CHAPTER 10: MORE PROBLEMS GROW.
(POV: Lily)
"NOW!" Junior called to me as we braced through a rainbow colored portal. As I then opened my eyes, I looked around to find myself in a new place with such vibrant plants.
"Where are we?" I asked, feeling totally unsure where we landed.
"The Island of Sodor of course." Junior replied. "This way." He then said as he pointed to a hill next to us.
It wasn't easy, but, boy, when we got to the top of the hill, I was amazed to see the whole railroad that Junior told me about. I saw so many engines that I had never seen before.
"Amazing!" I exclaimed.
"Isn't it?" Junior replied to me. "Now, why don't we go and have one of the drivers help us with our search for my cousin."
"Right." I replied, wondering what the drivers here were like.
(POV: Mysterious Narrator.)
As Lily and Junior then scaled down the hill towards the line, Thomas was busy with a local passenger run as his sister's coaches rolled behind his E2. As the teen looked on ahead, he gasped with delight as he saw a figure in a royal blue suit.
"Annie! Clarabel!" Thomas cried. "There's Mr. Conductor! We found him!"
However, as Thomas then got closer to the figure next to the line, his smile changed to a frown.
"Bother!" He groaned with annoyance. "It's Junior."
As Thomas then slowed his E2 to a stop, he readied for a great amount of trouble.
"Hey.." Junior said meekly. "Thomas. Now please don't get too shocked. I know that you haven't seen me since..."
"You put fireworks in my E2's firebox!" Thomas interrupted crossly.
"Oh come on!" Junior chuckled. "We had a laugh."
"YOU did" Thomas replied with a stern tone. "And by the way, I'm still pissed off with you for that."
"Um... uh..." Stammered Lily as she was a loss for words. "I'm kind of lost here, Junior."
"Oh, my apologies." Junior chuckled. "Thomas, this is Lily. And Lily, this is Thomas. Now, where's my cousin?"
"Hello, Lily." Thomas greeted the pre-teen as he shook her hand. "Welcome to Sodor."
"Thanks." Lily said in reply as she then watched Thomas uncouple his E2 from the coaches.
"Come on, Lily!" Junior said as he then climbed aboard Thomas's E2. "I'm very home on trains."
"Na-uh!" Thomas said with a stern voice as he then looked at Junior. "You keep YOUR hands off of my engine's controls, Junior."
"Oh, you no fun!" Junior huffed in reply as he then sat down in one of the back corners of the cab and pouted.
"After you, Lily." Thomas said to the pre-teen as he then looked at her.
"Alright." Lily replied, as she then boarded Thomas's E2.
"Uh.. Brother!" Annie exclaimed.
"Where are you going?!" Cried Clarabel.
"Going to find Mr. Conductor, you two." Thomas replied as he boarded his engine's cab. "I promise to have Percy or Timothy to fetch you both."
"Not like we heard THAT one before!" Annie said sarcastically as Thomas then drove off.
As Thomas then drove his E2 down the line, there was a sudden groaning noise.
"Junior?" Lily said as she then looked at the troublemaker. "Are you ok?"
"Travel sickness." Junior replied nauseously.
"If you barf in my engine, I'll kick you out!" Thomas said sternly.
"Right." Junior said weakly as he tried hard NOT to throw up.
As the E2 then continued down the line, Lily noticed something that caught her eye.
"What's that shining at the windmill?" She asked, as Junior perked up.
"Bisto, Lily." He replied. "You found my cousin."
"Mr. Conductor! Mr. Conductor!" Thomas exclaimed excitedly as he slowed his E2 to a stop.
"Thomas!" Mr. Conductor replied back as the teen braked his engine.
"Thank goodness you're safe." Thomas sighed with relief as he, Junior and Lily exited his E2's cab.
"Hey, cuz!" Junior greeted. "Enjoying the sun?"
"No, Junior. I am not." Mr. C replied sternly. "As a matter of fact, I have a near escape from a criminal and his heavy metal death machine. Junior." He then sighed. "Where have you been?"
As Junior began to stammer in hesitance, Thomas said a question that would change the subject.
"Is your Gold-Dust back yet Mr. C?" Thomas asked.
"No, Thomas." Mr. Conductor sighed. "Not yet. However..." He went on. "I did find the clue."
As he heard this, Junior gasped with a smile and got closer to his cousin, as he then began to recite the clue.
