The next chapter is here as we are about to get underway into the Duck Vs Diesel trilogy, and something special will happen in the chapter, I won't say what it'll be because I don't want to spoil it for you.

Chapter Four: Duck Vs Diesel

It had been a while after the accident on Gordon's Hill with the spiteful break van, things had calmed down after that, however, things weren't really that bad as Thomas and the others went to London to meet a little girl and her friends, however, Fred did not bring the giant book as there were already books that the Reverend already wrote, he read the stories to the children while Thomas looked happy that he met the children.

As winter came to Sodor, snow had become a problem, but it did fully prove Donald and Douglas's worth to the railway by helping clear the snow, and eventually rescued Thomas and a Christmas tree from the snow as the year ended.

However, Gordon and James got bored of Duck's lecturing, Henry didn't mind, Duck was his friend, and there was nothing that could convince him, otherwise.

One day, Sir Topham Hatt had brought Diesel on trial from the Mainland as Sir Topham Hatt introduced him to the engines.

Duck and Henry knew something was off about Diesel's behavior, Fred was onboard as Duck's driver when he met Tim, he could tell that Tim was a good person, but knew there was something troubling him.

Tim was Diesel's driver, and Fred knew that two different personalities often clashed, he knew Diesel better than Tim did, and decided to keep it quiet until Sir Topham Hatt would be aware afterwards, the engines were in the yard as Diesel began to speak.

"Your worthy fat-"

"Sir Topham Hatt to you!"

Diesel looked hurt. "Your worthy Sir Topham Hatt thinks I need to learn. He is mistaken, we diesels don't need to learn, we know everything." Fred decided to interrupt Diesel in his glorified speech.

"Let me stop you right there, Diesel. There are several things wrong with what you said. One, Sir Topham Hatt is not mistaken, he knows better than you. Two, you do need to learn. Three. You don't know about the Freight Cars in this yard. And four, you are not revolutionary, there are many of your class, but what you don't realize is that Beeching only approved your kind to exist because he cares about money!"

Everyone and the Freight Cars gasped, Fred had just outsmarted Diesel with what he had said.

Diesel looked furious. "Y-you savage! How dare you talk to me like that! I AM revolutionary!" He screamed, Fred just huffed.

"Oh yeah? While steam is being abolished on the Mainland, pretty soon, your kind will meet the torch as many diesels will be scrapped! Don't come crying to me when you see it for yourself!" The driver shot back, Tim look very shocked.

"Whoa, did you really say that?" Tim asked, Fred calmed down as he looked at Tim. "Sorry you had to see that, but you just got here, so you'll have to get used to it. May we talk later after this?" He said, Tim nodded, understanding what Fred meant.

"Sure. So um...what do Diesel and I do?" Tim asked, Fred whispered. "I have a plan, while Duck and I arrange Gordon's coaches, I want you and Diesel to take a line of old Freight Cars, but be warned, their breaks are old and they haven't been used in a long time, when Duck and I come back, we'll be watching. I've got nothing against you, it's Diesel that's the problem." He explained, Tim nodded, understanding the plan, Duck was the only one who heard them while Diesel was oblivious to the plan.

Both drivers went back to their respective engines. "Come on Duck, we need to arrange Gordon's coaches." He said, Duck willingly complied as they went off to fetch Gordon's coaches.

Gordon was waiting for his express coaches when Duck came and pulled in with the coaches. "Here you are Gordon, your express coaches as ordered." He said, Gordon was surprised by this.

The big engine was expecting a lecture, but he didn't order Duck about. "Um, thank you Duck. But why? And where's Diesel?"

Duck simply smiled. "Oh, he's arranging my train, I have a goods train to take after he arranges them." he waited as Fred came back with a film camera and entered Duck's cab. "Come on Duck, we don't want to be late for the goods train." He said, and Duck was off in a hurry before Gordon could even ask why.

Fred and Duck returned just in time, Duck looked to see Fred setup the camera and was confused. "Beg pardon, but why are you setting up a filming camera?" He asked, he heard the plan, but he didn't know what Fred had planned for Diesel.

Fred began to speak in hushed tone as he started the camera up. "Watch and see." He said as he and Duck watched the event unfold in front of them as Diesel began to struggle, Duck soon began to laugh as Fred followed suit.

