I hope you like what you've seen thus far! The next few chapters will be moving us onto the events of the first two seasons, if I remember correctly, and as Zero wasn't in those ones at the time, we'll be getting a few callbacks and see what he was doing there, and how his relationship with the Malignance develops.
AaronCottrell97: Agreed.
Reality Rejection Service: Thaaaaaaat he has.
Game-Watch: Oh, you will. You will.
MattPrice01: Thank you!
JD145: I am taking that as praise! Yeah, the thing is, I wanted to do the Pack episodes first because I'm a fan of the idea of going back and explaining away moments played for laughs as being actually significant in some way. And this is. Just not for a long, long time.
Radical Sandwiches: Top 10 Anime Betrayals. THE OAK TREE WAS THE REAL VILLAIN.
UGX7: Those errors have hopefully been corrected! And no, I don't hate Oliver at all! I really love him a lot. It's just that he's a lot of fun to write for with regards to his personality. I can exaggerate a lot with him, especially in his later episodes, and it's actually fairly close to how they've been portraying him thus far in the CGI series. So...yeah, just a bit of fun. Again, the Twins will be addressed, don't worry.
Bronze Shield: And a happy NON-SPECIFIC THING to you too.
Australian Guest: He has seen more than one horror movie. And yeah, Oliver is a very stupid, scrap obsessed Batman.
Hughie99: Thank you! Yeah, that is something I want to get into as we go along, especially as in Season 8 and 9 I'll be slowly revealing what and who the Malignance is. He's a different kind of villain in that he sees what he is doing as right, and you get to see how this came to be. Now as to voice actors, I would actually recommend you type into YouTube a man called Anton Lesser. He's in Game of Thrones as Qyburn, for those who watch that, and in Endeavour as Superintendent Bright. He's a really good actor, and I picked him primarily because he's got a very raspy, low voice that can be either threatening or charming. Or both. The thing with the Malignance is, despite the fact that there are similarities with the Malevolence, is that they have different ways or operating and acting and even thinking.
CUE THE THEME!
"Good morning, Thomas!"
"GO TO HELL!"
This was how most mornings for Arthur started. He was unaware of Thomas's seething hatred for him, and thus was rather enjoying his current status as inmate in the world's least secure asylum, known by it's more popular name of the Island of Sodor.
He was still learning his way around. He had been to the tunnel (Which had been mysteriously blown up as soon as he had entered), up the hill (Where someone had tried to push him back down) and even across the viaduct (A combination of the two). Luckily, Thomas had always been ridiculously close by and had taken the blows meant for him.
He didn't seem too happy about it, either. He had kept rambling on about how Duck had 'promised him that these assassination tools worked just fine', which Arthur took to be the signs of the concussions he had accumulated.
One morning, Arthur had intended to head over to the Docks to doing whatever it is engines did over at the Docks besides screwing things up and teasing the hell out of Cranky. But by accident, he ended up stumbling into Smelly-by-the-sea. He gasped. He gaped. He attempted to put a clothes peg on his nose.
The sun made the sea sparkle. Except for all the mutated seaweed, that is. The gulls called across the harbour to each other, and then began a fierce battle over a solitary chip.
This was Arthur's favourite place.
"It's so rural! And yokel-filled! It would make a perfect study for my new documentary, whenever I get the chance to make a new one!" He told the other tank engines over some ale.
Thomas sneered. "Pa-thetic! Who the hell do you think you are?! Besides, no idiot wants to work down there for anything more than a few hours!"
"Oh? Why not? I was thinking that it was a lovely place to put my yacht-"
"YOUR WHAT?!" shrieked the Number One Prima Donna. "WHAT DO YOU EVEN NEED A YACHT FOR?!"
"Oh?" asked Arthur, genuinely innocently. "You don't have one. I would have thought even with your show being second in the ratings to mine-"
"NOW YOU LISTEN HERE!" thundered the tank engine.
Percy noticed that Duck and Oliver were decidedly frosty with each other. "So…what's your reaction this?"
"That depends-" said Duck and Oliver at once "-on what HE has to say about it!" They glanced at each other with barely contained rage, before spitting out their drinks and storming off to work.
"Hmm…that's not good." Stepney muttered. "Meeting in a few days, we'll try and give you guys something of an update."
"You seem peeved, Thomas. Bad day at work?"
Thomas stared at Arthur in rage. "I am going-" said he "-to scream into my pillow. I know not when I shall be back. Before I go though, I would like to congratulate you Arthur. You are the first and only person who has ever cared one jot about the fishing village."
