Gordon started coming from the smell of the ocean and blinked awake, seeing he was staring out towards the sea.
He perked up after seeing that he was staring out into the ocean and glanced around, seeing no one else everywhere except himself and only himself standing.
"Where am I?" Gordon slowly spoke, still glancing around with confusion.
He moved backward carefully and turned around, seeing that tracks allowed him to move independently, although he did not have a driver or fireman.
There was the sound of voices coming from somewhere, and Gordon frowned a little, wondering where they were coming from.
They do not sound like Sir Topham Hatt or anyone he remembers, so who could they be?
He puffed forward slowly as he peered around the corner of what looked like a gigantic lighthouse, which seemed strange because the lighthouse he remembered did not have railroad tracks around it.
"How could she be captured?!" A voice exclaimed, sounding panicked, as Gordon stopped around the lighthouse, seeing someone's back facing another, although their faces were blurred. "It doesn't make any sense!"
"I know." The first person nodded, putting their hands on the second person's shoulders reassuringly. "But we'll all find out what happened to her and get her out of there."
"Are you insane?!" The second exclaimed as Gordon noticed the body looked almost like Bob the Builder's but bulkier as if this man was lifting many items. "How can we, without our captain, raid the prison?! It's not like we can waltz inside normally!"
"No, you're right," The first nodded. "But she did show us those runes that could help us sneak inside. All we have to do is ask - - for help since we can't remember which one is which."
"Ask him?!" The second exclaimed. "Why him?! He stole so many doubloons from the poor we had already given and nearly destroyed a city my family had built!"
"But Captain trusts him, and he has more knowledge over runes," the first explained calmly. "He's more afraid of her than she is of him, and she's already tamed him."
A pause came from the second person as Gordon slowly peered around the corner, noticing the first looked almost like Postman Pat but had a thinner body.
"I hate it when you point things out," the second sighed. "But if the Idiot, Salty, Defiance, Grey Beard, Crafty, the Stubborn, the Honorable, or even the fricken Lieutenant catches wind of this plan, I'm heading off to my town to get my tools to craft another town to get out of this mess."
Gordon blinked with confusion at the rapid fire of nicknames, knowing that one of them was named 'Salty,' a diesel who works at the Brendam Docks… but who are the others?
"Wait a moment," the first person spoke, causing Gordon to perk up as the first removed his hands from the second's shoulders. "I feel like someone is watching us."
Gordon instantly went backward after the first person mentioned him watching them, hearing the person walking towards where he was as he hit the end of the tracks.
He flinched after feeling his tender hit the buffers and glanced back, watching as the shadow of the two people he was watching went around the corner.
Suddenly, his eyes seemed to see more people walking around the corner of the lighthouse, and Gordon became more confused, glancing around as the smell of the ocean intensified.
He looked out into the ocean to check why he was suddenly smelling the sea, only to see a gigantic galleon appear next to him, looming over him like he was a toy compared to it.
But a fear strike hit Gordon, unlike any galleon would, and he watched the ship slowly approaching the docks.
His breathing was slightly raspy, and he felt sweat roll off his forehead as if he were encountering something he feared the most.
The low melancholy of the song echoed through the air as if someone were singing, and Gordon felt overwhelmed by the shadows appearing, the smell of the ocean, and the fear.
A group of people appeared before Gordon as he watched, staring back at him with different eye colors and looking almost like pirates, which made Gordon more nervous as he thought they were from the ship.
Gordon forced himself to close his eyes as the noises and smells continued, feeling all eyes staring back at him as he wanted to disappear, not wanting to have all these eyes on him.
"…don? Gordon!" Gordon flinched awake after feeling someone's hands on his cheeks, staring back at Romeo. "Gordon, wake up!"
Gordon looked around from where he was to check his surroundings, seeing that he was in Tidmouth Sheds with no ocean nearby or any galleon ships.
"Gordon?" Gordon looked back at Romeo as he moved away from his face and removed his hands from his cheeks, asking, "Are you okay?"
"I'm," Gordon began, looking back at Romeo as he sighed. "I'm fine. I just had a nightmare."
"Do you want to talk about it?" Romeo asked.
Gordon hesitated about speaking about his nightmare; the thoughts of oceans and galleons lingered in the back of his mind, and he silently shuddered.
"I don't want to speak about my nightmare," Gordon answered quickly. "Let's just start with my runs."
Romeo was confused, but not wanting to pressure Gordon into telling him, Romeo instead carefully hopped off his buffers and entered his cabin to start him up.
