Hey everyone, I wanted to update this, but real life hit me so hard that I had to do everything I could to get this story going again, and fortunately, I managed to make a few more chapters and am stuck on the current one. fortunately, I made a side story, but that won't be released until after a few chapters and is also finished while this one is still going, I'm not going to tell you what it is, because that would ruin the surprise.

Now then, I'm going with what I've done so far, aside from familiar characters, you'll get to meet new ones as well as chapters are being made.

Aside from this, you're about to be in for a ride of excitement.

As I've stated before, Thomas and Friends is not owned by me, if it was, it wouldn't exist.


Chapter three: Crazy Adventures


One morning in the Sodor cafe, Fred and Vanessa were eating breakfast, while eating, Fred remembered the story about Thomas crashing into the stationmaster's house and other stories as well, he stopped eating for a moment.

Vanessa looked confused as she stopped eating. "Something the matter?" She asked, Fred snapped out of his thoughts, he looked to Vanessa.

"I'm fine, just thinking about the stories I read from the book when I was a child." He said, Vanessa looked curious. "Really? Tell me, besides the others, you can tell me." She said, Fred knew that Vanessa was just curious and wanted to know, he chuckled.

"Well, at this point in time, the first story is where we're at right now, it was written as "Thomas, Percy and the Coal", basically, it starts out with Thomas having an argument with Percy about who's color was more useful." He explained, Vanessa gasped.

"And it's happening right now?" She asked, Fred nodded. "Sadly, yes, and later on, Thomas gets covered in coal from smokebox to bunker, this feud lasted over three stories after this, but I don't know if this will be like those stories." He said, feeling that something was off, and he knew it.

When they arrived, they had found Thomas covered in coal dust and was already being cleaned by workmen, Thomas looked over to the two, he was about to say something when Fred cut him off.

"Don't say anything, we already know what happened." He said, Thomas was shocked, then he remembered the book that Fred had brought.

"This happened in the book, didn't it?" He asked, Fred nodded.

"This is only part of the story that happened, Thomas, we'll find out later, and for now, you have to be cleaned." He answered, later that night, Fred had brought Vanessa into his new home.

Sometime after Christmas last year, Vanessa showed Fred to a couple of houses and out of all the ones he saw, he picked a two story house that was suitable to live in, he had bought the house before New Years Eve, and had been living there ever since, Fred had opened the door and let Vanessa in like a gentleman, he came in and closed the door behind him, the two sat on a couch as they relaxed.

"You were right, I can't believe Thomas and Percy are fighting over who's color is more useful. In my opinion, both colors are useful." She said, Fred laughed. "You sound like Sir Topham Hatt!" He replied, Vanessa giggled, knowing that she did sound like Sir Topham Hatt.

"I guess I did. Anyway, what was the other part of the story?" She asked, Fred had smirked. "Don't want to spoil it, I think Thomas been through enough of it, anyway." He replied, then both of them went to bed.

The next morning, Thomas was at Knapford station, when Percy arrived, he felt tired, there was a water tower near the junction as Percy moved to get a drink, but then there was trouble, he was switched onto a siding by mistake, and smashed the buffers as he ran into a coal bunker, Thomas had seen everything.

"Now Percy's learned his lesson, too." He chuckled to himself, Fred and Vanessa had seen it all. "Actually, the points weren't switched properly, Thomas. So the points are to blame for the accident." Fred interjected, Vanessa nodded in agreement.

"And Percy wasn't to blame for your accident, you were just being cheeky, maybe too cheeky." She said, Fred laughed.

"Nice one." He replied, Thomas spluttered out a retort.

"Hey! Percy was the one who..." He said, but Fred wouldn't have it. "We'll have none of that! You two have got to learn that two wrongs don't make a right, even when it comes to a silly argument about who's paint is useful." He scolded, but Thomas ignored him.

For the next few days Thomas became a runaway, followed by Percy being called a woolly bear, then it came to the day that the feud would end, Thomas was talking to Toby about something about a boy calling his friend a drip, Percy didn't know what the word meant, a day later, Thomas was on his last passenger run for the day as he neared the bridge, then he felt a pain in his side tank, it was leaking and Thomas began to feel guilty, eventually, Percy arrived to help get the passengers to the next station.

Later that night, Thomas and Percy were alone in the shed, Toby wasn't there as they had begun a conversation. "I'm sorry Percy, I should have listened to Fred, who knew that this silly argument would turn into a feud." He said, Percy knew what to say.

"That's alright, Thomas, we've been very silly, and I'm sorry that I called you disgraceful, you do know that, right?" He asked, Thomas chuckled

"I know, besides, I want us to be friends again, so...friends?" He asked, Percy smiled. "Friends." He said, the feud between the two friends was finally over.

