BYRON SAVES THE DAY

Based upon the episode by Paul Larson

Adapted by Zack Wanzer and Rachel Ravens

The worst of winter was over across the Island of Sodor, but things still remained wet. Instead of snow, everyone now had to deal with pouring rain, and sometimes, it felt as though it would never stop.

"Ugh!" groaned Patrick. "I can hardly see where I'm going!"

"Never mind that," called Nelson. "There could be lots of… ouch!"

"Holes in the road…" muttered Nigel.

"Unfortunately, yes," sighed Nelson.

"Don't worry, everyone," assured Buster. "I'll get that flattened out in no time."

"Not with this weather," sighed Patrick. "The rain will just keep making potholes everywhere."

"I fear what may happen to our next construction project if this keeps up," said Kelly. "Could be very dangerous for us."

"We can do it!" smiled Jack. "We've dealt with a lot of bad weather before, haven't we?"

"You're right, Jack," said Jasmine. "So long as we keep pushing forward, we can accomplish anything!"

Of course, even with the optimism of some, others had rather strong opinions regarding the weather…

"All this rain… That means we'll be driving through mud! Ugh!"

"Well, look on the bright side, Isobella; at least the rain can help to wash it off if it gets on you!"

"Oh, how droll, Buster…"

"Look, everyone!" remarked Oliver. "Miss Jenny's coming this way right now!"

Sure enough, Miss Jenny arrived in her land rover and came out wearing a raincoat. "Good morning, everyone," she greeted. "Our job for today is to build a new repair shed. It won't be too far from our yard. Now, working in the mud and slippery weather will be very dangerous, so remember…"

"Safety first!" boomed Byron.

"And that," added Miss Jenny, glancing over at a certain pair of dump trucks, "means no messing around and causing trouble!"

"Yes, Miss Jenny," said Max and Monty, but going off of their quiet snickering, they didn't sound like they meant it.

"I'm watching you," glared Poppy.

Later, at the construction site, everyone was hard at work. Kelly and Murphy were lifting some of the fallen branches out of the way.

"The site won't be much good like this," sighed Murphy.

"Definitely not," agreed Kelly. "The foundations could get loose twigs or leaves stuck in it. We can't have that."

"Don't worry," said Buster. "Byron, Patrick and I will get the foundations smoothed out in no time."

"Hopefully with no bragging this time," chuckled Murphy to Patrick; the cement mixer let out a cough of embarrassment, but smiled weakly in response.

At another part of the site, Jack and Alfie were loading up Max and Monty.

"This is the muddiest mud I've ever seen!" Alfie cheered, and he began to spin around in excitement. "Mud, glorious mud!"

"I see what you mean," laughed Jack. "It's so much fun!"

"Speak for yourselves!" called Isobella. "I'll be glad to get back to a dry garage after this."

"Oh, really?" smirked Max, before quickly driving off.

"Hey, wait a minute!" cried Jack. "I've not finished loading you yet!"

"And watch where you're driving too!" called Isobella. "You nearly got my paint all–"

SPLASH!

"–dirty…" It was Monty who had sprayed Isobella with mud while laughing and chasing after Max, but the brutish dump trucks hardly noticed.

"Ugh!" groaned Alfie. "I wasn't done with Monty either."

"Are you alright, Isobella?" asked Jack in concern.

"I feel very sticky," groaned Isobella.

"Hey, at least it's not concrete, Izzy," said Jasmine. "A quick spray will get you cleaned up in no time."

"I suppose so…" sighed Isobella. "I just hope the others are having better luck…"

"Miss Jenny isn't going to be pleased to hear about this one," muttered Poppy.

Elsewhere, Byron was making the base for the foundations.

"Ahh, just look at this!" Byron said proudly. "Straight, precise cuts. If that's not a work of art, I don't know what is!"

But none of the workmen were taking any notice of how good a job Byron was doing, much to his disappointment. Then, he spotted Oliver coming by rather slowly and perked up.

"Oliver!" Byron called, backing up a little. "What do you think of this trench that I've just finished smoothing out?"

"Sorry, Byron!" Oliver cried. "Ugh… the weather is making it difficult to balance here…"

Byron groaned in disappointment. "Does nobody appreciate the work I put into anything anymore…?"

"Is everything alright, Byron?" It was Buster who had called out to the yellow bulldozer.

"Oh…" sighed Byron. "I just worked really hard in making the foundation smooth, and… well… no one noticed."

"Don't worry too much about it, Byron," said Buster. "You've got to remember, this place is very unstable due to the wet weather. Everyone's probably preoccupied with other things at the moment."

"I guess you have a point," admitted the bulldozer. "Besides, the last thing I want is to end up like George."

"Hey, if anyone's going to be supposedly compared to George, it's me," chuckled Buster. "So long as we don't go anti-rail, we should be alright."

"Heh, not even Max and Monty would go that far," agreed Byron, smiling a little.

Speaking of whom, Max and Monty were still up to no good.

"Oh, I'm going to beat you this time!" challenged Max, revving his engine.

"Not if I've anything to say about this!" retorted Monty. "Readysetgo!" he said quickly, setting off.

"Hey, that's not fair!" called Max, racing after his brother. "I wasn't prepared that time!" They were so preoccupied in their competitiveness that they weren't minding their surroundings. Jack and Alfie, however, took notice of what they were heading towards…

"Max! Monty!" gasped Alfie. "Watch out!"

But it was too late; Max hit a water supply pump, which caused water to gush high up into the air and form a large puddle surrounding Alfie.

"Oh no!" the green excavator cried, trying to drive away as quickly as he could. But all that resulted in Alfie spinning his wheels as the puddle turned into a muddy hole, causing him to get further stuck. "Someone help me, please!" he wailed. "I don't want to sink!"

