There was yet another thud as Sunny lost her balance and hit the floor before pushing herself up. "I give up!" she said, trying to wobble over to a bench. "I'll never get the hang of this!"

Argyle walked over and helped her to the bench. "Sunny," he said gently. "Everything is hard at first. But giving up just because something is hard means you won't know what you'll be missing out on."

"Kinda hard to see the appeal when I'm just falling over all the time," Sunny said.

"Confucius once said that our greatest glory is not in falling, but in rising every time we fall," Argyle replied. "To use another example- do you remember how frustrated you were when you were first learning to read? How you felt these funny lines and squiggles on the page would never mean anything?"

Sunny thought for a moment. "I guess."

"And now you go through books at an incredible rate, don't you?"

Sunny was silent for a moment. "So I might get better?"

Argyle smiled. "I know you'll get better. Why not give it another try? I'll get my skates and gear on and join you."

Sure enough, Sunny pulled herself up, and pushed herself away from the bench before trying to get rolling. She gingerly moved one leg back to start herself off, and found she was starting to roll down the small hill in the park.

She crouched to get up some speed, then tilted her body to turn and found it was working. Not only that, it was quite fun!

She brought herself to a stop at the gate and spun herself round on a dime before trying to skate back up the hill. A few times it seemed as though she would fall over from the forces involved, but sure enough she pulled to a stop at the bench, red in the face.

Argyle, however, smiled and pulled her into a hug. "Well done, Sunny," he said happily. "Remember to never give up on your dreams- just think you can, and you can do most anything if you only think you can."

"Number four, you're up!"

Sunny crouched in position at the outer edge of the rink, and kicked back her foot to start herself off. She launched out of the pen and onto the Truro Roller Rink at speed. The four ahead of her were doing good speed, but Sunny was catching up.

"Not so fast!" said one.

Sunny looked forward. "Is that your motto now?" she smirked, then went for the overtake.

Unfortunately, she didn't time it that well, and got one set of wheels stuck in something. Both she and the person next to her stumbled and fell onto the floor.

"Thanks a lot, clumsy!" snapped the other skater as he pushed himself up and got underway.

Sunny pushed herself up and got back underway to complete the course.

Up above, a group of figures were glancing down at them. "My votes are on one, two, and three," he said. "Possibly four if we do a comedy routine."

"She wasn't bad!" said another. "Clearly just some nerves that need working through."

"And what if she gets nerves and causes us to lose the cup?" said another. "We're on course to make history as the only team to win the Thunder Derby four times in a row. I am not prepared to compromise that."

"I can't help but think you're being too harsh," said the second. "Were you always perfect on your skates?"

"Of course I was," said the third. "I was basically born on these things."

"Your mother was roller skating when she had you?"

"Not what I meant."

"Flank's right, though," said the first. "We cannot afford to compromise our winning streaks. Remember the fate of the Hunslet Hammerheads after their captain retired?"

The fourth figure then spoke up. "My mind is made up," she said. "One, Two, and Three, you're in. Four, I'm sorry but you don't cut the mustard. Better luck next year."

Sunny put her gear into her bag and walked out of the rink, looking glum. Argyle and Pipp were waiting to greet her. "So, how'd it go?" Argyle asked.

Sunny sighed. "I didn't get in. I had no clue the Falmouth Falcons were so picky."

Argyle pulled her into a hug. "You tried your best, and that's all anybody can ever ask of you," he said.

"But what if my best isn't good enough?" Sunny asked quietly.

"How about we go and talk it over with a milkshake?" Pipp offered. "There's the ice cream parlour you like just down the road, right?"

Pipp looked astonished. "So, you're telling me that Captain Buck expects the players to already know all the moves?" she asked. "How is that supposed to work when introducing a new routine?"

"I know, right?" Sunny said, taking a slurp of a strawberry and banana milkshake. "If I'd been in their position I'd have diagrams and demonstration videos available to watch. Sometimes explaining stuff in words is way harder then just using pictures."

"I've used that technique in my lectures, actually," Argyle said. "Some people are visual learners."

"And what was her thing with using numbers rather than names?" Sunny continued. "You should always make an effort to learn names. I mean, how hard is it?"

She stopped, and sighed. "Sorry if I'm ranting. But it's so frustrating sometimes. I just see how people like that behave and find myself wondering how I'd do it if I were a team captain."

"What do you mean, 'were a team captain'?" Pipp asked, cryptically.

