Chapter 195: Thomas and The Magic Railroad Part 3

Thomas was driving his engine back to the sheds, disappointed. He had reached the station where he was supposed to meet Mr. Conductor, only for him not to show up. He waited for an hour before deciding to head back. Clearly, something was wrong.

"He's never been late before. I do hope nothing's gone wrong."

Just then, he saw a shimmering of gold right beside the track. It flickered for a minute, the image of a man slipping in and out of the space, before it vanished to reveal Mr. Conductor, looking very confused. He bashed his whistle a few times against the palm of his hand, then tried again. He flickered for a minute, but nothing happened.

"How very peculiar."

"Mr. Conductor, is everything alright?"

Mr. Conductor snapped out of his trance to see Thomas in front of him.

"Huh? Oh sorry, Thomas, I'm fine. My whistle must be clogged."

"Hmm. Well, hop in. I'm on my way back to Knapford right now."

"Thank you, much obliged."

But as the train headed off, Mr. Conductor couldn't get his mind off something. While he had trouble with his magic before, it had never outright failed on him. While he didn't want to think about it, he knew what this could mean, and it wasn't good.

Meanwhile, Diesel 10 waited in an abandoned siding far from prying eyes, snarling in impatience.

"I told those incompetent twerps 2 o'clock. If they're not here in the next 10 minutes, I'll…"

"Sorry we're late boss, we had to take the long way."

Diesel 10 snapped out of his rambling when he saw his associates coming his way.

"Ah, Splodge! Glad you could make it!"

"Er, actually its Splatter."

"And Dodge."

"I DON'T HAVE TIME TO SAY BOTH NAMES!"

Splatter and Dodge reeled back in fear from their boss's outburst. Diesel 10 composed himself before speaking again.

"Now that we're all here, let's go over the plan. The Magic Buffers are somewhere on this island, and we're going to find them."

"But boss, there's so many of them. There's no way all three of us could check them all."

"Especially with how far spread out they are. I mean, there's the ones on the mainline…"

"And your diesel is to heavy to go on branch lines, so me and Dodge will have to do all the work there."

"Not to mention the narrow-gauge railway."

"Don't forget the small railway."

"And don't even get me started on The Mountain Railway. Heights and I don't mix…"

"ALRIGHT, I GET IT! Yes, I realize we have a daunting task ahead of us, but we won't have to check all the buffers on the Island. We know they must be on the Standard Gauge lines since they cover most of the Island. But if they are somewhere we can't reach, I have plans in place for that."

"Well, it doesn't matter anyway, because Mr. Conductor won't like that."

"Yeah, he'll stop you in your tracks."

Diesel 10's eye twitched for a fraction of a minute, before he regained his composure.

"Oh, don't worry about Tinkletoes. I've got a little surprise up my sleeve for him. Or should I say, under my roof. MWAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"I don't get it."

"Yeah, me neither."

"SHUT IT, SPLODGE!"

That night, Mr. Conductor joined the engine drivers at the common house. They had invited him to stay with them while he was there, and he was happy to accept. Presently, he was on the phone with Sir Topham Hatt.

"Yes, I've got everything under control. No, I didn't mean to miss you, I just had a little trouble leaving Shining Time. The new employee? Well, I haven't met him, but so far he hasn't caused any accidents, so…"

CRASH!

"…I'm going to have to call you back."

Hanging up the phone, he rushed to the scene. There, to his horror, stood Diesel 10 in the cab of his engine. From the roof stood a large, imposing claw that was wrecking the house, shed, and yard.

"What is the meaning of this? Stop this at once!"

"You have no power here, Twinkle toes. Now come on! You and I have a date with some buffers."

Realizing what he met, Mr. Conductor blew his whistle frantically, trying to teleport away. Once again, he flickered, but remained in place. Diesel 10 laughed in his face.

"Aw, losing your Gold Dust, are ya? Tough luck!"

Thinking quick, he dodged the claw and ran to the kitchen. When Diesel 10 saw what he brought back, he gasped in horror.

"Sugar?!"

"That's right, and once it gets in your engine's fuel tank you won't be so high and mighty."

With a wave of his hand, the fuel intake opened. As he scooped up some sugar, Diesel 10 sulked away.

"Grrr, enjoy tonight, twinkle toes. You won't like tomorrow."

Mr. Conductor sighed, glad that was over with.

"Mr. Conductor?"

He turned to find Percy looking at him, confused.

"What happened? I heard a noise, and when I arrive there's a huge whole in the common room."

"Its okay, Percy, I'll explain in the morning. Go back to sleep."

"But-"

"Now, Percy."

Confused, Percy went back to bed. But Mr. Conductor couldn't get back to sleep. Once in one day was bad, but twice could only confirm his worst fears.

He was running out of gold dust.