bidding.
But Grayce still had a grudge against greedy kings and queens, and she was constantly reminded of her past with the previous king she had beheaded, which would haunt her in her dreams, which worried Grayson.
One of the king's minions nearly grabbed Grayce at one point, so Grayson used his magic to separate the two before leaving the island with what he needed to keep Grayce safe.
So he learned how to utilize his magic while Grayce was asleep, discovering he could become 'stronger' by absorbing evil souls from different people after a haunting soul arrived on deck, taking it out for good.
…But he still had doubts about using this ability to protect Grayce from another attack, but Grayce assured Grayson about his ability, telling him that it was the only way to protect the ones he loved.
Sir Topham Hatt flipped to the next page, and he perked up when he noticed that this diary entry sounded familiar about something.
The page reads:
January 1st, 1660
It was a new year of living with Father, and I am excited about becoming a pirate when I am older, just like Father was. I wish I could've learned more about Father's magical abilities, but he seemed distant about telling me how he got them or how powerful he is. I don't want to pressure him into telling me.
I am already ten years old since I was adopted at six, but I still have time to learn everything from my Father's family. He kept avoiding a topic around one of them named 'Juliet,' which he did not want to mention. Maybe this 'Juliet' brought a lot of pain to him, and it is a tough topic for him to discuss.
But something weird happened while I was sitting on my father's deck, deciding to play an uplifting tune while he was asleep and wanting to practice with the violin I kept. While playing the violin, I heard soaring noises and looked up, seeing what looked like stars falling through the sky.
I stopped playing my violin for a moment after seeing the stars falling through the sky and stared for a long time before returning to playing the violin and playing a new song inspired by the falling stars. As I was playing the music, one of the stars seemed to 'hear' the music coming from the violin and headed straight towards me before hovering before me.
I instantly headed towards the star, hovering a few feet away from Father's deck, and out of curiosity, I started reaching towards the star, wanting to look at it closer. But as I was reaching towards the star, something gigantic burst out of the water and grabbed my right arm, encasing it after I caught the star in my hand.
I fell overboard and crashed into the water as I held the star close to my body, sinking a few meters underwater before feeling a sudden burst of change through my body like the star had been activated by the beating of my heart.
Whatever was holding onto my arm had disappeared suddenly, and the star close to my chest had also vanished, but I couldn't see what happened to it as it was dark underwater. Luckily, my shriek did wake Father up, and he used his magic to pick me up from the water, giving me a scolding for being too close to the ledge.
I told him about the star and what yanked me into the water, and Father listened to me, understood what happened, and asked what the star looked like. But I didn't look closely at the star, as I had grabbed it when it grabbed my right arm, though it did sting a little.
Father took me to the captain's quarters and inspected my arm, seeing a strange symbol on my inner forearm but also noticing a star-shaped mark on my chest. They both were not there before grabbing the star. Father became concerned after seeing the star on my chest and the symbol on my inner forearm, deciding to take me to a doctor to see what to do with the two symbols.
I agreed, and he went back to sleep, but I felt uneasy after experiencing that little incident, wondering if something would happen that would be more powerful. I may be imagining things and winding myself up with worries about what that star and that creature did.
From Grayce Zulu Rose Allen.
Sir Topham Hatt turned the page, and the next diary entries told that Grayce woke up with her hair in the color blue, and Grayson became more concerned after seeing his daughter's hair had turned blue.
It sounded similar to how Stephanie's hair was blue, but it would not be a coincidence as Sir Topham Hatt read more of the diary entries.
Grayce learned that her violin music had become more powerful, being able to control elements and helped her father speed up a little to escape some pirates heading towards them.
But one of the diary entries said that she had accidentally discovered that Grayce once had a nightmare about the same king that abused her, and she snapped, transforming into a monster that Grayson had to calm down.
Grayson now sees something wrong with Grayce and wants to help her, seeing that a doctor would not work with these newfound magical abilities.
So he teaches Grayce how to control her powers and transforming abilities, using them to her advantage and helping others whenever they arrive on an island.
But when Grayce turned twenty-one, she decided to put her powers to use, first asking Grayson if he wanted to become a pirate.
Grayson was hesitant at first, not sure becoming a pirate is a good thing, but understanding that there are dangers roaming around and Grayce wanting to defeat them, he agreed.
…Sir Topham Hatt slowly had a bad feeling growing inside him as he flipped to the next page but paused when he noticed some of the pages were chewed, indicating they had come from mice.
He closed the diary in his hand and exited the hidden room, stepping outside but noticing that everyone was not there.
"Hello?" Sir Topham Hatt called, carrying the book with him before placing it on the desk. "Where did everyone go?"
He stepped out of the captain's quarters and noticed a fog roaming around, causing him to become more confused as he stepped outside.
"Ember?" Sir Topham Hatt called. "Boomer? Sailor John? Where did you all go?"
The map Ember was carrying with her went into his chest from the wind blowing, which seemed strange as there was no wind inside a gigantic cave.
He took the map off his chest, looking at it as handwriting appeared before him.
It read:
I see you have discovered my diary and read it. But that is only half of the story you learned about me, and the other pages had been ripped out by the mice on Father since we all had disbanded. The reason will be revealed soon after answering this last riddle:
I'm not a human, but I wear a disguise—a sinister creature with piercing eyes.
What am I, a being that preys, luring in darkness in mysterious ways?
The hairs on the back of Sir Topham Hatt's neck stood up after reading the riddle, and he slowly answered, "A demon."
The handwriting disappeared, and the map disintegrated into nothing in his hands before the violin music played, causing Sir Topham Hatt to stiffen.
The sound of creaking wood came from behind him, and Sir Topham Hatt felt his heart beating against his chest, realizing that someone was approaching him.
He looked at what was behind him, and a figure emerged from the fog behind him, holding the Bonesong Violin in her hands and wearing a pirate captain's uniform.
The body was slender and had long blue hair with parts of the hair braided, flicked through the air, and wearing a captain's hat, but the shadow was concealing the face as the captain walked towards Sir Topham Hatt.
Fear took over Sir Topham Hatt after he saw the captain heading towards him, slowly watching the form transform with each captain's step.
The legs transformed into the hind legs of a wolf, with a fluffy tail, pointed ears, dark blue horns that curl over the head, a pair of wings, and a somewhat human snout.
The clawed fingers still played the violin in the hands of the towering and somewhat fluffy dark blue demonic creature, playing a mysterious and frightening tune that shook Sir Topham Hatt's core.
That is the Blue Demon.
The music soon ended, and the Blue Demon moved its arms down while holding the Bonesong Violin in its hands, the long hair covering its face as it grinned, showing its sharp canines.
"Ahoy, ole heartie," the Blue Demon spoke, causing Sir Topham Hatt to flinch. "It has been a long time since the last time I had seen ye 'n yer scallywags."
The Blue Demon placed the Bonesong Violin in its mane-like hair and knelt down on all fours carefully, kneeling slightly in front of Sir Topham Hatt while it was stuck at the spot he was, staring back while the knuckles of his jacket's collar were white like snow.
He is trying not to pass out or scream, not wanting to risk showing fear to this gigantic creature and realizing that Stephanie is gone.
"I suppose ye be wonderin' where this Stephanie would be." The Blue Demon mentioned. "She be fine. She be jus' restin' fer the time aft playin' me Bonesong Violin fer a long time fer practice."
Sir Topham Hatt nervously gulped after hearing the Blue Demon mention Stephanie, wondering how it knew what Sir Topham Hatt was thinking about?
The Blue Demon stood up and walked around him as he stayed still, wondering what it would be doing or getting.
Suddenly, the Blue Demon scooped Sir Topham Hatt into its clawed hands, one hand underneath his bottom and the other in front of him for safety, acting like a chair for him as Sir Topham Hatt flinched in its hands, startled when it started to pick him up.
"Don't be jumpin' around," the Blue Demon chuckled as he held onto the side of the hand before him. "Ye're actin' like one o' those Mexican jumpin' beans I once collected as a young sprog."
Sir Topham Hatt blushed a little with embarrassment from the Blue Demon's remark about him flinching as it walked forward, carrying Sir Topham Hatt with it as it re-entered the fog before it.
When the Blue Demon entered the fog, the fog cleared, the area changed to a bright and sunny outside with the ocean, and a crew of people moved around.
"Ah, I remember this glorious day," the Blue Demon remarked with a smile as the people continued moving around. "These are the crew hands I 'ave who would help wit' me Father, while I was in the cap'n's quarter, readin' books we had plundered from ships aft buildin' shelves t' keep 'em."
Then the Blue Demon paused and added, turning back to the captain's quarters and muttering, "I wonder if this memory has Subtle be in the cap'n's quarter."
The Blue Demon and Sir Topham Hatt phased through the door and showed what looked like Bob the Builder but was different, as he was building shelves while a young girl was excitedly watching.
