We now begin chapter two where Serena and Thomas first meet. Be prepared for a cliffhanger at the end of this chapter. Plus we have an evil alliance near the end of this chapter. So without anymore delay i give the chapter where, "The Scouts Arrive on Sodor".
(June 21, 1994/ 3:00 AM)
(Island of Sodor/ Tidmouth Sheds)
It was 3:00 in the morning as the engines slept in their sheds all was calm as the engines were deep into sleep. As for Thomas however he began to have a strange dream…
Thomas was puffing down what looked like the magic railroad that he went through on his way to muffle mountain but as he was puffing down it a silhouette of a mysterious figure was on board Thomas's cab as he chuffed down the ancient line. But in his dream he also saw what looked like another figure chasing after him. Although he couldn't see what it looked like he saw what looked like an evil aura. Just as it was about to catch him however he went through another set of magic buffers, exiting the magic railroad. When Thomas made it though, he found himself at what looked like a palace of white that shone in the night. But then the mysterious figure from his cab climbed out and just as he was about to see who it was, the dream ended and he woke up in the shed. "Bust my buffers, what a strange dream." Thomas said as he looked up at the clock to see that the time was now 6:00 AM, and the rest of the engines were waking up one by one.
As Thomas rolled out of the shed, he saw Sir Topham Hatt had arrived to give them the day's work. As the rest of the engines rolled out Sir Topham started to address them. "Now as you engines know, today is the first day of summer, indicating that this will be a busy time for all of you." And with that Sir Topham gave the engines their jobs after indicating most of the engines he had reached to Gordon and Thomas. Earlier Sir Topham had assigned Percy to run Thomas's branchline for the day which confused Thomas at first, but now he knew why. "As for you two until Henry is repaired, Thomas you will be helping Gordon carry passengers to their destinations on the mainline." Sir Topham said leaving both Gordon and Thomas surprised at this. "Uh… Sir, no offence but why couldn't James or Edward help with this rush?" Gordon said still puzzled. "With Henry still in the works I had to assign his work to Edward, and as for James he is to be working on Edwards jobs until Henry returns." Sir Topham said. "I see sir, im sure together me and Thomas will manage." Gordon said remembering the alliance he and Thomas made years ago to help each other. After hearing this Sir Topham Hatt nodded "That's a good engine, now then, Gordon, you will be pulling your normal express train. And as for you Thomas your first stop will be at the Sodor Airport then finishing the journey at Buffs Cove." Sir Topham Hatt finished and with that he headed for his car and left. "Best of luck today little Thomas." Gordon Proudly said as he headed for Knapford station to collect his express. Thomas then headed to Knapford yard to collect Annie and Clarabel for his first train.
As Thomas headed to Knapford, he could help but think about the strange dream he saw earlier. 'I still don't understand what the dream was trying to tell me. And who was that person?' Thomas thought as he finally reach Knapford. After coupling up to Annie and Clarabel, he set off to the Sodor Airport to collect his passengers. On the way however thomas was still lost in thought about the dream he had last night. Annie and Clarabel noticed this and decided to ask if anything was wrong. "Is everything alright Thomas?" Clarabel said first. "It seems like your deep in your thoughts this morning." Annie said second. "Huh? Oh i'm fine just thinking about the summer rush." Thomas said, knowing it was a bit of a lie. The two coaches didn't ask him anything else as they made their way to the Airport.
(Sodor Airport/ 7:00 AM)
It had been 18 long hours but the plane from japan finally touched down at the airport, Serena and her friends then made their way to the baggage terminal to grab their luggage. "I don't think i ever want to step foot on another plane again." Lita said still scared from their journey. In fact she was still shaking like a leaf. "It ok Lita the trip is over you can relax now." Mina said to her friend as Serena grabbed he Suitcase only to get dragged by it. "WAAAAHHHHH!" she yelled as her friends tried to help her. After a few seconds Serena managed to get her suitcase off of the conveyor belt. "Huff, can't even handle grabbing a simple suitcase without it dragging you Serena." Raye said and Serena's face started to turn red. "HEY! That suitcase got stuck Raye, It's not my fault!" Serena yelled as they made their way out of the airport only to arrive at a platform. "Huh, wait a second, where do we go now?" Serena asked, only for Amy to answer. "Well according to my guide, we should be stopping at a place called Greater Tidmouth. That's where our vacation home is." Amy said. "But how will we get there?" Serena asked only for Amy to be suddenly interrupted by Mina "We take a car what else?" Amy was about to reply when Raye interrupted. "I think it would do us all good to walk there. Especially you Serena." Raye said receiving an angry glare from Serena. "Well as long as we don't have to fly there." Lita said gulping. "Actually girls, we could take a train there." Amy said as they all then heard a whistle coming from the distance. And there in the distance Serena could see a train coming into view. But before she could get a good look at the train, a bunch of vacationers swarmed the platform and blocked the girl's view as they were then caught in the middle of the pack.
