The Island Of Sodor.

A mid-size island, perched in the middle of the Isle of Man, and The United Kingdom, commonly known as England setting in the Irish Sea. The piece of land is like no other. It is home to the North Western Railway, the world's best-persevered railway. Not so much as a heritage railway no long, due to people using the transportation as normal public transit- But, that isn't the only wonder.

Not just Sodor, but the entity of the world this island is located in, has living and breathing machines. Cars, busses, cranes, Space Ships, and locomotives. Working steam and diesel engines work all along the North Western delivering goods and transporting humans all up and down Sodor, and across the bridge from Vickerstown to the mainland, England. Everyone enjoys Sodor, its beautiful rivers, its green mountains, the puffing and chugging from the working engines-

All was peaceful...

Until it wasn't.

It was a late evening one afternoon, as one of the engines was chugging down the mainline of the railway. His name was Thomas. A small engine, a hybrid E2Class 0-6-0 Side tank. He wasn't the first engine on Sodor, but he's one of the most popular. He was rejected by the mainland, due to his older engine basis. Small water tanks, that resulted in them losing water quickly, a small firebox, small coal bunker. They were a mess. But, being hybrid, he has none of those problems... at least not constantly. Or, when he's not on the mainline.

The controller of the railway, Sir Topham Hatt, makes sure all of the engines are working properly, and makes sure they're well. One of the big fright engines, the firebox would not light up, and it resulted in another engine doing the job. There was no other big engine, but Thomas was the first to offer... despite him only being a small tank engine to take a long load. Now, it was biting him back in his rear buffers.

Thomas ran out of water two times from hauling a 23-car train. He was exhausted as he was filling up with water, at the water tower, sighing as the cool liquid splashed down in his tanks, "I'm... tired... I don't think I should have done this..." Thomas groaned. "I warned you." Said his fireman. "You know this was going to be too heavy for you..."

Thomas just grunted. He only wanted to help. He wasn't thinking ahead, on how heavy his train was going to be. "Well, let's just get this over with, right lad? The sooner we get this job done the better,"

Thomas agreed with him. "Yes, I need to get back to my branch line."

"Oh no..." The fireman said as he let go of the leaver, that releases water down into the hose. "You're not doing that until tomorrow. You need rest."

Thomas was just really in a helping mood, and frankly, he wasn't tired. But he knows he needs rest. Just his luck he might get tired halfway doing another job... which he has done by accident before. Having a sleep-puffing engine isn't safe in the slightest. "Alright..." The fireman said as he took the water hose out. "We are ready to roll."

"Finally..." Thomas said.

His fireman quickly hopped down from the top of his tank, just after closing the cap. Making a swift move, and jumped back into Thomas's cab. Grabbing a shovel, then opening the firebox latch, he shoveled some coal in to bring the heat back into Thomas's boiler. "Alright Thomas, all yours." The fireman said after he did his job.

PEEEP PEEEP!

Thomas blew into his whistle, then, a lever went to the right, then another spun around, with another that went up. The pistons in his undercarriage started to rotate. "Urggg..." He groaned as he tried to move. His wheels just spun around as they were trying to grip the rails. "Come on..." He said, with his wheels just slipping and slipping. The fireman tried to help and flipped a lever, and some sand sprinkled out in front of Thomas's first drive wheel. Poor Thomas was still having a hard time, even though his wheels were grabbing the rails now. "Cinders... and... ashes!" Thomas bawled. "This train isn't meant for a tank engine...like me..."

Eventually, he pulled out from the siding.

And he was going at a decent speed, with his fireman making sure his boiler stayed hot.

But that wasn't the worst of the problem. There was worst yet to come.

The original delivery was from Knapford to Vickerstown. He was going at a top speed of 30 miles per hour, which is even slower than what he goes on his passenger service. He was on the middle line, passing by stations, when he heard a loud whistle.

Before he could get his senses together, a blue blur shot by him.

"Out of the way you stupid tank engine!"

Poor Thomas had to gasp at how sudden it was. The fast engine picked up wind, and leaves blew all over, even into Thomas's eyes and mouth. "H-Hey! *cough!* Watch it! You almost made me choke on a leaf!" Thomas yelled. He was even more upset that it was Gordon. A modified A3 Pacific, the fastest engine on Sodor. Always picking on poor Thomas, because he can't help being a tank engine, who's mostly just good for shunting.

"Hey, watch it, Thomas, you're losing speed," His fireman told him. "Yeah! Because I'm cross! I'm getting sick of this fat boiler, fat face!" Thomas yelled. But, Thomas tried to make the heat rise into his boiler more. "I'll show this bossy boiler. I'll make it to Vickerstown! Little engines can do big-"

ZAP!

The entire night sky lit up in a flash of light, then-

BOOM

"things..." Thomas just closed his eyes, then grunted annoyed when he felt water dripping onto him. It started to rain. "Great, that'll fit my mood..."

He wasn't too far from the main station now, he was coming up to a tunnel. "Maybe I can stay in there until the rain passes."

"No Thomas. You know what happened to Henry when he did that." His fireman said. "Yeah, yeah. I know the lore." Thomas said with a pissed response. "And besides, you'll probably take a long time to start up again if you stop."

"Ugh, fine." So, Thomas just plowed into the tunnel entrance. Henry's tunnel was a little long, so it took a while to reach the other end. It was nice not to feel the water slam into him anymore. It was raining so hard Thomas could barely see in front of him. Not even with his lamp. But now it was a moment of calm, except for the times Thomas had to go under the tunnel vent shafts, and have the huge gush of water splash down on him. "Ugh, I hate water!" Thomas screamed. "And still, it's what makes you run." His fireman joked. "You know what I meant!" Thomas snapped.