…..
"There's going to be a new line to the fishing village-"
"MOTHER FUCKER!" shouted Thomas the Tank Engine. The Fat Controller closed his eyes, counted to ten and then continued onwards.
"I have to decide which engine I need to punish. I need an engine to go down there and work it for a bit, maybe get some footage for their show or something."
Thomas beamed. He was already going to take the time to see if he couldn't come up with anything to try and kill Arthur with while the red engine worked down there. Judging by the expression on Arthur's face, he looked like he wanted to actually work there. And now he could put those plans into act-
"Thomas! Since your branch-line is shutting down for the moment, you'll be doing all the important stuff down there!"
"FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFfffffffffffffffffffffffffffffine then sir." Thomas, plastering on the cheesiest and fakest grin he could, said with as much rage kept out of his speech as he could. Arthur was disappointed.
Not as disappointed as Thomas was, though.
Instead, Arthur was sent to haul coal to the steelworks with Duck and Percy. The atmosphere there wasn't much better, as Duck was still fuming at Oliver for…whatever it was that had happened.
As he returned, he caught sight of Thomas looking enraged on a siding. Emily had turned her back to him to try and hide how much she was laughing at his misfortune. "Do I smell a fishy engine?!" teased Arthur.
"YES YOU DO YOU SODDING-" Thomas took a deep breath. "Yes. The bloody fish wouldn't stop going all over me, and then I had to get dragged back by that arsehole over there!" The orange-brown engine had been introduced in an episode shot previously, though thanks to a broadcasting mix-up, he wasn't able to be named or do anything of importance. Soon, though.
"So it's going well then! I tell you what, I envy you, Thomas. Rich as I am, I don't think I'd be able to woo the Fat Controller as well as you must have been able to do!"
"You are this close to joining the dinosaurs in being extinct, Arseless."
Arthur wished he could go there, he would be much happier than Thomas. Then again, at present Kelly was more happy than Thomas was, and that said a lot.
….
"ALL RIGHT!" Thomas began to laugh maniacally. "The giant boxing glove? CHECK! The electrified tracks leading into the seaweed that appears to be…chewing off the pier? CHECK! A group of suspiciously fish-filled vans that I'm going to have to pull? CHE-Oh shit!"
Thomas was grumpy. The fishermen had caught lots of fish. Bloody losers, he thought. It's not your job to catch fish, it's your job to complain about not catching any on daytime talk shows and say that this is the fault of the government! Somehow!
"Hurry up! I have a big schedule today, lots of important stuff on TV! Have you ever been on TV? No? Didn't think so!"
"You're a fussy little prick aren't ye." The lead fisherman said. "Just enjoy the nice salty fresh air we've got here!"
"BLEUGH!" said Thomas, showing the fishermen where he could stick his salty fresh air. Soon he was steaming along as fast as he could. After delivering half of the fish, he returned back in equally fast time.
"Get this over with, and then I get to watch Arthur's smug face as he-"
He never finished his sentence, as some faulty points sent the trucks one way, and him onto another, the old pier that for some reason was still operational. "Ohhhhh dear!" He wailed as he went through every piece of construction equipment there was, before coming to an abrupt stop on the edge.
"Phew. That was-"
Then the boxing glove went off and sent him face-first into the water.
"HEEEEE'S fallen in the water!" said one truck, who was a big fan of the Goon Show.
"PFFT!" snarled Thomas, spitting up water and trying to ignore the sensation of seaweed attempting to eat his face. "I should really just be the bigger engine about all this, I suppose."
He thought about it.
"SOD IT! PETTY TO THE END!"
At which point, the tide began to come in. Thomas began to wonder if perhaps he could go grow gills under water, or perhaps get some scuba equipment.
And then he started to drown.
The Fat Controller heard the news, and did something never before seen on the Island. He looked at the timetable. "Ohhhhh, okay, Arthur's the nearest engine we can send who won't just leave Thomas to die. He'll come right away! Now, leave me alone, me and a currant bun have a date to be going to!"
The ice that was keeping the fish cold was melting rapidly. "I hope someone comes along soon- YEOUCH!" Thomas said, and then shouted. He had the feeling that soon he was going to be the one on ice, given the way the day was going.
And then it got worse.
"Are you all right?"
"PISS OFF ARTHUR!"