(Sodor Airport/ 7:30 AM)
As Thomas pulled into the station he saw a bunch of vacationers crowding the platform to get a good look at Sodor's number one. "Oh my. So many passengers!" Annie said worried. "I hope there's enough room for them all." Clarabel said as the coaches doors swung open. "You two worry too much." Thomas joked as the passengers got onto the coaches. Once they were all aboard and the guard waved the green flag, Thomas gave a hoot on his whistle and they were off.
As he proceeded down the line, he saw Gordon passing him going in the other direction as he was on his way to vicarstown. Thomas gave a friendly whistle as he passed Gordon, who also whistled back in return. Then Thomas Stopped at Wellsworth to drop off some passengers.
As the train started to leave Wellsworth Station, Serena couldn't help but look at the view as the tree rolled by. "It's so beautiful here." She said as the train passed by a castle in the distance and she was reminded of Crystal Tokyo when she defeated the black moon clan. "Thinking about what happened a few weeks ago aren't you Serena?" Mina asked her. "Yeah, I still can't believe that I become a queen of a whole kingdom in the future, and my own daughter too." Serena said as they stopped at a station called Crosby. "It's a shame that Rini couldn't stay." Serena said sadly. "Well who know Serena maybe you'll see her again soon." Mina said trying to cheer up the future queen. "Thanks for that Mina."
(Greater Tidmouth Station/ 9:00 AM)
It took another half hour from Crosby, but Thomas made it to Greater Tidmouth Station on time. He had a 15 Minute water break before he had to continue to bluffs cove down on Duck's branchline. However only five passengers got off at this station this time. Five girls who apparently were chatting amongst themselves. One of the girls had long yellow blond hair with a bow that was as red as James's Paintwork. Another girl had chestnut hair that was tied in a large ponytail with green spheres on a band. A Third girl had long black hair that when to her hips and looked like she was a bit more serious than the rest of the girls. A fourth girl had short blue hair that was darker than Thomas's sky blue paintwork and looked like she was as wise as Edward was. The fifth girl, who was trying to get her luggage out, had Yellow Blond hair that had buns on the top of her head and 2 long strands of hair coming down to her knees. From what Thomas remembered about the countries of the world these girls looked like they were from Japan.
As Serena got her luggage out of the second coach, it got stuck again and Serena had to pull extra hard. Suddenly it came loose and she flew backwards right on her back. "Owwww…" She groan. "Sigh typical Serena." Raye said, once again earning a sour face from Serena. "Oh dear, i hope you weren't hurt." Said a voice "No i'm fine, this happens all the... " Serena suddenly realized, she was talking to thin air. "Wait a minute who said that?" Serena asked suddenly gaining the attention of the other girls. "Why I did dear." The voice said and Serena realized that the coach that had the name of Clarabel was talking. "Gah!" 'Ok a talking cat I can handle, but a talking coach?! Now I've really gone crazy!' Serena thought to herself. As she heard another voice coming from the coach named Annie. "I hope you didn't frighten her too much Clarabel." the first coach said. "Oh please Annie not this again." Clarabel said just as another voice spoke out. "Are you two ok back there?" A voice said and Serena searched around until her eyes fell upon the blue tank engine that brought the train here. "I hope Annie and Clarabel didn't startle you to much madam." This time Serena could confirm the voice was coming from the blue tank engine. When she walked to the front she saw the engine had a face and Serena started to faint.
(Main line/ 9:02 AM)
Meanwhile further down the mainline, Gordon was stuck behind his old rival, Spencer the silver engine who was taking the duke and duchess of Boxford. Gordon was stuck behind Spencer's coaches when he noticed that on the rear coach in front of him was a weird symbol that had a circle on top with a t cross on the bottom of it. As Gordon inspected it he saw it starting to glow yellow as he got closer to the coach. Then suddenly there was a flash of yellow light and Gordon saw an image of a castle of pure white that made it glow as the night above it twinkled with stars. Then Gordon felt a bump and the image faded to see he collided with Spencer's coach roughly. Then he looked up to see that the symbol that was on the coach had vanished. "I know we had our rivalry Gordon, but this is taking it a bit far don't you think?!" Spencer called out sounding annoyed by Gordon's mistake. "I'm sorry Spencer. I didn't mean to do that." Gordon said as he switched lines and pulled up beside Spencer who saw his shame. Seeing Gordon's face could tell Spencer that Gordon was truly sorry and that he didn't mean it. "Oh very well, but so long as you don't do it again, I forgive you. So long as I can beat you to Knapford!" Said Spencer and to Gordon's surprise Spencer picked up speed. "Hey that's not fair! No matter, I'll still beat you Spencer!" Gordon replied and started to pick up speed as the race began.
