The trip through the Groundbridge didn't feel any less weird the second time.

The fact that the magic portal was tied to a machine back in the bunker, Thomas doubted it was really magic, but considering he didn't really know how it worked, he supposed that was the closest thing to magic. The swirling colors around gave off a weird sensation that made the little engine shiver, but it somehow felt... familiar? This whole thing was so, so confusing.

"One thing at a time... one thing at a time..." He whispered as they exited the portal, his eyes once more meeting the hills of Sodor. The storm has passed, but it was clear it had been stronger than Thomas had realized. Branches and whole large limbs from trees were thrown to the ground, and the soil squished under his feet as they all looked around.

"...Still sad and quiet." James grumbled.

"Yeah..." Boulder mumbled, "...Kinda like when we got back to Griffin Rock..."

"Your island was empty once too?" Henry asked.

Boulder straightened his stance, clearing his throat. "A story for another time... Now, let's see what we can find in the town below. I brought us here because the buildings are all mostly still standing, so we might be able to find more clues. Remember to keep together with your assigned buddy, alright?"

"Obviously," Gordon muttered, "We're not children..."

Boulder smirked, and then motioned for Diesel to follow him.

"Okay..." Thomas hummed as they walked down into the empty streets, "...If I were clues about where everyone went, what and where would I be...?"

"Inside the buildings." Percy guessed, peering into one of the broken windows. "...Thomas, look."

Thomas bent down beside him, looking inside. The inside of the building had lots of tables and shelves, but no chairs. On the shelves were goods, and also lots and lots of broken jars and bottles scattered across the ground. "Hmm... Looks like it might've been a shop of some kind, but it's not like we've ever seen the inside of a human shop."

"That's what I was thinking," Percy whispered, leaning a little closer to the window and trying to look around the corner of the wall. "But all of the jars and bottles are broken while almost everything else looks untouched."

"Dusty. Very, very dusty."

"Well, it has been a hundred years... Hmm."

"Hmm?"
Thomas looked over as Percy stood up a bit and walked around the edge of the building. "Where are you going, Percy?"

"The other engines and Cranky might be too big to fit inside here, but maybe we're not, Thomas..."
Percy walked over to the door, and then gently prodded it with a finger. It creaked open, and he poked his head in. "...Tight, but I think I can fit."

"Be careful, Percy."

"I'm always telling you that, Thomas..." Percy giggled, and then crawled through the door. It was a little tight inside, but he smiled as he was able to sit up inside the space. "Hmm... sticky goop is all over the floor back by the shelves, and... I think some of this dust is actually flour."

"What would flour be doing all over the floor?"

Percy shrugged, "Maybe wild animals got in here looking for food and then spilled it by accident?"

Thomas hummed, that would make sense, he supposed. "But nothing about what happened to the people?"

Percy shook his head, "No... Okay, I'm coming back out."
Thomas backed up to allow his friend to crawl back out of the tiny shop, before both of them stood up straight again. "Do you think we were mean, making Boulder have to deal with Diesel all day?"

Thomas shrugged, "Boulder seems like a nice... whatever we are now. Mosaics, I think was what he said?...Maybe he can teach Diesel some manners."

______________________________________________________

Don't make things too hard for him, okay...?

Those were the parting words given to Diesel by Cranky as they split up into pairs to search the town, and Diesel had just huffed and marched after Boulder towards the outer edge of town.

Don't make things hard, as if Diesel was the cause for everyone else's troubles. As the only other non-steam engine here, he had hoped the crane would be sympathetic...

Diesel had felt a tension coming from the other engines ever since they'd arrived, but it was coming through those pulses Boulder had called pings. Now that he was a distance from the others, he realized he wasn't feeling them as much... and definitely not from Boulder. In the crashing waves of irritation and annoyance, any pings their host had sent out where slow and smooth, like a boat gently bobbing up and down in the harbor. He wasn't angry with Diesel just on sight... it was refreshing.

