So here's the deal. I have the last essays for uni to write and thus, I have been busy over the past month or so getting things in order. Please do not harass me about them, I have a lot of work to be doing. Now that said, we are coming up the deadline so I will be finished with them after the 15th. Again, I apologize for the delay, but real life sucks sometimes and you've got stuff to deal with.

Now with that out of the way, review!

AaronCottrell97: Uh huh.

Reality Rejection Service: Yeah, honestly, last episode was pretty rough. This one is better because it has some funny stuff with Hatt in it, but luckily the last few aren't completely terrible, and the last episode is actually my favourite of the bunch.

Game-Watch: Update on the schemes are small, but important. We're really getting into it now.

MattPrice01: He is a BEAST! And yes, it was a lot of fun to write and do and all that jazz, even if the episode itself is pretty bland and forgettable.

Streakofscarlet: Hmm...interesting theories. I can't confirm them. I can't deny them either. You'll just have to wait and see. XD. But I'll say this, there's a lot of stuff coming up that should prove to be very interesting indeed.

Radical Sandwiches: Yep to both of those! Though...stuff is happening in this chapter to make the recovery a little harder!

UGX7: That they did.

Bronze Shield: Agreed, this is an episode that would work just as well with another character if adapted to their situation, like Bertie or even Trevor. Harold's personality doesn't suit it, the only thing that does suit the episode is the pun with Pegasus.

Australian Guest: DUN DUN DAAA indeed!

jsw: ...Wait and see. XD.

Garchomp65: It can exist, probably, but as I know little about it, I won't be incorporating it into the story. Besides which, there's too much in that show to try and incorporate it into this story now

CUE THE THEME

The engines on the mountain railway were excited. Their contract was nearly up, which meant they could all get some form of shut eye once the filming had stopped.

Oh and also they were building a new station (ANOTHER ONE!? I hear you cry? Yes. Another one. It's like a bloody disease that won't stop spreading) which we are going to illustrate to you via the use of clips that have nothing to do with said new station or the construction of it.

Now, you may notice that the Narrow Gauge engines are not natural construction workers. You would be correct in this, as they had hired Miss Jenny's Pack to do the work for them.

Unfortunately, Jack had accidentally stabbed Kelly with his frontloader (Much to Kelly's annoyance, this did not finish him off once and for all and instead merely mildly inconvenienced him). And Miss Jenny had misheard the Fat Controller and, instead of constructing a 'new station', ended up creating a 'cool inflation area'. Which, in human speak, was basically a place for the Cult of the Red Balloon to meet and greet.

So, with this screwed up, the five engines had to make do and try and create a station to take people to knew and exciting areas of the Island. These included such much see spots as:

-Old Man Norris's Burning Haystacks
-Old Man Norris's Burning Caravan
-Massive Bloody Fire, as Maintainted by Old Man Norris
-Smouldering Ash, What is Left Of Old Man Norris

…..

The Fat Controller arrived with important news. "The new line shall be opened tomorrow. I shall see it….FROM THE AIR!" He sighed. "Now that we've managed to pay off that mad fool with all those crates of bananas, hopefully Harold will be in finer fettle. I shall be arriving with Lady Hatt in that helicopter, and I shall look amazing while doing so!"

"Why from the air, sir?"

"Because WHY NOT at this stage, Rusty. Besides, you see one new station from the ground you've fair seen them all. I want to see if there's anything interesting up in the sky and- Where the hell is that red arsehole?!"

"Rheneas is right to the side of ye, sir." Duncan remarked. He and Rusty shared a rare snigger at this. Peter Sam was too busy contemplating the humble dandelion to react to this.

As Skarloey chugged in, the Fat Controller spun around. "You're late for the announcement! Still, you managed to beat Sir Handel here. He's not been on time for anything in years!"

There was an audible silence.

"Sir….are….you do know that Sir Handel's been gone for four years now?"

The Fat Controller started. "IS HE?! I thought he was just shy!?"

"…..Sir Handel, sir? We speak of the same engine?"

"MOVING ON! Skarloey, this is unacceptable! Really useful engines are never late!"

"But I was doing work, boyo! For charity!"

"No bloody excuse! Get your arses on time tomorrow or I'll have you for mincemeat!"

"He's fat enough already." Rusty murmured. Duncan cackled.

…..

The next day, at the airfield, an issue was had.

"Some maniac's stuffed a banana into Harold's engine!" said the pilot. "Wait, hang on, a whole fistful of the stuff! What idiot tried to flog him off with bananas?!"

Everyone looked at the Fat Controller. "What!? I'm not made of money you know! Have you tried paying alimony to an ex who's father is the chief justice in this bloody Island?! I like my bank account as it is, ta!"

"BUT. BUT THE GRAND OPENING!" Lady Hatt was well aware that the camera was upon her and decided to throw herself into the acting lark. She wanted that role as Lady Macbeth at the Knapford Theatre by golly, she was going to get it. "I've been looking forward to it ALL WEEK!"

