Race Round the World! - ThomasNATION Fanstory [Part 3]
March 13, 2022
The time had come for the fifth race. This race took the competitors throughout Tokyo before finishing off in Shanghai. While Thomas was warming up, Ernesto was keeping track of his time trials."How was that?" Thomas asked as he stopped.
"1 minute and 19 seconds," Ernesto replied. "a new personal best!"
"Yes!" cried Thomas. "I have a good feeling about this race, Ernesto. Spencer doesn't stand a chance!"
Hugh approached him. "Oi, uh, Thomas, right?"
"Yeah," Thomas said, unsure what was going on. "Aren't you one of Spencer's friends? Hugh, was it?"
"Yeah. That's me." Hugh responded. "You know, Spencer's going to kill me for saying this, but I've seen you around the course, and I must say, you're quite impressive!"
Thomas was baffled at Hugh's sudden kindness. "Thank you?"
"I mean, your win in Africa, outsmarting the other engines? That was somethin' else entirely!"
Thomas sheepishly chuckled. "Aw, that? Please, that was just dumb luck."
"Aw, please!" Hugh continued. As he kept praising Thomas, Ernesto noticed something off with his mannerisms.
"He's busy warming up," Ernesto interrupted, "so give him some space please, hermano."
"Just a sec, cobber," Hugh said before he left. "Thomas, just know whatever happens in the next race, you had a good run."
As Hugh disembarked, Thomas thought about what he last said. "Had a good run? What does that mean?"
"Never mind him, hermano," said Ernesto. "you need to train!"
"I guess so," responded Thomas, "but maybe beneath their gruff exterior, he and Ren have true hearts of gold."
"Don't be so sure," said Paulo, the Brazilian racer. "Hugh raced alongside me in last year's race. He would constantly risk anything to win."
"You mean like Raul, Paulo?" asked Thomas.
"Please, Raul had nothing on what he did." Paulo said as he left.
"Huh? Paulo, what do you mean?" Thomas called, but Paulo was too far away to answer.
"Forget about it, Thomas," Ernesto smiled. "him? He doesn't know what he's talking about. I raced alongside him two years ago, and he seemed perfectly fine!"
"Really?"
"Yeah!"
"Don't be so certain, my dude," said Abigail. "I like the optimism, but I know Hugh. He is relentless!"
"I dunno," Thomas chuckled. "he seems pretty tame. It's Spencer I'm worried about, and I just beat him. I'll be fine."
Abigail gulped as she left. "Suit yourself, but don't say I didn't warn you, bro."
The fifth race was on. Tokyo to Shanghai. Over a thousand miles. The racers were lining up at the starting line. Spencer glanced at Hugh and Ren.
"Ready, boys?" Spencer asked.
"Oh yeah..." sneered Hugh.
"ćććććć！" Ren added on. "ććć、å¾
ć£ć¦ćć ćć、éćē·ćÆć©ćć§ćć？"
"Yeah, what about Thomas?" asked Spencer.
"You boys leave him to me." Hugh laughed.
The flag rose, and off went the racers. Thomas tried to catch up to the top five, but could never quite make it. Meanwhile, Ren and Hugh set their plan in motion.
"Ready?" asked Hugh.
"ćć。" responded Ren.
The two of them closely followed Thomas, until he reached a junction - one leading away from the race track and into an old siding.
"ä»！ćć¤ć³ć！" cried Ren. The points changed, sending Thomas hurtling down the old track!
"HEY!" Thomas cried. He tried to stop, but he was going too fast and couldn't properly grip onto the rails until it was too late.
BANG! Thomas crashed through the buffers and slid right into a nearby koi pond. He was out of the race, no one could see him, and above all, his streamlining was ruined. "Oh..."
As the racers crossed the finish line, nobody cared who came in first. All they wanted to know was what happened to Thomas. Search parties raged on all throughout Japan, until eventually, he was found and taken to a repair yard in Kyoto. Nobody knew who the culprit was, but all signs pointed to Spencer.
"Spencer, you're disqualified." said the announcer at Shanghai Harbor.
"What?!" Spencer protested. "But I didn't do this!"
"Please, I saw how you acted towards him in between races." the announcer scolded. "I know with these races, there's gonna be bad sportsmanship, but that's no excuse to run him off the rails like that!"
As the announcer left, the other racers glared at Spencer...who in turn glared at Hugh. "What did you do?"