"Do you always take a bath here? I always prefer the washdown for a really nice-"
"If you are going to mock me, at least have the decency to save me from the inevitable death I face before you do so!" Thomas growled, trying his hardest not to cuss Arthur out for fear of being left behind. "Or…I don't know, take the fish to market or something, the pong is awful!"
"Right, leave him to drown!" said Arthur's driver-cum-cameraman. "We can't afford the Breakdown Train, so the Breakdown Van will be hear soon!" And soon they were off, leaving Thomas to regret his choice of words.
"I meant SAVE ME YOU LOONS!" he screamed after them.
Arthur raced along the line and arrived at the docks just in time. Sorry, if you want tension, you need to find another season. It's season seven, where tension drops dead. And then gets resurrected several times, and then beaten to death repeatedly. He then hurried off to see Thomas at the fitter's yard.
"How you doing, mate?"
"Thank you." Thomas said in a sulky manner. "For helping me- WHAT THE HELL IS THAT SILVER TRASH BEHIND YOU!?"
Continuity apparently took a back seat today.
"Thank you! I wish I could have the fishing village."
"You can keep it! I've had it up to hear with ruddy fish! I hope I never have to experience them again!" Thomas said, cursing himself for the rest of his life.
"Tell me about it." Growled Henry.
And that night, as Arthur, Emily and whoever the hell the two engines were who had apparently teleported in from some sort of temporal fluctuation were, the Fat Controller arrived. "Okay, I need a volunteer to work the line-"
"ME!"
"Sure, that's fine. Whatever, Mr Angelis, can we get to the wrap up speech please? It's yours."
Moving onto that speech, Arthur arrived bright and early next morning. The smell of fish, and mutant seaweed was everywhere, but he was sure he had the best line on Sodor.
Which isn't that far removed from the truth, to be honest, with the way things were going.
….
The silver engine and the orange engine waited off on the side. They weren't really who they claimed they were. They watched as a small, compact diesel moved into the Island and winked at them.
"Good morning." purred D1 in an oily voice. "Guess who's back."
As to the identity of those two strangers?
Well. We'll come back to that.
...
THE PAST.
The next day, the group were informed that Isabella and Byron had been assigned elsewhere for the time being, and that work should continue as it had been for the most part. The others were confused about this, but for the most part accepted it as something that had to be done, Buster noting that he would compose an album to commemorate their sacrifice. Kelly was the only one who hesitated a moment, before glancing to Zero in confusion.
"Where's Nigel, sir?""
Zero looked confused. "Who is Nigel?" He knew very well of course. But it was fun to watch the memory loss take effect.
"Well, I...I..." Kelly's mind was drawing a blank. He was sure that there had been a Nigel here recently, and he was fairly sure that he had spent some time with him over the years. And yet trying to focus his attention on Nigel was like trying to stop sand falling through a sieve. Impossible. "I don't..."
"No Nigel here, Kelly. But thanks for the reminder! Let me introduce ye to the newest member of the Pack!"
The excavator rolled forward. Something about him made Kelly tilt his head, there was something familiar about him. Maybe it was the paintwork. Or the slightly unsteady way that he rolled forward, like he wasn't used to having this number of wheels. Or maybe it was the face. The face was very, VERY familiar after all.
"Hiya hiya hiya I'm Alfie let's get mucky dig dig dig dig dig dig dig dig!" said Alfie. And if anyone could remember Nigel's voice, they would have had the shock of their life. Because there it was. With just the hint of madness now.
"Yes, Alife, get ta work, lads! Sooner we're done here, sooner we can get a move on."
...
John looked surprised. "The hell did ye do?"
"Simple, really. The Malignance was definitely somewhat related to the Mysterons. And that included the power of reorganizing matter however he wanted, though in that state, it was just the once. It took some time and a whole lot of screaming, but we managed it. Compacting some bits, expanding others until we had ourselves a grand old excavator. We had Nelson, we didn't need another transporter. Of course, his mind didn't survive the journey. But then who's could have, it would have been quite painful."
"Ah. And then?"
"And then we got on with the job."
...
THE PAST.
"Ehhhh this stuff is crap! When are we going to get some real SHIT!?"
"Don't know bro! Wassup with that/!"
Zero had been listening to the two banksmen whining and screaming at each other over the loud music for the last three hours. It was agonizing to listen to, like listening to two seals constantly slapping each other while a walrus wailed off in the distance. And yes, that metaphor had gotten away from him there, but then again, listening to those two was mind destroying.