Diesel growled as the old freight cars couldn't move, Diesel pulled harder and soon the cars were starting to feel the strain as the breaks snapped and the gears jammed in the sleepers.

Duck laughed loud, but it was Fred who laughed the loudest, soon after, Duck quietly took the other cars and pulled up beside diesel with a smile.

"Thank you for arranging these, Diesel, I must go now." He said, Diesel looked red in the cheeks as he looked at Duck. "Don't you want this lot?" He asked, Duck chuckled.

"No thank you." The Pannier tank engine kindly answered, Diesel gulped. "And I've taken all this trouble. Why didn't you tell me?" He asked again.

Duck still smiled as he and Fred answered at the same time. "You didn't ask." Fred leaned out of the cab as he whispered to Tim.

"Meet me at my home tonight, I've got something to show you." Fred told Tim as he looked confused, but nodded.

Duck left as the cars began to sing.

Cars are waiting in the yard

Tackling them with easle

show the world what I can do

Gaily boast the diesel

in and out, he creeps about

like a big, black weasle

when he pulls he wrong cars out

pop goes the diesel

Diesel hated it, Tim thought it was a great joke.

Later that night, Tim was invited to the house, Fred invited nearly everyone to a special event.

"Everyone, it is with great pleasure that I give you the short film: Pop Goes the Diesel!" Fred announced, Gilbert looked to the newest driver. "'ello, you must be Tim." He said, both drivers shook hands, Tim looked nervous.

"Uh...yeah, it's nice to meet you as well, Mr. Perkins." The newest driver replied, Vanessa looked to Fred as she pointed to Tim.

"What's with Tim?" The girl asked, Fred looked as confused, even he was worried.

"Wish I knew. I'll ask him after this is over." The driver said, the night started as everyone saw footage of Diesel trying to pull the line of old freight cars, everyone, even Tim, laughed.

Tim did have fun, as he looked to Fred, he had a question in his mind. "So...you got any books I can read?" He asked, Fred smiled, he had a better question. "You want to hear a story, instead?" He countered, Tim's interest was piqued.

"You tell stories?" Tim asked, Fred nodded. "Oh, I do, mainly stories that the Reverend has written and will write, but the book I brought with me has more stories." He explained, Tim was more interested, and he and the others listened in on the story that took place earlier, they all got a good laugh out of it.

Tim was confused, but they told him that Fred was from a similar world, the new driver looked skeptical, but Fred assured him that they were telling the truth.

Tim had an idea, he smiled with a sly grin. "Well, now that story time is over, why don't we get acquainted with each other?" He asked, the others only knew that he had just started, Fred smiled, looking at the opportunity to know about Tim.

"Well, let's hear about you, Tim. I know we just met you, but everyone wants to hear how you came to work here."

Tim then lost his grin as he sighed, it backfired on him, he began to explain. "Alright, like Vanessa, barring Fred, I come from America. And here's the thing, I ran away from home and have been living in London for the rest of my life ever since I was a kid."

Everyone gasped as they looked shocked.

"Why were you in London, Tim?" Gilbert asked, Tim looked upset as he began to explain.

"I...ran away from my parents, they were being abusive."

Another collective gasp came from everyone as Tim continued.

"I stole their money to escape the abuse, and when that happened, I had no money left after I came to London, so I began a secret life of crime, but that was short lived, I got arrested, and after I told the judge about my entire life, I was sentenced to community service until I paid for all of the stolen goods and was released about a few years back, after that, my life began anew, still, I worry that my parents might've followed me."

Everyone felt shocked and scared for Tim's life, they didn't know he had gone through a harsh life, but they were glad he was starting over, they didn't know how they were going to help him.

"Well, at least you have us as friends, Tim." Fred pointed out, Tim smiled, he nodded in agreement.

"Yeah. Still, I want to know more about you guys." Tim stated, everyone mentally slapped themselves as they looked at each other.

"If we tell him, we'll have to go in order, but we have to decide by doing that game." Fred spoke to his fellow drivers.

Vanessa seemed to know what Fred was talking about. "Oh, you mean like rock-paper-scissors, right?" She asked, Fred nodded. "Exactly."

The engine driver looked to Gilbert. "Are you familiar with that game?" He asked, Gilbert nodded.

"Of course, though I don't find the time to play that game, always busy, though, this is an exception."