A few days later, Edward was taking some cattle cars as he puffed through the countryside, along the way, some cows were eating near a fence where Edward was heading, his clanking startled them as he was passing through, the cows broke through the fence and separated the last cattle car and the brake van from the rest of Edward's train, Edward took no notice.

By the time he found out, Gordon and Henry were laughing and making jokes about his accident, Toby told him to forget about their jokes.

"They've never even met cows, I have, and I know how much trouble they are, Gordon and Henry will get their comeuppance later." He said, Edward sighed.

"I guess you're right, Toby, I should've paid attention to the cows that were grazing earlier, had I been careful, I would have been able to keep my train together, and I see what you mean about cows." He replied, Toby Chuckled.

"Ah well, at least you would learn from your mistakes, but I'm afraid that those two haven't learned anything from their constant teasing." He said, Edward looked anxious.

"I suppose so, but how did you deal with those cows back on your old railway?" He asked, Toby smiled. "I'll let you in on a little secret, blow steam at them." He said, winking at Edward.

Later that night, news about Gordon and Henry's encounter with Bluebell spread like wildfire, Edward was ready to tease them as payback for joking about his accident, they knew that Edward saw all too well, but that was because Percy told Toby, who told James, and finally Thomas who told Edward, Gordon and Henry felt very silly.

Gilbert and Mr. Arkwright were visiting Fred for the night as they had begun the conversation about what happened earlier.

"Can you believe that? Two engines who never dealt with a cow before, must be the funniest thing to see."

Mr. Arkwright laughed, the other two drivers laughed. "I imagine it must be hilarious to hear of and watch on television!" He replied, Fred laughed as he calmed down.

Oh you have no idea how right you two are. He thought, then a thought struck him. "Say, the book had a story about what happened earlier today." He said, that got Gilbert's and Arkwright's attention.

"Really?" Gilbert asked, sounding curious, Fred nodded. "Yep. Want me to read it?" He asked, the two nodded, Fred read the story, and as soon as the story was finished, all three were laughing once more until the laughing died down. There were more crazy adventures to witness as things continued on.

The next few days turned out to be less troublesome than before, Edward was waiting on Thomas to arrive, he was getting impatient.

"Where is Thomas? He's never usually this late." He said, Fred and Vanessa looked out to see Bertie coming. "Well Bertie's coming, probably on a coach tour." Vanessa replied, Fred thought otherwise.

"No, he has Thomas's passengers. How do I know? I've seen this before, so we should wait for Bertie, believe me, if we go now, Bertie and the passengers would be left behind, resulting in a chase." He explained, Vanessa knew what Fred meant, remembering her first day on the job, she didn't want a repeat of that.

"I guess you're right, good things come to those who wait, after all." She said, Fred nodded in agreement.

Bertie soon arrived, and explained everything which confirmed what Fred had explained, soon, Edward set off after Thomas's passengers boarded the coaches, Bertie went off to tell Thomas the good news.

Edward had no idea that he would meet a traction engine named Trevor, it took a lot of convincing the vicar of Wellsworth to save Trevor from scrap. One day, Edward pulled into Wellsworth station as he was rattling and clanking, which meant it was time for him to get an overhaul, James who had been waiting, was furious. "Late again!" He snapped, Edward laughed, James left, fuming.

It was at the end of the day when Edward arrived at Tidmouth sheds, he was tired, Thomas looked in worry, but Edward reassured the others that he'll be alright, but James didn't notice, he was still fuming. A while later, Fred and Vanessa were in his house as they were discussing the day's events.

"So, you think James will get into trouble?" Vanessa asked, Fred shook his head, he knew James better than that. "I don't think he'll be responsible for what's about to happen tomorrow, and on top of that, aren't you supposed to be teaching the new rookie we just got?" He asked, Vanessa gasped, early on in the day, Vanessa met the new engine driver in training.

"My goodness, I forgot about him!" She said in shock.

Fred knew that Vanessa didn't mean to forget about the new driver, he found out that steam engines were about to about to get scrapped the first instance Diesels would replace them as soon as they were built.

"What I'm more worried about is this man I've read about in other stories of this universe by people, this man is called Beeching, am I correct?" He asked, Vanessa nodded grimly, knowing who he was.

"Unfortunately, yes. Why do you ask? Is he long dead in your universe?" She asked back, Fred nodded. "Yeah, he is, I never even met him, died nine years before I was born." He answered, Vanessa knew that it would be a long time before Beeching would become the worst man known to Sodor.

"Well, you'll have to deal with him sometime sooner or later. In the meantime, we need help." She added, Fred dreaded when that day would come.

