//------------------------------//
// Chapter 20-The Final Chase 
// Story: Thomas and Friends: Secrets of Sodor 
// by The Blue EM2 
//------------------------------//

Salty thundered down the track, putting every last ounce of power into turning his driving wheels. Luckily for him, it appeared whomever was driving this black tank engine wasn't used to handling steam engines. He wasn't going hugely quickly, truth be told.

Opaline looked out of cab. "More speed, Ryan!"

"That's rather up to you, I'm afraid!" Ryan replied. "You are driving me!"

Opaline growled as she saw Sunny and Salty approaching. "Great! It seems nothing will stop those idiots!" She raised her voice. "This battle may be yours, but the war is far from over!"

"Give it up, Opaline!" Salty shouted. "You've lost! It's over!"

"Nothing's over whilst I'm still breathing!" Opaline snarled.

Sunny smiled confidently. "That's what you said the last time. Didn't end too well for you, did it?"

As they maintained speed, Salty slowly gaining ground, the line began to weave around the coastline. Anybody who had been observing the battle might have seen two locomotives racing along, with one trying to catch the other.

Steam thundered from Ryan's chimney as it seemed Opaline had finally figured out how to get the best performance out of the engine. They flew along, with Salty barely keeping up.

"We need a bit of help!" Salty said.

Suddenly, an unwanted sight flew in from a tunnel. A diesel engine roared in alongside them, and Boomer was at the controls.

"Hello, Salty," Frankie said. "This is just getting started!"

Boomer leaned out. "NOW I'LL GET YOU! I MAY NOT BE ABLE TO HAVE YOUR MOTHER, BUT GETTING RID OF YOU WILL BE WORTHY COMPENSATION!"

Sunny snorted. "No you won't, because the magic you refuse to believe in will get the better of you!"

They kept up speed on the line, the two engines roughly level. Then, Frankie began to draw ahead, and the cab door opened.

Sunny suddenly saw something sparking in Boomer's hand. "Is that... dynamite?" she asked.

"Time for you to find out why they call me Boomer!" Boomer laughed, as he tossed the dynamite out of the cab. Salty slammed on his brakes and came to a stop just in time, as the explosion blew a hole in the rails.

"We'll need to switch lines!" he said.

Sunny scanned about and saw a track switch. "On it!" She jumped down from the cab, and ran over to the switch. She then threw it, and then sprinted back to Salty's cab. Once she was safely back in, she gunned the engine in hot pursuit of Boomer.

As they sped along, he and Frankie were nowhere to be seen. "Where did they go?" Salty asked.

"Right behind you, Salty," said a voice. Suddenly, a diesel slammed into them from the rear, and her coupler slipped onto Salty.

"Time to break you apart!" Boomer laughed.

"Oh boy," Sunny said, quietly. Just as Boomer tossed the explosive forward, there was a sudden jerk, and the dynamite flew into the air and over the cliff, where it exploded on the beach.

"What happened?" Salty asked.

Sunny looked back, and saw a sight that warmed her eyes. "Thomas!"

Thomas had coupled up to Frankie, and was holding her back. "I won't let you hurt my friends!" the blue tank engine said.

Twilight leaned out of the cab. "We'll tackle Boomer and Frankie! You two go and catch Opaline!"

Sunny nodded, just as Boomer jumped out of the cab to fight Twilight. Sunny uncoupled Salty, and the pair took off in hot pursuit of Ryan and his driver.

After a few miles' running, they found them. Ryan had just swapped lines, and Opaline fired a blast behind her that changed the track switch.

Salty thundered onto the wrong line, and was soon running level with Ryan. Ryan looked over in disbelief. "Where did you come from?"

"Lincoln, originally," Salty replied. "You ain't bringin' this old sea dog don't that easily."

Opaline growled, and moved the controls once more to speed Ryan up. She grabbed some explosives. "Goodbye Salty! I'd say it's been a blast- but it hasn't!"

The bomb sailed clean over the diesel and exploded further back down the line, leaving another crater behind them.

"This will have one big repair bill!" Sunny said to herself, before leaning out of the cab and focusing her own magic. "Come on... just one shot is all I need!"