Grayson was sitting in the desk chair, looking like a blend of Blackbeard and a handsome man and conversing with the young girl.
"Ah, it does!" The Blue Demon smiled, and the expression saddened a little as they watched the memory of Subtle and Grayson. "I miss Father and Subtle."
Sir Topham Hatt noticed the expression on the Blue Demon as he looked back at the young child, and then the memory disappeared as it changed to another, looking like a gigantic museum.
"Blisterin' barnacles, I remember this one!" The Blue Demon purred excitedly. "'Tis where Haunted showed me the history from the mighty bones o' these creatures."
The Blue Demon mentioned the towering skeletons of dinosaurs as it walked up the stairs, looking over at a room where there was the same child but with a person who looked like Sir Robert Norramby.
The Blue Demon chuckled and said, "At the same time, I met the Brave, Mr. Blue, Barbarian, Redhead, the Ghost, Fierce, 'n the Steadfast, includin' Mr. Calhoun Stevenson, 'n Mr. Marwood Brandon."
Sir Topham Hatt looked slightly confused as they explored the memories, showing happy times of the young child meeting familiar people Sir Topham Hatt knows, from Zeke Holloway to Fireman Sam.
To his surprise, even a female conductor decided to explore the thought of ships, earning the nickname 'Goldrunner.'
Then the memories showed her meeting others with the same Navy admiral who initially guided the young girl, nicknamed 'Gray Beard.'
Most people's nicknames were Crafty, Brighty, the Idiot (much to Sir Topham Hatt's slight amusement), Salty, Honorable, the Stubborn, Sea-Wolf, Double-Crossed, and Defiance.
Sir Topham Hatt now sees where the déjà vu is coming from after seeing the members of the Maelstrom Buccaneers and even understanding how much the Blue Demon misses them.
Then they arrived at another memory, and the Blue Demon's expression saddened more as a beautiful woman stood before the same pirate that was the Blue Demon.
"I missed her the most," the Blue Demon sighed sadly as the two kissed. "She was the most beautiful treasure I had. Wit' her long, beautiful hair 'n her bright 'n radiant smile, I wish I could've spent more time wit' her."
"What happened to her?" Sir Topham Hatt asked.
The Blue Demon angrily growled as the memory vanished and hissed, "The Marines had t' come 'n discover our hidden love."
"The Marines?" Sir Topham Hatt asked. "You mean those same people who roamed around the seven seas in the legends?"
"Aye, 'n they be real." The Blue Demon growled, and Sir Topham Hatt smelled what smelled like brimstone. "They had captured me love, 'n…" The Blue Demon paused and sighed deeply and slowly but sadly as the smell disappeared slowly. "I reckon ye 'ave t' see this yourself, me bucko."
The Blue Demon stepped into a large, black, endless room and placed Sir Topham Hatt down, allowing him to walk as he looked around.
Suddenly, the Blue Demon in his human form walked past Sir Topham Hatt, holding his violin in his hands, and approached Redhead.
"Redhead, I needs yer help," the Blue Demon spoke, catching Sir Topham Hatt's attention when the voice sounded almost female.
"What do you need my help with?" Redhead asked.
The Blue Demon took a deep breath before handing the Bonesong Violin to Redhead, saying, "I wants ye t' hide me violin."
"Why hide your violin?" Redhead asked. "What's going on?"
"Me love, Christina, was captured by the Marines 'n the only way t' get her be by…" the Blue Demon paused. "Be t' turn meself in t' rescue her as a deal."
"Turn yourself in?!" Redhead exclaimed, putting the Bonesong Violin down before returning to the Blue Demon. "Are you insane?! Do you realize what the Marines do if you turn yourself in?!"
"It's the only way, Redhead!" the Blue Demon exclaimed. "I don't wants t' risk Father or ye all t' break into the Marines' base t' rescue Christina or me! It's far too dangerous!"
The Blue Demon picked the Bonesong Violin up from the desk and handed the violin to Redhead, telling him, "Please hide my violin away from anyone who wants to find it. If they had their hands on the violin, it would spell doom. Please do this for me, Beckham."
The Blue Demon and Redhead stared at each other after the slight argument, and Redhead sighed, responding as the Blue Demon walked away from Redhead, "Okay. I will hide your violin. But what about your father?"
"Father…" the Blue Demon paused after opening the door to the house, sighing. "Father will understand aft the news comes out. I'm sorry."
With that, the door closed, and Sir Topham Hatt started to understand as the memory vanished, suddenly showing another as Sir Topham Hatt was cramped in a large crowd.
"Hey, excuse me!" He perked up after hearing Mr. Carbunkle's voice, and he glanced over. "You're stepping on my toes!"
"Sorry!" Sir Topham Hatt apologized, scooting back a little.
The group was with him, and he could see Marines everywhere, all dressed in white sleeveless uniforms with blue neckties, white caps, blue pants, and black boots, each carrying a rifle in their arms.
"Ladies and gentlemen!" The group perked up as they looked forward, seeing the Blue Demon with a brown cloth bag over their heads and having their hands cuffed. "I present to you."
The person standing next to the Blue Demon grabbed the cloth bag and pulled it off, revealing the Blue Demon's face as long blue hair fell out.
The hair went down, and the face resembled Stephanie's, with fair Caucasian skin and piercing azure blue eyes.
"The Blue Demon!" The man spoke, speaking through a speaker that was connected to a snail and speaking in the same voice as he was.
"Stephanie?!" the entire group exclaimed after seeing the Blue Demon's face as the man tossed the bag away.
The crowd was ushered in with whispered voices after seeing the Blue Demon's face as she was scowling towards the one speaking to her, baring her teeth that showed her canines.
But some features showed that it was not her; she was missing her pointed ears and had more of an adult appearance.
"For her crimes of beheading over nine hundred and ninety-nine kings and queens' heads," the man spoke as he mentioned a hand over to a clothed item as some people were dragging the item over. "I present to you all a new type of execution!"
The helpers grabbed the cloth and yanked it downward, showing a guillotine, as the person mentioned to the machine with a hand, "The guillotine!"
The group flinched after seeing the guillotine, and the Blue Demon perked up after seeing the guillotine as well, before being forced onto her feet.
"Move!" Sir Topham Hatt urged the people around him, trying to squeeze himself through the crowd but struggling to get through the crowd. "Move, move, move, move!"
"Let me through!" Gordon panicked, trying to get through.
"Get out of my way!" Diesel 10 tried to elbow one of them out of the way.
The Blue Demon puts up a fight against the two who were trying to force her towards the guillotine but manages to kick one of them away before an idea pops into her head after seeing the large empty yard.
"In crypts of old, where shadows creep, whispered secrets lie long asleep," the Blue Demon recited, causing everyone to perk up. "Speak this riddle, Twilight's Thread, awaken slumbers of the dead!"
After reciting the riddle and stamping her right foot, the ground began to rumble, causing everyone to stumble around and others to collapse.
Suddenly, a skeleton hand and then others burst out of one of the grounds in a gigantic felid of grass behind the execution platform.
Slowly, skeletons wearing pirate or normal civilian clothes emerged from the large patch of grass and headed toward the center.
"OH MY GOD!" Conrad shrieked after seeing the army of skeletons emerge.
Everyone panicked after seeing the army of skeletons emerge as the Blue Demon took this moment to escape, kicking away the two dragging her before running in the opposite direction.
"Stephanie, wait!" Sir Topham Hatt called, chasing after the Blue Demon.
The others chased after Sir Topham Hatt, avoiding the skeletons that appeared from different directions, bursting through the bricked ground and attacking the Marines.
"Quick!" one of the Navy admirals called and pointed to where the Blue Demon ran while fighting against the skeleton army. "Get the Blue Demon!"
"Roger!" The Marines nodded and started chasing after the Blue Demon and the others, wielding swords.
"Oh, crap!" Sailor John cursed after seeing the Maines chasing after them. "The Marines are comin'!"
"Aren't you a Marine?!" Conrad fretted. "Try talking to them!"
"Screw ye, I'm nah a Marine anymore!" Sailor John snapped at Conrad as everyone ran as fast as they could after the Blue Demon.
The Blue Demon struggled with the handcuffs around their wrists as they continued running through the small village of Marines, using the handcuffs to smack them away or avoid their attacks.
"Sorry! Excuse us! Sorry!" Thomas apologized as they went through the Marines, who were dazed on the ground.
The Blue Demon finally got the handcuffs off their wrists and turned around the corner before pausing when an army of Marines were heading towards her.
She looked down the other side and saw an army of skeletons heading towards the Blue Demon from the other direction.
The Blue Demon looked back and forth between the undead army and the Marines before giving a smirk.
She whipped her hand upright, and a chain appeared around her wrist, wrapping around the board and yanking downward, lifting herself upward.
"What the-?!" one of the Marines exclaimed before shrieking after seeing the skeleton army.