Fred thought of something else to clear his mind, like his home, his family, what would they say if they found out that he was living in another universe? He fell into a depressed state, Vanessa saw this and hugged him. "Miss your home and family?" she asked, Fred nodded.

"I do, not a day goes by when I think of my parents, they must be worried by now." He said in a worried tone, Vanessa knew what it was like to be away from your parents. "I know how you feel, I miss my family, too." She told him, the couple went to their separate rooms as they went to sleep.

The next day, James rolled into the yard, the new driver was doing well as Vanessa monitored his progress. "You're doing well, Peter, I bet at this rate, you could help us out when we're short on drivers or firemen." She said, the new driver nodded. "Thanks, I..." He said before he started wobbling, Vanessa caught him just in time.

"Are you alright?" she asked, concerned for his own well being.

Peter groaned. "Bad time for a fever to come up, I may have to go home early." He said to Vanessa, she had to call for someone to take Peter home, luckily, Mr. Arkwright was there to take the poor young man home, Vanessa uncoupled James from the goods train.

Little did Vanessa know, two young boys scrambled into James's cab and played with the controls, James started moving, the boys tumbled off and ran, they knew they would get into trouble, the signalman saw the whole thing transpire and quickly alerted the other signalmen to lower the signals.

Vanessa came in and the Signalman began to explain, needless to say, Vanessa found out about the boys and quickly caught them off guard by catching them without harming the two boys. She waited for Edward to arrive with the inspector, Fred was on board when he saw her.

"Jump in, we'll need you when we catch James." He told his girlfriend, Vanessa climbed on board as Edward took off after James, Fred could hear Edward clanking and clattering, but he'd be relieved when Edward would get his overhaul.

I'll feel better when this is all over. Both engine and driver thought, Edward at last reached James as the runaway engine looked to see Edward coming up behind him.

"It's now or never, inspector!" He said to the inspector as he turned his attention Edward. "Steady, Edward." He called, Edward complied as the inspector carefully clambered out of Edward's cab as he was slowly reaching Edward's footplate with the wire rope.

It took the inspector several attempts until he got the rope on James's buffer. "Got 'im!" he shouted in George Carlin's voice, Vanessa scrambled over to James's cab and took control as James was steadily slowing down.

"So, the old iron caught you after all." Edward chuckled tiredly, James looked silly by his claim from yesterday, Edward proved him wrong, and for that, he was somewhat happy, but he couldn't help but feel guilty for being rude to Edward.

"I'm sorry Edward, I really didn't mean to become a runaway, I didn't realize that I was being rude." He apologized as Edward smiled. "That's alright, besides, I guess I did have fun, it was almost as if it was a race." He said, both engines shared a laugh before they arrived at the station where Sir Topham Hatt waited.

He congratulated Edward and the drivers a job well done, and Edward was sent to the Steam Works.

While on his way to the Steam Works, Edward stopped by a familiar narrow gauge railway to see a familiar friend he recognized.

"Skarloey? Is that you?" He asked, surprised to see an old friend, Vanessa was thoroughly surprised by this. "Wait, you know this engine, Edward?" She asked, Edward and Fred laughed.

"Of course I do, Vanessa, Skarloey here is older than me, we old engines have to stick together." He told her, the little engine laughed. "Edward's right, my dear, and in all my years I have never seen a woman being an engine driver, times are changing." He said happily, Fred nodded in agreement.

"Skarloey's one of the oldest engines on Sodor, he came to work here on the railway after the Mid Sodor railway was closed down, but he wasn't the only one here." He explained, noticing that another engine wasn't there, feeling that he was at the Steam Works, but he wondered why.

Skarloey had noticed that too.

"Oh yes, Rheneas, he was here with me in Sodor's early years, and we've worked on this line for many years, until Rheneas's valve gears jammed during his journey, he's been sent to the Steam Works ever since. I haven't seen him for a long time. I do hope he comes back one day."

He said hopefully, Fred nodded, knowing Rheneas would eventually come back. "He will, just keep waiting for him when he does, besides, we're on our way to the Steam Works right now." He told Skarloey, as he opened Edward's regulator, Edward smiled.

"Don't worry Skarloey, Rheneas will come home, just keep your spirits up." He told the little engine, Skarloey hoped that Fred and Edward were right.

A few days passed as Edward returned from the Steam Works, he did see Rheneas there and told him that Skarloey was lonely, Sir Topham Hatt did arrange for two narrow gauge engines to come to Sodor, nevertheless, Edward was glad to be home.

The next few weeks were both busy and crazy.