His fireman shoveled coal into his firebox, and Gordon started to head over to Tidmouth, slowly waking up from his deep sleep, although, as Romeo would sometimes say, 'Gordon is not a morning person.'
Meanwhile, Sir Topham Hatt was in his office, preparing to start his day by writing papers and answering the phone whenever it rang, which always happens for Sir Topham Hatt.
He was sorting through his papers before hearing someone singing from a distance, causing Sir Topham Hatt to lift his head from staring down at his papers.
Who could be singing?
It could not be Stephanie because she was still back at his manor, asleep from exhaustion, and the voice sounded a little deep too.
He pushed his chair back and stood up from where he was, heading over to the door and opening it, poking his head out of it as he listened to the song.
"🎵Yo~ho~.🎵" the voice sang, echoing through the station as Sir Topham Hatt listened. "🎵All~ hands~. hoist~ the colors high~🎵"
Shudders went down Sir Topham Hatt's spine as he listened to the deep bass singing coming from somewhere, and even the smell of wood and black tea hit his nose as he glanced around, seeing no one around.
"🎵Heave~ ho~. Thieves~ and beggars~.🎵" the voice sang again, echoing through the station as everyone was busy getting tickets or waiting for the train. "🎵Ne~ver~ shall we die~.🎵"
From the corner of his eyes, he swore he saw someone who looked like him but was less stout and wearing a fashionable uniform with a cane.
Sir Topham Hatt opened the door more and stepped outside further, trying to have a better view to see who the stranger was as the voice echoed through the station.
"Sir?" Sir Topham Hatt flinched after hearing someone speak and glanced forward, seeing that it was his bodyguards, both looking confused. "What are you looking outside for?"
Sir Topham Hatt paused as he glanced over at where he saw the figure, but the figure was not there, sending another shudder down his spine.
"Nothing," Sir Topham Hatt quickly responded as he repositioned himself. "Just checking how things are starting up in the station."
The bodyguards looked at each other after Sir Topham Hatt quickly responded and shrugged, returning to what they were doing as Sir Topham Hatt took one more glance around.
He swore he saw another man standing near the station entrance, but how could he have disappeared like that?
Sir Topham Hatt shrugged after looking closer at where the stranger was and stepped back into his office.
However, as Sir Topham Hatt closed the door, the same stranger appeared and walked past the two bodyguards, and they both shuddered a little when a sudden gust of cold wind blew past them with the lingering smell of wood and black tea.
They looked at each other with confusion about what they had experienced, as the sky was sunny with no wind blowing.
Ms. Richards was exploring Ulfstead Castle's history more, looking through the books stacked on each side of her as she was reading one in front of her.
"How interesting," Ms. Richards remarked, even having a book about Dust Crystals beside the pile. "Now I can understand how interested Stephanie was in these Dust Crystals scattered across Sodor."
Sir Robert Norramby approached her, looked over her shoulder, saw the book about Dust Crystals, and asked, "Where did you find that book?"
"It was hidden in the far back," Ms. Richards answered as she turned her attention to Sir Robert Norramby. "It was all about Dust Crystals, almost like how you explained Stephanie's use of them."
"It is?" Sir Robert Norramby asked. "May I have a look at it?"
Ms. Richards nodded and handed the book to Sir Robert Norramby, touching the tips of their middle fingers when they passed it to each other.
Both Ms. Richards and Sir Robert Norramby flinched after feeling their fingertips touch, and she immediately removed her hand as her cheeks flushed light red, looking away from Sir Robert Norramby as he blushed.
He cleared his throat and turned to the book, looking at the first page as Ms. Richards picked up another, trying to change her mind towards something else as she began to speak, "Well, since I have not spoken to Stephanie in a long time, I was figuring to travel around Sodor to explore the different ruins littered around."
"That's perfect!" Sir Robert Norramby happily chirped. "I know some places that have monuments of different eras!"
"Excellent!" Ms. Richards perked up with a smile. "When do you want to start?"
"Why not tomorrow?" Sir Robert Norramby asked. "We can go early since that time is a little slow around those times, and we can take it to some places."
"Perfect!" Ms. Richards nodded. "Maybe we could meet Stephanie some other time and ask her about her time here and-"
Ms. Richards suddenly stopped talking, and Sir Robert Norramby turned to Ms. Richards, asking, "What's wrong, Katie?"
"I saw someone walking down there," Ms. Richards answered, standing up from her. "Do you have maids wandering around here?"
