Part 4: Heeeeere's Junior!
Junior took a long swig of something that, if the cops asked, was definitely not beer, no siree. The sudden increase of shade blocking his perfect spot to catch some sun made him open his eye up "Aye, yer're blocking the-"He paused, as the grey haired figure looked at him with scorn. Slowly, he put the drink down. "-ye took your time getting back."
"Where am I?"
"Standing in front of me, blocking out the sun." Junior smiled, and closed his eyes once again. This was a mistake, as he learned when the figure yanked him up rather hard by the tacky Hawaiian shirt and slammed him against the over-sized deck chair. "Ow! Okay, okay, ye're at Kauai, it's in Hawaii, no one else is here because I sent a fake alarm off so I could get a wee tan! Happy?! Cause I'm not! There's no bloody babes here, and babes are necessary to enjoying the beach experience! The hell have you even been!?"
"Year?"
"1999. Ye vanished for five years, I almost got concerned, auld man!"
"Almost? Yeah f*cking right! And don't call me old, all right? At least I look distinguished! You just look like a-!" Carlin dropped Junior back on his chair and sat down, grimly muttering to himself. "Had a few issues getting back, time is sort of…buckling. Oh well, at least the world hasn't blown up yet."
"Ye wanna give me an explanation on where the frigging hell ye've been?!"
Grimly, Carlin told him everything. The incident at Callan, the attempted asssasination, his recruitment by the government, his visits back and forth in time (He decided to skim over those for the sake of padding) and finally his last great chase against the strange Malevolence.
"So, from what ye're telling me, ye should nae have lost the Malevolence, right?"
"Right. Not a clue how that happened. Best guess is that because my balloon was a bit slower, I got thrown off course. Way off course, it was ninety eight when I left."
"Man, ye remember when ye used ta tell us what ye were getting up to? Like fun stuff where ye got drunk, pissed off yer fireman and made mischief with all the engines? And now look at ye! Super secret Illuminati style incidents, murder, random crossovers for no reason...face it man, yer life is a bloody soap opera!"
"Oh shut up!" Carlin didn't want to admit to Junior that he was right."Your seashell is ringing, by the way."
"Oh, ta!" Junior picked up the phone. "This is my shellphone."
Carlin let out a long, long groan. He felt the urgent need to hit something. Anything."That's…..I….answer the phone, Junior, before I break your back."
Junior grinned and raised it to his ear. "Hello?"
"Junior!?" The voice was tinny, almost as though the person speaking had no idea how to use a cell phone. "Is that you?"
"Cuz!" Junior gestured to Carlin, who crept onto the deck chair and listened. "Hiya! Listen, ye in a tunnel? Not a good line!"
"I'm talking into flowers at the moment, that's probably why!"
Both men blinked, looked at each other and shrugged it off. He had always been a strange one, they agreed silently. Carlin frowned. He recalled this Conductor all right. When he had left Shining Time for the fourth season back in 1994, he'd reluctantly rented out his house to his second cousin twice removed. He was, in simple terms, stupid. Very stupid.
"Junior, where are you!? Wait, wait, let me guess, I probably didn't have to even ask, you….beachsexual maniac."
"I'm in paradise, and no mistake! Hopped on Cloud Nine and here I am! It's terrific!" Junior winked at Carlin, who scoffed. He leaned in closer to the seashell phone (and immediately wondered why the hell that was even a thing) to try and listen.
"Junior! Listen to me, put down your bucket and spade, you've got to come to the Island of Sodor immediately!"
"You what?!" Carlin kicked Junior aside and lifted the phone up. "Listen to me, Mister, it's Carlin! I've finally got out of that time vortex, or whatever it was I fell into, and I haven't had much luck getting news from old Quickdraw McGraw over there! The f**k is happening to my Island?"
"Carlin!? Excellent! You can come too!"
"Now?" Junior struggled to his feet and tried to wrest the phone back from Carlin. The latter was not having it at all. "But I'm waiting on the perfect wave, ye can't just do this too me!"
"This is bigger than waves, pipsqueak!" Carlin snapped.
"Oh no, you're not, you idiot, you are coming here with Carlin, right now, it's a major emergency! You need to help me find the source of the family's gold dust!"
"And you decided that he was your first choice….why?" Carlin paused as Conductor's words clicked. "Hang about, what's this about gold dust?! You're running out!?"
"Yeah. Fast."
"But…..that's not supposed to happen."
"Tell me about it! No, seriously, tell me about it when you get here."
Junior made another grab for the phone. "What is tha source?!"
"Well, er, that's the trouble. I have not one single clue. Aside from a vague memory about something to do with a windmill or something."
"Well, congratulations, cousin. You're in the one place apart from Holland that has more windmills than it needs."
"Well, I appear ta have used up most of my own wee supply." Junior grinned sheepishly. Carlin paused, and slapped him across the back of the head.
"YOU WHAT?! CARLIN, SLAP HIM FOR ME!"
"Already done so, buddy."
"Good. Now listen, Junior, are you there?"
"Ow! Why'd ye have to- Er, yeah, still here, cuz."
"Right, listen to me. Carlin'll have enough gold-dust for the two of you to reach Shining Time Station, he knows the place, he'll be able to guide you through it. And in my signalbox-"
"Your signalbox?!" snapped Carlin, who was feeling rather protective of his old home.
"It's under the staircase, in a box marked 'Don't Touch, No, Really Junior, Don't Touch'. In there, is my last supply of the stuff. The two of you should be able to use it to get from Shining Time to Sodor in a easier fashion. Take care of this, Junior. Carlin, you take care of him. And, er-" Both men could see their cousin looking around as if to make sure that no one was listening "-tell NO ONE about the buffers, at any costs!?"
"Buffers! What buffers!?" shouted Carlin and Junior in unison, and were, in unison, shushed loudly. The seashell crackled as the harsh sound echoed across, causing a great deal of feedback..
"Really bad line on this, didnae he know that?!" Junior tapped the phone several times. "Hello!? My shellphone is nae working properly!"
"JUNIOR YOU HAVE TO-" The line fizzled out "-GET HERE RIGHT THIS-" And again "-NOW, BEFORE IT'S TOO-" And finally, the conversation ended rather abruptly as the connection cut out completely.
"Well." remarked Carlin. "That was odd. Shall we get started, f**kface?"
"Want my money back" groaned Junior. But nonetheless, he stood up and clasped Carlin's shoulder, as the older man pulled out his whistle and blew a short, sharp blast on it. Within seconds, the beach was completely devoid of life.
...
The sound of the whistle suddenly woke Lily up. She glanced around, surprised to find herself at the station already. She shook herself, wiped the sleep from her eyes and pulled her bags together. She handed the Conductor her ticket, and stepped out onto the platform.
It was then that she looked at the sign. "Shining Time...what does that mean? Did that dog get me on the wrong train? ...I swore I wouldn't be taken in by a dog again, not after what happened last time." She didn't dwell on this incident, rather she sat down on a bench for a moment. Someone was bound to show up, and she could properly ask them.