They tried to screech to a halt after seeing the skeletons but crashed into them in the middle, causing every bone to scatter all over the place as the Marines were jumbled into a pile.
The Blue Demon landed on one of the rooftops and looked back at the mangled pile of Marines and skeletons, giggling before noticing something in the distance.
She squinted her eyes to look and noticed a familiar galleon ship heading towards the docks. She gasped after seeing the ship appear at the docks at a fast pace.
"Father?!" she exclaimed. "Wha' be he doin' here?!"
Gunshots went through the air, and the Blue Demon ducked, glancing over as new Marines headed towards her with rifles.
She quickly shapeshifted into a semi-demon form without wings and ran across the rooftops, jumping while avoiding the gunshots.
Meanwhile, the group was chasing after the Blue Demon, huffing and puffing as they went through the alleys of the small village.
Then they saw a familiar black galleon ship approaching the docks and realized it must be Grayson coming to get his daughter, and there was a dark red aura coming from the ship.
"Ohhh, he's mad," Cleo fretted. "This isn't good!"
"What's wrong with a mad ship?!" Zeke exclaimed.
"This whole place would be flattened if that ship went into super Saiyan mode!" Romeo exclaimed.
The group hurried their pace and made it to the ship, their noses hitting what smelled like scorching wood.
Grayson was furious, his face red as the aura came from him, almost like he was 'burning' with anger for the Marines taking his daughter.
"Hey!" Cleo called, waving her hands to get Grayson's attention. "Hey!"
"Cleo, what are you doing?!" Darius exclaimed.
"Trying to get his attention to calm him down!" Cleo responded before returning to Grayson. "Hey!"
But Grayson did not look over at Cleo, and the aura was becoming a darker red, causing the group to panic after seeing the color change.
"Oh, crap!" Mallow cursed. "Oh, crap! Oh, crap! Oh, crap!"
Suddenly, someone rushed towards the very tip of the bow, revealing himself to be Sea-Wolf and holding the Bonesong Violin in his hands.
"Sea-Wolf, are you insane?!" The same female named 'Christina' exclaimed after poking over the ledge of the deck. "You can't play Grayce's violin! It's dangerous!"
"Listen to her!" nodded Redhead. "Come back with that violin!"
But Sea-Wolf reached the tip, ignoring all the dangers from the ship as the aura was almost on the verge of becoming an almost black color.
Lifting the bow, Sea-Wolf started playing a melody as fast as he could, summoning a light blue aura as he played the violin.
It collided with Grayson's aura and started blending with a horrible dark reddish and light blue color into an ugly purplish color, causing Grayson to wince with pain.
"Stop!" Cleo called, trying to get Sea-Wolf's attention. "Stop it! You're hurting him!"
But Sea-Wolf played the violin in his hands as he expressed pain, and black veins covered the bottom of his neck and the corners of his eyes.
He looked around while playing the Bonesong Violin in his hands, seeing a jumping figure going from one roof to another.
"I-I see her!" Sea-Wolf called.
"Where?!" Grayson exclaimed, looking around before watching a fluffy figure jump down from a roof and, at that moment, land on her feet and return to normal. "Grayce! Grayce, over here!"
The Blue Demon, Grayce, instantly started running towards Grayson and the crew as fast as she could, hoping to reach Grayson as he drifted slightly away from the docks.
Grayce jumped towards one of the ropes, but a gunshot went through the air from someone who looked like a Navy admiral and a bullet went through Grayce's chest, causing something to shatter as her expression changed from hope to horror as she missed the rope she was reaching for.
"GRAYCE!" Grayce fell into the ocean's water as everyone peered over the ledge, watching as a dark blue pool of blood reached the ocean's surface.
During that moment, Sea-Wolf gasped after hearing Grayson's scream and seeing Grayce being shot and stopped playing his violin, only for a sound wave from the screech to fly away from the violin, hitting a dam just above the Marine base and village.
The soundwave caused millions of cracks in the dam's concrete as bursts of water started to leak out as more appeared.
"Oh, Merde!" Zeke cursed in French after seeing that the dam was about to break.
More cracks appeared, and more water started spilling, causing the group to panic as they searched for ships to board.
Grayson was still screaming Grayce's name while coughing, struggling to move forward as the cracks in the dam were spreading faster.
The dam gave way, and a burst of gallons of water spilled out from the other side, causing gigantic waves of mud to spill onto the village, even towards the docks.
The gigantic wave of dam water splashed against everyone and caused Grayson to be flung backward from the docks, causing everyone on board to fall off and be tossed into the water.
Underwater, the groups were separated as the Marines were all falling deeper underwater due to the rush of the dam water and the gallons of mud landing on half of the army, sinking them further into the depths.
The humanized engines were forced back into their true forms as the magic from whoever was playing the violin was lifted.
Romeo had to hold onto one of Gordon's buffers, Cleo onto Thomas', Darius onto the Flying Scotsman's roof, and Holly holding onto Spencer's buffers as tightly as she could.
Sir Topham Hatt was being washed away with the group and, during that moment, saw Grayce's body sinking deeper into the water while trailing blood, watching as the hair briefly changed from blue to hazelnut brown to pure white as the color drained from the body as something lifted from her chest and disappeared.
Then, another wave of dam water went against Sir Topham Hatt, causing him and the group to be flung backward, blacking out from the lack of air.
Sir Topham Hatt suddenly jerked awake and coughed repeatedly as water dribbles came out of his mouth, sitting up from where he was dripping wet from head to toe.
He was on the deck of the Reaper of Souls with what looked like a pair of shoes standing in front of him.
Sir Topham Hatt looked up and saw the Brave standing before him, having a solemn expression as he tipped his hat down slightly.
The others were okay, and Darius helped Holly off the wooden floor as the engines were coughing a little water out of their bodies.
"We weren't the same after Grayce was shot to death," the Brave explained as everyone else stood up, seeing the others standing side by side with solemn expressions. "Grayson couldn't get over what happened and blamed Ainsworth for her unexpected passing."
"To make sure the same mistake would not happen again," Redhead explained after the Brave finished. "I hid Grayce's violin like she asked me to, hiding it in the unnamed crypt."
"We waited fer o'er five hundred 'n twenty years fer Grayce's ghost t' come t' us," Gray Beard explained. "But… we couldn't find her as the ship where she was shot had been buried wit' millions o' mounds o' mud."
"But I did come back." A familiar female voice nodded, causing the group of ghosts to turn around, seeing Grayce as she was holding a coming unconscious Stephanie in her arms, holding the Bonesong Violin in her arms. "'Tis all thanks t' this young 'n brave young sprog who dared herself t' find me violin."
Grayce walked towards Sir Topham Hatt with Stephanie in her arms before handing her over to Sir Topham Hatt, gently patting Stephanie's head as she was awake.
"Thank ye fer helpin' me return t' Father." Grayce thanked her before removing her hand from Stephanie's head and reaching into her jacket's pocket, taking out the Zodiac Pocket, the Dust Whistle, and the bracelet that was once on everyone's wrists. "Take care o' 'im while I'm gone, too."
Stephanie nodded after Grayce told her before turning to the crew members, wrapping her arms around Double-Crossed and Goldrunner's necks with a bright smile as she followed them.
As one by one they walked towards the front of the deck, they disappeared into thin air, and Grayce soon vanished into thin air along with her crewmates.
Stephanie slowly got out of Sir Topham Hatt's arms as he allowed her to step onto the deck, looking a little dizzy as she held the violin in her right hand while the other rubbed her left eye underneath her glasses.
"Mhh…" Stephanie softly moaned as she blinked, looking a little groggy. "…What happened? How long was I out for?"
Sir Topham Hatt smiled softly after Stephanie asked and responded, putting his hands on Stephanie's shoulders, "For a long time, Stephanie. For a very long time."
Stephanie softly smiled before Gordon asked, as she turned her attention towards Gordon, "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"
He patted all over Stephanie's body to check if she was injured during her time on the Reaper of Souls or from any of the traps.
Stephanie chuckled, pausing a little after seeing the violin in her hand before drawing an oval to place the violin away in a pocket dimension, "I'm okay, Gordon. I'm alright."
Gordon sighed in relief after Stephanie assured him and hugged her around her middle, and Stephanie returned the hug to Gordon.
"Excuse us?" Mr. Carbunkle spoke snootily. "But how do we get out of this place?"
"Well," Stephanie began as she looked at the point of the galleon before feeling the Dust Whistle around her neck. "All sentient ships live off of Gold Dust, right?"
"Right." Sir Topham Hatt nodded but paused. "What are you thinking?
Stephanie smiled softly before removing her Dust Whistle from her garments and changing the symbol to gold.
She took a deep breath before taking a long, sharp shrill of the whistle, causing a burst of Gold Dust to come out of the whistle.
It swirled around the Reaper of Souls as life started returning to the ship itself, the wood returning to its natural black color, the fabric returning to a white color and the ship itself repairing itself.
