Hello everyone!

Before I start, this is a kinda-not-really novelization of Spirit Tracks with my own twists in it. In case you didn't know already, this is a rewrite of my old story, More Than An Engineer. Some of the humor has been lessened, but there still will be some funny things here and there, seeing how the previous one was a bit serious. I changed Link's personality a bit, making him a little passive with things, but still his "I know what I'm doing!" attitude. And yes, he still can't talk. Don't expect this to really follow the game, considering the changes I have added to make it into my own story.

EDIT: Made a few changes. Full explanation at the bottom~

DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Legend of Zelda. Hell, I wouldn't even be here if I did!

Chapter 1: My Final Exam

I couldn't believe it. How in the world did I lose such an important paper?! I had everything prepared the night before, and I could've sworn I placed it on my nightstand before falling asleep! I sighed heavily as I pushed myself off the floor after searching underneath my bed, knowing that time with running short.

Frustrated, I looked over to the old man standing in the middle of the room with a grin on his face. The old man hand his wooden walking stick supporting his worn figure. Despite his appearance, I could assure anyone that he was more energetic than a flapping cuckoo. Heck, he was the only one in this village that actually had the gall to take me in with my disabilities... so, one could say that he's my... Grandfather?

Shaking my head out of my thoughts, I lifted my hands and quickly signed, 'Have you seen my graduation papers?'

"Graduation papers? I think I remember giving it to Alfonzo while you were at the bath house," he said, smiling. I stared at him for a moment before dropping my shoulders in slight exhaustion.

'You could've told me!' I signed, quickly making my way to the door. Right when I reached for the knob, the door suddenly slammed open, smacking right into me and throwing me to the side. I barely had the time to register what happened as I smacked into the wall, getting sandwiched between the wall and the door. I had to admit, getting smacked by a door, face planting a wall, and squeezed between the said wall and door was pretty painful. I could hear the old man laughing at me as someone rushed inside.

"Link! Where are you? I got your papers, so let's-What the? Niko, where's Link? We're late!" my mentor said. I only heard Niko laugh harder. I swore that one day, I would make him regret giving those papers to Alfonzo the moment I get it! After all, who didn't want to get back at the old man for his spontaneous actions?

Rubbing my nose, I kicked the door shut to reveal my hiding place, glaring at Niko. Alfonzo turned around and spotted me.

"Ah! There you are, Link! Come on," he said, grabbing my wrist and dragging me out the door, "We wasted enough time as it is! We'll be back sometime tomorrow, Niko!"

I only had the moment to toss a half-hearted glare at the laughing old man and a short wave of farewell. For a split moment, I felt that a jolt of fear course through me, almost as if I wouldn't be able to see him soon. I decided to set that urge aside as I scowled. That grandpa was seriously getting it later!

I stumbled before I caught my footing, keeping up with Alfonzo's fast pace. A few of the villagers stopped for a moment to congratulate me or wish me well as Alfonzo dragged me along. I was able to give them a nod of gratitude as I passed. Before I even realized it, my mentor practically threw me on the train and pointed to the gears.

"Alright, this is your final exam with me, so you show me how well you can drive this train. I'll hop on in a bit. You know what to do!" Alfonzo instructed me. A smirk took over me as I shot up from the floor. I pulled the lever, putting the train on full speed. The train choked for a moment before it spluttered to life, its wheels slowly getting into motion.

"Wait, Link!" I gave a silent laugh as I heard Alfonzo curse loudly. At that moment, I just knew he missed the train. I looked over the side of the train and saw my mentor running after the train with a pack of something on his back. I didn't bother to question it, seeing how it was most likely things we would need during our stay in the Castle Town.

I was nearly tempted to slow the train down, but Alfonzo was able to get a hold of a railing and pull himself on board. I knew Alfonzo would make it. Shaking my head, I pulled away from the railing and turned my attention toward the rails.

For years, I had been training under Alfonzo's instruction of operating machinery. So, operating a train like this was a piece of cake. Despite having the train's fast speed, it still took us about three hours at most to arrive at the Hyrule Castle Town Station. Hyrule field, no matter how you look at it, was a pretty huge field. Most of those hours were spent with Alfonzo giving me pop quizzes based on train problems and things I should and not do in the presence of the Princess. If anything, he practically drilled proper etiquette into me few days prior.

When I pulled the breaks to stop the train, I heard Alfonzo yell, "YOU FAILED WITH FLYING COLORS!"

I immediately dropped my head onto the railing. What in the world did I do wrong? I quickly leapt off the train and looked up at Alfonzo, who was twice my height and three to four times my weight, with a dejected look.

My mentor placed a hand on his hip and gave me a stern look, ready to give me a lecture, "Real engineers never leave their passengers, Link. That's the number one rule in everyone's book!"

I held back the urge to roll my eyes at his tone before he waved my graduation papers in front of me, "But, you still did a great job at getting us here ten minutes before your ceremony."

For the first few seconds, those words didn't really register in my head while I was slightly annoyed that he was treating me like a child.

Right. Ten minutes. Hahah!

...Then the words finally registered in my head.

My eyes widened in slight horror as I did a double take. Did I hear him right?! The very look on my face made him laugh as he shoved the papers into my hands and pushed me toward the castle.

"Now go!"

I nodded and hurried down the steps before a thought entered my hand. I stopped and turned to face him, signing with a single hand, 'Are you not coming?'

My mentor shook his head, "Nah, you go ahead, so hurry up!"

With a quick smile, I tossed a passing wave at him as I took off down the busy streets of the capital city. There was no need to tell me twice.

Ahaha, yeah, I know, still short, but hey. It's something. So please, tell me what you guys think of the new rewrite! Was it better? Or not as good anymore? Let me know so I can do my best to make this story as great as I can possibly make it!

EDIT (October 8, 2016): Sorry, went back and corrected a few things and added a few more descriptions. Instead of taking thirty minutes to get to Hyrule Castle, I decided to make the world a little bigger... make that really big. Now it literally takes about three hours. I wanted to make it more realistic since in reality, that's not freaking possible to get there in half an hour unless you're going at what, 80 mph? Yeah... I really wanted to make the world bigger so you can really use your imagination.

Preview!

"A mute child as an engineer? What a waste of time!" the Chancellor said, shaking his big, ugly head. At this point, I was forcing myself not to glare at him, and took note that he bluntly stated my disability. As far as I was concerned, those graduation papers never mentioned anything about my muteness.

To a normal person, I could've been a "shy, quiet" kid, but not...mute. So...the bigger question was, how did he know?

Later!

~CloudyLightning