Heroes
Based upon the story by Andrew Brenner, David Mitten and Britt Alcroft
Adapted by Rachel Ravens
Takes place between DfH and EE
The year had been quite eventful so far… if you were a Ffarqhuar engine or a Skarloey Railway engine, that is. Edward was at the China Clay quarry telling Bill and Ben the latest news.
"... and so," he was saying, "Daisy became a permanent resident of the North Western Railway, becoming the third diesel of the fleet."
"What about Mavis?" asked Bill, "didn't she come before Daisy?"
"Silly, Bill," laughed Ben, "Mavis is at a privately owned company like you and me."
"That's correct," chuckled Edward. "And Duke has settled in on the Skarloey Railway very well."
"It must have been quite an adventure for everyone looking for him," said Bill.
"Though I wonder if Lady Hatt's going to cope with so many pieces of torn clothing," chuckled Ben.
"And the saloon coaches were all mended just in time for the centenary," smiled Edward. "I'm very glad we found them all."
"I'm sorry that Duke missed out on that," sighed Bill. "He would have loved it."
"Indeed," agreed Ben. "And there was so much confusion over the whole 'Dukes' situation."
"Not to mention Flyer being under maintenance at the time," added Bill.
"Water under the bridge now, I'm certain of it." Edward smiled. His guard's whistle blew. "I'd better go, Bill and Ben. Good catching up with the pair of you."
The blue tender engine left the China Clay quarry with a cheerful whistle, and the twins whistled in kind. However, this discussion had started to make Bill and Ben become quite restless.
"Listen, Bill," said Ben a few days later, "can you hear something?"
"What sort of something?" asked his twin curiously.
"Something different." replied Ben.
Bill listened carefully.
"Hmm… quarry workers loading trucks, cranes lifting machinery, trucks chatting… hey!" snapped Bill. "There's nothing different around here. It's all the same."
"Exactly!" huffed Ben. "Everything's the same. Sounds the same, looks the same, just like it's been for the majority of the year." He paused impressively. "You know what we need, Bill?"
"What do we need?"
"We need… a surprise." Ben grinned. "You know, like the Ffarquhar engines with their new diesels, or the Skarloey Railway's impromptu search party."
"It's a pity we found that saloon coach ages ago," grunted Bill. "What kind of surprise can we get now?"
"If we knew that, it wouldn't be a surprise now would it?" asked Ben.
"I guess we're going to have to wait for one to come to us," sighed Bill.
Just then, their manager came up.
"Bill and Ben," he said to the twins, "Sir Topham Hatt needs you both at Knapford."
"He does?" asked Bill. "Whatever for?"
"Why don't you find out?" chuckled the manager.
The twins set off for Knapford.
"I wonder what we've done wrong this time," worried Bill.
"It's probably you," retorted Ben.
"Why me?" exclaimed Bill, "I've not done anything."
Sir Topham Hatt greeted them at the platform.
"Diesel needs help in the yards," he said, "extra trains are scheduled for the Bank Holiday."
"We'll do our best, sir," said Ben.
"Don't worry, sir," added Bill, "we'll get the situation well in buffer."
They rushed off to the yards, and were just in time to see Diesel get the old coaches.
"Oh, hello," called Bill, "what's going on here?"
"Edward's taking some children on a trip," Hilary explained.
"We're all really excited!" cried Audrey. "I can't wait!"
"I don't see what all the fuss is about," grumbled Diesel.
"It's to a petting zoo," Mark put in. "There's lots of baby animals there."
"Baby animals…" Diesel trailed. "I… I see."
"Oh, do you like baby animals, Diesel?" Bill teased.
"Of course I don't!" snapped Diesel. "It's just stuff and nonsense."
"Alright, alright!" came Duck's voice; he had just come in with a train from the Little Western and was on his way to the coal hopper. "Bill and Ben, you two are supposed to be helping Diesel, aren't you?"
"Oh, we were just teasing," giggled Ben. "Apparently he-"
"There's lots of trains going in and out," Duck insisted. "If you don't get back to work, they will all be delayed."
"Fine, Duck," muttered Bill. "Keep your dome on."
The twins scampered away.
"I thought Duck would have been amused," Ben commented.
"Yeah," added Bill, "Duck and Diesel really hate each other, what with the whole lying thing?"
"Maybe he's just being his proper and professional self," Ben concluded, "you know, running things like clockwork."
"That would do it," sighed Bill.
The two got to work arranging the trucks and coaches accordingly.
"This is very easy," said Ben.
"Yeah," added Bill. "We know all about trucks, and shunting coaches isn't all that hard either."