Soon everything was back to normal, like the ship had been built on the first day, but there were still some signs of what the ship used to look like.
Stephanie removed the whistle from her mouth before approaching the front of the ship, looking over the ledge to see that the front of the bow had a face resembling Grayson's.
"Hello, Captain Grayson." Stephanie greeted him with a small smile before saddening a little. "Your daughter, Grayce-"
"I know." Grayson nodded as faint tears came from the corner of his eyes. "I know wha' happened t' me daughter."
Stephanie smiled softly after Grayson nodded before looking at the rockslide before him, asking, "I suppose ye be lookin' fer a way out of the cave, savvy?"
"Yes, please." Stephanie nodded as she looked over at the group. "We had one long pirate adventure and would like to return home."
"O' course." Grayson nodded. "Me magic might be a wee rusty aft so many years have passed."
"Captain Grayson?" Stephanie asked, and Grayson looked up at her after she asked. "What if I use Captain Blue Demon's violin to help you?"
"But wha' would happen t' me if ye use it, sprog?" Grayson asked. "The last time Sea-Wolf used it t' calm me down, it well-nigh drained me sentience."
"That was because he was fighting against your magic and not working with it," Stephanie explained before taking out the violin from her dimension. "Give it a try, just like old times."
Grayson paused after Stephanie asked, still hesitant about allowing Stephanie to use Grayce's violin, but sighed, responding with a nod, "Very well. Let's try it again."
Stephanie nodded before playing the violin, covered with a beautiful medium-azure blue aura that spread from her hands and coated Grayson.
Grayson focused on his magic, and their magic somehow blended in, creating a more natural shade of blue and red, sometimes mixing into a purple in between.
She made a gentle, sharp shrill of the violin towards the rock slide in front of them as Grayson used his magic, causing the rocks in front to fall.
"It's working!" Cleo encouraged Stephanie and Grayson.
Stephanie smiled as she focused more on her violin and played more uplifting tunes, sending soundwave after soundwave towards the pile of rocks as Grayson focused his magic with the soundwaves, soon sending the last rock down.
After the last rock disappeared, Stephanie stopped focusing on her magic as Grayson lifted the anchor and Sailor John helped to hook it.
Stephanie started playing the violin, sending music into the cave and the wind caught in Grayson's sails, gently pushing Grayson forward.
Sailor John instantly climbed the steps towards the wheel and gripped it out of excitement as they exited the cave, which collapsed behind them after they sailed outside.
Meanwhile, Queen Mary was sailing through the ocean, her mind swirling with thoughts of what she had seen—the Reaper of Souls.
The Reaper of Souls was a terrifying yet powerful ship that would consume souls that stepped onto it, even being capable of using a strange sense of power that would tackle other sentient ships.
A sudden shudder went through the Queen Mary, and she glanced over to see where the new feeling was coming from, only to gasp and stop sailing after seeing the Reaper of Souls.
Sailing from the distance behind an abandoned area of Sodor, the Reaper of Souls appeared from where it was hiding, and uplifting violin music filled the air.
"That can't be it!" Queen Mary sputtered after seeing the Reaper of Souls appear. "The Reaper of Souls is back!"
She watched as the Reaper of Souls sailed out from around the area where it was before slowly turning around towards where the Queen Mary was.
Seeing that the Reaper of Souls was heading towards her, the Queen Mary prepared herself for the battle, knowing that there would be a slim chance of fighting against this ancient ship.
She may be old, but Queen Mary has been through many battles before and knows how to handle a fight without going down.
A breeze of wind blew past the Queen Mary as she waited for what would happen next, but she was surprised when she watched the Reaper of Souls sail past her.
There were even people and familiar engines on the Reaper of Souls' deck, along with a young child with long blue hair and a blue camouflage sweater playing a black violin with bones.
Queen Mary watched in awe as the Reaper of Souls passed her, not believing what she had seen with her own eyes.
"Was that a child riding the Reaper of Souls?" Queen Mary muttered after watching the Reaper of Souls pass by her.
With Grayson, Stephanie led her through the new version of Sodor, showing him where the new docks are and how much things have changed since she stopped playing her violin.
Grayson was a little surprised to see that there were a lot of changes around Sodor, but he was slowly introduced to them by Stephanie as she pointed towards the docks and even some railroads.
On the other hand, Sailor John was beaming with pride that he was sailing a pirate ship (even though he wanted to keep one to himself but needed to be patient), noticing people were staring with shocked expressions along with engines of all kinds and cranes.
They arrived at Arlesburgh Harbour, and Stephanie pointed to the previous pirate ship that Thomas had discovered a long time ago. Sailor John blushed a little after Stephanie mentioned it.
"Okay!" Stephanie called Sailor John. "Want to practice how to park a galleon ship?"
Of course, he had forgotten how to park a ship, although it was weird for Stephanie to call it 'parking.'
"Aye, I do know how t' 'park.'" Sailor John quoted with a gruffed huff. "It's called dockin', nah parkin'!"
"Ease up on the child, John." Simza patted Sailor John's shoulder, not noticing the man blush. "She's just a young one."
"Ah, aye." Sailor John nodded before clearing his throat. "Let's jus' start wit' the parkin'. I mean dockin'!"
His blush turned another shade after stammering, and the engines giggled from Sailor John's stammering, causing Sailor John's blush to go up another notch as Simza gently rubbed her left hand with a small smile.
Grayson helped Sailor John learn how to dock a galleon ship, and after docking, Stephanie stepped off from the very tip before Grayson appeared in a humanoid form.
"Hello." Stephanie greeted Grayson.
"Ahoy." Grayson greeted her back. "Erm, Stephanie, right?"
"Exactly." Stephanie nodded. "And you're Grayson, right?"
"Right." Grayson nodded. "Thar's somethin' that be slowin' me down. Do ye reckon ye would see wha' it could be? I couldn't seem t' search fer wha' 'twould be."
"Sure!" Stephanie beamed. "It could be a hole or something from underwater because the Gold Dust did not reach around that part."
She patted herself down as Grayson disappeared but paused when her hand touched something key-shaped from one of her pockets as Sailor John stepped down with Simza.
Stephanie reached inside and took out the key-shaped item, seeing that it was a key made from silver, copper, and gold with the head in the shape of a flag.
"Where did this key come from?" Stephanie asked, muttering to herself, and Sailor John noticed the key.
"May I 'ave a look at it?" Sailor John asked.
Stephanie nodded and handed the key over to Sailor John, and he looked at the key carefully, thinking back to that strange keyhole he once glanced over from the desk in the captain's quarter.
"I reckon I know where this key belongs." Sailor John responded after carefully looking at the key.
"Can you show us?" Stephanie curiously asked.
Sailor John nodded and led the group into the captain's quarters, finding the mysterious keyhole and inserting it into the keyhole.
He turned the key to the right, and a click came from the keyhole, causing the floor in the middle of the captain's quarters to click and move up a little.
Stephanie walked over to the lifted platform, hooked her fingers onto the ledge, and lifted upward, peering over the ledge before suddenly closing the hatch with a shocked expression.
"What?" the group asked after seeing her expression as she lifted it and peered inside, having the same shocked expression. "What is it?"
"Holy crap in a pita!" Stephanie exclaimed before opening the hatch and peeping inside. "That's a lot!"
Sailor John knelt and gently scooted Stephanie over, telling her, "May you move over a little and let me-" He took one look through the hatch before taking a second look after his mind registered what he saw. "HOLY SH-!"
"Language!" Stephanie exclaimed, covering his mouth with both hands.
Inside was a gigantic pile of glittering gold coins, gemstones, and even gold-crested items littered everywhere.
"Quick, get me in thar!" Sailor John exclaimed, removing Stephanie's hands from his mouth and looking around.
"Whoa, slow down," Stephanie chuckled as she gently pushed Sailor John back a little before flicking her wrist as it transformed into an ink pen. "Let me draw something to help you down there."
Stephanie measured something with her hands carefully before starting to draw something that resembled a ladder, and once it was finished, Stephanie tapped it.
It turned solid before she put it through the trapdoor, and it reached the bottom of the secret hatch. Stephanie exclaimed with a nod of her head, "Perfect!"
She moved to the side to allow Sailor John to climb down, pausing when he noticed that the pile looked bigger than he expected.
"Sink me!" Sailor John exclaimed after looking through the gigantic hull of the ship where the treasure was. "How much did she collect?"
"How much is there?" Stephanie politely asked.
"It reached the very front o' the hull 'n thar be a gigantic pile at the mighty front." Sailor John explained.
Stephanie opened her mouth to respond when Conrad knelt beside her, causing her to look up at him.
"Move over, kiddo!" Conrad exclaimed, gently pushing Stephanie to the side.
