A HIRO'S RETURN

Based upon "The Biggest Present of All" by Sharon Miller

Early one morning, Sir Topham Hatt had gathered some of his engines at Knapford yards. He had an important announcement to make.

"As you all might be aware," he said, "I have decided to have a search and rescue centre built east of Suddery."

"Why would we need a search and rescue centre when we have the fire brigade and hospitals?" asked James. "Sounds like a waste of money to me."

"From the rate our railway keeps running into confusion and delay," Edward retorted, "I'd say a search and rescue centre is a great idea."

"Especially if Thomas is the cause of all of this," added Percy cheekily. But before Thomas could retort, Sir Topham Hatt interrupted.

"That's enough out of you lot," he said. "Now, there will be extra work required for this search and rescue centre. To accommodate the construction, I'll have your schedules adjusted. And on top of that, I'm bringing an engine to assist."

"Who is it, sir?" asked Henry.

"Ah, I think you may remember, Henry," smiled Sir Topham Hatt, "that you lot helped in restoring him to his former glory."

Thomas gasped with excitement. "Is it Hiro, sir?! Coming back to help us?!"

"That he is."

The engines all whistled with delight. Seeing Hiro again would be such a treat. None was more excited than Thomas.

"Anyway," continued Sir Topham Hatt, "once the Sodor Search and Rescue Centre is completed, there will be a crew assigned there for all emergencies, whether they be on water, in the air, or on land…"

Thomas wasn't really listening to the rest of Sir Topham Hatt's announcement. All he could think about was the fact that Hiro, the very engine he rediscovered and helped to restore, would be returning to Sodor to assist with the construction of the Sodor Search and Rescue Centre, and possibly for the summer rush as well.

Later that afternoon, Thomas was on one of his passenger runs with Annie and Clarabel.

"Hiro's been through so much being left on that siding for all these years," Thomas said. "Hopefully, this visit to help us will be a good way to cheer him up."

"Just as long as Spencer doesn't try to scrap him again," said Annie.

"How cruel could an engine be?" remarked Clarabel.

"Oh, come on, girls," Thomas reassured. "Spencer felt bad for what he did. Besides, Hiro and I forgave him."

"You forgave him?!" the coaches spat in shock. Thomas was taken aback by Annie and Clarabel's reaction; this was not one he was expecting from them.

"What good would it have done to stay mad at someone like that?" Thomas asked. "Holding onto a grudge solves nothing. All it does is make a bad situation worse."

"Perhaps you're right," Annie admitted.

"Though we still don't like how far Spencer was willing to go," Clarabel added. "Why, what would we do if he had tried to hurt you instead?"

"Well… you have a point there," Thomas admitted.

Once Thomas had finished with his passenger run, he left Annie and Clarabel in their shed, and set off for his next job.

"Oh, I just can't wait to see Hiro again," Thomas said to himself. "I wonder if his friends back in Japan were happy to see him again too."

Thomas' next job was to deliver some flatbeds of steel to the building site; after Suddery, he would then take a left and travel along the coastal track before finally arriving at his destination. Emily was at Wellsworth when Thomas arrived.

"Hi, Thomas," Emily greeted.

"Hi, Emily," Thomas replied. "Are you excited about Hiro's return too?"

"You bet," Emily stated. "Though I wish I had more time to help with the construction of the Search and Rescue Centre. Rosie's at the works, and I promised that I would help with some of her jobs."

"Why don't I give you a hand with some of it?" Thomas offered. "That way, you won't be too overworked."

"Thank you, Thomas," Emily smiled. "But won't you end up overworked with your own deliveries to make?"

"No need to worry," assured Thomas. "I can manage. I've handled heavier loads before."

And so it was arranged with their crews. Thomas set off with Emily's trucks coupled to his own, leaving Emily free to make her way with her brake van in tow. Thomas was feeling very pleased with himself.

"It's a good thing that Edward's line is on a downward run to the building site," he said. "This will be an easy task for me."

Thomas had arrived at the construction site with his and Emily's trains in tow. He looked at his surroundings in amazement; he could hardly imagine what the Search and Rescue Centre would be like when it was finished. Just then, he noticed Harold the helicopter coming into landing inside the site of the main building.

"Hello, Harold!" Thomas called over. "What brings you here?"

"I've been relocated to live here," explained Harold. "This way I'll be called in for emergencies as well as help keep the others in line."

"Oh, I see," said Thomas, feeling slightly sad that Harold wouldn't be living at Dryaw Airfield anymore. Then something caught his mind. "What others?"