A new harbor was under construction, but a storm had tossed and and blew the construction equipment all over the place, Thomas was to go to the harbor, and for the first time, he met Trevor, Fred explained what Trevor was to the blue tank engine, Thomas was surprised to learn about this.

With the harbor in a mess, Thomas was shocked to see the harbor in such a state. Trevor proved the blue tank engine how useful he was, and by the time they were finished, Trevor enjoyed giving rides to the children, and when the fun was over, Thomas and Trevor were upset that they had to leave, later on, Thomas had promised Trevor that he would be needed if Sir Topham Hatt would have work for him, Trevor was happy to hear that and smiled, treasuring memories of the fun he had with the children.

However, things didn't turn out so well for Thomas, one day, Thomas was on his last passenger run for the day as Vanessa was driving him, they stopped at the station as Vanessa smiled. "You know just where to stop, it's almost as if you didn't need me." She joked, she didn't know that Thomas had become conceited, he mistook the joke as praise.

"Vanessa says I don't need her to go anywhere since I don't need her." Thomas said to Percy and Toby, they were shocked, they told Thomas that Vanessa was only joking, but he didn't listen, he thought they were being silly, but he was about to get a wake up call, and a rude wake up call at that.

Fred and Vanessa were asleep in Fred's home the next morning, the phone rang and they found out that Thomas had ran into the stationmaster's house, needless to say, they were powerless to stop it from happening because they were asleep when it happened.

They arrived to the station master's house, they saw it with their own eyes, Thomas had crashed into the dining room wall.

Fred could feel the embarrassment Thomas was feeling at the moment, Vanessa looked a bit sheepish, but she knew that something happened, she knew she closed Thomas's regulator the night before the accident, and knew that she wasn't responsible.

"Well, I know I wasn't responsible for this, but what happened?" She asked Fred, the young man thought for a moment before he remembered something.

"Well, if I'm correct, a careless firelighter came and cleaned the engines, and accidentally opened Thomas's regulator, which sent him on a crash course for the dining room wall in the stationmaster's house. While I do admit this is sort of funny, there's no time to laugh about this, by the way, doesn't the stationmaster's wife live here?"

Fred asked back, Vanessa realized that the stationmaster's wife worked for the Sodor cafe.

"Yeah, and she works for the cafe we normally go to. I bet she's mad, now." She replied, Fred nodded.

"Well, we better tell her what really happened." Vanessa nodded in agreement, soon, things got straightened out, Thomas was pulled out of the Stationmaster's house by a black tender engine, Fred watched the whole thing as as Thomas was pulled out of the wall, he walked over to the blue engine.

"How are you feeling, Thomas?" He asked, Thomas said nothing, feeling very ashamed.

Fred understood the feeling.

"It wasn't your fault, I agree you couldn't control the way your wheels were going, in fact, from what I remember, a careless firelighter messed with your controls. I think he came too early, Sir Topham Hatt's not going to be happy when he hears about this." He was right, Thomas was back at the sheds.

Percy laughed as Toby let out a chuckle, Fred wouldn't have any of that. "Stop that, you two! This is serious!" He snapped, the two engines stopped laughing and chuckling, Sir Topham Hatt arrived, hearing what Fred had said and nodded in agreement.

"I quite agree." Fred turned around to face him.

"Sir, this was an accident, I swear! Thomas had nothing to do with this. I know who the culprit was." He told the controller, Sir Topham Hatt listened as Fred continued.

"A careless firelighter came too early and messed with Thomas's regulator, that's what happened." He explained, Sir Topham Hatt was shocked by this revelation. "Are you sure?" He asked, Fred nodded, knowing that Thomas was innocent through this whole incident.

"I'm sure of it, sir, and is there anything important you have to announce?" Fred asked, Sir Topham Hatt nodded.

"Of course, I have been loaned a diesel on trial while Thomas is going to the Steam Works." Fred nodded, he knew a familiar diesel, and he knew most diesels were snobbish and were most likely devious, but there were few who understood what steam engines were going through, and few who were friendly to steam engines.

"I think I know this one, this diesel can carry passengers, and from what I can tell, she's snobbish, but I can tell we'll teach her what to do once she gets used to working on the branchline." He said, Sir Topham wanted to know how Fred knew about the diesel, but decided not to ask.

"Uh...precisely, Fred." He replied, now Sir Topham Hatt was worried.

For Fred, he was even more worried, he hoped that the Diesel he told the others wouldn't be as bad as he thought she would be.

"A d-d-diesel, sir?" Thomas asked, muffled from the bush he had collected from his accident, needless to say, Thomas was surprised learn a fact about what diesels do, and much to add insult to injury, diesels didn't gallivant off to breakfast, which Thomas had already learned the hard way, Fred looked unimpressed at Topham's insult.