"Pipp, that doesn't make much-" Sunny suddenly trailed off mid-sentence as she had an idea. "I've got it!"

"Got what?" Pipp asked.

"If they won't let me into their roller derby team... I'll just found my own!"

"Just our luck!" the foreman said, as he paced up and down. "All this stuff on the dockside, and no way to move it!"

Goldie was taking a lunch break from her work, and overheard the conversation. "What appears to be the problem?" she asked.

"It's the new amusement park they're building over on the beachfront," the foreman said. "They've been constantly bringing cargo in and out for the construction work with all the new rides and replacement timbers and whatnot. But we're struggling to get the items in and out of boats as quickly as we'd like. And now the crane breaks down on all the days of the year!"

Goldie then had a brainwave. "I think I can help," she said.

"Do you have a crane?" the foreman asked.

"Yes, actually," Goldie said. "Harvey the crane tank can help to load things onto trucks, whilst Rocky can lift them out of the ship and put them on the dockside."

"I don't think I'm that good at lifting stuff," Rocky said as he walked past.

"Not you, Rocky, the other Rocky," Goldie said. "Why do so many people we encounter have the same names as other people? Pipp, Zipp, Izzy, now Rocky... this is getting absurd."

"If you could dig them out soonish that'd be great," the foreman said.

"Sure thing," Goldie said. "It's a bit of a slow workday anyway."

"Here you go, Sunny!" Izzy said, handing the design over. "I know it's a tad light, but I was out of white paper and pink was all I had!"

"Not a problem, Izzy," Sunny said. "Now then, let's get these posted around town!" She primed her skates as music started up. "Good morning sun, no time to chat I gotta run..."

Salty looked over in confusion as she vanished into the distance. "But it's the afternoon!"

Sunny was happily putting posters up most of the afternoon, dancing from tree to lamp post. She even posted one or two on rubbish bins, much to people's confusion.

"You do know they move those, right?" MacTavish said, as he rolled past on the tramway line.

"If people see them once, that's all that matters!" Sunny said.

Unfortunately, she didn't know that members of the Falmouth Falcons were following her. As she left an area, they took the posters down and binned them.

Tina, one of the two engaging in this act, looked at her fellow. "Can't have that silly Starshine getting too big for her boots, can we?" she snickered.

"We sure can't!" chortled Flank, her fellow. "Let's make her look really silly, Tina!"

Sunny skated on her way back home when she suddenly spotted something pink sticking out of a nearby bin. She reached in to pull it out.

"How did this get in there?" she asked, then noticed the bin was absolutely stuffed to the brim with all the posters Izzy had made.

Sunny's face darkened. "No doubt the Falmouth Falcons are behind this." She skated back home at incredible speed, blasting past people without so much as a hello.

Zipp saw her approaching, and flagged her down. "Hey, Sunny, how a-"

"What do you want?" Sunny snapped.

"Whoa, no need to be rude. What's got you so worked up?"

"The Falmouth Falcons have been binning all the posters Izzy worked so hard to make. It seems that no matter what I do somebody is always two steps ahead to ruin the fun." She sat down at a bench. "We need some professional help."

Then Argyle appeared. "How'd the poster campaign go?"

"Somebody, and I think you know who, is tearing the posters down and binning them faster than I can replace them," Sunny said. "Perhaps if I could get some professional help." Just then her face brightened up. "Dad, you used to do roller derby for a sport, right?"

"That I did, why?"

"Remember when we met Tracy at the Truro Roller Rink?"

Argyle looked amazed. "You do have a good memory. That was years ago!"

"Do you still have her phone number?"

Rocky was now hard at work, the pistons driving his crane arm producing quite the racket. "Good thing I've got stabilising jacks!" he said. "Wouldn't want to topple over with these! And what are half these crates anyway?"

Goldie had changed into work clothing, and closely monitored Rocky's gauges and instruments. "Mostly theme park rides," she said. "I think that's a tilt-a-whirl in there."

"What's a tilt-a-whirl?" Rocky asked.

"It's a ride built on a continous track that moves up and down," Goldie explained.

"So it's like a waltzer?"

"I guess," Goldie said. "More than 20 years here and I still sometimes use American vocabulary!"

"I guess you never really do leave your homeland behind permanently."

Another workman had been put to one side to work Harvey's crane arm, and this was very handy. "Keep the trucks still Salty!" he called. "We need to keep them steady!"

"Of course, me hearty!" Salty said. "Seein' this scene reminds me of the old days. Why, it reminds me of an old seafarin' tale."

