Part 9: Take A Breath.
Patch gripped the back of the cab as hard as he could. At the moment, his mind as currently rebuking him for all the stupid choices he had made in the last hour or so. It was a very long list, mostly because he kept wondering why he had even bothered to climb aboard the train with the potentially crazy man.
Burnett looked all around the Magic Railroad, his eyes adjusting to the somewhat darker appearance it had had when last he had seen it. It had looked so alive then, so majestic. And now he felt as though he was trespassing in the land of the dead. But there was still a few sparkles of life. Through the gaps, he could see...more universes.
There was one where a group of actors argued on stage regarding what appeared to be a very shoddy rendition of Peter Pan. Odd, but not the oddest Burnett had seen. And sure enough, the next one was odd as well, as five brightly colored engines wearing what appeared to be spandex and helmets faced off against a massive monster that reached out with many tentacles.
"I...don't think I've seen that Power Rangers show before." Lily muttered behind him.
Burnett smiled for a moment, before focusing once again on the other universes. There was one where the engines were all aliens from outer space, being beamed down from a massive mothership. And then, besides that, there was an image of Thomas the Tank Engine, blood dripping from his mouth and his face rotting away...over the bodies of humans, while the other engines fled away from this zombie.
The next one was different though, a bit lighter. Thomas appeared to have become Superman in this one. It was weird. So was the next one, images of the engines appearing at random around the world, the Sahara, Australia, Japan, the Amazon and, most curious of all, the Amazon of all things. Burnett scratched his head. These were...different, he gave them that.
But there was one universe that he saw that really shook him.
There was nothing there. The image was entirely still, just a dark screen if you would, without any sounds or sight. But before Burnett turned away to take care of Lady, he could have sworn he saw a pair of eyes flicker in the darkness. Whatever that was, it wasn't the Malevolence. It was someone else.
Something else.
"Lily, look!" Patch shouted. Lily hurried back, and Burnett glanced over his shoulder. He shook his head, and then looked again, not quite believing what it was he was seeing. Behind him, from Lady's wheels, was...something. Were her wheels sparking? He checked her over. No, no problem there.
And then he looked at the stretch of railroad behind him.
The second that the sparks, or the magic, or whatever they were, hit the ground, it seemed that the very ground itself pulsed with energy again. After so long, the lost engine was back, and her magic was beginning to revitalize the Magic Railroad once more!
"The Railroad's getting it's energy back!"
"Thanks Patch, for stating the obvious!" Burnett glanced upwards. The ceiling, the walls, even the rails themselves seemed to shine like they had never done so before. The murky dark was dispelled away by a warm glow from the roof, as if the sun had finally risen after a long lie in. From behind, plants grew and grew to taller heights, bursting from the old cracked and dull bark. New shoots shot out, leaves expanded outwards from the old stems once more, branches grew thick and mighty once more.
Lily picked up the bag, and almost out of curiosity than anything else, waved the bag through the magic. As she did so, several of the sparks, or swirls, or whatever they were called, landed there.
And now Lady's wheels were going faster and faster, almost faster than they had ever gone before. As she gained steam, more and more of her magic began to flow outwards, transforming the barren tunnel and restoring it back to it's former mysterious and wonderful glory. The greenery was almost getting overwhelming, to the point where any attempt to see the alternate universes was rapidly becoming impossible.
Burnett didn't care. He leaned forward, and patted the side of Lady's cab with great affection. "Well M'Lady...lights are all green for you now. Green for glory. Let's go home."
"That was cheesy." Patch muttered, but he still patted the baffled Mutt's head and felt far more excited than he had been a few minutes ago. Burnett backed into the cab, and looked at Lily. She was beaming, and in that moment Burnett realized more than ever that he was damn lucky to have such a grand-daughter.
"Tasha would have loved this journey."
At any other time, the statement would have filled Burnett with a painful stab of regret. But now, with all this beauty around him, he couldn't help but grin. "She would have. But she would be even happier that you were here to share this with me." He reached out, hugged her and kissed her.
"Wait, we're coming out!"
"But this wasn't here when we last crossed the Railroad!"
They were now in an open field, open as far as the eyes could see. In the distance, Burnett could have sworn that he saw figures from his past. His mother and father, and...Tasha?
She, if it was her, smiled and waved. And he smiled and waved back.
And then, something else even more majestic happened. As they left the forest behind them, the engine shook for a moment, as if inhaling a large breath of fresh air after nearly forty years of being asleep...and spoke.
"So Burnett, you did remember the magic! It's still inside you!"
Burnett beamed happily at the sound of Lady's voice. Lily pulled out the stuffed bluebird, and more because she felt like it than anything, waved it around the air, absorbing all the magic she could.
"Oh, of course this engine talks too. Naturally. Why are we here?" Patch asked, more to break the silence than anything. He patted Mutt's head. The dog was somewhat out of his element here. As if he had ever been in said element throughout this caper.
And then a whistle rang out.
"To pick up a friend, of course."
"THOMAS!"
Thomas the Tank Engine hit the rails with a bump, and tried his best to ignore the various bruises, cuts and potential concussions that had been visited upon his face during his very random trip through several different universes. He had seen things he wanted to unsee as soon as possible. Then he looked at Lady, and more out of madness, laughed. "You found her! Took you long enough! Cor, what a bird!"
"Get your eyes off my arse, you."
Burnett blew the whistle, and Thomas responded in kind. And then Lady began to speed up even more so, taking a deep breath-
...
-and with a loud whistle, they were on the other side of the buffers!
"We're back! Slow down here, stop Grandpa!"
Lady looked all around her. The Grotto had clearly not changed much since her departure from the Island. Well, save for the very random inclusion of a well there that four rather bored looking Conductors sat around.
"Okay...i spy with my little eye, something beginning with C."
"Conductors." said Starr, Carlin and Junior as one. A very bored one, to be sure. Carlin got up and headed to look and see how Kirk Ronan was doing. He therefore missed the awestruck reactions of both Mr Conductor and Junior (And the apathetic one of Starr) as they saw Lady come to a stop. Lily jumped up and ran over to hug them both. "Hello Junior! Hello Mr C! Hello...you."
"I was in a band when I was younger. Dad over there probably recognizes me. He looks old enough."
"A wee bit bitter, aren't ye, Starr?"
"So would you be, kid, if you were my age."
"Mr Conductor, this is my grandpa!" Lily gestured towards Burnett, who warily stepped off Lady's footplate and headed towards the strange men with trepidation.
"Pleasure to meet you, Mr Stone. I'm so glad you found your way back."
Carlin greeted him somewhat differently. But the sentiment was still there. "Burnett?! Is that you? F**k me sideways with a rusty tentpole, you look like shit! What happened to you?"
"Hello Carlin." Burnett smiled genuinely, and lightly placed a hand on Carlin's shoulder. After a moment's pause, the two of them went in for an embrace...and then figured that a simple handshake would do just as well. Meanwhile, Mr Conductor was having a bit of a fanboy moment, pointing at Lady eagerly.
"Junior! Do you realize who this is?!"