"Low blow, sir, low blow." He said, Sir Topham Hatt realized his mistake.

"Oh...sorry Thomas, I didn't mean to insult you." Sir Topham Hatt apologized, Vanessa was able to speak for the engine.

"He understands, sir, your timing was bad, though." She said, Sir Topham Hatt nodded, knowing that he had to think clearly the next time he spoke.

"Right, I had better get going." He left as soon as Percy began to speak.

"Honestly Thomas, did you really think that you could move on your own? Oh, that's right, the bush's keeping you from speaking clearly." He teased, Thomas said nothing, Toby, Fred and Vanessa were absolutely horrified.

"Percy!" All three shouted, startling both Thomas and Percy. "I'm ashamed of you, Percy, I thought you got over your silly feud with Thomas." He scolded, Percy looked indignant.

"I am over it! It's thomas's fault for taking a joke too seriously!" He snapped, Vanessa gasped in shock. "Percy..." She murmured, Percy left the sheds, but he soon came to regret his words later when he found out that Thomas's trains were canceled.

Toby hadn't said a word to him until later that night as they were alone in the shed, Percy finally managed to speak to the tram.

"I'm sorry Toby, what I said, I was out of line, I really didn't mean it." He said, Toby sighed as he looked to the green tank engine.

"I know you didn't mean it, Percy, but Fred told Sir Topham Hatt that the careless firelighter came too early and messed with Thomas's regulator, that's how Thomas had his accident, remember?" He asked, reminding Percy, the green tank engine sighed, wishing he could take back what he said. "I know, but the diesel's coming tomorrow, I don't know what to think of this diesel." He said, Toby knew what Percy meant, he was also worried about the diesel.

The next day, Toby and Percy arrived to see Sir Topham Hatt with the diesel railcar, she was green and Fred was in Toby's cab while Vanessa was in Percy's cab, they got out to meet Sir Topham hatt.

"This is Daisy, she'll be working with us while Thomas is at the Steam Works." He introduced the diesel railcar, Daisy smiled.

"I am very delighted to meet such wondrous engines. I'm afraid I don't know my way around this branchline, so would you please show me around?" She asked, Toby and Percy smiled, but they had no idea that they would be dragged into serious trouble.

Toby, Percy and Daisy were going around the branchline all day, Daisy did look impressed, but Fred was starting to have regrets.

"I think I'm starting to regret thinking about her, Daisy, I mean." Fred spoke to Toby, the tram was confused.

"Oh? Why do you regret thinking about her?" He asked, Fred sighed as he began to explain.

"From what I know and remember, Daisy is lazy unless she takes passengers, she isn't fond of milk tankers, and you'll probably stay awake all night tonight if she talks for that same amount of time."

He said, Toby chuckled, he thought Fred was Fred was joking.

"Oh, give her time, she'll learn her way around, besides, you're just overthinking things." He replied, Fred sighed, knowing Toby would learn the hard way.

"Don't say I didn't warn you, what goes around comes around." He stated cryptically, Toby didn't care, but Percy heard them, he was glad Daisy didn't hear that.

By the time they reached the shed, Daisy was impressed, until she saw Annie, Clarabelle and Henrietta, she had insulted them, their respective engines took them elsewhere before returning to the shed.

Later that night, Fred and Vanessa were in his house, Vanessa had sold her home to a young couple that had come from America, she now lived with Fred, the two had sat at the dinner room table, eating supper until Vanessa asked a question.

"Earlier today, Percy said that you and Toby were talking to each other about Daisy, what was it about?" She asked, Fred sighed and told her about Daisy's bad habits, Vanessa looked shocked.

"Yikes, that is bad." the female engine driver said nervously, Fred nodded in agreement. "And now you know, I bet Toby's going to regret what he said earlier, I warned him." He said as he finished his meal, Vanessa also finished her meal.

The two went to their separate rooms as they had changed into their sleepwear and went to bed, before closing his eyes, Fred knew something was bound to happen sooner or later, he wished that Thomas could have seen Daisy, but knew that the tank engine was at the Steam Works.

The next morning, the two drivers were at the Sodor cafe, the stationmaster's wife from two days earlier brought them their usual order before she attended the rest of her customers.

"So, what's Daisy's first assignment, today?" Vanessa asked, Fred looked at the schedule and paled in horror.

"Passengers and a milk tanker. Daisy hates milk tankers with a passion! Thomas never complained about the milk tanker being added to his train." He half grumbled, then he looked to who was assigned to Daisy as her driver, he paled again when he saw who was driving the diesel railcar.

"And you're driving her...today." Fred squeaked the last word out, Vanessa's widened.

