Yes, the series continues, I haven't forgotten about it and by now, you know the reason for the lateness of the tale, so let's not get into that. Now with this chapter, there are going to be a few surprises, one of which has been inspired by a change in Season 21 of Thomas & Friends and others that I will not be revealing as it would only spoil you. I will say this though, there's a part of this chapter that will give you a small hint at what to expect from the Season 2 finale. As for the next part, I'm going to get to work on it as soon as possible, and hopefully be out before Christmas this year.
Sodor High School: Thomas & Friends Tales
Written by: ThomasZoey3000
Based on the Railway Series by the: Reverand Wilbert and Christopher Awdry
Based on the Television Series by: Britt AllCroft, David Mitton, Hit Entertainment and Mattel
Episode 34: Ulfstead Castle Revival
Based on "King of the Railway" by Andrew Brenner and Hit Entertainment
It was a calm clear morning, and both Thomas and Percy were playing a game of Football in his front yard. Emily was resting in a nearby lawn chair with a big floppy hat on top of her head. As for Annie and Clarabel, they were spending this perfect day cleaning up their room.
"I'll never understand why your sisters want to be indoors when it's so nice outside," Percy said as he kicked the ball past Thomas.
He rushed towards the goal, but got a shock as Thomas dashed in front of him and stole the ball. He then ran towards Percy's net and kicked it right into it.
"Well they've been putting it off for a long time," he said, "and Mom and Dad have said that if they don't clean up, their allowances are going to get cut in half. Fearing they would actually do that, they agreed to clean up today. Such a shame though that they're doing it on a nice day."
Percy went over to his net and quickly got the ball rolling down the lawn towards Thomas' net.
"Normally, isn't it the boys that don't clean up and the girl's rooms that are pretty?" Percy asked as he ran.
"Not normally," answered Emily from her lawn chair, "sometimes we girls can have messy rooms too. I know, I often had a messy room, it's what I call 'organized chaos'."
By now, Thomas had gotten the ball and was running down to Percy's net again. As he got close, Percy managed to get ahead and blocked the ball, sort of. Thomas kicked it hard and it went smack into Percy's stomach.
"Opps, sorry Percy!" Thomas called.
"No harm done," he groaned and fell over.
"Organized chaos?" Thomas looked back towards Emily. "With all honesty, I think it's just another way of saying the room is a mess."
"I guess so."
Emily looked over towards Percy, but instead of seeing him, she spotted someone else walking towards the house. The person had cherry red hair with yellow streaks around the edges, a cheery red shirt with a number thirty seven on it and black shorts that went all the way down to the knees.
The colors were new, but the face was familar to Emily, "Rosie? Is that you?"
Both Thomas and Percy looked and gasped to see their American friend. The young girl nodded, "yes it's me, what do you think? Is it different or what?"
"It's certainly different, that much is for sure," said Thomas, "but what was wrong with pink hair, purple shirt and light grey skirt? And what happened to your pony tails?"
"It's a look I've had for too long," she answered, "plus I looked more like a girly girl, rather than a tomboy type girl. So that's why I decided to change it to what you're seeing before you. Say, what happened to Percy?" she asked looking down at the green haired boy.
Percy groaned as he tried to get up.
"Kicked the football too hard," Thomas answered. "Want to take his place? I don't think he'll be getting up for a while."
Rosie shook her head, "thanks all the same, but I'm a little busy today. I'm actually heading into town to get something to eat, then I'm going back to work."
Emily removed the sunglasses from her eyes, "You got a job here in Ffarquhar?"
Again Rosie shook her head, "not quite, I'm working in the nearby town of Ulfstead, but I felt like eating in Ffarquhar today."
"What are you doing there?" Percy asked, still in pain from the kick.
"I think what Percy means to say is, what kind of job are you doing at Ulfstead?" asked Thomas.
"I'd like to tell you, but my boss has asked me to keep it a secret for now. He doesn't want any plans to be revealed until the grand opening." She then started walking away, "thanks for the offer though, maybe when I'm not busy, we can play a game of American Football, I'm sure you guys would love the game."
She soon walked off into the distance.
"Well that was certainly different," said Emily. "I never would've thought Rosie would change her look. Still, I wonder what's going on in Ulfstead."
"I don't know Emily, but I'm sure we'll find out in due time," said Thomas. His eyes looked back in the direction of his injuried friend, "oh come on Percy, I didn't kick the ball that hard."
Many hours later, Annie and Clarabel's room was being inspected by Thomas' father; Dalton Brighton. He always wanted everything to look spic and span around his family's home, and he was the one that said the girl's allowances would get cut in half.
"Honey, will you just admit they did a good job?" asked his wife firmly, who went by the name of Andrea Brighton.