As she sat, and ate her sandwiches, her attention was drawn to a second engine who had quietly came up from behind the Rainbow Sun as it finally departed. It came to a stop not too far from her. It was a blue tender engine, with red stripes crossing his boiler, the number '2' written upon his tender and a face.
...Yes, she realized, you saw right. A face.
To most people, this would have been rather a shock. But Lily, as has been shown in this story before, followed the advice of dogs and carried around a stuffed bluebird, so perhaps we can excuse her lack of a reaction.
"Hello there."
The engine looked around, sharply. "Oh! ...You...You can see me?"
"Why wouldn't I? You're a great big steam engine standing next to the platform!"
"A fair point. But everyone else I've tried to converse with seems to be...well, put it bluntly, they ignore me. I even tried talking to that train that just left, but not a word. Which means I'm over going insane, or this town is missing with the perception something fierce." He peered at her, genuinely looking at her. "You look rather young to be on your own."
"You sound rather British to be in America."
"Once again, a fair point. I, er, don't suppose you'd believe that I just randomly happened to bash into some buffers and was magically transported here, would you? And that I've spent the last...I don't know, day? Maybe? Day or so in a siding, plotting revenge."
Lily shrugged. "Well, I mean, I guess. You're a talking train, after all. Perhaps I'm still asleep in the carriage, and I'm dreaming of all this."
"Perhaps you are." The engine chuckled, good humoredly. "Well, if I'm a dream, I suppose there is little harm in me asking for your name? I've asked everyone else, it would nice to know I've at least learned something from today."
"Lily."
"Edward. As I say, Lily, you look like you're a little lost. Anything I can help with?"
"Unless you can get me to-" She frowned "-any station back along that way?"
"Ah. Sorry. Would if I could, but like I say, magic buffers don't really care about my geographical abilities. Besides, the points are set against me at the moment. And even this lot would probably start noticing if I accidentally whacked right into one of their honking great locomotives." He muttered under his breath something that sounded like "Always overcompensating, these Americans" before returning to the conversation at hand. But, I'm sure there's someone still inside who can help."
"Thanks." She looked down at Mutt, who was looking at her innocently. "You wanted me to get off here, didn't you?" She looked around, and was about to head inside the station when she stopped and turned back around. "Are you hungry?"
Edward was about to say no, but was struck all of a sudden by a desperate need for some sustenance. It didn't have to be coal, just as long as it got into his fire one way or another. "Well, I am a bit. Don't suppose you have any coal on you, do you?"
"No, clean forgot. Knew there was something, there always is." Lily hesitated, then reached into her backpack. "I don't suppose some sandwiches would help?"
Edward frowned for a moment. "Well, I've never really tried anything other than coal before, but, I suppose that they'll do nicely. I mean, they'll burn just the same. If you could be so kind as to pop them into my mouth. I can do the rest."
Lily shrugged. She had had weirder requests than feeding a steam engine food. Somehow. Once she had given him the last bit of food, she smiled, gave a jaunty wave and walked back into the station.
Edward chewed thoughtfully on his bottom lip. It wasn't that bad. He preferred coal, of course, but needs must, and there were definitely worse things to be putting into your firebox. He waited for a moment, wishing to see if Lily was okay. Then the aftertaste came in, and he dearly wished he had asked Lily what was in the sandwiches, because it was more than a little...bitter.
Inside the station, Lily looked around. No one seemed to be here at the moment. She had caught that rare bit of peace and quiet between the day-shift and the night-shift, but she was not to know that. She sat down in the empty lobby, next to Schemer's stall, and asked aloud "Where is everyone?" to Mutt. Mutt, of course, said nothing. He was a dog. "What have you brought me here for?!"
And this, she thought, is why Aunt Matilda thinks you might be slightly odd. And why she sent you to that shrink.
Just then, there was a loud clattering noise from somewhere, the sound of someone tripping and falling down a rather large set of steps and several four letter words that you can't repeat aloud that seemed to emit from a rather broad American accent. "God damn it, did you have to pull everything out?! Look at this place! The hell is even that painting? I may not have seen him for a while, but even so, if he's gotten the place that bad in this short amount of time, I shall eat your hat!"
"Ach, give me a break and help me find the damn things! Bloody hell, you're not wrong though! His filing system is mega-ultra-super-unfresh untidy!"
"Don't you use your hip-90's slogans with me, you little f*ck! Or I'll **** you in the *** with my ******* foot!"
Lily looked around, but there was no one there. No footsteps, save for the very, very quiet ones that seemed to be coming from-
The mural on the wall seemed to be rocking slightly, not enough to shatter it, but just enough to indicate that something, or someone, was inside the walls. She stood up, and looked at the painting of the signalbox, as the two accents, one Scottish and one American bickered loudly. The words themselves were smothered in their rather thick accents, so it was hard to tell, but she gathered that Scotty was rather excited and clumsy about finding whatever it was they were looking for, and Yank was...rather pissed off about the whole affair. And apparently spoke in asterisks for whatever reason.
Lily stared for a moment. And then, on a whim, she reached out and knocked on the door.
"What the f**k was that?!" hissed the American.
"Hello!" said the Scot, cheerfully.
"SSSHHH! Get rid of them! Unless it's Stacy, in which case...call me, she knows me, we'll be fine! God damn, why couldn't we have just used the key!? OH NO! You had to be flashy and try and get in via teleportation! Nearly put my damn legs in the wall. Your mother would have f**king stewed me in a pot with the rabbit!"
There was a sudden sound like the jingling of bells, and Lily took a step back as hundreds of gold particles rushed together to form...a rather bedraggled looking man dressed like a very confused and fashion-blind genie. "Got to get ta Island, gotta help cuz! Fo'real!" He straightened himself up and wiped his shorts down, before at last looking up properly and offering a rather frazzled grin. "Hiya! How you doing?"
"Ummmmmmmm-"
"Who are ye, dawg?" He made a pose. It was a bad one.
"I'm Lily." She was still somewhat shocked. Of all the things she had expected to see this morning, little men who beamed in and out like Star Trek characters were very low on the list. "Who are you?"
"C Junior! You must have heard of me! i'm very popular!"
"PAH!" snorted the American.
"Did I, er, drop my sunglasses when I came in here?" Junior turned around and looked across the mantle. Lily's mind was still whirring away on the fact that in one day, she had gotten lost, followed a dog, met a talking engine and was now conversing about sunglasses with a little tiny Scot. Clearly, there had been something in those sandwiches.
"I...don't know. Are you a leprechaun?"
"Wrong part of the UK, Lily. Oh well, might as well use more of this stuff to head back to the beach and-" The door to the signalbox swung open, somehow, and a rather wrinkled hand reached around to slap Junior in the face. "Point taken. See ye, Lily!"
Lily blinked as Junior vanished once again.