"One beautiful engine!" Junior paused at the somewhat annoyed looking faces of the other Conductors, before advancing towards said engine. As he got closer, he frowned, the gears began to turn in his head. "You mean-"
"Yep." Starr grunted.
"-that this is-"
"Keep using your words." Carlin muttered.
"-THE LOST ENGINE!?"
"That took longer than expected, you slowcoach." Mr Conductor looked at his watch. "God, is that the time? We need to get a move on, I reckon."
"Yeah, are we glad to see ye, now we can head back to Shining Time and put this whole sorry situation behind us!" Junior's enthusiasm died down at the sight of Mr Conductor's stoic expression. "Right, cuz?"
"Junior, we won't make it back to Shining Time without the gold-dust. Without it, the magic, and us, can't exist!" Mr Conductor and Junior shared an Oscar-worthy moment of silent dialogue, while the other two Conductors watched on in bafflement.
"Mate, the hell are you on about?"
"Yeah, you ham. We're not going to die or disappear if we don't get the gold dust back, it just means that at worst we'll lose our magic for a bit and we'll, heaven forbid, have to learn how to walk using our legs!"
"And for that matter-!" shouted Thomas, who had just popped out of the buffers and hurried up to the line besides Lady for the time being "-if you can't get to Shining Time, then how the hell did you know I was going to get back there in one piece!?"
"Ummmm-"
"You were pulling that out of your ass, weren't you?" Thomas sounded peeved. "Bloody nora on a stick! I mean, things are already dire as they are now. I just went through seven different places and got turned into a tumbleweed for a scene or two! It was weird!" As Starr nodded in agreement, Thomas looked at Lady. "Hello...God? Do you answer to God? Should I call you Goddess or-"
"Lady is fine."
"Hello Lady is fine! I'm Thomas! I'm the one who nearly died trying to get you coal!"
"Oh, that actually reminds me, how is it that using coal from where Lady originally came from didn't occur to you?" Lily said, brightly. Burnett frowned, and went beet red.
"If your excuse is that we're in another universe, I will rip my own buffers off and use them to beat you to death. And laugh while doing so!" Thomas's violent attitude was not needed however. Burnett nodded and sheepishly grinned. "Hell. All right, how badly have things gone here?"
"Oh, ye know, there have been some bomb runs going on, but we've actually been out of the action! I think everything's going grand!" Junior beamed. Everyone stared at him and cursed quietly under their breath.
As if on cue, Henry clattered through the gap in the trees where the grotto met the rest of the railway. His entire frame was covered from head to toe in soot, he looked as black as...something not offensive. "Great bloody heavens!" He raged. "THERE YOU ARE!" He pulled Percy in.
Thomas gasped. Percy's head was bleeding badly, and he wasn't awake. Carlin ran over and looked at him. "Come on, mate, stop f**king around! Wake up, come on, don't make me use the four letter words some more!" He looked around desperately. "The hell happened to him!?"
"Silly ass tried to hold off some of the diesels at the old quarry." grunted Toby as he entered with Mavis and Henrietta. "Managed to cause a landslide that took out a good number of them, but he got caught in the accident. No canvas barrier to save him this time." Toby was clearly concerned, but masking it well. He turned, and spotted Lady. "Is this-"
"I am Lady. Hello there...tram?"
Toby didn't react to the slur, intended or otherwise "Toby. And I must say, after all I've heard about you... I thought you'd be taller."
...
Edward woke up to the sound of gloating laughter. That wasn't actually all that different from waking up on a normal morning at Tidmouth, so it took him a moment to note the large chains that were wrapped around him. And the smell of diesel oil.
He reluctantly opened his eyes to see a truly remarkable sight. On the platform, not too far away from him, sat people he recognized from Duck's description. P.T Boomer, Captain Zero and the Fat Director. Mr Gotch was also there, along with several different groups of sailors, bikers and Other Railway workmen, all of whom looked as though all of their Christmas's had come early.
Tied up in similar fashion were the others, all of whom looked as though their journey here had not been the best. Edward shuddered to think what he looked like, he was aware of part of his head having been soaked with blood. And all across the massive section of criss-cross track, lay diesels. They all looked as though they were ready to enjoy themselves.
And there was Marklin, hovering over the station with a grin on his face. Edward wasn't surprised, the ghostly engine appeared to be getting more and more solid with every passing minute. Soon he'd be back to his 'normal' self, bar a few extra ghost powers that he'd be keeping.
The Fat Director stepped forward to gaze upon Edward. "You...you were at the rally in nineteen-ninety-one...you have not changed much, I must admit. Despite everything that we have thrown at you, you are still alive. Were you not a steam engine, I'd be impressed."
"And you've done a very good job at overwhelming us and staying one step ahead at all time. Even Duck, who had access to all the gadgets and toys he could have wanted, had all his cunning plans and clever tricks come to naught. If it wasn't for the fact that you are an obese, foul, disgusting, self-serving, manipulate, over-complicating little shit stain of a human being, I'd be moderately respectful of you."
"Ye want me to kill him, boss?" Zero pulled out a gun and pointed it at Edward's head. The blue engine laughed.
"Well, I mean, he's not wrong though, is he?" Boomer remarked, out of nowhere. Edward rolled his eyes. Here he was trying to die a noble death, and this tit came swanning in and ruining his big moment!
"...Excuse you, Boomer?"
P..T Boomer looked around, and took a deep breath. This was it. D-Day had arrived. "Well, sir, let me be blunt. From the moment that I started working with you, under orders from the Malevolence, your schemes have been, to be frank, utter shite. They are over-complicated, baffling, relying on too many variables that you can't possibly hope to control and also pointless. You were spinning plates for so long that you kept forgetting about them all, one by one, and then acted surprised when they fell to the ground and broke."
"...You're very chatty all of a sudden. It's interesting, but a tad annoying." There was a definite edge to the Fat Director's words now.
"Of course, it wouldn't be quite so bad if it wasn't for...well...what you've actually done. Which when you think about it, isn't that much. You sent a ghost into the Island, twice. You've built yourself up to be a cultish leader via the destruction of several steam engines, but really, any idiot can do that. You attempted to gain control of the Island via the mayoral campaign, and then to blow up the Island, when all that happened was that we ended up killing our own candidate and then destroying the entire railway and all those loyal to you."
"...Gotch, shoot him."
Gotch did not move.
"Gotch!"
"He heard you, he just isn't going to do it. Isn't that right, Gotch?"
"Indeed." Gotch raised the gun and pointed it at the Fat Director. The latter's stoic expression didn't break, but it was possible to just about see an expression in his eyes of surprise. "Sorry...well, not really. I'd rather be on a side that actually remembers to use me and broke me out of jail that one that just tossed me aside after a year or so."
Captain Zero stepped forward. "Men, let's show these bastards how ta deal with traitors!" He raised his gun, as did a few others...but the remainder of the troops, sailors, Other Railway employees and bikers alike, did absolutely nothing. "Ye heard me, ye crazy-"
"Ah ah ah, be careful there, Zero boy, you don't want to do something that you'll regret."
Zero spun about, and watched in horror as large, shadowy tendrils reached forward and seemed to snap the few loyal men's bodies in two. Marklin gave a ghoulsih grin as he made his way to join the remainder of the mutineers. By now, not even the Fat Director could hide just how unprepared he had been for this eventuality. "Marklin, you...Have you forgotten who saved you? Who gave you that body?"
