"Bertram! Bertram, wake up!" A pair of brown eyes opened to someone shaking him awake, and he groaned a little, blinking as he lifted an arm to block the sunlight, muttering, "What? What is it? Why did you wake me up?"
"Don't be like that!"A familiar voice laughed as he blinked owlishly, looking up at someone standing over him. "I found something!"
"You did?" The arm moved down and revealed himself to be a young Sir Topham Hatt, with short brown hair, a little thin, and wearing a long-sleeve shirt, brown shorts with black overalls, and black shoes. "What did you find?"
The other stranger was a young child with short, spiky brown hair, steel-blue eyes, awkward round glasses, a long-sleeve light green sweater, black jeans, and gray shoes.
"Come on, and I'll show you!" The kid grabbed Sir Topham Hatt's wrist, gently tugged him up from where he was sleeping, and gently brushed against something dangling in front of the two.
He looked up at where they came from and noticed he had been sleeping underneath a large willow tree.
The kid ran forward while tugging Sir Topham Hatt's wrist as he noticed the sky was a little dark with clouds, making him feel worried.
"Erm, Avril?" Sir Topham Hatt spoke after seeing the sky before glancing back at the kid. "Where are you taking me?"
"That wouldn't be a surprise if I told you!" The kid named 'Avril' chuckled. "Come on. The others are waiting for us!"
"'Others?'" Sir Topham Hatt perked up.
He continued following Avril through the meadows, and there was nothing in the grass as it was all up to his armpits.
"Kathleen!" Avril called towards a female child standing in the distance in the middle of the large field.
Kathleen has beautiful sapphire blue eyes, long, straight brown hair, and fair skin.
She is wearing a beautiful long-sleeved light blue shirt connected to a dress with slippers.
She was waiting for Avril to come to her before shrieking as she scrambled backward, pointing at something long, slender, black, and appearing from the tall grass in front of the two, "Avril! Bertram! Watch out!"
A black adder appeared from the grass and hissed toward Avril and Sir Topham Hatt, and they both instantly stopped, staring at the snake as it continued hissing at them.
Avril then picked up a stick with both hands and charged directly at the snake, causing Sir Topham Hatt to exclaim, "Avril, what are you-?!"
A loud bellowing roar echoed through the meadow and caused Sir Topham Hatt to almost jump out of his skin as he glanced around, seeing nothing.
Suddenly, a different noise entered the air, and Sir Topham Hatt looked over, only to witness something more horrifying.
That adder that Avril went to chase off had grown in size and was transforming into a person with jet-black hair and a mane, holding Kathleen in their left hand and Avril in their right hand with his left arm pinched in between their fingers.
It was gigantic and had two horns curled over its head with rows of sharp teeth as the field around them started to die.
"BERTRAM!" Sir Topham Hatt flinched after hearing another voice call for him and glanced over, seeing what looked like his father calling for him from across the field. "Bertram, find the rainbow!"
"What?!" Sir Topham Hatt called as shadows started appearing from all around, clawing at the ground and rising.
"Find the rainbow, Bertram!" Sir Topham Hatt's father called, despite all the shadows appearing. "Find the rainbow!"
"What-!" Something cracked underneath his weight, and Sir Topham Hatt froze, glancing down at what had broken and discovering he was standing on ice.
He suddenly went through the ice and into the water, feeling his muscles all freeze up once he hit the water before starting to sink.
'Why can't I move?' Sir Topham Hatt thought. 'What's happening to me?'
Suddenly, he felt something with sharp claws grab the back of his shirt, dragging him deeper and disappearing underwater.
Sir Topham Hatt's body jolted as he woke up from his nightmare, and he sat up from his bed, feeling beads of sweat drip from his forehead and clenching his blankets.
His heart was beating against his chest as he placed a hand against it, trying to calm it down from beating too much.
That nightmare was all too real for him.
A ringing noise startled Sir Topham Hatt as he flinched but calmed down after seeing it come from his clock, noticing he woke up a few minutes before his alarm.