Tim watched the crew play rock-paper-scissors until the first round ended with Fred losing as he had scissors, he sighed. "I knew it was inevitable, so I'll go first."

Tim wanted to hear Fred go first since the new driver was interested in him the most.

"Well, to start off, like you, Peter (to which I haven't seen much of,) and Vanessa, and as I said, I'm not from this world. I came from the year 2019, and as four years have already passed, it would be 2023 by now, and believe me, I'm already twenty six by then, I miss my family, but I can't feel down when I'm working towards a way to get home, though, I have to remain here for the time being, the reason?

To protect my friends, and a girlfriend that I love." Fred explained, everyone except Vanessa looked shocked.

"That was the year you came from?!" Gilbert exclaimed, Fred chuckled nervously.

"You and the others never asked. Still, the legend of the lost engine..." The young driver replied with a serious tone in his voice on the last part, the crew looked at him with confusion.

"There's more stories?" Tim asked, Fred nodded, this time, he didn't go for the book as he began to breath. The others saw him become calm.

At last, Fred began to tell the story.

"Long ago, there was a magical engine named Lady, she was the guardian of a world that traveled between worlds, sometime before any of the engines we knew came to the island, Lady had worked here, before, and she had a driver, like me, he came from another world, but his world was different from mine. His name was Burnett Stone, but unlike me, he was younger than I was when I first came here.

When an evil man came, he chased lady, and made her use up all the coal she had, she crashed, unfortunately, she ended up in Burnett's world, and without any coal from Sodor, she couldn't make any steam, and by that time, Burnett met a special someone named Tasha, he married her and had children, but years later, when Burnett's granddaughter was born, Tasha was ill, and sometime later, she died, before they got married, Tasha wanted to take a ride on Lady, but Burnett couldn't fix her in time.

Nowadays, Burnett lives in a place called Muffle Mountain, but the evil man never believed in magic, nor has he given up, he is known as Peter Tiberius Boomer, or P.T Boomer for short, he always wanted to marry Tasha, but he also ruined his chance as Burnett married Tasha, and unfortunately for Boomer, his revenge was also bittersweet when he heard that Tasha died, he still hates Burnett to this day, as for the diesel, I believe he was sent away, but still wants to destroy Lady, and he's been waiting for years, but he didn't know where she went, let's hope we don't encounter him."

Everyone nodded, thankfully, it would be a long time before they met Diesel 10. everyone went home as Fred and Vanessa were alone.

"Well, just one more thing, I had to wait until they were gone." Fred spoke, Vanessa saw him get on one knee as he took something out of his pants pocket. "I know this was a few years coming, but I can't wait any longer. Vanessa Lodge, will you marry me?" He asked as he opened the tiny box, revealing a diamond ring.

Vanessa gasped, she didn't know what to think, sure she was happy, but she didn't know how to react, but she was smiling and had a few tears run down her cheeks, she decided to answer the question.

"Yes! Yes, I'll marry you, Fred." Vanessa answered, both hugged one another, but things would become complicated the next day.

The morning started off with the freight cars tormenting Diesel as Duck and the others had horrified looks, both Tim and Fred were on Duck as they saw what was happening, Vanessa was on Henry and her reaction was similar to the others.

Duck bashed a freight car as he stopped next to Diesel. "Be quiet!" He shouted to the cars, Diesel looked accusingly at Duck.

"It's your fault! You made them laugh at me!" The diesel shunter said angrily, this set off a mental alarm in Fred's mind, and he knew he had to do something quick.

"Duck did nothing wrong, Diesel! And from my perspective, you were acting out of line, Sir Topham Hatt won't approve of your behavior. I think you should face reality, the reality that what you view is false! Whoever your creator is, he filled your head with lies. Sure, you may be a technological marvel, but that means you're also prone to breakdowns if you push your engine too hard or would run out of fuel, which to me...would very likely, result in embarrassment and your downfall, so I suggest you watch what you say, otherwise, you won't get a second chance."

Diesel said nothing, he fumed silently.

Fred looked to the tender engines. "I think we've wasted enough time, here. What do you three say, want Duck to arrange your trains?" He asked, the three engines looked at each other, they thought for a moment before Gordon responded.

"Well, considering what you said, I think we would take Duck over Diesel, he does it without fuss, as he put it."

Fred nodded, but he couldn't shake the feeling that he was forgetting something.