"I have not. And let me tell you, being in this body, on that Island for nearly twenty years!? Horrible, utterly, utterly horrible! It didn't even go anywhere! You just recalled me and made me go through one hell of a nasty body change! Even if it weren't for the whole 'being dead' angle, I'd be incredibly angry about the final result! True, you have helped me get my other half back, but really, it's not worth having to put up with you yapping away forever."
"And just in case you are wondering-" Boomer cut in, clearly enjoying himself "-the diesels aren't coming to your aid either. Right lads?!" The laughter he got in return emboldened him even further. "You see, again, thanks to your shortsightedness, Davidson's destruction of the Other Railway ended up completely wiping out most of the loyal diesels that you had so carefully cultivvated over the years. So, when we started production at the Smelters, it was incredibly easy to make sure that these cookie-cutter diesels were loyal to me. And you preformed your jobs admirably, boys!"
The combined blast of their horns almost deafened Edward completely.
"Same with the workers. They're beginning to get rather tired of that Isonationlist policy you keep pushing, locking them away in a massive complex for their entire lives and having to ignore the screams every day as they try and shop. So, as it turns out, fear isn't better than love." Boomer grinned, and raised his hands up. "Now, shall I take your souls...or should I just kill you?"
"Insane...all of ye, insane!"
"Ah, Captain. Now, this would be the part where I'd offer you a job with us, but at this point, the Scottish accent has gotten boring. So, off you-"
There was a loud whistling sound, and from a suddenly appearing portal rolled the trucks.
"-pop."
In the confusion, both Director and Captain scarpered for the outskirts.
The Spiteful Brakevan held no illusions about what was about to happen. He knew that there was no chance that the trucks, as powerful as they could be, would overpower the diesels. But he was damn well going to try anyway. "FORWARD!" he roared, and the last great trucks charged at the Other Railway.
It lasted, in total, five minutes. The trucks may have been fierce and proud and troublesome and all that, but they were still made of wood. And one by one, they were snuffed out.
Fred was the first to go, crushed underneath the wheels of the Juggernaut. Then Rickety, still laughing, was smashed to pieces by two enthusiastic diesels. U.L.P took shot after shot, growling and battering all the time, until one lucky one finally hit him square on in the face. Finally, the Brakevan spat out curses and screams of righteous fury as one after another, the diesels and trucks surrounded him and torn him to pieces once more.
"All right, you've had your fun."
The army turned to see Edward, having used the distraction to break free of his chains, standing there.
"Now, come and have a go, if you think you're hard enough."
...
Toby's sarcasm quickly gave way to terror as he desperately kept begging Percy to hold on. While the other engines spitballed desperately ideas about how to fix the injuries, Thomas was filled in on how the battle had gone in his absence.
Lady said nothing. She just stared at Toby with the strangest expression on her face, as if she had seen him before. She looked over to Carlin, who was sitting down and staring at the ground in absolute misery. No one had said anything to him for a bit. No one really wanted to mock him or try and jolt him out of his sorrow for the moment. They all needed to take a breath.
Everyone tensed as they heard the sound of twigs crackling. Mr Conductor stood in front of all of them, trying his best to protect them just in case. The bushes shook for a moment...and then cleared to reveal James, dragging a very badly wounded Gordon behind him.
"James!"
"Thomas! You're back! Thank god! Now, listen, this stupid great prat tried to take on Diesel 10 single-handedly, and...well, you can see the result of that attack, can't you? So...does anyone have a insta-fix for this?"
Toby glared at Gordon, who was staring off into the distance, a clear sign of guilt on his face. "You great dozy shit, I know you make it a career habit of ignoring Edward's speeches and good sense, but of all the bloody times to do so-"
"Yes or no, can we heal him!?" James asked, urgently.
"He has to get in line!" snapped Henry. He paused, and then said in a softer voice. "Percy's badly injured. Luckily, the injuries are mostly treatable. Unluckily, the one that I have no idea how to fix is the most severe one." He nodded towards Percy's face, where large bruises and cuts covered the top half of said face. "He's concussed at the best, possible brain damage at worse."
James paused, and apologized. He looked around...and did a double take at Lady. "OO-ER! Is that-?"
"Lady? Yeah."
"Huh. Thought she'd be taller." James looked at Lady critically for a moment. "This will sound rude, and I apologize for putting you on the spot...no, actually, I don't. You're magical, right?"
"Yes, in theory, but-"
"But nothing. You have magic. You can stop this from happening! Toby, I'm not just talking out of my tender here, am I?"
"No, you're right!" Toby coughed, and tried to sound a bit more reasonable. "Listen, Miss Lady, what my friend is trying to say and making making a pig's ear of it, is this. Please can you use your magic to heal our friends?"
Lady looked at the faces of the engines. Henry looked nervously between the two engines. James stared off into the distance. Toby looked at Mavis, who gave him what she hoped was a comforting smile. And Thomas...Thomas just looked weary. "I...Listen, I can gather up my magic and try, all right? But there's a problem. I've been dormant for so long, so the full extent of my powers are not yet back. And I've spent a lot of magic in restoring the Railroad-"
"RAILWAY!" said the others, as one.
"...Railway, then, to it's former glory. If I can heal them...I can only do so to one engine at this moment."
"Better give it to Gordon then." Percy muttered under his breath.
There was a pause as this sunk in.
"What?" Toby's voice sounded rather small, before he pulled himself together. For the time being, at any rate. "Percy, no, that's crazy! Listen, Lady can just...give half of her healing to each of you! That way, the major injuries will be dealt with, and then we can work on fixing you up-"
"It doesn't work like that." Lady looked pained. "My magic can be very literal. It can cover superficial wounds like cuts and bruises...but skull fractures, broken buffers,...even brain damage? That requires a lot of energy."
"Then...Then...I don't know!"
"Toby, please. Heal Gordon up." Percy groaned. "Everything hurts."
"...Are you sure?"
"No. But it's the right thing to do."
Toby looked at Percy for a moment, and then sadly chuckled. "You idiot." He said, with such genuine sentiment and affection that it was almost startling that it was coming from someone on the Island of Sodor. "See what happens when I'm not around to take care of you...you hang in there, no matter what, you got it?"
"Yeah...really want to sleep though."
"Don't." Toby turned to Lady, and gave a short nod. He didn't trust himself to speak. She took a deep breath, and closed her eyes. Under her breath she muttered words that sounded like they belonged to no language in existence.
The engines closed their eyes slightly as her entire body began to glow a shining white. From her buffers, tendrils of light made their way quickly to Gordon's body. The express engine let out a noise of bafflement as they grabbed hold of where his buffers should have been. He let out another as the light suddenly began to grow and grow, covering his entire body, face and all.
After two minutes of weird noises and even stranger sights, the white returned to tendrils, which in turn detached themselves from Gordon, and they in turn made tehir way back to Lady. She sagged the second that they returned.
Gordon, meanwhile, was looking rather decent. Sure, he was still cracked and bruised a bit, but for the most part he in was in one piece again. He looked around in bafflement. "Well...that was a thing that happened."