"Stoke up the magic in the mountain and... And... Darn it!" Mr. C then remarked as the clue slipped from his mind.
"Dither!" Thomas added.
"Hey cuz." Junior then began as he spoke to Mr. C. "You look horrible right now, so why don't we find more Gold-Dust since yours and mine are all used up. Then you can go and visit Shining-Time as much as you want, while I get to return to the beach."
"Junior." Mr. C then said sternly. "I want you to listen to me, and listen to me VERY carefully... I.."
But before he could even say anything the ring tone of the Bell-Flowers could be heard.
"Oh no." Thomas groaned, as he just knew who'd it be.
"I better answer it." Mr. C said, as Junior then slid over to the flowers and answered them.
As Junior then spoke to Sir Topham Hatt, Thomas couldn't help but snigger throughout the call, for Mr. C's cousin was up to his usual antics. Once Mr. C had taken the flowers, and had wrapped up the call, Junior pointed towards Lily to introduce her to him.
"Cuz." He said. "This is Lily. She's staying in Muffle Mountain with grandpa Stone."
As Mr. C then turned heel to greet Lily, neither of them had noticed Junior grabbing onto one of the windmill's sails as it spun about. As he then was done, he looked back to see that Junior was nowhere to be seen.
"Junior?" He said as Thomas then looked worried at him.
"Um.. Mr. C." He said. "You may want to look up."
And so he did, and Mr. C was at a loss for words for what he saw.
"Oh frick." Was all that he could say, as he watched Junior ride the windmill.
"Um... Mr. Conductor." Lily said as she tugged on his jacket. "I think you may want to get Junior down now."
"Uh.. Right." Mr. C replied as he then looked at his cousin. "Junior!" He then cried out. "Get down now! It's going to get too windy!"
"Oh, this is just like the fun fair!" Junior replied back with a massive grin on his face. "Can't I just have two more seconds?"
"Two seconds is all you need to land into some trouble!" Mr. C replied as the wind picked up and made the sails spin faster and faster until... "JUNIOR!" Mr. C cried as he watched his cousin be sent flying into the air.
"AH!" Junior screamed as he then landed on the roof of Diesel 10's warship.
"Ah!" Said the criminal through his engine's PA. "Twinkle-toes, Junior! How nice of you to stop by?"
"No! My Beach bag!" Junior exclaimed as he dropped his bag.
"There will be no surfing here, Mr. kahuna!" Diesel 10 then taunted.
"Oh yeah?" Junior then said as he then began to stand on his two feet. "Just watch me!"
"Well then.." Diesel 10 began. "Hang on tight moon-doggie!"
"YEE-HAW!" Junior shouted, as Diesel 10 began to accelerate his engine.
"Diesel 10's hijacked him!" Thomas exclaimed as he saw the whole ordeal.
"What's going to happen to Junior now?" Lily asked worriedly.
"Well, my family is pretty good at getting themselves out of trouble." Replied Mr. C. "Eventually that is."
"I don't know how long eventually exactly is." Thomas remarked. "But I hope that it's not too long.
Meanwhile, back on Muffle Mountain, the sun had begun to set, and Burnett was waiting as Patch then arrived.
"Where's Lily?" Burnett asked.
"I don't know." Patch replied. "She wasn't there when I went back for her."
"Don't worry, Patch." Burnett said kindly. "We'll find her."
"Right." Patch replied. "Anyway, last night I heard a train's whistle."
Burnett stopped as he then heard that statement.
"It was probably just the wind." the fifty year old replied. " You most likely heard wrong, Patch. Even if there was actually an engine up here, I'd be too death to hear it."
As Patch then watched Burnett head off, he felt the presence of another person as he then saw HIM stepping out from behind.
"Burnett says that you heard wrong.." He said. "But, I bet that you heard right."
"What do you want, Boomer?" Patch asked sternly.
"It's not about what I want, but rather what YOU want." Boomer replied as he showed Patch a wad of money he had. "Just imagine what you could get with all of this, kid. And I can make that fact actually happen if you tell me where precisely you heard that whistle."
Patch scowled at the motorbiker as he then swatted at him.
"No deal, Boomer!" Patch cried. "I don't take offers from punks like you!"
As Patch then darted off to find his horse, Boomer cursed under his breath for he had lost his one lead to Lady and her engine.
(To be continued...)