The Blazing Bullet - ThomasNATION Fanstory
July 19, 2025
One day, Thomas had been sent to help out on the Chinese railway. He always loved helping his friends over there, be it delivering a water wheel or learning about tai chi, but he hasn't explored much of the country. So while he was working around the cherry blossom fields or the mountains, he always wanted to see more. As a result, the sights he's seen around China started to get old. But that all changed one morning when he saw the railway controller at the Town Square in Shanghai.
"Uh, Mr. Controller, sir?" asked Thomas. "I don't suppose you need someone to take anything up to Beijing, do you? Or Hangzhou?"
The railway controller thought for a second. "Well, I need someone to take a group of doctors up to Beijing West."
"I could do that!"
"I was going to ask one of the bullets, but I suppose I could shift some things around."
Thomas was overjoyed. "Oh, thank you, sir! I promise you won't be disappointed!" But one thing the controller brought up stuck out to him. "Wait, bullets?"
The controller was too far away to hear him now. That's when Yong Bao approached him.
"Ah, ni hao, Thomas!" said Yong Bao. "Lovely day, isn't it?"
"Yong Bao, what did the controller mean by bullet?" asked Thomas.
"That depends, what did he mean?"
"He had a job for a bullet that involved doctors, what's he planning to do?"
"Oh, he means the bullet trains. We have lots of bullet trains in China."
"Is that a kind of train that gets shot onto the rails?"
Yong Bao burst out laughing. "天åŖ，äø! It just means these engines are really fast. Some of the fastest engines in the world!"
"Wow." Thomas gasped in awe. "And the inspector just gave me their job. That's amazing!"
Thomas wasted no time in picking the doctors up in An An and Yin-Long, and soon he was en route to Beijing West. He couldn't wait to see the big city...but remember when I said he had never been to Beijing before? Well...
"Are you sure this is the right way?" asked Yin-Long.
"Honestly...no." replied Thomas. "I should've asked Yong Bao for directions, I know he delivers things to this station all the time."
It wasn't long before he came across a junction. One way led to a line down the mountains, the other led to a depot. An idea flew into his funnel.
"Wait a minute..." pondered Thomas. "Maybe I can ask for directions at that depot!"
"Ooh, I'm not so sure," said An An. "That's the Wuhan bullet train depot. They only know the electric lines."
"We don't have any other option, An An." replied Thomas. "Trust me, we'll be in and out."
So Thomas took An An and Yin-Long down to the depot. The engines didn't look like any other engine he'd ever seen before. They were all so sleek and shiny.
"Cinders and ashes..." gasped Thomas. "I feel like we've just entered another planet."
"That's the bullet train system for you." Yin Long explained. "All these engines are revolutionary."
"You mean like my friend Kenji?"
"I don't know who that is, but possibly. Now, let's get some directions."
Thomas looked around until he saw a large silver bullet train at a station. "Uh, ni hao."
"å¢，ä½ å„½!" said the engine. "ęčæéčæä»ę„ę²”č§čæå¦å
ååØęŗ。ä½ č¦å»åŖåæ?"
"...uh...come again?"
"Oh, wait, let me." said An An. "å¾ę±ęęēęå，ä»äøęÆå½å°äŗŗ，äøęčÆ“å¾äøå¤Ŗ儽。"
"Oh. Forgive me, friend." laughed the bullet train. "I was saying we don't get many tank engines around here. Where are you headed?"
"Beijing West."
"Oh, I'm headed there right now! You can follow me!"
Thomas sighed in relief. "Thank you so much, you really saved my bunker."
"Not a problem!" said the bullet train. "My name's Chen, by the way."
"I'm Thomas." he replied as the two of them headed off.
Thomas and Chen were headed down the line headed to Beijing. Thomas was headed down tracks he had never seen before, so Chen had to slow down a ton so he could keep up. And the views were beautiful!
"Wow!" gasped Thomas in awe. "You pass all this every day?"
"Yeah, but I always go so fast," Chen thought, "all I see is a blur. I've never even gone this speed before."
"You've never slowed down to see all this?" asked Thomas.
"I can go up to 350 kilometers an hour, Thomas. I don't need to slow down."
"Well, first time for everything, eh?" laughed An An.
"Actually, can I just ask," asked Yin-Long, "where are we right now?"
Chen looked around a touch. "Are we not in Beijing?"
"No, we would've passed Tiananmen Square by now. It looks more like Xi'an."
The four of them looked around for a bit. Thomas noticed a giant bell tower in the plaza. "Does Xi'an have a massive bell tower?"
"It does!" gasped Yin-Long. "It does, this is Xi'an!"
"Chen, what happened?" asked An An.
"...oh, now I think I know what happened!" chortled Chen. "I think I made a wrong turn. Sorry, I'm always getting lost."
Thomas gasped. "Always...getting...lost?"
"Yeah, I think that's why I don't get many passengers. My sense of direction is horrible. Come on, let's head back."
The four of them backed up to see where they went wrong.
"Thomas, what were you thinking?" asked An An.
"I didn't know!" protested Thomas.
Trying to find Beijing was a major hassle. Left and right, Thomas and Chen were making little progress. But soon enough, it looked like they were approaching Beijing! They were passing Tiananmen Square, clear as day.
"Ha! This is it!" laughed Chen. "We're in Beijing!"
"We're finally here!" cheered Thomas.
Then there was trouble. Thomas' pistons started sputtering as he came to a halt. "Oh, no, no, no!"
"Thomas? What's the matter?" asked Chen.
"I'm out of coal." sighed Thomas.
"No problem, we can find a coal hopper."
"This is an electric line." An An recalled. "There are no coal hoppers. Now we're never gonna get to the station."
Chen sighed. "I'm sorry, Thomas. This is all my fault. We wouldn't have gotten lost if not for me."
"It's not your fault, Chen." Thomas tried to assure his friend.
"It is." weeped Chen. "Oh, why is my sense of direction so awful?!"
Neither of them knew what to do. They just sat there in silence...until an idea came to Chen.
"Wait..." Chen thought. "Thomas, how good are you with high speeds?"
"Not great." chuckled Thomas.
"No matter. Hold on!" Chen said before he switched tracks behind Thomas and started pushing him, An An and Yin-Long to the station.
"CHEN!" screamed Thomas. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"
"I'm getting you to the station!"
Chen kept pushing Thomas at full speeds. But once they reached Beijing West, once Chen slowed down, Thomas kept going. He kept speeding down the line, straight towards Hong-Mei.
"Hong-Mei!" Thomas cried. "Look out!"
Hong-Mei backed up, not to get away from Thomas, but to slow him down. With a mighty biff, Hong-Mei was able to slow Thomas down.
"Thomas!" cried Chen. "You okay?"
"Never do that again!" panted Thomas.
At last, Thomas was able to deliver the doctors to the station. He was an hour late, but he was able to get the job done.
"At last!" Thomas sighed. "What a rush."
"Never again." laughed An An and Yin-Long.
"At least the worst is over," chuckled Chen. "And I'm sorry again I got you so lost."
"Ah, it's fine." smiled Thomas. "Truth be told, it's not the worst time I've been lost."
"It's not?"
"Word of advice, if you're ever getting on a ship, don't opt for the little raft attached to the back end."
"That's happened to you?"
"Yeah. If you want, I can tell you all about it on the way home."
Chen agreed and he and Thomas headed back to Shanghai. As the two laughed and told each other stories, Thomas didn't really mind getting lost. And hey, he got to see more of the sights of China!
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