He reached over to the clock and tapped the top, stopping the ringing noise as he removed his hand from it.
"Dear?" Sir Topham Hatt gently shook his wife next to him as she shifted in her sleep. "It's time to get up."
Lady Hatt shifted in her bed as Sir Topham Hatt got up from his side, getting himself ready to start the day.
But he needs to order the engines to work and search for Lady with the Cupper siblings.
Sir Topham Hatt got himself dressed and again fidgeted with his collar in front of a mirror, irritated at how it would not fold properly from the back.
He glanced around for Stephanie to appear but silently reminded himself that Stephanie was still stuck in Shining Time and was waiting for help.
A different pair of hands helped him, and Sir Topham Hatt looked over, seeing that it was Lady Hatt.
"Thank you, dear," Sir Topham Hatt thanked.
"You're welcome." Lady Hatt nodded before kissing him on the cheek.
Sir Topham Hatt blushed a little after Lady Hatt kissed him before continuing his routine of eating breakfast, brushing his teeth, and kissing Lady Hatt goodbye before heading off to work.
As he drove down the road to Tidmouth, he glanced over to the side and noticed a large meadow that looked almost like the one in his nightmare, sending silent chills down his spine.
However, Sir Topham Hatt ignored it and kept driving because he knew that if he tried to find Lady on his own, he would either end up lost or captured by the brand-new group Diesel 10.
So, Sir Topham Hatt needed help from the Cupper siblings since they knew where Lady was better than he did.
A sudden meow startles Sir Topham Hatt from his driving as he jolts, causing him to park to the side as he places a hand near his heart.
Not again with the jumpscares!
"Sorry, sir!" A voice exclaimed as he glanced over, expecting to be Stephanie, but it was Lucy, Stephanie's doll. "We were somewhat locked in Stephanie's room and had to use another way into your car."
"Bless me, don't do that to me, please!" Sir Topham Hatt sighed before pausing. "Wait, how did you two get inside?"
"Notches found a way to squeeze underneath," Lucy explained as she gently scratched one of Notches' ears before holding onto his collar as Notches climbed to the passenger seat beside him. "Cats are very incredible when it comes to getting into things."
Note to self: Leave Stephanie's door open if Lucy or Notches are inside her room.
"Ah, right." Sir Topham Hatt nodded before starting the car again while Notches and Lucy sat in the passenger seat.
He eventually reached Tidmouth Sheds, where the Steam Team was residing.
Sir Topham Hatt stepped out of his car once he parked and opened the door to allow Notches and Lucy to step out, and he could tell there was a looming nervous feeling among the group, especially Gordon and Thomas.
He told each one about their jobs for the day, as Percy had already left for the mail train, and turned to Romeo and Cleo, who both listened to him.
Their engines were waiting for them as they listened to Sir Topham Hatt.
"Romeo, Cleo," Sir Topham Hatt spoke to the two. "I need your help in finding Lady."
"We'll bring Darius with us," nodded Romeo. "Just in case Diesel 10 or anyone else decides to hunt down Lady."
"Good idea," Sir Topham Hatt agreed. "But, do you know where Lady could be?"
"There's a riddle Edward told us that can help, sir," Cleo spoke as Romeo took out his phone to text. "Follow the rainbow sun to the highest hill. Let the journey prove your heart and will. With your trusty engine, don't let your bond be frady, be prepared to meet Lady."
It confused Sir Topham Hatt after hearing the riddle from Cleo, wondering what it all meant, even though he always heard it occasionally after overhearing it from the people.
"Text is sent to Darius," Romeo told the two. "He wants us to meet him over at the Skarloey Railway."
"The 'Skarloey Railway?'" Sir Topham Hatt repeated in confusion. "Why the Skarloey Railway?"
"You'll see," Cleo assured the confused Sir Topham Hatt as he followed the two Cupper siblings. "Let's get Rocky first."