At that moment, something came through the trees. The engines tensed up, and the four Conductors raised their fists...before lowering them at the sight of Duck being pushed along by Stepney. The former looked all around him and groaned. Stepney cheerfully whistled.
"Stepney."
"Good to see you again, miss. Surprised you recognize me after all this time. Duck, say hello to Lady."
"She's a lot shorter than I reckoned she was going to be." Duck shook himself. "Good to see you, at last. You'll forgive me if I don't start fainting and fawning up a storm, but I'm a little bit...out of it, at the moment." He looked at Percy, his eyes filled with regret. "I'm sorry, old chum. I rather dragged you all into this, didn't I?" He looked downcast. "And now they've got Edward."
"Shit." muttered James, clearly shaken. "...So what do we do now?"
"Well, I don't know what you'll do, but I for one am going to face our enemies down. Even if it kills me. Hell, let's face it, especially if it kills me." Toby looked around, and winced. "When I headed over to the tramway, I was able to find this in all the chaos." Carlin took the hint, and hauled out a rather battered, but reasonably well maintained...thing.
"Hang about, is that Davidson's electric skirt?" Duck shook his head. "I could have sworn we had taken all the evidence that was necessary to the case with us! How'd you get your hands on it?"
"My driver had figured that by taking it, he'd save his money troubles. As it was, it didn't pan out that way, but he made sure that it was well maintained and hidden in the old shed. This should serve as both a makeshift cowcatcher...and a weapon."
"But how are we going to get ready in time?"
"Simple! A simple scene break of three dots should be enough time to make sure that we're prepared! Observe!"
...
"Wow, that was amazing, Toby!"
"Rest in peace, poor fourth wall...it's all Duck's fault for questioning things." Duck disagreed with this statement heartily, but conceded that with all the things he had managed to screw up, one more wouldn't really hurt that badly.
"All right...so we're ready?"
"As ready as we'll ever be." Gordon grunted as he rolled forward a few times. His new wheels were taking a bit of getting used to. If he was looking for sympathy, he got very little, save from a brief concerned glance from James. "Vicarstown?"
"Vicarstown." agreed Toby. "You coming Stepney?"
"I'll go with you to the bridge, but then I'm using the portal to get me back to the Bluebell Railway. I'm going to see if I can't get my friends there to lend us a buffer in the fight!" Stepney nodded to the eight of them. "Good luck, all of you. We're going to need it."
Then things went from bad to worse. James shrieked and whistled loudly at the sight of a horribly familiar figure making his approach through the gap in the cliffs of the grotto. Flanking him stood the very battered Splatter and Dodge, both of whom were staring at the steam engines with undisguised hatred and rage.
"Ah ha! Like a bad penny, you lot just keep on turning up! The Blue Puffball himself! Pity you missed the fight, I would have so liked to have shaken claws with you!" Diesel 10 grinned that horrible grin of his. "Oh, and you've brought the lost engine right to me! Thank you for that!"
"You're still around then." growled Lady, trying not to let the slight pricks of fear that she felt in her boiler get to her. "I'd assumed you'd gotten bored and decided to take up gardening or some such."
"Ha! Oh, Lady, all that time sleeping away has not improved your sense of humor." Diesel 10's smile dropped. "Splodge. Get over there. Obliterate her."
"No."
"We don't want to!"
"You're so tough, you do it!"
"...You know, Splodge, I don't care if you are on my side. My first act when I rule everything will be to gut your corpses and wear your bodies like gloves. But you are right. This is something I've got to do on my own."
Henry frowned. "What are the two shunters up to? I mean, they are on his side, right?"
Duck growled. "They're trying to trick us into thinking that they've reformed! Lads...before we head over there and layeth the smackdown for the, oh I don't know, ten minutes of defiance we have before the screaming starts, how about we take a little test run and obliterate the shit out of those two annoyances!?"
"Sounds like a plan to me!" Mavis grinned, somewhat off kilter.
Toby sighed. "Truly I am the only sane one here." He looked to Thomas. "You coming?"
"I can't get turned around quick enough! Besides someone has to protect Lady! I don't know why the hell that's me, but if we run, we can hopefully keep him occupied for the time being!" Thomas gulped. "Oh god, why did I pick today of all days to be brave?!"
"It suits you."
"Oh hush. Come on Lady, I'll help you."
Burnett jumped onboard Lady's cab. "So am I, m'Lady. I'm not letting you down again!" He paused. "Well, it'll be nice if I actually do something competent for once." The other Conductors nodded. "Carlin, you want a ride?"
"Er..." Carlin looked at the massive and malevolent diesel, who was moving towards the engines snapping his claw like a crocodile's jaw, and then back at the somewhat smaller engines. "You know what, this is all your f**king thing, Burnett, don't mind me. I'll just...sit here and look at this well."
"Grandpa, if you die, mom's going to be really angry!"
"I'm not going to die!"
"Yeah? Doesn't look that way to me, mate."
"You stay out of this, Paul McCartney!"
"...You better be joking mate, or I'll come over there and give you such a pasting-" Starr was held back by Mr Conductor, who decided to be useful for once and shout out an actual warning.
"Watch out for the Big Dipper viaduct! It's dangerous!"
He was promptly ignored again, as the two sets of the engines set off towards their destinies. Duck led Toby, Mavis, James, Gordon, Henry and a slightly out of it Percy towards Splodge, both of whom looked very surprised. They hadn't expected the engines to be in such an unforgiving mood! ...Which just goes to show just how stupid some engines can be. The two of them backed up and begun to race away as fast as they could.
Meanwhile, a cackling Diesel 10 roared after Lady and Thomas, both of whom were going like the clappers through the Kirk Ronan area.
The second that they were out of sight, Mr Conductor screamed, startling several birds and sending Carlin diving straight for the well. "WHAT?!" He shouted, trying to calm his heart down. "Where's the fire?!"
"That ENGINE! LADY! NAME! LADY! PART OF THE CLUE! MISSING SOURCE! OF THE GOLD DUST!" This last part he said in tandem with Junior, and after a moment of looking back and forth, they both began screaming again.
The others merely sat, bemused by the whole affair.
"So...is he an acquired taste or-?"
"No, Henrietta, he is not." Carlin sighed. "Come on, Starr, we might as well get her on the ferry. What else are we going to do while those two tits are screaming blue murder?"
"We could always get really, really high."
"Now there's an idea..." said Carlin thoughtfully.
...
The chase was on!
Thomas and Lady had a good headstart. "Keep moving! This is my branch-line, we should be exiting Kirk Ronan in a minute and heading towards Elsbridge!" Thomas looked back. There was no sign of Diesel 10. "Do you have a plan?"
"Not die!"
"That's a good one! SERIOUSLY!"
"My magic's still taking it's time to recharge, I'm afraid! So, all we need to do is outrun-"
At that very moment, there was a loud roar, and behind them, Ten rushed around the corner with a snarl that didn't seem to belong on any earthly creature's face. He grit his teeth and plunged through, smashing any bridges or trees that got in his way. "Now I've got you all!"