"I want to make sure they didn't take any shortcuts out of their chores today," he answered firmly. "You know me dear, if I see one spac of dust, they're back to work again."
The two sisters groaned. Emily was stunned, "yikes, I never thought your husband was like this Mrs Brighton."
"Yeah well that's what he's like. You should've seen him on the road, always inspecting the rooms we stayed in to make sure there's no dust, dirt or leftover food in any of the fridges."
"Leftover food? Who just leaves food behind in hotel fridges?"
"It happens alot dear child."
Thomas meanwhile was doing some writing into a book. After the more recent events, he decided to write them down and maybe one day share them with the rest of the world. Maybe. As he wrote down the time he and Emily were on Misty Island, he noticed a big lorry going by with a big load. Suddenly, it hit a pot-hole and something big fell off.
"They really need to fix that pot-hole," he sighed.
He got up from his chair and went outside. Curious as to what the big sound was, Emily followed her blue haired friend outside. There, they found the big crate.
"Hope nothing's broken in there," she said worryingly.
Thomas walked over to the crate, and saw it's lid had cracked off. He sighed with relief, "I don't think you'll need to worry about it Emily, have a look."
She did and she too sighed, "it's a suit of armour. The kind knights used to wear back in the Medieval times."
"You know your history Ms Hatt," said Mr Brighton as he came out to see what was going on. He took a good look at the crate and soon found something, "to be delivered to Ulfstead Castle."
"Ulfstead castle?" gasped Emily. "There's a castle in Ulfstead?"
"There is, but that old building has been sitting on top of the tallest hill, just rotting away for many years."
"Well if it's being delivered to Ulfstead Castle, then I'd say it's not being left to rot anymore Son," said Mr Brighton. "I'll go get my truck, and we'll deliver it to the castle."
With the lorry now out of sight, it was the best idea to personally deliver the crate to Ulfstead. Mr Brighton ran quickly to his garage and after bringing out his own father's beat up Toyota Helix Pick Up truck, he, Thomas and Emily worked together to place it in the back.
"Can we come with you Mr Brighton?" Emily asked hopefully.
"I see no reason why not, let's go kids."
There was room in the cab of the truck, but only just enough for the three. If anyone else had joined them, then someone would have to ride in the back.
It wasn't a very long drive to the town of Ulfstead, but getting up the steep hill was a little difficult for the beat up old pick-up truck. Mr Brighton was doing all he could to make sure it didn't slide back down the hill, "I'm going have to cancel the next few trips," he muttered under his breath, "otherwise this truck will never be ready for future use."
Finally though, they reached the top of the hill, where they all gasped at the sight before them. Instead of a crumbling ruin of a castle, there was construction all over the place, and the castle looked like it was halfway through a restoration.
"All this was going on and we knew nothing of it?" Thomas gasped.
"Well you heard Rosie, her boss wanted to keep this a secret," said Emily. A worried look came to her face, "I just hope we don't get into trouble for being here."
"Well it's either we bring the suit of armour back, or whoever owns the castle would have to go without it."
Emily had to agree with that. Then Thomas gasped as he saw an old friend of his, "it's Jack! My gosh I haven't seen him in years."
Jack was a front end loader operator. He used to go to Sodor High School and was in his last year when Thomas was starting out. As Mr Brighton's truck came to a stop, Thomas seemed to jump out of the truck and rush over to the front end loader.
"Jack! It's me Thomas!" he called out.
The door to the front end loader opened and sure enough, it was Thomas' old red haired friend; Jack.
"Hey Thomas, it's good to see you again. But what are you doing here, this project is suppose to be a secret." Thomas quickly explained about the suit of armor that fell out of the lorry. Jack smacked his forehead, "unbelivable, Max can drive a dumper with no trouble, but a simple lorry, not so much. Well thanks Thomas, you can take the armour over to the site of the new drawbridge. I'd go with you, but there's still a lot that needs to be done here."
"Of course, I'm sorry to be bothering you Jack, I didn't think."
"Hey don't worry about it, it's good to meet up with old friends again. Speaking of which," he said, noticing Thomas' father in the cab of the Toyota Helix truck, "I think your father will be getting a reunion of his own here."
Jack closed the door and drove the front end loader over to a pile of stone that needed moving.
Once onboard, Thomas, Emily and Mr Brighton drove over to the site where a drawbridge would connect one piece of land with the other with the castle sitting on it. A tall man with grey hair and a grey beard was surprised by this arrival, but couldn't help but smile, "Dalton my old friend, it's good to see you again."
"Sir Robert?" Mr Brighton asked. "Is that really you?"
"Of course it's me old boy, who else would I be?" he chuckled.
Mr Brighton smiled, "it's good to see you again old friend, but last I heard you were travelling to Canada on your latest adventure."
