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"And after that, no one ever saw him again."
Luke gasped.
"Huh. Never-ever?"
"Never-ever," Thomas confirmed. "Sorry, this isn't a story with a happy ending. No one knows where he is now."
Luke felt his wheels and rods shudder. Clearly - what a terrible fate! Poor Smudger was a naughty engine, but Luke thought no one deserved to be locked up, stripped of the ability to move, and then, then-
"Bah. He was probably just scrapped, that's all."
"Duncan!" Skarloey hushed him. "We do not say that word out loud here!"
Duncan rolled his eyes. He always spoke about things too directly and harshly.
"But that's the most likely outcome, isn't it?" he continued. "The branch line was closed. No one could remain."
They were standing in the Blue Mountain Quarry. The quiet night was cozy, a perfect time for friends to gather, tell stories, and laugh until tiredness sent them all home. But after Thomas's story, a chill ran along everyone's sides. Thomas himself regretted telling it. The unenviable fate of Smudger, who had most likely perished long ago, made everyone fall quiet for a while.
Then the silence was broken by Luke, who was still too young to accept the inevitable.
"But what if he survived?" he suggested. "Duke was said to be lost too, but he was found, he's alive now. Umm... where is he, actually?"
"On the Mainland," Skarloey replied, "with some task from Sir Topham Hatt. But his story was a coincidence, Luke. A miracle. I don't think Smudger is alive anymore."
He smiled sadly at Luke, as if to say it was better to forget. Smudger was gone. There was no chance he was alive somewhere and not just a pile of metal. That was a thing of the past.
But Luke was now determined. He didn't say it out loud, but he decided he would find Smudger. Luke believed in miracles, but he also knew they rarely happened on their own.
***
Luke didn't know much about the closed line of the Mid Sodor Railway. Rheneas, Skarloey, and Peter Sam had told him some things, but it still wasn't enough. Luke decided not to ask Mr Percival or Sir Topham Hatt, thinking they might be cross about it. Duke, the only one who could truly help, had been away for a long time. So Luke decided to do it all himself.
First of all, he chose to retrace Skarloey's old route. Skarloey had been part of the expedition that found Duke, so he described the closed area quite accurately. However, he was very doubtful about Luke's idea.
"I don’t want to upset you, but there's no chance, Luke. None at all. When we found Duke long ago, Smudger's lean-to was already empty and falling apart."
"I still think there's a chance, Skarloey," Luke replied, though he could feel his confidence seriously wavering. But he had a goal and refused to give it up so easily.
"Listen, I'm not even sure there are any rails left. You'd better forget about it."
Skarloey's words went unheard. Luke had already turned and rolled away along the track, with one thought in his mind.
I want to see it with my own eyes.
***
It was the middle of the day. A hot summer day. The sun heated the crooked rails ahead, making the air above them shimmer and blur like it did over a campfire. But Luke kept moving forward.
"There should be a forgotten quarry nearby. Or a rubbish heap. Or an overgrown ditch," he muttered to himself.
He continued on. Luke had already passed old Duke's shed. Then he saw the ruins of Smudger's barn, though he nearly missed it. Almost nothing remained of the building: only a few stones from the foundation and a rusty beam that had once held up the roof. Everything else had been entirely consumed by nature.
"Oh..."
He rolled on. The silence of the day, when even the birds had stopped chirping from the heat and the wind refused to blow, slowly began to lull him. Luke found himself almost falling asleep on his wheels, until-
"Hey! What are you doing here?"
The sharp words, followed by a loud whistle, belonged to Duncan. He moved closer along the second track beside Luke and gave him a stern look.
"Wait, don't say anything. I know - you're wasting your time searching for what's left of that poor lad, aren't you?"
Luke lowered his gaze, then looked back at Duncan.
"I am," he replied. "I just wanted to, well, make sure."
"Humbug. It's a miracle you didn't get lost or derail out here."
Luke felt foolish and the feeling only grew stronger after Duncan's words. But he didn't want to abandon his task.
"I'll find him, Duncan. At least I'm going to find out what happened to him. I won't go back until I do."
Duncan raised his brows. Then, much to Luke's surprise, he replied without his usual sourness.
"Fine. I'm not the one to tell you what to do. But I'm coming with you. Someone has to call for help when these old rails crack under your wheels."
Luke couldn’t help but smile widely at this surprising, but reliable ally.
***
Intuition had not betrayed him. After passing an especially overgrown stretch of track, they emerged into what looked like a small forest. There was also a large hill, covered in bushes, trees, and thick grass. It was a forgotten, untouched place where plants ruled alone.
"Wait," Luke called, just as Duncan was about to reverse.
"What?"
"That's not a hill."
