Chapter 6: Protector of Sodor
Really sorry! I've kinda been in a slump of sorts. Every time I went to write, a million other ideas swirled around in my head. I didn't get to do it very many times. But I typed this chapter in short bursts though. I'm just happy I managed to finish this thing.
Oh and, please excuse Donald and Douglas' terrible accents. Just trust me.
"For a small Ferris Wheel, it sure goes up high..."
Tat and Sam were sitting in one of the Ferris Wheel compartments. They were almost at the top, but they could see a whole lot around them. Tat looked to Sam.
"Ya not afraid of heights, are ya?" Sam shook his head.
"What? No… that's crazy..."
"Ya totally are! Ah can see it in ya eyes!" Sam looked away, clearly embarrassed.
"OK... Maybe a little..." Tat grinned victoriously.
"Why'd ya wanna come up here then? Ferris Wheels are known for goin' high up in the air." Sam sighed as Tat went to looking out the window again.
"Hey Tat."
"Yeah?" She responded without looking from the window.
"Well... you see… Uh..." Tat looked back to him, making him blush and begin to mumble.
"Uh… well… I..." Tat was growing impatient.
"Well? Spit it out."
"I like you." Sam blurted out. Tat froze, clearly taken off guard.
"What?"
"I… said I like you." Tat's brain seemed to be processing the information.
"...Really? For how long?"
"Well, it's been a while. I think it was soon after our first meeting." He blushed. "Remember when I crashed into you in the hallway at school?" Tat nodded slowly.
"Well, it was round about then. That's one of the reasons I've been sticking around you and Amber. And it kinda… well… pained me when you flirted with other people." Tat seemed to begin to realise the magnitude of his words.
"Sam… Ah had… No idea..."
"Yeah, I guessed that. That's why I bought you this." He pulled out the box from earlier and handed it to Tat. She took it and after a moment, opened it. Inside, was a gold heart necklace. Tat stared at it.
"Whoa. This must've cost a fortune." She looked back to Sam. "Please tell me ya didn't spend a whole mountain of cash on this…" Sam nodded.
"It took all the money I brought with me." Tat began to tear up.
"Oh Sam." Tat reached over and pulled Sam into a hug. What surprised Sam was that it wasn't one of her face-to-boobs hugs but an actual genuine hug. Sam smiled at her sincerity.
And then promptly remembered that she was still in her bikini. Tat broke the hug and looked at Sam's blushed face.
"Ok. From this moment on, you and ah are boyfriend an' girlfriend. Got that?" Sam stuttered.
"What?"
"Well, ya did go to the effort to confess, so ya shouldn't let all of it go down the drain." Sam nodded.
"Sure."
"Now, to seal the deal…"
Tat leaned forward and planted a kiss on Sam's cheek. Sam stuttered again. Tat gave him a smug grin.
"An' when ya work up the courage, ah expect a kiss on the lips, kay?" Sam continued to stutter as Tat stood up.
"Now, unless ya wanna go round the wheel again, I suggest we hop off." Sam regained his senses and nodded shyly.
"Right. Good idea." Once off, Tat grabbed his hand and the two headed further into the amusement park.
…
At least, that's how I was told how it happened. I'm sure Tat would have her own version to tell that involved some sort of skin contact, but I prefer Sam's version.
After a very welcoming hot shower after my mishap at Knapford, I made my way into my bedroom. Matt was sitting on the bed reading a book while Primarina was curled up on a few pillows on the floor. Ever since she evolved, as Matt and Taylor called it, she was a little bit too big to sleep at our feet on the bed, so Matt made a makeshift bed for her. I gave a sigh as I flopped down on the bed next to Matt. He paused his reading to look at me. He smiled at my pyjama selection.
"Love the pink shirt."
"Shut up. It's hard being D-cup size."
"D-cup huh? I thought…"
"Put a sock in it." Matt laughed at me before reaching over to his bedside table. He grabbed something off it and brought it back around to me. A quick toss and I caught it in my hands.
"Forgot to give you this earlier. It's not quite an amber necklace, but I think it'll do the job." I unwrapped the small parcel to reveal a small red, flame like badge. It had a red circle on the bottom and a red cord that looped around. I glanced back to Matt.
"What is it?" Matt chuckled as he picked his book back up.
"It's the Heat Badge. One of my friends gave it to me before I came back here. I got it converted into a necklace back at Harwick. I thought you'd like it." I laughed.
"It's interesting, I'll give you that. Thanks." Matt smiled before going back to his book. After a moment of silence, I spoke up again.
"Matt."
"Yeah?"
"I'm scared." Matt immediately stopped reading and looked to me.
"What do you mean?" I sighed before hopping out of bed and over to my stuff. After a little searching, I found my camera and brought it back over to Matt. I showed him the picture of the mural.
