Thomas and Skarloey's Grand World Tour: ThomasNATION Fanstory [Part 2]
April 17, 2021
The ship carrying Thomas and Skarloey took a couple of days getting from Shanghai to Rio de Janeiro. But soon enough, the two engines finally reached their destination. Thomas looked on in glee.
“Skarloey! Wake up!” he cried to Skarloey, who was fast asleep.
Slowly, Skarloey woke up. “Oh, are we here? Is this Brazil?”
“Yes!” Thomas exclaimed. “Welcome to Rio de Janeiro!”
As Thomas was lifted onto the rails, he was greeted by an old friend.
“Ola, Thomas!” called out Gabriela. “You finally made it!”
“Well, it was a long journey, and I had to bring a plus one,” explained Thomas.
“Really? Who?” asked Gabriela.
The harbor’s crane, Cassia, loaded Skarloey onto a flatbed. “Thank you, madam!”
“My pleasure, Skarloey!” Cassia called out. “What a polite engine…”
“Oh, a narrow gauge engine!” Gabriela exclaimed. We have a special little railway for you in the Amazon rainforest!”
“Ooh, a rainforest railway,” Skarloey gasped. “how exotic! I only work in a railway up in the mountains, so this will be a nice change of scenery.”
Then, Raul pulled up next to Thomas. “Ola, Thomas! Who’s your little friend there?”
“That’s Skarloey.” Thomas explained to Raul. “He’s come to work with me for a while.”
“Well, I must inform you that you were meant to be here last week,” Raul said, chastising Thomas. “This is important work, meu amigo azul. We have no time for you to invite your little chum.”
“Raul, there’s a perfectly good explanation,” Thomas tried to explain. “My ship got called off, and a crane lifted me up, and I nearly derailed in Germany, and…”
“Okay, okay, calm down!” Raul said, frantically. “I’ll get Fernando on it. But we have some eucalyptus wood that need to be taken up to Manaus. Can you do that?”
“Sure thing!” Thomas exclaimed. “Maybe on the way to the eucalyptus plant, I can drop Skarloey off at the narrow gauge railway. What do you say, Skarloey?”
“Oh, that sounds wonderful, Thomas.” Skarloey responded. “I wonder if the engines here are just like the ones at home.”
Soon, Thomas had dropped off Skarloey at the Amazon narrow gauge railway. As soon as Thomas took off to get to the eucalyptus wood, Skarloey set out to explore. On his travels, he saw lovely and tall trees, beautiful sparkling rivers and the most exotic creatures an engine could see. Skarloey was so enthralled, he didn’t notice a small yellow tank engine pull up next to him.
“Isn’t it just amazing?” the engine asked.
“Well, you don’t get imagery like this back on Sodor,” Skarloey replied. “that’s for sure.”
The yellow engine chuckled. “I’m Pedro, by the way.”
“I’m Skarloey.”
Pedro snickered. “Skarloey?”
“Yes. That’s Sudric for ‘lake by the woods.”
“Ooh,” Pedro smirked. “look at you, Mr. Fancy!”
Skarloey chuckled at his new friend. “Now, I reckon we should get back to work?”
“Surely.” said Pedro. “Trust me, Skarloey, you’ll love it here.”
Soon, Thomas found himself puffing through the Amazon rainforest with his eucalyptus load. He then noticed Skarloey, pulling a couple of flatbeds of engine parts. They were clanking away, making a fantastic rhythm.
“I say, Thomas,” Skarloey told his friend. “I’ve never heard such a marvelous symphony.”
“Ah, it sounds to me like you’re performing a little batucada!” said Thomas. “Maybe you could lead the next Carnival show.”
“Heh, imagine me.” Skarloey pondered. “Leading the biggest party in South America!”
Then, Skarloey noticed Marcia and Marcio in the distance, having a chat. He curiously pulled in closer to hear what they were saying.
“So, I finally got my old, rusty wheels replaced,” Marcia told Marcio. “Aren’t they just splendid?”
“Splendid wheels?” Marcio laughed to Marcia. “Rodas do rolo compressor, more like!”