"Well-" she remarked to no one in particular "-that was...odd." She reached forward and brushed at the mantle. "What is this stuff? Glitter?" She examined the strange dust on her fingers with bafflement.
Today had been a odd day.
...
"Wake up, Ivo. Wake up."
Ivo Hugh awoke to find a gag in his mouth, guns pointing at his face and the mocking voice of the Fat Director ringing in where his ears would be if he had any. He tried to speak, to scream, but the gag muffled everything he said.
"Ah, now this is a sight for sore eyes. Really, it is. It's been far too long, old friend. You remember me, don't you? Or, well, it would be understandable if you didn't. Don't bother trying to back away. Even if the guns didn't shoot you to pieces, the narrow gauge track ends the second you get out of the building." The Fat Direcotr handed some instructions to Captain Zero. Though Ivo wasn't to know it, these were instructions on what to do with the Fakes, as it were. D1, D3 and D4 were to be kept back at the Other Railway so as to be of further use should the attack go badly, but D2 and D6 (Better known as Class 40) were to join the invasion fleet immediately.
"Now, Ivo, let me explain something to you. Why are you here, you are probably wondering. What did I do? It's nothing personal, I assure you. The fact that you were formerly one of my servants before that unfortunate incident with Davidson destroyed my control over you has nothing to do with this. No, you are to be an example. I have operated in the shadows for far too long, Ivo. Even when I've murdered engines, it's always been quiet. Never a public thing. You're going to be the first death screened to all enginekind."
Ivo's eyes widened.
"Actually, I'd rather it had been anyone but you. You're a nobody, Ivo Hugh. You're a character who the author of this sorry affair wanted to be memorable, or why else would he deliver you unto me? And then he got bored, and moved on to bigger and better things. My only hope is that your death shakes the others up enough so that they know exactly who they are dealing with."
Unknown to the Fat Director, Ivo's wheels were slowly moving, slowly breaking through the bonds of the ropes.
...
On the Island, it was steadily growing darker and darker. The weather was once again acting up, and as over at Shining Time it was just about reaching sunrise, already the sky here was overcast. The sun had almost completely vanished from view and everything seemed tinged in navy blue.
Mr Conductor had decided to make camp for the night. Being high off his ass had taken a lot out of him, apparently, as he had discovered when he awoke to find that he was chewing a bunch of flowers and had been using said flowers as a phone, prior to this. Fitting for how he had spent his day, his coat was wrapped around him like a straitjacket, as he struggled to find a way to get to sleep without freezing his nuts off.
And then, just as he rested his head on the side...something happened. It was like a dream, except it wasn't a dream, because he hadn't even closed his eyes.
"The magic is gone" he heard himself say, disembodied, like a faint whisper upon the wind. He turned around, and once again found himself in Shining Time Station, standing besides a old ice cream kiosk that seemed to be completely abandoned. The faint outlines of dead bodies lay around him, bodies of all shapes and sizes. The wind blew even harder, wiping away even the outlines, scattering rubbish across the ground "Why'd I take my gold dust for granted?!"
Then, suddenly, he found himself standing back on the Island. What was left of it.
Carnage lay everywhere, trucks were lying, their remains strewn across the ground, the rotting remains of a few coaches covering the walls of any buildings. He was in what appeared to be Crovan's Gate, or what remained of it. The station itself was completely obliterated, only the cracked remains of the platform could alert him to the fact he was even standing on it. The Skarloey sheds were razed to the ground, Sir Handel and Peter Sam's faces frozen and immortalized in horror upon their corpses.
He staggered back, and now he was standing on a hill. Gordon's Hill, his mind helpfully explained. But the lines below were ripped apart, shattered completely, and he could see where chunks of the earth had been gouged out of the area, like a child eating an apple. He rushed to the top. "I can't help without my gold dust!" the voice echoed, as Mr Conductor stared at the vision of Diesel 10 and Gordon locked in battle.
Then he was elsewhere once more, this time on the Big Dipper viaduct. He looked from left to right, but there was no one in sight. But there was something wrong. The ground beneath his feet was crumbling fast. "What is the source of my gold-dust?!"
But in the distance, he could hear chuffing noises, and his mind was suddenly filled for a moment with a single image, a pair of wheels whirring and moving fast, wheels of a steam engine, pink...no, reddish purple wheels that moved and sparked as something jumped from them and caught the sun's rays, sparkling brightly-
And then he sat upright, straight as a twig. He took a deep breath, and looked around. The vision, or whatever it was, had finished. But still, there was the sound of chuffing, echoing in his ears. "Is someone there?! Thomas, is that you?"
"Mr Conductor, where are you, you daft berk!? We need you! Oh for god's sake, you take your eye off them for a moment and-"
Thomas had completely puffed past Mr Conductor, not helped by the fact that for some reason, the latter had completely forgotten that legs existed, and that he could easily stand up and attract the attention of the little blue tank engine. And that he could increase the volume of his voice. Clearly we're dealing with Einstien here.
"Thomas?" He called after him, but it was too late. Big damn surprise there. He sank back down again. "How can I say I'm really useful now?"
He paused. "In fact...Did I ever say that?"
Seconds later, he lept up and began randomly running around in circles screaming in panic as ants began crawling up his trouser pants.
...
In Shining Time, Lily was playing a random harmonica she had found just lying around. She imagined that such whimsical instruments often got left, just in case. Shining Time rubbed her as the kind of place where sane and rational things went to die a long, painful, but happy death.
"Hello?"
Lily jumped, and looked around to see a woman, dressed in red and looking over at her in concern. "H-Hello?"
"Excuse me, didn't mean to startle you. Are you Lily?" At the nod, she visibly sagged in relief. "Oh thank goodness, I've been looking for you everywhere. I'm Stacy Jones, the manager here. Your grandpa's quite worried, he's been looking for you, and...well, you must have gotten on the wrong train."
"Must have!" Lily grinned sheepishly "I, er, took a wrong turning. Followed some wrong advice. I'm in trouble, aren't I?"
"No! No, of course you're not! First time out of the Bigg City, anything can happen. But, if it's okay, I'll take you to him? He's out on a job, but I'm pretty sure that he'll be happy to see you!" Lily could almost see the woman mentally adding in her brain "As happy as he ever is" because that was the kind of man her grandfather was. She nodded, and followed Stacy out across the platform.
She saw Edward, who was arguing with the Rainbow Sun. "All right, you listen here! SPEAK TO ME! GOD DAMN IT, YOU CAN NOT GIVE ME THE SILENT TREATMENT! NOTICE ME! STOP IGNORING ME, YOU LITTLE-" He paused mid-sentence, spotted her and grinned. She waved back, and left him to his shouting.
Stacy chattered quite a bit as she drove Lily to the crossroads. Lily didn't mind, she was really quite a nice person, even if she did drive rather…. erratically. Perhaps when she was talking, it somehow did the opposite of what happened to most normal people and focused her. "So, did you know…my grandmother?"
