"Why is your horse so damn stubborn?!" Thalia exclaimed.
    "Probably because it doesn't like me!" Logan replied.
    "Or because you don't like her." Vern countered mildly.
    Thalia and Clancy were trying desperately to shove Logan's pissed off horse into the train. Meanwhile, Vern watched them boredly and Logan watched from within the train tensely. They had made it to the station by noon the next day, just in time to load their horses into the train and get on for the ride to Gold Dust Valley; a small town just on the edge of the desert. From there, they'd ride their horses to Fort Savannah, which Vern had estimated was a two day journey.
    "Vern, buddy, mind helping us a little?" Clancy said from his awkward position of attempting to push the horse into the cargo car.
    "No thank you." Vern replied, flipping the pages of his book coolly. "I don't do dirty work. I'm an ambassador, not a soldier."
    "Kyoya, shut up and help." Thalia said.
    "Did you just call me-"
    "I'm Tamaki and no one can stop me." Clancy said, poking his head around the corner of the car door.    
    Suddenly, the train whistled loudly, signaling movement.
    "Oh shit!"
    "Ginger, hurry up!"
    Logan let out a groan. "You stupid horse, move your fat ass!"
    The horse neighed and before anyone could react, Persnickety kicked the red head in the stomach. Thalia gasped, clapping a hand over her mouth as Logan let out a wheeze, falling to his knees in the sand. Finally, the damn horse climbed leisurely into the car as though nothing had happened.
    Then the train started moving. Thalia's eyes widened. "Ginger, come on!"
    "Ow..." Logan stood up and started to waddle forward. "Damn horse..."
    The train slowly started to speed up. "Ginger!" Thalia shouted, but Logan really couldn't help it.
    Clancy groaned and hopped off the train. He took Logan's arm like he was helping a senior citizen and pushed him forwards. Vern and Thalia helped the wounded red head on first, but that was when the train really started to pick up speed.
    Thalia started to worry. She held out her hand to him. "Clanker, hurry up!"
    But the scientist didn't reach out. He simply stood there and waved as the train sped off without him, not even trying to run. Thalia stared at him incredulously, then looked to Vern, who seemed surprisingly calm about the whole ordeal. "What the hell is he doing?! I thought he was known for his persistence!"
    "He is." Vern said. Thalia opened her mouth to argue, but he interrupted. "Just watch."
    Thalia blinked and peered around the side of the car door again. Her eyes widened even more. There coming up beside the train, was the blue-haired British scientist himself; not running, but standing leisurely on some sort of floating skateboard, his hands in the pockets of his ever-present lab coat.
    He smirked at Thalia's astonished expression. "I'd move out of the way if I were you, soldier girl."
    Thalia's eyebrows raised in surprise, but she did as she was told. Clancy shifted his weight towards the open car door, but accidentally knocked into Logan. He toppled to the ground, the hoverboard remaining stationary in the air.
    Logan let out an exasperated wheeze from the ground as Clancy stood up, brushing himself off. "Right... Brakes still need tweaking." He said.
    "Where did you get that thing?!" Thalia exclaimed.
    "I keep it with me all the time." Clancy replied. "Just in case something like this happens."
    "How?! There's no way that could fit in your pack!"
    Clancy smirked. "Like this." He opened up a cartridge on the side of the hoverboard, revealing a little square number pad. He pressed the star button twice in quick succession and it began to fold in on itself, becoming smaller and smaller until it was a small metal cylinder, looking more like a pipe than a futuristic device. Clancy lifted the sleeve of his short-sleeved coat and placed it into an indenture in his mechanical arm, which seemed to have been put there specifically for the hoverboard. He grinned at Thalia. "Neat, huh?"
   On the floor, Logan let out a moan. "Fascinating..." He murmured, his voice strained.
   
"So this is gonna take how long exactly?" Thalia asked.
    "I dunno, maybe a week or two."
    "A week?!" Logan exclaimed. "I thought this was like a weekend trip thing!"
    Thalia stared at him. "...Ginger, we left the base on a Tuesday, how could it be a weekend trip?"
    "I don't know, but I didn't pack enough clothes for this trip, that's for sure." Logan sighed.
    "Why don't you just look through the drawers in your cabin before you go to bed?" Clancy suggested.
    "It's very likely you'll find something." Vern added.
    Logan sighed again. "This trip just keeps getting better and better..." He muttered.
    Thalia nudged him. "Aww, lighten up Ginger." She said. "At least we're getting some fresh air!"
    "Hot, smelly, mildly fresh air."
    "Yes, thank you for helping the situation, Clanker, that was brilliant."