Skarloey chuckled, as the conversation reminded him of Sir Handel, who would often brag about his splendid wheels. After reminiscing for a little while, Skarloey continued with his work.
Soon enough, Skarloey found himself in a station in Rio de Janeiro. He noticed Thomas and Gustavo at the station, but Gustavo seemed a little bit down.
“What’s the matter, Gustavo?” Thomas asked. “You seem a little down.”
“I know, amigo, but I have this one grumpy tourist who keeps complaining and complaining, non-stop!” Gustavo vented. “He even had the gall to say I wasn’t capable of doing my job!”
Skarloey listened closely to Gustavo’s rant. He started to remember when Duncan had a similar conundrum with a grumpy passenger.
“Oh dear, Gustavo.” said Thomas, sympathising with his large friend. “Maybe you could find some more coaches, so he isn’t so cramped in there.”
“I have an idea!” Skarloey chimed in. “I have a passenger like that back on my railway. He always finds something to complain about, so my advice is to just ignore him.”
“Hmm…” Gustavo thought. “I’ll try.”
Soon, Gustavo disembarked, as the tourist continued groaning. Skarloey wanted to feel satisfied, but for some reason, he couldn’t.
That evening, Skarloey was headed to his shed where he encountered Gabriela and Raul talking.
“I’m telling you, Raul.” Gabriela complained, “I really need a new funnel. One that’s more…compact and special.”
“Well, why not one of those Giesl ejectors?” Raul suggested. “Those things are especially unique.”
“I guess, but what if one isn’t available?”
“What, do you want us to attach a pipe to your smokebox?” Raul laughed.
Skarloey soon remembered when Peter Sam went through the same problem before getting his special funnel. He then started to feel sad, alone, and above all, homesick.
That night, Thomas pulled into a shed next to Skarloey’s. He was laughing away at the day’s event.
“Whoo! What a day!” he chuckled to himself. “I love working on the Brazilian railway!”
“Yeah, yeah…” Skarloey said, sadly.
Thomas noticed Skarloey looking rather down. “Skarloey, are you okay?”
“Yes, I’m all fine, I’m just…” Skarloey paused. “…low on water.”
Thomas saw through Skarloey’s fib. “Skarloey, be honest with me. What’s really the matter?”
Skarloey sighed. There was no way of avoiding the truth, so he had to come out and say it. “I want to go home.”
“What?”
“Don’t get me wrong, now, I like it here and all,” Skarloey vented to Thomas, “but I miss working at the quarry, and the wharf, and all of my friends!”
“I understand.” Thomas sighed. “If you want, I can arrange for a ship to take us home tomorrow.”
Skarloey sighed. “You don’t need to do that, Thomas. I mean, you have work to do here.”
“I know,” Thomas said. “but if you’re unsatisfied here, then I guess I don’t mind calling it off.”
Skarloey smiled at Thomas. “Thank you, Thomas.”
“My pleasure, Skarloey.”
The next day on the Amazon railway, Skarloey was still feeling really homesick. He was travelling behind Pedro through the stormy weather, who eventually noticed his frown.
“Skarloey, my friend,” Pedro said. “What’s the matter?”
“Nothing, really,” Skarloey responded. “I’m just a bit homesick.”
“Ah.” Pedro thought. “Don’t worry, amigo, these feelings are fully normal when you’re far from home!”
As Pedro and Skarloey spoke, neither of them noticed that they were coming up to an old wood bridge.
“Thank you for understanding, Pedro.” Skarloey said with a smile.
But before Pedro could respond…
CRACK! The bridge suddenly collapsed. The rushing waters swept away Skarloey’s flatbeds as he slipped down. He nearly got sucked up by the waves, when suddenly…
“HOLD ON, SKARLOEY!” Pedro cried, as his driver connected a chain from his coupling hook to Skarloey’s.
Pedro started to pull Skarloey away from the rapids. He pulled with all his might, to seemingly no avail. “I’m slipping, Skarloey!”
“Keep on heaving, Pedro! Use your sandbox!” Skarloey cried out.
Pedro applied his sandbox, but he couldn’t quite grip onto the rails. Then, Skarloey noticed a giant, horrifying flash flood headed his way. “HURRY, PEDRO! THERE’S A FLOOD COMING!”