"Oh I've been there. I've been all over the world, but there's no where like home, so after much thought, I decided to come back and share my priceless collections with all of Sodor. Speaking of which, I see you brought up something of mine."
Mr Brighton explained about what happened, but the other man; Sir Robert Norramby wasn't upset, "oh well, these things happen. I thank you for bringing it up here. Say, are those your kids in the cab with you?"
Both Thomas and Emily stepped out, "actually I'm not with his family, I'm a friend of theirs," explained Emily. "My name is Emily."
"And I'm Thomas, and I am a Brighton son."
"Ahh I see, and what a cute couple they are." Thomas and Emily blushed, looked away and said in unison, 'we're not a couple'.
Mr Brighton chuckled, "I see you haven't lost your sense of humour Sir Robert."
"Please, it's just Robert to you Dalton." He then introduced himself to the teenagers, "I'm Sir Robert Norramby, the Earl of Sodor. I've spent a large portion of my life collecting rare pieces like dinosaur bones, vintage steam locomotives and even suits of armour like the one you brought up."
Both Emily and Thomas were impressed, but Emily was still confused, "why are you setting up inside the castle? It's been left to rot for many years, so I've been told."
"Well like the treasures I have, I want to restore the castle to share with the public," answered Sir Robert. "And it can bring back a wonderful piece of Sodor history. Tell me young lady, do you know much about this castle?"
Emily shook her head.
"Well I'll gladly tell you once we get my suit of armour out of the back of Mr Brighton's truck."
Working together, the four people were able to get the crate out of the truck and brought safely over to a spot with other crates waiting to go inside. Once they were done, Sir Robert began to tell them about Ulfstead Castle.
"Long ago, back in Medieval times, there was a king that ruled over the fair land we know today as Ulfstead. His name was Godred, and he was a fair man who treated the people of the kingdom with great respect, and would share his wealth with anyone who needed it. He was also a brave man too. He was never afraid to dawn on a suit of armour and go charging into battle if enemies tried to take the kingdom for their own. He was loved by the people, and under his rule, everyone was happy. Sadly, his reign as king would only last for three years."
"Why?" Emily asked curiously.
"Because one night, several thieves somehow managed to sneak into the castle and steal the crown. They were able to get away that time, but they got too greedy and came back for more, but this time, the guards caught them and they were thrown in the cells below the castle. However, without a crown upon his head, King Godred could not rule over his fair kingdom. It was the law in the day, so he stepped down and the kingdom fell under the leadership of the King of Ffarquhar. As time went on, with little activity going on in the kingdom, the castle was shut down and locked up, never to be used again. The town survived, thankfully, but the castle was always left in ruin and it continued on until last year when I bought it and ordered for a full restoration to begin."
The two teenagers were impressed. Mr Brighton just smiled, "that's just like you Robert, always sharing with others. You never do think about yourself."
"Well what's the point in having a collection if you can't share it with others?" he smiled.
"So, were they ever able to find King Godred's crown?" Emily asked.
Sir Robert sighed, "Afraid not my dear, it's been lost for a long time. The thieves never gave up the information of where it was, and despite all the searches I've lead, I've never been able to find it. I guess it's just one piece that will forever be lost."
Just then, a young girl came up with a clipboard, "excuse me Uncle Robert, but I thought you'd like to know that the mess hall has just been completed, and work is now beginning on the throne room."
"How wonderful, everything's going accordingly to plan," he smiled.
Thomas thought for sure he had seen this girl before, then it came back to him, "I know you, you were stuck on that diesel rail car during the flood a couple of weeks ago."
The girl sighed, "indeed you are correct monsieur," she said. "I was on that rail car, it was a time I wish to forget."
"Monsieur? Are you from France?" Emily asked curiously.
"Indeed she is," answered Sir Robert. "This is my niece; Millie. She's come all the way from France to help her dear old Uncle with the restoration, and at the same time too, keep an old man company."
"I'm very happy to be here," said Millie, "and to also be working with my Uncle Stephen too."
"Uncle Stephen?" the two teenagers asked in unison.
"You'll get your chance to meet my son one day," said Sir Robert. "If I'm not mistaken, he's working away on a secret little project inside the castle. I'd like to show you, but that would only spoil everything."
"It's understandable Robert, we're just glad to have helped bring back a piece of your collection, and to see you again."
"Well as always, it's been a pleasure to see you old friend, and to meet your son, and his girlfriend."
Emily gasped and blushed. Thomas blurted, "she's not my girlfriend!"
Sir Robert chuckled, "well she is a girl, and she's your friend. But don't worry, I won't say that ever again." Sir Robert turned to leave with Millie, but then turned back to them, "if we ever need any extra hands, would you mind coming up here?"