"Do you remember when we found this?" Matt nodded.
"Yeah I do."
"Do you remember Lady pushing back a dark wave while we were there?" Matt thought for a moment before shaking his head.
"Now that you mention it…"
"Anyway, when we got here, we were approached by a young man who said that we'd put the island in danger." Matt tilted his head.
"How so?"
"He didn't go into any specifics, just saying that us being there is going to make the island crumble and collapses in on itself." Matt thought for what seemed like an eternity before looking back to me.
"Well. We're going to have to get answers from this guy then, aren't we?" He flashed a big grin. "Just leave him to me. For now, let's get some sleep. It's late and I'm tired. I'm sure you are too." I yawned in response. He chuckled before giving me a kiss on the cheek.
"Night." He pulled the doona over him and I did the same after placing my new necklace on my bedside table. We lay there for a moment before drifting off to sleep.
…
The next morning was a cold one. I woke up with my ears freezing off my head. I grumbled.
"Why does it have to be cold?" I noticed that the spot next to me in the bed was empty, so I guessed Matt was already up and about. Yawning loudly, I pulled myself out of bed and made my way over to my clothing collection.
The reason I don't like the cold, is because I find it really uncomfortable and I can't wear my normal clothes, like my midriff shirts or my sleeveless vest. I grabbed a normal plain black T-shirt, my warmest pants and put them on. It was when I was looking for my jumper when I realized something.
"Shit. How the hell did I forget to bring a jumper? Now I'm going to freeze my butt off."
Once dressed (Along with the new necklace.), I headed out into the kitchen area. Matt was sitting on the couch with Primarina sitting in front of him. He was struggling to brush her hair again.
"Come on! Why is this so freaking hard?" Primarina gave a yelp as he pulled a knot in her hair. I sighed.
"That's not how you do it." Matt looked up to me and smiled.
"Ok then. Can you show me how it's done? I have a feeling I'm going to have to brush her hair for her every morning now." I plonked myself down next to him and took the brush. Primarina moved over to sit in front of me as I got to work. It took a good half an hour for him to get it and by the time he did, everyone else was up and getting ready for the day. Tat laughed as she watched Matt finally got the hang of it.
"Wow. Ya really need to practice ya brushin' Matt. How would ya ever brush ah little girls hair if you can't even brush ya pet's hair?" Matt sighed.
"Well unlike you girls, I don't have long hair to brush. And why would I ever need to brush a little girl's hair?" Tat winked.
"I have ah feelin' that ya kid's goin' to be ah girl. Just sayin'." Matt rolled his eyes.
"Yeah? Well I reckon you and Sam will have twins."
"Please don't give her any ideas." Was all Sam said from his seat at the bench. I chuckled at that.
Taylor was last to come out of her bedroom. She had a camera around her neck and a very summer-y outfit along with a pair of sunglasses on her head.
"Alright! Who's ready to explore a castle?" I stared at Taylor with a "seriously?" look. She tilted her head.
"What?"
"You do realise that it's freezing out there? You'll freeze to death out there." Taylor looked out the window at the downcast weather. She huffed.
"Why'd it have to be cold on my day?" She disappeared back into her room to change. Matt leaned over to me.
"What about you? You're just in a T-shirt."
"I forgot to bring a jumper."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah seriously." Matt chuckled.
"Here." He reached next to him and grabbed a green and black jumper. He tossed it to me and it wrapped around my head. I pulled it off me and gave him a confused look.
"One, what about you, and two, where'd you get this? You said yesterday that you'd lost your bag." Matt shrugged.
"I'll be fine. I bought it at the hotel shop last night. They were closing up and I snuck in at the last second." I smiled before slipping it on. I grunted a little as I pulled it down.
"It's a little tight."
"That's because I don't have boobs. This is made for a male you know." I shrugged.
"Thanks."
"Anytime."
"One more thing. What's with you and the green and black colour scheme now?"
"I don't know. I just came to like the combo when I was away."
Taylor came back out of her room, all rugged up. She chuckled.
"Alright! Now we're ready."
"What about breakfast?"
"We're eating out in Brendam. Let's go!"
…
After grabbing our shoes from the front door (I decided to change from my basketball shoes to a pair of black and orange snow boots. Why I have snow boots, even I don't know! (Similar to the Hero Snow Boots from Splatoon 2)), we headed downstairs to the lobby. Once outside the hotel, Matt realised how wrong he was about gritting and bearing it, so we made a quick trip back inside to the hotel shop so he could buy a new one, we headed out to find somewhere to eat. I directed them to the little pancake shop that I'd fallen in love with when I first got here and they too fell in love with them. It seemed as if the weather was going to stay cold and windy all day, so we decided to try and stay indoors as much as possible when we got to Callan Castle.