As if to comply, her hand began to glow. She aimed at Ryan and fired.

The shot missed, but did strike another track switch. Ryan was switched onto another line- one which had a construction sign on it!

"Ryan! Construction up ahead!" Salty called.

"Very fun- WHAT THE?" Ryan had no chance to react before flying off the rails. He tipped onto his side and skidded along the ground, his paintwork and metal scraping against hard rock as he crashed to a stop in the construction zone.

There was no word from his cab, either, and Sunny brought Salty to a stop. She climbed out of the cab, and walked over to the disaster zone, ready in case Opaline tried anything.

She found her soon enough. Opaline was pulling herself away from the cab, groaning in pain. It seemed as though one of her legs was broken.

She became aware of somebody behind her, and rolled over. Her face shifted from pain to a confident smirk. "Oh, there you are, Sunny. Well, here we are, the final battle. Aren't you going to finish me off?"

Sunny noticed her hand was still glowing, as if to fire off another shot. She closed it, and powered it down. "No."

Opaline blinked. "You've gone soft, Su-"

"Because I think you should face justice for what you've done."

Just then, Sunny's friends arrived. "You did it, Sunny!" Izzy cheered. "You stopped her!"

Sunny turned back. "No, we did it. Hitch, keep an eye on Opaline and ensure she doesn't do anything stupid."

"Yes ma'am!"

Just then, Thomas pulled in. "Well done Sunny!" he called. "Little people and engines truly can do big things!"

Sunny nodded, just as a policeman walked over to Opaline. "You," he said, "are under arrest. And somebody call an ambulance."





Truth be told, the island would not heal overnight. Opaline's coup had lasted for a grand total of 30 hours, but in that time a great deal of damage had been done. Lives had been lost. Families had been torn apart. And towns had been battered.

But the world would rebuild, and the island of Great Britain would heal from the wounds of war.

Before long, once they were medically deemed well enough, the trials of the conspirators began. Opaline and Boomer both faced more than thirty charges each, and to the surprise of nobody both were sentenced to whole life orders behind bars without the possibility of parole. Furthermore, their financial assets were seized, and used to pay for repairing the damage. The Emperor had also been imprisoned and subjected to the same punishment- the true Sir Topham Hatt had resumed his position as head of the railway, and his first act had been to apologise to Thomas for the imposter's actions.

Those surviving soldiers who had been part of the mutiny were put to work repairing all the damage they had caused. Many felt that justice had been served.

A few weeks later, Sunny and her friends had gathered on the waterfront, at their favourite bench just outside the shed. They looked out to sea as the sun began to set in the sky, the sky turning brilliant shades of orange.

"Well, that was a busy few weeks!" Pipp said. "Getting the town back to normal was quite the challenge!"

Hitch nodded. "Agreed. Clearing the park was quite the challenge. They'll be putting up a memorial to everybody who fell in the invasion there. I'll be there at the dedication."

"At least Opaline can't hurt us anymore," Misty said, looking optimistic for the first time in a while. "That means we may experience some years of peace for once."

Zipp looked over. "At least we made new friends along the way. I don't know about you guys, but I'd fancy going back to Misty Island one day and seeing how Violet and Comet are getting on."

"That sounds like a fun idea!" Izzy said, then noticed Sunny looking down. "Everything OK, Sunny?"

Sunny sighed. "I don't know. Obviously it's good that Opaline is gone, but with her out of the way I'm not convinced we'll be safe. What about that Allura woman?"

"She's on the other side of the planet!" Pipp said. "She can't hurt us here!"

Suddenly, a klaxon sounded. "A large shipment's coming in at Truro! Can somebody pick it up?"

"Looks like we're needed!" Hitch said, who began to walk to the shed.

Within minutes, the shed soon sounded to the roars of diesel engines and the hissing of steam.

Charles and Sophie emerged first, heading for Truro. "POWER!" Charles shouted.

Sophie laughed. "You have no idea how glad I am to hear that voice again!"

Rebecca followed them a few moments later, and headed for the platforms at Falmouth to pick up some coaches.

Porter and Salty made their way to the dockside. Life in Falmouth wasn't always easy, but they always had their friends by their side.

And they wouldn't have it any other way.