"No, not me, but my mother did! Lovely lady."
"Tasha?" Lily wasn't that surprised at the idea that she had been lovely, but it was just that…. when she had seen her, Grandma Tasha was either asleep, heavily on experimental medication or suffering through the stages of that horrible disease. A sharp speed bump brought her back to the present, rapidly.
"Wonderful dancer. In fact-"Stacy rifled around in her glovebox, and Lily braced herself as the car swerved slightly."-pretty sure I've got something here-"
"Watch out for that sheep!"
"Baaaaa!" wailed said sheep, already re-evaluating it's life choices.
"-Ah! Here it is!" She handed Lily a rather crumpled photograph. Lily spread it over her knees, and looked intently at it. Though it appeared quite old and crinkled, it clearly showed two figures dancing in a rather beautiful looking old ball room. It was black and white, so it was rather hard to see, but she could definitely see that one of them was Uncle Burnett, positively beaming with joy as he lead the girl in a slow dance. The girl had her back to the camera, but what was clear was the very jealous expressions on many of the visitor's faces. "She was a catch, was your grandmother. There was a lot of anger the day he married her."
"He must have loved her a lot. I think he kept calling her Lady, or something."
"Lady?" Stacy frowned, puzzled.
"Yes, when she was...when she was sick, I heard them talk about it. A lot, actually."
"I wish...never mind."
"Stacy?"
"Oh, it's nothing."
Lily looked at her for a while, but she seemed to realize that she wasn't going to get anything out of her. Luckily, before the silence could get any more awkward, the car rounded a bend, and there, by the crossroads, Lily saw her grandfather.
He was standing there, besides a rather mean looking biker, telling him exactly where he could in great detail. The biker sneered, and straddled his motorbike. As he did so, the stranger looked Lily dead in the eyes, and his mouth fell open a little bit. Lily stared back, not wanting to be intimidated. With a sudden shake of his head, the biker started his bike up, and rushed off. She looked to her grandfather, who was busy packing up some of his tools from a old, beat up pick up truck.
"Stacy, I'm...nervous."
"Maybe he is, too. From what he's told me, it's been a while since you've seen each other He's bound to be a bit worried."
And, well, he's weird. Lily knew that Stacy was also mentally adding that too.
Burnett, deep in thought and with his brow thorough furrowed, finally turned around and noticed Stacy.
"Hello Burnett."
"Stacy." In that moment, it almost looked like he tried smiling. Almost. He seemed somewhat ill at ease, as though whatever that biker had said had really put him off. And then he clapped eyes on Lily, and something that resembled a soft smile crept over his face. Stacy marveled to herself. All her years, she had never seen him smile, and yet, the moment his grand-daughter had arrived...she shook herself as Burnett softly remarked "Hello Lily."
"Hi grandpa. Sorry about...well, getting lost."
"It's all right. Got lost myself a couple of times when I first came here. No shame in it. I'm just glad you're okay." He stopped himself, almost embarrassed at showing his emotions.
"Well have a good evening, Burnett...if you could get those birdhouses set up for tomorrow, that'd be swell."
"Thanks Stacy. I'll...do that, then." Burnett finished up locking the old truck up, slid a couple of tools onto it and awkwardly fiddled as he closed the door. "Night."
Well, this was painfully awkward.
"Stacy!" Lily was aware that this was potentially an odd question, but she had to know. "You said I wish? In the car?"
"I wish?" Stacy frowned. Then it dawned on her, that really she couldn't tell the child what she had really meant. No, tell her the truth. Just a smaller one. "Well, I was just thinking aloud how nice it would be if you could come back and visit Shining Time tomorrow. If your grandpa will let you, that is?"
Lily looked up, eagerly. Burnett swallowed, and had to ruefully acknowledge that it was clear that even if he had wanted to fight this battle, he wouldn't have won any way. She had too much of Tasha's smile in her. He nodded briefly, then opened up the door for her to climb in. It came off in his hands. Swearing under his breath, Burnett gave a stiff wave to Stacy as she headed off, and as he stuck the door of the truck back on bluntly.
"Thank god I'm only keeping it for today." he muttered to no one in particular as he climbed in, turned the key and started off.
They had just neared the farmhouse when Lily remembered something in her bag. She routed around for it, let out a quietly triumphant whoop as she grabbed it and lightly tapped her grandfather's side. "Uh, grandpa? I...I remembered how Grandma Tasha taught me how to make one when I was little. This one's for you, if you'd...like it, obviously, I mean you don't have to-"
"Thank you, Lily." Burnett sounded a little choked as he said it, but he slipped it on, and looked down at it with a strange mixture of pride, fondness and sadness. Lily just hoped that he wouldn't lose it. As they pulled up, she yawned, and Burnett affectionately noogied her head. "Bed time for you, when we get in. I know that you young un's would probably like a go on the computer, but you've had a long day."
...
That night, as Lily slept in her bed, distracted by the vague sounds of steam whistles in the distance, and as Burnett Stone once again stirred his fire and stared pensively into the flames as he massaged the bracelet, and as Edward prepared himself to spend yet another night in a cold, unfamiliar siding with no one to talk to but himself, the faint sound of a motorbike could be heard buzzing it's way across the roads out of Shining Time.
The sound of Lady's magic echoed across Muffle Mountain, and it was driving PT Boomer incredibly angry that he was unable to find it. It occurred to him that he needed to talk to someone, fast.
What no one had really shown, in great deal, in some of the TV shows that had been filled there, was how close the valley was to the sea, or to at least one of the rivers that lead as close to the sea as possible. Boomer stopped his bike, dismounted it and strode along to one of the docks that had been left abandoned as night had dawned. Several of his goons were waiting there.
There stood the two tugs. Imposing, almost impossible to make out a defining feature on either, save for the color of their eyes. Green, a green that glowed in the night like the most powerful lighthouse. And standing there, having just disembarked off the boats, was Gotch and several of Captain Zero's men, loaned for the night.
"You took your goddamn time!" He snapped "I was beginning to think that maybe you were having a rough time."
"What news of the Fat Director?" said Boomer, weary, and not ready for a fight with Gotch at this hour.
"He brings word that soon, you will have the power you need." said a very familiar voice. As Marklin materialized, Boomer noted with interest the way that the tank engine seemed almost...solid. The killing spree at the Iron Circle had obviously given Marklin enough power to almost be fully corporeal again. "Captain Zero and his men are readying the boats for the attack, and the machine is ready for a test. I see you've been getting a bit of a power boost, though."
"Never enough" growled Boomer "It will never be enough until SHE is dead! Permanently this time!"
"And once she is, then you will have her energy, as per our agreement. The ultimate aphrodisiac. Myself and Ten get the souls, you get her magic. You will have everything you want. But make no mistake, the Fat Director grows weary of how long it is taking you to find her. And there is only so long that I can manipulate him into thinking that I'm his servant."