"No you don't, because the magic you refuse to believe in will get the better of you!"
"The bloody hell does that mean!? If he doesn't bloody believe in magic, then does he not believe in himself!? Are all Americans this bloody stupid, or was there something in the water at this Shining Time?!" Thomas continued to rant as they pulled ahead into Elsbridge. Much to his horror, the bombs and attacks had almost completely wiped the station that he had spent so much time at off the face of the Earth. He closed his eyes. Time to mourn later.
"You can run! But you can't hide!" The American accent was back again, much to Ten's annoyance. They drew up to Title Screen Bridge, looking much the worse for wear. "Right Pinchy? He's hungry! Here, take a BITE!" The claw snapped dangerously close to Thomas's cab, nearly taking the roof off completely. Thomas let out a string of words that wasn't quite English and shot ahead.
Lady looked back and stared at Diesel 10, who appeared to be having an argument with himself, if that made any sense. She had no idea what was going on, or why there seemed to be one British and one American in the same head, arguing over nothing. But it did give her an idea. She concentrated hard on reaching Thomas's mind.
Thomas?
HOLY SHIT WHAT'S THAT?
Be a little quieter, why don't you? I'm speaking to you telepathically.
You can do that?!
Apparently. Listen, I've worked out a plan, a proper one. If we provoke him, we could cause those two personalities inside of him to fight. That'll distract him, and then...well, hopefully he can be taken out. Somehow.
You want us to actually mock the massive thing with a claw and immortality? Sure, it's not the stupidest thing I've done. Ask me about the mine incident another time.
As they reached the watermill, Diesel 10 took another swing. This time, he connected, and Thomas thought for a moment that he was going to be completely knocked into the water. But then, somehow, he managed to right himself. Ten's American voice would not shut up, mockingly shouting out "Look out!" and "Heeeeere I come!" as he continued onwards.
"You know, this really reduces the intimidation factor when you get right down to it." Lady remarked. "I mean, the Malevolence used to be big and powerful and angry all the time, and it used to be actually threatening. And now he's just a yank with a silly claw."
"Oh trust me, when I get my claw on you, you're going to WISH I was just a yank with a silly claw!" They swerved into the Ballahoo Tunnel, the sound of Ten's claw slamming into the walls over and over again in an attempt to bring down the whole thing echoing all around them. It was disturbing, to say the least.
They shot out the other side into the daylight.
It's working, Thomas! Now, how do we take him out?
The viaduct! It's collapsing, if we're lucky we can trap him there! How's Burnett doing!?
Burnett Stone groaned and tried not to throw up his lunch. He gripped the cab tightly and chanced a look back. The Malevolence was so enraged by this point that common sense and logic had vanished from his mind. All he wanted to do was to wring their necks as painfully as he possibly could. He reached out and grabbed at Thomas's cab. The tank engine pulled and tugged, but Ten gripped him so hard it was impossible to escape.
As they crossed the bridge, they spotted the other engines racing towards Vicarstown. They all tried to whistle their encouragement, but it did not help that Thomas could distinctly hear Henry muttering to James. "I'm staying clear of that one!"
"OH THANKS HEN-AAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Ten had ripped the claw back, taking out part of his back buffer beam and leaving him leaking the blood-like substance that all engines had. Thomas felt pain like he had never felt it before. He wished he had a cigarette or something to take away the pain, but all he could think of doing was moving forwards so that the claw never caught hold of him again.
"For a puffball, you're pretty fast!"
"And for a demonic overlord, you really are stupid!" Thomas laughed. "Good job, brain! Finally, a decent insult!"
...
Huh. So they thought they were hard enough.
Ah, so this is what dying feels like.
Have to say, I'm not going to make a habit out of this.
Edward's wounds were freshly opened again, most of the blood now spilling onto his face and giving him a crimson mask. This would have normally been very painful, but Edward had completely lost feeling with regards to any nerves in his face, so it was really just like having a shower. Just a bit more sticky.
"You know, 98642, I always knew you were an arsehole, but even I thought you couldn't this bad."
"What can I say? It's just so good to be bad." The Juggernaut advanced forwards, Sir Topham Hatt turned away to try and avoid watching the end of Edward, Boomer rubbed his hands with glee...and then there was a bright flash, and the Juggernuat roared as something rammed against him and tipped him fully over, leaving only his wheels spinning.
"WHAT!?" Boomer shouted.
"Ha! Oh wow! Hey, you that arse who's ruining our Island? I ask because I'm getting tea for everyone, now do you want one lump or two?!" Henry paused. "Sounded a lot more badass in my head, I must admit."
"Hey buddy. How's it going?" asked Edward, casually.
"Oh you know. So so."
Arry moved forward, but then with another white flash, he was shoved backwards into Bert. The two shunters stared in surprise at the engine in front of them, who was currently beating the tar out of Splatter and Dodge.
"Hold still, you two, and the express will deal with you presently!" Gordon bragged, his confidence having surprisingly returned to it's usual unsinkable state during the journey.
Gotch moved forward and grabbed his gun. Sure enough, another white flash briefly blinded him. He opened his eyes...and then immediately closed them again as the sunlight was reflected back towards his face by the many, many jewels adorning the red engine's coat of paint. "You've all been very bad, haven't you? It's time for ACTION!"
"Yeah, so we were partly late because of him. He insisted that he get himself done up before arriving." Mavis paused, and honked her horn. "Also, I'm here."
"Oh right...you."
"Do...Do you not know who I am?" Mavis looked around. "Okay, honk your horns if you've heard of me before. Or you remember me doing anything. Hell, if you've got my name in your head, give me a honk."
There was a pause. Then one voice from the back asked. "Wait, are you the chick with the make-up?"
"I CRY SEXISM!"
"How about we wait a bit, Mave, we're kind of...you know, fighting for our lives." Duck had also appeared from yet another portal, grinning to himself as he did so. Percy was coupled behind him, still a bit out of it. "Now then, Mr Boomer. We meet at last. Where's the Fat Director, I want the honor of killing that fat calf myself!"
"Too late, he's already been sent running from the absolute might of the Boomer Empire!" Boomer smirked, and folded his arms. "As you can see, I have your friends ready to be executed live on television as the first act of my new and glorious-" He paused, as all the engines were clearly trying to hold back laughter at this.
Then they stopped holding back and began to become hysterical.
Toby poked his head through the portal. "Oh good! We managed to all get through the portal without being dispersed into the air into individual atoms! And we're not all horrible Fly like monsters! What a relief! What I'd miss?"
"The- hehehehehe- Boomer Empire!"
"Pffffffffffffft-hahahahaha!" Toby snickered for a moment, before calming himself down. "Wow. You know, these baddies they're not exactly...good, are they? At any of this. They've got shit names, their plans are way too complicated for words, and then they come up with whatever verbal discharge that comes out of their mouths!"
Boomer growled. "Are you done making fun of me, or shall I wait a few minutes before I murder you all?"
"Here's the deal, Petey-boy." Duck was suddenly serious once again. "You've got the humans there, right? Now, what you're going to do is let them go. Now."
"Why? What are you going to do to me?"
