That's right, chapter 2 has been edited. This adaptation is based on the 2009 movie 'Hero of the Rails' and this story was written in 2010. This version has now been edited, and many mistakes have been corrected. Oh and just so you know, at this time, I am working on the cover for Sodor High School.
Sodor High School: Thomas & Friends Tales
Written by: ThomasZoey3000
Based on the Railway Series by: The Rev. W. and Christopher Awdry
Based on the Television Series by: Britt AllCroft/David Mitton/Hit Entertainment
Episode 2: Master of the School
Based on "Hero of the Rails" by "Sharon Miller"
The next morning, after getting a ride on Bertie's bus, Thomas and Emily walked along side by side to the Sodor High School. Thomas was telling Emily about James' incident from the year before.
"James borrowed Sir Topham Hatt's car to deliver coal for Hector and his family as their power was out, and they were running low on coal," he was saying, "but of course it had snowed the night before, and to make things worse, it was snowing again. He drove into Shen Valley and got stuck in a snowdrift. After a quarter of an hour, Hector found him and towed the car back to his house. Hector did thank James for all he had done, but if I remember correctly, your father was not happy."
"Well, at least I now know why my father was cross on that day," Emily giggled, but then sighed unhappily, "I hope my parents are okay."
"Oh I'm sure they're fine," Thomas said assuringly.
A few small tears came into Emily's eyes, she was feeling sad, "Thomas," she asked, "can I ask you for a small hug?"
Thomas stopped walking, looked over to Emily and nodded with a smile, "sure."
Emily walked slowly towards Thomas, placing her head gently on his chest, then Thomas wrapped his arms around Emily. He could hear her sobbing, but Thomas didn't mind as they stood there, just a short distance away from their school.
After the little hug, the two continued on to their school. All of the sudden, they heard a loud bike's bell. Thomas looked back and noticed a silver blur coming, which flashed by, blowing a gust of wind at the two teens.
"What was that?" asked Thomas and Emily in unison.
They weren't the only ones who saw the silver blur as many of the students got blasted by the wind too.
"Bubbling sodas," gasped Henry.
"Bust my books," said Percy in surprise.
"Watch my hair," snapped James.
"Gosh!" called Toby as he feel to his knees by the winds.
"Slow down speedy!" cried Edward.
"Oh my," gasped Rosie, jumping out of the way.
"You're braking the rules riding that bike in the school!" cried Duck.
"Road Raitor!" shouted Gordon.
A little later, the ten teenagers were sitting in their classroom talking about the whatever it was that flashed by them earlier.
"Who ever that was obviously has no respect for the rules, does he?" asked Duck.
"That's true Duck," said Percy, "still I'd like to know who that person was, did anybody see his face?"
All the teens shook their heads at the same time. None of them had seen his face.
"He was big," said James.
"He was wearing silver clothing," added Gordon.
"He was going very, very fast too," put in Henry.
"That can only mean it's..." Thomas began, but was interupted as the door opened and in walked the silver blur with his bike. The bike itself was decked out with sleak plates, all pointing down like a streamlined machine.
As he removed his helmet, eight of the teens all groaned and yelled out "SPENCER!"
Indeed it was Spencer the silver haired teenager, son of the Duke and Duchess of Boxford, as he stood in the doorway of their classroom, and looking as smug as he always does.
"Hello students of Sodor High School!" he said, "aren't you glad to see me again?"
"What are you doing here Spencer?" asked Gordon crossly, "the Mainland high school's not good enough for you?"
"No," sniffed Spencer, "it's top of the line, although I am going to miss it."
"Why's that?" asked Thomas.
"I'm glad you asked, for you see I've been entrusted with an important job by my parents; the Duke and Duchess of Boxford. I'm in charge of building of our brand new house. So, for those of you who don't understand, I'll be attending school with you when I'm not working there. Speaking of which, I better get to class, I'll see you lot later!" Spencer put his helmet back on, then he rode away into the empty hallways.
"Cinders and Ashes," groaned Thomas, "having that speedy Spencer in our school for one day is bad."
"But having him here all year is going to drive me insane!" grumbled James.