"Never fear darling! I shall find us a solution!"

The Fat Controller walked off towards Tiger Moth's hanger.

There was a loud explosion, and he walked back, slightly on fire. "Okay, so apparently Tiger Moth is going to be in traction for the next few months, so he's out of the question….might as well make use of that wasted construction job, then."

….

"IN THIS?!"

"I know the cultists don't exactly give it the best image, dear one, light of my life, buuuut it's either that or walking. Besides, the wind direction is perfect!"

"Oh? And are you a master of the balloon flying arts?!"

"No, but I know a good bargain when I see one."

The pilot walked forward. "Hello, oh Brother Hatt. We of the Saintly Order of The Crimson Inflated Majesty thank you for your humble personage. There is the matter of a fee."

Hatt waved a hand magnanimously. "Name your price."

"To experience the journey of a lifetime, we require thirty of your pounds."

"THIRTY QUID!?" shouted Hatt. He hastily pulled out his wallet as the pilot made to move off, and handed him the money.

"And of course, there is the money that must go to our veterans in need."

Again, out came the wallet.

"Not to mention that which will go the tax."

And again.

"Oh, and we will be requiring your jacket as proof that you have visited us, so that this flight may be blessed."

Hatt de-jacketed and got on, feeling thoroughly conned. And soon, the balloon rose up high into the sky.

….

Skarloey was royally pissed off. "Boyo, this extra work's going to make me late and I'm going to have a right tongue wagging from that arsehole in a suit, let me tell you that!"

"Don't care." Said the workmen, who were picking up branches for…some reason.

"Oh, and look, there comes those red balloon idiots!" Skarloey whistled rather rudely. It was lucky that the pilot could not understand whistle, otherwise he would have been highly offended indeed.

Said pilot was making sure that the red balloon floated peacefully through the sky. This involved the saying of many prayers, throwing salt up into the air and occasionally doing the actual job itself.

"Isn't this nice, dear?!" said the Fat Controller, forcing cheer into his voice.

"If you like salt!" Lady Hatt said, rubbing her eyes furiously. "New line looks good."

"Ta, my dear! Glad I did something right, at least."

"Oh don't start-"

"Hurry up!" hissed Skarloey as the workmen decided to go even slower as they loaded up all of their things into the trucks and brakevan.

"Right. Well we're not doing that." The workmen said, and just to spite Skarloey, they decided to go off and walk instead. The Welsh engine said something vaguely rude In his mother tongue.

"If that git doesn't get a move on, he's going to be late. Again! I have such strict standards, my dear, for being on time."

"So why did it take you fifteen minutes to even roll out of the bed?"

"Don't rain on my parade, Alice."

"I'm not, I'm just saying-"

…..

All the engines were having a grand (Re: Terrible) time waiting up at the village for the Grand Opening to start. So far, Duncan had offended five nuns, caused three quarrymen to have a screaming fit and nearly emptied the alcohol supply. It was not going well, and Rusty was beginning to lose that newfound camaderie they had with the yellow engine. They cleared their throat. "Where's Skarloey?"

"Who cares!?" slurred Duncan.

"He said he'd be here on time." Peter Sam piped up.

"Dinnae mean anything." Duncan groaned. "EVERYONE I KNOW GOES AWAY IN THE END-"

"Rheneas, have you been making him listen to Nine Inch Nails?"

"Dude, don't be a freak hater, dawg!" said Rheneas, in his obnoxious nineties personality.

"Bring back the scrapyard." Rusty muttered. "Might be more fun than this."

…..

At last, Skarloey started off as fast as he could, as the workmen were not coming back any time soon. With a huff and a puff, he tried to ignore the sensation that he was going to have stop in a moment and have a long sip of something alcoholic.

Being a Sudrian, he could not deny himself that feeling long.

At which point, trouble happened.

"THE ETERNAL FLAME OF DESTINY HAS GONE OUT AND NO AMOUNT OF EFFORT ON MY PART WILL BE ABLE TO RELIGHT IT!" bellowed the pilot, "WE ARE FORESAKEN! I HAVE SINNED AND OUR GOD HAS ABANDONED US!"

"Er, what?" asked Lady Hatt.

In layman's terms, the balloon ran out of heat, the cool air began to seep in, and slowly, it drifted down.

"HOLD ON TIGHT!" The pilot wept. "SO THIS IS DEATH!"

"I want to get out!" Lady Hatt shouted.

"So do I!" whimpered the Fat Controller, who curled up on the floor and decided that it was too much effort to try and get up and solve the situation. Better to just accept what his lot in life was being given.

"BE A MAN!"

"Not now, dear."

Skarloey watched this with some amusement, then horror. A pity then that David Mitton got drunk later on and insisted on putting in a shot of a crew member grown to giant size stomping around the scenery in the background, detracting from the moment somewhat.