"Tell him that I'm almost there. I just need to search the mountains a bit more! Gotch, you can give me a hand with that, unless you want me to talk to the Director about your dirty little secrets!"
"You threatening me, Boomer?! Me?! Don't forget, I'm on your side with this!" He gestured to the sailors. "All of these? They're tired of the incompetency of the Other Railway like you and I are. They're going to take care of business. But don't you go pushing my buttons now! Not when we're this close!"
Marklin rolled his eyes. "But onto business...you brought them?"
With a flick of his hand, Boomer sent his henchmen, who had only just arrived, to drag something from beneath a large canvas. Fifteen Sudrians stood in nervous anticipation, all Norris's.
Boomer seemed to understand what was expected of him at this moment in time, and as such, he spoke a few words at a rather fast pace. What it was, no human ear could discern, and no language has ever been officially credited as being the originator for such words. But they had a effect.
Suddenly, all fifteen went ramrod straight. Their mouths clamped up, their arms fell into place by their sides, their eyes bulged...they were like perfect soldier dolls. And in the night air, illuminated by the green light, something arose from them. A strange blue material, that raced from their bodies to Boomer's. The latter gasped and groaned and began moaning aloud in that strange, unknown language, but it didn't stop.
Not until the final bit of the essence vanished, and with it, the control of the bodies. With a strange sound. like the blowing of the wind, the Sudrians just...collapsed. One moment they were solid matter, the next they were just dust on the floor.
Boomer, meanwhile, straightened himself up. He cracked his bones back into place, stretched his body out and let out a long hiss of release.
Then, stretching a hand out, he pointed to the water.
Within seconds, the Green Eyes found themselves in a river of blood, thick blood that congealed and stank to the high heavens, blood that tasted of copper should one be inclined to taste it. Boomer seemed to be delighted by this, and Gotch wasn't sure why at first. Then, as Boomer pointed next to a rather large mountain, and with a single flick of his wrist, managed to wrench the top of it off like a cork from a bottle, Gotch understood a little better.
"That's power!" he muttered in awe.
"The Malevolence's powers have been shared between Ten and myself. Were he here, Captain Zero would recall upon our first meeting, the Fat Director scrawled a rune into the dirt. That rune has been effectively trapping every soul on that Island between life and death since then. That is millions of souls building up over time. All the confusion and delay has been feeding us, keeping us living. It's not for nothing that I have stayed in the world of the living, even when I was dead, for so long." Marklin laughed. "Think of the souls as batteries. I have so many batteries now, Gotch. I've given some power to Boomer to give him a taste of the stuff. Death and pain feed us, and Boomer in turn feeds Ten and I a small fraction of his power whenever he kills people. By now, that fix alone should have given Boomer enough power to take control of this miserable valley overnight."
"Then why doesn't he?"
"Because it is not time yet. Nearly. But not yet."
...
"Guys?! Guys! Oh come on, guys, what the hell's going on!? Don't you ignore me, I'm bloody Bulstrode!"
Bloody Bulstrode was ignored.
...
Percy shivered, as the cold wind whistled alongside his boiler. The mail train was being unloaded by the pinchers now, and the stations didn't half look a mess with all the mail and parcels being tossed to the side. Edward and Duck still hadn't been located, and that was worrying Percy a great deal. And so, with lots on his mind, he passed Gordon with the express, and entered Knapford station.
Luckily, Thomas was there. "Percy, how's it going?"
"This is my last stop before Tidmouth, and then I'm turning in for the night. But I've been thinking."
"Filthy habit, never do it unless I have to."
"Oh, shut it, Thomas. Look, how does that idiot of a Conductor travel here?"
"Terribly!"
"Seriously."
"By his magic plot convenient gold-dust, how else?"
"But, look, there has to be a way that he gets here. So, I've been thinking. This lost engine had a lost railway, we know that much from Duck. So what if that's Mr Conductor's railway?"
"You've lost me. But he did say something about how it keeps getting bumpier and bumpier every time he comes here."
Percy considered this "Then maybe that has something to do with the fact that he was talking about buffers in his sleep. They're at the end of lines. So maybe that's how he travels here. On a magic railway. So if we find this Lady, we find the railway, we find THAT, and we find a way for Mr C to get his own gold dust back, which'll give us a way to fight back against whatever sick plan this Boomer fellow has."
"Percy, you are clever!"
Percy missed the sarcasm completely.
Toby, who had been waiting back away from the two chattering tank engines, noticed a very odd looking diesel move away from the siding of one of the worksheds. Past Cranky, whom had been moved here via some of the non rail vehicles for safety, and towards the general direction of one of the many smelter's yards. He grimly idled forward, just in time to hear Thomas say "My wheels are feeling very, very wobbly. Think that diesel's around here?"
"You're not wrong. Sorry chums. Diesel heard all you said. You, er, can't keep your voices down, can you?"
Percy rolled his eyes.
"Look, I'll go after him. I'll see how much I can learn, maybe that way, we can be prepared for any eventuality. I mean, Douglas has already started playing the bagpipes to keep the other engines calm, it can't get any worse than that. You'd better carry on, and prepare for every eventuality."
"You're brave, Toby. Very brave." Percy remarked, admiringly.
"Ah, he won't bother with a old henhouse like me! Thinks I'm really useless!" And with that, Toby bravely set off.
He heard singing, an american voice, singing a rather stupid version of 'I've Been Working on the Railroad'. He rolled his eyes, and advanced forwards. And now he began to realize how quiet it was on this part of the Island. He saw the Horrid Lorries advance up the road towards the smelters, and behind them, drifting at a glacial pace, was George the Steamroller. The latter had a dreamy look in his eye, and kept muttering "Roller-rink" to himself.
The trucks, Toby realized in horror. They must have gotten on the wrong side of him. He paused, and for a moment, considered turning back. He wavered a instant, and then headed on, until at last, the mist and steam fell enough to see the red glow of the smelter's.
"Come and join the party, George!" came the booming voice.
"Party! Hooray!" said Splatter and Dodge. Toby could tell that it was fake, the stupidity. Something you learnt very early on when living on Sodor was how to tell who was an actual idiot, or a pretender. These two were far smarter than they let on. At the back, Arry and Bert watched, quietly, without emotion. Toby was aware of them blathering on, but toned it out. He looked forward, and there, in the corner, was...Duck!
The Great Western looked like hell. His left side had been almost gutted, dissected with no real neatness. He was alive, at least, for the moment.
"Correction! Join the party that's over! Isn't that the worst bit of a party? You know, I had that sensation. I was alive, in a time when the worst thing you could do to someone was to wage war with swords and axes and hot pokers and all that nasty stuff. But you go away for a few centuries, and you know what you find when you wake up? How much the human race has outdone itself when it comes to ways to kill each other! Fascinating, truly fascinating. And I missed it all! Just like how Twinkletoes is going to miss the death of his precious magic railroad, as the yanks call it."
"What?" whispered Toby.
"Now, George, what progress on the buffer situation?" Arry spoke up.