"It's disgraceful," snapped Gordon.
"It's disgusting," put in James.
"It's Dispicable," finished Henry.
"Thomas," whispered Emily, "Spencer's not as bad as everyone says, is he?"
"No, he's worse. Just be careful should you cross his path again." Emily nodded, but this left her worried.
Later that day, Thomas and Percy were bringing some new textbooks back to their classroom. As they walked along, struggling under the weight of the books, Spencer walked by.
"A little more effort and you might make it back to class before lunchtime!" then he walked away, laughing as he went.
"Bossy know it all!" grumbled Percy.
Later in gym class, Gordon was riding along on his bike around the track when he heard a loud bell from behind him. He looked back and groaned as a silver blur came up and overtook him.
"Out of my way slowpoke!" called Spencer, ringing his bell even louder.
"Oh, the indignity of it all!" he groaned.
Rosie also had a run in with Spencer that day. She was bringing in some supplies for art class when he showed up.
"They should have sent a real student to do this job."
"I am a real student," groaned Rosie.
"Not when you can't carry all those supplies on your own. You should let a man like myself do the job, while you go pretty yourself up."
"Enough of that Spencer!" It was Thomas. Both he and Emily were just coming out from their math class, "if you want to pick on someone, then pick on me!"
Rosie watched in disbelieve, she couldn't believe that Thomas, the coolest teenager of the Sodor High School was standing up for her.
"It's only a shame that all your talents are going to waste here," sniffed Spencer.
"They are not!" snapped Thomas, "let me tell you..."
But at that moment, the school bell rang, "we'll have to continue our little talk later Thomas. I have more important things to do right now"
Thomas, Emily and Rosie watched as Spencer walked importantly away, then they all set off for art class.
At the bus stop that afternoon, the ten teens could only talk about Spencer.
"He said I should be working on a farm," said Toby, "he said it's because I smell."
"He's taken over my track in gym class," huffed Gordon.
"He insulted me earlier," said Rosie.
"He'll never have the best haircut like me," said James.
"He'll never have manners," said Edward.
"That Spencer's just a bully that needs to be brought down a peg or two," said Henry.
All the teenagers agreed to that.
The next morning, Thomas and Emily both walked in with their bags nearly filled to the top with books. Percy, Gordon, Edward & James were walking closely behind them, when they saw Spencer leaning aganist a wall and snickering.
"Deary me Thomas," he said with a sly tone in his voice, "it's just as well that my parents don't have a toy soldier like you working on the new house, it would never get finished."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean Thomas, you can't carry heavy loads, you're too weak!"
Thomas was upset and so were the other students, this time Spencer had crossed the line and had gone too far!
"Oh yes I can! I can carry just as much as you can!"
"He can carry more!" cried Percy.
"Thomas is not a toy soldier," huffed Gordon.
"He's one of the best students in our school," said Edward.
"Not forgetting to mention that he's very strong," said James.
The Sodor High School students continued to argue with Spencer, until at last he came up with an idea, "very well Thomas, meet me at dawn at Gordon's hill, we shall have a contest of strength. We will each take heavy loads over the hill and back, then and only then we'll see who's the fastest and the strongest, and we'll find out who's the weaklink."
Spencer got onto his bike and rode away, leaving Thomas with an uneasy feeling.
"Cinders and Ashes," he groaned. "I can't do this, Spencer will surely beat me in a contest of strength and speed."
The other teenagers could see that Thomas was worried and this started to worry them, except Percy who's always looking on the bright side of things.
"You're one of the highest ranked students of our school, and you'll show Spencer what we Sodor High School students can do. I know you can do this, right best friend?"
"You are right Percy, I can do it! I will meet Spencer at dawn and I will win!"
The next day, in the early hours of the morning, the ten teens gathered at the bottom of Gordon's hill, and waited for Spencer to show up. He soon arrived, looking over confident while Thomas felt nervous deep down inside.
"Are you sure that I can do this Percy?" he asked, "it is a huge challenge."
"Of course you can do it Thomas, remember you are the number one, you can overcome anything that comes your way, you've done so in the past and you can do it again."
Thomas started to feel a little better hearing that.