For this, he was sticking close, watching Boulder examine the walls of buildings and plants growing up around them. Their host seemed quite intrigued by it all, humming softly as he gently brushed the leaves of the ferns and bushes. He had definitely learned how to control his size and strength to not crush anything... and he was so quiet! Diesel felt like he was waking every sleeping creature on the island as he stumbled about, and yet Boulder's footsteps barely made a sound.

"How do you do that...!?" He hissed.

Boulder raised a brow, looking away from a butterfly settled on one of the plants. "Hmm?"

"You and... everything around here. You're not disturbing anything!"

Boulder grinned, "I learned how to be gentle and respect the area I'm in. It takes practice, but you guys will get it." He then stood up again, "Now, tell me a bit about this place."

"What do you mean?"

"This island is your home, right? Tell me about it. What were the people like, the other engines you worked with?"

"Oh. Um... Gosh, where do I start?"

"Hmm... An average day. How did you start out in the morning?"

"Oh, okay..."
Diesel hadn't ever been asked questions like this before, about him and his life in a way that wasn't condescending. It took effort for him to not go to his automatic defensive responses.
"Well, we diesels would start out in our shed near the Quarry, and then the doors would open and the controller would give us our assignments for the day. Mostly hauling trucks and cars around the island and to the Mainland, they never really let us diesels do the frivolous stuff like pulling coaches or passenger cars..."

"So you diesels were mostly given the dirty work, the heavy-lifting."

"Right. The Steamies got all of the good jobs. The passenger coaches, delivering the goods to the children, all the townsfolk smiling and cheering their names...! Ugh, Thomas was always the favorite, you know. Everybody loves Thomas...!"

"Hmm..."
Boulder walked over to a collapsed part of the nearby wall and began picking bricks up and away to peer underneath. "...So there was kind of a class difference there? Is that why the others didn't want to be partnered with you?"

Diesel winced a little, he supposed complaining about them wasn't the best impression to make. "...Sorry, I just-"

"I'm not scolding you, Diesel."
Boulder looked up with a smile, "I'm genuinely asking. You feel overlooked and not appreciated because they get all the praise, while you're in the background doing all the hard work that makes their jobs easier."

"Yes! You get it!"

"I do... I don't think being mad at them is the right way to handle those emotions, but I understand."
Boulder set one handful of bricks aside and started with another one, "Heh, when I was little, we weren't even allowed to talk to upper-caste bots..."

"Upper-caste?"

Boulder paused, brows furrowing and head drooping a bit. He appeared to be wondering if he should explain what he'd said, was he worried that they wouldn't understand? "...Where I grew up, those that live there split up by groups called castes." He finally murmured, "You were put in a caste when you were born, and that was where you'd be for the rest of your life... and some castes were deemed less important than others."

"Really?"

Boulder nodded, "...Upper castes were bots like artists, politicians, scholars... and the lowest castes were gladiators, sent to the rings to fight to the death for the upper castes' entertainment."

Diesel's eyes popped wide, "What? That's awful! Did that happen to you?"

"No, I was fortunate not to be put in that caste, but I was put in a lower caste than most... I was barely allowed to learn to read."
Boulder stood up, "But that division back where we're from led to a war between castes... it turned deadly, and me and my brothers were forced to leave to find safety, coming here. Here, we can choose what we want to do, and what we want to learn."

"Did others run away from it too?"

Boulder nodded, "Lots of people... We're scattered now, everyone's a little afraid to go back, I think. But enough about my sad early days, tell me more about you guys. What did you do when you weren't hauling?"

Diesel shrugged a bit, "Slept, I guess? You kinda worked all day, every day, until you were done, went back to the sheds to sleep, and then woke up the next morning and went out again."

"Hmm... Sounds tedious."

"Yeah, it got boring a lot-"
Both of them froze and then turned towards town as they felt a ping of panic, and then heard voices. "What's going on? Sounds like James."

"Not sure... Come on."