"No," Sir Robert Norramby answered. "Other than the workmen, I don't have anyone else around here."
They looked at each other after Sir Robert Norramby responded before starting to follow what they saw, stepping out of the library.
Something that looked like a black fish's tail from one of the windows flicked away from the library's window and disappeared.
Meanwhile, Sir Robert Norramby and Ms. Richards walked through the castle, seeing someone walking down the hallway, but they could not see the person as they were too far from them.
"Excuse me?" Ms. Richards called. "Who are you, and are you lost in the castle?"
The stranger said nothing and continued walking down the hallway, turning around the corner, and a red cape flickered in the wind when he turned.
Sir Robert Norramby and Ms. Richards looked confused after watching a red cape flicker and continued following the stranger, soon entering the throne room where relics of King Godred used to reside.
There was a throne chair in the back of the throne room, with murals of King Godred's brave victories and emblems on the tapestries hanging on the walls.
The stranger stopped in the middle of the room and looked up towards his throne before looking at something in his hand as if holding something.
"Ta mee er my livrey neose lesh orgher draoidagh," a voice responded, perking Sir Robert Norramby and Ms. Richards. "Cha vel mee credjal dy bee shoh gobbraghey noi Juliet… Agh cha vel mish er ve reih, myr ta feallagh elley er huittym fockley-fockley roonagh jee."
Then the stranger walked forward and disappeared before their eyes, causing Ms. Richards to instantly grab Sir Robert Norramby's arm as he turned towards her.
"Robert?" Ms. Richards spoke. "Did we…?"
"Yes," Sir Robert Norramby nodded. "I believe we encountered what looked like a ghost."
Queen Mary was still deep in her thoughts about what she had encountered while in their dimension, knowing it had to be important if it had shown them what looked like a vision.
But a vision of what would happen?
The other ocean liners went out to search for what was causing those 'power surge' shudders, and Queen Mary did the same, knowing they needed to find it and figure out what to do.
But she was secretly worried about what would happen to whoever was causing these shudders, not wanting any of the ocean liners to get to them first and attempt to destroy them.
The memory of Wendell popped into Queen Mary's mind briefly, but she pushed that thought to the side as she sailed through the ocean, still looking for anything causing the power shudders.
As Queen Mary was sailing through the ocean, something swimming caught her attention, and she saw what looked like a gigantic humanoid swimming through it.
Bigger than herself or any of the ocean liners!
She yelped in startlement after seeing the gigantic humanoid swimming through the ocean and briefly stopped.
But, the gigantic humanoid only looked up at her with azure blue eyes and vertical pupils before swimming downward in a blink of an eye, disappearing into the darkness of the water.
The Queen Mary slowed down a little more after seeing the gigantic humanoid appear before her, not believing what her old eyes had seen.
That was part of the vision they saw, but it looked almost like it was not there, almost swimming along the reflection of the water.
Could it be coming from a different plane of existence?
Lieutenant Hammerman was reading some books about Sodor's magic, learning a little about how the magic was once used to help cure illnesses, transport people, and even teleport ships from one place to another.
'Bullroar' was the single word echoing through Lieutenant Hammerman's mind as he looked through the pages about the history and the rumors.
Yet again, he did see some magic when he was swimming underwater with Stephanie in her half-fish and half-human form, to which Sailor John was exclaiming that 'she was a mermaid!'
But it could not be like that since he had been tossed around for a long time and was being juggled around embarrassingly like a doll.
Lieutenant Hammerman sighed as he flipped through another page, reading a section about Sodor's history while listening to Ember ramble about what she both experienced and read about during her travel around Sodor and her encounters with the engines and magic.
She had been going like that since the Withered Lover Zodiac attack, causing only Conrad to fall asleep from her chattering nonstop.
Ember's topics usually bounce around Stephanie's forms, her connection to magic, her Zodiac connection, and her experience with Dust.
P.T. Boomer tried following what she was chattering about but usually got a little mixed up, while Sailor John and Baz just about gave up and only listened to her chat while Bernie looked confused.
And the reason she was chattering so much was partly Lieutenant Hammerman's fault for giving her caffeinated coffee per her request.
Lieutenant Hammerman returned to what he was reading as Ember continued chattering, and Conrad woke up after almost falling out of his chair and looked up.
But it was either his grogginess or his eyesight bugging him; he swore he saw what looked like two Lieutenant Hammermans.
The one he remembers was sitting in the chair reading the book Ember handed him and wearing reading glasses, while the other, whose hat was shading his eyes by how tipped his head was with his arms behind his back, was looming over Lieutenant Hammerman.