"THE BALLOON'S GOING TO LAND IN THAT TREE!"

"Your eyes are working fine, boyo." The driver muttered.

And it did. Hard. Right in front of Skarloey. "Hello sir!" He said with a sickly sweet tone in his voice. The pilot jumped out and started praying to his eminence, the Red Balloon. The basket promptly came down seconds later and crushed him.

"MY HAT IS RUINED!" wailed Lady Hatt.

"Mine too." The Fat Controller had been concussed, and therefore was in no form to be giving any sort of speeches or thoughts." He clambered out and stumbled aimlessly around the field.

"We'll give you a hand now!"

"Am I glad-" Sir Topham stumbled over to the engine "-to see you Skarloey?"

The red engine took it as a compliment, rather than the open-eneded question it sounded like. "Thank you, si-Oh. Oh that is a lot of vomit. Ugh. Clean up in aisle ten, buckos!"

They boarded Skarloey's box car and set off, at once. Everyone was waiting as Skarloey brought his passengers to the station. Sir Topham insisted on eating five cream buns and making his speech before being dragged off to hospital. He quickly declared the line open. "With special thanks to Skorlaey for getting us here! Why is the sky purple?!"

As the ambulance hurried off, everyone cheered and Rheneas broke out the Grunge songs to belt out.

"Still late." Rusty teased.

"Yep. Don't regret a bloody thing, at least Fat Man's on time. Now, let's crack open the booze!"

"Can't." Peter Sam said, glumly. "Duncan stole it all."

"So we're going to be staying here for the entire party DRY!?"

"Worst bloody day ever." Skarloey growled.

…..

THE PAST.

"There are loopholes that we can exploit here and there…hmm…but in order to get hold of the stuff that Marklin and the others were working on in the Sheds, we'll need to have a proper foothold on the Island."

"Uh huh."

"Boring, Jasper?"

"I've been running spy ops for ages now, I'm getting to the point where I wish to take a little bit of a break."

Zero nodded thoughtfully. "Hmm….this…Mr Benn fellow? Ye- Scuse me, You know about him?"

"More a….really urban myth."

"Try me."

"…Well it was rumoured that there was this separate group from the government that was looking into this idea of myths and legends. More specifically, the freaky kind. Most of the stuff that got leaked to the country was sanitized versions made for kids. Mr Benn is essentially some sort of…Doctor Who looking arsehole. Travels through time and does stuff, I suppose."

"….And he attacked you?"

"Yeah. Really bloody hurt, too."

"Hmm…I wonder."

He stood up, and without another word, left the office and started off towards his car. Seconds before he got there, however, the Malignance appeared as if by magic.

"I have a feeling-" he remarked casually "-that you are going to tell me about something that you wish could be accomplished."

"….We need a new HQ."

"What is wrong with this one?"

"Too small. Moving to Sodor is the preferred goal, but we're going to need somewhere that isn't constantly swarming with engines who can stumble in by poor chance. We need a backup, or at the very least a testing ground."

The Malignance paused. "Any preference?"

"Why, do you have an idea?"

"I….may. I can get somewhere relatively large for you to do your experiments, vile though they may be."

"How?"

"Leave that-" said the Malignance, darkly "-to me."

…..

As Captain Zero stepped foot into the Grotto, he allowed himself a rush of pride. He had done what a certain Director had never managed, and made his way to where Lady was. He felt unbelievably proud of himself, even if she was long gone.

So he sat, and he waited.

And waited.

He was just thinking of leaving when there was a sudden ping, and someone stepped through reality like it was a door.

They looked at each other for some time.

"Hello." Mr Benn said. "It's nice to meet you. Is what I'd like to say." He crossed his arms. "So what do you want?"

…..

THE PRESENT.

"So, this thing with the tar wagons, Edward, what is it?"

"Oh, James crashed-"

"Nae nae, I know about that! You've told me that story a couple of times now and….well, it's funny, but at the same time, I think Gordon's talking about ye? With the tar wagons?"

"Well, it's really not his story to-"

There was a loud crack, and everyone (Engine, human, animal) jumped as the sound reverberated around Bluff's Cove.

"What the-"

"Oh thank God!" Edward said, and then hurried off, Emily in tow, to find what it was. They didn't have far to go.

Not far from where a turn-off onto the Little Western used to be, two figures stood there. Only one of them was still alive.

Duck the Great Western Engine looked in shell-shocked horror at what had until thirty seconds ago been D1 (A look of surprise still etched upon his face) and then turned to a stunned Edward and Emily. He licked his lips, unaware of just how much of the blood-like substance that had splattered from the none-too neat hole in D1's forehead.

"I can explain-" he started.

And that was when the police rushed in, and made their arrest even as Fergus desperately tried to get them to calm down. Even as Duck desperately tried to get them to listen to him, he was quickly clamped down and dragged off. Fergus watched it go with a regretful look on his face.

The beginning of the end had come.