Well my friends, here is the fourth story for Book 1 of the New Railway Series Shuffle, I hope you've all enjoyed this book and I promise you that I will get the second book out sometime in the next couple months before New Years. Also, one thing to point out is that the meet with 'the Littlest Heroine' is different from the other versions to make it more original, and yes she will return in Book 2. One more note is that Bryant is a character created by D.J. Scales and used with permission.
The Littlest Heroine
Shannon was having a nap at the works when she heard a whistle. She opened her eyes and saw Bryant shoving King Boris into the building. The king class engine said nothing to Shannon.
"Should I even ask of what happened this time?" Shannon asked Bryant.
"Don't bother, it'll be in the papers as of tomorrow, and I'm sure someone will read it to you," answered the 2800 class engine. "He did quite a bit of damage near some resturants, didn't you Boris?" But still the King Class said nothing.
The workmen uncoupled Bryant from King Boris, then the Great Western engine puffed off to collect some trucks. The workmen turned their attention back to the damaged King, "now let's get that nameplate off you."
Boris' face showed how horrified he was for this punishment. He didn't feel so grand now.
The rest of the day went by without incident, and the engines soon returned to the sheds for a rest. Tonight, there were only four of them; Thomas, Courtney, Bryant and Cheng.
"I hope Shannon's repairs are completed soon," said Bryant, "otherwise we're really going to struggle."
Cheng was quick to agree, but then showed an angry look, "we wouldn't be falling behind if that stupid engine Boris didn't bump the Sushi Train's trucks. Every engine knows that bumping trucks can only lead to trouble. He's lucky enough not to seriously harm anyone or worse."
"Not unless you count his crew that had to jump out before the crash."
"Oh yes, I almost forgot about them."
Courtney rolled her eyes, "and just last night, he was complaining about Thomas' street running incident, yet he goes flying off the tracks and does some serious damage to the shops, and our lines."
"Speaking of my accident," Thomas piped up, "I think I found the girl that warned my crew and I about the lorry yesterday."
"Oh really?" Bryant asked with a raised eyebrow, "Did you get her name?"
Thomas sighed, "sadly not. She never goes to any of the stations, and I only saw her standing on the sidewalk as I was puffing through the city once."
"Well what does she look like?" Courtney asked, "maybe one of us knows that girl and we can help you to find her."
Thomas thought back to when he saw her, "she's young, properly no more than fifteen by my guess. She has purple hair, two pony tails, and she had a blue shirt under a black jacket and she wore a purple skirt with stars on it."
The engines all thought of the people they know, but no names came to mind.
"She must be new here," said Bryant, "cause we all know everyone in the city and pretty much all of Japan. Well, except for Boris of course, he doesn't take much notice to anyone."
Thomas looked down sadly to the rails.
"Don't worry Thomas, you'll see her again," Courtney said kindly, "then you can talk to her and thank her for warning you."
"I hope so Courtney, I sure hope so."
The next morning, Thomas went to the coach yards to pick up the three old coaches. They were named Nadoka, Layla and Ayumi. Nadoka and Layla were very much like Annie and Clarabel with sweet, kind personalities. Ayumi was kind too, but she was not afraid to speak her mind if something was bothering her.
Thomas buffered up slowly to the coaches and was coupled up. He was about ready to leave when the Japanese Controller came to see him.
"I just recieved a message from the ship bringing our new engine, and they say he should arriving within the next two days," he said to Thomas. "Once he's arrived, we'll be able to send you back to Sodor."
"Thank you Sir," said Thomas. "Uh sir, do you know of a young purple haired girl?" Thomas then went on to explain why he was looking for the girl.
"There are alot of girls like that Thomas, but none are coming to mind. Sorry."
"It's alright Sir."
With a toot of his whistle, Thomas puffed over to the station.
His run that day was to take him to a junction just outside the city, at a place called Hachoki. It was here where Thomas would meet Marigold, the steam coach engine for the first time.
The excited passengers climbed aboard, and once the guard had blown his whistle, Thomas slowly puffed out of the station. As he puffed away, he could hear some of the passengers in Nadoka singing a tune, which of course was in Japanese.
"What are they saying?" Thomas asked.
"They're singing the very first song to ever be heard on your television program," explained Nadoka. "I hear many residants love that song."
Even though he couldn't understand the words, he did hum along with the passenger's tune.
All went well at first. Thomas pulled the coaches as smoothly as he would with Annie and Clarabel. The sun was shining brightly, and today there wasn't a single car or lorry driving in front of him, or dangerously beside him. They even passed the junction where King Boris had derailed the day before without incident.
"All the stars must alined for us today," commented the driver. "We keep this up and we'll reach Hachoki in no time."
But they wouldn't arrive on time.
Still keeping his eyes open for trouble, Thomas heard a voice that sounded familar, "Stop! Stop! Your tracks are missing!"
"Driver, brake now!" Thomas cried.
The driver applied the brakes and the train skidded to a stop. It was a good thing they did, for one of the rails that should've been in front of Thomas were not there at all. All that was left was the groove in which the rail had sat in originally.
"Well that's torn it," groaned Thomas' Driver, "we can't go anywhere now. We'll have to phone for a bus."
"Must be the work of thieves," said the fireman. "They'll steal anything they can get their hands on, don't you agree Thomas?" But he got no reply from his engine. "Uh Thomas, are you going to say anything?"
