At the foot of Muffle Mountain, there was an abandoned mine shaft, blocked by bushes, trees, and tall grass to the naked eye, which lead into a deep tunnel. And far in the tunnel, a small workshop had been made inside it. It was dark and dim-litten, so not much could be seen it in, aside from a light bulb on the ceiling that was only showing a table and a painting.
A grown man with short chestnut brown hair, a goatee, and patchy facial hair went over to the table and briefly played with a wooden toy train. Then he went over to his painting, which seemed to look like an engine puffing through a beautiful countryside. All the while, he was thinking back to the time when he was a little boy.
Andy looked very happy and joyful back then, playing with his toy trains and always wanted to become a railroader. But then, while he was playing, he was met with a golden sparkle before it faded to reveal a tiny little man wearing a conductor's uniform.
"It's good you like trains, Andy." said the little man. "My name is Mr. Conductor. Our family has a little engine that lives in the mountain, and she travels on her own railroad which has wonderful energy because of her. She takes us on journeys to a magical island. We'll take you there, Andy."
So, Andy followed the little man into the mountain, where he found a secret workshop hidden in it. What's more, he was met with a big surprise, which took him on a run through a magical landscape of lush, green and clear blue skies before finding himself on the Island of Sodor, where he saw many trains with faces, as if they had all come alive!
"Now that I have shown you the land of talking trains, I have to leave here for a long time," said Mr. Conductor. "Some day, one of us will return. But until then, I have chosen you to take care of our engine. Please guard her well."
And he disappeared in a cloud of gold dust. That was the very first and last time he ever saw him. He looked at the engine and made a promising smile.
Back in reality, Andy studied his painting with a sad look on his face.
"But I didn't guard you well," he sighed to nobody in particular. "I just... don't seem to understand about magic anymore, and I seem to be losing my will to try."
And he walked out of his workshop, turning off the light on his way, and back home.
Andy was about to enter his house when he was met by the sound of a revving engine, followed by a shine of headlights, nearly blinding him as he looked to see who had just visited him. The headlights looked like they had come from a motorcycle, which had stopped right on his driveway. Then he heard a familiar voice coming from it.
"So, we meet again, Andy Olsen."
Andy felt dreaded as he looked up to find Simon's smirking face, lit by the lights of his motorcycle.
"Aren't you surprised to see me?" Simon asked.
"Not really Simon," replied Andy, steadily and quietly. "I knew you'd come back someday."
"So where's that engine?"
"I'll never tell you that," said Andy firmly, "you're far too filled with hate for her and for this valley."
"What?" scoffed Simon. "No, I'm not. I just think magic means nothing. But seeing that you won't tell me, I'll just have to level this mountain. And why not? After all, skyscrapers and parking lots make money, not magic. It's money that makes you happy. Magic can make a man unhappy. Look what it's done to you, Andy. So, who needs it? Not you, not me."
But Andy just ignored Simon and walked back into his house, shutting and locking the door, leaving Simon dumbfounded and frustrated at the same time.
"I'll be back, Andy Olsen," Simon called as he climbed back onto his motorcycle. "I had already found you. So, now I'll find that engine."
Andy watched from his window as Simon drove away into the night. Once he had vanished, he walked over to his bookshelf and took out a book which had the title, "The Romance of Railroading." But as he looked at his book, he had a deep feeling that Simon being around could be bad for the valley as Simon spied Andy's house from the darkness, between the trees, with evil eyes, like a panther stalking his prey.
Next morning, at the Big City station, lots of trains waited at the platforms and lots of people were bustling about, walking to and fro. One of those bustling was the Corgi dog, Atticus, who had travelled here with Amelia from Shining Time. He was on a mission, he needed to find Tulip. He had sensed the threat to Min-Gi's universe, and that somehow, she could help resolve it. However, her train was going to Muffle Mountain, not Shining Time. And if she was going to help, Atticus needed her to see someone special at Shining Time first. That's what his instinct told him. And very soon, he found her.