Hmmm...now there was a thought.
Almost as if picking up on it, the Malignance began to concentrate. "What would you like me to do with them?"
"See those twin lorries over there? Let's see if we can't give them more of a personality." Zero no longer cared about the business, he would destroy it for whoever came next if he had to. It was time for Mr Packard to die, and for the Captain to retake his rightful identity.
Anyway, after ripping the minds of the banksmen out and putting them in Max and Monty's bodies, and standing back to watch as the inevitable freakout occurred, Zero was feeling much better about things.
And then-
"WE'VE FOUND IT!"
Oliver had been digging up an area near the fire station when his shovel had hit something or other. The other vehicles crowded around it, and as Zero rushed forwards, he gazed down in wonder at the sight of the gate.
It was time.
Slowly, with the assistance of Nelson and Kelly, the gate was pulled up and came to rest atop the muck. Everyone stared at it in wonder.
And then something began to happen.
Slowly, but increasing at a furious rate with every second, the gate began to glow, and for the first time in his life, Captain Zero stared at a time portal. It flashed and glowed, tendrils lunging off of it almost in desperation. It was as if whatever the portal was, it was trying to get out. The Pack began to back away, but too late! The tendrils lashed out and grabbed hold of Oliver, Patrick, Nelson and Kelly, pouring images of what may be and what would be into their heads at record speed.
Large cement buildings rising up from the ground, the countryside covered in metropolis after metropolis, rails and roads everywhere as far as the eye could see. Patrick saw this and the horrible feeling that no matter what anyone did, this concrete future would happen, permeated into his brain and shattered all else, there was only the concrete, that was the only thing that would last.
Images of the skies splitting open, raining down creatures after creatures that tore apart engines that looked familiar upon the Island of Sodor, and then rampaging their way across the known world and eradicating all humans that stood in it's way hit Oliver like a freight train. Whimpering, his arm spun around, and nothing he could think of could drown out the inevitable thought: You cannot stop this.
What Nelson saw, no one ever knew. Whatever it was though, it wasn't pleasant.
And finally, there was Kelly. All he saw was repeated images of his friends dying, being revived in the most painful ways possible and then dying again. He saw the Malignance, now in a form that was more normal and yet far more terrifying than even his present state, standing tall, as an army of steam engines stormed over everything, cutting down anything and everything that was in his path. The end of the universe, the end of ALL universes, played out at once, and a single thought projected itself through that future and into Kelly's brain.
YOU DON'T DESERVE TO LIVE.
...
The Pack were packed off to their yard, most of them having their memories wiped of the last few moments. But the damage was done. With the exception of Ned who was a little bit simple to begin with, every single member of the Pack had been affected and shaken up by what they had seen.
The gate was soon transported across to the Other Railway, where it was dissected in an attempt to understand how to send people through it. It wasn't until 1999 that they figured it out fully. But they had time.
...
"Shit."
"What is it now, ye prick in sheep's clothing?!"
"Nothing, I've just realized something. Left m'present for Jenny back at yon desk!"
"Then hurry the feck up and get it!"
"If ye insist, dear." Zero glanced over his shoulder. The rest of the Packards had banded together to go and see his daughter together. Every last stinking one of them, aside from his daughter. She might make a good investment one day, he thought as he headed in the direction of the airport.
The direction, but not the actual airport itself. Slipping behind the building, he waited for a second.
And then another.
"Where's the ka-"
BOOM!
The plane exploded into a million, tiny pieces as it prepared to turn around. As the security team rushed over in a vain attempt to put out the flames, Captain Zero headed off in the general direction of the nearby car.
Well. That was that.
...
Later on, a young Miss Jenny would receive the remaining assets of the Packard family, which consisted of a small area on the Island of Sodor to live in, and a collection of mentally ill vehicles that everyone thought were hilarious. Technically, as it turned out, Bob the Builder was a rip-off of them. And thus, heart hardened and knowing not that her last surviving member of her family was currently living the high life elsewhere, she set about creating the Sodor Construction Company.
As for that surviving member?
Well, he was busy with his own things. Like hunting down the last of the 'Old Ones' on orders of the Fat Director to create a being that would supposedly house this...Malevolence. And all the while, the chest talked to him, and told him some of his plans.
It needed, the Malignance told him, one thing to get out of the chest.
And that was the Malevolence destroyed.
And that began a job that would take Captain Zero somewhere between twenty and fifteen years to come to fruition.
But that is a story for another time.