Thomas didn't hear him, for he was staring at the very person who had warned him for the second time. It was the little girl with purple hair and two pony tails. She also had short pointy ears, like an elf, but Thomas didn't notice these just yet.
"Uh, thank you," Thomas said to the girl, "you really saved us from a nasty accident."
"It's the least I could do," said the girl quietly.
Meanwhile, the Driver was making a call to the Japanese Controller on his mobile phone. He was upset to hear about the missing rail, and promised to send a bus. However, minutes later, he called the Driver back.
"There will be no need for a bus, there are workmen not too far off with a spare rail," he said over the phone. "They only have a Chariot, but say they can get there in no time."
"Okay thank you Sir," said the Driver. He then turned to the little girl, "our engine said it best, you saved us, thank you little girl."
"I'm sure her name isn't 'Little Girl'," Thomas chuckled as he rolled his eyes. "What is your name?"
"My name is Primula," she answered.
"Well thanks again Primula. I'm sure your family will be proud of you when they heard how you prevented a nasty accident."
Primula looked down to the ground unhappily, "I can't find my family, I don't even know if they are here in this city."
"You mean, you're lost?" Thomas was surprised to hear this. Primula nodded unhappily. Thomas felt sorry for her, then he came up with an idea, "why don't you come with us? We might be able to help you find your family."
"You'd really let me ride with you?"
"Of course, as long as it's okay with my Driver and fireman."
Thomas looked down to his crew for their response; "well of course she can ride with us," said the Driver. The fireman nodded to that. "But it will be rather uncomfortable in there. Unlike tender engines, tank engines like Thomas don't have seats or alot of space."
"That's okay, anything's better than standing around here on my own."
She walked over and climbed into Thomas' cab, just as a shunter's truck, known to railway workers as a Chariot came into view. On the truck were some workers and a long piece of rail, which was hanging beyond the ledges of the truck.
"Lucky for you we had this rail," one of the workers said. "We thought we would be using it in a different spot, but I guess we'll be using it here."
"Thank goodness for extra pieces," said the fireman.
Police soon came on the scene and directed traffic around the stranded train. Primula didn't say anything during that time, she didn't even hum a tune to herself.
"You sure are a quiet kid aren't you?" asked the Driver.
But Primula said nothing.
At last, the rail was put into place. The workers moved their Chariot out of the way, then everyone watched as Thomas puffed over the replaced rail. He and the coaches got over it safely, and they puffed away to make up for lost time.
Marigold had to wait at the junction for twenty minutes. She grumbled like anything, but understood it was out of Thomas' control. At last, the blue tank engine came into view.
"Blasted thieves stealing rails," grumbled Marigold. "King Boris' accident would've been the least of our worries if you came off the tracks. Don't these thieves ever think about their actions?"
"I guess they don't," Thomas muttered.
The passengers changed trains, and with a toot of her whistle, Marigold puffed away for the destinations of Mt. Takao-san and places in Kanagawa.
As the day wore on, there were no distrubances on the railway and every train ran to perfect time.
When the day was done, Thomas puffed back to the sheds with his little friend still riding in his cab.
"Is that the girl that saved you?" Bryant asked. Primula nodded her head, "well now, she's a real hero, and if I may admit this, she is rather cute. Still," he paused and changed his expression to a firm look, "Shouldn't she be with her family?"
"She can't find her family," Thomas replied. He looked back to Primula, "how did you get seperated from them anyways?"
"I didn't. I came here alone in the hopes of finding them, but now I can't." Small tears could be seen coming from her eyes. Thomas' Driver gave her a tissue to wipe away the tears. "Thank you," she whispered quietly.
The engines and their crews were quite surprised to hear that Primula arrived in the city alone. It was quite mysterious,, they wondered of just where she actually came from.
"Well Primula, I personally promise you that we will help you find your family," smiled Thomas.
"That's right," agreed Courtney. "You can count on all of us to help you."
Primula looked to all the cheerful engines and showed a tiny smile, "thank you."
It was decided that to help her find her family, Primula would work for the railway. She would ride in an engine's cab, and while doing whatever job she needed to do, she could look out for them. Also, since she had no place to call home, the Japanese Controller, once told of everything, agreed that she could stay in the sheds with the engines at night.
"You can also keep an eye open for troublemakers," he said to her. "Can I count on you to do that?"
"Yes Sir, you can count on me," Primula said with a salute.
"Very good young lady," chuckled the Controller, "and if all goes well, who knows, maybe you'll earn a full time job with the railway."
The railway employees found some old books to use as a matress, bought some blankets from nearby shops and even got an old pillow to act as her bed. Primula didn't mind that it was home-made, it was better than sleeping on stones or concrete.
"We will help you Primula," Thomas thought to himself. Then sighed unhappily as he remembered the Japanese Controller's words about his new engine, "for as long as I'm on the railway that is."
Thomas' near miss incident is based on a real life event in 1966. An area manager was informed of a broken rail between Evesham and Pershore. Just like in the story, the workers brought along a new section of rail on a shunter's truck, more commonly known as a Chariot. It did hang over the edges of the truck, but they got it to the site without incident, replaced the rail and surprisingly, all trains ran to perfect time after that.