FanFic:Saving Sodor Part 8: Strike

Saving Sodor Part 8: Strike

Characters: (in order of appearance)

• Diesel 10
• Bert
• Diesel
• 'Arry
• Howard Matthews
• Gordon
• Henry
• Edward
• James
• Toby
• Percy
• Toby
• Thomas

Chapter Right

Diesel 10 grinned evilly. "Destroying all those puffballs will be no problem for me. And we're completely free to do it, now that that fat man has left the island for a while!"

"'Ow do you know the Fat Controller 'as left Sodor?" Bert asked.

"I've been spending all this time, hiding on the abandoned lines on the railway in England! I made a good friend there, who didn't tell anyone that I was there. He often goes back and forth to Sodor, and knows how much I want to destroy all the puffballs. Then, earlier today, he told me that he was taking an express from hear, and found out from one of those puffballs that the fat man has left Sodor. So I sneaked from England, making sure not to be seen, and came here!"

"Good!" Diesel smirked. "You sure can help us destroy those steam engines!"

"Correction; I'll be the one to destroy them. It'll be you who will be helping me."

"Oh, right." Diesel was secretly not happy about this. He was the leader out of himself, 'Arry and Bert. He didn't like being pushed aside by Diesel 10, even if he would destroy the steam engines.

"So the first thing we have to do is get rid of the man taking over for the Fat Controller," he exclaimed.

"I knew that!" Diesel 10 growled.

"Oh, well, I thought you didn't," replied Diesel, feeling quite taken aback.

"Well, I do! So don't remind me of things I already know!"

"Yeah, Diesel," grinned 'Arry. "'E reminded me of tha' too, Diesel 10, when I already knew!"

"What?!" shouted Diesel in shock. "You liar 'Arry! It was-"

"SHUT UP!" snapped Diesel 10. Diesel stopped shouting instantly, but gritted his teeth in anger.

"What I don't know," growled Diesel 10. "Is if someone is covering for the fat man."

"Oh well, that, we can tell you," oiled Diesel. "There is someone covering for the Fat Controller. He's going to meet the engines at Tidmouth sheds."

"Is there a level crossing near here?" the big evil diesel asked.

"Yeah, there's one if you go straight ahead an' rejoin the main line," replied Bert. "It's actually the nearest way for road vehicles to go to Tidmouth sheds."

"Okay!" Diesel 10 exclaimed. "I hope I'm not too late. But if I'm not," he grinned evilly. "Then it's time to do the first phase; to take out the person covering for the fat man!" His claw snapped open and shut menacingly.

"Oh, yeah," 'Arry grinned. "We need to do tha' before we destroy the steam engines. Let's go!"

"Hold it!" Diesel 10 shouted. "You're not doing this part! I am!"

"Ey? But we're supposed to be a team!" Diesel protested. "We should all do it."

"As I often had to remind my old sidekicks, Splodge, about jobs like this; this is a job – for the boss!"

"And since when were you made boss of us?" Diesel asked, feeling annoyed.

"Since now! Now enough talking! I've got to go and take that man out! I may have already missed him!" And with that, Diesel 10 raced quickly through the smelting shed and out of the yard.

"Well," exclaimed Bert. "Getting rid of the steam engines will be easier than we thought, now tha' Diesel 10 will be doing it for us."

"True," agreed Diesel sulkily. "Though I don't like the idea of him being boss of me! I am the rightful boss!"

"Yeah, whatever. As if we like you being boss of us," 'Arry muttered.

After leaving the smelters, Diesel 10 was just turning a corner, when he saw the level crossing, just as Bert had told him. It had no gates, which would make his job easier.

So Diesel 10 backed up around the corner he had just turned, keeping himself hidden from site by any drivers travelling towards the level crossing.

Then he stood in silence and waited, hoping he had not missed his chance.

Soon after, he heard the sound of a car approaching. He smirked evilly in the darkness. He knew it was who he was waiting for; no one else would be travelling on this road up to Tidmouth sheds this late at night.

The car, a blue Jaguar, turned the corner in the road and made its way up to the crossing from the right side. Its driver, Gerald Matthews, was feeling tired, though excited. He was a man in his forties, with his black hair cut very short. He was on his way to begin a job he had been given; to run his good friend, Sir Topham Hatt's railway while he was in England. He was now going to meet the engines at the shed, though he didn't he why he had to go so late at night. His wife wasn't happy about it.

As Matthews was now starting to drive over the level crossing, that was when he was about to have the shock of his life.

The Jaguar's front wheels had only just rolled over the right rail of the line, when suddenly, Diesel 10 appeared from around the corner he was hiding, and stopped by the car.

Matthews, oblivious to the danger he was in, saw the big diesel, and stopped the car.

"Hello," he said smiling. "Are you one of Sir Topham Hatt's engines?"

Diesel 10 said nothing. He grinned evilly, raised his claw and snapped it open and shut. Matthews watched in confusion, but before he could do anything else, that was when the horror began.

Diesel 10 smashed his claw into the roof of the car! The claw smashed through the metal, causing huge dents in the roof and smashed the windscreen to pieces. Matthews screamed in fright, and raised his hands in front of his face.

Diesel 10 closed the claw, gripping hold of the car. Once he had a good hold of it, Diesel 10 raised his crane arm high, with the claw gripping hold of the car tight, and raising it high up, with Matthews inside it. Once Diesel 10 raised his crane arm as high as he could, he held the car in the air. The car was being held high up with its left side facing the ground.

Matthews, still in his seat, held onto the steering to stop himself from falling. "Put me down!"

"As you wish!"

With that, Diesel 10 quickly bought his claw down every fast. As soon as his crane arm hit the roof, he let go o the car, which bounced twice, with two sickening crashes, resulting in bits of metal flying off. Then the car landed on its tyres at the side of the line, and then there was complete silence. Inside, Matthews was lying still with his eyes closed and his head resting against the steering wheel, blood gushing out of a wound in his forehead.

"Well, that's the first bit taken care of," Diesel 10 grinned triumphantly. "And now, I'd better go back to the smelters and get some sleep. I'll need all the rest I can get with all the destruction I'm going to be doing tomorrow."

With that, Diesel 10 reversed back up the line to the smelters, leaving the damaged car and its unconscious driver all in the dark.

Further away, at Tidmouth sheds, the steam engines were waiting for Matthews to arrive, but they soon found it seemed he wasn't coming.

"He must have forgotten us," suggested Gordon, feeling annoyed. "How typical of the Fat Controller to get someone without a good memory to forget us."

"If that's the case, perhaps it's just as well he hasn't come," added Henry. "The diesels could trick him into scrapping us."

"The bad diesels," put in Edward. "Not all diesels are bad, need I remind you."

"Okay, bad diesels, whatever Edward," sighed Henry, moodily.

"They're all the same at the end of the day," exclaimed James sulkily. "They're the reason many steam engines are getting replaced."

"But the Fat Controller hasn't replaced us with them," replied Toby.

"But some are still mean to us steam engines and would love to scrap us," sighed Percy unhappily.

Thomas, who thought an argument was about to break out, finally spoke. "Well, Mr Matthews hasn't arrived tonight, but maybe he'll arrive tomorrow. So let's get some sleep."

The other engines saw sense in that, and they soon fell asleep, having no idea what happened to Matthews that night, and that it was done by their old enemy, who they would soon be reunited with.