Strangely, that second Lieutenant Hammerman looked older than he was, having some gray hair, and his uniform looked a little ragged as if he had gone into war and had some badges on his body too.
Conrad sat up more after seeing the two Lieutenant Hammermans and looked further between the two, trying to figure out which one was which while the conversation zoned out.
Who is this second Lieutenant Hammerman standing next to him and watching what he is doing?
As the head moved away from Lieutenant Hammerman, something red trickled down the left eye and cheek, causing Conrad's hair to stand up from the ends, his skin to pale slightly, and his eyes to widen with shock and fear.
The faint smell of copper hits Conrad's nose as he sits up more, watching this Lieutenant Hammerman glance away from the real one before noticing Conrad staring.
'Lieutenant Hammerman' lifted his head slightly and showed a cold steel-blue eye, but the other was just a bleeding eye socket.
The group flinched when they heard Conrad suddenly shriek and glanced at him, watching him tumble out of his chair and land on his bottom.
"Hey!" Ember exclaimed. "What's wrong?!"
Conrad blabbered like crazy as he scrambled backward, pointing towards something in the corner, and exclaimed, "Gh-Gho-GHOST!"
Everyone looked at what he was pointing at, but there was nothing there, and Conrad noticed, scrambling a little to his feet.
"I swore I saw it there!" Conrad exclaimed, pointing to where the 'ghost' was. "I saw it with my own eyes!"
"What ghost?" Sailor John asked before being interrupted by Ember, and she asked, "What did the ghost look like?"
"He looked like him!" Conrad exclaimed. "But a little taller, grouchier, brooding, and was," Conrad gulped. "Bleeding from his left eye socket!"
In the background, Lieutenant Hammerman flinched after hearing Conrad's explanation, and his expression changed to a slightly shocked expression, and Ember asked, "You saw another Lieutenant Hammerman?"
"Yes!" Conrad nodded. "Didn't you guys see him?!"
"No, we didn't," Baz responded. "It's just-"
"STOP TALKING ABOUT HIM!" Lieutenant Hammerman suddenly snapped, slamming the book against his desk while standing up.
Everyone flinched after hearing Lieutenant Hammerman exclaim and glance at him, seeing he expressed anger, confusion, and despair before returning to 'normal.'
"I want to be alone for the moment, Bitte," Lieutenant Hammerman calmly asked, although he showed visible anger.
"Are you sure?" Bernie asked. "Are you-"
"Leave, Bitte." Lieutenant Hammerman angrily growled.
The group took the warning and silently left Lieutenant Hammerman alone as he stayed in his office, taking his cap off and putting his hands on the side of his head.
"Wieso bist du immer noch da?" Lieutenant Hammerman softly mumbled in German.
Stephanie was still asleep in bed, with Notches curled underneath her hand on her belly, Patches on her chest, and some toys around Stephanie's head with Lucy.
Someone walked towards Stephanie and sat next to her carefully, staring down at her, before a hand appeared and placed it against her right cheek, gently caressing it.
The camera angle switches to a stranger wearing a blue uniform, a white button-up shirt, a black tie, black slacks, and black shoes.
The stranger was wearing a black cap on his head, short dark brown hair, and half-frame round glasses with a scar across the left eye, but his face was slightly blurred.
It looked like the first ghost Stephanie encountered when she arrived at Sodor, with a hand on her cheek as if the ghost knew her, gently rubbing it as Stephanie snored.
A second ghost stepped into the room and carefully kneeled to the first ghost, placing two hands on the ghost's shoulders as he looked over.
The second ghost wore the same uniform as the first, but she wore a black skirt with high heels, had long, straight, light brown hair and her face was blurred.
After a moment of silence, the two ghosts looked at each other before glancing back at Stephanie as she continued sleeping.
There was the sound of someone singing a lullaby that gently echoed through the room, and something was lightly glowing from the back of her neck.
They looked confused after noticing the faint glow, and the first ghost reached over to her hair, gently moving it to see half of what looked like a star.
The two ghosts looked at each other after seeing the star on her neck with an expression of worry before noticing her hair was slowly turning black, making them worried as they stepped away from her.
Stephanie twitched a little in her sleep and gingerly twisted a little to be comfortable without waking anyone up, and the two ghosts could see that something was happening.
They turned around and left Stephanie's room as she continued sleeping peacefully, her long hair slowly turning jet-black from the roots as the lullaby continued singing.