"Not at all," they answered in unison. "We're always glad to help with friends," said Emily.
"We've been doing that quite a lot lately," added Thomas.
"Splendid. Well I guess I'll see you lot some other time. Now Millie, how about showing me that mess hall?"
Millie nodded and lead her uncle towards the castle, leaving the others to head off for the Brighton household. As they were leaving though, Emily thought she could see a unique looking locomotive in a nearby building.
"Is that the Rocket?" she thought to herself.
A few hours later, much of the Brighton household were asleep. Emily was just finishing brushing her hair, and often looking back to the hat she got from Olivia in Scotland.
"No way I'm going through that again," she thought to herself.
Still, as she was finishing, she couldn't stop thinking about the locomotive she saw. It was on her mind so much she decided to do some research. There was quite a lot of history on the locomotive, and she also learned that the locomotive and it's replica version were at the National Railway Museum in York.
"But if it's in York, then what was it that I saw? Hmm, maybe it was a trick of the light, yeah that's probably it."
There came a knock at the door, and in walked Mrs Brighton, "good evening Emily, I trust you're comfortable tonight."
"Oh yes, thank you Mrs Brighton. And thank you again for allowing me to stay here."
"It's my pleasure. For I know what it's like to be away from my family."
This surprised Emily, "you do?"
Mrs Brighton walked over towards Emily's bed and sat down on it. Emily spun round to face her, "indeed I do. It was back in the 1970's when it all happened. You see, my father had commited a crime aganist the royal navy, and the worst of it was, he had brought myself, my brother and my own mother along on the heist. We ended up in a police chase for three hours, but he soon lost them. When we stopped to take on petrol, my mother took my brother and I aside and said for us to run. We didn't want to leave, but my mum said we had no choice in the matter. It was either split up, or go to jail with my father. In the end, we ran. That was the last time I ever saw my mother."
She paused for a moment and wiped a tear from her eye before continuing, "my brother split up a few minutes later, and we disappeared into the night. I spent five weeks out on the streets of Cornwall, and let me tell you, those days were cold. But luckily, I was saved by a Clergyman, who took me into his home and later adopted me as his daughter. I did tell him about the night, but said no matter what, he'd always look out for me and would help me find the rest of my family one day."
"And did you?"
"Not until 1996 when I found my brother. He was in a poor state, and in poor health, he had not faired well. He was taken into my adopted father's home where he was looked after for five years, but the years of being alone in the outdoors had taken their toll on him and he quietly passed away in April 2001. As for my mother, try as I might, I never did see her face to face. As it turned out, she was killed in a car accident in 1978."
Emily gasped hearing that, "please tell me your father didn't get away with his crimes."
Mrs Brighton shook her head, "oh he didn't. Turns out the Sussex police caught him speeding in 1984, and once it was revealed of what he did in the royal navy, he was sent to prison and hasn't been seen or heard from since." Mrs Brighton sighed just thinking about her family, "I had missed them for many years, and still do to this day, but I learned from my adopted father and promised that if any one was ever to be seperated from their family and needed a place to stay, I would open up my door to them."
"So that's why you let me into your home."
"Well there's that, and I had a feeling you'd be a good influence on Thomas."
Emily was surprised to hear that, "What do you mean by that? He seems like a gentleman to me."
Mrs Brighton smirked, "judging from what you just said, you haven't seen his cheeky side." Her expression changed to a kind hearted smile, "But don't worry, our family is always going to be there for you. We won't let anyone hurt you."
"Thank you Mrs Brighton. I can see where Thomas gets his loyality towards others."
"Yeah, and his stubborn attitude comes from his father," Mrs Brighton chuckled. "Anyway, I shouldn't keep you up any longer. I assume that you and the boys will have plans for tomorrow."
"The boys?"
"Thomas and Percy of course."
"Oh right, well they said something about taking in the Ffarquhar railfest tomorrow. I just hope there won't be a repeat performance like the one at Knapford."
"Yes, about that, I'll be talking with Thomas about that."
But Emily was quick to defend her friend, "he didn't start the fight, he was just defending himself from James. It's a long story really."
"Well I still want to know what caused that, but I'll leave that till the morning." Mrs Brighton got up and started walking to the door, "and remember, if you need us, we're close by."
"Thanks Mrs Brighton."
"Anytime dear child, anytime."
She closed the door behind her and sighed unhappily, "why does this sort of thing have to keep happening to innocent kids? It doesn't seem fair if you ask me."
"Honey, it's time to get some sleep."
Mrs Brighton snapped out of her thoughts, "uh right dear, coming!"
And she walked off to her room, leaving Emily alone with her thoughts. About the thing she saw back at Ulfstead Castle, and like always, wondering what her own family was doing right now.
To Be Continued...