The Piperville Job

The Piperville Job is the second episode of the first season of Chuggie & Pals.

Summary
A shipment of gold is stolen, and Benny is determined to find the perpetrators and the gold.

Story
One day, Benny arrived at the transfer yards, and found the place swarming with police cars. Pete and Oscar were there, too.

"Wow," said Benny, "What happened here?"

"There was a robbery last night," said Oscar.

"No, you idiot," said Pete, "Not a robbery, a burglary! Two very different terms!"\

"Alright, whatever," said Oscar, "There was a burglary last night."

"What was stolen," asked Benny.

One of the police officers on the scene approached Benny.

"A shipment of gold for a jewelry company was waiting to be delivered this morning, but was stolen last night," said the officer.

"Golly," said Benny, "What a drag."

"Apparently, it was waiting in a boxcar on a siding that was broken into," said Oscar, "A lot of gold, too!"

"Did you see anything suspicious last night," the officer asked Benny.

"No, sir," said Benny, "I was at Piperville Roundhouse with Chuggie and Roger watching Total DramaRama."

"I see," said the officer.

Soon, news of the burglary had spread like wildfire.

"Just think," said Roger, "There's crooks at large! How exciting!"

"Don't be so silly," said Chuggie, "You don't know how dangerous they are."

"Maybe it was pirates," said Atticus.

"Oh, don't even start that up again," said Pete.

"I wonder if the thieves will strike again," said Tim.

"Well, if they come up here, they won't be thieves for much longer," said Tom, "We'll make sure of that."

"Yeah." said Tim.

Later that day, Benny was taking some passengers down the line. On the way, he had to stop at a red signal, and something caught his eye. In the distance, he could see three men unloading large sacks from a pickup truck next to a bus. One of the men was a human with fair skin, black hair, a slick black mustache, and wore a pair of gray-tinted glasses, a black-and-yellow striped shirt, black pants, black and yellow shoes, and a black and yellow beanie with a yellow pom-pom at the end. The second was a humanoid creature who had a yellow disc for a face and wore a black hooded robe with a navy blue double-tired chevron shape on the collar and navy blue cuffs on the sleeves. The third was a gray tombstone-shaped creature with green eyes. The man with the hat opened the rear door of the bus and they began putting the sacks inside. Benny was confused when he saw this.

"Why would you put sacks like that inside a bus meant for passengers," Benny asked himself, "Clearly, taking them by truck would make much more sense."

The signal went green and Benny went along his way. After he delivered his train, he went back to the Roundhouse so he can rest for a while. Along the way, he had to stop and take on water. As he was replenishing his tank, he saw Atticus.

"Hello, Atticus," said Benny, "I assume you've heard about the gold thieves."

"Oh, yes, I have," said Atticus, "And what's more, I've heard more news a few minutes ago."

"What news," asked Benny.

"Some teenagers from the high school were reading the news on their phones," said Atticus, "and apparently, a bus has been stolen, too. They think it's by the same people."

"Now who the heck would steal a bus," asked Benny.

"Well, they found a burnt truck on the side of the road," said Atticus, "and it matched the one in the security camera footage from the crime scene. They likely wanted to destroy any evidence. Plus, a bus like that would be a good way to transport a large amount of stolen goods. I assume they didn't realize someone would notice that the bus was gone."

Atticus let out a chuckle, and Benny suddenly remembered the bus he had seen earlier.

"Jumping jelly beans," Benny said, "I think I saw them!"

"What," gasped Atticus, "you did?!"

"Yeah," said Benny, "On my way to deliver my goods train, I saw three men loading sacks into a bus!"

"Great Scot," Atticus said, "You better tell the police, Benny. Those men you say might've been the thieves!"

"That's exactly what I'm gonna do," said Benny.

Benny then took off for the Piperville Sheriff's Office. Ther,e he blew his whistle, and the sheriff, John Bagely, came outside.

"Hello, Benny," said Sheriff Bagley, "What can I do for you?"

Benny explained everything to Sheriff Bagley, who listened attentively.

"I see," said Sheriff Bagley, "Can you take me to where you saw them?"

"Sure," said Benny.