Stephanie huffed as Conrad started climbing down and instantly slid down, bumping butt first on his head as he exclaimed, slipping from the ladder and landing on his back on the gold pile as Stephanie landed squarely on her feet.
"Ow, that's going to leave a mark." Conrad groaned as he flipped onto his front as Stephanie looked around.
"Wow!" Stephanie exclaimed after seeing the sea of gold coins around her before kneeling to pick one of the coins up.
Baz, Bernie, and the others climbed inside to see the gigantic room filled with treasure, and Conrad was looking at some of the jewelry.
"Finally!" Sailor John beamed with pride. "I finally have treasure!"
"Actually, more than just treasure," Stephanie smiled. "You'll get dollars in cash, too."
"What?" the villain group asked, turning to Stephanie.
"Judging by the amount of gold coins and the date on these," Stephanie explained, showing the gold coin as she pointed at the date. "They can cost around seven thousand, nine hundred fifty, or eight thousand if put into your bank."
Then she paused, made a 'one-minute' mention with her hand, took out her phone from her blue jeans, and picked up one of the coins.
She took a photo of it and waited for a second as the calculations appeared, and Stephanie's expression changed to surprise, correcting herself, "Correction, ten thousand if you put it into your bank."
The entire group looked pale with shock after Stephanie explained, and Sailor John muttered, speaking clear English, "Excuse me. I think I need to sit down for a moment."
"Well, there's a couple of thrones over there, so go ahead," Stephanie responded, jabbing a thumb over at a group of thrones.
Sailor John gives a 'Really?!' expression after Stephanie mentions the thrones innocently while the others climb down to take a look.
Meanwhile, the others listened to the conversation and looked at each other after hearing Stephanie's calculation, and Romeo called, "Are you going to be okay down there?"
"I am!" Stephanie nodded. "I'm going to help them sort through all this gold before moving on to the next one."
"That's going to take a long time, Steph!" Darius explained as Stephanie took out her Zodiac Pocket Watch, tapping it as she transformed into her Chinese Rabbit Zodiac, resembling a lop rabbit.
She then looked at her wrist as her bracelet transformed into a wristwatch that matched the Zodiac Pocket Watch, and she turned the clocks' arms until the small arm reached five and the big arm reached twelve. "You're nnnnoooootttt."
The entire place slowed down after Stephanie tapped the wristwatch, and she smirked before cracking her knuckles as she looked at the time on her watch.
The big arm was moving around slowly, indicating that Stephanie had five minutes before time started again normally.
So Stephanie sped around the ship's hull as fast as she could, moving around items and sorting through the gold doubloons, looking at the dates and separating them from either gold, copper, or silver.
There were a lot of Dust Crystals, so Stephanie pocketed them into her dimension before moving on to the next, separating the gemstones neatly and even moving the thrones.
She moved the villains around while speeding around to clean up the hull, putting them in each throne as a little 'prank,' as she would call it.
After the last coin was picked up and placed into a pile, time started again, and Darius' sentence continued, finishing, "oot finish-wait, where's the treasure?"
The villains collapsed in the thrones after time started again, and Stephanie smirked, looking at her phone in her hand as she tapped it a few times and pushed her glasses into place.
"I miscalculated again, guys," Stephanie smiled before sighing as she rubbed the side of her temple. "It's over one sextillion dollars."
The group's entire bodies turned white as Stephanie innocently continued, not noticing the color change, "And if separated with," she paused, made the 'one-minute' mention and walked over to the door, looked up at the group standing in the captain's quarter, and asked them, "Do you want half of the treasure?"
"No, we're good!" Sir Topham Hatt responded.
"Okay!" Stephanie responded with a smile before returning to the group. "Separated by twelve of your friends, it's going to be around," Stephanie paused as she clicked on the calculator in her hands and responded, "Eighty-three octillion three hundred thirty-three septillion three hundred thirty-three sextillion three hundred ten quintillion in total for each."
"Repeat that one more time," Rue asked.
"The whole thing or the money part?" Stephanie asked as she removed the necklace, returning to normal.
"The money part!" Rue exclaimed. "But slowly."
"Okay," Stephanie nodded as she placed the Zodiac Pocket Watch away into her blue jeans pocket. "The whole pile was around one sextillion dollars in all. But if separated with twelve of your friends, it'll be around eighty-three octillion three hundred thirty-three septillion three hundred thirty-three sextillion three hundred ten quintillion dollars."
"H-Holy…!" Mallow wheezed with shock after Stephanie explained.
"That means you can get about either a mansion yourself or be like one of those frat boys and do a lot of parties." Stephanie chuckled.
"Absolutely not!" Lieutenant Hammerman exclaimed as his cheeks blushed a little.
"Please tell me you are kidding," Baz asked.
"Nope." Stephanie shook her head. "It was hard to calculate all these coins collected by the Blue Demon, but yes, that is the total amount."
"Wait, just the coins?" Mallow asked as the group perked. "You just counted the coins?!"
"Erm, yes," Stephanie nodded. "Unless you want me to add the total of the gemstones and the artifacts, too."
"Yes!" the group nodded.
"Okay!" Stephanie nodded and tapped before pursing her lips, making the group nervous after seeing her expression. "It's going to be around the sexdecillion area with all of it combined."
In the captain's quarter, the group heard the villains shriek with surprise, some coming from Mallow's censored cursing.
"They sound happy with what they got." Thomas remarked as Sir Topham Hatt gave the 'Are you sure about that?' expression towards Thomas.
It took about a few minutes for Stephanie to calm the villains down from their pretty shocked moment after calculating how much everything was inside, even having to collect them all into cloth bags that matched each one.
"Now take these bags to the nearest bank," Stephanie nodded.
"Now, hold on," Conrad spoke after Stephanie nodded. "There's just one problem: our bank accounts are closed because of criminal things."
"Mine is perfectly fine, just back at the base," Lieutenant Hammerman nodded.
"Hmm," Stephanie hummed after the villains explained before mentioning Rue, Simza, and Mallow. "What about yours?"
"Never opened one," Simza responded as she blushed with sheepishness.
"Mine kept closing a lot and losing a lot of money," Rue responded with a tired sigh.
"Mine is back in the US, and I don't know if there is the nearest ATM around here." Mallow nodded.
"Huh, that is tricky." Stephanie nodded before starting to climb the ladder. "Let me see if-"
Stephanie stopped talking when she opened the secret hatch, poking her head into what looked like a gigantic hallway with different safes littered across the walls with millions of papers everywhere.
She closed the hatch halfway with a 'Uh oh.' expression but opened it more out of curiosity as she poked her head inside, looking around.
"What?" Mallow asked after seeing Stephanie's expression. "What's wrong?"
"Well-" Stephanie began before the door hatch opened suddenly, causing her to flinch.
"Excuse me!" A loud voice growled angrily as the group flinched after hearing the loud, booming voice demand. "What are you doing poking your head into the hallway?!"
Standing before Stephanie and with their arms on the side of their hips was a gigantic dragon with golden scales and the tips of the claws were stained with black ink, and the tail was stained too.
Strangely, the dragon was wearing a green business uniform, except pantless, and was annoyed while staring at Stephanie.
"Oh, I'm sorry!" Stephanie perked as she blushed sheepishly. "I didn't mean to open a door to your dimension."
"What do you mean, 'Open a door to my dimension?'" the dragon snorted, speaking with a Chinese accent. "Come out here and explain yourself!"
"Okay!" Stephanie nodded before glancing at the others and making a 'follow me' mention with her hand.
Slowly, each person stepped out one by one, some stiffening after seeing the dragon but encouraged by Stephanie to step out fully.
"What is this, some sort of clown car?" the dragon asked after the last person stepped out, looking at the narrow trap door on the ground.
"Uh, more like the lower deck of a galleon ship of the Reaper of Souls," Stephanie explained. "I have this ability where I open one door, and it opens towards a different dimension, like yours, for instance."
"Really?" the dragon asked, cocking her head to the side slightly.
"Yes," Stephanie nodded as she pushed her glasses into place as the door was kept open. "I've done it multiple times since I discovered my ability,"
"Hmm," the dragon softly hummed, peering over the small, narrow hole. "Do you mind if I take a look?"
"With all respect," Stephanie nervously smiled as she put her hands together. "Can you fit through it?"
The dragon paused after Stephanie asked, giving an unamused expression as she stepped away, responding, "Alright, smartass, what is your idea of allowing me to see the inside of the ship?"
"With this!" Stephanie beamed, drawing a circle before taking out a key in her hand.
She walked over to the dragon's clawed hand and inserted the key into it before turning it, creating a click noise.
"Ow!" the dragon exclaimed after Stephanie used the key on it as it transformed into a gigantic ring around the ring finger. "What the-?!"
Then, she suddenly shrank to the size of a stuffed dragon, and Stephanie bent down, picking the confused dragon up in her arms.
"Now you can fit!" Stephanie beamed before moving her arms into the entrance of the hull and to the room.