Just then, Gordon arrived in the yards on his way to the water tower.
"You must behave here," Gordon told the twins. "You're in the yards of the main line now."
"Actually, Gordon," giggled Ben, "when we saw you, we thought this place had turned into the scrapyard."
"That's funny," retorted Bill, "I thought you said you wanted to dump him into the sea when he came to our branch line."
"Huph!" snapped Gordon. "Just make sure that my coaches are ready for my evening train."
"Oh, of course," said Ben as Gordon puffed off. "Bossy boiler."
"We've got this," grinned Bill.
The twins and Diesel continued their shunting. At first, things seemed to go smoothly enough.
"I've got another two passenger trains to prepare for Henry and James," Diesel was saying, "if you two can tackle some goods trains for Donald and Douglas, that would save some time."
"Of course," said Bill.
"We can handle anything," added Ben.
But unfortunately, the trucks were tired of being pushed around by Bill and Ben.
"Let's push them around instead," said one of the trucks.
"Yeah," added another. "Let's play a joke on them, since they love jokes."
Bill started to arrange some trucks for Donald.
"Oh," said one of the trucks, "you need to get some tar tankers for this train too."
"Really?" asked Bill. "The yardmaster didn't tell me this."
"Yeah," another truck added. "The roads by the Little Western had a few potholes in them."
"Oh, I see," said Bill. "We can't have Algy delayed or broken down. How many tar tankers do we need?"
"Two, I think." a third truck put in.
Bill rushed off to grab some.
Meanwhile, Ben was getting Douglas' train ready.
"Oh," said one of the trucks, "you don't need any ballast trucks today."
"Why's that?" asked Ben. "The yardmaster said…"
"The ballast chute's broken," said another truck. "The yardmaster forgot about it."
"Oh dear," said Ben. "Well, that would be a bit silly to have ballast trucks on the train."
Later, Donald and Douglas came to collect their goods trains.
"Okay, let's git... Huh?" gasped Donald. "Whaur did thae tar tankers come fae?"
"Guid quaistion." Douglas muttered, then he realised something too. "Where's mah ballast trucks?"
Bill and Ben rushed out.
"The road by the Little Western has potholes in it," said Bill.
"And the ballast chute is broken," added Ben.
"That's nonsense," cried Donald. "Algy tellt us th' roads wur smooth 'n' dry."
"'N' Dook teuk some ballast trucks tae th' chute this mornin'." Douglas added. "'twas workin' braw."
"This wid nae be yin o` yer pranks, wid it?" asked Donald crossly.
"N-no!" cried Bill.
"We're sorry," exclaimed Ben. "We'll go fix the trains right away."
The China Clay twins went about to fix the problem for the Scottish twins but I'm sorry to say that wasn't the only problem. The goods trains were delayed for the rest of the day thanks to them listening to the trucks.
"What in the world is going on?" growled Diesel.
"Er… we may have listened to the trucks," said Bill.
Diesel rolled his eyes. "You two! It's a well known fact among the engines that you cannot trust trucks! Well, unless it's a brake van named Toad, but that's besides the point."
"Sorry, Diesel…" sighed Ben.
"Look, I'll sort these trucks out," sighed Diesel. "You two better get Gordon's next passenger train ready. It's his evening one, and Edward's train-"
"-follows five minutes later," said Bill. "Yes, we know the one."
The two engines scuttled about trying to sort out the coaches. Meanwhile, Gordon and Edward were waiting for their coaches.
"Where are that Bill and Ben?!" snapped Gordon. "It's getting late for our trains."
"I hope they haven't done anything silly," sighed Edward.
Just then, both blue engines heard two high pitched whistles, and they felt coaches being shunted behind them.
"About time!" grunted Gordon.
"What happened, you two?" asked Edward.
Bill and Ben sadly explained to Edward about what happened; Gordon had departed with an indignant look on his face.
"I see," sighed the old engine. "You know, trucks don't always tell the truth."
"We had wanted a surprise," sighed Ben, "but this was not what we had in mind."
"I know," said Edward. "But things will get better. Just you both wait and see."
Just then, his guard's whistle sounded. "I'll see you both at the China Clay quarry," he called as he puffed away. He anxiously looked at the clock. "Ten minutes late; I'd better make up time."
"And Gordon was also ten minutes late…" grunted Bill. "We've really done it this time…"
The next day, Bill and Ben were back at the quarry again, and their manager was not impressed.
"If you two misbehave, you won't be allowed up to Knapford again!" he snapped.
"We're sorry, sir," the twins chorused.
"Now you two get back to work. No tricks today!"