We were almost at the station, when there was a loud crash from the docks. I raised an eyebrow.
"What was that?" Matt shrugged.
"One way to find out." We changed paths and walked to the docks with Primarina following behind.
…
"No, it was nae ma fault. It was yours Dougy."
"It twas an' you know it!"
"Wasn't!"
"Twas."
"Wasn't!"
"Alright, calm down!" We arrived to find two black tender engines numbered 9 and 10, arguing over a broken crate next to them. The Dock Manager was trying to calm them down.
"It's no big deal. There's plenty of boxes here that we can use to put the cargo in. One broken box isn't going to kill anyone.
"But it twas Dougy's fault that it broke. He did nae look where he was goin'."
"Donnie, I swear…"
"Enough! For crying out loud, it's just a box."
Donald and Douglas just glared at each other for a moment before sighing.
"Ah suppose we may have overreacted."
"Yer right. Sorry."
"Great. Now can you get out of the way so I can do my job?" Carly glared at him.
"Cranky!"
"What?" Taylor chuckled.
"It seems like the docks is lively this morning." The Dock Manager walked over to us, shaking his head.
"Those two can be a real pain in the butt sometimes."
"What exactly happened?"
"They were arguing about who was going to be at the front of the train and they knocked over an empty box. Then they started arguing about that." I shrugged.
"Siblings. That's what they do."
"Not all the time." I looked to Matt with curiosity.
"What do you know about siblings?" He chuckled weakly.
"I've got a brother back home. Gosh they must be really worried by now…" I gave him a pat on the shoulder.
"As soon as we're done here and you've seen where I live, Taylor and I will put you on the first plane back to Australia." He sighed.
"Thanks." He was drowned out by the twins blowing their whistles.
"Callan Castle, here we come."
"Aye to that Donnie!" Taylor heard this and she threw herself in front of the twins before they started moving.
"WAIT!" Donald raised an eyebrow.
"But we haven't moved yet."
"We were aboot to though…" Taylor looked up to Donald.
"Can you take us with you? We're heading there too." Douglas scoffed.
"Not to be rude lady, but we are runnin' a goods train. We can nae take passengers." Taylor gave a sly smirk.
"Not even to take the famous Amber?" She gestured to me as I sweat-dropped. Using me as leverage? Come on.
It seemed to work though.
"Is it her?"
"It certainly looks like what Thomas has said she looks like."
"We'd be happy ta take you!" Taylor gave a victorious smile.
"Easy." I rolled my eyes.
…
The ride was uneventful (Aside from getting Primarina into Donald's cab at the start.) as we headed to Callan Castle. We passed the showgrounds at Killdane though. The place looked amazing. From the outskirts that is. We didn't actually go through it. Donald and Douglas charged up the Peel Godred branch line and took the left track just after Kirk Machan station. I waved to Culdee as we passed his railway, but I don't think he saw me. We passed Callan station and Cyril the Fog-man's house and rolled into Misty Valley. True to its name, it was misty and the twins had to slow down. Soon after passing through we reached the place that Donald and Douglas had gotten stuck and mistaken Harvey for the Loch Ness Monster one time and crossed the causeway. I heard Taylor gasp as the castle came into view.
Callen Castle wasn't the biggest on Sodor, but it was still quite large compared to some of the engines. It sat up on a hill with a private platform down the bottom. Donald and Douglas rolled to a stop at the platform. Douglas peeped his whistle as we got out.
"Enjoy yourselves."
"Ya will have lots of fun!" The two then continued down the line with their train. Tat gave a low whistle.
"This ain't half bad. Ah was expecting an old ruin, but ah guess not." I looked to Tat.
"Lord Callan has had this place open for a while. It's open to the public to explore."
"Which is something we should be doing! Come on!" Taylor started walking up the hill closely followed by the rest of us.
At the large doors, a butler that strangely looked like Alfred from Batman, stood there with a bored look on his face. He'd clearly been doing his job for some time and was clearly sick of it. Anyway, he stopped us at the door.
"I'm terribly sorry sir, but pets are not allowed in or on the castle grounds. We like to keep the grounds clean, if you please." He spoke almost robotically. Matt chuckled nervously.
"Oh. Sorry. My bad." With a swift movement, he pulled Primarina's Poké Ball out of his jumper pocket. Primarina nodded knowingly as she was sucked into the ball. "Alfred" was clearly surprised, as his bored expression turned into a look of shock.
"What? How…?" Matt chuckled.
"You wouldn't get it even if I explained it."
"But isn't that animal cruelty?"
"No, no. She's fine. See?" he showed him the ball and through the red half, you could vaguely see Primarina waving. "Alfred" sighed.