"Gimme that!" She snatched the paper out of his hand and saw that she was assigned to Daisy, even she paled when she saw it. "Dear lord...who even assigned me to her?" She asked, Fred saw the worried look on her face.

"Just take a deep breath if Daisy starts acting up, and don't listen to her lies about her fitter." Fred explained, he watched her leave as he looked at the schedule again, he saw that he was paired with Edward on a goods train.

Just like old times. He thought with relief, just then, he saw two familiar back tender engines, he realized that they were Donald and Douglas scolding Gordon and Henry. That's odd...they aren't supposed to be here, yet. He thought again, he walked out of the cafe as he finished his breakfast and left a tip.

Edward waited in the shed when Fred walked up. "Hello Fred, what are we going to do today?" He asked, Fred smiled as he answered.

"We're taking a goods train up to the Skarloey Railway at Crovan's Gate." He said to the K2 tender engine, he climbed into Edward's cab as he started Edward's fire.

Edward steamed out of the shed as he later took the goods train to Crovan's Gate, he saw three narrow gauge engines. One of the engines was blue and the other was green, Fred recognized them as Sir Handel, Peter Sam, they were with Skarloey.

Both Fred and Edward watched as Sir Handel was complaining about how small the shed was, Peter Sam apologized to Skarloey for Sir Handel's behavior, he looked to see Edward and Fred watching.

"Oh, hello there, who are you two?" He asked, Fred spoke for Edward. "I'm Fred, and this is Edward, we were delivering a goods train to the Skarloey Railway. Say, where's your friend headed?" He asked after introducing Edward and himself to the green narrow gauge engine.

"Sir Handel's gone to take a passenger train." Peter Sam explained, Fred's eyes widened. "You're kidding!" He nearly shouted, Skarloey sighed.

"He better take care, if he bumps the coaches, they'll pay him back if he bumps them too hard." He explained, Fred nodded in agreement with worry. "This is just like Jame's accident, only there's no bootlace."

Peter Sam wanted to ask what that was about, and Edward told the new arrival the whole story.

By the time Edward and Fred left after telling the story, Sir Handel had come off the rails after bumping the coaches, they payed him back.

At the end of the day, Fred and Vanessa were home, Vanessa crashed on the couch, Fred sat in the chair.

"Ugh...I hate Daisy..." Vanessa groaned in annoyance, Fred chuckled as he pulled out the book. "Well, I hope you're ready for these few stories, I'll leave a few out for a reason, if you want to hear them." He offered, Vanessa sighed.

"If you must, then go ahead." She said feeling tired, Fred began reading the stories as he left out the ones that would happen the next day and in the future.

After he was finished, Fred closed the book as Vanessa looked puzzled, she had never heard of Donald and Douglas before. "Wait, I've never heard of Donald and Douglas, where are they from?" She asked, Fred began to explain.

"They come from the Caledonian Railway on Scotland, I saw them earlier today." He said, Vanessa looked surprised, she'd find out tomorrow when things would get hectic.

The next day, Fred was working with Toby while Gilbert was working with Percy as the green saddle tank engine had been grumpily shunting some freight cars as he backed down next to the milk tanker beside him.

"I see that Daisy's left the milk behind again." Toby stated, Percy grunted crossly.

"I guess I'll have make a special journey with it." He muttered.

"Anyone would think I'd nothing to do." He grumbled, Toby made up his mind as he smiled. "Tell you what, I'll take the milk, you go to the quarry and fetch my freight cars. You remember the way, don't you?" He offered, Percy looked to Gilbert and Fred, they went to tell the stationmaster and he agreed to make the arrangements.

Percy and Gilbert had gone off to Anopha Quarry fetch the freight cars while Fred and Toby delivered the milk to the Sodor dairy factory, Fred and Toby had finished delivering the milk, the stationmaster ran up to them and told them of Percy's accident as soon as they got back.

"Blast, one accident after another." Fred groaned, Toby chuckled, knowing there was some good to come out of this accident.

"Cheer up, the first good thing about this is that Thomas will come home after tomorrow." He said, Fred sighed in relief.

"The sooner the better, I already know what Sir Topham Hatt is going to say to Percy and Daisy." He replied to the tram, Toby knew that what Sir Topham Hatt would say wouldn't be happy, then he remembered what had transpired earlier before Percy's accident.

"Do you remember what happened earlier with Dasiy's encounter with Champion?" The tram asked, Fred laughed at the memory. "Oh do I? It was hilarious! I wish I brought a camera along to film and savor the moment." He replied as he and Toby laughed.

The next day, they had arrived back at the shed where Percy's accident had taken place.