The dragon curled her tail around Stephanie's wrist and looked around from Stephanie's hands, seeing the wood of the galleon ship and even the bags of money and artifacts in the background.
"Holy mackerel!" she exclaimed after seeing the bags. "Lift me up!"
Stephanie lifted the toy-sized dragon from showing her the trap door and exclaimed, "You didn't tell me your ship has money in the back!"
"Oh, yeah," Stephanie nodded. "I sorted through Captain Grayson's loot because it was slowing him down," Stephanie mentioned to the group standing behind her with a free hand. "These lovely people needed to put all this into their bank accounts."
"You're all in luck!" The dragon smiled. "I have the perfect bank accounts for all of you to hold all your money!"
"Are you sure?" Stephanie politely asked, looking at the safes filled with money.
"You're not sure that it would be plausible to obtain a safe of your own?" the dragon asked.
"Mostly if this would be connected to our dimension." Stephanie nodded.
"I'll introduce you all around my 'dimension' then!" the dragon beamed before pausing as she looked at her body. "How do I return to normal?"
"Easy," Stephanie smiled. "Take off the ring around your ring finger."
The dragon looked at her right hand as Stephanie placed the dragon down on the floor and took the ring off, returning to normal size.
Stephanie used her strings to take the key back before it became lost as the dragon looked around her body after returning to its original size.
"How did you do that?" the dragon asked.
"The magic keys are some artifacts I collected over my adventure across Sodor," Stephanie explained to the dragon. "And the string ability is a power I have."
"Interesting," the dragon murmured. "Now, head to the front desk to help with the search."
She paused from walking away and asked, "Erm, can you drag doors around with that weird ability of yours?"
"Nope," Stephanie shook her head. "Though I could if I practiced. Instead, I can reopen the same door to a different one," Stephanie flicked her wrist, and the bracelet around her wrist transformed into an ink pen. "By simply drawing a new door."
The dragon stared at Stephanie with a somewhat baffled expression before muttering, shaking her head, "I swear, you're filled with surprises."
Stephanie chuckled a little after the dragon remarked as she closed the door to the ship before opening the same door, seeing the entry had disappeared and showed what looked like ink bottles.
After double-checking, Stephanie and the group followed the dragon as they walked down the hallway, filled with millions of humanoid golden scarab beetles flying around the place, sometimes carrying papers in their arms or pushing carts filled with different sorted money inside.
There were even elephants carrying heavy items on their backs through very long hallways, and through thick glass underneath their feet were koi fish or goldfish swimming through crystal clear water.
Strangely, there were even roosters using their feathers to write on papers before handing them to the flying scarab beetles as they carried them through the air.
The people saw Stephanie and the group, pausing slightly in what they were doing to watch the group before returning to what they were doing after watching the group leave the room.
Stephanie and Ember were absorbing everything as she looked around, seeing more rooms than expected and turtles or tortoises pushing minecarts filled with bags through hallways with railways and bulls and pigs.
They soon entered a gigantic room, and the dragon entered first before everyone else followed behind, seeing multiple strands of strings coating from top to bottom.
Some strings have what looked like a small bag or a single piece of paper dangling on some of them and even go through small round holes.
"Charlotte?" the dragon spoke, looking up at the ceiling of the column-shaped room. "Are you in here?"
A head poked from the top of the column-shaped room and responded before disappearing as the voice echoed, "Yes, Lan. Almost done. I have a few papers to sort through and be done!"
The head popped back out and started to climb down, showing a female's body before their lower half popped out, too, showing the body of a black eight-legged spider as she climbed down from the ceiling.
Flex Dexter flinched after seeing the body and instantly hid behind P.T. Boomer, crouching a little to hide fully from the half-spider being as she landed on the ground as P.T. Boomer glared slightly at this full-grown man.
Lieutenant Hammerman stiffened after seeing the gigantic half-spider and half-human appear, reaching towards Stephanie and pulling her back protectively.
Mr. Carbunkle stiffened as Mallow gasped after seeing the half-spider appear, and grabbing Bernie's hand caused the poor guy's face to blush crimson.
Stephanie and Ember, on the other hand, looked amazed after seeing this gigantic half-spider and half-human being standing before the dragon.
She had white hair, five eyes with light purple irises, fair Caucasian skin, four arms, and was wearing a dark purple business suit, while her spider body was entirely black.
She noticed the group of humans behind the dragon and asked, pointing to them with a finger, "How did these humans get here, Lan?"
"This one," the dragon mentioned with a clawed hand to Stephanie. "Managed to open a door to our dimension from hers as it is a power of her own."
"You did?" Charlotte asked, and Stephanie nodded. "And you brought adults with you?"
"It was sort of an accident, Ms. Charlotte," Stephanie blushed slightly with embarrassment as her ears flicked once. "It works when I am thinking about something, for instance, a bank, because we found treasure in the Reaper of Souls, and when I opened the trap door, I opened to this dimension."
"That sounds very interesting," Charlotte remarked as she stroked her chin thoughtfully. "Then you must've brought your family for some help."
"I wouldn't call them a family," Stephanie looked up at Lieutenant Hammerman with a small smile as he kept an eye on Charlotte. "The only people I owe my loyalty to are those who never made me question theirs."
"Young lady!" Lieutenant Hammerman scolded with an embarrassed blush while P.T. Boomer and Ember made the 'Well, she's not wrong' mention to the reader.
Charlotte chuckled at Stephanie's response and asked, "Very well. What would your name be, young lady?"
"Stephanie Allen," Stephanie responded. "But, can the adults start first with their banks?"
"Of course," Charlotte nodded as she knelt on the ground, almost lying while taking a notepad from her jacket's pocket. "You're such a sweet young girl."
Stephanie blushed from Charlotte's remark as she wrote down Stephanie's name before asking, "What's your name?" Then she paused and added, "The man with the Navy uniform standing behind Stephanie."
"Lieutenant Adalhard Azazel Hammerman." Lieutenant Hammerman responded, and Stephanie remarked, "That's a mouthful."
He blushed a little from Stephanie's remark as Charlotte wrote down Lieutenant Hammerman's name on the notepad before asking each group member and write down their full name.
After the last person told their full name, Charlotte wrote down the name and nodded, clicking her pen and putting it into her chest pocket.
"Thank you," Charlotte thanked. "Wait one moment so I can find where the banks are."
She lifted herself off the floor and turned around, climbing up the wall on the thread of strings before dangling somewhat upside down.
Charlotte looked at the letters over each hole while muttering, looking at the first name she had written down on the notepad.
She approached the letter 'A' over the hole, and her second pair of arms picked up a small tablet underneath the letter 'A.'
Charlotte typed the full name into the tablet and waited for the loading screen before the loading stopped, showing Lieutenant Hammerman's profile and a serial number.
She perked and tapped a button on the side of the tablet, feeling the strings around the 'A' tunnel twitching before a card appeared with Lieutenant Hammerman's picture, name, and serial number.
Charlotte's back legs reached towards her spinneret and started to produce a web, using her hands to grab the end before furrowing the web into a long string after tying the card to the end.
She winded the card down towards the group, and the dragon, named 'Lan,' gripped the card in her hand before using her teeth to snip at the web to allow Charlotte to rewind it up.
Stephanie watched with curiosity as the process repeated from time to time, bringing down either a few cards or one card at a time, watching as the strings of the web moved around, usually bringing either different items or different kinds of cards.
After the last one was brought down, Charlotte climbed towards the group and responded as she tied the leftover web string into a ball, "Alright, that would be the last of the cards of the people."
"Thank you, Charlotte," Lan thanked as she had a handful of cards in her hand with different tags.
Then she walked over to Stephanie and knelt, saying, "For you, honey, I don't think you had a bank account open as I couldn't find one."
"You were looking for mine?" Stephanie asked, mentioning herself with a hand.
"Of course!" Charlotte nodded. "Everyone should have a bank to keep their money in to help them aid in their lives."
She entered her business suit and took a golden card from inside before handing it to Stephanie, explaining, "This is for the card-making room. You'll have a chance to see what that room does."
"Thank you, Ms. Charlotte," Stephanie beamed with a smile.
Charlotte chuckled as Lan opened the door, and everyone exited the room, following Lan as everyone watched the group curiously, sometimes pausing to notice them but returning to what they were doing.
They briefly looked over some rooms, even going down elevators and skyways, where people were mining gold from rocky walls and pushing minecarts around.
"Huh," Stephanie remarked as she watched one of the scarab beetles flying with bags through the tunnels. "It looked almost like the Mineral Reserve Industries Dimension."
"The what dimension?" P.T. Boomer asked.
"The Mineral Reserve Industries Dimension," Stephanie repeated with a smile, drawing a small rectangle before taking out her journal and showing the drawing of the inside of the dimension to P.T. Boomer. "Or, for short, the M.R.I. Dimension. It's a mining dimension where miners mine different gemstones worldwide. For instance, topazes or sunstones they're common in that dimension. Along with minerals, too."