"Well, come on, we better get moving." With that, Duck and the three big engines puffed away, Diesel then had a devious smirk as he came up with a plan.

A while later, the freight cars were laughing as the three big engines soon found out why.

The three engines were sitting in front of the shed as Duck came back, he looked tired, as did Fred and Tim.

Two out of the three engines blew steam at the trio, Gordon and James were furious while Henry looked upset.

"Keep out!" The two engines said, Duck had no time for that nonsense.

"Stop fooling around, I'm tired."

"So are we." James said as Gordon finished for him. "We are tired of you."

Sir Topham Hatt soon arrived to see what was the matter, once he had heard from both sides, he had a plan, he somehow knew that Diesel was the source of the disturbance, he decided to investigate on his own, but first, he had to make it look convincing. "I'm sorry Duck, but you must go to Edward's branchline for a few days."

Duck sighed sadly, Fred and Tim had to help keep Duck calm, they all arrived at Wellsworth station where Edward.

Meanwhile, Back at Tidmouth Sheds, Diesel was alone he had the sheds to himself as he cackled quietly.

"With that stupid steamie out of the way, I can do what I want now that Fat Hatt suspects I had no involvement in this."

Diesel's words were picked up by Vanessa and Peter, who had just come back after a year's absence, they heard everything.

"Did you get that?" Vanessa asked, Peter nodded, he nodded.

"We better tell Sir Topham Hatt about this."

The two snuck off before Diesel could notice, not only that, Henry heard what he had said, Thomas passed by and heard as well, he decided to inform Sir Topham Hatt about what Diesel said, that is, if he could find Sir Topham Hatt.

Meanwhile, Duck was very upset, Tim wasn't happy with the outcome, and neither was Fred.

"That oily snake, he managed to deceive those three, and we were powerless to stop it from happening."

Tim nodded in agreement with Fred, even so Duck didn't have the heart to reply.

The trio arrived at Wellsworth station as Edward waited patiently for them.

Duck began to tell Edward what happened, the blue tender engine smiled warmly. "I don't think you're horrid, and neither does Sir Topham Hatt, I know from experience. Why don't you help me with my goods train? I can't manage it alone."

Duck felt a little better, the next few days had gone by as Duck helped Edward with his goods trains, once Edward was out of sight with his current goods train, Duck was coasting along the line, he loved doing that as he went onto the other line, as soon as he reached the bottom of the hill and was at the level crossing until he, Fred and Tim heard the guard's warning whistle, Fred knew what this meant.

"Oh no, if the tail end of Edward's train has broken off, then that means..." Soon, realization struck him like lightning as he looked at Tim in horror. "We've got to hurry, if the tail end of Edward's goods train hits us while we're at this speed, we'll be done for!" Then he turned to look forward at Duck. "We have to move, Duck, and fast!"

Duck didn't need to be told twice, he raced for his life as the freight cars caught up to him a while later, Fred had an idea as the cars had were against Duck's buffers.

"We can still slow them down if we hold them back, because up ahead is where James is taking his passenger train, we have no choice but to stand our ground." Tim and Duck knew this was a risky plan, they, nor Fred had no time to try and escape.

The station and Jame's train were in sight, luckily, they were diverted onto a siding, but unfortunately for Duck, he was heading into the wall of the barbershop.

Fred and Tim jumped off of duck, and only received minor bruises, but the poor engine crashed into the barbershop.

Fred ran to the station platform, he looked at the stationmaster. "Get Sir Topham Hatt, there's been an accident!" The stationmaster nodded and phoned Sir Topham Hatt, a while later, Thomas and Henry arrived with Sir Topham Hatt, Vanessa and Peter were on Henry as they all went over to Fred and Tim.

"What happened?" Asked Sir Topham Hatt as Fred began to explain. "The tail end of Edward's goods train broke off and we had to stop it in order to control the damage." Sir Topham Hatt nodded, he knew the three had prevented a nasty accident and were heroes because of their actions. "I see, while you were doing that, well...I'll tell you once we rescue Duck."

The barber wasn't pleased as Sir Topham Hatt and the crew had come in, he began to complain. "I do not appreciate engines crashing through my walls. They frighten my customers!" Sir Topham merely held back the the laughter after making a pun while trying to remain professional as he told the barber what had actually happened, the barber then realized his mistake.