"Very well. But she must remain in there while you're here. If anyone here catches you with any sorts of pets, you will be asked to leave." Matt nodded.
"Understood." The butler sighed and went back to staring out into space. Sam chuckled.
"Oh well. I'm sure she can watch from the ball."
"That aside, let's check out the castle!"
We explored the castle for most of the morning. The lore of Callan Castle wasn't as interesting as Ulfstead's, but it was still interesting to a degree. To me and Taylor that is. Tat and Sam seemed to be bored out of their brains while Matt seemed to be taking a slight interest. Amongst looking at the different artifacts and souvenirs that Lord Callan had collected over the course of the years, we also got the chance to talk to Lord Callan himself. It was interesting listening to his various stories and maybe a few tall ones and by eleven, we were sitting at a table by a window. Taylor was going on about her discoveries.
"It's amazing how he fought a dragon! I wish I could fight one." Sam yawned.
"I'm pretty sure that was one of his tall tales. We have no proof that dragons are real." Matt grinned.
"I know that there are Dragon type Pokémon out there. Just not here."
"Yeah and screw you for seeing them before me." Taylor interrupted.
"What do you mean? Goomy's a dragon type."
"I was more expecting something more like Charizard or Garchomp."
I rolled my eyes at their banter before there was a loud bang. Sam and Tat fell out of their chairs and Taylor ducked under the table. I on the other hand (Realising how familiar it sounded.) jumped up and went to the window. I looked out and after a moment, spotted the purple and black smog rising from the small forest on the grounds. Matt joined me at the window.
"What the hell was that?" I pointed to the smog.
"Another fissure."
"A fissure? I don't recall fissures making loud bangs." I heard Tat chuckle to herself before rolling my eyes.
"I'll explain on the way. I want to see if I was right."
We headed out into the cold and made our way to where the smog was rising from. After a little bit of losing our way, we made it to the fissure.
Only to find we weren't the first there.
Standing in front of the fissure, was a familiar man with brown hair tied into a small ponytail. He had his back turned to us, but I instantly recognised the golden staff in his right hand. If it hadn't been for that, I would have had a hard time recognising him. He now wore a black and red zip up jacket with grey tracksuit pants. He still had his sneakers though. He'd obviously rugged up for the cold weather too.
Anyway he raised his staff up above his head. He grabbed it with both hands before bringing the butt of the staff down swiftly. There was a bright flash as it connected with the fissure. After a moment and the light had died down, the fissure was no more than a faint glow of purple on the ground. He wiped his brow and sighed.
"Good. Another one closed." He turned around and froze when he saw us. I gave him a solid look.
"Victor." Through his colourful mask, I saw his eyes flicker.
"Well, well, well. I thought I told you lot to leave this place." Matt leaned over and whispered in my ear.
"Is this the guy you were telling me about?" I nodded as Victor continued.
"But instead of leaving, you bring someone else here. If I may recall, you were here when she was four months ago. Uh… Matt wasn't it?"
"Why? Who wants to know?" Victor laughed a calm but strangely sinister laugh.
"You shouldn't have come back. The island is breaking apart as we speak. It started when you two first showed up." Matt snorted.
"I'm having a hard time believing you. What are the signs of Sodor falling in on itself?" Matt was now standing right in front of Victor. Even though he was younger than him, he was a hair taller than him. Victor seemed to bristle at this before pointing to the faint purple glow of the now closed fissure.
"There's your proof. These have been popping up all over the place and I've had to go around cleaning up your mess." He sighed. "Too bad it ends here!" Victor twirled around Matt and charged toward me, staff poised to strike my head. I had no time to do anything. The staff was almost at my head when Victor faltered at a glimpse of Taylor, who was peeking out from behind a tree with Tat and Sam. That apparently gave Matt enough time to call out Primarina order her to blast him away from me. Victor was blown off his feet by a torrent of water and into a nearby tree. Matt rushed to my side as Victor sat there stunned.
"What the hell was that for?" Victor coughed before looking toward us.
"It seems I had hesitation. This time I won't..."
"Bullshit! You saw Taylor and you faltered. I saw it!" I screamed at him. He looked away with a blush.
"That may or may not have been the reason..." he stood up and glared to me.
"Count yourself lucky. I would have..." he was interrupted by the shouts of people coming toward us. He grunted.
"Tch. Next time! I'm out!" Victor quickly disappeared into the trees (After a little bit of struggling as his jacket was hooked on the tree.) as some of the castle staff appeared. I sighed with relief, happy that Taylor had been there. If not…
"Hey! What did I tell you about your pet?" Matt seemed to jump when "Alfred" came up behind him. Matt quickly whipped out her Poké Ball and returned her. He chuckled nervously.