Duncan looked more closely. Well... he had to admit Luke was right. Here and there, bent frames, axles, wheels, and scattered bricks peeked out from beneath the dense layer of grass and scrub.
"Well, you're not mistaken, I'll give you that. But this is just an old, overgrown landfill. Rubbish was dumped here for years."
"That's right, Duncan."
For many years.
Luke slowly examined the place around him. Then he noticed a strangely bent tree, split near the root into two thick trunks, as if it had grown around a boulder.
"Hm. What’s that?"
Luke's fireman climbed out and tried to get closer, but the thick tangle of roots and branches wouldn't let him through. So he took a fire axe and tried again. He chopped through the weeds and brambles, pulled them aside, and stared inside in surprise.
Luke gasped. Duncan, beside him, went still as well.
"Im... possible."
Inside, beneath the roots, in a terrible, terrible condition, was Smudger. All that remained of him was a boiler and warped pieces of metal frame. But he was breathing. He was alive.
Duncan stood with his mouth hanging open.
"I can’t believe it..."
Smudger was asleep. His breathing was shallow and slow, he seemed to inhale and exhale only a few times a minute. The tree had grown around him, wrapping him in its roots, hiding him in this place for many long decades.
Duncan blinked blankly for a moment. Then he finally remembered himself.
"What a sleeping beauty," he chuckled. "Let's wake the princess up."
Before Luke could stop him, Duncan blew his whistle as loudly as he could. But Smudger didn't stir. Duncan frowned and tried again, yet it didn't seem to affect him at all. Smudger remained peacefully asleep, unaware of what was happening around him and unable to hear any sound.
Luke, meanwhile, was already thinking ahead.
"We need to do something. We have to get him out of here."
"How?"
"I don’t know. Hm. Wait."
Luke paused for a moment. Then his furrowed brows lifted with sudden hope - he knew someone who could help, someone who would also be able to keep this secret from the others.
"Come on, Duncan. Let's visit the Steamworks."
***
Victor listened attentively to Luke's entire story. Then he went with them to the overgrown dump to see it for himself - and was amazed. Seeing an engine alive after all these years, and in such a state, was a first in his career. Victor frowned.
"Listen, Luke, my friend, I need to say this - it's going to be hard. Very hard. I've never had to bring someone back from a condition like this before."
"But there's a chance?" Luke asked eagerly.
"Well... yes."
Luke beamed.
"But it will require a lot of work," Victor continued. "Many things will need to be replaced. A lot of parts will have to be custom-made, and that will take even more time. And on top of that, he'll need to be transported from here."
Luke, already fired up, pumped his pistons as if ready to dash off and fetch Rocky at once but Victor stopped him.
"Better not, Luke."
"Why?"
"I have no doubts about Rocky. But the fewer persons who know about this, the less likely it is that the information will accidentally leak to Sir Topham Hatt. I'll call Kevin, and together we'll move Smudger to the Blue Mountain Quarry. I’ve seen it before - you have plenty of caves there. We could hide him in one of them."
"But how will Kevin lift him?"
"With a system of pulleys and blocks," Victor replied, already calculating something in his head. "I'll do it tomorrow night. But, Luke-"
"Yes?"
Victor hesitated. He didn't want to ruin Luke's happiness, but these things had to be said.
"I mean... we don't know what state he'll be in when he wakes up. He could be deeply shocked. He could be... not the same engine he once was. He's in a kind of deep anabiosis right now, and I'm not even sure how to wake him properly yet. He's long forgotten what fire is."
Luke's smile faded a little. He had thought about that too. Smudger had been through far too much for a small narrow-gauge engine, and Victor might be right. But then Luke straightened again.
"I’m sure he will be alright. I've seen many miracles on this island since the very first day I arrived. Finding Duke, finding you - alive, not as scraps of metal at the bottom of the sea. I know we can witness another miracle. You can do it, Victor. I believe in you."
Victor smiled at that. Then his expression grew serious once more.
There were a lot of work ahead.
***
Victor did his best. But this truly was an incredibly challenging case, it was the first time he had ever restored an engine from such a half-rotted state. After spending two months working only at night, counting also the time it took to travel to the quarry and back, and getting very little sleep, he felt he had completed the task as quickly as possible.
Smudger now stood on the tracks in one of the worked-out caves. Victor had even managed to find paint for him, and he was now coated in emerald green, with the same livery pattern as the other quarry engines. He was still. He was sleeping.
Victor looked at him thoughtfully for what must have been the hundredth time. The entire narrow-gauge team had gathered in the cave. Peter Sam and Sir Handel stared at Smudger, waiting. That night, Victor had finished everything and he planned to wake him.
He gently hauled him out of the cave and into the open air. Skarloey glanced at Victor warily.
"So. Are you going to do it?"