"Did the best I could. These stupid liberal fools are too busy focusing on their own pleasures to notice a steamroller go about his business. Wouldn't even notice. Only place I haven't got to yet is Kirk Ronan. As many of the buffers have been destroyed as can be. The rails are damaged. There's going to be little way for them to get off the Island once the attack starts."
"And the trucks?"
"Not a bad situation, I suppose" said Lorry 2. "We've taken out some of their biggest members, but the inner circle has made sure to avoid us. Spiteful Breakvan and his cohorts still live."
"Not to worry." Ten was coldly confident. "I imagine that our allies will have something to say about that. Speaking of which...Captain Zero, I imagine you have some information for us. Something concrete."
Zero stepped out. He looked pale. "Well, the Fat Director is making his way to Shining Time as we speak, alongside Marklin. In theory, that means that he'll be leaving the command of the diesels under...yercontrol."
"How many?"
Zero very quietly swallowed "At least two thousand. Mebbe more."
Toby let out a gasp, which he stifled as best he could. "I've got to delay him, distract him, something...hmm." He looked around, for anything, anything at all. Nothing sprang to mind, until he looked at a shattered bit of glass that reflected back. His eyes fixed on his bell, and grinning, he rang it loud and proud.
Ten's transformation was remarkable. Within seconds his cool and calm voice had transformed into the paranoid wreck that was terrified of sugar "WHAT!? THE OLD TEAPOT! SMASH HIM!"
Toby laughed hysterically as, with a great clatter, the claw smashed the support of the roof down, crushing the group underneath it. Retreating, he winked to Duck, who raised a feeble smile in acknowledgement.
"So, did you mean to let the roof fall in?"
"All the way in."
Diesel 10 breathed in harshly, and tried very hard not to scream. He failed.
...
Diesel may have been in a dump,.but the steam engines carried on being really useful for the rest of the next day. As the sun rose, Toby passed the news of what had happened to Percy, who passed it to James, Henry and Gordon, who spread the news to every engine and coach across the Island. Even as the trains, which seemed to be getting longer, were being pulled by the main seven minus one, the others were beginning to carry out a larger plan.
The Scottish twins had located Toad the night before, and had managed to extricate the hapless breakvan to the works, where the Works Diesel was keeping a close eye on the recovering Oliver. Donald had argued furiously with the other engines that the Works Diesels wasn't to be trusted, but Toby had bluntly informed him that they had little choice in the matter. He then ordered that Douglas begin negotiations with the Spiteful Breakvan, but unfortunately, finding him was rather hard.
The road vehicles were doing their bit too. The warning about George and the Lorries gave Bertie a reason to follow them, under the guise of protection. Butch, meanwhile, had come across the rather clever solution of deliberately causing obstructions. Something that George had figured out with regards to his anti-rail propaganda was that said rails gave the engines the chance to cross the island much faster. The Lorries were beginning to get angrier, and were making mistake after mistake in their attempt to find a way out of Tidmouth Town, which was beginning to resemble a Micheal Bay movie in terms of destruction.
Even those that could not help nearly as much tried their hardest, Annie, Clarabel and Old Slowcoach had managed to galvanize many of the other coaches into preparing themselves for a fight, and they had done so splendidly. A few renegade trucks, those that had been promised something by Ten, had tried their luck in getting into the Shunting Yards. One vicious battle later, and somehow the coaches had seen off the trucks, who were battered, bruised and sorely humiliated. Somehow. Trevor and Terrance, neither that mobile, had focused their time in making sure that the Fulton Ferry, still moored at the long since abandoned Tidmouth Harbour, was filled up like an ark. With the assistance of Cranky (living up to his name), they had overseen the loading of some of the coaches, non-rail vehicles and even one or two engines that wanted to get out. No one had any idea how such a ship was to be maneuvered out of the docks, but this was a problem for another time.
The Narrow Gauge engines made sure to keep their eyes out for anything suspicious...well, more than usual. All save Duke, who appeared to have retreated back into senility once again. Bertram/Smudger's death had done rather a number on him, and at times he appeared to be revisiting his life on the Mid Sodor Railway. The engines left him there, and instead had Ivo Hugh, the Stunt Double, take over the running of the trains.
And all the while, the engines sang together, a song to keep their spirits up. Really Useful Engine was rapidly becoming the anthem for the whole Island working together.
A plan was put into place by the other engines for rescuing Duck. With everyone keeping a eye on the three diesels, Thomas hurried backwards from one of his last jobs of the afternoon to get ready. However, on the way, he saw Henry, who looked very much ill.
"What's the matter?"
"Boiler ache!" Henry shuddered, and turned a interesting shade of green.
"Don't worry! There's six coal trucks of special Sudrian coal that'll make you feel better. I hope."
"Thanks Thomas. That'll help." A rather nasty sound echoed from Henry's boiler. "Ooh heck!" He still held onto the theory that the Island was trying to tell him something, but what, he wasn't sure of.
Thomas backed down onto the trucks, hard. With a clatter, one of them rolled backwards into a siding, out of the way. And then, with a curious whistling sound, it vanished from sight the second it hit the buffers. The little blue tank engine knew nothing of this, of course, and started off cheerfully. He saw Bertie and whistled.
"Morning Thomas, with your one, two, three, four, five coal trucks!"
"Five? Thought I had six a moment ago. And...why did you count them out aloud? Bertie, are you feeling okay? Have you been back on the drink again? We talked about this- DON'T RUN AWAY FROM ME!"
Later, he met up with Percy. "Listen, Perce, we're meeting up not too far from Kirk Ronan, kay? Once we've got Duck out of there-"
"I've been worried about you!"
"Well, wish I could say the same, but I can't, so I won't!"
"You lost a coal truck today!"
"Yeah, when I was near that random pair of buffers at the end of the Kirk Ronan line near the little grotto that's there for no real reason!"
There was a long, and pregnant pause as each engine's thought went off on a completely different tangent before at last, the obvious slapped them in the face repeatedly.
"...You don't think-"
"HOLY SHIT HOW DID WE NOT WORK THAT OUT?!"
"Percy, you're a genius."
"That I am."
"You're in charge of protecting the buffers from Diesel-"
"WHAT!?" shrieked Percy, his voice raising several octaves.
"-and I'll go and have another search for Mr Conductor!"
"WHY ME?!"
"Because you're brave!"
"NO I'M NOT! I WANT TO GO HOME! WITH MY TEDDY!"
"And you're also expendable!"
"Fair enough!"
...
The Fat Director watched as the Other Railway practically emptied out, one by one, the diesels were moving across from their sheds, yards, shacks and other homes, all congregating via any track possible towards Sodor. Some diesels headed towards the docks, to be taken over via boat along with the many employees who had been training for this day for so long. Others took simpler paths, towards Vicarstown Bridge. And still many, many others waited for the sign.
The Facades had their own orders, so they had left ahead of time. Save for one. D6, the Class 40, was to be Marklin's own personal puppet until such time as he had amassed enough magic to regain a true form.