"We must now try to run the branchline with Toby and Daisy, you have put us in an awkward predicament, Percy."Sir Topham Hatt scolded the green saddle tank engine. "I am sorry, sir." Percy apologized as Sir Topham Hatt continued.

"You must stay there until we are ready." He added. "And you really must be careful with freight cars." He finished, then he walked over to daisy.

"My engines work hard, I send lazy engines away." The controller said with scolding tone, Daisy looked ashamed.

"Please don't send me away, sir." She pleaded, Sir Topham Hatt continued.

"However Toby says you worked hard after Percy's accident, so I will give you another chance." He finished, Daisy smiled.

"Thank you sir, I will work hard, Toby says he'll help me." She said, Sir Topham Hatt nodded approvingly of Toby's decision.

"Excellent. What Toby doesn't know about Branchline problems isn't worth knowing. Our Toby's an experienced engine." Toby and Fred smiled when they heard that praise.

The next day, Thomas came back as he was driven by both Fred and Vanessa, they were happy to have him back, they watched Percy being taken to the Steam Works.

"I hope Percy comes back from the Steam Works in time." The blue tank engine said, looking worried, Fred laughed, knowing that Percy would be fine.

"He will be, Thomas. All the same, I wish we had another tank engine, I think I know of one who brought us back from Henry's accident last year." Fred pointed out remembering the Pannier tank engine, Vanessa gasped in shock.

"Oh, that's right. We forgot to ask about his name." She said, suddenly remembering the engine, Thomas was confused.

"What kind of tank engine is he?" He asked, Fred chuckled as he began to explain who the Pannier tank engine was.

"The engine is a Pannier tank engine with six wheels like you, Thomas, his boiler is shaped differently." This led thomas to having wild imaginations about the engine, Fred laughed, causing Thomas to break out of his imagination.

"So...uh...what's the engine's name?" Thomas asked, Fred happily explained to him.

"His name is Montague, but he'd prefer to be called Duck, and a bit of a story. When Henry first had his accident, Duck offered to take us home, me, Vanessa, and Sir Topham Hatt all back to Knapford. We never saw him after that, but we may get to see him again sometime after today." Fred told the tank engine.

"Does he know about me and the others?" Thomas asked, Fred shook his head.

"Unfortunately, he doesn't, he only knows Henry, but this does give him an opportunity to get to know you and the others."

"Oh wow! I hope to meet him soon." Thomas said, unfortunately, things did go wrong for Donald and Douglas as they had separate mishaps, first Donald had mixed Thomas's special coach with the rest of the rolling stock, then Douglas accidentally crashed into a signal box when it shouldn't have been placed on the rails, this was troubling, indeed, but it didn't stop there.

Percy did return, but he played a trick on James and Gordon, and it got him into trouble.

James and Gordon got back at Percy, and made him late, fortunately, Thomas didn't mind, but trouble really began the day when Duck came.

Percy had just finished arranging trains for the other engines as he felt worn out, Vanessa knew that neither she or Percy could handle the stress any longer.

Just then, Sir Topham Hatt came to see them. "Goodness me, you two, you look tired." He said, Vanessa nodded, she let out a sigh.

"We know, sir...I don't know if we could be standing on our feet and wheels or our head and funnel right about now." The female driver said, Sir Topham Hatt chuckled. "You both look the right way up to me."

Vanessa sighed in relief when Sir Topham Hatt spoke again. "Once you both are fully rested, the new engine will be here later, so when you come and meet him, be sure to teach him everything."

And sure enough, once the duo was well enough, they met Duck properly and I'm sorry to say that Gordon was still in a joking mood.

Duck was resting when Gordon and James wheeshed at him and made fun of him by making quacking noises, the only one who didn't do that was Henry, he was horrified at this.

"I am so sorry about them, Duck. Gordon and James mean well, but..." Henry began, but he couldn't finish due to running out of words to say, Duck only smiled. "They'll get tired of it soon."

Duck was half right, James got bored of it pretty quick, but Gordon was enjoying it full blast.

Fred knew that it was the same situation from the previous year with Gordon picking on him, Thomas and Vanessa, and the big engine got in trouble, not once, but multiple times because of his ego.

Later, Duck spoke with Percy and Henry with Fred being Henry's driver. "Gordon has gone too far, I'm glad James got over it, but Gordon just won't stop, what do you suggest we do?" The Pannier tank engine asked, Percy and Henry had their respective ideas.

"I say we go on strike against Gordon, that'll put him in his place." Percy said, Henry, Duck, Fred and Vanessa were all shocked at the idea of going on strike.

"Are you nuts!? You won't win in an argument against Sir Topham Hatt, Percy! He'd scold you for that!" Fred exclaimed, Duck seemed to side with the young man. "I agree, the engines on the Great Western Railway do as they are told without fuss."