"So it is one huge rock dimension where people are miners?" Conrad asked.
"Basically, yes!" Stephanie beamed, drawing the rectangle and putting her journal away. "I'll write down this dimension once we finish our task."
They went deeper through the place as Lan sometimes waited for a group to walk past her, helping others struggling.
Stephanie would help, too, picking up one of the worker's papers and handing them to them, even holding the door open for them to go through.
Lan opened a door and stepped inside, allowing the group to enter before looking amazed as there was a huge device before them, almost like a gumball machine but with millions of neverending banks in the distance.
"Wow," Stephanie remarked with a surprised expression. "That is a lot of banks."
"That's correct!" a voice happily chirped before one of the humanoid golden scarab beetles landed on the ground, approaching them. "Over forty-four thousand and counting banks worldwide and other dimensions."
Then he bowed towards them and responded, "My name is Petubastes, but I am called Bast for short, and I will be helping you with your banks."
"How did you know we were coming?" Stephanie politely asked.
"Many scarab beetles like me use pheromones to talk with each other if we don't feel like using them," Petubastes responded. "Unfortunately, most of my scarab friends are chatterboxes, so I learned a little more from them."
"Ah, makes sense," Ember perked. "I didn't know it would work like that among your friends."
"It takes a lot of surprises among people," Petubastes nodded before clearing his throat, turning to Lan as she handed the bundle of cards. "Now, let's start with searching for your banks."
He approached the device and took out the first card, inserting it into the slot before waiting as it started scanning the card.
Gears started whirring, and everyone watched as it started moving and a bank moved forward, shifting downward before landing to the left.
The group flinched when the safes suddenly landed almost a few feet near where they were, and Lieutenant Hammerman gently pulled Stephanie close to him for protection.
Petubastes started inserting each card inside, repeating the same process as banks moved forward, creating two rows of banks beside the group and Lan.
He inserted the last card inside, and the process finished, now having twelve banks with six on each side of the hallway.
Petubastes hopped over to Stephanie as Lieutenant Hammerman watched him carefully and asked Stephanie, "Mind if I ask about where your card was?"
"I don't have a bank, Mr. Bast," Stephanie responded before taking the golden card out and showing it to Bast. "Charlotte handed me this to the card-making room, though."
"Ah, that's perfect!" Bast smiled. "Do you mind if I take Ms. Allen to the card-making room?"
"Of course," Lieutenant Hammerman nodded, removing his hands from Stephanie. "Be careful with her."
Petubastes nodded and held his hand to Stephanie as she took it, leading her to an elevator and pressing it, opening it for the two as they stepped inside and entered.
Petubastes pressed the lower floor, and the elevator went down while Stephanie looked around with curiosity, noticing the elevator's walls were made of glass.
Then, the area showed what looked like a money-making room where they created dollars and coins.
Stephanie perked after seeing the money-making room as they passed by it, then showed a gemstone mining area, all sounding so curious for Stephanie.
Petubastes chuckled, and Stephanie glanced at him, asking, "What's so funny?"
"Your ears act like a rabbit's would," Petubastes smiled. "They move up and down whenever you are curious or scoping the place."
Stephanie blushed a little from Petubastes' remark about her ears before the elevator dinged, allowing Petubastes and Stephanie to exit as they stepped out.
"Ah, here we are." Petubastes smiled as machines were around, surrounded by what looked like humanoid pigs wearing aprons. "The card making room."
One of them perked after seeing Petubastes appear before cooking slightly after seeing Stephanie, asking, "Hey, Bast? Where did this little girl come from?"
"I'll explain it later," Petubastes responded before gently pushing Stephanie forward with a kind smile. "Show him the card Charlotte handed you."
Stephanie nodded and reached into her blue jeans pocket, showing the golden card to the pig as he knelt, sniffing the card in Stephanie's hand as she stayed still.
"Hmm," the pig hummed. "Yep, that's the card Charlotte hands out. May I see it?"
Stephanie nodded and handed the card to the pig, and he looked at it before seeing what looked like words on the front.
"Oops, I had the card upside down." Stephanie perked after seeing she was holding it wrong.
"It's quite alright, Ms. Allen," Petubastes assured Stephanie as he had his hands on Stephanie's shoulders with a warm smile. "We all make mistakes."
The pig shrugged after looking at the golden card in his hand and responded, "Well, it does have our symbol on it and Charlotte's marks, so we'll make her one."
Petubastes gently nudged Stephanie forward, and she looked slightly confused, looking at Petubastes with a confused expression.
"Oh, to complete the card-making process," Petubastes explained. "They need the full inscription of you to create full security."
Stephanie perked after Petubastes explained to her as the pig she handed the card to started to lead her through the small workspace, and Petubastes called, "I will be waiting for you at the other side!"
She nodded and followed the pig through the workplace before going through some meetings, ranging from who her parents were and taking a picture of her.
There were some holes in the story with Stephanie, ranging from the unknown facts about her parents or foster parents.
This worried Stephanie after explaining some background to them, even a little more when the needle appeared, but they calmed her down with reassuring words and told Stephanie they went through the same thing around her age.
However, the process was finished, and Stephanie met Petubastes at the end of the workshop before a female pig handed her a white card, showing her picture and a serial number.
"Here's your card, sweetheart." the female pig smiled. "Use the money sparingly!"
"Okay!" Stephanie smiled, looking slightly confused by the white card in her hand. "Erm, Mr. Bast? Why is my card white?"
"That means you haven't filled your bank, Ms. Allen," Petubastes explained. "White cards means that the bank is empty. Depending on the amount, your card is different colors from the amount. For instance, copper means million, silver means billion, and so forth."
"What about black cards?" Stephanie politely asked. "I once saw someone wielding a black credit card."
"Ah, that means the bank user is wealthy," Petubastes nodded. "Like around or over a trillion dollars."
"Wow, that is a lot of money." Stephanie remarked, looking at the card before asking, "Do you mind explaining the uses of using a credit card or money in general?"
"No, I don't mind." Petubastes smiled.
During the trip back to the bank room, Petubastes explained the basic uses of a credit card and what to do if the account was hacked or someone stole the credit card.
Stephanie listened to every word Petubastes told her about what to do and what to not do, her ears perked upright to listen to Petubastes.
Petubastes enjoyed seeing Stephanie's attention towards him as he continued explaining, amazed at how curious she was about learning to use a credit card and a bank.
When the elevator reached the floor they were at, Stephanie and Petubastes stepped out right at the right moment as Petubastes finished explaining to Stephanie.
"How did it go, Stephanie?" Ember asked.
"It went pretty well!" Stephanie smiled before chuckling. "Many workers remarked that I smelled like blueberries weirdly."
She blushed a little from the remark one of the pigs mentioned, remembering that one was leaning down to insert the needle in her vein but mentioned Stephanie's scent, which confused her.
…And then, others surrounded her after they first mentioned Stephanie's scent, which worried her about how close they were towards her.
Thankfully, they respected Stephanie's boundary, and Stephanie handed the white card over to Petubastes for him to activate one more machine.
"Now that we all have safes," Lan put her hands together. "May we see the treasure you all had collected?"
"Sure!" Stephanie nodded with a smile. "Though, how will you count through all the money?"
"That is where our best magpie friends help," Lan smiled as she took out a whistle from around her neck.
She took a small breath before whistling sharply, causing Stephanie to flinch as the whistle somewhat stung her ears, but it didn't hurt too much, like screeching or something loud.
Suddenly, flapping filled the air, and a tribe of harpy magpies appeared, landing before the group.
"Hello, Lan!" one of them chirped. "What can we-"
They paused after seeing the humans and instantly hopped over to the group, looking at them curiously and mostly with their trinkets.
"We never had a chance to have a closer look at humans." one of the magpies remarked.
"This one looks strange," a magpie mentioned to Stephanie, looking at her long hair and pointed ears.
"Girls, focus," Lan spoke, getting all the magpies' attention. "Stephanie, may you?"
"Sure." Stephanie nodded, flicking her wrist, and her bracelet transformed into an ink pen and started drawing a square with a doorknob.
After finishing, Stephanie tapped the drawing of the door after her ink pen transformed back into a bracelet around her wrist.
She opened the door and poked her head through, seeing the pile of gold and the thrones in the back, nodding as she climbed inside.
But forgetting about the different angles, Stephanie accidentally landed on the ship's hull back-first, grunting a little after collapsing on her back.
"Are you alright, kid?" one of the magpies asked, poking their head through the door.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Stephanie nodded assuringly as she pushed herself to her feet. "Just landed awkwardly on my back."
She pushed her glasses into place and looked at the thrones, even the gigantic bags of coins, humming with thought as the magpie who asked her if she was fine hopped into the enormous hull.