Spencer's load consisted mostly of the heavy building materials he was suppose to take to the house, while Thomas only had his books and Emily riding along with him.
"Maybe you should ask that pink haired shrimp girl to go along with you," laughed Spencer, "then you'll have the same amount of weight on your bike."
Emily only gave Spencer a dirty look, but Thomas didn't pay attention.
"Show him what you can do Thomas!" called Gordon.
"Take him down a peg or two!" encouraged Henry.
"I hate to say it but...GO THOMAS!" shouted James.
At last, the two were ready for the race, Edward came up in front, "now remember you two, you are to follow the path up this hill and come back once done, you may only stop for water."
He blew on a whistle, and stepped aside as the two teens started off. Thomas peddled with every ounce of his strength.
"I can do this, I'll show Spencer that I'm no weaklink!"
Spencer smiled boardly to himself, "I'll show Thomas who's the strongest and who is the weakest, he'll soon regret challenging the Duke and Duchess of Boxford's son!"
The other eight teens continued to cheer on for their friend, "good luck Thomas!"
Thomas and Spencer peddled their hardest up the hill, then they rolled down the other side with ease. The return run up the other side was tough for Thomas, as Emily could see with him going red in the face.
"Don't push yourself too hard Thomas," advised Emily.
"Don't worry about me, I'll manage, I did beat Bertie in a race after all."
"Silly little boy," called Spencer, "when will you learn?"
"I can do anything I want to, and I want to win!" he groaned.
Thomas continued to peddle, but his energy was slowly disappearing. Soon though, he reached the top of the hill.
"Now for the easy part, making it to the bottom before Spencer, hang on tight back there Emily!"
"I'm holding on!" she called and held on with her arms wrapped around Thomas.
What Thomas and Emily didn't know was that the brakes had failed, but they were due to find out as he raced down the other side of the hill.
"We better slow down Thomas," advised Emily.
"Good idea," he nodded.
Thomas tried to apply his brakes, but he couldn't slow himself down, "oh botheration, I've lost the brakes!" he cried. He raced on down the hill at ever increasing speed, and was soon caught up with Spencer.
"You won't beat me that easily," he called.
Thomas wasn't focusing on that now, he just wanted to stop. Spencer reached the bottom first, then Thomas flashed by five seconds later.
"Now that's fast," gasped Spencer.
"Slow down Thomas!" called Duck.
"I can't! I'VE LOST MY BRAKES!"
Thomas rolled on down into the valley. Emily held on as tightly as she could while Thomas tried to brake with his feet, but that didn't work. If anything, it just hurt.
The duo rode on for a while down the steep embankment, crashing through bushes and low hanging branches before coming to a stop.
"Are you okay Emily?" panted Thomas.
"I think so," she groaned.
They looked around, it was quiet, "Bother it all! Spencer will probably boast for days on how he won the contest and the others are going to be cross with us for not winning. Say, where are we anyways?"
Neither Thomas or Emily knew excatly where they were. Then they heard a voice.
"Hello?" They gasped when they heard it. At first, they thought they were hearing things, but they stayed quiet to see if they could hear it again. "Hello?" called the voice again.
"The voice seems to be coming from that old house Thomas," said Emily.
"Maybe we should have a look."
They left the bike by a tree, then went to check the inside. Many of the supports looked rotten, and spider webs hung from the corners of the ceiling, but they carried on. And soon they found something that made them gasp, their eyes popped wide open with wonder, for there sitting in front on them on the floor was an old man.
"Hello," he said smiling a little, "I heard you lost your brakes, that doesn't happen when you are going down a hill."
He showed a kind warm smile, which made Thomas and Emily feel a little better.
"Hello, I'm Emily."
"And my name is Thomas."
"Ahh, hello Thomas and Emily, my name is Hiro."
Thomas wasn't sure what to say, but Emily did; "how long have you been here," she asked curiously.
"Where did you come from?" asked Thomas after a second.
"Well that's a long story, do you two like stories?"
"Yes," smiled Thomas, "I tell my sisters stories all the time whenever my parents are away."
"And I always like hearing stories from my father," said Emily.