"I'm going to try."
Victor's fireman lit Smudger's firebox. At first, nothing happened. After a few minutes, he added several shovels of coal. The fire flared brighter, the systems seemed to be working properly.
Smudger coughed.
And then - opened his eyes.
"Smudger?" Luke, Peter Sam, and Sir Handel leaned forward at the same time.
The newly awakened engine blinked several times until his blurry gaze cleared. And then he screamed.
"Wait!" Victor tried to calm him. "It's alright! It's all alright, you're safe, Smudger, you're alright!"
"Ahh! Who? What...?"
Smudger was terrified. He panicked, jerking forward and back, his wheels slipping on the rails, and then he suddenly froze.
"What is this... What... I can..."
"Yes, Smudger-"
"...I can... move..."
The deep shock of awakening shifted into something else. Smudger was baffled, overwhelmed, trying to understand what surrounded him.
"You," he said, looking at Victor, who stood closest. "Who are you?"
Before Victor could answer, Luke, waiting on the second track, gently rolled forward.
"You're alright, Smudger," he began calmly. "Duncan and I found you at the abandoned rubbish heap. This red engine is Victor. He did the hardest part - he repaired you. He put you back on your wheels so you can move again, Smudger. You're yourself now."
Smudger's eyes widened as Luke spoke. But he didn't reply, because behind them, he saw something that immediately stole his attention.
"Stuart? Falcon...?"
Luke and Skarloey immediately pulled back and rolled onto the side track to give him space. Smudger moved hesitantly, as if he had forgotten how, until he stopped in front of Peter Sam.
"Stuart?"
Peter Sam smiled warmly. Sir Handel, waiting on the other track, smiled too.
"We don't go by those names anymore," he said. "He's Peter Sam now, and I’m Sir Handel. Many things have changed over the years."
Smudger let out a sob. Then he suddenly rolled forward and bumped gently against Peter Sam - the closest thing engines had to a hug. Now he was openly crying.
"I thought... I would never see you again," he forced out through his sobs. "I thought I would never move again. But this, this is... this is a miracle. A true miracle."
No one spoke. No one wanted to ruin the moment.
"Ah-ha. So this is what you’ve all been doing here."
Luke, Victor, and Skarloey gasped. It was no one, but Sir Topham Hatt himself
"Wait a minute-"
"This isn't what it looks like-"
"Please, you need to listen-"
"Sir Topham Hatt-"
"Enough."
He raised his hand, and silence fell. Then he stepped closer, stopping near Victor and Smudger.
"Victor, please explain all of this."
It took some time. Victor explained everything. Then Luke joined in, adding how he had heard the story, felt sorry for Smudger, and decided to search for him. Sir Topham Hatt listened carefully. In their sudden panic, no one noticed that he didn't actually look angry.
"And that is everything," Victor concluded. "I am very, very sorry that I used the parts you had ordered for other repairs. But I simply couldn't just walk away."
Sir Topham Hatt hummed thoughtfully. Then, to everyone's surprise, he smiled.
"So, it's you - Smudger? A naughty engine turned into a generator, then thrown away, only to rise from the rubbish years later, hmm?" Sir Topham Hatt asked, turning to the trembling engine.
Smudger hesitated for a moment before answering.
"Yes, Sir. It is me, Sir. I... I beg you, please don't scrap me. Please! I’m not useless anymore. Please, just- please!"
"Oh, stop that. Do you think I'm as heartless as your previous owner?"
"Sir, I- you- I-"
Sir Topham Hatt smiled more warmly this time.
"You're a lucky one, you know that? First, you were lucky to survive for so long. Then someone happened to believe in what sounded like a fairytale about you. Then you were found - and repaired. Quite a miracle, isn't it?"
"Sir..."
"And you're lucky once again," Sir Topham Hatt continued. "The quarry is preparing to expand, and an extra pair of working hands - or rather, wheels - will be very useful now."
Smudger could hardly believe his happiness. From years of decay and darkness - to a new, bright chapter of his life. It felt unreal.
"Sir, I'm very grateful. Thank you, truly, thank you. I'll be better. I promise. And thank you all for rescuing me," he said, looking at the narrow-gauge engines. "I'm very lucky to have friends like you, even if I didn't know it all this time."
Sir Topham Hatt nodded contentedly.
"Besides," he added thoughtfully, "I don't think the name Smudger suits you anymore. Considering your remarkable luck, perhaps the name Felix would fit better. What do you think?"
Instead of answering, Smudger-Felix gave his first in years, long loud whistle. The other engines joined in. Luke's whistle was the loudest of them all.
He was the happiest that night. Another miracle had happened on the Island of Sodor, and this time, he had helped make it happen. The thought filled him with pride and quiet joy in this bright, cozy night.