Pedro pulled harder and harder, but eventually, he finally gripped onto the sand and pulled Skarloey to safety as the flash flood swept the remains of the bridge away. Thomas soon arrived at the scene of the flood.
“Skarloey!” Thomas cried out, puffing up to Skarloey. “Are you okay?”
“Yes, Thomas. I’m just glad to be safe and sound, thanks to Pedro.” Skarloey said.
“That’s a relief,” Thomas sighed. “Now, come on. The ship back to Sodor leaves in an hour.”
A few days later, Thomas and Skarloey arrived back on Sodor. Cranky slowly lifted Skarloey onto a flatbed, as he was when he left.
“Thank you, Cranky!” Skarloey cried out to the large crane.
“That certainly was an adventure, wasn’t it?” asked Thomas.
“Indeed it was, Thomas,” Skarloey replied, “but as the saying goes, there is no place like home.”
“Speaking of,” Thomas thought, “we should get back to the quarry!”
And off the two went, back to the Blue Mountain Quarry. Once they arrived, Skarloey noticed all of his narrow gauge friends gathered at the turntable.
“There he is!” cried Sir Handel.
The narrow gauge engines all cheered and whooped for joy at Skarloey’s return.
“Guys, what’s all this?” Skarloey asked.
“It’s a welcome home party, for you!” said Rheneas. “We all missed you while you were travelling the globe, so this was the least we could do.”
“Really?”
“Yeah!” Peter Sam chimed in. “It was very last minute, however. We didn’t realise you two were coming home early.”
“Yeah, well, Skarloey got a little bit homesick,” Thomas explained, “so we decided to call it off.”
Duncan scoffed. “Oh, with all the time you were away, seeing all the sights of Brazil and China, I just assumed you didn’t want anything to do with us!”
“Pay no mind to him, Skarloey,” Rusty chuckled. “he’s just all whiny because he missed you so much.”
Duncan sighed in defeat. “It’s true. I did.”
“I missed you too, Duncan,” Skarloey said with a smile. “I missed all of you.”
“We missed you too, Skarloey.” said Sir Handel.
And even though he got a chance to see the world, Skarloey was happy to be back home where he belonged.
“Skarloey! Wake up!” he cried to Skarloey, who was fast asleep.
Slowly, Skarloey woke up. “Oh, are we here? Is this Brazil?”
“Yes!” Thomas exclaimed. “Welcome to Rio de Janeiro!”
As Thomas was lifted onto the rails, he was greeted by an old friend.
“Ola, Thomas!” called out Gabriela. “You finally made it!”
“Well, it was a long journey, and I had to bring a plus one,” explained Thomas.
“Really? Who?” asked Gabriela.
The harbor’s crane, Cassia, loaded Skarloey onto a flatbed. “Thank you, madam!”
“My pleasure, Skarloey!” Cassia called out. “What a polite engine…”
“Oh, a narrow gauge engine!” Gabriela exclaimed. We have a special little railway for you in the Amazon rainforest!”
“Ooh, a rainforest railway,” Skarloey gasped. “how exotic! I only work in a railway up in the mountains, so this will be a nice change of scenery.”
Then, Raul pulled up next to Thomas. “Ola, Thomas! Who’s your little friend there?”
“That’s Skarloey.” Thomas explained to Raul. “He’s come to work with me for a while.”
“Well, I must inform you that you were meant to be here last week,” Raul said, chastising Thomas. “This is important work, meu amigo azul. We have no time for you to invite your little chum.”
“Raul, there’s a perfectly good explanation,” Thomas tried to explain. “My ship got called off, and a crane lifted me up, and I nearly derailed in Germany, and…”
“Okay, okay, calm down!” Raul said, frantically. “I’ll get Fernando on it. But we have some eucalyptus wood that need to be taken up to Manaus. Can you do that?”
“Sure thing!” Thomas exclaimed. “Maybe on the way to the eucalyptus plant, I can drop Skarloey off at the narrow gauge railway. What do you say, Skarloey?”
“Oh, that sounds wonderful, Thomas.” Skarloey responded. “I wonder if the engines here are just like the ones at home.”
