Looking Back on Younger Days

Looking Back on the Younger Days is the eighth episode of Sodor High School: Thomas and Friends Tales.
==Synopsis==
While waiting for a train, Thomas and Emily spend time talking about their pasts.
==Plot==
As winter comes to the Island of Sodor, Thomas and Emily go shopping for winter clothes at the Knapford Department store. While waiting for the local train going from Ffarquhar to the junction, the stationmaster announces that the engine for said train has derailed so it'll be 30 minutes before it's put back on the tracks and can arrive, to the disappointment of the passengers. Since Emily can't stop shivering from the cold, the duo decides to wait in the station next to a fireplace. Emily feels nostalgic and remembers the muddle that was her first train ride, choosing to tell Thomas about it when he asks.
Eight years ago, Emily had wanted to see what it would be like to ride on a train for the first time, so her Mother, Lady Hatt, agreed to show her what it would be like. When the train arrived, the engine blew off steam and people started rushing to the coaches. Emily tried to hold onto her Mother's hand as instructed, but her grip was too soft and they were separated. Lady Hatt is pushed into the train and it departs; scared, Emily sees another train pull into the other platform. Mistaking it for the one her Mother got onto, Emily boards it and ends up on a long train ride to Ffarquhar, frantically getting off once it stops. As Emily looks around the station for her Mother, she sees a young Thomas and Percy.
Back in the present, Emily is shocked by this realization and questions Thomas about not mentioning this before. Thomas admits he had forgotten about the incident, but since he doesn't know how the story played out, he requests Emily continue the story.
Young Thomas and Percy are in the middle of apologizing to one another for an accident at the coal yards before Percy takes Thomas' bike to Victor's shop for repairs. Thomas sees Emily standing on the platform and calls out to her, but she's too scared to do anything but hide, then runs away when he enters the station. The driver and fireman of a blue tank engine tell Thomas that the girl's heading into town on the gravel road, so he runs off. Since Emily's gotten very far, he has to ask Toby to use his bike in order to catch up to her. After a short distance, he finds her resting by a farmer's field; Emily rejects his help since she's been told not to talk to strangers by her parents, so he asks to be her friend. At that moment, Terence the farmer passes by while ploughing with his tractor and proceeds to exchange banter with Thomas, distracting him long enough for Emily to run off again. After another short distance, Thomas finds Emily crying on the side of the road and once he learns she's lost, he offers to take her back to the station so she can go home. Although nervous, Emily agrees; Thomas takes her back to Ffarquhar (barring a brief stop to return Toby's bike to him) and goes to buy return trip tickets.
Back in the modern day, the stationmaster informs the passengers that while the engine was put back on the rails, it's in bad shape so now they'll have to wait for a new one to be found for their train. Thomas complains about the accident and brings up Clyde and Jim (old friends of his parents) in the process, telling Emily they were the driver and fireman of the tank engine.
Emily continues the story from when young Thomas returned to young Emily with the bad news that tickets are sold out for the rest of the day. Suddenly, they hear a shrill whistle and the tank engine pulls into the station with two long passenger carriages. Thomas asks Clyde and Jim if they could give the kids a ride in the cab and they agree; however since Emily doesn't know the name of the station she left from, they travel down the branch line, Emily taking in the sights along the way. They reach the junction at the end of the line and Emily recognizes it, so Clyde and Jim drop off the kids and depart to turn their engine around. After some searching, they find Lady Hatt and hug each other goodbye before Emily reunites with her Mother. Thomas watches from a distance until Clyde and Jim return to take him home, thinking he'll see Emily again someday.
Emily finishes her story saying Lady Hatt was relieved to see her safe and the next time she rode a train was with her Father. Emily wonders how her parents are, and Thomas believes they're okay since Diesel 10 can't get to them. Oddly enough, he calls him 'Alexander' and proceeds to tell Emily about how he became feared and power-hungry two years ago.
He was once a kind teacher at Sodor High but when Thomas and his friends began attending the school, he started thinking that the Smelters Class should be given high honors; Sir Topham Hatt refused to listen since he believed every student was equal, not to mention the Smelter class kids cause more trouble than anyone else. Alexander (renaming himself to Diesel 10) wouldn't take no for an answer, so he tried to take over the school by force and kick all of the so-called "weaker" kids out, but Sir Topham Hatt simply fires him and brings in several police officers to arrest him only for Diesel 10 to escape and vow to return. Over a year later, he attempted another hostile takeover, but this time, Thomas and his friends confronted him and his new gang. During the chaos of the fight, while the other kids were battling the gang, Thomas confronted Diesel 10 inside the main office, narrowly escaping before part of the roof collapsed and crushed Diesel 10's body, damaging his left arm to the point of needing a robotic arm with multiple functions to replace it, including the claw hand. Diesel 10 would later lead a third assault but was arrested within five minutes since Sir Topham Hatt anticipated him and had the police on standby. As Diesel 10 is taken away, he swears to return someday and go after the Hatt family, which leaves Sir Topham Hatt very concerned.
Thomas finishes the story saying they haven't heard from him before now as Emily realizes the gravity of the situation. Thomas is confident Sir Topham Hatt will stop Diesel and instills some reassurance in an appreciative Emily, but the moment is ruined when the two become flustered over their holding hands without realizing it. At last, the mainline train arrives, and they get up to leave the station while agreeing to never speak of what just happened between them.
They climb on board and see that most of the seats were taken as it's usually this busy during the holidays. They find Henry in one of the compartments simply enjoying the ride, as he always does every year when he's not in the hospital. Henry decides to warn them of James' growing jealousy and hearing Emily say she's not ready to fall in love, advises them to talk next time they see him; otherwise, he may try to beat Thomas up. His anger is why neither Henry or Gordon are with him for the day, Gordon having gone to see the newly built engine 'Tornado', which is coming to our island for a month as part of a railway show being held at Knapford. Thomas, Henry, and Emily proceed to spend the rest of the ride talking about their younger days as the train continued on down the tracks.
==Characters==
* Thomas
* Emily
* Henry
* Lady Hatt (Debut; flashback)
* Clyde and Jim (Debut; flashback)
* Terence (Debut; flashback)
* Percy (flashback)
* Toby (flashback)
* Sir Topham Hatt (flashback)
* Diesel 10 (Debut; flashback)
* Mr. Percival (flashback)
* James (mentioned)
* Gordon (mentioned)
* Victor (mentioned)
==Cast==
==Trivia==
* As revealed in this episode, Emily met Thomas when they were eight years old.
* Thomas and Emily learn about James' jealousy toward the former from Henry.
==Goofs==
Category:Thomas and Friends
Category:Sodor High School
Category:Episodes
Category:Fan Fiction