"Sir Topham Hatt is arranging for a crane to be permanently stationed here," explained Harold. "He also wishes for a pair of fire engines on hand. This way, Sodor can be protected on land and air."

"And sea!" came a new voice. Thomas looked around, and then, to his right, he saw a yellow, blue and red lifeboat with white lining bobbing in the water.

"Name's Captain," the lifeboat said proudly. "And you are…?"

"Oh! My name's Thomas," the blue tank engine greeted. "It's nice to meet you, Captain."

"And don't forget about me!" came another voice. Thomas then looked over and saw Butch the breakdown vehicle roll up.

"Butch!" Thomas cried. "Long time no see! So you've been promoted to the Search and Rescue Centre too?"

"Got that right, Thomas," said Butch proudly. "Being part of a team makes me feel rather special, but helping out others is an even greater feeling."

Thomas could only agree.

On his way back from the building site, Thomas couldn't help but think about what Butch said, and about Hiro.

"Helping others out can really make you feel good about yourself," he mused. "And helping out a friend like Hiro from scrap made me feel great." Suddenly, he had a thought. "If I keep helping out engines who need assistance, perhaps I can be a search and rescue engine too!"

The following morning, Thomas woke up early and set off to collect Annie and Clarabel.

"Come along, come along," he sang. "We're getting an early start so we can see if anyone needs our help along the way."

"Needs our help?" asked Annie.

"What are you up to this time?" Clarabel pondered. Thomas explained to his coaches about his talk with Butch.

"So if I can keep doing a good job at helping others," he finished, "then maybe I can be a search and rescue engine too. But where would I be without my faithful coaches to assist if there are stranded passengers?"

"I suppose you do have a point," Annie said.

"Search and rescue coaches would be rather fun," added Clarabel. They were just approaching the junction when a signalman flagged them down.

"Daisy's broken down near Dryaw," he explained. "Percy's taking her to the works, but could you pick up her passengers for her?"

"Of course we can," smiled Thomas. "Come on, Annie and Clarabel; we've got passengers to help out!" And he hurried away.

Thomas pulled into Dryaw station just as Percy was setting out with Daisy.

"Ohh, mind my springs," Daisy whimpered dramatically.

"Whatever you say, Daisy," said Percy, rolling his eyes. He was quite used to Daisy's drama queen moments.

"There's no need to fear!" Thomas called to her passengers. "Thomas the rescue engine is here!"

"Has he lost his marbles again?" Daisy whispered.

"No idea," said Percy. "But he does seem eager to help them out."

"Too eager, if you ask me," muttered Daisy.

"But… why would he end up losing a bunch of little round balls?" asked Percy. Daisy didn't answer; she just rolled her eyes.

Soon, Annie and Clarabel were packed to the brim with passengers, both Thomas' and Daisy's.

"I feel like I'm about to burst," groaned Annie.

"One more and I think one of my windows will shatter," agreed Clarabel. Thomas could feel some of the strain, but he kept going.

"No one said helping others would always be easy," he puffed. "But we have to keep going."

Before long, the passengers had reached their destinations, much to the coaches' relief.

"Thank goodness for that," sighed Annie.

"I just hope we don't make another trip to the Steamworks so soon after this," added Clarabel. "We've only just had our seats re-fitted!"

"But think of how useful we are helping others," Thomas insisted.

"Don't you think you're starting to go a bit overboard on this, Thomas?" asked Annie.

"Nonsense!" chuckled Thomas. "No one ever goes overboard when helping others." Before Annie and Clarabel could object, Thomas left them in their shed, and puffed away for his next job.

"He's asking for trouble, isn't he?" asked Clarabel.

"Sadly so," Annie confirmed.

Thomas' next job was to help deliver trucks of stone for the foundations at the building site. When he arrived at Anopha Quarry, he could see that Mavis had indeed organized quite a lot of trucks.

"There you are, Thomas," Mavis greeted. "You're the first one to arrive. Once you set off with your load, I just need to wait for Duck and Oliver to arrive and collect their shares."

"Why don't I take this whole lot myself?" Thomas offered. "That way, Oliver and Duck will have more free time for their other jobs."

"Are you crazy, Thomas?" Mavis gasped. "I get that you want to help, but you can't haul all this by yourself. You'll need at least one big engine to help you."

"I've handled heavy trains on my own before," Thomas insisted. "I can manage, thank you."

"Maybe you should try listening for once," Thomas's driver protested. "Don't you remember what happened when you tried pulling the circus train alone despite the others offering to help? It ended up with you breaking your side rods from the strain."

"This time is different," Thomas insisted. "Stone is not as heavy as metal circus equipment. I'll be fine."