Soon, Thomas had dropped off Skarloey at the Amazon narrow gauge railway. As soon as Thomas took off to get to the eucalyptus wood, Skarloey set out to explore. On his travels, he saw lovely and tall trees, beautiful sparkling rivers and the most exotic creatures an engine could see. Skarloey was so enthralled, he didn’t notice a small yellow tank engine pull up next to him.
“Isn’t it just amazing?” the engine asked.
“Well, you don’t get imagery like this back on Sodor,” Skarloey replied. “that’s for sure.”
The yellow engine chuckled. “I’m Pedro, by the way.”
“I’m Skarloey.”
Pedro snickered. “Skarloey?”
“Yes. That’s Sudric for ‘lake by the woods.”
“Ooh,” Pedro smirked. “look at you, Mr. Fancy!”
Skarloey chuckled at his new friend. “Now, I reckon we should get back to work?”
“Surely.” said Pedro. “Trust me, Skarloey, you’ll love it here.”
Soon, Thomas found himself puffing through the Amazon rainforest with his eucalyptus load. He then noticed Skarloey, pulling a couple of flatbeds of engine parts. They were clanking away, making a fantastic rhythm.
“I say, Thomas,” Skarloey told his friend. “I’ve never heard such a marvelous symphony.”
“Ah, it sounds to me like you’re performing a little batucada!” said Thomas. “Maybe you could lead the next Carnival show.”
“Heh, imagine me.” Skarloey pondered. “Leading the biggest party in South America!”
Then, Skarloey noticed Marcia and Marcio in the distance, having a chat. He curiously pulled in closer to hear what they were saying.
“So, I finally got my old, rusty wheels replaced,” Marcia told Marcio. “Aren’t they just splendid?”
“Splendid wheels?” Marcio laughed to Marcia. “Rodas do rolo compressor, more like!”
Skarloey chuckled, as the conversation reminded him of Sir Handel, who would often brag about his splendid wheels. After reminiscing for a little while, Skarloey continued with his work.
Soon enough, Skarloey found himself in a station in Rio de Janeiro. He noticed Thomas and Gustavo at the station, but Gustavo seemed a little bit down.
“What’s the matter, Gustavo?” Thomas asked. “You seem a little down.”
“I know, amigo, but I have this one grumpy tourist who keeps complaining and complaining, non-stop!” Gustavo vented. “He even had the gall to say I wasn’t capable of doing my job!”
Skarloey listened closely to Gustavo’s rant. He started to remember when Duncan had a similar conundrum with a grumpy passenger.
“Oh dear, Gustavo.” said Thomas, sympathising with his large friend. “Maybe you could find some more coaches, so he isn’t so cramped in there.”
“I have an idea!” Skarloey chimed in. “I have a passenger like that back on my railway. He always finds something to complain about, so my advice is to just ignore him.”
“Hmm…” Gustavo thought. “I’ll try.”
Soon, Gustavo disembarked, as the tourist continued groaning. Skarloey wanted to feel satisfied, but for some reason, he couldn’t.
That evening, Skarloey was headed to his shed where he encountered Gabriela and Raul talking.
“I’m telling you, Raul.” Gabriela complained, “I really need a new funnel. One that’s more…compact and special.”
“Well, why not one of those Giesl ejectors?” Raul suggested. “Those things are especially unique.”
“I guess, but what if one isn’t available?”
“What, do you want us to attach a pipe to your smokebox?” Raul laughed.
Skarloey soon remembered when Peter Sam went through the same problem before getting his special funnel. He then started to feel sad, alone, and above all, homesick.
That night, Thomas pulled into a shed next to Skarloey’s. He was laughing away at the day’s event.
“Whoo! What a day!” he chuckled to himself. “I love working on the Brazilian railway!”
“Yeah, yeah…” Skarloey said, sadly.
Thomas noticed Skarloey looking rather down. “Skarloey, are you okay?”
“Yes, I’m all fine, I’m just…” Skarloey paused. “…low on water.”
Thomas saw through Skarloey’s fib. “Skarloey, be honest with me. What’s really the matter?”
Skarloey sighed. There was no way of avoiding the truth, so he had to come out and say it. “I want to go home.”