Tulip was walking through the station, carrying her backpack on her way to her father's house at Muffle Mountain. She heard the announcement on the speaker.
"Attention, passegers! The train to Muffle Mountain will depart on Track 3! Last stop, Muffle Mountain. The train for Shining Time will depart on Track 4! Shining Time, Track 4!"
When she got to where the platforms are, she began looking around for Track 3. That was when she heard a bark and saw a Corgi dog walking up and stopping to her, panting.
"I don't suppose you know where Track 3 is, do you?" Tulip asked.
The Corgi wagged his tail and rushed down a platform to where a passenger train was sitting and waiting, which seemed to be giving her the message.
"You do? Is it that one?" she asked. "Do you want me to follow you?"
The Corgi barked, as if he was saying, "yes." At that point, Tulip decided to follow her instincts.
"Well, why not?" she shrugged as she stepped onto the platform and approached the train.
Looking at it in front of her, she began to hesitate for a moment, wondering if she was making the right choice. Then she noticed the corgi sitting beside her, as if he wanted her to get on this train.
"I hope you're right." she said before boarding it and sitting at her seat, looking at the many people sitting around her, busy on their cell phones or their laptops.
Atticus felt very pleased with himself as she got on, looking at the platform number saying, 4. He knew he had put Tulip on the wrong train, but he knew that he had done so for the right reasons as he rushed towards the back of the train and boarded himself.
At that moment, the Rainbow Sun blew its whistle and departed, carrying both Tulip and Atticus onboard with its passengers towards Shining Time.
On Sodor, Min-Gi was busy scratching James's nose with a broom. It somehow seemed to be straining him and he was starting to feel worn out. At last, James smiled and Min-Gi pulled the broom back.
"There, James. Tickle all gone now?" asked Min-Gi.
James whistled a happy "peep-peep" and then noticed Min-Gi looking exhausted.
"Min-Gi, why do you look so tired?" asked James before getting worried. "Is it because I'm red? Diesel says red is a really tiring colour."
"No, James. It's not that at all," reassured Min-Gi, "red's really bright and cheerful just like my sparkle... or at least it was... and must be again!" he added, going into thought until he looked up and saw James puzzled. "Oh, sorry James! I meant red's really reliable. Now please find Thomas and ask him to meet me at the top of Rainbow Ridge. I have to look for something important. It's to do with getting my sparkle back properly so that I can be really reliable. Sir Topham Hatt needs me and so does Shining Time."
"I could take you," suggested James.
"Thank you, but no," decided Min-Gi, "if I travel in an engine, Diesel is sure to suspect I'm still having problems with my sparkle. Now, off you go to work, please."
With that, James puffed away to relay the message to Thomas. After James had gone, Min-Gi tried to teleport by surrounding himself in gold dust, which was still ineffective. So, he blew on his whistle and sparkled out, very slowly indeed.
Min-Gi reappeared in a landscape with a big waterfall and looked around, puzzled. He was at the right place, but wasn't at the same time.
"What happened? Why am I at the bottom of the ridge? I'm supposed to be at the top!" he wondered before looking at the tall cliffside. "Well, now I'm going to have to climb that!"
He tried to sparkle himself, to teleport him to the top, but no dust came. He tried using his whistle more than once, still no sparkle. He tried whistling again, still nothing. He slumped down and sat on a rock.
"That's it, I have no more gold dust. It really is all gone," he sulked. "If I can't find the source for making more, I know how bad the consequences will be. I saw them in my dream last night." he added before going into thought. "My family never really told me what to do in a gold dust crisis, all they ever told me was that I'd find a clue on the rockface behind the old wagon at the top, why didn't they tell me any more than that? I guess the family wanted to protect the secret of the source and have left it up to me to put the rest of the clues together." He looked towards the tall ridge in front of him again. "Which means, I have to reach that wagon."
With that, Min-Gi began to climb up the ridge.