(Wellsworth Shunting Yards/ 9:04 AM)
Down in Wellsworth, James and Edward were currently shunting trains around getting them ready for the diesels who were in charge of most of the freight work while the steam engines were given the passenger jobs. As James shunted a train into place he saw a strange symbol appear on one of the freight cars. To James it looked like a circle with an arrow pointing to the northwest. "James what are you staring at? We have work to do." Edward said as he pulled up beside him with another train of freight cars. "Um, Edward. Can you see that symbol on this freight car?" James asked only to receive a puzzled look from Edward. "What symbol there's nothing on that…" Edward suddenly took it back as he saw a symbol on his train that looked like a heart with a V on top and a T cross at the bottom. "Wait a second James I see it on my train!" Edward said only to receive a confused look from James. "What? Edward there is no symbol on your train." James said when suddenly James saw his symbol start to glow red. Edward then saw his symbol starting to glow as well, except it was glowing blue. After a bright flash both engines saw what looked like a castle of pure white that seemed to glow against the night sky. After a few seconds the image faded and the 2 engines were met with laughter coming from some troublesome trucks. After this both Edward and James agreed to discuss this later and then they got back to work.
(Greater Tidmouth Station/ 9:05 AM)
Serena started to faint right there on the platform after seeing a live talking train speaking to her. Thankfully Mina caught her before she hit the concrete. Still Mina, Lita, and Raye were still shocked to see a locomotive and it's rolling stock alive and talking. For Amy however, she was amazed. "Incredible! I mean I knew there were a lot of trains on the island, but I never knew that you were sentient! Are there any other engines that are sentient on this island? And do you have a name?" Amy asked the blue tank engine with a big smile and stars in her eyes. "Uh… well my name is Thomas. And if by sentient you mean living engines? Then yes." Thomas said making Amy's smile grow wider and the other girls were shocked even more. Amy was then about to ask Thomas more questions but Lita quickly stopped her. "I know you possibly want to as this engine everything you can think of Amy, but we still have to settle down in our vacation house." Lita said and with a sad nod Amy agreed. And with that the girls grabbed their luggage, (and Serena who was still fainted), and headed to Greater Tidmouth town settle in.
Thomas was about to leave to head for bluffs cove when he saw a strange shape on the platform. When he looked closer he saw it was a crescent looking like the moon. As Thomas looked closer he saw the shape begin to glow a white until there was a flash of light. When Thomas opened his eyes he saw the same building he saw in his dream but upon closer inspection he saw what was Earth in the night sky, and Realized that whatever he saw was possibly on the Moon. When the image faded Thomas was surprised at what happened. Before he could question it any further he realized the shape was gone. Thomas was about to ponder where it went when the conductor blew his whistle and waved his green flag. With no other choice, Thomas blew his whistle and set off for bluffs cove.
(Tidmouth Summer House/ 9:30 AM)
It would have taken them less time if Serena hadn't fainted and Raye and Lita had to carry Serena while Amy and Mina were stuck carrying most of the luggage due to the fainting Serena, but eventually they reached their summer house. After the scouts carried the luggage and Serena inside Mina and Amy carried the luggage to their 3 bedrooms. The first bedroom was claimed by Raye and Lita, the second was meant to be Mina and Amy's, and the last one was for Serena, (even though there were two beds in Serena's room as well). Meanwhile Raye and Lita brought Serena to the living room which was connected to an open kitchen and dining room with six chairs at the table. Once Raye and Lita placed Serena on the couch however, Serena then Miraculously woke up with a gasp, much to Raye and Lita's Annoyance. "My goodness I had the strangest dream! All of us were there when suddenly a blue tank engine started to talk and…" Before Serena could finish Raye interrupted. "You lazy meatball head, that was no dream we all saw it back at the station." Raye said to Serena who became mad at Raye again but also startled that the blue tank engine really did speak. Before she could reply, Lita called out from the balcony. "Hey guys get a look at this amazing view!" Lita yelled as all the sailor scouts walked out to see an incredible view of the Sudrian Sea. All the scouts were amazed at this view, especially Serena who gave a good smile. "This is going to be the best vacation EVER!" Serena yelled. However that would soon not be true.