A series of short and sharp clicks rang out across the lines. The diesels tensed up, and readied themselves for the attack, but the steam engines pointed their guns at Boomer. Those on the platform froze up completely. "Let the humans go, Boomer. Then you and your army can take us out all you like. Or else you die. Right here and right now."
Boomer grinned. "It's not even a good threat! But still...let them go."
The guards stepped back, and off fled the last humans from Sodor. The Fat Controller paused for a moment and looked back, determined to etch the last potential sight of his engines in his brain forever. Then he too was gone.
There was a five second pause where everything grew silent for a moment.
And then both sides lunged at each other. Toby was the first to land blows, making sure that each diesel got a good trace of electricity from his makeshift cowcatcher and laughing maniacally as he did so. With his sudden and newfound strength, he forced his way into the middle of the diesels, rocking and rolling aggressively to knock engine after engine who tried to attack him.
Duck activated his gun, shooting at the armored engines that were moving away from this mad tram engine that had electrical powers. The fact that he was finally using his training seemed to cheer Duck up no end.
Edward grinned at Mavis, and she at him. As one, they rushed forward. As badly injured as they were, they could still biff and bash and fight using their bare buffers. With a loud honk of her horn, Mavis slammed into one diesel with surprising force.
"Traitor!" it hissed."
"Wanker!" she shouted back, before using her own cowcatchers to tip the diesel onto it's side. Edward didn't have such luxuries, so he settled for just bashing the shit out of anyone who came his way.
Gordon looked to Henry and James. "So...do we want to get involved, or-?" He let out an undignified squawk, as suddenly hundreds upon hundreds of the trucks were rushing like a swarm of locusts towards the big three engines. They too readied their guns, and opened fire as best as they could. James was going slightly insane in particular, bellowing aloud things like "GET SOME!" and "YOU'LL NEVER TAKE ME ALIVE!" which would have been a lot more intimidating had he the gun pointed the right way, and not at Percy.
"WATCH WHERE YOU'RE SHOOTING THAT THING!" snapped Percy, before he passed out once more from his injuries.
...
They reached the viaduct just as yet another keystone toppled from it's perch, hitting the muddy water with a large splash. The three of them rounded the bend, only seconds away from stepping onto the viaduct.
"Well Lady, this is your shining time too!"
"Whatever that means, I hope it is!"
As their wheels whirred faster, Thomas took a massive gulp of air and let out a whoop of mad triumph. "Come on Lady, little engines can do big things!"
Diesel 10 stared at the scene ahead of him. If one could peak inside his head, one could hear the sound of the Malevolence and the Yank arguing furiously about what to do. The latter saw this as their hour of triumph. But the former was smarter than that.
"We're going to win!" crowed the American.
And then, through all the chaos and panic that was happening in the mind of the great metal monstrosity, a voice rang out to the ears of the Malevolence. It sounded the same, but with one difference.
A slight German accent.
"It is time, brother. Come. I think we've been apart long enough. Let us return to our...true form." Marklin's ghostly voice echoed around the head of Diesel 10, as did the mocking laughter, and the Yank turned to ask the Malevolence who the hell was talking.
But he was all alone.
"Wait?! Where are you!?"
To the outside world, it appeared as though Diesel 10's engine had exploded. Thick black smoke billowed out of his side, reaching up into the sky and almost forming a sort of ghostly dragon-like figure in the sky, before it dissapated in the general direction of Shining Time.
Lady crossed the viaduct first, the rails buckling under her weight and the stone crumbling away even faster. Thomas watched this with terror, before closing his eyes and muttering "Let me be brave, let me be brave!" and charging across.
For a moment, he felt as though he was riding on nothing but air.
And then he was across. Behind him, he could hear the telltale sound of the viaduct's middle finally collapsing downwards into the dark water below. He didn't open his eyes until he heard Burnett's triumphant cry of "Well done Thomas! Well done!" and Lady's whistle. Relieved, Thomas the Tank Engine blew his whistle loud and clear in return.
But Diesel 10 was having a horrible time of it. Inside his head, the Malevolence's departure had completely shattered what remained of the stability of the engine. All the personalities contained within, the Fat Director's last gamble, rushed together to try and escape. All they succeeded in doing was merging together, wrapping up with each other like some demented and horrible ratking. One personality, one mind, one terrified voice.
"WHAT'S GOING ON!?" screeched Diesel 10, as he braked hard. But too late! He reached the end of the viaduct and slid off the rails, slowly but surely toppling into a backflip towards the water. One last desperate grab, and he clung to the single rail that was his only hope. This was defying physics in every logical way, but he didn't care. With his last free breath, the Warship shouted final curses towards the departing Thomas, his undoing.
"PUFFBALL! TEAPOT!"
The rail snapped.
"TINNNNNNNNN-KETTLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-"
There was a loud crunch as Diesel 10 hit, by a stroke of major coincidence, a large barge that had been set adrift by the wide-scale destruction of most of the Island. His last words before passing out into what may or may not have been a permanent sleep was a mumbled "Well...nice time of a year for a cruise...I want a hug."
...
"And in summary, I have no idea how the hell we're even alive. And you still haven't figured out how to solve that gold-dust problem of yours?! I'm beginning to wonder if it just got revoked cause you're all terrible at what it is you do!"
"Calm down, Thomas, I think he'll figure it out soon." Lady frowned. "Give him three years or so."
Carlin watched as Mr Conductor continued to slam his head against the well. "Three years might be a bit generous- Oh wait, here he goes again."
"Wait! ...Then watch the swirls that spin so well!"
"What, you mean like those things we saw on the Magic Railroad with Lady?" Patch looked to Lily. "Don't you have some of those in your bag?" He shrugged at the impressed looks on everyone's faces. "Hey, it's a weird day, I'm trying to contribute as best as I can, all right."
"Anything else we need?" asked Lily, holding out the bag.
"Of course there is! A well! Well means water! DUH!" Junior begun to pull up a bucket. He nearly fell in before Starr shoved him aside and pulled it up himself. "Ahem. No need to be rude. We're literally just grabbing at straws here, fingers crossed that this actually works. Now what, cuz?"
"Okay, Lily, mix the shavings in the water. Then spit in it, chant YMCA backwards, grind rabbit droppings into it, and then name the fifty states of America in reverse order of when they were declared to be a state! While standing on your head."
"I'll do the first one of those. Nothing else."
"Smart girl." muttered Starr to Carlin. They watched, and waited for a bit.
"Okay, now what? Because this looks like...well...I'm not sure what it looks like."
"Try throwing it up into the air. What have we go to lose?" Burnett shrank from the glares offered by all four conductors, two of whom looked very baffled as to how this was supposed to restore their lost powers in any way, shape or form.
"Please, please!" prayed Junior.
"What is she waiting for?" Thomas whispered, and then loudly shouted "NOW, LILY!"
Lily shrugged. "You're the boss." She took a deep breath, swung her arms back...and threw it into the air.
Cue gold dust.
What? You want more of an epic response to this? Well tough. I don't know how you visualized this movie ending, but this is quite frankly, a lame duck. If there is a reason for how water + magic shavings that Lady produces = gold dust, then tell me. I'll wait. I can wait a hell of a long time.
.
.
.