Meanwhile, Thomas was puffing down the line towards the Rainbow Ridge after hearing the word from James. Beside him was a parallel road, where he saw Bertie the red bus, who likes to go fast, and believes, in a good-natured way, that he can give any engine a run for its wheels.
"Morning Bertie, I'm sorry I can't have a race with you today, I have to be a really useful engine for Mr. Min-Gi."
But as Thomas whistled, it made a little strange sound.
"I say, Thomas, your whistle sounds a bit wobbly," said Bertie, concerned.
"Yes, and it feels all stuffed-up too. But I'll be fine," said Thomas as he went on his way.
Up ahead, Thomas stopped at a level crossing. As he waited, he noticed George the Steamroller rolling across very slowly.
"Morning, George," greeted Thomas.
"Get lost, you boy scout in blue," insulted George as he made his way over and called out, "Railways are no good! Turn 'em into roads!"
"That'll never happen, George," said Thomas as the gates opened and he was on his way.
At Rainbow Ridge, Min-Gi finally reached the top. A rainbow shone over the top of the ridge creating a flickering effect on the waterfall. He looked in the wagon and found a piece of paper, which was torn up.
"That must be the clue to the source of the gold dust. But what does it say?"
It read: STOKE UP THE MAGIC IN THE MOUNTAIN AND THE LADY WILL SMILE. THEN WATCH THE SWIRLS THAT SPIN SO WELL...
But the rest of it was torn.
"Where's the rest of it?" he wondered.
His thoughts were inturrupted by a loud, incredibly shrill, wailing whistle. Min-Gi was so surprised, he jumped and fell onto the wagon, which started to move due to the force. He rolled down the hill, stopping with a jolt when its wheels hit a rock and Min-Gi was thrown off, flying into an open, wooden barrel laying really close to the river. The force moved it into the river, where it floated on the surface with the open end facing upwards before going over the waterfall with Min-Gi in it.
Thomas was puffing by, trying to get the clog out of his whistle, making a weird noise. As he puffed by the Rainbow Ridge waterfall, he noticed something falling over the falls, where he also heard a familiar scream, which horrified him.
"Mr. Min-Gi!" he cried as he rushed over towards the lake that was at the bottom of the ridge.
He looked all around, but he couldn't see Min-Gi, all he could find was just his cap laying on the shore. Worse still, there was no sound from the ridge aside from the rushing water of the falls. Thomas felt terrible.
"Oh dear, Mr Min-Gi, where are you? My whistle suddenly went all funny. I didn't mean to frighten you." he cried, but he got no response. "I better go back and tell the other engines what's happened. Diesel is sure to be making some really scary plans right now."
Had Thomas stayed a little longer, he would've seen a wooden barrel washed up on the shore and Min-Gi crawling out from it onto the sand. He didn't see Thomas, but he did find his clue laying in the water and dug it out, only to find it all soaked and the writing had been washed off.
"Well, that's just great," sighed Min-Gi. "Now, what was it? "Mountain... smile... song... no, that's not right! If only there were someone else with gold dust, maybe..."
Then, Min-Gi had an idea.
"Wait... song... there is! Song!" said Min-Gi, laughing with joy before looking around the ground. "I have to find a bellflower. I need to make a call!"
He ducked into the ground, looking within the tall grass for a set of bellflowers. He had found one just when he saw a badger over it.
"Do you mind? Please don't badger me now." said Ming-Gi before the badger scampered away. "Sorry, I just have to stay undercover for a bit. Thanks for the hospitality."
He grabbed two flowers and pulled them up, holding one to his mouth and the other to his ear like a telephone. Then he waited for his call to come through as he could hear it ringing.
Far away, across the world, there was a massive rock concert happening in a rainforest, where lots of animals are dancing like a rave before a stage in front of them. On the stage stood a tiny young adult of Japanese descent with long brown hair and red glasses, playing the electric guitar on the stage. When he finished with his number, the animals cheered in applause.