(Vicarstown Dieselworks/ 5:00 PM)
Queen Beryl was exhausted after a long walk all night. Usually she could use her Negaverse powers to portal hop from place to place. But with still regaining most of her powers after she lost them when she was Sailor moon defeated her. Eventually she came across a large yard with a large orange building. Above steel doors held a sign saying "Vicarstown Dieselworks". She saw no way inside so with a few powers she had regained she decided to make her own way in.
Meanwhile inside the Dieselworks all the diesels had left to help with the summer rush freight work. All except Diesel 10 who was punished by Sir Topham Hat due to the incident he caused at the Steamworks about a month ago. He was so angry at all the steam engines that Diesel 10 was willing to do anything to make sure that Diesels would one day rule Sodor. He was still sulking in his Metal shed when suddenly an explosion blasted through the entrance of the Dieselworks. Diesel 10 jumped when he heard this and rolled forward with his giant metal claw at the ready in case it was an intruder. When the smoke cleared Diesel 10 saw a woman in a purple dress with spikes on her shoulders, a tall scepter with a purple orb, and long red wavy hair with a black tiara on her forehead. In Diesel 10's eyes, this woman had a look of evil. "Who are you and how did you get in here?! Diesel 10 yelled while snapping his claw at her. "My my, what anger. My name is Queen Beryl. I believe you could be of great use to me." The woman said as she stepped closer to Diesel 10 as he was coming down on the turntable elevator. "Now wait a minute! I'm no one slave all obey me! And besides, why would you need me?! Diesel 10 said as he banged his claw again at her. I'm not saying you would be my slave, but of a great help to me. I seek to destroy the one who defeated me once and then take over this world and claim it as my own." After hearing this from Queen Beryl, Diesel 10 gained interest. "You and I also have similar interests. I also wish to seek a certain Blue Puffball that has dealt me a great deal of defeat so many times in my past and takeover this island in the name of all diesels!" Diesel 10 yelled triumphantly. This also intrigued Queen Beryl and she gave an evil grin to Diesel 10. "Then how about this. You help me collect energy to help me regain my strength and help me take over this world, and in return, I will leave this island in your control." Queen Beryl said and Diesel 10 gave an evil grin to Queen Beryl. "Queen Beryl, I think we are going to get along just fine." Diesel 10 said as the sun started to go down.
(Tidmouth sheds/ 10:00 PM)
As the engines gathered back at Tidmouth, Thomas was still concerned about what he saw at Greater Tidmouth earlier this morning. James then started to speak. "You will not believe what happened back at Wellsworth this morning. I was shunting cars with Edward when I saw this strange symbol on one of the freight cars." James said. "I also saw one at the same time but it was different." Edward continued. "Wait you saw symbols? I also saw one on Spencer's train as I was passing by him." Gordon then replied which surprised Thomas. But before he could tell them about what he saw they saw Henry backing into the sheds as his repairs were finished. "Henry, good to see you back" Edward said as Henry backed into his shed. "I'm glad to be back, what were you talking about anyway?" Henry asked curious to know what had happened since he was gone. "We were talking about strange symbols that we saw earlier this morning." Gordon said earning a surprised look from Henry. "Did it glow and make a flash then showed an image of a strange White Castle?" Henry said and surprisingly Edward, Gordon, and James all said yes. "But how did you know that?" James asked. "Because after I derailed two days ago I also saw a strange symbol on one of the trees in the forest." Henry Said. Just as Gordon was about to reply Thomas interrupted. "That's the same thing that happened to me when I was at Greater Tidmouth this morning." Thomas said earning a shocked look from all the other engines. "You saw one too little Thomas?" Gordon said. "Yes but not only did I see a castle but I also saw the earth in the night sky." All the engines gasped but before they could speak again. Sir Topham Hat arrived. "Today you all did well and I'm glad that Henry is back and ready for tomorrow. I'm proud of all of you and wish you a good nights rest." And with that Sir Topham Hat left and all the engines fell asleep one by one. Except for Thomas who couldn't sleep.
Meanwhile back at the Tidmouth summer house. All the scouts had gone to sleep as well, except Serena who usually could sleep easy. But strangely she was having a bit of an uneasy night.
And we reach chapter 2's end as Serena and Thomas have met. But what about the strange symbols that the other engines saw? And Thomas and Serena not being able to sleep? And worse of all Queen Beryl has joined forces with Diesel 10 to take over sodor. What will happen? Leave a good comment, a favorite, and a like, but more importantly, stay tuned and keep on chugging down the line. Until then see ya ;)