"Oh, I-I see...forgive me." The barber filled the basin with water and splashed in onto duck's face, some of the shaving cream that the barber lathered duck with earlier stayed on.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know you were being a brave engine." The barber apologized, Duck chuckled sheepishly. "That's alright, I didn't know either. Though, I'd like to be free of this wall." He replied, Outside, Thomas found this to be familiar.

"Stuck in a wall, huh? Well, compared what happened to me, Duck's situation makes more sense." The blue tank engine spoke up, Henry was confused. "How did you even end up in the stationmaster's house?" He asked, Thomas looked annoyed. "Clumsy firelighter, played with my controls and left when he felt bored, that's what happened. We need more staff on this railway that actually pays attention instead of just standing there and watching, just saying." Sir Topham Hatt and the others arrived to hear Thomas say that.

"While I do not appreciate your tone, Thomas, I do agree that we need more competent staff on this railway. Now then, you and Henry know what to do." Sir Topham Hatt half scolded, Thomas and Henry blew their whistles as they began to pull Duck out of the barbershop's wall.

It wasn't easy at first, and if Thomas was the only engine, he would've had a harder time, but with Henry helping him pull Duck out of the wall, it became much easier as the two had rescued their friend.

Duck managed to speak first. "I guess this means you've forgiven me, Henry?" He asked, Henry chuckled sadly as he began to apologize.

"I have, Duck, I hope we're still friends." The green tender engine said hopefully, Duck smiled.
"We are, but that about the others? Do they still hate me?" A voice interrupted the two before Henry could speak.

"Not anymore, it was a group effort to send Diesel packing, I never believed him and sent him packing, Thomas, Henry, Peter and Vanessa all told me what he had said, so...we might not hear from him again for some time." Sir Topham Hatt informed, Duck was surprised, Fred knew this to be true.

"If I may add, sir, Diesel will make any attempt to one up any of the engines if he ever comes back. Besides, I...or rather Vanessa and I have an announcement to make." Fred said as he and Vanessa held hands, everyone waited to hear what they had to say.

"Fred and I have decided to get married!" Vanessa proudly announced, everyone was surprised, even the engines, James heard about this and was shocked, but even he couldn't help but smile.

Word soon spread, both Duck's heroic actions and the wedding had been what the Engines were discussing a few days after the former had returned from the Steamworks, Duck had also gotten along with Donald and Douglas, the three became good friends.

A few months later, the trio were talking of the wedding when two people were standing on the station platform, Duck looked to see the two, they were smartly dressed, the pannier tank engine could tell that the two were a wealthy couple and one of them looked like an older Vanessa.

"Pardon me, but may I ask who you are?" Duck asked, the man looked looked at Duck with a smile. "Well, since you asked kindly, we are Vanessa's parents, our daughter called and asked us to meet the man she met over here on Sodor, Mary insisted that we come packed with our lunches, even though it's not lunch time here on Sodor."

The three engines were surprised, this was going to be an important day for both Fred and Vanessa.

Wasn't expecting that, huh? I had been planning this for a while, and believe me, I wanted to get Fred and Vanessa married, and this had to happen on the day before A Close Shave happened.

Besides, I knew Duck and Henry would be good friends, he wouldn't as easy to fool because Diesel isn't very smart to keep his mouth shut, Gordon and James however would be easily tricked into thinking Duck lied to them, their pride and egos would blind them to the truth thanks to Diesel telling the Freight cars lies about the three big engines.

The funny thing about this is that I wouldn't adapt stories from The Buried Truck because I couldn't change what was being written at the time, his stories are in a different continuity from what I'm writing, and while I do appreciate his stories, I'm not adapting them for various reasons.

I'm sticking to my stories in the continuity I've set up, however, I'm not against adding original characters into my stories if I do ask for permission, provided I treat those characters with respect rather than claiming them to be my own characters, however at this time, I'm not taking request if someone asks me to add their characters, so sorry if you were thinking of asking me to add your characters, I cannot do it at this time, however at the same time, my other story, A Stranger in Gensokyo is already doing that because I'm still working on that, and a certain someone had been so persistent in wanting me to do so, and I've already gone too far into that so I'm not doing that in this story.

That doesn't stop me from writing this and other stories in the future, so I hope you all understand if this upsets you, I'm only human, and things don't go the way I want them to.

With that said, I'll see you in the next chapter.