"Well you see…" The butler gave him a withering look.
"Save me the excuses. Next time, I won't let you off so easily." Matt nodded quickly and after the staff poked around the area for a little bit, they disappeared back into the trees toward the castle. Matt gave a huge sigh.
"That was close. Way too close." He turned to me. "Who does he think he is, trying to hit you like that?" I was still in a state of shock. Tat gave me a reassuring pat.
"Ah'm sure he didn't mean it. He was probably tryin' to knock ya over." I sighed.
"One would hope so." Sam, who was inspecting the area, spoke up.
"Looks like he left something behind." We looked to him over near the tree that Victor had slammed into. Sure enough, Sam was holding a shredded piece of cloth that was obviously from Victor's jacket. Tat laughed and gave Sam a slap on the back.
"Good eye Sammy! But how is that goin' to help us?" Sam winced at her "pat" on the back.
"I don't know. I just found it." Matt took the cloth from Sam and studied it.
"Not too dirty. It could be used." He mumbled. I raised an eyebrow.
"What are you up to?" Matt ignored me for a moment before looking around.
"Alfred" isn't around is he?"
"No…"
"Cool. Stand back." We did as we were told and Matt took one more glance around before pulling out a Poké Ball. Taylor raised an eyebrow as well.
"How's Primarina going to help?"
"She isn't. Just be prepared for a little over protectiveness." A quick toss and the Poké Ball burst open. After the bright light, an orange wolf like Pokémon with a white mane appeared. He had a white tail and white paws with black claws. His eyes were green and its mane spiked up in a curved fashion. It looked around before his eyes fell on us. It gave a growl before jumping in front of Matt with a defensive stance, his eyes turning red. Tat squealed and jumped into Sam's unprepared hands, in turn knocking them both over. Taylor had sparkles in her eyes while I gave it a curious look. Matt quickly patted the Pokémon.
"Dusk! Their friends. You don't need to protect me." Dusk looked to Matt before licking his face. I noted that his eyes changed back to green when he was calm. Taylor inched her way over to Dusk.
"You have a Dusk Lycanroc? For how long?" She said quietly, as to not frighten the wolf Pokémon. Matt looked away.
"A while now." Taylor frowned.
"Then why have you only brought him out now?"
"I was worried what he'd do. He's always been a bit over protective since I saved it as a Rockruff. Besides, he likes it in his Poké Ball." Taylor sighed before reaching out slowly to pat him. Dusk saw this and sniffed her hand curiously. Taylor grinned as her hand came into contact with Dusk's soft mane. After a moment of uneasiness, Taylor finally began to pat him. Dusk seemed to like the attention, going as far as pushing himself up to her. I grinned at the scene while Matt just chuckled. Sam cleared his throat, Tat still on top of him.
"One, get off me." Tat smirked seductively.
"Ya know ya like it…"
"…And two, a potential killer is getting away." Matt nodded.
"Right. Sorry Taylor. You can get to know him later." Matt lifted the cloth up to Dusk.
"I need you to track this guy down. He tried to hit my girlfriend." Dusk looked to him and then looked to me. After a brief moment, he turned back to Matt and gave him a smug look. Matt rolled his eyes.
"Save it for later Mister. Give us a hand here." Dusk stuck his tongue out before sniffing the cloth. He sniffed the air and the ground before barking. Matt stood up.
"Alright. Lead the way."
…
"Of course I'd have to go and hesitate like that. Here I was, thinking I'd get the job done, but nooo… They just had to bring that beauty along. Now that I think about it, why wouldn't she? Gah, this is so frustrating."
Victor was making his way through the trees toward the tracks. He was planning on hitch-hiking out of here, but he found himself lost after a moment.
"Great. Now I'm lost. I don't even think I'm on the castle grounds anymore." He sighed before jumping at a sudden rustle in the bush near him.
"Whatzat? Who's there?" He jumped into a defensive stance and stared at the bush. After a moment, an orange wolf jumped out and looked at him curiously. He raised an eyebrow.
"A wolf? That's… not what I was expecting… Wait… Why is there a wolf here?" The wolf stared him in the eyes for what seemed like an eternity before blinking. Victor realised that he was in trouble when they were red when they opened again.
"…Then again… when are wolves orange?"
With a howl, large rock pillars sprouted out of the ground around him, pinning him to the spot. Victor grimaced.
"Or have the power to summon rocks?" The wolf smirked before Matt and I appeared from the bushes, closely followed by Taylor, Sam and Tat. Matt sighed.
"Nowhere to go now huh? What're you going to do now?"
"That's cheating. Having a seal that can shoot water and a wolf that can summon rocks."
"It's not cheating. Their just Pokémon."