"This was what you wanted, right, mate?" Hugh sneered. "Thomas out of the race? Gone? Finished? Sent for scrap?"
"No! I just wanted to beat him!" Spencer protested. "And now look, you've gotten me disqualified!"
"Oh, please." Hugh rolled his eyes. "You were holding me back anyway."
"...you mean holding you and Ren back?"
"I KNOW WHAT I SAID!" Hugh yelled. "Now...run along. You wouldn't wanna miss your ship back to England."
"But...but Thomas!"
"If that little blue puffball takes away my victory," Hugh cried, "he won't even see the light of day again..."
Spencer was horrified at Hugh's true colors. But as the ferry to the final race in North America left, Spencer raced off. Not to catch a ship back to the Mainland, but back to Kyoto.
At the repair yard, Thomas was having his streamlining stripped away. He felt completely ashamed that he couldn't finish the rally, worried he had let the people of Sodor down.
"You have some visitors." said one of the engineers, pointing towards Percy, James and Nia.
"Hey, Thomas." said James.
"Hey, guys." sighed Thomas. "I guess everyone back home's pretty disappointed in me, huh?"
"Not at all, Thomas." Nia replied, trying to cheer him up. "Everyone on Sodor is still really proud of you."
"They are?"
"Yeah," added Percy. "you should've seen how loud the cheering was! Sir Topham Hatt brought a projector hooked up to a television set to Knapford so we can watch the races, and the engines went absolutely bonkers!"
Thomas blushed a little as James continued. "Yeah, not to mention how tourism has increased by 45%!"
"What?"
"I don't know. It's what Sir Topham Hatt said."
Just then, Spencer rolled into the repair yard. Thomas was completely baffled. "Spencer? What? I...I don't understand."
"I came here to apologize, Thomas," Spencer sighed. "I didn't think it would go this far, and I wasn't thinking about the consequences. I simply got jealous of all the attention and speed you were gaining, I was willing to do anything to win again. But I made a bigger mistake in that regard."
"What?"
"Trusting Hugh." Spencer chuckled.
"Wait, are you referring to Hugh, the Australian racer?" James asked. "I thought he had a history of purposely derailing other racers just so he could win."
"What?" asked Spencer.
"Wait a minute." Thomas asked. "Me getting derailed, my streamlining destroyed and my wheels rusty...that was Hugh?"
"Yep."
"Wow, Paulo was right!" Thomas gasped. "And Ren? What about him?"
"No idea." Spencer added. "But the point is, I'm incredibly sorry. Can you ever forgive me?"
"...well...okay." Thomas smiled. "But hold on, aren't you supposed to be on your way to America? Y'know, the race going from Los Angeles to Albuquerque?"
"Yeah, but I got disqualified. Everyone thought I derailed you."
"Oh." Nia thought. "And what about Thomas? Is there any penalty for derailment?"
"I don't think so."
"...so that means...Thomas! I think you're still in the race!" Percy cried.
"Really?" Thomas gasped.
"I'm not too sure, but maybe!"
"It's too late, though!" Spencer cried. "The race is in two days and the ship already left!"
"Two days?" Thomas thought. "I...I think I can make it. But first, I need some new streamlining."
"But you don't have enough time!" cried an engineer.
"Come on, I was streamlined in a week back in New Zealand! This should be a piece of cake!"
Thomas, James, Percy, Nia and Spencer had to catch a different ship to California. Thomas' new streamlining was really shoddy-looking, barely covering his original shape, as well as being pretty wobbly, but it had to do. He pulled into the racing yard just in time to greet Ernesto.
"Ernesto!" he whistled. "Hey!"
"Thomas?!" Ernesto cried. "What happened to you, niƱo? You look-"
"Terrible, I know." Thomas chuckled. "But I had to do this in a hurry. I don't care about winning for Sodor anymore, I just need to beat Hugh!"
From across the yard, Ren gasped at the sight of Thomas and Spencer. "ćŖć«…ćć„ć¼、ććč¦ć¦ćć®？"
Hugh glanced over at Thomas and Spencer, laughing at Thomas' terrible streamlining. "This guy can't be serious. He can't think he can win with...that!"
The other racers were a bit more curious. "What is he doing?" asked Binita.
"That looks way too dangerous!" cried the Flying Scotsman.
"He could get himself damaged!" whimpered Connor.
"Heh. Let him." Hugh jeered. "If he blows up in the race, you won't see me complaining!"