Soft chugging came out of Thomas, as he went at the steady 30 miles per hour. He was getting worried as he was puffing closer to the exit. It was raining, which meant the tracks are damp. Which will put more of a strain on his wheels. "I can't do this..." Thomas said. "My wheels are just going to slip. Fireman, I'm going to use some of my sand when I get out of the tunnel."

Thomas continued to puff, but then he realized his fireman didn't answer. "Fireman? Did you hear me?"

There was no answer. "Hello? Fireman?"

Still, nothing. "Hm. Probably can't hear me over my chugs." Thomas said to himself. "Eh, he probably wouldn't mind me using my sander on my own."

He was now nearing the exit, so he got the lever ready, but then he heard a strange sound. It sounded off. It... sounded weird. It didn't sound like anything you'd normally hear. "What in godred was that?" Thomas said looking around. "Hey, fireman? Did you hear- W-What? What do the tunnel walls look like that?!"

There were red glowing marks that stretched down the tunnel walls, they went all over. Glowing.

That didn't look right. "Uhhh..." Thomas said. Confused, he continued to move on. "Ok, here's the exit. Everything is fine." He didn't want to stop, because he actually didn't really want to be unable to start back up. But as he came up to the exit-

"CINDERS AND ASHES!?" There were roots all over the place. Huge dust-looking particles floating around in the outside air. The air looked foggy, the sky had heavy clouds in the dark sky, that had some ominous, ambient light. But that wasn't what made Thomas yell out. One of the roots seemed to have dug up the track. He had applied his breaks-

But it was too late.

Thomas crashed into the roots and got derailed. Steam wheesed out of his pistons as he stayed stationary, leaning forward while crooked on the tracks. "Oh, what the?!" Thomas was really confused at what he saw, and the air around him. This didn't look like it. Sodor looked dead.

The trees, the buildings, the grass that was once green... all just dead. And the rain had somehow stopped. "W-What happened?! Hello?!"

There was no one. "F-Fireman! What is this! What happened to Sodor?!"

Still, the fireman said nothing. That's when Thomas realized he didn't feel the weight of the fireman inside of his cab. "F-FIREMAN! PLEASE ANSWER ME! PLEASE!" Thomas was getting scared. There were some sounds that he could not describe what he was hearing. It just... didn't sound human or machine. It sounded demonic.

Steam wheesed out of Thomas's pistons. "H-Hello?" Thomas said. He felt a sinking feeling deep in his boiler. He suddenly felt really alone. ".. Fireman...? Gordon?" He could have heard that horrifying sound again. "...James? Daniel?! Anyone?!" Thomas shut his eyes.

He then heard rocks shuffling. He felt his heart jump. Something was moving in front of him.

He didn't dare open his eyes.

He stayed like this for a good 10 seconds, until-

"...What are you?"

"No! Go away!" Thomas yelled with his eyes closed. "I won't fall for your tricks!"

"I'm... I'm not going to hurt you..."

Thomas was scared shitless. He wasn't sure if what was talking to him was what he heard, but he tried to open his eyes. He opened them slowly, then...

He was surprised at what he saw.

It looked like a little boy with curly hair. Or... was it a girl?

"..." Thomas didn't know what to say, he wasn't expecting to see a human who was the same age as him. "W-What? What are you doing here?" Thomas asked. "Are you lost?"

The little kid looked around, then at Thomas. "...What are you?" They asked. Thomas just blinked at them. "Y-You're a train... but you have a face..."

"Um... actually I'm an engine, not a train.." Thomas corrected them. The kid looked down at the roots that were on the tracks, then at Thomas. "Um... I-I crashed..." Thomas said, looking around. "And I don't know where I am..."

He looked at them. "Do you know where this is?"

The kid was just staring at the ground, at the roots. "... W-What are you doing?" Thomas asked. The roots started to move. "O-Oh, ok! Um... what?"

Then Thomas felt weird energy flowing through him. It felt familiar. Then he saw the kid staring at the bottom of him. "W-What?"

Thomas!

"Huh?"

Thomas!

Thomas looked around, no one was saying his name.

Thomas!

"THOMAS!"

Thomas jumped. "AHHH WHAT THE?!" Thomas's eyes shot open as he looked around. He squinted his eyes. "What the entire... hell?" The place looked normal. No fog in the air, it was raining again, and no roots. "Thomas! Look at me!"

Thomas looked down. It was his fireman.

"Thomas?! What.. what the hell happened?! How did you even derail!? Are you alright!? You were knocked the hell out! You wouldn't wake up!"

Thomas blinked. There were no roots. But he was derailed. What did he even crash on?

"U-Uh I'm fine! Actually..."

"Ok that's it. I'm calling Vickerstown for them to send an engine over to bring your train. You're waaayyyy too tired apparently. Crashing into air?! You need sleep! And on top of that, I'm going to have the breakdown train company haul you back home to Tidmouth."

Thomas was a little out of it. What just happened? Did he just dream that? Why did he dream of someone like Daniel? He and Daniel are close, he hasn't seen him in such a long time, does he miss him THAT much? To the point where he's dreaming about him? But then, when did Thomas even fall asleep? Was he that tired?

Thomas wasn't sure what was going on, but if that was a dream, it felt too real.