"…now that you mention it…"
"That's beside the point!" I half screamed. Matt chuckled before stepping back. I walked over to the rock encased Victor and stopped in front of him. He gulped.
"You're going to slap me aren't…" He was interrupted by the punch to the face I gave him. He shook his head. "Ok. Wasn't expecting that."
"Are you done?"
"I guess." I groaned at his comedic way of talking.
"Now. I'm going to hope you were going to just knock me down back there and not going to kill me." He opened his mouth to speak but I cut him off.
"Choose your next answer wisely. What you say next will affect how I treat you." Victor shut his mouth and nodded.
"Yes ma'am."
"Well?"
"Right. I WAS thinking about it, but I figured I'd just knock you all out and put you back through the way you came in. I wasn't sure how you got in, but I was going to cross that bridge when I got to it." I stared at him for a moment before sighing.
"As long as it doesn't happen again, I'm willing to let you go." Matt seemed to question me when I said that but I ignored him for the moment. "But for now, I want to know a little bit about you." Victor raised an eyebrow.
"Why would you want to know about me?"
"I just do. You seem like a decent person." Matt scoffed.
"You call trying to knock you out "decent?" I glared to him.
"Just roll with it." I turned back to Victor. "Everyone deserves a second chance." Victor sighed.
"Thanks." After a moment Victor cleared his throat.
"I don't suppose you could let me out?" I gave him a withering look.
"Story first, release after." Victor chuckled nervously.
"Fine, fine…" He sighed before he began his story.
"I was born…"
"Not that far back!"
"Right. Sorry. Uh… Ok."
…
"I was originally a plain old fisherman that would go out and fish out in the ocean, not too far from where Sodor should have been…"
"Should have been? What do you mean by that?" Victor groaned at my interruption.
"Let me tell my story, ok?"
"Sorry."
"As I was saying… I would go and fish out near where the island would be. I was a single fisherman, going out to fish whenever I wanted to, not having to wait for pals or anything. I'd been doing it since I was little. About four years ago, I was twenty at the time, I went out like normal. However, a storm broke out and I had nowhere to go. I was caught up in the middle of it and it was only a matter of time before I fell off. As I did, I managed to give myself a nasty slash right across my eye."
He gave his head a shake, and after a moment of shaking, he looked to me and grinned awkwardly.
"It would have been cooler if my mask had come off, wouldn't it?"
"Yep."
"Can you…?" I sighed and pulled his mask off his face, revealing a scar across his face. It started above his right eye and finished just near his left ear. Matt made an "Ooo" sound, while Taylor simply shrugged. I believe she said "It builds character," but I'm not sure. Victor cleared his throat, grabbing out attentions.
"Anyway, I woke up on a beach. Apparently, I'd survived and washed up onto a nearby island. I quickly set to work, trying to find out where I was. It took me literally an hour to realise I was on the fictional island of Sodor."
"Wait. You're from the real world!?" Victor rolled his eyes.
"Seriously? You wanted to know about me, yet you keep interrupting me. And yes. I am from the real world." Sam shrugged.
"This place seems pretty real to me…" Taylor elbowed him in the ribs as Victor chuckled.
"But I thought that Sodor only came into existence when Amber got the Gold Dust Cocoon." Matt raised the question. Victor struggled to shrug.
"Beats me. Now, can I finish my story WITHOUT any more interruptions?" I nodded as he sighed.
"Ok. After a while of being homeless on the island, I decided to have a look around. When I was visiting the Culdee Fell Railway, I came across the shrine at the top of the mountain. Amongst the different things there, I discovered a hidden message on the mural, which at the time, I had no idea what it meant. But after an excruciating long time (Which in reality, was probably about a day or two.) I managed to crack it. After a fair bit of research that is."
"What did it say?"
"Oh for crying out loud!"
"Sorry…"
"Honestly, I can't remember. It was a while ago. It said something along the lines of how the island was going to fall apart slowly before eventually, the dimension was going to collapse in on itself, thus, ending Sodor forever. However, there was a way to slow down the process, perhaps, even stop it entirely.
"I, at the time, was scared out of my brains. An island that was going to be destroyed? I didn't want to be around for that. It was about then when I discovered that, despite there being a whole world outside of Sodor, I couldn't leave the island. There was some sort of invisible barrier blocking me from leaving."
He paused, expecting one of us to interrupt. When we didn't, he groaned.
"When I don't want you to interrupted, you interrupt. When you…"
"Ok, I'll bite. Why couldn't you leave?"
"Beats me." We all fell over with disbelief. Victor laughed.
"But in all seriousness, I couldn't. I doubt you guys could either. It's almost as if the world revolves around this island." Matt sighed.
"That's probably true."