The racers gasped at what Hugh said. "What?"
"Hugh!" yelled Axel. "What is your problem?!"
"Augh, he was never gonna make it without his streamlining." Hugh rolled his eyes. "He doesn't belong here. Now, come along, Ren."
Ren took a moment to think. What was he thinking, associating himself with that lunatic?
The final race was about to begin. Thomas and the other racers lined up at the start. Hugh glared at Thomas.
"Just so we're clear," Hugh threatened. "if you even come close to that finish line, I will make it my mission to destroy you..."
Thomas gulped, looking over at Percy in the crowd. "I can't do this, Percy."
"You've made it this far, Thomas," Percy said. "you can't give up now."
The flag rose and away were the racers! It was a tight race. Many engines moving up and down the leaderboard, one of which being Thomas. He climbed from 13th to 9th in a matter of minutes! The audience, Thomas' friends and Spencer included, watched the race on a large screen.
"Come on, come on..." Percy whispered to himself.
Back on the racetrack, Hugh noticed Thomas coming in hot. "WHAT?! How is he catching up!? Ren, run 'im off the rails!"
Ren stopped for a moment, thinking about everything Hugh had done at this point.
"Are you deaf? I said run him off the rails!" Hugh repeated.
"ććć！" Ren snapped as he raced faster.
"Fine! I don't need you!" Hugh cried.
Soon, Thomas started overtaking the other racers. "¡Ve a buscarlo, Thomas!" cried Ernesto as Thomas overtook him. "¡Lo entendiste!"
Then there was trouble. Thomas' streamlining started falling to pieces! "Oh, no, no, no, not now!"
But despite this, Thomas kept pushing, until he could finally catch up to Hugh.
"Oh, dear, Thomas!" Hugh taunted. "Looks like you're falling to bits! Try and catch me now, cobber!"
Hugh sped ahead, but Thomas kept going after him through the valleys of America, where they kept going head-to-head until the finish line in Albuquerque was in sight. It was neck and neck. Thomas against Hugh. Thomas tried to maintain his lead, despite still falling apart. But Hugh wasn't having any of this!
"I...am not losing...to a TANK ENGINE!!" he screamed as he switched tracks, intending to derail Thomas. But Thomas sped ahead just enough to miss Hugh, and part of his streamlining flew right into him, knocking him off the rails. Thomas kept going, his streamlined shell crumbling, his wheels turning like never before! He was being pushed to the limit, maybe even further, until...
The crowd fell deathly silent. None of them could believe their eyes.
He had done it. A tank engine won the rally.
"Ladies and gentlemen..." the announcer gasped. "...we have a winner! Thomas of Sodor has won the rally!!"
Thomas, his streamlining now completely gone, was gobsmacked! The other racers, along with Thomas' friends, approached him with varying reactions.
"Incredible!" gasped Huang.
"ŠŠ°Šŗ ŃŃŠ¾Ń ŠæŠ°ŃŠµŠ½Ń ŠøŠ·Š±ŠøŠ» Š¼ŠµŠ½Ń?" yelled Leonid.
"I never had a doubt in that kid." chuckled Abigail.
The press soon came over to take a picture of Thomas with his trophy.
"Thank you, everyone," Thomas laughed. "but I really owe this to Ernesto. He-"
"I'll take it from here," interrupted Ernesto. "I taught this little guy everything he knows about racing. In fact, he inspired me to retire from racing!"
The press, and Thomas, gasped. "Retire? Why?"
"So I can help train Mexico's next big racing stars full-time." Ernesto smiled. "Who knows? Maybe the next winner will be another tank engine. Anything's possible, mi amigo."
"Thomas! Over here!" one reporter cried. "Now that you've become the smallest engine to win the rally, what will you be doing now?"
"Well, I think it only makes sense to head home," Thomas chuckled. "I mean, I still have a branchline to run."
A few days later, Thomas was back on Sodor and fully back to his old shape - and to pulling Annie and Clarabel along his branchline.
"So, how does it feel?" asked Annie.
"To be the first tank engine winner?" continued Clarabel.
"I gotta say," Thomas said, "it feels really weird. But all in all, I'm just glad to be back home."
And after all that racing across the globe, all Thomas could do now was be glad he was back home again. I mean, who needs all the splendor of travelling the world for a trophy when you could just stay home and be with your friends?
The End.
About the Author: JF the LOLZOR
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