"Then I hope you'll like mine." And so, Hiro began; "I came here thirty years ago from Tokyo Japan, I was one of the first teachers to teach at the Sodor High School."
Thomas and Emily were now interested. They listened carefully as Hiro continued to tell his story.
"I used to teach at one of Tokyo's finest schools," he said, "I taught them so much and over time, they gave me the nickname 'The Master of the School'. I was very happy there, that was until the day the school was closed. After that, I came to Sodor to teach at the newly opened Sodor High School."
"Did you come alone?" asked Emily.
"Not at all, I came with my dear wife Koyuki, our five year old daughter Yoshida and soon to be born son Yuji. We bought our new home, then I applied for the job as a teacher at the Sodor High School, I taught my students in the same way as I did back in Tokyo. They called me 'Master of the School' here too, I was very happy."
"Then what happened?" asked Thomas.
"I was taking my class on a field trip threw this area, which at the time was a construction zone. One of my students made a mistake and nearly caused the house to fall on themselves. I ran back in, saved them and told them to get out quickly. Sadly I couldn't get out, I was pinned down by several planks of wood, which crushed my left arm and both my legs." Hiro sighed and continued, "I've seen at least fifteen winters here, so that means I've been here for fifteen years."
Thomas and Emily were amazed, "how did you survive?" asked Emily.
"My many animal friends helped me out, they would bring me food and water whenever they can. I call them using various different animal sounds, but I don't know how much longer I can last like this."
"Do you miss your family?" asked Thomas.
"Yes I do, I miss them more than ever, but I'm sure they have forgotten about me, as I'm sure everyone else has too. In fact, you two are the first two people I've seen in years."
Emily and Thomas felt sorry for Hiro, they could see that their new friend, the once proud 'Master of the School' was now alone and scared.
"Don't you worry Hiro," said Thomas, "you'll be seeing more of us cause we'll come by to visit you everyday."
"Oh no, I wouldn't want you two to go out of your way to come see me."
"It's no trouble at all," said Emily, "and that's not all, we'll find a way to get you out of here and get you to a hospital."
"Then we'll take you to see your family again," added Thomas.
Hiro was so happy that tears started to come into his eyes and he smiled a huge smile, "thank you Thomas and Emily, thank you so much."
Thomas and Emily beamed with pride, then they gave Hiro some of the leftover water that they had brought with them.
A short time later, Thomas and Emily were in the town of Ffraquhar. They walked into a bike, car and lorry repair shop, owned by a man that goes by the name of Victor.
"Thomas, tell me my friend, what were doing racing Spencer on Gordon's hill. Are you crazy? Next time Spencer tells you to do something, do me a favour and just say no."
"Okay Victor, I'll ignore him" smiled Thomas.
He and Emily had almost forgotten about the race from this morning. They were mostly thinking about Hiro and the promise they made for him.
"There you are Thomas," called Spencer, "I guess you couldn't handle the hill after all."
"Oh hi there Spencer. You are right, I couldn't handle the hill, so well done."
"What...what did you say?"
"I said hi there and well done."
"I...er...uh...thanks."
"Do you need your bike fixed Spencer, or are you just going to stand around here gossiping? You're taking up a lot of space in my shop." Victor asked with his arms crossed.
"How dare you, nobody speaks to me like that!"
Spencer rode off, grumbling under his breath.
"He's all talk and no show," said Victor. Thomas chuckled, then he introduced Victor to Emily and gave up his bike to be repaired, "alright Thomas, I'll have your bike fixed before the end of the day."
"Thank you Victor." BANG! The trio heard a loud noise from inside the shops.
Victor groaned and called out; "Ugh, Kevin!" A young teenager at the age of fourteen came out from the back of the shops, "I told you to stack the shelves before you go to school, not to operate the crane again."
"Sorry boss, I just thought I could get it done quickly, it was just a slip of a hook."
Victor sighed to himself, "yes I know Kevin." He then held out his hand. Kevin sighed, gave up the keys to the crane and went to the back of the shop to continue his work.
The two teens quietly chuckled as they left, all the while thinking on how they were going to help their new friend Hiro.