"Is the machine ready?" The Director asked. The engineers nodded. "Fire her up."
Switches were thrown, levers were pulled, the clock began to tick and whir and with a great and mighty roar of action, the Machine-
-did absolutely nothing.
The Fat Director looked at the engineers, who were sweating uncontrollably. "So...I think we have a problem-"
There was a brilliant flash that almost blinded everyone in a radius of ten feet of the Machine, which itself glowed a bright, burning orange that seemed to be the only thing around in the great and immense whiteness the flash had caused. Then, from the Machine, tendrils of blue and green energy lashed out, creating what seemed to be portals, similar to the ones that had caused Carlin's time travel journey to be possible.
"Shall we begin?"
...
The Big Dipper was a relatively new viaduct, that ran over Hawin Croka, a muddy brown river that looked as though it was the cause of several of the worst kind of diseases. Of course, that wasn't what Mr Conductor was thinking about as he trudged along, depressed. He was thinking about supper, and going home, and the several pounds of coke he had accidentally just snorted up his nose. Turns out stumbling into the China Clay Pits was not a good thing.
"Well, well, well. Twinkletoes, himself!"
Mr Conductor chanced a look back, and began to run as fast as he could. But no human can outrun a train, not for long, and this was no ordinary train. With a snarl of triumph, Diesel 10's claw reached out and snapped around Mr Conductor, painfully.
"Remember me? Tut tut. And your uniform is terrible! That's what they care about over here, isn't it, the proper uniform for the proper job. Fat Hatt won't have any need for you with that sloppy work. Oh, and look! No sugar! How very, very droll of you! Were you looking for me? Oh I am touched."
As Diesel 10 continued in this vein, he casually trundled across the Big Dipper, claw squeezing down tighter and tighter. The Conductor wheezed, trying desperately to breathe, but it was getting harder and harder.
"Okay then, so let's run through this all one last time. I know about the buffers." Diesel 10 wasn't lying on this score. He had suddenly worked out, in the middle of the night, that George had said that he had taken out every buffer except for the ones at Kirk Ronan. It did not take an idiot to work out what that meant. "So, that's one link there that I don't need you for."
The keystone was shifting. Parts of the bridge were coming apart...like Mr Conductor's dream!
"MY UNIVERSE IS STARTING TO CRUMBLE!" he wailed.
"God, get it together, America is not the center of the universe! You know, I'm actually glad I missed having to listen to all those Presidents going on about having power over the greatest nation in the world. It gets so boring after a while! You know what isn't boring? Death. And chaos. And watching as the universe crumbles around you for real. Now, I know about the Magic Railway...or Railroad. Whatever. Take that, and you have the power to transport yourself to every known area on the globe. No more will I just be restrained to Britain. America, Holland, Portugal, Asia, the whole of Europe, will be mine! Once I find her, you humans and puffballs are going to die, period. You'll be history, left in the rubble while my kind take over and rule over you. Just tell me where the buffers are. Go on, just confirm my little theory."
Mr Conductor had pulled out some bolt cutters he had in his pocket for...some reason, and was trying to snip off one of the hydraulic cables.
"Ten seconds." With a jolt, the cutters fell nearly out of Mr C's reach. He struggled forward for them. "Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four." He reached out and...grabbed them. "Three!" He wrapped the cutters around the cable, and began to squeeze hard. "Two!"
The cable snapped.
"One!"
Mr Conductor suddenly turned into a bird. At least, that was how he felt as Pinchy launched him like a lawndart up, up and away. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRGH!" He screamed as he soared through the air, right into a pile of mailbags.
.
.
.
.
Wait, what? Hold on, let me check the script.
...
...
Wait, talking tumbleweed? I don't recall that. No, no it must be here somewhere.
...
...
...
No, it says right here. 'MR CONDUCTOR LANDS ON A BUNCH OF CONVENIENT MAILBAGS NEXT TO THE WINDMILL. HE THEN SAYS'
"Did you put all of this here for me? You must have known I was coming! How kind of you! Oh, and I'm at the windmill, now that's what I call an happy landing."
'AND THEN WE JUST MOVE ON'
...WHAT?! NOTHING!? NO! Even for this story, this is too much to ask! There is breaking the fourth wall, there is what this story has done for the past hundred plus chapters, and then there is THIS. Even this story has limits, mate! LIMITS.
NO. You know what? Fine. I'm not even going to comment on it. We'll all just have to accept that as a bloody mystery for the rest of our lives.
Urgh. I hate my life sometimes.
Anyway, Mr Lucky Buggar got up and hurried to the side of the windmill. There, on the bricks, were words written in dusty smoke like writing. Clearly someone's pen had run out. "Must be it!" he said, excited.
STOKE UP THE MAGIC IN THE MOUNTAIN, AND THE LADY WILL SMILE. THEN WATCH THE SWIRLS THAT SPIN SO WELL.
Mr Conductor stared. "THE HELL DOES THAT MEAN?!"
...
"So, do you want to say how you let the Conductor escape?"
"Yeah, since you had him bang to rights."
Diesel 10 growled. "I was testing him, you morons! To see if he could escape! And he did. So, obviously, there's work that still needs to be done on this ramshackle body of mine! "
"Liar liar."
"Pants on fire."
"This routine of yours is getting old." Suddenly, both Splatter and Dodge found themselves floating above the rails. "I'd advise you to shut up and let go of the issue before you find yourself dead. Playtime is over, Splodge. Now, it's time for the next lesson. How to stop being a bunch of incoherent-"
At that moment, James nudged the button that released the coal through the hopper that Diesel 10 was conveniently under. Coal had been building up in such a deluge that it completely covered him from claw to wheels.
"HAHAHAHAHA- Are they in yet, Henry?"
"HEEEHEEEHEEE- I think so, Gordon. Yes, there they are!"
It was unusual of James to think up a cunning plan at the best of times, so the fact that during the worst of times he had come up with one like this was nothing short of amazing. This distraction was a way to make sure that Diesel 10 was occupied with being trapped in by the coal, while Duck was rescued by a crack team of experts and geniuses.
Sadly, they weren't around, so they had to settle for the Works Diesel and the Scottish twins instead.
Donald and Douglas looked grimly at each other, then without a word, they moved into action. Cutting past the furious Diesel 10, they arrived at the Smelters with a good bit of time to spare. They looked left and right, but there was no sign of diesel or road vehicle. They were on their own. They met up with Butch, the breakdown truck, who quickly called them over.
"All right." whispered he. "Duck's been strung up over there. Now, if you can get a flatbed under him, I can use my hook to wiggle him free!"
"Sounds like a rather shite plan!" Donald hissed.
"The diesel from the works is still trying to get the breakdown train in operational condition, but those bastards did a real number on it. At the moment, this is the best we can do!"
Douglas saw that Donald was about to say something that he'd regret, and hurriedly cut in. "All right, all right, Butch, ye get the poor wee sod down, and we'll do the rest."