Bill and Ben sadly went to collect their trucks to load up the China Clay, both were very subdued for the morning.
"I guess it was wrong of us to want a surprise," said Bill.
"Indeed," agreed Ben. "I suppose nothing good will come our way for a while."
The two continued their shunting, when there was Bill stopped suddenly.
"Ben," he said, "do you hear that strange noise?"
"I'm not falling for that trick-"
"No, really," Bill insisted, "listen."
Ben did so, and looked puzzled.
"I haven't heard a noise like that before." he replied.
"I have," said Bill's driver nervously. "It sounds like a rockslide to me."
"A rockslide?!" cried Ben. "That doesn't sound good to me."
Then, the twins heard the alarm.
"Danger!" called their manager. "Clear the quarry!"
"There's no time to grab coaches," said Bill. "Everyone, hop in our trucks!"
The workmen gratefully did so, carefully minding the rocks in the trucks.
"Thank goodness we weren't still at Knapford," sighed Ben.
"Indeed," agreed Bill. "Do we have everybody?"
"I think so," said one of the workmen.
Bill started away, and Ben waited for his path to clear, when suddenly…
"Help!" cried a voice. "Wait for me!"
"Our manager!" shirked Bill.
"Hop into my truck!" called Ben.
The quarry manager did so, and the rockslide was getting dangerously close to the edge of the quarry.
"Ben!" cried Bill, puffing faster. "Get out of there!"
"I'm trying," said Ben. He scampered away as quickly as he could. He was just in time. The rockslide reached the water tower, and it collapsed right over the tracks, knocking over the China Clay chute. The sheds were knocked over, and even some of the trucks got caught in the wreckage.
"Our quarry!" exclaimed Bill.
"Oh no…" sighed Ben. "Now what do we do?"
"I'll call for help," said their manager.
"This wasn't our fault," Bill said quietly.
"I hope Sir Topham Hatt and our manager understand," added Ben.
Later on, Sir Topham Hatt arrived with Edward and BoCo to help clear up the mess.
"Bill, Ben!" called BoCo, "are you two alright? Is anyone hurt?"
"We're okay," said Ben, "and so are the quarry workers."
"These two acted very quickly," explained the manager. "They helped to save everybody from the rockslide."
"Did they now?" asked Sir Topham Hatt. He turned to the twins. "Bill and Ben, you still have a lot to learn about trucks, don't you?"
"Yes, sir," said Bill quietly.
"But," added Sir Topham Hatt, "you acted quickly and bravely in an emergency. So, three cheers for Bill and Ben, our heroes! Hip hip, hooray, hooray, hooray!"
Edward and BoCo whistled and tooted in acclimation.
"Well done, you two!" smiled Edward.
"You were both very brave indeed," agreed BoCo.
"Oh, thank you sir, Edward and BoCo!" said Bill. "To be called heroes, it's, it's…"
"It's a really nice surprise," laughed Ben.
After the cheering died down, Bill and Ben then looked anxiously.
"What are we going to do about our quarry?" asked Bill.
"It will take several days to fix it," added Ben.
"Indeed it will," said the manager, "until then, you two will work at Brendam harbour and occasionally at Knapford."
"Thank you, sir," smiled Ben.
"And don't worry," added Edward. "We'll make sure the quarry is good as new, even if it takes us until Christmas."
"Oh yes," said Bill. "It'll be Mavis' first Christmas ever!"
"And Daisy's first one on Sodor," added Ben.
"And Duke's first one on the Skarloey Railway," smiled BoCo. "This one will be extra special, I just know it."
"An extra special surprise for the three of them," grinned Ben. "I hope it will be a good one."
But I'm afraid that will be another story for another day.
The End
Okay, so, if you've not kept up with the memo, Mavis, Duke and Daisy have all joined the cast in the last mashup, special and mini-special; Tramway Engines, The Duke of Sodor and Daisy for Hire respectively, in that order. Read all those if you want to get up to speed.
I changed the fact the twins were shunting at Suddery to them shunting at Knapford because it didn't make sense as to how Gordon was at the harbour without being sent there by mistake. Plus we get a bit more of Diesel and Duck's budding alliance in a quick scene, and the other engines' confusion about why Duck is secretly backing Diesel up.
Honestly, not too much to say with this one. Bill and Ben are surprisingly fun to write, despite me not being the biggest fans of these two (though I have to say, the voice actor WildNorWester picked out for them in his series is too cute, I love it.). This also shows interactions with both sets of twins, I have to say, that came out nicely.
Season 3's original episodes are almost done, and if you stuck with the program, you'll know which one is left, and spoiler alert, that one is next.