"Awk!" The magpie squawked after seeing the massive bags. "That's a lot of bags!"
"Yeah, I sorted through the dates, types of minerals the coins are made of, the gemstones," Stephanie explained before pausing, adding, "You know what? Every square inch of how much loot was piled in here."
The magpie looked back and forth in the ship's hull, giving an 'Awk!' sound out of surprise after Stephanie finished explaining.
"Now," Stephanie put her hands together and looked at the door they entered before looking back at the bags. "How can we get all those fit through the door?"
"Have you tried making another door here?" the magpie asked.
"Good idea!" Stephanie nodded with a smile.
Stephanie flicked her wrist, and the bracelet transformed into an ink pen, which impressed the magpie after seeing it change.
Stephanie first carefully measured the bags and thrones before starting to draw a round circle.
Once it was fully drawn out, Stephanie tapped the circle, and it hollowed out in the center, showing the bank dimension, startling Petubastes when she popped her head out.
"Hello!" Stephanie smiled. "Erm, do you mind if you could close that door over there?"
She pointed to the door she had previously opened, and P.T. Boomer did so, and Stephanie went back into the ship's hull, taking out her Zodiac Pocket Watch and transforming into her Taurus Zodiac form.
Some magpies climbed through the opening, and Stephanie picked up the bags and the thrones to help the group from doing it all by themselves.
Lan counted the bags carefully as Stephanie and the magpies pushed them through the opening, and more appeared to help take them to a sorting room, struggling with some of the heavier bags.
The last bag was pushed out, and Stephanie watched the magpies struggling a little and looked at her Zodiac Pocket Watch thoughtfully, wondering if she could combine two Zodiacs.
So Stephanie turned the pocket watch's arms to the Gemini Zodiac and the Falcon Zodiac, pausing to herself to wonder if this was a good idea.
But she took a slow sigh before tapping it, transforming into her falcon harpy form, and her necklace had a pendant of the Falcon Zodiac and the Gemini Zodiac in the shape of a yin-yang pendant.
"How did you do that?!" Ember exclaimed.
"I tried it out." Stephanie shrugged.
Stephanie focused and separated herself from the Gemini Zodiac, taking off into the air while helping the magpies, who all looked baffled after seeing Stephanie's falcon form.
They all led Stephanie towards the sorting room and placed the bags down in an empty section, Stephanie watching as peacocks were sorting through the coins and typing fast on calculators.
After the last bag was placed down along with the throne, Stephanie fused back into one and removed the pendant around her neck, transforming back into herself.
"Wow!" One of the magpies gently took Stephanie's wrist and looked at the Zodiac Pocket Watch in her hand. "Is this one of your trinkets?"
"Yes," Stephanie nodded, gently tugging her hand back. "And it is very important for me, like the bracelet."
The magpies all chittered to themselves after Stephanie explained to them as she placed the Zodiac Pocket Watch in her pocket before one of the peacocks approached the group.
"Ahem! Excuse me?" the peacock politely inquired. "May I ask some questions?"
"Yes, of course," Lieutenant Hammerman nodded.
"First, how many people are here to separate the money?" the peacock asked.
Stephanie was about to respond when she was interrupted by Lieutenant Hammerman, responding, "Thirteen."
She looked up at Lieutenant Hammerman confusedly but stayed silent as the peacock nodded, "Okay. Excuse me for a moment to use my calculator."
The peacock took out the calculator and started to type on the calculator, mumbling to herself as the small keys clicked and clacked.
"Ah!" The peacock perked after finishing some calculations. "The total money in all is over nine hundred ninety centillion dollars," the entire group looked shocked after the peacock responded. "But divided between thirteen people would equal seven hundred sixty-one million five hundred thirty-eight thousand four hundred sixty-two dollars in another centillion area."
She tapped the pen against her beak and added, "I'm not sure because we needed to upgrade many of our calculators to catch up on all these gigantic numbers."
The camera switches to the group as they look shocked and somewhat pale at hearing all this money, while Stephanie looks very confused at how the calculators are not working for them.
"Anyways," the peacock turned to the group, not seeing their expressions. "We will start with filling your banks with the divided money, but," she paused, looking at Rue. "Her bank has some issues with hackers."
"That's right," Rue blushed with embarrassment as Stephanie looked over at Rue's bank. "Do you have anyone who would get into the system?"
"We do," the peacock nodded. "Unfortunately, this kind of hacking is hard for us to get through to delete those hackers' files to save your bank."
Stephanie looked at the small computer on Rue's bank and tapped the screen with her first finger, activating the bank as it flashed a little red.
She pushed her glasses into place and looked at the section where to insert the card, knowing she needed Rue's card to get into the bank.
Stephanie thought momentarily before drawing a small circle before her, seeing Rue's card before her on a small card shelf.
She took the white card from the shelf and inserted the card into the card slot, watching the screen flash blue before flashing a single green, unlocking the bank.
Once the bank was opened, Stephanie gingerly stepped inside the bank after the door was opened and peered inside, seeing a huge bloated person wearing a tight business suit sitting in the middle, eating a handful of money in his hands before perking after seeing Stephanie.
"Hey!" Stephanie exclaimed after seeing the person sitting in the middle of the bank. "What are you doing?"
The man quickly shoved the last handful of money in his mouth after Stephanie exclaimed, and she huffed, using her string ability to wrap around him.
"You little-!" Stephanie exclaimed before pausing when she noticed the tag around his neck.
She picked up the tag and looked at it, seeing a familiar business name on it.
"So you're from that business!" Stephanie exclaimed after seeing the tag as she released it. "Makes sense why Rue's money is going to your fat ass!"
She wrapped the strings around the guy's middle and strained slightly from lifting him, listening to the man laugh at her attempts.
Stephanie released the man from the strings before taking out the six-inch-tall magic key from her dimension, the glittering from the key catching the man's attention.
He instantly struggled to grab the key from Stephanie's hand as she quickly jumped back, missing the man's attempts as he gave noises of frustration but slammed onto his front, upchucking some bent coins and wadded chewed dollars.
Stephanie made disgusted sounds after seeing the bundle of dollars and coins spew from the man's mouth before turning her head away in disgust when the man crammed it all back into his mouth, swallowing it.
Seeing that the key would become a distraction would not be a good idea because the man would attempt to swallow the ring if it was on his fat finger.
She placed the key away quickly before taking out her wand, pointing it towards the man as she recited, "Tiny as a dewdrop's gleam, diminishing by the mystic dream, say the words and wield the scheme, shrink this man as it may seem."
A small blast of magic came out from the tip of her wand, and the man started slowly shrinking to a small size, looking like a hand-sized rock after the magic stopped.
Stephanie knelt down to the shrunken man as she flicked her wrist, transforming her wand into a bracelet before scooping the angry fat man in her hand.
"Serves you right for eating money for a long time." Stephanie huffed with a frown on her face.
"Ms. Allen?" Stephanie perked after hearing her name and glanced over, seeing Petubastes slightly opening the door to Rue's bank with a surprised expression. "How on earth did you get in here?"
"I used my magic to get inside, and I found the reason why," Stephanie explained, showing the shrunken fat man in her hand to Petubastes, who instantly made grabby hands towards him after seeing his golden shell. "This fat man was eating all of Rue's money, representing this business I know from my world."
"Hmm," Petubastes hummed after Stephanie explained to him. "We had seen millions of those across the banks and had some of our best bull friends to get them out."
"I used a shrinking spell to shrink this fat man," Stephanie explained, mentioning to him as she drew a circle. "And that fat man shall be in a corner for having too much dessert."
She placed the man into an empty dimension as he landed on his back, giving a slight squeal of frustration as he started kicking his limbs.
Stephanie closes the dimension after placing the man inside before stepping out from Rue's bank, with Petubastes following behind.
"We solved the problem," Petubastes responded. "Stephanie found it first and had shrunk the problem to a small size before putting it away."
"Thank you so much!" Rue thanked Stephanie as she shook her hand.
"You're welcome," Stephanie responded with a smile. "Oh, and this business called was the one who was taking all your money at once."
"What?!" Rue exclaimed after releasing Stephanie's hand. "That's the same business I was fired from after," she paused, blushing a light red color. "An incident I accidentally caused."
"Ah," Stephanie nodded with a sigh. "Then that company did not let go of being on your credit card and continued. That sucks."
Rue nodded in agreement before the same peacock arrived and responded, "Well, we have figured out more things, and you're all set! You all have the same amount of money in your bank accounts!"
"Thank you." The group thanked before Stephanie drew a door and opened it, poking her head through to see Sir Topham Hatt.
"Ah, Stephanie!" Sir Topham Hatt perked. "Where on Sodor were you? The secret hatch in Grayson was not working and-!"
He flinched after seeing Petubastes, Lan, and the peacock poke their head through the door slightly and looked back at Stephanie with a confused expression, and she responded with a chuckle, "Yep, it happened again."
