//------------------------------//
// Everything is Disintegrating... 
// Story: Thomas and Friends: Journey beyond Cornwall 
// by The Blue EM2 
//------------------------------//

Sprout laughed as more flame jets revealed his full form. "Why, yes it is, Izzy. And it is why I am up here and you are down there."

"But we defeated you in the battle of Falmouth!" Porter said. "Your engine fell off the cliff and exploded!"

"Remember the massive landslide?" Sprout smiled. "That was my doing. As any true soldier knows, having a backup plan is vital. Such a shame that Sunny had her hands on those crystals. Also exposes a distinct problem with modern days."

"What?" Bellerophon asked. "What's he talking about?"

Sprout grinned, looking even more psychotic than normal. "For you see, the truth is you have all been played this entire time. Allow me to reveal my true commander... Opaline!"

"That name rings a bell," Sophie said.

"Indeed. The little traitor down there used to work for her." Sprout paused to let them soak up this information. "The truth of the matter is this entire situation has been orchestrated by her the entire time. It was her design that enabled the crystals to be found. One of her agents tampered with the machine that operated the effects during the concert, which is why it malfunctioned the way it did."

Pipp was shocked. "So that humiliation was entirely engineered by one person? Yeah, not buying it Sprout."

"And the crystals being brought back together was by her design. After all, with the gold dust back, her plan is considerably easier to carry out. You have all been played, a group of puppets being played on some strings by the most powerful person this planet has ever known."

"You won't get away with this," Misty said. "We'll stop you!"

"Fine words from one who can't even run up a flight of stairs without feeling sick," Sprout said, mockingly. "Besides, my soldiers will put paid to you. We've been busy."

As he spoke, several arms descended from the air and began fitting armoured plates to his body (he had, in the meantime, removed his jacket and hat). Mounts for heavy weaponry were fitted to his arms, and a front and backplate were secured in position. Two more sets of plats were mounted to his legs, followed by what looked like wings being fitted to the backplate. Finally, a helmet was secured in on his head, which he complemented with straps. Two large weapons were mounted to his arms. As the metal arms retracted, Sprout jumped into the air accompanied by a loud whine from something.

"At last, we non-magical folk can go toe to toe with them!" he laughed. "The latest in repulsorlift technology, developed from data you streamed to us, Misty! How I look forward to smashing Sunny's face into the dirt with one of these!" He looked down. "Frankie! Search and destroy!"

"Yes sir!" Frankie shouted, and began to move off towards the engines.

"Scarper!" Sophie shouted, and they all began to reverse in different directions.





A dull blown battle had erupted in the steelworks, and the engines and humans were being pushed to their limits. Frankie slammed into several lines of trucks, causing them to roll towards the engines.

"Escape this!" she shouted.

Sir Gillemere and Ashleigh happened to be going the other way, and shoved them out of the way, allowing Sophie and Bellerophon safe passage.

"Thank you!" Sophie shouted.

Sombra looked out of the cab. "GET DOWN!" he shouted, as suddenly a blast of magical energy flew towards them. He put Sir Gillemere into full reverse and backed away just in time.

The explosion blew up a container of spectra, which spread rainbow coloured mist everywhere.

Sprout was flying about with a manical grin on his face, screaming loudly. It was almost as if he was revelling in the destruction. As Porter rounded a corner, he fired off another volley. "LET'S SEE WHAT THESE GUNS CAN DO!"

The shots missed porter by inches. "What does this idiot think he's doing?" Porter shouted.

"There's nothing left of a human, sadly," Izzy said, sounding quite mournful. "Only a monster remains."

"Well, looks like we'll need to deal with that," Porter said grimly.

Moments later, something else took to the skies. They looked up to see Tempest Shadow, who had changed into combat gear and was wearing a rather skeletal combat suit with a few weapons mounted.

"Alright, Sprout," she said. "We can do this the easy way, or the hard way. Your choice."

"I have no intention of surrendering," Sprout replied, a confident smirk on his face. "I shall fight to the death!"

"Good," Tempest smiled. "I like it when people pick the hard way." In a blinding flash she shot forward, the main weapon blazing. Within seconds, the pair were within knife-fight range, and were exchanging a volley of rapid blows. It was here that it became abundantly clear who had the upper hand.

Tempest was absolutely smashing Sprout's armour to pieces. Bits kept falling off from the sustained blows. The guns plummeted to the ground as armour features were disintegrating under the force of the attack.

"How is this fair?" Sprout screeched as he backed up and deployed the backup weapon. A gigantic volley of missiles suddenly streaked through the facility.

"You did say you wanted to play hard," Tempest responsed, and opened fire before flying forward again.

Unfortunately, some of these missiles strick critical control panels. Several of these were destroyed, and as a result trucks began rolling into position.

"Oh no," Porter said. "We're boxed in by trucks!"

Fergus rattled in. "Don't worry, Porter! I'll get this lot cleared out!"

The battle continued to rage throughout the steelworks, with the engines leading Frankie about. Sophie rattled past a set of points, with Pipp throwing an object to change the switch. This sent Frankie into a large number of trucks.

Unfortunately, this would prove to cause more harm than good. The trucks rolled towards Ashleigh, who dodged out of the way. "Watch it!"

These trucks then slammed into Fergus, whose train was in turn smashed into a panel.

"SYSTEMS ONLINE. SLAG POURING SYSTEM ACTIVATED."

"By Stevenson's Siderods," Fergus said quietly. "This isn't good."

Molten slag was pouring straight onto a section of railway line, melting the trackwork. A section of track Sir Gillemere happened to be approaching. "I CAN'T SLOW DOWN!" the big tender engine called. "Come to think of, I'll probably derail!"

Misty glanced back and saw a solution. There was a line of trucks that could be shunted into position. "Let's go, Bellerophon!" she called, and put the engine into full reverse. The pair stopped at the siding and drew the trucks out, before pushing them into the way of the growing slag pool.

Sir Gillemere then switched lines, now save from the slag pool. "Much appreciated, noble knight!" he called.

Unfortunately, Frankie had creeped up on them as Misty got out to change some switches to allow Bellerophon to reverse. "You think you're so clever, don't you?" the diesel said. "Well, think your way out of this one!"

Suddenly, a gigantic block of metal fell from the roof at incredible speed. "Look out!" Bellerophon called.

Misty looked up to see it falling towards her. "This is go-"