"Oh no, here we go," Rocky said.

"There once-"

"Was a ship that put to sea?" Harvey asked.

"We've done that joke far too many times," Salty said. "Anyway, there once was a two headed sea serpent, longer than two double decker buses, he was."

"How long was the double decker bus?" Rocky asked.

"Doesn't matter," Salty said. "Anyway, one head liked to eat ships, and the other liked to eat fish. Each wanted somethin' else, and they were pullin' in opposite directions. So, they needed to communicate, and took turns to eat one then the other. And so, neither ever went short of fish and ships."

Harvey, Rocky, and Goldie groaned. "Salty, that was a dreadful pun," Goldie said, as another box was lowered onto the dockside.

"But my point stands, my fine fellows," Salty said. "Well, that's my train full, so it's off to the construction site for me. See you later!"

The next morning, Sunny, Argyle, and Pipp took a train to St. Austell, on the Cornish Mainline. Upon arrival at the station, they stepped out of the station and looked around. "Pipp, you got the directions?" Argyle said.

"Sure thing!" Pipp said. "Left here!" And off they went.

Unfortunately, things soon proved to be not quite as they seemed. They wandered down all sorts of strange backroads and through all sorts of villages- and even found themselves in a clay pit at some point.

"This doesn't look right," Sunny said. "I don't think Tracy lives at the bottom of a clay pit."

"I'm sure we'll arrive in the right place!" Pipp said. "Bestie's never let me down before!"

But then they arrived back at the station. "We are lost," Argyle said.

Sunny leaned over to Pipp's phone. "What language do you have it set to?" she asked. "That doesn't look like English to me."

Pipp looked confused, then spotted something. "Oh!" she said. "I've been holding my phone upside down and hadn't noticed."

"Don't you have autorotate enabled?" Sunny asked.

"No, as it can cause streams to go weird. I always stream from this device in portrait orientation." She looked again. "Right here!"

As they wandered along, Pipp looked over. "Argyle, you knew Tracy pretty well, right?"

"Last I'd heard she'd retired from the sport for a bit," Argyle replied. "I don't know if she's taken it up again. But we'll find out soon enough."

Eventually, they arrived at the address, and Argyle knocked on the door. "Here goes nothing," he said.

Sure enough, the door opened and his old friend stood on the other side. Her blue skin stood out from the cream doorframe, and her orange and cream hair was just as wild as it had always been. Her yellow eyes lit up in delight at seeing her old friend. "Argyle!" she said. "It's been ages! Come on in, you're always welcome here!"

Once everybody was seated and Tracy had brewed them hot drinks, they got to talking. "So, what brings you up to St. Austell?" Tracy asked. "Social call, or something else?"

Sunny sighed. "I recently tried out for the Falmouth Falcons, but didn't get in."

"Sorry to hear that," Tracy said.

"So I decided to form my own team," Sunny continued. "But I quickly realised I'm a bit in over my head. So I was wondering if I could call on your expertise to help form a team."

Tracy smiled. "How could I say no to you? Count me in. Besides, I've been wanting to tear it up on the track again anyway. Let's meet in Truro and see what you've got."

"Well, it's coming together nicely," said Izzy, looking at the amusement park. New rides were being assembled seemingly daily, and more items were being added on the dockside. "The candy shop looks nice!"

"It'll be quite the sight, that's for sure," Zipp added. Suddenly, her phone buzzed, and she checked it. "It's from Sunny. Get your skates on, it's time to roll? Truro?"

"I don't know what that means," Hitch said. "But we'd best investigate. To Truro!"

Izzy began to wander over. "Why, it's my doctor's secretary-"

"GRAB HER!"

"I was only going to say hello!"

Author's Note

This chapter combines the plotlines of the first of the Kenbucky Roller Derby comics released in 2024, and the Thomas and Friends episode New Crane on the Dock. Roller Derby was something entirely new to me, so reading the comics helped me to learn quite a bit about this curious sport largely forgotten in the UK apart from musicals such as Starlight Express.

The expression 'cut the mustard' is an English idiom that means something is of high quality. The expression derives from agricultural practices in 16th Century East Anglia, as mustard plants could grow up to six feet high and needed sharp scythes to cut properly. As a result, if one was blunt it wouldn't cut the mustard properly.

The segment with Pipp getting everybody lost is a reference to the Dad's Army episode Battle School, which has a similar joke where an officer gets a platoon lost as he misread the instructions for getting to base camp.