“What?”
“Don’t get me wrong, now, I like it here and all,” Skarloey vented to Thomas, “but I miss working at the quarry, and the wharf, and all of my friends!”
“I understand.” Thomas sighed. “If you want, I can arrange for a ship to take us home tomorrow.”
Skarloey sighed. “You don’t need to do that, Thomas. I mean, you have work to do here.”
“I know,” Thomas said. “but if you’re unsatisfied here, then I guess I don’t mind calling it off.”
Skarloey smiled at Thomas. “Thank you, Thomas.”
“My pleasure, Skarloey.”
The next day on the Amazon railway, Skarloey was still feeling really homesick. He was travelling behind Pedro through the stormy weather, who eventually noticed his frown.
“Skarloey, my friend,” Pedro said. “What’s the matter?”
“Nothing, really,” Skarloey responded. “I’m just a bit homesick.”
“Ah.” Pedro thought. “Don’t worry, amigo, these feelings are fully normal when you’re far from home!”
As Pedro and Skarloey spoke, neither of them noticed that they were coming up to an old wood bridge.
“Thank you for understanding, Pedro.” Skarloey said with a smile.
But before Pedro could respond…
CRACK! The bridge suddenly collapsed. The rushing waters swept away Skarloey’s flatbeds as he slipped down. He nearly got sucked up by the waves, when suddenly…
“HOLD ON, SKARLOEY!” Pedro cried, as his driver connected a chain from his coupling hook to Skarloey’s.
Pedro started to pull Skarloey away from the rapids. He pulled with all his might, to seemingly no avail. “I’m slipping, Skarloey!”
“Keep on heaving, Pedro! Use your sandbox!” Skarloey cried out.
Pedro applied his sandbox, but he couldn’t quite grip onto the rails. Then, Skarloey noticed a giant, horrifying flash flood headed his way. “HURRY, PEDRO! THERE’S A FLOOD COMING!”
Pedro pulled harder and harder, but eventually, he finally gripped onto the sand and pulled Skarloey to safety as the flash flood swept the remains of the bridge away. Thomas soon arrived at the scene of the flood.
“Skarloey!” Thomas cried out, puffing up to Skarloey. “Are you okay?”
“Yes, Thomas. I’m just glad to be safe and sound, thanks to Pedro.” Skarloey said.
“That’s a relief,” Thomas sighed. “Now, come on. The ship back to Sodor leaves in an hour.”
A few days later, Thomas and Skarloey arrived back on Sodor. Cranky slowly lifted Skarloey onto a flatbed, as he was when he left.
“Thank you, Cranky!” Skarloey cried out to the large crane.
“That certainly was an adventure, wasn’t it?” asked Thomas.
“Indeed it was, Thomas,” Skarloey replied, “but as the saying goes, there is no place like home.”
“Speaking of,” Thomas thought, “we should get back to the quarry!”
And off the two went, back to the Blue Mountain Quarry. Once they arrived, Skarloey noticed all of his narrow gauge friends gathered at the turntable.
“There he is!” cried Sir Handel.
The narrow gauge engines all cheered and whooped for joy at Skarloey’s return.
“Guys, what’s all this?” Skarloey asked.
“It’s a welcome home party, for you!” said Rheneas. “We all missed you while you were travelling the globe, so this was the least we could do.”
“Really?”
“Yeah!” Peter Sam chimed in. “It was very last minute, however. We didn’t realise you two were coming home early.”
“Yeah, well, Skarloey got a little bit homesick,” Thomas explained, “so we decided to call it off.”
Duncan scoffed. “Oh, with all the time you were away, seeing all the sights of Brazil and China, I just assumed you didn’t want anything to do with us!”
“Pay no mind to him, Skarloey,” Rusty chuckled. “he’s just all whiny because he missed you so much.”
Duncan sighed in defeat. “It’s true. I did.”
“I missed you too, Duncan,” Skarloey said with a smile. “I missed all of you.”
“We missed you too, Skarloey.” said Sir Handel.
And even though he got a chance to see the world, Skarloey was happy to be back home where he belonged.
About the Author: JF the LOLZOR
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