With that, Sheriff Bagely climbed into Benny's cab and he took him to where he had seen the bus. On the way, Sheriff Bagely radioed into police headquarters to tell them where to meet up with him and Benny. Soon, they arrived at the spot, and Sheriff Bagley jumped out of the cab.

"Thanks, Benny," said Sheriff Bagley, "We'll take it from here."

With that, Benny left, and Sheriff Bagley and his men began searching the area. They even called in the helicopter to help look for possible hiding spots. That evening, Benny was at a goods station in Montpelier, the capital city of Vermont, which was only a mile away from Piperville, waiting for a train of one-gallon jugs of Pure Vermont Maple Syrup to be loaded. All of a sudden, he heard police sirens.

"Larry," Benny cried, "look!"

His driver, Larry Anderson, who was a young man of twenty-three who had brown hair and wore a violet, orange, and yellow shirt, tan pants, and white sneakers with dark brown stripes, looked out and saw a bus rocketing down the road, followed by a police car.

"That's the bus I saw earlier," said Benny.

"They must've caught them," said Larry, "but they won't go very far."

But Larry was about to be proven wrong. Inside the bus, the three thieves were desperately trying to evade the cops.

"Faster, Brock, faster," shouted the man with the beanie.

"I'm going as fast as I can, Odlaw," said Brock, the tombstone-shaped creature, who just so happened to be driving the bus.

All of a sudden, the robed figure, named Master Frown, saw a dark shed just up ahead.

"There's a dark shed," said Master Frown as he pointed to it.

"Good thinking, Frown," said Odlaw, "Pull into there, Brock."

Brock did just that, and of course, the police didn't see them and sped right by the shed, thinking that the bus was still ahead of them. Odlaw then checked to make sure the cops were out of sight. Once they were certain all was safe, they pulled out and started going in the other direction. The last of the syrup had just been loaded onto Benny's train when the bus roared by again.

"What the," Benny gasped, "How the heck did they do that?"

"They must've fooled the cops," said Larry.

"Well, we're fully loaded now," said Benny, "Let's go after them!"

With that, Benny steamed away with his load. It wasn't long until they could see the bus.

"There they are," said Benny, "Sneaky sons of guns."

Just then, Larry realized something.

"Wait a minute," he said, "What're we gonna do when we catch up to them? It's not like we can just run off the rails and bash them."

But Benny had an idea.

"There's a level crossing not too far away," said Benny, "We have to get there before they do!"

Larry immediately caught on.

"Smart move, buddy," said Larry.

Benny went faster and faster. The thieves were oblivious to Benny's plan and thought he was just a passing freight train when he went by them. Soon, Benny was far ahead and nearing the junction to Piperville.

"Brakes, Larry," Benny said.

"You got it," said Larry.

As Benny began to slow down, he could see the bus again. He began to worry that they would notice and turn around. Thankfully, they didn't, because Odlaw noticed at the last minute that he and his partners-in-crime were heading straight for the train.

"Brock, look out," Odlaw shouted.

But it was too late. The bus crashed right into the train. Before Odlaw, Master Frown, and Brock could even try to get out, the police arrived, along with Sheriff Bagley.

"Well done, Benny," said Sheriff Bagley, "You've caught the thieves!"

One of the other officers took a sack from the bus and opened it. Sure enough, inside were many bars of pure gold.

"Darn steam engine," Odlaw growled.

Benny watched in disgust as Odlaw and his cronies were taken into custody and carted off.

"Good riddance," he said.

The next day, Butch Cassidy, the controller of the Piperville Railway, Sheriff Bagley, and the manager of the jewelry factory came to see Benny.

"Had it not been for this engine," said Sheriff Bagley, "the gold would've been sold somewhere shady and would likely never be seen again."

"Thanks to you, millions of dollars worth of gold were saved," said the manager, who then turned to Butch, "You must be proud of your engine, Mister Cassidy."

"Yes, indeed," said Butch, "Benny here always likes to do what he feels is the right thing."

"Oh, well, it's just a knack," said Benny.

"As a reward, we'd like to present you with this," said the manager.

The manager then held up a plate made of solid gold. And there, engraved in the center of it, was Benny.

"Wow," said Benny, "It's so shiny! I can even see my reflection in it! Thanks a whole bunch!"

And on that day, Benny felt like a very proud of engine indeed.

The End