"Thank you, be back in a bit!" called the young man to the mic before stepping backstage.
He put his electric guitar back into his case, clearly loving his recent concert, when he heard a ringing from somewhere. He looked around and dug, looking for the source of the ringing.
"Where's that phone!" he grumbled before pulling out an open nut, where the ringing was coming from, putting it to his ear. "Hello?"
"Ryan, is that you?"
That was Min-Gi's voice. But it was somehow very staticy.
"Oh, hey buddy," smiled Ryan. "Are you in a tunnel? It seems to be a very bad line."
"You don't want to know," said Min-Gi. "Ryan, where are you?"
"Rocking and rolling," replied Ryan. "Just got on Cloud 9, and here I am!"
"Yeah, I figured," sighed Min-Gi before letting out some coughs, which Ryan could hear from his end.
"Are you alright?" Ryan asked. "What's the matter?"
"Listen, Ryan. I've run out of gold dust and because of that I'm losing my energy too. The universe of the conductor family is in jeopardy, you've got to come to the Island of Sodor right away."
"You mean now?" asked Ryan. "But I'm in the middle of a concert."
"Oh no you're not. You're coming here," said Min-Gi in a serious tone before coughing again.
Ryan sighed in defeat.
"All right, all right. How do I get there?"
"On our railroad, that's how! You know that!" said Min-Gi, exasperated. "You have to help me find the source of all our family's gold dust."
"What is the source?" asked Ryan.
"That's just it, I haven't a clue!" cried Min-Gi.
"Well, I hate to break it to you, pal. But I've used most of my gold dust too," Ryan said, looking at his whistle in his hand.
"WHAT?!" exclaimed Min-Gi before calming down. "Then go to Shining Time Station first. And in my signal house, in the box under the stairs in my little emergency pouch, you'll find the very last supply. Please take care of it, Ryan, I don't know where to find any more. And..." he paused, looking around, before whispering into the flower, "...don't talk to anyone about the buffers."
"What buffers?" asked Ryan loudly.
"SHHHHH!"
Ryan covered his mouth before hearing statics.
"What a very bad line," he grumbled, shaking his nut before whispering, "What trouble? How do I begin to help you?"
"By getting here quickly. I'm counting on you!" Min-Gi called.
Ryan managed to hear that message before hearing louder statics.
"Hello?! My nut phone's not working properly!" he called into it before the call got cut off, ending it upruptly.
Ryan sighed as he put the phone away.
"I want my money back," he grumbled as he began packing his things.
At the yard, Thomas told the engines what had happened. Their meeting was joined by an FR 21/K2 class 4-4-0 blue tender engine with the number 2 on his tender. That engine was called Edward, and he could hear the other engines talking as he joined them.
"So, what are we going to do now, little Thomas?" asked Gordon crossly. "Mr. Min-Gi's gone missing and it's all your fault!"
Thomas felt awful and James started to become hysterical.
"Diesel is going to destroy us!" cried James. "We need help! Who's going to give it to us?"
"We are," said Edward wisely. "We'll help each other. That's what Sir Topham Hatt would want."
"Pity he went away in the first place," sulked Gordon.
Suddenly, Thomas let out a loud sneeze, so big and powerful he jumped for a brief moment.
"Say it, don't spray it, Thomas," huffed Henry.
"Oh no!" screamed James. "Now Thomas is getting ill! Oh no!"
"Be quiet, James!" Edward hushed firmly.
Thomas let out a perfectly normal whistle.
"Actually, I'm very well thank you, James," said Thomas, "and now I have to find Mr. Min-Gi before Diesel does."
And he hurried away to find him once more.
George was standing nearby, watching as all the engines went back to work. He watched enviously as Gordon turned on the turntable. As he watched, he heard the sound of a diesel approaching him and looks to see Diesel 10, Splatter, and Dodge stopping by him.
"Charming sight, isn't it" asked Diesel 10. "So soothing. Imagine that's you, George, fulfilling your dream, to have your own roller rink for your wheels only. Goodbye, turntable. hullo, roller rink, just for George forever circling it in balletic bliss."