Henry agreed with Duck and Fred. "They're right, and I should know, going on strike is a bad idea." He finished, Percy just scoffed.

"Of course you would side with them, Henry! I thought we were friends!" And with that, Percy ran off to proceed with his plan, Duck, Henry and Fred were shocked, Percy even took Vanessa against her will.

"What do we do now?" Duck asked, afraid of what was going to happen.

Fred decided to speak up now that Percy had gone off without reasoning. "We could tell Sir Topham Hatt, I'm sure he'll understand."

Henry seemed to agree with his driver. "I was just about to suggest that! Well, we better do that now before Percy gets into serious trouble."

And they did, Sir Topham Hatt was informed of Gordon's behavior and Percy's plan, but it was no use, Percy and Gordon were causing so much noise, it took both engines, Fred and Sir Topham Hatt to break up the fight before it got out of hand.

A day later, Gordon was given punishment with shunting cars and coaches while Percy was sent to the harbor to work with Thomas, leaving Duck, Henry, and James to pick up the slack.

The next day, Percy had been pushed by the freight cars past a key due to his plan, but it backfired, Vanessa had enough of Percy's silliness, and requested to be transferred to work with James for a while, Fred couldn't argue with his girlfriend's reasoning, and then he noticed that she was starting to get frustrated.

He tried offering to read to Vanessa, but she wasn't in the mood to listen to the stories.

Unfortunately for him, Fred had to be assigned to Donald that day when James was taking a goods train, and unfortunately for James, the spiteful break van was on the goods train.

James had trouble with the spiteful break van as he stopped right beside Donald, and apologized for being rude to him. Even Vanessa apologized to Fred for being silly, something he knew was rarely seen every time his girlfriend was acting up.

And if it wasn't bad enough, while on their journey, the spiteful break van was accidentally smashed to pieces.

Sir Topham Hat arrived to inspect the damage, surprisingly, no one was hurt, but he didn't know what to do, he turned to Donald. "While the accident wasn't your fault, I still don't know what to do with you." He said, unsure of what to do.

Fred inspected the remains of the spiteful break van, he noticed that something was off about it, he picked up a broken piece of a board from the break van, and was careful not to get any splinters, he saw that the wood was already rotten.

This discovery made Fred angry. "Sir, I think you might want to come look at this." He said, Sir Topham Hatt did so, and Fred showed him the broken board.

"The break van was unserviceable before it came to the island, my guess is that someone wanted this train to be delayed, so whoever did this must be long gone." He informed, Sir Topham Hatt seemed to agree, this was most alarming.

"Then we have a saboteur, we must be cautious in the future." Sir Topham Hatt spoke out, Donald, James and Edward were shocked, this was not a good sign.

Vanessa looked scared, but she didn't show it, Fred knew that she was trying to be brave.

Meanwhile, on the mainland, in a secret area outside of London, a girl in her late teens sat in her office, she wore business clothes, she wore a vest over a buttoned long sleeved shirt, and unlike most girls her age, she wore pants, mainly because she was more into business, a family portrait showed her with her father and mother, the father turned out to be Henry Welsh, there a knock on her door as the girl kept a straight face.

"Come in." The girl said as a large man came in, he looked like the typical muscular man, only bald and had a mustache. "You wanted to see me, Ms. Welsh?" He said, sounding like a 1920's American gangster, the girl nodded, she looked up from the paperwork she was signing.

"Did you do as I asked?" The girl calmly asked, the man nodded, though, he looked a bit nervous.

"The train on Sodor got delayed as planned, but they figured that we were long gone by the time they found out."

The girl smiled, this wasn't what she had in mind, but it satisfied her.

"Good, Stanford. But next time, try not to be careless, Mr. Beeching expects nothing less from this company. I want you to continue monitoring activity on Sodor. Mr. Beeching doesn't know that we will also ruin his career, I want you to spread the word to your men, monitor Sodor until I arrive."


Well, we have our first human villain and it's none other than Mr. Welsh's daughter, granted, she's going to be one of the threats to Sodor in the future. And while she won't be a bigger threat, she'll be a recurring threat to the engines. I have plans for her in the future. funny, it's true both in universe and in real life, Fred and I share the fact that we never met Beeching before he died as he died nine years before I was born, twenty years later, here I am.

The funny thing is, Beeching will not appear in this story, but he is going to be mentioned a few times.

And one thing is for certain, I'm not going away from this site, I've started a new account on Archive Of Our Own as Gundam Mega, so you might see some stories pop up there.

Aside from that, I've got more chapters on the way, so be on the lookout.