.
No? Didn't think so.
"Wow, that was...a thing. Lady, are you sure you weren't just witholding the gold dust to screw with their heads?" Lady didn't respond to that, merely giving Thomas a bland little smile. "Ugh, whatever, Lady, you're a really helpful engine."
"And helping each other brings to life the magic in all of us."
Thomas looked at her for a moment, and shook his head. "So, ugh, do you have any idea what that means or were you just saying that to try and sound somewhat wise? Because let me tell you, it didn't work."
"I don't know, I just found it in a fortune cookie one day. Carlin didn't think much of it either."
Patch watched as the two grown men scampered around holding their whistles up to the sky and getting the gold dust, before patting Mutt's head. "Come on, Mutt. Let's take a quick look round before we head back. If we can head back." He smiled and held up a hand for Lily, who high fived it while wearing a similar smile to his own. The kind of smile that indicated that both knew what a weird day it had been.
As Patch headed off to have a quick chat with Thomas, Junior ambled on over. "Hey, Lily, I think I promised you something." He poured out a small portion of gold dust. "Take it on the house. As an apology for all that I've done."
"Where's my apology!?"
"Ye don't get one, Carlin!"
"BAH!"
The two of them laughed, Lily hugged Junior for a moment and then headed off to check in with her grandpa, who was trying to work out the best way back to Shining Time. Junior looked to Mr Conductor. "Well now, how else can I help?"
"You can leave." Starr said, bluntly.
"You don't want to go back to the beach?"
"Weird as it is, but nah! Maybe for a holiday or two...but I'm ready to work!" Junior almost managed to convince everyone present of his good intentions. Almost being the key word here. "Ye got a job for me?"
"There's a railroad I do know."
"With palm trees?"
"One or two."
"And sunny spells?"
"Sure, I guess."
"I'll take it! Done! Man I am good at negotiation! Which way is it?" Junior was about to blast off his kazoo when Mr Conductor handed him his hat.
"This way."
"NO!" shouted Carlin and Starr as one. "Don't give it to him! He'll burn it down in five days! Tops!"
"Too late I've got it! Junior out!" And off he went, with one last blow of that damn kazoo. Starr and Carlin glared at Mr Conductor, who looked as though he did not care one little bit.
At which point, the phone went. Mr Conductor dived for the flowers, before Carlin handed him the actual phone and gave a pointed stare. Mr C threw his hands up in resignation, and answered it. "Hello? Ah, Sir Topham Hatt, sir! ...Yes, everything's...fine-ish over here. What's that? On your way back at some point? I'll meet you at the sheds...what's that? Oh, you want me to get my arse over here to actually do something about the situation in Shining Time? ...Fair point, sir. Bye sir, see you in a bit!"
He paused. And then slapped himself on the head. "Oh. OH THERE'S A BATTLE GOING ON! Better go and get Junior back before he ends up getting blown up by a mine or something! See you lot in Shining Time!" And off he went, leaving the other two Conductors, Thomas, Lady and the rest of the humans.
"So now what?" asked Starr.
"Buggered if I know..."
"I do." Lady looked weary. "We must ride out, confront whoever it is who is trying to destroy Shining Time and deal with them. Thomas, you ready to go back on the Railroad again?"
"Do I have to?"
"I'm not dignifying that with a response. Carlin?"
"Leave it to us! I've got a plan!" As the two engines set off, Carlin pulled Starr to the side. "Okay, so here's what we're going to do!"
As they talked, Lily and Burnett sat together for a moment, soaking up the last rays of the sun as it slowly sank into the distance. Lily paused, looked at her grandpa, and then pulled out the dust. "Here. I'd like you to have this."
Burnett stared at the gold dust for what felt like forever. At last, he smiled soflty. "Thanks, Lily, that's sweet of you. But...give me that bluebird a second?" He gently sprinkled it over the stuffed toy. "Now...I think that'll be a nice reminder of our shining time. Don't you?"
...
Edward sighed. And they had been so close too!
He looked around. Henry, Gordon and James were still bashing away at the trucks and diesels surrounding them, but it would have been clear even to a blind man that they were going to fall sooner rather than later. As Mavis clung to Bill and Ben for dear life, trying to protect them even now, the Juggernaut rolled towards the. His eyes burned brightly with malice as he forced Mavis towards the edge of the floating Shining Time. Duck was trying to fight his way to them, but the four shunters had coupled up to him in their pairs, and they were stretching him out in both directions. Pretty soon, there would be a very messy occurrence.
Of all the engines, Toby was the only one who looked as though he stood a good chance to surviving. The electric shocks were certainly keeping away any and all fighters. But he was still so far away.
Boomer approached, his hand raised, all ready to take Edward's life and use it for his own gain.
Edward summoned up his last bit of strength...and spat at Boomer. He got a twinge of satisfaction seeing the 'Emperor' lose his shit over this, before shutting his eyes and preparing for the end.
And then he heard a whistle he hadn't thought he'd hear again.
"EDWARD!"
"THOMAS!"
"EDWARD!"
"THOMAS!"
"EDWARD!"
"THOMAS!"
"JAMES!" James frowned. "Sorry, seemed like fun."
Boomer frowned, and raised his hand up towards the sound of Thomas's voice. Big mistake. Suddenly, though he hadn't been touched, he was thrown backwards through the station by a white tendril of energy, coming from...
"Lady, I presume?"
"Hello Edward. Are you going to make a crack about thinking me taller?"
"No, actually. A bit random if you ask me." Edward paused. "Any chance you've come with a massive army or something? No? Huh. No pressure or anything, but I really would appreciate it if you could just...smite all of these people? Right now?"
"Sorry, magic doesn't work like that."
"Of course it doesn't." Edward looked around. Lady had actually made sure that the other engines were dragged back onto the rails proper, all facing the remainder of the Other Railway members. "Still, at least now we get a last stand that's a bit more even."
"Boomer." Lady looked at Pete for a moment. Edward struggled to read her facial expression. Was that sorrow in her face? Pity? Anger? Some strange mixture of all three? Whatever it was, he knew that he did not want to piss her off...just yet. "I'm surprised that you're still trying this scheme."
"Lady. At last. That idiot's brought you right to me!" Boomer growled and pointed to Marklin. "See that?! Thanks to him, I've become more powerful than I ever would have done under your control! I've got the power now! You hear me?!"
"I hear you. But are you hearing yourself? ...It's not too late just yet. Just...surrender peacefully, and I'll make sure you atone somewhere-"
"Pah!" Boomer snorted. "Thanks for the last chance, you bleeding heart! No, I think I'll take my chances with the Malevolence and this army. You know, the one that still outnumbers you...oh, I don't know, sixteen to one? Where's your army, huh? You're all alone."
Lady smiled mysteriously. "Am I?"
The second those words were out of her mouth, portal after portal appeared from out of nowhere. On all sides, behind and in front of the engines, the Magic Railroad reached out and almost spat engines out.