"After realising I couldn't run from it, I decided to go back to the mural and investigate further. That time, was when I discovered the staff. It strangely had appeared on the pedestal in the centre of the shrine. When I took it, I got a brief vision of what could happen if I wasn't careful along with who I think was Lady telling me to close all the fissures when they opened. And that was my life for three years. I would move around the island, closing fissures whenever they opened. I ended up crashing at one of my Sudrion friends' places in Ulfstead. It was small, but it got the job done. Also, from what I've gathered, the fissures open because of the foreign "Invaders," so to speak. That being…"
"Us."
"Yep. When you lot started appearing, more fissures opened and I had my work cut out for me. Lately, it's just been go, go, go. Fissure here, fissure there." Victor sighed. "And that basically brings us to here. Me trapped in a rock and you interrogating me."
…
I took this all in. It was amazing what he'd done. Even though Sodor wasn't his home, he was protecting it like it was. I gave him a huge smile.
"I'd say that's good enough for me. You can let him out now." Matt gave me a look of disgust.
"Are you sure? He did try to kill you." Victor quickly spoke up.
"Not once did I say I was trying to kill her. Don't jump to conclusions." Matt gave him a glare as I continued.
I'm willing to trust him. And besides…" I looked behind me and gave Taylor a cheeky smirk. "…I think Taylor wants to get to know him better." Taylor blushed.
"What? Noooo… You've got it all wrong…"
"You're face says otherwise."
"Maybe a little…" Matt rolled his eyes and flicked his hand to Lycanroc. He nodded and brought the rocks down. Victor sighed with relief and picked his mask back on. As he passed me, he gave me a nod.
"Try to stay out of trouble. I'll clean up the… Gakk!" without turning, I'd grabbed his hood.
"Did I say that I was going to let you go from here? I know you have work to do, but we "real worlders" need to stick together." Victor seemed to bristle at that.
"Actually, no. the more time we stick together in the one place, the more fissures will open. I wouldn't be surprised if the world collapsed in on itself any day now." I sighed.
"Fair enough. But at least stick around for the show. We'll probably leave once it's over anyway. That is the main reason we came here again."
"Although it seems BlueTornado3275 has forgotten that point."
"He hasn't. He's just taking forever to get to the point."
"Anyhoo, you're sticking with us until we go." Victor sighed.
"I don't get a say do I?" I shook my head and he sighed again. "Fine." I grinned.
"Welcome aboard Vic."
…
After a bit of bush bashing through the woods, we finally came across a track. Tat sighed.
"Now, just because we found ah track, doesn't mean there'll be ah train coming though anytime soon." Sam chuckled nervously.
"Hopefully that doesn't mean we'll be stuck out here." I glanced around and looked at everyone's worried faces. I stopped at Victor though, as he had a thoughtful look on his face.
"You seem to have a solution Vic. Care to share?" (Hey! That rhymes!) Victor shrugged.
"Don't know if it'll work though." Taylor shrugged.
"Anything is better than nothing." Victor grinned before clearing his throat.
"The Great Western way, is the wrong way."
"I'm sorry, what was that?" We all (Except Victor.) jumped at the new voice and turned to see Duck sitting there with a mean look on his face. Victor shrugged.
"Well whaddya know. It worked." Duck on the other hand, didn't seemed too pleased.
"Let me tell you that the Great Western way is NOT the wrong way." I just blinked at the exchange.
"How… How the hell…?" Duck chuckled.
"I know when someone's trash talking the Great Western Railway, so I came to put a stop to it."
"But how did you get here so quickly?"
"The power of story writing."
"Oookay…"
…
Ok, it didn't really happen like that. Duck and Oliver just so happened to be conveniently passing through with a goods train and was more than happy to give us a lift. However it wasn't all good news.
"Thomas' had an accident this morning."
"What? How?"
"He pulled this massive train that Diesel left in the yard and lost control of it. Crashed into Norman as he was exiting it." I cursed to myself forgetting about that. If I remember correctly, the "trucks" were actually Paxton, Den and Dart. I sighed as Taylor let out a chuckle.
"We'll meet you back at the hotel. You go and see your main engine." I smiled.
"I was going to. I don't need your permission." Taylor patted me on the back.
"Just be back before dark this time, yeah? I don't want to be worrying about you."
"No problem. I'll bring Matt with me this time."
"Wait, what? What am I doing now?"
Duck and Oliver let us off at Killdane Station, which was just outside the showgrounds. Taylor, Sam, Tat and Victor headed to the other platform while Matt and I caught a train to Crovan's Gate. From there, we made our way to the Steamworks. As we came to the entrance, I heard a particular loud booming voice.
"Victor! Can I go now? I've been here for days!"