George did imagine it and began to smile brightly at the thought. But it was soon inturrupted when Diesel 10 grew serious.
"We don't want steam engines. Steam engines need buffers at the end of the tracks to stop them crashing. So, we'll destroy the buffers, and when the steam engines are destroyed too, we can build them up again for ourselves."
Splatter and Dodge smiled while George looked unsure.
"We don't want Twinkle Toes, either. I have to make sure he can't get away and go home," Diesel 10 added. "However he's able to do that, it's got something to do with buffers. I heard him talking in his sleep about buffers. So, that's an even better reason to destroy them. And then I'll make your dream come true. Get it, George?
George thought for a moment before coming to a decision.
"Yes."
"Good," smirked Diesel 10. "And remember, they add, we subtract!"
"They add, we... subtract," George said hesitantly.
"Wait, we subtract what?" asked Splatter.
"The buffers!" barked Diesel 10 furiously at Splatter and Dodge. "The steam engines! Twinkle Toes! Duh!"
To make his point, Diesel 10 rolled up to the nearby coal hopper.
"They add, we subtract, like this!" he said as he reached his claw up at the coal hopper, trying to jam it shut.
Suddenly, the chute to break open. Diesel 10 coughed and spluttered as coal fell on top of him. This caused giggles from other engines watching. When the dust settled, Diesel 10 was buried in coal with coal dust coated all over him.
"Now that's going to ruin my facial," muttered Diesel 10.
As the Rainbow Sun chugged along the line, Tulip sat into her seat, looking around at the now empty carriage. Feeling lonely, she took out One-one from her bag and sat it on her lap.
"So, here we are on our way to Muffle Mountain, One-one. We've been there once before when I was really little, remember?" she murmured to her toy before turning solemn, "But I wish that we were going to some place different, don't you? There are so many places in the world to see." she added. "And I'd like to go to the most magical one of all."
Just then, she felt the train slowing down. She could see a station up ahead through the window. Tulip began to assume it could be Muffle Mountain. But, to her surprise, the train wasn't stopping. It just kept on going. And when it fully past it, the train began to speed up again. Now this was strange.
"If we're not stopping, I guess that can't be Muffle Mountain," she thought.
But had Tulip kept looking at the station, she would've seen that it actually was Muffle Mountain. Andy Olsen had seen seen her on the train passing the platform, but had went into the telephone booth, holding a slot of the train schedule, before she could see him.
"The Muffle Mountain train has been and gone and she wasn't on it. I just saw Tulip on the one going straight to Shining Time... Yes, Grace... let me know if you see her. I'd appreciate it."
His call ended and he drove away on his truck.
No sooner was Andy out of sight, Simon appeared and went into the telephone booth, looking around until he saw the train schedule that Andy had left behind. By seeing this, he thought that Andy was trying to leave again. He was not letting his enemy slip past and escape from him this time. So, with haste, he ripped it to shreds and smirked with a snigger at his work.
Back on the train, Tulip took out a picture from her bag. It showed what looked like a young couple at a high-school dance.
"I like this picture," she said to One-one. "I remember Dad saying Mom's dress was as green as the apples on a summer apple tree." she added before eyeing towards the edge of the photo, where she saw a boy her past dad's age starring daggers at the couple. "But that other boy Dad said was really nasty. His name was Simon."
Feeling the urge to play some music, Tulip put the photo away and pulled out the harmonica instead before playing it to her heart's content, picking up the rhythm of the train's wheels. Despite how good she played, she still wasn't satisfied. Nobody was around to hear it. She felt uneasy.
"I don't want any cousins or siblings. I miss Mom. I just want to go home." she muttered before looking at One-one laying on her lap and held it tightly in her arms. "But I'm glad I've got you, One-one. It's very quiet, isn't it? Do you really think we know where this journey is taking us?"
She was about to learn quite soon.