On one side, Rusty the little diesel led Stepney and the rest of the Bluebell Engines. Captain Baxter, Adams, Bluebell, Primose and Cromford were ones Edward recognized from Stepney's description. But there were others there too, others he had only heard about. Camelot, Pioneer II, Stowe, Sir Archibald Sinclair, Greyhound, the Blue Circle, Port Line, Townsend Hook, Earl of Berkley, Fenchurch, Blackmore Vale, Normandy, Sharpthorn...Stepney's gang appeared to be well armed, and ready for a fight.
And to the other side, Rheneas rushed on through, gleefully crowing "THIS IS THE DAY! THIS IS THE DAY!" to all who would listen. Following him were engines who looked like the Skarloey gang, but different somehow. The representatives of the first preserved railway known as the Talyllyn Railway. Talyllyn, Dolgoch, Sir Haydn, Edward Thomas, Douglas (Eyeing up their own Douglas a little suspiciously), Tom Rolt, Midlander and Alf. All of them resembled, to an extent, slightly more well-adjusted members of the Narrow gauge railway.
And all around them were engines they hadn't seen before. Wilbert from the Forest of Dean stood there alongside a disgruntled looking engine with the number 16 upon him. Riding atop of flatbeds were engines of a smaller persuasion from the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway: River Irt, River Esk, River Mite, Northern Rock, Perkins, Cyril and Shelagh of Eskdale, Stephen's brother Boxhill, Alfred and Judy (Green versions of Bill and Ben! Edward shuddered in sympathy for whoever had to deal with them), an engine called Bahamas...even an old engine by the name of Puffing Billy.
it was as if steam kind itself had sensed that it's very life depended on this battle.
And then another, large portal opened, and out steamed the Iron Circle. The Flying Scotsman, a very badly damaged City of Truro, Mallard, Duchess of Hamilton, Iron Duke, Stephenson's Rocket, Green Arrow, Etienne, Derek (He was there for some reason) and Gordon's cousins; Bittern, Union of South Africa. Dominion of Canada, Dwight D Eisenhower and Sir Nigel Gresley. That wasn't to mention all the trucks and diesels coming out of the woodwork.
"To put in verbal tones: Boo-yah!"
"Never do that again, James."
"Sorry, was it...was it a bit much?"
There was a loud beep, and Bertie, Terrance and Trevor rolled up. Atop them stood the citizens of the Island of Sodor, all wielding weapons of every size, shape and variety. The Fat Controller pointed, and several of the drivers and firemen hurried across to release the prisoners. The Scottish twins took their places besides the others, while Oliver beamed brightly at Duck. Caroline and Butch took to the road to join the other three, while the Skarloey engines tried as best as they could to look intimidating.
There was a pause.
And then both sides charged.
And that was how the last battle began.
REVIEW TIME.
MattPrice01: The black comedy helps to break it up, if I'm honest, I really enjoyed writing them. Oliver's scene especially.
Kamen Rider Necrom: Both. Both can work.
Game-Watch: You're not wrong, it's a dying art really.
Bronze Shield: Fingers crossed it will! As you can tell, I've condensed most of said finale into this part, so that I can give a bigger ending in the last part! I hope you enjoy.
bigyihsuan: Thanks, glad you're loving this! And thanks for reminding me about Now Playing, I had almost forgotten to include that! Chase scene has been moved to this part for a bit more of a...personal climax. Hope you enjoy it regardless!
Reality Rejection Service: I love giving Edward moments in the sun, so I'm glad you enjoyed it! Oh yeah, Peter Sam and Sir Handel are going to have a VERY interesting conversation.
Radical sandwiches: I'm glad you found it a nice mixture of grim and funny. I figured it would be a nice way to get rid of Scruffy (Who is dead, by the way). And yeah, Duke's send-off was something that I'm really proud of.
Reid007: Definitely! Hope you liked!
AaronCottrell97: That's an accurate comparison to make, actually. And blowing shit up is always a good way to do things!
UGX7: Eh, I'm still thinking about Willo. I'll get back to you on that. And yeah, for the record, Thumper is dead. I just didn't state it in so many words. He was so pointless that I forgot about him.
-Now then, last lot of universes for the time being! They are: Now Playing, Don't Go universe (Human Thomas, everyone acting in a play, written by me), a Power Rangers inspired one, one where the engines are aliens, another we'll call 'The Chuffing Dead' universe, the superhero universe that was promoting the Mini toys, the Thomas World Tour universe and one which I will not be naming for the moment, as it plays heavily into my plans for next time. Mum's the word, eh?
-Yeah, the Spiteful Brakevan and company are gone. I was originally just going to have them be killed off at the beginning of the story, but I figured that having them go out in a kinda-sorta blaze of glory would be interesting to witness. Plus, it also leaves the trucks without a leader, which may or may not come back into play...who knows?
-Some people might be rather curious as to what I'm doing with both the Fat Director and Captain Zero in this, considering that I've barely touched upon them in the movie thus far, despite being the two most active threats throughout the last two seasons. Boomer essentially forcing them back and sending them off was meant to be an acknowledgement at how damn convoluted their plans got. Plus I need to have something to work off in the sequel, so...yeah. We'll deal with them next time, and I'll give a better explanation there.
-So let's talk about Diesel 10. He presented me with a rather big problem. The show has, to be blunt, ignored Magic Railroad completely. I suppose that's to be expected when the movie clashes tonally with the rest of the series (Something that I think I have avoided by making this as batshit insane as possible), but it does leave us with a massive problem. Why does Diesel 10 reappear in Magic Railroad after having nearly murdered people and engine alike? So here is my solution. Essentially, the Malevolence had scarpered from Ten's body to meet with Marklin and enact the final stage in Boomer's plan. Basically, if you'll recall, the two halves of the Malevolence meeting and merging is baaaaaaad shit. What he's left behind is essentially a damaged pysche, with all the various personalities merged into one strange and central one which we'll be seeing more of in the future. Thus I get the Evil Diesel 10, and then I have room to explain the Good Diesel 10 later on in the series. Complicated? You better bloody believe it.
-Davidson's electric skirt was set up as a plot point a while back following his death. All for this purpose. I wanted to give Toby a RWS accurate look in the final battle, just because I figured it would be a neat little shout out.
-Splodge's Heel-Face Turn in the movie comes right the hell out of nowhere and has no real justification or buildup to it. Even without the changes to the story that I had come up with regards to their characters, I also thought that it would lead to a nice way to get the other engines over to Shining Time.
-You will note that I am very, very sarcastic towards the whole idea presented in the film of how the gold dust crisis gets fixed. It's a well acted scene, but it's also incredibly bizarre and makes no real sense. It would have been easier for Lady to just magic the gold dust back to life, really. All right, easier is the wrong word. But I can suspend my disbelief for that. Here though...not really.
-All those engines at the end? All real. The Bluebell Railway and the Tallylyn speak for themselves, Wilbert and Sixteen are from the book Wilbert the Forest Engine, the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway engines are essentially the real-life counterparts of the Small Railway engines, as are many of the real life engines, and the others were just engines I was able to find. They are here mostly just to show off how big this battle is, some of them will be mentioned, some of them won't. Don't stress about it.
-As a note, I have already finished the first episode of Season 6! Therefore, in the final part, I'll be telling you when that will be released, as it'll be the start of a new story. So, yeah, look out for the next part! It all ends here!