"I'll go and get help!" cried Jack, driving off quickly. "Hang in there, Alfie!"

"That's about all I can do right now…" the green excavator moaned. A nearby workman had seen what had happened and shut off the water supply. While the water had stopped gushing, Alfie remained trapped where he was.

"Oh no, Alfie!" cried Ned. "Hang on, we can fix this!" Quickly, Ned scooped up bucketfuls of dirt to try and fill in the hole.

"Ned, get back!" called David. "That's going to make it worse!"

"I've got to at least try!" replied Ned. But, true to David's word, the hole only got more slushy and muddy.

"Aah!" cried Alfie. "I think I'm sinking further!"

"Oh dear…" Ned, ashamed and sheepish, drove back. "What are we going to do now?"

"Byron! Byron!"

"What's wrong, Jack?" asked the bulldozer. "Wait a second, where's Alfie?"

"Alfie's in trouble! He needs someone to help him from sinking into a muddy hole!"

"Right!" declared Byron, driving out of his trench. "Hold on, Alfie! I'm coming!" Jack led Byron to where Alfie was stuck. Cautiously, Byron drove closer to the muddy hole. "Alfie, grab my blade!"

Alfie reached his arm out to grab hold of Byron's blade, but…

"I can't reach it!" he cried. Byron could see that Alfie was slowly sinking further in the muddy hole, and knew he had to act fast to save him.

"Right, I'll try and get closer…" he said, slowly inching forwards, and putting himself at risk as well. By now, several other vehicles had stopped what they were doing to see the rescue operation happening, as did many of the workmen and even Miss Jenny.

"Be careful, Byron!" she called worriedly. "You might sink as well!"

"Maybe one of us should go in with him," suggested Nigel.

"No," said Nelson. "The mud would be like quicksand; our weight won't help the situation!"

At last, after what seemed like eternity, Byron was close enough so that Alfie could grab hold of his blade.

"I've got it!" he shouted.

"Good! Now hold on, Alfie!" boomed Byron, and he revved his engine and began to reverse, not letting go of Alfie.

"Come on, Byron," whispered Kelly.

"He's doing it!" cried Buster excitedly. "You've got this, Byron! You've got this!"

The more Byron pulled and strained, the more Alfie began to rise out of the muddy hole, until at last, Byron had pulled Alfie onto stable enough ground so that he could drive himself away from danger.

"Phew!" he gasped. "That was close… Thanks, Byron…"

"Oh, Alfie!" cried Jack, driving up to his best friend. "You're okay! Thank heavens for that. Well done, Byron!"

"Yes, well done, Byron!" cheered Miss Jenny, relieved that one of her youngest vehicles was safe from danger. And it wasn't long before everyone was giving Byron more "well dones" than he knew what to do with! The yellow bulldozer couldn't have felt any prouder.

But that evening, however, Miss Jenny had rather stern words for Max and Monty.

"Because of your careless behavior today," she scolded, "we've been put behind schedule, and Alfie could have been put into serious danger! Do you have anything to say for yourselves?"

"W-we're sorry, Miss Jenny," stammered Max.

"Yeah, very sorry indeed," added Monty.

Miss Jenny sighed and crossed her arms. "Perhaps a few days in the shed should keep you two from causing anymore trouble," she said firmly. "And when you're next allowed out again, Kelly and Oliver will be keeping a close eye on you two so that we don't get a repeat incident."

Max and Monty groaned. "Why them?" muttered Max.

"Because they're sensible and reliable," remarked Poppy. "Whereas you two clearly weren't today!"

"That'll do, Poppy," said Miss Jenny; the orange lorry flushed with embarrassment. Miss Jenny then looked over at Byron. "And Byron, you did a wonderful job. You definitely need a good rest tonight."

"Thank you, Miss Jenny," Byron smiled. "I'm just glad Alfie is okay."

"You were very brave, Byron!" smiled Alfie. "Just like Gordon was when Thomas nearly ended up like me." Some of the older Pack members winced.

"What?" asked Alfie. "What did I say?"

"Let's just say you're better off not knowing…" trialed Kelly.

Over the next few days, the Pack were able to get back on schedule, and when Max and Monty were allowed out again, they didn't cause any more trouble and focused on their jobs. Poppy certainly made sure they did that!

"I still can't believe she's our sister," remarked Jasmine.

"Th-there's one in every family, Jasmine," said Alex. "Or sometimes, two in ours."

"I heard that!" grunted David.

"Yeah… family…" trailed Isobella. She looked out toward the direction of Ffarquhar longingly. Suddenly, some mud flew in front of her face. "Hey! Watch it!"

"Oh, sorry, Isobella!" called Alfie. "We just got a bit excited."

"Of course you did…" muttered the lorry. "More mud, I suppose?"

"Actually," said Jack, "we've just found something in here!"

And what was it that Jack and Alfie discovered? Well, that will have to wait until next time…

TO BE CONTINUED

Author's Comments

It's been a month since I posted any updates for Series 6-7 Redux, but at last, here's the Byron Saves the Day adaptation! Once again, the railways don't play a role in the story, and there's some scene expansion with more character interactions happening. I apologize that there isn't much to say since the original episode was fairly light on story, but still decent overall. Note that the final scene hints at what's to come for the next several adaptations.

Until the next one comes, if you haven't already, please let us know what you thought about this. I ask because I noticed that recently, there's been a bit of a downturn in reviews for both Between the Lines: Set 3 and Journey Beyond Sodor. I don't know what the reason is, but make sure that you let us know what you thought of our rewrite of said special and the more recent original stories. And yes, I do read every single review - positive, negative and in-between.

Upcoming rewrites:

- Dirty Objects Again (James and the Queen of Sodor)

- The Spotless Record

- Something Fishy

- Peace and Quiet

- Oliversaurus