...
"You know, it's funny matey, I don't actually remember you arriving on the Island."
Oliver was high off his caboose on pain meds at the moment, so he wasn't really aware of what he was rambling on about. The Works Diesel paid him no heed either, but just kept on trying to spot areas where the Pinchers could repair the Breakdown Train.
"You just randomly appeared one day...or were you always there? I'll have to ask Duck when I see him next. If I see him next. Cause, it's strange we only started paying attention to you around about 1994 or 1995, isn't it?"
The Works Diesel would have shrugged, had he shoulders.
"You know, if you were a character in the story, you'd be very poorly handled indeed!"
The Work Diesel did what any self-respecting engine did and tuned Oliver out.
...
As Donald and Douglas moved closer, and Butch got ready to sling his hook at Duck, they realized too late that they were not alone.
"Hello, hello, hello."
There was a low growl, and Douglas recoiled in horror as Arry and Bert moved from out of the red shadows on either side of Duck. He suddenly felt very weak, and a memory, unbidden, arose from the past.
"Douggie, calm down!" Donald recognized all too well the signs of Douglas's minor panic attack. So long ago, when he had been ordered to Sodor, he had been ordered to leave Douglas in the 'care' of the Grim Reapers of the rails. It had only been a very lucky escape that had prevented Douglas from going the way of so many of Arry and Bert's victims.
"Well, well. At least we finally get to finish the job, eh, Bert?" Bert growled and chuckled at Arry's remark. Butch moved on forward, but found his pathway blocked by George the Steamroller.
"Traitor!" he growled.
"You're the traitor here, George."
There was a pause, and Duck grimaced in pain.
This was going to get messy.
REVIEW TIME.
MattPrice01: Thank you! Oh, re-watching all Power Rangers stuff is great! Probably will steal that at some point!
Game-Watch: Alec Baldwin as a Padawan. I'd watch that Star Wars movie.
Kamen Rider Necrom: Once more, I have a plan for that eventuality!
Bronze Shield: The sugar gag was great, probably the most fun I've had writing a scene for a while. Hope you thought I did good with Junior!
Reality Rejection Service: He pretty much does the same in the movie, too. It's entertaining, but stupid. So I went whole hog. Yeah, Lily is...despite some weird moments. ...Eh, he'll have to settle for his cousin so far. But never say never!
Radical sandwiches: Thanks! Glad you liked the funny and the sad equally as well! Appreciate it.
TrainManiac: Oh, thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it, a pure comedy chapter like that's fun sometimes. As for the Bertram scene...yeah. Bit of a necessary evil though, in my opinion. Just to get it over with.
Reid007: Yep. One of my favorite parts of writing that last chapter, to be honest.
AaronCottrell97: Ha! Yeah, pretty much. Just another little bit to get out of the way, really. Was going to save his death for later, but I felt as though eliminating hm early sets something else up nicely. Yeah, I'm with you there. There was a youtube comment that I read the other day which summed it up nicely. I want to see the Director's Cut of the Magic Railroad, because I'd love to see any extra footage of models that we don't have access to at this point in time. However, that won't fix the main problems of the movie, that it's focused too much on Shining Time and the humans. Hopefully what I'm doing is striking a decent balance between the two.
UGX7: You'll have to wait a little longer for Derek's bit, I'm afraid. But yeah, Bertram getting killed off was, as I've said, just because I want to set something else up later. Actually, you might be closer than you think with the Day of the Doctors bit...the soundtrack is great, How the Moon Must Feel got name-checked primarily because of how nice it sounds.
Now then, let's discuss! Before we start though, a brief explanation of how the next few parts are going to work. If we assume for the moment that I will be sticking to my plan of ten parts for the movie, and this is Part 4, then the following is what I currently have planned.
-Part 5 will see more human interaction with Lily and Patch and Burnett, and it will also serve to start bringing most of the action onto Sodor.
-Part 6 will, hopefully, begin setting up Parts 7 and 8, which will be primarily where a lot of big actions will be happening that is original to my story and my story alone.
-As just mentioned, the big battle will be split up into Part 7 and 8, hopefully, which is good since it allows me to expand on a lot of things. Originally, it was just going to be Part 8, but that was too big even by my standards.
-Part 9 will be something of a mix. This is where I shall deal with the movie's climax, while also setting up for MY fanfiction's own climax, which will take place in...
-Part 10! The biggest chapter of the lot by my reckoning. A lot of stuff introduced over the last year and a bit will be resolved, fingers crossed. Think of it as a clearing out for the next Volume. Oh boy, you'll love this!
Now, onto regular notes!
-We are, roughly, reaching the point where I had to pause writing while I carried on with doing Season 4 and 5. For the record, the next update might take some time as I'm busy writing a lot of stuff instead of just editing. Hope you don't mind waiting a bit longer!
-You will also note that from here on out, I'm beginning to cut down once again on things being said. For example, a lot of the back and forth between Splodge and Ten at the coaling plant is cut out here, as does the lyrics to Really Useful Engine and the entire montage. This is partly a pragmatic choice (The Really Useful Engine bit really does serve no purpose in the story aside from adding another song, and it does carry the theme of how hard the engines are working regardless) and partly because they contribute little to anything to the story. The coaling plant scene is actually the last time we get a proper scene with Gordon and Henry in the movie, they don't show up afterwards except in crowd shots. Splodge's entire dialogue is so insipid in the movie, there's nothing really worth transcribing.
-Writing Carlin and Junior interacting was great. Basically, my idea of Junior is that he is a personification of the nineties. Hip slogans, casual attitude, looking like a real prat...he'd be practically at home in Shining Time should they have continued into the late-90's.
-That clock mentioned on the machine? That's not just a random bit I added. That's a call back to something that happened in this fic. I shall give major props to anyone who is able to work out what that reference is before I bring it up in story.
-Basically, the machine is a way for the Fat Director to get his army onto the Island without having to use the Vicarstown Bridge and clogging it up. This way is far more effective. And hey, there might be a few surprises on his side...DUN DUN DA.
-Both Ivo Hugh and the Works Diesel's bits was to poke fun at my...addiction for making things more complex and random than they need be. Sorry guys, don't know how you've put up with me for so long! XD. Mind, that doesn't meant that Ivo's bit here doesn't serve a purpose. It might not pay off in Magic Railroad, but I am setting something up for the future that might be interesting...
-Donald, Douglas and Butch vs Arry, Bert and George is actually a very late addition. Oriignally, the plan was for me to end on Douglas's line about planning to get Duck down. However, this changed when I realized that I wanted to have the twins do more before the big battle, as they were the only ones who I didn't have a proper plan for throughout this story. Likewise, I wanted to give Arry and Bert a moment in the sun, and to give Butch and George a bit more of a rivalry so that the next few parts will make more sense.
-That breakdown at the fourth wall breaking is just for shits and giggles. Hope you enjoy'd it.