"For the last time Gordon. Hold your horses. The workmen need to run a safety check on you." I heard Matt chuckle as we walked in. Sure enough, sitting on the Narrow Gauge side of the Steamworks, was a streamlined Gordon. He let out a huff and closed his eyes as the workmen began to swarm over him once more. Quietly, I made my way over to Gordon, waving silently to Victor, who knew exactly what I was doing when he saw me. I paused in front of the proud blue engine before sighing.
"If you don't pass the safety check, you might make your boiler burst." Gordon's eyes snapped open and looked right at me. I gave him a wave. "Hi!"
"Amber? What are you doing here?"
"Amber's here?" I looked back up and spotted Thomas hanging from the roof from the various cranes. I gave him a wave too. Gordon sighed.
"I guess that would be a bad thing. That would be humiliating."
"So stick around. We wouldn't want "The Shooting Star" to bang himself up before the big race." Gordon spluttered.
"How did you…"
"Good luck tomorrow Gordon!" I quickly made my way back over to Thomas as Gordon continued to splutter, clearly confused how I knew his streamlined name. Thomas already looked rather put out when I strode up.
"So, what happened?" Thomas let out a huff.
"There was something fishy about those trucks. Diesel just left them in the yard, in the way of everything I might add. I tried to move them, and they pushed me into Norman." Matt sighed.
"Well that's because…" I elbowed him in the ribs, causing him to stop.
"Probably just some really agitated trucks. You know how Diesel is." Matt coughed and gave me a glare.
"What was that for?" He hissed at me. I gave him a wink.
"He probably doesn't need to know what really happened. He'd be pretty upset if he knew." Matt rolled his eyes.
"Whatever."
"What are you two whispering about?"
"Nothing!" I chuckled before thinking.
"Now that I think about it, why haven't the diesels come after me again? Surely Diesel 10 would have sent someone after me by now." Thomas did the engine equivalent of a shrug.
"Beats me. Enjoy it while it lasts I'd say." I smiled to him.
"I wasn't worried too much." Matt cleared his throat.
"Sorry to be a downer, but we'd better get back to the hotel. It'll be dark soon and I don't want to be out here at night." Thomas perked up at that.
"Don't worry! I'll take you home."
"No you won't." Victor rolled up to us and gave Thomas a stern glare.
"Your buffer beam is busted Thomas. I can't let you go without fixing it." Thomas sighed.
"Can you fix it now then?"
"Unfortunately, no. We need to finish on Gordon before tomorrow. We probably won't get to fix you until tomorrow morning." Thomas' face fell.
"W-w-what! B-b-but the show is tomorrow! I need to get ready!"
"For what? As far as I know, you're not a represent-ee." Thomas sighed sadly.
"I… Never mind." I really didn't like seeing Thomas like this. I let out a sigh.
"How's this. I'll stop by tomorrow and we'll watch it on the TV. I'm sure there's one lying around here somewhere." Victor shrugged.
"I have no problems with that." Thomas smiled weakly.
"I guess. It's better than not seeing it at all." I gave him a pat on his twisted buffer.
"That's the spirit! I'll be here just before lunch. I believe that's when the Great Race is on." Thomas nodded.
"Yes. See you tomorrow Amber." With a wave good bye to Thomas, Victor and Gordon, Matt and I headed out of the Steamworks and back to the Crovan's Gate Station.
…
We were back at the hotel before you could say "Great Railway Show."
When we walked in, Taylor was setting Victor up on the couch for the night. The two waved to us.
"Hey! You're back."
"How's Thomas?"
"He's… Fine, but kinda disappointed that he can't go to the show." Victor shrugged.
"That's what he gets for running a red signal." Taylor rolled her eyes.
"And before you ask, Tat and Sam went down to the Supermarket. Sam found a barbeque on the roof when Tat pulled him up there for one of her "Quality Time with Tat" sessions. We're having a good ol' BBQ tonight!" Matt chuckled at her terrible attempt of an Australian accent and she huffed. "Oh, stuff a sock in it you."
Tat and Sam came back not long after us and as Taylor had said, we had a "Good Ol' Barbeque," with all the good stuff. Sausages, kebabs, chops and a surprisingly good potato salad from Victor. While today had been rather windy, it seemed to die down when we ate dinner. So much so, that we got a good look at the stars in the cloudless sky. Taylor went as far to shut off the lights on the roof to get a better look at them. It was a really good night before the show and I'm pretty sure I saw Taylor leaning on Victor too.
Too bad the serenity didn't last.
Fudgin' hell! This took me forever to write! Really sorry for the wait, but hey. We've got two chapters to go now! Nearly done. Just stick around and I'll be done in no time! Hopefully not three months apart again…
Sorry again. Read, review, Like, Subscribe, You know the deal. See you next chapter!
Next: Let the Games Begin!