Reluctantly, the driver and fireman allowed Thomas to collect as many trucks of stone as he could. It wasn't long before Thomas had a very long train behind him.

"Off we go!" he cried, and he gave a great heave. Maybe this was a bit more difficult than I imagined, he thought to himself. But after a great effort, Thomas managed to get his train moving and off down the branch line.

"This is not going to end well," said Mavis to herself. And she was right...

Thomas slowly dragged his train of stone down the line. It seemed that the farther he got, the heavier the trucks became. And when they reached Gordon's hill, the strain got even worse.

"Come on!" he groaned. "Come… on! I've got to get them to the building site!"

He tried his hardest, but it was no good. The weight of the train was too much for Thomas, and slowed him down to a complete stop halfway up the hill. Realizing he was defeated, he reversed back to the bottom of the hill.

"Oh no!" cried Thomas with disappointment. "Now what am I going to do?" The answer to his problem came sooner than he anticipated.

At that moment, Thomas heard two short blasts of a whistle, followed up by a longer one. He already knew whose whistle that was…

"It's Hiro!" Yes, pulling up alongside Thomas was the Master of the Railway himself.

"Thomas, my friend!" said Hiro happily. "Konnichiwa!"

"You have no idea how happy I am to see you right now, Hiro," said Thomas.

"Why are you trying to pull so many trucks by yourself?" Hiro asked once he looked at Thomas' train. The little blue tank engine sighed and looked down sheepishly at his buffers.

"When I heard that you were returning to help us with the construction of the Sodor Search and Rescue Centre," he said, "I wanted to show to you that I could be strong like you by helping other engines out. But now it looks like I'm the one who needs helping out. Can you please help me deliver all this stone to the building site?"

"Of course I will help you," Hiro smiled. "That's what friends do for each other."

Thomas was soon uncoupled from the train so Hiro could take over, and then the Japanese engine pulled the stone trucks over Gordon's hill without problem.

Later, Hiro had arrived at the building site with the long train of stone trucks. Sir Topham Hatt was waiting for him.

"Thank you for delivering these, Hiro," said Sir Topham Hatt. "But what happened to the other engines I arranged to do this job?"

"Apparently, Thomas tried to do it all by himself," Hiro explained. "But then he needed my help to take over."

"I see…" said Sir Topham Hatt. "I'll need to have a word with Thomas later."

When Thomas finally arrived at the building site, he saw Sir Topham Hatt waiting for him.

"I've heard that recently," he stated, "you have been trying to do more work than you are capable of. Hiro told me how you tried to pull all of that stone by yourself when the loads were supposed to be split between you, Duck and Oliver. Care to explain yourself, Thomas?"

"I'm sorry, sir," said Thomas. "I was so excited about Hiro coming back that I wanted to show I was strong like him and be a search and rescue engine. I was just trying to help other engines so they wouldn't have to struggle on their jobs."

"There is nothing wrong with wanting to help someone in need," Sir Topham Hatt insisted. "However, when you go overboard in doing so, sometimes it causes more harm than good."

"I guess so…" Thomas sighed.

"I hope someday you can learn from your mistakes, Thomas," Sir Topham Hatt continued.

"Yes, sir," said Thomas, a little disappointed.

Thankfully, the rest of the Search and Rescue Centre's construction continued on without any further complications. Well, except for one little incident involving a certain diesel, but that's another story.

TO BE CONTINUED

Author's Comments

And so we've reached the last of the series 13 rewrites. This one is based upon The Biggest Present of All, the one in which Hiro made a (not-so-)grand return to Sodor, and seemingly stayed there until Kenji on the Rails Again. For my headcanon, Hiro returned to Japan shortly after the events of The Great Race and is still running there to this day on heritage services under the eye of Sir Takaboushi Hideki. Between series 13-20, he was on a long-term loan helping out the engines of Sodor. Other than that, this story also incorporates some elements of Misty Island Rescue (which never took place in this universe) as well as having Thomas' fanboy-like character carried over from Helping Hiro (which is likely to receive a rewrite at some point down the road) which helped to flesh out the story better. This will probably be the only story for Series 13-16 Redux in which Thomas plays the lead role in a story, given how many he got in the actual series 13-16, whether or not he actually deserved them. Soon, we'll be reaching the series 14-15 portion of this redux, so keep an eye out for them.

Upcoming rewrites:

- Henry's Health and Safety - Henry, Judy and Jerome, Rocky

- Jitters and Japes - Toby, Annie and Clarabel, Henrietta

- Being Percy - Daisy, Rosie

- Victor Says Yes - Victor

- Surprise, Surprise - Oliver, Toad and Captain