So they went to collect Rocky and headed towards the Skarloey Railway, where Darius with the Flying Scotsman was waiting, with Sir Topham Hatt in Gordon's cab.
He politely allowed Lucy and Notches onto his shoulders as Stephanie would, minus the hair and having more shoulder room.
Cleo, Darius, and Romeo took out their whistles and simultaneously whistled together as Gold Dust came out of their whistles and swirled around Gordon, the Flying Scotsman, and Thomas.
The Gold Dust disappeared, and the three had been shrunken down to narrow-gauge size, silently impressing Sir Topham Hatt at how strong their magic had become.
After they were shrunken a little from their magic, Rocky lifted each one up and onto the narrow-gauge railway, and they stepped back into their cabs.
But it was a little smaller than their original sizes, so Sir Topham Hatt stood to the side to make some room for the crew and Romeo.
Once on the railway, they puffed down the line and arrived at Skarloey Railway before heading to the quarry where Rusty was.
Rusty was shunting trucks around when he saw the three engines appear, greeting them, "Hello! What brought you all here?"
"We're here to find Lady," Romeo explained. "Something went wrong when we used the Magic Railway, and Stephanie was whisked away."
Rusty's expression changed to worry after hearing what happened, saying, "Head over to Dead End Mountain. The magic buffers are still there, and her realm might also be there."
"Thank you, Rusty," Sir Topham Hatt thanked as they continued down the line with a whistle of their own.
From the back of Sir Topham Hatt's mind, he was a little confused about what Rusty said, but Lady is magical, so he kept the confusion to himself.
They headed up to Dead End Mountain and saw a pair of buffers at the end as they went down a narrow track, and the engines started to go slow.
The last time they went up to Dead End Mountain, it caused an avalanche, but this time, it was happening again as one of the rocks was flung to the side from Gordon's wheels, and it caused some rocks to loosen.
"Speed up! Speed up!" Darius called to the others as they picked up speed.
A huge rockslide started as the engines sped down the line, heading towards the buffers as everyone held on.
Eventually, they reached the buffers, and with a flash of rainbow light, they were all on a golden track passing through an underbrush.
Strangely, the magic railroad returned the engines to normal height as they went onto separate tracks.
Sir Topham Hatt, Lucy, and Notches were slightly startled when they entered the different realm but noticed the sun had turned into a rainbow.
He perked up after noticing the rainbow sun, remembering that his dad, in his nightmare, had told him about 'finding the rainbow.'
…Now, he is starting to feel a little uneasy about how his nightmare is starting to relate to everything around him.
They soon stopped at the mountain base as Romeo, Darius, Cleo, and Sir Topham Hatt stepped out, and a portal opened, revealing a beautiful small Gazelle engine.
"Hello, Lady," Cleo greeted.
"Hello, Cleo," Lady greeted back. "What brought you all here?"
Sir Topham Hatt stepped forward as Lady listened, "A young child named Stephanie Allen had been whisked away when we were using the Magic Railroad."
"And we need your help in finding her." Romeo nodded.
"I will help," Lady nodded. "But I have never seen such magic do that."
Everyone paused after Lady mentioned it as Gordon asked, "What magic?"
"When she reentered the Magic Railroad," Lady explained. "I felt a stronger pulse of magic enters the magic railroad, which somewhat counteracted mine. It could be why Stephanie was whisked through the Magic Railroad."
This confused the group as the Flying Scotsman said, "She was carrying this Zodiac Pocket Watch of hers and the Dust Whistle, nothing else."
"Except for that staff of hers," Sir Topham Hatt explained, which confused everyone.
"She has a staff?" Darius asked. "We didn't see the staff."
"That's because it transformed into her bracelet," Lucy explained, and the puzzle pieces finally clicked for the others.
Stephanie's bracelet or staff somehow 'activated' when she entered the Magic Railroad and is now taking her somewhere else, like last time.
"Oh, bother." Sir Topham Hatt groaned, pinching his nose bridge, while everyone was somewhat confused.
It was going to be one of those days for Stephanie.